Chris Monnox
@cmonnox.bsky.social
Early career historian working on elections, electioneering, and Australian Capital Territory politics.
Billy Hughes in 1929 is how you rat. You don't muck about. You bring down the government, have a durry, and walk away like there's a movie explosion pending.
![An excerpt from Warren Denning’s Caucus Crisis in which Hughes ‘pause[d], with a Sphinx-like smile, in the King’s Hall, to light a cigarette in a slow, deliberate manner which told the discerning that he was very well pleased indeed with himself.’](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:rvab23vlvg5ahuowfgcdrxno/bafkreihbptst6cs2qiqdnrhtf3qctya2sbwvhlzrgh32kseqjsafx7bqlm@jpeg)
October 20, 2025 at 4:32 AM
Billy Hughes in 1929 is how you rat. You don't muck about. You bring down the government, have a durry, and walk away like there's a movie explosion pending.
Halligan and Paris (1984) on the ratepayer ideology have never once missed.
October 5, 2025 at 3:45 AM
Halligan and Paris (1984) on the ratepayer ideology have never once missed.
Right here. Nimbyism's premiere contribution to visual culture will not be lost while I have backups of backups
September 27, 2025 at 5:40 AM
Right here. Nimbyism's premiere contribution to visual culture will not be lost while I have backups of backups
Bad roads and irregular ferries used to regularly hold up election results from the sort of small polling booths that now report first. But the Eden-Monaro returning officer who entered flood water so fifty people could vote was made of sterner stuff.
September 24, 2025 at 3:34 AM
Bad roads and irregular ferries used to regularly hold up election results from the sort of small polling booths that now report first. But the Eden-Monaro returning officer who entered flood water so fifty people could vote was made of sterner stuff.
And instructions like this may have been worse than nothing.
August 6, 2025 at 7:27 AM
And instructions like this may have been worse than nothing.
This week I've read that Americans are worried about conscription and keen on buying groceries from the state. If so T. J. Ryan is their guy.
June 27, 2025 at 4:58 AM
This week I've read that Americans are worried about conscription and keen on buying groceries from the state. If so T. J. Ryan is their guy.
And Carnell showed unparalleled devotion to the photo op by doing one with a fortune teller while this was all up in the air.
June 4, 2025 at 5:56 AM
And Carnell showed unparalleled devotion to the photo op by doing one with a fortune teller while this was all up in the air.
Scrutineering instructions have lost quite a bit of zest in the last century. They used to say things like 'the word "challenge" should be uttered in clear, emphatic, almost peremptory tones.'
May 15, 2025 at 3:46 AM
Scrutineering instructions have lost quite a bit of zest in the last century. They used to say things like 'the word "challenge" should be uttered in clear, emphatic, almost peremptory tones.'
Some of you probably did something wholesome and sociable on this pleasant Autumn day. I caught the Bean 2CP at 50:50 and am feeling like a 2021 NFT gronk who just bagged the boredest ape.
May 10, 2025 at 3:08 AM
Some of you probably did something wholesome and sociable on this pleasant Autumn day. I caught the Bean 2CP at 50:50 and am feeling like a 2021 NFT gronk who just bagged the boredest ape.
Some of you may be looking for the best way to visualise seat shares at elections where one side wins big. If so, allow me to introduce the loser falls down format of 1949.
May 4, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Some of you may be looking for the best way to visualise seat shares at elections where one side wins big. If so, allow me to introduce the loser falls down format of 1949.
Today I voted in Bean. Canadians got to vote in seats like Gaspésie–Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine–Listuguj, and I voted in Bean.
April 29, 2025 at 7:28 AM
Today I voted in Bean. Canadians got to vote in seats like Gaspésie–Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine–Listuguj, and I voted in Bean.
Eh em. Historian here. While Howard DJs (2007) is the best known iteration of this beloved Australian meme, Hughes DJs (1929) is likely the original.
April 5, 2025 at 3:07 AM
Eh em. Historian here. While Howard DJs (2007) is the best known iteration of this beloved Australian meme, Hughes DJs (1929) is likely the original.
Sixties branchies understood this: 'many a campaign director or candidate has received odd-hour telephone calls from distressed party workers informing him that the opposition has erected 300 signs in an area while his party has only 250.'
March 24, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Sixties branchies understood this: 'many a campaign director or candidate has received odd-hour telephone calls from distressed party workers informing him that the opposition has erected 300 signs in an area while his party has only 250.'
André is working with written sources here, but the [light] railway didn't bring sin and vice to Canberra until 2019. Meaning I have pictures.
March 20, 2025 at 4:05 AM
André is working with written sources here, but the [light] railway didn't bring sin and vice to Canberra until 2019. Meaning I have pictures.
I've got a tutorial on protectionism next week, which means I get to tell students about the free trade bread meme of 1906. It might be time to bring it back.
March 14, 2025 at 4:05 AM
I've got a tutorial on protectionism next week, which means I get to tell students about the free trade bread meme of 1906. It might be time to bring it back.
I had forgotten about these love locks in the carpark near PJs. Canberrans don't like rivers. Canberrans like carparks.
February 25, 2025 at 5:17 AM
I had forgotten about these love locks in the carpark near PJs. Canberrans don't like rivers. Canberrans like carparks.
Clive Palmer's new logo really does look like a 40s UAP visual scamified for a scammish age. The AI did a good job on that.
February 19, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Clive Palmer's new logo really does look like a 40s UAP visual scamified for a scammish age. The AI did a good job on that.
I don't say this lightly, but today's Canberra Times letters may rival the Geoff Chambers meth heads piece for weird descriptions of the ACT.
February 15, 2025 at 6:11 AM
I don't say this lightly, but today's Canberra Times letters may rival the Geoff Chambers meth heads piece for weird descriptions of the ACT.
Just found the original record of Trevor Kaine and Bernard Collaery blowing up the ACT government over planning in 1991. Canberra nimbys have pined for a similar moment since.
February 5, 2025 at 5:34 AM
Just found the original record of Trevor Kaine and Bernard Collaery blowing up the ACT government over planning in 1991. Canberra nimbys have pined for a similar moment since.
Retvrn, as they used to say
January 6, 2025 at 5:28 AM
Retvrn, as they used to say
I don't expect to see good Canberra Times letters, least of all during Summernats. But here's a pleasant surprise from @andrew.donnellan.id.au
January 4, 2025 at 1:59 AM
I don't expect to see good Canberra Times letters, least of all during Summernats. But here's a pleasant surprise from @andrew.donnellan.id.au
A new year means Summernats. Which means Canberra Times letters about Summernats. None of which will be as wholesome as this one from 1989.
January 1, 2025 at 5:33 AM
A new year means Summernats. Which means Canberra Times letters about Summernats. None of which will be as wholesome as this one from 1989.
There are some 40-50 year old urban sociology and polsci texts that still capture aspects of local politics. This is from the early 80s but the old ratepayer ideology still gets a regular run.
December 22, 2024 at 4:57 AM
There are some 40-50 year old urban sociology and polsci texts that still capture aspects of local politics. This is from the early 80s but the old ratepayer ideology still gets a regular run.
Give him a chance and he will give you some more
December 3, 2024 at 10:26 AM
Give him a chance and he will give you some more