Mirranda Burton has a printmaking background and it shows in her clear graphic style. I remember enjoying her other book 'Hidden'. This book is about the Australian experience of the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 70s, derived from interviews with people who were there. As a semi-documentary it's a bit formless, but I loved the art style. ( )

It's always interesting to see the next generation/s 'discovering' the history that we ourselves lived through. Graphic artist Mirranda Burton was born in 1973, the year after Australia ceased conscription for the Vietnam War, and as it says in the introduction, it was not until 2011 when she was artist-in-residence in the former studio of artist Clifton Pugh at Dunmoochin in Victoria, that his activism against the Vietnam War triggered her interest in finding out more.

Loosely based on historical fact, the resulting book is Underground, a graphic novel with the advantages and limitations of the format. The advantages are that it will appeal to those who love the format, and to younger readers, especially those known in education circles as 'reluctant readers'. The art work is vibrant and dynamic, and the size of the book (18x26cm) means that the text is clear and easy to read. (Which was not the case when I tried to read the Vintage edition of Persepholis, by Marjane Satrapi, translated by Mattias Ripa).

One of the disadvantages, however, is that simplified text in this format can lack nuance, as for example on page 5 where we see in a text box about Clifton Pugh's first wife Marlene that in 1952:

Marlene Harvey was only nineteen. There were rumours that she was a gangster's moll and carried a gun under her breast.

On page 7, we see that

Despite the rumours, Marlene didn't carry a gun. More often than not, there was an orphaned marsupial in her handbag.

But there's nothing to refute the suggestion that she had been mixed up with gangsters or the other negative connotations of the rumour.

Similarly, nuance is lacking on page 16 in the section about exemptions from National Service. We read that

First Nations Australians were not eligible for registration and were not drawn from the ballot, as the government did not recognise them as Australian citizens. It is estimated that around 300 First Nations Australians volunteered anyway.

It is true that the first ballot for National Service in 1965 was before the 1967 referendum which changed the Constitution so that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples would be counted as part of the population and the Commonwealth would be able to make laws for them. But that reason could not have applied as a reason for exemption after 1967. Furthermore, 'First Nations Australians' implies those from the Torres Strait Islands as well as Aborigines, but Torres Strait Islanders were not exempt. The reason why they were not, and Aboriginal people were, was because the DNLS (Department of Labour and National Service) held that...

"...it would be impossible to trace and oblige young Aboriginal men to register, as many of them did not know their birthdate. Not all States kept birth records of Aboriginals, and each defined Aboriginality differently. Aboriginal Australians could, however, volunteer for national service. The National Service Act did not refer to Torres Strait Islanders. As their dates of birth were usually recorded, the DLNS considered them liable to register but was lenient towards those who did not, for it considered that the scheme was insufficiently publicised in the Torres Strait Islands." No action was taken against non-registering Torres Strait Islanders before September 1967. (Australian War Memorial Appendix: The national service scheme, 1964-72).

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2021/09/22/underground-a-graphic-novel-by-mirranda-burt... ( )