AustLit

(Publication summary)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'This new monograph by Luke Walker, based on his honours thesis, addresses this issue informing us of Reid's contribution as Australia's fourth prime minister, but just as importantly his roles as Minister of Education of New South Wales where he introduced important reforms and then as Premier. More than that, as Australia's first High Commissioner to London, Reid made sure that Australia's contribution to World War One was well and truly recognised by those in the British establishment. Although Scottish born, Reid was a proud Australian. He set an early example for us all.' (Publication summary)

'Sir Robert Askin, Liberal Premier of New South Wales from 1965 to 1975, was the longest serving and most successful Liberal Premier winning four elections in a row and who retired at a time of his own choosing. He came from a modest but happy family background, won a state bursary to secondary college, enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force and served in New Guinea. He was a natural for politics – he liked people, fellowship, was a good judge of character, and given his background, understood the real needs of the general public. Unfortunately, Askin’s reputation has been overshadowed by long standing allegations of corruption.

'This monograph by Dr Paul Loughnan based on his extensive research for his doctorate on Askin, sets the record straight. Paul’s youth was bookended by Askin’s 1965-75 premiership which ignited his interest in Sir Robert and his government. This monograph informs us about Askin’s character and achievements, but more importantly, demolishes once and for all the myths concerning his alleged corruption. They are just not true. So, this monograph allows us to see Askin for the first time for what he really was – a great leader, an astute pragmatic politician who steered his party to successes which have not been matched since.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'This new monograph on Australian Prime Minister Sir John Gorton (1968-71) by Dr Paul Williams, Senior Lecturer in politics, journalism and public relations at Griffith University’s School of Humanities, Languages and Social Sciences, is more than just a snapshot of one of Australia’s more interesting, and at times, most difficult to understand prime ministers. Rather, Dr Williams’s considerable additional research provides a better understanding of the political context of Gorton’s times. We come to appreciate the changing nature of Australian politics and society, including Labor’s resurgence and the fracturing of the Liberal Party’s dominance, and how each of these affected Gorton’s prime ministership and assessments of his performance.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'The latest Australian Biographical Monograph focuses on the formative years and political career of Stanley Melbourne Bruce to his defeat as Prime Minister in 1929. This period included winning a hotly contested by-election in Flinders in 1918, which brought with it the introduction of preferential voting; a short interlude on the back bench; one year as Treasurer in 1922–23; and then a period as Prime Minister from February 1923 until October 1929, when he was still in his forties. Bruce’s career after 1929 was in many ways as distinguished as the period from 1918 to 1929. Notable in this second career after 1929 was his support for institutions such as the League of Nations and the Food and Agriculture Organization. The argument of this book is that the theme that connects Bruce’s first period in Australian politics from 1918 until 1929 with his later career is that of institution building.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Neville Wran was arguably the most significant Premier of NSW in the 20th century. He rescued the Labor Party from the political wilderness with his victory in May 1976, then won three more elections, two by then unprecedented landslides. Wran pioneered the effective use of television in election campaigns. Key elements of the Wran model were gradualist politics, competent delivery of basic services, unity in the government, and not getting too far ahead of the voters. Moderate politics did not preclude reform, rather it was a platform for it. Wran left a significant legacy of environmental, social, human rights, constitutional and electoral reforms.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'In virtually any state in the Commonwealth I believe you could ask an adult in their 40’s or above to name a state leader and the majority of them could name Joh – no other State Premier left such an indelible mark on the national psyche.

'Some Queenslanders may talk about strong development and a long period of stability. Others, particularly those from southern states will talk of gerrymanders, corruption, white shoe brigades, civil liberty infringements or daylight savings. But many will talk of a man who oversaw perhaps the most dramatic and positive changes the State has ever undergone.

'Whether loved or reviled, Johannes Bjelke-Petersen was a polarising figure, and an indisputably successful one. But too many are quick to dismiss this incredibly successful politician as an aberration of the oddity that is Queensland.

'To understand Joh a little better, this monograph considers Joh’s period in office from the following perspectives:

• His success in moving the Country Party from a rural base to gaining and holding urban seats
• His role in assisting in the downfall of the Whitlam government
• His economic management, overseeing Queensland’s transition from a rural economy to a vibrant and rapidly expanding one and creating funding processes from which the State still benefits
• His masterful understanding of the mood of the electorate in dealing with the likes of power strikes, anti-Springbok riots or street marches
• His market fundamentalism which potentially allowed corruption in commercial activities for tangible benefits for the state'

Source: Publisher's blurb.