Category Archive: AUSTRALIANIA
Thorngrove Manor
(January, 2021) Sometimes in this crazy epoch, you feel like heading for the hills. Fortunately, if you live in or come to Adelaide, the hills are 10 minutes away. And you don’t have to sequester yourself in some hut like Ted Kaczynski’s cabin: instead, take the M1 Freeway from town to Thorngrove, between Stirling/Aldgate and Mt. Lofty and the townlet of Crafers. The Manor is a Gothic Revival dream – a kind of Strawberry Hill – but with its own bespoke design features that make guests feel they are King and Queen of the castle. The angels are in the…
Continue Reading →A Different Anthem
[Thoughts toward a final reconciliation of, or reckoning with, the Australian peoples, written in dejection at the news Melbourne’s 2021 Australia Day parade has been cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns, whilst an “Invasion Day” dawn service will proceed, with the support of Melbourne City Council.] [We hope that the following thoughts do not fructify – Ed.] We have nominated our preferred date for Australia’s National Day of Celebration/Commiseration, and now consider possible alternatives to the current national anthem, recently adjusted by bureaucratic fiat to substitute “young and free” with “one and free” to suit the present generation’s designer mood. This…
Continue Reading →99 MINUTES
Vincent Namatjira, the great-grandson of the great Albert Namatjira, has won the Archibald Prize for portraiture, in this case of himself and former football champion of the Sydney Swans, Adam Goodes. Commenting on this award being the first to an indigenous artist, Mr. Namatjira commented: “It only took 99 years!” Now, while Goodes was a very, very good player, his reviews as a person are mixed: some claim he is a martyr to structural racism in this country and a brave flag-bearer for the aboriginal peoples. Others see him as a serial sook. It is neither our desire nor our…
Continue Reading →Beating the Blues Leads to Success
Now for the Business End
(Glenelg vs Sturt, Unley Oval, 26 September 2020) To Unley Oval for the final minor round game of the year. A ‘dead rubber’, as Glenelg would finish in the final four and Sturt would miss out, though not by much, irrespective of this or any other result. Torn between the desire to ‘manage’ many leading players yet take some winning form into the finals, the Tigers rested their captain, Max Proud, Magarey Medallist Luke Partington, and leading goal-sneak Luke Reynolds. Sturt wanted a big finish to farewell some club stalwarts in Midfielder Sam Colquhoun, defender Tom Harms and utility Byron…
Continue Reading →Fine Wine and Dine @ Tanunda
Tanunda, Barossa Valley, September 2020 Motoring into Tanunda for some R ‘n’ R these days is a breeze: if you get onto South Road, and head north, it leads onto the M2 and you get there in an hour. The main drag is Murray Street, and there is a large sign over the way, letting you know you’re there. There are lots of things to do to get fit: you can walk or bicycle along the Barossa track to Angaston (also a nice town worth visiting although it seems its high quality second-hand bookshop has bitten the dust – at…
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