Unexpected Glimpses Of

Hubert Murray

Lett’s New Book On The Father of Papua

By R. W. Robson.

Iflnd it difficult to say which I found the more interesting in Lewis Lett’s book, “Sir Hubert Murray of Papua” —his frank presentation of the charac ter of a great man, or his intimate re velations of the political difficulties with which the Lieutenant-Governor of Papua was frequently beset and whicn so cruelly interfered with his work.

From 1930 onwards, I saw Sir Herbert Murray fairly often. Probably there was no journalist with whom Sir Hubert talked more often than he did with me; and I am sure no journalist knew more of the conditions under which he governed Papua. But I had no idea, until I read Lett’s book, of the Canberra pinpricks which Sir Hubert had to endure, of the Ministerial ignorance and stupidity which so often harassed his mind, and of his ever-present fear that some bureaucratic czar would force him out of Port Moresby, and some job-hunting politician go in and destroy his life-work.

IT would appear that Hubert Murray’s career in Papua was marked by ap parently endless fights with politicians.

He went there originally in 1904 as a Judge, and he was forced to take part in the exposure of very bad administrative conditions. He assisted the then young Australian Government to clean up the mess, and Prime Minister Deakin in duced him to act as Administrator, with an assurance that, presently, he would be made Lieut.-Governor.

But the Labour Party wanted to ap point Staniforth Smith to the job, in order to create a vacancy in the Aus tralian Senate; and the struggle swayed to and fro, while Murray commenced his 35-years’ task in the jungles of a very primitive Papua. Eventually, Murray was appointed. He appears to have been fairly well left alone for some 20 years, within which he stabilised and imple mented his administrative policy; but about 1930 his political embarrassments began.

The Socialist Prime Minister, Scullin, apparently did not like him; but. for tunately for Papua, Scullin was thrown out of office before his campaign against Murray had achieved anything. Then came a whole series of Territories Mini sters, many of whom seemed to think he was in some God-given fashion qualified to check up on the “Murray regime.”

It is now disclosed that, as early as 1934, Sir Hubert’s heart gave out, and he should have retired. But he refused because he could get no assurance that the only man qualified to carry on the Murray policy—namely, his nephew, Leonard Murray—would be appointed in his stead. He said, at one time, that he thought Charles Marr, then Minister, would follow that course; but, soon af terwards, he decided that Marr himself wanted the job. So he stayed on, sacri ficing himself rather than allow Papua to be sacrificed.

ANOTHER shock came in 1938 when Harrison, a new Minister, an nounced that the two Territories would be amalgamated. Harrison said this would make for economy and ef ficiency; but Hubert Murray fought hard against it because, it is now disclosed, he

believed that it was part of a deep laid plan, on the part of the New Guinea gold-mining interests, to draw indentured labour from Papua. Eventually, a Royal Commission killed the proposal.

Because it is the true story of Hubert Murray’s life, the book is necessarily a tribute to Hubert Murray’s achievement.

It tells the story of how he converted an unroaded, half-explored region of very savage, primitive people into the well ordered, friendly Territory which he left to Australia when he died with his boots on in Samarai in 1940; and of how, through his famous Papuan police, and his little corps of inspired public servants, he established the Murray tradition of native administration, which won the favourable notice of all the nations.

ONE_ learns a great deal about Murray, the man. He was past 40 when he went to Papua, and he had not made a marked success of life. His father,

scion of a famous old Irish family, was a notable station-owner and politician in New South. Wales.. Young 'Hubert was a brilliant student, a notable athlete

(while at Oxford, he was amateur box ing champion of England), and a lusty, roaring, hard-drinking young-man-about- Sydney-town. At 25 he settled in Sydney as a barrister; but briefs came not, and so he made out as best he could as a legal draughtsman, a Crown Prosecutor, a Judge’s Associate, and so forth.

He was a clever, temperamental, rest less man, unconsciously waiting for such a job as the governorship of raw and unshaped Papua, and when the task came to him he just naturally made it his life-work.

There are very unusual men in this Murray family. Hubert’s mother was a close relation of W. S. Gilbert, of Gilbert and Sullivan. His brother, Professor Sir Gilbert Murray, is one of the Empire’s most distinguished scholars. His father, his brother and he himself all achieved the distinction of knighthood, on their own merit.

IF Papua was the job made by Provi dence for Hubert Murray, the tell ing of the Murray story was a job for Lewis Lett. Not only is Lett a skilled and polished writer; he lived for 30 years in Papua, and he knew Murray intimately.

He has written a great biography. More over he has given us a stirring story and a delightful, readable book about an un usual man, and the development of a new policy of native administration.

But why—O W'hy—do these authors neglect the indispensable index! This book represents weeks and months of heavy research. Within its pages are endless facts to which writers, for long years to come, will wish to refer; and there is no index—not even a summary of chapters arranged by years. A few hours’ work, by a skilful girl, would have provided an index that would have added incalculably to the library value of this volume.

Footnote

I OFTEN have wondered what would have happened if Sir Hubert Murray, instead of being dead, had been an observer of the politico-military scene of 1942-49: • His nephew, whom he had trained in his successful plan of native govern ment for 30 years, juggled out of the Administratorship by a political trick; • The Administration placed nominally in the hands of a distinguished professor of agriculture, who had never had any practical experience of tropical govern ment; • All control maintained ruthlessly by an active socialist, Minister Eddie Ward, of the Sydney Trades Hall; • The Murray-trained corps of devoted Papuan officials treated with indifference, and even contumely; • The much-debated amalgamation of the Territories brought about without one public reference to the Royal Com mission which condemned it in 1938-39; • And, to cap the unlovely structure, an old Labour politician, unknown out side Adelaide, who probably never be fore had seen a coconut palin, appointed to the Administratorship of Nauru.

As Lett’s book shows, all Hubert Mur ray’s thoughts and efforts were directed to the welfare and advancement of the native people of Papua—so much so that he was attacked, again and again, on the ground that he favoured natives at the expense of European welfare. It is more than ironic that the policy and organi sation he created in 30 years should have been more or less destroyed by the Aus tralian Socialists on the grounds that they wanted to do more for the natives. (Actually, as is well known, the notorious Mr. Ward did not care twopence about the natives—he was only seeking a weapon with which to pursue his pet phobia—attack on private enterprise and the embarrassment of the Big Firms.)