Augusta's New Writeups

Sydney Morning Herald (thing)

2004-09-22T14:58:41Z

Broadsheets are back: The Sydney Morning Herald

History: Australia's longest-running newspaper, founded in 1831

The Sydney Morning Herald is not Australia's first newspaper¹, but it is the longest-running. Founded in 1831, the Sydney Herald was created by recent immigrants William McGarvie, Alfred Stephens and Frederick Stokes and published weekly. The trio, former writers for Australia's first newspaper, the Sydney Gazette, named the paper after Scotland's Glasgow Herald.
The 4-page paper cost 7d, with a circulation of just 750 copies printed out of Redman's Court, near George Street. Only Sydney's upper classes had high enough literacy levels and disposable income to read the newspaper regularly, and it appealed to the ordered society that pervaded the coastal colony.

The Sydney Herald rose in popularity and circulation. By May 1832 it was

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Responsible government (idea)

2004-06-30T11:14:15Z

Responsible government: the delicious taste of checks and balances

'Responsible government' is a tenet of the Westminster system of Parliament. In countries such as Canada and Australia, responsible government describes the conventions which govern the relationship of the Cabinet, the Parliament and the Vice Regal, instituting a series of checks and balances on the power of each.

How a parliamentary democracy works

Westminster democracies are governed by a Parliament comprised of elected representatives, also known as Members of Parliament. Generally, each Member of Parliament belongs to a political party. The party with the most members of Parliament (or the party that can form a coalition) in the Parliament's lower house comes together to form the government.

The Government assigns some of its Members of Parliament to oversee policy for departments in the public service. These people are

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National Union of Students (thing)

2004-03-14T06:00:34Z

Node your extra-curricular-work.

'... a focal point for the restless energy and fired passion of Australian students in each valley of the continent.'
-- National Union of Students General Secretary Daniel Mookhey

Since its resurrection in 1987, the National Union of Students in Australia has been plagued by doubt over its reason for existence. "The National Union of Students lurches under the weight of applied idealism and mistaken expectations," said current NUS General Secretary Daniel Mookhey. "Too many seek too much too soon from an organisation configured to do nothing more than harness the energy of Australian students and speak as their voice."

Opinions differ wildly over why the student union exists and what it should aim to achieve. NUS State President Tim Chapman said that "NUS should be the body through which students views are articulated and fought for at a national and…

coalition of the willing (thing)

2003-04-27T04:12:00Z

Summary

"Yesterday the President met with the leaders of what he calls the Coalition of the Willing, and what everybody else calls England and Spain."

-- Jon Stewart, The Daily Show

The "Coalition of the Willing" is the alliance of countries that joined forces to overthrow Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, 2003.

The United States originally pursued this aim in the United Nations. At first, the U.S. used existing Security Council Resolutions to justify a war. But the relevant Resolutions (678, 687 and 1441) contained ambiguous wording, designed to prevent the U.N. from being locked into a course of action.

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Famous Faces on Australian Bank Notes (thing)

2003-02-07T23:32:55Z

"[If we become a Republic]
Who'll be on the money?
I'm telling you, if it's John Howard,
You won't say 'tails or heads,'
You'll say 'tails or dickheads.'"

-- Scared Weird Little Guys, 'We Love the Royals'

I have a wallet full of Dame Mary Gilmores and Edith Cowans. But who are these curious visages from our dark and distant past? We stuff their faces into our wallets without regard for their personalities. We snort cocaine through their rolled-up polymer lithographs and we don't even know their names.

The notes are listed in order of ascending value, and the faces are listed in order of front and back. To determine which side is the front, look for the clear watermark - it appears on the right-hand side of the note when you are looking at the front.

$5 note

The $5 note is the most widely-circulated of all the

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Red Dragon (thing)

2002-10-27T04:34:35Z

Red Dragon - the 2002 cinema release

To understand the origin of evil, you must go back to the beginning.

This is the third of Thomas Harris's Hannibal Lecter series to be converted to a film. Red Dragon is the prequel to Silence of the Lambs and its events take place just before the best-selling story. This tale was made into a film many years ago: the infamous 1986 Manhunter, a strange movie which deviates greatly from the script. Red Dragon, however, is a faithful representation of the book: everybody's favourite serial killer, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, helps detective Will Graham to catch a brutal murderer who strikes at the full moon.

The film was released in October 2002; the deadline was pushed forward from the original November. It made its World Premiere at the Venice International Film Festival (August 29th - September 8th, 2002). The film is a shade over two hours…