About
The True Believers is a 1988 Australian mini series which looks at the history of the Australian Labor Party from the end of World War Two up to the Australian Labor Party split of 1955. It was co-written by Bob Ellis who focused on three characters "Chifley, the unlettered man of great dignity; Menzies, who used to stand for something but eventually stood only for Menzies; and Evatt, the grand idealist... It's almost like Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1. It's a chunk of national history during Australia's great era of change after the war."
Cast
Ed Devereaux
as Ben Chifley
John Bonney
as Robert Menzies
Simon Chilvers
as H.V. Evatt
John Derum
as B.A. Santamaria
Graham Rouse
as Arthur Fadden
Nick Tate
as Les Hayden
Gary Files
as Fred Daly
Stuart McCreery
as Allan Dalziel
Mary-Lou Stewart
as Joanna Malcolm
Dorothy St. Heaps
as Elizabeth Chifley
Leonie-Martin Smith
as Ethel Casey
Hec Macmillan
as Sir William McKell
Peter Corbett
as John Dedman
Michelle Marzo
as Rosalind Evatt
Paul Hunt
as John Burton
Harold Hopkins
as Edgar Ross
Paul Sonkkila
as Ron Tate
Bill Young
as Jim Cooper
Valerie Bader
as Mary Alice Evatt
Ray Meagher
as Tom Burke
Seasons
Episodes
Season 1
Episode 1
Just before the end of WWII, John Curtin lays on his deathbed. Who will fill the position? Brilliant legal mind, "Doc" Evatt or unschooled train driver Ben Chifley? With an election to face in 1946, the Labor Party needs to choose wisely.
Episode 2
With a supposed Communist uprising in the coal industry moves are afoot to abolish the party from the Liberal side, but also to nationalise the banks from Labor. The High Court finds that nationalising the banks is not constitutional.
Episode 3
After Chifley wins the election, Evatt spends much time overseas and is elected third President of the United Nations. The Miners' Union gets more concessions, but wants even more. Evatt argues to the Privy Council for bank nationalisation.
Episode 4
Communist demands become so great even the ALP feels the need to oppose them leading to the coal miners' strike of 1949, gaoling of some union members and sending in the army to work the mines.
Episode 5
Menzies is now Prime Minister and starts naming alleged Communists in parliament, subjecting them to gaol and sackings. Chifley's heart is giving up the ghost, and Doc Evatt becomes acting Opposition Leader.
Episode 6
Menzies calls a double-dissolution over his Communist Party prohibition bill in April 1951, which he wins, but loses five seats. On 13 June 1951, Chifley dies following a heart attack in his Canberra hotel room.
Episode 7
Doc Evatt is elected Opposition Leader after Chifley's tragic death, but the odds are stacked against him. Menzies uses the Communist menace as a stick to beat him and milks the Petrov affair for all it's worth.
Episode 8
Following the Petov Affair, Evatt promises pension rises, the abolition of means tests and tax cuts. Noone believes him (even in his own party) and Menzies wins again. Disaffected Victorian ALP members split the party to form the DLP.
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