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Two stalwart supporters of the Magnetic Island branch of the ALP are Reverend Alan Renton and his wife, Shirley, both in their eighties . They can be aptly described as ALP True Believers . They were driven out of Queensland during the reign of Joh Bjelke –Petersen for protesting about the way indigenous people were treated over the Weipa bauxite deposits and the police state-like tactics which stifled freedom of speech and imposed restrictions on the right of public assembly and protest. Both are now lifetime members of the ALP. In the case of Alan , 85 in October , he has been a member for half a century .
Born at Port Augusta , South Australia, Shirley spent the first three years of her life in the tiny settlement of Cook, on the transcontinental railway line , her loco driver father running trains across the Nullarbor. A brother , “Baby Jim,” died from whooping cough, it being 500 miles to the nearest doctor. In 1935 the family were transferred to Quorn.
In l939, aged seven , Shirley, sitting at her mother’s feet, noticed that she reacted with concern about an item of news on the radio. Asking her mother what was wrong, she responded by saying , "I think there is going to be another war." And so there was . The outbreak of WW11 saw Shirley’s father , who had been a sergeant bugler in WW1 and served at Gallipoli , forced back to engine driving, running troops, munitions and supplies from Adelaide to Alice Springs. Three teenage brothers were employed at Whyalla shipbuilding and were exempted from war duty . Shirley developed a strong interest in politics from the age of nine during WW11 when she was required to read newspapers to her mother who was then suffering from the eye disease glaucoma . Both parents were politically minded and her mother often spoke out , at times saying, “ I must get off my soapbox.”
Newspapers were full of politics and war news which Shirley read to her mother. Mother, she recalls, was not impressed with Robert Menzies ; Labor leaders Curtin and Chifley were admired, looked up to. Because her father had been a military bugler, all the children were taught music, the boys taking up brass instruments . In Shirley’s case , a chronic asthmatic, she was sent to the nuns at Quorn and taught the violin. After doing well, she was then taught the piano. While she could not run about and play sport because of asthma , she excelled at music .
After the war, her restless father, seeking a new life, moved the family to Tasmania , where he intended trying farming or anything that took his fancy. There was a time when they had a nice house with a shopfront, her father intending to be a shopkeeper. She was playing a difficult Chopin’s polonaise when a traveller called on her mother and asked who was playing the piano . When told it was her daughter, aged 15, he asked to see her in action. Unaware that he was in the room , she played on. The man said she had great talent and should be taken to Hobart and introduced to Madam Helen George, who played a large part in music education in the Apple Isle. She also came under the attention of Lionel Hickey who was forming the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. Aged 17, Shirley found herself in the Tasmanian Symphony Orchesta , positioned in the back row, when it was performing under a grumpy conductor.
Sent away from Tasmania to Springsure , Queensland, in a bid to ease her asthma , Shirley met Alan Renton. He had been working in a laboratory after qualifying as a chemical engineer until it was found that he was colour blind . Answering “ the call”, he had undertaken a four year course in Divinity at Brisbane University and the Theological Hall. He popped the question, she refused , and returned to Tasmania . In her words, he “chased me,” they became engaged and married.
An ordained Presbyterian Minister, he served in several Queensland parishes. Because the wife of a minister was expected to work as support for a minister in those days , Shirley’s potential career in music came to an end. However, she used her talent to teach many children . When they were stationed at Proserpine during the reign of John Bjelke-Petersen –“a terrible time ”- Alan was appalled by the way the Aboriginal people were treated at Aurukun, Weipa, Mapoon and Mornington Island over the Weipa bauxite deposits.The people did not want mining to go ahead, but all their rights, their land, the mineral deposits had been handed over to on overseas company . Alan expressed his feelings in the local paper and attracted the wrath of the Queensland government His comments were attacked by various government spokesmen, including the Mines Minister, Ron Camm. For many weeks letters went to and fro in the local paper between Camm and Alan.
An ordained Presbyterian Minister, he served in several Queensland parishes. Because the wife of a minister was expected to work as support for a minister in those days , Shirley’s potential career in music came to an end. However, she used her talent to teach many children . When they were stationed at Proserpine during the reign of John Bjelke-Petersen –“a terrible time ”- Alan was appalled by the way the Aboriginal people were treated at Aurukun, Weipa, Mapoon and Mornington Island over the Weipa bauxite deposits.The people did not want mining to go ahead, but all their rights, their land, the mineral deposits had been handed over to on overseas company . Alan expressed his feelings in the local paper and attracted the wrath of the Queensland government His comments were attacked by various government spokesmen, including the Mines Minister, Ron Camm. For many weeks letters went to and fro in the local paper between Camm and Alan.
Half the congregation stopped coming to church ; the other half remained friends and loyal even though not agreeing with Alan. Some townsfolk crossed to the other side of the road when they saw Shirley coming. A local lawyer supported Alan in his views, but asked not to be named because it would be bad for his business. Alan and Shirley stuck it out for a year and then he accepted a position with the new Uniting Church in Tasmania. On the car trip to Tasmania, camped at a beach not far from Brisbane, Alan heard of a Christmas Protest Meeting to be held by churches in King George Square with a Theological Hall professor speaking. Before the meeting some of the organisers met in in the basement of a church, those present included a nun and an Anglican priest.
When Alan attended an ecumenical gathering in Brisbane somebody asked if he was one of “Joh’s men ,” a spy. Reassured, Alan was accepted ; they walked up to King George Square , no more than two side by side, so that they would not be picked up by the police for "an illegal march".The small crowd of church people sang Carols under the Christmas Tree. All around them in the square and in the street were armed police, plain clothes police in black trousers and white shirts, with Black Mariahs waiting for any opportunity to make arrests. The situation was likened to George Orwell’s l984 . Many other church ministers protested about the injustices and several others, because of the pressure, moved to other States.
When the Rentons moved to Tasmania Shirley was “afraid” of police at the time because of the police state experiences in Queensland. However,Shirley's strong political sentiments came through when they visited Canberra during the sacking of the Whitlam Government by Governor-General , Sir John Kerr. She went to what is now the old parliament house on a tour. There was a makeshift sign near a portrait of Malcolm Fraser saying he was the interim Prime Minister.
Laughing ( above ) at the retelling of the following audacious act, Shirley said she grabbed the pole and placed it before “ Gough”. Fraser’s Chief of Staff, Tony Eggleton, drove up to the building and Shirley had to be restrained by family members from placing a WE WANT GOUGH sticker on the vehicle.
Now living in Mandalay Avenue, Magnetic Island, a short ferry trip from Townsville , Shirley and Alan are avid book readers , and each has a computer . In Shirley’s case, she has a large collection of books on music and politics. Because of physical ailments Shirley requires a motorised getabout, a walking frame and a home chair lift to get from the ground floor upstairs . Mounted on her battery driven vehicle she is called " Speedy Gonzales." Despite the frailty of her body, she points out, with a chuckle, that she has been evaluated as highly intelligent , with “ all my marbles .” Alan is a regular at garage sales on the island and has a large book collection, which at last count included about 437 Penguin Classics , ranging from translations of most European countries' classics, also English, USA, Chinese, Japanese, Indian etc., collected over more than 50 years. “ By reading the classics I can get the distilled wisdom of human nature, its failings and successes over the last 3000 years,” he says. In the case of many modern books, perhaps one in a thousand would be good enough to be reprinted in 100 years, he opines.
He once tested his knowledge of French on some WW1 French postcards I bought in Townsville . He helps run the Uniting Church on the island which, like the ALP, is down on numbers. The church supports many appeals for help for overseas aid for the disadvantaged. Some years ago a lawn sale was held at the Renton residence to help a West Timor church. Since then, because the church is run entirely by volunteers, many thousands of dollars have been donated to the needy in Australia and overseas .
Innumerable people in difficult situations have been helped by the Rentons over the years , their door open to anyone in trouble. Police and medicos have referred individuals and families to them for assistance. Their services now, of course, are in a voluntary capacity. When I lived on Magnetic Island Reverend Renton jostled me at garage sales as we went through books on offer and he once enlisted me to help him deliver a trailer load of furniture, including a refrigerator , for a couple he and his wife helped for years .
Innumerable people in difficult situations have been helped by the Rentons over the years , their door open to anyone in trouble. Police and medicos have referred individuals and families to them for assistance. Their services now, of course, are in a voluntary capacity. When I lived on Magnetic Island Reverend Renton jostled me at garage sales as we went through books on offer and he once enlisted me to help him deliver a trailer load of furniture, including a refrigerator , for a couple he and his wife helped for years .
The Rentons are not blind, unquestioning followers of the ALP , being prepared to voice their views about party shortcomings. The way Kevin Rudd was replaced as PM was outrageous, according to Shirley. Why the Cabinet could not have resolved any issues it had with his leadership style was hard to understand . Rudd, she added, was good in Foreign Affairs , still Prime Minister material . Dealing with PM Julia Gillard , she said vicious attacks by the media and the Coalition wanting to grab power had reached a new low in Australia . Newspapers were now so slanted that you could not believe what was printed in them . Democracy, the country was being torn down by the toxic comments .
Former Queensland Premier, Anna Bligh, she rated an intelligent person unable to get a good message across because of failures within the party system and modern media . In her lifetime, Shirley Renton , a keen observer of politics, has seen many ups and down - the long reign of Menzies, the Petrov Affair , formation of the break away Democratic Labor Party, the Bjelke –Petersen gerrymander , the drowning of Harold Holt and the end of the ALP’ s long time in the wilderness with the joyous election of the Whitlam Government, the surprising , sometimes infuriating , manifestations of the political cycle juggernaut.
While restricted physically in her movements, in her home , surrounded by memories , her music, family photographs, seascape paintings done by a son , a framed picture of daughter as camp draught champion of Tasmania , souvenirs , including fossils and artefacts , from places in which they lived, Shirley’s “marbles” are evident when she tells anecdotes, laughs at life’s many twists and turns. Our conversation took place over a cuppa and a banana sandwich specially prepared for her by Alan , before he caught the ferry into town to buy her some new medication and a pair of slippers . Before he went , Alan , a handyman , found time to fix the wing on my reading glasses , with the aid of a magnifying glass and a special tool , after a screw fell out. Politics, says Shirley, is a heady mixture, and she issued an invitation for new members to come along to help re-invigorate the party on the island and elsewhere in the nation .
Former Queensland Premier, Anna Bligh, she rated an intelligent person unable to get a good message across because of failures within the party system and modern media . In her lifetime, Shirley Renton , a keen observer of politics, has seen many ups and down - the long reign of Menzies, the Petrov Affair , formation of the break away Democratic Labor Party, the Bjelke –Petersen gerrymander , the drowning of Harold Holt and the end of the ALP’ s long time in the wilderness with the joyous election of the Whitlam Government, the surprising , sometimes infuriating , manifestations of the political cycle juggernaut.
While restricted physically in her movements, in her home , surrounded by memories , her music, family photographs, seascape paintings done by a son , a framed picture of daughter as camp draught champion of Tasmania , souvenirs , including fossils and artefacts , from places in which they lived, Shirley’s “marbles” are evident when she tells anecdotes, laughs at life’s many twists and turns. Our conversation took place over a cuppa and a banana sandwich specially prepared for her by Alan , before he caught the ferry into town to buy her some new medication and a pair of slippers . Before he went , Alan , a handyman , found time to fix the wing on my reading glasses , with the aid of a magnifying glass and a special tool , after a screw fell out. Politics, says Shirley, is a heady mixture, and she issued an invitation for new members to come along to help re-invigorate the party on the island and elsewhere in the nation .
In his comments about the problems of the party , Alan ranged across two reports into proposed changes for the ALP nationally and in Queensland. Outside interference in the selection of candidates for the seat of Townsville had resulted in a large number of people leaving the party in disgust. He produces a photo of himself with PM Julia Gillard at a special function organised by the ALP in Townsville. There was something wrong with the organisation of the party, he said, when it could not arrange more than 20 or 25 people to attend that function. -- (By Peter Simon ).
