Trenches built by the White Army and Old Guard in Vic in the 1930s

[John Pickard]

Good morning all,

I've just finished reading a great paper on Jack Lang (one of my heroes
seeing that he told Otto Niemeyer and the Bank of England to piss off. Pity
that most of our present pollies lack gonads) in the latest edition of
JRAHS:

Lefurgy, G. (2015) "'Thing Australians strive for': Jack Lang's landmark
speech at the Sydney Harbour Bridge" Journal of the Royal Australian
Historical Society 101 (1) pp. 61-78.

On p. 67, Lefurgy says that "Among other activities, these bodies [i.e.
White Army and Old Guard] constructed trench fortifications in rural
Victoria ..." giving the "North West Ouyen Express" 31 March 1931 as the
source.

Although the "Ouyen and North West Express" is listed on Trove, the
digitised version only covers the year 1918, so I can't provide any more
information on location, etc..

My question purely out of curiosity: do any OzArchers know anything about
these trenches? Given the political upheavals of the time, and the very real
threat that these fascist groups posed to elected Labor governments, then
the trenches are potentially very important historical heritage, probably at
national level.


Cheers, John

John Pickard
john.p...@bigpond.com

[Jeannette Hope]

Hi John

I can't help with the specifics of trenches but I do know a bit about the event - I wrote a history assignment (UNE) on the topic in the early 1990s. We had to do an essay on political history, and I chose a quote from Stuart Macintyre's then fairly new history as a starting point.

"On Friday 6 March [1931] a rumour passed around the little wheat town of Ouyen in the Mallee district of Victoria: the communists had seized Sydney and even now their counterparts were advancing on Melbourne from Mildura. This was a remarkably indirect route but as Ouyen lay in its path, the farmers and local businessmen turned out with firearms, dug trenches, laid sandbags and kept watch all through the night. " (Stuart Macintyre 1986 'The Oxford History of Australia The Succeeding Age 1901-1942' pp.264-5).

The significant source for the Ouyen/Wimmera event was Michael Cathcart's book 1988 'Defending the national tuckshop: Australia's secret army intrigue of 1931', based I think on his PhD. He used records recently (then) lodged in the La Trobe Library from a guy in the Wimmera who was supposed to destroy them in the 1930s, but had not done so. Another source, on NSW, was Moore, A. 1989 'The secret army and the premier Conservative paramilitary organisations in New South Wales 1930-1932.'

My essay was not so much about what happened at Ouyen, but the political reasons behind it and modern (ie 1980s) parallels. I started the essay with a couple of my experiences working for NPWS, and concluded with the comment "Both Moore and Cathcart however speculate that they [ie the secret armies] may persist in an underground form, and my personal experience in rural NSW suggests that the underlying fears are still in existence, though the targets these days are more likely to be greenies, Aborigines and government. One might speculate that the same class of people, and possibly even some of the same families, who joined the Old Guard and the White Army in 1931 were involved in rural reaction to Federal and State labour government policies in 1980's."

In fact I asked Ross O'Shea, then Western Lands Commission, while I was writing the assignment, if he thought there were any such groups still around. His answer: of course, we know all about them (we I presume meant the department/government), and proceeded to list several and their localities in WNSW.

Back to the trenches. The white army had been recruiting in the Mallee/Wimmera in early 1931, setting up cells, who were clearly primed to expect the worst (they were vulnerable because of the problems of the soldier settlement schemes in the area, brilliantly describe by Marilyn Lake 1987 'The Limits of hope'). On the strength of the rumours they mobilised, turning out with fire-arms to guard water-towers, wheat silos, weirs and railway stations and sidings against the invasion or uprising.

I can't put my hands on Cathcart's book right now (I'm packing in advance of moving house), but I do remember they staked out Catholic churches (not sure whether to protect them, or because they were seen as potential communist fellow-travellers). When it became clear pretty quickly that there was no imminent invasion, they demobilised, but the organisers forgot to tell a couple of men sent to stake out the Manangatang railway siding, who held the fort there for 48 hours (assuming my memory is accurate!) Of course this does beg the question of the reaction of the Manangatang locals to a couple of guys digging trenches with rifles over their shoulders: 'what are you up to mate?', 'oh the commies are about to invade Manangatang, we're getting ready to defend you!'. 'Gees, mate, they're welcome to it.' (And this is an opportunity to mention a souvenir ash-tray available in Manang in the 1960s: embossed 'PARIS ROME MANANATANG'.)

Anyway, there may be specific details in Cathcart's book, or in his sources, about location of stake-outs and earthworks.

If I locate my copy soon I'll check it out and let you know.

Regards

Jeannette

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[ryan harricks]

I cant help you (sorry), but this sounds fascniating!
 

> From: john.p...@bigpond.com
> To: oza...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: {OzArch} Trenches built by the White Army and Old Guard in Vic in the 1930s

[Jeannette Hope]

Well, never trust your memory! The forgotten men were not guarding Manangatang railway but Wedderburn water supply! For those unfamiliar with the geography, Ouyen is 100k south of Mildura, Manang 50 k east of Ouyen, and Wedderburn, 165k south again, closer to Bendigo.

Here is Cathcart's comment:

...two old men .. spent Friday night up a gum tree waiting for Catholics and Bolsheviks to do dastardly deeds to Wedderburn's water supply. Well, my informant, Alan, remembers that around three a.m. the men guarding the main street began to feel a bit silly. It had become obvious that the Bolsheviks were not going to materialise, says Alan, 'and we all went back to one of the houses for a drink. We forgot all about the two blokes out at the reservoir - and it was lunchtime the following day before they made it back to town!'

Also, Catholics were not allowed to join the White Army (unless they were 'reliable men'); many members were masons. The suspicion of Catholics was no doubt due to the long-standing Catholic-Protestant divide in Australia, but of course the Irish rebellion would have been fresh in people's minds.

Here are the towns where Cathcart considers there is evidence of mobilisation that night: Ouyen, Birchip, St Arnaud, Mt Jeffcott, Wycheproof, Yatpool, Donald, Wedderburn, Korong Vale, Charlton, Horsham, Dimboola, Boort, Inglewood and Ecklin South. Possibly also Bendigo, Maryborough, Ballarat, Avoca and Geelong. (I have no idea why my memory added Manangatang to this list!)

As for the trenches, while these towns suggest many possibilities, it was just one night, so not a lot of time for substantial trenches to be dug that might leave archaeological traces.

Skimming through the book this morning. I was reminded that Cathcart did a lot of oral history, and how readable the book is. Also, how little has changed... the paranoia described in the book is still with us, now directed towards 'illegal refugees' and islamists. It should be required reading for everyone. (I'd also recommend David Greason's 'I was a Teenage Fascist', 1994).

As noted before, I got interested in this because of experiences while working in NSW NPWS, but I was also aware of the Australian League of Rights anti-Aboriginal activities in Mildura, see https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19840802&id=pGxVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RZUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6169,761288&hl=en. Why were they agitating against Aboriginal Land rights in Mildura in 1984? Well, that was the year the NSW Land Right Act was passed, and ALOR aimed at stirring paranoia just across the border to block anything similar in Victoria.

[john...@ozemail.com.au]

 

Hello,

They never called it the White Army that I can remember out Cobar way,

There was a stronghold of it about 10 km out on one of the roads leading west from Cobar.

They supposedly had guns buried in black plastic bags in plastic garbage bins awaiting the day they'd have to dig them up to march on Canberra (which was regarded as a nest of traitors).

But everyone out that way called it the KANGAROO ARMY.

It was totally secretive except for the fact that you'd get told by people that certain property owner were of this or that rank in the Kangaroo Army.

None around Cobar really ranked high .. and the top men in it were said to live at or around Dubbo.

The Kangaroo Army was also  said to be almost as strong at Broken Hill as it was near Cobar ..  does that tally with things others have heard?

I had actually never once heard before that they didn't like Catholics.

It was well known that they didn't like public servants ("Government men") .. and also well known that they did not like trespassers.    They were said to put up thin invisible wire across tracks which if hit at speed .. especially by a motorbike rider .. might do a great deal of damage.   However I never heard it alleged that any real violence had ever occurred at these places.

The only men I have ever spoken too who were said to belong to the Kangaroo Army were quite friendly.

In fact they would invite us in for tea and cake .. but after a while as they told us more and more of the evils of the Government, and how it was all part of a giant world conspiracy to enslave everyone, perhaps run by the United Nations (I now forget exactly what was said) we would start to feel a little uneasy .. and sometimes become anxious to 'escape' from out cup of tea and homemade cake.

We tried to keep on being friends by assuring them that if we found any gold on their property we would tell them first.

There was little chance of that since most of the gold around Cobar is sub-microscopic.

 

Cheers,

 

John

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

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Sat, 25 Jul 2015 13:26:39 +1000

[Jeannette Hope]

The White Army was very much a Victorian organisation, the NSW equivalent in the 1930s was the New Guard.   The more recent Cobar group is one of those I heard about in the 80s-90s, But I don’t remember the name ‘Kangaroo Army’.

 

Jeannette

 

.

[John Pickard]

Hi Jeannette,

 

I had a long and an “interesting” conversation with a grazier near Cobar in the 1970s. He was a card-carrying member of the League of Rights, and his god was Eric Campbell, but my memory may be hazy on the leader. The grazier was a scary bloke, with a big pile of pamphlets on the kitchen table full of  conspiracy theories so absurd that I felt like suggesting that his last lot of dope was bad and he should change dealers. But as he had already expressed his views on those who smoked and inhaled, I kept my mouth shut. From what he said there many sympathisers in the district, perhaps a local branch or cabal.

 

A colleague with decades of experience in semi-arid NSW once posited that there was a strong negative correlation between the quality of the land and extreme political / world views of land-holders. As most of the land on hard red soils of the Cobar area is rat-shit productivity, this confirms his theory. I have also seen in it similar very unproductive grazing country in SW Qld.

 

Meanwhile, back in the trenches ....

 

From the great quotes that you gave, it is obvious that the trenches were about as serious as the large brawl labelled “the worst race riots in Australian history” by pig-ignorant then-prime minister John Howard. The loyalist fanaticism, and hatred of “the other” and anyone not in their mirror images, is indeed shown up today by the xenophobes of Reclaim Australia, and of course the present incumbent. The breathless newspaper reports are also little different from today. The media has always loved a good story, and has never let a few facts get in the way of embellishments, exaggerations, and just plain speculation.

 

The men in the White Army had bitter experience of trenches in WW1, and knew how to dig a regulation-sized, full-depth trench, complete with alternating right- and left-angle bends to prevent enfilading fire, a fire step, etc.. If such a trench had been dug, and even if only used for the night the attack never came, it would have been a memorable object in the town’s history, a relic of a time of armed revolution. The trench could have represented either shame or embarrassment about taking up arms and preaching revolution, or seen as a relic of an heroic endeavour to thwart the dreaded commos and tykes from rapine and pillage. But it would be remembered because it is so different. Thus there would be local oral history, and people would be able to say “That’s where The Trench ran”. Maybe not everyone, but at least the local historians. And most likely, because it was such an unusual event and object, they would have lobbied the shire for some form of memorial

 

I realise that I have constructed a potential house of card with my logic, but there seems to be no such oral recollection, so it seems that the trenches of Ouyen are but a few yocto-seconds in our history. Absence of evidence isn’t evidence of absence, but when the story dies with the event, and there is no further mention or memory, then I think that Jeannette is correct: very small “trenches” that are now long-gone. Most likely little more than shallow slit trenches or weapon pits as there was too little time to dig anything else.

Cheers, John

John Pickard
john.p...@bigpond.com

 

From: Jeannette Hope

Sent: Saturday, July 25, 2015 2:07 PM

To: oza...@googlegroups.com

Subject: RE: {OzArch} Trenches built by the White Army and Old Guard in Vic in the 1930s

 

The White Army was very much a Victorian organisation, the NSW equivalent in the 1930s was the New Guard.   The more recent Cobar group is one of those I heard about in the 80s-90s, But I don’t remember the name ‘Kangaroo Army’.

 

Jeannette

 

.

--

[Eleanor Crosby]

On 25/07/2015 1:45 PM, john...@ozemail.com.au wrote:
Just a query - about the date. Plastic bags suggests the 1950s to me.

Eleanor
(I took the tail off this post, but thanks Jeanette and everyone,
fascinating)

[john...@ozemail.com.au]

 

Hello,

Yes the "Kangaroo Army" out west was much later than the New Guard (largely a name used in Sydney when they were supposedly plotting to kidnap Jack Lang).

Of course "Kangaroo Army" is only what their 'detractors' referred to them as.   If you said "Kangaroo Army" in Cobar-Bourke-Dubbo in the 70s anyone knew what you were talking about.

I don't know if they still exist there now in any form; nor do I know what they called themselves.

As I noted before, they were quite secretive.   It didn't seem to me at the time that it was all just some sort of joke (although that of course is possible too).

Cheers,

 

JohnB

 

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