Hecate articles from October 2005

Hecate archives from October 2005

Constructing and contesting motherhood, 1750-1950.(feminism)
October 1, 2005... In some ways, motherhood is one of the most unnatural conceptions on earth. The idea that femininity is, in essence, motherhood, and that mothering means tending our own biological children in a full-time way at home, is an historical...

Constructing the working mother: Australian perspectives, 1920 to 1970 (1).
October 1, 2005... When she was interviewed in 1981 about her childhood in pre-World War One Adelaide, Harriet Caw was clearly anxious that her mother, the proprietor of a small school in the early years of the twentieth century, should not be seen as 'odd'. 'She...

Stories from the aboriginal women of the yarning circle: when cultures collide.
October 1, 2005... For me and many of the women in my family, our mothers and grandmothers, sisters and aunties, I often think of them and what history has done to them. Despite all of their efforts to give us a good life, they were forced into positions and...

Baby talk: the Howard government, families, and the politics of difference.
October 1, 2005... Introduction In April 1999 Jeff Kennett, who was then Premier of Victoria, caused public controversy when he visited the academically elite MacRobertson Girls High School in Melbourne and allegedly exhorted the students to make a career...

'I must dree my weird': a colonial correspondence.
October 1, 2005... Writing to Rosa Praed about her misery during a pregnancy, Nora Murray Prior remarked ruefully: 'I must dree my weird'. This commonplace expression, widely used in children's ballads and bush poetry, means: 'I must take my chances', 'meet my...

Mothers-in-law: lying down for the father again.
October 1, 2005... Introduction This paper explores recent trends in family law and policy, both in Australia and in cognate jurisdictions overseas. It argues that the 'new' emphasis upon the essential role of the father, a role that, I would argue, becomes...

The Howard government's budgets: stay-at-home mothers good--single mothers bad.
October 1, 2005... In response to the 'barbecue-stopper' issue of balancing work and family, the federal government argued that it was giving mothers more choice and flexibility in the 2004 federal budget. The political aims of the family assistance contained in...

'One for the father, one for the mother and one for the country': an examination of the construction of motherhood through the prism of paid maternity leave.
October 1, 2005... Introduction In 2004, on announcing a new maternity allowance for Australia, the male Federal Treasurer told an assembled gathering of largely male reporters to go home and 'have one [child] for the father, one for the mother and one for...

Mothers--and others--in union protest (1).(industrial relations of Western Australia )
October 1, 2005... Introduction In 1997, Western Australian unions mounted an unusual campaign against proposed industrial relations legislation. They occupied a portion of land opposite Parliament House for six months as a protest site. Known initially as...

The river.
October 1, 2005... All that was left afterward was the sound of the river. That and some vague ache and, perhaps, a feeling of wrongness about what had happened. Still, the river had acted as something cleansing. Back then I was a country girl I lived in a...

Anamorphisms.
October 1, 2005... One afternoon, I curled myself into a corner of a pub with two books on the table and one pencil knotted in my hair. Earlier that day, I delivered this poem into the outstretched hand of my lover. I waited for a word in return. I still wait. I...

The leap.(short stories)(Short story)
October 1, 2005... A gift or a curse? From the outside world Davida's diary has appeared. I have read no more than the first page but already her presence, like a shout, crowds the air about me. The tangible memory of her pervades my body, releases urges too long...

Still life.(short stories)(Short story)
October 1, 2005... It's Sunday. Sundays are always the worst. On a Sunday, when the housework is done, the floor gleaming, the washing hung in staggered sleeves of colour on the line, when there is nothing on the "IV and not even a crime book can hold her,...

Naming the sisters.(short stories)(Short story)
October 1, 2005... Moonlight on metal. The soft gold of straw has been transformed to the hard cold gold so loved by the king and the little man has gone. The spinning wheel, so busy through the night, rests in the corner. I am also in a corner:...

Portrait of Edith.(short stories)(Short story)
October 1, 2005... You can tell before she faced the camera, my grandmother had dressed all morning for the man behind the black hand-held box. Edith is tomorrow's vision, turning her face from kitchen stove to a camera that might connect a man's eye to the flash...

Betty Parker.(social aspects of Betty Parker)
October 1, 2005... She was, my Father said, a Bible Basher. Her kind never gave up. I wished he hadn't said that because I believed in God and miracles. Jesus had made a cripple walk, while my father was an undistinguished man. I was too little to tell him to...

Pale green.(Poem)
October 1, 2005... Pale green Here in the rainy season I catalogue our differences: Mao's still face, a bike's seat collecting water the warm bone of a woman's hip dumplings unwrapped, soft as a baby's skin steam rising...

Drought relief.(Poem)
October 1, 2005... Drought relief she carries her thighs to the service station: a rain-daughter's dowry. they wait for her with veils of parchment: translated letters, petrol fumes, burnt paper. this...

Poinciana.(Poem)
October 1, 2005... Poinciana The tree reaches out of my childhood, incendiary portent of summer, burning cloud, red harbinger of thirst; brilliant mirage of youth hovering hypnotically, limbs weaving silken Eastern choreographies...

Poem for Lois.(Poem)
October 1, 2005... Poem for Lois Lois Evelyn Goodfellow (nee Cook) 29 June 1920--30 October 2005 Two thousand and five it's been a hard year for the Goodfellows 128 days back you lost your youngest son your baby &...

The Houses Here.(Poem)
October 1, 2005... The Houses Here huddle as if they dread the next beating from that unpredictable husband the weather the houses here hold themselves small and neat trying for well-behaved discreet ...

Riflebutt Road.(Poem)
October 1, 2005... Riflebutt Road riflebutt road the screen's greying up drive-in's been closed now for years blank projection of stories through cypress of old homes parental guidance hedging in, thick and close no changes all the...

Stained Dress.(Poem)
October 1, 2005... Stained Dress On the bed it lies stained and faded a neat symbol of grief. The form, tossed careless, has assembled itself in linen folds; within their whiteness soap hangs, haunting domestic...

Type-Writers.(usage)
October 1, 2005... Type-Writers My mother used a mechanical Remington, black-keyed and heavy, it came with a clip-over metal-grey rounded case. After my birth my father used it to type up his lectures. I looked at the ribbon--three ...

Currawong and Woman.(Poem)
October 1, 2005... Currawong and Woman currawong stares eyes sharp yellow feathers bushfire-black his enthralled heart beating his beak pointing up at the woman she sings portal framed head tipped back chin high ...

In the mosque.(Poem)
October 1, 2005... In the mosque In the mosque when the sun is low the birds echo. Birds like falling songs escaping the wind, light like honey melting, women like long shadows, footsteps like solitude. In this...