Monday, September 30, 2024

SPREADING THE TRUTH ABOUT OZ

 
Promising  architect  and gifted  illustrator  Peter Burleigh  was the subject of  this  1969  drawing  in Broadside , edited by Pete Steedman,  which broke the shock news  he was  leaving Melbourne and  going  to  Britain as  a forelock- tugging , unpaid  ambassador  for  Australia,  with a  food  parcel  for  undernourished  Prince  Charles in  his swag , which could have  been purloined  from the Department of  Defence .  
Looking like Barry McKenzie , Burleigh  is shown  wearing a  slouch hat ,  waving a   flag , in a  typical Australian setting  , the Sydney Opera House in  the background , a  tree chopped down .

It  quotes   him as saying he  wants  to dispel the belief in the Mother Country  that  Australia is a land of kangaroos and  meat pies . It was also his intention to inform  Pommie Customs  officers  closely  examining his luggage  at  London  airport  that  Barry Humphries  is  a twisted  intellectual .

Australia , he said ,  was   a  nation of thoughtful  people, depicted  in a  drawing  showing  marchers  with  empty thought bubbles ; a  member of the   RSL  carrying a banner  reading  BAN THE BUMS (not bombs) ; another  goofy marcher  with  BAN THE WHORS  on his T-shirt .

Burleigh also had a  glowing (in the dark ) reference  from the Victorian  hanging  Premier ,  Henry  Bolte , to  help  swing open  many  pub  doors and corridors of  power  in  the  Old  Dart  . 
 
WARNING : More to come .