Edited by Jean Fornasiero and John West-Sooby ‘Roaming Freely Throughout the Universe’: Nicolas Baudin’s voyage to Australia and the pursuit of science is a collection of essays written in the context of the French explorers’ belief that studying in situ was the only way for science to move forward.

In a special three-part guest series on the blog, John West-Sooby discusses how the book came to be, and the discoveries made along the way. In this third instalment, John examines the specimens collected on the Baudin expedtion.

Read on below.

Banner image: Terre De Diemen: Ile Maria. Tombeaux des Naturels, (detail) by Charles-Alexandre Lesueur

Edited by Jean Fornasiero and John West-Sooby ‘Roaming Freely Throughout the Universe’: Nicolas Baudin’s voyage to Australia and the pursuit of science is a collection of essays written in the context of the French explorers’ belief that studying in situ was the only way for science to move forward.

In a special three-part guest series on the blog, John West-Sooby discusses how the book came to be, and the discoveries made along the way. In this second instalment, John examines the drawings produced on the Baudin expedtion.

Read on below.

Banner image: Terre De Diemen: Ile Maria. Tombeaux des Naturels, (detail) by Charles-Alexandre Lesueur

In Robert T. Harris’ Dancing Before Storms, he examines five revolutions of the past that changed the power structures of our modern world. In this special guest post, Robert examines the similarities between revolutions of the past with our current political climate.

Read on below.

We’re pleased to announce the winner of the April WWWC: Cheryl Williss! Cheryl’s response to the prompt ‘I started a joke’ is a light-hearted tale of misfortune in an elevator. In Cheryl’s winning story, ‘Going Up’, a young woman rushing to a job interview runs into a strange roadblock.

This is the second time that Cheryl has won the WWWC – read her first winning entry, responding to the prompt ‘moving around’, here.

Cheryl has generously opted to donate her $250 voucher to the Fleurieu Peninsula Family History Group, which is incredibly generous of her.

Read Cheryl’s winning entry below.

We’re pleased to announce the winner of the March WWWC: Kristin Murdock! Kristin’s response to the prompt ‘hands up’ is a haunting and sad story about the way that trauma affects us. In Kristin’s winning story, ‘The Broken Pedal’, a mother haunted by her past behaves strangely in the present.

Read Kristin’s winning entry below.

In March, we celebrated the launch of Andrew Roff’s debut short-story collection, The Teeth of a Slow Machine. Launched by Patrick Allington at the fantastic Wheatsheaf Hotel, the event was a roaring success, and a great way to welcome Andrew’s dreamlike collection into the world.

We’re pleased now to be able to share Andrew’s launch speech from the event. It’s a wonderful insight into what Andrew has put into his collection, and it also shows just how many moving parts were required to bring The Teeth of a Slow Machine to life.

Read on for Andrew’s wonderfully funny and interesting speech.