Clutching the
rail for support
after shuffling along the
winding, sweat-inducing track to the WW11
forts on Magnetic Island , Darwin agronomist , Rob Wesley-Smith
, above , gulps in oxygen and admires
the view . With him was older
comrade , Cyclops , who had done
the forts walk about
a decade ago but , because of
senile decay, had forgotten how long
and steep it is . The odd
couple, both over 70, nearly fell into
drainage ditches cut across
the path
to the forts as they looked up trees for elusive
koala bears . During the trek,
they reminisced about
many events and
people . Wes , a longtime activist , who obtained his
ASIO file last year, recalled how decades
ago he had “spied”
on the Pine Gap
space base , from a ridge
near Alice Springs , and a photo
he took of its five
radomes had raised much comment in Australia and overseas.
Wes caused concern when he announced
he had
not taken his pills
first thing that morning on the island, especially the magnesium tablet to
combat cramp. Cyclops wondered
if there could be a sudden
medical emergency requiring him to
throw Wes on his back, apply the kiss of
life and massage his legs at the same time , causing shocked
koalas to plummet to earth and
startled Japanese tourists
to bow respectfully and run
like hell. Because of poor eyesight,
only one
koala was spotted , but a young
Canadian couple said
they had seen four, one with a baby ,
right alongside the track . How did we miss this cute sight ? Wes dropped in on the island making his way back to Darwin after spending
time in southern states . While away , Wes worked on the
manuscript of his epic 117 Days in
East Timor and was
also updated in Sydney on the
progress of a book about Australian journalist Roger East
, murdered by the invading Indonesians and thrown into the sea
at Dili . On an
anniversary of the murder, Wesley-Smith played
the part of East
in the dramatic re-enactment below.
Wes insists he has to live to be 100
to finish all the things he wants
to write and the projects he is involved with
in Timor and elsewhere .In the case of decaying Cyclops, he ventured he would have to survive to 125! to complete all his tasks , by which time he would look like something out of The Curse of the Mummies . A quick shower and a handful of pills after the forts walk and Wes
got into his Honda, bearing only one protest sticker-NO DAM FOR BROWNHILL CREEK, South Australia - and set out on the
drive back to Darwin, hoping not to be abducted by one of those
squadrons of UFOs
along the lonely Barkly
Highway and permanently hovering above the NT News water cooler .
