Formation of the United Australia Party, 1930-1931

Component identifier:

Series 49

Content Summary:

In January 1931 J. A. Lyons resigned as Postmaster-General in the Scullin Government and left the Australian Labor Party, followed by five other Federal parliamentarians. In March 1931 Latham and Lyons had discussions and under pressure from the Capel Court Group and from political bodies such as the All for Australia League the Nationalist Party decided to seek immediate unity between the Opposition parties. On 17 April 1931 Latham announced that the Nationalist Party was prepared to join Lyons and his supporters in forming a new party under Lyons' leadership. On 7 May 1931 the United Australia Party was formed. The Country Party declined to join the new party and at the State level negotiations and conflict between the Nationalist Party and other conservative groups continued for many months before they achieved unity.

The series consists mostly of correspondence recording the negotiations, disputes and agreements between the Opposition parties between March and November 1931. Items 1-100 are correspondence between Latham and Lyons, Archdale Parkhill, Federal parliamentarians, Country Party leaders, state branches of the Nationalist Party, the All for Australia League, the Sane Democracy League, and the Producers' Advisory Council.

Items 101-180 consist of typescript papers, including Lyons' seven-point policy (26 March 1931), the joint statement of Latham, Lyons and T. Paterson (27 March 1931), notes by Latham on the events of 24 March-7 April 1931, Latham's statement declaring his Party's willingness to serve under Lyons (17 April 1931), resolutions of a conference between the National Association of New South Wales and the All for Australia League, and of the Australian National Federation Interstate Conference (April 1931), the agenda for the meeting of parliamentarians which formed the United Australia Party (7 May 1931), and papers on a unity conference in Sydney attended by the National Association, the United Country Movement, the All for Australia League and the Producers' Advisory Council (31 November 1931).

There are a small number of newscuttings and the rest of the papers are letters congratulating Latham on his decision to give up the leadership (Items 196-420). Later papers on the United Australia Party are contained in Series 51.

Comprises Files 1-9 (Items 1-420).

Immediate source of acquisition:

The bulk of the collection was presented to the National Library by Sir John Latham in December 1963, a few months before his death. In November 1974 the Library purchased some further papers from a secondhand book dealer. They comprised family letters and photographs, some diaries and papers relating to the High Court. These papers have been amalgamated into the original collection.

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