The Naked Truth: Deakin’s bold book launch
Louise Moran, a distinguished authority in Distance Education both in Australia and internationally, recently donated a valuable collection of records to Deakin Archives. This contribution offers profound insight into Deakin’s trailblazing distance education programs— accompanied by an intriguing aside. Moran reveals the day Deakin University Press launched its inaugural publication Nudism in Australia.
The creation
Magnus Clarke (1947-2002) was a senior lecturer in the School of Social Sciences at Deakin University. His academic focus was on Middle Eastern history and politics, and he featured large in the ABC’s coverage of the first Gulf War. He was also the quizmaster on an ABC TV program called University Challenge in the late 1980s.
Magnus Clarke, 1982
In his private life Magnus was a keen naturist or nudist and spent several years on a part-time quest to research and write a history of 50 years of nudism in Australia. The book was to include photos, of course, and plenty of illustrations from nudist publications. In 1981, with our distance education materials production program accelerating in pace, expertise and capacity, the then head of that area (Assistant Dean Development, Dr Michael Parer) and the Production Coordinator (Cojan Newhouse) decided to create Deakin University Press as a small commercial publishing house that would both market distance education materials with commercial value, and produce new works on congruent subjects, of academic merit. Magnus persuaded them that, despite questions about its direct relevance, his history of nudism should be the first cab off the rank.
As 1982 began, however, we dramatically reorganised the infrastructure supporting the distance education program and I became Director of Educational Services, responsible for all course planning and the production of our learning materials (print, audio and video), and for the expert staff making them. My new remit included the embryonic Deakin University Press.
The production values that went into the distance materials were very high, with book quality recognised by a number of awards from the Australian Book Publishers’ Association in the 1980s. However, the costs were also high, and with financial stringency being increasingly imposed by government funding bodies, we needed to cut our cloth much better to suit our budget. So, I started by questioning whether the University should persist with the Nudism project, which it was funding, but which didn’t fit our profile.
By then, though, the book was well into the production phase, and I reluctantly agreed to continue with it. A standard publishing contract was signed by Magnus, with the usual publisher’s right to control the marketing and future placement of the book.
Magnus had already developed excellent media contacts with both commercial TV stations and, especially, the ABC. He threw himself into marketing the book and organising a spectacular book launch at Point Impossible near Torquay. Geoff Raymond, the much-admired ABC TV News presenter, would launch the book, and the ABC and channel 7 would be on hand.
The launch
Launch’ was indeed the right term for the event. The weather that day was cool and cloudy. Vice Chancellor Fred Jevons, a sizeable number of Magnus’ colleagues in Social Sciences and Humanities, sundry friends and relations, a number of members of naturist clubs, and several of us from Educational Services, gathered on the beach which was otherwise deserted (too damn cold, so we weren’t surrounded by bare flesh on beach towels). A band and a bar were set up on the sand. A plane droned overhead. Two male skydivers dropped out of it holding a copy of the book to present to Geoff Raymond. (Unfortunately, the printer hadn’t delivered the actual book in time, so this one was a mock-up)
The Geelong City West Band plays in readiness.
Magnus’ intention had been that the skydivers would be nude. However, at the last minute it was discovered by the University’s Legal Officer (AKA party pooper) that this would be illegal. It seems you can’t jump out of a plane without your clothes on in Victoria. So, the two men wore beige budgie smugglers which complied with the law but left little to the imagination. They must have frozen in that cool air. For those of us gazing at them from below, the vision was remarkable, and unforgettable – legs a bit apart, knees slightly bent in preparation for landing. The VC could barely look; Geoff Raymond was nonplussed. The TV cameras followed them as far as modesty would allow and had a field day with the audience’s faces. Someone bundled them into warm woollies very quickly.
Parachutists prepare for landing.
Witnessing from below, left to right Russell Sharp, Vice Chancellor Fred Jevons, Dita Jevons, Magnus Clarke, Rhonda Bunbury (Education)
The result, together with Magnus’ deft follow-up on every TV station, numerous radio programs, and the daily press, was a huge amount of free publicity; the kind most publishers could only dream of. Magnus’ face and voice were everywhere. Even I had a moment of publicity – a highly embarrassing (to me) interview with an ABC morning program seeking my views on the book and on nudism, in which I mumbled and fumbled a lot.
The event is captured by awaiting media, it even made it on the evening news.
The fallout
However – a big BUT – the book didn’t sell. The nudist communities in Australia bought copies. The adult (i.e. R rated) book market didn’t like it because the (mostly female) photos had been airbrushed to blur any sight that might offend the delicate sensibility of a reader. The mainstream bookshops didn’t like it either. Angus and Robertson declined to stock it after a brief flush of enthusiasm because they said it didn’t appeal to their family clientele. And so, the vast majority of the 5,000-print run languished in our warehouse next door to the Printery.
In around 1984 I received a letter from a publisher in Hawaii seeking to buy all the copies of Nudism in Australia which we could ‘spare’. My jaw dropped. He enclosed several copies of his full-colour, well-produced magazines and listed several books on the topic which he’d published. Unlike ours, they were not airbrushed. On the other hand, they certainly weren’t R rated. I showed them to the VC and my boss, Ken Stewart (the Vice Principal). The latter was not impressed, but we both sensed a heaven-sent opportunity to remainder the 4,500 books we still had, and recoup some of the production cost. Magnus was fiercely opposed to the idea.
I agreed to sell all the books at a discounted price, providing the funds were first deposited in the University’s bank account. This duly happened and Nudism in Australia went to Hawaii
Magnus never spoke to me again.
As an afterword, I just googled the book and, to my astonishment, found that it is still for sale through Amazon and a company (presumably based in the US) called Elysium. Forty years later. Who’d have thought!
Dr Louise Moran
May 2025
Louise Moran as Director of Educational Services, 1984
About the Collection
Louise Moran played a pivotal role in shaping Deakin University’s approach to distance education, as well as its policy and strategic planning frameworks. Her contributions to electronic desktop publishing were instrumental in establishing Deakin as Australia’s largest educational publisher. Moran also led the development of Deakin University Press as a flourishing commercial operation. At Deakin, she held several key positions, including Assistant Dean (Operations) from 1979 to 1982, Director of Educational Services from 1982 to 1988, and Director of Course Policy from 1993 to 1995. Her leadership and vision helped define the university’s direction in education and publishing.
Louise Moran’s donation to the Deakin Archives includes six boxes of files, photographs, and recordings that chronicle her career at Deakin University and her broader contributions to distance education in Australia and globally. Although the collection has yet to be fully catalogued, it has already attracted international interest, highlighting its value in the field of educational research and history.
The Archives wish to thank Louise for sharing her story and Channel 7 Melbourne for allowing us to use their footage used in this piece.