Many and varied are the notices , posters and leaflets that are displayed in public places in the Northern Territory capital . The plight of refugees is raised in the following one on a wall at the Parap market , mentioned in discussions with locals about the Tamil family from Biloela , Queensland, locked away on Christmas Island .
He was also a fan of the Townsville teenage punk rock activist , Ruth Rebel , who in the early 1980s carried a pet rat, Woof, wrote much street poetry, provoked skinheads , supported freedom for East Timor .
Known as the Queen of Punk in the north , she sang in a wild band , Noise .Other members of the group were Ned Kelly, Stew Spew, Dennis T. Menace and Andy Anarchy . The band put out an unusual cassette - Like A Stain On Your Toilet. Ned Kelly hanged himself , police blamed Ruth for his death and she went through an emotional, despairing time.
There was a dramatic change in her life when she became involved with Townsville's community radio station , 4TTT-FM, helping present the late night show , becoming a regular presenter. The following, condensed text is from an article I wrote about Ruth Rebel .
Also known as Rebel Ruth, she was the punk scene in Townsville. She presented a Saturday night show at 4TTT called Slash Slamming and Safety Pins , a name she disliked, so renamed it Punk and Disorderly . On air comments and swearing sparked complaints to the Australian Broadcasting Authority .
In an explanatory note, she said most of the poems were an outlet for “ my frustrations on wot I see goin on around me ”. She hoped the poems would broaden peoples’ minds- “not as in preaching and shit”- but to learn about the other side of the coin .
Giving brief and bizarre biographical details, she said she had been born in Brisbane in l968 where she had lived in “ a biscuit tin ” until 12. Now she was in Townsville, which she called Clownsville, a “ vast black hole ”, but better than Mareeba . In addition, she wrote that she been unemployed for about six years because her only experience had been with biscuit tins . The unusual biography continued : Ruth hopes to be a novelist and a beauty consultant one day . I also like crocheting ...
The poems dealt with the Clone Employment Service ( Commonwealth Employment Service ), divisions caused by religion, the isolation of the individual, trying to survive on the dole, greedy big business and inner thoughts of despondency in a flea- infested, rented house, with a leaky roof.
In the cover poem, Oi! The Cause Is Lost!, Ruth took skinheads to task for bashing people, saying they were neo-Nazis , cowards without balls , who went about in gangs . She wrote that the skinheads would probably “kick me to my knees ” for speaking out against them . There was no copyright claim on her poetry, just a request to acknowledge that she was the author and not to just rip her off .
When Ruth left Townsville for “ the south ”, she surmised that some of the “old crones” at the radio station , who strongly objected to her , threw wild parties to celebrate her departure. After two years in Sydney she returned to Townsville . When she went along to 4TTT , under new management , hoping to once more contribute to the airwaves , she found the welcome mat had been well and truly withdrawn as far as she was concerned . Furthermore , she was shocked to learn the station broadcasted greyhound racing .
Once more , she departed the Townsville scene , and nothing more was heard of her ; people speculated she had come to a tragic end . However, her name appeared from time to time in contributions to several punk “ zines ” , this being the name for cheap cut and paste magazines . The October 1993 issue of the punk zine APITO , produced in Rockhampton, Queensland, listed a Ruth Rebel poem dealing with sexism on the cover. That issue also covered the plight of East Timor , whaling and called for independence for Tibet.
I became interested in Ruth Rebel when researching the history of 4TTT-FM, an extraordinary community radio station which would make a great TV series or a film . Through its portals passed individuals who became influential in law , politics, music , broadcasting , Aboriginal and Islander advancement , environmental protection , nuclear protests , union activities and other fields of endeavour .
A woman doctor connected with the radio station was even blamed by some northern religious fanatics for Darwin’s Cyclone Tracy because she had promoted birth control and abortion so God had punished the nation as a result . Today 4TTT-FM , operating with limited funds, knocks the socks off many radio stations , parts of networks owned by conglomerates whose content is compiled and dictated from afar.
Extensive inquiries eventually led me to Ruth , with two sons, struggling along in Queensland , still writing poetry and full of fond and unusual memories of her time at the radio station.
When I recounted some of the colourful anecdotes I had gathered about her and her rodent at the radio station she branded me Big Ears , addressing me as such in emails. Did I know , she asked , that a manager at the radio station had a coffin and slept in it ?
My large ears had picked up that titbit. Ruth told me that during her travels she had teamed up with her birth mother , but this reunion had not worked out . Her adoptive mother , a Christian , had died in her sleep before Ruth had a chance to thank her for having persevered with her .
A person from the University of Central Queensland, hearing I had been researching Ruth, contacted me and asked if I knew where she was as somebody was interested in doing a documentary about the punk rock scene and dearly wanted to speak to her. That film , called A Piss In the Ocean , included a male punk rocker, Bollocks, and Ruth Rebel is listed in the credits.
An email Ruth sent me dealt with the plight of women in Papua New Guinea where sexual assault and the spread of aids was rampant . Much to my surprise, Darwin activist Stuart Highway had been in contact with Ruth Rebel in connection with several campaigns over the years.
He first became aware of her in punk magazines in the 1980s and said her poems helped her cope with the boredom and stresses in her life. More than that, she was able to draw attention to injustices in the world.
