Guide to the Papers of Dame Rachel Cleland, 1885-2002

Summary

Collection number:

MS 9601

Creator:

Cleland, Rachel, DBE, Dame

Extent:

(63 boxes)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Dame Rachel Cleland, National Library of Australia, MS 9601, [box number and series and/or file number]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Part available for research; Part not availbale for research; Part requires permission for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The MS 9601 collection comprises correspondence, drafts, speeches, photographs and papers relating to the Aboriginal land rights and environmental causes Rachel Cleland supported in Australia.

Biographical Note:

Rachel Evans was born 19 January, 1906, in Perth, Western Australia, the eldest child of six of William Herbert Evans and his wife Olive, nee Earle. She was educated at Methodist Ladies College, Claremont, and at the Kindergarten Training College in Perth. Her aunt, Bessie Rischbieth (nee Earle) a leading feminist (See MS 2004) lived close to the Evans family in Peppermint Grove, and had a strong influence on Rachel's education and training. Mr and Mrs Rischbieth took Rachel as a companion overseas for nine months during 1924-1925, while they sought a cure for Henry Rischbieth's throat cancer, but he died in London.

In 1928, Rachel married (later Sir) Donald Cleland (1901 - 1975) (See MS9600). They had two sons, Robert born 1931 and Evan born in 1935.

Rachel was always very supportive of Donald's political activities. Her own interests were artistic and cultural and she wrote some publishable articles on these topics. When Donald went away to the war of 1939 - 1945, Rachel was left to bring up her sons alone. She characteristically threw herself into community activities and charities, such as Red Cross. Following the war, when Donald became the first Federal Director of the Liberal Party of Australia, the whole family moved to Sydney. In 1951, Donald was appointed Assistant Administrator of Papua and New Guinea, and they moved to Port Moresby. When Don was appointed Administrator of Papua and New Guinea in February 1953, Rachel in effect became that country's first lady.

Rachel threw herself into her new role with enthusiasm, and not a little intelligent assessment of where she might play the most useful role. Various established charities already claimed the wife of the Administrator as either honorary president or patron of their organisations. Rachel was not content to play a titular role - she was always energetic and active. Such organisations as the Red Cross, Girl Guides, and the Young Women's Christian Association, all welcomed her active participation. She looked around for further needs, and encouraged the Pre-School Association and the Country Women's Association. Women's Clubs for PNG women had her full support. When some Port Moresby villagers wanted to start netball for women, Rachel was there to organise them. She encouraged expatriate women, who were perhaps shy of interfering in Papua and New Guinea affairs, to offer their services to many of these organisations.

During these years, secondary education for Papua New Guineans was increased, but it was mainly men who benefitted. They would be mixing with expatriates on a social level, but their wives were still village women. Rachel saw the need to teach women how to cook, housekeep, shop, dress etc. in modern ways, so that they could keep up with their menfolk. The Girl Guides needed to raise funds for their movement. Money was not always available in village environments, but artifacts were, so Rachel suggested cultural objects could be given to the movement and sold, and so the Girl Guide Shop, which became a major tourist attraction and business, was established. She was also responsible for having avenues of trees planted in Port Moresby. The town needed a lot of beautification following neglect during World War II.

The Administrator and his wife made frequent trips to every district in Papua and New Guinea. They became very familiar with the different groups of peoples. Rachel was able to extend many of the charitable and social organisations for women to all parts of the country, mainly by recruiting expatriate women living in those areas, to take some lead, or by identifying prominent local women. In 1959, Rachel was awarded an MBE for her efforts, and this was upgraded to a CBE in 1966.

The Administrator's retirement came in January 1967. The Clelands now saw Papua and New Guinea as their home, as they had not lived in Perth since 1945. After taking a round the world trip in 1967, they built their own home in Port Moresby, and became again involved in community life. By then the University had been established at Waigani. Intellectual life was seeping into the community, and Rachel, always one for discussing and analysing matters in depth, loved to participate in the cut and thrust of debate at the Waigani Seminars which were held annually, and the ANZAAS Conference held in Port Moresby in 1970.

In 1969, the South Pacific Games were held in Port Moresby, and she was asked to head up a Cultural Committee. The Committee established a Cultural Centre on reclaimed land around Port Moresby Harbour, where examples of indigenous houses from all over the country were erected. During the Games sing sings and plays were performed at the Cultural Centre and the Centre continued to be used for such events afterwards. Another off shoot from this committee, was the Hiri Festival, to commemorate the ancient custom of the sailing of lakatois from the Motu villages around Port Moresby, to the villages of the Gulf District to the North West. The Motu villagers exchanged pottery, which they made, for sago, made in the Gulf. Rachel was also a leader in the South Pacific Arts Festival in 1972, and chaperoned Mekeo dancers to the Moomba Festival in Melbourne in 1973.

Sir Donald Cleland, who had been knighted in 1961, died in 1975, just before Independence in PNG. Rachel stayed on for another three years until the end of 1978 and then decided to return to Perth, where she still had two sisters and a brother living and another sister in country WA. In 1980, the independent PNG Government awarded her a DBE. Rachel maintained her interest in PNG affairs, often in practical ways - raising funds for PNG disaster appeals, corresponding with PNG leaders and keeping in touch with others with an interest in PNG. She made a number of return visits to PNG. She also threw herself into the cultural life of Perth, including the Indian Ocean Arts Festival. As always she became involved in community affairs, visited prisons, and supported conservation bodies. She spent a great deal of time helping out with the Kimberley Land Claim by Aborigines, writing many leaflets, and dealing with correspondence. The Save the Forests Campaign where the focus was on the old growth forests of the SW of Western Australia under threat from logging, found her in the lead, making press statements, writing to politicians, and being interviewed on radio and television. She became a popular speaker for various causes. During all this she managed to write two books about her experiences in Papua New Guinea. Pathways to independence tells the story of her husband's Administratorship, and Grassroots to independence and beyond, tells of her work with women in PNG.

In 2002, Rachel decided to join her sons in Queensland, and moved to Goondiwindi. She had only just arrived when she died suddenly of a heart attack 18 April 2002. She was cremated, with half her ashes buried in the churchyard near her Perth home, and the other half taken to Port Moresby by her sons and buried in her husband's grave.

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Politics and government
Pacific
Society and culture

Conditions Governing Access:

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn298239).

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 Dame Rachel Cleland, National Library of Australia, MS 9601, [box number and series and/or file number]'.

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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