And we took the three (Australian) tobacco companies to the Federal Court and we drew the best possible judge. Francey told us to go around the country and raise $100,000 or $200,000 for security of costs. We ended up raising about $25,000 of that. So the case fell over.

Within two weeks of getting home we all got letters in our letterboxes demanding $400,000 each from the companies for their legal fees. I tell you what. There was some brown underwear worn for a while there.

I can remember at the Chicago World Conference, which was 7 years later, we were advised that the statute of limitations for pursuing costs was over. Everyone said, ‘They’re just trying to frighten you. They’ll never go after you and they didn’t.’ That was a period I’ll never forget.

My relationship with my wife was cemented immeasurably at that time. She said to me one evening when I was looking very worried, if we had to go $400,000 into debt it didn’t really matter because the work I was doing was so important and she was so proud of me.

Maree Davidson: You got the right one.

Simon Chapman: I got the right one.

Dorothy Reading: On a much smaller scale I had an idea during the time the Victorian Parliament was considering the Tobacco Act. The Grand Final was about to take place at the MCG with tobacco company sponsorship and I thought of having a light aircraft fly across the event with one of those banners behind it saying, Smoking Kills.

BUGA-UP decided to organise it. They were absolutely delighted. In fact the characterisation we’ve heard today of BUGA-UP activists is absolutely unlike the person who organised the whole thing, Marge White[203], a middle-aged upper-class woman from Kew.

So this all worked and it was a tremendous thing. Marge White was so pleased that she named one of her chooks after me.

David Hill: Had Nigel known about it, he would have asked to go up in the plane.

One thing I wanted to mention was the contribution of Simon and Melanie in the editing of Tobacco Control. It’s not just an accolade to two Australians but it must have been a wonderful opportunity to be involved in the scholarship around tobacco control globally.

Simon Chapman: It was fantastic, a privilege.

Melanie Wakefield: We’ve often said to each other that it was one of the most enjoyable things we did when we were doing it. It was a lot of work and personally a great way to stay up-to-date with the literature. More broadly, it was a great opportunity to commission work, encourage young people and that sort of thing.

Simon Chapman: And you never forget the thrill of people when their first work is published.

Lyn Roberts: Thinking about the sorts of legal challenges mentioned earlier, there are a couple of legal stories that might be useful. That’s the sort of thing where Chris Reynolds might have been good, or Alistair Woodward. It would be useful to get a handle on that.

The other thing to acknowledge is the way Steve (Woodward) was hounded by the tobacco industry just for doing his job.

Mike Daube: While we’re talking about people, and because the annual tobacco state and territory Scoreboard Award is being announced today, and congratulations to South Australia on winning the Dirty Ashtray.[204] Normally, as you know, this is done with absolute scientific rigor.

But there was one year when it wasn’t .That was the year when Konrad (Jamrozik) was not well. He was in South Australia at the time and he sent me a typical Konrad email. He wanted South Australia to win the Dirty Ashtray award. You’ve just got to make that happen. So we did.

Rohan Greenland: About the Dirty Ashtray. The first one we did was when I was director of the AMA Public Affairs and Brendan (Nelson) had just become President. He put a lot of passion into getting the AMA into tobacco control and he was determined to make sure that what he did to change the focus of the AMA, particularly in the public health area, was a tour de force and would never change back. And I think he achieved that.

He was quite influential at a critical time. He went to the Paris conference. He was passionate and took on the government and did what the AMA does best, lobbied with a piece of stick in hand. Presidents who’ve followed him have emulated that to good effect.

It wasn’t that long before I arrived (to work at the AMA) that they’d only just decided to rescind the right to smoke at Federal Council Meetings. So it came a long way very quickly.

David Hill: My recollection of the AMA, when I first became aware of it, is that it employed a senior PR person in Melbourne, Clive Turnbull, whose only advice, which he implemented for them, was to stay out of the papers at all costs. It seems amazing these days.

Rohan Greenland: I can believe it.

Witness to the History of Australian Medicine