The 1970s. It's Time for Change

35 Pages·2013·3.477 MB·English

by  Jordan Thomas

Australian Decades
The 1970s: It’s Time, reform,
change, dismissal, lost innocence
by Jordan Thomas
ISBN 978 086427 288 1
Published in electronic format by
Trocadero Publishing
GPO Box 1546
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Australia
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Created and produced in Australia
Copyright © 2013 S and L Brodie
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current at the time of writing
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AUSTRALIAN DECADES
Other books in this series
The 1950s: Building a New Australia
The 1960s: Reshaping Australian Society
Other Trocadero series
AUSTRALIAN TIMELINES LINKING THE NATION
The Governors 1788–1850 Australia’s Airlines:
How the Skies Were Conquered
Immigration Since 1788
Australia’s Railways:
Prime Ministers and Their Governments
How the Land Was Conquered
The Constitution: The Document that Created the
Nation AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY
Exploration and Settlement in Colonial Australia Influencing Australia
The Commonwealth of Australia: Evolving into a DEFENDING AUSTRALIA
Nation World War I: The Australian Experience
Convicts: The Story of the Penal Settlements that World War II: The Australian Experience
Created Australia
The Cold War: Australia in Korea, Malaya, Vietnam
Gold: The Precious Metal that Brought Instant
The Anzac Spirit: Australia’s Military Legend
Wealth and Long-term Prosperity
The States: Their Place in Federal Australia THEY MADE AUSTRALIA
About the Money: Australia’s Economic History Leaders in Inventions and Innovation *
Australia at the Time of Federation ASIA-PACIFIC TIMELINES
The Industrial Revolution and its Impact on European Colonialism in the Asia-Pacific
Australia
Shogunate Japan: 800 Years of Military Rule
How Communications United Australia
Imperial China *
Bushrangers: Australia’s Wild Colonial Boys
ASIA-PACIFIC RELATIONS
The Role of Women in Australian History *
Australia’s Pacific Neighbours
AUSTRALIA YEAR BY YEAR
Australia’s Asian Neighbours
1788 to 1809: From First Fleet to Rum Rebellion
Japan: The Story of the Nation
1810 to 1845: From the Macquarie Era
China: The Story of the Nation
to Ending Transportation
India: The Story of the Nation
THE NATIONAL IDENTITY
Indonesia: The Story of the Nation *
Faiths, Religions, Beliefs in Modern Australia
Australian Origins
Volume 1: Afghanistan to Italy
Volume 2: Japan to Zimbabwe
* Please check www.trocadero.com.au for publication date
Immigrants Who Changed Australia
Making history 2
Gorton, McMahon, It’s Time,
Whitlam, changes,
modernising, Loans Affair,
blocking supply, Senators,
dismissal, Kerr, Democrats
Social changes 6
Women’s movement,
indigenous peoples, land
rights, metric conversion
Crimes 10
Whiskey Au Go Go,
Mr Brown, Faraday, Truro,
Hilton bombing
Fashion 14
Visitors 15
The Queen, the Pope, This was the decade when Australia caught up with the rest
Sinatra in trouble of the world in social development. The 1970s began with a
Commonwealth government in terminal decline, although it
Immigration 18
would take three years to be finally swept away. It was a
The first boat people
leadership frozen in time. As the rest of the world moved
Building, conserving 20
forward, Australia stood still with many of its standards and
Wholesale destruction,
ideas rooted in the 1950s.
green bans
All this was transformed in December 1972 when a cyclone
Ending conflicts 22 of change arrived with the election of the Whitlam Labor
Conscription, Moratorium, government. Divisive policies such as conscription were
peace movement ditched overnight as Australian society embarked on an
exhilarating wave of reform.
Sport 24
Despite its many problems, the Whitlam government
Springboks, cricket revolution
reformed Australian society. Anti-discrimination policies were
Arts, entertainment 26 introduced, funding for education was increased, universities
Music, television, films, became free to all, divorce was simplified, and the way was
Blue Poles, theatre opened for indigenous peoples to own their own land. The pace
of change was relentless, upsetting many in the community.
Disasters 28
After 23years in power the Liberal and Country parties
Floods, West Gate, Tracy,
were unable to accept that Australia had rejected them. They
Granville, Tasman Bridge
embarked on a campaign that would lay waste to much of the
Getting around 30 ethical structure of Australian politics. This culminated in the
Supercars, 747s, trains dismissal of a legally elected government that had been starved
of the funds to govern.
Index 32
With these changes came a new interest in Australian
society, exemplified by the rapid growth of the film industry. It
was matched by an explosion of Australian voices and stories
on television and in the arts.
The 1970s was also the time of the first boat people.
Thousands of refugees from Indo-China arrived in leaky fishing
boats. Their acceptance was a highlight of what was a more
Edited by Lynn Brodie
humane and mature attitude in comparison with today.
ISBN 978 086427 288 1
Copyright © 2013 S and L Brodie
All rights reserved
Published by Trocadero Publishing
GPO Box 1546 Sydney NSW 2001 Australia
www.trocadero.com.au
For links to websites of interest, please go to
Printed in Singapore by
SC (Sang Choy) International Pte Ltd www.trocadero.com.au/1970s
2
making history
John Gorton with a wounded soldier in Vietnam
SHAKY GOVERNMENT General SirThomas Daly of his full confidence
in the service. He also ordered Fraser to
As the 1970s dawned, the long reign of the publicly deny the reports.
Liberal-Country Party coalition was drawing At the same time the Prime Minister
to a close. The government had grown stale, briefed Alan Ramsay, a journalist with the
unaffected by the political winds of change Australian. Ramsay wrote that Daly had
affecting the rest of the world. Despite accused Fraser of disloyalty to the Army.
increasing demands for change, the When it was published, Daly denied it and
government just kept doing what it had Gorton declined to comment. Ramsay said
always done. Gorton had seen his report before publication
Through 1970 Prime Minister John and made no attempt to correct it.
Gorton’s hold on power Fraser resigned on
weakened. Never 8March 1971, accusing
particularly good at Gorton of disloyalty to
interpersonal relations him. The following day,
THE DLP
with colleagues, his in the parliament, he
An election was held leadership was more said Gorton was not fit
for half the Senate on presidential than prime to be Prime Minister.
21November 1970. The
ministerial. He was Gorton claimed he had
Gorton government lost
widely criticised for told Ramsay it would
its majority in the upper
allowing his personal be wrong for him to
house to the Democratic
Labor Party (DLP). secretary, Ainslie Gotto, comment on General
to restrict ministers’ Daly’s alleged claims.
The DLP, formed in the
access to the leader. Ramsay was then
mid-1950s, had broken
In early 1971 Defence heard from the press
from mainstream Labor
over the attempted Minister Malcolm Fraser, gallery saying ‘You liar’
banning of the once a key supporter of — a major breach of
Communist Party. The Gorton, turned on the protocol. He immediately
DLP helped keep Labor Prime Minister. In drafted an apology that
out of power by Bill McMahon (left) and John Gorton
February 1971 the ABC avoided any chance of
after Gorton had voted himself out
directing its preferences
reported that the Army of office being called to the Bar of
to the Liberal or
was winding down its civil the House to explain what
Country party.
action program in Vietnam. he had said.
Suddenly, it became
Fraser denied this, prompting speculation
more than just a vocal
about tensions between him and the Army. GORTON’S DEMISE
nuisance. Led by Vince
A news report claimed that Fraser had
Gair, the DLP secured
the balance of power used the Joint Intelligence Organisation (JIO) On 10March the parliamentary Liberal
in the Senate in 1970 to investigate Army activities in Vietnam Party met to vote on a motion of confidence
with five members. because he did not trust its commanders. in Gorton. Several minister and members
Gorton assured Army Chief Lieutenant spoke against him. When the vote was taken
3
it was a 33–33 tie, excluding
Gorton himself. Knowing his VISITING CHINA
leadership was fatally
wounded, Gorton voted In 1949 the Communist Party, led
against himself and lost the by Mao Zedong, took power in
prime ministership. China. The USA refused to recognise
His closest rival, William the Communists as the legitimate
‘Bill’ McMahon, easily won government of China. Instead, it
the subsequent leadership supported the regime of Chiang
ballot. What then surprised Kai-shek on Taiwan.
many was that the party Although Britain and France
elected Gorton as deputy recognised the People’s Republic
leader. It was a sympathy of China, the US maintained its
vote that would do nobody farcical stance for 30years. Australia
any good in the long run.
Gough Whitlam, on his
historic visit to China, meets
with Mao Zedong
LABOR RISING
The Labor Party, under the leadership of
Gough Whitlam, was gaining confidence and
momentum. Whitlam went to work on a
Bill McMahon with the
program that would clearly distinguish Labor autocue that attracted
from the government. In their favour was much ridicule during the
the growing perception that the coalition 1972 election campaign
had simply been in power too long.
Large-scale infrastructure projects in the
1950s and 1960s were good for the nation’s
progress. What they did not address was Bill and Sonia McMahon
the desire of the Australian population for with their two children at
more basic lifestyle changes. Whitlam tapped the time he became Prime
Minister. Another child was
into this with a raft of new policies,
born while he was in office.
many of them tackling matters that
had always been the responsibility of stood firmly with the USA, even though
state governments. The states, in the Communist China became a major
early 1970s mostly governed by the buyer of Australian wool and wheat.
Liberal or Country party, were just as Gough Whitlam was determined
obsessed with infrastructure as their to recognise the People’s Republic as
Commonwealth counterparts. soon as Labor came to power. He led a
By 1972 the need for improvements Labor Party delegation to Beijing in
in lifestyle had never been greater. The July 1971. There was extensive media
ability of the existing governments to coverage and widespread condemnation
tackle the issues left a great deal to be by the Coalition.
desired. At the top of the list were Coincidentally, on 15July US
advances in education and health care. President Richard Nixon announced
N William ‘Bill’ McMahon the Liberals if McMahon wisdom of the time was a law degree. Following
O first offered himself for the became leader. that Liberal voters would wartime service in the AIF
H
prime ministership in 1968, have trouble accepting an he took a further degree
A McMahon was an oddity
M following Harold Holt’s unmarried prime minister. in economics.
in the Liberal Party. He
c disappearance. He was
M was a bachelor until 1965 Orphaned in early Although characterised by
forced to withdraw when
BILL CMocuEnwteryn P vaorwtye lde atoder Jack wmhaerrnie, da tS tyhden aegy es oocf ia5l7it,e he csehnildt hhiomo dto, ath we ebaesltth syc uhnocolles S‘mydanne ayb’so nuet wtoswpanp’, ehres wasa sa
Sonia Hopkins, who was and to the University of a hard worker. He entered
terminate the coalition with
24years younger. The Sydney, where he gained parliament in 1949.
4
Opposition Leader Gough Whitlam addresses a
huge public rally in Melbourne during the 1972
election campaign
CHANGING MEDIA
that he was to visit China with a view to
improving relations between the two In 1972 newspapers
had a great deal of
countries. The McMahon government was
influence on political
taken completely by surprise, and left looking
parties. The two major
distinctly foolish.
newspaper groups
were the Herald and
IT’S TIME Weekly Times, based in
Melbourne, and John
One of the key factors in Labor’s 1972 Fairfax and Sons in
Sydney. The other two
election victory was the slickly professional
significant groups were
‘It’s Time’ advertising campaign. These two
News Limited and
words summed up perfectly how a large entertainers, with a few ring-ins from the
Consolidated Press.
number of Australians felt. agency staff, performed the catchy It’s Time
Almost without
Advertising agency Hansen Rubensohn song. It projected an air of optimism and exception, they would
McCann Ericson was contracted well before hope that a new Australia was coming. always support the
the election. Under Creative Director Paul The ensemble of entertainers was mostly Liberal Party.
Jones a comprehensive campaign ran through put together by popular television performer
most of 1972. Initially, press and cinema Bobby Limb. Conservative television network
advertisements concentrated heavily on owners, who took the money for airing the
Gough Whitlam, contrasting his vibrant commercial, turned on Limb for supporting
style to that of Prime Minister McMahon. Labor. For years he found it very difficult to
The crowning achievement of the get work, and never again reached the
campaign was the unforgettable television height of his 1960s popularity.
commercial. A large group of well-known
THE 1972 CAMPAIGN
Handing out how-to-vote cards at Unable to accept that it was on the way
Brisbane City Hall on 2December 1972 out, the coalition pushed the same old policies
that had worked in the past. A substantial
Rupert Murdoch
millstone hanging around the government’s
neck was conscription. Although most There was a significant
Australian forces had been withdrawn from shift when Consolidated
Vietnam, conscription continued. Press sold the Sydney
Even though they did not have the vote Daily Telegraphto Rupert
Murdoch in 1972. The
because they were under 21, thousands of
Telegraph, the largest
young men wanted a Labor victory because
selling newspaper in
Whitlam would end conscription. It was
New South Wales, had
been vicious in its
opposition to Labor.
Under Murdoch it
became an enthusiastic
Whitlam supporter.
The politically astute
Murdoch could read
the signs, sensing the
McMahon government
was in its death throes.
He knew there was
momentum building for
Labor; he wanted to be
seen as a kingmaker.
5
acknowledged that most would vote Labor in the new government. This was, however,
if they had the chance, just to avoid the different in that there were only two ministers:
hated call-up. Whitlam with twelve portfolios and his
The policy launches for the two sides deputy Lance Barnard with thirteen. The
were very different. McMahon made his Prime Minister could not allocate portfolios
speech on television without an audience. to individuals until the Labor caucus met.
He was ridiculed for using an autocue, which This could not happen until the last undecided
was in its infancy in 1972 and was clunky seats in the parliament were confirmed.
and prone to breakdowns. Traditionalists Just as most Australians were winding
derided McMahon; most television viewers down for Christmas, they were confronted
did not even notice. by a blizzard of government activity. In two
weeks more than 40decisions were
implemented by the two-man Cabinet.
GOUGH WHITLAM
Conscription was abolished and all
Edward Gough Whitlam imprisoned draft resisters released. The last
was an imposing troops in Vietnam were ordered back to
200centimetres tall.
Australia. Diplomatic relations were
Unlike previous Labor
transferred from Taiwan to the People’s
leaders, he was not
Republic of China. Wheat sales to the illegal
working class. Born in
white minority government in Rhodesia
1916 in middle-class
Kew in Melbourne, he were terminated. The excise on wine was
spent his teens in scrapped. Moves were begun to have the
Canberra where his Conciliation and Arbitration Commission
father was the reopen its hearing on equal pay for women.
Commonwealth
The McMahon government’s New Year’s
Solicitor-General. He
honours list was dumped, and the first
graduated in law from
steps to replace Imperial honours with an
the University of Sydney.
Whitlam receives a rapturous response to his Australian system were taken.
launch of Labor’s policy platform at the Whitlam entered
Blacktown Civic Centre in western Sydney parliament in 1952,
rising to deputy leader FRUSTRATED OPPONENTS
by 1960. He embarked
on a program to Now in opposition, the Liberal and Country
Whitlam’s policy speech took place on modernise the party and parties were unable to accept the reality of
13November at Blacktown Civic Centre in reduce the power of its their defeat. Outnumbered in the House of
western Sydney. This was in the heartland non-elected officials. He Representatives, they opted to make the
became leader after
of fast-growing post-war suburbs that had Senate a battleground.
the disastrous loss at
been deprived of many basic lifestyle Senate numbers were Labor26,
the 1966 elections.
amenities. Before a wildly enthusiastic Coalition26, DLP5 and Independents3. As
audience he promised immediate abolition the DLP almost always voted with them,
of conscription, recognition of China, the Coalition had the numbers
increased education spending and a free to defeat Labor’s legislation.
medical service, among 140 specific policies. As early as October 1973 the
Election day, Saturday 2December 1972, Opposition was talking seriously
dawned with Labor on a high and the about refusing to pass the Supply
conservatives despondent but hopeful. After bills (the government’s budget).
a couple of hours the result was clear: Labor These were essential as they
had won, although the margin was not large. provided the legal basis for
McMahon appeared on television to concede obtaining and using money to
defeat while Whitlam celebrated with ecstatic conduct government. Refusal to
supporters in his western Sydney electorate. pass them would be a breach of
parliamentary ethics.
HIT THE GROUND RUNNING … continued on page 8
Whitlam flew to Canberra on Sunday
3December to begin preparations for Three days after the 1972 election,
government. Bill McMahon resigned on Whitlam and his deputy Lance
Barnard (left) formed a two-man
5December. That afternoon, at 3.30pm,
government to begin putting
Governor-General SirPaul Hasluck swore Labor’s policies into action
6
women’s view to the Cabinet. Wilenski had
social changes seen the growth of feminism in the USA.
Elizabeth Reid was a Senior Tutor in the
Department of Philosophy at the Australian
National University. In July 1973 she was
appointed Advisor on Women’s Affairs, the
first such position in the world. From the
start it was difficult. She was constantly
demeaned and patronised by
the media, who described her
WOMEN’S MOVEMENT
as ‘Gough’s Supergirl’.
As Australia entered the 1970s The Women’s Electoral
it was still very much a man’s Lobby (WEL) was formed in
country. Women were seen as 1972 in the lead-up to the
housewives, child-bearers or, Commonwealth election. It
in work situations, supporters was backed by a formidable
of male management. group of women from all walks
There were only a small of life. WEL began applying
number of women in Australian pressure to the male political
parliaments, and none of them establishment, seeking
in leadership positions. In 1971 commitments to policies that
Annabelle Rankin made Elizabeth Evatt affected women. It attained a
GERMAINE GREER headlines when she was high profile very quickly.
appointed High Commissioner Elizabeth Reid Domestic violence had long
Germaine Greer is
to New Zealand — the first been considered a source of
Australia’s best known
time a woman had achieved an humour. Many saw it as a
feminist. She grew up
ambassadorial post. normal part of daily life. With
in Melbourne, and
A similar breakthrough the 1970s, this began slowly to
studied language and
literature at the came the following year when change. The victims, most of
University of Melbourne. Elizabeth Evatt was the first them women, started fighting
woman to be appointed Deputy back. In 1974 Elsie Women’s
At Cambridge University
in England Greer President of the Conciliation Refuge opened at Glebe in
became immersed in and Arbitration Commission. Sydney. Women and children
various counter-culture A high achiever at the had a place to go to escape the
movements. She was a University of Sydney, she had cycle of domestic violence.
regular contributor to become a barrister and had Although there was widespread
the satirical magazines
won a scholarship to Harvard hostility to the concept at first,
Private Eyeand Oz. When it came to women’s
University in the USA. more and more refuges began to
matters, this is what
Her major literary Evatt was appointed chair excited the media most. open across the country.
achievement was in
of the Royal Commission on Sonia McMahon, wife of
1970 when The Female Human Relationships in 1974. the Prime Minister, gained
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
Eunuchwas published. worldwide coverage
Its recommendations led to the
It became a key text of wearing this dress to a
the feminist movement, passing of the Family Law Act White House reception. The long land rights battle
prviding Greer with a 1975. This revolutionary waged by Indigenous peoples
platform to campaign legislation swept away all for decades finally began to
on behalf of women’s grounds for divorce other than produce some solid results in
rights and feminism. irreconcilable differences, the 1970s. Even so, there was
proven by separation for twelve some way to go on other
months. Evatt became Chief human rights.
Justice of the new Family The Queensland Aborigines
Court in 1976. Act 1972maintained a whole
The Labor government’s range of controls that did not
election win in December 1972 apply to non-Indigenous
accelerated the pace of change citizens. Most other states
for women. Peter Wilenski, an and territories had begun
adviser to Prime Minister dismantling discriminatory
Gough Whitlam, recommended laws following the
he appoint someone to put the overwhelming 1967 referendum.
7
METRIC CONVERSION
The Metric Conversion Board was
established in 1970 to manage the
change from Imperial measurements.
In 1972 primary schools began teaching
only metric units; high schools changed
over the following year. The weather
bureau changed in September.
On 1July 1974 conversion of all road
Neville Bonner was signs began. It was largely completed
appointed a Senator for by the end of the year. By 1977 all
Queensland in 1971, the first
packaged goods were metric.
Indigenous person in the
Commonwealth parliament The use of Imperial measurements
became illegal, and the sale of Imperial
measurement devices such as rulers
Prime Minister Gough Whitlam (right) was banned.
symbolically returns the land to Gurindji
leader Vincent Lingiari on 26August 1975
The Whitlam government ended the
When the Whitlam Labor government long-running claim by the Gurindji people
came to power, all states except Queensland for land at Wave Hill in the Northern
transferred most of their legal powers relating Territory. In August 1975 Gough Whitlam
to Indigenous peoples to the Commonwealth officially handed the rights to the land to
government. The Department of Aboriginal Gurindji protest leader Vincent Lingiari.
Affairs was created in 1973, beginning a
policy of self-determination.
Douglas Nicholls, the first
In 1974 the Commonwealth Aboriginal
Indigenous Governor of an
Land Fund Commission was established. Its
Australian state (South
brief was to purchase land on behalf of Australia), was appointed
Indigenous peoples. on 1December 1976
That same year the Royal Commission of
Justice Edward Woodward proposed a raft
of changes to Aboriginal land rights. These
In January 1972 Aboriginal
included handing reserves to Aboriginal land rights protesters set up
peoples, councils to control Aboriginal land, a Tent Embassy on the lawn
in front of Parliament House
Aboriginal control over mining, and protection
in Canberra. The then
of sacred sites. The Aboriginal Land Rights Act
Opposition Leader, Gough
1976was passed. Whitlam, met with some of
the protesters.
Gough Whitlam at the
independence celebrations
Y The Territory of Papua and New Chief Minister Michael Somare,
N
Guinea had been under Australian was elected.
O
L control for most of the 20th century.
O In the presence of the Australian
For many years the United Nations
C Governor-General, SirJohn Kerr,
had pressured Australia to grant
S on 1September 1975 the Australian
A’ independence to the Territory.
flag was lowered and replaced by
LI
A A timetable for self-government the flag of the Independent State
R drawn up in 1971 overrode the of Papua New Guinea. SirJohn
T
S wishes of some areas to be Guise then became Governor-
U
autonomous states. In 1973 the General of the new country, with
A
territory’s first government, under Queen ElizabethII as head of state.