Well May We Say…
This will probably form the basis for my next story. It’s been done before, and DMA is currently doing another one, but I think there’s still stuff to say about it. In particular, my story will focus on ordinary people, and how they react, rather than a purely political piece. (There’ll be a hell of a lot of that, too, though). This is just the barebones TL, for now. You are encouraged to be very, very criticial. In fact, you're allowed, for the purposes of this, to critique my skinny arms, bad skin and ears. It's sketchy as of now, but if I'm to make my next story out of this, I need a solid foundation, and for that I need lots of criticism. Please?
Historical Context
1975 was to Australia was 1968 was to America.
A traumatic, extraordinary, violent, nation-changing year, where old certainties collapsed and the shape of the nation to come was forged.
The Whitlam Labor government, at once Australia’s most revolutionary, chaotic, visionary, blinded, progressive, anarchic government, was stumbling towards its end. A series of romantic, economic, and political scandals had blunted the government’s reforming edge and tarred it in the eyes of the people. The Loans Scandal, a nebulous and badly thought-out affair, was the final straw.
Labor’s Senate plurality had been whittled away through appointments and the death of Senator Bert Millner. Breaking convention, the Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Peterson, a staunch opponent of Whitlam, appointed Albert Field, a furniture polisher implacably opposed to Whitlam’s reforming policies.
Granted a thin majority in the Senate, the new Opposition Leader, Malcolm Fraser (described by Mungo MacCallum as ‘the barbed wire fist in the iron glove’) blocked the supply bills (effectively the budget) of the Labor Party on 16 October. The country was set for a tense standoff: Whitlam refused to call an election, Fraser refused to pass Supply. As government reserves dwindled, the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, saw a chance to resolve the crisis once and for all…
Well, at least in our timeline. But what if 1975 had been Australia’s 1776?
This TL pays a considerable debt to DMA, whose superior works on the subject I urge you to read. It’s based, however, on a slightly different interpretation of the Constitution; whereas DMA maintains that the Governor-General cannot sack the PM (for which an argument can be made, and most certainly will), I hold that he can, but it’d be bloody foolish for him to. (And even if he cannot, that it would have been most improper for Whitlam to say no, for a host of reasons)
Well may we say God Save The Queen…for nothing will save John Kerr!
November 11, 1975
1:15 PM: Whitlam meets Kerr at Parliament House. After once more refusing to call an election, Kerr dismisses Whitlam from office. Whitlam makes no attempt to dispute the judgement, instead leaving for the Lodge. Upon arriving at the Lodge, he eats a steak and calls his ministers to advise them of the ruling. Unlike in OTL, he calls Labor’s Senate leader, Ken Wreidt, and advises him to delay the passage of supply through the Senate.
1:30: Kerr commissions Fraser as Prime Minister, on the condition that he can guarantee supply. Fraser advises Kerr to call a double dissolution election for the 13th of December.
2:00: The Senate meet to consider the Supply bills. Fraser’s appointment has not yet been officially announced. Wreidt refuses to reintroduce the Supply bills. Matters are rearranged so that the supply bills cannot be considered until that night—giving a crucial window of opportunity to Whitlam.
2:34: Fraser, unaware that supply has not been passed, announces to the House of Representatives that he has been commissioned as Prime Minister. The House passes an immediate motion of no confidence in the Fraser government, and declaring support for Whitlam. Kerr refuses to see Whitlam or the Speaker, Gordon Scholes.
3:00: With uncertainty as to who can assume the prerogatives of government, the president of the Senate, Justin O’Byrne, suspends the sitting ‘until the matter of who should be entitled to manage the business of the Senate is clarified’. Fraser thus loses the ability to gain supply.
By convention, upon receiving the speaker’s advice on the vote of no confidence, Kerr would be required to recommission Whitlam to form a government—in which event Whitlam would almost certainly advise the Queen to dismiss Kerr. In a much-disputed event, Kerr recommissions Fraser, without the confidence of the House.
4:30: Kerr’s private secretary, David Smith, announces the dissolution of both houses of Parliament on the steps of Parliament. Whitlam delivers his famous oration in response. While not questioning his dismissal, he does dispute the recommission of Fraser without supply or the confidence of the House, and pours scorn on Fraser, ‘Kerr’s cur’.
By the end of the day, Australia is in shock. The unelected government has only 19 days left of supply, and with the dissolution of Parliament (and Kerr’s directive that Fraser’s caretaker government ‘make no policy decisions’ has no means by which to obtain more). Whitlam, the Labor Party and the unions openly question the validity of Fraser’s government and Kerr’s actions, although they do not go so far as to set up a counter-government.
November 12, 1975
The first protests against the Fraser government are held in Sydney and Melbourne. The chief of the ACTU, Bob Hawke, begins plans for a general strike to be held on November 30 (the same day supply is scheduled to run out). Public opinion is fiercely divided; those opposed to Whitlam become even more implacably so, based on his disrespect for the Governor-General’s decision, while Whitlam’s supporters elevate him to a level not dissimilar to godhood. The pundits are, of course, hysterical.
A few of Labor’s more radical members, led by the disgraced Jim Cairns, continue sitting in Parliament, in violation of Kerr’s dissolution orders—they argue that his actions were unconstitutional, and thus Whitlam is still legally Prime Minister. Whitlam, unwilling to cause a crisis of confidence in the Constitution, orders them to stop. He will play on the pitch he’s been given or not at all. (Although a rather more prosaic explanation is that he is unwilling to make Labor’s constitutional stance any more unpopular than it already is)
November 13, 1975
The strain on the federal budget begins to show. Fraser and his new treasurer, Philip Lynch, unable and unwilling to gain temporary loans from the banks (thereby endangering their already dubious ‘caretaker’ status, and jeopardising their attack on Whitlam’s economic credentials), are forced to suspend pay for Commonwealth workers ‘for the duration of the crisis’, to allow their government to survive until the election. In protest, the Australian Federal Police stage a walk-out. Many other federal employees follow suit.
November 14, 1975
A protest march in Brisbane by Labor sympathisers and federal employees is broken up by Queensland police. Dozens of protestors are wounded.
The ACTU announce their plans for a nationwide strike on November 30. They hope it will be a peaceful show of strength, rather than a deliberate attempt to bring down the Fraser administration. This depends upon the unions remaining in solidarity—something doubtful at the best of times.
November 17, 1975
In ‘solidarity marches’ with Queensland, protesters fill the streets of every Australian capital city. The Tasmanian Labor government, desperate to retain economic credibility, denounce both the marchers and Whitlam. The party declares its independence from the federal party, becoming the Tasmanian Patriotic Labor Party. Premier of South Australia Don Dunstan is the only state leader to give even tentative support to Whitlam—the state Liberal and National leaders are hysterical.
The Sydney march, the largest of the protests, turns violent as pro and anti-Whitlam forces clash in the CBD. The first fatality of the protests occurs—ironically a Fraser supporter, killed by a flying beer bottle. (Casualty count: 1)
November 19, 1975
Fraser, desperate to maintain at least meagre supply until the election, announces an immediate cut-back on federal spending for the next 24 days. Whitlam denounces this measure as unworthy of a ‘caretaker’ government.
November 20, 1975
The leaders of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union (LHMU), the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), the Australian Services Union (ASU) and the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) walk out of a strike planning meeting of the ACTU, in protest at its ‘toleration’ of the Fraser government. They announce an immediate strike aimed not at protest, but at bringing down the government. The union movement begins to splinter.
November 21, 1975
Economic chaos erupts as industry across Australia stops. Anti-Whitlam protests are held in the major capital cities. Violence breaks out between Whitlam and Fraser supporters. Two are killed, both Whitlam supporters. (Casualty count: 3)
Whitlam vacillates on the strike, calling for Fraser’s resignation but not supporting the striking workers.
November 22, 1975
Fraser urges all striking workers to return to their jobs, and denounces the unions as ‘parasites in service of the Soviet Union’. Kerr wishes to use the army to restore order, and to man industries vacated by striking workers; Fraser, unwilling to start a civil war, refuses.
Dunstan is forced into a statement condemning the striking workers. He tries to remain neutral in the brewing conflict.
November 23, 1975
The leaders of Australia’s maritime, manufacturing, services and hospitality industries issue a joint statement sacking all striking workers.
November 24, 1975
The ACTU’s hand is forced; they issue directives for a general strike. Sacked workers riot in the streets. In Wollongong, the AMWU seize the means of production to prevent ‘scab’ labourers from taking their jobs. Conflict is fiercest in Sydney and Melbourne, with the dockyards and manufacturing areas becoming a battleground. The police go on strike everywhere except South Australia, in solidarity to Dunstan’s pro-Whitlam stance, and Queensland, where the police are closely tied to the Bjelke-Peterson administration.
In Brisbane, a march is forcibly broken up by police, starting a riot. Police kill five protesters and wound dozens in the ensuing conflict; three policemen are killed. Police brutality is widely criticised. (Casualty count: 8)
November 25, 1975
A major schism in the police force occurs. Many go on strike, with several publicly supporting the rioting workers in New South Wales and Victoria; many, however, aghast at the growing chaos, continue working. The upcoming election is almost totally forgotten. Tom Lewis, Premier of New South Wales, is forced to move his administration temporarily to the North Shore of Sydney, as Macquarie Street has become unsafe.
The general strike takes hold. Transport and education are shut down. Normal life is suspended.
Fraser reluctantly orders Kerr to send in the troops at 7 PM. This is generally accepted as the beginning of the Australian Civil War.
November 26, 1975
Kerr’s orders create chaos throughout the country. Don Dunstan flatly refuses to let troops operate on his soil, and orders the South Australian police to prevent them from leaving their barracks. Subsequently, battles break out between soldiers and police across Adelaide, with an abortive attempt by soldiers and dissident police to arrest Dunstan being foiled by pro-Whitlam militias and loyalist police. By the end of the day, the outnumbered police have been arrested or surrendered. Adelaide is reasonably secure, but Dunstan’s actions have made him widely unpopular with the federal government and many South Australians.
Many troops, who have not been paid due to the funding crisis, go on strike, or even join the rioting workers. This gives crucial supplies of weaponry and support to the unions in the major centres of the insurgency: Newcastle, Wollongong, south-western Sydney, Geelong, and west Melbourne, with secondary support in Fremantle, Brisbane, Ballarat, Darwin and outback Australia.
Several Royal Australian Navy ships defect to the rioters. Several fighter planes are ‘appropriated’, particularly from the defection of Holsworthy Army Base.
Soldiers engage in conflict with rioters and protesters throughout Australia. In the less violent areas of the insurgency, the protests often end peacefully; however, Newcastle and Wollongong quickly become bloodbaths. Twenty-seven people, mostly civilians and workers, are killed in those two cities alone. Fighting claims the lives of twelve more people across Australia. By the end of the day, the two cities are still not taken. (Casualty count: 47)
The effort of mobilising the soldiers causes supply to finally run out. The government is now spending non-existent money.
November 27, 1975
In Brisbane, the remaining workers and protesters stage a final march of solidarity, protesting against the army presence. The Bjelke-Peterson government issues orders that they be stopped ‘by any means necessary’.
A few drunken rioters attempt to attack the troops. It is the final straw. Soldiers fire into the crowd, killing forty-three, wounding hundreds. The subsequent stampede kills a further nineteen people. (Casualty count: 109)
Whitlam condemns the actions of the army, and declares Fraser’s government ‘illegitimate and disgraceful’. He urges the Australian people to resist the troop presence.
Battles in Wollongong and Newcastle continue. Many soldiers defect, declaring their support for the rebels. The tide begins to turn against the army, but the fighting is bloody. Tanks are used for the first time, with predictable results. (Casualty count: 154)
Anti-Dunstan protests are held in Adelaide, protesting his actions against the army. Dunstan orders they be broken up, but the police act violently; four are killed, dozens are wounded. (Casualty count: 158)
November 28, 1975
With his patience at its end, Kerr dismisses Fraser for failing to resolve the crisis. With a dissolved Parliament, a largely striking workforce and no money, he decides that the legislative process cannot solve the crisis. Instead, he appoints Sir Francis Hassett, Chief of the Defence Force, to govern by decree ‘until the crisis is resolved’. This is an utterly unconstitutional act, but to the desperate Australian people, Hassett is received as a saviour.
Hassett’s first act is to decree the passage of the Supply Bills. His second act is to charge Gough Whitlam (for supporting the rioters), Don Dunstan (for suppressing the troops), and a host of other prominent Australians, most notably Manning Clark, for treason. The strike is declared halted, and Australians are ordered back to work.
Upon hearing of the appointment, Don Dunstan introduces the South Australia Act into an emergency session of the South Australian House of Assembly, declaring independence. However, the more moderate members of the Labor Party, tired of the crisis and wishing to end the Civil War, cross the floor to defy him. The bill is defeated. An ensuing motion of no confidence brings Liberal leader David Tonkin to power, backed by the Labor rebels. Shortly afterwards, Dunstan willingly hands himself over to police.
Whitlam is never seen again. Opinions vary on whether he was killed or escaped, to fight another day.
Newcastle, Wollongong, and Geelong are taken by rebel forces after a day of intense fighting, who set up interim administrations in the city. These are immediately smeared as ‘soviets’, a derogatory term picked up by many inside the cities themselves. They are referred to in history (in the same vein as the Weimar Republic) as the Twin Soviets. Intense fighting still continues in Sydney and Melbourne. (Casualty count: 209)
November 29, 1975
The troops in South Australia are released, and ordered to subdue the last protests, including arresting loyalist policemen. This causes further conflicts. Adelaide burns. (Casualty count: 215)
The strongly anti-Whitlam clerical establishment in Melbourne manages to broker a peace between the army and worker protesters, with the remaining insurgents surrendering to armed forces. In Sydney, however, fighting continues more fiercely than ever. The self-proclaimed ‘Liverpool Soviet’ absorbs many of the contested suburbs. It is far more radical than the Newcastle or Wollongong organisations, publicly declaring its allegience to Maoism. It carries out a series of public attacks against the largely ineffectual Liberal government, including what is believed to be the world’s first suicide bombing outside Sydney Tower. The building collapses, killing dozens and permanently marring the Sydney skyline. Many soldiers have defected to the rebels, increasing the carnage. (Casualty count: 289)
Outside Newcastle and Wollongong, the beleagured army regiments retreat. Inside the cities themselves, a wary calm descends: the previous authorities are dismissed, and the Councils for Freedom (composed of workers, student protesters, and bureaucrats) begin organising defence preparations. The continuing violence makes them unable to form a central government, leaving them nominally independent.
Geelong, right next to a ‘pacified’ city, begins negotiations for surrender. Conditions are largely prosaic, involving working entitlements.
Many Australians return to work, outside the conflict zones.
November 30, 1975
The Americans make their first military action in the conflict, bombing strategic positions in Newcastle and Wollongong. Reports vary on how many are killed, ranging from 15 to 67; a generally accepted estimate is 36. (Casualty count: 325)
Bill Hayden, who has been largely neutral in the conflict, organises a conference of the Labor Party caucus in Canberra. Thirteen have been arrested, four have declared allegience to the rioters and refuse to attend, and two have been killed. In Whitlam’s absence and probable death, the caucus unanimously elect Hayden as leader of the party.
Geelong surrenders.
In a tragedy played as farce, the Liverpool Soviet splits, with moderate rebels in Bankstown beginning negotiations for a surrender. Conflict abates slightly, but continues. (Casualty count: 368)
Troops begin marshalling for a second assault on Newcastle and Wollongong, the capitals of the insurgency.
November 31, 1975
American and Australian planes bomb the Liverpool centres of the Sydney insurgency, with the primary target being Holsworthy Army Base. However, a failure to map the target adequately results in an attack on Hurlstone Agricultural High School instead. Ninety-three children and fifteen teachers are killed. Pictures of the wounded are broadcast throughout Australia. (Casualty count: 476)
Any attempt at negotiation is ended, with the Liverpool Soviet reuniting. This will now be a fight to the death.
In the Twin Soviets, the entire adult population are conscripted as soldiers or to produce weaponry. Australian soldiers mass outside the cities. Fortifications are built, but neither side believe they will last long.
Heavy fighting in Sydney continues, but the Army make critical advances in Minto, Revesby and Blacktown. The Liverpool Soviet’s borders are shrinking by the day.
By now, life in the rest of Australia has returned to something approaching normality.
December 1, 1975
A heavy round of bombing destroys Port Kembla, in Wollongong, killing over a hundred people. A similar attack heavily damages Newcastle. This, however, is just a prelude.
Tanks storm into the Twin Soviets, sparking the fiercest fighting of the war. Block by block are devastated, with conscripted and willing fighters engaging in unbelievable slaughter. Mortars and artillery, from defected soldiers, are used by the rebels on the advancing troops and as anti-air fire.
Off the coast, Royal Australian Navy ships battle those which have defected to the rebels. In Newcastle, the rebels triumph at sea, sinking the Royal Navy ships and shelling advancing Australian troops. In Wollongong, the result is reversed: the small Wollongong navy is sunk, and the town is hit by sea-to-land rockets.
In all, the battles for the two cities cost well over 500 lives on one day alone. The Hunter Valley and western suburbs of Newcastle fall, as do northern Wollongong. (Casualty count: 1007)
And to add to this, fighting in Sydney continues fiercely, although the Liverpool Soviet begins to break down under the strain of constant bombing. (Casualty count: 1153)
December 2, 1975
A coup by moderates in the Liverpool Soviet causes the collapse of the revolutionary government, and the unconditional surrender of the rebels. Tanks roll into Liverpool. Ironically, the remaining fighting is largely between radicals and moderates within the rebels, as the last of the radicals are purged. Although insurgent attacks continue, Sydney is largely under government control. (Casualty count: 1178).
The second day of fighting in the Twin Soviets forces an army salient through Wollongong, cutting the city in half. Beleagured forces in the north of the soviet are trapped in a pincer movement, although fighting continues fiercely in bombing-devastated Port Kembla. In Newcastle, by the contrary, the defection of several army companies allows for a temporary rollback of government positions. American fighter planes sink the Newcastle navy, however, and devastate their docks. Newcastle’s food supplies hit a critical low. (Casualty count: 1571)
December 3, 1975
In a day of striking advances, Wollongong falls to the army. The Council for Freedom is dissolved, after only a week in existence. The leaders of the Soviet commit suicide. The last day of fighting is a subdued affair, with few rebels remaining. It is Army bombing that creates most of the casualties. (Casualty count: 1869)
Newcastle, however, brings a surprising development. Most foreign powers, with the notable exception of America, have decided to remain outside the conflict so far. In an emergency meeting of the Security Council to decide the situation, however, the Warsaw Bloc recognise the independence of the Newcastle Soviet. This immediately raises world tensions. Hassett, in one of his few public statements, declares that elections cannot be held until ‘Australia is united’.
Despite the good news on the international scene, Newcastle suffer crucial setbacks in their ongoing war, losing Lake Macquarie to army forces. The rebel forces begin to bleed defectors rapidly, reducing their ability to launch a capable resistance. (Casualty count: 2113)
December 4, 1975
A day of constant bombing effectively shatters the Newcastle Soviet’s ability to resist. One of its major ‘divisions’ unilaterally surrenders, effectively granting west Newcastle to the army. Civilian casualties are high, as services break down and starvation begins to grip the city. Disease is rife in the nearly broken city. (Casualty count: 2323)
December 5, 1975
In the early hours of the morning, the Newcastle Soviet’s sole remaining transport plane leaves the city, carrying the remaining members of the Council for Freedom. Managing to escape the blockade surrounding the city, it heads for Vietnam, where they are recognised as the Newcastle Government-in-Exile.
The last rebel forces surrender to the Army. Disease and unsanitary conditions are still rife, and cause over 20 deaths on this one day alone. Australia is reunited. However, resistance movements still smoulder in the occupied Soviets, with one attack killing 7 soldiers in Cabramatta. (Casualty count: 2356)
In a surreal moment, the election campaign abruptly recurs, with Hayden slamming the Liberal tax policies.
December 6, 1975
Francis Hassett announces a new election to be held on December 13—the previously agreed-for date. He refuses to contest the election itself.
December 13, 1975
The ‘Stained Khaki’ election is held. Much of Labor’s base in Newcastle, Wollongong and western Sydney refuse to turn out. This is a partial factor in Labor’s staggering loss, with their reduction to 29 seats in a 120-seat Parliament. Malcolm Fraser becomes Prime Minister.
However, Australia still does not find peace. Guerrilla warfare is a recurrant feature of Fraser’s administration, claiming over 700 lives—including Sir John Kerr, assassinated in 1976—until Bill Hayden’s Liverpool Agreement in 1987. The Newcastle Soviet, the sole rebel organisation to gain some legitimacy, joins the Warsaw Pact and even making an ill-fated attempt to join the United Nations. After the Cold War, the government quietly folds.
It's good to know that my work inspires others to write about such events as well. Now, other than our differences over the Constitution re: Reserve Powers of the G-G (which I won't go into as you already know my thoughts), I'll offer some feedback on some of the more technical issues which I spotted. But before I so I've got to say that what you've done so far is very impressive. So keep going with it!