Arthur Augustus Calwell (28 August 1896 – 8 July 1973) was an Australian politician who served as the leader of the
Labor Party from 1960 to 1967. He led the party to three federal elections.
Calwell grew up in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
and attended
St Joseph's College. After leaving school, he began working as a clerk for the
Victorian state government
The Victoria State Government, also referred to as just the Victorian Government, is the state-level authority for Victoria, Australia. Like all state governments, it is formed by three independent branches: the executive, the judicial, and th ...
. He became involved in the
labour movement
The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other.
* The trade union movement ...
as an officeholder in the
public-sector trade union
A public-sector trade union (or public-sector labor union) is a trade union which primarily represents the interests of employees within public sector or governmental organizations.
History and recent developments
Costa Rica
In the late 1800s, ...
. Before entering parliament, Calwell held various positions in the Labor Party's organisation wing, serving terms as state president and as a member of the federal executive. He was elected to the
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
at the
1940 federal election, standing in the
Division of Melbourne
The Division of Melbourne is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian electoral division in the states and territories of Australia, State of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, represented since the 2010 Australian feder ...
.
After the
1943 election, Calwell was elevated to cabinet as
Minister for Information, overseeing government censorship and propaganda during World War II. When
Ben Chifley
Joseph Benedict Chifley (; 22 September 1885 – 13 June 1951) was an Australian politician who served as the 16th prime minister of Australia from 1945 to 1949. He held office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1945, follow ...
became prime minister in 1945, Calwell was also made
Minister for Immigration. He oversaw the creation of Australia's expanded
post-war immigration scheme, at the same time strictly enforcing the
White Australia policy
The White Australia policy is a term encapsulating a set of historical policies that aimed to forbid people of non-European ethnic origin, especially Asians (primarily Chinese) and Pacific Islanders, from immigrating to Australia, starting i ...
. In 1951, he was elected deputy leader of the Labor Party in place of
H. V. Evatt
Herbert Vere Evatt, (30 April 1894 – 2 November 1965) was an Australian politician and judge. He served as a judge of the High Court of Australia from 1930 to 1940, Attorney-General and Minister for External Affairs from 1941 to 1949, and l ...
, who had succeeded to the leadership upon Chifley's death. The two clashed on a number of occasions over the following decade, which encompassed the
1955 party split. In 1960, Evatt retired and Calwell was chosen as his successor, thus becoming
Leader of the Opposition
The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...
.
Calwell and the Labor Party came close to victory at the
1961 election, gaining 15 seats and finishing only two seats shy of a majority. However, those gains were wiped out at the
1963 election. Calwell was one of the most prominent opponents of
Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War, a stance that was not electorally popular at the time. In 1966, Calwell survived
a leadership challenge from his deputy
Gough Whitlam
Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 191621 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from 1972 to 1975. The longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1967 to 1977, he was notable for being the he ...
, survived
an assassination attempt with minor injuries, and finally led his party to a landslide defeat at the
1966 election, winning less than one-third of the total seats. He was 70 years old by that point, and resigned the leadership a few months later. He remained in parliament until the
1972 election, which saw Whitlam become prime minister, and died the following year.
Life
Birth and family background
Calwell was born on 28 August 1896, in
West Melbourne. He was the oldest of seven children born to Margaret Annie (née McLoughlin) and Arthur Albert Calwell. His father worked as a police officer and retired as a
superintendent of police
Superintendent (Supt) is a rank in the British police and in most English-speaking Commonwealth nations. In many Commonwealth countries, the full version is superintendent of police (SP). The rank is also used in most British Overseas Territories ...
. Calwell's parents were both born in Australia. His maternal grandfather was Michael McLoughlin, who was born in
County Laois, Ireland, and arrived in Melbourne in 1847 after jumping ship. He married Mary Murphy, who was born in
County Clare
County Clare ( ga, Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,817 ...
. Calwell's paternal grandfather Davis Calwell (or Caldwell) was an
Irish American born in
Union County, Pennsylvania
Union County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 42,681. Its county seat is Lewisburg. The county was created on March 22, 1813, from part of Northumberland County. Its name is an allusio ...
, who arrived in Australia in 1853 during the
Victorian gold rush
The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. It led to a period of extreme prosperity for the Australian colony, and an influx of population growth and financial capit ...
. He married Elizabeth Lewis, a Welshwoman, and settled near
Ballarat
Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resid ...
, eventually becoming president of the
Bungaree Shire Council. Davis Calwell's father,
Daniel Caldwell, had immigrated to the United States from northern Ireland, and served in the
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two-year terms from single member districts.
It ...
in the 1820s.
Childhood
Calwell grew up in West Melbourne. As a young boy he contracted
diphtheria
Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild clinical course, but in some outbreaks more than 10% of those diagnosed with the disease may die. Signs and s ...
, which permanently scarred his vocal chords and gave him a lifelong "raspish, nasal voice". Although his father was an Anglican, Calwell was raised in his mother's Catholic faith. He began his education at St Mary's College, the local
Mercedarian
The Royal, Celestial and Military Order of Our Lady of Mercy and the Redemption of the Captives ( la, Ordo Beatae Mariae de Mercede Redemptionis Captivorum, abbreviated O. de M.), also known as the Mercedarians, is a Catholic mendicant order es ...
school. In 1909, he won a scholarship to
St Joseph's College, North Melbourne, a
Christian Brothers school. One of his closest friends at school was
Matthew Beovich
Matthew Beovich (1 April 1896 - 24 October 1981) was an Australian Roman Catholic clergyman, and the fifth Archbishop of Adelaide.
Early life
Matthew Beovich was born on 1 April 1896 in Carlton, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. Matthew was t ...
, a future
Archbishop of Adelaide. In later life Calwell said "I owe everything I have in life, under Almighty God and next to my parents, to the Christian Brothers." Calwell's mother died in 1913, aged 40, when her oldest son was 16 and her youngest child was only three months old. His father remarried, eventually dying in 1938 at the age of 69.
World War I
Calwell was an officer in the
Australian Army Cadets
The Australian Army Cadets (AAC) is the youth military program and organisation of the Australian Army, tasked with supporting participants to contribute to society, fostering interest in defence force careers, and developing support for the ...
at the outbreak of World War I, and made two unsuccessful applications for a commission in the
Australian Imperial Force. After his second rejection in 1916 he made no further attempts to seek active service, being unwilling to join as an enlisted man; however, he was placed in the
Army Reserve
A military reserve force is a military organization whose members have military and civilian occupations. They are not normally kept under arms, and their main role is to be available when their military requires additional manpower. Reserve ...
and remained there until receiving an honourable discharge in 1926. Calwell joined the Young Ireland Society in 1914, and served as the organisation's secretary until 1916. His reputation as an
Irish republican
Irish republicanism ( ga, poblachtánachas Éireannach) is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate.
The develop ...
brought him to the attention of the military police, which suspected him of involvement in the more radical
Irish National Association. His residence was searched on one occasion, and his correspondence was routinely examined by censors. On two occasions there were moves to have him dismissed from the military for disloyalty, but Calwell denied the accusations and there was little proof that he had been actively disloyal.
Public service career
Calwell entered the Victorian Public Service in 1913, as a junior clerk in the Department of Agriculture. He transferred to the Department of the Treasury in 1923, where he remained until winning election to parliament in 1940. As with most of his colleagues, Calwell joined the Victorian State Service Clerical Association. He served as secretary and vice-president of that organisation, which in 1925 was reorganised into the state branch of Australian Public Service Association (a forerunner of the modern
Community and Public Sector Union
CPSU, the Community and Public Sector Union (more commonly known as the CPSU) is a national trade union in Australia. The union came into existence on 1 July 1994 with the amalgamation of the Public Sector, Professional, Scientific, Research, ...
). He was elected as the new organisation's inaugural president, serving until 1931.
Early political involvement
![Brown, Calwell and Forgan Smith](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Brown%2C_Calwell_and_Forgan_Smith.jpg)
Calwell joined the Labor Party at about the age of 18. He was elected secretary of the Melbourne branch in 1916, and from 1917 served as one of the Clerical Association's delegates to the state conference. He was elected to the state executive in the same year, and was state president of the party from 1930 to 1931 – at the time, the youngest person to have held the position. Calwell unsuccessfully sought Labor preselection for the
Victorian Legislative Assembly
The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne.
The presiding ...
and the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
on a number of occasions, and was elected to the party's federal executive in 1926. He was an assistant secretary to state MP
Tom Tunnecliffe
Thomas Tunnecliffe (13 July 1869 – 2 February 1948) was an Australian politician. Representing the Australian Labor Party, he was a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for the electorates of West Melbourne (1903–1904), Eaglehawk ( ...
for a period, and from 1926 served as secretary to
William Maloney, the long-serving Labor member for the federal
Division of Melbourne
The Division of Melbourne is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian electoral division in the states and territories of Australia, State of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, represented since the 2010 Australian feder ...
. Maloney would remain in parliament until his death at the age of 85, and Calwell made no effort to force an early retirement, despite being widely seen as the heir apparent to the seat.
Curtin and Chifley Governments (1941–1949)
![Arthur Calwell 1940](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Arthur_Calwell_1940.jpg)
Maloney announced he would not run for another term at the
1940 federal election. He died a month before polling day; as a result, no by-election was held in the Division of Melbourne. At the general election, Calwell easily retained the seat for the Labor Party. Due to his tenure as Victorian state president of the party and his long service as Maloney's secretary, he was already well known in federal parliament.
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Calwell was appointed as Minister for Information in the
Second Curtin Ministry following the
1943 election, and became well known for his tough attitude towards the Australian press and his strict enforcement of wartime censorship. This earned him the enmity of large sections of the Australian press, and he was dubbed "Cocky" Calwell by his political foes, cartoonists of the period depicting him as an obstinate Australian cockatoo.
In 1945 when
Ben Chifley
Joseph Benedict Chifley (; 22 September 1885 – 13 June 1951) was an Australian politician who served as the 16th prime minister of Australia from 1945 to 1949. He held office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1945, follow ...
succeeded Curtin, Calwell became the inaugural
Minister for Immigration in the post-war
Chifley Government. Thus, he was the chief architect of Australia's
post-war immigration scheme at a time when many European refugees desired a better life far from their war-torn homelands, and he became famous for his relentless promotion of it. Calwell's advocacy of the program was crucial because of his links to the trade union movement, and his skillful presentation of the need for immigration. Calwell overcame resistance to mass immigration by promoting it under the slogan "populate or perish". This drew attention to the need, particularly in light of the recent war in the Pacific, to increase Australia's industrial and military capabilities through a massive increase in the population. In July 1947 he signed an agreement with the
United Nations Refugee Organisation to accept displaced persons from European countries ravaged by war.
[J. Franklin, 'Calwell, Catholicism and the origins of multicultural Australia', 2009](_blank)
Calwell's enthusiasm and drive in launching the migration program was a notable feature of the second term of the Chifley government, and has been named by many historians as his greatest achievement (especially given the labour movement's hostility to earlier migration programs).
Calwell was a staunch advocate of the
White Australia Policy
The White Australia policy is a term encapsulating a set of historical policies that aimed to forbid people of non-European ethnic origin, especially Asians (primarily Chinese) and Pacific Islanders, from immigrating to Australia, starting i ...
. While Europeans were welcomed to Australia, Calwell attempted to deport many Malayan, Indochinese and Chinese wartime refugees, some of whom had married Australian citizens and started families in Australia. The main instrument of deportation was the ''
War-time Refugees Removal Act 1949
The ''War-time Refugees Removal Act 1949'' was a piece of Australian legislation that formed part of the White Australia policy. It was introduced by the Chifley government in July 1949, in order to give the federal government the explicit auth ...
'', which succeeded previous acts that allowed non-whites to stay in certain circumstances. Calwell's refusal to grant entry to
Lorenzo Gamboa – a Filipino man who had fought with the U.S. Army and had an Australian wife and children – caused an international incident with the Philippines. President
Elpidio Quirino
Elpidio Rivera Quirino (born Elpidio Quirino y Rivera; ; November 16, 1890 – February 29, 1956) was a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the sixth president of the Philippines from 1948 to 1953.
A lawyer by profession, Quirino ente ...
expressed his disappointment "that our neighbour, to whom we looked for friendship, should exclude us because of our colour", and the
Philippine House of Representatives
The House of Representatives of the Philippines ( fil, Kapulungan ng mga Kinatawan ng Pilipinas, italic=unset, ''Kamara'' or ''Kamara de Representantes'' from the Spanish language, Spanish word ''cámara'', meaning "chamber") is the lower house ...
passed a bill that would have excluded Australians from the country. Calwell remained unmoved, and told a rally prior to the
1949 election that "I am sure we don't want half-castes running over our country" and "if we let in any U.S. citizen, we will have to admit U.S. Negroes
..I don't think mothers and fathers would want to see that".
In economic policy, Calwell was not a great advocate of nationalisation. Gough Whitlam attributed this to Calwell's brand of socialism which was "an emotion rather than an ideology, a memory of the social deprivation he observed in Melbourne during the Depression years."
Opposition (1949–1960)
Calwell left ministerial office from the
1949 election when the Chifley Government was defeated by the
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
, led by
Robert Menzies
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...
. The following period in opposition was one of great frustration. Like many Labor parliamentarians and union officials at the time, Calwell was a Roman Catholic. The Australian Catholic Church was in this period fiercely anti-communist and had in the 1940s encouraged Catholic trade unionists to oppose communists within their trade unions. The organisations that co-ordinated Catholic efforts were called Industrial Groups. Calwell had originally supported the Industrial Groups in Victoria and continued to do so until the early 1950s. After Chifley's death in 1951,
H. V. Evatt
Herbert Vere Evatt, (30 April 1894 – 2 November 1965) was an Australian politician and judge. He served as a judge of the High Court of Australia from 1930 to 1940, Attorney-General and Minister for External Affairs from 1941 to 1949, and l ...
became the
Labor
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the la ...
leader, and Calwell became his Deputy. Under Evatt, Labor's attitude towards the Industrial Groups began to change, as Evatt suspected that one of their aims was to promote the Catholic element within the Labor Party.
![ArthurCalwell](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/ArthurCalwell.jpg)
Calwell's friendship with many of the leaders of the Industrial Groups (known collectively as "Groupers") led Evatt to privately question his loyalty. The two men thus had an increasingly difficult working relationship. This culminated in Evatt drafting and delivering the Labor Platform for the
1954 federal election without consulting Calwell. Labor was narrowly defeated at the polls, which deepened the rift between the two men.
Evatt's subsequent public attack on the "Groupers" and his insistence on their expulsion from the party placed Calwell in a difficult position. He was made to choose between the Evatt-led official Labor Party and the "Groupers" (who were mainly Catholic and Victorian). During a specially convened Labor Conference in Hobart in May 1955, the "Groupers" were expelled from the Labor Party and Calwell chose to stay within the party. Calwell's loyalty to the party was to cause him much personal and political anguish: he lost many of its oldest friends at this time, including the Archbishop of Melbourne,
Daniel Mannix
Daniel Patrick Mannix (4 March 1864 – 6 November 1963) was an Irish-born Catholic bishop. Mannix was the Archbishop of Melbourne for 46 years and one of the most influential public figures in 20th-century Australia.
Early years and Mayno ...
, and was, for a time, denied Communion at his parish church.
Ironically, this loyalty to the party did not prevent him from being deeply distrusted by the left-wing of the ALP, especially in his home state of Victoria. For many years, he had a stormy relationship with the state Labor Party. He never favoured the communist philosophy and was eloquent in his attacks on communists, whom he once called, "Pathological exhibits... human scum... paranoiacs, degenerates, morons, bludgers... pack of dingoes... industrial outlaws and political lepers... ratbags. If these people went to Russia, Stalin wouldn't even use them for manure."
Leader of the Opposition (1960–1967)
Evatt retired in 1960, and Calwell was acting leader before he succeeded him as
Leader of the Australian Labor Party
The leader of the Australian Labor Party is the highest political office within the federal Australian Labor Party (ALP). Leaders of the party are chosen from among the sitting members of the parliamentary caucus either by members alone or with ...
and
Leader of the Opposition
The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...
, with Gough Whitlam as his deputy. Calwell very nearly defeated Menzies at the
1961 federal election, owing to widespread discontent at Menzies' deflationary economic policies, as well as the unprecedented (and temporary) endorsement of the ALP by the usually pro-Liberal ''
Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...
''. It is generally accepted that unfavourable
Democratic Labor preferences were the primary reason why Labor came up two seats short of toppling the Coalition despite winning an 18-seat swing and a majority of the two-party vote. Ultimately, a narrow loss in
Bruce
The English language name Bruce arrived in Scotland with the Normans, from the place name Brix, Manche in Normandy, France, meaning "the willowlands". Initially promulgated via the descendants of king Robert the Bruce (1274−1329), it has been ...
, located in the DLP's heartland of Melbourne, ended any realistic chance of a Labor win, but the Coalition was not assured of another term in government until the
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
-area seat of
Moreton Moreton may refer to:
People Given name
* Moreton John Wheatley (1837–1916), British Army officer and Bailiff of the Royal Parks
Surname
* Alice Bertha Moreton (1901–1977), English sculptor, draughtsman and artist
* Andrew Moreton, a p ...
was called for the Liberals hours later. Labor actually won 62 seats, the same as the Coalition. However, two of those seats were in the
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. ...
and
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...
, and members from the territories then did not count for purposes of forming a government.
![Arthur Calwell 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Arthur_Calwell_2.jpg)
After this, however, Menzies was able to exploit divisions in the ALP over foreign policy and state aid for Catholic schools to recover his position. Calwell opposed the use of Australian troops in
Malaya and the establishment of American military communications bases in Australia. He also upheld the traditional Labor policy of denying state aid to private schools.
At the
1963 election, Calwell hoped to build on his gains from two years earlier, but was severely damaged by a picture in ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
'' that showed him and Whitlam outside a Canberra hotel, waiting for word from Labor's Federal Conference as to the policies upon which they should fight the election.
In an accompanying story,
Alan Reid of the ''Telegraph'' wrote that Labor was ruled by "36
faceless men
Faceless men is a term from Politics of Australia, Australian politics. The term is generally used to refer to men and women who exert Politics, political influence and are not elected representatives to state, territory or federal legislative bodi ...
". The Liberals seized on it, issuing a leaflet accusing Calwell of taking direction from "36 unknown men, not elected to Parliament nor responsible to the people." At the election, Labor suffered a 10-seat swing. Many thought that Calwell should retire, but he was determined to stay and fight.
Calwell made his strongest stand with his vehement opposition to Australia's military involvement in the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
and the introduction of
conscription
Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...
to provide troops for the war, publicly saying that "a vote for Menzies was a blood vote". Unfortunately for Calwell, the war was initially very popular in Australia and continued to be so after Menzies retired in 1966. Menzies' successor,
Harold Holt, seized on this and fought the
1966 election on the Vietnam issue. Labor suffered a crushing defeat, losing nine seats while the Coalition won the largest majority government in Australian history at the time.
It was clear by this time that Calwell's awkward, tactless image was no match for that of his charismatic and ambitious young Deputy Leader, the urbane, middle-class, university-educated Whitlam. In particular, Whitlam's clear mastery of the media gave him a huge advantage over Calwell, who looked and sounded substantially older than his 70 years. Calwell, an old-fashioned
stump orator whose career was forged in the days of the raucous public meeting, had always come across badly on television, compared with the smooth, avuncular and rich-voiced Menzies and the suave Holt. Calwell was also regarded by 1966 as an aged relic of the
Great Depression era. He was still campaigning about socialism and nationalisation, and continued to defend the
White Australia Policy
The White Australia policy is a term encapsulating a set of historical policies that aimed to forbid people of non-European ethnic origin, especially Asians (primarily Chinese) and Pacific Islanders, from immigrating to Australia, starting i ...
. Calwell resigned as Labor leader two months after the election, in January 1967; Whitlam succeeded him.
Assassination attempt
Calwell was only the second victim of an attempted political
assassination
Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...
in Australia (the first being
Prince Alfred in 1868).
On 21 June 1966, Calwell addressed an anti-
conscription
Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...
rally at
Mosman
Mosman is a suburb on the Lower North Shore region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Mosman is located 8 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local governm ...
Town Hall in
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
. As he was leaving the meeting, and just as his car was about to drive off, a 19-year-old student named
Peter Kocan
Peter Raymond Kocan (born Peter Raymond Douglas, 4 May 1947) attempted to assassinate Opposition Leader Arthur Calwell on 21 June 1966. He fired a shot at point-blank range through a car window, but Calwell escaped with only minor facial injuries ...
approached the passenger side of the vehicle and fired a sawn-off rifle at Calwell at point-blank range. However, the closed window deflected the bullet, which lodged harmlessly in his coat lapel, and he sustained only minor facial injuries from broken glass.
Calwell later visited Kocan in the mental hospital (where he was confined for ten years), and through a regular correspondence encouraged his eventual rehabilitation.
Later life and death
By the time Calwell's political career ended he was the
Father of the House of Representatives, having served as an MP for 32 years. He was frequently critical of Whitlam, especially since he knew that Whitlam intended abandoning the White Australia Policy.
At the 1972 election which brought Whitlam to the prime ministership, Calwell retired from Parliament. After a period of slow deterioration in his health, and a nearly four week stint in hospital, Calwell died on 8 July 1973.
He was given a state funeral at
St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne
The Cathedral Church and Minor Basilica of Saint Patrick (colloquially St Patrick's Cathedral) is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, and seat of its archbishop, currently Peter Comensoli.
...
. He was survived by his wife Elizabeth and his daughter Mary Elizabeth.
Notwithstanding Calwell's poor relations with the conservative press in Australia and his public battles against right-wing Catholics like Archbishop Mannix and
B. A. Santamaria
Bartholomew Augustine Santamaria, usually known as B. A. Santamaria (14 August 1915 – 25 February 1998), was an Australian Roman Catholic anti-Communist political activist and journalist. He was a guiding influence in the founding of the Dem ...
, he maintained a cordial relationship with Menzies. Menzies, for his part, never lost his respect and outright personal liking for Calwell. He attended Calwell's funeral, but (according to his biographer Allan W. Martin) became so overwhelmed by grief after arriving at the cathedral that he was unable to compose himself and leave his car.
Personal life
Calwell's first marriage was to Margaret Mary Murphy in 1921. She died the following year in 1922, and ten years later, on 29 August 1932, he married Elizabeth (Bessie) Marren, a strong-willed, intelligent and well-read Irishwoman who was social editor (as "Cecilia") of the Catholic weekly newspaper, the ''
Tribune
Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs acted as a check on the ...
''. In 1933 they launched the ''Irish Review'' as the official organ of the Victorian Irish Association. Calwell had met Elizabeth at
Irish language
Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...
classes run by the
Gaelic League
(; historically known in English as the Gaelic League) is a social and cultural organisation which promotes the Irish language in Ireland and worldwide. The organisation was founded in 1893 with Douglas Hyde as its first president, when it emer ...
in Melbourne, and retained an interest in and fluency in the language.
Calwell and his second wife had two children, Mary Elizabeth (b. 1934) and Arthur Andrew (b. 1937). His son, known as Art, died of leukaemia in June 1948 at the age of eleven. Calwell was profoundly affected by his son's death, and subsequently wore only black neckties. His wife later recalled it as "the cruellest blow Arthur has ever suffered. In fact, he has never been the same since that dreadful day". Calwell's daughter was described by ''
The Canberra Times
''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times.
History
''The Canberra Times'' was launched in ...
'' in 1995 as his "most passionate defender and admirer". In 2013, she published a sympathetic biography of her father titled ''I Am Bound to Be True'', hoping to "correct what she believes is the maligning of his legacy".
Outside of the political arena, Calwell was a devotee of the
North Melbourne Football Club
The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Kangaroos, is a professional Australian rules football club. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Kangaroos also ...
and was the first life member of the club. He was always devoted to the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
despite his many conflicts with church leaders. He received a
papal knighthood
The orders, decorations, and medals of the Holy See include title of honour, titles, chivalric orders, Award, distinctions and medals honoured by the Holy See, with the Pope as the fount of honour, for deeds and merits of their recipients to t ...
from
Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...
and was made a Knight Commander with Star of the
Order of St Gregory the Great
The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great ( la, Ordo Sancti Gregorii Magni; it, Ordine di San Gregorio Magno) was established on 1 September 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election as Pope.
The order is one of ...
(KC*SG) for his lifelong service to the church.
Allegations of racism
Calwell's remark in parliament in 1947 that "two Wongs don't make a white" was widely reported at the time, both in Australia and overseas. While it is widely quoted as evidence of Calwell's racism,
the remark was intended to be a humorous reference to a Chinese resident called Wong who was wrongly threatened with deportation, and a Liberal MP,
Sir Thomas White, the Member for
Balaclava. According to
Hansard
''Hansard'' is the traditional name of the transcripts of parliamentary debates in Britain and many Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), a London printer and publisher, who was the first official print ...
, Calwell said "there are many Wongs in the Chinese community, but I have to say — and I am sure that the honorable Member for Balaclava will not mind doing so — that 'two Wongs do not make a White.
In his autobiography, Calwell said it was intended as a "jocose remark", and that it had been "so often misrepresented it has become tiresome". He attributed this to the press, stating that "because of some anti-Australian Asian journalist or perhaps because some Australian pressman with a chip on his shoulder, a Labor Party hater, the name of White was deliberately altered into a definition of colour".
Calwell believed himself to be free of personal prejudice against people of other races while believing that they should
exist in separation. This is reflected by Calwell's comments in his 1972 memoirs ''Be Just and Fear Not'' in which he maintained his view that non-European people should not be allowed to settle in Australia. He wrote:
I am proud of my white skin, just as a Chinese is proud of his yellow skin, a Japanese of his brown skin, and the Indians of their various hues from black to coffee-coloured. Anybody who is not proud of his race is not a man at all. And any man who tries to stigmatise the Australian community as racist because they want to preserve this country for the white race is doing our nation great harm... I reject, in conscience, the idea that Australia should or ever can become a multi-racial society and survive.
Speaking regarding the incident involving
Lorenzo Gamboa, when a questioner brought up his U.S. citizenship for consideration, Calwell responded "If we let in any U.S. citizen we will have to admit U.S. negroes. I don't think any mothers and fathers want to see that."
In 1948, Calwell announced that no Japanese
war bride
War brides are women who married military personnel from other countries in times of war or during military occupations, a practice that occurred in great frequency during World War I and World War II.
Among the largest and best documented examp ...
s would be allowed to settle in Australia, stating "it would be the grossest act of public indecency to permit any Japanese of either sex to pollute Australia" while relatives of deceased Australian soldiers were alive.
Of
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...
, Calwell wrote: "If any people are homeless in Australia today, it is the Aboriginals. They are the only non-European descended people to whom we owe any debt. Some day, I hope, we will do justice to them."
References
Further reading
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Calwell, Arthur
1896 births
1973 deaths
Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia
Australian Leaders of the Opposition
Australian socialists
Australian Roman Catholics
Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Melbourne
Members of the Australian House of Representatives
Members of the Cabinet of Australia
Knights Commander with Star of the Order of St. Gregory the Great
Leaders of the Australian Labor Party
20th-century Australian politicians
Australian members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Australian people of Irish descent
Australian people of American descent
Australian people of Welsh descent
Public servants of Victoria (Australia)
Australian memoirists
20th-century memoirists
People from West Melbourne, Victoria
Politicians from Melbourne
People educated at St Joseph's College, Melbourne