Welcome to Australia's Culture and Recreation Portal Newsletter for December 2005
Thanks to those who responded to our query about switching to an html based newsletter. While this is still a possibility in the future, for the present we are staying with plain text.
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Christmas and Summer - what a combination - a time for celebration and contemplation.
Christmas celebrations for the birth of Jesus Christ combine with ancient celebrations of Greece and Rome. The Halcyon Days in Greece were a period of calm and goodwill, while Roman celebrations temporarily suspended the social divisions between slaves and masters. Similar celebrations are held in many other cultures at this time of year.
Australians will celebrate variously with Christmas bush plants or decorated pine trees, carol services, plum pudding or pavlova, bush walks, beach parties or camping before sitting back and enjoying the cricket or the Sydney-to-Hobart Yacht Race.
The holiday period is also a time for contemplation and stories. There is a feast for the imagination in children's books as well as Australian literature and writing.
See our featured articles on Christmas celebrations in Australia, Children's books and the Circus at http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au. For more Australian Stories see http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/stories/
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News
Snippets from our regularly updated News pages for December 2005 http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/news/
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Dust on my shoes - broadband project - national
The ABC has posted another experimental broadband project, this one following the pioneering rough travels of post war adventurer Peter Pinney. Dust on my Shoes follows the parallel journey of two young Australian travellers as they attempt to retrace Pinney's footsteps. There are four other sections in addition to the Parallel Journey.
http://www.abc.net.au/dustonmyshoes/
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Nobel Laureate launches new literary magazine - South Australia
Professor Coetzee, who has won both the Nobel Prize for Literature and twice won the Booker Prize, made a rare public appearance to launch a new literary magazine, Wet Ink. Coetzee - an honorary visiting research fellow at the University of Adelaide's English Department - has joined the advisory panel of Wet Ink, a magazine designed to publish new Australian writing and showcase modern, contemporary writers.
http://www.wetink.com.au/
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Australian scientists win Nobel Prize for Medicine
Two scientists, Prof Barry Marshall and his colleague, Dr Robin Warren from the University of Western Australia won the Nobel prize for medicine. Prof Barry Marshall, who hails from Kalgoorlie, drank a broth of bacteria to prove his theory in the face of a disbelieving medical establishment and pharmaceutical industry.
http://www.uwa.edu.au/media/statements/2005/october/uwa_celebrates_was_nobel_prize_winners
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Major artefacts find in Victoria
The discovery of a massive archaeological site containing thousands of Aboriginal artefacts has stopped work for three months on part of the Mitcham-Frankston Freeway in Victoria. Around 5000 objects of significance scattered throughout a 70,000-square-metre area have been uncovered.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/artefacts-find-halts-freeway-work/2005/11/16/1132016861344.html
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Iconic Australian paintings on show - Mosman, New South Wales
The late Howard Hinton collected about 300 Iconic Australian paintings which began through his association with the early 20th century Sydney bush artists such as Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton and Charles Condor. These later formed the primary art collection of the New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale. Other works were given to the Art Gallery of NSW, of which Hinton was a trustee from 1919.
Masterpieces from the Hinton Collection opens at the Mosman Art Gallery from Saturday 10 December 2005 to 29 January 2006.
http://www.mosman.nsw.gov.au/recreation/artgallery.html#exhibitions
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Griffin Award - call for entries - national
Entries for the 2006 Griffin Award close 20 January 2006. The winner will be announced on Wednesday, 26 April 2006. The $5000 Griffin Award is made annually for a new play. Anyone over the age of 18 can enter their play, which must not have been produced or commissioned, or be due for production.
http://www.griffintheatre.com.au/
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Portrait Gallery Announces Design Winner - Canberra
The winner of the competition to design a dedicated National Portrait Gallery is the team led by the Australian architectural practice Johnson Pilton Walker. Find the media release, plans and a virtual flythrough at the Portrait Gallery website.
http://www.portrait.gov.au/content/menu.htm
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For further details of these and other Australian cultural and recreational news items visit our regularly updated News pages at http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/news/.
The news pages are updated weekly.
They cover
-Awards and Announcements (http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/news/awardsandannouncements.htm)
-Conferences and Competitions (http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/news/conferencesandcompetitions.htm)
-Design (http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/news/design.htm)
-Digital Media (http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/news/digitalmedia.htm)
-Exhibitions and Events (http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/news/exhibitionsandevents.htm)
-Festivals (http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/news/festivals.htm)
-Sports and Recreation (http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/news/sportandrecreation.htm)
-Websites (http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/news/websites.htm).
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