Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

"I write about the people from whom those heroes sprang: the ordinary peoples of Australia, symbolised at their very best by the people of Beaconsfield: by the Knight family quietly coping with their loss, delaying their son’s funeral while they awaited the release of his workmates; by Brant Webb and Todd Russell, trapped in their narrow dark cage enduring mental and physical agonies we can barely imagine; by their heroic rescuers, crouching in a claustrophobic tunnel, chiselling away, at dire risk themselves; by the whole Beaconsfield community, and by the Union, in the tradition of Lawson’s time, in the person of Bill Shorten, caring to exhaustion for its own." Betty Birskys

"Tomorrow, Solomon Islanders go to the poll. I hope they get a good government, they deserve it, but after only a short stay there I can’t help wondering if this is even possible, let alone probable..." Betty Birskys

"As an eighty-year-old 'war veteran' (VAD and AAMWS) and supposedly one of John Howard’s demographic supporters, I am dismayed by the way Australia has been going under this Prime Minister, and very, very depressed by where we have finished up. What has become of the dreams that many in my generation had, as we rejoiced in the defeat of Hitler and the Japanese Empire? ... Like many then, I believed in the promise of a Brave New World, without wars and poverty, and in Australia good public education and health care and social security - a fair go - for all. I never dreamt of anything but honesty and decency in public life..." Betty Birskys