George Pearce | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Pearce in the 1920s | |
| Minister for External Affairs | |
| In office 12 October 1934 – 29 November 1937 | |
| Prime Minister | Joseph Lyons |
| Preceded by | John Latham |
| Succeeded by | Billy Hughes |
| Minister for Defence | |
| In office 6 January 1932 – 12 October 1934 | |
| Prime Minister | Joseph Lyons |
| Preceded by | Ben Chifley |
| Succeeded by | Archdale Parkhill |
| In office 17 September 1914 – 21 December 1921 | |
| Prime Minister | Andrew Fisher Billy Hughes |
| Preceded by | Edward Millen |
| Succeeded by | Walter Massy-Greene |
| In office 29 April 1910 – 24 June 1913 | |
| Prime Minister | Andrew Fisher |
| Preceded by | Joseph Cook |
| Succeeded by | Edward Millen |
| In office 13 November 1908 – 2 June 1909 | |
| Prime Minister | Andrew Fisher |
| Preceded by | Thomas Ewing |
| Succeeded by | Joseph Cook |
| Leader of the Government in the Senate | |
| In office 6 January 1932 – 29 November 1937 | |
| Preceded by | John Barnes |
| Succeeded by | Alexander McLachlan |
| In office 9 February 1923 – 19 October 1929 | |
| Preceded by | Edward Millen |
| Succeeded by | John Daly |
| In office 17 September 1914 – 17 February 1917 | |
| Preceded by | Edward Millen |
| Succeeded by | Edward Millen |
| Leader of the Opposition in the Senate | |
| In office 22 October 1929 – 6 January 1932 | |
| Preceded by | John Daly |
| Succeeded by | John Barnes |
| Minister for Home and Territories | |
| In office 21 December 1921 – 18 June 1926 | |
| Prime Minister | Billy Hughes Stanley Bruce |
| Preceded by | Alexander Poynton |
| Succeeded by | William Glasgow |
| Deputy Leader of the Labor Party | |
| In office 27 October 1915 – 14 November 1916 | |
| Leader | Billy Hughes |
| Preceded by | Billy Hughes |
| Succeeded by | Albert Gardiner |
| Senator forWestern Australia | |
| In office 29 March 1901 – 30 June 1938 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Robert Clothier |
| Personal details | |
| Born | George Foster Pearce (1870-01-14)14 January 1870 |
| Died | 24 June 1952(1952-06-24) (aged 82) Elwood, Victoria, Australia |
| Party |
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| Spouse | |
| Occupation | Carpenter |
| Signature |  |
Sir George Foster PearceKCVO (14 January 1870 – 24 June 1952) was an Australian politician who served as aSenator forWestern Australia from 1901 to 1938. He began his career in theLabor Party but later joined theNational Labor Party, theNationalist Party, and theUnited Australia Party; he served as a cabinet minister under prime ministers from all four parties.
Pearce was born inMount Barker, South Australia. He left school at the age of 11 and trained as a carpenter, later moving toWestern Australia and becoming involved in theunion movement. He helped establish the Labor Party there, andin 1901 – aged 31 – was elected to the newfederal parliament. Pearce was elevated to cabinet in 1908, underAndrew Fisher, and served in each of Fisher's three governments. He continued on in cabinet whenBilly Hughes became prime minister in 1915, and after theLabor Party split of 1916 followed Hughes to the National Labor Party and then to the Nationalists. Pearce also served in cabinet underStanley Bruce and, after joining the UAP in 1931,Joseph Lyons. He wasMinister for Defence from 1908 to 1909, 1910 to 1913, 1914 to 1921, and 1932 to 1934. His 24 years in cabinet and 37 years as a senator are both records.
Pearce was born on 14 January 1870 inMount Barker, South Australia. He was the fifth of eleven children born to Jane (née Foster) and James Pearce.[1] His father was a blacksmith ofCornish descent, born in the village ofAltarnun, while his mother was born in London.[2] An uncle,George Pearce, briefly served in theSouth Australian House of Assembly.[3]
During Pearce's childhood his family lived in various locations in rural South Australia. His mother died when he was ten years old, and he left school the following year by which time the family was living inRedhill. His father briefly tried wheat farming on theEyre Peninsula, then moved the family toKilkerran on theYorke Peninsula where he returned to blacksmithing. Pearce began working as a farm labourer at the age of twelve in nearbyMaitland. He took up a carpentry apprenticeship in Maitland in 1885, where he also received free evening lessons from the local school headmaster. He moved toAdelaide after completing his apprenticeship, but lost his job in theearly 1890s depression.[2]
In 1892, Pearce moved toWestern Australia where he found work as a carpenter inPerth. Following thediscovery of gold atCoolgardie, he left Perth in March 1894 and went to theEastern Goldfields where he joined thousands of others inprospecting for alluvial gold.[2] While camped atKurnalpi, Pearce and two others were attacked byWangkatha men armed with spears, to which he responded by firing his revolver three times. He had little success in prospecting and returned to Perth in 1895.[4]
After returning to Perth, Pearce resumed his work as a carpenter and his involvement in thelabour movement, where he was a member of theAmalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners.[4] In the late 1890s he "became one of Perth's most prominent trade unionists".[3] The local labour movement at the time largely consisted of small craft unions of skilled tradesmen, with an atmosphere less militant than in the other Australian colonies.[4] In 1897 Pearce nonetheless led a strike on building sites that led to him beingblacklisted for several weeks.[3][5] In the same year he purchased a home in the working-class suburb ofSubiaco, working at the local Whittaker Bros. timber mill.[4]
In 1893, Pearce helped found the Progressive Political League, a precursor to the Western Australian branch of the ALP.[1] He was elected to theSubiaco Municipal Council in 1898.[4]
In the lead-up toFederation in 1901, Pearce joined the executive of the Western Australian Federal League and campaigned for the "Yes" vote atthe referendum in July 1900 which approved Western Australia as an original state. A Trades and Labour Conference held in Perth in August 1900 agreed that labour candidates for the inaugural federal election would be subject to apreselection process for theHouse of Representatives and that the conference would endorse two candidates for theSenate – one from Perth and one from the Eastern Goldfields.[6] Pearce was selected as the labour candidate from Perth and was elected to a six-year Senate term at theMarch 1901 federal election. He joined the parliamentaryAustralian Labor Party (ALP) on its formation in May 1901.[7]
In Pearce'smaiden speech to parliament, he outlined his views as a moderate socialist and looked forward to a time when "the representatives of labour and capital could join hands to the advantage of both".[8] He also called for thenationalisation ofnatural monopolies, and in 1906 introduced an unsuccessfulprivate member's bill to amend the constitution to that effect. Pearce was one of the fewfree traders in the Labor Party in his first years in parliament, believing hightariff policies made imports more expensive for Western Australia and had few benefits given the state's limited secondary industries.[9] He narrowly missed out on being a member of the first Labor Partycabinet whenChris Watson becamePrime Minister in 1904. He was laterChairman of Committees in the Senate from 1907 to 1908.[10]
In 1908, Pearce was elected to cabinet by the ALP caucus as a member of thefirst Fisher Ministry. He had long shown an interest in defence matters in the Senate and was chosen by Prime MinisterAndrew Fisher to becomeMinister for Defence.[11] He believed it was his duty as minister to accept "any reasonable expenditure on armament, ammunition, and accoutrements" recommended by his advisers and to resolve disagreements between sections of the military.[12] During his first term as minister, Pearce ordered threeRiver-class torpedo-boat destroyers for the what would become theRoyal Australian Navy.[3]
Pearce regained the defence portfolio in thesecond Fisher Ministry (1910–1913). During his second term as minister, he was responsible for theNaval Defence Act 1910, which created theAustralian Commonwealth Naval Board and theRoyal Australian Naval College.[1] In 1911 he announced that orders had been placed for Australia's first two submarines,AE1 andAE2.[13] Pearce attended the1911 Imperial Conference in London where the relationship between the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy was determined. He oversaw the implementation of theUniversal Service Scheme of compulsory military training scheme, and in 1912 approved the creation of theCentral Flying School atPoint Cook, Victoria, which became the "birthplace of Australian military aviation".[3]
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In 1914, Australia enteredWorld War I. UponBilly Hughes' ascension as prime minister, Pearce was named deputy leader of the party.[1]
Pearce served asacting prime minister from January to August 1916, while Hughes was in England and France.[14] He was the first senator to hold the position, and the only senator to do so untilBill Spooner in 1962.[15] Outside of the defence portfolio, Pearce oversaw the creation of Advisory Council of Science and Industry, the predecessor of theCSIRO, which Hughes had approved before his departure. In March 1916, he used theWar Precautions Act 1914 to setprice controls on bread and flour in metropolitan areas. On 6 July he extended this to all other foods, and on 20 July he created the Necessary Commodities Commission with the power to set prices on any item.[16]
By the time of Hughes' return, Australia's prosecution of the war made the introduction ofconscription an intensely divisive issue for the ALP. Pearce was convinced of the necessity of introducing conscription, but the majority of his party did not agree. Pearce, along with many other of the party's founding members, subsequently followed Hughes out of the party and into the new "National Labor Party". A few months later, the National Labor Party merged with theCommonwealth Liberal Party to form theNationalist Party, with Hughes as its leader.[1]
In December 1918, following the signing of theArmistice of 11 November 1918 which ended World War I, it was announced that Pearce would be sent to London to oversee the demobilisation and repatriation of Australian troops, although a separationRepatriation Department had been established in 1917 headed byEdward Millen.[17] The announcement received public criticism from those dissatisfied with his performance as defence minister, and a crowd gathered to boo and cat-call Pearce as his ship left Melbourne in January 1919.[18] In London, Pearce faced a number of challenges, including conflict with British authorities over the availability of troop transport ships.[19] In September 1919, he signed theTreaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye with Austria on behalf of Australia. He returned to Australia the following month in time to campaign at the1919 federal election.[20]
In January 1920, Pearce and navy ministerJoseph Cook approved the proposal of the Air Service Committee to establish theAustralian Air Force as a standalone service arm, successfully lobbying cabinet for its independence from the army and navy.[20] In the same month he convened the Senior Officers Conference to report on the size and structure of Australia's post-war military.[21] He approved the report's recommendations around the reorganisation of theCitizen Military Force and retention of compulsory military training, but rejected a proposal to amend theDefence Act to allow Australian soldiers to serve overseas as part of British expeditionary forces.[22] Pearce was the Australian representative at theWashington Naval Conference of 1921.[23]
Most of the defectors to the Nationalists subsequently faded into obscurity, but Pearce went on to have a successful career in the party of his erstwhile opponents. After Hughes was deposed as Nationalist leader, Pearce accepted a position in the ministry of Hughes' successor and rival,Stanley Bruce. AsMinister for Home and Territories he showed a particular interest in theNorthern Territory and was "the driving force" behind its division in 1927 into separate territories ofCentral Australia andNorth Australia. It was reversed by theScullin government in 1931.[1] He became the firstFather of the Senate in 1923. He was appointed a Knight Commander of theRoyal Victorian Order (KCVO) in 1927.[24]
In January 1932, following the UAP's victory at the1931 election, Pearce was appointed defence minister for a fourth time.[25] He articulated the defence policies that he had supported throughout his career in a September 1933 speech to theMillions Club in Sydney: "an efficient Australian navy capable of operating with the Royal Navy; a well-equipped army based on a militia; a modern air force; armaments and munitions factories; and a closer defence relationship with New Zealand".[26] Pearce's speech attracted international attraction for its commitment to rearmament, a policy subsequently adoptedby the United Kingdom and other dominions later in the 1930s. He announced that the Lyons government would allocate an additional £1.5 million in defence expenditure,[27] effectively doubling the previous year's defence budget and reversing cuts made during the Great Depression.[28]
Following the1934 federal election, Pearce requested to be removed from the defence portfolio, which had begun to exhaust him. He was instead appointedMinister for External Affairs in October 1934, although he continued to maintain an interest in defence policy.[29] He played no significant role in formulating policy, but helped establishhis department as an institution in its own right, expanding thediplomatic corps and supporting the establishment of one of Australia's first foreign affairs journals,Current Notes on International Affairs.[30] The external affairs department had previously been run as a branch of thePrime Minister's Department and did not receive its own separate head until 1935.[31]
As external affairs minister, Pearce supported the Lyons government's diplomatic policy ofappeasement ofImperial Japan while Australia continued to rearm. In October 1935, he told U.S. consul-generalJay Pierrepont Moffat that "the government remained suspicious of [Japan]'s ultimate intentions, but with British naval strength reduced below the safety point, and with American aid discounted, there was no policy open to her other than trying to be friendly with Japan and to give her no excuse to adopt an aggressive policyvis-à-vis the Commonwealth".[32] He later echoed Lyons' calls for a Pacific non-aggression treaty between the United States and Japan.[33]
Pearce campaigned for the "No" vote in the1933 Western Australian secession referendum, touring the state with Lyons andTom Brennan for two weeks. The "Yes" vote won almost a two-thirds majority, but ultimately secession did not occur.[34] Pearce's opposition to secession played a key role in his defeat at the1937 federal election, along with claims he had failed to defend Western Australia's interests and had not visited the state often enough. The pro-secessionSunday Times ran an anti-Pearce editorial line, while the Dominion League of Western Australia and the Wheatgrowers' Union ran a "Put Pearce Last" campaign.[35] He resigned as a minister after the election and spent the remainder of his term as abackbencher, concluding his service on 30 June 1938.[36] He was a senator for 37 years and three months,a record term. His total service as a minister was 24 years and seven months, also a record in the Australian Parliament.[1]
Pearce made no attempts to re-enter parliament after his defeat. He served on theCommonwealth Grants Commission from 1939 to 1944, and as chairman of the Defence Board of Business Administration from 1940 until it was abolished in 1947.[3] Prime MinisterJohn Curtin retained him in the latter position despite the opposition of some within the Labor Party, includingArthur Calwell andEddie Ward.[37] The board supervised all defence expenditure of over £10,000.[1]
Pearce had lived mainly in Melbourne since entering the Senate, but co-owned a farm inTenterden, Western Australia, with his son and visited regularly.[3] He published an autobiography,Carpenter to Cabinet, in 1951, which had been written over a decade earlier.[1] Pearce died at his home inElwood on 24 June 1952, aged 82.[3] At the time of his death, he was the last surviving member of the first Australian Senate elected atFederation in 1901; MHRsBilly Hughes andKing O'Malley from the First Parliament would outlive him.[1]
In 1897, Pearce married Eliza Maud Barrett, a domestic servant, atTrinity Church, Perth.[4] They had two sons and two daughters together.[1] He was widowed in 1947.[38] His great-granddaughterJane Prentice was elected to federal parliament in 2010.[39]
Places named in Pearce's honour includeRAAF Base Pearce and the electoralDivision of Pearce in Western Australia,Pearce Peak in Antarctica, and the Canberra suburb ofPearce.
Australia's longest-serving prime ministerRobert Menzies wrote the introduction toPeter Heydon's 1965 biography of Pearce,Quiet Decision, and recalled that he had "never sat with an abler man than George Pearce" in cabinet. Menzies praised Pearce's "profound and reflective mind", analytical way of thinking, and ability to express ideas and policy recommendations.[3]
| Parliament of Australia | ||
|---|---|---|
| New title | Senator forWestern Australia 1901–1938 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Minister for Defence 1908–1909 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Defence 1910–1913 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Defence 1914–1921 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Home and Territories 1921–1926 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Vice-President of the Executive Council 1926–1929 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Defence 1932–1934 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for External Affairs 1934–1937 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister in charge of Territories 1934–1937 | |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Deputy Leader of theAustralian Labor Party 1915–1916 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Leader of theAustralian Labor Party in the Senate 1914–1916 | |
| New political party | Leader of theNational Labor Party in the Senate 1916–1917 | Defunct political party |
| Preceded by | Leader of theNationalist Party in the Senate 1923–1931 | Defunct political party |
| New political party | Leader of theUnited Australia Party in the Senate 1931–1937 | Succeeded by |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by first | Earliest serving living Senator 1951–1952 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
