Francis Joseph Hardy (21 March 1917 – 28 January 1994), published as Frank J. Hardy and also under the pseudonym Ross Franklyn, was an Australian novelist and writer. He is best known for his 1950 novel ''
Power Without Glory
''Power Without Glory'' is a 1950 historical novel written by Australian author Frank Hardy, following the life and ambitions of John West, a politician born into a working-class family who rises to prominence in Australian federal politics. ...
'', and for his later political activism. He brought the plight of
Aboriginal Australians
Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...
to international attention with the publication of his book, ''The Unlucky Australians'', in 1968, written during the
Gurindji Strike
The Wave Hill walk-off, also known as the Gurindji strike, was a walk-off and strike by 200 Gurindji stockmen, house servants and their families, starting on 23 August 1966 and lasting for seven years. It took place at Wave Hill, a cattle sta ...
. He ran unsuccessfully for the Australian parliament twice as a
Communist Party of Australia
The Communist Party of Australia (CPA), known as the Australian Communist Party (ACP) from 1944 to 1951, was an Australian political party founded in 1920. The party existed until roughly 1991, with its membership and influence having been i ...
candidate.
Early life
Frank Hardy, the fifth of the eight children of Thomas and Winifred Hardy, was born on 21 March 1917 at Southern Cross in Western
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
and later moved with his family to
Bacchus Marsh
Bacchus Marsh (Wathawurrung: ''Pullerbopulloke'') is an urban centre and suburban locality in Victoria, Australia located approximately north west of the state capital Melbourne and west of Melton, Victoria, Melton at a near equidistance to th ...
, west of Melbourne.
[Hocking, Jenny. ''Frank Hardy: Politics, Literature, Life'' South Melbourne: Lothian Books: 2005; ][Armstrong, Pauline. ''Frank Hardy and the Making of Power Without Glory''. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press. ][Adams, Paul. ''The Stranger From Melbourne: Frank Hardy – A Literary Biography 1944–1975''. University of Western Australia Press: 1999; ] His mother, Winifred, was a Roman Catholichis father, Thomas, an atheist of Welsh and English descent. In 1931 Hardy left school, aged 14, and embarked upon a series of manual jobs. According to Hardy biographer Pauline Armstrong, "his first job was as a messenger and bottlewasher at the local chemist's shop" and then Hardy worked at the local grocer. He later also did manual work "in and around
Bacchus Marsh
Bacchus Marsh (Wathawurrung: ''Pullerbopulloke'') is an urban centre and suburban locality in Victoria, Australia located approximately north west of the state capital Melbourne and west of Melton, Victoria, Melton at a near equidistance to th ...
in the milk factory, digging potatoes, picking tomatoes and fruit".
There is some debate among Hardy's biographers about the relative extent Hardy personally suffered from hardships during the 1930s depression. Hardy claimed himself that he left home when he was 13 because "his dad couldn't get the dole" with him at home. However, Jim Hardy, Frank's eldest brother, wrote to the ''
Melbourne Herald
''The Herald'' was a morning and, later, evening broadsheet newspaper published in Melbourne, Australia, from 3 January 1840 to 5 October 1990, which is when it merged with its sister morning newspaper ''The Sun News-Pictorial'' to form the ''H ...
'' on 6 November 1983 to rebut this assertion, claiming that Frank had never had to leave homefurther noting that their "father never lost a day's work in his life". According to biographer
Jenny Hocking
Jennifer Jane Hocking is an Australian historian, political scientist and biographer. She is the inaugural Distinguished Whitlam Fellow with the Whitlam Institute at Western Sydney University, Emeritus Professor at Monash University, and f ...
[ in a more recent biography, Tom Hardy did indeed lose his job at a milk factory at the start of ]the Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, and the family had to move into a small rented house in Lerderderg Street.
In 1937 ''Radio Times'' published a selection of his cartoons.
Adult life
In 1940 Hardy married Rosslyn Couper and they had three children, Frances, Alan and Shirley. From 1954 they made their home in Sydney.
Communist Party of Australia
Because of his experiences during the Depression, Hardy joined the Communist Party of Australia
The Communist Party of Australia (CPA), known as the Australian Communist Party (ACP) from 1944 to 1951, was an Australian political party founded in 1920. The party existed until roughly 1991, with its membership and influence having been i ...
in 1939. Hardy stood unsuccessfully twice as a CPA candidate for public office: in 1953 as a Senate candidate for Victoria, and in 1955 for the seat of Mackellar (NSW) in the House of Representatives.
Hardy also stood unsuccessfully for the National Committee of the CPA in 1955 and again in 1967.
Australian Army service
According to Pauline Armstrong, Hardy enlisted in the Australian armed forces on 10 May 1943.[ He was later posted to Mataranka in the ]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 ...
which was under "perpetual anticipation" of attack from the Japanese.[ Initially editing and writing a unit newspaper for the Australian army, he was employed as an artist for the army journal, ''Salt''. Later his short stories "A Stranger in the Camp" and "The Man from Clinkapella" won competitions, and his work was accepted by ''Coast to Coast'' and ''The Guardian''. Many of his early stories were written under the pseudonym Ross Franklyn.
]
Journalism
He continued to work in journalism for most of his life. Although he opposed the foundation of the Australian Society of Authors
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) was formed in 1963 as the organisation to promote and protect the rights of Australia's authors and illustrators. The Fellowship of Australian Writers played a key role it its establishment. The organisat ...
for political reasons in 1963, he later joined the Society and served on its Management Committee. He played an active role in assisting the Gurindji people
The Gurindji are an Aboriginal Australian people of northern Australia, southwest of Katherine in the Northern Territory's Victoria River region.
Language and culture
Gurindji is one of the eastern Ngumbin languages, in the Ngumbin-Yapa s ...
in the Gurindji strike
The Wave Hill walk-off, also known as the Gurindji strike, was a walk-off and strike by 200 Gurindji stockmen, house servants and their families, starting on 23 August 1966 and lasting for seven years. It took place at Wave Hill, a cattle sta ...
in the mid to late 1960s. The documentary film ''The Unlucky Australians'', which featured Frank Hardy and the Gurindji people, was made by director and producer John Goldschmidt
John Goldschmidt (born 1943) is a British-Austrian film director and producer. Goldschmidt was born in London, but grew up in Vienna leaving at the age of 16 to return to London. Goldschmidt has both Austrian and British nationality. He studied ...
for Associated Television (ATV) and transmitted on the ITV network in the UK.
''Power Without Glory''
His most famous work, ''Power Without Glory
''Power Without Glory'' is a 1950 historical novel written by Australian author Frank Hardy, following the life and ambitions of John West, a politician born into a working-class family who rises to prominence in Australian federal politics. ...
'', was initially published in 1950 by Hardy himself, with the assistance of other members of the Communist Party. The novel is a fictionalised version of the life of a 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 ...
businessman, John Wren
John Wren (3 April 1871 – 26 October 1953) was an Australian bookmaker, boxing and wrestling promoter, Irish nationalist, land speculator, newspaper owner, racecourse and racehorse owner, soldier, pro-conscriptionist and theatre owner. He b ...
, and is set largely in the fictitious Melbourne suburb of Carringbush
Collingwood is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 3km north-east of Melbourne's Melbourne City Centre, Central Business District, located within the City of Yarra Local government areas of Victoria, lo ...
(based on the actual suburb Collingwood).
In 1950 Hardy was arrested for criminal libel
Criminal libel is a legal term, of English origin, which may be used with one of two distinct meanings, in those common law jurisdictions where it is still used.
It is an alternative name for the common law offence which is also known (in order ...
and had to defend ''Power Without Glory'' in a celebrated case shortly after its publication. Prosecutors alleged that ''Power Without Glory'' criminally libelled John Wren's wife by implying that she had engaged in an extramarital affair. Hardy was acquitted and it was the last criminal libel case launched in Victoria; all subsequent libel cases have been civil. Hardy detailed the case in his book ''The Hard Way''.
''Power Without Glory'' was filmed by the Australian Broadcasting Commission
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-owned ...
(ABC) in 1976 as a 26-episode television series adapted by Howard Griffiths and Cliff Green.
''The Unlucky Australians''
In 1968 Hardy published ''The Unlucky Australians'', with a foreword by Donald Horne
Donald Richmond Horne (26 December 1921 – 8 September 2005) was an Australian journalist, writer, social critic, and academic who became one of Australia's best known public intellectuals, from the 1960s until his death.
Horne was a prol ...
and contributions by Vincent Lingiari
Vincent Lingiari (13 June 1908 or 1919 – 21 January 1988) was an Australian Aboriginal rights activist and member of the Gurindji people. In his early life he started as a stockman at Wave Hill Station, where the Aboriginal workers were g ...
, Aboriginal Union organiser Daniel Dexter, actor Robert Tudawali
Robert Tudawali (1929 – 26 July 1967), also known as Bobby Wilson and Bob Wilson, was an Australian actor and Indigenous activist. He is known for his leading role in the 1955 Australian film ''Jedda'', which made him the first Indigenous Aus ...
and others, telling the story of the Gurindji people
The Gurindji are an Aboriginal Australian people of northern Australia, southwest of Katherine in the Northern Territory's Victoria River region.
Language and culture
Gurindji is one of the eastern Ngumbin languages, in the Ngumbin-Yapa s ...
based on personal narratives, and the Gurindji Strike
The Wave Hill walk-off, also known as the Gurindji strike, was a walk-off and strike by 200 Gurindji stockmen, house servants and their families, starting on 23 August 1966 and lasting for seven years. It took place at Wave Hill, a cattle sta ...
.
Plays
Hardy also wrote plays, including ''Who was Henry Larsen'' (first performed 1984) and ''Faces in the Street'' (first performed 1988, published 1990), which were both based on Henry Lawson
Henry Archibald Hertzberg Lawson (17 June 1867 – 2 September 1922) was an Australian writer and bush poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial perio ...
.
Hardy founded the Realist Writers Group, which he represented in 1951 at the 3rd World Festival of Youth and Students
The 3rd World Festival of Youth and Students (WFYS) was held from 5 to 19 August 1951 in Berlin, capital city of the then German Democratic Republic, and organised by World Federation of Democratic Youth. The motto of the festival was "Peace and ...
in Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
.
Death
Frank Hardy died at his home in North Carlton, a suburb of Melbourne, from a heart attack on 28 January 1994, aged 76. His cremated remains were interred at Fawkner Memorial Park.
Family
Hardy's younger sister, Mary Hardy, was a popular radio and television personality in the 1960s/1970s.
His granddaughter, Marieke Hardy
Marieke Josephine Hardy (born 26 May 1976) is an Australian writer, radio and television presenter, television producer and screenwriter and former television actress.
Early life and family
Hardy is the granddaughter of Frank Hardy, author of ...
, is a writer in Melbourne.
Bibliography
*''Power Without Glory
''Power Without Glory'' is a 1950 historical novel written by Australian author Frank Hardy, following the life and ambitions of John West, a politician born into a working-class family who rises to prominence in Australian federal politics. ...
'', 1950. Reprint 2000
*''Journey Into the Future'', 1952
*''The Four Legged Lottery'' 1958
*''The Hard Way: The Story Behind Power without Glory'', 1961.
*''Legends from Benson's Valley'', 1963.
*'' The Yarns of Billy Borker'', 1965.
*''Billy Borker Yarns Again'', 1967.
*''The Unlucky Australians'', 1968. 1972
*''Outcasts of Foolgarah'', 1971,
*''But the Dead Are Many: A Novel in Fugue Form'', 1975,
*''The Needy and the Greedy: Humorous Stories of the Racetrack'', 1975.
*''The Obsession of Oscar Oswald'', 1983,
*''Who Shot George Kirkland? : A Novel About the Nature of Truth'', 1981.
*''Warrant of Distress'', 1983,
*''The Loser Now Will Be Later to Win'', 1985.
*''Mary Lives!'', 1992 .
Books about Frank Hardy
*''Frank Hardy: Politics, Literature, Life'', Jenny Hocking
Jennifer Jane Hocking is an Australian historian, political scientist and biographer. She is the inaugural Distinguished Whitlam Fellow with the Whitlam Institute at Western Sydney University, Emeritus Professor at Monash University, and f ...
(South Melbourne: Lothian Books
Hachette () is a French publisher. Founded in 1826 by Louis Hachette as Brédif, the company later became L. Hachette et Compagnie, Librairie Hachette, Hachette SA and Hachette Livre in France. After acquiring an Australian publisher, Hachette ...
, 2005, )
*
Frank Hardy and the Literature of Commitment
'', edited by Paul Adams & Christopher Lee (North Carlton, Victoria: The Vulgar Press, 2003, )
*''Frank Hardy and the Making of Power without Glory'', Pauline Armstrong (Carlton South: Melbourne University Press, 2000, )
*''The Stranger From Melbourne: Frank Hardy – A Literary Biography 1944 – 1975'', Paul Adams (University of Western Australia Press, 1999, )
References
Further reading
* Includes much detail about Hardy.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hardy, Frank
1917 births
1994 deaths
20th-century Australian novelists
20th-century Australian short story writers
Australian communists
Australian Marxists
Australian socialists
Australian male novelists
Australian male short story writers
Communist Party of Australia members
Communist writers
Logie Award winners
Marxist writers
Organized crime writers
People from Bacchus Marsh
Australian Army personnel of World War II
Australian Army soldiers
Self-published books
Writers from Victoria (Australia)