It might be believed that Australia has no sex discrimination, because the doctrine of the equality of sexes is stated to exist in Australia. During my homestays with the several ordinary Australian families for 13 months, I often observed the high social status of Australian women. For example, Australian husbands are eager to help their wives with housework and Australian female workers are given the same salary that male workers are given, if the jobs are the same. However, I was sometimes puzzled to see that the women tend to gather apart from the men at parties, etc, in Australia. I was interested in this awkwardness between sexes. I was also surprised to read that there had been strong sex, discrimination between sexes after the foundation of a colony(1788). According to Craig McGreg or, the women were treated like prostitutes in beds by Australian men. I am afraid that the social status of Australian women in those days were the lowest in the world, I have begun to question how the lowest status in the world changed into the highest in the realized that there had been much efforts of Australian women to elevate their status. In spite of their efforts, the strong discrimination seen between sexes in the past still survives in the deep-seated minds of Australian women. One example is Australian blue films, where women are only treated like sex-machine for men's satisfaction. It is my hypothesis in this paper that while sex discrimination in Australia really does exist in the minds of Australian men, it is not easily seen on the surface of the Australian society.

View full abstract

In Patrick White's Twvborn Affair(1979), we confront one of recurrent themes of Australian Literature, in association with another theme which is comparatively unusual. The former, the theme of national identity, is amalgamated with the latter,the theme of sexual identity, to make a story of a wandering life in which the hero/heroine Eddie Twyborn seeks for his "true" self while not knowing whether it exists or not. When the story is set in Europe, Eddie appears in the persona of a woman, firstly young Eudoxia and later Mrs Eadith Triste. In Australia, he assumes the role of a man, the only son of Judge Edward Twyborn. One may possibly interpret Eddie's alter-nation between the sexes as a metaphor: manhood as the symbol of the Australian ethos, womanhood as that of the Old World. The problem of sexuality, however, plays a far more substantial part in the novel than mere metaphor. As an expatriate and a hermaphrodite, Eddie is doubly excluded from definite social groups. On that account, he inevitably aspires to "the reality of permanence", a state unrecognizable to the eyes of people with unfailing identities. Though the pursuit of ambiguity both in national and sexual identity, the novel presents a positive vision in spite of its negative rendering and tragic ending. Eddie seeks for truth in his troubled identity. He can belong neither to his motherland Australia nor his cultural back-ground Europe, nor can he ever perfectly belong either to the state of manhood or womanhood; and truth for him lies in surviving by means of this untenable position itself. We understand Eddie Twyborn's fluctuating anonymity as exemplifying a prolific multiplicity of identities to be seen during the course of Australian literary history in which the problem of identity has been subjected to.a variety of experimental trials.

View full abstract

In Japan to establish Family Law legal rights, a marriage must be registered. The legislation is a separate formality from the marriage ceremony. The marriage ceremony alone does not constitute marriage in Japan. Property distribution problems and inequalities upon breakdown of the relationships arises from the failure, or, the inability to register the marriage. In the past a couple could not register the marriage unless certain legal requirements were met, for example, one requirement being parental consent. These relationships were called "Naien". The couple's relationships lacked register was not marriage, so they could not be treated as the married couple, but the couple had the intention to register and had been living together as a married couple, so the "Junkon principle" was developed to bring these couple, who could not register the marriage, under the jurisdiction of Family Law. The "Junkon principle" allowed the lack of legislation to be overcome provided the couple met certain requirements. However, De Facto couples are increasing in Japan. In Japan these couples are ones that have no clear intention to register as a married couple, this could be evidenced by their choosing not to register when there was no obstacles preventing them doing so. These relationships are offered no legal protection. This situation would usually work to the women's disadvantage as most property would be held in the man's name. Therefore there is a need to address this problem as the "Junkon principle" can't be extended to Non-"Naien" couples, Problems of this kind are not limited to Japan. In Australia there had been an attempt to address this problem by the creation of De Facto Relationships Act N.S.W..In Australia they have enacted the bases of divorce, which is the creation of Non-Fault Divorce Law. There is only one basis of divorce, called irrecoverable marriage breakdown, proved by 12 months separation. In this paper I will examine the Australian approach, some of which is applicable to Japanese situation and would help to redress existing inequities.

View full abstract

This paper re-examines the poetry of Kenneth Slessor on the occasion of Geoffrey Dutton's biography of Kenneth Slessor being published this year, 20 years after the poet's death. By general consent Slessor is regarded as the father of modern Australian poetry. Divorced from the early Australian bush ballad, his poems deal with the universality of human themes in a psychological, philosophical and aesthetic mode, which had become prominent in modern poetry all over the world. Upon reading Dutton's biography and other recent articles on Slessor's poems, what impressed me most is the fact that the Literary Australian landscape up to the end of the World War 2 was very largely barren. Slessor was one of a few Australian poets who were consciously working on modern poetry, despite the fact that there was no favourable environment where they could expect an audience. His poems are essentially agnostic, descriptive and highly imaginative. Dutton's biography gave me little insight into the poet's creative mind; the poems - "Five Visions of Captain Cook", "Five Bells" and "Beach Burial" - I focus on his major preoccupation, the significance of human life when seen as a transitory moment in the passage of time. Slessor attempts to grasp at life's meaning through looking at such individuals as "Captain Cook", "Alexander Home", "Joe Lynch" and the "Unknown seaman". In these poems he succeeds in recreating the reality of their lives. Apart from his poetic themes his poetic diction is skilfully balanced and metered to the utmost phonetic effect. In doing so his poems present aspects of human existence and shades of human emotions. Australian literature has come into fashion since the 1960s and even today, some fifty years after he ceased to write, Slessor continues to play a significant role. This in itself is a tribute to this poet who achieved such a high quality of poetic expression, working in isolation in a country which, at that time, was still caught in its colonial past.

View full abstract

During the last decade Australian painting has entered upon a new phase of development. Government patronage of arts has been substantial since 1973 under the Australian Council which has supported especially non-English-speaking-background artists, women artists and Aboriginal artists. It aims also to foster a national ,identity through the arts practice. Meanwhile figuration revived in painting to re-place abstract forms. The new directions in painting reflect social and political climates in Australia today: A skeptical attitude towards the white nationalist image of 'bush' landscape, an attempt to peer into the Australian reality of urban and suburban life, manifestation of cultural alienation or dilemma in rather Anglophilic Australian society, feminist protest against male chauvinism, satire upon modern technology and identity, a sense of place and correspondence with the environment, and most distinctively, emergence of Aboriginal painting which strongly expresses their original relationships to the land, adopting techniques and imagery of both Western and Aboriginal traditions. Minority artists are contributors to the versatile arts, gradually merging into and widening the `mainstream', Now how does such diversified arts relate to a National identity? A strong sense of personal identity is reflected in the paintings. The subject matter such as inequity or alienation evolves a question what a 'culture' means. It is problematic for Australians to share an identity. While a stereotype landscape is no longer valid, links to places will always be essential for individual identity. The key to the realization of a harmonious multicultural Australia lies in decision of the Australians how they would share the country.

View full abstract

This paper reports a study that investigated perceived sources of support. To gather empirical evidence, a sample survey of women in four study areas of Canberra was conducted in 1986-87. Three hundred and ninety-four women who were under 55 years of age' and who were married or in a de fact relationship were interviewed. They responded to' four hypothetical difficult situations by identifying the sources from which they would seek support. Analysis of the data has revealed the following; (1)In a short-term situation (i.e., 'one-hour wait for a delivery') neighbours were very likely to be chosen as the key source of aid. However, few of Canberra's residents regarded neighbours, friends or workmates as providers of support in other situations. This is explained by the fact that the residents of the city consisted mainly of middle class people, and because they were generally rich or were dual-income families, the residents tended to cope with difficult situations by using purchased services. This made it difficult for them to expect help from neighbours, friends or workmates.(2)In long-term situation (i.e., 'two-weeks appendix operation' and 'three-months broken legs') relatives were thought of as being the most helpful, even when those relatives did not reside in Canberra. Residents were able to turn to their distant relatives for assistance, because people have strong bonds with relatives and the relation-ships are permanent.(3)Canberra has been developed since the 1960's on a full scale, and many people have migrated to the city since then. Such people were unlikely to have their relatives within the city, and as a result it was more difficult in Canberra to expect help from their relatives than in Detroit. However, at the time of this study many of such migrants had lived there for a long period and had gradually formed kinship relation-ships within the city. Thus, far more respondents in this survey reported their rela-tives as helpful than did those of nearly ten years ago.

View full abstract

[in Japanese]

View full abstract