The Old Guard was an Australian anti-communist organisation which was founded in 1930 and was primarily active in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. 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, and the actions of the

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

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 The New Guard was an Australian fascist paramilitary organisation during the Great Depression. It was the largest and most successful fascist organisation in Australian history. The New Guard, known for its violent agitation against Premier o ...

, supported the

Australia First Movement The Australia First Movement was a fascist movement, founded in October 1941. It grew out of the Rationalist Association of New South Wales and the Victorian Socialist Party, and was led by former Rhodes scholar Percy Stephensen and Adela ...

. 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

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 The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

and ready to act pre-emptively to prevent a

socialist revolution Revolutionary socialism is a political philosophy, doctrine, and tradition within socialism that stresses the idea that a social revolution is necessary to bring about structural changes in society. More specifically, it is the view that revoluti ...

in Australia. Old Guard leaders were wealthy

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

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 (Philipp ...

. Like many former officers of the Australian Army

George Wootten Major General Sir George Frederick Wootten, (1 May 1893 – 31 March 1970) was a senior Australian Army officer, public servant, right wing political activist and solicitor. He rose to the rank of temporary major general during the Second Wor ...

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.

Secrecy

Split

Members

See also

References

Further reading