Charles Harper—A Life

C.T. Stannage (1979, pp. 190–191) described Charles Harper as “a deeply conservative, Anglican farmer, pastoralist and company director”, and argued that he was an anti-democrat who bought The West Australian merely to use it as an instrument for “country and conservative opinion”. This is a somewhat unbalanced synopsis of Harper’s political philosophy, but one that hits upon the key themes that are explored in this chapter. The Harpers were members of the elite class within the Colony of Western Australia and Harper worked all his life to preserve this special position and influence in order to protect his economic interests. These interests drove his policy prescriptions, and, like most patricians, he was unable to separate his interests from those of the Colony, since to him they were one and the same. He believed that the means by which to transform an isolated and poor colony into a rich agricultural society was to harness the co-operative efforts of all citizens, as well as the guiding hand of the state, to overcome the frontier problems caused by a lack of capital and incomplete markets. The fact that he established business and political interests during this agricultural expansion that were of personal benefit to him does not preclude the possibility that he also served his fellow colonists more often than not.