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Prime Minister, 10 March 1971 to 5 December 1972
Liberal Party of Australia
Billy McMahon (1908-1988) served in the House of Representatives for 32 years, and more than 21 of those as a minister.1 He was in his younger days ‘a champion ballroom dancer, an amateur boxer and a good squash player – all of which require[d], like politics, being fast on his feet’.2 Renowned for his diligence and energy, he was the first non-Victorian Liberal Party leader to become Prime Minister, and ‘one of three prime ministers to have a baby while in office’.3
Born in Sydney’s inner-city suburb of Redfern, McMahon was raised by his aunt and uncle after his mother’s death.4 He studied law at the University of Sydney before working as a solicitor, specialising in commercial law. When World War II began he enlisted in the army, though a hearing impairment prevented his overseas deployment. Discharged in 1945 with the rank of Major, he toured post-war Europe before returning to study economics at the University of Sydney.5
McMahon entered Parliament in the 1949 federal election. Elected as the Liberal Member for Lowe, he held this position until 1982. Soon promoted to the ministry, McMahon held various portfolios including Navy and Air (1951–54), Social Services (1954–56), Labour and National Service (1958–66), and Primary Industries (1956–58). McMahon was a ‘skilful professional who gained firm control of each of the public service departments that he headed’6
In 1965, McMahon married Sonia Hopkins, and they had three children.7 His return from their honeymoon coincided with Harold Holt vacating the Party deputy leadership to take over from retiring Prime Minister Robert Menzies.8 McMahon won the ensuing ballot and for the next three years served as Treasurer. As the first Treasurer with an economics degree,9 he was ‘by common consent ... a remarkably good one’.10 He served on the International Monetary Fund Board (1966–69), chaired the Asian Development Bank’s Board of Governors (1968–69), and was appointed Privy Counsellor in 1966. Following Holt’s 1967 disappearance, McMahon did not contest the leadership due to Country Party leader John McEwen’s refusal of support. He instead served as Treasurer and later Minister for External Affairs in the Gorton–McEwen Government.
McMahon became Prime Minister after John Gorton’s party room defeat in 1971. As Prime Minister, he established the Department of the Environment, Aborigines and the Arts,11 provided Commonwealth funding for child-care, and instigated the Henderson Commission of Inquiry into Poverty. Under his leadership, Australia gained full membership of the OECD, and accelerated its troop withdrawal from Vietnam.
Facing a divided party room, an ascendant Opposition, and a worsening global economy, McMahon lost the 1972 federal election, the first Prime Minister to lose office since Chifley.12 He remained in Parliament for another decade, and after retiring, continued commenting publicly on politics until his death in 1988.
Sir Ivor Henry Thomas Hele CBE
South Australian artist Ivor Hele (1912-1993) was known for his exceptional draughtsmanship and talent for portraiture and figure compositions. He studied art in Adelaide and later in Europe, and began exhibiting during his teenage years. By 1939, he had become a regular exhibitor with the Royal South Australian Society of Arts, highly regarded for his prize-winning portraits. In 1940, Hele enlisted in the army and in 1941 was appointed an official war artist. He would go on to become Australia’s longest serving and most prolific war artist, producing over 500 works. Although he also painted many landscapes, Hele was best known for his portraits, winning the SA Melrose Prize for Portraiture three times and the Archibald Prize five times, notably with his portrait of Robert Menzies. In 1969 he was made a CBE, and in 1982 was knighted for his services to art. Hele was a trustee to the board of what was then known as the National Gallery of SA 1956–69. His work is represented in all major Australian national, state and regional galleries.13
William (Billy) McMahon
by Ivor Henry Thomas Hele
1973
Oil on board
106 x 90.3 cm
Historic Memorials Collection, Parliament House Art Collection
References
1. Information in this biography has been taken from the following: ‘Australian Prime Ministers: Billy McMahon’, Museum of Australian Democracy; P Mullins,
Tiberius with a Telephone, Scribe Press, Brunswick, 2018; M Grattan, ed.,
Australian Prime Ministers, New Holland, Sydney, 2000, pp. 312–23; B Carroll,
Australia’s Prime Ministers: From Barton to Howard, Rosenberg Publishing Pty Ltd, Kenthurst, NSW, 2004, pp. 223–28; W Brown,
Ten Prime Ministers: Life Among the Politicians, Longueville Books, Double Bay, 2002, pp. 99–116; C Hughes,
Mr. Prime Minister: Australian Prime Ministers, 1901–1972, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1976; J Leeser, McMahon, Sir William (Billy) (1908–1988)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 2012; ‘Prime Ministers of Australia Billy McMahon’, National Museum of Australia. Websites accessed 12 October 2021.
2. R Aitchison,
From Bob to Bungles and now to Billy, Sun Books, Melbourne, 1971, cited in J Hawkins, ‘William McMahon: the first Treasurer with an economics degree’,
Economic Roundup, issue 2, 2012, accessed 24 September 2021.
3. ‘Australian prime ministers: William McMahon’, National National Archives of Australia, 24 September 2001. The others were Andrew Fisher and Joseph Lyons.
4. Mullins, op. cit., pp. 14–15.
5. Ibid., p. 59.
6. Aitchison, op. cit., p. 278.
7. National Museum of Australia, op. cit.; ‘William McMahon’s partner: Sonia McMahon’, National Archives of Australia. Websites accessed 24 September 2021.
8. Mullins, op. cit., pp. 180–81.
9. Hawkins, op. cit.
10. E Williams, ‘Wheeler-dealer Minister who speaks the lingo’,
The Sydney Morning Herald, 5 January 1968. See also Hawkins, op. cit.
11. The McMahon ministry was the first to have a minister for Indigenous Australians.
12. ‘William McMahon: during office’, National Archives of Australia, accessed 24 September 2021; Mullins, op. cit., pp. 588–89.
13. Information in this biography has been taken from the following: ‘Sir Ivor Henry Thomas HELE CBE (1912–1993)’ Virtual War Memorial Australia; ‘Sir Ivor Hele 1912–1993’, National Portrait Gallery, 2021; ‘Ivor Hele: the heroic figure’, Australian War Memorial; J Hylton, ‘Hele, Sir Ivor Henry (1912–1993)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 2021; ‘Hele, (Sir) Ivor Henry Thomas’, A McCulloch, S McCulloch and E McCulloch Childs, eds,
The New McCulloch’s Encyclopedia of Australian Art, Aus Art Editions in association with The Miegunyah Press, 2006, p. 509. Websites accessed 26 March 2021.