Agency:
Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Tasmania
Agency Number:
Start Date:
01 Jan 1891
Description:
The origins of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) belong to the Woman Movement - the suffrage era from the 1880s to World War I in which women challenged the prevailing moral, social and political order in Australia. Members of the WCTU were middle class women who came for the most part from the nonconformist churches. The WCTU's primary aim was to impose liquor trade restrictions if not its outright prohibition on Australian society. But with its combined focus on health, morality and polite behaviour invoking all of the regulatory power of churches, lawyers and doctors, the WCTU itself became a powerful force of moral, social and democratic reform. In the latter regard the WCTU tethered its early ambitions to the philosophical reforms elicidated by John Stuart Mill, in particular the extension of manhood suffrage, the right to participate fully in parliamentary elections, to women. There is little doubt that the WCTU was important to the victories of campaigns for woman suffrage though that importance varied from colony/state to colony/state. The WCTU was established in Tasmania in 1885. At its height it had 25 branches with over 400 members.;;;;This registration includes records of the Tasmanian State Office and regional branches of Queenborough, Devonport, New Town, New Norfolk, Branxholm, Launceston, Ulverstone, Hagley, and the North Eastern Union, and of the Young Woman's Christian Temperance Union, the Loyal Temperance Legion and the Women's Total Abstinence Band.
Information Sources:
Magarey, Susan, 'Passions of the First Wave Feminists', (Pluto, Sydney 2001), pp. 3-20.;;;;Jordan, Renee, 'Woman's Christian Temperance Union' in 'The Companion to Tasmanian History' (CTHS, Hobart 2008).
Related Agencies:
Tasmanian Prohibition League (NG3000) | 27 Mar 1919 | 13 May 1919 |
Band of Hope Union (NG3004) | 12 May 1927 |
Series Created By Agency:
NS337 Records of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Tasmania | 26 Jun 1891 | 31 Dec 1976 |
NS1591 Minutes of Convention Meetings, Annual and Committee Reports of the Womans Christian Temperance Union of Tasmania | 01 Jan 1899 | 31 Dec 1966 |
NS3505 Hagley Branch - Minutes of Meetings | 15 Jun 1899 | 11 Oct 1901 |
LMSS576 Launceston Branch Roll Book | 20 Jan 1925 | 31 Dec 1935 |
NS3501 Branxholm Branch - Minutes of Meetings | 25 Jan 1928 | 28 Sep 1944 |
NS3504 Ulverstone Branch - Minutes of Meetings | 26 Jan 1938 | 27 Sep 1946 |
NS3519 State Office - National Conferences and Conventions | 20 Apr 1939 | 29 Mar 1963 |
NS3517 Devonport Branch - Literature Book | 01 Jan 1940 | 31 Dec 1940 |
NS3518 Queenborough Branch - Literature Book | 01 Jan 1940 | 31 Dec 1940 |
NS3506 Launceston Branch - Income and Expenditure Book | 01 Jan 1946 | 31 Dec 1989 |
NS3497 Queenborough Branch - Minutes of Meetings | 12 Nov 1946 | 13 Nov 1984 |
NS3516 State Office - Literature Expenses Book | 01 Jan 1950 | 31 Dec 1959 |
NS3498 Devonport Branch - Minutes of Meetings | 01 May 1952 | 11 Dec 1984 |
NS3508 New Norfolk Branch - Income and Expenditure Book | 01 Jan 1955 | 10 Jul 1958 |
NS3500 New Norfolk Branch - Minutes of Meetings | 15 Jun 1955 | 13 Mar 1957 |
NS3510 Devonport Branch - Membership Book | 01 Oct 1956 | 31 Oct 1985 |
NS3496 Wctu Tasmania North Eastern Union - Minutes of Meetings | 01 Mar 1960 | 28 Feb 1990 |
NS3514 State Office - Birthday Book | 04 Apr 1960 | 22 Jul 1967 |
NS3513 New Town Branch - Membership Book | 01 Nov 1961 | 31 Dec 1984 |
NS3515 State Office Department of Prison Work and Social Services - Report Book | 01 Jul 1962 | 31 Dec 1985 |
NS3511 Hobart Branch - Membership Book | 01 Jan 1963 | 31 Dec 1978 |
NS3507 State Office - Income and Expenditure Book | 01 Jan 1966 | 25 Feb 1991 |
NS3502 Launceston Branch - Minutes of Meetings | 16 Sep 1969 | 15 Feb 1994 |
NS3520 State Office - State Conferences and Conventions | 17 Mar 1970 | 22 Apr 1982 |
NS3512 Hobart Branch - Minutes of Meetings | 14 Feb 1972 | 13 Nov 1979 |
NS3509 Queenborough Branch - Income and Expenditure Book | 09 Nov 1976 | 11 Oct 1983 |
NS3499 New Town Branch - Minutes of Meetings | 17 Jul 1978 | 15 Feb 1988 |
NS3521 State Office - Programs | 05 Mar 1996 | 05 Mar 1996 |