The Light on the Hill: An Updated History of the Australian Labor Party

‘It’s an epic, even Shakespearean tale, brilliantly told: scholarly, but written for the general reader, with an ironic eye on the foibles and failures of the party, as well as its stunning achievements.’

– Steven Carroll, The Sydney Morning Herald

‘The Light on the Hill returns us to a world made in what Eric Hobsbawm called the “Age of Extremes”, but this new edition provides an overview of what happened once the Cold War was over — and a new age of extremes dawned … A new generation of readers will be able to add this book to their collection and enjoy McMullin’s undoubted gifts as an award-winning historian and prose writer. The Light on the Hill remains a standard setter for deeply researched, accessible political history.’

– Frank Bongiorno, Australian Book Review

‘Described as a definitive history, The Light on the Hill was first published 35 years ago, but has been updated to include the 1991-2025 period missing from the first volume … A feast for the true believers.’

– Caroline Overington, The Australian

‘This important and provocative book presents the tremendous and turbulent history of the Australian Labor Party warts and all. Its publication itself demonstrates the strength of a Party and a Movement courageous enough to commission an untrammelled account of its failures and faults, as well as its immense achievements.’

– Bob Hawke, Prime Minister of Australia 1983–1991

‘Scholarly, readable, and entertaining … The author’s aggregation and presentation of factual material is quite exemplary … His anecdotes encapsulate the humour, pathos, and eccentricity for which Labor is famous … For anyone seriously interested in Australian politics or history, The Light on the Hill is definitely compulsory reading. Ultimately the book reflects the best features of its subject: it is powerful, unpretentious, humorous, and fascinating.’

– Lindsay Tanner, Master of Arts (History) and Rudd government minister, in Overland

‘In this brave, lucid, and intellectually honest book, Ross McMullin places the conflict between principle and pragmatism, direct action and electoral representatives, and the aspirations of prominent politicians and the rank-and-file right at the centre-point of his historical analysis … As this incisive narrative reveals, crookedness, vote-rigging, and skulduggery have long been part of Labor’s rich history. So, too, have hope, inspiration, and visions for a better future.’

– Professor Ross Fitzgerald, The Age

‘McMullin’s monumental study examines Labor’s changing fortunes at both state and federal levels [in] a survey of truly daunting dimensions … The wonder of it is that none of this detail ever taxes the reader. [This is] outstanding narrative histor[y], carefully structured, elegantly written, and graced with a humour and irony that makes even the number-crunching of the New South Wales party machine intensely interesting.’

– Professors Rae Frances & Bruce Scates, Australian Historical Studies

‘It was an incredibly difficult task … Somehow or other Ross has made sense out of one hundred years of the Labor Party’s history … in an enormously readable, entertaining, accurate, reflective, analytical form.’

– Bob Hogg, former ALP national secretary

‘McMullin has produced a splendid book … Not only a long, detailed, and remarkably lucid study but also a vivid and captivating account of a party in which countless hundreds of thousands have been actively involved. Pen-portraits, anecdotes, and photographs abound.’

– Dr Malcolm Saunders, Social Alternatives

‘A staggering undertaking. Dr McMullin is to be congratulated on an outstanding success. The Light on the Hill, massively researched and crammed with information though it is, compels like an accomplished novel, deftly presenting colourful people and memorable events with virtually faultless tact and accuracy.’

– Dr Rod Beecham, The Melbourne Report

‘Reading his description of appearances, mannerisms, personalities, strengths, weaknesses, traits, style, and speech is absolutely brilliant. Nothing like it has ever been produced by any other historian. People I, personally, knew before McMullin was born are exactly as he describes them … This is the most important book ever written about a major political party … It will be the official text book for as long as Australia survives.’

– Clyde Cameron, federal MP 1949–1980 and Whitlam government minister

‘Its scope is remarkable … McMullin takes a critical and analytical view of the successes and failures of Labor’s performance at state and federal level, both in and out of office … Perhaps McMullin’s greatest achievement is not so much his efforts to summarise a vast body of literature, although this is impressive, but rather his admirable ability to capture the personalities of some of Labor’s most colourful characters.’

– Professor Joy Damousi, The Australian

‘Ross McMullin’s is the first comprehensive history of the Australian Labor Party … a detailed narrative which integrates events at State and Federal level, 450 pages rich in anecdotes that bring the Party’s 100-year history to life [and] will end up on the shelf of every true believer … McMullin’s history shows how Labor provided the colour and action of Australian politics … this centenary history is in large measure a history of Australia since 1891.’

– Bob Carr, Premier of New South Wales 1995–2005, The Sydney Morning Herald

‘As a romantic tale of stirring adventures, this is first class writing.’

– Rod Cavalier, historian and minister in the Wran and Unsworth governments, Financial Review

‘This long, lively, and observant narrative history embodies an impressive knowledge of the subject. The author evokes personalities with great flair and has a strong grasp of the historical framework of national events. The book is unflaggingly readable. I commend Ross McMullin on his achievement.’

– Professor Stuart Macintyre

‘It’s a gripping read. No novelist could have conjured up characters as irritatingly magnificent as Whitlam or as unlucky as Scullin … He has captured some marvellous images … Men and women of Australia, this is a book not to miss.’

– Matt Foley, Labor minister in Queensland 1992–1996 & 1998–2004, The Word on Books

Ross McMullin is an award-winning historian, biographer, and storyteller. His books include two multi-biographies: Farewell, Dear People: biographies of Australia’s lost generation, which won national awards, including the Prime Minister’s Prize for Australian History, and its sequel, Life So Full of Promise, which won The Age Book of the Year Award. His biographies include Pompey Elliott, which also won multiple awards, and Will Dyson: Australia’s radical genius. He assembled Elliott’s extraordinary letters in Pompey Elliott at War: in his own words, and his political histories comprise The Light on the Hill and So Monstrous a Travesty: Chris Watson and the world’s first national labour government.