Reading Emily of New Moon I began to have an idea of why I’ve never loved and spent time with Emily Byrd Starr as I have with Anne Shirley or Pat Gardiner. I began to suss it out then, but I loved the book and it still seemed strange to me. With Emily Climbs it began to seem clearer – that dark streak running through it, I said, and left it at that. But it is only on finishing Emily’s Quest that I fully understand – and that is partly because I know, on closing this book, I will be leaving it closed for possibly another twenty years. Whether I have the moral courage to read it then will be interesting to see – almost like Emily’s fortitude in reading her letter from her fourteen-year-old self to herself at twenty-four, except unlike the very young Emily I know the pain…

 Best Westerns of the 20th Century

The Western Writers of America (WWA) had issued the lists of the Best Westerns twice before; in 1985 and again in 1995, both times with similar results in several areas. However, around the year 2000 the WWA felt it was time to reprise the Best Western Survey.  They brought together a panel of fifty-five individuals from twenty-two states and one Canadian province provided them with their votes for the best work and authors of the 20th century. On the lists were 83 authors, 112 novels, 122 nonfiction books, 86 films, 64 short stories, 41 television series, and 22 television mini-series. All of the lists can be viewed at: www.westernwriters.org/best_westerns.htm.   Listed below are 18 of the Best Western Novels… not in any order of distinction:

All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

John Grady Cole, a 16-year-old dispossessed Texan, crosses the Rio Grande into Mexico in 1949, accompanied by his…

  ” The inquiry heard the voices of Indigenous CDP participants, their organisations and other concerned Australians and revealed the deep-seated flaws with this top-down, punitive and discriminatory program.

Finally, our concerns have been heard.

APO NT has put considerable effort into developing an alternative to the CDP (APO NT alternative to CDP).  

 We are extremely pleased that the committee has recognized this Indigenous-led work and drawn on many key elements of the APO NT proposal.”

John Paterson, from APO NT See full press release Part 1

The Senate inquiry report released last week  into the fraught Community Development Program (CDP) calls for a total overhaul of the unfair CDP system

DownloadSenate CDP report 2017

“Labor is deeply disappointed with Minister Scullion’s response to the Senate Inquiry into the Community Development Program (CDP).

Labor secured the Inquiry into the CDP in March after communities across…