Discussions on the history and historiography of Australia's New England

Wednesday, September 30, 2020

History of the New England newspaper press 16 - Drummond points to neglect of country

Despite all his abilities and campaign experience, Sir Robert Archdale Parker (1878-1947) could not stop the flow of National Party members to the newly formed Progressive Party.  

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

In November 1919, Inverell share farmer David Drummond, was asked to take on the position of electorate organiser for the newly formed Progressive Party. He agreed to do so on two conditions: 

First that my acceptance would not invalidate my right to be a candidate. When I had received their assurance that I would still be eligible to contest at the elections, my next condition was that I would accept no payment for my services apart from out of pocket expenses.

The first of these conditions was later to be of crucial importance.

The electoral climate was right for the Progressives. They represented the new ideas and beliefs in the countryside at a time when their main rivals, the Nationalists, were in disarray. 

In mid November, and despite visits by Premier Holman and key National Party campaign organiser Archdale Parkhill, the secretary of the Armidale Branch of the party, Alfred Purkiss, was forced to admit that 'half the active Nationalists look as if they will go over to the ranks of the Progressive Party'.

Drummond threw himself into the organising campaign. In the first six weeks he covered all the Tablelands except for Tenterfield, meeting with considerable success. His only setback was in Armidale where ill-health (he had badly overtired himself) led to the failure of the first organising attempt.

Drummond returned to Armidale on Saturday 24 January 1920, and this time successfully formed a branch. He also met R.N. Hickson, a local architect and former New South Wales cricketer, who was to be his electoral secretary and a key supporter for forty years. 

Drummond's speech at the second Armidale meeting was typical of his message. 

The National Party, he told his audience, 'was controlled purely by vested city interests and the Labor Party by the industrial interests of Sydney.' Since Parliament was controlled by city interests supported by the city press, the country had been neglected. Further, the pre-selection systems used by those city parties had degraded government and politics. 

The only solution was a party that represented country interests, that would provide cross country railways and ports and stop the drift to the city. Drummond summarised the Party's policy as 'decentralization, development and decent government.' 

With the organising campaign well under way, the Progressive's Electorate Council met at Glen Innes early in 1920 to consider candidates. In addition to Drummond, seven nominations had been received from the branches. 

The preselection campaign that followed would be hotly contested. 

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  2017here 2018, here 2019, here 2020