University of Wollongong Research Online University of Wollongong Thesis Collection University of Wollongong Thesis Collections 1998 The ym th of the affluent urban workers' changing political affiliations 1950-1972 Patricia-Mary Ward University of Wollongong Recommended Citation Ward, Patricia-Mary, The ym th of the affluent urban workers' changing political affiliations 1950-1972, Doctor of Philosophy thesis, Faculty of Arts, University of Wollongong, 1998. http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/1742 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] The Myth of the Affluent Urban Workers' Changing Political Affiliations 1950-1972 A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree Doctor of Philosophy from UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG by Patricia-Mary Ward B.A. Hons (ANU) Faculty of Arts 1998 CONTENTS Acknowledgements Hi Preface iv Certificate xiii Abbreviations xiv Introduction 2 PART 1 Australia's New Cities The Transformation of Post-War Australia 24 Wollongong Red Belt 41 Wollongong Boom Town 77 Canberra Conflict City 111 Part One - Summary 147 PART 2 Three Tiers of Government Government Relations 149 The Limitations of the Constitution 169 Fiscal Dilemma 204 Local Government 234 Part Two - Summary 262 PART 3 The Turbulent Years 1965 -1972 Towards a New Society 264 Political Parties in Transition 268 Illawarra Militant 284 Canberra in Crisis 299 Part Three - Summary 313 Conclusion 315 Bibliography 326 Contents Page ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am particularly indebted to my supervisor, Associate Professor Andrew Wells for the excellent advice and insight he provided during the research and writing of this thesis. I was also supervised for some periods of time by Professor Hagan, Josie Castle and Henry Lee. I am also grateful to Glenn Mitchell, Peter Sales, John McQuilton and Adrian Vickers who shared their knowledge with me. I wish to acknowledge the help given to me by the archivists and librarians of the University of Wollongong, the Australian National University Noel Butlin Archives Centre, the Manuscript Section of the National Library of Australia, the City of Wollongong Library's Local Studies Unit, the New South Wales Local Government Association and the officers of the Australian Electoral Commission and Australian Bureau of Statistics in Canberra. I am also indebted to Paul Mathers for access to the archived records of the South Coast Labor Council, to Rex Connor for access to R F X Connor's unsorted papers and to Andrew Fraser for access to J R Fraser's private papers. My thanks are due to many residents of the Illawarra, in particular Ted Harvey, Sally Bowen, George Murray, Eric Ramsay, Bob Heggis and Irene and Ted Arrowsmith who provided important insights into life in the 1950s and 1960s. I am grateful to many friends who have encouraged me in the pursuit of this endeavour and in particular Mary Quinton who has given unstintingly of friendship and hospitality. Finally, with affection, my special thanks to my family. Acknowledgements Page Hi PREFACE This thesis criticizes the theory of the embourgoisement of the Australian urban workers in the period from 1950 to 1972 and its apparent effect upon their political affiliations. The period was marked by sustained economic growth, a burgeoning population and the consolidation of Australia as a small industrialised country. The promise of full employment and improved wages and salaries attracted urban workers into the new industries and away from their old communities. The traditional bonds of work, home and political affiliations were displaced by home ownership and the acquisition of previously unattainable consumer goods. This thesis argues that in this environment new communities of affluent workers emerged united by their aims to maintain their prosperity and achieve a better quality of life. Of the number of Australian cities which expanded in this period Wollongong and Canberra have been chosen to illustrate two different kinds of communities. Wollongong was and is a working class city; Canberra middle class. Wollongong, an industrial city in the State of New South Wales, grew largely as a consequence of the investment in the BHP steel works. Canberra, in contrast, is the seat of the Federal Government and the centre for the Commonwealth Administration with its growth heavily dependent on Federal Government funding. In Wollongong the South Coast Labour Council was committed to the support of workers and their families and the improvement of the urban environment, providing experienced leadership in the art of popular protest. In Canberra the emerging middle- class community was represented in their pursuit of a new community life by the whole­ hearted endeavours of James Fraser, the Labor Member of the House of Representatives for the Australian Capital Territory who saw himself as both "State Member and Local Councillor". Preface Page v In Wollongong, many workers' homes were located along unmade streets where the sullage flowed from primitive sewerage systems. The city lacked adequate schools, hospitals and recreation areas and any improvement was frustrated for many years by the limitations of Local Government and the ongoing conflict between the State and Federal Governments. Although Canberra escaped the worst of these urban disasters its development was slow, dogged by political infighting and administrative incompetence and the failure of the 1948 Development Programme. Following the recommendations of the Select Committee on the Development of Canberra, the National Capital Development Commission was established in 1957. By the 1960s Canberra was seen as the model for comprehensive urban planning. But as the Federal Capital emerged from a small county town into Australia's largest inland city the supply of land ran out and consequently there was a major price rise. Moreover the dissatisfaction of the people reached new heights when there was a significant increase in land rent on re-valued land. Consequently in the late 1960s these urban problems became politically important and the creation of new alliances between different social groups lent respectability to public protest. This thesis challenges the widely held view that affluence led urban workers to desert their affiliation to the Labor Party. In Wollongong and Canberra by 1960 affluent workers who saw themselves as homeowners increased their support for their local representatives of the Federal Labor Party. For the State and Federal Governments' commitment to building a new industrial complex in Wollongong and the development of the National Capital extinguished any interest they had in the quality of life of the people. And they were joined by other groups who came to reject a jaded Federal Coalition lacking initiative in dealing with the urban problems. E G Whitlam and the Federal Labor Party of 1970 offered a new concept of Australian Government and policies which appealed to a confident and empowered electorate. Preface Page vi The Introduction to this thesis will review the changing urban process in western industrialised nations after the Second World War. It will touch upon the movement of people from country to cities and from Europe to the New World. Governments were concerned to maintain economic growth and avoid at all costs a return to the economic instability of the pre-war years. Consequently full employment brought a new and sustained affluence to urban workers. The growth of bureaucracies, world organisations and the effect of changing industrial procedures and higher education provided new opportunities for the working class. In the United Kingdom and some European countries large scale plans were made to house the changing population in an expanding suburbia. Many theories which were developed during this period argued that a new elitism emerged with the growth of suburbia because the traditional working class mores were transformed by home ownership, access to consumer goods, cars and an adoption of middle class "consumerist" values. However, the well-known American sociologists Gans and Berger considered that affluence and a house in the suburbs did not alter the commitment of the blue collar workers to their old political affiliations. This view was supported in England by Willmott who maintained that the changes to political affiliations were minimal. In this context of rapidly and radically changing western societies Australia is unique in being a highly urbanised society with the larger part of its population living in the major cities. As early as 1840 thirty percent of Australians lived in towns of more than 2500 inhabitants. The continuing expansion of the cities was due to immigration rather than the drift of population from the country. But, as in other westernized countries, by the 1960s the structure of the workforce had changed with a significant rise in the employment of women and an increase in the number of professional and technical workers. Wollongong and Canberra grew rapidly into new cities with residential areas dominated by family dwellings with their own gardens. This changing structure of the Preface Page vii workforce and the growth of suburbia influenced scholarly opinion. It was argued by many that affluence reduced the influence of the Australian Labor Party and the emphasis on homeownership promoted that of the Liberal Party. This thesis reflects the changing face of urban Australia and the political consequences of the Federal Coalition's neglect of the needs of an articulate, affluent and confident urban working class. Part One describes the history of the growth of the new cities Wollongong and Canberra. Part Two discusses the problems associated with an inflexible Constitution and the financial relationship between the Federal, State and Local Governments. Part Three concentrates on the period from 1965 to 1972 when political parties were in transition and the consequences of population and economic growth became electorally important. The introduction to Part One - Australia's New Cities - provides a background to Australia's post World War II transition into a small industrialized country.