k eeper of the faith keeper of the fai th A BIOGRAPHY OF JIM CAIRNS PAUL STRANGIO MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY PRESS MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY PRESS PO Box 278, Carlton South, Victoria 3053, Australia [email protected] www.mup.com.au First published 2002 Text © Paul Strangio 2002 Design and typography © Melbourne University Press 2002 This book is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent amendments, no part may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means or process whatsoever without the prior written permission of the publisher. Designed by Pages in Action Typeset by Melbourne University Press in 10 point Giovanni Book Printed in Australia by Ligare Pty Ltd National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Strangio, Paul. Keeper of the faith: a biography of Jim Cairns. Bibliography. Includes index. ISBN 0 522 85002 2. 1. Cairns, Jim, 1914-.2. Australian Labor Party—History— 20th century. 3. Politicians—Australia—Biography. I. Title. 324.29407092 Publication was assisted by a grant from the Australian Historical Association on behalf of the National Council for the Centenary of Federation. To my parents, Vincent and Mary C O N TEN TS Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction 1 ‘The victim of a great wrong’, 1914–1931 2 ‘An intellectual seeker’, 1932–1947 3 Political Apprentice, 1948–1955 4 The Member for Yarra, 1956–1964 5 Vietnam: The Great Moral Crusade, 1962–1967 6 ‘A symbol of participatory democracy’, 1968–1970 7 ‘feelings of profound disillusionment’, 1970–1972 8 A ‘New Jim Cairns’? 1972–1974 9 Ruin and Liberation, 1974-1975 10 ‘Some wacko theory’, 1976-1990 Epilogue Notes Select Bibliography Index ILLU STR ATIO N S Unless specified, photographs are courtesy of the Cairns family. following 48 Starting school on horseback, Melton, 1921 Letty and Jim, aged fourteen Jim as a school-leaver, early 1930s Constable Cairns, Easter 1935 The aspirant Olympian leading the field, 1938 A whirlwind romance: Jim and Gwen, 1939 Barry and Philip Cairns, aged four and five, 1939 Cairns graduating as Bachelor of Commerce, University of Melbourne, 1948 Gwen Cairns at Kenilworth House, South Yarra, late 1940s Jim Cairns, Gwen Cairns, Louise Miller and Barry, mid-1950s Jim Cairns, the newly elected Member for Yarra Barry Cairns, Jim Cairns, Elizabeth Ford nursing Michael, and Letty Cairns, late 1950s Gwen and Jim, late 1950s following 80 Addressing anti-Vietnam War meeting, Richmond Town Hall, May 1965 Communist Party of Australia Collection, University of Melbourne Archives With Gwen in Fiji, 1966 With Indonesian President Sukarno and Clyde Holding, mid-1966 In talks with Prince Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodia, 1966 Meeting Singapore’s Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, 1966 Gwen Cairns announces Cairns’ intention to contest the Labor leadership, April 1968 Herald & Weekly Times Photographic Collection The Labor leadership team: Whitlam and Lance Barnard, 1969 National Archives of Australia Battered and bruised: after the bashing at Wattle Road, August 1969 The mobile electoral office: campaigning for Lalor, 1969 following 240 With a young fan, first Moratorium march, 8 May 1970 In familiar pose addressing a Moratorium meeting, 9 May 1970 Addressing the multitudes in Bourke Street, first Moratorium march, 8 May 1970 Herald & Weekly Times Photographic Collection Flashpoint: second Moratorium march, 18 September 1970 Herald & Weekly Times Photographic Collection As Vice-Chairman of the International Commission of Inquiry into American War Crimes in Indochina, Oslo, 1971 With Tom Uren and Charles Jones, swearing in of the full Whitlam ministry, Government House, December 1972. National Archives of Australia following 272 Being sworn in at the opening of the twenty-eighth Commonwealth Parliament, 27 February 1973 Courtesy of the Cairns family and the Speaker of the House of Representatives Gwen Cairns at Wattle Road, 1973 Leading trade mission to the People’s Republic of China, May 1973 With Gwen at official banquet, China, May 1973 The Australian trade mission sightseeing in Peking, China, May 1973 Signing trade agreement with the Chinese Minister of Foreign Trade, Pai Hsiang-kuo, Canberra, July 1973 In talks, China, May 1973 The Whitlam Government ministry with Queen Elizabeth II, February 1974 Campaigning for Labor’s re-election, Moorabbin Town Hall, May 1974 John Ellis Collection, University of Melbourne Archives With Whitlam and Sir Christopher Soames, Parliament House, September 1974 National Archives of Australia facing 336 Junie Morosi Herald & Weekly Times Photographic Collection Jim Cairns, Acting Prime Minister, 1975 The reshuffled Whitlam ministry, Government House, 6 June 1975 National Archives of Australia 337 Answering media questions after his sacking from the Whitlam ministry Herald & Weekly Times Photographic Collection Promoting Morosi’s Sex, Prejudice and Politics, November 1975 John Ellis Collection, University of Melbourne Archives Counter-culture philosopher: Down to Earth Confest, Berri, April 1979 Herald & Weekly Times Photographic Collection 368 At the new family home, Narre Warren East, 1982 Herald & Weekly Times Photographic Collection A familiar Melbourne sight: Cairns’ bookstall, Prahran Market, 1988 Herald & Weekly Times Photographic Collection 369 Twentieth anniversary of the first Vietnam Moratorium Campaign, Melbourne Town Hall, 11 May 1990 John Ellis Collection, University of Melbourne Archives Jim and Gwen celebrate their sixtieth wedding anniversary, February 1999 Jim, Gwen and great-grandchildren, February 1999 Awarded life membership of the Victorian Labor Party, June 2000