Guide to the Papers of Joan Kingsley-Strack
MS 9551
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Collection Summary
- Creator
- Kingsley-Strack, Joan, 1892-1983
- Title
- Papers of Joan Kingsley-Strack
- Date Range
- 1908 - 1978
- Collection Number
- MS 9551
- Extent
- 4.05 metres (13 boxes + 1 folio box + 2 map folios)
- Language of Materials
- English
- Repository
- Special Collections (Manuscripts)
Introduction
Scope and Contents
MS 9551 comprises correspondence, diaries, notes, minutes, newspaper cuttings, photographs, artwork, circulars and publications, mostly dating from the period 1930-1950. They deal in particular with Joan Kingsley-Strack's strong interest in Aboriginal culture and welfare and her involvement in the Committee for Aboriginal Citizenship, the Oxford Group and other organisations. The correspondents include Mary Gilmore, Alfred James, A.W. Platts, William Ricketts, Pearl Gibbs, Albert Thompson and Michael Sawtell (13 boxes, 1 fol. box, 2 map folios).
Conditions Governing Access
Access conditions may apply to this collection, please refer to the collection's catalogue record for further information (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2291550).
Conditions Governing Use
Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.
Preferred Citation
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Joan Kingsley-Strack, National Library of Australia, [class/series/file number]'.
Provenance
The collection was purchased by the Library from Mrs Jan Haskins, the daughter of Joan Kingsley-Strack, in 2001.
Arrangement
The papers had been organised by Kingsley-Strack's great granddaughter, Victoria Haskins, when she was doing research for her doctoral thesis. In general, the Library has retained the files that she created and also several sequences of files. The overall arrangement of ten series has been imposed by the Library.
Biographical Note
Joan (Jeanne Goldie) Commons was born on 4 October 1892 at her parents' home at Pymble, Sydney. Her father, Donald Commons, a New Zealand emigrant of Scottish descent, had been an engineer on the newly built North Shore railway line. He was an amateur artist and founding member of the Julian Ashton Art School. Her mother, Helena Isobel Hobbes, came from Wallaga Lake on the far South Coast of New South Wales, her parents being English/Scottish migrant selectors. Joan and her younger sister Helen were schooled in a classical education at home, at the insistence of her retired father.
Joan married Norman Kingsley-Strack in Sydney on 31 December 1916. Her husband, an ex-AIF officer, worked in accountancy and advertising between the wars and was in Military Intelligence during World War II. They purchased land at Pymble and built a substantial home. They had three children, Peter (born in 1917), Narrelle Jeannette (born in 1923) and Helen Patricia (born in 1924). In the early 1920s the Stracks went to Melbourne, but soon returned to Sydney. In 1924 they moved to Brisbane. They returned to Sydney in late 1928 and from then on lived in a succession of rented properties on Sydney's North Shore.
The Stracks were closely involved in the New Guard in the early 1930s. In the late 1930s Joan was active in the Aboriginal movement, as secretary of the Committee for Aboriginal Citizenship. In 1943 Joan and Norman divorced. Joan lived in Sydney's eastern suburbs and supported herself as a ceramic artist and antique restorer. In her old age she lived with her daughters in Sydney and northern New South Wales. She died in 1983 aged 90 at Coffs Harbour.
Information supplied by Victoria Haskins.
Item Descriptions
Series 1. General correspondence, 1915-1978
Kingsley-Strack maintained an extensive correspondence, especially in the 1930s and 1940s. The letters in this series reflect her strong interest in social issues, religion and the arts. There are files on the poet Mary Gilmore, the Anglican minister Alfred James, the Armidale doctor E. Kent Hughes, the journalist Brian Penton, the English lawyer A.W. Platts, the sculptor William Ricketts, the ethnologist Arthur Vogan, and a young prisoner of war in Germany, David Voysey. Other correspondents include W.V. McCall and Christmas Humphreys. The files on Gilmore and Ricketts include cuttings.
Series 2. Diaries, 1912-1948
Kingsley-Strack was an erratic diarist, writing with a pencil on loose sheets, note pads or exercise books. Often there are just fragments, but between 1934 and 1944 she kept quite detailed diaries, even recording conversations. They deal with family matters, social events, meetings of the Oxford Group and other organisations and public events, such as news of the War. There are occasional annotations made by Kingsley-Strack late in her life.
Series 3. Personal papers, 1929-1972
This series contains a variety of papers about Kingsley-Strack, particularly her work during World War II, her achievements as an artist (especially china painting) and her writings and journalism.
Series 4. Organisations, 1915-1976
Kingsley-Strack was an active member and sometimes office-holder in many organisations, especially women's organisations. The files contain letters, circulars, agenda papers, receipts, newsletters, leaflets and newspaper cuttings.
Series 5. Oxford Group, 1935-1949
The Oxford Groups originated in the United States, where the Rev. F.N.D. Buchman founded 'A First Century Christian Fellowship' in 1908. In 1920 Buchman brought his movement to English universities and when Oxford University sent a band of missionaries to South Africa the name 'Oxford Group Movement' was used. By the 1930s there were Oxford Groups in 35 countries. The Groups were non-denominational and were based on informal gatherings called 'House Parties', where members studied the Bible and discussed their personal attitudes to religion.
For several years Kingsley-Strack and her husband were active members of the Oxford Group which met in Bible House, Pitt Street, Sydney. She became disenchanted with the Group during World War II. The papers that she accumulated include correspondence, circulars and a wide range of journals, pamphlets, leaflets and addresses. The later publications relate to Moral Rearmament. The correspondents include Bishop John Moyes, Ivan Menzies, Rev. Robert Firebrace, Margaret Duff, Nan Rainbow, Alec McNeil, Gladys Scott-Orr, Lady David and Edith Cranswick.
Series 6. Australian Aborigines, 1908-1974
Kingsley-Strack had a lifelong interest in Aboriginal culture and welfare. In her childhood she spent a lot of time with her maternal grandmother at Wallaga Lake, on the south coast of New South Wales, where an Aboriginal elder, Merriman, taught her about the language, legends and traditional foods. These legends, which she later recorded in writing, form part of this series. In the 1940s she worked on a book of Aboriginal words, but it was never published. In addition, she spoke at meetings of organisations on Aboriginal culture and often wrote letters to editors. Her admiration of Aboriginal culture was linked to her strong concern for Aboriginal rights and welfare, which is documented in Series 7 and 8.
Legends: Introduction, Willy wagtail, The moonpath and Bahloo the moon, The Budgidoo people, Piggibilla, Cassowary (File 3)
Legends: Platypus, Kangaroo and dingo, Kookaburra, Marthi, Waratah, Water rat's discovery of fire (File 4)
Series 7. Aboriginal Domestic Workers, 1924-1973
In the 1920s and 1930s Kingsley-Strack made use of the 'apprenticeship scheme' of the New South Wales Aborigines Protection Board by employing young Aboriginal women as servants. She took a strong interest in their welfare, while they were living with her and in later years, in two cases maintaining a correspondence for many years. Access to this correspondence is restricted.
Series 8. Committee for Aboriginal Citizenship, 1935-1953
Kingsley-Strack was an active member and for a time secretary of the Aboriginal Citizenship Committee which sought to obtain citizenship rights for urban Aborigines in New South Wales. The Committee achieved some success when the Aborigines Protection Board was abolished in 1940. The papers comprise a minute book, correspondence, circulars, reports, photographs, newspaper cuttings and publications. The correspondents include Pearl Gibbs, Albert Thompson, Mark Davidson, Jessie Litchfield, William Ferguson, Michael Sawtell, A.P.A. Burdeu, A.P. Elkin, Helen Baillie and R.R. Brain.
Series 9. Family papers, 1920-1976
The series contains letters from relatives on both sides of Kingsley-Strack's family and also some members of her husband's family. There are also cuttings and baptismal certificates of her children. Most of the papers relate to her father Donald Commons (1855-1942) and include correspondence with galleries and auctioneers, art catalogues, price lists, newspaper cuttings, photographs and biographical notes by Kingsley-Strack, including a manuscript on Donald Commons and Pymble. The correspondents include Donald Commons, Kate Commons, Alf Hobbes, Joyce Stobo, William Moore and Hal Missingham.