Rupert Ernest Lockwood (10 March 1908 – 8 March 1997) was an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

activist. Lockwood was born in

Natimuk Natimuk is a town in Western Victoria, Australia. It is located about northwest of Melbourne. A further west of Natimuk is one of Australia's best climbing areas, Mount Arapiles. At the 2016 census, Natimuk had a population of 514, up from 4 ...

to newspaper proprietor Alfred Wright Lockwood and Alice Francis. He became a journalist in 1930, working for the

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Herald A herald, or a herald of arms, is an officer of arms, ranking between pursuivant and king of arms. The title is commonly applied more broadly to all officers of arms. Heralds were originally messengers sent by monarchs or noblemen to ...

'' until 1935, when he went overseas. He worked in Singapore, Japan, China and the United Kingdom before observing the rise of fascism in Germany, Italy and Spain. He returned to Australia in 1938 and joined the

Communist Party of Australia The Communist Party of Australia (CPA), known as the Australian Communist Party (ACP) from 1944 to 1951, was an Australian political party founded in 1920. The party existed until roughly 1991, with its membership and influence having been i ...

(CPA member, 1939 - 1969),Cahill, R. (2013
Rupert Lockwood (1908-1997): Journalist, Communist, Intellectual
Ph.D thesis, University of Wollongong. Retrieved 22 September 2018. on the day Australia declared war. After finding work in the minor labour press he became associate editor and then editor of the

Waterside Workers' Federation The Waterside Workers' Federation of Australia (WWF) was an Australian trade union that existed from 1902 to 1993. After a period of negotiations between other Australian maritime unions, it was federated in 1902 and first federally registered ...

's ''Maritime Worker''. He played a significant part in the

Royal_Commission_on_Espionage The Royal Commission on Espionage was a royal commission established on 13 April 1954 by the Australian government pursuant to the Royal Commissions Act 1902 to inquire into and report on Soviet espionage in Australia. The establishment of the ...

(1954–55), in which the government alleged that he was a Russian spy. In 1969 he left the Communist Party, disillusioned after the Soviet

invasion of Czechoslovakia The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia refers to the events of 20–21 August 1968, when the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Rep ...

. He wrote several books including: : ''The story of Jim Healy'' (1951) : ''America invades Australia'' (1955) : ''Black Armada'' (1975) : ''Humour Is Their Weapon'' (1985) : ''Ship to Shore'' (1990) : ''War on the Waterfront'' (1987) Lockwood died in 1997.

Black Armada

Black Armada is an account of an Australian contribution to the making of the

Indonesian Republic Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guinea. Ind ...

. Many forces contrived to make this happen: the Australian Government was a Labor government (from late 1941 to December 1949); the Australian shipping unions of the time were largely communist led; a substantial group of Indonesian political prisoners (the

Digul The Digul River () is a major river in southern Papua (province), Papua province, Indonesia, on the island of New Guinea. It is the fourth longest river in New Guinea after Sepik River, Mamberamo River and Fly River. With a total length of and ...

, Tanah-Merah prisoners) had been interned in prison camps in Australian; and the

Netherlands East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

government in exile had been installed in Australia, at

Wacol Wacol is a suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Wacol had a population of 3,761 people. Geography Wacol is bounded to the west by the Brisbane River and to the north loosely by Wolston Creek. It is south-west of t ...

, Queensland. The book details how these forces came together to create mutinies of Indonesian seamen and Australian

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict som ...

s at vital Australian ports, starting in September 1945 (with some shipping/waterfront strikes being broken in 1946) but continuing until 1949, affecting Dutch shipping to the Indies, and thus ensuring vital time for Indonesian nationalists to frustrate Dutch plans for post-war reimposition of Dutch colonial rule in Indonesia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lockwood, Rupert 1908 births 1997 deaths Australia–Indonesia relations Australia–Netherlands relations Indonesian National Revolution Communist Party of Australia members 20th-century Australian journalists The Herald (Melbourne) people

Black Armada

See also

References