Five Great ReadsAustralia newsGuardian Australia’s weekend wrap of essential reads from the past seven days, selected by Kris Swales
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Top of the weekend to you all. I’ve been drifting through the week in post-referendum limbo, dreading where the discourse might go from here. On the plus side, the Paul McCartney shows are reportedly awash with love. So let’s focus on positives where we can. But first …
1. Muddled messages, voter confusion, crushing defeat
Katharine Murphy and Josh Butler pick at the threads of how the referendum debate unfolded: how the no campaigns fronted by Warren Mundine and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price became a unity ticket, the inefficient dual structure of the yes campaign, and the Peter Dutton summer barrage that caught the voice proponents off guard.
“That’s where it was lost,” one insider says. “We were too slow.”
What happened next? Indigenous leaders took a week of silence to regroup. Peter Dutton and the Queensland LNP chased political points.
How long will it take to read: Seven minutes.
2. Duff McKagan on the toll of rock’n’roll
If you’ve been in the rock’n’roll game as long as Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan, you’re bound to have farewelled some buddies. Scott Weiland, former Velvet Revolver bandmate: drug overdose. Taylor Hawkins, former Foo Fighters drummer: also dead with drugs in his system.
“We’ve had so much loss from drugs that you end up feeling like you’re here for a reason, man,” McKagan tells Christopher Lord as he opens up about the panic attacks that have haunted him since his first acid freakout, aged 13.
Memories of 1992: “I was so fucked up when I made my first solo record. I had so much cocaine in my throat, and you can hear it all in my sinuses.”
How long will it take to read: Five minutes.
Further reading: Guns N’ Roses’ 20 greatest songs, ranked!
3. The woman who walked alone across the desert
If you’ve seen (or read) Tracks, you’ll be familiar with Robyn Davidson’s solo 2,700km trek through the Australian desert in the 1970s. Davidson, now aged 73, says of the film starring “darling actress” Mia Wasikowska: “There’s not enough jokes in the film. Not enough pleasure, I suppose.”
In a new memoir, Davidson digs deeper into what motivated her, the $4,000 National Geographic deal that subsidised her journey, and the brief affair with the photographer who documented it.
“Look, he was adorable, and he was just trying to do his job, but to me he was a total terminal dick and I didn’t want him there.” – Davidson on photographer Rick Smolan (they remain friends)
How long will it take to read: Six minutes.
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4. Surviving an elephant attack
The aforementioned Davidson’s relationship with camels was largely positive. Gemma Jones’s brush with large animals wasn’t so rewarding. Her dream holiday in Thailand turned nightmare when the elephant she was riding decided it no longer wanted passengers.
Twenty years on, Jones recalls the elephant’s rebellion and subsequent attack in graphic detail – and how it changed her life for the better.
Injury toll: Cracked pelvis, broken collarbone, three fractured ribs and internal bleeding.
How long will it take to read: Five minutes.
Further reading: Shark attacks, plane crashes, avalanches: our How we survive series has it all.
5. The culture wars of the Renaissance
As Jonathan Jones sees it, Renaissance artists such as Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci were using their art to subvert the religious doctrine of the time. And if you complained to Michelangelo that your masterpiece was too low-brow for the Sistine Chapel, there’s every chance you’d find yourself depicted being fellated by a snake.
Culture warriors claim a win: After Michelangelo died, Vatican policy decreed that many of the nudes he painted be retrospectively clothed.
How long will it take to read: Five minutes.
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