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Earle Page and the Imagining of Australia

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Earle Page and the Imagining of Australia i “NOW IS THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MOMENT” – EARLE PAGE AND THE IMAGINING OF AUSTRALIA Stephen Leslie Wilks, September 2017 A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of The Australian National University © Copyright by Stephen Leslie Wilks, 2017 All Rights Reserved ii DECLARATION This thesis contains no material that has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any tertiary institution, and, to the best of my knowledge, contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference is made in the text. …………………………………………. Stephen Wilks September 2017 iii 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 wider 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 to-day’s political environment surrounding national development policy. Thanks foremostly and immensely to Professor Nicholas Brown of the Australian National University School of History, my thesis supervisor and main guide who patiently read and re-read drafts in order to help make this a far better thesis than it could ever have been otherwise. Thanks also to supervisory panel members Frank Bongiorno, Peter Stanley and Linda Botterill; staff and students of the ANU School of History 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, the Noel Butlin Archives Centre at the Australian National University and of the Museum of Australian Democracy, notably David Jolliffe. Paul Davey, historian of the Country Party and its later incarnations, also provided assistance. Patrick Robertson volunteered to re-catalogue 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 Stevens for his personal generosity in volunteering his time to read and comment on drafts. iv I met several people who encountered Page in person, including 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. 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 is supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship. Stephen Wilks Canberra, September 2017 v NOTES ON PRESENTATION OF THE TEXT Some of the capitalisation and spelling of common terms appearing in quotes has been made consistent with usage in the rest of this thesis. Units of electricity replicate the original usage employed in each quote and source. Page references to Truant Surgeon are for the widely available paperback reprint by Black Inc., retitled simply Earle Page. vi ABSTRACT Earle Christmas Grafton Page (1880-1961) – Country Party leader, Treasurer and Prime Minister – was the most extraordinary visionary to hold high public office in the Australian Parliament during the first several decades of the twentieth century. His incessant activism in regionalism, new states, hydroelectricity, economic planning, co-operative federalism and rural universities had a distinctively personal dimension. But he also contributed to and led several larger, and in some respects, perennial themes in Australian history related to issues summarised in this thesis as developmentalism. This study assesses the relationship between Page and this wider current of debate. Page’s career as one of Australia’s longest serving senior politicians is characterised by his remarkably consistent but pragmatically opportunistic efforts to shape the still formative government and society of the Australian nation according to his personal vision of its economic and social future. His efforts influenced more conventional government policy, both directly through his membership of governments and indirectly through his long-term impact on what policy ideas were prominent in public debate. Page’s successes and also his failures elucidate the wider issue of the place of concepts of national development in modern Australian history. This thesis is a biographically-based study of the significance of applied policy ideas. The emphasis is on describing and analysing the most distinctive of Page’s policy initiatives, seeking to illuminate his significance in the wider world of ideas and politics. Page has been cast by some historians as merely reflective of a Country Party intent on securing resources for rural interests: this is greatly to underestimate his originality and significance. Although he drew on specific ideas held by other public figures and civic movements, Page uniquely moulded these into a coherent national vision that drew heavily on concepts of the desirable spatial disposition of population and the appropriate scale of public institutions. vii Over decades, Page made telling references to what he called the psychological moment. This marked whenever he judged that he at last had the public and political support needed to achieve one of his treasured policy goals. It encapsulates his awareness that his vision of the nation normally sat far outside the political mainstream and of the consequent difficulties he faced in trying to implement it. It also suggested, however, a sense that his ideas had potential to appeal to an Australian public who were open to fresh ways of viewing the national project. Page broadened existing developmentalist thought through his rare synthesis of ideas that both delineated and stretched the Australian political imagination. His rich career confirms that Australia has long inspired popular ideals of national development, but also that their practical implementation was increasingly challenged during the twentieth-century. Page’s influence and experience supports arguments that Australian public life has been rich in applied thinkers. His work shows how assessment of the contribution of an engaged individual, their ideas and advocacy, can illuminate a past that is both relevant to still unresolved issues in Australian politics and which is also suggestive of alternative paths. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration – p. ii Acknowledgements – p. iii Notes on presentation of the text – p. v Abstract – p. vi Illustrations – p. ix Abbreviations – p. x Introduction – p. 1 Chapter 1) Page’s formative experiences: the making of a world view – p. 26 Chapter 2) Page’s rise to national prominence – p. 69 Chapter 3) Treasurer Page pursues his policy vision: hydroelectricity, new states and rural roads – p. 121 Chapter 4) Page’s standing in government and party: the basis of his power – p. 149 Chapter 5) Page’s last years in the Bruce-Page government: challenging the nation through planning and federalism – p. 167 Chapter 6) The 1930s, Page’s most mixed decade – p. 199 Chapter 7) Post-war Page: hopes amidst frustrations – p. 259 Chapter 8) Page indefatigable: his last years in public life – p. 301 Conclusion – p. 340 Bibliography – p. 351 ix ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1: Earle Page in early Canberra – p. 4 Figure 2: Earle Page panel, Page Memorial Window, Wesley and St Aidan’s Uniting Church – p. 33 Figure 3: Charles and Annie Page with their family, c.1890 – p. 37 Figure 4: Page’s Clarence Valley region as depicted in his 1944 booklet Clarence River Hydro-Electric Gorge Scheme – p. 38 Figure 5: Cover of New State Magazine, July 1922 – p. 94 Figure 6: The Bruce-Page ministry at its swearing-in ceremony, 1923 – p. 107 Figure 7: ‘The Blotted Page’, 1939 – p. 255 Figure 8: Earle with Ethel Page on his return to Australia, August 1942 – p. 264 Figure 9: Page’s 1947 booklet, Clarence Water-Power Development – p. 297 Figure 10: The Menzies Ministry 1949, Earle Page as Health Minister – p. 308 x ABBREVIATIONS AAC – Australian Agricultural Council AIF – Australian Imperial Force AIPS – Australian Institute of Political Science ACPA – Australian Country Party Association AFFO – Australian Farmers’ Federal Organisation ALP – Australian Labor Party ANU – 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 NAA – National Archives of Australia NHMRC – National Health and Medical Research Council NLA – National Library of Australia SEC – State Electricity Commission
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