Page 27 - Mitchell Library News Today

Population has always been a critical driver of events and prior to the Industrial Revolution we lived in a zero sum world, with energy and resources effectively limited to that which could be harvested from photosynthesis, one person’s gain was at the limit, always someone else’s loss. Very low density hunter gather populations could thrive (often quite nicely) because they rarely approached their local resource limits, but the invention of agriculture changed this dramatically. The next 1...

A great read Robert, thanks. This idea of the gift economy is deeply culturally bound in Asia, where at least twice a year families gather, and gifts, usually of money are exchanged. The head of the family (usually a grandmother) gets the bulk of the serious giving, and status is attached to generosity to her. Children also receive gifts, for which they bow to the responsible relative. One need not give gifts, but if not you lose the opportunity to gain status, and the children will not bow to ...

In 2017, I came across an extraordinary document in Sydney’s Mitchell Library: a handwritten list of 178 Aboriginal place names for Dyarubbin, the Hawkesbury River, compiled in 1829 by a Presbyterian minister, the Reverend John McGarvie. I was stunned. I stared at the screen, hardly believing my eyes. After years of research, my own and others, I thought most of the Aboriginal names for the river were lost forever, destroyed in the aftermath of invasion and dispossession. Yet, suddenly, this ...

By Hamish MacPherson Back in the Day I have long considered it a national disgrace that we do not do more to promote Robert Burns as Scotland’s gift to the world REGULAR readers may recall that I asked for people to email me about local history and heritage projects, and already I have a backlog, though please keep sending them to the above address. The latest in this occasional series is a local project with national implications, f...

The atrium of the Sir Duncan Rice Library at Aberdeen University. .Photograph by Colin Mearns “Libraries,” as James Dean Bradfield once reminded us in song, “gave us power.” Bastions of learning, discovery and Lee Child novels, our libraries remain one of our cultural treasures. More than 20 million books were borrowed from public libraries in Scotland last year. They are a vital source for public good. Even in this strange year when access is hugely restricted, libraries have been d...

Coalition wilfully ignores renewables many benefits We’re sorry, this service is currently unavailable. Please try again later. Dismiss Coalition wilfully ignores renewables many benefits December 11, 2020 — 12.03am Save Normal text size Credit: Thank you, Jessica Irvine, for spelling out the dilemma facing any government of Australia but, most particularly, the mob currently in charge ("Kicking the fossil-fuel jobs myth", December 10). The vast weight of respected science sa...