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Oakstand: Part II

3. The great Australian emptiness.   First of December 1972                       |                       12pm   The paddocks surrounding Lance had a sense of leopard silence which engulfed him. This land was well-versed in eternity. It made its…

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Oakstand: Part I

Simon: [After a pause, to MAL] I take it you’ll be barracking for Labor tonight? Mal: [Looking at him] Well I don’t anticipate yelling myself hoarse, but I’m certainly hoping for a change of government. I take it we all are?1 • Don’s Party, David Williamson, 1971   1. The left-hand of Oakstand.   28th…

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Why We Write

To write, to put one's thoughts on paper and place them before an audience, is, in my opinion, a small act of courage. While spoken words can be swallowed and eaten up, eclipsed by a quick clarification or a huffed laugh, there is a permanency to the written word; a solidity that invites scrutiny. Just…

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The Importance of being Earnest

Around 380 BC, Plato wrote the Gorgias, a fictional dialogue between Socrates and a group of sophists at a dinner party. The work follows the principle of Plato’s other dialogues: the group debates amongst themselves about the true nature of political rhetoric through the Socratic method. Both Socrates and Plato believed earnestly in the intellectual…

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