Vol. 3 No.5 June-July 1993 $5.00

China in focus: Trevor Hay and Paul Rule

Rowan Callick on and the Pacific Fred Jevons and Andrew Riemer on evolutions and revolutions in higher education Susan Ryan and Julian Disney on the path to a republic plus a feast of winter reading

Volume 3 Number 5 June-July 1993 A magazine of public affairs, the arts and theology

CONTENTS

4 28 COMMENT QUIXOTE 6 30 LETTERS WINTER READING Peter Craven talks to Robert Hughes about 7 American civilisation and its discontents; COMING TO TERMS Gerard Windsor puzzles over the somer­ Susan Ryan sizes up the task facing saults of Irish history (p34); Paul Rule jug­ the Republic Advisory Committee. gles with contending views of China (p37); Max Teichmann reviews Andrew Riemer's 9 The Habsburg Cafe (p41); Gabrielle Lord CAPITAL LETTER reviews Eleven Deadly Sins (p42); and Peter Craven reviews David Malouf's Remember­ 10 ing Babylon (p44). EXPANDING THE AGENDA In May, Eureka Street Julian Disney talks about trade, republican­ 45 won the Gutenberg ism and regional development. BOOKS ON THE RUN A ward, presented by the Reviews of The Oxford Literary Guide to Australia; Sydney Down Town; Wilder Australasian Religious 12 FIBS AND FABLES IN OLD PEKING Shores: Women's Travel Stories in Austral­ Press Association, for Trevor Hay discovers some of the past ia and Beyond; Michael and me and the overall excellence in in China's present. sun; The Debt Boomerang. Christian newspaper and magazine publishing. 15 47 ARCHIMEDES THE ONCE AND FUTURE KINGDOM Mark Skulley previews Exile and The King­ 16 dom, a documentary about the Aboriginal COUNTERPOINT community in Roeboume, WA. 17 49 REPORT FLASH IN THE PAN Michael McGirr on developments m Reviews of the films At Play in the Fields Cover photo: 'The Gate to Inner Peace', of the Lord, The Vanishing, The Miracle, Forbidden City, Beijing, Bougainville. by Emmanuel Santos; Sweet Emma, Dear Babe, Indecent Propo­ Photos p2 by Andrew Stark; 18 sal, Reckless Kelly, Simple Men, Best Graphic pS by Siobhan Jackson; ONE ISLAND AMONG MANY Intentions and The Stolen Children. Photo pp12-13 by Mathias Heng; Graphics pp18 and 47 Australia is a Pacific Power before it is an by John van Loon; Asian trader, argues Rowan Callick. 52 Graphics pp22-26 by Tim Metherall; SBS PROGRAM GUIDE Graphic p42 by Michael Daly; 21 Cartoon pSI by Dean Moore. VIEWPOINT 54 Paul Sinclair on racism and football. VOICE BOX

Eureka Street magazine 22 55 Jesuit Publications, HIGHER EDUCATION SPECIAL SPECIFIC LEVITY PO Box 553 Richmond VIC 3121 Fred Jevons argues that a liberal education Tel (03) 427 7311 is a very practical matter, and Andrew Rie­ Fax (03) 428 4450 mer speaks up for the literary canon (p25 ). EUREKA SIAEEI COMMENT A m agazine of public affairs, the arts and theology TONY COADY Publisher Michael Kelly SJ Editor Morag Fraser Bosnia's war Production editor Ray Cassin Design consultant John van Loon INTHe 1970s I w" fm' time ch•inn•n of' junioe socw Production assistants team in . I won't try to explain here how this came John Doyle SJ, Paul Fyfe SJ, about, but it was an instructive experience, especially in the Juliette Hughes, Chris Jenkins SJ. undercurrents and passions of multicultural life in Australia. There were kids (and families) from almost every ethnic group­ Contributing editors Greeks, Italians, , Scots, English, Spaniards and every Adelaide: Frances Browne IBVM variety of Yugoslav. I remember with a sense of poignancy my Brisbane: Ian Howells SJ Darwin: Margaret Palmer bewilderment not only at the deep and abiding resentments Perth: Dean Moore between the different Yugoslav groups, but at their one point Sydney: Edmund Campion, Andrew Ri emer, of agreement-contempt for Bosnians. Gerard Windsor. Later, when I visited Yugoslavia in the early 1980s, I was European correspondent: Damien Simonis delighted at the beauty of the country and the ho