This was an original protest note handed out in central Sydney during the mid 1980’s protesting the rise in taxation being levied by the then Labour Government.
The Prime Minister Bob Hawke defeated Malcolm Fraser who was renown for his tax razor gangs and whittling back the edges on student, old age and unemployed benefits. The Labour party was also criticized for its handling of the economy as witnessed by this note.
The over print on this one with Banana Republic Taxtralia is the most sought after of these notes. Â 55 1/2 cents payable at Credibility Gap Canberra.
Bob Hawke attended Oxford University between 1953 and 1956. In 1954 he was for ever immortalized by the Guinness Book of Records when he sculled 2.5 pints of beer in 11 seconds. This man was to become the Prime Minister of Australia.
Bob Hawke recounted the occasion when he said, “In more down-to-earth fashion I inadvertently achieved notoriety as a result of one the quaint and ancient customs of my college. A system operated at dinner in the Great Hall under which if an offence was committed – in my case coming to dinner without a gown (some bastard had borrowed mine) – one was ‘sconced’. This meant having to drink two and a half pints of ale out of an antique pewter pot in less than twenty-five seconds. Failure to do so involved paying for the first drink, plus another two and a half pints. My chance of avoiding payment lay in downing the ale within the limit and hoping that the Sconcemaster – the President of the Junior Common Room – could not beat my time. I was too broke for the fine and necessity became the mother of ingestion. I downed the contents of the pot in eleven seconds, left the Sconcemaster floundering, and entered the Guinness Book of Records with the fastest time ever recorded. This feat was to endear me to some of my fellow Australians more than anything else I ever achieved.”
Fantastic piece of Australian political campaign history and very hard to come by.
