What follows, in both the print edition and accompanying online content (‘The Long Paddock’), is a wide-ranging collection of poetry, prose, essays, and reviews, some of which delight with their apparent effortlessness, while others stretch the reader into unfamiliar territory.

Highlights are many. Stuart Cooke’s thoughtful and intriguing exploration of Cumulus by Robert Gray comprises a series of diary entries and reads like a personal reflection on the poet’s work. Jason Grossman ends his playful poem ‘Secret Agent’ with the memorable lines: ‘Humans instinctively misunderstand / pretty much / everything.’ The ubiquitous John Kinsella offers a surprisingly affecting poetic sequence about mouse plagues. However, the pinnacle here is ‘The Percheron’ by Moreno Giovannoni, a brief but powerful memoir of his father’s mistreatment of a loyal horse.

As to the volume’s theme, repetition does set in; a bolder diversity of views might have been more illuminating. Returning to Pribac’s editorial, Lyre/Liar is best read slowly, with frequent pauses for reflection. Reading Southerly is an education rather than an entertainment, but Australia’s literary culture is all the better for its existence.