Conrade. W. Quihampton was a great leader in the thoughts of the ANA during the 1940s writing an appeal to “urging a more vigorous celebration of Australia day each year to awaken Australians to a realisation of their great heritage.” he was elected chairman of the Australia Day Council which lobbied Australian Governments for many years to develop the ‘Australia Day’ we take for granted today.

Elected Chief President of the A.N.A in 1953 Conrade was a staunch defender of Australia’s trade heritage, a protectionist who argued that lowering import restrictions was a “short-sighted policy that would endanger the employment of thousands of Australians.”

His defence of the A.N.A’s policy on White Australia saw him take upon large moneyed and root-less capitalist interests:

“Advocacy for controlled immigration on a quota basis for non-Europeans is anything but new, but it is entirely discredited by all who have the welfare of the country and their children at heart. To go beyond the present interchange of students and trade representatives, and the dissemination of technological and scientific information and provision of economic aid for needy Asian countries would be to abandon a priceless heritage and jeopardise the whole well-being of future generations in Australia.

Nothing could be more suicidal to Australians than a relaxation of the White Australia Policy.”

Conrade was also a campaigner for native-born Australian families arguing that “the declining birth-rate was due largely to the housing shortage. It was also causing a great number of people to become slum-minded.”