Articles by: Anthony O'Donnell

Review(s) of: Dissent: The student press in 1960s Australia, by Sally Percival Wood, (Scribe, 2017).

In 1966 a majority of Pope Paul VI's Commission for the Study of Population, Family and Birth voted for a change in the Catholic Church's ban on contraception. A member of that majority, Canon Pierre de Locht, wrote in his diary optimistically, 'It will not be possible any longer to reaffirm the general condemnations of contraception. I do not understand what excuse he [the pope] can use to impose on the Church his own personal…

Review(s) of: The shared table: Ideas for Australian cuisine, by Michael Symons, Canberra, AGPS, 1993; Goodbye Culinary Cringe, by Cherry Ripe, St Leonards, Allen and Unwin, 1993.

There's a global financial crisis, so what to cook for dinner tonight? Luckily the Country Women's Association has come to our aid, publishing a book of economical recipes including sheep's head broth and braised mutton bird. And never neglect leftovers, such as shepherd's pie and bubble and squeak. They're a formidable bunch, those country women: apparently 32 000 women pooled their local knowledge to suggest soup and stew recipes that might sustain a family in…