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THE BAGGY GREEN In an age of cynically In 2003 Grenville came across MICHAEL FAHEY & MIKE COWARD manufactured mascots and symbols a notebook of Gadigal language THE CRICKET PUBLISHING which the public is smart enough to compiled by Dawes and her COMPANY spurn, it’s heartening that Australia’s imagination took off. She discovered ISBN 978-0-9775-6311-1 daggy baggy is not only the most in Dawes a young Englishman whose $38.50 FROM www.lgm.com.au recognised and revered sporting contact with the people was unique “The word memorabilia was not insignia, but is also unsullied by at that time (at least as recorded) and even in the dictionary when I was commerce and – in its unissued state led to life-changing experiences on playing,” Neil Harvey is quoted as – not for sale at any price. both sides. saying of the growing interest in The Baggy Green is an excellent Dawes’s closest contact of that the distinctive Australian headwear. reference book, source of trivia night period was a young girl, Patyegarang, That observation relates to the the questions and also a good dip-into while Rooke’s amanuensis is named monetary values and sought-after candidate for the beach and the bath. Tagaran. It’s a relationship – of clear rarities now associated with the I didn’t realise how much I didn’t and close communion – that will unique wool weave pate warmer. know and how much I would enjoy provoke debate today for reasons The Baggy Green is a discursive, fi nding out. other than those that made it charming and thorough history of the unthinkable in 1788. The idea of cap. While aimed at the inner cricket THE LIEUTENANT friendship and equality between the tragic in us all, there is plenty of KATE GRENVILLE two was preposterous then even as digression, anecdote and information TEXT PUBLISHING sex was not a problem – and assumed. – from the trivial to the profound – to ISBN 978-1-9213-5178-5 Now, it may also be assumed and make it well worth dipping into no $45.00 is a problem, while the possibility matter what you feel about the game. The mainstream press reviews of the of friendship and equality is still Fahey (BEc ’84) and well known book that follows Secret River (nb not derided. cricketing writer Coward combine an a follow-up) have been fascinating Grenville’s narrative is richly obvious love for the unlikely object for being grudgingly praising of researched but wears it lightly; the of affection with a terrier-like tenacity Grenville (BA ’73) while expressing novel opens doors into a time and for information gathering. The dry, unconscious petulance that the book place rarely visited and into the mind almanac style of the essential data isn’t Secret River! of a young man who transcends his is leavened by rambling yarns and They’re right about that: The origins to fl y in the face of his society personal recollection from many Lieutenant should be read for what and contemporary thinking. players, past and present. The deep it is: a different and different kind feelings felt by the men whose of book by one of our fi nest living KOALA – A HISTORICAL privilege it has been to wear the cap writers. BIOGRAPHY are palpable. Their recall of how The central character is young CSIRO PUBLISHING ISBN 978-0-6430-9401-7 they fi rst came by it gives the book astronomer with the First Fleet, Lt $39.95 a surprisingly human and emotional Daniel Rooke. He is loosely based on dimension. the real-life astronomer of the First Anne Moyal AM (BA ’47 Hon DLitt Interesting too is the different Fleet, Lt William Dawes (Dawes … ’06) has had an unusual career. She way players perceive the cap: Richie jackdaws … rook!) on whose journal graduated with honours in history and Benaud has always been indifferent, and writings Grenville has drawn for went to work as research assistant to as has Ian Chappell, whereas Waugh elements of her story. Dawes and British press baron Lord Beaverbrook. S, Ponting R and Taylor M have, Rooke chose the promontory west Books on political history were the between them, raised the cap to its of Sydney Cove as the site of their result. She returned to Australia in current awesome status. (Not for rudimentary observatories and it’s 1958 as one of the founders of the All reviews by commercial reasons, however, theirs is where both men began informal Australian Dictionary of Biography and Diana Simmonds an almost spiritual connection.) contact with the Gadigal people. went on to teach and research at a
SAM Summer 09 37 MY TWO HUSBANDS KATHY GOLSKI PENGUIN/VIKING ISBN 978-0-6700-7221-7 $32.95 A most unusual memoir by a well- known artist and occasional writer (she should do it more often) who is one of Sydney’s most distinctive voices. In the ’60s Golski (BA ’63) was a groovy Aussie chick fresh out of Sydney University. She fell in love with Polish refugee doctor Olek, whose childhood memories were of running errands in the mountains and forests of his homeland for the partisans in WW2. Their marriage was happy despite cultural differences and his overbearing but ultimately much- number of universities. Television and Radio School. Since One of loved Mamushka. Of her many published books on the run-up to the last federal election Nevertheless, they did move Australian social history and science, she has worked for Maxine McKew the most to Canberra to give Golski some the best known are A Bright and MP and in her spare time Joy wrote breathing space. They had two eccentrically children and a rumbustious, Polish Savage Land, Clear Across Australia her fi rst novel, Ulterior Motives. life until Olek was killed in a cycling (a history of telecommunications) Her heroine, Coco, also has a funny and accident. Happily his good friend Voy and Platypus: the Extraordinary Story distinctive voice and works in radio: chaotic of How a Curious Creature Baffl ed the was on hand to support the bereft an English language station in family. Later Voy became Golski’s World. She has been awarded an AM people you Monaco. (Joy once worked at Radio second Polish husband and they for her body of work. could ever Riviera in the south of France.) Coco remain together today. Now she’s turned her attention is a romantically minded adventurer hope to meet Golski writes with charm, insight to another Australian curiosity: the with a wry sense of humour and or read and vivacity of a life that has taken koala. This beautifully produced absolutely no capacity to see that the many twists and turns, with much book – designed by James Kelly – is light at the end of the tunnel might joy, sadness and achievements along a joy to hold and read. And it contains be a very big truck coming the other the way. It is threaded through with everything you ever wanted to know way. Olek’s stories, which have remained about our fabled furry favourite but The truck is Jack, an urbane, a signifi cant part of Golski’s life. didn’t know you didn’t know in the handsome, Swiss-American The swinging dolly bird is now a fi rst place. lawyer who knocks her sideways woman who is wise, perceptive, and Moyal delves into its evolutionary by exhibiting the traits of being a happy with her ghosts, work and past (30 million years) and its impact sensitive, thoughtful, totally besotted grandchildren. The book makes it on Aboriginal culture and, eventually obvious why she is much loved by suitor with a plane, plenty of money on modern Australian society. friends and family and is one of the and a beautiful apartment. He can’t Amazingly the koala didn’t feature most eccentrically funny and chaotic wait to marry her. Back in Australia in dispatches for the fi rst 15 years of people you could ever hope to meet White settlement, but has made up her mother is thrilled. Her friends, or read. for it since. cognisant of her track record and Pollyanna tendencies, are dubious. First closely described, in Latin, by IN BRIEF zoologist Robert Brown in 1803 (and Like many of us, Coco ignores the translated here for the fi rst time), the niggling early warnings until too late. WHAT I WISH I KNEW AT 18 koala’s history is explored by Moyal By the time she realises her prince DANIEL GREGORY & MARTY WILSON lovingly and with as much languorous isn’t charming, she is a psychological ALLEN & UNWIN $16.95 wreck. Pain and punishment, care as a munching marsupial. From ISBN: 978-1-74175-258-8 Joseph Banks to Norman Lindsay humiliation and loss of trust come in and Billy Bluegum to Patrick Cook’s very different guises and all lie in wait Gregory and Wilson (BPharm ’91) grumpy and bored cartoon koalas of for Coco. are self-confessed award-winning ad gurus and stand up comedians. Yet, the 1990s, they’re all here. Ulterior Motives is a surprising in asking a wide range of people to book. It’s often very funny and is answer the title they have come up ULTERIOR MOTIVES written with verve and startling LUCIENNE JOY with a little book that really does offer candour. Monaco, France and the food for thought. ALLEN & UNWIN social and political life of Europe ISBN 978-1-74175-410-0 The famous are out-numbered (Berlin Wall) are vividly evoked with $32.95 and the book is better for it. Steve only a soupcon of the earnest didact Plakotaris says: “After 9/11 I’ll never Lucienne Joy (BA DipEd ’70) has creeping in from time to time. It will intentionally cause another human one of the most distinctive voices ever set you thinking about your own being pain.” He had fl u and missed heard on Australian radio and was also limits and dreams. And wondering fl ight UA93 that crashed into a fi eld in head of radio at the Australian Film, about relocating to France. Pennsylvania, killing all on board.
SAM Summer 09 39