Tag Archives: Mervyn Bendle

1960s Part 3

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Liza’s Journey: Australia in the Sixties, Part 3

1960s Part 1 1960s Part 2

Mervyn Bendle, Quadrant, Dec 20 2025

Radical Thought. The Sydney Push had a lot more to it than the  Libertarianism and libertinism we discussed in our previous article. As Liza discovered, it appealed also to those drawn to challenging ideas and ideologies, as well as to those, like her, who felt  they had profound questions to ask. Prior to the Sixties, such youthful intellectual hunger might have been satisfied by joining the Communist Party. However, its authoritarianism, the revelations about the horrors of Stalinism, and the 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary (right) discredited the Party for many. This was especially the case with Liza, who heard of the horrors first-hand from those workmates at the store who were amongst the 300,000 Hungarians who’d fled into exile, with many coming to Australia. Consequently, the Libertarian Society and the Push helped fill an ideological vacuum that lasted until the arrival of the New Left.

Intellectual Appeal. Moreover, they had a intellectual basis, derived from John Anderson’s iconoclastic philosophy, which had survived over 40 years of critique and conflict with the Establishment. The folk who made up the core membership of the Push took ideas seriously and this foundation gave it legitimacy for the intellectually-inclined, including not only the older members but younger folk like Liza or Germaine Greer, who particularly noticed the difference between Melbourne and Sydney: Melbourne’s ‘Drift’ was romantic in relationships and sloppy in reasoning while the Push (left) was realist in relationships and rigorous in reasoning.

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1960s Part 2

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Part 2 in Mervyn Bendle’s excellent series on the 1960s. Highly recommended reading.

Liza’s Journey: Australia in the Sixties, Part 2

Mervyn Bendle, Quadrant, Dec 13 2025

The Great Chasm. As we saw in the first installment of this series, Liza was beginning her university studies as a ‘great chasm’ had opened up between the optimism and self-belief of the broad mass of Australians and the nascent Intelligentsia, which was invariably critical of its own country. It appears this split had its origins in the tendency of frontier and nation-building societies, like Australia, to value pragmatism and the ability to engage productively with the concrete here-and-now, rather than be pre-occupied with more abstract matters like culture, ideology, and theories. This nation-building was exemplified in the post-war period by massive immigration, the Education Revolution, and colossal infrastructure development, spearheaded by the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme (1949-74).

The Australian Legend. Such activity saw the resurgence of nationalism, a native intellectual tradition that found much to be valued in Australian history and culture. The key text was The Australian Legend (1958) by Russel Ward, which argued that the shared hardship that characterised Australia’s convict and mining origins and the ‘frontier experience’ of the outback bushman had generated a heritage of egalitarianism, co-operation, and mateship that had manifested itself in the Anzac tradition, and was being called upon again in the post-war period as Australians undertook the immense task of transforming their country into a thriving modern nation. This ‘origin story’ of Australian history became very influential while Liza was at university, and later became a hated target of the New Left. This radical neo-Marxist cohort was a by-product of Australia’s passage into post-industrialism, and especially of the Education Revolution, and it quickly established a stranglehold over Australia’s intellectual life and culture.

Mass Immigration. As a nation-building country, Australia benefited greatly from the turmoil in post-war Europe. The Iron Curtain had descended, condemning most East Europeans to a totalitarian fate; 8 million Germans were driven from their homes as their devastated nation was chopped in two; Italy, Greece, and of Yugoslavia were in chaos, and Britain was on the verge of bankruptcy. Massive numbers of migrants began streaming out, determined to start life afresh ‘down under’, including 170,000 Displaced Persons (or ‘refos’ as they were affectionately known). Most were assisted by the Federal Government on the basis that they agreed to stay for at least two years and work in the jobs available. Many found work with the Snowy Mountains Scheme (and incidentally  pioneered the snow-skiing industry in Australia). Others opened shops and businesses, worked in department stores, factories, heavy industry, or as labourers and farmhands.

Read the rest here . . .

1960s Part 1

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Mervyn Bendle’s series of three articles in Quadrant is of particular interest to me because the 1960s is the setting of my Sixties Series. The articles make interesting background reading for my series.

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Liza’s Journey: Australia in the Sixties  

Mervyn Bendle, Quadrant, Dec 06 2025

This is the first of three articles that tracks a young woman’s intellectual and emotional journey through the 1960s in Australia. It was inspired by the book, play, film, and TV series, Ladies in Black, set around Christmas 1959, which focusses on Leslie, a shy, naïve, bookish, and mousy 16-year-old schoolgirl who takes a summer job in the high-end fashion section at Goode’s, a prestigious Sydney department store, while awaiting her exam results.

An only child in a working class family, Leslie had excelled at school and looks forward to going to university, where she can study literature and pursue her dream of becoming a poet. At Goode’s she is befriended by the older sales assistants and becomes part of their lives, changes her name to a more poetic and feminine ‘Lisa’, is introduced to the many social and cultural changes happening to Australian society, and begins her transformation into a confident, stylish, and worldly-wise young woman. 

Or does she? This series of articles looks at the world that another fictional young woman, Liza (name changed for copyright reasons), might enter after she leaves her holiday job and begins literary studies at the University of Sydney. It briefly reviews the international scene at the height of the Cold War as it impacted on Australia, and the nature of Australian society as it left the conservatism of the 1950s and plunged into the radical changes of the 1960s. It then takes a more detailed look at life in Sydney at the time, including the activities of the ‘Sydney Push’, the bohemian vanguard of intellectual, cultural, and romantic life that flourished around the University, and into which any young aspiring poet and intellectual like Liza would have been drawn.

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Liza didn’t know what to make of it! It was if those exciting movies, The Wild One (1953) and Rebel Without a Cause (1955), had both come to life in Sydney! Kevin Simmonds was renowned as “Australia’s most fearless jail escapee whose Hollywood looks made him  a teen idol as he ran circles around police”. Kevin (right) had been in trouble with the police since he was 14 for car theft and burglary, and after several stints in Boys Town and a Youth Training Centre, he eventually spent two years in Goulburn Gaol. A talented singer and musician – he had even cut a few records – he charmed the magistrate into sending him there because of its music program and, he said, because he wanted to hone his skills so he could go straight when he was released. In reality, he just wanted to be reunited with a mate so they could plan the jobs they’d do when they got out.

Read the rest here . . .