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G'Day Cobbers!

Gintaras et al.,
Thanks for inviting me to join your discussions. I have been reading the posts and I am very impressed. I am still a Professor at Macquarie University although I have cut back the undergraduate teaching to concentrate on Research. Currently I have two books under way:
1. A study of the first ever university- level Australian History Course in the world- Stanford in 1907-8
2. A book called A REBELLIOUS SOLDIERY AND A RAPACIOUS PEASANTRY? Australians and the French 1916-1920.
I have ambitions to write a biography of TW Stanford who lived in Melbourne for much of his life-spiritualism, art, entrepreneurship... We will see!

Comments

  1. Glad to have you aboard, George. The only history I remember reading of Australia was Hughes' The Fatal Shore. Big fan of Peter Carey.

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  2. Welcome, George! Nice to see you here.

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  3. The one thing that intrigues me the most about Ozland is its great sports history. Back in the 60s it produced some great tennis players wiht Rod Laver being my fave. Years later I greatly enjoyed watching Mal Meninga:

    http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200706/r148833_527289.jpg

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mal_Meninga

    To me, rugby is the King of team sports and nobody played the game with greater skill or intensity than he did. I hope some day you will get a chance to do a prolonged study on the subject and to write a book that will reveal the nation's great sports history.

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  4. George,nice to see you hear.We hope to have Robert Whelan back with us at some point.

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  5. So glad to see your own fine self once more, Parsons. Hope there will be more tales of adventure of whatever kind you care to pass along. (E.g., how was your sojourn at Stanford/SF, where are your wandering young'uns these days, and did Enfielder's planned sojourn in your 'hood ever occur, and if so, how was that?)

    Somehow I feel I should say I'm sorry I never became the Patrick White fan that chartres did, but I did stay with Carey for a few more novels. Also, I confess I'm old enough to have seen and admired Rod Laver in person...well, in tournament, somewhere on the E. Coast (the U.S. one) sometime in the '60s. Enuf confession for today.

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  6. Thanks everyone! I'll give you a blow-by-blow account of the Stanford travels one day. In the meantime stepson Justin Wolfers and partner Betsey Stevenson are both at the Wharton School. Their latest production is a daughter called Matilda.
    Trippler : I have written about Rugby League a lot-a history of St George. One of these days I'll finish an article I started a while ago on the Australian Rugby tour of the US in 1912. And Mal is still thriving. Coach of the all-conquering Queensland.

    Laver was in our golden days of tennis.Now our best are Samantha Stosur and an ageing Leyton Hewitt.Rather sad.

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  7. Hi GP!

    Thanx for that news.

    St George-Illawarra Dragons currently sit atop the NRL rankings (or what you Ozmen call "ladder"). Re Queensland, I hope you had a chance to view the State of Origin (SOO) between the Maroons (cached by Mal M) and the Blues of NSW. Normally, I do not watch what we Yanks call "all star games" as most are boring and feature very little defense. However, the SOO is the exception to this rule as it is perhaps the most intense all star game in the world.

    I enjoyed your article on heroes:

    http://www.pr.mq.edu.au/macnews/june01/heroes.htm

    Lleyton? I refer to him as "Baby Huey" for his constant whining - what a pathetic example compared to all those great Oz sports heroes. I have yet to read my copy of "Bodyline" as the print on the book is too small for my weak and aging eyes. But maybe some day ...

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  8. I am writing a paper for a seminar at the Sorbonne in Paris about the Australians in France 1916-1920. The Boys from OZ were impressed that French ladies put their legs around their neck! It did wonders for Australian-French relations.Anyone know the American reaction? Or were you more worldly than us colonials?

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  9. http://www.usgennet.org/usa/mo/county/stlouis/ww1-music/downonthefarm.htm

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  10. And for accompaniment:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlUExq2hNBU

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