In a speech denouncing the seaman's strike, which threatens to throw thousands out of employment, the Prime Minister said, "One of the first principles of mateship is to stand behind a sick man and assist him, and the first principle of Unionism is the principle of mateship."
Oh, a mate was a mate in the olden days
When mateship was a creed,
And a good man sought unselfish ways
To serve a brother's need.
Out on the track, thro'out the land
True mates stood ever by,
With a cheery word and a helping hand,
That mateship should not die.
But now, where mean self-seeking looms,
And newer councils hold,
By tricks and schemes in council rooms
Men's faith is bought and sold.
A hundred by false catchwords swayed
Shall prate of brotherhood,
Yet see ten thousand mates betrayed
And deem the treason good.
For mateship grows a bitter thing
That has its roots in hate,
Where bitter foreign phrases ring
To sunder mate form mate.
Foul doctrines hatched in foreign schools,
Preached in Australia's name
By one knave to a thousand fools,
Have brought our creed to shame.
First published in The Herald, 24 October 1931
Author reference sites: C.J. Dennis, Austlit, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian Poetry Library
See also.
