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John
13 years ago

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John
13 years ago

It is now 15 years since I last saw John. We last worked together at a place we nicknamed "The Bellevue Hillbillies" for obvious reasons. I got to know him first when on the interview panel for the position of orchid grower at the then Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. In the interview he challenged the botanist Ben Wallace ( acknowledged by his unpublished doctoral thesis on nutrient uptake in native epiphytic orchids which John knew about - the only member on the panel apart for Ben who had read it - and thought was a good piece of research) on the new names for epiphytic cactus from South America. Never a backward step. I learnt more from him about plants than anyone. It was always challenge the accepted and seek out alternative explanations as horticulture and botany is riddled with folklaw. He had a way of evaluating empirical evidence against accepted wisdom that was always about the question "what if?" which meant you became the researcher. I think the only 'authority' that was acceptible to John was the inquisitive mind. His interest in the para normal and occult was from a purely phenomnological point of view. "Why has this occured as part of the human imagination down the ages?" was the question behind his obsession with it. Others didn't get it and thought he was a crank. I spent a lot of time with him at work and knew it was a serious curiosity of his. He wasn't a believer. He would always come up with some de-bunking explanation for why this or that report of some para normal event could be traced to some historical precedent of pre ration cultural practice or belief. I bet I'm not the only one who has been on the end of one of his phone calls where you wake and realise you've fallen asleep but he's still talking; maybe taking your sleep talk/murmurings as some sort of confirmation your still there; he never let on. Underlying all his varied interests was an acute observation and understanding of the frailties of being human. Where others produced the knee jerk reaction of outrage he had a nuanced view. Still he had thew most inventive invective when it came to the bleatings of the priveleged which obliterated the outrage of the PC view by reducing it to guffaws of laughter. The oldest daughter of the Bellevue Hillbillies was spoilt whining oik of a typically blond female native to that suburb who when in tantrum mode John described as "having the face of a bashed in jam tin" . Word were his meat and we feasted on lines like this. I also understood the importance of language from him as a way of overcoming prejudice. He could have been a lawyer but I suspect it was too narrow a field for him. I am sorry I lost tough with him and now have too many questions I would ask. He said he wanted to go from a 'fulminating disease' - no taboo was sacred to him - but the news it was cancer came with the idea he would try and understand it. Having been through the ordeal with many relatives I only hope he went the way he wanted. I wish Robyn, James and the family best wishes and the acknowledgement of myself and countless others he was one we won't forget. Kind Regards John Blakeney

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John
13 years ago

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