News
‘I was rattled by it all’: Daniel Bartholomaeus on becoming ACT Young Australian of the Year
Written by Erika McGown. Daniel Bartholomaeus sat with his hands pressed tightly over his mouth, his eyes wide with disbelief, sheer shock and excitement radiating. He had just heard his name announced as the 2025 ACT Young Australian of the Year. Minutes before, Daniel had sat in the…
Why bad posh English accents still rule Hollywood, from Nosferatu to Gladiator II
Written by Dr Gemma King. In two of the biggest films released this summer, Gladiator II and Nosferatu, most actors seem to be speaking like they’re in a Shakespeare play – even though their characters are based in Ancient Rome and 1830s Germany. Where does this false British accent come from?…
A place to call home
Written by Elaine Obran. There’s something special that lives between the roof and the floor – a sacred realm, where memories are made, meals consumed and laughter moves from room to room. A home. For Joshua Shaw, the leafy, low-slung town of Wagga Wagga was his world growing up. “My…
‘I don’t hold a hose, mate’: Australia’s political history is full of gaffes. Here are some of the best (or worst)
Written by Professor Frank Bongiorno. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a gaffe as a “blunder, an instance of clumsy stupidity, a ‘faux pas’.” It evokes a sense of triviality rather than high seriousness. If one’s clumsiness results in the outbreak of war, it would not usually be…
Word-playing the field
Article by Mark Gwynn. A couple of years ago, a peculiar expression was submitted to the Word Box on the Australian National Dictionary Centre website. The phrase was leave the porch light on for Harold Holt, an idiom used allusively in sporting situations to refer to an unlikely outcome.…
Meet Dr V. Chitra co-organiser of the PossumLab
Article by Phillis Zeng. Dr V. Chitra joined the ANU School of Archaeology and Anthropology in February 2024 as a new lecturer in Anthropology. With her passion and expertise in visual arts and science and technology, Chitra brings creative approaches to environmental anthropology. Chitra…
Gladiator II is full of historical inaccuracies – but is that a problem?
Article by Natalia Burgess. Gladiator II has it all: hunky men in armour, brutal warfare, tyrannical emperors and even flesh-eating baboons. But film buffs and historians alike have criticised the highly anticipated sequel to Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, calling out the movie’s anachronisms…