More Artists of the Right by K. R. Bolton & K. R. Bolton

Author:K. R. Bolton & K. R. Bolton [Bolton, K. R.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: P. R. Stephensen, Yukio Mishima, T. S. Eliot, Aleister Crowley, Count Potocki of Montalk, A. R. D. Fairburn, Richard Wagner
ISBN: 9781940933214
Publisher: Counter-Currents Publishing
Published: 2017-11-07T05:00:00+00:00

INTERNMENT

Such sentiments were regarded as treasonous by the authorities whose government had tied Australia to British imperial and American, i.e., plutocratic, interests. Additionally, several individuals and groups had gained the attention of military intelligence as possible collaborators in the event of a Japanese invasion.299 Some of these were loosely connected to the Australia First Movement.

“Enemy aliens,” including those who were anti-fascist, were being interned.300 Sixteen supporters of the Australia First movement, whom the press described as a “spy ring,”301 including Stephensen and his brother Eric, were detained under Regulation 26 at Liverpool internment camp in March 1942. Police occupied the Publicist office. The poet and author Ian Mudie, an executive member of the movement, was questioned but not interned, although he was to remark that he was either as “guilty” or “innocent” as those who were. Muirden comments: “Strangely, the Publicist was not banned, and the movement was not officially proscribed.”302 However, this was unnecessary, and perhaps could be regarded as being hypocritical, since Stephensen, and the other two proprietors of The Publicist were interned with key members.

The Bulletin remained strongly opposed to the internments, and made much of one of the internees being “an Old Digger.” The latter, Martin Watts, a holder of the Military Medal from the First World War, was conditionally released after a few months along with several others. However, Watts’s job was gone, and he died several weeks later of bronchial pneumonia, exacerbated by his internment.303 The internees were questioned before a secret tribunal, and no record was kept of proceedings, although one internee did manage to record the questions. Despite Australia First never having been banned, the questions directed at the internees make it plain that they were being persecuted because of their association with the movement. 304

Transferred to Loveday Camp, then to Tatura Camp, Stephensen spent three-and-a-half years interned.305

After the war, several ex-internees continued to campaign for exoneration, and two issued a reprint of the 1942 issues of the Publicist to provide a “durable historical record” that would show their loyalty and patriotism.

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