Occasionally friends suggest to me that I should write my autobiography. Ruefully I explain that I wrote ‘Things you learn along the way’ 20 years ago. The book sold about 8,000 copies but as far as I know is no longer available.
The book covers many aspects of my life: The early days as a footloose son of the Methodist manse; seven years in the ‘wilderness’ working for Gough Whitlam in Opposition; working for Rupert Murdoch in his better days; Secretary of Prime Minister and Cabinet to both Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser, including the Dismissal; enjoyable family days in Japan as Ambassador; the most meaningful job of my life as Secretary of the Immigration Department during the Indochina Refugee Program; and a few years at Qantas where I found that Directors and my views were not necessarily the same.
See link below if you are interested in reading. (link also on home page ‘about John Menadue’.)
‘Things you learn along the way’.
John Menadue is the Founder and Editor in Chief of Pearls and Irritations. He was formerly Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet under Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser, Ambassador to Japan, Secretary of the Department of Immigration and CEO of Qantas.
Comments
5 responses to “Things you learn along the way”
Independence always has a cost but one of the rewards is an interesting life and good stories!
If it is a consolation, Purgatory ends with death.
I have a copy of your book John and I am now annoyed at you for providing it for free. But this is tempered by the advice below that copies are so rare they are now fetching $100 on the black market of Abe Books. It was, and continues to be a fascinating read.
As a former Immigration officer who served under John Menadue, I have nothing but the greatest respect for him.
Thanks very much for this John, a book I have long wanted to read. Recently almost tempted by the $100 copy on Abe, but thought the amount better utilised by P&I.
Thanks so much for this, John – a great Christmas gift to us all, along with the thriving P&I under your stewardship. But could you please consider off-loading some of your P&I tasks to the rest of us and pen a much-needed analysis of why a potentially progressive multi-cultural nation – acknowledging gratitude for the honour of living alongside #FirstNations – is mired in increasingly reactionary, cruel, self-serving, planet-destroying politics and the 3rd or 5th-raters (and 1st-class rorters) of the LNP Coalition? Yes, we know about the #Murdoch effect…but there’s more to it: that so many are “persuaded” by spin and the veneer of “inclusion” is worse than heartbreaking. It’s raising profound questions about what it means to be Australian and, certainly, what on earth so-called “Australian values” really are.
We need your wisdom and the perspective that a long life of commitment to genuine inclusion and decency has given you. Many thanks, for everything.