"Dear Tamie,"
This image of a Liberal Prime Minister in the midst of the Cold War, waving to a sea of red flags beside a Chinese Communist Party leader, raises many questions. Malcolm Fraser took a controversial stance on China in a political environment dominated by Cold War politics, the opposition of capitalism and communism as economic systems. The biggest cleavage in the Australian Labor Party - Fraser’s opposition - was between moderates and those more sympathetic to Communist tendencies.[1] Instead of toeing an indiscriminately anti-communist line in his foreign policy, Malcolm Fraser pursued a relationship with China. He reflected in his later years that Communist countries “were not monolithic,” and that Australia needed to develop strategic relations in the Pacific.[2] This was a controversial perspective at the time. Since its revolution in 1949, Australia had not recognised the People’s Republic of China until left-wing Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam in 1972. Pictured below is Malcolm Fraser in 1976, on his first of two visits to China. Fraser’s stances on relations with Asia extended to accepting 70 000 Vietnamese refugees between 1976 and 1982 after the end of the Vietnam War, and putting in place policy that allowed a further 80 000 to migrate in the few years after he left office. Fraser was shy and uneasy in social situations, often described as wooden.[3] How was Australia compelled to re-elect such a leader, one who came to power in controversial circumstances, and pursued an ambitious foreign policy agenda?
One explanation lies in the mountain of letters and cards sent to Mrs. Tamara Fraser in March 1983 when Malcolm Fraser lost the election and stepped down as leader of the Liberal Party. Many letters, such as the one presented here that Tamara Fraser has annotated, read as if written by a close acquaintance. Mrs. Margie McKenzie writes of her children, her recent mastering of tomato sauce, and upcoming social events. Another woman, Mrs de Bruyn, wrote “Dear Tamie, we think of you as ‘Tamie’ so I hope you will forgive me in addressing you so.” The familiarity expressed by authors hints at Tamara Fraser’s appeal to the public, a glamorous and stately leader, in contrast to her husband’s stoicism. Many women described how uncharacteristic their interest in a political figure was: “I have never written like this before, but I felt I must write to you”, “I am not a political person.” They are almost all written by married women, commending ‘Tamie’ on her grace, wit, and support of her husband over his terms as Prime Minister. It seems that admiration for Tamara Fraser went beyond mere admiration, to political effect: Mrs Delmenico wrote of 1983’s general election “On Saturday I have half of my vote to him- and the other half I gave to you.”[4] This is perhaps indicative of the buoying of support for male politicians who have the appeal of a nuclear family and supportive wife historically, as analysed by Annabel Crabb.[5]
Tamara Fraser was admired by Australian married women for her femininity and fulfillment of conservative gender roles for wives. Importantly, this appeal directly contrasted the concurrent feminist movement that challenged the image of domestic fulfillment conveyed by Tamara Fraser. Mrs. Brown wrote “from one wife and mother to another ‘Good on you.’” Mrs Deakin Harley wrote that to Mrs. Fraser that she “succeeded in making your own personality felt without overstepping the mark.” Similarly, a Mrs. Carr wrote “In a day when women have forgotten how to wear pretty dresses and speak politely, it’s a real joy to see you obviously enjoying being a feminine woman…encouraging your husband.”[6] Tamara Fraser normalised relations with China, especially a Liberal voter base, anti-socialist and socially conservative. She became a conduit between the intimidating and unknown world of Asian communism, and the living rooms of Australian women’s families. One example of her translation of domesticity from Asia to Australia was her relatable account of touring Asia in 1976. While her husband waved to a sea of red, Tamara Fraser sampled Chinese jellyfish, which she described as “tough like the inside of golf balls,” “was impressed by the peace and charm of Japanese gardens,” and tried sitting at Japanese low meal tables: “I saw two awfully nasty toes appear at the other side of the table next to my hostess- my own.” While we may read these descriptions as xenophobic, a closer reading reveals her writing as a construction of a self-deprecating ‘country lass’ bewildered, but enchanted, by foreign domesticity. Tamara Fraser writes of how their bed was 8 feet wide and 10 feet long in Japan, and the chandelier above them swung with an earthquake. Her final words indicate her affection China: “Visitors arriving in China had to begin rethinking all they had previously read and thought about that country… after only, a superficial look for one week she would like to go back for perhaps three years.”[7] The focus on domestic settings and interactions between Fraser and Asian women served to link feminities and soften the political reality of forming relationships with a communist state in a Cold War context.
Joan Scott argued for gender being used as an analytic category in historical studies.[8] Here, an ostensibly all-male political history, one that involved male leaders meeting and transforming Australian foreign policy, is best read with a mind to not just the Prime Minister’s wife, but also his women constituents. This is not just a matter of adding women into histories, but reading how gendered perceptions of a Prime Minister’s wife and the ideal family were used in a foreign policy setting.[9] While Tamara Fraser was undoubtably an important political figure in her own right, it should also be acknowledged that Tamara Fraser’s influence derived from her ostensibly appropriate deference to her husband and respect for traditional gender roles. The women who wrote to Tamara Fraser, nearly always mentioned their children, as well as the Frasers’. The Frasers reflected a nuclear family, a supportive husband and wife from a farming community, a social conservativism to soften apprehension towards foreign people and a challenge to Australia’s status as primarily an ally to the United States and Britain.
[1] Malcolm Fraser, interview with Matt Smith, Tempus: A History Podcast, podcast audio, recorded October 2009, https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/7-a-talk-with-malcolm-fraser/id928932250?i=1000338037157.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Malcolm Fraser and Margaret Simons, Malcolm Fraser: The Political Memoirs (Melbourne: Miegunyah Press, 2010), 421.
[4] University of Melbourne Archives, Malcolm Fraser Collection, 2007.0029 , File 0001 0, Post election - Mrs Fraser - Personal letters following election AL.
[5] Annabel Crabb, The Wife Drought (North Sydney: Ebury Press, 2014), 195-212.
[6] Joan Scott, “Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis,” The American Historical Review 91, no. 5 (December 1986): 1053-75.
[7] Ibid, 1055-7.
[8] University of Melbourne Archives, Malcolm Fraser Collection, 2007.0029 , File 0001 0, Post election - Mrs Fraser - Personal letters following election AL.
[9] Unknown. “Long legs among the peace and charm.” The Canberra Times, July 2, 1976.