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“Aboriginal folks are as good as totally absent from social life in Australia, apart from political debates that affect Indigenous interests and culture. Australians pay lip-service by having Aboriginal art hanging on the walls of their houses.
People have always loved public executions. Do you know how many reruns there are of the Kennedy assassination on American TV stations every year?”
even at a young age I felt a strange attraction to girls and all those awful hetero things.
“After San Francisco, Sydney has the biggest gay population in the world,” Andrew said. “The Australian outback is not exactly known for its tolerance of sexual diversity, so it’s not surprising that all the queer farmer boys in Australia want to come to Sydney.
Three words from him in Portuguese and I knew he was Swedish. He had lived there for thirty years. And I can’t speak a word of Portuguese.”
He doesn’t have an easy time of it, poor thing. Over thirty, lives at home with his mum
whistled in a very un-PC way.
Australians are used to living with different cultures and races, but there’s always some friction.
“The bat is the Aboriginal symbol of death.
there was me thinking Swedes would be missing their meatballs and the midsummer dancing
Scandinavian girls don’t exactly have a problem getting jobs in bars,
I was sure we would get married and have children and live in a little suburb of Malmö with a garden
He sensed her aroma and greedily breathed in the fragrance. He must not let himself be duped. Those cunning bastards at Karl Lagerfeld and Christian Dior knew exactly what was required to trap a poor man. She smelled wonderful.
“What’s Sweden got that Norway hasn’t?”
“She was the kind that’s hard-faced when you meet her, but she’s as soft as butter if you tickle her under the chin and tell her you love her. Then she can’t do enough for you.”
“In traditional crime fiction every detective with any self-respect has an unfailing nose for when people are lying. It’s bullshit!
no Scandinavian turtle-doving here
“Rape is unfortunately an everyday event in Australia
there is no pattern here except that the victims are blonde,
“For a serial killer the sexual act comes second to killing. Raping without killing has no meaning.
dogs have an average short-term memory of three seconds,
after repeated stimuli the body could “remember.”
according to the Terra Nullius principle the English could just issue property deeds to the new settlers without taking any account of what the Aboriginal people might have to say. They hadn’t laid claim to their own land.”
People are like dogs, you know. A dog you don’t have under control is an unhappy dog. And unhappy dogs bite, you know.”
The sky you see in Norway is just the same as the one you see in Australia. But because now you’re down under, you’re standing on your head compared with being at home, aren’t you. So you see the stars upside down. If you don’t know you’re standing upside down you get confused and make mistakes.”
Australians boast that they’re a liberal nation. Perhaps they are as well. But my understanding is that their ideal is the honest, uncomplicated, hard-working Australian with a good sense of humor and a touch of patriotism.”
What about your parents? Can they read?”
you Scandinavians are all alike. Can’t let go until you’ve poured so much booze down you you’re useless for …
“You react like most whities,”
it doesn’t occur to you that I’m intelligent enough to take into account that you’re a foreigner. I don’t suppose you would be personally offended if Japanese tourists in Norway didn’t know everything about your country?
Even white Australians are hysterically cautious about saying something wrong. That’s what’s so paradoxical. First of all, they take our people’s pride, and when it’s gone they’re scared to death of treading on it.”
If you want to govern a nation you have to understand it.”
the most bizarre legislation was the law allowing authorities to remove a child from an Aboriginal mother if there was a suspicion that the father was not Aboriginal.
some barramundi breeders in Tasmania, for example, give the fish extra light in the autumn. Trick them into thinking it’s still summer to make them spawn more.”
Why can’t you women just say things as they are? You overestimate men’s ability to interpret.”
Andrew had pulled the duvet up to his chin and looked as if he was already lying in state.
it was late afternoon, but not so late that their sunglasses looked out of place.
She was so beautiful that he felt his throat constrict.
I have never met an alkie who doesn’t care what he drinks. Once you’ve found your poison you stick to it, don’t you?
“Good morning, white brother,” said a deep voice he recognized. “Very white brother,”
“This is the mature, carefully considered holiday romance which doesn’t become too intense but has enough sex for it to be worth the effort.”
she doesn’t like rapists and murderers,”
“A long time ago an Aboriginal woman had to pass three tests before she could marry,”
I’m a psychopath. I know that, you know,”
My delusion is that my mission in life is to avenge my people.” “By raping white women?” “Childless white women.”
She was so beautiful and almost transparent.
“I’ve never seen such a tidy bachelor pad before,”
I think all Aborigines look the same.”
It had tasted of death and depravity,
