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Earle Page and the Imagining of Australia ‘NOW IS THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MOMENT’ EARLE PAGE AND THE IMAGINING OF AUSTRALIA ‘NOW IS THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MOMENT’ EARLE PAGE AND THE IMAGINING OF AUSTRALIA STEPHEN WILKS Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what’s a heaven for? Robert Browning, ‘Andrea del Sarto’ The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything. Edward John Phelps Earle Page as seen by L.F. Reynolds in Table Talk, 21 October 1926. Published by ANU Press The Australian National University Acton ACT 2601, Australia Email: [email protected] Available to download for free at press.anu.edu.au ISBN (print): 9781760463670 ISBN (online): 9781760463687 WorldCat (print): 1198529303 WorldCat (online): 1198529152 DOI: 10.22459/NPM.2020 This title is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). The full licence terms are available at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode This publication was awarded a College of Arts and Social Sciences PhD Publication Prize in 2018. The prize contributes to the cost of professional copyediting. Cover design and layout by ANU Press. Cover photograph: Earle Page strikes a pose in early Canberra. Mildenhall Collection, NAA, A3560, 6053, undated. This edition © 2020 ANU Press CONTENTS Illustrations . ix Acknowledgements . xi Abbreviations . xiii Prologue: ‘How Many Germans Did You Kill, Doc?’ . xv Introduction: ‘A Dreamer of Dreams’ . 1 1 . Family, Community and Methodism: The Forging of Page’s World View . .. 17 2 . ‘We Were Determined to Use Our Opportunities to the Full’: Page’s Rise to National Prominence . 59 3 . The Use of Power: Treasurer Page Pursues His National Vision . 109 4 . Government and Party: The Basis of Page’s Power . 135 5 . Page and the Final Throes of the Bruce–Page Government: Challenging the Nation through Planning and Federalism . 151 6 . Page Audacious: The 1930s . .179 7 . Post-War Page: Hopes amidst Frustrations . 241 8 . Page Indefatigable: His Last Years in Public Life . 287 Conclusions: ‘A Man’s Reach Should Exceed His Grasp’ . 325 Bibliography . 335 Index . 379 ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1: Earle Page strikes a pose in early Canberra. Mildenhall Collection, NAA, A3560, 6053, undated ...................3 Figure 2: ‘He went about doing good’: Earle Page panel, Page Memorial Window, Wesley and St Aidan’s Uniting Church, Canberra ...................................24 Figure 3: Charles and Annie Page with their family, c. 1890 ........28 Figure 4: Page’s beloved Clarence Valley region ..................29 Figure 5: Ulrich Ellis .....................................55 Figure 6: Sydney and the North, New State Magazine, June 1923 ....83 Figure 7: The new Bruce–Page Ministry at its swearing-in ceremony, 1923 .....................................96 Figure 8: Charles Hardy, c. 1931: Regional demagogue pictured in respectable mode .................................189 Figure 9: Earle Page with Ethel Page on his return to Australia, August 1942 ......................................253 Figure 10: Post-war Australia divided into 97 Regional Development Committees, as seen by the Chifley Government ...........267 Figure 11: Cover of Page’s 1944 booklet, Clarence River Hydro-Electric Gorge Scheme ...........................279 Figure 12: The new Menzies Ministry 1949 ...................294 ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This is a study of the ideas held by an intelligent, dedicated, somewhat eccentric visionary, and of his attempts to shape the young Australian nation. It challenges, I hope convincingly, misconceptions about Earle Page. It sets him in wide context, both in terms of what was happening around him and of trying to interpret the implications his career has for Australia’s history. It contributes to filling a gap in perceptions of the Australian past and may also have relevance for today’s political environment surrounding national development policy. Thanks foremost and immensely to Professor Nicholas Brown of The Australian National University School of History, my supervisor for the thesis that formed the basis for this book. Thanks also to Frank Bongiorno, Peter Stanley, Linda Botterill, James Walter, A.J. Brown and Brian Costar; staff and students of the School of History, ANU, including those in the National Centre of Biography; and Kent Fedorowich of the University of the West of England. Also staff of the National Library of Australia; the University of New England and Regional Archives; the University of Melbourne Archives; the National Archives of Australia; Wesley and St Aidan’s Uniting Church; ANU Archives; the University of Sydney Archives; Hardie Grant Travel; and of the Museum of Australian Democracy, notably David Jolliffe. Louise Graul searched for traces of Page in the archives of Sydney Boys High School. Paul Davey, historian of the Country Party and its later incarnations, also provided assistance. Patrick Robertson volunteered to recatalogue the Page papers in the National Library of Australia, undertaken well after I had conducted most of my research but still a signal development that will ease the path for future researchers of Page’s rich life. I am also very grateful to friend and neighbour Peter xi ‘NOW IS THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MOMENT’ Stevens for his personal generosity in volunteering his time to comment on early drafts. Geoff Hunt was not only a highly skilled copyeditor, but also a valued source of wider advice. I met several people who encountered Page in person, including the late Ann Moyal who undertook the formidable task of editing the draft of his Truant Surgeon. In doing so, she turned this memoir into Australia’s foremost prime ministerial autobiography. Helen Snyders and Geoff Page, members of the inestimable Page clan, were both immensely helpful with documents and personal recollections. Thanks too to Jim and Philippa Page and all the residents of Heifer Station: Earle Page’s attachment to his home base and the gloriously fertile Clarence River region is eminently understandable. And to Max Ellis, son of the highly observant pioneering chronicler of the Country Party and the new state cause. I alone am responsible for opinions and errors. Lastly and most importantly, my very special thanks to Jenni for her tolerance over years of my incessant tapping and self-imposed seclusion. No one could have been more loving and supportive. And of course Jim, inevitably. This research was supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship. Some of the capitalisation and spelling of common terms appearing in quotes has been made consistent with usage in the rest of this volume. Units of electricity replicate the original usage employed in each quote and source. Stephen Wilks, The Australian National University, Canberra xii ABBREVIATIONS AAC Australian Agricultural Council ACPA Australian Country Party Association AFFO Australian Farmers’ Federal Organisation AIF Australian Imperial Force AIPS Australian Institute of Political Science ALP Australian Labor Party ANU The Australian National University BMA British Medical Association (Australia) CRCC Clarence River County Council CSIR Council for Scientific and Industrial Research CSIRO Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation DMC Development and Migration Commission EPP Earle Page Papers, National Library of Australia FRM Federal Reconstruction Movement FSA Farmers and Settlers’ Association MHR Member of the House of Representatives MLA Member of the Legislative Assembly MLC Member of the Legislative Council MP Member of Parliament NAA National Archives of Australia NHMRC National Health and Medical Research Council NLA National Library of Australia RRC Rural Reconstruction Commission xiii ‘NOW IS THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MOMENT’ SEC State Electricity Commission of Victoria TVA Tennessee Valley Authority UAP United Australia Party UCM United Country Movement UCP United Country Party of New South Wales UNE University of New England USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics VFU Victorian Farmers’ Union WEA Workers’ Educational Association xiv PROLOGUE ‘How Many Germans Did You Kill, Doc?’ Late on the morning of 20 April 1939, Earle Page – surgeon, grazier, newspaper proprietor, treasurer and prime minister – delivered the most notorious speech ever heard in the parliament of Australia. His carefully worded but scandalously bitter attack on the personal fitness of Robert Menzies to serve as prime minister not only earned Page outraged condemnation at the time, but also has grossly distorted perceptions of him ever since. This is despite Page having been the most remarkable visionary to hold political power in Australia. His determined efforts to realise the nation’s economic potential by recasting it as a decentralised, regionalised and rationally planned society have never been laid out with proper justice to the richness of this vision. He was effervescent, intelligent and persistent. The main constraint on the man was his own tendency to overestimate how eminently practical his plans surely were. Page was himself prime minister when he launched his attack on Menzies. He had been sworn in 13 days before on a caretaker basis following the death in office of Joseph Lyons from heart failure. The much-loved Lyons had led the United Australia Party (UAP), the senior partner in a governing coalition with the Country Party of which Page had himself been federal parliamentary leader since 1921. The choice of Page to step into the prime ministership was aided by the UAP’s lack of a deputy leader when Lyons died. This
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