Australian Natives' Association
The Australian Natives’ Association (ANA) was established in Melbourne in 1871. It was founded as a friendly society whose membership was open to Australian-born males only. It gradually established city and country branches in Victoria. The ninth branch to be formed was in Charters Towers, Queensland in 1879. By 1901, a total of 205 branches had been formed. When the ANA was formed, it had two aims—to act as a friendly society offering financial support to its members in need, and to promote the moral, social and intellectual improvement of its members. It shunned traditional friendly society practices of ritual and regalia and set its sights on influencing public thinking and government policy on a range of issues related to Australian nationalism.
The ANA provided services such as sick pay and funeral benefits. It was also an important presence in many communities through its debates, concerts and other social activities. In the late nineteenth century the ANA actively promoted the cause of federation of the Australian colonies. Australia’s first two Prime Ministers, Sir Edmund Barton and Sir Alfred Deakin, were members of the ANA, as was Australia’s first Australian-born Governor-General, Sir Isaac Isaacs. In the twentieth century, the ANA continued to provide various health services to its members. In common with other friendly societies, it also expanded into other areas. In 1948 the ANA General Insurance Company was established and in 1964 the ANA Permanent Building Society was established. The Australian Natives’ Association (Victoria) merged with Manchester Unity (Victoria) to form Australian Unity in 1993.
Celebrating 140 years
A celebratory luncheon for the Australian Natives’ Association’s 140th anniversary was held in April 2011.
The luncheon, held in the Federation Room of the Australian Unity head office in Melbourne, included approximately 60 past and present association members. The members were welcomed by the president of the ANA Ms Rosemary Kelleher. Rosemary was delighted to acknowledge a special guest Mrs Rosalind Pyers, the daughter of John Menadue, author of the ANA's Centenary History.
Leading landscape architect Perry Lethlean of Taylor Cullity Lethlean spoke at the luncheon and shared his experiences of planning and designing various large-scale landscaping projects. This included the Australian Garden at Cranbourne, part of the Royal Botanic Gardens, which incorporates distinctly Australian landscapes and characteristics and creates an area for people to interact with nature.
Perry also discussed his role in creating the National Arboretum in Canberra which involves planting 100 forests, each including a different species of endangered tree. At the conclusion of his speech, Perry was presented with an ANA poster from the 1930s about tree planting in Victoria. The poster was produced as part of an Australia-wide ANA campaign to promote conservation and re-afforestation.
