Australian Public Intellectual [API] Network

Network Scholars

Frontier History After Mabo

Henry Reynolds
One evening in 1844 in a bark hut on the outer fringes of white settlement in south Queensland four young men debated the morality and legality of European settlement. They divided on the matter. Two had doubts about the process; two were proponents of colonisation. Henry Mort detailed the arguments in a letter to his mother and sister in England:Had a very animated discussion on the ‘Moral right of a Nation to take forcible possession of a Country inhabited by savages’. John and David McConnell argued that it is morally right for a Christian Nation to extirpate savages from their ...
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Network Review of Books

Making Stories: How Ten Australian Novels Were Written (2001)

Reviewed by Kate Douglas in the Dec 2001-Jan 2002 issue.
'The writer' features prominently on the surface of contemporary literary culture, through public readings, book signings, writers festivals, and interviews. Such events commonly celebrate the writer as author: the writer is a creator, an intellectual, and often a celebrity. There is little doubt that in the promotion of culture (whether it be popular or literary), 'the personal' is profitable. It is very common for writers and even critics to be drawn into giving autobiographical accounts of their involvement in particular theoretical or creative pursuits. Interestingly, at a time when two, ... read more.

What Falls Away (2001)

Reviewed by Debra Zott in the October 2001 issue.
What Falls Away, Tegan Bennett's second novel for adults, explores the drifts and silences that can occur in intimate relationships. Her first novel, Bombora (1996), was shortlisted for The Australian/Vogel Literary Award, establishing her as a writer of considerable talent and promise. Before writing adult fiction, Bennett honed her professional writing skills as an author of Dolly fiction for teenagers. What Falls Away is certain to enhance her literary reputation with its domestic realism and its fine prose.The novel has a slow pace and nothing much seems to happen; the prose reflects the ... read more.

Conflict, Politics and Crime: Aboriginal Communities and the Police (2001)

Reviewed by Catharine Coleborne in the October 2001 issue.
In a recent documentary by Dennis O'Rourke, Cunnamulla, a young aboriginal woman weeps over the prospect of her teenaged brother going to prison for a third criminal conviction. The boy himself seems resigned to it: there's nothing much to do in Cunnamulla and it was only when he went to Melville, learning about his culture, that he found life remotely interesting. Chris Cunneen's recent book describes how aboriginal people have been criminalised in Australia and how this criminalisation of Indigenous youth and people is part of, and inextricably linked to, a much wider issue: the denial of ... read more.

Faithsinger (2001)

Reviewed by Alison Bartlett in the March 2003 issue.
Rosie Scott's novels are always a good read and her characters are memorable so that they stay on in my imagination long after I've finished reading. This novel continues Scott's interest in 'the underclass', as she calls them, who inspire her to make the 'imaginative leap' necessary from her life to theirs. Faith Singer is a middle-aged alcoholic, a bit like Faith in Scott's earlier novel, Feral City, but this time in Sydney's Kings Cross where she works in a caf� called the Bar Calais. She is educated and gutsy, a woman who can drop Faust, Dostoyevsky, Bronte and Mozart into her ... read more.

The Engine Room of Government (2001)

Reviewed by Paul Reynolds in the July 2002 issue.
By its nature this is a specialist work which deals very thoroughly with the subject addressed. As a piece of administrative history it fills a void in introducing readers to the most powerful department in the Queensland public service. While most observers would be conversant with the work of line departments and many statutory authorities, the Premiers Department remains something of a mystery. As all premiers, irrespective of party, bring their own style and emphasis to their office, so must their department adapt to a new incumbent and serve him or her in accordance with the demands ... read more.

An Articulate Country: Re-inventing Citizenship in Australia (2001)

Reviewed by Mark Francis in the June 2002 issue.
This book is not to be taken lightly; it is 'the official text resource' for Open Learning Australia in the subjects 'Civics and Citizenship Education' and 'Australian Citizenship and Democracy'. After a series of reports from Australian Senate committees, and from something grandiloquently titled the Civic Experts Group, the Commonwealth has sponsored a program called 'Discovering Democracy' to teach citizenship in schools, tertiary institutions and the community at large. Something called the Curriculum Corporation is charged with implementing 'Discovering Democracy' in primary and secondary ... read more.

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