A former well -known Darwin activist who changed his name to Stuart Highway -the main Northern Territory north / south road -when campaigning against uranium mining, lobbed back in town from Sydney recently , went into campaign mode , attracting police , and left town without the local media picking up a good story .
Years ago , Stuart Highway had a stall at the Nightcliff Sunday market, above , in Darwin, at which he highlighted many causes locally, nationally and some overseas ; also offered were a wide range of books, pamphlets and magazines.
During a demonstration against the Indonesian occupation of East Timor, he was arrested in Darwin with veteran East Timor campaigner, agronomist Robert-Wesley Smith. They shared the back of a police paddy wagon .
During the recent brief visit back to Darwin , Stuart Highway had a session with Wesley-Smith in the Roma Bar . He told Wes that he had stood outside the Indonesian embassy in Darwin with a sign highlighting the plight of West Papua under repressive Indonesian rule . Police had arrived , but said he was not doing anything wrong .
He also told Wes that he intended catching a bus and staging a demo outside the Don Dale Detention Centre ,conditions at which had sparked the recent damning inquiry .
Back in the l980s , Stuart Highwy contacted the Townsville activist Ruth Rebel , dubbed the Queen of Punk in North Queensland , who carried a pet rat named Woof , sang in a band , Noise, its members Ned Kelly, Stew Spew , Dennis T. Menace and Andy Anarchy .
Known also as Rebel Ruth she wrote poetry, was anti- war , religion and cops . Some of her poetry appeared in American punk zines. For a time she delivered a controversial programme on Townsville's community radio station , 4TTT FM . At first called Slash Slamming and Safety Pins , it was renamed Punk and Disorderly
The October l993 magazine APITO ,produced in Rockhampton, Queensland, highlighted a Ruth Rebel poem on sexism on the cover. Other subjects included freedom for East Timor and a call for Tibetan independence . She was also concerned about the treatment of women in Papua New Guinea .
