Radical Brisbane- An Unruly History
Many in Australia still remember the wild civil liberties struggles in Brisbane during the repressive Bjelke-Petersen years of the 1960s and the 1970s. But how many would know or even credit that Brisbane is peppered with sites of social conflicts and incidents of radical activism which date from long before the troubled time?
Mainstream historical writing on Brisbane tends to present itself as a sleepy and sunny metropolis – a hedonistic sort of place, where nothing much of earth-shattering importance has ever happened – law-abiding, passionless and essentially boring. Yet Brisbane possesses a parallel history of largely hidden struggles, radical mobilizations and utopian dreams. Radical Brisbane: An Unruly History resurrects this story for the first time. In its pages we visit well-known spots to uncover – like enthusiasts on an archeological dig…