Australian Public Intellectual [API] Network

Network Scholars

New South Wales

Elaine Thompson
On the overall statistics, the 1998 two party preferred (2PP) gains made by Labor in NSW in the House of Representatives (the losses by the Liberals) were wiped out in the 2001 election, leaving Labor equal to the devastating 1996 result when they lost Government. Labor's NSW primary vote dropped by 3.67% to 36.45%, which was 2.4% lower than their 1996 result as well. In three elections Labor has gone from holding 33 seats to only 20. That a party out of power, which had been seen up until a few months before the election as having a very serious chance of victory, could end up in NSW with ...
Click here to read more.

Network Review of Books

The Bread with Seven Crusts (2002)

Reviewed by Christine Choo in the Aug/Sep 2003 issue.
Set in the south-west of Western Australia The Bread with Seven Crusts presents a chapter from Australian history that has received little attention -- the story of Italian prisoners of war who were captured in Libya at the beginning of World War II and transferred here in May 1941. In April 1941 Australia had accepted a share of the prisoners when the British Command in Egypt decided to evacuate all prisoners of war taken in Egypt to countries of the British Dominion -- Australia, India, South Africa and Ceylon. Between May 1941 and December 1947, when they were repatriated to Italy, a total ... read more.

Under the Wintamarra Tree (2002)

Reviewed by Gillian Dooley in the May 2003 issue.
Under the Wintamarra Tree is the sequel to Doris Pilkington's Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence, which has of course achieved celebrity with Phillip Noyce's film. Under the Wintamarra Tree takes up the story of the author, daughter of Molly whose heroic trek was the subject of the earlier book. Once again, it illustrates vividly the damage which can be done by well-meaning interference and should serve as a cautionary tale for anyone who has kind intentions of improving the lives of those they believe are worse off in some way. This is especially true when cultural barriers prevent them from ... read more.

Mrs Cook: The Real and Imagined Life of the Captain's Wife (2002)

Reviewed by Christine Choo in the March 2003 issue.
Born in an alehouse run by her parentson the London docks, Elizabeth Cookne� Batts lived a life linked with theocean. From her childhood Elizabethwas exposed to the cosmopolitanconnections of the ocean and, in herlong life, she came to know itsseductive power over seamen,including her husband, James. From arange of artefacts and documents,Marele Day has drawn a fine portrait ofElizabeth Cook, who, when she died inClapham at the age of 93 years in May1835, had outlived her husband, all ofher children, and most of her friendsand relatives. She lived in virtualwidowhood throughout most of ... read more.

Goodbye Bussamarai: The Mandandanji Land War, Southern Queensland 1842-1852 (2002)

Reviewed by Jack Bowers in the August 2002 issue.
The Mandandanji land war occurred across the land of the Barunggan, Mandandanji, Bigambul and Yiman peoples, about 300 kilometres west of Brisbane. From the first white explorations into the area, until a few months after the Yamboucal massacre, Patrick Collins sketches the historical, cultural and political complexities of a decade of what we still feel uncomfortable about calling war. The title, though interesting, is a little misleading. Bussamarai (pronounced bussa-murray) was an influential Mandandanji warrior who led a coalition of different tribes against the white people. Collins ... read more.

Daughters of the Dreaming (2002)

Reviewed by Rebekah Crow in the January 2003 issue.
This is the third edition of Daughters of the Dreaming, originally published in 1983. The book began its life as Diane Bell's doctoral thesis, based on extensive fieldwork in Warrabri (now Ali-Curang) in central Australia. Bell has carried out a systematic ethnography of the ritual lives of Kaytej women living in the central desert in the 1970s. Reading the book twenty years later I am struck by the power of the women whose lives are shared here. That it has remained in print for so long it testimony to the relevance of its message, especially given the continuing lack of acknowledgement of ... read more.

Australia and Israel: An ambiguous relationship (2002)

Reviewed by Philip Mendes in the July 2002 issue.
Chanan Reich is an Israeli political scientist who has spent much of the past twenty years in Australia. His earlier PhD thesis, for example, analysed the role of the Jewish and Greek communities as pressure groups in the Australian political system. Reich's latest work explores the historical relationship between Australia, Australian Jews, and the State of Israel from 1915-1967. This was a period during which relations were largely assymetrical in that Jews in Palestine and subsequently the State of Israel consistently sought the political support of Australia, whilst Australia neither ... read more.

Need to Contact Us?