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ABBOTT, CHARLES LYDIARD AUBREY (1881–1975), policeman, soldier, pastoralist, politician and
Administrator of the Northern Territory, was born on 4 May 1886 in North Sydney, the son of Thomas Kingswell
Abbott and his wife May, nee Lydiard. His father was the chief stipendiary magistrate in Sydney.
At 10 years of age he was boarded at The King’s School, Parramatta, where he was four years younger than
any of the other 160 students. He enjoyed Latin and won a prize in athletics. At the age of 14 he ran away from
school and went first to his mother’s relatives in Victoria before finding work as a jackeroo near Gunnedah. After a
brief attempt to become an actor in Sydney, he drifted to Queensland where he worked as a stockman at Mitchell
and Roma before becoming a canecutter at Pleystow Mill near Mackay. After three years at Pleystow he joined
the New South Wales Police Force as a mounted constable. From 1908 to 1914 he worked as a confidential clerk
at police headquarters.
In 1914 he joined the expeditionary force sent to capture German New Guinea. Upon his return he enlisted in
the Australian Imperial Force, and was posted to the 12th Light Horse. He saw action at Gallipoli (where he went
ashore a corporal and left an officer), in Sinai (where he was wounded), Palestine and Syria. He achieved a mention
in dispatches. He met T E Lawrence in Damascus and heard of the latter’s disappointment that the city had fallen
to the Australians and not to him. While in Egypt he met Hilda Gertrude Harnett, the first Australian woman
to serve overseas with the Red Cross. He proposed in front of the Sphinx, ‘and the Sphinx smiled’. They were
married on 24 October 1916. Returning to Australia in 1918, he resigned from the army with the rank of Major.
After the war he used a family inheritance to establish a property called Echo Hills near Tamworth, where
he joined the Country Party and was unsuccessful in a bid to enter the New South Wales Legislative Assembly.
In 1925 he won the federal seat of Gwydir with a majority of 2 000, and on 29 November 1928, as Minister for
Home and Territories, became the youngest minister in the Bruce–Page Government. From 10 December 1928 to
22 October 1929 he continued to be responsible for the Northern Territory as Minister for Home Affairs. He lost
his seat when Scullin’s Labor Government swept into power in 1929, but was returned in 1931 and again in 1934
with a majority of about 7 000. He was offered the post of Administrator of the Northern Territory in 1937 and he
resigned his seat in the House to accept it.
Shortly after his appointment to Darwin, Abbott allowed the use of public servants in an attempt to break a
wharf labourers’ strike. By this action he alienated himself from the strong local union element and subsequently
made no attempt to re-establish a better relationship. Believing that the future prosperity of the Northern Territory
lay in the development of the pastoral industry, he had the Murranji stock route cleared and tried to encourage
graziers. His suggestion that Hobo Downs was an inappropriate name for a property that was part of the Territory’s
economic backbone led the manager to rename it Utopia. Abbott’s point was that the original name did not evoke
a feeling of pride.
Abbott’s attitude to Aborigines was ambivalent. He was patronising, in the manner of his time, and saw the
‘natives’ as a valuable component (or resource) in the development of the cattle industry; but he was also aware of
the inequality of Aborigines before the law. Although opponents accused him of extreme callousness in the case
of an Aboriginal maid killed during the first Japanese raid on Darwin, he seems to have had a good relationship
with his Aboriginal staff: ‘Sam’ and his wife ‘Silver’ endured incredible hardship in an endeavour to join Abbott
in Alice Springs because ‘Sam’ felt the need to be with his boss. They walked over 650 kilometres from Cape Don
to Mataranka.
As Administrator, Abbott bore some responsibility for the unpreparedness of Darwin for the Japanese air raids
that began on 19 February 1942 and for the subsequent behaviour of civilians. He had enjoyed a good relationship
with the armed services and expected that in an emergency martial law would be introduced. His advocacy in
Canberra of the requests from his civil defence volunteers was not forceful, and these people had resigned in
protest immediately prior to the initial attack. At the Royal Commission into the attack his opponents were granted
complete confidentiality but he was refused counsel. Although the commissioner’s findings were damaging to
Abbott, he retained the confidence of his minister and departmental secretary. His attempt to clear his name was,
however, unsuccessful.
From February 1942 to 1946 the administration of the Northern Territory was transferred to Alice Springs.
From there Abbott struggled against staff shortage and conflict with the local army commander, Colonel Noel Loutit,
to keep civil power alive. He supervised the move of government back to Darwin before his replacement by
A R Driver at the age of 60. Abbott left Darwin, almost alone and unnoticed, in May 1946. He never received
another government appointment.
Abbott was a tall man—his father and two uncles together measured over 5 metres—with strong features and
wavy brown hair. He was thoroughly conservative, having told S M Bruce that he would leave the ministry and
the Country Party before he would vote with Labor. He was also arrogant: having classified Darwin’s population
into four groups, he dismissed that group consisting of permanent residents as ‘having a mentality not of a very
high standard’. After five years as Administrator he was able to tell the Lowe Royal Commission that he would not
call the people of Darwin his enemies; he simply did not know them. He had a much greater empathy with graziers
and was pleased to have visiting VIP guests stay overnight at Government House when the airlines introduced a
passenger service through Darwin. He described the catering for a millionaires’ cruise as the ‘most successful thing
I did’ and was proud to have known all the prime ministers except Alfred Deakin.