Backbencher

The Manning Clark lecture was somewhat surprising to me. It gave the "grumpy old man" a voice and an attitude. The lecture focused on how Australians need to create their own culture, and not to get caught up in the ways of cynicism. He stated that many of these things are taken mostly from Britain, but also from America. When Australian artists began to see the beauty of their own country, things became clearer for many and an individual identity began to emerge. Throughout his speech, Clark used examples of music to express his point. I found this very interesting, as far as speeches go! It is easy to see how Henry Lawson played a detrimental role in Clark's life.
One thing that has come together for me is that we can see a bit of Clark’s socialistic attitude coming out in his speech that was suggested by Dr. Whitford ("era of greed and titillation culture", and the "loss of faith in human perfectibility"). The later was and is much needed for the endurance of the human race (realist point of view).
Overall, it was nice to hear the speech of a labeled man. It brought to life the "historian lover!"