Guide to the Papers of Frederic William Eggleston, 1911-1954

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Summary

Collection number:
MS 423
Creator:
Frederic William Eggleston
Extent:
5.4 metres and (34 boxes)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Frederic William Eggleston, National Library of Australia, MS 423, [box number and series and/or file number]'.
Availability:
Available
Access conditions:
Available for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The papers are concerned mainly with the official career and writings of Sir Frederic Eggleston. They relate to his activities as member of the delegation at the Paris Peace Conference (1919), Minister in the Victorian Government (1924-1927), Chairman of the Commonwealth Grants Commission (1933-1941), Australian Minister to China (1941-1944) and to the U.S.A. (1944-1946), and as a member of the Interim Council of the Australian National University (1946-1951). Reflecting his great interest in international affairs, there is material on immigration and on the work of the Institutes of Pacific Relations and International Affairs.

The collection also contains notes, manuscripts and typescripts of his writings and lectures as well as correspondence, a diary and press cuttings.

Correspondents include Fred Alexander, W. Macmahon Ball, Sir Richard Boyer, Herbert Brookes, Sir Allen Brown, Lord Bruce, Tristan Buesst, John W. Burton, G. Caiger, I. Huntington Cairns, Arthur Calwell, Lord Casey, Sir Harold Clapp, Sir Douglas Copland, L.F. Crisp, W.R. Crocker, John Curtin, Sir William Dunk, E.C. Dyason, H.V. Evatt, W.D. Forsyth, J.R. Halligan, Sir Keith Hancock, Ralph Harry, Sir Paul Hasluck, W.R. Hodgson, Sir John Latham, Sir Harry Lawson, Sir Robert Menzies, Sir John Monash, Sir Walter Murdoch, Sir Keith Officer, Sir Mark Oliphant, Gerald Packer, Sir James Plimsoll, Sir David Rivett, Geoffrey Sawer, W.E. Stanner, George Swinburne, Griffith Taylor, Sir Keith Waller, Sir Alan Watt and Sir Alfred Zimmern.

Biographical Note:

Frederic William Eggleston was born on 17 October 1875 in Melbourne, a son of John W. Eggeston, and was educated at Wesley College, Melbourne, Leys School, Cambridge, and the University of Melbourne. He studied Law and was admitted to the Bar in 1897.

Eggleston was a member of the Gladstone Debating Society, whose members included John Latham and Herbert Brookes, and where he met his future wife, Louisa Henriques, whom he married on 10 May 1904. There were two sons, Egan M. and Frederic H. and a daughter Jean (Mrs John Shannon). From 1911 until 1920 he was a member of the Caulfield City Council and Mayor in 1915.

During World War I, Eggleston served in the A.I.F. from 1916 until 1919 when he joined the staff of the Prime Minister, W. M. Hughes, at the Peace Conference in Paris. After his return to Australia in 1920 he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Victoria as the Nationalist Member for St. Kilda, and was Minister of Railways (1924-1927), Attorney-General (1924-1927) and Vice President of the Board of Land and Works in the governments of H.S.W. Lawson, Sir Alexander Peacock and John Allan. He was defeated in the 1927 general elections.

In collaboration with E. H. Sugden, Eggleston wrote The life of George Swinburne which was published in 1931, followed in 1932 by his State socialism in Victoria. He was widowed in 1935.

From its inception in 1933 until he resigned in 1941, Eggleston was chairman of the Commonwealth Grants Commission. During this time he was active in the work of the Institute of International Affairs and the Institute of Pacific Relations, and was chairman of Australian delegations at conferences of the latter organization in Honolulu (1927), Kyoto, Japan (1929) and Yosemite, U.S.A. (1936). In 1938 he attended a British Commonwealth Conference at Lapstone, N.S.W. Eggleston was appointed to a committee in 1939 to survey the possibility of establishing a combined administration of the Territories of Papua and New Guinea and to make recommendations regarding a capital site. He toured Papua and New Guinea in May-July 1939.

In 1941 Eggleston's Search for a social philosophy was published. he received a knighthood and was appointed Australia's first Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to China. He arrived in Chungking in October 1941 and remained until 1944. During his leave in Australia, Eggleston was invited to go to Washington as Minister to the U.S.A. to succeed Sir Own Dixon. He attended the San Francisco United Nations Conference in 1945, the Australian delegation being led by F.M. Forde and H.V. Evatt.

From 1946, when his term in Washington concluded, until 1949, Eggleston was an adviser to the Department of External Affairs, and wrote a course of lectures in diplomacy for the diplomatic cadets. He was chairman of the Advisory Committee to examine questions relating to the Japanese peace settlement. In 1946 Eggleston was appointed to the Interim Council of the Australia National University and was actively involved in the University's affairs until 1951.

His Reflections of an Australian liberal was published in December 1952; it dealt with political parties and leaders and aroused considerable interest.

Eggleston died in Melbourne on 12 November 1954.

References: The Australian encyclopaedia, Vol. 3 (Sydney, Angus and Robertson, 1958) Osmond, Warren. Frederic Eggleston : an intellectual in Australian politics (Sydney : George Allen Unwin, 1985)

Provenance:

The papers were received from the family of Sir Frederic Eggleston after his death in 1954.

Indexed terms

Names:
Frederic William Eggleston

Access and use

Conditions Governing Access:
Access conditions may apply to this collection, please refer to the collection's catalogue record for further information (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2246008).
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 Frederic William Eggleston, National Library of Australia, MS 423, [box number and series and/or file number]'.
Location of this collection:
Parkes Place
Canberra ACT 2600, Australia
Contact:
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