{"id":198,"date":"2017-11-26T20:06:41","date_gmt":"2017-11-26T10:06:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pilens.com.au\/modris\/?page_id=198"},"modified":"2017-11-28T11:25:08","modified_gmt":"2017-11-28T01:25:08","slug":"198-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/pilens.com.au\/modris\/national-film-and-sound-archive\/198-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Harold Holt disappears"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is part of an interview Series for the National Film and Sound Archive Aural History Programme.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

My name is John Fife (JF<\/strong>) and I have with me Morrie Pilens (MP<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 So the news cameraman just following on Holt disappearing?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 I was just waiting for the Chichester lone rower to come across.\u00a0 He was in the middle of Port Phillip Bay and all those helicopters going all over the bloody place.\u00a0 You wouldn\u2019t know because there\u2019s no communication in the middle of the bay, you can\u2019t hear a radio or anything.<\/p>\n

So when we got back to St Kilda, channel 9 wasn\u2019t in the boat because they were waiting at Williamstown to film him arriving and do an interview and do a big crossover and what have you.<\/p>\n

I ring the office up from St Kilda, and I said\u2026. What was the name of the journalist?\u00a0 I\u2019ll remember in a minute, he was a bright little spark.\u00a0 He said \u2018Morrie, quick!\u00a0 Get to the quarantine station up there.\u00a0 I think Holt\u2019s missing.\u2019<\/p>\n

I said \u2018Yes, okay, fine.\u2019\u00a0 So I give the film \u2013 what I filmed from Chichester \u2013 organize a taxi to take film up to the studio, and off I go up to the Mornington Peninsula.<\/p>\n

So I arrive there\u2026<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 What time of the day?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 This is late in the afternoon.\u00a0 There\u2019s still helicopters flying around and things going left right and the middle, and besides me there\u2019s a couple of radio journalists and a couple of journalists waiting outside there at the gate.\u00a0 And they won\u2019t let us in.\u00a0 And up comes a Commonwealth car, and the guy gives a salute \u2013 a chauffer driven car and drives past us.<\/p>\n

In the back seat somebody leans forward and goes like this\u2026.. \u00a0It\u2019s the ABC police roundsman!\u00a0 (Laughter) sitting in there laughing his bloody head off.\u00a0 Harry the Horse!\u00a0 Driving past us!\u00a0 Oh, we screaming then!\u00a0 Finally we got in.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 So he\u2019s conned his way in?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0\u00a0 NO!\u00a0 Commonwealth car they don\u2019t stop him!\u00a0 Big bloody car with red plates, chauffer \u2013 who\u2019s going to stop him?\u00a0 (Laughter).\u00a0 So, Harry the Horse.\u00a0 That was a good one, that.<\/p>\n

Anyway, we got in eventually and that\u2019s where I got the stuff from the beach.\u00a0 And they were still looking for him and I got some beach stuff.\u00a0 It was pretty rough I tell you, it was bloody rough out there.\u00a0 That stuff piled up in great big heaps.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 So the Prime Minister\u2019s missing.\u00a0 Are Eagleton and those guys trying to control what you guys shoot\u2026?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 No, hang on.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t arrive until next day really.\u00a0 At this stage we\u2019re only controlled by the people that are in charge of that particular area.\u00a0 So \u2013 what\u2019s his name?\u00a0 – smart little bastard, he was really good\u2026 he sent an OB van straight away from the studio.<\/p>\n

By the time I arrived the OB van\u2019s already there to set up on top of the bloody hill.\u00a0 The OB van was there all night, transmitting pictures.\u00a0 There wasn\u2019t anybody reporting from it, but there were just pictures.\u00a0 He sent some journalists later, but I don\u2019t know what happened.\u00a0 Because I went back with the film.<\/p>\n

Our vision would go on air, and all of a sudden channel 9 would have the same vision.\u00a0 So we looked at it and said wait a minute, so we made a logo and put it in one corner.\u00a0 As soon as we put it in the right corner, that corner was blacked out and channel 9 still had the vision!\u00a0 So we put the logo in the other corner.\u00a0 We played funny buggers with it, from one corner to another corner!<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 So channel 9 are knocking off your vision?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Channel 9 was knocking it off as it was coming off the OB van.\u00a0 So finally they rang up and asked whether they could take a picture.\u00a0 So he asked, rang the general manager, who said \u2018Oh yeah, it\u2019s a big story, let them have it.\u2019\u00a0 (laughter)<\/p>\n

But they were blatantly stealing it, because all their equipment was at Williamstown while they were working on the lone rower.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Was yours the only OB van?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Only OB van there all night.\u00a0 Channel 0.\u00a0 Plus film that I sent back.\u00a0 Geoff Bell turned up and he shot seven?\u00a0 I think he shot for seven.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 So you\u2019ve gone back with your film at the end of day one, and you go back the next day.<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 First thing in the morning, go back.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 What\u2019s the atmosphere like?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Oh, at that time Tony Eagleton\u2019s arrived and the PR\u2019s arrived and what have you.\u00a0 They\u2019re having press conferences and the journalists are asking \u2018Oh, is that the shoe that he was wearing?\u2019 and just trying to scrape up a bit of a story.<\/p>\n

I got bits and pieces of information, not of great bloody exclusivity, but which I was able to pass to my guys, whoever was doing the cross over\u2026<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 But these days if the Prime Minister went missing, the whole thing would be really locked down water tight, with information that\u2019s going out.<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Oh, I suppose so.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 But in those days\u2026<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Oh, come on.\u00a0 In those days it didn\u2019t matter.\u00a0 You walked up to the Prime Minister.\u00a0 No problem, you know.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 But what I\u2019m thinking is, there was no control of the media down there that day?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Not at that point.\u00a0 They were just walking up and down, filming whatever they wanted, photographing whatever they wanted, pestering Tony Eagleton for information, you know.\u00a0 And he\u2019d just come up in an hour or so and catch up with something else, you know.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Dame Zara show up?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 I didn\u2019t see her.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think she did.\u00a0 Because you see that was a delicate situation.\u00a0 Harold was having a bit of nookie with somebody else there for the weekend.\u00a0 I think Zara turned up later, much later.\u00a0\u00a0 But that was a romantic weekend basically.<\/p>\n

Pause in recording\u2026<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Just carrying on to move us off Holt, how long did the OB van stay there?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 It stayed for good part of a week.\u00a0 Quite a long time.\u00a0 By that time everybody else was up there, 7,9,2.\u00a0 Of course we had a lot of overseas people coming in with full cameras \u2013 couldn\u2019t understand that you let a Prime Minister go for a swim by himself.<\/p>\n

(In accent)\u00a0 \u2018Where are their bodyguards?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018No, we\u2019ve never heard of bloody body guards, you know!\u2019<\/p>\n

So it was quite a story, because there\u2019s not many places in the world where a high ranking ruler can do what he wants, when he wants, without somebody controlling him, you know.\u00a0 It was good publicity for Australia!<\/p>\n

Well, of course the next thing was for his funeral.\u00a0 Half the world arrived then and what have you.\u00a0 We had a few demonstrations against the Yanks, lefties took their opportunity to really stir up some shit!<\/p>\n

And I filmed Johnson (Lyndon Johnson) arriving.\u00a0 I photographed him arriving, I was within three feet of him and having to apologise \u2013 \u2018I\u2019m sorry Mr President, I can\u2019t go any further, I\u2019m right against the wall.\u2019\u00a0 And he turned round and said \u2018Oh, it\u2019s alright mate!\u2019<\/p>\n

So next day he was visiting the governor, and they dropped him off there and filmed, and I thought well, I\u2019ve got nothing to do for a couple of hours, I\u2019ll go and film him.<\/p>\n

And as I came down the road from Government House I could see across the road to the tram stop there, and there\u2019s a bloke with a gun.\u00a0 So I wind up my camera and run like buggery, put a 50mil lens on it, drop my money and count to 10 seconds.\u00a0 Wind it up, run like buggery a bit closer, sling it to wide angle lens and I\u2019m just filming him being grabbed by two policemen.\u00a0 I can see him and see the gun, when a car screeches to a stop in front of me and two cops jump out and grab me.<\/p>\n

They trying to get the camera out of my hands, and I\u2019m just doubling up over the camera.\u00a0 \u2018You\u2019re not going to touch this buddy!\u2019\u00a0 And I\u2019m just hanging onto the camera and they physically carrying me to the back seat of the car.\u00a0 They\u2019re still trying to get the camera from me which I won\u2019t let them.\u00a0 In the meantime the other guy\u2019s been cleared off, everything\u2019s been cleared up, so they kicked me out and said \u2018Oh, go.\u2019<\/p>\n

I\u2019m fuming!\u00a0 I\u2019m spitting mad.\u00a0 Because that was bloody good footage I missed.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know how much I *got.\u00a0 So I got into the car and got onto the news room and Frank Collier? and Mr Helicopter on the desk, and I said \u2018Frank, I think I got about 20 or 30 feet of film with a gun across the road from where Johnson\u2019s gone, and he\u2019s been dragged into the police car and so was I.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Get here, get the film back here!\u2019 he says.<\/p>\n

I say \u2018Oh yeah, I\u2019ll send it back by bloody taxi.\u2019\u00a0 I\u2019ll stick around.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m fuming at this time.\u00a0 I\u2019m shitty.\u00a0 Bugger that.\u00a0 So I sent the film off, went back up to the um\u2026<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 So the cops took your film originally?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 No no no, I\u2019m hanging onto my bloody Bell.\u00a0 But as they were coming to me, I slung the lens to 10mil and as the camera\u2019s going I was filming this guy coming at me.\u00a0 I had a beautiful picture coming at the camera.\u00a0 Of course all that goes on air.\u00a0 Frank flogged the film all over the place.\u00a0 Oh crumbs, Yanks loved it, you know.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I go back to the Government House and corner the Police Commissioner \u2013 he was old ah, whats his name\u2026 hair growing out of his nose\u2026 ah.\u00a0 Can\u2019t think of his name.\u00a0 Anyway, I said \u2018What the bloody hell?\u2019\u00a0 Because we could walk into his office, Russell St headquarters, any time we wanted, you know.<\/p>\n

And he said \u2018It\u2019s alright Morrie, I\u2019ll look into it.\u2019<\/p>\n

Anyway, I ring up the office and they said \u2018We\u2019ve taken the guy to the station and talked to him, and all he wanted to do was take his gun to the repair shop because he\u2019s going hunting on the weekend.\u00a0 So if you\u2019d like to come and film him being at the repair shop\u2026\u2019\u00a0 Killing my bloody story!\u00a0 (laughter).\u00a0 Anyway, we had that as well, so\u2026.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 There were some violent demos against Johnson .<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Oh yes,<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Did you film that stuff?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Yes.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 What was that like?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Well, you know.\u00a0 They\u2019re commies.\u00a0 They\u2019re professionals.\u00a0 Because of Vietnam.\u00a0 Every time there was something, even if it was only Remembrance Day in America, they\u2019d use it as demonstration.\u00a0 And I would be filming in front of Chevron Hotel where used to be American embassy.\u00a0 I used to be in front of Government house when visitors were there.\u00a0 And the famous one was the paint throwing when he was *visiting Dame someone or other, which he knew while he was a Lieutenant in the Navy and they had been entertained here.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 This is LBJ?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0\u00a0 And that was a big demo.\u00a0 They chucked some paint at the bodyguards, one of them was *Rufus Youngone!\u00a0 A name like that just about caused a riot!<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 But security for LBJ here \u2013 there wasn\u2019t much to hold the cameramen back?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 No, no.\u00a0 They weren\u2019t holding anybody back.\u00a0 They were only holding the pinkies back.\u00a0 But if you had a camera you could do anything you want.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 These days for a visit like that you need accreditation, all of that, checks.\u00a0 In those days?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Nah.\u00a0 Didn\u2019t need anything. \u00a0Didn\u2019t even ask for a press pass.\u00a0\u00a0 Mind you, the police knew every one of us anyway, because there weren\u2019t so many of us as far as the press was concerned.\u00a0 They knew every photographer, every cinecameraman.\u00a0 Later on when there was millions of them \u2013 little kids running round \u2013 that was the end of it. But from the beginning they knew the guys.7<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is part of an interview Series for the National Film and Sound Archive Aural History Programme.\u00a0 My name is John Fife (JF) and I have with me Morrie Pilens (MP). JF:\u00a0 So the news cameraman just following on Holt disappearing? MP:\u00a0 I was just waiting for the Chichester lone rower to come across.\u00a0 He … <\/p>\n

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