Art for the Country.
Victoria's regional art galleries have a colourful history replete with
political drama, directors vilified, battles with arts bureaucrats,
generous benefactors and dedicated citizens fighting for a better
deal for the arts in everyday life.
The early galleries in Ballarat, Bendigo, Warrnambool and Geelong
grew out of post-Gold Rush wealth and the desire of prominent
citizens to improve the quality of cultural life. In the post-War years
a new movement, beginning in Mildura, began to fight for the rights
of all rural citizens to have exposure to the arts, through improved
government funding and assistance from the National Gallery of
Victoria. The new galleries had a regional focus, led by visionaries
and not always supported by local councils and ratepayers whose
priorities lay with practical needs such as paved roads, sewers and
sporting fields.
The conflicts continue to this day. This is the ongoing story of Art for
the Country
Kids: Technology and the Future.
Kids today are a new breed. The information technology revolution has transformed their lives and offers massive potential for their education and entertainment. Creativity, adaptability and emotional intelligence are the key skills they require. We need teachers who can nurture their voracious appetites for learning for this century. We need a responsive industry with innovative thinkers designing content, both for and with them.
Kids: Technology and the Future in pdf format (800KB)
Peak: Reinventing Middle Age.
Society is changing faster than policies and attitudes are keeping up with. People are living longer, retiring from work later, and remaining active and valuable contributors to the community well into and beyond their 50s and 60s.
Peak: Reinventing Middle Age focuses on Australians in the 50–75 age bracket: their contributions to society and their needs and expectations for their own lives. It is an insightful look at employment, relationships, education, housing, finances, lifestyles, health and aged care, and the need for reinvention both on a personal level and in terms of social policy.
It includes ten short biographies of Australians who have embraced their middle age in a variety of interesting and inspirational ways. They are living fulfilled lives, contributing to their communities and, most importantly, not succumbing to outdated notions of winding down or stepping back from life in this exciting stage of life.
More at
Text Publishing
In Praise of Ageing.
Retirement is not the time to cut all ties and head off to live
in a warm climate but rather to ask: Who do I want to be near?
How will my relationships be reaffirmed? What do I care about?
What can I create and contribute to the world?
In Praise of Ageing flyer in pdf format (800KB)
Read an edited extract
Old and Invisible from the Weekend Australian, September 2013,
and in pdf format (380KB)
Read
Lunch with Patricia Edgar from the Age, September 2013
Listen to the podcast of
The Conversation Hour on Ageing with John Faine, ABC Radio, October 11 2013
Big Fat Porkies and Little White Lies.
Humorous children's story illustrated by 11 year-old in quirky watercolors.
Tim starts telling fibs. He can't work out how his Mum always knows when he lies.
Grandma helps Tim learn the difference between 'little white lies' and 'big fat porkies'.
Available for purchase at
Amazon
The Fairies of Plant Street.
An original children's story by Patricia Edgar based on the actual correspondence between Emily and Ace and the tooth fairies who live in their garden.
Gloriously illustrated in vibrant water colors by Don Edgar who has brought fairyland to life.
'When Emily and Ace move house they discover tooth fairies live in their garden.
They write to them and become good friends, learning many secrets about fairyland and the ways fairies care for children.
All things are possible for those who believe'
Available for purchase at
Etsy
The New Child: in search of smarter grown-ups,
(read review, The Age) by Don & Patricia Edgar, is a challenging book on how
Australian childhood is changing, and what needs to be done by parents, teachers
and policy-makers to meet the needs of the 21
st century child.
More about The New Child ...
'The New Child' in pdf format (864KB)
'Bloodbath' in pdf format (3MB)
