OnDusk

The public's interest in the unfolding tragic events around the deaths of eight children earlier this week in Cairns is reflected in the trending topics and expressions of disbelief and shock on social media.  Yesterday was another shocking installment when news spread that the mother of seven and aunt of one was expected to be charged with having caused the death of all eight children. I've seen the annual notices of the need for self care and reminders that for many people, the Christmas period is a difficult time of the year. For many of us however, we still can't understand and want to know how and why this dreadful event occured.   I had decided not to watch TV over the past 24 hours because there is a limit to what I want to see while I process this overwhelmingly sad and horrifying incident. But I was not prepared - and was quickly deeply concerned -  to see photos appear in the media, of the neighbourhood children, some of whom it's not unreasonable to ...

“Come away, O human child! To the waters and the wild With a faery, hand in hand, For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.” ― W.B. Yeats , The Collected Poems The sound of muffled gunshots and distant explosions woke me. It was just after 2am on Monday night and I’d fallen asleep on the lounge and left the tv on.  I’d watched the broadcast of the siege in the Lindt chocolate café in Sydney for hours so I was fairly sure what was happening from the angle of the camera.  I’d kept watching once I’d heard that family members of hostages had gathered around Martin Place. I'd made mental lists of what I would have taken down to the site. I could have volunteered for coffee runs or offered some fold up chairs or just sat in silence, or moved back and not got in the way. I could have done something. Hundreds of kilometers away, all I could do was watch. This is what ...

So, I'll tell you a story. Where I come from, we say our voices are on the wind. Old people told me this, so it must be true. #tweetyarn — Siv Parker (@SivParker) June 28, 2014 This yarn, it begins and ends where all things do. On my country. We say we are murrdi... 'one people'. So this yarn, it also includes you. — Siv Parker (@SivParker) June 28, 2014 I've been asked more than once where I come from, so I'll let you know now, I am from the black soil country, of North West New South Wales. — Siv Parker (@SivParker) June 28, 2014 That black soil is clean, the rivers were rich, there was plenty of tucker before the ration sheds came to gave us the flour, sugar and tea. — Siv Parker (@SivParker) June 28, 2014 My mother lived in a little wooden house with her mother and father. With brothers and sisters, it was a little bit tight, eighteen and all. — Siv Parker (@SivParker) June 28, 2014 [Grandfather Bob Lamb, and his wife Mais...