About this record
This is an extract from a typed letter sent by the Crown Solicitor to the Secretary of the Attorney-General’s Department relating to the conviction of Adela Pankhurst in Melbourne in 1917. It outlines the details of the prosecution, including the names of the witnesses who appeared. The date of the letter has been corrected in pencil from ‘4’ September 1917 to ‘5’. It is headed ‘Richard John Porter v. Pankhurst’ and addressed to the Secretary at the bottom of the page.
Educational value
- The letter outlines Adela Pankhurst’s conviction because ‘she did take part in a meeting of a number of persons exceeding twenty in the open air in a proclaimed place’. Pankhurst was an outspoken activist in Australia. Born in Britain, she moved to Melbourne in 1914 and was part of an emerging women's movement committed to political and social change. She joined the Victorian Socialist Party and was noted for her opposition to both conscription and to war.
- The prosecution came after Adela led a demonstration against high food prices in Melbourne as part of a campaign against both conscription and the First World War. Both Adela and her husband Tom Walsh deplored the loss of life, but they also believed that diverting resources for the Great War would reduce Australian workers’ standard of living. Pankhurst had taken part in a series of earlier demonstrations and was being treated with increasing severity by authorities.
- Pankhurst’s conviction and sentence to three months’ jail – extended to six months after she refused to pay a bond – was for leading the Melbourne rally caused an outcry. Prime Minister Hughes attempted to defuse the situation by offering her a conditional release if she stopped speaking in public. She refused and was returned to jail to serve a sentence of several months.
- Pankhurst had married trade unionist Tom Walsh while on remand awaiting sentence after her conviction in the case. Her marriage to an Australian was viewed with some suspicion by the authorities at the time, as it meant she could not be deported (an action said to be under consideration by the government). The couple remained married and apparently devoted to each other until Walsh’s death in 1943.
- Pankhurst was convicted under the sweeping War Precautions Act 1914, which was introduced to ensure that the war effort was not undermined. Its powers were widened as agitation against the war increased, leading to a series of controversial arrests. Growing worker activism for better conditions, and against war and conscription, resulted in a series of strikes beginning in 1916. The government responded by passing the Unlawful Associations Act 1916. Growing unrest – on several fronts – culminated in the 1917 General Strike, also known as 'the Great Strike'.
- Pankhurst was not released until January 1918, despite a petition submitted on her behalf containing thousands of signatures. Pankhurst and Walsh moved from Melbourne to Sydney, continued their socialist and trade union activities and helped found the Communist Party of Australia. However, they became disillusioned with communism and by 1928 Pankhurst had become an anti-communist conservative.
Acknowledgments
Learning resource text © Education Services Australia Limited and the National Archives of Australia 2010.
