Leslie Tate Author PoetLeslie Tate

Back cover of OZ magazine no. 33

Commons/Underground Press Syndicate  Wikimedia

Oz was an anti-establishment libertarian magazine originally published in Sydney 1963 - 69 as a "magazine of dissent". It covered issues such as censorship, homosexuality, abortion, police brutality, the government's racist White Australia Policy and involvement in the Vietnam War, as well as regularly satirising Prime Minister Robert Menzies. During this period the three Australian co-editors, Richard Neville, Richard Walsh and Martin Sharp, were prosecuted twice for obscenity and finally sentenced to prison with hard labour. Their sentences, imposed by a blatantly biased magistrate who misdirected the jury, were overturned on appeal.

Moving to London Oz became a "psychedelic hippy" magazine 1967 – 1973, regularly enraging the British Establishment with heavy critical coverage of the Vietnam War, discussions of drugs, sex and alternative lifestyles, and revelations about the torture of citizens under the Greek military junta.

In 1970, reacting to criticism that it had lost touch with youth, the magazine produced “Schoolkids OZ”, an issue whose contributors were all secondary pupils. It wasn’t, as was commonly assumed, intended for school children. In one of the articles the head of Rupert Bear was pasted onto the lead character of an X-rated satirical cartoon by Robert Crumb.

Oz was one of several 'underground' publications targeted by the Obscene Publications Squad, and had already been raided on several occasions. In 1971 the police charged Richard Neville and the London co-editors, Felix Dennis and Jim Anderson with “conspiracy to corrupt public morals"— an archaic law which carried a virtually unlimited penalty.

The trial was, at the time, the longest obscenity trial in British legal history. Defence witnesses included comedian Marty Feldman, artist and drugs activist Caroline Coon, DJ John Peel, musician and writer George Melly and academic Edward De Bono. John Lennon and Yoko Ono joined the protest march and organised the recording of "God Save Us" (a corruption of the original “God Save Oz”) to raise defence funds.

At the end of the trial the "Oz Three" were sentenced to imprisonment. Images of them being taken to prison and their heads shaved caused an even greater stir on top of the already considerable outcry surrounding the prosecution. The most famous images of the trial come from the committal hearing, at which Neville, Dennis and Anderson all appeared wearing rented schoolgirl costumes.

At the appeal, where the defendants appeared wearing long wigs, it was found that Justice Argyle had grossly misdirected the jury on numerous occasions. It was also alleged that Berger, who was called as a prosecution witness, had been harassed and assaulted by police. The convictions were overturned.

Years later, Felix Dennis told author Jonathan Green that on the night before the appeal, the Oz editors were taken to a secret meeting with the Chief Justice, Lord Widgery, who told them that they would be acquitted if they agreed to give up work on Oz, and that MPs Tony Benn and Michael Foot had interceded on their behalf.

Since that time Felix Dennis has become one of Britain's wealthiest and most prominent independent publishers. Neville eventually returned to Australia, where he has become a successful author, commentator and public speaker. Walsh became a magazine editor with Kerry Packer's Australian Consolidated Press organisation and eventually rose to become its senior publisher. Sharp has long been regarded as Australia's leading pop artist.

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