The cool cat gesturing at the rear of this ferry has a known extensive ASIO file , yet Australia's much vaunted border security system failed to stop him slipping in and out of Queensland waters , no alarm bells rang , no naval gunboat steamed out to intercept .
He is the well known Darwin agronomist, inventor, whistleblower ,willing receiver of documents and photographs which fall from the back of vehicles, occasional musician , a former ALP candidate, one of the few people in the world who actually came face to face with the mythical creature known as the Mandorah Monster, able to bestow knighthoods on freedom fighters , decorated brave activist, civil libertarian , Robert Wesley-Smith , aged 77, but still climbing up ladders after feral Dragonfruit .
Mind you , there was a dramatic occasion, more than 40 years ago , when he was arrested at gunpoint with others in Darwin Harbour aboard a vessel intent on running medicine to East Timor during its long and bloody struggle with Indonesia . He appeared in court on federal government trumped up charges , including gunrunning based on a rusty old shotgun aboard ship, beat the rap .
Wes, as he is known to many nationally and overseas , spent an action packed day on Magnetic Island, off Townsville , during which he recalled having obtained his ASIO file , a whole 300 pages , much redacted , at a cost of 50cents a page . Of course , this was years ago , his ASIO file is now probably as big as the Encyclopedia Britannica. Last December , at an official function , he delivered a stirring speech outside Government House,Darwin,marking the centenary of the l918 Rebellion which saw workers and others picket the residence of the unpopular Scottish Administrator of the NT, Dr Gilruth , and eventually force him to leave on a gunboat.
Wearing a pith helmet at the time , armed with a walking stick , Wes told the gathering Australia needed more rebellions .This utterance must surely have been entered in his ASIO file . During his short island stay , he spoke of many things , including the need to finish writing his epic on East Timor, his involvement with the crusading editor of the Northern Territory News , the late Jim Bowditch , on issues such as the Gurindjis of Wave Hill , the Vietnam War .
Recalling the occasion when he and his younger twin brothers had received the Order of Timor for their long support , he smiled when he said the investiture had taken place in the very office the Australian government had bugged in Dili . Wes had driven to Townsville from NSW after attending Martin's funeral, recently covered in this blog, came across to the island by ferry .
Touching on a local subject, he said Martin and Peter had used their talents to pay tribute to indigenous landrights activist, Eddie Koiki Mabo,a gardener at Townsville's James Cook University ,whose High Court challenge had overturned Australia's terra nullius doctrine. Wes said Mabo's grave had been desecrated by mindless vandals who painted swastikas on his tombstone ; his bas-relief portrait had also been removed .The outrage had resulted in him being reburied on Murray Island in the Torres Strait .
As Wes boarded the ferry to return to the mainland to resume his long drive back to Darwin via Borroloola , we warned the skipper that he was probably on an Interpol wanted list , but he was not immediately clapped in irons . Wes responded by telling the captain that he should read this strange blog which ,while called Little Darwin , runs a lot of stories about the island and nearby .
Mind you , there was a dramatic occasion, more than 40 years ago , when he was arrested at gunpoint with others in Darwin Harbour aboard a vessel intent on running medicine to East Timor during its long and bloody struggle with Indonesia . He appeared in court on federal government trumped up charges , including gunrunning based on a rusty old shotgun aboard ship, beat the rap .
Wes, as he is known to many nationally and overseas , spent an action packed day on Magnetic Island, off Townsville , during which he recalled having obtained his ASIO file , a whole 300 pages , much redacted , at a cost of 50cents a page . Of course , this was years ago , his ASIO file is now probably as big as the Encyclopedia Britannica. Last December , at an official function , he delivered a stirring speech outside Government House,Darwin,marking the centenary of the l918 Rebellion which saw workers and others picket the residence of the unpopular Scottish Administrator of the NT, Dr Gilruth , and eventually force him to leave on a gunboat.
Wearing a pith helmet at the time , armed with a walking stick , Wes told the gathering Australia needed more rebellions .This utterance must surely have been entered in his ASIO file . During his short island stay , he spoke of many things , including the need to finish writing his epic on East Timor, his involvement with the crusading editor of the Northern Territory News , the late Jim Bowditch , on issues such as the Gurindjis of Wave Hill , the Vietnam War .
Recalling the occasion when he and his younger twin brothers had received the Order of Timor for their long support , he smiled when he said the investiture had taken place in the very office the Australian government had bugged in Dili . Wes had driven to Townsville from NSW after attending Martin's funeral, recently covered in this blog, came across to the island by ferry .
Touching on a local subject, he said Martin and Peter had used their talents to pay tribute to indigenous landrights activist, Eddie Koiki Mabo,a gardener at Townsville's James Cook University ,whose High Court challenge had overturned Australia's terra nullius doctrine. Wes said Mabo's grave had been desecrated by mindless vandals who painted swastikas on his tombstone ; his bas-relief portrait had also been removed .The outrage had resulted in him being reburied on Murray Island in the Torres Strait .
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Which way Darwin?
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