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The New Settlers' League and Australian Immigration

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The New Settlers' League and Australian Immigration ResearchOnline@JCU This file is part of the following reference: Stockdale, Jacqueline Mary (2016) Empty spaces and smiling faces: the New Settlers' League and Australian immigration. PhD thesis, James Cook University. Access to this file is available from: http://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/49950/ The author has certified to JCU that they have made a reasonable effort to gain permission and acknowledge the owner of any third party copyright material included in this document. If you believe that this is not the case, please contact [email protected] and quote http://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/49950/ Jacqueline Mary Stockdale BA Hons (1st Class, English and History), James Cook University Empty Spaces and Smiling Faces: The New Settlers' League and Australian Immigration Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (History) College of Arts, Society and Education James Cook University June, 2016 Every reasonable effort has been made to gain permission and acknowledge the owners of copyright material. I would be pleased to hear from any copyright owner who has been omitted or incorrectly acknowledged. i Acknowledgements First and foremost, I convey my sincere gratitude and appreciation to my advisors, Russell McGregor and Dr Claire Brennan.1 Since my earliest undergraduate days, Russell, with his breadth of knowledge and experience, has been a constant and reliable source of advice, encouragement and reassurance and I have been greatly privileged to have him as my advisor. I am particularly grateful that, in retirement, he has remained as available and responsive as always. Claire, too, has provided encouragement and assisted me with queries, and I her continued attention even while on maternity leave and juggling motherhood commitments with her two little boys. Also of great value over the past few years of research and writing has been the companionship and support of my fellow postgraduate history students. Our regular weekly morning teas have been a pleasant means of sharing the many highs and lows of the doctoral experience. Thank you also to my many work colleagues, family members and friends who have taken an interest in the progress of my thesis over the past few years; it will be a pleasure to at last be able to say to each of you that it has been completed. Final thanks are reserved for my husband, Rob Stockdale, whose back has ached from hours spent in archives stooped over documents to photograph them for me, whose ears have endured many hours of angst and elation, often at two, three or four in the morning, and whose support has never wavered. 1 Assoc Prof Russell McGregor acted as Primary Advisor for the majority of my candidature until his retirement, since when he has continued as Secondary Advisor in his role as Adjunct Professor. Dr Claire Brennan, who had been my Secondary Advisor, assumed the role of Primary Advisor. ii Statement of the Contribution of Others In their roles as advisors, Dr Claire Brennan and Russell McGregor provided timely and incisive comments, suggestions and advice on drafts for thesis chapters, confirmation and pre-completion seminars, and conference presentations. Financial assistance in the form of an Australian Postgraduate Award was gratefully received from James Cook University. Financial assistance was also received upon being awarded a National Archives of Australia/Australian Historical Association Postgraduate Scholarship which provided funds to cover costs of copying and digitising records held in the National Archives so that they were accessible online. This was very much appreciated. Research assistance was provided by my husband, Robert Stockdale, who photographed documents during research trips to Canberra, Adelaide and Brisbane. iii Abstract Population and immigration have long been concerns for colonial, Commonwealth and state governments in Australia, with issues such as empty spaces, a vulnerable north, national development, labour supply, and race persistently arising. So too has settlement, the corollary of immigration, proved challenging, particularly in regional and rural areas and in the country’s north. “Empty Spaces and Smiling Faces” examines a significant but overlooked contributor to Australia's immigration and settlement history, the New Settlers' League of Australia. The New Settlers League emerged from collaboration between the Commonwealth, states and civil society in the years following World War One when unprecedented national significance was given to immigration. Funded initially by the Commonwealth and later by state governments, the league was formed in March 1921 to promote British migration and provide aftercare to immigrants by ensuring they were welcomed, employed and integrated into their new communities. The New Settlers' League expanded into a vast and vigorous network spanning the country and lasting from several years in most states to many decades in Queensland. This thesis examines the league from its formation to its demise. Immigration is an issue vital to understanding the Australian nation as it is and as it aspires to be. Consequently, the history, influence and contribution of the New Settlers' League merit detailed exploration. Though a few historians have made reference to the league, no detailed account has been published. This thesis redresses that void. It first considers the historical background of Australian immigration and iv factors that led to the league’s formation then examines how the league pursued its four main objectives and what led to the demise of four state divisions, followed by a separate exploration of the exceptional Queensland division. The final chapter examines the contributions of the league’s members, particularly women, and their motives for volunteering. This thesis augments existing research by appraising the New Settlers’ League in the context of Australia’s immigration history. As a volunteer organisation, the league played a major role in immigration and settlement, not only promoting immigration’s benefits to an often doubtful Australian public, but undertaking responsibility for the welfare, employment, accommodation and social needs of many thousands of immigrants over many years. From its beginning when immigration programmes were exclusively British-focused, until mid-century when there was a broader embrace of peoples from many nations, the New Settlers’ League made a remarkable contribution to Australia’s success as a nation of immigrants. v Table of Contents Acknowledgements i Statement of Contribution of Others ii Abstract iii Table of Contents v List of Plates vi List of Abbreviations vii Introduction 1 Chapter One: “A Nation of Immigrants” 13 Chapter Two: “Preach Always the Gospel of Immigration” 46 Chapter Three: “Open Doors and Open Hearts” 87 Chapter Four: “The Feet that Tread the Fields” 116 Chapter Five: “Energy and Thrift” 152 Chapter Six: “Thus to Put the Settler on His Feet” 186 Chapter Seven: And Then There Was One… 218 Chapter Eight: No Quitters in Queensland 250 Chapter Nine: “A Fine Worker” 298 Conclusion 328 Bibliography 335 vi List of Plates Pl.1 Henry Somer Gullett, 1919 p1 Pl.2 Front cover of Unguarded Australia by H S Gullett p38 Pl.3 Advertisement for Ugly Man Competition p57 Pl.4 Photograph of delegates to First Interstate Conference p67 Pl.5 NSL Women’s Committee function p102 Pl.6 Sir Joseph Carruthers’ “Million Farms” map p105 Pl.7 Table of Australia’s Unemployment figures, 1918-22 p119 Pl.8 Poster, “A Million Farms for a Million Farmers” p140 Pl.9 Application to hire an adult migrant as a farm hand p150 Pl.10 Information for migrants on housing and accommodation p215 Pl.11 Table showing numbers of assisted immigration, 1914-26 p223 Pl.12 Tables showing assisted passages decline, 1927-33 p224 Pl.13 Newspaper photograph of Fruit Week Competition winners p262 Pl.14 Queensland Immigration Office - passage fares for 1929 p281 Pl.15 Yungaba Immigration Centre, Kangaroo Pt, Brisbane p283 Pl.16 NSL Queensland organisational structure, 1950 p287 Pl.17 Letterhead, GNC Queensland, 1959 p295 Pl.18 Connie Clayton and New Settlers' League members, 1958 p325 vii List of Abbreviations Australian Agricultural Company AAC Australian Bureau of Statistics ABS Australian Dictionary of Biography ADB Australian National University ANU Big Brother Movement BBM British Oversea Settlement Department BOSD Captain Capt. Cambridge University Press CUP Commonwealth Migration Office CMO Farmers and Settlers Association FSA Good Neighbour Council GNC House of Representatives HOR Macquarie Valley Irrigation League MVIL National Archives of Australia NAA National Archives of the United Kingdom NAUK National Council of Women NCW New Settlers’ League of Australia NSL Parliament of Australia P of A Prime Minister PO Prime Minister’s Office PMO Queensland State Archives QSA Returned Soldiers and Sailors Imperial League of Australia RSSILA Senate Sen Sydney Morning Herald SMH Society for Oversea Settlement of British Women SOSBW Ugly Men’s Association UMA Victoria League VL World War One WWI World War Two WWII 1 Introduction Pl.1 Henry Somer Gullett conceptualised the New Settlers’ League of Australia and was instrumental in its formation.1 Australia has five millions of people. Of those fully half live in cities and towns. About five-sixths of the population live on the southern half of the continent. The magnificent fertile North is empty, ungarrisoned. And in Asia and Europe there are hundreds of millions of people starving for land and lack of elbow-room.
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