Douglas
sailed to England
on 22 February 1884 . [1] It was 13 years since he had last been in the
mother country, and he spent time with family and friends in England and Scotland. However, the primary purpose of this visit
was to secure a paid position, specifically heading up any proposed New Guinea
administration.
Griffith would have been pleased to have Douglas
as far away as possible after the embarrassment the latter caused him in the
1883 election. He therefore strongly
supported Douglas’s attempts to gain an administrative position and instructed
his agent-general in London to lobby Earl Derby,
secretary of state for the colonies, on Douglas’s
behalf.[2] However, Griffith’s
support of Douglas was more than simply a
desire to have him far enough away to do no political harm to himself or his
government. Griffith
strongly opposed any attempts by Queensland
planters to “blackbird” New Guineans, and knew that if Douglas was in charge of
New Guinea
he would curb this odious practice.[3]
Douglas
arrived in London
in April 1884 and stayed with his cousin, Helen Mackenzie.[4] He wasted no time staking his claim for
employment, and met with the secretary of state for the colonies early the
following month.[5] The Queensland
government helped where it could, with its agent-general, William Hemmant,
calling on Lord Derby and requesting that a suitable position be found for Douglas.[6] While the Colonial Office was sympathetic,
there were concerns over Douglas’s age - he
was now 56 - and the unsuitability of his wife.
As a Colonial Office official delicately put it:
Mr. Douglas
is a man of ability and high character and though he could not now take a
junior subordinate appointment, he would do well in many places as the head of
a department on temporary service.[7]
By May 1884,
the British government had reluctantly agreed to annex New Guinea, providing the
Australasian colonies contributed £15,000 to the cost of its establishment.[8] In July 1884, the Australasian colonial
governments informed the Colonial Office that the money would be forthcoming,[9]
leaving Gladstone, the British prime minister, to announce the establishment of
the protectorate,[10]
and it was formally proclaimed by Commodore James Elphinstone Erskine, of H.M.S.
Nelson, at Port Moresby,
on 6 November 1884.[11]
Douglas
continued to push his claims for the post of New
Guinea administrator, informing Griffith that:
I have some
hopes of being appointed, though I hear that General Scratchley is first
favourite.[12]
Major-General
Peter Henry Scratchley was a formidable rival for the post. A soldier and military engineer, in 1878 he
was appointed commissioner of defences for the Australian colonies. Retiring from active military service with
the honorary rank of major general, he returned to England in 1883 to consult the
British War Office on a general colonial defence plan.[13] Unfortunately for Douglas, Scratchley’s wife,
Laura Lilias, was eminently presentable, being the son of a ship’s captain and
squatter, and sister to the noted author, Thomas Alexander Browne.[14]
It therefore
came as no surprise when Scratchley was appointed special commissioner for the New Guinea
protectorate.[15] A deeply disappointed Douglas, who had
returned to London after visiting his family in Scotland,[16]
sailed home empty-handed, arriving back in Brisbane in early 1885.[17]
Having failed
to secure employment administering New Guinea
or indeed any other colonial post, Douglas swallowed his pride and sought Griffith’s
assistance. He had a family to support
and needed a decent livelihood, one more secure than “the uncaring and
uncertain nature of literature and the press.”[18] Two days after returning to the colony, he
asked Griffith
to secure him a position.[19]
It was only
18 months since Douglas had campaigned against Griffith
for the seat of Bulimba, and the embarrassment and pain he had then caused Griffith still
rankled. Securing paid employment for
Douglas, preferably as far away from Brisbane as
possible, would help distance him from the political life of the capital, and
make him less of a danger to Griffith
and his faction come the next election.
[1] Queenslander, 1
March 1884 , p. 325; “Shipping.”
Brisbane
Courier, 23 February
1884 , p. 4. Douglas sailed
to Sydney on the Maranoa, intending to
take the first Orient steamer from there to London.
[2]Samuel Griffith to William Hemmant [Queensland
agent-general in London]
26 February 1884 . Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP), reel
no 1938, CO 234/45, folio 461
[3] Although the desire for New Guinea labour was only one of
McIlwraith’s reasons for annexing the island, it was one of the main reasons
for Griffith, then opposition leader, opposing it. For a detailed account of the New Guinea
labour trade, and Griffith’s ultimately successful attempts to curb it, see
Edward Wybergh Docker. The
Blackbirders: The Recruiting of South Seas Labour for Queensland, 1863-1907. Sydney, Angus and Robertson, 1970, pp. 169-226
& Trainor, pp. 41-44. Douglas was appalled by this labour trade, and wanted it
stopped. (Douglas
to F. W. Chesson, [Secretary, Aborigines Protection Society, 1866-1888], 23 June 1884 . Aborigines Protection Society. Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP),
M2427, C133/19; Edward Henry Stanley, Earl of Derby (1826-1893.) Diary entry for Friday 2nd May 1884 , Australian Joint
Copying Project (AJCP), reel no 1972)
[4] Helen Mackenzie to F. W. Chesson, 28 May 1884. Aborigines Protection Society. Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP),
M2428, C141/179. Helen Mackenzie
(1819-1910) lived at 12 Argyll
Road, Kensington, London,
and was Douglas’s second cousin once
removed. A noted author, her father was
Admiral John Erskine Douglas, and her late husband, who had died three years
earlier, was Lieutenant-General Colin Mackenzie.
[5] John Douglas to the Earl of Derby
(Secretary of State for the Colonies) 30 April 1884 . Australian
Joint Copying Project (AJCP), reel no 1931, CO 234/45: Edward Henry
Stanley, Earl of Derby (1826-93.) Diary
entry for Friday 2nd
May 1884 , Australian Joint Copying Project, reel no 1972.
[6] Colonial Office Minute, May 1884.
Australian Joint Copying Project, reel no 1931, CO 234/45
[7] Ibid. It was because Sarah
Douglas was considered to be unsuitable that the Colonial Office would, as
outlined in this minute, only consider Douglas
for “temporary service.” (James Francis
Garrick to Samuel Griffith, 1
January 1886 . Griffith Papers. MSQ 186, p. 264-68. Dixson Library,
State Library of New South Wales; Robert Herbert, 20 May 1887 . Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP), reel
no. 2686 CO 422/3/9629)
[8] “Annexation of New
Guinea.”
Brisbane Courier, 2 July 1884 , p. 5; “The
Annexation of New Guinea
(Further Correspondence Respecting.)” Queensland
Legislative Council Journals, 1884, part one, pp. 279-80
[9] “The Annexation of New
Guinea (Further Correspondence
Respecting.)” Queensland Legislative
Council Journals, 1884, part one, pp. 280-82
[10] Melbourne (1927E), p. 152; William
Ewart Gladstone to Queen Victoria,
7 August and 8 October 1884, Cabinet Reports by Prime Minister of the Crown. National Library
of Australia,
Microform G18363
[11] B. Jinks, P. Biskup and H. Nelson, eds. Readings
in New Guinea
History. Sydney, Angus and
Robertson, 1973, pp. 36-40
[12] John Douglas to Samuel Griffith, 14 August 1884 .
Griffith
Papers. MSQ 186, pp. 14-25. Dixson Library,
State Library of NSW
[13] Roger Joyce. “Scratchley,
Sir Peter Henry.” Australian
Dictionary of Biography, vol 6.
Melbourne, Melbourne
University Press, 1976,
pp. 98-99
[14] Ibid.; T. Inglis Moore.
“Browne, Thomas Alexander.” Australian
Dictionary of Biography, vol 3.
Melbourne, Melbourne
University Press, 1969,
pp. 267-69
[15] “Appointment of Major-General Scratchley as Special Commissioner for
the New Guinea Protectorate, and Request for Further Contributions from the
Australasian Colonies Towards the Maintenance of the Protectorate.” Queensland Legislative Council Journals,
1884, part one, p. 285. The original is
to be found in, “Correspondence Re Annexation of New Guinea.” Queensland State Archives, Col 2 (also
numbered as PRV 7192.) Scratchley’s
appointment came into effect on 17 November 1884 and his salary was £2,500 per annum. (Great Britain. Parliament.
Accounts and Papers, vol 10. Council
Papers, vol 54, 1884-85, p. 297)
[16] John Douglas to Edward Douglas, 5 August 1887 .
Douglas Papers. John Oxley Library,
State Library of Queensland, OM
89-3/B/4/6
[17] “Shipping.” Brisbane Courier,
13 February 1885 ,
p. 4
[18] John Douglas to Samuel Griffith, 14 February 1885 . Griffith
Papers. MSQ 186, pp. 92-96. Dixson Library,
State Library of NSW
[19] Ibid.
