National Party, 1918-1931

Component identifier:

Series 27

Content Summary:

The collection has very little on the National Party, the party Hughes formed in February 1917 from the Liberals and National Labour Party and helped destroy 12 years later. This series has papers of a general nature on the Party, and there are also relevant papers in Series 28, Series 32 (Referenda file) and Series 33. It consists mainly of newscuttings reporting speeches by Hughes to the party organisation in 1922 and 1928, reprints of some speeches (e.g., by Bavin at the 9th Annual Convention of the National Association of NSW), constitutions, copies of the Australian National Review, and the text of and voting on resolutions put to meetings of the party in January 1918, and a few letters. The latter refer to his defeat in 1923 and negotiations with Lyons in 1931. The series also includes several items on the National Labour Party.

Immediate source of acquisition:

The W. M. Hughes Papers were presented to the National Library of Australia by Dame Mary Hughes in 1953. The collection was received in two consignments. One consisted of papers taken from the Perpetual Trustee Company comprising material from Hughes' Lindfield home and from his office rooms at the Commonwealth Offices, Sydney; the other came directly from Lindfield. Lists of the contents of both consignments are held in the Library's Manuscript Branch. With the agreement of the executors and the Library, much of the collection, was for a time, held at the Australian National University by Fitzhardinge. He was permitted sole access to the collection while writing the biography Hughes commissioned in 1951. Fitzhardinge's own papers documenting the writing of the biography are also held by the Library (MS 5400). The papers transferred to the Library in 1953 are by no means the total collection of Hughes' personal papers, although it is impossible to say what proportion has survived. (see Fitzhardinge, p.936).

Names:

Hughes, W. M. (1862-1952)

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