This story was published in The Big Issue in January 2013. A shorter version was broadcast on ABC 774 on 20 January 2017. IT IS the day before Australia Day 2012 and a man is asking me the name of this part of the country. The traditional name. It is six in the morning, on […]
In the mid-1980s my friend Pat Hayes was letters editor at The Age. In May 1985, amongst the usual letters about politics and news and issues of the day, he started receiving letters about a curious sport known as farnarkeling. The letters were riffing on the imaginary sport created by satirist John Clarke. Open to […]
It was all a bit of a lark. In 1955 a group of friends bought land at Moggs Creek, a blink-and-you-miss-it spot on the Great Ocean Road between Aireys Inlet and Lorne. The land had been recently subdivided by the Boyd family, which had owned land there since 1905. The group was bemused by the […]
In July 2016, members of Get Up Out West visited Yarrabah to meet, interview, film and photograph a handful of residents, with a view to increasing awareness in Hobsons Bay about Yarrabah, and the friendship alliance between the two municipalities. The trip was funded by Hobsons Bay City Council, following a funding application from Get […]
As you know, dear reader, much of my writing these past few years has been through the prism of Stereo Stories and the notion of a song, a place, a time. You also know that, come summer, I somehow fall back into poetry…
This story was first published in The Big Issue #523 (21 Oct – 3 Nov 2016) I’ve stopped collecting freshly-cut logs and tree stumps from nature strips. I’ve stopped pulling over a little excitedly, opening up the back of the car, hauling the wood into the boot and driving off, a little triumphantly. My back’s […]
‘Been a while since I’ve written a Stereo Story. Here’s how my latest starts: My eldest brother didn’t own many records. If my memory serves me well, the albums he listened to were by The Beatles, a rebel country songwriter, some Dylan and Clapton, a little art rock, and some English pop by a red-headed […]
January 29, 2013
2