Sir Earle Page Memorial Trust records, 1984-2004

MLMSS 8460

fonds

1984-2004

Textual Records, Graphic Materials, Photographs, Clippings, Ephemera

131010

0.68 metres of textual material (4 boxes)

Sir Earle Christmas Grafton Page (1880-1961), politician and surgeon, was born on 8 August 1880 at Grafton, New South Wales. He won scholarships to Sydney Boys' High School and the University of Sydney. Page entered university at 15 and after a year of arts enrolled in medicine. One of his teachers, (Sir) Alexander MacCormick, chose Page as his house surgeon at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, where Page met his future wife, Ethel Esther Blunt, a nurse.

In 1913 Page was elected an alderman on the South Grafton Council and also chaired meetings for the Farmers and Settlers' Association candidate in the State elections. In January 1915 he launched what became the Northern New South Wales Separation League in Grafton. He was elected mayor of South Grafton in 1918, serving till 1920. In the 1919 Federal elections he nominated for Cowper as an independent 'straight out country' candidate, soon received Farmers and Settlers' Association endorsement and was elected. Page joined ten other farmer members in January 1920 to form the Federal Country Party. In April 1921 he was elected to replace William McWilliams as party leader.

As health minister, over five years from 1950 he legislated to provide free essential drugs to the community, maintain free medical services for the poor, subsidize the bulk of the population in their voluntary contributions to private health insurance funds, and increase Commonwealth grants to hospitals. In 1953 he was able to claim that he had erected 'a bulwark against the socialisation of medicine' while also meeting the necessary health requirements of all the population. He retired from cabinet in January 1956.

In 1951 Page sold his Queensland farms and Sydney houses and divided his spare time between Boolneringbar and a flat at Elizabeth Bay, Sydney. Ethel died in 1958; and on 20 July 1959 Page married his secretary Jean Thomas at St Paul's Cathedral, London.

Page had been appointed to the Privy Council in 1929, made a G.C.M.G. in 1938, Companion of Honour and an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, London, in 1942; he was a foundation member of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. In 1955 he was installed as first chancellor of the University of New England and awarded an honorary doctorate of science.

The Sir Earle Page Memorial Trust was established by members of the University of Sydney Nationals Club in 1984 as a tribute to Page. The inaugural Memorial Lecture staged by the Trust was delivered by Professor Lauchlan Chipman in 1984.

Reference:
'Page, Sir Earle Christmas Grafton (1880–1961)', Australian Dictionary of Biography online http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/page-sir-earle-christmas-grafton-7941/text13821 (accessed 9 May 2012)
Compiled from the collection

BOX 1
Account book, 1984-1985; invoice and statement book, 1991-1997; cheque book; cheque deposit book, 1984-1993; cheque deposit book, 1993-1999

Folder 1
Papers relating Sir Earle Page Memorial Trust and Lectures, including programs, menus, RSVPs, newspaper clippings, lectures, etc., 1995-1996

Folder 2
Papers relating Sir Earle Page Memorial Trust and Lectures, including programs, menus, RSVPs, newspaper clippings, lectures, invoices, etc., 1997

Folder 3
Papers relating Sir Earle Page Memorial Trust and Lectures, including programs, menus, RSVPs, newspaper clippings, lectures, invoices, etc.; includes computer discs, 1998

Folder 4
Papers relating Sir Earle Page Memorial Trust and Lectures, including programs, menus, RSVPs, newspaper clippings, lectures, invoices, etc., 1999

Folder 5
Papers relating Sir Earle Page Memorial Trust and Lectures, including lectures, financial details, correspondence, etc., 1984-1990

BOX 2
Folder 1
Papers relating Sir Earle Page Memorial Trust and Lectures, including lectures, financial details, correspondence, and material relating to 'Pages', magazines, etc., 1991-1994

Folder 2
Papers relating Sir Earle Page Memorial Trust and Lectures, including lectures, financial details, correspondence, 1982-1992

Folder 3
Papers relating Sir Earle Page Memorial Trust and Lectures, including lectures, financial details, correspondence, and material relating to the book 'Thinking about Australia', 1993-1995

Folder 4
Programs, invitations, and newspaper clippings relating to the Sir Earle Page Memorial Lectures, 1984-1995

Folder 5
Papers relating to the Directors and Board of the Trust, and Page Research Centre, 2002

BOX 3
Folder 1
Papers including meeting minutes, financial details, funding, etc., 1984-2003

Folder 2
Papers and photographs relating to the Trust, funding, tax status, Trustees, and Page Research Centre, 1993-2003

Folder 3
Papers mainly relating to tax, deeds, and the Page Research Centre, 2002-2004

Folder 4
Papers including meeting minutes, memos, and newspaper clippings relating to the Trust and speakers for lectures, 1984-2004

Folder 5
Correspondence and papers relating to the establishment and tax status of the Page Research Centre and the Trust, 2000-2002

BOX 4
Thinking About Australia: the Sir Earle Page Memorial Orations 1984-1993 / The Sir Earle Page Memorial Trust, Woolloomooloo: 1994

Folder 1
Correspondence, photographs, and papers, including essays, programs, invitations, etc. relating to the Trust and lectures, 1992-1998

Folder 2
Correspondence, magazines, and papers, including lectures, programs, invitations, etc. relating to the Trust and lectures, 1996-1997

Folder 3
Papers including newspaper clippings, lectures, programs, magazines, 1986-1994

Folder 4
Photographs, lectures, program, visitors' book, 1989-1999

Copyright status:: In copyright
Research & study copies allowed:
Rights and Restrictions Information:: No publication without prior written approval of copyright holder
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

Information upgraded as part of the Manuscripts Unprocessed eRecords Project 2011-2012