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Keywords: 1984

  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Stynes a man of flesh and steel

    • Joe Caddy
    • 27 March 2012
    8 Comments

    Jim Stynes was such a determined character that he joined me in swimming the 1985 Pier to Pub at Lorne, even though he did not know how to swim — he completed the 1200m open water swim doing a kind of dog paddle. In 2001 I officiated at his wedding. Today I will officiate at his funeral.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Beyond Australia's adolescent identity crisis

    • Fatima Measham
    • 26 January 2012
    9 Comments

    While Australia's early history is marked by violence, the Fraser Government's decision to accept nearly 60,000 Vietnamese refugees, the Mabo decision, and Paul Keating's Redfern speech provide positive narrative touchstones that can help lead Australia to maturity.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Tribute to the non-defeatist graffitists

    • Philip Harvey
    • 30 November 2011
    14 Comments

    I harbour a quiet pleasure at seeing dull square buildings of grey concrete slabs scintillatingly covered with outlandish swirls of colour. We know why they do it: to resist boredom, to challenge conformity, to strike out at a world that is not listening, to leave a mark when all other avenues are closed.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Unemployment angels and demons

    • John Falzon
    • 19 October 2011
    8 Comments

    Recently I received an email from a young man in Queensland. He was writing to thank the St Vincent de Paul Society for the stance it takes on the side of people who are demonised for being unemployed. He told me his story. Here are some bits of it.

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  • MARGARET DOOLEY AWARD

    Inhaling God

    • Jessica Voelker
    • 14 September 2011
    1 Comment

    One American physicist claims each breath we take contains molecules of air that were also breathed by Archimedes, Aristotle, and even Jesus Christ. Through physics, religion, the human body, and mythology, there is a thread that weaves us into a continuous rich tapestry.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Catholicism at high speed

    • TIm Kroenert
    • 18 August 2011
    5 Comments

    Accused of conflating his Catholic faith with indestructibility, Brazilian Formula One driver Ayrton Senna responds, ominously, that he is ever conscious of his own mortality. His story is a tragedy of the highest order. You don't need to be a racing fan to be deeply affected by it.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Demystifying famine

    • Ben Coleridge
    • 26 July 2011
    4 Comments

    If one were to believe the news cycle, the current crisis in Somalia would seem to have arisen without warning. But it is part of a pattern we have had plenty of opportunity to observe and recognise. In fact Eastern Africa is historically well acquainted with famine.

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  • RELIGION

    Indonesian and Australian justice

    • Frank Brennan
    • 01 June 2011
    5 Comments

    At a gallery opening in Bali, the Australia-Indonesia relationship was compared to a rope with many strands, with art and culture the most resilient. In the audience were Australian lawyers who have supported members of the Bali Nine, and lawyers acting for Indonesian minors still held in long term detention in Australia without charge.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Publishing George Orwell

    • Brian Matthews
    • 14 April 2011
    2 Comments

    In 1981, a few months before actor Peter Davison became the fifth Doctor Who, Professor Peter Davison, the literary scholar, accepted a commission to produce the corrected editions of Orwell's nine books. The project was to be fraught by false dawns and recurring frustrations.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Toppling the idyls of youth

    • Tim Kroenert
    • 02 September 2010
    1 Comment

    A barroom brawl is transformed in Boy's head into a version of Michael Jackson's 'Beat It' music video. It's 1984 and Jackson is at his artistic and popular peak: pre-surgery, pre-child abuse allegations. Boy's worship is pure, but as an audience watching in 2010 we know the purity is transient.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Multiculturalism steps aside for advertising on SBS

    • Michael Mullins
    • 21 June 2010
    5 Comments

    SBS TV's world renowned Subtitling Unit is about to lose one third of its staff. It's perfectly valid for SBS to jettison its subtitlers if it determines that SBS is fundamentally no longer a multicultural broadcaster. It's up to SBS management to come clean on its current purpose.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Winter Games cool Aussies' long hot summer

    • Michael Visontay
    • 15 February 2010
    1 Comment

    The Winter Olympics make for beautiful television — skiers hurtling down the slopes, snowboarders doing somersaults in the air, skaters dancing on the ice. Yet they occupy an unusual place in our imagination. They feel more like recreation than competitive sport.

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