Wilfrid Kent Hughes
Encyclopedia
Sir Wilfrid Selwyn Kent Hughes KBE
, MVO
, MC
(12 June 1895 – 31 July 1970) was an Australian soldier, Olympian and Olympic Games
organiser, author and federal and state government minister.
Kent Hughes was born in Melbourne
to an upper middle-class family. He was set to attend the University of Oxford
on a Rhodes Scholarship
when he enlisted in the army on the outbreak of World War I
. After his discharge from the army, Kent Hughes attended Oxford and represented Australia in athletics as a hurdler at the 1920 Summer Olympics
in Antwerp. Upon the completion of his degree at Oxford, Kent Hughes returned to Australia, seeking a career in politics. Elected to the Victorian state parliament
in 1927, Kent Hughes sat with the conservative Nationalist Party of Australia
, rising to the position of Deputy Premier of Victoria
. Kent Hughes proved to be a controversial figure in politics, and was never afraid to publicly espouse his personal beliefs, such as an admiration for fascism
, of which he had a poor understanding.
Kent Hughes re-enlisted in the army at the outbreak of World War II
and, while stationed in Singapore
, was captured by the Japanese. He spent four years as a prisoner of war
before his liberation by the Red Army
in 1945. Kent Hughes returned to Victorian state politics until switching to federal politics in 1949.
He was appointed a Minister in the federal government led by Robert Menzies
but complained his responsibilities were trifling. More interesting to him was the chairmanship of the 1956 Summer Olympics
Organising Committee, where he showed he was willing to break longstanding Olympic conventions in order to modernise the Games. His role in the organisation of the Melbourne Olympics has led sporting historians to refer to Kent Hughes as "one of the most important figures in Olympic History". Following the Olympics Kent Hughes was dropped from his ministerial posts and spent the remainder of his time in parliament on the backbenches
, gaining a reputation as the most ardent anticommunist in parliament. He died aged 75 in 1970, still a member of federal parliament.
and educated at Trinity Grammar
and Melbourne Grammar. He was accepted at Christ Church, Oxford
as a Rhodes Scholar in 1914 (although he did not commence study at Oxford until 1919 due to his war service). The family name was Hughes, and young Wilfrid was usually called Bill or Billy. Later, to avoid confusion with fellow politician Billy Hughes
, he adopted one of his middle names, Kent, as part of his surname. It is not known why he spelled his given name "Wilfrid" while his father spelled it "Wilfred."
A number of Kent Hughes's relatives also gained national recognition in their chosen fields. Uncle Canon
Ernest Hughes was an influential member of the Church of England
in Australia and leading Australian rules football
er with St Kilda and Essendon
and uncle Frederic Hughes was a Brigadier-General, mayor of St Kilda
and Aide-de-camp
to the Governor-General
, the Earl of Dudley
. Aunt Eva Hughes OBE
founded the Australian Women's National League
, the then largest body of organised women in the country, while his sisters Dr Ellen Kent Hughes MBE was a leading paediatrician and community activist and Gwendoline Kent Lloyd, who Wilfrid referred to as "the family Communist", was a renowned proponent of Indigenous
rights.
as a private on 8 August 1914. He served in the 3rd Light Horse Brigade
at Gallipoli, where he was wounded, then Sinai
, Palestine
and Syria
. Kent Hughes, who reached the rank of major, was mentioned in despatches four times, received the Military Cross
in 1917 for his "marked ability and energy in the performance of his duties", and appointed Deputy Adjutant and Quartermaster General
of the Australian Mounted Division
. Upon his return to Australia in 1918 he published a volume of memoirs, Modern Crusaders, about his exploits in the Light Horse Brigade.
as a Rhodes Scholar
, gaining a Bachelor of Arts
with Honours in Modern History. He also captained the Oxford ski team and showed a proficiency for athletics, such that Kent Hughes was chosen to represent Australia
in the 110 and 400 metre hurdles
at the 1920 Summer Olympics
. He finished fourth in his heat of the 110 metre hurdles and failed to progress but won his 400 metre heat before finishing fifth in the semi final. Kent Hughes did not return to England empty handed, as he later admitted to souveniring an official Olympic flag from the Olympic stadium.
In 1921, Kent Hughes was part of the Oxford Ski Team visit to Europe, during which he became the first Australian to ski competitively overseas.
Following his graduation from Oxford, Kent Hughes married Edith Kerr, a wealthy American heiress to a thread manufacturing empire, on 3 February 1923 in Montclair, New Jersey
and returned to Melbourne
to work as a director in his father's publishing company Ramsay Publishing Pty Ltd while sizing up a career in politics.
In 1926 Kent Hughes unsuccessfully sought Nationalist Party of Australia
preselection for the newly created seat of Kew
in the Victorian Legislative Assembly
before winning the seat as an Independent candidate at the 1927 election, after which he joined the Nationalists. Kent Hughes soon found himself opposed to the conservative establishment and what he considered the mediocrity of Victorian politics. He openly referred to a number of his fellow Nationalists as "boneheads" and opposition Australian Labor Party
members as "uncouth, semi-educated ill-mannered narrow-minded boors". Kent Hughes, along with his close friend and ally Robert Menzies
, founded the Young Nationalists Organisation in 1929, which became an influential force in conservative politics in Victoria.
When the Nationalists came into power in December 1928, Kent Hughes was appointed Cabinet Secretary and Government Whip
but resigned his positions in July 1929, ostensibly in protest over a government subsidy to a freezing works company but more likely in reaction to the ongoing boneheadedness of his fellow parliamentarians.
Following the formation of the United Australia Party
(UAP) in place of the Nationalists in 1931, Kent Hughes served in several portfolios, including Railways, Labour, Transport and Sustenance. It was as Minister for Sustenance, a portfolio designed to deal with the poverty of the Great Depression
, that he became known as the "Minister for Starvation". Kent Hughes drafted legislation that became the Unemployment Relief (Administration) Bill, which when enacted in January 1933, forced the unemployed to work for the dole and denied any form of financial assistance to women. Kent Hughes's bill has been described as the harshest piece of legislation in Australia directed towards the unemployed during the Depression.
In January 1933 Kent Hughes became embroiled in cricket's
Bodyline
affair. A friend of English
captain Douglas Jardine
from their Oxford days, Kent Hughes publicly defended Jardine's tactics of sustained short pitched bowling against the Australian batsmen, arguing that Australia
used similar tactics against England during the 1921
Ashes
tour. He also criticised the protests of Australian cricket's governing body, the Australian Cricket Board of Control
towards Jardine, stating they were "boorish, bitter (and) insulting".
While he was attacking the Cricket Board of Control, Kent Hughes was simultaneously organising the Australian tour of the Duke of Gloucester
, and for his efforts was appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order
in 1934. In 1938 he was manager of the Australian team
at the Empire Games
held in Sydney
.
During the late 1920s and 1930s Kent Hughes developed a strong sympathy for fascism
, encouraged in part by his uncle Ernest, who visited Italy in 1926 and published an enthusiastic report on Mussolini
's Italy in a local newspaper on his return. Kent Hughes was also impressed by Sir Oswald Mosley
's proposal for a British parliament consisting of business and national interests and headed by a powerful executive government. In 1933 he published a series of articles in the Melbourne Herald
, titled "Why I Have Become a Fascist." In one article he wrote that fascism "endeavours to avoid the egotistical attitude of laissez faire and the inertia of socialism
." Kent Hughes saw it as "a half-way house between the two systems." In fascist countries, he said, "industrial peace and security have been found to be worth the price of sacrificing some of the individual liberty previously enjoyed." In what he called "British communities," however, he expected that fascism would "be garbed not in the dictatorial black shirt
, but in the more sedate style of the British Parliamentary representative."
Kent Hughes was unique among prominent Australians in publicly identifying as a fascist, although he never joined a fascist organisation or acted overtly in a way that could be described as fascist and there is no evidence to suggest he was an anti-semite. His biographer Frederick Howard maintains that Kent Hughes did not know much about fascism and used the word mainly for its shock value. "Kent Hughes does not seem to have paid enough attention to the difference between theory and practice in Mussolini's Italy," he observes.
Kent Hughes's public support of fascism failed to damage his political career, as he was elected Victorian
Deputy Leader of the UAP in 1935, serving until his enlistment in the army in 1939.
In 1939, without resigning from Parliament, Kent Hughes rejoined the Army, becoming a colonel in the 8th Division. He served in the Malaya campaign
of 1942, where he was again mentioned in despatches. Kent Hughes was taken prisoner by the Japanese
in Singapore
and was kept in the Changi
Prisoner Of War camp, where he was beaten and half-starved. In 1943 he was shipped as a slave labourer to Taiwan
. In October 1944 he was shipped to Japan and on to Korea
, and then sent by rail to Mukden
in Manchuria
, where prisoners of war were put to work in arms factories. In August 1945 Kent Hughes was liberated by the invading Red Army
and returned to Australia with an amoebic complaint
that would continue to bother him. While imprisoned, Kent Hughes secretly wrote what became Slaves of the Samurai, a colourful account of his wartime experiences, published in 1946. He also took up the case of Australian General Gordon Bennett
, who was accused of cowardice and desertion after leaving Singapore without authorisation shortly before the city surrendered to the Japanese. Kent Hughes appeared before the Royal Commission into Bennett's case, and argued that Bennett was correct to avoid being taken prisoner and return to Australia to continue the fight.
Appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1947 for his wartime service, Kent Hughes was very popular with the ex-service community, appearing in the ANZAC Day
march in April each year on horseback, in his World War I uniform, and campaigning for improved benefits for ex-servicemen, particularly ex-Prisoners Of War.
. He served as Deputy Premier, Minister for Transport and Minister for Public Instruction from 1947 to 1949, as well as Chief Secretary and Minister for Electrical Undertakings in 1948.
Leaving state politics, in 1949 Kent Hughes stood for the Melbourne based Division of Chisholm
, a seat the Liberal Party was expected to win. Subsequently elected, he was appointed Minister for the Interior and Minister for Works and Housing (Minister for Works from June 1952) in the Menzies Government. Kent Hughes complained that he was left in charge of only trifling issues.
, problems had beset the organising of the Games to the extent that International Olympic Committee
President Avery Brundage
threatened to award the Games to another city. In response, the Melbourne Organising Committee approached Kent Hughes in 1951 to be its chairman, believing his public stature, Olympian background and experience in administration would be great assets.
Kent Hughes took to the Chairman role with gusto, although his relationship with Brundage was never cordial. During a visit to Melbourne in 1955 to inspect the preparations, Brundage was less than impressed with the progress achieved under Kent Hughes's chairmanship and condemned Kent Hughes's apparent lack of concern at the looming deadline for the Games. Not one to take criticism lightly, Kent Hughes was quoted as saying that he had enough to worry about without having "Chicago blow-ins come out here and blow their tops over nothing in particular and annoy everyone in general."
Kent Hughes broke Olympic tradition in two significant ways. He decided to charge for television and newsreel footage of the Games where previously footage was provided free of charge. Secondly, following a suggestion from John Ian Wing, a 17 year old apprentice carpenter from Melbourne, Kent Hughes instigated the now familiar closing ceremony tradition of the athletes of different nations parading together, instead of with their national teams, as a symbol of world unity. Kent Hughes's plan to charge for television and newsreel footage of the Games was strongly opposed in many circles, including the media, who believed that the Games were news and as such should be free, while Australian government authorities thought that providing free television coverage of the Games would lead to greater tourism opportunities. Brundage made no public comment on television rights for the Games but grasped the financial possibilities of charging for rights, devising a television rights fees policy following the Games, whereby television stations were forced to negotiate for televised rights for all future Games. This policy is believed to have netted the IOC over $12 billion dollars since its inception at the 1960 Summer Olympics
.
In recognition of his work successfully organising the Games Kent Hughes was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
in 1957. An award presented by the Victorian Olympic Council to the athlete it considers to have given the most outstanding performance at a Games is named in his honour and Kent Hughes's significance to the modern Olympic movement is such that it has been suggested that an oil portrait of Kent Hughes be commissioned and placed in the Olympic Museum in Lausanne
.
. However, it was more likely due to Kent Hughes's continued public comments on foreign affairs and defence matters, in which he took an independent line favouring a policy even more anti-Communist than that of Menzies, higher defence spending and the reintroduction of conscription
. Widely renowned as the parliamentary figure most knowledgeable in Asian affairs, Kent Hughes was a leading member of the "Taiwan lobby" in the Liberal Party, which sought to maintain the recognition of Taiwan as the official representative of China, and met several times with Chiang Kai-shek
. He remained a backbench member until his death in 1970. Survived by his wife and three daughters, Kent Hughes was accorded a State Funeral. The Times
obituary highlighted his war service and Olympian status, referring to him as "one of the more colourful Australian parliamentarians" while sidestepping his earlier flirtation with fascism.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, MVO
Royal Victorian Order
The Royal Victorian Order is a dynastic order of knighthood and a house order of chivalry recognising distinguished personal service to the order's Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms, any members of her family, or any of her viceroys...
, MC
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
(12 June 1895 – 31 July 1970) was an Australian soldier, Olympian and Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
organiser, author and federal and state government minister.
Kent Hughes was born in 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...
to an upper middle-class family. He was set to attend the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
on a Rhodes Scholarship
Rhodes Scholarship
The Rhodes Scholarship, named after Cecil Rhodes, is an international postgraduate award for study at the University of Oxford. It was the first large-scale programme of international scholarships, and is widely considered the "world's most prestigious scholarship" by many public sources such as...
when he enlisted in the army on the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. After his discharge from the army, Kent Hughes attended Oxford and represented Australia in athletics as a hurdler at the 1920 Summer Olympics
1920 Summer Olympics
The 1920 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event in 1920 in Antwerp, Belgium....
in Antwerp. Upon the completion of his degree at Oxford, Kent Hughes returned to Australia, seeking a career in politics. Elected to the Victorian state parliament
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:...
in 1927, Kent Hughes sat with the conservative Nationalist Party of Australia
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...
, rising to the position of Deputy Premier of Victoria
Deputy Premier of Victoria
The Deputy Premier of Victoria is the second-most senior officer in the Government of Victoria. The Deputy Premiership has been a ministerial portfolio since , and the Deputy Premier is appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Premier....
. Kent Hughes proved to be a controversial figure in politics, and was never afraid to publicly espouse his personal beliefs, such as an admiration for fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
, of which he had a poor understanding.
Kent Hughes re-enlisted in the army at the outbreak of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and, while stationed in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, was captured by the Japanese. He spent four years as a prisoner of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
before his liberation by the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
in 1945. Kent Hughes returned to Victorian state politics until switching to federal politics in 1949.
He was appointed a Minister in the federal government led by Robert Menzies
Robert Menzies
Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....
but complained his responsibilities were trifling. More interesting to him was the chairmanship of the 1956 Summer Olympics
1956 Summer Olympics
The 1956 Melbourne Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in Melbourne, Australia, in 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, which could not be held in Australia due to quarantine regulations...
Organising Committee, where he showed he was willing to break longstanding Olympic conventions in order to modernise the Games. His role in the organisation of the Melbourne Olympics has led sporting historians to refer to Kent Hughes as "one of the most important figures in Olympic History". Following the Olympics Kent Hughes was dropped from his ministerial posts and spent the remainder of his time in parliament on the backbenches
Backbencher
In Westminster parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a Member of Parliament or a legislator who does not hold governmental office and is not a Front Bench spokesperson in the Opposition...
, gaining a reputation as the most ardent anticommunist in parliament. He died aged 75 in 1970, still a member of federal parliament.
Early life
The second child of seven of English orthopaedic surgeon and publisher Wilfred Kent Hughes and his wife Clementina (née Rankin), Kent Hughes was born in East MelbourneEast Melbourne, Victoria
East Melbourne is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, adjacent to Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Melbourne. At the 2006 Census, East Melbourne had a population of 4,330....
and educated at Trinity Grammar
Trinity Grammar School, Victoria
Trinity Grammar School is an independent Anglican day and boarding school for boys, located across several campuses in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....
and Melbourne Grammar. He was accepted at Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
as a Rhodes Scholar in 1914 (although he did not commence study at Oxford until 1919 due to his war service). The family name was Hughes, and young Wilfrid was usually called Bill or Billy. Later, to avoid confusion with fellow politician Billy Hughes
Billy Hughes
William Morris "Billy" Hughes, CH, KC, MHR , Australian politician, was the seventh Prime Minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923....
, he adopted one of his middle names, Kent, as part of his surname. It is not known why he spelled his given name "Wilfrid" while his father spelled it "Wilfred."
A number of Kent Hughes's relatives also gained national recognition in their chosen fields. Uncle Canon
Canon (priest)
A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
Ernest Hughes was an influential member of the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
in Australia and leading Australian rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
er with St Kilda and Essendon
Essendon Football Club
The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
and uncle Frederic Hughes was a Brigadier-General, mayor of 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...
and Aide-de-camp
Aide-de-camp
An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...
to the Governor-General
Governor-General of Australia
The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia is the representative in Australia at federal/national level of the Australian monarch . He or she exercises the supreme executive power of the Commonwealth...
, the Earl of Dudley
William Ward, 2nd Earl of Dudley
William Humble Ward, 2nd Earl of Dudley, KP, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, KStJ, PC, TD, DL , styled Viscount Ednam before 1885, was a British Conservative politician...
. Aunt Eva Hughes OBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
founded the Australian Women's National League
Australian Women's National League
The Australian Women’s National League was an Australian political lobby group federation first established in 1904. It acted in many ways like a political party, with an extensive branch network and the capability to run its own candidates...
, the then largest body of organised women in the country, while his sisters Dr Ellen Kent Hughes MBE was a leading paediatrician and community activist and Gwendoline Kent Lloyd, who Wilfrid referred to as "the family Communist", was a renowned proponent of Indigenous
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
rights.
World War I
Kent Hughes enlisted in the Australian Imperial ForceFirst Australian Imperial Force
The First Australian Imperial Force was the main expeditionary force of the Australian Army during World War I. It was formed from 15 August 1914, following Britain's declaration of war on Germany. Generally known at the time as the AIF, it is today referred to as the 1st AIF to distinguish from...
as a private on 8 August 1914. He served in the 3rd Light Horse Brigade
3rd Light Horse Brigade
The 3rd Light Horse Brigade was a mounted infantry brigade of the First Australian Imperial Force which served in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I....
at Gallipoli, where he was wounded, then Sinai
Sinai Peninsula
The Sinai Peninsula or Sinai is a triangular peninsula in Egypt about in area. It is situated between the Mediterranean Sea to the north, and the Red Sea to the south, and is the only part of Egyptian territory located in Asia as opposed to Africa, effectively serving as a land bridge between two...
, Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
and Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
. Kent Hughes, who reached the rank of major, was mentioned in despatches four times, received the Military Cross
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
in 1917 for his "marked ability and energy in the performance of his duties", and appointed Deputy Adjutant and Quartermaster General
Quartermaster general
A Quartermaster general is the staff officer in charge of supplies for a whole army.- The United Kingdom :In the United Kingdom, the Quartermaster-General to the Forces is one of the most senior generals in the British Army...
of the Australian Mounted Division
Australian Mounted Division
The Australian Mounted Division was a mounted infantry division formed in Egypt during World War I. When the British forces in the Middle East expanded in late 1916, a second mounted division was created called the Imperial Mounted Division...
. Upon his return to Australia in 1918 he published a volume of memoirs, Modern Crusaders, about his exploits in the Light Horse Brigade.
University and 1920 Olympics
At war's end, Kent Hughes entered Christ Church, OxfordChrist Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
as a Rhodes Scholar
Rhodes Scholarship
The Rhodes Scholarship, named after Cecil Rhodes, is an international postgraduate award for study at the University of Oxford. It was the first large-scale programme of international scholarships, and is widely considered the "world's most prestigious scholarship" by many public sources such as...
, gaining a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
with Honours in Modern History. He also captained the Oxford ski team and showed a proficiency for athletics, such that Kent Hughes was chosen to represent Australia
Australia at the 1920 Summer Olympics
Australia competed at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium. Australian athletes have competed in every Summer Olympic Games.A brother and sister combination swam for Australia, Frank and Lily Beaurepaire.- Silver:...
in the 110 and 400 metre hurdles
Hurdling
Hurdling is a type of track and field race.- Distances :There are sprint hurdle races and long hurdle races. The standard sprint hurdle race is 110 meters for men and 100 meters for women. The standard long hurdle race is 400 meters for both men and women...
at the 1920 Summer Olympics
1920 Summer Olympics
The 1920 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event in 1920 in Antwerp, Belgium....
. He finished fourth in his heat of the 110 metre hurdles and failed to progress but won his 400 metre heat before finishing fifth in the semi final. Kent Hughes did not return to England empty handed, as he later admitted to souveniring an official Olympic flag from the Olympic stadium.
In 1921, Kent Hughes was part of the Oxford Ski Team visit to Europe, during which he became the first Australian to ski competitively overseas.
Following his graduation from Oxford, Kent Hughes married Edith Kerr, a wealthy American heiress to a thread manufacturing empire, on 3 February 1923 in Montclair, New Jersey
Montclair, New Jersey
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 38,977 people, 15,020 households, and 9,687 families residing in the township. The population density was 6,183.6 people per square mile . There were 15,531 housing units at an average density of 2,464.0 per square mile...
and returned to 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...
to work as a director in his father's publishing company Ramsay Publishing Pty Ltd while sizing up a career in politics.
Political life
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...
preselection for the newly created seat of Kew
Electoral district of Kew
The Electoral district of Kew is an electoral district of the Victorian Legislative Assembly. It lies a few kilometres east of Melbourne and is centred around the suburb of Kew and also contains parts of Balwyn and Canterbury....
in 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:...
before winning the seat as an Independent candidate at the 1927 election, after which he joined the Nationalists. Kent Hughes soon found himself opposed to the conservative establishment and what he considered the mediocrity of Victorian politics. He openly referred to a number of his fellow Nationalists as "boneheads" and opposition Australian 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...
members as "uncouth, semi-educated ill-mannered narrow-minded boors". Kent Hughes, along with his close friend and ally Robert Menzies
Robert Menzies
Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....
, founded the Young Nationalists Organisation in 1929, which became an influential force in conservative politics in Victoria.
When the Nationalists came into power in December 1928, Kent Hughes was appointed Cabinet Secretary and Government Whip
Whip (politics)
A whip is an official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are a party's "enforcers", who typically offer inducements and threaten punishments for party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy...
but resigned his positions in July 1929, ostensibly in protest over a government subsidy to a freezing works company but more likely in reaction to the ongoing boneheadedness of his fellow parliamentarians.
Following the formation of 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) in place of the Nationalists in 1931, Kent Hughes served in several portfolios, including Railways, Labour, Transport and Sustenance. It was as Minister for Sustenance, a portfolio designed to deal with the poverty of 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...
, that he became known as the "Minister for Starvation". Kent Hughes drafted legislation that became the Unemployment Relief (Administration) Bill, which when enacted in January 1933, forced the unemployed to work for the dole and denied any form of financial assistance to women. Kent Hughes's bill has been described as the harshest piece of legislation in Australia directed towards the unemployed during the Depression.
In January 1933 Kent Hughes became embroiled in cricket's
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
Bodyline
Bodyline
Bodyline, also known as fast leg theory bowling, was a cricketing tactic devised by the English cricket team for their 1932–33 Ashes tour of Australia, specifically to combat the extraordinary batting skill of Australia's Don Bradman...
affair. A friend of English
English cricket team
The England and Wales cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales. Until 1992 it also represented Scotland. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board , having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club from 1903 until the end...
captain Douglas Jardine
Douglas Jardine
Douglas Robert Jardine was an English cricketer and captain of the England cricket team from 1931 to 1933–34.When describing cricket seasons, the convention used is that a single year represents an English cricket season, while two years represent a southern hemisphere cricket season because it...
from their Oxford days, Kent Hughes publicly defended Jardine's tactics of sustained short pitched bowling against the Australian batsmen, arguing that Australia
Australian cricket team
The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...
used similar tactics against England during the 1921
Australian cricket team in England in 1921
Australia won the 1921 Ashes series held in England. They won the first three matches against England, which meant that they had won eight in succession, an unequalled sequence in Ashes Tests, following the 5-0 drubbing they had administered to England in the 1920-21 season in Australia...
Ashes
The Ashes
The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. It is one of the most celebrated rivalries in international cricket and dates back to 1882. It is currently played biennially, alternately in the United Kingdom and Australia. Cricket being a summer sport, and the venues...
tour. He also criticised the protests of Australian cricket's governing body, the Australian Cricket Board of Control
Cricket Australia
Cricket Australia, formerly known as the Australian Cricket Board, is the governing body for professional and amateur cricket in Australia. It was originally formed in 1905 as the Australian Board of Control for International Cricket...
towards Jardine, stating they were "boorish, bitter (and) insulting".
While he was attacking the Cricket Board of Control, Kent Hughes was simultaneously organising the Australian tour of the Duke of Gloucester
Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester
The Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester was a soldier and member of the British Royal Family, the third son of George V of the United Kingdom and Queen Mary....
, and for his efforts was appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order
Royal Victorian Order
The Royal Victorian Order is a dynastic order of knighthood and a house order of chivalry recognising distinguished personal service to the order's Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms, any members of her family, or any of her viceroys...
in 1934. In 1938 he was manager of the Australian team
Australia at the 1938 British Empire Games
Australia hosted the 1938 British Empire Games in Sydney, New South Wales and their team was abbreviated AUS. This was their third of 3 Commonwealth Games meets.-Medals:-Gold:* Decima Norman - Broad Jump - 19 ft ¼ in...
at the Empire Games
1938 British Empire Games
The 1938 British Empire Games was the third British Empire Games, the Commonwealth Games being the modern-day equivalent. Held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia from February 5–12, 1938, they were timed to coincide with Sydney's sesqui-centenary...
held in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
.
"Why I Have Become a Fascist"
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
, encouraged in part by his uncle Ernest, who visited Italy in 1926 and published an enthusiastic report on Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
's Italy in a local newspaper on his return. Kent Hughes was also impressed by Sir Oswald Mosley
Oswald Mosley
Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet, of Ancoats, was an English politician, known principally as the founder of the British Union of Fascists...
's proposal for a British parliament consisting of business and national interests and headed by a powerful executive government. In 1933 he published a series of articles in the Melbourne Herald
Herald Sun
The Herald Sun is a morning tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia. It is published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Limited, itself a subsidiary of News Corporation. It is available for purchase throughout Melbourne, Regional Victoria, Tasmania, the Australian Capital...
, titled "Why I Have Become a Fascist." In one article he wrote that fascism "endeavours to avoid the egotistical attitude of laissez faire and the inertia of socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
." Kent Hughes saw it as "a half-way house between the two systems." In fascist countries, he said, "industrial peace and security have been found to be worth the price of sacrificing some of the individual liberty previously enjoyed." In what he called "British communities," however, he expected that fascism would "be garbed not in the dictatorial black shirt
Blackshirts
The Blackshirts were Fascist paramilitary groups in Italy during the period immediately following World War I and until the end of World War II...
, but in the more sedate style of the British Parliamentary representative."
Kent Hughes was unique among prominent Australians in publicly identifying as a fascist, although he never joined a fascist organisation or acted overtly in a way that could be described as fascist and there is no evidence to suggest he was an anti-semite. His biographer Frederick Howard maintains that Kent Hughes did not know much about fascism and used the word mainly for its shock value. "Kent Hughes does not seem to have paid enough attention to the difference between theory and practice in Mussolini's Italy," he observes.
Kent Hughes's public support of fascism failed to damage his political career, as he was elected Victorian
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....
Deputy Leader of the UAP in 1935, serving until his enlistment in the army in 1939.
World War II
Battle of Malaya
The Malayan Campaign was a campaign fought by Allied and Japanese forces in Malaya, from 8 December 1941 – 31 January 1942 during the Second World War. The campaign was dominated by land battles between British Commonwealth army units, and the Imperial Japanese Army...
of 1942, where he was again mentioned in despatches. Kent Hughes was taken prisoner by the Japanese
Imperial Japanese Army
-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...
in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
and was kept in the Changi
Changi Prison
Changi Prison is a prison located in Changi in the eastern part of Singapore.-First prison and POW camp:...
Prisoner Of War camp, where he was beaten and half-starved. In 1943 he was shipped as a slave labourer to Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
. In October 1944 he was shipped to Japan and on to Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
, and then sent by rail to Mukden
Shenyang
Shenyang , or Mukden , is the capital and largest city of Liaoning Province in Northeast China. Currently holding sub-provincial administrative status, the city was once known as Shengjing or Fengtianfu...
in Manchuria
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...
, where prisoners of war were put to work in arms factories. In August 1945 Kent Hughes was liberated by the invading Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
and returned to Australia with an amoebic complaint
Amoebic dysentery
Amoebic dysentery is a type of dysentery caused primarily by the amoeba Entamoeba histolytica. Amoebic dysentery is transmitted through contaminated food and water. Amoebae spread by forming infective cysts which can be found in stools, and spread if whoever touches them does not sanitize their...
that would continue to bother him. While imprisoned, Kent Hughes secretly wrote what became Slaves of the Samurai, a colourful account of his wartime experiences, published in 1946. He also took up the case of Australian General Gordon Bennett
Gordon Bennett (Australian soldier)
Lieutenant General Henry Gordon Bennett CB, CMG, DSO, VD , Australian soldier, served in both World War I and World War II...
, who was accused of cowardice and desertion after leaving Singapore without authorisation shortly before the city surrendered to the Japanese. Kent Hughes appeared before the Royal Commission into Bennett's case, and argued that Bennett was correct to avoid being taken prisoner and return to Australia to continue the fight.
Appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1947 for his wartime service, Kent Hughes was very popular with the ex-service community, appearing in the ANZAC Day
ANZAC Day
Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand, commemorated by both countries on 25 April every year to honour the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who fought at Gallipoli in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. It now more broadly commemorates all...
march in April each year on horseback, in his World War I uniform, and campaigning for improved benefits for ex-servicemen, particularly ex-Prisoners Of War.
Post-war politics
Kent Hughes returned to politics and joined the newly founded Liberal PartyLiberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
. He served as Deputy Premier, Minister for Transport and Minister for Public Instruction from 1947 to 1949, as well as Chief Secretary and Minister for Electrical Undertakings in 1948.
Leaving state politics, in 1949 Kent Hughes stood for the Melbourne based Division of Chisholm
Division of Chisholm
The Division of Chisholm is an Australian Electoral Division in Victoria. The division was created in 1949 and is named for Caroline Chisholm, a social worker and promoter of women's immigration. It is located in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne...
, a seat the Liberal Party was expected to win. Subsequently elected, he was appointed Minister for the Interior and Minister for Works and Housing (Minister for Works from June 1952) in the Menzies Government. Kent Hughes complained that he was left in charge of only trifling issues.
1956 Olympics
Following the successful bid by Melbourne to host the 1956 Summer Olympics1956 Summer Olympics
The 1956 Melbourne Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in Melbourne, Australia, in 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, which could not be held in Australia due to quarantine regulations...
, problems had beset the organising of the Games to the extent that International Olympic Committee
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president...
President Avery Brundage
Avery Brundage
Avery Brundage was an American amateur athlete, sports official, art collector, and philanthropist. Brundage competed in the 1912 Olympics and was the US national all-around athlete in 1914, 1916 and 1918...
threatened to award the Games to another city. In response, the Melbourne Organising Committee approached Kent Hughes in 1951 to be its chairman, believing his public stature, Olympian background and experience in administration would be great assets.
Kent Hughes took to the Chairman role with gusto, although his relationship with Brundage was never cordial. During a visit to Melbourne in 1955 to inspect the preparations, Brundage was less than impressed with the progress achieved under Kent Hughes's chairmanship and condemned Kent Hughes's apparent lack of concern at the looming deadline for the Games. Not one to take criticism lightly, Kent Hughes was quoted as saying that he had enough to worry about without having "Chicago blow-ins come out here and blow their tops over nothing in particular and annoy everyone in general."
Kent Hughes broke Olympic tradition in two significant ways. He decided to charge for television and newsreel footage of the Games where previously footage was provided free of charge. Secondly, following a suggestion from John Ian Wing, a 17 year old apprentice carpenter from Melbourne, Kent Hughes instigated the now familiar closing ceremony tradition of the athletes of different nations parading together, instead of with their national teams, as a symbol of world unity. Kent Hughes's plan to charge for television and newsreel footage of the Games was strongly opposed in many circles, including the media, who believed that the Games were news and as such should be free, while Australian government authorities thought that providing free television coverage of the Games would lead to greater tourism opportunities. Brundage made no public comment on television rights for the Games but grasped the financial possibilities of charging for rights, devising a television rights fees policy following the Games, whereby television stations were forced to negotiate for televised rights for all future Games. This policy is believed to have netted the IOC over $12 billion dollars since its inception at the 1960 Summer Olympics
1960 Summer Olympics
The 1960 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held from August 25 to September 11, 1960 in Rome, Italy...
.
In recognition of his work successfully organising the Games Kent Hughes was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
in 1957. An award presented by the Victorian Olympic Council to the athlete it considers to have given the most outstanding performance at a Games is named in his honour and Kent Hughes's significance to the modern Olympic movement is such that it has been suggested that an oil portrait of Kent Hughes be commissioned and placed in the Olympic Museum in Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
.
Political decline
Menzies dropped Kent Hughes from his ministry in 1956, ostensibly because Menzies opposed some of his housing plans for CanberraCanberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
. However, it was more likely due to Kent Hughes's continued public comments on foreign affairs and defence matters, in which he took an independent line favouring a policy even more anti-Communist than that of Menzies, higher defence spending and the reintroduction of conscription
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
. Widely renowned as the parliamentary figure most knowledgeable in Asian affairs, Kent Hughes was a leading member of the "Taiwan lobby" in the Liberal Party, which sought to maintain the recognition of Taiwan as the official representative of China, and met several times with Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
. He remained a backbench member until his death in 1970. Survived by his wife and three daughters, Kent Hughes was accorded a State Funeral. The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
obituary highlighted his war service and Olympian status, referring to him as "one of the more colourful Australian parliamentarians" while sidestepping his earlier flirtation with fascism.
Further reading
- Henderson, G. (1994) Menzies Child: The Liberal Party of Australia 1944-94, Allen & Unwin, St Leonards, NSW. ISBN 1-86373-747-2