Many interesting people-filmmakers, authors, academics - passed through Darwin on their way to Timor -Leste during July, apparently without much attention from the local media. Some attended the New Timor-Leste Research Conference , held at the Dili university , from July 12-14, by the Timor- Leste Studies Association (TLSA) , Swinburne University of Technology , Melbourne .
TheTLSA has just released details of a book , The Santa Cruz Massacre of 1991 :Thirty Years On . FREE to East Timorese University Libraries / College Libraries / Reading Rooms.
ALL OTHER COPIES: A$30 + Postage ($10 within Australia; $20 outside Australia).Hard-copies of the publication can be ordered online. Further information available :
Professor Michael Leach, Politics and International Relations,Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, H98, PO Box 218 Hawthorn VIC , AUSTRALIA 3122 , Phone: +61 3 9214 5357
One Dili Conference attendee was internationally renowned Australian clarinetist ,composer, music teacher, Roslyn Dunlop,who wrote the above book about the traditional folk music of Timor-Leste ,.
The following clipping explains her involvement with the county and the late Martin Wesley-Smith, composer, scriptwriter, children's songwriter ,lecturer , presenter of aid concerts, who composed music backing for East Timor's fight for freedom from Indonesia . He was awarded the Australia Medal and the Ordem de Timor-Leste .
At a conference in Dili in 2019 she delivered an extensive paper entitled Music as a Medium Advocating for Change : The Audio-Visual Pieces of Martin Wesley-Smith , Musical Protagonist for the East Timorese.
He had been at Sydney's Conservatorium of Music , spent time in Hong Kong , where his twin brother , Peter, was a professor of constitutional law . Martin established the first electronic music studio in China . Peter contributed powerful lyrics to Martin's music. One of their works , Boojum! nonsense , truth and Lewis Carroll, was performed before the Queen in Adelaide .
On this latest visit to Dili , Ms. Dunlop, who organised the above concert , before he died , delivered another paper and played some music .
Passing back through Darwin , she discussed with agronomist Robert Wesley-Smith , a longtime fighter for East Timor, his campaign to make better known his brother Martin's contribution to the development of electronic music , the East Timor struggle and massive contribution to music in Australia .
To this end, he has contacted the ABC urging it to resurrect and play his brother's music .
He says Dunlop has done a wonderful job compiling and taping his brother's work .
Also at the latest Dili conference was activist and manager of the Clearing House for Archival Records on Timor , John Waddingham, from Melbourne, He spent several days with Robert Wesley-Smith helping him get his wide ranging files into subjects for close inspection.
Unearthed during his time with Wes were three"lost" diaries packed with information . These and other documents that came to light will enable Wes to resume writing his memoirs , having already written the following e-book .
