George Munster - papers, 1917-1984

MLMSS 7627

fonds

1917 - 1984

448910

17 boxes, 5 folders - 2.94 metres

George John Munster (1925-1984), journalist, editor, author and anthropologist, was born in Vienna, and arrived in Sydney with his Jewish refugee family in 1939. He proved an outstanding student at Sydney Boys' High School and graduated B.A. (Hons) from the University of Sydney. He worked as a teacher in the United Kingdom, Europe and Iraq before returning to Australia in 1955.

In 1958 Munster met Tom Fitzgerald, then Finance Editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, with whom he established Nation magazine, an independent journal of opinion. The first issue was published in September 1958, produced by Caslon Press run by Francis James. Munster managed the magazine, was a regular contributor and later joint editor with Fitzgerald.

In 1964 Munster began to study Anthropology for an M.A. Qualifying degree at the University of Sydney. Three years later he passed with High Distinction with a thesis on Central American ethnography. Although encouraged to apply for a lectureship, Munster was critical of academia and valued more his work as an independent journalist on Nation. In 1972 Nation closed when it was taken over by Gordon Barton and merged with his Review to become Nation Review. Munster was the Sydney editor of Nation Review, 1972-1978. He then became a senior editor and Super A journalist with Angus & Robertson.

In November 1980 Munster and Richard Walsh published Documents on Australian Defence and Foreign Policy 1968-1975, a collection of secret papers illustrating the subordinate nature of the Australian defence alliance with the United States and the ANZUS Treaty. A pre-publication date selection of excerpts from the book appeared in early editions of the Sydney Morning Herald on 8 November. A High Court injunction sought by the Commonwealth Government followed which suppressed further publication of the excerpts. The book was withdrawn from sale after a further injunction was issued restraining Angus and Robertson from publishing, distributing or otherwise dealing with the book. By 2 December Mr Justice Mason of the High Court lifted the injunction on the article published in the Herald on 8 November, but not on the then unpublished second and third articles dealing with the Timor crisis of 1975. The judge found the Commonwealth had failed to make a case on the basis of breaches of the Crimes Act or confidentiality against the Herald, but found prima facie a breach of copyright and therefore made orders restraining the authors from publishing, distributing or otherwise dealing with the book. In 1982 Munster and Walsh published Secrets of State, a version of the earlier book, written to avoid copyright difficulties. The material this time was paraphrased and analysed rather than printed verbatim.

After Rupert Murdoch bought Angus and Robertson in 1981, Munster resigned. He became a freelance journalist and stayed independent while undertaking investigative research for his book, Rupert Murdoch: A Paper Prince, published posthumously in 1985. The book was co-winner of the 1986 N.S.W. Premier's Literary Award for non-fiction. In the last years of his life Munster had written numerous reviews and comments for the print media and radio covering a wide range of topics. He had also contributed research to the documentary film Allies: The Cold War in Australia.

George Munster married, in 1960, Marie De Lepervanche, who worked in the Nation office as a general secretary. In 1963, the year their daughter Anna was born, Marie left her administrative duties to continue studies in Anthropology. She retired as a lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Sydney in 1993.

A. PAPERS re A PAPER PRINCE (1985)
B. PAPERS re DOCUMENTS ON AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE AND FOREIGN POLICY 1968-1975 (1980) and SECRETS OF STATE (1982), with RELATED DOCUMENTS RESEARCH PROJECTS
C. SUBJECT and RESEARCH FOLDERS, inc. FREELANCE PROJECTS
D. ANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDIES
E. PRINTED MATERIAL, 1966, 1975-1983

A. PAPERS re A PAPER PRINCE (1985)
BOX 1
1/1 'Murdoch & the Post [New York Post]'
1/2 'RM / US comment, being photocopied articles'
1/3 'Ch VI (revised) [published as Chapter 7: The Invader], being draft chapter'
1/4 'Ch II [Chapter 2: Southcliffe and Son] Stewart Case', being notes and drafts
1/5 Untitled blue folder, including editorial correspondence, 1983-1984
1/6 Brown folder re New York Post Magazine
1/7 'Ch 2 Oct 83 Text [Chapter 3: Under the Grid]'
1/8 Green folder, being draft of Chapter 10
1/9 Untitled folder, being mainly photocopied articles
1/10 Untitled folder, being mainly notes and draft of Chapter 9: Give Me Your Poor
1/11 Untitled folder, including notes of interview with E. J. Walsh
1/12 Blue folder re The Times (London), being notes and photocopies
1/13 'Observer', including notes and photocopies re takeover of the The Observer newspaper
1/14 'Ch XII The Times [Chapter 13: Quality Street]'
1/15 Untitled folder, including copies of letters to Jackie Yowell (Senior Editor, Penguin Books Australia Ltd), 1983, and incomplete draft index
1/16 'Felker & New York Mag., partly re editor, Clay Felker'
1/17 'Chapter II Text / Background [Chapter 3: Under the Grid]', being notes and drafts
1/18 Untitled green folder mainly re Chapter 7: The Invader, and including letter received from Tom Fitzgerald, 8 May 1982
1/19 'Chapter XI text [Chapter 12: Up in the Air]'
1/20 'Ch VIII Sect 1 [Chapter 9: Give Me Your Poor]'
1/21 Untitled folder, including notes and draft of Chapter 9

BOX 2
2/1 'US / pre-Post purchase (re Ch VIII) [Chapter 9: Give Me Your Poor]', including notes, drafts and photocopies, and letter received from Pat Flanagan, 29 Oct. 1982
2/2 Untitled pink folder, including notes and letters received from Martin Gilbert, 5 July 1982 and Tom Fitzgerald, 10 June [1982]
2/3 'ToTCs Chapter VII background material', including notes, photocopies and draft of Chapter 7
2/4 'Murdoch', including notes and galley proofs of Chapter 2: Southcliffe and Son
2/5 Untitled yellow folder, being notes and letters received from British archival institutions
2/6 'Robert Maxwell', being newscuttings, notes and photocopies
2/7 'Author's galley proofs', being incomplete set
2/8 Untitled folder, being notes and photocopies
2/9 Untitled brown folder, being letter received from Jackie Yowell, 27 Feb. 1984, with enclosed drafts of Chapter 6
2/10 Untitled folder mainly re editing of Chapters 1-5, 7
2/11 Untitled folder, including chapter outlines, author's galley proofs of Chapters 1-2, and letter received from Clyde R. Cameron, 8 Mar. 1983, re early history of the South Australian Fabian Society
2/12 Untitlled folder, including notes and revised Chapter II [In the City of Light]
2/13 'Australian Chapter text [Chapter 5: Wizards of the Oz]', including note from Tom Fitzgerald
2/14 'Ch X [Chapter 11: An Australian Base]'
2/15 Untitled mauve folder, being notes and photocopies
2/16 'Battle over Warner Communications Inc. 1983-84', including notes, newscuttings and photocopies
2/17 'Ch VII [Chapter 8] pt. 2' re 'The Sun: including 1970, 1974, 1979 elections', being notes and photocopies
2/18 'RM personal', including notes, correspondence with, among others,
M. Collins Persse, Archives, Geelong Church of England Grammar School, and incomplete photocopies of If Revived: A Literary Magazine published by the Boys of Geelong Grammar School, vol. 1 nos 1-2, Sept-Nov. 1949, edited by R. K. Murdoch

BOX 3
3/1 Untitled folder, being newscuttings, notes, photocopies and letter received from Pat Flanagan, 1 Feb. 1983
3/2 'Murdoch Appeals Tribunal Hearings July 1981', being mainly newscuttings and photocopies
3/3 'Sun', being notes and photocopies
3/4 Untitled folder
3/5 'George Mendell Fink family & Melbourne finance', being notes and photocopies
3/6 'Walsingham'
3/7 'TNT (Abeles etc)'
3/8 Untitled folder, being newscuttings and photocopies
3/9 'Rivett & Sedition', including letter received from Nan Rivett, 25 Oct. 1981, mainly re libel case against News Ltd and Editor-in-Chief, Rohan Deakin Rivett
3/10 'Rivett', including notes of interview with Nan Rivett, 17 Nov. 1981
3/11 Untitled folder
3/12 'The Sun'
3/13 Untitled green folder re corporate searches of News Ltd
3/14 Untitled folder
3/15 'Television 1959-67', being mainly notes and photocopies
3/16 'Southern TV [Southern Television Corporation Limited]'

BOX 4
4/1 'Rabin', being photocopies re Zell Rabin (d. 1966)
4/2 'Ch III Menzies [Chapter 4; Mirror Images]', partly re Cumberland Newspapers Limited and newspapers' circulation in Australia
4/3 'Maxwell Newton'
4/4 'The Australian', being mainly notes and photocopies
4/5 'Chapter 4', being corrected drafts of various chapters
4/6 'Dorothy Schiff', including photocopies and correspondence with Hugh Cudlipp, 7 June 1982 and George Tuchman (City University of New York), 1982
4/7 Untitled folder, being notes, newscuttings and copy of letter to John McLaren (Australian Book Review), 3 Nov. 1982, re enclosed draft article on amended Copyright Act
4/8 'Orkney's Back Up Material' mainly re The Australian newspaper and the 1975 Federal election
4/9 'Ch 13 [Chapter 14: The Empire Strikes Back]', being mainly material on the Falklands War and publication of the bogus Hitler diaries, including letter received from Prof. H. Booms, President, Bundesarchiv, 19 July 1983
4/10 Untitled folder, including draft of last two chapters and photocopy of the article 'The Decline and Fall of the New York Daily News' by William A. Henry III, Washington Journalism Review, Mar. 1982
4/11 'Murdoch' re Joe L. Allbritton, New York Daily News, New York Post and Chicago Tribune
4/12 Orange folder re Chapter 4: Mirror Images
4/13 Untitled folder re The News of the World and the Christine Keeler memoirs, 1969

BOX 5
5/1 Untitled folder mainly re Chapter 6: Friends Like These
5/2 'KRM Miscellany', including issues of Advertising Magazine (UK), no. 68 Summer 1981, featuring the article 'We must reverse the gentrification of Britain' by Rupert Murdoch, and of Columbia Journalism Review, July-Aug. 1982, featuring the articles 'A Daily News Diary' by Mary Ann Giordano and 'Clout: Murdochs Political Post' by Mitchell Stephens
5/3 'Ch II text [Chapter 3; Under the Grid]', including research material on Murdoch and Zell Rabin's meeting with President John F. Kennedy, 1 Dec. 1961, and draft of Chapter 3
5/4 Untitled folder, including drafts of Chapters 11-14, with letter received from Jackie Yowell, 28 Mar. 1978
5/5 'Interviews', including notes of interviews; photocopies of published interviews with Murdoch; and correspondence with Katharine Graham, 1982, and Marie de Lepervanche and Anna Munster, 6 July 1982
5/6 'Blamey', being notes and photocopies re Sir Thomas Blamey
5/7 'K. Murdoch Dardanelles Hughes', being notes
5/8 'Gallipoli Hamilton Northcliff', being notes
5/9 'Keith Murdoch', including photocopies of the will of Sir Keith Arthur Murdoch, 1952
5/10 'Sir Keith Murdoch in the 1930s & [J. A.] Lyons', including notes and photocopies
5/11 'K-M archive notes' mainly concerning Sir Keith Murdoch
5/12 'Chapter I [Chapter 2: Southcliffe and Son]'
5/13 Untitled folder mainly re The New York Post
5/14 'Pergamon' re Pergamon Press
5/15 Untitled folder, being notes and photocopies

BOX 6
6/1 Untitled folder, being chapter drafts
6/2 'Post News etc'
6/3 The News Corporation Limited Annual Report 1983, with newscuttings
6/4 'British Press', being mainly photocopies
6/5 'Holmes a Court', being mainly newscuttings
6/6 'Satellites TV licences etc', being mainly newscuttings and photocopies
6/7 'TV Licences', being photocopies and printed material
6/8 'Media Papers', including issues of Media Papers: Occasional Papers in Media Studies, nos 1-5, 1980, and photocopied typescript of The Formative History of the Australian Press by R. Osborne
6/9 'Murdoch ABT [Australian Broadcasting Tribunal] 1980 hearings'
6/10 'KRM / Evidence before the Channel 10 Inquiry 26 July 1979'
6/11 'ABT April 1980 Murdoch'
6/12 Correspondence, 1982-1983, including letters received from Michael Dummett (New College, Oxford University)

FOLDER 7
'Interview Notes...'

FOLDER 8
Corrected draft of, with related notes and photocopies re Chapter 11: An Australian Base

B. PAPERS re DOCUMENTS ON AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE AND FOREIGN POLICY 1968-1975 (1980) and SECRETS OF STATE (1982), with RELATED DOCUMENTS RESEARCH PROJECTS
BOX 9
9/1 Untitled folder, 1966-1975, including list of Research Topics for Coral Project; notes with draft papers presented by Desmond J. Ball, 1973-1975, re various topics, including American strategic policy, SALT, and American bases in Australia; and copies of documents of the Textile Council of Australia
9/2 Untitled folder, 1969-1982, including notes and research material on Nugan Hand merchant bank and Indonesian intelligence agencies for articles in National Times newspaper; note received from Senator Gareth Evans, with Hansard extract of his question in the Senate, 3 Dec. 1980, re government documents and the Commonwealth Government's case to suppress the book Documents on Australian Defence and Foreign Policy 1968-1975 (1980); photocopy of Royal Commission on Petroleum Third Report: The Circumstances on the Transfer of Allocated Indigenous Crude Oil by Allied Petrochemicals Pty Limited to ACTU-SOLO Enterprises Pty Limited; and photocopied review of Documents book and Secrets of State in Malaysian Business Times, 23 Apr. 1982
9/3 Yellow folder, 1951-1982, being research material for series of three articles on US-Australian relations in 1951
9/4 'Angus & Robs re Documents', including letter received from Richard Walsh, 17 Sept. 1981, and photocopy of Justice Mason's judgment in High Court of Australia case, The Commonwealth of Australia v. John Fairfax & Sons Limited, 1 Dec. 1980
9/5 'Defence & Documents', 1981-1982, including notes and incomplete drafts of the Prelude to Secrets of State
9/6 'Carrollton / Documents', 1981-1982, including correspondence with, among others, Carrollton Press (VA) and George C. Herring, and letters to Peter Ryan (MUP) on various editorial and writing projects; and copy of ASIS feature in National Times, 15-21 Mar. 1981
9/7 'Indonesia', 1957-1983, including correspondence and notes mainly re US and Australian involvement in the 1958 Outer Island rebellion in Indonesia
9/8 'Nest of Traitors', 1981, being mainly copies of letters to the Australian Archives
9/9 'Australia & Chile', 1976-1982, mainly re Australias role in Chile before the overthrow of President Salvador Allende in 1973, including letter received from Prof. Richard R. Fagen (Stanford University), 3 Dec. 1982

BOX 10
10/1 'Defence, Arms Control etc', 1971-1972, being photocopied articles
10/2 'Defence Arms Control', 1981, being issue of Arms Control Today, vol. 11 no. 2, Feb. 1981, featuring Counterforce Targeting: How New ? How Viable ? by Desmond Ball
10/3 'Documents', 1975-1981, concerning declassified US official documents
10/4 'Foreign Affairs', 1981, being correspondence with George C. Herring, 20 & 22 July 1981
10/5 'Intelligence WWII (Ball)', 1964, 1978, 1981, including copies of declassified US official documents and copy of draft paper by Des Ball, 'The American Connexion: An Historical Footnote on Allied Intelligence Co-Operation involving Australia during World War II', Jan. 1978
Documents research folders mainly re Secrets of State (1982):
10/6 'Prelude & Ch I relevant research Ch II', including draft chapter by Desmond Ball, 'The Politics of Defence Decision Making in Australia: The Strategic Background', Mar.-Apr. 1979, by Des Ball; notes and photocopies
10/7 'Pertamina', 1974-ca. 1977, concerning Indonesian state oil corporation, being newscuttings and photocopies
10/8 'East Timor', 1980-1981, being photocopies concerning US policy towards East Timor
10/9 'East Timor Ch V-VI', 1970-1981, being notes and photocopies
10/10 'Malaysian-Indonesian Conflict', 196- - ca. 1981, being mainly copies of declassified US official documents for National Times article
10/11 'Malaysia & Singapore', being photocopies
10/12 Untitled pink folder, 1976-1981, being photocopied articles re the Philippines
10/13 'Ch X Korea etc Ch XI Iran, Israel, Somalia background material', including notes, photocopies and copy of letter from Desmond J. Ball to Peter Hastings, 14 Nov. 1980 re the Documents book, 1980

FOLDER 11
'C.R.A.'s second proposal to Whitlam Govt., 1974-5 [folder title inscribed by Tom Fitzgerald]

FOLDER 12
'Documents on Australian Defence & Foreign Policy etc', including notes, transcriptions and legal correspondence

FOLDER 13
Notes re ASIS in Indonesia

C. SUBJECT and RESEARCH FOLDERS, inc. FREELANCE PROJECTS
(Some folder titles inscribed by Marie de Lepervanche)
BOX 14
14/1 'Agent Orange', 1971-1981
14/2-7 'Australia in Private [Anthology of Australian Letters]', 1983-1984, being 6 folders re project for a book, including photocopies
14/8 'Australian Intellectuals and the Left', 1984, being notes re Thesis Eleven Round Table on Intellectuals
14/9 'Australian Journalists' Association', 1982-1983
14/10 'Australian Penal System', being historical notes, with 'Patrick White: A Revealing Profile' by David Leitch, National Times, 27 Mar.-1 Apr. 1978
14/11 'Black Stump', 1982, being notes and draft of article, 'The Enigma of the Black Stump' re Gerald Gleeson (Secretary, N.S.W. Premier's Department)
14/12-14 'Defamation', 1958-1984, being 3 folders, including 'Submission to the Committee of Enquiry The A.B.C. and the Problem of Defamation' and scrapbook of newscuttings mainly re Cyril Pearl and his book, Wild Men of Sydney, with attached compliments slip of Alan Lionel Benjamin and comments by Justice J. V. Barry, 4 May 1958

BOX 15
15/1 'Editorial Consultancy', 1981-1982, including correspondence and reader's reports by Munster
15/2 'Francis James', 1969-1971, re the disappearance of Australian journalist Francis James in China, including copies of his letters to Norma Chalmers and Myra Roper, and Munster's correspondence with, among others, John A. Anderson (President, Amnesty International, Victorian Section), Stephanie Grant (Amnesty International, International Secretariat), Wilfred Burchett, C. S. Burchill, Norma Chalmers, Stephen Claypole, Noelle Davies, Neil McInnes, Myra Roper and Charles Stokes
15/3 'Fraser', 1974-1978, being notes and article re John Malcolm Fraser
15/4-5 'Gallagher BLF / Writ and Papermill', 1974-1976, being 4 folders re writ issued by Norm Gallagher against Nation Review for publishing article on the BLF by Chris Ray in the issue of 13 June 1975
15/6-10 'Gallipoli Project', 1917, 1928, 1981-1984, being 5 folders mainly of notes, and including bound volume of Dardanelles Commission, First Report, Parts I-II (HMSO, 1917) and Mesopotamia Commission Report (HMSO, 1917), formerly owned by Captain Trevor W. Swett, Riga, June 1928

BOX 16
16/1-3 'Gareth Evans', 1977-1984, being 3 folders mainly of notes and photocopies re article on Federal Attorney-General Gareth Evans
16/4 'German Reprints from G. [Gyorgy] Markus', being photocopied articles and chapters
16/5 'Ian Sinclair / Companies', being mainly company searches
16/6-8 'In Vitro Fertilization', 1982-1984, being 3 folders mainly of newscuttings and photocopies
16/9 'Keneally', being a copy of The Cut-Rate Kingdom (1980) by Thomas Keneally and photocopied 2nd draft of Act I of the play Bullie's House
16/10 'Korean War & Public Service', being research material and draft articles based on release of 1951 Cabinet papers
16/11 'Krader / Asiatic /Mode', being photocopied excerpts from The Asiatic Mode of Production (1975) by Lawrence Krader
16/12 'Liberal Party [of Australia (N.S.W. Division) City of Sydney Special Branch]', 1974
16/13 'Lunacy', being photocopies, including 'The Administration of Lunacy and Idiocy in New South Wales, 1788-1855' (1968) by C. J. Cummins

BOX 17
17/1-9 'Machiavelli', compiled 1979-1984, being 9 folders mainly of notes and photocopies re Niccolo Machiavelli

BOX 18
18/1-10 'Matheson', compiled 1983-1984, being 10 folders of research material for articles on Laurie Matheson, including related material on the Royal Commission on Australia's Intelligence Agencies and the Combe-Ivanov Affair

BOX 19
19/1 'Menzies', 1982-1984, being mainly correspondence and research material re the role of Sir Robert Menzies in the formation of Australian foreign policy, 1935-1941. Correspondents include archivists and librarians, and Julian Amery, K. D. Gott, Cameron Hazlehurst and Hugh Stretton
19/2-4 'Middle East', 1974-1984, being 4 folders mainly of notes and photocopies
19/5 'Miscellaneous', 1979, mainly re trip to Europe for identifying potential sources of waxes for K. H. Freeman Pty Ltd, St Marys, N.S.W.
19/6 'Moscow', being photocopies and printed material
19/7-10 'New Caledonia Project', 1984, re proposal for documentary film on New Caledonia, titled 'Outremer, or Captain Cook's Other Island'
19/11 'Norman Haire', 1981-1983, being research material and article published in the Good Weekend Magazine, 24 Sept. 1983
19/12 'Poetry', being photocopies re Paul Celan and Osip Mandelstam
19/13 'Publishing Industry', 1978-1979, being mainly Industries Assistance Commission Draft Report on the Publishing Industry (Nov. 1978)

BOX 20
20/1 'Recent / History of CPA [Communist Party of Australia]', being photocopies of two articles by J. D. Blake
20/2 'Recent Monetary Trends', 1975-1976, being photocopies
20/3 'Reification etc.', being scrapbook mainly of photocopied chapters on reification, with enclosures, 1978-1979
20/4 'Smorgon / Meat', 1963-1976, being research material for article in Nation Review
20/5 'Sundry Articles etc', 1973-1981, including issues of Nation Review
20/6 'Sundry Projects', 1956-1983, being mainly research material, including various transcripts of filmed interviews for Allies documentary (?)s
20/7 'Sundry Reprints', 1982-1984, being copies and reprints of articles by others
20/8-10 'Superannuation', 1974-1984, being mainly research material re Superannuation Fund Investment Trust

D. ANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDIES
BOX 21
21/1 'Problems in Anthropological Peasant Studies', being thesis submitted for M.A. Qualifying in the Department of Anthropology, University of Sydney, Oct. 1967
21/2 'Notes Towards Our Understanding of Levi-Strauss' "Mythologiques"'
21/3-21 Folders of notes on various topics, including the customs and folklore of peoples of the Philippines

BOX 22
22/1-2 Folders of notes on studies of religion, including University of Sydney Anthropology IV (M.A. Qualifying) kinship exercise, Mar. 1967, based on the Munster family, with genealogical charts

E. PRINTED MATERIAL, 1966, 1975-1983
Includes issues of journals and magazines of politics and current affairs, and other publications including Province Survey: Phuoc Tuy Province [1971], compiled by 1 Psychological Operations Unit (1 Psy Ops Unit) and The Human Rights and Conditions of the People of East Timor, Sept. 1973, being Report of the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence

Author/Artist entries:
Amery, Julian
Barry, John Vincent, Sir, 1903-1969
Booms, Hans
Burchett, Wilfred, 1911-1983
Cameron, Clyde R. (Clyde Robert), 1913-
Chalmers, Norma
Claypole, Stephen
Cudlipp, Hugh, 1913-
Davies, Noelle
De Lepervanche, Marie M.
Dummett, Michael A. E.
Evans, Gareth, 1944-
Fagen, Richard R.
Gilbert, Martin, 1936-
Gott, K. D. (Ken D.)
Graham, Katharine, 1917-
Grant, Stephanie
Hazelhurst, Cameron, 1941-
Herring, George C., 1936-
James, Francis, 1918-1992
McInnes, Neil
Munster, Anna
Persse, Michael D. de B. Collins, 1931-
Rivett, Nan
Roper, Myra, 1911-2002
Ryan, Peter, 1923-
Stokes, Charles
Stretton, Hugh, 1924-
Walsh, Richard, 1941-
Yowell, Jackie