Stu's Letters Book

A SERIES OF LETTERS TO THE NEWSPAPERS After we landed in Western Australia, I wrote many letters to the West Australian on published subjects that would take my ‘‘ire’’ and of which I could not let go. After retirement my letters are mostly confined to the local press. Over the years, the majority of my Letters were published and at times stirred quite a bit of debate in the Letters columns of the various newspapers. I would frequently get phone calls from people who thought the same as me but were “too shy” to put their feelings into print. I have not kept copies of all the letters and subject stories to which I have written in about, but the content of my letters indicates the reason I “got on my soap box” every now and then. I am a great believer in that if we sit back and do and say nothing, then we cannot complain about the type of government we get. It has often been said that I should have had a go at being a politician, but I am realistic enough to realise that my health (as on “old polio”) would not have stood up the rigors of that calling. As much as people condemn them, Politicians are, in general, extremely hard working people and, regardless of our political views and the few who obviously don’t belong there, we should show them the respect they deserve for “having a go”. No doubt there will be more to come - I may be old, but definitely not finished! Please enjoy the following letters. If nothing else, family will get an insight as to what sort of person I am. Also, as you work your way through this compilation of letters, you will occasionally see ones referring to the need to bring water from the north of WA. It has been a long held dream of mine that, one day, we will have a Premier and Prime Minister who would see the value, indeed the need, to use water from the north to “green” Western Australia, making it the “food bowl” for Australia and South-east Asia by taking over that role from the Riverina irrigation area developed all those years ago in conjunction with the Snowy River Scheme. (See “My Dreams” near the back of this book of letters.) I will group certain letters that cover the same subject – such as water.