Coonamble
Axe attack
Coonabmble, about an hour's drive east of Walgett also had a segregated cinema. While one group of students had been working with the Walgett community, another had been in Coonamble.
One weekend, as I was driving through Coonamble on my way back from Walgett, a familiar figure waved me down.
It was Owen Westcott. He had been involved in a demonstrtation the night before, and had been beaten up by local racists. Bruised and bloody, he had been reuluctantly treated by a local doctor.
But Owen's condition was healthy compared to his beloved car - a Citroen 2CV. Some locals had taken to it with an axe. They broke every piece of glass, and stove in the sump.
He didn't want to put it on the train in Coonamble, fearing further damage there. We agreed that I would tow him thirty miles to Gulargambone.
By this time we had been recognised, and we were being thretened by a group in an FJ Holden. We went to the police for protection, only to be told to piss off. Troublemakes like us had no rights.
We decided to risk it and drive to Gulargambone. With my VW towing the damaged Citroen we couldn't go very fast, and a few miles down the lonely road we saw an FJ Holden rapidly approaching in the rear mirror. This, we thought, was it. Suddenly, the Holden changed course, and turned off to the right. We were safe. Behind it was a police car. The Coonamble cops weren't nice, but Coonamble was not Mississippi.
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