Sir Paul Meernaa Caedwalla Hasluck KG, GCMG, GCVO was an Australian historian, poet, public servant and politician, and the 17th Governor-General of Australia. Hasluck was born in Fremantle, Western Australia and was educated at Perth Modern School and the University of Western Australia, where he graduated with a MA degree.

In 1923 Hasluck joined the literary staff of The West Australian newspaper, and also began to publish works on Western Australian history. He tutored in history at the University, and in 1939 he joined its faculty as a lecturer in history. In 1941 Hasluck was recruited to the staff of the Department of External Affairs, and served on Australian delegations to several international conferences, including the San Francisco Conference which founded the United Nations. After the war Hasluck returned to the University of Western Australia as a Reader in History, and was commissioned to write two volumes of Australia in the War of 1939–1945, a 22-volume official history of Australia's involvement in World War II. These volumes were published as The Government and the People 1939–1941 in 1951 and The Government and the People 1941–1945 in 1970.

At the 1949 election Hasluck won Liberal preselection for the newly created Perth-area seat of Curtin. In 1951 the Prime Minister, Robert Menzies appointed Hasluck as Minister for Territories, a post he held for twelve years. This gave him responsibility for Australia's colonial possession, Papua New Guinea, and also the Northern Territory, home to Australia's largest population of Aboriginal people. Although he shared the paternalistic views of the period about the treatment of the Papua-New Guineans, and followed an assimilationist policy for the Aboriginal people, he carried out significant reforms in the way both peoples were treated. Michael Somare, who became Papua New Guinea's first Prime Minister, said that his country had been able to enter self-government without fear of having to argue with an Ian Smith “simply because of Paul Hasluck”.

In early 1969, Prime Minister Gorton offered him the post of Governor-General, a position he held until 1974. Hasluck retired to Perth where he remained active in cultural and political affairs until his death in 1993.