New Horizons

After a work meeting in town I went for a walk up Mt Ainslie with Leaky Lyn. The views from up there are expansive, with the lake and avenues laid out beneath the ever-changing skies.

I feel like I keep posting pictures of food, but I'm not really going to make any apologies for that when the meals are as good as they were at 1882 Bar & Grill on our weekly date night (good choice by Him Outdoors).

Salt and pepper calamari

Pork tenderloin wrapped with prosciutto, apple puree, crispy black fungus mushrooms and red wine jus

Hoisin duck pizza

As a big winter treat to ourselves, we bought brand new mountain bikes. Our last ones have served us well for the past 20+ years, but now we feel we are ready to upgrade. Behold my first ever dual suspension mountain bike!

As part of the Canberra Writers Festival I attended an interview with Clare Wright, talking about her latest book, You Daughters of Freedom. It was fascinating and inspiring and so I bought a copy of the book and asked her to sign it for me, which she did.

Her book focuses on stories of five women who helped to win the vote for Australian women; Dora Meeson Coates, Vida Goldstein, Nellie Martel, Muriel Matters and Dora Montefiore were once household names, and Clare Wright argues that they should be again. As part of the discussion, the Centenary of Women's Suffrage Fountain was mentioned, so I went to have a look at it afterwards. 

In 2002, Senator Amanda Vanstone launched a design competition for a memorial to mark the centenary of the passing of the Commonwealth Franchise Act in 1902, which granted the right to vote to white Australian women over 21 years of age. The winning design (by Sydney artists Jennifer Turpin and Michaelie Crawford) was an 18-metre tall red steel structure in a fan design with rotating blades, and was to be located prominently on the lawns between the Old and New Parliament Houses.

The contract was cancelled in 2003 due to a number of reasons, one of which was public and media controversy over the placement of the memorial in such a prominent location. Several people complained that it would block the view of The War Memorial; the crown jewel of Australia's monuments. 

Instead of the grand design, a fountain was approved. It is a nice fountain, positioned round the back of Old Parliament House 'by the bins'.  The Australian War Memorial received funding of $500 million, and Australia spent more on celebrating the centenary of WWI than all of the other Allied Nations put together. There is a clear argument that modern funding is masculine, which was made far better than I am transcribing here. But this story does not reflect well on gender equality. 

The fountain was designed by Cate Riley and Andrew Smith of the National Capital Authority, and comprises a rectangular shape with six jets on either side and a weir at one end. The border of the pool carries text commemorating the passage of the Commonwealth Franchise Act, and of the election of the following year - the first election in which women were allowed to stand for office and to vote. 

The fountain is embedded with mosaic tiles (created by Mary Stuart), and a walkway leading away from the fountain describes the achievements of women in the Federal Parliament of Australia. Sure, it's nice, but it all feels a bit low-key and underwhelming, especially in comparison to the male mausoleum on the other side of the lake. We are still being 'put in our place'.

The next day I went to another talk called Behind Closed Doors, with Domestic Violence as its subject matter. The panelists were Karen Viggers, Father Rod Bower, Phil Barker and Jane Gilmore, and it was moderated by Virginia Haussegger. This also filled my mind with thoughts (some of which I shall share on my other blog) and my bag with books. 

Since 1938, 133 Australians have been killed by terrorism. More than half of that number of women will be killed in the home this year. On average one woman a week in Australia is killed by a partner or former partner. These are devastating statistics. We need to talk about them; we need to think about ways in which we can help. And as long as we are prepared to communicate; there can be progress. We have to believe in new beginnings; we have to hope for change and regrowth; we have to have faith in the resilience and the rightness of nature. Or we have nothing.