Close Encounters VIII  Paul F Walsh  Ignorance was walking down the street when he met Knowledge. ‘I am very strong,’ Ignorance said. ‘We are the majority.’ ‘I know that you think that,’ Knowledge said, ‘but when you multiply ignorance you get divisive weakness rather than unifying strength.’ ‘Says who,’ Ignorance demanded. ‘Knowledge,’ Knowledge
Close Encounters VII  Paul F Walsh Ignorance was walking down the street when he met Knowledge. ‘A YES vote would divide us, mate,’ Ignorance said. ‘We’re all equal here in Australia, mate, even the Aborigines.’ ‘So, you’re voting NO to maintain your equality with Aborigines?’ Knowledge asked. ‘Well, when you put it like that
Close Encounters IV  Paul F Walsh  Ignorance was walking down the street towards his car when he met Knowledge. ‘You should always drive on the left-hand side of the road,’ Knowledge advised. ‘There’s nothing left about me, you woke, leftie bastard!’ Ignorance declared. And that night, Ignorance woke in the hospital thinking that he
Close Encounters III  Paul F Walsh  Ignorance was walking down the street when he met Knowledge. ‘If you don’t know, vote NO!’ Ignorance said. ‘But I do know,’ Knowledge replied. ‘Well, you best vote YES then, I reckon,’ Ignorance declared. ‘Exactly,’ Knowledge agreed, ‘but now you know too.’ ‘How do you figure that?’
Heart of our Nation Paul F Walsh Speech at Conservatorium September 21 2023 The photo behind me features Uncle Bob Smith. Uncle Bob was a humble man, a teller of tales, my friend and comrade. When Uncle Bob’s black dreaming of an accommodation centre for the relatives of Aboriginal patients at John Hunter Hospital met
Return to Yallarwah Paul F Walsh  ‘By February next year, it will all be here: Yallarwah Place, Yallarwah Bicentenary Walk and Yallarwah Circle of Reflection. And every person who looks upon this memorial over the next one hundred years will know. They will know that we built it with love in our hearts and
 Merlin Magic Susan Harvey  I’m just so full of Merlin, and I want to write something about what she means to me. Beautiful girl. Yes, but she has a male name! Well, when she turned up, she was wild and injured. We couldn’t get close enough to her to determine her sex and,
 Merlin Paul F Walsh  Merlin, Merlin Merlin Magnificat I love Merlin What could be plainer than that? She is a beautiful pussycat Of that I have no doubt about And Merlin this, and Merlin that She’s a beautiful pussycat  I love Merlin Merlin Magnificat I love Merlin What could be plainer than
Stargazer Paul F Walsh  Today is my birthday in 2021. The best early birthday gift that I ever received is Susan Louise Harvey. Susan and I grew up at either end of Lambton Park, but we did not knowingly meet until we were adults, and we then discovered that we shared the same childhood
Australia Day by Paul F Walsh Yesterday, we sat in the gutter harvesting six hundred litres of stormwater for our Placemaking Project in Rosann Park. Today, Susan used a small portion of our harvest to water our Banksia Birthday Candles. These precious native plants protect our community time capsule, which contains Aboriginal artefacts contributed by