Obituaries Australia

John Manifold died in Brisbane on April 19, two days before his 70th birthday. Three times in the last year and a half his friends, Australia-wide, indeed world wide, have had occasion to celebrate with their friend John Manifold.

First was publication, in late 1983, of his own choice of his own poems, On My Selection, some of which were written, and the book itself assembled, in his half-room at the nursing home where he spent his last years suffering severe strokes.

About a year later John accepted an honorary degree, Doctor of Letters, from the University of Queensland, awarded for his contribution to "scholarship, education, musicianship, literature and the art of enjoying life". It had been well earned — in every facet.

But between these events was another, a very joyous occasion indeed, when John, our communist poet, was awarded the Australia Medal (AM), one of Australia's highest accolades. Greetings and congratulations came from all over.

To pick out one, Brian Aarons on behalf of the CPA National Executive wrote: "We were especially delighted that a well-known and public communist should receive this honour, showing that quality and a commitment to truth can overcome the prejudices..."

But the following tribute from Dr Len Webb, world renowned ecologist, and his wife Doris, I think says more about Johnnie than me telling you that he was the scion of wealthy squatters, one of the founding families of the western district of Victoria, that he was educated at Geelong Grammar and Cambridge University, or even that he joined the Community Party in the mid '30s at Cambridge.

The Party's aim was to make students aware of what led up to the Spanish War, the imminence of a bigger war, and the Peace Front policy that could prevent it. The Cambridge party branch used every conceivable means to raise the several thousand pounds that went from Cambridge to the Republican government. John was one of the couriers who took some of that money through to its destination.

And so to the letter from Len and Doris: "You, who have been the unpretentious Olympian; yet no word-spinner. You, the Cambridge colonial; yet nary a drop of toffee on your nose, You, the satirical visionary; the questioning communist; the lover of life everywhere — yet yours has always been a vulgar love lit by political insights and early fury to further the causes of peace and freedom for ordinary people.

"Above all, perhaps, we should like to thank you for making your grand and optimistic visions, your intimate commentary on the beauty to be found around us, so accessible to us ordinary mortals. No esoteric monster, you; no demon dabbling with the lethal apparatus in some heavily guarded laboratory and contemplating how best to kill and control your fellows.

"No, your writings dissolved the differences between the hard and the soft sciences, between the arts and the sciences themselves. And you characteristically, often humorously, offered us your manifold manna for pleasure and profit without harming anyone.

"We proudly salute you, Aussie friend."

Tribune extends its sympathy to John's daughter Miranda, son Nicholas and their families.