I WAS BORN in London on 4 August 1871. My parents were both actors. I won numerous prizes at school, and became apprenticed to a cabinetmaker. My family travelled to Australia in 1888 and settled in Sydney.

I was interested in literature and music, politics and socialism. I became recognised as an outstanding orator. Influential in the burgeoning Labor Party, I quickly became a force in the New South Wales parliament after capturing the seat of Grenfell and retaining it despite controversially opposing Britain’s (and Australia’s) involvement in the Boer War.

I was the most significant individual in the NSW ALP long before I actually led it. Deputy leader from 1905, I became deputy premier in 1910 when Labor won office for the first time in New South Wales. But the government’s tumultuous first term generated political turbulence of Whitlamesque proportions. Amid recurring emergencies, my debating skill was critical to the government’s survival.

In 1913, at last, I became leader and premier of New South Wales. My advocacy and oratory was a crucial factor in Labor’s victory at the state election later that year. The prominence arising from this success prompted the flattering conclusion that I had become at this time the most outstanding Labor identity in Australia.

But this accolade did not last long. My attitude to the Great War was very unlike my view of the Boer War. I loved France, and I supported our support of that country. This led to my expulsion from the ALP in 1916 after I campaigned in favour of conscription. Also, my controversial association with a well-known entrepreneur (who was appointed by my government to the Legislative Council) antagonised many Labor supporters.

Q1: Who was I?
Q2: Who was the leader I overshadowed and eventually succeeded?
Q3: Who was the well-known entrepreneur whose friendship with me became highly controversial?

TO SUBMIT YOUR ANSWERS, CLICK HERE (please include your name, suburb & state/territory)

PREVIOUS QUIZ
The answers to the the previous Quiz are: H.V. Evatt; E.A. McTiernan.
Correct answers were received from:

Morris Allen. Eden Hills SA
Niall Johnson, Warriewood NSW
John Gallagher, Randwick NSW
Phil Read, Page ACT
Ian Hundley, Balwyn North VIC
Lisa Dalla Torre, Mount Waverley VIC
Ian Caldwell, Belmont VIC
Robert Bozinovski, Keilor Downs VIC
Marlena Turner, Ulverstone TAS
Chris Bollmeyer, Grange SA
Yulia Onsman, West Hobart TAS
Aydan Casey, Marrickville NSW
Matthew Rayner, Woodbine NSW
Catherine Mundy, Maylands WA
Debbie Smith, Chisholm ACT
Susan Ryan, Coogee NSW
Malcolm Thurston, Nicholls ACT
Greg Brian, North Strathfield NSW
Angela van Vorst, Leichhardt NSW
Phil Teece, Sunshine Bay NSW
Peter Doyle, Collingwood Park QLD
Paul Romas, Reservoir VIC
Alan Collins, St Andrews NSW
Lawry Bredhauer, Conder ACT
John Danziger, Trieste ITALY
Amanda Reid, Bassendean WA
Brian McInnes, Leura NSW: “Dr Evatt's daughter, Rosalind Carrodus, is a Leura resident and a member of our local Katoomba branch.”
Nick Agocs, Dianella WA
Sandra Sue, Berowra NSW
Brad Snell, Karratha WA
Brian Cullen, Carlton VIC
Auriel Barlow, Dickson ACT (one answer correct)

*Ross McMullin is the author of the ALP centenary history The Light on the Hill: The Australian Labor Party 1891–1991. He has also written about ALP history in his book So Monstrous a Travesty: Chris Watson and the World’s First National Labour Government. His publications also include the award-winning military biography Pompey Elliott, and his most recent book is another biography, Will Dyson: Australia’s Radical Genius.

_____________________________________________________________________________

June winners; July question

By Ross McMullin*

Posted 9 July 2008

Ross McMullin has provided another question to test and extend your knowledge of ALP history. The answer will be revealed next month. Correct entrants will receive hearty praise and admiration.

A BOOK CALLED The Greats (1986) contained the following excerpt:

“Outside the Palais de Chaillot in Paris, crowds gathered in 1948 to watch the world’s leading diplomats arrive for the third General Assembly of the recently formed United Nations. Daimlers, Rolls-Royces and Delages drew up with pin-striped, homburg-hatted gentlemen in the back. Each nation’s representative was accompanied by a substantial entourage.

One car and its occupant were different. It was a modest, late-model Ford; there was nobody in the back; and a heavy, tousle-headed man in a baggy lounge suit, his tie off-centre, sat next to the chauffer. Muttering a nasal “see you later” to the driver, the passenger let himself out and shambled up to the official entrance—only to be barred by a gendarme whose instructions were to admit dignitaries only. Later the policeman was flabbergasted to learn that he had delayed the President of the General Assembly himself.”

This UN President with the less formal manner was a prominent ALP identity based in New South Wales. Many years earlier he had been appointed to Australia’s High Court at the same time as a lawyer who also had a background in NSW Labor politics (a former Attorney-General in a government headed by Jack Lang, in fact). This other judge ended up remaining on the High Court bench for 46 years.

QUESTION: Who were these two High Court judges?

TO SUBMIT YOUR ANSWERS, CLICK HERE (please include your name, suburb & state/territory)

PREVIOUS QUIZ
The answers to the three questions of the previous Quiz are: John Curtin, Frank Hyett and John Gunn.

Three answers correct:
Chris Bollmeyer, Grange SA
Lisa Dalla Torre, Mount Waverley VIC
Greg Brian, North Strathfield NSW
Morris Allen, Eden Hills SA
Madonna Weston
Ian Caldwell, Belmont Vic
Robert Bozinovski, Keilor Downs VIC
Greg Roberts, East Perth WA
Phil Read, Page ACT
John Quessy, Epping NSW
Stephen Holt, Macquarie ACT
Niall Johnson, Warriewood NSW
John Gallagher, Randwick NSW
Margaret Bywater, Phnom Penh Cambodia: “When John Curtin passed away I was barely three years old, but I still remember my father a great admirer of Curtin, listening to the ABC radio broadcast of news of his passing.”
Tony Richards, Leichhardt, NSW
Sandra Sue, Berowra NSW
Robert Pask, Bentleigh East VIC
Phil Teece, Sunshine Bay NSW
Brian McInnes, Leura NSW: “To answer two questions that were not asked: Frank's wife was Ethel Gunn; and Jack Curtin did not meet Jessie Gunn until he was some 25 years old!”
Paul Hunt, Woodvale WA
David White, Ferntree Gully VIC
Frazer Shepherd Urunga NSW
Brian Cullen, Carlton VIC: “Frank Hyett was wicket-keeper in the Vicctorian State team, playing three 1st-class matches from 1914/15 - 1918/19, taking 5 catches, and his batting average was 43 – with top score of century was 108 no.”
Angela van Vorst, Leichhardt NSW
Matthew Rayner, Woodbine NSW

Two answers correct...
Angela D'Ambra, NSW
Eric Fleming, Warwick WA

One answer correct...
Blake Osmond, Wollongong NSW
Marlena Turner, Ulverstone Tas
Philip Laird, Keiraville VIC: “A more challenging question - and a good one - and I could only answer the first part: John Curtin.”

*Ross McMullin is the author of the ALP centenary history The Light on the Hill: The Australian Labor Party 1891–1991. He has also written about ALP history in his book So Monstrous a Travesty: Chris Watson and the World’s First National Labour Government. His publications also include the award-winning military biography Pompey Elliott, and his most recent book is another biography, Will Dyson: Australia’s Radical Genius.
________________________________________________________________________________

May winners; June question

By Ross McMullin*

Posted 9 June 2008

Ross McMullin has provided another question to test and extend your knowledge of ALP history. The answer will be revealed next month. Correct entrants will receive hearty praise and admiration.

I WAS BORN at Creswick, delivered by the local doctor (who was the father of Norman Lindsay and all his artist siblings). My father was then a policeman. He had been a prison warder and a soldier, and was to become a publican.

I grew up in poverty. I read widely, played cricket and football for Brunswick, and maintained a detailed correspondence for years with my friend and confidant Jessie, whose brother was to become premier of South Australia. I married someone else, whose father was also a Labor candidate.

I involved myself in the timberworkers’ union, and eventually became its secretary. Later I became editor of the Westralian Worker. I was willing to stand for parliament as a Labor candidate, but at my first three attempts to get into federal parliament I lost each time. After I did at last get in I was defeated.

For a while I became a sportswriter who provided racing tips. But I persevered with politics, and succeeded in getting back into the House of Representatives as the member for Fremantle. I stayed longer this time, and managed to fill notable positions.

My best mate and I had plenty in common. We were comrades in the labour movement, and mixed in the same circles: in fact he married Jessie’s sister. We both loved sport, and both became union secretaries. But in just about everything he was regarded as more promising than me. He even made a century for Victoria in an interstate match. It was a terrible shock when he died suddenly, aged 37.

QUESTIONS:
Who was I?
Who was my best mate?
And who was Jessie's brother who became premier of South Australia?

TO SUBMIT YOUR ANSWERS, CLICK HERE (please include your name, suburb & state/territory)

PREVIOUS QUIZ
The answer to the previous Quiz: Some guessed Frank Crean but most answered correctly with Lance Barnard. But, of those, far fewer also answered the second part of the question correctly; ie , the seat he held (Bass, Tasmania.)

Correct responses to both parts:
Morris Allen, Eden Hills SA
Simon Carroll, NSW
Glenna Coleman QLD
Linda Perrett, Guildford NSW
Auriel Barlow, Dickson ACT
Michael Gard, Devonport TAS
Penny Carroll, Mt Lawley WA
Nick Agocs, Dianella, WA
Blake Osmond, Wollongong NSW
Brian Cullen, Carlton VIC
Bruce McAllister, Kelso QLD
Beverley Turbit, Toronto NSW
Jason Toppin, Boronia VIC ("I looked up on the ALP website under Labor MPs, then to the current Member for Bass & the answer was there for me.")
Margaret Bywater, Phnom Pwnh CAMBODIA
Ian Hundley, Balwyn North VIC
Peter Fuller, Warranwood VIC
John Jordan, Penrith NSW
Trevor Scroop, Greenacres SA
Greg Brian, North Strathfield NSW
Greg Roberts, East Perth WA
Brian McInnes, Leura NSW
Robert Bozinovski, Keilor Downs VIC
Ian Wade-Parker, QLD
Chris O'Regan, Everton Park QLD
John Quessy, Epping NSW
Philip Laird, Keiraville NSW
Niall Johnson, Warriewood NSW
Sue Kealy, Rosebery NSW
Stephen Holt, Macquarie ACT
David White, Ferntree Gully VIC
Chris Bollmeyer, Grange SA
John Gallagher, Randwick NSW
James McComb, Ethelton SA

Correct responses to the first part :
Danni Smith, Brunswick VIC
Darryl Bessell, Smithton TAS
Georgina McKay, Mont Albert North VIC
Lorie Werner, Box Hill Sth VIC
Theo Pouw
Brian Soiland, Port Macquarie NSW
Geoff & Gabe Collins
Andrew Thomas, Leichhardt NSW
Brendan Lock Rye NSW
Henry Strzadala, Hoppers Crossing VIC
Malcolm Thurston, Nicholls ACT
Mark Lovejoy, Nambour QLD
Don McKenzie, Emerald Beach NSW
Ken Maher, Dickson ACT (“An 'unsung hero' of the Whitlam government.”)
Phil Teece, Sunshine Bay NSW
Elizabeth Sinclair, Strathfieldsaye VIC
Michael Grounds, Strathfieldsaye VIC
Phil & Judy Read , Page ACT
Matthew Rayner, Woodbine NSW
Phillip Daly, Parafield Gardens SA

*Ross McMullin is the author of the ALP centenary history The Light on the Hill: The Australian Labor Party 1891–1991. He has also written about ALP history in his book So Monstrous a Travesty: Chris Watson and the World’s First National Labour Government. His publications also include the award-winning military biography Pompey Elliott, and his most recent book is another biography, Will Dyson: Australia’s Radical Genius.

________________________________________________________________________________

April winners; May question

By Ross McMullin*

Posted 12 May 2008

I WAS BORN was born at Launceston in 1919. My father was an engine-driver who represented the ALP in state and federal parliament. He was a minister in the Chifley government before losing his seat in 1949. I won it back for Labor five years later.

Before entering parliament I was a teacher in Tasmania and active in my union. I served in the Australian army in World War II, and was wounded in action.

In caucus I formed a friendship with another returned serviceman, Gough Whitlam. I supported his rise within the party, advocating his merits to colleagues. This paid off when he was elected deputy leader in 1960. Following the 1966 election, a debacle for Labor, Whitlam became party leader and caucus elected me as his deputy.

We were an effective team. I was loyal, hard-working and content to stay unostentatious (in contrast to Gough’s flamboyance). Also, compared to Gough, I was more able and willing to mix with backbenchers, keeping in touch with their views and concerns.

After Labor’s long road back to office culminated in the 1972 victory, I became deputy prime minister. For the first fortnight of the government, because Gough was so keen to get started on all the things we had to do even before the caucus ballot to decide the ministry, I had no fewer than 14 portfolios. After the full ministry was elected, my responsibilities were reduced to five defence-related departments.

Being at the heart of the Whitlam government was a tumultuous experience. Never a dull moment. After the government was re-elected in 1974, I was defeated in the caucus ballot for the deputy leadership by Jim Cairns. Besides this disappointment, my wartime wound was increasingly troublesome, my wife was ill, and I had achieved my main policy objectives in the defence sphere. In 1975 I told Gough I wanted to quit.

He appointed me as Australian ambassador to Sweden, Finland and Norway. The by-election for my seat became a notorious Labor defeat. After my ambassadorship I had other public roles, including being the Director of the Office of Australian War Graves. I died in 1997.

Who was I, and which seat did I hold?

TO SUBMIT YOUR ANSWER, CLICK HERE (please include your name, suburb & state/territory)

PREVIOUS QUIZ

The answer to the previous Quiz: Some guessed LLoyd Ross, Eddie Ward, Gordon Brown and Stabber Jack Beasley, but the answer was John Solomon (‘Sol’) Rosevear.

Correct responses were received from:
Morris Allen, Eden Hills SA
Ken Maher, Dickson ACT
Ian Caldwell, Belmont VIC
Lesley Vassall, Ashfield NSW
John Wasiliev, Moss Vale NSW
Greg Brian, North Strathfield NSW
Peter Fuller, Warranwood VIC
Tim Pyke, Carlton North VIC
Yulia Onsman, West Hobart TAS
Matthew Rayner, Woodbine NSW
Jason Young, QLD
Robert Bozinovski, Keilor Downs VIC
John Quessy, Epping NSW
Bernie Moloney, St Ives NSW
Niall Johnson, Warriewood NSW
Penny Carroll, Mt Lawley WA
Brian Cullen, Carlton VIC
Chris Bollmeyer, Grange SA
Brendan Forde, Gundaroo NSW
Don McKenzie, Emerald Beach NSW
Graham Russell, Beaumont SA
Brian McInnes, Leura NSW
Phil Read , Page ACT
Jane Casey, Mackay QLD
Doug Melville, Kambah ACT
Lorie Werner, Box Hill South VIC
Michael Gard, Devonport TAS
Troy Bramston, Gymea NSW
Malcolm Thurston, Nicholls ACT
Trevor Scroop, Greenacres SA
Danni Smith, Brunswick VIC
Ange Kenos
Blake Osmond
Christie White

*Ross McMullin is the author of the ALP centenary history The Light on the Hill: The Australian Labor Party 1891–1991. He has also written about ALP history in his book So Monstrous a Travesty: Chris Watson and the World’s First National Labour Government. His publications also include the award-winning military biography Pompey Elliott, and his most recent book is another biography, Will Dyson: Australia’s Radical Genius.

_______________________________________________________________________________

March winners; April question

By Ross McMullin*

Posted 7 April 2008

THERE WAS ONE Labor leader who remained more associated with his place of origin than any other ALP prime minister.

He was born there, he went to school there, he was employed there, he met his wife there, he was on the council there, he chaired the management of the hospital there, his funeral was there, and he was buried there.

His electorate included his home city, which was not a state capital. Even when prime minister he endeavoured to get home regularly, every fortnight or so, although he could only remain home briefly. The freedom of this city was conferred on him towards the end of his life, an honour that perhaps meant more to him than any other.

Who was he and what was his home city?

TO SUBMIT YOUR ANSWER, CLICK HERE (please include your name, suburb and state/territory)

PREVIOUS QUIZ

The answer to the previous Quiz is: Fred Daly.

Correct answers were received from:
Tony Prescott, Honiara, Solomon Islands
Tony Kennedy, Morioka, Japan
Malcolm Thurston, Nicholls, ACT
Morris Allen, Eden Hills SA
Lorie Werner, Box Hill South VIC
Philip Laird, Keiraville NSW (“Fred also wrote a good book, From Curtin to Kerr”)
Chris Bollmeyer, Grange SA
Simon Carroll, Wahroonga NSW
Sue Earley, Park Orchards VIC
Colleen Drew, Connells Point NSW
Rondah Rietveld, Williamstown VIC
Alan Collins, St Andrews NSW
Debbie Smith, Chisholm ACT
Stephen Holt, Canberra ACT
Robert Bozinovski, Keilor Downs VIC
T. J. Norton, Jimboomba QLD
Dave Murray, Banksia Beach QLD
Theo Pouw, Ringwood VIC
Lance Wilson, Wandin North VIC
Nick Agocs, Dianella WA
Warren Nicholls, Reid ACT (“What a wag. He named his dog after THAT GG, John Kerr. As he said, the dog was a Curr!”)
Andrew Thomas, Leichhardt NSW
Paul Burke, Carina QLD
Christine Kibble, Randwick NSW
Penny Carroll, Mt Lawley WA
Auriel Barlow, Dickson ACT
Peter Gregg, Goonellabah NSW
Greg Brian, North Strathfield NSW
Brian Cullen, Carlton VIC
Ken Maher, Dickson ACT (“I used to see Fred quite often in his later years. He lived in the same suburb here in Canberra and attended my church.”)
Sam Alexander Benowa QLD
Phil Teece, Sunshine Bay NSW
Ian Hundley, Balwyn North VIC
Susan Ryan, Coogee NSW
Bev Turbit, Toronto NSW
John Gallagher, Randwick NSW
Ian Caldwell, Belmont VIC
Ange Bantis, Mill Park VIC
Phil Read, Page ACT
Niall Johnson, Warriewood NSW
Aydan Casey, Marrickville NSW
Brian McInnes, Leura NSW
Anne Levy, Adelaide SA
Henry Strzadala
Paul Doughty, Petersham NSW
Paul Romas, Reservoir VIC
Jordan Stanley, Mangerton NSW
Phillip Daly, Parafield Gardens SA
Lorraine Browitt, Sale VIC
Tim Pyke, Melbourne VIC
Gwen Dowling
David White, Ferntree Gully VIC
Jutta Besold, Acton ACT
Danni Smith, Brunswick,VIC
Bernie Moloney, St Ives NSW
Sue Kealy, Rosebery NSW
John Jordan, Penrith NSW
Matthew Rayner, Woodbine NSW

*Ross McMullin is the author of the ALP centenary history The Light on the Hill: The Australian Labor Party 1891–1991. He has also written about ALP history in his book So Monstrous a Travesty: Chris Watson and the World’s First National Labour Government. His publications also include the award-winning military biography Pompey Elliott, and his most recent book is another biography, Will Dyson: Australia’s Radical Genius.

________________________________________________________________________________

January winners; February question

By Ross McMullin*

Posted 11 February 2008

I WAS BORN in Currabubula, New South Wales in 1913, the ninth of eleven children. My father was a farmer and a political conservative. “I loathed school”, as I later recalled. “Examinations were a nightmare and I have no recollection of ever passing any”. Still, life overall was very happy for us until my father died suddenly.

Then things changed drastically. We lost the farm, moved to Sydney, and our years of grim poverty were worsened when the Great Depression came along. This was a politically influential experience for me (as a somewhat similar experience much later has been for Australia’s current prime minister).

When a cousin and I were discussing the Depression and how to get a better system, he advised me to join the Labor Party: “It’s the only way to a better way of life for those without wealth, power or influence”, he said. Those words shaped the path my own life took for decades. I involved myself earnestly in the Labor Party and labour movement, striving to improve my skills and experience that would, I was hoping, equip me to be an effective Labor MP one day. Employed as a messenger and then a clerk, I became an executive member of the Federated Clerks Union.

Before the 1943 federal election, I nominated for ALP preselection for the Sydney seat of Martin. Against expectations I was successful, and when John Curtin called the election I went on to defeat the sitting anti-Labor member in another surprise. I was exhausted — my dedication had been absolute — but I was thrilled to have achieved my goal.

While I had worked extremely hard to become known in Martin, I was unknown everywhere else; yet here I was in caucus with famous Labor men like Curtin, Ben Chifley, Doc Evatt, Jim Scullin and Eddie Ward. It was a marvellous feeling. Afterwards I moved swiftly to open an office in Martin, as I’d promised. Electorate offices later became standard practice, but I was the first federal MP to do this.

At the time, I was the youngest MP in federal parliament. When I retired many years later, no MP then in parliament had been there longer than me. It was a lengthy stint, 32 years — most of them, sadly, spent in opposition. Only in my last three years was I in the ministry, as Minister for Services and Property in the Whitlam government, with an important additional role as Leader of the House of Representatives.

By now I’d become widely known as a quick-witted speaker and astute parliamentary tactician. This reputation helped me after my political career when I became a successful author and a conductor of a popular Political Discovery Tour of Canberra. I died in 1995.

Who was I?

TO SUBMIT YOUR ANSWER, CLICK HERE (please include your name, suburb & state/territory)

PREVIOUS QUIZ
The answer to the previous Quiz is: Egon Kisch.

Correct answers were received from:
Malcolm Thurston, Nicholls ACT
Morris Allen, Eden Hills SA
Adam Yearsley, Athelstone SA
Lorie Werner, Box Hill South VIC
Andrew Thomas, Leichhardt NSW
Valerie Marriott, Birkdale QLD
Ian Hundley, Balwyn North VIC
Robert Bozinovski, Keilor Downs VIC, who adds: Menzies' intolerance of free speech for the left-wing was also evident in his interment of communists Ratliff and Thomas during WWII.
Angela Garvey, Leichhardt NSW
Debbie Smith, Chisholm ACT
Phil Teece, Sunshine Bay NSW, who adds: Egon Kisch broke his leg when he jumped from the Strathaird at Melbourne Pier on 12 November 1934.
Chris Bollmeyer, Grange SA
Colleen Drew, Connells Point NSW
Peter Hughes, Bayview Heights QLD
Z. Z. Weston
Ken Maher, Dickson ACT
Brydie Lawrie, Carole Park QLD
Gino Giachin, Ayr NorthQLD
Alan Collins, St Andrews NSW, who adds: Egon Kisch’s other claim to fame is that he was the only person required to undergo a Government Dictation Test in Gaelic. BTW, a Mrs M Fraser was also kept out in 1936 “because she would ruin a perfectly good Australian marriage".
Nick Agocs, Dianella WA
Mathew Stephenson, Watson ACT
Geoff Collins, Narooma NSW
John Quessy, Epping NSW
Danni Smith, Brunswick VIC
Brian Cullen, Carlton VIC
John Danziger, Trieste ITALY
Brian McInnes, Leura NSW, who adds: Egon Kisch wrote of his Australian experiences in Australian Landfall. He was a minor character in Frank Hardy's Power Without Glory, and a major character in Nicholas Hasluck's Our Man K. Brad Snell, Karratha WA
Bernie Moloney, St Ives NSW
David Holmes, Hornsby NSW
Larissa Harrison, St Marys SA
Penny Carroll, Mt Lawley WA
Sandra Sue, Berowra NSW
Ken Wood, Swan Hill VIC
Aydan Casey, Marrickville NSW
Michael Grounds, Strathfieldsaye VIC
Matthew Rayner, Woodbine QLD
and Karl Smith, Rivett ACT, who provided the postage stamp image below:

*Ross McMullin is the author of the ALP centenary history The Light on the Hill: The Australian Labor Party 1891–1991. He has also written about ALP history in his book So Monstrous a Travesty: Chris Watson and the World’s First National Labour Government. His publications also include the award-winning military biography Pompey Elliott, and his most recent book is another biography, Will Dyson: Australia’s Radical Genius.

________________________________________________________________________________

December winners; January question

By Ross McMullin*

Posted 08 January 2008

FORMER PM John Winston Howard and his hero, Robert Gordon Menzies, had much in common. As is well known, each of them had a lengthy period in office as Liberal prime minister. Also, each had a previous distinctly unsuccessful stint as party leader.

As well, each had a paltry list of worthwhile achievements for a PM in office for so long: the expansion of tertiary education and the expansion of Canberra under Menzies were the equivalent of Howard’s intervention in East Timor and initiative on gun controls.

Also well known are the grubby stains on Howard’s record. They include Iraq, playing the race card, sordid dog-whistling, deceitfulness re children overboard and much else, detaining children indefinitely behind razor wire, David Hicks, and all the other ways he pandered to and brought out the worst in Australians rather than their best. Some fierce critics of Howard have claimed that Menzies was a leader of more stature and genuine liberal instincts who would not stoop to such obnoxious conduct. However, this impression is dubious.

Menzies, like Howard, was fond of shallow short-term opportunism. Menzies, like Howard, used hate and fear to win elections. Menzies, like Howard, played politics with national security. Menzies, like Howard, displayed crass subservience to our “great and powerful friends”, with disastrous consequences for Australia’s national interest. And Menzies, like Howard, proclaimed the virtue of his sound fiscal credentials, although part of the credit for Australia’s economy during his stewardship was due to the previous Labor government’s reforms rather than what his government did.

Moreover, Menzies, like Howard, had a tainted record on civil liberties concerns such as freedom of speech. While this was evident in various controversies after World War II, there was also a notorious episode during the 1930s when Menzies was Attorney–General in Australia’s conservative federal government headed by Joe Lyons.

As well as the injudicious support Menzies afforded to fascist regimes, he became prominent in the government’s hard line against a visiting European writer who was an outspoken critic of Hitler and the Nazis. This writer, who was banned from arriving in the country by the government, made a celebrated entry by jumping off his ship and breaking his leg. After a High Court judge (H.V. Evatt) overruled the government’s ban, the writer made a number of well-attended speeches in Australia, to the embarrassment of the authorities and, in particular, Menzies.

Who was this writer?

TO SUBMIT YOUR ANSWER, CLICK HERE (please include your name, suburb & state/territory)

PREVIOUS QUIZ
The answer to the previous Quiz is: Nelson Lemmon.

Correct answers were received from:
Malcolm Thurston, Nicholls, ACT
Alan Collins, St Andrews NSW
Morris Allen, Eden Hills SA
David Payne, Wagga Wagga NSW
Robert Bozinovski, Keilor Downs VIC
Niall Johnson, Warriewood NSW
Ian Caldwell, Belmont VIC
Trevor Scroop, Greenacres SA
Jim Saltis Randwick NSW
David Tansey, Kingston ACT
Ken Maher, Dickson ACT
John Gallagher, Randwick NSW
Chris Bollmeyer, Grange SA
Robert Pask, Bentleigh East VIC
Ian Hundley, Balwyn North VIC
Ben Dineen
Brad Snell Karratha WA
Don McKenzie, Emerald Beach
Nick Agocs, Dianella WA
Adam Yearsley, Athelstone SA
Bill Agnew, Grays Point NSW
Brian Cullen, Carlton VIC
Brian McInnes, Leura NSW
Chris Picton, Adelaide SA
Bev Turbit, Toronto NSW
Greg Brian, North Strathfield NSW
Michael Grounds, Strathfieldsaye VIC
Jordan Stanley, Mangerton NSW
Glenn Kefford, Erskineville, NSW
Brian Wilson, Bomaderry NSW
Gary Benton
Danni Smith, Brunswick VIC
Phillip Daly, Parafield Gardens SA
Tony Kennedy, Caulfield South VIC
Daniel Thomas Kambah ACT
Greg Roberts, Mount Lawley WA
David White, Ferntree Gully VIC
Aydan Casey, Marrickville NSW
Debbie Smith, Chisholm ACT

*Ross McMullin is the author of the ALP centenary history The Light on the Hill: The Australian Labor Party 1891–1991. He has also written about ALP history in his book So Monstrous a Travesty: Chris Watson and the World’s First National Labour Government. His publications also include the award-winning military biography Pompey Elliott, and his most recent book is another biography, Will Dyson: Australia’s Radical Genius.

________________________________________________________________________________

November winners; December question

By Ross McMullin*

Posted 05 December 2007

I WAS BORN into a Labor family. My father was a minister in four governments during his record-breaking half-century stint as a Labor MP. He provided me with sound advice when I embarked on a political career. This continued even after I had become a minister myself.

I didn’t enjoy my schooldays. I struggled with book learning. Practical activities suited me — making and building things rather than being a scholar. What I really liked was farming. After toiling as a teamster in the Mallee and working at an Agricultural Research Station, I found myself a farm in a Western Australian region others had scorned and soon made a success of it. Before long I was active in farmers’ organisations and captain-coach of the area’s football team.

At the farm, my wife and I established a signalling system when I was working in the paddocks. A tea-towel alone on the clothes line was to let me know there was a snake about; two tea-towels signified another hazard; and three told me to get home urgently. One evening in June 1943 I saw three tea-towels up and my wife alongside waving a fourth. I thrashed the tractor home faster than it had ever moved before, wondering what had happened. She told me that John Curtin had unexpectedly called an election, and I had to have a bath and start campaigning.

I had been preselected as the ALP candidate for Forrest, an immense rural electorate. My campaign was successful, and Labor had its first ever member for Forrest. A big adjustment for me lay ahead. Soon after venturing to the very unfamiliar surroundings of Canberra, one boring Sunday I decided to go out duck shooting. Afterwards I was told I’d broken umpteen local laws.

My political career was successful though relatively brief. I admired Curtin and Chifley, and they both had a good opinion of me. They appreciated my agricultural expertise (unusual in the ALP) and my knack of devising solutions to rural problems. As a backbencher, I overcame obstacles that had stymied everyone else and mobilised the WA wheat crop during World War II.

In the caucus ballot after the 1946 election, I was one of the first MPs elevated into the ministry. Chif gave me Works and Housing. I embarked on a massive program of housing construction, which was a substantial success. I was also a prime mover in the establishment of the Snowy Mountains Scheme.

I realised well before the 1949 election that I would be struggling to retain Forrest with the bank nationalisation controversy causing us plenty of trouble. I was, however, strongly in favour of Chifley’s decision to nationalise: I thought it would help us attain our full employment objective, and I knew from personal experience that private banks indulged too often in reprehensible conduct.

After I lost Forrest in 1949, I was delighted to be able to head back to farming. But Chifley reckoned I was such an asset to Labor that I should not be lost to politics, and he persuaded me to stand again in New South Wales. I ended up returning to Canberra briefly as the member for St George.

I outlived all the ministers I served with in the Chifley government. I died in 1989, three days before my 81st birthday.

Who was I?

TO SUBMIT YOUR ANSWER, CLICK HERE (please include your name, suburb & state/territory)

PREVIOUS QUIZ
The answer to the previous Quiz is: Charles Jones. The answer to the Supplementary Question is: David Watkins & his son David Oliver Watkins.

Correct answers to both parts:
Cassandra Devine, South Yarra, VIC
Jamie Faithfull, Moffat Beach QLD
Morris Allen, Eden Hills SA ("Significantly, the name Alan Morris comes to mind from 1983-2001.")
Robert Bozinovski, Keilor Downs VIC
Philip Laird, Keiraville NSW ("Succeeded by Allan Morris 1983-2001 - just four MHRs in the first 100 years")
Ken Maher, Dickson ACT ("A great Labor man - something in the mould of Eddie Ward.")
John Kloprogge, North Croydon VIC
Nick Agocs, Dianella WA
Malcolm Thurston, Nicholls, ACT
Ian Hundley, Balwyn North VIC
Steven Cheng
Brian Cullen, Carlton VIC
Barbara Phi, Black Mountain S/b ACT
Brian McInnes, Leura NSW
Mathew Stephenson, Watson ACT

Correct answers to pone part:
Chris Bollmeyer, Grange SA
Lorie Werner, Box Hill South VIC
Matthew Rayner, Woodbine NSW
Brian Soiland, Port Macquarie NSW
Trevor Scroop, Greenacres SA
David Mathews, Hughes, ACT
Paul Romas, Bendigo, VIC
Terry Carlan
Adam Yearsley, Athelstone, SA
Phillip Daly, Adelaide SA
Adam Clarke-Smith, Petrie QLD
Aydan Casey, Marrickville NSW
Robert Pask, Bentleigh East VIC
Kieran Fitzgerald, Croydon VIC

*Ross McMullin is the author of the ALP centenary history The Light on the Hill: The Australian Labor Party 1891–1991. He has also written about ALP history in his book So Monstrous a Travesty: Chris Watson and the World’s First National Labour Government. His publications also include the award-winning military biography Pompey Elliott, and his most recent book is another biography, Will Dyson: Australia’s Radical Genius.

_________________________________________________________________________________

October winners; November question

By Ross McMullin*

Posted 05 November 2007

I WAS A traditional Labor stalwart. My grandfather was active in the early days of the ALP in Newcastle, and that’s where I was born in 1917. I trained as a boilermaker, and became prominent in the Boilermakers Union.

I was also active in local government, becoming a Newcastle council alderman in 1946. A decade later I became one of Newcastle’s youngest mayors. My sense of humour was widely appreciated, but I called a spade a bloody shovel. I was dedicated to the labour movement, and everyone knew where I stood. I was very hostile to the Groupers and the DLP, and in the aftermath of the devastating 1950s split I won ALP preselection for the federal seat of Newcastle.

Labor had held Newcastle since federation. Nothing remarkable about that in a traditional ALP stronghold, but what was striking was that, when I took over this safe seat in 1958, I became only the third-ever MHR for Newcastle.

In Canberra, I gravitated to Left-aligned colleagues like Jim Cairns and Tom Uren. On Labor’s front bench, I became shadow minister for transport and developed a comprehensive reform blueprint that I was eager to implement. After the long years of opposition, the 1972 election win was a big breakthrough. Becoming a minister was a personal thrill, but there was too much to do to dwell on that for long. There’s not much point having a long-awaited election victory if you don’t use office to change the place significantly for the better.

That’s certainly what I did in transport. In road, rail and shipping, I insisted on genuinely national priorities. This had not been very evident before 1972. But we certainly changed things with initiatives such as the national highway system and the establishment of Australian National Railways. Gough Whitlam was once asked what would happen if he fell under a bus; he said this was highly unlikely because his government had substantially improved urban transport. I took this as a compliment.

After the Dismissal, I continued in parliament until my retirement in 1983. I remained active in the ALP. I was still secretary of my local party branch when I died in Newcastle in 2003 at the age of 85.

Who was I?

Also, a supplementary question this month: Who were my two predecessors as MHR for Newcastle?

TO SUBMIT YOUR ANSWER, CLICK HERE (please include your name, suburb & state/territory)

PREVIOUS QUIZ
The answer to the previous Quiz is: Ted Holloway

Correct answers were received from:

Morris Allen, Eden Hills SA
Chris Bollmeyer, Grange SA
Lorie Werner, Box Hill South VIC
Ken Maher, Dickson ACT
Brian McInnes, Leura NSW
Brian Cullen, Carlton VIC
Doug Melville, Kambah ACT
Vince Jeisman, Alice Springs NT
Peter Hughes, Bayview Heights QLD
Morris Allen, Eden Hills SA
John Gallagher, Randwick NSW
Aydan Casey, Marriclville NSW
Penny Carroll, Mt Lawley WA
Robert Bozinovski, Keilor Downs VIC
Matthew Rayner, Woodbine NSW
Nick Agocs, Dianella WA
George Harris, South Hobart TAS
Jacqueline Crouch, Ballarat VIC
P.E .Gribble,Ingleburn NSW
Alex Stoneman, Carisbrook VIC
Chris Ladyman, New Farm QLD
Malcolm Thurston, Nicholls, ACT
Danni Smith, Brunswick VIC
Robert Pask, Bentleigh East VIC
Chris Virtue, Sydney NSW
Karen Boyce, Sale VIC
Niall Johnson, Warriewood NSW
Lawry Bredhauer Conder ACT
Ian Hundley, Balwyn North VIC
John Kloprogge, North Croydon VIC
Alena Titterton, Potts Point, NSW

*Ross McMullin is the author of the ALP centenary history The Light on the Hill: The Australian Labor Party 1891–1991. He has also written about ALP history in his book So Monstrous a Travesty: Chris Watson and the World’s First National Labour Government. His publications also include the award-winning military biography Pompey Elliott, and his most recent book is another biography, Will Dyson: Australia’s Radical Genius.

_____________________________________________________________________________

September winners; October question

By Ross McMullin*

Posted 08 October 2007

I had a long and distinguished career in the Australian labour movement, but if I’m remembered these days it’s for one particular success that has been getting considerable coverage in 2007. I remain, perhaps for not much longer, the only candidate to have defeated an incumbent prime minister in his own seat.

I was born in 1875. My father, a labourer, was killed in an industrial accident in 1879. Starting as early as the big maritime strike of 1890, I supported workers and unionists in heaps of industrial disputes, and later held numerous senior positions in the labour movement. While secretary of the Melbourne Trades Hall Council, I was president of the ALP and also founding secretary of Labor’s successful anti-conscription campaign in the First World War. I was busy, effective and widely respected.

Prime Minister Stanley Bruce and his pro-business government increasingly displayed heavy-handedness in dealing with militant workers. When a notorious federal award not only cut the wages of timber-workers but also increased their working hours and curtailed their union’s influence, I encouraged them to go on strike. The Bruce government prosecuted me, and I was fined. Later that year, 1929, I was the ALP candidate in Bruce’s electorate of Flinders.

In an exquisite result for Labor, a large swing resulted in the downfall of the Bruce government and also my unexpected success in Flinders. The government’s industrial relations approach significantly influenced this result. While I remain unique for having unseated a prime minister, John Howard is more vulnerable in 2007 than Bruce was in 1929. The swing required to topple Bruce in Flinders was greater than Maxine McKew needs in Bennelong.

I went on to have a fulfilling career in federal parliament before retiring in 1951. I was a senior minister in both the Curtin and Chifley governments. For a brief period in 1949, while both Chifley and Bert Evatt were away, I was even acting prime minister.

Who was I?

TO SUBMIT YOUR ANSWER, CLICK HERE (please include your name, suburb & state/territory)

PREVIOUS QUIZ
The answer to the previous Quiz is: Mick Young

Correct answers were received from:

Greg Brian, North Strathfield NSW
Susan Earley, Park Orchards VIC
Simeon McNeill, Tokyo JAPAN
Andrew Thomas, Leichhardt NSW
Peter Fuller, Warranwood VIC
Ken Maher, Dickson ACT
Ash Jones, Fremantle WA
John Gallagher, Randwick NSW
Peter Hughes, Bayview Heights QLD
Fiona Sassenfeld, Ballajura WA
Brain Soiland, Port Macquarie NSW
Des Carroll, Sutton Grange VIC
Howard Williams, Morwell VIC
David March, Merewether West Branch NSW
John Hamilton, Willoughby NSW
John Kloprogge, North Croydon VIC
Don McKenzie, Emerald Beach NSW
Ian Green, Winthrop WA
Mark Norton, Newcastle NSW
Tommy Comitti, Albury NSW
Terry Grange, Minyip VIC
Henry Strzadala, Hoppers Crossing VIC
Nick Agocs, Dianella WA
Scott Sims, Kent Town SA
Nicholas Gordon, Bellevue Hill NSW
John Omond, Richmond VIC
Robert Bozinovski, Keilor Downs VIC
Penny Carroll, Mt Lawley WA
George Harris, South Hobart TAS
Phil Teece, Sunshine Bay NSW
Lawry Bredhauer, Conder ACT
Deirdre Mason, Balmain NSW
N Johnson, Warriewood NSW
Aydan Casey, Marriclville NSW
Eric Fleming, Warwick WA
Susan Ryan, Coogee NSW
Peter Gregg, Lismore NSW
Brian Cullen, Carlton VIC
Brian McInnes, Leura NSW
Sue Kealy, Kings Park NSW
Lorie Werner, Box Hill South VIC
Ian Wade-Parker, Helensvale QLD
Philip Laird, Keiraville NSW
Alison Webster, Surry Hills NSW
Doug Melville, Kambah ACT
Mark Whittaker, Chermside QLD
Brian Costar, Melbourne VIC
Margaret Hains, East Ballina NSW
Vince Jeisman, Alice Springs NT
Chris Bollmeyer, Grange SA
Matthew Rayner, Woodbine NSW

*Ross McMullin is the author of the ALP centenary history The Light on the Hill: The Australian Labor Party 1891–1991. He has also written about ALP history in his book So Monstrous a Travesty: Chris Watson and the World’s First National Labour Government. His publications also include the award-winning military biography Pompey Elliott, and his most recent book is another biography, Will Dyson: Australia’s Radical Genius.

______________________________________________________________________________

August winners; September question

By Ross McMullin*

Posted 11 September 2007

I WAS BORN in Sydney in 1936. I left school at the age of 15 and became a shearer. At 20, I was already a union representative and dedicated to the labour movement.

My formal education had been limited, but I was astute and resourceful, visionary and enterprising, convivial and quick-witted. In 1964, with Clyde Cameron’s support, I became an organiser in the South Australian state branch of the ALP, and four years later I became state secretary.

In this capacity, I attended an ALP federal executive meeting in 1969. Haphazard manoeuvring seemed about to deliver the position of national party secretary to someone who would have been in my view a disastrous choice, so I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to nominate for the post myself. I was eventually anointed.

Then the full impact of what I’d done hit me. There was a federal party conference to organise in three months, a federal election was expected in six months, and the party’s financial position was desperate.

“After locking up the meeting venue”, I wrote later, “I found myself standing alone on the footpath … late at night wondering what the hell I had allowed myself to get into.”

Happily, it all went pretty well. The conference was a success, with constructive debate in the main and the emergence of both a comprehensive reform program and a brilliant advocate in Gough Whitlam.

The election was amazing. Although our campaign funds were minimal, we did what we could and were rewarded on election night with an extraordinary swing of seven per cent. This 1969 election is the precedent that John Howard and his ministers never acknowledge when they maintain that in good economic times (and they were good in 1969) the Australian electorate does not inflict a big swing against an incumbent government.

We didn’t quite win in 1969, but we were always going to in 1972. I made sure we ran an effective, properly financed campaign. By now my organisational skills were widely acclaimed. I went into federal parliament myself, and became a minister.

What Labor people particularly liked about me was that in an era when more and more lawyers and other middle-class professional types were becoming prominent in the party, I was a reminder of the ALP’s traditions and the typical backgrounds of its former stalwarts. My death in 1996 was widely lamented.

Who was I?

TO SUBMIT YOUR ANSWER, CLICK HERE (please include your name, suburb & State/Territory)

PREVIOUS QUIZ
The answer to the previous Quiz is: Bill Hayden

Correct answers were received from:

Sarah Kemeny, Melbourne VIC
Rick Bagnal,l Wyee NSW
Madonna Weston, Brighton QLD
Tim Watson, Scottsdale TAS
Adrian Ryan, Westleigh NSW
Moris Allen, Eden Hills SA
Betty Birskys, Kawana QLD
Helen Mayer, VIC
Anne Levy, Adelaide SA
Greg Brian, North Strathfield NSW
Ian Wade-Parker, Helensvale QLD
Robert Patterson, Mount Tamborine QLD
Aydan Casey, Marrickville NSW
Al Stewart, Traralgon VIC
Ian Green, Winthrop WA
Brian Soiland, Port Macquarie NSW
Doug Melville, Kambah ACT
Trevor Scroop, Greenacres SA
Margaret Hains, East Ballina NSW
Lyn Knorr, Woodend VIC
Danni Smith, Brunswick VIC
George Harris, South Hobart TAS
John Jordan, Penrith NSW
John Quessy, Epping NSW
Bernie Moloney, St Ives NSW
Brian McInnes, Leura NSW
Ralph Clarke, SA
John Omond, Richmond VIC
Brian Costar, VIC
Geoff Speers, Burnie TAS
Fiona Sassenfeld, Ballajura WA
David White, Ferntree Gully VIC
Jeremy Baker, Mt Waverley VIC
Philip Laird, Keiraville NSW
Malcolm Thurston, Nicholls ACT
Chris Bollmeyer, Grange SA
Brendan Lock, Rye VIC
Susan Roberts, Rockhampton QLD
Lorie Werner, Box Hill South VIC
Nick Agocs, Dianella WA
Rod Pye, Smiths Lake NSW
Penny Carroll, Mt Lawley WA
Frances Macdonald, Mt Macedon VIC
Dave Kerr, Toowong QLD
Marc Dorey, Flemington VIC
Peter Hughes, Bayview Heights QLD
Mark Norton, Newcastle NSW
Ken Maher, Dickson ACT
John Dale, Bray Park QLD
Nick White, Balwyn North VIC
Peter Fuller, Warranwood VIC
Mary Curran, Frankston VIC
Veronica Ogata, West Pymble NSW
Andrew Thomas, Leichhardt Branch NSW
Mark Ryan, Burpengary QLD
Pru Peschar, Montagu Bay TAS
John Gallagher, Randwick NSW
Robert Ashman, Lakes Entrance VIC
Ash Jones, Fremantle WA
David Murray, Banksia Beach QLD
Robert Pask, Bentleigh East VIC
Karen Boyce, Sale VIC
Lawry Bredhauer, Conder ACT
Peter Baulch, North Arm QLD
Tim Pyke, North Carlton VIC
John Black, Highgate Hill QLD
Don McKenzie, Emerald Beach NSW
Michael Grounds, Strathfieldsaye VIC
Sotirios Theodoratos, Dulwich Hill NSW
Phil Teece, Sunshine Bay NSW
Mathew Woolley , Hobart TAS
Peter Gregg, Lismore NSW
Auriel Barlow, Dickson ACT
Brian Cullen, Carlton VIC
Brian Brown, Jerrabomberra NSW (That was too easy, I named my first born Hayden William!)
John Kloprogge, North Croydon VIC
Ian Hundley, North Balwyn, VIC
Sue Kealy, Kings Park NSW
Eric Fleming, Warwick WA
Jordan Stanley, Mangerton NSW
Beverley Turbit, Toronto NSW
Robert Bozinovski, Keilor Downs VIC
Sandra Sue, Berowra NSW
Angela Boyd, Goodna QLD
Susan Ryan, Coogee NSW
Yulia Onsman, Hobart TAS
Matthew Rayner
John Burne
Pam Bruce
James McComb
Dennis Greentree
Owen Bowland

*Ross McMullin is the author of the ALP centenary history The Light on the Hill: The Australian Labor Party 1891–1991. He has also written about ALP history in his book So Monstrous a Travesty: Chris Watson and the World’s First National Labour Government. His publications also include the award-winning military biography Pompey Elliott, and his most recent book is another biography, Will Dyson: Australia’s Radical Genius.

_________________________________________________________________________

July winners; August question

By Ross McMullin*

Posted 10 August 2007

I WAS BORN in Brisbane in 1933. My father worked as a tuner and repairer of pianos and organs. He was unfulfilled, sometimes depressed, and resorted to drinking bouts that scarred my emotionally and materially deprived childhood.

In adulthood, I became determined to overcome my educational shortcomings. During my later twenties, while employed as a policeman, I achieved my matriculation by correspondence. Years later, after I had become prominent in politics, grizzled Queensland coppers would swap anecdotes about their serious former colleague who used to wrestle with trigonometry while their police car sped to the latest crime scene.

In 1960, aged 27, I nominated for ALP preselection in the federal electorate of Oxley. I thought it would be an interesting and educationally useful experience. Oxley had been a Liberal stronghold, and nobody gave Labor much chance of unseating the incumbent, a widely liked medico who was minister for health in the Menzies government (and had brought my wife into the world as my mother-in-law’s doctor).

Nevertheless, I threw myself into the campaign. Not only did I win preselection; assisted by the electorate’s hostility to the Menzies government’s economic policy, and benefiting from ALP deputy leader Gough Whitlam’s brilliant campaigning in Queensland, I achieved a stunning upset by capturing Oxley with a swing of more than 10 per cent. I had never flown in a plane, but I was on my way to Canberra.

I continued my educational development, completing an economics degree and reading widely in the classics. In federal caucus, I aligned myself initially with left-wingers Jim Cairns and Tom Uren, and was particularly outspoken about the Vietnam War. The Fabians published my 7,500-word essay The Implications of Democratic Socialism, which influenced later Labor MPs such as John Dawkins and Peter Walsh.

My tertiary studies led me to modify my economic views. I went on to hold senior ministries in Labor governments, and ended up being one of the prime movers (with Dawkins, Walsh and others) in the formation of the Centre Left faction. I was aptly described by a journalist as “a late developer who drove himself to the limit of his endurance and abilities, and devoted those efforts to the improvement of the underprivileged”.

Who am I?

TO SUBMIT YOUR ANSWER, CLICK HERE (please include your name, suburb & State/Territory)

PREVIOUS QUIZ
The answer to the previous Quiz is: Tom Burke

Correct answers were received from:

Kevin Boyd, Bellingen NSW
John Omond, Richmond VIC
Paul Browning, Kalgoorlie WA
Godfrey Moase, Williamstown VIC
John Kloprogge, North Croydon VIC
Robert Bozinovski, Keilor Downs VIC
Morris Allen, Eden Hills SA
David Murray, Banksia Beach QLD
Ken Maher, Dickson ACT
Brian Soiland, Port Macquarie NSW
Christian Slattery, Warrandyte, VIC
Phil Teece, Sunshine Bay NSW
Peter Fuller, Warranwood VIC
Tim Dymond, Clovelly NSW
Eric Fleming, Warwick WA
Susan Roberts, Rockhampton QLD
Ash Jones, Fremantle WA
Nick Agocs, Dianella TAS
Alan Collins, St Andrews NSW
Tony Doyle, Salamander Bay NSW
Susan Ryan, Coogee NSW
Tony Clifton, East Maitland NSW
Howard Williams, Morwell VIC
Bill Chamberlain
Penny Carroll, Mt Lawley WA
Brian McInnes, Leura NSW
Ian Green, Winthrop WA
Peter Hughes, Bayview Heights QLD
Chris Fraser, Samson WA
John Kirkham, Croydon SA
Aydan Casey, Marrickville NSW
Betty Birskys, Kawana QLD
Matthew Rayner, Woodbine NSW
Ima Loser (aka comedian...Ed), Mornington VIC
Brett Broadbere ,Woy Woy NSW
Sue Kealy, Kings Park NSW
Greg Brian, North Strathfield NSW
Barney Langford, Whitebridge NSW
Lorie Werner, Box Hill South VIC
Barbara Phi, Palmerston ACT
Brian Cullen, Carlton VIC
John Quessy, Epping NSW
Danni Smith, Brunswick VIC
David White, Ferntree Gully VIC

*Ross McMullin is the author of the ALP centenary history The Light on the Hill: The Australian Labor Party 1891–1991. He has also written about ALP history in his book So Monstrous a Travesty: Chris Watson and the World’s First National Labour Government. His publications also include the award-winning military biography Pompey Elliott, and his most recent book is another biography, Will Dyson: Australia’s Radical Genius.

_______________________________________________________________________________

June winners; July question

By Ross McMullin*

Posted 10 July 2007

I WAS BORN in Western Australia in 1910. After a limited school education I worked for my father (who was a farmer), transporting fruit and vegetables to metropolitan markets while studying accountancy. Immersing myself in the labour movement, I was the (unsuccessful) ALP candidate for the seat of Perth at the 1937 federal election.

Six years later I captured Perth when Labor under John Curtin had a stirring triumph at the 1943 federal election. Retaining the seat until 1955, I developed a particularly close relationship with Ben Chifley. Some observers felt that for childless Chif I was like the son he never had. Despite this friendship and the early promise I displayed, I was still a backbencher when the Chifley government was defeated in 1949.

The 1950s were grim years for federal Labor. Menzies exploited the politics of national security as unscrupulously as his present-day successor. His proposal to ban the Communist Party was an early, and successful, means of “wedging” the ALP (though that term was not then in use).

In 1948, while we were still in office under Chifley, I had argued in caucus that the Communist Party should be suppressed. My views had not changed two years later, even though Chif made a passionate speech in parliament affirming his unequivocal opposition to Menzies’ Communist Party Dissolution Bill. I decided to use my influence in Western Australia to persuade my home state’s ALP branch to change its attitude to the bill, with the result that the party’s federal executive directed caucus to allow the bill to pass.

The upshot was a profound and damaging humiliation for Chifley. It was all very distressing. A devout Catholic, I felt tormented as I tried to reconcile my religion with my politics, but I did what I felt was right. I even offered to resign in a private letter to Chifley. “I honestly feel that I have helped to save your leadership”, I assured him, “and to have helped to save the Labor movement” from “devastating defeat and possible destruction”. Chifley was appalled by my action, but urged colleagues infuriated by it to consider things from my perspective; he tore up my letter of resignation. Within a year he was dead.

Federal Labor’s internal tensions went from bad to worse under “Doc” Evatt. I was so concerned by what I regarded as his erratic leadership that I stood against him myself at one stage. Later, when the escalating divisiveness resulted in a tumultuous split, most insiders were surprised that I didn’t follow the breakaways into the DLP. But my parliamentary career ended in 1955 anyway when I was defeated in Perth.

In 1957 my ALP adversaries had me expelled from the party. Although I managed to rejoin seven years later, my attempts to regain preselection for Perth were unsuccessful. I concentrated instead on helping my sons’ political careers. Two of them became state MPs. One became very prominent and controversial, and his notoriety revived this year long after his parliamentary career had ended.

I was a heavy smoker, and died of heart trouble in 1973.

Who was I?

TO SUBMIT YOUR ANSWER, CLICK HERE (please include your name, suburb & State/Territory)

PREVIOUS WINNERS

The answers to the previous Quiz are: (1). 1949 & 1969; and (2) Don's Party

Correct answers to both questions:
Mike Leach, Tranmere SA;Morris Allen, Eden Hills SA;
Damien Wieland, Kingsville VIC;
Graham Russell, Beaumont SA; Brendan Lock;
Margaret Bywater, Phnom Penh, Cambodia; Jo Madden, Coolum Beach QLD;
A correct answer to one question:
Janene O'Sullivan, Carindale QLD;
Doug Melville, Kambah ACT; and
Olivia White, Melbour ne VIC

*Ross McMullin is the author of the ALP centenary history The Light on the Hill: The Australian Labor Party 1891–1991. He has also written about ALP history in his book So Monstrous a Travesty: Chris Watson and the World’s First National Labour Government. His publications also include the award-winning military biography Pompey Elliott, and his most recent book is another biography, Will Dyson: Australia’s Radical Genius.

_____________________________________________________________________________

May winners; June question

By Ross McMullin*

Posted 9 June 2007

MANY POLITICAL commentators have expressed surprise that John Howard and his government did not derive a swift benefit in the opinion polls from the recent budget. These pundits repeatedly assert that economic management is the issue at election time; if the economy is in good shape, they contend, it’s inconceivable that a government could be voted out. But is this correct?

There was an Australian federal election when the incumbent Liberal government suffered a swing against it of seven per cent even though the economy was thriving. ALP enthusiasts had a memorable experience on that election night, when low expectations turned to stunned euphoria as Labor seemed poised to snatch a miraculous victory, before this momentum faded and the Liberal government managed to hang on. These morale swings on election night were later depicted in a well-known play (and film of the same name).

Twenty years earlier, in another notable election, the voters had removed an outstanding ALP government from office when the economy was in good shape. Labor’s renowned leader, who had been Treasurer as well as Prime Minister, had administered the economy superbly in challenging circumstances, but the presentational side of politics was not his forte and Labor paid a heavy price for a lacklustre campaign.

These precedents provide encouragement for Labor today by confirming that the hip pocket nerve does not always reign supreme. With the Iraq war and so many other issues playing to Howard’s detriment, it is hardly surprising that this is reflected in the opinion polls.

QUESTION 1. When were these two elections held?

QUESTION 2. What was the name of the play/film?

TO SUBMIT YOUR ANSWER, CLICK HERE (please include your name, suburb & State/Territory)

PREVIOUS QUIZ
The answer to the previous Quiz is: Andrew Fisher. And, for bonus points, the biographers are Denis Murphy and Clem Lloyd.

Tim Watson, Scottsdale, TAS
Patricia Hayes, Melton South VIC
Ian Hundley, Balwyn North VIC
Allyson Becker, Horseshoe Bay QLD
Maureen Ryan, Haberfield NSW

Correct entries, including one of the biographers:
Josh Rosner, Ngunnawal, ACT
Peter Doyle, Collingwood Park
Brian McInnes, Leura NSW
Philip Laird, Keiraville, NSW
Brian Cullen, VIC
Mary Curran
Peter Baulch, North Arm, QLD
Tony Doyle, Salamander Bay, NSW
Ambrose Sharp,Newtown NSW

Correct entries, including both biographers:
Morris Allen, Eden Hills SA
Chris Bollmeyer, Grange SA
Robert Bozinovski, Keilor Downs VIC
John Kloprogge, North Croydon VIC
Brendan Egan, Theodore, ACT
Aydan Casey, Marrickville NSW
Danni Smith, Brunswick VIC

*Ross McMullin is the author of the ALP centenary history The Light on the Hill: The Australian Labor Party 1891–1991. He has also written about ALP history in his book So Monstrous a Travesty: Chris Watson and the World’s First National Labour Government. His publications also include the award-winning military biography Pompey Elliott, and his most recent book is another biography, Will Dyson: Australia’s Radical Genius.

_______________________________________________________________________________

April winners; May question

By Ross McMullin*

Posted 11 May 2007

I REMAIN one of the most under-recognised achievers in Australian political history. I was a minister in the first labour government in the world (Queensland, 1899) and a minister in the first national labour government in the world (Australia, 1904). Also, I was prime minister of the first Australian government with a majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Moreover, I have another distinction that is unique for an ALP identity. All the other Labor leaders who became prime minister did so once; they each had one unbroken term in office, and one only. I had three terms as prime minister. I became PM on three separate occasions.

My second stint was distinctly successful. I was leading one of the most productive Australian governments since Federation. Still, I remain little known today.

A possible factor is that no notable biography of me has been written. At different junctures, two biographies of me were started by well-credentialled historians, but both unfortunately died before completion. While this was obviously terrible for them and those close to them, these deaths were also a shame from the perspective of my place in history.

Question: Who was I?
(...and bonus points for anyone who can name the two biographers)

TO SUBMIT YOUR ANSWER, CLICK HERE (please include your name, suburb & State/Territory)

PREVIOUS QUIZ
The answer to the previous Quiz is: Darrel Baldock & John Devine. Correct entries were received from:

Matt DeNatris, Wangaratta, Victoria
Ian Hundley
Graham Russell, Beaumont SA
Brian Cullen, VIC
Brian McInnes, Leura NSW
Robert Bozinovski, Keilor Downs VIC
Bernie Moloney, St Ives NSW
John Omond, Melbourne VIC
Justin Colee, Werribee VIC
Gregory Brian, North Strathfield NSW
Chris Bollmeyer, Grange, SA...and the the team mate they got the ball to who kicked the winning goal was John Bingley...
Tony Kennedy, Caulfield South VIC
Godfrey Moase, Williamstown VIC
Ash Jones, Fremantle WA
Henry Strzadala, Hoppers Crossing VIC
Andrew Thomas, Leichhardt Branch NSW
Iris Boyd, Mornington VIC...and it was Charlie Sutton of Footscray who flattened Bobby Davis, not Daryl Baldock!
Shelley Martin, Boronia VIC
Corey Copland, Cranebrook NSW
Peter Fuller, Warranwood VIC
Lance Wilson, Wandin Nth VIC
Phil Chappell, Wollongong NSW
Margaret Bywater, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Morris Allen, Eden Hills SA


*Ross McMullin is the author of the ALP centenary history The Light on the Hill: The Australian Labor Party 1891–1991. He has also written about ALP history in his book So Monstrous a Travesty: Chris Watson and the World’s First National Labour Government. His publications also include the award-winning military biography Pompey Elliott, and his most recent book is another biography, Will Dyson: Australia’s Radical Genius.

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March winners; April question

By Ross McMullin*

Posted 12 April 2007

TWO TASMANIAN Labor MPs were well known for their prominent involvement in the Victorian Football League. After leaving the VFL they were very successful coaches in Tasmania, where they both also became Labor MPs before going back to Victoria to coach their former clubs in the VFL.

DB was a champion. Highly sought as a player before he signed with St Kilda, he was a brilliant half-forward who captained the Saints in their only premiership. He entered the Tasmanian Legislative Assembly in 1972 and served as a minister in a variety of portfolios from 1975 to 1982. He coached St Kilda from 1987 to 1989.

The football careers of DB and his caucus colleague JD overlapped. A rugged Geelong half-back and vice-captain, JD was a frequent opponent of DB’s in the VFL. Like DB, JD was a member of his club’s premiership team in the 1960s, which remains its most recent.

JD represented the electorate of Denison in the Tasmanian Legislative Assembly from the state election of 1979 until his resignation in 1984. JD returned to Victoria, where he overlapped with DB in the VFL once more as coach of Geelong from 1986 to 1988.

DB and JD were both in the Tasmanian side that had a rare victory over Western Australia in 1970. In a tense finish, they combined to get the ball to a team-mate who kicked the winning goal.

Who are DB and JD?

TO SUBMIT YOUR ANSWER, CLICK HERE (please include your name, suburb & state)

PREVIOUS QUIZ
The answer to the previous Quiz is...no, it's not, as some thought, Robert Menzies, Clyde Cameron, John Curtin, Ben Chifley, Harold Holt, Frederick Shedden, Sir Joseph Cook, Billy McMahon or Earle Christmas Grafton Page...

The correct answer is John ‘Black Jack’ McEwen.

Correct entries were received from:
Des Carroll, Sutton Grange VIC Victoria
Timothy de Gournay, Wollongong NSW
Morris Allen, Eden Hills SA
David McKelvie, Bunbury WA
Robert Bozinovski, Keilor Downs VIC
Peter Hughes, Bayview Heights Qld
Godfrey Moase, Williamstown VIC
Brian Cullen, Vic.
Malcolm Thurston, Nicholls, ACT
Graham Russell, Beaumont SA
Anne Levy, Adelaide SA
Gary Benton, Collie WA
Chris Bollmeyer, Grange SA
Gregory Brian, North Strathfield NSW
Lorie Werner, Box Hill South VIC
Victor Row, Golden Grove, SA
Ash Jones, Fremantle WA
Trish Marinozzi, Belfield NSW
Sue Kealy, Kings Park NSW
Betty Birskys, Kawana QLD
Tony Doyle, Salamander Bay. NSW
Ronan Lee MP, Indooroopilly QLD
Aydan Casey, Marrickville NSW
Brian McInnes, Leura NSW
Eric Fleming
Mary Curran, Frankston,VIC
Keith Houghton, North Richmond NSW
Gary Benton,Collie WA

NOTE: For the many who thought it was Harold Holt, Ross McMullin responds:

McEWEN OR HOLT?

The March quiz question concerned the most flagrant dereliction of Australia’s national security since Federation. This occurred in 1942, when six influential men who at some stage held the office of Australian prime minister on the conservative side of politics pressured Prime Minister Curtin in 1942 to go along with Churchill’s plan to divert Australian soldiers to a wild goose chase to Burma where they would have been slaughtered. Curtin maintained that they had to come home to Australia, which was the correct decision.

The quiz question concerned the identity of those six anti-Labor men, whose grave misjudgement underlines what nonsense it is that Labor’s opponents spout when they claim that only they can be trusted with Australia’s national security. The question named five—Menzies, Fadden, Bruce, Page and Hughes—and asked for the name of the sixth (who was serving on the Advisory War Council and did not become PM until after 1942).

Some answers nominated Harold Holt, but the answer is Jack McEwen.

In case this might be of interest, the evidence for that conclusion is as follows:

David Horner, the widely respected WW2 historian, has listed the members of the Advisory War Council on p. 213 of his book Inside the War Cabinet. He has McEwen in and Holt not in. Also, Paul Hasluck’s WW2 Official History (Vol 1, 1939–41, p. 580) states that McEwen was in AWC and Holt was not.

Lists of War Cabinet in both books also don’t include Holt. He was in the Economic and Industrial Committee, though (Hasluck, p. 575). In view of Holt’s portfolio responsibilities (Labour & National Service, CSIR), it seems logical for him not to be in AWC or War Cabinet before Curtin govt when others had more direct defence–related responsibilities.

There is another source, For Australia and Labor, a booklet by Geoffrey Serle put out by the Curtin Prime Ministerial Library. Serle, a fine historian, did biographical research on Curtin. On p. 26 of this booklet Serle discusses the Burma diversion proposal, and states that “all the non-Labor members of the AWC—Menzies, Hughes, Fadden, McEwen, Spender—advised similarly”, that is in favour of Churchill’s proposed diversion, like Bruce and Page.

Also, Curtin govt minister Jack Dedman wrote an article about “The Return of the AIF from the Middle East” (Australian Outlook 21/2, August 1967), and on p. 160 specifically names the non-govt AWC members in favour of Churchill’s diversion as “Fadden, Hughes, Menzies, Spender and McEwen”.

My thanks to all those who participated and best of luck with this month's question.

Ross McMullin.

*Ross McMullin is the author of the ALP centenary history The Light on the Hill: The Australian Labor Party 1891–1991. He has also written about ALP history in his book So Monstrous a Travesty: Chris Watson and the World’s First National Labour Government. His publications also include the award-winning military biography Pompey Elliott, and his most recent book is another biography, Will Dyson: Australia’s Radical Genius.

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February winners; March question

By Ross McMullin*

Posted 11 March 2007

AUSTRALIA'S NATIONAL security has never been more gravely imperilled than it was 65 years ago. With the relentless Japanese advance showing no sign of faltering, Darwin was bombed in February 1942 and it seemed that enemy forces could well be about to invade.

Certainly no prudent Australian government could ignore the possibility. Labor Prime Minister John Curtin directed that Australian infantry formations, previously deployed overseas to help Britain, should be returned to safeguard their homeland.

Winston Churchill disagreed. He tried to persuade Curtin to change his mind. Curtin, appropriately, did not change his mind. Churchill kept resisting. He sought Australian approval to divert the men of the Seventh Australian Division on a wild goose chase to Burma where, lacking air support and detached from their arms and equipment, they would have been slaughtered.

Curtin reiterated that the soldiers had to come home.

Churchill then said he had diverted them towards Burma anyway. This cavalier flouting of the Australian government’s explicit wishes concerning Australia’s national security understandably enraged Curtin and his ministers.

Curtin again insisted that the soldiers had to come home. Churchill reluctantly redirected the ships towards Australia, and remained under the mistaken impression that the Seventh Division could have prevented the fall of Burma.

In this extremely challenging time for Curtin and his ministers, their task was made much harder because Churchill’s proposed diversion to Burma was supported by no fewer than six influential men who at some stage occupied the office of Australian prime minister on the conservative side of politics.

This remains the most flagrant dereliction of Australia’s national security since Federation.

Blinkered subservience to Britain was the problem. The parallels with today are uncanny. John Howard, just like his hero Robert Menzies 65 years ago, has in fact endangered Australia’s national security by his refusal to recognise that it’s not in Australia’s genuine national interest to position Australia as a lackey of its great and powerful friends.

In 1942, Menzies urged Curtin to approve the Burma diversion. So did other former non-Labor prime ministers who were either representing Australia in London (Stanley Bruce and Earle Page) or serving on the Advisory War Council at home (Arthur Fadden and Billy Hughes).

Also on the Advisory War Council was the sixth non-Labor PM. Unlike the other five, he did not attain that office until after 1942.

Who was he?

Send you entry to the editor: garyo@alp.org.au (don't forget to include your name and basic address info in the email)

PREVIOUS QUIZ
The answer to the previous Quiz is...no, it's not Arthur Calwell, Mick Young, Fred Daly, or Barry Jones; it is Clyde