Special CD Box Set Offer EUREKA SJAEEr ABC A THOU SAND YEARS IN A DAY AUDIO Fascinating Excerpts from the Second Millennium 101 In this engaging collection , ABC Audio brings you a selection of fascinating mom ents from the second millennium- from lOCO BOXED SET areas like scien ce, the arts, philosophy and religion. In each century, A Thousand Years in a Day brings you a few of the historical turning points and the extraordinary individuals that continue to sh ape our w orld today. Presented by Roby n William s, D onna M cLachlan, Geraldine D oogu e, N orm.an Swan , Julie Copeland, Jill Kitson , Stephen Crittenden, Alan Saunders, Rachael Kahn, Phillip Adams. Fascinating Excerpts T hanks to ABC Audio, Eureka Street has TWO 10-CD boxed f rom the sets of A Thousand Years in a Day to give away, each worth Second $100. Just put your nam e and address on the back of an envelope t" i lennium - and send it to: Eureka Street March CD Offer, PO Box 553, Richmond, VIC, 3 12 1. A Thousand Years in a Day is available through ABC shops, ABC Cen tres and bookstores. utz• answers

1. Miles Davis' A Kind Of Blue (1 959). 2. The thumb piano used in African music. 3. Katisha, in The Mik ado, by Gilbert & Sullivan. 4. Anni-Frid Lyngstad; Agnetha Faltskog; Bj orn Ulvaeus; Benny Andersson. 5. Johannes Brahms. 6. Paul Hasluck. 7. In 1624, it was burned down and when rebuilt was called Christiania. In 1925 it regained its old name. 8. a) The Order of St Isabel the Catholic; b) The Order of the Brilliant Star; c) The Legion d'Honneur Grand Croix; (d) Companion of the Order of Australia (AC). 9. Lord Byron was referring to Greece. 10. Trousers and a long-sleeved shirt, with or without jacket, or a safari suit. N ot a dinner suit. You will fi nd 'Territory rig' specifie d in your invitation to a government function in the Northern Territory. 11. The Darwin Club Hotel, similar in some ways to Melbourne's Windsor. 12. The unofficial leader of all the foreign diplomats stationed in a capital city. He or she is always the longest-serving ambassador. 13. The humpback whale: its low-frequency calls are, at l90db, louder than Concorde taking off. 14. A Handful of Dust. 15. Augustine Aloysius. 16. Metonymy. 17. The Long March began in Kiangsi, and finished in Sh ensi. 18. Ataturk. 19. a) Mamie Nixon; b) Marilyn Horne; c) James Earl Jones. 20. a) Figure skating; b) Freestyle skiing (moguls). 21. Robert Lowell, in 'Memories of West Street and Lepke'. 22. a) Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence; b) A Kind Of Loving by Stan Barstow; c) Spycatcher by Peter Wright; d) Catch 22 by Joseph Heller; e) Hard Times by Charles Dickens; f) Call it Sleep by Henry Roth; g) The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. 23. a) The tough, often dead, outermost layer of skin cells; b) The 6-m etre coiled tubing that stores sperm behind the testis. 24. a) collective name for the petals of a fl ower; b) the halo of very hot gas that surrounds the Sun and is visible during solar eclipses. Or a large Cuban cigar, of course, for the extremely politically incorrect. 25. Nobel Physics prizewinners Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson. 26. We, at 46 chromosomes, would be way more intelligent than a pea at 14, marginally dumber than a potato at 48, but shamed utterly by the crayfish, clocking in at 200. Fortunately or unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work that way, or perhaps the spuds and crays aren't letting on. 27. Cardinal numbers have to do with quantity ( l , 2, 3 etc.) whereas ordinal numbers (first, second, third etc.) are about order. Funny, that. Nothing to do with cardinals and ordination at all ... 28. Early prin ting (15th century). 29. In 1469: Vasco da Gama and Machiavelli were born; Lippi died; Lorenzo took power. 30. In descending order of perceived status: Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras. 31. Mesopotamia. 32. St Benedict of Nursia (c.480- c.547), thefounder of Western monasticism . 33. Konstan tin Stanislavsky and Lee Strasberg. 34. He was the master gem -cutter chosen to cut the biggest diamond ever found: the Cullinan. 35. Captain Charles 'Chuck' Yeager of the USAF, in October 1947. 36. Just 12 years before, in 1987. 37. Bringing the terms 'junk bonds' and 'insider trading' into general usage. 38. Behaviour unbecoming an evangelist. Bakker drove his poor wife Tammy Faye into terminal mascara addiction. 39. Die. 40. Chicago's O'Hare, at about 2200 aircraft a day. Thank you to all the brain-boxes who sent in entries for the January- February 2000 Summer Quiz. C ongratulations to winner Carolyn Mitchell of Narre Warren North, VIC, who will receive a copy of The Australian Oxford Dictionary, worth $79.95. Volume 10 Number 2 March 2000 A magazine of public affairs, the arts and theology

CoNTENTS

4 24 COMMENT PUTTING US IN THE PICTURE With Morag Fraser and Frank O'Shea. Kate Manton gives the low-down on the high-tech of digital television. 7 CAPITAL LETTER 28 APOSTOLIC IRELAND: 8 A THEOLOGICAL FICTION LETTERS Did the Irish kill John the Baptist ? Gerard Windsor speculates. 10 THE MONTH'S TRAFFIC 32 With Linda Gordon, Maggie Helass, WHICH WAY WAHID? Peter Pierce and Margaret Coffey. The Indonesian leader has his work cut out for him. Jon Greenaway reports. 13 SUMMA THEOLOGIAE 35 BOOKS 14 Andrew Hamilton reviews DRAWING THE LINE ReEnchantmen t: The New A ustralian Should church-based welfare agencies Spirituality, by David Tacey; Michael take over where the government leaves off Smith gives an insider's view of Tony in employment services? Neil Ormerod Coady's Why Universities Ma tter (p36); investigates the theology. Paul Tankard looks at the essays of Robert Dessaix, John Fowles and 16 Tim Parks (p38 ). IS THERE A CURE FOR MELBOURNE'S CATHOLICISM? 41 Allan Patience on homosexuality, HITCHCOCK AND UNCLE CYRIL Courage and the Melbourne church. Margaret Goldrick behind the scenes of an early Hitchcock film. 17 EAR TO ETERNITY 44 Cover design by Siobhan Jackson, Ken Inglis on the ABC's Second FLASH IN THE PAN using elements of the Book of Ke lls. Millennium broadcast. Reviews of the films Holy Sm ok e; Graphi cs pp1 2, 15, 24-27, 35, 36, 38 Th e Talented Mr Ripley; Dogma; by Siobhan Jackson. 22 Joan of Arc and Felicia's Journey. Cartoon p11 by Dean Moore. ALL IN THE FAMILY Eureka Street magazine Moira Rayner analyses an unexpected 46 Jesuit Publications alliance in Family Court business. WATCHING BRIEF PO Box 553 Richmond VIC 3 121 T el (03) 9427 73 11 23 47 Fax (03) 9428 4450 ARCHIMEDES SPECIFIC LEVITY

V O LU ME 10 NUMBER 2 • EUREKA STREET 3 COMM ENT: 1 EUREKA SJREET M ORAG FRASER A magazine of public affairs, the arts and theology General manager Joseph Hoo Editor Morag Fraser Assistant editor Coming up Kate Manton Graphic designer Siobhan Jackson Publisher Michael McGirr SJ ACWAYS ATCHes you UO'W"C<. It ;, one of the Production manager: Sylvana Scannapiego zm sparks of incarnation. Administration manager: Mark Dowell The illuminator of the page from the great Book of Kells Editorial and production assistants (below) had zest- whatever word h e might himself have used Juliette Hugh es, Paul Fyfe SJ, for the quality infused into this sombre moment from the Geraldine Battersby, Ben Hider gospel of Mark: 'Now it was the third hour'-the dark time. Contributing editors Adelaide: Greg O'Kell y SJ, Perth: Dean Moore Sydney: Edmund Campion, Gerard Windsor Queensland: Peter Pierce United Kingdom correspondent Deni Minns OP South East Asia correspondent jon Greenaway Jesuit Editorial Board Peter L'Estrange SJ, Andrew Bullen S), Andrew Hamilton SJ Peter Steele SJ, Bill Uren SJ Marketing manager: Rosanne Turner Advertising representative: Ken Head Subscription manager: Wendy Marlowe Administration and distribution Lisa Crow, Mrs Irene Hunter, Kristen Harrison Patrons Eurel

4 EUREKA STREET • MARc H 2000 interlocking maze of Celtic calligraphy- humanity in year's Eureka Street . Here is our second. With zest. nature, nature patterned but unsubdued. The Jesuit Lenten Seminars, begun last year in Every page of this first millennium manuscript M elbourne and Sydney, are fa st b ecoming an has a sparkling abundance, as Frank O'Shea notes in institution. Please join us again this year, at 7.30pm, his comment this month. The Book will be on display in Adelaide (St Ignatius' Church Norwood, 28 March ), in the N ation al Gallery in Canberra in Autumn and Melbourne (Xavier College, 15 & 29 March ) or Sydney for Easter. There is one m odern pilgrimage that you (S t Ignatius' College Riverview, 16 & 30 March ) to might think about. h ear the H on. Jim Carlton, Professor Hilary Charles­ Ken Inglis, writing this m onth, describes another worth, Fr Frank Brennan SJ, John Menadue AO and pilgrimage, this one through the past thousand years, Fr Geoffrey King SJ examine Morality and Australian w ith the ABC's Radio N ational as travel guide. We Public Life and Public Policy Abroad. • prom ised you an analysis of institutions in this -Morag Fraser

C OM MENT: 2

F RANK O'SHEA Celtic highlight

L ANC>CNT l R"H d>dn't need much of on excu" atrophied extremities of the Roman colossus, leaving to fight, but a row over a book was as good a pretext vast areas into which the once-feared legions ventured as any. Take Columcille (5 21 -597) for example. H e at their peril. was of the royal O'Neill clan, a great-great-grandson The world turned empty where they trod, of N iall of the Nine Hostages whose slave raiders They took the kindly cross of God brought the young Patrick to Ireland. H e could have And cut it up for wood. (Ch esterton) been a king, but chose to become a monk instead. (Part of the inauguration ceremony of the O'N eill The barbarian cavalries slashed and slaughtered, kings involved an indecorous transaction with a mare; carry ing off such booty as their culture would whether this was what decided the young nobleman appreciate or trade, and burning the great libraries to choose the priestly rather than the kingly oils is whose treasures were worthless in their unlettered not recorded.) world. Columcille studied under the abbot Finian, and But while the twin lamps of faith and learning was so taken by his master's beautiful psalter that he guttered fitfully in Continental sconces, the quiet secretly copied it. The dispute which followed monks of Iona and Lindisfarne, of Clonmacnoise, required the intervention of the high king, whose Clonfert and Clonard (Clon comes from the Irish cluain, adjudication- 'To every cow its calf, to every book meaning a meadow) and a dozen other monastic its copy'-is the first recorded copyright judgment. settlements laboured in their scriptoria to copy the The O'N eills were not happy with this outcome sacred books of Christendom. It is to this cultural and, spurred on by the young prince-monk, found a efflorescence and most likely to Columcille's foundation pretext to coax their opponents into a battle. Nothing at Iona, that the Book of Kells owes its origin. in Ireland is ever far from some site of literary It is ironic that the religion which had been significance, and the exchange took place at Drum­ adopted by Rome should survive through centuries cliff, County Sligo, a place which today is sanctified of darkness in Scotland and Ireland, two countries by the grave of W.B. Yeats. where the Romans had never cut a road or sunk a It is said that 3000 lost their lives in the fight bath. Ironic too that in a time when Christian and whether as punishment imposed by a synod or orthodoxy was particularly stifling, these northern from remorse, Columcille took 12 of his disciples and monks w ere indiscriminate in what they copied. In went into exile, settling in the barren island of Iona, time they progressed from the Gospels and the Book off the west coast of Scotland. There he establish ed a of Revelations to the works of Augustine and Jerome m onastery which cam e to be one of the great centres and Athanasius, then to the tales and histories of of learning and scholarship of its day. pagan Greece and Rome and finally to Irish grammars While all this was going on, the Goths and the or anything else on which they could lay their busy Va ndals were stomping across Europe, hacking at the hands.

V oLUME 10 N uMBER 2 • EUREKA STREET 5 They were a diverse lot, these copyists, their lives A page will be turned periodically during the and concerns hinted in the margin notes of their main book's Canberra sojourn, each change made under work. Some amused themselves in verse: expert supervision and strict security. Visitors may find it open at one of the pages taken up with a single I and Pangur Ban my cat, decorated initial letter, interwoven with Celtic swirls, 'Tis a like task we are at; twining tendrils and drawings of enigmatic or Hunting mice is his delight, grotesque beings. Or perhaps it may be at an elaborate Hunting words I sit all night. depiction of some scene in the life of Christ, its 'Gainst the wall he sets his eye, splendour highlighted by the exuberant representation Full and fierce and sharp and sly; of the human form. 'Gainst the wall of knowledge I Only two of the 680 pages in the complete book All my little wisdom try. (Robin Flowertrans.) are without some kind of ornam entation, whether of Others were cantankerous: 'My curse, and God's curse intricate Celtic artwork or fantasised representations in addition to it, be on the women who h ave of birds, reptiles and beasts, like the arrow-tailed wolf disarranged all my ink, and m y colours, and my below. books.' Then there were the enigmatic entries: 'Thank Wherever it is open, it requires slow, careful and God I was not in last night' or 'Brian is a naughty focused scrutiny; it has been said that even though boy.' There may have been a few naughty boys if we the book was worked hundreds of years before optical judge by another marginal note: aids were known, a proper study requires a 10-factor magnification. T hose who have done such an All are keen examination have marvelled at the exactness and To know who'll sleep with blond Aideen. complexity of the decorations and the way the All Aideen herself will own elements tie together without a single false or Is that she will not sleep alone. irregular line. (Frank O 'Connor trans.) BY UNIVERSAL ACCLAIM, the Book of Kells lS a work I N THE LA ST YEARS of the eighth century, the coastal of extraordinary beauty. Irish it may be by right of monasteries of Britain and Ireland were harassed by provenance, embellishment and title but it is a pillaging Norsemen. These fi erce warriors came in treasure of world importance, an attestation that their long- boats in search of booty or slaves and even humans can rise above the bonds of sinew and bone though some of the larger monasteries were like small to produce a wavering bridge to the divine. The much­ city-states, they had little chance against such travelled 12th -century Welsh bishop Geraldus marauders. They came as far south as the Kerry coast Cambrensis said as much when he enthused that it where a monk on Skellig Michael is credited with the was 'the work of an angel, not of a man'. quatrain: Modern scholarship says that it is the labour of There's a wicked wind tonight, more than one person, certainly two and in the Wild upheaval of the sea; opinion of some, as many as nine. There are two No fear now that the Viking hordes distinctive styles, one clearly Celtic and one with Will terrify me. (Brendan Kennelly trans.) traces of Arabic or Mediterranean influence. The book is a Latin text of the four gospels, originally in one Iona was attacked in 795 and again in 801 and volume, but bound into four books since 1953. Only 806. It was after one of these raids that the monks the gospel of Mark will make the journey from its moved their treasures back to Ireland, to the relatively home in the vaulted library of Trinity College Dublin safer haven of a Columban monastery at Kells, some to a specially prepared room at the Australian 80km inland from Dublin. Whether the book was National Gallery in Canberra, where it will be completed there or was already in its final state is not exhibited between 25 February and 7 May. known. Its subsequent history is just as hair-raising and eventful and the greatest wonder is that it has survived at all. Its brief sojourn out of Ireland, only the second in 1200 years, is a result of a five-way co-operation between the libraries of Trinity College Dublin and the ANU in Canberra, the Australian National Gallery and the governments of Ireland and Australia. This is an occasion of joy not only for those with an interest in the sacred or in art or antiquity, but for every citizen of this distant scattering. •

"' Frank O'Shea teaches mathematics at Marist College, Canberra.

6 EUREKA STREET • M ARCH 2000 The bush, the boss, the media and the GST

O N< SHOUWN'T JUOGC the success of the How"d m"J to act over the latest one, it was still ad hoc-ery, politics before strategy m erely by the very negative headlines it attracted in policy, done entirely on the run, and without a coherent the mainstream media. This is not merely because a discount principle to cope with every other knock on the door. N ot for is needed, given that some parts of the media are sick of him, the first time were observers wondering whether the govern­ and others are determinably seeking to punish him for failure ment knew anything much about process. to indulge their owners. More ominously, som e key constituents of governm ent Of course the safaris excite a lot of cynicism. In the bush, began calculating whether Howard should be displaced. It is politicians of all stripes are mistrusted even more than they hard, however, to see any of the potential successors playing are among journalists. But Howard has not been there m erely the new pump-priming politics more successfully. The front to appear on city television, and his campaign is an 18-month­ runners are certainly not well positioned to do so. John Howard's long one, where his stolid but nagging style may have more calculations acknowledge that much of the rest of the year will impact than any amount of public relations glitz. be a horror story with the introduction of a goods and services He's back with old-style governm ent-about services and tax. Even before N ews Lirnited turned on the government, there service levels, about education, health care, about infrastructure. were any number of anomalies-m ost, of course, created by One might cavil about how little Howard understands the D em ocrats' success in getting some exemptions-waiting infrastructure, and his mystical sense of rural communities as to be discovered and exploited by the Opposition and, now, the the essence of Australianness has yet to discover a place for media. As things stand, it is the sm all business community Aborigines. And, of course, the sharp social and economic which is more alienated from the Liberal Party than the decline of many of the communities owes much to the economic electorate at large. And from Howard's point of view it will rationalism and globalisation of the economy he has spent so only get worse in the m edium term. He's not being helped, much of his life championing. either, by rising interest rates, since most voters will calculate It is acute consciousness of this, indeed, which has made any change in the fortunes, come 1 July, by how they his forays so interesting, and his retreat so profound. Long before stood the day before, not two years ago. Pauline Hanson was feeding off a rural and regional backlash, or Jeff Kennett's arrogance was creating a fr esh one, John Howard K IM BEAZLEY, AND LABOR, have a lot riding on the idea that had not lacked advisers warning him of the problem s he was popular resentment of the GST will remain strong. They have creating for himself. Only now that the polls have moved so the Canadian, and, arguably, the N ew Zealand experience on sharply, and government has become conscious of how many their side. But Howard is looking to some breaks. From the of its most marginal seats lie in non-metropolitan areas, is Olympics, and later, from federation comm emorations. From governm ent willing to eat humble pie. tax cuts. Perhaps from som e shift of the heat towards (Labor) And quickly too, even at the risk of choking. The real state governments as they get probably higher-than-expected debacle of the National T extiles intervention did not lie in GST revenues-if some of the burden for the public hospital Howard's mismanagem ent of the fact that his brother was system goes with it. And from lots of repeat performances out chairman of the failed company towards which the government in the bush where John Howard does not do anything very much, was showing such favouritism. It was that the issue of helping but still seem s a decent enough sort of guy who listens, keeps workers in such a situation had been on the agenda for over a coming back even after he ge ts a bit of a razzing, hasn't (like year, but ministers such as Peter Reith had not developed a everyone else) much of an idea what to do about turning back single principle as a guide for assistance. In a series of collapses, the clock, but seems willing to have a go . beginning with a mine at Cobar, it appeared that corporate Howard hasn't got anything much to shout about, but entities had been restructured late in the day to leave employees expectations of politicians are not very high and his forays might penniless but owners with something to salvage. Not only did go down a little better than some vague generalisations about government do nothing, but Reith's connivance in just such a concern for education and the general iniquity of som e types of contrivance on the waterfront two years ago almost gave an tax. Were I Kim Beazley, I'd be polishing up and repackaging impression that such sharp practice was regarded as Paul Keating's Working Nation, and doing so before John acceptable. Howard discovers and markets it as his own. • In recent months, the pressure to find one-off solutions for acute local crises has increased, but when Howard felt forced Ja ck Waterford is editor of the Canberra Times.

V OLUME 10 N UMBER 2 • EUREKA STREET 7 L ETTERS

EurelVictoria as documents in reason I u sed the French word exist ence will attest. It was 'cigales' (cicadas) in the first line of absolutely supportive of improve­ the last stanza when what I m eant m ents in education, teacher training was either 'ecrevisses' (crayfish) or and the host of other issues being 'homards' (lobsters). Ecrevisses addressed. would not scan, so it might have The policies of the APC have been better if I had used an English always supported funding for school word . The poem was written in students on the basis of need. We Corsica which is why I wanted to have never been opposed to block identify the creatures in the res­ funding. Our policies have been taurant tank in French. Cicadas published repeatedly and often in couldn't inhabit a water tank and the APC Review, our official anyway have no connection with magazine since 1975. the Samuel Beckett reference of the Catholic Education Commission Not only is the reporting of the screa m of the crayfish as it is dropped from 1990 and continuing; and a APC policies incorrect, it shows a into boiling water. So my revised member of numerous committees fundamental lack of understanding line should read 'The old man dreams national and s ta t e, involving about the efforts by APC and many of crayfish in t h eir tank'. M y Catholic school interests, and the other groups, including the bishops shamefaced apologies. interests of non-government school and politicians of all political colour, Peter Porter parents. to try to obtain a degree of justice in London, UK The particular statements in the government fund ing for non­ review by Sister Arthur to which my government schoolchildren. orga nisation members and I take I would advise anyone u sing Obj ection I grea t exception are as fo llows: Blazing a Trail as a base document on the history of Catholic Education I always knew that the Australian From Leo Dunne OAM, President in Victoria, as is suggested in Sister Pa rents Co un cil was opposed to the Australian Parents Council Brigid Arthur's review, to remember Ca tholic Education Commission of I write concerning Sister Brigid that the printed word is not gospel Victoria and the Catholi c Educa­ Arthur's book review, Alliances, and to widen their research base to tion Office, but before reading Holy and Otherwise, appearing in include the many other available O'Brien I did not know there was a the January-February issue. The documents. con nection between that body and article concerns Ann e O'Brien's Leo Dunne B.A. Santamaria and the National book, Blazing a Trail: Catholic North Sydney, NSW Civic Council. Education in Victoria 1963-1980. As the President of the Australian She further says: Parents Council (APC) for the last The book revea ls that, in the war Obj ection II eight years, I feel obliged to refute against block funding and a 'needs­ statements made by Sister Arthur From Margaret Slattery AM MBE based' distribution of money, the concerning the Australian Parents Sister Brigid Arthur, in her review of alliance co nsisted of Santamaria, Council. Anne O'Brien 's Blazing a Trail: Margaret Slattery of the Austra lian My further qualifications to point Catholic Education in Victoria Parents Council, the independent out the error of her statements are as 1963-1980 (Eur elw Street, January­ schoo ls and most of the bishops' follows. I have been a member of the February 2000), says that the book is Executive of the APC since 1973; The statement apparently made 'a valuable piece of history' and that the Executive Officer of the in the book that 'there was a connec­ 'future writers could well go back to Federation of Parents and Friends tion' between the APC a nd this book as a base document'. Her Associations of Catholic Schools in Santamaria and/or the National apparent e ndorse m ent of the Queensland, 1982-1999; a member Civic Council is purely fanciful. material in the book should be of the National Catholic Education I can also say from my long accepted with caution. Commission, 1984- 1992, Deputy working association with Margaret The book contains some Chairman of the Queensland Slattery over the years from 1969 historical facts of interest. It also

8 EUREKA STREET • MARC H 2000 contains a number of untrue The reference to the prior ri ght of statem ents about myself and the Th is month, the parents to choose was the work of Australian Parents Council of which w riter of each the Australian Parents Council, and I was honorary National Secretary letter w e possibly especially Mrs Margaret and its principal spokesperson from publish w il l Slattery of Sydney, who negotiated 1969-1990, during which time I had receive a with Government and Opposition res pon si bili t y with current Eureka Street over a number of years. The inten­ tions of the Cou neil were to gain Presidents for all its official state­ bag. Perfect reassurance about the right of non­ m ents and activities. for books, These untrue statem ents appear government schools to exist, which bananas and to be mired in O ' Brien 's total has not been di sputed in Australia, beach towels. misconceptions about the nature and and to receive public funds which basis of the funding policies of the has been disputed . APC. N or did she take any steps to for the last 25 years and which clearly Mr Beazley's statem ent is a inform herself by interviewing m e, sets out APC policies in full. telling contradiction of O'Brien's ill­ although the book sh ows sh e Had the author interviewed m e founded assertions about the APC's interviewed many other people who and/ or done som e thorough research and my motivation and work in the do not receive the prominence that on the APC sh e would have learnt: interests of non -government school­ I have unfortunately been given. l. The 'connection' alleged in the children and parents. Mr Beazley's O'Brien alleges that the APC and book and taken as fact by Sister Brigid statement clearly shows his under­ m yself were in 'collaboration' with between Mr Santamaria and myself standing that the work of lobby the Liberal Party, with the bishops, does not exist and has never existed. groups like the APC was to present with B.A. Santamaria and with the 2. I h ave never belonged to any their principles and policies to all N ational Civic Council in what she political party nor in fact attended political parties with out fear or appears to see as an effort to defeat any political m eetings. favour. appropriate funding policies for 3. All the Australian bishops were This is the true motivation and Catholic schools. Such allega tions naturally on the APC mailing list. work of the APC. of collaboration and connection are Any influence I m ay have had on Margaret Slattery absolutely fal se, as is h er alleged them was because m y comrnunica­ Wollstonecraft, NSW quotation of Dr M cKinnon that tions always contained the latest 'Slattery seem ed less con cerned facts and figures on the 'State Aid' about the future of Catholic educa­ issue. tion than that no credit be given to 4. In one particularly serious error, the Labor Party'. (O'Brien, p117) the author attributes a series of Julie Houniet O'Brien says: 'By 1972 the APC Bulletin articles criticising som e of had inform ed and convinced almost Father Frank Martin's decisions as a Psychologist the whole of the Catholic lobby and m ember of the Commonwealth their arguments were virtually the Schools Commission, to an ex­ only ones being used by Catholic President of the APC. The person B.A., Dip. A pp. Soc. Psych ., M a. Ps.S. spokesperson '(p87). O'Brien seem s nam ed has n ever been a President or unwilling to concede that such Vice President of the APC. Member of t he Coll ege of Clinical unanimity h ad b een achieved 5. My motivation for m y m any years Psychologists (A.P.S.) because these arguments, based on of honorary work for the Australian Clinical Member of Victorian Assoc. the right of every child to education Parents Council was based not on of Family Therapist s (V.A.F.T.) of the parents' choice, were seen by 'ideology' as O'Brien 's book says, Catholic spokespersons to be the best but on an ideal- the ideal that all way of achieving funding justice for children were entitled to sh are non-government school students. equitably in t axpayers' funds Individual/Ma rital/ The APC is portrayed in the book allocated to schooling. Fam ily Therapy as a powerful player in the State Aid Mr Kim Beazley Snr (a m ember of Scene. It is referred to 46 times over the ALP, and father of the present Anxiety, depression , 30 pages in the 200-page book, which Federal Leader of the Opposition ) makes the author's failure to inter­ was Federal Ed ucation Minister for relationship difficulties , view m e, or any of the office-bearers the life of the Whitlam governments, phobia s, compulsive of the APC or its past Presidents 1972-75. In 1980 in the book from 1969 when I first becam e Melbourne Studies in Education disorders, addiction . National Secretary, appear to be a (Melbourne University Press) at serious omission. The book's biblio­ page 46, Mr Beazley h ad this to say Tel : 03 9481 7836 graphy reveals no attempt to research about the debate on the Schools the APC Re view, the n ational Commission Act in the Federal journal, published four times per year Parliament in December 1973:

V OLUME 10 NUMBER 2 • EUREKA STREET 9 The Month's Tra-ffic ) 8 'JP 5

something else-less sweaty, more maid­ they do not think because they have no like-in a cleaning lady. But reality bit. leisure for it; their lives have made slaves Cl eaning in other people's houses is of them ... Cleaned out laborious, isolated dirty work that, done thoroughly, makes you sweat. Domestic cleaners in 2000 are caught in I drew the short straw in the sort of just such a trap. Possibly som e love the RwLE WHO REACH a certain income level houses I cleaned. Modern inner-city work and are happy with the wages but not often want a cleaner. It's a trend that reflects dwellings, built on small blocks to a vertical for long, and not for life. modern lifestyles-busy professionals, plan, arc hard on the body. And upstairs I am terribly out of step but I'll risk the working long hours. They say they want doesn't really suit our climate. Professionals ridicule and ask, couldn't housework be quality time with the children, or more seem to need two or three bathroom s cheap, purposeful exercise? Isn't teaching recreational opportunities. And why should whether they are couples or families. children to clea n up after themselves an the woman who works as hard as her male Sometimes they are not really homes so important lesson in life? Wouldn't taking partner be the one to clean ? The solution to much as museums to desirable lifestyles. responsibility for the care and maintenance this modern dilemma? Hire a cleaner. The upwardly mobile occupy their major of your own stuff make you think about Briefly this summer, when other work asset, while normal people live in a house. how much stuff you rea ll y need? dried up but the children still needed their And they are consummate consumers. Philosophers have written sagely about tucker, I took a job with a domestic cleaning I used to wonder who bought all those the descent into decadence of life lived at agency. This agency was staffed by friendly products advertorialised in the Sunday several removes from reality. Columns of people obviously enj oying their thrilling supplements. I met them as a clean er. print have been devoted to the great divide ride on the cresting wave of home-help Shampoos, conditioners, fra grant oils, in wages, to the ga p between rich and services. cosmetics, hair thickeners, thinners, skin poor. Wouldn' t it be wonderful if just for I earned about $ 11 per hour. I worked revitalisers and nourishments-never a da y, as a bold social experiment, wages against the clock in hot, stuffy closed-in before in recent history have we enjoyed were paid according to the usefulness to homes, using a frightening array of cleansers, such well-fed hair and skin-marched across society of the work performed? What each one giving off its own chemical tang. the bathrooms, smothering surfaces and shocks, what joys! Travelling time, petrol and parking- meter shower recess floors. All must be moved for More sensibly, to those thinking about fees ate into the hourly rate. We cleaners cleaning. Objets d'art, videos, CD players, hiring domestic help, if you ca n afford paid upfront for insurance cover, made microwaves, books, vases, candleholders, servants then you can afford to pay them a contact with clients using our home phones, shoes, sports gear, coffee-makers, wine decent wage. If home help, in the form of did all the subsequ ent on-the-ground collections, remote controls, magazines, cleaners, nannies or cooks, is absolutely negotiations, collected the agency fees, toys, computers, coffee plungers, more essential to your quality of life, then place forwarded fees as personal cheques or money toys ... Stuff near chokes some homes, a proper value upon it. Ask the agency not orders, were asked to promote the service making clea ning a very tedious business. what their fee is but what they pay their with leaflet drops to nearby houses, and be This vexed question of the middle class workers. Add some dollars on if it's too low. ' more than just a cleaner' to clients. I know prospering and growing strong on the back - Linda Gordon of other jobs where the hourly rate is lower. of the servant class has taxed far greater Family da ycarc workers get $3.50 per hour minds. One of the 20th century's clearest per child, dishwash ers can be paid as little thinkers, George Orwell, wrote about his as $8 or $9 per hour. By comparison m y $11 stint as a dishwasher in an expensive Paris Gone west looks good. hotel, describing the plongeurs (dishwash­ One stifling afternoon, as I scrubbed at ers) as the slaves of the modern world. A RC HBISHOP OF PERTH, Dr Peter Carnley, built-up soap scum in an upstairs bath­ was elected Primate of the Anglican Church room, a new client returned to her home His work is servile and without art; he is of Australia on February 4. He replaces unexpectedly, and minus her front-door paid ju st enough to keep him alive; his only Dr Keith Rayner, who retired in November. key. I ran downstairs, opened the door, my holiday is the sack. They have simply been The office carries no jurisdiction al face red as a beetroot with sweat visible and trapped by a routine that makes thought power, but the Primate presides at general staining my shirt, heavy duty gloves on, impossi ble. If plongems thought at al l, and episcopal synods and speaks on behalf panting to catch my brea th. She recoiled. they would long ago have formed a union of the Australian Anglican C hurch in I felt embarrassed for her. She had imagined and go ne on strike for bcttertrea tment. But national and international milieux.

10 EUREKA STREET • MARCH 2000 In contrast to his predecessor who was Perth is a somewhat remote fi efdom in ca utiou s with public comment, Dr Carnley the Anglican Church-only once before has wades into topical debate with well-fortified the Primacy gone to West Australia (during argument. He is willing to canvass his own World War II ). Unless Dr Carnley considers Tallzing horse personal views as well as articulate the a m ove to the eastern seaboard, the West mind of the church. will be well-represented from now on in At his first media conference following Anglican public debate. Last November h e A sTHE HOBARTCur loom ed, the summer the election, the new Primate grasped thorny described proposed changes to native title weather turned grey and wet. The mood at issues of public debate. l egi sl ation in the West Australian the Man O'Ross Hotel was edgy . The On reconciliation: 'I h ear from the Parliament as 'a bit draconian', and three publican had sacked apprentice jockey Aboriginal community that it's v ery years ago put his hand to an open letter, James N evin for riding his horse Tiger Talk important that the "sorry" word has to be published in London, calling on the British diffidently at Devonport. The horse was on somebody's lips. I think we have to prime minister to raise human rights issues then 'given an easy run' when second at encourage the Prime Minister to keep with Mr Howard. Elwick. How would h e fare on Cup Day travelling with this one.' The question is whether the Anglican against the Tas manian weight-for-age On drug reform and shooting galleries: Church in Au tralia can cope with this champion Royal Rambo? Before these 'It's very important that lives have to be style of leadership. Dr Carnley is optimistic. quandaries were sorted out, I'd worked my saved. We already provide free syringes 'I think Anglicans are not Christians who way back into the local scene by ba cking to people and that doesn ' t som eh ow leave their minds at home when they come first starter Jadore. The filly obligingly condone drug taking ... I would approach to church. I think it would be short-changing saluted at tote odds of 56/l. How easy the question of safe injecting rooms as an Anglicans to think they cannot grapple punting som etimes seems. extension of that.' with difficult issues. I think we are a church That day-the Saturday before the Cup­ On homosexuality and the clergy: which encompasses a huge range of belief, the Tasmanian Racing Club also staged the 'I haven 't ordained knowingly a practising a huge range of attitudes on a whole range Peter Bakos Memorial Handicap. The race homosexual person ... The category of of moral issues. Somehow, perhaps by a is named in honour of one of the smallest friendship is a better category to use to try miracle, we're able to hold ourselves and not most prodigiously talented of and understand gay relationships, a better together; and certainly we've demonstrated jockeys, but a man who earned affection category to u se than the category of that we can have a civilised and rational and respect as a ra conteur and peerless marriage for example.' A resolution passed conversation with quite difficult topics, maker of whips. Each year he ca me for the by more than 700 bishops at the Lambeth and perhaps in the end agree to differ, but Hobart Cup, as so many mainland jockeys Conference at Canterbury, UK in 1998 we've go t to have the conversation.' have done. Scobie Breasley never won a opposed gay marriages, but Dr Carnley Dr Carnley, who is 62, is expected to fill Melbourne Cup, but in 1947 he took the revealed that he had abstained on this. 'The the role of Primate until 2008, when he is Hobart Cup on Wingfire. This yearDamien Anglican Church of Australia doesn' t have bound by current canonical law to retire. Oli ver was across to ride the favourite a mature mind on the issues as a whole just - Maggie Helass Midnight Sun (a mare in foal to Snippets) yet; on the other hand we are for Bart Cummings. absolutely unanimous that Racing began in Tasmania promiscuity, whe ther in in 1814atNewTown, just north relation to heterosexuals or of Hobart, with a four-mile homosexuals, is out.' match race between Cheviot Dr Carnley's Cambridge and Diana-over three h ea ts. doc tor ate 'con cernin g th e The TRC established its head­ church and its m emory of Jesus' quarters at Elwick in 1875, the evidently weighed in his favour, year the first Hobart Cup was following misgivings over his run. Snug in a bend of the book The Structure of Resur­ Derwent River, the course used rection Belief which casts doubt to sport a drive- in cinema in its on the physical resurrection of centre and on ce, on an Christ. especially windy day, hosted Originally from Bathurst, Pope John Paul II. In genteel Dr Carnley trained a t Mor­ times, punters arrived by boat. pe th Theological Seminary. Now they pile into the carpark Graduating with a BA from opposite the Showgrounds Melbourne's Trinity College, before beginning their assault. h e won th e Lucas Too th Good horses have won the Cup. Scholarship and went on to In 1883 The Assyrian scored Cambridge. He was Warden of under 6 7kg, after winning the StJohn's College, University of Melbourne Cup the previous Queensland, from 1972 until year. The next horse to manage 1981 when he was consecrated the double (in reverse order) Archbishop of Perth. was Piping Lane. Victorious at

VOLUME 10 N UMBER 2 • EUREKA STREET 11 Elwick with Roy Higgi ns up, he was a who won four Launceston Cups and the who are surviving Ireland's engagement surprise winner at the fri endless odds of Hobart Cup at 14, but the luck, acceleration with the European market. 40/ l at Flemington in 1972. and handicap were right on the day. As for Until the mid 19th century the Church This was the clay when the famous the publican of the Man O'Ross, second of Ireland was an arm of colonial govern­ Tasmanian artist Geoffrey Dyer took a day m oney for Tiger Talk was worth two city ment, tow hich all Irish people were obliged off from teaching to go on the punt, only to wins out of carnival time, not that he to pay taxes. It had a 'terrible, terrible be accosted at twilight by a TV camera crew shouted the bar. -Peter Pierce history' says historian Liam Swords, except conducting a vox pop. Asked what he for the period of the Great Famine when thought of the gallant win by the local Church of Ireland clergy, and their wives, horse, the artist replied that Piping Lane Church in took a lead in providing relief for destitute lacked charisma. N ext day his benign head­ and starving people in their parishes. master told him that if he had to wag school, Ireland With disestablishm ent in 1869, the at least stay off television. Church of Ireland began a century of decline, T he night before the 2000 Cup, Moonee 'IE LAST T IME I was in Ireland, 13 years at least in the Republic, as land redistribu­ Valley staged the Australia Stakes m eeting. ago, there were numerous reports of m oving tion, civil strife and, ultimately, Irish The main race marked the return of brilliant statues. We've found out since that they independence compromised its economic colt Redoubte's Choice, conqueror of Testa had reason for their agitation. The public base, undid its civic importance and led to Rossa in the Caulfield Guineas in the spring. reputation of the Catholic Church has been large numbers of its adherents leaving the But 'enigmatic' would do for him as well, clouded by a succession of scandals and country. Then there was the requirement for the filly Miss Pennymoney ran past church attendance rates are steadily declin­ that Catholic marriage partners promise to Redoubte's Choice at the top of the straight ing, especially a mong urban populations bring up their children as Catholics, so that to win easily. It seem s that the colt's and young people. On top of that, traditional the inevitable inter-religious marriages connections have still not worked out how Irish identity derived from a combination continued to deplete the Church of Ireland best to ride him. Darren Beadman, back of land, nationality and religion is dead, we population. from a two-year lay-off answering God's are told, and the vacuum is being filled in The numbers are still going down and ca ll to be a pastor (Bart Cummings advised all kinds of creative and/or blind-to-history indeed the level of religious practice among him to get a second opinion ), is tipped to ways. m embers of the Protestant churches in replace Jim Cassidy on the horse. One of the features of the new pluralist Ireland is lower than among Catholics, but Apeing, or parodying Fashions on the Ireland is the rise of the Church of Ireland, there has been a subtle change in the Church Field at Flemington, Cup Day at Elwick at the very least in its own estim ation. It of Ireland's presence in Irish life. In the featured a very tall woman with a hat made has tiny numbers but its vision of itself is Republic it has come to represent liberal of pink, orange and yellow gerbera s. She large: its Primate, Archbishop Robin Eames, views on a range of contemporary issues­ complimented all those, like her, w ho had sees his church as offering a middle way, a as well as Unionis m and the British painted their handbags and toes, and the via m edia between the 'extrem es' of establishment. Unlike its counterpart in many who were 'accessoried to the n1ax'. Catholicism and Presbyter­ England, it took up ordaining When the business started, with surround­ ianism. Another prominent women without a n y great ing grey hills under cloud, women jockeys cleric, the Dean of St ructions in the pews. won three of the first six races. Beverley Patrick's Cathedral in The Church of Ireland has Buckingham and her successors have always Dublin, Robert McCarthy, b ecom e attractive to some been best trea ted in Tasmania. describes the Church of Catholics disenchanted with the Young Niven, although off Tiger Talk, Ireland as filling a longing Catholic Church, and to certain won his first ever race-on 40/ l outsider for continuity and connec­ of the upwardly mobile who per­ N exus. He thanked his pop who'd brought tion with the past since it ceive the form er established him up after both parents were killed in a represents an unbrok en church as more socially prestig­ car accident. In the Thomas Lyons, the tradition, both in buildings ious and certainly offering a aforesaid Tiger Talk ran a gallant second to and culture, whereas mod­ better sort of schooling for their his stablemate and full brother O'Donnell. ern Ireland is the product children. In public at least som e Royal Rambo, unhappy in the sloppy of a post-Famine wiping of its spokespeople have becom e ground, ran third. clean of the slate. less polite: Dean McCarthy, who In the Cup, Oliver had Midnight Sun In the Republic, the stands in succession to Dean handy, but was boxed in by Devon port Cup Church of Ireland repre­ [Jonathan] Swift at St Patrick's, winner Torbellino (whose other claim to sents a tiny three per cent has taken to chiding the Catholic fame was once running third to Tie the of the population, and in Church, in particular its leader­ Knot in Sydney). But it was a da y for light­ the North it is the minority ship. When his public offer of St weights. Lord Baracus charged from well Protestant church with Presbyterians in Patrick's for 'Catholic Masses for tourists' back to win and punters celebrated a 'local' the majority. It never had a large m ember­ was declined by Catholic Archbishop victory. Jockey Wayne Davis had m oved ship but it still does count among its con­ Desmond Connell, McCarthy responded fro m Victoria seven years before. Lord gregations som e of the most influential with disappointment that 'an opportunity Baracus may never be m ention ed in the people in Ireland, particularly in the spheres for m oving things on a bit' had been missed. same breath as the b est T asm anian of business, finance and the professions, M cCarthy ha s called Archbishop gallopers, Malua and Sydeston, or even Strop not to mention the bigger farmers, the ones Connell a 'product of a bad system ' and

12 EUREKA STREET • MARc H 2000 criticised the Catholic hierarchy for failing to lead from the front. He knows that every word he says will be covered by the national 1 a e media: 'There has been a lowering of esteem sa dly and very understandably for the clergy of the Catholic Church in Ireland because of recent scandals, and in a sense the Church of Ireland is now and for however long it lgn iti ng the lasts the favourite on of the press in Ireland.' Church of Ireland clergymen to whom I spoke invariably referred to the sorry conversation standing of their Catholic confreres, but they are compromised too, not by the L C ELEBRATE PA SS ING THE MJLLENNIUM, what better than a Symposium and a temptations of too much power but by the FestivalZ The Symposium was organised and published by the independent atavistic lure of sectarianism and a long­ Catholic m agazine Commonweal (19 November 1999). The topic was the Cri is held habit of vacillation. In the Republic of Liberal Catholicism-a topic which usually educes gloom and rhetorical they are embarrassed, and helpless, in the overkill. Here, it prompted an admirable conversation, characterised by mutual face of the stand-of£ organised around the respect, intelligence and passion. parish church of Drumcree near Porta down Chicago Cardinal Francis George developed an earlier comm ent that 'Liberal in Northern Ireland. There the vicar has Catholicism is an exhausted project'. He argues that Liberal Catholicism had lent his support to Orangem en whose helped the church to free itself from conservative social and political alliances protests have led to violent clashes with and to learn from what was good in modernity. But when that task was both the British Army and the police, and to accomplished at the Vatican Council, it allowed its agenda to be set by the a number of deaths, including those of the individualism and fashions of contemporary society. George argues that this is three Quinn children who died when their house on a Protestant estate was firebombed. a dead end. H e argues his case well, and will be worth hearing when he visits Archbishop Eames has been accused of Australia in May. making public statements which are closely Former Commonweal editor Peter Steinfels who, like the M elbourne argued presentations of current Unionist philosopher Max Charlesworth, has long defended the cau se of integrity within thinking, and certainly some of his own the church, argues persuasively that the contribution of Liberal Catholicism has clergy in the Republic have been strongly been n ever more n eeded- in the face of intolerance within the church and of critical of his failure to make a clear and hostility to Catholic moral principles in wider society. He recognises, however, decisive condemnation of the Orange Order. the trends criticised by George, rooting them in an over-simplified appeal to The whole point of leadership, says Dean Gospel principles which is used to deconstruct the Catholic tradition. McCarthy, is that it should be able to take I read the contributions to the Symposium with the mixture of affirmation a wider view. The Archbishop fears losing and reservation habitual to one who is conservative by upbringing, liberal by the rank and file: 'There is a very narrow education, and radical by calling. But to m y ear something seemed lacking in this elastic line between leadership and lea der­ rich conversation. I put my finger on it at the festival. This was the Marist Youth ship that has lost its relevance because you have lost touch with what the rank and file Festival, at which a few hundred idealistic young people reflect on their faith. are thinking.' It took the deaths of the The Festival confirmed Steinfels' advocacy for breadth of conversation. Quinn children before he was able, publicly, Among young adults, the conversation must recognise hesitations and emerging to oppose the Orange protests at Drumcree. certainties, the value and limitations of contemporary song and culture, and One of his clergymen in Portadown has the passion for goodness outside as well as inside church boundaries. Otherwise, written about the very tribal nature of it simply confirms dislocation. Journalist Martin Flanagan and singer Shane Unionism and how it has to be helped to H oward were as central a part of this conversation as was Bishop Brian Heenan. move on. In the coming weeks Archbishop The Liberal Catholic insight is that to censor or control this conversation is Eames' leadership will be tested as the next ultimately an act of infidelity for it denies the central truth that God speaks in chapter in the story of the Belfast Peace each person's h eart. The Festival, however, also confirmed Cardinal George's Agreement unfo lds. -Margaret Coffey insight that the conversation must sit comfortably within the church and direct This month's contributors: Linda Gordon attention to the Jesus Christ who is met there. is a freelance journalist; Maggie Helass is a Breadth and boundaries in conversation are essential, but they do not give Brisbane-based journalist who has worked life. At the Festival, life came as young people, immersed in a variety of welfare on assignment for the Anglican Church in commitments, found that others shared their spirit. The preoccupation of the the UK, South Africa and Australia; Peter Symposium with church structures, accommodation to modern culture, the Pierce is Eurel

V o LUME 10 NuMBER 2 • EUREKA STREET 13 CHURCH

With their move into job-search programs, are church agencies living out a commitment to justice, or simply doing the government's job! And what is the theological rationale, asl

T ,R ECENT SUCCESS of four maJOr (Crossroad, New York, 1985), American soc1ety. Rahner ident1hed a serious church-based welfare agencies in gaining Ca tho lie theologian Francis Fiorenza danger of 'clericalism and integralism' government funding for job-search outlines a number of suggestions that when the church adopts 'official' stances programs has created a flurry of debate have been offered by both modern and in the socio-political sphere. and discussion. classical theological sources. Traditional Next, Fiorenza identifies the 'partial From the initial publicity-31 Decem­ Catholic fundamental theology, drawing mission' model, associated with American ber 1999 in the Sydney Morning Herald­ on the grace-nature distinction, defined Catholic theologian Michael Fahey, the topic was in the press, either as the mission of the church in terms of a which locates the social dimension as one letters, opinion articles, or news com­ supernatural goal, identified as salvation of many in the church's overall mission. mentary, for around ten days. There were or the beatific vision. This stance mini­ But as Fiorenza notes, 'because this contributions from a social philosopher, mised or denied any proper mission in approach divides up the Church's many a federal minister, an anti-discrimination society, the economy, politics or culture. tasks, it does not sufficiently explore how advocate and even a Catholic bishop. Fiorenza also identifies an approach they are interconnected' (p206) . The ensuing debate has raised a which he calls the 'substitutive mission', Finally, he offers his own approach, number of issues, but perhaps the most associated with the German Protestant proposing the following rule: 'the more profound, from a theological perspective, theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg, and the social or political ministry of the is that of the relationship between the Catholic theologians Richard McBrien Church is related to Christianity's inter­ mission of the church and its involve­ and Juan Luis Segundo. pretative and practical function as a ment in publicly funded social welfare Pannenberg stated that 'specifically religion to exhibit and to proclaim Jesus programs. As Bishop William Brennan social activities of the Church (its welfare as the power and wisdom of the universe, asked, 'To what extent is such an activity organisations, childcare centers, nursing the more constitutive, essential, and consonant with the church's main role and hospital establishments, schools, distinctive this ministry is' (p223). He of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ?' etc.) are subsidiary and temporary. The then uses this rule to examine various Such questions are not new to Church engages in these activities as a cases, to justify the involvement of the theology and the answers that have substitute for the political structure of church in areas such as schools emerged have their roots in the long and society' (Fiorenza, p202). This approach and hospitals. controverted topic of the relationship leaves unanswered the question of how between grace and nature, a point this should be done. Is it a function of EA C H OF THESE conceptions of the emphasised by John Milbank in his dense the church as church, acting in an relationship between church mission and work, Theology and the Social Sciences ins ti tu tiona! capacity, or of individual social agency would respond very (Blackwells, Cambridge, 1990). These Christians, acting within the socio­ differently to the current debate. days, the problem is more likely to be political structures of the dayl The traditional approach would have articulated as 'secular versus sacred', each To pose this question is to consider most difficulty justifying the contribu­ with its own proper 'sphere' of activity. the model Fiorenza identifies as that of tion of church agencies to job-search The question then is, where does one 'unofficial mission', which he associates programs. They would not be seen as part draw the line? Milbank's own preference with one of the major Catholic theolo­ of the supernatural goal of the church. for the sacred to 'abolish' the secular and gians of the 20th century, Karl Rahner. The 'substitutive mission' approach for the re-establishment of Christen­ For Raimer, 'the church as official church could justify it, but only as a temporary dom- or 'sacralising the secular', as ... is not the immediate or the proper activity until such time as the govern­ Bishop Brennan puts it-is hardly likely subject for realizing the concrete human­ ment took up again its social respon­ to inspire confidence in those upholding ization of the world'. To promote such a sibilities. One can see something of this the value of a pluralist society. course of action 'would be to reintroduce approach in Bishop Brennan's assertion Theologians have offered a variety of clericalism and integralism' (p204)­ that 'finding work for the unemployed solutions to the question posed by Bishop integralism being that notion that the can be a charitable work, but only, Brennan. In Foundational Theology church should control all aspects of I suggest, if no-one else is doing it'.

14 EUREKA STREET • MARCH 2000 The problem for the 'substitutive would indicate that such action cannot those who lead such agencies and the mission' approach would be that govern­ be more organised and institutionalised, leaders of their churches. If they arc ment is actually withdrawing from the and that those so involved cannot receive people of moral courage they will not be responsibility through outsourcing. The the recognition and support of the silenced by such pressure. 'official/unofficial' stance might note church in undertaking this aspect of its Finally, government funding increases that church agencies such as Centacare broader mission. Organisations such the pressure for agencies to develop are largely run by the laity, though with as Centacare, Mission Australia and bureaucratic structures parallel to those encouragement and support from the Wesley Mission clearly fall into of the public service. Governments like church hierarchy. As such these agencies this category. big projects, large structures and bureauc­ are not 'officially' the church. Many racies which can keep track of every commentators in the debate might be B uT THERE ARE STILL concerns that need penny spent. Already we have seen sympathetic to the 'partial mission' to be raised. agencies develop new corporate struc­ approach which accepts that such work In Australia, the provision of employ­ tures in order to comply with tendering is a part but not the whole of the mission ment services has been the primary requirements. If church agencies simply of the church, but as Fiorenza notes, this responsibility of the government, but this duplicate the big bur aucracies of govern­ leaves too many unanswered questions. should not preclude provision by other ment, if they neglect the issues, concerns His own approach would recognise the services, as occurs in health and and resources of local communities, then validity of such work, while acknowledg­ education. Is the government with­ they run the danger of violating basic ing that it is not a 'core' activity. drawing from its responsibility, or is it principles of subsidiarity, much as My own favoured approach would be simply ensuring that it is carried out by present government bureaucracies do. to understand the church's mission as other means (outsourcing)? If the What is not clear in all this is the role follows: the transformation of the present government is withdrawing from a real of the bishops. Bishop Brennan complains situation to a new situation which more that Ccntacare did not consult the closely approximates the Kingdom of bishops about the 'wisdom or propriety' God on earth, through the promotion of of tendering for these major government a self-sacrificing love which overcomes projects. Is the source of this complaint the evils of the present through redemp­ a genuine theological concern or is it one ti vc suffering. While this mission is of political power within the church? primarily aimed at the religious and Certainly the expertise of the bishops moral transformation of persons, it does not lie in the vast and complicated extends itself into the cultural and social world of economics, politics, and social dimensions to the extent that these too policy, which is the proper domain of the are affected by the problem of evil. laity, and within which Ccntacare largely No-one would doubt that unemploy­ operates. Nor is it likely that any ment is a great social evil. Human dignity unanimity would be found among the is linked to our ability to participate in bishops on such matters. But a lack of the culture and contribute to the social responsibility, are church agencies unanimity should not prevent action order. Christians confronted with large­ complicit in the evil so involved, even in being taken, though a process of review scale unemployment will seek to trans­ the very act of tendering? These are may be called for. form that situation to one which is more complex issues, balancing policy, The theological difficulty lies in equitable and just. But who are the proper efficiency, responsibility, and realpolitik. identifying where agencies such as agent of such a transformation? Is it the Any moral investigation is likely to be Centacare fit within the mission of the 'church' as commonly identified with the inconclusive and open to dispute. church, and a variety of positions are hierarchy of bishops and priests or is it Will the church's acceptance of possible on that issue. The political issue the laity of the church? government funding result in its lies in the fact that local bishops are Here the teaching of the church is silencing on government policy? Govern­ generally the official chief executives of clear. Paul VI's Apostolic Exhortation, ments have already attempted to silence Centacare and so see these agencies as Evangelii Nuntiandi, identified the arena funded bodies by withdrawing funding part of their proper domain. of the lay mission as 'the vast and following criticism of government policy. If nothing else, perhaps the debate complicated world of politics, society and Would funding to Centacare for job over job agencies will help clarify these economics, as well as the world of searching silence the bishops on govern­ matters for future reference. Given the culture, of the sciences and the arts, of ment unemployment policy? Would it current government predilection for international life, of the mass media'. In silence Centacare? Would Centacare be privatisation, this is not likely to be the Western liberal democracies such as willing to lose funding over a major last time we sec church agencies Australia the provision of social welfare policy conflict? Would an irate govern­ tendering for and winning large govern­ services is part of the 'vast and compli­ ment distinguish between a criticism ment contracts. • cated world' that Pope Paul identified. coming from these two different sources? Such action can occur on an individ­ Again these are com.plex issues but their Neil Ormerod lectures at the Catholic ual basis. There is also nothing which resolution lies in the moral resolve of Institute of Sydney.

Vo LUME 10 NuMilER 2 • EUREKA STREET 15 Vi EWPO INT ALLAN PATIENC E Is there a cure for Melbourne's Catholicism?

M ANY CATHOucs in Melbourne pathologies, including depression and M any lay people think that the arc feeling troubled. suicide, and involves a merciless regime hierarchy has become too preoccupied Increasing numbers feel that what was of ' treatment' that diminishes person­ with the harm caused by a few sexually arguably once Australia's most thought­ hood rather than nurturing its Christie abusive priests. And the hierarchy ful Catholic diocese is in danger of being potential. exhibits a seemingly obsessive anxiety dumbed down or shut up by church Courage's views on homosexuality arc about homosexuality. It is as if there are s tructurcs that seem increasing! y contradicted by mainstream psycho­ no greater sins or social problems. authoritarian. Dissenting priests and logical and psychiatric opinion, which The spirituality informing this sexual religious are marginaliscd. suggests that gayness and lesbianism preoccupation has its counterparts in a Reports have surfaced of Melbourne are normal expressions of human sexu­ Vatican style and stance that is increas­ Archbishop George Fell's opposing the ality, that homosexuality is genetically ingly bureaucratic and out of touch with invitation to two respected academics, and culturally shaped in the same way local experiences and realities. At times Professors Max Charlesworth and David as heterosexuality. And heterosexuality it also seems tinged with a worrying Tacey, to speak at a seminarians' confer­ is itself a very broad category, covering mariolatry-worrying especially in the ence. It would appear that the orthodoxy diverse identities and expressive context of the sexual phobias that of these two lay experts is now in doubt­ practices. colour some of the pronouncements though this is not stated in any open If there is a theology of human about sex. forum where it could be freely discussed, sexuality behind the exclusions of openly This spirituality has contributed little much less debated. gay and lesbian Catholics, it appears to to the articulation of a contemporary Dr Pel!, like a number of his fellow be worryingly ignorant of social Australian theology and spirituality that priests and bishops, has had encounters scientific advances in our understand­ can come to terms with Australian with gay and lesbian Catholics and their ings of gender and human identity. We Aboriginality, with our remarkable supporters over the issue of full now know that gender and identity arc multicultural achievements, our proximity participation in the Eucharist by people continually being shaped by, and arc to Asia and its great religious civilisa­ from the 'Rainbow Sash' group (who continually shaping, culture and personal tions, and the problems and possibilities openly demonstrate in church for a experience-all of which is spectacular inherent in globalisation. For many lay change in the church's stance on homo­ evidence of the ongoing Crea tion. Catholics it seems increasingly alien and sexuality). More recently, the Melbourne A seriously articulated gay theology oppressive. The focus on sex at the diocese has become associated with (as signalled by writers like Andrew expense of wider concerns about ethical a group which holds out the promise of Sullivan and the late John Boswell) would living in this part of the world is a 'cure' for gayness and lesbianism. not be at all out of place in these especially destructive. Called 'Courage', this American organi­ important discussions. But there is no So, many of Melbourne's Catholics sation is controversial, and viewed by evidence that such a theology is informing face a dilemma. On the one hand they many as extremist. (One Australian ecu­ the decisions being made in the want to live out the sublime gospel of menical church group, which provides Melbourne diocese. unconditional love that is at the heart of pastoral care to celibate homosexuals, has a compassionate Catholicism. On the cut its links with Courage because of H OMOSEXUALITY, then, needs no cure. other hand they are confronted-and Courage's draconian approach .) Perhaps what does need curing is a increasingly affronted-by an ascendant Courage requires that its gay and church which is unable to see the divine autho ritarianism. It m igh t have been lesbian members acknowledge their giftedness in human sexuality's many possible in the past to ride roughshod sexualities as moral failure and psycho­ expressions of intimacy, caring, relating, over the laity. But today the laity is aware logical illness. It is widely recognised in loving, nurturing, comforting, healing, that, in its rich pluralism, it reflects the clinical and sociological circles that such consoling, reassuring, affirming, delight­ m yriad intimations of God's real an approach can fos ter an unhealth y ing. These things are all part of what the presence in the world. • mixture of guilt and sham e, even a state great social psychologist Erich Fromm of self-loathing, further m argin alising called 'the art of loving'. It is an art to Allan Pa tience is a Professor in the people within the church and the wider which the Melbourne Catholic hierarchy Faculty of Arts at Victoria University of community. It can lead to a range of seems less than attuned. Technology.

16 EUREKA STREET • MARcH 2000 MEOlA: 1 Ear to eternity

For an institution under siege-with fin ancial cuts, commercial press ures and new management looming-th e ABC ca n sti ll turn in extrao rdin ary programming. Histori an Ken Inglis surveys one radio day in a th ousa nd .

'Ae<

VOLUME 10 NUMBER 2 • EUREKA STREET 17 blow after all the ABC has suffered for ('Paranoia is true perception', a poster on threat, which some now believed ten years'. the wall of 2JT, antecedent of Triple J, used serious, that Radio Nation al and David Hill's appointment as manag­ to declare.) Despite assurances during the ABC-FM would be merged to save money. ing director in 1986 provoked anxiety at campaign, the Howard government On 7 May 1997 the editors of all major Radio National, for he was known to immediately reduced the ABC 's budget newspapers received, and some published, believe that the least popular offerings by more than $50 million, or 11.5 per a letter pleading for the retention of Radio were the likeliest candidates for the axe. cent- the most drastic cut ever- and National. 'If it is made to m erge with any In 198 7 Barry Hill aired in The A ge 'the then set up a review of its needs, to be other network its integrity will be lost.'

A Thousand Years in a Day was done on no budget, in 40 people's spare time: a thousand years on a shoestring. possible assassination of Radio National', conducted by a business man, in a hurry, The letter, drafted by two of its and the Age Monthly R eview ran a and with terms of reference which at that signatories, Robert Manne and Barry Hill, symposium entitled 'Has Radio National moment could sound m enacing. 'The expressed eloquently the nation's need a Future'' Protests inside and outside the Government seeks a more focused role for the network: ABC m ay well have helped to save the for the ABC which strengthens its network. Hill did not abolish it, but he eff ectiveness in key areas by refining the Radio National is our on ly radio outlet did the n ext worst thing, rem oving scope of current ABC services and for th e sustained exploration of ideas, parliamentary broadcasts from the activities.' More focused' Refining? What and the open -minded discussion Metropolitan network (the new name for might those words mean' In the event, essential to a modern democracy. T he Radio One), and dumping it on Radio Bob Mansfield turned in a vote of n etwork's brief is to t he best that can National, where it was bound to wreck confidence in the ABC, after receiving a be thought and said in science and th e the program strategy which had been volume of enthusiastic submissions law, business and literature, foreign building since 1985 . When that decision which astonished him. He did his best to affairs, the environment, and m an y set off outrage among and beyond Friends justify the cuts already made by advising other spheres of cultural importan ce. of the ABC, the government found that the ABC to drop Radio Australia, sell off What it offers is the essential inter­ it was possible aft er all, as for decades it a lot of property, and do much more pretative backdrop to what we get from had not been, to put the politicians on a 'outsourcing' (a buzzword of the decade). news and current affairs. network of their own. Radio National, he told his client the The Keating government imposed still Minister for Communication and the The 15 signatories included, as somebody more cuts. 'Bearing the brunt .. . ', reported Arts, 'was the most strongly supported remarked, not just the usual suspects Richard Ackland in the Sydney Morning of all ABC networks': as he summarised (such as Chris Wallace-Crabbe and me'), Herald, 'are Radio National and the arts.' many of the respondents, they found but Les Murray, two archbishops, Sir 'It really is a horrible scenario', an ABC RN programs 'diverse, intellectually Z elman Cowan, D am e Elisabeth footslogger wrote to m e, 'especially for Murdoch, and- most remarkably of all­ Radio N ational, and seem s to break the the born-aga in Malcolm Fraser, who had back of m any good ABC programs, not begun the tradition of budget cuts which to m ention w h at it is doing to the were impoverishing the national broad­ program m akers.' caster. On 13 June Hill and Manne told In som e critical minds the eff ects of the rest of us: 'we have reason to believe cuts becam e an argument fo r still m ore. the letter w as w ell n oticed within One self-appointed representative of Government circles an d the ABC taxpayers declared in 1994 that the Managem ent', though they believed that proportion of repea ts now heard on Radio a merger of networks might still be on N ational sh owed that 'w e' were n ot the managers' agenda. In the Weekend getting value for m oney; and anyway, A ustralian of 16 and 17 August Hugh how could the ABC justify a network Mackay wrot e a column h eaded reaching at bes t only 2.2 per cent of the 'National icon of the airwaves deserves population ' Peter Manning, gen eral stimulating and challenging'. As a former better'. He began with a high tribute: manager of Radio National, replied that executive of McDonald's and John reach was a better index than ratings, and Fairfax, he had been amazed at what Let m e just m ention a few names: that a million Australians Radio National's producer-presenters Phillip Adam s, Geraldine Doogue, T erry listened to the network. were achieving on tiny budgets. Lane, Peter Thompson, Robyn Williams The Mansfield report, released early ... H eard of any of these? How about M ANY ABC PEOPLE were jittery in in 1997, was read with some relief in N orman Swan ? (You migh t recall his 1996 about the return of a Coalition ABC offices, but it did not yield a cent expose of fl aws in som e of the research government, and they were right to be. m ore revenue and it did not remove the of D r William McBride.) [These are[

18 EUREKA STREET • MARCH 2000 som e of the most significant people at Radio National. If so, Johns are going to be taken around the world. contributors, over the long haul, to our himself may have helped them Martin Portus talks with a professor in understanding of ourselves and our rr greet the year 2000 with such zest. York about Spain. The even m ore lucid social, cultural, political and physical John Julius Norwich tells us enthusias­ environment ... .1. H E BBC 's NETWORK of local and tically about the astonishing Normans, Adams on Late Night Live, Doogue on regional stations was given a million and the schism between Rome and Life Matters, Williams on Th e Scien ce pounds for a Millennium History Project Constantinople, and can't stop himself Show, Thompson for breakfast, Lane on 'capturing the lives of British people over surging into the next century. A great The National Interest and Swan on both the past century' and generating more narrator, sounding like Henry Blofield at Life Matters and Th e Health Heport are than 600 programs. A Thousand Years in an exciting test match. the kind of operators who m ake you a Day was don e on no budget, in Towards 10, Williams says we can realise that, just occasionally, the broad­ 40 people's spare time: a thousand years follow the program on website cast media ca n be sensationally good, on a shoestring. A group of them thought abc.net.au. I try, am told I need som e­ that radio doesn't have to confine itself thing called Audio Real, or is it Real either to endless chat about the fl eeting Audio, and give up. concerns of the moment ... or sponta­ At lO am , news. These hourly five­ neous knockabout breakfast or drive­ minute breaks will be useful for toilet ti m e com edy ... or more-or-less visits and fridge grabs. con tinuou s music- w hether pop or Donna M cLachlan introduces the classical. 12th century. Music of the time between Radio, in other words, ca n be a deeply voices. Maria Zijlstra interviews a serious m edium, and Radio National is professor at Cambridge about the a prime example of the genre. crusades. Athol Anderson, professor at ANU, t alks with M cLachlan about Why this sudden paean of praise' Polynesian voyaging. Sounds of wind and up the idea early in 1999, and Stephen water, and a choir in Papeete introduced Simply because the rumours won't go Crittenden, executive producer, Religion, by Lucky Oceans: can't resist the thought away: wherever you turn, you hear that took on the job of co-ordinating a project that his n ame sounds more like his as the austerity m easures bite deeper, quite different from what they knew ABC subject . Extract from A Guide to the Radio National is unlikely to survive in TV and the Nine Network were planning. Perplexed by a man in Cordoba whose its present form. Perhaps it will be 'Fireworks and all that are surface stuff,' name I don't catch: philosopher, merged with Classic FM; perhaps it will Crittenden told a reporter, 'but under­ physician, rabbi. Rebecca Gorman on be folded into the AB C's continuous nea th is something that lasts. We wanted Eleanor of Aquitaine with Professor Ann news/ parliament network. Might it to do something momentous that Trindade in M elbourne, a slice of even be allowed to fade quietly away, captured the scale of it all.' He wanted, Katharine Hepburn's The Lion in Winter, on the assumption tha t its " tin y more specifically, to convey the depth then to Paris, where Gorman interviews audience" will squeak onl y faintly in and breadth of history to a generation a professor at the Sorbonne, expert on protest? who for one reason and other were losing Eleanor. Troubadour music. McLachlan Mackay's piece drew an immediate their sense of the past. goes out with music by Hildegard of response from Brian Johns, managing Here are som e of my jottings on how Bingen, 'ecstatic as her visions'. director since 1995. He hadn't until then they did it. And as Marco Polo said when Geraldine Doogue leads us into the made any public commitment to preserve he returned from his journey to the edge 13th century, and brings on Genghis

After th e 2 o'clock news, Kirsten Garrett comes in with th e startling proposa l that the most important date in Australian history may well be 74 33, when th e Chinese empire abolis hed its navy and removed th e possibility that our land could have become China's America.

Radio National. Now h e did, in good of the known world, I haven't told you Khan, who turns out to be unexpectedly administrator's style, declaring Mackay's half of it. tolerant: who says RN is unsympathetic concern welcome but unnecessary. At 9.05am, Robyn Williams intro­ to the far right? Some of his words, read 'Radio National stays. ' duces the whole day and does a precise by a woman: Brechtian alienation? And stay it did, to see out one century interview with the lucid Robert Lacey on Magna Carta exhumed, explained, read and see in another with a display of the the year 1000 in Britain. Rhys Jon es out. Item on Ra ziyya, Islamic woman qualities described by those letter-writers describes the clubbing to death of the last ruler-sultana-of D elhi; a hist ory­ and that columnist. My impression is elephant seal in Tasmania and the making woman I'd never h eard of. St that Johns' commitment to the network, flourishing of the moa in New Zealand, Francis of Assisi, by a former head of the combined with changes he has initiated and h e imagines life in Papua N ew Franciscan order in Australia who thinks in senior management, has heartened Guinea and South East Asia. We really well of Zeffirelli's Brother Sun and Sister

V O LUME 10 N UMBER 2 • EUREKA STREET 19 Moon and gives us the saint's message Australian history may well be 1433, both makers and subjects.) To Europe for our time, which might have him when the Chinese empire abolished its again for Patrick Collinson on Luther. branded by the Institute of Public Affairs navy and removed the possibility that our Another nice choice: doyen of Reforma­ a typical Radio National lefty: champion land could have become China's tion studies, once a professor in Sydney, of the frail, opponent of consumerism, America. Lyn Gallacher does a mind­ with an English flair for informal talk concerned for all creation, not just stretching item on Gutenberg, and Doris that draws on deep learning. Kay McLen­ humanity. Lessing airs doubts about the benefit of nan describes and illustrates an efflores­ On the 12 o'clock news John Howard his invention. Over to Spain for cence of music. A passage from expresses 'hope and optimism' for the Ferdinand and Isabella: voices Spanish Machiavelli's The Prince is presented as new century, in that voice which if you and other discussing with thoughtful arguably the first modern book. Dr Jim didn't understand English you'd think disagreement the reconquest of Granada, Leavesley from Margaret River tells gory was delivering a message of gloom. the fate of Moslems and Jews, the stories of surgery. inquisition. Thence to the couple's most

As every schoolgirl knows, says Copeland, in fourteen hundred and ninety two Co lumbus sa iled th e ocean blue; and as this old schoolboy didn't know, he had millenarian expectations for th e year 750 0. As we now know, though schoolchildren weren't told, he took syphilis to the new world. A roll ca ll of fa mous syphilitics, named between tolls of a bell.

Norman Swan, into the 14th century, famous agent. As every schoolgirl knows, At 4.05 Stephen Crittenden intro­ gives us a horrendous Health Report, on says Copeland, in fourteen hundred and duces 'the darkly glam orous 17th the black death, starting with a reading ninety two Columbus sailed the ocean century' with music by Frescobaldi and from Boccaccio's introduction to The blue; and as this old schoolboy didn't talk with Peter Greenaway. Damicn Decameron, to convey the plague-stricken know, he had millenarian expectations Carrick briefs us for debate, taped earlier Florentine setting for the tales. Kathy for the year 1500. As we now know, in the year, between Michael Kirby and Gollan takes us to Java, to hear a poetic though schoolchildren weren't told, he Geoffrey Robertson (our two most work rich in history, and Lucky Oceans took syphilis to the new world. A roll call articulate m embers of the arguing to Mali for a wild song about a terrible of famous syphilitics, named between profession?) on whether Charles I had a battle. Then we're back in Europe and the tolls of a bell. After a re-run from a Radio fair trial. Kirby (s urprisingly?) says Yes, towns of the Hanseatic League, Swan Eye feature on Vasco da Gama the Robertson No. Crittenden tantalises us interviewing a scholar with a knockabout century ends, as it began, in Florence, city with prose from the period, spoken by pop history manner and Maria Zijlstra both of Savonarola, (burning Boccaccio's Mark Dignam, anticipating digital radio getting us into the League's museum. book on his own journey to the flames) with the concept of a 'sound house', then Where earlier centuries have wound up and Michelangelo, sculptor and identifies the author: Francis Bacon. for the news, this one just pauses: no sonneteer. Witch hunts: appalling stories, spooky tyranny of time today. Before and after Jill Kitson and the 16th century arrive music. Zen and the Japanese warrior the break, a reading of Chaucer's Pardon­ at 3.05 with another sonnet, Shakespeare's class. Purcell. Stan Correy on coffee and er's Tale, then Stephen Crittenden in easy 'When in disgrace', read by John Bell, the culture of capitalism, especially in conversation across the world with his Amsterdam, a segment lacking only old teacher Stephen Knight about indi­ Simon Schama, who is billed in 24 Hours' vidual and society in Chaucer's England. program guide as coming in here. Too More poetry begins Julie Copeland's busy on his huge millennia! project for 15th century, by Renaissance man BBC television' Lorenzo de'Medici, and then prose by Alan Saunders starts the 18th century another, Leon Battista Alberti. Copeland with Pope's Essay on Man, which he deftly characterises Jacob Burckhardt's reads with intimacy and animation. He accou nt of their civilisation and before we are off again to the new world­ speaks, as the trained philosopher he is, questions Peter Hall about why Flor­ new to Emopeans, Kitson reminds us. New of reason as a candle in the 17th century ence was its richest site. John Julius to me is the Amerindian woman Malinche but a torch in this one, illuminating only Norwich returns splendidly for a war or Marina, Cortes' guide, interpreter and what it is pointed at; and he elucidates correspondent's report on the fa ll of Con- lover. Her biographer Anna Lanyon gives Hume and Kant. Jonathan Mills portrays stantinople, which is lamented us a finely crafted essay composed for Bach as composer and musician to the in Croatian song. today, and so does lnga Clendinnen, fresh community of Leipzig and plugs a series from Boyer Lectures, on the encounter of of the great man's cantatas which he will A FTER THE. 2 O'C LOC K NEWS, Kirsten Spanish and Aztec cosmologies. (One direct in churches during the next Garrett comes in with the startling achievement on show today is Radio Melbourne Festival. Professor Ted Cohen proposal that the most important date in National's commitment to women as from Chicago argu es in an American

20 EUREKA STREET • MARcH 2000 Jewish com edian's voice that jokes as we an other re- run from Radio Eye: an and seductive Adams. I drop out after a know them first appeared in the 1790s. account crea ted from documents and oral while, and miss altogether the book of Three people who know a lot about Josiah traditions, with sounds of battle, of a Revelations set to music: 'the West's Wedgwood discuss whether he and his bloody 'collision' between settlers and grim prophesy of apocalypse', pottery belong to the history of the Aborigines on the Murray. The voice of as the note in 24 Hours calls it. industrial revolution. Scholars in Charles Sturt prompts m e to remember America tell u s about their own a long-ago triumph of ABC radio, Th e L ISTENI NG TO THE RADIO is a fairly revolution, with tinkling martial music. Sturt Report, 15 minutes each evening for solitary activity these days, and I've spent Terry Lane asks which was the m ore ten weeks of 1951 fro m a re-enactment the day most unconvivially, cocooned in important event of 1770, Jam es Cook's of Sturt's historic journey down the earphones, waving at visiting family as discovery of N ew South Wales or the Murray, thought up by the ABC's ace they come off the road, not catching up birth of Beethoven ? A party ga me-and program planner of those days, Clem with them until almost the turn of the why not, on this day of days? Jack year at a friend's place. We watch Carmody and Andrew Ford join in. Tom fireworks, sing around the piano, and Morton takes us to the French revolution, look on and off at ABC television's salute which gets less time than the trial of to the occasion, 2000 Today, which to Charles I. I wonder why. And what has my blinking eyes looks like a theme-park becom e of Stephen Crittenden on t our of the world for viewers with Mozart, flagged in 24 H ours? Is the over­ 30- second concentration span, a series of work showing? global commercials, as if for American The 19th century, after the 7pm news, Express or Coca-Cola or the manufac­ belongs to Rachael Kahn. Pamela Rabe Semmler, and becoming the one really turers of those fireworks exploding with reads from Tolst oy on the battle of popular event in an otherwise lacka­ monotonous beauty over city after city. Borodino, Beethoven's Eroica surging and daisical jubilee of federation. A great day (Watching highlights on New Year's Day, fading behind h er m elodious actor's for the ABC when Tom Playford declared after a night's sleep, I find more substan­ voice. Andrew Lloyd Jam es takes time off a public holiday for the re-enactors' tial items, most m emorably those eerie his job in senior m anagem ent to come in arrival in Adelaide. I wonder if Semmler, dancers at Uluru). I wonder how many and do a reading from a book about a retired in Bowral, is a proud listener other people heard the whole day's riches. giraffe, the gift of Egypt's Mohammed Ali, today. The other Australian item is about Fewer, I imagine, than listened now and which walked to Paris in 1826, and we the origin of Australian Rules football. then in car or kitchen. ('It would be nice', go back to that ruler's land not only for Sounds to me a bit rambling, and an odd thought the writer of a letter published expert history and Aida but to h ear choice in such a lean ration of Austral­ in The Au tralian on 3 January, 'to think Egyptians today on his legacy. Kahn, alert iana, but maybe I'm getting groggy: the that all members of the ABC Board found to religion, has Napoleon in Egypt century has been going for nearly two time to listen ... '). converting to Islam. John Cargher, hours and I for nearly 12. I wait in vain for Radio National replayed (though with learned and cogent as ever, comes in with two items listed in 24 Hours, Kahn herself cuts) a century each day well into a blast of big sound and interprets the on Tocqueville in America and Ramona January, and the whole creation is to be France of this century as obsessed with Koval on Charles Darwin, for either of put out on a CD. How com e the video of bigness, from grand opera to the Eiffel w hich I'd have happily forgone the footy. 2000 Today was on sale so quickly, and tower. Margaret Coffey introduces Mary The 20th century is due to begin at the radio CD had to wait till March i Robinson, president of Ireland, lecturing 9. 05pm, but the n ews upst ages the N ever mind. Every secondary school

'Fireworks and all that are surface stuff/ Crittenden told a reporte"' 'but underneath is something that lasts. We wanted to do something momentous that captured the scale of it all. ' in Australia on the potato fa mine. program. Yeltsin h as resigned! Apart should have the CD, and every university Another Irish voice, the historian Liam from that event, we are to have from this multiple copies. As traditional arts and Swords', quotes people's own words century not history, no more scenes and social science courses get skinnier, as about that disaster, including some from ounds, but reflections on history, Phillip history disappears from schools, Radio an inquest on poor starved Nancy Kelly Adams presenting as it were Late National becom es an ever more precious in 1847 which he says bring rare tears to Century Live, preceded not by his trade­ preserver, transmitter and maker of our his eyes. mark Bach but Noel Coward's 'Twentieth culture. In Stephen Crittenden's words, Robert Menzies reads some Byron. Century Blues'. A harmonious quartet of A Thousand Years in a Day is som ething N ext the coming of cigarettes, and from civilised voices across the world, that lasts-in memory, on disk and as tobacco to opium and its wars, visited in Canadian, English, American and inspiration. • Chinese accents by the ABC's DaiLe and Australian, their themes including wars, Professor John Wong at the University of genocide and other aspects of dea th, Ken Inglis is the author of Sacred Places, Sydney. Two pieces on Australia. First, conducted from his chair by the supple The Age Book of the Year 1999.

V OLUME 10 N UMBER 2 • EUREKA STREET 21 THE L AW

M O IR A R AYNER So when the Attorney formally announced last year that he would establish a federal magistracy to deal with the less complex judicial decisions, releasing judges • for higher things, the stage was set for a proper row. The C hi ef Justice wan ted those magistrates to work within his Court and All Ill under his control (he could certainly use the m oney that comes with them): the Attorney was determined that this new tier of judicial officers would not be another specialist court, but a court of general the family jurisdiction. The Attorney-General, as a traditionalist, has never accepted the need for a specialist The controversial new Federal Magistrates Service just might court for Family Law, nor the need for any worlz. Why~ Because its head, Diana Bryant, is a family law specialist court. H e believes that the specialist with an open mind. common law tradition and the power of the parlian~ e nt to change laws in a democratic way are a far better way of developing the law. This new appointment and the estab­ lishment of this new court is consistent T ""'M"""' between D•ryl Willi•m,, Williams is notorious within the legal with those views. Commonwealth Attorney-General, and profession for dithering and stalling on It could have been outright war, had Chief Justice Alistair Nicholson of the statutory and judicial appointments, either Williams' appointment of t he C hief Family Court have been most undignified because his office is inefficient (letters go Magistrate designate not been so brilliantly and protracted. Once, judges got on with unanswered for months or, in my own case, appropriate. Diana Bryant QC is a Family judging and the Attorney defended the m fo rever, though we are old friends) or out Law specialist who practised in Western from the misunderstandi n gs of the of choice. It is said that Williams has been Australia when Williams (a nd I) did, and public. 'rolled' in Cabinet more often than not over subseq uently at the Bar in h er native The Family Court has long been vilified appointments to federal courts, funding, Victoria. She is well-known and respected, by a minority of people- mostly m en- who and legislation (fo r example, the disgraceful even liked, by the Family Court bench and beli eve that it is biased towards women bill, which he did not support, that was the Chief Justice in particular, who and destructive of families (the m ajority drafted to nullify the effects of the High congratulated her on the appointment. settle their conflicts without litigation or Court's decision in Teoh) . But in other cases And she has a unique understanding of how repeat appearances in the jurisdiction). shilly-shallying is the more likely cause. the magistracy might well work to the The Attorney has appeared to Li sten to Williams' failure to make a clear decision benefit of the Family Court. She told me these complaints, in part by recently about the future of present vice-presidential that she had seen a m odel of co-operation funding a 'lone fathers' association (w hile appointees to the Administrative Appeals that actually works, and wanted coincidentally his Cabinet colleague, Tribunal when it is restructured is a case ~ to try it here. Senator Newman, had dcfunded the in point. Council for the Single Mother and H er Chief Justice Nicholson is a committed l.HAT MODEL rs T H E Family Court of Child). aclvoca te for the recognition of the rights Western Australia. WA has always done When asked to defend other federal of the child as they are expressed in the UN justice its own way- not always well- but courts from trenchant criticism, Williams Convention on the Rights of the Child. had clone particularly well when, in the pointed out (in 1997) that the role of an Williams, on the other hand, is a traditional 1950s, it established a special magistrates' Attorney-General, whatever it might have Common Lawyer, uneasy that human court in Perth- known to journalists under been under an earlier set of political rights instruments have any effect within its clumsy title of 'The Married Persons and conventions, is now an essentially party­ Australia as a result of judicial inter­ Children (Summary Relief) Court', but to political appointment, and declined or pretation rather than parliament-made laws. those of us who appeared before it regularly, failed to defend the courts. The Chief Justice has also repeatedly as the 'Married Girls' Court'. William s- a quietly spoken, mannerl y, pointed out that the Family Court has been There, women could seek separation easy-blushing QC from Perth- has also crippled by inadequate resources and actual orders (men could but never did), or orders quite clearly suggested that the head of funding cuts as well as too few judges. The for their own maintenance, following their the Family Court is a self-important, Attorney argues that courts should be husbands' adultery, cruelty or desertion; inefficient, left-wing ra tbag. The C hief 'courts', with all that entails, and that the they could seek custody of and access to Justice, in his turn, may be seen to suggest Family Court is an unstable oil-and-water children; single mums could get skimpy that the Attorney is a rigid reactionary who mix of black-letter law and social work. He orders to maintain their ' illegitimate' doesn't 'get' the purpose of the Family Law argues that the Court should sever its children and pay for baby necessities, such Act, or the anti-social effects of starving the relationship with conciliation and counsel­ as a pram, or a bassinet- but not both. court of money and judicial personnel. ling services and get on with judging. When th e Commonwealth's Family Law

22 EUREKA STREET • M ARCH 2000 Act was passed in 1975, t he WA government decided to combine the resources of this court with the Common­ wealth's to form a State Fa mily Court of Western Australia. The federal government appointed judges to exercise the Common­ wealth's divorce and related jurisdiction (and, later, judicial registrars), and the State could appoint magistrates to do state things and interim matters. Fuel up The blessing of this extraordinarily commonsense arrangement was that the legal profession could continue to deal with ITWAS QU ITE A STRA IGHTFORWARD STORY, REA LLY-a company produced a tainted an already informal court, and con s­ product by adding too much of one of the ingredients. In consequen ce, nearly titutional probl ems about state and federal half the light aircraft in Australia were grounded, and the m edia m ade a m eal of division of legislative powers could be the circumstances. easily overcome. One thing is for sure, the tale of this summer's aviation fuel contamination As well, the one court co uld deal with crisis would h ave been told m ore clearly if jo urnalists had a little m ore virtuall y all matters aff ecting children, background in science. Archimedes is n ot talking rocket scien ce h ere. Basic including wardship and adoption high school chemistry would have sufficed. N ot only would a little background applica tions formerly made by the Supreme have bolstered the confidence of the reporters handling the story, it would also Court, and even (in extraordinary cases) exercise care and protection powers under have given them a better idea of which questions to ask. The episode could Child Welfare legislation. In other words, have been a useful learning experience for all. whatever was necessary to deal with The basic plot was simple. At a crucial stage in its production process for families' needs under stress or breakdown aviation fu el, M obil Australia used an acid catalyst. In order to prevent the acid could be dealt with in one place. Mos t fr om corroding the pipes of the production plant, the company routinely added importantly, the new court was always small amounts of a neutralising alkaline compound called ethylen e diamine closely associated with a court co unselling (EDA). This compound was not considered dangerous. In fact, there were no service auspiced and staffed by the State international standards fo r its level in aviation fuel. Department of Community Welfare. The But, at concentrations too sm all to be detected by the internation ally counselling service worked because it was approved tests for fuel quality, the EDA seem s to have reacted with carbon housed with the court, adequately funded, dioxide in the fu el tanks of light aircraft to fo rm a sticky white solid, and also and al ways used-and respected- by the with the copper and brass components of aircraft engines to form a black solid. judges and mag istrates. It even had a chilcl ca re centre-this, in 1975! These two substances could clog fuel lines and carburettors, potentially causing Admittedl y, this arrangement only engines to stall. We are talking about levels of EDA that no norm al test would worked because WA is virtually a city-state have picked up. This was not m ade clear by the m edia. and sparsely populated, and the legal climate EDA is a relatively simple orga nic compound, and has a relatively simple was favo urable. But the Family Court of nam e, as organic compounds go. Yet it was som e weeks before the m edia even Western Australia has thrived, its magis­ settled on how to write it-ethylene diamine, like carbon dioxide. Perhaps it trates have developed the expertise and didn't h elp that C ASA originally had 'Ethylene Di-Amine' in its releases, but jurisprudence with a co mbined State and the variations on that spelling which cropped up for the n ext fortnight did not Commonwealth jurisdiction, and the status inspire confi dence. The confusion was such that one report ascribed to EDA of Fa mily Law practitioners and Family the properties of ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid (EDTA), a commonly used, Law has also grown. but distinctly different, com pound. We ca n expect Diana Bryant to seek a Once the crisis was in full swing, we had mass confusion. While the pilots similar success to that of the WA model, if not in its detail, then by thinking laterally, were screaming for the m eans to clean their aircraft, Mobil and CASA were m aking a user-friendly court (sim ple busy developing and approving a test fo r EDA. All of which was studiously process, no pleadings, night courts), and reported, almost as if the test would solve th e problem of contamination. But it building good relation ships with the was never really made clear how the test would help-and it seemed to come as Chief Justice and other federal and State a surprise that approval of the test did not end the crisis. While it was n ecessary courts. Williams has clone well. It just to determine w hich planes needed to be cleaned, it did not actually clean them. might work. • T here is m uch, mu ch more to tell, but by now, you should have the picture. With a little more technical background, our journalists could have provided a Moira Ra yner is a lawyer and journalist. She much clearer, more interesting and more instmctive story. Instead, we were pre­ has just been appointed Director of the sented with an entertaining soap opera of distraught pilots, harried authorities Office of the Children's Rights Commis­ and politicians, self-serving lawyers and self-righteous corporate executives. • sioner for London. Her email address remains [email protected]. Tim Thwaites is a freelance science writer.

VOLUME 10 NUMBER 2 • EUREKA STREET 23 M EDIA: 2

KATE MANTON

It's a power strugg le. It's a technologi ca l compromise. All the big players wa nt their piece of the high-definition action. Welcome to digital television. Putting us in the picture

A USTRAC" em d;g;tal tclcvision television set or a converter set-top box The US and the UK h ave already in 2001. for their analogue television. The old begun digital television broadcasting, Less than a year away from its analogue signal will continue to be sent using different approach es. The US introduction, this lates t addition to the for some years, so current televisions will legislation favours HDTV (b ut has not nation's m edia is still the subject of not become immediately obsolete. mandated it), whereas the UK has go ne industry lobbying, federal legislation and The ins and outs of the technology for multi-channelling SDTV. viewer confusion, with these three (see box, page 25) are in many ways In Australia, the federal governm ent factors more than tangentially related. incidental. How many of us really under­ has hedged its bets with a joint HDTV / Digital television, a relatively simple stand how our analogue televisions SDTV model. In a two-step decision in development in communications tech­ world As with mos t technology, the 1998 and then late 1999, the governm ent nology, has been thrown, not so much to matter of real interest is the utility of the determined how Australia should move the lions (though there are plenty of new toy. And digital television has many into the age of digital television broad­ these), but into a three-ring circus advantages-most importantly, clearer casting. What it said was this: all complete with go vernment acrobats, pictures and efficient use of the radio- companies that currently hold a

industry ringmasters and technological fr equency spectrum. Broadcast ers commercial free-to-air television licence high-jinks. currently use at least one ?-megahertz (that is, the owners of channels 7, 9 and The fo cus of all this activity is a band of radiofrequency spectrum to 10 in their variou s metropolitan and change in the way television is broadcast. transmit one channel, but when they regional manifestations) receive, free of Currently, it's broadcast using ana­ transmit digitally they will be able to use charge, access to another ?-megahertz of logue transmission, but next year it will the same space either to 'multi-channel' spectrum for digital broadcast in addition be broadcast digitally. As a result, viewers a number (maybe four or fiv e) of to their current service. The ABC and SBS will need new equipment to receive the standard definition channels (SDTV), or receive the same loan (though some of broadcast-either a high-definition digital to transmit one high-definition channel their licence conditions may differ from television set, a standard-definition digital (HDTV) plus one SDTV channel. those discussed below, which refer to

24 EUREKA STREET • M ARCH 2000 commercial broadcasters). In return for this spectrum, m etropolitan broadcasters HDTV: hi gh definition television, providing a nea r cinema-quality pi cture with are obliged to begin digital broadcasting CO-quali ty so und. in January 2001; regional broadcasters sometime between 2001 and 2004. SDTV: sta ndard definition te lev ision, providing a picture simi lar to the PAL ana log Under the rules, broadcasters must service th at is Austral ia's cu rrent standard. provide both an HDTV service and an Analog television: broadcasting in a continuously va riable wave form transmitting SDTV service, and must also continue to video and sound in a ful l representation of the original. provide the analogue service (until at Digital television: broadcas ting which encodes the original information into discrete least 2008). They must broadcast at least bits of information which are th en decoded to display th e picture and so und. 20 hours of HDTV programming per week (SBS is exempt from this require­ Terrestrial broadcasting: land-based broadcasting transmitting from towers to aerial s. ment). When enough people have This is the way current free-to-air television is broadcast and the way that digital purchased digital televisions or converter television w ill be broadcast. boxes, the analogue signal will be switched Datacasting: new interactive services provided on a television-such as video-on­ off and that spectrum will be returned to demand, home banking, news head lines and web pages. government- the date is currently Spectrum: a continuous range of electromagneti c rad iation extending from the longest expected to be 2008. In the meantime, radio waves through infra-red, light, ultra-violet and X-rays to ga mma- ra ys. In there will be no other commercial broadcasting, it is also often used as an abbreviation for 'radiofrequency spectrum'. free-to-air television stations allowed in Australia until 2006. Radiofrequency spectrum: that part of the tota l spectrum which is used for transmitting radio waves. Th e radiofrequency spectrum is a natural resource which is used but H ALF OF THIS NEW framework made not consumed. It is used by being occupied and the effi ciency of its use depends on it into legislation in the middle of 1998. co-ordination among users in order to minimise interferen ce with each other. The second-stage policy was announced (Spectrum definitions from the Austra lian Communications Authority) late December last year, and is expected to be introduced to parliament early this year, perhaps this month. But the circus text, images, sound and video are any length on an individual news, is far from over. It is still possible that transmitted to a viewer who can interact financial, market and business infor­ the rules will change during the with the datacast by requesting particular mation or weather item, as long as the parliam entary process, with or without services, for example the day's news program is only available to a viewer an expected Senate inquiry. In addition, headlines. As it is currently envisioned, selecting fro m a m enu on the screen, is the governm ent is yet to decide on some it will be a lot like the internet, but with not hosted by a presenter and is not matters, such as whether the ABC will quicker responses and more structured linked to another item.' A rose by any be allowed to multi-channel. Given how options. Examples of datacasting services other name ... close the broadcast start-up date is, and are interactive home shopping, websites Aspiring datacasters will be given the how much preparation broadcasters have and online banking. The government has opportunity to buy spectrum for their

CT O already done, this is, to say the least, an very strictly controlled the definition of services later this year, at an auction to unstable situation and will most likely datacasting so that datacasting does not be conducted by the government spectrum m ean that the beginning of digital resemble broadcasting. For example, managem ent agency, the Australian television will be characterised by according to the federal Department of Communications Authority (ACA). incremental and unspectacular progress. Communications, Information T echnol­ Existing free-to-air broadcasters will not Amid these substantial changes and ogy and the Arts website, data casters may be allowed t o purchase spectrum for uncertainty there is another develop­ not show a full video news service, but datacasting, but will be able to use any m ent, called 'datacasting'. Datacasting may provide som e video news program­ 'leftover' spectrum within their own will be a non-broadcast service provided ming if it is ' a ten minute headline allocations for datacasting services, for a to the viewer on a digital television- bulletin' or 'a moving video program of charge determined by the ACA. Aside

V OLUME 10 NUMilER 2 • EUREKA STREET 25 from that restriction, anyone, whether commercial broadcasters lobbied to be into account the inten sity of viewer Australian or otherwise, a current media given spectrum to start up digital satisfacti on . This loss of viewer welfare owner or otherwise, will be allowed to services, and for an extension of the ca used by deficiencies in the market datacast. N ewspaper publisher Fairfax and existing ban on further commercial process constitutes what is known as a Rupert Murdoch's N ews Ltd television channels. m arket fai lure. (p8) are expected to lead the charge. It appears that government went with the arguments put by th e free-to-air Given that situation, the government's LisD IG ITAL TELEV ISI ON framework commercial broadcasters, cementing the decision to maintain (ev en bolster) the raises a number of questions for broad­ broadcasters' dominant m edia position in broadcasting status quo may represent a casters and viewers, but it also raises the process. The commercial broadcasters sadly missed opportunity for questions about how the government have always been criticised for having it broadcasting reform. made its decisions. For starters, the policy easy and constituting one of the least com ­ is highly prescriptive-there must be 20 petitive industries in Australia. A broad­ A SIDE FR OM LOS ING that opportunity, hours of HDTV programming a week, casting licence has been called 'a licence the digital television decision also there must be 'triplecast' HDTV /SDTV / to print money'-with good reason. There h ighlights the incon sistencies in analogu e, and the spectrum will be used was a brief period of tough financial times Australia's spectrum management. The for the designated purpose of commercial in the 1980s flowing from overvalued ACA issues licences for most spectrum free-to-air broadcasting. More curiously, licences, but generally, owning one of the u ses, which it increasingly does by the policy insists that there will be a new three commercial broadcasting licences auctioning 'spectrum licences' to the u highest bidder. There are restrictions on t.( 1 0~ "", Th e digital television policy might just u se related, for example, to th e ··~ ~d ~ (~ . -Y~~, frequency's capacity and the avoidance represent the worst spectrum management ''· /• -~ <> ;.,• J· of interference with other users, but the I'~ ~ . ff· . / decision ava ilable licences are otherwise flexible. For broadcasting spectrum, however, category of service- datacasting- which in a licence area is what the market the Australian Broadcasting Authority is defined in extensive terms. But these would call a sound investment. (ABA) administers broadcasting licences terms all boil down to one core fact: But at the same time, with only three which combine spectrum use with all datacasting is not broadcasting. It is now commercial stations and two national other broadcasting licence conditions. technological! y possible for m edia broadcasters, the free-to-air choice for The digital television licences continue services to be less defined- for exam ple, consumers is very limited. The commer­ this policy of bundling spectrum in with you can already watch video on the cial broadcasters go for middle ground­ broadcasting licences. But th e ABA internet. The previous strict demar­ Australia's population is not nearly large model is at odds with the modern world cations between one service and another enough, nor the competition s trong of communications. It is no longer originated in technological constraints. enough, for any other strategy to be necessary to have spectrum to provide a As these fall away, it is difficult to see worthwhile. broadcast service- this is quite possible any need for such limitations-which And just in case you thought that using other technologies such as cable. makes the government's policy curiouser networks 7, 9 and 10 were totally devoted Most recently, the Productivity Commis­ and curiouser. It's as though government to developing what is now called content, sion, in its 1999 draft report, Broad­ were prescribing that certain shops could it is worth remembering that the basic casting, argued that th e current sell a full range of clothing, while the rest business transaction in commercial broadcasting model promotes inefficient were obliged to carry only white cotton free-to-air television is the broadcaster use and discourages the development of shirts with starched collars. selling the viewer to the advertiser. other delivery and channel managem ent Some reasons for the specific Because of this, and because of th e technology. By maintaining this m odel, regulation may be found in the relative public's predisposition to watch television the digital television policy pursues an success of the competing industry in any case, the broadcasters don ' t antiquated equation of delivery (i. e. lobbying. The government had a number provide programming for maximum spectrum) with service (i.e. the station). of options fo r regulating digital viewer sa tisfaction. Instead they provide But even beyond this probl em of being television. Pay TV opera tors such as the minimum standard of programming outdated, the digital television policy Rupert Murdoch's N ews Ltd argued that that will deter the maximum number of might just represent the worst spectrum the government should allow new viewers from switching from one chatmel management decision available. commercial television channels, given to the next. Ev en a solely economic Think about it. The government has that digital television could free up analysis from the Bureau of Transport and loaned the broadcasters 7 mega hertz of spectrum, but not allow existing broad­ Communications Economics, in its 1996 free spectrum. In order to grasp exactly casters to provide competing pay TV report AustTalian Commucial Televi­ what this means, think of the radio­ services. Other media companies, like sion 1986-1995, states that: frequency spectrum as publicly owned newspaper publisher Fairfax, ran a similar real estate-valuable and finite real line, arguing for free spectrum to be used Broadcasters base their sch ed ules on estate. The broadcasters have argued that for new media services. The existing audience size ratings without taking the loan is only for a few years, after

26 EUREKA STREET • M ARCH 2000 which they will return the extra There should, however, be a clearly artic­ broadcasting licences. In other words, no spectrum to government, that they need ulated and consistent approach to spectnun further competition. Whether that win som e start-up assistance because digital managem ent that takes into account is because the government happened to conversion is costly, and that the viewers factors ranging from technological agree with the broadcasters, or whether are going to benefit from a better service. change through to the public broadcasters' power over voters is, as it But the problem is not that the broad­ benefits of spectrum uses. has always been, a matter best left casters will have 14 or more m egahertz unchallenged by your average nervous for a few years (though that is certain! y W ATEVER THE ANSWER to these government, is anyone's guess. valuable). The problem , rather, is that at questions about spectrum managem ent, The new digital television legislation the end of the conversion process, they the opportunity for rational analysis of will be in parliament early this year. will still have 7 megahertz in a digital the issues may well have been lost in the While it may pass with barely a protest, world where you can do a lot more with process of industry lobbying. the government m ay also find that 7 m egahertz than you ever could under When digital television was firs t parliam ent is better educated than it was t:1e old analogue system. mooted, it would have been clear to in July 1998 when the first round of rules Commercial free-to-air broadcasters commercial broadcasters that they could passed through . It is, in any case, rare for r ay for their spectrum access through provide the sam e level of service using a broadcasting legislation not to raise an broadcast licence fees on their gross fraction of the spectrum. This is because argument. The governm ent may face revenue, paid to government yearly. In SDTV (even a little better than our questions which challenge their entire 1998-99 these totalled $194.5 million current pictures) uses at most one fourth approach to m edia regulation-for from 4 7 commercial television licensees. of the spectrum a current analogue example about spectrum management Whenever issues arise about their channel does. The broadcasters' problem and definition s of different m edia spectrum use, the broadcasters point out then would have been that they would services. Or questions which seek infor­ that they pay this yearly fee. However, be paying the sam e licence fees for a mation at a m ore detailed level- for there are two problems with this system. substantially reduced bit of real estate, example, about how much digital tele­ First, though it is generally viewed as a while allowing room for other property vision sets will really cost (estimates have charge for the spectrum, the licence fee developers (competing broadcast ers, varied wildly, from $2000 to $10,000) and is actually related to a single broadcast datacasters, and so on) to move in. But whether regional areas will lose out service, as evidenced by the fact that it is by arguing that the Australian public through different reception patterns. calculated on the revenue of that chan­ needed spectrum-hungry HDTV, broad­ The picture may not come into focus nel. This system made some sort of sense casters could retain the sam e amount of until after the introduction of digital in the days when one chunk of spectrum spectrum for the sam e rents. While there television. By then, it will be too late to and one channel were much of a much­ may be benefits to viewers from HDTV, establish a new digital television regime. ness, but in a digitised world this is no it does not necessarily follow that those But our experience with its introduction longer the case. benefits drove the broadcasters' lobbying. should give som e clues about the next A further problem is that there is no So the free-to-air broadcasters are by steps in m edia regulation. If, for example, way of knowing if broadcasters pay rents and large happy with the policy. Some few people buy HDTV sets, the broad­ commensurat e with the gains they (primarily the T en N etwork and Kerry casters' hold on the radiofrequency receive from using the spectrum. The Productivity Commission estimates that Whichever way you look at it, the free-to-air broadcasters the broadcasters 'are currently paying won out with a big chunk of spectrum and a continuation close to the minimum value of the spectrum they hold (even though licence of the existing ban on .. . further commercial broadcasting fees were not calculated on the basis of licences. In other words, no further competition. the value of the spectrum)'. However, the Bureau of Transport and Communica­ Packer's N etwork Nine) are unhappy spectrum might start raising a few more tions Economics stated in 1996 that 'in with the late- 1999 addition of SDTV to questions, not to mention eyebrows. And capital cities at least the industry has the broadcast requirements, arguing if the government proves unable to returned to a situation where economic that it will push the limits of their regulate datacasting under its ridiculously rents substantially exceed the Govern­ allocated spectrum so that they will not specific rules, that fai lure will display in ment's revenue from licence fees'. This be able to transmit full HDTV for some magnificent technicolour the illogicality statement was based on an assessm ent sorts of programs. However, Kerry of artificially separating media services of the broadcasters' profits, which the Stokes' Seven N e twork likes the in a world where they are naturally Productivity Commission found to be HDTV /SDTV simulcast idea, arguing m erging. The Australian tradition of around the same (abnormally high) levels that it will encourage take-up of the new media regulation by fiasco and debacle in 1999. technology. Whichever way you look at (remember pay TV ?) may be alive and It does not necessarily follow that it, though, the free-to-air broadcasters well. • broadcasters should be made to pay more won out with a big chunk of spectrum for spectrum, or that government should and a continuation of the existing ban Ka te Manton is Eureka Street's assistant sell off spectrum to the highest bidder. on allocation of furth er commercial editor.

V OLUME 10 N UMBER 2 • EUREKA STREET 27 EssAY

GERARD WINDSOR

St Pa trick's mother ran a shebeen in Enniskillen. Believe it or not. But it's hardly more far- fetched than some of the other Irish claims to saintly fame.

P,. AND P Ave m' de it to Rom e Longin "'' the con tmion, to Mantua. The holy house of Nazareth fl ew to Loreto. James, the cousin or maybe the brother of the Lord, reached Compostella in Atlantic Spain. The family from Bethany, Mary, Martha and Lazarus, found their way to Marseilles. Joseph of Arimathea crossed the English Channel with the holy cup Apostolic used at the Last Supper and go t to Glastonbury in Somerset. So the stories go. The first friends, the intimates, of the Lord, turned out to be the great explorers of their age and penetrated every corner of Western Europe. If we allow that Joseph of Arimathea reached England late in his life, and suppose that it was on the heels of the Claudian invasion, it is clear that all these centrifugal apostles reached their destinations courtesy of Roman roads and Roman safe conduct passes. The Empire marked the limits of their travel. I presume credulity can be stretched only so far; if the Romans had penetrated to point X, then it was possible that anyone else could have got there too. Whereas if the legions hadn't made it to point Y and planted the eagles, then you don't stretch your storyteller's luck by claiming som e native of Judaea or Galilee could have popped up there. If Those Feet in ancient time hadn't themselves walked on England's mountains green or France's fair fi elds or in Spain's olive groves, the one-remove connections were still pretty good. They were certainly much better than those of the girl who traced her line through untold dancing partners to the Prince of Wales. James, Paul, Longinus, Lazarus and the rest had in person tripped the fantastic with the Prince of Peace himself. So the countries they settled in were blessed. As the ages turned over, however, the provinces of Christendom that had never been Romanised felt hard done by. They had as much instinctual need to have touched the hem of Christ's garment as, say, the Italians or the Spaniards. The Scots, among whom the legions had never com e until 50 years after the dea th of the Lord, produced some lateral thinking to overcome their disadvantage. A native Scot, they discovered, had been, if not quite an intimate of the Lord, at least creatively close to him. Pontius Pilate, they said, was born at Fortingall n ear Pi tlochry in Perthshire.

28 EUREKA STREET • M ARCH 2000 Ireland -a theological fiction

VoLUME 10 N uMBER 2 • EUREKA STREET 29 This was doubly bold thinking. First, to mJect of the Millennium, but Irish hysteria was suitably con­ one of your own into the gospel story, rather than trary and waited for a confluence of astrological signs just accept someone who wanders haphazardly out of (e.g. the feast of the Decollation of the Baptist falling it. Second, to choose as your family connection, one on a Friday) before settling on 1096 as the year the of the villains of the piece. This suggests a proud, Broom would sweep down. A dire, officially organised contrary nation, but also one that believes in the program of fast and penance was followed, and the possibility of redemption. It's unthinkable (or is it?) Broom stayed in its Donegal cupboard. that the Scots should select as their character in the Why ever should the Irish have thought they were drama a man who could never be excused, reprieved, to blame for John's death ? There is no genealogical pardoned, even glorified. Perhaps they did get some evidence that the Hasmonaean and Herodian wind of the information that leaked out of distant dynasties were of Irish origin. It would seem unlikely Abyssinia, so far from his native land, that Pilate had that any proto-Wild Geese were employed in the been converted, then martyred and so canonised there. Judaean royal household as jailers, guards, banquet Fortingall is now little more than an old-world hotel attendants, dancing masters. Maybe the responsibility that caters for the hunting and fishing tourist. Yes, was incurred in some cosmological apportionment of that rings true. It means Fortingall is defined by its guilt when the world was being brought out of chaos, promise of the catch-as authentic and traditional a and light was being separated from darkness. But why note of apostolic Christianity as you could want. The did the Irish score John the Baptist? Maybe it was a local boy must have made good. He's caused some of triumph of comparative innocence? Instead of sharing the markings of grace to appear in his wilderness. in the universal responsibility for the death of Christ, What however about the farthest, most westerly the Irish go t off on the far lesser charge of reaches of Europe? Where the galleys never beached, the slaying of the Baptist. But why? where the legionnaire's sandal never trod? That's not quite so certain now-there's a glimmer of evidence T ERE ARE AT LEAST partial answers to most of these that a handful of Romans made transient landfall in questions. It appears that an Irish Druid, Mog Ruith, Ireland, but that's as far as it goes. They certainly aka Mogh Roith, was practising his skills in Jerusalem weren't shipping in itinerants from their Middle about 33AD. He was in fact a friend and colleague of Eastern provinces. It's been rough for the Irish, a Simon Magus and assisted him in his contest with Maybe all the people who have given a whole-hearted welcome to the Apostles, as recorded (or in this case not recorded) Irish ... believe Christianity (all right, maybe selective, m aybe in the Acts of the Apostles. A year or two prior to this intolerant) that they don't get a patron straight out of however he was moonlighting as an executioner, and they come the pages of the Gospel. Whereas a people like the was called up at short notice to inflict the fatal blow from a line of perfidious French score a whole family of them. on John. His people paid, for more than a thousand In their imaginative zeal however the Irish have years. kings. Their discovered some epically m arginal connections of Yet, by way of compensation, they did in fact religious their own. These should be better known, and I offer escape the common portion of culpability for the death the few I've unearthed in the hope of eliciting more of Christ. In 1789 Charlotte Brooke published her affiliations so that we can get a fu ll picture of Apostolic Ireland. Reliques of Irish Po etry. She was concerned to however are It's not an easy task of assemblage; the Irish emphasise the sophistication of the early Irish bards, claim s are neither grandiose nor repetitive. I was and she noted that the Irish of the Heroic Age travelled much more introduced to Irish apostolic history by a 1976 article and had considerable cosm opolitan knowledge. By humble and of Patrick O'Farrell, 'Millennialism, Messianism and way of evidence she adduced a claim of the historian, Utopianism in Irish History'. The author refers to 'the Sylvester O'Halloran, that 'the celebrated champion circumspect. curious early belief that the Irish were responsible for Conal! Cearnach, Master of the Ulster Knights, was It's a jostle of the killing of John the Baptist'. N ow that certainly actually in Jerusalem at the time of the crucifixion of looks a long sh ot if ever there was. But Patrick our Saviour, and related the story to the King of Ulster little fellows, O'Farrell was interested not in the actual proposition on his return'. She notes that O'Halloran's authority disreputable of belief but in its psychological effects. For the Irish is backed up by that of Archbishop Usher, the man believed that the Baptist's death would be avenged now famous for having computed the date of the start most of them, by som e national calamity-a plague or som e form of of the world as 23 October 4004BC. at the lower nation-wide devastation . It was to lay waste Ireland Still, this is a very modest claim indeed. Not only for three days and three nights just is there no bid for a relationship with Christ, but all end of the prior to the end of the world. The that is stated is that Conal! was in Jerusalem at the table of the Irish called this rough beast 'the time-not even that he witnessed any of the events Broom out of Fana'. The Broom was of the Passion. Maybe he just got the story at a dinner Lord waiting to sweep down from the n orth, party or from some innkeeper. Maybe he got it from to be invited from the Fana area of D on egal. some disciple, making him one of the first to have Much of the rest of Europe expect­ the good news proclaimed to him. But there is not a higher up. ed the end of the world at the turn hint from Brooke or O'Halloran or Usher of that. Far

30 EUREKA STREET • M ARCH 2000 less that Conall took on all the implications of the Daniel O'Connell, in one fiery If Those Feet message and came back to Ulster a believer. speech, told his audience that Ben­ Charlotte Brooke makes no mention of another jamin Disraeli was a lineal descend­ in ancient time claim that must surely be linked to this, and is recorded ant of the impenitent thief. This hadn't in James F. Kenney's The Sources for the Early History was in keepingi the Irish were not of Ireland, Vol. I, Ecclesiastical (1929). This is that in the business of trailing clouds themselves the Irish king (pagan of course), Conchobar mac Nessa of glory for themselves, and weren't walked (presumably the man to whom Conall reported), 'had to be expected to do it for others died in a fit of righteous indignation on receiving either. on England's knowledge of the crucifixion'. Performed by the A cast of mind had set in. Maybe all the Irish, mountains ultimate representative of his people, this act of pos­ especially the diasporic Irish, believe they come from itively Pauline identification with the Body of Christ a line of kings. Their religious affiliations however green or m erited for the Irish a lesser culpability for the act of are much more humble and circumspect. It's a jostle France 's fair deicide. What that then actually m eant in terms of of little fellows, disreputable most of them, at the Irish salvation history I'm afraid I just don't know. lower end of the table of the Lord waiting to be invited fields or in The nearest point that I can find of actual contact higher up. More recent belief might have it that all Spain's olive between Christ and Ireland is noted in Seventy Years the early leaders and saints and abbots of the Irish of Irish Life, a memoir of 1896 by W.R. Le Fanu. (It church were of aristocratic stock, but that was a break groves, the has to be acknowledged that W.R. was the brother of from the modest purity of an earlier tradition. In 184 7 one-remove the horror fantasist, Sheridan Le Fanu.) Le Fanu John Edward Walsh anonymously published Sketches m entions an insect that I take to be an earwig or of Ireland Sixty Years Ago. The work was republished connections scorpion (but I don't actually know if Patrick left in 1979 and significantly retitled Rakes and Ruffians: were still either of these creatures in Ireland). At any rate Le The Underworld of Georgian Dublin. Walsh cited a Fanu says that it is 'a long, ugly-looking beetle, black belief current in the mid-18th century that Saint pretty good. and shining, with a forceps in his tail'. Le Fanu claims Patrick's mother ran a shebeen in Enniskillen. Who They were it has no English name at all, but the Irish for it is would have guessed it2 A little more light is shed on darraghdeoul which might be translated as 'red devil'. this matter by T. Crofton Croker in The Popular Songs certainly much The great lexicographer, Fr Patrick Dineen, says it is of Ireland (1839). The family she been is recorded in a better than a species of long black chafer. In its etymological song probably composed and first sung in 1814, 'Oh, breakdown deoul or daol means black or gloomy, and Saint Patrick Was a Gentleman'. Note again, the those of the dearg is sometimes used as an intensifier and does extreme modesty of this claim. For good measure, the girl who traced not mean 'red' at all. Crudely, I suppose, we could song records that his mother was a Brady and his father call it 'the very devil'. Dineen says that the creature an O'Gallagher. her line is known as 'the devil's coach horse'. That fits with The characters in the initial Irish Christian drama through untold what Le Fanu says was the poor beast's claim to fame. were the man, woman, priest and beetle next door, In an altogether faltering, head-scratching way, he not denizens of marble halls at all. They belonged to dancing records that 'the tradition as to [the darraghdeoul] was the known community, and the life of that partners to that h e had, in some form or way, guided or community went on at every point within time-and accompanied Judas Iscariot to the garden of outside time too. Le Fanu explained how it all worked. the Prince of Gethsemane'. For those who wished to dissociate He goes from a discussion of faction fights, brawls, Wales. themselves radically from the devil's coach horse, Le barneys, donnybrooks to relate how fights often broke Fanu gives the appropriate ritual. The animal has to out between funeral parties arriving more or less be killed on one thumb nail with the use of the other simultaneously at a graveyard. This was only to be thumb nail while a Pater or an Ave is recited. If this expected, Le Fanu wrote, because 'the last person is done punctiliously the killer will win forgiveness buried in a churchyard has, in addition to his other for the Seven D eadly Sins. Le Fanu was of troubles, to carry water to allay the thirst (in course a Protestant writer. Purgatory) of all those previously buried there .. . Peasants have been known to put shoes or boots into Illuminations of The Second Coming T AT's JU ST ABOUT IT. It was an Irish insect that got coffins to save the feet of their relatives in their long of Christ from closest to Christ, and for a malign purposei an Irish and weary water-carrying walks.' Manuscript 51, priest, albeit disguised as a magician, brought the axe Life's grim enough for the dead, but what an ask Monastic Library of down on the Baptisti and an Ulsterman just happened of the barely-shod survivors! The Irish have had to St Gall, Switzerland. to be passing through Jerusalem about 33AD, but work hard to establish their place in the Kingdom. St Gall was a didn't see a thing. What a threadbare Christian Maybe too hard. You can't blame them for turning disciple of authenticity card' into a post-Christian nation. • St Columbanus, who In at least one instance however the Irish in turn came fro m contributed to another nation's Christian template. Gerard Windsor's most recent book is I A sk ed the lana monastery England, although already richly endowed with the Cathl een to Dance, published by University of of St Columba Holy Grail, deserved a less honourable connection. Queensland Press in 1999. (or Columcille).

VOLUME 10 NUMBER 2 • EUREKA STREET 31 THE REGION

JoN GREENAWAY

The recent confrontation with General Wiranto was one of the first of many challenges that face Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid. And the going is not going to get any easier. Which way Wahid?

I N "" 1996 Huov of penpl" '"d What is most remarkable is that he prominent religious leader before the cultures converted to Islam, Beyond seems oblivious to the drama of which Japanese invasion and his father is one of Belief, V.S. Naipaul attempts to recall the he is an integral part. As he blithely tosses the heroes of independence. When he first time he talked with Abdurrahman off comments that resound across the took the helm of his father's organisation, Wahid. Not yet 40 years of age in 1979, world his serenity-or, some might say, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) in 1984, he Wahid was already prominent in national his aloofness-remains constant. retracted its political involvement and affairs through his involvement in the D eakin University academic Greg concentrated on its declared task of Islamic village boarding-school program Barton is his biographer, and referring to fostering tolerant religious values. that his grandfath er and father had him by his nickname, says that the Perhaps it is the commitment he has developed. Despite this, Naipaul had no Indonesian public is warming to Gus to these values and his Islamic beliefs clear picture of the man or the meeting. Our's particular combination of sharp which sustain Wahid's unusual stability. 'It might have been because of the intellect and affable wit. It puts him apart Even while Suharto was still well very dim light in Mr Wahid's sitting from his predecessors. ensconced, Wahid published articles room,' he guesses. 'It was a great strain 'He has a much more attractive open critical of him in Tempo and other to try to sec him through the gloom, and personality,' said Barton after returning magazines. And because he has over 30 I must have given up, been content with from a visit prior to Wahid's recent million followers in NU, he got his voice, and remained without a picture.' European trip. 'He likes literature and away with it. Now President, Abdurrahman Wahid classical music and he is a humanit­ is again in the gloom, one which envelops arian-he is exceedingly generous with SINCE BECOMING President, Wahid has the entire Republic of Indonesia. Wahid people.' been travelling overseas, ga thering inter­ presents as an enigmatic figure, ruling Fr Frank Brennan was recently in national support for his administration. amid sectarian strife, rebellious provinces, Jakarta speaking at a conference on the To some, this has been time wasted. continued economic hardship and an relationship between Australia and He should, they argue, have been army which houses some men not wholly Indonesia and was surprised to be invited concentrating on matters closer to home. committed to his plans for reform. with other delegates to an audience with 'He has been visiting world leaders to The physical appearance of the man Wahid at the Royal Palace, particularly restore their confidence in Indonesia and shuffling awkwardly before the as the embassy in Jakarta had such a while this is important I do not think it cameras-he is still coming to terms with difficult time organising a meeting with is as necessary as his presence here,' says the effects of the stroke two years ago that Alexander Downer when he came to Soedjati Djiwandono, a Jakarta-based left him almost blind- is certainly more Indonesia. He described the 45-minute columnist and political analyst. weather-beaten than that of his imposing meeting as extremely cordial. Wahid told 'He is respected as a man of integrity former military chief and Cabinet a number of florid jokes and spoke of his but despite his qualities he himself is not member, General Wiranto. Yet Wahid is high regard for Xanana Gusmao. the main determining factor for the world regarded by Indonesia watchers (and A Muslim intellectual, Wahid is to believe Indonesia is on the right path.' indeed by the United States, if Richard dedicated to a secularism, which puts One of the primary tasks that Holbrooke's spirited defence of his him at odds with a hard core of Muslim presented itself to Wahid when he was Presidency from threats of a coup is groups who would like to see an Islamic appointed President by the parliament anything to go by) as the best hope state. Secularism is an ideal handed down last October (ahead of the more popular Indonesia has in its uncertain era of to him by his father and grandfather, both Megawati Sukarnoputri) was to design a regime change. Paradoxically, his health of whom have streets named after them new federalism that would accommodate has improved since he became President. in central Jakarta. His grandfather was a the regional elites' desire for greater

32 EUREKA STREET • M AR CH 2000 autonomy. His Cabinet included a new between TNI and the Free Aceh Move­ The loss of East Timor was a slap in post for autonomy initiatives, given to ment also persist. According to Aceh the face in the international arena, but former bureaucrat Ryaas Rasyid. Editor expert Mark Durie, the momentum for to lose Aceh would strike at the historical of Inside Indonesia, Gerry Van Klinken, separation from the Republic in this notions that sustain Indonesia as a whole. argues that the initial promise that came fiercely independent province has Aceh was never fully controlled by the with this new position is fading quickly. reached a point of no return. Dutch, who only brought some m easure ' Rasyid is very close to resigning 'It is not just a quest for greater control of control to the area in the early 1900s because he has no room to do his job. ' over resources [Aceh is an oil-rich region]; with an accommodation of rebel Van Klinken suggests that Rasyid had the identity issue is the fundamental demands. It was also one of the first more power when he was director-general driving force, and a lack of justice for the provinces to rise up after the Second of the Department of Home Affairs. crimes the TNI have committed,' says World War.

The constituency of the future. Above: young commuters in a Jakarta bus; overleaf: students demonstrating in fal

VOLUME 10 NuMBER 2 • EUREKA STREET 33 has seen over 1800 people killed. Rais was to changing the structure of the army and in which important elites do feel they present at the so-called 'million man' altering the way it conceives its military have a stake. While blaming elements in rally in Jakarta in January where calls for purpose. the military for the Moluccas and a holy war were made (Djiwandono 'The trouble is, the army sees the pushing for Wiranto's resignation, Wahid estimates that the crowd figure people as the enemy. It doesn't face a was also telling world leaders not to call was closer to 16,000). foreign threat but rather is organised for an international tribunal to deal with down to the village level in order to keep the violence in East Timor. D ES PITE THE deterioration on the order and control.' If he can marginalise Wiranto (rum our home front, Gus Our has not slowed in Greg Barton sees potential for success has it that the letter asking for Wiranto's his efforts to reform the military and in the President's approach-appealing to resignation was sitting on Wahid's desk bring world leaders on side. A combina­ the better nature of the army. 'He is weeks before he told reporters at the tion of his beguiling personality and the telling the rank and file that he trusts and World Economic Forum in Switzerland international community's overwhelm­ believes in the army and that only a small that he would ask Wiranto to step down) ing desire to believe in someone who is a number are spoiling its good name. He then the various factions in the military, moderate and a democrat has made the believes that the majority in the army are including those still in his Cabinet, will second of these tasks relatively easy. The only concerned with doing a good job and look to him for their lead. Reformers and job of bringing his army out of the habits having enough money to pay bills. At the the international community will want bred by the Suharto years is far more same time as he is pushing Wiranto he is a more rapid redress of the human rights difficult-as the conflict with Wiranto offering him immunity and this leaves situation, but Soedjati Djiwandono has shown. Greg Barton argues that him with an offer he cannot refuse.' argues he must move slowly. Wahid sees reform of TNI as the key to Wahid has to know the limits of how 'Before he became President he said unlocking Indonesia's problems. far he can go. Most commentators see that to turn the army around would 'What he would like to see is the him as trying to engineer a compromise take six years and he has to stick to this military become more like it is in similar to that brought about in Spain plan.' Malaysia or Singapore, that is, to become after Franco or in Chile after Pinochet: Less than two years ago, General more professional, and accordingly, one where not everyone is atisfied but Wiranto was being hailed for his calm they would be giv approach to the riots and protests that decent rates of pay.' ousted Suharto. If President Wahid's Under Suharto, political skills fail him, he too will be the TNI, dominated pushed aside by events. And nearly all by the army, enjoyed a Indonesia watchers agree that if dual function of both Wahid fails, then the unthinkable defence and 'social' activity. conclusion to recent events in Indonesia This allowed the officer-class will become the unavoidable. • to become wealthy through business ventures. Gerry Van Jon Greenaway is Eureka Street's South Klinken says that Wahid must look East Asia correspondent.

34 EUREKA STREET • M ARCH 2000 B OOKS: 1

A NDREW H AM ILTON Some enchanted leavening

D ""T 'w h" been much in attractiveness comes from being set as de mand as a writer and speak e r on illumination against the darkness of an contemporary Australian spirituality. In obdura te secularism and a resolutely ReEnchantment, he off ers a broad and unspiritual church. The human reality, of popular view of the subject. ReEnchantment: The New Australian course, is much more dappled. But Tacey The structure of his argument is simple. Spirituality, David Tacey, HarperCollins, distances himself from m any popular fo rms He claims that spirituality-the awareness 2000. ISBN 0 7322 6524 X, RRP $22.95 of spirituality by in s is ting tha t the of and desire to be linked to the mys tery individual search fo r fulfilment i not beneath what we can immediately see and and the price of things; at another, it is enough. Connections are important. Genuine handle-is necessary if we are to fl ourish, searching and inarticulately thirsting for spirituality, particularly am ong people, and that thirst for it is now profound in depth. shows itself in a passion for social justice Australia. The young, however, are increasingly and in compassion. It also properly belongs T acey addresses two co ntending impatient for a spiritual vision. For anyone within a tradition and a community. T acey positions in making his case. The first is the committed to a church, the m ost bracing also criticises spiritualities which do not ideology of secularism, which he sees as part of Tacey's book is his account of the include negativity, minimising the reality regnant in Australian society and particu­ popular attitudes to the churches, par­ of sin and evil, of forgiveness, the justice of larly among the educated elites. It expresses ticularly those of young people. While his God, and the need to make hard choices if the convictions that reality ca n be studied experience has been primarily of young we are to respond to the call of the spirit. adequately by science, that religious and adults who are relatively highly educated, His view of spirituality certainly does not spiritual beliefs are irrational, and that his account confirms my own experience. have the soft centre often regarded economic and managerial questions form an He argues that those who display the most as typical of New Age. adequate language to speak about national hunger for a spiritual vision were brought purpose and planning. It regards spiritual­ up within the churches. They later left the I DIFFER FROM T ACEY in the way he situates ity as irrational and self-regarding, and views churches because they found there n o spirituality. He bases it in the belief that it with suspicion. nourishment for their spirit. Tacey describes the ultimate m ystery of reality cannot be The second contender comprises the accurately the cultural context within known, and that there are therefore many churches, who believe theoretically in which the churches work, the points at complem entary paths in which this reality spirituality and should be a home for those which young adults are open to the spirit, is symbolised. Religions therefore provide hungering for the things of the spirit. and the bleak perception they usually have different ways of symbolising reality; they However, their language, com placency and of church teaching and structures. Priests should avoid exclusive claims, maintain oppressive structures alienate those who and ministers developing pastoral strategy their traditions, but adapt them to changi ng are drawn by mystery. Although Tacey would do well to read or hear Tacey. cultures. Judging c hurch es fro m this writes appreciatively of the resources offered An informed Christian, however, will perspective, Tacey is impatient with their by Christianity, he argues that th churches find depressing T acey's account of the insisten ce on alienating formulas and neither value nor encourage access to these popular view of Christian attitudes to practices, seeing it as indicating a lack of resources. spirituality and the body. It suggests how seriousness about spirituality. In m any cases Against these forces that discourage an illiberal, fraudulent and polemical he is correct. spirituality, Tacey enlists Aus tralian account of Christian faith and life can be But this concern for verbal accuracy writers, painters and singers, and stresses accepted as accurate. It is ironical that m ost may also indicate that many Christians particularly the resources offered by the of the over-simplifications and absurdities will disagree with Tacey about the way in land a nd the wisdom of its original have their origin in arguments between which spirituality should be grounded. inhabitants. They off er a spiritual vision. It churches. Once used to damn ecclesiastical Some of us believe that we have been given is, however, dismissed and devalued by en emies, they have now becom e the privileged ways of understanding and living those who judge it fr om a secularist accepted conventional view of the whole the mystery, and that beliefs such as that perspective. Tacey's Australia, then, is split: Christian enterprise. the Son of God became human in Jesus at one level pragmatic, thoroughly secular The spirituality which Tacey commends Christ, that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and unreligious, concerned with the surface interestingly complex. Part of its and that Jesu s Christ is the uniquely

VOLUME 10 N UMBER 2 • EUREKA STREET 35 privileged path to God involve tru th claims. what spirituality should be. It offers an standing of recon ciliation that goes T h ose who make such claims abou t awareness of a reality deeper than the surface beyon d tolerance or empathy. H e argues Christianity will not ask simply how they and a passion for connection and rootedness. t h at we must first take spirituality can spell out the symbolic content of their It represents what is m issing in the conven­ seriously. Wh en we are open to the mystery faith in terms acceptable to modernity, but tion s of Australian culture, and what is that underlies the everyday, and value also how to do so in ways that respect the therefore hungered for. connection over acquisition, we will be contingent truths that it involves. This is Aboriginal spiritu ality, then, offers a open to Aboriginal Australia and will allow an unpopular position. Even though it may challenge and a treasure to other Austral­ its spirituality to become part of our lives. be held withou t denying the value of other ians. Tacey is critical of some of the ways in Only an encounter at this depth will enable paths and without being authoritarian or which it is m et. Some wish to collect us to resolve practical problems like the intolerant, it will still be dismissed for it Aboriginal culture, adding it to their lives sharing of land. offends the same secular assumptions which the way th ey pin hunting trophies to their ReEn chantment is a stimulating and in Tacey's view exclude serious considera­ walls. Some mix aspects of Aboriginal easily read book. Even those of us who are tion of spirituality. beliefs eclectically in to their lives. Others suspicious of an overarching ca tegory of I fo und the most appealing aspect of systematically deny the reali ty a n d spirituality will find mu ch that is Tacey's work to be his engagement with importance of spirituality in Australian life, illuminating and that provokes a more Aboriginal religion. It refl ects his passion but wish to preserve the culture of attentive reading of Australian culture. • and the time he has spent in Aboriginal Aborigines even while believing it is communities. In his view, Aboriginal primitive and fo unded in fallacy. Tacey Andrew Hamilton SJ teaches at the United spirituality provides us with a model of opposes to these approaches a rich under- Faculty of Theology, Melbourne.

BOOKS : 2

M ICHAEL SMITH The academy of hard l

A;we

36 EUREKA STREET • M ARCH 2000 The approaches are diverse. Tony Coady, they used to exercise autonomous Raimond Gaita, Bruce Langtry, and Seum as control? The explanation cannot be Miller all confron t the m ore abs tract the desire to have a m ore competitive qu estions of value prom pted by these 'American-style' system of higher edu­ qu estions. What are th e terms in which cation, as our US counterparts still OUT BI -MONTHLY universities sh ould be evaluated? The exercise a good deal of con trol in a providing incisive political, pursuit of truth and intellectual autonomy number of significan t areas. Indeed, social and cultural commentary are high on their list. Stuart Macin tyre many of u s look longingly at th e con­ on issues that matter in and Simon Marginson, Janet McCalman, ditions enjoyed by our US counter­ australia today and John Molony all com e at the issue from parts and ask ourselves h ow we a more historical perspective. The stark m anaged to get ourselves into such a SPECIAL SECT ION changes occasioned by the Dawkins reform s m ess. FEB - MAR 2000 are made manifest, as is the abandonment My own hunch is that in order to AUSTRALIAN by recent governmen ts of the idea, held explain this we have to rem ember INDIGENOUS ISSUES dear up until that time, that the proper role that our curren t crop of political of the u niversities is to serve as th e leaders mostly attended university, if custodians of national science and culture. they attended university, between the Judith Brett, Peter Kannel, Tony Klein, late 1950s and the mid 1970s. This Jane Marceau, and Marginson all address was a period during which there was a subscriptions po box 18 carlton north 3054 specific problems that arise given the ways h uge increase in t h e am ou n t of tel 941 6 51 66 in which universities, and individuals within government funding made available fax 941 5 1 301 email : arena@v ic net .ne t.a u them, are now made to compete with each for higher education. It was thus also oth er for studen ts and research funds. The a period in which there was a m assive perversions of the cu rrent market- expansion in the number of people oriented system are made vivid. who taught at universities, and hence, towards the end, a time wh en m any THE IRONY, OF COURSE, is that th e whole u n iversities fo und them selves with MUP saga provides a vivid illustration of academic staff who really didn't deserve to The extent to which academics may th e sorts of changes m any of the authors hold their jobs. While som e were positively need to accept their own partial respon­ complain about in their contributions. Once delinquent, others weren 't delinquent, but sibility, or perh aps that of their m ore everyon e involved in high er education they weren' t really very good at what they senior colleagues, for the current state of com es to conceive of them selves as players did either. Many of them taught our current higher education in Au stralia should start in the kind of m arketplace in which crop of political leaders. to becom e plain. Suppose you were a Australian universities have been forced to At th is point we begin to see the m ember of government and these were operate, it should hardly be surprising if downside of the desire of Australian your m em ories of the con sequences of those who control MUP had seen fit to use academics to m aintain friendly relations collegiality am ong academics. Suppose their position to control the flow of infor­ with their colleagues, pretty much above these were your m em ories of the extent to mation in ways th at serve th eir own all else, a desire they pursued relentlessly which Australian academics recognised the interests. After all, isn't that just the kind throu gh their union s. One striking responsibility they had to ensure the quality of thing you might expect fr om a player difference between Australian academics of their profession, given the incredible jockeying for p osition in a highly a nd their US counte rparts is tha t freedom s they enj oyed. Would you be keen competitive marketplace? Australians have n ever had the stomach to entru st any spheres of auton om ou s But though there is much to agree with to m ak e judgm ents of quality that would control to them ? I do not think so. in these essays, there is also, I think, at least see their colleagues out of a job. Thus th ere The sad part, of course, is that m any of a little that needs to be added. The authors was never any serious tenure review in today's academics were in those sam e class­ seem to me to portray ordinary academics Australian univers ities. As som eon e rooms. We learned th e sam e lessons, and too much as victims, swept along by changes appointed from th e US to a position in an resolved to do things differently when and which they in n o way brought upon Australian university once told m e years if we eventually had the privilege to hold an them selves. They write is as if, from the ago, 'As soon as I heard what " tenure­ academic post. Yet just when we have risen mid '80s on, successive governm ents were track" m eant in Australia, I was out h ere in the academic ranks to the point where completely ideologically driven, consumed like a shot!' And nor was there any real we could m ake a difference to the way by the desire to m ake Australian industries, m echanism for preventing those whose things gets done, we have had the power to the' education industry' included, competi­ performance as academics was competent, m ake any real difference taken away from tive by international standards. While but only m arginally so, from being prom oted us. We can only hope that it isn't too late to ideological commitment has no doubt all the way to the top of the scale. In some persuade our fo rmer classm ates to give us played a significant role, it does not explain universities the consequences are still with back the autonomy we need to do our jobs why th e curren t reforms have left so little u s. We all know of departments that will properly. • room for academics to exercise their own never amount to anything until certain qualitative judgm ents about anything of people who were appointed in th e '60s and Michael Smith is Professor of Philosophy real significance. Why have academics lost '70s, and who have done nothing much of in the Research School of Social Sciences, their clout in so m any spheres over which any di stinction ever since, retire. ANU.

V OLUME 10 N UMBER 2 • EUREKA STREET 37 BooKs: 3

PAUL T ANKARD Artful gatherings

(and so forth ), Robert Dessa ix, Macmi llan, Sydn ey, 1998 . ISBN 07329 0943 0, RRP $29.95 Wormholes: Essays and Occasional Writings, John Fowles, ed. Jan Relf, Vintage, Lond on, 1999. ISRN 0 099 272 725, RR P $19.95 Adultery and Other Diversions, Tim Park s, Vintage, London, 1999 . ISRN 0 099 274 841

L,. "WMCTH'"c 'bom' 'olumo of book's internal organisation. The essays that challenges the reader to coll ection ought not have begun with consider the point of books and reading. the rambling and repetitive auto­ Not so with novels or poems or argumen­ biographical pieces. Som e are too slight tative 'one-idea' works of non-fiction. to have justified their inclusion under Their agenda is clea r: to distract and any circumstances, other than archival. entertain, to move and persuade. But we That said, there are quite a number of items meander through the minds and preoccupa­ that have substantial and intrinsic interest. tions of essayists, nervous and wary that Fowles' long piece on the renaissance they have some ulterior m otive to spring antiquary, gossip and scribbler, John Aubrey, upon us. We want to know- in a way that and in-laws, and his children are in most and his Monumenta Britannica is fascinat­ we don't demand of work in other genres­ ways Italian too, no doubt. ing. Fowles himself is an antiquarian, what claim the writer has to be an essayist. Dessaix is an Australian exotic, a public indeed, a collector: although he is suspicious The three collections I have been reading intellectual and public homosexual, of of the collecting impulse in its varying (in a fa r more systematic manner than any diverse ethnicity, and an adoptee. He first manifestations. The desire to label and of their authors intended, I am sure) offer a came to prominence as a writer airing these possess, he thinks, is a poor imitation of wide variety of pleasures. Tim Parks and and other matters, in his autobiography, love, and usually works to the detriment of John Fowles, separated by a generation, are A Mother's Disgrace. (Interesting to note its obj ect, whether it be nature or, in The both highly regarded British novelists. This that autobiographies have in the past been Collector, a person. Natural history is his is the regulation Essayist's Authorisation: more often a writer's final work rather than abiding interest, fuelling both a passionate successful work in other genres. Fowles' their first.) But he is not m erely 'politically' conservationism, and his work as the curator novels, The Collector and The Ma gus among interesting; Dessaix as essayist is of the Lym e Regis fossil museum. them, are what 'entitle' him to write essays. comfortable with himself, with his discreet, In the essay 'Weeds, Bugs, Americans' Australian Robert Dessaix's licence as an insinuating authorial persona. He (first publish ed in Sports 111u strated!), he essayist is granted on the basis of his J doesn't need to raise his voice. writes with sparkling originality on the idiosyncratic success as a broadcaster and need to practise conservation, not so much commentator. He is an essayist by vocation } oHN FowLES, unlike Dessaix, is a maker, a in parks and reserves where nature is to and temperament. Novelists (by definition 'magus' himself. He is not, at least to my some extent archived and marginalised, or at least etymology) 'make new', but ear, entirely comfortable writing non­ but in the gardens and suburbs where people Dessaix confesses at the outset that 'Making fictional prose. He is not religious, and live. His insights in to the different things new is not my forte.' Whereas Fowles perhaps senses the balance such language relationships between human settlement refers to his novels as 'elaborate lies', has to achieve between being preachy and and nature in Britain and America are Dessaix introduces a gathering of stories at confessional. 'It is rather difficult,' h e says, particularly relevant to Australia. In the start of his volume of short prose pieces 'to put one's private self into a novel; it is England, the things that grow in untended with th e words (Jeanette Winterson's), 'I'm rather difficult to keep it out of a poem.' gardens and along roadsides are various telling you stories. Trust me.' But we never (This is fr om the essay that was a preface native pasture and meadow species; in trust the essayist-or the writer of reviews, to his Poems.) His poem s are the contrast Australia they are the same species-and as Dessaix points out in a salutary piece on to his novels, and his essays uneasily are weeds here. Our Australian urban areas the latter craft. In fact, he continues, occupy a no-man's-land. No doubt every did not develop slowly out of agricultural reviewers are trusted most when their style experienced writer is asked to produce the settlements, but were built as towns, with is least authoritarian. So, relax. occasional piece of literary or personal local nature ruined prior to settlement. Essayists trade on their identity; we are commentary, and not all of these ought to The invasive nature of European plants, attracted to them as we are attracted to be assessed as 'essays as literature'. My first together with Australians' unreflective particular people for the sake of their reaction to Wormholes was to think that its and unindigenised gardening habits, has conversation, or the stimulus of their lives. moments of interest, independent of Fowles' led to what A.W. Crosby has call ed, in a Parks is the En glishman Abroad. He has novels and him as novelist, are far too few. book of the sam e name, 'ecological lived in Italy since 1981, has an Italian wife But I think that reaction is a fault of the imperialism'.

38 EUREKA STREET • M ARCH 2000 The longest item in W ormholes, Adultery and Other Diversions, 'Islands', was originally the text for a book which is to my mind the most AUSTRALIAN of photos of the sam e name. It begins at the readable of these three collec­ Scillies, off Land's End, then winds back tions. It is self-contained; there BOOK REVIEW through Cornwall and Lyme Regis to explore is no comm entary on his other the eroticism of the beach, the history of works, or retrospective on his sea-bathing, insularity, Robinson Crusoe, career, no book reviews. It is a FEB/MAR the authorship of The Odyssey, the literary work in itself, a book of Bermudas and Shakespeare's Tempest, and essays in the not-so-grand Ken Gelder on pebble mazes. tradition. A sticker on the wrap­ Accounting for Tastes: On the basis of the autobiographical per tells us that the publishers Australian Everyday Cultures pieces, it is tempting to judge Fowles rather expect that we will already have harshly, or with som e condescension. He is heard the essays read on BBC Nick Hudson on a wannabe exotic, a 'liberal' try-hard. He Radio 3. The Australian Oxford Dictionary lives in English Dorset, but loves France Adultery is a diversion in a and Greece. He is a white straight male but society in which we have to Anthony Macris on Samuel Beckett is, he says, trying hard to be a feminist, and create our catastrophes. I am had no doubt co-operated with his editor reminded of C.S. Lewis saying Peter Pierce on who tried to alter his 'gender-specific that you learn about evil by The Imaginary Australian language . . . to more politically correct resisting rather than succumb­ usage'. (This is, incidentally, the only time ing to temptation, and Parks Richard Hall on I've heard the expression 'politically correct' seems a far wiser character than Inside the Canberra Press Gallery used without irony.) I'm dubious about the the colleagu e whose increasingly wisdo m of updating or politically grubby and dis honourable affairs Adrian Martin on 'correcting' old essays, particularly in a he describes in the title essay. The Oxford Companion to Australian Film collection like this where much of the point There is no moral insight to be is to sh ow the writer's his tory and gained from transgressing moral development. Certainly it is odd to find a laws, even if there is often a New Subscnbers $55 for ten 1ssues plus a free book reference to the death of Princess Di in a character-building m ess to be Ph (03) 9429 6700 or Fax (03) 9429 2288 powerful essay woven around events of negotiated afterwards. Parks 1982 (the Falklands War), dated to that year. speculates that people will take But there is also a vulnerability and ridiculous risks just to make charm in Fowles' honesty. He is in many things happen . Apart from "The Queen does not repress us, we don't kowtow ways a 19th-century figure himself­ anything else, infidelity in to the Queen: we kowtow to Holl ywood, we kow­ a rationalist, a book collector, an amateur relationships makes life tow to television, we kowtow to the bank .. . I thin k in science. He has to remind himself, in an idiotically com plicated­ the pageantry and the pomp is one of th e things that essay reflecting on the writing of The French emotionally and practically, actu all y elevates us ... " Lieutenant's Woman, that he is not writing aside from morally. Parks him­ Michael Leunig on carlooning, spiriluality and !h e a Victorian novel. He does not seem to be a self, the married man, avoids republic. literary 'professional', does not puff himself smugness in his take on all this, or attitudinise. He dislikes literary gossip, and suspects that it is only "Through all th e chemotherapy, and th e un certainty, jealousy and prizes. He is a countryman, timidity that keeps him from l did ga in a certain peace. l don ' t think l ever and writes only what he wants to write and disaster. Perhaps the timid prayed for a cu re, but I prayed for strength along thus what h e believes in. He is not a part of virtues are those that we can all the way ... I couldn 't see Jesus wa lking beside me, any literary movement, and reads the work m ost profitably exercise. but I could feel Him." of literary academics with bemusement but Parks' relationship with his also a humble open-mindedness. late fath er, an evan gelical The Au stralian journalisl Richard Yallop on failh In two of the three pieces ga thered under Anglican priest, is not unnatu­ and cancer. the banner of 'Culture and Society', h e rally a point of reference in the affirms his own sense of English as opposed book. In various essays, he The Melbourne Anglican to British identity. He would probably be thinks through what children 1998 winner of th e Gutenberg Award for Excell ence even happier if Dorset had its own language owe parents. Parks has, in som e in Reli gious Communication and statehood-England too can timid way, not become the be a no-man's-land. fa ithful New T estament kind Mention this ad. fo r a free sa mple copy of TMA of Tim othy his parents m ay Phone: (03) 9653 4221 BY LEAVING ENGLAND, Tim Parks has have prayed for; in the essay or ema il : [email protected] ensured that he simply doesn't have to deal called 'Fidelity' he feels twinges with some of these issues. He has taken of guilt about this. But he is not Tlte with him to Milan as much of English a! togetherunsurprised when his sensibility as he needs . National as well as own kids are discovered to have familial identity is a recurring theme in been stealing money to buy

VOLUME 10 N UMBER 2 • EUREKA STREET 39 chocolates. All things that happen between present a p etition to the European easily imagi n ed world of ideological parents and children are equally novel and Parliament; Parks observes that he fe els polarities that we are constantly asked to archetypal. His own students (of Literature, partly English, and partly Italian, but 'what believe we inhabit. at the University of Milan) are of course I never feel is European'. Identity is about On an Aboriginal out-station Dessaix living stories of more import than those belonging to people, a culture, a landscape, sees the locals wearing Santa Claus hats, they are m eant to be studying, and the as Fowles would agree, a nd not to and watching ' images of narcissistic bounds of a teacher's responsibility are not administrative and economic units. The Americans with facelifts talking about their always clear. Even the boundaries of human European Parliament building, he observes, bizarre sex-lives ... flickering on the person ality are a bit fluid; he sees his has no chapel; but there is a 'Meditation television screen, as real as zombies from m other's eyes in his son's and his own Room ', which looks to Parks like a room outer space'. We are tempted to outrage father twice returned as a ghost. trying not to be a chapel. When he, his two but, like Dessaix, settle for m elancholy. Each of his essays is named with a single small children and a friend go for a three­ This feeling tinges the collection: that Illyria and u su ally abstract noun- Adultery, day walk in the Alps near the Austrian (for which Argonaut Dessaix rowed) has, as Magic, Rancour, Ghosts, etc.-and has a border h e finds-as most walkers do- that modern Albania, come to an economic single narrative focus. We ge t the hang of physical achievement depends on imagina­ stand-still; that the stu dy of Russian has his procedure pretty swiftly. But it doesn 't tive engagem ent, and bumps up against the declined in Australian universities, and detract from the interest of the collection, m etaphysical. At the roof of the Mountains Russia itself 'revealed to be just a vulgar which resides not in his tone of voice, or is a statue of the Madonna, which for Parks backward version of America'; that our even in the autobiographical component, as an unbeliever is nonetheless a attitudes to languages and literature and but in what he has to say. Parks makes the locus for gratitude. knowledge have becom e cheap and reader think: if we all read more essays we utilitarian. In many places in the book, might have a deeper sense of the reality of R OBERT D ESSA IX'S background as Dessaix finds himself having to preface other people. described above gives him, you might some remark or idea by ruefully acknowl­ Identity is a national as well as familial imagine, a different angle on matters of edging that it's old-fashioned, or out of tune m atter, and as an English writer working family and religion. But he is tolerant and with the times, or asking pardon because it and living in Italy, Parks has immediate open-minded about both. Before A Mother's is something we're not supposed to say. and experiential access to rich material. Disgrace brought him attention as a writer, In a civilised society, he seem s to suggest, A group of his teaching colleagues and Dessaix was an acaden1ic, a translator and openness of discourse m ay (co unter­ students travel by bus to Strasbourg to reviewer as well as a broadcaster. He brings intuitively) imply and foster cultural a unique and distinctive combination of coherence. If we have a language and experiences to all his literary tasks. In his conversational space in which we can fully To Resist is to Win: The stories, of which there is a small gath ering discuss, say, gender and race, perhaps there Autobiography of Xanana at the start of (and so forth), he seems to be will be less violence and confusion about Gusmao with selected trying a bit too hard, and not finding a voice, those matters in people's homes and on the but in his essays and reviews he is relaxed. streets. letters & speeches His evident pleasure in his own m ental Which is why, despite the complexity of processes (to adopt Tim Parks' thought), in reviewing them, I like books of essays. recalling the right image, making a These are not three 'rival monologues', but persu asive distinction, is striking. He a series of (m ostly) serious conversations mentions just the right specific instance, at that I have been having over a few months just the right moment. He lays down the with a trio of intelligent, alert, generous law- about how to travel, for instance­ strangers. 'Bliss, shot through with wisdom', but without a whiff of censoriousness. He which Robert Dessaix says, is the object of is full of instructive examples and sees no travel, can just as easily be found staying at point in the all-too-frequent practice of hom e, 'in my own walled garden in Fitzroy'. setting out to overstate one's case. Serving We develop the talent for bliss by 'taking his writerly apprenticeship as a translator whatever happens to you-a passing cat, seems to have given Dessaix not simply an the Mona Lisa, knocking over the teapot­ enviable skill, but a precision and patience and letting it tell you a story. It means To Resist is to Win is to be launched at with language. letting time crumple, being in a dozen places 4pm , Tue sday 7 March at Writers Week But is it really possible that Robert at once and doing what you love doing in Adelaide . Sa rah Niner, the editor of Dessaix was an Argonaut? I picture the most. ' Which also sounds like the talent for thi s important col lection of Xanana's inhabita nts of two different worlds enj oying essays. words, will be there, and all Eureka m eeting-but it is not the pitched battle or If reading is one of the occupations we Street's Adel aide re aders are invited to the cultural clash one might imagine. The love most, such wormholes and other attend. A key feature of the work, which polished, European-stylehomme delettres, diversions as these may be more humane who has been m ost places and read most and civilising than more highly wrought covers the development of Xanana's things, was once a little Australian boy in and self-important discourses. • thought from 1975 to the present, is the short trousers in a backya rd, listening to autobiography he sec retly wrote in the ABC children's program. It shows that Paul Tankard is a doctoral candidate in Cipinang prison in 1994. reality is more accommodating than the English at Monash University.

40 EUREKA STREET • MARCH 2000

Cyril is utterly dashing in a well-cut crime next morning there is a fleeting cigarettes in what were, for the period, suit with generous lapels, high-waisted trou­ glimpse of the dead Cyril on the bed, with well-filled ashtrays. In one delectable sers under a double breasted waistcoat, strik­ only his collar twisted and his tie somewhat conceit, Hitchcock has Alice and Frank ing a nonchalant pose, hand in pocket, loose. But Hitchcock's camera has such talk of going to the movies to see a thriller fedora tipped to just the right angle over the power of suggestion we know we have ba sed on Scotland Yard, called Fingerprints. studied, world-weary gaze- a handsome witnessed a violent and bloody killing. And When Frank protests that producers of such young actor who could be relied upon to fill that, after just 40 minutes, was the end of films always get the police details wrong, any bill, from romantic lead to sardonic Cyril, at least in that film. Alice replies tartly that this time ' they've villain. In this same sartorial splendour It continues on for another thrilling 45 got it right because they hired a real criminal Cyril appeared in the 1929 Hitchcock minutes with the blackmailer (who saw as director'. thriller, Blackmail, the first British talkie. Alice on the fateful night) being chased Cyril's part in Blaclunail could be called Hitchcock made two versions of Black­ over rooftops by the faithful small but pivotal-he seduces the girl and mail, silent and sound. With the sound Frank, and in doing so is killed by her. Rape and bloody version, of which the first eight minutes are death in what was hailed as 'the ground- silent, he en countered a problem. The breaking Knife Scene' fo llowed by talented silent actress, Anny Ondra, who mayhem and blackmail' played Alice, the daughter of a London newsagent, was hampered by her Czecho­ LO OKING AT CYRIL'S photo I wonder­ slovakian accent. Hitchcock decided her what did Grandma Ritchard thin k? When voice must be dubbed. The result is some he begged to be allowed to leave Sydney irritatingly stilted dialogue, soon forgiven University where he had been unwillingly when the eye begins to delight in early studying first-year medicine, his mother intimations of the classic Hitchcock play made him promise in writing that if he with light and shadow, the visual puns and went on to the wicked stage he would of course the fleeting appearance of the remain true to his Catholic upbringing and man himself, as a portly 30-year-old protect himself by receiving daily passenger being tormented by a sm all boy communion. An heroic promise for a on a London underground. 19-year-old to make even in those days of T he pert, attractive Alice contrives a strong faith. I assume that when comply­ quarrel with her boyfriend Frank, a Scotland ing he added the words 'when possible', Yard detective (Jo hn Longden), so she can at least as a mental reservation- he had keep an appointment with a handsome been educated by Jesuits. His diaries, young Artist who has given her the glad which cover his adult years, show that eye. The Artist, played by Uncle Cyril, uses he remained an almost daily com­ his sophisticated charm to entice Alice to municant to the end of his full and 'come up and see my Studio'-the sort of successful acting life . He died in 1977, invitation that girls of enquiring mind have three weeks after collapsing in the wings of always found hard to resist. finally crashing to a theatre in Chicago where he was appearing Lured by the attraction of doing what his death through the glass dome of the as the Narrator in Side by Side by Sondheim. she knows to be unwise, Alice climbs the Reading Room of the British Museum. He was 80 years old and had worked stairs with the Artist-a marvellous shot In Blackmail, directed primarily as a continuously as an actor on stage, film and with the pair arm-in-ann, slowly processing silent film, Hitchcock uses hands, as well television since that day in 1916 when he up three long fligh ts as if to a sacrificial as eyes, to portray emotion and emphasise signed the remarkable promise for his altar. The bed to which the innocent girl is points in the story, increasing the tension mother. dragged by the charming stranger is decently with sh ots of hands m oving, pointing, Margaret Ritchard doted on her first­ concealed by drawn curtains which billow twisting or eerily static. We feel Alice's born and the story of Cyril's conception and and toss in time to her cries of 'No, No ... ' panic as her hand gropes for the knife and birth has afforded wonder and mirth for Her frantic hand appears through the share her horror when Cyril's hand flops, three generations of our family. curtains, reaches towards the bedside table lifeless, through the bed curtains. When Margaret and Herbert Trimnell Ritchard and grasps a bread knife left next to a Hitchcock's lens lingers on h er chemise­ had been married for almost a year and conveniently placed loaf of bread. The clad figure, we watch with fascination as, Margaret had not conceived. In those days curtains bulge and the shadow of the paralysed with shock, she slowly faces the it was generally accepted that the purpose struggling pair is seen on the wall, then magnitude of what she has done. As she of marrying was to have a family and, in silence and stillness. Cyril's very dead hand hurries from the death scene, the painting Irish-Catholic circles, the larger the better. (still neatly shirt-cuffed and suited) extends of a life-size Rigoletto points an accusing Margaret began to worry that, if a pregnancy out of the curtain as the shocked girl emerges finger directly at her. did not occur soon, not only would the and realises the awful mess she has landed Thereafter, hands haunt Alice. The gi rl's spectre of childlessness begin to stalk her herself in when she could have been enj oying lost gloves reveal to both the blackmailer life, but h er dear Herbert, having been a good movie with her honest cop. and the honest cop her part in the Artist's converted from Protestantism before their When Scotland Yard and unsuspecting death. At Scotland Yard time is m easured m arriage, might be suspected of not doing boyfriend Frank inspect the scene of the by frequent close-ups of hands stubbing out his duty. She began a novena to the Virgin

42 EUREKA STREET • MARCH 2000 Mary and during those nine days of prayer on his wife. Perhaps it was 'a dark and often visited a Good Samaritan convent stormy night' when he hid in the cupboard A provocative book that challenges the where the nuns were praying for her used for the hotel linen. He covered himself new conservatism 'special intention'. One of these good in a sheet and waited till Margaret came in the Australian women gave her a small vial of sand upon up to bed. As she passed he sprang out at Catholic Church which Our Lady's milk had spilt during the h er with ghostly groans. To his great distress epitomised by his wife miscarried. No doubt he made Melbourne's Flight into Egypt. Archbishop George Being a woman of firm character and heartfelt amends for his ill-considered stunt Pel!. Fathe r having a proper self-regard, Margaret did and soon another baby was on the way. Kennedy's plea not for one minute think that the failure to A family picnic on the ocean front at is for a radical reformation which conceive was due to any lack in her. It was Manly was planned. The whole family, with would return the obviously Herbert who needed his fertility a young girl to help, took the train to St Church to the boosted. So every morning for a week she Leonards where they were met by a hired original message surreptitiously sprinkled some sacred sand chara bane. Baskets, rugs and provisions for of the gospels. on Herbert's porridge. Soon Margaret was the long, thirsty journey were loaded and able to inform him that the longed-for child they set off down the highway to the Spit, Please send meOcopies of Who Is Worthy? at th e was on the way. where they joined other travellers queuing special price of $20 postage free. Total I$ When the time for her accouchement, for th e punt to take them across the water Name arrived she and Herbert were managing the to the Manly side. Then on up th e hill and Railway Hotel at Hornsby, a far northern down the length of Sydney Road until the Postal address I

suburb of Sydney, a haunt of timber-cutters Pacific was sighted through the Norfolk POSTCOO£

and railway workers whose admirable pines. Phone thirsts considerably boosted the family A perfect picnic day with sand and surf 0 I have included a cheque/money order fortunes. and games with Father while Mother sa t on 0 Please charge to my: 0 B/card 0 M/card 0 Visa While Herbert was supervising the bar a bench under the pines and watched. Card on a busy and hot December afternoon, A young woman came and sat at the Number ==~~~====~~~ the midwife was upstairs keeping an eye further end of the bench. She seemed hot Expiry 1;-1 Today's I date L.:.__j date . on Margare t's protracted labour. Ju st and flustered and out of breath as if she had before midnight a lad was sent for the been running. Suddenly a man with frantic Signature doctor. The midwife, eager to claim the eyes was standing before the extra fee of half a guinea (close to $100 bench. His shaking hands held today) that would be hers if the child a revolver, pointed straight at arri vee! before the doctor, rolled her sleeves the now whimpering woman. up and, as the clip-clop of the doctor's The shot was deafening. sulky was heard coming down the dusty As Herbert raced forward road, gave the reluctant baby a good strong to pull Margaret away, she tug and Cyril was born, all 12 glimpsed the body of the pounds of him. woman slip to the ground. Then came the long journey BEFORE CYRIL'S BIRTH Margaret had heeded home in the hot afternoon, the current advice that an expectant mother Margaret sitting upright, out­ must eat for two and this she did with a wardly composed for the sake will. Afterwards she never regained her of the children. Within days shape but she carried herself well, had a she miscarried again. commanding air, and was always described So perhaps seeing h er dear in family lore as a fine figure of a woman. I boy Cyril transforming before have her very large go ld watch in a heavily h er eyes into a sex-crazed engraved case that sh e wore pinned to what rapist was not such a shock could only have been an ample bosom. My for this stout-hearted matron. husband has fond m em ories of his grand­ After all h e was so handsom e mother and speaks of visits to her as a small in that very fine suit and boy when he found her to be as generous as su ch a splendid actor, and she was comfortable, willing to share jokes the story-well it was all with a small boy and reward him with half fantasy really, mere shadows a crown. She must also have had emotional manipulated by that strange and mental resilience to survive with equa­ Mr Hitchcock. • nimity two miscarriages brought about by unusual events. Margaret Goldrick is a free­ The first one occurred when Herbert, lance writer. Photo of Cyril who in his photos always appears some­ Ritclwrd courtesy Margaret what sober-sided, felt an urge to play a trick Goldrick

VOLUME 10 NUMB ER 2 • EUREKA STREET 43 A ripping yarn

The Talented Mr Ripley, dir. Anthony Minghella. A traditional Hollywood thriller relies on exotic locations and big-name stars to make up for its plotted-by-numbers story and inevitable 'sunset ending', where hero and girl contemplate their future together, safe in the knowledge that the villain of the piece has met his just deserts. Luckily for us, the immense success of The English Patient (a quarter of a billion dollars so far, and rising) has freed British director Anthony Minghella to create The Talented Mr Ripley in the form of a Holly­ wood thriller but without the predictable content. Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) is an out­ sider who yearns to become an insider. Wearing a borrowed Princeton jacket he is assumed to be someone he isn't and unexpectedly finds himself sent to retrieve a wealthy shipbuilder's errant son, Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law), from Italy, where he is dissipating his inheritance with a beautiful girlfriend, Marge Sherwood (Gwyneth Paltrow). Ripley discovers a life of moneyed ease and decides h e likes it; and he also decides he likes Dickie-a lot; enough to want to share his bath . Eventually the young its own narrow world, pursuing her with plutocrat tires of toying with Ripley. A trip ferocity dressed as love. P.J. is trapped within in a small boat ends in violence and Ripley Cult following a cult of manhood. For a period, Ruth herself finds himself all at sea, without a moral becomes a cult-exiter, although P.J. 's compass to guide him. Holy Smoke, dir. Jane Campion. This is a redemption does seem too easily won. After the bloodletting, Minghella story about leaving a cult. Ruth Barron Curiously, this film also plays on the skilfully shifts our sympathies. As Ripley (Kate Winslett, above) has found peace and idea of a cult movie. It is full of cliches, all takes on the 'life' of his victim and impro­ love in the chaos of India. Her family, pet of which are carefully deployed. The inner vises his escape we find ourselves hoping groomers in the orderly suburb of Sans dynamic of the Barron family captures for him to succeed, despite the magnitude Souci in Sydney, are appalled. Ruth's mother something of the dark side of Th e Castle. of his sin. But Minghella is a moralist at (Julie Hamilton) is despatched to retrieve The costume and behaviour of Ruth's gay heart and h e springs a trap on Ripley and the her. But, as we learn, it is one thing to bring brother, along with sundry strange vehicles, audience. The final twist is so bleak it back a person. Bringing back the mind are reminiscent of Priscilla. There's a little manages to be both poignant and horrify­ requires P.J. Waters (Harvey Keitel, right), a of Mad Max. A little of many things . Holy ing; a 'sunset ending' of a different, more cult-exiter whose authority over every Smoke does not so rnuch mine the same challenging, kind. -Brett Evans aspect of human living is seen in a wonderful vein of comedy as suggest the limitations of moment of baggage management in the the celebration of the bizarre which has arrival area of the airport. For such author­ become the bread and butter of many films. Blithe spirits ity, P.J. charges big bucks. Everyone in Holy Smoke is dressed up. The first part of Holy Smoke is hilarious. They live in a culture of appearances. Ruth's Dogma, dir. Kevin Smith. If you're tasteful, It is full of wonderful small observations. brother asks his partner what he really pedantic about theology and don't like But once Ruth and P. J. settle down for three believes in and the man says 'safe sex'. cartoonish violence and bad language, then days in isolation in the 'half-way hut' on an Ruth's m other and her friend struggle for don't even bother going to see Dogma. It's outback station, the film takes on more some way to ritualise their confusion and a silly bit of fluff which in its best moments serious and risky material. What slowly they scratch around for the words of the will make you laugh, but might offend just em erges is that there's no need to go to Lord's Prayer. 'This isn't the one with the about anybody. Except God. India to join a cult. The Barron family, for valley of death?' mum asks. She needs to Fans of Smith (Cha sing Amy et al.) will example, is a cult. It imprisons Ruth within know. - Michael McGirr SJ note that the characters Jay (Ja son Mewes)

44 EUREKA STREET • M ARCH 2000 and Silent Bob reappear. In Dogma, these early in the film. Faye Dunaway, as Charles' be working at 'the lawnmower factory in two lost, corrupt innocents are given the mother-in-l aw, Yolande of Aragon, Birmingh am '. Of course, there is no task of assisting the last descendant of Mary combines a shrewd tongue with extra­ lawnmower factory there fo r her to find, (check that bishop's blood pressure, nurse) ordinary head-dresses. just a kindly middle-aged catering m anager in a vital quest: if this Last Scion (Linda Dealing with a very big international who sees her looking lost and helpless on Fiorentino-a woman, too' Better take his cast and its merry mix-up of accents and the roadside ... As you might expect, kindly pulse, nurse) doesn't stop two banished and styles couldn't have been easy. Besson's Mr Hilditch (Bob Hoskins) is not altogether earth-bound angels from exploiting a Canon problems range from some subtle failures what he seems. If the fact that he videotapes Law loophole to return to Heaven, then all of nuance (the French actors who have to all of his and Felicia's meetings isn't enough existence will, well, not exist any more. Many speak in English are rather more humorous of a clue, then his (large) collection of tapes twists are added; the Scion works in an than suits some action) to the very jarring of similar m eetings with other girls should abortion clinic (I think the bishop's having use of Dustin Hoffman as the embodiment be enough to make anyone nervous for a bit of a nasty turn, doctor); the cardinal is of Joan's conscience. Hard to credit that Felicia's short-term future. a money-grubbing, golf-playing populist Jovovich's Joan has a conscience that could Here's the rub; everything you expect to (uh-oh, bring the paddles and clear ... ) and possibly resemble the strange, ironic depth happen from h ere does happen . N o God is played by Alanis Morissette because of Hoffman. inversions or subversions, no sudden they couldn't get Emma Thompson. (Sorry, If you still haven't decided whether to reorientation of character or plot, just a doctor. I think we lost him.) see Joan of Arc, perhaps Jovovich's own methodical and oddly gentle exposition of -Juliette Hughes words will help: 'I think if I m et her I'd the relationship between a middle-aged probably just give her a big hug. She's a serial killer and his young victim-to-be. little girl who went through a lot.' Not as Perhaps this is the twist- it is a film about Lost Arc much as her audience. relationship, in a genre that usually -Siobhan Jackson emphasises anything but. Ev en so, the roots Joan of Arc, dir. Luc Besson. Someone once of that relationship remain as obscure at told m e that on New Year's Day in Paris the film's end as they are at the beginning. everything is closed except the beauty Quiet dread Either that, or you blame it all on his parlours. After the biggest night of the year mother's cooking. And if you want to you can be assured of a professional shampoo Felicia 's Journey, dir. Atom Egoyan. I have understand that comment, you'll have to if nothing else. Now you'd assume that to confess, this film has m e stumped. In fact go and see the film- just be prepared to most days in the short, turbulent life of I haven't been forced to think so much come out confused, frustrated, and thinking. Joan of Arc were more taxing than your about a film in ages. Director Atom Egoyan -Allan James Thomas average modern N ew Year's Eve- no has made some of the most dispersible aspirin for starters, and certainly stimulating and intrigu­ no beauty salons for the muddy peasantry. ing films I've seen in the At least that was my assumption until I saw past decade, typically Luc Besson's new film of Joan of Arc. But characterised by complex Besson has convinced me that in 15th­ and tightly woven century France not only were peasant girls narrative and temporal super models, but their h airdressers structures, which often pioneered blonde tips. In fairness, it has resolve into clarity only been a grey area of history: some believe in their closing moments Joan was a m essenger of God, others an (E xotica, from 1994, is a hallucinating madwoman. But a Vidal perfect example, and one Sassoon chick? Give m e strength ... of m y favourites). Egoyan Still, it would be petty to judge an entire found mainstream su c­ film on the hairstyling of its lead actor. cess in 1997 with The After all, Milla Jo vovich has complete Sweet Hereafter, which mastery of the lip quiver and is a grand was nominated for two exponent of the petulant rant. Oscars; Felicia's Journey But fortunately Joan of Arc is not all is his follow-up. hair fetish and bone stru cture. John The story itself is very Malkovich is in form, showing us he can do simple. Felicia (Elaine much m ore than his usual psychopathic Cassidy), an almost genius turn. His Charles VII, both vulnerable pathologically naive and and malicious, is a compelling combination innocent teenager, travels from Ireland to England December 1999 Film to find the lover who Competition Winner (although she refuses to believe this) seduced and Con gratulations to Pat Pilgrim abandoned her. As he left from Randwick, NSW h e had told her he would

V OLUME 10 NUMBER 2 • EUREKA STREET 45 On monks, and monkeying with Dickens

M ,mHcR usw TO wo" in the Concspondence School St Francis' has had quite a history of sheltering dissenters: in Melbourne. He (we were careful to stress) was hired direct: 'We can dis ent without being disloyal,' says Fr Donald Cave, u sually, in those days, you were sent there because of physical the academic historian, whose research into the writings of the decrepitude-or perhaps because one too many classes of Year order's founder, Peter Julian Eymard, reveals extensive suppres­ Nines had left you with the impression that you were King of sion of later writings that advocated a move into the world away the Cannibal Islands working incognito for the FBI. from monastic seclusion. Arthur Calwell took refuge there in Dad had (of course) no teaching qualifications-this was the divisive times of the Labor Party split; Ned Kelly's parents the Sixties. He, of the rarely balanced cheque book, taught worshipped there. Commerce to a thriving clientele of prisoners and isolates, and The direction, by Luigi Acquisito and Andrew Sully, is found working in the city very satisfying. One of the pluses leisurely; broad in scope as well as minute in observation­ was that, as a devoted daily communicant, he would nip over quite a feat. The characters unfolded in idiosyncratic glory, their to St Francis' Church in Lonsdale Street at lunchtime for a quick quirks and foibles, their strengths and their Mass among the ro ary-rattlers. This caused no comment at sometimes weird senses of humour. work, where his best pal and sparring partner was a card-carrying Communist, and where one of the main tasks was to make sure T ,s PA CING, this willingness to let a story just happen, is that the wastepaper basket was near som ething wet, since one something that the adaptors of the BBC 's most recent assault of the other chaps used to write stern letters to the Government on Dickens (screen ed in February on the ABC), were obviously and then bum them so they couldn't be traced. (Another fugitive not allowed in their brief. from Year Nines.) Much was made in pre-program publicity of John Ferguson's So it was warming to see Once Were Monks, a five-part inability to complete the task of making David Copperfield documentary about St Francis' religious community, the Blessed worth watching in two 90-minute episodes. At this point Sacrament Fathers (SBS, Sundays 8pm, beginning 9 April). It's I remember that this is only two-thirds of the time given to strange to see people you know, or are at least acquainted with, Pride and Preiudice, which is about a third the size of David actually on the telly being interviewed about life, the universe Copperfield. I don't blame Ferguson for not being able to fillet and the care of budgies. the novel into the comic-book tableaux it consisted of in the Once Were Monks is slowly paced, but I don't find that a current offering. Someone was obviously willing to do it, just problem when the subjects are so fascinating; at the end of each as you will always find someone willing to chop down a great episode you wanted to know m ore. Would Brother Gerard's old tree, or put a freeway through an exquisite meadow. The budgie survive the move? 'What move?' you say. Ah, well, that's price paid was to lose the essential Dickensian life and what it's all about: moving on, dealing with change, mortality, eccentricity: Betsy Trotwood and Mr Dick were about the best, history, the problem of pain and the mystery of self-giving. but what on earth happen ed to Steerforth, the Micawbers, You see a mixed bunch of men, mostly in late-middle to Mr Peggotty, Tommy Traddles? Toned down, stitched up or real old age (Brother Bernard died during the filming on his 102nd left out. birthday) coming to terms with being Catholics with a vocation There is a market for long unfolding stories, sagas, what in the last days of a century that has contained many wars, have you: they're called soap operas. The ABC's dull, fake-quirky Vatican II and Pope John Paul II. Some are quite bolshie­ Something in the Air was done over so satisfyingly by Phillip Fr Gonzalo Munoz, a brilliantly compassionate priest, leaves Adams that I've really nothing more to add except that if the the community for an unspecified time. He says, when inter­ Drama department has enough money to waste putting good viewed, that he finds it difficult to continue saying Mass in a actors on a treadmill like that, why don't they do something brave climate of exclusion of women from the priesthood. H e speaks and make a real adaptation of a Dickens novel? Something of changing morality, how it shouldn't impinge on matters of running almost as long a , say, Dog's Head Bay . . . • faith, and how people who can't change become 'clones' rather than truly alive. Juliette Hughes is a freelance reviewer.

46 EUREKA STREET • MARcH 2000 Eureka Street Cryptic Crossword no. 81, March 2000

Devised by Joan Nowotny IBVM ACROSS 1. Youths fuss over the French perfumes. (11) 10. Supply verbal sally with starting point. (5) 11. Is about to take a turn for the better and speak off the cuff. (9) 12. When last seen, I unfortunately was missing a vital part. (9) 13. Perhaps a flip of the wrist will shake up the dish. (5) 14. Somewhat confused, goon is likely to cut an angular figure? (6) 16. Read the riot act on the captain? Yes, treat No.1 constructively-the same as everyone else! (4, 4) 18. Provokes School's leader in a way that is quite uncalled for. (8) 20. 'No action in the past' a sister interposed! (6) 23. French animal fur is quite plain. (5) 24. Subordinate given entry to part of spaghetti junction, perhaps. (9) 26. Through homesickness feeling lost? A gain could be in the offing. (9) 27. Enough for a politician the French endorse. (5) 28. In exotic dance scene candles start glowing. (11) DOWN 2. American lawyer, on out-of-order public transport, smears the Solution to Crossword no. 80, system. (5) January-February 2000 3. Don John of Austria in famous naval battle pantomime depicts. (7) 4. What to do with a rope, perhaps, when you pass over' (4, 2) 5. Sounds as if unknown clearly indicated that he was dismissed. (8) 6. Member of travelling circus, possibly, provides PR on route to be taken. (7) 7. Northern Italian citizen unable to see need for this protection from the sun. (8,5 ) 8. Strawberries and cream in cakes, maybe, creates need for them at the dentist. (8) 9. Individual endowed with emotional control. (4-9) 15. Could be bridge complementary to 24-across. (8) 17. The donkey and you, it seems, getting on in years together, brought alleviation of dis tress. (8) 19. Some Catalan tanagers perch in the shrub. (7) 21. Rodents go back and forth to point where they find a tasty sauce. (7) 22. Paradigms of perfection or silly notions about the Left? (6) 25. A sort of lavender jelly? (5)

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