Category: history
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Don Watson: Recollections of a Bleeding Heart, A Portrait of Paul Keating
Don Watson’s biography Recollections of a Bleeding Heart is the first biography that I have read since reading David Marr’s Patrick White: A Life in 1995 (about the same time that society collapsed). And what a magnificent segue that it is into the core of things that matter. And even if you aren’t a…
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Quarterly Essay David Malouf
What a comendable addition the Quarterly Essay is to the national debate. It is refreshing to engage with larger Australian discussions after floundering in the intellectual vacuum of ‘the global’ for such a long time. The problem with much discourse on ‘the global’ is that it is largely dismissive of national discussions. ‘The national’ is seen…
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A Brief History of the Melbourne Fringe Festival 1982-2003
A Brief History of the Melbourne Fringe: (1) The Melbourne Fringe Network was established in 1982 after the demise of the legendary Pram Factory in Carlton. The Pram Factory was the home of the Australian Performing Group which was a democratically run theatrical collective. The group was at its pinnacle during the sex, drugs and…
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The History Wars Continue: Keith Winshuttle Versus Simon Schama: A Hypothetical Trial
The History Wars Continue: A Hypothetical Trial by Craig Bellamy October 2003 History must strive to be an art before it can pretend to be a science J. H. Plumb (1969) Synopsis What follows is a hypothetical case in which Simon Schama is on trial in relation to a charge brought forward by Mr. Keith…
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The Death of Mr Practical: The Practical man and Globalisation
The Death of Mr Practical: The Practical Man and Globalisation by Craig Bellamy Synopsis There is a prevailing historical connection between Australia's colonial experience and our dominant intellectual tradition. Throughout the nation's short history of settlement, most of our leading intellectuals and rulers have displayed a certain ‘practicality' that is an Australian adaptation of a…