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Lyndon Megarrity

Lyndon Megarrity

Lyndon Megarrity is a Queensland historian and tertiary teacher. He is the author of Northern Dreams: The Politics of Northern Development in Australia (2018).

Lyndon Megarrity reviews 'For The True Believers: Great Labor speeches that shaped history' by Troy Bramston

December 2013–January 2014, no. 357 01 December 2013
‘Well may we say “God Save the Queen”, because nothing will save the Governor-General.’ Gough Whitlam’s famous words during his impromptu speech after the Dismissal in 1975 remain a potent symbol of the excitements and turbulence of the Whitlam era. As Troy Bramston’s collection of ALP speeches since 1891 reminds us, political speeches can capture a national mood or sentiment at a par ... (read more)

Lyndon Megarrity reviews 'W. Macmahon Ball' by Ai Kobayashi

September 2013, no. 354 27 August 2013
William Macmahon Ball (1901–86) was many things: an academic, a diplomat, a writer, and what we would now refer to as a ‘public intellectual’. As Ai Kobayashi’s new study of this fascinating man ably demonstrates, Ball was predominantly an educator. In the classroom, through books, and in the media, Ball encouraged his audience to reflect more deeply and actively on Australia’s relations ... (read more)

Lyndon Megarrity reviews 'Air Disaster Canberra: The plane crash that destroyed a government' by Andrew Tink

May 2013, no. 351 28 April 2013
On 13 August 1940 a Hudson Bomber travelling from Melbourne crashed near Canberra, killing all ten people on board. Three of the deceased were federal ministers: Geoffrey Street (army minister), Sir Henry S. Gullett (vice-president of the Executive Council), and James Fairbairn (minister for air and civil aviation). Also on board that day was Cyril Brudenell Bingham White, a senior Army officer (c ... (read more)

Lyndon Megarrity reviews 'I Am Bound to be True: The life and legacy of Arthur A. Calwell, 1896–1973' by Mary Elizabeth Calwell

April 2013, no. 350 25 March 2013
Arthur Augustus Calwell is hardly the most celebrated or mythologised politician in the history of the Australian Labor Party. His achievements as the first minister for immigration have been overshadowed by his very public advocacy of the White Australia policy. Calwell’s ultimate personal ambition to become prime minister was denied him. Even his crazy-brave last stand as Opposition leader in ... (read more)
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