On politics, sport and "coming the knuckle"

Essay featured in the exhibition catalogue for, 'A Show About Joe', shown 19 May - 9 June 2007 at the Liverpool Regional Museum, Liverpool, NSW. This paper is concerned with one man's personal biography as it intersects with the social issues and structures of his time. On one hand it tells the story of family love and moral rectitude, of suburban disparity and political action, and of masculine aggression and sport. On the other it contends with the more structural issues of working class culture, urban development, inequality and social change. In this it is following the tradition laid down by C. Wright Mills who argued that "neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both" .1:3 Consequently, the paper is not intended as a biography of Joe Durrant, community activist, alderman and one time Mayor of Liverpool, rather it explores those aspects of one man's life which help to elucidate some of the impetus behind local political action in a disadvantaged community.