Archive
Australian Art: A visual perspective by Ronald M. Berndt, Catherine H. Berndt, and John E. Stanton
W.F. Mandle reviews 'The Tyranny of Distance', 'Triumph of the Nomads', and 'A Land Half Won' by Geoffrey Blainey
Who, we wondered, gets the largest Public Lending Right cheque each year – Manning Clark or Geoffrey Blainey? Probably still Manning, and he’ll still be ahead in the royalties stakes too, but the younger colt must be closing fast, and he shows no signs of tiring. Even if he did, his publishers, like Manning’s for that matter, can always do, as they have here, a recycling and packaging job.
... (read more)Australia Since the Coming of Man by Russel Ward & New History edited by G. Osborne and W.F. Mandie
For the previous Commonwealth Writers’ Week associated with the Commonwealth Games at Edmonton, a large if not necessarily lively anthology of writing from all countries of the Commonwealth was produced. Brisbane produced a twelve page ‘Guide to Participants’ which showed that only eighteen of the sixty-three listed participants were not Australian or Australian born. Not all of the eighteen visitors turned up, the most conspicuous absentee being Edward Brathwaite of Jamaica. This imbalance was reflected in the sessions themselves, nearly half of which were exclusively Australian in content.
... (read more)