Mungo Wentworth MacCallum | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1941-12-21)21 December 1941 Sydney,New South Wales, Australia |
| Died | 9 December 2020(2020-12-09) (aged 78) Ocean Shores, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupations | Political journalist and commentator |
| Spouse | Jenny Garrett |
Mungo Wentworth MacCallum (21 December 1941[1] – 9 December 2020) was an Australian political journalist and commentator.
MacCallum was once described byGough Whitlam as a "tall, bearded descendant of lunatic aristocrats".[2] His father,Mungo Ballardie MacCallum (1913–1999), was a journalist and pioneer of television in Australia, and his great-grandfather,Sir Mungo MacCallum (1854-1942), had been a prominent scholar and university administrator. His mother, Diana Wentworth, was a great-granddaughter of the Australian explorer and politician William Charles Wentworth (1790–1872). Her brother,William Charles Wentworth IV (1907–2003), was aLiberal member for theDivision of Mackellar in theHouse of Representatives, where he was a vociferous exponent ofanti-communism, and of distinctive views on many other issues.
MacCallum was born inSydney and educated at the eliteCranbrook School, a short walk from where he lived with his parents next door to his grandmother's house in Wentworth Street,Point Piper. After leaving school, he went to theUniversity of Sydney, where he obtained a BA withthird-class honours.
MacCallum was known for his strongly centre-left, pro-Australian Labor Party views, being critical both of the conservative Liberal andNational Parties, and of the far left (e.g., communists) who attacked Labor for its cautiousreformism. From the 1970s to the 1990s he covered Australian federal politics from theCanberra Press Gallery forThe Australian,National Times,Sydney Morning Herald,Nation Review and radio stations2JJ / Triple J and2SER.
During the 1980s he moved toOcean Shores, on thenorth coast of New South Wales. He continued to write political commentary, notably for theAustralian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) current affairs and news analysis programThe Drum,[3] and for the magazineThe Monthly. He appeared on Australia's nationalCommunity Radio Network; and contributed columns for theByron Shire Echo andThe Northern Star, and cryptic crosswords forThe Saturday Paper.[4]
He was the author of several books, includingRun, Johnny, Run, written after the2004 Australian federal election. His autobiographical narrative of the Australian political scene,Mungo: the man who laughs, has been reprinted four times.How To Be A Megalomaniac or, Advice to a Young Politician was published in 2002, andPolitical Anecdotes was published in 2003. In December 2004,Duffy & Snellgrove publishedWar and Pieces:John Howard's last election.
On 8 September 2014 a minor sensation was caused when afalse report of his death was placed in atweet on the social media siteTwitter.[5] The matter was clarified within the hour but, within the same hour a trending hashtag#mungolives had sprung up on the same site.
On 2 December 2020, MacCallum announced on the website "Pearls and Irritations" that, due to deteriorating health, he was finishing his journalistic career.[6] He was suffering fromthroat cancer,prostate cancer, andheart disease,[7] and he died on 9 December 2020, aged 78.[8][9]
MacCallum was sued for defamation or libel on a number of occasions. In 1971, he published an article regarding former ALP leaderArthur Calwell and several of his factional colleagues, which Calwell claimed portrayed him as disloyal to his successorGough Whitlam and to the party. Calwell successfully sued for defamation, but the decision was overturned in 1975 on appeal to theHigh Court inCalwell v Ipex Australia Ltd.[10] In 1976, MacCallum was sued by cabinet ministersMargaret Guilfoyle andJim Killen for an article alleging they were having an affair with each other.[11] In 1977, he and his publisher was sued by ambassadorJames Cumes for a 1974 article which "pictured him as vulgar, crass and without sensitivity" in relation to an official visit to China, with Cumes also stating that MacCallum had verbally referred to him as "top of the list" of "fascists or Nazis" within the Department of Foreign Affairs.[12] Cumes received a public apology and was awarded damages of $9,000 (equivalent to $50,000 in 2022) in August 1978, as well as legal costs.[13]
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| Year | Review article | Work(s) reviewed |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | MacCallum, Mungo (Autumn 2009). "There's something about Gough (1)".Overland.194:80–81. | Hocking, Jenny.Gough Whitlam : a moment in history. Melbourne: Miegunyah Press. |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
