AustLit

'One hundred years ago, Brisbane became the centre of the movement against militarism in Australia; the two referenda on compulsory conscription were one of Australia’s most divisive— and successfully fought—crises. Perhaps the most interesting history of this extraordinary story is still Ray Evans’ Loyalty and Disloyalty Social Conflict on the Queensland Homefront, 1914–1918 published in 1987 (even as it is, somewhat gender blind), but The Blood Vote, a novel, by Jack Lindsay, is a book that every Queenslander, every Brisbane resident should read, as one of the most important books of our cultural and political heritage (even as it is, somewhat gender blind). Illuminating the ‘human aspects behind the facts of history’, is how Lindsay describes his fiction, and that’s exactly what this novel does as it provides a bridge for contemporary readers from the dry newspapers of Trove through to the time of war. Lindsay was living and breathing the vibe in Brisbane in 1917.'  (Introduction)

'Jack Saunders was a larger than life Brisbane character who passed away on 16 March 2017. He is best characterised as “someone whose presence lit up a room.” A journalist, union organiser, public servant, ALP stalwart and avid South Sydney supporter, Jack attended Junction Park State School, St Peters Lutheran College and Ipswich Grammar School. He began at the University of Queensland at the age of 16 where he was involved in the radical student movement as a member of the University of Queensland Labor Club and worked on the university union publication Semper Floreat. Jack worked for a while in the family business before going back to university to study journalism. His first job was as the editor of The Coal Miner for Queensland Country Life. (Introduction)