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James, Frederick Alexander

Frederick Alexander James, fruit grower, dried fruit processor, philanthropist, visionary, litigant, producer of jams and condiments, political agitator and sheep farm owner.

He was born at Trevarno East Marden, South Australia, the home of his pioneering parents, in 1844. He was the second son of Thomas James and his wife, Emily, nee Pitt. After attending the Muirden Business College in 1900-01, he entered the family business.

Under his father “Trevarno” was a pioneer in the export of citrus to England. 1 His father had, through trial and error, discovered which varieties of citrus the English market preferred. In this manner he had built a prosperous business on the banks of the River Torrens. In 1910 after his father Thomas, 2 They traded under the name of Pitt and James.

In 1914 two separate events conspired to bring about financial hardship. One was a severe drought affecting the State; the other was a large shipment of fruit the firm sent to Germany. War broke out before the payment for the shipment could be made. 3 These two events caused the family partnership to collapse. Frederick James then bought some land at Berri on the River Murray. He decided to concentrate on the dried fruit industry instead of citrus. In the Riverland he built processing and packaging plants. His products were packaged under the “Trevarno” brand.

In 1918, at the end of the war, the Federal and State Governments helped set up returned soldiers in their own farms. The “Trevarno” brand was beginning to increase in sales. Frederick James elected to help the returned soldiers with finance and expertise. He guaranteed their overdrafts with the banks. In return they would sell all their produce to him.4 He would process, package, and sell, the fruits of their labour under his “Trevarno” brand. His export business grew enormously. This system suited grower and manufacturer alike. However in other parts of the country, soldier settlers were struggling. The price of dried fruit dropped due to over production, and they were unable to make a living. The Federal Government decided to assist them. In 1923-1924 they placed restrictions on exports, and banned the transfer of dried fruit interstate, without a license. 5 The idea was to artificially hold the price of dried fruit, to a level where the growers could survive. Each State had introduced a department called the Australian Dried Fruit Administration or A.D.F.A. It was their job to administer the Act. Membership of this organization was for growers and dealers, who were required to conform for the good of the industry. The “Trevarno” brand was predominantly an export market. To agree to the terms of the A.D.F.A. would have sent the company into decline, and also the soldier settler growers, whom it was meant to protect. Frederick James refused to become a member of the A.D.F.A. and continued to trade as before.

Frederick Alexander james

Frederick Alexander James
Photograph appeared in The Mail (Adelaide, SA :) Saturday 18 July 1936 p 1

In 1926, under the new A.D.F.A. rules, “Trevarno” was only allowed to produce 68 tons of dried fruit for the Australian and New Zealand market. Its export market was capped at 5 tons per month. They had purchased 400 tons of fruit, from the soldier settlers, to fulfill the demand from buyers for that year. When these facts were advised to the A.D.F.A. the Australian quota was increased to 136 tons. 6

Frederick James, in an effort to improve his business skills, had been learning shorthand and typing. The most challenging document he could find to aid with these two pursuits was the Australian Constitution.7 Over and over he typed and wrote out the Constitution in shorthand. Through the knowledge gained from this learning, he believed the law the A.D.F.A. was trying to enforce was against the Constitution. Restriction of trade between the States was illegal under this document. This was confirmed by a local Berri Solicitor Kevin Ward.
He disregarded the instructions from the South Australian A.D.F.A. indeed he sold an additional 240 tons to brokers in Victoria and New South Wales. The South Australian A.D.F.A. took legal action against him, the first of 28 law suits, in a ten year period. In all the cases he was successful, and in all but one was awarded costs. Amendments were continually made to the Act until the case was taken to the Privy Council, the final court of appeal in London, in 1936. The legal representative for the Commonwealth of Australia was Robert Menzies, the then Attorney General, and later Prime Minister of Australia. This case he also was won. 8

The reaction of the Federal Government was to hold a referendum to alter the Constitution. This was also defeated in 1937. Mr. James organized a Senate team to fight the Federal Election after the rejection of the referendum. 9 One amusing incident occurred in 1929. The South Australian Minister for Agriculture, Sir John Cowan, to avoid being subpoenaed to appear in court, hid in Parliament House for two weeks. A senior South Australian public servant had already been imprisoned for contempt of court. At the request of Minister of Agriculture, he had refused to tender the minutes of an A.D.F.A. meeting relevant to the case. 10 Other incidents included State owned railways, banned from carrying fruit for “Trevarno”. Truck drivers were also advised they would lose their carriers license if the carried “Trevarno” fruit. Ship owner were also under a threat with regard to exporting “Trevarno” products. 11

Having been successful in the courts, Frederick James attempted to sue the Federal Government for £27,000 damages. The high court granted him £878 5/ 7 d. Frederick James sold his packaging plant and two properties at Berri for £20,000. He sold it to the A.D.F.A. In 1937, he became a state distributing agent for that organization. (12) He maintained his “Trevarno” Jam and Sauce production business in Adelaide. Frederick James also prophesized that rail transport would eventually be replaced by road transport to deliver freight. He preferred to used road transport, it was cheaper and faster. Road freight from Berri to Adelaide was delivered the next morning; rail freight took two to three days to do the same journey and was more expensive. 13

In the 1940’s Frederick Alexander James bought 4,000 acres of land near Parawa on the Fleurieu Peninsula. His son Lester James bought land nearby and together they farmed sheep. They bred Corriedale sheep on the property, which they named “Trevarno”. 14 In 1961 Lester James’s son Rodney James, helped run the Corriedale stud, until he left to take up a position as a Christian Minister. In 1981 the Stud was sold and sheep that had won prizes in South Australia and interstate were snapped up at the sales. 15

Researched and compiled by Jim Nelson, a volunteer with the Campbelltown Library “Digital Diggers” group.

If you have any comments or questions regarding the information in this local history article, please contact the Local History officer on 8366 9357 or hthiselton@campbelltown.sa.gov.au

References

  1. South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900) Friday 9 July 1897 p 7
  2. News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954) Monday 20 July 1936 p 6
  3. P. A. Howell, 'James, Frederick Alexander (1884–1957)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/james-frederick-alexander-6822/text11805, published first in hardcopy 1983, accessed online 23 November 2017.
  4. P. A. Howell, 'James, Frederick Alexander (1884–1957)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/james-frederick-alexander-6822/text11805, published first in hardcopy 1983, accessed online 23 November 2017.
  5. P. A. Howell, 'James, Frederick Alexander (1884–1957)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/james-frederick-alexander-6822/text11805, published first in hardcopy 1983, accessed online 23 November 2017.
  6. P. A. Howell, 'James, Frederick Alexander (1884–1957)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/james-frederick-alexander-6822/text11805, published first in hardcopy 1983, accessed online 23 November 2017.
  7. P. A. Howell, 'James, Frederick Alexander (1884–1957)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/james-frederick-alexander-6822/text11805, published first in hardcopy 1983, accessed online 23 November 2017.
  8. The Menzies Research Centre. (2017). Life of Sir Robert Menzies. [online] Available at: http://www.menziesrc.org/sir-robert-menzies/history-of-sir-robert-menzies [Accessed 23 Nov. 2017].
  9. Transcontinental (Port Augusta, SA : 1914 - 1954) Friday 1 October 1937 p 4
  10. The Register News-Pictorial (Adelaide, SA : 1929 - 1931) Wednesday 21 August 1929 p 2
  11. P. A. Howell, 'James, Frederick Alexander (1884–1957)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/james-frederick-alexander-6822/text11805, published first in hardcopy 1983, accessed online 23 November 2017.
  12. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954) Thursday 16 December 1937 p 40
  13. Northern Argus (Clare, SA : 1869 - 1954) Friday 7 January 1938 p 5
  14. Lush, B. (2017). The Late Lester James. Australian Corriedale Association Newsletter, [online] (June 2017 Issue), p.6. Available at: http://www.corriedale.org.au/_edit/Newsletters/2017_06_June%20Corriedale_newsletter_1380kb.pdf [Accessed 23 Nov. 2017].
  15. Victor Harbour Times (SA : 1932 - 1986) Wednesday 30 September 1981 p 9


Photographs
Frederick Alexander James, photograph appeared in The Mail (Adelaide, SA :) Saturday 18 July 1936 p 1  
An advertisement for fruit in the Leader (Angaston, SA : 1918 - 1954) Thursday 3 January 1935 p 2