Australian Council for Civil Liberties, 1936-1947

Containers:

Box 24 (MS 2505)

Component identifier:

Series 9

Content Summary:

The Australian Council for Civil Liberties was formed in Melbourne in December 1935, with the aim of assisting in the maintenance of the rights of the citizens, especially freedom of speech, press and assembly. Barry was a foundation member and Vice-President. On the death of Maurice Blackburn in 1944, Barry succeeded him as President and held that office until 1947 when he resigned on his appointment to the Bench.

Correspondence, notes and printed material are contained in the series. Almost all the letters, which date from 1936 until 1947, are from Brian Fitzpatrick and discuss the Council's attitudes to amendments to the Australian Broadcasting Commission Act (1938), Fitzpatrick's alleged unauthorised statements on behalf of the Council (1940), National Security Regulations (1940-1942), the cases of Walliss, Coleman, West and Schmolka, and the matter of Indonesian repatriates (1945). Published material includes Civil liberty Vol. 2, no.1, March 1938, The Case against the Crimes Act (1937), Six acts against civil liberties (1937), Judge Foster's banned speech (1938), The war and civil rights Series 1, 2 and 3, (1940-1941), all published on behalf of the Council, How Australia is governed by D.M. Davies (1939) and National security and individual insecurity by Brian Fitzpatrick (1939).

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