John Englart, a leading campaigner for social justice and climate action, died unexpectedly at his Fawkner home with his beloved chihuahuas, Juliet and (Indiana) Jones, close by.
John was involved in campaign groups locally, nationally and even internationally. He was a prolific writer and photographer, and his writings remain a valuable resource.
Online, John often used the name Takver after a character in Ursula Le Guin’s novel The Dispossessed., who strove for “fullfilment in their lives with honesty, integrity and social conscience.”
This was how John sought to live his life.
John came from a . Ted Englart. his grandfather, was a unionist and prominent Queensland communist. Uncle Vince Englart and father Kevin Englart were blacklisted by ASIO during the anti-communist hysteria of the 1950s. Kevin, a maths teacher, overcame political blacklisting by moving interstate.
John, whose full name was Kevin John, was born on February 16, 1955 in Brisbane, the second child of Kevin and June Englart.
His radicalisation started at school. After the family moved to Sydney in 1970, John participated in Vietnam Moratorium protests with his parents. He started documenting the social movements of the 1970s in his diaries and with photographs.
John became involved in Sydney’s . He supported the Builders Labourers Federation’s Green Bans to protect Sydney’s heritage and open space. He also became involved in anti-uranium campaigns, via Friends of the Earth. As a dedicated cyclist, he participated in and helped organise many .
Much of John’s life, from 1975 to 1990, revolved around the .His experience in the short-lived Federation of Australian Anarchists made him determined to do anarchism differently. In 1977 he became a founding member of , Sydney’s longest running Anarchist bookshop.
After a split in 1982, John left to establish the Black Rose Anarchist Bookshop in Redfern. From those experiences, he learnt about working with people in an egalitarian way.
John moved to Melbourne in 1990 to be with his partner Helen Lee. Between 1992 and 2008, they lived with friends in a collectively-owned house in Brunswick, known as the Bread and Roses Collective, which practiced income sharing.
John and Helen’s daughter Tarryn was born in 2000. Helen had two older children, Jesi and Erin and a foster daughter Kate.
Helen and John later separated but remained close friends, with John helping care for Helen after her terminal cancer diagnosis in 2017.
John moved to Fawkner in 2010 where he lived until recently with Tarryn. He continued his cycling activism; if there was change to be made on a bicycle John was there.
Գ started in Melbourne in 1995, John was a regular. His Maltese terrier Hamish would accompany him in a trailer. In 2007, John joined Merri-bek Bicycle User Group (or Moreland BUG). John led BUG rides to climate rallies and was an enthusiastic participant in many rides.
He was an informed contributor to discussions online and at meetings and was generous in sharing his research and encyclopaedic knowledge with other BUG members.
As a frequent committee member over the years, John informed BUG submissions and provided extensive experience as a campaigner, and expertise on climate change and transport emissions. His indefatigable campaigns to extend the Upfield Path to Upfield and get the Merri Creek shared path extended have, sadly, not yet been achieved.
His tireless of promises, obfuscation, bungles and lapses in cycling infrastructure by all levels of government has laid bare the politicians’ empty promises.
John also loved watching the Tour de France and, in his final days, he and had been participating in the #CouchPeloton, an online community of fans, predicting the #FRATL (the time of the first rider across the line) for each stage.
John started focusing on climate action in 2004. He was a climate and, from about 2013, became active in Climate Action Moreland/Merri-bek (CAM). Later he became the convenor. John always provided CAM with an up-to-date report on climate action at its monthly meetings, which continue.
John was prolific contributor to the , and , writing about local, state, national and international climate issues. He contributed submissions to all levels of government on climate and sustainable transport issues.He took a leading role in organising climate stalls, protests and vigils, including a regular CAM stall at the .
He also lobbied for better active and public transport in Merri-bek, including upgrading the Upfield line, and against the use of synthetic turf.
John attended was an accredited observer to several United Nations Climate Change Conferences (COPs). In 2015, Tarryn accompanied him to COP21 in Paris where he highlighted Australia’s failures to act on climate.
He was part of the Climate Action Network “” team — an award given to the worst country that day for blocking climate action. Australia was a under the Coalition.
Sometimes John’s activities got under politicians’ skin. His tweet to then Foreign Minister Julie Bishop at the COP21 in 2015 said he was ashamed Australia was not standing with the Coalition of Ambition. to John saying: “We have accepted an invitation to join so no need for your ‘shame’.”
John was a regular attendee at Merri-bek Council meetings, and often lobbied councillors on climate and active transport matters.
Long-term Socialist Alliance Councillor Sue Bolton acknowledge his contribution: “I have no doubt that John’s careful research about issues in the community and issues that council was focused on, as well as his advocacy and campaign work, stopped the council from making some bad or weak decisions and in some cases helped the council to make good decisions”.
As a citizen journalist, John wrote extensively, initially on his . He wrote for from 2013 to 2019, and has been running the blogspot since 2004. He has also written extensively on the and the ,Ի blog sites. He also took thousands of photos of various actions, and uploaded them to .
John was awarded the for social contributions in the spirit of the Eureka Oath. In 2019, he won the .
Despite his activism and being a citizen journalist, John held down a day job working in IT with Telstra for many years, and later as a web content editor with Melbourne Polytechnic. He retired from paid work in 2015.
John loved good food and celebrating with family friends. Equinox and solstice parties were a particular favourite.
Friends have remarked that while John was a private person, he was generous with his time and would do anything to help a friend. He was well known in his local community and would often chat with locals when cycling through the streets, or having brunch at local cafes, or attending the Gilpin Park Chihuahua meet up. During most rides, Juliet and Jones, sporting the sign “Chihuahuas for climate action” lay in their cosy spot — the crate on the front of John’s basket.
The exact date and cause of John’s death are yet to be determined.
He is survived by Tarryn, step-offspring Erin and Jesi, grand-daughter Ellen, foster daughter Kate, brother Paul, nieces Heidi and Meg, nephew Damien, chihuahuas Juliet and Jones, and many friends, political comrades and fellow activists.
John’s Maltese terrier Hamish died in 2004 and his Jack Russell terrier, Elsie, died in 2021. Juliet and Jones are to be adopted by another chihuahua-loving climate activist.
[This obituary was written by Andrea Bunting, with contributions from John’s daughter Tarryn Clancy and friends Greg Platt, Faith Hunter and Jan Carr. It was first published by .]