Constituency correspondence, 1922-1952

Component identifier:

Series 30

Content Summary:

This series contains a large amount of Hughes' correspondence with constituents (individuals and organisations) from his years as the Member for North Sydney (1922-1949) and Bradfield (1949-1952). The 'files' of correspondence and memoranda, which are mostly from the 1940s, have been arranged by the date of the initial request letter. In some cases, correspondence on certain matters has been continuous over a period of time and all relevant correspondence has been filed together.

The most common requests are for help in having a local post office built or a telephone installed. Other letters refer to job applications, pensions and introductions signed by the Prime Minister, and protests about the Statute of Westminster Bill, Chifley's Bank Bill, the building of a rocket range near Aboriginal settlements, petrol and meat rationing, and the Postal Workers Case (1947).

The series also includes the petition Hughes received prior to the December 1922 election from many North Sydney electors requesting that he leave the Bendigo electorate and stand for the new electorate of North Sydney. Please note, only part of the series has been item-numbered.

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)

Contents

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