Guide to the Papers of Win Olive
MS Acc01.014
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Collection Summary
- Creator
- Olive, Win
- Title
- Papers of Win Olive
- Date Range
- 1957 - 2000
- Collection Number
- MS Acc01.014
- Extent
- 1.80 metres (12 ms boxes)
- Physical Facet
- Extent derived from Hume inventory.
- Language of Materials
- English
- Repository
- Special Collections (Manuscripts)
Introduction
Content Description
The collection comprises papers relating to Olive's involvement in various protest activities in Australia and the region including the Pine Gap U.S. satellite surveillance base, Mururoa Atoll, Rainbow Warrior, Jabiluka Uranium Mine, Land Rights in the Northern Territory and Native Title, as well as her time as a crew member aboard the Pacific Peacemaker. The papers comprise correspondence; diaries; typescripts of Olive's writings; newsletters; ephemera; and drafts of her book The Voyage of the Pacific Peacemaker , which was published in 1999 and the script of the documentary film The Voyage of the Pacific Peacemaker, produced in 1983 and directed by David Roberts. Included is also a group of papers relating to Vai Stanton, an indigenous activist, who Olive met whilst protesting against uranium mining in the Northern Territory.
Conditions Governing Access
Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1598482).
Conditions Governing Use
Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.
Preferred Citation
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], MS Acc01.014, National Library of Australia, [/series/file/item number(s)]'.
Related Materials
Win Olive interviewed by Anne Edgeworth, 1995.
Biographical note
Anti-nuclear activitist, supporter of indigenous rights and environmental campaigner. Crewed onboard the Pacific Peacemaker in 1981-1982 when it sailed around the Pacific to protest against use of nuclear weapons and later when it took part in a blockade of the launch of the Trident submarine in the USA. Joined anti-nuclear protestors at Pine Gap, Northern Territory in 1983 where she was one of a large group of women arrested for their activities.
Item Descriptions
Series 1. Anti-nuclear protests
Papers relating to protest actions against the proliferation of nuclear weapons in which Olive was actively involved. Includes the blockade at Mururoa Atoll; the blockade for the launch of the USA's Trident submarine; and Pine Gap protests.
Newsletters and publications, 1977-1998 (File) - Box 1
Includes: 'Surfrider News', newsletter of the Surfrider Foundation of Australia, editions 4-9,1997-1998; 'Pacific Peace Fleet' newsletter, 1988, 'Time and Energy', the Australian Energy Magazine, No. 6, Nov/Dec 1978 and No. 7, Jan 1979; 'Womanspeak', Vol 8, No. 3, 1984; 'The Uranium Debate: a trade union contribution' published by the Australian Metal Workers and Shipwrights' Union (A.M.W.S.U.), 1977; and 'Australian Left', Jun/Jul, 1988.
Papers, 1957-1988 (File) - Box 1
Includes cuttings, ephemera, programe for the Australian Pacific Women's Peace Conference, 1985; a poster of the voyages and campaigns of the Greenpeace boat, 'Rainbow Warrior'; and a copy of a letter from Senator Jo Vallentine to Josie Reichlin (1987)
Papers, 1977-1987 (File) - Box 1
Typed reports and copies of articles. Includes by Win Olive writing about nuclear armed vessels entering Sydney Harbour for the Sydney Peace Squadron; ACTUU Executive recommendation to 1977 Congress on the export of uranium; report by J. Speight on the Special Session of the United Nations on Disarmament, 1978; an outline of The Special Unions Conference on Uranium, 1977, together with a statement by the A.M.W.S.U. on uranium policy; and a media release by the A.M.W.S.U. announcing the visit of a radiation expert, 1980.
Diary, 1983 (File) - Box 1
Kept by Olive on her journey to Pine Gap, a joint defence facility with the USA in the Northern Territory, to take part in a 'Women's Peace Camp' protest.
Sydney Peace Squadron, 1983-1992 (File) - Box 1
A group of papers relating to the Sydney Peace Squadron. Includes correspondence, cuttings, copies of information sheets, newsletters , and ephemera.
Series 2. Writings by Win Olive
Typescripts of short stories/articles by Olive on a range of subjects including her work as an activist. There is also a small amount of correspondence.
Series 3. Correspondence
Elly Jannes-Hojeberg, Sweden, 1984-1992 (File) - Box 3
Swedish journalist Olive met at the Pine Gap protest in 1983
Cameron Sharp, 1995-1999 (File) - Box 3
Sharp was one of two people who climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge and secured a Greenpeace protest banner to it in 1986.
Series 4. Pacific Peacemaker
Papers associated with the protest voyage of the Pacific Peacemaker. In 1982, Bill and Lorraine Ethell mortgaged their home and with their four children and a crew set sail in the yacht, Pacific Peacemaker, to challenge the regional deployment of nuclear-armed US Trident submarines. Olive was one of the crew members aboard the yacht. She subsequently wrote of her experiences in her book entitled 'Voyage of the Pacific Peacemaker'. The voyage was also documented in the film 'The land of my mother' by David Robertson.
Correspondence, 1981 (File) - Box 4
Letters of support for the voyage. Correspondents include Russel Ward, Helen Caldicott, Kim Beazley, and Phillip Adams.
Papers (File) - Box 4
Papers from a large folder. Includes Olive's typescript notes; writings by others; photocopy of the ship's log from Sydney to Christchurch; three colour images of the Ethell family onboard the yacht, and newscuttings. Also the newsletters 'Ground Zero', Vol. 1, No. 5, 1983; 'Nuclear Countdown', journal of pacific resistance, Vol. 2, No. 2, 1980; 'The AMWSU quarterly journal', Jul-Sep. 1981; and 'Woman's Day', Oct 14, 1981.
Mururoa Atoll, 1982 (File) - Box 4
Papers relating to an incident in which the Pacific Peacemaker was involved in a collision with a French police boat at Moruroa Atoll.
Launch of the Trident submarine, 1982 (File) - Box 4
Papers, mainly relating to the blockade of the launch of the Trident submarine at Long Island Sound, USA. Includes itineraries; ephemera; typescript notes; and cuttings. There is also material relating to other activities of the Pacific Peacemaker.
Typescript, late 1990 (File) - Box 5
Account by Olive of the Pacific Peacemaker going back to Fremantle in 1985.
Typescript (File) - Box 5
Account by Olive of her time in Los Angeles, prior to returning to Seattle. Includes a map of the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks
Newsletter 'Pacific Peacemaker', 1982-1987 (File) - Box 5
Copies of the newsletter 'Pacific Peacemaker', published in Seattle, WA, USA.(1982-1987) and in Sydney (1982-1983). Also includes correspondence and cuttings.
Seattle blockade, 1982 (File) - Box 5
Newscuttings relating to the blockade of the Trident home base at, Bangor, WA, USA.
Typescript, 1983 (File) - Box 5
Bound typescript entitled 'Pacific Peacemaker 1981-1982 - Report', prepared by the Sydney organising committee of Pacific Peacemaker.
Series 5. Indigenous Rights
Papers mostly relating to protests against uranium mining in the Northern Territory and protecting the rights of the indigenous people.
Jabiluka Uranium Mine, 1997-1998 (File) - Box 6
Papers relating to protests against the proposed Jabiluka Uranium Mine in Kakadu National Park.
Ranger and Fox Report, c1978 (File) - Box 6
Photocopy of handwritten pages entitled 'Report to Trustees - L.R. and U. DTF, Darwin, together with papers and cuttings about protests over uranium mining (1978).
Land Rights in the Northern Territory, 1978 (File) - Box 6, Box 7
A group of papers relating to land rights protests in the Northern Territory. Includes ephemera relating to protest actions; cuttings; photocopy of a letter from Olive to Paul Keating about her visit to the Ranger mine site; and typescripts entitled 'Consultation formula', given to Olive by Mary Elliott; and 'Northern Territory of Australia, Memorandum of Lease'.
Native Title, 1997-1998 (File) - Box 7
Papers relating to actions to support recognition of native title and reconciliation. Includes copies of petitions; correspondence; ephemera; and cuttings.
Waugal Dreaming Site, 1989-1990s (File) - Box 7
Papers relating to the site of the Old Swan Brewery in Perth, sacred land for the Nyngar people. Includes a typescript by Olive entitled 'The Aboriginal struggle for the Waugal Dreaming Site', and a typescript entitled 'The Battle for Goonininup: a Charting of Post-Colonial Representation in the City of Perth, by Steve Mickler, 1989. Also includes an account of details provided by indigenous poet and playwright, Jack Davis, with whom Olive spoke.
Series 6. Vai Stanton
Mimbinggal Violet (Vai) McGinness Stanton (1929-1995), Aboriginal welfare worker and elder of Kungarakany and Gurindji descent. She was one of the central participants in the 1981 Maranunggu, Kungarakany Aboriginal Land Rights land claim, being a witness for the Kungarakany people. Olive met Vai whilst camping beside the East Alligator River in the Northern Territory in 1978 during protests against uranium mining.
Oral history interview, 1991 (File) - Box 8
Transcripts of an oral history Interview of Vai Stanton by Martin Kamener, recorded in Darwin Dec 1990 - Feb 1991.
Papers (File) - Box 8
A file of papers relating to Vai Stanton. Includes ; cuttings; typescript reminiscences by Olive; and ephemera relating to the release of documentary about Stanton directed by Kez Hall and Cathy South.
Series 7. The Voyage of the Pacific Peacemaker
Olive's published account of her time aboard the boat, Pacific Peacemaker. Published in 1999, 299pp. Comprises a typescript copy of the diary Olive kept on the voyage; edited typescript drafts; correspondence with publishers, launch ephemera and a copy of the published book.