Social media’s love affair with cancelling long-dead celebrities has reared its head again, this time with Australian cricket icon Don Bradman in the firing line.
Bradman, known as one of the history’s greatest sportsmen, has been dead for 21 years. But now, a dusty old letter addressed to Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, two days after the 1975 dismissal election, has apparently “exposed” the former cricketing great as a “right wing nutjob”.
In the letter, which was unearthed by Federation University’s Verity Archer, Bradman urged the new PM to scrap regulations on capital and warned of the risks inflation poses to Australia.
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“A marvellous victory in which your personal conduct and dignity stood out against the background of arrogance and propaganda indulged in by your opponents,” Bradman wrote.
“Now you may have to travel a long and difficult road along which your enemies will seek to destroy you.”
Bradman — who was 67 at the time of writing the letter — also warned Mr Fraser about the power of unions and urged for the public to be “re-educated to believe private enterprise is entitled to rewards, as long as it obeys the rules”.
“What the people need are clearly defined rules which they can read and understand so that they can get on with their affairs,” Bradman continued.
“The public must be re-educated to believe that private enterprise is entitled to rewards as long as it obeys fair and reasonable rules laid down by government. Maybe you can influence leaders of the press to a better understanding of this necessity of presentation.”
Social media users and journalists expressed shock that Bradman — who was born in 1908 and raised in an era when horses outnumbered cars on the road — had conservative leanings.
Sydney Morning Herald writer Daniel Brettig described the letter as “extraordinary” and said it showed Bradman’s attempt at an “intervention at an explosive moment in Australian political history”.
Broadcaster Phillip Adams wrote, “Sad. Lost letter from Bradman to Fraser after Whitlam’s dismissal reveals ‘the Don’ to be a RWNJ [right-wing nutjob].”
Others social media users said The Don was well known as a “thoroughly nasty piece of work”.
Former Lord Mayor of Brisbane Clem Jones previously described Bradman — who claimed to live a “non-political” life — as a “bigoted right-wing politician”.
“Bradman was quite right-wing,” Mr Jones told Inside Story in 2007.
“He was the best chairman of any organisation I’ve had anything to do with, absolutely outstanding. But he was a bigoted, right-wing politician. People say he wasn’t political — he was, and very much so.”
Many of Bradman’s fans leapt to his defence.
His reputation as a magician at the crease helped pull through Australia through the Great Depression of the 1930s — and his record 99.94 average is still far and beyond the most iconic statistic in a game ruled by numbers.
So it’s no surprise the attempted pile-on — on Boxing Day no less — was met with pushback from cricket followers.
“What an enormous s**t take,” founder of Cato Advisory Tim Findlay said.
“Focusing on the opinion of others yet no criticism of the actual message in the letter which, given the state of the economy and Brad man’s role as a company chairman, was to be expected of a man doing his job.”
