In the four bags of books bought at the annual Magnetic Island Book Fair held at the kindergarten was a signed copy of the 1994 hefty tome by Australian politician Barry Jones (ALP) . Flicking through it, a surprising find was a circa 1997 Qantas boarding pass on a Bangkok to London flight, for judge Sir E (Edward)Woodward , onetime head of the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation, chancellor of the Melbourne University , author .
Also inserted , like a makeshift bookmark, was the bottom part of a notice from Wendy Dakis of the University of Melbourne Fine Arts Society, in her capacity as the members' contact group convenor , well known in theatrical circles , who died in May 2015.
On the assumption the book at some time did belong to Sir Edward , who died in 2010, this writer went seeking further information about the judge. Google turned up a 2005 typically enlightening interview of the judge , then 77 , by Phillip Adams of the ABC Late Night Live radio show , following publication of his memoirs , One Brief Interval , surely a play on legal briefs ?
Early on , Adams lightheartedly suggested Sir Edward , son of a NSW governor , may have established a Guinness Book of Records entry for the number of royal commissions he presided over , 17.
In his younger days he had been involved in student politics and had written for the Melbourne University magazine , Farrago , where he met his wife. In 1968 he led the case for the Yirrkala residents of the Northern Territory over their land being handed over to Nabalco for the mining of bauxite at Gove . Because of his involvement in land rights, elder Roy Marika , had declared him a blood brother, and gave him a name that translates as , The Rock that Stands in the Sea .
Other points of interest in the entertaining interview :
* During his time as director general of ASIO , from 1976-1981, he had good dealings with the head of the US Central Intelligence Agency , George Bush Senior . Indeed , they got along so well , that when Bush visited Australia on a private visit he made a point of calling on the judge and, over coffee, informed him he intended to stand for the US presidency , the information a top secret .
*The judge said he did not trust George W. Bush, regretted the invasion of Iraq on faulty intelligence , especially the so called weapons of mass destruction .
* Dealing with the event in which the Australian Attorney-General Lionel Murphy raided the ASIO headquarters, the judge said it came after several bottles of red had been consumed ; as the car swept into the ASIO building , Murphy apparently said words to the effect , to one of those who had egged him on to take the drastic action, " Christ! What have you got me in for ? "
Clearly, this is not the kind of story you expect your child to read at kindy .
UPCOMING : Another Magnetic Island Book Fair find which reveals what romantic great-grandmothers read in New Zealand and Australia more than a hundred years ago .
