[Editor: This speech by Ben Chifley (1885-1951) was made whilst he was Prime Minister of Australia (1945-1949); it was given at the annual conference of the New South Wales Labor Party on 12 June 1949. Chifley’s speech is regarded as an iconic part of the history of the Australian Labor Party, and the idea of “The Light on the Hill” is well-known in traditional Labor Party circles.]
[The Light on the Hill]
I have had the privilege of leading the Labor Party for nearly four years. They have not been easy times and it has not been an easy job. It is a man-killing job and would be impossible if it were not for the help of my colleagues and members of the movement.
No Labor Minister or leader ever has an easy job. The urgency that rests behind the Labor movement, pushing it on to do things, to create new conditions, to reorganise the economy of the country, always means that the people who work within the Labor movement, people who lead, can never have an easy job. The job of the evangelist is never easy.
Because of the turn of fortune’s wheel your Premier and I have gained some prominence in the Labor movement. But the strength of the movement cannot come from us. We may make plans and pass legislation to help and direct the economy of the country. But the job of getting the things the people of the country want comes from the roots of the Labor movement — the people who support it.
When I sat at a Labor meeting in the country with only ten or fifteen men there, I found a man sitting beside me who had been working in the Labor movement for fifty-four years. I have no doubt that many of you have been doing the same, not hoping for any advantage from the movement, not hoping for any personal gain, but because you believe in a movement that has been built up to bring better conditions to the people. Therefore, the success of the Labor Party at the next elections depends entirely, as it always has done, on the people who work.
I try to think of the Labor movement, not as putting an extra sixpence into somebody’s pocket, or making somebody Prime Minister or Premier, but as a movement bringing something better to the people, better standards of living, greater happiness to the mass of the people. We have a great objective — the light on the hill — which we aim to reach by working for the betterment of mankind not only here but anywhere we may give a helping hand. If it were not for that, the Labor movement would not be worth fighting for.
If the movement can make someone more comfortable, give to some father or mother a greater feeling of security for their children, a feeling that if a depression comes there will be work, that the government is striving its hardest to do its best, then the Labor movement will be completely justified.
It does not matter about persons like me who have our limitations. I only hope that the generosity, kindliness and friendliness shown to me by thousands of my colleagues in the Labor movement will continue to be given to the movement and add zest to its work.
Published in:
““The Light on the Hill” – Speech by Ben Chifley: June 12, 1949”, AustralianPolitics.com
The Light on the Hill: Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of Ben Chifley’s Prime Ministership The Chifley Research Centre, pp. 2-3 (PDF file)
Neville Buch, “The Light of Ben Chifley”, 13 July 2020
“The light on the hill”, Wikipedia
See also:
“Mr. Chifley’s Speeches: A Man Who Was Proud to be Humble” (book review), The Age (Melbourne, Vic.), 20 August 1952, p. 2 [the “Light on the Hill” speech was given at the “Annual conference, N.S.W. branch of A.L.P., June 12, 1949”]
Editor’s notes:
The Premier referred to in this speech (“your Premier and I”) was Jim McGirr (1890-1957), who was Premier of New South Wales 1947-1952.
See: 1) David Clune, “James (Jim) McGirr (1890–1957)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
2) “Jim McGirr”, Wikipedia
The four sources referenced above for this speech include the text “by working the betterment of mankind”; however, other sites (including the National Archives of Australia) render this text as “by working for the betterment of mankind” (i.e. including the word “for”). For example:
“Ben Chifley: during office”, National Archives of Australia
“ALP forms”, National Archives of Australia
As the word “for” is a logical part of that sentence, being grammatically correct, it has been included here in the text of the speech.
Leave a Reply