REMEMBERING PRIVATE SHIRLEY

REMEMBERING PRIVATE SHIRLEY

When I was a child, my family often used to go for picnics on a Sunday. After Sunday school, my father would have the car ready, my mother would have the sandwiches made and the drinks packed, and we would head off to some interesting part of Sydney. My brother and I...
Seconds From Death

Seconds From Death

Humans are not our enemy – even those called ‘Vietcong’. If we kill our brothers and sisters, what will we have left? With whom then shall we live? from Condemnation by Thich Nhat Hanh It’s practically impossible to tell civilians from the Vietcong; after a...
Seconds From Death [song]

Seconds From Death [song]

LYRICS: In an old book of scraps From my teenage years A newspaper photo Rekindles my fears A man holds a gun To the head of another Seconds from death The son of some mother The man with the gun Is deluded by war The general of police An upholder of law He presses...
The Autograph Book

The Autograph Book

World War 2 brought many changes to Australian households. On a practical level it brought shortages that affected normal domestic life. These shortages had to be worked around and great imagination had to be used in order to cope with the lack of food, clothes,...