Part 5

by Chris Oakley

From the January 8^th, 1970 Sydney Morning Herald:

CASUALTIES AT 102

SCIENTISTS FORECAST EXTINCTION OF HUMAN RACE WITHIN 4-6 MONTHS

PHONE SERVICE BETWEEN WELLINGTON AND CHRISTCHURCH DISRUPTED

From a Channel 9(Australia) news broadcast dated January 12^th, 1970:

casualty of the global RDS epidemic with the news that the Sydney Swans, beset

by growing financial difficulty and the loss of several critical players, will cease

operations until further notice effective as of midnight tonight. When asked how

soon the club might resume play, team executives had no comment...

From the January 15^th, 1970 Sydney Morning Herald:

From Mr. L’s diary entry of January 19^th, 1970:

is bad news. Did you know the RDS body count here’s now up to 118? 118! And they’re

reporting at least 2 or 3 new cases every day. I’m beginning to wonder how long I’ve

got before I catch that damn bug myself....

From a notice posted outside the Alice Springs city hall dated January 24^th, 1970:

IN FORCE AT THIS TIME AND WILL REMAIN SO UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.

ANYONE FOUND IN VIOLATION OF THE MARTIAL LAW DECREE WILL BE

SUBJECT TO ARREST AND POSSIBLE EXECUTION.

From the January 28^th, 1970 Sydney Morning Herald:

CASUALTIES APPROACHING 130

GLOBAL TOLL UP TO 3.94 BILLION

TWO SOLDIERS COURT-MARTIALLED FOR REFUSING TO

ENFORCE ALICE SPRINGS MARTIAL LAW DECREE

From a pirate radio broadcast somewhere in Queensland dated February 5^th, 1970:

time someone knocked it over! Get a gun and join me! We’ve gotta save our country while there’s

still time!....

From the February 6^th, 1970 Sydney Morning Herald:

From a Channel 9(Australia) news broadcast dated February 15^th, 1970:

From Mr. L’s diary entry of February 21^st, 1970:

one more casualty report, one more university egghead saying we’re all doomed. I’m

just about the only one in my apartment building who dares going out anymore, what

with the riots and the economic crisis....I’ll be lucky if I survive until the first day of

spring...

From the February 25^th, 1970 Sydney Morning Herald:

GLOBAL RDS PANDEMIC

ABORIGINAL MASS HEALING CEREMONY UNDERWAY AT AYERS ROCK

From a Channel 9(Australia) news report dated March 2^nd, 1970:

seal around Darwin. In New Zealand, the official casualty toll from that nations

RDS epidemic has now risen to 173...

From the March 5^th, 1970 Sydney Morning Herald:

From a notice posted outside the Wellington city hall dated March 10^th, 1970:

already, in order that they may defend themselves against criminals and lunatics. Those

who are armed should keep their weapons close at hand and be ready to use them at a

moment’s notice...

From Mr. L’s diary entry of March 16^th, 1970:

the shooter, but he got away by ducking into an alley before we could get hold of him. And

that’s not the worst of it-- the manager died waiting for the ambulance to show up. This

country’s coming apart at the seams....

From the March 25^th, 1970 Sydney Morning Herald:

LEADING SCIENTIST WARN EXTINCTION OF REMNANTS OF HUMAN RACE ONLY 60-75 DAYS OFF

TOWNSVILLE POLICE CHIEF AND MAYOR KILLED IN ANTI-AUTHORITY RIOTS

From a letter by a Dunedin, New Zealand school headmistress to the parents of the school’s pupils dated April 2^nd, 1970:

school must be suspended until further notice. We are unable at present to guarantee our

pupils’ safety and do not wish to expose them to unnecessary risks....

From a Channel 9(Australia) news report dated April 5^th, 1970:

Canberra....

From the April 11^th, 1970 Sydney Morning Herald:

N.Z. DEATH TOLL AT 229

NEW ZEALAND’s THIRD-LARGEST PRIVATE BANK CRASHES

From Mr. L’s diary entry of April 16^th, 1970:

killed and the town hall got burned down...

From a Channel 9 news report dated April 24th, 1970:

when a fire apparently sparked by an electrical short-circuit destroyed the main telegraph station

in Wellington. The station had been used by reporters with the Sydney Morning Herald’s New

Zealand bureau to file their stories on that country’s RDS outbreak....

From the April 30^th, 1970 Sydney Morning Herald:

FEDERAL OFFICIALS ASSURE PUBLIC RADIO LINKS TO NEW ZEALAND

REMAIN SECURE

From a Channel 9 news report dated May 4^th, 1970:

troops and anti-government rioters clashed in a firefight which left 200 dead and at

least 400 wounded. Much of the city is reported to be in flames at this hour...

From the May 8^th, 1970 Sydney Morning Herald:

PRESENTLY STAND AT 350

SYDNEY UNIVERSITY UNDER ARMED GUARD AFTER VIOLENT ANTI-GOVERNMENT DEMONSTRATIONS

From Mr. L’s diary entry of May 13^th, 1970:

mayor of Hobart got killed along with a bunch of cops when they tried to quiet things

down. Reminds me of when Governor Faubus called out the National Guard back in ’62...

From a Channel 9 special broadcast dated May 21^st, 1970:

personnel, we regret to announce that until further notice we must suspend

broadcast operations in the 12 noon-4 PM time period...

From the May 23^rd, 1970 Sydney Morning Herald:

NATIONAL UNEMPLOYMENT FIGURES APPROACHING 80 PERCENT

From a letter by the general manager of New Zealand’s largest professional cricket club to the team’s supporters dated May 28^th, 1970:

we remain hopeful that we will eventually be able to resume operations...

From Mr. L’s diary entry of June 4^th, 1970:

people around here it’s been even longer than. There’s this guy living two floors above me

who hasn’t been seen out of his place in six months. Some of us think he might already be

dead, which wouldn’t surprise me much at this point...

From the June 5th entry:

I wish we could all sleep through this whole lousy mess...it would make the virus easier to

deal with....

From the June 10^th, 1970 Sydney Morning Herald:

SUICIDE RATES IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND AT ALL-TIME PEAKS

ARMY RESERVE COLONEL KILLED IN APPARENT MUTINY ATTEMPT

From a Channel 9 special broadcast dated June 16^th, 1970:

suspended....

From a special address by the prime minister of Australia to the Senate dated June 22^nd, 1970:

to the temptation towards despair, because that way lies the final, total, and irrevocable demise

of our country....

From a heckler’s response to the PM’s remarks:

that? The Rome virus’ll kill us all, just like it killed everyone in America and Russia! Can’t

you see we’re all doomed, you blind old fool?!!...

From the June 24^th, 1970 Sydney Morning Herald:

CHANNEL 9 TO CANCEL ALL REMAINING EVENING BROADCAST ACTIVITY EFFECTIVE FROM 8:00 PM TOMORROW

RACE WITHIN 30-45 DAYS

PARLIAMENT LEADER RESIGNS AMID BITTER PUBLIC CRITICISM OF GOVERNMENT’S HANDLING OF RDS CRISIS

From an editorial in the July 2^nd, 1970 Sydney Morning Herald:

From Mr. L’s diary entry of July 5^th, 1970:

the city got burned down...some of the cops were supposed to stop the riot ended up being

part of it instead, which goes to show you how bad things really are over there....

From the July 10^th, 1970 Auckland Daily Mail:

EXCESS OF 700

N.Z. DEFENCE MINISTER FOUND DEAD IN APPARENT SUICIDE

From a Channel 9 news broadcast dated July 14^th, 1970:

would in the past have been Bastille Day in France. No one was inside the embassy complex

when the fire-- whose origins are still uncertain --broke out in the main lobby; the embassy was

reduced to ashes in less than two hours....

From the July 20^th, 1970 Auckland Daily Mail:

AUSTRALIA RDS DEATH COUNT TOPS 275,000

FLAGSHIP OF N.Z. NAVY REPORTS THREE CREWMEN MISSING; DESERTION

SUSPECTED

From a Channel 9 news broadcast dated July 26^th, 1970:

An RAAF reconnaissance flight over Darwin has confirmed that the

From the August 1^st, 1970 Auckland Daily Mail:

From Mr. L’s diary entry of August 4^th, 1970:

There was a huge fire here in town today-- one of the locals tried to burn an RDS corpse

himself instead of letting the health board do it and things got really out of hand. Poor guy

got fried to a crisp and so did two of his neighbors, and on top of that his house burned to

the ground. About the only thing that didn’t get burned was the corpse...

From a Channel 9 news report dated August 9^th, 1970:

medical system to such an extent that it has cleared the way for other diseases to run

rampant throughout the general human population, thus exacerbating the already

steep population decline caused by the plague, now approaching its seventh year

worldwide and and its third year in Australia....

From a propaganda leaflet by a group calling itself the Australian National Survival Party, dated August 17^th, 1970:

SMASH THE INCOMPETENT OLIGARCHY IN CANBERRA THAT CAUSED THIS

PLAGUE!

JOIN OUR REVOLUTION!

From the August 22^nd, 1970 Auckland Daily Mail:

LEADING SCIENTISTS ESTIMATE 98 PERCENT OF GLOBAL HUMAN POPULATION KILLED BY RDS PLAGUE

PHONE SERVICE BETWEEN WELLINGTON AND AUCKLAND STILL NOT RESTORED AFTER THREE MONTHS

From a Channel 9 special broadcast dated August 26^th, 1970:

be terminating broadcast operations permanently due to severe shortages of funds and

personnel....

From the September 1^st, 1970 Auckland Daily Mail:

HEALTH MINISTRY REPORTS MASSIVE SHORTAGES OF VITAL MEDICINES

PARLIAMENT OPPOSITION LEADER COMMITS SUICIDE

From an internal memo to the Australian prime minister by the country’s top counterintelligence official, dated September 6^th, 1970:

least two city mayors have been assassinated in the past week and anti-government rallies

outside the Parliament building are becoming almost a daily event. Frankly, it’s astonishing

that the country hasn’t yet fallen into open civil war...

From Mr. L’s diary entry for September 10^th, 1970:

2000 dead from RDS here in New Zealand and Australia will probably hit the 400,000

mark by the end of the month. I don’t know why I don’t just hang myself and get it over

with...

From the September 18^th, 1970 Auckland Daily Mail:

BILLION

RADIO LINKS BETWEEN ADELAIDE AND N.Z. DISRUPTED

CAPTAIN OF AUSTRALIAN NAVY FRIGATE REPORTED MISSING

From an Australian National Survival Party propaganda leaflet dated September 22^nd, 1970:

from the inept rabble in Canberra that brought the RDS plague down on us all! Last night NSP special

detachments occupied the city hall in Hobart, Tasmania and announced the formation of the first dedicated

NSP government in Australia! Already this heroic example is being followed elsewhere, and soon we will

reclaim the dead cities of Broome, Darwin, and Fremantle from Death’s icy grip! But our greatest triumph

is still to come-- the swift and final destruction of the Canberra regime!....

From the September 23^rd, 1970 Auckland Daily Mail:

400,000^TH RDS FATALITY IN AUSTRALIA CONFIRMED BY FEDERAL HEALTH AUTHORITIES

From Mr. L’s diary entry for September 29^th, 1970:

of civilization goes down the drain....

From the October 5^th, 1970 Auckland Daily Mail:

NSP CELL BROKEN UP IN HOBART

MAORI LEADERS DENOUNCE LACK OF N.Z. GOVERNMENT AID TO FAMILIES OF TRIBAL

MEMBERS KILLED BY RDS

Government Spokesman Says Financial Crisis Hampering Efforts To Aid Citizens

Regardless of Ethnicity; Denies Maoris Being Singled Out

From a report by the Australian defense minister to the prime minister dated October 9^th, 1970:

liquidate one of its cells, two more seem to pop up in its place. Making matters worse, a few of the very men that we

trusted to crush the movement have instead defected to its ranks....

From the October 14^th, 1970 Auckland Daily Mail:

VIRUS NOW IN EXCESS OF 425,000

HUMAN RACE PREDICTED TO BECOME EXTINCT WITHIN LESS THAN FOUR MONTHS

AUSTRALIAN AUTHORITIES SMASH NSP CELL IN BRISBANE

From a reader’s letter in the October 18^th, 1970 edition of the Auckland Daily Mail:

in three months would keep their traps shut...not only are they scaring me and my

neighbors but they risk putting themselves in the same position as the boy who

 cried ‘wolf’....

From Mr. L’s diary entry for October 22^nd, 1970:

Pretty soon it’ll be 5000, then 10,000, then 20,000, and so on until there’s nothing left of

this country. Just the other day one of my neighbors jumped off the roof of this building,

and if I wasn’t scared of heights I might be tempted to jump myself...

From the October 30^th, 1970 Auckland Daily Mail:

AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL TROOPS ARREST NSP MELBOURNE BRANCH LEADER

FISHING BOAT, AUSTRALIAN NAVAL VESSEL SUNK IN COLLISION OFF CHESTERFIELD ISLANDS

From an internal memo by the editor of the Auckland Daily Mail to the paper’s employees dated November 4^th, 1970:

Lately I’ve heard a great deal of talk about closing this newspaper

From a letter by the mayor of Sydney to the Australian defense minister dated November 8^th, 1970:

an uprising in this city...

From the November 15^th, 1970 issue of the Australian National Survival Party’s official magazine Deliverance:

We regret to announce the founder of our glorious party has died in combat against the hired

thugs of the corrupt and incompetent bureaucracy in Canberra. At the same time, however, we

take immense pride in the knowledge he spent his last moments courageously upholding our

party’s ideals....

From the November 21^st, 1970 Auckland Daily Mail:

NSP LEADER ALLEGED TO HAVE COMMITTED SUICIDE

N.Z. PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET EVACUTED FROM AUCKLAND; MOVE DESCRIBED

AS "UNAVOIDABLE TEMPORARY NECESSITY"

From an internal communiqué by New Zealand’s top counterintelligence official to the country’s prime minister dated November 28^th, 1970:

The situation in Australia is even worse than we can imagine. Ballarat and four other

towns near Melbourne are confirmed to have cases of RDS, and my staff suspects that

Melbourne itself may suffer an outbreak within days. What’s left of the Australian economy

is crumbling like a house of cards and a brief conversation with my counterpart in the

Australian intelligence service has confirmed that there are virtually no human inhabitants

left in Western Australia or the Northern Territory....

From the December 1^st, 1970 Auckland Daily Mail:

From Mr. L’s diary entry for December 3^rd, 1970:

about the future of the human race than I have in a long time. Lots of people

figured we’d be gone with the wind by now, and yet somehow we’re still managing

to hang on...if we can just hold out another month or so, maybe we can finally

find a cure for that damn bug and start rebuilding the world back to what it was

before the virus started tearing it to shreds...

From the December 6^th, 1970 Auckland Daily Mail:

POSSIBLE FAINT RADIO SIGNALS FROM HAWAII DETECTED BY N.Z. ARMY LISTENING POST

Scientists Believe Signals May Constitute Evidence Of Human Survivors

From the next day’s edition:

SIGNAL DEVELOPMENTS

PM Hints Second Special Expedition To North America May Be In The Works

From a notice posted by the New Zealander government in Auckland and its suburbs dated December 12^th, 1970:

Hawaii to investigate the possibility that human survivors may exist somewhere on

the North American continent. The work may be hazardous, but the rewards will be

great and you will have the opportunity to participate in one of the greatest scientific

endeavors in human history....

From a graffito written in response by an anonymous local resident:

To Be Continued