How To Make Trouble and Influence People: Pranks, Graffiti, & Political Mischief-Making from Across Australia - Softcover

Iain McIntyre

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1604865954 ISBN 13: 9781604865950

Publisher: PM PRESS, 2013

Synopsis

How to Make Trouble and Influence People is a revelation of Australia's radical past through more than 500 tales of Indigenous resistance, convict revolts and escapes, picket line hijinks, student occupations, street art, media pranks, urban interventions, squatting, blockades, banner drops, guerrilla theatre and billboard liberation. In this masterpiece of radicalism, Australian activists have been interviewed about their opposition to racism, war, economic exploitation and religious conservatism. Every act of mischief is tied together by humour and creativity.

About this title

About the Authors

Iain McIntyre is a Melbourne-based author, musician, and community radio broadcaster who has written a variety of books on activism, history, and music. Recent publications include Wild About You: The Sixties Beat Explosion in Australia and New Zealand, and Tomorrow Is Today: Australia in the Psychedelic Era, 1966-70.

Andrew Hansen is a Sydney based comedian and musician, best known for being a member of satirical team The Chaser who have produced six award winning television series for Australian television.

Josh MacPhee is a designer, artist, activist, and archivist. He is a member of both the Justseeds Artists' Cooperative (Justseeds.org) and the Occuprint collective (Occuprint.org). He is the coauthor of Signs of Change: Social Movement Cultures 1960s to Now, coeditor of Signal: A Journal of International Political Graphics & Culture, and he recently cofounded the Interference Archive, a public collection of cultural materials produced by social movements (InterferenceArchive.org).

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

How to Make Trouble and Influence People

Pranks, Protests, Graffiti & Political Mischief-Making from Across Australia

By Iain McIntyre

PM Press

Copyright © 2013 Iain McIntyre
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-60486-595-0

Contents

FOREWORD I: Josh MacPhee, 
FOREWORD II: Andrew Hansen, 
MAPS OF AUSTRALIA, 
INTRODUCTION: Iain McIntyre, 
MAKING TROUBLE AND INFLUENCING PEOPLE, 
PRANKS, PROTESTS, GRAFFITI & POLITICAL MISCHIEF-MAKING FROM ACROSS AUSTRALIA, 
1788 - 1849, 
1850 - 1899, 
1900 - 1945, 
1946 - 1959, 
1960 - 1969, 
1970 - 1979, 
1980 - 1989, 
1990 - 1999, 
2000 - 2012, 
CONVERSATIONS, 
Meredith Burgmann, 
BUGA-UP, 
John Safran, 
Dave Burgess, 
The Chaser, 
John Howard Ladies' Auxiliary Fan Club, 
Pauline Pantsdown, 
Kevin Buzzacott, 
Deborah Kelly, 
Grevillea, 
No To Pope Coalition, 
Network Against Prohibition, 
Order of Perpetual Indulgence, 
Graffiti Games Organising Committee, 
ENDNOTES, 
SOURCES & FURTHER READING, 
GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS, 
THANKS & BIOGRAPHIES, 
ABOUT PM PRESS, 

CHAPTER 1

1788-1849

Prior to the British invasion of 1788 the Australian continent had been occupied by Indigenous peoples for at least 42,000, if not 150,000 years. Living a largely nomadic lifestyle, involving gradual modification of their ecosystems through fire and selective hunting and gathering, Indigenous Australians' cultural forms and customs varied widely. Regardless of this divergence all emphasised a deep connection to the land and the intrinsic place of humans within it.

Outside of the Torres Strait Islands, which are situated between Cape York Peninsula, QLD and Papua New Guinea, most of the hundreds of Indigenous language groups and nations were organised in relatively non-hierarchal ways with power decentralised rather than centred in the hands of a few. Conflict between different communities occurred, but permanent standing armies were unknown and the annihilation of rival populations did not occur.

The first contacts with Europeans occurred from the Seventeenth Century as firstly Dutch, and then French and British, explorers and traders sought new territories to document and conquer. Most of these interactions ended in conflict, or with the local population fleeing their intruders.

Following Captain Cook's mapping of the Northern and Eastern coastlines in 1770, the British decided to set up a colony at Botany Bay in 1788. This decision was motivated by a number of factors, the most commonly cited of which was the need to establish a new penal colony in the wake of the American Revolution. The increasing urbanisation of the British populace and the impoverishment that followed the enclosure of lands, as society moved from feudalism to industrialisation, had generated major social dislocation. Minor property crimes, let alone political agitation, were dealt with harshly and, with many courts becoming less inclined to dish out the death penalty, Britain's jails and prison hulks were overflowing.

During the first eight decades of their existence the Australian colonies played host to around 160,000 convicts, 26,500 imported directly from Ireland. The decision to occupy Australia was, however, driven by more than the need to dump excess proletarians. Britain was engaged in fierce competition with the other European powers and felt the need to get in first, not least because a new colony at the bottom of the Pacific would provide a base for trade routes and naval supplies.

British law stipulated that negotiations should be entered into with the Indigenous owners of the lands they planned to annexe, but in the case of Australia the fiction of "terra nullias" was employed to void such obligations. Under this concept it was decreed that Australia was an "empty" land populated by people whose lack of European-style agriculture meant they lived only on the coast and lacked ties to any particular place. This falsehood was adhered to for the following 204 years, even though once invasion had taken place it became rapidly apparent that Indigenous groups lived in every part of the country and exerted strong claims to it. As a result Indigenous sovereignty has never been ceded and Australia remains without a treaty.

Due to the size of the continent, the colonisation of Australia took quite some time with some Indigenous peoples maintaining their traditional lifestyle into the 1960s. The initial invasion of new territories generally began with coastal enclaves. Although friction was evident, these small settlements, such as the first set up at Port Jackson (Botany Bay having proved unsuitable), were generally able to live in peace with Indigenous locals as the colonists engaged in trade and had a limited impact on the ecosystem.

Once these outposts began to expand conflict became inevitable, as Indigenous people were denied access to their lands, and the native plants and animals they relied upon were displaced by farms and stock runs. Many settlers on the frontier, some of which were dubbed "squatters" as they seized land before colonial permission had been granted, also engaged in raids of extermination and the use of poison. The occupation of sacred sites and disruption to traditional travel and customs further strained relations.

The level of Indigenous resistance which met British expansion varied according to factors such as the degree to which resident populations had been decimated by newly introduced diseases, the ability of colonial powers to deploy troopers and police in support of settlers, and the level of unity amongst Indigenous locals. The existing knowledge and capability of groups to engage in warfare and the nature of the country being fought in were also important.

Indigenous opposition creatively adapted customary forms of battle to suit new situations. As semi-nomadic peoples lacking a permanent military caste Indigenous Australians were unable to unite into large scale armies capable of carrying out conventional warfare, as had occurred in other British dominions. As a result resistance took place reactively region by region with guerrilla attacks focused upon individual farms and colonists. These involved the killing of some settlers, but primarily focused on the destruction and capture of tools, crops and stock to sustain Indigenous populations and bankrupt their opponents.

Reprisals by British authorities and settlers were sometimes limited to the warriors involved, but were generally indiscriminate. As Britain had annexed the island, Indigenous Australians were technically British citizens, but legal protections were rarely extended to them. Generally charges brought against those carrying out massacres were dismissed, either for lack of anyone left or willing to provide evidence or because, unable to swear an oath on the Bible, Indigenous people were not allowed to act as witnesses. Following the occasional case where settlers or soldiers were punished their fellow colonists became careful to ensure that no documentation or proof of their actions remained.

As the colonies became more established, and police forces were founded, the use of soldiers was phased out. From the 1840s onwards frontier police were increasingly backed by the use of "Native Troopers". These Indigenous collaborators were generally recruited from groups who had no connection, or were hostile, to those being suppressed. The use of these people's knowledge of the bush and language became invaluable with Indigenous police carrying out most of the punitive operations in parts of Queensland.

The ability of Britain to project its military power had seen it defeat Indigenous peoples almost everywhere it had invaded and Australia proved to no exception. In some cases resistance limited expansion for decades and massacres carried out by Europeans continued into the 1920s. However by the 1850s significant coastal areas had already come under colonial control. As military resistance was progressively broken Indigenous opposition took more covert forms, primarily involving a simple willingness to survive physically and culturally.

A second main source of resistance to British authority came from those the colony was ostensibly founded to imprison. The quality of convict life over the decades varied greatly depending on broad factors such as trends in British policy, the attitude of local authorities and the state of the colonial economy. At an individual level, influences included where and to whom a convict was assigned, their possession of marketable skills, and their ability to abide by the law (or bend it successfully). As a result, whilst many transportees were brutally mistreated, particularly in places of secondary punishment such as Moreton Bay, others enjoyed opportunities they could never have dreamed of back in Britain. Once paroled, enterprising ex-convicts set themselves up as merchants or joined free settlers in stealing land from the locals, some founding dynasties that dominated colonial politics for decades.

Such opportunities did not exist for all however, and exploitation and maltreatment inevitably led to conflict. Other than generating resistance by dint of their position as bottom dogs in colonial society, a number of convicts were predisposed to rebellion due to their involvement in Irish uprisings as well as trade union and democratic movements. Most chose to resist furtively by feigning stupidity, pilfering, "losing" tools, and working slowly and inefficiently. Many asserted their humanity by engaging in relationships, same-sex and otherwise, proscribed by law. Occasionally opposition became more overt with strikes, rebellions and escapes. From the 1820s onwards, when Britain instituted a harsher regime for convicts, some also engaged in social banditry as increasing numbers of prisoners "bolted" to become bushranging outlaws.

A boom in the price of wool, tied to the Industrial Revolution, saw a major expansion in the colonies with new settlements founded in the 1820s and 1830s. WA and Queensland began as outposts, Victoria came about through largely unplanned and often illegal land grabs, and SA was set up as a convict-free planned settlement. Van Diemen's Land, known as Tasmania from the 1850s onwards, had first been invaded in 1803 and became a separate colony in 1825.

As this expansion took place a number of non-convict immigrants, freed convicts and Australian-born colonists involved in "free labour" began to agitate around the issues affecting them. Coming up against draconian laws and exploitation by employers, skilled workers – including shipwrights, cabinet makers, and typographers – combined into small societies from the late 1820s onwards. These attempts at organisation, and the occasional strike action they undertook, were often undermined by the authorities' use of convicts. When this was coupled with an economic depression during the 1840s, caused by what would become a familiar pattern of a speculation bubble centred on land and commodities giving way to financial collapse and austerity, anti-transportation leagues ballooned. Following protests, lobbying and the circulation of petitions within Australia, one of which was signed by two thirds of NSW's population, as well as campaigns by British evangelicals and humanitarians overseas, Britain ended the convict system in the eastern colonies in 1853. In WA, which had only imported convicts from 1850, due to its failure to attract immigrants, the system continued until 1868.

"A more wicked, abandoned and irreligious set of people have never been brought together in any place in the world."

Governor Hunter on colonial Australians, 1798

SYDNEY, 1770

The first landing of British explorers upon Australia sets a precedent of resistance, colonial arrogance and dispossession that will continue for centuries. When Captain Cook's party attempt to come ashore at Botany Bay they are warned off by two warriors from the Eora nation who are the custodians of the area that will eventually become Sydney. Following attempts to entreat the men with gifts of beads and nails, Cook surmises that the pair will allow him to land, but when they continue to oppose his entry he fires upon them with his musket, wounding one. Following some stone and spear throwing and further shots from Cook the warriors eventually retreat.

Cook unsurprisingly later notes that regardless of further offerings of gifts, of the Aboriginal people he had met so far "all they seem'd to want was for us to be gone", as further trips ashore result in Indigenous people either fleeing from the explorers or throwing spears at them.

SYDNEY, 1790

Two years after the invasion of Australia the colony's first Governor, Arthur Phillip, is speared in the collarbone at Manly by an Indigenous elder, Willemering. Some accounts hold that this came about through a misunderstanding, whilst others believe the action was meted out as a traditional punishment for him having allowed those under his command to take the Eora's lives, land, livelihood and property.

SYDNEY, 1791

A group of 21 convicts escape from Port Jackson into the bush. All apparently die from hunger and exposure or are recaptured. Some of the escapees are reported to have thought that they could make it to China by foot. Historians later quibble over whether the convicts' lack of education led them to believe that this was actually possible, or whether it was a story that was concocted in the hope of receiving lighter sentences. Either way despite the knowledge that death in the bush or following recapture may await them, convicts continued to opt out of the colony with 53 missing muster in January 1792 alone.

The first escape by sea also takes place in 1791 with Mary and William Bryant, their two children and a group of other convicts requisitioning a small boat from Governor Phillip to head for Timor. All survive the 5,000 kilometre journey to arrive in Coupang, where they pose as shipwreck survivors. The local Dutch Governor soon sees through their story sending them on to Batavia (Jakarta) where a number die in prison from disease, including William and one of the children. The couple's other child dies during the journey to England where Mary's trial becomes a cause célèbre. Following a wave of popular support and sympathy she is pardoned in 1793.

NSW, 1795

With British settlers establishing farms beyond Botany Bay and displacing the Darug people, as well as kidnapping their children to serve as slave labour, Australia's first full-scale frontier war erupts along the Hawkesbury River. Five colonists are killed in the first half of 1795 leading to reprisals from soldiers who kill and capture a number of Darug. One of these prisoners later escapes by diving into Sydney Harbour and swimming away.

Generally avoiding open warfare against the better-armed and militarily organised British, the Darug concentrate on guerrilla attacks. Up to 150 Darug at a time converge on isolated farms to strip them of their corn crops, tools and stock. This not only bankrupts settlers, but also generates enough supplies to enable the resistance to continue uninterrupted by the need to gather food. Smaller parties of warriors carry out raids on British boats and farmhouses whilst houses and wheat crops (which the Darug do not requisition due to the need for processing) are torched by fire.

A rare conventional battle in 1797 sees up to 100 warriors, under the leadership of Pemulwuy, storm the town of Parramatta. This attempt to overrun the settlement is defeated when the resistance fighters are cut down by gunfire and their leader captured. Despite being wounded, Pemulwuy breaks his chains and escapes into the night a few weeks later giving rise to an aura of invincibility.

Carrying out raids at Lane Cove and Kissing Point, the Darug begin to recruit discontented whites, with Governor Hunter complaining in a letter that convicts have been supporting actions designed to "annoy and distress the settlers, who have many of them been murder'd by them, their houses burnt, and their stock destroyed. They have threatened to burn and destroy our crops upon the ground, and to kill our cattle wherever they can find them."

Although Pemulwuy is killed in 1802, and his head removed and souvenired, resistance continues. Able to only deploy troops intermittently, due to the small size of the colony and the fear and reality of Irish convict rebellion elsewhere, Hunter's successor Governor King attempts to cut a deal with three Darug men in 1804. Although his promise to end further settlement in the lower Hawkesbury is never truly honoured, Darug resistance, combined with flooding, permits only a few farms to be established until 1810.

SYDNEY, 1796

Having been arrested for sedition and transported to Australia in 1793, Scottish republican democrat Thomas Muir, along with a group of convicts and mutinying sailors, escapes the colony aboard the American ship Otter.

SYDNEY, 1798

An Irish convict is given 100 lashes at Toongabbie for throwing down his hoe and giving three cheers for liberty.

SYDNEY, 1798

Australia's first "work to rule" action takes place after convicts are reprimanded for not taking their hats off to officers whenever they pass by. Shortly after the order is given a work gang rolling a boulder uphill doffs their hats appropriately with the result that the rock rolls away, knocking an overseer down and breaking his leg.

SYDNEY, 1798

Governor Hunter condemns the colony's convicts after the first church in Australia is burnt down, reputedly in response to mandatory Sunday attendance.

NSW, 1799

Sydney's public gaol is torched. In the same year the main gaol at NSW's second colony of Parramatta is burnt out by convicts.

NSW, 1802

Colonial authorities report that escaped convict George Clarke, alias The Barber, has teamed up with Aboriginal people in the Liverpool Plains area. Scarifying and painting his body, he helps to set up slaughter yards to speed up the killing of sheep.

(Continues...)

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Edition details

• Publisher: PM PRESS
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1604865954
• ISBN 13: 9781604865950
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 288