The seemingly never ending sorting out of extensive files built up by Darwin activist Robert Wesley-Smith, shown here wearing a T-shirt supporting * Witness K and Canberra lawyer Bernard Collaery ,charged after it was revealed Australia had bugged the Timor-Leste government , continues to unearth a wide range of surprising material , some of which has been shared with Little Darwin .
By Peter Simon .
Out of left field , as it were , he sent me an email in which he said he had discovered a government information newsletter , one of a number I wrote in Darwin for distribution throughout the Cyclone Tracy shattered city at venues like schools where people went for meals and information , help , details of the systematic clearance of areas by defence teams , the new location of key departments and offices, , federal government decisions about the future of the city , etcetera .
In that newsletter , Wesley-Smith said I had "revealed " the location of the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation office . He wanted to know if ASIO had asked me to leave town after blowing their cover.
After chuckling , I said that following the disaster , ASIO had obviously wanted to help out in some way and must have notified me of their location for public consumption.
Then Wesley-Smith , one of Australia;'s great veteran activists , revealed a humorous anecdote about the time he had , unannounced, knocked on the ASIO door in Darwin.
With him was a reporter , Chris Lee . He made the suprise call because not only had he been a founding member of the Northern Territory Civil Libeties Council, opposed the Vietnam War, but had been an early suporter of East Timor and members of that community in Darwin consulted him.
He was informed that a man claiming to be a Commonwealth Policeman was calling on Timorese and asking questions. They felt intimidated , asked Wesley-Smith if he could find out what was going on.
So , with reporter Chris Lee in tow, Wes knuckled the ASIO door.
The door, he said, slowly opened , and a hard to see man was visible in the dark interior.
The conversation that ensued is said to have caused reporter Lee to "piss himself laughing" .
The ASIO man within told Wes he obviously knew where he was , which was more like a question . Wes explained the reason for being on the doorstep .
It seems a Commonwealth Police officer genuinely concerned about the welfare of Timorese refugees had indeed been making the calls
As they came away from the ASIO office ,Wes said Lee could hardly contain himself because he laughed so much about the counversation which had taken place.
Because Wes was such a well known activist,-still is at 80- ASIO had a file on him . It would be a whopper , but not nearly as big as his own files , going back more than 50 years , which include a vast number of important photographs , some of which have appeared in this blog .
He also has a large collection of protest T-shirts built up over decades, which should be in the national archives.
In the mail, this blog has just received from him an envelope of newspaper cuttings about the Lindy Chamberlain case in which he was involved. There is a scribbled note saying they might inspire the writing of a book .
* Witness K received a suspended three month sentence , Collaery was placed on a 12 month good behaviour bond. The T-shirt worn by Wes above was made in Timor- Leste where Collaery is highly regarded .
UPCOMING : Wes singing in Singapore ! Interesting cuttings from his files , sessions with crusading editor Big Jim Bowditch and more items of interest .
