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The Country That Lost Its Memory
Australia has amnesia. When Veronica Gorrie won two book awards she did what all literature prize-winners do here—she abused the country, kept the money, and misremembered the past: “I find it ironic that the Victorian State Government are awarding me, considering they were the ones that committed past atrocities on my ancestors … I forgive you.” Nobody reminded her that no Victorian state government ever committed atrocities on Aborigines or any of her other forebears, and that no government massacres of Aborigines occurred in the history of the Colony of Victoria. The period of violence between her Aboriginal ancestors and her white ancestors, often beginning with the killing and mutilation of the latter by the former, occurred during the period when the territory of conflict was loosely administered from Sydney between 1836 and 1851 as the Port Phillip District. It was also a period when her Aboriginal ancestors were still killing other Aborigines as they had always…
Madam: Archbishop Fisher (July-August 2024) does not resist the attacks on his church by the political, social or scientific atheists and those who insist on not being told what to do.
Aug 29 2024
6 mins
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 case
Aug 20 2024
23 mins
A friend and longtime supporter of Quadrant, Clive James sent us a poem in 2010, which we published in our December issue. Like the Taronga Park Aquarium he recalls in its 'mocked-up sandstone cave' it's not to be forgotten
Aug 16 2024
2 mins