Deakin Collection
Key items in the collection
The Alfred Deakin Collection is one of the most historically significant and comprehensive political archives held by the Library. It includes personal, political and professional materials spanning Deakin’s life, alongside extensive biographical and scholarly resources.
The collection documents Deakin’s public and private life in great detail. Materials include:
- correspondence (incoming and retained)
- diaries and notebooks
- literary manuscripts and drafts
- religious and spiritual writings
- official publications, programs, menus, certificates and tourist ephemera
- press cuttings and annotated publications
- family documents dating back to 1804
A major highlight is an album of nearly all of Deakin’s letters to the Morning Post (1901–11), written anonymously while he was an MP and Prime Minister.
The manuscripts are arranged into the following series:
- General correspondence (1880–1919)
- Diaries (1884–1916)
- Notebooks and general manuscripts
- Literary interests
- Religion and spiritualism
- Law practice
- Journalism
- Victorian M.L.A. (1879–1900)
- Victorian Minister (1883–90)
- Irrigation (1885–1919)
- Federation delegate (1880–1900)
- Imperial Federation League (1885–1910)
- M.H.R. for Ballarat (1901–13)
- Barton Government (1901–03)
- Prime Minister (1903–04, 1905–08, 1909–10)
- Leader of the Opposition (1904–05, 1908–09, 1910–13)
- Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915)
- Post-retirement
- Family papers
- Miscellaneous personal papers
- Press cuttings (1871–1973)
- Tributes following Deakin’s death
Correspondence in other collections
Although Deakin rarely retained copies of his own letters, many survive in the collections of his correspondents. Letters written by Deakin appear in the papers of:
- Papers of Sir Edmund Barton, politician and Prime Minister
- Papers of Arthur Atlee Hunt, public servant
- Papers of E. Morris Miller, writer and academic
- Papers of Sir Littleton Groom, politician
- Papers of Sir Walter James, politician
- Letters to Richard Jebb, British writer
- Letters to Fabian Ware, British journalist and imperialist
- Papers of J.C. Watson, politician and Prime Minister
- Papers of Baron Hallam Tennyson, Governor-General
- Papers of Sir Thomas Bavin, lawyer and politician
- Papers of James Hume Cook, politician
- Papers of Sir Ronald Craufurd Munro Ferguson, Governor-General
- Papers of Christopher Crisp, journalist
- Papers of E.L. Piesse, lawyer and public servant
- Papers of Hugh Mahon, politician
- Papers of Sir John Latham, lawyer, politician and journalist
- Papers of Katharine Susannah Prichard, novelist
- Papers of Miles Staniforth Smith, politician and official
- Papers of Sir Josiah Symon, politician
- Papers of Herbert and Ivy Brookes, son-in-law and daughter of Deakin
- Letters to Charles Pearson, politician (photocopies)
- Papers of Andrew Fisher, politician and Prime Minister
- Papers of Sir Walter Murdoch, journalist and academic
- Papers of Catherine Deakin
- Papers of James Drake, politician and journalist
- Papers of Sir Timothy Coghlan, statistician and public servant
Letters of Deakin on microfilm
A number of British manuscript collections containing letters by Deakin are microfilmed by the Australian Joint Copying Project and are held in the Library:
- Papers of Joseph Chamberlain, politician (Birmingham University Library)
- Papers of Lord Hopetoun, Governor-General
- Letters to Ralph Blumenfeld, editor (House of Lords Record Office)
- Papers of Andrew Bonar Law, politician (House of Lords Record Office)
- Papers of Arthur Berriedale Keith, civil servant, writer (University of Edinburgh Library)
- Papers of Leopold Maxse, editor (West Sussex Record Office)
- Papers of Richard Jebb, writer (Institute of Commonwealth Studies)
- Papers of Lord Crewe, politician (Cambridge University Library).
Papers of the Biographer of Deakin
The Library holds the extensive papers of John La Nauze, whose biography of Deakin was published in 1965. The collection (MS 5248) contains correspondence, research notes, drafts and secondary sources on the life of Deakin.
The collection includes:
- photographic portraits from Deakin’s childhood to his later years
- images of Deakin with political colleagues and at national conventions
- caricatures and cartoons by artists such as Livingston Hopkins, Claude Marquet and Leslie Ward
- Deakin’s briefcases
- commemorative medal from the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition
Writings by Alfred Deakin
- The Crisis in Victorian Politics, 1879–1881, edited by JA La Nauze and RM Crawford,Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1957.
- The Federal Story: The Inner History of the Federal Cause, edited by Herbert Brookes, Robertson & Mullens, Melbourne, 1944 (later editions edited by JA La Nauze [1963] and Stuart Macintyre [1995]).
- Federated Australia: Selections from Letters to the Morning Post 1900–1910, edited by JA La Nauze, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1968.
- Irrigated India: An Australian View of India and Ceylon, Their Irrigation and Agriculture, W Thacker & Co., London, 1893.
- Irrigation in Western America, so Far as it has Relation to the Circumstances of Victoria, Government Printer, Melbourne, 1885.
- A New Pilgrim’s Progress, Terry, Melbourne, 1877.
- Quentin Massys: A Drama in Five Acts, JP Donaldson, Melbourne, 1875.
- Temple and Tomb in India, Melville, Mullen and Slade, Melbourne, 1893.
- Walter Murdoch and Alfred Deakin on ‘Books and Men’: Letters and Comments, 1900–1918, edited by JA La Nauze and Elizabeth Nurser, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1974.
Biographies of Deakin and related works
- Judith Brett, The enigmatic Mr Deakin, The Text Publishing Company, Melbourne, 2017.
- LF Crisp and John Hart, Federation Fathers, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1990.
- AL Gabay, The Mystic Life of Alfred Deakin, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1992.
- JA La Nauze, Alfred Deakin, 2 vols, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1965.
- JA La Nauze, The Making of the Australian Constitution, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1972.
- NK Meaney, A History of Australian Defence and Foreign Policy, 1901–23, vol. 1, Sydney University Press, Sydney, 1976.
- Walter Murdoch, Alfred Deakin: A Sketch, Constable, London, 1923.
- Ronald Norris, The Emergent Commonwealth: Australian Federation, Expectations and Fulfilment 1889–1910, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1975.
- Gavin Souter, Lion & Kangaroo: Australia 1901–1919—The Rise of a Nation, Collins, Sydney, 1978.
- John Rickard, A Family Romance: The Deakins at Home, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1996.
About Alfred Deakin
Early life and career
Alfred Deakin (1856–1919) was born in Melbourne and educated at Melbourne Grammar School and the University of Melbourne. He was admitted to the Victorian Bar but achieved more success as a journalist, writing reviews and articles for the Age and editing the Leader.
Political beginnings
Deakin was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly in 1879, promptly resigned because of doubts about the poll, but regained the seat of West Bourke in 1880. From 1883 to 1890, he held office in coalition governments. He became Chief Secretary in 1885 and, with Duncan Gillies, led the government until its defeat in 1890. He was responsible for pioneering factories and shops legislation and for promoting irrigation at Mildura. In 1887, he represented Victoria at the Colonial Conference in London.
Leading the Federation movement
In opposition throughout the 1890s, Deakin became one of the leaders of the Federation movement. He attended all the Federation conventions and conferences between 1890 and 1898, was President of the Federation League of Victoria, and led the referenda campaigns of 1898–99. In 1900, he was part of the delegation that visited London and secured the passage of the Constitution of Australia Bill.
Federal Parliament and Prime Minister
Deakin won the seat of Ballarat in the first Federal election in 1901 and held it until his retirement in 1913. He was Attorney-General in Edmund Barton's ministry and played a key role in establishing the High Court. When Barton retired in 1903, Deakin became Prime Minister and Minister for External Affairs. He resigned in 1904 but returned to power in 1905.
Between 1905 and 1908, his government introduced legislation on tariff protection, immigration, the capital site, old age pensions, meteorology and copyright. His government also took steps towards establishing the Royal Australian Navy and assumed the administration of Papua. Deakin lost power in 1908 when the Australian Labor Party withdrew its support.
In 1909, he agreed to the fusion of the opposition parties and formed his third ministry, which was also active legislatively. It was defeated in the 1910 election. Deakin served as Leader of the Opposition until his retirement due to ill health in 1913.
Legacy
When Sir Robert Menzies accepted Deakin’s papers in 1965, he remarked that Deakin’s skills as an orator often overshadowed his broader talents. Nonetheless, Deakin’s legacy is evident in many aspects of Australian life. Menzies noted:
‘All the foundational policies, not only in the fiscal field, in the defence field, in the industrial field, the pattern of national policy which we have come to accept so much in Australia was laid down by this remarkable man. And of course, as one of the fathers of the Constitution, he has his monument all around him, particularly in this city.’
Background to the collection
The Deakin papers were presented in 1965 by Ivy Brookes, the eldest daughter of Deakin.
The Deakin papers are held in the Manuscripts collection. Use the finding aid. The papers have been microfilmed in 49 reels. In addition, series 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16 and 19 have been digitised and are accessible online.
The photographs and cartoons are held in the Pictures collection. Many of them have been digitised and are accessible online.
The Alfred Deakin Prime Ministerial Library has been established at Deakin University in Geelong. It includes a reconstruction of Deakin’s study, featuring books from his personal library as well as furniture and household items from the Deakin family. The library also holds many photographs of Deakin.
This guide was prepared using these references:
- Peter Cochrane and others, Oral history interview with Jessie Clarke, grand-daughter of Alfred Deakin, 1996–2001, ORAL TRC 3465.
- Sue McKnight, The Alfred Deakin Prime Ministerial Library, Australian Academic and Research Libraries, vol. 36 (1), March 2005, pp. 25–36.
- R Norris, Alfred Deakin (1856–1919), Australian Dictionary of Biography Online.
- Graeme Powell, Modes of Acquisition: The Growth of the Manuscript Collection of the National Library of Australia, in Peter Biskup and Margaret Henty (eds), Library for the Nation, Australian Academic and Research Libraries, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 1991, pp. 74–80.
- Graeme Powell, Prime Ministers as Record Keepers: British Models and Australian Practice, in Sue McKemmish and Michael Piggott (eds), The Records Continuum: Ian Maclean and Australian Archives First Fifty Years, Ancora Press, Melbourne, 1994.
- Graeme Powell, The literary statesman: Alfred Deakin and his papers, National Library Magazine, vol. 1 (3), Sept. 2009, pp. 18-20.
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