Citizen action when fig trees were about to cut down in Laman Street Newcastle today. The chain saws soon began their work despite the protests to keep the old trees.

Following is homage to elders among the green activists seen during the protest.

Right: J. Sutton. Special edition T shirt.  

D. Lithgow.

M. Henry left and J Sutton

D. Lithgow, left and J Sutton.

Major personalities in the current fig tree protest are covered in the media rather than in these pics. 

Other citizens at the protest follow in pics below.

 subversive flag, protestor in wheelchair

Law keepers.

Mayor and partner on right. 

NBN TV

Radio 2HD

T Leahy, Uni lecturer

Fig tree remnants were handed out.

top: The Chaffey Pump.  This is the original pump installed by the Chaffeys when irrigation was first brought to the Sunraysia district.  The pump is now preserved near the art gallery (Mildura).
From vintage postcards:  In 1887, George and William Chaffey selected land in this barren area of red soil and stunted growth. They were Californians.  However, with the ample waters of the Murray River at hand, abundant sunshine and a dry climate the area, at the corner where the states of Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales meet, was to turn from land valued at 2/6 an acre into a fabulous district of patterned greenery with values up to five hundred pounds an acre.
Geogre Chaffey, an engineer, knew the miracles worked by irrigation and saw the possibilities in this area. Nowadays, the Sunraysia district consists of a hundred square miles of properties planted to vines, mixed fruits and vegetable growing.

In 2011, the story unfolds with current debate about suvival of the Murray-Darling rivers, water usage and long-term management.
From Nucolorvue Post Cards.

Many many church goers flocked to this sacred site then later the numbers declined.  Mount St Alphonsus monastery became empty,  pervaded with solitude and changed to a non-denominational wedding venue (according to the signage).
The members of the well know international religious order who built the monastery, came to Singleton in the Hunter as their first port of call in the early days and have recently left the Hunter area possibly for ever.
The large size of the monastery of 1887 makes it unique in Newcastle.
New innovative uses for the building can be imagined if we happened to have a bigger population.
If in doubt, turn it into a wedding venue (or aged care)!  Secular society still likes to hark back to vestiges of a church wedding. Same with Christening - some people like the idea - that's it.  Baptism can become useful with spin offs to do with church schools and the like.

There's no place like home, be it ever so humble. By enquiry it was found that some of my relatives once lived in a house just like this one but it was next door and was destroyed in a flood at Branxton and the land is still vacant.
This was the original highway just parallel to the current highway.  The new freeway under construction nudges the back streets of Branxton and the small localities will be freed of some thru traffic soon.

Republic of Nauru - south-central Pacific.  In the line up at Sydney International Airport sat the 727 looking rather small compared to the giant airliners. Was this the only way of getting to distant Nauru over the ocean to a dot in the Pacific?
The airline had a reputation for several reasons.  It was known as a low cost means of getting around the central-western Pacific but also had a series of safety and financial woes.
On landing at Nauru everyone disembarked so that the freight that was carried on the rear seats could be unloaded.  The traffic on a road across the landing strip was, naturally, stopped during landing etc.
A stopover revealed a small town with water shortage, some pleasant facilities and a landscape, the landscape? by and large, it was rocky, rough and cratered with stunted vegetation where it had been done over by mining for guano. Is anything made or grown there? Very little.
The Republic of Nauru is the smallest island country, 21 sq kilometers and is one of the phosphate rock islands and described in early days as Pleasant Island. It was occupied by enemy in WW2.
Returning to the flight, which had been to Fiji and back, the next day it continued to Federated States of Micronesia and to Guam.
In the last decade, that leg of the journey ceased when Micronesia  (USA)  imposed restrictions due to safety concerns.  At other times Australian regulators have acted and suspended services and company assts have been repossessed when the Nauru government defaulted.  In 2005 the only aircraft was seized by creditors so the island had been without transport for months. Old stories are told of sudden cancellation of a flight while government officials took over the aircraft for certain flights they had in mind.

The prospect of development of Nauru by Australia as a detention island for refugees may have been very welcome news on the economic front.
Australia really needs to stop handing over its responsibilites to neighbouring states and work in co-operation with them for a suitable, humanitarian approach to refugees.  

Darkness and light, mindfulness and impermanency, swept adrift like a sand mandala.

From Buddism to Christianity to a unique church cluster on the village green at Morpeth, gone, all gone to a developer -  although preservation orders are in place.  Not your everyday scene graced with a sandstone residence from earliest times, with community buildings, retreats, chapel, a green oval and old shade trees looking out over fields beside the Hunter river. 

Now a new housing development spreads close by.  Seniors can't resist the pressure to move out of their carefree home into a carefree village lifestyle and oblige the developers. Change is constant. Eventually all the housing for seniors will become redundant because an ageing population is not a permanent feature.  Or is it? 

Residential areas need holistic planning over the Hunter area to guard against it becoming a wall to wall housing estate. This is nothing new to the planners. Good planning is vital but the need is so widespread over the east coast, for a start, only so much will be done and at the same time there is originality in crude haphazard development.

Proactive innovation in the Hunter would see new centres built offering quality apartments in high density areas and built well before other citizens move in and voice their opposition. Start from scratch like many other have dreamed before this. 

Just imagine young families flocking to an alternative new tall city with good infastructure that offers sustainablity and supports a good lifestyle consistent with sane community life and with employment close by, not 100 clicks distant and with adequate transport.

With decent planning, enough space would remain to allow for peaceful natural areas and agricultural lands in perpetuity.  Who am I kidding?  

Megaliths and news of Stonehenge has arisen and theories were put to the test on SBS TV recently.  Images of Stonehenge make a  screen saver  as well.

Gallery 40, linked, in Kyneton Victoria has photographic offerings of Stonhenge at present.

Carnac in Brittany, in the above photo, boasts of thousands of megaliths in an extensive layout, dating from preCeltic times. Climbing and meddling with the menhirs was really a bit disrespectful. 

To the south at Catherine Hill Bay.

Nothing is exported from this wharf anymore.  The live beef export trade to Indonesia is resuming.  Suspension of trade was likely to be short lived and was my prediction.  As you were....

Hotel 'bathhouse' of yesteryear.

I guess these gates are from the time when this property was occupied by a church school. It looks across at Saint Marys church. The entire city block, on Church street, steep, with extensive views, changed and became residential these last 10 - 20 years. 
There, the former convent was in a large double story 'Victorian' style residence, with verandah, out houses, garden and large trees. Then convent was demolished and school closed up, a new building was tried to be swept away again for development.

Demolished.  The small family business, Stotts Mowers in Waratah has moved away and, probably, homes will take its place. 
The business was once well known and some thirty years ago could be seen taking part in city processions with a stunt in which a little lawn mower towed big heavy things along. Gender equality was there and the daughter was a competent mechanic.
The business had grown like Topsy with a workshop on the rear of the house.  Later, the house burnt down and the shed was reorganized.
Most of the homes in the vicinity have changed hands a number of times in thirty years. More and more, homes have only become an investment, a negotiable item, two incomes became mandatory, salesmen love the situation which inflates home prices and keeps many on a treadmill.

Three pilots of No. 450 squadron, RAAF, watch the approach of Messerschmitt 109s from a trench at Gambut, Libya.  A spade makes a useful sunshade. 

The history of Libya is very long with a long succession of occupying powers. 

  In 1940 it was something, in part, of an Italian colony with Italian settlers, where British and Commonweath, Italian and German forces engaged in warfare. Battles ranged over the region but the Mediterranean port of Tobruk, a point of supply, in the province of Cyrenaica, was beseiged and features in the annals of Australian wartime history.

 At present, in turn, Libyans seek refuge in their neighbours. War gamers, adventures, dictators, tantrums - it's all HIStory.

Vocab: Bardia, cruiser San Giorgio, Derna, Benghazi, the Desert fox or Wustenfuchs, Deutsches Afrikakorps, Stukas, Junkers, Messerschmitts, Fieseler Storchs, El Agheila, oasis of Giarabub, 'famous Tobruk Ferry Service' or the 'Spud Run', Panzerkampwagen, Panzerbefehlswagen, Blenheim bombers, Hurricanes, Tomahawk, Kittyhawk fighters.

From war time series of books published 1940s by Australian War Memorial,  for public relations. 

In Christchurch, New Zealand, long before the recent earthquakes occured.
Fading holiday sketch shows statue of Antarctic expeditioner, Captain Scott. His journey was ill fated. 

Gothic buildings grace the city centre and, camera-less, inspired a sketch or two.
Lower: Believed to be The Great Hall, Christchurch Arts Centre, formerly University of Canterbury. Worcester Street and Oxford Terrace.

Anglican Parish of S.Stephen, Adamstown

Religion aside, one day we will probably value the heritage in community buildings such as this.  Very good, bad or indifferent they hold the story of lives, community effort, history and craftsmanship.

  A sacred space and multiple use? Yea, what does the future hold? Upkeep is costly. Iconoclasts are never too far away.   These words are not targeting this particular church but the general situation. 

Tour of state parliament in Sydney. A place of ritual and theatre and two visitors were about to go on stage outside for celebrations.
Does the calendar remain set on the date proceedings were shut down?  Reference books sit idle 'on the floor' of parliament. Aids to understanding hot air: The Australian Concise Oxford and The Macquarie Dictionaries.
State elections. I'd shamefully put aside right and wrong and prefer to see a youthful frocked-up, yes frocked-up, woman as state premier.

Christmas 1941, WW11, card from Australian soldier in Malaya.

 

On 17th October, Mary Mackillop will become the country's first saint. This little shrine is in the church in the suburb of Waratah.

A message from the Prime Minister refers to Mary as ...a courageous woman of willing spirit and deep faith, who from a modest background and with few resources, changed...lives...education and social justice (were foremost concerns).

While I might struggle with some of the spiritual aspects surrounding sainthood, I have due respect for her life well lived, and enjoy the commemoration, reactionary and counter-cultural as it is and how it flies in the face of sceptics, rationalists and most of all unromantics. 

Oak Milk Bar Restaurant at Freeman's Waterholes just out of town had a very popular past.

Several Oak Milk bars operated in the region possibly before the advent of other fast foods and Oak rivalled them in every way.

Perhaps the trade routes change. Passing trade changes. An outdoor picnic area, under the trees is overgown and the miner's memorial has been relocated. 



Oak Flavoured Milk originated in the Hunter. Companys change. The brand is now owned by Parmalat - a mulitnational Italian dairy and food corporation. UHT milk is a specialization of theirs as well as the production of all dairy products in all the continents.  The company survived a colourful period of financial goings-on involving fraud and hugh losses (surrounding the CEOs in Italy). Sponsorship of Formular One was another hughly appropriate interest of theirs. Well, milk is wonderful value for money and is full of protein, calcium and....and fat (as well as other vital stuff).

A name like Freeman's Waterholes  must date back to the days of early settlement.

Along side the cafe - 'milk bar'

In the distance in Newcastle East is a row of houses with historical significance, is it because they are a  good example of a certain age and style?
I know of two people who have past connections with the houses and the port of Newcastle.
Italian ancestors of a Newcastle-ite lived there in the beginnings when father worked on the life-boats. In another instance, the father of a family was one of those in a fatal accident on the drawn-out harbour deeping project in about the 1970s. Update: a fatal blast did occur in 1979 but my long held belief as to who was involved seems to be in error.
A curious story was part of the Italian ancestors background and went something like this.
A French entrepreneur adventurer 'get-rich-quick' Charles Marie du Breil, Marquis de Ray, overcame big obstacles and organised 317 people who sailed on the ship India in 1880 for a new colony, Nouvelle-France aka New Ireland in Papua New Guinea. Once there, in the jungles their situation became desperate - the remaining men, women and children undertook another nightmare journey to the penal colony in New Caledonia.
From there, the group became refugees to Australia.

Sir Henry Parkes did not hesitate to allow them to be brought to Australia as 'shipwrecked mariners'. 'After a year of arduous travel in search of better things, they were at last finding themselves in the midst of a heartwarming society in full expansion'.
Sydney-siders, including the big end of town, took up the cause of the new arrivals and provided help. ( in fact, some benefactors received honours from the Italian government).
The refugees settled in Sydney and far beyond. Some became part of New Italy on the northern rivers where crops, livestock and timber getting was established.
Today part of this venture can be seen beside the Pacific Highway - unless a new freeway bypasses it.

Turmoil - tragedy to triumph The story of New Italy by Anne-Gaabrielle Thompson ISBN 0 86774 000 0

........................July 14 Liberty Equality Fraternity......

..................Adversity......  THE cycling event was almost visible.