Editing Alick Downer (section)

==Diplomatic career==
He retired from Parliament upon his appointment as Australian High Commissioner in London,<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/Opinion/A-journey-into-Downers-dark-past/2005/05/31/1117305617682.html | work=The Sydney Morning Herald | title=A journey into Downer's dark past | date=1 June 2005}}</ref> a position he held until 1972. The building of the High Commission, Australia House, has a Downer Room on the first floor, named in his honour.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/ahdb/search.pl?mode=place_detail;search=list_code%3DCHL%3Blegal_status%3D35%3Bkeyword_PD%3D0%3Bkeyword_SS%3D0%3Bkeyword_PH%3D0;place_id=106165|title= Australia House, The Strand, London, OS, United Kingdom|date = 2014 |website= Australian Heritage Database |accessdate= 2 May 2014 }}</ref> Downer was appointed a [[Order of the British Empire|Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] in the [[1965 Birthday Honours]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=43668 |date=4 June 1965 |page=5508 |supp=y}}</ref> He was made a [[List of Honorary Freemen of the City of London|Freeman of the City of London]] in 1965.

Downer actively lobbied both the prime minister, [[William McMahon]], and the British government directly, for a [[peerage]] of the UK Parliament. McMahon wrote to 10 Downing Street with a proposal, but it was declined. Downer was reportedly "very bitter" about this rejection.<ref>[[Anne Twomey (academic)|Anne Twomey]], "Defacing the record - how Archives black out history", ''Weekend Australian'', 22–23 January 2022, Inquirer, p. 16</ref>