Novocastrian Tales
Close Encounters XIX
Ignorance was dancing down the street when he met Knowledge. ‘We won!’ he cried. ‘No,’ Knowledge observed. ‘What?’ Ignorance was so shocked that he stopped dancing. ‘Look at the scoreboard, you idiot! We won, 60 to 40!’ ‘But it’s only half-time,’ Knowledge said. ‘And you just scored an own goal.’ ‘NO!’ Ignorance declared. ‘You’re just a sore loser.’ ‘You’re never going to score saying NO all of the time,’ Knowledge explained. ‘So, who’s the real loser here?’ ‘You!’ Ignorance answered. ‘Our side won the cup!’ ‘That’s not a cup,’ Knowledge observed. ‘It’s a poisoned chalice, full of half-time bitter lemons.’
Close Encounters IV
Ignorance was walking down the street towards his car when he met Knowledge. ‘You should always drive on the left-hand side of the road,’ Knowledge advised. ‘There’s nothing left about me, you woke, leftie bastard!’ Ignorance declared. And that night, Ignorance woke in the hospital thinking that he really should have said YES to Knowledge’s advice. Copyright Paul F Walsh 2023
Close Encounters III
Ignorance was walking down the street when he met Knowledge. ‘If you don’t know, vote NO!’ Ignorance said. ‘But I do know,’ Knowledge replied. ‘Well, you best vote YES then, I reckon,’ Ignorance declared. ‘Exactly,’ Knowledge agreed, ‘but now you know too.’ ‘How do you figure that?’ Ignorance asked. ‘I know you know because you’ve been standing here talking with Knowledge.’ ‘That’s why I’m now voting YES!’ Ignorance whispered for fear his friends might hear him. ‘YES!’ Knowledge agreed. Copyright Paul F Walsh 2023
Heart of Our Nation
Speech at Conservatorium September 21 2023 The photo behind me features Uncle Bob Smith. Uncle Bob was a humble man, a teller of tales, my friend and comrade. When Uncle Bob’s black dreaming of an accommodation centre for the relatives of Aboriginal patients at John Hunter Hospital met my white Novocastrian Tales dreaming, Yallarwah Place became a reality. Novocastrian Tales, published by Susan Harvey and myself, was a national bestseller and the Novocastrian Tales project raised the funds to build Yallarwah Place. Yallarwah Bicentenary Memorial, embodied by Yallarwah Place, is believed to be the first united and inclusive Aboriginal/non-Aboriginal memorial
Return to Yallarwah
‘By February next year, it will all be here: Yallarwah Place, Yallarwah Bicentenary Walk and Yallarwah Circle of Reflection. And every person who looks upon this memorial over the next one hundred years will know. They will know that we built it with love in our hearts and the power of unity and tolerance in our hands. Could we leave them with a finer legacy than that?’ Paul F Walsh, Groundbreaking Ceremony, January 30 1998 I return like a boomerang. But to whose hand am I returning? I study the bronze hands at the front of the Yallarwah
Welcome
Welcome to the Novocastrian Tales page from Tusk Productions. This page is named in honour of our national bestseller Novocastrian Tales. In some senses, we are redefining the words Novocastrian and Tales to mean whatever we want them to mean at any particular point in time. Defining terms is a very mathematical construct. In this case, Tales will be defined as an independent variable. Expect the unexpected!
Are you running late from the shower?
I was standing in line in the foyer of the Great Hall waiting for the doors to open for our latest university mathematics exam. I was VERY NERVOUS. I did not know what I know now with respect to studying mathematics, and I most certainly did not know what I know now about sitting for mathematics exams.
Free Books For Teachers
In my childhood memories, the rather tiny Lambton Library is huge. I would ride my ancient pushbike down through Lambton Park as though I were a famous fighter pilot, rest the rusting bike against the old weatherboards of the library and then rush into its hallowed domain in search of the latest Biggles book.