Colin Golvan

Skip to content

Welcome

I am a Melbourne barrister practising in intellectual property law and some time writer.

This site contains a record of all kinds of writing over many years, legal, fiction and non-fiction (mostly published). I have included only samples of published books. Any queries about full copies or anything else should be directed to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

The Ravings tag contains recent writing, some published and some not.

For all errors, vices and lapses of judgment … bad luck.

View biography

Recent Ravings

Last hurrahs

The redemptive power of dreams

Review
Scenes from Village Life, by Amos Oz

Amos Oz, who is at the pinnacle of Israeli writing, epitomises the role of writer as a voice of hope, a moral guide, as well as the spinner of dream tales. Speaking recently at the Melbourne Town Hall, Oz captured the mood of progressive thought in Israel when he spoke of the pressing need for a two-state solution to resolve the Palestinian–Israeli crisis, where the warring forces would negotiate over the small tracts of land at issue, and would respect each other’s claims of sovereignty over their lands as indigenous peoples and equals. With his gift for striking images, Oz spoke of a time when Israel and Palestine would have embassies in each other’s countries. Israel, Oz declared, should be the first state to recognise the new state of Palestine. But is it all a dream?

Copyright and the Internet

The new electronic order

If developments in relation to music and the Internet are any guide, writers and publishers will increasingly be addressing the opportunities for self-management on the Internet. For writers, there is a well-established path for sharing copyright works without charge.

Originally published in May 2011 edition of the Australian Book Review.

Download full article

Kyoto

Kyoto’s ultimate front desk

For about a year, Hotel Mume in Kyoto (261, Umemoto-cho, Shinmonzen St., Higahymama-ku) has been Tripadvisor.com’s favourite hotel in Kyoto. This is not a bad achievement for a hotel of eight rooms, listed as first amongst 150 hotels in a big international tourist magnet like Kyoto. A Tripadvisor.com visitor recently wrote – “This could well be the best boutique hotel in the world.” It sits in a side street near the heart of the popular Gion or old Kyoto area, with its many simple wooden buildings designed around fast running waterways.

A Sorry Tale

The Aboriginal flag – which in 1995 was proclaimed as a national flag under the commonwealth Flags Act – was not the product of a competition or commission.

It was created as a flag of protest in the early 1970s, but, not being subject to ‘‘crown copyright’’, is protected as a copyright work that ironically is privately owned.