LETTER, PREMIER TO SEPTIMUS BURT, RE APPOINTMENT AS AGENT-GENERAL IN UNITED KINGDOM

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Moore, Sir, Newton James

1909

Overview

Carbon copies of two-paged typed letter and decoded cable both sent on 26 June 1909 from Premier Moore offering Burt the acting position of Western Australia’s Agent-General in London for a few months from 16 Oct 1909. The letter contained the text of the cable along with a further clarification of the request.
The letter was typed on Premier’s Office stationery dating from a decade earlier, with space for an 1890s date at top right. The Western Australian crest is printed at the centre top of the page. The cable was typed on Treasury Department stationery normally used to record messages to the Agent-General in London. The letter and the cable are on single sheets of paper; there are three small tears to the side of the cable. There are three lateral folds which show the letter was folded twice more for storage.

Historical information

In 1891 Septimus Burt had been responsible for the creation of Western Australia's Agent-General office in London during his term as Attorney General of Western Australia. From 1891 to 1892 he was Acting Agent-General until Sir Malcolm Fraser (formerly Colonial Secretary of Western Australia) took over. In August 1905 Rason (full name Cornthwaite Hector William James Rason) became Premier of Western Australia. He retired six months later due to ill health and in 1907 took up the position of Agent-General in London.
His successor as Premier was Newton James Moore, the author of this correspondence.

The cable was sent from Premier Newton James Moore in Perth to Burt while he was on one of his trips to England. The Premier had heard that Burt was planning to stay there until about March 1910 and he enquired if Burt would be prepared to accept an acting appointment as Western Australia’s Agent-General in London for a few months from 16 October 1909. This was the date the term of the current Agent General (Cornthwaite Hector Rason) concluded. (In 1909 Agent-General Cornthwaite Hector Rason had accepted an appointment as Chairman of Directors of the new Australian Bovril Company and the Premier felt this disqualified him for ethical reasons from continuing in the Agent General role.) The Premier advised that early in the new year the Government would seek a new appointment. In the end, Rason continued as Western Australia's Agent General until 1911 and so the need for Burt to step in was no longer there. It is not known what Burt’s response to this offer was.

Moore resigned as Premier in 1910 before himself taking up the position of Agent-General in London in 1911 - once again following on from Rason.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-46-1976.69a-c

Item type

Documents

Material

Ink

Paper

Contextual information

These documents provide some insight into the process by which appointments were made to the position of Agent-General in London in the early 1900s. The purpose of this office was to promote trade and migration to Western Australia.
The documents are complete; there is some tearing to the copy of the cable, but this does not impact upon reading the contents. They are representative of the type of documentation generated by the Western Australian government in the first decade of the 20th century.

The Honourable Septimus Burt KC (1847-1919), son of Sir Archibald Paull Burt, was born in St Kitts Island (formerly known as St Christopher in the West Indies) and came to Western Australia in 1861. S Burt became a prominent lawyer, politician and grazier. His political work was central to the achievement and development of the Western Australian constitution as the first Attorney General after self-government was achieved. The Hon Septimus Burt rejected knighthood and offers to be a Supreme Court Judge.

Keywords

Burt, Septimus

Moore, Newton James, Sir

Rason, Cornthwaite Hector, Sir

Western Australian Agent-General

Place made

Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Year

1909

Primary significance criteria

Historic significance

Scientific or research significance