This piece on NSW Labor Premier Jack Lang was inspired by a draft article written by Miss M.E. (Joyce) Cocks, in 1932.
Source – Library of NSW
I was researching Joyce’s life at Sydney’s Mitchell Library when I came across a diatribe she had written against Lang;
‘The present Government deliberately refuse to pay their just debts yet they are at liberty, but the private citizen who possesses the means yet refuses to meet his obligations goes to Long Bay.
It concluded;
…it is no virtue to bear with moderation the indignities which are offered to our country. And Mr Lang has heaped dishonour upon New South Wales!’
From the handwritten draft. (Library of NSW)
Joyce gave her address as The Mitchell Library. She was working there at the time as an attendant. So what was behind this politically aware young woman’s fury with the Premier?
Well, it began with Jack Lang’s unorthodox efforts to save the State from bankruptcy during the Great Depression.
In what became known as The Lang Plan, he decided to cease paying interest on money New South Wales had borrowed from British financiers. His intention was to use those funds to pay the wages and salaries of his state’s public servants and to fund unemployment benefits.
On the morning of March 12, 1932, the Premier and Treasury officers secretly visited the Bank of New South Wales and the Commonwealth Bank and withdrew suitcases full of cash, amounting to over a million pounds. To avoid Canberra getting its hands on the money, it was stored in the vaults of the Treasury building in Bridge Street, once used to store the colony’s gold reserves.
The Treasury Building in the 1920s. (Source – Library of NSW)
A constitutional crisis immediately arose, as the federal Government would ultimately have been responsible for the debts. The newly elected Prime Minister, Joe Lyons, was not about to let that happen. There was also strong opposition from groups such as The New Guard. It was even feared that the Treasury could be stormed in a coup. Armed constables patrolled the building’s corridors below the Premier’s office.
THE DISMISSAL
NSW Governor, Sir Philip Game, found himself in an impossible situation. He told Lang that in his opinion the action was illegal. He said that if the debts were not paid he would be forced to use his reserve powers to remove the Premier from office.
Sir Philip Game (Source – National Portrait Gallery)
The feisty Jack Lang stood his ground, and on May 13 1932 Sir Phillip went ahead and dismissed the government.
Naturally the press was in a frenzy over the affair. Well known photographer Sam Hood was among those reporting from the Cabinet Room of the Treasury on the day. He asked officials if they could stand on a table to take some shots, and eventually permission was granted. The remarkable image below shows the press pack on the polished wooden table, which was being protected by a carpet.
Source – NSW Government.
At the subsequent election Labor suffered a huge defeat.
Jack Lang is booted from government. (Source – Punch Magazine)
Jack Lang’s political opponents were delighted. No doubt Joyce Cocks was among those who appreciated cartoons such as the one below.
The parallels between Lang’s dismissal and that of the Whitlam government in 1975 are impossible to ignore. Jack Lang and Gough Whitlam were both big characters, both in physical stature and personality. Both were reforming Labor leaders who were brought down by a financial crisis. Despite wide public support, they were both rejected when they next faced the polls.
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