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Ion Idriess: Bushman, Soldier, Storyteller: The Chronicler of a Vanishing Australia

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Written by: Op-Ed Monty

He lived it the hard way - from the dust and danger of the outback to the trenches of Gallipoli – and wrote it plainly for all to remember.

There are men who live great adventures, and there are men who write about them. Ion Idriess did both.

With a swag on his back, a rifle in hand, and a notebook never far from reach, he wandered the sunburnt edges of Australia - from the opal fields of Lightning Ridge to the crocodile-haunted waters of the north.

And then, like a bushfire racing the wind, he lit up the imagination of a young nation still finding its story.

Born in 1889 in the sprawl of an emerging Sydney, Idriess was never meant for city living. His spirit roamed from the start - drawn to the scent of eucalyptus and the promise of gold hidden in hard, unforgiving dirt.

Read more: Ion Idriess: Bushman, Soldier, Storyteller: The Chronicler of a Vanishing Australia

The Gallipoli Assassin

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Written by: Op-Ed Monty

He was short, wiry, and came from the dusty outskirts of Clermont in rural Queensland. Half Chinese, all Australian. Quiet by nature, deadly by skill. His name was Billy Sing, and in the trenches of Gallipoli, his name became legend.

Before the war, Billy’s father gave him one bullet at a time to hunt kangaroos. There were no second chances. You hit your mark - or you went hungry. That quiet discipline followed Billy to the battlefield, where he became one of the deadliest snipers in the ANZAC ranks.

While artillery thundered and men charged, Billy lay still... watching, waiting. His war wasn’t loud. It came in the pause of breath, the twitch of a finger, the silence that followed a single shot.

This is the story of a man who made every bullet count. A soldier whose enemies feared him, and whose country almost forgot him.

Read more: The Gallipoli Assassin

Remember, Reconnect, Revive: This ANZAC Day

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Written by: Op-Ed Shaydee Lane

As the sun rises on another ANZAC Day in less than two weeks, and the trial of a war hero looms on the horizon, we stand at a crossroads...not just political, but moral, cultural, and spiritual.

The time is at hand. Our country, our heritage, and the very soul of our nation hang in the balance. Who will we trust with our future? The polished men who lie, profit, and smile as they sign away sovereignty and burden our children with a debt they never incurred? Or will we remember the men who once stormed cliffs and trenches not for gain, but for us? For freedom? For Australia?

This ANZAC Day, as we lay wreaths and whisper “Lest we forget,” we must also look forward. We must remember that bravery is not just a thing of the past. It’s needed now.

Urgently.

And strangely, it may come wrapped not in medals or uniforms, but in something as humble as a teddy bear. Because perhaps, in this moment, what we need most is what we’ve long forgotten: the courage to care, the strength to feel, and the grit to say no... gently, defiantly, but clearly. Maybe this year, it’s Teddy’s turn to hit that electric fence and charge the bull. And maybe, just maybe, we follow.

Read more: Remember, Reconnect, Revive: This ANZAC Day

Teddy, Me and The Silent Three

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Written by: Op-Ed Shaydee Lane

Some memories shimmer in the mind like a heat haze, half mischief, half magic. This is one of those. A tale from childhood, when the world was big, the days were endless, and every fence was both a challenge and a dare…

When I was a little girl - maybe six or seven - my two older brothers and their friend Norman had a gang called The Silent 3.

Their clubhouse was a dusty old coal smithy at the back of our property, not far from the chook yard. It was a corrugated iron shed, long since abandoned and quietly rusting into the landscape. Perfect for a secret gang headquarters.

Inside, the floor was dirt, and it smelled of rust and mystery and was absolutely thrilling.

That smithy became the scene of a plot so bold it could’ve ended in heartbreak. Let me tell you what happened.

Read more: Teddy, Me and The Silent Three

Opening Pandora’s Box: The Risks of Defamation Actions

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Written by: The PR Blog
Foreword
 
Defamation law exists to protect reputations from unjust harm. Yet history shows that bringing such an action can be a double-edged sword. When a defendant pleads justification -  that is, truth -  the courtroom doors swing wide open. Matters that might otherwise remain private can be aired, tested under cross-examination, and placed firmly on the public record.If that defence succeeds -  even on the civil standard of the balance of probabilities -  the plaintiff may emerge not vindicated, but with damaging findings attached to their name.
 
Yet the minefield is not one-sided; defendants, witnesses, institutions, and even governments can find Pandora’s Box opening in unexpected ways, exposing systemic issues or operational decisions that might otherwise have remained contained.Some battles, once begun, cannot be contained -  and the truth, once tested, rarely returns quietly.
 
One wonders whether, in pursuing his day in a criminal court under the stricter standard of proof, Roberts-Smith sees a final opportunity for vindication -  or whether this is simply the next unavoidable chapter in a Pandora’s Box that no one can now close.
 
Either way, the government and institutions involved also face scrutiny that may reveal far more than they anticipated.Should Ben Roberts-Smith be innocent, he will walk free. Unlike Oscar Wilde, who gambled and lost.

Read more: Opening Pandora’s Box: The Risks of Defamation Actions

Not All Heroes Wear Capes - Billy the Cornish Rex: River Swimmer and Restaurant Bandit!

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Written by: Op-Ed Shaydee Lane

We All Need a Billy

Not all heroes wear capes. Some are tiny, grey, and insist on swimming in rivers  -  while being very naughty in restaurants.

In 1984, a tiny grey kitten named Billy adopted our family - and changed everything.

These days, it sometimes feels like the world could do with a few more stories like his. So I’ll take a little trip down memory lane, reminding myself - and perhaps you - of happier, gentler times.

Before Billy, we had known the quiet grace of a white Cornish Rex named Tripitaka - Tripi to us. With his great ears and gentle presence, he reminded us of the monk from the old Japanese television series Monkey. Calm, wise, and kind, Tripi was, in every sense, a small white god in our home.

And then he was gone.

My daughters were heartbroken. They sobbed and cried, and even now, all these years later, they remember that day—the day love left the room and took something with it.

As a parent, I could not bear their pain. 

Enter Billy... 

Read more: Not All Heroes Wear Capes - Billy the Cornish Rex: River Swimmer and Restaurant Bandit!

Arrest of Wallaby Hero! Trevor led off in handcuffs!

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Written by: Op-Ed Ratty News

Dusty Gulch Dispatch: Arrest of Wallaby Hero

A wallaby is arrested. A hero is questioned. A weasel chooses the wrong side. And Dusty Gulch remembers too late who actually climbed the tower.

By Roderick (Whiskers) McNibble, Investigative Observer of Chaos
(and occasional unwilling participant in pastry warfare)

Dusty Gulch rarely appears on maps. It sits beyond the last sensible turnoff, where reality blurs, logic quietly resigns with a dramatic sigh, and even the flies have formed a union demanding better working conditions and a seat on the foreign affairs committee.

Today, the Dusty Dingo Pub was not just a bar -  it was the theatre of pure, unfiltered, gravy-soaked Australian drama.

From the corner, Dennis the Hat watched it all unfold, hat low, pint untouched -  the sort of man who didn’t say much, but usually said the thing everyone else wished they’d noticed sooner.

Trevor the Wallaby -  hero and still-decorated rescuer of Mayor Dusty McFookit (see: The Water Tower Incident, still damp in living memory and trotted out whenever someone whinges about “heights” or “leadership”)  -  now stood accused of the heinous crime of “killing honklanders.”

Yes.

Those honklanders. The smiling, note-taking visitors the government have backed so enthusiastically.

Read more: Arrest of Wallaby Hero! Trevor led off in handcuffs!

The Quiet Blokes Behind the Courage

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Written by: Op-Ed Shaydee Lane

When I was a little girl, my grandmother gave me a book -  a collection of poems by C. J. Dennis.

I treasured it then, and I still do.

Even as a child I could understand his words. There was a delightful honesty in them - a plain-speaking larrikin voice that felt like it belonged to the ordinary Australian bloke.

That same voice stayed with me into adulthood.

Dennis wrote during and after the Great War, not as a soldier at the front, but as someone who listened closely to the diggers and their families - and gave them a voice. He captured the spirit of the men who stepped up, not with grand speeches, but with the simple humour and quiet steadiness that came to define the Australian soldier.

Read more: The Quiet Blokes Behind the Courage

What Do We Think a Soldier Is?

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Written by: Op-Ed Monty

Are we still raising men willing to stand?

As the 25th of April draws near, we find ourselves once again edging toward ANZAC Day - that quiet moment in the year when our nation stops, bows its head, and remembers what it once asked of its young men… and what those men gave back.

But this year feels different.

Not quieter. Not calmer.

Because right as we prepare to honour courage, there’s a question hanging in the air that too few seem keen to answer straight:

What do we actually think a soldier is?

The arrest this week of Ben Roberts-Smith has brought that question crashing through the front door.

Read more: What Do We Think a Soldier Is?

Utopia or Dystopia? How 1960s Mouse Utopias Led to Grim Predictions for Future of Humanity.

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Written by: George Christensen

John B. Calhoun’s “rat utopia” experiments of the 1960s, designed to be paradises with unlimited resources, resulted in societal collapse and extinction due to extreme behavioural changes, showcasing a dark side of population density and social roles.


The initial population explosion and flourishing of the rat colonies in these utopias turned into a nightmare as they approached their physical and social limits, leading to a breakdown of social structures, deviant behavior, and eventual demographic collapse.


The experiments serve as a chilling parallel to the trajectory of Western society, where periods of abundance and growth gave way to economic shocks, social stagnation, and a rise in antisocial behaviors, suggesting we are experiencing our own form of “behavioral sink.”


Current societal trends, including the breakdown of traditional roles, rising deviancy, and a loneliness crisis, mirror the decay observed in Calhoun’s rat populations, indicating that Western civilisation might be nearing its own “point of no return.”


Humanity possesses the unique ability to recognise its dire straits and has the power to reverse the downward spiral, preventing us from meeting the same fate as the “rat utopias.”

Read more: Utopia or Dystopia? How 1960s Mouse Utopias Led to Grim Predictions for Future of Humanity.

“Stone by Stone: The Long Road Back to the Light

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Written by: Op-Ed Shaydee Lane

When life collapses and the weight of grief threatens to bury us, we have two choices: wait in the dark, or begin, stone by stone, to build our way back toward the light.

Joseph Cheval, a humble French postman, chose to build. Out of sorrow, he created a palace -  not for kings, but for love, for memory, and for hope.

His story reminds us that resurrection is not always sudden. Sometimes, it is a long, aching labour… one we must undertake ourselves if we are to roll back the stone and rise again.

At Easter, we often turn to ancient texts and sacred traditions. Yet sometimes the message reaches us just as powerfully through the quiet lives of ordinary people -  stories that slip past doctrine and speak directly to the soul.

One such story is that of Joseph Ferdinand Cheval, a French postman from a small village. He wasn’t a priest or a prophet, nor a philosopher. He simply walked his mail route each day, delivering letters across the countryside.

And yet, through quiet persistence and grief-transformed imagination, he built something that still speaks to the heart of Easter.

Cheval’s story doesn’t begin with triumph, but with a stumble.

Literally.

Read more: “Stone by Stone: The Long Road Back to the Light

  1. How Governments Overthrew Their Own People Through Stealth and Fear - The Silent Coup
  2. Mrs McFookit’s Away… And the Smoke Alarm Is Already Nervous
  3. The Barabbas Interview – A Good Friday Reflection (2026)
  4. From Orson Wells to HG Wells : The War of the Words or War of the Words?

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