Australian Public Intellectual [API] Network

Network Scholars

The Cultural Origins of Australian Universities

John Gascoigne
When Sydney University chose as its motto, ‘Sidere mens eadem mutato’ (‘the same mind under a changed star’), it was proclaiming its allegiance and sense of continuity with the values and ethos of the two ancient English universities. The message was reinforced architecturally with Blackett’s superb neo-gothic quadrangle emulating the construction of an Oxford or Cambridge college. In practice Sydney University diverged significantly in its academic organisation and mode of teaching since it drew heavily on the much more readily transportable and secular forms of ...
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Network Review of Books

The Diary of Emily Caroline Creaghe, Explorer (2004)

Reviewed by Amanda Day in the May 2005 issue.
Originally published in the Lett's Australasian Diary and Almanac for 1883, the diary of explorer, Emily Caroline Creaghe has been republished with an introduction by Peter Monteath, Senior Lecturer in Australian History at Flinders University. Corkwood Press are known for their publication of journals of other explorers including Charles Sturt and Ludwig Leichhardt. Born in 1860, Creaghe spent her early life in India before her father retired from his post in the Royal Artillery. Her family returned to England before migrating in 1876 to Australia, settling at Lavender Bay. During a visit ... read more.

Defying Gravity: A Political Life (2004)

Reviewed by Graham Willett in the August 2004 issue.
There are few Australian non-fiction writers whose works are kept in print. There are few whose later works are as good as their earlier. Dennis Altman is one of the very few who fit comfortably into both categories -- and this book helps us to understand why. Defying Gravity is a political memoir by someone who has been an observer of political and social life in Australia since the mid-1960s, maintaining an active role in the national conversation across a range of issues for well over thirty years. In that time he has offered judicious comment, calm analysis and a broad synthesising ... read more.

What's Wrong with Contemporary Art? (2004)

Reviewed by Lynne Barwick in the August 2004 issue.
It is the 'packing, promotion and reception' of contemporary art that troubles Peter Timms (p 10). Market demands dominate and art has been corrupted and trivialised. The problem, he argues, extends to the way art is taught in art schools, the art that artists make, the collecting and curatorial methodologies of galleries and museums, funding criteria, the way that art is written about and the media's depiction of art. It is a hefty diagnosis and Timms advocates a response of biblical zeal and totality:... we need to shut down the so-called arts industry, drive off the money-changers, ... read more.

Cross-Hatched (2004)

Reviewed by Denise O'Dea in the September 2005 issue.
This volume, the first from Sydney poet Penelope Evans, provides an experience somewhat akin to a stroll down Darlinghurst Road. There are moments of joy, excitement, wit and astonishment. There is a touch of pathos and a hint of grime. In between, there is the dreary white light of a thousand convenience stores: glaring, prosaic and disappointingly familiar. It hurts to be so harsh, but Crosshatched demonstrates one of the perils of publishing verse. In theory, we all want to applaud any new volume of poetry that fights its way into bookshops. In practice, the temptation to rush into ... read more.

The Taste of Memory: Food and gardens have taken Marion Halligan to some surprising places... (2004)

Reviewed by Sylvia Marchant in the March 2005 issue.
Marion Halligan is an accomplished writer who needs no introduction to an Australian audience as her novels, short stories and non-fiction works, especially those about food, are well known and admired. She is indeed an Australian icon. Halligan's first published works were about food and here she returns to her favourite theme, taking a trip down memory lane in the tradition of memoir, a memoir framed by meditations on food, wine, gardens, life, and art, themes which have pervaded her life and experience. There are philosophic meanderings and reflections on such things as possessions, ... read more.

Fatal Attraction: Reflections on the Alliance with the United States (2004)

Reviewed by Patrick Allington in the May 2005 issue.
This slim book, which the author calls an 'extended essay' (p 1), is a thoughtful commentary on the complexities of Australia's relationship with the US. Although it is written in the shadow of the unilateral invasion of Iraq, Bruce Grant writes with depth about the long term. His thesis of Australia as an ally of the US and as a middle-sized nation-state with a stable political system and a strong economy is cautiously optimistic: We have a need to be co-operative on foreign policy issues with the United States, but no need to be subservient. On the contrary, our promise is that globally ... read more.

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