Cover of Lot's Wife for the extensive coverage given to the high powered National Forum on Vietnam at Monash University in 1965, attended by 2000 students . Leading anti-war figure,Dr Jim Cairns, is on the left and External Affairs Minister, a former Territories Minister , Paul Hasluck, later the Governor-General , on the right. The report was compiled by Lot’s Wife co-editor, Phillip Frazer, and Peter Moylan.
Secret 1967 government documents released by Australian Archives after 30 years revealed Pete Steedman had been one of the “most feared”anti-Vietnam War campaigners through his editorship of the Monash University newspaper,Lot’s Wife and,later, the University of Melbourne's Farrago, his media savvy, organisational skills and outspokenness.
The government considered using charges of sedition against him and ordered he be kept under close surveillance by ASIO. Attorney-General, Nigel Bowen , discussed possible new legislation called something like the Treacherous Offences (South Vietnam) Act to silence Steedman and others , but feared a political backlash.
Steedman’s involvement with Lot’s Wife ran for six and a half years and brought him into contact with a band of talented students , many of whom went on to carve out distinguished careers in writing, filmmaking, photography, graphic art, commerce and law . In 1963 he became involved with a ground breaking Sydney “magazine of dissent ," Oz .
Oz first began as a satirical magazine and evolved into a highly controversial journal,resulting in an obscenity trial . The original editorial team included Richard Neville,editor of the University of NSW magazine, Tharunka, Richard Walsh,editor of the Sydney University mag,Honi Soit, art student Martin Sharp and Daily Mirror cadet reporter Peter Grose. The first edition, on April fool’s Day 1963 , parodied the Sydney Morning Herald , where it was printed , and led with a front page hoax about the collapse of the Sydney Harbour Bridge .It included a centre spread about the history of the chastity belt and sold like proverbial hot cakes ,6000 copies by noon .
The key players were charged with distributing an obscene publication. A magistrate even ordered police to burn 140 copies which contained a satirical attack on police bashing homosexuals.
Early contributors to Oz were the future Time magazine critic and art historian,Robert Hughes, and now prominent commentator, political writer , playwright, film maker and ALP supporter, Bob Ellis .
Steedman had met Neville through a mutual friend after the first edition hit the streets and became the Melbourne connection for the magazine , organising a band of enthusiastic sellers at universities, dodging the over zealous Victorian Vice Squad ,led by Sergeant Mick Miller .
The magazine, Steedman said, was like a breath of fresh air to a young would be rebel who wanted to confront society with its contradictions and hypocrisy. In an unpublished account of his involvement with Oz ,Steedman wrote his “ street fighting persona” at times did not go down well with the Sydney artistic licence, sexual freedom direction that the publication and its editors took.
"I wanted to crush the system ,Richard(Neville) wanted to bend it and play with it. I wanted a society of equal opportunity,he wanted desperately to have a sexual revolution,with himself as its major beneficiary . Leather jackets and boots met duffle coats and brothel creepers."
When Steedman went to Sydney to see the Oz brigade, Neville’s parents in the North Shore suburb of Mosman looked askance at this Victorian “bodgie”. An overnight stay at the Sharp mansion saw Steedman sharing a room out the back with a Great Dane,presumably a canine. Nevertheless , Richard Neville in September 1965 described Lot’s Wife under the editorship of Phillip Frazer and Steedman as the most original and exciting student paper he had ever seen . Neville and Steedman would later link up once more , in London, where Oz again created uproar and legal battles .
Steedman became co-editor of Lot’s Wife with Phillip Frazer ( arts, majoring in politics), who later became a highly successful writer, editor and publisher in Australia and America, editing Ralph Nader’s publication, Multinational Monitor and today is publisher-co editor of the influential US political newsletter , The Hightower Lowdown . Frazer taught Steedman the basics of layout and other aspects of production and Pete also took on the job of advertising manager for the commission. Initially, the co-editors received the princely sum of $16 each per fortnightly issue.
The June 15 ,1965 edition, running a picture of an unkempt looking Steedman , said he had been a well known student leader for the past four years ,associated with clubs and societies , president of the Rationalists in 1962 and a member of the Ski Club executive for three years. Recently he had resigned as vice-president of the SRC and had fought strongly against all forms of censorship as a member of the Censorship Reform Committee. In his early days at uni he had taken on both the administration and the SRC to defend students’ rights and had been the first student disciplined , fined 15 pound ($30) by the vice-chancellor,for using language unbecoming a student to an executive officer. The fine was paid by contributions from senior staff of the Politics Department .
Publications he had been connected with included INCUBUS-a radical current affairs –philisophical quarterly that had gained widespread praise and became Monash’s first financially successful magazine . He had been on the editorial board of GRAFFITI, a satirical magazine, edited by Paul Lawson ,which may have only seen the light of day once because of censorship restrictions in 1962.
Steedman,it said, had written many articles for CHAOS (the earlier name for Monash’s journal) and LOT’S WIFE , recent reports for the latter being on police brutality and a page on the League of Rights led by anti semite Eric Butler who said opposition by certain influential Left wing people and Communists at Monash University , where Lot’s Wife was “ depraved” , had prevented him from addressing the Liberal Club on the nature of international Communism. A meeting of another right wing group, the Australian- Rhodesian Association, infiltrated by Butler’s outfit, became agitated when Steedman and another student reporter turned up to cover the proceedings .
Publications he had been connected with included INCUBUS-a radical current affairs –philisophical quarterly that had gained widespread praise and became Monash’s first financially successful magazine . He had been on the editorial board of GRAFFITI, a satirical magazine, edited by Paul Lawson ,which may have only seen the light of day once because of censorship restrictions in 1962.
Steedman,it said, had written many articles for CHAOS (the earlier name for Monash’s journal) and LOT’S WIFE , recent reports for the latter being on police brutality and a page on the League of Rights led by anti semite Eric Butler who said opposition by certain influential Left wing people and Communists at Monash University , where Lot’s Wife was “ depraved” , had prevented him from addressing the Liberal Club on the nature of international Communism. A meeting of another right wing group, the Australian- Rhodesian Association, infiltrated by Butler’s outfit, became agitated when Steedman and another student reporter turned up to cover the proceedings .
Steedman, the paper said, also had the distinction of failing more courses than any other member of the university; at the time he was studying Politics 11 and English 1.[A letter writer, going under the name of James Joyce’s alter ego, Stephen Daedolus (sic) , subsequently highlighted Steedman’s “distinction “ of failing more courses than anybody else: “What a political ,social and economic tragedy it would have been if Monash had been deprived of your service through one of those hideously right-wing conspiracies-examinations.” He was a part time , paying student , who had to work, often not able to attend lectures .]
To pay for his studies , Steedman admits to having been a wheeler dealer entrepreneur in those days , selling all kinds of things through the newspaper’s office. The paper ran a strangely worded for sale notice for a 1957 Ariel motorbike , the owner desperate , out of work and broke, for the bargain price of 50 pound ($100). - See Pete Steedman, Lot’s Wife. Another Steedman advertisement said he had a BSA Gold Flash , needed the money,so why hadn't anybody answered his ad?
Invariably photographs of Steedman in Lot’s Wife presented an unkempt, bleary eyed individual. However,in one baffling shot ,he appeared to be actually wearing a tie- even a suit ! When asked by Little Darwin to explain this conservative attire, he said he had appeared in court , taking on a radio broadcaster who threatened to sue him for $100,00o . On the other hand , Phillip Frazer , with a pipe , a crew neck jumper, and sports coat, appeared clean cut and more academically inclined .
Under the heading , SIX MONTHS HARD LABOUR, one of the newspaper’s staff, Elaine Wheaton, said she had first approached the job in fear and trepidation, having heard “the Steedman Legend”. She had been asked to type words , the meaning of which she had no idea,and ended her piece by saying that ,in the future, old ladies would queue up to see nice young Dr Frazer (he had studied medicine, but gave it up ) by which time he would have cut his locks and have bought a new pipe .
In the case of Steedman, if he kept out of gaol, she said he would go into politics and become Leader of the Opposition. Nearly 20 years later , Steedman found himself in the House of Representatives , so Elaine should have gone into fortune telling on campus .
In the case of Steedman, if he kept out of gaol, she said he would go into politics and become Leader of the Opposition. Nearly 20 years later , Steedman found himself in the House of Representatives , so Elaine should have gone into fortune telling on campus .
As for Steedman escaping incarceration, another strange story appeared in the April Fool’s Day edition of Lot’s Wife in 1965.Under the heading WE LOVE YOU,PETE, it said Steedman, the SRC vice president, and an arts student , Kim Lynch,a member of the Red Onions Jazz Band , and his girlfriend, had been arrested outside the Fat Black Pussy Cat .Charges against them were dismissed after police gave their evidence ,which included the fact that there was an ice box containing beer in the back of the police car and alcohol had been detected on the officers’ breath. The article about the case was illustrated with a drawing of cheering girls on bicycles. Most of the Red Onions Jazz Band went on to become The Loved Ones , a legendary rock group.
An indication of the hijinks-creative tension ?- that went on inside Lot’s Wife , was this published statement attributed to Phillip Frazer “...let it be known that now and from now on, that Mr Steedman is not,never has been, and shall not be the Editor of Lot’s Wife .” It went on , "Whatever Mr Steedman may at any time claim behind my back, I trust will be reported to my front , and ,whatever Mr Steedman plots with subversive intention will not go on without my seal of approval .”
In the March 8,1966 edition , Frazer’s departure was announced in an OBITUARY in which his photo made him resemble a healthy Mick Jagger , flanked by a large dollar sign on the left and mortar board and degrees on the other. It said Frazer had resigned as co-editor,which had come as a surprise to most who had expected the other editor, Steedman, to depart. The two, the report said, took office in May 1965,Steedman leaving the uni at the end of that year. Because of lack of finance, Steedman decided to return and continue as co-editor. Three days later, Frazer , the paper said, had found a more profitable venture than Lot’s Wife,resigned, leaving Steedman as sole editor.
In the March 8,1966 edition , Frazer’s departure was announced in an OBITUARY in which his photo made him resemble a healthy Mick Jagger , flanked by a large dollar sign on the left and mortar board and degrees on the other. It said Frazer had resigned as co-editor,which had come as a surprise to most who had expected the other editor, Steedman, to depart. The two, the report said, took office in May 1965,Steedman leaving the uni at the end of that year. Because of lack of finance, Steedman decided to return and continue as co-editor. Three days later, Frazer , the paper said, had found a more profitable venture than Lot’s Wife,resigned, leaving Steedman as sole editor.
Frazer was now doing the layout for a highly successful teenage newspaper ,edited by another ex Lot’s Wife editor,Tony Schauble. Of the original five in the teen magazine, three were ex-editors of the Monash paper, and one, Doug Panther, an ex-student and flatmate of Steedman’s. The item ended : See what great things a job on Lot’s Wife can lead to!
The teen newspaper was Go-Set which sold more than 70,000 copies a week and grew to have a permanent staff of 25, offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. Go-Set was responsible for setting Ian “ Molly” Meldrum along the path to fame . Enterprising Frazer used the success of Go-Set to float another publishing venture, a counter culture monthly, Revolution, in which pages from Rolling Stone magazine were run as a supplement. Revolution was eventually turned into High Times . The Digger, another lively, controversial Frazer venture ,upset some , attracted lawsuits and Helen Garner shocked the Victorian government with an article about a sex education class.
Steedman says Frazer, because of his overseas publishing ventures, has never been acknowledged as the successful “father of the alternative press in Australia.”
Steedman says Frazer, because of his overseas publishing ventures, has never been acknowledged as the successful “father of the alternative press in Australia.”
Through Lot’s Wife , Steedman openly invited students to oppose conscription . His call came three years before the setting up of a Draft Resistance Movement in Melbourne. There was uproar when the Monash University Labor Club decided to collect money to aid the people of North Vietnam. Steedman’s backing of those moves to send funds to the civilian population of North Vietnam via Red Cross International to buy medical supplies and other needs was branded as supporting the enemy , the NLF , helping them “kill Australian soldiers.”Coming from a military family,Steedman said he was always careful not to attack soldiers. Others did, but this was not on as far as he was concerned . In actual fact, his first name is Alan,named after his father who went off to war , so that if he were killed the name would be perpetuated in the family. Australia had a history of volunteer armies, he wrote, and said troops had a job to do . Conscription , however , was outrageous.
A 1967 survey showed that in only two Australian universities the majority of students were against the war - the Australian National University, 55 per cent, and Monash, almost 80 per cent, the latter high figure attributed to the influence of Lot’s Wife. Inevitably, the opposition grew in other universities with the expansion of the Australian commitment to the war.
That Australian opposition was similar to the unrest in America but it was on a much larger scale there. The recent documentary screened on the ABC about Daniel Ellsberg and his leaking of the Pentagon Papers, revealing that five US presidents and other high ranking executives had “ lied through their teeth” to the people for decades , justifying the war on the grounds of bringing “ democracy” to Vietnam, when America had financed the French to take back the colony from the Vietnamese who had fought against the Japanese .
It is axiomatic that the US also lied to Australia and our governments went along with the deception in the Cold War which split the world into two opposing camp. For exposing the truth, Ellsberg was branded the most dangerous man in America , just as Julian Assange is so demonised by the US today. The same opprobrium and vilification was directed at Steedman and others in Australia who opposed the brutal, senseless war which claimed the lives of 2,OOO,OOO Vietnamese , and untold numbers of Laotians and Cambodians , 58,000 US soldiers and 521 Australians.
It is an acknowledged fact that Pete Steedman had a big impact on the design, layout and political content of Australian university publications in the 1960s, which spilled over into other publications. University publication editors from all over Australia had gathered in Melbourne in l966 and Steedman was acknowledged the best student editor in the nation. The National Union of Students proclaimed his techniques and ideas ,especially in offset printing, had been emulated by nearly every student editor since 1965.
A study of Lot’s Wife reveals that while it had a substantial amount of Vietnam war content , much of it was given over to other matters. There was a special cover report marking the 30th anniversary of the Spanish Civil War, other in depth features about the tense Indonesian situation, South Africa and life in Malaysia , book, film and theatre reviews , a lengthy article about the reign of Sir Robert Menzies . There was even an analysis of the 266 day Mt Isa mine strike in Queensland in which former NT News editor,Jim Bowditch , and Rupert Murdoch were involved. Aboriginal justice and the Lake Tyler settlement in Victoria were other topics.
Under the heading A TRAVESTY OF ACADEMIC FREEDOM substantial coverage was given to the saga of Professor Sydney Sparkes Orr, centre of a long drawn out storm over events at the University of Tasmania , which revealed political and academic machinations, and an amazing statement by the Bishop of Tasmania that university officers had told him"false" and "scurrilous " stories about Professor Orr . Orr , who criticised the way the university was run , sparked a Royal Commission and was later accused of seducing a student , reduced to working on the wharves before he died .
Fresh-faced Liberal backbencher, Andrew Peacock , with whom Steedman would later clash in parliament , visited the Lot's Wife office, made an impact on the staff, and took out a subscription . He questioned Steedman about the Vietnam war and conscription, agreeing that the paper was not a tool of the Left .
Through the mail from America Steedman received a book about the 1964-65 Berkeley University, California, revolt with its strikes and sit- ins that paralysed the university and caused a nation- wide controversy. Lot’s wife carried a two page illustrated review of the book by Paul Marriot which drew attention to similarities to the situation at Monash.It gave examples of the US media ridiculing and trivialising students , falsifying reports . An American assistant professor said that in matters of political significance the Press could not be trusted.
Barrie Humphries received several runs in Lot’s Wife , in one posing against Newsweek and Oz posters . Another controversial , irreverent and big selling publication , Sydney’s King’s Cross Whisper, inspired by Darwin’s Waratah Whisper, a lighthearted sporting paper, was reviewed and came to the conclusion that it contained schoolboyish humour mixed with pictures of half naked girls. This criticism came as a blow to Cyclops who had been a contributor to the King’s Cross Whisper, which paid a dollar a column inch, including headings, for all stories run. As a result , I was able to buy a Holden HR station wagon, wonderful cars, and in it made a trip from Sydney to Darwin and back .
Barrie Humphries received several runs in Lot’s Wife , in one posing against Newsweek and Oz posters . Another controversial , irreverent and big selling publication , Sydney’s King’s Cross Whisper, inspired by Darwin’s Waratah Whisper, a lighthearted sporting paper, was reviewed and came to the conclusion that it contained schoolboyish humour mixed with pictures of half naked girls. This criticism came as a blow to Cyclops who had been a contributor to the King’s Cross Whisper, which paid a dollar a column inch, including headings, for all stories run. As a result , I was able to buy a Holden HR station wagon, wonderful cars, and in it made a trip from Sydney to Darwin and back .
Michael Leunig, who lived two doors down from Steedman, began his cartooning career in Lot’s Wife in 1965. Depressed by the war news and the political shenanigans, Leunig soon after drew a man with a teapot on his head . The rest is history, as they say, leading to direction finding ducks, a flighty tickler from outer space, looking like a knobbly Lebanese cucumber, which terrified a city , Mr Curley , the lean, mean ferret of Nation Review , edited at one stage by Richard Walsh from Oz , and even a place in the Commonwealth Games tableau on the Yarra . Associating with Steedman may have made Leunig edgy, depressed and nervous at times .
With the government wanting to put Pete in a dank dungeon, ASIO watching his every move , B.A. Santamaria’s National Civic Council baying for his head, angry fathers of some nubile girls keen to turn young Lochinvar into a soprano , others declaring he was the anti-Christ ,being within a kilometre or two of Steedman could be like ground zero. All this aggressive attention made Steedman exceedingly nimble on the feet , capable of breaking the four minute mile, in sunglasses, at midnight, on a dark and wintry Melbourne night, over rocky terrain.
Steedman made a trip to Perth to make his expertise available to the WA university paper, Pelican, and also spoke to Brisbane university students involved with their journal Semper Floreat . In the case of the University of New South Wales , Steedman had dealings with anothere editor of its magazine, Tharunka, the later well known journalist and 60 Minutes reporter, Richard Carleton . Steedman liked to point out that Carleton was just plain Dick in those early days , later becoming Richard on becoming a media star . Carleton, he said, had been reluctant to run a photo showing him ( Carleton) hiding under a coat, pretending to nail Christ to a cross , actually a large crucifix outside a Catholic school, so Steedman ran it in Lot’s Wife with the caption, Monastic Sport .
There was an enormous outcry and a call for Steedman to be charged with blasphemy and sent down , a refined term for being kicked out of university . A packed special meeting, attended by a group of nuns , was held on a motion to censure the editors of the paper for alleged-anti Christianism, the move failing 202 votes to 193. The close result was seen by Steedman as God working in yet another mysterious way , especially as he thought he was a goner when he saw the nuns sitting up front .
Censorship of films relating to the Vietnam war became an issue in Australia . In the Senate there was a debate over the government’s handling of a TV report on Vietnam by the BBC’s Michael Charlton,formerly of the ABC. The documentary had already been shown in Britain and the US . But here the chairman of the Commonwealth Film Censorship Board referred it to the Minister for Customs and Excise, Senator Anderson, for approval to be shown in Australia.
As the minister was travelling in WA , the film was sent out west for him to view . Unfortunately, Senator Anderson was involved in a car accident , the film was sent back to Canberra where Territories Minister , Paul Hasluck, once a reporter ,was delegated to make a viewing and it was cleared for public consumption.
Senator O’Byrne,Tasmania , said he had viewed the film on Four Corners and it had tried to penetrate the truth of the horror of the Vietnam war. Any film on Vietnam would create a controversy in the Press or in television and radio programmes, but if we were to be mature nation, supporting freedom of speech, freedom of thought and worship, there had to be a quicker, more clear cut policy for handling such material. Such debates were grist for the mill as far as Steedman was concerned.
A major conscription forum was held at Monash and speakers on both sides received coverage in the newspaper. One of those against conscription was Ken Randall , a well known reporter,long associated with the Canberra Press Club and Federal parliament TV broadcasts .
At times there appeared to be open warfare on campus between various political clubs , the SRC and individuals. An edition announced that Steedman, pictured, looking bleary–eyed, “in a dramatic, half alcoholic gesture”, had resigned at a wild Student Representative Council meeting . [Soon after he was re-installed as the hard working editor, paid a pittance.]
At times there appeared to be open warfare on campus between various political clubs , the SRC and individuals. An edition announced that Steedman, pictured, looking bleary–eyed, “in a dramatic, half alcoholic gesture”, had resigned at a wild Student Representative Council meeting . [Soon after he was re-installed as the hard working editor, paid a pittance.]
A letter sent to the paper said it was morally wrong for young Australians to be compelled to fight and perhaps die in Vietnam . It called on the government to stop dispatching conscripts. The signatories were a cross section of Australian society, one being Rupert Murdoch’s uncle ,Professor Walter Murdoch, mentioned recently in Little Darwin, who often supported worthy, and contentious causes.
The names listed included : Meenah Abdullah ,Hugh Anderson, Allan Ashbolt, Martin Boyd ,R.F.Brissenden, Robert Burns, David Campbell, Jon Cleary, Betty Collins, C.B.Christesen, Charmian Clift, Mary Durack, Geoffrey Dutton , John K.Ewers, George Farwell,Pat Flower, Robert D.Fitz-Gerald,Neilma Ganter, Oriel Gray, Rodney Hall, Frank Hardy,Gwen Harwood,Bernard Hesling,Dorothy Hewett,A.D.Hope, Flexmore Hudson, Florence James,George Johnston,Nancy Keesing, Sylvia Lawson,Noel Macainsh,Mungo MacCallum, Donald MacLean,J.S.Manifold,Leonard Mann,Alan Marshall,David Martin,Oscar Mendelshn,Tony Morphett, Myra Morris, John Morrison, Aileen Palmer, Katherine Susannah Prichard, David Rowbotham, Roland Robinson, Thomas Shapcott, R.A. Simpson, Bernard Smith, Stephen Murray Smith, Ivan Southall, Randolph Stow, Kylie Tennant, John Thompson, Margaret Trist, F.B.Vickers, Bill Wannan and Judah Waten
Rupert Murdoch’s new national newspaper ,The Australian , launched in 1966, ran several adverts, one full page, in Lot’s Wife, no doubt trying to attract academic and student readers. Steedman ran an editorial from The Australian headed CONTRADICTIONS ON VIETNAM which said that information PM Holt was receiving from Vietnam about the war may suit him , but not the people of Australia. The Melbourne Herald also advertised in the paper as did other commercial organisations such as the Commonwealth Bank and Time- Life.
Rupert Murdoch’s new national newspaper ,The Australian , launched in 1966, ran several adverts, one full page, in Lot’s Wife, no doubt trying to attract academic and student readers. Steedman ran an editorial from The Australian headed CONTRADICTIONS ON VIETNAM which said that information PM Holt was receiving from Vietnam about the war may suit him , but not the people of Australia. The Melbourne Herald also advertised in the paper as did other commercial organisations such as the Commonwealth Bank and Time- Life.
There was a special relationship between the editorial department of the paper, Steedman in particular, and the Notting Hill Hotel, the subject of zany display adverts, Rasputin being a regular imbiber . Steedman worked as a casual in the pub at end of term celebrations and said the publican , Kath Byer, who died last year , was a wonderful woman, even given a commendation on John Elliott's website. NEXT EDITION : Gary Evans? Booze and Babes .
