For an ecologist working in a tangle of creeks in North Queensland, crocodiles are a tangible threat. We are food to them, yet we must learn to co-exist with these creatures.
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Following scandals over illegal logging, and with an appetite for rare, old-growth wood, the guitar industry is rethinking its environmental footprint. Australian companies are leading the way.
How does the spirit of Byron Byron endure wave after wave of seekers and lately, Instagram influencers? Sally Breen took a road trip and found a something deeper in the beachy township.
The line between what is normal and what is pathological has blurred. We risk our collective sanity and our planet if we stick to business as usual.
Is there an essence of love? Is it ultimately about commitment? Philosophy can offer some answers.
Australian Indigenous languages use a fascinating array of expressions drawing on body parts to describe emotions. Here is a guide to some of the most intriguing ones.
Many Australians believe in the existence of the soul. Here is a brief guide to how the five major world religions imagine the soul’s origin and journey.
What happens when the distant frontier takes up residence in the family home? How are we to remember our flawed ancestors? A new book grapples with these questions.
Every day, the internet fills up with more and more dead people while our ability to reanimate them grows. The dead are more robust and more vulnerable — and we’re not ready for any of this.
The widespread conflict that accompanied Australian life for 140 years was arguably our most important war. We need a museum telling this story, funded on a par with The Australian War Memorial.
An artist and self-proclaimed witch, Rosaleen Norton defied cultural norms in Menzies-era Australia. Reviled by the media, she was a powerfully unconventional woman.
Before the goldrush, Indigenous people told stories about how the bronzewing pigeon seeded precious minerals across the land. Europeans stole not just land, but the value deep within it.
It was once thought the Aboriginal names for the Hawkesbury had been lost forever. But after a remarkable find in the Mitchell Library, almost 100 place names will be restored to Dyarubbin Country.
A spear-thrower, a shell, a bowl, a vase, a bucket. Five very different items tell us much about the history of collecting, the role of Indigenous experts and the shadow of colonial violence.
Will the newest batch of books about the climate crisis change minds? Reading about the problem can help us understand it, but it’s political action that is needed now.
Pardalotes are quintessentially Australian birds, industrious, beautiful and strange. They have adapted to our environment but we are corroding the places in which they live.
A new book by participants in the controversial ‘Grievance Studies’ hoax critiques the rise of an ideology they call Social Justice Theory. But the authors overstate their case.
Alice Pung’s family escaped Pol Pot to settle in Australia. In suburban Melbourne, as her mum worked in the dark, back shed, she discovered books — and what the world could be.
A new Greta Thunberg biopic has drawn criticism from those who don’t see the value in the stories of young lives. But children’s voices matter — and Thunberg’s is potent.
Trees seeded after the end of the last ice age, which survived the ruptures of invasion and industry, have re-emerged as art.
Top contributors
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Professor in Politics and Journalism, University of Notre Dame Australia
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Associate Professor in Literary Studies, Monash University
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Associate Professor in Creative Writing, Griffith University
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Visiting Research Fellow, Department of English and Creative Writing, Adelaide University
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Emeritus Professor in the History of Religious Thought, The University of Queensland
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Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland
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Joanna Mendelssohn is a Friend of The Conversation.
Honorary Senior Fellow, School of Culture and Communication, The University of Melbourne
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Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney
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PhD Candidate, Creative Writing, The University of Melbourne
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Associate Professor (adjunct) in Creative Writing, Flinders University
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Emeritus Professor of Creative Writing, The University of Melbourne
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Lecturer, Deakin University
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Professor Emeritus of Media and Culture, Griffith University, Griffith University
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Professor of English, Flinders University
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Research Fellow, Digital Cultures & Societies, The University of Queensland