Summary

Book, 'Australian Landfall' by Egon Erwin Kisch, published by Martin Secker & Warburg LTD London, in 1937.

'Australian Landfall' is a memoir written by Kisch in which he reflects on the 1934 incident which saw him detained in Australia as well as aspects of Australian life and culture. This amusing account about his adventures in Australia was punningly titled and he wrote that 'the high jump from deck to dock was looked upon as a sporting performance by this sport-mad continent.' The Egon Kisch case became one of the most high profile examples of the flawed application of the infamous Dictation Test and highlights issues relating to freedom of speech, discrimination, anti- Communist activities and early international anti-Hitler movements well before World War II commenced.

Egon Kisch was a Jewish Communist and anti-war activist of German ancestry born in what at the time was Czechoslovakia. He was an author, journalist and public speaker, an anti-fascist and Hitler critic. In 1934 Kisch was invited by the Movement Against War and Fascism to speak at conference to coincide with the Melbourne Centenary Celebrations - an invitation the Commonwealth Government sought to prohibit. When Kisch arrived at Fremantle on 6 November 1934, he was refused entry as an 'undesirable' under the Immigration Restriction Act. He remained in custody on the Straithaird as the ship proceeded to Sydney via Adelaide and Melbourne.

In Melbourne, where large numbers of supporters and legal support was organised, Kisch famously jumped off the ship onto Station Pier, breaking his leg. He was returned to the ship which continued on to Sydney. Attorney-General Robert Menzies defended the restriction on Kisch to enter Australia as a revolutionary who could incite violence. The case was taken to the High Court who found in favour of Kisch and he was released.

The Straithaird arrived in Sydney on 16 November 1934, where the Federal Government applied the Dictation Test, the tool usually applied to restrict non-white immigrants entering Australia but which could be used to prevent anyone deemed to be undesirable, as the means to exclude Kisch. A multi-linguist, Kisch was finally given the test in Scottish Gaelic and upon refusing the test, was deemed to have failed and was arrested. Released on bail he attended receptions until the court case which found that the Dictation Test had been misapplied.

Physical Description

Brown hard cover book with red map of Australia and book title.

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