By Neil Mackay, The Herald (Scotland) A new biography charts the life and death of the socialist firebrand John Maclean. Our Writer at Large talks to author Donald Robertson about a man as loved as he was loathed THE state feared John Maclean so much that he was hounded, denounced, deprived of employment, blackballed, imprisoned and finally tormented to his death. One friend claimed “he was the victim of calculated
I was delighted when Rob Hirst accepted my invitation to contribute a chapter on drums to Roll Over Beethoven. As editor of Roadrunner and Countdown magazine in the late 70s and early 80s, I’d covered and written about the steady and uncompromising rise of Midnight Oil to the top rank of the Australian music industry. Describing a March 1981 open-air concert at Adelaide University I wrote: ‘It was awesome, brilliant,
Donald Robertson, Great John Maclean Has Come Home to the Clyde: The Life and Times of Scotland’s Greatest Socialist (Resistance Books: London, 2025). Review by Jim Claven. This new biography of the Scottish socialist and activist John Maclean is a tour de force. Well researched and written in a clear and engaging style, its nearly 600 pages include more than 50 pages of references covering a wide range of primary and
On the morning of Thursday 28 November 1918, the Imperial War Cabinet met at 10 Downing Street in London. Outside the weather was wet and windy and the temperature struggled to reach seven degrees Celsius. It was the American holiday of Thanksgiving; but Americans were not the only ones feeling thankful. The armistices signed by the Allies on 30 October (with Turkey), 3 November (Austria-Hungary) and 11 November (Germany) had
Lately, I’ve been thinking about Bruce. First, I saw the film, Deliver Me From Nowhere. Excellent. Shortly afterwards, I read Bruce, the authorised biography by Peter Ames Carlin. Pretty good. Then I realised it was coming up to fifty years since I travelled from Bath to London to see the man. I got to reminiscing. Dug out some old letters and clippings. Hit the internet. And came up with this
In researching my recent biography of John Maclean, it became clear to me that the poets of Scotland played a major role in rescuing Scotland’s greatest socialist from the mists of obscurity. Thus, when I visited the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh in September, I was struck by this 1980 painting by Alexander Moffat. Titled ‘Poet’s Pub’, it is an imaginary vision of the major Scottish poets and writers
Copies of ‘Great John Maclean Has Come Home to the Clyde’ are now available in-store at the following Australian bookshops. Sydney Abbey’s, 131 York Street, Sydney (pictured above). BOOK FACE, Shop 30 Northbridge Plaza, 79-113 Sailors Bay Road, Northbridge. Gould’s Books, 536 King Street, Newtown. Resistance Books, 22-36 Mountain Street, Ultimo. Title, Surry Hills Store, 501 Crown Street, Surry Hills. Title, Barangaroo Store, 400 Barangaroo Avenue, Barangaroo, Sydney. Melbourne The
These were my opening remarks at the launch of Great John Maclean Has Come Home to the Clyde at Pollokshaws Burgh Hall, Glasgow on 26 August 2025. Joining me on the panel were Owen Maitland, national president of Scottish Socialist Youth (pictured above left) and Iain Gault from my publisher Resistance Books (above right). “History’s what people are trying to hide from you, not what they’re trying to show you.
As far as I am aware, only the Scottish and Irish bookshops listed below have copies in store. The book is available online at all other outlets listed. Scotland Calton Books, 159 London Road, Glasgow Mount Florida Books, 1068 Cathcart Road, Glasgow Lighthouse Books, 43-45 West Nicolson Street, Edinburgh (pictured above) Ireland Connolly Books, 43 East Essex Street Temple Bar, Dublin UK Resistance Books Waterstones Foyles Hive TGJones Fishpond Awesome
It was early 1975. I remember warm summer nights and nude swimming in the backyard pool of the house on Nottage Terrace. There were a few Adelaide locals but mainly twenty-somethings evacuated from Darwin after Cyclone Tracy struck on Christmas Day. A mix of English, Americans and Australians; more than a few fresh from India and the Asian hippie trail. They had been part of a little Darwin scene that
If it had all gone smoothly there wouldn’t have been any stories to tell, would there? Despite the challenges and hurdles along the way, our three-week tour around the Scottish Highlands was a marvelous and memorable experience. The first challenge was getting there. Once she’d decided she wanted to mark her admission into the 60s club with a trip back to Scotland, Di found a reasonable three-leg business class fare.
An eBook of ‘No Fixed Address’ is now available on Ratuken Kobo and Amazon. The Kobo version can be purchased from Rakuten Kobo and can be read on a Kobo eReader, a Kobo Books app or the Kobo Web Reader. Click on the screenshot below to go to the site. The Kobo preview includes the foreword, introduction, prologue and first chapter of the book. The Kindle version can be purchased
There was a lot of love in the room at the Adelaide launch of ‘No Fixed Address’ and the opening of the related exhibition in the Wall Gallery at Her Majesty’s Theatre on 24 August. Main pic: Duckie Taylor, Graeme Isaac, Donald Robertson and Ricky Harrison. Pic by Peter Thurmer. An early arrival was original No Fixed Address sound engineer (and sometimes bass player) Duckie Taylor, accompanied by his cousin
Through May, June and July 2023, there was a swag of radio interviews done in Melbourne and Sydney about the book ‘No Fixed Address’. Links are below. Main pic above: Ricky Harrison and Bart Willoughby at ABC studios, Ultimo, Sydney, 6 July 2023. 3CR Melbourne #1 (5 May) Bart Willoughby waxed lyrical on No Fixed Address, music, life, the universe and everything on Robbie’s Thorpe’s Blak ‘n’ Deadly show on
The critics are swooning over ‘No Fixed Address’. Links to print and online articles and reviews are below. ‘The story of this radical group is told in a new book by Donald Robertson. On the back cover Goanna’s Shane Howard describes No Fixed Address as “the tip of the spear” that plunged into the heart of middle Australia. And as a story, it’s got everything – starting with a fiery
