The Perkins Papers are a collection of typescript papers illustrating the social history of the electorate of Eden-Monaro and the towns of Tumut and Adelong from 1823 to 1948. John Arthur Perkins was born at Gocup, near Tumut 18 May 1878. He attended both Tumut and Cooma Public Schools. Perkins interest in public affairs started at a young age and he was actively involved in a diverse range of activities within the local community. Perkins was also engaged in a variety of political pursuits from 1902 until 1942 when he retired. He was a member of the Cooma Municipal Council 1902 - 1909, Mayor in 1904 and 1908. Perkins held the seat of Goulburn in 1921 and successfully contested the seat of Eden-Monaro in 1926, maintaining it until 1929. He regained the seat in 1931 and held it to 1943.

In 1943 when Perkins retired, he began to collect material relating to the history of the districts in which he had been brought up and which he had served as a member of Parliament. Perkins cast his net rather widely, covering his seat of Eden-Monaro from south of Goulburn, the South Coast, to the Upper Murray River, and the towns of Tumut and Adelong. After Perkins passed away, his wife moved and the papers her husband had intended to donate to the 'Historical Society' were disposed of at the local rubbish dump. Luckily an alert person found the collection and saved it. The original transcripts were donated to the Mitchell Library while the duplicate carbon copies were donated to the Society of the Australian Genealogists.  

Image: Tumut NSW, SAG Manuscript and Image Collection, Item 5/3345

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