Reviewed by Sudha Hamilton.
Gough Whitlam – a moment in history.
By Jenny Hocking
The Miegunyah Press
An imprint of Melbourne University Publishing www.mup.com.au
9780522855111 (hbk.)
In this acclaimed biography of Australian political icon, Gough Whitlam, Professor Jenny Hocking, shines a light on the roots of our political system. Reminding us all that it was Australia, which was the first nation to give the popular vote to non-land owners, and that it was a direct outcome of the Eureka Stockade. In the early chapters of this first volume of Gough Whitlam’s biography, we discover his ancestors, great grandparents and grandparents, and they are placed in the tent cities of the Victorian goldfields. Writing with great verve, Jenny Hocking, brings to life the day to day realities of our early settlers and the challenges they faced in finding work and building a home. Startlingly she reveals that in just two generations the Whitlam family traversed the great divide between Pentridge prison and the Prime Ministership of Australia.
If you would like to go beyond the current cynicism, with which our parliamentarians are commonly held today, and actually understand the ideas and principles behind the political parties governing our country, then this superb book will enlighten you. If you think that Australia has been fairly free of religious involvement in our political system, think again. The tremendous schism within the ALP – caused by the Catholic Movement and the battle between those who favoured state funding for state schools but not for private Catholic schools and their opposite numbers – contributed strongly to Labor being unable to win government for 23 years. The incredible polarity between the conservative side of politics and those on the socialist side, along the protestant/Catholic divide; and how the whole Australian community was equally separated accordingly. Australia today is a very different place and it was Gough Whitlam, who helped resolve these differences through his lifelong work.
Gough Whitlam was brought up in a household, devoted to learning and Christian service to the community. His father, Fred Whitlam, was a federal public servant and one of the first to move to the new capital Canberra. Fred Whitlam worked in the Attorney-General’s Department as a Crown Solicitor and was highly respected all his life, instilling in Gough the importance of integrity and adherence to democratic ideals. Often after a family meal, devoid of alcoholic refreshments, members of the Whitlam family were encouraged to open up an encyclopedic volume to study and improve themselves. Being reared in Canberra also gave Gough a unique insight into the workings of the federal capital, and perhaps a focus on the top job from an early age. A brilliant student early on, he regularly topped his class at Canberra Grammar School and thought about becoming an academic, but began to lose focus at Sydney University, realising his skills and ambitions lay elsewhere. His shift to studying for a Law degree was interrupted by the War and he joined the Air Force and became a leading navigator pilot officer, flying bombing raids against the Japanese in Timor and other islands in that area.
At the conclusion of the War, Gough Whitlam completed his Law degree and having married Margaret Dovey, they built a new home in Cronulla. Gough would walk and catch the train into Macquarie Street, six days a week to practise Law at the Denman Chambers, where Labor luminary, Dr HV Evatt had rooms. As a beginning barrister he initially struggled to make ends meet, and was often engaged to provide free legal aid to returned service personnel and their families – as part of the Labor government’s commitment to postwar planning and reconstruction. During this time, Gough Whitlam contested the Australian National Quiz Championship and all that encyclopedia reading obviously came in handy, as he won it twice. Gough Whitlam first joined the East Sydney Branch of the ALP in 1945, and was made minute’s secretary shortly after his induction. Within 3 years he had put his name forward 5 times to represent the party in local and state elections, and although unsuccessful, his standing within the party was rising. In 1952, Gough Whitlam got his chance to contest the federal seat of Werriwa and won his first election to become a member of the House of Representatives.
The battle, however, had just begun in terms of Gough Whitlam’s and the ALP’s journey toward forming government. Gough would have to overcome many layers of intransigent resistance within the Labor party, in particular the Catholic/communist split, which had gone on to cause the formation of the breakaway Democratic Labor Party (DLP) and which would remain a thorn in the side of the ALP until 1972. The generational change that Gough would come to represent, and his ‘crash or crash through’ style was to force the necessary revolution, and culminate with the much awaited victory and “It’s time…” campaign. Along the way there would be some incredible moments, such as his trip to Beijing in 1971, before Australia had even recognised The People’s Republic of China, and it’s amazing effect on Gough’s international standing.
This book is well written and imbued with a keen intelligence for what was really going on at the time. It captures Australia’s conservative slide into a comfortable style of government, based on exploiting the Australian people’s cold war fears and maintaining the status quo. At the same time, the other side of politics fought amongst themselves whilst trying to work out church and state commitments and historically based class warfare. Gough Whitlam – a moment in history illustrates just how important a strong opposition is, in keeping governments performing at their very best. Gough Whitlam’s career long desire to see the eradication of the senate or upper house, (based on the fact that its creation was, like the British House of Lords, to protect land owners and was intrinsically undemocratic and unrepresentative), was ultimately unsuccessful and proved to be, in the best Greek Mythological tradition; his downfall. This focuses attention on the Rudd government’s situation today, where once again, we have a popularly elected government with a majority in the House of Representatives often unable to pass the legislation that they have a mandate to implement. The senate, which has reinvented itself to become the so called ‘house of review’ is now held ransom by single issue independents and greens. In my opinion, Australian’s are over governed and are paying twice the wage bill to achieve very little but frustration. If a political party is elected on the basis of its policies and a majority of the people have voted to see those policies implemented, what right does an unnecessary and unrepresentative layer of government have to frustrate and prevent these policies being legislated into law? There is no senate or legislative council in Queensland and this makes for a more dynamic and responsive single layer of state government. Removal of the senate federally, would see a more representative lower house, with the greens, independents and minor parties being forced to seek a more representative mandate from the people. Gough Whitlam’s time on top of the hill may be fading in memory, but his vision for Australia is still as sharp as it ever was.
