Bearing Witness
Page 48
The Bean letter regarding John Percival was dated 9 March 1918; AWM38 3DRL 7447/26. Also, regarding Edwin Bean and Percival, see AWM38 3 DRL 7447/38, item 2.
Edwin’s letter to his grandfather is quoted in Dudley McCarthy, Gallipoli to the Somme: The story of C.E.W. Bean, John Ferguson, Sydney, 1983, p. 15. Also see AWM38 3DRL 7447/38, items 3 to 4, regarding his results.
Details of Edwin Bean’s teaching job in Hobart and his courtship of Lucy Butler are at AWM38 3DRL 7447/3 to 4. Also see Bean on Brentwood; AWM PR 82/131, 2 of 4 folders; AWM38 3DRL 7447/38.
Edwin Bean’s comments about the sons of squatters are drawn from a letter, 10 May 1880; AWM38 3DRL 7447/38, item 1.
The reference to Madeline Bean’s death is drawn from the private family diary.
Edwin’s description of Charles as a ‘King Sturdy’ is drawn from AWM38 3DRL 7447/3 to 4.
Lucy Bean’s letter referring to Little Dorrit was dated 22 May 1884, AWM38 3DRL 7447/3 to 4. Her comments about Charles being observant are at AWM38 3DRL 7447/38.
The references to the Prodigal Son are contained in Bean’s Account for Effie, a memoir, in the Bean collection, Australian War Memorial, 1924. Papers of Arthur Bazley, AWM38 3DRL/3520; folder 10a of 143; also Bazley AWM38 3DRL 3520, folder 10c of 143.
The letter Bean wrote to his grandfather is at AWM38 3DRL 7447/3 to 4.
Bean’s recollections of his school years at Bathurst are contained in Account for Effie.
Edwin Bean’s letter regarding his resignation is at AWM38 3DRL 7447/38, item 1. Details of the sale of All Saints’ are referred to in AWM PR 82/131, 2 of 4 folders; AWM38 3DRL 7447/38, item 1.
2—Waterloo
Bean’s account of arriving in England, and other details in this chapter regarding his observations of England are drawn from ‘What England means to me’, manuscript for an address to the Women’s League of Empire, Sydney, March 1934, AWM38 3DRL 6673/571 33/3.
See Tasker letter, 18 October 1930, AWM38 3DRL 6673/573, and Account for Effie, for references to Latin and Euclid, and Waterloo.
Details of Bean’s visits to Brussels are in Bazley AWM38 3DRL 3520, folder 10c of 143, and Tasker letter.
The reference to British battles is drawn from C.E.W. Bean, Anzac to Amiens, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1946, p. 9.
Details of Edwin Bean’s time at Brentwood School are drawn from his book A Historical Sketch of Sir Anthony Browne’s School, Brentwood Essex, Westbury Press, Essex, undated. Also, see AWM PR 82/131, papers of Lewis Collection of Bean family papers for further details of the school’s history.
The references to lighting a fire in the bush, ‘democratisation’ of the school, and Edwin Bean’s financial losses in 1893 are drawn from AWM38 3DRL 7447/17 to 19.
3—Tempering steel
See AWM38 3DRL 7447/5 to 6 for the reference to ‘the Horse-tralians’.
The reference to Bean’s accent is drawn from ‘What England means to me’, manuscript for an address to the Women’s League of Empire, Sydney, March 1934, AWM38 3DRL 6673/571 33/3.
Edwin Bean’s advice to his son and other letters in this chapter are drawn from AWM38 3DRL 6673/902, as is Lucy Bean’s letter regarding boxing.
Charles Bean’s assessment of his cricketing abilities is drawn from AWM38 3DRL 7447/5 to 6. Also see Ellis, C.E.W. Bean, p. 12, and Michael McKernan, Gallipoli, A Short History, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2010.
Material relating to Thoby Stephen is drawn from Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell with Thoby Stephen, Hyde Park Gate News, Hesperus Press Ltd, London, 2005, pp. 53, 221, 222. Also see extract from ‘A Sketch of the Past’ by Virginia Woolf as reproduced in her Moments of Being, Hogarth Press, London, 2nd edn, 1985, pp. 124–6.
Bean’s reference to Thoby Stephen is drawn from Tasker letter. Also see Account for Effie; and C.S. Knighton (ed.), Clifton College: Foundation to Evacuation, Bristol Record Society, 2012, pp. 158–9.
Bean’s reference to honing his writing style is drawn from Account for Effie and the Tasker letter.
The reference to debating is drawn from Ellis, C.E.W. Bean, p. 12; and AWM38 3DRL 7447/5 to 6.
See AWM PR 82/131, regarding Edwin Bean’s advice to Charles.
Bean’s references to Lucretius and Socrates are drawn from ‘The ABC Weekly’, Sydney, 3 April 1948, p. 41; and AWM 38 3DRL 6673/902.
See Bazley AWM38 3DRL 3520, folder 10c of 143, regarding Jack Bean’s comments on Charles’ naval knowledge.
Correspondence from Edwin Bean to Charles was drawn from AWM38 3DRL 7447/17 to 19, and AWM38 3DRL 6673/897.
Jack Bean’s comments about his brother, his physical appearance and his future career, are drawn from Bazley, AWM38 3DRL 3520, folder 10c of 143.
4—Moral stance
Edwin Bean’s comments regarding his sons were drawn from AWM38 3DRL 7447/17 to 19.
Details of Bean’s scholarship and his tutoring job at Tenerife are at AWM38 3DRL 7447/5 to 6, as well as Account for Effie.
Bean’s account of Queen Victoria’s funeral was drawn from AWM38 3DRL 7447/5 to 6.
Details of Bean’s Oxford results were sourced from AWM38 3DRL 7447/26, 3 DRL 7447/32, and the Tasker letter.
Greenidge’s reference and reference to the Civil Service of India job are at AWM38 3DRL 6673/894.
Details of John Percival’s criticism were drawn from Graham Neville, Radical Churchman: Edward Lee Hicks and the New Liberalism; Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 192.
Edwin Bean’s assessment of Charles’ letter is referred to in McCarthy, Gallipoli to the Somme, p. 44.
5—The lure of the pen
The account of Bean’s voyage to Australia, including visits to Hobart and Bathurst, was drawn from letters at AWM38 3DRL 7447/5 to 6; also from ‘What England Means to Me’.
Reference to teaching at Sydney Grammar is included in the Tasker letter.
‘The Approaching Sea Fight. Its Place in Naval History. Why it Will Be Worth Watching,’ Daily Telegraph, 13 April 1905, p. 5.
The account of Bean’s time with Justice Owen is drawn from Account for Effie and Lindsay, ‘Be Substantially Great in Thy Self ’.
The Ben Hall story was drawn from Ellis, C.E.W. Bean, p. 14.
The letter about approaching The SMH was sourced from AWM38 3DRL 7447/5 to 6.
Details about leaving Justice Owen, attending the Sydney School of Arts, tearing up the cheque and deciding to try journalism were sourced from Account for Effie and the Tasker letter.
6—Seeds of the myth
Charles Bean’s account of ‘The Impressions of a New Chum’ is drawn from Account for Effie.
The ‘Australia Revisited’ series was published in The SMH between 1 June and 20 July 1907.
The Spectator article was published in London on 13 July 1907.
Senator Pulsford’s response was published in the Spectator on 20 July 1907.
Records for the Australian National Defence League show that Bean was noted as a member on 30 August 1907, with his address given as Wigram Chambers, Phillip St., Sydney. AWM 2DRL/1098.
The letter from Bean to his parents was sourced from AWM38 3DRL 7447/5 to 6.
The comments comparing the law with writing were sourced from a letter Bean wrote to his grandson Edward Bean le Couteur, on 23 November 1961.
7—The cub
Bean’s accounts of why he was fitted for journalism, how he came to join The SMH, and his early experiences are drawn from Account for Effie, the Tasker letter, and the private family diary.
The letter from Bean to his parents about joining The SMH is at AWM38 3DRL 7447/5 to 6.
The Montague Grover quote was sourced from McCarthy, Gallipoli to the Somme, pp. 59–60.
Bean’s explanations of his approach to writing and life at The SMH office were sourced from Account for Effie.
The Brunsdon Fletcher quote was sourced from C. Brunsdon Fletcher, The Great Wheel, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1940, pp. 131, 132.
The description of Bean at Trades Hall was drawn from Gavin Souter, Company of Herald
s, Melbourne University Press, 1981, p. 110.
For Bean’s assessment of W.M. Hughes it is necessary to read the various editions of On the Wool Track—see 1910 edn, p. 225; 1916 edn, p. 196; 1925 edn, p. 187. 1945 end, p. 157; 1963 edn, p. 114—where it becomes clear he was referring to Hughes.
The description of Bean by his cousin Joan Butler was drawn from a letter in the Worth family papers, 1888–1999, Mitchell Library, MSS 6980.
Bean’s reporting of the shipping strike was drawn from Ellis, C.E.W. Bean, p. 15.
Bean’s assessment of Hughes’ role was drawn from AWM38 3DRL 6673/571 33/3.
Justice Geoff Lindsay explains in his paper the connection through the Arnold tradition between Bean and Hughes.
Reference to Hughes’ column was sourced from L.F. Fitzhardinge, That Fiery Particle, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1964, p. 207.
Bean’s account of his trip to Broken Hill was sourced from his book The Dreadnought of the Darling, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1956 edn, pp. 16–19. Also see Account for Effie for references to this and his voyage to meet the American fleet.
See Souter, Company of Heralds, p. 110 for quotes from his account of the voyage.
See Bean’s book With the Flagship in the South, with quotes drawn from pp 2, 93, 131, 122, 123, 130, 129, 133, 135, 136.
Reference to the views of Deakin and Hughes was drawn from Michael Roe, Nine Australian Progressives, University of Queensland Press, 1984, p. 19.
See McCarthy, Gallipoli to the Somme, pp. 62–3, for references to Henry Lawson and Monty Grover.
Bean wrote to his father on 5 August 1909, ignoring the criticism. AWM38 3DRL 7447/9 to 10.
8—The Sydney passenger
Bean’s report on the opening of the Kosciuszko Hotel was published in The SMH, 9 June 1909.
See Bean’s book On the Wool Track, 1963, pp. vi, vii, for his account of his doubts about the assignment on the wool industry and how he resolved them. Extracts in the chapter are drawn from the book, see pp. 2, 63, 64; also the 1910 edn, pp. 138, 139, 146, 147. Also, see Account for Effie.
Bean’s references to the Aborigines were drawn from his book The Dreadnought of the Darling, pp. 186, 187, 183, 178–80 and 182–8.
For Bean’s account of the meeting with the Afghan, see The Dreadnought of the Darling, p. 150. For his thoughts on rural life, see The Dreadnought of the Darling, pp. 212, 221, 223; On the Wool Track, pp. 80, 128.
9—Moral certainty
Bean wrote of the family’s movements and about feeling overworked at The SMH in Account for Effie.
The letter telling his parents about his London posting is referred to in McCarthy, Gallipoli to the Somme, p. 68.
Bean’s thoughts on what he had seen during his trip across the United States were published in The Salon, vol. 2, no. 10, 1914, ‘A Code for Sydney’. Also see The SMH, 27 December 1910, and 7 January 1911.
His account of the New York hotel experience is related in McCarthy, Gallipoli to the Somme, p. 69.
His thoughts on town planning and Sydney were published in The SMH, 18 March 1911, and 5 July 1912.
Bean’s hope that Sydney could still ‘turn itself into a city that will be difficult to match,’ appeared in The Salon, p. 582.
Bean’s criticism of Culwulla Chambers was published in The SMH, 11 September 1912.
Bean’s account of returning to Brentwood was given in the Tasker letter and A Historical Sketch of Sir Anthony Browne’s School, Brentwood, Essex, p. 39.
For his article on cricket’s forward and back strokes, see Lewis Collection of Bean family letters, the Brentwoodian, June 1913. AWM PR 82/131.
Bean’s account of Macartney’s innings was published in The SMH, 24 July 2012, p. 7.
For material drawn from Bean’s book Flagships Three, Alston Rivers, London, 1913, see pp. 19, 18, xii, 276, 277, 218.
See The SMH, 25 June 1912, for Bean’s views on the ‘sheriff in the Pacific.’
10—Agent of change
For The SMH’s letter recalling Bean from London, see McCarthy, Gallipoli to the Somme, p. 72.
Bean’s criticism of Prime Minister Fisher was published in The SMH, 11 February 1913, and 25 February 1913.
Bean’s comment about the benefits of good food and country air were published in The SMH on 11 March 1913.
Bean’s farewell London column was published in The SMH, 25 March 1913.
Bean’s arrival in Sydney on 22 May 1913 is confirmed in his private diary.
The town-planning article was published in The Salon, p. 581.
Reference to Bean’s circle of influential town-planning allies was drawn from Robert Freestone, Cities, Citizens and Environmental Reform, Sydney University Press, 2009, p. 31.
The Hosfstadter quote was drawn from Richard Hofstadter, The Age of Reform: From Bryan to F.D.R., Vintage, New York, 1955.
Bean’s reference to how a nation’s physique was affected by town planning was drawn from Account for Effie.
The account of Bean by his cousin Joan was drawn from a letter in the Worth family papers, Mitchell Library, MSS 6980.
Bean’s attitude to his work at The SMH is drawn from the Lionel Wigmore letter, AWM38 3DRL 6673/573.
The Great Rivers series began in The SMH on 30 May 1914, with subsequent articles on 6 June and 17 June 1914.
See Account for Effie for Bean’s future plans.
Part Two
The War Years
11—The booted heel
Bean’s remark about ‘the trouble in Serbia’ is drawn from Account for Effie.
Bean’s quoted War Notes were published in The SMH on 31 July 1914, 3 August 1914, 6 August 1914, 11 August 1914, 12 August 1914.
For Bean’s statement regarding the anxiety of Australians, see Official History, Volume I, p. 17. For further analysis of this, see Douglas Newton, Hell-Bent, Scribe, Brunswick, Victoria, 2014.
Bean’s quote about forthcoming chaos was sourced from his book Anzac to Amiens, p. 22.
The references to Colonel Henry MacLaurin, and the Saturday editorials, were drawn from Account for Effie.
The editorial was published on 22 August 1914.
The account of the AJA vote for the correspondent’s position is drawn from Account for Effie, and R.M. Younger, Keith Murdoch: Founder of a Media Empire, HarperCollins, Sydney, 2003, p. 53. W.G. Conley’s comment was sourced from Account for Effie.
Bean’s account of meeting Major General William Throsby Bridges and Lieutenant Colonel Cyril Brudenell White is drawn from the Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918 (hereafter Official History), Volume I, p. 73; and Bean’s Two Men I Knew, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1957, pp. 1, 2 and 96.
The reference to the parameters under which Bean operated was drawn from the Official History, Volume XI, Australia During the War, 1941, p. 216n.
Bean’s reference to his ‘enigmatic uniform’ was drawn from his war diary no. 82, 18 July 1917.
Bean’s letters to his parents as departure neared were sourced from AWM38 3DRL 7447/5 to 6.
George Pearce’s remarks about Bean writing the history were sourced from Younger, Keith Murdoch, p. 53.
The account of how Arthur Bazley became Bean’s batman was drawn from P.A. Selth (ed.), Canberra Collection, Arthur Bazley, Lowden Publishing, Kilmore, 1976, pp. 233–4, and a letter to his parents, AWM38 3DRL 7447/5 to 6.
Bean’s letter to his parents on 20 October 1914 was sourced from AWM38 3DRL 7447/5 to 6.
Bean wrote to his solicitor in Sydney in December 1914 about the policy the Government had authorised him to arrange. The letter is privately held.
12—A hell of a time
The quote praising Bean appeared in the British Australasian, October 1914.
The accounts by Bean throughout this chapter of events during the voyage to Egypt were taken from his war diary no. 1. In particular, see entries for 9, 15, 27 November, 3 December 1914.
For Bean’s musings on the main problems a war correspondent faced, see The SMH 2 Decembe
r 1926.
The quote from John Gellibrand was sourced from a letter to Bean, 21 October 1936; AWM38 3DRL 6673/71.
For discussion on the role of a war correspondent, see A.B. ‘Banjo’ Paterson, Happy Dispatches, Lansdowne Press, Sydney, 1980, p. 65; and Ellis, C.E.W. Bean, pp. 24–5.
A copy of the booklet by C.E.W. Bean What to Know in Egypt: A guide for Australasian soldiers, Cairo, 1915, is held by the AWM. Citation no. ABN 86324426; see pp. 13, 14, 15, 16.
Bean’s war diary no. 2 provides details on drunkenness in Cairo; see 1 January 1915.
For more details on the sex trade in Cairo, see Peter Stanley, Bad Characters, Pier 9, Sydney, 2010, p. 30.
Bean’s story on the ‘wasters’ was published in The SMH, 22 January 1915.
Bean’s thoughts on firing squads were sourced from war diary no. 2, 7–8 January 1915.
See war diary no. 2, 8 February 1915 for Bean’s comments on larrikins.
The article appeared in the Sunday Times, Sydney, 24 January 1915.
The Evening Post, New Zealand, 10 March 1915, was among papers that published the responses of Boer War soldiers.
The Mitchell Library in Sydney holds a copy of the Frank Westbrook poem in the papers of Ray Heaps, driver Field Artillery Brigade, AIF 516. It is dated 20 March 1915. Mitchell Library, MLDOC 285.
Bean’s clarification was published in various papers, including The SMH on 1 March 1915.
Bean’s reference to the poem is in his war diary no. 2, 2 March 1915. See also his entries around this issue for 4 and 9 March 1915. Also see Stanley, Bad Characters, p. 35.
See Bean war diary no. 2 entries for 9–30 January 1915, regarding his comments on the troops.
His reference to ‘a hell of a time’ was published in the Sydney Mirror, 26 September 1960.
13—Play the game
Bean’s account of fighting at Suez is at AWM38 3DRL 606/116, diary entry, 13 February 1915.
His article ‘Australian Hospitals at the Front Watch a Turkish Attack’ was written on 22 February 1915; AWM38 3DRL 8039/6.
See Les Carlyon, Gallipoli, Pan Macmillan, Sydney, 2002, pp. 16–17, for the description of General Sir Ian Hamilton.
Bean’s cable praising the troops was written on 26 February 1915; AWM38 3DRL 8039/6.