Ivor Indyk

I would like to talk about Australian literature’s relationship to time, and to wonder – a state in which the passing of time is suspended. It is natural to turn to Murray in this context – he is one of the great poets of wonder in our literature. He also liked to sermonise, about wonder and its enemies, and in this respect is also one of its keenest theorists.

HEAT is a controlled intensity. Noise is our enemy, and rubbish, and imposture. We stand for a simple integrity. And for writing which is committed, passionate, innovative and adventurous.

Atavism is, by its very nature, a complicated and mysterious transmission. In Slessor’s case the transmission is further complicated by a sense that the past is both a source of riches, and a blight upon the present.