Issue Details: First known date: 2019... 2019 Seeing for Himself : Harold Holt, Bushfire and Newspaper Depictions of Prime Ministerial Empathy
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'The experience of bushfire continues to challenge Australians and those responsible for leading them. Since Federation, the news media have conveyed prime ministers’ expressions of sympathy and reassurance of recovery to those Australians affected by bushfire. A study of newspaper reports of prime ministers’ responses to exceptional fires—in 1926, 1939, 1967, 1983, 2003 and 2009—reveals an increasing emphasis on prime ministers being physically and emotionally engaged with Australians in the wake of bushfire. This study identifies a turning point during the prime ministership of Harold Holt, who visited Tasmania to view the aftermath of the Black Tuesday fires in 1967. Vividly descriptive newspaper coverage of Holt's witnessing of the damage wrought by the fires is symptomatic of a shift towards journalistic norms seen today; however, it also is symptomatic of the social context in which Holt operated and his personal and political style. By presenting this argument, this article draws attention to an aspect of Holt's prime ministership neglected in popular and scholarly records while advancing an understanding of normative depictions of Australian political leadership by the news media over time.' (Publication abstract)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Journal of Australian Studies (Re)thinking 1968 and Its Legacy in Australia vol. 43 no. 2 2019 16854195 2019 periodical issue  'Did Australia have a 1968? This might at first seem a fairly counterintuitive question. None dispute the year’s significance: a new Prime Minister took the reins after Harold Holt’s disappearance off Cheviot beach, the Vietnamese Tet Offensive shattered myths of American superiority, W. E. H. Stanner’s Boyer Lectures broke the “great Australian silence”, and the nation’s first Women’s Liberation group formed. Yet, for most commentators, the action lies elsewhere. For Robin Gerster and Jan Bassett, 1968 arrived “via airmail subscription” while social commentator Hugh Mackay proffered the year’s late arrival in the form of Gough Whitlam’s triumphant 1972 election.' (Evan Smith & Jon Piccini, Editorial introduction) 2019 pg. 249-261
Last amended 25 Jun 2019 15:58:38
249-261 Seeing for Himself : Harold Holt, Bushfire and Newspaper Depictions of Prime Ministerial Empathysmall AustLit logo Journal of Australian Studies
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