Where Aboriginal people are concerned, the twin strands of dysfunction
and idealisation weave a highly coloured thread through the fabric of
Australian culture. The strand that remains all but invisible is that of
ordinary Aboriginal lives, the preoccupations and pleasures that amidst
all the furore and sentiment remain robust and sustaining.

Kim Mahood, ‘Listening is harder than you think’,
Griffith Review 19: Re-imagining Australia