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Book Review
| James Griffin, John Wren: a Life Reconsidered, Scribe Publications, Carlton North, 2004. pp. x + 468. $60.00 cloth.
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| This biography is the third book-length study of John Wren: that's if you don't count Power Without Glory. Jim Griffin's is easily the best. Niall Brennan's John Wren: Gambler, His Life and Times (1971) and Hugh Buggy, The Real John Wren (1977) each provided a factually-based rebuttal of Frank Hardy's travesty. So does Griffin. As such, his approach to Wren swims with the historiographical tide for, pace Hardy, the dominant theme in specialised historical studies of Wren has been a rejection of exaggerated claims concerning his political influence and dirty deeds. Griffin's conclusion — that Wren was neither saint nor gangster — is consistent with these previous findings. His achievement lies in the breadth and depth of his research; the systematic — almost clinical — manner in which he demolishes the Hardy-Wren myth; and the literary quality of his work — for Griffin writes beautifully. |
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His 'defence' of the young man who made a pile from an illegal 'tote' in Collingwood follows a line of argument that has been around, in one form or another, since the late nineteenth century: that while Wren broke the law and then probably paid off witnesses and juries, he ran his 'tote' honestly and his misdeeds were certainly no worse than the kind of shenanigans in which the rich and powerful indulged to protect their interests. Griffin argues convincingly that religious sectarianism and class prejudice lay at the heart of hostility to Wren. Griffin's Wren pays the price for his loyalty to the working class from which he sprang, the labour movement, the Labor Party and the Catholic Church. It's certainly hard to reconcile the 'sleazy image' (p. 133) with the man we meet in a private letter written by Wren to Ted Theodore in 1949, pressing upon him the joys and consolations — at any rate, late in one's life — of a belief in the Almighty and the Hereafter. Nor can the many acts of kindness and generosity that have been attributed to Wren, some of them recounted in this study, other than jar with the Hardy image. |
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The book is not without its faults. It's unfortunately framed by two partial failures of historical imagination. John's brother, Arthur, who was imprisoned for his part in an 1889 gang rape, may have been rather worse than Griffin suggests. It's true that he didn't actually rape Emma Hamilton, but even Griffin has to admit that he 'could be said to have provoked the rape' (p. 9). Indeed, he may well have set it up, as the rape appears to have been a pay-back for Hamilton's role in having Wren convicted and fined £10 for verbally insulting her the previous Christmas. In Ravished (1995) Jill Bavin-Mizzi, who dealt with this case in detail (although her study does not appear in Griffin's bibliography), reports that one of Arthur's cronies said to a nodding and laughing Wren, 'Now is your time. You are a fool if you don't'. Arthur didn't, but when Emma cried to him for help, his reply was 'It serves you right you bugger, I have my revenge. Do you remember Christmas time?' Griffin retells a Wren family story that Hamilton was 'a lady of the night' (p. 9). Well, they would say that, wouldn't they? Defence lawyers also usually did their best to cast doubt over the morality of the victim in rape trials — and they did so with some success in this case — but the rape, carried out in broad daylight on the Yarra bank, was so brazen that the jury convicted. In any case, Griffin must know that casual prostitution was common among many working-class women at this time. For an author who elsewhere criticises others for their inability to empathise with the working class, this is all rather unfortunate. |
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Griffin shows much more sympathy for Ellen Wren, John's wife, whom Hardy accused (on the flimsiest grounds) of having had an affair and an illegitimate child in Power Without Glory. This sympathy is well placed. Yet Griffin's desire to present Hardy as a lying rogue, however well founded, means that he comes close to practising on Hardy what he accuses others of practising on Wren. Griffin might counter that there are stronger grounds for so regarding Hardy; still, it's difficult to see what the defence of the Ku Klux Klan in the Protestant sectarian paper, the Vigilant, has to do with Hardy, Wren or Power Without Glory. Nevertheless, Griffin includes discussion of this matter under the unsubstantiated suggestion that Loyalist and Protestant bigots might have funded Hardy's defence. |
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I picked up a few inaccuracies. Edgar Wilkins certainly didn't defeat W.D. Beazley for the Collingwood seat in 1892; it was a dual constituency, and both men were returned ahead of Labor candidate John Hancock (p. 138). Nor, despite Griffin's claim to the contrary, was Wilkins a Labor member 'before Wren entered the Tote' (p. 147). Wilkins, in fact, began his career as a Liberal and did not appear as a Labor candidate until 1897. Beazley tended to slip in and out of lists of endorsed Labor men in the 1890s. Protection had certainly not 'been Labor's settled policy since Federation' (p. 271) — not outside Victoria, anyway, but Griffin's reference is to the federal party. Although Griffin claims that treatment of Frank Packer's involvement in Theodore's mining syndicate is 'sketchy' in previous works, he has not consulted Bridget Griffen-Foley's recent (2000) biography of Packer, where it is well covered (p. 370). The 1949 federal election occurred in December, not November (p. 394); the I in IWW refers to Industrial Workers of the World, not International (p. 295). |
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These misgivings and slips do not detract much from my admiration of this book. As a Wren biography, it's hard to see it being surpassed any time soon. Although it's a rather frightening prospect, I suspect that future studies of Wren may well come from cultural studies practitioners or students of folklore, who will ask questions about images of Wren in the media and popular culture. My impression after reading this fine biography is that from the late nineteenth century 'Wren' became a powerful metonym for crime and corruption in Australia, and therefore a magnet for all kinds of tall tales. |
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That process undoubtedly has its own history. But Wren was also flesh and bones. Griffin has contributed massively to our understanding of both the 'real John Wren', and the masks created by Wren himself and by those who have made it their business to create their own little 'Wrens'. |
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| University of New England |
FRANK BONGIORNO | |
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