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Authors: Philip Nitschke
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member of the Australian Communist Party. Although I have often been in sympathy with their aims, I have never been a member of the CPA.) Finally, Reed claimed that I had lied about my tertiary qualifications, just to get the job. There was nothing in the letter about the quality of the work Iâd been doing.
On hearing of this letter,Bob told me to cease working. âIf any of that is true,â he said, âI want you off my park.â When he found that I wasnât allowed even to see the letter, or to be given any real chance to counter it, his sense of fair play was offended and he swung back to my side and stayed there.
It wasnât always overt, but it was always thereâthat underlying fear that the advancement ofAboriginal rights would ultimately override white control of life in the Territory. Judging byReed, this view could fester for years.
And the mud stuck. Over the next few years, I wasnât given promotions I was in line for and my Parks and Wildlife career was stymied. Meanwhile, Mike Reed moved steadily up through the ranks and became the director of the service. He was being groomed for apolitical career and eventually became Deputy Chief Minister under Marshall Perron. I would encounter Reed again ten years later, when I returned to the Territory as a junior doctor. I would see him in a very different context but, in a way, nothing had changed: he still represented the most reactionary elements of Northern Territory politics and society.
During these rangering years, I joined in the Âprotest activities against thePine Gap base, 18 kilometres from Alice Springs. With lawyerJohn Reeves (now a judge of the Federal Court), I founded the groupConcerned Citizens of Alice Springs and began publishing a regular newsletter critical of the American presence there. With others, I occasionally camped outside Pine Gap and probed the perimeter, and we constantly voiced our concern about the secrecy of the installation. It was Âdifferent sides of the same triangle, as far as I was concernedâweapons development, uranium mining, foreign military bases and, later, nuclear submarines were all symbols of American imperialism, all obstacles to a peaceful and just world.
* * *
Looking for other satisfactions while my rangering career was in the doldrums, I joined thearmy reserve. This involved two three-week semi-military assignments a year, mostly out in the bush, learning new skills. You got double pay if you were working for the government, which I welcomed because the Parks and Wildlife pay was low. After one of these Âoperationsâan advanced four-wheel-drive training course in Arnhem LandâI arrived back at the Larrakeyah barracks in Darwin. We were preparing to celebrate what had been an interesting ten days, and I was sitting on a large Esky on the back of a stationary army International 4WD truck, looking forward to a few beers. Suddenly, the truck started up, turned abruptly and I was thrown off.I got hit over the head by the aforementioned full Esky of beer and landed badly on the kerb; my right heel broke away from my foot and my lower leg was a bloody mess.
I was taken to what was then Darwin Hospital at Myilly Point, only a few hundred metres from the barracks. I remember asking the admitting doctor whether Iâd broken my leg.
âYouâll wish you had,â he said.
He was right. It took three operations to repair the injury, which was to the joint that controls the lateral movement of the foot. Normally, your ankle bends when you walk but you need lateral movement for stability when your foot strikes uneven ground. Many people who have suffered the same injury experience constant pain when walking on rough ground. My pain comes and goes, but of course the injury put an immediate end to rangering, as walking in rough country is a big part of the job.
I was in Darwin Hospital for some time, and then in a little RAAF hospital in Darwin before I was flown
On hearing of this letter,Bob told me to cease working. âIf any of that is true,â he said, âI want you off my park.â When he found that I wasnât allowed even to see the letter, or to be given any real chance to counter it, his sense of fair play was offended and he swung back to my side and stayed there.
It wasnât always overt, but it was always thereâthat underlying fear that the advancement ofAboriginal rights would ultimately override white control of life in the Territory. Judging byReed, this view could fester for years.
And the mud stuck. Over the next few years, I wasnât given promotions I was in line for and my Parks and Wildlife career was stymied. Meanwhile, Mike Reed moved steadily up through the ranks and became the director of the service. He was being groomed for apolitical career and eventually became Deputy Chief Minister under Marshall Perron. I would encounter Reed again ten years later, when I returned to the Territory as a junior doctor. I would see him in a very different context but, in a way, nothing had changed: he still represented the most reactionary elements of Northern Territory politics and society.
During these rangering years, I joined in the Âprotest activities against thePine Gap base, 18 kilometres from Alice Springs. With lawyerJohn Reeves (now a judge of the Federal Court), I founded the groupConcerned Citizens of Alice Springs and began publishing a regular newsletter critical of the American presence there. With others, I occasionally camped outside Pine Gap and probed the perimeter, and we constantly voiced our concern about the secrecy of the installation. It was Âdifferent sides of the same triangle, as far as I was concernedâweapons development, uranium mining, foreign military bases and, later, nuclear submarines were all symbols of American imperialism, all obstacles to a peaceful and just world.
* * *
Looking for other satisfactions while my rangering career was in the doldrums, I joined thearmy reserve. This involved two three-week semi-military assignments a year, mostly out in the bush, learning new skills. You got double pay if you were working for the government, which I welcomed because the Parks and Wildlife pay was low. After one of these Âoperationsâan advanced four-wheel-drive training course in Arnhem LandâI arrived back at the Larrakeyah barracks in Darwin. We were preparing to celebrate what had been an interesting ten days, and I was sitting on a large Esky on the back of a stationary army International 4WD truck, looking forward to a few beers. Suddenly, the truck started up, turned abruptly and I was thrown off.I got hit over the head by the aforementioned full Esky of beer and landed badly on the kerb; my right heel broke away from my foot and my lower leg was a bloody mess.
I was taken to what was then Darwin Hospital at Myilly Point, only a few hundred metres from the barracks. I remember asking the admitting doctor whether Iâd broken my leg.
âYouâll wish you had,â he said.
He was right. It took three operations to repair the injury, which was to the joint that controls the lateral movement of the foot. Normally, your ankle bends when you walk but you need lateral movement for stability when your foot strikes uneven ground. Many people who have suffered the same injury experience constant pain when walking on rough ground. My pain comes and goes, but of course the injury put an immediate end to rangering, as walking in rough country is a big part of the job.
I was in Darwin Hospital for some time, and then in a little RAAF hospital in Darwin before I was flown
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