The 1931 Australian Federal Election—Radio Makes History

Abstract

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Acknowledgement I would like to thank the Australian Prime Minister's Centre in Canberra for the Fellowship that enabled the research in this paper to take place Notes 1 Bridget Griffen-Foley, Changing Stations—the story of Australian commercial radio (Sydney, UNSW Press, 2009), 354. 2 Murray Goot, ‘Radio Lang’ Heather Radi and Peter Spearritt, Lang (Hlae & Iremonger, Neutral Bay, 1977), 121. 3 National Archives of Australia, Royal Commission on The Wireless (1927), A432, 1232. 4 Ibid., 4076. 5 The Argus, 25 November 1931. 6 Ibid., 6. 7 Alan Thomas, Broadcast and Be Damned (Melbourne, MUP, 1980), 11–12. 8 The Canberra Times, 20 November 1929. 9 Ian Ward, The early use of radio for political communication in Australia and Canada: John Henry Austral, Mr Sage and the Man from Mars, Australian Journal of Politics and History, 45(3) (1999), 311–329. 10 John Robertson, James Scullin: a political biography (UWA Press, Nedlands, 1974), 209. 11 National Library of Australia, Dumas Collection, MS4849, 9 April 1931. 12 Griffen-Foley, op. cit., 14. 13 Anne Henderson, Enid Lyons—leading lady to a nation (Pluto Press, North Melbourne, 2008), 172. 14 David Bird, J. A. Lyons—the ‘tame Tasmanian’ (ASP, North Melbourne, 2008), 21. 15 Sir Henry Gullett, quoted in Brendan Lyons, They Loved Him To Death (self-published, Kings Meadows, 2008), 125–126. 16 Northern Territory Times, 10 April 1931. 17 Canberra Times, 30 June 1931, 2. 18 Adelaide Advertiser, 22 July 1931. 19 National Archives of Australia, Lyons's papers, CP103/19. 20 Ibid. 21 Commonwealth Parliamentary Debates, 28–29 July 1931, 4494. 22 Ibid, 4495. 23 Lyons's papers, op cit. 24 Ibid. 25 CPD, 28–29 July 1931, 4497. 26 Robertson, op. cit., 371. 27 Brisbane Courier Mail, 26 November 1931. 28 Clem Lloyd, The rise and fall of the United Australia Party, in: John Nethercote Liberalism and the Australian Federation (Federation Press, Annandale, 2001), 134–162. 29 Ibid. 30 Stephen Glover, The Guardian, 4 April 2005. 31 John Antcliffe (1984) Politics of the airwaves, History Today, 34(3) (1984), 6. 32 Kevin Morgan, Ramsay MacDonald (Haus Publishing, London, 2006), 92. 33 Lance Price, Where Power Lies: Prime Ministers vs the media (Simon and Schuster, London, 2010), 82. 34 R. Bassett, 1931—A Political Crisis (MacMillan, London, 1958), 445. 35 Ibid., 321. 36 Ibid. 37 Ibid., 327. 38 Sydney Morning Herald, 22 January 1931. 39 The Listener In, 5 December 1931. 40 Ibid. 41 The Argus, 28 November 1931. 42 Sydney Morning Herald, 28 November 1931. 43 Ward, op. cit., 321. 44 Listener In, ibid. 45 Griffen-Foley, op. cit., 357. 46 Listener In, 18 December 1931. 47 Sydney Morning Herald, 22 January 1931. 48 D. R. Hall, Development of political parties, in W. G. K. Duncan, Trends in Australian Politics (Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1935), 29. 49 Ibid. 50 Wireless Weekly, 24 October 1930. 51 Antcliffe, op. cit., 4. 52 Ward, op. cit., 325. 53 Ibid., 324. 54 Wireless Weekly, op. cit. 55 Hall, op. cit., 32.