The last annual book fair-the 14th-held at the Magnetic Island kindergarten on Sunday , muffled drumbeats heard in the background , a horse drawn black hearse nearby , did not rate a mention by Townsville's moribund media before or after the sombre event .
By Peter Simon
This sad and bug-eyed blogger joined well known local bibliophiles , artists , wildlife carers , conservationists , fellow grizzled scavengers surging about the fair , rummaging through the many books , CDs , bric-a-brac , prints .
It was noticed that our friend , the German Queen of the Jungle, found a variety of books dealing with early Germanic history , especially the invasion of the Barbarians , and the trial and suicide of General Erwin Rommel ,the Desert Fox ; Aboriginal art and myths , the Guggenheimer Collection and the life of Australian artist Sidney Nolan , ceramics were the subject of other books that she purchased .
Several books about Australian flora and fauna were drawn to her attention , but she replied that she already had them , indicating her extensive interest in and knowledge of this wide brown evaporating land.
With strict instructions on the domestic front not to go mad at the fair , this old blogger nevertheless managed to totter in and out of kindy on several occasions with a swag of finds covering Australiana, art, poetry , early New Guinea writing , militaria , North Queensland and New Zealand regional histories , the biography of Asian foreign correspondent Richard Hughes .
Memories came flooding back when I spotted The Ivanov Trail , by journalist and lawyer David Marr , about the crisis in Australian politics when ASIO claimed the cherubic former ALP secretary and lobbyist , David Combe , of South Australia , had become a security risk because of what was said in taped conversations with Russian Valeri Ivanov, a KGB agent , who was ordered out of Australia .
During the Combe-Ivanov Affair , I was employed by Senator Nick Bolkus, in Adelaide , and spent time in Canberra when parliament was sitting. With Combe under attack , I was told to organise a gathering of South Australian senators and others in parliament to express support for him .
During the Combe-Ivanov Affair , I was employed by Senator Nick Bolkus, in Adelaide , and spent time in Canberra when parliament was sitting. With Combe under attack , I was told to organise a gathering of South Australian senators and others in parliament to express support for him .
One of those who turned up was an old mate , the ALP Member for Casey in the House of Representatives, Pete Steedman , whom I had first met in Darwin after Cyclone Tracy , full of fire , ideas, combative , wore a leather jacket in parliament , went without a tie , named politician of the year by the Canberra Times .
He was known to bait Country Party members who attacked him in parliament by saying they had nothing to worry about because the ALP was going to bring in restrospective legislation making it okay for them having had sex with pet sheep .
At the meeting , Pete's outlandish comment about what ASIO members did to each other did not leak out , did not frighten the specially trained horses of the Australian Capital Territory riot squad .
Mr Justice Hope was commissioned to inquire into the affair . Combe's senior counsel was Ian Barker , QC , former solicitor-general of the Northern Territory , who had prosecuted the Azaria Chamberlain Ayers Rock case . Hope cleared Combe .
The Marr book included a faded Noosa Book Shop bookmark with a P. J. O'Rourke quote : Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it .
At the book fair it was noticed that somebody had obviously been deeply interested in yachting as there were many items on the subject , including bound in volumes of early sailing magazines , the bumper book on Australian yachting by journalist Lou D'Alpuget , father of Blanche, who had boxed under the name Pancho D'Alpuget , a friend of the Sydney Sun editor Lindsay Clinch , a keen yachtie who had worked in New York . A crisp copy of A Maritime History of Australia by John Bach was snapped up , only to discover I already had a copy .
At home, going through the books bought at the fair , nearly 40 volumes , the Queen of the Jungle , beaming from ear to ear , unexpectedly arrived with good news : my wife had won a raffle prize at the fair which was a box containing a bottle of wine , a yoga lesson , a Mickey Mouse wall clock ,a dinner for one at a stage door production , a tin of cream wafers , a smart grip cup and a pot plant .
The Queen said she would like to return to the book fair , soon to close , as there were some other books she would like to buy , if they were still there . Off we sped in her royal carriage to kindy and rummaged through the still large number of books available , now $10 for a bag .
The Queen and I staggered out with a mixed huge bag of treasures. A great buy was a boxed three volume Folio Society set, A History of the Crusades , by Steven Runciman, the bloody wars similar to the goings on in the Liberal Party during the week .
The Queen and I staggered out with a mixed huge bag of treasures. A great buy was a boxed three volume Folio Society set, A History of the Crusades , by Steven Runciman, the bloody wars similar to the goings on in the Liberal Party during the week .
