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 ghost of Charles Throsby haunts south-west Sydney, the Illawarra, and the regions south to Lake George and west to Bathurst. He opposed the pattern of violence that would extend from Sydney to Tasmania and to the Port Phillip district (Victoria). The words of his Glenfield Farm letter of 5 April, 1816 reflect on Australia'
s original sins: of barbarous violence, appropriation of Aboriginal lands, environmental destruction and subjugation of Aboriginal culture.
This conversation with Alex Podolinsky was never released. I can't remember whether it was Alex or I that felt it needed a bit more work. Now Alex is no longer with us I feel it is important to release it as it conveys something of his philosophy. Alex had a profound influence on Australian agriculture and he held true to Steiner's original biodynamic principles that were lost in Europe and had to be re-imported. He is sorely missed.
“Bran Nue Dae” is kriol, pidgin spelling. There were so many different nationalities aboard the pearling luggers of late nineteenth and twentieth century Broome that a dialect had to emerge. Not only did a dialect emerge but so too did a unique cultural creativity that was busting at the seams to talk about justice, life and freedom. That is what is at the heart of Bran Neu Dae, perhaps Australia’s greatest musical ever written to date.