A Private Lift – Michael Kirby

He badgered his mother to let him join the Netherlands merchant marine, which was at that time one of the biggest in the world. It boasted passenger ships of the Holland America Line and big cargo ships that plyed the seven seas. This, he decided, is what,he wanted to do. He gave his mother no peace until she finally relented. Going to sea was a part of the imagination of many generations of boys growing up in the Netherlands, a land itself rescued from the sea.

Johan van Vloten was engaged as a junior seaman. He was given his Monsterboekje, a sort of seaman’s passport. He still has it. From time to time he has threatened to, run off to sea again. In his Monsterboekje I can see the photograph of the handsome young boy whose greatest desire was to explore the world.

He has often told me of the crashing seas and the fearful storms in the North Atlantic. To this day, I listen open-eyed at these descriptions. The worst seas I have known are those of Sydney Harbour when you get a hint of the Pacific Ocean as you cross the Heads. In the North Atlantic and Southern Oceans, the ships creak and groan in response to the anger of nature. To his great annoyance and embarrassment, Johan’s mother would come along in the early days to inspect the ships to make sure that they were sufficiently seaworthy to carry her son.

The best companion of many a mariner was a bottle, but Johan has told me of the books that were his friends. Long periods of loneliness at sea were broken for some by whorehouses and intoxication. But Johan was gay. These outlets were of no interest to him. Instead, in port, he looked around for presents for his family.

He handed over his pay to his mother. Life had settled into a predictable routine. With a meagre allowance, the young mariner brought encyclopaedias and other books which he kept 4 private life in his home. He had no lovers. Contrary to the usual image, his life as a sailor was almost wholly sexless. In 1963, Johan made a fateful decision, to migrate to Australia. As with many emigrants, his first choice was the United States, but the quota from the Netherlands had been filled that year.

He did not contemplate Canada. It was too cold. Instead, Australia increasingly beckoned. He had seen newsreels. He had read journals about the Great South Land. He abandoned his life in the merchant marine and chanced his fortune in Australia. He left the Netherlands on a KLM flight organised by the Australian Embassy in The Hague. He was twenty-four years of age. At Sydney airport signs directed the new arrivals into buses leaving immediately for a migrant camp. The young single ex-sailor had not come all this way to settle down to routine in a migrant camp.

Michael Kirby is one of Australia’s most admired public figures. At a time of spin and obfuscation, he speaks out passionately and straightforwardly on the issues that are important to him. Even those who disagree with him have been moved by the courage required of him to come out as a high- profile gay man, which at times has caused him to be subjected to the most outrageous assaults on his character.

CONCH macau mo miontniceoteaetn which we can discover the private Michael Kirby. It allows the public figure to speak MIKO Reem isis ea ty ariCogtcelta A He opens up as never before about his early life, about being gay, about his forty-two eve CisCr tomtom ee mca lesen Plea eco eat CMs oct mava levees his youthful infatuation with James Dean, which sent him on a sentimental journey to Dean’s home town in the year 2000, an adventure he here wryly recalls.

Beautifully written, reflective and generous, in that warm and gently self-deprecating voice that is so characteristic of him, this is the memoir that Michael Kirby’s many admirers EAC COPA b erie ce 4 private life 4 private life fragments, memories, friends Suge ane gactia opt / e ALLENGUNWIN Published by Allen & Unwin in 2011 Copyright © Michael Kirby 2011 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 95b724e0d25b5d78
• File Extension: .pdf
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• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9781742376202
• Pages: 225
• Language: English (en)

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