History – The Consolations of Writing

Change the Heart

When those 12 ships turned up in Sydney, all those years ago, it wasn’t a particularly flash day for the people on those vessels either… Prime Minister Scott Morrison It was not a flash day at Sydney Cove,not a flash day for anyone.Not flash for the sailors, turning aboutfor a week in that blasting SouthernContinue reading “Change the Heart”

Epiphany: Heartshine

“What can I give him, Poor as I am?” Christina Rossetti Today is one of the most important days in the old church calendar, but also one of the most widely forgotten: the feast of Epiphany. Today we remember the wise men visiting Jesus, but we also remember what this represents, that the Gospel hasContinue reading “Epiphany: Heartshine”

Advance

We also came across the seas, my people: Romans, Vikings, colonials, the lot of them, convicts and scoundrels, emperors and ne’er-do-wells. They came and they saw, they usurped, or were sent. You came like us, to this lucky country. You came in hope. We take it from you. We also heard of the boundless plains;Continue reading “Advance”

Unexpected Gifts

Because the Danes roared across the waves in Viking- glory, horn-helmeted King Cnut at the helm, we can now say that we are glad, can label small what we’d otherwise miss, and can cut with a knife the smallest things the eye can see. Come wind and hail, though time may slay, we lay cold and rain beforeContinue reading “Unexpected Gifts”

Damascus Road: Midday

Indeed, my friends, let us not forget in our wakefulness… (Saint Ephraim the Syrian, Hymns of the Nativity) Do I assume this peace? Some peasants once, I am told, when they had had enough of false liberty, took cobblestones and made them missiles. And men of another age were warned that their panelled houses couldContinue reading “Damascus Road: Midday”