Sydney Publishing

By Monica Purcell

With thousands of protesters rallying outside Parliament House last month to stop amateur hunting in New South Wales’ national parks, issues regarding the purpose and ideals of our national parks and their visitors have once again come to a head. On the one hand, amateur hunters maintain their right to enjoy these parks just other members of the public do. However, public figures such as former NSW environment minister Bob Debus condemn the NSW Premier, Barry O’Farrell’s plans to allow amateur hunters to conduct ‘pest control’ in national parks, labelling them as ‘a deliberate attack’ on the environment. Organised groups of bushwalkers and various other stakeholders raise cries in concern for the safety of other park visitors. Today, Fairfax Media broke the news of a draft report recommending that ‘the government should “immediately” consider opening national parks and other reserved areas for logging to ensure the viability of the timber industry’. In light of such heated debate it is worth taking a moment to reflect on how responses to these issues have changed over time.

By Lotte Chow

Republicans and lobbyists for gun manufacturers have been blamed for today’s defeat of new gun control measures in the US Senate, despite the public support for the legislation that aimed to expand background checks for firearms purchases. This debate over gun control in the US was restarted in the wake of the shootings in December 2012 when a gunman killed 20 children and six teachers in a primary school in the small US town of Newtown, Connecticut.

Following the Sandy Hook Elementary shootings, President Barack Obama vowed to use ‘whatever power this office holds’ to prevent similar atrocities being committed. Ironically, gun permit applications skyrocketed after the massacre. Obama proposed universal background checks on gun permits and a ban on assault rifles. The Second Amendment, along with difficulties of attaining federal reform in gun control, makes this a daunting task for the President.

Other than the occasional primary school retellings of the Ned Kelly tales and the odd jaunt through Old Sydney Town, most of us have never really spent much time thinking about our early national identity. The gold-rush, early explorers and 'red coats' are phenomena of which are, more often than not, left unthought of.

Needless to say, however, Australia has a unique and highly eccentric literary heritage. Henry Lawson, writer, poet and artist, lived in a much earthier Australia. His stories - with their easy Australian humour and vivid descriptions - encapsulate the world of early Australia; a bleak and expansive world of diggers, threadbare homesteads and the unobtrusive billy boiling in the corner.

By Jacqui Shilson-Josling

In my time studying at the University of Sydney, I have always taken for granted the existence of the large and well respected Faculty of Science. I, like most of my fellow science students, had never stopped to think how I would attain my degree if the University did not have a science faculty. That is, until I read the fascinating account of the life of Archibald Liversidge and his countless contributions to the University of Sydney and the wider field of science in Australia.

By Lauren Maule

I think every university student remembers the overwhelming feeling of starting their first university degree. Everything seems so different from high school – the atmosphere, the students, the teachers, the rules, the assignments. One of the biggest differences, and the one hardest to wrap your head around, is writing essays. For one, the sheer number of them, all different types with various requirements. After completing a bachelor’s degree you finally feel as though you have a handle on what academic essays should be and how to conquer the process of writing them. Of course, having this knowledge at the end of your degree hardly helps you during it.

By Bronwyn O'Reilly

The most popular insult of the moment – in Australian politics, anyway – is for politicians to label their opponents ‘sexist’. Tony Abbott’s rejection of the RU-486 abortion pill back in 2005 when he was Health Minister has come back to haunt him. Abbott continues to maintain that he did not approve the use of RU-486 because of advice from the Chief Medical Officer that use of the pill was significantly more dangerous than surgical termination. This was despite the Australian Medical Association’s approval, and even though the pill was already in use in many countries around the world.

By Sophie Watt

When I was a child, my parents dragged me all over the Australian countryside to develop “an appreciation for Australia’s history” by visiting colonial houses, convict-built bridges and, in some sad cases, the crumbling ruins of what was once a proud part of our country’s heritage. While it impressed on me how little choice I had in my own history schooling, it did open a rich world of heritage-listed architecture built well before my time, and demonstrated what it stood for.

But have you ever wondered who decides whether that run-down cottage you drive by, or the sandstone bridge you walk over, survives modern development? Or how much this heritage conservation costs?