Born into a working class Catholic family in 1915, “Diamond” Jim McClelland worked as a lawyer, specialising in industrial relations, after serving in the army during World War Two. He went on to play an important part in Australian politics during the 1970s. He was elected to the Senate in 1971 and the following year became a Cabinet minister in the Whitlam Labor Government. He retired after seven years in parliament and was appointed to the bench of the NSW Industrial Commission. He later became Chief Justice of the NSW Land and Environment Court and headed the Royal Commission into British atomic tests at Maralinga. He died in 1999.

(1996, 27 mins) A Film Australia National Interest Program.

© National Film and Sound Archive of Australia.