Thursday, January 8, 2015

CRY FREEDOM VIGIL AND 1984

A regular sight near  the  Blaydin Point Immigration  Detention Centre in Darwin . On this occasion those  visible  are  agronomist and  NT Council for   Civil Liberties  founder, Rob Wesley-Smith,left,  and Richard Davis , a former  Channel 9 employee who narrowly avoided  becoming  one of  the  Balibo 5 on East Timor , Malcolm Rennie  going in his place .  Davis has been staging the  weekly vigil  for  about   three  years .  Wes says some staff coming away from the centre  snarl , others smile and wave . In 1984 Wesley-Smith  was  fighting  Big  Brother  over the conviction    of  the   Chamberlains  and the  incarceration of  Mrs Chamberlain.  He called for a royal commission  into the whole affair and said a lot of new evidence had  accumulated  since the Chamberlain trial .The Chamberlains were  later  exonerated , the death of their daughter  attributed to  dingo attack.