Founders of the Royal Australian Historical Society: F. M. Bladen, J. P. McGuanne and Edward Stack

by Emeritus Professor Brian Fletcher (Fellow)

F. M. Bladen, J. P. McGuanne and Edward Stack were among the fifteen men who the Council of the Royal Australian Historical Society recognised in 1911 as the Society's founders. All three spent their lives and careers in New South Wales at a time when interest in Australian history was growing and taking new directions. Henry Parkes' 1880 Education Act guaranteed the subject a place in the primary school curriculum and necessitated the production of school texts. By providing funds for James Bonwick to locate and transcribe historical documents located mainly in London and arranging for their transmission to Sydney, the Premier made hitherto inaccessible research material widely available. These sources were used by the authors of the History of New South Wales from the Records which formed part of the 1888 centenary celebrations and also appeared in the Historical Records of New South Wales. Important too in stimulating interest in Australian history was the appointment of George Arnold Wood in 1891 to the newly established Challis Chair of History at Sydney University. He knew nothing of Australian history when he arrived from England, but his association with the Historical Records project aroused a lifelong interest, prompting him to encourage postgraduate research in this field. Professional as well as amateur historians appeared on the scene in growing numbers after 1900.

These developments provided a general background to the formation of the Royal Australian Historical Society and to the three men who form the subject of this paper. All were public servants who had a shared interest in Australian's past. Stack, who was born in Darlinghurst in 1846, spent the whole of his career in the Lands Department, serving as a clerk in the Charting Branch and then in the Survey Office. A 'man of intellectual tastes' with a wide circle of friends who included the great bibliophile and benefactor, David Scott Mitchell, he was a lay reader at St James' Church, Sydney. He maintained his numerous interests after retiring on 1 July 1887 and died unexpectedly in January 1913 after a short illness.

McGuanne was born in the west of Ireland in 1848 and came to Australia with his parents some years later and settled at Campbelltown. Later he attended a school in Castlereagh Street, Sydney where he befriended boys who later became prominent in public life. His parents intended him for the law, but he preferred school teaching and became master at Paddington House School. Here he widened his social circle and, through his interest in sport, established a rapport with this pupils. Teaching, however, ceased to attract him and at the end of six years he freelanced in journalism and examination coaching. Introduced to 'plotting and planning' by a Mr Packer, he joined the Lands Department on 7 April 1878, serving as a clerk until November 1903 when he was promoted Clerk in Charge of the Conditional Sales Records Branch. A resident of Paddington he was elected mayor of that suburb, describing himself as the last of the public servants to hold such a position. An early collector of Australian literature, he developed a particular interest in early Sydney which grew into what he described as his hobby.

Unlike Stack and McGuanne, Bladen had no contact with the Lands Department and was a university graduate. Born on 23 December 1858 at Hanley, Staffordshire, the son of a Wolverhampton iron master and a musically gifted mother, he came to Australia in 1863. The family settled at Mittagong and Frank attended a private School, developing a remarkable versatility of mind. In 1872, he was awarded a prize for improving the telephone system at the Garden Palace in Sydney and four years later won an essay competition at the Sydney Juvenile Exhibition. In 1875 his interest in astronomy brought him appointment as an assistant at the Sydney Observatory where three years later he took up map compilation. While there he completed an Arts degree at Sydney University, winning the Gold Medal for English verse and the Rosebery Medal for an essay on Anglo-Australian relations and after gaining a Law Degree, was called to the Bar. Impressed by his abilities, Charles Potter, the Government Printer, recruited him to help revise the Official History of New South Wales for the 1888 centenary celebrations. Bladen undertook research for the book and had hopes of becoming its editor. These expectations were dashed when the journalist G. B. Barton, elder brother of Australia's first Prime Minister, was given charge of what was now intended to be a multi-volume history based on the new records. Bladen's fortunes changed when Barton was dismissed after completing only one volume and his replacement, the journalist Alexander Britton, died suddenly before completing volume two. Bladen took charge of this volume but the History Board which supervised the project decided to publish the available documents before further volumes of the book were begun. Bladen was appointed editor of the Historical Records of New South Wales and in 1896 was transferred to the staff of the Public Library where he worked solely on the records until January 1899, when he was made head of the newly established lending branch. He continued with the Records until the project was abandoned for financial reasons in 1902, and rose to become Principal Librarian of the Public Library, retiring for health reasons in January 1912. He died nine months later leaving his wife Madeline (née Schiller) whom he had married in 1897.

Bladen made a valuable contribution to the Public Library and was a man of considerable standing. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, London, and the Royal Geographical Society, he served from 1905 as Chairman of the New South Wales Geographical Names Board and from 1907 as a member of the Commonwealth Literary Fund Board. In 1902 he was delegated by the Commonwealth Government to attend the Congress on Historical Sciences in Rome and to survey major overseas archives repositories, preparatory to advising the Federal Government as to the desirability of establishing a Commonwealth Archives.

So much for the background. What then did Bladen, McGuanne and Stack contribute to the Society? Bladen did not figure prominently until March 1901 when his name appeared on the list of councillors although he may well have been consulted earlier. He remained on Council only until the end of the year. McGuanne, in contrast, had much earlier suggested to his friend Stack that 'an Old Sydney Society' should be established. He took part in the preliminary moves that preceded the meeting of March 1901 where he recommended the appointment of the Council on which he served until 1915. A member of the Society until his death in 1936, he was vice-president in 1905 and 1906. Differences on points of detail surround accounts of the role of Edward Stack but all agree that he was a central figure at least from 1898, arranging meetings and writing letters to the Sydney press on the need for an Historical Society. His efforts secured him appointment as the Society's foundation honorary secretary, a position he occupied for three years. His work for the Society, which included assisting in the creation of the Journal, resulted in his election as the Society's first honorary member after he retired from Council for reasons of ill-health in March 1904.

Curiously enough the part played by Bladen, McGuanne and Stack in the foundation of the Australian Historical Society was in inverse proportion to their standing as historians. The last two, to employ McGuanne's word, were 'hobbyists' whose interest in the subject was greatly influenced by their experiences in the Lands Department. Stack's articles were limited in scope and did little more than provide information about buildings and places. McGuanne was somewhat more ambitious. A completed manuscript on the history of Sydney is located in the Mitchell Library and he contributed several historical articles on this and other subjects to newspapers as well as to the Society's Journal and the Public Service Journal. His lack of historical training showed through but he did possess imaginative insights and a willingness to look below the surface. His article on Lachlan Macquarie, for example, placed the Governor in the context of his times and endeavoured to avoid undue praise or blame. Another article, 'The Humours and Pastimes of Early Sydney', revealed an awareness of the importance of social history. Like Stack he used the primary sources which were edited by Frank Bladen.

Bladen's prize-winning university essay, The Growth of the Australian Colonies and their present relationship to the Mother country (1886) depicted in a positive way Australia's past and the importance of the British connection, demonstrating his capacity to handle a large theme. His work on the second volume of the History of New South Wales and the Historical Records of New South Wales revealed his skills as an editor. Critics found the History unsatisfying for it covered only the years 1793 to 1794 and overlapped with volume one, but this was not Bladen's fault for the draft had been completed by Britton and Bladen was only asked to attend to matters of style. Nevertheless he worked with care and the same was true of the Historical Records. By no means all the existing documents were available and he was required to expunge the names of convicts who lacked historical significance and to omit material likely to offend the public. He produced eight volumes covering the period to 1811 and although not without shortcomings they shed much fresh light on early New South Wales. The knowledge Bladen gained from these sources informed his own writings, particularly on the early governors, and his experiences as an editor equipped him to conduct his enquiry into overseas archives. He was greatly impressed by the way in which Britain and other European nations, together with Canada and South Africa, preserved their records. He saw this as important not only for historical enquiry but also in developing and preserving 'political and civil liberty'. Australia, he thought, was fortunate in possessing all the documents relating to its beginnings as a nation state and he urged the Federal Government to preserve these and make them readily available.

Whereas Stack and McGuanne added to knowledge of Australia's past, therefore, Bladen helped push Australian history in new directions. In his diary he noted that the methods of writing history had changed and observed that the use of documents was essential if history was to have any claim to being scientific. All three men, however, were important, for at a time when British cultural values predominated and a cultural cringe deriving from the colonial mentality was strongly evident, they espoused the cause of Australian history and helped bring it to bear more fully on the Australian consciousness. It is appropriate that this Society, in the year of its centenary, should take steps to preserve their memory.