Government often knows the shape of the forest, but it has no idea what is going on under the trees.
Andrew Mawson
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.
Farm
(released 3 February 2025)
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All things being equal it takes a long time, perhaps one hundred years to sustain a half decent farm. Money won’t buy it. Technology will not create it. You need three generations with a disciplined, unbroken vision. Every step of the way is fragile and the whole enterprise may come tumbling down at any point. Without enlightenment it can be an impossible, soul destroying enterprise.
Fear and Intuition
(released 22 January 2025)
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Age, time and scholarship bring the ability to appreciate and comprehend strange confluences.
Time
(released 6 January 2025)
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Old people will often say that, beyond their aches and pains, they still feel the same as they were when they were young. Time is a trickster.
Kia - Brief Etymology of A NSW South Coast Aboriginal Word
(released 10 December 2024)
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Many Aboriginal people have names beginning with the root "kia", names such as Kiami, Kiama, Kiara or Kiana. The name is derived from an auspicious Aboriginal word referring to the heavens, mountains and the spirit of Biame on the South Coast of NSW and beyond.
The logging orgy before we were born
(released 21 November 2024)
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The lost South Coast forests..
"Word Salad"
(released 11 November 2024)
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In a world of misinformation, when everybody seems to be lying, “realness” is the most precious commodity.
The Problem of Presidents...
(released 28 July 2024)
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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.
Social Democratic Consensus is Dead
(released 2 July 2024)
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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.
Dhaŋu dhuka (Making the way)
(released 1 July 2024)
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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