Review: A Mapmaker’s Dream by James Cowan Fra Mauro is a 16th century monk on a magnificent journey around the world without leaving the clustered confines of his cell on an island in Venice. A cartographer devoted to drafting a definitive map of the world, he gathers his knowledge from a steady stream of travellers […]
Two brash colonial scientists jostle for possession of an astonishing 19th-century astronomical discovery just outside Melbourne – the world’s largest iron meteorite. This prodigious cosmic lump of metal is a glittering prize but at stake also are critical notions of heritage ownership in an era of nascent cultural awareness. Author Sean Murphy’s The Cranbourne Meteorite […]
Above: The Breakwater aqueduct. Long way from Breakwater to Scotland’s Fife to Breakwater, likewise from Fyansford to the battlefield of Villers-Bretonneux, but with Anzac Day on the doorstep it might be timely to see how Geelong’s cemented its name in construction history. The man credited with winning World War 1 for the Allies, John Monash, […]
Dateline: April 2024, Cabbage Tree Creek: 37.6526° S, 148.8172° E Nice part of the world for a quick road-trip recce, East Gippsland, when it’s not on fire, that is. And also when you don’t have spare tyres flying off the back of SUVs and across the road at you at 100kmh. Was standing in the […]
NOW girls, this isn’t an opportunity comes along every day. In fact, it only comes once in every 1461 days, to be precise. Once every four years. It’s your chance to propose to the beau of your choice. Don’t fuss if he’s not keen. He can’t say no on February 29. Or so the theory […]
“Hey, rich bitch!” squawks the emaciated ice junkie skipping along the Bendigo street Jack Daniels can in hand. Her target, an elderly woman lugging two Salvos bags, looks bewildered as the sprite runs past her, grabs an abandoned receipt from the footpath, shouts “11 dollars” and uses it to wipe her backside before dancing out […]
It’s a bit unkind, I’ll admit, but a little politeness can easily lead to misunderstanding. Take the God-botherers at my door recently. Nice enough blokes so rather than sool the dogs on to them I heard them out, for a bit, before suggesting if they had a leaflet I’d give it a read. “Thanks guy, […]
Image: Scene from A Haunting in Venice, 20th Century Studios Easily thrown off script, I am, especially by subjects such as the supernatural, mysteries, bushrangers, UFOs … that sort of thing. Several events have distracted me lately from my usual ruminations. Not getting a lot of work done, fitful slumber, glazed eyeballs. I’m blaming […]
Long-standing joke in my family is that the many French letters my grandmother was sent by her Gallic aunt a century ago were addressed to her at ‘Truganina Loose Bag’. Pretty cruel, really. She was a darling thing. Widowed at 47 with eight kids, she drew on country girl nous garnered on the rocky windswept […]
A downward dog-led economic recovery is probably not what you’d expect to counter the Covid/volcano/earthquake/tsunami-led tourism recession of recent years in Indonesia’s Ring of Fire. For one thing, yoga fanaticism, spiritual con artists – think breatharians and didgeridoo healing – were around before the ongoing flight cancellations of late. But sticking your bum in the […]
