I see that in 2019 I took a rest from posting daily — and this may well happen this year too! Australia Day was a concern I see. As this excellent video from THIS month, not 2019, says it is a bit of a ritual rant space, especially in rightwing circles.
Some things are not new: Edward Palmer (1842-1899) was a conservative Queensland politician, squatter and public servant. In his Early Days in North Queensland (available from Project Gutenberg) he wrote:
The treatment of the native races has always been a difficult question. Whenever new districts were settled, the blacks had to move on to make room; the result was war between the races. The white race were the aggressors, as they were the invaders of the blacks’ hunting territory.
Yes, the INVASION word! But he went on to rationalise thus:
The pioneers cannot be condemned for taking the law into their own hands and defending themselves in the only way open to them, for the blacks own no law themselves but the law of might…. The vices and diseases of the white race have been far more fatal to the blacks than the rifles of the pioneers, more particularly when they were allowed about the towns, where they always exhibit the worst traits of their character, becoming miserable creatures, useless for any purpose, and an eyesore to everyone. Those employed on stations as stockriders and horse-hunters become very useful and clever at the business…
I don’t have a problem with recognising the 26 January 1788 event — can walk and chew gum at the same time! It is BOTH a solemn day of reflection AND a day to celebrate the achievements of all Australians. And as I said in 2014:
I was there that day and joined all these people in their march. 26 years ago on the 26th!
There may be a time in the future when we have an opportunity to forge a new national day, free of the ambivalence that accompanies Australia Day. But for now, January 26 is it. Let’s use it as an occasion to celebrate our achievements and reflect on the things that we share as Australians.
Let’s also use it to ask whether our country is living up to the best of its traditions. In the words of one patriot, ”My country, right or wrong: if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.”
This year I will be reprising a pleasant day at Mount Kembla with my cousin Helen and her husband Jim. See the 2016 version at Australia Day at Mount Kembla.
So, as I said the other day, “This year I will be reprising a pleasant day at Mount Kembla with my cousin Helen and her husband Jim. See the 2016 version at Australia Day at Mount Kembla.” And do read that link too for a history of the pub — which may go back to the 1870s — and the connection to my grandfather, Tom Whitfield. And here, photo by Pieter Homburg, is the delightful pub.
So we arrived at around 11.30, and soon were eating our lunch and chatting as one does with a cousin. Some time around 12.30 something odd started happening. What seemed like hundreds of somewhat scary people in leathers arriving, and the roar of myriad Harley Davidsons! OMG — bikies! These are from video posted on Facebook of Australia Day 2019 at Mount Kembla Pub!
Yes indeed, there were lots of them — and not a woman in sight! But on closer inspection not all was as it seemed at first. In fact this was a gathering from as far away as Mildura of Longriders! Yes, lots of them: see Facebook:
Helen, Jim and I did reflect on “judging books by their covers” — but we also left as the pub, which is not very big, was quite overcrowded! But not before we had finished lunch and chatted to a few of the bikers…
Just a few items beginning with a very memorable one. Note that after all this time not all links will still work.
13 February 2008
Today we honour the Indigenous peoples of
this land, the oldest continuing
cultures in human history.
We reflect on their past mistreatment.
We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were Stolen Generations – this blemished chapter in our nation’s history.
The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia’s history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.
We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.
We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.
For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.
To the mothers and fathers, the brothers and sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.
And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.
We the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation.
For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written.
We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all Australian.
A future where this Parliament resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again.
A future where we harness the determination of all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to close the gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity.
A future where we embrace the possibility of new solutions to enduring problems where old approaches have changed.
A future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility.
A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country.
The following story and its sequels during the week have been allegations of misconduct. Just thought we should all remember that. We do often forget, don’t we? — 24 February.
MORRIS IEMMA was battling an escalating corruption scandal last night that threatened to draw in two of his most senior ministers and to bring down one of the state’s biggest Labor-controlled councils.
Joe Scimone – a close ally of the Minister for Ports and Waterways, Joe Tripodi, and a friend for 30 years of the former Wollongong lord mayor and current Police Minister, David Campbell – stood down from his job managing property within NSW Maritime yesterday pending the outcome of an Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry.
There are allegations before the commission that Mr Scimone, a former Wollongong Council officer, paid $30,000 last year to conmen posing as commission officers who were offering to destroy evidence against him…
I won’t bother going into it all, except to say 1) I lived in the Gong for ten years, and it isn’t the first set of exciting local government events down there and 2) my father spent most of his life in the building and development business, losing his business in the early 1960s when he declined to be involved in corrupt practices emanating at that time from the other side of politics.
It’s a high stakes game, and the term “development” is often a euphemism.
One of the more colourful characters in my father’s story ended up as a a Pillar of the Community and a Papal Knight. Such has often been the case in NSW.
My father had had quality building practice drummed into him from childhood. I didn’t inherit the gene, barely passing Year 7 Woodwork, but my brother was a good carpenter in his day. However, I do know my father looked with some alarm at what passed for building practice even in the early 1970s, and, allowing for new materials and technologies, there is little doubt that a close look at most of Sydney’s major “developments” would fill him with horror, and I include the one I live in whose defects even I can see. People have made squillions in the process, of course, and many a person in government has appeared to be the Minister for Very Tall Cheap Buildings.
So these stories have been, I am afraid, the norm rather than the exception. Ethics schmethics, you might say…
Note 2023: This is a really weird outfit which few serious Christians take seriously.
Caught up with Sirdan
18 FEB
I had Sunday lunch with Sirdan yesterday and am now the proud owner of two Buckingham Palace tea towels. Lunch was meant to be at Chinese Whisper, but that was closed. Instead we went to Maya Masala and Sweets Indian Restaurant468-472 Cleveland Street, Surry Hills, Sydney; I had been there once before with The Rabbit who knows more about this food than I do.
Highly recommended.
We had chaat, not knowing really what it was, and sweets to follow. We plan to return.
Chaat (Hindi: चाट, Urdu: چاٹ) is a word used across India, Pakistan and the rest of South Asia to refer to small plates of savory snacks, typically served at the side of the road from stalls or carts. Most chaat originated in North India and Gujarat, but they are now eaten across the country. Some are results of cultural syncretism – for instance, pav bhaji reflects a Portuguese influence, in the form of a bun,and bhel puri was created by a Gujarati migrant to Mumbai, whose descendants still run Vithal Bhelwala, near Victoria Terminus railway station.
In each major Indian city, there are popular chaathouses or dhabas, such as Mumbai’s Chowpatty Beach and Bangalore’s Hot Chips, and Gangotree. The chaat specialties also vary from city to city… — Wikipedia.
One thing that was the talk of London when Sirdan was there, but I had missed, was the attempted suicide of Jeff Stewart, better known as Reg Hollis from The Bill. Apparently he was being written out of the series, but according to this report he also had big online gambling debts.
Jeff is the longest-serving actor on The Bill and the highest-paid on almost $400,000 a year – but pals say it does not cover his debts. A Bill insider said his salary was one reason for his sacking. They added: “There are big cuts on the show, but Jeff thought his talents were worth more than just money.”
That had all passed me by.
Sirdan was also struck by the omnipresence of CCTV in London, which is apparently now one of the most surveilled places on earth.
…Video surveillance is widely accepted in Britain, viewed as a fact of life rather than an Orwellian intrusion. There are an estimated 4.2 million closed-circuit TV cameras here. In London, a person can be caught on tape hundreds of times a day.
In a reminder of its crime-solving value, CCTV video figured in the recent trial of six men accused of plotting to bomb the London subway in July 2005. The court was shown images of a suspect boarding a train, turning his back to a mother and child and trying to detonate a bomb…
The authorities have recently begun equipping some cameras with loudspeakers, which allow human monitors to admonish people caught littering or brawling in the street. The theory is that “shouting cameras” are harder to ignore. But critics say they cross the line from crime prevention into public bullying.
There are also questions about who is doing the monitoring — a problem both of skills and manpower, given the reams of videotape that the police must review in the aftermath of crimes.
Still, in the perennial tug of war between security and privacy, security appears to be winning. The next wave in CCTV, experts say, is to marry traditional surveillance with computer software to make cameras better at detecting suspicious behavior that can be the precursor to a crime…
Is that good or scary? What do you think?
I had clean forgotten about that one — but hey, 15 years ago after all!
Sitting on the laundry floor at my grandfather’s place around 1953 or 1954 reading my way through the piles of the old pink Bulletin magazines he had stored there… Sigh! He of course had probably been reading it since the late 1890s.
It has had its ups and downs for sure, but I have to say the recent summer edition was really very good, and there was some excellent coverage during last year’s elections.
But now the party is over.
Homeward bound
When you’re over 60 and, well, you know, this makes a change…
23 JAN 2008
… women throwing themselves at you, I mean. Take Ekaterina for example:
Hello Dear!
How are you? I hope that all good for you and you will read my letter with a interest. Ok. I got your e-mail through internet dating agency. I gave my letter to agency and they have told that my letter will be send to man in Australia!!!! I want to arrive to Australia and I have good chance for this. I need only man who can meet me in Australia and probably we can to develop our relations. Ok. My name is Ekaterina. I’m from Yoshkar-Ola, Russia.
My measurements: 32B – 24 – 34, Height: 5 ‘ 2 “, Weight: 115 lbs Hair: Fair-haired Eyes: Black Star Sign: Scorpion
I’m 27 years old. But very soon will be 28 years old. My birthday on October, 29, 1980. I am ready for creation family and want it very much. I cannot find the man in Russia for myself because it very hard in Russia. I want to create family and to live in your country because the government to care about people. I want to live and be sure in the future. In Russia it is not possible to live easy. I want to tell about myself a little. I live in city Yoshkar-Ola. My city is very beautiful. I work as the seller in shop home appliances. I’m cheerful woman who like to go for sports and do all what like are usual peoples.
My history: I’m with my girlfriend were going to go in your country as tourists for search of men for serious relations. But my girlfriend could not go with me. She had problems with your family. But very soon I will receive visa and I do not want to lose a chance to arrive in your country. I will receive visa in 7 days for your country. Now I waiting for reception of my visa.
It will be great if you can meet me and we can to have relations with you. I’m understand that it very strange, but probably it’s desteny for you and me. I understand that you will ask me ” Where did you get my e-mail? ” I’m right??? I got your e-mail through internet dating agency in my city. I gave them my letter and they told me that they will send my letter. And I will be very happy if YOU will answer to me. I will be very happy if you will write me and we will have our meeting very soon. And it is possible we a meeting in 7 days because I can arrive to you.
Please tell to me about yourself a little! What is your full name? Your age? City?
I hope that you will answer to me back… If so I will send my photo to you. I will wait your answer so much… Write to me on e-mail…
I’m leaving the email out because this is between Ekaterina and myself, you know…
What do you mean she wrote to you too? You mean she could be a floozy, to use a very old and politically incorrect word? Never. She chose ME out of all the men in the world… Didn’t she?
I have to admit it all came as a surprise as the only things resembling an internet dating agency that I have ever joined are Facebook, gay.com (non-paying) and Kagoul, though my membership of the last has no doubt elapsed.
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