Published in Overland Issue 215 Winter 2014 · Uncategorized After the riot Ann de Hugard ‘Order has been restored … breakfast has been served.’ – Scott Morrison when interviewed after a riot on Manus Island And what did you eat for breakfast, Mr Morrison – after a silent grace to thank your bountiful god? All-Bran? Or, as you are visiting Darwin when the news breaks, a platter of tropical fruit? Papaya cut like a sickle moon, and lady finger bananas peeled clean, soft flesh unmarked, satin on the tongue? Next, toast spread thin with Seville orange marmalade? Makes your lips pucker, that sweet-sour taste. And coffee? I imagine a demitasse, a short black to wash away residual sweetness. A little bitterness won’t hurt. Then time to wipe your mouth with the damask napkin, take the toothpick provided for a little extra grooming. One cannot be too fastidious. Now practise that expression: smile, then tighten lips and belt and stride out to face the querulous mob. Cut a swath through all the messy business, solemn tone, dispense the usual platitudes (sympathy to the family). But keep it rolling, no time for irritating questions. Or any hint of the Good Samaritan. That would be irrelevant now order has been restored and breakfast has been served. Ann de Hugard Ann de Hugard’s publications include A Question of Translation (Australian Poetry Centre) and Breath (Mark Time). She is the coordinator of the Castlemaine Word Mine, a centre for readers and writers. More by Ann de Hugard › 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 First published in Overland Issue 228 27 September 2023 · Sport When the sport circus comes on Country Jenny Fraser The next huckster in the carnival of sport is the upcoming 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games. If we want aspects of it to be in line with Aboriginal protocol, we need action from across the four winds of the world. If it’s not done right we need solidarity and protest just the same. We are each other’s safety net in this theatre of sport. As a senior Aboriginal woman activist once told me, ‘we are all only as good as we negotiate’. First published in Overland Issue 228 25 September 202326 September 2023 · The university Solidarity but only among managers, or the future of the university sector Hannah Forsyth The process continued during Covid. Jobs were being cut due to the threats posed by the pandemic, yet more scholars were being recruited. Nice people, good at their job. But why are we doing this, we kept asking. Management kept telling us we have a funding crisis (which often turned to a surplus in the end), so why are we also on a hiring spree? All along it looked like it could end badly, for all of us.
