The God of the ‘God powers’

The gaps between history and law

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[The Prime Minister’s staff discuss plans for Australia Day]
Nick (senior political adviser): Who did Australian history? Murph?
Murph (director central policy unit): American.
Mel (senior media adviser): Italian Renaissance.
Vanmathy (unit office): Pre-revolutionary Russia.
Josh (unit office): British.
Nick: Am I the only person here who studied Australian history?
Theo (head of market research): The bit I really liked was pre-Federation, you know the part that comes after the gold rush and before the Boer War. Did you like that period?
Nick: I said I studied Australian history. I didn’t say I was interested.

‘A Quiet January’, The Hollowmen, ABC TV, 8 October 2008

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About the author

Peter Prince

Peter Prince has published widely on ‘aliens’ in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Australia. He can be found on Twitter @peterprince4.

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