May 2022

Every Hill Got A Story: collected First Nations oral histories are a profound gift to national memory | Paul Daley

Submitted by Paul Daley on

Bequeathed from memory to memory, these records remind us how recently central Australian Indigenous people felt the upheaval of colonialism

Massacres recounted in chilling detail, recollections of the first time an Aboriginal person saw a camel or a car, and the double-edged harshness and compassion of missionaries might, for many non-Indigenous Australians, seem like the preserve of a foreign and distant world.

What makes a great political speech? Let’s talk about oratory, my fellow citizens | Paul Daley

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The leader must be willing to go beyond party politics, and demonstrate humanity, candour and raw emotion

Of all the millions of words uttered on the hustings during this unedifying federal election campaign, few, if any, will be remembered as having soared to any great oratory heights.

These days election stump speeches tend to be quickly devoured in the voracious churn of the perpetual news cycle, and largely parsed in disconnected chunks for their strategic and market-tested messaging rather than their cadences and artistry.

This picture tells the story of a prison that was – and remains – medieval for Aboriginal inmates | Paul Daley

Submitted by Paul Daley on

Indigenous prisoners at Roebourne in the scorching Pilbara still suffer in cells without air-conditioning, like they did 120 years ago

The more things change for many Australians the more they stay shamefully the same for Indigenous people in Western Australia’s ill-named “justice system” – particularly if they happen to be jailed at Roebourne in the Pilbara.

How to Make Gravy is already a movie that plays in our heads. That’s its brilliance | Paul Daley

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Like all great writing, the song ceased to be Paul Kelly’s once he launched it into the world. We claimed his characters

It makes perfect sense that Paul Kelly’s quintessentially Australian song How to Make Gravy is going to be adapted into a film.