Chapter 7- Vietnam - Vietcong

On September 7, 1967, in the Senate, The Honorable Dr Rex Patterson, a member of the Labor Party representing Dawson in Queensland, asked The Honorable Charles Aderman, a member of the Australian Country Party representing Fisher, about the Australian government's guarantee that Australian wheat sent to mainland China was not being forwarded to North Vietnam. The Honorable Charles Alderman responded by stating that the Australian government does not have control over the ultimate destination of goods purchased by foreign buyers https://shorturl.at/cwI39

This means that the then Liberal-Country Party Coalition government did not care about the fact that Australian wheat was being used to feed the Vietnamese soldiers who were fighting against Australian, New Zealand, and USA troops in the North Vietnamese jungles. It is unlikely that Australia will ever find out how much of that wheat went into the bellies of the North Vietnamese soldiers before they marched off into the jungles in search of Australian, New Zealand, and USA troops. It is no wonder that the Liberal-Country Party Coalition government treated the returned Vietnam soldiers (our brave young heroes) in the way that they did, which was recorded in various media stories. The government was ashamed and guilty for what our country did to these service personnel while they were fighting, dying, and being maimed so that Australia could feed more Chinese and North Vietnamese.

​Even though it's now April 2024, my memories of those events are still as clear as if they happened yesterday. However, whenever I go back to finalize various parts of this story, I must re-read all the complex details that make up the terrible vision I saw and experienced during my short stay in The People's Republic of China. This causes my anxiety levels to rise alarmingly. It was the bashing of the Chinese citizens by the Chinese Red Guards that affected me more than almost being shot by the same Red Guards.  

I struggle to find the right words to conclude this part of my story. 1919, before I moved to Ballarat in Victoria, I visited the Vietnam Memorial in Portland. As an older person, I felt immense shame and regret for not doing more to prevent the harm caused to Australia's young soldiers by the 1965-1967 Liberal-Country Party Coalition government.

At the same time, Australia was sending soldiers to North Vietnam to fight against the North Vietnamese army. Additionally, Australia provided China with wheat on humanitarian grounds. Still, this wheat was being sent to North Vietnam to feed the enemy soldiers fighting against the Australian soldiers and their allies. This guilt and anger have been weighing heavily on me.

That is why my COT Telstra arbitration story is so difficult to finish.

In October 1989, after visiting my doctor in Portland and taking stress-related medication, I locked myself in one of the cabins at a holiday camp. My twenty-year marriage had ended that day because my wife Faye and I were struggling to run a telephone-dependent holiday camp that did not have reliable phone service.

Faye was worried when she couldn't find me in the campground. She had broken her leg three weeks prior and couldn't walk with the cast, so she called the police, who then called the local Search and Rescue Unit. They broke down the door of the cabin where I was seeking some peace and quiet. In my confused state, I thought I was back on board my ship, Hopepeak, where the Chinese Red Guards would often wake me up in the middle of the night, looking for supporters of Chiang Kai-shek and the Chinese Nationalist Party demanding I quote segments from Mao Tse Tung's little red book.

Clad in my tracksuit, I was poised to recite excerpts from Mao Tse Tung's little red book, with a yellow bookmark neatly tucked in the last page I had read.

However, this was not the case this time. I was not back on my Ship Hopepeak; I was in cabin 10 at the holiday camp seeking peace and quiet when the local Search and Rescue Unit found me sleeping, and their efforts to rouse me proved challenging. As a result, I was subsequently restrained in a straightjacket and ferried by ambulance to Briely Psychiatric Hospital, located 110 kilometres away in Warrnambool.

Fortunately, the medical experts who interviewed me at the facility exhibited exceptional competence, thereby attesting to their ability to discern that I was of sound mind and posed no threats to myself or others. During my interaction with them, I recounted my experience at another hospital where I had vehemently declined to receive an injection administered with an unsterilized needle akin to those used in veterinary clinics.

The situation had escalated, and a Chinese national in the hospital was treated much worse than I was to be treated; this lady with an affectionate smile so sweet ended up with a split nose after a Red Guard tried to rearrange her looks. The two doctors at Briely Hospital, after learning about this hospital event in China, diagnosed me with stress but reassuringly ruled out any harmful or dangerous tendencies. As a result, I was allowed to return home the following day, accompanied by my friend's spouse, Margaret. Regrettably, my wife, Faye, left the campsite the previous night and relocated to Melbourne.

Two days later, Monivae College from Hamilton, 90 kilometres away, arrived with 70 students and 10 staff to billet for four nights, three meals per day. Monivae College wrote of the experience they had when trying to make contact with the holiday camp. Since 1989, Monuave College returned to the holiday twice a year until 1999 (ten years). This patronage and the school's knowledge of my ongoing telephone problems kept my business afloat. The Catholic Brothers had their own residence in Cape Bridgewater and were able to make contact via those premises.

This type of patronage kept the business afloat. On the other hand, groups who lived further afield wrote several letters telling me they could not return to the venue again because ringing out of the holiday camp via Gold Phone coin operated failtated had massive problems as the following example shows.

My experience with Telstra is one of injustice, deceit, and persecution. It goes beyond my personal struggles and encompasses the many unlawful happenings against me and other COT cases in different ways. As you read my COT Telstra story, I urge you to understand the gravity of the threats that Telstra carried out against me, the lies told about me by the arbitrator and Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO), and the appalling treatment I received from TIO arbitration consultants.

My China story is an essential part of my COT story. It is a story of Telstra gaining access to my phone conversations and using this information to threaten me. Even after my wife left the holiday camp, the China Flashbacks continued to haunt me. On June 3rd, 1993, Telstra technicians visited my residence and left a file note in my briefcase. The note was redacted but began with the visible text: "Alan Smith spoke with the former prime minister, Malcolm Fraser." It was clear that Telstra had gained unauthorized access to my conversations with Mr Fraser, the Minister for the Army, to discuss selling wheat to China in 1967.

Back in 1967, when I returned from China, I was interviewed by a journalist in Sydney. The journalist advised me that my story had been blocked and that I would be a marked man by supporters of Bob Menzies, Australia's prime minister at the time, who was known for his hatred of the communist Seamans Union of Australia. The downloaded evidence files show the extent of the injustice I faced through this ordeal. I had no option but to include my China story in my COT story to provide a comprehensive picture of the many unlawful happenings against me and other COT cases. The many threats, lies, and mistreatment I faced were unacceptable. I hope my story will warn others who may think arbitration is their answer to an expensive court case.

Simply put, I had no option but to include my China story in my COT story. 

Portland Memorial Vietnam Peace Park

Please visit → https://shorturl.at/aejRT

Fifty-six years ago, on 17 and 18 September 1967, I alerted the Australian government via the then Commonwealth Police (now called the Australian Federal Police) that some of Australia's wheat being sent to a starving Peoples Republic of China on humanitarian grounds was being redeployed to North Vietnam during the Vietnam War where North Vietnam Vietcong guerrilla's were slaughtering many Australian, New Zealand and USA  troops.(refer to Chapter 7- Vietnam-Vietcong)

What is the relationship between my personal experience with Telstra and Australia's past trading with Communist China during the Vietnam War (1955-1975)? I believe that the Australian government's actions were equivalent to trading with the enemy. Despite sending Australian troops into harm's way, the incumbent government, which was the Liberal-Country Coalition at the time, continued to trade with Communist China. This was not only immoral and deceitful but also showed a disregard for the many young soldiers from Australia, New Zealand, and the USA who were in danger.

It was an unforgivable betrayal. Moreover, Australia's bureaucrats continued to trade with China even after becoming aware of China's support for North Vietnam. This callous pragmatism that existed among Australian public servants back then is likely still present in some form today. This behaviour was also evident when they controlled the government-endorsed arbitrations that the COT cases were subjected to. They acted as if they were above the law, and such thinking could still be present in some government officials today.

Chapter 7-Vietnam-Vietcong / Chapter 7 delves into the complexities of Vietnam and Vietcong, revealing hidden aspects of the AFP's investigation and quest for truth

China has forgotten this sacrifice by Australia, New Zealand and the USA  

1 July 2021 — The editorial in The Australian Financial Review of August 28, 1967, argues why Australia's position on wheat sales to China was rational. (https://www.afr.com › World › Asia - How Australia defied US to sell wheat to a famine-starved China

This 1 July 2021 editorial in The Australian Financial Review newspaper  https://shorturl.at/pqBJV discusses the same history I asked the Commonwealth Police (now the Australian Federal Police) on 18 August 1967) would they ensure my letter to Mr Fraser would reach Canberra. I was still somewhat traumatised after luckily being allowed to leave with my ship out of a ravaged, starving China. I had upset several high-ranking communists as well as two of their Red Guards (as they were then known). I had refused to be injected with an unsterilised needle. For more on this story, click on  

While the Financial Review might argue in this 1 July 2021 editorial that supplying wheat to a starving China saved millions of Chinese lives, one must also ask how many Australian, New Zealand and USA lives were lost after Australia's wheat fed the bellies of the North Vietnamese Vietcong guerrilla's before they marched into the jungle's of North Vietnam to kill and maim as many Australian, New Zealand and USA soldiers as they could.

FOOD AND TRADE IN LATE MAOIST CHINA, 1960-1978

I noticed that T. Zhu mentioned between Footnote 82 to 85 - not only the Hopepeak ship, which I was on between 28 June and 18 September 1967 (refer British Seaman’s Record R744269 -  Open Letter to PM File No 1 Alan Smiths Seaman, he tells the story the way it happened not the way the Australian government wanted it written. Pages 54 and 55 - by T Zhu · 2021 — under the heading touched the Chinese and Russian grain markets in the 1960s, earlier than ... Australia to China was sent straight to North Vietnam.

82 In September 1967, a group of British merchant seamen quit their ship, the Hope Peak, in Sydney and flew back to London. They told the press in London that they quit the job because of the humiliating experiences to which they were subjected while in Chinese ports. They also claimed that grain shipped from a group of British merchant seamen quit their ship, the Hope Peak, in Sydney and flew back to London. They told the press in London that they quit the job because of the humiliating experiences to which they were subjected while in Chinese ports. They also claimed that grain shipped from Australia to China was being sent straight on to North Vietnam. One of them said, “I have watched grain going off our ship on conveyor belts and straight into bags stamped North Vietnam. Our ship was being used to take grain from Australia to feed the North Vietnamese. It’s disgusting.”83 The Minister of Trade and Industry received an inquiry about the truth of the story in Parliament, to which the Minister pointed out that when they left Australia, the seamen only told the Australian press that they suffered such intolerable maltreatment in various Chinese ports that they were fearful about going back. But after they arrived in London, Vietnam was added to their story. Thus the Minister claimed that he did not know the facts and did not want to challenge this story, but it seemed to him that their claims about Vietnam seemed to be an “afterthought.”84

The Australian government has misrepresented the facts surrounding why Australia continued to provide wheat to China, aware that some of it was helping the war effort in North Vietnam at the expense of many young Australian, New Zealand and USA lives during the Vietnam War.. 

The Australian Minister of Trade and Industry, Sir John McEwen, referred to by Tianxiao Zhu Footnote 82 to 85 as having stated that the British seafarers of the Hopepeak ship were fearful of going back to China and were only an afterthought after being flown from Sydney back to England, was misleading and deceptive, to say the least. John McEwen knew he was belittling the previous Hopepeak crew to benefit his trade policy at any cost when he made that statement.

That British seaman had witnessed me on two occasions being frog-marched off the Hopepeak under armed guard, never to be seen again. I was only seen again because my life was not worth 13,600 tons of wheat still in Australia, ready to be loaded onto the Hopepeak for her return voyage to the Peoples Republic of China. The voyage this British seaman was afraid of (for a good reason) if they returned with the Hopepeak. 

Interestingly, after the crew was flown back to England (I remained in Sydney), a new crew was flown out at the expense of the ship's owners. Had the ship's crew not proven they had good reason to be fearful of returning to Communist China, the ship owner would not have met the cost of flying the two crews, one to the UK and the other to Australia. 

Although I had been a British seaman, I was now an Australian citizen sailing out of Australia under a British flag. I was a registered Australian seaman and stayed in Australia. I was likewise afraid to go back to China on my second trip, as I was almost shot for being suspected of spying. I had been observed coming off a second ship on the next wharf further from where the Hopepeak had berthed.

A Greek seaman advised me that other seamen from different countries often trade information with each other on where cargoes are headed. I learned, along with other crew members from the HopePeak, that some of the wheat we were unloading was being shipped to North Vietnam. I had no good reason for not wanting to test fate and resign for another trip back to Communist China.

The China saga does not end here.

When the incident happened at the hospital, I found myself being charged with willful damage, despite it being the Red Guards who had hit the nurse with a baton. During my detention, I received regular threats and was placed under armed guard for several days. The ship's officers were kind enough to assist me in drafting two letters addressed to Mao and the People's Republic of China, where I expressed my regrets for causing any trouble at the hospital and for my conduct towards the Red Guards, whose treatment of me later was threefold.

However, what the two ship's officers had written in the letters did not match what the Red Guards wanted to say. Under pressure from the Red Guards, I had to write a third letter stating that "I am a US aggressor and a supporter of Chiang Kai-shek and the Chinese Nationalist Party." I expressed my concerns to the skipper, stating that this statement would mean I was signing my death warrant, but the 'Second Steward' in charge of the ship's correspondence insisted that I write it. At his suggestion, the 'Second Steward' drafted a new statement, which read "I disliked America and its invasion of North Vietnam." It was agreed that I would hand-deliver this letter under armed guard.

However, before leaving the ship with the letter, the 'Third (Officer) Mate' on board the Hopepeak, who was from Mauritius, informed me that the cargo being unloaded was already paid for by the People's Republic of China. He also mentioned that a further load of similar wheat was paid for and held in transit until the Hopepeak returned with the next shipment.

The British seaman threatened the Chinese Commander that if I were taken off the ship, there would be no more wheat shipments, and the ship owners would win the arbitration on the wheat that had already been supplied. This threat worked, and I returned from delivering a letter in a daze. However, the evidence does not state why the British seamen were afraid to return with the ship to China. They feared that if any crew experienced a similar situation, they would have no bargaining power with the People's Republic of China.

This was different from my experience as the 'Third Officer' had made it clear to the Chinese Commander that they would forfeit the money paid for the next shipment of wheat because it had not yet left Australia. I reported this incident to the Commonwealth Police in Sydney and a newspaper journalist. I also wrote to the Minister of the Army, asking him to ensure that Australia did not send more grain to China on the Hopepeak with a new crew. However, the ship still left for Communist China, carrying 13,600 tons of wheat, despite the ongoing fight in Vietnam.

The Australian Minister of Trade, or whoever was advising him on the Hopepeak incident, apparently misled Australians by suggesting that China was not responsible for feeding the enemy Australia was fighting with Australian wheat. This was dishonest conduct, and the adviser to the Trade Minister should not have allowed such misleading and deceptive information to be spread.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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When I started writing "My Story - Warts and All" and created this website, I decided to tell the complete story without leaving any bits out to avoid embarrassment. To narrate all my COT stories, I had to go back in time to explain how phone faults affected my well-being, and I had to include some details about an incident involving China. In 1967, only a few Australians supported America's fight against communism in Vietnam. In June 1967, I signed up for the MS HopePeak, a merchant ship with British and West Indian sailors (see British Seamans Record Book R744269  Open Letter to PM File No 1 Alan Smiths Seaman).

I was unaware we were bound for the People's Republic of China. A British Seamen's Union representative told me that the MS HopePeak was heading to Canada. Still, the following day, after I signed on board and accepted the conditions, I was informed that we were going to the People's Republic of China. I was sailing out of Australia with a cargo of wheat heading to China. The crew was horrified that Australia was trading and selling wheat to the People's Republic of China. At that time, Mao Zedong's communist government supported the North Vietnamese communists and authorized the supply of arms, technical knowledge, and financial assistance. Australian troops were among those dying in the conflict with the Viet Cong. Nothing made sense to the crew or me. 

 Vol. 87 No. 4462 (4 Sep 1965) - National Library of Australiahttps://nla.gov.au › nla.obj-702601569  Vol. 87 N

"The Department of External Affairs has recently published an "Information Handbook entitled "Studies on Vietnam".  It established the fact that the Vietcong are equipped with Chinese arms and ammunition"

If it is right to ask Australian youth to risk everything in Vietnam it is wrong to supply their enemies"

Australian trade commssioners do not so readily see that our Chinese trade in war materials finances our own distruction. NDr do they see so clearly that the wheat trade does the same thing."  

After having witnessed the transfer of Australian grain from our ship to an unregistered vessel bound for North Vietnam and The People's Republic of China, this vision changed our lives forever. This happened while Australia, New Zealand, and the USA were at war with North Vietnam. The crew of Hopepeak was flown back to England after refusing to re-crew the ship again with another load of Australian wheat. This sickened them as they had been unwittingly involved in trading with the enemy by Australia.

We have all lived with this pain since August and September 1965. I want to reiterate that nothing added up in September 1965. When I arrived back in Australia on 18 September 1997, with the same ship, Hopepeak, taking on another 13,600 tons of wheat, it was alarming this was about to happen again and again. They were taking the wheat back to the starving people of China and North Vietnam, who were hell-bent on killing and maiming as many Australian, New Zealand, and US troops as possible.

I would be a “marked man” - a noted communist

By the third week in September 1997, after arriving in Sydney, a new crew was flown in from the UK to replace the outgoing ship's crew. Following my anti-American and pro-communism sentiments, which were documented during my house arrest, I was interviewed by the Australian Commonwealth Police, which is now known as the Australian Federal Police. During the interview, I provided them with a handwritten two-page letter addressed to the Honorable Malcolm Fraser, then the Minister for the Army.

In the letter, I informed Mr Fraser that North Vietnam was possibly using Australia's grain to feed the North Vietnamese, who were fighting the United States of America, Australia, and New Zealand in a war that made no sense. I requested that the authorities ensure Mr. Fraser received the letter, but I never received a response from him. Despite being aware that some of the grain was being used in North Vietnam, Australia continued to supply grain to the People's Republic of China. This enabled North Vietnamese soldiers to fight against Australian, New Zealand, and American troops after consuming a bowl of Australian wheat. Unfortunately, my efforts to alert the government were not acted upon, and no one transparently investigated my claims.

Never did any government official inquire about how I discovered China was sending Australian wheat to Vietnam. This part of my story occurred after my ex-wife Faye had been gone for four years, just before I met Shelia Hawkins at the Society Restaurant in Bourke Street, Melbourne. Shelia's restaurant was experiencing phone problems, which were picked up by the talkback radio show Deryn Hinch. From that radio show, I contacted Sheila, and we agreed to meet to discuss our mutual phone complaints. This was the first meeting of the COT Cases.

THE COT STORY - was about to begin. 

Local Portland police files will record the date Sergeant Frank, who we know professionally, visited the holiday camp. This was after an intruder incident where I confronted someone on my property. At the same time, I was promoting the singles club weekends, which was a great way for single people to socialize and meet each other. One early morning, I noticed a small light in the distance that I initially thought was from my ute's glove box. As I got closer, I found a four-wheel-drive vehicle parked and a person standing under the overhanging branches of some giant cypress trees on my property.

I picked up an axe from a nearby woodpile to protect myself and approached the person. The intruder got into the car as I reached the trees. I demanded that the person identify himself and his purpose, and he stammered that he was a fishing inspector waiting to catch abalone poachers. Although the answer seemed plausible, I lodged a report with the Portland police later that morning, just in case. A few days after the police sergeant visited the camp to discuss the intruder issue, he phoned me to arrange a second visit.

The sergeant did not want to discuss his investigation into the fishing inspector story over the phone. He arrived within the hour and explained that he had checked with the Victorian and South Australian wildlife authorities investigating fishing and abalone poaching matters. Neither of them had authorized an investigator to be on my land, and if they had, they would have notified me first. Why had this man been standing under the cypress tree? What was he waiting to see if he wasn't a fishing inspector waiting to catch abalone poachers? Whenever a school group was in attendance, I did a security check various times during the night, and my overnight staff did the same. I notified teachers and group leaders that I was often in my office when the light was on. Many a cup of tea or coffee was shared with a school teacher or a group member on night duty.

In 1994/95, I went through arbitration proceedings. During that time, I shared with the Australian Federal Police a collection of newspaper articles that featured two separate telephone conversations with The Hon. Malcolm Fraser, who had previously served as the Prime Minister of Australia. Page 12 of the transcripts from my interview with the AFP's Australian Federal Police Investigation File No/1 reveal that the AFP was interested in the confidential discussions I had with Mr Fraser concerning my correspondence on September 18, 1967, after my return from China. Mr Fraser's conduct during our conversations was highly professional. He showed great integrity when he decided to report only what was necessary to the media regarding our discussion about phone bugging. This was after I had informed him about a Telstra file note that had redacted significant portions of the information we had discussed. His actions demonstrated his unwavering commitment to preserving confidential information, a testament to his character.

“FORMER prime minister Malcolm Fraser yesterday demanded Telecom explain why his name appears in a restricted internal memo.

“Mr Fraser’s request follows the release of a damning government report this week which criticised Telecom for recording conversations without customer permission.

“Mr Fraser said Mr Alan Smith, of the Cape Bridgewater Holiday Camp near Portland, phoned him early last year seeking advice on a long-running dispute with Telecom which Mr Fraser could not help.” (See Senate Evidence File No/53)

I'm curious to know why someone at Telstra Corporation felt it was necessary to document my phone call with former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser. I wonder if my conversation with him was recorded on one of the nine audio tapes (see above) that AUSTEL (the government communications regulator) handed over to the Australian Federal Police but refused to share with the COT cases. It's worth noting that I was never suspected of committing any crime or posing a threat to national security. It's important to remember that the Honorable Malcolm Fraser, former Prime Minister of Australia, played a significant role in bridging the gap between the Australian and South Vietnamese governments. This is evident from various official documents. Above all, we must acknowledge and honour one of Australia's greatest leaders, a compassionate man and a skilled politician. - https://shorturl.at/eiqy3 and Download PDF.  

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