History of the New England newspaper press 17 - How the battle for pre-selection happened in 1920

Lieutenant Colonel H F White DSO, 35th Battalion, standing in front of his quarters at Lahoussoye, France White handled the Progressive Party pre-selection meeting with firmness and tact. 

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

Early in 1920, the Progressive Party's Electorate Council met at Glen Innes to consider candidates for the March elections.

In addition to David Drummond, seven nominations had been received from the branches: M.F. Bruxner (grazier and stock and station agent of Tenterfield); J.S. Crapp (grazier of Uralla); F.B. Fleming (grazier of Moree); P.R. Little (grazier and storekeeper of Bundarra); G.B. Ring (financial agent of Inverell); George Codrington (journalist of Inverell); and A. Piggot (orchadist and farmer of Inverell).

 Early in 1920, the Progressive Party’s Electorate Council met at Glen Innes to consider candidates for the March elections., In addition to Drummond, seven nominations had been received from the branches: M.F. Bruxner (grazier and stock and station agent of Tenterfield); J.S. Crapp (grazier of Uralla); F.B. Fleming (grazier of Moree); P.R. Little (grazier and storekeeper of Bundarra); G.B. Ring (financial agent of Inverell); George Codrington (journalist of Inverell); and A. Piggot (orchadist and farmer of Inverell).

It was a difficult meeting for Drummond.

The Progressives with their slogan 'No pre-selection or pledge' were strongly opposed to any form of pre-selection of candidates. At the same time, only two candidates could hope to be successful in the three member electorate, Labor was assured of the third seat, while there were also financial problems associated with large numbers of candidates.

 An immediate move was made to exclude. Drummond. It was to avoid just this possibility that Drummond had gained the assurances from the president and secretary of the Council that his Party organising work would not invalidate his candidature, and he refused to budge.

 The Council then packed the candidates off to the Council Chambers to debate who should withdraw. Just before lunch it was proposed that the candidates should have a ballot among themselves to select the three or four most likely to succeed. Drummond rejected this: he politely told the group that he had been invited to run, was correctly nominated, and until his Committee asked him to withdraw 'there was nothing doing'.

 After lunch the candidates, with Drummond dissenting, asked the Electorate Council to indicate which four were most likely to succeed. The Chairman, Colonel H.F. White, 'one of the most likeable and sterling characters' Drummond had met, refused on the grounds that 'it would be really pre-election selection which they had come into existence as a Party to destroy'. The candidates thereupon returned to the Council Chambers.

 The pressure was intense. 'We are getting nowhere', one candidate told the group angrily, 'Drummond is a beggar to argue'.

 As a number of candidates needed to catch the 5 pm southbound Glen Innes Mail, the proposal was made that they should hold a ballot among themselves to select the most likely four, but that the result should not bind Drummond. Drummond, 'heartily sick of playing a lone hand all-day', agreed, as did Council Chairman White.

 In the vote that followed, Drummond came fifth with three votes. Realizing as he caught the south-bound Glen Innes Mail that evening for Uralla (Pearl and the children were staying at nearby Arding) that publication of the ballot result must damage his changes Drummond decided to act.  

 There was to be a Farmers’ and Settlers’ (FSA) District Council meeting at Inverell next day. Drummond decided to return to Inverell in the morning to get the Council's endorsement for his action.

 Waiting on the Uralla platform next morning for the north-bound train, Drummond had a casual conversation that changed 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 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  2017, here 2018, here 2019, here 2020 

History of the New England newspaper press 15 - Northern Tableland Progressive Party Electoral Council formed in 1919 but what next?

 FSA President Arthur Trethowan had a problem: the new Progressive Party had a name but no local political organisation. David Drummond provided a solution.

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

In late October 1919, farmers and graziers formed a Northern Tableland Progressive Party Electoral Council at Glen Innes, followed by a further meeting on 4 November which was convened and addressed by Arthur Trethowan, the President of the Farmers and Settlers’ Association (FSA). Trethowan provided details of the new party and suggested that its object was 'to secure direct country representation in the Federal and State Parliaments'.

Those attending the meeting found that they may have had a name but they certainly had no political organisation to put Trethowan’s objective into effect. It was therefore decided to ask David Drummond to take on the position of electorate organiser. 

The invitation was a sign of how far the deaf, poorly educated ward of the state had come since his arrival in Armidale as 17 year old farm labourer on that cold day in 1907. 

From his arrival his arrival in the Inverell district in 1912 and especially after his marriage to Pearl in 1913, Drummond had become actively involved in the small farming community around Oakwood. He and Pearl played tennis, he became an active member of the FSA and also became a Methodist lay preacher. 

To improve his preaching, he taught himself public speaking, practicing while riding around the property, addressing the paddocks. He had no tutor, but used self-help books given to him by his brothers. 

Years later, his grandson would use the same books to learn the art of projection. Years after that, the same techniques would be taught to his great granddaughters as they learned to project their voices in whispers down the corridors of Sydney’s’ semi-detached houses. 

The powerful sonorous voice that Drummond developed would become one of his political weapons, capable of reaching a large open air audience without the aid of loud speakers.

It was as a Methodist lay preacher that Drummond met Ernest Christian Sommerlad, a fellow lay preacher and man that would be critical to Drummond’s successful entry to politics. 

Sommelad, the youngest of twelve children of German parents John Henry Sommerlad, Tenterfield farmer, and his wife Louisa Wilhelmina, née Marstella, was four years older than Drummond. 

A devout Christian, Sommerlad had wanted to become a missionary. Thwarted by poor health, he had turned to journalism and was editor of the Inverell Argus when he first met Drummond. 

In 1918 Sommerlad purchased the Glen Innes Examiner with a bank loan guaranteed by local business men. This would give the little known Drummond a powerful platform. 

For the moment, Drummond had to decide whether to accept the request to become Northern Tablelands organiser for the new Progressive Party. He agreed to do so, but with conditions that would later prove critical. 

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 14 - putting farming ideas into practice

Pearl Goode around the time of her marriage to David Drummond. While quiet and shy, she fitted well into the small farming community around Oakwood. 

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

The eye for detail revealed by David Drummond's observations of cooperative harvesting techniques around Armidale reflected his growing interest in farming practice. The lad absorbed the techniques he saw, sorting out in his mind those he would later follow.

In 1911, Drummond was given an opportunity to put his developing ideas into practice.

John Ewing, produce manager for the Pastoral Finance Association, had some spare capital and began thinking about purchasing a block of land. Ewing discussed his plans with David’s brother Morris who arranged for David to inspect the land in question.

Inverell, on the western edge of the Tablelands, had long been known as a fine farming district. However, in the absence of a rail link farmers were effectively limited to their local market by the high cost of transport.

This changed in 1902 with the opening of the railway line to Moree: Between 1904 and 1914 landowners with holdings within twenty-four kilometres of the new line sold at least part of their land to farmers. As part of this process Bannockburn, one of the district's oldest grazing properties, was subdivided and put up for sale.

The block Drummond looked at was 518 hectares of mainly arable basalt soil with a half kilometre frontage to the MacIntyre River. While undeveloped, it clearly had potential and Drummond recommended its purchase. Drummond was then offered the position of manager, an offer he eagerly accepted. 

“From a weekly wage of 1 [pound]... and board and lodging, I became at 21 years of age Manager of 'Maxwelton' with a share in the wheat harvests”, he later wrote with some pride.

Drummond packed his goods into a 'spider' sulky drawn by a half-bred welsh pony and, with a six-month-old foal and a sheep dog attached, and returned to Maxwelton to begin development.

The work was not easy. The virgin black soil was hard to plough and weather conditions proved difficult. Still, by the end of 1912 Drummond could look on his results with satisfaction.

Settled, his mind turned to other matters. He had met the Goode family while working at Arding south of Armidale, John Goode had come to the district to search for gold on the nearby Rocky River goldfields, but had then preselected land at Arding and become a successful farmer.

Drummond asked for the hand of Pearl, John and Ellen Goode's twenty-five-year-old daughter. She accepted him and the couple were married on 11 March 1913 by Arthur Johnstone in the Methodist Church at Arding.

The newly married couple settled down to life in the small farming community centred around Oakwood, the village that had sprung up with the development of the farms. Pearl was quiet and shy, but also had the capacity to make friends.

Travelling by sulky along the black soil tracks, she and David joined in the social activities of the community, visiting, playing tennis, or attending the church functions that played such a key part in community life, building the links that would later draw Drummond into politics.  

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 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 

History of the New England newspaper press 10 - A country party to serve country interests

Hay bailing late 1880s. The expansion of farming in the period 1890-1910, the problems faced by farmers in, laid the base for the emergence of the Country Party. Photo Museum Applied Arts and Sciences.

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

In my last column I referred to the relationship between David Drummond and press man Ernest Christian Sommerlad, a relationship that was critical to Drummond’s somewhat unexpected election to the NSW Parliament on 20 March 1920 as one of two Progressive Party members for the multi-member Northern Tablelands electorate.

The proposal to form a country party for country people had had a long and chequered history. The need for better country representation had been widely accepted in country areas, particularly among farmers, but there was no agreement as to the best way of achieving this objective.

Should it be done via a new party or by working through existing political institutions? Attitudes here were further complicated by the rise of the new Labor Party which created new political divides.

The result was a period of experimentation and change. In 1892, 1902 and 1913 'Country Parties' had been formed by parliamentarians within the existing parties to represent country interests, but each had failed and disbanded quickly. Then in 1917 two embryo country parties emerged in 'Uncle Wiseman's' Country Party, sponsored by J.S. Stephen the editor of the Farmer and Settler, and in G.S. Beeby's Progressive Party, though neither was immediately successful.

The Farmers and Settlers Association (FSA), the main farmer organisation in New South Wales, was deeply involved with this period of experimentation. Better communications in combination with new technology had led to rapid expansion of farming, especially dairying on the coast, wheat inland.

The new generally small scale farmers faced significant problems in markets, prices, finance and the supply of schooling and other services. Economically vulnerable, they focused on cooperative action and were more radical than the conservative pastoral and grazing interests.

The FSA had been non-party political in approach. However, by 1905 opinion had changed sufficiently for its Conference to pass a motion providing for the selection of FSA candidates. Thereafter the supporters of independent action lost ground, and the re-grouping of the non-Labor forces to form the Liberal Party resulted in the Association entering into informal alliance with the Liberals.

Many Labor supporters now left the FSA which launched an aggressive recruitment campaign to rebuild numbers. This brought in many small farmers such as Drummond who were uncommitted or opposed to the Liberal Party.

From the 1913 FSA Conference those supporting independent action were clearly in the majority, although there was also still majority support for that action to include some form of electoral alliance between Association candidates and the Liberal Party.

In 1915, the FSA the Association decided to form an alliance with G.S. Beeby and his Progressive Party. A 'Progressive Party' platform was adopted and a Political Executive Committee formed.

This move was aborted by the split in the Labor Party over conscription and the subsequent formation of the National Party which effectively absorbed Beeby and his Progressives. However, the base had been laid for a new political party.

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 9 - Drummond, Sommerlad and the emergence of the Country Party in New England

David Drummond, Glen Innes, early 1920s.  A former ward of the state, Drummond  had left school at twelve, was very deaf and had worked as a farm labourer. He was not expected  to win election, but did so in part because of his relationship with pressman Ernest Christian Sommerlad. This is the nineth in a series on the history of the media and especially the newspaper press in New England, the second column on the emergence of the NSW Country Party 

The country press has always reflected the political climate of the time both in reporting and through their active involvement in the promotion of their communities. It has also reflected the attitudes and interests of particular proprietors.

At the time the first papers emerged in Northern NSW, the broader New England, they reflected the divide between liberal and conservative interests. They also reflected a then key issue, the question of separation of Queensland and the possible creation of a new colony in Northern NSW.

As time passed, the position of the papers evolved to reflect both changing political trends and, more importantly, economic and social changes relevant to their particular areas.

In the lower Hunter, the Miners Advocate and Northumberland Recorder began publication in 1873 and then grew rapidly, becoming a daily in 1876 under the title Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners Advocate. Its masthead was ornate, carrying a sketch of a colliery pit-top, including poppet head and chimney.

The Herald shared many of the attitudes and concerns of papers further north, including the idea of Sydney oppression of Newcastle and country interests, and would play an active role in the formation of the NSW Country Press Association.

Despite these links, the paper’s industrial interests precluded participation in newspaper activities further north that would now facilitate the emergence of two new political movements.

The first of these was the Country Party, the second a resurgent new state movement. Both would help shape New England’s history over the twentieth century.

Like the Labor Party which first entered Parliament in NSW in 1891, the Country Party was based in part on industrial interests, the need to give primary producers and especially small farmers their own voice in Parliament.

The party also drew from the idea of an oppressed country, an oppressing city, articulated in what Professor Don Aitkin described as a sense of country mindedness.

In Northern NSW, the new party also supported and drew from the separation movement, a movement that gave it a town base that it might not otherwise have obtained as a rural party.

At the elections on 20 March 1920, just over one hundred years ago, the Progressive Party as the Country Party was then known entered the NSW Parliament.

David Drummond was one of those elected for the new multi-member Northern Tablelands electorate.

He should not have won. A former ward of the state, he was just thirty, had left school at twelve, was very deaf and had worked as a farm labourer. He did so in part because of his relationship with pressman Ernest Christian Sommerlad.

In my next columns, I will look at that campaign and the relationship between Drummond and Sommerlad.

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