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Mr Big, the Big Fella and the Split: Fault Lines in Bankstown's Labor Politics, 1955
Andrew Moore*
Rodney Cavalier has shown how useful micro local studies can be in shedding light on broader events such as the Labor Split of 1954–55. This returns to one of his case studies in south-west Sydney. The redoubtable figure of Raymond Fitzpatrick, newspaper proprietor and contractor of Bankstown is introduced to Australian labour historiography. Known as the 'Mr Big of Bankstown' Fitzpatrick serves as an uncomfortable reminder that the labour tradition in Australia includes racketeers and gangsters. The article also examines the enduring legacy of the 1931 Split in the Australian Labor Party in New South Wales. Twenty-four years later the considerable shadow of former premier J.T. Lang must also be taken into account in negotiating the terrain of Labor politics in Sydney. So must the role of local movers and shakers like Ray Fitzpatrick. Local tensions impacting upon Charles Morgan, MHR for Reid, the federal seat surrounding Bankstown, shaped one of Australia's constitutional landmarks, the Fitzpatrick and Browne privilege case of 1955. This article relates how the scheming politician responded to threats to his position posed by Fitzpatrick, Lang and the Split.
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| In the wake of a disastrous fire on Easter Monday 1955 which destroyed the premises and plant of a crusading local newspaper, the Bankstown Torch, the suburb of Bankstown, located in south-western Sydney and then the fastest growing area in Australia, occupied centre stage in the national media's attention. The newspapers dug deep for hyperbole. The suburb had become 'another Chicago' or 'Little Chicago'. The Melbourne based Herald and Weekly Times sent a special reporter, E.W. Tipping, to the blighted Sydney suburb to cover the fire and its legal aftermath. He reported as though he was in a distant war zone – present-day Bagdad – rather than Bankstown. In this 'prosperous, sprawling fast-growing suburb 13 miles south-west of Sydney', Tipping wrote, 'We've heard some hair-raising stories. They're stories which are difficult to write – because of the laws of libel'. According to Tipping, the locals were scared. Sir Keith Murdoch's man in Bankstown conceded: 'You can't blame them. Men have been nearly broken in Bankstown because they've talked'.1 As was its wont, Ezra Norton's The Truth led the way in dramatic overstatement. Its 'Special Investigator' visited 'little Chicago by George's River'. Observing 'confidential little groups at street corners and hotel bars', the reporter concluded that it paid to 'mind your own business in Bankstown because someday someone is bound to get on to the cement-boat idea', especially with 'the George's River so handy'.2 |
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The district's representative in Commonwealth Parliament, Charles Morgan, fanned the agitation. Known locally as 'Hoppy', because he walked with a limp as a result of a rare bone disease, Morgan dramatically announced that he believed a price of £3,000 had been offered 'to get him out of the way'. Therefore he was taking steps to secure his personal safety and had increased the insurance on his home in the suburb of Granville, near Parramatta on the northern border of Reid. Morgan claimed Bankstown and district had been subjected to a reign of 'terrorism and gangsterism'. According to the Labor Member of Parliament (MP), the situation warranted the establishment of an FBI-style organisation, or, at the very least, a joint state and Commonwealth Royal Commission to investigate Bankstown's 'reign of terror'.3 |
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