A Local Man: A Play About Ben Chifley

by Bob Ellis, Robin McLachlan

Ben Chifley has been called Australia's best-loved prime minister. His life story, from engine driver to prime minister, with his steadfast loyalty to his humble origins throughout his political career, has become one of Australia's iconic legends. This book presents a portrait of this great Australian statesman.

96 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2005

About the author

Robert James "Bob" Ellis (10 May 1942 – 3 April 2016[1]) was an Australian writer, journalist, filmmaker and political commentator. He was a student at the University of Sydney at the same time as other notable Australians including Clive James, Germaine Greer, Les Murray, John Bell, Ken Horler and Mungo McCallum. He lived in Sydney with the author and screenwriter Anne Brooksbank; they had three children.

Plays

The Legend of King O'Malley (1970) with Michael Boddy
Big Brother Dragon (1971) with Michael Boddy
Duke of Edinburgh Assassinated or The Vindication of Henry Parkes (1971) with Dick Hall
The Francis James Dossier (1973) – later The James Dossier (1975) – musical about Francis James
Whitlam Days (1975)
Down Under (1976) with Anne Brooksbank
A Very Good Year (1980)
Man, the musical (1990s) book and lyrics with Denny Lawrence, music by Chris Neal
A Local Man: A Play about Ben Chifley (2004) with Robin McLachlan
Shakespeare in Italy (2012) with Denny Lawrence
Intimate Strangers (unproduced) with Denny Lawrence

Screenplays

Newsfront (1978) with Anne Brooksbank
Fatty Finn (1980)
Maybe This Time (1980) with Anne Brooksbank
Goodbye Paradise (1983) with Denny Lawrence
Man of Flowers (1983) with Paul Cox
The Winds of Jarrah (1983)
My First Wife (1984) with Paul Cox
Unfinished Business (1985) – also directed
Top Kid (1985) (TV) with John Hepworth
The Paper Boy (1985) (TV) with John Hepworth
Cactus (1986) with Paul Cox
The Gilles Republic (1986) (TV)
Bullseye (1987)
Perhaps Love (1987) (TV)
True Believers (1988) (TV)
Warm Nights on a Slow Moving Train (1988) – also directed
Gilles and Company (1992) (TV)
Dreaming of Lords (1993) with Ernie Dingo – also directed
The Nostradamus Kid (1993) – also directed
Ebbtide (1994)
Wildside (1998) Episode 24
Bastards from the Bush, A Journey with Bob Ellis and Les Murray (1998) – documentary
Infamous Victory: Ben Chifley's Battle for Coal (2008) – documentary

Novels

Mad Dog Morgan (1976) – novelisation of film with Anne Brooksbank
Fatty Finn (1980) – based on his film script
Top Kid (1985) – novelisation with John Hepworth of his script
The Paper Boy (1985) -novelisation with John Hepworth of his script
The Hewson tapes : a secret history, perhaps, of our times (1993) – fictionalised diary of John Hewson
The Season (1996) – with Roy Masters

Non-fiction

The Things We Did Last Summer: An Election Journal – account of the Australian federal election, 1983
Two weeks in another country : a journal of the 1983 British election – account of the United Kingdom general election, 1983
Letters to the Future (1987) – collection of writings from 1969–87
The Inessential Ellis (1992) – collection of writings
Goodbye Jerusalem : night thoughts of a Labor outsider (1997) – writings centred on the history of the Australian Labor Party up to the Australian federal election, 1996
First abolish the customer: 202 arguments against economic rationalism (1998)
So it goes : essays, broadcasts, speeches 1987–1999 (1999)
Goodbye Babylon : further journeys in time and politics (2002)
Night thoughts in time of war (2004)
And so it went: night thoughts in a year of change (2009) – events around the Australian federal election, 2007
The capitalism delusion : how global economics wrecked everything and what to do about it (2009)
One hundred days of summer : how we got to where we are (2010)
Suddenly, last winter : an election diary (2010) – diary of the Australian federal election, 2010

Acting

I Own the Racecourse (1985) – film
The Human Behan (1995–96) – play
Waiting for Godot (2000) – play

Reviews

[Diane Wallis · Rating 4 out of 5]

"A Local Man: a play about Ben Chifley" is written by Bob Ellis & Robin McLachlan. It chronicles the last days of Chifley's time in Australian politics and was really very interesting, stirring up quite a few memories. The play is set in June of 1951 following the double dissolution of parliament in April of that year. I can remember at the time that my father was very pro-Menzies; the Liberal (conservative) party leader. Chifley was a Labor man through and through.
The play is actually set on a Saturday afternoon and opens in the kitchen of the Chifley's home in Bathurst (a country town west of Sydney) and the radio is playing the theme song of the Children's Session "Old Mother Hubbard, and Jack and Jill, and Tom the Piper's son…". My sister and I were both keen listeners to the Children's Session (later the Children's Hour) but I am almost sure that it was only broadcast on weekdays, never on Saturday. According to Wikipedia (always a rich but often inaccurate source of information) the Children's Session was 6 days a week and I think that the playwrights must have stopped their research here which is pretty lazy. On the internet, I found a forum for people who had been Argonauts (members of this club) which revealed a week-day only Children's session or Argonauts Club as it was also known. As a result of all this I have joined the Friends of the National Film and Sound Archive and wasted a great deal of time. Anyway, if I ever meet Bob Ellis again I'll have a word to him about this inaccuracy in his play. Ex- Argonauts at my local book club also confirmed the weekday-only time slot.
Chifley was a remarkable man who never moved into the Lodge, the official residence for prime ministers of Australia, preferring to stay in a simple hotel in Canberra. He felt that the Lodge was far too grand and extravagant for him.
Another interesting thing I learnt from the play was that Chifley used to drive from Canberra to his home in Bathurst through Boorowa and used to attend services at the Catholic church in Boorowa on the way. He was from an Irish Catholic family but married a Presbyterian girl in a Presbyterian church and was therefore ex-communicated. He still went to church but had to stand at the back and didn't partake in mass or confession for all the years of his life after marriage. I think this kind of thing has eased up these days.