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CoNTENTS 4 31 COMMENT QUIXOTE 6 33 LETTERS OBITUARY James Griffin pays tribute to Monsignor 7 John Francis Kelly. REPORTS Margaret Simons on the air-traffic fiasco; 34 Paul Cleary on the vanishing middle class BOOKS (p22) . Brian Toohey on two biographies of John Maynard Keynes; Michael McGirr on Syd­ 9 ney's best-known bohemians and best­ CAPITAL LETTER known outlaw (p36); Rod Beecham on the Cain and Kirner govennents (p37); and Race 10 Mathews on the co-operatives of Mon­ COUNTERPOINT dragon in Spain (p40). Paul Chadwick begins a news column on the media. 39 THE INDEX 12 Reviews of Russel Ward's Concise History HELLO TO BERLIN of Australia; Patrick O'Farrell's The hish in The new Germany has new divisions, Australia (revised edition ), and David writes Damien Simonis. Willey's God's Politician. 15 42 SPORTING LIFE FLASH IN THE PAN Peter Pierce risks a franc in France. Reviews of the films Bram Stoker's Dra c­ ula; Lovers; Honey, I Blew Up the Kid; A 16 Few Good Men and Antonia and fane. HOW NOT TO FUND RESEARCH Cover drawing and drawings pp24-30 by Australia's universities are not getting value 44 Waldemar Buczynski; for money, argues Frank Jackson. SBS PROGRAM GUIDE Photo p5 by Bill Thomas; Photo pl 3 by Damien Simonis; Cartoon p(i by Michael Daly; 19 46 Cartoon p43 by Dean Moore; THE REGION VOICEBOX Graphics pp10, 15,46 by Tim Metherall; David Glanz on China, Vietnam and a Mike Ticher finds the Old World at the flick Graphic p 19 by john van Loon; of a switch. Graphic p23 by Paul Fyfe. wrangle over oil; Rowan Callick on mining in the Pacific (p20). Eureka Street magazine 47 )csu it Publications, 24 SPECIFIC LEVITY PO Box 553, Richmond, VIC 3 121. THREE YEARS HARD Tcl l03) 427 73 1 I Andrew Hamilton chronicles the ordeal of Fax (03)421l 4450 Cambodian refugees in Australia. EUREKA STAI:-B C OMMENT ~1agazine of public affairs, the arts and theology I Publisher Michael Kelly SJ Editor Morag Fraser Baclz to the Production editor Ray Cassin Design consultant John van Loon future ... Production assistants John Doyle SJ, Paul Fyfe SJ, juliette Hughes, Chris Jenkins SJ. Contributing editors W COM' TO Emeka Sueet in'" thUcd Y'" of public•­ Adelaide: Frances Browne IBVM tion. Thousands of new readers- Modem Times subscribers­ Brisbane: Ian Howells SJ join us this month. We hope they will continue, as regular Darwin: Margaret Palmer subscribers, to support Eureka Street's commitment to Perth: Dean Moore uncompromising, independent publishing and to enjoy the Sydney: Edmund Campion, Andrew Riemer, reflective twist, the verve, and nerve, of our writers. Gerard Windsor. All our regulars are back (Archimedes has taken his bath European correspondent: Damien Simonis to the beach but will make a principled return in March) and US correspondent: Michael Harter SJ some new names have joined us. Paul Chadwick is filing a Editorial boa rd regular m edia column, Mike Ticher is writing about Austral­ Peter L'Estrangc SJ (chair ), ian radio, and we now carry the SBS TV program guide. For Margaret Coady, Margaret Coffey, more news, move inside. Madeline Duckett RSM, Tom Duggan, In November we promised the December issue would give Trevor Hales, Christine Martin, details of the 1992 Eureka Street readership survey. Apologies Kevin McDonald, Joan Nowotny IBVM, for the delay; returns kept arriving well into the New Year, Lyn Nossal, Ruth Pendavingh, and we have only now been able to analyse and publish the John Pill FSC, findings. Peter Steele SJ, Bill Uren SJ Forty-five per cent of Eurel\a Street subscribers (a n Business manager: Louise Metres extraordinary rate of return) told us about themselves, why Advertising representative: Tim Stoney they subscribe, what they passionately endorse and what they Accounts manager: Bernadette Bacash strongly disapprove. The data has already been put to use in Patrons editorial planning, advertising and promotion . Eureka Street gratefully acknowledges the Here is a sample of the facts we have gleaned: support of C.L. Adami; the trustees of the estate • An average of 2.5 people read each subscription copy of Eurelw of Miss M. Condon; A.J. Costello; D.M. Cullity; Street and they each spend m ore than two hours each doing so. F.G. Gargan; R.J. and H.M. Gehrig; • Thirty-seven per cent of our readers are female, and 63 per W. P. Gurry; J.F. O'Brien; cent male. A.F. Molyneux; V.J. Peters; • The age distribution is as follows: 31 per cent are under 45; Anon.; the Roche family; Anon.; 27 per cent are between 45 and 55; 22 per cent between 55 and Sir Donald and Lady Trescowthick; 65, and 20 per cent over 65 . Mr and Mrs Lloyd Williams. • Eight per cent of our readers are professionally involved in

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4 EUREKA STREET • F EBRUARY 1993 CoMMENT Backtracking

A USHAUAN H> GHWAYS DON'T"' mo into the up, filled up. Don't have to get out of their cars. This is desert but they have a way of prompting reflection. a real centre.' Maybe because their sheer length puts time into your On a previous trip I miscalculated and had to pull hands. They are also into one of the vast much profaned. I have complexes that flank the never subscribed to the .. freeway exits to bypassed view of the Hume as a towns. I got into the tedious snake. For me it truck bay by mistake and is the route home. It is then had to circle the also a great instructor of whole place to find the city eyes, subtle in its unleaded petrol. Top seasonal registrations. price. Inside the sweets In early summer, and groceries were mar­ Paterson's Curse was shalled. I took from the doing a late surge. In one red section and spoiled High Country paddock, the display. The girl north of Gundagai, two glanced at me but some­ white horses swam, pur­ thing more pressing ple to their manes. The caught her eye. 'That Country Hour was bastard! That bastard's unlyrical but explained nicking off without how this crop/curse is paying! ' She was outside managed and why its in a flash. I left my money reputation is so mixed. on the counter. Most of the old The grass is green towns are bypassed now. and fence-high. Ominous If you want Ned you have in summer. to detour into Glenrow­ Rudolf Nureyev has an. In Canberra the just died. And Dizzy National Gallery has Gillespie. remembered Sidney Coming into Mel­ Nolan by hanging a rare bourne, in the aftermath portrait of Ned Kelly just Memorial to Victorian Country Fire Authority of a thunderstorm, we inside the front door. He volunteers who died on Ash Wednesday, 1983 drive through the hill is not wearing his helmet, towns north-east of the but a circle of rough brown paint frames his face like a city. We get to Panton Hill in wet dusk and notice a target. memorial park in the middle of town. I remember that Benalla, too, is off the beaten track. On a gleaming it is 10 years since the boys of the district went out morning we double back into town to revisit the rose together to fight the Ash Wednesday fires. It is imposs­ garden. Peter Roebuck is lyrical because Brian Lara is ible to explain the queer ferocity of this country to new­ batting. We trip over a rose called Greg Chappell, and in comers. In February 1983 I tried, with a 17-year-old the distance, behind a strip of botanical gardens alive American exchange student. She was two days out of with cicadas and water sprinklers, is another natural­ winter Missouri, and completely bushed. The classroom ised remnant of empire, the cricket ground, with its window went red, then black, as topsoil and ash dumped curator crawling over it in his dinosaur mower. Lara out of the air. bats on to a double century. In Ireland, where the fires were exotic news, a Even the country news reports the lifting of Victo­ colleague was also trying to explain, to a pub full of en­ ria's Pyramid petrol levy. In Holbrook the petrol is cheap thusiasts, why you couldn't simply cut a firebreak anyway. We pull up in the middle of town and get serv­ around each town. 'It just wouldn't work,' he ventured ice. 'Clean your windscreen?' No 'Sir' from the redhead hopelessly. 'Our fires are not like that.' 'Are they not? lank of a boy and no 'Nice day'. 'Does it pay you to And why not?' serve?' I ask his father. 'Yeah, it does. This is a family You need a long road ... business anyway. Saves on wages. Besides, we get a lot • of paraplegics around here. They all come, get cleaned -Morag Fraser

VOLUME 3 NUMBER 1 • EUREKA STREET 5 LETT ER S

Eureka Street welcomes letters awarded the contract for the bishops' Misplaced from its readers. Short letters arc statement on the basis of our track more likely to be published, and all record, and in such a high-risk area of From Pe ter Pierce letters may he edited. Letters must publishing we would appreciate a lit­ Some people resent travel writing he signed, and should inc! ude a con­ tle more understandingand generosity. because they haven't been to the plac­ tact phone number and the writer's Are we in turn to discount the es described; others because they think name and addrcs~ . work of Ted and his colleagues in they have. Fa lling insouciantly into Redfe rn because they are the local the second ca tegory in hi s response to representatives of an institutional my piece on Shanghai (Eu relw Street, church that recently forced Boff from October 1992), Max C harl esworth is his ministry and desperately tried to not one of those dupes who has seen muzzle the Spirit at last October's the future and thinks it works; but Latin American Bishops' Conference another kind who sentimentally in Sa nto Domingo? imposes upon the present the fantasy Ga ry Eastman land that he wishes to come into being. North Bla ckburn, VIC Pa tro ni sing the C hinese by gener­ alisation and other means is an old ga me. Charl esworth might not know Listed numbers of Gore Vidal's remark that what pro ved Henry Booth Luce of Time From Fr fohn George trul y to be certifiable was hi s mission In the past 12 months the compa­ D o ro thy A . Lee (Eurelw Street, to Christian ise China. ny has published: John Molony's The December 1992-January 1993) has Peter Pierce Worker Question; BmceDunca n's The reduced Matthew's genealogy of Jesus Esscndon, VIC Church's Social Teaching; Peter to dem onstrating Mary's sexual free­ Maurin's Easy Essays for Peace and dom from an 'ardent male' patriarchal fu slice; three books by Donal Dorr, lineage. I fully agree that Mary con­ Track record including a revised edition of his ceived by the Holy Spirit, but Lee has Options for the Poor; an Australian bypassed Matthew's other issues From Cory Eastman. managing edition, with Mark O'Connor, of Hen­ intrinsic to the genealogy itself. director o( Collins Dove. ri ot's classic Ca tholic Social Teach­ First, in Jewish custom genealogy Ted Kennedy comments in his letter ing; Leonard o Boff's Good News for identified a person- hence the preoc­ on the bi shops' state­ the Poor; plus early in 1993 we will cupati on in much Jewish biographical ment (Eureka Street, publish a book on refugees and a new history for legal and/or biographical November 1992) that textbook on social justice for second­ genealogy. Secondly, the powerful le­ 'it is not insigni fica nt ary schools. gal bind of Jesus and his genealogy (in that this statem ent Apart from Orbis, whom we dis­ virtue of St Jo seph) provided Matthew is publi shed by Col­ tribute in Australi a, no other religious with important lessons for his earl y linsDove, a company publisher in the world includes so church 'a udience': acquired by Rupert many social justi ce books in their list. • Matthew situates Jesus within an Murdoch'. G ive n that We like to think we have bee n ex tensive jewish family tree. T his this remark was made m essage would not be lost on earl y in the context of a converts from Judai sm , still sensitive critica l revie w of RIDLEY ~ COLLEGE to valid Old T estament traditions and Common Wealth for Messianic prophecies.

the Common Good, it T H E UN I VERS I TY OF M ELBOURNE • The Matthea n church's gentile deserves a response. Christians would be reassured by the Collin sD ove is Choose a new course for yo ur li fe surprising presence of Ruth (a gentile) the o nly re li gio us with pa rt -tim e evening studi es al within the genealogy. publisher in Austral­ Ridl ey College • Along with the saints and heroes in ia, comm e rcia l or Fi rst Semester 7-8.45pm the genealogy, Matthew includes men otherw ise, that pub­ Tu esclays from 26 Feb. and women who had committed lishes social ju stice Introduction to Christian Ethics scandal. God achieves his purposes materials. T he com ­ Wednesdays from 27 Feb. despite man's sinfulness. Sensitive to leona.r·J o D~ 'v,..,L, "je<{. 4- pany has consistently Church History Survey A 'inclusivism ' I mention the ladies .. f)aclcl'j 5wi "' ""''n~ ,..., Ou. Poo ( ' clone so fo r years and Thu rsdays from 28 Feb. (strangely, Lee regards them as mod­ has published for both NT Survey 1 (Jo hn) els of fa ith and 'femaleness' for Mary): d•L~ the current bishops' Contact: Ridl ey Co ll ege Rahab, who was a harlot of Jericho; committee and for the 160 The Ave nu e, Tamar, who was a seducer and adul­ original Catholic Commission for PARK VILL E, VIC 3052. teress; Bathsheba, who was seduced Justice and Peace. Ph (03 l 387 7555 by David. So jesus' pedigree contain

6 EUREKA STREET • F EBRUARY 1993 REPORT MARGARET SIMONS saints and sinners; later, his ministry and his church will focus on such people, be they male or female (this is -emphasised by Matthew's novel inclusion of women in a Jewish gene­ alogy) . • From Abraham to the 'deportation to Babylon', the genealogy is com­ posed of patriarchs and kings, etc. But from the 'deportation' to the 'birth of the Messiah', most names are insig­ nificant. Thus Matthew underlines the fact that God often chooses unlikely people to attain his goal. In short, Dorothy Lee's 'anti­ patriarchal' reduction lacks the wider context of Matthew's reda ction: Jesus was not only 'Son of God' but also 'Son of David' (this is the Messianic purpose of the genealogy). John George Lidcombe, NSW

'Lool

VoLUME 3 NuMBER 1 • EUREKA STREET 7 authority. And, since McPhee's report two worried CAA directors requested the contract. In fact, the team took the was released, Smith has vigorously copies of these and other documents figures and compared them with ones defended the two men, arguing that relied upon by management in mak­ provided earlier by Thomson. they have been key players in bringing ing its recommendations. Of the four The team didn't make much of the the bringing the CAA up to date. people who comprised the manage­ comparison but in Dr Edward's slide McPhee remarks that Smith and ment evaluation team, only Dr Ed­ presentation to the crucial board Baldwin are similar in that they are wards attended the board meeting. meeting on 13 March, a table com­ both determined, 'can-do' types. But a The discussion took five hours of vig­ paring the SLOC figures from the two close reading of his report leaves one orous, heated and lively discussion, companies was presented, and said by gasping at the ga p between the CAA's but no decision was made . Rather, the Dr Edwards to indicate that Hughes practice and its market-forcesrhetoric. boa rd asked management to write to was a higher risk when it came to 'I wish to state at the outset,' both companies seeking further infor­ software development, and had McPhee said, 'that the review has no mation and performance guarantees. underestimated the task in front of it. reason to believe that there was any Already, Baldwin and Edwards had The penultimate slide in Dr corruption in the process under exam­ adopted an attitude of extreme haste Edwards' show summed up the per­ ination. There were, however, many to the T AAA TS decision. This atti­ ceived risks of Hughes, including blemishes.' And later: 'The whole saga tude, McPhee reported, had pervaded software development, and the deci­ of the T AAA TS management evalua­ the entire culture of the CAA and sion was made on this basis. Yet tion team , its findings and its minutes infected the board. In the normal Hughes was a company generally as­ illustrates ... the haste and incompe­ course, the T AAATS decision would sessed by the industry to be writing tence associated with the handling of have arisen again at the next normal modem and effective software. the TAAATS project at senior man­ board meeting on 25 March. Edwards The vote, for one of the most im­ agem ent level. For the purpose of had no such intentions. portant contracts the board would ever making reasonable findings in a re­ On Saturday 7 March he wrote to deal with, was five directors infavorof sponsible time frame and recom­ both Hughes and Thomson and set a Thom son and two against. Two mending fair, practicable and accepta­ dea dline on Fridayl3 March for them directors were absent. And the entire ble action, we did not need to inquire to respond. When the responses were decision was based on fi gures that for explanations beyond received, an emergency board meet­ were close to meaningless, and the ~ haste and incompetence.' ingwas calledfor2.30pm on 13 March. significance of which- or rather, lack This was done in spite of the fact that of significance of which-Edwards, .1. HE T AAA TS STORY is a long one, two crucial directors were known to the only member of the management involving so many mistakes and hasty be unavailable. Those who could evaluation team present, did not decisions that they cannot easily be attend were expected to fly to Can berra understand. The tender process has recounted. However, the smoulder­ and read the papers on which they now been reopened, with Thomson ingcontroversy flared when the French were to base their decision at the same and Hughes competing company, Thomson Radar, was time as watching a slide show by Dr afresh for the contract. awarded the co ntract over Hughes, Edwards. They were then expected to which had initially been recommend­ make a decision in time to ca tch flights M c PHEE COMMENTS in his report ed to the CAA board as preferred out of Canberra that evening. that were it not for some vigilant contractor. At that mee ting, much was made parliamentarians, in particular the McPhee's analysis of this final, of Source Line Of Codes [SLOC) members of the normall y low-profile fatal decision, and the vital board figures. SLOC is a highly technical public works committee and Senator meetings involved, reads more like concept used to measure the size, and David MacGibbon, the incompetence farce than official report. The cmcial stage of development, of software ap­ of the CAA management in handling decision was made on an analysis of plications. But such is the complexity the T AAA TS rna tter would never have technical information that was not of the notion, with so many variables been revealed. understood by any of the people at the that need to be taken into account, Yet at every stage the CAA resist­ meeting, and which was presented in that a comparison of SLOC figures ed parliamentary scrutiny. At one a deceptive manner. from different companies is fra ught stage, Edwards and Baldwin were The fina l choice between the two with danger. threatened with contempt of Parlia­ companies was to have been made at In February 1992 a hasty overseas ment for refusing to answer the a board meeting on 7 March 1992. At trip by the management evaluation questions of the public works com­ that meeting, board members were team had been presented with SLOC mittee. Fortunately, one of the results presented with advice purportedly figures by Hughes. Amazingly, the of the McPhee report is a review of the based on a meeting of the T AAATS team did not include any experts in relationship between the government management evaluation team held software development, in spite of the and its business enterprises. The pre­ five days before. fact that software was the most vital cise nature of that review has yet to be However, despite the vital nature part of the contract. Hughes presented announced. II of that team meeting, no minutes had the figures voluntarily, in the belief been taken. In fact, the 'minutes' were that they would reinforce the tea m's Margaret Simons is a regular contrib­ only written three months later, when fa ith in the company's ability to meet utor to Eurel

8 EUREKA STREET • fERRUM. Y 1993 Each way at best

M ,MONeY" o HEwSON m W>N. Only h•ck Labm the e areas, where Hewson would like to make his mark, if you can get better than 6-4. Keating may be trying his policies are not radically different from Labor's. harder, he may be a proven stayer with a smer grasp of In many areas of government, policies are of electioneering, and his opponent may have a demon­ essentially bipartisan. The difference between Labor and strated capacity to stumble. But Keating seems to be Liberal over foreign affairs, defence, immigration and carrying too much weight. Labor, and Keating personal­ trade is extraordinarily narrow-a great handicap to ly, have not yet been punished by the electorate for the public debate. On immigration, for example, the differ­ recession. Keating's efforts to lead the way out of it have ence comes down to a debate about numbers. Labor fallen significantly short of his promises. And, for all of stands for the existing figures and the Liberals would the energy Keating himself is putting into getting re­ take a fraction less. And so bipartisan-and morally elected, his frontbench seems to be running dead: it has loathsome-is the policy on refugees that one wonders either run out of energy and ideas or it has given up. how a decent person could vote for either party. John Hewson is thus odds-on to win, but it will be Hewson would like to make big changes in health a win by default rather than a popular endorsement of policy, but his options are circumscribed by his promises his policies. His extraordinary somersault on Fightback! about retaining Medicare and by the fact that Labor has has lightened his load but deprived his road to power of committed the next government to a program of hospital any right to be considered a crusade. The somersault funding. Similarly, Hewson would like to fiddle with may well cause him long-term problems in government social secmity but his welfare bill will actually be higher but will undoubtedly help him in the campaign: his than Labor's because of the advance compensation on economic program is now only a tinge bluer than Labor's the goods and services tax. And his aim of contracting and the electoral contest now becomes more one of out most of the community service allocation is likely competing individuals than policies. to be revised once he grasps that most of the dollars do Labor will no doubt assert that John Hewson has a not go, as he fondly imagines, to the St Vincent de Paul secret agenda: the complete restoration of the policies Society or the Salvation Army but to big institutions of Fightback! Mark I. But Hewson, who once made a that are generally captmed and corrupted by the staff virtue of being totally honest with the electorate, will and service providers. Just the sort of lobby groups, in not have a mandate from the people to do this. Nor will other words, that Hewson hates most. he have a mandate from Parliament, or at least not from The greatest challenge to a Hewson government the Senate. More importantly, it is doubtful that he comes from Hewson himself. He is incredibly narrow. would have a mandate even from his own party, let For all of his economic qualifications, he has very little alone its coalition partner. of an education about him-no history, no philosophy, Labor's best campaign tactic would be to raise fears no art, no law, no science. His speech writers have great of the Hewson/Howard industrial agenda, evoking difficulty finding phrases for him that suggest any linages of what Jeff Kennett has done in Victoria. This imagination or breadth of perspective. Hewson is less may work particularly well among the nation's public equipped for government than any modem Australian servants, who can be made afraid of losing the protection prime minister, including Paul Keating, whose formal of the award system, or even of losing their jobs alto­ education may have ended earlier but whose interests gether. Hewson's difficulty in dealing with this line of are far wider and whose intellectual cmiosity is quite attack is that the public mood has shifted since he first genuine. Hewson may prove to be a competent launched his policies. Then he could argue that the manager-a Billy McMahon, say-but it is hard to see economy was in such a parlous state that drastic solu­ him it1spiring the nation as did a Gorton, a Whitlam, or tions were necessary. But the electorate, thanks in part even a Malcolm Fraser. to a dose of Jeff Kennett, has turned conservative about The Fraser years are reviled by many Liberals as a change. Hewson's best chance of winning is the old­ time of wasted opportunities. His broad philosophy was fashioned one of arguing that he can manage better than not radically different from that of some of Hewson's the lot who have had their chance and fluffed it. Young Tmks, but he was cautious and moved slowly. What will a Hewson government be like? Clearly, And there was more. Fraser had a strong sense of human if wishes were horses it would be a lot leaner and meaner, rights and dignity, some comage, and a feel for what with greater emphasis on the contracting out of services, was achievable. He understood power, how to achieve the sale of government enterprises, a new framework of it and how to hang on to it. Which, of course, he did for industrial relations, a more aggressive approach to three terms. Unless you can get better than 500-1 on microeconomic reform, a more lai ez-faire attitude to Hewson lasting that iong, don't take the bet. • conflicts between mining or industry and the environ­ ment, and, probably, to foreign investment. But even in Jack Waterford is deputy editor of The Canberra Times.

V OLUME 3 N UMBER 1 • EUREKA STREET 9 It pays to be in the know

G EmGE L ANDAU WAS woNDE,NG why tho Barry Jones, has declared that 'Australia has slipped on those issues.) It seems accepted that concentration behind other advanced nations in failing to use its of print media ownership and control in Australia is very intelligence/knowledge to produce brain-based, high high by world standards, and that there are risks in value added goods and services.' putting so much power into so few hands. The contro­ One of the major databases of any society is the versy is about how that power is used, not whether it electronically stored archive of its newspapers. The exists. Three groups-News Limited, Fairfax and Keny

10 EUREKA STREET • FEBI(UAI( y 1993 Packer's Australian Consolidated Press-dominate the means by which newspapers and magazines are pub­ lished, that is, the 'hardware'. In these circumstances, does it make sense to change the law governing intellectual property so as to concentrate in those same few hands control of the warehouses of information, the 'software'? It undoubt­ edly makes business sense, as Rupert Murdoch observes in his latest annual report: 'The more we think about We are looking for the following our businesses, and the more we look at the whole personnel to join our international Christian service for communications industry in all its facets, the more we blind an d hand icapped people in the "Third Wo rl d": define ourselves as a global supplier of what is now called X Ophthalmologists x Eye Nurses 'software'. For us, the hardware developments that X Orthopaedic Su rgeons x Ag riculturalists attract so much attention are secondary to our X Physiotherapists Rehab . Special ists real business.' x X Spec. Education Teachers You are ITIS A SOBERING PROSPECT that, through a rather arcane amendment to the Copyright Act, two or three corpora­ ... wanting to put your Christian conviction into action ... prepared to accept a challenge, flexible and in good health tions would win control of such a potentially powerful ... able to work in a team , ready to learn and willing to accept responsibility. and useful Australian database. They may never doctor You are able its contents to omit or change discomforting material ... to work on your own and get things organized that finds its way into the initial publication in news­ ... to motivate and lead people paper form. But they could. They might not set entry Weare prices which exclude from access a large range of the .. .an interdenominational worldwide fellow ship of committed Christia ns new 'information poor', or potential competitors, or dedicated to servin g the blind and handicapped in the "Third World ". potentially troublesome academic researchers interest­ We offer ed in scrutinising their performance. But they could. ... assignments with a sense of fulfilment and according to your skills On the other hand, if copyright remains split and abilities ... a salary corresponding to your qualifications and position, which is between publi hers and employed journalists, then based on the public service scale. intellectual property law would indirectly act as a brake ... a 4 year contract. on the power that competition law has proved unable Interested? to check. Since journalists would control the re-use of Then please send us your c.v. their work in databa es, they would have an incentive Further information can be obtained by calling 03 817 4566. to ensure its integrity was protected and its availability ~ CHRISTIAN BLIND MISSION INTERNATIONAL wide. Both integrity and availability of data are vital to Ekkehard Hoehmann P.O. Box 5 Kew 3101 Vic . the ec.onomic and intellectual life of an aspiring 'clever ~ Mr. country'. Is it time to treat the existing few publishers as 'common carriers'? Perhaps they should have to provide universal access, on fair terms, to the rich data­ ba es of newspaper archives that they are developing. Another step towards reforn1 that would counter­ 0 0 balance the publishers' strength, rather than increase it, would be for Parliament to grant journalists the mor­ al rights that go hand in hand with economic rights under Aquinas the Berne Convention and the copyright laws of many other countries. Chief among moral rights are: attribu­ tion- the right to have authorship of your work attrib­ Institute uted to you-and integrity-the right to object to any distortion, mutilation or other modification of your work of Theology that would prejudice your honour or reputation. Preparation for ministry in a collaborative Paul Goldstein, an American copyright scholar, has environment permeated by .strong academics and posed a more spacious question: to what extent is the preaching, prayer and community. common good served in an information age by chang­ ing the focus of intellectual property protection from • M.A. • M.Div. • M.A.P.S. • Sabbatical coverage of information to coverage of the artificial A Grad.uate ~hool of Theology and Ministry intelligence which is used to order it? • In the Domln.ican Tr~~on Paul Chadwick is Victorian co-ordinator of the 3 6 4 2 LindeU Boule..vud • St. Louis¥•'1Ws11ouri 63108 ····· ,. (314) 658-3 8 6 9 • Fax (3l4r'652-0935 Communications Law Centre. 0 0

V OLUME 3 N UMBER I • EUREKA STREET 11 THE WORLD

Hello to Berlin

Damien Simonis knew Berlin well before the Wall came down. He revisited the city in December and heard the stories the Western media aren 't telling.

A T A TeAM SToe on the line running uncle< the Germans are particu­ S-Bahn train bridge in east Berlin's Karlshorst, about 20 larly good at whingeing. Russian officers stand about waiting for the tram. In 'One minute they are the dismal, wintry early evening light, the few civilians damning the 'Wessis' who are also waiting maintain their distance. The (west Germans) for Russians- their uniforms still carry the Soviet hammer their problems, the next and sickle insignia-talk in subdued tones. we are suddenly all A couple of blocks away, a jeep pulls up outside Germans together, the Detskii Sad Dryiba (Freundschaft)-the Friendship having to deal with foreigners.' Kindergarten- and drops off a stout-looking blonde With economic uncertainty has come frustration, woman with her child. The vehicles of the former Soviet in the east and west of the country, and the frustration army now bear Russian markings. On the officers' club has been accompanied by violence. At least 17 foreign­ noticeboard is posted ... nothing. In the streets around, ers died at the hands of 'Nazi-skins' in 1992. Jiirgen, a officers in ones and twos, many carrying briefcases, successful insurance agent who lives in east Berlin's stomp home to flats that, under a new protocol signed Prenzlauer Berg, is struggling to come to terms with the before Christmas by the German Chancellor, Helmut wave of racism. 'In all the years of the CDR,' he says, Kohl, and the Russian President, Boris Yeltsin, they must 'we never had any such experience.' Jiirgen heard about vacate by the end of 1994. The Russians will take with the August riots in Rostock while in New York: 'I was them whatever they can. ashamed to be German.' Ashamed, but convinced too Karlshorst, one of the Soviet army's main bases in that the media, especially outside Germany, are doing the former German Democratic Republic, is winding their share to make things seem worse than they are. down but remains a disconcerting reminder of a time 'The huge demonstrations against the violence go that ended abruptly with reunification in October 1990. practically unnoticed, but when a few people commit Little more than three years after the wall came down, these crimes it is reported all over the world.' however, not all Berliners are convinced that things have In the week before Christmas, as hundreds of changed for the better. On the east side, posters went thousands of Germans joined peaceful, candle-lit rallies up calling for big pro-socialist demonstrations in Janu­ (Lichterketten, or 'Light Chains') and protests against ary. Some people wish they could have their wall back. violence, a young Moroccan was killed in suspicious Gcrt, a 42-year-old east Berlin electrician, is one of circumstances in France; an incident that rated little them. 'They (the west Germans) are dismantling every­ mention anywhere. Resurgent racism and extreme right­ thing here, even perfectly good, functioning factories. wing parties, such as the Front National in France and We are becoming a Sicily, and they don't give a damn.' Belgium's Vlaams Blok, are a growing problem What's so good about reunification? The West is in throughout Europe, but the emergence of numerous recession, and turmoil in eastern Europe has robbed the extremist groups in Germany has reawakened old fears fanner CDR of its export markets. Gert is sceptical about in her neighbours. talk of revitalising Germany's east. A friend adds that Europe has not forgotten, and people, young and the 'Africans' are taking jobs from Gennans by working old, are pointing the finger. Le Monde, the left-of-centre for up to two-thirds less, implying that anti-foreign Paris daily, carried a story in November about Germans sentiment in such a situation is hardly surprising. being killed by Polish skinheads, but such reporting is Carsten, a translator who fled the east years ago rare. Carsten agrees with those outside Germany who and recently returned to Berlin, observes that the east believe that the racist violence there is more sinister

12 EUREKA STREET • F EBRUARY 1993 of the Verfassungsschutz, a body that monitors poten­ tially anti-constitutional activities. The Republi­ cans, who have disavowed the skinhead violence and like to think of themselves as the 'respectable' face of the extreme right, akin to jean-Marie Le Pen's Front National in France, won 10.9 per cent of the vote in the Baden-Wurttemberg state elections last April. The Hamburg news maga­ zine Der Spiegel com­ mented on the observation - order: 'No small measure of electoral tactics is Ea st of the Wall. where involved, since the Chris­ heart s are free: Teresa tian Democrats (CDU) and Brewer never sang it particularly the CSU but this Turl

V OLUME 3 N UMI\ER 1 • EUREKA STREET 13 employed single mother, says there are problems in the Not only the big chainstores have moved east. schools because 'some of them have 80 per cent Turks, Turks in west Berlin have been quick to fill a gap in the most of whom can't really speak German. For the Ger­ east Berlin market by opening up kebab takeaways all man kids that's disastrous, and some Germans just don't over. Many U-Bahn and S-Bahn stations have been send their children there. But generally the Turks and transformed into bazaars, where everything from Germans don't get on so badly here. Maybe there's more contraband cigarettes to COs can be had. trouble in some of the other more working-class areas.' Whatever the fears that Germany will slide into Three years after the demolition of the Wall, no deep recession, Berlin is undergoing an unprecedented one can really believe that it was ever there. Andrea, 26, building boom. The Berlin Senate revealed in December a post office employee, could once see the that 20 billion marks had been invested in 1992 alone. Wall on three sides of her Kreuzberg Senator Wolfgang Nagel crowed: 'Berlin is going to While Britain and squat; but, after the initial excitement, experience the building boom of the century in the years its removal has made little difference to to 2000 (in which year, coincidentally, Berlin hopes to France continue to her life. 'The changes are on the other stage the Olympic Games) and become the 'Crane side.' Capital'.' devote enormous The divide was not as unnatural as When Berlin was cut in two, industry and some suppose. With the exception of commerce fled. It is coming back. In a symbolic move energy to the painfully Mitte, the centre of government, the east the Deutsche Bundesbahn (German Federal Railways) Berlin districts that,made up the Soviet has announced that it will move its headquarters from slow progress to sector (known to west Berliners as 'the Frankfurt/Main to Berlin, prior to merging with its Zone') were working-class with a long red incongmously named eastern counterpart, the Deutsche European union, history. The allied sectors that eventual- Reichsbahn (German Imperial Railways), in 1994. ly became west Berlin had, with a couple While Britain and France continue to devote enor­ Gern1any's attention is of exceptions such as Kreuzberg, Wedding mous political energy to the Maastricht saga and the shifting increasingly to and Neukolln, historically been the home painfully slow progress to European union, Germany's of the well-to-do. attention is shifting increasingly to its navel. Added to its navel. Added to the Hermann, a 30-year-old English the debate over asylum seekers and racism, and growing literature student, is one of those who concerns over the state of the economy, has been a debate debate over asylum secretly long for the Wall: 'West Berlin over Germany's role in the world. Helmut Kohl's was a cosy, provincial place, with lots Christmas present to the nation was a decision-taken seekers and racism, going on. Now it is an imperial city again. ' after parliament went into recess-to send German It was also, he admits, a totally subsidised troops to Somalia. The opposition claims this contra­ and growing concerns city, with numerous incentives to live venes the basic law, which forbids the dispatch of Ger­ and invest there- including a waiver on man combat troops beyond the Nato area. over the state of the military service for all those who could And, in the continuing attempt to master its past, show proof of residence. The subsidies Berlin has been hosting the trials of some of the CDR's economy, has been a and the cosiness are gone, 'and', laments leading lights. The most conspicuous of the accused, Hermann, 'the traffic has become so bad.' until charges against him were dropped in mid-January, debate over Germany's One of the hottest subjects of debate was Erich Honecker, the 80-year-old former head of the in west Berlin is the traffic, though by the communist state. Honecker, assumed to be ultimately role in the world. standards of many big cities it is hardly responsible for the deaths of east Germans who were overwhelming. Protests against integrat­ shot as they tried to flee to the West, had been facing 13 ing the two Bcrlins' road systems with counts of manslaughter. The question of his guilt, ring roads and the like have unleashed a furious response however, was overshadowed by the moral implications from the 'Wessis'. Next to placades denouncing Nazis of subjecting a cancer-stricken, one-time victim of Nazi arc posters exhorting: U-Bohn statt Autowahn-Trains, imprisonment to a trial he would probably not have not car craziness.' survived. Neon has come to cast Berlin. As the old, mostly As federal authorities dithered over prosecuting government-run stores disappeared, western stores Honecker, the Berlin Senate began a furious debate about moved in, among them the Kaiser's (sic) supermarket whether or not to name a street after west Germany's chain. At Checkpoint Charlie, once the only point where greatest socialist, and the father of Ostpolitik, Willy foreigners could cross into the comfortless grey of Brandt. Brandt died in October, and the mle on naming Friedrichstrasse in Mitre, the huge East German con­ streets stipulates a minimum wait of five years after trol station has been swept away. All that is now to be the subject's death. The senate, however, seems unable seen is a large placard: 'The American Business Center to tarry in 'digesting' even that part of Germany's history. at Checkpoint Charlie is being built here, beginning 1993.' Nearby, the British Bookshop is doing a roaring • trade, and further up Friedrichstrasse the United Colours Damien Simonis is Eureka Street's European corre­ of Benctton have established themselves. spondent.

14 EUREKA STREET • fEBRUARY 1993 SPORTING LIFE

PETER PIERCE Paris on the trot

s mNT"N mes AGO, the tmtting Other aspects of racing at the meeting at Vincennes required-of a Hippodrome are less regulated. When youngish Australian-the suspension the 18 runners came out onto the back of disbelief and a set of nail-clippers. dirt track for the mounted trot, they The latter equipment was necessary competed for room with horses being to bet, because the cours and cheval driven in preparation for later races, and numbers had to be clipped from a card. with tractors temporarily smoothing Credulity was essential because in the surface. Trying to warm up, horses France (as once upon a time in Aus­ steamed in the cold. The race began tralia) races were still ridden at the trot satisfactorily, so that the false start man (monte) as well as being driven (attele) could scurry back to the fence with his in the fashion familiar to us. red flag. These Euro-days at Vincennes, an Ridden demurely along, by jock­ all-tote system dispenses with the eys whose aching buttocks made them clippers, although it has not hastened grimace with every bound, the horses the posting of dividends. The dilapi­ passed the grandstand to the generic dated hippodrome of the mid-1970s groans and cheers of punters. Many has been renovated. Punters now mill sported scarves that were Burberry in a heated auditorium from which copies, a sartorial gesture which might they can bet and watch the races; not take hold at Moonee Valley. The listen to Ain't She Sweet on the piped race-caller gave a diffident and enfeebl­ music channel; feast on a 'trotting ed commentary, defeated not so much burger' ($8), dine at Le Sulky or Le by this comic spectacle as by technolo­ Paddock, all without stepping outside gy. The TV van that raced the ambu­ into this freezing fog. lances and stayed just across the inside Vincennes is situated in the wood rail from the horses, outdid him with of that name, east of Paris, near the the brilliant, distracting images it re­ confluences of the Marne and the Seine, and Euro­ layed to the giant in-field screen. Disney. To the west, the Bois De Boulogne is home to After two mounted trots and one depart a jumping and flat racing, at Auteuil and Longchamps l'autostart, the French proved that they could also stage respectively. The new year's day meeting at the Vin­ a boat race, when Alexane was allowed to go out to a cennes Hippodrome featured ten events, the most valu­ big lead and was never challenged in the Prix able of them the Prix Du Croise-Laroche, worth D' Angouleme. By this time I had put the day's expenses $135,000. The morning began with a delicate snow down to experience. Fortunately this kind of racing is flurry. The temperature never edged past -4C, although not idly known as the 'Red Hots'. In the big race, one the sun made a brief, apologetic entrance, at 3pm, after horse was soon distanced, another was pulled up just the fourth. before it hit the grandstand rail. The two favourites, Paris-Turf was this punter's guide to proceedings. Vanilie and Akarad Boy, were left clear with fifty metres An estimable daily, which even covers show-jumping to run. Then one broke, and the other went out in (imagine that in the Sporting Globe) Paris- Turf is sympathy. While they crossed the line first and second, solemnly exhaustive-and not much help-as a form under the unforgiving rules of this game, both were guide. Its idiom is the macaronic one of international disqualified. Along came Abbon at 14/1, his number and racing. Horses need to be trouvant un lot to be a chance. curious path to victory being semaphored just before I Apprentices are lads-iockeys, a dead-heat is just that, tore up my ticket. Schooled, it seems, in the old-fash­ while la ligne droite is where the horses finish. Abbon, ioned taciturnity of the Australian horseman, Abbon's my fancy in the main race, was grudgingly praised: 'Il driver, J.C. Monclin, remarked merely that this was not peut a voir son mot a dire'. Being a five-year-old, Abbon a bad way to start the new year. Heading back to had no choice but to be named A .... According to French Montmartre Square for the day, I could only agree. • trotting rules, all six-year-olds' names begin with V, seven-year-olds' with U, eight year olds' with T. Peter Pierce is Eureka Street's turf correspondent.

VOLUME 3 NUMBER I • EUREKA STREET 15 EDUCATION

fRANK JACKSON

How not to fund research

The system for allocating research funds in Australia's universities simply isn't paying off.

J OHN D'w"N' M>nc THm fundamental change< to that, in any case, university-level te

16 EUREKA STREET • fEIIRUAI\ Y 1993 expenses (equipment and, mainly, salaries) is signifi­ monplace that academics write research proposals for cantly reduced by cutting their recurrent grants (by the ARC panels. This has had a very serious effect on around $65 million in 1991 )- the notorious clawback. university autonomy in research. Although the govern­ (Student to staff ratios at the pre-Dawkins universities ment regularly declares that it fully supports universi­ have increased sharply during the past 10 years.) ties making their own decisions about the direction of Most of this money is placed in a central fund con­ their research, the system it has put in place has had trolled by a body created in 1988, the Australian exactly the opposite effect. Research Council. A small percentage goes to the • It takes the pain out of making mistakes. One of the NHMRC-to the justified annoyance of those universi­ best ways of ensuring that money is well spent is to ties that do not have medical schools and so are in the attach a penalty to spending it badly. It has been widely po ition of contributing to a fund that they cannot remarked that one of the big problems with governments realistically access. picking winners is that the pickers are not risking their The bulk of the money that goes to the ARC is put own money. The ARC, its panels and assessors (and up for competitive bidding by individual staff members Commonwealth granting bodies in general) are not under the Large Grants Scheme (a mis­ spending their own mon­ leading name-anything over $15,000 ey. And, when the univer­ counts as a large grant in the humanities, Slties spend money anything over $25,000 in the ciences). The -=====:a· 1 received from the ARC, it remainder of the money is then distribut­ ., is not money that they ed to the universities on the basis of the """\ overall success of their staff members in attracting large grants. \~~ In addition, there are substantial sep­ /.iii~141fl arate funds for research infrastructure (libraries, animal houses, and the like), and a research component in what is called the relative funding model for university op­ erating grants. Again, how much money a university gets under these latter two heads is largely determined by the success of its staff in attracting large grants (and grants through Commonwealth granting bodies in general, but the ARC large grant performance is the most important ele­ ment). (For a detailed summary of the cur­ rent system , see 'Funding the fabric', ASTEC occasional paper no. 14, Feb. 1991.)

What is so wrong with this system t • It encourages expensive research over cheap research. Universities now employ people to go around to staff with strong 'The system gives enormous power to a relatively small group of academics research records urging them to apply for grants, and they hold meetings at which staff are urged could have spent elsewhere. Although there is a sense to think of research that costs more rather than less, in which bodies like public universities never spend their and, in any case, costs enough to qualify for a large grant. own money, they sometimes spend money that they And the universities really have no choice in the mat­ could spend elsewhere, and that is an important source ter. Each has to try and snare as much money as possi­ of discipline. Economic rationalists can agree with old­ ble by way of large grants, and Commonwealth grants fashioned liberals in valuing autonomy. in general, because of the implications for its overall • Too much money is handed out too quickly on the share of the research cake. basis of too little information. The ARC, its panels and • It encourages undue concentration on what others will assessors, have, of necessity, to evaluate a very large think of your research, and on what is 'in vogue'. The number of applications in a comparatively short period sa me people who drum up applications spend a good of time. Often the applications are in areas in which deal of time discussing, not what they, or the potential they are not especially expert, and often the applicants applicants, think i the most important research wait­ are not well known to them. ing to be done, but what the ARC, its advisory panels, • The system gives enormous power to a relatively small and its assessors, will think. Novelists are rumoured to group of academics- those on the ARC, and its adviso­ write books for the Booker prize committee; it is a com- ry panels. Universities which are poorly represented on

V OLUME 3 N UMBER 1 • EUREKA STREET 17 the panels or which do poorly in the competition often complain-usually, but not always, off the record-of AUSTRALIAN bias. I know of no evidence of bias- the universities that do well in the competition for fu nds arc, by and large, INSTITIJTE OF the universities you would expect on general grounds to do well-but it is human nature to think that the CRIMINOLOGY people at your university are just that little bit better on average than those at another university, and it is undeniably a feature of the system that it is very much in the interests of your own university that it should do Crime d well in the grants competitions. • The system is devaluing teaching in universities, particularly in the former colleges and institutes. With Older People , the abolition of the divide, their remit includes research and post-graduate training, but the only way they can get the needed funds is by boosting their position in the research grant league table. Good teaching is irrelevant Crime and Older People will to this. be the subject of a • There is also a political problem with the present sys­ tem. It has far too many losers. One result of the drum­ challenging conference to be ming up of grant applications is that there are many held in Adelaide next month. more applications, including very worthwhile applica­ tions, than there are grants to hand out. From 70 to 80 Organised by the Australian Institute of per cent of all large grant applications will fail. Hence, Criminology. this conference will each year, instead of getting good publicity for support­ investigate the scope of this controversial ing research, the government gets bad publicity for the problem. number of worthy projects that fail to receive support.

Topics will include.- What should be put in place of the present system I A simple rctum to the old system is out of the question­ . Crime prevention strategies to reduce the money is not there for per capita research-level the incidence of crime against recurrent funding for all universities. What we need is a older people system that preserves the element of performance-based . The extent of fear experienced by older ranking in the present system but which achieves that people and ways in which it could ranking by direct evaluation of the research performance be reduced of each institution rather than by the success of its staff in attracting grants handed out by independent bodies. . The development of victim support That way each university, when disbursing funds to associations for older people support individual research projects, would be subject tO the discipline that comes from spending money that . The abuse and neglect of older people. it could spend elsewhere; would be assigning funds on the basis of a close acquaintance with the research and The aims of the conference are to identify researchers involved; would be rewarded for finding and develop national crime prevention cheaper ways of doing a given job; and would be making strategies and policies for older people; its own decisions about research policies. and to examine approaches to enhance the quality of life of Australia's older There would still be a role for the ARC, but a people. reduced one, akin to the role once played by the ARGC. Some projects, particularly but not exclusively in the The conference will be held at the Hyatt sciences, require support beyond the resources of any Regency Hotel. North Terrace. Adelaide. individual university, and it is appropriate that they from February 23 to 25, 1993. should be subject to an externally run, competitive bid­ ding system. Registration inquiries to the And, of course, someone would have to take re­ Australian Institute of Criminology sponsibility for the performance-based research rank­ Conference program, telephone ing of the universities! • (06) 2740 230 or fax (06) 2740 225. Frank Jackson is professor of philosophy in the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University.

18 EUREKA STRE ET • f EilRUAR Y 1993 THE RECIO

DAVID GLANZ ./ ' ·-·\.-. CHJNA { { r \.. )\ ""< '"' )-~-...~~/ Line of ' I A spat over ) 1 '"? Chinese) \ ) l,r claim the Spratlys '·.., l\tracel Islands

0 N TH£ CAC£ O£ ,,., the P"h' of tho'c •ncient ti v.l,, an island and the China and Vietnam, should be converging. In December Spratlys, which it Suuth Cbiua Sea last year a visit to Hanoi by China's Prime Minister Li seized by force from "'-,D Peng- the first head-of-government visit in two South Vietnam in ~ decades-seemed to mark a new spirit of co-operation. early 1974. And Srratly Islands "' r.::::\ China handed its Vietnamese hosts a modest $US14 blood has already PIIILIPPI ES million in aid, and treaties were signed covering ceo­ been spilled over the Lrf? nomic, technical and scientific collaboration between southcrnmo t of the \j the two countries, each of which is trying to make mar­ disputed islands, ket economics fit the mould of its Stalinist politics. which the Chinese Tensions over Cambodia are subsiding, so both nations' know as Nansha and " S~th~th leaders solemnly pledged peace-and diplomats in the the Vietnamese as I­ region scarcely believed a word of it. Truong Sa. In March MALAYSIA r.\ ;/' · - --~ The reason why many officials in Kuala Lumpur, 1988, the Chinese ', ,"- ) r .;~ 1 Singapore and Canberra fear that a shooting war between seized six islands, in " INDONESIA the two northern neighbours is a possibility as the decade the process sinking continues can be found 1000 kilometres south of three Vietnamese mainland China, in the Spratly Islands. The archipelago ships and killing 72 comprises about 600 small islands, reefs and cays sailors. scattered across the South China Sea. In themselves, All the claimants talk of a negotiated the coral specks have little value. But speculation that settlement to the question, while continuing China is remaking oil deposits off Vietnam's outh-east coastline may have to fortify their own fragments of the jigsaw their counterpart under the Spratlys means no potential puzzle. Asia has become the home of that the empire after a claimant to the area can afford to take chances. previously threa tened species, the arms race, The Philippines, Malaysia and Taiwan all assert with Asian nations spending $86 billion on period in which it sovereignty over some of the islands, with personnel on defence in 1990. Not only China, but Taiwan, a dozen of them, and Brunei's claim is solely to its Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philip­ has had a lzind of territorial waters. But China and Vietnam, with 30 is­ pines-and, of course, Australia-are land occupied between them, have more extensive beefing up ei ther naval or air power international aims. Vietnam bases its claim to the archipelago on the or both. fact that in the 1930s France linked the islands to its pariah status ... Indochinese colonies. And China's interest, oil or no INTHE SPRATL vs, some of the beach defences oil, reflects an unstated desire to become the regional arc of the cocktails on the terrace kind­ in the leadership superpower after the United States withdraws-Beijing Malaysia has opened a tourist resort on the there are notions of claims not only the islands but the entire sea, right up island of Layang Layang, and the Philippines to the coastal waters of Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei last year threatened to follow suit on one of grandeur ... they and Malaysia. its islands. As Von Clauscwitz might have 'China is remaking the empire after a period in said, war is simply a continuation of sunbath­ see themselves as which it has had a kind of international pariah status,' ing by other means. said a senior official in the Department of Foreign Affairs But, despite some posturing-last year the better than Japan and Trade. 'They're thinking about their role 50 years head of the Philippines armed forces threat­ on. China sees itself as the pre-eminent power in Asia ened to fight to defend his country's claim­ next century. in the next century ... in the leadership there are notions it is the dispute between China and Vietnam of grandeur ... they see themselves as better than Japan that counts. China is the only claimant capa­ - A u sTRALIAN FoREIGN next century.' ble of launching an invasion of the Spratlys, AFFAIRS OFFICIAL Whether or not the general analysis holds true, there and Vietnam is the only claimant capable of putting up can be no doubt that China is serious about the Sprat­ even a token defence. According to the Foreign Affairs lys. It has installed aircraft-refuelling facilities in the official quoted above, however, there are two non­ Paraccl Islands, an archipelago halfway between Hain- military factors putting pressure on China to refrain from

VoLUME 3 NuMIIER 1 • EUREKA STREET 19 T HE R EG ION

Row AN CALLICK force. T he first is a question of prestige. Would the country's role and standing be hurt by making too harsh a stand over what may end up being simply what they appear to be-specks in the sea? The second is more practical. South-East Asian capital is helping to fuel the economic boom in southern China- would aggression cut off that line of supply' Pit stops If that leverage were effective, a settlement could be reached whereby China maintained its assertion of Pacific island governments continue to sovereignty while in practice making compromises, along the lines of Australia's m uted claim to Antarcti­ see mining as an easy path to prosperity, ca. In the short term, however, China continues to press but in reality the road is not so smooth. its case. In February 1992 it passed a law claiming all the islands. Then in May it hired an American compa­ ny to explore for oil in an area between the Spratlys and the Vietnamese coast, an area Hanoi says is its own. In June, China 'invaded' an islet claimed by Vietnam and 0 N' OC THe >MAW th"' wiJ] hJut into 0 dich' in installed troops. If Beijing is not engaged in provocation, this Year of Indigenous Peoples is that of the subsist­ it is certainly attempting to strengthen its band at any ence fam1er or hunter stoutly barring 'multinational' negotiating table. mining corporations from land held by the clan for mil­ In a recognition of its weaker position, Vietnam lennia. The Coronation Hill episode is the great marker has accepted that other claimants may have a case and of such tensions in Australia, a land whose symbols and has suggested talks by all parties under the auspices of values have formerly owed much to its heroic mining ASEAN, the regional organisation to which three past. The Eureka rising was, among other things, a de­ claimants already belong. This has proved to be good mand for freedom to mine. diplomacy but poor geopolitics-China continues to The issues relating to mining in Australia's imme­ argue, from a position of strength, that it is only inter­ diate neighbourhood, the South Pacific, are no less ested in bilateral negotiations. complex or controversial. In the era of exploration the That is why there were plenty of smiles at the Hanoi excitements of ElDorado had led Westerners to expect summit-but on the Vietnamese side the grins were that the more remote the island, the more likely it was fixed. Li Peng was talking about peace, but on his terms. to contain precious metals. The Solomon Islands were Such a 'friendly' relationship can be precarious. As named, in 1567, for their expected gold, not for fresh Panama discovered with the US, and the Baltic states wisdom. Then, as the Australian and New Zealand gold with the former Soviet Union, when a big neighbour mshes petered out towards the end of the last century, gives you a hug, it can sometimes crack your ribs. • hopefuls and desperadoes made their way north, chiefly to Fiji, Papua New Guinea and, of course, the Solomons David Glanz is a freelance journalist. (so me have taken the same route since the 1987 stock market crash). In some cases, mining helped pay for services pro­ vided by colonial administrations that would otherwise Special offer have depended on copra plantations for local revenue. save $10 The great exception was phosphate, which derives mainly from decomposed marine organisms and is found on-indeed, comprises-coral islands, often merged with Catholics guano. Australia's wheat industry, and New Zealand's dairy industry, were built on the phosphate of Nauru in Australia and of Ocean Island (Banaba). New Caledonia's nickel was once judged to be a major reason for France's de­ by N amni Turner termination to hang on to that territory, and the devel­ opment of a copper mine on Bougainville was In this magnificent two-volume set, Naomi Turner fast-tracked to give PNG a substantial source of revenue, draws together a wealth of material that explores enabling Australia's comparatively rapid withdrawal the growth of the Catholic Church in Australia from its colony. through the eyes of lay people. Presented in a gold­ Today the impact of mining can no longer be hid­ blocked slip case, this work normally retails for $80. den. Banaba was eventually evacuated altogether and Special price for Eurel

20 EUREKA STREET • FcBRUAit Y I ')93 Western province, has attracted environmentalist crit­ ble when other needs are pressing. PNG's 20 per cent of Clearing land at icism; and Bougainville, one of the world's biggest pits, the Ok Tedi copper mine has only now, after 10 years, the 01< Tedi has been closed since mid-1989. slowly begun to reap dividends. mine. Western Yet the independent countries of the region are Fiji, under Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, wanted to get province. PNG. investing in mining and oil as never before. Despite into the act, too. Two years ago Mara, as military­ Photo: courtesy PNG's manifold other problems, the country's Prime installed Prime Minister, made a deal with his Malaysian of The Age. Minister, Paias Wingti, has developed something of an counterpart, Dr Mahathir-they share an antipathy to obsession with the industry. Fij i, too, is eager to follow Australia-to nationalise the wholesale supply of suit, and plans for Placer Pacific Ltd to develop a major petroleum, with a new, state-owned oil company copper mine at Namosi, in mountains west of Suva, are obtaining all it needed from Malaysia via Esso. The Fiji well advanced. government now concedes that the exercise was a fail­ Mining may be a headache, but it offers the theo­ ure, and has had to pay out $F4 million to Esso in retical opportunity to gain a rapid infusion of capital, to compensation and has lost a further $F3 million in other develop export income and to revive stagnating econo­ costs. The lesson is not so much that island govern­ mies. PNG, even since the Bougainville rebellion, has ments can't take on the multinationals-though that is organised investment roadshows around the world to a part of it-but that they have to work carefully through stimulate fresh interest in oil and minerals. The PNG their priorities: what services should such governments budget for 1993 anticipated raising 83 percent of export be providing for their peoples, and how are they to be income from mining and oil drilling (PNG became an provided most efficiently and fairly? oil producer in mid-1992, after 75 years of exploration). During the past 15 years government services in The wide-eyed theme of PNG's multimillion-kina stand PNG have been declining in rural areas, despite rapid at last year's World Expo in Seville was 'PNG: the El population growth. And one way to restore services has Dorado of the South Pacific'. Mining corporation con­ been to devolve responsibility for them-and in effect quistadores, however, might be forgiven for feeling to devolve authority also-to mining and oil companies. somewhat confused by the more recent statements of Mines Minister Iangalio has complained that the Porgera Wingti and his Minerals Minister, Masket Iangalio, who gold mine- the biggest in the world outside South Af­ have criticised each of the major miners in turn and rice-is 'heavily-fenced and guarded by dogs' and 'really announced their aim to buy bigger stakes in looks like South Africa'. The real apartheid in PNG, PNG's mines-or at least, in the successful however, is increasingly that between the wealthy ones. political elite and the rest of the population. Wingti and his Deputy Prime Minister, Julius Chan, :.EPUA NEw Gui NEA was the country in which the stress that they wish to foster a prosperous PNG bour­ resource rental tax was introduced by Professor Ross geoisie. Mining spinoffs appear the most likely route, Garnaut, who then brought it to Australia. It has become and landowners are in the best position to get there. a model applied by the UN for fair deals between min­ Under Rabbie Namaliu as Prime Minister, after the ers and developing countries. During the 19-year life of Bougainville rebellion began, PNG shifted rapidly from the Bougainville mine, for instance, 67 per cent of profits an ownership and royalties regime, which stressed the were thus retained in PNG; though diverting scarce role of the state in channelling resources returns fairly government funds into such speculative ventures as around the country, to a system based on negotiations mining may, by comparison, be considered irresponsi- among landowners, miners and governments. This has

VOLUME 3 NUMBER 1 • EUREKA STREET 21 R EPORT

greatly increased the rewards offered directly to the PAUL CLEARY landowners, but it also means that landowners in areas with no commercial prospects receive very little, and the state must forgo much of potential revenue. This development has seen mines become mini East India Excluded Companies, sovereign within their own leases, on which they provide schools, roads and clinics and keep order, even if they arc pilloried by the government which is middles their co-owner. It is difficult to sec how such a step can actually The recession is heralding a long-term lead to the sort of economic 'take-off' to which many in change in Australia's workforce. the South Pacific still aspire. Given that Australia's top mining companies arc widely regarded as among the most efficient operators in their field, given the loca­ tion of the island countries, and given the accelerating L ,'CAws' m ccoNoM •cs h•ve pwved to be emb"­ appetite of East Asia for resources, a trading pattern has rassingly unreliable of late, but one at least has been developed that can keep income circulating-and reaffirmed: that a trend is accelerated when the econo­ economic dependency growing-within the Asia-Pacific my goes into recession. That is exactly what has been region. Mining provides few jobs, and it remains to be happening in income distribution and the structure of demonstrated whether any of the island countries, from the workforce. Income distribution became more une­ Nauru to PNG, can transform their resources income qual through the 1980s, and this was driven by the into sustainable development. decline of middle-income jobs and the growth of low­ The question of land ownership and control is the paid and part-time work. key. Indeed, this is what identifies indigenous peoples. The widening gulf between upper and lower income Perhaps the least fashionable proposition that can be groups during the 1980s is documented in a paper pub­ made in this special year is that which Bougainvillean lished last year by Professor Bob Gregory, of the Bishop Gregory Singkai suggested to me after the rebel­ Australi an National University. Gregory's paper shows lion had begun: that people should examine the possi­ that one in four male middle-income jobs has disap­ bility of commercially trading their land. For the fact is peared since the mid-1970s, effectively becoming a low­ that 'subsistence affluence' is no longer an attractive paid job, and this trend has shaped the dispersion of living option, or indeed an option at all, for many islanders. standards. In the 15 years to 1990 (see graph), 70 per Rapid population growth and the concomitant pollu­ cent of the 1.4 million new jobs created were in the tion, and aspirations of Bougainvilleans for wider bottom 20 per cent of the wage distribution. Only opportunities, including improved education, encour­ 150,000 were in the middle SO per cent but 240,000 were aged the bishop to ponder the indigenous heresy of created in the top five per cent. selling land as freehold. But such an option remains Gregory's paper, 'Aspects of Australian Labour remote. Indeed, every miner expects the children of the Force Living Standards: the Disappointing Decades', landowners with whom an agreement is struck to rctum charts the disappearance of traditional 'male breadwin­ 15 years on, to demand a fresh settlement. ner' jobs. Relative to the population growth, the number Island cultures have proved remarkably resilient in of such jobs in the middle 60 per cent of the wage distri­ the face of change, eschewing not only the role, but also bution has declined by 25 per cent during the 15-year the appearance, of victims. Like other indigenous period, and the bottom 20 per cent has grown by 15 per peoples, Pacific islanders are aware of the extent to which cent. In other words, nearly all the job growth since the their cultures have always been evolving, and mid-1970s for males has been in low-paid jobs. materialistic. And now mining offers, for some of them, The job losses for male middle-income workers, a chance to acquire new possessions at the pace they says Gregory, arc on a scale that 'has never before oc­ W

22 EUREKA STREET • F EJII

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include marriage. famil y. child and gri ef For furthL'r infornntion counse lling; child and youth surron : rka ..... cwrite to: rre-marriage programs: adortion and HL'p ly Paid :\o.). rregnancy counselling se rvices.

CHholic Famil y \\h·ILtn.: Bun.:au. If you are nuking or urdating your will

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Tel: (05> ()62 2055 Fa x: <05l 61>2 195·1 heir. if you will. Three years hard Andrew Hamilton chronicles Australia's dealings with the Cambodian boat people _j

He assembled those who pleased him both may order their release'. The history of from far and near, ond made himself the the boat people and their reception in tribunal. I was summoned by the same Cyril, Australia merits sustained reflection. who assembled the council, by Cyril who Painful experience of life in Cam­ presided. Who wos iudge! Cyril! Who was bodia had made them flee. Most had accuser! Cyril' Who was bishop of Ramel suffered the dismption and horror of the Cy6l1 Cyril was everything. years under Pol Pot, but had also found - N ESTORIUS, ON CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA'S PART oppressive their life under the Hun Sen 1 THE CouNCIL OF EPHESUS, AD431 government. The intense fighting be- tween the Cambodian factions, the --.lllliiiiiii~~~~;-~- 14 practtce. o f conscnptmg . . even -year- II' , ::;.:---iJLlioit;)~ 0 N 2H Ono'"" !989 '

24 EUREKA STREET • fEBRUARY 1993 been around the world.' Thus it was claimed that the Cambodians were not refugees but economic immigrants and queue­ jumpers. In fact there was no queue they could have joined, for there was no orderly departure program from Cambodia and therefore no process by which they could emi­ grate to Australia. In the same ar­ ticle The Australian also reported that government officials would visit Cambodia to seek to arrange the orderly return from Australia of Cambodian displaced people and the boat people. Later that month Chinese students, who af­ ter the 1989 Tienanmen Square massacre had been promised that they would not be returned to China against their will, were of- fered temporary residence in Aus­ tralia for four years. The anxiety that they might be removed from Australia at the end of that time led most later to apply for I' refugee status.

B v THE TIME the Cambodians from the Pender Bay were first re­ jected, they had still received no legal assistance. Members of the Khmer community in Australia, disquieted by the effect of the sev­ en months of detention on people so vulnerable, and distrustful of prerers. The officers who filled in the forms did not in­ the assessment process, made contact with the NSW form the asylum seekers of their right to legal assist­ Legal Aid Commission. This initiative followed the ance. On 13 December 1989, the same officials access to lawyers that had been gained by other groups interviewed the Cambodians about the material in their of Cambodian refugees in Darwin and Melbourne, applications, and promised confidentiality. But on 6 June through the Jesuit Refugee Service. 1992 a report containing this confidential material, with In Darwin, where 79 Cambodians were detained in attribution to a senior official, appeared in the Sydney June, some lawyers had volunteered to work with the Morning Herald. Cambodians through the Darwin Support Group for On 21 December 1989 the asylum seekers were Cambodians. They were not funded for the work, and flown to the Villawood Centre in Sydney. They were had to work in their spare time. In Melbourne the Refu­ next interviewed by officials of the Department late in gee Advice and Casework Service was permitted in July April 1990, and on 19 June the DORS (Determination to review eight Cambodian cases that had already been of Refugee Status) committee rejected their claim for processed, and found that the interviews that its lawyers refugee status (see box). That refusal, however, was not conducted varied in substantial ways from those ob­ communicated to the asylum-seekers. In the mean­ tained by the department. This result was inevitable time, the Cambodians had been brought into public given the reliance of both groups of interviewers on discussion in ways that appeared to prejudge their case, interpreters, and the asylum seekers' natural fears. and to affect their subsequent treatment. On 7 June 1990 Aiter the request by the NSW Legal Aid Commis­ The Australian reportedthe then Prime Minister, Bob sion, the Immigration Minister permitted its lawyers Hawke, as saying: 'These people are not political refugees to review the cases, whereupon they sought leave to ... We have an orderly dcpa~ure program. We're not going make further statements. So it was in September, al­ to allow people just to jump that queue by saying we'll most a year after their arrival, that the Cambodians of jump into a boat, here we are, bugger the people who've Continued p2 7

V o LUME 3 N u MBER 1 • EUREKA STREET 25 Legal labyrinth

T,ADM""""

26 EUREKA STREET • F EllRUAR y 1993 From p25 The Cambodians' lawyers were informed only one the Pender Bay finally received their first visit from hour before the move, with no provision to see their lawyers. The interviews both in Melbourne and Syd­ clients. The reasons given for this move was that their ney, however, proceeded slowly because of the shortage cases had been now heard, that the accommodation at of lawyers and interpreter and because the department Villawood was needed for other purposes, and that after did not fund even a single lawyer for the work until one this primary rejection it was proper to detain the asy­ year later. As a result, the lawyers had to work with the lum seekers in a place with greater security. It was the refugees in their free time. first of many moves for the Cambodian detainees. In In Sydney, moreover, the department had not in­ August, after some instances of asylum seekers leaving formed the lawyers that their clients' cases had already the hostel without permission, the Cambodians in been considered by the DORS committee. It was not Melbourne were sent to Villawood, which had now until Febmary 1991 that they were able to seek from apparently become a secure place of detention. the department the documentation relevant to their The move followed limited consultation, as a re­ cases. Some of this documentation turned out sult of which the department agreed to fund access in to have been lost . By this time the Cambodians' first year in cap­ tivity had ended.

'IESECO 10 YEAR THAT the Cambodians spent in detention was characterised by ~------::-:-----:--:""'=--:;;:-:-~=~~0"'7'~.------­ further delays in assessing their cases, and by abmpt interruptions to their lives and cases caused by movem ent fro m place to place. The concern of community groups about their treatment and prospects was handled by assurances that all was being done in a proper way, and that the minister would not exclude the possibility of amendment to the regulations to allow those already in Australia to apply for continued stay on humanitarian grounds. In 1991 new procedures for determin­ ing refugee status came into force (see box). The applications had to be reassessed by a case officer, and at the end of April the asy­ lum seekers' lawyers were allowed two weeks to reply to these assessments. On 15 May 1991 the applications for refugee sta­ tus were rejected by the m inister's delegate. The delegate was the same officer who had interviewed the applicants and written out their applications. The Cambodians at Vil­ lawood were not informed till 20 May that their applications had been rejected, and the manner of communication was brutal. The Cambodians were summoned without warn­ ydney to the legal advisers of the asylum seekers. The ing to a m eeting and surrounded by a dozen or so immi­ Cambodians had been despatched abmptly before dawn, gra tion officials wearing handcuffs in their belts. They with monitoring and without the use of force, but with­ were told through an interpreter that their claims for out being given prior warning. One of their lawyers had refugee status had been rejected, that they had 28 days been informed the afternoon before, but had no oppor­ in which to appeal, and that they would be sent to tunity to see her clients. Those who protested that the Darwin. They were also given a letter of rejection in procedures followed in Sydney were traumatic and de­ English, which was not translated. As a result of this stmctive for people whose lives in Cambodia had been communication all believed they were to be returned plagued by brutal governmental intervention, were to Cambodia. They were given a quarter of an hour to informed that these were normal procedures pack a few of their belongings, were denied permission for moving people held in detention! to speak to the other detainees or to make phone calls, and were then forced onto the bus that took them to W HEN T H E ASYLUM SEEKERS from the Pender Bay the airport. arrived in Da1win on 20 May, however, they were housed

V OLUME 3 N UMI\ER 1 • EUREKA STREET 27 in tents at Curragundi, which was later described in a the Australian Council of Churches. Each body, in its draft report by the Human Rights Commission as prim­ report after these visits, strongly criticised the site. Al­ itive and totally unsuitable accommodation for asylum though the physical environment, administration, food seekers. On 6 August they were moved to Berrimah, in and primary education were generally judged to be ade­ accommodation once used by a youth hostel, where they quate, the reports noted that the asylum seekers were joined Cambodian asylum seekers from another boat. not permitted to leave the camp, even to walk along the In Darwin, despite the dismptions caused by their re­ adjacent beach; that-in contrast even to the punitive moval from access to the lawyers in Sydney, the legal camps in Thailand- the asylum seekers received no processes continued. vocational training; that the department had employed On 13 August the regulations for seeking refugee no interpreters apart from those working with the law­ status from within Australia were changed to put a time yers; that the camp offered almost no access to the local limit of 28 days for making application. A week later community; and that, in their isolation the Cambodians additional funds and staff were made available for were further separated from relatives and friends in processing claims. The Cambodians were aided by Australia, both by distance and by the cost of phone lawyers from the Northern Territory Legal Aid Com­ calls. The lack of adequate counselling, recreation and mission. But the processes continued to suffer from delays. Although the Legal Aid Commission had been assured that the review committee would begin hearing the Pender Bay applications in july, no meet­ ings were held till the end of the year.

M EANWHILE THE IMMIGRATION DEPARTMENT and some others had been considering sending all 'prohibited non­ entrants' to Port Hedland in WA. Spokesmen claimed that the site offered greater security, would provide a single location for processing all applicants, was in the region where most boat people would land, and­ surprisingly, given its isolation- would be less costly to run. Critics of the move also noted that Port Hedland was isolated from media attention, was close to an international airport, and would make the asylum seekers' access to experienced legal assistance more difficult. In August the department entered into negotiations with the Refugee Council of Australia to provide legal opportunities for cultural experience were also criticised. aid for the asylum seekers who would go to Port Hed­ The report of the Human Rights Commissioner also land, but then abmptly broke off negotiations on the questioned whether detention and the conditions under grounds that these services needed to be put out for which the asylum seekers were housed were consistent tender. Subsequently, however, the Refugee Council with Australia's obligations under the human rights received a letter dated 20 September, in which it was conventions tO which it was a signatory. By the time asked to submit a proposal to process some 85 people. these visits took place, the asylum seekers had The submission was to be made by 27 September and completed the second year of their Austral­ the advisers had to be ready to begin work on 1 October. ian captivity. When these conditions understandably failed to arouse interest, the department resumed negotiations with the ElR THE CAMBODlANS, the third year of their detention council. Again the process was delayed and the refugees' has been dominated by the final rejection of their appli­ detention prolonged by a further month. cations for refugee status. For the Australian communi­ In October 1991 all the Cambodian asylum seek­ ty, 1992 has been a year of controversy about legal ers, with the exception of those from one boat whore­ process and special legislation. It began with the denial mained in Yillawood, were sent to Port Hedland. For of refugee status to the people of the Pender Ba y on 5 the Cambodians, this was yet another traumatic move December 1991. The Cambodians themselves, howev­ to an isolated place. By now they had been imprisoned er, did not hear of this rejection until late in January, in Australia for almost two years, and their fears grew and then only through the Northern Territory Legal Aid that they would soon be deported to Cambodia. At a Commission. The latter, although removed from its time when they most needed their legal advisers, they clients by the move to Port Hedland, was informed of were once again separated from them. the rejection in a letter dated 22 january 1992. A week Early in 1992 the Human Rights Commissioner later the commission replied by letter to the Refugee visited the Port Hedland facilities, as at other times did Status Review Committee, asking it to reconsider its representatives of the Refugee Council of Australia and decision and to allow a reasonable time for the asylum

28 EUREKA STREET • FrBRUAitY I 993 seekers to obtain legal counsel. The Refugee Council was for the name of the lawyer who had helped them to ob­ then contracted to provide legal advice to all the de­ tain the injunction, and then asked him to sign a piece tainees at Port Hedland, and its lawyers began interviews of paper with a few typed lines on it. It was neither read on 4 February. Despite the inadequate conditions for nor translated. He refused, as did the second, and when working with clients and processing their claims, the one of them informed the lawyers, the interviews ceased. lawyers managed to complete their work by 3 March, After a complaint was made, the minister explained and sent the responses to the minister's delegate. This that the officer had approached two persons to provide delegate was also a member of the Refugee Status Review confirmation in writing of information which had been Committee, and so had recommended to himself that given ora ll y earlier in the day. The detainees stated to a the refugee status be refused. lawyer that they had provided no information earlier On Sunday, 5 April the director of the Refugee that clay . On 13 April the minister ordered that the del­ Council and the lawyers in Port Hedland were told that egate's decisions be withdrawn and the final stages of the final decisions of the minister's delegate would be the decision-making process be carried out again, be­ handed down the following morning. The lawyers were cause a defect had been discovered in the procedure. The asked to attend a briefing on 6 April at which it was next day the court case did not proceed, and the minis- ter agreed to pay costs. Neither the detainees nor the lawyers were told what the defect was.

I N TH E LI C HT O F T H E history that I have recounted, one cannot but wonder what, in the eyes of the depart­ ment, would count as defective, and whether it would have been no­ ticed without the appeal to the courts. When the detain­ ees abandoned their proceedings in Darwin, confirmed that the applications had been refused and counsel for the minister agreed that in order to expedite that preparations were being made to deport the de­ the process, an updated file on Cambodia would be made tainees. Later the same day, the detainees were handed available to the detainees' lawyers within two weeks, their letters of rejection. with the latter to reply equally expeditiously. The ma­ Although the department refused to give adequate terial was not provided until12 weeks later, on I2 July. notice of the intention to remove them, the detainees, The detainees, however, wished to continue the Feder­ through the lawyers of the Northern Territory Legal Aid al Court proceedings to seek release from detention. The Commission, obtained an injunction in the Federal grounds for this appeal were that the mistake that con­ Court in Darwin to prevent the decisions being imple­ tinued their detention had been made by the govern­ mented. This was followed on 7 April by proceedings in ment, that community groups of good standing had the same court seeking review of the delegate's deci­ asked that they be released into the community under sions, and an extension of the injunction for another their guarantee, and that three of their number who had week. These proceedings were initiated on behalf of the landed in Australia before the boat was apprehended had 15 applicants from the Pender Bay . At the same time in fact been wrongfully detained. The St Vincent de Paul similar proceedings were initiated in Sydney on behalf Society had previously offered to support all these de­ of I 1 Cambodians from another boat who had also been tainees. The case was to be heard in Melbourne on 7 rejected. May. Then a bizarre episode occurred, which is perhaps Two clays before, however, the Migration Amend­ a cameo of the Cambodians' experience in Australia. ment Act had been introduced into Federal Parliament. Four of the detainees, one of whom had been suffering It was passed with the support of both major parties and from psychological problems, were called separately to the Governor-General signed it the next clay. The act a meeting with immigration official . Their lawyers wa directed especially again t the boat people. It struck who were present in the same building were not in­ out grounds for their appeal by grouping together as formed, and the four detainees were not permitted to 'designated persons' all boat people who had arrived in speak to one another. The officials asked the first of them Australia between November 1989 and the end of 1992,

V OLUME 3 N UMBER 1 • EUREKA STREET 29 whether they had been apprehended before or after they death on Australian soil. In November new amendments landed. Furthermore, even if the courts were to order to the Migration Act, including procedures of refugee the release of 'de ignated persons', the act give the determination, were introduced into Federal Parliament. department the power to detain them immediately Early in December 60 Cambodians received notice that aft erwards. The act thus retrospectively deprived the their claim for refugee status had been rejected, and again detainees of any possible effect their appeal won an injunction against deportation until the rejec­ may have had. ti ons had been chall enged in the Federal Court. On 8 December the High Court handed down its D ESI'ITE ITS SUI'I'ORT by both major parties, this decision on the amendments to the act that been intro­ legislation was controversial and on 6 and 7 August the duced in May. The court upheld the legality of the de­ High Court heard a challenge to it. In next month's tention of the boat people after 5 May but declared that Eurelw Street I shal l consider the issues raised by this they had been unlawfully detained prior to that date; it legislation, fo r they illustrate the character of Austral­ stated that the minister and officials of the department ian immigration policy towards onshore asylum seek­ were liable for that detention. ers. Here I shall merely summarise the arguments made Proceedings were immediately introduced to claim by both sides. compensation on behalf of some of the asylum seekers. The legislation was strongly criticised on the But on I6 December legislation was passed in the House grounds that it contravened Australia 's commitments of Representatives that effectively restricted the amount under human rights covenants, that it at least indirectly of compensation which any court could pay the a ylum involved racia l di scrimination, and that it retrospectively seekers to one dollar per day. Earlier the sam e day it had restri cted effective access to the courts. But the minis­ been revealed that a parliam entary committee had ter, and many other politicians and commentators, authorised the payment of $65,000 to the supported and defended the legislation aggressively. Speaker after he had fallen from a bicycle. They argued that Australia had to send to the nations of our region a firm signal that people who arrived by boa t M EANWHILE, ON 24 AucusT 1992 the first Cambo­ could not expect to be released into the Australian dian asylum seeker had celebrated their thousandth day community. According to this argument, the need for of their Australian ca ptivity. The cost to the Australi an the signal was created by the involvement of lawyers taxpayer of keeping them in unproductive detention is and the courts in Australia's refugee determination. conservatively estimated at $30 million dollars. But the The part played by lawyers was said to be particu­ human cost to the Cambodians has been beyond calcu­ larly reprehensible, because they had found employment lation. There is abundant psychological evidence drawn and profit by delaying the assessment process in tolera­ from the refugee camps of other nations about the ef­ bly, and in doing so had fostered the impression that fects of detention, particularly unmerited detention, on patient asylum seekers would eventually be all owed human beings. It causes depression, diminishment and residence in Australia. Proponents of th e legislation also a despair leading easil y to suicide. Those who worked foun d fau lt wi th community, church and ethnic groups closely with the Cambodian boat people in Australia for the pressure that they had tried to bring to bear on have been able to confirm the accuracy of these the government. findings. • It was further argued that if Australia did not send a firm signal to its neighbours, it would risk being over­ run by a flood of asylum seekers who would be an intolerable drain on the Australian taxpayer. Finally, some claim ed that to accept the Cambodians' claim fo r refugee status would contradi ct the premises on which the peace process with in Cambodia was ba sed. Support for the peace plan meant that it was in the interests of Next month Australian foreign policy to minimize rather than exaggerate the dangers of life in contemporary Cambo­ dia, and so argued against the acceptance of the boat The issues raised by the people as refugees. Combodian experience. By October there were reports of attempted suicides and of forced fee ding in Villawood and at Port Hedland, and renewed public cri ti cism by the minister of the lawyers and agencies representing the asylum-seekers' interests. On 30 October the Auburn District Hospital, to which three of the detainee had been taken after a Andrew Hamilton SJ teaches at the United Faculty of periodic hunger strike, was decla red an anncxe of the Theology, Parkvi lle. He has been working with the jesuit Vil lawood Detent io n Centre. This measure ena­ Refugee Sevrvice si nce 1983 and ha been chaplain to blcdthem to be fed forc ibl y to prevent their premature the Cambodian community in Melbourne.

30 EUREKA STREET • fcBR U/\ 1\ Y 1YY3 Nytnph can't haclz it as a tnuse

A ""oc JAPA ESE TOU, STS, cameu-hung and that's not the point. People, most people, still pay to see guidebook-clutching, trundle into the bar. Before they nostalgia. Why, saying that no one would want to see can ask the obvious question, three deaf women sitting Chloe: The Movie is like saying that no one would want near the door decide to answer it for them. The women to see another fi lm about Ned Kelly.' interrupt their sign-language conversation, and three This time I raise an eyebrow. My gesture must be right hands that a second ago were saying something effective, too, because he leaves poor dead N ed alone like 'You wouldn't believe what he did next' are sud­ and gets back to Chloe. 'You write it, I'll sell it and we'll denly thrust towards the ceiling, index fingers upper­ both be rich. You can have her working behind the bar most. here at Young & Jackson's, during the opening of the The Japanese gaze solemnly at this weird Austral­ Great Exhibition by Lord Melbourne ... ' ian kabuki, unsure whether they- are being invited to 'Lord Melbourne was dead when the Exhibition photograph it. Then understanding dawns: Chloe is not opened. And he never visited Australia. More impor­ here in the saloon but upstairs in the bistro. The Japanese tantly, neither did Marie.' trundle out of the bar and climb the stairs in search of 'Marie?' Jules Lefebvre's painting, no doubt wondering all the 'The model for Chloe.' while what is supposed to be so special about it. 'Oh.' He drops the name of a columnist for the They shouldn't, of course, because there isn't any­ primly Presbyterian broadsheet, who supposedly main­ thing special about it. At least, not as a painting. Chloe tains that Marie died in an upstairs room at Young & is an unexceptional late 19th century nude who could Jackson's. Of a broken heart, of course. only have become notorious in primly Presbyteri an 19th 'When he's prepared to write that story I'll take it century Melbourne. Her notoriety was not a matter of seriously.' how the artist formed her, but of how she was received He w aves a hand dism issively. 'You can work by a bar full of sweating males intent on drinking as around the details. We'll have Banjo Patterson spending much as possible before six o'clock. up big in the saloon, Henry Lawson drinking Penny Black But now the drinkers include females intent on in the front bar .. . ' helping tourists in sign language, and Chloe herself has 'I think Lawson was more interested in shepherds been consigned upstairs, surrounded by more tourists than in nymphs.' who would probably rather look at the nudes in the 'Er, quite. Anyway, you can have Tom Roberts and glossy magazines on sale at the news-stand outside the Arthur Streeton upstairs beating on her door. She, of pub. course, will be played by Sigrid Thornton because Sigrid's Which is not to say, as my drinking companion is in all those historical dramas. insistently telling m e, that she isn't still worth a buck. 'But she always wears a lace dress and hides behind 'Well, maybe to the pub,' I concede. There's all those at least one wagon wheel. Chloe, in case you haven't tourists. But I can't imagine that they stay longer than noticed, isn't fa mous for what she wears.' one drink. Still less that they come back. ' 'We can workshop that with Sigrid. Anyway, Chloe/ Hi face contorts into something approaching an Sigrid, poor girl, will have a tempestuous affair with each Arthur Daley leer. He has been practising it for at least of these selfish bohemians and end up com mitting as long as I have known him- we once worked together suicide because she has been used and abused by them.' on Melbourne's primly Presbyterian m orning broad­ He drains his glass and places it on the bar with a flo urish. sheet- but has still not got it quite right. But I know 'N ow what do you think of that scenario?' what's com ing next. He will not actually ay 'Have I 'It stinks. And it's your buy.' got a great job for you' bu t that will be the gist of it. He orders two pots and sulks. The street door swings And it is. 'What do you think of this fo r a title? open and in marches another file of camera-wearers and Chloe: The Movie.' gu idebook-clutchers. T he would-be producer, t he 'Unwatchable. As unwatchable as Phar Lap: The reluctant writer, the three deaf women and the barmaid M ovie or Brodman: The Movie. As stupefyingly all rise and point towards the ceiling, repeating the ri tual unwatchable as Menzies: The Movie or even Colwell: of half an hour ago. The Movie. People are tired of that nostalgia stuff. He watches the Japanese leave and fashi ons his face Frankl y, I think you 'vegot only marginally more chance into an even worse imitation of Arthur Daley. 'Have I of selling Chloe: The Movie than you would have of ever mentioned my idea for a great little karaoke bar selling Sn edden: The Movie.' called Cafe Sumo?' He raises an eyebrow. This gesture is more con­ 'N o, but I think you're going to.' • vincing than his Arthur Daley leer. 'You maybe tired of it. Indeed, to be perfec tly honest I am tired of it. But Ray Cassin is productio n editor of Eureka Street.

V OLUME 3 N UMI\ER l • EUREKA STREET 31 In the Marianist tradition ...

THEOLOGY AND PASTORAL MINISTRY The University of Dayton

• Graduate Courses

August to December 1993 January to April 1994

Pastoral Counseling Leadership in Parish Ministry

Prophets Ecclesiology

Symbol and Myth Pauline Corpus

Faith Development Contemporary Moral Problems

Christian Discipleship Christian Doctrine/Early Church

God & Human Existence Contemporary Theologians

Marian Courses Marian Courses

For information contact: (513) 229-4321

Thomas M. Martin, PhD Director of Graduate Programs Department of Religious Studies University of Dayton Dayton, OH 45469-1480 USA OBITUARY

'WMAm Goo ouno be • b.,u,d; Jansenist attitudes to conviviality and Monsignor John F. Kelly used to say. Not sex. John F. tackled this problem at its publicly, of course, for he was a man of source. Patrick Crudden, his successor as decorum. And, although he produced the Director of Catholic Education, writes new Christocentric catechism that eradi­ that he was especially concerned that cated the punitive tone of its forerunners, 'nuns, who were responsible for so much it is significant that he used 'we', not 'they'; of religious education, were mainly un­ cherishing as well as superseding tradi­ educated for their task and overeducated tions, he took his share of responsibility in pious practices and puritanical moral­ for the past as well as the future, much as ity. One consequence was that nuns of one has to do for the Fall. He had a fund of good will were creating havoc in young waspish mots-too many, probably. Most lives, especially of young women going were original but there were also those into marriage. John F.'s greatest achieve­ relished from his methodically wide read­ ment was to tum all this around by pro­ ing. One he was fond of came from the viding the nuns with new insight into Marum column in the Catholic Worl< er: 'If scripture, theology, morality and the the Americans had dropped contraceptives instead of nature of their mission in the church.' However, says atomic bombs on Japan, the protests of the bishops Crudden, he was not a typical director of education. He would have been deafening.' It is hardly surprising that 'had no defined philosophy of education yet he stood far 'John F.' was not raised to the episcopacy, in spite of his above his contemporaries ... At all times his work was pastoral gifts. pervaded by a highly developed sense of justice. He John F. was born in Mansfield, Victoria, in 1910. fought a long, hard battle to obtain a fair wage for teach­ His father, Edward (rather than Ned), was a farmer and ers. He invariably became angered at any sign that people publican, his family typical of those that produced the in religion infringed the rights of others.' [Communique, first cohorts of priests trained at Corpus Christi Col­ the Deepdene parish magazine, 11 July 1985] lege. He passed the Leaving Certificate at Seymour But John F. was a complex man: both a prayerful Convent and from there went to become dux of St reader of the mystics and a scathing, at times even scur­ Patrick's, Ballarat, in 1927. Archbishop Mam1ix ordained rilous, gossip. He was particularly witty about him in 1935. In 1940 he joined the Catholic Education authoritarian bishops who imagined that they had Office and became its director in 1955, when schools received political wisdom with the pallium. He resent­ were bursting from the postwar baby boom and immi­ ed the Movement deeply, and the banning of the Cath­ gration. He became diocesan censor in 1959 but was olic Worker because it insisted on the right of Catholics not made a domestic prelate until Archbishop Simonds to vote for any political party other than the Commu­ insisted on the honour in 1966. From 1968 until his nists. Although he was himself basically apolitical, he retirement he was parish priest at Deepdene where, had a profound knowledge of Australian Catholic perhaps to the surprise of some contemporaries, who history, and I am indebted to him for his encouragement feared his irascibility and his tongue, he was revered by (and criticism) in the writing of a more realistic than his curates and his parishioners. In 1973 he was asked usual appraisal of Archbishop Mannix for the Australian to establish the National Pastoral Institute. He died with Dictionary of Biography. A devotee of Jane Austen and full faculties on New Year's Eve. Henry James, he also kept up with Graham Greene, and John F. was respected not just for his humanity and just before his death was reading Boswell and David erudition but for his prescience. In his panegyric Bishop Marr's Patricl< White. J.P. O'Connell recalled accompanying him on a Europe­ John F. was not without faults. He was prickly as an tour, to prepare for the writing of his two catechisms. well as gregarious. Crudden tells how he wriggled on It was far from one-way learning: the experts at the Lu­ chairs till they broke because someone was talking too men Vitae Institute in Brussels thanked John F. for loudly or too unwisely across the room. These were teaching them so much. The sort of jibes later made small matters to the many friends to whom he left a about the Australian bishops at Vatican II would have small gesture of hospitality in his will: 'It is my wish been misplaced: John F. certainly had heard of the 16th that my trustees provide a final repast for all those who century Reformation, and much beyond. Inspired by have assisted me in so many ways over the years, at theologians like Henri de Lubac and Karl Adam, he had which any malt whiskey or other liquid of redeeming quite early shaken off the combative post-Suarezian qualities is to be savoured.' Unfortunately the guests theology of Corpus Christi. In the '30s he was an avid will miss his bright conversation. • reader of Canon Cardijn and Jocist literature, and helped to guide the Young Christian Worker movement. James Griffin would like to thank three of Mons. Kelly's He gave a great deal of time to YCW pre-Cana con­ friends for supplying reminiscence :Michael Costigan, ferences, preparing people for marriage. He detested Val Noone and, especially, Patrick Crudden.

V oLUM E 3 NuMBER 1 • EUREKA STREET 33 BooKs

BRIAN TOOHEY

In good company again•

Maynard Keynes: An Economist's Biog­ raphy, D. E. M oggridgc, Rout ledge , London, 1992. 1\BN 0 4 1'i OS 14 1 X IUU' SS9.9S John Maynard Keyne~ : The Economist as Saviour, 1 920-19~7 , Robert Sktdd ­ ~ky , Macmillan, Lo ndon, I 992.1\B 0333 37 JJX 0 RRI' $ 4 9.9')

Polymaths make the best maths: Keynes with T ,, ~o wo« hm ' lm mm' remedy fo r the unfortunate collisions introduction of 'timed' local phone George Bernard Shaw. going for them than the fac t that their which are occurring'. The hegemony call s. Cambridge 1936. publication comes at a time when of the 'Euclidean geometers', howev­ A product of Cambridge at the politicians around the globe--our own er, is coming under attack fro m with­ turn of the century, a seri ous student John Hewson included- arc once more in the profession and from members of classics, mathematics and philoso­ taking Keynes' remedies for unem­ of a wider public increasingly uncon­ phy with a side interest in such medi ­ ployment seri ously. The great strength vinced of the merits of making the eval figures as Abelard and Heloise, of both biographies lies at a more leap of faith required to embrace neo­ Keynes was a diffe rent sort of econo­ funda mental level of re minding us classical economics. Fortunately, gi v­ mist. Although as fluent in contem­ that Keynes unashamedly regarded en this context, both books are by porary economic techniques as any of economics as one of the moral sc ienc­ professional economists with a rare today's breed, he never lost his love of es. His central message was that hu­ feel for the history of ideas. English literature, thea tre, and art. A man behaviour could not be modelled Skidelsky's 700 page effort is the member of the Bloomsbury set, he on the same principles as classical second of a three volume biography. disappointed many of its members by physics or understood by a priori rea­ Moggridge, who edited over 30 vol­ marrying an 'outsider', a member of soning in which people are reduced to umes of Keynes' papers, manages to the Diaghilev dance company, Lydia mathematical objects. wrap up his subject in a single 900 Lopokova. He juggled jobs in Cam­ Despite the renewed political page volume. Although long, neither bridge, Whitehall, and the City of interest in his work, the neo- classical book should intimidate those not London, at the same time as keeping approach rejected by Keynes in the readily absorbed by the intricacies of up a for mida ble scholarl y 1930s is once again dominant in aca­ economic debate. Both authors ca ter and journalistic output. demic journal articles written, as he fo r the general reader by recognising put it, by theorists resembling 'Eucli­ that Keynes is rich mea t for a bi ogra­ D ESPIT E SOME PRE SE T - DAY dea n geometers in a non-Euclidean pher writing in an era when many columnists' dismissal of Keynes as a world who, on discovering that in economists would regard their life 's left wing 'planner', Skidelsky's su b­ experi ence straight lines apparently work complete if only the loqua­ title is actually a reference to his sub­ parallel oft en m eet, rebuke the lines cious, the lonely, or the indige nt were ject's role as a 'sa viour' of capitali sm fo r not keeping stra ight as the only taught the value of a dollar by the who stro ngly opposed both Stalin's

34 EUREKA STREET • fEBRUARY 1993 Russia and Hitler's Germany. As Key­ ited the sort of regularity required by exceptional. But his warnings have nes saw it, 'It is certain the world will standard probability theory. In a crit­ been ridiculed by present-day econo­ not much longer tolerate the unem­ icism that can be seen as a precursor to mists of the rational expectations ployment that, apart from brief inter­ some of the tenets of modem chaos school who have been so influential in vals of excitement, is associated-and theory, Keynes considered probabili­ inculcating the view that governments in my opinion inevitably associated­ ty techniques as really only applicable should do nothing to help those who with present day capitalistic individ­ to data that meet the strict conditions are unemployed. The equilibrium ualism. But it may be possible by right of games of chance, in which particu­ models built by this school remove analysis to cure the disease while pre­ lar events do not alter likely outcomes. uncertainty from human behaviour serving efficiency and freedom.' Else­ For Keynes, as for the chaos theorist, by the simple expedient of assuming where, he spoke of the need to marry small changes can produce large ef­ that we can have perfect knowledge of efficiency with morality, but he was fects. For the neoclassical economist, the future. Accordingly, all human talking from the viewpoint of a Cam­ faithfully mimicking steady state expectations should, on average, be bridge patrician rather than a reform­ physics, small changes only produce rational. Unemployment then ist in the mould of a British Labour small disturbances before the becomes a voluntary choice, or, at Party 'planner'. equilibrium path is again best, the product of an infonnation Nevertheless, he was an ambiva­ restored. breakdown. lent 'saviour' who was never com­ In a further twist, the rational ex­ pletely comfortable with capitalism's A CCORD ING TO KEYNE S: 'The pectations school has promoted the 'love of money' or the way it destroyed atomic hypothesis that has worked so Policy Ineffectiveness Proposition, the 'beauty of the countryside because splendidly in physics breaks down [in which claims that government actions the unappropriated splendours of na­ economics]. We are faced at every turn can only have adverse effects on the ture have no economic value'. This with problems of organic unity, of economy. If policy succeeds, it can distaste, however, did not deter him discreteness, of discontinuity- the only be because people make errors from making a lot of money for King's whole is not equal to the sum of the about the consequences of govern­ College as well as for himself and for parts, comparisons of quantity fail us, ment policy. pet projects such as a new theatre at small changes produce large effects, The rational expectations school Cambridge. the assumptions· of a uniform and scoffs at Keynes' explanation that the Amid all this he found time to homogenous continuum are not satis­ 1930s depression was a result of a lack write several biographical sketches, fied ... The fact that our knowledge of of effective demand that could be alle­ including one on Newton, whom he the future is fluctuating, vague and viated by government spending. In­ admired as possessing the unrivalled uncertain, renders wealth a peculiarly stead, its members see the 30 per cent 'muscles of intuition'. Nevertheless, unsuitable subject for the methods of rate of unemployment during the de­ he could see no point in trying to classical economic theory.' pression as an aberration in which ground economics in principles sim­ He also insisted that room needed workers voluntarily left their jobs in ilar to those of gravity. Instead, when to be left for non-numerical factors, the highly implausible expectation of it comes to human behaviour, Keynes such as 'inventions, politics, labour getting another one. For the fervent stressed it is 'as if the fall of the apple troubles, wars, earthquakes, financial believers in rational expectations, the to the ground depended on the apple's crises'. And, in a comment highly tum-around in employment in the motives, on whether the apple thought relevant to the rational expectations 1940s was not the result of wartime it is worth falling to the ground, theory which has mesmerised many spending but of a sudden and mysteri­ whether the ground wanted the apple present-day economists, he said: 'gen­ ous outbreak of mass rationality about to fall, and on the mistaken calculation erally speaking, in making a decision the future. on the part of the apple as to how far it we have before us a large number of Although the economic models was from the centre of the earth'. alternatives, none of them demon­ developed by Keynes and some of his Both authors recognise the im­ strably more "rational" than the oth­ followers are open to serious criticism, portance of Keynes' early Treatise on ers, in the sense that we can arrange in his central insight that economies will Probability to his understanding of order of merit the sum aggregate of the not automatically come into equilib­ the world and to his later attack on the benefits obtainable from the complete rium at full employment has lost lit­ misuses of statistical techniques in consequences of each. To avoid being tle of its force. many econom etric studies. Mog­ in the position of Buridan's ass we fall What both these excellent biogra­ gridge's book is particularly strong on back therefore, and necessarily do so, phies underline is that this insight­ this topic, which lies at the heart of on motives of another kind, which are and the accompanying desire to rec­ Keynes' emphasis on the role of un­ not "rational" in the sense of being ommend some form of corrective ac­ certainty in human affairs as distinct concerned with evaluation of conse­ tion-came from Keynes' treatment from the determinism inherent in quences, but are decided by habit, of economics as one of the moral sci­ m odels copied from Newtonian instinct, preference, desire, will, etc.' ences, rather than as a silly parody of physics. To many readers, Keynes' remarks Newton's mechanics. • As Moggridge points out, Keynes about the foil y of copying models from saw little in the physical world-let an outdated physics which ignore Brian Toohey is a Sydney journalist, alone in human society-that exhib- uncertainty might seem entirely un- columnist and commentator.

V OLUME 3 NuMBER 1 • EUREKA STREET 35 BooKs: 2

MICHAEL McGIRR

Doing life in Sydney

Wwn" '20; wm om, M"Y The Sea Coast of Bohemia: Liter­ out here. They learned not just to Gilmore took a flat in the heart of ary Life in Sy dney's Roaring accept others' ideas of what a place Sydney's Bohemia. There, overlook­ Twenties, Peter Ki rkpatnck, QUP should be like. Whereas, out here, ing the main drag of Kings Cross for 30 19Y2 1uu· s 16.95 ISBN o 7022 N.n 4 people are constantly bei ng fed stere­ years, she maintained a steady stream Catch Me if You Can: The Life otypical images of what the suburbs and Times of Darcy Dugan, Rod of commentary on the world beneath have to be like.' Ha y, Sun Au !>trali a 1992 RRJ>$ 16.9S her window, becoming, as the years Until the '20s, Kirkpatrick ob­ 1\BN 0 72S I 0705 7 crept by, both a Dame of the Empire serves, writers and arti ts used to get and an oracle for all the world to visit. mians did,' says Kirkpatrick, 'was to away from the suburbs for a night's In 1989 l happened to notice a 'For see the places they inhabited as their drinking and then escape again in time Sale' sign in the window of 1/99 Dar­ own. They more or less drea med to catch the last train or ferry home. linghurst Road, the flat she had once This pattern continued, but the '20s occupied. I contacted the agent and also saw the 'reinvention' of the city had myself shown through as a pro­ and the Cross as places of permanent spective buyer. The place was being escape. used by a company to house short­ The Sea Coa 1 of Bohemia un­ term visitors to Sydney and had been earths dozens of writers and eccen­ refurbished as anonymously as a mo­ trics, vestiges of whose careers now tel suite. It was only when I got to survive only in the occasional anthol­ Gilmore's window and looked out that ogy, or as asides in biographies of I realised that the streetscape oppo­ those few of their contemporaries, such site, above a strip club and Kentucky as Kenneth Slessor and Christopher Fried, was much the same as it had Brennan, who achieved lasting fame. been 60 years before. If you look above Among them was Geoffrey Cumine, eye level, Kings Cross shows its age. who had the words 'To Let' tattooed Peter Kirkpatrick's account of lit­ on his forehead, which occasioned crary life in Sydney's '20 is peppered Brennan to remark 'Obviously unfur­ with such discoveries. It finds one of nished'. Another was Anne Brennan, the most storied sculptures of the pe­ gifted daughter of the Great Man and riod, Guy Lynch's Satyr, still seques­ allegedly the victim of his incest. Her tered in the botanic gardens; it stum­ sad life leaves unanswered the ques­ bles into Wilmot St, once an artery for tion of how it was possible for a woman cafe culture but now a clogged little to enter Sydney's rather boyish Bohe­ alley under the feet of the Cooper's mia other than as 'muse' or 'whore'. and Lybrand building; it settles briefly One who came closer to providing in the Metropolitan Hotel, the only an alternative ro le for women is the all pub still standing out of the hundred but forgotten Dulcie Deamer. At one formerly patronised by artists and stage Deamer's fiction was among the Allegory of 1h e cave: journos. most widely read in the English­ Dulcie Deamer as Kirkpatrick teaches at the Univer­ speaking world. And she had the cavewoman, in her sity of Western Sydney, a place re­ knack, moreover, of turning her whole leopard-skin dress. mote in time and space from the streets life into a work of art, thus escaping of Bohemia. Arc people such as his conventional expectations. In 1923 students, who are mostly from Syd­ themselves into areas like the Cross. Deamer appeared at the Artists' Ball ney's western suburbs, likely to be They created the cafes and bars they in a dog-tooth necklace and leopard­ sympathetic to the offbeat society he wanted. skin dress that became legendary. She writes about ? 'One thing the Bohe- 'There's still a model in that for did the splits on cafe tables and in

36 EUREKA STREET • FEliRUAR y 1993 1925 was crowned Queen of Bohemia other game to play. So at 60 he agreed death in NSW. Dugan said nothing. in a mock ceremony at Thea's Club­ to be part of a hold up and shuffled into One of the students asked the ob­ a position she held undisputed for the a police trap. It was a disappointing vious question: 'Were you glad to have rest of the period. final fling. Equally disappointing was the sentence commuted to life?' The Yet it is clear that Deamer was his discovery, once back inside, that a rest of the kids erupted in laughter. nobody's fool and, like Madonna, she drug culture had scrambled prison hi­ Dugan said nothing. Later, as Darcy created her own image. Unfortunate­ erarchy. In the '80s Dugan was no walked laboriously out of the school, ly, having used an image to escape she longer the personage he once was. members of the staff joked about became trapped in it. In 1950 she again In 1989 I was teaching in a school checking the valuables. But one of appeared in her leopardskin at the and invited some former prisoners them said it was impossible to believe Trocadero, expecting to be hailed as a from Glebe House to speak to the that that little man on a stick had once living legend but finding herself students. To my surprise, Darcy Dug­ held Sydney in the grip of terror. unknown and ridiculous to an · an came with them. By this stage he It wasn't the same Sydney. • embarrassed group of was already suffering the effects of a younger patrons. couple of strokes. Bernie Matthews, Michael McGirr SJ is a regular con­ Dugan's friend and one of the sources tributor to Eureka Street. His story The I F DuLCIE DEAMER was the queen of for this biography, introduced Darcy Silver Screen was runner-up in the dreamworld, Darcy Dugan was the as the last man to be sentenced to 1992 Age short story competition. one-time king of a world of night­ mare. Rod Hay's biography is a sym­ pathetic account of a man who spent 43 years behind bars. Dugan grew up BOOKS: 3 in the '20s, which may have been Roo BEECHAM roaring elsewhere but were screaming in his native Newtown. Hay attributes much of what was to come to Dugan's upbringing and especially to his father, who unaccountably later seems to The jury's still out have taken every opportunity to sup­ port Dugan in jail. Dugan's escapes from custody are legendary. He cut through the roof of a paddy wagon and then of a prison Trials in Power: Cain, Kirner and eral years before the full significance tram, he picked the lock of his hand­ Victoria 1982-1992, Mark Consid­ of all the pressing detail from this cuffs while he was sitting in court, and ine and Brian Costar (eds.), Mel­ decade (1982-92) can be sifted and bourne University Press,l992. ISBN he had nuns unwittingly bring a file weighed conclusively' (p281) . They 0 522 84537 1 RRP $19.95 state, nonetheless, that Victorian La­ into Grafton prison. Hay plays up these The Fall of the House of Cain, achievements, as he does Dugan's Robert Murray and Kate White, bor created 'one of the most talented, sexual adventures. And he spares no Spectrum Publications, Melbourne, innovative and honest governments detail of what doing life was like in 1992. ISBN 0 86786 147 9 RRP $9.95 of the modem era' (p1). But this is too Grafton. Nor should he. If only a adventurous when advanced without fraction of what is said here about comparisons with other governments, Grafton is true, then society has been clarification of the areas in which the protected by a prison system that is far editors look for innovation, and an more culpable than the inmates of the T,ANAL """' of tho Victod•n explanation of what they mean by system. Labor government, like that of the honesty in government. Even so Hay's book, unlike The Sea Whitlam government, was dominat­ Murray and White are antagonis­ Coast of Bohemia, does not look much ed by unrelenting media coverage of a tic to the Cain and Kirner administra­ beneath the surface. There is a lot in series of apparent 'scandals' and 'dis­ tions. Unfortunately, their book ar­ both Dugan and the prison system asters'. As with the Whitlam period, it gues no coherent case, is damaged by that is simply not explained; Hay has will probably take many years for a a repeated, misleading conflation of his story to tell and that comes first. balanced picture to emerge, when pas­ events that occurred over widely­ And it is easier to lionise an individual sions have cooled and more evidence spaced intervals (the political and like Dugan, or Ned Kelly, than to is available. In the meantime, books economic climate of Victoria in 1990 explore a complex subculture in the are appearing and suffering, like the wasvastlydifferentfrom that of 1983), way that Kirkpatrick does so engag­ titles considered here, both from par­ and takes arguable opinions to be self­ ingly. tisanship and from unsupported as­ evident truths. An example of this is Like Deamer, Dugan played the sertion. the authors' reference to 'the trust in game too long. In spite of his efforts on Considine and Costar are modest Canberra government typical of the behalf of prison reform and the Way­ about the essays they have collected, postwar era' (p135) . If this trust exist­ side Chapel, he also found he had no acknowledging that 'it will take sev- ed, the results of referenda held since

VOLUME 3 NUMBER 1 • EUREKA STREET 37 Labor's approach and Costar, p276). This policy was public transport, ideologically dri vcn, insensitively for example, may carried out, a nd di s t ressin g t o prove to have been many of those directl y fl awed by an un­ rr affected. due fa ith in man­ agement and the .1. HE IDEOLOGY, IMPORTED FROM the assumptions of US, rejects any form of non-fa mily the manageri­ accommodation fo r disa bled and dis­ a l culture. turbed children. Bo b Riddiford, presi­ T he Cain dent of Community and Institutional government Parents' Acti on on In tellectual Disa­ e nl arge d bility, says that 'Moving resi dents out the estab­ of institutions has taken most availa­ lishm ent of ble funds and left little for those with the Ministry of Trans- critically urgent needs such as disa­ port by nearl y three hundred to co­ bled people still living wi th aged par­ 1 9 4 5 ordinate the new Metropoli tan Tran­ ents. There are hundreds in this pre­ ~... ~~~-~~-~~ indicate that it was of a severely s it Au t h ori ty, St a t e T ra nsport carious si tuati on.' The word 'institu­ 'IIIII limited nature. Both books discuss the Authority, Road Safe ty and Licensing tion' became a synonym fo r 'bad'­ fa ith Labor placed in management Authority, and Road Construction which many institutions were but, specialist and its systematic ap­ Authority. Bureaucratic expansion, to equally, many were not- while 'com­ pointment of such people to senior be fa ir, was accompanied by the pur­ munity' meant 'good'. positions in the public se rvi ce. The chase of new trains and trams and the The Inte llect ua II y Dis a bled number of occupied positions in the commen cem ent of developme nt Persons' Services Ac t 1986, which Senior Executi ve Service (S ES ) rose pro jects, but the subordination of employs the word 'community' 18 from 69 in June 1983 to 72 1 by June transport policy to the economic di ­ times, at no stage defines it and, as 1990. This spectacular rise is partly rection of the Department of Manage­ Riddiford points out,' An intellectually explai ned by the translation of senior ment and Budge t led, by 1985, to an di sabled person living in a fi ne sub­ positions in the service to SES posi­ emphas is on 'efficiency' and 'cost re­ urban house with a swimming pool t ions, but the number of senior posi­ duction' that translated into attacks and generous support services; one in tions itself rose fro m 390 to 832 over on jobs and services. a Ministry of Housing fl at struggling the same peri od: a 11 3 per cent in­ Rosemary Ki ss tell s this story in to cope with the demands of daily crease. It wo uld be interesting to sec Trials in Power (pp1 59-69). But her living in isolation; and one li ving at total departmental staffing levels for discussion is too brief to allow con­ home with parents sharing an over­ these yea rs. clusions to be drawn. One might argue whelming burden, were all described Murray and White claim that that the policy approach was justified as "living in the community"'. Labor's 'While the Government was building by union intransigence. There has been intentions were undoubtedl y good, but up a team of super managers in the a lot of criticism of the work practices the plight of a 'deinstitutionalised' public service it was cutting funds, of the transport unions in Victoria, di sabled person today can be quite as jobs and services at the coal face' (p practices that Ki ss describes as 'mind­ serious as that of a resident of the most 30). This, however, is not true. The boggling' (p 167). notori ous institution. cuts occurred in the wake of the But she gives no examples, and The issues that ge nerated so much fina ncial blows sustained between when one considers, for instance, the adverse publicity for the government 1988 a nd 1990, not 'while' the state of disrepair into which equip­ in its final term are not discussed managers were being appointed. ment on Melbourne's railway system satisfactoril y in either book (the ex­ SES numbers themselves has fa llen it seems less likely that the ception being an outstanding essay by declined after 1990. Labor government's fa ilure to rejuve­ Mark Considine on WorkCare. On nate public transport was due entirely the VEDC, Kenneth Davidson's oth­ to union obstruction. A government erwise thorough and convincing essay BOT I I BOOKS TALK ABOUT what Mark that can restructure a ministry but on Labor's economic policy offers no Considi ne calls a 'fetish' for 'exten­ not fix a signal box would appea r to analysis, while Murray and White sive and pa inful burea ucratic reorga n­ have eccentric priorities. spend many pages tracing the history isations' (p1 97), and I am inclined to One area in which the fac ts are of bad debts, quoting liberally fro m beli eve that such reorga nisations­ already too clear to admit of more The Herald-Sun without spelling out presumabl y intended to increase effi­ than one interpretation is the mental what they acknowledge in passing­ ciency-became a substitute for the health field. Neither book addresses that the VEDC's problems stemmed effective deli very of services; but much Labor's men tal health poli cy although from a combination of t he now­ more investiga tion and analys is than John Cain refers proudly to 'the relo­ notori ous' climate of the eighties', the either book provides would be needed ca ti on of intell ectuall y di sabled resi­ stock market cras h of 198 7, and to prove this. dents from institutions' (Considine insuffi cient clarification of the rela-

38 EUREKA STREET • f EliRUARY 1993 tionship of the VEDC to the govern­ thing that strikes you about the 'new Irish': ment. the religious element is missing. They are The failures of Tricontinental and the products of a new, secular Irel

VOLUME 3 N UMilER 1 • EUREKA STREET 39 .. ..

BooKs: 4

R ACE MATHEWS

I "'c "

40 EUREKA STREET • FEBRUARY 1993 for pensions, health care and other 'institutionalisation of entrepreneur­ possible for us to learn from what has welfare benefits, the group has had to ship', but the fears of state-socialist been accomplished at Mondragon develop a social security system of its critics such as Beatrice and Sidney without necessarily setting out to own through the Lagun Aro support Webb-that the interests of producer adopt the model in its entirety. What cooperative. Il< erlan, the research and cooperatives would necessarily be stands in our way is our endemic incu­ development support cooperative, incompatible with those of consum­ riosity. keeps the group abreast of technolog­ ers, and therefore of the wider com­ Early in the life of the Cain govern­ ical and scientific advances, and at the munity-have proved to be unfound­ ment, I sent each of my fellow minis­ time of my visit was specialising in ed. The difference is owed substan­ ters a copy of Mon- machine tools, artificial intelligence tially to the adherence of the cooper­ dragon: An Econom­ and robotics. atives to Arizmendiarietta's principle ic Analysis by Henk Early in the life of the The group's university of tech­ of equilibria-of balance in the rela­ Thomas and Chris nology, the Esl

VoLUME 3 NuMBER 1 • EUREKA STREET 41 ically, in the great scene in which he cinem atically and thematically, in tells his intended bride, Mina Harker operatic waves. (Winona Ryder), that to share his life Paco (Jorge Sanz), a demobilised she must share his blood. He slashes soldier in Franco's army, is to marry his chest, she descends on the wound Trini (Maribel Verdi ), a virtuous with much gleeful slurping and gur­ housemaid, but is embroiled in a gling, he begins to moan and writhe passionate affair with his landlady orgasmically and ... (Victoria Abril ), which leads to crime I shall not relate Mina's banal and death. We first glimpse Paco and comment which ends this encounter, Trini's relationship in a church scene so that Bram Stoker's Dracula may that could com e out of Verdi. The hold some surprises for those who denouem ent, almost un bearably have not seen it. Suffice it to say that intense, takes place on a bench in the the outcome brings to mind Oscar rain in front of another church, and is Wilde's comment on the death of Little fi lmed in a way that is at once styli sed Nell: that one would have to have a and tender, form al and relaxed. heart of stone to think of it without Throughout the film, the force of des­ laughing. tiny is foreshadowed through the pasts There are some compensations for of the two women: Trini's mother these inanities: Anthony Hopkins threw herself under a cart when her husband was unfaithful; Luisa, it Eureka Street seems, murdered her husband. Film Com petition Ye t among all this there is a Francis Ford Coppola is threaten­ remarkable fineness of detail. Trini is ing to do to Frankenstein and his not just a victi m, doomed by her past: m onster what he has already done in Verdi's performance she is an en­ to Dracula. Tell us what the gaging, determined woman, whose Once bitten monster would thin k of this every action and gesture tells us more development and we'll award two about her. Abril is equally fine as Bram Stol

42 EUREKA STREET • F EBRUARY 1993 own life of clever languor, and a defence inside. The two women, who never Formula flop team mate, played by a surprisingly confide in each other, reach crises in plausible Derni Moore, brings the game the same year and relate their lives to Honey, I Blew Up the Kid dir. Randal up to him when he had been looking the same unhelpful therapist. Anto­ Kleiser (Greater Union), is a cynical, for nothing more strenuous than a few nia pinched Jane's boyfriend years ago money-grubbing exercise that elicits easy pitches and 10 minutes' plea bar­ and married him. Jane is tired of being gurgles of delight from kids aged nine gaining. Assistance from others rang­ a doormat, and her lover can't get and under. The film's cartoon-style es between the provocative and the aroused unless she reads Iris Murdoch slapstick will keep the very young inconsiderable. novels aloud. Antonia finds her guilty amused although not enthralled. The briefly-appearing but all-de­ feelings emerging as fantasies about Accompanying adults may emerge termining marine colonel command­ Jane as a noble resistance fighter, and looking like glazed donuts, and teen­ ing the base at Guantanamo, Cuba, is herself as a Nazi. agers will have to be dragged kicking another ofJack Nicholson's monstrous It'sallgoodfun to watch, but when and screaming to see it. incarnations-exacting, plausible and Antonia and Jane finally sort it out, in It's the sequel to Honey, I Shrunk ultimately deranged. Although the a way that is meant to show the the Kids, a surprise hitfrom the Disney long courtroom encounters with oth­ strength of their friendship, neither studios a few years ago, and is akin to ers are dexterously brought off, it is the embrace nor the resolution are Home Alone II and Batman Retums clear from the first that en- convincing in being very thin on the ground for gagement with this mili­ anything new. The first film told how tant reductionist will de­ a genial and eccentric inventor (Rick termine the denouement. Moranis) accidentally shrank his kids, And so, mes enfants, it does. and two from next door, to thimble This is a film of gloss size. The kids had adventures in the without glitz, an 'enter­ tradition of television's Land of the tainment' as Graham Giants-crossing the jungle-size back Greene called his earliest lawn, fighting off monster ants and novels, but not an amuse­ almost being chomped by Dad after ment. A blockhead offers a falling into a bowl of cereal-before profound sentence in it, the being re-zapped. most troubling thing in its The reverse happens in the sequel, tensely maintained length. which is as stale as the original was I came out of it wondering fresh and lively. There's the regula­ why we have been glad to tion teen romance and a dash of good­ model the processes of the law on ies and baddies, and the little ones will the militancy of feral narcissists. just love to see a toddler, 50 feet tall Nobody has cleared that up for me. women and rising, trash the Las Vegas casino - Peter Steele SJ might be strip. It's better fun taking the kids to about to begin Aladdin, ThefungleBook, Beauty and a friendship, but the Beast or another of the Disney Double take there is nothing in greats. the film to convince you -Mark Skulley Antonia and fan e, dir. Beeban Kidron that they know how. (independent cinemas) is, according In the dreary modern fash­ to the publicity, 'rare' and 'marvel­ ion, all the men in this film are War in peace lous' because it portrays 'friendship shallow and selfish and the women between women without resorting to are complex and much put-upon. In A Few Good Men, dir. Rob Reiner the shopworn male fantasies of lesbi­ this and other ways, the film reaches (Hoyts). The recruiting slogan of the anism and/or violent jealousy'. The no greater depth than Thelma and US Marines is 'All we want is a few publicist must have reckoned her best Louise, though it has more preten­ good men'. This film is, in subtler chance of success lay in convincing sions. Antonia and Jane are funnier, ways than its setting, about who the the public this was a highbrow Thel­ but Thelma and Louise knew a lot good men are, and about how they are ma and Louise. If that is what the film more about taking care of each other. to be known. There are no battle is trying to be, it doesn't work. Which -Margaret Simons scenes, and nobody is at war-except is not to say that it isn't a witty film, in the sense that for some people with some fresh humour as well as rro aavertise in warfare is unremitting, and rage their stale jokes done well. meat and drink. Imelda Staunton, as the passion­ With two marines on trial for mur­ ate misfit, Jane, manages to look EUREKA SJAEET dering one of their comrades, a young frumpish in a dozen wonderful ways. contact: rr'im Stoney naval lawyer (Tom Cruise) defends Her friend Antonia (Saskia Reeves) is (03) 427 7311 them. He needs to be cajoled out of his the cool beauty who feels hollow

VOLUME 3 NUMBER 1 • EUREKA STREET 43 Television Program Guide Michael McGirr TELEVISION

land won, became the world's first Series Foote, nor only that it uses letters and diaries to follow a handful of vibrant 'shared TV moment'. And how Pot personalities right through the war, Black was developed specifically for Drop the Dead Donkey but it also makes inventive use of the advent of colour TV and created a Each episode of this sitcom, set in a thousands of original photos. The ep­ new spectator sport in the process, in TV newsroom, is made a few days isode on 2 February, a recreation of the same way that the smiling face of before going to air in Britain and ar­ Gettysburg, is especially brilliant. Olga Korbut at the '72 Olympics rives soon aft er in Australia. The idea Screens every Tuesday at 8.30pm (8pm created a wave of enthusiasm fo r is that the script can thus exploit Adelaide). gymnastics. current news stories, which it does to With the US hosting soccer's 1994 great effect. For example, a jaded news A TV Dante World Cup, we can expect to see the A series of bite-sized ga me played in four quarters. Why? pieces of Dante, Advertising. And, if this was not the direct ed by Peter reason that cricket overs were reduced Greenaway, was to six balls, I've certainly never heard screened last year. This any sponsors complain. new series of 1 0- More than a Game screens on minute instalments, Sundays at 7.30pm (Adelaide 7pm). directed by Paul Ruiz, The program on 7 February looks at uses Santiago de Chile sport in the former Soviet republics, as a setting for The and that on 21 February, Whose Game Inferno. John Gielgud Is It, Anyway!, looks at ways of reads with quiet men­ restoring sport to its participants. ace but such a rich collage of images is Reel to Real more confusing than Paul Byrnes, former film reviewer for frightening. the Sydney Morning Herald and Perhaps confusion director of the Sydney Film Festival, is a big part of what hosts a weekly panel discussion in Dante did mean by which various talking heads discuss eternal suffering. Even the deeper issues of cinema. Byrnes is so, by depicting San­ an affable host but this is probably the tiago as The Inferno, type of conversation you're better off Ruiz implies that hell having with friends, so you can ge t is the worst this world high on your own jargon without has to offer. I'm ure putting up with other people' . Screens that Dante had more every Sunday at 11.1 5pm (10.45pm in mind than that. Adelaide). The winner and the editor says in passing: 'Oh, nice item Screens every Thursday at llpm loser: Abraham on Yugoslavia. I particularly liked the ( 10.3 0pm Adelaide). Film Lincoln and the bullet-ridden pram -' The show Pre ident of the attempts more by way of peeping un­ More than a Game Life is a Long Quiet River Confederacy, der the covers of TV journalism than A series that takes a harder look at the A wonderful film in which all the Jefferson Davis. Murphy Brown would ever dream of. culture of sport than does the endless, people ta lk French. Screens 11 Febru­ 'The Civil War' It's also very funny. Screens every dreary excitement of Nine's Wide ary at 8.30pm (8pm Adelaide). screen on Tuesdays Tuesday at 8pm (7 ..30pm Adelaide). World of Sports. The program on 14 at 8.30pm February, Who's in the Control Room!, Music The Civil War looks at the impact of TV on our If you missed any or all of Ken Burn's attitude to sport, from the time Wim­ Two works rarely seen on TV will stunning documentary on the Ameri­ bledon was first televised in 1937. Its appear this month. Verdi's T e Deum can Civil War first time around, then generalisations are familiar but the is part of the Siena Concert on l Feb­ here's your chance. Even if you're only evidence makes hea ring them again ruary at 8.30pm (Adelaide 8pm). interested in photography. The suc­ worthwhile. Pergolesi's 18th century opera come­ cess of the series is not only that it The program shows how the 1966 dy The Amorous Friar screens on 3 found a wonderful storytell er in Shelby World Cup soccer final, which Eng- February at 7.30pm (7p m Adelaide).

44 EUREKA STREET • FEBRUARY 1993 February

1990 is married there in a traditional system known as the 'united order', Documentaries ceremony. Fr fames Tones, the Episco­ plural marriage allowed the Mormons palian priest who had adopted Thanh, to create their own sealed, theocratic Wild by Law goes with him, as does Elizabeth society within the American main­ In 1934, Aldo Leopold bought a worn­ Farnsworth's film crew. They are the stream. Yet the Mormons gradually out farm on the American dustbowl first Americans in the area since 19 73. sought rapprochement with other and set about to restore a prairie and Th e Story of Thanh prises open, Americans and in 1890 another 'reve­ raise a family. The farm languished with great sensitivity, a number of lation' conveniently ended the prac­ but the book Leopold wrote, A Sand wounds-and doesn't treat the prob­ tice of plural marriage, paving the way Country Almanac, is still beloved of lems of refugees, soldiers repatriated for Utah to attain statehood in 1896. environmentalists. Leopold is one of to the west, refugees returning to Viet­ A group of fundamentalists was three characters whose efforts way nam and westerners revisiting Viet­ not ready to bow to external pressure, back then on behalf of the wilderness nam as though they were all entirely however, and the church split. To this are explored in this engaging film. separate. 'I wish there was a pill I day the Apostolic United Brethren Wild by Law uses historical foot­ could take and be like everybody else,' seek to establish closed communities age to let some eccentric personalities says Thanh, 'and not have a history in which polygamy speak for themselves. It shows how like mine, not have a story to tell.' I, can be practised in Roosevelt's public 'conservation' for one, am grateful for the story. peace. A Matter of works wreaked havoc on the environ­ Screens 5 February at 8.30pm (8pm Principle takes us to ment, as did the high-minded tourism Adelaide). Colorado City, found­ to national parks that flourished in ed in a desolate region the '30s. The film also includes an Seasons of a Navajo in 1985, where the interview with one of Leopold's sons, The film-makers lived in a Navajo purpose of plural mar­ who has thrown off his father's legacy community for a year and a half. The riage is explained in and now says that greenies are selfish. result is a gently paced encounter with terms of children-of There is plenty of evidence here to the Chauncey and Dorothy N eboyia, both raising up 'a righteous contrary. Screens 1 February at 7.30pm in their 70s, whose stories add gravity posterity' that 'walks (7pm Adelaide) . to the simple rhythm of their lives. quietly in the shadows Sitting in a sweathouse, Chauncey of society.' The Story of Thanh speaks of a time when the Holy Peo­ There are inter­ 'I can never understand Americans. ple, symbolising thought and language, views with Albert First they come to Vietnam. They gathered in a sweathouse to sing the Barlow and his wives, killed my family. They injured my universe into being. Navajo culture is who have celebrated neck with a grenade ... Then they tried matrilineal: at one stage, the Neboyias' 50 years of marriage. desperately to save my life. Today I'm relatives come 250 miles from Phoe­ Barlow was arrested in an American too. Does that make me nix for the Kinaalda, the coming-of age a famous raid on crazy?' The war in Vietnam is still ceremony of their daughters, which Shortcreek, Arizona, throwing up poignant stories. Thanh, lasts four days. Screens 8 February at in 1944. In spite of the orphaned in an indiscriminate raid on 7.30pm (7pm Adelaide). fact that photographs his village, was evacuated to the US at of children being tak­ the age of 12 in 1968. He weighed A Matter of Principle en from their parents 13kg. The pick of the month-a documen­ caused a backlash in This documentary traces Thanh's tary with substance. It explores the favour of the plural­ attempts in adult life to make sense of plural marriage subculture spawned ists, Barlow served 12 such tom beginnings. He gets a job in in the US last century by the growth of years in jail. When the a high-tech medical factory making the Mormon church. After the policemovedin, the whole communi­ Never mind, it's artificial body parts. Through a veter­ church's founder, foseph Smith, was ty, he recalls, started singing God Bless only a game ... an's association, he meets the captain lynched in 1844 he was succeeded by America. That kind of irony is oft­ isn't it! 'More who was attacking an area three miles Brigham Young, who led the pariah repeated in A Matter of Principle. than a Game' from his village at the time his family community into the Salt Lake Valley. The broader question of the right screens on died and finds that this veteran, too, is Young, who had at least 27 wives and of a church, or any community, to Sundays at a haunted man. 'I just see the name of may have had 56, upheld his right to become a law unto itself is intriguing. 7.30pm that damn village', the captain says, this 'celestial marriage' on the basis of Something to talk about next time 'and I start reaching for a gun'. In 1980 the 'revelation' proclaimed by Smith. they come to the door? Screens 12 Thanh visits his village again, and in Together with a closed economic February at 8.30pm (8pm Adelaide).

V oLUME 3 NuMBER 1 • EUREKA STREET 45 Outstations of empire Th ere is a corner of your radio dial which is forever England.

I

46 EUREKA STREET • fEIIRU A RY 1993 Eureka Street Cryptic Crossword no. 10, February 1993

Devised by Joan Nowotny IBVM ACROSS 1 Others love to call for refurbishing. (9) 6 Train the trainer. (5) 9 It's fu nny to have a business with a male in charge. (5) 10 As a mere toy, does she unlawfully ply a night trade? (9) 11 That's a fin e CD- free from fuzziness and discordance. (1 0) 12 Counsel friends to find the ego within. (4) 14 Indicates that bridge opponents first study the Hebrew scriptures. (7) 15 The head cleaner. (7) 17 An eagle on the motorway-confusecl at the distance travelled. (7) 19 Hold the limit. (7) 20 It smells and sounds as if the ayes don't have it. (4) 22 What a turbulent fee ling-red anger about the new site fo r the factory. (10) 25 The insect chirping with some irritation could be a boon on the outfield. (9) 26 My heart aches so badl y within me, that I could not call it a ga m e. (5) 27 In many long- legged ladies' wardro bes, you'll find this material. (5) 28 Deliberate about trying to concili ate around the end of August. (9) Solution to Crossword no.9, December 1992-January 1993 DOWN I Hurried to say the bill was in the re el. (5) 2 Unfortunately, a slim fi ne was imposed in the penulti mate gam e. (9) 3 In Canberra, possibly, RSL hero may be honoured with such a concert. (10) 4 I am a journalist hoping to grab some attention. (7) 5 Takes a quick look and strikes as 25 across would do. (7) 6 Quote the position for the listener. (4) 7 Endless serial rearranged to appea r. (5) 8 'Is the wolf nigh ?' he first cried in bewilderment. Such pretentious language' (9) 13 The magi, in fact, somehow produced a song of praise. ( 10) 14 Order man coined word with the third vo wel replacing the second. (9) 16 For a cent, mapl e syrup is available by arrangement. (9) 18 It was a mistake to go up speechless and include a rest and recreation brea k. (7) 19 Applauded the toast? (7) 21 The salesman in Gillespie loves to deliver one. (5) 23 Does she mix up these concoctions without a man? (5) 24 The baseless monarch may be a blood relation. (4) produ ce and listen to World Service Waveguide, a program devoted to let­ New listeners should be warned, programs would really be quite happy ters fro m listeners recommending the however. The World Service persist­ if the past 50 years had never hap­ best fre quencies in different parts of ently misleads its audi ence in one pened, that television had never been the world. However, in Sydney and respect, and I can onl y fea r fo r the invented, let alone personal comput­ Melbourne it's relayed through 2RPH millions of people who tune in to ers and other unsettling harbinge rs of and 3RPH (Radio for the Print Handi­ learn English but have never been to modernity. Certainly the theme music capped) overnight. (RPH is a radio Britain. I refer, of course, to the state­ to most programs hasn't changed at experi ence in its own right, but that's m ent that regularl y precedes news least since the Queen ascended to the another story) . You can also invest in bulletins: 'This is London.' It's not. tluone. And how else can yo u explain a special World Service radi o, which It's a tiny island, not even marked on the existence of a pop music progra m for $50 deposit and $99 per year most maps, that has only a nominal ca ll ed A folly Good Shawl guarantees crystal clear reception 24 connection with the real London of Unfortunately for Australia, short­ hours a day in Sydney, Canberra and 1993. • wave reception of the World Service is Melbourne-contact on (02)95 7 3 777. Mike Ticher holds badge no. 1 in the oft en haphazard, even if you li sten to I must admit I'm tempted. Paddy Feeney Fan Club.

V OLUME 3 N UMBER 1 • EUREKA STREET 47 THE MUSIC THAT HAS VIEWERS GLUED TO OUR TEST PATTERN IS NOW AVAILABLE ON CD.

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