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It’s like a dismal Winter morning outside today – not cold, but gloomy, heavy clouds overhead, and in nthe house, quite dark for 9am of a morning. Mind you, I kind of like the freshness that this cooler morning gives to the environment, and to the gardens and trees outside. Though after yesterday’s rather energetic afternoon, walking around the city, this scribe is feeling a little weary this morning, perfect excuse to sit down with a book [not that an excuse is usually required to do that!], just the light is a bit of a problem, don’t generally like having to put an ‘artificial’ light on during the day, even though after a  lifetime of working in offices, etc, the overhead lights blared all day. Perhaps that is why I prefer natural light so much now. What a pity the eyes are not as good as  they used to be!  And meanwhile, thinking those roadwork shd moved on a little, there seems to be a terrible racket out in the street this morning – just around the corner, every piece of machinery possible, seems to be going full bore [or ‘roar’]!!

A check-up appointment with the podiatrist  today, another of those regular things, us diabetics need to keep a watch on – is this to  my lot in life over the next few years, constantly checking up on things!!  Still be troubled by the forced change in aspirin type, and that ‘temporary’ filling work the other day, to relieve the pain until the next stage of the planned dental treatment doesn’t seem to be working the way it was suggested. These minor type of ailments annoy me, and leave one feeling more debilitated than I can be bothered with at present. Grrrrrrrrr!!  With the latter, I don’t want to add to the already high quoted cost by an extra visit, so do I wait until the next appointment and just put up with the inconvenient occasional pain lapses, or enquire!!?  Do not want to depend on painkillers for a relatively minor ailment for those four weeks!

Anyway, putting all those grumbles aside, I’m currently about two thirds of the way through Peter Fitzsimon’s book about ‘Tobruk’ and a couple of paragraphs I’d like to share with my readers through here.  In many ways, these brief examples clearly illustrate the futility and senselessness of wars

• Yet amidst all the killings, there was equally the bare beginning of a faintly fraternal relationship between the two armies, even if their primary intent remained fratricide. On ….another night the Australians clearly recognised the wonderful melody of the Christmas carol ‘Silent Night’, which the Germans sang in their own language [which was, in fact, the language it had been written in]. Not to be outdone, a Sergeant Major of B Company stepped up and sang the carol in his own manner – a magnificent baritone that rolled over no-man’s-land and left no soldier untouched – as the Germans listened with what seemed like a reverential silence. Certainly, this shortly earned the good Sergeant Major a stern rebuke from on high, to stop ‘fraternising’ with the enemy, but no one cared. It had been a wonderful break in an otherwise bleak existence [p 401].
• And there would be at least a few more……For sometimes a weird kind of thing would happen at around ten o’clock at night, when the Australians’ ‘tucker truck’ would arrive to deliver the long-awaited evening meal. After the truck was parked a safe distance away, the tuckerboxes would be carefully carried forwards and delivered to the front-line positions. No one was quite certain who started it, …but the thing was just before dinner was served, you’d quickly bang your ‘Dixie’ dish with your metal mug above your head in a split second to indicate you were about to eat. If the timing was right, you’d hear the ding-ding coming back from the Germans, to indicate they were about to have their evening meal too, and both sides would knock off the war for half an hour or so to have their din-dins…………………And then, at least slightly refreshed, and with something in their bellies, they’d get back into the business of killing each other  [pp 401-402]
• Now bearing the weight of one of his own, the closest of the Australians nodded his head and – after jutting one leg out to keep the stretcher flat – touched two fingers to his helmet as a kind of personal, but not military, salute to the Germans, and was followed in this by his mate. Rolf and his Kamerad, bearing their own dead weight, returned the rough wave. A sort of understanding was emerging – yes, they were enemies on the battlefield, but when the battle was over they were first and foremost humans, acting in a hopefully humane way to each other. Now, with a last unspoken cherrio, both groups returned to their own lines. For the next two hours, not a single shot was fired, ensuring that both sides had the time necessary to get their wounded away, and bury their dead… [p. 418]
• With a Sergeant by the name of Wally Tuit and stretcher-bearer Keith Pope, [the pastor, Father Tom Gard] grabbed a truck from behind the Blue Line and slowly drove it forwards, and  with a very nervous Wally sitting on the bonnet waving a Red Cross flagm they nudged their way into no-man’s- land. Every moment Wally thought might be his last, acutely conscious that at that instant there were probably 200 rifles and machine guns pointed right at him and it would only take one shot and he was done for…..but the louder sound of the [wounded] Australian soldiers crying out for help now that they were closer kept them going. Steady, mate, steady, keep ‘er going, slowly…..There! From the German lines suddenly appeared an officer, walking towards them in a strangely circuitous route, albeit with his hand up in the international signal for ‘Stop’, as he shouted something that sounded like ‘Halt, Minen!’  The Australians did halt, and then Father Gard walked forwards, offered the officer a cigarette and, in extremely broken English from the latter, the two began to talk, as for a brief blissful moment it felt, and it was so, that on this part of the planet the war had stopped. And indeed. The reason the officer had come out really had been to give the Australians an important warning. Their truck was heading straight for a minefield and if they had not stopped immediately they would have been blown apart. He soon organised for one of his men to emerge from his shelter and guide the truck through so they could pick up the Australian dead and wounded, while he busied himself organising for a German ambulance to come from behind Hill 209, to also pick up the German dead and wounded. In short order a small posse of soldiers from each side had emerged, tentatively at first, and then with a little more enthusiasm, and the men were mixing and mingling, exchanging cigarettes and conversing the best they could, even as the gathering of the fallen continued. In this process, Germans helped Australians, and Australians helped Germans, each with the other’s wounded, as well as the gathering of the dead. It was an extraordinary thing to be standing side by side with a man you’d done your utmost to kill just a few hours before, with no ill will, And then you could even be helping onto a stretcher a man you had yourself shot, as his best mate thanked you for your trouble – but that was the way it was for both sides [p. 446]
• As later described by one of the Australian soldiers: ‘It was as though two armoured combatants had paused to raise their visors and for one moment had glimpsed human faces behind the steel’. [p.447]

Sadly, in times of war, such as this one, moments like that were but just fleeting glimpses of humanity in the total context. Sadly also, I doubt very much, that such moments ‘ever’ occurred when Australians faced the Japanese enemy across the ‘battlefields’ north of Australia during World War 2 – the psyche of the Japanese soldier and the German soldier were but worlds apart.

 

Today was the birthday of the older of my two sisters – have to admit despite all good intentions, that it would be the evening before I remembered to ring her, and then found I couldn’t get through on either of her phones, obviously too busy taking thousands of best wishes!! Oh well, I left a message anyway, so she would at least know that Bill did remember.

A rather ‘tough’ session at the gymnasium this morning – a new program had been drawn up for me, with a few exercises I’d not undertaken before. Afterwards, no time for treats in the town – straight back home to shower, change etc, before catching a train into the city.  I was surprised by [though not surprised] that Susan came back from Bendigo this morning, wasn’t due until tomorrow, but can’t always rely on when her plans are likely to eventuate. It was a case of ‘hi’ and ‘bye’ as I was on my way soon after she returned. Caught the 11.45am train to Melbourne [after being forced to park three blocks from the station due to Sunbury’s restrictive parking provisions – not generally a concern, unless the weather turns nasty [which it did, though I didn’t know that at the time!].  Train to Southern Cross, and then a second train over to Flinders Street, from where it was a casual 15 minute walk down to Victoria’s National [Art] Gallery/  I’m finding the new MYKI ticketing system quite efficient and cheap to work with, especially with the assistance of my Senior’s Card. I believe that within the year, the MYKI system is going to completely replace the existing Metcard transport system.  Though I don’t think that all problems associated with the new procedure have yet been solved, eg, how visitors and occasional users of the public transport network are going to be catered for!!

It was about 1.30 pm, when I met Heather from Ballarat in front of the National Gallery and it’s spectacular ‘water wall’. Heather was staying in the city for a couple of days while she visited her son who was ill in one of the hospitals – we had agreed to spend the afternoon together exploring the National Gallery. Our particular joint interests were the Australian exhibitions, but we had forgotten that the National Gallery of Victoria was now divided between two buildings – the NGV International, where we now were, in St Kilda Road, and the Ian Potter Centre for Australian art, back in Federation Square, near the Flinders Street train station.  Anyway, after a brief stop for a coffee in the NGV café, after realising that we would have to go up to the other NGV gallery to find the Australian works, our main aim in this venue was to have  it a look at the special Buddhist display. Some of the descriptions that follow are a combination of my own comments and/or promotional material relating to the exhibitions in question.  One advantage of visiting the NGV on a school day was that it was not too crowded, plenty of comfort and ease in wandering around the galleries to look at the exhibits. Very much that way in Ballarat last week.  Overall, the NGV’s permanent collection of art spans thousands of years, dating back to the art of ancient civilisations right up to contemporary art and reflects a wide range of different disciplines, periods, styles and inspirations. Because of the separation of the two galleries, this venue in St Kilda Road now has the space to run a number of special exhibitions in conjunction with the permanent displays. A brief comment on a few of those special displays in this precinct follows.  I noticed that there were a number of art areas that Heather didn’t have a great deal of interest for, so our viewing of those areas was rather scant! Nevertheless, we seemed to enjoy each other’s company, and both quite relaxed in conversations about pretty well anything, lots of mutual interest topics.

The exhibition of 80 Buddhist and Hindu works of art drawn from the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria explored the development of Buddhist imagery across Asia. From early Buddhist works created in India in the 2nd – 4th centuries AD to a contemporary Zen Buddhist ink and brush painting in the Chinese tradition, In the steps of the Buddha illustrates different styles of art associated with the Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhist schools. The exhibition presented a wide range of Buddhist works of art including sculptures of the Buddha, bodhisattvas and Buddhist deities in bronze, wood, clay and lacquer, ritual items, pilgrimage souvenirs, paintings, masks and manuscript covers and includes works from Gandhara, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Japan, China, Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan. I wasn’t sure that this exhibition would enthral me particularly, but in actual fact it was quite interesting, particularly the widespread geographical nature of the artefacts and other displays, etc, as I’d not really realised that Buddhism had been so widespread, particularly in it’s earlier periods of development.  I also realised that much of this artwork was included in the book that James had given me for Christmas, on the world history of art, from ancient times –  the history of art in all it’s various forms.  I think Heather had a better knowledge of Buddhism than I did, because although like myself, brought up in a ‘strict’ Methodist family, the over strictness of her father when he was young, had seemingly turned her away from our church, with which she had not associated herself for decades. I suppose most of my siblings have gone down the same path.

Moving on, we found the New Art of the Pacific gallery aimed to introduce viewers to the cultural diversity, vitality and spirit resonance of Oceanic art and to some of its universe of forms, both old and new. A feature of the current display is that many of the originally highly mobile objects, some ingeniously made from a profusion of organic materials, are on open display where they can resonate as images in space, rather than being isolated in glass cases. Context and cultural meaning are also vital principles that we honour in the Pacific gallery. Heather felt this was an aggressive, angry display, and I guess in view of the multiplicity of war like weaponry, etc, in the various life size displays of sculpture, etc,, made that a fair enough observation on her part. We didn’t spend much time on that display, although, as with a number of areas, had I been alone, I probably would have done so. No doubt I shall return at a later date. This was in fact, my first visit to the NGV for many years.

The special photographic display presented the act of photographing people involving a process of observation, scrutiny and looking. At times photographers remain detached and anonymous. Other times they are complicit, directing their subjects and encouraging specific actions and poses. Sometimes the gaze is returned, and sometimes it is denied. The power of the gaze can create complex relationships between the subject, the photographer and the audience. So, from people observed in a crowd, to surveillance photographs from war zones, and images that ‘split’ our gaze, the exhibition presents the work of a range of photographers who have explored ideas of looking.  We didn’t explore this one in much detail either!  I imagined that young Rosie in Ballarat, with her photography background, would have found this a fascinating display at the NGV.

One of the major exhibitions at the NGV at present is ‘The Mad Square: Modernity in German Art 1910-1937’  –    a major international loan exhibition focussing on German Modernism. The exhibition highlights the great aesthetic innovations that were made by artists throughout Germany in painting, sculpture, graphic art, photography, film and the decorative arts during the years from 1910 to 1937.
The exhibition features more than 200 representative works from museums around the world by leading artists of the period  and the works reveal the fascinating and complex ways in which artists responded to the forces of modernity and their passionate engagement with contemporary society, culture and politics. This important and insightful exhibition emphasises the legacy of innovation left by the Weimar Republic on art and culture over the decades. The range of artworks included in The Mad Square makes this the most comprehensive exhibition of European Modernism art ever to be shown in Australia. Well, after giving that exhibition a great promotion, we didn’t really have much of a look at it – a brief perusal, found it not really appealing to either of us!!  Some of the first pieces I saw, did not do much to inspire, though again, I probably would have given it more attention, on my own. Of course this was the period in Germany which was seeing the rise of Hitler and Nazism, and perhaps part of my reluctance to get too excited about the exhibition may have been the assumption that aspect of German life then would have highly influenced the nation’s art as well!

After a bit of a delay in the NGV shop [where I didn’t buy anything, though tempted to do so], we exited that building, and slowly made our way back up St Kilda Road, across the Yarra River, towards the city and Federation Square, and more precisely to the Ian Potter Centre for Australian Art.  The pedestrian traffic, on this warm and humid mid-week afternoon was fairly light, as were the ‘crowds’ in Federation Square itself. Usually, day or night, this area is a real beehive of human activity, so from the point of view of personal comfort, it was a pleasant time to be here. Of course the degree of humidity in the air, should have been a warning of adverse weather on the horizon. Neither of us had brought an umbrella, even though a change was predicted, and as we walked into the protective cover of the Ian Potter Centre, there was no thought or apparent indication of rain.

It was here that Heather in particular wanted me to have a look at the Joseph Brown exhibition. He had been a friend of her father in years past, through his [her father] association as an antique furniture and art dealer and retailer in Ballarat, and the family had apparently spent many hours in his company.

The Joseph Brown Collection is on permanent display at the Centre, and what a magnificent display it indeed was.   In May 2004 Dr Joseph Brown AO OBE donated the major part of his incomparable collection of Australian art to the National Gallery of Victoria — the most generous single gift of works of art ever made to a public gallery in Australia. More than 150 works are on display at the Centre. The collection comprises varied Australian art from different periods, including portraits painted by many well-known artists. The display gives a history of Australian art. It includes engravings from the first days of the colony and early European looking landscapes of Australia, and Heidelberg era paintings from the late 19th century, and post-impressionist works of the early 20th century. The Melbourne ‘Angry Penguins’ school of the 1940s is represented, as are colour field and abstract painting. Many modern and post-modern Australian painters of the later 20th century are also on display. A few works by Australian Aboriginal artists are also included.  Brown himself, was born in Poland in 1918 and migrated to Australia in 1933 at the age of fifteen, settling in Melbourne. He trained initially as an artist but after returning from war service in 1945 became increasingly involved in the fashion industry. Later he became a leading art dealer and consultant, promoting a wide range of Australian artists, both historical and contemporary. He reclaimed the work of forgotten artists, introduced and mentored many new artists, and was a great advocate for portraiture as an art form. Simultaneously he built up an outstanding private collection of Australian art.  When Brown offered his collection to the National Gallery of Victoria the Gallery selected more than 150 works, including paintings, sculptures and works on paper from colonial times to the present day. Dr Brown’s extraordinary act of benefaction followed his gifts of over 450 works of art to Australian public galleries, including the National Gallery of Victoria, over the past forty years. The collection is a tribute to the great generosity of Dr Brown and his exquisite taste in Australian art through many different eras.  As one writer said, the Joseph Brown Collection at NGV Australia will forever tell the story of the immigrant who became an artist and soldier, a scholar and connoisseur, a successful businessman and an art dealer, a mentor to artists and an art patron; a man who made a huge and enduring difference to the culture of this country.

Certainly, it was a collection well worth spending a bit of time on, which we did. It got me thinking – what was I going to do about my ‘book’ collection, naturally of a far different standard and value than the quality of what was here, but to myself, an important collection which I didn’t want to see end up at a car-boot sale somewhere, purchased for  few dollars, and then discarded after being read!  Anyway, that was another matter, and meanwhile, Heather was able to relate some interesting little tales about her family’s connection with this extraordinary art donor.

In another section of the Ian Potter Centre, we found the Australian Collection of NGV Australia which was of particular interest to myself. The collection includes works by artists such as Russell Drysdale, John Brack, Burn, Arthur Streeton, Frederick McCubbin and Sidney Nolan. Interestingly, we both actually felt that this particular collection of Australian art appeared not to be as extensive as it’s equivalent on display at the Ballarat Art Gallery, where there really is an excellent display of local and widespread Australian paintings, etc. Maybe there was some bias in feeling that way. I must get up to the Bendigo Art Gallery which also has an extremely good reputation.

The art of Indigenous Australia comes from the world’s longest continuing art tradition. Located in country of the Kulin nation, the NGV’s Indigenous Galleries, in the Ian Potter Centre, acknowledge the power, primacy and cultural diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and represent some of its major historical and contemporary moments.  I don’t think Heather was terribly interested in this area, as we ‘skipped’ through it rather quickly!!  Aboriginal ‘art’ is a special art-form of it’s own, and generally requires some considerable explanation and understanding of it’s purpose and meaning.  I think that only with that kind of understanding, can it be really appreciated. Unlike a similar display in Ballarat, we didn’t really have the time this afternoon, to examine those explanations, where available.

One display here which particularly interested Heather, not surprisingly, was the Linda Jackson Bush Couture display  – a 40 year display of a distinctly Australian approach to fashion design. Working as an artist outside of the conventional fashion market place, she devised unique forms of clothing that evolved beyond the sphere of seasonal trends; defying the limits of Western fashion by drawing on an eclectic mix of influences from India, Africa, Asia and Australia. Drawn from the NGV collection and the artist’s own archive, the exhibition featured seminal works created by Jackson from the mid 1970s to the 1990s, including a number of unique and rare early pieces which embodied the dynamic period during which she defined her own style. I’m sure that people with a special interest in such a style of ‘art-form’ would find this a fascinating display. I was content to wander through briefly, admire [to some extent] and more on.

Move on in fact to another great ‘gallery shop’, where despite the presence of a number of tempting and generally pricey books, we kept moving without exchanging any money! Nearby was a magnificent shop of beautiful glassware –  spectacularly designed vases, just one example [I do like vases], but priced up in the thousands of dollars range – hard not to have the thought come into one’s mind of picking up one of those pieces, and then dropping it!  Horrible thought! I think this was described as the Home-wares shop in the Centre – Anyway, we were obviously not going to make any purchases there either!

It was at this point that we suddenly realised, at 4.15 pm, how dark it suddenly seemed to have become, and looking out towards Flinders Street we quickly understood why – there was a torrential downpour in progress, and half of the people out in the street, were like us, minus umbrellas. Well at this stage, we had no rush to get anywhere, so decided it was time to sit and relax over a drink – iced coffee for Bill, and  pot of tea for Heather – actually that’s not what he had. Heather insisted this was her shout, and she was drinking a glass of wine, apparently much nicer than the glass of house wine she had drunk last night at the Victoria Hotel where she was staying! Actually, that was a very pleasant 45 minutes or so, as we dawdled over our respective drinks – occasionally, it would look as though the rain had stopped, people out in the street were rushing past without their umbrellas up, until I realised they were simply the unfortunates who didn’t have an umbrella with them, to put up!!  We tried to work out which would be our best means of ‘escape’ to get back towards Little Collins Street, where Heather’s hotel was – on the other side of Flinders Street, just east a bit of St Paul’s Cathedral, there was quite a steep laneway, going somewhere!~ However looking at the water pouring down the walls of the old buildings on either side of that laneway, I decided it looked a little slippery on the stonework, and rather steep  – inclines of that nature seem to be worrying me at present, and for Heather, who had a troublesome knee, which was going to require surgical treatment within the next couple of months, it would be a poor option. So we waited a little longer!

I think it was around 5.30, when although a little early for a meal, we decided to do just that, have an early evening ‘tea’. It was still raining when we exited from the protection of the Centre, though only light rain, just enough to dampen one’s hair, but not much else, for a brief period.  Wandered down to Swanston Street – considered going into Young & Jackson’s pub, but looked a bit crowded, so walked on up to Flinders Lane and began to explore the off-lanes from there, where there were a multitude of little eating places, most of them quite popular, especially those that had a bit of overhead cover from the rain, which was starting to get heavier by the minute.  Can’t remember the name of the café that we had little hesitation in getting into and finding a spare table for two, out of the rain!  While Heather ate a combination of a couple of entrees, I ate a dish of Calamari salad –  the calamari just a touch more rubbery than I prefer it, but not enough to spoil enjoyment. The salad consisted simply of lettuce, but with the aid of a lemon, it was tasty enough.  No alcohol, just ‘tap’ water for Bill and a pot of tea for Heather. And another 45 minutes or so to learn about the other’s life and families over the past 50 years.

Afterwards, walking away from the laneway, Heather made sure we walked past a discount book store, advertising most books at just $5. We spent a bit of time in there [surprise, surprise], and I would eventually walk out, with at least one purchase – a Wordsworth Bio library edition, of the life of the English author, Thomas Hardy, of whose novels, I have a number, in paperback form, as was this book. There were in fact a number of authors from that period that I could have chosen –  back another time for the others, maybe! Meanwhile, something to begin reading on the train trip back to Sunbury

Heather and I parted company near her hotel, where she had another night, before visiting her son in hospital again tomorrow prior to returning to Ballarat.  Farewell greetings, before I continued my walk in the rain [still only lightly falling now] up to the Bourke Street tram, and back down to the Southern Cross train station.  It had been a rather full and pleasant day for two people who at our advanced ages seemed comfortable with each other’s company. Meanwhile, the 7.15 train to Bendigo was reasonably crowded as usual, but the trip was comfortable and uneventful for me. Back in Sunbury, it seemed to have been raining for some time, and still was – hence, a bit of a damp walk back to my car, which thankfully was where I had left it! I was pleased to be home in time to watch tonight’s episode of The Straits, on the ABC.

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Ahh yes, I finally had my garden bag[s] picked up and emptied today – the new one by my new supplier, who also was kind enough to empty the bag from the people who seem to have gone out of business, and forgotten all their customers!  Mind you, I wasn’t expecting them until Friday, instead banging on the front door at 8am!! Anyway, getting rid of all that garden refuse encouraged me to get out and clean up that area, and run my ‘damaged’ mower over the front lawn areas, before the day got too hot!

Adam’s horse ran over at Melton Harness races again today – I had enough notice to go over this time, but, didn’t, although this time, I did get the opportunity to actually hear the race  ‘Dimensions’ actually started as favourite in the race, and as the little comment in the form guide noted  “has been placed in three of twelve starts and should have been in the money when badly shut in in a similar race here last week. He ran second to Mister One Two in a strong Maryborough affair four starts back”.  Well, Dimensions certainly started off like a winner, but someone forgot to warn the horse and driver about a ‘dark horse’ named ‘Mario Fenech’ which streaked away from the rest of the field in the end.  Adam’s horse came in 3^rd place, and just for a change, I actually got some of my little bet back on him – spent the grand sum of $10 [$5 each way], and my place part of the bet earned me $8.68.  Obviously would have been much closer, had he won [of course].  Getting closer.  I did suggest this morning, when I went on air by telephone with my Wednesday local sports report, that it might be worth putting a place bet on Dimensions – hopefully somebody took note!

I was watching Question time in the House of Representatives this afternoon, and while I continue to disapprove of the manner in which Tony Abbott goes about his role as Opposition leader, our Prime Minister is starting to look a little vulnerable. That rather controversial journalist, Andrew Bolt, had quite a telling article in one of today’s newspaper, titled ‘ Does your leader lie?, with one sentence in particular, highlighting the gist of his comments – ‘Julia Gillard deceives, and, I suspect, lies. And what’s killing her is that she does it so badly’.

A short editorial in the same paper [Melbourne’s ‘Herald-Sun’] put it as follows under the heading ‘Julia gets grumpy’…………………  ‘JULIA Gillard wants to talk about the economy rather than the blood feud with Tony Abbott.   For blood feud read carbon tax and the Opposition Leader’s “pledge in blood” to remove it if he wins government. But Mr Abbott has more than a sniff of blood and continues to confront a defensive and grumpy Prime Minister whose public credibility can surely sink no lower. The opinion polls, which Ms Gillard says go up and down, are down, down, down for Labor. The PM trails Mr Abbott on who is best to manage the economy, which might show her new financial focus is poll driven. Mr Abbott is right to pursue the Prime Minister, whose failure to answer a repeated question on Four Corners on the ABC on Monday night will only confirm what many people think; that she knew more about the plot to topple Kevin Rudd than she has admitted. Added to her other prevarications and reversals, her leadership must be seen as close to terminal’.

I won’t go any further on that, but I did hear one comment made on the TV tonight, that according to one Labor insider, one more mistake by the PM, and she will in serious risk of being replaced. Kevin Rudd doesn’t have the numbers at the moment,  but if Julia’s leadership concerns get any worse, that may well change.

First general meeting of the year this evening of the Sunbury Family History Society [of which, this year, I seem to be the Vice President]. Quite a good turn-up of regulars and new faces, including Joyce Wheeler from St Andrews good to see her there.  One of my ‘fellow’ original members of the group, from back in the middle 1980s, Marilyn Bray, was our guest speaker tonight, and while I often find these ‘member’ talks somewhat tiring and mundane, such was not the case tonight – she and husband Norm, as well as spending years chasing their own family histories, have also build up an amazing record of cemeteries around Australia, and that was the topic she was covering tonight.

Meanwhile, today I received the Wednesday Update 15 February 2012 from the Carlton Football Club

Dear Bill,  Welcome to 2012.   It may not be the start of the real season but Friday marks the start of on-field action for the Carlton Football Club. Friday February 17 at 9:30am will see the first intra-club match for Carlton for 2012. Indeed it will be the only intra-club match prior to Carlton’s NAB Cup campaign which commences in Adelaide on Sunday February 26.  [Meanwhile], the Kyabram Post Office was full to the brim on Wednesday as Blues supporters lined up for their chance to get a glimpse of some of the Carlton’s stars in town for the 2012 Community Camp. Captain Chris Judd, Kade Simpson and Jarrad Waite spent more than one hour signing autographs and posing for photos with their adoring fans. In Kyabram and district for the AFL’s Australia Post Community Camp, Jarrad Waite said all players thoroughly enjoyed the two day camp. “It’s always nice to get out of Melbourne and spend some time meeting the fans who don’t often get the opportunity to see us play,” he said. “Country kids especially don’t often get the same exposure to AFL that the city kids do, so we really enjoy getting into the schools and meeting with them, teaching them some footy skills and importantly about exercise and being healthy. “While we love the football clinics it is more about meeting with the community and hopefully our visit has a real positive impact on the Kyabram area.”………………Now Kyabram is up in central Victoria, in fact it is where the 3^rd of my three siblings was born, back in the early 1950s. For a short while, we lived on a small property, a few miles out of Kyabram, at a place called Wyuna. Now I don’t think we were there for long, because I note that I only spent one term at the end of 1953 at the nearby Tongala Consolidated School,  which was apparently 11 ½ miles from home, according to the contents of an old Pupil’s Record book I have retained.   I also notice that I only attended a  total of 155 school days, out of a possible 186 days  –  on today’s standards, not a very good record, but perhaps transport was more of a difficulty for Mum and/or Dad at that time – well not Mum, as she was at home with my first two siblings.  At that stage, Dad was a teacher himself, but at the end of that year, or thereabouts, the family moved back down to Ballarat, where I had been born 7 years earlier.  From there, I attended, briefly again, the Pleasant Street Primary School, up near Lake Wendouree at the beginning of 1954, and then, presumably because we moved house again, spent the rest of my primary years at Macarthur Street, where my late Grandfather had been the Headmaster during a part of the war years prior to his death in 1943. More about that at another time!

 

I see that today’s e-mail distribution from the Limelight Magazine has got into the Valentine’s Day spirit, with the Editor’s note that ‘Classical music may have a distinctly ‘un-sexy’ reputation, but the Valentine’s Day ‘Limelight’ has set out to fog up your opera glasses with the best examples of Sex, Love and erotica from the classics. We also explore the love lives of the great composers and learn more about the muses who inspired the masterworks. Usually sex, marriage or unrequited love had a hand in the creative process. If that’s not enough to get you in the mood, check out Classical Music’s Top 12 Pinups and our special expose on Naked Classical Musicians. Valentine’s Day is also about finding true love,  and that’s what Australian opera’s power couple, Cheryl Barker and Peter Coleman-Wright did, as evidenced by almost 28 years of marriage. They are the Cover stars of the March issue of Limelight, on sale tomorrow’.  Well, with that promotion, all lovers of Valentine’s Day should be rushing out to get their copy, maybe!

Meanwhile, according to the ‘Scots Family’ organisation, ‘ the remains of St Valentine lie in a golden cask held at Blessed John Duns Scotus Roman Catholic Church in Gorbals, Glasgow. But there was more than one St Valentine. One was a priest in Rome who offered marriages to soldiers even after the Emperor had banned it. He was imprisoned, beaten with clubs and stones then beheaded in 269 AD – apparently on 14th February. However the celebration of a day of love appears to be predated by the Roman fertility festival of Lupercalia on 15th February. Naked men would run through the city and with goatskin strips whip the buttocks of young women to promote fertility. So how about it ladies…. or do you prefer chocolates again this year?’

Well, that of course is one interpretation of the origin of Valentine’s Day, and I’m sure that in past years, I have come up with others on these pages. I think this one from ‘Scots Family’ site will do for 2012. I made only one brief reference to the day in last night’s program, think I played a jazz track by Charlie Mingus called ‘The Sound of Love’ – it had the right title to what the day seems to be all about, so I decided that would be my sole recognition of the occasion this year. No doubts, lots of credit is been spent on expensive roses, chocolates and motel rooms today, but not by me!

Thinking of ‘sweet’ things, I read an article the other day, suggesting that sugar is a health hazard. Well, I think I already knew that!  Anyway, the writers [US researchers] claims that sugar  should be identified like alcohol and tobacco as a health danger and taxed accordingly.  In an article published in the journal Nature, scientists at the University of California said governments should consider imposing taxes and limiting sales of sweet food and drinks to combat the growing costs of sugar-related health problems. The researchers said there was growing scientific evidence showing fructose can cause liver damage and other chronic diseases. The average US adult consumes 22 teaspoons of sugar a day, according to the American Heart Association.  Other countries, including France, Greece and Denmark, levy taxes on soft drink and the concept is being considered in at least 20 US cities and states.

Meanwhile, on the home front, Susie went back up to Bendigo today, apparently to continue with her studies! She told me that’s what she had planned? Actually, she thought it started next week, but only discovered late Sunday night – with an early shift at the bakery yesterday morning, she thought it was too late to cancel the job, or to get up to Bendigo in time for yesterday’s start to lectures. Hopefully for her, a day late was no problem – she was on her way by 7.30am this morning. In the meantime, my dental appointment, scheduled for next week, was brought forward to late today due to a cancellation – a welcome change, as last night was another painful one, from that part of my anatomy!

Well now, that visit to the dentist was not really a happy outcome, in view of the fact that three more visits are required for the same treatment, at a cost of $900!! I think that expense made up my mind about making too many concert reservations this year!!  Meanwhile, I don’t recall any flowers arriving

 

I briefly referred last week to Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee.

It was sixty years ago last week that Her Majesty The Queen ascended the throne on the death of her father, King George VI. Though The Queen will formally celebrate her Diamond Jubilee in June,  it was appropriate

that the occasion be  acknowledged last week. The Liberal party’s spokesperson noted that,  as evidenced by the tens of thousands who greeted her during her most recent visit last year, that she  has a special place in the hearts of all Australians.  The Queen’s first Australian Prime Minister was Sir Robert Menzies, and no less than 11 Australian prime ministers and 17 opposition leaders have come and gone in those sixty years. Whilst The Queen herself has been unchanging in her commitment to the values of service and loyalty, the Crown has evolved with the people it serves. Over the past sixty years, for instance, the office of Governor-General, for example,  has evolved into a fully Australian office.  Despite all the calls for a republic, etc, and disparaging opinions about the Royal family’s role in Australian affairs, it is safe to say that in general, Australians still think of our Queen with respect and affection.

 

Whilst on the subject of British royalty, Liberal Senator Michael Ronaldson, in a recent weekly email, had some interesting points to make the naming of royal members. To quote:-  ‘Members of the Royal Family can be known both by the name of the Royal house, and by a surname, which are not always the same. And often they do not use a surname at all. Before 1917, members of the British Royal Family had no surname, but only the name of the house or dynasty to which they belonged. Just as children can take their surnames from their father, so sovereigns normally take the name of their ‘House’ from their father. For this reason, Queen Victoria’s eldest son Edward VII belonged to the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (the family name of his father Prince Albert). In 1917, there was a radical change, when George V specifically adopted Windsor, not only as the name of the ‘House’ or dynasty, but also as the surname of his family. The family name was changed as a result of anti-German feeling during the First World War, and the name Windsor was adopted after the Castle of the same name. The Royal Family name of Windsor was confirmed by The Queen after her accession in 1952. However,

in 1960, The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh decided that they would like their own direct descendants to be distinguished from the rest of the Royal Family (without changing the name of the Royal House). It was declared in the Privy Council that The Queen’s descendants, other than those with the style of Royal Highness and the title of Prince/ Princess, or female descendants who marry, would carry the name of Mountbatten-Windsor’.  Well, so long as they know what they are doing, it’s all starting to sound a little confusing!

 

There was another anniversary ‘celebrated’ a few days ago, though perhaps not looked back upon with the same degree of celebration normally associated with anniversaries.  The anniversary of Australia’s worst peacetime naval disaster is a timely reminder of the service and sacrifice of Australia’s defence forces outside periods of conflict. The Voyager disaster remains Australia’s worst peacetime naval disaster in our history. At 8.56pm on 10 February 1964, Daring Class Cruiser HMAS Voyager collided with the naval aircraft carrier, HMAS Melbourne. The much larger Melbourne cut the Voyager in two, resulting in the loss of one in four members of the Voyager crew [82 lives lost in all]. Two Royal Commissions were held into the circumstances of the accident. This is the first time in Australian history that one incident has been inquired into by two separate Commissions.  The following report from a Wikipedia source, describes how the collision of these two Australian war ships came about.

‘Voyager and Melbourne were both sent to Jervis Bay for post-refit trials, with the two ships arriving on 9 February. During the day of 10 February the ships operated independently, or exercised with the British submarine HMS Tabard. That evening, while 20 miles SE of Jervis Bay, Melbourne was performing night flying exercises, while Voyager was acting as the carrier’s plane guard escort. This required Voyager to maintain a position astern of and to port of Melbourne at a distance of 1,500 to 2,000 yards (1,400 to 1,800 m; 4,500 to 6,000 ft).

During the early part of the evening, Voyager had no difficulties maintaining her position during the manoeuvres both ships performed. During a series of manoeuvres beginning at 8:40 pm, which were intended to reverse the courses of both ships onto a northward heading of 020°, Voyager ended up to starboard of Melbourne. 020° was the intended heading for flight operations, and at 8:52 pm, Voyager was ordered to resume the plane guard station. The procedure to accomplish this required Voyager to turn away from Melbourne in a large circle, cross the carrier’s stern, then advance along Melbourne′s port side.^[8] Instead, Voyager first turned to starboard, away from Melbourne, then turned to port without warning.^[8] It was initially assumed by Melbourne’s bridge crew that Voyager was “fishtailing”, conducting a series of zig-zag turns in order to shed momentum before swinging behind Melbourne, but Voyager did not alter course again.

At 8:55 pm, with Voyager still turning to port, Melbourne‘s navigator ordered the carrier’s engines to half speed astern, which Robertson increased to full astern a few seconds later. At the same time, Stevens gave the order “Full ahead both engines. Hard a-starboard.” before instructing the destroyer’s Quartermaster to announce that a collision was imminent Both ships’ measures were too late to avoid a collision; Melbourne struck Voyager at 8:56 pm. Melbourne impacted just aft of Voyager‘s bridge structure; the destroyer rolled to starboard before she was cut in half. Voyager’s forward boiler exploded, briefly starting a fire in the open bow of the carrier before it was extinguished by seawater. The destroyer’s forward section sank quickly, due to the weight of the two 4.5-inch gun turrets. The aft section did not begin sinking until half an hour after the collision, and did not completely submerge until just after midnight. Messages were sent to the Fleet Headquarters in Sydney immediately after the collision, although they initially underestimated the extent of the damage to Voyager. Melbourne launched her boats almost immediately after the collision to recover survivors, and the carrier’s wardroom and C Hangar were prepared for casualties.

At 9:58 pm, Melbourne was informed that five minesweepers (HMA Ships Snipe, Teal, Hawk, Ibis, and Curlew), two search-and-rescue (SAR) boats from HMAS Creswell and Air Sprite), and helicopters from Naval Air Station Nowra, had been despatched. Arriving just before 10:00 pm, Air Nymph collected 34 survivors and attempted to transfer them to Melbourne, but after swells pushed the boat up under the carrier’s flight deck and damaged two communications aerials, the SAR boat was sent back to Creswell to offload. Another 36 were collected by Air Sprite and transported ashore. Once offloaded, the two SAR boats rejoined the search effort: although all survivors were located within fifteen minutes and rescued, searches continued until well into 11 February.   From the 314 personnel aboard Voyager at the time of the collision, 14 officers, 67 sailors, and 1 civilian dockyard worker were killed, including Stevens and all but one of the bridge crew’.

Finally, this was the day when I finally got around to making that appointment with the dentist!! Have to wait a week, but to check each morning in the interim for a possible cancellation. Will certainly do so, as the troublesome digit is causing numerous problems not the least of which is more interrupted sleep!!  Meanwhile another session at the gymnasium this morning went off quite well, and rewarded myself appropriately afterwards!

Meanwhile, the sudden death of Whitney Houston, singer and actor, over in the US just prior to the Grammy Awards has certainly created a media frenzy, with tributes for another ‘lost soul’ pouring around the world. In my Smorgasbord program tonight, I played my own little tribute to the lady, at the beginning of the program, and read out a few details about her life, from the highs of wonderful successes to the lows of drugs, etc, culminating in a lonely hotel death at the weekend.  No doubt all the circumstances of that will come out to the public in due course.  In the meantime, I felt I had a wonderful show tonight, a huge variety of new music in particular – what a pity no one rang to tell me so!

After a night disturbed by a nagging toothache [this time], and which saw Susan not return home from her night outing, it was good to get up to the radio station, and play some relaxing and pleasant classical music.  The featured composer today was Samuel Barber, and in particular, his Adagio For Strings  – selected last year by the ABC Classic FM listeners as No. 7 choice

in their list of the Top 100 twentieth century classical compositions. Played by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, this relatively short piece of music was first performed as an individual piece of music in 1938 on NBC Radio in the US. It had immediate public appeal, and that enthusiasm has obviously continued to this day. Early in the period, it’s public appreciation was demonstrated for example, with performances at the funerals of people such as President Roosevelt, and Albert Einstein.  To some extent, it’s popularity would prove a little frustrating to Barber who had composed many other much longer pieces of music which tended to be overshadowed by The Adagio.

Thinking of the arts and the music & entertainment world,  sad news came through today, as reported   –  ‘Singer Whitney Houston has died at age 48, publicist Kristen Foster says.  Sources said Houston died at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles this afternoon, US entertainment news site TMZ reports. A police crime lab vehicle has been photographed outside the hotel. The singer was filmed leaving a restaurant in LA just last weekend with her on-again off-again boyfriend Ray-J — who is famous for making a sex tape with Kim Kardashian in 2007.  The Emmy Award winning singer has one child, Bobbi Kristina, with husband Bobby Brown.  She ended her 14-year marriage to Brown in 2006 after widespread media coverage of the couple’s drug and alcohol abuse. Houston holds the Guinness World Record as the most awarded female act of all time.  She is famous for her debut acting role in 1992 film The Bodyguard, which included the hit single “I will Always Love You”. The song became the best-selling single by a female artist in music history at the time’.

Another One Day International cricket match [50 overs] played today, in Adelaide – Australia 8 for 269 lost to  India. 4 for 270 [with 2 balls to be bowled] – glad I didn’t see the end of that game!

In the meantime, now I wouldn’t generally have considered golf to be a terribly thrilling event to watch on the TV, but was pleasantly surprised late this afternoon. I was watching the closing stages of the 4^th and final day/round of the  Australian Women’s Open Golf Championship at the Royal Melbourne Course [unbelievably, instead of the cricket]  – with part of the afternoon’s play undertaken  in driving rain such are the vagaries of Melbourne’s weather today. At the end of the 18 holes, there were six women sharing first place despite the fact of a number of chances for an individual to grab the prize in the closing stages. That meant a playoff of the final hole again. Again, a couple of definite opportunities for a winner to emerge with the ball just missing the hole on a couple of occasions. But no, after the first play off, these six players could still not be separated. Around they go again, attempt number two at a playoff.  This time, the 18 year old American, who earlier in the afternoon had seemed headed for a certain win, came back from a slump, and was the only one of the six to complete the second attempt under par, with a birdie shot.  Exciting, almost emotional stuff – lucky for viewers it wasn’t on the commercial channels – they would have left the finishing stages for a news or some other program commitment. The ABC stayed with the golf. And the results: –  1^st [after  playoff]:  Jessica Korda [USA] [who happens to be the daughter of Peter Korda, who in 1998, won the Australian Open Tennis Championships!].  Equal 2^nd –  Juliaeta Granda [Paraquay], Brittany Liacicombe [USA], Stacey Lewis [USA], So Yean Ryu [Korea], and Hee Kyung Seo [Korea].

 

 

I decided to place a poetic entry sample on my Face Book page this morning  –  from William Wordsworth’s ‘Daffodils’ [as it is generally known], just the opening verse, think I might make this a weekly occurrence!

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Awoke to a morning of  drizzling rain and very damp surroundings this morning, just before Susie left for an early Saturday morning shift at the Bakery. About an hour later, I was off myself, to the gymnasium for another hour of  ‘Lift for Life’ activities, felt pretty good afterwards, and did a bit of walking around the town re shops etc – after my Saturday morning iced coffee at ‘Blues Plus’ café. I have mentioned to one friend at least that I could be found there after 10am on a Saturday morning, but haven’t had anyone join me as yet!  Meanwhile, at the newsagent, I found recent editions of a couple of music magazines that I like to use for my Monday night show  – any music magazine that includes a CD of music genres that I’m interested in, will attract my attention! Today I found the January-February edition of Songlines [2 cds included this month], and a magazine I’d not noticed before,  the Dec/January edition of Jazzwise [both publications originating from the United Kingdom].  Some wonderful ‘world’ and ‘jazz’ music included with these publications, and consequently, some great new material for Monday nights.

The ‘equine wonder’, the brilliant Australian mare ‘Black Caviar’ raced at Caulfield this afternoon, competing over 1400 metres in the C F Orr Stakes, the longest distance the horse has raced. It was Black Caviar’s 18^th start in a race, having won all previous 17 races. In order to allow as many fans as possible to see this horse run, I think the Caulfield officials opened the course to the public, basically without charge – irrespective of that, Black Caviar has brought back the crowds [and families] to horse racing in Australia, such is the interest and enthusiasm it’s victories have created.  – in the racing world, it is becoming a bit of a cult hero, along with Trainer, Peter Moody, and Jockey, Luke Nolan.  Well, in Race 18, the horse ran, and won again, no real surprise there – 18 starts, 18 wins.  As reported in the media:  ‘BLACK Caviar today moved to within one win of the Australasian consecutive winning streak record with signature ease.   The world champion sprinter notched successive win No.18, joining Hall of Fame member Ajax, whose 18 consecutive wins happened between 1937-39, as she captured the C.F. Orr Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield. Black Caviar breezed to an effortless victory as she claimed her eighth Group 1 to move to outright second place – and left behind triple Melbourne Cup winner Makybe Diva – in the Group 1 honour roll for mares. Former New Zealand champion Sunline holds that mark with 13 Group 1s. While it was Black Caviar’s first start beyond 1200 metres there was never any doubt of her unbeaten winning streak continuing.  Jockey Luke Nolen settled her fourth, edged to the outside before the home turn and barely moved as Black Caviar simply slipped into another gear and left her rivals in her wake. Trainer Peter Moody said no firm decision has been made on the five-year-old’s next start, but she is likely to be nominated for the $750,000 Group 1 Lightning Stakes (1000m) at Flemington on Saturday. Moody also has the Group 1 Futurity Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on Saturday, February 25 as Black Caviar’s next start where she would equal the Australasian record jointly owned by Desert Gold and Gloaming’.

I was supposed to go out to an annual barbeque function tonight – annual get-together of the former management  [and others] of the Shire of Gisborne, as it was before amalgamation in the mid-1990s. Generally the ‘and others’ part of the function tends to dominate which in the past has put me off from going – too many people there I don’t know, and I’m always reluctant to have to explain my life story to every new conversation n- a lazy socialiser I guess you could say.  Were it just the former management team, I would be quite happy and comfortable to be there, but this year I have again ‘let down’ host [and former Gisborne CEO], Terry Larkins. I’ve being to a couple of his barbeques, but admittedly have missed most of them.  I guess I feel that most of my former associates have made good success of their post amalgamation days, whereas I have never felt that I had much in the way of achievement to show! Consequently, I have generally avoided having to go through all that explanatory stuff. No doubt, Terry & Lyn [both very nice people] are thoroughly ‘cheesed off’ with me by now.

Yesterday, I was talking about books and poetry. I had on order another of the Wordsworth Poetry Library series books [an overseas purchase] but I was not expecting it for a week or so.  However, it apparently arrived as a late mail delivery yesterday [wasn’t in the box when I cleared it mid-afternoon], and I found it this morning after I returned home from town. The outside of the package was wet, and I was dreading the condition that I would find the book inside, had ended up, because of this morning’s rain!  But thankfully, the wetness applied only to the external packaging envelope – the publication inside was completely dry. A fourth book in my new collection of classic poets – this one the ‘Collected Poems of Robert Burns’ [the Scottish poet], described as the most celebrated of all Scottish poets. Three of his most famous compositions are Auld Lang Syne, My Love is Like a Red Red Rose, and Tam o’Shanter.  Quite a valuable contribution to my little ‘library’, in my view anyway!

 

Another coolish start to the morning though the sun would soon make it’s presence felt –  not in a real hurry to get moving this morning, either physically or mentally. So much on hand to get done, and today for some reason, so little enthusiasm to make a start, even on last night’s dinner dishes which as usual have simply being left for my attention!. Don’t like to see things left undone, so matters of that kind are generally in order, and kept up to date.   But sometimes, one is left dwelling on the image of a 65 year old ‘house maid’, a taken for granted role by my fellow occupant!!   However,  let’s not dwell on the ‘moods’ of the morning!  I actually tried to read some poetry, over some breakfast cereal and a hot chocolate.

Rudyard Kipling – purchased his book in Ballarat the other day  as with this series of books, I’ve found the Introductory essays quite interesting, particularly in this case with a good summary of the poet and his works by George Orwell. While only ‘early days’ yet, I’m so far no over enthused by Kipling’s poetry, which perhaps because of  its relevance initially to life in India, I’m not really enjoying or getting much from. However, only read a few selections so far,  and he certainly did write some quite famous poetry and prose, and hopefully that is ahead of my reading. Similarly, with Alfred Lord Tennyson – had at look at what was his first published work [written for a prize as a student at Cambridge], called ‘Timbuctoo’ [1829] – six pages in length, but I as having difficulty reconciling the contents with my vague knowledge of the West African nation of Timbuctoo!  I think to understand the context of that poem, I really need to do some research about that country s it was in the early 1800s.  Not a good start to my early attempts to get away from a ‘low mood’ with some historic poetry!!

One book that I’m currently reading, and about one third of the way through, is Peter Fitzsimons’ ‘Tobruk’. Slow reading, but fascinating at the same time. From the Australian War Memorial site, we read that between April and August 1941 around 14,000 Australian soldiers were besieged in Tobruk by a German–Italian army commanded by General Erwin Rommel. The garrison, commanded by Lieutenant General Leslie Morshead, consisted of the 9th Division (20th, 24th, and 26th Brigades), the 18th Brigade of the 7th Division, along with four regiments of British artillery and some Indian troops.  It was vital for the Allies’ defence of Egypt and the Suez Canal to hold the town with its harbour, as this forced the enemy to bring most of their supplies overland from the port of Tripoli, across 1500 km of desert, as well as diverting troops from their advance. Tobruk was subject to repeated ground assaults and almost constant shelling and bombing. The Nazi propagandist Lord Haw Haw (William Joyce) derided the tenacious defenders as ‘rats’, a term that the Australian soldiers embraced as an ironic compliment.   The Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy provided the garrison’s link to the outside world, the so-called ‘Tobruk ferry’. These ships included the Australian destroyers Napier, Nizam, Stuart, Vendetta and Voyager. Losses comprised two destroyers, including HMAS Waterhen, three sloops, including HMAS Parramatta, and 21 smaller vessels.  Half the Australian garrison was relieved in August, the rest in September-October. However, 2/13 Battalion could not be evacuated and was still there when the siege was lifted on 10 December, the only unit present for the entire siege. Australian casualties were 559 killed, 2450 wounded, and 941 taken prisoner.

At the beginning of Chapter 9, this quotation appears, referring to former Australian Prime Minister, Sir Robert Menzies:-    “Menzies saw Australia only as part of the larger British Empire. He could not envisage Australia without the Empire, and the defence of the Empire as a whole, and particularly it’s heart, Great Britain, could not in Menzies’ mind be completely separated from the defence of Australia. Though Menzies would push hard to obtain planes for Australia, he would not use his position to undermine basic British strategy if such a change would lay Britain open to greater risk. So British ministers found they could quickly abort Menzies’ claims for equipment for Australia by graphically describing the position in the mother country”  [by Australian historian, David Hay in ‘Menzies and Churchill at War: A Controversial New Account of the 141 Struggle for Power].

Further, from the introduction to Chapter 10, a somewhat different quotation:-  “I’m proud to be an Aussie, there’s something different about them. The Hun [Germans] fights with grim determination, the Tommies [English] fight by numbers, but the Aussies tear about like kids at a picnic, swearing and laughing the whole time. They knock some bastard, then lean against a rock and roll a cigarette…..” [written by a young Digger in Tobruk to his mother].

Later this afternoon, at Susie’s request, I delivered some things over to Goonawarra. Met James there – he’d apparently not long being back from Rosebud, where he had joined Shirley and the others on Sunday. That meant he had left his dog, Murphy, for the family to look after all weak, no doubt most of that responsibility placed on the shoulders of Nan Seipolt. That poor dog really doesn’t get much time allocated to it from it’s supposed master!

ODI cricket  today/tonight in Perth – Australia 231 defeated Sri Lanka 226

An early morning session at the gymnasium today, which I think I enjoyed.  Oddly enough, later in the day, during an early afternoon visit to the radio station, we suffered a minor dizzy spell which I put down to trying to walk up the hill from the car-park, a little quicker than I   perhaps should have! Feeling a little light headed for the rest of the day, and not in a particularly talkative mood by the time I got to tonight’s General Meeting/Community consultation session for the radio.  That was actually quite a disappointing meeting, with low numbers of members turning up, and no-one from the community to whom the meeting had been especially addressed. These meetings are generated to allow the listening public the opportunity to come and voice their concerns and/or ideas about programming on the station – we are obliged by the industry regulators to undertake this process and obtain community involvement. Well the station has met all of the requirements in terms of  involvement, publicity, etc, and can do little else, other than drag people from their homes and make them participate!! More disappointing, from my viewpoint was the poor attendance of members, and as is probably common to many organisations, it is the members who complain the most about the organisation, who don’t turn up to events such as this and/or participate in  other activities and fund raisers. Oh well, the old story!!!  Not a new phenomenon  to 3NRG!

An interesting documentary on the ABC tonight [which I watched after returning from the radio meeting] about the author, Bryce Courtney, and his family life, his writings, and effect of the death of his son from Aids and the traumatic book which he would write about that time in his life [April Fool’s Day] on the ‘destruction’ of his family. I read that book in July 1994, and commented afterwards that it was ‘A real eye-opener. A very sad story, which offers much in terms of educating and learning about the reality of, and suffering caused by AIDS’.  Bryce Courtney has been having a book published just before Christmas for years now – last year, I noticed it didn’t happen, and tonight’s program explained why. A series of illness and medical treatments during 2011 for the 78 year old author, meant he fell behind his deadline, and eventually because of the way in which that was obviously distressing him, his wife rang the publishers and told them the next book would not be finished in time! Hopefully, we might see it’s delayed arrival  within the next month or so.  Bryce Courtney has usually being my ‘January’ reading!  The ABC program is called ‘Family Confidentials’ and takes an intimte look into the lives of some of Australia’s high profile families and reveals the dramatic private events that have marked their extraordinary public journeys. The following was the synopsis of tonight’s show, as submitted by the ABC.

‘”He’s a great storyteller. If truth is a problem there, well whose truth?” Celeste Coucke, Bryce’s daughter-in-law.  For the past twenty years, Bryce Courtenay has reigned supreme as Australia’s bestselling novelist. It’s said that every home has at least one of his books on the shelf; and every year, he writes a novel for Christmas that generates ten million dollars for the Australian publishing industry.  This is the story of a man conditioned from childhood to win, and who discovered himself in his imagination. But the journey has come at a cost.
For Bryce, a good story always comes first. His work takes precedence over everything. It means there is little time to spare for his family – and even his new bride sees little of him when he’s working. And, when he wrote about his own family’s tragedy, everyone suffered the consequences.  Nothing has stopped him – until now. In 2011, fate dealt Bryce a cruel blow. Ill health has cost him a deadline. For the first time in twenty years, there will be no Bryce Courtenay blockbuster in the bookshops for Christmas, and a man for whom stories are life, faces an uncertain future. This episode of Family Confidential exposes the private side of a man for whom the story means everything’..

Also taped and watched late tonight, was the 3^rd episode of ‘The Straits’, rather a dramatic and again, violent episode, with two of the principal characters meeting a violent death.   Vlad, a hired killer, sets out for Cairns with a high-powered rifle. Harry [the patriarch family father] is his target, but who has hired Vlad?  Meanwhile, having wrestled with the discovery of Paddy’s fraudulent operations [as Harry’s accountant], Sissy finally tells Harry [her father] what she has learnt. Harry is deeply upset by the news. He takes Paddy on their weekly fishing expedition to confront him [and get rid of him]. When Sissy learns what has happened on the boat, she has an almighty fight with her father.  Meanwhile, third son Gary who has been bitten by a snake on Zey, and believes he is going to die, makes a confession to his father [he’d slept with the wife of Harry’s  2^nd son].  Harry threatens death to the participant, the wife, if she doesn’t leave the family immediately. Before he has time to follow up on this however, Vlad makes his move!!

Earlier this afternoon, the harness racing horse in which Adam has a part ownership of – Dimensions – was racing over at Melton!  Adam never gives me much notice of when it is running, as I would like to try and go and watch it on one occasion. Melton would have been perfect! Anyway, I put a couple of dollars each way on the horse, just in case it got up into the placings  – I didn’t actually find out where it eventually finished in the field except that it was not in the first three places.  I lost my few dollars!!  Will ask Adam the outcome next time we talk.

Tuesday, 7th of February, was the third Anniversary of Black Saturday [7^th February 2009], when those devastating fires swept across large areas to the north and east of Melbourne In many of those areas, recovery was still taking place! Meanwhile, parts of the states of New South Wales and Queensland continue to suffer the consequences of major floods over the past few days. These extreme consequences of weather seem to be becoming more of an annual occurrence over the past few years..

I recall another extreme case of the weather in this date – back in 1983 – when a severe dust storm blew down from north western Victoria and shrouded Melbourne. We were living in a rental home at Keilor Park at the time, while the home in Sunbury was being built – with only James around at that stage, and Mrs Seipolt living with us. That storm was perhaps a precursor to the tragic Ash Wednesday bushfires which occurred in Victoria and South Australia on the16th February [including much loss of life and property at Mount Macedon, just north of Sunbury].  At the time I was working at Keilor Council, and recall one of two fellow workers were directly affected by those fires.  Had we being up at the home building site in Sunbury that night, we would have had a ‘spectacular’  [and frightening] view of the fires on Mount Macedon. As it was, I was down in Carlton for a while early that evening visiting brother Colin, who was living in the inner suburb at the time, and recall coming out of his house to find ash in the streets of inner Melbourne, having blown down from Macedon, 50 kilometres to the north. That was an eerie night – recall lying awake listening to the radio reports. But we were the lucky ones  – safe in Keilor, not so the people to the north of us going through a night of hell, both there, and in other parts of the state.

Meanwhile, throughout the British Commonwealth, celebrations have commenced for the 60^th anniversary of the reign of Queen Elizabeth.  The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II is the international celebration throughout 2012 marking the 60th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II to the thrones of seven countries upon the death of her father, King George VI, on 6 February 1952. Queen Victoria in 1897 is the only other monarch in the histories of the United Kingdom, Canada,  Australia and a few other Commonwealth realms to have celebrated a Diamond Jubilee. Following the tradition of jubilees past, a Diamond Jubilee medal is being awarded in various countries and holidays and events will be held throughout the Commonwealth. Quentin Bryce, the Governor-General of Australia, announced that the Diamond Jubilee will be celebrated “with a host of national and community events throughout the Commonwealth.” Paying tribute to Queen Elizabeth II as Queen of Australia in the Australian House of Representatives in Canberra on 6 February 2012, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard stated the Queen was a revered figure in Australia. Gillard also announced that she would on 4 June light a beacon atop Parliament House and a street in the parliamentary triangle in Canberra would be renamed Queen Elizabeth Terrace.  The Queen’s  special message to mark the year was as follows.

In this special year, as I dedicate myself anew to your service, I hope we will all be reminded of the power of togetherness and the convening strength of family, friendship, and good neighbourliness, examples of which I have been fortunate to see throughout my reign and which my family and I look forward to seeing in many forms as we travel throughout the United Kingdom and the wider Commonwealth. ………..Elizabeth II, 2012

Here in Australia today, ‘hostilities will recommence between the major political parties, as Parliament resumes in Canberra, also the location where the Reserve Bank made another monthly deliberation on interest rates this afternoon.

But I really had none of that in mind myself.  I left for Ballarat at 11.30am, leaving James’ dog  behind – in the house, against my better judgement. However, although she was out at that moment, I was hoping she would be around to keep Murphy company until he was collected for Goonawarra. I think part of that happened today,  although I’d not discover until my return, that in fact the dog stayed a second night with us, and for most of Wednesday – that day he was alone all day, while Susan was at work. I was a little annoyed, not at Susie, but at James for just taking it for granted we would be around to look after his pet for an extended time!!  Anyway, despite all that, it apparently survived it’s visit, and was eventually collected some time on Wednesday.

Casual drive to Ballarat, with one stop at Bacchus Marsh along the way – call of nature –  and to respond to a brief message from Susan – ‘Sorry Dad! Didn’t say goodbye, had a doctor’s appointment. Have fun!’  –  Originally, I’d thought she was working today, but apparently came home late last night unwell, and rang Adam to say she was sick today. She had rushed out rather quickly not long before I left – I was happy to hear from her, at least Murphy would have some company for a while – I had providing that since early this morning.

I think it was around 12.45pm when I reached the Central City Motor Inn, on the outskirts of the CBD, booked in, etc, then went for a wander down to the city Mall area, leaving the car behind. Had an iced coffee and a sandwich, before proceeding on up to the Art Gallery of Ballarat.

At the Art Gallery,  I collected my two tickets for tonight’s concert, and then spent an hour or so, having a look at the current exhibition on display  –  the paintings, etc of Michael Shannon. A retrospective Michael Shannon  [referred to as an ‘Australian Romantic Realist] is one of Australia’s most under-regarded major artists from the 1950s to the 1980s. In his heyday, Shannon’s distinctive paintings were as avidly collected and frequently displayed as those of near contemporaries, John Brack and Fred Williams.  I rather liked the exhibition  –  he had a lot of emphasise in his early decade or so on pictures of suburban scenes, buildings, structures, still lives, and so on, some of them rather plain and to many, would appear uninspiring. Later in life, after he became ill, and moved out to the Heathcote area in Victoria, he began to paint many rural and country town scenes, much more to my liking.  Born in South Australia in 1927, his biography explains how the late 1970s saw this change in focus. In 1980 he bought a small house near Heathcote (north  east of Sunbury). His interest in landscape had grown following a visit to David Chapman in Tasmania in 1974 (he exhibited small studies at Macquarie in 1979) and in the 1980s the landscape became the central concern of his work. It is a landscape he clearly fell in love with – from the rock faces of the quarry paintings through the more intimate glimpses of hill sides with trees and bush tracks, to the large canvasses of spacious hills stretching to distant horizons. A long battle with Parkinson’s disease preceded the artist’s death in 1993. Anyway, in my usual manner, I purchased a copy of the official catalogue – bought the slightly cheaper soft covered version this time, which apart from illustrations of most of the paintings on display, and others, included two or three excellent essays about his life and work. A good investment.

Whilst I was at the Gallery, I rang Heather to let her know I’d arrived, by car. Her mother was not the best, but Heather was determined to join me at the Art Gallery concert tonight, and as I’d driven down [after originally intending to come by train] we agreed that I would pick her up from her home this evening. From the Gallery meantime, I walked back through the main City area and back to the Mall – when I was a teenager, this area was open to traffic, and included the tramline down the middle. Bridge Street, as it was called, was quite narrow, and I guess eventually it was decided to make it a pedestrian only Mall [the trams were long since gone].  My next visit was Collins Bookshop [of course] . Quite a large store, and I was assuming that it would have stocked copies of the books of the Wordsworth Poetry Library. My perusal revealed none, although I did bypass the actual ‘poetry’ section. However, the shop manager assured me that there were none of that series in stock.  Well, despite that, I found one – ‘Collected Poems of Rudyard Kipling’. He was surprised that there was a copy left in the shop, but then began to quote verses from a couple of Kipling’s poems!!! He was ahead of me here, but anyway, I made the purchase, and so added to my library collection of that series of 3 books now, with two others on order from Amazon.

At this point, rang my sister Jean, to ascertain if she was in fact here in town somewhere – yes, not far away, with eldest son Vincent. We arranged to meet up in 30 minutes, and have a coffee. In the interim, I walked back to the motel, deposited my purchase, etc, and then returned to the Mall – perfectly timed, met my sister and nephew walking from the opposite direction. Chatted for half an hour over cappucinios – not that I really enjoyed my drink, don’t seem to have any favourable taste towards coffee of any sort at present [other than the iced coffee version, the one of least benefit to me!!].  Vincent, who was in between studies and work at present, had been distributing his resume [with the needed help of his mother apparently] at various businesses around the town. There was obviously quite a contrasting difference between him, and younger son, Alwyn, in terms of self-confidence and a the ability to face a challenge, and this became obvious on today’s meeting. Vincent currently lives in Ballarat, sharing a house with his sister, Rosemary & her boyfriend, Marc. Before we parted, I arranged to drive out to Jean’s place, at Enfield [about 20 minutes out of Ballarat] for a brief visit in the morning.  From the ‘coffee lounge’, it was back to the motel via the supermarket, where I purchased an evening meal to eat in the motel before going out later on.

Heather, who had been being through two disastrous marriages, since I last saw her in the late 1950s  [apart from our lunch in Bacchus Marsh the other day] lived in a unit up in the Ballarat North/Wendouree area, not far from the old Ballarat Cemetery [which is actually called the New Ballarat Cemetery!!].  It is many many years since I have purposely picked up a young lady [well, she is my age of course – we went to primary school together] for the purpose of  going on an outing –  some people might call it a date, but I think we just both looked upon it, as two ‘old’ friends catching up, and what better way to do that, than at a musical concert, within the environs  of the Art Gallery of Ballarat, such institution of which we both happened to be members. I gathered that at different times, both her late father, Charlie Jones, and her brother Ross, had been heavily involved in the management of the Gallery. We had a common interest.  Actually, I’m not sure if Heather and I were ever ‘friends’ as such – we went to school, and Church/Sunday-school together, but I don’t think we were ‘buddies’ or anything of that sort. Yes, as a ten year old, I was fond of her, though never communicated anything of that nature as far as I can recall, while Heather regarded shy Bill as ‘rather sweet’ [that wasn’t communicated either, at the time].  Now all of a sudden, 50+ years later, we are friends!!  That’s rather nice actually.

In any case, tonight, we have come to see the ‘Helen Davey Trio’ – a poetic world/folk group with a contemporary twist, made up of Australian lady [in her 40s], Helen Davey [who sings and plays guitar and the piano], and two guys from Switzerland [about the same age as Helen] – Ferdi Rauber [a percussionist, who also ‘plays’ a variety of other instruments and implements, such as tablas, gong,didjeridoo, frame drum, udu, cymbals and percussion, amongst other things], and David Aebli [on double bass, mandolin, bouzouki, & solo guitar]. They had called the concert tonight ‘Carvings’, and that was in fact the name of the CD, of which both Heather and myself purchased a copy during the evening.  An interesting trio  – mixture of ‘almost’ jazz, folk, blues, and some other odd genres of music, it’s hard to describe. I expected a short program, in fact it was split by quite a long, and we thought too long, an interval, and then another lengthy period where Helen called for ‘stories’ from the audience – to which she would then, on the spot, create music, words, etc, to fit in with the particular story. She got that started by referring to one of the classic European paintings on the wall where we were, and calling for ‘descriptions’ of what that painting was depicting – can’t recall the name, but it has been on display for many years, featuring an old couple in the prime of their years. Interesting, the painting underneath that one, is of a young nude lady bathing – a picture I’ve always admired, and one of the audience, thinking that was the painting Helen was referring to, very aptly gave it the title of ‘cheeky’!!

In any case, I think we both enjoyed the concert overall – some of the music or style was a little ‘strange’ or different, but an entertaining night  – we both agreed on two things, it was perhaps a little too long, could have done without the story telling segment, and we both had trouble understanding the lyrics of what Helen was either saying or singing – maybe the acoustics just didn’t match her soft [though at times, deep voice] – anyway sometimes, I simply gave away trying to pick up what she was saying, [was giving me a headache, to add to a nagging toothache!] and simply sat back and enjoyed the music.

The musicians invited those of us present to join them after the show at a restaurant around in Sturt Street which had apparently remained open for the purpose –  certainly, I doubted there would be much else of the ‘coffee lounge’ nature still open at this time of a Tuesday night in Ballarat. However, Heather & myself jointly agreed that we would not bother to join the crowd – the concert had gone a bit later than anticipated, and I don’t think she was used to late nights over recent years.  I declined the invitation to have a drink back at the unit – instead, if time permitted, we would meet up again tomorrow afternoon for a drink, before I returned to Sunbury.

Back at the motel, though I was not ready for sleeping, I didn’t even bother to switch the TV on, and couldn’t get the internet to connect up to my laptop, so instead,  I opened up the ‘Rudyard Kipling’ poetry book, and had a look at the introductory essays, the most interesting of which was the piece written by George Orwell, originally written in 1942. It was described by many critics as a ‘hard-hitting account of Kipling’s poems’, and apparently has been generally considered as one of the most important contributions to critical discussion of Kipling. That detail is too extensive to canvass here, but as I started to read the early poems in the book, I tried to reconcile the contents with what Orwell was saying. At the time of writing, I’ve not got too far, and not really sure if I have enjoyed [or sometimes even understood] very much of what I’ve read so far!  Time will tell –  on page 36, with over 800 to go!!

Wednesday, 9^th February –  woke earlier than I really needed to, and had over an hour before the breakfast I’d ordered, was due to arrive.  That breakfast included an especially prepared juice combination drink of carrot, apple and celery –  not sure whether that was going to do me good or not, but it was an interesting and enjoyable drink. Anyway, I remained at the motel until near checkout time, in no rush, and in a relaxed mood.

When for a drive up to Lake Wendouree – beautiful sight to see the lake full of water again – and whilst there, rang my sister, Jean to make sure she was home out at Enfield. It’s about a 15/20 minute drive out to the Skilbeck property – being a working and school day, Jean was the only one home, and I stayed for about an hour, over a slow coffee [which I wasn’t really enjoying] and a bit of a family chat. Ross apparently was not really happy with his job at the Grammar School anymore, and was looking elsewhere. They were all going up to a family wedding in Cairns in a couple of months – the suggestion had been made that he might find something up there!  I made the comment that such a move would leave just the one Kirk sibling down here in Victoria!!

Back to Ballarat, where I called in at the Red   Brick Gallery in Skipton Street, apparently just opposite from where Rosie   & March live, although they were currently at work or university. At this   Gallery, there was a display of a mixture of sculpture, paintings,   photography and drawings from a variety of Ballarat artists [under the title   of the ‘2012 Red Brick Group Show’, including one selection from Rosie   herself [my niece], which was my prime reason for dropping by. Quite a small   gallery, which this morning seemed to be full of women & their young   children, so it was also quite crowded, so I didn’t stay long. Up a narrow   winding flight of stairs which required careful negotiation, picked up a   listing of the works on display, and then searched for Rosie’s piece, which I   found on the wall, halfway back down the stairs! Item No. 9 by Rosie Skilbeck   – ‘Sun Flower’, which was a kind of collage put together by ‘recycled junk   mail non canvas’, size 51×76.  It   looked quite impressive actually, with lots of colour and pattern, but I   decided that I was not quite so impressed to pay the asking price of   $275!! However, as we already knew, the girl was very   artistically minded, and it will be interesting to see what she can come up   with in the future. Meanwhile, I continued on my travels :– further communications with Heather, to arrange a 2pm   meeting over at the Boatshed restaurant, which was apparently opposite   Nazareth House, where she was visiting her ill mother. I returned to the   Art Gallery of Ballarat  – two reasons,   one to collect another copy of the 2012 catalogue of shows due to be held at   Her Majesty’s Theatre in Ballarat this year [wanted Heather to have the   opportunity to see if there was anything in there that she might be   interested in going to later in the year, that we might have a mutual   interest in], and secondly, to have a further look at the general Gallery   displays, that I didn’t cover yesterday. While I’ve seem most the Gallery’s   normal daily displays, I always enjoy another look. In fact there was a copy   of an Australian painting, already framed and for sale in the gallery shop   that I was very tempted to want to purchase. The price was below what Rosie   had been asking for her work, and with all due respect to my dear niece, I   think I’d prefer to spend my money at this stage, if I had a choice, on the   Ballarat Gallery painting –  Charles   Conder’s 1888 oil painting ‘An early taste for literature’!  I went away thinking about it. The painting   was created from a scene on a farm near Richmond on the Hawkesbury River in   New South Wales,  which shows a more   light hearted approach to Conder’s normally more serious paintings.  While the painting captures the atmosphere and   the warmth of a Spring day, with the evident delicate branches of Spring   blossom a feature, it highlights also, the scene of a little cow [or heifer]   amongst a bush picnic setting, blithely consuming a newspaper that one of the   picnic goers has been reading – hence, the name of the painting, and the   creation of a lighthearted fable or conversation piece. This version would   look rather appropriate amongst all my bookshelves, and books, and other   Australian paintings I currently possess. Another place   I visited during this trip, after a bit of a wander around a part of the   Botanical Gardens, which were starting to look rather glorious in   anticipation of the Begonia Festival, coming up in March, was the Adam   Lindsay Gordon Cottage. I think I mentioned this spot on my last visit, but   at the time it was closed to visitors.  Gordon was a poet, born in the Azores in   1833, educated in England, and then sent to Australia in 1854 by his father,   to hopefully start a new and useful life. During his lifetime, as well as   becoming a successful poet, and achieving both fame and failures in many   other pursuits in both Ballarat, and later, Brighton in Melbourne, he died at   his own hand, in 1870. The cottage which he had lived in, whilst in Ballarat,  was eventually relocated to the Botanical   Gardens on the centenary of his birth, in 1933, and in the 1980s, a   restoration program, finally resulted in the Crafts Council of Ballarat   opening the cottage in March 1992 as an outlet for locally produced crafts.   The venture is staffed by volunteers, and allows members of the Crafts   Council to sell their products. Inside, there was certainly a variety of   craft items,  antiques, paintings, etc   available for sale, but apart from a couple of paintings, not a great deal   that interested me personally. Although, had I being looking for a gift for someone,   there may have been some likely opportunities amongst the displays.  Amongst my various collections, I don’t   think I have a consolidated selection of Gordon’s poetry, just various   examples in different books.  Interestingly,   One of Gordon’s poems, The Swimmer forms the libretto for the fifth   movement of Edward Elgar’s song cycle Sea Pictures, and Elgar also set to   music another of his poems A Song of Autumn. The latter appears below. A SONG OF AUTUMN ‘ Where   shall we go for our garlands glad At the   falling of the year, When   the burnt-up banks are yellow and sad, When   the boughs are yellow and sere ? Where   are the old ones that once we had, And   where are the new ones near ? What   shall we do for our garlands glad At the   falling of the year ? ‘ ‘ Child   ! can I tell where the garlands go ? Can I   say where the lost leaves veer On the   brown-burnt banks, when the wild winds blow, When   they drift through the dead-wood drear ? Girl !   When the garlands of next year glow, You may   gather again, my dear— But I   go where the last year’s lost leaves go At the   falling of the year.’ According to   Gordon’s biographer, Douglas Sladen, this poem was written in October or   November 1868, while Gordon was staying with Mr Robert Power of Toorak, in   Melbourne, for Mr Power’s little daughter, whom he appears to be addressing   in the second verse. Heather and myself arrived at the Boatshed restaurant   [don’t think that is it’s actual name] but it is located on the Melbourne side   of Wendouree Parade, on the shores of Lake Wendouree, opposite the large area   of land occupied by Nazareth House. That facility is supported   by the presence of the Sisters of Nazareth, a commitment to Catholic Health   Care Principals and the total spiritual, emotional and physical needs of each   resident, and the provision of aged care accommodation. Described as a   ‘welcoming environment for your family and friends, peaceful surroundings,   appetising and healthy meals with seasonal menus all make Nazareth House a   special place to live’. The restaurant is   located just north of View Point, where as a young family, us Kirks used to   come here with Mum, particularly on those occasions when her spinster sister,   Jean, was visiting from Sydney. Long ago memories.  That’s what Heather and myself indulged in   over the next hour – long ago memories of both of our lives, and where they   had taken us since the late 1950s. I won’t go into the areas we conversed on,   though certainly, her life had taken her on different pathways to what I   might have imagined when I knew her as a Primary school fellow student back   in the 1950s. Although her mother was not very well at all today, and was   currently sleeping across the road, Heather apparently brings her over here   sometimes for a bit of an outing, although they usually have to sit in the   outside part of the restaurant, because the provisions for wheelchair access   are rather limited, and it is a fairly crowded environment. It was shortly after 3 o’clock where we took our leave   of each other – Heather back across the road to visit her mother again, which   she does daily and has for many months since her incurable cancer was   diagnosed early last year I think, while my destination was back to Sunbury.   It had been a very pleasant hour this afternoon. As for my return trip, I was in no real hurry, and in   fact, stopped off in Melton for 30 minutes to have a drink at one of that   town’s coffee establishments. In Sunbury by 5.30pm. In no mood to cook a meal   tonight – instead went out again later to purchase a take away Noodle shop   meal for Susie and myself. Couldn’t cope with anything too heavy, so a ‘noodle   soup combination’ suited me perfectly!! Meanwhile,   back in the real world, there was a ODI cricket match played  in Perth  this evening – India 6 for 234 defeated Sri Lanka   8 for 233               , Type any name