Published in Overland Issue 258 2025 · Uncategorized Ex-landfill pastoral Mitchell Welch The Aussie raven plucks its musical ribcage and Blue Ribbon labels fly like white flags at the highest peak visible from the street. Milk bottle molars bite down on the sky from within this gingivitic heap. Roaches pop out gleaming, polished to a sheen from detergent bottles and Coca-Cola cans. The corax picking out its last flight feathers eyeballs the screw-top moon and buries its head in a wire nest festooned with lids. The real victims will be our kids. Ca-caw! Mitchell Welch Mitchell Welch is a writer and communications advisor from Queensland who has worked and lived in Brisbane, Melbourne, Hobart and the Gold Coast. His first book, Vehicular Man, was shortlisted for the Judith Wright Calanthe Award, and is available from Rabbit. More by Mitchell Welch › Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays 28 April 202628 April 2026 · History Red Hunter: inspiration from history for an eco-socialist movement Tim Briedis There is an incredible history of worker radicalism in the Hunter Valley region. Workers and communists took on governments, police, banks and bosses, unionised whole industries from scratch, and formed militant Labour Defence Armies of hundreds. While these are not specifically environmentalist actions, there is much to take inspiration from in this history of defiance and rebellion. It is a story of class struggle, collective action and combativeness. 24 April 202624 April 2026 · Friday Poetry A slam dunk publication Michael Farrell Australians said, landed among manatees, did useful, / neatnesses, knitted, pleasingly. Spared liaisons, amassed, / mortal dangers, unforeseen, nor kids, prayed aloud.
