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Batman in the Bulletin: The Melbourne I remember

‘There is no Australian city other than Melbourne which could have produced Keith Dunstan. After all these years he is as acute, gentle and generous of spirit as he ever was.’ — Barry Humphries

For more than four decades Keith Dunstan’s finger has been on the pulse of Melbourne. He knows the city’s foibles and its fads, its fashions, its fanaticisms. He founded the notorious Anti-Football League and is warmly remembered for his daily newspaper columns.

As Melbourne correspondent for The Bulletin, the national weekly magazine, Keith wrote under the pseudonym of ‘Batman’. In an introduction to this collection of his best writing from ‘The Bully’, he tells how his ‘moonlighting’ began, and how he was found out.

On royal tours, the splendour of old Collins Street, the destruction of our historic treasures, the peculiarities of our politicians and leading citizens, our mad passion for sport, or our Australian ways, Keith Dunstan writes with humour and probing irony. He is a delight to read.