Trade Mission to North America, 1959-1961

Component identifier:

Series 42

Content Summary:

Following the renegotiation of the Australia-Canada Trade Agreement in October 1959, the Australian Minister for Trade J. McEwen invited Copland to lead a trade mission to Canada and the USA. Copland's term in Canada as Australia's High Commissioner 1953-1956 and his excellent standing within the business community made him a good choice. He accepted the invitation and led the team of 30 Australian industrialists and manufacturers to North America during April and June 1960. A brief history of the mission appears in a supplement to vol. 13, no. 1 of Overseas Trading, published by the Department of Trade in June 1961.

Series 42 is devoted to the trade mission. There are telegrams and correspondence 1959-60, itineraries, photographs, newspaper cuttings, press releases, lists of mission members, a few printed items, and some speeches. The correspondence includes letters to Copland from McEwen, Angus Paltridge of the Department of Trade, some of the businessmen who accompanied Copland, Canadian trade representatives, and the Canadian High Commissioner in Australia T.W.C. McDermot. There are also draft and roneoed copies of Copland's report on the mission's achievements, 1960.

Immediate source of acquisition:

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.

Names:

Copland, D.B. (Douglas Berry), 1894-1971

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