Captured at his cluttered desk in rural Darwin years ago is Robert Wesley-Smith . In front of him are open newspapers, there is a stack of papers behind him , a pile of books , a packet of biros hang from a post so that he is always able to find one to take notes , mark text about the many subjects in which he has an interest , which includes East Timor , a country for which he has fought and supported since l975 , visited many times .
Over the Australia Day long weekend he retrieved photographs from his unique collection of a refugee from East Timor now living in Darwin ,Veronica Pereira , known as The Mother of East Timor Culture, for her weaving of Tais , ceremonial cloth .
These photos , taken about 20 years ago, showed her working on her loom and he presented them to her .
Wesley-Smith has a collection of Tais , including some made by her, one specially made for him with the message to SET FREE TIMOR.
Wes went with her to a special memorial ceremony in Dili at the Santa Cruz Cemetery in Timor Leste, the scene of the bloody massacre by Indonesian troops on November 12,1991. An editorial in The New York Times described the slaughter as The Tiananmen in East Timor , the Chinese massacre , criticising the poor response to the latter by President Bush .
As part of that memorial event in Dili , Veronica unfurled five woven Tais on which were the names of the victims .
The panels were also displayed (above ) in Darwin . Veronica, is the woman with a large Tais wrapped about her. Wesley -Smith is second from the left . The event is believed to have been part of the Cross Arts Project, Elastic Borrracha Elastico, a Timor Leste visual art, architecture and culture data base, described as evidence of a major Southeast Asian political and social transformation. Its bibliography included Veronica , the American activist Noam Chomsky and Wesley-Smith .
As part of that major project, a traditional Timorese house was built on Wesley-Smith's rural property and after going on display in Darwin was dismantled , put in a shipping container, sent to Sydney . The following composite photograph is of Veronica seated and in a group with other Timorese women near the reassembled house ,displaying the massacre Tais , at the Museum of Contemporary Art ,Sydney. From there it went on show in Canberra, then back to Sydney at the Power House Museum .
The fate of the unique building is unclear. Placed back in the shipping container , it was put into storage in a council area in Sydney , in which there was a fire . Whether or not it was damaged by the fire is not known , but its whereabouts became unknown .
Wesley-Smith would like to hear from anyone who has any information about its fate. He hastens to point out the important banner was not in the container. It is still in the possession of Veronica , who guards it fiercely .
From time to time, he has taken visitors from near and far to view the banner and speak to the master weaver .
Veronica and her husband, Tony Maia , are shown below displaying one panel of the banner at Wesley-Smith's property , dry at the time .
UPCOMING : More information about Tais , Noam Chomsky and the island of the banished .
Important notice : Wesley-Smith's desk is much tidier nowadays and he still campaigns on many fronts.
