Guide to the Papers of Allan Fleming
MS 9862
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Collection Summary
- Creator
- Allan Percy Fleming
- Title
- Papers of Allan Fleming
- Date Range
- 1926-2000
- Collection Number
- MS 9862
- Extent
- 4.05 metres (25 boxes + 1 folio item)
- Language of Materials
- English
- Repository
- National Library of Australia
Introduction
Scope and Contents
The papers, which were mainly accumulated in the last thirty years of Fleming's life, comprise correspondence, personal documents, notes, official papers, speeches, newspaper cuttings, photographs and publications. Although there is little original material on his service in World War II and in the Commonwealth Public Service, there are many papers written or acquired in his retirement relating to earlier phases of his life. The papers deal with journalism, military campaigns in the Middle East and New Guinea, espionage, security, terrorism, international trade, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library and the National Library of Australia.
The correspondents include Sir John McEwen, Sir Magnus Cormack, Sir Frank Berryman, H. Philip Braddock, John Balfe, Roland Griffiths-Marsh, David Horner, Des Ball, Sir Harold White, Harold Williams, Björn Tell, Jean Whyte, Hillas MacLean, Warren Horton, Pierre Hutton, Neil Manton and Peter Ryan.
Conditions Governing Access
Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1597069).
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Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions.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 Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.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 Allan Fleming, National Library of Australia, MS 9862, [box number and series and/or file number]'.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The papers were donated to the Library in 2001 by Alannah Buchanan, the daughter of Allan Fleming
Related Materials
An interview with Allan Fleming, recorded by Peter Biskup in 1989, is held in the Oral History Collection of the Library at TRC 2403.
Arrangement
In his last years Fleming had rearranged many of the papers and when they came to the Library they were generally loose and were in considerable disorder. Library staff filed the papers and imposed the existing arrangement. The papers have been placed in 16 series, most of which correspond with a phase of Fleming's career.
Biographical Note
Allan Percy Fleming was born on 5 March 1912 in Melbourne. During World War I, while his father was serving abroad, he moved with his mother to the King Valley in northern Victoria, where both sides of his family lived. He went to school at Whitfield. Following the divorce of his parents, he moved to Melbourne to live with his father and stepmother and attended Lee Street State School in North Carlton. He gained a Junior Scholarship and in 1926 enrolled at Scotch College, where he remained for five years. In 1931 he enrolled at the University of Melbourne, but for a time also worked as a housemaster at Scotch College. He was editor of the University newspaper Farrago and pursued his university studies in a desultory way, finally graduating as a Bachelor of Arts in 1949.
In 1932 Fleming was offered a job on the Melbourne Argus and became a reporter. In 1938 he moved to Brisbane to work on the Courier-Mail and Sunday Mail. Following the outbreak of War, he enlisted in the Army and served in the Middle East, Greece, North Africa, New Guinea, the Dutch East Indies and the Philippines. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, was twice mentioned in despatches, and was awarded the OBE. On his return to Australia he was employed by Keith Murdoch as a special writer, columnist and magazine editor on the Melbourne Sun. On 19 June 1940 Fleming married Margaret Morell, née Patterson, in Jaffa, Palestine. They had one daughter, Alannah. Margaret Fleming died in 1999.
In 1947 Fleming began a long career in the Commonwealth Government when he joined the Department of Defence as Director of the Joint Intelligence Bureau. He was Assistant Secretary in 1949-53 and Controller of Joint Service Organisations in 1953-58. He then transferred to the Trade Commissioner Service and was Trade Commissioner in Paris in 1959-62. He returned to Australia as First Assistant Secretary in the Department of Trade and Industry and in 1967 he went to London as the Special Commercial Adviser at the Australian High Commission. In 1968 he made another sharp career change when he was appointed Commonwealth Parliamentary Librarian. In June 1970 he succeeded Sir Harold White as the National Library. He retired from the National Library in October 1973. After living in France for a period, he returned to Canberra and in 1976 was asked to set up the Protective Services Coordination Centre. He retired from this position and was awarded the CBE in 1978.
In his later years Fleming lived in Albert Park in Melbourne. He served on a number of committees, including the Advisory Board of Parliament's Bicentenary Publications Project. He did some historical research and was strongly interested in the history of World War II and espionage. He died on 18 January 2001.
Item Descriptions
Series 1. General correspondence, 1957-2000
Most of the correspondence kept by Fleming has been placed with the organisations or activities in which he was involved. The remaining letters have been kept in this series in chronological order. The correspondents include J.D.B. Miller, Charles Bliss, Sir Edmund Herring, Lady White, David Sissons, Philip Hargrave, Lady Derham, Harrison Bryan, Sir William Refshauge and Neil Manton.
Series 3. Scotch College, 1926-1999
Fleming went to Scotch College in Melbourne on a scholarship in 1926. He gained his Leaving Certificate in 1929 and remained at the school for another year, being Vice-Captain and editor of The Scotch Collegian. Among his contemporaries were the writers Graham and Colin Thirkell (later McInnes), the journalists Alan Moorehead and Geoff Hutton and the public servants Frederick Wheeler and Keith Waller.
Apart from copies of class lists, the papers relate entirely to Fleming's support for Scotch College and the Old Scotch Collegians Association in his later years. The correspondents include P.L. Crook, Jim Blair-Holt and Sir William Refshauge.
Series 4. Literary writings, 1932-1991
As a young man, Fleming wrote a lot of poems, some of which were published in the Scotch Collegian and the Melbourne University Magazine. From 1936 to 1938 he made frequent contributions in prose and verse to 'Oriel', a column that appeared in the Argus every Saturday. In later years he wrote articles on the significance of Anzac Day, which appeared in newspapers between 1947 and 1991.
Series 5. Journalism, 1932-1946
Fleming was recruited to the Melbourne daily newspaper, The Argus, in 1932 and worked for it as a reporter for six years. In March 1938 he moved to Brisbane and was on the staff of the Courier Mail and the Sunday Mail until he enlisted in the Army in late 1939. After the War, Sir Keith Murdoch offered him a position as a social writer and columnist on the Melbourne Sun. His last assignment as a journalist was to attend the War Crimes trials in Tokyo in 1946.
The three cutting books in this series provide a good record of Fleming's work as a reporter and commentator and are especially useful because most of the articles were not signed. Papers relating to Fleming's report of the Ministerial trip to the Northern Territory in 1938 are in series 6.
Series 6. Northern Territory trip, 1938, 1988
In 1938 the Minister for the Interior, John McEwen, decided to make a tour of the Northern Territory. The party of 17, including four parliamentarians and the Administrator of the Territory, set off from Mount Isa in July, travelling in two cars and three utility trucks. They zigzagged across the Territory, visiting every town and many stations, and covered 5000 miles, before ending the safari at Darwin a month or so later. Fleming was one of two journalists on the expedition and sent daily reports to the Argus.
The series contains Fleming's diary and notebooks, copies of his reports in the Argus, maps of the Northern Territory, a large collection of photographs, and an unpublished article about the trip written by Fleming fifty years later. Other papers relating to McEwen can be found in series 15.
Series 7. World War II, 1939-1999
Fleming enlisted in the 2nd Australian Imperial Force on 3 November 1939 and was appointed to a commission on 28 December 1939. He served with the 2/8th Infantry Battalion in the Middle East, Greece and North Africa between April 1940 and March 1942. He was promoted to the rank of Captain in September 1941 and was one of the founding members of 1 Australian Air Support Control. He took part in Operation Crusader in North Africa and was briefly captured by German forces, which resulted in a meeting with Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. After returning to Australia, Fleming served in New Guinea with the Air Liaison Group, becoming commanding officer of the group in June 1943. From March 1944 to March 1945 he served in the Dutch East Indies and the Philippines. He left the Army, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, on 14 January 1946. He was twice mentioned in despatches and in March 1946 was awarded the OBE in the Military Division.
Apart from service records and a diary kept in the Western Desert in 1941, there are no papers dating from the War years. However, in his retirement Fleming took a strong interest in the history of World War II, he carried out some research at the Australian War Memorial and elsewhere, and he provided assistance to military historians such as David Horner and Nicola Baker. He was a member of the Australian Air Liaison Officers Association and corresponded with several of his former comrades and their families. The correspondents include H. Philip Braddock, George Francis, Roland Griffiths-Marsh, Keith Coliwell, Trevor Lawton, John Moreman, David Horner and Lady Derham.
Series 8. Department of Defence, 1946-1996
In April 1947 Fleming was appointed Director of the Joint Intelligence Bureau in the Department of Defence in Melbourne. He became the Controller of Joint Intelligence in 1948-49, Assistant Secretary in 1949-53, and Controller of the Joint Service Organisations in 1953-58. This last position was abolished as part of a reorganisation of the Department of Defence in 1958 and Fleming transferred to the Department of Trade.
Fleming's work in the Department of Defence is recorded on official files; he retained virtually nothing in his personal papers. The papers in this series mostly comprise material that he wrote or assembled in his retirement. In particular, there are papers on the Secretary of the Department of Defence, Sir Frederick Shedden, the Director-General of ASIO, Sir Charles Spy, and espionage in Australia in the post-War years. The correspondents include Warren Perry and Des Ball.
Series 9. Department of Trade and Industry, 1958-1968
In 1958 the position of Controller of the Joint Service Organisations was abolished as part of a reorganisation of the Department of Defence. Fleming transferred to the Trade Commissioner Service and in April 1959 he took up the position of Australian Trade Commissioner in Paris. He led the Australian delegations to GATT in 1961. In 1962 he returned to Australia and was First Assistant Secretary in the Department of Trade and Industry in Canberra. He attended the United Nations Conferences on Trade and Development in 1963-66. In December 1966 he was appointed Special Commercial Adviser at the Australian High Commission in London.
This small series contains papers about Fleming's appointment, a few letters, and publications of the European Economic Community, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and the United Nations Conferences on Trade and Development.
Series 10. Commonwealth Parliamentary Library, 1967-1998
In October 1967 the Prime Minister announced that, when the positions of National Librarian and Parliamentary Librarian were separated on 1 January 1968, Fleming would be the Parliamentary Librarian. He would have particular responsibility for developing the new Legislative Research Service. In June 1970 he moved to the National Library. Although his tenure was short, Fleming remained interested in the Parliamentary Library for the rest of his life and kept in touch with later Librarians, such as Harold Weir and Hillas MacLean. In 1979-80 Urwick International Pty Ltd carried out a Joint Management Review of the Department of the Parliamentary Library and two other departments. Fleming was an adviser, although he did not support all the final recommendations.
The correspondents include Harold White, John Brudenall, Hillas MacLean, Harold Weir, Brenda McAvoy, Margery Morris and Clyde Garrow.
Series 11. National Library of Australia, 1970-2000
Fleming became National Librarian on 15 June 1970 following the retirement of Sir Harold White. Perhaps his principal achievement was setting up in 1971 the Scientific and Technological Services Enquiry Committee (STISEC) to investigate the national need for scientific and technological services. In 1972 Dr Bjorn Tell of the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm visited the Library to report on national information policy and in particular computerised information retrieval systems. Fleming retired on 28 September 1973. He remained strongly interested in the Library until the end of his life, visited it on many occasions, corresponded with his successors and with former colleagues, and was a member of the committee which considered the appointment of a new Director-General in 1980.
The correspondents include Björn Tell, Harold Williams, Pauline Fanning, Sir Harold White, Alec Bolton, Rod Wallace, Harrison Bryan, Warren Horton and John Thompson.
Series 12. Libraries, 1967-1995
This series contains papers relating to libraries generally, rather than the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library or the National Library. There are letters from several librarians, especially Jean Whyte, who worked with Fleming at the National Library and was later Professor of Librarianship at Monash University. There are also papers relating to the Ellinor Archer Award, which was presented to Fleming in 1989. The Award recognised the outstanding contribution to the profession of someone working within libraries but who was not eligible for professional membership of the Australian Library and Information Association.
The correspondents include R.L. Cope, John Vaughan, Harrison Bryan, Jean Whyte, Dianne Reilly and Peter Judge.
Series 13. Protective Security and Terrorism, 1976-1995
In September 1976 Fleming was appointed to set up the Protective Services Coordination Centre in Canberra to ensure Federal-State cooperation in protecting public figures and to coordinate counter-terrorist measures. The Centre came within the portfolio of the Minister of Administrative Services. It faced a crisis when a bomb exploded outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney on 13 February 1978, during a regional meeting of Commonwealth Heads of Government. Three people were killed. This led to an investigation by Sir Robert Mark on the organisation of police resources in the Commonwealth (April 1978) and a Review on Protective Security by Justice Robert Hope (May 1979). In July 1978 Fleming, who by then was 66, retired from the Protective Services Coordination Centre.
This series contains some official papers and the draft and final report of Sir Robert Mark. Fleming remained interested in security and terrorism for the rest of his life and there are extensive cuttings, articles and other papers on these subjects and in particular on the Hilton Hotel bombing. There is also an interview with Fleming and other papers relating to a documentary film 'Conspiracy', which was screened in 1995.
Series 14. Parliament's Bicentenary Publications Project, 1980-1991
In 1980 the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library Committee formed a Bicentenary Publications Project Subcommittee to consider publications that might mark the Bicentenary year. Following a planning seminar in 1981, an Advisory Board was set up chaired by Manfred Cross. Fleming was a member of the Board until it was dissolved in 1989. The Project resulted in four books published by Melbourne University Press: David Solomon, The people's palace, parliament in modern Australia (1986), C.J. Lloyd, Parliament and the press: the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery 1901-88 (1988), Gavin Souter, Acts of Parliament (1988) and G.S. Reid and Martyn Forrest, Australia's Commonwealth Parliament 1901-1988: ten perspectives (1989).
The papers kept by Fleming provide an extensive, though incomplete, record of the work of the Advisory Board. In particular, they document the relations between the Board and Melbourne University Press and difficulties arising from the volume written by Gordon Reid. The correspondents include Hillas MacLean (the Parliamentary Librarian), John Brudenall, Peter Ryan and Gordon Reid.
Series 15. Friends and Associates, 1938-2000
In his later years Fleming assembled papers relating to a few of his friends and colleagues: the politicians Sir John McEwen and Sir Magnus Cormack, the publisher and writer Peter Ryan, the diplomat Pierre Hutton and, to a much lesser extent, the journalists Alan Moorehead, Douglas Brass and Geoff Hutton. He had known McEwen since the Northern Territory trip (series 6 )and worked with him in the Department of Trade and Industry (series 9) and in 1992-95 provided assistance to Peter Golding, who was writing a biography. He was a close friend of Cormack and in 1989 recorded an oral history interview with him for the Parliamentary Library. Fleming and Ryan became friends while working on Parliament's Bicentenary Publications Project (series 14) and Ryan later paid tribute to Fleming in his book Brief lives (2004).
Papers relating to two other associates of Fleming, Sir Frederick Shedden and Sir Charles Spry, can be found in series 8.
Series 16. Miscellaneous papers
The series includes a file on several overseas trips made by Fleming and his wife after he retired from the National Library and notes on the life of General Sir Brudenell White. Fleming undertook some research on White for Rosemary Derham, whose biography of her father was published in 1998.