Missed by the Melbourne media was the recent visit by Pete Steedman back to Monash University where for a time he edited the campus newspaper , Lot's Wife, in the wild anti -Vietnam War l960s . Pete also edited the Melbourne University publication, Farrago , during that same period , covered in Dissent .The Student Press in 1960s Australia , by Dr Sally Percival Wood , Scribe, 2017.
During this period Steedman was a prominent activist , closely watched and read in Australia and America . The Aussie government even considered bringing in legislation to charge him with sedition!!!
In l969 he next edited a new lively national publication, Broadside , in Melbourne, which shone the light on many hot subjects , including the abortion situation in Victoria . It also contained the well followed satirical comic strip , Fabula , by Gerald Carr , which appeared in the first edition and covered the thinly disguised goings on in Canberra , where the PM's private secretary often lashed out .
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Pete notified this blog with the great news that recently one copy of Broadside had sold for $75 , suggesting we could be sitting on a paper fortune as we have a complete set of the publication , including the last edition - actually signed by him .
Steedman continues to sort out for the Victorian state library his extensive files related to his time as an activist journalist, editor , publisher , ALP politician , music world influencer , media commentator , one file alone containing about 100 media cuttings about him . There are also tapes .
Another file covers his time in Darwin after the Christmas Day l974 Cyclone Tracy , during which he organised production of a newspaper to inform the large part of the community which had been evacuated to various parts of the nation what was going on in Darwin and wrote a critical review of the handling of the situation , with advice on how to deal with future disasters.
The file includes a letter to Major General Alan Stretton , head of the National Disasters Organisation, ending with a friendly , "see you at the next natural disaster." Incidentally, Stretton later strongly condemned the invasion of Iraq.
