Q: What is the link between the American state of Arizona and Darwin, capital of Australia's Northern Territory ?
A: Former Darwin journalist ,Tony Malone , who worked on the Northern Territory News back in the l960s , later ran the Arizona newspaper , part of the Murdoch empire . And Darwin activist , Stuart Highway , who changed his name to the main north south road in the Territory , for years ran an information stall at the Nightcliff Market at which he purveyed a wide range of literature , including the Tucson, Arizona, published" Journal of Ethical Anarchism " , The Match!
This quiz was prompted by the surprise find of a folder containing some of the literature dispersed by Stuart Highway which included the above Summer 2007 edition of The Match!, well illustrated, 72pp, including two letters from the state of Victoria , one about the barbaric practice of clitoris mutilation.
In its Crap-Detection Department column it revisited its warning about a new mail out promotion outfit called the Independent Press Association , that claimed it would help members work out ways to reduce costs, improve their publications and get ideas out to a wider audience .
Another booklet , the February 2008 edition of the Hobnail Review, published in Earls Court, London , with " radical intent" , contains an article on the Green Anarchist magazine ; there is also a review of the first annual New York City Anarchist Book Fair.
Going through Stuart Highway's folder turned up the unexpected above booklet , Ned Kelly's Ghost , by John Patten, in the Kate Sharpley Library, BM Hurricane, London . In explaining the unusual title, it said Sydney's Sunday Times of December 21, l916 ran a cartoon with an IWW desperado holding a torch marked ' Incediarism,' a gun, and carrying a bottle of 'liquid fire' and copies of 'Direct Action' and 'Sabotage' in his pocket.
Continuing, it said that in case the fact that he was a bad 'un was missed, reward posters for murder, arson and forgery were shown on the wall behind him .The ghost of Ned Kelly , the famous Australian bushranger , stood next to him in trademark armour , saying 'if they hanged me , what should be done with him?'
Continuing, it said that in case the fact that he was a bad 'un was missed, reward posters for murder, arson and forgery were shown on the wall behind him .The ghost of Ned Kelly , the famous Australian bushranger , stood next to him in trademark armour , saying 'if they hanged me , what should be done with him?'
Through obvious extensive search, Patten covered the execution of two men, Herb Kennedy and Frank Franz , members of the Industrial Workers of the World, known as the Wobblies, over the murder of Constable George Duncan, who had been shot dead at his desk in the Tottenham Police Station , near Dubbo , New South Wales, while working on a report about dead cattle on September 26, l916. It was suggested that the accused had been victimised by the constable because of their IWW membership and activities.
Earlier in the year 12 men, all IWW members, had been charged with arson in Sydney .
If Ned Kelly and the Wobblies were a surprise , so too was a copy of the July 2003 Apito zine publication after a long absence from the Australian scene . It invited readers to enter a contest for a prize pack which included Ruth Rebel's documentary video of North Queensland punk bands of the 1980s.
Readers of this blog may recall that several posts have been run about Ruth Rebel who lived in Townsville at one stage , wrote poetry , stirred up community radio station 4TTT , claimed she had been born in a biscuit tin in Brisbane .
In the bundle of other literature covering so many topics was a fold out leaflet about the West Papua situation ; Laughter is Bourgeois -The Roots of Political Correctness by L. Gambone , which opens with a quote from a Vancouver New Left meeting ; the History of the Kulaluk Aboriginal Lease ( Darwin) by Krimhilde Henderson .
Another Kennedy , Roland , was charged with the murder, but acquitted . Another Kennedy brother, Kevin, in July l916, also an IWW member , had been involved in a huge miner's strike against the US Steel Corporation in Duluth, Minnesota . Direct Action ran one of his letters under the headline Industrial War in the USA , about the clash in which a striker and two police had been killed . Strike organisers were arrested for murder. Kevin Kennedy and his Australian IWW travelling partner had been deported back to Sydney .
Earlier in the year 12 men, all IWW members, had been charged with arson in Sydney .
If Ned Kelly and the Wobblies were a surprise , so too was a copy of the July 2003 Apito zine publication after a long absence from the Australian scene . It invited readers to enter a contest for a prize pack which included Ruth Rebel's documentary video of North Queensland punk bands of the 1980s.
Readers of this blog may recall that several posts have been run about Ruth Rebel who lived in Townsville at one stage , wrote poetry , stirred up community radio station 4TTT , claimed she had been born in a biscuit tin in Brisbane .
In the bundle of other literature covering so many topics was a fold out leaflet about the West Papua situation ; Laughter is Bourgeois -The Roots of Political Correctness by L. Gambone , which opens with a quote from a Vancouver New Left meeting ; the History of the Kulaluk Aboriginal Lease ( Darwin) by Krimhilde Henderson .
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Stuart Highway's long gone stall at Nightcliff showing the wide range of literature and causes he promoted .
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