Townsville, September 1, 1985
At this point, I have to say a few words about Australian politics.
Australia has two political parties - the Australian Labor Party (socialist) and the Liberal Party (conservative). All of Australia's states (except Queensland) and the federal government were controlled by the Australian Labor Party. Like all socialists, these states like to spend money on large public works projects - like trains, for example.
Queensland had been controlled since 1956 by the Country, or National Party. This was the farmers' party, conservative and allied with the Liberals. They stayed in power in Queensland by the time-honored method of the rotten borough. The farmers responded by reliably voting for Country MPs.
Queensland's conservatism had several curious results. The state parliament still kept many rituals from colonial days; "God Save the Queen" was still played before every session of parliament, and Queensland's politicians still accepted British honors. (The premier, for example, had the improbable name of Sir Johannes Bjelke-Peterson.)
Because Queensland was controlled by frugal conservatives, Queensland Railways was charmingly antiquated. Its cars were older than any other state's trains, and the toilets had the only grammatically correct flushing instructions in the English-speaking world. "Passengers are requested not to use toilet whilst train is standing at station," The sign warned.
They didn't provide linen in second class, so I had a hard time sleeping. When I woke, we had entered central Queensland. This was an immense sea of grass, and the train's slow speed gave the illusion that we were sailing through it. The landscape was unchanging, infinite, broken only by the occasional town, which usually consisted of a few houses and a siding.
It was at a town called Hughenden that I came across the meaning of central Queensland, found on a message posted in the station. It was quite brief:
"Ferguson. Hold box, gone walkabout. Stan Lee."
I had no idea who Stan Lee was, but I thought I could understand him. It would be quite easy to lose oneself in central Queensland, to lose oneself in the sweet caresses of the endlessly whispering grass. Even the houses in the villages we rolled through looked ready to escape. Poised above the earth on pillars, the houses looked as if they were on springs, ready to break loose from their foundations and flee into the night.
That evening, I arrived in Townsville, a tropical town of 70,000, which once had its moment on the world-historical stage. In 1942, the Japanese sent wave after wave of destroyers into the Coral Sea in an effort to conquer Townsville, the rail center of Queensland. Once Townsville was captured, the Japanese could then break the railroad lines for a thousand miles in every direction. It was to prevent this that the Australians, in the winter of 1942, withdrew their legions from the Middle East and offered the Australian Army to General
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