Woolgrowers, brokers and the debate over the sale of the Australian wool clip, 1920-1925

Prior to the First World War, the selling of the Australian wool clip rested firmly in the hands of the large woolbroking firms. An agreement between the British and Australian governments during the war saw many of the wool-selling functions of broking firms taken over by the Central Wool Committee. At the conclusion of hostilities, brokers moved to regain their role in the market. However, market conditions had changed. On an international level, traditional trading relationships had broken down, leaving commodity markets unstable and prices unpredictable. On a local level, woolgrowers had benefited from the wartime orderly marketing scheme and the high price guaranteed by the British government for their wool clip. As a result, they had begun to demand a greater role in the selling arrangements of their clip. This paper investigates the debates over the sale of the wool clip in the 1920s and how woolbrokers and growers eventually arrived at an understanding as to the manner in which the market should operate.

Where memory failed, journalism prevailed: Anzac Day in three Victorian country newspapers 1916-1925

This article explores how three Victorian country newspapers shaped and reinforced the collective memory of Anzac Day in its first decade, from 1916 to 1925. It draws on a sample of 300 articles, and looks to scholarship on journalism and memory to generate understandings of these newspapers' important role as co-creators and protectors of Anzac Day commemoration. The sample provides evidence that Anzac Day coverage was thematically consistent from the start. The analysis highlights journalists' roles as patriotic cheerleaders for a new, national identity; as collaborators with other social institutions in establishing the commemoration tradition; and as boundary riders, who patrolled less than acceptable Anzac Day behaviour. This role is most striking when communities failed to mark Anzac Day in the early days, as this article reveals.

I had gone to teach but stayed to learn: Geraldine MacKenzie at Aurukun Mission, 1925-1965

This article examines the missionary career of Geraldine MacKenzie who, with her husband Bill MacKenzie, served on the Presbyterian mission at Aurukun on the Cape York Peninsula between 1925 and 1965. It focuses primarily on MacKenzie’s own interpretation of and reflection on her experiences, as described in her memoir, Aurukun Diary. While the memoir elides some of the more controversial features of the MacKenzies’ tenure at Aurukun, it provides insights into the changing nature of missionary theology and practice on Aboriginal missions in the early twentieth century, particularly as they relate to the role of women—both missionaries and mission residents.