'Million Farms' Campaign, NSW 1919-25

Abstract

This paper examines the conduct by Sir Joseph Hector Carruthers (1851-1932) of his 'Million Farms' campaign in New South Wales between 1919 and 1925 and traces the development of the Monaro Community Settle ment Society of which he was chairman. In doing so, it highlights the discrepancies between Carruthers' private and political motives and his declared public purpose. The methods he used to achieve his ends are a case study in conservative and manipulative politics. Carruthers, solicitor and investor, was by political nature a Liberal Free Trader moving towards an increasingly conservative position as he aged.1 Ardently 'White Australia', he was a pro-Federation Anglophile with 'States Righter' convictions. Entering the Legislative Assembly as member for Canterbury in 1887, he took the seat of St George in 1894 having served as Minister of Public Instruction in Parkes' final ministry. Secretary for Lands (1894-99), Treasurer (1899-1901), he was Premier between 1904 and 1907. He gained considerable recognition for his efforts in technical education, closer settlement, local government and the reduction of state debts. In 1907, however, he resigned the Premiership, claiming ill health, after allegations which stemmed back to 1895 resurfaced.2 A Royal Commission into the Lands Department found that Carruthers, when Secretary for Lands, had been 'excessive' in his granting of leasehold extensions to pastoralists, had assisted the 'locking up' of land and had hampered rural settlement. Carruthers' name was linked to former Lands Minister Crick, who had been found guilty of receiving bribes, and to W. N. Willis, Crown Lands agent and client of Carruthers' law firm, who was charged with malpractice.3 In 1908, he resigned from the Legislative Assembly and was sent as state representative to the Anglo-French Exhibition in London. In 1910 he was appointed to the Legislative Council on the nomination of Governor Sir H. Rawson, without the advice of the Government.4 Between 1910 and 1919 Carruthers was active in the promotion of conservative state and federal election campaigns, supporting punitive and restrictive measures against Trades Unions, canvassing for the war effort and opposing Labor policies on wages and prices. The Nationalists attempted to propel Carruthers back into political pro minence in 1919 in order to unite the anti-Labor forces and pre-empt moves by the emerging Progressives to claim the rural vote. Carruthers possessed both public and personal qualities which well suited him to the task and these will be discussed later. At this point, however, it is helpful to trace the