Stories of indigenous and Palestinian lives Melissa Lucashenko Edenglassie UQP, October 2023; Sara M Saleh Songs for the Dead and the Living Affirm Press, August 2023 BOOK REVIEW by Judith White For peoples dispossessed by colonialism, living under constant threat to their identity and their very [...]
By JUDITH WHITE This should have been a day when we all walked a little taller as Australians. When we took a step towards healing with First Nations peoples, and a reckoning with the colonial past. Instead we have a day of pain and shame [...]
Sydney Migraine By ANNIE GODFREY There are two ways of getting a high Green Star rating. One is to build a sustainable building. The other is to spend large amounts of money on green technology and expensive materials with a very high embodied carbon, to [...]
Donald White (standing, centre), with the chemistry department of Salford Tech, c.1932 A life devoted to public education My father Donald White (1904-1983) was a lifelong advocate for public education. He is commemorated in a feature about my memoir Children of Coal on a blog [...]
Joan Sutton 1916-2012 By JUDITH WHITE 28 August 2021 My mother Joan was 22 years old and full of hope when this photograph was taken in 1938. She had just graduated with honours from Oxford – an outstanding achievement for the daughter of a Yorkshire [...]
Inquiry finds poor planning and flawed business case The NSW Coalition Government has breached its own Treasury guidelines and governance of the arts and culture sector needs a complete review, according to the final report of the Upper House Inquiry into Museums and Galleries. Released [...]
By JUDITH WHITE Soccer, refugees and the arts Former Socceroos captain Craig Foster has written an impassioned open letter to Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten pleading for humane treatment of refugees. Waiting until refugee footballer Hakeem Al-Araibi is safely home in [...]
By JUDITH WHITE What a dark story emerges when the lid is lifted on the NSW Government’s much-vaunted “cultural infrastructure” spending! Evidence at the hearing on 12 September of the Upper House Inquiry into Museums and Galleries, held at Parliament House in Sydney, revealed a [...]
By JUDITH WHITE The reappointment of Dr Michael Brand as director of the Art Gallery of NSW signals the Coalition Government’s determination to push ahead with building the $344 million Sydney Modern expansion on green space alongside the Harbour shoreline (digital impression above). News of [...]
Alternative locations, future funding not seriously considered By JUDITH WHITE The Art Gallery of NSW has now responded to the raft of submissions opposing its Development Application (DA) for the Sydney Modern project, condescendingly dismissing some of the most significant concerns. Its 126-page response report, [...]
