A Brief History of Australia’s Neo-Nasties (The Naked City)

The recent anti-immigration marches, led by far-right Neo-Nazis including the National Socialist Network, was yet another chapter in the history of ‘neo-nasties’ in this country. Looking back, there have been three distinct periods in Australia when Nazi ideology has been espoused by a minority.

The first was the pre-WWII movement, largely based in South Australia with the support of German expats. The second came in the politically turbulent days of the late 60s and early 70s with what I would call the ‘dress-up’ Nazis – swastika armbands and stormtrooper outfits to the forefront. Finally, we arrive at the present day with Thomas Sewell and his boys in black, whom we might like to tag the ‘designer’ Nazis.

Let’s flashback to May of 1939. A group of Nazi supporters had gathered in a German Club in Adelaide to celebrate Hitler’s 50th birthday. They were part of a small but active group of German expats who sought to spread the doctrine of National Socialism, even establishing a local branch of the Gestapo in the process. Their targets were fellow Germans in Australia but they were also keen to attract other converts. Not surprisingly they went very quiet during WWII with little retribution on the part of the Australian Government when the war had finished.

Not long after the Fuehrer’s birthday bash in September of 1939, Germany invaded Poland and it was the last time a Nazi flag would fly in Sydney for many years. A large and angry group of demonstrators converged on the German Consulate in Bridge Street where a huge swastika flag flew defiantly outside the Cliveden building.

The rest is history and it would take another eight decades before the flag and swastika were outlawed in NSW. The new offence introduced in 2022 made it a criminal offence to knowingly display a Nazi symbol in public without a reasonable excuse.

Throughout Australia in the 1960s you could drop in at your local war disposal store and walk out with a swastika flag or other assorted items of Third Reich Regalia. Many of the probable customers at the time can be found in David Harcourt’s book ‘Everybody Wants To Be Fuehrer’ which discusses the rise of National Socialism in Australia and New Zealand during the Vietnam War and the accompanying communist backlash.

It’s a colourful compendium of odd beat and largely obnoxious characters from Rhodesian born racist Frank Rosser, to the Napoleon-obsessed Arthur Charles Smith and Melbourne Mormon converts Katrina and Francis Young.

Perhaps the best known and most violent of Harcourt’s Nazis is the notorious Ross May, better known as ‘The Skull’. A confronting figure with his shaven head and often dressed as a stormtrooper, he was convicted of numerous assaults, with his victims often women and people invariably much smaller than him. He was fined $400 for scrawling “Kill all Jews” on a Brisbane Jewish memorial and was a constant attention seeker.

At one stage he stood for State Parliament in a Parramatta by-election, pulling in a paltry thirty-three votes.
Harcourt quotes him as saying:

“I’d just walk around colliding with a few of the peace creeps. They sort of had a habit of running into my fist.”

Now in his 80s, May appears to have totally divested of any of his shameful Nazi past and embraced the current right wing of politics. On his Facebook page, which was active until a few months ago, he’s seen wearing a Trump t-shirt and photographed with Pauline Hanson. Somewhat surprisingly there’s also a happy snap of The Skull looking particularly chummy with Australia’s best known deportment queen, the late June Daly Watkins. It’s unlikely June was ever aware of the Skull’s notorious past but as a former candidate for Fred Nile’s Christian Democratic Party her political views obviously rang a bell with May.

Like the pre-war Nazis of the Barossa Valley and the dress up brigade of the 60s and 70s, both relatively short lived, the chances are Thomas Sewell and his designer crew will soon be absorbed by the ether. Inevitably they will run out of things to hate, especially when their bully boy tactics are directed at soft targets like First Nations people.

Whilst Sewell makes no secret of his anti-semitic views, he knows any similar attacks on the Australian Jewish community will be met with a crushing response. That’s one battle he has chosen to publicly avoid, regardless of his hate agenda.

It’s just a shame that the ever jovial June Daly Watkins is no longer with us. Politics aside she could no doubt teach the unruly Sewell some valuable lessons in etiquette as well as being polite and kindly to others. Take away the hate and none of our present or past ‘neo-nasty’ proselytisers have any real ideological substance.

To quote an old well-worn joke:

“What’s the difference between a Nazi and a shopping trolley? – answer – A shopping trolley has a mind of its own.”