Innovatia

But the whole thing about being a colony – it’s a truism to say so – means that your job is the exporting of raw products and the purchase of manufactured and inventive goods from the imperial centre. Hence a mindset arose which depicted Australia as, above all, an outpost. There were some things we could do, but other, and often cleverer, things were better left to the Northern Hemisphere, and were imported here. Hence, in the early 1960s, I felt a sense that lit- erature wasn’t something meant to come from Australia. That was my post-colonial timidity at work. Of course, the other side of the Australian character, the idea of having a go, saved me from myself in the end. A country which sees itself as an outpost, however delightful, is inevitably destined to be uneasy about matters of culture, about subtle challenges and the whole vision thing. Now, the generation of managers who felt the post-colo- nial twinges I did are just starting to retire, and one wonders to what extent they and I have been tempered in our courage for innovation by the lurking idea that it’s not our business down at this end of the world, and that it might even be costly in the short term. So we are great at tak- ing up technologies, but might lack the habits for creating them. Perhaps, too, our culture has been fatally marked by the gold rushes, by the concept, expressed by an old folk song, of mak- ing a fortune in a day, and spending it in a week. Though there is much more private money spent on research and development, the gov- ernment seems reluctant to make it a national priority. Such funding is granted grudgingly, say scientists, as if it were just another wing of state welfare. A small country like Australia, without the well-established incentives and habits of

endowment which characterise the American economy, needs more not less research and development funding, since the crucial inven- tiveness distance between ourselves and the Americans, even between ourselves and the Europeans, is growing exponentially. Yet it seems that in this matter, the old timidity prevails. That, may I say, was one of the reasons I was an Australian republican: I had a belief, sincere if easily mocked, that becoming a republic would place us unambiguously in our region, define us in our own antipodean terms and as more than mere outpost, and thus serve as a spur to all our imaginations, all our impulses of inventiveness, of courage, of having a go. In perilous times, maybe we could combine the two Lindsay images – maintain the rock-jaw of intent, and the freshness of a young clever nation, inventive on its own behalf and possibly, then, on behalf of the world. Thomas Keneally is one of the most successful and celebrated modern Australian writers. Keneally was short-listed for the Booker prize on four occasions with The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, Gossip from the Forest and Confederates, before winning in 1982 with Schindler’s Ark. He has won the Miles Franklin award twice, for his works Bring Larks and Heroes and Three Cheers for the Paraclete. Keneally’s latest book, An Angel in Australia, was released in 2002. “If we want to assert ourselves as a creative force in the modern world, we must embrace the aspect of our national identity that encourages tenacity and ‘having a go’.”

Did Australia really produce the greatest art critic of the latter 20th century? We call for an in-depth retrospective on Robert Hughes – his work, his times, his (multiple) points of view, and his influence. During his 30 years as art critic for TIME magazine, Robert Hughes spoke knowingly to a much larger audience than other historians of the subject. He co- created and presented several widely viewed and important TV series. He wrote 15 books, some of them indispensable classics in the field. Above all, he taught readers how to see and think about art. As an erudite historian, he dragged the discussion from the hazy altitudes of the art press down to earth. Context: art is an extension of and a reaction to the wider culture, here and now, so what’s going on? Coming Soon

Stay tuned for our answer.

INNOVATIA

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INNOVATIA

| Art & Culture

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