Rhodesia orders out Australian

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33067, 7 November 1972, Page 19

Rhodesia orders out Australian

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) BULAWAYO, November 6. The Rhodesian Government has ordered an Australian lecturer, Mr Ronald Gobbett, to'leave the country by November ifi.

Mr Gobbett. who said that no reason had been given for the order, arrived in Bulawayo from Adelaide in 1963. Three of his four children were bom in Rhodesia. His wife, Estelle, and his eldest son, David, aged nine, are also included on the deportation order. “I don’t know why we got the order, but we were leaving in December anway. We don’t think there is any future for our children in Rhodesia.”

i Mr Gobbett, who is a lecj turer in geography and i sociology at the United College of Education in Bulawayo, said that an African lecturer had been chosen to replace him, but this had been done some months ago, after his own resignation. Mr Gobbett said that he felt very sad for Rhodesia under the Government of Mr lan Smith.

"The Government preaches racial harmony, but doesn’t practise it,” he said. "All we have done since we arrived in Rhodesia is to practise our Christian beliefs about human relationships, which includes meeting with ail peoples. We have had many multi-racial gatherings in our house.” Mr Gobbett added that he was a personal friend of the Rev. Canaan Banana, vice.

president of the African National Council, which spearheaded the attack on the rejected independence settlement terms.