Guide to the Papers of Henry Bournes Higgins, 1840-1976

Summary

Collection number:

MS 1057

Creator:

H. B. Higgins

Extent:

2.70 metres and (11 ms boxes + 3 archive boxes + 2 medium phase boxes + 1 small folio box + 1 folio packet + 2 packets)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Henry Higgins, National Library of Australia, MS 1057, [series and/or file number]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for reference. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The greater part of the H. B. Higgins correspondence concerns his work as first president of the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Court (1906-22), and the politics of the period as they affected his position and authority; among his correspondents are the leading politicians and legal figures of the day. There is also correspondence relating to Higgins' support for Irish Home Rule (1911-21), and some personal correspondence notably with his niece Nettie Palmer (nee Higgins). In addition there are notebooks of Higgins' speeches, legal extracts, private journals including an account of Henry's voyage to Australia in 1870, and a family tour of India and Europe in 1886, and volumes of press cuttings.

The Higgins Family correspondence dates from 1841 and comprises mainly letters between Henry's parents John and Annie Higgins. John Higgins, a Wesleyan minister, travelled on circuit in Northern Ireland and continued Victoria in 1870. The latter portion of the family correspondence includes letters of Nettie Higgins (Palmer) to her mother, 1894 to 1910, and letters of Mervyn Higgins (Son of H. B. Higgins) to his parents, written from Oxford, London, Melbourne and Egypt over the period 1900 to 1916.

Biographical Note:

Chronology

Date	Event
1851	June 3 Date of birth, County Down, Ireland
1870	Migrated to Victoria with his family
1875	Graduated LL. B., M.A., from University of Melbourne; called to the Victorian Bar in 1876
1876	Was admitted to the English Bar
1894	Entered politics as M. L. A. for Geelong. In the Federal Convention of 1897-98 Higgins was a member of the judiciary committee, and he sided with the Labour party in its attempts to reject the Federation Bill.
1901	Represented North Melbourne in the first CommonwealthParliament; in the second Parliament, he was appointedAttorney-General in J. C. Watson's Labour ministry of 1904.
1906	Became Justice of the High Court, with the special dutyof presiding over theFederal Court of Conciliation andArbitration, in which capacity he established the principleson which Federal arbitration awards should be based.
1922	Higgins resigned from the Presidency of the Court but retained his seat on the High Court Bench.
1929	Died at Dromana, Victoria.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged in seven series beginning with H. B. Higgins correspondence (Series 1) and the Higgins Family correspondence (Series 2) both arranged in separate chronological order.

Container List:

Series	Item(s)	Box
1	1-530	1
1	531-740	2
2	741-1007	2
2	1008-1638	3
2	1639-2409	4
2	2410-3015	5-6
2	Folders of letters; 2 vols of typescripts	5-6
3	-	6-8
4	-	8-9 and Folio 4
5	-	10, 14 and Folio 6
6	-	10-11, 14 and Folio 5
7	-	11-13 and Folios 1-3

Related

Related Documentation:

1. Supplementary finding aid (Type: pdf, Size: 234.09 KB)

   Appendix I - Correspondence Index

2. Supplementary finding aid (Type: pdf, Size: 209.37 KB)

   Appendix 2 - Published Materials Index

Separated Material:

For a list of published materials that were in the collection, refer to Appendix 2 (see 'Related Documentation').

Other Finding Aids:

An index to correspondents in Series 1 is available, refer to Appendix 1 (see 'Related Documentation').

Conditions Governing Access:

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn540859).

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 Henry Higgins, National Library of Australia, MS 1057, [series and/or file number]'.

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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