Mungo MacCallum - the noted satirist and political correspondent - has collected the best of our political anecdotes from European settlement to the 1990s. In doing so he presents a wry and engaging snapshot of the key political players who, while upbraiding one another and generally outraging the electorate, have stamped a unique kind of humour and larrikinism on our political life. There are 315 anecdotes in Mungo MacCallum's collection, most of them dealing with national politics and all drawn from published sources - histories, memoirs, documents and biographies. The anthology opens with a graphic account of the landing at Botany Bay in 1788 and closes with an indomitable Paul Keating in 1993. These are anecdotes about all the legendary political figures - Phillip, MacArthur, Wentworth, Parkes, Deakin, Cook, Lang, Hughes, Menzies, Curtin, Chifley, Evatt, Whitlam, Gorton, McMahon, Wran, Bjelke-Petersen, and Hawke. No other collection of anecdotes offers such an historical coverage of our politics. Along with less familiar witticisms, skirmishes, and aphoristic barbs, we are offered all the famous or notorious events that have long amused readers - Governor Bligh putatively cowering under his bed; Billy Hughes incensed by the Rockhampton Egg; countless brilliant quips from the Little Digger; Ben Chifley refusing to don a dinner suit in London; Evatt and the Molotov Letter; Gough Whitlam bucketing Paul Hasluck on the floor of the House; immortal transcripts of Bjelke-Petersen's pronouncements; and Keating playing Placido Domingo. This is a collection for all lovers and loathers of Canberra and its political culture. It will inform and entertain students of our politics and general readers, especially those who have always suspected that politics is less lofty and altruistic than is often claimed.

Mungo MacCallum's Australian political anecdotes

Politics & Social Sciences

Mungo, MacCallum

Politics & Government

OUP Australia and New Zealand

Mungo's Canberra

University of Queensland Press

Good drinkers, bad swimmers and unlikely heroes.  Since Australia's birth in 1901, twenty-eight politicians have run the national show. Their time at the top has ranged from eight days for Frank Forde to eighteen years for Bob Menzies. But whatever the length of their term, each Prime Minister has a story worth sharing.  Edmund Barton united the bickering states in a federation; Billy Hughes forced US President Woodrow Wilson to take notice of Australia. The unlucky Jimmy Scullin took office days before Wall Street crashed into the Great Depression, while John Curtin faced the ultimate challenge of wartime leadership. John Gorton, Gough Whitlam and Paul Keating each shook up their parties' policies so vigorously that none lasted much longer than a single term in office. Julia Gillard overthrew Kevin Rudd and Kevin Rudd overthrew Julia Gillard, thus paving the way for Tony Abbott.  With characteristic wit and expert knowledge, Mungo MacCallum brings the nation's leaders to vivid life. The Good, the Bad and the Unlikely tells the tale of the many men and one woman who've had a crack at running the country. It is a wonderfully entertaining education.

The Good, the Bad and the Unlikely: Australia's Prime Ministers

History

MacCallum, Mungo

Australia & Oceania

Black Inc.

"We were a motley mob, we sans-culottes of Canberra ..."  In this vastly entertaining book, Mungo MacCallum captures the spirit of a nation-changing time. He portrays the Whitlam government's key figures - from Gough and Margaret to Lionel Murphy, Bill Hayden and Jim Cairns - as well as "the other mob" in opposition - Billy McMahon, John Gorton, Malcolm Fraser and many more.  The Whitlam Mob addresses some crucial questions: What was the night of the long prawns? Who was the playboy of the parliament? And who was "the toe-cutter"?  This is Mungo at his best: vivid and barbed, nostalgic but always clear-eyed.

The Whitlam Mob

Mungo: The man who laughs

Duffy & Snellgrove

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Books by Mungo, MacCallum