He never missed a deadline!
WHAT IS the Black Toe Edition? It was a regular edition of "The WA Gardener" but we laughingly gave it that name, not a Black Label edition but the Black Toe edition, here's why! Bob Duffield was the publisher, a journalist who served as foreign editor of "The Australian" from 1968 until 1974, until he ran foul of Rupert Murdoch, when he led the infamous walk out of journalists at "The Australian" over the biased editorial treatment of the then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. He wasn't fired, but was banished back to Western Australia to a less than fulfilling job at the "West Australian". He would spend most of his evening shifts with a cask of Riesling and a carton of cigarettes, sitting under the Narrows Bridge on the Swan River, contemplating his sins. On one occasion he found a moored dingy and decided to board it to wile away the time, and as he did he slipped and gashed his leg. He failed to treat it and it became infected, eventually he went to a doctor, who initially sorted him out, but told him he had to lose some weight, cut down on his drinking and stop smoking, or he wouldn't treat him any further. Bob told him what he thought of his advice, promptly ignored it and never went back. His leg got progressively worse and started to turn black, but he still refused to seek treatment and suffered with it for years without complaining, still drinking his cask a day and chain-smoking his Gauloises. Bored working at the West Australian he resigned and began writing freelance articles for leading magazines including Newsweek and Time, lectured at The West Australia Institute of Technology, now Curtin University inspiring a whole generation of journalists. His most memorable work was Rogue Bull, a 1979 biography of the mining entrepreneur Lang Hancock, who married Rose Lacson, a Filipina, born in Bacolod, Negros Occidental, which gives this story a Philippine connection to "The Swagman", if somewhat tenuous. When I met him he was an editor at the Independent Newspaper in Perth, which at the time was owned by Lang Hancock and his partner Peter Wright. We worked together for many years, both at The Independent and later I would typeset and produce artwork for a variety of magazines and books that he published, we also became good mates, and he would relate stories of his time working as a foreign correspondent, especially his time in Vietnam, his time working for Murdoch, his relationships with many of the public figures of the time. He wrote his life story, which I typeset and put into book form, but it was never published, due to his wife putting the kybosh on it. I do remember many of his stories and perhaps will relate some of them in future editions, maybe just the ones that won't get me sued, even though they are all true. One of the magazines he published was the "West Australian Gardener" for the West Australian Royal Horticultural Society but after a difference of opinion with the Society, he published his own version, "The WA Gardener". I found it amusing that Bob who lived in a second-floor flat in Rivervale overlooking the Swan River, without a garden. I suffered from chronic arthritis and gardening was not one of my priorities, and to cap it off, an advertising salesman that suffered from agoraphobia and never left his bedroom, selling ads by phone, none of us ever got out into a garden. Probably good training for producing this newsletter under lockdown. PRODUCING THE EDITION I received a call from Bob, who growled down the phone. "Ah! We got to get the next edition out!" "No problem", I replied. "Are the copy and layouts ready?" "Yes, yes, I have them ready", he mumbled, he sounded a little annoyed. "I'll send Myrna over to pick them up", I assured him. Myra was my wife at the time, a Filipina from IloIlo, she would do the pickups and delivery as it was difficult for me to get around at that time. "Good, good", he growled. "We got to get the edition out" "Ok ok, she will be over shortly", He sounded like he was about the ring off when he said. "Oh by the way, my big toe just fell off!" I did a double-take, "What! What do you mean!" He said he was walking across is kitchen and his big toe fell off. "Are you ok", I asked "Yes, Yes, he said, "Send Myrna, we got to get this edition out". I asked him what it looked like, I'm not sure why! He said it looked like the last snag on the barbie! "What did you do with it?" He said he flushed it. He hung up, I was shocked, I asked Myrna to go quickly and check on him and pick up the layouts and copy. While she was on her way to Bob's, I began to worry, so I rang Dr. Desmond Williams, we had worked on a directory for China. I asked him. "If your leg is black, and your toes are falling off, what is the likely outcome?" He said, "You will probably die, get to a doctor! I thanked him and rang Bob back. "Bob, you need to go to a doctor" He barked back, "I will, when, we get this edition out!" "Bob, you need to go now, if you don't I won't do the magazine!" "Don't blackmail me you little bastard", he sounded a little grumpy. I knew it was useless to argue with him. "Ok, Ok, but promise me you will go soon as the mag is done." He promised he would. Myrna picked up the layouts and got the copy back to me. I asked her how he was, she said he was ok, but the kitchen floor was smeared, she thought it was dry blood. He was sitting at his desk and had a t-towel over his foot. She grabbed the proofs and raced home. I worked night and day and turned the mag out in record time, got it to the printer and Bob kept his word, and went to the doctor. They admitted him to hospital, treated his leg and saved it, but he lost a few more toes. The next time I saw him he was wearing a stocking to aid circulation, glass of Riesling in one hand and a smoke in the other, he told me his leg looked like a raw leg of lamb and did I want to have a look. "Ah! No thanks Bob, I believe you." We made the deadline, as we always did. So that's why I call the edition "The Black Toe Edition." Even on his last day, they told me he was working on a book, finished it, then just laid his head down and left, he had a deadline. He passed away in 2000, he was only 65. I often think fondly of that big, gruff, bloody-minded newspaper man, especially at Christmas when he would always take us out for a lunch and sometimes the stories he told me would come to mind and cause me to chuckle. ROGUE BULL As mentioned Bob's most memorable work was about Lang Hancock, it was published by Collins, which is owned by News Limited or Murdoch. When Hancock died I asked Bob if there would be a reprint as it would be the perfect time. Bob said he wanted to, but Murdoch owned the publishing rights and because he still held a petty grudge toward Bob he wouldn't authorise a reprint. He was asked if he would write Rose's story, he declined as he said she was just too much hard work. I got the impression he liked Lang, not his politics as Bob was left of Marx, but just as a human being. He wasn't too unkind to him, but said he was actually a failure in that he never actually built anything himself. He had a lot of plans that never came to fruition. His greatest achievement was recognising the vast iron ore fields that have bought untold wealth to WA and in that respect he definitely wasn't a failure. On Gina, the daughter of Lang he recognised that she had the steel of her father and the cool pragmatic decision-making that has let her take the legacy of Lang and make herself a force to be reckoned with, making her the richest woman in Australia and possibly the world. Bob said of her. "Gina tries to be nice to everybody, but if they disappoint her, or annoy her, or in any way seem to threaten her, the friendly filter in the opal-clear eyes drops to reveal a more steely blue. It is not anger, for anger is an uncontrolled emotion and Gina despises people who lose control of themselves, for whatever reason." Her eleven-year court battle with her stepmother Rose over Lang's will is the stuff of legend, eventually it was settled, with Gina going on to be reportedly the richest women in the wold and one of the most powerful. Rose went onto become a beautician, a rich beautician. COPIES OF ROGUE BULL It is difficult to find, as it is now out of print. It is available in libraries and a search on the internet will bring up different sites where you can get second-hand copies. LINK