ANZAC Remembrance and Peace
Kate Carruthers On this day I share the text of a speech given by the New Zealand Governor General The Hon Dame Silvia Cartwright from Wednesday, 25 April 2001: “Nga mate nga…
history
ANZAC 2012
I don’t think that many romanticise war too much these days. And there is something very poignant and compelling about seeing the fruits of war. In northern France and Belgium…
ANZAC Day: remembering some ordinary diggers, not famous, not important #ANZAC
Another ANZAC Day and another day to remember the sacrifices made by Australian and New Zealand forces. Those who serve in battle never get off lightly, even if they manage…
What’s in a name? Pirate, freedom fighter or terrorist
I recently discovered that one of my ancestors was arrested by the British in 1828 as a pirate and sent to Australia as a convict. He had originally been sentenced…
Interesting perspective on war, innovation, skills and strategy from Col. John Boyd
This rare video of US Air Force Colonel John Boyd shows his 1991 House Armed Services Committee Testimony and is worth watching. Many consider him to be one of the…
Democracy in action, civil society and political change
Yesterday in New South Wales there was a major shift in the state’s political landscape. We saw a significant shift in voting with enormous swings against the ALP across the…
Twitter turns 5: will it rule? via @stilgherrian
I had a chat with Stilgherrian (@stilgherrian) on ZDNet’s Patch Monday along with Open-source software advocate and developer Jeff Waugh (@jdub) and James Purser (@purserj) from Collaborynth, a consultancy that…
A lucky country indeed …
Even though it was once said ironically, it has always seemed to me that Australia really is the lucky country. Our national anthem, Advance Australia Fair, sums it up: We’ve…
Some preliminary thoughts about revolutions
There is a lot of talk about revolution happening now in online communities given the unfolding events in Tunisia and Egypt. This has got me thinking about the nature of…
Inspiring women: Louisa Lawson – women’s suffrage activist and publisher
The fight for women to get the vote was a monument to cooperation, ingenuity and collaboration on the part of many women in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.…