1910s: the Great War and its aftermath

The death of King Edward VII and the cataclysmic events of the First World War marked the beginning of the end of the Victorian era’s influence on the British Empire. For Australia, the start of the decade was marked by political instability as short-lived governments of opportunist coalitions assumed power and then lost it. Labor held office for a full term of Parliament and introduced maternity allowances, liberalisation of invalid and old age pensions, and workers’ compensation benefits for Commonwealth employees. It also expanded the High Court bench from five to seven judges, transferred the Northern Territory to the Commonwealth, and established a federal capital at Canberra. Labor set a precedent by establishing the Commonwealth Bank - a government owned enterprise proposed as the people’s bank. It would be used to promote the interests of the ‘little people’ who formed the backbone of Labor support.

During the campaign for the sixth federal general election in 1914, Andrew Fisher had promised that if war broke out, Australia would support Britain. By the time he had taken office, the empire (including Australia) had been at war for six weeks. He retained the prime ministership until 27 October 1915, when he resigned because of ill health and was succeeded by his deputy, WM (Billy) Hughes.

As a result of the propaganda generated by the new nation’s baptism of fire at Gallipoli, the people were mostly still pro-war and pro-empire. But the recruitment of serving soldiers was not proceeding at the planned rate and Hughes proposed a national conscription campaign. The campaign was bitter and divisive and was defeated by the closest possible margin—51 per cent against and 49 per cent in favour. Hughes left the Labor Party and formed a Nationalist coalition government with Cook’s Liberals; its sole focus was doing whatever was necessary to win the war.

In 1917, Hughes put another referendum to the people even though he had a majority in both houses. He wanted to prove himself right and give the people a chance to overturn what he believed was their great mistake in rejecting conscription the previous year. Again the campaign was bitter and divisive, and conscription was defeated by a slightly larger margin.

Hughes made bitter enemies in the conscription campaigns including TJ Ryan, the Premier of Queensland. After he was hit by a rotten egg at Warwick railway station, Hughes began the process of establishing the Federal Police Force, with powers to pursue Commonwealth matters in state territory.

Queensland maintained its status as the most decentralised Australian state. Its population had reached more than 600,000 by the start of the decade with almost 140,000 in Brisbane. The Australian population was now bordering on 4.5 million, with more than 37 per cent living in capital cities. Queensland was still almost entirely dependent on primary production as a source of income and did well as a result of the increased prices generated by the war. From 1915 to 1918 under the Ryan Labor Government, butcher shops, sawmills, a cattle station, a hotel at Babinda, fisheries and coal mines were established and run by the State of Queensland.

Ryan assumed the roles of Chief Secretary (Premier) and Attorney-General during his reign. He was fortunate to have at his disposal the brilliance of Thomas McCawley - Crown Solicitor since 1910. McCawley provided the bulk of the briefings and legal advice to Ryan, with Cabinet apparently relying on his expertise for the drafting of the legislation needed in its highly contentious program of industrial reform. The handling of less contentious matters of government legal policy during this period seems to have fallen to John Fihelly, Assistant Minister for Justice and Secretary for Agriculture.

The Ryan Government passed the Discharged Soldiers Settlement Act, believed to be the first of its kind anywhere in the old empire, which provided land and financial assistance for returned servicemen. It was taken up with varying degrees of support and then subsequently nationalised by the Federal Government. The newly created communities sometimes took on the names of those battles in northern France where the soldiers had served—Pozieres, Amiens and Bapaume in the Stanthorpe area or Villeneuve north of Brisbane. The scheme was administered by the local clerks of petty sessions.

With the war effort in full swing, very few building or expansion projects were undertaken by the department. A small number of maintenance and refurbishing jobs seemed to have been done but the cost was spread across several departments as the courthouse became the place for larger government offices with more specialised and expanded services.

While the war produced hardship and tragedy in human and social terms, the overall result for Queensland was a burgeoning economy still based largely on primary production. By the end of the decade the value of Queensland’s primary production almost doubled that of 1911. However, as the soldiers returned there was a perceptible change in their attitudes, their needs and their desires. They had abandoned the bush and its solitude and were flooding to the cities.