Super Stone Slinger

Super Stone Slinger is a political spoof played by the well-known, Australian actor, Peter Kowitz, in his younger days.

The Super 8 film references an event that took place during a "state of emergency" designed to control anti-apartheid demonstrations during a South African Springbok rugby union tour in Brisbane, Australia, in mid-1971. The film was shot in Wickham Park in central Brisbane, the actual location where two large anti-apartheid demonstrations had been charged and attacked by police without warning. Many people were beaten and some sustained serious injuries. One of the victims was Peter Beattie, who later became the 36th Premier of Queensland between 1998 and 2007. He was hosptialised for suspected spinal damage. The confrontations were orchestrated by an inexperienced Queensland Premier, Bjelke Petersen, in the early part of his term as premier. He sought to push a strong ‘law and order’ message in the face of skepticism about his leadership role.

The police claimed the justification for the second police charge on 24 July 1971 was that a stone was thrown that allegedly broke a window in the motel where the Springboks were staying. However, the offending missile was never produced and glaziers called to fix the window insisted the fall of the glass strongly suggested the window has been broken from inside the building. It was next to impossible for a demonstrator to throw a stone and break the plate glass window as the police had claimed. This film is a send up of this ridiculous assertion by the police.

As a direct response to the calling of the "state of emergency" and the use of excessive police force in 1971, a discussion started among progressive students about using radio as a alternative form of communication to express other points of view that were different from the main-stream media. This idea eventually evolved into the establishment of radio station 4ZZZ-FM four and a half years later.

The actor, Peter Kowitz, is one of Australia's most prolific stage performers over the last 40 years. He has had roles in classics like Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and A Doll's House, as well as numerous Shakespearean plays. He has also worked extensively in comedy. Peter has appeared in almost every major Australian television series of the last 25 years with credits including Murder Call, Rafferty's Rules, Wildside, Big Sky, and Swimming With Sharks.

Peter has won two AFI awards. The first in 1986, when he was named Best Lead Actor in a Telefeature for The Long Way Home, and the second in 1989, when he was awarded Best Performance by an Actor in a mini-series for Body Surfer. He has also received a Variety Club Heart Award for television performance. More recently, he played the character Max in the BBC/FOX comedy Supernova series 1&2.

Peter Kowitz was a student at the University of Queensland when he played the super hero in this short film.

The music is from DROWNING POOL, a band originally from Dallas, Texas. The track is entitled BODIES from their debut album SINNER (2001 / Wind-up Records).