Change is slow. And Australia is even slower. This is a central crisis of the colonised nation-state. But the apparatus of the journal is quick-paced and dynamic, spirited and persistent. Literature more broadly, with its world-making ability, both reflects and creates Australia’s view of itself. Within literature, the immediacy and relentlessness of the periodical give it the capacity to counter history and shape culture.

The global literary establishment has stunted the publication and celebration of Indigenous talent. Wiradjuri writer and academic Dr Jeanine Leane¹ says the Australian publishing industry is a part of the colonial machine that largely ignores First Nations literature. Despite the undeniable calibre of award-winning Blak writing, the literary scene is not doing enough to welcome us in. More space needs to be made for our express contribution to nationhood to be realised.