Dear reader,

another dispatch from the man they call ‘Frank’. From his lonely outpost on the grim North West Frontier, he sends us another message of hope. And begs the question, the land of the fair go? We tested his hypothesis and took our entire working liquidity out of  the pcbycp kitty and put it all on race five at Moonee Valley. We had a hot tip, and was assured it was ‘a cert’. When we returned to get our fortune we’d been told the horse, “Buckley’s’ had been scratched. We are not sure if Australia is still the land of the fair go, so we’re hoping to make it big at the Crown Casino High Rollers lounge. Only problem you need several million just to get in the door. We’ll report back when we’ve saved enough dole cheques and made a few more visits to Cash Converters… 

Frank writes….

товарищи

Bernie, a full-bottle Whistelblower. ‘Whistelblower’ is code in Australia for ‘Trouble-maker’!

Australia is truly the land of the fair-go! The second chance.

Take Bernard Collaery and Witness K. In 2004, motivated by greed, Australia placed listening devices in East Timor (Timor Leste)’s government offices. Witness K and his team carried out this travesty. To his credit Witness K’s conscience got the better of him and he became one of those unsung heroes, a whistle-blower.

Whistle-blowers encourage members of the public to go rat-baggy!

David Bowie, Heroes:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXgkuM2NhYI

Roger Whittaker – Finnish Whistler:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaPoBhiMkgs

Alex and Johnny stitching up the East Timorese, proves the little tin-pot nation lacks a sense of humour. The bond of mate-ship is secured by the principle of “having a go” at his wife, his car, his twin evinrude, his chain-saw whilst he’s not looking.

In 2013, the authorities raided both the houses of Witness K and his lawyer Bernard Collaery. It took less than nine years for the Australian authorities to finish their legal persecution in this case.
The U.S.A. opened Guantanamo Bay’s military prison in January 2002. Today 36 detainees remain. More than twice as long and no end in sight.

You can see why I, as an Australian, am immensely proud of my country. Australia, truly the land of the fair-go!

Trouble maker is synonymous with ‘Queue Jumper’!

In March 2018 the Biloela Family were arrested in a 5 a.m. raid and placed in detention. In June 2022 they returned to Biloela, only a bit over four years later.
Julian Assange sought refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2012 (effectively house arrest) and has been locked up ever since. Ten years and counting.

You can see why I, as an Australian, am immensely proud of my country. Australia, truly the land of the fair-go!

Julian Assange. Another rat- bag, lefty stirrer.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-09/zachary-rolfe-to-return-to-nt-police-work-after-acquittal/101223644

In November 2019 Zachary Rolfe shot a young man in Yuendumu. He was immediately bailed out and stood down on full pay. Less than three years later, he will resume his job.

A second chance, Australia, truly the land of the fair-go!

Zachary Rolfe a BLOODY LEGEND and NATIONAL HERO! ONYA ZAC!!!

Who’s gonna take away his licence to kill?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRrlFYg2QkI

до свидания

Frank

Studio portrait of Julian Assange painted whilst on secondment to ASIO

Dear reader, are you still with us? Are you still on the edge of your chair, polo pony or electrically charged vehicle? Do you still suffer pangs of anxiety as we await the fate of our hapless heroes? Led incredibly by Australia’s most decorated and Bravest soldier, “Benny-Boy Roberts Smith” and aided now in his quest for freedom by Australia’s naughtiest bad-boy Julian Assange?

Can Dutto survive?

Incredibly, our heroes now have a dynamic duo to protect them. A duo more powerful and arguably more sartorially inclined than Batman and Robin. And a duo determined to cast off the shackles imposed upon them by the forces of a selfish and disinterested federal government. A Government so impoverished it was thrown from office and replaced by arguably a reformist government that actually talks about inclusiveness and affordability as though they might really mean it. We know it’s too early to tell, but in optimism, there is hope. But perhaps a forlorn hope, for even as we speak, from the stygian bowels of the chambers carved in solid rock below Maralinga, Sophie and Dutto are at work to overthrow the new government and broker a deal with China that will make them global leaders and internationally famous in Australia.

So hold onto your false teeth, and strap yourselves in for this next instalment, For in space no one can hear you scream, but they can very clearly see you wet your pants.

Terry both smokes Camels and drinks Kerosene; ‘Good for the larynx’

‘Where have they gone’? Ces Whispered as the drew on another of Terry’s Camel’s.

‘I dunno Ces’, Quent pointed to the dust and the movement in the direction of the concrete pillar that marked the stairs that wound down into the subterranean city of Radium Springs. ‘I spose they’ve gone to blow up the exit portal and make sure that Sophie and Dutto never get out. Perhaps they’re gonna make sure they stay down there for’, he paused in wistful thought,… ‘for EVER’?

It was a grim thought. And in spite of all that they’d been through it triggered a sense of compassion for their twin nemesis. Which proved once and for all, that even the most inhuman creatures deserved a measure of sympathy.

Between mummification Boris always had time for a good cup of tea

‘I suppose if they’re trapped down there, and never get out they’re entombed and will be discovered years, decades, perhaps centuries later, and scientists will wonder what happened to the master- race of politicians who hid their deformities to form the rump of anti-climate policy for the Coalition. What will their epitaph be then Ces? Will history smile upon them’? Ces phlegmatically drew upon his camel and then flicking the stub into the corner sighed; “It may be perhaps best that the entire chapter is forgotten. What value could a cynical negative legacy be to future generations of young and impressionable Australians, other than show the pitfalls of power, greed, and short termism? What possible value could there be in that’?

Barely had Ces finished than the terminal building was rent by an enormous shockwave, the windows smashed, the doors blew open and the dust coating, ears, eyes and faces made them all look like dusted statues from a crypt set in a 1930’s mummy saga without Boris Karloff.

The dust settled, and they realised what had happened. Terry pointed to where the concrete portal stood on the edge of the tarmac and cried ‘Look’! And sure enough, through the gloom and smoke they saw the silhouette of the wrecked centurion, and an enormous crater, where once the portal stood. Quent looked at Ces. And Ces looked at Terry. Terry looked back at Quent, and pulling the Camel from his lips sighed; ‘I spose Benny Boy used too much Torpex this time’.

Will Julian and Benny Boy make it in to the ‘updated’ edition of the ‘Forgotten people’. Or will the editors forget?

‘Yeah and with Julian on board he may have been egged on to go that extra yard. And perhaps’…… The rest was self-evident, a tattered leather jacket and fragment of V.C Ribbon fluttered down metres in front of them. Benny Boy, arguably Australia’s bravest soldier ever, and his side-kick Julian Assange had blown themselves up. The evidence was there, and with it, the escape route for Dutto and Sophie permanently sealed. Is this the end for Benny-Boy? Will Julian Assange ever return to embarrass the three leaders who saved Iraq and Afghanistan? Can our trio now just walk off into the irradiated sunset And return to a more peaceful life? Find out in the intoxicating episode, ‘Julian’s quest may be quashed’, or ‘Implausibly, Ben Roberts final implosion was almost implausible, incredibly’?

An old picture of the Yuendumu Police Complex, in the olden days when it marked the exit from the ‘Tanami Track’.

Another one from Frank, and a source of some relief we at pcbycp can tell you.

Though we’re no closer to unravelling what kind of ‘Peace’ Frank was referring to it’s heartening to know, (thanks to the increased Police presence) that it’s very peaceful up in his neck of the North-West Frontier.  And heartening to know that the once dusty, corrugated Tanami track is now the ‘Tanami Highway’. A digital super-highway which is controlled for our safety by Police patrol cars. Cos on the North West Frontier lawlessness is just a by- election away. We shan’t say anything else lest it spoils Frank’s message, which is, as always,  poignant and  perceptive. But never ” performative’!…..He writes..

Hi again,

A song celebrating the end of the cold war-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4RjJKxsamQ (Scorpions- Wind of Change)

During the intervention numerous upgrades to the Tanami Track were made under the banner ‘Stronger Futures’ under the guidance of Kevin Rudd. Example of intervention era signage depicted here.

I guess it never really ended.

Just got back to Yuendumu. All quiet on the Western Front.

Had occasion to travel back and forth to Alice Springs several times in the last few weeks.

I won’t talk about what the Wind of Change wrought to Alice Springs during the last half a century (better told by someone who lives there).

Further west, the Wind of Change has not left us alone. Many of these changes were discussed in My Yuendumu Story (out of print, a second edition not too far away I hope)

Tilmouth Well Roadhouse

No one refers to the road to Yuendumu as the Tanami Track anymore. It is now known as the Tanami Highway. No one mentions Napperby Creek anymore, everyone refers to Tilmouth Well Roadhouse. The signs at Charlie Creek (known by us as Kumanjayi Creek for a while) have been removed or stolen.

What used to be a poorly maintained corrugated track which it took us six hours to reach Alice Springs on, is now wholly bituminized (much of it double lane) and the trip takes us less than half as long. In the past we experienced occasions when we had to wait many hours or even a couple of days for a passer by to render assistance when we had vehicle troubles. These days a long wait is no longer a problem. A more likely problem is that passers by won’t stop to help.

There are still signs of the 25% of mulga trees that died a couple of years ago. This dieback is believed to have been caused by heat stress. Distributed in between the dead mulga however, there are now a large number of mulga seedlings and saplings.

Clumps of very tall Karnturangi trees, the desert poplar (Codonopcarpus cotinifolius), used to be sparsely distributed along the road. The tall trees have died, but after recent rains a forest of young Karnturangi has sprung up over several kilometres on the Yuendumu side of Napperby creek.

Artists Impression of New Police Complex for Yuendumu.

The mysteriously missing kangaroos are yet to be explained, but I have been told that several kangaroos have recently been sighted.

Another change is that during each of the several trips to or from Alice Springs I encountered at least one and as many as three police vehicles.

Donovan’s Trying to Catch the Wind:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xGblitaWMI

Chau,

Frank

Artists impression of new Alice Springs Police Complex.

PS- I did notice that I’d left off an ‘e’ on ‘glimpse’- tant pis.

In America a Peacemaker always carries a GUN

ഹാലോ മൈ ഫ്രണ്ട്സ് കൃഷ്ണന്റെ ഒരു നോട്ടം
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9OUUHOj9go
Blessed are the peacemakers.
A pox on the arms dealers.
Yuendumu is more peaceful than the rest of the world.
Shalom,
Frank

Dear reader, not since “Dig 10 feet” was carved into a tree on Coopers Creek, and the fate of the Burke and Wills Expedition was sealed, have we received such a cryptic message from our scribe from the near North West Frontier.

What could this mean?

How portentous could ” Blessed are the peacemakers” be?

the Pace-maker has made a HUGE contribution to peaceful lives since the 1960’s. About the same time NAPALM was made more readily available to Civilise and cultivate the principle of democracy and free-enterprise.

We thought long and hard about; ‘THE PEACE-MAKERS’?

Was Frank referring to the heroic deeds of Tony Blair, John Howard and George Bush in creating peace in Iraq? Or the heroic deed of the same fearless trio who gave Afghanistan peace for twenty years and untold benefits to corporates who were paid billions in ‘ keeping the peace’?

Peace is such a fragile thing, before you can say ‘Coca Cola” or ‘Panama papers’ it can just vanish. Like a mirage. like Lasseter’s Reef, or a ‘Gas- Led recovery! What is Frank talking about?

Perhaps he’s referring to the splendid, noble and courageous work being undertaken by the N.T police in keeping Yuendumu peaceful?

And the millions spent in equipping Yuendumu Police Station with “WORLD CLASS’ equipment, and constabulary trained in the field of valor.

In battle.

In Afghanistan.

Perhaps Frank was referring to ‘The Pace-makers’?

To ensure the correct level of public safety. Police trained to kill fine-evaders and jay-walkers for their own good. Police who wear medals to prove their loyalty to the RULE OF LAW, and principle. Police who wear black, possess guns, tasers smoke grenades and tear-gas, who drive Land Cruisers and resist the weakness of speaking native language lest their integrity and unswerving loyalty is compromised by the taint of ‘Nativism’.

Is this what Frank is referring to?

Pole-axed by the unanswered answers, the known un-knowns, and ponderable im-ponderables we have sent Frank’s latest missive to ASIO, the CIA and MI 5. And for good measure MI 6. We waited and waited. Time ticked methodically by. The sand drained from the hour-glass. And the last time we looked, both the morse telegraph and the semaphore stood idle, as if nothing at all had happened. Cause for cautious optimism you may ask?

To SAVE US in our hour of need!

Nothing of the sort. For if peace reigns at Yuendumu, it may also erupt in Ukraine. And that could only mean one thing. If we don’t sell Bush-Masters lickety-split we’re in DEEP TROUBLE! Our Subs are ancient. Even the patrol boats we gifted to the Pacific nations as a sop to ‘EVIL CHINESE IMPERIALISM’, (The Australian) are duds. And there’s nothing left for us to do but PRAY, BE GOOD, AND HOPE, that the United States may save us. And like Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam, and Korea, there might be a contract or two to SAVE US in our hour of need.

In war, the first victim is always TRUTH!! is this what Frank is talking about? But we all know that Truth, like Pravda, closed down in the late 80’s! Hence the conundrum. Is Frank making sense? Or is it FRANKINSENSE? There aint too many wise men about. We called ‘Dutto’, ‘Twiggy’ and ‘Clive’ and they haven’t returned  our calls. So we wait in vain. but for how long? Surely that’s the question.

The first victim of war is always ‘THE TRUTH’!

What was the question?