Charles Court out of steam I suppose I should mention that a former state premier Sir Charles Court expired on Saturday morning. He was aged 96 and died in the aftermath of a stroke earlier this year. The news broke in the media yesterday morning to allow the beatification process to begin.
A son of a plumber, he became an accountant. WW2 intervened, then the man entered state politics in 1953 as the Liberal member for the well-heeled electorate of Nedlands. His big break came when he was appointed as Minister for industrial development and the northwest in the Brand government, between 1959 and 1971; then the Liberal/Country Party coalition was tossed out of office.
The Queen gave him a knighthood in 1972. (Such regal honours are now unacceptable for Australians.) He became leader of the opposition and the next election saw him become the state premier as 'Sir' Charles.
During his political career he'd acquired a taste for governmental backing of the exploitation of the huge mineral resources which were being discovered in the northwest and the offshore oil and gas reserves. He'll probably be most remembered in these involvements as being 'the hand that signed the paper.'
However his signature was also on the large scale clearfelling of our southwest forests for wood chips to send to Japanese paper mills. It was rumoured that his business orientated family inadvertently benefited from what was a devastating environmental process, but this was never substantiated.
As premier he had many critics. He possessed an autocratic manner and was rudely dismissive of people who disagreed with his policies. One of his terms repeated
ad nauseam for the TV cameras was that such opponents "should show some sense." Agreement with him was the sensible thing to do, because he believed he always knew what was best.
The man was quite hostile to the concept of Aboriginal land rights. He grabbed the national headlines in 1980 with the notorious Noonkanbah confrontation in the northwest Kimberley region. A convoy of drilling rigs were provided with a large police escort from Perth to prevent protesters disrupting exploratory drilling on sacred Aboriginal sites. Violence ensued, but the drilling went ahead.
Mr Court was also hostile to unions and civil rights. He was responsible for amending section 54B of the
Police Act to prevent more than three people gathering in public without police permission. This provoked outrage throughout the community and was later repealed.
His admirers will no doubt try to perpetuate his memory as a visionary. There's sure to be a bronze statue erected somewhere, but he had some serious failings during his career.
It was with some irony that he died on the eve of the official opening of the Perth to Mandurah railway line.
In 1980 he'd shut down the Fremantle to Perth railway line, declaring shortsightedly that oil-dependent buses were to be the preferred form of mass transport. The trains didn't run for three years. Fortunately this disastrous planning decision was turned around by a Labor government in 1983 and they began a farsighted program of electrification and the building of new lines north and south to service the expanding metropolitan area.
Another ignoble event was when he responded to prejudiced calls in his 'blue' ribbon electorate to try and close the Tresillian Centre for mentally ill children. There was public outrage and he backed down, but eventually the centre was moved to Forrestfield, well away from where the 'offensive' children could disturb Sir Charles' supporters.
Interestingly, some of the highest praise for him since his death has come from the Labor state premier Alan Carpenter. Other staunch admirers were the former liberal Prime Minister John Howard, and the now deceased but colourful Queensland premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen.
Not surprisingly, the family of Sir Charles have been offered a state funeral and have apparently accepted. There's sure to be a military presence. The man was an honorary colonel of the SAS. This arose from his service as an officer with the Australian Army during WW2 when he reportedly was a senior quartermaster. His prowess as a cornet player is also sure to be recognised - again.
I've written about one of my personal crossings of the path of Sir Charles Court in 'Big day in Fremantle - VJ Day,' on
15 August 2005© MMVII Paul R. Weaver.
About the writerCheck out each month's subject index on the Calendar Page for my "common-man" monologues about survival in 21st century Australia – plus a little history occasionally. An original essay is added most days as part of an undertaking to write a couple of million words.
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