Not Just Any House: Cats and the Politics of Political Identity in Australia
Meet Mitzi. Mitzi was a "part-Burmese" cat who, in 1979, was allegedly trapped behind a wall at the now-old Parliament House in Canberra, Australia. Mitzi was one of the many "strays" that frequented the area at this time. Some Parliamentary staffers were known to feed these "strays", and many, like staffer Beryl Phillips, cared deeply for their welfare. Phillips said of Mitzi and her predicament, "Mitzi's kitten goes to the wall every night and cries…If we can get it out, I will find a good home for it" (Canberra Times, May 18, 1979).
The public at the time was also interested in Mitzi, and her story was told in the local Canberra Times. Mitzi's plight first appeared in the Times on May 18 and again on May 20 when Mitzi was lured from her alleged prison via the offer of "meat and milk". Most revealingly, the stories appeared on pages 1 and 2 amidst other world and local news. These articles about a cat stuck behind a wall in a house in Canberra were not tucked away next to the classified or community news but were front and centre among the day's big headline news. Nevertheless, Mitzi, the luckless part-Burmese, was not stuck behind the wall of just any house; this house was the seat of the Australian federal parliament and one of the most important political dwellings in Australia, Parliament House.
The history of cats residing in the Houses of Parliament is scant; cats often do not feature in seminal political histories of governments or histories of the built environment more broadly. However, many of our political leaders in Australia and overseas courted the companionship of cats and dogs and often spoke and wrote openly about these relationships. Winston Churchill famously "liked cats", and according to MacDonald Hastings, writing in the BBC London Letters in 1943, cats were the Prime Minister's constant companions. Hasting wrote that 'the secretariat usually knows when the Prime Minister is about the place by the presence of his cats' (BBC London Letters, 1943).
In 1940, Churchill inherited 10 Downing Street's resident cat. He infamously named his new feline charge the "Munich Mouser" after the departing Prime Minister Neville Chamberlian. Many words have been expanded on Churchill and his cats, including a fictional imagining of Churchill's last days in office seen through the eyes of his cat, Jock, written by Larry Kryske. Larry, the current tabby at 10 Downing Street, has also had significant media attention, with many articles written about him and a Facebook page set up in his honour.
In Australia, we have our own particular fascination with our political leaders and their pets. Anthony Albanese's beloved cavoodle, Toto, received a flurry of media attention during Albanese's campaign tour and later when he was sworn in as the country's 31st Australian Prime Minister. A Twitter account was also set up under the handle @TotoAlbanese by a Brisbane student, attracting some 28.5k followers. Kevin Rudd's cat Louie also appeared in his official portrait, reportedly the first time a family pet has appeared in official renderings of the country's PMs (Georgia Curry, Canberra Daily, August 10, 2023). Louie, who appears in the right-hand corner of the portrait and is captured traversing a chessboard, was included in the painting to help capture the rich mosaic of Rudd's personal and professional life and complicated legacy (Ronald Mizen, Financial Review, August 10, 2023). Of his inclusion of Louie artist Ralph Heiman's retorted, 'Don't interpret anything you see in any other political way'. Heiman was quick to position Louie the cat as an apolitical figure in Rudd's life (Financial Review, August 10, 2023)
However, cats can be a useful tool of politics. Laineste et al. ( 2023) argued that 'pets are a frequently used element of self-promotion for political leaders' ('The cute and the fluffy' p.100). Representations of political leaders with their feline and canine companions help soften their image and make these pollies more relatable to a public feeling increasingly detached from the political process. Pictured with their pets, Australia's political leaders are just like us; they even pamper their pets by going out of their way to stock up on a particular pet food brand, like current PM Anthony Albanese. Albanese joked with Nova radio hosts in February 2023 that he often buys two cartons of dog food at a time because of 'convenience' noting that his dog is a 'princess' (Staff writer, news.com, February 2, 2023.).
This softening effect may have also worked with past political leaders. The story of Winston Churchill liking cats appeared in the British Press when the Second World War was grinding on. German aerial attacks and government-orchestrated wartime austerity measures literally ground down the British public. Churchill's liking of cats and his secretariat's desire to point them out were seen as 'prodigious fun' (BBC London Letters, 1943). Hastings also wondered why more was not written about Churchill's affection for felines, ruminating that 'It's a curious thing in that all the millions of words written about the Prime Minister… I've never come across a mention of the fact that he is an ardent cat lover’. Churchill's positioning as an 'ardent cat lover' in the British press may have been an attempt to further endear him to a besieged and beleaguered public whose support was vital to the war effort in Britain.
So what of Mitzi, the luckless part-Burmese who, for a short time, captured the attention and perhaps the hearts of 1970s Canberrians? Was Mitzi's story hijacked for political purposes? Yes, yes, it was. In the May 20 article that reported on Mitiz's release, the author took the opportunity to comment on the machinations of party politics and the gullibility of the voting public, who the author claimed were easily lured to the polls by enticing election promises. The author stated that '[P]oliticians… are well versed in offering baits to a gullible electorate on the one hand and feeding a hungry feline on the other' ('A Cat About the House').
In 1979, the Fraser Government had been in power for four years and had entered its second government term. The Malcolm Fraser-led coalition had won with a substantial majority in 1975, promising to 'turn on the lights after three dark years' of Labour government. In 1977, the Fraser government promised the voting public a 'fistful of dollars' in tax cuts and no new taxes. 1977, it broke this promise, introducing a 1.5% income tax surcharge. In the May 20 article, the author likens the tantalising offer of 'meat and milk' dangled in front of the entrapped Mitzi to Fraser's 'fistful of dollars' that was employed to garner votes from the constituency in 1977; the author stated '[T]he ruse – a trap primed with meat and milk - was successful as an offer of a tax cut to a voter' (A Cat About the House'). To the author, Mitzi and the voting public are too easily tempted by the hollow show of political persuasion. But unlike Mitzi, who was lured away to a warm and secure new home, the voter 'finds the bait offered at the polls as sweet and gaudy as candy floss and just as insubstantial' ('A Cat About the House').
Cats in and of themselves may not be political beings as we humans understand it. However, their presence within the halls (and within literal walls!) of parliament, and as companions to our political leaders are often employed for political reasons. Some of our political leaders have capitalised on the power of the 'cute and fluffy' to sell themselves to an apathetic or cynical public. Some political commentators have leveraged the human interest in trapped felines to highlight the gullibility of the voting public to the alleged saccharine sweetness of political propaganda. Moreover, while it was intimated that Mitzi lived 'happily ever after', the reader was left to ponder if they will forever remain trapped in the political propaganda machine.
Yours, Cat Historian
Works Cited
Staff reporter, ‘Political Prisoner Seeks Freedom’, The Canberra Times (Friday 18 May 1979)
‘A Cat About the House’, The Canberra Times (Sunday 20 May 1979)
‘Churchill likes Cats’, BBC London Letters (1943)
Liisi Laineste, Anastasiya Fiadotava, Eva Šipöczová, Guillem Castañar Rubio, ‘The Cute and the Fluffy: pets, humour and personalization in political communication’, The Journal of Humour Research, vol.10, no.4 (2022), pp.99-129.
Staff Writers, ‘PM reveals Toto’s weekly shopping demands and one moment he was stopped in a supermarket’, News.com (February 2, 2023).
Georgia Curry, ‘PM lets cat out of the bag at Rudd Portrait Unveiling’, Canberra Daily (August 10, 2023).
Ronald Mizen, ‘Black Cat Steals the Scene in Kevin Rudd’s Official Portrait’, Financial Review (August 10, 2023)