THE closure of the historic edifice that is Holy Trinity Church is turning up all manner of stories, even some of the political kind.
I’m not talking here of Anglican Church politics, although from what’s gone on behind the scenes for the enforced Holy Trinity closure it’s certainly deep in that. No, this is of party politics - to wit the huge schism that ripped the Australian Labor Party apart with the emergence of the Democratic Labor Party.
And it happened within the precincts of Holy Trinity Parish. Not at the church itself, mind you (although perhaps some of the troubled pollies involved visited it in the hope of some divine guidance), but just a few footsteps down Church Street in Holy Trinity Parish Hall.
It was the venue for the fateful ALP national conference deliberations of March, 1955, when the expulsion of delegates resulted in the creation of the DLP. And that was to have serious repercussions for the ALP because Labor was kept out of office for the next 17 years.
It was the explosive sequel to a bitter factional warfare between Catholics and Communists for control of the Australian labour movement. To counteract growing Communist influences, the Catholics infiltrated the trade unions. By the early 1950s this infiltration was powerful enough to control the Victorian executive of the ALP.
But when they exerted pressure on the ALP to move further to the right, party leader Dr H. V. (Bert) Evatt denounced them in late 1954 fearing they were trying to take over the party.
The upshot was two rival Victorian delegations turning up in Hobart for the subsequent federal conference - and the Catholic-dominated delegates from the old Victorian executive were given the political heave-ho. A manipulation of the rules and numbers saw the Evatt loyalists prevail at the conference, but it prompted the departure of seven federal caucus members.
Those expelled formed what was initially called the ALP (Anti-Communist) but became the DLP in 1957, and it lasted until 1978. It gained clout at the national level and in holding the balance of power in the Senate it extracted concessions from Liberal governments, particularly in gaining grants for Catholic schools, boosted spending on defence - and non-recognition of the People’s Republic of China.
And it also used its muscle directing supporters in preferences to Liberal candidates in federal and state elections, thus keeping the ALP out of office at federal level and in Victoria.
I’m not suggesting for one moment that this deep political scar had anything to do with the Lennon Labor Government last week finding itself not up to backing the Greens and the Liberals when they joined forces to push for a Holy Trinity building rescue mission.
But perhaps Premier Paul, as a veteran union man, should be reflecting on another Holy Trinity Parish link, and this one with the church itself.
The name of William Champion, ex-convict turned successful Hobart Town businessman, figured prominently in the early history of the church as a driving force in getting its bells, installing them and training youths in the art of ringing (which Champion had learned in England).
Although he was a property owner, he never forgot the worker’s role, being involved in unions and societies aiding workers, as well as contributing to the end of transportation and the convict system. It is said he founded the first trade union in Tasmania.
Hobart mayoral candidate Alderman Jeff Briscoe recognised this when he noted that Holy Trinity was a “workmen’s church, not a high church like St David’s Cathedral”.
He said the union movement could be invited to contribute to the saving of Holy Trinity. Any response union bosses? Any response Premier Paul? Remember that when it’s lit up at night it offers its own special “Light on the Hill”.

Billy MacTold 

I’m not suggesting for one moment that this deep political scar had anything to do with the Lennon Labor Government last week finding itself not up to backing the Greens and the Liberals when they joined forces to push for a Holy Trinity building rescue mission. But perhaps Premier Paul, as a veteran union man, should be reflecting on another Holy Trinity Parish link, and this one with the church itself.