THE UNIQUELY AUSTRALIAN colloquialism ‘secret women’s business’ has taken on the character of an incantation, often unrelated to Aboriginal women’s secrets. Newspaper headlines declare: ‘And it’s not secret women’s business as the quest begins to crown a new king, swimming’ or ‘Winning trust is the real secret to women’s business …’

The sheer silliness of many of the appropriations diminishes and mocks the original reference, and all that it stands for, in terms of the demands for recognition of respect and trivialises the issue. Yet, to an outsider like me, the uses of the phrase would be as puzzling as the occasional ‘fair dinkum’ overheard on the street.