•OS. ^ " ^-«w" 1 a 1-1* r^^ril1 u f'i444tV^•^yO>-v sV: >• "^ "^: 5 c f.•«f.^.-:^ . —',ii,.- - S""
"At dusk in the Terrace I met a tall soldierIn bravely peaked cap and a jacket of grey,"Oh, maiden," he sighed, "I am lost and I'mlonelyBecause they are stealing our Barracks away."We came with the convicts. We guardedyour country.Our graves have grown green grass for manya day.But who will remember the Pensioner Soldiers,If you let them steal all our history away?"At the Crimea I charged with the gallant SixHundred.My scars and my medals were won on thatday.But now in the Terrace my ghost will gowalkingBecause they are stealing our history away."Now you must fight for us, for we fight nolonger.The sabres we wielded are rusted today.Or must our brave spirits go wandering forgottenBecause they have stolen our Barracksaway?""So saying, the soldier saluted and left me.Through pale mist his grey shape wentmarching away.So far and so faintly a bugle kept calling,"Oh, don't let them steal all the Barracksaway" .22Dr B. Cohen (President, W.A. HistoricalSociety) claimed, "If, when this song is sungthe length and breadth of W.A., it doesn'ttouch the hearts of Mr Brand and his government,their hearts must be tougher than themortar holding the Barracks' bricks together."Although, in July, the song was recorded byAustralian overseas folk singer, Rolf Harris, itreceived a limited distribution and little publicity.Ministers' hearts remained intact—themortar crumbled.^^As the rubble was removed public attentionfocused on the remaining archway.Measuring Public Opinion:For students of politics the most fascinatingfeature of the Barracks issue was the searchby politicians, and other self-appointed pollsters,for "pubhc opinion". The poll conductedby the radio station 6IX had obvious defects,but some other assessments were not noticeablybetter. On 15th July The West Australianreported a journalist's survey, to the effect thattwelve out of sixteen people interviewed in St.George's Terrace, said, "Keep our Archway".And on that day the Premier was reported tohave reiterated that, "the government wouldleave it to the public to decide whether thearchway stayed". But when questioned on howhe would obtain public opinion he said, "I donot know".24 And later in July the same newspaperconducted a second survey based thistime on a larger sample. It asked its readersto return the coupon printed in one issue ofthe newspaper, with the sole question "Do youfavour retention of the Barracks' Archway?"11,035 readers responded, and they gave amajority of 7.15 to 1 in favour of retention.(9,681 for and 1,345 against).^s Was this publicopinion? In the view of the Editor, "The mostsignificant part of the poll was that 170,444people who bought the paper did not careenough .... to send in a vote". Soon afterthis it was reported that the government wasconsidering, "the possibility of city checkpointswhere people could express an opinion".^®It was the commercial television channelTVW7 that first attempted to inject an elementof professionalism into the assessment process.It commissioned McNair Surveys of Sydney toundertake a poll, and between 28-30 Septemberits employees asked 282 people in 29 of Perth'smetropolitan localities "Are you in favour ofretaining the Barracks Arch?" 43 per cent respondedin the affirmative, 32 per cent wereagainst, and 25 per cent had no opinion, orwere undecided. The survey classified the responseson the basis of sex and age groupingsand revealed that 51 per cent of women favouredkeeping the Arch and only 37 per centof men were of the same frame of mind.The result was announced to the public duringa break in a T.V. panel discussion on thesubject. Premier Brand (not a member of thepanel) appeared before the cameras for questioningand comment. In the light of the vigorousgive and take of the preceding discussionhis attitude appeared inflexible. He assertedthat, "The McNair results did not indicate adecision one way or the other". And his conclusionwas that, "the public presumably wasleaving a decision to the authorities".^'^The next poll was commissioned by theCabinet. Australian Public Opinion Polls, Melbourne(the Gallup Organisation) was chargedwith the task of measuring public opinion onthe future of the Archway. "The results forthcoming",said Premier Brand, would be only a"guide", . . . "The final decision would remainwith the government". The organisers of thepoll contended a sample of 500 persons wouldgive an assessment within 2 per cent of publicopinion; they picked fifty names from thefederal electoral roll for the metropolitan areaWESTERLY, No. 1 of 1967 57
- Page 1 and 2:
arc de triomphe
- Page 3 and 4:
westerlya quarterly reviewEDITORIAL
- Page 5:
westerlyNo. 1 of 1967CONTENTSSTORIE
- Page 8 and 9:
"Oh, old Jack's morals are alright
- Page 10 and 11:
were looking down on a face so scru
- Page 12 and 13: in the comfort of cars. Ellie and T
- Page 14 and 15: grand, final fling. His bright eyes
- Page 16 and 17: The rotting wood in the window fram
- Page 18 and 19: John lumbered up the steps of the G
- Page 20 and 21: night storm that flashed and twinkl
- Page 22 and 23: Quietly the young man left to fetch
- Page 24 and 25: "Bother, I've forgotten your aktavi
- Page 26 and 27: patiently as she hesitated. What wa
- Page 28 and 29: THEUNIVERSITYBOOKSHOPAT THE UNIVERS
- Page 30 and 31: PREFACE(Emaux et Camees)Pendant les
- Page 32 and 33: NOELLe ciel est noir, la terre est
- Page 34 and 35: LA DERNIERE FEUILLEDans la foret ch
- Page 36 and 37: LES COLOMBESSur le coteau, 1^-bas o
- Page 38 and 39: LA MONTREDeux fois je regarde ma mo
- Page 40 and 41: FUMEELa-bas, sous les arbres s'abri
- Page 42 and 43: PENDANT LA TEMPETELa barque est pet
- Page 44 and 45: PAYSAGEPas une feuille qui bouge,Pa
- Page 46 and 47: LE MERLEUn oiseau siffle dans les b
- Page 48 and 49: LETRILLAEnfant, pourquoi tant de pa
- Page 50 and 51: L'ARTOui, I'oeuvre sort plus belleD
- Page 52 and 53: ARTYes, lovelier do works of artEme
- Page 54 and 55: Some JOURNALS published byUNIVERSIT
- Page 56 and 57: But the two Town Planners did not j
- Page 58 and 59: The years 1963-65, therefore, were
- Page 60 and 61: COCD00(Moasu;-(a!CocP4Q
- Page 64 and 65: —representing one home in about 5
- Page 66 and 67: ingly in the determination of its p
- Page 68 and 69: For a personal view. Westerly asked
- Page 70 and 71: Abrolhos Islands, is believed to ha
- Page 72 and 73: added dimension of individual human
- Page 74 and 75: and feelings of his people or of th
- Page 76 and 77: theological developments of the las
- Page 79 and 80: IF YOU DON T KNOW HOWDON'T DO IT•
Change language