
The Australian Natives' Association (ANA) was a mutual society founded in Melbourne, Australia in April 1871. It was founded by and for the benefit of White native-born
Australians
Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizenship, citizens, nationality, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural. For most Aust ...
, and membership was restricted to that group.
The Association's objectives were to "raise funds by subscription, donations ... for the purpose of relieving sick members, and defraying expenses of funeral of members and their wives, relieving distressed widows and orphans and for the necessary expenses of the general management of the Society."
The organisation had up to 95,000 members and provided benefits to 250,000 people, which were members and their families. While the ANA was legally required to have no affiliation with any political party, it was socially active. It provided strong support for the
Federation of Australia
The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia (which also governed what is now the Northern Territory), and Wester ...
, sport, afforestation, social well-being and the Federal Government's restricted immigration policy, later referred to as the
White Australia policy. The ANA and Manchester Unity agreed to merge to form
Australian Unity
Australian Unity is an Australian Mutual organization, mutual company having its origins in the friendly society, friendly societies movement. In 2012, Big Sky was merged with Australian Unity to become the banking arm of the company.
History ...
in 1990. After the merger, social and educative functions continue in the ANA Fraternal organisation. The last remaining branch of the ANA closed in 2007 in Western Australia.
Background

The formation of the Australian Natives Association was a multi-stage process. It comes after the creation of the six
Australian colonies, the discovery of significant quantities of gold with the wealth that was brought, and the increasing number of locally born citizens. The initial idea was to form a Friendly Society to provide help in sickness and distress solely for Melbourne-born citizens.
''"Melbourne Natives" desirous of forming a society for the protection and promotion of their interests are requested to attend a meeting on Monday evening, 8 o'clock, at Grimwood's Hotel, Elizabeth St. Formation of a Society.''
Victorian Natives' Association
The 24 April 1871 meeting had 14 men in attendance, who resolved to form a Friendly Society of Victorian Natives. A committee was established and several committee meetings and another public meeting, registration as a Friendly Society was gained on 4 May 1871. At 5 June meeting, it was agreed the objects were "To promote the social and intellectual improvement of its members".
ANA Day
Around the end of the 19th century, the Victorian association advocated for a kind of forerunner of what is today
Australia Day
Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet and raising of the Flag of Great Britain, Union Flag of Great Britain by Arthur Phillip at Sydney Cove, a ...
, to be celebrated on 26 January as a public holiday and the national day. This subsequently became known as ANA Day in Victoria, but was not taken up by the other states until 1935, and renamed Australia Day.
"...What the people celebrate on Australia Day
Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet and raising of the Flag of Great Britain, Union Flag of Great Britain by Arthur Phillip at Sydney Cove, a ...
is not the coming into being of the Australian Commonwealth
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It has a total area of , making it the sixth-largest country in ...
, for that befell on New Year’s Day; and not May 9, when the first Parliament of the Commonwealth commenced its sittings; but January 26, the day in 1788 when the first permanent white settlers, being Captain Arthur Phillip
Arthur Phillip (11 October 1738 – 31 August 1814) was a British Royal Navy officer who served as the first Governor of New South Wales, governor of the Colony of New South Wales.
Phillip was educated at Royal Hospital School, Gree ...
’s officials, marines and transported convicts from England, landed on the shores of Sydney Cove."
Australian Natives' Association
In 1872, it was voted to extend membership to men born in the other Australian colonies and to change the name at the same time. The association started to grow and form new branches initially around Melbourne and then in the golds fields towns of
Ballarat
Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria.
Within mo ...
and Sandhurst (now
Bendigo
Bendigo ( ) is an Australian city in north-central Victoria. The city is located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital.
As of 2022, Bendigo has a popula ...
) in 1874 and Neangor (now
Eaglehawk) 1876. In 1878 the Sandhurst branch initiated a motion that the Association allow having debates or essays at the meetings after the business had been completed. The membership population centre of the Association moved to the gold fields towns west of Melbourne as the membership of these branches grew. The administration also moved West with the election of F. C. Wainwright, a member in Ballarat, as General Secretary in 1881.
As the Association grew, it was decided in 1890 to move administration back to Melbourne.
The Association played a leading role in the movement for Australian
federation
A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...
in the last 20 years of the 19th century. In 1900, it had a membership of 17,000, mainly in
Victoria.
The ANA provided sickness, medical, and funeral cover. Membership in the ANA was restricted to men born in Australia, at a time when Australian-born people of European descent (not including
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...
) were rising to power in place of an older generation born in Britain. In the 1890s, for the first time, the native-born became the majority of the population.
The organisation received criticism for their name, including from Aboriginal leader and activist
William Cooper over the appropriation of the term 'native'.
Former
Chief President James Hume Cook described as "three great principles" of the A.N.A:
The maintenance of a White Australia.
The Made-in-Australia movement.
The broadening of the Commonwealth Constitution.
Chief Presidents
With the establishment of a growing number of branches, including some outside Melbourne, a conference was held in 1874 to plan for centralised administration of the ANA. From 1877 the ANA was placed under the control of a board of directors to be presided over by a chief president. From 1877 onwards, the ANA elected a chief president at their annual conference held in different cities each year. There were four instances when the conference was not annual and the Chief President served for two years — the first two terms and twice due to the Second World War.
New Zealand Natives' Association
With the 1880 public consideration of Australian colonies and New Zealand federating, there was discussion of forming a New Zealand branch of the ANA. The Victorian ANA Board of Directors considered forming branches in Wellington, Westport, and Auckland, but the legislative hurdles caused by the differing legislation in the two colonies were insurmountable. A separate organisation, the New Zealand Natives Association (NZNA) was formed 30 April 1897. The Wellington branch grew satisfactorily, reaching 245 members within a year. At its peak it reached 2,500 members.
In 1900 while the Australian federation was not to include New Zealand, the New Zealand Natives Association voted to allow Australians to become members. Apart from differing legislation, limitations in communications technologies of the time made thoughts of amalgamating ANA and NZNA impractical. In 1904, the Wellington Branch experienced significant difficulties and despite the offer from Victorian ANA to support it as if it were one of their own branches, the Wellington Branch disbanded in June 1905. The ANA met the deficiency of £8/10/- so all creditors were paid. Over the next twenty or so years, several attempts were made to align the New Zealand branches with the ANA, but all failed.
Federation
In 1885, the ANA committed itself to the
federation
A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...
of the Australian colonies, in response to what was seen as the threat of foreign incursion into the Pacific. The organisation avoided party politics, but they soon adopted the rising liberal politician and ANA member
Alfred Deakin
Alfred Deakin (3 August 1856 – 7 October 1919) was an Australian politician who served as the second Prime Minister of Australia, prime minister of Australia from 1903 to 1904, 1905 to 1908, and 1909 to 1910. He held office as the leader of th ...
as their candidate for leadership of the federal movement. The membership certificate of 1891 shows many of the emblems of the federation such as the Australian Flag, the words ''Prosperity'', ''Unity,'' ''Peace'' and ''Federation'', a globe of the world showing Australia as a single entity, self-sufficiency through successful industry, and the ANA coat of arms featuring the kangaroo and emu.
In 1891, when the Victorian Parliament was considering the federation bill, the ANA organised public meetings around the colony to rally support for the bill, many of them addressed by Deakin. The ANA continued to campaign following the failure of the 1891 bill. From 1893 the association provided much of the organisational and financial support for the Federation Leagues which led the campaign, particularly in Victoria. When the movement revived after 1897, the ANA campaigned for the referendums to approve the proposed constitution. With federation achieved in 1901, the ANA withdrew from political activity, although it continued other activities such as promoting the observance of
Australia Day
Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet and raising of the Flag of Great Britain, Union Flag of Great Britain by Arthur Phillip at Sydney Cove, a ...
. Other national issues supported by the ANA included
afforestation
Afforestation is the establishment of a forest or stand of trees in an area where there was no recent tree cover. There are three types of afforestation: natural Regeneration (biology), regeneration, agroforestry and Tree plantation, tree plan ...
, an Australian-made goods policy, water conservation, and the celebration of 'proper and meaningful' citizenship ceremonies following the increased levels of migration after World War II. The ANA also supported the adoption of the wattle as the national floral emblem in 1912.
Culture
In the late 1880s, an ANA-sponsored literary and musical competition was mooted by several Victorian branches, along the lines of that run by the
South Street Society and, like that organisation, originating in
Ballarat
Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria.
Within mo ...
, there the first such event took place on
Foundation Day, 26 January 1892; Calder Smith and C. R. Church being among those credited with its successful launch, with Ballarat's ''
Star
A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...
'' newspaper a strong supporter.
The literary competition was dropped early, but the vocal competitions were prominent in Australia's cultural calendar for over thirty years.
In 1927 the 38th, and final,
ANA musical and elocutionary competitions were held in Melbourne.
Between 1897 and 1919, the ANA published the monthly "The Advance Australia" magazine.
Female membership
The ANA was wary of admitting female members, on the basis that at the time males were predominately the primary income earners. At the 1896 Daylesford Conference, the Clifton Hill branch presented a motion instructing the Board to take steps for form a Friendly Society similar to the ANA for Australian-born females. At the 1897 Castlemaine Conference, a detailed report was provided that showed:
* 168,757 native born women between the age of 15 and 40 years;
* an estimate of 109,000 women eligible to join a Society was given.
A motion to allow women to join the ANA was defeated.
The 1899 Port Fairy Conference heard that between the 1871 and 1891 censuses, female primary income earners had increased from 52,243 to 114,804. In November 1899 the Board supported the creation of a Friendly Society for women. In August of 1900, the Constitution and Bye Laws for the society were approved, and then registered in September.
In November of 1900, the
Australasian Women's Association (AWA) was formed. The ANA absorbed all the expenses of setting up the Association. The ANA and AWA worked closely together and at times jointly published document listing key office holder.
The changing circumstances after WW2 and the greater involvement of the Federal Government in providing social supports started to challenge Friendly Societies including the AWA. In 1955, the ANA began taking steps to enable AWA members to transfer to the ANA, and this came to fruition in 1964. A past AWA Chief President, Mrs. I. V. Meagher, became the first woman Chief President of the ANA in 1977.
[Menadue J. E., A Centenary History of the Australian Natives Association 1871 - 1971, Horticultural Press, Melbourne, 1971, Pages 203 - 2005]
White Australia policy
Alongside the
Returned and Services League
The Returned and Services League of Australia, also known as RSL, RSL Australia and the RSLA, is an independent support organisation for people who have served or are serving in the Australian Defence Force.
History
The League was formed in ...
, the ANA was one of the last Australian groups to support the
White Australia Policy. While this policy was wound down in the decades after the Second World War and totally abolished by 1970, a few members continued to support it until the 1970s.
Later years
The ANA continued to operate a private health fund, a building society, general insurance company and small-scale life insurance and fund management activities. In 1993, it merged those operations with Manchester Unity IOOF of
Victoria to create
Australian Unity
Australian Unity is an Australian Mutual organization, mutual company having its origins in the friendly society, friendly societies movement. In 2012, Big Sky was merged with Australian Unity to become the banking arm of the company.
History ...
, the largest
friendly society in Australia by number of members.
In 2007, the Mosman Park WA Branch of the ANA closed down; the building owned by the chapter was sold, and the proceeds distributed among the group's remaining 320 members.
[White natives fold their tent, (24 February 2007), ''Post'' (Western Australia)](_blank)
/ref>
New Australian Natives' Association
An organisation called the Australian Natives Association (ANA), run by Matthew Grant, claims on its website to be a revived version of the ANA, and to have formed their first new branch in 2018. It argues for the return of the White Australia policy and claims that Aboriginals cannot be an Australian because "Australia" as a nation is "truly a European-born construct". It has been classified by the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) as a far-right
Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...
hate
Hatred or hate is an intense negative emotional response towards certain people, things or ideas, usually related to opposition or revulsion toward something. Hatred is often associated with intense feelings of anger, contempt, and disgust. Ha ...
and extremist group, with an anti-immigrant, white nationalist, anti-woman ideology.
References
Further reading
*
*{{cite web , title=Australian Unity - Company History , url=http://www.australianunity.com.au/au/info/companyhistory.asp , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050308014032/http://www.australianunity.com.au/au/info/companyhistory.asp , archive-date=8 March 2005 , url-status=dead , quote=Australian Unity, formerly known as Australian Unity Friendly Society Limited, was formed in September 1993, when two long established organisations merged; the Australian Natives' Association Friendly Society (ANA) and Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows in Victoria Friendly Society
* Kelleher, Bryan J. (compiler).
Australian poetry and the Australian Natives' Association
' (South Melbourne: Australian Natives' Association, 1983)
1871 establishments in Australia
Australian Natives Association
Australian Natives' Association
The Australian Natives' Association (ANA) was a mutual society founded in Melbourne, Australia in April 1871. It was founded by and for the benefit of White native-born Australians, and membership was restricted to that group.
The Association's ...
Organizations established in 1871
Political organisations based in Australia
Anti-immigration politics in Australia