I've had Gerald Stone's book 1932 A Hell Of A Year on the bookshelf for years and have always been meaning to read it but never got around to it. I finally rectified that oversight over the last 6 days. Written in 2005, the scenario reads as follows:
Scandals, disasters, shocks and crises: 1932 could truly be described as one of the most electrifying years in Australian history, alive with unforgettable characters and momentous events.
Looking back, it's hard to believe how much happened in that fateful year to become the stuff of enduring national legend: the Sydney Harbour Bridge opened by surprise with the slashing sword of Captain Francis de Groot; the birth of the Australian Broadcasting Commission; the mysterious death of the beloved race horse Phar Lap, the controversial dismissal of NSW Premier Jack Lang, and the start of cricket's infamous Bodyline series. Those were among the best remembered incidents but there were others – from an epic outback rescue of two lost aviators to the most expensive divorce case ever heard – that reflected the distinctive flavour of the times.
Overshadowing all else, the Great Depression seemed to single Australians out for special punishment, pushing a fragile young society to the brink of disintegration. By 1932 – the worst of it – a third of the population had been reduced to living like refugees in their own land while a lucky few emerged rich as third world rajahs.
Acclaimed journalist and author Gerald Stone takes us on an exhilarating and fascinating journey through a year that quite literally changed a nation. Evocative and brilliantly researched, this is a book that turns history into compelling reading at its very best.
But the vast majority of the book discusses the fight between the NSW Premier Jack Lang and the wider forces at work, trying to destabilise and derail his government. Known as "The Big Fella", he found himself neck-deep in a world financial crisis that had thrown 20% of the state's breadwinners out of work, a level comparable to Weimar Germany. His solution - a stimulus package funded by deferring interest payments to British banks - was slapped down by the federal government, backed by vested big business interests. The book discusses his eventual dismissal by the NSW Governor and his failure to win the resultant election. All the techniques used nowadays to ensure opposition defeat - unceasing lies, smears, distortion and hate-mongering - were played out against Lang. Further, to add insult to injury, he did not even have wider Labor party support, so he was attacked on all fronts.
Stone writes a wonderful story and paints a picture of a huge public figure, bigger than life, 6 ft 4in, big and strong, a wonderful orator and a visionary leader who always battled for the underdogs. Strangely, as far as I know, apart from this book, there has not really been any really fair biography of the great man, apart from his own autobiography. But autobiographies, as we know, are normally to be treated with a certain skepticism.
I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to read about the era and anyone wanting to know more about the origins of the dreadful political fiasco that we now endure here in Australia.
Interestingly, Paul Keating, who was my favourite Prime Minister, was schooled as a young budding politician by Lang, then an old man. A couple of links of interest here
https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2009/march/1290492222/shane-maloney/paul-keating-jack-lang
https://sydneyanthology.wordpress.com/tag/jack-lang/
Lang died in 1975, aged 98, Iit was only towards the end of his life that he started to receive recognition from the Labor Party, and was finally readmitted to Labor membership in 1971, after having been kicked out in 1942.
Sometimes life is just not fair!
A wonderful read and highly recommended.
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