November 2010

Rupert Murdoch & Kamahl

By Shane Maloney

Rupert Murdoch was 27 when he met Kandiah Kamalesvaran, a sensitive young Tamil on the dodge from the immigration authorities. Born in Malaya, Kamalesvaran had arrived in Adelaide in 1953, five years earlier, to complete his matriculation. He was now enrolled at university, jumping from course to course to maintain his visa status. A poor scholar with black skin, his days in White Australia w

'The Man Who Loved Children' by Christina Stead

By Michelle de Kretser

It is one of the great ironies of our literature that Christina Stead’s The Man Who Loved Children, a novel steeped in autobiography, should be set in Washington rather than Sydney. The change was imposed by its American publishers, who believed this would make the book more marketable there. Unfortunately, Stead’s deployment of local geography and idiom rang false with many American crit

'Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Wicked Bestiary' by David Sedaris

By Sonya Hartnett

David Sedaris is a man of many talents but he is arguably best known for the essays recounting his childhood as an effeminate only son in 1950s suburban America; his wily sisters and chain-smoking parents provide much of the disconcerting yet kindly humour that characterises his work. When taken together with his essays telling of his later years in France – an expatriate existence shared with his tolerant-only-to-a-point partner, Hug

Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis' 'Machete' and Sean Byrne’s 'The Loved Ones'

Tools of the Trade

By Luke Davies

“Every time an illegal dances across our border,” says Senator John McLaughlin (Robert de Niro) at a rally, “it is an act of aggression against this sovereign state.” This Texan politician, the “Independent from Cocksucker County”, is running for re-election. A supporter at the rally carries a sign riffing on the World War I recruitment poster, w

Allo Darlin’s Debut Album

Too Smart to Run Back

By Robert Forster

The history of the ukulele in rock music is as short and quirky as the instrument itself. Before pop music there was cheeky Englishman George Formby Jnr strumming ‘When I’m Cleaning Windows’ – “for a nosey parker, it’s an interesting job” – and

Peter Robb’s 'Street Fight in Naples: A Book of Art and Insurrection'

Shadow Play

By Sebastian Smee

The first time I read Peter Robb’s Midnight in Sicily was also the first time I travelled around Sicily. The first and only. I remember at the time feeling terribly nervous about displaying the book in public. Robb’s portrait of Mafia activities in the ’

Delia Falconer’s 'Sydney'

Under the Bridge

By Drusilla Modjeska

Returning to Sydney can be an ambivalent experience. And it was for me, this winter, after three months in London. Ducks were swimming on Snails Bay, near where I live in Balmain, and the wattle was out in the newly planted Ballast Point Park. The winter light was clear

The International Student Sector

Exodus

By Margaret Simons

Only a few years ago you could see them being preyed upon at major city railway stations. Touts would hand out leaflets urging them to approach certain migration agents. The noticeboards at TAFEs and universities featured the same gaudy promises: ring this num

Kristina Keneally

A Matter of Faith

By Jana Wendt

The office of the premier in the state of despair is occupied by Kristina Kerscher Keneally of Ohio. More improbable than the fact that an American-born woman should become NSW premier is that, from the moment she moved in, the “beyond sullen” citizens liked her. Th

Our Intelligence Services

Hidden Agendas

By Sally Neighbour

This grand edifice is to be the new home of Australia’s premier spy agency, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). Costed at a staggering $585 million, the building has been called a “monster” by the architect of Parliament House. Yet

The ALP

No Exit

By Mark Latham

The lingering mood in the federal Labor caucus must be one of puzzlement. In terms of political brevity, direct comparisons with the Rudd government are those of James Scullin (1929–31) and Gough Whitlam (1972–75). But these experiences offer little instru

Bad Old Days

By Jack Marx

From his chambers opposite Hyde Park in Elizabeth Street, Sydney, Charles Waterstreet – author, barrister, film-maker and one-time man-about-town – does not have a view to speak of. But he does have an attractive young assistant, Becky, whose presence suits Charles

Dancing in the Dark

By Benjamin Law

From the outside, the Snoezelen Room at the Gold Coast’s Mudgeeraba Special School (MSS) doesn’t look like much. The room’s padlocked entrance is almost creepy, resembling a fire exit that’s been bolted up. As she fiddles with the large master locks, head of curriculum Nicole Belous explains this actually used to be a garage. I think to myself that i

The Price of Parenthood

By Lisa Pryor

Before the woman vanished from the story, long before the matter came before a court, a TV crew caught a glimpse of her dark, serious face. She is wheeled into the operating theatre, hand across the top of her pregnant belly. The green gown is cast aside, belly swabbed with dark fluid. She leans forward for the doctor, who injects anaesthetic between her vertebrae. Through layers of muscle, fat an

The Defence Minister

Comment

By Hugh White

Why is defence so toxic to its ministers? It should be an easy job to look good in – hobnobbing with the Australian Defence Force (ADF), managing weighty matters of national security and spending a lot of money. Of course the portfolio has an unparalleled ca

Hugh Lunn’s 'Words Fail Me: A Journey through Australia’s Lost Language'

Lest We Forget

By Peter Conrad

Hugh Lunn, vegging out as he sunbakes in his popularity, has come up with an unstrenuous new method for manufacturing a book: why not anthologise your fan mail? In Lost for Words (2006), Lunn assembled a chatty glossary of Australian lingo or ‘slangwidge’