Minister for Territories, 1935-1941

Component identifier:

Series 40

Content Summary:

Hughes was appointed Minister for Territories in the cabinet reshuffle following the October 1937 General Election, and was replaced by J. A. Perkins after holding the portfolio for just under a year. During his term, decisions were made to remove the administrative capital of New Guinea from Rabaul and to investigate alternatives, and to build a road from Wau to Salamaua. Lyons recognised Hughes' interest in the strategic importance of Papua New Guinea and in the completion of these projects, and gave him permission (letter of 6 January 1939) to continue work with Perkins' replacement Eric Harrison. He was also kept informed of developments until early 1941 by J. R. Halligan of the Territories Branch of the Prime Minister's Department.

Papers in the collection on Australia's external territories, especially New Guinea, 1935-1940, form this series. It comprises correspondence, minutes, reports, telegrams, cabinet papers, press releases, some newscuttings, a typescript diary, and some printed items. The subject coverage is confined mainly to those already mentioned. The series documents the decision to leave Rabaul, with reports by vulcanologists and seismologists, and the reaction of local residents and organisations like the New Guinea Mining Association to the suggestion that the new capital be Salamaua. The draft and printed report of Brigadier-General Thomas Griffiths on the alternative sites is also here.

Other areas covered by this series are the proposed joint administration of Papua and New Guinea and the reactions of Sir Hubert Murray and the inquiry chaired by F. W. Eggleston, oil prospecting legislation, and an air service to New Guinea. There is also a copy of Jack Hides report of a Strickland-Purari Patrol (1935), a small file on Nauru, and a typed diary and some photographs covering Hughes trip to New Guinea in May-June 1938. In addition to many memoranda to Hughes from R. J. Halligan and copies of reports to Halligan from Sir Walter Ramsay McNicoll, the series has letters and telegrams from H. T. Allen, Charles Marr, Alex Rentoul, W. R. Carpenter, Sir Thomas Griffiths, Sir Charles Rosenthal, J. A. Lyons, R. G. Menzies and George Pearce.

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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