BEHIND THE PEARLY GATES / END OF THE WORLD LATEST NEWS

Twitching with anticipation , this  blogger  is in  solid  training  to once more  barge  through  the Pearly Gates when  Saint  Mathew's Anglican church, Townsville , holds  its   annual  fete on August 4 .

In past church rucks, he has elbowed  aside  annoying  sinners  to  get  at  the  heavenly  offering   of   books  for sale  on  trestles  and  in  boxes . A box  of   books  and a  toby jug  were   bought  at  last  year's state of origin-like fete. In breaking shock news ,  this year's   annual  whopper  book  fair  at  the  kindergarten   on  Magnetic  Island  will  be  the  last .

MURDOCH PRAISED ALP POET JOURNALIST AND THE POWER OF MILITANT POLITICAL MESSAGES

 Journalist  James  Maxwell  Ramsay contributed much to the  literature of  the  Australian Labor  Party, the  above collection  , published   in  1945, received  a favourable review  from the chancellor of the University of Western Australia , Professor Walter Murdoch , Rupert Murdoch's uncle:-

 

The vigorous militancy of the book is inspiriting, and should bring it wide popularity . Good strong  verse  , barbed  to  stick  in the reader's mind, can be an effective  political weapon .

Discovered at  a  Magnetic Island  garage sale , the book    is  a  presentation  copy  from  the  author  and  contains an  undated  newspaper   cutting    dealing  with  a  Ramsay inscription on  the  headstone  on the grave of  West Indian boxer , Peter  Jackson,  in  Toowong  Cemetery , Brisbane .

 Sleep, Peter,sleep,

brave champion

All hushed we gather

round the ring

While snow-white flowers,

mist-eyed ,we  fling

Within the grave-the

fight is done .

Sleep,Peter,sleep,the

hero's rest

Be thine in Mother

 Earth's broad breast .

Jackson  arrived in   Sydney in 1880 and   became  a   champion Australian  boxer . Billed as an Australian , he fought   28 epic  fights ,   beating many of the  world's  top  pugs in  the USA and England, but was denied  a world championship  bout  because  of  racial  discrimination .

  

Well  built ,  dubbed  The Black Prince, he  was  an actor in an Uncle  Tom's Cabin tour , taught boxing ; late in life, he  returned to  Australia, toured with a circus,  tubercular , too ill  to box , he died  in Roma ,Queensland , on July 13 1901.



The  newspaper item about Jackson's tombstone  inscription   was  written  by  Queensland  author , photographer and  prolific   archivist  Alan  Queale ,who  described  Ramsay as a former leader writer at  the  Daily Standard, sub-editor at  The Worker  and one of Australia's veteran  Labor  journalists .
  

Ramsay , he wrote , had  informed him  more  than 30 years  previously  that  there were  two more  verses to the  Peter  Jackson  one  on  the gravestone  , but  he  had  forgotten  them  and  the poem   had  not  been  included  in  Onward,  Workers! Ramsay, he added, had  been  an  admirer of  the boxer.  

Queale (1908-1982)  had  been in charge of the Army section which  kept a photographic  record of  the Allied occupation   of  Japan  from 1947-1949, shots  of his  now  in   the  Australian War Memorial  collection.

 Ramsay, right, was born in 1870, and  became  an accountant . Encouraged  by  the great  Henry  Boote ,  longtime  editor of  The  Worker ,   and  other  prominent  Labor    figures  such  as J. S. Collings,Minister for the Interior  in the  Curtin Government , and R.S. Ross, former editor of Labor and  Socialist  journals in Broken Hill, Melbourne and  New Zealand ,  he  took  up  fulltime  journalism .   An  example of  his powerful , often pungent  poetry   is   displayed   below .  



 In a stirring  foreword to the book,  Henry Boote , an Englishman ,  self educated  and   an artist , who on  coming to Australia  once edited a Queensland newspaper which strongly campaigned against   bringing in Kanaka  labour from the islands , said  much  original  Labor  writing , like Ramsay's, had  not received the attention  it deserved.  Lays of a  Labour Journalist  should be warmly welcomed as it was instinctive  and all-alive to the ideology of the  Labor Movement ... 

 

There's a lot of  unobtrusive talent in the Labor Movement .It does its job from day to day, and is content to feel that the job is well done . Every now and  again men and women of genius  break out of the ranks of the masses , and by sheer force of their  gifts  compel the world  to recognise them.   But a vast deal of inherent capacity has been lost in the ceaseless welter of toil and poverty that has marred  the  social  scene  right down  the  ages .

 

In modern times we are altering all  that .Today the workers refuse  to  be body-and-soul submerged  by  their servitude . Look where you may , we now see them participating  in  the cultural activities of our generation .

 

In literature , art, music, science, invention and philosophy they are taking an increasingly important  part, and the viewpoints of the mass mind  and their aspirations  of the mass spirit  are being  put before the world  by eloquent advocates  the  mass  itself  has  produced.  Boote  went on to say:

 

Scathing satire, scorn-laden humor and burning indignation alternate  with deep thoughtfulness and exalted  exhortation in the rhyming commentary on the  capitalist world  which he (Ramsay ) presents to  us in this volume . Labor journalism makes great and varied demands  upon its propogandists , demands often eliciting creative efforts of a high order, and then , their immediate purpose  fulfilled, leaves  them behind, to be forgotten  in the  stress and excitement of  new battles  and new achievements .

 

The collection opens with  the  title poem , Onward, Workers! followed by  one inspired  by  a statement by  Abraham Lincoln  about   the faith  to  know  that right makes might . Unity, Progress?, An Armistice Day Lesson , The Editor's Dream ,Tools of the Tories ?  are just  some of the   headings  on   poems .
 

 

A number  refer to   Brisbane / Queensland   subjects , such as  the one above . Another was inspired  by  a Brisbane clergyman  who deplored the  deference by the church  to  wealthy worshippers ; the church, the cleric said , should welcome the  man with a penny as  cordially as  the man  with  a  big  cheque. One  poem , below ,  appears to be  a tribute by  Ramsay  to  his  Scottish  mother, although  it  is  not  certain.

 

 

Interestingly,  the poet  Ramsay was related to  Sir James  Maxwell Ramsay (1916-1986), naval officer and   governor ,  born in Hobart  , where   his  Brisbane born  accountant  father   was  manager  of  Tattersall's lotteries .  His  distinguished naval  career   included  being the  officer-of-the-watch  aboard  HMS King George  V  during the battle that sank the  German battleship   Bismarck  , narrowly  avoiding   engagement  with the  Japanese   fleet which  sank HMAS  Perth in the Sunda Strait   and  action as  commander of  the  destroyer  HMAS  Warramunga in  the Korean War.

After serving as   Lieutenant- Governor of  Western Australia , he  was sworn in as   Governor of  Queensland in 1977. In May 1985 , he experienced an  unexpected broadside  when  he was  jostled  and   booed  by a large crowd  when he  went to the University of Queensland to receive  an  honorary doctorate of laws . A concurrent award  had been arranged  for the state  premier , Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen,who did not turn up , so  the crowd , numbering  thousands , took our their anger on the  governor  and the  official party , disrupting the  ceremony .  

RENOWNED PUB TO BE FIRED UP ?

Following the  recent blaze  which destroyed  the  RSL Club  in Darwin's CBD there is talk that  it  may  resume  trading  in  the  closed down  historic  Victoria   Hotel   in the Smith Street Mall. The Vic  was  the hostelry where  pioneer aviators  stayed , frequented by  Northern Territory  News  staff  , characters  galore, very busy during interval on  cowboys movie  night  at The Star open air theatre  just across the road .  This  blogger's  first  night in Darwin, in 1958 ,  was spent in the Vic , mine host Richard Fong . Journalist  Keith Willey joked that  "poor Richard "  made  trips to Hong Kong  where , with the help of a "casting couch",  he  interviewed  Chinese girls  wanting  to  be his wife .  As it  turned out, he married an Australian girl . It  is  hard to believe that this busy hotel , much  changed , ran  into  financial   trouble   and   closed  down  in  recent  years.

The Vic public   bar  in frothier  times . A Vern O'Brien  photograph.

DAREDEVIL POET COMMEMORATED IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY

Found slumbering on the wire  wove  of  an old  double  bed  , an  armless  shop mannequin  standing nearby,  our battered copy  of  the   WWll   published  fictionalised  life of  Australian poet Adam Lindsay Gordon (1833-1870) was obtained  from  Townsville's  wonderland ,Virgil's .
 

It presents  a  romanticised  horse racing mad  wild   colonial    with  a factual  epilogue  detailing  the 1934 synchronised  ceremonies in   Westminster Abbey, London , and   Melbourne,  Australia ,  which honoured  him,  60 years after his suicide , at  the  age of  37. 

By Peter Simon

 

Born in the Portuguese  Azores , where  his  father was  a  retired captain in the Bengal Cavalry , Adam was educated in   England ,  taught  horse riding ,  his feckless life as an adolescent,  he later admitted , leading to " his  strength and health  broken  by  dissipation and  humbug".

His father obtained a position  for him  in South Australia ;  arriving  in Adelaide   in 1853, aged 20, he quickly   joined the S.A. Mounted  Police , serving  two years at Penola, in the Mount Gambier District .

While there he  came into  contact with the   controversial Catholic priest , journalist , educationist  and scientist , Julian  Edmund  Tenison-Woods  (1832-1889) ,  who is said to have  introduced him  to  books.

From a prominent Irish  religious family, Father Tenison-Woods had worked on The Times , London , before sailing to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania )   with Bishop   Wilson .

After arguing with  the Bishop, he came to the mainland and  went to   Penola, where he was closely associated with  the nun  Mary  MacKillop, helped her set up the  Sisters of   St   John of the Sacred Heart  . He became director of Catholic schools . She   became Australia's first  saint , her  faded Townsville  portrait  the subject of a  recent post in  this  blog .  

During his  time in Australia Father Tenison-Woods   produced numerous  papers and   reports   on  geology  and   minerals   , including   the  Northern Territory and   parts of  Queensland ; he  was invited to Malaya  by  the governor to  report on   tin prospects .

After Gordon's   mother died and left him 7000  pound , he married Margaret Park , a little educated woman from Glasgow,   bought a cottage called   Dingley Dell , near  Port MacDonnell , wrote poetry,  dabbled in land  ventures, even became a politician. During his  time as a politician  he  indulged his love of   daredevil riding , taking part  in steeplechases  and   reckless  acts  , suffering  some  bad falls .

After renting out  livery  stables in  Ballarat, Victoria , he joined the Ballarat Troop of Light Horse  in 1868, rose to the rank of sergeant , experienced another bad  tumble .   

 The livery stables venture failed, his daughter died , his wife left him, he  continued his racing career ,wrote more poetry, published in the Australasian and the  Colonial Monthly , suffered another  bad  fall.    

On  learning he was  heir to  a family estate in Scotland  , it raised  hopes it would   enable him to secure  his wife's financial  future. However , he did not receive the inheritance,  became  depressed.

His Bush Ballads and Galloping Rhymes  was published  on June 23  1870 . A fellow  poet, Henry Kendall , showed him a proof copy of  the enthusiastic  review he had written  about  the collection .

Instead of being elated , the  next morning,  Gordon went to the  beach at Brighton and shot himself .There is a  statue of  Gordon , by  Paul Montford, near parliament house, Melbourne ; the  Dingley Dell  cottage , in South Australia, became a  shrine in  memory of  the poet.

NEXT : The fascinating   life of   author  Crawford  Vaughan , at one stage Australia's youngest state premier ,  who wrote Golden Wattle Time, in the process expounding  an  exotic  theory about the origin of   Australia's  wattle. 

COOL CURLEWS ON PARADE

Bird watching  limo in Cairns carpark . Abra photograph .

Balancing act  by one-legged Curlew on cold morning, Magnetic Island.Vallis photo.

THE ART OF DELIVERING POLITICALLY INCORRECT AND OFFENSIVE AFTER DINNER SPEECHES IN AUSTRALIA

   

Written by an author identified as  " Louis Gaye ", B. A. , printed by   the  Advocate Press, Melbourne , this   guide   to  humorous    speechifying  would  go over   like a  lead balloon  if  followed  today.  By page nine , outlining  hints on public speaking, illustrating want of tact , it  tells of  an Englishman sitting alongside a Chinaman  at a big dinner , not knowing how to strike up a conversation with  him . After the soup  , the Englishman broke the ice by asking the " Celestial " , "Likee  soupee  ? " 

There was no  spoken response, just a scowl . After dinner, the Chinaman made a glorious  speech in English . Then , turning to the Englishman , asked : "Likee speechee?"  At the end of the   148pp lecture , the  author finishes off with  an anecdote about  " a big , fat  nigger "  at a  long, hot  church meeting, the congregation  bored  stiff   by  a  sermon delivered  by a   coloured preacher .

Men, the  book    advises  , are   more influenced  through the head , women via the heart .   Flattery  could  be   dangerous , but  okay if  used skilfully  by wrongly describing  a   woman  as  a  photographed star ,  a  clergyman  a military  officer .  One should never  say  Mr X is a scavenger- he is  a member of the  municipal cleansing department.

The outline for  a   toast  to  lawyers  and   judges  has  some howlers such as   shoplifters  take  silk  and have  to give it back ,  barristers  who take  silk do not give  it back. Of course, there  are  rib tickling  tips for a  parliamentary  dinner :-

It is said  politics is a game played with  a pack of lies . Yet many critics  itch to get into parliament , possibly the reason why some are  scratched at the polls . Suggested  new  sources of revenue  can be raised-on suburban snobbery  and  the  parliamentary menu. For example ...Those with  a decided  fancy for curried favour, pees and queues, stake in the country , should be charged  a  shilling in the pound . Those with a leaning towards  salary  chops , out of  date pudding , should have their  income  reduced. Mutton-heads and  globetrotters  should be charged  after the  nature of a super tax  , whilst those  believing in hash  and tripe  should be summarily  reported  to their  constituents.    

The book contains  adverts   for  two  Melbourne  companies  and   Robur   Tea .   Phoenix Biscuit Company  , of  Abbotsford, which  kicked off in the early 20th century,  has a  full page  advert . A  quick check of the unusually named  biscuit  company's history  revealed  that about 1910 it  used   as   a warehouse  premises  previously  known   as  the  Australian   Asbestos  Company factory , which might have put you off  munching  a Phoenix chocolate   marshmallow   if  you knew  the   health  risks  of  asbestos   way  back  then .  

 

To use a  politically incorrect  term,  the author appears to have been a Pommie , no apparent mention of anything  remotely connected  to Australia in the text . The  lighthearted   cover  was  drawn by  WH . Our copy , unearthed in a Townsville  Salvation Army  shop, bears the  trade  stamp of Batchelor's, Townsville.  

ANGER AND QUESTIONS OVER TIMOR LESTE BUGGING CHARGES

Longtime  East Timor  campaigner   , Darwin agronomist  Rob Wesley-Smith has expressed  anger   at the    charging  of  Canberra lawyer  Bernard Collaery  and the  person described  as  Witness K  over  Australia's   bugging  of  the  the East  Timor   Government during   Dili  talks   to determine the  maritime  boundary between the two  countries .

Wesley-Smith, involved in the  East Timor struggle since l974, said he was appalled  and  angered  by  the  prosecution of  "hero" Bernard  Collaery  and the unknown Witness K,  whom he had never met . 

" I can no longer claim to be speaking on behalf of Australians for a Free East Timor (AFFET), as we thought that there  was no longer need  for such  an organisation." he said  in a media release . "  Perhaps we need Australians  for  Freedom  of  Timor   Supporters."

He  praised independent  MHR Andrew  Wilkie   for  revealing  in  parliament  that the two  had been charged , describing  the  action as in keeping with a police state .  The Australian Labor Party was also criticised by   Wesley-Smith for its ongoing  silence  on  the  subject .

 Wesley-Smith said   that in  2002 he had  been in Dili and tried to persuade the putative East Timor   government   not to  succumb  to the  bullying of  John Howard and  Andrew  Downer  and   sign  any agreement which limited their rights for setting  a  fair  boundary . They  had, however  , signed an agreement,  which  recent  international  court  action  overturned .

He hoped   the present  Timor-Leste  Government would  strongly support  Collaery  and  Witness  K . In his  ebook, 117Days in East Timor , Wesley-Smith said he had strongly attacked  Howard and Downer  for their involvement  in " ripping off East Timor" . Gareth  Evans and  Tim Fischer had also been criticised..."I have not been  prosecuted yet !"

 

He attached  relevant   reports  by  Crikey Political Editor  Bernard  Keane , slightly condensed and  run below :

...Similarly, no one has ever been jailed - or even subjected to disciplinary action, or censure - for one of the most sordid moments in Australia’'s intelligence history, the bugging of the Timorese cabinet by ASIS at the behest of Alexander Downer. The goal of the “operation” was to benefit Australia'’s commercial interests and gain an advantage over a fledgling state that needed all the help it could get to become viable after  decades of occupation and a violent transition to independence.

Instead, we ( Australia )  sent spies in to bug them. It'’s Alexander Downer’'s legacy from all those years as foreign minister, that and outsourcing Australia'’s foreign policy to the Bush White House.

It was also, unquestionably, illegal under Australian law. Our overseas spy agency broke the law, as part of a particularly grubby exercise in screwing over one of  the  poorest countries in   the region.

Now the Turnbull government wants to punish the people who revealed it, Witness K and his lawyer Bernard Collaery. It'’s important to note that K is not a whistleblower, and has at no stage acted outside the law. He has never spoken to the media - who are in any event prohibited, rightly, from revealing his identity - and he has acted in accordance with the advice of the then-Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, Ian Carnell, about how to handle his dispute with ASIS. But he’'s been charged with “conspiring” with Collaery to communicate information, a novel  interpretation of lawyer-client privilege.

An illegal, and particularly grubby, act committed at the direction of the Howard government, and a prosecution by the Turnbull government, by its hand-picked Director of Public Prosecutions, signed off by the Attorney-General .You'’d think Labor would be all over this. But the Opposition has been deathly silent. That'’s because Labor is up to its ears in this saga almost as much as the Coalition.

Timor Leste began its Timor Sea suit against Australia when Julia Gillard was Prime Minister, and as the ABC'’s Steve Cannane reported later, it was Julia Gillard who rejected Timor Leste’'s complaint about the bugging when they learnt of it in 2012. As it has on so many of the Coalition'’s assaults on basic liberties, Labor  is standing shoulder to shoulder with its own opponents.

The prosecution raises major free speech and transparency issues. The government will likely seek to have the trials conducted in camera. It has much to hide on the bugging operation, particularly given its illegality; there may also be evidence ASIO has bugged not just Collaery - that’s already known - but journalists as well.

Collaery will seek to prevent his trial being conducted in secret. Hopefully media organisations will join his attempt to do so next month at the initial hearing. Beyond that, the sheer fact that the government is attempting to punish a lawyer for revealing something embarrassing to the government means the case will attract considerable interest as a test of how far the High Court'’s implied freedom of political communication extends.

Only the minor parties - Centre Alliance'’s Rex Patrick, Andrew Wilkie, Tim Storer, and the Green's’ Nick McKim - were prepared to stand by Collaery (yesterday) and protest the prosecution. When we write the history of how Australia became a police state, it  will note that  Labor colluded and  collaborated  in  its creation.

The second  Keane  report  that    Wesley-Smith   said should be  read on the issue   was  headed : Collaery prosecution targets ABC but strangely misses News Corp.
 

At a time when the government has launched a full-scale war on the ABC over its journalism, the decision of the government'’s hand-picked Director of Public Prosecutions, former Trade Union Royal Commission counsel Sarah McNaughton, to charge Canberra lawyer Bernard Collaery for talking to the ABC raises serious  questions about  the agenda   behind  the  prosecution.

In addition to facing a charge of conspiring with Witness K to reveal the illegal bugging of the Timorese government by the Australian Secret Intelligence Service under Alexander Downer in 2004, Collaery is being charged with illegally communicating information via interviews or conversations with a number of ABC journalists and producers: Emma Alberici, Peter Lloyd, Connor Duffy, Marian Wilkinson, and Peter Cronau.

Alberici has been a regular target of both the Turnbull government and its media supporters in relation to her journalism on economic issues.

But there'’s a strange omission from the prosecution'’s summons to Collaery. The charges relating to ABC journalists or producers all relate to early December 2013 or March 2014, in the wake of raids by ASIO on Witness K and Collaery'’s offices, which included the seizure of privileged material. ASIO had waited until Collaery was out of the country to conduct the raid of his office.

The omission is that the revelation of the illegal bugging of the Timorese cabinet wasn'’t by the ABC in December 2013, but by The Australian on May 29, 2013 when Collaery told The Australian’'s Leo Shanahan what ASIS had done. Shanahan isn'’t mentioned in the summons to Collaery, which goes through chapter and verse of all the times he is meant to have illegally shared information with ABC staff. Why the selective focus on the ABC when the original “offence” was committed with News Corp?

 

If the government has its way in preventing Collaery and K's trials from being held in public, we'’ll likely never find out. No journalists, editors or producers have been directly  charged.