Guide to the Papers of Sir Wilfred Selwyn Kent Hughes, 1914-1986

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Summary

Collection number:
MS 4856
Creator:
W. S. Kent Hughes and Kent Hughes, Lady
Extent:
17.94 metres and (82 ms boxes + 2 small folio boxes + 2 medium folio boxes + 4 large folio boxes + 1 map folio + 5 folio packets + 2 volumes + 1 folder + 21 sound/av carriers)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Sir W. S. Kent Hughes, National Library of Australia, MS 4856, [series and/or file number]'.
Availability:
Available
Access conditions:
Available for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The papers comprise correspondence (including letters written by Kent Hughes from the Middle East during World War I and POW camps during World War II), diaries, photographs, speeches, cuttings and cutting books and the manuscripts of his book Slaves of the Samurai and other writings. There are relatively few papers on Kent Hughes' career in Victorian politics, but extensive papers dating from his 21 years as a Federal Parliamentarian, including his work as Minister of the Interior and Works and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. There are extensive papers on the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games.

The correspondents include General Gordon Bennett, Sir Robert Menzies, Lord Casey, Sir Garfield Barwick, Sir Arthur Fadden, Louis Loder, Les Norman, Tom Lingford, Norman Martin, Major-General Hans de Fremery, Senator James W. Fulbright, Avery Brundage, Sir James Pitman, Derek Schreiber, J.H. Tyer and John Wedderburn-Maxwell.

The collection also includes papers of Lady Kent Hughes (including Kent Hughes' letters to her from POW camps), an account of Dr Wilfred Kent Hughes' journey to Russia in 1917, and papers relating to Kent Hughes: a biography by Frederick Howard.

Biographical Note:
Date Event
1895 Born in East Melbourne on 12 June, son of Dr Wilfred Kent Hughes
1900-8 Trinity Grammar School, Kew
1909-14 Melbourne Grammar School
1914 Enlisted as private in B Company 7 Infantry Batallion, promoted to Captain and on 18 October embarked for the Middle East
1915-18 Second Lieutenant 8th Light Horse Regiment and seconded as Orderly Officer 3rd Light Horse Brigade on 1 April 1915. During this time he took in various campaigns in the Middle East, including Gallipoli and Sinai.
1919 Entered Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar
1920 Resigned commission in UK on demobilization, captain of Oxford ski team and represented Australia in athletics at Olympic Games in Antwerp
1923 Married Edith Kerr in Montclair, New Jersey on 3 February. They returned to Melbourne in April
1927-49 Member of Legislative Assembly for Kew
1940 Enlisted in A.I.F.
1941 Left for Singapore
1942-45 Prisoner of war in Malaya, Taiwan, Japan and Manchuria
1945 Returned to Australia
1947 Victorian Minister for Transport and Education
1948-49 Minister for Transport and Electrical Undertakings and Deputy Premier
1949-70 Member of the House of Representatives for Chisholm
1951-58 Chairman of the Olympic Games Organising Committee
1951-56 Federal Minister for the Interior and Minister for Works
1956-61 Chairman of Foreign Affairs Committee
1957 Awarded KBE
1970 Died in Melbourne on 31 July
Kent Hughes: a biography by Frederick Howard. Melbourne: Macmillan, 1972Who's who 1968, pp. 494-95
Provenance:

The collection was donated to the National Library, in several instalments between 1973 and 1991, by Lady Kent Hughes and her daughters, Mrs Janet Derham, Mrs Margaret Sasse and Dr Mary Lou Sheil.

Arrangement:

Some of the papers had been kept in files. Wherever possible, the Library has preserved the file titles and the arrangement of the papers within them.

Indexed terms

Names:
Kent Hughes, Lady

Access and use

Conditions Governing Access:
Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2631927).
Conditions Governing Use:
Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Sir W. S. Kent Hughes, National Library of Australia, MS 4856, [series and/or file number]'.
Location of this collection:
Parkes Place
Canberra ACT 2600, Australia
Contact:
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