Iconic buildings of Brisbane: Demolitions in the Joh era (part 2)

Part 2 of 3
‘All we leave behind is the memories’: Demolitions and political protests in the era of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen

The Bellevue Hotel was arguably the most famous of the midnight demolitions (presumably due to the sheer number of people who turned up to watch it fall). However, it is important to remember that most members of the public had no physical or emotional connection to it, since it had been frequented primarily by politicians in its final years standing. On the other hand, Cloudland Ballroom was a venue that had been an important part of the lives of many people of all ages — from those who had attended the ballroom dances of its heyday (some of whom had started romances there), to those of the younger generation who had attended punk music concerts, university examinations and even Sunday markets.(19)

Image: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland

Once again, the Deen Brothers were contracted to demolish the historical landmark, situated in the inner-city suburb of Bowen Hills. Around six months before the demolition took place, the Courier-Mail had reported that Cloudland was for sale, with the speculated asking price being up to $2.5 million. At that time, the La Boite Theatre and Community Arts Network of Queensland was planning a thirties and forties revival ball to bring attention to the fact that the ballroom was under threat. According to organiser Bruce Dickson, the event was taking place ‘…in an effort to remind Brisbane people of the loss that would occur if it was destroyed…In other capital cities you could destroy 50 per cent of the historical buildings overnight and still have much more than we have in Brisbane’.(20)  In fact, Cloudland was commonly known around the city as the ‘Social hub of Brisbane’.(21)

Cloudland Ballroom was gone in less than an hour, although the Deen Brothers had expected the job to take a good part of the day. They had moved in with their machinery, as instructed, at 4.00am on 7 November 1982. This time, there were no crowds waiting in protest because very few people had managed to find out about the proposed demolition until it was too late. In fact, the first members of the public to become aware of what was happening were the nearby residents woken by the machinery. ‘“It woke the baby”, Mr Peter Blessing of Boyd Street said. “It’s frightening the way this can take place without any recourse at all. It beats me how they can do it”’.(22)

It wasn’t only the public who weren’t warned of the impending demolition of Cloudland — the state government and the building’s owner had also failed to notify the Brisbane City Council, from whom they required permission in order to legally carry out the demolition.(23) Although Cloudland was not owned by the government (it was owned by real estate promoter Peter Kurts), the media and the public still held Bjelke-Petersen and his Country Party personally responsible for failing to protect Brisbane’s heritage.(24) The maximum fine for demolishing National Trust-listed buildings was $200; the Cloudland penalty was only $125. Clearly, this measly fine was hardly a deterrent for individuals, let alone the state government.(25)

After the demolition of Cloudland, the public made it very clear that they were not happy with what had occurred. People from almost all corners of Brisbane and its surrounds had some kind of connection to the place. An anonymous interviewee stated:

I heard about Cloudland mostly through my elder siblings. It was also a very visible landmark. Everyone in Brisbane knew of Cloudland (as well as people from Redcliffe where my family lived). Its importance to Brisbane’s musical history was lost because of Joh’s pro-development stance. If Australia and, in this instance, Brisbane, was to develop a non-Indigenous history, it was vital that buildings such as Cloudland and the Bellevue Hotel be kept…We had so very few buildings in the first place that were of historical significance. Now it is all high rise with the few remaining buildings hidden in their shadows. We can only imagine how Cloudland and the other buildings might be considered today if they were still standing.(26)

 Image: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland

It seems a strange notion that a demolition company could become so well known (if not notorious), that almost everyone in Brisbane could name them. In fact, that is exactly what happened with the Deen Brothers, who were the infamous demolition firm contracted by the state government to demolish heritage-listed buildings up until Joh’s reign as Premier ended. They, along with Joh Bjelke-Petersen, were the target of public outrage when building after building was reduced to rubble.

The five brothers — Happy, Louie, George, Ray and Funny — were proud of their work, despite the outrage constantly directed towards them.(27) In actual fact, the Deen Brothers were simply doing what most of us do every day — their jobs. Being contracted by the state government meant a huge boost in the company’s profits, as well as the added ‘bonus’ of becoming a household name and consequently the most well-known demolition company in Queensland (and perhaps even Australia).

It turns out that the Deens were just as interested and concerned about local heritage as the rest of Brisbane’s residents. Several of them even became ‘tour guides’ in 1991, leading a group of architecture students on heritage walks around the city centre. Students from around Australia had travelled to Brisbane to participate as part of the Biennial Oceanic Architectural Education Conference.(28) The tour concluded at the former site of the Bellevue Hotel, which is now home to a five-storey building constructed by the Bjelke-Petersen government. George stated, ‘…I must admit a few memories come back as I stand here, because this was one of our best jobs’.(29) When asked why the brothers were leading the heritage walk, George answered, ‘We’re on a reconnaissance mission, looking for more sites. No seriously, we believe in preserving heritage too’.(30)

The Deen Brothers’ interest in Brisbane’s lost heritage didn’t stop with a one-off tour around the city. Also in 1991, the state government held an auction for the cast-iron lacework that had been removed from the Bellevue Hotel’s verandas before its demolition. Five pallet loads were sold, including one to George Deen for $400. It was planned that Happy Deen, who was building a house, would use the lacework on the exterior.(31) Since the Bjelke-Petersen era, the Deens have also had a hand in the demolition of other significant buildings in Brisbane, including Festival Hall after it was sold to Devine Limited in 2003.(32)

Public outrage in the Sir Joh era was something that the state government wanted to inhibit at all costs. Up until 1977, street marches and protests had been theoretically a legal right — although, in many cases the police force had been seen to be excessive, as was the case with the Springbok tour. When people began protesting the export of uranium from Queensland ports, Bjelke-Petersen declared that all street marches would be illegal from that point on. Rather than applying through the courts for a march permit, the public would need to apply through the police, who had the authority to grant (or, more accurately, not grant) a permit under the Traffic Act.(33) Joh announced that, ‘Protest groups need not bother applying for permits to stage marches because they won’t be granted’.(34)

People continued to protest illegally, and they were consequently arrested or, worse, bashed by the police. The term ‘police state’ became a reality, as senior police reported directly to the Premier.

…they knew I was always rock solid behind them and they reported to me who were the students of the university who were giving all the trouble…just as they did in the SEQEB electricity strike, everybody came to me for general direction.(35)  

Shortly after protesting had been outlawed, in October 1977 one march resulted in a total of 662 people being arrested.(36)

Continue to Part 3.

Endnotes
19. A McKenzie, ‘Ballroom became a landmark and more’, Courier-Mail, 8 November 1982.
20. ‘Cloudland for sale if price is right’, Courier-Mail, 30 May 1982.
21. ‘Social hub of Brisbane’, Sunday Sun, 2 October 1977.
22. A McKenzie, ‘Demolishers move in at 4am’, Courier-Mail, 8 November 1982.
23. Fisher, ‘“Nocturnal demolitions”’, p.57.
24. ibid, p.58.
25. ibid.
26. Anonymous, interview conducted by email, 1 May 2007.
27. K Meade, ‘Deens strike again, this time for heritage’, The Australian, 11 July 1981.
28. J Gallagher, ‘The Deens came to town to admire, not to demolish’, Courier-Mail, 11 July 1991.
29. Meade, ‘Deens strike again, this time for heritage’.
30. ibid.
31. ‘George picks up the pieces’, Sunday Sun, 13 August 1991.
32. B Williams, ‘We’re not rubble-rousers, say Deens’, The Courier-Mail, 23 March 2002.
33. R Evans, ‘Right to march movement: King George Square’, in R Evans and C Ferrier, Radical Brisbane: An Unruly History, Melbourne, 2004, p.294.
34. Sunday Mail, 4 September 1977, p.1, quoted in Clare Williamson, ‘Keep in step: The rise of political posters in Brisbane’, Signs of the Times: Political Posters in Queensland, Brisbane, 1991, p.4.
35. Evans, ‘Right to march movement: King George Square’, p.295.
36. L Finch, ‘DIY defiance: Political posters during the Bjelke-Petersen era (1968–87)’, in L Seear and J Ewington, Brought to Light II: Australian Art 1966–2006, Brisbane, 2006, p.113.

Lottery of Life

I consider myself to be someone who always tries to make sure I’m always aware of world issues, particularly those relating to poverty in developing nations.

As a white, educated person who has a stable job and a mortgage in a Western nation, I recognise that I am privileged. Regardless of how ‘tight’ things might get at times, ‘tight’ for me generally means that perhaps I have to choose regular food over organic for a week, or that I maybe I won’t go and see that band I’d like to see for the third time. And while I do at times support charities that conduct cancer or other health research because of a personal connection to it (such as a family member or friend who may have suffered ill health), I make a conscious effort to ensure that the majority of the financial assistance I do give to charitable organisations goes to those who work in developing nations. Why? Because in many cases, people living in those places barely have access to medical treatment for malnourishment, let alone access to cancer treatment. At least being in Australia, a wealthy nation in comparison to many, we generally have unrestricted access to free health care. Yes, sometimes there’s a waiting list, but by and large if you have a life-threatening illness such as cancer you do get treatment.

The Lottery of Life campaign for Save the Children, which I found on the My Modern Met blog, really illustrates just how vast the differences can be between those living in Western countries and those living in developing nations. We really are in a position of advantage here, which means that we are also in a position to help.

Images: Save the Children

If you’re considering donating to a charity this Christmas, please do think about one that works in less fortunate nations than your own.

Politics and the media: The immigration debate in Australia from the early 1900s to the present (part 2)

This is the second part of my previous post, with references listed at the end.

Part 2 of 2

The media: inciting racism?

It’s not just right-wing political parties that further intensify the ongoing immigration debate in Australia. In December 2005 the media played a key role in spreading the word about the Cronulla riots, in which white Australians clashed with Lebanese Muslims at Cronulla beach. ‘Then Prime Minister John Howard stated that he “did not accept that there is underlying racism in Australia”. Howard made this comment despite the prominence of images at the time of the riots that clearly depicted white Australians wearing T shirts saying “no Lebs”, chanting “Aussie Aussie Aussie”, and even people proclaiming “we grew here you flew here” and “go home”.’ (Due and Riggs 2008, p.211) In fact, most of the Lebanese Muslims subject to these taunts had not ‘flown’ to Australia, and their ‘home’ was here. Many Lebanese immigrants arrived in Australia between 1880 and the 1920s, and 1947 to 1975, with immigration continuing from 1976 until the present due to the civil war in Lebanon. Up to six generations of Australian-born Lebanese reside here. (Batrouney 2000) If ‘Australianness’ is determined by whether or not a person has been born here or the length of their family ties to Australia, I would be considered far less Australian than many Lebanese citizens. I am a first-generation British Australian with dual citizenship; however, as a white, English-speaking citizen I have never been subject to anyone telling me to ‘go home’.

Two years after the Cronulla riots, an investigation by the Australian Communications and Media Authority found that broadcasts by ‘shock jock’ Alan Jones on the day of the Cronulla riots were ‘likely to encourage violence or brutality and vilify people of Middle Eastern descent’. (Ricketson 2008) Jones’s 2GB colleague Brian Wilshire also had his say, telling listeners that ‘many of [the Lebanese] have parents who were first cousins, whose parents were first cousins, because of the culture — it’s not a religious thing, it doesn’t say this in the Koran — but it’s a cultural thing for some part of the world to have parents who are very closely related. The result of this is inbreeding, the result of which is uneducationable people, and very low IQ’. (Wilshire 2006)

One of Australia’s most outspoken media commentators on all issues relating to race and immigration is Andrew Bolt. In addition to having his say many times over on the Cronulla riots, Bolt uses his Herald Sun blog to vilify the Australian Muslim community (or pretty much anyone of middle-eastern descent), ‘ethnic gangs’ and Sudandese ‘immigrants’, as he refers to them (as opposed to ‘refugees’, which the majority of them are). Although he likes to poke fun at Pauline Hanson when he gets the chance (see Bolt March 2007), Bolt tends to use very similar language to her — ‘integrate’, ‘assimilate’ and ‘gang’ were all used in a single blog about the Sudanese community. (Bolt January 2007) It seems as though in Bolt’s opinion, any Sudanese people in Australia that are more comfortable associating with people from the same backgrounds as themselves can automatically be considered members of a ‘gang’. Because Bolt’s tirades are usually via his blog (although he sometimes appears on television as well), he is able to elicit similarly racist responses from his readers. Often he will say very little in his blog entry, instead opting for a simple link to a news article that is likely to draw hateful responses from his loyal online followers.

In December 2008 Gold Coast residents launched their own attack on the Muslim community, but instead of a riot it was a demonstration against a proposed new Islamic College at Carrara. Some 200 people were involved in the protest and, while violence wasn’t an issue, many of the methods used bore similarities to those employed during the Cronulla riots — people were ‘draped in Australian flags and shouting pro-Aussie slogans while Australian rock classics such as “Down Under” and “Great Southern Land” boomed across the parkland’. (Pierce 2008) It became clear that the protests were racially based when one of the opponents to the school was asked why they were not protesting against other religious schools such as those that are Christian-based. He responded that ‘Catholics aren’t a different culture. They are the same as us’. (Pierce 2008)

Only a couple of days after publishing the report about the Gold Coast protests, News Limited fuelled the fires further by printing an article with the title ‘Brisbane Islamic college bans Australian national anthem’ — something that was sure to incite outrage amongst countless Australians. Despite what was indicated in the alarming headline, the school had not banned the national anthem at all. It was true that the college did have a policy of not playing the anthem on Fridays, but this applied to all other songs as well, due to the fact that Friday is considered to be a Muslim holy day. It just happened that school assemblies had been moved from Monday to Friday, meaning that the anthem was no longer played during that time. Due to the pressure placed on the school as a direct result of the media coverage, the following day the title of the online news article was changed to ‘Brisbane Islamic college reviews national anthem ban’, and it was reported that the principal was reviewing the school’s policy on the matter. (O’Loan 2008)

Conclusion

Often the whole immigration debate can be difficult to comprehend. In fact, sometimes it is unclear why debate needs to occur on the subject at all. The Australia we know today was settled by foreigners who clearly did not assimilate with the cultural traditions and practices of the current inhabitants of the land. Instead, they introduced an entirely new way of life and, in the process, exploited and destroyed much of the original population. My parents migrated here as teenagers with their parents and families but, simply because they are white Europeans, they go unnoticed by the Andrew Bolts, Brian Wilshires, Pauline Hansons of Australia, as well as the rest of the right-wing media commentators and politicians. It is only those groups hailing from different cultural backgrounds to those of white Europeans that these prominent and highly influential people seem to have a problem with. Politicians and media commentators are regularly delaring to the public that Australia is home to a diverse and multicultural society — but it is often the same politicians or media commentators who are the first to voice their opinions when any of those other cultures become an apparent threat to our own.

References

Ang I 2003, ‘From white Australia to fortress Australia: The anxious nation in the new century’, in L Jaysuriya, D Walker and J Gothard (eds), Legacies of white Australia: Race, culture and nation, Perth.

Batrouney, Dr T 2000, Lebanese in Australia, Australian Lebanese Historical Society of Victoria, viewed 5 January 2009, <http://alhsv.org.au/resources_lebaneseinaus.html>.

Bolt, A 2007, ‘Hanson smart? Is the Pope a Muslim?’, Herald sun, 30 March 2007, viewed 31 December 2008, <http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/hanson_smart_is_the_pope_a_muslim/P40>.

Bolt, A 2007, ‘Our Sudanese question’, Herald sun, 31 January 2007, viewed 31 December 2008, <http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/our_sudanese_question>.

Due, C and Riggs, DW 2008, ‘We grew here you flew here’: claims to ‘home in the Cronulla riots, Monash University, viewed 30 December 2008, <http://colloquy.monash.edu.au/issue016/due-riggs.pdf>.

Hanson, P 1996, House of Representatives, Debates, vol.HR208, 10 September 1996.

Manne, R 2003, ‘The road to Tampa’, in L Jaysuriya, D Walker and J Gothard (eds), Legacies of white Australia: Race, culture and nation, Perth.

Markus, A 1979, Fear and hatred: Purifying Australia and California, 1850–1901, Hale & Iremonger, Sydney.

O’Loan, J 2008, ‘Brisbane Islamic college reviews national anthem ban’, Courier-mail, 5 December 2008, viewed 5 December 2008, <http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24753104-952,00.html>.

Pierce, J2008, ‘Protestors rally against Islamic school’, Courier-mail, 2 December 2008, viewed 3 December 2008,  <http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,,24738950-5003402,00.html>.

Ricketson, M 2008, ‘Bureaucrats try to “censor” Alan Jones’, The age, 6 December 2008, viewed 30 December 2008, <http://www.theage.com.au/national/bureaucrats-try-to-censor--alan-jones-name-in-report-20081205-6slh.html>.

Robb, A 2006, Australia to introduce citizenship, media release Ref 114/06, Department of Immigration and Citizenship, 11 December 2006, viewed 20 December 2008, <http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/media/pressrel/VFQL6/upload_binary/vfql62.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf#search=%22media/pressrel/vfql6)%22>.

Souter, G 1976, Lion and kangaroo — Australia 1901–1919… the rise of a nation, Fonatana, Sydney.

Tavan, G 2005, The long, slow death of white Australia, Scribe Publications, Melbourne.

Wilshire, B 2006, ‘Brian Wilshire: uneducationable’, Media Watch transcripts, viewed 30 December 2008, <http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s1574242.htm>.

Politics and the media: The immigration debate in Australia from the early 1900s to the present (part 1)

Following is part one of two of a brief paper written in 2009 discussing the Australian media's role in the immigration debate. A full list of references cited will be given with part two.

Part 1 of 2

Introduction

Up until November 2007 when John Howard’s reign as prime minister and Liberal–National Coalition leader finally ended, it seemed to many Australians (myself included) that we were seeing a resurgence of the old White Australia Policy, and the treatment of migrants often mimicked that which occurred over a century ago. Howard’s Liberal government had attempted to have the English test reinstated (this time written as opposed to oral), and also intended to ‘quiz’ potential citizens on what it means to be ‘Australian’; sporting achievements, mateship and history (presumably white) were proposed as topics. The test was cited in a media release by the Department of Immigration (2006, p.1 of 4) as ‘Helping migrants to integrate and maximise the opportunities available to them in Australia’. While the White Australia Policy was ‘legally’ stamped out by Whitlam in the 1970s (Ang 2003, p.62), this paper will explore how the ideologies that were present when it was implemented in 1901 are very much alive in the political and media sphere of contemporary Australia which, in turn, serves to further intensify an ongoing debate.

White Australia Policy — dead or alive?

The White Australia Policy had been introduced in 1901 after two Acts were implemented — the Pacific Islands Labourers Act 1901 and the Immigration Restriction Act 1901. The first was intended to prevent the introduction of Pacific Islander workers (and ensured the deportation of those already here), while the second restricted the type of people who could enter the country. This Act not only prohibited so-called ‘undesirables’, such as those who were insane, diseased or criminal, but also excluded anyone who could not pass a dictation test in the examiner’s chosen European language (that is, not necessarily English). After taking various measures to decrease, or at least hide, the country’s existing Indigenous population, it was now thought that minimising the numbers of people from non-European countries entering Australia would be in the nation’s best interest. The ultimate goal of the government at that time was to have ‘one people without the admixture of other races’. (Markus 1979, p.xii) The purpose of the Immigration Restriction Act 1901 was clear and simple, according to Australia’s first Attorney General: ‘In fact and in effect our colourless laws are administered so as to draw a deep colour line between caucasions and all other races’. (Souter 1976, p.88)

Every now and then someone in politics or the media rears their head and attempts to reinstate the ideologies of the White Australia Policy for their own personal agenda, even though it was dismantled several decades ago. The most prominent of these people was Pauline Hanson in the mid to late 1990s, who strongly believed that ‘[Asians] have their own culture and religion and do not assimilate’. (Tavan 2005, p.223) However, Hanson never once called into question (or even addressed) the fact that white Europeans had made every attempt not to assimilate with the original inhabitants of the land. She even claimed in 1996 that ‘if I can invite whom I want into my home, then I should have the right to have a say in who comes into my country’. (Hanson 1996, p.unknown)

Coincidentally or otherwise, in 2001 the one-hundredth anniversary of the implementation of the Immigration Restriction Act 1901 was ‘celebrated’ with the introduction by the Howard government of the Border Protection Act 2001 — its aim described as to ‘keep Australia free of asylum seekers’. (Manne 2003, p.163) While the origins of this particular Act can be found in the early 1990s with the Labor federal government, it was John Howard’s Liberal party that ensured it became legislation. That same year (one month before the Act was officially instated) the Tampa scandal unfolded, when the Norwegian cargo vessel rescued 433 Afghans who were bound for Australia and, fearing for their health, attempted to unload them safely on Christmas Island. However, not wanting ‘queue jumpers’ to be allowed on Australian soil (or even in their waters), naval frigate HMAS Manoora transferred the refugees to their own vessel and detained them. (Manne 2003, p.164) Also in 2001 was the ‘children overboard’ affair, where Iraqi asylum seekers threw their children into the Indian Ocean as a strategic move to gain entry into Australia, of which John Howard commented, ‘I don’t want people like that in Australia’. (Tavan 2005, p.222) 

New blog, new adventures

After receiving some advice that I should be getting my critical writing out there a lot more, I've launched my second blog. In addition to maintaining Flying Ducks (which will still chronicle my home decorating and crafty exploits), I'll use this site to discuss more in-depth (and largely political) topics.

During my studies towards a Bachelor of Arts with a triple major in Literary and Cultural Studies, Film Studies and Australian History, I've explored a lot of topics that I aim to discuss on this blog. In many cases, I'll draw from some of my existing essays, and where possible I'll provide references for source material.

I welcome comments, whether you agree with my opinion or not, provided they are constructive.