Coogee Media

John Montgomery Dunningham (21 January 1884 to 26 May 1938) was born in Sydney to labourer John Dunningham and Annie, nee Fowler, both English migrants.

He was educated at Forest Lodge Public School and St James College, Sydney. He worked as an assistant at the library of the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts, at paper merchants Alex Cowan & Sons Ltd, and then at the Australian Gas Light Company. With an aptitude as an organizer, he became secretary of the fitters' section of the New South Wales branch of the Federated Gas Employees' Industrial Union. In 1911 Dunningham opened a hatter and mercer's shop in the Imperial Arcade, between Pitt and Castlereagh Streets in the city that he ran until 1917. He then set-up as a bookmaker, becoming a respected member of that profession with committee membership of the Tattersall's Club which he served as treasurer in 1928 to 1931.

On 22 February 1913 he married a widow, Mary Agnes Britnall, nee Hossack. She had a son, Charles Hossack Britnall, with whom by all accounts, Dunningham was on good terms. The Dunninghams and Britnall, for instance, travelled together. Once married, the Dunninghams set up a home at 18 Sully Street, Randwick, which they renamed "Te Whare", just over the border from Coogee. It is a modest three bedroom semi-detached cottage built on the highest point of the Coogee-Randwick area.

The Dunningham's home: 18 Sully Street, Randwick

Dunningham had a great capacity for work and an eye for detail. Valuing personal contact, he built up a close following. He had a friendly air, smiling and was unfailingly polite. He made it his business to know every member of his Department personally. He was an assiduous attendee at funerals, whether conservative, Labor, Catholic, or Protestant. His father had been a union official, and though he had undertaken union duties himself, it is hard to know what his early political views or affiliations were. However, by the late 1920s, he was on the side of the conservative side of politics with his affiliations firmly with the Nationalist Party and later the United Australia Party, (UAP).

Sporting Administration
Dunningham had been a player for the Glebe Rugby Union Club, and after he finished as an active player, became involved in sporting administration. He was Secretary for many years of the local Randwick Rugby Club, and in that capacity during World War One, set up a local rifle practice club as an aid to the war effort. He was an inaugural member of the horse racing association, The Albert Club from 1918. He was for a time, president of the New South Wales Amateur Athletic Association and was an office-holder in many sporting and community organisations including the Royal Life Saving Society, NSW Rugby Union, the National Roads and Motorist's Association (NRMA), the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW, swimming, cricket and tennis clubs. . He was also an active Anglican, excellent after-dinner speaker and sometime church organist. All of which gave Dunningham a great deal of public recognition.

In October 1918, he was made a Justice of the Peace (JP), which in New South Wales is not a position of great responsibility, but does allow a person to act as a public notary, a community service in great demand, which would have also brought him to the attention of many people.

Local Government Career
Dunningham won election to Randwick Council as an Alderman in late 1916 and continued to be re-elected until he left the Council in 1931. He stood nominally as an "Independent", but in associating himself with local conservative politicians such as the State Member and former Mayor, Hyam Goldstein, he was generally seen as representing the conservative side of politics while on Council - the Nationalist and later the United Australia Party.

One thing that concerned Dunningham was the water pressure of the local water supply. Because he lived at Sully Street, his home was on one of the highest points in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, he was well aware that water supply was constantly interrupted by low water pressure. Dunningham campaigned against the Water Board's practice of turning off booster pumps to save money!.

Among the issues he was concerned with included beach pollution, user payment of the area of Coogee Beach enclosed by shark-nets, and inadequate policing. As a bookmaker, he was often seen to be sympathetic to the interests of the horse racing industry, especially in regards to those affecting local racecourses. As Mayor in 1927, he got to welcome the Duke and Duchess of York (the future King and Queen) to Randwick when they visited what was then the Randwick Military Hospital.

John Dunningham as Mayor of Randwick
welcomes Duke and Duchess of York
later King George VI & Queen Elizabeth

Dunningham Becomes a Member of State Parliament
Dunningham was enjoying a measure of political success and acclaim as an Alderman on Randwick Council, and in 1927 was elected Mayor. If he harboured greater political ambitions, he would likely to have thought that local state parliamentary representation would not come his way soon. His local conservative colleague and local state member, Hyam Goldstein, gave no indication that he would be leaving politics. But then fate got in the way, and Goldstein ran afoul of an infamous political scoundrel, Thomas Ley.

Coogee was included in the five-member Eastern Suburbs state electorate until 1927 when multi-member proportional representation in New South Wales was abolished. The first member of the newly created Coogee state seat was the conservative Nationalist Party representative, Hyam Goldstein, who had previously served as a member for the proportionally-elected Eastern Suburbs from 1922 to 1925. Goldstein was found dead in 1928 at the bottom of the Coogee cliffs in mysterious circumstances. It was rumoured that his death was caused by the federal Member for Barton, Thomas Ley, (aka The Minister for Murder) who was also suspected of the murder of his Labor opponent in the 1925 federal election, and later convicted of murder after moving to London. You can read more about Goldstein's mysterious death.

Dunningham threw his hat into the ring, beating twelve other party members, and was selected by the Nationalists as their candidate. He went on to win the election comfortably with a majority of 4373 votes, beating the Labor candidate, Morris Currota, in every booth in the electorate.

In State Government, he proposed amendments to the Industrial Arbitration Act which would have severely curtailed union power had they been adopted. The Communist Workers Weekly later nicknamed him 'Slave Camp Dunningham' because of his allegedly harsh treatment of the unemployed.

In 1935 he was selected to represent New South Wales at the Royal Silver Jubilee of King George V in London, and after official duties ended in London, he visited England, Europe and the Soviet Union with other Australian members of the British Empire Parliamentary Association. He was appalled at the poor standard of living in the Soviet Union. On his return, he wrote a short report, British Unemployment Insurance Law (1936).

In addition to his other Ministerial responsibilities, in 1936, Stevens appointed him as Minister for State Celebrations. He would be in charge of celebrations for the 1937 Coronation of the new King, and then during 1938, celebrations to mark the 150th Anniversary of foundation of European settlement at Sydney Cove in 1788. The Empire Games for 1938 (now known as the Commonwealth Games), were also to be held in Sydney during 1938. This was just the thing Dunningham enjoyed doing - getting things done from scratch, and he threw himself into the job with gusto. Little did most people know, he was already aware of clues of heart disease and had been warned by his doctors to take things easier.

Dunningham wanted a celebratory message for 139 celebrations

To say that Dunningham and those he worked with, viewed the 1788 occupation at Sydney Cove in 1788 by Captain Arthur Philip, as anything but an advance by the civilising nature of the great British Empire, would be an understatement. That the Aborigines, the indigenous people, might have any claims on their own land was never ever considered.

Dunningham only wanted celebratory messages for the 150th Anniversary Celebrations,
and was annoyed Aborigines marked Australia Day 1938, and a "Day of Mourning"

Dunningham was determined it would be a "good news" celebration. No ideas like convict stain, bushrangers, or other ruffian behaviour would be raised to spoil events. The Bulletin's   satirical prose writer Charles Hayward (1866-1950) published a ditty on Dunningham's attempt to brush some out of history:

And those bold outlaws, famed in fact and fiction
Starlight, the Marstons, Gilbert, Hall, and Co.
Down to the Kelly gang, our last affliction,
These less repulsive ruffians, too, must go.
The ban is on them, and this interdiction,
For Mr. Dunningham has willed it so.
When Sydney's birthday joybells rend the air
It will all be as if they were never there.

Dunningham entertains voters on the hustings, 1937

Sudden Death
Other political leaders have died suddenly, before and since Dunningham's death, but few deaths have caused the shock and dismay as his. The only comparable one was that of the disappearance and probable drowning of Prime Minister Harold Holt in 1967.

On Thursday 26th May 1938, Dunningham went to his office in State Parliament at about 9am. He was working on his papers and just completed signing a document at 11am when his private secretary noticed that he cried out in pain and cupped his head in his hands. He stumbled across the room and slumped down onto a settee and was unable to communicate. He had had a massive heart attack. He was taken next door to Sydney Hospital, but despite efforts to save him by doctors, he died about one and a quarter hours after the attack.

Shocking News
News of Dunningham's death sent shock waves through the political establishment. The conservative side of politics was not only losing a competent and popular leader, someone who could be depended upon to get a job done, at aged only 54, he was looked on as still having a big career ahead of him. Some spoke of him being a promising leader, in the State or even Federal sphere. Having pulled off a successful round of celebrations over the last year, it was widely accepted that he would be awarded a knighthood.

The Premier Bertram Stevens was away from the Parliament at the time of Dunningham's death , but on hearing the news, was said to have been deeply shocked. He raced back to his office and ordered all state public offices to be closed for the rest of the day and for flags to be flown at half mast until after the funeral. Courts ceased proceedings for the day. He then called an urgent meeting of State Cabinet to discuss events. Premier Stevens made a radio address to the State on the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) station 2FC, while tributes from political leaders from across the country were announced. Dunningham was to be given a State Funeral, to be held the next day at 2pm at St Stephen's Anglican Cathedral.

Large Funeral
Dunningham's funeral was a packed service at St Andrew's Anglican Cathedral, with hundreds of mourners unable to gain access crowded outside. It was officiated by Archbishop Mowll and Canon Cakebread, from St. Jude's Randwick, and attended by many notable people including the Governor of NSW, and politicians from both sides of politics. After the service at St. Andrew's Cathedral, the funeral passed through crowded streets to Waverley Cemetery. The Police Band led the procession. A particularly large crowd gathered at Bondi Junction to watch the cortege go by, before the internment ceremony at Waverley cemetery.

Dunningham was awarded a posthumous knighthood, and his widow allowed to have the honorific title of "Lady". The reserve at the northern end of Coogee Beach was named Dunningham Park (although locals and Randwick Council still refer to it as "Dunningham Reserve"). An impressive sandstone gateway (matching the one that once stood in Grant Reserve at the Southern end of the beach) with a sign and bronze plaque was erected by the Council.

Mary Agnes Dunningham outlived her husband by over 30 years, and died 3 October, 1979 at Our Lady of Consolation Home, Rooty Hill, NSW. Dunningham's position as the Member for Coogee was filled at a 1938 by-election by his fellow Nationalist Party colleague Thomas Mutch.

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