This latest Barry McKay contribution to our hidden history repays careful
listening because "political refugee" Peter Williamson chronicles his
story in such a quiet, unassuming way you might become mesmerised and
thereby miss the chilling import of his experiences. These comprise
systematic institutional harassment by the Queensland police involving
surveillance, verballing, tailiing, the tap on the shoulder, and assault..
"Outrageous intimidation", as Peter matter-of-factly puts it.
Peter tells what happened to him and why he fled to Sydney [significantly,
in 1984) in a consistently unemphatic way ( though pausing occasionally to
detail some coiffeur or wardrobe outrage of his) refusing throughout to
indulge in sarcasm, vituperation or self-pity. This is a dark tale told
with a light touch, which makes it a true horror-comic.
It is pleasaing to note that, among his many post-Queensland
accomplishments, Peter is now a well-respected artist: using natural
materials to great effect to make beautiful and powerful statements about
form and structure inside and outside the natural world. A visual
troubadour of deep ecology. Queensland's loss...