Simply Splendid Productions

15/07/2024

This article talks about dealing with 'burnout' by framing one's life within the context of the Hero's Journey. I have found that the same works for trauma as well. I wonder what are your thoughts about this? It's a 8-10 min read.

11/07/2024

Thinking Martin O’Malley today.

05/06/2024

This is why I thin 5 June is a good candidate for Australia Day.

Paul Keating talks to John Laws - 1992 on Mabo - Talk Back Radio - John Laws

24/05/2024

Acknowledging Sorry Day today and the systematic "othering" of First Nations people throughout Australian history that saw one of the most malevolent practises in stealing children from their parents and communities. Expressing sorrow and admitting the inherent evil must be followed by truth telling in acknowledging Australia's deep history as a pathway forward.

13/05/2024

I support everyone's right to not ready the books they choose not to. I do not support unilateral banning of books on topics that our community at large and our legislature supports.

Protect rainbow families in Western Sydney and reverse Cumberland Council's book ban!

03/05/2024

Discover the transformative impact of the Murray Paddle, where indigenous high schoolers from Deniliquin, Mathoura, and Echuca come together for an unforgettable journey through Yorta Yorta Country. Learn how the collaborative efforts of Aboriginal Education Officer Keisha Egan, ALO Luke Egan, and Crime Prevention Officer Pat Skinner are shaping the future of indigenous youth through community engagement, cultural connection, and leadership development. Follow their inspiring stories of mentorship and empowerment in this captivating outdoor adventure. Deniliquin Aboriginal Land Council Deniliquin High School (Official) NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service NSW Maritime Australian National Maritime Museum Massive Murray Paddle / 415km / 5 Days Yarkuwa Centre Stephen Marshall

22/04/2024

I love this beautiful green country. Enorama Falls.

08/04/2024

A new blog post on 'Enhancing Dialog in a Divided World'

22/03/2024

End of an era!

A rescue package promised earlier this year has failed to materialise for one of Australia's oldest sugar mills that will close in Far North Queensland.

13/03/2024

Looking forward to them Gondwana VR exhibition.

24/02/2024

A Hot Library Pick-Up

This week my local library send a message that "Killing for Country" by David Marr was ready for pick-up. I peddled down the shared path that hugs, the questionably named "Dry Creek". It is an ambling 15 min ride down the linear park between Kingfisher Drive and Golden Grove Road. Out of the shade it was a blistering hot so I stayed for a Pepper Steak Pie and a Flat White at the kiosk before pushing my way back home.

The Shadowy World of Empire

The first couple of pages describes the great intolerable 'deficiency' of Aboriginal people was their disinterest in the trappings of 'civilised' living. They were content to be independent, self-determining, living with country, with kin and community and celebrate freedom in concert with nature. It was clear early on to the colonisers that stealing resources and selling them back to the 'natives' was not going to hack it. These people were already content, unforgivable.

The Long March of Conquest

Not much has changed in the attitudes of colonisers, though everything has changed for First Nations Peoples. Aboriginal Progress Associations sprang up naturally in response to the inherent violence of colonisation, the total disregard for human rights and the abuses perpetrated by the rich and powerful able to lobby and often control the governors.

Squatters and homesteaders would continue the work of colonisation through plunder, violence, r**e and murder.

Awakening Inside a Nightmare

I remember my first social studies lessons in grade 4 or 5 and the shock and bewilderment in being introduced to the term 'natural resources'. Till then, I'd lived an idyllic lifestyle, losing myself in nature as a response to the religious excesses of my community. My father and uncles cleared the timber to farm the black soil flood plains. Ancient river gums stood maybe 3 or 4 to the acre, and wattle, bloodwood and box covered a the sandy ridge occasionally dotted with magnificent stands of Moreton Bay Ash with its crocodile buttress and gunmetal grey upper trunk and branches. Abundant bindis were cool to the feet before prickles formed, forcing us kids to brave the scorching sand. Watching the Caterpillars roar through the scrub, hearing the groaning, creaking and splitting of the trees with the smell of sap and diesel fouling your insides, filled me with an existential dread that I could neither rationalise nor verbalise, cultivated by the hail of fire and brimstone form the pulpit. So the slow dawn of colonisation invaded my consciousness.

The Abyss

'Killing for Country' is the darkest of stories, a family confessional beyond redemption. I found it difficult to evade the guilt and shame of joint congress in ploughing the black soils for the first wheat crops. It's like a spiral of disintegration sweeping through one's senses in a heaving wave, one bubble lost in the tumult.

Consumerism Dreamtime and the Search for Meaning

Sadly, Consumerism Dreamtime doesn't provide redemption, just shiny baubles to distract awareness of the inevitable freefall. But this highway to hell also leads to an enantiodromia, one that leaves me and others longing for deeper fulfilment and meaning and an impulse for doing better.

Ancestors Are Integral to Our Future

The family farm and the community it was part of no longer exists. The church has been deconsecrated and sold off and removed. That world, that country is alive only in my memory and a few others. Yet invariably, I share in the visionary urges of my parents generation, not fueled by a hunger for exploitation of people and the country, nor were they with their sights fixed on the afterlife, but a world view embedded in environmental accountability, inspired by a reverence for country, a recognition and celebration of our interconnection with everything and a sublime sense of being, together.

25/11/2023

Visiting a local bookshop with daughter and granddaughter Jasmine Salomon

23/11/2023

Start of the final day of the massive murray paddle 415 2023 Murray River Police District

15/10/2023

For you, our wonderful supporters, just want to let you know that Ngamu took out the local award at Port Shorts Film Festival yesterday. It’s a strange juxtaposition with the other poll that took place last night.

No matter how dark, there is always a flicker of light. I hope you find this a reminder. All the best.

"Ngamu" is a captivating short film co-directed and co-produced by John Hartley and David Salomon. With narration by David Salomon and an evocative musical s...

30/08/2023

Is this the missing link?

The economic system around us can feel inevitable, as much a part of the fabric of the universe as gravity and about as changeable. But the choices we make about what we value, and how we value it — as individuals, as communities, and as countries — aren't actually set in stone. The system we ha...

16/07/2023

15/11/2022

We recently completed this short film for Murray Local Land Services. They and their partners are doing great regeneration work in the southern Riverina.

The NSW Central Murray Ramsar site in southern NSW is the global hotspot for the Endangered Australasian bitter. The Yadabal Lagoon, in the Murray region, re...