Tony Harris further papers relating to activity in the Australian Labor Party and The Greens in the Municipality of Leichhardt, ca. 1973 - ca. 1992, together with a background paper by Tony Harris, 2008

MLMSS 9583/Boxes 1-4
MLMSS 9583/Boxes 5X-6X

fonds

ca. 1973 - ca. 1992, 2008

Textual Records, Ephemera, Posters

958898

1.6 metres of textual material (4 boxes, 2 outsize boxes)

Tony Harris, 1948-2013, was the founder of the Greens political party in Australia. In August 1984 he called a public meeting to form and register the Greens, and in 1985, he became its first national registered officer. Anthony (Tony) Harris was born on August 10, 1948, in Orange, son of Keith, house painter and survivor of the Thai-Burma railway and Changi prison, and Wilga, a stalwart in the town’s music scene. Harris graduated in economics from Australian National University in the late 1960’s, and joined the Treasury, then came to Sydney in 1971 to become a high school teacher. He became the secretary of the Annandale branch of the Labor Party in 1972. Harris rejoined the Greens in 2007 and wrote a blog, ‘Watermelon’ dealing with issues of politics and the ethics of non-violence. In 2008, Harris left the University of New South Wales to become international news editor at ‘The Week’. He was diagnosed with advanced liver cancer in 2010 and moved to Melbourne to be near his close friend, Julie Kimber, where he died in July 2013.
Tony Harris is author of the book 'Basket weavers and true believers: making and unmaking the Labor left in Leichhardt Municipality 1970-1991' (Newtown: Leftbank Publishing, 2007), based on his doctoral thesis.

Reference: Compiled from the collection and obituary by Hall Greenland, Sydney Morning Herald, August 8, 2013

BOX 1:
1. Annandale ALP Branch general 1970s
2. 1974: Annandale ALP and Federal Election
3. 1974 Annandale Ward Municipal election
4. Annandale ALP Branch 1975 and 1976
5. Annandale ALP Branch in lead-up to 1980 Municipal Elections
6. Annandale ALP early 1980s including 1981 Federal preselection and 1984 expulsion of Tony Harris and others from the ALP
7. Posters 1974 Municipal and Federal Elections

BOX 2:
8. Tony Harris activity in NSW Teachers Federation early 1970s
9. Counter culture general - including news-sheet for large Abercrombie Street Food Cooperative (ca. 1978)
10. 1983-84 - formation of Labor Greens (see also 6 above) and the Sydney Greens (1984)
11. Sydney Greens and 1984 Federal Election
12. Comment book - temporary Greens electoral office, Broadway Sydney, 1984 Federal Election
13. Sydney Greens 1985-86
14. Sydney Greens 1987 and campaign for Senate in NSW

BOX 3:
15. Sydney Greens ca. 1989-1992 including 1990 Federal campaign by Tony Harris for Federal seat of Sydney through to departure from Greens early 1992
16. Green Alliance NSW 1988-1992 including papers relating to registration of a large number of Green parties at 1990 election (see Epilogue of 'Basket Weavers and True Believers' for explanation - also parallels 15 above)
17. Press and posters, leaflets and how-to-votes 1990 Federal Election

BOX 4:
18. Background paper to documents deposited with the State Library of NSW by Tony Harris: "Regulating 'the Green mess': the emergence of The Greens and the development of Australian federal political party regulation", 2008, together with further background documents.
Ephemera; assorted political posters. Also calendars from the notice-board of 180 Annandale Street mid-1970s. 180 Annandale Street was a counter-culture household where some activists in the Annandale ALP in the 1970s lived (see also 'Basket Weavers and True Believers')

BOXES 5X-6X:
Miscellaneous political posters and campaign calendars

1 large poster: H G Nelson, Guilts and Roaring Jack. Comedy from Fungo Chutney. Saturday May 18 Balmain Town Hall. Sydney Greens Fundraiser. Hall Greenland for Port Jackson. (Call No. POSTERS )

Organised into folders more-or-less chronologically by Tony Harris

Copyright status:: In copyright. This collection has multiple copyright holders.
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales