Robert James Heffron (10 September 189027 July 1978), also known as Bob Heffron or R. J. Heffron, was a long-serving New South Wales politician, union organiser and Australian Labor Party (ALP) Premier of New South Wales from 1959 to 1964. Born in New Zealand, Heffron became involved in various Socialist and labour movements in New Zealand and later Australia before joining the Australian Labor Party. A prominent unionist organiser, he was gaoled for "conspiracy to strike action". He was later elected to the Parliament of New South Wales for Botany in 1930. However his disputes with party leader Jack Lang led to his expulsion from the ALP in 1936 and Heffron formed his own party from disgruntled Labor MPs known as the Industrial Labor Party. The success of his party enabled his readmission to the party and his prominence in a post-Lang NSW Branch which won office in 1941.
Heffron served as Minister of the Crown in the cabinets of William McKell, James McGirr and Joseph Cahill, most notably as Minister for Education from 1944 to 1960 and as Deputy Premier. In his significant tenure as minister for education Heffron oversaw significant reforms through his commissioning of the "Wyndham Report" and the consequent Public Education Act of 1961, and a massive expansion of the state's public schools. He also oversaw the development of higher education services, including the establishment of the New South Wales University of Technology (now the University of New South Wales). Rising to become premier in 1959, he spearheaded a final attempt to abolish the New South Wales Legislative Council via referendum in 1961, which ended in failure. Serving as premier until 1964, Heffron was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for 37 years until his retirement on 23 January 1968.
Early years and background "Bob" Heffron (as he was widely known) was born on 10 September 1890 in Thames, New Zealand, the fifth child of Irish-born parents Michael Heffron, a blacksmith, and Ellen Heath. After spending his early education at nearby Hikutaia, Heffron left school at 15 to work in a gold-treating plant while studying metallurgy at the Thames School of Mines. At 19, he went to California to work and to the Yukon in Canada to look for gold; when this proved unsuccessful he returned to New Zealand in 1912.
Heffron joined the New Zealand Socialist Party in 1912 and, becoming a miners' union organiser, was involved in the Waihi miners' strike, an event significant to the development of the labour movement in New Zealand. Appointed an organiser for the Auckland General Labourers' Union, Heffron studied law part-time at Auckland University College, whilst residing at the Heffron family home at 24 Grosvenor Street Grey Lynn. Although having volunteered for military service in the First World War, Heffron was rejected on medical grounds, with the attending doctor citing heart troubles. However, the rejection on the grounds of health was done despite an allegation that Heffron, in an attempt to encourage such a finding, had smoked 12 packs of cigarettes prior to his medical, in order to avoid military service. His elder brother, William Thomas Heffron, enlisted as a private on 3 October 1917 and was killed in action a few days before the armistice on 4 November 1918, while serving with the 1st Battalion, Auckland Infantry Regiment. On 29 December 1917 he married Jessie Bjornstad, the daughter of a Norwegian engineer and they had two daughters, Maylean Jessie and June.
In 1921, the Heffrons moved to Melbourne, Victoria. That same year in Victoria, Heffron was appointed an organiser for the Federated Clothing Trades of the Commonwealth of Australia and also joined the leftist Victorian Socialist Party. Later in 1921 he moved to Sydney, becoming the secretary of the New South Wales branch of the Federated Marine Stewards' and Pantrymen's Association of Australasia. As the union's state secretary, a role he held for ten years, he took a prominent role in maritime trade unionism in Sydney. In February 1924, when the Commonwealth & Dominion Line steamer Port Lyttelton was declared 'Black' by the Labor Council of New South Wales owing to various worker's disputes and the ship having been declared unseaworthy, Heffron and six other union representatives acted to advise members of the Seamen's Union to refuse to work on the Port Lyttelton. For this, in April the government of Sir George Fuller had Heffron and the six other unionists arrested on the charge of conspiracy to strike action. Although controversially refused bail by the trial judge, Heffron and his fellow defendants, represented by Richard Windeyer KC and H. V. Evatt, were found not guilty and released in July 1924 by the court, a verdict that had been returned by the direction of the judge. Later joining the Australian Labor Party, at the time he showed himself to be a supporter of party leader Jack Lang, supporting Lang's successful motion at the 1923 state conference to readmit James Dooley to the party.
Early political career
Having confirmed his Lang credentials, Heffron stood as the endorsed Labor party candidate for the seat of Botany at the 1927 election, which was held by Thomas Mutch, who had split from party after a stoush with Lang and stood as an 'Independent Labor' candidate after being denied preselection. A contest marked by clashes and accusations of rorting, Heffron was ultimately unsuccessful, gaining only 45% of the vote. He was eventually successful at the next election in 1930, defeating Mutch, and held Botany until its abolition in 1950.
While his support for Lang had enabled Heffron to accelerate his political career, he found himself increasingly unhappy with Lang's autocratic and divisive political style, which had been amplified by the Great Depression, the expulsion of the NSW branch of the Labor Party from the federal branch and the ultimate dismissal of Lang's government in 1932 by Governor Sir Philip Game. After Labor's defeats at the hands of the United Australia Party (UAP) at the 1932 and 1935 state elections, Heffron became associated with a small group in caucus and in the NSW Labor Council who aimed to depose Lang as leader. However, while Heffron's movement was based on his personal stronghold in his Botany–Maroubra ALP branches and the left-wing trade unions, Lang maintained majority control of the caucus, party machine and the party newspaper, Labor Daily.
Industrial Labor Party When Labor Council Secretary Robert King organised a conference of dissident left-wing unions on 1 August 1936, which was attended by Heffron and three other caucus members, Lang summoned a special party conference on 22 August which expelled Heffron, King and all the other leaders who attended the conference. As a result, Heffron, along with his colleague Carlo Lazzarini and others, formed the Industrial Labor Party (ILP), which was also known as the 'Heffron Labor Party'. Despite their expulsion, Heffron and the new ILP did increasingly well against Lang and the Labor Party, winning two subsequent by-elections in the seats of Hurstville (won by Clive Evatt) and Waverley (won by Clarrie Martin). In June 1939, three other MPs, Frank Burke (Newtown), Mat Davidson (Cobar) and Ted Horsington (Sturt), unhappy with Lang's leadership joined the ILP. As a result of its success, John Curtin and the federal executive of the ALP pressured the NSW ALP to readmit Heffron and his party at a unity conference at the Majestic Theatre in Newtown on 26 August 1939 Heffron then combined forces with William McKell to depose Lang on 5 September 1939, with McKell becoming the new leader of the party, although he declined to stand for the position of deputy leader.
Minister of the Crown
National Emergency Services
When the Labor Party eventually regained office under McKell, defeating Alexander Mair and the UAP at the May 1941 election, Heffron was elevated to the ministry as Minister for National Emergency Services, charged with the implementation of the National Emergency Services Act, and the administration of National Emergency Services, New South Wales. In this role he was responsible for the civil defence and air-raid precautions of New South Wales, which became increasingly more important after the entry of Japan in the Second World War in December 1941 and subsequent attacks on Australia on Darwin and Sydney in 1942. Serving until 8 June 1944, Heffron advocated public vigilance whilst in this portfolio, declaring: "We are living in a fool's paradise in Australia ... Many people have the idea that what is happening in other countries cannot happen here."
Heffron also clashed with the Federal Government's imposition of National Emergency Services procedures, most notably over the imposition of brownouts for the city of Sydney. In the Legislative Assembly in November 1942, Heffron denounced the advisers of the Federal Government who continued to maintain the brown-out as an essential defence measure: "The only conclusion I can come to, is that the brown-out was born of a form of panic when Japan entered the war and it has continued because of a few brass hats will not look at the facts and the evidence of the fighting men, but persist in sticking to their first conclusion. The position, therefore, is ludicrous." Heffron later affirmed that the brown-out was completely unnecessary as a black-out, with short notice given, was a more effective and safer defensive measure.
Minister for Education Appointed by McKell as Minister for Education in June 1944, Heffron authored in 1946 a comprehensive policy for the New South Wales education system entitled: Tomorrow is Theirs: The Present and Future of Education in New South Wales. As minister during the important post-war era of economic growth and infrastructure development, Heffron presided over the expansion in the number and facilities of the public schools in NSW, with enrolments in all areas doubling in size. In November 1952 he appointed Harold Wyndham as the director-general of education, and commissioned him to chair a committee tasked to completely review the Secondary education system in New South Wales and make recommendations for improvements. The committee's report, popularly referred to as "The Wyndham Report", was presented to Heffron in October 1957 and gave rise to the Public Education Act of 1961, being brought into effect in 1962, during Heffron's term as premier. Key amongst the changes was the objective of presenting all students with the opportunity to experience a wide range of subjects, including visual arts, industrial arts, music and drama, and a wide range of languages. The five-year secondary school system was abandoned in favour of adding another year to the course, with major statewide external examinations at the end of the tenth (School Certificate) and the twelfth (Higher School Certificate) years of schooling.
Heffron's reformist attitude in education also extended to the tertiary level, in which he intended to significantly expand NSW's capacity for higher-level learning. On 9 July 1946 he presented a proposal to the cabinet outlining the creation of a technological-based university in NSW, as a separate institution to the existing Sydney Technical College and a year later cabinet authorised the appointment of a Developmental Council, chaired by Heffron, to bring the new tertiary institution into existence. First meeting in August 1947, the council established all the guidelines and regulations that would set-up the future institution and by March 1948, 46 students had already enrolled to study.