This small article, next to one about the Howard Party's authorised sporting icon Don Bradman, caught my eye in today's Herald Sun. Read it 'n' weep.
A new documentary about the life of Australian athlete Peter Norman has been thrown into disarray after precious footage of the Olympian's funeral was stolen.
The film and $5000 worth of video-editing equipment was snatched from the four-wheel-drive of Norman's nephew and producer, Matt Norman, in Ballarat on October 13. The theft is a huge setback for the documentary, with the only vision of the funeral and intended end of the film now gone.
Four days' worth of interviews were also taken.
Mr Norman has already had to take out a new mortgage on his Ballarat home after spending $1.2 million on the project and can't afford new equipment.
"If there are any companies that want to help us out with $5000 they will get major credits in the film," Mr Norman said.
Peter Norman, who died at his home in Williamstown earlier this month, aged 64, was the third man on the victory dais when Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos made their Black Power civil rights protest at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.
The Herald Sun also believes Mr Norman has been left with a $60,000 bill after flying Smith and Carlos to Australia for his uncle's funeral.
It is believed Channel 9 agreed to an exclusive story with the pair, including the payment of their trip, but shelved the plan half an hour before they arrived.
Mr Norman's film, Salute -- The Peter Norman Story, is nine years in the making. It is due for US release in February.
The theft is bad enough, but how about the new "Aussie values" version of integrity displayed by Channel 9! Someone in the government must have got to them. Norman's heroism at the '68 Olympics has undergone a Stalinesque purge in John Howard's Australia, where standing up for human rights is equivalent to being a commie. You can bet 9 would have spent ten times that amount for the slightest anecdote about Bradman. Footage amounting to, say, ten minutes could easily have been padded out to an hour with commercials.
-- Olney Garkle
