Eora by Jake Nash

Eora by Jake Nash

This amazing artwork is Eora by Jake Nash, which is immediately outside the National Office of The Smith Family in Sydney (on the corner of Kent Street and Market Street). 

The Eora are an Aboriginal Australian people of New South Wales. Eora is the name given by the earliest European settlers to a group of Aboriginal people belonging to the clans along the coastal area of what is now known as the Sydney basin in New South Wales, Australia. The Eora share a language with the Darung people, whose traditional lands lie further inland, to the west of the Eora.

2 Market Street

Jake writes:

"My mother’s Country is Daly River, west of Darwin, and while I am not from Sydney and it is not my ancestral land, for the last twenty years I have lived, worked and created here and it has now become my home and my family’s home.

"Eora sits at the crossroads of the city, a point of intersection between the past, present and future, and is surrounded by institutions that have shaped and governed our land: the Law Courts, the Church, as well as the Hyde Park Barracks. These buildings, both now and in the past, symbolise white governance in this city and represent the very beginnings and formalisation of colonisation.

St James Church from Hyde Park Barracks

"These historical and site-driven factors are what underpin Eora, as the artwork makes a statement about resilience, cultural strength and the everlasting relationship between people and place and reminds us all that the land on which this artwork and these buildings stand, always was and always will be Aboriginal land.

"Eora is a contemporary, timeless symbol and can be passed down through the generations into the future. It is a message stick, within a city which has many cultural narratives running across its surfaces, that describe who we are as a contemporary, multi-cultural people with a shared history and shared future.”

I think it is an outstanding artwork that welcomes interaction and reflection from the design incorporated into the sandstone wall, which we are encouraged to observe, to the outline reflected in the ground on which we walk. I love that this is outside the head office of the place where I work.

Holding Back the Nausea: The Boundary Fence

The Boundary Fence by Alissa Callen

Mira

Pp. 343

This outback romance is full of clichés rather than character.  All the women like baking and organising events, and they all want to get married and have babies. All the men like rounding up cattle (or, in our hero’s case, bison), and fishing. They also all want to get married and have children; they have “dreams of finding someone to love and to raise a family with.” Ella is the local vet who has had heartbreak in her life – we are told this repeatedly – and she has a scar on her thigh to prove it (an attractive one, obviously). She is beautiful and smells of cherry blossom. Saul is a local dude who runs a bison herd, has had trauma in his life – we are told this repeatedly as well – and is devastatingly handsome. Of course they should be together but keep inventing spurious reasons why they can’t be – “As hard as it was, for both of their sakes, he had to stay on his side of the boundary fence” – which drag the book out until they fall into each other’s arms at last.

There is little danger that we shouldn’t see this couple as dreamy but slightly damaged. Ella is “Dressed in loose black running shorts and a fitted white tank top, she was all long legs, curves and tousled blonde hair.” To be fair, Saul is equally objectified. “Even though he wore a loose royal blue shirt, as she drew near she had trouble looking away from where the cotton pulled tight across his biceps.” Ella has a lot of trouble looking away.

For some reason – there would be no book otherwise – they decide they will only cause more heartache if they fall in love, so they try so hard not to. It is a hardship for us all. With supposedly selfless passion, Saul wants Ella to be happy, even if this means not being with her. She cuts her hair to try and see if he will still be interested in her when she’s got short hair – which is, of course, beautiful. Yes, it really is that superficial. While the author falls over herself trying to explain how they are so noble and altruistic, they are incredibly self-absorbed, to the point that Ella seems to think everyone is studying her so closely they remember what she looked like the last time she wore a certain dress. “Bethany had already once remarked that she looked different and it hadn’t been due to her haircut… She’d wear something no one had seen before to mask anything else that could appear different.”

The book makes an effort with the setting – the town of Woodlea near Dubbo, NSW – and it’s all red earth and dusty boots in the outback. There are bush dances and rodeos; country weddings and hay bale competitions; beer nights and convoys of hay runners; snake bites and sick horses. It is very hot and dry verging on drought and this conveys a soupçon of atmosphere. There are lots of characters in the book but they have no individual features and are impossible to tell apart; sometimes it’s even difficult to know if the characters are human or animal.

It is no spoiler to say that Ella and Saul get their happy ever after, as that is the only point to this pap. “Nothing could have prepared him for kissing Ella. Her sweetness and warmth moved him in ways that went beyond the physical. She filled the lonely and dark void within him with laughter and warmth. Emotions he’d banished and refused to acknowledge flared into life. Being with Ella made him feel complete.” Well, good for him; being with them has made me feel nauseous.

Friday Five: Endurance: What Does it Mean to You?

Last month, The Endurance, the lost vessel of Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton was found at the bottom of the Weddell Sea. It was discovered by an expedition mounted by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust, led by veteran polar geographer, Dr. John Shears, using a South African icebreaker, Aguhlas II, equipped with remotely-operated submersibles.

Looking like a ghost-ship, the vessel is remarkably intact. It was crushed by sea-ice and sank in 1915 and was found resting in 3,008m (approx. 10,000ft) of cold, deep water. Due to the temperature of the water, the timbers are in remarkable condition, with the name Endurance still clearly visible on the stern over a century afterwards. The water is too cold for wood-eating organisms, although other deep-sea marine lifeforms have colonised the ship, including stalked sea squirts, anemones, sponges of various forms, brittlestars and crinoids (related to urchins and sea stars).

This story is an incredible achievement on many levels. The discovery of the wreck itself is remarkable, or, as Dr. Shears described it, 'jaw-dropping'. He explained, "We have successfully completed the world's most difficult shipwreck search, battling constantly shifting sea-ice, blizzards, and temperatures dropping down to -18C. We have achieved what many people said was impossible." 

Mensun Bound and John Shears stand by the icebreaker SA Aguhlas II 

It was an enormous challenge to find the ship at all. The Weddell Sea is pretty much permanently covered in thick sea-ice, the same ice that ruptured the hull of Endurance in the first place. Getting near to the presumed sinking location is hard enough, let alone being able to conduct a search The last month, however, showed the lowest-recorded extent of sea-ice since these records began (1970s) so in that respect, conditions were favourable.

For over to weeks the subs had combed a predefined search area, investigating various interesting targets, before finally uncovering the wreck site and making a detailed photographic and video record of the timbers and surrounding debris field. Because the wreck is a designated monument under the International Antarctic Treaty, it must not be disturbed in any way and no physical artefacts can be brought to the surface.

The ship looks much the same as when photographed for the last time by Shackleton's filmmaker, Frank Hurley in 1915. The masts are down, the rigging is in a tangle, but the hull is broadly intact. Some damage is evident at the bow, presumably where the descending ship hit the seabed. The anchors are present and the subs even spied some boots and crockery.

The other incredible thing about this story is Shackleton's amazing 'escape' which he and his men undertook on foot and in small boats. After Endurance was crushed, Shackleton organised the crew to take a couple of the lifeboats across ferocious seas to get help after months spent in makeshift camps as the ice drifted northwards. The party took the lifeboats to reach the inhospitable, uninhabited Elephant Island. Shackleton and five others then made an 800-mile (1,300km) open-boat journey in the James Caird to reach South Georgia. From there, Shackleton was eventually able to mount a rescue of the men waiting on Elephant Island and bring them home without loss of life.

Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew of five men launching the James Caird 

The dictionary definitions of endurance seem to sum up all of the above:

1. The ability to endure an unpleasant or difficult process or situation without giving way
2. The capacity of something to last or to withstand wear and tear
3. Denoting or relating to a race or other sporting event that takes place over a long distance or otherwise demands great physical stamina
4. The ability to continue doing something for a long time
5. Stamina; persistence; especially in the face of hardship, distress or pain

Friday Five: Autumn Arts Part Two

Following on from last week's Friday Five, here are the rest of the questions from the Autumn Arts section of the quiz, with answers at the end.

5 more Autumn Arts questions:

1. Description of a painting from Wikipedia: “This painting captures the moody atmosphere of an autumn day on the Seine River, also known as La Seine. The sky is dark and cloudy, but there are spots where light shines through to illuminate the water and buildings that line its banks. There are a few trees on either side of the river that have not yet lost their leaves, while others have already turned brown and orange. It is a beautiful painting that captures the mood of a late September day in the region, with its changing light and gentle breezes. The river, which is usually so busy, becomes calm and reflective. The reflection of the trees and buildings on the water’s surface can be seen in full detail as well as their reflections in the windows of houses near by.” What is the name of the painting and the artist?
2. Dictionary definition of a word beginning with 's': “A rustle or soft, whispery sound, particularly of leaves in the wind” What is the word?
3. The publisher's blurb from the fourth book in a series: "What if you knew someone you loved was going to die? What if you thought you could save them? How much would you risk to try? How far will a woman travel to find a father, a lover a destiny? Across seas, across time – across the grave itself?” What is the name of the book, the series and the author?

4. Description of an English post-punk group formed in 1976 band by music critic, Simon Reynolds in the NME: "A kind of Northern English magic realism that mixed industrial grime with the unearthly and uncanny, voiced through a unique, one-note delivery somewhere between amphetamine-spiked rant and alcohol-addled yarn." What is the name of the band and the lead singer?
5. Description of a film from Wikipedia:  “A 1994 American epic Western film directed by Edward Zwick and starring Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, Aidan Quinn, Julia Ormond and Henry Thomas. Based on the 1979 novella of the same title by Jim Harrison, the film is about three brothers and their father living in the wilderness and plains of Montana in the early 20th century and how their lives are affected by nature, history, war, and love.” What is the name of the film and what Oscar did it win that year?



Answers: 1. Autumn on the Seine at Argenteuil by Claude Monet 2. Sussuration 3. Drums of Autumn from the series Outlander by Diana Gabaldon 4. Legends of the Fall; Best Cinematography (John Toll); 5. The Fall; Mark E. Smith

Friday Five: Autumn Arts Part One

We had a party to celebrate the autumn equinox, for which I wrote a quiz. One round was called 'Autumn Arts' in which I described a thing and the guests had to guess what it was. Here are five of them (with the answers at the end):

5 Autumn Arts questions:

1. Description of a painting on Wikipedia: "Exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1856, it was described by the critic John Ruskin as 'the first instance of a perfectly painted twilight'. The painter's wife Effie wrote that he had intended to create a picture that was 'full of beauty and without a subject'. The picture depicts four girls in the twilight collecting and raking together fallen leaves in a garden. They are making a bonfire, but the fire itself is invisible, only smoke emerging from the between the leaves. The painting has been seen as one of the earliest influences on the development of the aesthetic movement." What is the name of the painting and the artist? 
2. Description of a TV series on IMDb: "The psychological thriller examines the lives of two hunters - one is a serial killer who prays on victims in and around Belfast, Northern Ireland, and the other is a female detective drafted from the London Metropolitan Police to catch him." What is the name of the TV series and the actors who play those characters?
3. The first lines from the translation of a novel: "May I monsieur, offer my services without running the risk of intruding? I fear you may not be able to make yourself understood by the worthy ape who resides over the fate of this establishment. In fact, he speaks nothing but Dutch." What is the name of the novel and the author?

4. Description of some music on Classic FM: "Like the other concertos [this] has three movements; the first is energetic and rhythmic, and depicts a harvest festival dance. The second is a slow movement that seems to usher the cool air and reflective crisp mornings well and truly in. And the third movement is a lively and jaunty affair, setting to music an autumn hunt taking place atop a layer of crispy settled leaves." What is the name of the concerto, the suite from which it is taken and the composer?
5. Description of a film by Variety film critic Emanuel Levy in 2000: "Utterly banal, Joan Chen's tediously sappy romance is a kind of modern-day Love Story (a better film!) with a 'twist': Richard Gere's suave lover is old enough to be Winona Ryder's father." What is the name of the film?

Answers: 1. Autumn Leaves by John Everett Millais 2. The Fall, Jamie Dornan and Gillian Anderson 3. The Fall (La Chute) by Albert Camus 4. Autumn from Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi 5. Autumn in New York

Espionage Isn't Always Exciting: The Spy Who Came in from the Co-Op

The Spy Who Came in from the Co-Op: Melita Norwood and the Ending of Cold War Espionage by David Burke

The Boydell Press

Pp. 175

It should be quite difficult to make such an exciting story sound so dull, and yet David Burke manages it. While he is good at painting the big picture, he gets bogged down in tedious detail too often. Melita Norwood was the last of the atomic spies to be ‘run to ground’ in 1999, aged 87. She was deemed too old to prosecute and there were protocols which prevented her questioning, but the press had a field day, with headlines including the title of this book. Burke, however, mainly concentrates on the history of espionage during the cold war period, rather than her particular part in it, which seems like a missed opportunity.

Melita Norwood shared atomic secrets with Russia, which shortened the Soviet Union’s atomic bomb project by about five years. As secretary for G.L. Bailey, Director of the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association on the Tube Alloys project, she had access to classified information, which she chose to share with Russia because she believed in the Communist Party, but she also knew that if only one side had the power, then the situation could be lethal.

Ursula Kuczynski (Red Sonya) was Melita Norwood’s controller between 1941 and 1944, and the book that Ben Macintyre wrote about her, Agent Sonya: Lover, Mother, Soldier, Spy, was interesting enough to lead to this one. In some respects, their spying trajectory was similar. As Burke writes, her spying career had spanned two very different eras of Communism. “Here was a woman who had spent her childhood among an eclectic mixture of anarchists, suffragettes, Tolstoyans and the pioneers of British socialism, who had eagerly embraced the ideals of Lenin’s October Revolution. Their Utopianism remained with her throughout her life and blinded her to the worst excesses of Stalinism.” Also familiar to anyone who has read the above book are the descriptions of the ‘brush pass’ – the highly convoluted meetings between operatives carrying explicit items in a specified hand – and the cover reasons for the meetings, including vegetarian societies; football teams and philatelists.

There was clear evidence against Melita Norwood, but it was ignored “on a junior level” until she was outed. It was still going on when Stella Rimmington, Director General of MI5 had to answer questions about it in 1993. Many couldn’t believe that the timid housewife could have nefarious motives. The Norwoods moved to Bexleyheath in 1947, which was described as “the very epitome of post-war smugness in an age of austerity, boasting houses with fake Tudor beams, spacious parks and golf courses. It was middle country, middle class, middle management and middlebrow.” This was something the authorities wished to cover up as their focus was demanded elsewhere.

Burke writes that, “The British have a peculiar attitude towards spies ranging from fascination and approval to extreme horror.” He understands that when the story broke, the newspapers were keen to portray Melita Norwood “as a Mata Hari – the great grand-mother spy who had given the Soviets a blueprint of the atomic bomb that threatened the security of the West.” This may not have been strictly true, but the papers love a good story and are not averse to several large helpings of hyperbole. Burke acknowledges, “The fact that she prepared homemade chutney, drank tea from a Che Guevara mug, shopped at the Co-op for ideological reasons, supported CND, enjoyed gardening and did a delivery round for the Morning Star at the age of eighty-seven only added to the excitement.”

He posits himself as above all this scurrilous gossip-mongering and sticks to facts in a dull, dry manner, more’s the pity: this could have been a gripping yarn if he were less po-faced about it all. And, yes, Joan Stanley was the code-name for Melita Norwood and the subject of the film Red Joan, which is far more entertaining. 

Friday Five: My Week in Theatre

This has been a busy week. Theatres are back and I'm thrilled! It does mean that all the shows are coming along at once, so here are some brief notes on the things I have seen in the last six days.

1. In Their Footsteps - Ashley Adelman and Infinite Variety Productions, Courtyard Studio: The blurb for this play reads, ‘Based on the true accounts of five extraordinary women, In Their Footsteps explores the experiences of women working in war zones, their struggles to be recognised heroes, their loss of faith, and the friendships they forget in the face of trauma. More than anything, it reminds us of the histories we hear… and importantly, the ones we don’t.’ The five women are engaging and sympathetic with their verbatim accounts of their service in different capacities from nursing to morale boosting (donut dollies) to intelligence work and librarians. Even though the accents are greatly variable (I'm pretty sure one of them isn't even trying), it is still poignant and powerful. We will remember them.
2. Fly By Night - ANU Musical Theatre Collective, Kambri Drama Theatre: I’ve never even heard of it before, but, due to a friends' involvement, I went along to see it. The musical is set around the incident of the mass black-out on the northeast of the USA and Canada in 1965. The structure is based on a narrator who makes several false starts with the story and skips back and forth through time to tell the tale of a love triangle within a circular orbit. It's quite cute and charming and achingly self-aware with songs about becoming a star... or not. Of course I'm biased but my friend (Samuel Farr) was superb and his number, Cecily Smith, about how he met his dear departed wife is a highlight of the show. "Life is not the things that we do; it's who we're doing them with."

3. Keating! - Queanbeyan Players, Belconnen Community Theatre: So, I don't particularly like musicals and I don't know a lot about Australian politics, having moved here in 2012 (all I knew about Paul Keating was that he 'inappropriately' touched the Queen in 1992), so I'm probably not the target market for this. But I loved it. Sarah Hull directs a deceptively simple character-driven cabaret-style show with each performer hitting all the right notes, and my goodness, I could even hear all the words, which is rare enough in a play these days, let alone a musical. From rock to rap, jazz to hip-hop and tango to calypso, the band plays to perfection and the genres and styles are all delivered with respect and ridicule in equal measure. Steven O'Mara oozes charisma and miasma as the titular role, and all the rest of the cast play the supporting and undermining ensemble with chutzpah and panache. This is bloody brilliant!
4. Swansong - Canberra Theatre Centre, Courtyard Studio: Andre de Vanny delivers a powerful performance as Austin 'Occi' Byrne, the illegitimate child of a single mother in the Catholic west of 1960s Ireland. The one-man show draws the audience into his world of explosive emotion and violence. Written by Conor McDermottroe and directed by Greg Carroll, the drama reeks of misplaced testosterone. It is deeply uncomfortable as the audience is encouraged to side with Occi, a man who stalks and punches women, and callously commits murder because he doesn't like a name he is called. The brutal bravado is tempered with charm, humour, and severe undiagnosed mental health issues. Andre de Vanny is excellent at telling his story, but it's not one that should have any excuses.

5. Ruthless! - Echo Theatre Company, The Q, Queanbeyan: What a delight to see a musical featuring six strong roles for women, who each get to shine and compete for the limelight. Eight-year-old Tina Denmark (Jessy Heath) has talent and she is desperate to use it. Her mother Judy (Jenna Roberts) is horrified when she discovers the lengths to which her daughter will go to secure a part in the school play (aided by talent-spotter Sylvia St. Croix played by Dee Farnell), until she discovers it's not just a part; it's the lead! Director Jordan Best brings out the high camp and stereotypical bitchiness of musical theatre performance in this dark comedy homage which is as fun as it is twisted. The vibrant set design by Ian Croker makes us feel like we're in a 1950/60s pop art/ TV sitcom, but there is nothing canned about this laughter. The vocals are stunning; the choreography humorously self-aware; the harmonies are on point; and the Bechdel Test is passed with flying colours.
6. The Wider Earth - Dead Puppet Society, Trish Wadley Production and Glass Half Full Productions, The Playhouse: Charles Darwin's voyage of biological and self discovery aboard HMS Beagle (begun in 1831) is stunningly portrayed in this outstanding production. The ensemble cast moves the story and the scenery forward with aplomb as offices, ships, jungles and downs are conjured up with projections and simple on-stage effects. Finches, giant Galapagos tortoises, fireflies, butterflies, iguanas, turtles, sharks, shoals of fish and a scene-stealing armadillo are represented by skeleton puppets with incredible personality. Tom Conroy leads the cast as the young Charles Darwin full of questioning wonder and wrestling with the science and/or faith dichotomy which still continues to trouble civilization. This is a thoroughly engaging and immersive theatrical experience: highly recommended as a spectacle for all ages to enjoy. 

The Wider Earth