January 26: Reflect. Respect. Celebrate.

January 26. For some a day to celebrate the opportunities of living in a free, multicultural societyFor others a chance to reflect on their own citizenship and what it means to be AustralianFor many, January 26 is a day of sadness, mourning and a reminder of colonisation (National Australia Day Council) For the first time …

Gaia 2022: The Yield by Tara June Winch

Yield itself is a funny word - yield in English is the reaping, the things that man can take from the land, the thing he’s waited for and gets to claim. A wheat yield. In my language it’s the things you give to, the movement, the space between things. (The Yield - Tara June Winch) Profoundly …

NAIDOC Week 2021 – Heal Country

Over the last few weeks Dan and I have been spending the weekends doing puzzles. It is that time of year when it is wet and cold outside, and now that Dan is transitioning into independent living, puzzles have become a great weekend family activity that we can do indoors. Where it is warm. Dan …

Historic Toowoomba – Indigenous History

Gumbi Gumbi Gardens, Toowoomba, QLD As a student of history I love learning about the past. I love learning about the way people lived, the challenges they faced, and the developments that have occurred over time. The history of humanity is a pretty mixed bag, though. There have been great achievements and there have been …

#BookSnapSunday – Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence

I am finally picking up the series I started a few weeks ago about Australian Women’s History. March was dedicated to the contribution and experiences of women throughout history.  Generally the history of women has been ignored and neglected, so Women’s History Month is a chance to set the record straight. Of course, it has …

Being Australian

Today is the 26th of January. It is also known as Invasion Day, Aboriginal Day of Mourning, Survival Day, Australia Day. It means different things to different people. Some see it as a commemoration of the arrival of the First Fleet. For Indigenous Australians it is a painful day as they remember the impact of …

#BookSnapSunday – Remembering Babylon

More and more now he was haunted by those sheets, seven in all, he had not forgotten the number, that Mr Frazer had folded and put into his pocket, and which he had never seen again; till he was convinced that the only way to save himself from so much racking, and despair and sweat, …