[Editor: This article, a tribute written by Mary Gilmore regarding Hector Lamond (1865-1947), was published in The Southern Mail (Bowral, NSW), 23 May 1947.]
The late Hector Lamond
The following tribute to our late Editor is from the pen of Dame Mary Gilmore, D.B.E.:
“Allow me to add my personal tribute to that of others on the late Hector Lamond, who was for so long the editor of your journal.
“I knew both Mr. and Mrs. Lamond when they were little more than in their teens, I knew them after they were married, and I began my 23 years editorship of the Woman’s Page (which began in 1908) under the direction of Mr. Lamond.
Mr. Lamond’s direction of The Australian Worker raised it from being merely a union record to the status of being one of the greater Labor papers throughout the world. Letters would come to me from Canada, U.S.A., South Africa, Scotland, England, and the other parts of the British Isles (even from the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands) and elsewhere. During the 1914-18 war they came from Gallipoli, Denmark, Holland, Switzerland, and even France, where the paper went to our soldiers and was passed on to the people of wherever was then their terrain; and these letters were only my section of what came to the paper. The circulation under Mr. Lamond rose to 80,000 copies a week, and he was preparing for a rise to 100,000 in a short time. It was set up in piles of hundreds on the counters of every newsagency of importance, and was the first paper the city newsboys rushed on you on the day it was printed. Lord Carmichael (then Sir Thomas, and Governor of Victoria) himself told me that his orders were that it was to be the first paper laid on his table when issued; that my page was the first one read, and that without The Worker he could not accurately have made his monthly reports to the Home Office. He told me that this was because it was ‘so fair and so accurate.’
“As to the office and staff of the paper, Mr. and Mrs. Lamond were like a father and a mother to everyone, from the chief of staff down to the youngest office boy, and the annual picnic instituted by Hector Lamond and W. G. Spence was the day of the year to the families and their children.
“As for the office itself, in those days it was one of the outstanding literary, artistic, and political centres of Australia. Mr. Lamond had my office fitted with appliances for making tea for visitors, who ranged from shed-hands to Prime Ministers, novelists, poets, travellers and so on, and among whom were J. H. Curle, David Steed (of Steed and Ward, London), and, of course, interstate politicians galore. ‘The visitors create interest and influence in all parts of Australia as well as in other countries,’ Mr. Lamond used to say. And we certainly were then known and quoted in other countries.
“I write this of one who, to all who knew him, was an honorable and incorruptible man, a true patriot, and a good friend.”
Source:
The Southern Mail (Bowral, NSW), 23 May 1947, p. 7
Editor’s notes:
1914-18 war = World War One (1914-1918), also known as the Great War, or the First World War
D.B.E. = Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry)
See: “Order of the British Empire”, Wikipedia
Gallipoli = the Gallipoli peninsula (in western Turkey), which is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey; it was the scene of heavy fighting during the Gallipoli Campaign (February 1915 to January 1916), during the First World War (1914-1918); running along the eastern coast of the Gallipoli peninsula is the Strait of Gallipoli, also known as the Dardanelles (or, the Dardanelles strait)
See: 1) “Gallipoli”, Wikipedia
2) “Gallipoli campaign”, Wikipedia
Hector Lamond = Hector Spence Lamond (1865-1947), a printer, editor, newspaper manager, and politician (for the Australian Labor Party, and then the Nationalist Party); he was born in Broughton Creek (Shoalhaven, NSW) in 1865, and died in Bowral (NSW) in 1947
See: 1) Coral Lansbury, “Hector Lamond (1865–1947)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
2) “Hector Lamond”, Wikipedia
J. H. Curle = James Herbert Curle (1870-1942) a mining engineer, author, eugenicist, philatelist; he was born in Melrose (Scotland) in 1870, and died in Victoria (British Columbia, Canada) in 1942 (he visited Australia during 1885-1886)
See: “J. H. Curle”, Wikipedia
Lord Carmichael = Sir Thomas David Gibson Carmichael (1859-1926), 1st Baron Carmichael of Skirling, public servant and governor; he served as Governor of Victoria (1908-1911), Madras (1911-1912), and Bengal (1912-1917); he was born in Edinburgh (Scotland) in 1859, and died in London (England) in 1926
See: 1) L. R. Gardiner, “Sir Thomas David Gibson Carmichael (1859–1926)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
2) “Thomas Gibson-Carmichael, 1st Baron Carmichael”, Wikipedia
traveller = [1] a commercial traveller, a travelling salesman, a travelling sales representative
traveller = [2] a tramp, especially one seeking work; a swagman
U.S.A. = (abbreviation) United States of America
W. G. Spence = William Guthrie Spence (1846-1926), trade union leader and politician (Australian Labor Party); he was born on the island of Eday (the Orkney Islands, Scotland) in 1846, came to Australia in 1852, and died in Terang (Victoria) in 1926
See: 1) Coral Lansbury and Bede Nairn, “William Guthrie Spence (1846–1926)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
2) “William Spence”, Wikipedia
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