For its last show of 1973, the groundbreaking, innovative and often irreverent ABC TV current affairs show, This Day Tonight or TDT, decided to do a variety sketch review of the new Labor government's first 12 months in power. The finale of the show was this satirical version of the theme from the film "The Adventures of Barry McKenzie". Smacka Fitzgibbon sang the original in the film and here he sings with new lyrics. Unfortunately only the audio is available.
The song name checks a number of prominent people of the day.
"Dr Jim" is Jim Cairns, frontbencher and leader off the left in the Labor party, charismatic and idealistic, and Whitlam's main rival in caucus. Cairns was a former policeman who became an academic specialising in economic history. He reached national status in the late 1960s, with his leadership in the Vietnam moratorium marches.
"Vincent Gair" was a DLP senator from Queensland. The Democratic Labor Party was one of the results of the split in the Australian Labor party in the 1950s. The DLP was Catholic, fervently anti-communist and frequently sided with the Liberal and Country Party Coalition especially over defense and foreign affairs.
"Bill Snedden" was the leader of the opposition in 1973.
"Margaret" is of course Margaret Whitlam, Gough's articulate and activist wife. She wrote a regular column in Women's Day which was her public diary. She was interviewed by ABC radio at around same time as this TDT program.
"Sir Warwick Fairfax" was probably the most powerful media proprietor in Australia at this time. He owned the Sydney Morning Herald and had control of The Age, numerous other newspapers, radio stations, major television stations in Sydney and Melbourne and Women's Day
"Ming" was the nickname for Sir Robert Menzies, Liberal Prime Minister of Australia from 1949 to 1966 and a noted monarchist.
"Blue Poles" was the painting of abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock, which was purchased for the new National Art Gallery in Labor's expanded arts program. The government was criticised from many quarters for wasting 1.3 million dollars.
(Audio of the entire episode of This Day Tonight can be found at http://australianpolitics.com/audio/1970-1979/1973-archive. In fact check out the rest of this site, it a has some real treasures.)
Postscript
This Day Tonight continued until 1978 and its influence on current affairs television in Australia was extensive. Its first host Bill Peach left to initially make travel documentaries and now runs his own travel company. Journalists Mike Willessee, Richard Carleton, George Negus, Gerald Stone and Mike Carlton moved to commercial television to be the backbone of current affair programs for the next few decades. Unfortunately declining revenues and interest by management have seen the decline of these programs on commercial television. Other luminaries such as Caroline Jones and Richard Littlemore, Tim Bowden and Paul Murphy built outstanding careers in public television.
The Adventures of Barry McKenzie was the first Australian movie to gross one million dollars and was the forerunner of a renaissance in the Australian film industry. The film was a knockabout farce but did touch some raw nerves in it treatment of the new nationalism which was rising in Australia.
Director Bruce Beresford would go on to make award winning films in Australia (eg Don's Party, Breaker Morant) and America (Driving Miss Daisy). Writer Barry Humphey's career would skyrocket especially through his iconic creation, Edna Everidge. Due to the success of the film a follow up was made two years later, with the same team, and called Barry McKenzie Holds His Own. Ironically Prime Minister Gough Whitlam makes a special appearance at the end of the movie where he greets a triumphant Barry McKenzie returning to Australia from "pommie land". In this final scene Gough elevates a gushing Edna Everidge to "Dame", a title which she has kept for the rest of her career.
Graham Francis "Smacka" Fitzgibbon was the popular doyen of the jazz scene in Melbourne during the 1950s and 1960s and a friend of Barry Humphreys. His biggest success was the song "The Adventures of Barry McKenzie" which went to #22 in the Australian pop charts in 1972. Smacka died of a brain hemorrhage in 1979 and his funeral attracted thousands.
Jim Cairns became Deputy Prime Minister after the 1974 election and later Federal Treasurer. The first and last time I ever saw Jim in the flesh was at South Melbourne markets seated behind a card table selling copies of his self penned books. I still regret not stopping to talk to him. He died in 2003.
Vince Gair was appointed ambassador to Ireland in 1974 in a botched attempt by the Labor government to gain control of the senate. Gair was eventually recalled in 1976 in what was euphemistically termed his unsuitability for diplomatic duties.
Bill Snedden would go on to unsuccessfully contest the 1974 election against Whitlam. After two attempts the lean ambitious hungry Malcolm Fraser toppled him as leader of the liberal party.
Margaret Whitlam's recent death has prompted an outpouring of praise and admiration for her public life as a spokesperson for women's rights, conservation and welfare issues.
Sir Warwick Fairfax lost the Chairmanship of John Fairfax Ltd in 1976 due to political wranglings on its board and a falling out with his eldest son James . His youngest son, also called Warwick, tried to privatise the families holdings in the late eighties only resulting in receivers being brought in and the ending of the Fairfax family as media players in Australia.
Blues Poles is now rightly regarded as a masterpiece of one of the most important artists of the twentieth century. Even from a financial view point it is one of the wisest investments the Labor government ever made.
The Whitlam government served two terms but barely 3 years. In this time a record number of bills were enacted covering health, housing, education, regional development, human rights and the environment. It ended military conscription and pioneered diplomatic relations with China. It also had 93 Bills rejected by the senate, more than any other government in the previous 71 years of Federation.
Edward Gough Whitlam is now a frail ninety- five year old living in a nursing home.
