Chif’s Chair honoured: Students craft tribute to former PM’s legacy

Mary MacKillop College Principal Michael Lee with Chifley’s Chair

A humble wooden chair is being given a fitting tribute at St Mary MacKillop College.

The chair – that once seated former Prime Minister Ben Chifley at St Christopher’s Cathedral – is the centre of a student craftsmanship project. Under the guidance of staff and with timber sourced from Chifley’s hometown of Bathurst, senior trade students are constructing a perspex case to honour both the object and the man behind it.

“It is a simple kitchen chair that speaks loudly of the man who used it,” Principal Michael Lee said.

“Ben Chifley was Australia’s prime minister from 1945-1949. In his 20’s, he married a Presbyterian, which put him outside the Catholic Church.”

When Chifley took his vows in a Presbyterian Church, he defied the Papal decree forbidding Catholics from marrying outside the Church. While the couple continued to worship in their separate churches, Chifley was no longer allowed to take communion.

“He went to Mass every Sunday that he was in Canberra at St Christopher’s Cathedral,” Mr Lee said.

“And when he went, he didn’t sit in the pews with everyone else – he sat in this chair. Chif’s Chair.”

MacKillop Catholic College Year 12 student works on the perspex case

A former Bathurst resident and a friend of the Chifley family, Mr Lee was quick to say yes when the opportunity came up to preserve the artefact for display.

“I jumped all over it,” he said.

“We wanted to do it properly, with the kind of integrity that Chifley himself represented.”

The chair has been centre stage at school assemblies and parent information nights, drawing curiosity from students who stop by Mr Lee’s office for a closer look — though none are allowed to sit in it.

“It’s quite a relic,” he said.

“I’ve kept it under lock and key in my office, where I gaze upon it and draw inspiration from it.”

Mr Lee said the chair was much more than just a historical artefact.

“It tells the story of a sectarian time, which has now passed, and is emblematic of a time when Australian society was quite divided along faith lines,” he said.

“I think Ben Chifley had enormous integrity, particularly around his faith. He helped to change the relationship between Australians and their government in that immediate post-war period. The Snowy Hydro scheme, the establishment of the Australian National University, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme – these are significant and enduring legacies that promote the common good.”

The project, endorsed by Archbishop Christopher Prowse, has been met with great enthusiasm from students and staff alike.

“There’s been a lot of curiosity about it, which has been great,” Mr Lee said.

“Most of the students are trade students and are very busy juggling Year 12 certificate subjects and school-based apprenticeships, but they’ve been happy to add this in. I’m grateful to the Archbishop for trusting myself and the school with what I think is a very important task. I will give the chair up with reluctance, but also with great pleasure.”

Once completed, the chair and its new case will return to St Christopher’s Cathedral Precinct.