Aboriginal heritage and the natural environment need to be at the centre of national reconstruction
- This is part of a series of essays by Australian writers responding to the challenges of 2020
Fire, flood and plague. Toilet rolls and mental health. Injections of bleach and sunlight.
For a studied introvert with a writer’s routines, the duty of social isolation is reassuring. In such a tumultuous year I realise I’m extremely lucky to be a homeowner, securely employed and gifted with – as well as the baby boomer years – certain contraband privileges of whiteness.
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It’s tempting to think of 2020’s floods and fires and pandemic as retribution
Related: As I mourn my mother the pandemic rolls on. Is the whole world, like me, frozen in grief?
Aboriginal cultural heritage is a major denomination in this country’s currency of identity and belonging
A mobile people organised a continent with … precision … They sanctioned key principles: think long term; leave the world as it is; think globally, act locally; ally with fire; control population. They were active, not passive, striving for balance and continuity to make all life abundant, convenient and predictable.
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