Hasluck, 1995, p. 155.
Harold Cox interviewed by Mel Pratt, NLA Oral History, TRC 121/43, 1:2/75–76.
Author’s interview with Peter Kelly, 1 October 2016.
McEwen, statement, 11 December 1967. The statement was widely carried in newspapers the next day.
Frame, 2005a, pp. 240–41.
Hasluck, 1995, p. 154.
Peter Bailey interviewed by Garry Sturgess, NLA Oral History, TRC 6552, p. 222.
‘Devaluation: reaffirmation of government’s decision’, 13 December 1967, PM no. 135/1967, NAA: M4295, 22.
Wallace Brown, CM, ‘Holt critics think again after the McEwen “crisis”’, 13 December 1967, p. 2.
Tom Fitzgerald, ‘Getting a bit back of Jack’, SMH, 13 December 1967, p. 21.
Hasluck, 1995, pp. 153–54; ‘Government measures to assist industry’, 15 December 1967, PM no. 136/1967, NAA: M4295, 22.
R.G. Casey diaries, 13 December 1967, NLA MS6150.
Fitzgerald and Holt, 2010, pp. 179–80.
Frame, 2005a, pp. 245–46.
Howson, 1984, pp. 362–63.
Chapter 22: The Story and the Fact
Hasluck, 1995, pp. 147–49.
ibid.
Ashley, 1968, p. 16.
Peter Kelly, ‘Politics the day Holt died’, Aus., 13–14 December 1986, p. 2.
Author’s interview with Peter Kelly, 1 October 2016.
For discussion of Casey’s activism as governor-general, see Rodan, 2013, pp. 547–58.
After McMahon’s death in 1988, Paul LePetit wrote that McMahon had repeated this story to him. In LePetit’s account, the 8 December meeting was the second meeting between McMahon and Casey. According to this account, McMahon attempted to storm out only to be restrained by Casey, who begged McMahon to stay in order to preserve social niceties and prevent Casey’s staff from observing that there was something wrong. See ‘The day Holt tried to sack the governor–general’, Sunday Telegraph, 3 April 1988, p. 9.
Author’s correspondence with Tony Eggleton, 26 November 2016.
Author’s interview with Peter Kelly, 1 October 2016.
The Harold Holt Mystery, 18 February 1985, NFSA.
McMahon said much the same thing in 1985: ‘He [Holt] was very suspicious about whether or not it was me [plotting to replace him]. And it was one of the only occasions in which I had difficulty with him by saying I can’t believe that he could possibly do it.’ See The Harold Holt Mystery, 18 February 1985, NFSA.
In May 1968, Peter Howson described a dinner with McMahon where this incident was recounted. See Howson, 1984, p. 427.
Frame, 2005a, p. 274.
John Cloke, in The Harold Holt Mystery, 18 February 1985, NFSA.
Author’s correspondence with Tony Eggleton, 26 November 2016.
ibid.
McMahon, in The Harold Holt Mystery, 18 February 1985, NFSA.
Lawless, in The Harold Holt Mystery, 18 February 1985, NFSA. McMahon continued to deny it, even claiming at one point that it could not have been him as people called him Bill, not Billy.
Hasluck, 1995, p. 143.
Chapter 23: Cold Water
Killen, 1985, p. 119.
Howson, 1984, p. 363.
McMahon, in The Harold Holt Mystery, 18 February 1985, NFSA.
Golding, 1996, p. 267.
Hancock, 2002, p. 137.
Hasluck, 1997, pp. 146–47.
Peter Kelly, ‘Politics the day Holt died’, Aus., 13–14 December 1986, p. 2.
Hancock, 2002, p. 137.
Author’s correspondence with Tony Eggleton, 26 November 2016.
According to Simon Warrender and Peter Blazey, McMahon also called the Victorian Premier, Henry Bolte. See Warrender, 1973, p. 169; Blazey, 1990, p. 204.
Trengrove, 1969, p. 176.
Author’s interview with Sir Peter Lawler, 22 November 2016.
ibid.
Author’s correspondence with Doug Anthony, 25 July 2016.
Hasluck, 1997, pp. 148–49.
Nigel Bowen interviewed by Ron Hurst, NLA Oral History, TRC 4900/61.
R.G. Casey diaries, 17 December 1967, NLA MS6150; Barwick, 1995, p. 290.
John Bunting to Murray Tyrrell, 16 February 1968, NAA: M1945, 1.
Tiny Lawless, in The Harold Holt Mystery, 18 February 1985, NFSA.
R.G. Casey diaries, 17 December 1967, NLA MS6150.
McEwen, 1983, p. 74.
R.G. Casey diaries, 17 December 1967, NLA MS6150.
Sir James Plimsoll interviewed by Clyde Cameron, NLA Oral History, TRC 1967, pp. 185–86.
John Gorton interviewed by Clyde Cameron, NLA Oral History, TRC 1702, vol. 1, pp. 58–60.
Hasluck, 1997, pp. 149–50.
These times are based on the movements of Gorton, McEwen, and Hasluck, as detailed in Golding, 1993, pp. 268–69; Hancock, 2002, p. 139; and Hasluck, 1995, p. 148.
Hasluck, 1997, p. 149.
Golding, 1996, pp. 269–70.
John Gorton interviewed by Clyde Cameron, NLA Oral History, TRC 1702, vol. 1, p. 59.
Hancock, 2002, p. 139.
Bolton, 2015, p. 406.
Hudson, 1986, p. 310.
ibid.
R.G. Casey diary, 18 December 1967, NLA MS6150.
Dudley Erwin interviewed by Robert Linford, NLA Oral History, TRC 4900/7, 3:6–7.
John McEwen interviewed by Ray Aitchison, NLA Oral History, TRC 311, 2:1/3.
Alan Reid interviewed by Daniel Connell, NLA Oral History, TRC 2172, p. 36.
McEwen, 1983, p. 76.
Peter Kelly, ‘Politics the day Holt died’, Aus., 13–14 December 1986, p. 2.
ibid.
See, for example, ‘Country Party warns: anybody but McMahon’, AFR, 19 December 1967, p. 1.
Reid, 1969, p. 135.
Alan Ramsey, ‘The power game’, Aus., 27 December 1968, p. 7.
Hasluck, 1997, p. 151.
Howson, 1984, pp. 367, 373, 376.
Peter Howson, in ‘It’s alright, Boss’, The Liberals, TV programme, 1994.
McEwen, 1983, p. 76.
‘Prime Minister, Mr J. McEwen, meets with press’, Canberra, 20 December 1967, no. 1742, APMC Transcripts.
Casey to Michael Adeane, 8 January 1968, in Hudson, 1986, p. 309.
Killen, 1985, p. 124.
Holt’s stepson, Sam, had suggested that he might put himself forward for the seat. By Boxing Day, he had retreated from this. See Hancock, 2002, p. 143.
Alan Ramsey, ‘Power game’, Aus., 27 December 1968, p. 7.
Author’s correspondence with Tony Eggleton, 26 November 2016.
Howson, 1984, pp. 365–66.
Fitzgerald and Holt, 2010, pp. 192–93; Reid, 1969, pp. 132–42.
McNicoll, 1978, p. 233.
Dennis Minogue, ‘Packer’s $15 million deal’, New Times, September 1977, pp. 4–5. Frank Jennings, a private secretary to Holt at the time, recalled that when arrangements for the memorial service were being made, the putative contenders — Gorton, Hasluck, McEwen, Fairhall, Bury, and McMahon — were not allowed to ride in the same plane together. McMahon was given use of a DC3, a point that he was unhappy about. See Frank Jennings interviewed by Barry York, 10 October 2007, MoAD Oral History Project.
Norman Abjorensen, ‘Black Jack McEwen almost a Lib PM’, CT, 13 September 1992, pp. 1, 2.
‘Kent Hughes wants McEwen to stay as PM’, Aus., 30 December 1967, p. 1.
David Eric Fairbairn interviewed by Robert Linford, NLA Oral History, TRC 4900/72.
Alan Reid interviewed by Daniel Connell, NLA Oral History, TRC 2172, p. 78; McNicoll, 1978, pp. 233–34.
ibid.
O
ne was apparently Alan Reid. See John Gorton, ‘I did it my way’, Aus., 15 August 1971, p. 10.
McMahon aide-mémoire, 7 December 1969. Copy in the author’s possession. According to it, Hasluck gave a similar guarantee face to face.
Menzies to Henderson, 4 January 1968, in Henderson (ed.), 2011, pp. 171–76.
McNicoll, 1978, pp. 234–35.
Peter Kelly, ‘Politics the day Holt died’, Aus., 13–14 December 1986, p. 2.
Author’s interview with Peter Kelly, 1 October 2016.
ibid.
ibid.
See, for example, ‘McEwen did his duty: Hasluck; BIG denies link with McMahon’, CT, 29 December 1967, p. 1; or ‘BIG not main issue in govt. rift — McEwen’, SMH, 29 December 1967, p. 1.
Ian Fitchett interviewed by Heather Rusden and Mungo Wentworth MacCallum, NLA Oral History, TRC 2249, 9:2/5.
Brian Toohey, ‘The Austeo papers’, National Times, 6 May 1983, pp. 3–7.
The story is conspicuously flattering: ‘Economic observers complain that his administration has been so nearly right that they are almost out of business as critics,’ it says at one point. See ‘The success story of William McMahon’, DT, 4 January 1968, pp. 8–9; and Alan Reid, ‘McMahon seen as able treasurer’, DT, 6 January 1968, p. 3. The Telegraph followed this up, on 7 January, with a forthright editorial: ‘We believe, and have, for a long time, that Mr William McMahon would, if he stood, be worthy of the leadership.’ See ‘Wanted — a tough but wise leader’, Sunday Telegraph, 7 January 1968, p. 2.
‘McEwen — strength through growth’, Aus., 4 January 1968, p. 7.
Author’s interview with Alan Ramsey, 31 January 2018.
Golding, 1996, p. 276.
‘Why McEwen vetoed McMahon’, Aus., 6 January 1968, p. 1.
Rokuro Sase, ‘Japan Trade Centre replies to McEwen’s statement’, CT, 9 January 1968, p. 10.
‘Newton’s contract with Japanese’, SMH, 9 January 1968, p. 1.
See Alan Barnes, ‘Bid to depose McMahon’, Age, 9 January 1968, pp. 1, 2; Eggleton to Gorton, 8 March 1968, NAA: M3787, 32. Alan Reid writes that it was Robert Macklin, McEwen’s press secretary, who confirmed the reports; Reid also claims to have checked with Macklin that it was he, and that his comments had been reported accurately. See Reid, 1969, p. 185. In an interview with the author (11 July 2016), Macklin denied leaking these stories or confirming them, and stated that it was a colleague who had done so.
Hasluck, 1997, p. 155.
Reid, 1969, pp. 179–94.
Hancock, 2002, p. 144.
Tom Hughes said that he thought Gorton a ‘fresh face with a reasonably radical, open-minded approach to the leadership’. While Hasluck enjoyed ‘considerable respect’, Hughes did not see him as ‘the leader to take the Liberal Party forward’. Author’s interview with Tom Hughes, 16 August 2016.
Peter Kelly later claimed that McMahon’s support for Gorton was ‘the deciding factor’. See Peter Kelly, ‘Politics the day Holt died’, Aus., 13–14 December 1986, p. 2. Other writers, less definitively, have made similar statements. See, for example, Hancock, 2002, p. 147; Hasluck, 1997, p. 154; Howson, 1984, p. 379.
Aitchison, 1978, pp. 96–103.
Howard, 1972, p. 225.
Reid, 1969, p. 198.
McMahon, ‘Speech delivered by the chairman and deputy leader at the Liberal Party meeting on Tuesday, 9 January 1968’, copy in possession of author.
Gordon Freeth interviewed by John Ferrell, NLA Oral History, TRC 4900/87.
Menzies to Henderson, 4 January 1968, in Henderson (ed.), 2011, p. 173.
Don Chipp interviewed by Bernadette Schedvin, NLA Oral History, TRC 4900/73, 7:11.
Author’s interview with Tom Hughes, 16 August 2016.
Hancock, 2002, p. 147; Reid, 1969, p. 200.
Howard, 1972, pp. 225–26; Reid, 1969, p. 201.
Hasluck, 1997, p. 155. McMahon had played his cards well. Certainly it is the case that McEwen’s veto, and McMahon’s decision to refrain from contesting the leadership, allowed the weakness of his support to go unexposed.
Chapter 24: Privilege
Bowman diary, 14 March 1984.
ibid.
ibid., 22 March 1984.
ibid., 6 April 1984.
ibid., 2 May 1984.
ibid., 11 April 1984.
ibid., 16 April 1984.
ibid., 1 May 1984.
ibid., 20 June 1984.
ibid., 18 May 1984.
ibid., 24 February 1984.
Hasluck, 1997, p. 187.
ibid., p. 128.
ibid., p. 187.
Buckley, 1991, pp. 211–12.
Malcolm Fraser interviewed by Clyde Cameron, NLA Oral History, TRC 2162, pp. 100–02.
Author’s interview with Alan Ramsey, 31 January 2018.
Bowman diary, 25 June 1984.
Chapter 25: The New Man
McMahon to Gorton, 12 January 1968, NAA: M3787, 32.
Author’s correspondence with Tony Eggleton, 26 November 2016.
‘McMahon should step down’, Aus., 9 January 1968, p. 6.
‘Clean slate’, Aus., 10 January 1968, p. 6.
Hancock, 2002, pp. 161–62.
Spry to Gorton, 5 February 1968, NAA: M3787, 12.
McMahon was well aware of the difficulties that would be involved in Gorton attempting to remove him. As he told Peter Howson later that year, ‘Gorton knows he can’t afford to drop me from the Cabinet.’ See Howson, 1984, p. 434.
‘Notetaker EJ Bunting — notes of meetings 28 February–3 April 1968’, NAA: A11099, 1/91.
McEwen acknowledged this in the House. See Whitlam and McEwen, CPD HoR, vol. 58, 13 March 1968, p. 29.
Cabinet meetings on 28 February 1968 and 12 March 1968, ‘Notetaker EJ Bunting — notes of meetings 28 February–3 April 1968’, NAA: A11099, 1/91.
Holt to Johnson, 6 October 1967, NAA: A5882/2, CO77.
Murray Groot and Rodney Tiffen in King (ed.), 1983, p. 131.
Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee meeting, 12 March 1968, ‘Notetaker EJ Bunting — notes of meetings 28 February–3 April 1968’, NAA: A11099, 1/91.
Robert Collins, 1996, ‘The economic crisis of 1968 and the waning of the “American Century”’, American Historical Review, vol. 101, no. 2, April, pp. 396–422.
Cabinet meeting 18 March 1968, ‘Notetaker EJ Bunting — notes of meetings 28 February–3 April 1968’, NAA: A11099, 1/91.
See Ham, 2007, p. 362; Cabinet meeting 2 April 1968, ‘Notetaker EJ Bunting —notes of meetings 28 February–3 April 1968’, NAA: A11099, 1/91.
Gorton believed both Bunting and Howson had misled the Parliament. See John Gorton interviewed by Clyde Cameron, NLA Oral History, TRC 1702, vol. 1, p. 50; Hancock, 2004, p. 90.
Bunting to Trumble, 11 March 1968, NAA: M321, 1.
Author’s interview with Sir Peter Lawler, 22 November 2016.
Gorton, 22 January 1968, in Hancock, 2002, p. 154.
See Howson, 1984, p. 430.
Trengrove, 1969, p. 214.
Howson, 1984, p. 411.
Alan Ramsey, ‘The power game’, Aus., 27 December 1968, p. 7.
Aitchison, 1974, p. 15.
Howson, 1984, p. 427.
Author’s interview with Alan Ramsey, 31 January 2018.
Mitchell, 2007, p. 38.
Aitchison, 1974, p. 15.
Howson, 1984, p. 431.
Killen, 1985, p. 131.
Author’s interview with Peter Kelly, 1 October 2016.
Author’s interview with Sir Peter Lawler, 22 November 2016.
‘William McMahon talks about everything except the budget’, Aus., 8 August 1969, p. 22.
Author�
��s interview with Peter Kelly, 1 October 2016.
Author’s correspondence with John Stone, 8 January 2017.
‘William McMahon talks about everything except the budget’, Aus., 8 August 1969, p. 22.
Whitlam, 19 April 1968, in Hocking, 2008, pp. 314–15.
Cairns, 24 April 1968, in Hocking, 2008, p. 318.
Cabinet discussed Bolte’s decision to introduce a receipts tax in Victoria on 25 January 1968. Though McMahon took the lead in the discussion, it is clear from the records that he and Gorton were in agreement about the Commonwealth position on this — and the likely response. See ‘Notetaker EJ Bunting — notes of meetings 11 January 1968–23 February 1968’, NAA: A11099, 1/90.
‘Commonwealth/State financial relations — DECISION 299’, NAA: A5868, 130.
‘Bolte attacks PM on finances’, CT, 13 December 1968, p. 3.
‘Premiers out-pointed’, CT, 28 June 1968, p. 1.
Reid, 1969, p. 74.
Author’s interview with Peter Kelly, 1 October 2016.
Incentive, no. 154, 1 July 1968.
McMahon press release, ‘Miss Wheatley’, 21 January 1969.
McEwen’s press secretary, Robert Macklin, approached Tony Eggleton about having Newton’s representatives excluded from prime ministerial briefings. See Eggleton to Gorton, 8 March 1969, NAA: M2093, 14.
Laurie Oakes, ‘Govt upset by resignation of secretary’, Sun, 22 January 1969, p. 3. In April 1969, there were moves to have Wheatley appointed as Head of Service for The Independent, a new Perth newspaper. Peter Kelly, who telephoned Tony Eggleton to inform him of this news, ‘hoped that Miss Wheatley might be kept in mind on those occasions when Mrs. Gorton was seeing the ladies of the Press’. Whether Wheatley took up the position is not known. See Tony Eggleton to Gorton, 29 April 1969, NAA: M2093, 14.
‘William McMahon talks about everything except the budget’, Aus., 8 August 1968, p. 22.
Mitchell, 2007, pp. 20–21.
The Australian Economy 1968, Treasury, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, p. 7.
McMahon, CPD HoR, vol. 60, 13 August 1968, pp. 35–48.
Author’s correspondence with John Stone, 8 January 2017.
Howson, 1984, p. 441.
‘A give and take budget’, Aus., 15 August 1968, p. 10.
‘Budget has a place for humanity’, DT, 14 August 1968, p. 2.
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