Guide to the Papers of Sir Douglas Copland, 1907-1971

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Summary

Collection number:
MS 3800
Creator:
Copland, D.B. (Douglas Berry), 1894-1971
Extent:
25.6 metres and (159 boxes + 5 folio items)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Sir Douglas Copland, National Library of Australia, MS 3800, [series and file number]'.
Availability:
Available
Access conditions:
Available for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The collection spans the years 1907-1971 and covers most facets of Copland's immensely active academic and public life. The correspondence is especially valuable. Most of the letters are accompanied by typed copies of Copland's replies and were received from a great variety of correspondents. Secondly, for the 1920s and 1930s, almost every significant Australian economist is represented. Thirdly, Copland's interest in all of the social sciences and participation in organisations with similar interests are documented principally via the correspondence.

There are nevertheless some important gaps. There is virtually a total absence of documents on Copland's wartime work as Commonwealth Prices Commissioner and Economic Adviser to the Prime Minister. There is nothing on his term as a Commissioner with the State Savings Bank of Victoria or his trips to America in 1944-1945, 1946 and 1951, the former including membership of the Australian Delegation at the first United Nations General Assembly. Finally, the collection is silent on his membership of the New Zealand Committee on Budgetary and Economic Policy in 1932.

Biographical Note:

In 1960, at the end of an article on Sir Douglas Copland's career, A.A. Calwell referred to 'the diversity of his abilities, the range of his activities, and the extent of his associations'. What follows is of necessity and is the merest outline of Copland's extraordinary life and work. In the absence of a full-scale biography, it will concentrate on those areas of his career specially covered by the collection.

Douglas Berry Copland was born on 24 February 1894 at Otaio, between Timaru and Waimate in the Canterbury Plains of the South Island, New Zealand. He was the thirteenth of sixteen children born to Alexander and Annie Copland, wheat farmers from Scotland. From 1899 to 1906 he attended Esk Valley Primary School and spent the next six years at the Waimate District High School. By the time he left New Zealand in 1917, Copland had taught at his old high school and at Christchurch Boys' High School, studied teaching at the Christchurch Teachers' College, and gained Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees at Canterbury College. In addition, he tutored for the Workers' Educational Association and worked as a Compiler in the Census and Statistics Office of the Department of Internal Affairs. Copland's love of teaching and fascination with economics stems from these years - in particular from his work on his father's wheat farm and the research for his M.A. thesis, 'The progress and importance of wheat production in New Zealand'.

Between 1917 and 1924 Copland was Lecturer in History and Economics and subsequently Professor of Economics at the University of Tasmania. During the next 20 years he was Dean of the Faculty of Commerce at the University of Melbourne and its Sidney Myer Professor of Commerce. There was also a brief period during 1944-1945 when Copland was the first Truby Williams Professor of Economics at the University of Melbourne. As a Faculty head, he was involved in university administration. During the 1930s there were appointments to the Professorial Board as its Chairman, the position of Acting Vice Chancellor in 1936, and the chairmanship of the Union Board in 1938.

In conjunction with academic work, Copland repeatedly made himself available as an economic adviser. His views were sought by the Hobart City Council in 1923 regarding rates, by the Development and Migration Commission in 1927 regarding economic development, by S.M. Bruce in 1928 regarding tariff policy, and by J.A. Scullin in 1930 and the Loan Council in 1931 regarding the Depression. The New Zealand Government also employed his help in 1932. In 1934, at the invitation of J.A. Lyons, Copland joined a committee of inquiry into the rural debt. During the 1930s both the Victorian and New South Wales governments retained Copland for advice on matters ranging from overseas investment to State railways. Non-government bodies were equally anxious to enlist help, including the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce, the Bank of New South Wales, and Atlantic Oil Company Limited.

During the inter-war years, Copland travelled overseas three times. Prior to becoming the Rockefeller Foundation's Representative in Australia, he visited the United States of America and Europe in 1926 to study university courses in the social sciences and to consult with the Foundation in New York. On the second visit, in 1934, he was an Alternate Delegate to S.M. Bruce at the 14th General Assembly of the League of Nations as well as acting as one of Bruce's advisers at the World Economic Conference in London. Here, Copland also attended the 6th International Studies Conference, sponsored by the League of Nations. He was again overseas in 1936, primarily to attend the Tercentenary Conference of Harvard University and to receive from the University an honorary Litt.D.

Copland's principal appointments during the war of 1939-1945 were those of Commonwealth Prices Commissioner and Economic Consultant to both R.G. Menzies and John Curtin. There was also a good deal of work on related committees, including the Financial and Economic Advisory Committee, the Price Stabilisation Committee, and the Marine War Risks Insurance Board. The role of the Prime Minister's chief economic adviser, in particular, involved close attention to post-war planning. In 1944-45 Copland was again in the United States to study reconstruction schemes, such as the Tennessee Valley Authority, but also to attend as an adviser at the first United Nations General Assembly at Lake Success.

The Second World War in effect ended Copland's teaching career and yet provided his best opportunity to directly influence government economic policy. Following a very brief return to the University of Melbourne his career turned to diplomacy and administration. Between 1946 and 1948 he represented Australia in the Republic of China; returned to a four and half year term as the foundation Vice-Chancellor of the Australian National University; and in 1953 began a triennium in Ottawa, Canada, as Australia's High Commissioner. En route Copland agreed to represent Australia at the Inter-governmental Committee on European Migration in Rome, partly due to his interest in population growth and his membership since 1948 of the Commonwealth Immigration Planning Council. In 1954 he also attended, with W.D. Borrie, the World Population Conference in Rome. While in Canada, Copland was also Australia's official representative on several United Nations bodies including its Economic and Social Council. After yet another founding appointment, that of Principal of the Australian Administrative Staff College (1956-1960), Copland was again in America as Leader of a Trade Mission.

Two other positions should be mentioned. In 1958 Copland joined a government committee inquiring into the production of officers for the Australian Regular Army. Secondly, in 1961, he accepted an invitation to be the first Director of the Institute of Labour Studies in Geneva. Following policy disagreements with the Director-General of the Institute's sponsor, the International Labour Organisation, he resigned and returned to Australia.

The last 11 years of Copland's life, 1961-1971, were spent in active retirement in Melbourne and Mt. Macedon, Victoria. There were Directorships with a number of companies - the largest being Ansett Transport Industries - and some consultancy work with firms like Walter Ham and Associates and P.A. Management Consultants Pty Ltd. His most important and lasting work, however, was on behalf of the National Council for Balanced Development and for the Committee for Economic Development of Australia which he founded.

In his history of the University of Melbourne, Geoffrey Blainey wrote 'The outstanding trend in Australian administrative life in the twenties and thirties was the rise to power of the economists...' This was indisputably true of Copland, arguably pre-eminent among them, and was in a large part due to his pedagogy outside the University. Through his innumerable speeches, newspaper articles, and other writing, he was, like other university men such as Murdoch, Scott, and Wood, the very antithesis of an 'ivory tower' academic. As the bibliography of his works in the Economic Record and Series 8 and Series 9 show, Copland's written output was enormous. His The Australian economy: simple economic studies (Angus Robertson, 1931) became a standard text and a number of his memorial lectures came to be described as classic statements of some of the fundamental issues in economics.

In addition to formal doctorates from the Universities of Melbourne and New Zealand, Copland was awarded honorary degrees from seven Australian and overseas universities. His visiting lectureships included appointments at Cambridge, Oxford, and Harvard Universities, and University College, Dublin. For his contribution to Australia's understanding of and recovery from the Depression, he was made a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. In 1950 Copland was decorated a Knight of the British Empire.

Sir Douglas Copland died in September 1971, survived by Lady Copland and his two daughters.

Provenance:

Lady Copland presented the personal papers of Sir Douglas Copland to the National Library in September 1973. Additions to the collection were received from the Copland Family between 1977 and 1981.

Container List:
Series File(s) Box
1 1-8a (1917-1927) 1
1 8b-14 (1927-1929) 2
1 15-22 (1929-1930) 3
1 23-29 (1930-1931) 4
1 30-37 (1931-1932) 5
1 38-46 (1932-1935) 6
1 47-56 (1937-1939) 7
1 57-65 (1939-1954) 8
1 66-74 (1955-1958) 9
1 74-83 (1959-1960) 10
1 84-92 (1960-1962) 11
1 93-101 (1962-1965) 12
1 102-111 (1965-1971) 13
2 1-3 14
3 1-3 14
4 1-4 + 2 bundles 15
4 5-11 16
4 12-19 17
5 1-4 18
6 1-4 19
7 1-4 + 2 bundles 20
7 5-12 21
7 13-20 + 1 bundle 22
7 21-28 23
8 1-6 + 3 bundles 24
8 7-16 25
8 17-25 26
8 26-34 27
8 35-43 28
8 44-52 29
9 1-7 30
9 8-16 31
9 17-23 32
9 24-26 33
10 2 bundles + loose material 33
10 1-4 + 3 bundles + 1 book 34
10 5-7 + 3 bundles 35
10 8-13 + 1 bundle 36
10 14-15 + 4 bundles 37
11 1 38
12 1-7 38
12 8-15 + 2 books 39
12 16-22 40
12 23-30 41
12 31-38 42
12 39-48 43
12 49-52 44
13 1-2 44
14 1-5 + 1 bundle 45
15 1-8 46
16 1-9 47
16 10-16 48
17 1-6 49
18/1 1-4 49
18/1 5-9 50
18/1 10-17 51
18/2 19-20 51
18/2 21-27 52
18/2 28-35 53
18/3 36-44 54
18/3 45-52 55
18/4 53-61 56
19 1-6 57
20 1-8 58
20 9-17 59
21 1-4 60
22 1 60
23 1-4 60
23 5-9 61
24 1-3 61
24 4-6 62
25 1-7 62
26 1-7 63
27/1 1-5 + 1 bundle 64
27/2 6-10 + 1 bundle 65
28 1-8 66
29 1-4 67
30 1-3 67
31 2 bundles 68
31 3 bundles 69
32 1-2 70
33 1-2 70
34 1-3 70
35 1-6 71
36 1 71
37 1 + 1 bundle 72
37 3 bundles 73
38 1-6 74
39 1-2 74
39 3-9 75
39 10-16 76
40 1-4 + 2 bundles 77
41 1-6 78
42 1-4 79
43 1-3 79
44 1 79
45 1 79
46 2 bundles 80
47 2 bundles 80
47 1-9 81
47 10 + 2 bundles 82
47 2 bundles 83
47 11-16 84
47 17-20 + 2 bundles 85
48 1 85
49 1 86
50 1 86
51 1-4 + 2 bundles 86
52 1 86
52 2-3 87
53 1-3 87
54 1-8 87
55 1-3 + 1 bundle 87
56 1 88
57 1-2 88
58 1-2 88
59 1 88
60 1 88
61 1 88
62 1-3 88
63 1-7 89
64 1 bundle 90
64 1-9 + 1 bundle 91
64 5 bundles 92
64 4 bundles 93
64 Loose CEDA publications 94
64 Loose CEDA publications 95
64 Loose CEDA publications 96
65 1-9 97
65 10-17 98
65 18-25 99
66 1-2 100
67 1-6 100
67 7-13 101
68 1-2 102
69 1-2 102
70 1-2 102
71 1-2 102
72 1 102
73 1 103
74 1-2 103
75 1-3 103
76 1-4 103
77 1-9 104
77 10-17 105
77 18-24 106
77 25-32 107
77 33-40 107
77 41-44 109
78 1-3 110
79 1 110
80 1 110
81 1 110
82 1 110
83 1 110
84 1 110
85 1 110
86 1 110
87 1-6 111
88 1-2 112
89 1-3 + address book 112
90 1-9 (A) 113
90 10-19 (A-B) 114
90 20-32 (B-C) 115
90 33-45 (C) 116
90 46-54 (C-D) 117
90 55-67 (E) 118
90 68-75 (F) 119
90 76-81 (F-G) 120
90 82-92 (H-I) 121
90 93-104 (J-M) 122
90 105-111 (N) 123
90 112-119 (N-P) 124
90 120-128 (P) 125
90 129-149 (R-S) 126
90 150-166 (T-U) 127
90 167-172 (U-W) 128
90 173-175 (W) 129
91 1-2 + 1 bundle 130
92 1-4 131
93 1-3 131
94 1-8 132
94 5 bundles 133
94 3 bundles 134
94 3 bundles 135
95 1 136
95 2-3 137
95 4-11 138
95 12-13 139
95 14-15 140
95 16-17 141
95 18-19 142
95 20-21 143
95 22-23 144
95 24-25 145
95 26-27 146
95 28-29 147
95 30-40 148
95 41-62 149
95 63-70 150
95 71-77 151
95 78-93 152
95 92-97 153
95 98-106 154
95 107-115 155
95 116-124 156
95 125-140 157
95 141-151 158
95 152-160 159

Access and use

Conditions Governing Access:
The collection is available for research. Not for loan.
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 Sir Douglas Copland, National Library of Australia, MS 3800, [series and file number]'.
Location of this collection:
Parkes Place
Canberra ACT 2600, Australia
Contact:
Contact us