the seat since Federation, retired from politics. McKay was one of thefirst
candidates to use a car for campaigning, touring the electorate in his
chauffeur-driven Prince Henry Vauxhall. His speeches emphasized defence
and national development, including the need for a‘scientific tariff’, and
generally avoided industrial relations, although heckling often brought out
his strong anti-union beliefs. The campaign was bitterly fought (as evidenced
by the subsequent libel actions!), with McKay being narrowly defeated in spite
of a nationwide swing to the Commonwealth Liberal Party. His demands for a
recount were rejected.^16 The weekly journalTable Talkargued:
Mr. McKay had one great handicap, and that was that he employs labor. Mr. Deakin,
his predecessor, had not that black mark against him, and again Mr. Deakin
had a high political reputation and unequalled gifts of speech. On the whole,
therefore, Mr. McKay’s achievement can be put down as remarkablyfine.
(‘The Week’1913, p. 4)Although he was still spoken of as the likely Liberal candidate for Ballarat until
late 1913, he did not contest the seat in the 1914 elections.
McKay’s decision not to pursue a seat in parliament did not indicate a
lessening of his commitment to industrial relations reform. In 1922 McKay
and Guillaume Delprat, the recently retired general manager of BHP, launched
the‘Single Purpose League’, which aimed at the abolition of compulsory
arbitration. It is evidence of the general acceptance of the Deakinite vision
of industrial relations as symbolized by the Harvester Case that the League
failed to gain support even from employer associations, and it petered out by
1924 (Plowman 2011).
McKay and his family lived in a modest house at Sunshine until 1922, when
he fulfilled a long-held ambition by purchasing one of Victoria’s grandest
mansions, Rupertswood, at Sunbury. H. V. McKay died of cancer in 1926
aged only 60. He left an estate valued for probate at £1,448,146, one of
Australia’s largest fortunes of the early twentieth century, and probably
Australia’s most significant fortune derived from manufacturing.
In most industrial nations, manufacturing has been the basis of many long-
lived family fortunes—Ford, Du Pont, Krupp, Michelin, and Siemens come
quickly to mind, and in thefield of agricultural machinery, the McLintock
family of International Harvester.^17 Yet in Australia the long-lasting fortunes
have come from pastoralism, mining, media, city real estate, and retailing.
(^16) This account of McKay’s candidacy for Ballarat is based on articles such as‘Men of the
Moment’(1913),‘Election Irregularities’(1913),‘Political Libel Cases’(1913),‘Ballarat Contest.
Recount Refused 17 ’(1913),‘Personal’(1913).
A valuable comparative study of the sources and longevity of great family fortunes is Rubinstein
(1980). A useful Australian study is Fleming, Merrett, and Ville (2004). Few manufacturing companies
feature.
The Industrialist, Solicitor, and Justice Higgins