The illegal relatives

[Sydney : Tomato Press, for the author, c.1973]. Octavo (212 x 139 mm), original pictorial stapled self-wrappers, pp. [96]; Moorhouse’s erotic stories accompanied by line-drawn illustrations in several colours by uncredited artists including Jenny Coopes; slight browning at edges (as usual), a fine copy.

Moorhouse produced this pirated edition of his own illustrated erotic stories as an act of protest against censorship of the printed word in Australia, prompted by the 1972 obscenity trial against Wendy Bacon and John Cox, editors of the underground student newspaper Thor, who had been prosecuted for distributing an obscene publication. As it contained explicit pornographic material, The illegal relatives was a knowingly illegal publication. However, any real impact that its publication might have had in taking a defiant stance against wowserism was instantly dissipated after the Whitlam government reformed the censorship laws, and there is still conjecture surrounding whether the publication was in fact ultimately circulated without Moorhouse’s consent; it was largely distributed privately or sold through secondhand dealers, perhaps to recoup printing costs that were still outstanding.

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