Cirrus@Austlit

'With one small change—from ‘2020’ to ‘2021’—I can begin my introduction to this year’s issue of Humanities Australia in the same words as last year: ‘This year, 2020, has been a tumultuous year for the world to which Australia has added its own particular troubles and concerns.’ I then went on to mention the bushfires, the emergence of Covid-19 with its threats to lives and livelihoods (including in the arts and universities), heightened tensions with China, renewed attention to Indigenous disadvantage (highlighted by the Black Lives Matter movement) and government funding proposals that called into question the value of key humanities disciplines. Thankfully, there have not been the same mega-bushfires (although the threat of bushfires exacerbated by climate change is still very much there) but the other troubles of last year remain, albeit with a change of emphasis. Covid-19 has dominated this year to a greater extent even than last but Indigenous disadvantage, tensions with China and questions about the value and status of the humanities and of the arts remain.' (Introduction)

'In 2018, I became a creative worker rather than an academic. I left my university position to take my scholarly skills to a wider audience. My interests broadly focus on the ‘environmental humanities’, an emerging response across many disciplines and the cultural sector to rapidly changing environments—natural and social, local and global. The environmental humanities use creativity, including writing, art, music and exhibitions, to work with audiences and communities personally, to try to slow planetary damage and to heal personal stress. Documenting environmental decline is not enough to create change: dismal stories just paralyse people, including the narrators of such stories, as climate scientists regularly testify.1 In distancing myself from institutional pressures, I sought out different freedoms that might enable me to contribute more directly to the transition to a carbon-neutral future for the planet, to find more fairness for its people and more sustainable and happier ways of living with the crises and change already happening. The Climarte movement is one impressive model. Climarte sponsors festivals that support renewable energy with public art, brings together business, philanthropy and artists to fulfil its heartening motto: Art plus Climate equals Change. 2 The initiative began in Melbourne in 2015, and now reaches well beyond big cities, taking in regional areas like the Latrobe Valley where emissions reduction affects local industries. Working with innovative social movements like Climarte enables an individual to contribute to the broader community, especially to support people adversely affected by necessary economic transitions.' (Introduction)

'‘I am but a mere fan’ concluded a 1998 missive to ‘Roy and HG’ at Triple J.1 In this article, I intercept some of the fan mail received by Australian radio and television personalities in the 1980s and 1990s. The article focuses on letters received by Ruth Cracknell, who starred as Maggie Bear in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s sitcom Mother and Son (1984–94), and by ‘Roy Slaven’ (John Doyle) and ‘HG Nelson’ (Greig Pickhaver), who have been co-presenting satirical sports programs on Australia’s airwaves since 1986.' 

 (Introduction)

'The events surrounding the British nuclear tests in Central Australia came alive for Australian television audiences when the ABC screened Operation Buffalo in May and June 2020. The series was inspired by the actual tests at Maralinga, although screen writer and producer Peter Duncan was upfront in announcing that it was a work of ‘historical fiction’, along with a proviso that ‘a lot of the really bad history actually happened’.1 The series was promoted as a ‘captivating drama’ set in Maralinga in a Cold War climate in which ‘paranoia runs rife and nuclear bombs are not the only things being tested as loyalty, love and betrayal are pitted against each other’.2 The characters in Operation Buffalo include the handsome operations manager Major Leo Carmichael who is seduced by visiting British meteorologist Eva Lloyd George, a Russian spy; British General ‘Cranky’ Crankford who befriends Ruby and her Aboriginal family affected by the testing; and nurse Corinne who treats soldiers exposed to deadly nuclear chemicals. Meanwhile the British High Commissioner, key Australian politicians, prostitutes and ASIO agents weave in and out of the drama that includes visiting dignitaries observing the explosion of a nuclear device from a viewing platform.' (Introduction)