Walkers around the lake in my local park have been treated to a graceful ballet in recent weeks. Two black swans make elegant laps around a sizeable nest of sticks, leaves and flotsam. Two small fuzzy grey cygnets either loop with them or sit atop the floating mound. Their parents tip their bodies forward, black heads and necks diving for food. Onlookers stop, pull out their phones, post on Instagram. In our southern states it is the breeding season for black swans, which are native to Australia.

This week’s Friday essay traces the symbolism of the black swan, once considered by Europeans as imaginary as a unicorn. Monash University expert David Haworth, senior research officer for the Global Encounters & First Nations Peoples, writes beautifully about how black swans have been shattering assumptions and capturing our imagination since stories began. Now I’ve read about their cultural history, I may never look at the local swan lake the same way again.


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Lucy Beaumont

Deputy Section Editor: Arts + Culture

Bernard Spragg/flickr

Friday essay: a rare bird — how Europeans got the black swan so wrong

David Haworth, Monash University

Not only is the black swan important for many Aboriginal people, it was also a potent symbol within the European imagination — 1500 years before Europeans knew it existed.

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Grattan on Friday: Scott Morrison’s quest to be a Biden ‘bestie’

Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra

Scott Morrison, who was embraced as a 'bro' by Donald Trump, now seeks to become one of Joe Biden's besties, writes Michelle Grattan

Mary Altaffer/AP

Here’s how pharmacies could boost Australia’s COVID vaccine rollout

John Jackson, Monash University; Harry Al-Wassiti, Monash University

Community pharmacies and pharmacists are important resources in Australia's vaccine rollout, and right now they're being under-utilised.

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Our own Nomadland: the Australians caught in a COVID blind spot

Amanda Davies, The University of Western Australia; Sarah Prout Quicke, The University of Western Australia

Lockdowns and restrictions disrupted the lives of most Australians, but the impacts on one hard-hit group, nomads, have been largely overlooked. We don't even know how many of them there are.

Premier Dan Andrews shortly after the fall that left him with broken ribs and a damaged spine. AAP/@DanielAndrewsMP

Liberals’ Dan Andrews questions are a perfect case study in how to manufacture fake news

Denis Muller, The University of Melbourne

It is difficult for the media to deal in fake news – but the Andrews conspiracy story has been handled very well.

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Tracking the transition: The ‘forgotten’ emissions undoing the work of Australia’s renewable energy boom

Hugh Saddler, Australian National University; Frank Jotzo, Australian National University

Renewables form an ever-greater share of the electricity mix. But elsewhere in the energy sector – in transport, industry and buildings – emissions reduction is very slow.

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  • Kapow! Zap! Splat! How comics make sound on the page

    Victor Araneda Jure, Monash University

    When we read comics, we 'hear' sound on the page. Creators are experts at this cross-sensory form of storytelling – indeed one database lists over 2500 comic book sounds.

 

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