MastaMak

A well written piece. Congratulations. I was a young person in Australia at the time covering this article. I am bisexual by inclination but heterosexual in practice - my choice but influenced in part by community dicates of the day. It was known quite openly that NSW police or their agents used entrapment leading to the bodies of suspected homosexuals being discovered on rocks below some of Sydney's cliffs. I don't remember all the historical details so I sought input from Claude AI which gives the following which is a snapshot of a pretty sick society. Homosexuality was only decriminalised in 1984 ! Apologies for the length of this comment but I believe we should remember these matters so we can ensure they don't repeat. "The NSW police campaign against homosexual men between 1950 and 1970 was systematic and publicly endorsed. Here's what the historical record shows: ## The Official Position In 1958, NSW Police Commissioner Colin Delaney described homosexuality as "Australia's greatest menace," and had told detectives in the vice squad that homosexuals were a "cancer in the community" threatening society's "moral welfare". In 1953, Delaney told a luncheon crowd that police were focusing on fighting the "growing cancer" of perversion. [nsw](https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/lcdocs/submissions/62552/0019.%20Panel%20of%20criminologists.pdf) [ABBI](https://www.abbi.org.au/2020/02/homosexuality-must-be-wiped-in-sydney/) ## Legal Framework Before 1984, all male homosexual acts were criminal offences in NSW whether they occurred in public or private and whether they were consensual or not. This gave police broad legal authority to prosecute. [nsw](https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/lcdocs/submissions/62552/0019.%20Panel%20of%20criminologists.pdf) ## Police Tactics As policing homosexuality intensified, court cases revealed damning allegations of police practices that included entrapment, false statements and blackmail. Police intensified their policing of male homosexuality, especially at public meeting places and beats. [nsw](https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/lcdocs/submissions/62552/0019.%20Panel%20of%20criminologists.pdf) [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/inquiry-into-lgbtiq-hate-crime-could-improve-how-police-and-communities-respond-108493) Surveillance was direct: Vice Squad officers clad in swimming costumes kept the Bondi dressing sheds under surveillance and swooped after watching what they deemed "disgraceful behaviour". [ABBI](https://www.abbi.org.au/2020/02/homosexuality-must-be-wiped-in-sydney/) ## Consequences of Arrest Cooma Correctional Centre was dedicated to housing those convicted of male homosexual offences from the 1950s until 1984. Beyond prison, homosexuals convicted for consenting sexual acts with other adult men were segregated and medicalised within the prison system. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_New_South_Wales) [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/treatments-as-torture-gay-conversion-therapys-deep-roots-in-australia-95588) The momentum for change only came later—homosexuality wasn't decriminalised in NSW until 1984."

Sorry to be so pedantic but you've got a minor dramaticall error (think should be thing I think) in the sentence “My mother doen’t need your help,” Andrew winced. “She’s the most terrifying think in the province.”

Interesting dynamic. I recently attended the 50th anniversary of our final year in high school & amazingly only 7% of us had passed on.

"Three tents for the couples, and a third for Levi, all set up a safe distance from a central fire " Four tents ?

"Somewhere in the darkness, a coyote called once before falling silent again..." Coyote in Afghanistan? Really? Jackal or grey wolf maybe?

It's commendable that you acknowledge work which is AI generated. I see no reason not to use AI but consider it important that it be acknowledged. One sees so much AI slop on social media that its fairly easy to,identify its source but when well done, as your story was, its not so easy to,pick.

Interesting. My grandson, a Chemical Engineer writes code for Excel spreadsheets & he recommended Claude AI as a good one so i obtained it and had it Write me a number of spreadsheets of varying complexity. Im fairly experienced with Excel myself & was amazed at how quickly & accurately Claude prepared a quite involved spreadsheet based on the parameters i stipulated.

Interesting. Its the religious fanaticism which is evil & not the somewhat befuddled adherents thereto. We don't have the same organisations in Australia but we're not completely free of religious fanaticism either. One of the reasons I became a committed athiest despite growing up in a very religious background was my experiences in PNG. I spent many years in Papua New Guinea as a young Patrol Officer living in village communities & saw the influence of "christian" missionaries on their culture. Unfortunately there is something about Pacific Islands cultures (and there's great similarity between them) which makes then very accepting of the culture dominated by Christian beliefs.

Im not American and wonder whether elements of that Brotherhood society persist to this day. The evilmof religious fanaticism never fails to disgust me. Good story well told nonetheless.

Another great story developing. It will be interesting to see to what extent the South African and Australian education systems mesh at such a critical time for the twins. In my 5 years of high school (I'm an old bugger and it my day we had 5 high school years & not 6 as is now the case). I attended 4 different State schools in 3 different Australian states so the matter of different school curricula is something of which I have personal experience.

Wonderfully written and with great sensitivity. I've enjoyed all your stories and this one iscshaping up very well. Bit of a tear server nonetheless.

Great story. I've had a lot of adventures in several Pacific countries. Love the people and Philip's proclivities fit well with my past experiences.

Really pleased to see this story continue.

The episode with Max in the park brings back fond memories for me at a similar age in the 1960's but in one of the Pacific Islands. So human nature doesn't change much over time. In the 1960's though it was something generally not acknowledged and kept very much secret.

Very interesting story developing & so well written. I'm imimpressed with the apparent understanding of the likely dynamics of the time. Must have taken a lot of research & not a little imagination. My maternal grandfather went to sea at age 12 in 1899 sailing in a 3 masted barque carrying wool & wheat between UK & Australia, sailing round Cape Horn in conditions which just have been trying. I can only imagine the experiences he myst have endured though he never mentioned them as far as I know. This developing stary begins to hint at what some of those might have been.