History of the New England newspaper press 13 - Drummond and the collective effort

Beardy Street looking east: Armidale was still a small place when Drummond arrived in 1907, a city because of its two bishoprics.This is the thirteenth in a series on the history of the media and especially the newspaper press in New England, the sixth column on the emergence of the NSW Country Party 

When seventeen year old David Drummond arrived in Armidale on that cold day in 1907, he had no idea that he would spend the rest of his life in the North, that twelve years later he would become involved in the formation of two political movements and would enter Parliament. 

Armidale had been established in 1839 as the administrative capital of a pastoral district that stretched from the end of the Hunter Valley up into what would become Queensland. While its period as capital of this vast territory was brief, the city had developed into an important administrative, religious and education centre. 

Despite its regional importance, Armidale was still a small place, classified as a city because of its two bishoprics, not because of its size. At the 1911 census, its population was just 4,738. 

The lad’s first job was to run a small mixed farm on the outskirts of Armidale. The year had been dry, the farm overstocked, there was no feed on the place, and fodder was scarce and expensive: 

“When I fed the stock well enough to keep them strong the owner - who appeared at weekends – growled when they had their ration reduced with resultant weakness he growled even more. It was the beginning of my education in the twin evils of drought and over-stocking.” 

By the time Drummond left the place the following autumn, he had the satisfaction of seeing the sheds full of hay and maize, while the surviving stock were sleek and strong.

The next three years were spent on farms around Armidale and partly on a sheep station at Kingstown, south of Uralla. His working hours were always long and not without risk because of the inevitable accidents associated with farm work.

At one stage the lad was almost crippled when the draught horse he was unharnessing bolted, jamming him between the cart wheel and the shed post. The old horse temporarily obeyed an order to stop, allowing Drummond to slip free; "Verily a cat has nine lives but a Scotchman ten”, he wrote to his step mother Martha.

Drummond enjoyed the work and fitted in well with the Tablelands' small farming communities. He shared their Christian beliefs and absorbed their simple, cooperative outlook. 

The Tablelands then produced considerable quantities of wheat and especially oats used as horse feed. Both crops were harvested by cooperative effort.

After being cut with a binder, they were stooked in the fields to dry and then built into round stacks. A contractor with teams of up to sixteen bullocks would bring a portable steam engine and large threshing machine onto the farms and thresh the grain.

The farmers in the area would then combine to supply a team of twenty to twenty-four men to carry out the threshing and later the chaff-cutting. The women from the farms would combine to cook and serve food. 

Throughout his life, Drummond would support the idea of cooperatives and collective effort.

Note to readers: This post was prepared as a column for the on-line edition of the Armidale Express. I am repeating the columns here with a lag because they are not all on line outside subscription. You can see all the Belshaw World and History Revisited/History Matters columns by clicking here for 2009, here for 2010, here for 2011, here for 2012, here for 2013, here for 2014, here for 2015,  here for 2016, here  2017, here 2018, here 2019, here 2020 

History of the New England newspaper press 12 - Hard Times: the early life of David Drummond

David Drummond 1907: For Drummond, his arrival in Armidale one cold day in 1907 marked the start of the rest of his life.

This is the twelfth in a series on the history of the media and especially the newspaper press in New England, the fifth column on the emergence of the NSW Country Party 

Following the reformation of the NSW Progressive Party in October 1919, the Farmers and Settlers’ Association (FSA) executive asked its branches to look for suitable candidates for the forthcoming state elections. 

One Sunday in October, the young Inverell sharefarmer David Drummond delivered the sermon at the Church on Thomas Browning's property at Arrawatta. Inverell stock and station agent Ray Doolin was a member of the congregation. 

We were looking for new candidates ..., young men for preference ... I was so impressed with his earnest delivery and voice, I said to Bowling, "Dave is one of the candidates we are looking for." Next day I got a few together, Tom Bowling, R.J. Higgins, A. Macfadden, and went out to the farm. Drummond was working on shares

Drummond was surprised. The previous year he had declined an invitation to run because he felt that he was not ready. This time he told the delegation that he would give them an answer after he discussed it with Farmers and Settlers’ members and his friend Arthur Cosh.

A few days later after talking to Cosh, Drummond said he would stand and then accepted nomination from the Mt. Russell Branch of the FSA.

In some ways, Drummond was a surprising candidate. He was young, very serious, deaf and lacked formal education.

Drummond was born on 11 February 1890 at Lewisham, Sydney, fourth son of Scottish parents Morris Cook Drummond, stonemason, and his wife Catherine, née McMillan.

Catherine died in 1892. Morris married again, with a daughter now added to the family. Then in 1896 Morris died, leaving the family in financial distress.

In 1901, Drummond was awarded a Presbyterian Church scholarship to study at Scots College. While at Scots he suffered an illness that left him deaf. 

Drummond lost his scholarship and, with age falsified from twelve to fourteen, began working in May 1902. In October he came into the custody of the New South Wales State Children's Relief Board as a ward of the state 

Initially Drummond was sent to a farm home at Pokolbin established to manage problem children. There conditions were quite unpleasant. 

“Thus began my practical education in child welfare”, Drummond later wrote. “It included a knowledge of spies who urged lads to run away and then betrayed them to those in control. There were good reasons for running away, but I trusted no one.”

The farm home was closed and, apart from a brief period back at school, the lad worked on farms around the Hunter.

Then one cold day in 1907, the seventeen year old Drummond arrived in Armidale carrying all his possessions in a cheap carry-all. To Drummond, this day marked the start of the rest of his life. 

Note to readers: This post was prepared as a column for the on-line edition of the Armidale Express. I am repeating the columns here with a lag because they are not all on line outside subscription. You can see all the Belshaw World and History Revisited/History Matters columns by clicking here for 2009, here for 2010, here for 2011, here for 2012, here for 2013, here for 2014, here for 2015,  here for 2016, here  2017, here 2018, here 2019, here 2020 

History of the New England newspaper press 11 - Drummond emerges on the political stage

William Holman's decision to introduce proportional representation in NSW opened the way for the formation of what would become the Country Party. It was a decision that would destroy Holman's political career. 

This is the eleventh in a series on the history of the media and especially the newspaper press in New England, the fourth column on the emergence of the NSW Country Party 

The 1915 attempt by the NSW Farmers and Settlers’ Association to form a new political force by aligning with G S Beeby and his Progressive Party had failed in the tumultuous events surrounding the 1916 conscription referendum.

Labor Premier William Holman was expelled from the Party over his support for a yes vote. The Holman group joined with the Liberals to form a new party, the Nationalists, with Holman as premier. The Beeby group were effectively absorbed into the Nationalists,

Agitation for the formation of a country party continued, although many country people opposed the idea for fear of splitting the non-Labor vote.

In November 1918, Premier, W.A. Holman introduced one of the Progressives' platform measures, proportional representation. This provided for five-member city constituencies and three-member country ones.

This decision drastically changed the political outlook. The fear of splitting the non-Labor vote was removed, for the new system allowed surplus country votes to be distributed to the Nationalists and vice-versa.

In March 1919, the FSA declared that it would run its own candidates at the following election. In September, the FSA Conference instructed the Association's executive to open discussions with all other party primary producer bodies about uniting 'in one political body known as the Country Party to secure representation in the next Parliament. Beeby had also now broken with the Nationalists.

Discussions began between the various groups, culminating in the reformation in October 1919 of the Progressive Party as an amalgam primarily of the FSA, the Graziers' Association, and the Beeby group.

The inclusion of the Graziers' Association represented a significant change in the balance of forces within the countryside.

Originally called the Pastoralists' Union, the Association had been formed by the large pastoralists as a response to the industrial troubles of the 1890's.

Its involvement in the new party joined the FSA's large membership and extensive branch structure with the Graziers' Association's financial resources, including its Special Fund established in 1916 to fund political campaigns.

The ripples from these various moves spread across the countryside.

One Sunday early in 1918, David Drummond, a young Inverell share farmer, was invited to the home of a fellow farmer. 'To my surprise I was met there by a deputation which invited me to nominate for the next State Elections.'

Drummond, feeling that he was not prepared, declined the offer. However, with the announcement of the formation of the Progressive Party, and a request by the FSA executive to branches to look for suitable candidates, Drummond received another offer that he did accept. 

Note to readers: This post was prepared as a column for the on-line edition of the Armidale Express. I am repeating the columns here with a lag because they are not all on line outside subscription. You can see all the Belshaw World and History Revisited/History Matters columns by clicking here for 2009, here for 2010, here for 2011, here for 2012, here for 2013, here for 2014, here for 2015,  here for 2016, here  2017, here 2018, here 2019, here 2020