Guide 3 to NSW State Archives relating to Responsible Government - OCR - Flipbook - Page 189
A Guide to New South Wales State Archives relating to Responsible Government
Northern, Riverina and Monaro New States. It concluded unanimously that the creation
of new States in the Riverina and Monaro was neither practicable nor desirable; the
majority of Members reached the same conclusion about New England, with one member
concluding that such a State was practicable but not desirable.
Separatist movements revived in 1931 during the depression: the districts of New
England and Riverina were joined by agitator groups from the Monaro-South Coast and
Central Western districts. Consequently, in August 1933 Mr Justice Nicholas was
appointed by the Government as sole Commissioner to enquire and report as to the
areas of New South Wales suitable for self-government as States of the Commonwealth
of Australia, and as to the areas of the State in which referenda should be taken on any
questions connected with the constitution of such areas as separate States. Widespread
public enquiries were held, and the Commissioner's report was submitted on 2 January
1935. The findings of this Royal Commission were that two areas were suitable for selfgovernment: a northern region roughly taking in New England, the North Coast, and the
Hunter and Manning districts; and a central, western and southern region covering most
of the remaining area of the State, excepting the South Coast, Cumberland and the Blue
Mountains districts. Commissioner Nicholas recommended that a referendum should be
taken in each of the proposed areas found to be suitable for self-government but in the
northern area first, with preliminary steps to inform electors of the questions at issue
and possible advantages and disadvantages."
Following the report of the Nicholas Royal Commission in 1935 agitation died down and
interest in new States did not revive until after the Second World War. The New State
Movement re-emerged in New England in June 1948 when a conference was held at
Armidale to discuss the possibilities for the creation of a new State in northern New
South Wales. In February 1949, the convention met again and decided on the name
"New England" and on the boundaries for its new State and a model constitution.
Around the same time, October 1948, the Monaro-South Coast Movement had been
revived at a conference of local governing bodies at Bega. By the 1950s New State
movements existed not only in New South Wales but also in Queensland: one proposal
was for a new State tentatively called "Borderland", which would comprise the MonaroSouth Coast region of New South Wales and the east Gippsland portion of Victoria.
The New England New State Movement was the loudest and most constant. Agitation
from the New England region continued, unabated, throughout the early 1950s. Petitions
and resolutions were sent in to the Government (for example, a petition from certain
residents of the New England area representing that the New England area should be
formed into a separate state within the Commonwealth of Australia, and praying that a
referendum be held as soon as possible to ascertain the will of the people within that
area); the Constituent Assembly of New England even prepared a bill for an act to enable
the people of New England to form a constitution and a State Government and to seek
admission as a State of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1955.
However, the Government continued to be unresponsive to the campaigning, and it was
not until 1967 that the long sought after referendum on a new State of New England
finally took place.
11
Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry respecting areas in the State of New South Wales
suitable for self-government as States in the Commonwealth of Australia ..., (Government
Printer, Sydney, 1935); copy in New South Wales Parliamentary Papers, Session of 1934-35,
Vol.3 pp.1201-78
186
State Records Authority of New South Wales
