Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'The middle class shields itself from the realities of life when you’re poor
'I spent much of my childhood in a northwestern suburb of Adelaide that was, for decades, predominantly white and working class. Waves of eastern European migrants formed the foundation of its settlement throughout the 1950s and 60s, before it underwent a significant transformation in the 80s when the new waves of migrants and refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia and China settled there in large numbers. Mansfield Park also boasted an extensive collection of public housing that ensured underemployed Anglo-Australians, such as my parents, were well represented' (Introduction)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Children of the Tall Ships
2018
single work
essay
— Appears in: Meanjin , Winter vol. 77 no. 2 2018; (p. 178-182)'No rays of light sneaking long fingers across the pale skin of morning. Not at this time. Beyond the window glass the stars shone precision silver, dew casting a silvery skeen across thirsty grass. I’d lie awake in the darkness waiting to hear the cough of the Toyota bring the catch home and him with it. I’d learnt to wait for the fluorescent light to cast diamante warmth through the white double doors windowed by an earlier deco-age of artistic privacy. When opened, conversations drifted like song, bounced by high ceilings and slick laminate floors. But closed, sound muffled and could just be waves brought on the breeze from the beach to the east. Shoulders alert, chin lifted, I’d listen for the soft clang of tin pots and the fwooosh of running water, the throw of the salt, the patient silence of the boil, the frenzied clicking of the first batch thrown to fat bubbles.' (Introduction)
-
‘A Down Under Hillbilly Elegy’
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2017;
-
Children of the Tall Ships
2018
single work
essay
— Appears in: Meanjin , Winter vol. 77 no. 2 2018; (p. 178-182)'No rays of light sneaking long fingers across the pale skin of morning. Not at this time. Beyond the window glass the stars shone precision silver, dew casting a silvery skeen across thirsty grass. I’d lie awake in the darkness waiting to hear the cough of the Toyota bring the catch home and him with it. I’d learnt to wait for the fluorescent light to cast diamante warmth through the white double doors windowed by an earlier deco-age of artistic privacy. When opened, conversations drifted like song, bounced by high ceilings and slick laminate floors. But closed, sound muffled and could just be waves brought on the breeze from the beach to the east. Shoulders alert, chin lifted, I’d listen for the soft clang of tin pots and the fwooosh of running water, the throw of the salt, the patient silence of the boil, the frenzied clicking of the first batch thrown to fat bubbles.' (Introduction)
-
‘A Down Under Hillbilly Elegy’
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2017;
* Subscription service. Check your library.
- Mansfield Park, Port Adelaide - Enfield area, Adelaide - Northwest, Adelaide, South Australia,
