See the birth (19939/1905) and death (7749/1905) certificates of James McMahon, who lived only two days, in the New South Wales State Archives; and James McMahon’s birth certificate, New South Wales State Archives, 38472/1906.
For WD McMahon’s work as a clerk and admittance as a lawyer, see: WD McMahon and ME Walder marriage certificate, New South Wales State Archives, 5381/1903 and MDM, 21 November 1908, p. 4. For his work as a lawyer, see: ‘In divorce’, SMH, 27 May 1924, p. 6; ‘Appeal court’, SMH, 23 February 1924, p. 14; ‘Quarter sessions’, SMH, 23 August 1923, p. 6; ‘£500 damages’, DE, 19 October 1921, p. 4; ‘Whitehead v. Whitehead’, SMH, 29 May 1919, p. 5; ‘District court’, SMH, 15 March 1918, p. 4; ‘Drysdale v. Drysdale’, SMH, 30 March 1916, p. 5. For his burgeoning name and reputation, see ‘The late Mr James McMahon’, Newsletter, 28 November 1914, p. 4.
William McMahon’s birth certificate, New South Wales State Archives, 7911/1908; ‘Births’, SMH, 6 October 1908, p. 12.
Samuel McMahon’s birth certificate, New South Wales State Archives, 19153/1910; Agnes McMahon’s birth certificate, New South Wales State Archives, 32803/1911.
Alan Stewart, ‘Oh darlings, said the PM, you’ll get me into trouble when your mother comes home’, Herald, 3 April 1971, pp. 27–28.
I draw here, in particular, on Horney, 1951.
John Edwards, ‘Inside Billy McMahon’, AFR, 31 May 1972, p. 3.
‘Camperdown: address by Mr Fitzpatrick’, SMH, 19 November 1913, p. 14; and ‘Camperdown: a keen struggle’, SMH, 22 November 1913, p. 22; ‘New South Wales Elections Links: Camperdown — 1913 (Roll: 11,469)’, Parliament of New South Wales.
James McMahon’s death certificate, New South Wales State Archives, 15004/1914.
‘Died last week “Butty” McMahon’, Bulletin, 26 November 1914, p. 16.
‘New South Wales Elections Links: Darling Harbour — 1917 (Roll: 9,685)’, Parliament of New South Wales.
See Mary Ellen Amelia McMahon’s death certificate, New South Wales State Archives, 5469/1917.
John Edwards, ‘Inside Billy McMahon’, AFR, 31 May 1972, p. 3.
Carroll, 1978, p. 151; Oakes and Solomon, 1973, p. 66. There has been much confusion about how old McMahon was when his mother died. For example, Williams draws on Sekuless (in Grattan (ed.), 2001, p. 315) and writes that McMahon was four (2013, p. 154). Fricke (1990) makes the same claim.
James McMahon’s death certificate, New South Wales State Archives, 24369/1919.
Curson and McCracken, 2006, pp. 103–07.
‘The pains of recovery’, DT, 4 December 1919, p. 4.
‘Solicitor Sued: law clerk’s action against William McMahon’, Truth, 8 February 1925, p. 5.
John Edwards, ‘Inside Billy McMahon’, AFR, 31 May 1972, p. 3.
Abbotsholme College Prospectus, c. 1925, Kur-ring-gai Local History Centre (KLHC); ‘Abbotsholme College, Killara: the open-air school’, SM, 15 December 1920, p. 22; Griffen-Foley, 2000, pp. 25–26; ‘At Abbotsholme — boys’ healthy life’, EN, 30 January 1923, p. 4; ‘Mr J. Fitzmaurice — death announced — teacher and benefactor’, SMH, 29 January 1924, p. 8.
Griffen-Foley, 2000, pp. 25–26; Frame, 2005a, pp. 4–8.
‘Abbotsholme College’, Sydney Stock and Station Journal, 2 January 1920, p. 2.
Turney, 1989, pp. 169, 185–86.
The Sydneian, no. 252, August 1923.
Herbert Dettman, 1934, ‘Headmaster’s report, December 1934’, Trustee’s Report, p. 2.
Turney, 1989, p. 175.
The Sydneian 1924–26, August 1926, Sydney Grammar School, pp. 26–27.
ibid.
John Edwards, ‘Inside Billy McMahon’, AFR, 31 May 1972, p. 3.
‘Rowing: head of the river regatta’, Referee, 21 April 1926, p. 13.
The Sydneian 1924–26, August 1926, Sydney Grammar School, p. 22.
Courlay, in Sir William McMahon: this is your life, 12 March 1978, ep. 4/008, NFSA.
Baptismal registry, St Vincent de Paul Redfern Catholic Church. McMahon was baptised by Fr J. McCormack. His godparents were his aunt and uncle, Agnes McMahon and Ernest McMahon.
Peter Coleman, ‘Bill McMahon: from “Christus Veritas” to the Department of Labour’, Bulletin, 10 August 1963, p. 17; Robbie Swan, ‘McMahon never made the pages of Penthouse’, CT, 10 April 1988, p. 4. A complete lack of familiarity with the Bible is difficult to credit: Sam McMahon told a story about McMahon accidentally setting off some fireworks while staying with the Blunts in Lucknow, with the upshot that they were sent to church as punishment.
Turney, 1989, pp. 10, 189–91.
John Edwards, ‘Inside Billy McMahon’, AFR, 31 May 1972, p. 3.
Whitington, 1972, pp. 146–47.
Peter Coleman, ‘Bill McMahon: from “Christus Veritas” to the Department of Labour’, Bulletin, 10 August 1963, p. 17.
Robbie Swan, ‘McMahon never made the pages of Penthouse’, CT, 10 April 1988, p. 4.
Peter Coleman, ‘Bill McMahon: from “Christus Veritas” to the Department of Labour’, Bulletin, 10 August 1963, p. 17.
Temple, 1925, p. 8.
‘Civic By-election: reform candidate selected’, SMH, 11 August 1924, p. 8.
This was evident throughout McMahon’s life; speeches and clippings make regular reference to his having grown up around prominent politicians. See also Walder to Hughes, 18 November 1941, ‘Papers of William Hughes’, NLA MS1538, 1/3796.
Robbie Swan, ‘McMahon never made the pages of Penthouse’, CT, 10 April 1988, p. 4.
William Daniel McMahon’s death certificate, New South Wales State Archives, 19201/1926.
Chapter 3: The Ghostwriter
Henry Bland, interviewed by Mel Pratt, 1975, NLA Oral History, TRC 121/60, 4:1/182B.
Hazlehurst to McMahon, 18 August 1983, copy in the author’s possession.
Mark Hayne wrote to McMahon on 9 August 1983 confirming he would be a private secretary and ‘consultative historian’ for McMahon as he worked on the autobiography. On 14 October 1983, however, Hayne resigned, pleading ill-health but writing that he was confident that the book would be published. This was very different from the position Hayne expressed after McMahon’s death in 1988.
Bowman diary, 16 January 1984.
Souter, 1981, pp. 458–59; Bowman, 1988, pp. 128–29.
This section draws on notes made by Bowman as he read through the manuscript, which are in the author’s possession.
Bowman diary, 16 January 1984.
ibid., 19 January 1984.
ibid., 3 February 1984.
ibid., 18 January 1984.
ibid., 20 January 1984.
ibid., 18 January 1984.
Chapter 4 : Shelter and the Law
Iremonger, 1970, p. 4.
ibid., p. 11.
Oakes and Solomon, 1973, pp. 67–68.
Whitington, 1972, pp. 146–47.
Tess Lawrence, ‘I need a good laugh … I can get one out of cartoonists’, Herald, 22 September 1976, p. 17.
The Pauline, no. 30, November 1932, p. 15.
Sir Richard Kirby, interviewed by Catherine Santamaria, NLA Oral History, TRC 228.
The Pauline, no. 24, November 1927, p. 16.
John Edwards, ‘Inside Billy McMahon’, AFR, 31 May 1972, p. 3.
The Pauline, no. 30, November 1932, p. 15.
ibid., no. 26, November 1928, pp. 4, 36; no. 27, November 1928, p. 4; no. 28, November 1930, pp. 4, 11; no. 29, November 1931, p. 4.
ibid., no. 27, November 1929, pp. 8, 44; no. 28, November 1930, p. 9.
ibid., no. 30, November 1932, pp. 15–16; no. 26, November 1928, p. 9.
ibid., no. 24, November 1927, p. 16.
F.C. Huntley in Bavin (ed.), 1940, pp. 142–47.
R.O. McGechan in Bavin (ed.), 1940, p. 94.
See Calendar of the University of Sydney for the Year 1930, 1930, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, pp. 575, 794–95.
John M. Ward, 1988, ‘Peden, Sir John Beverley (1871–1946)’, ADB, vol. 11, Melbourne University Press.
Cowper, 1946, pp. 64–68.
H.V. Evatt in Bavin (ed.), 1940, pp. 34–37; Marr, 1980, pp. 10–11; Hall, 1978, pp. 20–21.
Hugh Robson interviewed by John Farquharson, 21 November 2000, NLA Oral History, TRC 4642, p. 95.
See Calendar of the University of Sydney for the Year 1930, 1930, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, pp. 247–48.
Dicey, 1979, p. 433.
Marr, 1980, p. 11.
Barwick, 1983, p. 85.
Tennant, 1970, pp. 32, 35; Judy Mackinolty in Mackinolty and Mackinolty (eds), 1991, p. 73.
Evatt, 1936.
Kerr, 1978, p. 52. See also Kelly and Bramston, 2015.
Ward, in Radi and Spearitt (eds), 1977, pp. 160–78.
Bede Nairn, 1983, ‘Lang, John Thomas (Jack)(1876–1975)’, ADB, vol. 9, Melbourne University Press; Foott, 1968; Lang, 1970; Radi and Spearitt (eds), 1977; Nairn, 1986.
Foott, 1968, p. 179; Marr, 1980, p. 21.
Foott, 1968, p. 198.
Peden thought Lang’s dismissal was justified on the ground that the governor was the supreme guardian of the constitution.
Peter Coleman, ‘Bill McMahon: from “Christus Veritas” to the Department of Labour’, Bulletin, 10 August 1963, p. 18.
Mackinolty, in Mackinolty and Mackinolty (eds), 1991, pp. 76–77.
Tess Lawrence, ‘I need a good laugh … I can get one out of cartoonists’, Herald, 22 September 1976, p. 17.
Martha Rutledge, 2007, ‘Cowper, Sir Norman Lethbridge (1896–1987)’, ADB, vol. 17, Melbourne University Press.
Excerpt of McMahon’s unpublished autobiography, NLA MS8725, box 97, folder 130/20, pp. 13–21.
Lawson, 1995, pp. 36–72; Allen, 1964, pp. 7–32.
Peter Coleman, ‘Bill McMahon: from “Christus Veritas” to the Department of Labour’, Bulletin, 10 August 1963, p. 18; Robertson, Hohmann, and Stewart, 2005, pp. 241–75.
Norman Cowper in Bavin (ed.), 1940, pp. 148–54.
Lawson, 1995, p. 64.
John Edwards, ‘Inside Billy McMahon’, AFR, 31 May 1972, p. 3.
Arthur Wigram Allen diaries, 13 May 1932, New South Wales State Library, MLMSS 1317, CY2892.
See Calendars of the University of Sydney, 1929–1933, for the course structure that McMahon would have followed.
Griffen-Foley, 1999, pp. 20–24; Griffen-Foley, 2000, pp. 63–84.
‘Sydney “World” changes to new control!’, NN, 1 November 1932, p. 1.
McMahon, CPD HoR, vol. 73, 17 August 1971, pp. 21–26.
‘Australian company news’, DCN&SL, 21 December 1932, p. 3; ‘Memorandum and articles of association of Sydney Newspapers Limited’, John Williamson & Sons, 1933, George Warnecke Papers, New South Wales State Library, MLMSS 8031, Box 1, Folder 6.
A former secretary to Clyde Packer, Maisie McMahon was also rumoured to be a former girlfriend of Frank’s. She would soon become a journalist, writing stories on beauty and fashion under the name Carolyn Earle. See, for example: Maisie McMahon, ‘I was made up by Hollywood’s ace cosmetician’, AWW, 18 October 1941, p. 9, and Maisie McMahon/Carolyn Earle, ‘Try for good looks rather than beauty’, AWW, 30 March 1946, pp. 32–33.
‘Associated Newspapers Ltd. and The Star’, NN, 1 December 1932.
Arthur Wigram Allen, 14 March 1933, New South Wales State Library, MLMSS 1317, CY2893.
SMH, 15 April 1939, p. 18.
Arthur Wigram Allen, 21 July 1933, New South Wales State Library MLMSS 1317, CY2893.
ibid., 28 July 1933.
Lawson, 1995, pp. 59–62.
Arthur Wigram Allen, 3 April 1939, New South Wales State Library, MLMSS 1317, CY2899.
John Edwards, ‘Inside Billy McMahon’, AFR, 31 May 1972, p. 3.
New South Wales Law Almanac for 1940, 1940, Thomas Henry Tennant, Sydney, p. 98.
Arthur Wigram Allen, 3 April 1939, New South Wales State Library, MLMSS 1317, CY2899.
Allen, 1964, p. 32.
Chapter 5: The Central Figure
Bowman to McMahon, 12 March 1984, copy in the author’s possession.
As Andrew Crofts writes, this is the core task of a ghostwriter. See Crofts, 2004, p. 109.
Bowman diary, 23 January 1984.
ibid., 3 February 1984.
ibid., 7 February 1984.
ibid., 14 February 1984.
ibid., 15 February 1984.
ibid., 2 February 1984.
ibid., 20 February 1984.
ibid.
ibid.
Chapter 6 : A Time of Transformation
Lyons, 1965, pp. 265–77; P.R. Hart and C.J. Lloyd, 1986, ‘Lyons, Joseph Aloysius (Joe)(1879–1939)’, ADB, vol. 10, Melbourne University Press; Henderson, 2011.
Keith Murdoch to Clive Baillieu, 4 January 1939, Sir Keith Murdoch Papers, NLA MS2823, Box 2, Folder 11.
Edwards, 1965, pp. 261–63.
Greene, 1969, p. 116.
Arthur Wigram Allen, 8 April 1939, New South Wales State Library MLMSS 1317, CY2899.
See, for example, Curthoys to Darling, 24 April 1939, in Martin, 1993, pp. 277–78.
‘Attack on Mr Menzies’, Argus, 21 April 1939, p. 2. This account draws from the Argus because of the considerable evidence that Page, regretting the speech, later had Hansard altered to soften his statements.
‘Attack on Mr Menzies’, Argus, 21 April 1939, p. 2.
Rowland James, CPD, vol. 159, 20 April 1939, p. 16.
‘Attack on Mr Menzies’, Argus, 21 April 1939, p. 2.
Menzies, 1969, pp. 14–15.
Menzies to Page, in Martin, 1993, p. 287; and in Edwards, 1965, pp. 270–71.
A.B.K.I. Bridge in Bavin (ed.), 1940, p. 95.
Sir Richard Kirby interviewed by Catherine Santamaria, NLA Oral History, TRC 228.
John Edwards, ‘Inside Billy McMahon’, AFR, 31 May 1972, p. 3.
Hasluck, 1952, p. 104.
Casey to Page, 19 July 1957, Earle Page papers, NLA, MS 1633, Folder 1773.
Day, 2003, pp. 6–7.
Popple, 1982, pp. 44–48.
Menzies, in Neale (ed.), 1976, pp. 221–26.
Excerpt of McMahon’s unpublished autobiography, NLA MS8725, box 97, folder 130/20, p. 14.
Menzies, in Neale (ed.), 1976, p. 226.
Spender, 1972, p. 53.
‘Extract of record of service’, 1 September 1972, 1940–1984, NAA: B883, NX100034.
Arthur Wigram Allen, 17 February 1941, New South Wales State Library, MLMSS 1317, CY 2901; and Lawson, 1995, pp. 56–58.
‘Mobilization Attestation Form’, NAA: B883, NX100034.
ibid. Oakes and Solomon write that McMahon was injured in the leg while at university, leaving him bed-ridden for six months and bearing a six-inch scar (1973, p. 68). There is no note of such a scar in McMahon’s medical records; nonetheless, it is possible that this is the same injury that caused McMahon to be assessed as Class II.
Peter Coleman, ‘Bill McMahon: from “Christus Veritas” to the Department of Labour’, Bulletin, 10 August 1963, p. 18.
NAA: B883, NX100034.
Peter Coleman, ‘Bill McMahon: from “Christus Veritas” to the Department of Labour’, Bulletin, 10 August 1963, p. 18.
For an overview of the characteristics of Australian soldiers in World War II, see Johnston, 1996.
Martin, 1992, p. 383.
Souter, 1988, p. 340.
Spender, 1972, p. 165.
Hasluc
k, 1997, p. 31.
Fadden, 1969, pp. 65, 68.
Hasluck, 1997, p. 82.
Souter, 1988, p. 338.
Ronald Cross to Lord Cranbourne, 20 January 1942, in Day, 2003, p. 179.
Allan Fraser, in Thompson (ed.), 1962, p. 64.
Curtin, in Crowley (ed.), 1973, pp. 49–52.
National Geographic, March 1943, p. 36.
Martin, 1993, p. 393.
Menzies, 1969, p. 56.
‘UAP cave formed: 17 send letter to leader’, SMH, 2 April 1943, p. 4.
Holt, 1966, p. 19.
Martin, 1993, p. 409.
Souter, 1988, p. 356.
Peter Coleman, ‘Bill McMahon: from “Christus Veritas” to the Department of Labour’, Bulletin, 10 August 1963, p. 18.
Souter, 1988, p. 358.
ibid., p. 366.
Menzies, 1969, p. 287.
Fitzherbert, 2004, pp. 209–43; Henderson, 1994, pp. 61–90; Hancock, 2000, pp. 122–131; Starr (ed.), 1980, pp. 64–107.
Menzies, 1969, p. 284.
Menzies, in Starr (ed.), 1980, pp. 69–70.
Holt, 1969, pp. 45–49; Henderson, 1994, pp. 61–90; Crayton Burns, ‘Liberal Party aims to encourage individual initiative’, Argus, 18 December 1944, p. 3.
Menzies, CPD, vol. 181, 21 February 1945, p. 19.
Souter, 1988, p. 376.
Chifley in Crowley (ed.), 1973, p. 129.
‘DA & QMG’, 6 September 1945, and ‘NX100034 MAJ W.McMAHON’, 11 September 1945, NAA: B883, NX100034.
‘Appendix to University Calendars for the years 1944–1945–1946–1947–1948; University Examination Results for the years 1943–1944–1945–1946–1947’, University of Sydney, 1950, A.H. Pettifer, pp. 124, 126.
ibid., pp. 208–09.
Excerpt of McMahon’s unpublished autobiography, NLA MS8725, box 97, folder 130/20, p. 15.
ibid. McMahon’s 1978 appearance on This Is Your Life refers to his having been a patient of Lempert’s.
Renouf, 1980, p. 28.
Alan Renouf, interviewed by Michael Wilson, NLA Oral History, TRC 2981/6.
Peter Coleman, ‘Bill McMahon: from “Christus Veritas” to the Department of Labour’, Bulletin, 10 August 1963, p. 18; John Edwards, ‘Inside Billy McMahon’, AFR, 31 May 1972, p. 3.
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