Function and purpose
M1129 is a correspondence series maintained by Richard Gavin Gardiner Casey, Baron Casey, throughout his war service, political and diplomatic career, and as Australia’s 16th Governor-General.
The series consists of files of private correspondence Casey exchanged with persons in both the political and private sector across a range of political and social interests. The records include typed and handwritten notes, photographs, newspaper clippings, telegrams and press releases, extracts of books and reports.
Lord Casey kept files of correspondence with political contemporaries such as Prime Ministers Lord Stanley Melbourne Bruce, Sir John McEwen and Sir William McMahon.
Casey served with Major General Sir William Bridges as an aide-de-camp in World War I and was present when Bridges was shot at Gallipoli. After the war, Casey had a long-standing friendship with military historian C E W Bean. The correspondence file he kept regarding Bean includes copies of pages sent to him for comment about Bean’s book ‘Two Men I Knew - William Bridges and Brudenell White, Founders of the A.I.F.’ (NAA: M1129; BEAN/C E W). Some items (such as the file containing correspondence with the Casey’s friend, actor Katherine Houghton (Hepburn), also contain the correspondence with Casey’s wife, Lady Maie Casey.
Using the series
Casey’s correspondence files are arranged alphabetically by name (e.g. BEAN/C E W) or, for smaller files, controlled alphabetically by range of names (e.g. CROWTHER-CUTHBERT).
M1129 also includes photocopies of extracts of some items comprising original correspondence in the series. This material was transferred separately by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The department had intended to create a small museum/archive to hold collections of personal papers of former Secretaries and Ambassadors (Casey had held the role of Minister External Affairs). When the proposed archive did not progress, the Department transferred the extracts to the National Archives of Australia in 2006.
Sources
NAA: CP 24 The Rt Hon Richard Gardiner CASEY Baron of Berwick, Victoria, KG, GCMG, PC, CH, DSO, MC
NAA: M1129; BEAN/C E W
NAA: M1129; BRUCE/S
NAA: M1129; HEPBURN/K H