October 17, 2023

Don Watson & Chris Wallace On Federal Politics; The 70th Anniversary Of Britain's Atomic Tests At Emu Field; Claire Deak On Recovering Women Composers Of The Baroque

2 hours 31 minutes

Don Watson and Chris Wallace analyse the outcome of the Voice to Parliament referendum in-depth. They also examine Australia's response to the Israel-Palestine conflict and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and Labor's unwavering support of AUKUS, as outlined in Don's recent essay in The Monthly. Don Watson is an award-winning author and former speechwriter to Paul Keating. His books include, Death Sentence: The Decay of Public Language, Recollections of a Bleeding Heart: A Portrait of Paul Keating PM, The Bush, and Watsonia. Professor Chris Wallace is a political historian, commentator, and former member of the Canberra Press Gallery and her books include, Political Lives: Australian prime ministers and their biographers and How To Win An Election.

To mark the 70th anniversary of Britain's atomic tests at Emu Field in South Australia – the first on terrestrial land in Australia – author and academic Dr Elizabeth Tynan speaks about her book, The Secret of Emu Field: Britain’s forgotten atomic tests in Australia. It was at Emu Field, SA on October 15, 1953 that a terrifying black mist spread across the land after an atomic bomb detonation (Totem 1), bringing death and sickness to Aboriginal people and other people in its path. Secrecy around the testing activities and its effects still exists today. Totem 2 was detonated on October 27, 1953. Elizabeth is an Associate Professor at James Cook University. Her previous book, Atomic Thunder: The Maralinga Story, won the Prime Minister's Literary Award for Australian History and the CHASS Australia Book Prize in 2017. Read about ICAN's Black Mist campaign here. Read Nic Maclellan's long-form article on the Emu Field tests.

Melbourne-based composer and multi-instrumentalist Claire Deak talks about her debut solo album, Sotto Voce, and two women composers of the Baroque whose music she explored and drew inspiration from – Francesca Caccini (1587-c.1645) and Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677). Claire delves into her neo-classical compositions and musical practice as we hear some of her atmospheric and imaginative new works throughout the interview. Sotto Voce is out via Lost Tribe Sound.

Tracklist (in order) as aired in the last interview:

Claire Deak - Prefigured (Ritornello)

Claire Deak - Dolce Tormento

Claire Deak - Liberated Sighs

Claire Deak - A Million Cloaked Ghosts

...more