MR SHUSH CAPITAL, the mysterious creator of the brilliant Keeping Up the ACT comic strip muses on what went on behind the last edition’s mighty salute to 35 years of self-government in the ACT.

Recreating the iconic cover of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 2024 is not the doddle you might think.  

Sure, we have the internet now. I didn’t have to do what the Beatles’ roadie had to do back in 1966 and scour bookshops for the necessary pictures. 

We also have Photoshop, so I didn’t have to spend hours in a darkroom. But what I did have to do, that the Beatles didn’t, was think. 

Back in 1966, when husband-and-wife team, Peter Blake and Jann Howarth, were approached to do the Peppers cover, they asked the Beatles who they wanted in the crowd. Paul quickly jotted down a list of names. George added to it with six obscure Indian mystics. John, being John, suggested Hitler and Jesus. Ringo, being Ringo, just said, “whatever the others say is fine by me”, but then decided he wanted his garden gnome included.  

Jann Howarth has long spoken about her disappointment that, “the Beatles picked no African-American musicians, despite owing a debt to them.”  The Beatles also chose no women, so Jann snuck in 12 women to make the picture less blokey. However, she would later rue that, “half of the women were fictional, and the other half were blondes”. 

So, you see, doing Peppers again today, one must be mindful of inclusion. While the Beatles had 71 figures on their cover, my cover has 189. Even so, I know I’ve probably left some significant people out. That’s why I included three blank heads to the right of the picture. Feel free to cut and paste your own heads into them, you, the forgotten people.   

But boy did I learn a lot.  Firstly, for a place generally known as a byword for boredom, we are actually a pretty exciting bunch. We have passions and we pursue them.  But when the spotlight turns on us, and we are asked where the hell we came from, we nervously look to our feet and try and change the subject. 

Like Mick Molloy (number 36), born and bred in Canberra before moving to Melbourne in his teens, Mick doesn’t talk at all about his Canberra roots. It’s as if that revelation would no longer make him an authentic Aussie.

It’s a common trait. Canberrans who find national or global success are often ashamed of the fact that they came from Canberra. They’d rather talk about how they did it tough in a sharehouse in Sydney or how their first car was a clapped-out Datsun 180B.  Nothing is more ignoble, than telling people you grew up middle-class in Canberra.

But back here in Canberra, we know who you are, you cringers. Start a conversation with any Canberran and before long you are going to hear, “yeah, my sister’s brother-in-law was Mick Molloy’s next-door neighbour.”   So, in the spirit of Canberra gossip, here are a few things I discovered about our fellow ACTivists.   

Did you know Canberra gave birth to Emily Scott (61), a woman voted “the world’s sexiest DJ”, who is in constant demand by nightclubs around the world? In Sweden, they even wrote a song about her.  

Then there’s Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ front man, Flea (21), who spent three years going to school in Canberra, while his dad still lives down the coast in Congo.  

Or, did you know that in Valerie Parv (46), we had one of the world’s most successful romance writers, with more than 34 million sales of her Mills and Boons books. 

We all know Jackie Chan (38) spent time in Canberra, but less well known is that he got his name here too, because calling him Chan Kong-sang was seemingly too hard. 

And speaking of names, the worldwide brand mascot of Linux, Tux (189) the penguin, came about after Finnish creator, Linus Torvalds, was bitten by an aggressive fairy penguin at Canberra Zoo.  

Then there’s Alicia Malone (45) who grew up in Canberra and is now the US host of Turner Classic Movies, as well as, perhaps, the leading feminist historian on film, with three internationally best-selling books.   

Or, more parochially, did you know that former ACT Labor Treasurer Ted Quinlan (128) became a cartoonist after leaving politics or that former Liberal Chief Minister Gary Humphries (149) went on to act in a local production of Mel Brooks’ The Producers? 

Then there’s…  sigh… As you can see, the fonts are running out and I, regrettably, have to bring this column to a close.  But I’ve given you the names now, so go do your own digging. You might even uncover the giant pyramids buried beneath Commonwealth Park (182). Say what, now?!    

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