AustLit

'Jack Mundey died in May, aged ninety. His obituary in the paper featured a file picture from 1972 that brought a smile to my face. Mundey is being escorted from a protest at Sydney’s Rocks by three policemen. We see in that black and white snap the worn-out soles of this working-class man’s shoes as he is carried aloft to the waiting paddy wagon. His pin stripe trousers and corduroy jacket cannot conceal a bulging belly pushing through his buttoned-up shirt. His hands are locked together to allow him to be lifted by his arms and feet with ease. He looks relaxed in the policemen’s hold, and rather chuffed. His arresting officers seem equally as pleased to be caught in the frame of the photographer’s lens – all are smiling. By this stage, Mundey had already gained notoriety as an environmental hero.' (Introduction)

'Australia has a strong history of poetry, albeit largely white and male. Henry Lawson, Banjo Patterson, Adam Lindsay Gordon, CJ Dennis, AD Hope and Dorothea Mackellar are all notable figures in Australia’s colonial history and literature. Why is it, then, that poetry collections are largely ignored by our major literary prizes?' (Introduction)

'Since the recent transference of Sydney ‘Glitter‘ cycle film from screen to stage (Muriel’s Wedding, Strictly Ballroom), revisiting the critique of the ‘dumb semiotics’ of Australian cinema (1) in Philip Brophy’s Priscilla, Queen of the Desert can widen our sense of how the Australian Dream road-movie is travelling.' (Introduction)