Summary heading
Function and purpose
This series consists of a bound volume entitled ‘Newspaper
cuttings’ designed for housing and indexing press cuttings. Sir Joseph Cook initially used the volume for
this purpose with cuttings dating from 1909 to about 1914 featured. The clippings focus on events or issues
related to Sir Joseph Cook’s career including his split with the Labor Party,
the formation of a Territorial Reserve, financial relations between the States
and the Commonwealth, the arrival of the Australian Fleet, the formation of the
Cook Cabinet and the destruction of the German cruiser “Emden” by the HMAS
“Sydney”.
Later the volume has been used to house Joseph
Cook’s important personal and official correspondence and other documents
(several letters in the volume are actually addressed to Dame Mary Cook or to
the Cook’s son, RC Cook). The papers
are loosely grouped into those related either to family, to Joseph Cook’s
period as Prime Minister, to his portfolios after the Prime Ministership, to
his role as Australian High Commissioner in London or to subsequent official
roles. The papers have evidently been
moved from their original location within various record-keeping systems.
Included is family correspondence from
1915-18 (primarily between Joseph and Mary Cook and their sons fighting in
World War One), correspondence received while Prime Minister and in preceding
years from the Governor-General, Alfred Deakin and other colleagues,
correspondence concerning Cook’s appointment to the Privy Council and some
undated handwritten notes on World War One and the conscription referendum.
Papers accumulated as Navy Minister and
Treasurer include correspondence from colleagues, telegrams concerning a visit
to inspect naval activities in the United States, a seating plan for a Times luncheon to overseas press
representatives, documents concerning a session at Versailles on ‘Communication
of the Preliminaries of Peace to the German Delegates’, a paper reporting on a
speech by the Hon LE Groom on Nationalist ideals and a menu for the Naval
Review luncheon on board HMAS “Una” attended by the Governor-General and the
Prince of Wales in 1920.
Papers accumulated as Australian High
Commissioner in London include congratulations from colleagues on the
appointment as High Commissioner, a letter from SM Bruce on the Permanent
Mandates Commission, papers concerning the 1926 Imperial Conference’s
‘Committee on Mandates’, arrangements for Lady Cook to launch HMAS “Australia”,
an extract from the Permanent Mandates Commission Minutes of 1927 thanking Sir
Joseph Cook for his services as Australian representative and arrangements for
the visit of a Japanese Training Squadron to Sydney in 1928.
Also included are several items of
correspondence concerning the 1928-29 Commission of Enquiry into South
Australian Finances as affected by Federation, two invitations to Government
House in the 1940s and a 1954 letter to RC Cook appointing him a member of the
Industrial Commission of New South Wales.
Related legislation
Using the series
Language of material
Physical characteristics
System of arrangement and control
This series contains one item only.
Relationships with other records
Finding aids
Access conditions
Series history
In 1993 the Cook family donated Sir Joseph Cook papers,
including series M3635, to the National Archives of Australia. The collection was initially located at the
New South Wales Office of National Archives but was transferred to the National
Office of National Archives in Canberra in 2001.
Provenance
Series M3635 is part of the personal collection of former
Prime Minister Sir Joseph Cook, although also contains some Cook family
correspondence involving his wife, Dame Mary Cook, and their children. The Cook family donated the collection to
the National Archives in 1993.
Immediate source of acquisition
Custodial history
Quantity in agency custody
Disposal history
Publication note
Additional information
End notes
Sources