Goodnight, Tom Burns
Tue 5 Jun 2007Former Queensland deputy premier Tom Burns passed away yesterday. Much has been said elsewhere about his grand achievements (part of Gough Whitlam’s first trade delegation to China in the early 1970s, federal president of the ALP, etc) Much has also been said what a great bloke Tom was…
“…wonderful Aussie larrikin”
- former Premier, Wayne Goss
And, yes, he really did have a fishing boat called The Electorate, so his secretary could answer the phone truthfully, “He’s somewhere out in the electorate.”
“…a livewire and when he got going, he got going”
- current Premier, Peter Beattie
In 1994, I took my family on a trip to Kakadu and central Australia. We happened to pass through Barcaldine on Friday 16 Sep 1994, the day before the official opening of the Australian Worker’s Heritage Centre. It was a hive of last-minute activity. And there, in amongst all the tradesmen finishing up, was none other than Tom Burns in blue singlet, mucking in and planting the gardens.
“…always looked after the battlers”
- Peter Beattie, again
Tom was instrumental in changing the house numbers on housing commission homes to match the normal numbering scheme in other suburbs. When asked why, Tom replied, “It’s all about giving the little bloke, with the arse out of his pants, some dignity.”
I think this is what I really liked about Tom.
June 6th, 2007 at 21:08
Hey Mike,
What do you mean about the house numbering?
- Aurelius
June 6th, 2007 at 22:15
Hi Aurelius,
Good question. I suppose it’s not immediately obvious to a lot of, especially young, folk.
In some areas, housing commission homes used to be numbered something like 1A, 1B, 1C etc on one block, 2A, 2B, 2C etc on the next block rather than the usual 1, 3, 5, 7 etc down one side of the street, 2, 4, 6, 8 down the other side. This scheme probably made life easier for some government administrator somewhere.
There was unfortunately sometimes a stigma associated with living in a housing commission home and a battler effectively had to admit to this every time he gave his address.
Tom saw the inequity and changed it.
June 14th, 2007 at 0:29
haha - The Electorate! Conniving bastard!
Although I know Goss and Beattie were making nice tributes to a fallen comrade, do you think that cliches like “larrikin” and “battler” have any meaning in modern Australia beyond some attempt to tap into a mythical Australia that doesn’t exist anymore?
I hate those two words: larrikin and battler, mostly because pollies have used them to the point where they’re tainted.
Curious to hear your thoughts.
June 14th, 2007 at 9:22
Yeah, you might be right, Princess. But for once, I don’t think it’s the pollies fault. What might have passed as good-natured larrikin behaviour in the past is now often regarded as anti-social behaviour. Hell, it’s not even politically-correct to tell Irish jokes any more. Hell, you cannot even say “Hell” anymore.
I also like to think Australian society now has fewer “battlers” than 40 years ago because we have better social networks and safety-nets. Doesn’t always happen though.
These days, real battlers live in Darfur, Baghdad, Phnom Penh and certain suburbs of Washington, DC.