Cold Light

by Frank Moorhouse

  Hill*, Edward Fowler (1915–1988), Australian communist. He led a split from the Communist Party of Australia to become Chairman of the Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist) and pursued a long and distinguished legal career as one of the best known workers’ compensation lawyers.

  Holford*, Sir William (1907–1975), a British architect and town planner appointed by Prime Minister Menzies in the 1950s to advise on the future of Canberra.

  Holmes*, Sir Stephen (1922–1980), British High Commissioner, 1952–1956.

  Holt*, Harold Edward, CH (1908–1967), Prime Minister of Australia for nearly two years. In December 1967, he disappeared while swimming at Cheviot Beach, near Portsea, Victoria. Presumed drowned.

  Hughes*, William Morris (1862–1952), known as ‘Billy’. Member of parliament (state and federal) for fifty-eight years. Expelled from three political parties and instrumental in forming three new parties. Became Labor Prime Minister in 1915 at the age of fifty-three. Joined the Liberal Party, which replaced the United Australia Party after World War II, and stayed on in parliament until his death. At his ninetieth birthday party the then Prime Minister, Robert Menzies, said Hughes had adorned every political party in the Parliament during a long political lifetime. ‘Not the Country Party,’ Artie Fadden, Leader of the Country Party, interjected. ‘Had to draw the line somewhere,’ the ninety-year-old Hughes riposted.

  Ian, no surname, first appears in the Moorhouse novel Forty-Seventeen (1988). For a time public servant attached to the Department of External Affairs. Also known as Sean, chemist.

  Ingersoll*, Colonel Robert Green (1833–1899), American, lawyer, Attorney-General for the state of Illinois, friend of Mark Twain and Walt Whitman, campaigner against religion and for liberal causes. His attack on orthodox Christian beliefs made him a controversial figure for almost thirty years. His writings and beliefs influenced the Rationalists, including Edith’s mother and father.

  Inglis*, Amirah (1926–), writer and activist in the Communist Party in Australia, 1945–1961. Born in Brussels of Polish–Jewish parents. Married Ian Turner in 1948 and moved to Canberra with him when he studied at ANU in the early 1960s. After their divorce, she married ANU historian Ken Inglis.

  Jeanne, French, Intellectual Cooperation section, friend of Edith at the League.

  Karmel*, Peter Henry AC, CBE (1922–2008). Came to Canberra in the late 1940s with his wife, Lena. Australian economist and professor at ANU and Vice-Chancellor (1982–1987). The Peter Karmel Building at the ANU School of Music is named in his honour.

  Latham*, John (1877–1964), Australian, conservative politician, one time Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for External Affairs, Federal Attorney-General, several times delegate to League of Nations Assembly. Became Chief Justice of the High Court in 1935, and briefly the first Australian Minister to Japan, 1940–41. First President of the League of Nations Union in Australia. An atheist and Rationalist throughout his life.

  Lester*, Sean (1888–1959), Irish, journalist. He was Irish representative to the League of Nations, High Commissioner to Danzig, and third and last Secretary-General of the League, 1940–1946.

  Lewis*, Brian Bannatyne (1906–1991), Professor of Architecture at Melbourne University. Designed University House at ANU.

  Linnett, Janice, member of the Communist Party of Australia, later a lawyer and office holder in the Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist).

  Liverright, Howard, Austrian, translator for the League of Nations. Bohemian tastes and habits.

  McDowell, T. George, Australian, businessman, childhood friend of Edith. Features in the Moorhouse novels The Electrical Experience and Dark Palace (1974). Gave eulogy at Edith’s mother’s funeral.

  McGeachy*, Mary (1901–1991), Canadian, Information section. First woman appointed to British diplomatic service. Served with UNRRA, following World War II, and then executive officer of International Council of Women.

  McLaren*, William Alexander (1898–1973), public servant, head of the Department of Interior, which controlled the development of Canberra into the 1950s.

  McPherson*, Aimee Semple (1890–1944), also called Sister Aimee. An American evangelist and media celebrity in the 1920s and 1930s, and founder of the Foursquare Church. McPherson has been noted as a pioneer in the use of modern media, especially radio. She died of a barbiturate overdose.

  Marjoribanks*, James (1911–2003), career diplomat in the British Foreign Service. Seconded to the British Commonwealth Relations Office and posted to Canberra as Official Secretary to the British High Commission, 1950–1952.

  Meir*, Golda (1898–1978), teacher and politician who became the fourth Prime Minister of Israel in 1969.

  Menzies*, Sir Robert Gordon (1894–1978), born at Jeparit, Victoria, fourth of five children of Australian-born parents James Menzies, storekeeper, and his wife, Kate, née Sampson. One of the founders of the Liberal Party. Served as Prime Minister 1950–1962.

  Mr T (David Thomas), public servant, Department of the Interior.

  Murray-Smith*, Stephen (1922–1988), born and educated in Melbourne, attended Geelong Grammar and the University of Melbourne. Served in New Guinea during World War II, then lived in London and Prague for several years before returning to Australia. Became a Communist Party official in the 1940s and 1950s. Left the Party in 1958 to join Helen Palmer’s Outlook Group (see Palmer*). A historian, public intellectual, environmentalist, and founder/editor of the literary magazine Overland. Also a close friend of Ian Turner (see Turner*).

  Nicolson*, Harold George (1886–1968), British diplomat and writer, attended Paris Peace Conference, participated in early days of the League, considered for post of first Secretary-General of the League. Led a homosexual life while married to writer and lesbian Vita Sackville-West. Part of the Bloomsbury group.

  Nixon*, Richard Milhous (1913–1994), 37th President of the United States, 1969–1974. The only person to be elected twice to both the presidency and vice presidency. Also the only President to resign from office, after being forced out for improper behaviour known as the Watergate Affair.

  Ollier*, Rosemarie, second secretary of the French Embassy, Canberra. Former Resistance fighter, suspected of spying for the USSR but cleared.

  Oppenheimer*, J. Robert (1904–1967), American nuclear scientist, sometimes called ‘the father of the atomic bomb’.

  Overall*, John Wallace (1913–2001), inaugural Commissioner of the National Capital Development Committee and chair of the Planning Committee of Canberra after World War II.

  Palmer*, Helen Gwynneth (1917–1979), teacher, younger daughter of the author Edward Vivian (‘Vance’) Palmer and his wife Janet (Nettie) Gertrude, née Higgins. Attended Presbyterian Ladies’ College and won a scholarship to the University of Melbourne (BA Hons, 1939; BEd, 1952). Member of the Communist Party. Following the 20th Congress secret speech and the Soviet invasion of Hungary, she announced her intention to publish material designed to open up discussion on these issues, and was expelled. In mid-1957, she began the publication of Outlook, an independent socialist journal, and formed the Outlook Group. With Doreen Jacobs she wrote the song ‘The Ballad of 1891’ about the shearers’ strike, which became popular after its use in the communist play Reedy River.

  Peters*, Lenrie Leopold Wilfred (1932–2009), Gambian surgeon, novelist and poet.

  Phillips*, Morris Mondle (1870–1948), lawyer from an eminent Melbourne family. Active in the League of Nations Union from 1919. President of the Australian Bridge Council; published three books on contract bridge. Non-religious and for a time president of the Rationalist Association of Victoria.

  Richard, no surname, widower, public servant in various roles concerning uranium. Third husband of Edith, and father of George and Osborne (two children from his first marriage).

  Richter, Amelia, educated Oxford, married to Theodor (see Richter, Theodor).

  Richter, Theodor, anthropologist, educated Oxford. Together with his wife, Amelia, left Germany for England before World War II and c
ame to Australia after the war.

  Sackville-West*, Vita (1892–1962), an English author (pen name Victoria Mary Sackville-West), poet, social reformer and well-known gardener – she and her husband, Harold Nicolson, created the renowned garden known as Sissinghurst. She was a leading member of the Bloomsbury group and known for her exuberant aristocratic life, her unconventional marriage to Nicolson (they were both bi-sexual) and her passionate affair with novelist Virginia Woolf.

  Sharkey*, Lawrence Louis (1898–1967), Australian communist leader. In March 1949 he told a Sydney journalist that if ‘Soviet Forces in pursuit of aggressors entered Australia, Australian workers would welcome them’. He was tried in the Central Criminal Court and found guilty of uttering seditious words. The High Court of Australia upheld his conviction and he was sentenced to three years imprisonment. The term was later reduced and he served thirteen months. On his release, he embarked on a national tour. He then spent six months at a sanatorium in the Soviet Union for treatment of a heart condition. He remained an orthodox Stalinist communist, unswerving in his support for the Soviet Union.

  Smith, ‘Scraper’ Warren, lawyer, badly disfigured in World War I. He was a friend of Edith from student days at the University of Sydney.

  Staples*, Jim, became a member of the Communist Party as a student at the University of Sydney. As a young lawyer, he was the first to publish the report of the 20th Congress secret report in Australia, and was expelled from the Party. He was a civil liberties lawyer who did much pro-bono work and later became Deputy President of the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission.

  Strachey*, Giles Lytton (1880–1932), British writer and critic. Known for creating a new form of biography in which psychological insight and sympathy are combined with irreverence and wit. The best known of his books is Eminent Victorians. He spoke openly about his homosexuality and had a relationship with John Maynard Keynes, who, like Strachey, was part of the Bloomsbury group. Also had an intimate relationship with the painter Dora Carrington, who committed suicide two months after his death.

  Theo, chauffeur at the British High Commission, then ran a hire-car service in Canberra. He was personal chauffeur for Edith.

  Thring*, Frank William (1926–1994). Gathered a gay and transvestite set around the Arrow theatre in Melbourne, which he relaunched with a controversial production of Oscar Wilde’s Salome. He then financed his own production of Salome in London, in which he played Herod.

  Titterton*, Sir Ernest William (1916–1990), English nuclear physicist. In 1950, he was appointed Foundation Professor of Nuclear Physics at the Australian National University. He also held high positions on various science, defence and nuclear-related committees, institutes and councils in Australia.

  Turner*, Ian Alexander Hamilton (1922–1978), educated at Nhill State School, Geelong College and the University of Melbourne. Became a political activist and historian. He was an official of the Communist Party of Australia after World War II and left the Party in 1958 to become an academic historian. A close friend of Stephen Murray-Smith (see Murray-Smith* and Amirah Inglis*).

  Vittoz, Swiss, Freudian psychiatrist, not to be confused with the psychiatrist Roger Vittoz* who treated the poet T. S. Eliot.

  Waltz*, Kenneth Neal (1924–), a member of the faculty at Columbia University and one of the most prominent scholars of international relations. Also one of the founders of neo-realism in international relations theory.

  Watt*, Ray (1889–1967), brother of the Australian diplomat Alan Watt*. He was the founder and official of the Australian League of Nations Union from 1921 until World War II, an unsuccessful politician, a broadcaster, and later a PR officer for the Pakistan High Commission.

  Watt*, Sir Alan Stewart (1901–1988), Australian diplomat. First joined the Department of External Affairs in 1937 and became head of the Department of External Affairs in 1951. Brother of Ray*.

  Westwood, Ambrose, British, personal staff of Sir Eric Drummond, first Secretary-General of the League of Nations, later in Internal Services. Trained as a medical doctor and served in Medical Corps during World War I. Subsequently on staff of Lord Curzon and then in the British Foreign Office. He joined the staff of the League of Nations but went home to England after suffering a breakdown in the late 1920s. He returned to Geneva in the 1930s to work in a non-government body called The Federation of International Organisations. He also had connections with British Naval Intelligence for a time in the twenties. During the war, Edith employed him as a personal assistant. After the war, he rejoined the Foreign Office and was seconded to SIS (MI6). He and Edith married in 1949.

  Whitlam*, Gough (1916–), elected Labor Prime Minister of Australia 1972–1975 after twenty-three years of Liberal–Country Party rule.

  Young*, Courtenay, SIS (MI6) officer seconded to Australia in the 1950s to assist with establishment of ASIO.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  A NOTE ON ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  When writing an historical novel, there is always the dilemma of whether to give sources for key events and behaviour that concern identifiable people in the book. It is accepted as a convention that novelists are not obliged to do this, and the reader is asked to trust that the writer has tried hard to get it right. I tried hard to link such events and behaviour in the book to sources likely to be a safe record, before transmuting them through imaginative dramatisation.

  Many hundreds of conversations, many hundreds of books and many documents fed my imagination, but for me as a writer the agony is that research is infinite and sooner or later the book must be written and published while much remains unknown to me.

  SOME SOURCES

  ‘Our doubts are traitors, / And make us lose the good we oft might win / By fearing to attempt’ William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, Act 1, Scene 4; ‘We should demand more accountability from our friends . . .’ Craig Farmer; I am particularly grateful for the work done by Joseph Rothschild in his thesis on the impact of the Secret Speech of the 20th congress of the CPSU on the Australian Communist Party; ‘He was the rarest musician that his age did behold; a cheerful person he was, passing his days in unlawful merriment,’ Thomas Fuller, The Worthies of England (1662); Paul Johann Ludwig von Heyse, The Hungarian Countess; ‘Which Side Are You On?’, Florence Reece (1900–1986); Robert Ingersoll, Declaration of the Free; ‘You are at the crossroads of circumstance’, Eudora Welty, Ponder the Heart, 1956; The Book of Crossroads is from the film Pan’s Labyrinth, written and directed by Guillermo del Toro; ‘We’ll all go together when we go’, a song by Tom Lehrer; David Thomas, lawyer, South Australia, for legal maxims; John Latham in Owen Dixon’s Eyes by Professor Philip Ayres; John Williams, University of Adelaide, for Latham and Cromwell; ‘Stormy Weather’ is a 1933 song written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler; Wendy Johnson for recollections of Madame Ollier; Linda Young for the expression ‘Canberra has a bush soul’; information about clothing of the period of the book from curator Glynnis Jones at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney; the orations for Edith’s mother and family are a collage drawn from the lives of actual contemporaries, as recorded in the Australian Dictionary of Biography; the conversation between Edith and Latham in the Melbourne Club in ‘Loss of a Mentor’ is, of course, imaginary, but Latham’s dialogue is constructed from his High Court judgement on the Communist Party Dissolution Act, his personal papers in NLA, mentions of Latham in memoirs, and a construction of his views and style interpreted by the author; as an accredited writer, I observed the dramatic renegotiation of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty in Geneva, mixing them with the various delegations; and I also observed the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, again with contacts with the delegations; I am grateful to Gareth Evans for valuable conversations; Phillip Deery, Victoria University; John McLaren; Dr Libby Robin of the National Museum of Australia on the history of science in the ACT; Peter Freeman for information on Canberra and for the book The Early Canberra House; Robert Freestone, University of New South Wales,
for guidance; Peter Proudfoot and Deborah van der Plaat on geomancy; Jill Waterhouse on University House and the Causeway; Dr Susan-Mary Withycombe, for work on Eilean Giblin and on Canberra social life; Jane Barder for research on the British High Commission, Canberra House and Westminster House; Ian Batterham and his work as a conservator who spent years restoring the works of Marion Mahony; the Canberra and District Historical Society and their marvellous bulletins; the estate of David Campbell, for the quotation from the poem ‘Harry Pearce’, Collected Poems of David Campbell, Angus & Robertson (1989).

  In writing a trilogy, research on the first two books inevitably spills over to the second and the third and I would refer readers to the acknowledgements in Grand Days and in Dark Palace.

  One of the most substantial aids to research in Australia is the Australian Dictionary of Biography, established in 1966, which is available both in book form and on-line. It is a magnificent project and I wish to pay tribute to its founders, general editors and to its contributors. The ADB now runs to seventeen volumes, containing biographies of 11,237 representative Australians who died before 1981.

  The Creative Fellowship Scheme (known as the ‘Keatings’) was set up by Prime Minister Paul Keating in 1989 and ran until 1996. I received one of the first fellowships in 1989. The fellowships provided funding for large-scale, research-based, imaginative projects, and funded the researching and writing of Grand Days (the research for which also informed Dark Palace and Cold Light). No comparable funding scheme replaced the Keatings, but over the five years that I have worked on Cold Light a group of institutions and individuals have gathered around to help me research and write this book and I wish to acknowledge them and their staff with great gratitude. They include: the National Archives of Australia’s Frederick Watson Fellowship under the directorship of Ross Gibbs; the National Museum of Australia and its research unit under Dr Peter Stanley; the Prime Ministers’ Centre, now part of the Centre for Democracy under Kate Cowie and Michael Richard, which also provided me with an office in Old Parliament House – a great historical experience in itself.