December 2008
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Triffids - Lonely Stretch
July 2008
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June 2008
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littlesparrow:
Sunday, 6th February, 1938
A crowd of 35,000 enjoyed the surf and sand, and waves were breaking evenly about 100 feet off shore. The bathing area flags were positioned almost directly opposite the Bondi Pavilion about 80 yards apart. Life savers wondered how they would find space on the congested beach for their weekly surf competition events. At about 3.00 p.m. two duty patrols...
The heat in the tropics attacks like a swarm of insects. It crawls over the skin. Add booze and loathing and guns to the claustrophobia, add the habit of violence among men who don’t put much premium on psychology, but stand at the bar and compare the size of the snakes they’ve found in their gardens - and it does feel like living in a fever.
Chloe Hooper / The Age - from an edited...
A crocodile with a snout for a good brew tried to walk into a Territory pub on Sunday.
The under-age male saltie nearly made it to the bar but was refused entry. After a brief scuffle in the car park three punters manged to subdue the 60cm beast.
Alyssa Betts / NT News - A croc walks into a bar …
“and the bush hath friends to meet him,
and their kindly voices greet him in the...”
– banjo paterson, clancy of the overflow; first published in the bulletin, 1889 (via littlesparrow)
“I remember one time we was all out at a wedding. It was one of her nephews and he was marrying a white girl. Her brother told her she could go but reckoned she wasnt allowed to muck up and drink too much, and give cheek. She promised she’d behave. ‘On my dyin’ oath, brother!’ she reckoned.
So she turns up and she was all dolled up and bein’ nice as pie....
There was much discussion in the 1930s about the decline of ‘Australian English’ and the need to improve the standard of speech. There were certainly class and gender issues related to these questions. It was observed in 1933 by the Sydney Morning Herald that boys, ‘especially at an early adolescence, appear to have a contempt ...
Locals speak nervously of the plight of young women in the town, who have been raped so often that when approached for sex after dark in the community’s streets, they simply lie down and capitulate.
Natasha Robinson / The Australian
Tension hangs thick in the air. Months ago, a 14-year-old boy dropped dead after a footy match in Mount Liebig, about 70km down the road to the west. Senior men have been on the warpath ever since. The boy’s death was nobody’s fault, but this is a world where payback, retribution, spearings and mob violence are ever-present. Since the boy’s death in February, clan clashes have...
When an American submarine arrives at Williamstown, the American commander is invited to stay with an Australian naval officer and his family. They take him to a beach in Port Phillip Bay where they spend their time swimming, sailing and sunbaking. The following day the Australians ask the American if he would like to go to the beach again. The American says that as it is a Sunday he would...
Slut Sticks
The use of contraceptive implants among indigenous girls - known as “slut sticks” - has also found to be widespread, particularly among 12-year-olds, “making them a target of sexual attention”. Many Aboriginal girls - notably 12-year-olds - are being given Implanon, a small plastic rod inserted under the skin of the upper arm, which stops ovulation. Men can feel under a...
“Wherever there is light there is also a darkness that is associated with settler...”
– Robert Dixon, professor of Australian literature at the University of Sydney, on light (heat) and dark in Australian literature.
“When it gets really hot in the cities and towns dotted around Australia’s...”
– Gretchen Miller / RN - the long hot summer]