Guide to the Papers of Sir Arthur Tange
MS 9847
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Collection Summary
- Creator
- Sir Arthur Tange
- Title
- Papers of Sir Arthur Tange
- Date Range
- 1929-2001
- Collection Number
- MS 9847
- Extent
- 5.6 metres (35 boxes + 2 folios)
- Language of Materials
- English
- Repository
- National Library of Australia
Introduction
Scope and Contents
The papers comprise family and official correspondence; sources on family history, including the life of E.O.G. Shann; papers relating to appointments, honours and various phases of Tange's career; appointment diaries and itineraries; diaries, speeches, lectures and articles, especially on defence organisation; and publications. Many of the papers date from Tange's retirement years and include correspondence with former ministers, departmental colleagues and academic researchers.
The correspondents include Lord and Lady Casey, Malcolm Fraser, Sir Garfield Barwick, Ian Sinclair, Sir James Plimsoll, Sir Walter Crocker, Sir Peter Heydon, Sir Keith Shann, Garry Woodard and Peter Edwards.
Conditions Governing Access
Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn3288048).
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Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions.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 Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.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 Sir Arthur Tange, National Library of Australia, MS 9847, [box number and series and/or file number]'.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The papers of Sir Arthur Tange were donated to the Library on 16 July 2004 under the terms of his will. Three further items were added by Dr Peter Edwards in 2006.
Related Materials
In the Oral History Section there are recordings of two extensive interviews with Tange. Restricted access conditions apply to these and to the accompanying transcripts.
The Library also holds two published reports by Tange on the reorganisation of the Department of Defence, a volume of his selected lectures on Defence policy administration, and also published notes for an address by him to Army Staff College at Queenscliff on the role of the Department of Defence in Army affairs.
Arrangement
The collection has largely been left in the order in which it was arranged in the study of Sir Arthur Tange's home in Canberra, during the years immediately preceding his death in May 2001. Most of the material was in manila Files (of several colours) and ring-binders. Many of the Files and ring-binders were overfilled, and some papers were wrongly filed or loose. The subjects of the Files and ring-binders were described, often at some length, on the covers. At one time Sir Arthur began to create a file-numbering system of his own. He later abandoned this system, but it had the result that some Files were marked with numbers such as 'A6' or 'A12'.
For the most part, family/personal matters were kept separate from professional/career concerns, but there is some overlap. In some Files, material from one time period was mixed with later notes and drafts relating to memoirs or other writings by Sir Arthur, dealing with that period – principally notes and drafts created in the 1980s and 1990s on his service in External Affairs (1940s to 1960s) or Defence (1970s). Such material has been left in original order. A small amount of loose or misplaced material has been inserted in Files where it was clearly Sir Arthur's intention to collate it in this form.
Biographical Note
Arthur Harold Tange was born on 18 August 1914 in Sydney. He was educated at Woy Woy Primary School and Gosford High School, completing his Leaving Certificate in 1930. He was employed by the Bank of New South Wales, first in Bathurst (1931-32) then in Perth (1933-38). In Perth, Tange attended the University of Western Australia, graduating in 1938 as Bachelor of Arts with first class honours in Economics. He then entered the Economic Department of the Bank in Sydney. In 1940 he married Marjorie Florence Shann, daughter of Professor E.O.G. Shann. In 1940-41 he worked in the Bank's office in Suva, Fiji.
In 1942 he entered the Reconstruction Division of the Department of Labour and National Service. The division was soon afterwards expanded to become the Department of Post-War Reconstruction. He served most of the war in that department, attending the Bretton Woods conference in 1944 as a member of the Australian delegation. His services were shared in 1944-45 with the Department of External Affairs and in 1946 he joined that department permanently. He attended a considerable number of international conferences in the mid-1940s, mostly in London, Geneva and Havana. From 1946 to 1948 he was First Secretary in the Australian Mission to the United Nations, New York. He returned to Canberra where he was promoted to Counsellor and then Assistant Secretary. In 1953 he served, with the diplomatic rank of Minister, as the deputy head of the Australian Embassy in Washington.
From 1954 to 1965 Tange was the Secretary and permanent head of the Department of External Affairs. Major events affecting Australian foreign policy during that period included the Petrov affair, the 1954 Geneva Conference, the creation of the South-East Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO), the despatch of Australian troops to Malaya, the Suez crisis, crises in Laos, Indonesia's confrontation of Malaysia, and Australia's first military commitments in Vietnam. In 1965 Tange was appointed High Commissioner to India and Ambassador to Nepal.
From early 1970 until his retirement in August 1979 Tange was Secretary and permanent head of the Department of Defence. He was commissioned by the Whitlam government to write the Report on the Reorganisation of the Defence Group of Departments, generally known as the 'Tange report'. Following this report, in what were known as 'the Tange reforms', the former departments of Navy, Army, Air and Supply were merged into the Department of Defence and major changes were made in the command structure of the Australian Defence Force.
Tange was awarded the O.B.E. in 1953 and the C.B.E. in 1955. He was knighted in 1959 and made a Companion of the Order of Australia (A.C.) in 1977.
Tange conducted a Review of the Public Service Commission in Fiji in 1980. In his retirement he maintained an active interest in questions of defence policy and administration, foreign affairs, and public administration.
Sir Arthur Tange died on 10 May 2001. Lady (Marjorie) Tange died two months later. They were survived by their son Christopher (b. 1944), daughter Jennifer (b. 1947), and four grandchildren.
Item Descriptions
Series 1. Family and forebears, 1929-1997
This series contains material relating to the forebears of Sir Arthur Tange, both on his father's (Tange) and his mother's (Kingsmill) sides, and to those of Lady Tange, née Marjorie Florence Shann. It includes correspondence with relatives, including Mrs Robert L. Cooper (Joy), and the fruits of her research on the Tange family in Denmark, the United States and Australia; correspondence and notes relating to Looking Back, the booklet written by Tange on his forebears and early life; private correspondence between Tange, his mother and other family members throughout Tange's life; correspondence and notes relating to the Kingsmill family; correspondence and papers relating to Professor E.O.G. Shann (father of Marjorie Tange), especially the circumstances of Shann's death; correspondence between Tange and A.C. (Sir Alfred) Davidson, his early mentor, mostly in the 1930s; diary kept by Tange in Fiji (1940-41); material relating to Tange's early years in Gosford, Perth, Sydney and Fiji.
Correspondence (1997) and material received from, Mrs Robert L. Cooper on several generations of the Tange family. (File 1-6) - Box 1
Material on Tange family history, including photographs; collection of material on rugby career of C.L. Tange. (File 9) - Box 2
Collections of family letters ranging from 1930s to 1960s; also File of letters to and from 'Nelly' (Tange's aunt); two unidentified photographs. (File 10-11) - Box 2
Material on Kingsmill family, including correspondence (1957-1961) and notes, copies of booklet St Nicholas', Goulburn, NSW, Golden Jubilee 1880-1930 and book The British Church in Batavia by A.T. Keen; copies of lecture by Canon Kingsmill 1899 (File 12-14) - Box 2
Correspondence (1992) and other material relating to E.O.G. Shann, including his will, matters relating to his estate, his papers in the National Library of Australia, the Shann Memorial Lectures, and a book of the Shann Lectures. (File 15-16) - Box 2
Material relating to Professor Shann, especially his death in 1935; includes correspondence with Professor Graeme Snooks 1983-1984 (File 17-19) - Box 3
Material on Arthur Tange's early years, including miscellaneous material relating to schooling in Gosford, university studies in Western Australia and bank service in Fiji, including diary in Fiji, 1940-41; letter and testimonial from A.G. B. Fisher 1939 (File 21) - Box 3
Copies of Looking Back (by Tange), Old Gosford and District in Pictures and More Old Gosford and District in Pictures (by Gwen Dundon), with bookmarks to indicate photographs of personal interest. (File 22) - Box 3
Three postal tubes (File) - Box Folio-box
Including credentials appointing AHT as Ambassador to Nepal, signed by Queen Elizabeth and Gordon Freeth, dated 4 August 1969 birth certificate (copy 17 March 1931 of 1914 certificate); school certificates (NSW Intermediate, 1 May 1929, and two copies of Leaving Certificate, 1 March 1931 and 1 June 1931); BA and BA (Hons) degree certificates, University of Western Australia, 4 April 1937 and 22 April 1938.
Series 2. Career appointments, promotions and honours, 1942-1990
This series contains material relating to Tange's official appointments in the Departments of Post-War Reconstruction, External Affairs and Defence, including appointments that he was offered but did not accept; honours, including his knighthood and Companion of the Order of Australia; ceremonial occasions, including farewell and retirement functions.
Personal records, including material relating to appointments in Post-War Reconstruction and External Affairs in 1940s. (File 1) - Box 4
Correspondence and press reports relating to honours awarded to AHT Including knighthood (1959) and A.C. (1977) (File 3) - Box 4
Correspondence relating to termination of that appointment and appointment as High Commissioner to India, 1965 (File 4) - Box 4
Ceremonial items, including invitation cards, dinner plans, arrangements of royal visits, 1940s-80s (File 5-6) - Box 4
Correspondence and plans for series of functions on Tange's retirement from Defence, 1979 (File 7_8) - Box 4
Also farewell messages from Australian and US officials
Binder containing citation for the 'Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service' (Washington, 1979) and associated correspondence (File 9) - Box 5
Collection of letters, mostly from members of Department of External Affairs staff at time of Tange's departure in 1965 (File 10) - Box 5
Series 3. Department of External Affairs, 1954-2000
This series contains material relating to Tange's service in the Department of External Affairs from 1946, especially as Secretary from 1954 to 1965. It also includes material relating to correspondence and discussions with researchers on Australian foreign policy during this period, including Garry Woodard, Richard Chauvel, and Peter Edwards.
Material on structure of Department of External Affairs, apparently compiled late 1964; other information on establishment of DEA from other periods. (File 1-2) - Box 5
'Statement of Service – January 1964', and other material on Department of External Affairs officers' service, loosely inserted into File. (File 3) - Box 5
Material relating to overseas visits made by Tange, during service in both External Affairs and Defence, including itineraries and lists of overseas visits. (File 4) - Box 6
Itinerary and correspondence relating to travel to Europe, US and Asia, June-August 1964 (File 5) - Box 6
Itinerary and diary notes from overseas visit by Lady Tange, June-August 1964, to Europe and South Asia. (File 6) - Box 6
Itinerary and records of conversation relating to tour by Tange of Southeast Asia, Aug-Sep 1959 (File 8) - Box 6
Itinerary of tour in August-October 1957 to Pakistan; The Lebanon; London; The Hague; Bonn; Paris; New York; Washington; Tokyo; Hong Kong; Formosa; Thailand; Malaya; Singapore. (File 9) - Box 6
Briefing notes and other material relating to visit by Tange in June-August 1964 to Europe, United States, Africa and Asia. (File 10) - Box 6
Correspondence (1991-2000) with Garry Woodard, with copies of archival material, secondary sources, and internet discussions, relating to Australian foreign policy and international history of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. (File 11-16) - Box 7
Correspondence (1995) with Garry Woodard and drafts of paper by Woodard and Professor Joan Beaumont on relations between Paul Hasluck and officials in External Affairs. (File 17) - Box 8
Correspondence (1989-1991) with Garry Woodard and drafts of Woodard's article on the offshore islands crisis of 1954-55. (File 18-20) - Box 8
Drafts, notes and correspondence (1999-2000) relating to essay by Tange on 'Garfield Barwick: The Man, The Foreign Minister'. (File 21-22) - Box 8
Correspondence (1985-1994) with Sir Garfield Barwick in retirement, newspaper articles about foreign policy issues, obituaries of Barwick. (File 23) - Box 8
Comments on draft manuscript by Richard Chauvel on West New Guinea issue, 1993-1994 (File 24) - Box 9
Series 4. India, 1954-1970
This series contains material relating to Sir Arthur Tange's service as High Commissioner to India and Ambassador to Nepal in 1965-1970.
Correspondence, newspaper clippings, dinner arrangements Associated with Tange's appointment as High Commissioner to India in 1965 and his departure from that post in 1970. (File 1) - Box 9
Department of External Affairs Digest of Despatches no 3A, 12 February 1970 (File 2) - Box 9
Incorporating three dispatches from New Delhi by Tange, written January 1970.
Correspondence from Peter Heydon and Walter Crocker as High Commissioners in India, 1954-1958 With (inserted loose in File) copies of letters (1966-1968) from Tange in New Delhi to Sir James Plimsoll, Secretary of Department of External Affairs in Canberra. (File 3) - Box 9
Memorabilia Including personal correspondence, newspaper clippings (including series of articles on Mahatma Gandhi), and other material relating to Tange's service in India, Nepal and Bhutan, 1965-1970. (File 4-5) - Box 9, 10
Miscellaneous material on India Including copies of official reports to Canberra, drafts and final copy of Tange's essay 'On Trout Fishing in Kashmir'. (File 6-7) - Box 10
Series 5. Department of Defence, 1968-1998
This series contains material relating to Tange's service as Secretary of the Defence Department, from 1970 to 1979. It also includes: material created in later years, as Tange maintained an active interest in questions of defence policy and administration in his retirement, notably the Dibb report of 1986; material relating to some political matters in the 1970s; material relating to continuing controversies over events in the 1970s, such as the allegation that Tange was involved in the dismissal of the Whitlam government in November 1975; material relating to the memoir of his time in Defence that Tange wrote in his last years.
Drafts of the three parts of the 'Defence Memoir' written by Tange in his latter years; these drafts (dated November 1999) marked to be discarded, as superseded by later drafts. (File 1-3) - Box 10
Tange's final draft of the Defence Memoir; also details of payment arrangements for the typing of the Memoir. (File 4-6) - Box 11
Various material, from 1950s to 1980s, including speeches by Tange, official and unofficial correspondence, copies of diary extracts, generally related to concepts and practice of organization and reorganization of Australia's defence department/s. (File 7-9) - Box 11
Press clippings and some correspondence on defence and related matters, divided into three time periods: 1972, 1973-1975 and 1976 onwards. (File 10-11) - Box 11
Press reports, official statements and other material on defence matters, 1979-1980 (File 12-13) - Box 12
Official statements, correspondence with Ian Sinclair (Opposition defence spokesman), and other material, 1986-1987, relating to Dibb Report of 1986. (File 15) - Box 12
Miscellaneous correspondence (1979-1998) with Defence officials from Australia, UK and New Zealand, including Sir James Killen, Sir Arthur MacDonald, Sir Frank Cooper, J.F. Robertson. (File 16) - Box 12
Memoranda prepared in 1968-69 by W.J. Curtis (Deputy Secretary) for Sir Henry Bland (Secretary of Defence Department) on the need for reorganization of the Defence Department. (File 17) - Box 12
Australian Defence Review, 1972 and associated press clippings and Hansard reports with covering letter of 10 September 1990 from Paul Dibb (Deputy Secretary, Defence) to Tange. (File 18) - Box 12
Diary material, notes, press clippings and other material relating to the public controversy in February-March 1973 associated with the resignation of C.J. Lloyd from the office of Lance Barnard. (File 19) - Box 12
Official statements by ministers in the 1980s and 1990s on the Joint Defence Facilities at Pine Gap and Nurrungar; also correspondence between Tange and Dr Christopher Andrew in 1988 and associated material relating to Australian intelligence organizations. (File 20) - Box 12
Material relating to evidence of D. Berthelsen and Tange before two parliamentary committees, the Defence Sub-committee of the Joint Committee on Defence, Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Privileges Committee. (File 21-23) - Box 13
Loose document, apparently official document on Defence Department Delegations, with two of ten chapters excluded. (File 25) - Box 13
Defence report, 1980, on 'Defence Reorganization in Australia 1970 – 1979', with covering letter from N. J. Attwood to Tange 21 February 1980 (File 26-28) - Box 13
Historical list of Defence Ministers, permanent heads and chiefs of staff; lists (marked 1977, 1978 and 1979) of private addresses and telephone numbers of senior Defence officials and others. (File 29) - Box 14
Documents relating to the March 1971 resignation of Malcolm Fraser (Minister of Defence) and downfall of John Gorton as Prime Minister. (File 30) - Box 14
Material relating to accusations, published in 1982, 1985, 1988, alleging involvement by Tange in the dismissal of the Whitlam Government November 1975 (File 34) - Box 14
Material relating to release in 1984 under FOI of a Defence minute relating to Brian Toohey. (File 35) - Box 14
Series 6. Diaries and travel itineraries, 1945-2000
This series holds the contents of a collection of diaries. They are all appointment diaries, rather than records of events or opinions.
The series includes desk appointment diaries of Tange as Secretary of the Department of External Affairs, as kept by Sylvia Brown (Tange's personal secretary); desk diaries as Secretary of Defence (three years only); personal appointment diaries of Tange for the years 1957-64 inclusive, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1995-2000 inclusive; personal appointment diaries of Lady Tange; a collection of travel itineraries for official overseas visits, together with small pocket diaries which appear to have been used for travel appointments.
Desk appointment diaries, Secretary Department of External Affairs, 1955, 56, 58, 59, 60, 61 (File 1) - Box 16
Desk appointment diaries, Secretary Department of External Affairs, 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1965 (File 2) - Box 17
Personal appointment diaries of AHT, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963 and 1964 (File 4) - Box 19
Personal appointment diaries of AHT, 1983, 84, 86, 87, 89, 91, 92, 95, 96, 97,98, 99 and 2000 (File 5) - Box 20
Personal appointment diaries of Lady Tange, 1965,66, 67, 68, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76 and 1977 (File 6) - Box 21
Series 7. Publications, articles, lectures and speeches by Tange, 1938-1994
This series contains the texts, drafts and notes for the considerable number of lectures, articles, book reviews, obituaries and other items written by Tange. Subjects include: Australian foreign and defence policies, especially the administration of these policies; the operations of the Public Service, especially the role of permanent heads of departments; essays and booklets on his recreations and family.
The latter include Looking Back (on his forebears and early life); 'On Trout Fishing in Kashmir'; 'The Koonaroo Story' (on his property near Cooma). Some of his lectures were collected and printed in 1992 as Defence Policy Administration and Organization: Selected Lectures 1971-1986.
Diary material and other correspondence from 1940s to 1970s, together with notes and handwritten drafts from the 1980s and 1990s (File 11-12) - Box 25
Apparently relating to the preparation of the Defence memoir and a similar memoir, never completed, of his time in External Affairs
Drafts of article subsequently published as 'Plans for the World Economy...' in Australian Journal of International Affairs. (File 13) - Box 25
Published or bound copies of articles and other material by Tange (File) - Box 26
Includes Defence Policy Administration and Organization: Selected Lectures 1971-1986, Review of the Fiji Public Service Commission (1980), Looking Back, 'On Trout Fishing in Kashmir', 'The Koonaroo Story', the Garran Oration of 1981, Tange's BA honours thesis, article on 'Plans for the World Economy...' Australian Journal of International Affairs, Australia Foots the Bill (1941).
Series 8. Other Publications - Box 27-28
This series contains two boxes of reports and publications, mostly associated with Defence, to a lesser extent Foreign Affairs or intelligence organizations. These have been retained where they have some comment, underlining or other markings that indicate particular interest or comment by Tange. Others have been discarded.
Series 9. Files on individuals, 1953-2000
This series includes the contents of a collection of Files of individuals with whom Tange had corresponded or had some contact. The material on R.G. Casey is considerable, that on all other persons much smaller. Some Files include notes or comments about the person named, rather than correspondence with the individual.
Correspondence and other material relating to R.G. (Lord) Casey, 1953-1976 Including extracts from Casey's diary, review by Walter Crocker of W.J. Hudson's biography of Casey. (File 1-2) - Box 29
Correspondence with Lord Casey after his retirement as Minister for External Affairs, 1960-1963 (File 3-4) - Box 29
Material relating to bust of Lord Casey presented to Australian Embassy in Washington, 1982-1984 (File 5) - Box 29
Notes and material on Menzies' role in foreign policy, especially at Prime Ministers conference (File 7) - Box 29
Correspondence (1974-1997) and papers about Sir Frederick Wheeler, Sir John Kerr, Sir Ninian Stephen, Richard Downing, John Burton, H.C. Coombs (File 11) - Box 30
Series 10. Retirement Activities, 1957-2001
This series contains material, some in Files and some loose, on a variety of topics in which Tange took an interest during his retirement. It includes correspondence and papers relating to the organisation of the Public Service, especially the status of departmental secretaries; correspondence with academics on a range of foreign and defence policy issues; papers from a seminar on post-war reconstruction; and other material which was probably related to the memoir that Tange wrote of his service in Defence, and another that he apparently intended to write of his service in External Affairs.
It should be noted that these categories overlap with material in several other series.