Files reveal forgotten literary gems
Looking into your old files , perhaps with the recurring mad desire to try and get them into some kind of order , even clear them out (sob) at the urgings of family members , is full of surprises, not all painful .
By Peter Simon
Take the case of Melbourne resident Pete Steedman , 80 , whose action packed life has been covered in this blog in more parts than the ABC's marathon running Blue Hills. That's him , sporting a star , with Aboriginal activist friend Gary Foley , on his right , Samoan Lelei Lelaulu ,standing, who was the editor of a student magazine in Auckland when Steedman first met him. A bottle of Grange Hermitage is being consumed to prevent dehydration .
Steedman's wide ranging files are destined for the state library of Victoria. He also has an interesting 6000 volume book collection.
Last year , I regularly spoke to Pete on the phone and on several occasions asked how the sorting of his files was progressing , the cataloguing of his books.
In the process , he mentioned a host of interesting people in Australia, England and the USA, lost causes , victories , politics past and present and the media .
We lamented the fact that because of the pandemic he would not be able to make a return visit to Magnetic Island , perhaps with an old celebrity chef friend of his living in Europe , for a spectacular party , paid for with the proceeds of a rare , early Australian car numberplate .
During a call , he said he had just come across a file with details and correspondence relating to an arty magazine he planned to launch about the fabulous lakes of Kashmir with their houseboats rented out to travellers from overseas.
In his wanderings in 1970 , on his way to London , Steedman passed through the fabulous Kashmir waterways , staying on a houseboat on Lake Dal, described as the Jewel in the Crown of Kashmir and Srinagar, the capital .
Greatly impressed by the spectacular Himalayan scenery , Pete said he understood why the British Raj in the Indian subcontinent spent so much time there , especially in summer .
He was so enchanted by the place he wrote to a man who handled bookings suggesting a glossy magazine that he would edit . Pete subsequently convinced a Melbourne couple they should honeymoon in Kashmir .
The proposed publication , more like a glossy brochure, did not eventuate , but a man to whom he outlined the scheme , wrote and said that , if he directed any people to Kashmir, they would get a discount and special attention if they said Pete Steedman sent them .
In a New Year email to Little Darwin , Pete said that in a state of perpetual boredom , he had been going to his filing cabinets, pulling out files at random containing his extensive writings of yesteryear .
"I then read them and marvel at the style and thrust of my letters and articles," he continued . "I'm sure , I can't write that well now ."
Another file , perused recently, had related to his appointment after Cyclone Tracy which saw him go to Darwin from Melbourne and set up an information newspaper for the thousands of residents who had been evacuated all over Australia from the city. He also compiled an in- depth report on how the disaster aftermath had been handled , with advice on what to do in future similar events.
In Darwin , activist agronomist Robert Wesley-Smith , also extensively covered in Little Darwin , seems to have been going through his files for years . Some of the contents ,which included the above LIndy Chamberlain case and the East Timor struggle for freedom , were passed to Little Darwin.
When this writer attended a meeting last year of Darwin's Friday Club ,in the Noodle House , Wesley-Smith presented him with a brown paper package , filled with interesting newspaper clippings from his files , which included information about author Xavier Herbert , who wrote the 1938 award winning novel , Capricornia (more later ).
Wes revealed that while sorting out letters he had sent to the Northern Territory News , he had come across one in which he facetiously pointed out that obese politicians were setting a bad example to the youth of the nation .
He had forwarded this old cutting to the Darwin paper , updated with comments about current tubby politicians .It seems the paper did not give his literary effort a run.
