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Speaker, 20 November 1929 to 27 November 1931
Australian Labor Party
Norman Makin’s (1889-1982) Speakership came relatively early in his 36-year parliamentary career, which covered three federal seats and paused while he served as ambassador to the USA.1
Born in Sydney to English parents, Makin’s family moved to Melbourne and then Broken Hill. Largely self-educated, he left school at 13 to work as a draper’s parcel-boy, then in a bookstore and later as a pattern-maker. He became involved in organised labour at a young age. During a period in Melbourne, Makin observed the Australian Parliament from the public gallery and was inspired to one day pursue parliamentary office. After moving to SA in 1911, he married Ruby Florence Jennings and worked in a foundry. He and Ruby had two sons.
During World War I Makin opposed efforts to introduce conscription. He served as ALP state president and unsuccessfully contested both a state and a federal seat before winning the federal seat of Hindmarsh in 1919.
Elected Speaker when the Scullin Government came to power in 1929, Makin was known for his impartiality during a fraught political period.2 Nevertheless, there were times of controversy, particularly when he excluded a journalist from the House after publication of confidential government cables.3 As Speaker, Makin did not wear the gown and wig. Further, he considered the mace ‘a relic of barbarism’ and had it removed from the Chamber.4 He was not nominated for re-election when the government changed at the 1931 election. He remained as a back bencher for the remainder of the 1930s. As federal president of the ALP (1936-38), he represented his party at the 1937 coronation of King George VI.
Makin was appointed to Cabinet 10 years after his Speakership. He was Minister for the Navy and for Munitions (1941-46), and later also for Aircraft Production (1945–46). He led the Australian delegation to the 1946 meeting of the newly formed UN General Assembly, and was the first president of the UN Security Council (determined alphabetically by country name). In 1946 he resigned from Parliament to become the Australian ambassador to the USA. After his return he won the federal seat of Sturt in 1954 and then moved to Bonython after a redistribution of electorate boundaries. He represented Bonython until his retirement in 1963.
Makin’s writings included those on federal labour leaders and an unpublished manual for Speakers of the House.5 After retiring from Parliament he remained active in the ALP. Makin also contributed to the Methodist lay ministry for 75 years. He died at Glenelg, SA, in 1982.
John Thomas Nightingale Rowell
Artist and stage designer John Rowell (1894-1973) was born and educated in Carlton, Melbourne. At age 14, he worked part-time at the King’s Theatre, Melbourne, before being apprenticed to a scene painter. He studied art at West Melbourne Technical School and attended the Working Men’s College before attending the National Gallery of Victoria Art School where he was taught by Bernard Hall and Frederick McCubbin. In 1937 and 1938, he toured England with his family and was captivated by the works of Velazquez, Turner and the French Impressionists. Returning to Melbourne, Rowell produced scenery for the King’s and National Theatres and contributed his expertise as an art advisor and, later, was appointed vice-president of the National Theatre Movement. His first solo exhibition was at the Upper Athenaeum Hall in Melbourne in 1917. He won the Crouch Prize in 1927 and 1937 and various other awards. Appointed as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, London in 1937, and member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, London, Rowell was commissioned to paint the coronation of King George VI in 1937. Influenced by Frederick McCubbin, Walter Withers and Max Meldrum, Rowell is best remembered for his traditional scenic landscapes.
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Norman John Oswald Makin
by John Thomas Nightingale Rowell
1939
Oil on canvas
80.3 x 65 cm
Historic Memorials Collection, Parliament House Art Collection
References
1. Information in this biography has been taken from the following unless otherwise sourced: S Wilks and D Lowe, ‘Makin, Norman John (1889–1982)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, 2021, accessed 30 August 2021; N Makin, The memoirs of Norman John Oswald Makin, Commonwealth Parliamentary Library, Parliamentary Authors Collection, 1982.
2. ‘Adjournment debate’, House of Representatives, Debates, 26 November 1931, pp. 1930–33.
3. N Makin, ‘Adjournment debate’, House of Representatives, Debates, 23 April 1931, p. 1274. Also see N Makin, ‘Privilege’, Debates, 24 April 1931, pp. 1281–82.
4. N Makin, ‘Absence of the mace’ (Questioner: V Thompson), House of Representatives, Debates, 21 November 1929, p. 69.
5. N Makin, Federal labour leaders, Sydney, 1961.
6. A Mackenzie, ‘Rowell, John Thomas Nightingale (1894–1973)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1988, accessed 15 April 2021.