Douglas Darby
Encyclopedia
Evelyn Douglas Darby MP (24 September 1910 – 22 August 1985) was an Australia
n politician, elected as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
. His efforts to denounce socialism
, break strikes, attack the labour movement, organise anti-Soviet Eastern European émigrés, support Australia's military commitment to the Vietnam War
and to champion Taiwan
, established Darby's reputation as a powerful right-wing ideologue.
, England
and remaining proud to be British throughout his life. He trained at Portsmouth Teachers College
before taking a job as steward and galley hand on a P&O
liner bound for Australia
. When Europe went to war in 1940, Darby attempted to enlist in the Second Australian Imperial Force
but was rejected because of myopia
. Instead, having studied at the University of Sydney
, he was seconded from primary teaching to the Youth Section of the Federal Department of Labour and Industry to work as a vocational officer.
He went on to found the British Orphans' Adoption Society (BOAS) which "sought to bring British war orphans to Australia for legal adoption." From June 1940 to January 1941, the Society sent 2,000 pounds in weight of warm clothing to England. Dame Enid Lyons
, the widow of former Prime Minister
Joseph Lyons
, Professor F.A. Bland, Darby's economics professor, and Sir Arthur Rickard, owner of Sydney's largest real estate company, became BOAS patrons. He married Esme Jean McKenzie in 1941 and moved to the Sydney beachside suburb of Manly
in 1951 before purchasing a house in nearby Balgowlah in 1953 where he spent the rest of his life. Douglas and Esme had 2 sons and 4 daughters.
, a United Australia Party
Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council
(MLC), led to Thompson supporting Darby's nomination as the Liberal Party
candidate for Manly
in that year's New South Wales State election.
Representing Prime Minister Menzies
' 'forgotten people' in post-war Manly, Darby proved a strong advocate for his middle-class seaside constituency. Darby's proselytising of extreme-right doctrines also became a hallmark of his career as he abandoned liberalism opposing manifestations of communism
, a stance that led him to become the founding President of the Captive Nations Council of New South Wales in 1959.
A year after winning Manly for the Liberal Party, Darby attempted to break a 24-hour tram and bus strike in his electorate seeing the Tramways Union as part of Labor's 'servile state'. Whilst denounced by strikers as a 'strike breaker', most commentators supported Darby's efforts. A further bus and tram strike in January 1947 brought Darby's Manly Emergency Services Committee into operation and physical conflicts with communists from Sydney
. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, seven public transport strikes occurred in Sydney but each strike was weakened by the use of volunteers, Darby claiming that the strikes were co-ordinated strategy of communist subversion.
Breaking strikes won Darby approval in his electorate and among his parliamentary colleagues acts that he increasing saw as fighting the enemy of communism within. Darby's preoccupation with the communist menace and success of his 'interventions' encouraged him to mount 'Operation Potato' in March 1947, after 6,000 Sydney waterside workers 'refused to convert to a 53 hour week again' using volunteers to unload the food ships under police protection which led to Darby being returned with an increased majority in that year's election. As the Cold War conflict rose, Darby began to make his mark as an anti-communist. believing that the 'Free World' was threatened 'by Soviet Communist tyranny and its agents worldwide' encouraging him to develop extreme-right internationalism leanings. On Home Affair, he railed against juvenile hooliganism, poker machines, the fluoridation
of Sydney's water supply and campaigned for the introduction of daylight saving, development of Bathurst
as the new capital of New South Wales.
Contested the 1965 State election as an independent Liberal, he was successful supported by the Worshipful brothers of the Empress of India Masonic Lodge, including local notables, Harry South and Norman Ely. Independence allowed Darby to devote his political energies to even more extreme right wing politics. From 1960, Taiwan became another of Darby's causes along with the Australian role in the Vietnam War. By 1970, as the New South Wales President of the Captive Nations Council, Darby was authorised by the Polish-Hungarian World Federation (Australian Branch) to be their Honorary Representative at the World Anti-Communist League (WACL) Conference in Tokyo
and by 1973 he helped found the Australia-Free China Society, subsidised by both the Taiwanese Travel Service and the Taiwanese government. Darby was the editor and principal contributor of the fortnightly newsletter, Australia-Free China News. The promotion of Free China and his parliamentary duties took up much of Darby's time during the Whitlam
years. He retired from State parliament in 1978 after 33 years as a parliamentarian.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n politician, elected as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
New South Wales Legislative Assembly
The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The other chamber is the Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney...
. His efforts to denounce socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
, break strikes, attack the labour movement, organise anti-Soviet Eastern European émigrés, support Australia's military commitment to the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
and to champion Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, established Darby's reputation as a powerful right-wing ideologue.
Early life
Darby was born in LowestoftLowestoft
Lowestoft is a town in the English county of Suffolk. The town is on the North Sea coast and is the most easterly point of the United Kingdom. It is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and south-east of Norwich...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and remaining proud to be British throughout his life. He trained at Portsmouth Teachers College
University of Portsmouth
The University of Portsmouth is a university in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. The University was ranked 60th out of 122 in The Sunday Times University Guide...
before taking a job as steward and galley hand on a P&O
Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company
The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, which is usually known as P&O, is a British shipping and logistics company which dated from the early 19th century. Following its sale in March 2006 to Dubai Ports World for £3.9 billion, it became a subsidiary of DP World; however, the P&O...
liner bound for Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. When Europe went to war in 1940, Darby attempted to enlist in the Second Australian Imperial Force
Second Australian Imperial Force
The Second Australian Imperial Force was the name given to the volunteer personnel of the Australian Army in World War II. Under the Defence Act , neither the part-time Militia nor the full-time Permanent Military Force could serve outside Australia or its territories unless they volunteered to...
but was rejected because of myopia
Myopia
Myopia , "shortsightedness" ) is a refractive defect of the eye in which collimated light produces image focus in front of the retina under conditions of accommodation. In simpler terms, myopia is a condition of the eye where the light that comes in does not directly focus on the retina but in...
. Instead, having studied at the University of Sydney
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
, he was seconded from primary teaching to the Youth Section of the Federal Department of Labour and Industry to work as a vocational officer.
He went on to found the British Orphans' Adoption Society (BOAS) which "sought to bring British war orphans to Australia for legal adoption." From June 1940 to January 1941, the Society sent 2,000 pounds in weight of warm clothing to England. Dame Enid Lyons
Enid Lyons
Dame Enid Muriel Lyons, AD, GBE was an Australian politician and the first woman to be elected to the Australian House of Representatives as well as the first woman appointed to the federal Cabinet...
, the widow of former Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
Joseph Lyons
Joseph Lyons
Joseph Aloysius Lyons, CH was an Australian politician. He was Labor Premier of Tasmania from 1923 to 1928 and a Minister in the James Scullin government from 1929 until his resignation from the Labor Party in March 1931...
, Professor F.A. Bland, Darby's economics professor, and Sir Arthur Rickard, owner of Sydney's largest real estate company, became BOAS patrons. He married Esme Jean McKenzie in 1941 and moved to the Sydney beachside suburb of Manly
Manly, New South Wales
Manly is a suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Manly is located 17 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the local government area of Manly Council, in the Northern Beaches region.-History:Manly was named...
in 1951 before purchasing a house in nearby Balgowlah in 1953 where he spent the rest of his life. Douglas and Esme had 2 sons and 4 daughters.
Political career
In 1945 BOAS became a member of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Association (UNRRA) and a chance meeting with Richard ThompsonRichard Thompson (Australian parliamentarian)
Richard Thompson was a New Zealand-born Australian parliamentarian, businessman and Methodist Lay preacher. -Early life:...
, a United Australia Party
United Australia Party
The United Australia Party was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. It was the political successor to the Nationalist Party of Australia and predecessor to the Liberal Party of Australia...
Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council
New South Wales Legislative Council
The New South Wales Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of New South Wales in Australia. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney. The Assembly is referred to as the lower house and the Council as...
(MLC), led to Thompson supporting Darby's nomination as the Liberal Party
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
candidate for Manly
Electoral district of Manly
Manly is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It has historically tended to be a Liberal-leaning seat. It is currently represented by the Treasurer of New South Wales, Mike Baird of the Liberal Party of Australia.-Members for Manly:-Election...
in that year's New South Wales State election.
Representing Prime Minister Menzies
Robert Menzies
Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....
' 'forgotten people' in post-war Manly, Darby proved a strong advocate for his middle-class seaside constituency. Darby's proselytising of extreme-right doctrines also became a hallmark of his career as he abandoned liberalism opposing manifestations of communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
, a stance that led him to become the founding President of the Captive Nations Council of New South Wales in 1959.
A year after winning Manly for the Liberal Party, Darby attempted to break a 24-hour tram and bus strike in his electorate seeing the Tramways Union as part of Labor's 'servile state'. Whilst denounced by strikers as a 'strike breaker', most commentators supported Darby's efforts. A further bus and tram strike in January 1947 brought Darby's Manly Emergency Services Committee into operation and physical conflicts with communists from Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, seven public transport strikes occurred in Sydney but each strike was weakened by the use of volunteers, Darby claiming that the strikes were co-ordinated strategy of communist subversion.
Breaking strikes won Darby approval in his electorate and among his parliamentary colleagues acts that he increasing saw as fighting the enemy of communism within. Darby's preoccupation with the communist menace and success of his 'interventions' encouraged him to mount 'Operation Potato' in March 1947, after 6,000 Sydney waterside workers 'refused to convert to a 53 hour week again' using volunteers to unload the food ships under police protection which led to Darby being returned with an increased majority in that year's election. As the Cold War conflict rose, Darby began to make his mark as an anti-communist. believing that the 'Free World' was threatened 'by Soviet Communist tyranny and its agents worldwide' encouraging him to develop extreme-right internationalism leanings. On Home Affair, he railed against juvenile hooliganism, poker machines, the fluoridation
Water fluoridation
Water fluoridation is the controlled addition of fluoride to a public water supply to reduce tooth decay. Fluoridated water has fluoride at a level that is effective for preventing cavities; this can occur naturally or by adding fluoride...
of Sydney's water supply and campaigned for the introduction of daylight saving, development of Bathurst
Bathurst, New South Wales
-CBD and suburbs:Bathurst's CBD is located on William, George, Howick, Russell, and Durham Streets. The CBD is approximately 25 hectares and surrounds two city blocks. Within this block layout is banking, government services, shopping centres, retail shops, a park* and monuments...
as the new capital of New South Wales.
Contested the 1965 State election as an independent Liberal, he was successful supported by the Worshipful brothers of the Empress of India Masonic Lodge, including local notables, Harry South and Norman Ely. Independence allowed Darby to devote his political energies to even more extreme right wing politics. From 1960, Taiwan became another of Darby's causes along with the Australian role in the Vietnam War. By 1970, as the New South Wales President of the Captive Nations Council, Darby was authorised by the Polish-Hungarian World Federation (Australian Branch) to be their Honorary Representative at the World Anti-Communist League (WACL) Conference in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
and by 1973 he helped found the Australia-Free China Society, subsidised by both the Taiwanese Travel Service and the Taiwanese government. Darby was the editor and principal contributor of the fortnightly newsletter, Australia-Free China News. The promotion of Free China and his parliamentary duties took up much of Darby's time during the Whitlam
Gough Whitlam
Edward Gough Whitlam, AC, QC , known as Gough Whitlam , served as the 21st Prime Minister of Australia. Whitlam led the Australian Labor Party to power at the 1972 election and retained government at the 1974 election, before being dismissed by Governor-General Sir John Kerr at the climax of the...
years. He retired from State parliament in 1978 after 33 years as a parliamentarian.