High-Ho to London

Published in 1948, this is the first of Clune's planned trilogy to cover his six months of travel. Interestingly the second of the trilogy, which promised to cover a route from Cairo to Kenya, and was to be titled Up and Down the Nile never came to fruition, but the third, entitled Land of Hope and Glory did, although it was probably the dullest of Clune's publications that I have read! A shame as the Nile book sounded far better!

Anyway, this book covers Clune voyage from Sydney to London, by short-hop flights, with stops in between which Clune spends interviewing politicians and high profile persons and looking around. His travel, commencing on New Years Eve 1946 is at an interesting time, as World War II has just drawn to a close, yet many countries remain effected by the sudden change.

His stops in Australia pass by relatively quickly, Darwin being by far the most interesting. Darwin, bombed by the Japanese, was still in the early stages of being rebuilt, and Clune gives a good summary of events around the bombing and the aftermath.

Two stops in Indonesia are interesting to, for the fact that the Indonesian National Revolution was underway, with the Dutch still retaining control of the main cities, but the Republican rebels constantly threatening. Indonesia's declaration of independence in 1945 was not formalised by the Dutch handover of sovereignty until 1949. There were still a number of Japanese POWs in Indonesia, put to work, yet in conditions better than those they provided.

Malaya next - Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, and a further description of the recent history of this place - through the war and the formation of the Federation of Malaya. Japanese POWs were also present in Malaya, mostly performing hard labour, but others awaiting their time to attend the war crimes commission. After Malaya, a brief stop in Rangoon (Yangon), Burma (Myanmar), where the country was in political turmoil, with infrastructure issues. A few political interviews and a visit to Shwe Dagon Pagoda, before heading on to India.

Throughout this book, as with others from Clune of this era, continues to bring up the horrendous White Australia Policy, which he raises in many of his interviews, searching for some sort of approval from the world. Clune, obviously, is a big supporter, which I find ironic given his interest in travel and other cultures. A case of “just not in my backyard,” I suppose.

Clune spends his Indian time in Delhi, interviewing several people, the most important of whom was Jawaharlal Nehru. Other than this, he was planning his time in Afghanistan, which was coming up after Pakistan. Clune visited in January 1947, the very brink of partition and Indian independence - a particularly interesting time. In Pakistan, he spent time mostly in Peshawar, with day trips to the Khyber Pass (to Afghanistan) the Makaland Pass (to Chitral and on to Russian controlled Central Asia) and to Miram Shah. Clune's discussions about the northern border were all around whether the British subsidies to the northern tribes would be continued, and whether a guard on the border would be maintained after the British departed.

Afghanistan - one of the most interesting few chapters, where Clune is able to join a Military truck driving from Peshawar to Kabul via the Khyber Pass and Jelalabad, spending time in Kabul and Kandahar. He gives a good explanation of recent Afghanistan history, a quick look at deeper history and a good explanation of the relationship with Russia, Britain and America, as well as India (Pakistan). His return, again by truck is via Quetta to Karachi.

Oil rich Bahrain is the next stop, where Clune interviews the Sheik, visits the pearl diving grounds and the oil fields. Iraq is next, Basra and Baghdad, where he is deep in the history, then gives a brief review of more recent history. Next is quick side trip into Iran, where Clune visits Teheran and Meshed, followed by a brief stop in Beirut. Cairo is covered quickly with only an interview with an unnamed British intelligence officer who shared some views. Here Clune departs on a 7 week side trip which I mentioned he plans to write about separately, so presumably he was to cover Egypt in more detail at the same time. He limits himself to some military reminiscences of the ANZACs and their Battle of El Alamein and preventing a German takeover of Egypt.

There remains only an overview of Libya, then a stop in Malta before his arrival in London, where he closes off quick smart in preparation for is third book dedicated to Britain. If my review towards the end seems rushed, it matches the book, where Clune wraps up fairly quickly too.

An interesting enough trip, certainly undertaken at an interesting time.
3.5 stars, rounded up.