Issue 1, March 2009

 

 

Issue 1, Feature Article - Fractured lives: Seeking asylum in Australia by Linda Briskman

Linda Briskman holds the Dr Haruhisa Handa Chair in Human Rights Education at Curtin University in Perth. Her powerful essay argues that mandatory detention of asylum seekers in Australia is both flawed and inhumane. She supports her case with first person accounts of life in detention.

 

 

Editorial

Notata online arts journal, Issue 1, March 2009

Dedicated to those affected by the Black Saturday bushfires that occurred in the state of Victoria, Australia, in February 2009.

The journal concept manifests as a community project incorporating the diversity of creative ability and artistic collaboration within the ideals of a paper-free publishing medium.

The dual themes of this issue, 'Outside my back door' and 'Community, Displacement, Future', have drawn submissions from a wide field of human experience - from personal worlds to the machinations of governments.

Notata contains music, poetry, short stories, articles, letters from travellers and photographs. The structure of the journal is designed to include the performance categories of the live concerts of the performing and visual arts group St Kilda Music and Poetry Inc., which was established in 2005. The musicians featured in the music and songs category of the journal are performers at these concerts, as are some of the poets.

The aim of the St Kilda Music and Poetry Inc. live concerts dovetails with the aim of this journal to encourage writers, visual artists, photographers, musicians - new and established alike - to prepare themselves and their work to a high standard for performance and publication - to produce their best work.

It has been an exciting time for the Notata journal team. This project has come to fruition due to those who submitted their work and we thank all of you for supporting this inaugural issue. Your creative effort has made the production of the journal a pleasure for all involved.

We thank Bruce Rankin for his very fine, original illustration of the yellow-spotted honeyeater, species Meliphaga notata, which constitutes the website and journal banner.

To our wonderful designer Steven Goldate, we are indebted to him for his generosity and patience, and the truly exceptional work he has done putting together the pages that house the online journal.

Sonia Pan our Submissions coordinator and Hema Wickramaarachchi our Secretary added excellent value to the production effort with their commitment to deadlines, assisting the editors by facilitating the process of blind submissions and confidentiality.

As a group, the journal team has set the foundations to establish the Notata website as a dynamic community hub for creative expression.

We gratefully acknowledge the faithful support of City of Port Phillip over the last 5 years for their enthusiastic commitment to the concerts of St Kilda Music and Poetry Inc., and also thank our other concert sponsors over the years, namely Port Phillip EcoCentre Inc., Elwood Community Bank Branch of the Bendigo Bank, Alfred Camillieri Accountants Elwood and Safeway St Kilda. Collectively, this commitment from our sponsors has made publication of this journal possible.

We thank Kris and Retta Hemensley for welcoming our journal team meetings at their bookshop - Collected Works, Swanston Street, Melbourne.

We hope you enjoy Notata, Issue 1 and come back to read Issue 2.

Notata journal team
www.notata.net Issue 1 LIVE on 26 March 2009
Published by St Kilda Music and Poetry Inc. (estab. 2005) www.stkmusicpoetry.org.au.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE March 2009
All copy and images contained in this website are copyright and may not be downloaded, transmitted nor reproduced in any way without the written permission of the copyright holder. To request permission, write to St Kilda Music and Poetry Inc., PO Box 1457 , St Kilda South, Victoria Australia 3182. Email: admin@stkmusicpoetry.org.au.

2009. Published by St. Kilda Music and Poetry Inc. (estab. 2005).
ABN 81 266 551 567; PO BOX 1457, St. Kilda South, Victoria 3182, Australia