Jim Cairns: Encyclopedia II - Jim Cairns - Early Days

Jim Cairns - Early Days

Jim Cairns was born in Carlton, then a working-class suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, the son of a clerk. He grew up on a dairy farm north of Sunbury. His father went to the First World War and never came back: his family never found out why. His father had syphilis, and according to Cairns' biographers his mother was so afraid of passing the infection to her son that she refused any physical contact with him. For a person so gifted in persuasion, Cairns was diffident and reserved, and some of his friends attributed this to his awkward relationship with his mother.

He attended Sunbury State School and later Northcote High School, where he completed his Leaving certificate. Though life during the Depression was difficult with his mother having to work to provide for the family and he having to endure a three-hour daily commute by train, he was a very bright student and excelled academically and in athletics.

Later Cairns had to abandon his studies to support his family, and in 1933 he joined the Police Force, becoming a detective and working in the surveillance or "dog" squad. While working he studied at night and completed an economics degree at the University of Melbourne. He was the first Victorian policeman to hold a tertiary degree. In 1939 he married Gwen Robb, whose two sons he adopted.

In 1944, Cairns left the Police and was employed, successively as a tutor, a lecturer and a senior lecturer in economic history, at the University. He became a talented economist and also a convinced socialist. In 1946 he applied to join the Communist Party but was rejected. He joined the Labor Party and became active in its left wing. The Victorian Labor Party was at this time controlled by the Catholic right-wing forces known as the "Groupers", associated with B.A. Santamaria, and Cairns was a leading opponent of this group.

In 1955, when the federal Labor leader, Dr H.V. Evatt, attacked the Groupers and brought on a major split in the Labor Party, Cairns sided with Evatt and came close to being expelled from the party. At the 1955 elections, he stood for the House of Representatives for the working-class seat of Yarra, held by the leading Grouper, Stan Keon. In what is said to have been the most violent election campaign in Australian history, Cairns was elected. Cairns held Yarra until 1969, when it was abolished at a redistribution. He then shifted to the Division of Lalor in Melbourne's western suburbs.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Early Days", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki