Cirrus@Austlit

'Informed by the charisma, vision, and principles of John Christian Watson, this compelling biography explores Watson’s pivotal role in Labor’s journey from its inception, through its growth, to the divisive conscription crisis of World War I.

'Watson emerged as a leading figure in Labor’s early days, serving as a key delegate and President of the Sydney-based Trades and Labour Council, and as President of the Political Labor League. Historian Bede Nairn credits him with providing NSW Labor its essential cohesion, direction, and integrity. Under Watson’s leadership, the party laid the groundwork for future electoral successes, including the landmark national victory in 1910 under Andrew Fisher.

'Watson’s political career was marked by significant achievements: he was the first leader of the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party, served as Prime Minister in 1904, and was a prominent MP until 1910. His commitment to moderation and strategic alliances earned him respect and facilitated Labor’s ascent.

'This book delves into the critical questions of Watson’s political strategies and decisions, his impact on Labor’s identity, and the controversies surrounding his expulsion. It paints a nuanced portrait of a man whose moderation, integrity, and vision were pivotal in shaping the early Australian Labor movement, leaving a lasting legacy respected across the political spectrum.'  (Publication summary)

'Was Wran corrupt? Did his administration engage in corruption? This book offers a thorough investigation into these questions, examining key incidents that raised doubts about his integrity. Each chapter scrutinizes allegations such as Wran's reluctance to reform the NSW Police Force, his connections with controversial figures like bookmaker Bill Waterhouse, and the Luna Park ghost train fire. It also explores his wealth, the jailing of his minister Rex Jackson, and claims of favoritism. Featuring previously unpublished material and challenging prominent journalists’ work, this book critically reassesses Wran's legacy and the accusations against him.' (Publication summary) 

'The legacy of Sir Henry Bolte, Victoria’s longest-serving Liberal Premier, is presented in Megan Murphy’s compelling new biography. Number 23 in the Australian Biographical Monographs Series.

'From 1955 to 1972, Bolte’s pragmatic and tenacious leadership transformed Victoria, delivering unprecedented political stability and modernisation. Known for his shrewd tactics and decisive actions on issues like capital punishment and economic intervention, Bolte’s avuncular demeanor belied a ruthless political acumen. As the Victorian Liberal Party faces contemporary challenges, this timely volume revisits Bolte’s contributions and controversies, highlighting the attributes that made him a successful leader. Essential reading for those seeking to understand one of Australia’s pivotal political figures.'  (Publication summary)

'In this compelling collection, delve into the profound thoughts and fearless observations of Frank Knopfelmacher, a true intellectual luminary and participant observer of the tumultuous 20th century. From his formative years marked by firsthand experiences of Hitler and Stalin regimes, Knopfelmacher emerges as a passionate anti-communist 'cold war warrior' with a broader role - a perceptive social commentator and influential educator. Rejecting pomposity and embracing self-irony, his unconditional sobriety resonates through his penetrating speeches, lucid writings that captivated students and ordinary minds alike. Unveil the legacy of a man who, beyond being a vigilant critic, dedicated his life to a singular duty - to warn against the inherent dangers threatening society's fabric.'  (Publication summary)

'Rosa is a woman who grew up in the bush of southern Queensland. At school she discovered she could sing and it became her abiding passion. While this book tells about her life and career, she couldn’t do it on her own, so her story is as much about the people she loved and who loved her back, and looked out for her.

'Her determination and talent brings stardom, but at a cost. Those blessed with an aura of success, like any of us, are plagued by loneliness, illness and loss. But life for Rosa and the people she loves and works with is never dull; every day seems to bring a new challenge to be embraced.

'‘He’d been drinking at the Regatta …and next thing, he skolled a glass, leapt up on the parapet, did a handstand slowly, and hand walked the whole length of the balcony. A hand misplaced by an inch and he was dead…’

'Riding Scrimple in the valley shortly after sunrise felt the only place where she belonged, the only place she could sing whenever or whatever she wanted … as a little girl she discovered that singing crushed some of the awful dreams.’

'It was like she had to be a vocal dancer or athlete. Keep to the beat; keep in tune! How was it done? Surely it must be better than what was going on? She had this aural vision of these people around her groaning or moaning.’

'All she could do was suspend judgement, her world and any other place or person, for this minute, hour, day … She stood on the little terrace, her eyes moving from him to the view of a village, hillsides, and the blues, ochres, sages of sky and landscape.

'‘The way you sang that long last song was more than brilliant; it said something to me about the power of communication through music I’ve never known.’

'‘Your memory or your truth, he said, can change depending on how you are living the moment of your recollection’' (Publication summary) 

'Ron Boswell, ‘Boz’, left school at 14 and went on to become the Father of the Australian Senate. His story will make you laugh and cry and cheer for the underdog.

'Ron Boswell tells politics like it is and how one person really can make a difference.

'No nonsense, no frills, this is Australian politics at its rugged best. This book makes you a fly on the wall to some of the biggest political issues over the past forty years. From Joh for PM to fighting the extremists and the carbon wars, Boswell gives a firsthand account of key events.

'Whether it’s magic cufflinks, grass turf wars, taxi fares, banana pests, political prawns, or superyacht flower bills, you are bound to find something interesting and inspiring.' (Publication summary)

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'This is the first biography of Dame Margaret Guilfoyle, Liberal Senator from Victoria from 1971 to 1987, who quickly rose to become Minister for Social Security and then Minister for Finance in the Fraser Coalition Government. Margaret Guilfoyle had the distinction of being the first woman to hold a cabinet-level ministerial portfolio in Australia. She was regarded as an outstanding minister – highly competent, reformist, and trustworthy. That she served as a senior minister for the duration of the Fraser Government testifies to this. In addition, Margaret Guilfoyle did much to increase women’s participation and representation in Australian politics through her own outstanding example, and active roles in various forums across the political divide.

'Anne Henderson is deputy director of the Sydney Institute and has been a major contributor to promoting the study of Australian politics through her many publications. Among her books of note are Enid Lyons: Leading Lady To A Nation; Joseph Lyons – The People’s Prime Minister; Menzies at War (short listed for the 2015 Prime Minister’s Award for Australian History); and Federation’s Man of Letters – Patrick McMahon Glynn.' (Publication summary)

'Dame Annabelle has been overlooked for too long. As Minister for Housing in the Holt and Gorton Governments, she was the first woman with responsibility for a federal government department and as High Commissioner to New Zealand was the first woman to head an Australian diplomatic post. She was, too, the first female whip in the Australian Parliament. -- From the Foreword

'Peter Sekuless brings Dame Annabelle Rankin to life in this meticulously researched monograph. He has made extensive use of parliamentary debates, contemporary press reports, and most importantly, interviews recorded after Senator Rankin’s retirement. We are all the more informed not just about Dame Annabelle, but of the culture and values of the times in which she lived and the prejudices that she, and others like her, had to overcome. Her story also tells us a lot about the Commonwealth Parliament itself and the nature of the Liberal Party which was perhaps more of a pioneer in women’s rights than is usually acknowledged.

'Peter Sekuless is a Canberra-based writer who has been a press gallery journalist, Commonwealth public servant and government relations consultant. His books include the life of Australian feminist Jessie Street and a profile of WW11 war correspondent Lorraine Stumm.'(Publication summary)

'From his Roman Catholic, Labor leaning family upbringing in Launceston, to Adelaide and the transformation given him by the Jesuits, Brendan Nelson graduated in medicine. The joys and wounding sorrows of medical practice. The stirrings of political activism as he rose to the Presidency of the Australian medical Association (AMA). Elected into the Howard government in 1996 as the member for Bradfield, a reformist Minister for Education, Defence Minister, then leader of the Liberal Party in the most difficult circumstances. From Diplomat to Director of the Australian War Memorial, his unorthodox story offers lessons Of Life and of Leadership.'(Publication summary)

'Bob Hawke ranks as one of Australia’s leading prime ministers. He enjoyed extraordinary electoral success, winning four elections and serving for eight years and nine months, a term exceeded only by Robert Menzies and John Howard. His political skills, including his popularity with voters and his emphasis on consensus, enabled his government to implement a large agenda of economic reform that transformed the nation. Often unpopular at the time, the scope and ambition of initiatives such as financial deregulation, reform of the tax system and cutting import tariffs are unimaginable in today’s political context. Hawke also left a substantial record on social policy, including the introduction of Medicare and directing welfare to those most in need, and on the environment, with measures such as blocking a dam on Tasmania’s Franklin River and preserving North Queensland rainforests. His extensive involvement in foreign policy, including playing a role in ending apartheid in South Africa, is often overlooked.

'Hawke was a complex personality. A son of the manse, his life combined hard work, discipline and a sense of public duty with an undisciplined private life of heavy drinking, aggressive behaviour, multiple affairs and sexual liasions and neglect of his family. The convention that journalists did not report on politicians’ private lives unless it affected their public duties meant Hawke survived with his reputation largely intact until recently. Today such conduct would disqualify him from leading the nation. Hawke may have adapted to today’s community standards in the interests of his long-nurtured ambition to become prime minister but this remains an imponderable.  

'Mike Steketee was chief political correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald in the Canberra Press Gallery from 1984 to 1988 and continued to cover the later years of the Hawke Government as the Herald’s Political Editor.' (Publication summary)

'Tony Eggleton AO CVO was intimately involved in the advent of Australian television; the loss of HMAS Voyager; the drowning death of Harold Holt; the hugely successful 1970 Royal Tour; the end of John Gorton’s tumultuous prime ministership; the reconfiguration of the British Commonwealth; the dismissal of the Whitlam Government; re-electing the Fraser Government; the Coalition’s ‘wilderness years’; international humanitarian crisis intervention; commemorating Australian nationhood; and, the nurture of Asia-Pacific democratic institutions.

'This biography reveals his private thoughts as press secretary to four Australian prime ministers, Federal Director of the Liberal Party, Secretary-General of CARE International and CEO of the National Council for the Centenary of Federation. It explores the management of public opinion, the design of election strategies and the influence of political journalism on government policy.

'Professor Tom Frame AM works in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at UNSW Canberra. A former naval officer and Anglican Bishop to the Australian Defence Force, he was the inaugural Director of the John Howard Prime Ministerial Library at Old Parliament House and the Public Leadership Research Group. He is the author or editor of more than 50 books including Where Fate Calls: the HMAS Voyager Tragedy, The Life and Death of Harold Holt, and a four volume series on the Howard Government.'(Publication summary)

'The Poinciana Tree is a novel about a woman and her family whose lives spread across the vast continent of Australia. On one hand it is a story of hardship, emotional deprivation and coping with the desperation of the Depression and war, but on another level it is a classic example of bravery, resilience, the joys and sorrows of family and the unswerving commitment of love and support to others.

'The story is based on the real experiences of the author's own family. His mother Aimee Francis was born in 1908 in the remote goldfields of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, but after her own mother's early death she moved to Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and ultimately to Queensland.

'Our history is full of the bravery and resourcefulness of people like Aimee and those she loved, but rarely are they noticed. This book is a tribute to her and the thousands like her.' (Publication summary)

'This new biography by Sean Jacobs, based on years of research, explores Neville Bonner's hardscrabble beginnings and rise to become Australia's first Indigenous federal parliamentarian. Despite a difficult start, and only a year of formal schooling, Bonner turned discrimination and setback into success, overcoming hard days in northern New South Wales and Queensland to represent Queensland as a Liberal Senator for 12 years in the national parliament (1971 - 1983). Bonner's towering dignity to be a full participant in Australian society, and his constant capacity to see the good in all Australians, make him not only a great Indigenous Australian but one of our greatest Australians.'  (Publication summary)

'Few inside accounts have been published in Australia written by those who were active in that part of the Cold War which took place inside Australia's social institutions, especially the trade union movement. Most published memoirs have been written by those on the extreme left of the political spectrum or by defectors from the anti-communist movement. In his account, Keith Harvey, an anti-communist student and trade union movement activist describes his involvement in the struggle carried out, he says, by often unsung people with the highest motives.' (Publication summary)

'This book is a selection of essays published over half a century. They appeared in a variety of journals, and are grouped under the headings: The Public Realm, Folkways, Russia and East Europe, Australian Literature and Australian society. They argue that all cultures have an underground dimension which acts as a balance to its overt one. Heterodox political and religious notions can survive in subliminal form in literature to avoid detection by dominant cultures. In times of drastic change survivals from the past can have a brief last flowering in literature: ‘Things reveal themselves passing away’, as Yeats understood. Our personalities and our nations are not monochrome entities but layered amalgams of all that has gone before. These deposits form the substratum on which our civil society is grounded. Civil society itself can be corroded when the public realm tries to suborn rather than protect the intermediate and private sectors in society. Literature and history are the domains where these relentless processes of coagulation and dissolution are best understood.' (Publication summary)

'Sir Robert Menzies was driven by a passionate belief in individual freedom, personal responsibility and human dignity.

'In God & Menzies, David Furse-Roberts reveals the Judeo-Christian origins of Menzies' empowering Liberal philosophy that became embedded in Australia's cultural DNA.

'God & Menzies is essential reading for everybody who seeks a deeper understanding of Australian liberalism and the place of religion in a secular society.' (Publication summary)