Vol. 6 No. 4 May 1996 $5.95

stralian institution & 9 S1"vr:R~!}J~R<:~ Special book Offer Australian Poetry Romanticism and Negativity by Paul Kane

'Paul Kane, himself a poet of lucid late romanticism, offers us an exciting account of the many-disjointed, yet continuing-romantic gestures which have characterized the growth of our poetry. His history of negations is remarkably positive, and certainly illuminating.' - Chris Wallace-Crabbe, University of Melbourne.

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for Australian books Australian Volunteers Abroad (AVAs) work in many occupations in Asia, Africa , the Pacific In our May issue: and Latin America. Lengths of assignment vary, an essay on history by Greg Dening but are usually up to two years. Salaries are modest but cover overseas living costs. And reviews of: You may be a qu alified professional or tradesperson looking for a change, or perhaps Paul Carter's The Lie of the Land a recent graduate wanting to gain experience, Eva Cox's Leading Women or maybe a retiree with skills and knowledge Robyn Davidson's Desert Places to share ... Mareie Day's How to Write Crime If you're interested in finding out about the AVA program, contact the Overseas Service Bureau. Jenny Digby's A Woman's Voice Applications are being received now. Humphrey McQueen's Tom Roberts

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CoNTENTS

4 COMMENT 29 ENCOUNTERS WITH RELIGIOUS 7 ITALY: LOMBRIASCO CAPITAL LETTER Gerard Windsor finds some wintry signs and wonders on the Po plain. Towards 2001: 8 LETTERS 32 'Decisions such as the BOOKS High Court's decision in 10 Jim Davidson reviews Humphrey McQueen's SPARKY Tom Roberts and Geoffey Serle's Robin Boyd Mabo show how major (p33}; social issues can be 11 Peter Steele surveys the prose of Joseph FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE Brodsky (p36); thrust before the courts James Nichols reports from Rwanda. Peter Pierce speaks in Tasmanian tongues for a solution if a (p38); 12 John Hanner reviews Richard Lennan's political one is not THE LAST SHOUT Ecclesiology of Karl Rohner (p40). devised ... while I Jon Greenaway wonders whether Australian pub culture is terminal. 35 suspect that the POETRY Australian community 16 What Borromini Saw and Mutant TOE-HOLDS Proverbs (p39}, by Peter Porter. will continue to accept Michael McGirr talks to Margaret Wertheim and reads Paul Davies while the High Court's 42 juggling physics, power and being. OPERA decisions, one cannot John Carmody explores the 17 dark side of Wagner's leitmotifs. assume that ARCHIMEDES that would be so'. 45 -John Doyle 18 THEATRE Chief Justice of South Australia BALANCING ACTS Geoffrey Milne tastes the fruits See Balancing acts, pl8. John Doyle, Chief Justice of South of the new season. Australia, reflects on the Constitution and the future for reform. 47 Cover: An inner city local, FLASH IN THE PAN the All Nations Hotel, 20 Reviews of the film.s Broken Arrow, Nadfa, one of a rare breed. DOWN BYLAW Photograph by Bill Thomas The Birdcage, How To Make An American Moira Rayner weighs the problems Quilt, Dead Man, A Midwinter's Tale and The Photographs pp3, 12, 15 facing A TSIC and its legal services. Run Of The Country. by Bill Thomas Graphics pp19, 20, 21, 30, 3 1, 45 by Siobhan Jackson. 22 50 Cartoons pp8, 25, 26-27, 28 MELODIC LINES WATCHING BRIEF by Dean Moore. Paul Kelly looks for the riffs. Eureka Street magazine 51 Jesuit Publications 24 SPECIFIC LEVITY PO Box 553 THE NEXT PHASE Richmond VIC 3 121 Tel (03)9427 73 11 Andrew Hamilton charts Australian Fax (03)9428 4450 identity, past, present and future.

V OLUME 6 NUMBER 4 • EUREKA STREET 3 EUREKA STRI:-ET COMMENT A magazine of public affairs, the arts PETER NORDEN and theology Publisher Michael Kelly SJ Dealing truths Editor Morag Fraser ETT GOVERNMENT is not known for taking Consulting editor a holistic approach to social and community needs. However, Michael McGirr SJ the report of the Premier's Drug Advisory Council on the Assistant editor use of illicit drugs does just this. Its chairperson, Professor Jon Greenaway David Penington, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, privately acknowledged the prejudices about Production assistants: illegal drug use that he brought to the investigation as it Paul Fyfe SJ, Scott Howard, Juliette Hughes, commenced late last year. However, the 73 recommenda­ Chris Jenkins SJ, tions contained in the report made available in April of this Siobhan Jackson, Dan Disney year have surprised many social commentators. Confronting the extent of illegal drug use in Australia Contributing editors was one of the factors that shaped the views of Penington Adelaide: Greg O'Kelly SJ and his advisers on the Drug Advisory Council. The Brisbane: Ian Howells SJ Australian Institute of Health and Welfare estimated that in Perth: Dean Moore 1990, 59,000 Australians were regular users of heroin, and a Sydney: Edmund Campion, Andrew Riemer, further 11 3,000 were irregular users. This estimation would Gerard Windsor suggest that two per cent of the 15 to 44-year-old Australian European correspondent: Damien Simonis population have used heroin. Editorial board In contrast, the Victorian figures, as identified by studies Peter L'Estrange S) (chair), by the Department of Health and Community Services in Margaret Coady, Margaret Coffey, 1992 and the study by the National Drug Household Survey Valda M. Ward RSM, Trevor Hales, in 1995, indicate that 29 per cent of Victorians have smoked Marie Joyce, Kevin McDonald, marijuana and that 12 per cent of the population smoked Jane Kelly rBVM, marijuana during the last twelve months. Peter Steele SJ, Bill Uren SJ Drug-related deaths in Victoria now approach, in Business manager: Sylvana Scannapiego number, the deaths due to traffic accidents, yet the Advertising representative: Ken Head government spent only $1.6 million last year on drug Patrons education, compared to more than $100 million on Eurel

4 EUREKA STREET • MAv 1996 of the wider community on the nature and danger of drug current marijuana use in Victoria is estimated to be higher than abuse. Many who have participated most vigorously in the in the Netherlands, where some 2500 'coffee shops' are permit­ debate have themselves failed to read the report. ted to sell marijuana openly, but only 27 per cent of its citizens The Premier initially indicated to the Council members have used the substance. The United States, on the other hand, that their recommendations would be accepted by the represents the harshest model of prohibition and reliance on government. He delayed the publication of the report, law and order control measures. This has resulted in the crim­ however, until after the State election, and then dissociated inalisation of high numbers of young Afro-American males, a himself from this earlier commitment, allowing the dramatic increase in the national prison population-to over 2 recommendations to be debated publicly and offering a million citizens-and an expanding population of people conscience vote to the members of his party. dependent on illicit drugs. In the days following the release of the report there was Singapore, since 1988, has regarded drug abuse as a social much lobbying of local parliamentary representatives with and behavioural problem, imposing hefty penalties on drug deal­ arguments against the decriminalisation proposal. Such lob­ ers, but allowing drug dependent persons to bypass the court by groups seemed to disregard the present reality, in which system and the stigma of criminal conviction, and directing 47 per cent of male Year 11 students and 37 per cent of them to drug rehabilitation centres for treatment. By contrast, females were found to be smoking marijuana. In the existing in Australian prisons, drug treatment facilities are available only circumstances these students run the risk of criminal con­ to a tiny minority of the seventy per cent of persons incarcerat­ viction for possession. They also risk associating with crim­ ed for drug-related offences. inal elements who deal the drugs and who, more often than It is heartening to see an academic of Professor Penington's not, also offer a choice of heroin, amphetamines or ecstasy. stature present such an honest and balanced approach to drug Many in our community cling to the hope that prohibi­ control, but we will have to wait and see if politicians will tion of drugs currently classified as illegal will solve our prob­ exercise the same degree of leadership and courage in lems. Many believe that decriminalisation of marijuana for implementing the report's recommendations. • personal use will lead to increased use among young people and more widespread heroin use in our society. It was there­ Peter Norden SJ is director of Jesuit Social Services, which fore illuminating to learn from the Penington Report that conducts programs for drug-dependent young Australians.

COMMENT: 2

ANDREW HAMILTON Don't fence me in

N EW MINISTERS SEEK CHANGES. Mr Philip Ruddock, the Mr Ruddock would like to exclude appeal either to the Minister for Immigration, is concerned particularly to re­ Refugee Review Tribunal or to the Federal Court. His examine the system of judicial review, by which asylum seek­ dilemma is that it will be very difficult to exclude appeal to ers and immigrants can appeal against unfavourable the Federal Court (the right to judicial review is guaranteed decisions. He has also criticised past political appointments by the Australian Constitution) but the opportunity to appeal to the review tribunal. That this matters to refugees becomes to the Refugee Review Tribunal is indispensable if asylum clear when you look at the present system, and at Mr seekers are to obtain justice. Ruddock's options. Before the Refugee Review Tribunal was instituted, the People who apply, in Australia, for refugee status are original applications for refugee status and the subsequent first interviewed by an officer of the Department of Immi­ appeal were both under the ;:egis of the Department of gration who then makes a decision on their status. If this Immigration. The Department's policy was to discourage primary decision goes against the applicants, they may appeal people from applying in Australia for asylum. The lack of to the Refugee Review Tribunal, an independent body whose independence in the process fuelled perception that the mem­ members are appointed by the minister. Each case is heard bers of the Department were pre-disposed to reject applicants. by a single member of the Tribunal, with applicants allowed It also created great tension between the Department and to be present at the hearing. Some limited legal assistance­ refugee organisations and lawyers. Distrust of the impartial­ important in such a complex legal process-is available to ity of the process was intensified by some scathing court asylum seekers at each of these stages. judgments of Departmental procedures. If asylum seekers are rejected at this review stage, they Since 1994, The Refugee Review Tribunal, which has may appeal to the Federal Court. As the Federal Court can its own staff, has provided an effective and non-confronta­ judge only on whether the decision was properly made, tional review of the decisions made by Department. It has, successful applicants win no more than a fresh hearing of arguably, improved the quality of decision making and, their case by the Refugee Review Tribunal. Funding for such because of its independence, has enjoyed the confidence of cases is discretionary. both the legal community and the asylum seekers. The quality of its decisions has been variable but clearly impartial. it part of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, or to make it If the Tribunal were abolished and decisions made entirely by responsible for a single primary decision about refugee status the Department again, these decisions would not be perceived would be possible stratagems. But many asylum seekers are so to be impartial and independent. Pressure on the Department traumatised that it is only at the review stage that they have would intensify, particularly if-as seems certain-numbers of established sufficient trust to be able to make their true case. staff available for heavier responsibilities are to be reduced. In the meantime Mr Ruddock should be encouraged to The opportunity to appeal to the Federal Court is less eliminate political appointm ents. Indeed, he should make both important for most asylum seekers. Judicial review has, the appointment of the Review Tribunals and the hearing of however, played a vital part in ensuring that governments treat appeals, particularly by East Timorese asylum seekers, totally the powerless lawfully, as shown by the shameful history of free from government influence. • our treatment of the Cambodian boatpeople. Mr Ruddock will find no easy solution to his dilemma. Andrew Hamilton SJ lectures in theology and has been chaplain But the Refugee Review Tribunal should be inviolable. To make to the Cambodian community in Melbourne.

COMMENT: 3 M AX TEICHMANN Russian roulette

R ussiA IS LUMBERING TOWARDS ANOTHER ELECTION-this time the savings of the poor and the modestly endowed. Unemploy­ for its President. Yeltsin's idea of governing seems to be ment has soared, while free education, health, affordable hous­ permanent electioneering-the mark of most modern populist ing-the whole Communist safety net-has been withdrawn democracies. But in Russia little legitimacy seems to be and pensions made semi-worthless. accorded by the people to any centre of authority, be it Duma, A class of new rich, conspicuously consuming, and a President, regional Governments or the Constitution. network of Mafias quite out of control is all many citizens This chaotic, potentially dangerous situation encourages experience of the New Order. Russians were promised by Len­ fa lse Czars like Zhirinovsky, or the now ubiquitous Mafias­ in and then by Stalin that people here and now might suffer including, until recently, Dudayev's Chechens. The Red Army and sacrifice, even be sacrificed, to create a glorious future for tries to hold the ring, while making its own demands to hold their children and grandchildren. Many Russians felt cheated­ on to its power. Ex-Party bureaucrats ply their trade in recently it never happened for them. Now they are being made to go privatised enterprises- the fruits of economic rationalism a la through it all again. The KGB is replaced by the lash of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) . market. But more and more Russians are refusing, as they did Russia exhibits uneven development. There is the agricul­ in Hungary and Poland, to co-operate. tural sector-nearer feudalism than capitalist agri-business­ Yeltsin will probably win. All the smart money, especially and the industrial and manufacturing base built on by Lenin American money, is on him, as it was on Gorbachev until he and Stalin under a command economy. The KGB was needed dug in his heels. The media is bribed or regimented, reporting to keep these sectors working. little of substance concerning Yeltsin's opponents except to The nemesis of the traditional heavy industries has been demonise them. Zhirinovsky would bring Fascism, anti­ long approaching. Unlike their Western counterparts, they could Semitism and Great Russian Imperialism and expansionism. not even supply the basic consumption needs of the masses. The new Communists would want to restore the old Commu- There were also advanced areas of the economy: space and the nist order, no matter what they now say. nuclear industries, military technology, the computer and But in fact the new Communists probably wouldn't, or information industries, which could not be slotted into the other couldn't. Their problem would be how to govern all the disparate traditional work hierarchies. These newcomers chafed against groups-for Russians are enduring a combination of the Party and Government control, functioning increasingly as Enclosures, the Industrial Revolution and the computer-infor­ segregated, semi-autonomous, affluent sections of the society. mation revolutions. Plus Weimar's inflationary collapse of 1922 Then there was the grey-black economy which tried to remedy and the 1929 Depression. Powerful Western groups seem the production and distributional breakdowns of the command determined to enforce Western agendas on the Russians, and economy. These fixers, middle-men, entrepreneurs, budding have their appointees in power. This is a recipe for a kind of capitalists, dealers in foreign exchange, private farmers, had to slow-motion civil war. A Yeltsin victory would, most likely, be tolerated, as was bureaucratic corruption and predation. That be a pyrrhic victory. system is now collapsed. Which is not to say that the New Communists and Privatisation is being rammed through, with wages, prices, Nationalists have the answers, but they do more truly echo the and profits being allowed to correspond to 'market realities'. sighs of the poor, the disinherited, and people protesting against Financial deregulation and a multiplication of private banking another moral and cultural wasteland. • and insurance units have fo llowed. Subsidies are being phased out. A host of hikes in essential items and services have eaten Max Teichmann is a freelance political commentator and up the resources of the poorer clas es; inflation has destroyed reviewer.

6 EUREKA STREET • MAY 1996 A false start I,BRST mRAYS ARC ANYTHING to go by, talking about. The ticking off and proper acquitting of each item the wave of fear going around Aboriginal of expenditure is a cult that has been imposed on ATSIC and communities about how they will be treated under a Howard its predecessor bodies to an extent without parallel anywhere Government is amply justified. Not because conservative gov­ else in Commonwealth or state administration. Perhaps as ernments are inherently hostile to Aboriginal interests, with a much as 20 or 30 per cent of grants to Aboriginal communities secret agenda to grind them into the dust, but because politi­ is chewed with book-keeping and auditing. cians have demonstrated yet again that they have little under­ Of course there is some misfeasance. ATSIC operates standing of the problems, let alone solutions to them. chiefly by giving grants to community groups, many of which Like many a minister for Aboriginal Affairs before him, Dr are not well equipped to manage money. But even where dis­ John Herron has a good heart and not a little sympathy for Ab­ honesty is clear, police, others, and sometimes a compromised original interests. He even knows something about the condi­ ATSIC political structure have generally been reluctant to act. tions under which Aborigines live and the fact that the But the fact is, of course, that ATSIC would be a mess even if modem-day equivalent of perhaps $25 billion in special pur­ every dollar spent had been scrutinised with the utmost rigour. pose expenditure over 25 years has produced very little physi­ This is because a massive accountability regime is focused cal or social capital in Aboriginal communities, because of a on checking the inputs rather than the outputs. So long as the manifest failure of service delivery. He also knows that the money is disbursed in a properly accountable way, it is going to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission is in bad get a clean bill of health. But the problem with ATSIC is far odour in Aboriginal communities. He is aware that there are more fundamental than a bit of creative accounting. ATSIC some who have lived from the grants ATSIC has doled out who was set up by people who believed that the major reason for have long histories of rorting, and, in some cases, of violence, failure of programs was that Aborigines, the true experts on extortion and sexual assault. He means to put a stop to it. their situation, were not being consulted enough. This was and So far so good. But having background in Aboriginal affairs is a problem, but it is not the major one. The major problem is and personal knowledge of conditions has never seemed much about effective delivery. of an advantage in the area. On my (fairly short) list of ministers The misdiagnosis meant that an unwieldy, undemocratic who have any claim to effectiveness in Aboriginal affairs, only and unworkable political structure was created. It was not per­ one, Fred Chaney, had any previous background in the area and mitted or encouraged to devise integrated plans for communi­ he found that no help. Few of the ministers with close ties or families. Both the political and the administrative experience-people such as Gordon Bryant, Clyde Holding, structure found themselves standing on functional mountains, Gerry Hand and Robert Tickner-will be held up as having giving out money for specific purposes to scads of incorporated achieved much for Aboriginal affairs. bodies, themselves both short on administrative expertise and The last three of these covered the span of the last Labor having problems of accounting to their own constituencies. Government, during which there were landmarks such as Neither ATSIC nor the bodies it funds complements the Redfern, Mabo and the Parliament's passage of a law which authority structures of Aboriginal communites, and they are theoretically acknowledged the possibility of native title. But not accountable in the wider sense of the word, either to the none of this had much to do with them. And most of the time Aboriginal constituencies or to the wider community. Aborigines were actually going backwards compared with non­ Nothing on the Herron or the Howard agenda seems likely Aboriginal Australians. to change any of this. Indeed, it may even entrench it and deprive But Senator John Herron, and Jolm Howard, who has given the system of whatever flexibility and imagination is possible. some explicit blessing to the approach his minister has taken, The only good that could come out of the affair is that a few old may already have missed the best chances going to make power brokers whose activities have long been a scandal effective changes. Even if they thought there was some urgent might at least be discredited so that a newer need for action about some kind of rorting (about which the generation might have a go. administrative side of ATSIC has been complaining, unavail­ ingly, for years), they might have listened first, if only to shore BUT THERE couLD BE one other effect. The glory of an ATSIC, up some of the support which was actually out there. from Labor's point of view, was that when anything was wrong Had they paused to listen, they might have spared them­ in an Aboriginal community, the minister could shake his head selves, Aborigines, and the broader community some of the and explain it was not his fault-the priorities were set by nonsense which they are currently spouting about accounta­ ATSIC, and they divvied up the cake. It was usually done with bility, and some of their nonsensical plans to achieve it. They such skill that no one ever looked at the size of the cake. might be proceeding, with rather more confidence, to make It was different once. As Ian Viner, or Fred Chaney, or Peter changes far more radical than they now propose, and with some Baume could attest, there was a time when a Minister for constituency in both Aboriginal Australia and amongst those Aboriginal Affairs was under personal assault for each and every for whom sound policy on Aboriginal affairs is a litmus test for problem uncovered. Wittingly or not, John Herron and John civilised Government. Howard may have restored this situation. • Accountability is a very big problem in Aboriginal affairs. But not the sort of accountability that the Government is now Jack Waterford is the editor of the Canberra Times. LETTERS

lack of exact fidelity to Jane Austen's Eurelw Street welcomes letters plot and script is as shallow as con­ Strictly Jane from its readers. Short letters arc demning one of Shakespeare's histori­ more likely to be published, and cal plays because Shakespeare gets his From Geraldine Perriam all letters may be edited. Letters history wrong. I greatly admire Juliette Hughes' must be signed, and should The film is far more than a plot. In devotion to the works of Miss Austen include a contact phone number its portrayal of the universal issues of but I found her review of the film and the writer's name and address. families and love and passion, the film Sen se and Sensibility a little has emotional soul. In her novels, Jane unforgiving. To misquote the Rev. Austen explores the same issues with Patrick Bronte, 'Do you know Emma exquisite subtlety but more impact has written a screenplay and it is much than the most explicit of today. That better than likely?' is her genius. To be sure, there were minor Judged by that standard, the film irritations but Emma Thompson did is one of utmost fidelity. Less subtle a first-class job of adapting a some­ I ~ on film, for obvious reasons, but still times wooden novel for the screen. subtle by film standards. Sense and Sensibility is not the most Had the film remained absolutely even of Jane Austen's novels. The male faithful to the plot but did not convey characters are one-dimensional and this underlying soul, I think the Elinor too restrained even for an novelist could have been justifiably Englishwoman. David Cecil com­ critical because the film would have mented that, in the novel, Edward been only an empty shell. But would Ferrars and Colonel Brandon 'lack life Rickman, who plays Brandon to she have been pedantic about the plot and individuality', and A.C. Ward perfection but I am prejudiced, having which is, after all, only a means to an found Edward 'no more alive than a been in love with his voice for years. end and which most filmgoers would ventriloquist's doll'. Through expand­ One of the great strengths of Sense not know or remember? I think not. ing the role of the youngest Dash wood, and Sensibility is its restraint, despite Of course, the plot cannot be the fact that Elinor weeps ignored lest the exhibitors be guilty of openly in front of Edward. misrepresenting Sense and Sensibility WEL-L., WHA\ DO "COU K~OW? 11 The restraint of the film is as something which it is not. But even 1URN5 OUi 11-\f, INSirTL)TION contrasted by the most recent your reviewer does not suggest Or Mt\Rg\P.,Gf t5 1US1 A series of PTide and PTeindice variations to that extent. Why not, JANf. AU'Sit:.N ~ OVIE. 11£-lt\l ( in which the role of Mrs. then, tell us something of the film, of Bennet has been conceived as its essence which the reviewer refers ) a shrieking harpy who would to and then ignores. be more at home in a Music John Gartlan Hall, and the terrible film of Eltham, VIC Northanger Abbey recently screen ed by the ABC, complete with synthesised Truly believable? late 20th century lift music. Sense and Sensibility has been well adapted for the From Paul Rodan screen, particularly since it Reading the contributions of Brian caters for those who have Toohey and Ross McMullin (Emeka never read a word of Jane Street, April) one could be forgiven for Austen and those who have thinking they were writing about two never stopped reading h er different governments. The former work. advances the view that Labor screwed Geraldine Perriam its own constituents and paid the Ormond, V1C penalty while the latter lauds Keating Margaret, Emma Thompson has and compares his government's fate cleverly provided a foil for Edward's with that of Chifley's. McMullin also more rounded role. Such a pity they Austentacious seems to echo the line IGoss et al.) that cast Hugh Grant. Although Juliette a government which avoids scandal Hughes found the actors 'exactly in and incompetence might expect to be looks' as she had pictured, the From fohn Gartlan re-elected. lamentable choice of Hugh Grant as Having just seen Sense and Sensibil­ Well, put m e in the Toohey camp. Edward was unlike Miss Austen's own ity, my suspicion was confirmed that I would have thought that on the issue conception of him as a rather plain Juliette Hughes' review (Eureka Street, of delivering to their core constitu­ man. The Jane Austen Society March 1996) is useless to the prospec­ ency, Chifley and Keating were about objected to Hugh Grant in the role of tive filmgoer. as far apart as it were possible to be Edward because he was too handsome. Juliette fails to review the film as (key word here: banks), but m aybe I'm Far happier was the casting of Alan a film. Condemning the film on its missing a link. And it would be

8 EUREKA STREET • M AY 1996 Those 'prominent identities' were sick and frail child at 22 and I was expecting to be beaten. 5,000 km from 'home'. Not bad for a Paul Rodan 'good Catholic girl' from a 'good East Malvern, VIC Catholic family'. With my sadness, and a baby on my hip I began to attend Mass again­ Loving spirit sometimes on Sunday, sometimes through the week-it depended on my This month, From Peta Wellstead mood really. Sometimes I would stay courtesy of Penguin Books, Paul Collins (Eureka Street, March behind and sit quietly in the darkened the writer of each letter we 1996) elucidates clearly the linkages church-trying to make sense of the publish will receive between power, authority and sexual sadness and loss in my life-trying to two of the dysfunction as they operate within the come to terms with my badness. One Penguin 60s Classics Church. There is no doubt, as Fr day through my tears, in the quiet still­ Collins points out 'that ome priests ness of a suburban church I received have seriously abused their position of more comfort in half an hour than I influence and trust' and this presents had received in a lifetime. The arms some difficult issues for the church, that held me were those of a young uncharitable to draw attention to both pastorally and legally. priest from the community of the par· personality differences too, notably in Fr Collins says that 'the wide­ ish. He was 30. the area of humility. It can be spread nature of this scandal [of sexual My life was one of chaos and contended that the Chifley govern­ abuse] indicates that its causes are sadness but I was more than this. I was ment went down fighting for some­ pervasive and deeply embedded in the young and intelligent and full of hope. thing resembling Labor values while institutional church'. 1 would agree The young priest and I became friends. the Keating government just went that this is the case but have cause to Our friendship developed, as friend­ clown, but not before its leader had wonder whether this has less to do ships between young vibrant people dragged the Australian centre so far to with 'power, authority and secrecy' with like minds do, and one clay I the right on economic issues as to and more to do with the lack of knew, without a shadow of doubt that make Howard's agenda possible. And formation of our priests. I was in love. How could I-the 'good I wish that McMullin, Kennett and It is true 'that most priests are [not] Catholic girl'-be in love with the celi­ others would stop describing any motivated by a lust for power' but bate priest? More badness, more sad­ change they support as 'reform'. rather most act from a genuine feel­ ness, more regret. It is a sad state of affairs if Labor ing of care and concern for the people One morning after many sleepless governments arc content merely with they serve. My experience has taught nights I wrote the letter I knew I had avoiding scandals and providing com­ me that our priests are not given the tO write-even with all my sadness petent economic management, the training, skills and ongoing support to and emotional fatigue I was so much latter of course defined exclusively by allow them to do this work effectively wiser than he. I knew that an illicit those who benefit most from the free in a supportive and caring environ­ affair would destroy us both, and it was market. If that's all that matters, ment. While compulsory celibacy may only a hair's breadth away. Yes, he was rather than protecting the less well­ be an important issue in the debate, it in a position of power and trust, yes, I off and challenging vested interests, is not the only issue. was emotionally vulnerable, yes, he we should just elect accountants. If the When I was 23 I fell in love with a should have been more discerning and lesson of 1996 is, in part, that Labor priest. I had bad more trauma in my objective. governments have to deliver more to 23 years than most people get in a life­ But how does a young man, who their constituents (as Toohey sug­ time. My marriage was ending, I had leaves home at 16 to enter an all-male gests), that's a good lesson! suffered abandonment and loss, an environment with no emotional and The same Eureka Street reported abortion at 17, a stillborn child at 21, physical supports, learn about relating the travails of Martin Ferguson, now a long period in hospital to deliver a intimately to women? When most of anointed as a likely 'leader' of the left. us were fumbling with bra straps in If this is the same gentleman who the back of cars and hiding love bites presided over a drop in the unionisa­ Counselling from our mothers he was off learning tion rate to less than a third of the If you or someone you know how to be holy-learning how to serve work force, his accession to any lead­ could benefit from his people. ership role is not necessarily good So I wrote my letter and sent my news. professional counselling, love away. But he was more than my One final point about an aspect of please phone Martin love- he was my best friend. In the McMullin's piece. If there were promi­ Prescott, BSW, MSW, two years of our friendship he knew nent Chifley government identities MAASW, clinical member more about me, understood me and 'amazed' at the party's defeat in 1949, of the Association of cared for me more than any other on they certainly weren't those who earth and I missed him. I missed him increased the size of the House of Catholic Psychotherapists. so much I thought my heart would Representatives (to save threatened Individuals, couples and break but it didn't. Life and love and incumbents) and introduced families catered for: loss continued and the babe on my hip proportional representation for the Bentleigh (03) 955 7 2595 is now 16. I have cause to reflect what Senate to save Labor's majority there. it would be like for him if he was taken

V oLUME 6 NuMBER 4 • EUREKA STREET 9 away into a world of men so he could Fr Collins seems to imply that if serve the world. mandatory celibacy were removed, the At 23, in an emotional and vulner­ problem of sex abuse by the clergy able state, I was still wiser than my would disappear. One needs only to 30-year-old friend who had a position look at other Christian churches to see of power and trust. Those priests who that this is patently absurd. Sin will abuse power and trust need to be sanc­ occur no matter what; therefore, why tioned and assisted to learn more ap­ should we forego a gift of the Holy Bad news propriate ways of relating to the Spirit for the sake of accommodating vulnerable they serve. But they also a small percentage of problem cases? D URING THE EASTER BREAK Theodore Kaczynski was need our compassion because more Fr Roman Cholj in 'Clerical Celi­ arrested outside Helena, Montana. A stooped recluse who often than not it may well be a case of bacy in East and West' argues convinc­ lived in a cupboard-sized shack, Kaczynski has blundered 'forgive them Father for they know not ingly that the law on celibacy is not a into custody as the man possibly behind a mystery almost what they do '. mere disciplinary matter which the two decades old. The FBI believe they have nabbed one of Postscript: The world works in Church can change but 'that there is a America's most-wanted criminals, the Unabomber, who, mysterious ways and 12 months ago, solid doctrinal base for the law which since 1978, has mailed bombs to addresses across the US, 15 years later in quite extraordinary can be traced back to the teaching of killing three people and wounding 23. circumstances and a very long way the apostles'. The Unabomber-so called because many packages from the 'scene of the crime' I recon­ There is no space to challenge Fr were sent to universities and airlines-diminished the nected with my best friend, who is no Collins' disparaging remarks about mystery behind the bombings when a manuscript was sent longer a priest. Over long dinners and Humanae Vitae and the Pope's valiant to The New York Times and The Washington Post late last numerous bottles of brandy we have efforts to elevate the moral standards year. In return for their publication of the 35,000 word done what most in our circumstances of humanity. Suffice to say that I for Industrial Society and its Future, he would stop his bomb­ never get the chance to do, we have one am more ready to follow John Paul ing. Both papers decided to publish, at the risk of establish­ been able to talk openly, honestly and II's agenda than that proposed by Paul ing a dangerous precedent. If Kaczynski is the Unabomber, objectively about what happened and Collins. why. then the decision to publish and so avoid bombings is John Barich It would be fair to say that his Ardross, WA unlikely to be tested: Montana still employs the death formation is still not complete-but penalty. we are working on it! The Unabomber's 'manifesto' mixes soapbox diatribe, Peta Wellstead Where is it? socio-political testament, and paranoid cant, to promote a Nedlands, WA form of heady anti-system anarchy, opposed to the Fwm Paul Finnane 'psychology of the modern left',which supposedly causes Max Teichmann's reviews in the April individuals to lead 'unfulfilled lives'. In the Unabomber's Who's right? issue are gut-wrenching. I want to get conception, modern leftism is synonymous with 'social­ I Rest My Case and I have ordered it ists, collectivists, politically correct types, feminists, gay From Tohn Barich from Mary Martin Bookshops but they and disability activists, animal rights activists and the I am somewhat puzzled by Fr Collins' just called me to say they can't get it, like'. He postulates an enforced dependence in modern article 'Coming Clean' (Emel

10 EU REKA STREET • MAY 1996 FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE

JAMES N ICHOLLS Riddling Rwanda

S UNDA" '" K'GAU '"my peoco­ always immaculately turned out, two football stadiums. A team from ful, with little of the usual street unless of course you meet the poor­ the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) hustle that exists during the week. est of the poor hidden in the back is playing against a visiting African Just about everything is closed except streets behind the main roads. But Youth team who look ominously restaurants. You might take a late on just about any road you take, you smaller. It just so happens that the breakfast at the Cafe de Caravane see salons for men and women, which new Vice-President of Rwanda is but service is sometimes slow when you don't anticipate when you arrive also in attendance, along with a electricity shortages couple of hundred delay your Omelette RPA soldiers. de Tomate. The 20,000 spec­ You can't buy a tators at the ground newspaper on Sun­ don't like coming days in Kigali because into this stadium. It there is no one to sell was converted from one, and besides, the a prison, where, in local media prints the 1970s, many only once a week so Tutsis were tortured you miss nothing. and killed. But You might think memories are be com­ Rwandans have been ing clouded; there is peaceful! y residing in some one-sided um- Kigali for centuries, piring and in a tor­ given their local ges­ rential downpour, tures of handshakes the Tutsis win 3-0. and hugs, and their There are contra­ friendly conversa­ ~r:;«-..!~:'11 dictions in Kigali that tion. You'd never you can't resolve. guess that just two , How do people con­ years ago Kigali was tinue to live and sur- the centre of the fero- vive? What drives cious war that killed hundreds and in this, Africa's most densely popu­ them? Have they been so de sensitised thousands and drove two million lated country. by history that the murder of a refugees into neighbouring countries. Kigali's central prison is not far million people doesn't dent their The easy-going lifestyle makes it es­ from the centre of town. Inside the collective psyche? Or do pecially difficult to assess what has prison an estimated 60,000 men are they continue to hope? happened and whatishappeningnow awaiting trial for crimes committed in this country. during the genocide. You drive from R WANOANS ARE TALKING about A local friend, educated in France one such landmark to another, pon­ development and how there will and Uganda, told me that poverty is dering what might have been for never be another war like 1994. There very well hidden in Rwanda. The these friendly, laid-back people, had is a tribally blended new govern­ truth is that a majority of Kigali's their past not been riddled with ment, seeking peace, and justice. The 300,000 residents live in diseased, corrupt and benign colonial masters. time has come for traditional rival­ overcrowded, hungry and totally There is a paradox on every corner. ries to cease and for the righteous to Patrick the boy in the unserviced neighbourhoods. After For example, in the east of rule- that is the common plea of the photo, above left, is one the war it took the army weeks to get Rwanda there is a Confirmation people. of Rwanda's survivors. rid of the scavenging dogs feeding off service underway at the Gahini And when the lazy Sunday in the During the war he was the rotting corpses lying in the Anglican Church. The church is not sun turns into another mild Kigali cut with a machete and streets. People tell me things like unlike the sort you might find in night, you can hear the echoes of left to die in a pit. this and I find it hard to believe, but country Australia. Except that today political discussion reflecting from He lived, and is now I also know thatitdidhappen because there are 50 people being confirmed the surrounding hills and valleys. • 15 years old. everyone keeps telling me. by a survivor of the genocide, Bishop The Rwandans have a cultural Alexis Bilindabagabo. Ja mes Nicholls is a Melbourne Photograph: preoccupation with personal groom­ At the same time there is a soccer journalist who has just returned from fam es Nichols ing and presentation. They are almost match kicking off at one of Kigali's Central Africa.

V OLUME 6 N UMBER 4 • EUREKA STREET 11 THE N ATlON

JoN GREE AWAY The last shout

I CAN "M'M''" T HC Hm "'" I d"nk in ' pub. I h•d complaining loudly about a jockey 'who couldn't whip to fight to get it down, my guts objected to its foreign, cream if he tried'. They looked just as I imagined they SLayers: Pam Loe, would, faces like burnt leather, covered in arbitrary Laurie Wooster and bitter taste. I had tried to drink beer before then, steal­ Bob Loe at the Ocean ing cans of Tooths KB out of the busted old fridge in splashes of red paint. But they also had a presiding air Road Hotel, Apollo Bay, the garage at home, but after a couple of sips I'd usually about them which I didn't expect, something like Victoria. give up and toss what was left into the neighbour's barnacles on a ship's keel. backyard. But I was in a pub now, and you finished The phon e rang and interrupted m y hazy Photograph: your beer. thinking. The barmaid seemed to answer it and hang Bill Thomas. The second was not so bad, and I reckon the third up in the same motion. She went down the end of the tasted okay: I relaxed a little. I was too nervous to bar and told a bunch of guys sitting in the back bar take a look around me when I go t in. All I wanted that the licensing cops were on their way. She turned was to be served without the barmaid asking me for around, looked at me and said, 'and you'd better go ID. Tiles were everywhere, sweeping down the walls, too 1nate'. across the floor and up to meet the horseshoe-shaped 'But I'm 18, and you 've just served m e,' I bar like a wave. The bar stools with their ripped seats protested. She looked at me as though I was on the seemed happy to surf. Off in the far corner was an bottom of her shoe. A friend of mine rushed past and island of three or four old-timers, one of whom was grabbed me by the collar and pushed me out the back-

12 EUREKA STREET • M AY 1996 bar door with the sound of the old blokes' laughter closed it down and did it up and they walked back in ringing in our ears. We ran flat out for a couple of on the day we opened up, took one look around, said minutes, then we collapsed, jelly-legged and laughing. "Lady, you've done a terrific job", and sat down as if The pub was taken over and done up a few years nothing had changed. later. It is very popular now with a very particular 'We'd cash their pension cheques for them but I type of crowd. About the only thing that remains the would make them have a bowl of stew before they same is the shape of the bar. I went there a few months started to drink so they had something in their ago to meet some friends, and I wondered as I stood stomachs.' there, shoulder to shoulder with the tanned and the After running restaurants, where there is not the terrific, what those old blokes would have made of it same sense of ownership and belonging on the part of all. Would they be angry and indignant or just the patrons, Carleton found her notions of hospitality depressed? Or would they accept, with a shrug of the expanded by pubs: shoulders, that their casual institution had gone, and 'One of the first things I did after opening the force their way through the throng and up to the bar. Riverview was to throw a wake. The people there Time was when drinkers would congregate at the made it quite clear that it was my responsibility to Dog and Bucket or Toxteth Arms out of a loyalty put the food on for free. That was part of my role.' which bordered on tribal. Often swills, they provided The Bellevue has many of the trappings of a a neighbourhood with a hub that it loved and loathed modern pub: a restaurant out the back, Pub Tab, and in equal amounts. But as the landscapes of our cities two or three poker machines. But Carleton has have changed and new social backdrops formed, pubs preserved an essential pub atmosphere. Its community have had to provide much more than quick service of drinkers, she claims, come to the Bellevue out of and a good hosing down. Many people will tell wistful choice, not because of location. This is the lot of the stories of bloodhouses and dives where they used to inner city pub. have their benders but few seem to be doing it now, 'People don't use pubs like they used to, ' she says. largely because the venues are no longer 'Pubs are now service providers.' there. In close proximity to the Bellevue are a number of pubs which, as a result of renovations in the last Many people W AT HAS BEEN HAPPENING to the corner hotel in decade, look more like boutique art galleries than ale­ the '80s and '90s dates back to the early '60s when, in houses. Indeed at first glance most of the fashion­ will tell wistful most states, poker machines were made legal in conscious crowd seem to be peering at the walls and registered clubs. As a consequence the number of not their glasses. One quickly learns, however, that stories of clubs skyrocketed, challenging hotels as the place for they are merely looking for someone more important drinking and socialising. Relaxed opening hours to talk to. But Suzy Carleton believes that, even bloodhouses brought changes in culture and the necessity of offer­ amidst all this, there is still room for an old style pub. ing more to the customer. For a start women began to Fittingly, soon after we spoke, the Bellevue put on a and dives go in greater numbers, even though initially few of wake for Mick Young. where they them were game enough to venture out of the ladies' Ed Campion, a regular to this magazine and the lounge and into the public bar with the men. (The Bellevue, fears for the future of the kind of pub where used to have men weren't too keen about the reverse movement you can go and feel comfortable. Four generations of either.) Bands were setting up in the back bars amongst his family have been publicans. He himself grew up their benders pool tables and pinball machines. Then, again with in a pub at Enmore in Sydney's inner west. His father variations from state to state, came the introduction bought into it when Ed was born, and he died in it 21 but few see1n to of random breath testing. With people no longer years later. confident of being able to travel home 'safely' after 'Pubs used to be what churches were in medieval be doing it now, getting a skinful, publicans had to do more to entice towns. They were social centres, places for R&R, the punters through their doors. marriage counselling. Tradition was-and you largely because Amidst all the atmospheric change and face-lift­ wouldn't see this nowadays-that the first hour with ing of the last decade and a half, some corner pubs a new publican would mean free beer.' the venues are have managed to preserve the drinker not only as their According to Campion, the publican was a linch­ core business but their main focus. Suzy Carleton has pin of the local community. He remembers the way no longer there. been the publican of the Bellevue Hotel in Paddington, in which pubs were referred to by the family name of Sydney for eight years, and before then she was at the the licensee. He has a story from the war years which Riverview Hotel in Balmain, which counted Dawn tells of the respect that followed the publican: Fraser amongst its former licensees. To Carleton, pubs 'I remember a soldier coming up to the back gate are like little towns: and asking if my father was there. A lot of them were 'Over the years pubs have performed a social stationed at the transport depot down the end of the role-! saw this more around Balmain than I have in road before they were shipped out. Paddington-of offering care, help and support. 'My father came out and he handed him a hun­ 'There were a bunch of blokes at the Riverview dred quid. "I'm going overseas tomorrow", he said. who were regular drinkers when we took it over. We "Could you put this in the safe and in case anything

VOLUME 6 NUMBER 4 • EUREKA STREET 13 happens to m e give it to my wife?"' 'It's much harder for publicans to make a go of it Ed Campion believes the chasing of trends has now than it was during six o'clock closing days. For a overlaid pubs with a modishness that obscures their start people aren't drinking as much as they used to. past. Sydney has recently witnessed a resurgence of Also, these days it's a seven-day week for publicans pool playing. He notes with regret the move that's on and in many cases they're open from early morning 'Pubs must have in pubs to convert the bedrooms upstairs, or the quiet to very late at night. snug bars downstairs, into spaces for pool tables. Take 'Pubs are expensive to operate-they're more some sort of hook a look at these pool rooms and you could be forgiven labour intensive. Not only have wages risen with the for thinking the pub had been over-run by flat-backed general standard of living increase, but because you're on the 111arket. cattle, grazing for money. now opening twice the number of hours you were 30 While it might be pool in Sydney, elsewhere it's years ago there is a greater impact on your operating If they haven't got the pokies. NSW has had gaming since the mid '80s, costs.' a particular hook, but its arrival in other states is more recent. Every state and territory, with the exception of In Victoria, the effect that poker machines have Western Australia, currently allows poker machines if they are not had, since they came in during 1991, has been shaped in pubs, or will in the near future. In most states there by irregularities in the covering legislation. Limits are have been limits put on the number of machines and perceived to placed on the number of machines per pub but not on outlets by a combination of gaming commission the number of outlets a group or individual can hold. regulation and aberrations of the market, caused by provide some With the TAB and Tabaret organisations deciding who the control of the big players: Casinos, the TAB and can and can't have machines, consortiums have con- Tabaret. Most of the representatives of the AHA that unique or niche verted pubs into mini-casinos across Eureka Street spoke to favour the free market system J Melbourne and the rest of Victoria. in operation in NSW and South Australia. In South product or service Australia, gaming machines have been allowed since J u sT DOWN THE ROAD from Emel

14 EUREKA STREET • MAY 1996 beer, and sips a soda water while I down the draught. thing on it." "Yeah we'll get a bolt-cutter thing." The He feels that, by degrees, we are losing the corner hotel next second they've got a bolt-cutter and you hear as a place of sanctuary, losing what they were in the the chain go and they wheel it out the door and had a suburb of Reservoir where he grew up: ride on it down to Rathdowne St, sitting on it. And 'The men in the pubs in Reservoir went there to they're trying to do the Winfield button as they're listen to the races and get away from their wives, and rolling along until it fell over outside the hardware the wives went there to get away from their men, store. We all cheered from the door.' marooned all day in their dreary boarding house rooms To Dickins, a pub is about feeling at home, being and their Housing Commission flats. It's a place for able to talk with friends without being assaulted by peace and I went there for peace with them. the publican's version of hospitality:

'There was a fabulous barman at Stewart's hotel 'You should be made to feel welcomei that's the in Carlton [during the Pram Factory days]. There was whole n1eaning of giving them all that extra money No machines, no something utterly classless about him, he didn't sneer for a beer. I'm old fashioned, I think it should be a gimmick s. But there is fo oty tipping and a at the shitkicker or grease to the silvertail. He had an place where old friends meet.' social club plus good Whether it's poker machines, pool tables or ease, and the ease is going. I don't go to pubs anymore bar food and plenty of because they're so unfriendly. There's a pub in Race­ mechanical-bull riding, it all comes down to what regular customers-one course road [Flemington] where you've got to have Alan Giles describes as the need to remain relevant. of the few inner city $200,000 just to sit in the corner. Perhaps we no longer want a pub culture which pubs left that provides 'The best place for me was Stewart's of all the revolves around a drink and a chat. We want enter­ for all comers. thousands of pubs I've gone into. Friday night was tainment, without going to the trouble of making it crim night-they'd all come in and argue with each up ourselves. And we're all supposed to be fitter now, Photograph: other. Lawyers, barristers, police informants: it used eating better foods and drinking less. Pubs are smoky Bill Thomas. to hum. and we know how we hate that. And what's the point 'I used to always sit by the cigarette machine, of running a pub without guaranteed cash cows like a and I'd sit there from four in the afternoon 'til two in stack of poker machines or a good line-up of bands the morning when they'd hose me out, with empty when a restaurant licence is much cheaper, and whisky glasses, and peanuts in my dentures, and registered clubs get the tax breaks? cigarette ash all over me, crying and laughing-look­ One hope for the lazy, laconic sort of pub lies ing like a bag of shit but incredibly happy. with the arbiters of fashion: a quiet beer and a pleasant 'One night two guys stole the cigarette machine hum, and they just might understand what they've in front of everyone. "No one's looking", one of them been missing. • said, "let's have it". "Yeah there's a fucking chain Jon Greenaway is the assistant editor of Eureka Street.

VoLUME 6 NuMBER 4 • EUREKA STREET 15 SCIENCE AND THEOLOGY

MICHAEL McGIRR TOE-holds

story of Einstein along­ WmH"M ;, currentlyM writing"c'"" a cultural history side that of Emm y of space. She is exploring cosmology's Noether. new frontier, cyberspace. 'How do Noether was born in we human beings answer the ques­ 1882, three years after tion of where we are?' she asks. Einstein, and, like him, 'The great appeal of Cyberspace came from a 'comfort­ is that it contains the promises of a able German Jewish metaphysical heaven: a place where middle class family.' She people become free from the sins of was instrumental in the body and the tyranny of dis­ helping Einstein 'resolve tance. Cyberspace challenges us to his mathematical battle for a Aspects of Py thagoras' Trousers learn how to talk again about the relativistic theory of gravity.' are reminiscent of Germaine Greer's metaphysical realm.' Noether's theorem is still the work on the history of women in Wertheim, a Queenslander, has basic tool for physicists seeking a Western art: it is laced with names been stirring the possum as a free­ unified theory of forces and particles. of little-known women and asks who lance science writer in New York. It Nevertheless, the problems of they were and why they are so is not every New Yorker who thinks Noether's career makes Einstein's obscure. of cyberspace as the realisation of a difficulties look minor. One small Wertheim's answer focuses at medieval dream. She has written that aspect of those problems was least partly on the quasi-religious virtual reality began in the thirteenth undoubtedly Noether's untidy nature of scientific exploration. She century when a monk, Roger Bacon, appearance. Also her total absorption reports that Galileo, in spite of his wrote to Pope Clement IV advocating in her work. It seems that what the famous run-in with the Vatican, was the use of three-dimensional world delighted in as eccentricity in an effective operator who manipu­ perspective in art. a man was seen as sloven­ lated church patronage. More point­ Wertheim is skilled at turning D liness in a woman. edly, Wertheim shows how male around scientific perspectives. Take scientists and mathematicians have Albert Einstein. He may have made r YTHAGOHAS' TtWUSERS is a telling been perceived as working on a the nuclear age but he himself was account of where women have been higher, priestly plane. The atmos­ made for television. His unkempt slotted in the history of physics. The phere in which such figures have shock of hair, mysterious grin and book deals with the major shifts in gone about the search for the distracted eyes fill the imagination. human self-understanding over the ultimate answer to life the universe Ask most people to draw a mad sci­ course of the millennia. and everything has been regarded as entist and, by and large, they will Cosmology is interesting enough too rarefied for women. There is a come up with same thing resembling in itself but one of the reasons this marked historical similarity between Einstein. book works so well is that it is also the styles of scientific and religious Part of Einstein's mystique is the rich on the micro-level of human authority. fact that his genius could easily have personality and incident. It creates But Wertheim's plea is not sim­ been lost in obscurity. He was the any number of parallels. The figure ply for more women physicists: battler with a conscience: his concern of Pythagoras, whose mysticism 'There are plenty of physicists push­ for peace and his quasi-mysticism revolved around 'mathematics, male­ ing the notion that they have the are still celebrated. It seems that ness and psychic transcendence' is ultimate quintessence of truth Einstein alone could describe the paired with that of Hypatia of imminently at their finger tips if patent office as 'that secular cloister Alexandria. only we would fund them $10 billion where I hatched my most beautiful Hypatia solved a number of to build their particle accelerator. ideas.' Sayings such as 'God casts mathematical riddles. She also wrote 'The idea that if we give them the die, not the dice' and 'God is text books before she was murdered enough money, they will lead us Margaret Wertheim, subtle but not malicious' have for her Neoplatonist views by Chris­ unto the Lord is frankly offensive. above right, during become the ca tchcries of those tians in 415 . The Christian God has been under­ her recent visit wanting to explain the material The figure of Newton, a devout stood to have two roles, the first as Lo Australia. world in other than material terms. Anglican and a social misfit, towers the creator of the universe and the Margaret Wertheim was in over a landscape which includes second as the redeemer of mankind. PhoLograph: Australia recently to discuss her book Margaret Cavendish, Emilie du We have to be wary of physicists Michael McGirr. Pythagoras' Trousers . She tells the Chatelet and Laura Bassi. setting up as high priests to say that

16 EUREKA STREET • MAY 1996 God is only a creator.' Wertheim explain s that one contemporary h oly grail, the celebrated Theory of Everything (TOE), is a search for a way to unify 1"WITH MUC~:~: ili ~}u~~d~'~' ~~:~odin ilie UK by the theories of general relativity and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow disease. The only certainty, it seems, quantum mechanics. She would love is that madness is infective-and definitely not confined to cows. to see such a unification if it could be The mad cow saga has mlfolded like a modem Greek tragedy, the matched fatal flaws done at a reasonable cost. 'But it being scientific inflexibility and political flexibility. Scientific inflexibility has resulted in would not be really a theory of eve­ scientists who refuse to give unequivocal answers, who use the language of probability, rything. It's not a theory of love, of however compelling their argument. This allows more accommodating politicians to drive aesthetics, of human culture and through the loopholes, selecting the most optimistic side of every analysis. interaction,' she argues. But politicians have also had to deal with the difficult proposition of a disease, like AIDS, AlongwithStephenHawkingand which is a 'sleeper'. After infection, BSE takes between two and seven years to becom e Leon Lederman, Wertheim lists Paul evident in cattle. The proposed human link-the ghastly Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD)­ Davies as on e who h as been takes more than 10 years to develop, too long for an electorate to link crucial decisions with applauded for postulating a theory of their impact. This meant that politicians had to search for short-term m easures to look as God in which God is so diminished if they were doing something. In fact, the British Government dithered. that He becomes 'not even vaguely In the early 1980s, to increase milk yields, farmers in the UK began to feed protein interesting.' supplements to their cows and calves. The best of these feeds contained soya or fish m eal as Davies speaks for himself in the the source of protein, but it cost less to substitute meat and bone meal from sheep and cattle. n ew book Th e Big Questions. At about the same time carcasses began to be processed at lower temperatures to save money. Admittedly, his exchanges with the Most researchers believe that through the conjunction of these two means of reducing costs, indefatigable Phillip Adams had an an infective agent which causes scrapie, a well-known brain disease in sheep, was able to added appeal in the SBS series of jump species into cattle. which this book is the transcript. It The first case of BSE occurred on a farm in Kent in 1985. Since then, more than 160,000 was reassuring to see two gentle­ cases have been reported from England, Scotland and Wales. Studies have presented a m en, however far into the Austral­ complicated picture. But most researchers now think that BSE is caused by a small protein ian wilderness they went to test their fragment known as a prion which stimulates changes in a critical protein in the cow's brain. ideas, and however far they wan­ The prion works like a bad apple in a barrel, slowly turning proteins bad. dered in abstract cosmology, still The British government were not quick to act, and no wonder: public confidence in a $10 having to wave flies from in front of billion industry which provides 650,000 jobs was at stake. It took about three years (and their faces. several hundred cases) to make BSE a notifiable disease, to ban offal in feed and to order the The Big Questions reads like a slaughter of all cattle with BSE. Even then, in an economy measure, full compensation for Socratic dialogue. Davies is the lucid slaughtered cattle was withheld from British farmers until 1990, another two years. exponent of contemporary under­ Information from government-funded research was restricted. Researchers who challenged standing of the universe and the role the government line or dared to suggest a link with CJD in humans were vilified. of the laws of physics in shaping it. In contrast, outside the UK, harder decisions were taken. Any herd in which any animal Adams is the straight man. showed signs of the disease was immediately slaughtered. Stringent restrictions on the Well, up to a point: 'Paul, among import of British feed or cattle were introduced. No other country has reported more than 250 the laws that govern the universe cases of BSE, and almost all cases have been traced back to contact with Britain. there are three rather melancholy Even so, by 1993 the number of cattle succumbing to the disease in the UK was dropping, municipal regulations. Firstly, and the worst seemed to be over. That is, until early this year when a new fonn of CJD was Murphy's Law. Secondly, Catch-22. discovered. Unfortunately, the fact that there is no hard evidence of a link with BSE, does not And then there's the really bad one.' conlfort the electorate. Nor does the observation that today's CJD victims would have The last chapter, which gets contracted their condition before any beef industry action. Excessive past secrecy has around to the subject of God, is, as ensured that no one believes the government any more. Wertheim would suggest, the least At the time of writing, the lack of hard evidence leaves the British on the horns of a nasty interesting of the lot. But there are dilemma. The government could, as seems likely, assume the disease was carried by offal, plenty of good pickings on the way.• kill about 10,000 old cattle who were exposed to dodgy feed, and pronounce the scare over. But it would take some time to restore confidence in the beef industry-much longer if the Michael McGirr SJ is the consulting list of CJD cases were to keep growing.The alternative is to fo llow Europe's advice to editor of Eurel

V OLUME 6 NUMBER 4 • EUREKA STREET 17 THE NAT ION

Jo HN D o YLE Balancing acts T IE YEAR 2001, THE CENTENARY oF ouR FEDERATION, is a focal point for the issue of constitutional reform, and in particular the issue of whether Australia should become a republic. It is an appropriate occasion for reassessment and renewal. What happens then is of great importance to all Australians. It will have some particular significance for the courts of Australia, and in particular the High Court. I am not sanguine about the prospects of significant change being be no point in it. At times we forget that in 1900 the people of achieved by 2001 . During its first century, our Constitution has been Australia accepted a major change in governmental arrangem ents the subject of a number of comprehensive reviews, but none of these and power sharing. The people of the colonies surrendered signifi­ has produced major change. There have been two major reviews in cant powers to the Commonwealth of Australia, a new entity. They the last 20 years. could not foresee where this would take them, and all sorts of limits, The optimistic view is that there has been no significant change checks and balances were established to control the direction to be in our Constitution because there is no need for significant change. taken by the new nation. But still, it was a big step. I cannot help Events have shown that our Constitution is quite fl exible. It was wondering whether, as a nation, we have the courage which our designed as a constitution for a federation in which the States were predecessors had to take a step of that m agnitude. Perhaps the reality dominant components and the Commonwealth the wea ker party. It is that we are not convinced of the need for change. now operates as a constitution in which those roles are rever eel. In many respects change should now be easier than it was in the The relationship between the Constitution itself and that change last decade of the last century. Think of the communication prob­ is a complex one. The creation of the Commonwealth was itself an lems which were faced at the time by those who sought to persuade event likely to be productive of change, although those who drew up the people of the colonies of the desirability of Federation . Literacy the Constitution could not foresee the direction which the change levels were lower, movem ent around the country was far more would take. Be that as it may, the Constitution continues to function difficult and, compared to today, means of communication were for a nation in which the role of government is radically different almost non-existent. But despite that, during that decade Australia's from the role of government in 1900, and the relationship between leaders managed to persuade the peopl e of the case for change and to the Commonwealth and States is radically different from what it was enlist their support for a complete new Constitution. in 1900 and what it was expected to be. So, with som e justification, How did they do this? In a sense, the answer is simple. The leaders it can be said that our Constitution has proved its ability to whom the people then looked were able to reach general agree­ to cope with change and that it will continue to do so. m ent on a package, which was itself a series of compromises, and then join in commending that package to the people. Even then, the BUT MANY COMMENTATORS ONSIDER that there is a need for signifi­ task was not easy, and the package was not vi ewed with equal ca nt refo rm in our constitutional arrangem ents. Most of our political enthusiasm by all of the colonial leaders. But most saw the merit of leaders seem to agree that there is a need for change . There appears the proposal, and were prepared to surrender individual differences to be considerable agreement on some changes which should be and to concede individual reservations in the interests of achieving m ade, but there is also significant disagreem ent on many matter . In the desired result. particular, the role of the States and the relative power of the States There remains a need for a process which is capable of formulat­ as against the Commonwealth is a m atter on which there is ing a package of changes acceptable to those whom the people of fundam ental disagreem ent. Australia toda y look to for lea dership. That package would then, of The debate today about our constitutional arrangem ents tends to course, be submitted to a referendum. Such a proce s of formulation focus on what is needed for Australia to prosper as a relatively small could be one in which our political leaders are sole participants. Or nation in the global economy, and internally there is a new emphasis the process could be one in which, at the other extrem e, representa­ on concepts such as subsidiarity (the principle that power should be tives of the people formulate proposals. I suspect that a process exercised as close as practicable to the people who are the subject of which is confined to the governments and political leaders the power), upon effi ciency in service delivery and upon the striking of Australia, will fail. of fiscal arrange ments under which the States will have authority for raising a much higher proportion of the monies which they spend. FRST OF ALL, there are too many others in a position to exert a Today there is probably an acceptance by most that the Common­ powerful influence on public opinion who would be excluded from wealth should be the dominant fi gure in the federation, but there is such a process, and would react adver ely to it outcom es. Secondly, an ongoing debate about the proper role of the States. I am inclined to think that agreeing upon and achieving real change To say that, in the light of today's concerns, our Constitution requires a broader input. I do not pretend to have available the would be improved by a review and by renewal is not a criticism of solution to this problem . In particular, I am not necessarily advocat­ it. It has served us well, but times have changed: after 100 years there ing a forum of the people as the solution. is reason to consider new structural arrangements and new arrange­ But it does seem to me that unless we id ent ify, quite quickly, a m ents for the sharing of powers. satisfactory process for change, nothing will be achieved by 2001. It Constitutional reform will mean change. Otherwise there would is a sobering reality that unless we can agree upon the changes in the

18 EUREKA STREET • M AY 1996 life of the next Federal Government, it is unlikely to occur by 2001. It is conceivable that under such circumstances the High Court What has all this got to do with the High Court and other courts might become more activist or adventurous, rather like the Supreme of Australia? The High Court's approach to the interpretation of the Court of the United States. On the other hand it is equally conceiv­ Constitution has enabled the Commonwealth to exercise powers of able that the High Court might become less willing to be an a width and over matters not foreseen in 1900. In itself this is instrument of change. In the last few years there has been an increase unremarkable. Those who prepared our Constitution knew that they in popular interest in the work of the High Court, and an increasing were devising an instrument of government to operate in circum­ amount of journalistic comment upon its work. To my mind this is stances which could not be foreseen . It is doubtful whether they a good thing, and by and large commentators have been accepting of contemplated the shift in the balance of power as between the the role of the High Court. But things can change, and the Commonwealth and States, but they were content to trust their High Court can change with them. Constitution to work whatever the prevailing circumstances. The relation hip between change in Australian society and legal D ECISIO s s u c H AS the High Court's decision in Ma bo show how doctrine, including in particular the principles of constitutional major social issues which, arguably, should be solved in Parliament interpretation, is a fascinating and complex one. The Constitution is by comprehensive legislation, can be thrust before the courts for a neither an exact text requiring of the High Court only that it solution if a political one is not devised. The Mabo decision also elucidate the odd verbal ambiguity or uncertainty, nor an empty demonstrates the intensity of the debate which can follow upon such vessel into which the High Court pours its own version of constitu­ a landmark court decision. In the absence of appropriate constitu­ tional arrangements and Commonwealth powers. Developing the tional reform, such potentially divisive issues might more and more theory of how it is to be interpreted, and striking the right balance in be presented to the High Court for its decision. If this occurs it will the process of interpretation, is an enduring issue, and one that present to the High Court a new challenge, and while I suspect that perhaps will never be resolved. the Australian community will continue to accept It is interesting, I think, to reflect on the fact its decisions, one cannot assume that that would be that much of the criticism of High Court decisions so. rests upon unstated conflicts in the theory of These days there is a fresh emphasis on judicial interpretation. When is it proper to draw an impli­ accountability, and to some extent thi may be due cation and how does one do it? Should the powers to the fact that the creative power of the High Court of the Commonwealth be interpreted on the basis has become more apparent in recent years. Its law­ of any and what assumption about the balance of making role has become better understood. The power as between the Commonwealth and States? accountability which is sought by commentators i Issues of fundamental principle like these underlie much of the frequently inconsistent with the essentials of judicial independence. debate about the validity of particular High Court decisions. One Many people fail to see the difference between a judge and a cannot help thinking that there must be a true theory of constitu­ legislator, at least when one is talking of constitutional interpreta­ tional interpretation, and one that is all-embracing, but the reality is tion. I make this point merely to illustrate the fact that concepts that, if there is, neither the High Court of Australia nor the Supreme such as accountability have their part to play in the consideration of Court of the United States has yet reached agreement upon its the judicial role in the interpretation of the Constitution. principles. For these reasons it seems to me that the outcome of the current There is no doubt that the approach of the High Court to the movement for constitutional reform is of considerable importance Constitution and to its interpretation has been influenced by change for the High Court of Australia, and to a lesser extent for the other in and external to Australia. It would be a reproach to the law if it courts. It is important because the success of that movement may were not. It is the extent of that influence, and the extent to which lead to new constitutional arrangements and provisions which the those changes properly influence interpretation of the text, which is courts will again be required to interpret. The failure of that move­ the difficult thing. The link between these thoughts is that if the ment may lead to renewed pressure for the Court to be the instru­ movement for constitutional reform does peter out, then the High ment of change which cannot be achieved by referendum, and that Court will stand even more clearly as one of the most significant in turn may expose the court to new pressures. forces for change in our constitutional arrangements. By this I mean Meantime the High Court and all other courts in Australia face that if reform by referendum is abandoned, then the High Court's other, perhaps greater challenges. The efficient administration of approach to the meaning of the Constitution will become ever more justice, and the provision of justice in a timely fashion and at a important to constitutional change. reasonable cost is a major concern. Likewise, keeping the common I stress that, even so, the High Court will not be the only source law in tune with the needs of society, and interpreting in an of what amounts to constitutional change. Arrangements between appropriate fashion the torrent of legislation and delegated legisla­ the Australian governments can also achieve a great deal which is tion. All of these are exacting tasks. a kin to constitutional change. For example, there are the arrange­ I am often struck by the frequency of allusions to the role of the ments for the raising of taxes and the distribution of revenue, and judge in the Old and the New Testament, by the importance given arrangements, becoming increasingly popular, for the co-operative to the role of the judge in the society in those times, and by the way exercise of powers such as the corporations power. in which the good judge and the bad judge are used as metaphors to Whatever happens, the High Court will be important in relation convey a message. In today's Australian society judges still occupy to the workings of our Constitution, but its role will be critical if a central role, but it is one which is often not understood by the democratic reform is not achieved. For the last ninety-five years the Australian people. I believe that the courts face the task of reminding High Court and the Australian nation have managed things this way, people of the centrality of their role, not for selfish reasons, but so subject to occa ional successful referenda. that the people, like the biblical writers, will understand and cherish But will we be able to jog along like this for our second hundred the principle of justice, one of their human rights. • years, relying upon constitutional interpretation at the hands of the High Court as the main focus of constitutional change? John Doyle is the Chief Justice of South Australia.

VOLUME 6 NUMBER 4 • EUREKA STREET 19 Down by law

IT,; cwm wo,mTING th" the HowMd done very poorly by Commonwealth took years to gain their trust. This Minister Government's first confrontation should be Government departments in the past. It may never get it. with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander funds about 2,000 Aboriginal organisations, Last year, Carmen Lawrence took back people. and $ 136 million was allocated to responsibility for Aboriginal health service The justification for Cabinet's decision organisations associated with some of its delivery from ATSIC because of concerns to appoint the next Chair of ATSIC rather Commissioners last year. about effectiveness. This year the Howard than accept an elected head, to control There have been allegations of misman­ government seems to have Aboriginal Legal ATSIC's grants to Aboriginal organisations agement, nepotism and conflicts of inter­ Services (ALS) in its sights. Interfering with through 'general directions', and to get the est. Precisely the same claims are routinely self-managed legal practices is a much more power to appoint a special auditor, was said made against local government councillors. serious matter: it is an interference with to be complaints about funding rorts and Conflicts of interests necessarily arise when citizens' control over their own rights and mismanagement of indigenous organisa­ the elected representatives of a community responsibilities. tions for which ATSIC is responsible. Aboriginal legal services began in the Senator Herron, a compassionate and 1970s out of a white, small-'1' liberalism intelligent doctor with absolutely no which was necessary and right for those experience in indigenous affairs, announced times, not these. I was running a legal prac­ the proposals to tighten the fiscal fist in a tice in Western Australia then, and speak media release which implied that the AT SIC from m y experience of that ALS. Chair, Lois O'Donoghue, had been first con­ Many very senior, non-Aboriginal sulted, and agreed. She had not. She hadn't lawyers gave up remunerative private prac­ even been asked for her own proposals to tice to work for justice for Aboriginal peo­ deal with the known problems. ple: people like John Huelin, who gave up The announcement damaged her author­ his senior partnership in a law firm; Graham ity, and ATSIC, which she has led bravely MacDonald, who later became the first Bank­ for five years. It got worse. After the Minis­ ing Industry Ombudsman; and John Toohey, ter's first meeting with ATSIC Commis­ now a High Court judge. Scores more made sioners, Lois O'Donoghue was- rarely, for significant sacrifices to work in the her-visibly very angry, and driven to com­ outback towns and fringes. ment on his lack of depth of knowledge and 'flippant' attitude. Former colleagues have YOU NEVER FORGET SOME THINGS: the Un­ described his manner as very decisive: useful, consciOUS Aboriginal woman dragged out of maybe, in professional interactions with the paddy wagon by her feet by a young city lay clients. It is not helpful in Aboriginal cop, her h ead bang, banging on the steps. affairs. are closely associated with, and directly or When I protested he hrugged that she The meeting was ill-omened. A day or indirectly involved in, the networks and couldn't feel it, sh e was 'drunk' (she's prob­ two before, the Minister had said he was business of their community: why else do ably dead now). There was the girl who prepared to consider abandoning self-deter­ real estate developers seek election? Of hitch-hiked from Kalgoorlie to see her sick mination in Aboriginal affairs in favo ur of course most ATSIC Commissioners have baby in a Perth hospital, slept out in some­ 'integration ' on a multicultural model. ties to indigenous organisations: the Abo­ one's farm-shed along the way and was These were fighting words. riginal and Torres Strait population is tiny, potted for three months by the local JPs for Nor was it conciliatory to announce his and its needs are enormous. They have little her first offence, the crime of trespass. The referral, to the police, of allegations of crimi­ experience in handling t h e enormous baby died before she got out. nal activity by a 'close associate' of an ATSIC political and personal dem ands of their I took referrals from the ALS. I knew Commissioner. These moves were calcu ­ constituency. How are they to learn, except nothing about Aboriginal culture and I m ade lated to deepen the crisis, and prompted Ian through experience? stupid mistakes. I couldn 't get the fac ts Viner QC, Aboriginal Affairs Minister in When I was Victorian Commissioner from an Aboriginal client properly, or per­ the Fraser Government and co-chairman of for Equal Opportunity, between 1990 and suade a magistrate about the different stand­ the Council fo r Aboriginal Reconciliation, 1994, I encouraged m y Koori staff's initia­ ards to be applied to some kinds of ritual to describe it as damaging and entirely tive, in response to expressed need, to offer violence. I couldn't convince a judge that an avoidable. training for elected m embers of Aboriginal Aboriginal kid should com e out of the or­ A TSIC is responsible for funding Co-operatives in their duties as directors. phanage and go back to her mum, who Aboriginal organisations and projects, a task We never went unless we were invited. It wasn't 'unfit' because she had once been

20 EUREKA STREET • MAY 1996 'put on the Dog Act', that is, barred from of independent investigations into irregu­ services, too. These must not become town pubs because she drank, and was black. larities in W A and in Queensland, and the fiefdoms, or sexist men's clubs (and there's By the mid-1980s the ALS had made a 1994 Coopers and Lybrand audit, before he a fair bit of that!). Their clients are entitled difference, and changed itself. It was run by claimed the moral high ground. to the best service, by the best lawyers. We Aboriginal people, not white lawyers, and Lois O'Donoghue wanted to separate cannot, however, go back to the 1970s, they were claiming far more significant the policy role of A TSIC Commissioners though it would do immense good to the rights than the right to plead not guilty. One from funding decisions, but was never given souls of senior lawyers to spend a year or brilliant, hectic Friday we won an injunc­ a chance to explore this with the Minister. three in the service of the tion to stop the SEC from desecrating a ATSIC commissioners have taken precisely Aboriginal population. sacred site by driving a massive gas pipe the same 'precautions' against conflicts of through a river crossing. It was the most interest as local government councillors do, SELF -MANAGED INDIGENOUS legal Service satisfying day of my life. by declaring their interest, and not partici­ work with an awareness of how the system Ten years on, the future of indigenous pating in the debate, or votes. affects clients' lives.They will lose their legal services is looking decidedly bleak. It is hardly a revelation about black peo­ raison d'etre if they are absorbed into 'main­ There are claims that the ALSs have failed ple that politicking and deals are always stream' legal aid services, or left to the to provide adequate legal services, some of done outside meetings. It is a structural charitable ad hoc endeavours of the them valid; that they did not fund impor­ problem in all community-based govern­ privileged professionals. tant cases (the Victorian service declined to ance, and equally true of local government. The Western Australian ALS exposed fund the successful Northland Secondary In ATSIC the issues are the same: only police brutality at Skull Creek in 1974, College race discrimination complaint, in the remedy is different. We accept conflicts when truckloads of 'troublemakers'-Abo­ 1993-1994), or ran the wrong ones (defend­ of interest in local government because it is riginal people attending traditional ing violent Aboriginal men who bashed ceremonies-were arrested and charged their equally Aboriginal wives). with public order offences. It demanded Paul Coe, head of the NSW Aboriginal and won an electoral challenge in the Legal Service, stands accused of conflict of Court of Disputed Returns and proved interest in approving his own counsel fees; that Liberal Party workers deliberately of high-handed dealings with opponents, intimidated Aboriginal voters out of vot­ and condoning racism towards non-Abo­ ing in the Kimberley in 1976. It instigated riginal staff. It was the NSW ALS which the Royal Commission into Aboriginal successfully ran the Brandy appeal, and Deaths in Custody after 16-year-old John won a pyrrhic victory in the High Court, Pat died of head injuries after he was arguing that determinations of the Hu­ arrested in Roebourne in 1983. man Rights and Equal Opportunity Com­ These gains must be built on. If there mission were unenforceable under the be any doubt that the special needs of Race Discrimination Act, and thus all Aboriginal people to be protected against anti-discrimination law was unenforce­ white justice, remember what happened able. to those kids who were threatened and The Victorian legal service is finan­ dumped miles out of town by Brisbane cially plagued, after an inquiry which found police. $700,000 unaccounted for, and three chief In the officers' criminal trials, the executives have left the service in less young Aboriginals were shouted at and than a year. Alf Bamblett, then a Victorian familiar, and British, and the electorate is badgered by defence lawyers and, finally, ATSIC Commissioner, ran Koori Fleet Man­ comfortable with the rhetoric of public described by the magistrate as 'the accused' agement, a private, profit-making corpora­ interest and representative democracy, and before he exonerated the police. tion, in association with the Victorian so tolerates self-interested decision-mak­ There is one land, one law, but different Aboriginal Legal Service, in 1994. The Age ing. If, however, it is a black electorate, the justice. showed how his relatives and members of remedy is control by another constituency The new Minister has not worked with his 'camp' ran Aboriginal affairs. He re­ and, as Mick Dodson put it, a return to the Aboriginal organisations and therefore has signed from ATSIC, protesting that Abo­ Mission days. a refreshingly simple vision of what should riginalpower-mongeringis different. Senator ATSIC was created in 1990 because the be done about Aboriginal affairs: that they Herron recently ordered an investigation Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths must be controlled. There is no doubt about into alleged mismanagement in the Bris­ in Custody concluded that 'the disadvan­ the Minister's good intentions, but the road bane ALS: 'Sugar' Ray Robinson, the heir­ tage of Aboriginal people is a product of the to Hell is paved with them. elect to the ATSIC chair, is accused of domination of Aboriginal people by non­ Perhaps his extraordinary handling of empire-building. Aboriginal people-' If indigenous people are ATSIC and attack on the ATSIC-funded Claims of cronyism, inefficiency and to become self-determining they must find legal services will give them a common conflicts of interest among ATSIC systems to protect themselves from indi­ cause: they may turn upon the foe, and not Commissioners have plagued the Commis­ vidual weaknesses such as selfishness and then1selves. • sion. But it is not true that ATSIC has failed greed, and the universal practice of protect­ to act. The Minister had not examined the ing and promoting our own interests. Moira Rayner is a lawyer and freelance functioning of its internal Audit department, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders journalist. Her e-mail address is its references to police, its commissioning need to be responsible for their own legal 100252.324 7@compuserve. com.

VoLUME 6 N uMBER 4 • EUREKA STREET 21 Music

PAUL K ELLY Melodic lines

E"" nMt I HAve TO me

22 EUREKA STREET • M AY 1996 repertoire so I can change the songs Curiously, a song of mine, Bradman, which I each night, by dropping songs for a thought was indecipherable to anyone not from a while when I'm sick of them, by cricketing country was widely requested in Sweden switching from playing solo to being when I played there. I have no explanation for this. in a band, changing arrangements and As far as I know they don't play a lot of cricket in varying slightly the line-up of the band Sweden. Maybe they just liked the tune, or the piano from tour to tour. part in the chorus which was always my favourite Playing in new places and different bit. Or maybe they liked it because it was exotic­ countries keeps things interesting too. I the way people here love Guantanamera. performed in Europe last year for the first Conversely, another song Summer Rain which I time and played songs there I hadn't done believed had no borders, puzzled a Belgian radio pre­ here for years. Old songs became fresh for senter I spoke to in Bonn. In the song a man waiting me again because I knew the audiences were for his lover compares her to summer rain. 'Why hearing them for the first time. would anyone long for rain in summer?' he asked, Still, the fact remains that a lot of my 'Don't you get enough in winter?'. I explained to him life is spent doing the same thing over and our long, hot summers, the days and days of temper­ over. As a singer, striving for artistry, I need atures hovering around the hundreds-! embroidered and want this repetition. This is the only way a little- the collective longing for a cool change. He performers get better at what they do-by do­ smiled uncertainly. 'We get plenty of rain', he said, ing it for real in front of an audience each night, 'and summer's so short. We never want rain in not in the rehearsal room or at home in the show­ summer.' The image of summer rain bring­ er. Seeing the whites of the eyes in the front row, ing sweet relief made no sense to him. spitting, caressing and rolling those words out into the darkness beyond. There is dignity in this and LisPROVED TO ME THAT MY SONGS smell of home no shortcut to skill. more than I knowi that I am a regional artist not be­ But if I tour too much, I don't write songs. To cause of the place and brand names that litter my write I need to be doing nothing for a while, need to songs but because my birds fly north in winter, and slow down, stop moving, empty out my mind, become that I will always be heard a little more intimately by like the spider waiting for the fly. my countrymen. Songs are caught, not made. A good melody is a I regard this as an asset, not a flaw. Muddy Waters surprise. A novelist may sit down at his desk and say was a regional artist. So is Snoop Doggy Dog. Being to himself 'I'm going to write 500 words today' but regional has no limits. What the rest of the world may writing a tune is less straightforward. It comes out of miss in nuance it gains in my tery. fooling around, in my case usually on guitar, musi­ I hear there has been discussion this past week cally doodling, wandering without intent. Sometimes on whether men can write from a woman's point of a tune comes, som etimes not. And generally I can't view and vice versa. I've written quite a few songs in write a set of words unless I have waves of phrasing a woman's voice simply because women singers have or a tune to hang them on. asked me to. They ring me up and say 'Write me a So without the melody I'm stuck, like a sailboat song'. It would be ungracious of me not to try. Writ­ becalmed on the ocean far from home without a ing songs is just a matter of keeping your ears open­ breeze. In the doldrums life can get pretty anxious. and women talk to men. I might not know what The very elusiveness of a song, the fact that you women think but I know what they say and that's all cannot find one by taking a series of steps or follow­ I need for a song. ing a set of directions makes it that much sweeter I enjoy writing for women-it's fun. All writing when you catch one. You feel connected to something is a form of play and play can take you anywhere. • outside yourself, something greater. It's almost as good a sex. Also, it lasts longer-and it pays the bills. Paul Kelly's latest CD is Deeper Water. His lyrics are People often say to me 'Your songs are so Aus­ published by Angus & Robertson. tralian. How are they received overseas?' Many years ago I first heard a song called Memphis, Tennessee by Christian Meditation Audio Tapes Chuck Berry. It's a song about a man who cannot see his six-year-old daughter because he has split up with Laurence Freeman oss 6 tapes $38 her mother. I'd never been to Memphis but I didn't William Johnston SJ 5 tapes $37 have any trouble getting that song. Memphis was the Gerry Pierse CssR 2 tapes $17 Contemplative Prayer background to the song just as the cities of Adelaide, in Daily Life 2 tapes $12 Melbourne and Sydney provide the backgrounds to Costs include postage many of my songs which speak of love, sex and loss Available from St Joseph's House of Prayer, (like songs the world over). 153 Taralga Rd, Goulbum, 2580 (048) 213092

V OLUME 6 N UMBER 4 • EUREKA STREET 23 THE CAROLINE CHISHOLM SERIES: 11

ANDREW HAMILTON The next phase

I N T" c mwT FmmecN, the gcnemlly muted peoples who inhabit these seas, if they wish us to, with justice topic of Australian identity was treated in contrasting ways. and moderation, and to found a peaceful empire, open to all the The more discursive and articulated vision of Paul Keating, with world.' his interlocked themes of republicanism, engagement with Asia Jefferis' vision generally impresses a modern reader as and a cultural compact within Australia, met a more abstract characteristically Victorian: it adopts a high moral tone which and less articulated vision of John Howard, with its reference justifies power and domination by appeal to a privileged national to shared values, of decency, fairness and trust. On the margins and racial destiny. This modern response to such rhetoric was was the brutal populism of Graeme Campbell and Pauline shared by Jefferis' contemporary, Henry Bournes Higgins, one Hanson. of the fathers of Federation and second president of the Com­ John Howard's reticence and avoidance of explicit monwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration. (Sec 1907 discussion of larger issues were the most typically Australian. Harverster judgment.)He saw in the appeal to national or imper­ His lack of ease with the larger questions of why and how ial destiny a self-serving justification for military Imperialism: Australia should exist in the contemporary world, reflects a Others justify the new Imperialism on th e convenient ground long-standing Australian suspicion of large rhetoric about national destiny. that it is the 'manifest destiny' of the Anglo-Saxon race to dom­ inate others, and to teach them how to be civilised. The poet Yet Australian reticence about larger questions of national Lowell defines this 'manifest destiny' as being national reck­ identity contrasts with passionate debate elsewhere, particularly lessness as to right and wrong: where national states face the threat of dissolution. 'an all this big talk of our destinies Despite the relative tranquillity of Australia, these ques­ is half on't ignorance, and t'other half rum'. tions may also be important here. For national boundaries have become increasingly irrelevant to the play of economic and Higgins himself defined Australian identity in terms of cultural influences. In times of change, too, unarticulated equitable relationships between different groups of Australians. notions of decency and fairness are liable to erosion by changes His vision of these relationships was a moral one and empha­ in cultural fashion. sised equality: 'Our aim must be to guard this continent for the Discussion of national destiny usually becomes popular in highest form of civilisation, to secure that produce of its soil, times of crisis, constituted either by the need to make choices and of its appliances, shall not become the property of the few; or by national threat. Early debate about Federation invited a to make it a land of equal opportunities for the coming large rhetoric, most notably from the Congregationalist generations.' minister, James Jefferis. He grounded his advocacy of Federa­ He endorsed an identity based on fairness and decency. His tion in a keen sense of national purpose. hopes for Australia were not dissimilar to those of Jefferis, but Jefferis defined the destiny of Australia by reference to its he would have regarded the latter's rhetoric of national destiny British inheritance and national character. While the genius of as an expression of sectional interest. So, in a way the Germans and Greeks was to seek excellence in art, rr that became typically Australian, he dismissed it. philosophy and military conquest, Anglo-Saxons were: 'to per­ fect in the South that our fathers wrought in the North, and .1. HE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JEFFERI S' larger view of national carry into the ages before us a freedom, a civilisation, a pure purpose and Higgins' preference for a more limited moral and beneficent morality, under which countless millions of our perspective reflected a long cultural history. The text which race may live in peace and righteousness and prosperity.' (This dominated the rhetorical treatment of imperial identity was and following Jefferis quotations from W. Phillips, {ames Tefferis, the Aeneid of Virgil. It is understandable that English Prophe t of Federation, Melbourne, Australian Scholarly administrators and politicians, who generally enjoyed a classical Publishing, 1993). education, should return to Virgil's self-deprecating evocation While he often described the Australian destiny as one of of Roman destiny: conquest over nature, Jefferis also perceived a possible imperial Others will cast more tenderly in bronze role in which Australians would: 'rule over the barbarous Their breathing figures, I can well beli eve,

24 EUREKA STREET • MAY 1996 And bring more li felike portraits out of marble; God gave power to Marius and to Gaius Caesar, to Augustus and Argue more eloquently, use the pointer to N ero, the Vespasians , father and son, the most attractive To trace the pathos of heaven accurately emperors, as well as to Domitian, the most ruthless tyrant; and And accurately foretell the rising stars. (we need not run through the whole li st) the same God gave the Roman, remember by your strength to rule throne to Constantine the Christian, and also to Julian the Earth's peoples-for your arts are to be these: Apostate. To pacify, to impose the rule of law, To spare the conquered, battle down the proud. Augustine's juxtaposition of the most loved and loathed Emperors was deliberately offensive to his more patriotic Like Rome, England was to be less conspicuous for art and hearers. It was as if he were to say that God had omething in philosophy than for practical and equitable rule, and for the mind in giving power both to Roosevelt and Stalin, to Thatch­ development of the resources of empire. Romans and the English er and Pol Pot. But we cannot infer anything from God's choice were to be good administrators, economic managers and above about the relative national destiny or m erit. all, judges. Indeed Augustine went on to attribute the civic virtue of The cadences of Virgil's lines are patent in Jefferis' prose. great Roman leaders to a moral defect-their love of glory. His They can be recognised also in the Englishman of popular own definition of human destiny was uncompromisingly in literature, who is not very clever, is at home on a horse and terms of personal service and love of God. He is radically with a gun, and can be relied on in a tight spot. He is sceptical about any evocation of national destiny. Positively, therefore equipped to rule the natives. he identifies the health of a society with the choices of the human heart. Higgins would have accepted the negative aspect W m-rrN ROMAN cuLTURE, Virgil's view of national destiny of Augustine's critique. H e, too, regarded the language of was the stuff of conventional political piety. It drew criticism imperial purpose as empty self-seeking. But, of course, he gave only after the toleration of Christianity, and then among a higher value to prosperity and to its equal enjoym ent than Christian theorists. Elated by the dominance of Christianity did Augustine. within the Empire, some Christians, and notably Eusebius of It is difficult to think of any Australian reflection on Caesarea, discerned the hand of God in the choice and fate of national identity which catches the astringency of the the Roman Emperors, and claimed to be able to read God' Augustinian vision. Perhaps the one exception may be James purposes in the flow of Roman history. McAuley, whose long poem, Captain Quiros continues to fas­ cinate new readers because it is so large in its scope and so resolutely unfashionable in its vision. Here, Aus­ tralian destiny is placed firmly in the country of the human heart, and the journey is inward: Terra Australis you must celebrate, Land of the inmost heart, searching for which Men roam the earth, and on the way create Their kingdoms in the Indies and grow rich, With noble arts and cities; only to learn They bear the old selves with them that could turn The streams of Eden to a standing ditch. In Australian discourse generally, a sceptical temper and fundamentally moral vision of citizen­ ship has prevailed over a vision which would set it in the larger terms of national purpose. In this respect Higgins is recognisably more modern than l"'(:of

V oLUME 6 N uMBER 4 • EUREKA STREET 25 with our own civilisation supreme: a commonwealth welded be defined by relationship to outside influences, as indeed it together in the strength of an empire which realises the Divine used to be previously by the special relationship to Britain. ideal of justice and freedom.' These economic and cultural relationships with other This vision led him to accept a controlled Asian nations will affect Australian life significantly. It will certain­ immigration to Australia: ly be reflected in the temporary presence of a mobile group of Higgins, on the other hand, defined Australia only by its managers working with the local branches of international internal relationships. A just society could be constructed only businesses. The same permeability of national boundaries can if the common interest prevailed over sectional interests. He also be expected to result in many Australians spending a identified coloured immigration with the desire of sectional significant part of their working lives outside Australia. This interests for cheap labour at the expense of Australian working group, wealthy and influential disproportionately to its size, people. He did not restrict himself to this economic argument, must be accounted for in any understanding of Australia. however, but grounded his opposition to Asian immigration in Overseas programs for secondary students have grown a much more narrow appeal to the inherent difference between enormously in recent years, and the provision of education for peoples and civilisations. Following his fellow liberal, Charles Asian students has become a big business. Some universities Pearson, he appealed to the instincts of the working classes: have set themselves the goal of ensuring that at Where do you find the chief opponents of coloured aliens? Ob­ any given time, one viously, among the labouring classes. The latter have, with a third of their own stu­ truer instinct, resulting, no doubt from a more intimate dents will be overseas, experience and closer contact, discerned not merely the danger and one third of the stu­ of lower wag s, but the danger to our national character. The dent body present will admixture of such differing types of civilisation is bad for both. be on exchange from Human life reaches its lowest degradation where two overseas. Significant civilisations meet, and cannot fully blend. experience at such an ' impressionable age must affect the way in T IE cONTRAST BETWEEN JEFFERJ S and Higgins is pertinent to which these students reflection about Australian identity today at two points. First, because Australia's economic welfare is so bound to her relations with neighbouring countries, Australian identity needs to take explicit account of these relationships. The broad analysis of Jefferis is more appropriate to our circumstances than the more narrow approach of Higgins. Secondly, the characteristically Australian emphasis on decency and fairness evident in the way that is particularly vulnerable to changes in intellectual fashion and trading links are devel­ national sentiment. These changes can imperceptibly weaken oped. People do the effect and reduce the scope of these qualities. business within other The need to include external relationships in the definition societies most easily of Australian identity is grounded in our changed circumstances. and effectively when For however we Australians may choose to describe our identi­ they are familiar with ty, the economic and cultural conditions which help shape it each other's culture. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the recent are now intimately affected by our relations with other nations. expansion of trade with China has been largely shaped by the Australia's economic welfare has always been connected with many Chinese who settled here after Tiananmen Square, and the health of other economies, but the consequences were who immediately formed business relationships within their relatively hidden when these economies were European or own country. The grant of residence to this large group was American. We were subject to the influence of those whom we criticised at the time. The criticism was understandable, for saw as kin, to whom we gave a place in our construction of those who define Australian identity narrowly by relationships national identity. Australian economic life has more recently between Australians, and justify immigration only by its effect become intertwined with the economies of our region, and as on domestic economic activity, would find it hard to under­ the regional economies grow more interdependent, so will it stand the benefits of the decision. become difficult to discuss Australian identity in isolation from The Australian experience, too, has demonstrated how the countries of Asia. important it is for immigrant groups to relate easily to the Our cultural dependence on other nations is also patent at communities from which they came, and to find these the levels both of popular and of scholarly culture. Many relationships respected in Australia. Where these ties are strong, publishing houses, journals and television stations have over- where they feel accepted in Australia, and where the borders of eas proprietors, and much of their content is al o provided from Australia and their countries of origin are permeable to their overseas. If we are defined to a large extent by what we see, relatives, their sense of Australian identity is more secure. The what is put before our eyes will increasingly be cosmopolitan more these relationships are depreciated by other Australians in its origin. Australian identity will need correspondingly to the harder they find it to arrive at a stable and comfortable

26 EUREKA STREET • MAY 1996 sense of Australian identity. Many of the associations formed makes clear enough the need for a consistent policy. between Australia and other nations are driven by trade, and My second argument for an unfashionably broad definition their potential influence on culture and on the definition of of Australian identity is the vulnerability of abstract, unarticu­ Australian identity is enormous. lated notions of fairness and decency. Higgins passionately If Australian identity is seen as composed in part by defended decency and fairness in relationships between Aus­ relationships with other nations, the resulting relaxed tralians, but was persuaded by an exclusive focus on Australian acceptance of diversity within Australia will create the circumstances and a fashionable social Darwinism to leave conditions for prosperity. Asians outside the sphere of these values. That is not to blame The alternative to this broad definition of Australian Higgins. The significance of his argument for a White Australia culture is to define it narrowly in terms of relationships be­ is that he did not notice its incompatibility with the principles tween Australians. This artificial definition bucks against the of decency and fairness which he upheld so strongly. His blind­ way in which Australians actually live. ness illustrates how easily a genuine concern for decency and The symbol of Australian identity is our immigration pol­ fairness can be eroded w h en placed under pressure by icy. It indicates how we define citizenship and how we see the circumstance or by intellectual fashion. boundaries of Austral­ A central reason why values like decency and fairness offer ian society. The current little resistance to forces which weaken their reach is that these basis of Australian are familial values. We interpret them instinctively through immigration control is the m etaphor of the family, and imagine their scope as having geographical. We are an first to do with domestic and close relationships. They are warm island, and so can values. But their reach is controlled by what we associate with control immigration the family, and how we contrast the sphere of the family with effectively by demand­ all that lies outside it. L ing that all visitors and The m etaphor of family has many associations, each of new citizens have entry which evokes its opposite. The family is seen as the private [_ documents. sphere, opposed t o the public sph ere. It includes family But at a deeper lev­ members, who are contrasted with strangers. The family lives el, it is notorious that in the home, but goes out into the city to work. The area where n o m an is an island. the family lives is local, while unfamiliar places are foreign. Peoples and nations Relationships within the family are governed princi­ which see their island pally by charity; those outside, by justice.

E OPLE WHO APPEAL TO DECENCY and fairness usually have a strong commitment to the family and its claims. But the play of these virtues will depend on the sharpness of the opposition drawn between the family and all that lies outside it. These relationships can change imperceptibly from ones of comple­ ous with our cultural mentarity and mutual enrichment to mutual incompatibility. boundaries, we cannot In times of acute change, like our own, the relationships be­ take adequate account tween family members and strangers, between home and city, of the importance of between the local and the foreign, are generally perceived as our external relationships. We shall see immigration and more adversarial. At such times, we are concerned less to seek emigration as events to be assessed by current account costs fairness for strangers than to demand protection against them. and benefits, rather than as part of an evolving set of relation In many respects this appears to be increasingly the ships between people. As a result, we shall fail to take situation of contemporary Australia. What is familial-the in­ account of Australia's long-term interests. dividual, the private and the local-is opposed to the public sphere, the stranger, the city and what is foreign. When family A RELATIONAL VIEW of Australian identity stresses the is defined sharply against the public and the city, it becomes importance of family reunion in immigration policy. This is axiomatic that the familial should not be taxed to support and not simply a humanitarian concession, but an appropriate develop the city, because the city is composed of strangers. expression of national identity. A relational view, too, will find Government should simply confine itself to provide security more appropriate ways of treating on-shore asylum seekers than in the potentially threatening relationships between family and imprisonment. Asylum seekers are the victims of broken rela­ strangers. Fairness and decency are primarily family values, and tionships in their own countries; a sound refugee policy will have only a negative connotation in other relationships. look to m end old and make new relationships. It is natural, also, for the public area to be seen increasingly The proper treatment of asylum seekers is at least as as threatening. Coming once to New York from El Salvador-a important in encouraging respect for human rights by our genuinely dangerous place- 1 was struck by how much more neighbours and ourselves as is the establishment of defence vivid was the perception of danger in New York. People spoke and trading links. The muddled treatment and impoverished of the public areas as dangerous, as they do increasingly in lives of so many East Timorese asylum seekers in Australia Australia. Public parks were places where you could be mugged

V OLUME 6 NUMBER 4 • EUREKA STREET 27 or your children kidnapped. Public transport provided traps public decency and fairness, by the Government. The Govern­ where you could be stalked or harassed. The streets were plac­ ment sees itself as the defender of the familial and the private, es where you must avoid eye contact with strangers lest some­ and attacks any groups which claim to represent the public thing dangerous befall you. Public toilets were sources of disease interest. In any society, jails are the visible symbol of the or worse. Even the public service could be a term of opprobri­ distinction between the family and its enemies. They can be um, and was redefined as the distribution of commodities to expect to grow and multiply in a victory of private over public. private citizens, preferably by private citizens. The appeal to racist feeling in the recent Federal Election The attitude to the public phere is summed up in the in successful attempts to win election also indicates that the telling modish phrase, out there. Out thae is a scary place, one distinction between family and strangers has become sharper. into which we go alone as strangers. It is not a place where we So, too, does the lack of discrimination in current attacks on expect fairness or decency, but where we hope for protection political correctness. While any attempt to outlaw particular and safety. The city is not seen as a meeting place of fellow kinds of argument by moral blackmail is fair game, som e critics citi zens, but as a jungle. A place where you open your door of political correctness want m ore than this. They want to be with fear rather than with welcome, and where every free from criticism when they display towards minority groups call for help is a potential threat to one's family. less than the standards of fairness and decency which they claim for themselves. One might agree that they have the right to N ow TH IS NIGHTMARE SCENE clearly represents neither the show disrespect. But to win respect, both arguments and peo­ general experience nor perception of Australians. But it perhaps ple need to show some sign of moral distinction. represents the fear of an increasing number. To the extent that The list could be extended. But the central point is clear it is shared, the distinction between family and strangers will enough. Justice and fairness arc offered little protection when they are conceived in familial terms. An understanding of national identity which speaks of the Australian family is vulnerable to the oppositions w hich separate family from stranger, public fr om private, city from home. Where there is a narrow definition of family, there will be a restrictive defini­ tion of the nation, and diminished views of fairness and decency. It is for this reason that the larger questions of national identity and purpose are appropri ate and helpful. To ask about national purpose and destiny is to be impelled to look beyond the metaphor of th e Australian family to consider the complex relationships by which Australia is in fact constituted. Questions about national purpose make it clear that the public sphere is not simply a field where people move temporarily out of their families to seek their living, but is a place of comm on building. It asks what Australians are building for. To that question, the familial answer that we are protecting the family is clearly inadequate for two reasons. It cannot give an adequate account of what is shared by all Australians, and it cannot encompass the qualities which define Australians by their relationships to other nations. 0 NE SuNDA v IN M ARCH, two events took place on Princes Parle Princes Park is public land. From the oval in the centre of become sharper. Strangers becom e enemies, potential crimi­ the park, people set out on a family walk. The oval has recently nal against whom society needs to be defended, from whom been renamed Optus Oval, and is controlled by the wealthy we seek protection in the name of fairness and decency. Carlton Football Club, the organisers of the occasion. It was an The list of strangers who are outside the farnily is long. old-fashioned Aussie day in its good humour, its faces and its They can comprise the unemployed, single mothers, the chem­ symbols. ically dependent, indigenous Australians, refugees and immi­ On the same day, other people set out from tents at the grants who steal our jobs. Many people who are decent and fair margins of the park. They were engaged in the Walk against within their intimate world do not believe it appropriate to Want, collecting money for overseas projects. It was a measure treatment of these strangers by the same standards. cosmopolitan event in the mixture of faces, foods, and passions. In Australia, and in particular in Victoria with which I am Different gatherings: different images of Australia. But the m ore most familiar, there are many signs that the disjunction between marginal made the more seminal statement about Australian family and strangers, between the private and the public is identity. • becoming sharper. The movement towards a more populist ap­ proach to criminal justice, with harsher mandatory sentences, Andrew Hamilton SJ is a theologian. He has worked among participation of victims' families in sentencing, and more con­ refugee communities from Central and Latin America, trol over the judiciary, the traditional guardians of standards of Indochina and Africa.

28 EUREKA STREET • MAv 1996 EXCURSIONS

GERARD WINDSOR Encounters with religious Italy: Lombriasco

E,N'" YEARS G'o'c'o Ros" AND"" CAM'" lived fmthe. down my weet in Sydney. Gio

V OLUME 6 NUMBER 4 • EUREKA STREET 29 • We went to the Dominican church. Don Nino, Giorgio's Salesian brother, told us we should see it. We asked a friar if there was any chance of seeing the cloister, but he said there was no cloister, and he shrugged and half-smiled. Even when I saw cloisters they were bare and unwalked, and all the vital rooms adjoining them were abandoned. The Certosa di Pavia, for example, was wondrous in its rectilinear vast­ ness-a cloister around a soccer pitch cordoned by grape vines. Yet the Carthusians left this Certosa in 1947, some Carmelites took it over for a while, then it was vacant, now there are ten Cistercians there, but they live nowhere near the old clois­ ter. At San Domenico in Chieri, in place of any cloister Giorgio led me to II sacro cingolo di San Tommaso d'Aquino. It had a chapel to itself. Behind the altar a large 19th century narrative painting gave us the miracle. Thomas, a novice, young and lean, was being girded by two angels, sentient, even sensual beings rather than pure spirits. 'There,' pointed Giorgio. In a niche to the side the reliquary for the cingolo was splendid. Perhaps 150 em high, it rose in an unencrusted Gothic spire, and at its centre an angel stood behind glass, the actual cingolo draped over her outstretched hand. I peered at the cingolo. It was more fine string than anything else. I could not make out whether it was just a belt as the painting would have me believe or, because there were tiny knots along its length, a discipline. If it were a discipline, I was surprised that the friars of the 13th century thrashed themselves so delicately. I was reminded of the San Marco fresco where the young stripped friar on his knees scourges himself under the gaze of Christ at the Pillar. Christ himself is bound but not being scourged, and he looks down on his devote with a tenderness even in the awkward twist of his body. We travelled beyond Chieri, north towards the Alps, where decayed Romanesque sites are legion. In the Abbazia di Vezzolano there remain only cloudy fragments of the frescoes. As early as 1924, some tourist was scratching the date of his visit just below the wood of the cross. On the glassed-in board by the gate of the Abbazia Giorgio and I found only one notice that was fresh and unfaded: a hand-inked m essage that read 'Puppies to give away. The Caretakers'. In the Abbazia di Staffarda the cell block had been a child-care centre, but it had just been condemned as unsafe and closed down. Restoration work had been begun and abandoned. In the refectory only St Peter and St John were still there, at the Last Supper.

L E NORTHERNMOST GOAL OF GIORGio's TOUR was the Sacra. The Sacra Abbazia di San Michele grows from a needle of rock high, very high, above San Ambrogio at the start of the Val di Susa. A millennium old, it was the second in a triangular line of great pilgrim abbeys dedicated to the archangel. There are three monks at the Sacra now. We parked half a kilometre below the summit, slithered on the ice and clumped our way through the snow to the abbey. Framed newspaper cuttings near the entrance showed John Paul II visiting the Sacra and proclaiming 'The world needs places like this'. The Sacra is the best-lit house of God in Italy: the natural light pours in. The church is crooked; the bottom of the nave swings away from the chancel at a 45° angle-to accommodate itself to the lie of the rock. The least-faded fresco defeated the understanding of both Giorgio and myself. A woman, perhaps a nurse, held a swaddled baby in each arm. Only one of them was at the breast. Another woman, more ornately dressed, stood detached. An attendant of the Sacra materialised. 'Who is this? What is going on?' we asked, pointing to the women and children. He peered and shrugged and then he disappeared again somewhere into the rock. Outside, Giorgio and I leant on the ramparts and caught the clarity and chill of the air far above the movement on the pencil lines of railway and autostrada running out of Italy along the Val di Susa. I scooped up the snow lying fresh and even on the stone and clamped it into a ball and lofted it as far as I could out, down into the world. Giorgio told m e a story about the Sacra and its eminence. A young woman called Alda had been praying late at the Sacra when she was assaulted. To escape her ravishers and trusting in the Mother of God she leaped from the precipice. As she plummeted an angel swooped and caught her. She told her fellow villagers of this miraculous delivery, but they refused to believe her. 'Well then,' she told them in exasperation, 'I shall leap again, and you shall see.' So she leaped. But the Mother of God was not to be presumed upon, and this time no angel appeared. Giorgio and I crisscrossed the plain of Piedmont, at times blind in the fog, at other times bursting into strong frosty sunlight. Beside these rural roads, teetering at the edge of the culverts or sitting on stools in lay-bys and gypsy camping-sites, there were always prostitutes. According to Giorgio they were Nigerian, all illegal immigrants, all paying, or having paid for them, up to five million lire for work permits or identity passes or some mean of establishing themselves in Italy. Last year, he said,

30 EUREKA STREET • M AY 1996 there had been a case where 55 of them were found to have acquired all the necessary papers by posing as a group of religious pilgrims. In big numbers they rode the trains between Turin and Milan, endlessly strolling through the carriages and photographing one another. On a day trip to Milan, by myself, I had a seat next to one girl and she talked volubly for an hour to a colleague who leant against my head rest. They spoke a language that included blocks of English and no elements of Italian. I picked up a strong recommendation of a particular doctor. A man strolled up to them, presumably Nigerian also, in cream suit and camel hair coat, and h e did little more than stand there. With an air of cheerful inevitability the woman beside me took 10,000 lire from her purse and gave it to him. He moved off. Half an hour later he returned and, wordlessly, passed her three cakes of Saura antiseptic soap. She checked them and dropped them into her handbag. Then she unloaded a plastic container at her feet and miraculously fitted two single litre cartons of milk into the same handbag. She pushed and shook and tapped at the edges until the canons were quite swallowed up and she clipped the bag shut. In her other hand she grasped a two-litre bottle of Coke and made ready to get out. Giorgio and his wife Jeanne said that when they heard I was coming they decided to coincide the First Communion of their second daughter, Susanna, with my visit. Susanna was eleven. I had been present at her older sister, Sonia's, First Communion back in Sydney. They had a word to the parish priest, also a Salesian, and a teacher at the school with Don Nino. On the Sunday, after Mass, Susanna made her First Reconciliation, to the parish priest. On-as far as I could see-the spur of the moment her mother Jeanne, who was not a Catholic, also made her First Reconciliation. Giorgio and I mooned about the dark rear of the church. The following night I got out my suit, the one extravagance of my luggage, packed in case I was taken somewhere important. Everyone looked dressed up, but Susanna wore grey slacks and a short green coat. At eight o'clock in the evening we went into the private chapel, once the ballroom of the old castle, in what was now the Istituto Salesiano-mother, father, two daughters, Aunt Maria Vittoria, and I. The parish priest, Don Marcello, was assisted by Don Nino. Susanna sat on a high stool and we flanked her, while the two priests sat opposite within a hand's grasp. 'In the first months of my life/ Susanna read to us, 'I did not eat at table. But then, one fine day, I too shared in the dinner and the supper. I had grown up. And now I am invited also to the supper of the Lord. ' Giorgio took the role of Peter, and Don Nino that of John, and they recalled the evening of the first eucharist. 'From that day/ read the parish priest, 'the Church has never ceased to celebrate it. Christians have gathered to repeat the gesture of Jesus, to remember his infinite love, to announce his death, and to proclaim his resurrection in the hope of his return.' Just as Mass was finishing a third priest rushed in, flustered and even slightly upset. He was the singing master and he had a fine voice. Irritated and apologetic, he explained to the parish priest, in front of the altar, that his journey, in the parish priest's own car, had been longer and messier than he had anticipated. He had been to arrange about some prizes in a competition, and he had been forced to bring the prizes, a piglet and two goats, back in the car. I couldn't work out whether he was apologis- ing for the violation of the vehicle or for missing Susanna's Mass. e IORGJO TOLD ME THAT MANY PUBLIC POSITIONS in Italy were designated for invalids. 'Really?' 'Yes. You're supposed to have a handicap to get them.' 'Really?' 'But what happens is that they go to people who've got nothing wrong with them. The invalids miss out. Beaten again and again. Like the cripple where the angel moved the water.' I thought of caretakers and booth attendants and watchmen I had encountered. 'There are certainly invalids in some of the jobs.' I tried to weigh up some of the implications of this. 'Which are preferable? The invalids or the frauds? ' Giorgio blew his nose on a large trailing handkerchief and gave a dismissive flick of the cloth. 'Italy is a Third World country/ he said. He laughed, judgment and tolerance and tribute spinning together from his eyes. Home, Giorgio, home. •

Gerard Windsor visited Italy in February, and Lombriasco is his second subject. His first-Florence­ appeared in the April issue. His next book, Heaven Where The Bachelors Sit, will be published in September.

V oLUME 6 N uMBER 4 • EUREKA STREET 31 B OOKS

JrM DAVIDSON Big picture men

Tom Roberts, Humphrey McQueen, Pan Macmillan, Australia, IYY6 . J<;lll'. 0 732l) OR35 0 IUU ' $60.00

T ,c •NnAC ""DD' of Tom be a painter. His paintings were not much as it was to confound them Roberts' life was, as Humphrey always well-executed: that can be with Parisian principles'. The great McQueen puts it, that the old adage seen at a glance at the National Gal­ plaint, as is generally known, was about great men dying twice-the lery of Victoria's new acquisition, A that these paintings on cigar box lids first time as a man, the second as a Mountain Muster. James Smith were unfinished. McQueen is rightly reputation- applied to Roberts all pointed to a clumsy arm in Recon­ charitable here, pointing out that right, but in reverse order. 'He had', ciliation; McQueen to the awkward since four-fifths of the paintings have McQueen writes, 'acquired a post­ rider in The break away! Indeed, the vanished, it is distinctly possible humous reputation before he died'. author says that Roberts had little that-given the youth of the artists Contrary to myth, this was not visual imagination, in that he had involved-many of them were, in the result of exhaustion following great difficulty in painting anything the memorable words of James his painting of the Big Picture, Th e that was not directly in front of him. Smith, 'a pain to the eye'. There Opening of the First Federal Parlia­ Although he worked in photogra­ must have been anin-ya-face element m ent. Rather, it is a story of phers' studios, he could not handle a about the venture,rather like misdirected ambition, an epic of mis­ camera to save himself. Yet writing Barry Humphries' Dada placed persistence: the dominant came easily to him-an ancestral exhibition. presence in the neo-Impressionist skill- and on more than one occasion Heidelberg School wanted nothing he dashed off travel pieces for the VERY USEFUL interchapter­ so much as to hang a mythological press. almost a detachable essay­ narrative painting on the walls of It is McQueen's contention that McQueen explores the question of the Royal Academy, London. When Roberts was a painter of limited tal­ why the reaction was so hostile in nearly fifty, he set about shaping his ent, but great force of personality; at many quarters. He shows how, in life to this end. one point he says he could have been the late 19th century, while Wagner It is sometimes overlooked that a great critic or teacher. A natural had aimed at fusing the arts, others of the four famous Heidelberg males, leader, Roberts recognised the cul­ were simply confusing them. As only McCubbin was born in tural predicament of Australia in the George Moore put it, 'For the last Australia. Roberts left England at 1880s, and was deeply hostile to the hundred years painters seem to have the age of thirteen, and had much of way the public would buy up British lived in libraries rather than in stu­ his training here, but returned there paintings 'dumped' here in much dios.' Paintings had to tell stories; to study for three years at the Royal the same way as British manufac­ effects had to be 'poetic'. McQueen Academy, and more permanently in tures. When Roberts sold Shearing tells us that in the 1890s there was 1903: of his seventy-five years, thirty­ the Rams for 350 guineas in 1890, an evening at Melbourne's Princess five were spent in England. Moreover, some 17,000 guineas had just been Theatre entirely devoted to stage his background was distinctly Tory. paid for British potboilers in the pre­ realisations of various paintings, His father, a successful journalist, vious eleven weeks. The colonial including McCubbin's Down on His wrote to uphold the traditional order cringe was second nature, even to Luck. So when Smith described the in two of the least progressive Roberts: while angry with the way 9 x 5 impressions as 'illegible', his counties in England, Shropshire and the trustees of the National Gallery meaning was more literal than may Dorset. As McQueen remarks, of Victoria were inclined to fob off at first seem. Roberts was primed from birth to do local talent with prizes, rather than Unmediated impressions- with business with the establishment: purchases, he himself on occasion emotions triggered by a painting's painting their portraits was there­ could endorse their purchase of what tones, rather than its story-were fore a much more obvious course for now seem to be conventional British truly, for 19th century Australians, him to take than it was for the others paintings. the shock of the new. Narrative and in the group. Even so, the famous 9 x 5 [inches] mega-realist paintings offered an McQueen goes further, and shows exhibition of 1889 was, as McQueen Ariadne's thread, connecting the how it was not by an y means puts it, 'intended to educate colonial viewer with the world left predetermined that Roberts should Victorians to discern local effects as behind. This new art threatened to

32 EUREKA STREET • MAY 1996 snap that: instead, these daubings You won't find here much discus­ Academy-until he finally m ade required a committed imagination sion of brushstrokes and painterly their exhibition after seven years of to connect them with a new envi­ qualities, nor even much engagement disappointment-makes depressing ronment. Hard work. with the controversies over Impres­ reading. As does his preoccupation McQueen shows that Roberts sionism in Australia or the kinds of with the Arabian Nights world of was by no means a committed clippers 1890s shearers would have The Sl eeper Awal

VOLUM E 6 N UMBER 4 • EUREKA STREET 33 of the day were Donald Horne (still a architecture, the professed Liberal), as well as Geoffrey Opera House was Dutton and Max Harris; while going up in Sydney. around 1960 Jim Cairns was told A locally-grounded that membership of the Immigration high culture was the Reform Group was incompatible motivating ideal with the White Australia Policy the then, and it is the Labor party still upheld. eclipse of that Underlying a lot of this radical­ goal-or its super­ ism was a desperate desire for Aus­ session-which tralia to be seen as being explains why the sophisticated. While the cringe mandarin figure towards Britain was abating, it was who seems now to replication in the form of a fairer, most embody it has, more egalitarian Anglo-Celtic soci­ in recent years, ety that was seen as desirable, rather faded away for the than anything startlingly new. The general public to tones on the ABC were still what become little more was termed Educated Australian, and than a name. dislike of the local accent was gen­ Robin Boyd is eral. (In 1974 the editor of Meaniin less tamous now told a writer working in his office than his novelist that she should have elocution uncle, Martin, to lessons). Australian theatre and film, say nothing of his of course, had not yet emerged, and painterly cousin would change much of this when Arthur. (One could Right: Roberts' they did. But by the mid-sixties imagine his mouth Artists' Camp is literature and painting in Australia twisting wryly at overrun by Boyd's had made great advances, there were the mere idea of being Australian of (194 7), a book written by Boyd to Australian Ugliness. stirrings in classical music, and, in the Year). He drew deeply on his trace a radical pedigree for himself background as one of the Boyds­ by looking at the most innovative more deeply than he or most people Melbourne architecture from the realised, perhaps, for as Geoffrey beginning of white settlement. His MASTER OF ARTS IN EARLY Serle points out in his biography, his next book, the hugely successfulAus­ CHRISTIAN AND JEWISH STUDIES interests were not wide: he had rela­ tralia 's Home (1952), provided a II tively few books, and (apart from highly readable account of local degree by coursework for graduates in jazz) little interest in music. domestic architecture; it also served, But the cultural capital provided in its disparagement of Victorian -_... history, theology or related disciplines. by his family-the only capital they taste and lingering ornamentalism, - Also available by external study. A did provide-gave him both to act as a statement for the necessity Taught by specialists in the fields of New Testament authority and amplitude, and this, for con temporary architecture, with - and Judaism , this program will appeal to students allied with his fastidiousness, wit, its spare effects and clean of the New Testament, early Christianity and late and writerly capacities, were to make lines. him Australia's most distinctive Second temple and early Rabbinic Judaism. social critic so far. Distinctiveness, BOYD ALSO CONTRIBUTED tO the For details contact Dr Judith Lieu , or quality, was what he most sought: in tern a tional debate on that School of History, Philosophy and Politics it was differentiation from architecture. His account of the ideas Tel: (02) 850 8867, Fax: (02) 850 8892 *1 ordinariness that led him to write of Walter Gropius so impressed that NSW 2109 the sleevenote for Barry Humphries' architect that when his New York first recording. publisher was looking for a Macquarie University .i. Although always keen to con­ biographer, he suggested the sider himself first and foremost an Australian. This was not to be; but architect, Boyd's itch to write and Boyd's book on Kenzo Tange-the act as publicist was evident from the first on a Japanese architect by a very beginning. While studying at Westerner-did well abroad. Simi­ 'Io acfvertise in f£urel(a Street, Melbourne University, he revitalised larly The Puzzle of Architecture the existing student publication and (1965), a discussion of modernism ta[/( to Xf!_n J-leacf launched another-Smudges­ and its consequences, was widely which created such an impact with praised when retailed in America. ph. {03) 9427 7311 its discussion of contemporary issues When Boyd died aged 52 in 1971 , the that it was commended in America. Japanese media carried the news in Then followed Victorian Modern their bulletins.

34 EUREKA STREET • M AY 1996 Serle rightly firm surviving Grounds' defection. remarked that he would become points out that Although there were stories of Boyd 'what Australia wants me to be- the much of Boyd's buildings developing leaks and faults, Max Harris of architecture'. Death 'originality and Serle states that Boyd's work was no claimed him first. discussion lie in more prone to these mishaps than Geoffrey Serle was an acquaint­ his combination that of other architects; indeed, ance rather than a friend of Robin of International possibly less, since his work Boyd. You won't find much relating Modernism with generally drew admiration for the to Boyd's private life here, for Serle intense local in­ ingenuity of the solutions he would says few letters have survived. This terest.' His de­ come up with to overcome the is a biography of a public life, very sire was not only problems presented by revealing of Boyd's networks. It is to be contempo­ '"'r difficult sites. also good on the workings (and dis­ rary, but to sheet memberment) of Grounds, Romberg that concern .1. HE BOYD OEUVRE, however, was & Boyd, and benefits from the con­ home. Instead, not large: Serle puts it at 95 houses, vergences in the lives of author and he saw a sham­ bling amateur­ ism much in What Borromini Saw evidence, which he thought of as Something appropriate to being Bernini's butler, the last vestige An upstart world of feigning ecstasy, of colonialism. An inflammatory geometry growing ever subtler, And while he The foothold of angels on the slope of a pea. was prepared to concede that ug­ liness in the The House of Melancholy as A Temple of Reason, built environ- Concavity, in shape as a recessive gene, ment was not The Mass compressed to just Kyrie Eleison, exclusively an Australian phenom­ Earth's curve, Sky's line, Man in between. enon, he had no doubt that advertis­ ing tended to be more obtrusive here From the latin 'caedo', a stonecutter's suicide, than anywhere else. But loved by materials on scaffold or in hod, Boyd wrote of 'Austerica'- an Rome's bridegroom ditched by his hard-faced bride, Australia of Americanisation, never The Phoenix Basilisk of an Incarnate God. completely of the moment but tamed by two years' out-of-datedness-a Peter Porter place wherefeaturism ran wild. 'You can never afford a good home', he wrote acidly, 'but you can always 17 commercial projects, and 8 major subject, such as staff membership at afford another nice feature'. Much of buildings. Indeed his ceaseless Melbourne University and the foun­ Boyd's most famous book, The scribbling-which almost ran to the dation of the National Trust. Boyd's Australian Ugliness (1960) is an writing of a biography of his uncle war experience in New Guinea elaboration of this argument. In it he Martin- clearly affected his image (where Serle also fought) is became, more clearly than ever more than it consumed his energies. vividly brought to life. before, a social critic.' Architecture', Boyd found that he was constantly Boyd wrote, is the mother art, being pushed into the role of acting BUT THERE IS LITTLE SENSE of per­ reflecting society the more strongly as publicist for other architects­ sonal intensity, or much attempt to because it is unguarded.' when he said he would prefer to look beyond Robin Boyd's repres­ Boyd's importance as a writer has design buildings of his own. Worse, sive elegance. Nor is there, in the tended to overshadow his own work it led others to distrust his architec­ text, much detail about the build­ as an architect. Right from the be­ tural capacities. ings; but Jessie Serle's excellent cap­ ginning he made an impact, as direc­ Boyd, who regretted that archi­ tions, in what is a sumptuously tor of the Small Homes Service of tecture was becoming less and less illustrated book, go a long way to­ the Age. This advisory service would, of an art, sneered that the talents wards redressing the balance. Finally, in 1951, be responsible for one-eighth necessary now for a successful archi­ the inclusion of extracts from Boyd's of all the houses built that year in tect were 'administration, golfing own writings makes the case as best Melbourne; J.M.Freeland described and finance, in that order'. These could be for his flair, polemical talent it as 'the best public relations ven­ were the talents he did not have; and incisiveness. • ture that the architectural profes­ towards the end of his life the practice sion has ever had.' Boyd m eanwhile began to founder. Boyd thought of Jim Davidson is Associate Professor had gone into partnership with Roy taking an academic position- with in Humanities at Victoria University Grounds and Frederick Romberg, the great reluctance-and ruefully of Technology.

VOLUME 6 NUMBER 4 • EUREKA STREET 35 BOOKS: 2

PETER STEELE Big cat On Grief and Reason: Essays, Joseph Brodsky, Farrar Straus Giroux, New York, 1995. ISBN 0 374 234 15 9 RRP $43.95

L,eHOTOGWH o• )o"ph whole spread, from solemnity to in­ Brodsky at work. There is personal­ Brodsky on the back of this book's sobriety. ity, front and centre, to bear witness. jacket shows him cradling a cat. There are twenty-one pieces here, Brodsky would have found both cra­ Years ago, another photograph, this and their occasions are various. One ven and ludicrous the notion that time on a cassette of the poet recit­ of them, the shortest, is the accept­ that old hack the Zeitgeist, in what­ ing his poetry, offered him with a ance speech for the Nobel Prize in ever contemporary rig it can muster, leaner and perhaps a younger cat. I literature: another, 'Speech at the could plausibly get the writing done, thought of the Irish monk who wrote Stadium,' is a commencement ad­ and then lie there marmoreally as of his White Pangur, the two of them dress at the University of Michigan, Text. He fo und it natural to keep on assiduous mousers, the one after a where Brodsky taught for eight years: standing up on the page, wielding meal and the other after meanings. a third is an open letter to Vaclav selfhood, however ragged. This is a And I thought of Montaigne, the Havel, enjoining on him the view conspicuous feature of his poetry, great shape-shifter, who asked that 'it seems more prudent to build from quite early until the end, and whether he played with his cat or society on the premise that man is there is a continuum between much she with him. evil rather than the premise of his of the poetry and much of the prose. The game grows more elaborate goodness:' a fourth, 'An Immodest And there is, in the passage, a if you look at the front of the jacket Proposal,' delivered at the Library of characteristic relish for life's extrava­ this time, where there is a reproduc­ Congress, urges that 'Fifty million ganza, its perpetual violation of tion of a lion rampant, taken from a copies of an anthology of American decorums, its addiction to minglings coat of arms which decora ted poetry for two dollars a copy can be and medleys. Brodsky could, as the Sheremetev Palace in Leningrad, 'for sold in a country of 250 million.' title-essay of this book shows, be many years the residence of Anna This last concludes in character­ thunderstruck by Frost, as he had Akhmatova.' She, a sponsor of the istic, though unpredictable, fashion: been by Donne and by Auden, let youthful Brodsky, was no pussy-cat, alone Russian predecessors: but what A quarter of a century ago, in a whatever the ripple of imagination typically happened when he was in previous incarnation in Russia, I running through her work, and he, their grip was two-fold. knew a man who was translating as both admirers and enemies were On the one hand, language could Robert Frost into Russian. I got to to find out, had a more ambitious romance him almost into delirium­ know him because I saw his transla­ agenda than merely strutting his he was like a zoo-born seal being tions: they were stunning poems in stuff. shown the ocean; on the other, he Russian, and I wanted to become On Grief and Reason, among its was one of those people whom lan­ acquainted with the man as much as other attractions, offers Brodsky at guage beds down more and more I wanted to see the originals. He play and Brodsky on the roar. Prop­ emphatically into things and the way showed me a hardcover edition (I erly, much of his poetry and many of they go. The psychic liberation of think it was by Holt), which fe ll the essays in his earlier Less than Frost's 'stunning poems' is pitched open onto the page with 'Happiness One attract admiration, and some­ against the boot's encasement, the Makes Up in Height for What It thing approaching reverence- dou­ camp's imprisonment: and there they Lacks in Length.' Across the page bly fitting towards a writer who was were, two living men shadowed by went a huge, size-twelve imprint of amply gifted with both qualities. He two others, one known and one un­ a soldier's boot. The front page of could be leonine, imperial, in his known, making what they could of the book bore the stamp 'ST ALAG enthusiasms, and he could do gran­ life's maelstrom, which is none the #3B,' which was a World Warii con­ deur without grandiosity. But he less so for sometimes moving slowly. centration camp for Allied POWs could also play the hellion, flourish And thirdly, there is the touch in somewhere in France. elm tzpah, be the anarch for a while, the last sentence- rueful, ironic, but Now, there is a case of a book of and he made no compacts as to when revealing. Brodsky was to retrieval poems finding its reader. All it had this side of himself would or would what Edison was to invention. He to do was to be around. Otherwise it not be given a run. In a recent poem loved to get things back from be­ couldn't be stepped on, let alone in m emory of Brodsky, Paul tween Time's teeth, not just to beat picked up. Muldoon refers to his 'great peaches­ that Cyclops, but to find them still and-diesel tenor.' As far as prose can On offer here are several elements current, germinal, regal. Amongst do it, On Grief and Reason gives the which themselves bear the stamp of the pieces in On Grief and Reason

36 EUREKA STREET • MAY 1996 are 'Profile of Clio,' 'Homage to guishes a work of art from mere like Donne, he wants to lend his Marcus Aurelius,' 'Wooing the In­ belles lettres. It must be admitted, positions all the plausibility he can animate,' 'Ninety Years Later,' 'Let­ however, that in this particular re­ muster. The ancient, and recurrent, ter to Horace,' and 'In Memory of ga rd, prose has proven to be a rather ambition of the poet to be both en­ Stephen Spender.' None of them is lazy pupil. chanter and enlightener finds plenty just that necessary, good but limited of expression in Brodsky's prose. God thing, a decent verdict on something This piece of prose is itself a hand­ knows what they made of it all at the and someone now done with. They some piece of behaviour, pliant to a book fair. do indeed have something of the rapidly moving mind, disciplined in Or, come to that, in January last mantle of Montaigne about them-a its rhetoric, elegant in its juxtaposi­ year, when, at a symposium organ­ garment whose warp and woof of tions, vivid enough in its metaphori­ ized by the Foundation for Creativ­ gravity and gaiety gives us the mind's cal life to lend authority to its ity and Leadership, in Switzerland, shot silk. The best pictorial analogy insights, but never lingering on any he announced that he detested the I know for Brodsky's acts of retrieval metaphor long enough to rob the very term 'creativity,' and went on is Stanley Spencer's 'The Resur­ in a creative enough way to rection: Cookham,' where a explain why. Enchanter though churchyard's motley array is he could be, Brodsky could take tumbled out, still full of its own a sombre pleasure in disen­ character, to deal with absolute chanting. He had a lot of Beckett novelty. in his system, a lot of Novelty aplenty there is Kierkegaard: and although, both when Brodsky comes to town. in prose and in verse, he had a 'How to Read a Book' was deliv­ love for masquerade, he rarely ered at the opening of the first confused mask with person, book fair in Turin, in 1988. It gambit with mind. begins, 'The idea of a book fair in For some years I have sup­ the city where, a century ago, posed that his poems could best Nietzsche lost his mind has, in be called 'Mutability Cantos', its own turn, a nice ring to it,' both because this throws a and it practically ends with, 'A Brodskean glance back over a hundred years hence, nobody's few centuries at the Spenser insanity will matter much to who wrote just those, and be­ the multitudes whose number cause it seems to me that if his will exceed by far the total of poetry has a hero, it is Proteus, little black letters in all the the Mutability Kid. Accord­ books at this book fair put to­ ingly, it was a double pleasure gether.' A lot happens in be­ to come across ' Letter to tween, much of it a celebration Horace,' part fantasia and part of poetry-for example, this apologia, in which Brodsky ad­ paragraph: paragraph of its muscular pacing. As dresses the ancient poet and, con­ such, it is vintage Brodsky in one of ceding his distinction and that of The more one reads poetry, the his prose moods: anyone can see that Virgil, and Catullus, and Propertius, less tolerant one becomes of any his back-of-the-hand to 'mere belles and Lucretius, plumps outright for sort of verbosity, be it in political or lettres' is not the gesture of someone Ovid-'Publius Ovidius Nasa.' The philosophical discourse, in history, uneasy about his own reason is clear: social studies, or the art of fiction. competency as a prosaist. Good style in prose is always hos­ ...what Nasa was after wasn't even tage to the precision, speed, and I TIS ALSO THE WRITING of an exposi­ a metaphor. His ga me was mor­ laconic intensity of poetic diction. tor, and sometimes a proclaimer. phology, and his take was meta­ A child of epitaph and epigram, con­ The young Brodsky wrote a truly morphosis. When the same ceived, it appears, as a shortcut to extraordinary poem which was both substance attains a different form. any conceivable subject matter, an emulation of and a lament for The main thing is the sameness of poetry is a great disciplinarian to John Donne: and although he was substance. And, unlike the rest of prose. It teaches the latter not only and remained in many ways miles you, he managed to grasp the sim­ the value of each word but also the away from Donne's religious alle­ ple truth of us all being composed of mercurial mental patterns of the giances, he made his own Donne's the stuff the world is made of. Since species, alternatives to linear com­ role as herald. Brodsky is more con­ we are of this world. So we all con­ position, the knack of omitting the cerned with actualities and necessi­ tain water, quartz, hydrogen, fiber, self-evident, emphasis on detail, the ties (including the necessity of etcetera, albeit in different propor­ technique of anticlimax. Above all, freedom) than with plausibilities­ tions. Which can be reshuffled. poetry develops in prose that appe­ hence the allusion to the 'appetite Which already have been reshuffled tite for metaphysics which distin- for metaphysics'-though of course, into that girl. Small wonder she

VOLUME 6 NUMBER 4 • EUREKA STREET 37 becomes a tree. Just a shift in her your body, be most vigilant over your erator of consciousness, of think­ cellular makeup. Anyhow, with our index finger, for it is blame-thirsty. ing, of comprehending the universe. species, shifting from the animate A pointed finger is a victim's logo­ Having experienced this accelera­ to the inanimate is the trend. You the opposite of the V sign and a tion once, one is no longer capable know what I mean, being what you synonym for surrender;' 'The most of abandoning the chance to repeat are. definitive feature of antiquity is our this experience; one falls into de­ absence;' 'Out of the past there is pendency on this process, the way For all the flourish, this is more only one route, and it takes you into others fall into dependency on drugs than frolic: Brodsky means it-says the present. ' This is a crystalline or alcohol. One who finds himself it, equivalently, too often elsewhere imagination, the edges sharp, the in this sort of dependency on lan­ for it to be an accident. He has an structure growing. guage is, I suppose, what they call a imagination which is at once extra­ The epigraph to this book is a poet. ordinarily vigorous and en tropic. He quotation from Auden, Brodsky's was fascinated by Venice, which he genius loci, the place being the world. What is at issue here- as in saw through the lens of his native It runs, 'Blessed be all m etrical rules Brodsky's still more distinguished city, Petersburg, and about which he that forbid automatic responses, earlier prose volume, Less Than wrote an array of poems and a whole force us to have second thoughts, One-is poetry as a passion, with prose book: it was largely because of free us from the fetters of Self.' I both tilts to that word-something the city's interplay be- would set this beside the conclusion undergone, something discharged. At tween mobility and stasis. of 'Uncommon Visage,' the Nobel a time when mulish Sancho Panzas Lecture: are intent on deposing imagination H E LIKED INTRICACY, formality, once and for all, such thinking may elaboration in the construction of ... there arc times when, by means seem doubly quixotic: but then, his own poems, and when, in On of a single word, a single rhyme, the Brodsky was never a very suitable Grief and Reason, he examines at writer of a poem manages to find subject for bullying. Some things, he length the work of Frost, or of Hardy, himself where no one has ever been knew, take time to come to their or of Rilke, he moves instinctively before him, further, perhaps, than fullness. As does reason. As does to indicate these things in their po­ he him.sel£ would have wished to grief. • etry: but he can rarely talk about go. The one who writes a poem those made shapes, those pyramidal writes it above all because verse Peter Steele has a Personal Chair at monuments, without finding them writing is an extraordinary accel- the University of Melbourne. volcanoes after all, the lava rising, the fire spilling. If one stuck so clumsy a label as BooKs: 3 'materialist' on his work, it would PETER PIERCE have to be on the clear understand­ ing that his nom-de-guerre would be 'Heraclitus': and once you get a Heraclitus loose in the imagination, A language of anything can happen-witness Hopkins. Brodsky wrote a lot about travel, their o-wn some of it jaunty, some rueful, some intense, and there are samples of all Tassie Terms: A Glossary of Tasmanian Word s, three types in this book; the being Maureen Brooks and Joa n Ritchie, eds; Oxford physically on the move matched in University Press, 1995. RRP $24.95 ISRN 0 19 5538 12 9 some degree the being emotionally and intellectually on the move. Scat­ tered through the pages, with a lav­ INTH' coNc'm cue""'" Ahce fellow, if cmb'"''"'d T"m'n;an ish hand, are dicta which bear out Springs motel, where coaches deposit His words had to be understood as a the love for 'epitaph and epigram,' and collect parties of ageing tourists, matter of intonation, a defensive- and it is striking to see how often elderly couples whom chance might ness mildly, but resolutely expressed. they betoken at once movement and soon seat across an aisle introduced They had less to do with diction, conclusion. Almost at random, I find, themselves. than attitude. 'Ina manner of speaking, we all work One pair of retirees was from Essential cadences of the speech for a dictionary;' 'A free man, when New South Wales, the other from of Tasmanians will always elude both he fails, blames nobody;' 'The more Hobart. For the latter, the bare nota­ the outsider and the most conscien­ one travels, the more complex one's tion of his home city was not enough. tious of lexicographers. That is not sense of nostalgia becomes;' 'Every­ 'It's not a bad little place, Tassie', to say that the recent 'glossary of thing that displays a pattern is preg­ the man announced to the party at Tasmanian words', tweely titled nant with boredom;'' A target cannot large. This was a moment whose Tassie Terms, should not be wel­ accept a bullet;' 'Of all the parts of poignancy time has not blunted for a comed warmly. A production of the

38 EUREKA STREET • MAY 1996 Australian National Dictionary Cen­ Mutant Proverbs tre, it is-according to the editors, Maureen Brooks and Joan Ritchie­ ' a deliberate and constrained effort in regional lexicography'. Their aim Nine stitches are a waste of time. was not comprehensiveness. It's the early worm who gets caught by the bird. Moreover, extensive reading for the A Mossy stone gathers a Rolls. published usage of words discovered Sleight of hand makes many work. not so much their peculiar incidence There's no police like Home. south of Bass Strait, but 'a probability Space for the goose is spice for the gander. that these terms will occur more Butter the devil you know and batter the devil you don't. frequently in t ext s writte n in The child is farth er fro m the man. Tasmania'. When in Rome do the Romans. Sample double pages give the A bird in the Strand is worth two in Shepherd's Bush. sense of what riches the editors An apple a da y is not a doctor's pa y. discovered. In the Gs, for instance, cluster references historical, biologi­ A friend in tweed is a friend in n eed. cal, colloquial and con troversia I. No fuellilauteurs. 'the infamous sealer James Munro', Apres le deluge, c'est moi. who-by forcing Aboriginal women Blood is quicker than mortar. in t o concu binage-u nwi ttingl y Spokes of the devil. helped to keep the race alive. 'The In drains begins responsibility. 'Great Lake paraglaxias' is another Too many cocks spoil the brothel. ori ginal, a blotchy fish found only in The family that prays together slays together. the lake from which its name derives From cleanliness to godliness, what next~ and in the Shannon Lagoon, waters well known to the angler, Malcolm Apotheosis of the dons. Fraser. This page also yields 'greasy A rose by any other name would cost much less. luck', an expression of the hope of A diamond is for Eve. good fortune before a whaling voy­ Jam yesterday, jam tomorrow, log jam today. age. Not that one always needed to Life is a dram. go far. In the 1820s, whales were By their frights ye shall know them. regularly caught in the Derwent Dying will be a great invention. River. That was the economic zenith Sweet are the uses of advertising. of the colony. It has been downhill Virtue is its own regard. ever since. Peter Porter One explanation for that might be conj ectured from the last entry on the page. 'Greenie' is 'a conserva­ Tasm ania and him to the Senate, aging n o n sen se coin ages as tionist'. The term is at once a badge began in the forests of the north­ 'Taswegian', a word no self-respect­ of h o nour and a sign of bitter west. In the rancour and loss of which ing native would utter. Brooks and contempt. The Australian National it speaks, this is a veritable Tasma­ Ritchie find impositions of much Dictionary records its first use as nian story, if hardly a joke. And one older origi n in the many English long ago as 1973. 'Not exclusively word, as Tassie Term commend- place-nam es for parts of Tasmania. Tasmanian', as these editors note, it ably shows, is sufficient to The hoary and sentimental assump­ is 'of particular significance in this start the talc. tion, here implicitly endorsed, that State which has seen considerable Tasmania is 'a little England', ignores conflict between conservationists A NOTHER HOPE OF Brooks and how many of these signifiers are and developers'. A terrible history is Ritchie was that the terms they ga th­ properly and more precisely Scot­ masked by this cautious explana­ ered would 'collectively, reflect in tish, courtesy of Governor Lachlan ti on. Elaborated, it would reveal how som e way the ethos of the island'. As Macquaric. From him (a nd for his the electorate of Bass passed from their study amply illustrates, that relatives and their land-holdings) Labor's to Liberal's safest in a decade; 'ethos' has often been confected, or came names of t own s-Ross, how families in the timber industry imposed from without. T ourism is Bothwell, Campbell Town-and (most of whose jobs are anyway responsible for the promotion of the regions whimsically translated to doomed) turned from the staunchest adjective 'convict' to qualify the southern latitudes, so that Tasma­ of Labor supporters to the group most material world of bricks, buildings nia acquired a Highlands of its own. disa ff ected with the party; how the and settlements, as well as to invoke The' apple isle' has suffered not on] y political career of Bob Brown, which a sinister, if nebulous 'past'. 'Main­ from outsiders' forgetfulness, but brought minority government to landers' are to blame for such dis par- from their too solicitous attention.

V OLUME 6 N UMBER 4 • EUREKA STREET 39 Editing Tassie Terms along transplant not only the tubers, but after the Second World War1 Tasma­ established lexicographical princi­ memories of Red Indian warrior nian irony is also under-represented. ples, finding usages only in printed tribes? There is no trace either of In which other state are the preten­ sources, has led Brooks and Ritchie 'the Tasman Limited', one of the sions of large landowners punctured into unwitting or perhaps unavoid­ world's slowest trains, which took by calling them 'cockies'? able distortions of their material. five hours on a good day to get from In primary school, we knew that Belated attribution is prime among Hobart to Launceston. It has long already large classes (sixty-plus in these. Take 'nointer', a term more of since ceased to whistle, but lexicons Grade Three in 1958, as I remember) affection than reproof in my Hobart are intended as repositories of lost would grow further late in March seed-time, which comes from 'Brit­ objects, forfeited hopes, when the children whose famiLies ish dialect' and is defined as apply­ vanished worlds. had 'gone hop-picking' returned re­ ing 'to young children and roughly luctantly. It is a complex m etaphor, synonymous with brat'. That gives a H UMBLER WORDS and phrases which Tassie Terms-in a more in­ slightly false shading to the period have also escaped the editors' trawl­ clusive and extensive format-might usage of a word now seldom over­ ing. Where is the favourite fish in have teased out: whole families did heard. The editors' source is the fish and chips? Euphemistically travel up the Derwent Valley to pick Hobart Mercmy for August 1994, called 'flake', it was 'gummy shark' hops in season. Yet the phrase is a where a term no longer seen in print to those who hooked it. Where are jo yous expression of delinquency too, (and scarcely ever likely to have been) 'goitre tablets', those weekly sup­ the Tasmanian equivalent of 'gone is resuscitated as a linguistic curios­ plements taken by every Tasmanian fishin', indicative, as is much in this ity. Too much of this goes on, but in school child to counteract iodine book, and more that urgently needs large part because there is no certifi­ deficiency in the water? And what of setting down-of what wealth of able way of tapping the rich usage of 'bank homes', which survive as words the island state has given to a ageing Tasmanians, to whom unlovely suburban smudges on hill­ less than grateful nation. • 'nointer' and many other regional sides, but brought the chance of words and phrases come as naturally cheap, detached housing to so many Peter Pierce is a Tasmanian. as the impulse to make them part of stories of their land, and its lore. B OOKS: 4

A consequence (w hich any editor ToHN HoNNER would think it unsporting to men­ tion) is the omission of key Tasma­ nian terms which define and evoke the state. Where is 'cobber', that Rahner's legacy signature of Tasmania, a term of The Ecclesiology of Karl Raimer, Ri charu Lcnnan, endearment long ago abandoned on Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1995. ISBN 0 19 R263SR 9 RRI' $ 11 0.00 continental Australia, but which at home carries none of the ritual emp­ W v IS THIS BOOK important? H e observed: The short answer is simple enough: tiness of such epithets as 'mate' or Since the position of the German­ 'good bloke'? Where is that hideous Lennan has richly restored the language bishops was regularly arachnid of backyard woodheaps, the appealing portrait of the church in adopted by the European alliance, huntsman, misnamed tarantula? the modern world that had been put and since the alliance position was together under Rahner's influence Whose feelings are beings pared when regularly adopted by the Council, a at the second Vatican Council. those resplendent euphemisms for single theologian might have his death and madness-Carnelian Bay His book offers reasoned views accepted by the whole Coun­ and Lachlan Park (respectively the encouragement to those who were cil if they had been accepted by the Hobart cemetery and the lunatic asy­ caught up in the disturbing and thrill­ German-speaking bishops. There ing changes that occurred in the hun up the Derwent River)-are was such a theologian: Father Karl omitted 1 Perhaps dark secrets are Roman Catholic Church in the 1970s Rahner SJ. better not divulged to the makers­ and who now feel some despond­ to-be of gazetteers for visiting main­ ency as the church struggles to keep Rahner was indeed at his peak at landers. Tassie Terms has no the fires of those spirited times alive. the time of Vatican II, but even then knowledge of Black Bobs, the locus A long answer requires a more his energies only just m et with suc­ classicus of in-breeding jokes for a roundabout route. A few years after cess. In one lengthy debate, for ex­ whole nation, not just for a state. the conclusion of Vatican II in 1965, ample, Raimer's case was won by a The prosaic Tasmanian drinker Ralph Wiltgen completed a history vote of 1114 to 1097, a majority of a calls his beer glass a six, eight or ten of the Council which was eventu­ mere seventeen votes. The (ounce) still. No sign of those meas­ ally published in 1977 as The Rhine continuing struggles for identity and ures is to be had. Many 'King Island' flows into the Tiber. Wiltgen's title power in the Roman Catholic food products are puffed, but the reflected the influence of the Church since Vatican II should pinkeye alone of potatoes gets a German-speaking bishops on the therefore come as no surprise. guernsey. What of the kennebec and Council and the unique significance With extraordinary prescience pontiac, names which strangely of Rahner's contribution. Wiltgen also noted the beginnings of

40 EUREKA STREET • MA v 1996 a reaction to Rahner's theology facile progressivism, Lennan sug­ transcendence of God in proportion already stirring in the person of the gests that Ralmer tends to lean more to our equal belief in God's young Father Joseph Ratzinger. towards the authority of the institu­ immanence in history. Father Ratzinger, the personal tion than to the activity of the Spirit. Karl Ralmer (1904-1984) was an theologian of Cardinal Frings and I believe that Raimer is justified, extraordinary figure in the modern former student of Father Rahner, had nonetheless, in his enunciation of church. Sufficient proof of this can seemed to give an almost unques­ the delightful paradox that the be found in the bibliography of his tioning support to the views of his church must have an authoritative own publications, numbering nearly former teacher during the Council. magisterium, for a magisterium is a 5000 individual titles in various But as it was drawing to a close, he sign that the church is continually collections, translations and re-edi­ admitted that they disagreed on vari­ changing under the Spirit: if there tions. Putting it another way: a pub­ ous points, and said he would begin were no change there would be no lication by Rahner was appearing, to assert himself more after the need for a magisterium, since there somewhere in the world, every three Council was over. would be nothing new to be said. or four days continuously for nearly Because of Rahner's influence at Those who are committed to the fifty years. Vatican II, the fortunes of his writ­ magisterium, therefore, are equally What is most appealing about ings and the Council's teachings have committed to a church that can Rahner's theology is his ability to become more closely entwined. change, a church that is hold together apparent opposites: the Growing opposition in some quarters open to the Spirit. human and the divine, the secular to the consequences of that Council and the sacred, nature and grace, can conveniently be aired as ONTHE OTHER HAND, Rahner matter and spirit, authority and free­ criticisms of Rahner. argues quite openly against aspects dom. What makes Raimer's argu­ If weaknesses could be exposed of church authority. If the church is ment compelling is the combination in Rahner's theology then doubts to be the sacrament of freedom then of a deep knowledge of the most about Vatican II could be accented, its structures should mirror such an venerable traditions of the church all of which might lead to a revival of identity. A pope, says Ralmer, is not with a profound intellectual rigour the static hierarchical church order outside history and can never, there­ which insists that theology must that existed prior to the Council. In fore, have an absolute authority. He begin from human experience, recent years, therefore, a number of urges that offices in the church are especially transcendental experi­ critiques of Rahner have appeared in works for the service of the church, ence, which includes the wonder of various Catholic publications. For and that bishops and popes should divine grace. example, a series of articles, called hold office only for limited periods. Lennan spares us the details of 'Ralmer the Untouchable', appeared Rahner was also a strong defender of Ralmer' s philosophical foundations. in the popular magazine Thirty Days, the rights of local bishops and Instead, he offers a more practical in 1993: the general thesis of his national synods over against Roman account of Rahner's views of the critics is that Ralmer is 'most dan­ authority. Further, Rahner argued constitution of the church, the graced gerous' for the church. that the church had to emerge from character of the impact of the 20th Richard Lennan's book, on the below, and not be imposed from century upon the church, and the other hand, celebrates how good above upon its members who had future of the church. Ralmer is for the church: how Rahner made adult commitments to remain The book is wittily written and understands the nature of the church in the contemporary church. Again, easy to read. I recommend, however, as the sign of the presence of Jesus he argued for the reformation of theo­ that readers begin with the last chap­ Christ, a sacrament of hope and free­ logical education and a demyth­ ter, then read the opening paragraphs dom for the world; how the church is ologising of the clerical office, and closing reviews of each chapter, a place not of uniformity but of pleading that priests be not set apart and then proceed to read the work as reconciled diversity; how faithful­ from the church, and suggesting the a whole. ness to tradition does not imply institution of new ministries. Richard Lennan teaches theology repetition of what has already been But Rahnerwas also passionately at the Catholic Institute of Sydney. done; how the church is to learn loyal to the church's traditions. He His book has deservedly been very from the movements of the Holy was critical of Hans Ki.ing, for well-received internationally and is Spirit among its people and from the example, and the policies of schism, a credit to Australian theology. It is contours of history; how the church believing that plurality was more a pity that, while perfectly produced, can never be a closed system; how important than any conformity in it is so expensive. I look forward to the church is holy and sinful at the any direction. Nor was Rahner one an affordable paperback edition. • same time, and how the church to turn the church into a secular might choose to live in a pluralistic power: his acceptance of the inter­ John Honner SJ is the author of A future of humanity. This is why his play between revelation and history common philosophy: Karl Rohner book is important. rested always on his conviction that and Michael Leunig. He teachers At points Lennan is critical of God is the origin and end of all human theology and philosophy at Ralmer: for example, while noting activity. Secular history can also be Melbourne's United Faculty of the skill with which Ralmer m oves salvation history, but only if we Theology, and lived for a time with between rigid conservatism and maintain our sense of the Karl Rahner in Munich in 1980.

V oLUME 6 NuMBER 4 • EUREKA STREET 41 OPERA

JoHN C ARMODY Strains of Wagner

R, c,.•o WACN>"''"""" c•n, his operas are anti-Semitic, He wanted his operas to act, like­ quite validly, be regarded as propa­ Germanic triumphalist tracts. wise, as a mirror of his own society, ganda. It has been persuasively argued to serve this same philosophic role Tristan and Isolde is a p~an to by Barry Millington ('Nuremberg for his own countrymen; it was in­ free love while The Mastersingers of Trial: Is there anti-Semitism in Die evitable, therefore, that he wrote Nuremberg is a seductively potent Meistersinger?', Cambridge Opera their texts himself (he called them argument for the power and good­ Journal, 1991) that the two keys to his 'poems'). ness of pure German Protestant art. understanding that so-called The redoubtable cycle of four Many have seen the four operas of comedy, The Ma stersingers, are to operas, The Ring of Nibelung, is The Ring cycle as an admonitory recognise, firstly, that Sixtus accordingly myth-making (or re­ allegory of the evils of capitalism Beckmesser, the captious Town­ making); it is Wagner's grand and and the relentless pursuit of power. Clerk and rival to Hans Sachs, is a grandiloquent attempt to provide an From another aesthetic stand­ Jewish caricature whose music is artistic German pre-history and con­ point it can be convincingly argued commonly a parody of the Cantorial temporary self-image. 'Myth', Robert that all of Wagner's mature operas styl e (which is, incidentally, Graves once wrote, ' has two main are autobiographical. They com­ vanquished at the end by the Protes­ functions. The first is to answer the monly concern the entry of a myste­ tant choral music which Sachs sort of awkward questions that chil­ rious- almost magical- stranger inspires from the people). Secondly, dren ask, such as 'Who made the into a settled world or society with the otherwise baffling conclusion to world? How will it end? Who was disruptive but profoundly creative Act One- where Walther, standing the first man? ... The second function results. on the Master's ceremonial chair, of myth is to justify an existing social In The Ma stersingers, the young regards with satisfaction the rum­ system and account for traditional Franconian knight, Walther von bustious chaos he has provoked in St rites and customs.' For Wagner, there Stolzing, bursts into the smugly Katharine's Church-is to be under- was a third function: to argue for a settled musical guild of bourgeois stood from the Grimm Brothers' new social system. He wanted a new Nuremberg and (in the way that savagely anti-Semitic story, Th e few Germany and he wanted it Wagner saw his own salvational pow­ in the Thornbush (to which Wagner purged of Jews. ers for German music) challenges alluded in his text). their rule-bound, sterile conceptions Like the writing of philosopher H EA RT OF the Ring cycle is of art through his own free and Schopenhauer, the Grimms' Siegfried's successful reforging of the romantic approach with its source stories-German folk material to shattered sword, Notlnzng ('Salva­ in nature and the people. The Flying complement Germ an intellectual tion in Desperation,' that is, for Dutchman, Lohengrin, Tannhauser, wisdom-had an enormous influ­ emerging Germany). Do not forget, are other examples of these creative, ence on Wagner; so did the theatre of incidentally, the circumstances of youthful, vigorous, revivifying men, Classical Greece, especially the plays its destruction in Th e Vall

42 EUREKA STREET • MAY 1996 When Siegfried successfully together by Yggdrasil, the immense and more beautiful one will emerge, achieves that first aspect of his ash-tree with its three roots: one peopled by men and women purged destiny, he sings, 'Firm and stiff as penetrating into the realm of the of meaner spirits. This idea is central before, this hard and masterful steel Aesir, the race of the gods; a second to the Nordic myth and is crucial to will soon cause blood to flow, this into that land of frost-giants; the Wagner's philosophy and conception. Nothung, the sword which will pro­ third into the domain of the dead. So far as I am aware, the only plot voke great envy'. That is all nine­ The spring or fountain of all wisdom element which does not appear in teenth century militant Wagner's sources is the en­ nationalism, Bismarck's counter between Alberich Blut und Eisen. Siegfried and the Rhine Daughters will, indeed, soon use it to in which he forswears love slay Fafner, the dragon who in order to gain possession is passively guarding the of the gold and its power. Rhinegold, Germany's un­ Throughout that scene tapped source of wealth and these three nixies have power which (in Wagner's been describing Alberich, view) had to be released for the repellent Nibelung, in exploitation by the new gen­ terms redolent of the eration of warrior heroes; language which Wagner the power and riches which used to characterise Jews (in The Rhine-Gold) the in his horrible essay, Jew, Alberich, stole from 'Judaism in Music' ('Da s the Rhine-Daughters, its Judentum in der Musil<', natural German guardians 1850). They describe his whose home is that most speech as 'snorting' and potent German symbol, the see him as a 'swarthy, Rhine itself. scaly sulphurous dwarf, Wagner drew the plot of (Wagner was obsessively this cycle of Oresteian fond of alliteration). 'We operas essentially from two always felt instinctually sources: the Grimm broth­ repelled by any actual, ers' translation of the Poetic operative contact with the Eddas-the 12th century Jews', he wrote in its open­ Icelandic lays of gods and ing paragraphs and then heroes which have been de­ proceeded to explain and scribed as 'the original defend this feeling. source of Germanic m ythol­ This most vain, ogy'-and the Nibelungen­ sybaritic and avaricious of Left: SS troops lied ('The Song of the men had the gall to up­ sounding the fanfare Nibelung')- the tale of the braid Jews for love of from the Festspielhaus Burgundians who ruled the money and its power: balcony. magnificent Rhineland be­ 'never does the Jew excite tween Worms and Xanten- which and understanding lay beneath the himself in mutual interchange of From Frederic Spotts' was written for the Austrian court root which entered Niflheim. It was feelings with us but only in the alto­ Bayreuth, A History Of around 1300. guarded by Odin's maternal uncle, gether special egotistic interest of The Wagner Festival. In that Nordic mythology, the Mimir, and the three Noms: Fate, his vanity or profit'. He attacked the world (like Aeschylus' drama and Being and Necessity, who used its 'be-Jewing of modern art' and the this operatic cycle) was divided into water to nourish this all- 'Jew-created art-bazaar'. A Jew, in three parts: Niflheim (or important tree. his view, could never be a real artist Niebelheim), the northernmost or because, irrespective of the country subterranean land of clouds and shad­ 1N ORDER TO HAVE a Single drink he lived in, he would always be a ows whose residents were often de­ from this mystical spring, Odin foreigner, speaking the language as picted as covered with hoar-frost; to [Wotan] paid the price of one of his an alien, 'necessarily debarred from the south was Muspellsheim, the eyes. He was thereby possessed of all all capability of expressing himself superarching kingdom of brightness wisdom and, through the regular re­ idiomatically'-hence the impossi­ and fire which gave rise to the sun, ports of his two crows, Hugin bility of his making poetry. He moon and stars; in between lay (Thought) and Munin (Memory) who decried the 'outlandish and unpleas­ Midgard, the middle abode and world daily traversed the universe on his ant Jew's production of voice-sounds, of men. Water, icy mists and fire: behalf, he also was all-knowing. which is a creaking, squeaking, buzz­ elements which are all-pervasive in This world is, after much suffer­ ing snuffle ... which never rises to The Ring. ing, fated for destruction, but this is the ardour of a higher, heartfelt pas­ This tripartite world was bound no tragedy because from it a new sion'. He obviously had this preju-

VoLUME 6 N uMBER 4 • EUREKA STREET 43 dice in mind when creating the char­ obliged to mix with [the lower races], soon enough was corrupted in such acter Beckmesser, and like his re­ suffered more from their loss of ghastly fashion by Hitler's 'Final marks about Jewish singing, the purity than the others could gain by Solution' (Endlosung). Wagner did comments apply to Alberich as well: the ennobling of their blood. not see it as a tragic conclusion to the tetralogy, and Hitler, whose reign Who has not been seized with a He sums up the essay by, of terror can truly be seen as feeling of the greatest revulsion, of Wagnerism-in-action, saw it all as horror mingled with the absurd, at ... charging th e purblind dullness inspiration. hearing that sense-and-sound-con­ of our public spirit to a vitiation of With Hitler it was more than an founding gurgle, yodel and cackle, our blood, above all by the tainting almost morbid fascination with which no intentional caricature can of the hero-blood of the noblest races Wagner's music, more than taking make more repugnant than as of­ with that of former cannibals now his title, Der Fuhrer, from fer ed on full naive seriousness? .. . trained to be the busines agents of Lohengrin's closing injunction to the What issues from the jews' attempts society .. . no blaze of orders can people of Brabant when he restored at making Art must necessarily hide the withered heart whose Gottfried to them: 'Zum Fiihrer sei therefore bear the attributes of cold­ halting beat defiles its issue from a er Euch ernannant' (' Let him be taken ness and indifference, even to trivi­ union pledged without the seal of as your leader'). The atrocities of the ality and absurdity. love, be it never so con- Third Reich were the logical conclu­ sanguineous. sion of Wagner's philosophy, a phi­ It is clear that, in Wagner's view, losophy which is inextricably only a Jew could be so devoid of wAGNE.R HATE.D the politicians embedded in his operas as must be feeling and moral sense as to be ca­ of his time with an almost equal the case with a composer librettist pable of forswearing love to gain ferocity. On a personal level this who wrote so much socio-political unfettered power. It is relevant that might have been prompted by the prose, who was inspired by the so­ Wagner was associated with the Bavarian ministers who interfered cial importance of Greek theatre and funges Deutschland ('Young Ger­ with Ludwig II's besotted generosity who wanted his own operas to play many') literary and politico-philo­ to him, but it has a wider, 'princi­ the same role for the German peo­ sophical movement of the 1830s and pled' dimension: he was, for instance, ple. 40s, and at least two of its leading enraged in 1871 when the Reichstag The paradox and the temptation figures-Karl Gutzkow and Heinrich decreed 'The equalisation of the of these operas is that, despite their Laube- were very well known to rights of all German citizens, with­ acknowledged longueurs, they con­ him. I have read a particularly tell­ out regard to differences of denomi­ tain so much dramatic and glori­ ing extract from Gutzkow's essay, nation', thereby giving Jews full ously inspirational music. But we 'Plan of a new Ahasuems' (Ahasuerus religious and civil rights. Not only must look beyond that seductive was the most popular name of the was this unremitting pamphleteer beauty into their moral core. The condemned Wandering-Jew, the and propagandist also obsessed with Nuremberg rallies were, without model for Wagner's Flying Dutch­ the need for a revolutionary trans­ doubt, superb theatre, if that is all man): 'The Jews were not damned to formation of German society­ one chose to look at. But they were wander over the earth because they necessarily involving the complete also evil and corrupting propaganda were not Christians, but because they extirpation of the Jews-but h e for everything that the rebarbative lacked the stirrings of moral, noble, fiercely believed that these compro­ regime stood and campaigned for. beautiful human feeling, because mised and disgraced politicians had I acknowledge that Wagner was they lacked love.' There, I believe, is to be destroyed in the process. The an extreme case of the anti-Semitism the philosophical kernel of Alberich. obliteration of the soiled Gods in the which infected so much of Europe Wagner was obsessed with what destructive transformation at the and beyond for so long; after all, he saw as the physical and moral conclusion of Gotterdammerung every Good Friday Catholics used to corruption of Germanic stock by ra­ was the metaphor for this conviction. pray for the conversion of the 'per­ cial interbreeding. In a late essay, For this reason, it is a fundamen­ fidious Jews'. Surely we expect more Heroism and Christianity(188 1), he tal misunderstanding to regard the of our great artists-insight, enhanc­ wrote about, end of the world as tragic: the trig­ ing prophecy, moral affirmation­ gering event was certainly Alberich's because the arts are a profoundly ... the special attributes of those forswearing of love but the social moral activity or they are nothing.• noblest races through whose enfee­ structure and conditions needed to blement they lost themselves be swept away (as they are by flood Jo hn Carmody, a physiologist at the among ignoble races ... whilst and fire: those elements again) with UNSW, is opera critic for the Sydney yellow races [among whom he the promise of love- the prophesy of Sun-Herald. included the Jews] have viewed the so-called motif 'Redemption An extended reference list is themselves as sprung hom mon­ through Love' (Liebeserlosung) as the available on request for any reader keys, the white traced back their final musical word. This promise of interested in the sources which Dr origin to gods and deemed them­ a new and better world is immanent Carmody gratefully acknowledges as selves marked out for rulers hip ... in the very mythical infrastructure having stimulated and informed his these white races, having been of the opera, a better world which arguments on Wagner.

44 EUREKA STREET • M AY 1996 THEATRE

GEOFFREY MILNE Seasonal menu

Lw M A>, I oomm

V OLUME 6 N UMBER 4 • EUREKA STREET 45 after Emma opened. It was generally Karl's with particular appositeness view the Australian Opera version panned by a hostile Melbourne press. in the second play. of Patrick White's Voss. The trilogy opener (Too Young In this final play (set in the I suspect, however, that even this for Ghosts) brought a disparate group present, by which time the original criticism misses the point, which of displaced Latvians to Australia in immigrants are elderly and the Iron has to do with the way we must live the late 1940s to work as indentured Curtain is well and truly down), with the consequences of past deci­ labourers in the northern Queens­ Edvards dies and leaves Karl and Use sions and the way our lives are re­ land sugar-cane fields. (It is interest­ enough money to make their long­ constructed by memory. For all its ing to speculate if any of them cut mooted trip home; interestingly, faults, I found it a powerful cane with the originals of Roo and their son Armand goes with them. and rewarding play. Barney, those canecutters from an­ Karl's motivation for the return jour­ other seminal Australian drama.) ney is (as always) profit-driven. Use THIRD PIE CE was Renata Having served out their time, desperately wants to resume cultural Cuocolo's The Blue Hour, an IRAA settled some of the scores of production which premiered their European pasts and at the Adelaide Festival before lost some of their original playing a short season at the members, the Latvians Leichhardt and his disembodied company's headquarters in remain in Australia. Cru­ Alphington in March and cially, two of them-Karl comrades turn up, rather risibly, April. and Ilse-have married in More in the form of a per­ the new country and, at the in top hats and tails to view formance piece than an ortho­ end of Too Young for dox play, The Blue Hour is a Ghosts, Ilse gives birth to a the Australian Opera version m eticulously crafted series of son. Along the way, they vignettes of Italian family life, have fought the locals, the of Patrick White's Voss. presented in the style of the climate and the language Polish theatre director barrier (and fought among TadeuszKantor. The incidents themselves). The birth of the first and familial ties with friends and from the past are endlessly repeated Australian member of the family relatives. Armand wants to find out and re-ordered by a single figure seems to provide an opportunity for about his father's life and especially (played by Cuocolo himself) whose these conspicuously deracinated the details of his grandfather's death. control of the action depends on his people to put roots down in new soil. The scenes in Latvia are the best elusive memories of the events and Again, this was typical in this play and some of the best in of the people involved in them. first-wave migrant drama. the trilogy. The lake of Karl's child­ The key image throughout is a hood memories is reduced in reality gorgeously performed, slow-motion K ARL AND ILSE become the cen­ to a puddle; 49-years-delayed family entrance of the remembered charac­ tral focus of the second play (No reunions are passionate embraces ters into a room at twilight, the 'blue' Going Back), in which a female which give way instantly to 49-years­ hour of the title, to the strains of Latvian cousin, Lauma, flies out to delayed score-settling and family Mahler's First Symphony. However, Australia in 19 79 on a holiday which bickering; worse still, Karl's land the final vignette-an elaborate stag­ severely disrupts the now cosy, mid­ turns out not to be his to claim after ing of a last supper ritual-gives way dle-aged and Australianised lifestyle all. And, worst of all, the fate of to a slow-motion exit. of Karl, Ilse and especially their old Armand's grandfather was not at all This is the point of departure friend Edvards (who has become what it was claimed to be. This is from the home of memory on a jour­ more than a 'friend' to Ilse, as it very much a play about disappoint­ ney to .. . where? We have already happens). In the meantime, Karl's ment, but it is by no means the seen an earlier play by Cuocolo, en­ and Ilse's son, Armand, has been disappointment its critics have titled Far from Where!, in which a abroad and his return home (that is, claimed it to be. rootless group of characters wander to Australia) prompts him to ques­ It is certainly over-written and the world with suitcases. Clearly, tion his identity and his roots. Use far longer than it needs to be to make The Blue Hour is a precede to that and the hard-drinking and hard-gam­ its points. Too many issues are can­ play and a third play promises to bling Karl debate the question of vassed too fl eetingly. Likewise, there resume the story at the point of ar­ returning 'home' but fear that there are probably more ghosts from the rival in a new home. is no going back. past here than an audience unfamil­ It has been a remarkable month In both of the earlier plays, the iar with the earlier plays can com­ in the Melbourne theatre, one in German explorer Ludwig Leich­ fortably cope, with. which a rich vocabulary of stage hardt's ill-fated travels in northern The aimless wanderings of poor imagery has given concrete expres­ and central Australia provided a old Leichhardt seem to have lost all sion to the intangibility of memory .• poignant counterpoint to the per­ connection with the main plot, es­ egrinations of the Latvian immi­ pecially by the end when he and his Geoffrey Milne teaches theatre and grants. Leichhardt's pig-headed disembodied comrades turn up drama in the School of Arts and inability to turn back paralleled (rather risibly) in top hats and tails to Media at LaTrobe University.

46 EUREKA STREET • MAY 1996 John Yost, who wrote the incredible the weird scenarios dreamed up by but thrilling Speed, has never been David Lynch. Indeed David Lynch is troubled by logic or basic physics. the producer, and bo th Elina For example, Speed would have Lowensohn and Martin Donovan are ground to a halt at the 20 minute Hal Hartley regulars. Unfortunately mark if Keanu Reeves had shot either something has gone wrong in the the bus driver or the tyres, but we all mix. Probably, its the lack of any know what Alfred Hitchcock would sort of a spark in a very hackneyed have said about that! Yost's script story. About the only thing that rates seems designed to demonstrate that special mention is the quirky per­ helicopters should never be anyone's formance of Peter Fonda as Dr Van preferred means of transport. But Helsing. Nadia is so stylised, right then by the time Woo has finished, down to the grainy black and white you have to ask what is? cinematography, that it ends up be­ The actors Travolta, Slater and ing self-defeating. One would think Mathis have a good time in the tra­ that the point of gothic is to trans­ ditions of Indiana Jones. Advanced port the viewer to some dark place of and often stunning special effects the imagination. Instead Nadia is and photography threaten to reduce like flicking through a glossy maga­ the leading players to mere puppets, zine full of bizarre pictures. and Travolta's fea t in developing -Jon Greenaway the Deakins chara cter merely con­ firms his awesome screen personal­ ity. Like Gary Ablett on a lead, Frills and spills Funny, no point Deakins is to be avoided at all costs. In short John Woo's film doesn't Th e Birdcage dir. Mike Nichols Brol

V oLUME 6 N uMBER 4 • EUREKA STREET 47 cinemas). Until I saw this film I had humour, until Val decides to marry Women with names like Glady Jo always thought that The Birdcage the daughter of Senator Keeley (Gene (Anne Bancroft); Winona Ryder to was the name of the crowded, but Hackman) and his wife Barbara make the intergenerational thang rather merry, enclosure at (Dianne Wiest). I guess there's no happen; and of course a lot of nee­ point in dressing up if dles, cotton and bits of material. there isn't anybody left There are some men in the film to scandalise. The but they're only there to present the Keeleys are certain! y Strong Women with Challenges and great scandal fodder. Serious Choices. Unfortunately They also happen to be Winona Ryder chooses the dull fiance going to the Goldmans' over the delectable and naughty for dinner so the place Latino boy. Her brain is presumably needs to be, as it were, addled from applying the quilting straightened out. bee to her thesis on tribal women's There's much harmless handiwork, and the added trauma of fun once you get beyond having to listen to all the philoso­ the elements in The phising. We are left with something Birdcage which try a lit­ that makes Little Wom en look tle too hard. Of course, I blokey. Winona at least ends up with won't know what to a kitschy quilt. think next time I'm at -Juliette Hughes the races watching high heels and stockings ne­ gotiate a heavy track. The weird west But perhaps I never did. -Michael McGirr SJ Dea d Man dir. Jim Jarmusch (inde­ pendent). Movies often prompt an unsettling exchange between the Stitched up figural and the literal, confusing our notions of artistic depiction and lived How To Make an reality. All the m ore so when repre­ Flemington Racecourse where you American Quilt, dir. Jocelyn sentations of sex and violence are in dress up in the your finery during the Moorhouse, (Greater Union). A the mix. Jim Jarmusch's new film Spring carnival to go and stand in the Strong Woman hasn't lived in vain if Dead Man, walked a line too fine for weather, sip champagne and queue she's managed to record her Signifi­ the Australian censors who banned for the toilet. I assumed they must cant Happenings on a quilt. Or so it the film, although not for long, (it have such venues in France as well seems. Movies created on these prin­ has now been released uncut). But because I was told that The Birdcage ciples can always hope for a twilight long enough to concern those who was to be a remake of a French farce, existence on secondary school sylla­ care to see films as considered and La Cage aux Folies, which I had buses because of their generally wor­ challenging as Dead Man. hitherto escaped. thy air and the fact that they talk Harrowing and confronting, Dead It begins with scenes of ladies in about women's issues without ever Man is a most strange and wonderful frills and feathers preparing for some using big words or threatening the tale. Young William Blake (Johnny kind of outing. I was licking my status quo. Depp), an accountant from Cleve­ chops in anticipation of seeing these You see, quilts are Like Life. A land, is chasing a job in the frontier belles cope with a sudden downpour 'poet' in the film, (whose effort would town of Machine, the last stop on during the second leg of a difficult make Rod McKuen blush) says that the line. He finds his job already double when, imagine my surprise, old lovers don't ask perfection, they taken. The brutality and corruption they reveal themselves not to be just sew together the scraps of life of the town leave Blake knee-deep in belles at all, but beaux. They work in into a patchwork. Someone reads mud, blood, and trouble. So, wounded a bar run by Armand Goldman (Robin this out in the film, and no-one then and on a stolen horse, he rides out of Williams) who lives in considerable throws up or shoots anybody, which town-pursued by three infamous style over the shop with his boy­ I found unconvincing. bounty hunters. Before long Blake friend, Albert (Nathan Lane) and the How this movie ever got Steven encounters the strange but sagacious help of his bright young retainer, Spielberg's backing is a puzzle. He Native American, 'Nobody' (Gary Agador (Hank Azaria). Armand has a must have had an attack of the Color Farmer). It is then that the film's son, Val (Dan Futterman) who, in Purples again: American Quilt is heart really starts to beat. spite of the possibilities suggested Color Purple out of Steel Magnolias Guided and encouraged by by his name, is as straight as the last with a dash of Golden Pond. With­ 'Nobody', Blake takes on the iden­ four furlongs. out the wit, or Dolly Parton. Perhaps tity of outlaw killer and poet (as­ This film is not remarkable for the sheer simplicity attracted him. suming the connection with his its restraint, nor very much for its All he needed was a bunch of Strong English namesake), and embarks on

48 EUREKA STREET • M AY 1996 a violent, comic and profound jour­ A Midwinter's Tale asks the sim­ larrikin friend Coco, (Anthony ney. While Blake begins to under­ ple question: why do people devote Brophy), w ho dies in a tractor stand the fragility of his physical their lives to a profession which accident, was in the IRA. Annagh's presence in the world the audience leaves so many impoverished, fru s­ Pro testant links split the pair after is moved to consider the connections trated and disappointed? Branagh she becomes pregnant. between art and violence and inno­ clearly believes the process of pro­ But it is the suspicion and mis­ cence and corruption. Jarmusch ducing a play, whether successful or understanding between father and doesn't draw clear lines; rather he not, off ers valuable lessons about son which is the crux of the fi lm. In respects our ability to negotiate these human experience. It is his sixth one fabulous scene Danny's father, a issues. film as director and the first in which policeman, breaks up a cock fight at The film has an illustrious en­ he has no acting role. which Danny is a reluctant observer. semble cast. From Crispin Glover's Shot in black and white, the fi lm To escape capture, everyone wades dirty faced, coal-shovelling profit of brings a refreshing humanity to its through the river to the other side of doom, through Robert Mitchum's exploration of su ch issu es as the border. Fa ther and son stand there mad, town kingpin, to John Hurt's realtionships, insecurity and expec­ regarding one another from either cruel office m anager and Lance tation. side of the bank. Henrikson's cannibal bounty hunter, - Nick Grace Ultimately, Danny overcom es they pack a very dark punch . his challenges, but there are so many Jarmusch's films have always had of them that they lose dramatic menacing characters lurking in the Innocence lost va lue. So m e powerful acting is shadows of laughter. Dead Man sees needed to keep this kind of a film them chased out into the light, grin­ The Run of the Country dir. Peter rolling, but apart from Albert ning to Neil Young's perfec t score. Yates (independent ). A film which Finney-and even he seems lethar­ Some people claim death is the unites the talents of actor Albert gic at times-most of the perform­ only certainty. I would dare to sug­ Finney and Shane Connaugh ton, ances are fl at. But there is just enough gest that the continuing strangeness scriptwriter for My Left Foot, has in the story and the rustic Irish scen­ of Jim Jarmusch's imagination is got to have something going for it. ery to keep the audience interested. another. The movie shines for their efforts, - Jon Greenaway -Siobhan Jackson but one wonders whether The Run of the Country couldn't have done just a bit more, given the talent on I want to invest Shakespeare on ice offer. . In a village just south of the bor­ with confidence in A Midwinter's Tale, dir Kenneth der with Northern Ireland a woman over 70 different . Branagh (Hoyts). This is the most dies, leaving a husband and son . At recent in a spate of films-including the wake, Danny (Matt Keeslar) is e-thical Vanya on 42nd Street, An Awfully disgusted by his aunt's trying to loose Big Adventure and Cosi-to use a the wedding ring from his mother's stage production as the setting fo r a corpse, but his fa ther (Albert Finney ) investinents! film . Writer-director Kenneth shrugs: 'When someone dies in Ire­ Youffitl. invest your savingsand superannuation in: Branagh has ga thered a group of rela­ land the relatives turn up to rob the • Saving H abitat and Rare Species tively unknown actors to create a corpse.' • Low Energy Technologies • Cle an W a ter witty, gentle fi lm reminiscent of the The pragmatism of the father is • A ffordable Housing superb Ealing comedies of the 195 0s. matched by the confusion and denial • Recy cling The plot is simple and familiar. of the son. 18 years old, with the lll1f!. ea rn a competitive fi nan cial return fro m After a series of theatrical failures, chance to go to N ew York to study, in ves ting in tfle Australian Ethical Tr us ts: Joe Harper (Michael Maloney) puts he has 'the run of the country', but • conveniently • with co nfiden ce his last resources into a Christmas instead he wants to stay put and see • for a co mpetitive retu rn production of Hamlet, using an aban­ if the beautiful Annagh (Victoria • with as little as $1,000 doned ch urch in a small English vil­ Smurfitt) and the equally beautiful • monthly savings plan op tion lage, auspiciously named Hope. He countryside of County Cavan can For full details, make afr ee call to 1 800 021 227. collects around him a group of actors heal his pain. Tlw Australim1 Etllicnl Trrlf;l S nre mrmngcd by Auslmlinn ranging from the inexperienced fi rst­ 'The personal is political'-that Etl1ica/ f11ucsl m•·''' Ltd, ACN ( ~)J 188 930, wltic/1 ll'fl!' timer Nina (Julie Sawalha) to the pet phrase of social theorists-could rs tn/llislu•d i11 1986 In pool illtU'!'Iar savings to crcut r" marl' ft~irnllflsuMaiunhlr~cirty . lllt1fSIIttt'll l rnllolllybr.mndcnll crusty old Henry Wakefi eld (Rich­ be appropriated and turned on its the npJ'Iirntioll form /)(]lllld into thr lodgrd ami n·g ,stcrc·d ard Briers) who is nearing the end of head by this film, to read 'the politi­ p~p1-ctu s dntrtl24th October, 1995. nvnilaMcfrom: his career. cal comes from the personal'. Lurk­ Australian Et!J ica / In vestment Ltd Despite a spectacular lack of tal­ ing in the background while Danny S 11ite 66, Canberra Business Centre ent, constant arguments, no set de­ is negotiating his particularly diffi­ Rrndfield Stree t, Downer A CT 2602 sign, the threat of eviction and little cult passage to m aturity is the for investors, society chance of anyone getting paid, the violence and division of Ireland at and tl1e environntent actors all agree the show must go on. war. Danny discovers that his

V oLUME 6 N uMBER 4 • EUREKA STREET 49 WATCHING BRIEF Three cheers for the prosecution

T ANK Goo FRY & LAUR" who say these things?' she rapped out to a hapless are back. The new series, A Bit George Negus in the mid '80s. 'Show them to me­ of Fry eiJ Laurie, (9.30pm what are their names?' He was given only the glum Wednesdays, ABC) is fresh and satisfaction of showing viewers how unpleasant it can angry, even though it is nearly be to witness power's arrogant exercise against those two years old. There are heart­ perceived as unimportant. warming diatribes about the de­ It is all too easy to give a journalist a hard time if cay of good things in Britain: you hold all the cards, just as it is all too easy for a life under the Tories is declared journalist to bully the powerless. We have the ugly to be enervatingly ghastly, creating the conundrum memory of A Current Affair's unworthy persecution of the Splendid Rant, whose energy prompts the so­ of the Paxton family to act as a paradigm of reprehen­ bering thought that maybe we have to lose good things sible journalism, precisely because it is a counterfeit to know them. of what good journalism should be. The best sketch uses Capra's It's A Wonderful I am reminded here of the fierce, determined ques­ Life. Stephen Fry plays the angel who shows Hugh tioning of the Saudi ambassador on a recent Four Laurie's character what would have happened had he Corners screening taken, I think, from Panorama. And never been born. But instead of the decent Keynesian we did see something of that sort on the first edition businessman portrayed by Jimmy Stewart, it is a foul­ of Witness: the coverage of the Moura mine disaster mouthed Australian media tycoon who is shown what was a bravura piece. Paul Barry's grilling of the BHP kind of world has evolved without him. 'Rupert' (as spokeman was productive, satisfying some need for he is called by the angel) is taken around cosy pubs admission, and retribution. I wished however, that it full of genial multi-racial crowds enjoying a pint and had been Brian Loton sitting whey-faced and stam­ each other's company, free of inflammatory tabloid mering under Barry's cross-examination, instead of a exploitation of their differences. There is still good company fall-guy. At certain points the very quality television, the tycoon is told; the world is not filled of such a program became a problem, largely because with satellite dishes beaming out wrestling and Wheel of the requirement for commercial breaks: I'm sure I of Fortune; newspapers are literate and positive. wasn't the only one to wince when the ad for 'Rupert' grabs a tabloid and rips it open; 'Where are Victoria Bitter, immediately after, included the tits?' he snarls. Eventually he sees possibilities in a scene of miners emerging from a shaft. this new Eden, and in the midst of his appalling plans for it, is heaved into the river by the angel. There was SUBSEQUENT EDITIONS of the program have continued strong applause from the live audience, some of whom to be of high quality: the expose of the abuse of women possibly remembered something Dennis Potter had in Pakistan was rivetting, appalling, and important said in his last interview before dying. to see. The ruined Halloween mask of an acid-attack It was with interest, then, that I reran the tape of victim's face was contrasted ruthlessly with Wendt's Jana Wendt interviewing an Australian-born chiselled beauty. Look, the camera said. See what the newspaper magnate in the pilot of her ambitious victim should look like. public affairs program, Witness. It was confronting, and so it should be. Benazir Wendt, thoroughly prepared, put her questions Bhutto's face-closed, heavily made-up-was lingered almost eagerly: like a good barrister, she never asked over in the same clever way, crossing with shots of a question to which she did not know the answer. Wendt's, fresher, more open face. The right questions Her subject sat smiling for the most part, evidently were asked, but fielded, not answered. Something was unfussed, ready with a smooth, practised answer every being conveyed about honesty and coverups. time. Witness is ambitious-many things are being Occasionally he seemed to acknowledge her attempted. The producers send Wendt to take on the expertise by going ad hominem (or feminam): 'What meaty political side of the program: politicians of the would you do? You'd know about this, you're a Israeli-Hezbollah conflict; Murdoch; the irony of professional.' It was a fascinating interchange. Wendt Prime Minister Bhutto's complacency given the framed her questions the way one does with a self­ position of women in Pakistan. These are Wendt's consequence as vast as Murdoch's: how would you territory and she covers it well. Other reporters do reply to those who say x? do you acknowledge that it Bjork and Richard Cere and Attention Deficit Disor­ appears as if y is the case? He must want the program der. It is heartening to see something beginning on to succeed because he answered each one. commercial television that isn't flabby soap opera, That ploy never worked with the politician he infomercial, or yet another edition of World's Worst so admired, Margaret Thatcher: 'Who are these people Commercials. •

Juliette Hughes is a freelance writer and reviewer.

50 EUREKA STREET • M AY 1996 I I

Eureka Street Cryptic Crossword no. 43, May 1996

Devised by Joan Nowotny IBVM ACROSS 1 Must Aunt, in her confusion, lose way and fall? (6) 4 It will be productive to till the turf if Lu breaks up the soil. ($) 9 Goes on holidays with all permissions granted. (6) 10 Rome clip, shown on TV, confused the crossword-maker. (8) 12 Were the policies of former Premier, half American, as light and flimsy as this? (8) 13 Soft choir rendered music mysterious and even oracular. (6) 15 With a stern look, took note of us. (4) 16 Happening by chance? It could be natural! (10) 19 By arrangement, field-rules control old French royal arms. (5-2-3) 20 Caterpillar food? (4) 23 The reddish-brown colour of 1- and 9-across. (6) 25 Scowl about fish being allowed to thrive. (8) 27 Flood the press with the gossip about a sister on an assignation! (8) 28 Alternative business is such a trial! (6) 29 Democracy involves not just mother Eve, nor ye peasants descended from her, but all the people. (8) 30 Oliver's novel turns. (6)

Solution to Crossword no. 42, April1996 DOWN 1 Everyone, for instance Ed, Tom and Dick, made assertions. (7) 2 Somehow turn mates against change. (9) 3 Mad Ena wildly celebrating the Bacchanalia! (6) 5 Threesome in revolt! (4) 6 Brought in the meaning intended. (8) 7 In your desire to fulfil cherished ambitions, you should not vulgarly steal. (5) 8 Such a cry I'll translate into poetic form. (7) 11 A guru could not be a cheaterl (7) 14 In Paris, I blessedly found such nonsense laughable. (7) 17 Diners sat in random groupings because of their late arrival. (9) 18 After such an unexpected find, rely on the help of those who are co-operative. (8) 19 If tree on the left blossomed, it could be 4-across. (7) 21 Surprisingly, he's bold in looks! (7) 22 On his anxious brow there is the mark of endless worry about unfinished fur trading business. (6) 24 Perhaps the quiet muse inspires me to write poetically of sea-spray. (5) 26 What a knock-out! I'm silly enough to rise to it. (4)

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