The Australian Natives' Association was a mutual society founded in Melbourne, Australia in April 1871 as the Victorian Natives' Association. At the time its membership was restricted to white men born in Australia. The organisation had 60,000 members at its peak, and influential lobbying power, campaigning against non-white immigration and promoting federation and the White Australia policy. The organisation's last remaining chapter closed in 2007.
History
In 1872 it voted to extend membership to men born in the other Australian colonies and changed its name at the same time. The Association played a leading role in the movement for Australian federation in the last 20 years of the 19th century. In 1900 it had a membership of 17,000, mainly in Victoria. was a member. It shows the use of the slogan "White Australia" at that time. 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 were rising to power in place of an older generation born in Britain. In the 1890s, for the first time, they became the majority of the population. The ANA consisted mainly of middle-class men aged under 50. The orgnisation received criticism for their name, including from Aboriginal leader and activist William Cooper over the appropriation of the term 'native'.
Federation
In 1880 the ANA committed itself to the federation of the Australian colonies, and provided much of the organisational and financial support for the Federation Leagues which led the campaign, particularly in Victoria. It avoided party politics, but they soon adopted the rising liberal politician and ANA member Alfred Deakin as their candidate for leadership of the federal movement. In 1891, when the Victorian Parliament was considering the federation bill, the ANA that 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. 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. Other nationalistic issues supported by the ANA included afforestation, an Australian-made goods policy, water conservation, the celebration of 'proper and meaningful' citizenship ceremonies following the increased levels of migration after World War II, and the adoption of the wattle as the national floral emblem in 1912.
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, the largest friendly society in Australia by number of members. In 2007, the only remaining chapter of the ANA closed down; the building owned by the chapter was sold and the proceeds distributed among the groups remaining 320 members.
