Dimensions
152 x 249 x 48mm
The story of a Prime Minister who was loved and admired on both sides of politics.
On a political level, Chifley is a Labor icon who vied with Curtin for the top place in the party's pantheon of heroes. Like Curtin, he was admired across political boundaries. As prime ministers from 1945-49, he established many of the policies that became an accepted part of Australian life - mass immigration, full employment, the Snowy Mountains Scheme, extension of tertiary education etc. In contrast to our age of privatisation and economic rationalism, Chifley stood for a strong state sector able to moderate the excesses of capitalism.
On a personal level, Chifley's early childhood is reminiscent of Albert Facey's, sent from his parents' house to live a primitive rural life with his grandfather. Then there was the tragedy of his childless marriage and his long-term relationship with another woman in whose company he was destined to die.
This is a great political biography with a touching human story that has been waiting to be told.
