BASSENDEAN a social history 1829-1979 by JENNIE CARTER Published by the Town of Bassendean Perth, Western Australia 1986 CHAPTER EIGHT May Holman M.L.A. In the 1920s, among the prominent women activists of the community were Catherine Holman and her daughters, in particular Mary Alice known to all as May. Catherine was the wife ofJohn (lack) Barkell Holman, Labor Minister, Member for first Murchison, then later Forrest, President of the A.W.A. in Western Australia and Secretary (1907-1925) of the State branch of the Timber Workers' Union. In addition to raising nine surviving children, Catherine was also heavily involved in a number of Labor women's organisations. Like so many other Bassendean families, the Holmans originally came from the Eastern States, their first child, May, being born in Broken Hill in 1893, the same year that her father moved to the town of Cue on the Murchison goldfields. Three years later Catherine and her little girl travelled out to join him and May received her early education at convents in Dongara and Perth.' In 1920 the Holmans bought a ten acre property in Ida Street from George Jenkinson and moved into the large rambling home on the block. Almost immediately the family became involved in the social life of the district and 'Holman House' one of the suburb's centres of hospitality. Most of the Holman children were musically inclined and accustomed from an early age to perform in public and at private gatherings. The eldest son, John, became a professional musical comedy performer and a well known Vaudeville star under his stage name of 'jack May'. May was also a talented singer and an accomplished musician and her fascination with the theatre led her to form her own company The Entertainers in which her sisters Maude, Iris, Winnie and Eileen and her brother Edward (Ted) were members at one time or another. The group staged performances around the State, the profits of which usually went to the Labor movement and various charities. Ted also formed a band, the Broadway in which local girl Rita North was the accompanist and when later on Rita had another group The Black Cat Orchestra, Ted became a member of that one as well. The Broadway hand - Rita Smith (nee North) at the piano and Ted Holman. (BLHe courtesy Gwen Fenech) 152 Queen oj Giving Bassen­ When in Iuly 1924 the Perth Hospital Appeal was launched Bassendean dean Hospital Appeal cerern­ pooled its efforts to fundraise on a grand scale. May Holman headed one ony at Bassendean town hall 29/10/1924. Back row LX of the number of committees and provided the musical entertainment Maude Holman, Mildred at several functions. The highlight of the appeal venture was a Queen Payne, Mary Raine, May Hol­ man (Queen oj industry and ofGiving competition with Myrtle Richards being nominated as 'Queen Giving), Rita North, Winnie of Defence' with the backing of the Rifle Club and the Returned Duke, Tina Peach. ina Roberts, Ted Holman. Front row L·R: Servicemen's League. May Holman by popular acclaim was nominated Minnie McDermott, Eva Med for 'Queen of Industry' and won the competition with the help of her calf, Connie Coltbam, Mary Smith, Freda Wilscm (seated), committee which raised the largest amount. Due in no small measure Sheila Holman, Bella Taylor, to May's untiring efforts and the force of her personality, Bassendean raised Eileen Holman, Verna Bowen. (BLHC courtesy Sbeila m<:re than £500 for the hospital appeal. This sum was greater than that Moiler) raised by any other district in the Metropolitan area and over £100 more than Claremont who were runners-up. Cottesloe, a comparable suburb in size and location managed only a trifling £20 a salient fact gleefully emphasised by the editor of the Bassendean Magnet.? In recognition of this considerable achievement, the Bassendean Appeal Committee members were guests of honour at a function organised by the Perth Hospital Board and duly presented with a brass tablet recording the district's contribution.' The cause of the Perth Hospital was one very dear to the Holmans and Catherine had served on the committee for the King Edward Memorial hospital and the Perth hospital. Later in her career May was also elected to the board of management for the Perth General Hospital." 153 The Holmans brought up their children in a close-knit family environment strongly loyal to the ideals of Labor and committed to personal service for the cause of working-class families. At the age of 16 she accepted the post as official recorder at the first Western Australian Conference of Labor Women - the beginning of a lifelong association with women's political movements, both State and Federal." While still a teenager May was her father's close companion and personal secretary and eventually became his assistant in the Timber Workers' Union during the years 1918-1925. After her father's election to the seat of Forrest in 1923, May became well­ known in that constituency and popular with the immigrant workers because of her fluent Italian. Before beginning her political career May unwittingly played a minor role in the dramatic events surrounding the defeat of the Labor Government in 1916. In 1914, shortly before her 21st birthday, May secretly married Peter joseph (Ioe) Gardiner, then State Labor Member for Roebourne. However, the couple never lived together as man and wife and not long after the existence of May's marriage was made known to her family, Gardiner abruptly returned to the Eastern States, apparently without c.1903 John Barkell Holman MLA for Murchison. (BLHe ­ notifying the Party. His seat was subsequently declared vacant and at the courtesy Sheila Moiler) crucial by-election a non-Labor candidate was returned. The Scaddan Labor Government, first elected in 1911 found itself in a precarious position as the 1914 poll had reduced its majority to 26:24 and with the defection of Gardiner and the election of a Liberal member to take his place, the house was evenly divided. just three weeks after the 1915session closed, Labor member for Narrogin, land agent E.B. johnston, turned Independent and was re-elected as such, causing non-Labor parties to take a majority in the house. When Parliament reassembled in 1916, Labor was voted out of office and the Liberal/Country Party coalition under Frank Wilson formed a Government. To compound the injury, johnston, who held the balance of power, accepted the post of Speaker (a non-voting position) leaving the Liberals with a clear majority of one; a situation that incensed the Labor members who felt they had been betrayed. One of the most vociferous opponents ofjohnston's appointment was jack Holman who in a heated interchange left his chair and moved towards the Speaker, threatening "I've come to yank you out." johnston called to the sergeant-at-arms to eject Holman c.1903 Katherine Holman wife from the chamber but Labor members formed a protective cordon around of j.B. Holman. (Bl.Hc. Holman while one took the audacious precaution of locking the door courtesy Sheila Moiler) behind the constable thereby preventing him from carrying out the order. johnston then left the chair causing the session to break up in confusion and after holding the Speakership for just a little over a fortnight, johnston submitted his resignation on the day following the fracas.v In the meantime May, dispirited and depressed by the unhappiness following her ill-starred romance, retired for a short period to recuperate her energies by living and working on a farm. Putting the past behind her, she returned to the city and found an outlet for her renewed zest for life by forming a musical revue group, touring the State giving concerts 154 at military camps, hospitals and sanatoriums. In the space of ten months she gave over 100 performances to raise money for troop comforts and distress charities. In 1920, the year the Holmans settled in Bassendean, May obtained a divorce from Gardiner and although the experience appeared to have lett her with no discernible aversion to the male sex, she never remarried. In 1921 Jack Holman resigned his seat of Murchison to stand for the electorate of Swan but was defeated by newspaper proprietor, Richard Stanley Sampson. After an unsuccessful try for the seat of Fremantle in 1922 he was elected Member for Forrest on the death of Peter O'Loghlen in 1923. Holman, however, had been in indifferent health for a number of years and died on 23rd February 1925 only three days before his 53rd birthday from complications following an operation for appendicitis. Despite her deep grief for her father, May campaigned for and won the seat of Forrest left vacant by her father's early death." With her entry into Parliament, May became only the second woman in Australia to hold a seat and the first woman Labor member in the British Commonwealth. Her long apprenticeship with her father stood her in good stead during the fifteen years she spent as Member for Forrest, which was principally a timber milling electorate. Although she remained passionately committed to issues concerning women and children, the predominately male constituency returned her to office for five consecutive terms. Amongst her notable successes while in office, she sponsored the Timber Industry Regulation Act through parliament in the year following her election. To help fight her case for the bill, she researched international labor offices, familiarised herself with the laws in other countries and worked closely with the various Trade Unions. The result was a comprehensive document, finely detailed and persuasively argued, the reception of which assured her the respect of her colleagues.