Local Politics: The good, the bad and the ugly
WHO DOESN’T LIKE A LOCAL COUNCIL SCANDAL? Local politics has been a long-standing interest of mine – some would say...
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‘A beautiful stream of clear water, running over clean sand and pebbles …’
AN ARTICLE I WROTE ABOUT THE RICHMOND RIVER WAS PUBLISHED IN LOCAL NEWSPAPER 'THE ECHO,' IN PRINT AND ON-LINE. THE...
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Writings from a recent workshop
The Life Writing workshop I present is usually three hours, occasionally five. It's highly participatory – I have written in...
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Book reviews
I am grateful to Christabel, Katinka and Fatemeh for their reviews, published below. Any more would be very welcome and...
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AUTHOR TALKS AND WORKSHOPS
Throughout May I am offering In-conversation style author talks at local libraries in northern NSW. These will be with Bob...
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LOCAL DEMOCRACY
In a major reorganisation of the website I had to move a couple of pieces I had published on this...
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The Richmond: A Wounded River
The Richmond River has its source on the southern slope of Mount Lindesay in the McPherson Range on the Queensland...
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Nom-en-cla-ture
In the 1700’s a Swedish naturalist by the name of Carolus Linnaeus developed a system for classifying and naming living...
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Everyville: the good, the bad and the ugly at the local level
Since publishing Beyond Fear and Loathing in 2012 my interest in local politics and local community issues remains strong....
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Youth mentoring: good for adults too
Earlier this year I was invited to join a youth mentoring program about to commence in the area where I...
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Reconnecting, locally
In early 1999 Victorian premier Jeff Kennett addressed a conference of the Victorian Council of Social Services. Having made his...
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LITTLE LITERATURE (2)
Work adjacent Nowra's narrowest, darkest alley Little Literature provided the opportunity for writers, poets and anyone interested in...
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IT TAKES A VILLAGE: youth mentoring project
Back in March I posted about a local youth mentoring project that I was following. The project is now past...
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CITIZEN JOURNALISM FORUM
“Participation in public life is a fundamentally good thing,” said George Bernard Shaw – or at least it was something...
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Writing about place
Writing about place The Nature Conservancy Australia holds a biennial nature writing competition with a focus on place/ landscape. I...
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Lessons from history for council (or, how to win friends)
While this piece unpacks the actions of one local council, it's my contention that these sorts of actions are widespread...
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Little Literature
Little literature provides an opportunity for writers, poets and anyone interested in playing with words to participate in Micro Galleries...
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Youth Mentoring
A local community services organisation, Bay and Basin Community Resources, is running a youth mentoring program over a few months....
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Citizen Journalism
Citizen journalism is based upon citizens taking a lead role in collecting, analyzing and reporting news and information. Sometimes known...
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Fiona Phillips – candidate for seat of South Coast
Many years ago when working on a civics and citizenship program for the federal government I became fascinated by how...
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