Having very much enjoyed recounting his adventures to Bobby Kennedy, Lyndon could now sense the younger man’s renewed respect, which, although he would always maintain meant nothing, somehow pleased him. He’d formed a good working relationship with John during the time he’d served as Kennedy’s Vice-President, but he’d always known both brothers looked down on him a little. As those of the Kennedy clan tended to do. Nice to feel a mellowing change, he now thought. Or is it just the Bundy?

‘You’re getting behind there, Bobby,’ he said, topping up his rum. Bobby’s had remained untouched. ‘I’d like to propose a final toast,’ he raised his glass, ‘to Jack, and America, and equal rights for all.’

‘I’ll drink to that, Mr President.’

They clinked and drained their glasses.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

FACT OR FICTION

Khaki Town is a work of fiction, inspired by factual events about which very little is known. This makes for an interesting combination for the reader (at least I hope so) and something of a test for the author (I know so).

Here are a few examples of such ‘combinations’.

All the characters in the book are fictional, with the obvious exception of the four American historical figures, FDR, Eisenhower, LBJ and Robert Kennedy, together with the less obvious exception of Tom Aikens, deputy mayor of Townsville from 1939–44.

The Brown’s Bar is fictional as is the nameless hotel in which it is situated. However, for narrative purposes, ‘The Brown’s’, as it becomes known in the novel, stands on the site of the old Herbert Hotel. Formerly the Court House Hotel, built in the latter part of the nineteenth century, the name was changed to Herbert in 1910, and the original building replaced by the current brick structure in the 1920s.

Pete Vickers, local journalist for the Townsville Bulletin, is a fictional character, but the part he plays in the novel is not. The report Pete gives to Lyndon Johnson is inspired by that of American war correspondent Robert Sherrod, who was based in Townsville at the time. Sherrod gave Johnson a report of the 96th Battalion’s mutiny, rather naïvely hoping to bypass the wartime censors, despite Johnson warning him the subject matter was ‘too hot’. Upon his return to America, Johnson apparently presented the report to FDR passing it off as his own. A copy of it remains today in the LBJ Presidential Library.

The North American Service Club, created exclusively for African-American soldiers, opened at 380 Flinders Street, Townsville in 1942. Eleanor Roosevelt did indeed visit the club during her trip to North Queensland the following year.

The shocking events of the mutiny in Townsville and the deaths of African-American troops in Mount Isa are true, but despite various rumours no numbers have been substantiated, and I doubt the full truth will ever be known.

Lyndon Johnson made an official trip to Australia as President of the United States in 1966. He was the first US president to visit Australia while in office, and for personal reasons unknown to most he chose to have Townsville added to his itinerary.