I first met Michael Caton when I was about 10 years old. He was renting a room for $10/week at my Bush Mum’s three story terrace building in Jersey Rd. Sydney. Jack Thompson and his twin girlfriends at the time also rented a room as did many other artists, actors and bohemians. Sheila and her …
How do rainbows affect your neural pathways? What’s it like to dive under the North Pole? Can the internet save us? So many questions. And so many answers at TEDxByronBay. We’re stirring up a colossal cauldron of ideas in the Byron Theatre on Saturday June 26 and as co-curator of this exciting project, I personally …
Hats off to the tireless farmers of the Liverpool Plains! They’ve just won another victory to protect their fertile farmlands from coal mining. And now they’re going for Gold. I first joined the farmers at their blockade against BHP at Breeza in 2008 carrying GetUp!’s lemon and solar-powered Climate Relay Torch. What an alternative energy …
For the first time in its 43 year history, the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade is off the streets and in the stadium. The sound and visuals will be amazing! I’m looking forward to seeing the creative output of our community in the 133 entries, not to mention hearing the sound of my …
Lea Oldmeadow makes powerful art totems out of ancient bark and natural fibres. A former upholsterer from the Central Queensland town of Emerald, Oldmeadow now lives and works in the sacred hills around Nimbin in northern NSW where he speaks the secret language of trees. I caught up with this reclusive artist and made this …
To honour ‘Survival Day’, I had a great chat with Kate Constantine (AKA Konstantina) in which she talked about her new show ‘Negative Space’ at Ninbella Gallery in Bangalow. Filling the voids left by a lack of traditional upbringing, this fierce Koori artist explores her experience as a white skinned Aboriginal woman working on Bundjalung …
Late last year I was commissioned by Story Magazine to write an article about my experiences growing up in Sydney in the 80s. The piece was for the Paradise edition of this bi-annual publication published by Queensland Performing Arts Centre which was to stage David Williamson’s play Emerald City but due to the pandemic was cancelled. …
It was a delight to be Mistress of Ceremonies for Art for the Wilderness last Sunday evening. The event in the main gallery of our historic building at 40 Queen Street Woollahra saw nearly 100 artists donate work for auction to raise funds for The Wilderness Society. Around 200 art lovers matched the generosity of …
Here’s a little film I made about the retreat I went on with my yoga teacher last year. Heading to the mountains again for more joy soon.
I hosted the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation’s gala “Golden Hammer” at the Australian Museum the other week to raise funds to help BGF continue its great work in supporting people living with HIV. John Leha from the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence welcomed us to Country and BGF’s CEO Nick Lawson spoke about the work that BGF has …
As an observer of climate chaos I have a particular penchant for a good apocalyptic scenario. So it was delightful to be invited to host a conversation with some fabulous writers at NIDA on the topic. Guests included Alana Valentine whose AWGIE Award nominated Barbara and the Camp Dogs was rocking the foundations of Belvoir Street …
As project Manager with Solar Citizens I had the distinct pleasure of creating events with the beautiful Instagram community. Check out the results here
I really enjoyed sitting down over a cuppa with the very gorgeous Osher Gunsberg the other day to talk about everything from the stoke of surf to sexual fluidity #qmmunity Check it out here. In the podcast Osher shares stories of his “different mind” and how he’s now reluctantly on meds to tame it. His …
Check out these gorgeous geometric formations by Sharnie Shield, derived she explains “from the red native flowers in the Wollongong Botanic Gardens”. I bumped into the lovely Sharnie whilst perambulating around the grounds and chatted with her as she repaired one of the many forms she has on show. They’re made of simple straws and …
Last year on International Women’s Day our campaign Land Water Future released this little film I made about some of the wonderful women around NSW who are fighting to protect our land from coal and gas development. Still as relevant this year as last: https://www.facebook.com/landwaterfuture/videos/442203715934994/
Who doesn’t love the Archibald Prize? Every year it comes around with a fresh set of forty-odd faces to enliven our mid-winter musings. When I was working on the ABC TV’s arts program ‘Review’ in the early ‘90s, we’d always cover it in great detail. And we were all over it as producers for …
I’ve always been fascinated by the waratah, that majestic floral symbol of NSW. Rising from the ashes of bush fires, it provides us with a powerful symbol of hope. I was first seduced by their splendour when I slipped into some taffeta frocks created by my old friend Linda Jackson who has long been obsessed …
Fashion lovers thronged to the Powerhouse last week for a chat between me and four of Australia’s most fabulously creative and inspiring designers – Linda Jackson, Jenny Kee, Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales. Interestingly, this quartet of extreme talent has collaborated in various configurations and incarnations over the past 4 decades – first it was …
Dad and I went to see the exhibition ‘Pop to Popism’ when it was on at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in preparation for a public talk we’d been roped in to give about the advertising world in the 60s and how the pop art movement had influenced it. My father had been …
Last Monday, I joined a bunch of farmers out at the Royal Easter Show in Homebush for a special ‘country comes to town’ edition of the much loved ABC TV show Q & A. I was lucky enough to have my question selected and share it with y’all here: Troy stands up for country The …
Back in 2001 I wrote a little book about my experience of being the infamous ‘Debbie’ in ‘Puberty Blues’. It was part of the Australian Screen Classics series published by Currency Press and I have just received the remaining stock. If anyone would like a signed copy I can send it off to you for …
I travelled to the Leard Forest Blockade in between Gunnedah and Narrabri fully intent on getting arrested. 82 people, including a 92 year-old war veteran, had been charged a few weeks previously after they occupied the Maules Creek Coal Mine inside the state forest and hindered the operation. The protectors were defending, among other things, …
How do you make city slickers realise that what happens in the country has a direct impact on them? With a whopping 80% of NSW now covered by mining licences and applications, you’d think they’d be awake to the fact that their food and water supplies are under threat. But they seem to be in …
My old buddy Baz Luhrmann got in touch the other day to ask if I could be MC Big Nelly at the launch of his new vodka, Absolut Oz. The do was at the Bondi Pavilion where Baz and I launched our own theatrical careers back in 1982. We’d both starred in movies the year …
Last night I had the pleasure of being the guest speaker at Woollahra Council’s citizenship ceremony where we were treated with those great Aussie classics, lamingtons and pies. Mayor Toni Zeltzer, who taught me Biology at school, wore her ceremonial chains and gave each new citizen a native plant as a memento of the momentous …