Guide to the Papers of Ulrich Ellis, 1900-1983

Summary

Collection number:

MS 1006

Creator:

Ulrich Ellis

Extent:

6.5 metres and (41 boxes + 5 folios)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Ulrich Ellis, National Library of Australia, MS 1006, [box number and series and/or file number]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for reference. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

Ulrich Ellis was Political Secretary to the Federal Country Party Leader from 1928-1936, and the papers in the first consignment particularly cover the formation and history of the Country Party throughout Australia. They include correspondence, pamphlets, policy speeches, minutes of meetings, press cuttings and notes for Ellis's book A History of the Australian Country Party, 1963. They concern Sir Earle Page, Bruce, Lyons and Menzies among others.

The scope of the papers in the second consignment is much broader, taking in the whole range of Ellis' activities and interests during his long career as journalist, publicist, author and political organiser. A major focus of the collection is on the various New State Movements in Australia, especially the New England New State Movement, with which Ellis was closely involved as executive member and campaign director between 1947 and 1968.

The collection also contains considerable material relating to various political figures with whom Ellis was associated. These include Earle Page, Arthur Fadden, John McEwen, Bruxner and P.A. Wright. There are also personal papers and family material.

The collection consists mostly of Ellis' writings, material from the various New State Movements, letters, newspaper cuttings, press releases, speeches, pamphlets, and campaign literature. There are a number of audio tapes and a quantity of printed matter.

The collection has been roughly sorted and in general the order found has been retained. The bulk of the Collection is in subject files, and while Ellis had at sometime had a numerical filing classification, this could not be satisfactorily used as many files either had no number or had been re-used. Some files have been moved between series but individual documents have been left where they were. Not all the collection is foldered.

Biographical Note:

Ulrich Ruegg Ellis was born on 23 July 1904 at Mt. Morgan, Queensland. He attended Kelvin Grove State Public School and Brisbane Grammar School.

Ellis worked first as a journalist for The Brisbane Daily Mail (1921-1922), Melbourne Sun-Pictorial Daily (1922-1924), Melbourne Morning Post (1925-1926), Sydney Truth (1925) becoming Federal roundsman for the Sydney Daily Guardian in 1926 and one of the first three Metropolitan Pressmen in Canberra.

From 1928 to 1936 Ellis was Political Secretary to Earle Page, then leader of the Federal Country Party and in 1936 and 1938 he made trips overseas - to London and elsewhere and met Lloyd George and Winston Churchill. Between 1936 and 1940 he was commercial intelligence officer at the Department of Commerce. During the second World War (1940-1944) Ellis was Assistant Controller (Admin.) at the Department of Materials Supply in Melbourne.

Following posts in Public Relations in Government departments during the period of post war reconstruction Ellis set up the 'Office of Rural Research' in Canberra in 1966. This was a private organisation of which Ellis was the Director, and its primary purpose was to support the rural sector's position in its relations with Canberra.

In 1948 Ellis became a member of the Executive of the New England New State Movement and in 1960 he moved to Armidale to become campaign director of the movement.

Following the unsuccessful campaign for the Referendum on whether to establish a New State in New England. Ellis returned to Canberra, becoming active in the 'Australian Council Against Centralism' and continuing his involvement in the New State Movement.

Ulrich Ellis died in 1983.

Arrangement:

The collection was received in two main consignments.

The first consignment comprises 63 file groupings and several unnumbered files. The second consignment comprises 14 series groupings.

Indexed terms

Names:

Ulrich Ellis

Conditions Governing Access:

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1439414) for the access conditions.

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 Ulrich Ellis, National Library of Australia, MS 1006, [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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