Guide to the Papers of the Casey Family
MS 6150
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Collection Summary
- Creator
- Casey Family
- Title
- Papers of the Casey Family
- Date Range
- 1820 - 1978
- Collection Number
- MS 6150
- Extent
- 20.96 metres (53 ms boxes + 16 archive boxes + 10 phase boxes + 2 folios + 1 steel box + 1 folder)
- Language of Materials
- English
- Repository
- Special Collections (Manuscripts)
Introduction
Scope and Contents
Material by or concerning three members of the Casey family are the focus of the collection: Cornelius Gavin Casey, his son Richard Gardiner Casey (senior), and grandson Richard Gardiner Casey, Baron Casey of Berwick.
The papers concentrate on the personal lives and careers of the three Caseys, with particular strength in the diaries and/or letterbooks of Richard Gardiner Casey senior and Lord Casey, as well as 95 volumes of press cuttings about Lord Casey.
Associated with the papers are a three-dimensional model of Lord Casey's crest (on a wreath argent and sable, a seagull wings expanded proper), and his Order of the Garter regalia, and other records.
There are several hundred items of original correspondence in the Casey Family papers, in addition to correspondence transcribed and recorded in letterbooks.
The correspondence is located in Series 1 and 2, while all letterbooks are in Series 4.
There is a small amount of original correspondence of Cornelius Gavin Casey and Richard Gardiner Casey Senior. However R.G. Casey Senior is well represented in letterbooks, and C.C. Casey by one letterbook.
Most original correspondence is between Lord Casey and a wide range of individuals, or heads of government organisations (for example the Chairman of CSIRO, Director of Bureau of Meteorology, Postmaster-General). Much is written in the 1950s and 1960s, and is connected with Lord Casey's research for Australian Father and Son.
Conditions Governing Access
Please refer to the collection's catalogue record (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2896954) for the access conditions.
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Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions.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 Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.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 the Casey Family, National Library of Australia, MS 6150, [box number and series and/or file number]'.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The Casey Papers were obtained over a number of years following the death of Lord Casey in 1976. They were received initially from Lady Casey and subsequently from her daughter Mrs Jane MacGowan, as well as from Dr W.J. Hudson.
Related Materials
Copies of personal diaries of Lord Casey, 1904-1976, are held by the National Archives of Australia (Melbourne office) at M1153.
Biographical Note
Cornelius Gavin Casey (1811-1896) arrived in Van Diemen's Land in 1833 as a surgeon on the immigrant ship Sir John Rae Reid. Immediately appointed assistant colonial surgeon, he was posted to Port Arthur from 1834 to 1838. Until 1863, when he moved to Victoria, Casey lived at New Norfolk, Hobart and Launceston. He worked for the Hobart General Hospital and for the gaol and police at Launceston, as well as in private practice.
Casey invested in land in northern Tasmania, and from Victoria in the 1880s he also backed mining ventures in the Zeehan area.
Casey was made a justice of the peace soon after his arrival in Australia, was a member of the Licensing Court in Hobart, and a leading figure in local institutions, particularly in Launceston. On several occasions he relinquished his official duties to take up private medical practice.
Richard Gardiner Casey (1846-1919), son of Cornelius Gavin Casey, was born at New Norfolk near Hobart. He moved with his father to Victoria in 1863 and worked at Murray Downs Station (near Swan Hill) and other properties as an overseer. From 1875 to 1883 he managed Kilfera station in central western New South Wales. He later became a managing partner of several stations in central Queensland as a result of agreements with Donald Wallace, and represented Warrego in the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1888 to 1893.
A new phase of Casey's life began in 1893 when he moved to Melbourne and became involved in mining and business ventures ranging from the Coolgardie goldfields to the Mt Morgan Gold Mining Company and Goldsbrough, Mort and Company. Always interested in racing, he was chairman of the Victoria Racing Club from 1907 to 1916. During World War I Casey and his wife went to London to be closer to their two sons who were on active service in France. He died in Honolulu in 1919 while en route back to Australia.
Richard Gardiner Casey (1890-1976), the oldest son of Richard Gardiner Casey (Senior) was born in Brisbane but educated in Melbourne and at Trinity College, Cambridge. He served with distinction in the A.I.F. during World War I. After five years in mining engineering he became in 1924 the Australian government's Liaison Officer in London. In this capacity, he worked on the implementation of aspects of the Balfour Declaration of 1926 and the Statute of Westminster.
Casey entered Australian federal politics in 1931 as Member for Corio in the House of Representatives. He became Federal Treasurer in 1935 and later Minister for Supply at the start of World War II; during the war he went first to Washington as Minister Plenipotentiary in 1940, then to London to join the British War Cabinet as Minister for State on the Middle East.
As the war years were finishing Casey remained involved with British administration as Governor of Bengal (1944-1946) where he took drastic measures - among them, dismissing the ministry and legislature - in an attempt to improve that State's severe political and economic problems. He returned to Australia and re-entered federal politics in 1949 as the MHR for Latrobe. This second phase of Casey's Australian political career was dominated by his term as Minister for External Affairs from 1951 to 1960. A firm believer in Australia's role as an independent nation in the Asian region, Casey made many overseas trips while in office and was involved in numerous conferences and consultations on matters including SEATO, the Colombo Plan, ANZUS, and regional co-operation in general. He was actively concerned with Australian relations with the United States. During his decade as a foreign affairs minister Casey was also the minister responsible for the CSIRO.
Casey resigned from politics in 1960 to become the first life peer created outside the United Kingdom. As Lord Casey of Berwick he held the office of Governor-General of Australia from 1965 to 1969; at the end of his term he was made a Knight of the Garter.
His writings include An Australian in India (1948), Double or Quit (1949), Friends and Neighbours (1954 and two subsequent editions), Personal Experience 1939-1946 (1962), The Future of the Commonwealth (1963) and Australian Father and Son (1966). Extracts from his diaries have been published as Australian Foreign Minister: the Diaries of R.G. Casey 1951-1960, edited by T.B. Millar (Collins, 1972).
Item Descriptions
Series 1. Biographical and Subject Files
These files contain information on Richard Gardiner Casey Senior and Cornelius Gavin Casey, as well as on social, economic and geographical conditions in Queensland and New South Wales in the later 19th century. They were created by Lord Casey in the course of his research for Australian Father and Son (1966) and comprise correspondence, copies of documents, some printed material, and original documents by C.G. Casey and R.C. Casey Senior (letterbooks and correspondence).
C.G. Casey, Pre 1883 (File 1) - Box 1
Original and copied documents; background material relating to Casey's earlier years. Also genealogical material and original testimonials concerning his work as a doctor.
Hobart - Launceston - Rait's Account (File 2) - Box 1
Biography of C.G. Casey by Basil Rait (typescript) and other material on Casey and his family.
New Norfolk Bridge (File 3) - Box 1
Background material and original documents relating to the New Norfolk Bridge over the Derwent River in Tasmania, and the troubled story of the company that owned it. C.G. Casey was a director of this company.
Includes the 1869 report of the Select Committee of the Tasmanian House of Assembly concerning the bridge, and Casey letters and correspondence over the affair 1856-1869.
Tasmanian Maps - Buninyong - Brighton - Sixpence (File 4) - Box 1
The maps are mostly copies of early maps of Tasmania (especially Port Arthur) and an old plan of the township of Formby.
C.G. Casey was Health Officer at Buninyong near Ballarat (1865). There is original correspondence during this period with N. Gaunt.
Letters from Casey while at Brighton to Theresa Brodribb, 1874-1875.
The 'Sixpence Incident' occurred in 1877 when Casey disputed with a court clerk and the Victorian Minister of Justice over his attempt to charge Joseph Poynton, a ticket clerk at Brighton Station, with the alleged theft of a sixpence. There are copies of documents and articles concerning both this affair and an earlier one (1874) that resulted in the court case Casey vs Candler. The latter proceedings were the result of Casey being locked up for 24 hours by a coroner after he objected to that coroner's directions when giving medical evidence at an inquest.
The Tod Story (File 5) - Box 1
Biographical information on Suetonius Henry Tod, Major-General in the Bengal Army, who acquired business interests in Van Diemen's Land in the 1830s and for whom Casey acted as an agent when Tod returned to England.
Letter Book and Diary Extracts, Summaries (File 6_7) - Box 1
These date from the 1870s forward (in typescript).
R.G. Casey's Accounts of his Life (File 8) - Box 1
Autobiographical accounts written by R.G. Casey Senior in later life; reminiscences of Casey and his character by A.P. Jones; material concerning his death; and miscellaneous correspondence concerning Casey.
Murray Downs - Westernport - Willandra (File 9) - Box 1
Casey worked as a jackeroo and later head overseer at Murray Downs, a sheep station near Swan Hill, for six years in the 1860s. In 1870 he became overseer of Willandra and Bellingerambil stations near Hillston, N.S.W.
Includes original documents, copies of articles etc.; also a booklet on Murray Downs.
Kilfera (File 10) - Box 1
Kilfera was a station of 830,000 acres in the central west of N.S.W; Casey was manager there between 1875 and 1883.
Included is a map of Kilfera and surrounding properties, and Casey's original contract of appointment as manager of Kilfera at £350 p.a., 1875.
Bushranger Incident, 1879 (File 11) - Box 2
In 1879 Casey assisted police in the capture of the 'Hatfield bushrangers' who had held up a store in that village. He received commendation from the government for his part in their capture.
Correspondence and background material.
The Wallace-Casey Partnership (File 12) - Box 2
In 1883 Casey entered into a partnership with Donald Wallace, owner of several stations in Queensland and many famous racehorses. As a result of the partnership, which was largely dissolved in 1892, Casey became managing partner of Wallace's stations.
This file contains a variety of documents and correspondence including copies of agreements between Casey and Wallace 1883-1897; of Casey's marriage settlement (1888) and of C.G. Casey's Derwent Steam Boat Co. shares agreement (1844); a biography of Donald Wallace; and correspondence on the origin of the word 'station' and on the Wolseley Shearing Machine.
There is also a portion of an R.G. Casey Senior letterbook during the time of the Wallace-Casey partnership (1882-1883).
Terrick Terrick (File 13 (part)) - Box 2
Casey was involved in the management/partnership of the Queensland properties Terrick Terrick (on the Barcoo River, Warrego district); Kilcummin (near Cleremont) and Normanby, as a result of his partnership with Donald Wallace. This was roughly in the decade 1884-1894.
Original documents and background material, relating principally to Terrick Terrick.
Parliament (Warrego) (File 14) - Box 2
Casey represented the large pastoral electorate of Warrego in the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1888 to 1893.
This material includes an 1888 election campaign letter, a map of eastern Australia showing the Warrego electorate, and summaries and complete copies of Casey's parliamentary speeches.
Newstead (File 15) - Box 2
Newstead was both a well-known house in Brisbane owned by the family of Casey's wife, and a Queensland property selected by Casey's younger brother Sydney.
Includes background and biographical material on Brisbane merchant George Harris (father of Casey's wife Evelyn), George Thorn (a previous owner of Newstead House) and Sydney Casey.
Coolgardie (File 16) - Box 2
Background material and correspondence relating to the Londonderry Mine in Coolgardie, W.A. in which Casey was involved (this company was floated in 1894 but failed to fulfil its initial promise).
Goldsborough Mort Co. (File 17) - Box 2
Casey became a director of Goldsborough Mort & Co. in May 1896 by acquiring 1000 shares.
Small quantity of background material and correspondence concerning his involvement.
MT Morgan - Electrolytic Refining and Smelting Company - Australian Fertilizers - Victoria Racing Club - D'arcy (File 18) - Box 2
This folder contains correspondence on Casey's mining company involvement in his later years, as well as his club associations. Casey became a director of the Mt Morgan Gold Mining Company in 1899 and chairman in 1912; Electrolytic Refining & Smelting Co. and the Australian Fertilizer Co. were associated subsidiaries of the Mt Morgan venture. Casey was also a friend of the English oil businessman William Knox D'arcy, and backed him in ventures such as the D'arcy Exploration Syndicate in Persia in the early 1900's.
There is also correspondence concerning Casey's membership in the Longreach Club, Union Club, and the Victoria Racing Club (racing was one of Casey's interests and he was a VRC Committee member 1903-1917 and chairman 1907-1916).
Historical Source Material on Nineteenth Century Australia (File 19_20) - Box 2
Two folders contain a variety of material, principally in the form of correspondence, relating to social, economic and geographic conditions in New South Wales and Queensland in the later part of the 19th century.
Human and Sheep Populations - Wool: Sheep and human population distribution in the 1880s and wool prices of the same period; also copy of 1939 Queensland Report of the Wool Advisory Commission.
Rainfall, Weather - Rabbits - Postal and Railways - Bank Crash, 1893 - Taxation - Fly Wire - Pleura-Pneumonia. Rainfall tabulations and summaries, notably at Blackall, Cleremont, Wokabity, Terrick, Kilcummin. Background information on: Rabbit plague in N.S.W. and Qld. in the 1870's-80s; Introduction of fly wire screening to Australia; Pleura-pneumonia, a cattle disease, and other subjects as given in heading.
Series 2. Books by Lord Casey: Australian Father and Son and Friends and Neighbours - Box 3
Friends and Neighbours: Australia and the World (Melbourne: F.W. Cheshire, 1954) was written by Casey during his period as Minister for External Affairs (1951-1960). It is an analysis of Australia's foreign relations, with an emphasis on Asia (issues discussed include the Korean War, the Colombo Plan and ANZUS).
One folder, containing a typescript draft of the book (2/1-9).
Australian Father and Son (London; Sydney: Collins, 1966) is a biography of R.G. Casey Senior and Cornelius Gavin Casey.
Material on this work includes the final draft, publishing and other correspondence, and photographs (both those used in the book, and some not included).
Series 3. Publications (General)
A range of pamphlets, books and serials owned by Lord Casey, dating from the 1940s and on political, social and scientific topics. There are a number of volumes of the journals International Conciliation, The World Today and Home Affairs Survey.
The Foreman and his problems - by G.H. Alexander (Institute of Industrial Management). (File) - Box 5
The Nation's Forum of the Air (Vol. 3, No. 23 - 10.9.47) - "Should banking be nationalized". (4 copies) (File) - Box 5
Pearl Shell, Beche-De-Mer and Trochus Industry of Northern Australia - Northern Australia Development Committee. (File) - Box 5
C.S.I.R. - Digest of Current Activities No. 5, March 1946, No. 6, April 1946, No. 7, May 1946. (File) - Box 5
Australia's Industrial Development and its Relationship to improved living standards in Australia, by Hon. P.J. Clarey, MLC (File) - Box 5
Commonwealth Survey (U.K. Information Office)., June 1949-January 1950 (File) - Box 5
No. 25 - 25.6.49
No. 28 - 6.8.49
No. 34 - 29.10.49
No. 35 - 12.11.49
No. 36 - 26.11.49
No. 37 - 10.12.49
No. 38 - 7.1.50
Home Affairs Survey (U.K. Information Office)., June 1949-January 1950 (File) - Box 4
No. 108 - 7.6.49
No. 111 - 28.6.49
No. 112 - 5.7.49
No. 117 - 9.8.49
No. 121 - 6.9.49
No. 124 - 27.9.49
No. 129 - 1.11.49
No. 130 - 8.11.49
No. 131 - 15.11.49
No. 132 - 22.11.49
No. 133 - 29.11.49
No. 134 - 6.12.49
No. 135 - 13.12.49
No. 137 - 3.1.50
No. 138 - 10.1.50
International Conciliation (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, USA)., February 1934-April 1940 (File) - Box 4
Nos. 297 - February 1934, 298, 299, 301, 303, 305, 307-310, 312-317, 319, 321, 323-325, 327, 330, 350-352, 358, 359 - April 1940.
The World Today (Chatham House Review) - Royal Institute of International Affairs)., July 1945-December 1950 (File) - Box 4
Series 4. Diaries and Letterbooks
This series includes items by Cornelius Gavin Casey, Richard Gardiner Casey Senior, and Lord Casey.
There is one letterbook of C.G. Casey, dated from 1848 to 1859 and containing transcriptions of letters from Casey (then in Van Diemen's Land) to Major-General Suetonius Henry Tod of Edinburgh. The letters discuss business matters and business conditions at the time. Mention is also made of the effects of the Californian gold rush on the colonisation of Van Diemen's Land.
The diaries and letterbooks of R.G. Casey Senior date from 1874 to 1913 and discuss his business interests as a pastoralist and director of mining companies (Mt Morgan, Electrolytic Refining and Smelting Company etc), his time in Queensland parliament as a member of the Legislative Assembly, and family matters.
Several early diaries of Lord Casey, 1910-1911 primarily relate to his student days at Cambridge. A 1914-1915 war diary/notebook kept by Casey during his AIF service spans events from Egypt to just before the Gallipoli landing.
Lord Casey's later diaries (1939-1976) represent the largest part of this series; they are in photocopied and typescript form, and have been indexed. Index at back of each typescript volume. Casey recorded in detail his feelings and observations on persons and events in both his public and private lives. The diaries span Casey's time as a member of the British War Cabinet, Governor of Bengal, Australian Minister for External Affairs, and Governor-General of Australia.
Subseries 4.2. R.G. Casey (Senior)
Series 5. Press Cuttings
This series comprises 95 volumes of press cuttings concerning Lord Casey, covering the period 1924-1978. The cuttings include cartoons, articles and any newspaper citation of significance. Both Australian and overseas newspaper cuttings are represented.
Series 6. Order of the Garter, Medals
On retiring from politics, Lord Casey was created a life peer - the first outside the United Kingdom - and took the title Baron Casey of Berwick. In 1969 he was made a Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter, being invested by Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle on 16 June 1969.
There is, in addition to the various items of Garter realia listed separately in this guide, a small amount of printed material concerning the Order: a copy of the Statutes of the Order, and programmes of Lord Casey's investiture.
A number of Lord Casey's war and other medals are also included.
The realia of Lord Casey held by the National Library comprises his coat of arms, medals, crest, and various items of regalia of his Order of the Garter.
Lord Casey's banner (part of the Garter regalia) would normally have been returned to the Garter King of Arms upon his death. However, on Lord Casey's special request, the Garter King of Arms, Sir Anthony Wagner agreed to its being retained by the National Library. Lord Casey was invested in the Order in 1969.
Lord Casey's Crest (File A40006433/2) - Box A40006433/2 (Phase Box)
This is made of wood, in the design of a seagull with wings expanded.
Banner (File A40006433/1) - Box A40006433/1 (Phase Box)
Decorated with stars and in blue, white, black and gold.
Acc. No. A40006433
Other Garter regalia (File A40006425/1)
Including:
Costume - Mantle, Cordon, Hood, Hat (Acc.No. A40006425).
Star of the Order, and a Garter.
Charter creating Lord Casey a Knight Companion of the Order, signed by Queen Elizabeth II and the Marquess of Salisbury; 10 February 1969. Vellum parchment with seal, in velvet covered box.
Medals (File) - Box Medals (Phase Box)
These comprise various World War I medals; insignia of the G.C.M.G. and the K.St.J; and a gold medal presented by the Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Muizzuddin Waddaulah to Lord Casey in 1968.
(Acc. Nos. 40009122, 40009130, 40009149, 40009157).
(1 box containing 7 items).
Series 7. Material added February 1986
Subseries 7_3. Richard Gardiner Casey Senior
Subseries 7_4. Realia
Subseries 7_5. Lord Casey - General
One folder of material comprising: press cuttings, May 1972 issue of the Australia-Asia Association of Victoria Newsletter, and one undated photograph of Robert Menzies, John McEwen and two other persons. (File) - Box 75
One folder containing: 'How to Address Letters Without Tears' and a Pronunciation List compiled by the Casey's for their children. (File) - Box 75
Advice by Casey to junior officers of the Dept of External Affairs 28/8/1953, 'How to Address Letters Without Tears'
List of pronunciation for various words ('unilinguals') compiled by the Caseys for their children.