Sponsored By
The Cricket Statisticians
Networked Knowledge
Evan Whitton
"The Hillbilly Dictator"
Homepage
Page set up: Dr Robert N Moles
Evan Whitton has been reporting on corruption for more than twenty years. Five times winner of the Walkley Award for National Journalism , in 1967,
1970, 1973, 1974 and 1975. He was named Journalist of the Year in 1983 for for his "courage and innovation" in reporting
of the New South Wales Wran Royal Commission, and described the Queenlsand Fitzgerald enquiry as 'The biggest
and most important story I ever worked on; the experience of a career.'
He was editor of The National Times, Chief Reporter and European Correspondent
for The Sydney Morning Herald and Reader in Journalism at the University of Queensland. He is now a columnist on the online legal journal
Review comments on Evan's books
The Hillbilly Dictator - By Evan Whitton - 1989 - The controversial bestseller fully updated
Australia's police state - how democracy and the rule of law in Queensland were subverted, and injustice and corruption elevated to the commonplace.
"It has been said, and not entirely in jest, that Sydney is the most corrupt city in the western world, except of course for Newark, New Jersey, and Brisbane,
Queensland."
These were the opening words of Can of Worms, Evan Whitton's 1986 book about New South Wales. In Queensland, the 1987-1989 Fitzgerald Inquiry and some
250 subsequent trials produced the most closely documented study of political and police corruption in any Australian state.
More significantly, Fitzgerald QC showed how easy it is for a democracy to become an authoritarian state in which corruption and injustice are not just tolerated
but elevated to the commonplace.
The first edition of Hillbilly Dictator shows how it happened and how they got away with it for nearly twenty years. This updated edition reveals something
perhaps even more disturbing: how perennial defects in the legal system effectively encourage the corrupt and organised criminals, both white collar and black.
Dedication and copyright
Preface To The Second Edition
Background and reviews
Acknowledgments
Part One - A Convergence Of Interests 1911-76: 1. From Cow Bail to Parliament.
2. Jack Herbert Gets a Start
3. Bjelke-Petersen Makes a Profit
4. Mr Bischof and Mr Baystone
5. A Palace Coup
6. The Jewel in the Crown
7. Gulbransen Sets a Trap
8. Herbert Speaks
9. The Lost Indian
10. Friends and Guests
11. A Convergence of Interests
Part Two - Loading The Bases 1977-83: 12. A Private Army
13. Bjelke "Bewildered"
14. 'A Movie about the Rise of the Nazis'
15. A Purge at the Licensing Branch
16. Top-level Ted
17. The Rooklyn Sting
18. Joh and Ted and Terry
19. Full as a Fowl'
20. `A Corrupt Crook'
21. Mr Vogt Sends a Telex
22. Dishing the Libs
Part Three - Decline And Fall 1984-87: 23. Something for Nearly Everyone
24. The Case of the Bisexual Cop
25. Trouble of the Top Level
26. A Peerage for Sir Johannes?
27. Drilling for Kaolin
28. Vasta Sues
29. A Bjelkist Slush Fund
30. 'Joh for PM'
31. A Tiger by the Tail
32. Stranded in Disneyland
33. The Domino Principle
34. 'I'm Going to Give Him The Bullet’
35. The Flip Side of Looney Tunes
Part Four Aftermath 1987-92: 36. Bond Delirious
37. A Scalpel for the Body Politic
38. Vasta Sees a Conspiracy
39. Shady, Russ, Top-level
40. A Welcome Touch of Police Court Thuggery
41. A Voice from the Past
42. Commercial Blackmail'
43. Fitzgerald Fallout
44. `God Has Judged Me.'
45. Lewis and Rooklyn
46. The Lewis Trial: 'Dangerous to Convict.'
47. The Thiess Libel Trial: Corruption `on a Large Scale and on Many Occasions'
48. A Hillbilly Trial
EPILOGUE - In which - lessons are sought from the Queensland experience: 49. A Portrait of Australia?
50. The Separation of the Doctrine
The materials on this site are the copyright of Networked Knowledge. Copyright Notice
The Networked Knowledge web site is hosted and maintained by Howstat Computing Services as a community service. Enquiries to webmaster@howstat.com