Back then

During the Whitlam years, my dad was a teenager living with his parents and siblings in Darwin. And just like Gough Whitlam at the time, my dad and family were under surveillance by the Central Intelligence Agency.

See, my dad lived next door to a CIA operative. At that time, Americans were crawling all over the Northern Territory, including deep in the desert near Alice Springs. To my dad, the neighbours were a serious but private American man, dressed in suits and shoulder holsters, and an American woman who made the home, wore dresses and had no friends or visitors. Together they had no children but instead served two missions. One came in the form of orders from Uncle Sam detailing their posting in the new American Empire; the other, incessant demands from their very fussy, very fluffy cat.