Author: jkirkby8712

Today, during a few spare moments, I finished reading a book given to me for my birthday, last October – called ‘Outback Spirit’ and put together by Sue Williams, it told a series of stories about a number of Australia’s unsung heroes, those men and women who in various aspects of life, help many of those people who inhabit the outback and remote areas of Australia. One had to feel very humbled at some of the feats and achievements of these ‘volunteers’ and ‘heroes’  –  as Sue Williams describes them, embodying the ‘spirit of the outback’, ignoring personal discomfort at great sacrifice in many cases to help others in need of assistance, where such help would not otherwise be available. While many of the stories related to Indigenous families and individuals in Australia’s frontier regions [both as recipients, and as the ‘hero’], all aspects of Australia’s more remote communities are represented.

I have to admit, that in reading of the stories of many of these characters, and their deeds, tears were brought to my eyes.  And humbled, with the realisation of the magnitude of the tasks many of them undertake.  As Sue herself writes in the ‘acknowledgement’ section at the end of the book

“This time we decided to extend the celebration of all the greatest qualities of Outback people to include both men and women [Sue’s other book, of this nature, was called ‘Women of the Outback’ – she’s actually written 11 books]. This book is therefore a tribute not only to the incredible people described on its pages – to each of whom I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude for opening up their lives to a stranger – but to everyone who confronts and overcomes the challenges of Outback life for themselves and those around them who need a helping hand”.

In an Introduction to the book, Australia’s present Governor-General, Quentin  Bryce, who herself, grew up in the outback central west of Queensland, wrote that “It’s  been a real pleasure to introduce this new book celebrating the spirit of the Outback I came to love; and the commitment, generosity and courage of those who are today helping improve the quality of people’s lives in rural and remote Australia”. And that’s what these people featured in the book do – so often,  make an enormous contribution to people’s lives, and in so doing,  generally improve the quality of people’s lives through a myriad of ways and means, using their own talents and abilities, and time in doing so.

Just a sample of the examples referred to in the book  –  ‘Cheryl flies sick patients from rural areas to emergency medical treatment in cities; Sue is often the only one between life and death for her patients in the Kimberley; Ricky trades city comforts to connect with kids through sport in remote communities while Eileen overcomes great challenges to protect remote land for generations to come, Yvonne, who lost her son through suicide and now helps men in rural areas develop relationships and basic life skills in order to prevent them from suffering a similar fate to that of her son. Also in here is the remarkable story of Paul, who assists Indigenous communities by providing much needed repairs to homes through his Healthabitat service [I mentioned this story in a blog a few days ago]    – these are some of the characters who embody the spirit of the Outback’.  I read one review which suggested that each story is like watching an episode of  the ABC’s TV series ‘Australian Story’, very true!

During the course of this morning, I managed to complete most of my Christmas shopping  –  something that I doubt I have ever achieved ‘a week before Christmas’ – felt quite pleased with myself as well!!! And with most of my Christmas greetings also despatched [as far as normal postage mail is concerned], I feel I can devote my attention to other things for the next few days  – such as family history research, which seems to be occupying a fair degree of time lately. One annoyance this weekend, is that my internet connection seems to be down, which is proving a bit of an inconvenience! But with the weather up and down again, it is the opportunity to get other tasks attended to.

As for the Test Cricket, Australia has ended Day 3 in quite a strong position – with still two days of play available, the Aussies only need 5 more English wickets, while England, with half it’s team back in the dressing rooms, needs a further 300+ runs to achieve a victory. Has been a good fightback by he Australian team, despite some individual failures, while for my English friends, it is probably a lucky break for them, that my internet service is currently down!!!  By stumps on Day 4, the situation was as follows:   Australia:  268 and 309.  England:  187  and  5 for 81.  We really should win this one!!

Yes, there were a couple of birthdays in the extended family today. The children’s Mum was having her birthday, think she has got to 59, lol, , and there was a bit of a family celebration at lunchtime on this occasion – changed from the usual evening function because she had a work function to attend this evening.  Which meant I couldn’t get there – 40 kms away at the office, but probably a good idea, because I’m not usually up to coping with a big lunch these days!!

Meanwhile, the first of my various nephews and nieces was born on this date back in 1969  –  ‘young’ Bruce, who has spent most of his life up in Brisbane, with my sister and husband moving up there from Ballarat when he was quite young. From memory, I think that Bruce’s birth was ‘hurried’ along a little by the trauma of  our father’s car accident, which had occurred two days earlier, on the 15^th. Unfortunately, Dad never lived to see his first grandchild, and he died from his accident injuries on Christmas  Eve following.

So for myself, it was another rather long tiring day at my workplace  –  I think the end of the year, and another brief break can’t come quick enough for me.  It was quite a pleasant day outside, although as the afternoon proceeded, it seemed to cool a little, and in fact, as I left the city area later on in the afternoon, we had another of those brief rain storms. At least however, the run out from the city on the freeways, etc,  to the Sunbury area, was a lot quicker than last night’s effort!!

Meanwhile, the principal news stories of the day still centred around the refugee boat tragedy of Christmas Island of a couple of days ago, and on that topic,  I shared a couple of brief views on Facebook overnight.    After watching the news coverage last night, I was moved to make a short contribution to that site

“Disturbing viewing of the Christmas Island boat tragedy from yesterday. Desperate measures to escape persecution always mean the possibility of dangerous outcomes, this time the gamble failed for those people”.

Ruth responded   “It is so awful Bill, I’ve been thinking of them such a lot – and when on earth will their families back home find out?”

I followed up with the remarks that   “Looking at some of those scenes tonight, many had their families with them – young children & babies in the water. That’s why I maintain, that you have to be desperate to put your family at that kind of risk – yet our political leaders [both sides] keep pushing the ‘labels’ onto the public about ‘queue jumpers & illegal immigrants’, no emphasise on compassion for these people, as victims, it’s all about the people smugglers, stopping the boats – if we were in their position, with our families, our lives, our culture threatened if we stay where we are, we would take the same options offered if that was the only means of escape – but most of us, in our comfortable safe livestyles, can’t see or accept that [the old it won’t happen to me syndrome, so ignore it, and these ‘cheating freeloaders trying to beat the system’].
Meanwhile, I think I would feel the same kind of trauma and guilt, as many of those Christmas Island residents, who witnessed the drowning of those people, yet could do little to save them, were feeling today. As one said, you felt like you needed to jump off the cliff into the water to help, but reality meant that would bring about your own certain death, with no good result for those in the water already, because of the atrocious conditions.
I do think the questions need to ne asked however as to why the boat in question was allowed to get so close to the island in the first place – much is made about ‘stopping the boats’ but it didn’t happen this time!”

Ruth’s retort to that  by noting that  “I wonder if stopping the boats in that way is realistic – frankly, the sea is big and the coastline of even an island, long- just what are our surveillance resources like anyway? Yes, I agree, these are desparate and terrified people.”     [Ruth and I have long held a special interest and concern for the issues of refugees].

Well now, with a week still to go before Christmas Day actually arrives, I believe I have completed most of my Christmas shopping for the season, and sent out in the mail, the bulk of required Christmas greetings  –  just for a change, I’m not doing all of those activities in the final two days!!!  Organised for a change. Meanwhile, quite a bit of online correspondence of recent times with others like myself, interested in the family history – in fact at present, I’m communicating with 4 or 5 people [whom a few weeks ago, didn’t know] and we are all basically interested in chasing up the same research and family details, even if coming from ‘different directions. I’m continuing to find the whole process both interesting and at times, rather frustrating, as bits of information lead to other queries and doubts about the accuracy of certain records, or in fact, lead us off into another direction!  Of course, all of this activity, and communication, is forming a part of my overall research into the material I’m needing for the book I’m currently drafting on the family history! Whereas a few weeks ago, most of my attention was on the family origins back in Scotland, at present, the main emphasise is on getting the facts right about the first generation here in Australia  – information learned over recent weeks has thrown a new perspective on some of the early family members. All will be revealed at the appropriate time.

In the meantime, Day 2 of the Third Cricket Test continued today, and in an amazing turn of events, we have already seen 23 wickets fall in just the first two days..  Yesterday, Australia at one stage for 5 wickets for 69 runs, after the ‘batsmen’ in the team failed, and left the run scoring up to the middle order batsmen and some of the bowlers. It was a good effort by those players to get the team score up to a reasonably respectable score of 268. Today, England seemed to be cruising along until a great spell of  bowling by the previously out of form Mitchell Johnson, turned the match around,.  England were 0 for 78, when the left-arm bowler  (who finished with bowling figures of 6-38) turned the game on its head with a spell of four wickets for seven runs, a performance that eventually saw the English team bowled out for just  187 runs.  At Stumps on Day 2, Australia in it’s 2^nd Innings had moved to 3 for 119, after three of our leading batsmen failed again  – giving the Aussies a lead overall of  200 runs with 7 wickets in hand. This innings will basically determine the outcome of the Series – if England win, or draw the Test [a draw is highly unlikely now], they will retain the Ashes.  To win the Ashes, Australia must win the next three Tests, including this one. For a team out of form, a big call!!

I felt quite disturbed when the news came through yesterday of the tragedy off Christmas Island [Australia’s main offshore refuggee processing centre]  – with the wrecking of a refugee asylum seeker boat on off rocks just off the Island. It’s believed the boat was carrying up to 70 asylum seekers [mostly from Iran and Iraq] when it crashed into the limestone cliffs near Flying Fish Cove early yesterday morning. In today’s papers, we read of Christmas Island residents rushingto the scene to help, but in the main, unable to provide assistance to the drowning victims inthe ferocious water conditions and because of the steep nature of the cliff face. It’s believed that up to 30 passengers died in the disaster, the rest were rescued by the Navy.  Thankfully, for a brief change, the Government and Opposition parties have put aside political rhetoric over the refugee situation, with total priority been given to rescue, recovery and treatment of survivors in this instance. However, no doubt, it won’t be long before the political battleground is reinvigorated.

I’ve made various comments on Australia’s refugee policies, etc, and the attitude of many Australians to refugees, in my blog contributions over the years. Those views haven’t changed, and I firmly believe that the broad overall policies of both sides of politics have generated a major distrust of refugees and asylum seekers.  This kind of disaster only intensifies my concerns for our attitudes and approach to the refugee question.  Quoting from today’s ‘Age’ newspaper, we read that ‘Horrified residentswho stood on Christmas Island’s lethal limestone cliffs – their efforts to rescue children drowning below thwarted by  roaring winds that threw back life vests, and waves that pounded a slintered hull – were deeply traumatised last night. They are visibly disturbed. You can’t ignore people calling out for help – and to not be able to help……there was nothing we could do to save them’ said one woman’.   These people who constantly denigrate the asylum seekers as queue jmpers and illegal immigrants  –  one has to try and imagine the degree of desperation that leads a man to bring his family on what are generally unseaworthy boats through dangerous ocean waters, and unknown destinations and/or future in the frantic hope of a new life. We should not be condemming these people but jointly, at all political levels, seeking better options to assist them. The potential for a tragedy such as this one, is always there, and in the past 24 hours, that potential, has sadly been realised. I’ll have more to say about all this later, as it is a subject that won’t go away.

Meanwhile, over in Perth this afternoon, the 3rd Cricket ‘Ashes’ Test between Australia and England got away. If Australia don’t win this Test, they will have lost the Ashes to England, after just 3 Tests, and for the first time in Australia for 24 years.  And England will have won 3 out of the last 4 Ashes series’!  Disappointing statistics!  It gets worse  –  at lunch on Day 1, Australia, sent in to bat, had lost 4 wickets for 65 runs  –  which included another failure by Cricket captain, Ricky Ponting, Though he was not on his own, in that respect!~

I was interested in the little dispute which seems to arisen within the new Coalition government in Victoria, regarding the grazing of cattle and sheep, etc, on public lands and national parks. Back in 2005, the then Labor Government decided to ban grazing of cattle in  Victoria’s high country alpine areas, a decision which was attacked widely at the time. As a rural editorial today notes “It was a decision, they believed, symptomatic of a government that had lost touch with the views of the bush, prepared to trample over the heritage of rural Australia in it’s quest for green votes’, probably all true.  The ‘greenies’ are generally not even persuaded that cattle grazing keeps grass levels down , and so reduces fire hazards in those areas. Mind you I don’t for a moment consider that the graziers have that aspect as a high priority in their desire to use public lands for ‘cheap’ grazing of their stock, particularly in times of drought, etc.

But, it is an agument that has been around for a while, and seems to be a no real win argument for either side, although so far,  the conservationists who consider cattle grazing in public lands to be ‘ecological terrorism’  [talk about emotive blackmail!!], are probably never going to change their views on the subject. And apparently on their side, are such organisations as the Victorian National Parks Association [whom I used to work for] and  the Department of Sustainability and Environment, who consider that cattle grazing is not an effective means of fuel reduction, and that the disadvantages of allowing it, outweigh any benefits because of the trampling of ‘fragile ecosystems for no better reason than to provide a priviliged few some cheap summer agistment’. Probably a fair enough comment, however I do become annoyed at times at the level of undue influence that environmental and green groups constantly seem to force upon various parts of  working and cultural population of the State – their views can’t be argued with! That is the impression often generated.  Today’s editorial in the ‘Weekly Times’ partially comes to the same view – ‘Emotive views from both sides which could never see common ground’. Somewhere, a compromise is going to have to be reached. Interestingly, the issue really only affects a small number of graziers in the North East, Gippsland East and along parts of the Murray River, which forms part of the border between Victoria, and New South Wales.

Of course, where this led to a report of a dispute within the current government, arose out of apparent discrepancies in the views of National Party [with more rural interests] and the Liberal Party on just what their overall joint policy should be on the question of grazing on public lands, etc. Probably a headache that the new State government could have well done without!

Took a bit of time off work this afternoon, in order to do the bulk of my ‘Christmas shopping’ [rather than leave it all until the last two days as is my usual habit!].  Mind you, most of my shopping took place at the one store – Readings bulk bookshop, etc, etc, in the inner suburb of Carlton on  bustling Lygon Street – an area which could be almost described as ‘little Europe’. It doesn’t seem to matter what time of day you come here,  the place always seemed to be packed with people shopping, eating or drinking over the few blocks of built-up restaurants, coffee houses, and retail/business establishments that make it such a vibrant part of inner suburban Melbourne. Fascinating place, wish I’d spent some of my younger days in this part of town!  Not much of a place for me to wander around on my own for entertainment or dining purposes however,  the Readings store is my main attraction to the area in 2010.

After tonight’s stint on the radio – where I featured some of the recordings of blind American former singer, Ray Charles –  I called around at the local police station – just a general enquiry about the possibility of some kind of leniency being granted [if applied for] in the case of Susie’s penalties last night, particularly in respect to the loss of demerit points. I already knew that there was a basis for an appeal once the actual fine notice was received, just wanted to get an idea as to the possibility of success in such a case. As expected, remote, but worth a try!! At home, Susie mentioned that friends had given her similar advice.

Sometimes it doesn’t always pay to do a good turn for someone else. A few years ago my son lost his driving licence for 12 months plus incurred sundry other impositions and costs [think I met some of those] because he tried to help a mate out whose car had broken down – had left his own car at home while he enjoyed a night at the ‘pub’, then drove another friend’s car seeking assistance for the earlier mishap. Result a minor collision, police called, and subsequent penalties imposed. A costly mistake & wrong call – for the sake of helping someone in s spot of bother!

Tonight, my daughter, after a game of volleyball, acceded to a request from her boyfriend’s sister [a team mate] to give her a lift home. That’s fine, except the sister had her five year child with her, and presumably made the request, fully aware that Susan did not have the appropriate legal child restraint seat in her car – why should she, had no children, and had never transported a young child before. So while that probably occured to the mother, Susan never gave a thought to the fact that she was breaking the law! Subsequently stopped at a breathalyser check point [alcohol & drug check of drivers] – no problem there, until police noticed child in back seat restrained by a normal seat belt, not the official legal restraint seat for a child that age. The law has to be applied, no dispensation or consideration of lack of knowledge and a strait out honest mistake on Susan’s fault – $300 fine and the lost of three demerit points off her licence –  and child & mother told to exit car and find another way home, in a probably restrained vehicle, this all at 9.30pm! Yes, the law must be obeyed, but is there never any flexibility – unless perhaps you are a politician or someone of fame. Susie was reasonably philosophical about the whole thing, but like myself for her sake, particularly upset apset about the loss of demerit points, which seemed a grossly unfair penalty under the particular circumstances.  I guess it will be a waste of time, but I must enquire as to any possible appeal avenues in regard to the licence points. I think the system here is that each driver is allowed 10 demerit points against their licence – apart from more serious traffic offences where you lose your licence automatically [as in Adam’s case], once you ‘lose’ those 10 points, you also lose your licence. I imagine the majority of drivers lose points for offences such as speeding, etc.

Anyway, when that bit of news came home tonight, I had been in the process of writing out some Christmas cards, having taken advantage of the fact that my computer was out of action temporarily. Suddenly, the good spirit associated with writing greetings to friends and family dissipated, and I felt quite disappointed, on my daughter’s behalf………………

Moving onto other things, on Sunday afternoon, I had a fascinating 2-3 hours playing and enjoying the music and songs of Leonard Cohen, a singer about whom I’d not taken a great deal of notice I have to be honest. Realised immediately what I’d been missing, and as a consequence, thoroughly enjoyed introducing him to myself and to all my listeners who may or may not have been as unfamiliar with Cohen as I obviously had been.  And I also had the pleasure of the company of friend Ruth, whose references to Leonard Cohen had brought him to my attention in the first place. Like most people first time up, she was a little apprehensive about coming on air but it did not take long for her to admit that ‘it’s not so bad after all’!!

Leonard Cohen has been one of the most important and influential songwriters of our time for over four decades,  and as one scribe described him, his songs [music, lyrics and poetry], have set a virtually unmatched standard in their seriousness and range of subjects including  sex, spirituality, religion, power and generally, a broad spectrum of  issues in human lives, always with a full appreciation of how elusive answers can be to the vexing questions he raises.  But, as the writer illustrates,  those questions, and the journey he has traveled in seeking to address them, are the ever-shifting substance of his work, as well as the reasons why his songs never lose their overwhelming emotional force, and have not done so through almost two generations of fans. And of course much of his lyrical work demonstrates his fine background in the composing of poetry, and literature generally. To quote again ‘his dual careers in music and literature have continued feeding each other over the decades – his songs revealing a literary quality rare in the world of popular music, and his poetry and prose informed by a rich musicality. Each of Cohen’s albums reflects not simply the issues that are on his mind as a writer, but the sonic landscape he wishes to explore as well.  The through-lines in his work, his voice and lyrics, are as distinctive as any in the world of music’.  As Ruth & I agreed, there are powerful messages behind all of his songs, but of course to get the full meaning of those messages, you need to actually listen to the lyrics. How many people listen to a song but don’t really hear what is been said?  Many I fear!

At 76 years of age, he is still touring internationally, and recently visited Australia and New Zealand as part of a world tour – in fact he appeared not very far north of here just recently, though I stupidly wasn’t aware of that at the time.  Wikipedia describes him thus: – “Leonard Norman Cohen, CC, GOQ (born 21 September 1934) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often deals with the exploration of religion, isolation, sexuality and interpersonal relationships. Famously reclusive,^[ having once spent several years in a Zen Buddhist monastery, and possessing a persona frequently associated with mystique, he is extremely well-regarded by critics for his literary accomplishments, for the richness of his lyrics, and for producing an output of work of high artistic quality over a five-decade career.”

Anyway, that highlight of Sunday was part of a rather long day at the radio station, beginning with the morning classics between 6.30 am and  9 am, back at 4pm for 2 ½ hours of Leonard Cohen  – we did throw in a few non-Cohen tracks throughout the program, though I would have found it hard for anyone to become bored with the range of diversity of his songs – although Ruth and I agreed that the younger generations, including my daughters and her two teenagers were unlikely to take to Cohen!! It was also interesting to listen to a comparison of his singing from the 1960s to the past 10-20 years – the more gravelly, rich deep throated  more mature  sounding voice of today appealed to me more so than his earlier years by coincidence. One thing I did do was to compare his singing of ‘Hallelujah’ with the version sung by the late Jeff Buckley  – the Buckley version has always been my favourite, although KD Lang’s version sung at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Canada earlier this year was hard to look past! Anyway, I played the Cohen version, followed by Jeff Buckley’s singing of the song  – I’m afraid Cohen came a distant second on that occasion, but I had no complaint with anything else we played of him, on Sunday.  I was actually at the studio until 7.45 pm –  the station on Sunday night was presenting a live broadcast of this year’s Sunbury Carols by Candlelight service on our Village green, and we usually need someone to be present up at the main studio on such occasions. I stayed around for a while until our technical  guy was able to give it his full attention.  They were rather lucky that a major rain storm did not thoroughly disrupt the program – it did rain a little but not enough apparently to dampen the spirits of those who were on the Village Green too much!

Cohen in 2008

I’m reading, off and on, a fascinating little book at present, called ‘Outback Spirit: Inspiring true stories of Australia’s unsung heroes’, edited by Sue Williams [the author herself, of 11 books].  These ‘heroes’ are the volunteers, who most times, work behind the scenes and out of the public spotlight, who often, against difficult and seemingly insurmountable odds, help out those who inhabit Australia’s outback areas and ‘untamed’ frontiers – usually where government and welfare services are non existent and/or negligible.  That fact alone is a sad indictment on our society, but nevertheless true in so many areas,  that the welfare and health of so many disadvantaged has to be so heavily dependent upon volunteer and not for profit individuals and organisations.

There are great stories of such people in this book. One concerns such an organisation and individuals who for many years have been going to remote Aboriginal [and sometimes non-Aboriginal] communities and carrying various forms of maintenance to their’ homes’ in order to try and improve the lifestyle, health, and general well being of those communities.  For years, there has been a common perception that the houses which Indigenous commnities live in, are not cared for, and are purposely damaged by the occupants with little pride for theoir circumstances. This particular group of ‘unsung heroes’ put paid to that perception quite clearly, from their personal findings of the kind of maintenance and other issues common to the communities concerned. This is best illustrated by the following extract from this particular chapter of the book.

“The reasons for such a poor state of public housing in communities is depressingly familiar. While popular myth has it that deliberate vandalism is the cause of much of the problem, the long years of careful research done under rigorous conditions has revealed quite the opposite, that the incidence of deliberate damage is absolutely miniscule. Instead, 65 per cent of housing defects are a result of normal wear and tear, often because poor quality fixtures have been installed in the first place, and a lack of regular maintenance by housing authorities.  Paul and his team found that inferior products are regularly installed in kitchens and bathrooms in remote areas – flimsy fittings simply not up to the harsh environments in which they’re used – and, in rural areas, the supply of bore water eats the heart out of poor-grade water systems. Pipes that can no longer carry water as they’re become so encrusted with salt, shower roses completely clogged and the cheapest of taps that simply fall apart when used regularly for more than a few weeks are very common stories. In most cases, there are much better, more suitable products available that could have been used to avoid most of the problems occurring. The second major problem, accounting for 25 per cent of faults, is poor initial construction, and incorrect products or specifications…………..These problems are probably a result of poor supervision, the fact that it’s hard to get people to inspect work done in rural and remote areas, and self-certification, where trades certify their own work……………..As a result of all these factors, some of the houses we see are highly dangerous’. p. 189-190]

It goes on to say that ‘There’s no point talking about the bigger issues like better housing design if someone’s standing in three inches of shitty water,’ says Paul, matter-of-factly. ‘We’ve found if you solve the simple problems first, then you can focus on the more complex problems later. The things that will kill you today, we fix first: electrical faults, bad wiring, crumbling walls; things that affect you tomorrow we’ll fix as a second priority. The problem is that many people believe the situation with Aboriginal housing is too complex to tackle, and that sense of hopelessness underpins much of public policy. But what should be done isn’t a mystery. It can be very simple to improve people’s houses in a very fundamental way and, in so doing, you can have a huge impact on people’s health’. [p191]

Some examples quoted of unsuitable and dangerous [to life and health, and quality of living] included the wheelchair bound man living ‘outside’ his house because of narrow doorways and steep steps – he couldn’t get in;  the single dad with five children, and no hot water, meaning the children were constantly sick with bacterial infections because of inadequate washing facilities, etc; dangers created by uncovered wires, or water too close to electrical sockets, potential for gas explosions, or structural collapse of a building where repairs have never been undertaken; and so on. As another comment on this story revealed – “I think it often comes down to a lack of supervision. If people think this work is never going to be inspected, it’s no surprise that some might do such a bad job. They might say, ‘Oh, it’s only a blackfella house’.

A terrible state of affairs to be allowed to continue to exist. Reports and research have clearly indicated the relationship between poor housing standards , and health & physical and mental well being of the occupants.  The people [heroes] at the centre of the program which is the subject of this chapter have so far repaired over 6,000 houses and transformed the lives of many thousands, but until the mindset of the broad community and authorities is changed, the need for such work will continue. As Paul says ‘People don’t want a lot, they should just be able to demand the basic things: a good roof, taps and electricity that work, a place to wash themselves and clothing,  and a clean place to prepare food’ [p15].  Many of these things were non-existent before this group’s repair work was carried out!

That story is just one example of the many tales portrayed in this book, of men and women who embody the spirit of remote and rural Australia – as indicated, those people we never hear about, and who generally don’t seek the publicity – simply have the desire to help others in need of assistance, who generally will not go looking for that assistance, and have become attuned to  accepting circumstances as they are!



The highlight of my Saturday – a great deal of which was occupied in preparing radio programs for shows scheduled up until the end of December –  was a visit early evening by my youngest daughter. I think I must have mentioned to someone else that I’d not seen Jodie since Cup Day [2 November] even though she lives 10 minutes away  –  anyway, she called around tonight and the visit was particularly appreciated because the dear girl was rather tired, after a late night ‘partying’ in the city [not new], and working all day over at a leisure/sporting centre in the western suburbs – she was ready to sleep.  She also came bearing a bag of my books that she had borrowed from my collection over recent months, some of which I’d forgotten about, and which eldest daughter Susan suggested I’d probably blamed their mother for coming over and ‘borrowing’ them at some stage, which she had occasionally been prone to do, before I lodged ‘my formal complaint’ lol!!

I was interested to discover that Jodie had a special interest in reading ‘biographies’ [of which I have many]  – and in fact she left with another book, Nelson Mandela’s ‘Walk To Freedom’, and mentioned to me [as a Christmas hint]  that he’d had just put out a more recent book on his life. Strangely enough, Jodie was not overkeen to borrow John Howard’s book which I’m currently reading  – apparently she is interested in biographies of a range of people, although politicians were not high on her preference list!  Meanwhile I have three of my ‘children’ currently looking for a job/full time employment  – the two girls, having just completed their university courses, while eldest son James is not satisfied with his current employment. I think it’s a fair excuse for this writer to be getting a little bored with full time employment [with retirement on the horizon] but one would like to feel that one’s son,  who is some 35 years behind me, work wise, was becoming a little more settled in that aspect of his life! Hopefully, 2011 will be more promising for all of us.

I have a couple of programs to present on Sunday next, probably over 5 hours of music in all, maybe longer, and it seems to have taken me most of the evening to plan my music and sort out just what tracks I want to play.  Featuring Leonard Cohen during the afternoon, and I have to admit that I’ve not really listened to much of his singing in the past! But one or two friends were quite keen on him, and got me interested enough to do a special program on the man. So thanks to those friends, I have five cds here from which I need to choose from 2 to 3 hours worth of music.  Certainly, I’ve enjoyed listening to his singing, although that was not the comment I received from my daughter as she passed by a short while ago!!!  Not to her taste in music obviously!!  Anyway, will be interesting see what kind of reaction I get on Sunday [from listeners]!  I think the man in now in his mid 70s, and recently did a concert a few kilometres north of Sunbury, part of his ongoing performing routine. It has been interesting listening to the changing texture of his voice through his recordings over the last 40 years or so.  Needless to say, his singing of ‘Hallelujah’ is quite good, although I actually prefer a version, probably not so generally well known, by the late Jeff Buckley who died by drowning at a young age [30 or thereabouts] at the height of his growing career. So I’m planning to play both versions together, and see if that creates any reaction! The Buckley version is tremendous!

The radio team [well, those who turned up] had a bit of an end of year ‘barbeque’ at one of the local community parks last evening, and surprisingly, the rain pretty well held off until we had finished, although it did get a little cool as time went on. Pleasant enough evening however, although I had to be careful that I didn’t over indulge in the ‘sweets’ that were on hand!

Time to get off here, the night is getting late.  And thankyou to those who have  submitted comments, keen for some feedback!!

It was only a few days ago that the electoral result in this electorate [Macedon] was finally decided after a recount of votes, and a very close call. The result went to the sitting Labor member, Joanne Duncan, probably the first time she’s had to ‘sweat out’ an election outcome. I personally felt that was a good thing for the future of this electorate [even if the wrong side won, from my viewpoint!].  I couldn’t resist, in view of some recent comments by others, to have my little say on the matter, and it went like this  –  ‘Well, it seems that congratulations are due to Joanne Duncan, finally, at retaining this electorate. for Labor. Meanwhile, well done Triston, best effort here in 10 years, and at long last, the Members in this part of Victoria at both State and Federal level can no longer just coast along, and take their position for granted, but will have to earn & fight for the right to be our representatives’.  I did get a few expected responses, though they were fairly kind to me, no real aggro, but making sure that the successful candidate’s past ‘achievements’ were recognised. An example  –  ‘And Joanne has done just that Bill- earnt her right to be our representative. You only have to look around our town to see what she has done compared to the days when we had a Liberal Member- the only thing he did for us in four years was put Sunbury in Hume and vote for tolls on the Tulla!’  [obviously spoken as  a true to the bone Labor supporter, in fact he was a candidate for Labor in the Upper House].  In fact, I partially agreed with my correspondent there, in respect to  the former Liberal member referred to, and on that point, there was generated a few other comments from other friends during the discussion. 

 Anyway, I thought that I’d better continue with a response, which was:-  ‘Point partially taken, but I consider that the development of the past ten years would have happened whoever the Member was, but instead of this continual jibing we get, about what happened in history, let’s look forward shall we! Joanne can really prove her worth, from the Opposition, if she is as good as you suggest, and we will all be better off for it, hopefully.
Just as a query, is there a record of how many speeches the Member has made in Parliament since 1999 [in Hansard, I guess] – I know she has made plenty of speeches and appearances at ‘openings, social and artistic gatherings, etc, and does a great job in that respect – but my understanding of a parliamentarian, that’s only part of the job – one doesn’t see much feedback about the parliamentary side of things, where I feel the real advocacy for getting things done should be more apparent’.    My Labor correspondent, added further that ‘And can I add on the Mr F. topic- he is the reason I didn’t join the Liberal Party! As a local, young person interested in politics, I went up to his stall at the Sunbury Fair when he was the local Member only to find him swearing at a local family!!!!!!!! Horrid man in my opinion..”  At this point, I added that    ‘Well, quite obviously, there’s a shared viewpoint on that particular subject – but as I said, he’s history, and irrespective of who we ‘barrack’ for, not all history is the way we would like it to have been!!’

Apparently, I was wrong, the gentleman we were talking about was not history, as another Labor stalwart & friend was keen to remind me, about that, and again, the achievements of Joanne. That was fair enough, as I would expect her and others to stand up for the person they were campaigning for! Ann wrote that – ‘Unfortunately he is not history, he has a seat in the Upper House, the one thing I will congratulate Ted Ballieu on is not giving him a cabinet position.  F. is still putting forward his far right wing views particularly in regard to the Abortion Reform Bill of 2008, which the majority of the Vic Parliarment voted for. I am not pro Abortion I am pro the choice of a woman to choose what they do with their body. Personally I would probably never have an abortion but I wouldn’t want to deny any woman that choice. Speeches mean nothing, last night I was criticised by the Mayor as I didn’t grandstand at an an awards ceremony. I attended the ceremony, in a fair bit of pain and didn’t feel the need to get my head in a picture.   Joanne does an amazing amount behind the scenes, one of her big achievements that would be of interest to you Bill would be the retention of the VU site for Public Use, which the Liberal Party have not committed to. Feel free to join my Save Vic Uni Site’………..Fair enough Ann, but I think that one is still up in the air a bit, we will see how things pan out over the next few months under the new government. 

I respect Ann for her views and standing, even if I don’t agree with her political leanings, and she is a genuine person with a lot of care and concern for others. The reason I didn’t reply and carry on the ‘debate’ any further, when I realised she was dealing with the after affects of a personal tragedy involving a friend. Overall I appreciated the input from both Jamie and Ann, in addition to  input from others.