Notes from Pig City - Archive of author and journalist Andrew Stafford

Nicky Winmar: the game-changer

AFL / June 9, 2023 / 6 minutes of reading

Nicky Winmar is exhausted. For months, he has been dreading this anniversary. He schemed about how he could avoid the fuss, dodge the media, or somehow wish the events of 30 years ago away.

But there’s no getting around it. Now he’s doing his best to embrace the moment. Tomorrow, April 17, marks the day in 1993 that the St Kilda legend turned and lifted his jumper to a feral Collingwood crowd who had been racially sledging him, and pointed to his skin.

“I’m proud to be black,” he fired back at the mob.

His team had prevailed. Winmar had kicked the sealer, storming through traffic at full tilt to intercept and slotting a goal from outside 50 metres. His Indigenous teammate Gilbert McAdam had kicked another five. And Sunday Age photographer Wayne Ludbey had captured the moment that froze Winmar in the public eye forever.

That public image has been a heavy burden to carry. A statue of Winmar, striking the pose that landed him on the front page of the paper the next morning, now stands outside Optus Stadium in Perth. But Neil Elvis “Nicky” Winmar the man is no statue.

“I did get tired after that game.… Read more..

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Dave Graney & Clare Moore: still hip

Music / June 9, 2023 / 5 minutes of reading

In Terry Southern’s classic short story You’re Too Hip, Baby, a white hipster hangs around the jazz clubs in Paris in the 1950s, desperately trying to ingratiate himself with the Black musicians. They quickly see through the schmuck, blowing him off with the snappy comeback.

It’s an unlikely premise for a song. But in 1993, 30 years after Southern’s story was published in Esquire, Australian musician Dave Graney and his band, the Coral Snakes, came out with their own version. You’re Just Too Hip, Baby was slinky and sly, with Graney adding a withering putdown of his own: “You take a feather from every bird you see – you’ll never fly!”

The song catapulted Graney from the margins to the edge of the mainstream, despite being completely at odds with the prevailing trends of the time. “We were never after an indie sound,” Graney says. “I think we were quite influenced by our time in the UK, hearing lots of R&B music. We came back to Australia and it was mad for hard rock.”

You’re Just Too Hip, Baby led the album Night Of The Wolverine, which marks its 30th anniversary this month. As announced on Thursday morning, the Coral Snakes – guitarist Rod Hayward, keyboard player Robin Casinader and drummer, percussionist and Graney’s life partner, Clare Moore – are making a rare reunion for a celebratory run of shows.… Read more..

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Mo’Ju: Oro, Plata, Mata

Music / June 9, 2023 / 3 minutes of reading

It’s often forgotten that the Greek tragedy of Midas, the man with the golden touch, is actually a cautionary tale of being careful what you wish for. Mojo Ruiz de Luzuriaga – the Filipino-Wiradjuri artist better known as Mo’Ju, formerly Mojo Juju – has not forgotten the lesson. On their fourth album Oro, Plata, Mata, Mo’Ju dedicates a song to the mythical king of Phrygia: “I won’t worship at your phoney idols,” they sing.

Some background to this high-concept album is necessary: Oro, Plata, Mata was a 1982 film made by Mo’Ju’s late uncle, the celebrated Filipino director Peque Gallaga. The title literally translates as Gold, Silver, Death – drawn from the Spanish Filipino architectural superstition that the design components of a house (especially staircases) should not be in multiples of three. The film’s three acts follow this theme: from luxury to retreat to ill fortune.

In its title and structure, Mo’Ju’s album is an homage to Gallaga. The three tracks representing the title are short, eerie and near-identical snippets, after which follow three songs each: (Oro): Gold, Money, Midas; (Plata): Something To Believe In, Bran Nue Wurld, Change Has To Come; (Mata): The Future, World Would End and Swan Song.… Read more..

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A conversation with Jack Thompson

Music / June 8, 2023 / 5 minutes of reading

Before he became one of Australia’s best-loved actors, Jack Thompson had already been many things. At the age of 15, he became a jackaroo in the Northern Territory, working on the remote cattle station of Elkedra. There, he says, he observed a life that no longer exists. At camp, he was the only white person among the adult Alyawarra men.

It was fine preparation for his cinematic work in the 1970s and early 80s when he became an icon of the Australian New Wave, taking leading and supporting roles in classics including Sunday Too Far Away (1975), The Chant Of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978), Breaker Morant (1980) and The Man From Snowy River (1982).

It also made him an obvious choice to record a voiceover for Our Country, a 40-screen, 360-degree celebration of Australia’s natural landscape and wildlife by Australian Geographic, in partnership with Tourism Australia. Curated by Karina Holden, and now open in Brisbane, it collates the work of 25 cinematographers who spent a combined 100,000 hours in the field.

Now 82, Thompson lives in northern New South Wales. He spoke to Guardian Australia in good humour – and with that distinctive voice intact.

Tell us about Our Country.… Read more..

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Chris Fagan: the last step is the longest

AFL / June 8, 2023 / 5 minutes of reading

Chris Fagan lets a long pause hang in the air. It stretches for 15 seconds, 20, 25, over 30. The Brisbane Lions coach knows what he wants to say about the AFL’s investigation into allegations of systematic racism during his time as general manager of football at Hawthorn, alongside four-time premiership coach Alastair Clarkson.

But for as long as the investigation remains ongoing, he is bound by a confidentiality agreement that prevents him from saying anything. Coming into his seventh year in the job, he has resigned himself to controlling the things he can control. “Just being able to get on with the job here, day in and day out, takes your mind off it,” he says.

Fagan is simmering. He is not good at hiding his emotions. Sometimes things boil over, something fans often see as he coaches from the sidelines. “That’s just me being me – it’s not a show, it’s who I am,” he says. He allows himself a grin. “I’m 61! I reckon changing that’s going to be tough to do now.”

Fagan knows he’ll likely never get a better shot at a premiership than in 2023. He has also never entered a season under more pressure.… Read more..

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Jewel in the crown land

Environment / June 8, 2023 / 6 minutes of reading

On the edge of a thin strip of roadside vegetation, a man in the far end of his 80s peers up into the canopy of a bulloak tree.

A minute speck flashes high above him. “Here’s a Bulloak Jewel! It’s a male, you got it?” he calls out.

He wears no glasses or binoculars, but the eyes of legendary lepidopterist Dr Don Sands are undiminished. So is his enthusiasm.

His research assistant, ecologist Matthew Head, tracks the speck, eyes darting. He wields a hefty 600mm lens. “Look at the size of that monstrous subtropical butterfly,” he mutters drily.

It is hardly bigger than a thumbnail. “C’mon mate … Ah no, don’t go over there!” Eventually it perches, high and vigilant.

We are at Ellangowan Nature Refuge, a 1.5km stretch of road near the one-pub town of Leyburn, on the Darling Downs of south-east Queensland.

This tiny, unprepossessing patch of scrub is home to one of Australia’s most endangered insects. Even here, it is incredibly vulnerable.

Between the 50 metres that separate the road and private property, gnarled, burnt-orange angophora trees predate the arrival of Europeans by centuries. There hasn’t been a fire here for a long time. But the trees are scarred by old lightning strikes, leaving hollows and stumps that have been colonised by a very special ant on which the butterfly depends.… Read more..

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