All that remains to me are memories of the violets' scent, an abiding admiration for my grandmother's strength and courage, Sin Yung's utter joy in his work and, of course, Jack from the humpy by the creek who left no footprint on the earth that he trod

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3/1/15 Saturday makes review palaver From today’s reviews the poets get two reprimands. First I learn … … that our loveable envoy, Clive James, is unhappy with Australian poets because he finds them oafs regarding their expertise in prosody. Largely he’s right, and certainly to practise poetry as a craft in Oz is to live […]

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There was political correctness when I was young. We stood in the cinema when the King’s image appeared, for example, and I have watched the shape and character of PC change over time. I didn’t much like it when I was young, and like it no more today

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The capacity to see the bigger picture is a prerequisite amongst those seeking elective office. The paradox lies in the fact that to be elected also requires that you persuade the majority of average people vote for you -- people who may not be capable of seeing the big picture at all

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As I’ve grown older, and as my own artistic skills have developed in various directions, I now see that I have often made the mistake of looking for validation from people who were not able to give it. The monomath sees only his own reflection

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More and more people will discover the Aborigine in themselves in the hope of something-for-nothing, even if in the end their only reward is the moral satisfaction of having been among the oppressed. Such is the lure of privilege that it turns minus into plus

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Percy Grainger loathed the popularity of his arrangement of the traditional air “In an English Country Garden” because it overshadowed his other works: “A typical English garden is most likely to be a vegetable garden rather than being used to grow flowers,” he complained, “so you can think of turnips as I play it.” In […]

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22/11/09 Full presence Today, Anne’s friend Jan came into the gallery where my love works on weekends. As they chatted, Jan asked, “Do you happen to recall that song, ‘I know where I’m going / I know who’s going with me …’? It’s from a film.” Then, in that acoustical gallery, Jan began to sing […]

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Cross My Heart In August 2015 I was in Kharkiv making a film with some Ukrainian colleagues about army psychologists and their patients. We had tracked down the psychologists and found three patients—a wounded fighter, a former prisoner of war and a woman refugee from the Donbass—who were willing to talk on camera. All we […]

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I once found myself being courted by an oily Soviet diplomat, who somewhat ineptly pursued what he mistakenly hoped would be a valuable intelligence source by plying my children with storybooks featuring anatomically correct puppy dogs. No need for me to worry, ASIO was on the case

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