STRALIAN STORIES: Snow Business – the thrills and kills of Squizzy Taylor

Neil Boyack

My dad said to me once that his dad (a person I never met), was a gangster. He would have been alive and kicking around the time of Squizzy Taylor, and if he was a gangster he … Read More

Stralian Stories May 2014

“As only natives ride”: Lawson’s Adversity, Private Property and Australian Culture

Appearing in a number of Henry Lawson’s (1867-1922) collections The Fire at Ross’s Farm catalogues aspects of a romanticised Australian identity: assumed mateship, hardy toughness, hearts of … Read More

Stralian Stories April 2014

Sleepers Publishing: The Heart of Storytelling

by Klare Lanson

Chewton is a place in Central Victoria that doesn’t cry out for attention. Although it heralds a time in our recent history of opportunity, gold, murder, The Monster … Read More

Stralian Stories: just_a_girl by Kirsten Krauth

by Klare Lanson

“the moment that I step outside so many reasons for me to run and hide” (lyrics by Gwen Stefani and Tom Dumont)

We’re all kinds of mixed up creatures, trying to find that spark … Read More

Stralian Stories: Billy Marshall-Stoneking

by Neil Boyack

Singing the Snake & Cultural Competence

Rarely is a collection of poems and vignettes so complete in its form with regards to cultural breadth, style, content, political shade and vigour. When I first read Singing … Read More

Stralian Stories – Coral Hull: the patron saint of Australian poetry

by Neil Boyack

When you read Coral Hull’s work you get a sense fairly quickly that she stands for things, and that she has experienced life outside the mainstream in situations that beckon risk.  These events have … Read More

Stralian Stories: Footy’s Glory Days

by Neil Boyack

Those days still have an effect on me. I look back at them thanking various life forces, including my dad, for facilitating experiences connected to this era of football.  It was tough, full of flare, aluminium … Read More

Stralian Strories – Kenneth Slessor a reluctant master by Neil Boyack

Kenneth Slessor wrote some culture defining Australian poetry and is still considered as one of Australia’s great poets.  Aside from poetry however, he was a decorated journalist and “writing industry” leader having a hand in managing peak industry bodies, editing, writing … Read More

Stralian Stories – Wild White Men: living between cultures by Neil Boyack

Throughout the invasion/colonisation of this country there have been numerous instances where Aboriginal people have assisted, supported, guided, and rescued white explorers, convicts, bushrangers and children.  Often this assistance has come through a sense of graciousness that is aided by … Read More

Stralian Stories: Squizzy Taylor by Neil Boyack

My dad said to me once that his dad (a person I never met), was a gangster.  He would have been alive and kicking around the time of Squizzy Taylor, and if he was a gangster he definitely would have … Read More