It's typical Macaulay. It's typical Australian. And I love it!

 

 

There was a man who had a cross and his name was Macauley. He put Australia at his feet, he said, in the only way he knew how. His boots spun the dust from its roads and his body waded its streams. The black lines on the map, and the red, he knew them well. He built his fires in a thousand places and slept on the banks of rivers. The grass grew over his tracks, but he knew where they were when he came again.

He had two swags, one of them with legs and a cabbage-tree hat, and that one was the main difference between him and others who take to the road, following the sun for their bread and butter. Some have dogs. Some have horses. Some have women. And they all have mates and companions, or for this reason and that, all of some use. But with Macauley it was this way: he had a child and the only reason he had it was because he was stuck with it."

 

Read the book online at www.archive.org

 

There are many iconic Australian movies - think of "The Adventures of Barry McKenzie", "Crocodile Dundee", "The Man from Snowy River"; the list goes on and on - but when I think back to the Australia I fell in love with when I first stepped off the boat, I think of "They're a Weird Mob".

And there are no nicer people I would like to have as my neighbours than the Kerrigan family in "The Castle", but when it comes to a bit of a tearjerker, I will never forget the ending in "The Shiralee", when the doctor tells Jim Macauley that his daughter has pulled through, but "She keeps asking for something ... or somebody by the name of ... well ... it sounds like Gooby. Does that make sense to you?" In D'Arcy Niland's book, Macaulay simply says, "I'll go and get it", but in the movie he says, "Bloody kid's spoilt. Always wants toys. Time she grew out of it."

 

Fast-forward to 3:00:20

 

It's typical Macaulay. It's typical Australian. And I love it!

 

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Rabbit-Proof Fence

 

 

I usually get a bit tired of all that woke-business of "Welcome to Country" and myth-making by the likes of Bruce Pascoe who quite undeservedly became a bit of a dark horse with his "Dark Emu", but when I see a movie like "Rabbit-Proof Fence" (hyphen added by me!) I must concede that there have been many past wrongs.

 

Read the book online at www.archive.org

 

The movie is based on the book by the Aboriginal-Australian author Doris Pilkington, "Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence", about three Aboriginal girls who, as part of official government policy, have been forcibly removed from their outback families in 1931 to be trained as domestic servants. They escape and begin a 1500-mile journey home using a rabbit-proof fence as a guide, with authorities chasing them all the way.

 

For more information on the world's longest fence, click here

 

First came the book by Doris Pilkington, then the movie, and then, quite confusingly, a book, also by the same name, about the movie by Larissa Behrendt, who is of Aboriginal descent on her father's side.

 

 

Turns out this is an analytical and personal critique - some hundred pages long? - of the movie and explores the representation on film, identity, connection to country, and the historical reality of the three Aboriginal girls Molly, Daisy, and Gracie. I am happy to give it a pass.

 

 

Watching this Nine Network "Behind the Scenes" television clip about the making of the movie tells me all I want to know. It's a treat. Enjoy!

 

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New horizons

 

 

This captivating story you are about to read was written in 1933 by an English novelist who wrote of an idyllic settlement high in the mountains of Tibet.

Today, even amongst those who have never heard of Lost Horizon, the words 'Shangri-La' stand as a synonym for paradise.

In 1971, a deluxe hotel was founded in the thriving city of Singapore in Southeast Asia. In choosing the name Shangri-La, there was a desire to set a standard, to create an identity that would eventually produce a group of hotels unique in the world.

As the group expanded, it has sought to retain all the ideals of its mythical namesake. Serenity, harmony and natural beauty, all characteristics of the Shangri-La group. This enchanting book will give you a glimpse of this world. A world once imagined, a dream that has become a reality.

We hope you enjoy it."

 

My first stay at a Shangri-La hotel was in Singapore in 1975, a mere four years after it had first opened its doors. There, and in subsequent stays in the Shangri-La in Hong Kong and Paris, I was always greeted by this book on the bedside table, with its flyleaf bearing the above inscription.

 

 

Of course, I had already read James Hilton's "Lost Horizon", but who wouldn't want to read it again in such an agreeable setting, which is what I hope will also happen with the books I collected for my friend's "Robyn's Nest Lakeside Resort". Only the inscription will be different:

 

Dear Guest, We hope you will find in this small selection a book that interests you. Feel free to take it with you to the pool, or down to the lake, or to your cottage. Keep it for the duration of your stay. Should you not have finished reading it by the time you leave, feel free to take it with you. Simply let the staff know when you check out, so that we can restock our little library for the benefit of all our future guests. If you have suggestions on what books to add, please tell us. Enjoy your stay with us and Happy Reading! Your team at Robyn's Nest Lakeside Resort 110 Lakewood Drive, Merimbula NSW 2548 enquiries@robynsnest.com.au www.robynsnest.com.au

 

They are both fiction and non-fiction books, ensuring that the guests at Robyn's Nest's will have become the most widely-read guests by the time they leave - if they ever do because there are some five hundred books.

Did I include a copy of James Hilton's "Lost Horizon"? Let me check!

 

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Ich radle um die Welt

 

 

Das Abenteuer "Rund um unsere Welt per Fahrrad" war damals vor über dreißig Jahren so einmalig, daß die großen Rundfunkanstalten jahrelang im Schulfunk darüber berichteten. Meine Bücher "Ich radle um die Welt" wurden von Millionen Deutschen gelesen. Das war einmal."

So schrieb Heinz Helfgen noch kurz vor seinem Tod am 28. Oktober 1990 in dem Vorwort zu der Neuausgabe seines Buches in 1988. Als Junge hatte ich seine zweibändige Erstausgaben "Ich radle um die Welt: Von Düsseldorf bis Burma" und "Ich radle um die Welt: Burma, Indochina, Japan, USA, Grüne Hölle" verschlungen. Beide Bände und die einbändige Neuausgabe stehen heute noch auf dem Regal in meiner Bibliothek.

 

 

Der erste Band begann mit den Worten, "Mein Entschluß. mit dem Fahrrad unseren geliebten alten Erdball zu umrunden, kam sehr plötzlich. Ich sagte mir: 'Du lebst nur einmal, und es geschieht so viel in der Welt. Du liest kleine Zeitungsnotizen as fremden Ländern - und niemals darfst du selbst dabeisein, wenn irgend etwas los ist!' Wieso darfst du's eigentlich nicht? dachte ich. Darfst du's wirklich nicht?"

Nach fast siebzig Jahren kann ich jetzt nur noch ahnen ob seine ersten Worte dazu beitrugen daß ich später nach Australien auswanderte. Das Reisen war mir schon im Blut gewesen nachdem ich als damaliger Volksschüler und in der Fahrtenkluft der "Fahrender Gesellen" per Anhalter schon fast jedes Land im westlichen Europa besucht hatte.

Vielleicht passten die ersten Worte in der Neuausgabe mehr zu meiner Situation: "War es der Mut der Verzweiflung oder ein unbändiges Selbstvertrauen? Ich weiß es nicht und habe es nie gewußt. Tollkühn war es jedenfalls ..." Heinz Helfgen fuhr los mit 3,80 DM und 15 Kilo Gepäck. Ich hatte mehr Gepäck aber weniger Geld denn alles was ich hatte nachdem ich meine geliebte Briefmarkensammlung verhökert hatte, zahlte ich der australischen Regierung für meine Schiffsreise.

Seine letzten Worte waren: "Aber das Wunder war geschehen. Nach zweieinviertel Jahren Weltumradlung winkte die Heimat ..." Und sie winkte auch mir, denn nach zwei Jahren fuhr ich kurzentschlossen wieder nachhause. Aber das Zuhause daß für mich schon vor meiner Abreise kein Zuhause gewesen war, hatte sich auch nicht verändert.

Meine neue Heimat winkte und fünfzehn Monate später war ich wieder in Australien. Und vierzig Jahre später kaufte ich mir die zweibändige Erstaufgabe und Neuausgabe der Bücher des Heinz Helfgens wieder.

 

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Der grosse Sprachumbau

 

 

The renaissance of left-wing politics also brings with it a new form of its language. After the disaster of global Marxism in 1989, the left successfully reinvented itself with identity politics, without encountering significant resistance.

 

 

Perceived injustices are updated, corresponding terms invented and quickly established. Thus, old left-wing clichés receive a fresh linguistic coat of paint. While there have long been books on "right-wing" vocabulary, there has been no analysis of left-wing language until now. The linguist and journalist Matthias Heine fills this gap with the present book. He explains what the left says – and what it really means.

Left-wing framing everywhere. New victim groups are created with terms like "global South," "trans children," "postcolonialism," "marginalized," or "structure." With the adjective "critical," universities are transformed into ideology factories. And "toxic" or "Islamophobia" are meant to describe political opponents as mentally ill. "Controversial," of course, always refers to others.

Von der Bannung von "Negerküssen" hatte ich gehört und auch dass man "Zigeunerschnitzel" nicht mehr essen darf, aber "Schwarzarbeit"? Die ist doch jetzt ganz korrekt benannt denn das machen doch die Schwarzen. Also, Rom brennt lichterloh und die Akademiker diskutieren weiter.

"Vorwärts, Kameraden, wir müssen zurück!"

 

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