The Australian Bite

Music, drought and horses

12 November 2009

Listen and download: MP3

A couple of books feature on this week’s Australian Bite.  The first is a great new book by music journalist Craig Mathieson called “Playlisted – Everything you need to know about Australian music right now”.  The second is more sombre.  It’s called “Beyond Reasonable Drought”, and it features a range of photographic works documenting the impact of drought in Australia over the last ten years.  Then to finish up we travel to Central Australia, where young indigenous girls are learning valuable lessons at a horse training course.

Australian Music – all you need to know?

Music is a very personal thing. One person’s favourite band can be another’s worst nightmare. So it takes a lot of guts to write a book that claims to contain “everything you need to know about Australian music right now.” But that’s just what veteran music writer Craig Mathieson has done, and whether you agree or disagree with what he has to say, it’s a very enjoyable read. The book is called Playlisted, and Craig Mathieson joined me to talk about it.

Beyond Reasonable Drought

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this new book says a great deal about how much of an impact drought has had on our nation over the last decade. Beyond Reasonable Drought tells the story through pictures captured by a collective of talented photographers. Julie Millowick is a member of the Many Australian Photographers Group, or the MAP group for short, and it’s they who are responsible for both the idea, and the photos in the book.  She spoke with Jo Printz.

You can view the photos online here

Find out more about the Many Australian Photographers Group  here

Half of the royalties from sales of this book will go to Australian Women in Agriculture (AWiA) in recognition of the support they provide to rural communities.

Girls gain skills training horses

Horses are common in remote indigenous communities in Central Australia and none more so than in Ltyentye Apurte* – also known as Santa Teresa - east of Alice Springs. A one week course held at Ross River has been teaching young girls how to care for and train the horses in their community. Ronald Kenny from Charles Darwin University says untrained horses cause damage to property and by training them, the girls will contribute to community development as a whole. He spoke to Penelope Bergen. 

* pronounced Jinjaporta

Music (not in podcast)  .

The Melbourne quintet Underground Lovers was very well respected in the alternative music scene in the 1990’s, and are featured in a chapter of Craig Mathieson’s book Playlisted. They have recently reformed and have a number of reunion gigs lined up for December.  I think they’re great!

Artist: Underground Lovers

Track: Losin’ it

Album: Dream it Down (1994)