The first impression that any stranger must receive in a fully organised group in Eastern Arnhem land is of industry. He cannot fail to see that everybody, man or woman, works hard, and that the work is well organised and runs smoothly. And he must also be impressed by the fact that... there is no idleness . Even the younger men are engaged fully in hunting and fishing activities and work hard, in marked contrast with the conditions in similar groups close to the white settlement, where the organisation is breaking down.  Neither men nor women are idle for long and even in camp as they sit around their fires them may be seen to pick up a basket, a fish net, a spear or other weapon, and work at this as they talk, just as they did when they halted at midday to rest and to cook food. Yet there is no feeling of haste, but rather of method, of system and order.

What are the drives, the incentives which lie behind all this organisation? Why does it move so smoothly, and what induces the people to work hard, so willingly, without any apparent direction, control or authority?

Donald Thomson, 1949 cited in Bob Baker, The Spear and the Gun Japanese Attacks on Arnhem Land: A Wartime History of Milingimbi 1942-1945, Bob Baker/Avenmore Books, 2017, p28

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.

Mata Mata (released 18 October 2021)
Mata Mata
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The unwinnable election 1993 (released 18 October 2021)
Don Watson, Don Russell, 1993
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The Tide Coming In (released 8 October 2021)
Djambawa Marawilli and family celebrate the Blue Mud Bay High Court Decision, Garma 2009
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Andrew Mawson and Noel Pearson, 2003 (released 7 October 2021)
Andrew Mawson and Noel Pearson, 2003
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Doug Nicholls, Northcote, 1929 (released 2 October 2021)
Doug Nicholls, Northcote, 1929
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The Little Green Book (released 8 June 2021)
Don Russell’s “little green book” will be a heavily underlined bible on the desks of senior public servants, ministerial staff and policy makers.
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Champion (released 5 March 2021)
Mark Newman, 1967-2021
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"The Barbarity of our own Countrymen" (released 27 November 2020)
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.
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I Just See Life: A Conversation with Alex Podolinsky, 2006 (released 8 May 2020)
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.
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Milliya Rumara: Reflections and Homage, 30 Years On (released 28 March 2020)
“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.
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