Guide to the Papers of Robert Darby, 1671-2019

Summary

Collection number:

MS 8928

Creator:

Darby, Robert, Mr

Extent:

13.2 metres and (88 ms boxes)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as Papers of Robert Darby, National Library of Australia, MS 8928, [box number and series and/or file number]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Part available for research; part not available for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

This collection reflects Robert Darby's interest and involvement in left-wing politics over the period 1970-82, and his participation in union and community affairs from 1979-85. There is considerable overlap between material on University-based student groups and left-wing political movements generally. The main focus is on Victorian (La Trobe University) material, however several States and the Australian Capital Territory are well represented.

The Melbourne material relates mainly to Darby's involvement with La Trobe University groups, the Radical Student Movement (1975) later called the Students for Australian Independence (1976-77), the Society for Australian Culture (1976-77) and the La Trobe Marxist-Leninists (1976-77), and with general groups including the Australian Independence Movement (1976-81), Mobilisation against Rockefeller (1976), the Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist) (1976-81), and groups created for a particular protest.

The Canberra material relates to radical and community groups, the Union movement (ACOA), and to the newsletters and newspapers these organisations produced. Represented are the Australian Independence Movement (1978-82) and the Canberra Workers Alliance (1978-80), and their joint newspaper for the ACT group, the Southern Cross, edited by Darby 1978-80; Jobless Action CYSS Project, Woden, and its related newspapers, Access (1980), Hard Times (1980-81), and Canberra-Monaro Searchlight (1981); the Australian Clerical Officers Association (ACOA) (1978-84), and Hotline (1981-83). There are business files for these newspapers.

The Bowyang files, including a full set of the journal (1978-83), are a feature of the collection.

There are subject files on topics relating to Darby's interests and activities. One set of files contains background material for articles he contributed to various journals, and another set is concerned with the A.C.T. There is Australian Union of Students material, including leaflets collected at demonstrations, and material from Maoist and other political groups from interstate. Some conferences attended by Darby are documented.

The newspaper clipping files are concerned with the elections of 1975 and with the loans and constitutional crisis of that year. A large number of Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist) booklets are in the collection, many of them written by E. F. Hill who led the breakaway group from the Communist Party of Australia.

The collection also comprises research material of Robert Darby relating to the social history of routine neonatal (male) circumcision in Britain and Australia and includes: records of the Australian anti-circumcision organisation 'NOCIRC of Australia'; correspondence; publications; medical journal articles; newspapers and magazine articles from Australia and overseas; notes and drafts from Darby's PhD thesis on Marjorie Barnard and Frank Dalby Davison.

Biographical Note:

Robert Darby was born in Melbourne in 1953, entering Melbourne University in 1971 and La Trobe University in 1975. He joined the Public Service in Canberra in 1978, working at the Australian Archives and later at the Department of Employment and Youth Affairs where he worked in the Women's Bureau and the Employment Discrimination Section. He returned to full time study in 1985 and was awarded a PhD in Australian Literature from the Australian Defence Force Academy.

Darby joined the Communist Party in 1974, changing to the Marxist-Leninist group in 1976. He has not had any involvement with radical political groups after leaving this organization in 1982.

He was active in a number of student political associations in Melbourne, and in radical and unemployment groups in Canberra. He was active in the ACOA, the Australian Independence Movement, Jobless Action, and the Access Newspaper Association. He served as editor or on the production side of a number of small circulation, political-cultural periodicals. He was an editor of Independence Voice (Melbourne), 1975-78, and of Southern Cross (Canberra), 1978-80. He was a foundation editor of Bowyang, 1979-83.

Immediate Source of Acquisition:

The original consignments were purchased in 1985 and 1986. Class 2 wa acquired via donation in 2019.

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Health
Literature
Politics and government

Conditions Governing Access:

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1060727).

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 Papers of Robert Darby, National Library of Australia, MS 8928, [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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