Maureen Gallagher

Photo of a page of a book that reads “There was no shortage of action in the Botanical Gardens that afternoon. The noisy miner, fussed and aggressive, the white ibises with their curving black commas for beaks. I thought I spotted the galah cockatoo, pink against a pinkish eucalyptus, and then decided I had not. A group of small, long-tailed birds was streaked across by the blue of the breeding male and my heart fluttered (yes) at the sight of its tiny magnificence. This was a Superb fairywren. The birds in Australia are just ridiculous. The fairywrens are so beautiful their beauty is included in their English names: there is the Superb with his sky-blue cap, the Splendid fairywren of electric blue, the Lovely fairywren with chestnut wings, various other show-boats, intensely hued. There is no real fairy content in the fairywren, whose name was made up a couple of hundred years ago. Its older, local name is muruduwin.” The line “the birds in Australia are just ridiculous” has been highlighted.

Anne Enright on Australian birds, aka, why fifty percent of my social media posts are bird photos.

Members of QAnon claimed that a cabal of pedophiles had infiltrated the highest levels of our government. It turns out they were right.

Senator @davidpocock.bsky.social has a motion on notice in the Senate to stop #ANU job cuts. 👀

Will ANU Council act accordingly at their meeting tomorrow, or will they ram through job cuts whatever the damage to the University?

@nteunion.bsky.social is calling on ANU Council to stop the job cuts.

Can’t wait to listen to this!

6.6: The German Fetish for Nativeness: Pretendians, Settler Identity, and Far-right Nationalism Radicle Narrative · Episode

I was invited onto my friend Mylan's epic Radicle Narrative podcast to speak on German 'Indianthusiasm,' its ties to ethnonationalism, settler/national identity re/construction and Indigeneity as political currency in Europe: open.spotify.com/episode/11rh...

Reposting because of time zones (good morning, friends in the USA) and because I forgot to tag #AcademicSky and #LangChat.

Danke dafür, Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe

Columbia University’s agreement with the Trump administration is a disaster for academic freedom, freedom of speech, & the independence of American higher education. Never in the history of our nation has an educational institution so thoroughly bent to the will of an autocrat.

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Reframing Gender‐Inclusive Language in German Education: Politics, Pedagogy, and Possibilities Recently in Germany the question of gender-inclusive language has become another front in the culture wars. Headlines portray these linguistic innovations as disruptive and unnecessary while politici...

In spite of all the professional chaos lately, I'm pleased to see this piece out today in early view and open access in Unterrichtspraxis. It's the culmination of a couple of years of writing and thinking about these issues, which are more important now than ever. Out in print later this year!

Overheard in Sydney, “It’s cold out there!” It is 60° (16C) and sunny in the middle of winter!

Ancient ‘alien’ brittle stars linked to relatives across the globe by a deep-sea evolutionary superhighway Analysis finds that over millions of years, and without the help of fins or wings, brittle stars have quietly migrated across entire oceans

‘They don’t have a brain, they don’t have eyes. They just have a round disc, with a stomach and things like reproductive organs, and five arms.‘ I thought for a second this was describing university administrators, but, no, just very cool research about *marine* invertebrates.

School of Music cuts are pointless, destructive and against the ANU's own recommendations | Region Canberra The knives are out at the ANU and they're cutting deep and hard into the School of Music. Paradoxically, this…

School of Music cuts are pointless, destructive and against the ANU's own recommendations region.com.au/school-of-mu...

We 💜 #ANU students.

Students led yesterday's incredible rally, and School of Music students have staged an all-night concert until this morning. Well done to #Woroni covering it.

@nteunion.bsky.social members know that staff working conditions are student learning conditions.

Any university employee that puts out statements like this should not only be fired but banned from ever working for an institution of higher education ever again.

ANU feminists slam cuts for 'destroying' gender studies program ANU leadership likened to Donald Trump's chainsaw cutting of public service.

"You would think that after the Nixon Review you would increase support for the one dedicated teaching program and research program in gender studies and feminist thinking that we have in the university.”

Prof. Melinda Cooper @melindacooper.bsky.social

www.canberratimes.com.au/story/902190...

Shoes of ANU

ANU cuts are impacting an innumerable amount of people. Here are just some of their stories. www.shoesofanu.com

National advocates for arts education urges ANU to reconsider restructure Representing more than 10,000 arts educators, the National Advocates for Arts Education calls for a rethink on cuts to ANU's School of Music.

"Such changes would not only undermine the School [of Music's] proud legacy but would also diminish ANU’s vital national role as a custodian of artistic and educational excellence.”

Dr John Nicholas Saunders of NAAE

limelight-arts.com.au/news/nationa...

a cartoon character with red hair says argh ALT: a cartoon character with red hair says argh

When you get proofs back and they decided to capitalize "white."

An org chart in ANU branding titled "new College structure from 1 Jan 2026". At the top of the chart is "Chat GPT", below are various acronyms evoking recent ANU CMPs, e.g.: "College for Reputational Implosion and Nous Group Enrichment" or "CRINGE" and "School for Wellness Improvement by Learning Less" or "SWILL"

An org chart in ANU branding titled "Australian National University - future organisational chart". The top 8-10 layers are populated with positions titled "Fake jobs". Below them are "academic staff" and "professional staff"

More leaked documents found lying around on campus.

ANU mug cracked and glued back together 💔

‘My salary is less than what the university pays for rent on Julie Bishop's Perth office.’ - a human story of ANU cack-handed cuts. www.facebook.com/share/p/1ZTL...

Australia can't withstand further humanities cuts The Australian Academy of Humanities views with great concern the impact on staff, students and the wider community of the ANU’s plan for the humanities and social sciences. Now is not the time to red...

“The Australian Academy of Humanities views with great concern the impact on staff, students and the wider community of the ANU’s plan for the humanities and social sciences.

Now is not the time to reduce our national humanities capabilities…”

humanities.org.au/news/austral...

Indistinguishable from Nazi Heimat propaganda. Same exact thing

Great solidarity from #ANU staff, students, and broader community today in the face of mass ANU job cuts.

It was also fantastic to be joined by Senator @davidpocock.bsky.social and @lauranutallgreens.bsky.social. ✊

Join the @nteunion.bsky.social today at www.nteu.au/join.

ANU protest against cuts Senator David Pocock addresses rally against ANU cuts

“What is happening here makes no sense. There is a total lack of transparency and … leadership.”
@davidpocock.bsky.social

“We built the ANU … I don’t have confidence in the leadership”
@drdemography.com

So grateful to have two real leaders on our side!

www.canberratimes.com.au/video/nation...

🟣🟣🟣 Tomorrow! 🟣🟣🟣

Strike Back against ANU Job Cuts rally at 12pm
CASS People's Town Hall at 1pm

All #ANU staff, students, broader community welcome as we stand up to damage to our national university.

Join @nteunion.bsky.social at www.nteu.au/join. ✊

Staff, students and the broader community have lost confidence in #ANU leadership.

It is now time to strike back! ✊

Rally: 12-1pm, Tue 15 July, Kambri

Join @nteunion.bsky.social at www.nteu.au/join.

More on your rights re: this event here: www.nteu.au/News_Article...

Reaching financial sustainability ANU • In mid-2024, revised financial assessments of the ANU revealed the need for a $250m reduction in spend across the University. • The CASS 2026 forward planning estimate (target) is $62m. • To achieve this baseline, the change proposal includes two financial responses needed address our full year (2025) deficit forecast v planning estimate of $9.5m • Net savings proposed against budget $6.1m • Plus pre-existing negative variance (2025 forecast v budget allocation) is an additional $3.4m • Meeting this target has required us to look carefully at our current operations to consider how we might both contract and grow areas of our business to reach target and assure future financial sustainability .

ANU executives spent $11M on travel, in the latest available reporting year. This year, ANU college of arts and social sciences is being forced to cut $6.1M. Make this make sense. vimeo.com/1098376260/f...

👀 Australian Financial Review has outlined the staggering cost of #ANU Chancellor Julie Bishop. 💰

The Chancellor famously described staff as "inefficiencies".

@nteunion.bsky.social members think we should instead get rid of the ANU Perth Office - and its occupant.

ANU tells staff of new round of job cuts, with more to come A thousand staff have left under vice-chancellor Bell, union says.

"We are in a terrible situation where the Australian National University needs to be protected from its own leadership... The vice-chancellor apparently knows the cost of staff, but not the value of staff."

@nteunion.bsky.social's @lachlanclohesy.bsky.social on latest #ANU job cuts.