0 - Eureka Street

thshort list
Snowy River Story: The Grassroots Campaign
to Save a National Icon, Claire Miller. ABC
Books, 2005. ISBN 0 733 31533 X, RRP $35
In its real and mythological forms, the
Snowy River is deeply bound up with the
Australian story. It represents the strength
and mystique of the Australian bush. It
brought to bear the engineering and labour
feats of Australians working on the Snowy
Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme. It gave
us that icon of a fearless and sturdy Australian,
the Man From Snowy River. Claire Miller offers readers
another angle of the Snowy: a river deprived of its water flow, and
the locals from Dalgety and Orbost who decided to fight for its
environmental restoration.
Miller tells the story of those who stoked the fires of the campaign,
including Craig Ingram's unlikely rise to political prominence
as campaign figurehead. She recounts the constant struggle
to engage state and federal governments and persuade them of the
merits of a guaranteed 28 per cent flow. Her final chapter provides
the personal perspectives of women and men who have lived on
the Snowy, including an important indigenous perspective. It was
they who first understood that the Snowy gives life.
At its core, Miller's book is about the potency of grassroots
politics. It was because of the energy and stoicism of a few impassioned
people that the campaign to save the Snowy reached the
ears of Spring Street and Canberra.
-Emily Millane
A
SHORT
HISTORY
OF
MYTY
KAREN ARMSTRONG
A Short History of Myth, Karen Armstrong.
Text, 2005. ISBN 1 920 88587 0, RRP $22
Many 'enlightened and rational' people today
believe we no longer need myths. Karen Armstrong
argues that they're wrong: humans
are myth-making creatures, and myths are
'designed to help us cope with the problematic
human predicament'. They are not simply
fairy tales or ancient explanations for
natural phenomena, but emotional and spiritual
necessities for finding meaning in our
lives and in the world around us.
Her book traces the development of mythology and its ties to
human history: paleolithic hunters and shamans gave way to neolithic
farmers and artisans; ancient world civilisations eventually
led to the Western transformation of the last few centuries. It also
analyses the relationships between some of our most fundamental
myths, from Babylonian culture through Judaism, Christianity
and Islam, and on to modern myth creators such as Eliot, Joyce
and Conrad.
Armstrong is a former Catholic nun who writes with authority,
although the brief examples in this slender volume may leave
a novice wanting something more comprehensive. Never mind
the 'short history'; what's more intriguing are her musings on the
nature and meaning of myths, and how they allow us to find the
divine aspects in our mortal selves. She concludes that we need
a return to myths to bring 'fresh insight to our lost and damaged
world'. In today's times, even the rational and enlightened among
us would have to agree.
- Ali Lerner
Yarra: A Diverting History of Melbourne's
Murky River, Kristin Otto. Text, 2005. ISBN 1
920 88578 1, RRP $32
The Yarra has always been, in my mind, a river
too urbanised to be interesting, at least once it
leaves its forest and wineries upstream. Kristin
Otto's exploration of the past of the river that
'flows upside down', an ambitious popular history,
swept me through the stories of the whole
of the length and life of Melbourne's river.
Otto's slim book recounts the variety of
life played out along the river's banks over the centuries, from its
geological formation, and significance for the Wurundjeri people,
to the crime, pollution and development since white settlement.
In the process it dredges up old tales of sex and sport and industry.
With her background in fine art, she writes best when she
explores the art which the Yarra has inspired- particularly the
work of the Heidelberg painters in the 1880s.
These past 170 years since John Batman's 'treaty' with Wurundjeri
elders have seen constant efforts to control and straighten
the river-and the cultural chaos and deviance which the Yarra,
and Melbourne, have seen.
Yarra is in part a cautionary tale about the ways in which
the authorities have sought to regulate and change a river, and
the unhappy consequences for the health of the river and its culture.
It is also an invitation to a journey through the stories of
a great waterway.
- Joel Townsend
Trinity College
THE UNIVERSITY Of MELBOURNE
Easy answers not enough
Why not explore faith and equ ip
yourself for ministry with Trinity College
Theological School in 2006
On Campus Courses
• Ministry Formation Prograrn for those
exploring ordained or lay ministry
• Undergraduate and graduate degrees
Online Courses
• Diploma in Ministry
• Graduate Diploma in Theo logy
• M aster of Divinity
Parish-based Courses
• Certifica te in Th eology and Ministry
• Credo
Trinity College Th eological School is part of
th e United Faculty of Th eology, and teaches for
awards of th e Melbourne College of Divinity.
For course, unit and enrolment deta ils contact:
Dr David O 'Brien, Registrar
Tel: 03 9348 7478
Email: tctsregistrar@trinity.unimelb.edu.au
www.trinity.unimelb.edu.au/theology
Shaping women and men in Christian mission and ministry
NOVEM BER- DECEM BER 2005 EUREKA STR EET 47