Endnotes
1.It is noted that there is a wide body of contemporary research examining systems of political management at the state and federal levels in Australia. Particular attention has been directed towards the changing application of Westminster principles, and, how public servants are viewed and located within modern governance frameworks. Studies on New Public Management and public service responsiveness have also received significant attention. SeeR.A.W Rhodes,J. Wanna andP. Weller, ‘Reinventing Westminster: How public executives reframe their world’, Policy and Politics, vol.30, no.4, 2008, pp.461-79;J. Halligan, ‘Beyond Westminster: The new machinery of subnational government: Political management in the Australian states’, Public Money & Management, vol.21, no.2, 2001, pp.9-15;P. Fairbrother andJ. O’Brien
‘Introduction: Changing public sector industrial relations in the Australian state’, Australian Journal of Public Administration, vol.59, no.4, December2000, pp.54-59;C. Matheson, ‘Are clerical workers proletarian? A case study of the Australian Public Service’, The British Journal of Sociology, vol.58, no.4, 2007, pp.577-602.
2.R. Markey, ‘Organisational consolidation and unionateness in the NSW Public Service Association, 1899-1939’, Labour History, no.99.November2010, pp.97-114;P. Sheldon, ‘A middle class union: The early years of the NSW PSA’, Labour & Industry, vol.2, no.1, 1989, pp.103-11.
3.D. Rawson, ‘The frontiers of trade unionism’, Australian Journal of Politics and History, vol.1, no.2, May1956, p.203.
4.For a brief analysis of the progression of Master and Servant Acts, seeMary Gardiner, ‘His master’s voice? Work Choices as a return to master and servant concepts’, Sydney Law Review, vol.31, no.1, March2009, pp.57-67.
5.The term ‘public servants’ will hereafter refer to Victorian state departmental public servants. Railways workers, police officers and teachers are not the specific focus of this paper. Regulations governing the political rights of public servants were historically not uniform across all sectors of the public service. For an introduction to the development of political rights in the police force seeR.K. Haldane, The People’s Force: A History of the Victoria Police,Melbourne University Press,, 1986. In the field of education, seeR. Biddington, ‘Emerging teacher unionism in Victoria, 1872-1879’, Journal of Further and Higher Education, vol.4, no.2, 1980, pp.12-20.
6.Rudolph Plehwe, ‘Political rights of Victorian public employees’, Australian Journal of Public Administration, vol.42, no.3, 1983, p.374.
7. Government Gazette, 8January1867, p.38, Regulation 21.
8.The principles underpinning the British public service evolved over hundreds of years and can be traced back to the English revolution of 1688. The repercussions of this event were lasting as the British parliament deemed it necessary to consolidate its victory and deprive the Crown of its most powerful entitlement, the right to nominate public servants. Over the next century a long drawn list of legislative statutes sought to disarm the Crown by removing public servants from the arena of politics. The political rights of a public servant to vote and to sit in parliament were revoked. It was the first in many steps towards ensuring the Crown be subject to greater accountability. Despite this, the Crown continued to exert influence through a network of personal relationships with members of parliament. SeeJ. Christoph, ‘Political rights and administrative impartiality in the British civil service’, The American Political Science Review, vol.51, 1957, p.77;G.K. Clark, ‘“Statesmen in disguise”: reflexions on the history of the neutrality of the civil service’, The Historical Journal, vol.2, 1959, pp.19-39;E. Cohen, The Growth of the British Civil Service, 1780-1939,George Allen and Unwin,, 1941;R. Butler, ‘The evolution of the civil service: A progress report’, Public Administration, vol.71, no.3, pp.395-406;D. Eaton, Civil Service in Great Britain: A History of Abuses and Reforms and their Bearing upon American Politics,Harper & Brothers, 1880;R. Moses.The Civil Service of Great Britain,Columbia University Press,, 1914;H. Parris, Constitutional Bureaucracy: The Development of British Central Administration Since the Eighteenth Century,Allen and Unwin,, 1969, pp.34-35;S. Northcote, andC. Trevelyan, Report on the Organisation of the Permanent Civil Service, 23rdNovember1853, Submitted to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty inFebruary1854, Paper1713.
9. Port Phillip Patriot, 6May1839.
10.For an analysis of the settlement of the Port Phillip District, seeH. Turner, A History of the Colony of Victoria: Volume 1,Heritage Publications,, 1973, pp.96-300;J. Grant andG. Serle, The Melbourne Scene: 1803-1956,Hale and Iremonger,, 1978, pp.3-68;W.H. Archer, ‘ sir John O’shanassy: A Sketch’, Melbourne Review, vol.8, no.31, July1883. Specific to the social and political upheaval in Central Europe, seeW. Langer, The Revolutions of 1848,Harper Torchbook,, 1969.
11.SeeGeoffrey Serle, The Golden Age: A History of the Colony of Victoria, 1851-1861,Melbourne University Press,, 1963.
12.R. Gollan, Radical and Working Class Politics: A Study of Eastern Australia, 1850-1910,Melbourne University Press,, 1967, p.15.
13.Foster held the position of Colonial Secretary, Stawell Attorney-General, and Childers Auditor General. Childers later returned to Britain and became Chancellor of the Exchequer. Both Nicholson and Haines ascended to the Premiership during their political careers;Charles Parkinson, Sir William Stawell and the Making of Victoria’s Constitution,Australian Scholarly Publishing,, 2004, pp.14-45.
14. Argus, 21January1854.
15.SeeC. Parkinson, Sir William Stawell, pp.14-45;D. Powell, ‘The wild colonial barrister: Sir William Stawell and the taming of the Victorian legal profession’, Victorian Historical Journal, vol.73, no.2, September2002, pp.155-180.
16.SeeH. Turner, A History of the Colony of Victoria, Volume2,Heritage Publications,, 1973. p.54;C. Francis, ‘stawell, Sir William Foster (1815-1889)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol.6,Melbourne University Press,, 1976, pp.174-77.
17. Argus, 14March1889.
18. Age, 25February1857.
19.C. Francis, ‘stawell, Sir William Foster’;C. Parkinson, ‘William Foster Stawell and the making of Victoria’s constitution’, Victorian Historical Journal, vol.77, no.2, 2006, p.114.
20.Ibid.
21.TheArgus, 13February1854, noted that Stawell was a ‘very rich man’ designing a system for other rich men.
22.Report from the Select Committee of the Legislative Council on a New Constitution for the Colony, Legislative Council, Votes and Proceedings, 1853-54, vol.3, no.11, p.10; Weekly Report of Divisions in Committee of the Whole Council, Legislative Council, Votes and Proceedings, 1853-54, vol.1, p.94;George Webb(ed.), Debate in the Legislative Council of the Colony of Victoria on the Second Reading of the New Constitution Bill,Caleb Turner,, 1854, p.73.
23.Webb(ed.), Debate in the Legislative Council, pp.73-74.
24.Ibid, p.74.
25.Ibid, p.74.
26. Argus, 14October1854.
27.Serle, The Golden Age, pp.188-214.
28.G. Serle, ‘The Victorian Legislative Council, 1856-1950’, Historical Studies, Australia and New Zealand, vol.6, no.22, May1954.
29.Cabinet Minutes, 1856, cited inC. Duffy, My Life in Two Hemispheres, Volume2,Fisher Unwin,, 1898, pp.205-6.
30.Legislative Assembly, Votes and Proceedings, 1856-57, vol.1, A-No.29
31.Serle, The Golden Age, p.311.
32. Argus, 27November1866.
33.Cited inPlehwe, ‘Political rights of Victorian public employees’, p.365.
34.R. Murray, 150 Years of Spring Street,Australian Scholarly Publishing,, 2007, p.19;Serle, The Golden Age, p.312;M. Cannon, Melbourne After the Gold Rush,Loch Haven, Main Ridge,, 1993, p.123.
35.The Chartist influence was reflected in the views of gold rush generation migrants. The wealthy aristocracy opposed the movement. SeeD. Dunstan, ‘Naked democracy: Governing Victoria 1856-2006’, Victorian Historical Journal, vol.77, no.2, November2006, p.232.
36.Duffy, My life in Two Hemispheres, p.173.
38. Victorian Hansard, vol.4, 8Feburary1859, pp.820-21.
39.Hearn was one of the four original professors at the University of Melbourne. He would later go on to become Chancellor of the university and then Leader of the Legislative Council. SeeA. Sutherland, ‘William Edward Hearn’, Argus, 28April1888;G. Blainey, A Centenary History of the University of Melbourne,Melbourne University Press,, 1957;Douglas B. Copland, W.E. Hearn: First Australian Economist,Melbourne University Press,, 1935.
40.‘Royal Commission into the Public Service’, 1852, cited inR.S. Parker, Public Service Recruitment in Australia,Melbourne University Press,, p.17.
41. Government Gazette, 25March1859, p.545;21April1859, p.845;22October1864, p.273;1December1865, p.2789. Such was the concern that public servants were engaged in political activity that this regulation was reprinted in theGovernment Gazetteintermittently over the next decade.
42. Government Gazette, 8January1867, p.38, Regulation 21.
43.Ibid., Regulation 23.
44.Etched into the memories of public servants were the events of8January1878– which became known as‘Black Wednesday’– when Premier Graham Berry dismissed hundreds of public servants, together with county court judges, coroners, crown prosecutors and police magistrates. Berry’s enemies in the Legislative Council had refused to pass the government’s budget. Berry was also suspicious that senior public servants were conspiring against him with his conservative opponents and this was the premier’s dramatic response. For an overview of the events, seeA. Deakin, The Crisis in Victorian Politics, 1879-1881,Melbourne University Press,, 1957.
45.Victorian Public Service Association, Progress Report of the Public Service Association for the Seven Months Ending 17th February, 1886, p.27.
46. Government Gazette, 3February1896, pp.602-608.
47.Turner, A History of the Colony of Victoria, p.291.
48.George Tibbits remarked that‘Nothing approaching the arrogant pride of the 1880s was to return to Melbourne until the prosperous 1960s’; cited inMelbourne on my Mind,Australian Broadcasting Commission,, 2001, p.81.
49.L. Benham andJ. Rickard, ‘Masters and servants: The Victorian railway strike of 1903’, inJ. Iremonger,J. Merritt andG. Osborne(eds), Strikes: Studies in Twentieth Century Australian Social History,Angus and Robertson in association with the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History,, 1973, p.3.
50.R. Wright, A People’s Counsel: A History of the Parliament of Victoria, 1856-1990,Oxford University Press,, 1992, p.121.
51.F. Eggleston, State Socialism in Victoria,P.S. King & Son,, 1932.
52. Age, 18December1891.
53.J. Lack, ‘David Syme and the three stooges? The bust premiers: James Munro, William Shiels and JB Patterson, 1890-1894’, inP. Strangio andB. Costar(eds), The Victorian Premiers, 1856-2006,Federation Press,, 2006, p.98.
54.Ibid., pp.98-105.
55.M. Cannon, The Land Boomers: The Complete Illustrated History,Melbourne University Press,, 1995, p.49.
56. Argus, 17February1894; SeeR. Ellery inVictorian Public Service Association Annual Report, 1891and1892.
57. Age, 18September1893;Argus, 8April1891.
58.Patterson cited inJ. Lack, ‘David Syme and the three stooges?’, p.104;Age, 28Marchand2April1893.
59. Argus, 19April1893.
60. Age, 15August1894.
61.SeeAge, editorials, 22-26May1883.
62.The 1894 budget, drafted by TreasurerG.D. Carter, was a disaster for Patterson. The Premier was so embarrassed he offered to withdraw it.
63.B. Hoare, Looking Back Gaily,E.W. Cole, Book Arcade,, 1927, p.181.
64.E. Shann cited inW.A. Sinclair, Economic Recovery in Victoria 1894-1899,Australian National University Social Science Monographs,, 1956, p.41.
65.Turner, A History of the Colony of Victoria, p.320.
66. Age, 7September1894.
67.Ibid.
68. Argus, 6September1894.
69. Age, 6September1894;J. Rickard, Class and Politics: New South Wales, Victoria and the Early Commonwealth, 1890-1910,Australian National University Press,, 1976, p.87.
70.F. Eggleston andE. Sugden, George Swinburne: A Biography,Angus and Robertson,, 1931, p.46.
71.P. Love, Labour and the Money Power: Australian Labour Populism 1890-1950,Melbourne University Press,, 1984;R. Markey, ‘Populism and the formation of a Labor Party in New South Wales, 1890-1900’, Journal of Australian Studies, no.20, May1987, pp.38-48.
72.Love, Labour and the Money Power, p.29.
73. Argus, 17December1896.
74.R. Gollan
‘Nationalism, the labour movement and the Commonwealth’, inGordon Greenwood(ed.), Australia: A Social and Political History,Angus and Robertson,, 1955, p.148.
75. Argus, 17December1896.
76.Eggleston andSugden, George Swinburne, p.101-103;Wright, A People’s Counsel, p.121.
77.SeeRickard, Class and Politics, pp.65-67.
78.SeeN. Dyrenfurth andM. Quartly, ‘Fat Man v. “the People”: Labour intellectuals and the making of oppositional identities, 1890-1901’, Labour History, no. 92, May2007, pp.31-56;Love, Labour and the Money Power, p.31.
79. Tocsin, 2October1897.
80.For an early account of the movement and its origins, seeH.L. Nielson, The Voice of the People,Arbuckle, Waddell & Fawckner,, 1902;Wright, A People’s Counsel, p.119.
81.T. Waters, Much Besides Music: Memoirs of Thorold Waters,Georgian House,, 1951, pp.68-69.
82.Eggleston andSugden, George Swinburne, p.81.
83.Benham andRickard, ‘Masters and servants’, p.2.
84.Rickard, Class and Politics, p.168.
85.Benham andRickard, ‘Masters and servants’, p.4.
86.Murray Smith, Argus, 18November1903.
87. Argus, 27November1901;J.M. Bennett andA.G. Smith, ‘Irvine, Sir William Hill (1858-1943)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol.9,Melbourne University Press,, 1983, pp.439-41.
88. Victorian Parliamentary Debates(VPD), vol.100, Legislative Assembly (LA), 5August1902, p.375.
89.‘Dominance of Civil Servants’, New Zealand Tablet, vol.30, no.35, 28August1902, p.18.
90.Bride, cited inJ. Rickard, ‘“Iceberg” Irvine and the politics of anti-labor’, inStrangio andCostar(eds), The Victorian Premiers, p.121.
91. AgeandArgus, 11August1902; This marked the beginning of the large-scale defection of public servants to the Labor Party in Victoria. SeeRickard, Class and Politics, p.190.
92.Ibid., p.193.
93. Argus, 11August1902.
94.Eggleston andSugden, George Swinburne, p.99.
95. Argus, 11December1902.
96. Kilmore Free Press, 23April1903.
97.Rickard, Class and Politics, p.191.
98. Constitution Act 1903(Victoria), no.1864ss.4, 10, 20.
99.Benham andRickard, ‘Masters and Servants’, p.6.
100.Eggleston andSugden, George Swinburne, p.101.
101. VPD, vol.101, LA, 12November1902, pp.566-71.
102.Ibid., p.364.
103.Benham andRickard, ‘Masters and Servants’, p.6.
104.Eggleston andSugden, George Swinburne, p.100.
105. VPD, vol.101, LA, 12November1902, p.570.
106. VPD, vol.113, LA, 19July1906, p.394.
107.Cited inWright, A People’s Counsel, p.121.
108.J. Rickard, ‘The quiet little man in a brown suit: George Turner and the politics of consensus’, inP. Strangio andB. Costar(eds), The Victorian Premiers, p.121;Benham andRickard, ‘Masters and servants’, pp.1-23.
109. VPD, vol.104, LA, 13May1903, p.56.
110.For a detailed analysis of the railway strike, seeBenham andRickard, ‘Masters and servants’.
111.SeeBennett andSmith, ‘Irvine, Sir William Hill’, pp.439-41;VPD, vol.113, 24July1906, pp.449-87.
112.Wright, A People’s Counsel, p.119;Roll of Public Officers[Entitled to Vote in the Election of Members of the Legislative Assembly, under the Constitution Act, 1903, no.1864, Section 25], 1904.
113. Public Service Journal of Victoria(PSJV), January-February1913, vol.1, no.1, p.1.
114.Ibid.
115. PSJV, vol.3, no.8, 30October1915, p.113.
116. PSJV, vol.3, no.6, 31August1915, p.84.
117. VPD, vol.145, LA, 19December1916, p.3535.
118. Constitution Act Amendment Act 1916(Victoria).
119.Changes to the political rights of public servants since 1916 have primarily concerned the position of public servants wishing to enter parliament. In 1935 members of the public and railway services became eligible to stand for State Parliament, meaning they no longer had to resign their positions in order to run. In 1956 public servants elected to State Parliament gained the right to reinstatement if they ceased to qualify for a parliamentary pension. In 1977 the right to stand for election to State Parliament was expanded to any person ‘being the holder of any office or place of profit under the Crown or in any manner employed in the public service of Victoria.’ SeeConstitution Act 1975(Victoria), no.9077, ss.3.
120. PSJV, vol.5, no.3, 31March1917, p.36.
121. VPD, vol.144, LA, 1November1916, p.2149.
122.Ibid., p.2149.
123.Ibid., pp.2147-48.