Tall And True Short Reads
Some Things Change – Perth, Western Australia, 2023
Episode 81 (22 October 2023)
It’s only early spring, but I’m starting to sweat in Mum and Dad’s back garden. I wore my dark English suit for Dad’s funeral, and if etiquette permits at wakes, I’d like to slip off the coat. Looking around the garden for guidance, I struggle to recognise elderly aunts and uncles or my fellow middle-aged cousins. And I have no hope of placing their children and grandchildren.
READ SHOW NOTES
Some Things Change – Perth, Western Australia, 2023
Show Notes
Season Four: Episode 81 (22 October 2023)
Some Things Change is a short story from the Tall And True writers’ website, written and narrated by Robert Fairhead.
Read the story on Tall And True: https://www.tallandtrue.com.au/fiction/short-stories/some-things-change
Podcast website: https://www.tallandtrueshortreads.com
- Episode 79, Perth, Western Australia, 1979
- Episode 80, London, England, 1992
Support the podcast: https://supporter.acast.com/tall-and-true-short-reads
Buy Robert’s short story collections online:
- Amazon Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Robert-Fairhead/e/B086HZ36NM
- Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/author/robert-fairhead/id1436773436
- Rakuten Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/au/en/author/robert-fairhead
Story Insight
I wrote Some Things Change in May-June 2023 as my submission for The Big Issue Fiction Edition and drew inspiration for the three-part short story from my life. Like my first-person narrator, Steve, in Episode 79, Perth, Western Australia, 1979, I grew up in Perth in the 1960s and 70s. And as he did in Episode 80, London, England, 1992, I moved to England in the 1980s and lived there during the 1990s.
During this time, I embarked on a long and ongoing journey of learning the true history of Australia and my country’s troubled relationship with Indigenous Australians. Further inspiration for the story, particularly this third vignette, Perth, Western Australia, 2023, was joining the campaign for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament in May 2023 and reading more about the discrimination and disadvantage of Indigenous peoples.
When I wrote the story, like Steve in this episode, I had high hopes the Referendum to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Constitution and afford them the respect of a representative Voice to Parliament on matters affecting their people would succeed. But I should have paid more attention to my other main character, Jenny, who warns Steve while some things have changed in Australia, others have stayed the same.
I was deeply involved as a volunteer with the Vote Yes campaign for the Voice to Parliament and worked long days on pre-polling and Referendum Day booths. The misinformation and lies I heard on the streets and read on social media about Indigenous peoples shocked me, and the resounding defeat of the Referendum proposal shamefully suggests that Australia is, as Jenny observed in London, 1992, stuck in a 1970s mindset about Aboriginal people. And, as she said in this episode, fearful of change.
I hope you enjoyed and learned something from Episodes 79 to 81 of Some Things Change. You can read this and all my short stories, blog posts and other writing at TallAndTrue.com. You can also buy my short story collections from the Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, and Kobo online bookstores — links are available in the show notes.
The next episode of Tall And True Short Reads will be released shortly. In the meantime, check your feed or the podcast website for earlier episodes from Seasons One to Three. And follow or subscribe to the podcast and rate and review it via your favourite podcasting app — doing so helps me share my storytelling.
You can support this podcast financially by making a small one-off or regular donation via the Acast Supporter Page.
Finally, please tell your family and friends about Tall And True Short Reads and the Tall And True writers’ website.
Podcast Theme and Sound Effects
Royalty-free music from Pixabay.com: Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major, Op. 28 ‘Pastorale’ – IV. Rondo. Allegro ma non-Troppo, performed by Karine Gilanyan.
Sound effects licensed under Creative Commons 0 from FreeSound.org:
- Kids playing: https://freesound.org/people/cognito%20perceptu/sounds/61503/
- Glasses Clinking: https://freesound.org/people/KenRT/sounds/319994/
- Car Interior: https://freesound.org/people/devy32/sounds/439252/
- Sipping Wine: https://freesound.org/people/bbrocer/sounds/382656/
Production Notes
Tall And True Short Reads is produced using Audacity.
Podcast episodes are recorded in Sydney, Australia, on the traditional lands of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation.
Acast Podcast Supporter Page
Support this show: https://supporter.acast.com/tall-and-true-short-reads.