Guide to the Records of J.A. Lyons

MS 4851

National Library of Australia


Date completed: February 1977
Last updated: September 2002


Collection Summary

Creator: Lyons, J.A. (Joseph Aloysius), 1879-1939
Title: Papers of J. A. Lyons
Date Range: 1924-1939
Collection Number: MS 4851
Extent: 1.5m. (6 boxes + 2 folios)
Repository: National Library of Australia

Introduction

Scope and Content

The papers contain correspondence, notes, commissions, invitations, photograph albums, and scrap books covering the years of Lyons' prime-ministership. Topics referred to in the papers include the Depression, the formation of the United Australia Party, the selectionof the first U.A.P. Ministry, trade and customs in the 1930s, the appointment of Lord Gowrie as Governor-General, financial relations with Great Britain, the abdication of Edward VIII and the economy during the 1930s.

The main correspondents are C.L.A. Abbott, Lord Bruce, Eric Campbell, Sir Douglas Copland, Dr J. H.L. Cumpston, A.C. Davidson, Percy Deane, E.C. Dyason, F.M. Forde, Prof. L.F. Giblin, Sir Robert Gibson, Lord Gowrie, Sir Henry Gullett, Sir Laurence Hartnett, E.J. Hogan, W.M. Hughes, Colonel H.E. Jones, Sir John Latham, Sir Henry Lawson, Sir Essington Lewis, J. Ramsay MacDonald, Sir Walter Massy-Greene, G.A. Maxwell, Sir Robert Menzies, Prof. E. Morris Miller, Sir Keith Murdoch, Sir Earle Page, T. Paterson, Sir George Pearce, J.A. Perkins, Staniforth Ricketson, Sir Charles Rosenthal, J.H. Scullin, Sir Sydney Snow, Sir Bertram Stevens, Sir Frederick Stewart, M.M. Threlfall, J.B. Were, and Sir Thomas White.

Access

The collection is available for reference.

Provenance

The collection was donated to the Library by Dame Enid Lyons in October 1974.

Copying and Publishing

Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions.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 Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissable 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.

Related Material

Papers of Dame Enid Lyons are held at MS 4852. In addition to the Lyons Papers (MS 8451), the Library holds oral history interviews, a video, and other manuscript collections (including microfilm copies), which contain letters or other materials relating to Lyons. These are described in Special collections relating to Joseph Lyons in the National Library of Australia

Preferred Citation

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of J.A. Lyons, National Library of Australia, MS 4851, [series and/or folder number]'.

Access Terms

Personal Names
Lyons, J. A. (Joseph Aloysius), 1879-1939--Archives;

Subjects
Politicians--Australia--Archives; Prime ministers--Australia--Archives;

Occupations
Federal politicians;

Biographical Note

Date Event
1879 Born 15 September at Stanley, Tasmania
1901 Qualified as a teacher and taught at small country schools
1909 Elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly
1914-1916 Minister for Education, Minister for Railways and Treasurer in the Earle Labor Government
1915 Married Enid Muriel Burnell on 28 April
1923-1928 Premier of Tasmania
1929 Resigned to enter the House of Representatives for the seat of Wilmot.
1929-1931 Post Master General and Minister for Works and Railways in the Scullin Government
1930-1931 Acting Treasurer
1931 Resigned from the Government and formed the United Australia Party
1932-1939 Prime Minister of Australia
1939 Died on 7 April in Sydney


Container List

Box 1

Folder 1 Correspondence, 1924-1929
With the exception of one letter to Lyons as Premier of Tasmania in 1924, all letters congratulate Lyons on his election to Federal Parliament in October 1929. Correspondents include Tom Tunnecliffe, Prof. D.B. Copland, Dr J.F. Goha, Prof. E. Morris Miller, E.J. Hogan, J.B. Were, Jack Piggott, priests and Tasmanian friends. Copies of a few replies are included.
Folder 2 Correspondence, 1930
Mostly addressed to Lyons as Acting Treasurer. Correspondents include E.C. Dyson, F.M. Forde, Prof. D.B. Copland, Alfred Baker, Keith Murdoch and Henry Gullett.
Folder 3 Correspondence, 1931
Small group of letters and some replies addressed to Lyons as Leader of the Opposition, from Nationalist Branches, organisations and people such as J. H. Scullin, T. Waddell, General Sir Charles Rosenthal, Charles J. Thomas and William Browne. Also includes a copy of a long letter from Essington Lewis to J. Gunn of the Prime Minister's Department.
Folder 4 Correspondence, 1932
Correspondents include Eric Campbell, Colonel H.B. Jones, Percy Deane, C.J. Cerutty, the Commonwealth Tarriff Board, S. M. Bruce, Jos Francis, Robert Menzies, Sir George Pearce, B.S.B. Stevens, H.S. Gullett, C.L.A. Abbott, Ramsay MacDonald and Sir Harry Lawson.
Folder 5 Country Party, October 1932
Small file of letters between Lyons and Earle Page, T. Patterson and Hunter.
Folder 6 Bank of New South Wales, 1931-1932
Correspondence between A.C. Davidson and Lyons. Included are copies of Davidson letters to B.S.B. Stevens and Staniforth Ricketson.
Folder 7 United Australia Party Subcommittee on Policy, 1931
Includes letters by J.B. Hayes and Tasman Sheares and drafts of policies and notes by Sir George Pearce, W.M. Hughes, P.J. Lynch and J.L. Price. There is also a list of subcommittee members.
Folder 8 Formation of the United Australia Party, 1931-1933
Letters, cuttings, copies of letters, drafts of agenda, and other papers. Correspondents included Sane Democracy, J.G. Latham, G. McDowell, Allan N. MacDonald, the All for Australia League, the Emergency Committee (SA), the Citizens League and various national associations.
Folder 9 Formation of Ministry, 1931-1932
Correspondence, lists, and telegrams. Includes letters from the Graziers' Association of New South Wales, Sydney Snow, J.L. Price, G.A. Maxwell, Dr R.W. Hornabrook, J.M. Fowler, W. Massy-Greene and Earle Page.
Folder 10 Trade and customs, 1931-1936
Correspondence, minutes, summaries of phone conversations and cables. Correspondents include J.G. Latham, F.H. Stewart, T.W. White, E.J. Mulvany and R.G. Casey.

Box 2

Folder 11 Correspondence, 1933
Correspondents include H.M. Threlfall, S.M. Bruce, J.H. Starling, J.G. Latham, C.L.A. Abbott, J.C. McPhee, F. Stewart, H.S. Gullett, J.A. Perkins, H. Lawson, J. Ramsay MacDonald, Sir George Knowles.
Folder 12 Correspondence, 1934-1939
Correspondents include Archdale Parkhill, W.J. Cleary, S.M. Bruce, W.M. Hughes, C.L.A. Abbott, Lord Gowrie, King George VI, F. Stewart, Sydney Snow and L.S. Hartnett.
Folder 13-14 Financial and economic statements, 1930-1931
Includes statements, extracts from newspapers and cables, copies of letters, statistics, minutes and printed material. Correspondents include J. Heathershaw, L.F. Giblin, Robert Gibson and J.H.L. Cumpston.
Folder 15 Speeches and addresses, 1931-1938
Mostly addresses by Lyons on the 1931 elections, Lang and Scullin, the Royal Easter Show, federalism, budgets, broadcasting, national insurance, world peace, the imperial conference (1937), and the conferring of the freedom of the City of London.
Folder 16-17 Miscellaneous papers, 1930s
Typescript and roneoed papers with headings such as 'The sequence of events which led to the fall of the Scullin Government', 'The Nationalist Party', 'National Association of New South Wales', 'Broadcast by the Prime Minister. New Year's Eve, 31st December 1936', 'Internal reconstruction, the primary producers' problems', 'Sydney wool prices', 'Notes on Tasmanian grant', 'An international problem', 'The beginnings of animal life', 'Hallucination in excelsis', and 'Essay by Desmond'.
Folder 18 Appointment of Lord Gowrie, 1935-1936
Includes cables and letters by Lyons, Page, Gowrie, Clive Wigram and Bruce.
Folder 19 Abdication of Edward VIII, 1936
Includes proclamation poster, statements and cuttings.

Box 3

Folder 20-22 Invitations, programs, menus, certificates
Most relate to Lyons' visit to England in 1937.
Folder 23 Lyons' death - tributes and funeral, 1939
Folder 24 Printed material
Includes The Tasmanian trainee (March 1912), The Catholic school paper (June 1939), The Angelus (May 1939) and America (July 1935)

Box 4-6

Cuttings, 1914-1938
12 albums and 2 folders of cuttings, 1931-1938