Guide to the Papers of George Foster Pearce, 1909-1937

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Summary

Collection number:
MS 213
Creator:
George Foster Pearce
Extent:
0.56 metres and (4 boxes)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of George Foster Pearce, National Library of Australia, MS 213, [box number and series and/or file number]'.
Availability:
Available
Access conditions:
Available for reference. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:
MS 213 contains papers relating to Sir George's public life between 1909 and 1935 and includes correspondence with Harold Boas, Herbert Brookes, S.M. Bruce, R.G. Casey, Robert Garran, H.W. Gepp, Walter Massy-Greene, J.A. Lyons, W.M. Hughes and others; correspondence relating to the secession movement in Western Australia 1929-33, and other matters; together with reports, press cuttings and photographs.
Biographical Note:

George Foster Pearce was born on 14 January 1870 at Mt Barker, South Australia, a son of James and Jane Pearce. He attended the public school at Red Hill, S.A., leaving at the age of eleven to became a farm boy, and later a carpenter and joiner, before migrating to Western Australia. After trying his luck unsuccessfully on the Coolgardie goldfields in 1894 and working at his trade there, he return to Perth, where he became involved in the Labour Movement, municipal politics and trade union affairs. In 1898 he was elected to the first Subiaco Municipal Council and the following year was President of the Trades and Labour Council and the Carpenters' Union. Throughout this period he actively supported the movement for Federation.

In 1901 Pearce, as a Labour candidate, was elected to the Senate at the first Federal elections and he remained there until his defeat in 1937. He became Chairman of Committees 1907-8, Minister for Defence 1908-9, 1910-3, 1914-21, and 1932-4, Acting Prime Minister in 1916, Minister for Home and Territories 1921-6, Vice-President of the Executive Council 1926-9, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate 1929-31, and Minister for External Affairs and Minister in Charge of Territories 1934-7. In 1916, he supported Hughes in the conscription crisis, and with him, left the Labour Party.

Pearce visited England and Europe in 1911 to attend the Imperial Conference and Coronation of King George V: in 1919 to arrange the repatriation of Australian soldiers and to sign the Treaty of St Germain with Austria; and in 1927 to attend the League of Nations Assembly. As the Australian member of the British Empire Delegation he attended the Washington Conference for the Limitation of Armaments in 1921-22.

In 1927 Pearce was Minister responsible for the arrangements of the tour of the Duke and Duchess of York, who visited Australia to open Parliament House in Canberra.

He was appointed to the Privy Council in 1921, became a Commander of the Legion of Honour in 1924, and Knight Commander of the Victorian Order in 1927.

After Pearce's defeat for the Senate in 1937 he was a member of the Commonwealth Grants Commission 1939-44 and Chairman of the Defence Board of Business Administration 1940-7.

In 1897 Pearce married Eliza Maud Barnett and there were two sons and two daughters. He was widowed in 1947. Carpenter to Cabinet, his autography, was published in 1951. Pearce died in Melbourne on 24 June 1952 and was accorded a State Funeral.

See also: PEARCE, George Foster, Carpenter to Cabinet (London, Hutchinson, 1951); HEYDON, Peter Richard, Quiet Decision, a study of George Foster Pearce, (Melbourne, M.U.P. 1965); MS 3155, Heydon, Sir Peter R., Papers 1901-1965. Records assembled during the writing of Quiet Decision.

Immediate Source of Acquisition:

The National Library's collections of Pearce Papers were received in three separate groups, the first of which was received in 1951 from Sir George himself. The other two groups received in 1966 and 1967 came from his son Philip, through Peter R. (later Sir Peter) Heydon. Other papers from Sir George's three terms between 1908 and 1921 as Minister for Defence, were lodged in the Australian War Memorial. A further group of papers are held in the Commonwealth Archives Office (CP 820) having been transferred there in August 1960 via a strongroom from Pearce's office in Parliament House. These include (i) personal papers while he was Vice-President of the Executive Council (1926-29) and Leader of the Opposition in the Senate (1930-31) and (ii) private papers 1915-30 relating to private and business interests, chiefly property, taxation and legal matters.

Indexed terms

Names:
George Foster Pearce

Access and use

Conditions Governing Access:
Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2650216).
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 George Foster Pearce, National Library of Australia, MS 213, [box number and series and/or file number]'.
Location of this collection:
Parkes Place
Canberra ACT 2600, Australia
Contact:
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