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This article is from the soc.culture.australian FAQ, by Stephen Wales
with numerous contributions by others.
7.6 National heroes/Notable Australians
[AN: Contributions solicited! Possible candidates: Phar Lap, Ned
Kelly, Harry (The Breaker) Morant, Private John Simpson & his donkey,
Edward (Weary) Dunlop, Dawn Fraser, Charles Kingsford-Smith, Kay
Cottee, Dick Smith, Mary McKillop, Caroline Chisolm, Nellie Melba,
Joan Sutherland, Rolf Harris, Barry Humphries ... Winged keel??? [RS]]
[JL]
Ned Kelly's skull and Phar Lap's heart (you beaut)
Lie enshrined in Canberra's Institute.
But a truer statement of the statesman's art
Would be Phar Lap's skull & Mr Kelly's heart.
* Don Bradman [RS]
Bradman, Sir Donald George (1908- ), cricket world's most famous
batsman. Born at Cootamundra NSW. Made his first century playing for
Bowral High School at age 12. His career in the Australian domestic
competition, the Sheffield Shield, spanned 22 years playing for NSW
(1927-1934) and South Australia (1935-1949). He made a total of 8926
runs at an average of 110 at this level of cricket.
Most famous are his Test Match batting exploits against England for
the prized "Ashes" (the symbol of cricket supremacy between Australia
and England). So successful was he in the 1929 England tour that by
the time of the reciprocal 1932/33 English tour, the England captain,
Douglas Jardine, devised a bowling strategy around limiting Bradman's
prodigious scoring talents. England's fast bowlers would direct the
ball at a batsman's rib cage or throat hoping that the ball would be
parried to one of a number of close-in fieldsmen. The infamous
"Bodyline" tactic was not only applied to Bradman but also to the less
able batsmen which raised howls of outrage from the Australian public.
Bodyline was subsequently outlawed.
Apart from one Test match in the 1932-33 series, Bradman played in
every Australia-England Test match between 1928 and his retirement at
the end of the 1948 season. As a test captain from 1936-48, he did not
lose an Ashes series and the 1948 tour did not result in a single
defeat. An achievement unequalled by any touring Australian team
before or since.
He also played Test cricket against the West Indies (1930-31), South
Africa (1931-32) and India (1947-48). In all, Don Bradman played 52
Test matches, scored an aggregate 6996 runs at an average of 99.94.
Where Test Match batting averages of around 50 or 60 earns a player
the label of a "great", the Don's greatness as a batsman is more than
just an exaggerated legend.
* Ned Kelly [SR]
Ned Kelly was a bushranger, or outlaw who gained notoriety last
century with his gang "The Kelly Gang". They were responsible for
many holdups of travellers. His "trademark" was an iron helmet and
breastplate which he fashioned from an old plough late in his
"career". He was finally captured in a bloody shootout at a place
called Glenrowan, where the gang was besieged by troopers. I think
the gang was all killed, except for Kelly who stood off the troopers
in his armour until his wounds overcame him. He was promptly hung a
short time later, his last words being "Such is life". It should not
be too difficult to find more information in any book of Australian
folklore, as he has attained the fame in Australia that outlaws in
America have similarly received.
* Frank Hardy [JS]
Feb 4, 1994. Frank Hardy died last weekend. He was found in his
reading chair, holding a racing form. Many people have said that
that's the way he'd have wanted to go.
Frank Hardy was a novelist, communist and sometime anarchist. Although
I deplore his politics, especially his earlier support of Stalinism, I
cannot but admire someone so committed to justice. He was most famous
for his novel _Power Without Glory_ (see Section 14.3.1); the fictional
story of an imaginary racketeer named John West who rose to power in
Melbourne through his involvement in illegal gambling. Hardy was sued
for libel by businessman John Wren on behalf of Wren's wife for the
many admitted similarities in their lives stories.
With the death of Frank Hardy we have lost another hold on our past.
In his larrakin contempt for the establishment and his sometimes rowdy
support for the working class was represented the true Labor hero,
before champagne and high society dinners were acceptable. More than
Labor's loss, the Conservatives have lost a worthy foe. All of
Australia is the poorer for Frank Hardy's passing.
[AT] While Power Without Glory was his most famous work in some
circles since it ended up as a TV series. Probably his best novel was
"But The Dead Are Many". He also produced several novels with a
humorous bent, based on glorifying class struggle. Off hand, I can
remember _The Outcasts Of Foolgarah_. Also, he was not initially sued
for libel. He was charged with criminal libel. This is a rarely
invoked law which is a criminal rather than civil offence. That is,
they arrest you and lock you away. Wasn't there a foreward to Power
Without Glory which described his arrest ?
[JL] It depends which edition you have :-). The full story of the
attack on Power is contained in Frank's book "The Hard Way". My parents
knew Frank and Roslyn well. Mum's favourite recollection of Frank is a
non political one. Occasionally he used to ring her for a lift home
when "under the weather". Due to this state, whenever they hit a
corner on her motorbike, he would lean against the turn, trying to
stay upright. If you have ever tried to cope with this you will know
why she remembers it. I understand a lot of the binding of the
(illegal) second edition was done in my grandmother's best (never
used) bedroom, and that the wardrobe was used to store them. BTW the
author on the early copies of Power was Ross Franklyn - a near anagram
of Frank and Roslyn.
[JL] Frank made many contributions to political life in Australia. His
support for aboriginal land rights, and the Gurindji in particular,
exemplified this. I don't suppose there would be many ex-servicemen
who remember him from the Northern Territory and WWII on the net :-)
I used to have a copy of "Journey into the Future" somewhere, which
was Frank's book extolling the virtues of the Soviet bloc during the
fifties. I always remember talking to Dorothy Healy, a socialist from
the New American Movement, about the seemingly uncritical support of
the Soviet Union by older comrades. Her reply was to the effect that
when it was the only country moving towards socialism, and under
attack from all sides, such support was understandable. In the 1970's
(when this discussion took place) this was not tenable, as there were
many countries trying many different alternative forms of government,
and unconditional support for any one country was not logical. Frank
was a product of his era, his shortcoming should be measured against
that era, and his achievements remembered. I wonder, when they went
across for a drink after the eulogy, whether they left a glass on the
bar? Frank would have liked that.
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