Odd things are found washed up on islands and beaches . This scribbler delighted in slipping through a story headed ORGAN FOUND ON BEACH while working on the Cairns Post some 40 odd years ago. It was about a church organ found washed up on sleepy Port Douglas beach by a beachcomber. This was followed up by an equally sneaky yarn headed FINED FOR HAVING CRABS .
In recent years , Little Darwin found an interesting item of flotsam at a garage sale on Magnetic Island- the authorised biography of Queensland Premier Johannes Bjelke-Petersen , described by PM Gough Whitlam as a Bible-bashing bastard,etcetera. Inside on the front free endpaper was Joh’s business card , signed on the verso: Joh. Bjelke –Petersen , Premier, 23-8-85 .
Called JIGSAW , it was written by one Derek Townsend who in the gushing foreword wrote : “ While having always believed in God , at no time did I feel so close to Him as when producing this manuscript. Day after day, month after month, reading from the diaries and letters of the Bjelke-Petersen family, it was almost as if some of their intense faith and courage still remained in spirit among these old documents”. He described the premier as a statesman , not a politician . Sold for $19.95, it was remaindered nine months later for $3.99. Because of its associated inclusion , my copy cost me a whole buck , and is still in my political collection.
In recent years , Little Darwin found an interesting item of flotsam at a garage sale on Magnetic Island- the authorised biography of Queensland Premier Johannes Bjelke-Petersen , described by PM Gough Whitlam as a Bible-bashing bastard,etcetera. Inside on the front free endpaper was Joh’s business card , signed on the verso: Joh. Bjelke –Petersen , Premier, 23-8-85 .
Called JIGSAW , it was written by one Derek Townsend who in the gushing foreword wrote : “ While having always believed in God , at no time did I feel so close to Him as when producing this manuscript. Day after day, month after month, reading from the diaries and letters of the Bjelke-Petersen family, it was almost as if some of their intense faith and courage still remained in spirit among these old documents”. He described the premier as a statesman , not a politician . Sold for $19.95, it was remaindered nine months later for $3.99. Because of its associated inclusion , my copy cost me a whole buck , and is still in my political collection.
Author Townsend dug up the fascinating story that young Joh had invented an inflated rubber cricket bat and “several disastrous prototypes” were made by a rubber company, some of which exploded .
Joh's dictatorial reign came to an end when the Fitzgerald Inquiry began fitting together another jigsaw, revealing massive crime and corruption in Queensland.
