Feature Articles
The only way to become a writer is to sit still and write.
In 1990, after my first book was published, I was commissioned to write an article on cults and mind-control for Nature & Health magazine. I was surprised how easy this was to write and delighted with the large cheque I received as payment. I spent the next 12 years making excuses not to write until one Xmas I read Steven King's book On Writing and decided that that was it. I was going to shut the door of my office and write.
I began by writing about things that really pissed me off such as the ban of dogs and cats in eco-villages (at the time I was living at Kookaburra Park Eco-village) as well as the myths of divorce that were being spouted by the likes of Tony Abbott and Archbishop Pell. Since then I've written on a range of issues including plagiarism, domestic violence, family violence, intimate partner abuse including rape, cult mind control, the dangers of meditation, the Andrew Fitzherbert murder case and my father's aviation adventures. I like to shine a light on the darkness, look at things overlooked, dismissed or ignored. I also review books for Newtown Review of Books and other publications including ArtsHub. (While I was doing my PhD, I had four peer-reviewed articles published in academic journals. I found this kind of writing pretty tedious and pointless, but I’ve included these articles below.)
2023, Review: Unfinished Woman, Robyn Davidson, Newtown Review of Books, 28 November.
2023, Review: Unfinished Woman, Robyn Davidson, ArtsHub, 13 November.
2023, ‘Unsalved Wound’, Book Browse, 13 November.
2023, Plagiarism, Cobbling or Accidental Inclusion, Meanjin, 19 July.
2023, Review of Loop Tracks by Sue Orr, Newtown Review of Books, 8 June.
2022, Who was pioneering aviator Oscar Garden, Flypast, 22 November.
2022, Review of Cult Trip by Anke Richter, Newtown Review of Books, 10 November.
2022, Life with Sexie Sadie, Newsroom, 9 November.
2022, Big Brother Byron, ABC Religion & Ethics, 26 August.
2022, Social media and small bookshops can make for a small world, after all, ABC Religion & Ethics, 9 August.
2022, Magpies and Memory, Meanjin, 18 June.
2022, Review of Skinful by Robin Fleming, Newtown Review of Books, 22 February.
2021, Review of Tank Water by Mike Burge, Newtown Review of Books, 21 December.
2021, The Supreme Navigator, Aviation News, November, pp.24-25.
2021, Review of Ten Thousand Aftershocks by Michelle Tom, Newtown Review of Books, 2 November.
2021, Why My Sister’s Book is a stab in the back, Newsroom, 5 April.
2021, I didn’t realise I had been raped, Mamamia, 14 March.
2021, The Incredible Exploits of Oscar Garden, Flypast, 24 February.
2020, ‘Sundowner of the Skies’, Flypast, March 2020, pp.90-95.
2019, ‘Oscar Garden: a Scottish-born Aviator’, The Scottish Banner, Vol. 43, No 5, Nov., pp. 30-31.
2019, My book is not a bestseller but I still think it is a success, The Guardian, 26 September 2019
2018, Put your back into it: the case for caution with yoga, The New Daily, 20 April.
2018, Vikki Campion is no victim, so the scolds and gossips should stop giving unsought advice, The New Daily, 9 March.
2016, 'Australian journalist-blogs: a shift in audience relationships or mere window dressing?', Journalism: theory, practice & criticism, Vol. 17, Iss. 3, pp. 331-347.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1464884914557923
2014, Divorce: escape from a toxic marriage, Online Opinion, 9 July.
2014, When we say nothing about intimate partner violence, we become part of the problem, Women’s Agenda, 17 June.
2013, The Sundowner of the Skies, The Aviation Historian, Iss. 5, pp. 12-25.
2011, ‘Twelve years (so far) for murder: Is this one in 14 trillion?’, The Australian Rationalist, Issue 88, pp. 35-37.
2012, 'Defining blog: A fool's errand or a necessary undertaking', Journalism: theory, practice & criticism, Vol. 13, Iss. 4, pp. 483-499. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1464884911421700.
2011, DNA evidence on trial: the curious case of the palmist and the ‘cat-woman’, Crime Magazine, 16 May.
2010, 'Are predictions of newspapers’ impending demise exaggerated?', Asia Pacific Media Educator, Iss. 20, pp. 37-52. http://ro.uow.edu.au/apme/vol1/iss20/5
2010, 'Newspaper Blogs: The genuine article or poor counterfeits', Media International Australia, Vol. 135, pp. 19-31.
2009, Memoirs of a spiritual refugee, The Humanist, Vol. 69, pp. 21-24.
2008, ‘Cat among pigeons’, The Courier-Mail, July 27, p. 24.
2008, ‘Bats out of hell’, The Courier-Mail, 12 July, pp. 52-3.
2008, ‘Flying is Good for You’, Flight Path, Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 20-7.
2007, Can Meditation be bad for you?, The Humanist, Vol. 67, No. 5, pp. 20-4.
2007, Bedazzled by DNA - Is it enough to convict?, On Line Opinion, August 9.
2007, ‘The palmist, the cat-woman and the suspect DNA’, Courier-Mail, August 4-5, pp. 47, 50-1.
2007, ‘Sundowner of the Skies’, Living Orkney, Iss. 19, June, pp. 14-25
2007, ‘Why Doesn’t She Leave?’, Living Now, Iss. 93, March, pp. 16-18.
2007, ‘The Plane Facts’, The Weekend Australian, February 10, Travel, p. 5.
2007, ‘Tracking the Truth’, Dotlit: the online journal of creative writing, QUT, Vol. 6, Iss. 1.
2007, ‘He needed a drink, but they brought him boiled eggs!’, Northern Times, January 19, p. 7.
2007, ‘New motor service helped transform life in the North’, Northern Times, January 12, p. 7.
2006, ‘The First Landing’, Flight Journal (Connecticut), December, pp. 42-3.
2006, ‘Flying is Good for you’, LogBook, (Florida), Vol. 7, No. 4, pp. 28-33.
2006, ‘Sunday Flying, Oscar Garden Charged’, New Zealand Memories, Iss. 62, October/November, pp. 14-18.
2006, ‘Darts in the Dark’, The Australian Writer’s Marketplace 2007, pp. 11-13.
2006, ‘A Happy Gardener’, Grass Roots, No. 176, August/September, pp. 58-9.
2006, The eco-village movement: divorced from reality, The International Journal of Inclusive Democracy, Vol. 2, No. 3.
2006, ‘Plane Sailing’, The Southland Times, Inform Section, February 25, pp. C1-C2.
2006, Leaving Utopia, International Journal of Inclusive Democracy, Vol. 2, No. 2.
2006, ‘Darts in the Dark’, Writing Queensland, Iss. 148, Dec-January, pp. 14-15.
2006, ‘Mini-Queenslanders with a theme’, The Weekend Australian, Travel, January 14/15.
2006, ‘Oscar for a Bay Aviator’, Bay of Plenty Times, January 11, p. 13.
2005, ‘Historical Hiccups in the South Island of New Zealand’, Flightpath, Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 28-31.
2005, ‘Sundowner of the Skies’, Logbook (Florida), Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 22-9.
2005, Landing on Stewart Island, New Zealand Geographic, No. 76, pp. 20-3.
2005, ‘Working with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross on Emotions’, LivingNow, Iss. 79, pp. 18-19.
2005, Flight from the Blue, The Christchurch Press, October 15, Mainlander D7.
2005, The Potential for Abuse in the Guru-Disciple Relationship, ICSA E-Newsletter, Vol. 4, No. 3, September.
2005, ‘When Sunday flying trips were banned’, Timaru Herald, 6 September, p. 9.
2005, Off on a Wing and No Fear, Timaru Herald, 16 July, p. 21.
2005, Bad Karma, New Humanist Magazine, Vol. 120, No. 4, July 4, pp. 8-9.
2005, ‘To Australia on Two Spare Springs’, Otago Daily Times, July 2-3, p. 4.
2005, Sundowner of the Skies, The Journal of the Aviation Historical Society of Australia Inc., Vol. 36, No. 2, pp. 60-3.
2005, ‘Oscar Garden: An Unsung Hero’, Pacific WINGS, June, pp. 11-13.
2005, ‘Empty Nest’, LivingNow, Iss. 74, June, pp. 24-6.
2005, ‘Writers Block’, May 18, Absolute Write: https://absolutewrite.com/
2005, Sundowner of the Skies—Mary Garden takes flight with her father, Weekend Financial Review, 24-8 March, pp. 6-7 Review section.
2005, Writer’s Block, Writers Services.
2004, ‘Abuse in the name of Krishna’, Insight Magazine, July, pp. 32-5.
2004, ‘A Sacred Cow: Banning Cats and Dogs from Eco-villages’, Grassroots Magazine, No. 161, pp. 55-8.
2004, ‘No Pets Allowed’, Burke’s Backyard Magazine, August, pp. 94-5.
2003, ‘Living Down Under’, Dog Monthly (UK), Vol. 21, No. 12, pp. 28-30.
2003, ‘The Trouble with Gurus—Mary Garden issues a travel warning for seekers of spiritual enlightenment’, Australian Financial Review, 21 November, pp. 6-7.
2002, ‘The unholy war against divorce’, Journal of Social Alternatives, University of Queensland, Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 52-5.
2002, Pro-Marriage Politicians Rely on Flawed Studies, Womensenews, New York, October 9.
2002, ‘Dogs, Cats and Ecovillages’, Permaculture South Australia, Adelaide: Permaculture Association of S.A, pp. 10-11.
2002, ‘Alarmist tales divorced from reality: Mary Garden challenges some dangerous myths about ending a marriage’, Australian Financial Review, 9 August, pp. 6-7.
2002, ‘No Pets in Paradise—Eco-village living’, Pets n People, Vol. 5.
1991, ‘Guava Garden’, Black Possum Diary 1992, Maleny: Black Possum Publishing Cooperative Society Ltd, p. 89.
1990, ‘Mind Control and Religious Cults’, Nature & Health, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 32-5.