The Voice of Silence: An examination of the role of historical fiction inrepresenting occluded Aboriginal histories

In his polemic 1968 Boyer Lecture, W.E.H. Stanner first introduced the term “Great Australian Silence” to expose the structural erasure of Aboriginal history from the Australian narrative, labelling a nationwide “cult of forgetfulness” to critique historians from the 1930s to the early 1960s. However, Stanner was not simply critiquing the omission of Aboriginal historiography, but…

ByAnna van Gelder23 hours ago

Opinion

Rearguard Action: Sending the Social Media Ban Upstairs

“...I draw a sword against conspirators; When think you that the sword goes up again?” Julius Caesar, Act V scene I The Digital Freedom Project’s High Court Challenge has the same vibe as a retreating dotcom garrison running some rearguard action in order to keep their platforms available to Australia’s youth. This is eerily reminiscent of…

ByJasper Derwent16 March 2026

Current Affairs

Sea of Peril: Solutions to our shark issue

But wounds will wince, especially in the salt air… Patrick White, Voss The deep Australianism and general can-do attitude of the surf community have often suppressed its sense of danger. Drowning, ailments and collisions are worries that were long-swallowed as ‘parts of the sport’, and risks one assumes when they partake in it. Braving a Sunday…

ByJasper Derwent16 February 2026

Opinion

The Crucible: Open justice in Australia

Marta: Truth and illusion, George; you don’t know the difference. George: No, but we must carry on as though we did. Edawed Albee, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf Edward Albee’s 1962 play, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, rips down a compulsive response in the human psyche: hysteria. What is worth believing? So too did Arthur…

ByJasper Derwent7 September 2025

Feature

Are We Witnessing the Decline of Feminism?

Is this still what we fought for? That’s the question that seems to hang quietly behind so much of the cultural discourse right now. From album covers to courtrooms, from social media trends to political movements, feminism feels at once everywhere and somehow nowhere at all. Its language has been adopted, repackaged, and monetised to…

ByChloe Gillis8 August 2025

Opinion

So What?: Deconstructing the common rhetoric and shame surrounding casual harassment

I was five years old when a boy took hold of my shoulders behind the water fountain without warning and pressed his lips against mine. The common rhetoric I often encounter as an indirect response is that of “so what?”; essentially, how can such a trivial act lead to tangible detriment to the woman? I…

ByEllie Craven30 May 2025

Opinion

Straight to the Courtroom: Castle Law in Australia

It’s the vibe of it. It’s the constitution. It’s Mabo. It’s Justice .... Darryl Kerrigan, The Castle Growing up, your parent or guardian might have kept a baseball bat, a knife, or some sort of object hidden in the house that they could use as a weapon in the case of a home invasion. The…

ByJasper Derwent14 May 2025

Opinion

Shades of Red: The fractured identity of an ascendant right

With more than eighty countries having held elections, 2024 was the “Year of Democracy”, confronting pluralist politics with its “biggest test” as its already battered ideals were tried over and over. While clear trends emerged – global sentiments of anti-incumbency, the emboldening of election challengers – perhaps the most salient of these was a broad…

ByMia Seisun5 March 2025

Opinion Politics

Feminism and Fashion: The Politics of What We Wear

Fashion has always been a form of self-expression, but for women, it carries a weight that goes beyond style or personal taste. In today’s world, a woman’s clothing is still often seen as a marker of her character and intentions, with assumptions made about her morality, respectability, and consent. This troubling link between fashion and…

ByTilly Morgan9 December 2024

Opinion Politics

For You or Against You? Tiktok’s echo chamber dilemma

In the 5th century BCE, Athens experienced a radical transformation in governance. The city's elite gathered in the Athenian Assembly to discuss and, most importantly, vote on civic matters. This has come to be known as democracy and has evolved into today’s dominant political system. Yet, inadvertently, the Greeks also discovered the concept of echo…

ByToby Freeman21 August 2024