Australian Public Intellectual [API] Network

Network Scholars

'The Victim of his own Temerity'? Silence, Scandal and the Recall of Sir John Eardley-Wilmot

Catie Gilchrist
In 1846 a colonist under the pseudonym ‘Cato’ wrote a letter to the British Member of Parliament, Joseph Hume Esq.2 The letter disclosed the moral state of the convicts under the probation system. According to the author, ‘it is impossible to describe in language sufficiently plain not to be revolting, the degradation that exists at penal stations’. Notwithstanding this impossibility, his letter went on to state that ‘when the subjects of this discipline are let loose on society, their guilty connection is not confined to their own species and sex, but extends ...
Click here to read more.

Network Review of Books

Collected Stories (2001)

Reviewed by Marion Spies in the June 2002 issue.
This collection, first published in 1995, contains thirty-nine stories, written between 1970 and 1995. Most of them have appeared previously in Dislocations (Australian edition 1987) and Isobars (1990). In the collection, Hospital retains the order of the stories from the two books and uses the titles of the books as titles for parts one and two of the collection. She calls the third part of the book, consisting of hitherto uncollected stories, 'North of Nowhere'. In all three parts, Hospital's central motif is the isobar, 'an imaginary line connecting places of equal pressure on a map' ... read more.

Running From the Storm: The Development of Climate Change Policy in Australia (2001)

Reviewed by Philip Burgess in the July 2002 issue.
Climate change is the great anxiety of our age. A large body of scientific opinion has it that during the twentieth century the global average surface temperature increased by between 0.4 and 0.8 degree C, though the increase has not been evenly distributed and night-time temperatures have risen more than daytime ones. The most significant contribution to global warming is said to be the emission of carbon dioxide, mainly through the burning of fossil fuels. There is no doubt that CO2 is being emitted at a faster rate than the land or oceans can absorb them. Melting icecaps, rising sea levels, ... read more.

Australia and the British Embrace: The Demise of the Imperial Ideal (2001)

Reviewed by Daniel Oakman in the November 2002 issue.
The central proposition of Stuart Ward's Australia and the British Embrace is that Australian political culture did not defiantly cut the apron strings and reject the bonds of the British connection, as asserted in the radical-nationalist tradition of Australian history. Instead, Ward argues that since 1945 Australia was 'pulled along reluctantly in the wake of changing British policies and priorities'. The episode through which Ward pursues these questions is the United Kingdom's decision to seek membership of the European Economic Community (EEC) in the early 1960s. In the early chapters, ... read more.

In Fear of Security: Australia's Invasion Anxiety (2001)

Reviewed by Carmen Lawrence in the March 2002 issue.
I am impressed by Anthony Burke's In Fear of Security and would like to commend it to as many readers as possible. As well as being timely -- given some of our current debates -- Burke's analysis provides an historical framework for understanding what otherwise may seem inexplicable responses from the Australian community to issues of migration and race. We are reminded of the dangers of a collective rejection of the darker moments of our past by Burke's use of a quote from Arendt's The Origins of Totalitarianism:We can no longer afford to take that which was good in the past and simply call ... 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.

Living with the Aftermath (2001)

Reviewed by Brad West in the Dec 2001-Jan 2002 issue.
War widows are a complex and fascinating topic of study. They are simultaneously empowered by the sacrifice of their husbands, marginalised by financial dependence, and threatening of cultural norms due to their independence and ambiguous marital status. Living with the Aftermath potently evidences this in examining the connections between war widow identity, grieving, and memory. Where studies of women on the homefront have centred on their participation in the public sphere, Damousi concentrates on the psychological trauma and coping mechanisms of war widows. While these are clearly ... read more.

Need to Contact Us?