Edmond Hogan
Encyclopedia
Edmond John "Ned" Hogan (12 December 1883 – 23 August 1964), Australia
n politician, 30th Premier of Victoria, was born in Wallace, Victoria
, where his Irish
-born parents were small farmers. After attending a Roman Catholic primary school he became a farm worker and then a timber worker, and spent some time on the goldfields of Western Australia
.
Hogan became active in trade union and Labor Party
politics in Kalgoorlie
. In 1912 he contracted typhoid and returned to Victoria
to recuperate, and took up farming at Ballan
.
In 1913 Hogan was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly
for Warrenheip, a seat near Ballarat
, which was renamed Warrenheip and Grenville in 1927. He held this seat for 30 years: although it was not a natural Labor seat, it was heavily Irish-Catholic, which helped Hogan, an active Catholic, retain it. In 1914 he was elected to the Labor Party's state executive and in 1922 he became State President. In 1924 he was Minister for Agriculture and Railways in the short-lived minority government of George Prendergast
.
Hogan was a fine speaker and soon became a leading figure in a parliamentary party which was thin on talent. Victoria was Labor's weakest state and in the 1920s there seemed little chance it would ever win a state election. When Prendergast stepped down in 1926, Hogan was the obvious choice to succeed him. His main drawback was his close association with the Melbourne
horse-racing, boxing and gambling identity John Wren
, who was widely suspected of corruption. The Wren connection alienated many middle-class voters from Labor through the 1920s and 1930s.
Nevertheless, at the 1927 state election Hogan was able to capitalise on resentment against rural over-representation in the state Parliament and consequent domination by the Country Party
. Labor won 28 seats to the Nationalists
15 and the Country Party's ten.
Hogan was able to form a government with the support of four "Country Progressives" and two Liberals. But this alliance broke down in 1928 in the face a prolonged and violent industrial dispute on the Melbourne waterfront, and in November he was defeated in a confidence vote and resigned, being succeeded by the Nationalist William McPherson
.
In 1929 the Country Party withdrew its support from McPherson's government and there was another election, fought just as the Great Depression
was breaking over Australia. Hogan led Labor to its best result yet, winning 30 seats to the Nationalists' 17 and the Country Party's 11. A collection of Progressives, Liberals and independents held the balance, and they agreed to support a second Hogan government. Tom Tunnecliffe was Chief Secretary, John Cain
was Minister for Railways and William Slater
was Attorney-General.
The Depression had a devastating effect on Victoria's economy and society, since the state was heavily dependent on agricultural exports, mainly wheat and wool, for its income, and these industries collapsed almost completely as demand in Britain
dried up. By 1931 most Victorian farmers were bankrupt and about 25 percent of the workforce was unemployed. Hogan's government, in common with all other governments, had no solution to this disaster. Even if the Labor government was minded to attempt radical solutions, it was dependent on Country Progressive support in the Assembly, and had only six members in the Legislative Council
.
Hogan adopted the orthodox economic view that governments must balance their budgets, and since the Council would not permit any increases in taxation, the only way to do this in the face of falling government revenue was to cut expenditure. This increased the burdens on the poor and unemployed, while providing no stimulus to the economy. There was little possibility of effective unemployment relief, although there were some government works to soak up unemployment, such as the Shrine of Remembrance
and the Great Ocean Road
.
In August 1930 Hogan attended a conference with the other Premiers and the Labor Prime Minister
, James Scullin
, to consider what to do. On the advice of Sir Otto Niemeyer
, a senior official of the Bank of England
(which controlled most of Victoria's access to credit in the City of London
), they agreed to radical cuts to government spending and borrowing. This provoked a storm of protest in the Labor Party and trade unions, who regarded Scullin and Hogan as traitors.
A second conference in June 1931 produced the Premiers' Plan
, which entailed further cuts in government spending, accompanied by increases in taxation on the wealthy. In the circumstances both of these measures further depressed the economy, while not satisying either side of politics. The New South Wales
Labor Party, led by Jack Lang
, rebelled and brought down the Scullin government in November, but Hogan survived since the Country Party continued to support him from the cross benches. In any case the Nationalists (now renamed the United Australia Party
(UAP) preferred to see Hogan implement the Premiers' Plan.
In February 1932 Hogan travelled to London to talk to the banks about Victoria's desperate economic plight. While he was away Tunnecliffe was acting Premier, and he was much more willing than Hogan to reject the Premiers' Plan. As a result the Country Party withdrew its support, and in April the government was defeated in a confidence vote.
In the May elections Tunnecliffe, now rejecting the Premiers's Plan completely, led the Labor campaign. The Labor Party Executive expelled everyone who had supported the Premier's Plan, including Hogan, although it did not run a candidate against him in Warrenheip and Grenville. At the elections the UAP won 31 seats to Labor's 16 and the reunited Country Party's 14. Hogan and one of his ex-ministers were elected as "Premiers' Plan Labor" candidates. The UAP's Stanley Argyle
became Premier.
After sitting as an independent for four years, Hogan joined the Country Party in 1935, and formed a close relationship with the Country Party leader Albert Dunstan
. The result was a renewed alliance between the Country Party and Labor, brokered by Hogan, John Wren and the Victorian Labor State President, Arthur Calwell
. In April 1935 Dunstan walked out of Argyle's government, and became Premier with Labor support. Hogan became Minister for Agriculture and Mines, and held these posts through Dunstan's record term as Premier until September 1943.
At the 1943 elections, Labor, now led by John Cain, benefitting from the popularity of John Curtin
's wartime federal government, won 22 seats, including Warrenheip and Grenville, where the 60-year-old Hogan was defeated after 30 years as its member.
He retired to St Kilda
in Melbourne, where he lived until his death in 1964, aged 81. Hogan lies interred in a modest lawn grave at the Cheltenham Memorial Park (Wangara Road).
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n politician, 30th Premier of Victoria, was born in Wallace, Victoria
Wallace, Victoria
Wallace is a town in Victoria, Australia. The town is located in the Shire of Moorabool Local Government Area, north west of the state capital, Melbourne.The township was established in the 1880s, the Post Office opening on 22 February 1885....
, where his Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
-born parents were small farmers. After attending a Roman Catholic primary school he became a farm worker and then a timber worker, and spent some time on the goldfields of Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
.
Hogan became active in trade union and Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
politics in Kalgoorlie
Kalgoorlie, Western Australia
Kalgoorlie, known as Kalgoorlie-Boulder, is a town in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, and is located east-northeast of state capital Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway...
. In 1912 he contracted typhoid and returned to Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
to recuperate, and took up farming at Ballan
Ballan, Victoria
Ballan is a small town in the state of Victoria, Australia located on the Werribee River north west of Melbourne. At the 2006 census, Ballan had a population of 1,807.It is the main administrative centre for the Shire of Moorabool Local Government Area....
.
In 1913 Hogan was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly
Victorian Legislative Assembly
The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the Parliament of Victoria in Australia. Together with the Victorian Legislative Council, the upper house, it sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Melbourne.-History:...
for Warrenheip, a seat near Ballarat
Ballarat, Victoria
Ballarat is a city in the state of Victoria, Australia, approximately west-north-west of the state capital Melbourne situated on the lower plains of the Great Dividing Range and the Yarrowee River catchment. It is the largest inland centre and third most populous city in the state and the fifth...
, which was renamed Warrenheip and Grenville in 1927. He held this seat for 30 years: although it was not a natural Labor seat, it was heavily Irish-Catholic, which helped Hogan, an active Catholic, retain it. In 1914 he was elected to the Labor Party's state executive and in 1922 he became State President. In 1924 he was Minister for Agriculture and Railways in the short-lived minority government of George Prendergast
George Prendergast
George Michael Prendergast , Australian politician, was the 28th Premier of Victoria. He was born to Irish emigrant parents in Adelaide, but he grew up in Stawell in the Wimmera district of Victoria...
.
Hogan was a fine speaker and soon became a leading figure in a parliamentary party which was thin on talent. Victoria was Labor's weakest state and in the 1920s there seemed little chance it would ever win a state election. When Prendergast stepped down in 1926, Hogan was the obvious choice to succeed him. His main drawback was his close association with the Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
horse-racing, boxing and gambling identity John Wren
John Wren
John Wren was an Australian businessman. He has become a legendary figure thanks mainly to a fictionalised account of his life in Frank Hardy's novel Power Without Glory, which was also made into a television series...
, who was widely suspected of corruption. The Wren connection alienated many middle-class voters from Labor through the 1920s and 1930s.
Nevertheless, at the 1927 state election Hogan was able to capitalise on resentment against rural over-representation in the state Parliament and consequent domination by the Country Party
National Party of Australia
The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...
. Labor won 28 seats to the Nationalists
Nationalist Party of Australia
The Nationalist Party of Australia was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the conservative Commonwealth Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the name given to the pro-conscription defectors from the Australian Labor Party led by Prime...
15 and the Country Party's ten.
Hogan was able to form a government with the support of four "Country Progressives" and two Liberals. But this alliance broke down in 1928 in the face a prolonged and violent industrial dispute on the Melbourne waterfront, and in November he was defeated in a confidence vote and resigned, being succeeded by the Nationalist William McPherson
William Murray McPherson
Sir William Murray McPherson, KBE was an Australian philanthropist and politician. He was the 31st Premier of Victoria....
.
In 1929 the Country Party withdrew its support from McPherson's government and there was another election, fought just as the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
was breaking over Australia. Hogan led Labor to its best result yet, winning 30 seats to the Nationalists' 17 and the Country Party's 11. A collection of Progressives, Liberals and independents held the balance, and they agreed to support a second Hogan government. Tom Tunnecliffe was Chief Secretary, John Cain
John Cain (senior)
John Cain was an Australian politician, who became the 34th premier of Victoria, and was the first Australian Labor Party leader to win a majority in the Victorian Legislative Assembly. He was the only premier of Victoria whose son also served as premier.-Early life:Cain was born, one of 18...
was Minister for Railways and William Slater
Bill Slater (politician)
-Early life:Slater is believed to have been born in 1890. He was born to parents of Irish background. His father left his family when he was four years old. He and two siblings were brought up by his mother in Prahran. After briefly attending Armadale State School Slater left school early to sell...
was Attorney-General.
The Depression had a devastating effect on Victoria's economy and society, since the state was heavily dependent on agricultural exports, mainly wheat and wool, for its income, and these industries collapsed almost completely as demand in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
dried up. By 1931 most Victorian farmers were bankrupt and about 25 percent of the workforce was unemployed. Hogan's government, in common with all other governments, had no solution to this disaster. Even if the Labor government was minded to attempt radical solutions, it was dependent on Country Progressive support in the Assembly, and had only six members in the Legislative Council
Victorian Legislative Council
The Victorian Legislative Council, is the upper of the two houses of the Parliament of Victoria, Australia; the lower house being the Legislative Assembly. Both houses sit in Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The Legislative Council serves as a house of review, in a similar fashion to...
.
Hogan adopted the orthodox economic view that governments must balance their budgets, and since the Council would not permit any increases in taxation, the only way to do this in the face of falling government revenue was to cut expenditure. This increased the burdens on the poor and unemployed, while providing no stimulus to the economy. There was little possibility of effective unemployment relief, although there were some government works to soak up unemployment, such as the Shrine of Remembrance
Shrine of Remembrance
The Shrine of Remembrance, located in Kings Domain on St Kilda Road, Melbourne, Australia was built as a memorial to the men and women of Victoria who served in World War I and is now a memorial to all Australians who have served in war...
and the Great Ocean Road
Great Ocean Road
The Great Ocean Road is a stretch of road along the south-eastern coast of Australia between the Victorian cities of Torquay and Warrnambool. The road was built by returned soldiers between 1919 and 1932, and is the world's largest war memorial; dedicated to casualties of World War I...
.
In August 1930 Hogan attended a conference with the other Premiers and the Labor Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
, James Scullin
James Scullin
James Henry Scullin , Australian Labor politician and the ninth Prime Minister of Australia. Two days after he was sworn in as Prime Minister, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 occurred, marking the beginning of the Great Depression and subsequent Great Depression in Australia.-Early life:Scullin was...
, to consider what to do. On the advice of Sir Otto Niemeyer
Otto Niemeyer
Sir Otto Ernst Niemeyer, GBE, KCB was financial controller at the Treasury and a director at the Bank of England. He was also treasurer of the National Association of Mental Health post World War II...
, a senior official of the Bank of England
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...
(which controlled most of Victoria's access to credit in the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
), they agreed to radical cuts to government spending and borrowing. This provoked a storm of protest in the Labor Party and trade unions, who regarded Scullin and Hogan as traitors.
A second conference in June 1931 produced the Premiers' Plan
Premiers' Plan
The Premiers' Plan was a deflationary economic policy agreed by a meeting of the State Premiers of Australia in June 1931 to combat the Great Depression.-Background:...
, which entailed further cuts in government spending, accompanied by increases in taxation on the wealthy. In the circumstances both of these measures further depressed the economy, while not satisying either side of politics. The New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
Labor Party, led by Jack Lang
Jack Lang (Australian politician)
John Thomas Lang , usually referred to as J.T. Lang during his career, and familiarly known as "Jack" and nicknamed "The Big Fella" was an Australian politician who was Premier of New South Wales for two terms...
, rebelled and brought down the Scullin government in November, but Hogan survived since the Country Party continued to support him from the cross benches. In any case the Nationalists (now renamed the United Australia Party
United Australia Party
The United Australia Party was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. It was the political successor to the Nationalist Party of Australia and predecessor to the Liberal Party of Australia...
(UAP) preferred to see Hogan implement the Premiers' Plan.
In February 1932 Hogan travelled to London to talk to the banks about Victoria's desperate economic plight. While he was away Tunnecliffe was acting Premier, and he was much more willing than Hogan to reject the Premiers' Plan. As a result the Country Party withdrew its support, and in April the government was defeated in a confidence vote.
In the May elections Tunnecliffe, now rejecting the Premiers's Plan completely, led the Labor campaign. The Labor Party Executive expelled everyone who had supported the Premier's Plan, including Hogan, although it did not run a candidate against him in Warrenheip and Grenville. At the elections the UAP won 31 seats to Labor's 16 and the reunited Country Party's 14. Hogan and one of his ex-ministers were elected as "Premiers' Plan Labor" candidates. The UAP's Stanley Argyle
Stanley Argyle
Sir Stanley Seymour Argyle KBE , Australian politician, was the 32nd Premier of Victoria. He was born in Kyneton, Victoria, the son of a grazier, and was educated at Brighton Grammar School and the University of Melbourne, where he graduated in medicine...
became Premier.
After sitting as an independent for four years, Hogan joined the Country Party in 1935, and formed a close relationship with the Country Party leader Albert Dunstan
Albert Dunstan
Sir Albert Arthur Dunstan, KCMG was an Australian politician. A member of the Country Party , Dunstan was the 33rd Premier of Victoria. His term as Premier was the second-longest in the state's history, behind Sir Henry Bolte...
. The result was a renewed alliance between the Country Party and Labor, brokered by Hogan, John Wren and the Victorian Labor State President, Arthur Calwell
Arthur Calwell
Arthur Augustus Calwell Australian politician, was a member of the Australian House of Representatives for 32 years from 1940 to 1972, Immigration Minister in the government of Ben Chifley from 1945 to 1949 and Leader of the Australian Labor Party from 1960 to 1967.-Early life:Calwell was born in...
. In April 1935 Dunstan walked out of Argyle's government, and became Premier with Labor support. Hogan became Minister for Agriculture and Mines, and held these posts through Dunstan's record term as Premier until September 1943.
At the 1943 elections, Labor, now led by John Cain, benefitting from the popularity of John Curtin
John Curtin
John Joseph Curtin , Australian politician, served as the 14th Prime Minister of Australia. Labor under Curtin formed a minority government in 1941 after the crossbench consisting of two independent MPs crossed the floor in the House of Representatives, bringing down the Coalition minority...
's wartime federal government, won 22 seats, including Warrenheip and Grenville, where the 60-year-old Hogan was defeated after 30 years as its member.
He retired to St Kilda
St Kilda, Victoria
St Kilda is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km south from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Port Phillip...
in Melbourne, where he lived until his death in 1964, aged 81. Hogan lies interred in a modest lawn grave at the Cheltenham Memorial Park (Wangara Road).