The Digger No.9 December 1972

P rostitutes and th eir custom ers

Photography from the Cross: centre pages

ISSUE NO.9 DECEMBER 16-D EC EM B ER 30 30 CENTS

Of conscripts and resistors— anecdotes»,

BLANK PAGE FOR ISSUU VERSION ONLY

Page 1

Where's the power to come from?

...an d Labor balks at Stones

Libs face the Great A byss... had come to realise that they could be looking down into a bottomless A lot of the surviving Liberals trough. seem to think it’s trendy or some­ The prospect was brought home thing to go around contritely saying to him even more forcibly as he that they lost the election because travelled with McMahon around the of their own feuding and back- campaign trails — an unusual event stabbing in the years since Menzies. in itself. Southey is reported to But there is no sign that they intend have been appalled at the lack of to stop — at least not of their cohesion in the huge party of offic­ own accord. The man who intends ials and personal staff travelling with to see that they do stop is Bob McMahon. Decision-making was Southey, Federal president of the sloppy and too often imprecise and, Liberal Party. in many cases local party organising Only two days after the election, efforts were not much better. South­ Southey issued a statement absol­ ey smartened the organising side up utely without precedent in Liberal as much as he could and took some Party history, saying, in effect, that other initiatives that nobody else the organisational side of the party seemed capable of (like organising was about to take over and the polit­ the telegram of support from Dame icians had better get used to the Merlin Myer rebutting her son Ken’s idea quickly. pro-Labor views). The ostensible point of the state­ McMahon refused point-blank to ment was to announce a special even think about what would happen meeting of the Liberal Party Federal in the event of losing, let alone con­ Executive. Its more important im­ sider firm plans. (He toyed for a plications had surprisingly sparse while with the suggestion of one of coverage. his advisers that no matter what the Southey hinted strongly that he figures said on polling night he should would be aiming for a party struc­ not concede). But in Southey’s view, ture much closer to the A.L.P. model someone had to think about it and and inferred that it would have hap­ nobody was better placed than him­ pened much sooner except for the self. One of his calculations certainly complication of the coalition arrange­ was that if Billy lost he would be a ment with the Country Party. The dead loss as an effective spokesman Liberals, he said, “could not presume for the party or anything. There to advise or to make strong recom­ would be the inevitable jostling to mendations to the Country Party” succeed him and the clear need for from their organisational side. But some influence to stop the whole now, things were different. process becoming a public, bloody “ What I particularly have in dogfight. Thus, the idea of the post­ mind,” said Southey, “ is that in election statement and executive these changing times, the parliamen­ meeting. tarians will need to be responsible What further steps Southey has in to the mind and the will of the or­ mind he is keeping very much to ganisation so that the policies es­ the inner circle of the Liberal Party poused by the Parliamentary Party hierarchy — people like Sir Charles become a true reflection of the Or­ McGrath (Federal Treasurer), former ganisation’s outlook . . . ” Federal minister Fred Osborne, Phil­ And he added: “The personal lip Russell, thè Victorian State pres­ ambitions and feuds inside the Par­ ident and Eric Robinson, Queensland liamentary Liberal Party since the president. The sceptics are right death of Mr Harold Holt have been enough in claiming that the constit­ deadly and destructive. That sortof ution and structure of the Liberal conduct must be buried with the Party would be enormously difficult past. If it isn’t, the Organisation’s to change on any large scale to authority o’ er the endorsement of achieve the sort of machine domin­ candidates may have to be employed ance Southey wants (although he ruthlessly.” would never describe it that way). Most commentators who have There are easier methods. bothered to look into the Southey First, there is the leadership of statement in any detail dismiss its the parliamentary party. implications as a load of hot air. With a Leader prepared to co­ They will not believe that the Liberal operate in the Southey plans, per­ Party they have known all these haps even believing in the need for years could really act as tough as it them, the whole idea seems not nearly talks. This is a gross under-estim­ so improbable. ation of Southey and his standing in Then, there is the question of the party but, more importantly, it resources. The Liberals in Parliament fails to recognise the real situation have run for so long on the immense in which these elections have left resources of the Government, in all the Liberals. fields, that the readjustment to life The only previous Federal elec­ in Opposition will be painful in any tions the Liberals lost were in 1949 terms and just about impossible for when the party was only a year and some of them without strong backing nine months old. Where, until re­ from the party machine. cently, Premiers’ conferences were The Labor Party, especially Whit­ entirely Liberal and Country Party lam and Barnard, took a long, long affairs, the majoirty is now of Labor time to build up their personal staffs men. Western Australia, South Aus­ into the highly effective team that tralia and Tasmania have been lost. spear-headed their efforts in this Victoria is looking decidedly shaky campaign. The new Liberal leader­ and ragged under the leadership of ship does not have that sort of time. Dick Hamer with elections no more They will be expected to deliver than six months away. New South right from the start. Wales is rapidly moving the same In passing, it’s worth looking at way under the inspired buffoonery of just what the Opposition arrange­ Askin. In Queensland, the Libs re­ ments will be. Many people find the main restless and resentful junior habit of thinking about the Liberalpartners. Country Party in tandem hard to The big personalities have gone, break but the coalition, in any for­ too . . . Menzies, Playford, Bolte and mal sense, is dead. The parties will soon, hopefully, Askin. There are no have separate identities in both natural heirs, as the Federal Liberals Houses (this was one of the thoughts have found out so painfully. New- behind Doug Anthony’s “ national” , look leaders do not change a party: as opposed to the usual country, the Gorton experiment was one case campaign this year), with their in point; Steele Hall’s desperate Leader and Deputy Leader in each fight to survive against the forces of place. There will be some interesting reaction in South Australia is an­ wrangles about status and staff enother; Hamer is on his way to titlejnents, especially in the Senate becoming a third. where the D.L.P. has the same It has been said often enough but numbers as the Country Party. still is regularly forgotten that the There will be plenty of occasions Liberal Party was Menzies’s Personal in the new Parliament when the views creation, precisely tailored to his of the Libs and their erstwhile style and personality. Menzies con­ Country colleagues will diverge and ceded the party no power and little just as many when Libs, particularly, direct influence. The longer he stayed will feel more inclined to exercise in power the less likely it was that the independence of mind and vote any successor could carry on in the they have talked about so often. same way. It has taken six years Looking a little wider, there will without Menzies and, finally, the be intensified competition between loss of office in Canberra to bring Lib and CP organisations out in the this home with full force. electorate. It has been hard enough Long before the figures went up to hold this trend in check recently on December 2, Southey and others even with the agreement that one

Clyde Cameron, this week’s pick for immigration minister, says he’ll “examine” the matter of the Rolling Stones entry into Australia. Cameron spoke in reply to a reporter’s question. However, it should not be forgotten that the initiator of the Cocker deportation was .Frank Stewart, ALP mem­ ber for Lang, NSW. Prof. Ian Turner, a heavy in the Victorian ALP machine, has sent a telegram to Cameron, and to the PM, Gough Whitlam, which reads: I STRONGLY OPPOSE SUGGESTED EXCLUSION OF ROLLING STONES BOTH ON PRINCIPLE AND ON GROUNDS OF 18 YEAR OLD VOTE. The Stones are reportedly in Paul Dainty organization) are looking France, facing another hassle over for a local band to include on a top­ dope. flight import bill. Ian McCausland, designer of the Carson is being considered, ap­ poster for the Stones tour, says the parently because the Stones dig government's choice is clear-cut: them. There is conflict over price, “ They face the alternatives of five because Dainty man, Ron Blackmore, great concerts, or civil commotion.” feels that expbsure on the Stones bill Dates and venues for the tour have is worth quite a bit. been announced:— At a reception in Melbourne last February 13 — Milton Park, week, held to announce the tour, Brisbane; 17 — Kooyong Tennis Blackmore said, “ I am upset with Courts, Melbourne; 20 — Adelaide The Digger". (This paper broke the Memorial Dr.; 24 — W.A. Cricket story of the Stones projected tour three fortnights ago, when the old Oval; 26 — Randwick, Sydney. The dates are well spread, to al­ Liberal-Country Party government low flexibility for weather, and the was thought to be nervous about following dates are set at most venues issuing visas.) Blackmore said he in case of sell-outs. For the first time, thought he had spoken to The Digger the local promoters for the tour (the “as a friend, off the record.”

by Ken Randall

party would not oppose a minister from the other. All this, plus a divided and dis­ pirited party behind him will make life anything but a picnic for the new Liberal leader. He will have very little but the party machine to fall back on — to marshall party support against dis­ sidents in the Parliament, for policy research and intelligence and for vital liaison with the business com­ munity who will naturally be rather more interested in the Government than the Opposition; If the party machine can deliver it will naturally acquire very much more de facto power, whatever the constitution and rules of the party might say. This power will be all the greater, of course, if the machine can show that its influence also helped to elect the new man. The Libs’ Federal Secretariat in Canberra is nothing to write home about in its present condition but it’s a good enough foundation to build from. Discussions, about doing this have been going on in a mostly in­ formal way lately. Except for money, which can usually be found when the need is great enough, there would be no serious problems about getting technical and professional people for research, PR and the like. Thinking of a suitable head man to replace the present Federal Director, Bede Hartcher, is not so easy but they are working at it. Given the size of the problems in the immediate future it is not too surprising that somebody like Andrew Peacock, with time very much on his side and a good number of supporters, is not keen on standing for either Leader of Deputy. The more he thinks about it, the more he may be convinced, though, that the problems of making a mark, and even of maintaining a reputation in Op­ position, are such that now is the time. The others in the field do not have a real choice, even if they might think there are risks of moving into a death seat. There has been the occasional speculation in the party in the past fortnight that an acknowledged “caretaker” appoint­ ment might be a good idea — some­ body like David Fairbairn, with pres­ ence and a high sense of honourable conduct so that there would be no risk of him welshing on the deal when it came time to step down. But for people like Gorton, Fraser and Chipp it is now or never and for that reason the caretaker idea is unworkable. Snedden, just because he is already Deputy Leader and favourite for the job, also had no choice but to run hard — not that there was ever any chance of him doing anything else. There might even be the risk of him over-selling himself. Then, of course, there is William

McMahon. Who can be sure of what ample, a ticket including Forbes, he will do? He staggered the small from South Australia as deputy, for group at his Sydney home on polling the sake of geographical represen­ night, after conceding the election, tation. by offering them the cheer-up Unless his anxious campaigning remark, “Well, at least I didn’t lose turns to complete over-kill Snedden as many seats as he did” — meaning should win. Gorton’s people claim Gorton, in 1969. In the immediate the numbers to finish in front but election post-mortems with his cam­ it’s hard to believe. If Snedden gets paign team, Billy is said to have been the top job it would probably mean hurt, genuinely surprised and quite Peacock or Lynch for deputy. If disbelieving of the things they told Gorton gets back, probably Snedden him about his own role. There is or Chipp would be deputy. about him an all-round sense of But what the various permutations unreality. A surprising number of would add up to in practice nobody Liberal survivors (but notably fewer can profess to know until the test of the vanquished) is taking pains to starts in Parliament. look beyond just McMahon as the reason for their loss. As part of the caretaker argument it has even ] Black powerlessness; been suggested that Billy might as well stay on for a while. A lot of the talk of this sort is simply the result of electoral shell­ shock but there could be some cur­ ious results in the Liberal Party Op­ Cheryl Buchanan was a member position rooms if it hasn’t word off by the time of next week’s meeting. of the first Aboriginal Peoples The majority seems to be more real­ Delegation to visit China, in Oc­ istic than to want a quick vote, a tober (see Digger No.8). She is new Leader and Deputy, then a hol­ studying Australian History at the iday until Parliament resumes. They University of Queensland. She used see this as too much like starting to have a Commonwealth Scholar­ the familiar recent cycle all over ship (Aboriginal Study Grant). Cheryl says “After phoning the Edficagain. Relations with the party machine [ ation and Science Department to try is one large question the liberal J to find out the reasons for termin­ caucus will want to talk about ating the scholarship the little bur­ (though probably in fairly general eaucrat who does his bit for the terms) but there are specific ques­ boongs in his department told me tions needing to be sorted out. There that the China trip was not educ­ is already a motion on the business ational. I laughed so loud I could paper seeking election of ministers see him go red over the phone. I by caucus. Do they want the idea then decided to draw the analogy for a shadow ministry? If so, would of Miss Australia going overseas if they concede some shadow port­ she was a university student but folios to the Country Party or run that was different naturally.” The regulations specify that stu­ their own self-contained team? What status would the executive, or shadow dents should be notified when scholar­ ministry have in relation to the ships are to be terminated, in this Leader and the rest of the Parlia­ case it didn’t happen. The Univer­ sity doesn’t take the same view and mentary party. They might sound piddling issues has granted Cheryl deferred exams. Cheryl concludes, “ With Labor to the outsider but the answers would materially affect the style now in power, I will probably get the scholarship back, but I will not of the new leadership. They could therefore influence get any back pay, so I’m still up decisions by individuals about who shit creek as they say. I’ll get it they think the leader should be. And back, but sometimes I wonder if it’s logically that means they should be worth the hassle, just being black and decided before the leadership vote Is not being able to get away with it taken, preferably with a neutral if you try.” chairman in charge of proceedings. One other strong influence likely to make itself felt at the meeting — and beyond — is the strong feeling of the Victorian Liberal power We’re going to sit on our arses brokers against New South Wales. over the Christmas/New Y ear Even outside the party councils, many period, bestirring ourselves only to of them are making no attempt to digguise their “Never another one j - „produce a free edition of The Flyer for December 30. The next edition from Sydney” attitude. Since Snedof The Digger will be published on den, Lynch, Gorton, Peacock, Frasei, and Chipp are all Victorians^ theire the second Saturday of January, and subscribers will be credited with was not much hope for a New South Welshman anyway. But the feeling , an extra issue; merry Christmas, and seems to rule out ideas of, for exr- we hppe you enjoy yourselves too.

China ‘not educational’

Diggers rest

Fiddling fo o l R igh t to sex If Ian Turner (Digger, Dec. 2.) was really sitting in the orchestra pit I thought the loudest sound he would have heard would have been Billy fiddling while the Libs burned. Max Bourke, Lyons, A.C.T.

H ave a cigar TELEGRAM CARAMBA THE LIZARD KING HAS HATCHED STOP CONGRAT­ ULATIONS EVEN THOUGH IT IS AN UGLY BABY . . . COLIN & SHAARON NEW YORK

Theatre lives In Jon Hawkes’ review of White With Wire Wheels he suggests the A.P.G. was destroyed three years ago (when he left it). Next, he says it has existed ever since. This para­ dox would be very hard to explain, and fortunately he doesn’t try to very hard. The demise of the A.P.G. he bases on a list of actors and writers who are supposed to have left the group. His list is wrong; apart from Hawkes himself only one other (now over­ seas) is not now an active member of the group. Our current acrobatic musical has some of these same people acting their pants off; the work of another is now touring Tas­ mania. This month, the A.P.G. has three things going; “A Nite in Rio” at the Pram Factory, a tour of Tasman­ ian factories, pubs and streets, and a show touring Melbourne’s inner suburban schools. Yet Jon reports that the A.P.G. is dead. His cheap jibe at The Digger for its “ cultural consumerism” is sadly self-contemptuous. But although he may not like his present job, he’s in no position to put down the work of others in the alternative theatre in two real senses. Its performance policy, program and operation is en­ tirely in the hands of the 35 theatre workers who make up the A.P.G. With La Mama, it provides the en­ vironment for the development of a genuine local theatre. Perhaps Jon has been misinformed. I hope so, because otherwise his “ messianic” conviction of “ (his) own purity and (his) own great importance” is obviously as bad now as he reports it was four years ago. Max Gillies, Carlton, Vic. „ LEd. Note: Gillies is the elected chair­ man o f the A.P.G. collective's execu tive.

Beatrice Faust’s article on rape within marriage (No.8) raised inter alia the interesting question of a wife’s right to sex. Does that right cease at any age? Perhaps at the menopause? But women often feel increased sex­ ual desire at that time, just when a husband’s power may be waning. I know of a case where the hus­ band became impotent through med­ ication when in his early fifties. His wife, then in her mid-forties, waited for over two years before taking a lover — the first of several. Altho ugh now over fifty herself, she seems to have no trouble in find­ ing personable men. Could her hus­ band, if he found out, divorce her on the grounds that she was too old to desire what he can no longer supply? Do your readers know whether such a case has ever come to court? M. Simmons, Beaumaris, Vic.

Ybte motive With Moorhouse, I believe that voting — like kicking dogs and beat­ ing small children —should be avoid­ ed as a general principle. However, it would seem to me absurd to cling to any principle at all in any circum­ stances. In the last election there was One positive and undeniable benefit to be gained*from the election of Labor Government: the release of those draft resisters in gaol and the granting of amnesty to those on the underground circuit. As it happens, I live in a safe Labor electorate and therefore de­ clined to spoil an unblemished re­ cord of non-participation in the electoral process. Had I lived in a marginal electorate I very definitely would have cast a vote. The prospect of fronting on visiting days to see my friends behind bars for 18 months — knowing that my vote, an act I regard as meaningless and absurd — might have got them out, was not one that appealed. Frank’s argument that even if you vote for a “ demystified” motive the system will reinterpret the act, cuts in a number of directions. The auth­ orities might very well reinterpret the act of voting informal as justific­ ation for the spending of more money on political education (indoc­ trination) for those who “can’t un­ derstand” the electoral process. You really can’t have it both ways —vote or don’t vote. But for Christ’s sake, let’s not get ourselves in a position where “principles” stand in the way of some positive benefits. Chris Hector, Richmond, Vic.

December 2 — December 16

Page 2

The Digger

Dear Doctor: your clinic is bringing stiffs into the shopping area...

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N o free healing w ithout a carpark by Virginia Frazer The Free Store is having trouble giving things away — namely, theirfree medical service, which has been closed down by the Victorian State Health Department. The Free Store is at 42 Smith St., Fitzroy, an inner Melbourne suburb. Smith St. is the boundary between Fitzroy and Collingwood, and is the area’s main shopping street. The clientele is largely mi­ grant, with a fair sprinkling of under­ class Australians. The Free Store is run by the Working People’s Association (an anarchist collective), and also publishes Dingo, a sort of people-against-local-injustice paper. Free Store stocks an op-shop collec­ tion of used goods, and “ customers” may help themselves at no cost and no obligation. The Free Store also offers a free legal service (Wednesdays and Satur­ days), and, until the government closed it down, a free medical service. The medical service was regarded with suspicion at first. “ It was pretty slow off the ground because people thought it was run by an unqualified medical student, and it was a couple of afternoons after we’d cleared that

myth up that we were closed down,” said a founder-proprietor, Paul Dex­ ter. After opening for six weeks every Monday afternoon, the clinic saw up to eight or nine patients a day. “They were mainly migrants and stiffs, and I reckon they wouldn’t have gone anywhere else.” The man from the Health De­ partment had been quite pleasant and reasonable with them. “ He came for about three days running to talk it over with us. He said you can continue if you want to, but I will recommend to the council against it, and you would probably be prosec­ uted.” They later received in the mail an application form to fill in for official permission to continue with the ser­ vice, which involved getting the sig­ nature of the already hostile “owner or his agent” and which arrived about a day before the last council meeting for the year. The next one is not until January. The medical service’s official breach of the regulations was in not providing off-street parking — two spaces for every doctor. But it was a prosecution to the dead letter rather than the spirit of the law. The

The politics o f statistics;

T he DLP in purgatory by Ian Turner Abacuses and adding machined were humming in party headquarters all over Australia after the numbers went up. They were feeding infor­ mation into a crystal ball labelled “ Senate Elections 1973/74.” And, from any angle, the ball looked bright for Labor and black for the D.L.P. There are sixty senators — ten from each state. They are elected for six years. Half of them retire every three years. However, if there is a deadlock in parliament — that is, if the Senate refuses to pass legislation approved by the House of Represen­ tatives — the Prime Minister can ask the Governor-General to dissolve both Houses of Parliament. If there is a “ double dissolution” (D.D.), all

sixty Senators have to front the electors. That’s where the calculating mach­ ines come in. Senators are elected by proportional representation, a complicated procedure designed to give representation to each political group in proportion to the total vote it can muster. For this purpose, each state votes as one electorate, returning five Senators (or ten if there is a D.D.). To get elected, a candidate must get a “ quota” of the total vote. The quota is worked out by adding one to the number of candidates to be elected and dividing into one hundred. Thus, if five Senators are to be elected by each state, the quota is 100 divided by 6 — 16.7%. If there is a double dissolution and

and censorship laws and the il­ legal harassment of magazines in the state of New South Wales, particularly “ Eyeball” magazine. We the undersigned feel that the application of the obscenity and censorship laws as they cur­ rently stand are both vague and Sydney - In October 1970, Paul contrary to the freedom of press Elliott arrived at Freeman tie aboard and speech. We also believe that a migrant ship. He came from En­ any government which dictates gland on the $20 deal, “ I’ll go any­ what a person can or cannot read where for $20,” he says.' At Cust­ or write must therefore be a oms, he was searched and charged" fascist body contrary to the will with importing “ about a dozen” of the people. marijuana seeds. He was fined $50. and so far he’s been able to get about Elliott moved east. 1500 signatures. “I spent a long time looking On No.6 he finally found some­ around Sydney for a good magazine, one to help him, a French guy whom couldn’t find one, so I did my own.” Elliott thinks may continue the The 300 copies of the first of Eyeball, which he wrote and plagiar­ ised, and hawked himself, was printed commercially. He figured he’d been burned, so the second issue was prin­ ted by the Communist Party. Since then, he’s produced five issues of Eyeball, many of them full of mater­ ial he’s “adapted” from overseas. “I’ve changed the context,” he says, and the context is acid elitism. If you haven’t done 5000 mics. every day for the last five years, you don’t know what it’s all about. Not surprisingly, Elliott was bus­ ted. In November ‘71, two police named Linch and Edwards took him in for selling and possessing indecent material. His case was committed to quarter sessions, adjourned indefinite­ ly and he was released on $100 bail. Eyeball has no artistic or cultural pretensions, it’s just plain, dirty, psychedelic schoolporn . . . the front page of issue 5 has a prize of a free fuck for anyone who can correctly count the number of times the word “ fuck!’ appears. Police raided his house last Jan­ uary and laid another six charges for publishing obscene material, and suspected possession oi stolen goods, Elliott, before and after to wit, a PMG lantern and a news­ agent’s wire poster frame., All charges paper — ‘the concept might change have been adjourned till “ after Oc­ but it’s good that it will keep going tober” . . . Elliott has heard nothing . . . the French have a different more. sense of huriior!’ On November l i at the eleventh Throughout this mild persecution Elliott has remained unperturbed.. hour Elliott threw 1000 copies of He is disappointed that, since the his last issue, No.7, off the top of bust, in November, he’s only been Australia Square — “they looked able to produce two more Eyeballs, so lovely floating down over Circular but he has been concentrating on Quay.” Elliott didn’t really care about getting a petition signed and getting stoned. this, or any of his bummers in this The petition reads: country. He decided he d blow That there is much concern another $100, in bail money. among citizens of New South Last week he set sail for Rio. He Wales with regards to obscenity says he’s never coming back.

Acid elitism in print;

Eyeball confrontation

December 16 — December 30

Ed. • note: One local councillor tried to get the Sisters o f Mercy (two Indian nuns') shut down when they first opened their home for the stiffs, last year. “They haven’t done anything about the legal service; maybe they can’t find anything in the regulations. Though I don’t think that the actual council is being vindictive. They’re replying to pressure.” * * * Several members of the Free Store household, including the per­ son who signed the lease, are wanted by the Commonwealth police in connection with crimes against the National Service act, e.g. “incitement not to register” . An eviction notice came about three weeks ago when the agents accused them of violating their lease by subletting and not having thes‘ lessee actually living on the premises. “ Then the agent threatened to call the Commonwealth police which was a pretty odd slip, because you don’t call the Commonwealth police in for something like that. It suggests they’d been on to him.,” The lessee subsequently presented himself to the agents and Paul says: “ I don’t The anarchists o f Smith Street, feeling the heat think they will be able to follow I it up. It’s just standard bluff and migrant families and stiffs who were Brigade complained. (There was arson seems to be one of social geography counterbluff.” patients weren’t likely to be driving on a pile of rubbish left in the back — the number of stiffs who’ve been As far as the medical service i big cars. lane behind the Free Store, after frequenting the premises. goes “we had thought of doing Dexter points out hardly any doc­ several unsuccessful attempts to get Dexter says: “ Fitzroy is an in­ housecalls but they take so much tor’s premises have off-street parking, the council truck to pick it up.) credibly traditional place. Provided longer and the doctor hasn’t got a anyway. The local police complained, the the stiffs keep oscillating between car. We will just have to do it else­ “The Health Department guy said local shopkeepers complained. The the Champion and the Indian nuns’ where with off-street parking till they wouldn’t have done anything if agent has threatened them with evic­ home it’s all right; but once you someone else complains. It’s just there had been no*complaints.” tion and the Commonwealth police. start trying to alter their geography a matter of being a bit cooler next But there have been. The Fire The cause of all their trouble everybody gets unhappy.” time.” ten Senators are to be elected, the quota is 9.1%. Candidates who don’t make a quota are eliminated, and their preferences are distributed among the other candidates. An independent candidate can be elected if he gets a quota. (There are at present three independent Sen­ ators — two from Tasmania, one from W.A.). If candidates stand as a group on a party “slate” (A.L.P., L.C.P., D.L.P., Australia Party, C.P.A.), the slate has as many wins as it gets quotas. (Thus — five to be elected — a slate which gets 50.1% of the votes wins three seats.) That’s what is scaring shit out of the D.L.P., which at present holds five Senate seats — two from Victor­ ia, two from Queensland, one from N.S.W. On the December 2 num­ bers, it has lost all its quotas. Overall, the D.L.P. vote was 5.1% — down 0.9% on the 1969 House of Reps, election. (In reality, it was down more than that. This year the D.L.P. stood candidates for more electorates than in 1969 and there­ fore picked up extra votes.) Even more significantly, it was down 6%^

from the 1970 Senate election. And the loss was greatest in the two D.L.P. strongholds, Victoria (down 10.8%) and Queensland (down 11.4%). The D.L.P. dilemma is this. At present it holds the balance of power in the Senate (26 A.L.P., 26 L.C.P., 5 D.L.P., 3 Independent). It will want to defeat many Labor meas­ ures — but can it push its opposition to the point of risking a D.D.? The machines say this. If half the Senate goes to the polls in 1973 or 1974 (quota 16.79?;), on the Dec­ ember 2 numbers the A.L.P. would take four extra places in the Senate, to give it 30 out of 60 — three from the D.L.P. and one Independent. That would leave the D.L.P. with two Senators (one Victoria, one Queensland) — and without the bal­ ance of power. What of a D.D.? Generally, the D.L.P. has done better in Senate elections than for the House of Reps. But, on the December 2 num­ bers, it didn’t have enough votes in any state to get a Senator up — not even in Victoria, where its 8.3% was

0.8% below a D.D. quota. Maybe it would improve enough to take one place in Victoria — more likely from the Libs than the A.L.P. But it could scarcely hope to hold any­ thing in Queensland,: Jiome territory of party leader Vin Gair, whose per­ formance in the recent election was unanimously rated Z-minus. The machines say that, if the D.L.P. forces a double dissolution, the Senate would break A.L.P. — 32, L.C.P. - 28, or A.L.P. - 32, L.C.P. - 27, D.L.P. - 1. Whichever way they play it, the D.L.P. has nowhere to go but down —and may be right out. There are other factors to consider. There may be a backlash against, Labor by 1973/74. But that depends on how Whitlam handles it, and his early showing'has been good. The Libs and the D.L.P. will be desperate to make up lost ground. But the Libs will be in trouble with in-fighting, and the D.L.P. will be in trouble with the church — and it’s not so easy for losers to pick up the big money. The Country Party says that it

A Digger service for those who don't

1 read the news today; by Virginia Fraser Prostitutes in Turkey formed their own trade union — the Persona Prostitutes in Turkey formed their own trade union — the Personal Service Workers Union — and an­ nounced plans to open branches in all big cities. At the inaugural meet­ ing a health official said that the country’s 1,7,000 prostitutes provided an important safety valve in society’s sexual life . . . . In Perth, stripperentertainer, Alexandra the Great 48, was Charged with wilful exposure in a Perth restaurant where she took off all her clothes and lay on a divan. Constable John Vranjican of the Perth Liquor and Gaming Squad enjoyed her performance till till she took off her g-string . . . A Melbourne sculptor was fined $75 for exhibiting a wooden penis and 13 wrought iron figures in “various sexual poses” . The best way to improve marriage was to compel firms to employ married couples, give them the same job and the same shift, according to American sociologist Alvin Toffler. This would give them a common interest and bind them in marriage . . . A three hundred million year old dragon-fly fossil was found in the Hellyer Gorge, Tasmania. The headmaster of Sydney’s Pittwater Grammar School described martial law as “most sensible and necessary policy” , in his annual re­ port. He respects the President of the Philippines for imposing martial law “to rectify what was a very loose situation in his own country” . And he said: “There are many in this community who believe society is based on law and order, respect for authority arid the hierarchical control; and that our whole way of life is based on that most funda­ mental human tribal instinct of eld­ ers knowing more than youth in terms of experience andwisdom” . . . In the Philippines a citizen expressed his admiration for President Marcos by hacking at the President’s wife with a knife. Still on education: In Melbourne the three major Victorian teacher’s organisations have joined together, forgetting ideological differences, to protest against the alledged victimis­

ation of two teachers at Lily dale denly unexpectedly and by a Tech. The school council and the massive margin it has assumed con­ mother’s club have been trying to trol of Washington’s most reliable have the teachers transferred becaCTse and unquestioning ally.” . / . in of their campaign, through the TTAV, Malaysia they were still arguing about to draw attention to accomodation the $7500 spent on McMahon’s re­ problems at the school . . . And cent visit. Opposition members com­ in Dacca at least eight people were plained about spending money to injured when police and National boost the image of a hasbeen, and Guardsmen attacked a crowd wanting the government said they had to, to be to give refreshments to secondary civilised. All mining and exploration ap­ school students sitting for an exam*. . . . Retired draft resister, Barry plications in the Northern Territory Johnston, is trying to get his teaching have been frozen while the Labor job back after being absent without government considers Aboriginal leave. landrights . . . An 1800 square mile Other draft resisters released from property in the Territory may be prison under the new regime were bought by the Commonwealth for pictured by the daily papers eating Aboriginals at Willowa 170 miles ice-creams and drinking beer. .. .The north west of Alice Springs . . . Director of the South Australian The Askin Government which is ar­ Employers’ Federation doesn’t want guing with the Commonwealth about nashos to come out of the Army. whether it really has to shut down He said they’d only cut other people the Rhodesian Information Centre in out of jobs and make it hard for Sydney, has approved in Cabinet, school leavers. “ Every employer the granting of about 6000 acres of knows he has to re-establish national Aboriginal reserve land to Aborig­ servicemen in their jobs.” And while inals. The total size of NSW is big business would be able to absorb 194,837,120 acres. The land, which them, little businesses which/‘operate includes 120 acres of mangrove with no surplus staff” will have to swamp, an island which is washed retrench (sack) people taken on out every time the Clarence River meanwhile. floods, and 1300 acres already being Labor’s win was also “sad news used for farming, would be held free­ for the army tourist,” according to hold by the State’s 150 fullblood the Melbourne Sun. Regular army Aboriginals and several thousand people stationed in Singapore were mixed bloods who live a partly tribal upset about losing the perk of over­ life. seas “service.” “There’s plenty of People who wanted to help Abor­ sport, good beer, pretty girls, good iginals should mind their own, busin­ schools and the added charm of ess the Director of the Victorian being in no danger of death at Aboriginal Affairs Department, Reg enemy hands.” Worthy said. They should examine North Vietnamese diplomats pro­ the motives for their interest and nounced themselves well pleased with try to recognise Aboriginals as res­ the Labor election victories in Aus­ ponsible. People who respect them as “wishing to direct their own lives, be tralia and New Zealand, particularly independent and to contribute to to the promises to withdraw troops from South East Asia and to recog­ the economy are the one’s who will help Aboriginals to advance. nise China . . . Japan thought the “Aboriginals can’t all be put in the Labor victory would change the world situation . . . Hong Kong com­ same category to serve the purpose of munist papers said it reflected a grow­ a particular cause. They’re not all poverty stricken, concerned with ing trend away from conservative policies . .. . And the U.S. didn’t landrights or incapable of holding a even know it was time according to job. Increasing numbers lead ordinary the Sydney Morning Herald, which lives occupied with their own inter­ said: “ By U.S. standards the new ests and lives . . . ” Heroic feat of the fortnight: Four government is downright socialist and by former Australian standards young guys from Brisbane rode a inclined to be anti-American. Sud­ motorbike up Ayers rock.

will stand on its own in opposition, and that could mean a leak of pre­ ferences to Labor. The 18-year-old vote should be through well in time for the Senate elections. According to the polls, that will mean a sizeable advantage for the A.L.P. To 1961, Senate elections were held at the same time as the House of Reps. poll. In 1963, Menzies — for his own devious purposes — put them out of sync. The voters would like them back in sync. If they were, it would help Labrir. If Gough Whitlarii wants my ad­ vice — unlikely; because the back­ room boys have probably got it all worked ouj; he shpuld getk the 18-year-old vote through* set the Senate election for 1974, pick his issue, and go for a joint Reps.-Senate poll. And if the D.L.P. wants a double dissolution, then or earlier, so much -the better., (Meanwhile, keep your eye on Clyde Holding for Victoria in May next year. If you can get 2/1 or bet­ ter, take it. He’s likely to shorten.)

We just work here

Jigsaw Factory not proud There has been a certain amount of indignation that Weatherhead and Stitt, the people at the Jigsaw Factory, also did the cartoon anim­ ation for the DLP’s television com­ mercials, in the Federal Election campaign. Weatherhead’Si weary reply was “ I suppose you have to find some­ thing” and “sounds like you’re scratching.” “Jigsaw’s our statement, not making commercials . . . The agency Clemingers were responsible for writing, we were the technicians . . . We are about the only animation studio in Melbourne . . . We have got to make a living so we can have a Jigsaw Factory . . . I think it’s a whole other subject. . . ”

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December 16 — December 30

The Digger

Page 3 David Porter

If they get com po for being in jail, w e w ant it for being in the bloody army publicizing of draft resistance, and the thwarting of the NS Act. It was Eight years ago, the Liberals’ Dr remarkably successful. The DRU Forbes told a Hobart RSL meeting kicked off with an occupation of that there would be no conscription the Melbourne GPO, as part of its in Australia. His military advisers campaign against the distribution of had counselled against it. A fort­ registration forms. Then it liberated night later, Menzies announced that files from the Dept, of Labor and conscription was on. Since the pub­ National Service. Within two months, lication of the Pentagon papers, we the DRU had 165 members. Tom know why: LBJ sent George Bundy Hughes, then Attorney-General, was a memo, saying three Australian given a list of resisters at his home; battalions were required for a dirty he responded by brandishing a cricket little war, a week before the Menzies bat and getting six DRU members announcement. jailed for trespass. On Friday, Dec. 1,1972, the com­ The movement was infiltrated by pany was mustered at Singleton Army a police spy, Bill Allen, who didn’t training base, outside Newcastle, do much damage except for leading NSW. A major told the nashos: “ Even an attack on an Italian community if Labor does win this election to­ dinner when Billy Sneddon was morrow, you will not be discharged speaking. It was bad PR for the from this Army before ypu’ve served DRU, but the organization’s struc­ your time.” The next day, the ture of cells prevented anything being country went for Whitlam, and in blown for individual resisters. Lit­ the following week’s orgy of change- erally, no single person knew where by-administration, orders were given everyone else was. that somehow, anyhow, national Resisters, such as Ian Turner and servicemen were to be freed of fur­ Paul Fox, appeared at public m eet­ ther obligation to serve. During the ings, such as the Moratoriums, burnt same flurry of letters and memos, a their summonses, and went under­ few platoons of draft re sisters emer­ ground. By late 1970, the DRU ged from jails and the underground, claimed 204 resisters, and a campaign with remarkably similar concerns to against the “ incitement” clauses of those who had gone along with the NS Act warmed up. The govern­ conscription: what to do with your ment devised a scheme of “ forcing” self, now that Australia has belatedly resisters from jail by giving them ended its arse-licking committment. C.O. status. Files liberated from the Perhaps the least dislocated are N.S. offices showed, in March, 1971, the uncounted thousands of men that the government was lying about who just didn’t register; for them, the the extent of resistance: 11,000 only change is subjective: there’s less people had not registered. need now to worry about The Knock. Five women, including the Vic­ Traditionally, war’s popular. For torian opposition leader’s wife, were those who serve, it’s a chance to get arrested for trespassing in the N.S. away from the routine oppressions office, in April, 1971. In June, of family and career, and receive resisters addressed 80,000 people at society’s certificate of masculinity. a Melbourne moratorium; the govern­ The Liberals’ Vietnam adventure in­ ment wasn’t game to bust them there. verted attitudes; is there any hero of In July and August, there were 111 Vietnam better known, more secure busts for inciting people to resist in his sexuality, or more politically the draft. Michael Matteson appeared significant than Michael Matteson, on This Day Tonight, fled the studio who stayed home dodging into TV as the cops arrived. studios and away from police? This year, Barry Johnston went * * * underground, and got preselection Resistance to National Service from the ALP to stand against Don began immediately; whoever paints Chipp; he came within 3000 votes of slogans on brick walls got out their winning, in the election. The Gover­ brush, and one pioneer resister, Doug nor of NSW badmouthed conscription Panther, hitched around the country and DRU members started showing leaving mail redirection notices at up as part of the show at Melbourne’s divers post offices, during 1966. Af­ Much More Ballroom . . . The Commonwealth Police Force ter constructing a perfect postal loop, he rested easy; when the Common­ Annual Report, (Government Pub­ wealth caught up with him, he was lishing Service, Canberra 1972) says: “The methods adopted by hard­ granted a psychiatric deferment. Resistance to the draft and the war core draft resisters who have gone gradually widened, and in June, ‘underground’ are such that extreme 1970, the Draft Resisters’ Union difficulties are occasioned to inves­ was formed. Its objectives were the tigating police. They are mostly of formation of an underground, the the student category, radically in—by Chris Hector & Phillip Frazer

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Bob Scates (2nd from left, with short hair) was 2 years underground, 8 months in jail. His freedom party was in Sen. Brown’s offices. force to cooperate with them. Several people who were served with sum­ monses as a result of incitement charges reported that the state police were very apologetic about their job and remarked that it was really nothing to do with them. The life styles of each resister varied. The better known members of the> underground Dalton, Hamel-Green, Matteson — were con­ tinually on the move. Both Tony Dalton and Mike Hamel-Green stayed in some thirty different houses. Mike Matteson estimates that during his time underground some 600 people knew, at one time or another, where he was. Others like Keith Langford (vho deliberately kept his mug out of the newspapers) lead relatively settled lives. Keith spent most of his time in two houses in the eastern suburbs and walked around quite openly during the day. John Halpin, possibly the most freak­ ed resister of them all, donned a series of wigs, false noses and ludi­ crous disguises as he wigged his way paranoically from one hideaway to another. Several farmhouses in the country were also used when things got really hot, but this made for communication difficulties. Moving from one spot to another was fraught with difficulties and most transportation was done at night. At one stage most of the Melbourne resisters boarded a bus going to Monash Uni and were almost brought undone because they kept breaking up at the sight of John Varley in drag. Keith Langford moving from one spot to another almost became the movement’s first martyr. Keith and his brother, who was driving, pulled into a shut-down gar­ age to plan future ploys. As they pulled away a car took off afte r them. Keith’s brother tried to get away but was finally cornered in a dead-end street. At this stage the driver of the other car was talking into a microphone on his dash. Keith took off through a block of flats as the other driver raced over to his brother at the wheel. “Why’d he take off like th a t. . . ” “ He’s a draft resister.” “ Shit, I thought you were doing a break-and-enter on the service station” . And the night watchman pocketed the automatic he’d been waving, and waved good-bye.

worst thing about the army was not turned him down . . . “ I wouldn’t being able to see one’s folks. For dance with a uniform like that”, she many, it was their first experience said. Others were less polite. “ Piss of living away from home. Their off creep,” was a common line. last week had been different though Jim, a bronzed moustachioed — they had to come to terms with Clark Gable who did look grand in the fact that their plans for life after uniform, said he could make out nasho were suddenly brought twelve with the chicks in Melbourne, but months closer, and of course, this couldn’t get to first base in Sydney could be their last week in the men- or the bush. only, short-haired, disciplined world Paul ventures that their trouble of army life. That last week, said with girls was caused by short hair. their platoon commander, passed in They were the freaks, in their mili­ what “seems to be a carnival at­ tary crispness. Jim reckons it was also, mosphere.” a case of bad advance publicity Rowie, the thin-faced private lean­ . . . that previous intakes of nashos ing against the window of the car­ had given the boys a bad name riage, had even told the chaplain to with parents and daughters alike stick the trash can up his arse when wherever the army drank. ordered to pick it up. The civilian distaste for conscripts There was no reprisal. or any army personnel was not, Rowie has the beginnings of a curiously, reciprocated. There was dark moustache, thin wispy hairs little real bitterness about it, except curling gently down on his upper lip, in financial terms. Apart from the as do four of the six troops in the rip-off syndrome they had all ex­ compartment. Their hair is a uni­ perienced from everyone from form prickle-cut for the first few garagemen to cab drivers, there was inches above the collar, then short the matter of army taxation. Curly sunbleached on top. says they didn’t pay anything for “ No-one’s regretting the six board and food, which he- thought months,” Rowie is saying, “ it’s just was one of the many fiscal ad­ like any job except there’s more vantages of being in the army, but discipline. We’re getting $85 clear Rowie says they paid extra-heavy a fortnight now and we get a $20 tax on their wages, to allow for these rise if we stay and join a batallion. costs. “ It’s $375 a year off,” he We can report back on January 8th, says, “it was in the army paper or decide to quit and then it’ll take last week, Flash worked it out, and maybe three months for an official he’s an economics student.” * * * discharge, but we can get a job There is some argument about So what did you do, son, during straightaway really.” the truth of this information, and the dirty little war? The draft resisters Rowie’s talkative, but not so forth­ someone asks what I think of “ these were rehearsing tales for their grand­ right as Curly, a gingerheaded, freck­ economics students”? children at any number of victory led heavyweight with dry, tough The obvious question about draft celebrations after the elections. skin and a bony muscled body. Curly resisters brings no immediate passion There’s no doubt many of them are reckons the army was alright. “ I’m — no RSL cliched sabre-rattling, no proud, even self-righteous; on the goin’ back. I mean, nothing you learn moral condemnation . . . but every­ eve of the election, a group of them is any use in civvy life, but you do a one is loud and firm that “ if they’re occupied the Much More stage to lot of things you didn’t think you going to get compensation — you make a few speeches about what were capable of . . . you leafti how know, so much a week for income would happen if the Liberals won. much you can achieve if you push lost while they’re in jail — what One resister promised a complete yourself . . . about us? We didn’t ask to be em­ fuck-up of the prison system. When “ You appreciate home more,” ployed for these wages, or in this another was heckled (the speeches interrupts Paul, a golden-liaired bloke job, why don’t we get compo too?” dragged a bit), the resister snapped, who lives nine miles out of Perth on That’s Rowie, and the quieter mem­ “look, we’re taking the risk for a block where kangaroos hop through bers of the gang all get in a hear-hear, being here. It’s us that stand to do the backyard. Paul doesn’t plan on “ Yeah, that’s not fair for sure,” they 18 months, so just give us a chance, returning back east — “it’s too crow­ say. mate.” It wasn’t a plea, it was an ded over here.” I ask them if anyone here thought order, and the heckler shut up. “ Yeah an’ I’ll never criticise me about arguing CO when they got One thing’s obvious even those mother’s cooking again!” adds a very . their call-up papers, and they just who disagreed with the resisters young, nervous soldier crouched be­ shake their heads. “ It’s a job,” Curly weren’t willing to dob them in. As tween Rowie and Paul. The conver­ keeps repeating, “just like any other, cabinet ministers muttered occasion­ sation becomes a scramble of abuse what’s the difference?” ally — the man on the street wouldn’t for army cooking — some of the Curly is down on demonstrators: support the law. cooks are nashos too and they “They’re just demonstrating for Two weeks after his appearance couldn’t give a stuff — oh yeah but something to do these Hokes! They on TDT Mike Matteson was being the com flakes are sh ith o t. . . Last weekend, Phillip Frazer wouldn’t have a bloody brain in driven through the Sydney suburb The business of canning army food their heads some of ‘em.” of Drummoyne, when he noticed the shared a 2nd Class compartment on This leads Jim to recount how a car was being followed by a PMG the Spirit o f Progress with six nashos is as old as armies, and is an oblig­ atory part of becoming a fully- mate of his was in Adelaide during van. The driver took off down a num- ) who’d collected leave passes from ber of side streets and ended up at Singleton base. They were on their fledged digger, and one of the six the moratorium, got pissed, and laid a park — with the van still on their way from Sydney to Melbourne, westralian soldiers in this carriage into a bunch of demonstrators outside tail. Mike took off across the park in uniform, fares paid by the Army. said one thing and one thing, only the town hall. He was charged and and hid in a shed. The car led the In Melbourne they’d entrain for during the two or three hours I sat fined, but “ the RSL got in and paid van away from the area. When he Perth, to see. their families for the in on their journey. He said, “ We’re the fines, held his hand you know, fully fledged diggers now,” and his and told him what a good bloke he thought the coast was clear Matteson first time in six months. Some of the boys said they’d not eyes lit up and his smile strung right was and all that . . .” There’s walked across to where a woman was smiles of amusement at this instance putting out her garbage. He introduc­ be back, and were given two-year across his face. Although the compartment is un­ of corruption, which is how they ed himself and explained that he leave passes on top of the threeweeks Christmas leave due to therp animous that the army was a good see it. These boys have no love thought the cops were onto him, all at the time. Some went to their time, there are few good words for of the RSL. could she please give him a place platoon commander and asked for ciwiesand their treatment of men in “They’re nothing in Perth, the to hide. She was unable to help but drove him round to her brother’s the two-year pass, and were told to uniform. Curly is particularly vocal RSL. It’s frightening how powerful place, where he was put up for go fuck themselves. Some just left, , on this one. “ Civvies treat Army they are here in New South, all those the night in a different house, each to do their three-weeks r&r and de­ like shit,” he says, and Rowie inter­ one-armed bandits and drunken old time with absolute strangers who had cide what next over the break. Some jects, “ They only want your money.” fogies,” says Paul. “They’re a mob no connection with the movement. signed up to complete their eight­ The boys reckon one Singleton, of waries those cunts,” says Jim / At one stage he lobbed on the door­ een months. Those men may quit garage proprietor was lamenting he’d staring at his extended fingernails. There’s not much identification step of a person who turned our any time during the remainder of lose $2—3000 a week in revenue. to be a chaplain in the CMF and their term, if they give six weeks’ They got shit from other quarters with the men who’ve wom these too, like the’ cops. “The coppers at khaki uniforms in days before the notice. who thought he should go to gaol. Singleton ‘d throw you into the The boys on the Spirit of Pro­ ash os were bom. One manifestation However even this guy was unwilling gress were all between twenty and boob the first beer that touched of community solidarity they agreed to dob him in and finally drove on was the readiness of drivers to him out of the area to a friend’s twenty-one, none of them being your lips,” says Paul. students with deferred service. None Girls weren’t kind to them. Single­ give a hitching nasho a ride, “ but” , house. says Rowie, “you gotta steer clear ' The other major factor on the had trades that channeled them into ton’s a pretty dead town, it’s an side of the underground was the ap­ specialised corps. They’d just done army town, so nights out were spent of the old guys or they’ll bail you in Maitland, or maybe Newcastle. up for four bloody hours and rave parent unwillingness of the Com­ six months basic training. on about how they were at Galipoli That six months had been spent A typical experience, says Rowie, monwealth police to go flat out to catch the resisters: and the apparent first at Puckapunyal, then at Single- was his at a Maitland dance hall. He! or some shit like t h a t . . . bore your asked a girl for a dance, and she arse off with their war memories. failure of sections of the state police ton. For the boys from WA, the dined, intelligent, expertly advised and encouraged in university circles. They associate only with persons whom they can trust and move only from one ‘safe’ house to another. “T.V. crews and newspaper repor­ ters who participate in interviews of hard-core resisters usually have to undergo an elaborate protective or security procedure before the inter­ view is conducted. This has included transfer from one car to another and blind folding of the reporters. “ The reporters interviewedby police have invariably failed to co-operate upon ‘professional’ grounds. “ Notwithstanding administrative difficulties' mentioned previously and the studied defensive tactics of an intelligent resistance group, this Force performed a great deal of successful work which is reflected in the fol­ lowing figures: Warrants Executed: 25 Summonses Served: 510 Inquiries Completed: 2499 In addition 112 arrests were made for incitement offences against sec­ tion 7 A of the Crimes Act and 19 for obstructing Commonwealth Po­ lice in the execution of their duties.” To which the Draft Resisters Union adds a few figures of their own: Warrants avoided: 115 Summonses unserved: 834 Inquiries Thwarted: 2744

They want to tell you their life his­ tories because you’re a fucking dig­ ger!” The train lumbers its excruciatingly uncomfortable way through towns like Wagga Wagga, and Cockatoo, and we get onto the war. Vietnam is something that’s past for this in­ take of conscripts — no national servicemen have been sent into com­ bat for over twelve months. Prior to that, service in ‘nam gained itself a reputation among nashos as a great bludge, an exciting adventure in strange lands, and a unique oppor­ tunity to make and save a bundle of bread. “ You’d only go there for the bread. It’s not a war like a world war,” says Curly, who wanted to go, “it’s just a big fuck-up but you know, you’d get to see places like Hong Kong, and the money’s really shithot.” “ But,” says Jim, “we’d just be mercenaries, really.” I asked if anyone had believed in the Vietnam war. “ None of us believed in it,” says Rowie. However, three of these six private soldiers would have gone, for kicks or money. Such questions tended quickly to a vague silence; these nashos weren’t comfortable making moral judge­ ments about distant figures or ab­ stract questions, although they’d make heavy judgements about people they knew — such as specific pogos and looeys. They had no opinions about McMahon, but said it all with their contemptuous vacant looks at the mention of his name. Whitlam im­ pressed Jim, and thence the rest of the gang, for his swift and firm ac­ tion in his first week. “ You gotta have a change sometimes,” philosophised Curly, his eyebrows raised for senat­ orial effect, “and we’ve got to give them a go. Dunno if we’ll vote Labor next time, we’ll see how they perform I s’pose.” No-one had mich truck for polit­ ics, it seemed, although there’s no doubt that everyone was happy to be getting back to Perth for Christ­ mas with the folks, reunions with mates who were likely to join them in the next call-up and who will now never know the experience of being in the army. “ It’s good to be able to get back to your civilian life, if you can pick up your old job like they say you . . . but, you know, there’ll be other blokes who’ve come in while we’ve been away, and been promoted above where we’re at.” Paul worked for the water works, in Perth. The future, for these six, is un­ sure. It’s only been a week since they were in a position to think about what they’ll do with 1973, and why. For many of their mates, the first thing to do will be next Saturday r? they’ll be getting married. “ It’s hope­ less to leave your sheila behind for six months,” says Rowie, “you can’t expect she’ll wait for you. Lots of blokes ¡are getting married in case they miss out, I guess.” Paul adds, “ A lot got married just before they came in . , . they’ll be happy to get off a year early.” Curly’s the vocal one, the hawk, in a gentle down-to-earth way. He’s going back to do at least another few months, because the army will pay his train fare to Sydney and back again, and that’s an opportun­ ity not to be missed. He estimates seven of ten nashos will complete the 18 months, to qualify for perks. He qualifies that by saying no more than one in 50 will make a career of the army. For Curly, nasho’s been a conscious­ ness-expanding experience; he’s found he can do things he didn’t thing he was capable of. “ Like reading maps and stuff,” says Paul. “ Like killing a bloke,” says Curly. “You’d just imagine he was the sergeant major,” says Rowie, grin­ ning and crushing his empty can of sarsaparilla.

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4H O T H L Y N HOUSE ARCADE

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The Digger

Page 4

December 16 — December 30

precociously perfect

G uruji slagged

Patricia’s fur rug

New York (UPS) — It must be rough when you’ve already achieved perfection, fame and wealth at the ripe old age of eight. But for Maharaj Ji, now just conquering puberty at age 14, it’s just a matter of adjusting to several million followers, a $120,000 home in England, a man­ sion in Los Angeles and the luxury of a Rolls Royce. For the past several weeks, several thousand Americans, many of them teenagers, have boarded five jets bound for New Delhi on a spiritual pilgrimage. They spend a month in Prem Nagar, just north of the nation’s capital, being exposed to the wisdom and knowledge of Guru Maharaj Ji, who, not so incidentally, is also the spiritual leader of the Divine Light Mission in the United States. According to the people at the mission — who claim the 14-yearold guru has over 30,000 followers in the U.S. — “ gu” means darkness and “ru” means light. A guru, of course, takes you from darkness into light. But Guru Maharaj Ji does it like no other guru, for he’s also a Perfect Master. “He’s just perfect,” explains Dave, one of the workers at the mission in New York. Apparently perfection runs in the family, since the guru’s father was also a Perfect Master. But presumably there can be only one Perfect Master at a time. Maharaj Ji, therefore, didn’t assume his role until his father’s death. Recently the guru has come under heavy criticism, particularly from parents who have called him a “home wrecker” because of his powerful influence over children and teenagers. Parents, it seems, aren’t the only group upset over the guru’s impact., Some people have charged that he’s actually an international smuggler, referring to the $80,000 in jewels, watches and cash he accompanied to India on Nov. 6. Others have charged that the guru is actually older than 14, implying, perhaps, that Maharaj Ji has found himself a secure and lucrative enter­ prise. Hie Divine Light Mission, how­ ever, claims such a charge is absurd. They describe the guru as a “normal child” who watches the Little Ras­ cals and eats plenty of ice cream. Anyway, they said, “since they don’t question President Nixon’s age, why should they question our leader?”

Key Biscayne, Fla. (UPS) — A lot of people were surprised one weekend in November when they saw the Nixons skimming along Biscayne Bay in a Russian hydrofoil. The five-passenger turbojet craft was a gift of Leonid Brezhnev, de­ livered by a Soviet ship to the U.S. Coast Guard. Nixon got it cheap, trading it for a Cadillac limo when he visited Moscow last spring. A Secret Serviceman learned how to run the craft after figuring out the instructions, which were printed in Russian. The Russian bearskin carpeting was removed because the First Family decided it was too warm for the Florida climate. “ After all,” explained Pat, “we didn’t want it to lose its hair.”

Tokyo Rose Chicago (UPS) — Tokyo Rose, the silver-voiced siren who enchanted so many American servicemen during the World War II, has still got some loyal fans. Tokyo, a Japanese-American born in California, returned to the United States after the war and was convicted of treason, for which she served more than six years of a ten-year prison term and paid almost half of a $10,000 fine. She testified at her trial that she was caught in Japan on a visit when war broke out and forced to work for Radio Tokyo. Now the government wants her to pay the rest of her fine. An appeals court in Chicago, where she lives now, denied her request for a hearing to keep the government from collecting the remaining $5255. But a Chicago newspaper recently got a letter from one of her old listeners, a former submarine radio­ man who says she “isn’t nearly as great a traitor as all the young men who have run off to Canada to avoid the Vietnam War” because she was conscripted by the country of her ancestors. “ I want to get some of our sub­ marine crew together and come to her defense,” the letter continued. “ We used to enjoy listening to her. “Hell, she never lowered our morale. You see, we were killers,’’

Pressless Card

Nixon’s German Paris (UPS) - The White House is skittish about letting Presidential advisor Henry Kissinger talk to the press lest his German accent give them the tip on his act. But now it’s out that the speeches Kissinger feeds Nixon are really written in Germar and have to be translated into English before the President can pre sent them to the American people. In a book just published in Paris, British journalist Henry Brandon tells how Kissinger arrived late for a Washington dinner party just before Nixon was to give an important Vietnam address in November, 1969. Pointing to a thick envelope underneath Kissinger’s arm, the hos­ tess inquired, “Is that the President’s speech you have there?” “Not exactly,” replied Henry. “It’s the German text. We’re still translating it into English.”

-fro m UPS London — Two years ago, John Wilcox announced Nomad, a freaks newsletter In that time, two tiny “interim” issues have appeared. Lack of finance has meant that in practice Nomad is a freak’s nonletter. However, Wilcox has given away almost 1000 Nomad press cards, to itinerant gypsy-style freaks. “The press card is famous all over Europe and India,” he says, “ And I ’ve even heard that people have managed to get free flights or hotel rooms in some places. We encourage users to get away with what they can and then write and tell us of their experiences so we can print them in the next issue.” Wilcox is vague about what th at will be. He says he spends most of his time writing to inquirers to as­ sure them that the card is valid. “We stand,” he, says, “ foursquare behind our hundreds of reporters” . Wilcox is now selling the two back issues of Nomad for $2.00 with a press card thrown in.

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O vernight in the m ind shelter to piss in. One of the women nicks it off me and puts it full of flowers and piss on the top of the piano. Jenny is 17, illiterate and has a pain in her gut all the time because of the IUD loop. Regularly through this day and the next she starts yelling and screaming for a pain killer, abusing, pleading, entreating. The first thing is the realization I figure they don’t want to risk giv­ ing her a knock out pain pill. But of being processed, another lump of meat with a problem. No resent­ do you know what Cherry is beg­ ment. You came here to become ging for? One Panadol! That’s it something new and that is a process. folks — one Panadpl. She never did get it which also figures. So what’s Difference between the two meanings of the same word? Maybe but so one Panadol here or there? I did go to sleep that night and what? You don’t come to a joint like this unless you no longer care at five in the morning was woken about the difference or the two are by being choked round the throat fused — desperate to get to an end, and the screams of “ Fire, Fire!” you don’t question the means. Don’t I didn’t know and couldn’t discover who it was so I slunk to the walls think about them. Neat oblongs cut from an elasto- a bit wary next day. plast roll with your name wrongly Next day? Next day started an spelt are plastered on all your belong­ hour later at 6 o’clock. Hour and a ings to which they will stick o r half to bathe and dress with break­ where possible written in permanent fast at 7.30 then back to the com­ black thick ink, again spelt wrongly, mon room. Not allowed in the sleep­ on the inside of your clothes, and ers during the day. So from six in finally where the quick-stick meth­ the morning till lights put at ten at ods fail, double-folded white cloth night there is only the common tag£ sewn with prison mail-bag stitch. room with time cut in sections by There’s even a slab of dungy elasto- three meals. It’s not food, it’s glob. plast across your contraceptive pack The retard is on a diet. For breakfast though you don’t know this till you she gets one hard-boiled egg conse­ get out as they are taken from you quently she spends her day rampag­ to be given singly each night in a ing, sneaking, sniffing for food or ridiculously large plastic container else grabbing half-inch butts from of its own — yes, with an elastoplast ashtrays as an alternative to put in personalized name wrap around it. her mouth. This day she sat eating “What’s the matter, you think an apple. An apple! Where did she I’m going to OD on anti-baby get it? The nurses were concerned, bombs?” I ask a nurse. Big joke so cross questioned here, there is no nurse flashes a smile, reward for food lying round here, she couldn't have got it because there are three trying tb joke and incentive to keep up the good spirits. So all my junk sets of locked doors between this is stamped, catalogued, detailed, ac­ ward and Outside. counted for and taken away. But The doors have glass panels but hey! Hey! Something’s wrong. You the locks are firmly secured in the forgot to stamp, catalogue and name lower wood. I want to get a book me! from my locker. I tell the nurse. And it’s true. They’ve lost or Five minutes later she’s ready. Nurse haven’t got my file so they’re not has the bunch of keys on a chain at all sure who I am, what I’m firmly attached to her belt. In key, here for though I tell ‘em when they unlock door, patient step through, ask. Correction, when one asked. nurse step through, in key, lock door. There was a big balls-up blit how Repeat the process then reverse the were they to know and I certainly lot to get back.'; didn’t. You see it finally came out Sue had just got back from having that not only was I in the wrong ward an ECT before I was released into but in the wrong hospital. the common room. She had another The meat was washed, weighed one the next day. She was eighteen and wrapped in a torn chenille dres­ but you know that old hack writer’s sing gown. I was promised my phrase ‘she could have been anything clothes back as soon as they were between eighteen and eighty’, for processed — I got them back only Sue, true. She never stood straight, when I left next day. (So I’m hardly it was not that she slopped or slouch­ an expert on shrink shacks — but ed, the curvature started and ended ah knows what ah likes.) The ward. in that part of the spine between It’s the lock-up ward. The punish­ the hips. When she moved it was ment ward. Style, early Australian slowly with forethought and she depression with a hint of metropol­ preferred to hold onto something. itan railway station, at least that She was a walking angle. was the common room (how I could “ But you know, for what’s wrong rhapsody over the intense approp­ with me it’s doing me good.” riateness of that word). The sleeping “What is wrong with you Sue?” gallery was strictly standard. Rows “Well, . . . I really dunno.” of packed beds of tubular chrome, She was quiet, calm and helped three blankets a piece and two headthe other patients. sogged pillows — so old and so used The common room. Half a dozen that the filling has packed into hard 1971 Womens Weeklys, a scrabble little balls. set, seven novels the latest being Twenty-five perhaps thirty wo­ Mr Rowl by D.K. Broster and none men, no more. The youngest is a of them complete. All of them Muni­ fifteen year old retard, a fat slobby, cipal Library rejects. Every morning ape-faced moron, a food-grubbing, half hour exercise and game playing butt-begging irritant which opens its period organized by the nurses, mouth only to let our piercing whin­ crossword puzzle drawn on portable ing shrills. You forgot to think of blackboard — scungy-edged and her as a fifteen year old retard, only cracked like everything animal, vege­ as a source of so many decibels table or mineral in the place. through your head. The oldest was My name is called. a mindless geriatric who every half “Miss— you’re to see the doc­ hour asked where she was and why tors.” Go through the key routine, she was here. Answering the second wait a while and then ushered before question was ridiculous, she never the central committee. Six shrinks understood the first. Did she even there and JESUS! It can’t be rqal! listen? Maybe she only asked the The Chief Shrink has got this claw questions because she knew she had hand, his elbow is propping his arm been asking them for years. upright on the desk and from it First contact was Marie/Mars, 27, dangles this pink mangle-hand. two children, lesbian, no top teeth, Fredrico Fellini, where are you when alcoholic, dope-fiend, attempted sui­ I need you! cide, classified as “ultra-violent” and “ Miss — there has been a mistake in for her twelfth time. Marie/Mars you should be at the other centre. at some stage had wanted to play Now if you will just sign this . . .” the piano. For two years she paid a Not on your mangled hand baby, teacher and my god she played. But but I keep very calm, give lucid only Beethoven, Brahms and for pop intelligent answers and we all finally value a bit of Chopin. She would agree that the most suitable thing attack the Retard when she lifted the in my case is to become an out pat­ lid and hammered the ivories in the ient at one of the clinic centres. decibel way only the Retard could Phone calls, doctors spoken to, day do. For this Marie/Mars got a shot and time of appointment arranged. in the arse and was less likely than Back to the ward, tell Marie/Mars. ever to get out of the punishment “Please write” she says. She has ward into an open one. In the punish­ no visitors, np letters. Clothes are ment ward was the Decibel Retard returned, my bags packed. I sign on and the piano and so when the Re­ the dotted line saying all my worldly tard . . . and so on. goods have been returned unto me Jean was in her fifties, the face and I wait at the third locked door of a bland hausfrau but beautiful to be let out. red Scottish hair and a gentle voice. As I’m let out a thin dark girl in Regularly she tried to take herself a chenille dressing-gown is ushered in and all her family to heaven. “ If by another nurse. I had my life over again I know I She is very pretty and stops and wouldn’t do it this way. If they let looks at me. me out I know I’ll be better now.” “You’re Miss— aren’t you?” But her family are hesitant about I’ve never seen her before in my Mum. In fact they’re downright ob- life. stinant that Mum is gonna stay where “ You taught me in Form One in she is. Colac.” she said. I’m given a pint-size plastic jar

The author o f this article spent time in Melbourne's Royal Park psychiatric centre. N ot much time, no time compared to most inmates. She has, however, come out to tell the tale. The Digger respects her request for anonimity.

keeping the natives under control

The Colonial Office o f Education A year ago, Keith Jepson was fined $200 in Melbourne Magistrate’s Court, for growing four pot plants in his kitchen. That might have been that, but it was not, because Jepson was a schoolteacher. The courts often hear cases where the statute law discriminates for or against people because of their oc­ cupation, and schoolteachers are dis­ advantaged in at least one instance: the Victorian Crimes A ct provides for a longer gaol sentence for a school­ teacher who fucks a girl of less than the age of consent. However, there is nothing in the Poisons A ct to sug­ gest that special penalties ought to be imposed against schoolteachers. There are seven Acts and sets of Regulations and Instructions pertain­ ing to the teaching service, and after Jepson satisfied the civil court, bur­ eaucratic proceedings began. His con­ viction was referred (automatically) by the police to the Education De­ partment. Jepson was then compul­ sorily transferred from Doveton Tech, where he taught humanities, to a non-teaching job in the Special Services Division. This is called being sent to pur­ gatory. He waited ten months for a hearing by the Teacher’s Tribunal. He had been charged with a breach of Section 58 (1) (a) of the Public Service Act: If any officer during his period of service is convicted of a criminal offence which is punishable by imprisonment, the Board may dis­ miss him from the Public Service or reduce him in classification or impose such other punishment as seems appropriate. The Tribunal members are Bill Sampson, chairman, Doug Duncan, government representative, and Jack Harris, General Teachers’ represen­ tative. The Tribunal reflects ap­ pointments made during the long Bolte regime. Harris is the only one with teaching experience. The other two came through the Public Service.

m

^

The Tribunal decides by majority vote, does not disclose its reasons, can can refuse appeals — as it did in Jepson’s case, after it fined him the maximum, $200. The money was deducted from his pay in two fort­ nightly installments, leaving him with $33 a week to live on. Jepson had been convicted and fined by a civil court, and been taken out of teaching for a year, then had been fined by the bureacracy’s court an amount equal to his civil court fine. In these days, when the PMs wife can talk about legalizing pot, it seemed a bit excessive. Teacher’s association meetings have annually passed resolutions denouncing the regulations, that deny them free speech, and so on. However, Jepson’s triple jeopardy moved the Technical Teachers’ Association and the Victorian Sec­ ondary Teachers’ Association to hold a public protest meeting “against the punative nature of the Public Service Act and the related Acts and Regulations.” Those who spoke there breached section 415 of the Constitution Act Amendment Act 1958 (Vic.), that forbids teachers and other public servants from public “ com­ ment Upon the Administration of any Department of the State of Victoria . . . in order that all of­ ficers may be enabled to ren d er loyal and efficient service to the State.” A section of the Teaching Service Regulations (made by Governor-in-Council) seems to forbid even private discussion “upon any matter affecting the Department in which he serves, or the business of the members thereof, or relating to the Teaching Service or his own official position or acts without the express permission of the Minister or the Director-General.” Teachers pointed out to The Dig­ ger various passages in laws and regulations that were hard to believe. Old Colonial wording, backed with the force of law, still prohibits teachers from expressing personal

r a ocra FIRST ALBUM

Q a rso n

A L S O A V A IL A B L E O N C A S S E T T E & C A R T R ID G E

political or religious beliefs to their students. There are all sorts of quaint, provisions relating to the Loyalty Oath, some of which relate to students (regarding expulsion), and some of which relate to teachers (refusal to conduct the ceremony merits a $50 fine; refusal amounting to disgraceful or improper conduct can merit the sack). These laws and regulations pre­ scribe the servility of teachers to the education department bureaucracy in school. They also say how a teacher shall behave in his own time: “ [He] shall not engage even indirectly in any business which would have the effect of impairing his moral influence over his pupils or in the community generally, and he must not even out of school hours be guilty of any action un­ becoming a person holding his pos­ ition.” The bureaucracy, again, is the judge of these things. These rules even require a teacher to take up the matter of bankruptcy with the Teacher’s Tribunal. The TTAV and VST A resolved at their meeting to make deputations to the Premier (Dick Hamer) and the Leader of the Opposition Clyde Holding, seeking removal of many of the formal problems which now plague teachers and probably are passed onto students in the form of unrealities. If no satisfactory solution is of­ fered the two organisations are planning a campaign for a bit of action. Meanwhile, Keith Jepson is still standing in the comer in the Re­ search and Curriculum Branch and nobody seems sure if he will be al­ lowed out. The President of the TTAV, George Lee, understands that Jepson is to be returned to Doveton Tech. But the Staffing Officer of the Technical Section of the De­ partment, Dibk Armitage, is less encouraging. “So far he hasn’t been transferred and I haven’t given it much thought.”

S H V L 608

4B ie u r

December 16 — December 30

The Digger

Page 5

The Digger

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Sally, the pro; Fred, the mug .

her relationship to lovers is . . . well, more of that later. She isn’t into friendly casual sex. “ Once I know or talk to someone, I couldn’t get off with them.” Her man, sitting there in the sit­ ting room, laughs, and says, “ Fuckin’ butch you are, I’ve been telling you for years, ya hate men!” “All men are mental,” Sally says to me, level-eyed. “ I don’t know one who isn’t. They’re selfish bas­ tards. What do men think of — their . . prick?” She looks to Ponch, the only other woman in the room. “What do you reckon?” O.K., Sally’s on the corner in her working gear and she reckons she could write a book about her life, starting from when she was little and her older brothers took her into deep water and wouldn’t let her back unless she let them fiddle with her. Nobody told her anything. When she got her period, her mother told her she’d had too much watermelon. Her mother had eight children, Sally was fourth in the family, and she was educated by the Sisters of Mercy. “All I was told was it was a sin before marriage. What was a sin before marriage? I didn’t know what Then what? After three months or so, they get they were talking about, the nuns going red in the face, my mother sick of you.” “Stand close, touch them, their Sally only works two hours, pulls going red in the face . . . you check hand.” $100 to $250 a day, and runs when the books in the police station, and The street quote is $10 shortshe sees the 21st Squad cars. Ex­ I’ll bet you three-quarters of the time, $20 long-time. A friend of penses, including slings, run about girls have R.C. beside their names.” mine has timed a number of pros Some of the girls at the Sisters $150 a week, and court fines go on from plucking their mug to return of Mercy were more clued up, but top of that. She wears housewifely to their position, and come up with gear to court. Bail at Darlinghurst not much more. “I’m quite surprised a range of eight to fourteen minutes. runs $200; fines at Darlinghurst at what goes on in schools now.” Sally points out that experienced Anyhow, when Sally was 16, during pros don’t work as hard for their court run about $90. If you don’t August holidays, she did some bop­ pay an “instant” goes out for you gross takings. “ I let them get their ping around town. She wants me to — a warrant for arrest. The pros are trousers off, and ask them for more say the town was Adelaide. And pretty crook on the cops and the money. $80 for an hour? Well, how courts. There are a few bent cops she met an older man, 38, who about $60 and stay three-quarters? who’ll do a “hidden” , and that costs came onto her. “He breathed in my Men have got no brains when they’ve1 ear, and I thought he was beautiful. money. Bail costs money. The fines got their duds off.” cost money, 14 days to pay, and if I had fallen madly in love with him.” Where does she work? Not in her you don’t pay then there’s the And then? flat? “ He fucked me.” Sally laughs. paranoia of having an “instant” “I’ve got a room down the way. floating around the Cross in a squad “He promised he’d never do it again, You pay as you work — the land­ car. If you get lumbered and go to and then he fucked me again the lord’s very reasonable. Not like when Silverwater, the government takes next night. I was really fucked!” I was here years ago — you were your kids from you and won’t give She went back to college, and soon had that old morning nausea. paying through the nose then. The them back. price was what? Three pounds? And “You end up working your cunt She told her girlfriend, and she woke you were paying a pound for the off for some fat magistrate who’s up straightaway. So Sally split . . . room every crack.” usually wanking himself when he with no clear plan, as is often the case with 16-Y-O girls to whom no Sally says you can do good busin­ talks to you.” one has told anything. “My father ess in the rain, under your brolly, * * * would have killed me — he was one but in winter-time it pays to cultivate Sally’s sexuality: She denies ever of these old Catholic bastards.” a few regulars. “I don’t need them She arrived in Sydney with six in the summer, and drop ‘em off. having an orgasm with a mug, and

NOTES ON THE NATURE OF A GAME Sally lives with Frank and the but with really great legs, and she kid in a flat not far from the Way- smokes a lot and picks but does not side Chapel, in King’s Cross. The vite her fingernails. She doesn’t wear outside door of the block is kept jewels and at home she doesn’t wear locked, and there are two more much make-up and her skin is very doors, with catches and latches and clear and settled. Whfen her expres­ locks, to pass through to the sitting sion changes or she moves her head, room; you need an appointment to and the shadows shift, the skin dif­ fuses the edge of the shadow, and see Sally when she isn’t working. The sitting room is carpeted By her eyes are dark, soft, and heavy. the time five of us have found spaces By the slack standards of The Digger's between the TV, the record player, team (Ponch and me) Sally’s place is on or about the new, clean vinyl remarkably tidy and scrubbed — furniture, it’s obvious it is a small there are cans of Ajax aerosol packs room. Through a door, a second TV of cleansers in the kitchen and toilet is burning quiet a quiet grey fire in —¿ut she apologizes several times for the kid’s room. The sitting room’s the mess. wall carry one of those boong-style When she does out to pluck a burnt wood plaques, and a huge mug, she puts her working gear on. color photo poster of English trees “I get insulted if they talk to me in in Autumn, with a path running up my housewife gear.” under them, a naive affirmation of The working gear amounts to long Bunuel’s morbid eroticism: Sally is a white boots, stockings, hot pants prostitute. Sally at home, wears grey wool or a short dress with a bit of pants slacks a wide leather belt and a showing, a blond wig, heavy make-up shiny synthetic blouse with an or- and false eye-lashes, She wouldn’t ange/pink floral design. Occasional walk up the street for a bottle of flashes of lacey bra. Clogs on her milk in her tart’s gear. The boots nice feet. Her dark hair’s cut shag- especially: “I don’t crack it much style, short on top, quite long at without boots on.” She works only weekday after­ the sides. Sally’s an older lady, tall, big-breasted, a little thick at the waist, noons. “ Saturday and Sunday are

wog days — they don’t pay and they don’t bath.” I ask her about picking the clien­ tele. She says the important thing to suss out is if the mug may do you a harm. “I take everybody. If I don’t like the look of them, I talk to them. They may want to hurt you, but they’re not quite game. You get a feeling. “I’ve worked in the lanes, working in Kalgoorlie, Port Kembla . . . you get the knack of talking them out of it — you know? What do you want to hurt me for? I've got three kiddies 99 How do you know who’s in the market? “They’re all in the market. If you can get talking to them, you’ve got them. I mean, you get to know the locals, who go past. Other than them, any chap up in these lanes that’s wandering around is in the market.” Give us a bit of dialogue — say, somebody’s loitering across the lane, and you look to pluck him. “Hello, baby — where you going? They’ll probably stop. Why don’t you come with me . . . you can have a lovely time for ten dollars.”

pounds, borrowed from her girl­ friend’s boyfriend, and with the ad­ dress of the chap who had fucked her. She looked him up. He couldn’t remember her. She put it on him that she was pregnant, and he said, “it’s not mine! it’s not mine!” However, he made arrangements for her, far a place to stay. She got in touch with a sister, who was nursing in a Sydney hospital, and her sister dobbed her in to her parents, who got the police after her. She wound up billeted in Waitara, a home for unwed mothers, where she cooked. The pregnancy miscarried at TA months. She went back to the chap who’d fucked her. In two months, she was back in the home with another load. That preg­ nancy went to term, and the child was put out for adoption. “I kept running away from Waitara . . . I finally got out at 18. She went back to live with the chap, who’s a fairly affluent crim, and worked in a costing department. “I used to accept the fact I would get pregnant every year. He packed me away to his sister’s place at Kemsey, and she sent me back for an abor­ tion. It cost 300 pounds, at a place in Pitt St.” Her chap paid for it. “I cost him a fortune” , she laughs. That time, “I nearly died from it. They left me on the steps of the Prince Alfred, jeef up not to say anything . . . ” They’d just broke her water. “ . . . baby was bom dead. It was murder when I think back on it.” She went to live with the guy as a housekeeper. He didn’t take her out. She had another abortion. “ I never suspected he was playing up. Once he put me in a spare bedroom and slept with a girl. I didn’t know." Then there was the classic scene: she found a letter, opened it and read it and freaked out,' rang him up out-of-town, threatened to kill herself. She couldn’t handle it. She was conditioned to be loyal, obed­ ient, etc. She went back to her home town, worked in straight jobs. “ I didn’t fancy anybody, or anything.” She met a girlfriend of a new lover, who was on the game. She ask­ ed her what she did. The girl said, “I use mugs up.” Sally laughs: “ I got friendly with her and came back down to Sydney. To make all this money. I made six pounds the first night —I got screwed

Above: Here's a fine looking woman. She's wearing a green knitted top white jeans and cork heeled cloggy things. She's been talking to a passing gay and now lays back against the wall with fag cocked in her hand. She's a really striking, far out. lady, and lots o f guys are hanging round the comer waiting to make out/score/ whatever. Kaye's lipreading through the telephoto as the lady says hullo to likely guys. This one looks like George? Orwell (down and out?). The short guy in the shorts and white socks on the right one is o f the many New Australian guys out today, making it after Sunday lunch. He's about to approach the lady when George Orwell takes a step in front o f him, and she's one up. A b o v e Right: The lady returns ten minutes later, by which time three more mugs have gathered on her comer, anxiously pacing, checking each other out, all seemingly new at the deal. The guy in the rolled up sleeves is about to pop the question when this yahoo stops his pram in the middle £>f the pavement to tune in on their conversation. The couple turn to go, and the pram-pusher walks alongside for a few yards, listening, doing his bit to make the afternoon a voyeuristic experience.

Above: Our lady has said it (whatever it

on walking. She gives a wry smile. May*

Above: A lady friend arrives to complete the bohemian, counter-cultural, underground movement. It looks like an idle rapping, but our rady is still alert.

digging her from the mini: in fact we've be

Spunky era

ï Page 7

December 16 — December 30 all night, and said, ‘please give me some money.” Her mate on the game led her to believe she had to have a bloke. “ A friend found me a two-bob hoon, who put me out on Boomerang St. I was terrified. Geez, it was cold. I worked on the comer for two weeks — it was a big thing then, to go in mug’s cars to the park.” The tarrif was three pounds, and she made 43 pounds one night. Sally had a bad run of luck. She worked out that the hoon was doing her no good, and pissed him off. Then she got jack (gonorrhea, as they say), though she didn’t know about it at the time. And she got pinched. At court, she ran into some people that knew her and her old lover, the affluent crim. “I never had such a hiding in all my life,” she says. It’s a big shame thing for a crim to have a girl who’s on the game; it damages their pride, which is dear to crims. He came to her flat, beat christ out of her, and spat on her. * * * Another friend took her down to Chapel Lane, which was running then. (Sally worked there before the 1961 crackdown. The lanes reopened in the late ‘60s, and were closed down again after a newspaper cam­ paign.) In those early days, the girls worked for themselves. They paid ten pounds for the use of a house for a four hour shift, and bail was also ten pounds. They charged two pounds for a quickie, three pounds for a strip. Sally got a lot hipper working there. “You learn every day on the street.” “I cracked it with a chinaman one day, and he told me I had to wash. Anyhow, I got terribly sick after a while, from the jack. Then I got a penicillin allergy in the hospital . . . I just couldn’t get rid of this dose. I was ashamed — venereal dis­ ease — I’ve never been so embar­ rassed in my life.” Have you been dosed since? “No.” Lucky? “No, I check now.” How can you tell? “Would you like me to demon­ strate?” Everybody laughed. I sajd, sure, and stood up to drop my jeans. Sally blushed. I sat down again. She explained the test. She squeezes the

mug under the balls, and pulls up to see if there’s a discharge. “ I was chucking them out all the time,” she says, before she learned to dis­ tinguish the thin, clear, runny dis­ charge from the normal, thick, clear fluid that males sometimes secrete when aroused. “If they got stains on their under­ pants — send ‘em back out the door. I'm not sick, they’ll say. Here’s your money, off you go.” She got pregnant again. “ I used to miscarry a lot — I didn’t worry, it used to stop me smoking.” Doc Cook used to do a 50 pound scrape for the pros, and he was a proper doctor. “ I think I got my insides so screwed up, eventually I had to have them out.” Sally says she was too shy to speak in those days. “I was a very back­ ward sort of person, never drank or anything.” She treated the game as a job. One night she went out with a friend to a pub, met a bloke, fell in love. “ He was on the wanted list. We had to take off. That’s how I wound up in Kalgoorlie — I had 1100 fucks for that bloke, I know, because I put up 1100 pounds for his defence. We were hunted every­ where, thieving, milking petrol, and cracking it in camps.” He was hung up about it. “ It’s a big shame for a crim to have a girl in the game.” They’d score a caravan, near some place where a lot of men were work­ ing on a big construction project, and she’d pluck mugs until it became uncool . . . then it was back on the road. “You’re sitting on a fortune” . Sally says the maxim earnestly. “ It’s a career. You can always earn money.” She got a certain view of much of Australia in her travels. Port Kembla, for instance: “The worst place in the world to work. You work out of coffee shops — it’s protected there. The place is full of Yugoslavs, full of jack, and dirty. Wham, they slap you into a V, they put your legs up over their shoulders and lean real hard on your tits and they’ve all got big pricks and little money and they won’t pay!” Sally’s boyfriend got busted in Kalgoorlie. “They should be exposed, those madams in Kalgoorlie.” By the time the brothel takes its whack, it was hard to make 30 pounds a night.

She had a tubal pregnancy there. Sally contradicts herself about her attitude towards pregnancy here . . . “I used to go off my head.” Any­ how, she had the usual run of bad medical advice, and went along several weeks in pain, until it was finally decided to get into her with the knife. Apparently they took quite a bit out. She’s under the impression she can’t get pregnant again —and she hasn’t, for all the intervening years. “I never been so healthy in mind and body.” The boyfriend got seven years Sally went and got a square job in her home town. Sally was out of the game for nearly a decade. “When I went square I used to be very shamed. I’d really hate it if I walked down the street, and people said I was a moll from the Cross.” Then the man she’s now on with won big at the races, and they both quit work and came to Sdyeny on holidays, and blew the money. So she went back into it, to get up a bit of a stake. Experience is working, she washes the mug and runs her hand up their back and belly, tells them something like “I had a bloke this morning with the biggest prick you’ve ever seen” , rubs a little baby oil on them. “If you’re smart you can have ‘em blowing by the time they get there.” That’s important, to avoid trouble. “A lot of girls are very very rude to mugs,” Sally says. “I’m not.” She still remembers one with gingery hair and funny green eyes who nearly necked her. She reckons the bad ones are those whose wives or girl friends have left them. “It’s the blokes who can’t come, who are trouble.” With experience working, the mug lasts four pushes. “Most the men who pay good money are gentlemen. The ones who try to undercut, you’ve got to watch.” She screwed a few virgins. “They’re always terribly nervous. I feel sorry for them — it’s a terrible way to get introduced to sex.” Kinks? “Oh Boy,” says Sally. Apparently there’s a lot of men who want to be hurt. The pros explain it by saying these kinds of mugs have mother problems. “You’ll usually find they’re at home, looking after their mothers.” One mug’s famous in the Cross as Mr Whippee. “We all used to fight over who’d get him — get’s a big payer.” Mr Whippee carries his own

whip, and a cat-o-9-tails, and “ the harder you hit him the faster he spunks.” Sally says, “a square sheila would think they’re quite mental. They’ve gotta pay,” and “they’ll give you whatever they’ve got. They climax a few times. When they do, you ask for more money.” Different strokes for different folks: “A lot like to kiss your feet — i get terribly bored with them. There’s one who likes you to tie his hands behind him — he brings his own cord — and he likes to be belted on the prick. Go ahead, harder please. “A lot of them want you to bite ‘em on the stalk — I don’t do that. And I can’t kiss a mug. I’ve been offered more money, but no . . . if a mug puts his arms around me, I go all cold. I tell them not to touch ny neck or face. Sally reckons, “ 80% want to bite you on the box.” She’s got a nunber of views about minority groups and homosexuality . . . “ The Greeks want to screw you up the ass. I tell them to go get a drag queen — I tell them they’re a bit poofish.” Hand relief is $10. “You can’t come in under $10.” * * * So the talk went, for about three hours. There were five of us in the room. Sally, her man, John B, Ponch and me. John B was the guy who introduced us to Sally; he’s into sundry vices, and one way he keeps thin body and soul together is “sit­ ting” , a job that involves sitting behind a curtain with a length of pipe in hand, in the rooms of less together pros than Sally. For this, he is paid $10 a night. Sally doesn’t use a sitter, but John B says she’s exceptional in many ways. “Most of 4he girls are just dumb,” he says. “ Sally’s one of the only articulate ones I know, one of the few that’s got some idea where it’s at.” I’d hauled Ponch along for a crudely manipulative reason; on these sorts of jobs, a male reporter needs a neutral sexual valence to get quick rapport. Playing a gay vibe is never quite as effective as coming to the interview as a “couple” . Ponch did a very effective thing during the interview — she asked the question about getting an orgasm with the mug, that opened up a lot of Sally’s split sexual identity. On the one hand, she is a competant pro, who

objectifies her customers; on the other hand, she expresses a kind of motherliness towards the men she “loves” , and in her housewife gear she seems just a slightly hip Catholic matron, warm but a little demure. There was joking at the door as we left. Sally asked Ponch if she were thinking about “getting into the game” . Uhm. Ponch had been intro­ ducing me to feminist literature, and I’d just read this theoretical essay about the place of prostitution in the general field theory of sexism . . . I told Sally I wanted to put Ponch out on the street, as a reporter. Anyhow, Ponch wrote me this note: “I feel really glad I went, because she shattered a lot of stereo­ types on one hand of the hard fucking-over prostitute, and of the super-exploited woman. I reckon she thought she was really pulling a good one, just opening her legs and getting paid for it. I now believe there could be worse jobs .. .” Another woman and I had been going through each other’s heads with some force, and when I talked to her about the interview with Sally, she was pretty aggressive. “ I think every woman has the conscious­ ness of a prostitute,” she said, and talked about the times she’d balled for dinner and a ticket to the opera. I took her up on it, a bit: I’ve balled for dinner and a ticket to the opera, too. Her main reservation, it turned out, was that I’d write the piece “out of context” . Context, to her, was the whole pattern of sexism: marriage, and the other exploitation industries. She pointed out that up in the Cross there was a homosex prostitution scene, as well as callgirl syndicates, strip shows, etc. I was defensive. I don’t see that it’s a reporter’s job to present the global view; reporters are the glut­ tons of the particular. If they can get it right, other people can mull over what it means. My job is mainly to ask people questions and write down what they say . . . but I was suf­ ficiently impelled by her argument to go with Ponch back into the Cross on a Friday night, and find a mug. We hung out until we identified the behaviour shown so well by Kaye Martyn’s pictures (made a few weeks after these interviews were done), and interrupted a subject just as he was about to move into a pluck. We got less from him than Sally, but any mug’s experience of this

business is much more limited than that of a pro’s. The mug, whom we’ll call Fred, was watching a trio of pros working out of a doorway down a sidestreet. He’s young (29 it turned out butl a young 29), and wearing perhaps $200 worth of clothes — a blue suit with green pinstripes, a patterned shirt, a nice tie. He’s got short, curly, blond hair, blue eyes, and he’s ner­ vous. He’s indecisive, and he probably likes to be decisive. He takes a couple of steps, slowly, down the sidestreet, and I say to Ponch, okay, let’s move on him. “Hi. My name’s Bruce Hanford, this is Ponch Hawkes. We’re from The Digger, a newsmagazine, and we’re doing a story about single men around the Cross.” “Hi,” says Fred. He looks us over. “Well, can we buy you a beer?” “Okay.” We missed the hotel closing by 30 seconds, and couldn’t get served. Wound up in a coffee shop. Ponch took notes while I asked questions. His answers were usually shorter than my questions, and the interview lasted about half an hour. Fred picks a girl from a distance. “Sometimes you change your mind when you get up close.” He sees themas the initiators; all he says is “yes” . He buys “ full time” for $20. The room “is not like the Menzies Hotel. The furniture is pretty basic, bed and small table.” He’s been making this scene for about three years, since shortly be­ fore he married. His initiation was with a group of young bucks. “ I came up with a few chaps, had a bit to drink, and it was more a matter of one egging the other on rather than any basic animal desire.” The chaps had all been friends for about six years. He gets off with pros fairly fre­ quently. His wife doesn’t know about it —he’s been interstate on a business trip, and she thinks he’s caught the late plane back this evening. The pros “aren’t quite so reserved in the things they do and the way they do it. I don’t know if my wife is reserved or just average. It gets down to basic drives, enthusiasm, vigor and variety.” He believes there’s a dif­ ference between men and women in these regards. He thinks prostitution is “ a nec­ essary evil” , and would like to see it legalized. He believes pros pay off

the cops, and takes no exception to this. If his wife found out he was screwing pros, it would be all over between them. Though their sex isn’t much good for him, “my re­ lationship with my wife is such that I wouldn’t want another permanent relationship” . Is the lack of emotional content distressing, when you’re with a pro? “No.” Do you find it erotic? “Yes, just the concept is a little erotic.” Do your orgasms differ with dif­ ferent girls? “Yes, but I don’t think it has anything to do with the girl. The difference, perhaps, is in my mood. Sometimes, it’s just a non-perfor­ mance.” Fred said his orgasms was mainly a physical sensation; he didn’t have visionary ones. . . . he was a bit scep­ tical about the suggestion. As for the orgasm he had when with his wife, he said: “The intensity is not the same.” Do you think women withhold orgasm? “The thought has crossed my mind. They’re not going to enjoy it, come hell or high water, and if they don’t want to enjoy it, they sure won’t.” Much chance of your wife chang­ ing? “To do that, I’d have to push her. I’m not willing, in case there’s an adverse reaction. In her opinion, she’s normal, and I’m abnormal if I want to do other things . . .” (Fred pays extra for fellatio, when he can make the buy) “ . . . she doesn’t realize the difference between the sexes. She’s only interested in basics.” Fred’s hopeful about changes in society. He’d like to see less censor­ ship, less of “guilt complexes” ; he says, “girls finding out about sex the night of the marriage is bad.” For himself, he sees . . . a loss of interest, rather than a change in the nature of his marriage. “I’ll get staid, that’s probably what’s expec­ ted, rather than her changing.” With a diminution of his sexuality, he’ll gradually wean himself from hanging around the Cross on borrowed hours Time . . . time . . . what’s the time? Everywhere people are trapped, they ask that. Fred got fidgety, and I told him I didn’t want to put a nail in his foot. “ I’ve got to go now,” he said. “The meter’s ticking over.”

;

Above: It's a dreary afternoon weatherwise, like a Melbourne autumn day. She puts up a transparent plastic umbo with a pair o f concentric yellow circles round the rim. She avoids the drizzle by moving under the archway entrances to the Hickory Hut take-away food bar.

rthe guy in the denim jacket but he keeps \e really dug this guy, as much as we are ipped out over her altogether.

I was back in Melbourne when Kaye Martin made these photos with a 200 mm lens. Together with this rave from Sydney office, they give a fine picture of a spunky 19-Y-O pro at work. The pro and her girl friend came around to the office to look at the photos and rap with our brothers and sister there. They decided it would be cool to print the photos if we made them unrecognisable. So, though it’s a pity to spot such fine shots, we’ve done it, in the hopes the street sisters won’t be heated up . . .

Above: From the rear o f another archway the old guy approaches. We can't tell if he's asking for directions, or can't make up the bread. Above Right: Here's a well-groomed business exec, very carefully tailored in a heavy grey flannel number, expensively cut, and a pocket hanky to boot. He's the edgiest o f the whole crew, and has been lurking in doorways for some time, noting our camera, flashing blackmail perhaps. A t last he gets himself organised, and she catches him in her shelter, that being how he wants it. Right: He's not able to cope socially. His hands are definitely a hindrance, and don't move from his hips./As they walk down the lane, seconds after this shot was taken, he places his arm across her back very genteely to escort her across the road.

Page 8

The Digger

December 16 — December 30

Cool man! Sunbury man!

Leaving us the poems he didn't bum: ■ I

Buckm aster dead Charles Buckmaster, one of the most talented poets to emerge in this country over the past five years died on the 25th of November, in Gruyere where he was born. He was 21 years old. Buckmaster came to Melbourne to live in mid-1968, where he be­ came associated with the La Mama Poetry workshop, and almost im­ mediately started publishing his own magazine The Great Auk. His poetry and his life were con­ cerned with the great schism be­ tween an ideal of rural simplicity and the deep drive he had for the complications and madness of cities.

A wandering American prophet once told him ‘the trees are where it’s at’, but he couldn’t commit himself to that entirely, travelling incessantly over the country, and experimenting with people and stimulants. Over the last year or so his reality had di­ verged to a large degree from that of his friends, and he felt forced into ‘mental’ institutions and more bizarre behaviour. It seemed that he was becoming happier in seclusion in the country, and the word of mouth of suicide came as a great shock to those who knew him. He will not be forgotten.

Trotsky, doubly assasinated the Stalinist usurpers of the Bol­ shevik Revolution. Mosley states in his first Chapter The Assassination o f Trotsky that the book is not a biography Nicholas Mosley Abacus — Published by Sphere but “more an effort at interpre­ tation” . Page 182 carries two good Books Ltd. London Aust. $1.60</. examples of Mosley’s “interpretat­ ions” . Firstly he reduces the Marxist What impelled Nicholas Mosley to write “The Assassination of Trot­ theory of permanent revolution to something which “ . . . has taken sky”? Reviewing Joseph Losey’s film of root and has often taken the place the same name (screenplay Nicholas of an older and more optimistic Mosley) Joseph Hansen, a Totskyist Marxism” . The second gaffe describes himself and one of Trotsky’s last how, Stalin did his job, won the war secretaries, characterized it as a and saved the workers state at the commercial — albeit a dubious com­ cost of “ . . . millions of men dying like May flies.” mercial — venture. Lenin and Trotsky understood the Mosley, in presenting no new facts, no new interpretations and exhibit­ theory of permanent revolution pre­ ing his abyssmal ignorance of marx­ cisely because of their “ older and ism and of Trotsky’s life and times more optimistic communism” and must only be seeking to exploit were able to exert their influence the rising interest in revolution and against the timid mediocrities of the Stalin ilk. Their “optimistic com­ its leaders. ' The fourth international, its nat­ munism” carried the revolution ional affiliates and the many groups onward from its bourgeois. February to its workers’, soldiers’ and peasants’ organizing in the name of Trotsky are experiencing a new growth. The November. The workers’ state was saved but recent centenary celebrations of the Paris commune included a march not by Stalin. After Stalin did his through Paris of 35,000 Trotskyists. job by purging and murdering Trotsky’s writings on history, on art 25,000 military personnel and sign­ and literature and particularly on ing a non-aggression pact with Hitler, it was left to the courage and enor­ the phenomenon of Stalinism are enjoying unprecedent demand. Peter mous sacrifice of the Soviet working people to protect the gains of 1917. Weiss (author of “Marat Sade” ) Trotsky’s life, bound inextricably has written the popular and artistic to the liberation of humanity, was success — “Trotsky in Exile” . an exciting and romantic one. If Mosley, with an instinct for a quick buck, superficially scanned you want to read about it — read Isaac Deutscher’s classic Trotsky bio­ Isaac Deutscher’s “Prophet” trilogy or graphy and dashed off what can only Trotsky’s “My Life.” Don’t waste be described as a load of pretentious your time with Mosley. With his ability to express the crap. To believe that Trotsky’s assassin­ dilemma of the bankrupt English ation could be depicted in isolation upper middle class perhaps Mosley from his life, to mull over the psych­ could write an interpretation of his ological make-up of the assassin in famous father’s life. Sir Oswald and isolation from the organizers of the his jaw-bashing blackshirts have barely execution is to denigrate the titanic been tapped by the pot-boiler struggle waged by Trotsky against market. by Rod Quinn

Dylan’s craziness —G.H.

Bob Dylan Anthony Scaduto Abacus $1.90 Scaduto’s book is the best bio­ graphy of a rock hero so far. He has access to the man and his friends, especially the ladies and has a Theory about the man as well. In brief he thinks that Bob was crazy, a pathological liar/myth-maker, a screwed up poet who became con­ vinced by other people telling him he was Jesus that he had to die. This in the early years of his super­ success, 1962—65. He rejected his past and invented a new one, and be­ came caught up in a machine that he couldn’t and didn’t want to stop. He had a bike accident, nearly died to fulfil self-prophesy, and settled back into himself. Scaduto also manages to convey how important Dylan has been to us, to the Movement, to Joan Baez, Phil Ochs, and others. And he manages to write in a way that is compulsive in the way detective stories are, plenty of Clues, a Plot and a happy Ending.

Faith required —G.H.

Worlds in Collision, I. Velikovsky, Abacus, $1.90 This book has beerj around for 20 years, and is now ‘officially’ published in paperback. It deals with events that the author claims took place 3400 and 2600 years ago.

These events were the arrival of Venus as a/com et very close to the Earth, which caused a period of total chaos around the time of Moses and the parting of the Red Sea, and the disturbance of Mars by the errant Venus when Joshua claimed the Sun stood still. He also explains the Ice Ages, manna from heaven, lands of milk and honey, how mountains were formed, why calendars were changed from 360 days to- 365V4 days, how the Earth flipped round and south became north, and a lot more. Velikovsky explains things by the congruence of mythologies of people all around the world. Chinese, Inca Jews, Greeks, Romans, Africans, Maoris all have histories of these events. What he says basically is that the Bible should be interpreted liter­ ally, and that in doing this a lot of physical and literary puzzles are solved. It’s a fascinating book, though whether it is believable is another question. But it does seem a whole lot more plausible than Chariots o f the Gods.

Hemensley returns Kris Hemensley started tjie La Mama Poetry Workshops and edited Ourglass, the first of the roneoed magazines. He also had a deep in­ fluence on the early work of most poets involved there. In 1969 he returned to England with his Australian wife Retta, and now he has come back with a son as well. Whilst in England Kris edited a magazine — Earthship — and spent his time writing a good deal of prose. In Australia he intends to keep the magazine going as well as con­ tinuing various nefarious literary act­ ivities. His play The War Is .Over was staged at La Mama recently, and the film by Howard Keenan of another play — Stephany — won a bronze medal in the Australian Film In­ stitute awards last week.

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Lift

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at the beginning and hello at the end I tried to get myself together l y i l j “Don’t miss the first night” , I and steeled my protestant ethic for ■¡■BIBBI i was told. “There won’t be a second, the confrontations that lay ahead. ■ And I was not to be disappointed. the Vice Squad will close it down.” PM llll So off I trotted down to the Undaunted by the mind-blowing ach­ Pram Factory Friday night, deplete ievement of their opening gambit, the with Bilson biodegradables and Al­ company rose to even greater heights bion alcohol, to witness the devas­ as the evening wore off. There were tilts at such shiboliths tating opening night of the new sexrock musical: “A Night in Rio an’ of middleclass culture as Shakahari other Bummers” , at the back of my and dope smoking and a brilliant mind the thought of an added bonus expose of the hollow trendiness of —a tension-filled, action-packed Vice the Carlton swingers scene: Bill: I’m into cabbages, man. Oh Squad raid. As I sat waiting for the show to boy. Wow. Yvonne: Don’t lay your trips on begin I cast an inquiring eye over the auditorium trying to single out the us man. We’ve all been through that inevitable V.S. undercovermen in the cabbage scene. But the middleclass were not the audience. They were pretty easy for the trained eye to spot. There they only ones under fire. There were were, over on the other side, osten­ also swipes at such current crazes tatiously passing a joint between as Old Time Dancing and a scintilthem along the row, obviously over­ ating satire on the quaint reluctance doing it in a gauche attempt to as­ of counter culture freaks to submit sume the appearance of Carlton to the psychotherapy they obviously heads. I smiled inwardly at their need. However, to any one who rather touching naivety and made managed to keep the contents of a mental note to carefully scrutinise his stomach intact during Alan Finney as Spider Rabbit, the frontal their subsequent reactions. At this point the musicians — lobotomy scene was rather run-of“Jack Actor and the Suicide Pact” — the-mill. The whole production expressed emerged from the gloom beneath a unified conception, integrating the makeshift stage and began tink­ ering with their instruments trying dramatic action, music and even to look as though they were doing costumes and it is good to see the something meaningful with them. APG taking cognizance of the latest The audience watched them expec­ trends from Europe (e.g. R. Wagner, tantly. At last they could stand the 1849). The costumes themselves embarrassment no longer and actually were subtly symbolic consisting of started to play something. They were calico shifts revealingly cut away at muttering nervously amongst them­ the back to expose quels cute arses selves about a ‘blackout’. Occasionally they all had. Get it — (nudge, nudge) the Director poked his head out — BUMmers! Pram Factory regulars from under the scaffolding platform will by now be familiar with every |¡|¡¡ Salii»«a and whispered urgently to the lead nipple on Judy Kuring’s breasts, David Cameron and Gillian Jones o f Cramphorne's Performance Syndicate: into old gear like guitarist. The tension mounted. It their appearance in every show having became obvious that the band were become mandatory, but this time The Tempest in a way strange to South Yarra. we were also treated to Yvonne’s merely playing for time. The band (and particularly the and Kerrie’s as well together with and Muir's correct idea: drummer) were becoming more ob­ occasional. glimpses of everybody’s sessed with this so called ‘blackout’. pubes. Personally I didn’t notice them Our hearts tightened and our stom­ ach muscles beat faster as we peered much, being too involved in keeping into the gloom under the scaffolding an eagle eye on the V.S. However trying to catch a glimpse of silver the lady I was with remarked that by Garrie Hutchinson What makes Muir’s decision radical wages when St Martin’s was in braid — perhaps the V.S. had closed she had never seen men with such The decision of the administrator is that a group like this is totally trouble, that gives them no real right the show down before it opened. small penises. It’s probably some­ of St. Martin’s theatre, Christopher alien to the organization and style of to complain if trends in good theatre The music became more frenzied. thing to do with the weather, I re­ Muir, to hire Rex Cramphorne’s straight theatre, which is what St pass them by. I am sure that if they Perhaps ‘blackout’ was a secret code plied gallantly, both out of a sense Performance Syndicate, has created a Martins is. It has prided itself on the had wanted a worker-controlled word for ‘Vice Squad Raid’! of loyalty to my own sex and a small storm amongst Melbourne idea that it is a South Yarra ‘alter­ theatre then that could have happen­ Then suddenly the mystery was high, level of anxiety about what actors. Inter-city rivalry, rears its native’ to -the Melbourne Theatre ed^ and if they had showed interest solved. she might say if she saw mine later smelly head again. Company, on the MTC’s terms. .So in what was happening ip Australian The illuminator was not herself that night. Unfortunately she never Muir has been attempting to drag to hire a whole group, with an es­ theatre they could have been part of illuminated. asked to. St. Martins from the torpor of ir­ tablished idiosyncratic style, is it. Also, if they complain about The upshot of it all was that the The lady in charge of lighting Sydney actors working here, they in had no way of seeing the vast and V.S. seemed to enjoy every minute relevance, and declining revenues. As something quite new. its audience grew older and more con­ The unfortunate policies of the all faith, should refuse jobs in any massive array of switches, nobs, le­ of it, laughing handsomely at the servative, the theatre degenerated to Council for the Arts make it im­ other part of the world other than vers and handles at her command. jokes and really swinging to the a steady diet of mediocre drawing possible for The Performance Syn­ where they were born. They don’t. But some Samaritan came good with music, and they left as inconspicuously room comedies and pissweak dramas. dicate to exist outside other manage­ Their energy is misdirected if they a bedside reading lamp and after as they came, without making any Even the hiring of Nigel Triffit, the ments, so it is fortunate to find mean to stop St Martin’s plans. The some relieved semaphoring between arrests. Whether this was because only man to produce McClure’s The people like Muir around amongst the whole question of steady employ-, the light lady and the minstrels we they had been lulled into accepting Beard in this country , failed because Neanderthals. ment of actors cannot be attacked were ready to begin. the show because of the main theme of the conservatism of the place. on a piecemeal scale. It is bound up The music dropped to a crescendo. — the great work done by the V.S. Melbourne actors dispute that it is with the problems of subsidy, of The band began singing: “Goodbye in keeping our community moral — The Performance Syndicate is a a good thing for this to happen. They out-of-date training, too few theatres, goodbye goodbye goodbye goodbye or because predictability and banal­ well known Sydney ensemble that is more like a group of mummers or say that the hiring of the Performance and poor TV and Film opportunities. goodbye goodbye goodbye boodbye” ity are vices with which they have strolling players, skilled in the phys­ Syndicate will, 6r has, put Melbourne It may be possible to criticize St (give or take a couple) and in a sud­ no particular truck, or because, in ical and musical part of acting, than actors out of work. Gerald Mayhead, Martin’s for not going whole hog and den flash of insight I realised that at the face of so many bare bottoms, a social/bawdy/political group like of the Herald, even went so far as to starting a n ; ensemble’ that would de­ the end they would sing “ Hello they decided to take the truly the APG. It is more concerned with claim that they were getting up a velop another style and subject mat­ hello hello hello hello hello hello Christian course and simply turn singing and dancing than with popul- petition to stop this rot. He was ter, instead of plucking a developed hello hello” . I blanched visibly. If the other cheek, I do not know. In ist/realist parameter of theatrical ex­ wrong, and he had to print a retrac­ group down from the north, but one this was any indication of what was any event, I expect subsequent pub­ periment in Carlton. It has had tion the next day. Both Mayhead must at least credit Muir for right to come then my tender bourgeois licity for the show to be issued successes with its recreation of clas­ and the actors concerned seemed to ideas. Perhaps this six month ex­ sensibilities were about to be traum­ with the Vice Squad Seal of Ap­ sics like the Tempest and Orestes, have missed several major points. perience will make St Martins a real atised by being brought face to face proval. And for a modest honorar­ and isn’t into playing indigenous Whilst it may have been true that Theatre instead of the fraud it has with reversals of my cherised mid- ium I might even consider giving works. dleclass values. Shattered by goodbye them mine. some actors have worked for small been. by Ian Hayward Robinson

8B8» IB8M Í8M I ÆM

Sm all storm at the Saints

An old conundrum in a aim mirror:

W ho w ill sink, asks the crim by Garrie Hutchinson Mirrors, by Max Richards, La Mama Theatre We were in the hall of mirrors down at Luna Park during the off season. Well, we weren’t really there but we were privileged to know what Harris and Marvin were up to. They’d come in with this person wrapped in a blanket even though it was very hot, and dumped him on the floor. It soon became apparent that they were crooks, and were going to kill this guy — when the time was right. It was also apparent that Mar­ vin was new to the game, and was learning from Harris. The problem was that he didn’t really want to learn thought he knew everything, thought Harris was getting old, thought he was going to take Harris’ place in the Company, loved his brand new gun. Harris, though, was pretty cool, and smart enough not to give Marvin any bullets. Harris eventually thought it time to knock off the guy in the blanket, but had second thoughts and asked

Marvin to do it. Beat him to death. Marvin couldn’t handle that, and was pretty worried about having to stay in the Hall of Mirrors until late in the day with a corpse. He told Harris that he had to meet a girl at the gates.to the place at 12.30. Harris freaked at that, Marvin blowing his first job. He checked the place for wallopers, and then made Marvin go and get the girl. The big question for Harris was; what to do with the girl, with the bloke on the floor, and Marvin, Har­ ris soon made up his mind. He decided to show the girl and Marvin what they were really like. He broke the girl down by making her see that whilst she didn’t want to choose^ between herself and the guy on the floor, she would choose herself anytime. He showed Marvin that he was an animal that would fuck any­ thing that moved, by convincing him that he could fuck the girl right there. Then he knifed Marvin, and said ‘Who’s next?’. * * * Whilst Richards is presenting a very

old conundrum, articulated best by Francis Bacon and the problem of the log in the river that would only support one man when two needed it to survive, he does it with a mar­ vellous sense of ambiguity. The moral man in this situation is Harris; who is also the victor —he survives. Marvin and the girl are stupid, are human, but Harris is also the experienced hired gun and in a way is inhuman both because he sees and acts on the problem, and because he does it all the time. Naturalism is the ideal home for these sorts of questions, and the cast handle it very well. James Chesworth as the thick, brutal and streetwise Marvin, Tom Lake as a tired exper­ ienced Harris and Denise Drysdale as Barbara, the Girl. Yes that’s THE Denise Drysdale. But in spite of the ambiguities and the obvious meta­ phor of mirrors (facing the audience), it really doesn’t move to any new thoughts about its issues. It presents them, and leaves the audience pretty cold. Not as brutally moving as one of Richards’ previous plays, Sadie and Nico. Directed as well as it could be by Tom Burstall.

Cantrills on trip Melbourne filmmakers, Arthur and Coripne Cantrill, left recently for Los Angeles. Arthur received an Interim Film School grant some time ago, but could not escape the clut­ ches of the buoyant local scene until now. They intend to catch up on the activities of the American under­ ground and spend time “seeing films and video, meeting filmmakers, kissing Dan Levy’s boots and going to Cal Arts” . This is the California Institute of the Arts, where at last report Gene Youngblood (Expanded Cinema) still was. They will return in February, and issue 12 of Cantrill’s Filmnotes was published just before they left, to tide everyone over the absence.

Rom eril reports John Romeril, playwright, has returned from a year overseas on an Australian Council for the Arts travel grant. He says that his high opinion of the Australian Performing Group has been confirmed Ipy what he saw in England. “ Overseas I saw a lot of theatre and a lot of theatrical enterprises. I saw a ton of plays, few in any

way startling, and a hundredweight of excellence, usually in the acting department. As a matter of course I sat through a demystifying amount of slop, my sense of duty to the Australian tax payer being the only thing that kept me in my seat . . . One effect of it all was to reinforce my long held opinion that the APG’s work was as valid as that being done anywhere.” He feels that the theatre itself (in Drummond St. Carlton) is of good standard, physically, which might be a surprise to some people, and that, the lack of a theatrical tradition makes things easier for groups like the APG. It isn’t neces­ sary here to woo an audience away from ‘established’ tradition so much as to introduce them to theatre. The other pleasing thing for him, was the unique political experiment that the APG has been undertaking — a democratization of decision making — compared with the director-dictat­ or English experimental theatres. “Too few people realize this . . . The press, as usual, has preferred to hang stories around personalities and ‘key figures’. But not only the press, certain other interested, even sympathetic parties have dismissed our quiet revolution as so much utopian nonsense. “The fact is our structural experi­ ment proceeds despite the cynicism and neglect of outsiders. The fact is our substitution of democratic horizontal procedures for the feudal, vertical arrangements practised by most other companies in this country, and for that matter in the. world, is a noteworthy achievement.”

December 16 — December 30

The Digger

T hree D og N ight, cock m uzak by Jenny Brown Apparently the big American pro­ moters who flew Three Dog Night out to Australia thought their world­ wide drawing hot enough to do a way with advertising. Consequently their Oz-tour was little more than a printed rumor (elbowed on by 3XY’s radio plugs for the Dog’s ‘guest artists’, Canadian band Guess Who, a success in their own right) when 3DN touched down on Aus­ tralian soil. Melbourne’s tired old open-legged whore of a venue, Festi­ val Hall, was in chaos by 8.15 the night of the concert. Suddenly, the show was here . . . and although probably over half the tickets sold were door sales, the audience num­ bered 4000 out of a possible 6000. Inside the middle section of seats had been removed and the jostling and drink spilling was shoulder to boob around the central squat of mixer and crew. It looked impossible. Guess Who jkicked open the night with a full, turgid sound and a loose­ ness all their own. They looked sleek vwth motel living, their jeans balled-in, and their T-shirts hung. Guess Who were a technical gas, rolling and blowing out the exactly controlled energy of their recorded sound; guitar classy and mean, rhythm-section like a late-night Italian restaurant. The guitarist rested his machine like a dozing swan across his belly as he playéd. Equally heavy was the band’s Fagin- Fth. Christmas-style manager who eyed the jiving teenies beside the stage from his perch near the amp. Singer for Guess Who is Berton Cummings, a built guy with thick black hair and low-lidded eyes. His is that voice that seems to shake out forever . . . he’s got volume and feel control down to a fíne art (remember ‘Albert Flasher*?). Then, he looked blase; a little, weary, of gigs like this, organizational fuckups like this, lousy acoustics like this, and so did they all*. That sowhat air of Guess Who was both their strength and their weakness . . . when they could have gone over like legalized shit, they just went over well. As Guess Who finished, a young guy ran up to the side of the stage and said, “hey, you’re a great band, but you didn’t play so good to­ night. Was that because Three Dog Night is supiposed to top the bill?” Someone looked down and said, “yeah” . After a break which was hot, pushy, and drinkless, and during which the cigarette machine gave out like a premature ejaculator, 3DN made the stage in a writhe of light and welcome from the crowd. Seven of them — drummer, bass player, guitarist, organist and three singers. Visually very flash. But after a couple of numbers it showed that while

technically, each member was pass­ able, only the bass player showed any real gift for creative intensity and control . . . the act was a cos­ tumed, emptily pretty thing, that lacked direction or conviction. The Dog’s fluffy blond guitarist should have spent more time on his playing than on his appearance; the organist had seen too much and learned too little of Jon Lord (Deep Purple) and John Evan (Jethro Tull). Most of the rest of the band had similar copyist hang-ups. Contrary to publicity, I don’t believe they add anything valid to the cover versions they thrive on. It’s hard to see how 3DN made it so big; to me, their music was muzak. Their only saving light shone from ex-college basketball star, Chuck Negron (the best of the Dog’s three singers), who was over six feet tall, slender, and with a face Donyale Luna would want to call her own. I would have rather spent the band’s time examining every inch of him. He was so beautiful, I almost forgot the noise. *Editors note: We have it fairly reliably that some o f Guess Who were indeed ill, having contracted the jack whilst in Japan. , * * * The Last Much More Ballroom closed with a good crowd and a bit of pettiness back stage. Phil Jacobsen, one of the Ballroom’s proprietors, wound up paying Gary Young/Hot Dog; Bani McSpeddon, the other proprietor, paid MacKenzie Theory, who’ve had a blue with Jacobsen. Jacobsen tried to keep them off the Final Blow’s bill, and Theory wasn’t allowed to use the house PA system. They played with their drummer in a neck brace, did a good set, and did not denounce PJ from the stage, as they had prom­ ised their friends they would. The Ballroom has established a market which spends $200Q—$3000 a fortnight f for a certain kind of thing that isn’t going to be found in Brunswick St., Fitzroy, anymore, now that the Catholic Church has banned use of the hall for headshows. Rumor is that 3XY, Michael Chugg of Let I t Be, and maybe Michael Gudinski of Australian En­ tertainment Exchange are all looking, jointly and severally, at Leggett’s Ballroom in Greville St., Prahran. The question is, is there anyone who can manage a rock-vaudville hall? And another question is . And another . . . An Answer: The New Daddy Cool, involving the two Rosses (Wil­ son & Hannaford) and Gulliver, is a fizz. Ross Wilson was backstage at the Last Much More, and said he and Hannaford would probably join up with Miss Universe, that the resulting band would probably have a name change, and that a new reper­ toire of Wilson and Hannaford com­ positions would be built up.

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Page 9

Two goodies, one not so good

Hijacking the airwaves ■

Guy and W ells get it on

Guerilla TV

by Ross Reading Kym Bonython’s American Blues Festival started their Melbourne season in the Town Hall on the Fri­ day night with Arthur “ Big Boy” Ciudup, a tall dignified old man, I think he’s nearly seventy. He played guitar in a hit or miss fashion, but his voice was perfect, his phrasing and timing exactly right. The aud­ ience loved him, he sang one encore, then another, and walked off seeming surprised and pleased at the audience reaction. The drummer and bass guitarist stayed and a rhythm and lead guitar­ ist came out to back Jeannie Lewis, Sydney’s answer to Janis Joplin. She was badly outclassed by the backing band, the guy on rhythm guitar playing some raunchy rockand-roll solos that stole it right away from her, and the lead guitarist standing off there in the shadows occasionally putting in little bits that had people flipping through their programs to find out who he was. After interval, the M.C. introduced the Buddy Guy band as they came • out, “on drums, Roosevelt Shaw” — flash, that’s the guy played drums two days straight for that ‘trainload of freaks’ Janis Joplin sings about — but it’s the same drummer that was on before — that means that that guitarist was Buddy Guy. See, I told you he was too good to be just another guitarist. “ On bass, Herman Applewhite, rhythm guitar, Philip Guy, and lead guitar, Buddy Guy.” Buddy Guy stepped up on to the mike, mumbled something about playing some blues, and hit such an incredible flurry o f notes that you could hear people around the hall laughing With shock. Now I’ve heard a lot of records of blues guitar, but I’d never comprehended that a guitar could feel what the next note shoul4 be, you waited for it, and when it came it wasn’t quite that, it was even better, it was exactly right. After half-a-dozen songs, Buddy Guy introduced Junior Wells, and stepped back into the shadows of the Town Hall stage. Now, that’s what you’ve got to call a hard act to fol­ low, and it says how good Junior Wells was, when I say that half-way through his first song I’d almost for­ gotten it was Buddy Guy back there in the darkness. What a team they made, going through their songs that they’ve made blues classics, “ Stormy Monday” , “Messing with the kid” , “ Hoodoo

Bolan: boring, brilliant by Martin Fabinyi

T.Rex — The Slider

man” , “Bad, bad whiskey” . The concert ended with the crowd on their feet applauding, and planning to come back Sunday. Sunday night, the first half was much the same, except the crowd were listening hard to Buddy Guy during the Jeannie Lewis act. Word had got around. During interval, I smugly told friends impressed with the first half what a shock they had coming. “Just wait till Buddy Guy cuts loose, man. You won’t believe it.” But it was me that couldn’t be­ lieve it. Buddy Guy said he was high and I can believe that. He was much, much better than the Friday night —

they’d got more than they expected. Outside in the foyer, there was a delerious atmosphere. An old Hues freak froind was leaning up against "the wall, an expression of beautitude on his face. His idea of a great night is a few joints, a good stereo and a stack of blues records. Now he leant against the Town Hall wall — every minute or so, he’d shake his head in wonder and disbelief. “ Wow, ohh, man, wow” . An extra concert had been ar­ ranged for the Wednesday at the Dallas Brooks, where the superior acoustics made Arthur Crudup’sbit sound even better and Jeannie Lewis wasn’t on the program. But Buddy

he had the audience transfixed. He did a lot of what he called “jiving” — he played one-handed, he held the guitar upside down, he held it like a violin, at one point he held it up in the air with one hand and shook it and the guitar played the blues as if by itself. - Junior Wells came on and he was better too — the two of them seemed to be hugely enjoying themselves, they launched into songs at sugges­ tions from the audience, they aban­ doned songs after one chorus to play something even funkier; they stood way back and played so soft you could barely hear them — the only thing I can say, they really iplayed the blues. They left the stage, the audience exploded, they came back, did two more numbers, and when they left again, the audience didn’t clap much. The crowd had its head together — they’d come to hear the blues, and

Guy was way down, and he appeared crapped off with some droobs in the audience who kept clapping when they eventually recognized the tune he was beginning. When they clap­ ped he stopped playing it. Pretty bad vibes. Worse was to come, for Philip Guy now did three tunes on his own, striking a blow against racial stereotypes by proving that not all black gutiarists have talent. Junior Wells tried bravely to bring it all together again, but Buddy Guy only played rhythm, leaving the solos to Philip;, who played loudly and inaccurately, often over the top of Junior Wells’ quieter breaks. Buddy Guy stood there, glaring morosely at the crowd, Junior Wells glared at Philip* Guy, Philip just played louder and louder. He was really having a great time. People who only saw them on the last night seemed to be pretty im­ pressed.

his worst. A couple, in fact are tot­ ally lacking in imagination and defy tolerance, especially the vacuous and bouncy Baby Boomerang with only one salvageable phrase: “you never spike a person but you always bang the whole gang, thank you ma’am” and pn the other side Chariot Choogle, a bore that adds nothing and detracts a lot. But in between those two throwaways lies The Slider, a beautiful song that creates more than it says and immerses Bolan’s slippery words into magic. Among the others Telegram Sam, the speedfreaks’ anthem, and Rock On, which expands the sexual auto fetish; “Mildmouthed Rita shes a Chewy chased cheetah loves every­ one . . . prophet pumped the carscar deeper only sweeter loves every­ one everyone” are really on exten­ sions of a familiar tune (they still have something going for them) and Rabbit Fighter relies lots on the incredible quality of Bolan’s voice, as does Baby Strange. Spaceball Ricochet, Ballroom o f Mars and Main Man are unbelievably haunting. As everybody knows what T. Rex sounds like this album will either fascinate you or bore you stupid; but perhaps its worth a listen even from those who froth at the mouth when Marc Bolan is men­ tioned. After all what appears boring at first might provide startling revel­ ations if given the opportunity, and anyway the cover is great.

Morrison does his stuff so well that he nearly ceases to exist; it isn’t him on that record at all but a deep well of feelings which we all know but cannot really adequately put into words.

In the wake of half a dozen em­ bittered and disappointed reviews from the top minds of the country, each one more caustic and damning than the last, comes this, an open and impartial review of The Slider. Of course Marc Bolan is a genius, so we might as well begin there. His records have all been variations on a single theme, and it’s this that stumps the critics; they don’t under­ stand the theme, and as there is no understanding possible but merely an acceptance I guess that’s inevitable. Bolan has only ever written one song in his career as superstar, but it’s a great song and certainly capable of encompassing two L.P.s. Admit­ tedly it becomes hard at times not to instinctively check the record player in case the needle has slipped and is playing the same side over and over, or even the same track, over times it’s so easy to slide into the hypnotic jerky drawl of mumbojumbo on the panting cosmic sea Bolan paints so well. And therein lies his paradox which angers the enlightened so much, we won’t sit still to be dissected and can be tot­ ally boring at one moment on one level yet fascinating on another. I guess if he was tall and weighed fif­ teen stone and came from Dallas he by David Pelz might win acceptance as a freaky Astral Weeks - Van Morrison just-discovered enfant terrible, but From the picture on the cover to because he’s small and pretty and lots of girls want to fuck him (the the last sound on side two Astral Weeks tenders a fragile hand for Beatles put that out of fashion) he becomes a fake and a meglo- you to hold if you want to. When I first heard it years ago it never maniacal cad. He’s that, too, but in between those dainty feet clad in registered at all but all that has changed. Maybe I wanted to really highheeled female shoes hides more than just a superstar’s hardware. Like. listen to something for once. The title tune literally takes your David Cassidy and our own Ricky Springfield he appeals to the panty- breath away — I was left sitting hosed wetset. But unlike those ane­ there with my mouth agape. I have mic cutouts (especially David Cas­ never heard words and music fit so sidy, who must be the biggest poofter well together so that they were one. full of images, and in the world) Bolan has charisma of The song is only the most inattentive listener some sort, possesses satanic mystery can fail to find something utterly and writes like a madman. Maybe this is getting to sound like familiar there. For me, one of the an outright T. Rex plug, subsidised dominant images it evoked was of walking along a darkened road on by EMI and ghostwritten by Tony Visconti, so I’ll introduce a note of a chilly night with someone I felt objective criticism and say that al­ something for, so that chilly nights though The Slider contains some of have come to have their own special charm for me. Bolan’s best songs it also harbours

A stral...

...W eeks by John K. Hill

Astral Weeks — Van Morrison For reasons, I bought the record. I played it, spasmodically for about a year. I got into smoking. The world of Astral Weeks opened up for me. I sat by the radiator in a friend’s house. On the night the house was empty. I sat alone on the floor in the living-room. I faced a dark, faded-with-age, green plywood wall . . . or were they Cypress trees, dew­ laden in the morning, gently lilting to the harpsichord? I wove a dream: “Yes, by God, they are Cypress trees along the avenue! Dig it.” From then on I rode with Van along the tree-lined, early-momingmisty streets. We stopped off at a •couple of tenement houses. Along the Sandy Cove, down Cypress Avenue, in Ladbroke Grove. We gen­ erally hung around. Just doing noth­ ing. Watching a few things. We met a guy (chick?). Madame George. We just sat and dug her. She was cool. We didn’t think he knew what went on with the bottletop kids out in the street. I thought of The Who, but Van just grooved. It didn’t matter, he said. “Slim Slow Slider, ‘cause she ride . . . ” Van whipped around and kicked me in the gut, broke my heart, telling me that she’s gonna die too. “Textures,” I murmured, “ tex­ tures, and waving trees. Damp cob­ ble-stones, and the lonely echo of a horse’s hooves. Oh, Jesus. I can’t explain. “ It’s . . . it’s a three-dimensional feeling—touch, primarily, alternately chilly and warm.” The Conclusion: “Van Morrison’s into Zen with Astral Weeks. Devoid, practically, of emotional feeling. Sensual. Totally physical. “I mean, like . . . somehow part­ ing the fibres of a really thick tapestry and feeling them rub across your body as you..become part of the tapestry. “ Look, I don’t know. But he’s the only singer I’ve heard who,, physically, shares the world of his songs with the listener.”

from Ron Lichty/UPS Saw a really good movie the other day — Please Stand By . . ., starring David Peel as Freemont Zapata, one of the group of media junkies who are so hooked on video they have to hijack a mobile broad­ casting unit to get their fix. The film is about guerrilla tele­ vision — taking control of the air­ waves. The media freeks produce four 90-second spot commercials for a revolutionary lifestyle, and then they use the van to interrupt regular broad­ casting. Suddenly the evening news is interrupted by the slogan, “The airwaves belong to the people!” While a psychadelicized swirl of color builds into a red fist grasping a lightning bolt. From then on it’s their show. But the government is out to get them, naturally. The collective leaves New York and moves to the country to escape their urban disillusionment; but soon afterwards a police heli­ copter sweeps Free from a pastoral hilltop into a futuristic concentration camp for radicals. There he languishes along with several other members of the group, until they’re freed in a Tumpamaro-style prison break. They return to the video van to produce the most insidious spot of all — two people making love in a trippy free beautiful woodland setting, melting to a baby in a crib while a narrator quotes Gibran, “Your children are not your own.” It’s heady stuff, and for a while the film makers, Jack and Joanna Milton say they were undecided about whether to make the movie or actually do the interruptions. Even­ tually they decided to leave the broadcasting to those more adventuristically inclined. But when publicist Alan Abel saw the film it gave him ideas. He leaked a story about a TV hijacking to a Newsday columnist Marvin Kitman, who wrote, “ A TV network will be hijacked one night during the next two-week period, it was learned exclusively by this reporter. The plotters are planning to use force to seize one of the three net­ works — at gunpoint if necessary.” Kitman reportedly received a host of angry phone calls after his story appeared. John Lennon and Yoko Ono also saw the film in May and liked it, giving a lot of encouragement to Jack and Joanna as they finished it up. Please Stand By . . . was a little too much for most national distrib­ utors (“Avco-Embassy didn’t relate to it at all”), so the Miltons are distributing it themselves. It opened Nov. 17 in a Greenwich Village cinema, and other New York show­ ings are scheduled. If you want to show it, write the Media Liberation Front, 364 W. 18 St., New York,

N.Y. 10011. In spots the movie drags a bit. Some of it could have been edited a little better. But for the most part, it’s exciting and suspenseful — and important. It’s worth seeing just for the TV spots — the imprints of a new culture compressed into 90 seconds. Our parents tried to raise us with their values, but they made one mistake: they let us watch television. "And on television we found our heros — people like Robin Hood. This is the essence of Please Stand By . . . It presents the cultural out­ law as a mythic hero, the collective as the new work force, the gaol a new society — a society which, it seems, can only be actualized by guerrilla bands.

Result on Co-op bust John Mathews, 31, looks after the Melbourne Film Co-op in Spring St., where alternate cinema has been shown. It has been going about 18 months. In July this year, during the showing of Kit Guyatt’s Phallic Forest, Mathews was charged with having exhibited an unregistered film, and having carried on the bus­ iness of exhibiting a film without registering the Co-op with the ap­ propriate authorities. Last month, Mathews lawyers told the Court-of-petty-sessions that the film Co-op was a small non­ profit organization. Mathews was acquitted of the charge of being an unregistered exhibitionist; he was found guilty of having exhibited an unregistered film. The magistrate released Mathews on a six-months recognizance, and if he is not busted again, no conviction will be recorded. The film Co-op is now drafting a letter to the Victorian Chief Sec­ retary, asking for exemption from the relevant clauses of the state Films A ct 1971, on the grounds that its members are into film as art rather than business. The government amfended the law last year to exempt home movie makers from the duty to register their amateur films. The amendment was made after Nigel Buesst’s prosecution in March this year, over Bonjour Balwyn, when lawyer Peter Faris pointed out the anomaly: most of Kodak’s milliondollar home movie market was just as guilty as the alternative film­ makers, of failing to submit their footage to State and Federal censor­ ship bodies through the registration process. The film laws date back to repres­ sive activities on the home froni during WW I, when the establishment saw treason and sedition lurking in every dark room — and most Cath­ olic Cathedrals. The Co-op is canvas­ sing to see if the law can be changed. Far from being intimidated, the film­ makers plan to make 1973 a very active year.

A n invitation to write We welcome reviews of records, even Astral Weeks, which seems to cause more raves than any other LP, and will reward those whose raves are printed. If you want to write about movies, books, theatre, or shooting rats at the municipal tip, we’re happy to look at that too . . . and keep sending in those lists of All Time Great LPs & Singles, in envelopes marked All Time Greats; we’ll print the results of our non­ competition next issue. Send it all to The Digger, 58 Canterbury Rd., Middle Park, Vic. 3206.

SYDNEY FLYER BOOKS

A re You Lonesome Tonight? by Alastair Jones Here are some of the local haunting places where the light witty chat from bright happy faces cuts the nocturnal mists. (Plus some less frivolous dives where you just might get it on). French’s wine bar in Oxford St, Darlinghurst is open till 10 p.m. six nights a week arid pro­ vides jazz and blues to fill the holes in your patter as you’re chatting up Rosie. (Blue Spirit is a pretty cool band). Prices are the average wine bar hit (about 10 cents a glass more than pubs). Similarly Sorehs in Crown St, Surry Hills is not a bad spot for meeting good-time heads, and you can get a steak out the back. Open till

POSTERS

Brays 268 BARLING ST BALMAIN OPEN ALL DAY SATURDAY

about 1 a.m. and oc­ casionally they provide a touch of jazz. Most suburbs have at least one wine bar, usually with recent music on cassette and barmaids that are at best spunky and at least civil. The Rocks Push down by Circular Quay usually has some good live jazz to mix with the plonk. A n yw i ne bar open after 10 p.m. is required (by the licensing laws) to force food down your throat, but unless they have aspirations towards trendiness, you’ll find a spaghetti on the menu for about 75 cents. The Upper Crust wine bar in Military Road, Mosman,' was busted recently for failing to force food upon a gentleman of

conspicuously casual dress so they’ll have to take a more persuasive line in future. The Upper Crust has barmaids that are real friendly and the sailors from the Balmoral Naval Base (just one short mile away) give the place a healthy row­ diness. The Elizabeth Folk Club on Friday and Saturday nights on the first floor of the pub opposite the Hyde Park War Memorial. Costs 70 or 80 cents, grog at normal pub prices and you’ll hear the best folk around. Wed­ nesday night at the Eliz. is Irish night which heralds a diet of archaic shanties, obscure poems of The Personal Search and general bewilder­ ment unless you’re into

the tangent; you can still get pissed though. Then there’s PACT at the YMCA building (opp. Hyde Park in Oxford St.) which has good folk for a buck on Saturday nights (till 11 p.m.) and audi­ tion night on Fridays which is a bit more dicey. Sat. night in the basement of the Royal George Hotel on the corner of King and Sussex Sts, you can listen, to folk music (sometimes jazz) as you sip the booze you bought up­ stairs. Friendly atmos­ phere. The Boar’s Head is a folk dive somewhere in Sussex Street. Then there’s the pubs'. Like the Windsor Castle in Elizabeth St, Paddo which has a loose form of jazz on Thursday and Friday nights and Satur­ day arvo. Like the Denison Hotel in Bondi Junction (Saturday arvo.) it’s a meeting place for local heads; dope

deals are supposed to be Alfred Hospital) where has lost it’s shaven Yugo­ now has an all-night happening all around you students and nurses slav door keeper but still hamburger joint in Tay­ but no-one has ever seen mingle freely making charges $8 for a bottle of lor’s Square. one. There’s also Vanity overtures for carnal devo­ -wine and overprices the And there’s Pogo’s in Fair in Goulburn St, tions of their own special poor daughters of joy Oxford St, Darlinghurst City, the pub opposite devising, particularly on into lonely stillness. for hamburgers and silent the Mandala, the pub in •Friday nights. Also for There are lots of coffee flickers till 3 a.m. on Jersey Road, Woolahra students, the White houses open very late in weekends, the Roxy and a host of others to Lodge in Newtown and the Cross and you’ll (Flinders St, Dari, near find on a Saturday the Forest Lodge in possibly find one to suit the dole office) for a afternoon stroll. For a Glebe. your own taste. Cockettes-style evening knuckle sandwich you A night of carousing We knocked three and glasses of champagne might go and tart it up in the Cross with dear times and asked for about once a fortnight if among the pictures of Edith unearthed a few Rosie at the old Ball you can catch it (worth naked ladies at the treats; the superb Venus Pants in Brougham Lane,' painting up for), and, oh, Belmore pub down near Room in Orwell St, for K.C. but it seems that there are lots of places to Central Station, where that after midnight the public can no longer find if you get out and those notorious bikies, Scotch at 70c a hit hear junkie-style folk- about. There even used The Finks, meet three (catch it before it evapor­ singers turn on the to be a Hash House in nights a week. ates), a pool table, juke Yugoslav coffee-pourers Edgecliff. Uni. pubs can be a Let us know if you in this last bastion of treat for latching onto a box, cigarette machine Flower Power. Rosie make a wonderful find. nubile Sociology major which charges 60 cents or a chunky Engineering all by itself and a student. The Decline on selection of representa­ Anzac Parade in Kensing­ tives from all known ton gets it on moslmights avenues of human devi­ till 10 p.m. with bands ation; the Piccolo coffee (obs cure), seminars, bar in Roslyn St, which minologues and breasts has the best jukebox for to taste in the pusuit of after midnight jam tart in science. Perhaps you’ll Sydney (cool jazz and Stretch your cerebrum with a top-quality personal Poster dig Gross Farm in Mis- soul); and the Starlight for a mere pittance. Simply send us your favourite sendon Road (near the Inn in Kellett St which photograph (not larger than 4 x 5 ) and we'll work at

N arcissist^ D re a m ... our own particular brand of magic, to return to you a visual feast.

MOVIES One Shots 17 O t - E B E y P g N - r <gOAD x

Métteteh(?®0Mr

-GOOD: Tues - Sun, 5-8.30p.m., Tues ■Fri Midday - 2 pm.

“ the audience went crazy in transported ecstasy . . . we were silenced in disbelief . . . dazzled. . . stunned by the awesome beauty . . . the beautiful music.” —

ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE

I

Sun. 17. The Kid with Charlie Chaplin and The Fatal Glass of Beer with W.C. Fields. Vintage Film Club at the Union Theatre, U. of Sydney. 7.00 p.m. Free. You’re Telling me with W.C. Fields and The Cat And The Canary with Bob Hop. Vintage Film Club at the Union Theatre, U. of Sydney. 8.30 p.m. Tues. 19. Wild River and another film National Film Theatre screening at the C o m m o n w e a lth Centre Theatrette, Corner Phillip and Hunter St, 7.15 p.m. Thurs. 21. The Seven Year Itch and The Big Knife National Film Theatre screening at the Common­ wealth Centre Theatrette, Corner Phillip and Hunter St. 7.15 p.m. Fri. 22. The Jumping Jeweller of Lavender Bay and Hearts Of T heW orld National Film Theatre screening at the AMP Theatre, Circular Quay, 7.30 p.m.

Currently Showing Ascot, 246 Pitt. Tales of Beatrix Potter. Barclay, 681 George. A Clockwork Orange. Century, 586 George. Young Winston. Classic Cinema,' 9 Spit Rd, Mosman. The Fox and The Arrangement until Dec. 20 starting Dec 21, The D e c a m e ro n . Supper Shows at 11.15 p.m. dec 22, Candy and Dec. 29, Zachariah. CoUaroy Classic 109 Pittwater Rd, Collaroy. The Go Between and Blind Terror until Dec.

New Arts Cinema 166 Glebe Pt. Rd., Glebe. Concert For Bangladesh and Zachariah close Dec 23. Orpheum 386 Military Rd, Cremorne. Blind Terror and Bless The Children closes Dec

22. Dec 23 to 29 — Kotch . and The Hot Rock. Dec 30 - 1.20 p.m. Marco Polo and The Bush Baby. 7.20 p.m. The Boy Friend and A Case Of Murder. Paramount 525 George The Godfather. Paris, 205 Liverpool. Man Of La Mancha Penthouse, 85 Darling­ hurst Rd, Kings Cross. Nudist Paradise and Mating Urge close Dec 2, The Stronger Sex opens Dec 22. Plaza 600 George. The Professionals Rapallo 527 George. Joe Kidd closes Dec 21. Sunstruck opens Dec 22. Regent, 487 George. Trinity Is Still My Name Roma, 628 George. Song Of A Red Ruby Savoy <29 Bligh. Ullyses State Theatre 49 Market. Mutiny On the Buses 1 State Theatrette 49 Market. Dagmar’s Hot Pants Town 203 Pitt. Butter­ flies Are Free. Union Theatre, Univ. of Sydney, Parramatta Rd, Glebe. Dec 20 to 24. Morning Of The Earth Dec 27 to 30. Islands Village Twin Cinemas, 377 New South Head Rd, Double Bay. Cinema 1 — Deliverance; Cinema 2 — The Emigrants. Supper Show at 11.15 p.m. Dec 22 —Repulsion.

20.

^ F iv e g S um m er s t oA Film rbyie s

Greg Macgiluyravand J im Freeman A beautiful, comical and controversial story about surfing. Aesthetically photo­ graphed in Hawaii and California. A FILM FOR ANYONE WHO ENJOYS THE OCEAN’ STARTING DECEMBER 22 THRU JAN 31 Digger has 5 copies of the sound track, and 18 free passes for the first 23 people to send a self addressed body board to 8 Norfolk St Paddington 2021.

D endy/ 360 Pacific High­ way, Crows Nest. Harold And Maude. Dec 26 and 30. Childrens mats at 12.30 p.m. Willy Wonker And The Choco­ late Factory. Embassy, 79 Castlereagh. The Mechanic. Forum, 749 George. Gone With The Wind closes Dec 28. Bedknobs And Broom­ sticks starts Dec 29. Gala, 236 Pitt. I Can Jump Puddles. Supper shows. Sats. at 10.15 p.m. Viridiana. Sunday 17 and 24 at 8.00 p.m. The Extermi­ nating Angel. Liberty 232 Pitt. Night Digger closes Dec 21. Finnochio starts Dec 22. Lyceum 210 Pitt. What’s Up Doc? Mayfair 73 Castlereagh. Cabaret. Metro Bondi Junction 530 Oxford. Bedroom Mazurka closes Dec 21. Pinnochio opens Dec 22. Metro Kings Cross 288 Orwell. The Adventures Of Barry McKenzie. Metro Manly 42 North Steyne. Five Summer Stories starts Dec 22.

M USIC The music scene this fortnight is ratshit apart from the 2SM Christmas Show and the Mas­ querade Ball (at the Paddo Town Hall) there is virtually nothing hap­ pening. Whisky A Go Go, Chequers, the pubs and the wine bars creak on, The Green Elephant has closed and the weather is lovely. If you don’t like the scene go out and make one of your own.,

A DIP? In Digger No.8. folk from Ashfield to Hornsby had a list of public watering spaces. Now on to Woolahra. Prices at these municipal pools never over 20c, with kids half-price. Kogarah Carss Park. 6.00 a.m. 6.00. p.m. San Souci Pool and Tidal baths, Water St. 6.00 a.mfPI 7.00 p.m. Kuringgai Off Lofberg Rd, West Pymble. 9.00 a.m. - 6.00 a.m. Weekends 6.00 a.m. 6.00 p.m. Lane Cove Cnr Longeville and Epping Highway. 6.00 a.m. - 8,00 p.m. Weekends 6.00 a.m. - 6.30 p.m.

Leichhardt

The Ghost Of Grey Sat. $3.20 (not including Lifeline (33-4141). food and drink). Gables by Mona Brand, dir. P o iso n s Information John Barnard. The Holiday Summer Tree, by Ron Centre (51-0466). Liverpool Theatre at Wesley Auditori­ Cowan, dir. Hayes Gordon. Drug Referral Centre Cabramatta Av., Miranda. um, 210 Pitt St. 61-8741. Ensemble Theatre, 78 Mc- (31-2579) 43 Craigend St, 6.00 a.m, —7.00 p.m. Dec. 15-22. 15 & 16 at 2.15, Dougall Street, Milsons Darlinghurst & 91 Pittwater Manly 18 &19 at 10.15, twice daily Point, 929-8877, Mon. to Road, Manly (977-2197). East Esplanade. 6.00 a.m. 20, 21, 22. 80c. Sat; 8.00, Sat. mat. 5.00. Wayside Chapel Crisis - 6.30 p.m. Prices: Mon. to Thurs. & Sat. Program. G pdspell by John (35-1010 & Marrickville Mat. - $2.75 & $2.25. Fri. 35-6577) 29 Hughes St, Michael Tebelack dir. Enmore Park, McNeilly & Sat. Eves. — $3.00 & Potts Point. Sammy Bayes Richbrooke Park, Petersham Park, all Theatre, 150 Elizabeth St, $2.50. Concessions to stu­ Alcoholics Anonymous dents: Mon. & Tues. $1.00, open 7.00 a.m. — 6.00 p.m. Sydney. 61-9880, Mon. to (26-6968) 550 George St, remainder reduced by $0.50. North Sydney Thurs. 8.30, Fri. Sat. 5.40 & Sydney. Olympic Pool, Milsons The Tempest by William 8.40. Prices: Mon to Sat dir. Rex Al-anon Family Groups Point. Mon — Fri 6.15 a.m. even. $3.50 & $4.50, Fri & Shakespearce Cramphorne. The Perform­ (31-9668) Cnr Bourke and - 7.00 p.m. Weekends 6.15 Sat mats $2.80 & $3.80. ance Syndicate at Chapter Burton Sts, Darlinghurst. а. m.; j- 7.30 p.m. Concessions V-i price to Hall, St. Mary’s, Cathedral, Parramatta children and pensioners to Divorce Law Reform St. Marys Rd. 38-0088. Dec. Association (95-3211) PO O’Connell St. 6.00 a.m. mats. 19 to Dec. 24. at 8.15, Sat, - 6.45 p.m. Box R325 Royal Exchange. Jesus Christ Superstar by Mat. 1.30. $2.50 —students, Granville St. 6.00 p.m. — Tim Rice & Andrew Lloyd Nexus Group PO Box children and pensioners б. 45 p.m. Weekends Webber, 6.00 dir. Jim Sharman, 325 St Marys. $1.50. a.m. —5.45 p.m. Capital Theatre, 13 Cambell Callan Park Psychiatric Randwick The Three Cuckolds dir. Street, Haymarket, Centre (82-6601) Balmain Heffron Park. 6.00 a.m. Victor Emeljanow. 212-3677. Mon. to Sat. at Rd, Rozelle, 2039. | e| 6.30 p.m. Victoriana cmp. & dir. by 8.30, Fri & Sat. mats. 6.00. Rockdale Public Solicitor Prices: $5.20, $4.20 & David Goddard. Repertory Grand Pde, Brighton-Le(61-6581) 55 Market St, 200, 259 Pacific Highway, $3.20. Concessions: Party Sydney. Sands. 6.00 a.m. —6.00 p.m. bookings. Lindfield 498-5597. Thurs. Ryde to Sun. at 8.15. Prices: Law Society of NSW The Last Supper Show Victoria Pde. 6.00 a.m. — $2.50. Concessions: Stu­ (25-5395) 170 Phillip St, by Michael Boddy, dir. 7.00 p.m. Weekend 6.00 dents & pensioners $1.50. Sydney. Aarne Neeme. Nimrod Street a.m. - 6.00 p.m. Special performance Dec 20, Legal Service Bureau Theatre, 10 Nimrod St, Sutherland closes Dec. 23. 32-34 York St, Sydney, j 1 Darlinghurst 31-3754. Tues. Carringbah, Jacaranda St. Where Do We Go From Council for Civil Liber­ to Sat. at 8.30, Sun. at 7,30. 9.00 a.m. —7,00 p.m. Here? Burgess dir. David ties (660-7582) 149 St Johns Sutherland, Waratha Pk; Prices: Tues’ Wed, Thurs — G o d d a r d , Independent St, Glebe. 6.00 asm. - Weekends 6.00 $2.00, Fri, Sat, Sun — $2.50. Theatre, 271 ■.«Miller St, a.m. - 6.00 p.m. Concessions to actors, stu-i North Sydney. 929-7377. Aboriginal Legal Service Warringah dents and members: Tues, (669-1109) 142 Regent St, Sat. 2.00. Prices: $1,2 Has 13 rock pools Wed, Thurs - $1.50, Sun. Redfern. adults, $0.60 children. A $1.75. adjacent to the beach, free, Family Planning Associ­ children’s play. open 24 hours. ation of Australia (62-5211) White With Wire Wheels Les Girls, All male revue. Willoughby 92 City Rd, Chippendale. by jackson Hiberd dir. Leila Widgieaa Rd. 5.45 a.m. — Cnr. Roslyn St and Darling­ Blake, Independent Theatre, Venereal Disease, NSW 7.00 p.m. Sunday 5.45 a.m. hurst Rd, Kings Cross. 271 Miller St, North Sydney, 35-6630. 2 shows nightly Health Dept. 93 Macquarie - 6.00 p.m. 929-7377. Wed. to Sat. at Mon.-Thurs. 3 shows Fri. & St, Sydney. Woolahra 8.15. Prices: $3.00, $2.00, United Dental Hospital South Head Rd, Double Sat. Prices: Mon.-Thurs. $1.00. Sat. $3.00 & $2.00. $3.00, Fri. & Sat. $3.50. (211-4322) 2 Chalmers St, Bay. 6.30 a.m. — 6.30 p.m. C o n cessio n s: Students, Surrey Hills. The Manly Christmas (Stays open later on warm $1.50, $1.00. Fairy dir. William Orr. Music Alternative Health Centre nights. 23 Collins St, Surrey Hills. Loft, 7 The Corso, Manly. E cology A ction 977-6585. Mon. to Sat. (29-6717) 189 Clarence St, Open till 6, dinner at 7 show Sydney. 8.40. Prices $7.00. T he M arsh Kings Public Interest Research Daughter by Hans Christian Group (PRIG) C/- SRC Level Babes on Broadway and Anderson dir. Rex CrampPiccadilly Lily, musical revue 1, Wentworth Building, Uni horne. The Performance of Sydney. at Bonaparte’s Theatre More info about the Syndicate at Chapter Hall, St Restaurant, 152, William, Consumer Affairs Bureau Mary’s Cathedral, St. Marys numbers below in the last 212-2666. Mon. to Sat. from (2-0344) 53 Martin Place, two issues of Digger 6 & 7. If Rd. 38-0088. Dec 16, 17 and 6.00 p.m. to 3.00 a.m. Sydney. you think your group should 26-31, at 8.15 with Sat. mats (Show runs 8.30-10.30) Draft Resisters’ Union' be listed give us a ring at 1.30. $2.50 — students, $7.00 \V ' concessions for PO Box 85, Newtown, 2042. 31-5073. pensioners and children. groups. The Digger has a great Alternative Community $1.50. Blop Goes The Weasel a little pamphlet called “Abor­ The Mavis McMahon Telephone (698-2652). Box pantomine by George tion is Free and Legal” send 23, PO Surrey Hills, 2010. Show dir. James Fishburn, Marshall, dir Alistair Dun­ us a stamped addressed Women’s Liberation. 25 MacLeay Theatre, 81 Maccan. Opens Dec 27. Aus­ envelope to 8 Norfolk St, leay St, Potts Point, Alberta St, Sydney. tralian Theatre For Young Paddington, 2021 if you Men’s Liberation. 67 35-0433, Mon. to Sat. 8.30 People at the Parade want it. Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (dinner at 6.00) Thurs. mat. Theatre, University of Divine Light Mission (Mondays nights). 2.00. Prices: $6.00 with N.S.W., Anzac Parade, Ken­ (82-4836) 453 Darling St, Gay Liberation. 67 Glebe dinner. sington. 663-6122. Mon. to Balmain. Followers of the Fri. 11.00 a.m. and 2.00 Memories The Best of Six Point Rd, Glebe. Guru Maharaj Ji holds a Camp Inc. (82-4023) Box p.m. and 10.30 a.m. Sat. Years Killara 680 Coffee meditation group every even­ Theatre, 680 Pacific High­ 5074, GPO, Sydney. Dirty Dick’s Theatre ing at 8.00 p.m. Abortion Action Cam­ way, Killara 498-7552. Restaurant, 313 Pacific Free Play Centre 297a C/- 25 Alberta St, Tues.-Sat. at 8.30 Nov. 18 & paign. Hghway, Crows Nest. A Lane Cove Rd, North Ryde Sydney. Dec. 2 at 3.30. Concessions musical entertainment based (no phone but you can leave Abortion Law Reform for children and students, s on ‘Elizabethan days’. Tues. a message for Gil with Association. (36-6016). Box to Fri. $7, Sat. $8, Sun. Merry Widow by Franz C35, A.C.T. (698-2652) if you Clarence St PO, $5.50. 8.10 p.m. to mid­ Lehar, dir. Bernard Bentaak. Sydney. want more info. The The Australian Opera Co. at night. Bookings 929-8888. emphasis in this centre is W o m e n ’s E le c t or a l the Elizabethan Theatre, Lobby (36-2245) PO Box 24 what the kids want to do for Don’s Party, by David W ilson St, Newtown. Neutral Bay Junction 2089. themselves Its mainly for Williamston dir. John Clark. 51.7471. Mon. to Sat. at Revolutionary Marxist kids in some sort of deprived Old Tote Theatre Company, 8.00 p.m. Sat. mat, 2.00 Group PO PO Box 13, or underprivelaged situation Parade Theatre, UNSW, p.m. (Mat. Wed. Dec 20) Balmain 2041. | and Gil wants to contact Anzac Parade, Kensington, Socialist Youth Alliance people who could help in the 663-6122. Mon. to Sat. at I Prices: $6.20, 5.20, 3.50 (26-2121) 139 St Johns St, 2.50. Closes Dec 23. centre or who have access to 8.00. Sat. Mat. at 2.00. materials or skills in things A Pretty Kettle Of Fish Glebe. Prices: Mon. to Thurs. Australian Labor Party like video, carpentry, pup­ musical revue at the Fish­ $3.50, Fri. & Sat. $4.00. Sat (26-2732) 377 Sussex St, petry etc. It starts December mongers Hall, 336 Pitt St, Glebe. Mat. $3.00. Concessions to 14 for 6 weeks. students Mon. to Thurs. & 26-5313. Mon.-Sat. 8.30, Communist Party of Sat. Mat. Sun. 7.30. Prices: Sun. to Australia (26-2161) 4 Dixon Fri, $7.50. Sat. $8.50. Father Dear Father Come St, Sydney. Over Here by Ron Harrison The Spring Heeled Terror Glebe Anti-Expressway dir. Ron Ferrier. Australian Of Stepney Green by & dir. Group (660-5835) PO Box Theatre, cnr. Lennox & Stanley Walsh, Music Hall 82, Glebe. Probert Streets, Newtown Restaurant, 156 Military Rd, Sydney Day Nursery & 51-3841. 8.00 p.m. Prices: Neutral Bay, 909-8222. Nursery Schools Assoc. $3.50, $2.50. Concessions Mon. to Sat. 8.30 — dinner (26-5421) 39 Park St, for students. from 6.00. Mon.-Fri. $2.70, : Sydney. . Elkington Park 6.00 a.m. - 7.00 p.m.

THEATRE

JRbbeq’s ^Bookshop We have the most popular books: Film, Science Fiction, Poetry, Classics, Drama, Literary Criticism, Occult........ 477 George St., (Opp. Waltons) Open Daily to 7pm: 9pm Thursday: lpm.Saturday Great Buys for Xmas gifts on our BARGAIN TABLE.

PHONE GUIDE

fcs/yiJj/u m C0ioui( a / COCA'ßOU S lL K ic fé ih J TRMIttii Il7 W Æ

You can have a straight (?) blow up, or, let our demen­ ted Graphics whiz loose on a special effect. Subjectmatter is no hassle, just send whatever turns you on. Our prices are as low as we can make them, and still eat. Fairly regularly. 20 x 24 poster costs you only $3.90 20 x 30 is $4.90, both sizes include sales tax, packaging.

Special Off»* The first 600 will receive a free colour Poster of their choice, please tick the appropriate square; CAR SO N C O U N T Y □ C H A IN □ C H E R R IE S □_____________ H IG H W A Y □ I EN CLOSE C H EQ U E/P O STA L N O TE/M O N EY O R D ER A N D P H O TO /S . ........................ F O R ................................. 20 x 2 4 P O S T E R / S N O R M A L B L O W -U P ............. S P E C IA L E F F E C T S ................ $

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N O R M A L B L O W -U P .............. S P E C IA L E F F E C T . . . . . .......... N A M E .............................................. A D D R E S S ................... ............................................. C I T Y & S T A T E ................. P h o n e .....................Area code S P E C TR O S C O P E P O S T E R A N D P R IN T M A K E R S 115 L A T R O B E S T . M E L . Ph: 662 1925.

S U N D A Y , 17th DECEM BER, 8.30 P.M ., U N IO N T H E A T R E , S Y D N E Y U N I., P A R R A M A T T A RD, B R O A D W A Y .

N. C. FIELDS “You’re Telling Me” Plus Haunted House comedy farce made 1939,

BO B

HO P E:

"C A T

AN D

TH E

CANARY”

Presented by Vintage Film Group.

jesus goes legit N IM R O D S T R E E T T H E A T R E P R E S E N TS

THE LAST SUPPER SHOW by Michael Boddv, music by Patrick Flynn. Directed by; Aarne Neeme, with John Derum, Terry Clarke, Max Cullen, Jo n Hardy, Carole Skinner, John Wood, from Dec 12, Tues— Sat 8.30; Sun 7.30 Phone: 31-3754

REHEARSAL STUDIOS Contact Barry Slee McPhee Enterprises Pty Ltd 50 Bedford St Surry mils phone 697730

Jeannie Lewis with EMPATHY BAKERY ORIGINAL BATTERSEA HEROES $2 Fri Dec 22nd 8pm $2 PADDINGTON TOWN HALL

divine bazaar organized by Divine Light Mission *Indian Clothes *Natural Food *Movies *Dances *Evening Banquet *Music by HOME from 11.30 a.m. Sat Dec 16th at Woollahra Arts Centre, 226a Grafton St Bondi Jnctn.

/

December 16 — December 30

The Digger

Page 11

MELBOURNE FLYER ROCK QCLUB: Sat 16: Blackfeather Mighty Mouse Barf Edison Lites Saturday 23: Friends Country Radio Lord Dog Edison Lites ROUNDHOUSE, Saturday 23: Mighty Mouse Fat Alroy

Rosebud:

Sunday 24: Lobby’s Coloured Balls, Langford Lever, Fat Alroy Monday 25: Madder Lake, Fat Alroy Tuesday 26: Friends, Fat Alroy Thursday 27: Matt Taylor & Talabene, Lord Dog Friday 28: Mighty Mouse, Lord Dog Saturday 30: Gary Young’s Hot Dog, Lord Dog BERTIES Saturday 16: John Graham, Carson

Sunday 17: Session, Lobby’s Coloured Balls Saturday 23: 69ers, Session, Captain Matchbox Sunday 24: Session, Jade, Bobby James SEBASTIANS Sat 16: Sayla, Lizard Fri 22: Syd R u mp , Lobby’s Coloured Balls Sat 23: Home (Syd), Glynn Mason, Murtceps Sunday 24: Tank, Carson

GARRISON Sat 16: Ruby Jones, Matt Taylor & Talabene Blackfeather Sunday 17: Syd Rumpo, Carson Fri 22: Healing Force, Madder Lake Sat 23: Mantis (Bris), Healing Force, Friends Sun 24: Xmas Eve Special, open till 3 a.m. Syd Rumpo, Country Radio, Healing Force Monday 25: Mighty Mouse Tues 26: Carson, Madder Lake (Boxing Night)

r

LIBERATION The Christmas Joint Saturday 16:

Thursday 21:

Blackfeather Matt Taylor & Talabene, Ruby Jones

Tank, Healing Force

Saturday 23:

Monday 20:

Mantis Healing Force

Mighty Mouse Carson

Sunday 17:

Friday 22:

Syd Rumpo Carson

Healing Force Madder Lake

Xmas Eve Special Tuesday 26: Country Radio, Madder Lake Hsaling Force, Syd Rumpo. Open till 3am. 122 HIGH ST, WINDSOR

♦Sunday 24*

WANTED TO BUY

AQ U AR IU S FOUNDATION/A.U.S.

Paintings

PRESENTS

—

& WE’VE GOT COUNTRY JEANS AT INCREDIBLY REDUCED PRICES (LESS THAN $10.oo)

Sydney Jan 29-Feb 23 Melbourne Feb 5-Mar 2

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION RING MRS KERN 24-8774 BETWEEN 7.30 & 8.30 A.M. WEEKDAYS

Gregory Young

Captain Beefheart: “Spotlight Kid” Hot Tuna: “Burgers” Atomic Rooster Tim Buckley —Greetings from L.A. & Greetings to all from Liberation

summersdiool in film-making

FROM CLASSICAL, WATER COLOUR TO ULTRA OP ART

A D ifferen t K in d O f R ecord Shop

FROM OUR NEW SHIPM ENT

Course fee ($50) includes film stock and processing for the making of a short film b y each member.

The Record Collector

Send for application form to Th e Director Aquarius, 344 Victoria Street, North Melbourne 3051 Entries Close Dec 31.

~§§|p Corner of Toorak Road & Davis Avenue, South Yarra Telephone: 2671885 MELBOURNE L E T I T BE SUITE 15. 100 DRUIVIVIONDST CAR LTO N 3478633

Melbourne Bands:

1 5 5 G H E V IL L E S T .P R A H R A N r Open till 9.00pm Wednesday and Thursday till 9.00pm Friday 4 all day Saturday

SYDN EY SUNRISE M ANAGEM ENT 32 UNDE RWOOD S TR E E T PADDINGTON 312111.

DADDY COOL, INDELIBLE MURTCEPS, COUNTRY RADIO, SPECTRUM, CAPTAIN MATCHBOX WHOOPEE BAND, MISS UNIVERSE, GARY YOUNG’S HOT DOG MACKENZIE THEORY, BLACKSPUR, CAPTAIN QUACK & THE THICKET DUCK.

Interstate la n d s :

Sydney: LA DE DAS, SHERBET, PIRANA, 69ERS, BATTERSEA HEROES, WIZARD, SUN, MOTHER EARTH, BAND OF LIGHT, HEADBAND, GLEN CARDIER Despite other adverts, these bands are Exclusive!

PHONE: 93-5278

PROMOTIONS

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355 Exhibition S t Citv Saturday 16: S A Y L A , L IZ A R D Friday 22: SYD RUMPO, C O L O U R E D BALLS Saturday 23: HOME (Syd.) G L Y N MASON (ex-Chain), IN D ELIB LE M URTCEPS Sunday 24: T A N K , CARSON

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HEAVY ROCK: BLACKFEATHER, LONDON EXPRESS (BLUE DOG), MR. NOAH COMMERCIAL: FANTASY, RONDELLS, BIG PUSH (‘56 ROCK), PHASE 2, CLOUD 9, UPP, CHICAGO BRASS BAND, YEOMEN, DELTA, FUZZY DUCK

366 Upon St„Carlton 3477473

PROFESSOR LONGHAIR SAYS: “ RECORDS MAKE MIGHTY FINE GIFTS” (CHRIST!) Special Xmas Trading Hours

CLUB

BLACKFEATHER MIGHTY MOUSE BARF EDISON LITES & A Surprise Compere

adm ission $1*50

FRIENDS COUNTRY RADIO LORD DOG EDISON LITES (Open every Sat thru Xmas)

& M A Y THE HOT DOG FILL YOUR SOK WITH SPROG THIS KRISSY.

New Permanent Company Opening Friday Feb. 2 1973 Th e Collector' David Parker, from the novel by John Fowles. A suspense filled study of a kidnapper, directed by Christopher Muir. Opening Friday March 2_________ 'The Tempest' Shakespeare A revival of the recent, widely acclaimed Melbourne season alternating nightly with Th e Marsh King's Daughter' Adaptation from Hans Christian Andersen. Both productions directed by Rex Cramphome. followed by____________________ Th e Ballad of Angels' Alley' Jeff Underhill and Bruce George. A play with music set in Mel­ bourne in the 1890's. The remaining plays will be chosen from the selection shown on our Subscription Brochure.

R easons ^rteetin^s ft¡©m U U 6 3 / cy> ^

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M ON - W ED: 10 A .M . T O 7 P.M. T H U R & F R I: 10 A .M . T O 9 P.M. SA T: O PEN A L L DAY T IL L XM AS

T O O B T A IN Y O U R B R O C H U R E :

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1. Call personally a t St. M artin's Theatre 44 St. M artin's Lane, South Yarra (o ff Park S t.) 2. Phone 2 6 2300.

V

^

A N D O PEN BETW EEN XM AS & N EW Y E A R

3 . F ill in the form below .______ _______________ St. Martin's 1973 Subscriber M em bership Offer A distinctive programme of 6 plays for $12 :0 0 Season F E B R U A R Y - J U L Y A s a subscriber— It costs you o n ly $ 2 :0 0 to see each production. You receive exclusive privileges and the o p po rtu n ity to see The S t.-M artin's Theatre Com pany in performance.

SWiartin’s I wish to become a subscriber to St. Martin's Season of 6 plays. Would you please mail a brochure to :Name block letters

brow n eve lites PHONE 56-3872 QCLUB GARRISON BEAUMARIS CIVIC CENTRE REGENT HAMILTON XANADU ROUNDHOUSE (ROSEBUD & ESSENDON)

Address Code Send this form to the Subscription Secretary C % St. Martin's Theatre, South Yarra, 3141.

PENFRIENDS, IDEALISTS, CAREERISTS, Romantics, Students, Polyglots. . . swap ideas and problems internationally. Send 20£ postage for sample magazine or S.S.A.E. for details EXTRA-MUROS, Box 70 Coburg, V-3508

HAPPY XMAS TO ALL. A LL BOOKINGS AEE 51-0661

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Published b y Hightim es Pty L td , 58 C anterb ury R oad, M iddle Park, 3206. Printed b y Peelprint, Queen sberry and Peel Streets, M elbourne.