An Australian in the Palace of the King– Emperor: James Scullin, George V and the Appointment of the First Australian-Born Governor-General
| Published date | 01 June 2011 |
| Author | John Waugh |
| DOI | 10.22145/flr.39.2.2 |
| Date | 01 June 2011 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
AN AUSTRALIAN IN THE PALACE OF THE KING–
EMPEROR: JAMES SCULLIN, GEORGE V AND THE
APPOINTMENT OF THE FIRST AUSTRALIAN-BORN
GOVERNOR-GENERAL
John Waugh*
INTRODUCTION
The nomination in 1930 of an Australian, Sir Isaac Isaacs, as Governor-General of the
Commonwealth of Australia has become a minor landmark in the development of
Australian independence. Opposed or supported at the time as a measure of the
strength of Australia's links with Britain, the appointment has become, for lawyers and
historians alike, a test-case for Australian autonomy and the countervailing cultural
and legal force of the imperial connection. The central collision between Australian
Prime Minister James Scullin (who nominated Isaacs) and King George V (who
resisted strongly) added to the constitutional interest of the appointment but
contributed to the long closure to researchers of key parts of the documentary record.
For some, the story is a heroic one. This interpretation has its most vivid expression
in the final volume of Manning Clark's History of Australia. In a chapter entitled 'An
Australian in the Palace of the King–Emperor', Clark takes Scullin's meeting with the
King in November 1930 a s his theme and describes how 'Jimmy Scullin has not
grovelled to the English governing classes … Jimmy Scullin has spoken for the
Australia that was coming to be.'1 In more measured ways, John Robertson's
biography of Scullin and Ross McMullin's history of the Australian Labor Party both
make Scullin almost a lone champion fighting British resistance to Isaacs.2
The few extended discussions of the appointment of Isaacs place it in this imperial
framework, with varying degrees of emphasis on closed-door negotiations among the
protagonists, the hostile reaction of empire loyalist groups, and the seemingly
inexorable growth of national autonomy. Zelman Cowen's biography of Isaacs and
Christopher Cunneen's chapter on Isaacs in his study of Australian Governors-General
down to 1936 drew on the available archival records and the public response to Isaacs's
nomination in newspapers across the country. Gavin Souter, in his history of the
Australian Parliament, covered much the same ground. Hilary Rubinstein investigated
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* Senior Lecturer, Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne.
1 C M H Clark, A History of Australia (Melbourne University Press, 1962–87) vol 6, 359.
2 John Robertson, J H Scullin: A Political Biography (University of Western Australia Press,
1974) 238–9, 285–8; Ross McMullin, The Light on the Hill: The Australian Labor Party, 1891–
1991 (Oxford University Press, 1991) 167.
236 Federal Law Review Volume 39
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the organised opposition to Isaacs, using the papers of two leading conservatives, Sir
James Barrett and Sir Harrison Moore.3
Documents showing what happened in private between Scullin and the King
became available only gradually, and long after the event. Harold Ni colson's account
in his 1952 biography of George V quoted from the King's diary and showed how the
affair exasperated the King's private secretary, Lord Stamfordham (and Nicolson
himself).4 This glimpse of the British records was almost the only one for many years,
supplemented by a Canadian article little noticed in Australia.5 The Australian side of
the negotiations was the first to emerge in detail, on the publication in the 1960s of
memoranda by Scullin and Isaacs recording Scullin's discussions with the British
government and the King.6
The United Kingdom Dominions Office file covering the first phase of the
negotiations was released in 1981; the subsequent file on the final phase of the
negotiations was opened only in 2004, and it is now possible to consult the extensive
records on the appointment assembled by Stamfordham and deposited in the Royal
Archives. These various records are the last, and most important, parts of the official
British paper trail of the appointment. They trace the evolution of the King's attitude
and suggest how and why (contrary to his own wishes and against strong and
persistent recommendations from some of his advisers) he accepted Isaacs as
Governor-General.
In broad outline, the story told in newspaper reports of 1930 — the Australian
nomination, the King's resistance, the loyalist opposition — has been corroborated by
the gradual release of archives. But revealing details continue to emerge. While Isaacs
would not have become Governor-General without the refusal of Scullin and his
cabinet to back down, it was not Scullin who persuaded the King to give in, but instead
private advisors who operated largely outside the framework of cabinet government.
In this as in other ways, the growth of Australian independen ce was a complex
negotiation that involved British concessions in ways that were opaque even to some
of the agents of change themselves.
BRITISH REACTION
The decision of the Australian cabinet to propose as Governor-General Sir Isaac Isaacs,
a Justice (soon to become Chief Justice) of the High Court, reached the British
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3 Zelman Cowen, Isaac Isaacs (Oxford University Press, 1967) 191–207; Christopher Cunneen,
Kings' Men: Australia's Governors-General from Hopetoun to Isaacs (George Allen & Unwin,
1983) 173–82; Gavin Souter, Acts of Parliament: A Narrative History of the Senate and House of
Representatives, Commonwealth of Australia (Melbourne University Press, 1988) 267–9; Hilary
L Rubinstein, '"A Gross Discourtesy to His Majesty": The Campaign Within Australia,
1930–31 Against Sir Isaac Isaacs' Appointment as Governor-General' (1998) 14 Australian
Jewish Historical Society Journal 425.
4 Harold Nicolson, King George the Fifth: His Life and Reign (Constable, 1952) 477–82.
5 J R Mallory, 'The Appointment of the Governor General: Respo nsible Government,
Autonomy, and the Royal Prerogative' (1960) 26 Canadian Journal of Economics and Political
Science 96.
6 L F Crisp, 'The Appointment of Sir Isaac Isaacs as Governor-General of Australia, 1930: J H
Scullin's Account of the Buckingham Palace Interviews' (1964) 11 Historical Studies Australia
and New Zealand 253; Cowen, above n 3, 200–2.
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