Guide to the Papers of John Sinclair, 1956-1996

Summary

Collection number:

MS 8374

Creator:

Sinclair, John, 1939-

Extent:

15.54 metres and (111 boxes)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of John Sinclair, National Library of Australia, MS 8374, [series and/or file number]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for reference. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The bulk of the collection comprises papers relating to Sinclair's involvement in the Fraser Island Defenders Organisation (FIDO) and the campaign to stop sand mining on Fraser Island. The FIDO papers include corporate records; correspondence with supporters, politicians and the media; papers relating to legal cases; scrapbooks; newspaper clippings and subject files. The papers also relate to Sinclair's interest in a number of other conservation organisations including the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland, the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), the Wide Bay Burnett Conservation Council and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCNNR). Other conservation projects represented in the papers are the National Conservation Strategy for Australia and the Working Group on Rainforest Conservation. There are also papers relating to Sinclair's employment in adult education and Technical and Further Education in Queensland, his involvement in defamation cases and a small quantity of personal papers.

Biographical Note:

John Sinclair was born on 13 July 1939 in Maryborough, Queensland and educated at Maryborough Boys' State High School. After leaving school in 1955, Sinclair worked in the family's service station business and as a farm hand before studying for a Diploma of Agriculture at Queensland Agricultural College, near Toowoomba (1957-1959). In 1960 Sinclair was offered a job by Jack Pizzey working in the Rural Youth Program in the Department of Education. While working for the Department, Sinclair completed his adult matriculation by correspondence. In 1967 Sinclair took a job with the Adult Education office in Maryborough. He enrolled in correspondence courses towards a Bachelor of Economics degree at the University of Queensland, which he finished in 1974. In 1980, Sinclair was awarded a Diploma in Continuing Education from the University of New England.

In 1967, Bart Cavanagh and Sinclair established the Maryborough Field Naturalists' Club. This group later became a branch of the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland. Sinclair continued as the Honorary Secretary of the Branch and editor of its newsletter Wambaliman until 1978. Sinclair was also involved in the formation of the Gympie Field Naturalists' Club and the Bundaberg Branch of the Wildlife Preservation Society. In 1969 Sinclair became aware of the struggle to save Cooloola, a 28,000 hectare sandmass on the mainland of southern Queensland adjacent to Fraser Island, from sandmining. Dr Arthur Harrold, a medical practitioner from Noosa, led the campaign. The success of this campaign provided valuable lessons for Sinclair as well as alerting him to the possible threat to Fraser Island.

In January 1971, Murphyores Incorporated applied for two mining leases on Fraser Island. The Fraser Island Defence Organisation (FIDO) was formed in 1971 in response to the threat to Fraser Island, with Sinclair as President. In 1976, when the organisation became an incorporated body, its initials stood for the Fraser Island Defenders' Organisation. On 5 May 1975, the Fraser Island Environment Inquiry opened. The commissioners made a seven-day inspection of the island. Hearings were held in Maryborough and Brisbane until October. On 26 October 1976, the Report of the Environmental Inquiry was published. The report recommended that the export of Fraser Island minerals be prohibited and that the whole of Fraser Island be recorded as part of the National Estate. The Fraser Government introduced export bans from 31 December 1976.

Sinclair experienced intense harassment in his hometown of Maryborough and by the State Government following the decision over Fraser Island. In 1976 Sinclair was declared The Australian newspaper's Australian of the Year. In 1977 he sued Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen for defamation over questioning his ability to perform his job in adult education while being so heavily involved in the conservation struggle. After the writ was served in 1977, Sinclair's position as an adult education officer was abolished. After appealing to the Public Service Board, Sinclair was transferred to Ipswich College of TAFE where he was in charge of Extension Programs.

Sinclair initially won $500 damages plus costs for his defamation action in 1981. However, on appeal to the Full Court, the decision was overturned and Sinclair was ordered to pay Bjelke-Petersen's costs. Sinclair resigned his presidency of FIDO in favour of his son John, who remained president for the next 8 years. After receiving publicity, Sinclair received substantial donations from the public that he used to settle the debt and form the John Sinclair Trust for Fraser Island.

In 1982 Sinclair moved to Brisbane, where he worked as a research officer with the Curriculum Branch of the Division of TAFE until 1986. In 1986 Sinclair resigned from the Queensland Education Department. He and his wife Helen divorced in April 1986 and Sinclair moved to Sydney where he worked as a consultant and principal of Parramatta Evening College. In 1988 he established and operated GoBush Safaris. He married Sharan Daly in October 1988.

In 1992 Sinclair was appointed to a special committee to advise the Queensland Government on the management of Fraser Island and the Great Sandy Bay Region. In 1993 he was awarded the $60,000 Goldman Environmental Foundation prize in recognition of 20 years work to save Fraser Island.

Sinclair was the author of several books including Discovering Fraser Island (Peakhurst, N.S.W.: Pacific Maps, 1977), Discovering Cooloola (Peakhurst, N.S.W.: Pacific Maps, 1978) and his autobiography Fighting for Fraser Island: a man and an island.

Bibliographic Reference(s)

• John Sinclair (with Peter Corris). Fighting for Fraser Island: a man and an island. Alexandria, N.S.W.: Kerr Publishing, 1994.

Provenance:

The collection was donated to the Library by Sinclair in 1995 and 2000.

Arrangement:

When the papers were received by the Library, they were in a state of great disorder. In the first consignment, most cartons had been labelled, and these categories were used as the basis for the series structure. For the second instalment, the arrangement was determined by Library staff. While much of the collection was filed, the files had been kept in little discernable order. The arrangement of the contents of files has not been altered. Some files were water damaged and a small number of files were discarded due to their poor condition. A series of papers relating to the Fraser Island Environment Inquiry containing records of proceedings and evidence was discarded, as it duplicated material held by the National Archives of Australia (series A3913 and A3911).

Container List:

Series	File	Box
1	1-8	1
1	9-10	2
2	1-5	2
2	6-11	3
2	12-19	4
2	20-28	5
2	29	6
3	1-7	6
3	8-14	7
3	15-22	8
3	23-29	9
3	30-35	10
3	36-38	11
4	1-3	11
4	4-10	12
4	11-18	13
4	19-25	14
4	26-31	15
4	32-36	16
5.1	1-9	17
5.1	10-17	18
5.1	18-25	19
5.2	1-8	20
5.2	9-15	21
5.2	16-23	22
5.2	24-30	23
5.2	31-37	24
5.2	38-45	25
5.2	46-53	26
5.2	54-60	27
5.2	61-69	28
5.2	70-77	29
5.2	78-85	30
5.2	86-91	31
5.3	1-3	31
5.3	4-10	32
5.3	11-19	33
5.3	20-27	34
5.3	28-35	35
5.3	36-43	36
5.4	1-8	37
5.4	9-16	38
5.4	17-19	39
5.5	1-4	39
5.5	5-11	40
5.5	12-19	41
5.5	20-25	42
5.5	26-31	43
5.5	32-38	44
5.5	39-44	45
5.5	45-49	46
5.5	50-56	47
5.5	57-61	48
5.6	1-2	48
5.6	3-10	49
5.6	11-17	50
5.6	18-24	51
5.6	25-32	52
5.6	33-34	53
5.7	1-6	53
5.7	7-15	54
5.8	1-13	55
5.8	14-24	56
5.8	25-33	57
5.8	34-41	58
5.9	1-8	59
5.9	9-16	60
5.9	17-23	61
5.9	24-30	62
5.9	31-38	63
5.9	39-46	64
5.9	47-54	65
5.9	55-62	66
5.9	63-68	67
5.9	69-75	68
5.9	76-82	69
5.9	83-91	70
5.9	92-97	71
5.9	98-104	72
5.1	1-8	73
5.1	9-16	74
5.1	17-24	75
6	1-6	76
6	7-11	77
6	12-17	78
6	18-24	79
6	25-31	80
6	32-39	81
6	40-47	82
6	48-54	83
6	55-61	84
6	62-67	85
6	68-74	86
6	75-80	87
6	81-87	88
6	88-92	89
6	93-100	90
6	101	91
7	1-6	91
7	7-14	92
7	15	93
8	1-7	93
8	8-14	94
8	15-21	95
8	22-28	96
8	29-34	97
8	35-36	98
9	1-5	98
9	6-12	99
10	1-5	100
10	6-12	101
10	13-17	102
10	18-20	103
11	1-5	103
11	6-11	104
11	12-18	105
11	19-25	106
11	26-32	107
11	33-35	108
12	1-5	108
12	6-12	109
13	1-5	110
13	6-12	111

Indexed terms

Names:

Sinclair, John, 1939-

Conditions Governing Access:

The collection is available for reference.

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 John Sinclair, National Library of Australia, MS 8374, [series and/or file number]'.

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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