Lessons from the Goulburn School Strike 1962
SOURCE: Goulburn Post
In 1962, there were six Catholic Schools in Goulburn, educating over 2,000 students. Believe it or not, one kindergarten class had 84 children in it.
One school had inadequate toilets. Auxiliary Bishop John Cullinane thought it best to shut the school down as funds were not available.
700 people attended a public meeting on Monday 9 July 1962. They determined (560 to 140) to shut the six schools down and enroll students in state run schools.
On Monday 16 July 1962, 1300 children marched on the state schools, with 640 getting entry by lottery.
The strike was to have a duration of six weeks. It lasted for one week.
Robert Menzies called an early election for 1964, promising to fund science blocks in all schools – state and private.
We entered the era of public funding for Catholic (private) schools, saving governments huge amounts of money.
Public funding for Catholic schools did exist, of course, before the Public Instruction Act 1880, which abolished it. St. Mary of the Cross (MacKillop) rejected funding for her schools, arguing that it would compromise values.
Fr Tony Percy
Former Prime Minister John Howard claims the move by Menzies was his greatest decision.
I came to realise this truth when the ACT Labor-Greens Government conducted a rapacious, unjust takeover of Calvary Public Hospital in 2022.
Government funding of educational and medical institutions allows intermediary bodies to flourish, warding off governments wanting to consume everything for themselves. It is called Socialism.
If we want the delightful mix of private and public in both education and health, then we will have to re-discover our mojo, get off the canvas, stand and deliver.
Three learnings are on offer from the famous Goulburn School Strike.
Bishop Cullinane played down the role of the episcopate: ‘Not me, the laymen.’
Speaking to the 700 people at the public meeting, Archbishop Eris O’Brien emphasised the proper and rightful role and mission of lay-people:
‘I respect you as Catholic citizens and intelligent citizens. If you want to use your citizen rights in this way, I am not going to restrain you. Whether it is wise or not, I am not going to intervene. You are making a gesture of protest, and now you have made it, I am going to stand behind you.’
Veteran Catholic journalist Ken Sully, fills out the picture, observing the wider implications for the Church in Australia:
‘The controlled aggression, the belief in acting for justice, brought confidence. And that because the Goulburn Catholics were winners and showed the rest of the Australian church that it had the capacity to win.’
History is a great teacher.
- From an Address to the Financial Administrators of Catholic Dioceses in Canberra, 15 October 2024
I sound a note of caution. The strike took place at a time when Menzies read the split in the ALP to his advantage. The Socialist Left through their willingness to cooperate with Communist Party members in the Trade Union Movement drove mainly Catholic members to form the Anti-Communist Labor Party (later morphed into the Democratic Labor Party). The DLP could claim to achieve more by giving their preferences to the Liberal/Country Party Coalition. And Menzies did just that. The ALP eventually came to its senses under Gough Whitlam; the Socialist Left was neutered; and the “Catholic vote” as a political force withered over time. Australia today is a very pluralist society compared to the 1960s.
We are in different times. Catholic high schools can be noted for the secular motivations of their parents and the lack of faith in their students. Nonetheless there is still a Catholic life in the Archdiocese as evidenced by the attendance and spirit of the Archdiocesan Assembly.
There is an aspect of the takeover of Calvary Hospital which could be redressed as an appropriate Missionary activity of the entire Church. Canberra now needs a Hospice in which palliative care is provided as a Public Hospital service outside the context of “mercy killing”. The federal government warned the nation last year that the first of the ageing Baby Boomer generation are approaching 80. Lets come together as a Catholic force and do what it takes to establish a new Claire Holland House. Perhaps it could be dedicated to the memory of the recently deceased Catholic physician, Dr Frank Long. On 22 December 2017 Frank made a submission to the ACT Legislative Assembly attaching his paper entitled “The Myth of the Right to Die”. The opening paragraph of the cover letter read “Dear Sir/Madam,
The matter of killing has been particularly debated over the last couple of years. I
was the ACT Director Of Palliative Care from 1997-99 and have therefore collected
information on the topic. I have attached articles which should cover all the
reasons why Assisted Dying – “Mercy Killing” – should never become lawful. I do
not think I can add anything to the attached material.”