A farmer is always anxious about his crops. He watches them come up as though he could help them if they did not.
Eric Rolls, The River
Latest Papers
The working papers collection comprises historical papers as well as current ideas and works in progress on some of the major issues and topics of our times.
The Australian Nation, is a strange webbed footed creature with the bill of a duck and a tail like a beaver, it is an unlikely combination of Westminster "responsible government" and the United States Federal System. The idea of a President is impossible or perilous.. on this much we can hopefully agree across the barricades of politics.
The social democratic consensus that has been the moral foundation of much of our world since the 1960s is dead. In public discourse we can no longer assume that values such as democracy, egalitarianism, justice, fairness or even the doctrine of loving one’s neighbour are foundational values which bind us.
More on the 2016 Mata Mata walk to Cape Wilberforce with thoughts on the Sja'ir Perang Mengkasar, the Rhymed Chronicle of the Macassar War of 1666
If Andrew Inglis Clark had enjoyed the long life of his friend Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr, Australians would know about their Constitution, Australia would be a republic with an Australian head of State.
Jim Petrich is an old fashioned mover and shaker. In this short paper Jim describes "The Bennelong Group" - a fabled moment in time when leaders worked together for the national good across the political divides.
How could mainstream society not hear or honour the perennial Aboriginal request for self determination? How could colonial and modern administrations get things so wrong for so long? Perhaps we will understand these things better when we learn of what happens right in the middle of our own small communities and when we can really feel the aspirations of individual people who are only a breath away from us.
These letters are a glimpse into another time and place.
Raffy (he who must be obeyed) cat, kept me awake all night with a 186 Taylor Swift song playlist and he refused to turn it down until I added to what he reckons was a completely superficial initial survey of Swift Power. He was disgusted that I did not understand the true significance of the “22” hat. He also reckoned, The Beatles 1964 (not 1968) invasion of Australia, no comparison with TS Power: . the Beatles on the balcony of the Southern Cross Hotel in Melbourne, 15,000 people at most, maybe 3500 people at their concert; Taylor filled the MCG three times in a row with Grand Final crowds. So please... Okay Raff point taken. He then went on to pontificate about many other serious questions including of course Taylor’s preference for cats over dogs... This alone, according to Raffy, indicates that Taylor is superior to most other human beings. The thing is Raff is correct that Swift Power deserves much more understanding, but my problem is that the more you look at Taylor Swift’s songs and words the deeper and harder you have to go, not something to be accomplished quickly or easily.
Not since the Beatles has a musical act captured the imagination of whole cities in Australia like Taylor Swift. Moreover the performances are arguably at a level that even the most sophisticated operas or theatre would be proud of.
