Colin Golvan

La Trobe University Essay | 'Copyright, Guns and Money: Copyright and Culture in the Digital Age' by Colin Golvan

August 2005, no. 273 • 01 August 2005

In the teaching of copyright, it is usually said that copyright is an economic right. In Arnhem Land, they think otherwise. In 1990, I attended a meeting of Aboriginal artists in Maningrida. These artists had been involved in a copyright infringement case concerning the unauthorised reproduction of works of art on T-shirts. The case had settled, and the purpose of the meeting was to discuss the di ... (read more)

'A win for Namatjira' by Colin Golvan

ABR Arts • 06 November 2017

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers should be aware that this commentary contains images or names of people who have since passed away. Following a concerted media and legal campaign, the Namatjira Legacy Trust has succeeded in securing the ownership of the copyright of Albert Namatjira following a recent resolution of claims made by the Trust against the long-time copyright owner Legen ... (read more)

'The Copyright of Albert Namatjira' by Colin Golvan

April 2017, no. 390 • 14 March 2017

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers should be aware that this commentary contains images or names of people who have since passed away. You see them driving from Kings Canyon to Alice Springs, the majestic ghost white river gums depicted so faithfully in the paintings of Albert Namatjira. You would think you were looking at a Namatjira painting. And then there is the vista of the craggy ... (read more)

'The Copyright of Albert Namatjira' by Colin Golvan

ABR Arts • 14 March 2017

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers should be aware that this commentary contains images or names of people who have since passed away. You see them driving from Kings Canyon to Alice Springs, the majestic ghost white river gums depicted so faithfully in the paintings of Albert Namatjira. You would think you were looking at a Namatjira painting. And then there is the vista of the craggy ... (read more)

'The god of cheaper prices: New threats to our literary culture from the Productivity Commission' by Colin Golvan

November 2016, no. 386 • 24 October 2016

The federal government has been promoting the innovation economy, but is considering recommendations for legal reform which will undermine the financial and cultural interests of creators. This conflict captures the tension around real reform in this area. Are they being serious? The recommendations are contained in the report of the Productivity Commission, an independent panel which reviews opti ... (read more)

Colin Golvan reviews 'Australia's Boldest Experiment: War and Reconstruction in the 1940s' by Stuart Macintyre

April 2016, no. 380 • 30 March 2016

What is it about wars and the military that produce so much innovation and capacity? This a big and bold book which takes the contemporary collective awareness of Australia's wartime efforts on the battlefield and reflects on the building of the country on the back of the victory in 1945. It also invites the question of how best we can address the imperatives of building social infrastructure. 19 ... (read more)

Arcadia (Sydney Theatre Company)

ABR Arts • 15 February 2016

Many wonderful things have been written about this sprawling gem of a play since it was first staged in 1993. Two decades later, it still bamboozles, delights, and moves its audience in its uncompromising search for meaning in love and science. This was a production in genuine homage to one of the great plays of modern times. First, though, a note of deepest praise for the Sydney Theatre Company, ... (read more)

Letter from Tel Aviv

ABR Arts • 31 December 2014

Tel Aviv and I go back a few decades. I lived there in the early 1980s, working as a journalist. I fell in love with it then and my romance with the city endures. It is not because it is beautiful or historic (it is barely 100 years old), though the area does have a timeless and much-recorded pre-history. Tel Aviv is badly planned, and many of the buildings are ramshackle and as tenuous as the shi ... (read more)

Colin Golvan reviews 'Excursions in the Law' by Peter Heerey

December 2014, no. 367 • 01 December 2014

What’s on a judge’s mind? Litigants and advocates would love to know. Former judge Peter Heerey answers that question in his latest book, a compendium of writing over many years, covering a vast array of topics and in myriad forms. Heerey displays his abiding affection for his Tasmanian roots with an essay on the Tasmanian member of the group of authors of the Australian Constitution, Andrew ... (read more)

Colin Golvan reviews 'Behind the Doors: An art History from Yuendumu' by Philip Jones with Warlukurlangu Artists

August 2014, no. 363 • 01 August 2014

The painting of the Yuendumu doors in 1984 by Warlpiri artists, whose country is north-west of Alice Springs, represented an extraordinary moment in Australian art and modern art generally. In the 1980s some Aboriginal elders painted the doors in the Yuendumu School building to prompt students to show respect for their school and as a marker of their culture. It was the first time that they had pa ... (read more)