Strange Objects collected in Messenger's scrapbook. Steven Messenger has several psychotic episodes and eventually kills Charlie Sunrise and a lizard in Strange Objects. The book was partly a response to Australia's Bicentenary, which occurred in 1988. This event caused a revival of interest in Australian history, particularly in the "discovery" of the land. The bicentenary celebrated the landing of the "First Fleet" in 1788, and the beginning of permanent European settlement in Australia. James Cook charted the east coast of Australia in 1770, however there were a number of sightings and landings prior to this. In "Strange Objects", Gary Crew takes the
Bicentenary Medal of the Royal Society of Arts years earlier, and has been awarded to a variety of individuals for their outstanding contributions to the advancement of design in industry and society. In the RSA's current account of design, that contribution is interpreted as the most effective use of design to increase the resourcefulness of people and communities. Bicentenary Medal of the Royal Society of Arts The Bicentenary Medal of the Royal Society of Arts is awarded to "a person who, in a manner other than as an industrial designer, has applied art and design in great effect as instruments of civic innovation", as long as the winner