THE QUEEN AND RURAL REBEL ROB

 Stories  galore  continue to pour  out   about  the  Queen's  connection with   Australia .  After  this  blog posted  an  item about  the  l954 Royal Visit   section in  the  Adelaide   Correspondence  School  magazine there was a   surprising response  from  Darwin  agronomist and   activist, Robert Wesley-Smith . 

It seems Queen  Elizabeth's  visit to  Adelaide   influenced   Wesley-Smith's  career  . Children were brought down from Alice Springs  especially for the  royal visit , one of them billeted at  Wesley'-Smith's school, Mitcham Primary, which  Julia Gillard, Australia's first  female Prime Minister also  attended .

Wes, almost 12 at the time of the royal visit,  recalled waving at the Duke of Edinburgh as the royal limo drove by. Later on  , he travelled to Alice Springs in the Northern Territory  aboard The Ghan with some of the billeted children. At  one stop to take on water for the steam engine , he had to run back to board the train and  dropped and  broke  his glasses. 

Alice Springs Tour

In Alice Springs he was taken  on dusty tours in a truck ,one place visited was  Corroboree Rock.   

Fast  forward  to when he was  in  Adelaide University, aged abou 20,  and   interviewed   for  a  possible  cadetship  in rural science   at  the New  England  University , Armidale, New South Wales. The cadetship  could  result   being   posted  to  New  Guinea   or  the  Northern  Territory.

During the interview , he was  asked  how  he thought  he  would cope with the Territory  climate.  Not  a  problem , he replied ,  saying he had been to Alice Springs.   This  was  noted. 

As fate would have it, he  did time at  the  New  England institution and  went  to  the  Territory instead of  up  the Sepik  River . 

Reflecting  on  the l954 royal visit to  Adelaide, Wes  made a  belated thank you  to  the  Queen  for  unknowingly    influencing   his   future . 

 In the Territory,  he  not only became   involved in  early  animal  industry and   agriculture  ventures  and  field  days   but  the  Freedom for East Timor   struggle , Aboriginal  land rights . As a founding member  of the Northern Territory   Civil  Liberties  Council he  became   deeply involved in  many issues and still is .

Wes  Wields  Weapon 

Along  the  way , in a dramatic   act,  invoking the  power of  a  royal, he  knighted   East Timor   freedom fighter Jose Ramos-Horta  with a  sword  at  Charles Darwin University .  Horta was   about to deliver a speech  at  the university , when  Wes  , armed with a  Timorese sword , which he still has ,  stepped forward  and   dubbed  him  Sir Jose   Ramos- Horta  for having led the  long  struggle. The audience responded  with  loud  clapping . 

With a  chuckle, Wes recalled the event . Jose, he said,   had  looked somewhat apprehensive as he  approached him  with  the  sword. 

 The two met again recently in Darwin  when  Jose, now the  Timor Leste President,   came to town and  attended  a function at the Portuguese and  Timorese  Social Club . Wes  was  not   armed ; they discussed  numerous subjects, including the time   Horta spent in   the  Hong Kong  apartment  of  Peter  Wesley-Smith , a  law  lecturer , during  the  long  struggle .

All three of the Wesley-Smith brothers  received the  Ordem de Timor Leste  and are seen here with the  country's current Prime  Minister  Taur Matan Ruak . Martin  , suffering from lung cancer,  is on far left, Robert  and   Peter  together  at  the  right .

Apart  from continuing to sort out his extensive files and cleaning his ceremonial  sword on occasions ,Robert Wesley- Smith is writing his  Territory memoirs , tentatively  carrying   the  right royal  title , Rural  Rebel  Rob .