William Peter ColemanAO (15 December 1928 – 31 March 2019)[1] was an Australian writer and politician. A widely published journalist for over 60 years, he was editor of The Bulletin (1964–1967) and of Quadrant for 20 years, and published 16 books on political, biographical and cultural subjects.[2] While still working as an editor and journalist he had a short but distinguished political career as a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1968–1978 for the Liberal Party, serving both as a Minister in the State Cabinet and in the final year as Leader of the New South Wales Opposition.[3] From 1981–1987 he was the member for Wentworth in the Australian House of Representatives.[4]
Early life
Coleman was born in Melbourne, the son of Stanley Charles Coleman, an advertising agent, and Norma Victoria Tiernan. Moving to Sydney, he was educated at North Sydney Boys High School and at the University of Sydney under philosophers John Anderson and John Passmore.[5] Fellow students included the philosophers David Armstrong and David Stove. Coleman then travelled to the United Kingdom to study political philosophy at the London School of Economics under Michael Oakeshott, completing a thesis on the French philosopher Georges Sorel.[6] He graduated as Master of Science (Economics) in 1952. On 5 April 1952 he married the writer and librarian, Verna Scott. Together they had two daughters, Tanya, who became a lawyer and later wife of Deputy Liberal Leader Peter Costello, Ursula, a children's writer, and a son William, who is an economist.[7]
After teaching English for a year in the Sudan, Coleman returned to Australia to undertake a career as a journalist. In 1958 he became associate editor of The Observer, a fortnightly magazine founded in 1958 and published by Australian Consolidated Press. Other staff members included the editor Donald Horne and financial editor Michael Baume. In 1961 it was absorbed by the legendary but ailing political and literary magazine The Bulletin and Coleman subsequently became editor of The Bulletin between 1964 and 1967.[8] In these years he published his first books Australian Civilization, a symposium which brought together writers and critics ranging from Manning Clark and Max Harris to James McAuley and Vincent Buckley; Obscenity Blasphemy Sedition, a study of the first 100 years of censorship in Australia; the anthology The Bulletin Book; and Cartoons of Australian History, with cartoonist Les Tanner. When Coleman resigned from The Bulletin in 1967 he became editor of Quadrant magazine, a position he held for twenty years.[4]
Coleman was then further promoted in June 1975 as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier Tom Lewis, in which capacity he served only five months until his promotion to Cabinet.[4] He was made a Minister of the Crown in October 1975 as the Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Revenue. When Sir Eric Willis became Premier, Coleman was appointed to the revived office of Chief Secretary from January 1976. He served in Cabinet until the defeat of the Willis government in the May 1976 election, at which he retained his seat on a slightly increased margin of 52%.[9]
In opposition under Eric Willis, Coleman served as the Shadow Minister for Justice and Services.[11]
On 15 December 1977 four party MPs declared that they would oppose Willis in a leadership ballot the next day. On 16 December 1977, Willis resigned and Coleman was elected as the leader by the party.[12] At the 1978 election, Coleman and the Coalition campaigned on a platform based around the spectre of "Whitlamism" and attempted to undermine the strong central leadership of Wran.[13] This failed to resonate with voters, and the election, which was later termed the "Wranslide", saw a massive defeat for the Opposition Coalition. Coleman himself lost his seat of Fuller to Hunter's Hill Municipal Council Alderman, Rodney Cavalier, a result that had been anticipated by some.[14][15]
In September 1979, Coleman was appointed as Administrator of Norfolk Island. Following the resignation of Robert Ellicott, he gained Liberal Party pre-selection for the federal seat of Wentworth and was elected in a by-election in April 1981. He retired from parliament before the 1987 election[4] and resumed his literary career.
Post-politics
On leaving politics, Coleman resumed his career as a full-time writer, publishing widely both journalism and books, including a major history of the intellectuals and the Cold War, The Liberal Conspiracy. The Congress for Cultural Freedom and the Struggle for the Mind of Postwar Europe[16] and biographical works on the Australian poet James McAuley, comic artist Barry Humphries, film director Bruce Beresford and economist Heinz Arndt. He also published a selection of poetry, a cookbook and a collection of his Quadrant essays, The Last Intellectuals. In 2008 Coleman assisted his son-in-law, Peter Costello, in writing and editing his account of his career: The Costello Memoirs: The Age of Prosperity.
In 2001 Coleman was awarded the Centenary Medal.[20] In 2008 he was admitted to the degree of Doctor of Letters (honoris causa) at the University of Sydney for services to Australian intellectual life.[21] On 8 June 2015 he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) "for distinguished service to the print media industry as a noted editor, journalist, biographer and author, to the Parliaments of Australia and New South Wales, and to the community".[22]
Coleman, Peter (1963). Obscenity Blasphemy Sedition: 100 Years of Censorship in Australia. Brisbane: Jacaranda. Republished (2000) by Duffy & Snellgrove, Sydney ISBN1875989722[1]
—, ed. (1996). Double take : six incorrect essays. Melbourne: Mandarin.
Coleman, Peter; Selwyn Cornish; Peter Drake (2007). Arndt's Story: the life of an Australian economist. Canberra: Asia Pacific Press. ISBN9780731538102.
Coleman, Peter, ed. (1996). The Old Boys' Cookbook. Melbourne: William Heinemann.
Coleman, Peter; et al., eds. (2000). A Return to Poetry (Anthology). Sydney: Duffy & Snellgrove.
Official reports
Coleman, Peter (1970). Report on visits to foreign film & television schools, January 9 – February 7, 1970. Canberra: Film and Television School (Australia) Interim Council.
Coleman, Peter, chairman (1976). Report from the Select Committee of the Legislative Assembly upon the appointment of Judges to the High Court of Australia, NSW Parliamentary Paper no. 53 1975. Sydney: NSW Government Printer.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Essays, interviews, chapters, lectures
'An Interview with Peter Coleman' Frank Devine, Quadrant May 2006
‘A Political Formation or No Roads to Damascus' (Cheshire 1963) in Australian Politics. A Third Reader edited by Henry Mayer and Helen Nelson.
'Ballade of Lost Phrases: James McAuley' from The Last Intellectuals: Essays on Writers and Politics, Quadrant Books, 2010. [7]
'Conservative without a Cause? Andrew Norton Talks with Peter Coleman.' Policy Autumn 1995.
‘From Fellow Travelling to Political Correctness' Political Correctness in South Africa edited by Rainer Erkens and John Kane-Berman. South African Institute of Race Relations, 2000.
'How I wrote 'The Liberal Conspiracy' from The Last Intellectuals: Essays on Writers and Politics, Quadrant Books, 2010. [8]
'I Thought of Archimedes' from The Last Intellectuals: Essays on Writers and Politics, Quadrant Books, 2010. [9]
'The Phoney Debate' from Australia and the Monarchy: A Symposium, edited by Geoffrey Dutton, Sun Books, Melbourne, 1966.
'The Sad and Noble Music of Michael Oakeshott' from The Last Intellectuals: Essays on Writers and Politics, Quadrant Books, 2010.[11]
'The Usual Suspects. Quadrant at 50' Martin Krygier. The Monthly December 2006.
Critical studies and reviews of Coleman's work
Robinson, Geoffrey (8 November 2022) "From Georges Sorel to Peter Costello: Peter Coleman and the Making of Australian Liberal Conservatism" Australian Journal of Politics and History 68(3) 447-466 https://doi.org/10.1111/ajph.12803=
Peter Coleman on "Radical Students. The Old Left at Sydney University" Alan Barcan. Melbourne University Press [12]
"What is Political Correctness" Peter Coleman [13]
"The Devil and James McAuley" review by Peter Coleman, Weekend Australian 17 July 1999 [14]
"James McAuley's 20 Quadrants" paper by Peter Coleman, Sydney University 2002. [15]
"James McAuley: A Poet in Politics" Peter Coleman 1992. [16]
"Ballade of Lost Phrases: James McAuley" from The Last Intellectuals: Essays on Writers and Politics, Quadrant Books, 2010. [17]
"I Thought of Archimedes" from The Last Intellectuals: Essays on Writers and Politics, Quadrant Books, 2010. [18]
"How I wrote 'The Liberal Conspiracy'" from The Last Intellectuals: Essays on Writers and Politics, Quadrant Books, 2010. [19]
"The Sad and Noble Music of Michael Oakeshott" from The Last Intellectuals: Essays on Writers and Politics, Quadrant Books, 2010.[20]
"All That Swagger – Robert Manne's Virtuous Trajectory" Peter Coleman, Quadrant 2005. [21]
"Leaves from the Diary of a Madman" Peter Coleman 2006. [22]
"The Bulletin, the Editor and The Cherry Orchard", Peter Coleman. Voices, Quarterly Journal of the National Library of Australia, Volume V11, Number 1, Autumn 1997, Pages 88–95.[23]
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