Journal
Articles
One true note?
Language, like the wind, is hard to pin down. It relies on movement for its existence, as we rely on breath for life. The sound of language also often reminds me of water. It forms, runs, braids, pools, knocks, rustles, rushes, flows… Like a river it is always moving, even when it appears to be still.
Winston
I heard they grew Winston Churchill in a Petri dish, from stem cells and DNA. Identical, or so they said. He lives in...
Moments in Vanuatu
Australian students live in the South Pacific and yet so much of Australia’s scholarship, and the daily deluge of our news and media, points us to places that are far distant – often Europe or North America. This study tour aimed to disrupt these flows of information and ideas from the north, and place our students here, where we all live, in the south.
Symbols, shorthand, signs
IN THE WINTER of 2018, the National Gallery of Victoria’s ground floor was given over to the MoMA at...
All the things I should’ve given
ONE OF THE nice things about having a baby was how the old Italian lady next door changed. ‘It’s weird,’...
Fantasias for flute
MEG’S BROTHERS WERE lucky. They joined the army when they turned eighteen: first Liam, then Stuart. When reveille sounded,...
Poster boy
As a teenager, during the day, with my mates, we’d talk about their stats – career goals, disposals, who was the most accurate goal kicker, who was the fastest player, who could lay the hardest tackles. And at night, I’d stare up at those posters from my bed, the moonlight making the footy players’ strong arms glisten. Bare, bulging biceps. Broad, powerful pectorals almost bursting through their yellow and blue guernseys. I wanted them, and I wanted to be them, all at the same time.
Paper moon
THE SHRIEK OF the troop train woke Eddie as they pulled abruptly to a stop. ‘Where are we?’ he said,...
Shanghai wedding
Shanghai, 2011 BILLY LOOKED AROUND the carriage and surprised himself with the realisation that despite feeling nothing, he was actually...
Hillock of peace
TO THINK TOO long about someone’s suicide feels like trespass. To imagine the moment’s tableau with any kind of...
My life with the wave
I WANT TO tell you about a difficult place that I visit regularly since moving to my suburb in...
Distance
THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN Ingrid Murphy and Katie Brute-Jones were easily measured: five inches, thirty-three pounds and 7,700 miles. Where...
