Guide to the Papers of Sir Robert Cotton, 1937-2005

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Summary

Collection number:
MS 6730
Creator:
Cotton, Robert, Sir, 1915-2006
Extent:
8.70 metres and (23 MS Boxes + 7 medium Folio Boxes + 1 Large Folio Box + 3 Map Folios)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Sir Robert Cotton, National Library of Australia, MS 6730, [series and/or file number]'.
Availability:
Available
Access conditions:
Part available for research; part not available for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:
MS 6730 consists of correspondence, Cotton's writings including personal essays, speeches, and travel journals, photographic prints (including exhibition prints), negatives and slides, political memorabilia, financial statements and other records relating to sheep breeding at Oberon, newsclippings from early in political career, official documentation of overseas visits as Senator and Minister, official entertainment records from time as diplomat in New York and Washington, RAAF flying logbook, transcripts of oral history and television documentary interviews, annotated published materials.
Biographical Note:

Sir Robert Carrington Cotton was born in 1915 in Broken Hill, NSW, and educated at St Peter's College, Adelaide. He trained as pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force in 1942 and 1943 but did not see war service as he was seconded to the Department of Supply.

Cotton worked to establish the timber industry in Oberon, New South Wales as a wartime priority. After the war Cotton remained in Oberon as a businessman, sheep breeder and grazier.

Cotton was a member of the Australian Liberal Party from its foundation in 1944. He was State President of the Liberal Party of New South Wales from 1957 to 1960. He ran unsuccessfully for the seat of Macquarie in the 1963 federal election.

In 1965, Cotton was appointed to the Senate to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Sir William Spooner. He was Minister for Civil Aviation from 1969 to 1972 in the Gorton and McMahon governments, and Minister for Industry and Commerce from 1975 to 1977 in the Fraser government. He retired from Parliament in 1978.

Cotton was the Australian Consul-General in New York from 1978 to 1981, and Australian Ambassador to the United States of America in Washington DC from 1982 to 1985. He was a director of the Reserve Bank of Australia in 1981 and 1982 and chairman of the Australian National Gallery Foundation from 1991 to 1994.

Cotton held a lifelong passion for photography, a hobby he was inspired to take up by his cousin Olive Cotton in the 1930s. He exhibited landscape prints in both the United States and Australia. His photographs complement the extensive journals he kept on his travels within Australia and overseas.

Cotton was knighted (KCMG) in 1978 and was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1993. He received an honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of Sydney in 1995. Cotton died on Christmas Day, 2006, in Sydney.

Provenance:

The first papers were donated to the Library by Sir Robert Cotton on 25 March 1982. An additional donation was received on 27 July 1994, and added to MS 6730 on 25 August 1996. Further material was donated 3 and 8 July 2007 by Bob Cotton (Cotton's son) and merged with MS 6730 in February 2008.

Container List:
Series File/Item Box
1 1-9 1
1 10-14 2
2 1-5 2
2 6-12 3
2 13-17 4
2 18-24 5
2 25-31 6
2 32-38 7
2 39-45 8
2 46-49 9
3 1 9
4 1-4 10
4 5-7 11
5 1 12
6 1-8 13
6 9-11 14
6 12-19 15
7 1-7 Folio Box 1
7 8 Folio Box 2
8 1-2 Folio Box 2
8 3-4 Folio Box 3
9 1-6 12
9 7-9 16
9 10 Folio box 4
10 1-6 16
10 7-13 17
10 14-15 18
11 1-7 18
11 8-15 19
11 16-23 20
11 24-32 21
11 33-40 22
11 41-48 23
12 Folio Box 4
12 Folio Box 5
12 Folio Box 6
12 Folio Box 7
12 Folio Box 8
13 Elephant folio drawer
14 1-2 24
15 1-3 24

Indexed terms

Names:
Cotton, Robert, Sir, 1915-2006

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-vn539960).
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 Robert Cotton, National Library of Australia, MS 6730, [series and/or file number]'.
Location of this collection:
Parkes Place
Canberra ACT 2600, Australia
Contact:
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