Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

‘The Tideless Pond that Seemed Waiting for Me’:1 The Afterlife of Australian Prime Ministers

  • Chapter
How Power Changes Hands

Part of the book series: Understanding Governance series ((TRG))

Abstract

When power changes hands there are winners and losers: those who gain and those who relinquish power. Much of this volume is oriented towards the former: the acquiring of, and adaptation to, government and leadership office. This chapter, however, focuses on what happens on the down side of the exchange of power. It explores the ‘afterlives’ of chief executives – the trajectories of those who have surrendered the reins of national government in Australia. With the exception of the United States (Norton Smith and Walch, 1990; Skidmore, 2004; Updegrove, 2006), systematic studies of the fate of former leaders in representative democracies are rare.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Bibliography

  • Abjorensen, N. (2007) ‘Picture incomplete’, National Library of Australia News. Accessed November 2008 http://www.nla.gov.au/pub/nlanews/2007/jan07/story-3.pdf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anson, S. (1994) ‘The Hawked memoirs’, Age, 20 August.

    Google Scholar 

  • Attard, B. (1991) ‘The Australian High Commissioners’, Working Papers in Australian Studies, 68, Sir Robert Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Attard, B. (1995) ‘Andrew Fisher, the High Commissionership and the collapse of Labor’, Labour History, 68, 115–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Australian Broadcasting Corporation (2010a) ‘The authentic Mr Abbott’, Four Corners, 19 March. Transcript accessed March 2010, http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2010/s2846485.htm.

    Google Scholar 

  • Australian Broadcasting Corporation (2010b) ‘Malcolm Fraser produces his memoirs’, The 7.30 Report, 23 February. Transcript accessed March 2010, http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2010/s2828288.htm.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blewett, N. (2000) ‘Robert James Lee Hawke’, in M. Grattan (ed.) Australian Prime Ministers (Sydney: New Holland).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bolton, G. (2000) Edmund Barton: The One Man for the Job (Sydney: Allen and Unwin).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bridge, C. (2010) ‘“Undependable busybody”? S.M. Bruce and World War II’, in C. Bridge, F. Bongiorno and D. Lee (eds) The High Commissioners: Australia’s Representatives in the United Kingdom, 1910–2010 (Canberra: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade).

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, W. (2002). Ten Prime Ministers: Life among the Politicians (Sydney: Longueville Books).

    Google Scholar 

  • Carlyon, L. (1994). ‘Hawke’s memoirs are nothing if not a fine romance’, Age, 18 August.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cumpston, I. M. (1989) Lord Bruce of Melbourne (Melbourne: Longman Cheshire).

    Google Scholar 

  • Day, D. (2008). Andrew Fisher: Prime Minister of Australia (London: Fourth Estate).

    Google Scholar 

  • Fadden, A. W. (1969) They Called Me Artie: The Memoirs of Sir Arthur Fadden (Brisbane: Jacaranda).

    Google Scholar 

  • Fitzhardinge, L. F. (1979) The Little Digger, 1914–1952: William Morris Hughes A Political Biography Volume II (Sydney: Angus & Robertson).

    Google Scholar 

  • Fraser, M. and Simons, M. (2010). Malcolm Fraser: The Political Memoirs (Melbourne: Miegunyah Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Gold, A. (2007). ‘Yesterday’s men should keep silent’, Australian, 11 June.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grassby, A. and Ordonez, S. (2001). John Watson (Melbourne: Black Inc.).

    Google Scholar 

  • Grattan, M. (ed.) (2000) Australian Prime Ministers (Sydney: New Holland).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hancock, I. (2002). John Gorton: He Did It His Way (Sydney: Hodder).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hart, C. (2008). ‘Retiree Howard advertising for a helper’, Australian, 7 January.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawke, B. (1994). The Hawke Memoirs (Melbourne: William Heinemann).

    Google Scholar 

  • Henderson, G. (1994). Menzies’ Child: The Liberal Party of Australia, 1944–1994 (Sydney: Allen & Unwin).

    Google Scholar 

  • Henderson, G. (1997). ‘The fate of former PMs’, Sydney Morning Herald, 13 May.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henderson, G. (2000). ‘Sir John Grey Gorton’, in M. Grattan (ed.) Australian Prime Ministers (Sydney: New Holland), pp. 299–311.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hooper, C. (2005). ‘Young Liberals in the chocolate factory’, The Monthly, 2, 19–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Home, D. (1964). The Lucky Country: Australia in the Sixties (Melbourne: Penguin).

    Google Scholar 

  • Home, D. (2000). Billy Hughes (Melbourne: Black Inc).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hughes, W. M. (1947) Crusts and Crusades: Tales of Bygone Days (Sydney: Angus & Robertson).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hughes, W. M. (1950) Policies andPotentates (Sydney: Angus & Robertson).

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, B. (1994). ‘Unremarkable memories’, Age, 17 August.

    Google Scholar 

  • Joske, P. E. (1978) Sir Robert Menzies, 1894–1978: A New, Informal Memoir (Sydney: Angus & Robertson).

    Google Scholar 

  • Keane, J. (2009). ‘Life after political death: The fate of leaders after leaving high office’, in J. Kane, H. Patapan and P. ‘t Hart (eds) Dispersed Democratic Leadership: Origins, Dynamics, and Implications (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 279–98.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • La Nauze, J. A. (1979) Alfred Deakin: A Biography (Sydney: Angus & Robertson).

    Google Scholar 

  • Latham, M. (2005). The Latham Diaries (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, D. (2010). ‘“Ambassador-at-large par excellence”: S.M. Bruce and the League of Nations’, in C. Bridge, F. Bongiorno and D. Lee (eds) The High Commissioners: Australia’s Representatives in the United Kingdom, 1910–2010 (Canberra: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade).

    Google Scholar 

  • McKeown, D. (2009). ‘A survey of codes of conduct in Australian and selected overseas parliaments’, Background Note, Department of Parliamentary Services, Parliament of Australia. Accessed March 2010 http://www.aph.gov.au/Library/pubs/BN/pol/Codes- OfConduct.pdf.

    Google Scholar 

  • McMinn, W. G. (1989) George Reid (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • McMullin, R. (2004). So Monstrous a Travesty: Chris Watson and the World’s First National Labour Government (Melbourne: Scribe Publications).

    Google Scholar 

  • Manthorpe, L. (2004). ‘The Parliamentary Retiring Allowance Act 1948: Debates, committee reports, remuneration tribunal reviews and a chronology of legislative amendments’, E-Brief, Parliamentary Library, Parliament of Australia. Accessed November 2008 http://www.aph.gov.au/library/intguide/POL/praa.htm.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, A. W. (1999) Robert Menzies: A Life, Vol. 2, 1944–1978 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Meaney, N. (2010). ‘The first high commissioners: George Reid and Andrew Fisher’, in C. Bridge, F. Bongiorno and D. Lee (eds) The High Commissioners: Australia’s Representatives in the United Kingdom, 1910–2010 (Canberra: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade).

    Google Scholar 

  • Menzies, R. G. (1967) Afternoon Light: Some Memories of Men and Events (Melbourne: Cassell Australia).

    Google Scholar 

  • Menzies, R. G. (1970) The Measure of the Years: Prime Minister of Australia, 1939–41 and 1949–66 (Melbourne: Cassell Australia).

    Google Scholar 

  • Murdoch, J. (1996). Sir Joe: A Political Biography of Sir Joseph Cook (London: Minerva Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Norton Smith, R. and Walch, T. (eds) (1990) Farewell to the Chief: Former Presidents in American Public Life (Wyoming: High Plains Publishing).

    Google Scholar 

  • Page, E. (1963). Truant Surgeon: The Inside Story of Forty Years of Australian Political Life (Sydney: Angus & Robertson).

    Google Scholar 

  • Poguntke, T. and Webb, P. (2005). The Presidentialization of Politics: A Comparative Study of Modern Democracies (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Radi, H. (1979). ‘Bruce, Stanley Melbourne [Viscount Bruce] (1883–1967)’, in Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 7 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press), pp. 453–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramsey, A. (2001). ‘The Hayden years’, in J. Faulkner and S. Macintyre (eds) True Believers: The Story of the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party (Sydney: Allen & Unwin).

    Google Scholar 

  • Ray, R. (2008). ‘Desperately seeking leadership’, Herald-Sun, 20 September.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reid, G. H. (1917) My Reminisces (London: Cassell and Company).

    Google Scholar 

  • Robertson, J. (1974). J. H. Scullin: A Political Biography (Perth: University of Western Australia Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Rutledge, M. (1979). ‘Barton, Sir Edmund (1849–1920)’, in Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 7 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press), pp. 194–200.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skidmore, M. J. (2004) After the White House: Former Presidents as Private Citizens (New York: Palgrave Macmillan).

    Google Scholar 

  • Stewart, C. (2005). ‘Malcolm in the middle’, Weekend Australian Magazine, 27–28 August.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strangio, P. (2009). ‘Introduction: From confusion to stability’, in P. Strangio and N. Dyrenfurth (eds) Confusion: The Making of the Australian Two-Party System (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press), pp. 1–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Switzer, T. (2008). ‘Former PM with manners of steel’, The Australian, 20 November.

    Google Scholar 

  • Theakston, K. (2006). ‘After Number Ten: What do former prime ministers do?’, Political Quarterly, 77(4), 448–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Updegrove, M. K. (2006) Second Acts: Presidential Lives and Legacies after the White House (Guilford, Conn.: Lyons Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Onselen, P. (2009). ‘Howard’s “day job” a good fit’, Weekend Australian, 19–20 September.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walter, J. and Strangio, P. (2007). No, Prime Minister: ReclaimingPolitics from Leaders (Sydney: UNSW Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Warhurst, J. (2008). ‘For Rudd, wayward Keating’s a player worth having on side’, Canberra Times, 13 November.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson, D. (2002). Recollections of a Bleeding Heart: A Portrait of Paul Keating PM (Sydney: Knopf).

    Google Scholar 

  • Weller, P. (2007). ‘Prime ministers’, in B. Galligan and W. Roberts (eds) The Oxford Companion to Australian Politics (Melbourne: Oxford University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Weller, P. and Fraser, S. (1987). ‘The younging of Australian politics or politics as first career’, Politics, 22(2), 76–83.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitlam, E. G. (1979) The Truth of the Matter (Melbourne: Penguin).

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitlam, E. G. (1985) The Whitlam Government 1972–1975 (Melbourne: Penguin).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Paul Strangio
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Australian National University and Utrecht University, Netherlands

    Paul ’t Hart (Professor of Political Science and Professor of Public Administration) (Professor of Political Science and Professor of Public Administration)

  2. Crawford School of Economics and Government, Australian National University, Australia

    John Uhr (Professor of Public Policy) (Professor of Public Policy)

Copyright information

© 2011 Paul Strangio

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Strangio, P. (2011). ‘The Tideless Pond that Seemed Waiting for Me’:1 The Afterlife of Australian Prime Ministers. In: Hart, P., Uhr, J. (eds) How Power Changes Hands. Understanding Governance series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230306431_12

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation