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[00:00:00] Kia ora tatou. Mākuu e tīmata e pēnei ana. Tūia i runga, tūia i raro, tūia i roto, tūia i wako, tīhei mauri ora. Nōrere i ngā reo, i ngā mana, Raurangatira mā, Ngā ihi, ngā mana, ngā tapu, Nau mai, haramai, whakatau mai i runga i te karanga o te pō nei. Nau [00:00:30] mai. National Library, international Library. [00:01:00] Huri noa, huri noa. Ngā mihi ki a koutou katoa. Te Atiawa ki te Whanganuiatara, Taranaki Whānui, tēnā koutou. National Library, tēnā koutou. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. Greetings, welcome to this fantastic evening, on this fantastic night in Wellington, to [00:01:30] Celebrate the launch of Down for the Destruction of Charles Mackay by Paul Diamond. My name is Kevin Homer and I'm one of the co hosts for this evening, uh, representing LaGans, the lesbian and gay archives of New Zealand, together with Nicola Leggett from the Massey University Press. So we really do welcome you here. Uh, to this [00:02:00] place, uh, which is particularly poignant because located here are the records of the lesbian and gay, trans, intersex, uh, and all the other communities that, uh, exist under the umbrella of Rainbow Communities. The collection of records, some of which Paul will have accessed, uh, to enable him to complete his research. So, it is. It is great that you are here and we're here to host you this evening. It's also, [00:02:30] of course, Courage Day, which is the International Day of the Imprisoned Writer. I know there are lots of imprisoned writers here, so I welcome you all here today as well. I haven't got much more to say because my job really is to open the, um, the evening for the speeches to follow, but to welcome you all. Welcome once. Welcome, trust. Welcome, trust. Uh.[00:03:00] Ka oti, ka oti ngā mahi e.[00:03:30] [00:04:00] Uh, K Kilda. And just before I hand over the, uh. I'd like to turn to my co host. I'd also just like to reiterate, uh, welcome to [00:04:30] family, to friends, to all in our community who've come along this evening. I also acknowledge all the, um, our peers, uh, particularly Chris. I'd like to, um, make a special mention to you. Uh, and if there were, and all other, um, People who are here tonight. Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou. Hara mai, Nicola. Kia [00:05:00] ora tātou. My name is Nicola Leggett. I'm the publisher of Massey University Press. And thank you so much for coming today. It's one of those days where I'm sure a lot of you felt that you should just nip down to Oriental Bay for a swim. So, we're very grateful that you're here. So many of Paul's family and friends and colleagues and fellow historians. It's marvellous, so thank you. I'd also like to thank Chris [00:05:30] for agreeing that we should have the event here. We're enormously grateful, Chris. I want to thank Lagans, the co host, and thank you to all the team, um, who have helped tonight and all the, um, team also from the library. who are busy pouring drinks and helping with the catering. We're enormously grateful for all of that. This event is a little talk that grew. When, when Paul and I talked about how we would publicize this book, um, we thought that we would have a small talk here at the [00:06:00] library and Over the weekend, we're going to be going to Whanganui for four events, two walking tours around Charles Mackie's Whanganui, a launch, um, and a talk. But I think, um, as news grew that we were putting this event on, the R. E. S. P. list swelled. And I think there are many reasons for that. Um, first and foremost, I think, is, as we all agree, that Paul Diamond, um, really deserves the most fabulous Chapel Award. And so I think many of you are [00:06:30] here just because he is just so lovely and has been so lovely to work with. And I think the other reason is that this is a story. Uh, and the time had come to tell it. Many people know a little bit about it. I mean, myself, I knew a little bit. There'd been a shooting. And I knew a little bit about Darcy Cresswell. But no one really had the whole story. Someone finally had to tell it. And that [00:07:00] was Paul, and the time to tell it was to tell it through a queer lens. Um, and to reclaim, as Roger Smith said in an absolutely wonderful interview published last week, to reclaim a queer ancestor, two queer ancestors. Um, to tell the story in a way that perhaps it wouldn't have been told 20 years ago, even 10 years ago, you know, Paul has done the most wonderful, wonderful thing. It's been a pleasure to work with him. He is so [00:07:30] hardworking, so determined, so committed. So creative, so great at finding mistakes in a manuscript, Paul, you've got an absolutely eagle eye. Um, and really, as we went on, we just wanted to make a terrific book. So the book grew in concept. I think, you know, we thought maybe it would be lightly illustrated, but as it, as it's turned out, it's very richly illustrated, because the moment we started looking for images, we couldn't not use them. Um, and I think that people have really [00:08:00] responded. To the richness that lies in the book, not just the text, but the imagery. The book has also had absolutely extraordinary media. There's no place that it hasn't been. And Paul joked the other day that his next task is to conquer the sports pages. Which we probably could do, given that Mackie was involved in the Whanganui. Racing Club and the, we discovered the other day the Yachting Club. I don't know where you yacht in Whanganui, but I guess you go about in boats on the river. Um, [00:08:30] and then of course we've got plans for, you know, tote bags and t shirts. But honestly, there has been just so much interest and for this story to be on the project last night really is a sign of how terrific this book is, but also how much New Zealand has changed and how much the general media is open now. to being receptive to our queer histories. Um, the book is for sale, thanks to Sarah and the bookshop, and I really hope that you will buy a copy and ask Paul to sign it for you. I know he would be delighted [00:09:00] to do that for you. Um, but now I'd like to very much welcome him to the lectern. Haere mai, Paul. Kia ora. Nau mai ki Maki Land. Um,[00:09:30] Just wanted to add my thanks to the, um, people who've made this evening possible. Um, Ridge and Jasmine and Reuben and the other venues, people here at the National Library. The launch supporters, Massey University Press and Lagans, and the National Library. Chris, thank you. Really tonight, I just want to do three things. I want to talk to you about [00:10:00] collections, and their role in telling. The story that became this book. Um, some acknowledgements, which of course authors do at book launches. And I'm going to give you some introductions from the people I know because of Charles Mackey. And you're going to get to hear from one of them. So, as Kevin has mentioned, um, the launch of Downfall coincides with Courage Day, which is something I'm really pleased about. And as Kevin said, this is the New Zealand name for the International Day of the Imprisoned Writer. The New Zealand Society of Authors [00:10:30] named the day jointly after James Courage and his grandmother, Sarah. James was born in Amberley and went to school in Christchurch. He was a novelist and poet whose novel, A Way of Love, was banned because it portrayed a homosexual relationship between a younger and an older man. Sarah Courage's book describing colonial life in New Zealand was burned by neighbours who resented comments she made about them. Courage's diaries were edited by Chris Brickle and published recently by Otago University Press. [00:11:00] There aren't too many degrees of separation between Courage and Darcy Cresswell and Charles Mackey. In the, um, diaries you can read that in 1938 during a Ludden pub crawl, Darcy Cresswell suggested to Courage that the pair pick up a guardsman or a sailor and spend the night in mutual fornication art. This quote from Courage's diary is an example of the traces of queer lives brought together in Downfall, the destruction of Charles Mackie. So together I'm arguing that these traces are evidence of [00:11:30] homosexuality as these men understood it in their own times. This illustrates what the historian Justin Bengry calls queering the past. To queer the past is to let people in history define themselves in often complex and unfamiliar ways, or to accept that even if they did define themselves, we may never know how. It is a conversation between us and them about the resonances we may feel with their lives without demanding from them a direct line of kinship and exclusive ownership. Queering the past is an act that happens [00:12:00] in the present. So queering the past, retelling hidden histories like what happened when Charles Mackie met Darcy Cressfall relies on access to evidence, which doesn't always survive. I'm very grateful for the many collections I've been able to access here and overseas, and these include the Lesbian and Gay Archives of New Zealand, Te Pūranga Takatāpui o Aotearoa, Laggans, one of our hosts for this evening's launch. But there are many reasons why the collections I've been able to access and to use might not survive. [00:12:30] At the moment, about 40 of the several hundred secret erotic drawings by the Bloomsbury artist Duncan Grant, who, by the way, knew Lady Otoline Murrell, who knew Dicey Cresswell, are on show at Charleston in East Sussex, which was the house Grant shared with the painter Vanessa Bell. What really intrigues me about the story of these drawings is the miracle of their survival. So, in 1959, Grant bundles them up to be sent to an artist friend with a note. These drawings are very private. Please give them to Edward Libas to do what he [00:13:00] likes with them. Edward Libas keeps the sketches hidden and then leaves them to another artist, Elderly Knowles. When Knowles dies in 1991, the sketches pass to his friend, Matei Radev. When Radev dies in 2009, the sketches go to his partner, Norman Coates, who donates them to Charleston. And I love the story of resistance against the forces working against the survival of queer collections. Laggans holds the surviving collections of the Lesbian and Gay Rights Resources Center, the target of an arson attack in [00:13:30] 1986. This event inspired the Out of the Ashes event earlier this year. Where it was incredibly sobering to listen, uh, from one of the staff from Tauranga, from the Rainbow Youth Building in Tauranga, talking about another arson attack in June of this year, which destroyed the building housing the Rainbow Youth Building. So even when collections survive, accessing them is not always straightforward or easy. And when you look at Downfall, you'll see how much I've relied on collections in places such as the Alexander Turnbull Library, the [00:14:00] National Library, and Archives New Zealand, which holds Charles Mackie's inmate file. This records his time in five prisons from 1920 to 1926. The file includes nearly 20 of Mackie's letters to his family, friends, and work contacts, censored but retained in the file. So that's one of them that you can see clipped in the front of the file. When I told the writer Peter Wells about these letters, he described them as a gift. Wells was right. The letters enable us to get close to Mackie and hear his voice. And I'm [00:14:30] grateful to the Archives New Zealand staff member who told me about this file and how to apply it to the Department of Corrections for access. But while I've worked on this book, a blanket hundred year rule has been imposed on records like these, meaning it would have been difficult or impossible to access or research material underpinning this book. I used to deal with record staff at Corrections who I could email and phone, and they also told me about records they'd found, like prison visitors books for Mount Eden. Now, requests are handled by staff at the end of an information email, who don't always give their [00:15:00] names, and even where they do, Call centre staff are forbidden from putting calls through. The imposition of privacy rules has seen decisions being made on behalf of dead people, but I'd like to ask who can determine a deceased person's best interests. I think there needs to be a better process for historians and other researchers to follow to request access. The importance of access to records like Mackie's inmate file and being able to identify individuals was brought home to me recently when I watched Chris Brickle give the Keith Sinclair lecture a few weeks ago.[00:15:30] Chris said that privacy needs to be balanced with the importance of identification of homosexual men in archival files. Where people can be named, he argued, they become more real, and a more real connection with our communities is possible. Of course, the other big barrier to telling stories like Downfall is shame. Last night in Wellington, a collection of letters between the composer Douglas Lilburn, who lived at Darcy Presswell's flat in London, and the artist Douglas McDermott, was launched at [00:16:00] Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University of Wellington. Letters to Lilburn was edited by McDermott's niece, Anna Cahill, and Anna has said that her uncle, who had relationships with men and women, left New Zealand to protect his loved ones who he did not want people to associate with love of the legal activity. Writing Downfall, I've been conscious of the shame that men of that generation lived with, and I'm grateful to be a queer man living in 2022 with the rights and freedoms I enjoy, but I am conscious of the need for vigilance. It's [00:16:30] really amazing to see so many of the people who've helped me with Downfall here this evening. And, um, Jock Phillips, who's here tonight, was sort of saying he'd done two pages of acknowledgements for his book, where we were at the launch of the other day. I said, Jock, there's probably about 12 in this one. And when they were first sent through, I thought, I'll just see what happens. And then it's quiet, and then there's this, ooh, these are quite long. Oh, well, I suppose it takes a village or a whole city to write a book. It's a Nicola email bait. But I do want to [00:17:00] mention, um, some people, Prue Langbein, who's here tonight, um, was with me when this all began in 2004, and it was Prue's idea to do a radio program. And Peru was the one that had the courage to phone Charles Mackie's daughter, who was still alive then. So, I'll always be grateful, and you'll read about the story and the acknowledgements, um, about how Peru was so important and with me in that initial research journey. So, kia ora Peru. And I'm really grateful for the support I've had from organisations. I had a History Award from Mana [00:17:30] Te Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage. I had the Creative New Zealand Berlin Writers Residency. a couple of scholarships from the Goethe Institut, um, language scholarships, which meant I could study twice in Berlin and Göttingen. And that meant I could actually work my way around archives and things on my own and have a bit more confidence in Germany. And the Stout Centre for New Zealand Studies at Victoria as well, who gave me a space to write at one stage. Grateful gratitude also to my many readers, including Bronwyn [00:18:00] Daly, Chris Brickle, Lynn Jenner, Ross Webb, Des Bovey, Fred Meisker, members of my history writing group here in Wellington. Um, and a terrific editor that I worked, the privilege of working with, Anna Rogers, who's in Christchurch. And, I know I'm not the only one who wondered if there ever was going to be a book. Um, at the end of the day, but that I did get a book is due in large part to Nicola Leggett and the marvellous team at Massey University Press. The press of my old university, so it's another nice [00:18:30] thing. When Nicola picked up my manuscript, it lifted some of the weight off my shoulders and began a fantastic collaboration which culminated in the book we're celebrating tonight. And as well as the team at the office at Massey, I'd like to acknowledge the designer, Megan van Staden, who actually designed the book that was the inspiration for this book, so it was terrific to be able to work with the same designer. And Gavin Hurley, the artist based in Auckland, who did the cover image. At, here at Turnbull, um, I need to acknowledge my manager, Chris CK, who has [00:19:00] had to I've been there with this project from one of his direct reports for quite a few years and all my colleagues here at the library, both libraries, the Turnbull Library and the National Library of New Zealand. And um, huge forbearance from friends and family as I bang on about Whanganui and Berlin incessantly over the last 18 years. And particularly, um, to my partners. I've only had three partners, and they've all been while I've been writing this book. Two of them are here tonight, one's in Berlin. Um, so Bob, and particularly, um, [00:19:30] Richard, nā mihi nui kia kōroua. So, lastly, I'm just going to show you some of these, um, new friends I've made, thanks to Charles Mackey. Um, The person in this picture is Petra Hurdek, the first person I ever met in Berlin in 2007. As I, um, and that's us, we've just had breakfast, there's the Berlin guidebook on the table, and I'm out to go out and find Charles Mackie. So, back then I knew, had so little German, I really needed help from people like Petra, who we're still in touch with. And there we [00:20:00] are at the German Historical Museum in Berlin looking at newspaper coverage of the May Day riots that Mackey was killed in. So it was invaluable to have someone like Petra going with me to libraries and archives. Um, back here, um, the photographer Lee Mitchell Anion recorded me looking for bullet holes in Mackey's office in Morneau. And And then Lee also took photos of me and Wanganui. This is Ian Cresswell, who passed away recently. But he shared his memories of his uncle Darcy, [00:20:30] and it was great to talk to people who had actually met Darcy Cresswell and could remember them. And apparently one of his letters to Ian had some advice. It said to Always have handmade shoes. To always say thank you with the right inflection. I'm not sure what the right inflection would be. To always say goodbye and never bye bye. And when your host gives you a drink, you must never touch it until he touches it unless he leaves for an unconscionable time. When, um, Ian told me that, it kind of did bring Darcy alive for me. [00:21:00] And then Ian really generously introduced me to Darcy Cresswell's son. This is David Cresswell, who I met together with his wife Ruth. Uh, this is in Eastbourne, the other Eastbourne, in Britain, uh, in 2010. And on the Mackie side, um, Jo Mackie got in touch, and she's a Mackie family genealogist in Australia, and she put me in touch with this woman, Alison Lafon, who lives in France. And in 2010, she decided to come over from France to London to help me research at the [00:21:30] British Library and the National Archives. And then also that year, I met my friend Uli Rosenfeld in Berlin, and she's here tonight. And Uli introduced me to her friend Lubna Mesaudi. So Uli and Lubna visited archives, cemetery offices, and other places with me, and wrote and emailed and phoned on my behalf. And so did Prue's daughter, actually, Sarah Silver was in Berlin as well, and she tracked down Mackie's death certificate. And also during that visit to Berlin, I met the New Zealand [00:22:00] photographer, Connor Clark, who took photos of where Mackie was killed. So he was standing just behind where I'm crouching there. Um, it's now a chemist shop, but back when he was killed it was a Jewish clothes shop. And that it was marvellous to spend time with Connor when she was back in New Zealand and had the Tiley Cottage residency at the Sargent Art Gallery. And the third photographer I've worked with is Anne Shelton, who's also here tonight, which is terrific. And Anne was another holder of the Tylee residency. And Anne was [00:22:30] responsible for Mackie's name and title being gilded as part of her residency. So here we are, toasting Mackie with the sergeant, former director Bill Milbank, and Des Bovey. Now Des Bovey has generously agreed to launch Downfall and is going to tell you how we met. This is a photo of Dez and I the day we acted out the events in Darcy Crestwell's statement. I was Mackie and he was Crestwell. I have no idea what is about to happen. I'll leave Dez to pick up the story. Please join me everyone in welcoming Dez Bovey who will launch [00:23:00] Downfall, the destruction of Charles Mackie. Tēnā koutou katoa. Kia ora everybody. In 2008, I got a phone call from a chap called Paul Diamond. He told me he was [00:23:30] writing a book. At the time, I was in the process of wrapping up my life, preparing to move back to New Zealand, after almost 30 years in France. This Diamond chap, Had a pleasant voice, but I was suspicious. Diamond is not a surname you hear in France. It seemed like a made up one, for a wrestler or an actor. The French do not give themselves the [00:24:00] names of precious stones. Paul had questions about an event that had occurred far in the past during my previous life as a gay man in Wonganui. In 1978, which is almost 45 years ago, a ragtag group of gays and lesbians and sympathetic heterosexuals laid a wreath beneath their foundation stone on the Wangnu's Sargent Art Gallery. Mayor Mackey's [00:24:30] name had been chiseled off that plaque and we were asking for it to be put back. Our wreath was a triangle of pink plastic flowers. For, of course, there was a florist in that little group. Our ceremony was timid, even farcical. As soon as we left, our wreath went walkabout. It was picked up by the park caretaker, taken to a nearby monument for the war dead, and placed amongst the RSA's [00:25:00] wreaths. The solicited howls of protest from returned servicemen. The caretaker retrieved the triangle and returned it to its rightful place under the stone, only for it to end up a few hours later in a flowerbed. Whence, he again retrieved it and returned it to the plaque. Later, however, after angry phone calls from council officials, he confiscated the triangle and locked [00:25:30] it in his shed. And after more angry phone calls, this time from our group, the hapless caretaker returned it for the third, and I hope the last time, to its place beneath the stone. All this is cute and provincial, but our little pink triangle was more subversive than we understood. It exposed a city's moral confusion and incited a last ditch [00:26:00] attempt. At keeping a lid on this story. Wanganui was a sleepy provincial town with a well defined hierarchy of families. Mackie's scandal was buried, whispered about only by the best people. By referring to the story openly in the press and on the radio, we had outed not Mackie, but the story of [00:26:30] Mackie. And, by association, the story of his expungement, the cover up, which, as we all know, is always the real story. This was our temerity. This was our offence. I was taken aside more than once and firmly but politely scolded for my vulgarity in airing the city's dirty linen on national radio. [00:27:00] The point I'm trying to make is that although the wreath laying was a modest act, even a fiasco, it can be argued that it marked a moral turnaround. The exact point at which Mackie's reputation pivoted, at which he began his slow climb from villain to victim, and his blackmailer, his slow slide from victim to victim.[00:27:30] Great events can turn on tiny fulcrums. I'm not claiming that if the Wong Nui Gay Rights had done nothing, Mackie's story would have remained buried. Sooner or later, someone would have done something to rehabilitate the man. It only needed a nudge. That that nudge came not from some council official working quietly behind the scenes.[00:28:00] But from the hometown gay community, so noisily, so publicly, is a source of pride to me. Another source of pride to me is that I have been asked to launch Paul's book today. It is an important book for the New Zealand gay community and for the city of Whanganui. And I am very, very pleased to have it in my hand. At last. [00:28:30] Applause Like others, I nagged Paul to finish. I worried that he would be pipped at the post. The Mackey story was ripe to be told, and he was not the only writer interested. Paul was impervious. Not only that, he was quite carelessly generous with his discoveries. If it were me, I would have written the [00:29:00] book with one hand over the page, jealous of my scoops. And if the gestation seemed long, now that I have the baby in hand, I see why. The work is a tour de force. Paul's challenge was to write a story with a known beginning and a known ending. He has succeeded. The narrative is [00:29:30] in the detail, and in the sleuthing. So let me join others in congratulating Paul for his huge endeavor, for his persistence, and for his detective work, which has resulted in this lovely book. For it is a lovely book, a handsome book. I feel qualified for it. to offer this praise because I worked for 20 years as art director in France. [00:30:00] I know how hard it is to produce a work of this quality. So, félicitations, congratulations to Paul for a job well done, but also to the editor, and to the graphic artist, and to the team who worked together to produce this lovely work. Bravo, you have done Paul proud. I wish this book bon voyage and long life. [00:30:30] Applause Applause Applause Applause Uh, Tena koe, Des. Uh, no reira, uh, koutou katoa, um, I'm about to close the, the speeches for the evening. I just wanted to add my sentiments to you, uh, Paul.[00:31:00] I also was told that don't forget to go to the bookshop over here to get your books signed by Paul. Um, but once again, I think I've heard this evening, uh, Paul's particular skill at connecting. And persevering, uh, which is, uh, apt in terms of the way that [00:31:30] the evening was started with, uh, Tuia i runga, tuia i raro, tuia i roto, tuia i waho. And on that note, te hei mauri ora, enjoy yourselves this evening. Kia ora tatou.
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