Farmers & Settlers Association of NSW, Wagga Wagga Branch
- Agency062
- Advocacy group
Farmers & Settlers Association of NSW, Wagga Wagga Branch
United Farmers & Woolgrowers' Association of NSW, Wagga Wagga District Council
The Riverine University League was a single issue regional pressure group, based on and funded by local government organisations. Originally known as the Riverina Councils' University League, it changed its name to the Riverine Councils' University League within months of its establishment in 1952 in the hope of attracting support from councils in north east Victoria as well as from those in southern New South Wales. Although it attracted some Victorian backing, most of the League's forty six institutional members were from New South Wales. In 1959, when it was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee, it took the name Riverine University League.
Under the leadership of Dr William Andrew Merrylees (1900-69) the League come close to securing the establishment of a Riverina University College in 1966-67, and was instrumental in persuading the New South Wales Government to establish the Riverina College of Advanced Education in 1971 as a genuinely regional institution, with campuses initially at Wagga Wagga, Albury and Griffith.
The largest and most important accessions of the League's records at CSU Regional Archives (RW74, RW624) comprise the papers of the president, Dr Merrylees, who served until his sudden death in 1969. A Rhodes Scholar and former senior lecturer in philosophy at the University of Melbourne, Merrylees had been involved since 1936 in the management of a family property, Groongal Station, Hay (RW75), becoming widely known for his pioneering experiments in large scale irrigation. Active in a number of regional development organisations - among them the Murrumbidgee Valley Water Users' Association, the Murray Valley Development League (RW214) and the Lachlan Valley Development League - Merrylees was a prolific pamphleteer and writer, who maintained an extensive correspondence with many key figures in Australian politics and education. His correspondents include Sir Kenneth Bailey, Professor J.P. Baxter, C.E.W. Bean, Sir John Behan, A.G. Enticknap, MLA, Sir John Gorton, Eric Hoare, Sir William Hudson, G.V. Lawrence, Sir Leslie Martin, Sir Robert Menzies, Professor E. Morris Miller, R.W. Prunster, Hugh S. Roberton, MHR, Sir Ian Wark, Sir Alan Watt, and E.R. Wilson.
History compiled by Don Boadle (c.2001).
Sources : Boadle, Donald, Selling the Rural University: W.A. Merrylees' Writings for the Riverine University League, Wagga Wagga, 1986; ____, 'The Idealist as Lobbyist: W.A. Merrylees and his Campaign for an Australian University' in D. Stockley (ed.), Melbourne Studies in Education, Melbourne, 1989-90, 34-48; ____, 'Critics of Australia's Binary Policy: the Riverina University College Debate, 1965-67', History of Education Review, 23 (2), 1994, 18-31; ____, 'William Andrew Merrylees (1900-1969)' in John Ritchie (ed.), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 15, Melbourne, 2000.
Federated Liquor and Allied Industries Employees Union of Australia, NSW Branch
Institute of Australian Geographers
Riverina Regional Advisory Council
Australian Library and Information Association
Previously known as the Library Association of Australia.
Pleasant Hills Progress Association
Merungle Hill Progress Association
English Teachers' Association of NSW
Federation of College Academics
South West Settlers' Defence League, Hillston Branch
NSW Women Justices' Association, Wagga Wagga Branch
Farmers and Settlers' Association of NSW, Millwood Road Branch
NSW Farmers' Association, Uranquinty Branch
National Party of Australia - NSW
Australian Federation of University Women [AFUW], Riverina Branch
NSW Farmers' Association, Collingullie Branch
Murrumbidgee River Management Committee
Australian Country Party, Koorawatha Branch
Victorian Farmers' Union/Victorian Country Party/United Country Party
Civic Trust of Wagga Wagga Inc.
Masonic Lodge and MUIOOF (John Drummond)
Riverina Association of Professional Teacher Librarians (RIVPAT)
National Party of Australia - Victoria
An agency history is available. Please ask the Reference Archivist for more information.
National Party of Australia - Federal
Merribindinyah Soldier Settlement Estate
Association of Independent Retirees Ltd.
Cartwright's Hill Residents' Association Group
Lake Village Park Community Group
Wagga Wagga Urban Landcare Group
Riverina Gay and Lesbian Support Group
North Wagga Residents' Association
Albury-Wodonga University Sub-Committee
Wagga Wagga College of Advanced Education Committee
Goulburn Student Representative Council
Business and Professional Women's Club
Mitchell College Academic Staff Association