Although Dunstan continued to espouse homosexual rights in his post-political career, the twice-married former premier felt, with some justification, that the nature of his sexuality was nobody’s business. Yet Hodge is also right to suggest that the reader cannot understand Dunstan’s public record on civil liberties without understanding how this was informed by aspects of his personal beliefs and experiences.

By the time he became premier, Dunstan had embraced the libertarian view that ‘people needed a primary relationship and should be free to enjoy other relationships irrespective of a partner’s gender’. The author carefully and sensitively chronicles the positive and negative aspects of how Dunstan lived out this philosophy. In later years, Dunstan appears to have found a way to make his libertarian ideals work happily for himself and for his partners. But in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Dunstan took risks in his relationships which threatened to damage him personally and politically.

‘Jesus, I do get myself into some scrapes,’ Dunstan wrote in 1972, referring to a brief affair with the female partner of the man commissioned to paint his portrait. The premier was also indiscreet in his male relationships, at one stage recruiting a close male companion to a position in the public service. Presumably, the premier’s decision to appear in Parliament one day dressed in tight pink shorts did little to dispel the perception within the ALP that their leader’s public image might cost them the votes of more strait-laced constituents. That Dunstan’s second premiership lasted almost an entire decade was in part due to his energetic, outcome-driven zeal, but also because the leader and his team were highly skilled at handling the local media. The absence of the 24/7 media news cycle no doubt also helped in preventing Dunstan’s personal issues from drawing attention away from the positive achievements of his government. The author does suggest, however, that the impending publication of a book that addressed facets of Dunstan’s private life (It’s Grossly Improper) was at least one factor governing the timing of his sudden resignation in 1979.

Hodge shows restraint and respect in his treatment of Dunstan’s sexuality; he reveals Dunstan to be a complex but sensitive, caring man. It is perhaps unfortunate that the publishers chose an eye-popping cover design in which Dunstan’s iconic pink shorts are the centre of attention. This flippancy is contrary to the spirit of the book, which shows Don above all to be a people person.

Aside from my mild reservations about the cover design, this is a well-presented book. The inclusion of lists of key dates and individuals before the main text helps the reader’s journey into the recent past. The book also shows a great depth of scholarship, incorporating a mass of oral history, archival documents, and academic publications. Furthermore, there is a generous collection of pictures, superbly reproduced, which gives the reader a visual sense of the Dunstan style. Hodge has also selected symbolic quotes which illustrate Dunstan’s political and social philosophy: ‘I was brought up a liberal, I remained a liberal, and I always shall be a liberal. And that is why I am a member of the Labor Party and a democratic socialist.’

Don Dunstan as a young man

More attention to structure, however, was warranted. If a book is sold as a biography of Don Dunstan (and this one is), the reader expects him to be front and centre. In the early sections of the book, Hodge becomes too involved with setting up the historical context of Adelaide’s homosexual subculture and the response to it by the South Australian police. Dunstan is missing for large chunks of the early chapters, and when he is present, his actions are a little hard to understand because we have not been given much biographical information. This approach changes as the book progresses, and Dunstan’s character and motivations become clearer. However, the structural weaknesses of the book detract from its ultimate purpose, which is to provide the reader with a better understanding of Dunstan the man and his achievements.

The author’s focus on sexuality at times obscures a broader understanding of Dunstan’s world view. While Dunstan’s first wife, Gretel, is acknowledged in the text as the most important female influence on his political career, she remains a rather shadowy presence in the book, along with his other female partners. However, it is clear that the right of gays and lesbians to live lives of their own choosing was an important issue for Dunstan, which he pursued through various means throughout the 1980s and 1990s. As Hodge ably documents, Dunstan had to put up with all manner of homophobic abuse because of his public association with the civil liberties of homosexuals and associated issues such as pride in sexual identity.

Through his study of the life and times of Don Dunstan, Dino Hodge has made a strong contribution to the history of homosexuality in Australia, and has complemented the work done by other scholars in the field such as Clive Moore, Robert Reynolds, and Dennis Altman. It will surely interest a broad readership, because Dunstan lived a fascinating life and Hodge tells his version of the story with style and flair.