It is sad to report that the author of this excellent book , historian Dr Sally Percival Wood , 58, has died in Melbourne , from cancer. It is testimony to her bravery, professionalism and tenacity that she carried on researching and writing the book as her health deteriorated .
Over the years she had written about Australia's relations with Asia post -World War ll and had given public lectures in Vietnam, Cambodia , Brunei , Indonesia and India .
At the time of writing the book, dedicated to the l960s trailblazers who changed Australia , she was a member of Deakin University's Contemporary History Research Group and the Professional Historians Association .
While the book highlights the student press in 1960s Australia , it is right up to the present day in its coverage , with strong comments about the way universities are run , the relationship between students and faculty, the economic and other pressures on modern students and asks has the student press lost its nerve?
Australian student newspapers of the l960s clashed with political conservatism , spoke out against the Vietnam War, resisted conscription , raciscm and organised the above Vietnam War forum attended by prominent national figures. There is a powerful final chapter , WHITHER THE CLEVER COUNTRY ?
By Peter Simon
This blog likes to think it is responsible for the book being written by running , in many parts , some illustrated, part of the boisterous life of controversial 1960s university newspaper editor, journalist , ALP politician and publisher, Pete Steedman. It included some of his involvement in London influencing media coverage of the Irish troubles , playing a big part in preventing a new TV licence going to commercial interests , organising a campaign to prevent an historic part of the city being demolished .
As a result of that series in Little Darwin , it was firmly stated that a book should be written about Steedman. I heartily endorsed that sentiment and offered any information and illustrations I could for the project to become airborne . Some of the illustrations used in the blog appeared in Dissent .
I first met Steedman in Darwin after Cyclone Tracy . He had been flown in to organise contact with the large part of the community evacuated all over Australia and to assess how the disaster had been handled . With his dynamic lets get things done approach , punctuated with occasional expletives, he created his own cyclonic winds in media, government and café circles in the Top End . If I remember correctly , he was responsible for suggesting a small commercial printer should start a newspaper in Darwin, which they did and it gave the Murdoch one a run for its money .
When I was working for a South Australian senator , I met up again in Canberra with Steedman , who was then the ALP Member for Casey . He went on to promote and develop Australian music and the record industry .
Some years later , Dr Sally Percival Wood began to dig into the bigger picture of dissent in Australian universities , apart from the 1960s, researching such people as the controversial literary figure P.R. "Inky" Stephenson who was involved with D. H. Lawrence and Xavier Herbert ; Zell Rabin ,who became a top Sydney reporter , worked in America and was closely associated with Rupert Murdoch in the early days of his rise to fame .
During her research she and Steedman came to Magnetic Island in 2016 and items of interest were handed over to her ; information on other subjects of interest , about which she was keen to write , including early Australian trade with Asia , were forwarded to her.
During her research she and Steedman came to Magnetic Island in 2016 and items of interest were handed over to her ; information on other subjects of interest , about which she was keen to write , including early Australian trade with Asia , were forwarded to her.
Despite deteriorating health and operations , the book was finished and published late last year by Scribe. Named are many of the activists from the l960s who went on to become well known politicians , lawyers, journalists , publishers , actors . A person of interest who receives a mention is Peter Burleigh , whose distinctive , illustrated articles have appeared in Little Darwin , one of his cartoons recently run in a post about the Magnetic Island art researcher Margaret Vine . Burleigh and cartoonist Michael Leunig both contributed to Broadside , a new Melbourne Age publication edited by Steedman after his university days .
The foreword , by Graeme Davison , Emeritus Professor of Monash University and co-author of University Unlimited ; the Monash Story , states that one figure , above all, personified the spirit of the l960s student press, the "swashbuckling Peter Steedman ", the most prodigiously talented newspaper editor of his generation . Steedman, below, left, in action at university .
The foreword , by Graeme Davison , Emeritus Professor of Monash University and co-author of University Unlimited ; the Monash Story , states that one figure , above all, personified the spirit of the l960s student press, the "swashbuckling Peter Steedman ", the most prodigiously talented newspaper editor of his generation . Steedman, below, left, in action at university .
In the Dissent acknowledgements , Sally offered her sincere thanks to her oncologists, surgeons and medical teams for "keeping me upright with the greatest of care . "
Last of all, she wrote :" Finally I thank the inimitable Pete Steedman . His passion for the student press and his encyclopaedic knowledge of 1960s politics has been an incredible resource. He has not only put his library and his archives at my disposal , he has read and critiqued every word written and placed no restrictions on his time. On a personal level , Pete , you are my rock . Thank you with love . "
Shattered by the death of his partner , his first wife having also died from cancer, Steedman emailed news of Sally's death on April 9, with details of a special event on Sunday to celebrate her life . In it, he said her death had been the end of an l8 month ordeal for her .
He went on ..."Sally had great potential and was an incredible researcher
and had several books in the pipeline. At 58 she was far too young to
go.
"I am obviously a bit fucked as we had established a good
relationship, although she had to contend with my blindness, arthritis and all
the ageing diseases including slowly losing my mind, not to mention picking me
up out of the gutter when I again miss a step."
