The Sydney Push was an intellectual

subculture A subculture is a group of people within a culture that differentiates itself from the parent culture to which it belongs, often maintaining some of its founding principles. Subcultures develop their own norms and values regarding cultural, poli ...

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 ...

from the late 1940s to the early 1970s. Its politics were predominantly left-wing libertarianism. The Push operated in a pub culture and included university students, academics, manual workers, musicians, lawyers, criminals, journalists and

public servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

s. Rejection of conventional morality and

authoritarianism Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political '' status quo'', and reductions in the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic vot ...

was a common bond. Students and staff from Sydney University, mainly the Faculty of Arts, were prominent members. In the 1960s, students and staff from the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

also became involved. Well known associates of the Push include

Richard Appleton Richard Appleton (17 January 1932 – 27 April 2005) was an Australian poet, raconteur and editor who became editor-in-chief of the ''Australian Encyclopaedia'' and, in 1987, was co-editor with Alex Galloway of the posthumous Lex Banning p ...

, Jim Baker,

Lex Banning Arthur Alexander Banning (1921–1965) was an Australian lyric poet. Disabled from birth by cerebral palsy, he was unable to speak clearly or to write with a pen. "Yet he overcame his handicap to produce poems which were often hauntingly beauti ...

Eva Cox Eva Maria Cox (née Hauser; born 21 February 1938) is an Austrian-born Australian writer, feminist, sociologist, social commentator and activist. She has been an active advocate for creating a "more civil" society. She was a long-term member of ...

Robyn Davidson Robyn Davidson (born 6 September 1950) is an Australian writer best known for her 1980 book ''Tracks'', about her 2,700 km (1,700 miles) trek across the deserts of Western Australia using camels. Her career of travelling and writing about ...

, Margaret Fink,

John Flaus John Flaus (born 1934) is an Australian broadcaster and actor. Filmography *''Rake'' (2014) *''Tracks'' (2013) *''Jack Irish'' (2012-2021) - 3 films and 15 episodes as Wilbur *''Pinion'' (2010) *''I Love You Too'' (2010) *''Mary and Max'' (2 ...

Germaine Greer Germaine Greer (; born 29 January 1939) is an Australian writer and public intellectual, regarded as one of the major voices of the radical feminist movement in the latter half of the 20th century. Specializing in English and women's literatu ...

Harry Hooton Henry (Harry) Arthur Hooton (9 October 1908 – 27 June 1961) was an Australian poet and social commentator whose writing spanned the years 1930s–1961. He was described by a biographer as ahead of his time, or rather "of his time while the majo ...

Clive James Clive James (born Vivian Leopold James; 7 October 1939 – 24 November 2019) was an Australian critic, journalist, broadcaster, writer and lyricist who lived and worked in the United Kingdom from 1962 until his death in 2019.David Makinson David Clement Makinson (born 27 August 1941), is an Australian mathematical logician living in London, England. Career Makinson began his studies at Sydney University in 1958 and was an associate of the Libertarian Society and Sydney Push. ...

, Jill "Blue" Neville,

Paddy McGuinness Patrick Joseph McGuinness (born 14 August 1973) is an English actor, comedian and television presenter. He rose to fame with the help of Peter Kay, who invited him to appear in his programmes ''That Peter Kay Thing'', '' Phoenix Nights'' and ''M ...

Frank Moorhouse Frank Thomas Moorhouse (21 December 1938 – 26 June 2022) was an Australian writer. He won major Australian national prizes for the short story, the novel, the essay, and for script writing. His work has been published in the United Kingdom, ...

, David Perry,

Lillian Roxon Lillian Roxon (8 February 1932 – 10 August 1973) was a noted Australian journalist and author, best known for ''Lillian Roxon's Rock Encyclopedia'' (1969). From Italy to Australia, then the USA She was born Lillian Ropschitz in Alassio, Provi ...

and Darcy Waters. From 1961 to 1962, poet Les Murray resided in Brian Jenkins's Push household at Glen Street,

Milsons Point Milsons Point is a suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The suburb is located 3 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of North Sydney Council. Mil ...

, which became a mecca for associates visiting Sydney from

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 other cities.

Academic contributors

Amongst the key intellectual figures in Push debates were philosophers David J. Ivison,

George Molnar George Molnar ( hu, Molnár György) (25 April 1910, Nagyvárad – 16 November 1998, Sydney) was born in Nagyvárad, Austria-Hungary and came to Australia in 1939, where he practiced as a cartoonist and architecture lecturer.Jim Baker, as recorded in Baker's memoir ''Sydney Libertarians and the Push'', published in the libertarian ''Broadsheet'' in 1975. Other active people included psychologists Terry McMullen,

John Maze John Maze (1923–2008) was an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Sydney from 1951 to 1986. Recognised for his achievements in philosophy and psychology, he was awarded a Nuffield Foundation Travelling Fellowship with the Univer ...

and Geoff Whiteman, educationist David Ferraro, June Wilson, Les Hiatt, Ian Bedford, Ken Maddock and Alan Olding, among many others listed in the article. An understanding of Sydney libertarian values and social theory can be obtained from their publications, a few of which are available online. There are also interesting critical articles in the Arts Society's annual journal '' Arna'' by Baker and Molnar whose essay on Zamyatin's '' We'' concluded:

...
Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitari ...
spins out to its last conclusion the illusion that the fate of freedom depends mainly on the colour of the ruling party. ''We'', precisely because it presents its rebels as apolitical, as individualists if you wish, cuts through this falsehood. Zamyatin's superior social insight, although presented and presumably gained artistically and not by way of scientific analysis, consists first in his firm rejection of the rationality or finality of history and, second, in his recognition that anarchic protest against those in power, not the capture of power, is at the core of freedom.

A representative collection of Sydney Libertarian essays was published by L. R. Hiatt in ''The Sydney Line'', printed in 1963 by the ''Hellenic Herald'', whose proprietor Nestor Grivas was a prominent non-academic Push personality and champion of sexual freedom.

John Anderson John Anderson may refer to: Business *John Anderson (Scottish businessman) (1747–1820), Scottish merchant and founder of Fermoy, Ireland * John Byers Anderson (1817–1897), American educator, military officer and railroad executive, mentor of ...

, the Scottish-born Challis Professor of Philosophy at Sydney University from 1927 until his retirement in 1958, was seminal in the formation of Sydney Libertarianism of which, however, he vigorously disapproved. In 1951, a group of his disciples, led by Jim Baker, had formed a proactive faction which split Anderson's Free Thought Society. They asserted that it was natural and desirable for critical thought to engender commensurate action, the principle on which the Libertarian Society was launched.

Social and cultural life

The intellectual life of the Libertarians was mainly pursued in and around the university, including neighbouring pubs like May's, the Forest Lodge and the British Lion. On evenings and weekends, it overflowed into the much larger 'downtown' social milieu known as the Push, which flourished at a succession of pubs and other places of refreshment including the Tudor, Lincoln, Lorenzini's Wine Bar and Repin's Coffee Shop; however, of greatest notoriety, was the Royal George Hotel in Sussex Street, which Clive James described in his '' Unreliable Memoirs'':

The Royal George was the headquarters of the Downtown Push, usually known as just the Push.... As well as the Libertarians and the aesthetes there were the small-time gamblers,
traditional jazz Trad jazz, short for "traditional jazz", is a form of jazz in the United States and Britain in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, played by musicians such as Chris Barber, Acker Bilk, Kenny Ball, Ken Colyer and Monty Sunshine, based on a reviva ...
fans and the homosexual radio repair men who had science fiction as a religion. The back room had tables and chairs. If you stuck your head through the door of the back room you came face to face with the Push. The noise, the smoke and the
heterogeneity Homogeneity and heterogeneity are concepts often used in the sciences and statistics relating to the uniformity of a substance or organism. A material or image that is homogeneous is uniform in composition or character (i.e. color, shape, siz ...
of
physiognomy Physiognomy (from the Greek , , meaning "nature", and , meaning "judge" or "interpreter") is the practice of assessing a person's character or personality from their outer appearance—especially the face. The term can also refer to the general ...
were too much to take in. It looked like a cartoon on which Hogarth, Daumier and
George Grosz George Grosz (; born Georg Ehrenfried Groß; July 26, 1893 – July 6, 1959) was a German artist known especially for his caricatural drawings and paintings of Berlin life in the 1920s. He was a prominent member of the Berlin Dada and New Objec ...
had all worked simultaneously, fighting for supremacy.

Since the mid-1950s, before extended pub hours replaced 6 o'clock closing, Push night-life commonly consisted of a meal at an inexpensive restaurant such as the Athenian or Hellenic Club ("the Greeks") or La Veneziana ("the Italians") followed by parties held most nights of the week at private residences. These were very lively occasions with singing of folksongs and bawdy ditties such as "Professor John Glaister" and many others. Accompaniments were provided by accomplished guitarists and lutenists (Ian McDougall, John Earls, Terry Driscoll, Don Ayrton, Brian Mooney, John Roberts, Don Lee, Beth Schurr,

Bill Berry William Thomas Berry (born July 31, 1958) is an American musician who was the drummer for the alternative rock band R.E.M. Although best known for his economical drumming style, Berry also played other instruments, including guitar, bass guitar ...

Marian Henderson Marian Henderson (16 April 1937 – 21 May 2015) was an Australian folk and jazz singer later referred to as "the queen of the (Australian) 1960s folk revival". She worked extensively in Australian folk and jazz clubs during the 1960s and 19 ...

and others).

Don Henderson Donald Francis Henderson (10 November 1931 – 22 June 1997)Ancestry/Find My Past (his birth was registered in the December 1931 quarter) was an English actor. He was known for playing both "tough guy" roles and authority figures, and is remem ...

Declan Affley Declan James Affley (8 September 1939 – 27 June 1985) was an Australian folk singer and musician. Biography Affley was born in Cardiff, Wales, to working-class Catholic parents of Irish descent. As a child, he learned to play the clarinet ...

and

Martyn Wyndham-Read Arnold Martyn Wyndham-Read (born 23 August 1942, Crawley, Sussex, England) is an English folk singer, who was a collector and singer of Australian folk music. He lived and worked in Australia from 1958 to 1967 and was subsequently a regular v ...

are three well-known artists who were influenced by their time in the Push.

Protest and activism

Sydney Libertarianism adopted an attitude of permanent protest recognisable in the sociological theories of

Max Nomad Max Nomad (1881, Buchach, Halychyna, now Ukraine – 1973) is the pseudonym of Austrian author and educator Maximilian Nacht.' at International Institute of Social History In his youth he had espoused militant anarchism and in the 1920s he was a f ...

Vilfredo Pareto Vilfredo Federico Damaso Pareto ( , , , ; born Wilfried Fritz Pareto; 15 July 1848 – 19 August 1923) was an Italian polymath (civil engineer, sociologist, economist, political scientist, and philosopher). He made several important contribut ...

and

Robert Michels Robert Michels (; 9 January 1876 – 3 May 1936) was a German-born Italian sociologist who contributed to elite theory by describing the political behavior of intellectual elites. He belonged to the Italian school of elitism. He is best know ...

, which predicted the inevitability of elites and the futility of revolutions. They used phrases such as "anarchism without ends", "non-utopian anarchism", and "permanent protest" to describe their activities and theories. Others labelled them as the 'futilitarians'. An early

Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 p ...

quotation, used by

Wilhelm Reich Wilhelm Reich ( , ; 24 March 1897 – 3 November 1957) was an Austrian Doctor of Medicine, doctor of medicine and a psychoanalysis, psychoanalyst, along with being a member of the second generation of analysts after Sigmund Freud. The author ...

as the motto for his ''

The Sexual Revolution ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

'', was adopted as a motto, viz:

Since it is not for us to create a plan for the future that will hold for all time, all the more surely what we contemporaries have to do is the uncompromising critical evaluation of all that exists, uncompromising in the sense that our criticism fears neither its own results nor the conflict with the powers that be.

Nevertheless, Push associates regularly assisted in organising and turning out for street demonstrations, e.g., against South African apartheid and in support of victims of the 1960

Sharpeville massacre The Sharpeville massacre occurred on 21 March 1960 at the police station in the township of Sharpeville in the then Transvaal Province of the then Union of South Africa (today part of Gauteng). After demonstrating against pass laws, a crowd of ...

; against the initial refusal of immigration minister

Alexander Downer, Sr. Sir Alexander Russell "Alick" Downer (7 April 1910 – 30 March 1981) was an Australian politician and diplomat. He was a member of the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives between 1949 and 1963, representing the Libera ...

to grant political asylum to three Portuguese merchant seamen who jumped ship in Darwin; and against Australia's participation 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 ...

. In line with the Libertarians' rejection of conventional political models, electoral activism was foreign to the Push, save to urge non-voting and informal voting. At the election after prime minister

Harold Holt Harold Edward Holt (5 August 190817 December 1967) was an Australian politician who served as the 17th prime minister of Australia from 1966 until his presumed death in 1967. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party. Holt was born in S ...

failed to return from a swim, artist and film-maker David Perry produced a highly acclaimed poster featuring "a continuum of pigs (inspired by Orwell's ''Animal Farm'')" with the slogan "Whoever you vote for, a politician always gets in."

Events in the news

The most dramatic public event to impinge on the Push was the mysterious Bogle-Chandler case of 1963 and its sequel, a heavily publicised inquest in which several Push personalities gave evidence. Another memorable incident involved the discovery of what news media recognised as a dismembered murder victim in an unlocked trunk at the foot of a city train-station escalator. This was later revealed to be a collection of body parts, the property of a doctor, found and used in a macabre practical joke by a notorious confidence trickster, the late Julian Ashleigh Sellors (known in the Push as 'Flash Ash').

Dispersal after 1964

The year 1964 saw the gradual demise of the Royal George Hotel as the prime focal venue of the Sydney Push which dispersed its bustling social life to other traditional venues like the Newcastle, Orient and Port Jackson hotels in The Rocks near

Circular Quay Circular Quay is a harbour, former working port and now international passenger shipping port, public piazza and tourism precinct, heritage area, and transport node located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on the northern edge of the Syd ...

and the Rose, Crown and Thistle at

Paddington, New South Wales Paddington is an upscale inner-city area of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Located east of the Sydney central business district, Paddington lies across two local government areas. The portion south of Oxford Street lies wi ...

, but also to alternative central-city pubs including the United States and Edinburgh Castle. By the early 1970s, the Criterion Hotel on the corner of Liverpool and Sussex Streets had become the watering hole of the last of the Push diehards. Meanwhile, Push hangers-on and 'tourists', now numbering hundreds, patronised pubs like the Four-in-Hand (Paddington) and the Forth and Clyde at Balmain, but these were venues of social entertainment, lacking the intellectual camaraderie, the informal folksong and the bohemian flavour of the 'George'. The retired education professor Alan Barcan has published a personal account of his view of activism at Sydney University during the 1960s. Though he was not an eyewitness of Push life, he provides some relevant insights into how student life became infected by Push doctrines of freedom and rebellion, to a point at which the social movement was superseded and its leading personalities were dispersed or replaced with a new breed of social critics.Barcan,
Student activists at Sydney University 1960–1967
Australian and New Zealand History of Education Society (ANZHES), January 2007 As described by Barcan, this period saw the emergence of mainstream talents like poets Les Murray and Geoffrey Lehmann, journalists David Solomon, Mungo MacCallum (Jnr) and

Laurie Oakes Laurie Oakes (born 14 August 1943 in Newcastle, New South Wales) is an Australian retired journalist. He worked in the Canberra Press Gallery from 1969 to 2017, covering the Parliament of Australia and federal elections for print, radio, and ...

, Oz magazine satirists Richard Neville, Richard Walsh and

Martin Sharp Martin Ritchie Sharp (21 January 1942 – 1 December 2013) was an Australian artist, cartoonist, songwriter and film-maker. Career Sharp was born in Bellevue Hill, New South Wales in 1942, and educated at Cranbrook private school, where one ...

, and maverick writer

Bob Ellis Robert James Ellis (10 May 1942 – 3 April 2016) was an Australian writer, journalist, filmmaker, and political commentator. He was a student at the University of Sydney at the same time as other notable Australians including Clive James, Germa ...

. These were people who did not actively embrace the Push life but were strongly influenced by it. Push reunion 2012

Push personalities who emigrated to the United Kingdom included

Clive James Clive James (born Vivian Leopold James; 7 October 1939 – 24 November 2019) was an Australian critic, journalist, broadcaster, writer and lyricist who lived and worked in the United Kingdom from 1962 until his death in 2019.Paddy McGuinness Patrick Joseph McGuinness (born 14 August 1973) is an English actor, comedian and television presenter. He rose to fame with the help of Peter Kay, who invited him to appear in his programmes ''That Peter Kay Thing'', '' Phoenix Nights'' and ''M ...

, Chester (Philip Graham) and Ian Parker (pictured above) who returned to Sydney in the late 1970s and was knocked down and killed while drunk, in Dixon Street. Appleton stated that he had been with Parker at a Balmain pub on the morning preceding Parker's death. For some reason, a false account was promulgated that he died in a London street. Paddy McGuinness returned to Australia in 1971, working as a film critic, Labor ministerial staffer, right-wing newspaper columnist and journal editor until his death in 2007. Folksinger John Earls went to Bolivia and former ''Tribune'' (

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 ...

newspaper) cartoonist Harry Reade went to join Fidel Castro's revolution in Cuba (and returned in 1971 at the same time as Paddy McGuinness). The disabled poet

travelled to England and Greece from 1962 until 1964 but returned and died in Sydney in 1965. The folksinger Don Ayrton departed to settle at Kuranda in Queensland where he committed suicide in 1982. A tragedy occurred as Paddy McGuinness was departing for Italy by ship in May 1963. The farewelling crowd included a young Push lady, Janne (or Jan) Millar, who fell to the concrete dock floor from a height and suffered fatal head injuries. A number of other tragic deaths occurred in this decade, including some from

substance abuse Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods which are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder. Differing definitions of drug abuse are used in public health, ...

which was becoming a regular part of Sydney culture at the time. Many young Push associates simply moved on to careers in the professions and academia. A reunion organised by André Frankovits at the Royal George/Slip Inn in 2000 attracted around 280. Another, at the Harold Park Hotel in February 2012,Personal communication from Andre Frankovits, 29 March 2014 drew nearly 200, including some who had travelled from Hong Kong,

North Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its tropical northern part has been ...

and

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

to attend. Later annual re-unions have attracted around 50. On the demise of the Push, Anne Coombs has stated: " .. things began to changein 1964, the year the

Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...

came and brought into the open that new phenomenon: '

youth culture Youth culture refers to the societal norms of children, adolescents, and young adults. Specifically, it comprises the processes and symbolic systems that are shared by the youth and are distinct from those of adults in the community. An emphasis ...

'." Citing this, Alan Barcan added "In advocating free love and opposition to authority, the Push and the Libertarians anticipated the new post-1968 morality. But the adoption of many of their ideas by society undermined their ''

raison d'être Raison d'être is a French expression commonly used in English, meaning "reason for being" or "reason to be". Raison d'être may refer to: Music * Raison d'être (band), a Swedish dark-ambient-industrial-drone music project * ''Raison D'être' ...

''".

References

External links

''The Push'' (Australia's Culture Portal)

''Student activists at Sydney University 1960–1967: a problem of interpretation''
by Alan Barcan
John Tranter: Review (1996) of Anne Coombs's book

Tales of The Royal George

in ''A Companion to Philosophy in Australia and New Zealand''
''Witch Girl and the Push''
by Lyn Gain * {{cite web , url = http://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/the_newcastle_hotel , title = The Newcastle Hotel , accessdate = 13 October 2015 , author = Frank Moorhouse , author-link = Frank Moorhouse , date = 2014 , work =

Dictionary of Sydney The Dictionary of Sydney is a digital humanities project to produce an online, expert-written encyclopedia of all aspects of the history of Sydney. Description The Dictionary is a partnership between the City of Sydney, the University of Sydney, ...

, publisher = Dictionary of Sydney Trust, ref=none Culture of Sydney Left-libertarianism Libertarianism in Australia Australian fringe and underground culture 20th century in Sydney 1940s in Sydney 1950s in Sydney 1960s in Sydney 1970s in Sydney