December 2023 Volume LXVII Number 12, No. 602
Aboriginal Culture is Young, Not Ancient
Orana to Christmas Dystopia
A Bedtime Story
Reflections on a Timeless Love
Decolonisation and the Closing of the Western Mind
Seeing an Old Friend
Contents
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To claim Aborigines have the world's oldest continuous culture is to misunderstand the meaning of culture, which continuously changes over time and location. For a culture not to change over time would be a reproach and certainly not a cause for celebration, for it would indicate that there had been no capacity to adapt. Clearly this has not been the caseAugust 20, 2024
24 mins
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Could it be that legislation seeking to 'protect First Nations cultural expressions' is a further attempt to control Australia’s understanding of Aboriginal history and culture? Might I be up on charges for, say, composing music for a ballet on Aboriginal theme or Keith Windschuttle if activists take issue with his research? These questions must be asked and loudly, for the peril is real and quite likely imminentMarch 9, 2024
12 mins
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"The nest is a very deep place and the warmth is all around me. There is a faraway sound of water bouncing on the leaves -- it is raining. There is something special about rain ... Oh yes—there will be snails tomorrow"February 18, 2024
6 mins
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There is no doubt Brahms fell deeply in love with Clara after husband Robert Schumann's descent into madness. Understandably, his were feelings of guilt as Clara’s affection for the young composer intensified. While we will never know if their relationship transcended the platonic, what is certain is that the trio's lives and art testify that striving is a path to the sublimeDecember 30, 2023
12 mins
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The Soviet Union's collapse exposed the hollowness of Marxist-Leninist revolutionary theory, leaving legions of would-be rebels without a cause. Still chock-full of venom for the 'capitalist system', they latched onto Foucault, Derrida and Said, deriding the West as a cesspit of racism which can only be eradicated by a vigorous purge of that mythical 'white privilege'December 29, 2023
13 mins
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A Quadrant short story: 'Almost thirty years have passed since I saw Grant. The only glimpses I’ve had of him have been from clicking through photos his wife posted on social media. He’s always been aloof and free-thinking. Another reason why I loved him once, and why I need to see him'December 26, 2023
8 mins
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After the Holocaust it became impossible to produce the play with Shylock as audiences for centuries had known him. As literary critic John Gross noted, he need not have been a Jew, but he is a Jew for a reason -- a hate figure to be mocked and reviled for our amusementDecember 26, 2023
14 mins
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As American critic Ted Gioia puts it, 'For the first time in 500 years, people listen to music, and don’t even know the name of the artist or song. This is not by chance, but is an intentional move driven by powerful interests -- with the goal of shifting control from artists who create to technocrats who merely aggregate … Musicians now make only pennies where previously they made dollars'December 23, 2023
17 mins
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Diversity over quality is now the mantra of all the major cultural producers of the Anglosphere, and the next move is always to tighten the ratchet ever further in the direction of wokery. Far from being crusaders, the Disability Studies nomenklatura are just standing in line for their share of the social justice caviarDecember 22, 2023
15 mins
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Consider but one example of our ongoing and worsening defence mess: what few missiles we have will bizarrely be based in Adelaide, where their range would not extend beyond Australian soil. This makes the decision to buy a state-of-the art air management battle system pointless without any equipment to manage. Has no one taken note of Ukraine, where smart missiles and drones are revealing the future of wars and how they are fought?December 20, 2023
12 mins
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Here was the medal for Les now, in a beautiful slim leather box. The Queen passed it to Les, and Les opened the box to look inside -- whereupon the medal, seeming to have a mind of its own, leaped from its blue velvet bed; and dropped onto the carpet. The three of us stood gazing at it for a moment. Who was going to pick it up? The Queen? That seemed very unlikely...December 19, 2023
4 mins
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In one of Australia’s greatest but typical electoral misreadings, Marcia Langton threatened a ban on welcome-to-country ceremonies -- and, just to sweeten the deal, a ban on her own conference appearances. At that moment, it is reasonable to suspect, the No vote against the Voice increased exponentially in all states and territoriesDecember 17, 2023
9 mins
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It is pretty clear why A.J Quinnell couldn’t recognise his book in the 1987 film. But I’m sure he was seduced, as were the rest of us, by director Tony Scott’s dramatic and action-packed direction of the 2004 remake, even though that one also diverged from the original story. The money Quinnell received from the film’s huge success wouldn’t have hurtDecember 16, 2023
19 mins
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While we hear endlessly from celebrities, music and sporting stars, quick to virtue-signal for the latest opportunity to be on trend, at this moment of truly historic depravity, the silence of these same influencers is deafening. Western democracies stand at a line here. While pretending to care about individuals and individual rights, somehow these ideas do not count if the individuals are JewsDecember 15, 2023
8 mins
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We might consider liberalism the Great Eater which has managed to force nearly everything into itself, to absorb most features of modern life under its mantle. That which cannot be packaged, sold or neutered in the face of the liberal schema must be resisted: only religious foundationalism and ethnic nationalism have remained impervious to such an all-consuming appetite, so it is no wonder they are the enemy and targetsDecember 14, 2023
15 mins
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Islamic revivalism—be it Hamas, Islamic Jihad, al-Qaeda, Islamic State, Hezbollah or the Islamic Republic of Iran—will not rest until the obstacle of the 'Little Satan' is overcome to make way for a brave new world of theocratic totalitarianism. Israel, if it wishes to survive in the long term, has no choice but to destroy its mortal enemy or, at the very least, seriously diminish its power, reach and influenceDecember 13, 2023
20 mins
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Some years ago, I wrote of a charity that derived the entirety of its funds from government, and whose sole activity was to lobby the government to do more to end child poverty. To end child poverty is highly desirable, but to call the organisation a charity was so misleading as to constitute a lie. The government was lobbying itself at public expense, and doing so to the obvious advantage of the nomenklatura and apparatchik classDecember 12, 2023
8 mins
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Many theories have been put forward as to 'who wrote Shakespeare', with a slather of candidates going in and out of fashion. But they all face the same objection: Why did they suddenly start writing upon Christopher Marlowe’s purported death, and stop writing when Shakespeare 'retired'? A surviving Marlowe -- killed not as claimed in a fight over the cost of dinner -- fits the billDecember 10, 2023
12 mins
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Communication, and the loss of it, is a sustained theme in Not Dead Yet! Mark Fletcher's collection of short stories set in a nursing home. Confinement imposes isolation and enforced communal life brings no solace to those who value their independence and privacy. As life's candles gutter, though, there is courage, defiance and resilienceDecember 9, 2023
9 mins
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"The trucks kept going back and forth between the soccer ground and Bukovinka killing field until the last load went to their deaths at 11pm, at which time the aktion ceased abruptly. The last 200 to 300 people still on the soccer field were simply left behind unharmed. Murder by the clock! 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.! How German!"December 8, 2023
17 mins
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Australia gave the Voice an emphatic, uncontestable NO! What we need now are strong leaders, conviction politicians who will stand up and reject absolutely treaties, makarratas, claims of sovereignty, land rights, reparations, and never-ending guilt-tripping. It’s time for our leaders to step up because the people have spokenDecember 6, 2023
12 mins
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The likes of Lidia Thorpe and Gary Foley, as they helpfully remind us, see no moral or practical difference between Israel and Australia. So perhaps we should start to wonder what else they’ve got planned, or what they’re willing to countenance in the fight against 'settler-colonialism' closer to home. This is especially relevant as we navigate post-referendum politicsDecember 4, 2023
19 mins
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Let us not fool ourselves. Not everyone protesting in support of Hamas is naive, their culpability extending no further than a useful idiocy. Some thoroughly endorse the Hamas goal of carpeting Israel with dead Jews, and they very much like and approve of what bestial horrors the world witnessed on October 7, 2023December 3, 2023
8 mins
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The Last of His Club (Apologies to Henry Kendall) He […]November 30, 2023
2 mins
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Old People Walk Slowly Old people walk slowly. They shuffle, […]
November 30, 2023
1 mins
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The Oathmaker I cannot slither into your skin, Lean into […]
November 30, 2023
1 mins
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Melpomene The words I heard in childhood Echo in my […]
November 30, 2023
1 mins
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Confession I have looked evil in the eye and sat […]
November 30, 2023
1 mins
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Agastopia When the love and admiration of legs was fashionable, […]
November 30, 2023
2 mins
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Angela Angela, who lived alone, Would sit quietly in the […]
November 30, 2023
1 mins
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Miss Wiles and Miss Lewis Powdered nose and over-rouged cheeks, […]
November 30, 2023
1 mins
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Homecoming or What Poets Know Homecoming is a return to […]
November 30, 2023
1 mins
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Winter Refuge The branch the bird left still shakes. The […]
November 30, 2023
1 mins
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The insomniac’s lament When sleep won’t come and nights are […]
November 30, 2023
1 mins
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Roundel on a Piece of Driftwood Our lives […]
November 30, 2023
1 mins
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The Colonial I am a boring anglophile who only speaks […]
November 30, 2023
1 mins
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Midnight Mass in Knockray Midnight mass one Christmas Eve, The […]
November 30, 2023
1 mins
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The Power Dynamics Police The presence of power dynamics within […]
November 30, 2023
2 mins
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Charles Dickens (1812–70) was perhaps the greatest novelist of the […]
November 30, 2023
14 mins
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The reader might notice that each of the latter two […]
November 30, 2023
9 mins
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The state of modern poetry can be a cause of […]
November 30, 2023
6 mins
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Australian Aboriginal culture is often claimed to be the oldest […]
November 30, 2023
24 mins
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Accepting Australian values of egalitarianism and freedom of conscience won't happen for Muslim Australians as long as they are beholden to the imams and sheiks, the gatekeepers in Islam. How wide the gulf? Well, the day after Hamas stormed through southern Israel, kidnapping, butchering, raping and torturing hundreds of men, women and children, the front page of the Australian Muslim Times was jubilantNovember 30, 2023
9 mins
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And then, outside the Sydney Opera House, they said “Gas […]
November 29, 2023
14 mins
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The life of an Arab Palestinian in the West, particularly […]
November 29, 2023
24 mins
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When the entire world is looking nervously into the Abyss, […]
November 29, 2023
9 mins
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The Decline of English Teaching Sir: I taught English and […]
November 29, 2023
6 mins
