part three – Viceroys, Soldiers and Statesmen
192
Chapter Eleven – The First of the Modern Governors
The first of the modern governors ‘Intense loyalty and pride in the British connexion, together with a tendency towards rough disrespect for pomp and authority.’ 1 The constitutional experts had no way of knowing it then, but after 1925 they could put away their textbooks for almost sixty years. Following Sir Matthew Nathan, it was not until 1983 that a Queensland governor had to once again deal with problems that raised complex constitutional issues. In the meantime, the governors could give priority to their ceremonial responsibilities and to their duty to show ‘Evident sympathy with the progress of the colony ... kindness, generosity, devoted energy ... these are the qualities that make a governor powerful,’ as Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton had counselled Queensland’s first governor, Sir George Bowen, in 1859.2 Sir John Goodwin and Sir Leslie Wilson, the governors of Queensland between 1927 and 1946, were both men who were well suited by the shift in emphasis of their roles. They could be called the first of the modern governors. They were far more than figureheads – they still had important duties as the head of state. They had to be ready to act as constitutional umpires if required. However, it was never necessary for them to intervene in the processes of government in the way that some earlier governors had done, whether by necessity or by inclination. Queensland had matured and the processes of government no longer needed that intervention. Instead, the new focus of the governors’ task was to engage with the wider community, to show it ‘evident sympathy,’ to encourage and acknowledge its achievements, to inspire and lead by example. Their challenge was to show Queenslanders who they Left: Sir Leslie Orme Wilson – Queensland’s longest serving governor and a most popular one. Below: The Duke and Duchess of York (later King George the Sixth and Queen Elizabeth) leaving Government House during their 1927 tour.
193
part three – Viceroys, Soldiers and Statesmen
Above: Brisbane’s Anzac Square under construction in 1931 – oil painting by Frances Lahey.
were and who they might become, to cause people to reflect on that and on their obligations to each other and to the world beyond. An additional heavy burden on the governors in the years between 1927 and 1946 was to maintain morale and sustain hope through very difficult times. After Sir Matthew Nathan’s departure in September 1925, William Lennon acted as governor for almost two years. They were the last years of the Roaring Twenties, years of prosperity that by early 1927 were looking very brittle. By then, pastoral districts were suffering badly from the ‘1926 drought,’ a climatic catastrophe that was reminiscent of 1902. The drought struck suddenly at the end of 1925 and quickly had very severe impacts because there had been much imprudent over-stocking through the good years that experts assured everyone were normal. Wherever possible, stock from the inland pastoral districts were moved to agistment in coastal areas or on the Central Highlands. Outback towns suffered when the shearing season was abbreviated and many men were forced to take work as scrub-cutters, felling trees to bring down edible foliage as a desperate last resort to keep sheep alive. The teamsters had been fighting a losing battle against the motor lorry men for fifteen years. Now, drought forced them off the scene forever because there was no grass and often little or no water for their draught animals along the routes they used to travel. The wagons vanished from the roads just as aeroplanes appeared in outback skies. Queensland’s economy was still dominated by rural industries and the state still rode on the sheep’s back. Therefore, the coastal cities also suffered when the rains didn’t come in 1926. It is often said that the economic depression began with the Wall Street stockmarket slump of October 1929, but in Queensland it was the 1926 drought that brought depression. In May 1927, more than two years before the great crash, it was reported that ‘In view of the condition of parts of the country, it is not surprising that city business people complain of a dullness of trade. Many wholesale houses are giving enforced holidays to members of their staffs and retail houses are very slack.’ Paradoxically, new city buildings were still being developed apace ‘... still more large buildings are rising. Buildings have been begun or are projected for half a dozen banks
194
Chapter Eleven – The First of the Modern Governors
in Queen Street. These include the Commonwealth Bank on a site next to the General Post Office. Fine buildings for the Bank of New South Wales and the Bank of Australasia are already in progress.’3 New monuments were being erected in Queensland’s built landscape and the district that was to develop into the Gold Coast was already becoming an iconic holiday destination. During Easter 1927 ‘people flocked to the south coast beaches in numbers exceeding expectations. A feature of seaside development in recent years has been the increased use of the splendid beaches from the southern end of Moreton Bay to the border at the Tweed.’ The weather was fine and warm, but it was suggested that ‘for some years a change in the seasons has been noted in Queensland.’ The state had missed the usual summer monsoonal wet seasons but there had been rain in the winter.4 The momentum of the earlier prosperity was to sustain the state for another year or two, until the global economic crisis of 1929 brought a severe contraction in world trade and dried up credit. Queensland’s economy still rested on a rural base and the shrinking demand for export commodities was keenly felt. Before long, as many as a third of the state’s wage earners faced the stark reality of unemployment. In the meantime, between 1925 and early 1927, the British government delayed appointing a new governor to Queensland to replace Nathan. It was waiting to see whether the Australian states would reach a common policy that there should be no more British governors. The London authorities were quite willing to acquiesce in whatever decision was reached in Australia, as long as it was a clear and unambiguous decision. In the end there was no decision at all, but while the premiers were debating the matter there had been a stream of representations from Australian organisations and individuals who asked London not to depart from the previous practice of appointing British men to the Australian posts. British appointees were more suitable than local men, the arguments went, because they owed no obligations to any party or section in Australia. They were invariably people of high standing in Britain and had connections that were an invaluable advantage for the state to which they came. In particular, they had direct access to the British government. They were from ‘home’ and there was still a very strong sentiment that Britain was home, the source of Australian civilisation and a most important trading partner. The London authorities discerned that the demand for Australian governors was the electoral catchcry of populist political leaders more than it was a cry from the heart of the Australian people. Certainly there was no expression of outrage or even slight disappointment from the Queensland community or even from the state government when, on 2 February 1927, it was announced in London that the King had appointed Sir John Goodwin to be Governor of Queensland.5 It was hoped that the new governor would arrive in Brisbane in time for him to be the state’s host for the Queensland element of the Australia-wide royal tour by the King’s second son and his wife, the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George the Sixth and Queen Elizabeth). However, Sir John and Lady Goodwin could not leave England in time. The royal visitors spent a week in Brisbane in early April 1927. Apart from a weekend at Tamrookum station near Beaudesert, when the Duke spent six hours in the saddle mustering cattle, the royal couple stayed at Government House. On their way there,
195
part three – Viceroys, Soldiers and Statesmen
the visitors drove past a large group of men working on Baroona Road. ‘They lined the footpath for fifty yards, waved muddy shovels and cheered.’6 That was typical of the informal and enthusiastic welcome. The Duke and Duchess went to the races at Eagle Farm, they met schoolchildren and they visited returned soldiers in repatriation hospitals. In one ward, the Duchess met John Allardyce, a limbless soldier who was originally from the Glamis estate in Scotland, the property of the Duchess’ father, the Earl of Strathmore.7 The Duke had an honorary degree bestowed on him by the University of Queensland while the Duchess met with women from the QCWA. A crowd of more than 5,000 people watched in sombre silence as the Duke laid a wreath at the Stone of Remembrance at Toowong Cemetery.8 Finally, a large crowd assembled at South Brisbane station to farewell the visitors as they left by train for Sydney. Through it all, William Lennon, the doughty fighter for an end to royalty and governors, was an impeccable host.9 A month later, Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Herbert John Chapman Goodwin (called Sir John in Queensland) and Lady (Lilian) Goodwin arrived in Brisbane. The new governor was then fifty six years old. He was born in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), the son of surgeon-soldier John Goodwin and his wife, Marion. Goodwin had an Australian connection through his mother, who had been born in Melbourne into the prominent family that descended from the racing man Herbert Power, who is still honoured by the annual Herbert Power Stakes race run during the Melbourne spring racing carnival. Sir John followed his father’s footsteps into medicine and the military. He graduated in 1892, then was commissioned as a lieutenant in the British Army Medical Service. From 1896 he was with the army in India and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for service on the North-West Frontier. While in India, Goodwin married Lilian Ronaldson, in 1897. The couple returned to England in 1902 and Goodwin was then medical officer at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, before being sent back to India, where he was an army surgeon-specialist for five years. From 1914, he served in France, where he was three times mentioned in dispatches. In 1917, he was sent on a mission to the United States to establish co-operative medical arrangements between the armies of the two countries. In January 1918 he was appointed director general of Army Medical Services. He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1919 and had reached the rank of lieutenant general in 1923, when he retired from the army. He was appointed honorary surgeon to the King and was also an organising adviser for the British Empire Cancer Campaign.10 On 13 June 1927, the liner Orvieto brought the Goodwins up the Brisbane River to the usual landing, welcoming addresses, a procession through Brisbane and the swearing in ceremony. Sir John was known to be a quiet and unobtrusive man, but he told reporters in Brisbane that he was ‘a lover of outdoor life and all sports. In my young and unregenerate days I was very fond of the ‘gee gees’ but I was never much of a gambler. I was a keen huntsman in England. I am fond of shooting, hunting, fishing and polo. I was an enthusiastic polo player but I had a very bad smash. I still love the open spaces and I enjoy a good horse race. Lady Goodwin is even more fond of the country life than I am and when she goes to a race meeting or an agricultural show it is hard to drag her away. She is a good horsewoman and takes an intelligent interest in all rural affairs.’ Sir John said that he was especially keen to see Queensland’s ‘wide open spaces’ and to hasten the foundation of a medical school within the university.11
196
Chapter Eleven – The First of the Modern Governors
He fulfilled both those ambitions. He saw a lot of Queensland very quickly and was able to say at the end of his first year in office that he had travelled 22,000 miles through the state.12 Although the medical school was not established until after Sir John left the state, his encouragement was a significant impetus toward the eventual outcome. Goodwin was able to acknowledge one notable advance in Queensland medical services when he opened the state’s first cancer clinic, at Brisbane’s Mater hospital.13 He was particularly gratified by another medical development when, on 15 May 1928, the aerial medical service that was to become the Royal Flying Doctor Service was established at Cloncurry. The service at first used aircraft made available by QANTAS, the outback aviation company that
Above: Sir John and Lady Goodwin.
had been created in western Queensland from 1920. The governor said he felt that ‘provision of aerial medical services would fill a much felt want and that its establishment would prove of untold comfort and benefit to many of those people in the far west who had so many difficulties and hardships to meet.’14 By 1928, QANTAS was running scheduled air services in Queensland. However, there was still plenty of room in the sky for pioneering and record breaking.
197
part three – Viceroys, Soldiers and Statesmen
In March 1928 the governor was among one of the largest and most excited crowds that had ever gathered in Queensland, at Eagle Farm racecourse to welcome Bert Hinkler. The aviator had flown to Brisbane from his home town of Bundaberg, after completing the first solo flight from England to Australia in a time of fifteen and a half days. Goodwin said to Hinkler ‘Throughout the whole of the British Empire men and women have watched the progress of your flight with the keenest interest and your safe arrival on the completion of your wonderful achievement afforded untold delight throughout the world.’15 Then, on 9 June 1928, Goodwin welcomed Charles Kingsford Smith, Charles Ulm and their American crew, Harry Lyon and James Warner, when they arrived in Brisbane at the end of the first flight across the Pacific. The governor was soon to see proof that aviation could be a hazardous undertaking. In May 1930 another huge crowd gathered, this time at the new aerodrome at Eagle Farm, to witness the arrival of Amy Johnson, the first woman to fly solo from England. As she landed, Johnson’s aircraft was caught by a wind gust and the aircraft crash landed in a grassy patch adjacent to the main landing strip. The governor, with many others, rushed forward to the scene of the crash but the aviatrix had been taken away, unhurt, by the time the governor got there.16 The aviators were conquering the sky and it seemed that Brisbane’s million pound City Hall, with its clock tower that reached almost 300 feet above street level, was doing the same thing. The new building had been ten years in the making when it was finally opened by Sir John on 8 April 1930. It was one of the last exuberances of the 1920s and it would be many years before Queensland could again afford anything like it. Several large construction projects were commissioned in the 1930s, but they were undertaken by the government as unemployment relief projects. Restraint was the mood of the times. Sir John responded to that mood in March 1931 when he agreed to forego ten percent of his salary in an effort to help the government manage its financial problems.17 It was a difficult time to argue for nature conservation but Goodwin threw his weight behind a far sighted group of people, led by Romeo Lahey, who met in April 1930 to form the National Parks Association of Queensland. The governor was widely reported when he said ‘I think every possible effort should be made to preserve the parks and the flora and fauna of this country. ... It would be nothing short of deplorable if Queensland fauna, much of which was found in no other part of the world, was allowed to disappear.’18 The Association’s early success was due in large measure to the credibility it gained from the viceregal connection. Possibly because they had no children of their own, the Goodwins took a particularly active role in promoting education and child welfare. Sir John was following in the footsteps of his predecessor, Sir William MacGregor, as a medical governor when he vigorously endorsed the campaign for better eye health among the children of the western parts of the state.19 Lady Goodwin strongly supported women’s charitable organisations that worked for the relief of needy women and children. In addition, she identified with and worked for the Victoria League, the National Council of Women, Girl Guides, the Country Women’s Association and the crèche and kindergarten movements.20 The Goodwins also supported St Vincent’s Orphanage at Nudgee, which the
198
From top left: Lady Goodwin Crèche and Kindergarten. Ascot (Eagle Farm) racecourse grounds. Opposite, from top: View to Parliament House, across the river and Botanic Gardens, from Kangaroo Point. Centre: New Farm Park. Far right: Fernberg.
Chapter Eleven – The First of the Modern Governors
governor opened on 18 December 1928. Sir John ‘had the happy knack of at once claiming juvenile attention’21 during countless visits to schools. He and Lady Goodwin had close associations with both the Church of England Grammar School (Churchie) and St Margaret’s school. Churchie named one of its boarding houses after Sir John and, in 1950 that house adopted the Goodwin family crest as its own. To the end of his life, Sir John kept in touch with the Goodwin housemaster. In 1953 he wrote ‘your account of Charles Porter’s high jump of six feet three and three quarter inches really amazes me!’22 Sir John lived long enough to be thrilled by Porter’s later Olympic and Commonwealth Games medal winning performances. The Goodwins were approaching the end of their Queensland term when, on 30 March 1932, the governor opened the Grey Street bridge over the Brisbane River. The impressive new structure was constructed, in part, as an unemployment relief measure. To celebrate the opening a carnival was held on the riverbanks. It was organised by the Social Service League, which was founded in Brisbane in 1931 to alleviate social distress caused by the economic depression.23 Toward the end of 1931 or in early 1932, Sir John indicated his desire to retire on a date slightly earlier than the expiry of his full five year term in June 1932. It was said that this was a convenient arrangement, procured by Premier Arthur Moore ‘because in the event of the Labor Party being successful at the next election the policy of appointing governors from Great Britain might be discontinued.’24 At the election held in 1929, Moore had led the Country and Progressive National Party to victory, administering Labor’s first defeat since 1915. Almost immediately it was elected, the Moore government’s fortunes began to decline and it was apparent by 1931 that Labor would most probably return to office. Perhaps Moore did engineer Goodwin’s early retirement to ensure that London could appoint a British governor before Labor returned
199
part three – Viceroys, Soldiers and Statesmen
to office. Certainly London acted unusually promptly when it announced on 16 February 1932 that Sir Leslie Wilson would succeed Goodwin.25 On 6 April 1932 the Goodwins were given a well attended public farewell at the Brisbane Exhibition grounds. The next morning they left for Britain aboard the liner Orana. The Goodwins lived quietly in retirement in England until Sir John’s death on 29 September 1960. Lady Goodwin, who had been in poor health for some years before her husband’s death, died in July 1961.26 Soon after Sir Leslie Orme Wilson, who had been Queensland’s fifteenth governor, died in England in 1955, a letter from a Mr G.H. Copeman was published in The (London) Times. Copeman congratulated the newspaper on the obituary it had recently published, but went on to say ‘Only a native of Queensland could attempt to portray what Sir Leslie Wilson meant to that far-off state. ... He was a very astute judge of the Australian character and fully appreciated those twin aspects – intense loyalty and pride in the British connexion, together with a tendency towards rough disrespect for pomp and authority. ... His annual tours throughout the Queensland countryside were highlights in the lives of people in the lonely outback. His visit to a town would generally be the occasion for horse-racing and other sporting events by day, and a ‘coming out’ ball in the evening, at which any girl of appropriate age who could acquire a white evening dress could be presented to the Governor as a ‘debutante.’ As another example, Sir Leslie appreciated that in a country with few traditions, there could yet be some traditions that ranked very high in the emotions of the people. He understood the sacredness of the Anzac tradition and the great importance attached to Anzac Day parades and ceremony. But after fulfilling his role as a representative of the British Crown he could in the evening attend a reunion of ex-servicemen and be ‘Good old Leslie’ to the diggers.’ In 1932, Sir Leslie Wilson was appointed to be Queensland’s governor for a term of five years. In the end, he held the office for fourteen years. Queenslanders
200
Chapter Eleven – The First of the Modern Governors
Left: The Goodwins and party walk across the Grey Street Bridge after its opening. Centre: Sir John Goodwin ready for Lodge. Right: Sir John Goodwin (seated) watching rifle practice and Enoggera army camp, August 1931.
were very glad that he stayed because he suited them and they certainly suited him. They each understood and admired the other. Wilson had very good credentials for appointment to Queensland. He possessed a natural but distinguished presence, he was energetic, debonair, affable and courteous and keenly interested in everyone he met. Born in England in 1876, he was the son of a stockbroker. He joined the army in 1895 and fought in South Africa where he was severely wounded and repeatedly decorated for bravery and efficiency. From 1903 to 1909 he was in Sydney as aide-de-camp to the New South Wales governor, Admiral Sir Harry Rawson. In 1909, in Sydney, Wilson married Winifred May Smith, daughter of Charles Smith who had come to the colony from Scotland in 1836 and had amassed a great fortune from shipping and commercial enterprises. The Wilsons went to England in 1909. In 1913, Wilson was elected to the House of Commons for the Conservative party. In 1914, he was re-commissioned into the army and fought at Gallipoli and in France. Again, he was badly wounded and again he was highly decorated. He returned to parliament until 1922, when he was appointed Governor of Bombay. That was a challenging appointment because he had to deal with serious industrial and political unrest, even violence. ‘He showed a steadfast courage and confidence in pursuing a policy of comprehension and goodwill, supplemented whenever the need arose by firm action.’27 While in India he strove, in particular, to improve local health and education facilities. The Wilsons returned to England in 1928 and in the following year Leslie was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Indian Empire. Through the next few years, Wilson pursued a particular interest in tropical medicine and helped to set up the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London. Then he was invited to go to Queensland. The day following the announcement of his appointment as governor he told Australian press representatives that
201
part three – Viceroys, Soldiers and Statesmen
he already had many connections with Australia. He had worked in Sydney years before and during that time he had gone duck shooting in Queensland with Lord Chelmsford. His wife was from Sydney and his elder son, Peter, was jackarooing on a sheep station in the Riverina district. The Wilsons said that their daughter, Marjorie, would come to Queensland with them, while younger son David would stay in England to complete his studies at Oxford University. The reporter for the Melbourne Argus thought ‘He will certainly fill Australian requirements as a sport-loving governor, for he still plays cricket for Marylebone and other clubs. He also plays golf and lawn tennis, shoots and rides and enjoys yachting.’28 On 13 June 1932, Sir Leslie was sworn in as Queensland’s governor. He immediately began planning for his first tour into Queensland’s regional areas. These tours became annual events and he tried to visit each district at least once every two years. One of his early excursions was a month long trip to the Torres Strait, where he and Lady Wilson and Marjorie travelled to even the most outlying islands. ‘Each island seemed to vie with its neighbours in making our visit as pleasant as could be, decorating the approaches with arches of welcome, showing us excellent examples of native dancing besides being generous in their gifts of shell, basket work and mother-of-pearl work, which they do extremely well. Generally speaking, the men, women and children are really happy. They are encouraged by white teacher-superintendents to develop on improved native lines, fostering native village life and avoiding Europeanisation as much as possible. One thing that gave me great pleasure was that at many of the islands there were troops of boy scouts with a regulation uniform of red lava-lava, and girl guides who were distinctively arrayed.’ Sir Leslie noted that Thursday Island had lost much of its old glamour of the pearling boom
202
Chapter Eleven – The First of the Modern Governors
times that he had seen when he previously visited the place, 29 years before. Pearling was in decline and not so many ships called at the island as before.29
From left: Miss Marjorie Wilson – a pillar of strength for Sir Leslie. Lady Wilson and Sir Leslie, in court dress. Below, from top: Sir Leslie Wilson, Marjorie Wilson behind, on a pearling lugger during their trip to Torres Strait. Sir Leslie Wilson congratulates a winning trainer at the Eagle Farm races, 1937.
While travelling he took on a most arduous workload, opening shows, visiting schools and hospitals, inspecting whatever new development or scheme the particular district could show him, attending receptions and balls, going to race meetings, playing golf, inspecting Boy Scout and Girl Guide groups. Sometimes he gave speeches at least ten times each day and often the program continued for three weeks without a day off. ‘It seems that every time I eat I have to make a speech’ he said in Mackay in 1936. ‘Sometimes I think it would be better to starve.’30 He frequently travelled by car and often had to help dig his vehicle out after it became bogged, following sudden storms that quickly turned unsealed roads into quagmires. Wilson laughed about these misadventures and even seemed to enjoy them.31 Lady Wilson did not always accompany him on these trips but, until her marriage in 1941, daughter Marjorie proved a more than capable stand-in. ‘Marjorie actually loved the life and she was very good at it. She was an enormous help,’ recalled Lesley Wilson, niece of Marjorie and granddaughter of Sir Leslie and Lady Wilson. During the war years the demands were even more intense because there were patriotic meetings, each local Red Cross branch and comforts fund committee needed recognition, there were Volunteer Defence Force parades and always there were speeches to be made, speeches that honestly described the war situation but gave encouragement and hope for eventual victory. Because he had been a high ranking military officer and because he was obviously well connected, listeners hung on his every word about the war. He took advantage of new technology to make frequent radio broadcasts, often appealing for support for some particular cause, at other times simply chatting with his audience. ‘He had an incredible memory for people,’ Lesley Wilson recalled. ‘He might go to a tiny outback place and then go back again two years later and he would be able to tell Mrs Jones how marvellous her scones had been last time and he hoped they were just as good this time. People really loved him for that, they felt that he was really taking notice of them as individual people. And he was, of course.’32 In September 1933, Wilson wrote to C.H. Feilden, who was about to come from England to become an aide to the governor. ‘The really busy time does not start again until March and the busiest time of all is from June until about November. I think you will like the people here. They are simple, not well off, but most kind and hospitable, I like them immensely.’33 Wilson gave particularly strong support to several organisations that worked to improve the circumstances of disabled or disadvantaged children. On 14 September 1932, Sir Leslie and Lady Wilson attended a meeting at Brisbane City Hall to establish the Queensland Society for Crippled Children. A public appeal for funds was launched and Wilson broadcast over the Australian Broadcasting Commission radio station 4QG to support the appeal. On 4 December 1933, Sir Leslie opened the Montrose Home for crippled children, originally located in Taringa. Marjorie Wilson became president of the Montrose Home younger set and for many years she visited children at the home. Similarly, Sir Leslie was instrumental in the foundation of the Queensland Bush Children’s Health Scheme. From 1931, the Townsville Toc H club had
203
part three – Viceroys, Soldiers and Statesmen
brought small numbers of children from outback areas to Townsville so that the children could have a holiday and experience the seaside. Similar schemes were started in other districts. It became apparent that some of the children had health problems. Wilson became aware of the situation and he convened a working party of health professionals and community leaders to discuss the possibility of starting a state-wide scheme. A draft constitution was drawn up and the governor suggested the name Queensland Bush Children’s Health Scheme. Then, on 6 December 1935, a public meeting was held in Brisbane. A council was formed and the scheme was inaugurated. In the years since then, many thousands of children have benefited from the scheme, which has operated with government assistance and the support of many kindred organisations.34 Successive governors of Queensland have continued to support the scheme, but no support was more critical than Sir Leslie Wilson’s in the formative years. He acted as president of the scheme and strenuously supported the fund-raising that was so critically important before governments became more generous. One fund-raising device, for the Queensland Bush Children’s Health Scheme and other charities, was the holding of an annual Government House Fête. The first of these was held on 29 April 1933 and was a huge success, raising almost 4,000 pounds for the Queensland Society for Crippled Children. This was an astonishing result at a time when money was very hard to come by. The fêtes had the dual benefit of opening Government House and its grounds to the community as well as raising funds. Wherever Wilson went, he encouraged worthwhile causes and initiatives. He was ahead of his time when he pointed out that small communities should record their pioneering history and preserve documents relating to that history. In Brisbane, he fostered the growth of the Historical Society of Queensland. The Society had been formed in 1913 with the support of Sir William MacGregor but it had no permanent headquarters. On 10 December 1933, Wilson spoke to an Historical Society gathering to commemorate the anniversary of Governor Bowen’s arrival. ‘It is one of the most important functions of an intelligent community to keep two things always in view – the careful study of the past as a means of watching its developments and effects on the bodies politic and civic, and to utilise the knowledge of the past as a guide to the future’ he said.35 He went on to suggest that historic sites in Brisbane should be identified and explained. In 1934, Wilson suggested that Newstead House should be handed over to the Society for use as a headquarters and museum. In 1939 the suggestion was adopted when Brisbane City Council resolved to place the historic house under the control of a trust for the society. Wilson returned to the theme of preservation of the state’s historical record on 5 April 1934, when he opened the Oxley Memorial Library (now the John Oxley Library, within the State Library of Queensland.) ‘I say quite honestly that I do not think that during the years since Queensland became a State enough has been done in the direction of collecting and preserving historical records. Priceless years are passing when it is possible to collect information from people who helped to form this State. Invaluable records ... may be sent elsewhere or possibly out of Queensland. It is a duty which this generation owes to the past, to the present and certainly to the future.’36
204
Top, left: A communist delegation waits outside the premier’s office, 1936. Top, centre: Washing day, 1938. Top, right: A display home made from asbestos cement sheets, 1937. Left, centre: Story Bridge fitters. Left, below: The Story Bridge construction team on the day of completion, 1940.
Chapter Eleven – The First of the Modern Governors
There had been vice-regal support of surf lifesaving since Queensland’s first lifesaving club opened at Coolangatta in 1909. Wilson showed very keen interest in the movement and gave it strong personal support. In January 1934 a ‘Governor’s Surf Carnival’ was held at Coolangatta, with competition involving eleven Queensland teams and two from New South Wales. The governor and Lady Wilson attended the carnival and a huge guard of honour and march past was arranged in their honour. At the governor’s suggestion, a novel fund-raising technique was used to give the huge crowd of spectators the opportunity to support the lifesavers even if they had not brought much cash to the beach. Cards were issued on which pledges for donations could be made.37 Other sport of all kinds was strongly supported. Wilson believed that ‘healthy bodies make healthy minds’ and he led the way by example when he picked up a cricket bat or a golf club at every opportunity. He was a capable cricketer but not so capable on the golf course. No matter, his bonhomie made good any inadequacy. Wilson was very active within the Boy Scout movement. He never missed a chance to urge the claims of the Scouts on the public and he used broadcasts to good effect. Manfred Cross, who was to have a distinguished career as a federal parliamentarian and is a notable student of Queensland’s history, recalled Sir Leslie’s involvement. ‘I first met him in 1940, when I was twelve’ Manfred said. ‘I was a patrol leader of the Bardon Scout group and my patrol won the colours that had been given years before by the Goold-Adams, who were keen supporters of the Scouts and Guides in the very early days of those movements. I went to Government House to receive the prize from Sir Leslie, we got talking and he asked me to become his Boy Scout aide-de-camp. ‘Of course I agreed and I found myself going with him to all sorts of parades and functions. He was an astonishingly good mixer, completely at ease in any group and with the ability to make other people feel at ease with him. He was highly respected and he certainly was a very hard working and popular governor. He was a great advocate for Queensland and did an enormous amount of good for the state. He had arrived in Queensland just as the Forgan Smith Labor government came into office. It was of a very different political colour from his own inclinations, but nevertheless he was impressed by the new government and formed good relationships with it. He was very forthright and he was never afraid to say publicly what he thought the government should do. But he had the ability to do it in a constructive and non-partisan way and it was invariably good advice and Queensland benefited from it.
205
part three – Viceroys, Soldiers and Statesmen
‘During the war years he did some wonderful public relations work for Queensland. Hundreds of thousands of American troops came and went. Whenever he could, Sir Leslie would meet and greet them, wish them well, mix with them informally and relate to them as one soldier to another. He would get dressed up in his British army uniform and wear all his medals and the Americans loved it, they thought he was quite wonderful. ‘He loved a drink and one of my regular duties was to make a good stiff Scotch for him. He had a great capacity for liquor and that fitted into the hard-drinking culture of those days, but I don’t think I ever saw him the worse for wear. He was just a remarkable man in every respect’ Manfred remembered. Given that he too had been at Gallipoli and on the Western Front, it is not surprising that Wilson was particularly active in commemorating the wartime sacrifice of Queenslanders. For him, Anzac Day was a day for practical
expression of the debt to the dead and the maimed, a day when people were reminded of the debts they owed. ‘Anzac Day was the day when people met together to sympathise with the relatives of those who did not return and to renew the promise that they would be worthy of those who made the greatest sacrifice. We can pay our tribute, we can renew our promises ... let our hearts waken to all that we owe to the day, to the incapacitated and to those who mourn’ he said at a ceremony at Brisbane’s Anzac Square on 25 April 1934.38 When world war broke out again in 1939, Wilson made short films to encourage Queenslanders to support the Red Cross Prisoner of War Street Adoption Scheme. He appealed to everyone to support the scheme so that POWs could be sent Red Cross parcels. ‘Don’t think, but act. Get a sign for your street that says “This Street Supports a Prisoner of War”,’ he urged. His friendly and engaging delivery created a sense of urgency and importance and it did motivate many people to donate to the cause. He set an example himself when he had a sign affixed to Fernberg’s front gate. Wilson never lost sight of the need to encourage the state’s economic development. He stressed the continuing importance of rural production and wore a woollen tie to show support for woolgrowers. A large population was the key to Queensland’s development, he thought.39 Queensland’s population
206
From left: People queue for clothing ration tickets during the Second World War. Brisbane women with American sailors, 1941. Soldiers enjoy a last drink before they entrain, 1940. Preparing for the worst – gas mask drill at Rosalie / Torwood, 1942.
Chapter Eleven – The First of the Modern Governors
had reached one million in 1938 and by then the end of the depression was in sight, although conditions were difficult until the war stimulated production and created the jobs for which so many people had waited so long. In the meantime, there was a heavy reliance on unemployment relief projects. One of these was the Hornibrook Highway, a timber decked bridge linking the Redcliffe Peninsula to Sandgate, across Bramble Bay. Sir Leslie opened the new bridge, almost three kilometres long, in October 1935. He forecast brighter days ahead and pointed out that the population of the Brisbane area was growing rapidly and there was a need for such projects.40 The Hornibrook Highway had been a spectacular undertaking that had employed hundreds of men for more than three years. An even larger project, the Story Bridge across the Brisbane River to link Kangaroo Point with Fortitude Valley, was commenced on 24 May 1935, the day of the silver jubilee of the reign of King George the Fifth. Five years later, on 6 July 1940, a crowd estimated at 37,000 cheered as Sir Leslie declared the new bridge open. Parochial Queenslanders said their new bridge was bigger and better than the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It wasn’t, but the project had employed 400 men and the bridge had been designed and fabricated in Brisbane while 89 per cent of the cost was expended in Queensland.41 In 1936, Sir Leslie’s first term in office was extended to 1942 and then there were further extensions through the war years until June 1946. In the whole history of the British Empire only the Governor of Bombay between 1795 and 1811 had served a longer term in a single location.42 Through these years, elder son Peter settled on the land in the Surat district. Peter’s children, Charles and Lesley, still live in Queensland. In 1941, Marjorie returned to England to marry her father’s former aide, Captain John Richards. Younger son David, after brilliant achievements at Oxford, joined the army. He was killed in action in the Middle East in November 1941.43 On 6 April 1946, there was a citizens’ farewell for the Wilsons, held at the Brisbane Exhibition grounds. It was an occasion reminiscent of the nineteenth century demonstrations of affection for Queensland governors. Almost every community organisation from throughout the state was represented, there were massed brass and pipe bands, there was a combined choir of 700 voices and 2,000 Boy Scouts and Girl Guides were assembled to form an outline of the map of Queensland.44 The Wilsons then returned to England. They kept Currimundi House, the holiday home they had built at Caloundra in the 1930s, and they often returned there. Sir Leslie was suffering from dementia when he was killed in a traffic accident in England in 1955. Lady Wilson then moved back to live at Currimundi House, where she died in June 1959. Warm memories of Sir Leslie Wilson lingered in Queensland for many years and still do in the hearts and minds of the dwindling number of people like Manfred Cross who knew him. His granddaughter Lesley Wilson recounts that she is still often asked if she is related to him. ‘Once I got pulled up for speeding and when the policeman looked at my licence he asked me if I was related to Sir Leslie. It was at least thirty years after my grandfather had left Queensland. Well, of course I had to tell the truth. The policeman said “He was a fine man and I will let you off this time, but he would have wanted you to set a better example.”
207