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Simon Farley

@sighmonger.bsky.social

410 followers 390 following 260 posts

Historian, among other things | Usual disclaimers | My pronouns are ze/zir or they/them

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Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · Jan 27

Super stoked to say my new article for Settler Colonial Studies has been published online! If you want to know the deep reasons why Australia is full of mynas, blackbirds, sparrows, starlings, spotted doves and other Eurasian birds, then look no further. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

‘Their beneficial effect upon a people’: settlers, songbirds and civilisation in nineteenth-century Victoria

Through the figure of journalist and philanthropist Edward Wilson (1813–1878), this article explores the settler-colonial dimensions of the mid-nineteenth century acclimatisation movement in Austra...

www.tandfonline.com

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Kath Barbadoro @kathbarbadoro.bsky.social · 1d

I love living in a city full of immigrants and tons and tons of people who are not at all like me and not like each other. It makes us all better and it makes our city better. I know I’m preaching to the choir by saying this on the lib app but I sometimes just get so overwhelmed by how special it is

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Liam Hogan @liamhogan.id.au · 1d

One of the conspirators who helped Gavrilo Princip shoot Archduke Franz Ferdinand survived to see the breakup of Yugoslavia. He could conceivably have watched the Neighbours episode where Scott and Charlene got married

rax ‘levon honkers’ king @raxkingisdead.bsky.social · 1d

you ever think about those real weird overlaps. like tennessee williams might have listened to the ramones

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wint @dril.bsky.social · 3d

Yoda Latino

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Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 5d

I love Snoopy in a different, more profound way to the way everyone else loves Snoopy

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josh (oldfriend99) @oldfriend99.bsky.social · 6d

The Strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde set serums back years. Everyone was afraid to ingest serums that summer. Even tinctures saw a dip in sales

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Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 7d

His books are all really different. I think you'd probably like Kraken and Railsea, maybe This Census-Taker or Embassytown also

Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 7d

Haven't read a single one of these!

Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 7d

I was going to say that I consider people like these my personal enemies, but in fact, they are enemies of society, humanity and God.

Andy Fleming @slackbastard.bsky.social · 7d

'A former deputy head of the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation, McInerney has also argued the White Australia Policy did not go far enough and that white Australians may need to live in separate neighbourhoods as a form of “tactical retreat”.'

www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...

The far-right figures teaching students at a Sydney college

The dean of studies says the country will need political parties for white Australians. A senior lecturer wants an Anglo-Celtic club to inspire fear in “leftist thugs”.

www.smh.com.au

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Raven's fed up & black 🌱 @writeravenwrite.bsky.social · 7d

Mans really said "What if I made a cute comic about an entire universe dedicated to absolutely shitting on one kid so hard he went bald at 7"

Comics in the Spooky Age 🧛🧟‍♀️👻 @comicsinthega.bsky.social · 7d

The first Peanuts strip by Charles M. Schulz was published on October 2, 1950.

Four black and white panels of a boy and girl sitting on steps. 1st panel: Charlie Brown is approaching and the boy says “Well! Here comes ol’ Charlie Brown!” 2nd panel: As Charlie Brown passes, he says “Good ol’ Charlie Brown…yes, sir!” 3rd panel: “Good ol’ Charlie Brown…” 4th panel: Once Charlie is gone, “How I hate him!”

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Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 8d

Even limiting my choices to full-length novels originally written in English, this was tough

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Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 8d

After drinking a Slurpee and a Big M every single day for the last fourteen years, my doctor tells me my blood has the consistency and flavour of maple syrup.

Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 10d

Me when I see esoteric memes about Melbourne suburbs: I'm so proud to live in a thriving cosmopolis with an identity all its own 😍😇

When I see esoteric memes about Sydney suburbs: parochial garbage for lackwits who spend too much time in the sun 😤🧐

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holden m. accountable @noahs.bsky.social · 10d

THE MEME IS REAL

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Gil Greening @gilgreen.bsky.social · 10d

"So, you're saying a third of the stock market is tied up in seven AI companies that have no way to become profitable and that this is a bubble that's going to burst and take the whole economy with it?"

Mike Dickison @adzebill.bsky.social · 10d

Doctorow on the impending economic collapse when the AI bubble bursts. pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/e...

Pluralistic: The real (economic) AI apocalypse is nigh (27 Sep 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

pluralistic.net

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Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 12d

Okay credit where it's due

Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 12d

When a male media personality in Australia turns sixty, a switch flips and he suddenly transforms into a historian. One of nature's little miracles.

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Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 12d

The thing about Ranke is that his ideas about history were good. Unfortunately, they were also wrong. Good but wrong.

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Alex Blechman @alexblechman.bsky.social · 13d

History Student: (500 years from now) I don’t understand why their society collapsed. They had just invented 3D Doritos, everything was going fine

Professor: Some think the fall was caused by 3D Doritos

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RanTLaw @rantlaw.bsky.social · 14d

The Emus did nothing wrong

Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 14d

What percent of wars throughout history had a "good guy"? It can't be very high I would think

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 14d

"Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Wednesday he will join Italy in sending a military warship to protect an international flotilla seeking to deliver aid to Gaza after it was attacked by drones off Greece."

www.reuters.com/world/middle...

Spain's PM says he will send warship to protect Gaza aid flotilla

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Wednesday he will join Italy in sending a military warship to protect an international flotilla seeking to deliver aid to Gaza after it was attacked by drones off Greece.

www.reuters.com

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Sexy CHOAM Nomsky costume @samthielman.com · 15d

CHOTINER: So your son is 14, is that right?

IKARI: It's complex, Isaac. If—

CHOTINER: And the “robot” he pilots, that’s actually the child of an alien you keep crucified in the basement, which is possessed by the spirit of his dead mother?

IKARI: Look, let me answer the question.

CHOTINER: Sure.

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Fahad Ali @fahad-s-ali.bsky.social · 17d

This is the rogue state that so many of our national institutions - among them Creative Australia, State Library Victoria, the ABC, the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute - have bent over backwards to appease.

6 News Australia @6newsau.bsky.social · 17d

#BREAKING 🚨 A full or partial annexation of the West Bank is being considered in response to Palestine recognition announcements, according to an Israeli official speaking to Sky News UK

Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will “continue on the path” of increasing settlements

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Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 18d

They're out here reinventing historical materialism

jenny_tightpants🪑 @jtp.bsky.social · 18d

moderator and user is an inheretly adversarial relationship

Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 18d

Counterpoint: The Lucksmiths

Patrick Stokes @patrickstokes.com · 18d

A hypothesis: it’s partly that we’re largely unable to talk about Australian cities non-ironically, regardless of medium. You can’t sing about Melbourne the way Fontaines DC sing about Dublin, so we get the Smith Street Band.

Travis Jordan @grugstan.bsky.social · 18d

Seeing trailers for some upcoming Screen Australia backed films and it’s amazing how so few Australian Stories involve cities at all. Everyone in our cities are completely devoid of stories. Our streets are narrativeless. Only the Bush has agency.

Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 18d

Why were we collectively successful in fighting this tendency c. 1980s-2000s?

Travis Jordan @grugstan.bsky.social · 18d