Well I went over to Rhodes Peninsula to do some fieldwork today.

Great weather for it too, and I managed to get a haircut at the new shopping centre. I took lots of photos, but too many to post on here -- so there's a PDF fieldwork summary if anyone wants to have a look:

http://xalciene.tripod.com/Ruting_RPFS.pdf

John Ralston Saul's observations of where our education system is headed should be heeded by state and federal governments. Australia has managed to be a relatively inclusive and classless society for many years, avoiding the pitfalls of class divisions based on birth (as in Britain) and on race or urban location (as in the US).


Although not all ( Read more... )

A response to this editorial: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20460191-7583,00.html

Your editorial on English teaching was another welcome contribution to this significant education debate, and you are to be congratulated for taking an active stance in the matter. There is definitely merit in teaching children the classical texts ( Read more... )

The contrasting articles regarding indigenous Australians on The Australian's front page today were quite revealing about contemporary Australia. On the one hand, our justice system is capable of identifying the symbolic ownership of land by Aboriginal peoples, dating to pre-white settlement times ('Perth hit by native title win'). On the other ( Read more... )

Our Prime Minister is an expert politician and has a polished style for talking endlessly in an oblique, non-specific manner. Eg: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/diversity-not-at-expense-of-identity/2006/09/14/1157827096822.html

I am a white Australian male, born and bred in the suburban heartland of Sydney. I don't call people "mate," I cannot ( Read more... )

( Read more... )

Best article I've read yet on the 'new world order' (etc) of the 21st century:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/the-world-offered-unity-it-was-rejected/2006/09/10/1157826814927.html?page=fullpage

John Howard's argument that house prices are high because state governments are releasing land too slowly is nonsense. The Prime Minister has missed a subtler, yet highly important, consideration.

All else equal, urban sprawl might keep housing prices slightly lower than urban consolidation does, but many new Greenfield housing developments aren't ( Read more... )

So Steve Irwin is dead... a man who jumped onto fully grown crocodiles and waved snakes around by the tail wearing nothing more than a shirt and shorts... killed by a sting ray... is it really that surprising? it's a miracle he was lucky for so long

but at least he did some great environmental things. at least he was a happy character, giving the ( Read more... )

With the passing of Don Chipp (may he rest in peace) and recent parliamentary behaviour of Sandra Kanck, we’ve been reminded over the past week that Australia’s once powerful third parliamentary force, the erstwhile Australian Democrats, are past their use-by date. This is a pity - the Howard government is going increasingly unchallenged, Labor is ( Read more... )