Australian politics, society & culture

The Monthly Essays

Ship-loading tower, Triabunna mill wharf. © Mike Bowers
The destruction of the Triabunna mill and the fall of Tasmania's woodchip industry
How the end of Gunns cleared a new path for Tasmania
By John van Tiggelen
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A postcard showing the interior of Stateville Correctional Centre, Illinois, modelled on Bentham’s Panopticon. Courtesy of Alex Wellerstein
The end of secrets
Privacy is fast becoming a quaint old-fashioned thing
By Linda Jaivin
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Flowers
Love, death and the Serbian flag
By Lally Katz
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Bill Shorten and Tony Abbott at the opening of parliament, November 2013. © Gary Ramage / Newspix  
The people versus the political class
The distance between us and our rulers is getting bigger
By Richard Cooke
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A sugar-cube replica of Rachel Whiteread’s Embankment (2005) © The Art Fund
Sugar town
Have we lost control of what we eat?
By Gail Bell
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At eighty
Forty years of friendship
By Murray Bail
During the days before the celebration I looked back to when I first met D. in Sydney. I had been away from Australia for six years, and returned in 1974. I had never lived in Sydney, but then so many Sydney people, I soon realised, were arrivals from all parts of the country and had not been born in Sydney. I knew
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The Academi (formerly Blackwater) camp in the Great Dismal Swamp, North Carolina. © Academi
Guns for hire
The surprising role of Australians in the rise of private security companies
By James Brown
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An empty billboard on the road to Corinth. © John Tsiavis
Whatever happened to the working class?
The left has forgotten where it came from
By Christos Tsiolkas
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Illustration by Neil Moore.
Men of a certain age
What is the cost of propping up Tony Abbott's favourite minority?
By Rachel Nolan
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A funny thing happened on the way to Adelaide
A car accident brings an unlikely collection of people together
By Helen Garner
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Perth’s Council House and the Ore Obelisk: celebrating “the harmony of mining and environment”. © City of Perth
Perth goes boom
A week among the arts in the City of Light
By Robyn Annear
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LEFT: Angelo Kaloudis waiting for the train at Newcastle. RIGHT: Harley Page and Nathan Isherwood after getting off the train at Cardiff.  CCTV images courtesy of NSW Police.
Last train to murder
One terrible night on the Newcastle line
By David Kelly
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A woman greets her fiance aboard the HMAS Sydney, 1969. Photo by Cliff Bottomley. Image courtesy of the National Archives of Australia.
The Royal Australian Navy's struggle for our hearts and minds
The time of the modern mariner
By Claire Corbett
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Fairytale of New York
Will Australia learn from the US's healthcare mistakes?
By Lally Katz
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© Darren Pateman / Fairfax Syndication
Old folks, new technology
Can senior citizens bridge the digital divide?
By Robyn Annear
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Jarrod Bleijie inspecting unsafe toys at a Brisbane childcare centre as part of “Operation Safe Christmas”, December 2013. © Dan Peled / AAP
Jarrod Bleijie takes on the bikies
The rise of Queensland’s young attorney-general
By Andrew McMillen
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Shark Bay, WA, 1977: Robyn Davidon completes her nine-month trek across the desert. © Rick Smolan / Getty Images
Robyn Davidson and Mia Wasikowska make ‘Tracks’
An epic desert trek finally reaches the screen
By Gail Bell
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Gavin Nicholls was attacked by a shark while surfing near Newcastle in 2008. © Jonathan Carroll / Fairfax Syndication
The Western Australian shark cull
Behind the rhetoric of protesters and promoters
By Richard King
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