Pig City
December 13th, 2007 by Dan Hill
The companion piece to the aforementioned documentary on the early-'80s Melbourne music scene, this programme paints a vivid picture of Brisbane of the same time (it's almost an inadvertent companion piece to the Berlin doco Steve posted recently). Known as Pig City, due to insanely right-wing and entirely corrupt administration of state premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen, and particularly the 'iron fist wrapped in another iron fist' approach to community policing, Brisbane generated a rich subculture in response, with bands like The Saints, The Go-Betweens and The Riptides all emerging from an atmosphere where just being in a band was a political act in itself.
I saw a great exhibition at the Museum of Brisbane last year - Taking to the Streets (my photos here) - that collated numerous artifacts illustrating how Brisbane was effectively living under police state conditions from the early-'70s to the early-'80s. The right to protest was removed, enforced by 'special powers' imbued upon the police; anybody walking down the street with more than 3 people would constitute "a march" and could be arrested. Describing many more, er, imaginative state-led approaches to creating social cohesion in the Queensland of the time, what comes through in this doco is a sense of just how warped a 'western' political system can get - only 20 years ago - and yet also the optimistic message that a subcultural scene can emerge to resist this, and ultimately prevail. As Martin Luther King said, the arc of history is long but bends towards justice. With some top tunes along the way, he might have added but didn't.
The key role of community radio station 4 Triple Z (4zzz) also comes through the first-person accounts in the programme, including from Go-Betweens drummer Lindy Morrison and several University of Queensland alumni, all students at the time and suddenly and inadvertently radicalised by police pressure.
As with most Hindsight shows, it's hugely atmospheric, including quite unsettling sound recordings from right within the protest marches as police move in on the crowd, and the sound of Brisbane's architecture being torn apart by the state's bulldozers. The latter, in particular the much-loved Bellevue hotel being deceitfully pulled down in the dead of night, was something that would eventually unite conservative Brisbane with the protesting counterculture. The final nails in the coffin, somewhat reminiscent of Woodward & Bernstein, were provided by an pioneering ABC TV programme 'Four Corners' and associated articles in the Courier Mail newspaper, detailing corruption in the so-called 'Moonlight State', and the subsequent Fitzgerald Inquiry that would prove beyond doubt the rampant corruption at the core of the administration, kicking the National Party out of office in Queensland and plonking a few of them in the jails they'd previously reserved for kicking the crap out of Aboriginal people and hairy students.
Another great documentary from Radio National, it only loses one point for failing to include the brilliant Go-Betweens track, 'Lee Remick', whose opening lines effortlessly articulate the self-deprecating cultured wit that would've so infuriated their conservative fellow citizens of the 'big country town' ...
She comes from Ireland
She's very beautiful
I come from Brisbane
I'm quite plain
Despite that omission, there's some great music in here, and it's a rich portrayal of a city in turmoil. The gleaming Brisbane of 2007 is now large, diverse, smart, cultured, architecturally innovative, growing fast, and increasingly seen as hip by a Sydney and Melbourne shuffling uncomfortably as they look north. It's a good time to be reminded of where the city has come from. A fairly incredible story.
April 11th, 2008 at 2:41 am
Lindy Morrison had very little to do with the protests at the time. She had fled Queensland to Sydney in 1978.
June 18th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
I was in Brisbane in the nineteen seventies. I remember the brutality vividly.
I was beaten by the police and hospitalized as a consequence, effectively ending my sojourn in the deep north. As the years passed and Bjelke’s grip weakened, I would tell my friends I would throw a party when he lost office, then when he was arraigned I said I would throw a party when he was sent to jail. More years passed and finally he died and someone demanded laughingly said party. My only response was to quietly think to myself that I would throw a party when someone with sufficient authority confirmed that he was safely burning in hell.
March 13th, 2010 at 10:56 am
No I had not fled Brisbane in 1978. I joined The Go Betweens in 1980 in Brisbane. I lived in Auchenflower Tce Brisbane 1976/77. I lived in Wellington St Petrie Tce 78/79 and I lived in 5t Pauls Tce Spring Hill 1980. Then I moved to Melbourne with the band Bernie but thanks for knowing so much misinfo on my life. You are an idiot.
March 16th, 2010 at 5:30 pm
Hello Dan,
“Lindy Morrison had very little to do with the protests at the time. She had fled Queensland to Sydney in 1978.”
This comment is incorrect and the comment has been wrongly attributed to Bernie Dowling, the author of the novel ‘Iraqi Icicle’ that refers to that period in Queensland.
Bernie Dowling made reference in his novel to Lindy Morrison’s involvement in the protests against the Bjelke-Petersen government and he correctly states that Lindy did not leave Qld until the early 1980s.
Dowling checked his facts with me before he wrote that passage in his novel. He did so because I keep the records of the organisation [Civil Liberties Co-ordinating Committee] that put on the protests.
Lindy was arrested at one of those protests in December 1977, the CLCC organised witnesses and a lawyer from the Caxton Legal Service to defend the trumped-up charge of stealing a policemen’s watch. Our records show that Lindy was acquitted. It was common for Qld police to fabricate evidence against street marchers.
Can you explain how the comment above has been wrongly attributed to Bernie Dowling?
As the comment is factually incorrect could you please remove it?
Thanks,
Ian Curr
Ph: 07 3398 5215
Mob: 0407 687 016
Email: iancurr@bigpond.com
Web: Workers BushTelegraph
March 17th, 2010 at 1:37 am
This matter appears to be cleared up except for how my name was attributed to something I did not write. I think Lindy was a little premature in calling me an idiot. As Ian explains above, in my novel I have Lindy being politically active in 1978 (it apppears the watch- stealing charge was December, 1977).
A lot of my writing has an historical context and I try to be as acurate as possible. And I have absolutely zero interest in engaging in social wars.
March 22nd, 2010 at 10:45 pm
Hello Roo,
Re: Pig City — incorrect comment, wrongly attributed – (http://speechification.com/2007/12/13/pig-city/#comment-1420)
Thanks for the sensible change of attribution from ‘Bernie Dowling’ to ‘Anon’. Bernie Dowling (the author of Iraqi Icicle) did not write that entry
Popular journalism (i.e. Pig City) claims for the musicians (The Saints, The Go-Betweens and The Riptides ) a pre-eminent position in the Democratic Rights struggle in Qld.
The environment and anti-nuclear movement made the same mistake by promoting Peter Garrett [Midnight Oil].
There are contemporary exceptions (Phil Monsour, Jumping Fences, Mark Cronin, Ovideo Orellana…) where musicians have consistently engaged in political struggle to effect change over a long period. These musicians are inspired by people like Victor Jara — a chilean musician from a poor working class background who gave his life for the struggle at the hands of the US backed dictator, Pinochet.
My recollection of the 1970s in Qld (for what it was worth) — it was very difficult to find politically committed musicians, so much so that when it came to produce a video on the democratic rights struggle(If you don’t fight you lose) the editors had to resort to music from the civil rights movement in the US to find ‘political’ music and lyrics.
A paralell to this were the problems political groups like the International Socialists had when they made the mistake of recruiting punks into their organisation.
Like Peter Garrett, many bands may do better for the political struggles by sticking to their music [Peter Garrett (sic)].
Ian Curr
LeftPress Printing Society
Ph: 07 3398 5215
Mob: 0407 687 016
Email: WorkersBushTelegraph@gmail.com
Web: Workers BushTelegraph
March 23rd, 2010 at 3:34 am
Hello Roo from http://speechification.com,
Re: Pig City — incorrect comment, wrongly attributed – (http://speechification.com/2007/12/13/pig-city/#comment-1420)
Thanks for the sensible change of attribution from ‘Bernie Dowling’ to ‘Anon’. As you know Bernie Dowling (the author of Iraqi Icicle) did not write that entry.
Popular journalism (i.e. Pig City) claims for the musicians (The Saints, The Go-Betweens and The Riptides ) a pre-eminent position in the Democratic Rights struggle in Qld.
The environment and anti-nuclear movement made the same mistake by promoting Peter Garrett [Midnight Oil].
There are contemporary exceptions on the music scene (Phil Monsour [& friends], Jumping Fences, Mark Cronin, Ovideo & Leonore Orellana, to name some local Brisbane musicians…) these musicians have consistently written songs and performed as part of the broader movement for political change. These musicians are inspired by people like Victor Jara — a chilean musician from a poor working class background — Victor made the ultimate sacrifice, he gave his life for Chileans’ struggle against the US backed dictator, Pinochet.
My recollection of the 1970s in Queensland is that it was very difficult to find political songs and committed musicians, so much so that when it came to produce a video on the democratic rights struggle (If you don’t fight you lose [1978]) we (the editors) had to resort to music from the civil rights movement in the US to find ‘political’ music and lyrics that related to our struggle.
A parallell to this were the problems political groups like the International Socialists had when they made the mistake of recruiting punks into their organisation.
Like Peter Garrett, many musicians may do better for the political struggles by sticking to their music.
Ian Curr
March 2010