Tiberius with a Telephone

by Patrick Mullins

  Peter Gibson, ‘Get rid of ASIS — MPs’, Daily Mirror, 2 December 1983, p. 2. See also: Toohey and Pinwill, 1989, p. 146; ‘ASIS: Who needs it?’, Daily Mirror, 2 December 1983, p. 8; ‘Marvellous house protection: McMahon’, CT, 7 May 1983, p. 1.

  Chapter 51: Never

  Bowman diary, 6 June 1984.

  ibid., 15 June 1984.

  ibid., 19 June 1984.

  ibid., 19 June 1984.

  ibid., 20 June 1984. Gorton later stated that McMahon had urged him to take the ambassadorship. See John Gorton interviewed by Clyde Cameron, NLA Oral History, TRC 1702, vol. 1, p. 471. Barwick, who made the offer, recorded that Menzies believed Gorton would not take the position because of his ambition to become prime minister. See Barwick, 1995, pp. 206–07.

  Bowman diary, 21 June 1984.

  ibid., 25 June 1984.

  ibid., 26 June 1984.

  ibid., 28 June 1984.

  ibid., 29 June 1984.

  Bowman to Campell, 29 June 1984, copy in the author’s possession.

  Chapter 52: Persistence

  McMahon, CPD HoR, vol. 95, 5 June 1975, pp. 3419–22.

  McMahon, ibid., 9 July 1975, pp. 3651–54.

  Ian Frykberg, ‘No choice — Fraser’, SMH, 16 October 1975, p. 1.

  ‘Rowdy reception for a former PM’, SMH, 21 October 1975, p. 11.

  See Quick and Garran, 1976 [1901], pp. 404–06. McMahon specifically quotes this in his remarks.

  ‘Questions and answers on address by the Rt. Hon. William McMahon, CH MP to students at Macquarie University on Thursday, 23 October, 1975’, copy in the author’s possession.

  Coombs, 1981, p. 320.

  Hocking, 2012, pp. 258, 264.

  Author’s interview with Rob Ashley, 28 December 2017.

  Jan Goldie, ‘Whitlam dismissal hurt Parlt: McMahon’, SMH, 5 February 1979, p. 3.

  McMahon, ‘Use and abuse of “reserve powers”’, SMH, 5 June 1979, p. 7.

  Hocking, 2016, p. 74.

  ibid.

  Reid, 1976, p. 421.

  David Reid, ‘Note for file’, 21 November 1975, NAA: M4081, 3/13 Part 1.

  ibid.

  John Menadue, ‘Note for file’, 24 November 1975, ibid.

  David Reid, ‘Note for file’, 24 November 1975, ibid.

  C.W. Harders to Ivor Greenwood, 21 November 1975, ibid.

  Greenwood to Fraser, 16 December 1975, ibid.

  C.W. Harders to Ivor Greenwood, 5 December 1975, ibid.

  Fraser and Simons, 2009, p. 339.

  Greenwood to Fraser, 16 December 1975, NAA: M4081, 3/13, Part 1.

  Fraser and Simons, 2009, p. 338.

  McMahon, ‘Bob Ellicott … and the “rule of law”’, Sun, 16 September 1977; McMahon, ‘Sankey’s Cost: a moral obligation’, Sun, 2 March 1979, p. 18.

  Fraser and Simons, 2009, p. 163.

  Author’s interview with John Howard, 22 April 2016.

  McMahon, ‘Housing: get the money moving’, Sun, 10 March 1978.

  Jones, CPD HoR, vol. 126, 12 April 1988, p. 1408.

  McMahon to Fraser, 8 March 1979, NAA: M1266, 28 Part 2.

  McMahon to Fraser, 3 May 1979, ibid.

  Fraser to McMahon, 7 May 1979, ibid.

  Peter Kelly, ‘Petulant Fraser’, Age, 3 July 1986, p. 12.

  ‘Bashful ex-treasurer would take post again’, CM, 30 November 1977, p. 8.

  Errol Simper, ‘Sir William’s battle won’, CT, 30 November 1977, p. 18.

  Author’s interview with Alan Wright, 9 December 2016.

  Author’s interview with Bruce and Leanne MacCarthy, 5 August 2016.

  Pringle, 1973, p. 89.

  ‘McMahon calls it a day’, Sun, 4 January 1982, p. 2.

  McMahon to Fraser, 12 August 1980, NAA: M1266, 28 Part 2.

  Eric L. Robinson, ‘Record of conversation with Sir William McMahon at 4pm, 27 August 1980’, ibid.

  Norm Lipson, ‘Sir Billy: why I quit’, DT, 5 January 1982, pp. 1, 2.

  McMahon, aide-mémoire, 20 December 1981, copy in the author’s possession.

  Norm Lipson, ‘Sir Billy: why I quit’, DT, 5 January 1982, pp. 1, 2; Michael Wilkinson, ‘“The last year has been a lost year”’, Sun, 5 January 1982, p. 8.

  Peter Rees, ‘McMahon quits in protest’, Sun, 5 January 1982, pp. 1–2.

  Tony Parkinson and Hugh Crawford, ‘Labor Shapes up for the battle of Lowe’, SMH, 5 January 1982, p. 3.

  Greg Hartung, ‘Sir Billy has the last laugh’, DT, 5 January 1982, p. 10.

  Murray Trembath and Tony O’Leary, ‘McMahon quits Parlt’, Sun, 4 January 1982, p. 1; Tony Parkinson and Hugh Crawford, ‘Labor shapes up for the battle of Lowe’, SMH, 5 January 1982, p. 3.; Teresa Mannix, ‘McMahon’s “suggestion for Lowe candidate”’, CT, 6 January 1982, p. 1.

  Peter Rees, ‘McMahon quits in protest’, Sun, 5 January 1982, pp. 1–2.

  Michele Ferguson, ‘McMahon retires with one regret’, Aus., 5 January 1982, p. 1.

  Peter Rees, ‘33 years on …’ Sun, 5 January 1982, p. 2.

  Chapter 53: A Liberal View

  Word of Bowman’s experience with McMahon did leak, and was perhaps even leaked by McMahon. By October 1985, Clyde Cameron was relating that McMahon had sacked Bowman for refusing to write what he wanted. ‘I know my facts,’ McMahon supposedly said — indicative of McMahon’s relationship with the truth. See Paul Hasluck interviewed by Clyde Cameron, NLA Oral History, TRC 1966, p. 184.

  Andrew McCathie, ‘The saga of Sir William’s memoirs’, AFR, 30 August 1985, pp. 1, 3.

  Ben Hills, ‘The strange tablets of Moses McMahon’, SMH, 5 July 1986, pp. 1, 7.

  Andrew McCathie, ‘The saga of Sir William’s memoirs’, AFR, 30 August 1985, pp. 1, 3.

  Ben Hills, ‘The strange tablets of Moses McMahon’, SMH, 5 July 1986, pp. 1, 7.

  John Messer, ‘The McMahon saga may yet hit print’, Times, 26 July 1987, p. 2.

  Author’s interview with Richard Farmer, 15 July 2016.

  Barry Jones, CPD HoR, vol. 160, 12 April 1988, pp. 1407–08.

  Author’s interview with Phillip Adams, 12 October 2016.

  John Messer, ‘The McMahon saga may yet hit print’, Times, 26 July 1987, p. 2.

  Robin Hill, ‘The story behind Sir Billy’s own story’, SMH, 3 October 1986, p. 11.

  Jerry Fetherston, ‘Cancer scares for Sir William and Lady McMahon’, Women’s Day, 13 May 1985, pp. 4–5.

  Paul LePetit, ‘Sir Billy: playboy at 18 with a string of racehorses’, Sunday Telegraph, 3 April 1988, pp. 8–9.

  Larry Writer, ‘Sonia McMahon: the truth about my marriage’, AWW, 1 November 2007, accessed via Factiva.

  For the terms under which McMahon donated his papers and their content, see Graeme Powell, 2005, ‘The first in the field: Prime Ministers’ papers in the National Library of Australia’, Australian Academic and Research Libraries, vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 54–64.

  Mitchell, 2007, p. 42.

  Horne, 1980, p. 6.

  Orwell, in Orwell and Angus (eds), 1968, p. 185.

  Peter Kelly, ‘A courageous and persistent man’, Age, 2 April 1988, p. 6.

  Fran Hernon, ‘Friends and foes farewell Sir Billy’, DT, 9 April 1988, p. 9.

  Tony Stephens, ‘Lady Sonia, a lady in mourning’, SMH, 9 April 1988, accessed via Factiva.

  James, 1956, pp. 77–106.

  Paul Strangio discusses the various surveys and rankings of Australia’s prime ministers. See Paul Strangio in Strangio, ’t Hart and Walter (eds), 2013.

  Auden, 1950, p. 78.

  Larry Writer, ‘Sonia McMahon: the truth about my marriage’, AWW, 1 November 2007, accessed via Factiva.

  Julian Leeser, �
�Gracious, stylish and steadfast’, Aus., 5 April 2010, p. 11.

  Bowman diary, 15 February 1984.

  Bibliography

  Personal Papers

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  Papers of Bert Kelly, MS 7424

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  Papers of Sir Keith Murdoch, MS 2823

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  Paul Davey, 2008, Politics in the Blood: the Anthonys of Richmond, UNSW Press, Sydney.

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