Leslie Clement "Les" Haylen (23 September 1898 – 12 September 1977), also known by the pen-name Sutton Woodfield, was an Australian politician, playwright, novelist and journalist.
Early life
Haylen was born on 23 September 1898 at
Gundaroo
Gundaroo is a small village in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia and in Yass Valley Council. It is situated to the east of the Yass River, about north of Sutton, about west of the Lake George range. At the , Gundaroo "st ...
, near
Queanbeyan
Queanbeyan ( ) is a city in the south-eastern region of New South Wales, Australia, located adjacent to the Australian Capital Territory in the Southern Tablelands region. Located on the Queanbeyan River, the city is the council seat of the ...
, to Irish maintenance worker Thomas Haylen and Catherine, née Day. He was the youngest of twelve children; the family moved to Sydney in 1908. Haylen was raised as a
Catholic
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 ...
, but later lost his faith. Among his childhood influences were his literature-loving grandfather William Henry Day, and family friend
Mary Gilmore
Dame Mary Jean Gilmore (née Cameron; 16 August 18653 December 1962) was an Australian writer and journalist known for her prolific contributions to Australian literature and the broader national discourse. She wrote both prose and poetry.
Gi ...
.
Haylen enlisted in the
Australian Imperial Force on 6 July 1918 and was sent to Europe, but his ship was recalled and he was discharged in January of the following year. Re-enlisting in June 1919, he escorted prisoners of war being repatriated to Germany on the passenger ferry ''Trás-os-Montes''. On his return to Sydney in November, he became a journalist with ''
The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
''. On 30 April 1927 he married shop-assistant Sylvia Myrtle Rogers at Chancery Square.
Journalism
The couple moved to
Wagga Wagga
Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 56,000 as of June 2018, Wagga Wagga is the state's la ...
, where Haylen became chief sub-editor and
leader writer
A leader writer is a senior journalist in a British newspaper who is charged with writing the paper's editorial either in the absence of the editor or in cases where the editor chooses not to write editorials because their editorial skills may res ...
of ''
The Daily Advertiser''. His first play, the anti-war ''Two Minutes' Silence'', was first staged in 1930; it received positive reviews and ran in Sydney for twenty-six weeks. A
film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
based on the play was produced in 1933. Returning to Sydney in 1933, Haylen became news editor of ''
The Australian Women's Weekly
''The Australian Women's Weekly'', sometimes known as simply ''The Weekly'', is an Australian monthly women's magazine published by Mercury Capital in Sydney. For many years it was the number one magazine in Australia before being outsold by ...
''.
In 1942, he sought
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...
(ALP) pre-selection for the seat of
Parkes Parkes may refer to:
* Sir Henry Parkes (1815–1896), Australian politician, one of the earliest and most prominent advocates for Australian federation
Named for Henry Parkes
* Parkes, New South Wales, a regional town
* Parkes Observatory, a radi ...
in the
Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia.
The term of members of the ...
. As a consequence, his contract with Consolidated Press Ltd was terminated by its owner,
Frank Packer
Sir Douglas Frank Hewson Packer (3 December 19061 May 1974), was an Australian media proprietor who controlled Australian Consolidated Press and the Nine Network. He was a patriarch of the Packer family.
Early life
Frank Packer was born in K ...
, and Haylen then became editor of the official newspaper of the ALP, the ''Standard''. He scored an unexpected victory in the
1943 federal election over the long-standing member
Sir Charles Marr, attracting 52.9% of the
two-party-preferred vote
In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP) is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP, ...
.
Federal politics
Haylen was a committed socialist and read widely on the subject. In parliament in particular, he was renowned for his wit and irreverence. Generally bored by
parish pump politics
Parochialism is the state of mind, whereby one focuses on small sections of an issue rather than considering its wider context. More generally, it consists of being narrow in scope. In that respect, it is a synonym of "Wiktionary:provincial, pro ...
, he once described formal occasions in his electorate as "fetes worse than death". His chief interests were in foreign affairs, economics and the arts. In 1944 he was the publicity director for the
1944 referendum, and in 1945 he was appointed chairman of the Commonwealth Immigration Advisory Committee. The 1946 report of that committee formed the basis for Australia's
post-war immigration program.
Haylen was overlooked for a cabinet post after the
1946 elections, but led a parliamentary delegation to Japan in 1948, where he sparked controversy by shaking hands with Emperor
Hirohito
Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...
. That same year he visited China to arrange the migration to Australia of Europeans from Shanghai, and in 1957, when in
opposition
Opposition may refer to:
Arts and media
* ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars
* The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band
* ''The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Comed ...
, he once again visited China, with a Labor Party delegation. Haylen's 1959 publication ''Chinese Journey'' expressed his support for the changes enacted by the communists in China. He was also a member of a 1963 parliamentary delegation to Southeast Asia.
Haylen was always a supporter of his parliamentary leaders
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 ...
,
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 of Australia, Attorney-General and Minister for Foreign Aff ...
and
Arthur Calwell
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 and attended St J ...
, and unsuccessfully stood for the deputy-leadership of the party in 1960. He was surprisingly defeated in the
1963 elections, but continued writing. He was unsuccessful in his attempts to enter 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 ...
in 1964 or to achieve pre-selection again for Parkes in 1965. Haylen's memoirs ''Twenty Years' Hard Labor'' were published in 1969, revealing his disillusionment with parliament and aspects of the ALP, especially its right wing. A reviewer noted that Haylen was "not of the old school of Labor
utneither was he of the new".
Haylen died on 12 September 1977 at
Lewisham
Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified i ...
in Sydney, and was survived by his wife and two sons.
Works
Plays
*''Two Minutes' Silence'' (1930)
*''Change of Policy'' (1934)
*''Freedom has a Beard'' (1937)
*''Blood on the Wattle'' (1948)
*''The Stormy Blast'' (1966)
Novels
*''The Game Darrells'' (1933)
*''The Brierley Rose'' (1935)
*''Brown Boy Singing'' (1940)
*''A for Artemis'' (1960), as Sutton Woodfield
*''Big Red'' (1965)
Other works
*''Chinese Journey'' (1959)
*''The Tracks We Travel'' (1965, 1976), editor
*''Twenty Years' Hard Labor'' (1969)
References
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haylen, Leslie
1898 births
1977 deaths
Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia
Members of the Australian House of Representatives
Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Parkes
20th-century Australian novelists
Australian male novelists
Writers from the Australian Capital Territory
Australian male dramatists and playwrights
20th-century Australian dramatists and playwrights
20th-century Australian politicians
20th-century Australian male writers
20th-century Australian journalists