Guide 3 to NSW State Archives relating to Responsible Government - OCR - Flipbook - Page 233
A Guide to New South Wales State Archives relating to Responsible Government
Letters received — Special bundles
CGS 12061
State election press clippings — "1959 election" and "1962
election"
CGS 12061,
[7/11881-82]
These clippings, taken from Sydney newspapers by officers of the
Premier's Department, give a good indication of the policies,
issues and electioneering of the time. They include Party
advertisements, summation of results and articles on prominent
politicians, the voting system and party platform.
Box [7/11881] contains clippings for the 1959 Election while box
[7/11882] contains clippings for the 1962 Election.
New States
Since the centenary of responsible government, agitation for new States in New South
Wales has largely centred on New England. By the 1960s the New England New State
Movement's vigorous campaigning for self-government focussed around a referendum.
The Movement wanted a referendum to determine whether the people of the New
England area would be prepared to undertake the responsibilities of self-government.
In 1966 the New State Referendum Bill was passed by the Parliament, providing for a
referendum of the population of northern New South Wales to indicate whether it was in
favour of separation from NSW. If the answer was favourable, it was proposed that more
work would then be done on the financial viability of such as State, and the
constitutional procedure for achieving its establishment.
At its meeting on 17 January 1967 Cabinet confirmed the polling day for the New State
Referendum as 29 April 1967. In the interim an independent panel of academics from
the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales had been commissioned
to prepare material setting out the advantages and disadvantages of the creation of a
new State; their Referendum statement A New State? The Case "FOR" and "AGAINST",
was ultimately published in 47 country newspapers.
The Referendum was submitted only to the electors enrolled within the boundaries of the
proposed new State. As reported in The Sydney Morning Herald of 13 May 1967 the
Noes were in the majority by 30,709 votes. The proposal was strongly supported in the
North Coast, the Northern Tablelands and the North West but strongly opposed in the
more industrial areas of Newcastle and the Hunter Valley. The New England New State
Movement then decided to exclude Newcastle from its proposed district.14
As the proposal was defeated, further action on the part of the Government was
unnecessary as the New State movement was effectively removed from the political
agenda for the time being.
However, the New State Movement has not completely dissipated, particularly in regard
to the New England region of New South Wales. A website New States for Australia at
(cited May 2005) "is intended to place the option of forming
new Australian states before the public. The authors believe that the northern regions of
both NSW and Queensland are viable new states, and that new legislatures would bring
economic and social advantages to the citizens of those areas."
14
Australian Encyclopaedia, op cit, Vol.7 p.150
230
State Records Authority of New South Wales
