This is a story of coal, communism, and the Australian prime minister who went to war against his own during the national miners' strike of 1949. Using rare archival footage and re-creations, this dramatised documentary shows how Labor Party leader Ben Chifley took on and defeated the growing forces of communism in Australia. The film examines the complex issues that the conflict raised and introduces the major players in the dispute. A former train driver from Bathurst, Chifley was a working-class hero, a Labor Party icon and 'man of the people'. But his actions flew in the face of Labor values and tradition when he believed it was in the interests of post-war Australia. Chifley introduced draconian laws to prevent unions accessing funds to support the strike and sent in the army to replace striking miners-so defeating the Communist Party leadership that controlled the militant union. This is a fascinating era of Australian history rarely seen on screen.

Genres

Cast

Tony Barry

Ben Chifley (Prime Minister)

Tracy Mann

Elizabeth Chifley (Ben Chifley’s wife)

Lorna Lesley

Phyllis Donnelly (Prime Minister’s Personal Assistant)

Kieran Darcy-Smith

Don Rogers (Prime Minister’s Press Secretary)

Russell Kiefel

Lloyd Ross (Prime Minister’s Political Advisor)

Bruce Venables

‘Doc’ Evatt (Attorney General and Minister for External Affairs)

Rob Steele

Cyril Chambers (Minister for Defence)

Frankie J. Holden

Arthur Calwell (Minister for Immigration)

Stephen Leeder

Justice Reed

Rhys Muldoon

Edgar Ross (Editor of the Miners Union Newspaper/Committee member for the Australian Communist Party)

Tiriel Mora

Lieutenant General Rowell

Heather Mitchell

Narrator