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The Old Guard was an Australian
anti-communist Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...
organisation which was founded in 1930 and was primarily active in New South Wales. Its exact origins are disputed. At least one historian has claimed that it existed as early as 1917. It has been described as a paramilitary, quasi-official, vigilante, anti-communist organisation. The group was primarily concerned with the social conditions arising from the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, and the actions of the Labor state government in New South Wales led by Premier Jack Lang.Keith Amos
Campbell, Eric (1893–1970)
Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
Neither the Old Guard, nor its offshoot, the New Guard, supported the Australia First Movement. In response to rumours that fires would be started by agitators, the Old Guard was a driving force behind the more effective organisation of country bush fire brigades in New South Wales. As fears of a communist takeover subsided, the Old Guard lacked purpose and was dissolved sometime in the 1950s.


Secrecy

The group was sworn to absolute secrecy regarding membership, and was divided into cells so that its leadership would be hard to identify. Media reports on the group in the 1930s were scarce, and information about it has been obscured by the destruction of its own records.


Split

The New Guard split from the group in 1931. Eric Campbell wanted a more visible organisation than the secretive Old Guard. The New Guard was less of a military force than the Old Guard, which opposed the split because it was fearful of communists exploiting the division. Both groups had devised plans to neutralise each other should it be needed.


Members

At the height of its popularity, the Old Guard in Australia had a membership of around 30,000. Members were loyalists and idealists devoted to the British Empire and ready to act pre-emptively to prevent a socialist revolution in Australia. Old Guard leaders were wealthy Protestant Anglo-Australians. Membership in rural New South Wales, and ties to the New South Wales police force, were strong. At the federal level the Old Guard had its closest ties to the Attorney-General's Department and the
Department of Defence Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philippin ...
. Like many former officers of the Australian Army George Wootten joined the Old Guard.A. J. Hill
Wootten, Sir George Frederick (1893–1970)
Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 10 August 2013.


See also

* Far-right politics in Australia *
Military history of Australia The military history of Australia spans the nation's 230-year modern history, from the early Australian frontier wars between Aboriginals and Europeans to the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan in the early 21st century. Although this h ...


References


Further reading

* Evans, Richard, “‘A Menace to this Realm’: The New Guard and the New South Wales Police, 1931–32”, History Australia 5 (3), December, 2008 * Davis, Joseph, "D.H. Lawrence and the Mussolini of Austinmer: https://www.academia.edu/42336412/D.H._LAWRENCE_AND_THE_MUSSOLINI_OF_AUSTINMER *Moore, Andrew (1989). ''The secret army and the premier : conservative paramilitary organisations in New South Wales, 1930-32''. Kensington, N.S.W., Australia: New South Wales University Press. ISBN  0-86840-283-4.
OCLC OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was ...
 25336207. {{Authority control 1930 establishments in Australia Organizations established in 1930 Anti-communist organizations Far-right politics in Australia Paramilitary organisations based in Australia 1952 disestablishments in Australia