Media: BOOK - paperback, 178 pages
Author: R. Williams
Year: 2023
ISBN: 9780645182651
Publisher: Boom Books

What happened in Australia back in 1974? Most people aren't likely to remember.

As people get a little bit older, they become more reflective on their lives, and they place more value on their partners, families and friends. At this time, nostalgia edges into their lives, and they start to look back at their teens and childhood, and dwell a little on their early years and inevitably on their parents. But then they get back to 1974 when it all began for them, they can't remember a thing.

These were striking times. Whitlam and his Merry Ministers tried to change the world, and did make impressions. Or maybe, dents. In any case, inflation and strikes took the wind out of their sails, and their post-election aura was long gone by Christmas. They won an election but did not gain control of Parliament, they were fighting each other as well as the Opposition by then, and the nation's economy was a disaster. Jim Cairns was under the spotlight, and so too was Lionel Murphy. Frank Sinatra came and fought and went.

Wills were sometimes ignored, mothers went to work if they chose.

The writer, Ron Williams, worked his way through newspapers and magazines and other sources day by day until he came up with most of the major events and ideas of 1974. He presents them here in a thoroughly readable book, with a mixture of humour and gravitas.

Ron Williams is a retired teacher, mathematician, computer-man, political scientist, farmer and writer. He has a BA from Sydney and a Masters in Social Work and a PhD in Political Science from Hawaii.

Contents

Getting slowly off the ground
Mundey as an angel
Mundey as a devil
Margaret Whitlam
A ban on tobacco advertising
Dirty dagoes
Your dying duty
Thy will be not done
Whitlam goes to the polls
Effects of strikes
Election letters
The election result
How safe are we?
Country public transport
Sinatra back in town
Fair go for motor cyclists
Strike first: apologia
Foster children in society
Mothers’ place is in the home
The role of clubs
Pages of letters on inflation
Who judges the police?
Pubs open on Sundays
Two weeks of Whitlam’s woes
Summarising 1974