School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Theses

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The National Catholic Rural Movement, 1939-1955

Ayers, Tony ( 1986)

It is now over forty years since the National Catholic Rural Movement (N.C.R.M.) began. On its inception in 1939 the ‘Movement’ became the first group established by the Australian National Secretariat of Catholic Action (A.N.S.C.A.), itself established only two years earlier in 1937. Adopting the motto “To Restore Christ to the Countryside ... and the Countryside to Christ” the NCRM embarked upon the promotion of a range of policies – from co-operative to Independent Farming, from the improvement of entertainment in rural homes to better prices for the small producer – amongst the Catholic farming community, farmers’ organizations and government. At the height of its popularity in the mid-forties the NCRM could claim a membership in excess of 5000 with groups in every State of Australia, excepting Tasmania and the Northern Territory. With its formative years occurring between two major phases of Australia’s development as an industrial economy, the 1920s and the late 1940s/early 1950s, the NCRM stated its purpose unequivocally as being ‘to restore and develop agriculture as the central institution of national life’. This thesis examines the first sixteen critical years of history and the many paradoxes intrinsic to its project. (From Introduction)