An interesting new ABC drama series commenced last night titled ‘The Straits’. Part of the pre-advertising for this was produced in the form of a 4 page newspaper spread-sheet supplement under the  title again ‘The Straits’ and supposedly representing Australia’s Top End Independent News . One of the exclusive reports on the front page served as a preview I guess, of the actual series. It read like this:-

‘A special investigation by The Straits has revealed that the Montebellos, a local Cairns [in Northern Queensland] family are involved in multiple illegal activities. Using a complicated web of legitimate business as a front, the family business involves transporting drugs into Australia, and guns and exotic wildlife out, making use of ties of blood and loyalty in the Torres Strait Islands. However The Straits secret investigation reveals cracks have started to appear in this once strong family empire. Disgruntled sources close to the family have told The Straits that crime syndicate boss and family patriarch Harry Montebello has started to plan his succession which has sparked a power struggle within the family’.  The ‘article’ then continues with a bio summary of each of the family members that become a part of this power struggle. I had to tape the opening episode last night, and then watch upon my return from the radio meeting. I quite enjoyed that premiere though in my usual way, was not keen on the violence and criminal aspects which actually form the basis of the show. But it appears to be the beginning of another outstanding production by the ABC.

Interesting was the fact that the ‘newspaper supplement even included a couple of advertisements – one for what was presumably for a family controlled restaurant in Cairns – ‘The Golden Fish’ [the best Chinese food in Cairns],  and for the Montebello Croc Farm [we guarantee you’ll have a snapping good time!]

For those who might not be familiar with the geography of the Torres Strait, the following might be of interest. The Torres Strait is located in the Coral Sea between the Cape York Peninsula and the western province of Papua New Guinea, and is the northern most part of Australia.  It is approximately 150 kilometres [or 93 miles] wide at it’s narrowest extent.  The Strait was named after the Spanish navigator Luis Vaez de Torres who sailed through the region in 1606. There are 8,000 people who live on 18 of the 100 islands, coral cays, reefs and sandbanks dotted throughout the Torres Strait, and a further 42,000 live on the Australian mainland. That perhaps explains the references from time to time, when speaking of Australia’s Indigenous communities, to the term Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.   Most of the people are of Melanesian background. There are 5 traditional island clusters in the Torres Strait including two Torres Strait communities on the Northern Peninsula area of Cape York. The islands of the Torres Strait have been inhabited for at least 2,500 years, and likely, much longer.  There are two traditional languages spoken – Kala Lagua Ya in the western, central and northern islands, and Miriam Mir in the eastern islands. A third language has also developed over time – the Torres Strait creole, Yumiplatok, which is a mixture of the two traditional languages and English. This is in fact now the region’s most common language.

After a rare reasonable overnight sleep, felt better this morning than I have for a while, although still slightly apprehensive about this morning’s gym session [went today instead of last night, when I’d felt any attempt at doing so would have been unhelpful].  Today’s session actually proved a little more comfortable than Monday, and I felt quite good afterwards. Even ‘shouted’ myself an iced coffee in the town before I returned home.

Some of the headlines from today’s ‘Age’ newspaper included:

• Historic day as gender pay gap narrows  –  big pay rises for more than 150,000 community sector workers will help narrow the large pay gap between men and women in Australia after an historic equal pay decision by the workplace tribunal  [the sector has a mostly female workforce, nit sure why the disparity existed?]
• Optus snaffles free footy – Optus has won a landmark copyright case that changes television and internet broadcasting in Australia. The Federal Court ruled that the company can record and transmit free-to-air television shows over the internet to consumers. Optus was seeking protection from the Australian Football League the National Rugby League and Telstra, which wanted an injunction against its ‘TV Now’ service  [the technicalities of this are well above by head t the moment!!].
• PM plays down job losses as economy’s ‘growing pains’  –  Prime Minister Julia Gillard has given a firm pledge to bring down a 2012/2012 budget surplus, and played down rising job losses in manufacturing and office work as ‘growing pains’ as the economy moves to a higher level [must keep an eye on the surplus promise, as the year proceeds!]
• Rinehart close to 14%  –  Mining magnate Gina Rinehart last night inched closer to her target of a 14% stake in Fairfax Media. Mrs Rinehart, Australia’s richest person, has emerged as the single-biggest shareholder in the company, putting pressure on its directors to invite her to fill one of the newspaper digital and radio group’s vacant board seats [that aim has been thwarted so far because she is not considered to be able to show enough experience in running publicly listed companies – ‘it has to be on the merits that she’s the person for the job – not simply because she has 10 per cent’]

Well, I guess that latter item is not an area I will ever have to worry about!!

In the meantime, this is an event that seems to happen regularly at this time each year somewhere in Australia  –  as NineNews reports…..  ‘Thousands of residents in northern NSW are bunkered down in evacuation centres, as the worst floods in over 35 years hit the region. Across NSW, more than 12,000 people were isolated by rising floodwaters on Thursday as heavy rainfall lashed the state, sparking 13 flood warnings. Evacuation operations continued in and around Moree late on Thursday afternoon, with about 2300 residents rushing to sandbag their homes and leave before darkness fell.  Helicopters descended on nearby Pallamallawa to airlift some of its 600 flood-stricken residents to safety, with the Gwydir river expected to peak there at 6pm (AEDT).  NSW SES deputy commissioner of operations Steven Pearce said the Pallamallawa operation was challenging. “But we are very confident we will get everyone to safety,” he told AAP. At Moree, both the Mehi and Gwydir rivers were predicted to peak on Friday morning, matching or exceeding the 10.6m levels reached in the February 1976 flood. “We’re looking at water up to the knees (in some areas),” Moree Mayor Katrina Humphries said in a statement urging affected residents to leave their homes. About 1600 Moree residents and 80 people from Biniguy were expected to evacuate to south Moree evacuation centres before dark, when the main bridge at Moree would be closed and the town split in two. “Everyone is really pulling together to help sandbag properties and there’s a really strong community spirit,” SES spokeswoman on the ground, Heidi Groom, told AAP. NSW Police and Emergency Services minister Mike Gallacher extended natural disaster declarations on Thursday to the Moree, Narrabri, Gwydir, Tenterfield and Greater Taree local government areas. “The emergency service personnel deployed to these areas have done an outstanding job helping communities who are in the thick of this weather system,” Mr Gallacher said in a statement. Premier Barry O’Farrell, Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner and Mr Gallacher will tour the flood-affected regions on Friday. The SES estimates about 12,150 people will be isolated across the state by Thursday night’.

North of Australia, disaster has struck early today, with as many  as 130 people missing after the ferry MV Rabaul Queen sank off the east coast of Papua New Guinea.   Authorities have confirmed that 219 survivors have been pulled from rough seas between PNG’s second largest city, Lae, and New Britain after their ferry sank this morning. But rapidly diminishing light and poor weather  late this afternoon, meant the search had to be  put on hold until tomorrow. I know rescuers were desperate to find survivors before darkness fell, but the hopes of finding any of the missing tomorrow would sadly be most unlikely.

Back into the meeting schedule tonight  – first radio station committee meeting for the year, with all members present. A couple of ‘controversial’ items discussed briefly, and the problems they generated were resolved as best could be done at this stage. A very amiable meeting as is the norm for this group, and despite the rather humid condition of the room in which we have to meet [no air conditioning], it is a pleasure these days to be a part of this particular management team. Further work still needs to be done and followed up on the question of the streaming of our radio programs onto the internet – it has often been referred to and talked of in the past, but there were various technical obstacles that needed to be overcome first  – progress in the past 6 months has been substantial,  and it is now not really a matter of if the procedure, simply when all of the technical and setup procedures can be finalised. I look forward to advising readers as to where and where, they can tune in to my specific shows, via the internet. Wish it could have been done years ago!

I wrote back to Lesley in Scotland the other day, as a follow on from our brief discussion about Scotland becoming independent of Great Britain.  I said that

 ‘According to various articles I’ve read over recent times, it’s obviously a subject of debate in some quarters, but on the basis of your comment, almost seems a point of division between generations. Much the same out here in respect to Australia becoming a republic and ‘disowning the Queen and her representatives’ [our various State Governors, and Federal Governor-General]. I’m trying to read up on Scottish history a bit lately [again], and am currently [though not all Scotland related] reading a book by Nora Chadwick about the history and origin of the Celts from their ‘beginnings’ through parts of Europe and the Mediterranean world – currently ‘wading’ through the early centuries of the AD period and the Roman ‘invasion’ of Britain. Interesting that the Romans never bothered to go too far north into Scotland’……………………………Lesley’s brief response was rather interesting  itself  –  ‘I live on Roman Road and we Strathaven has an old Roman fort in it. Would love to get a metal detector as sure there is an old wall under one of our fields’ .  Now that would be a rather exciting activity, searching for an old Roman fort!!  While equally important in their own way, the only archeologocal finds here in Australia will relate to our Aboriginal populations – don’t think the Romans got this far – not until post World Two anyway, when they came in their thousands!

Meantime, I see my calendar is telling me we have reached the first day of February.  This is the last month of our Australian summer, and certainly in most of the continent, it tends to be the hottest month of the year [just after the schools have gone back]. Up in the top end of Australia, this month is in the middle of the Wet season, which is often accompanied by rain, floods, cyclones, etc, as we saw with disastrous consequences 12 months ago. I’m rather pleased that I’m not working this February – some of those peak hour afternoon drives back from the city in high 30 degree heat used to become quite unpleasant. The weather has cooled down a little for a couple of days, which I enjoy – I’m thinking that somewhere like Tasmania, our island state to the south of Victoria, should be my ideal climate to retire to, being somebody who doesn’t mind the cold weather we get here [is not too extreme] but am finding it difficult to cope with heat and humidity. One reason I have reneged so far on the numerous requests over the years of my sister & her husband to move up to Brisbane. The humidity of that city at certain times of the year can be rather unbearable,  although that needs to be balanced against the relative warmth of their winters compared to down here.

Now this was a ‘feel good’ story in today’s media……………….’Company boss gives his employees $15 million in bonuses after selling up………….Employees at the Grenda bus company have been left feeling overwhelmed with gratitude after owner Ken Grenda gave them $15 million in bonuses.   Etty Talauega, who plans to use some of her bonus to help her children with their hip-hop dancing dreams, said she was reduced to tears when she found out.  “I really didn’t expect this to happen,” Ms Talauega told Nine News.   Vernon Franklin, a driver with Grenda for five years after moving to Melbourne from India, said the bonus was just part of what made the Grendas a great family to work for.  “I was overwhelmed with the generosity of Mr Grenda,” Mr Franklin said.  Mr Grenda decided to sell the company after 66 years and thank staff by sharing some of the profits. Some are receiving as much as $30,000.  “I think we are losing a great man,” Mr Franklin said.   Iain Beberidge, who has driven with the company for 15 years, insisted the appreciation the employees felt was not all about the money.  “Ken looked after his employees, he treated them like family,” he said.  “Every time he comes past the depot, he shakes everyone’s hands, and says ‘g’day’.  “He knows everyone by their first names.”  Another employee Jeff Winfield told Nine News that the new owners would have a lot to live up to.  “Hopefully the new boss will get the hint,” he said.

I imagine there would be a few envious employees out there in working land, wishing they had a boss like that. However, I think people like that only come along every now & then, mostly the latter.

In the meantime, while I generally have less interest in the shorter form of cricket [as compared to the traditional Test matches], I noticed that the first of a couple of 20/20 Games between Australia and India was played tonight in Sydney [20 overs per team] – a rather different makeup of players for the Aussie team for this competition, with the only member of the recent Test series being the opener, David Warner. Nevertheless, the match outcome was the same – Australia 4 for 171 defeated India 6 for 140. I think the 2^nd game is scheduled for here in Melbourne, in a day or so.

PS, not sure why the first part of this article has a different font size, etc, seems to hve a mind of it’s own, won’t change for me!!

Over the past few days, we have being inundated with images of Prime Minister Julia Gillard being swiftly ushered away by security on Australia Day, and these images have been broadcast across the world. According to one commentator I read, we Australians were polarised by the incident and many different views have been expressed at dinner tables, in bars and at office water coolers. That viewpoint goes on to say that just when we thought the issue had run its course, the Opposition is now calling for a full Australian Federal Police investigation.

One media outlet noted that ‘Australia Day ceremonies are usually the dullest of events. But not when Australia’s political leaders are together just walking distance from a gathering at the contentious Aboriginal Tent Embassy. When the crowd there heard a report that earlier in the day Opposition leader Tony Abbott had suggested its removal, a spontaneous protest  took place at the Lobby restaurant where Prime Minister Julia Gillard was awarding emergency medals.

The fracas quickly turned to farce. Developments have included: that Mr Abbott’s remarks were misreported; the original tip-off came via Tony Hodges, one of the PM’s media advisors (who has since resigned); accusations of a media beat-up of violence; a shoe lost by Ms Gillard was returned after suggestions of an ebay auction; a go-between was named followed by strong denials. At least that’s the best guess at the moment.

This photo of Prime Minister Julia Gillard ‘escaping’ from protesters has gone viral

My take on it was that it  all come about when both the PM and the Opposition Leader were at an awards ceremony last Thursday when tent embassy members arrived to protest against Tony Abbott. The Opposition Leader claims that members of the PM’s staff alerted the protesters to his whereabouts, after earlier comments from him seemingly calling for the tent embassy to be removed.  The PM’s now former press advisor Tony Hodges resigned after he revealed that he was the one who told a Union ACT official that Tony Abbott was at the awards ceremony.  However, the Australian Federal Police has released a statement saying it has “evaluated the information and no evidence of a criminal act was identified”.  One question which arose was that Tony Abbott was accused of claiming the tent embassy should be torn down and eliminated, a complete fabrication of what he actually said. The protestors presumably on the basis on the incorrect interpretation [presumably again, deliberately made] of Abbott’s words.

Another view  on the issue, was that many of us have  become a little bit tired of the photo of Prime Minister Julia Gillard being ushered away by her security guard from those Australia Day protests. It certainly didn’t look very much like an encouraging long term image of our PM, and as that view further expressed, the annoying thing about the depiction was  how our PM has been painted as the “damsel in distress”. Some feel that she has being made the subject of sexist views as our first female PM and this image merely adds fuel to the fire.  Some people even suggested that this was her chance to leave her legacy and perhaps even show us what she was made of, i.e., rather than allow herself to be hustled out of the building in such an unflattering, that she and Abbott should have been permitted a more controlled and calmer exit.  Well of course, not having been there in the situation as it was, that’s easy to say from an external viewpoint, although I must admit that the idea of taking that approach did occur to me as been more appropriate.  Or in reality, a  ridiculous approach, and I guess one has to respect the judgment of those who job was to protect the PM, and they obviously saw a very real danger to her safety, if any other approach than the one taken had been followed.  In that respect, I’d agree with the view that a more important legacy would be the type of policy and long-term changes that she can bring to our country [rather than a hasty decision to stand and face potentially violent protestors, who seemed already to be out of control].  Also, as pointed out, how exactly would John Howard or Kevin Rudd have responded to such a moment?  For most, it would be difficult to picture them making a heroic exit, walking calmly and unflinching through a hectic throng of people [though in my own view, I can somehow see John Howard attempting to do just that, subject to the efforts of his ‘minders’ to prevent him from doing so].  In any case, the writer that prompted the above comments, expresses a hope that the media outlets will start to ration the use of the photo referred to, and also that the  people will forget about our PM’s gender and let her get on with the job of running our country.

Meanwhile, this afternoon I received an email from the Liberal Party, expressing the following:-

Dear Bill

Today at the National Press Club I spoke about the Coalition’s plans to restore Hope, Reward and Opportunity for all Australians. The only foundation for a successful country is a strong economy. The only way to take the pressure off family budgets, to increase job opportunities, and to have the better services and infrastructure that every Australian wants is to build a stronger economy.  That’s why the Coalition’s plans for a stronger economy is to scrap unnecessary taxes, cut government spending and reduce the red tape burden on business. The Coalition’s plan to reduce the cost of living pressures on families is to take the carbon tax off their power and transport and make government live within its means. That way, there can be lower taxes and less upward pressure on interest rates.

Regards,  Tony Abbott.  Leader of the Opposition

Now, I actually watched that address by Mr Abbott, at the National Press Club today, and I was to be honest, disappointed at the content and nature of what he said. What was a looking for?  Difficult to say, but hopefully, some degree of optimism about a change in the Abbott/Opposition style tactics of attack and negatism that have dominated the parliamentary scene over the past year or so. Some form of inspiration for 2012 that would leave us Liberal supporters feeling a little more confident about what the Party stood for, and the manner in which it was going to approach the role of Opposition and presenting a viable alternative government. But I didn’t feel Mr Abbott gave that to us, but instead, simply stood at the rostrum making a Policy Speech, and continuing with the same format of attack and negativity.  His speech consisted of an extension of the above paragraph that has been emailed, but where I would have liked those ‘plans’ promises, inspirations, etc, to have been detailed in more substance, we found instead so much time again devoted to criticism and ridicule of the government.  Some, maybe most of it is justified, but we all know what has happened, the mistakes made, and so on – I would like to see parliament move on a little to what can be done, in the future in the absence of the spin and rhetoric of times past. But on the basis of the Press Club speech, that is a forlorn hope, I fear!

As for myself, this last day of January was unsatisfactory – still feeling unwell, lethargic, and the ongoing works out in the street becoming just a bit of a headache.  Gave Susie my car to use to get to her work today, so I restricted myself [perhaps deliberately] from going anywhere.  In fact, decided after a light evening meal that I didn’t have the energy to do anything of value, even reading and/or computer work was proving tiring, so simply adjourned for the night, and actually slept in patches off and on between then and just before 3am Wednesday morning, at which point, much more sleep proved difficult.

After reading an interesting article in the paper the other day, I enquired of a friend in Scotland [2^nd or 3^rd cousin actually], via the following query.

Hi Lesley, this was the start of an interesting article in one of our major papers over here, today – is this really a likely outcome within the next few years, and how much do today’s Scots really care?
‘Scots defy Cameron on vote for breakaway – Scottish prime minister Alex Salmond has taken a formal step towards an independence referendum that the government hopes will secure a mandate for withdrawal from the United Kingdom within five years.’……………………….Lesley replied that  ‘A lot of people in my age group don’t want to break away. Scotland would never cope on its own. I don’t like Alex Salmond 😦  Unfortunately they seem to be targeting the group that are almost ready to start voting and they seem to think it’s a fantastic idea. Us adults will need to make sure we get out and vote to stay in UK !’

It’s certainly an interesting question, and I suppose in Scottish history, has over the centuries been the subject of debates, wars, assassinations, and so on between the two ‘states’ [England and Scotland]. It wasn’t until the Acts of Union of 1706/1707 that a more formal and settled unity between the two existed. An article written by a former Melbourne Jesuit scholar who completed a PhD in international and administrative law in 2008, commented on the aspect of the right of self- determination on the one hand, and territorial integrity of states on the other. Part of what he wrote follows:

’Who or what constitutes a ‘people’ for the purposes of self-determination has, in any event, been very hard to define. People have argued for separation on grounds of ethnicity (the Basque conflict), religion (the Bosnian war), political difference (the Northern League in Italy) or a mixture of the above (compare the history of Ireland).

Multi-ethnic post-colonial states, especially those with large indigenous populations, have been particularly reluctant to concede anything like a general right to secede.

Current international law thinking reconciles the tensions between self-determination and territorial integrity by declaring that there is an ‘internal’ right to self-determination (the right to one’s own language, culture, religion and the like) which must be enjoyed within existing state boundaries. It is only when this right is frustrated that a right to ‘external’ self-determination (i.e. secession) arises.

In short, territorial integrity ‘trumps’ self-determination in the absence of exceptional circumstances (such as decolonisation or gross human rights abuses).

The theory, however, gets rather murky in practice and mired in politics. States which recognised Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia on the basis of the right to self-determination did not extend the same recognition to Abkhazia and South Ossetia’s declarations of independence from Georgia, despite the obvious parallels.

(Each case involved a region with a large majority in favour of independence. The majority had historically faced discrimination and had declared independence following a war in which a major world power had effectively carved the region out of the larger country.)

So where does all this leave the Scots example? Scotland is certainly no colony. Nevertheless, it was historically independent of the rest of the UK and, crucially, was merged with it by treaty (the Acts of Union of 1706, passed by the English Parliament, and 1707, passed by its Scottish counterpart).

Scotland retained a measure of independence even before devolution began in the mid-1990s – it has always kept its own legal system and cultural identity.

There is therefore no question of creating a new state from scratch (as there was in Kosovo and the Caucasus). What has been done by agreement can, in principle, be undone the same way. It seems that Westminster agrees.

Whether or not this will actually happen, of course, will ultimately depend on what the Scots themselves decide’.

On the basis of my friend’s comment, it seems there is no clear-cut direction amongst the Scottish people as to where they want to go. I always find it interesting, in sport for example that in some areas, England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland are all lumped under the heading of the United Kingdom for ‘team’ purposes, yet in other instances, they have separate state teams [World Cup soccer, cricket, etc]. This past week, we have seen Andy Murray the tennis player, officially representing the United Kingdom, yet in many circles, when he is winning, England claims him as theirs, while he is losing, he is ‘the Scot’!!  Anyway, although we don’t here much on the subject out here, there still remains much debate in Scotland on the broad topic amongst writers, commentators, etc. We will retain a bit of a watch on things, particularly because of personal interest in Scottish history.

It was a very noisy day in our street today – after a break for a few days, the workman were back with their heavy machinery, digging up parts of the street, and in fact, all of their time and efforts today were spent in front of my place – I had to request a brief halt and rearrangement of barriers, etc this morning in order to get my car out of the driveway, where I left it around the corner in the adjacent street for most of the day [Susan’s car stayed where it was – it has a dead battery, and she doesn’t seem in a rush to get the problem remedied at present].  My main outing, prior to some shopping was a rather strenuous hour at the gymnasium late morning  – most of my levels were ‘raised’ somewhat, and that combined with a weekend of little sleep, hot nights, and late night tennis viewing, etc, left your correspondent feeling somewhat exhausted by early afternoon, on a day which continued to be hot and humid until a cool change began to move in late in the day.  No chance for an early night this evening either –  finished my radio program at midnight, and while it was quite cool outside by then, I was finding it still quite humid in most of the radio building [apart from the min broadcasting studio]…………………….so, while enjoying my usual Monday show of folk, blues, jazz, country, show and world music, etc, I was not unhappy to be able to finish up when 12 am arrived!! Admittedly, also a little disappointed that I’d not heard from any listeners, because despite not having felt 100% on this and last Monday night, I don’t believe that has come over in any way, but nevertheless a little element of feedback would overcome that occasional feeling that one is simply ‘talking to oneself’ for 3 hours!!

During this morning’s radio show, which I normally commence at 6.30am of a Sunday, there were three particular pieces of music which I had programmed, that I found rather inspiring, in different ways. I can only hope that my listeners felt the same. I probably needed inspiration of some sort, after a rather uncomfortable evening. Obviously the meal I cooked for myself last night – relatively harmless in itself –  but when spiced up with a range of sauces of the soya variety, etc, reacted somewhat unfavourably [as has been happening of recent days], and as a consequence, my Saturday evening, while watching the tennis, and then through into the early hours of the morning, and even throughout the show this morning, remained somewhat ‘uncomfortable’ and at times also distressing [well, annoying and frustrating, anyway].  But enough of that!!

One of my major pieces of music on the radio this morning was Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2.  This was the 2011 ABC Classic FM’s No. 5 choice of the ‘Top 100’ 20th  century classical compositions by listeners. The composer wrote this in 1901/1902 [so he just crept into the 20^th century stipulation]. The 2^nd and 3^rd movements of this generally regarded most popular of all romantic concertos were completed in the summer of 1900, and the 1^st movement the following year. It was first performed in November 1901 in Moscow, with the composer as soloist, and was apparently received with the greatest enthusiasm. Since then, this particular work has retained it’s position in concert repertoire, perhaps indicative of this choice 110 years later! Today, we heard it performed by the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra [conducted by Antoni Wit], with the piano solo played by the German pianist, Bernd Glemser.

Another of the other compositions that particularly inspired me, and hopefully my listeners also, was Tchaikovsky’s Capriccio Italien – a fantasy for orchestra which was composed between January and May, 1880.   The Capriccio was inspired by a trip Tchaikovsky took to Rome, during which he saw the Carnival in full swing, and is reminiscent of Italian folk music and street song. As these elements are treated rather freely initially he intended this piece to be called Italian Fantasia.  Tchaikovsky even uses as the introduction a bugle call that he overheard from his hotel played by Italian cavalry regiment. Another source of inspiration for this piece are Mikhail Glinka’s Spanish Pieces.  The premiere was held in Moscow on December 18 of the same year; the orchestra was led by Nikolai Rubinstein. Dedicated to Karl Davydov, the Capriccio was later arranged by the composer for 4-hand piano. A typical performance lasts for around 15 minutes.

Finally, an eleven minute piece, written by a 17^th century by the name of Gregorio Allegri, and of quite a sacred nature, left one in a very relaxed frame of mind. I had to initially go searching for some information about this piece of music, as the CD itself had little to say. This precis makes the religious connotation fairly obvious, and also demonstrate that music in those times, could had certain ‘dangers’ associated with it.    From Wikipedia, we read that:-   “Miserere, full name “Miserere mei, Deus” (Latin: “Have mercy on me, O God”) by Italian composer Gregorio Allegri, is a setting of Psalm 51 (50) composed during the reign of Pope Urban VIII, probably during the 1630s, for use in the Sistine Chapel during matins, as part of the exclusive Tenebrae service on Wednesday and Friday of Holy Week. The service would start usually around 3AM, and during the ritual, candles would be extinguished, one by one, until one remained alight and hidden. Allegri composed his setting of the Miserere for the final act within the first lesson of the Tenebrae service.  It was the last of twelve falsobordone Miserere settings composed and chanted at the service since 1514 and the most popular: at some point, it became forbidden to transcribe the music and it was allowed to be performed only at those particular services, adding to the mystery surrounding it. Writing it down or performing it elsewhere was punishable by excommunication”

I wanted to get out into my neglected garden today, but with temperatures expected to be around 35 degrees, and my discomfort overnight leaving me a little tired and exhausted, it would be internal tasks etc, that this correspondent would turn to, and that was probably a wise enough move.  Meanwhile, not sure if Susie is back today, or Monday  – I guess we will wait and see on that one [she came back this evening, thinking she had to work in the morning, then worked out it was Tuesday!!]

AS for ‘that’ tennis match, well, I sat down on a very warm and humid evening at 7.30 pm, to watch Rafael Nadal and Noval Dkojovic do battle on Rod Laver Arena at the Melbourne Tennis Centre [though I was of course in front of the TV set, and in view of the fact that I couldn’t even last the distance watching from my lounge-room, I somehow doubt I could have managed to last the full length of the match for real as a live spectator, although as things would eventuate, it would have been an experience to never forget.  I wanted Nadal to win, not being over impressed with Djokovic’s playing tactics, and almost pretenses of injury and so on,  in recent matches. However by the end of the 3rd set, Djokovic seemed to becoming dominant, and while I wanted to watch the match through to the end, felt myself simply too tired  – so deserted the TV at that stage, left the video tape running, with the assumption that if the match was over in an hour  or so, as looked likely, I would get all of the game covered despite the inclusion of adverts which I detest on a tape.  Well as history will show, I misjudged all of that – I did wake at around 1.30am to see the end of the match, although down the other end of the house, my tape ran out ten minutes before the finish!!

Nevertheless, as  Alix Ramsay wrote on the Australian Open website – ‘ Oh, what has Novak Djokovic done? By winning his third Australian Open title and his fifth Grand Slam trophy in seven minutes short of six hours, he has rewritten history, that is for sure. Melbourne Park has never witnessed a longer match, the four major championships have never produced a longer final and no one who saw Djokovic and Rafael Nadal conjure up superhuman rallies at 1.30am has ever seen anything like it. But that was only the half of it.  Djokovic, the master of all he surveys at the top of the world rankings had won and, in doing so, he had inflicted the deepest of wounds to Nadal’s psyche. It was the Serb’s seventh successive win in a final and his third consecutive victory over Nadal in a Grand Slam final. In the other finals, the normally indomitable Spaniard had seemed lost. He could not formulate a plan of attack to hurt his tormentor and he simply ran out of ideas. But this time, Nadal had a plan, this time he knew what to do and how to do it. And then Djokovic beat him.  Over the course of the off-season, Nadal had come up with an idea: be more aggressive, try to go for the winners, attack whenever possible – and wise – and take the battle to Djokovic. But Djokovic saw him coming and cut him off at the pass. Nadal was strong, he was determined and he was never going to give in. And Djokovic matched him. Nadal showed passion, he showed fire and he had courage. And still Djokovic beat him. The man from Serbia seems invincible – and that will hurt Nadal more than he will ever say.  “I’m playing against one of the greatest players ever,” Djokovic said, tired but euphoric after the match. “The player that is so mentally strong, and he always comes up with his best game and best shots at the right moments.  “So I tried mentally to hang in there, to hold my composure, to hold my emotions. And, you know, even when I was 4‑2 down I still pushed myself up to the limit’

The Australian Open men’s final between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic broke the record as the longest match in tournament history when it hit 5hr 15min on Sunday.  The match, which stood at 4-3 to Nadal in the fifth set, was also the longest grand slam final on record, outstripping the 1988 US Open final between Mats Wilander and Ivan Lendl, which lasted 4hr 54min. The previous longest Australian Open match was the 2009 semi-final between Nadal and Fernando Verdasco, which lasted 5hr 14min. The following little summary covers the last few minutes of the match, but obviously doesn’t do justice to the almost 6 hours that preceded it.

• 1.27am: Nadal is having words with the umpire. It seems he wan’t happy with a line call. Regardless, Djokovic has a break point.
• 1.28am: The defending champion has the break and will serve for the title.
• 1.30am: Another long rally and Nadal nets a backhand. Djokovic leads 15-0 on serve.
• 1.31am: Nadal reaches a Djokovic serve down the ‘T’, but can’t get it over the net. It’s 30-0.
• 1.32am: Djokovic pushes a ball long and it’s 30-15.
• 1.33am: Djokovic reaches for a smash, but hits the ball into the bottom of the net. It’s level at 30-30.
• 1.34am: A tense rally which ends when Djokovic reaches for a backhand and pushes it into the net. A break point for Nadal at 30-40.
• 1.35am: Djokovic saves the break point.
• 1.36am: A Nadal shot catches the tape and lands wide. Championship point for Djokovic.
• 1.37am: DJOKOVIC WINS THE 2012 AUSTRALIAN OPEN IN FIVE SETS.
• 1.42am: Djokovic falls to the ground and lies down in jubilation after successfully defending his Australian Open title. It was an epic final, the likes of which we’ve never seen at Melbourne Park. It took just shy of six hours (five hours and 53 minutes) for a winner to emerge. In the end, it was the world No. 1 who prevailed. He has now won the past grand slams in a row (following Wimbledon and the US Open).
• 1.50am: It’s official – that was the longest grand slam final in history.
• 1.56am: Nadal smiles and hugs Rod Laver as he takes to the podium. Gracious in defeat, the Spaniard congratulates Djokovic and says the Serb’s team “is doing something fantastic”. Nadal says even if he lost the historic final, it was “really special for me”.

The other Final result yesterday was in the Mixed Doubles –  Bethanie Mattek-Sands [USA] and Horia Recau [Romania] defeated Elena Vesnina [Russia] and Leander Paes [India]  6/3, 5/7, 10/3[tb]

And that is enough of tennis for a while if you don’t mind!!!

Yes, we are in for a rather warmish day, in the mid – 30s this Saturday. Hope that Susie, wherever she is, does not overdo her time in the sun!

Let’s have a brief look at some of the headlines in today’s Age newspaper:

• PM’s man gone after ‘leak’ – a Press Secretary to Julia Gillard has been forced to quit after it was revealed that he had disclosed Tony Abbott’s presence at the restaurant stormed by Aboriginal protestors.
• Flag burned and spat on – Aboriginal tent embassy protestors burned and spat on the Australian flag on the front steps of Parliament House, as tensions at the controversial protest site erupted in Canberra yesterday.
• Abbott says he was misunderstood – Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said he does not resile from comments he made on Australia Say on the ongoing relevance of the Aboriginal tent embassy, only that he had been misunderstood.
• Sense of adventure putting Australian tourists at risk – an average 1600 Australians a day are getting into trouble overseas, including an increasing number of adventure seekers, the Department of Foreign Affairs says.
• Prisoners tortured by Libyan militia – Three months after the killing of Muammar Gaddafi concerns are mounting about  the mistreatment and torture of prisoners held by Libyan militiamen.

An early Saturday morning at the gymnasium today – and the instructor upgraded some of the levels I have undertaken up until now –  expect a few extra aches and pains between now and Monday morning, already noticeable by early afternoon. Followed that hour up with a bit of shopping, and a treat for Bill – an iced coffee in the Blues Plus Café!!

While Adam and his Sunbury B Grade cricket team were completing their 2 day game over at Bacchus Marsh this afternoon, the Australian cricket team wrapped up the 4 Test series against India around Noon today – India all out for 201, with the final scores being Australia:  7 for 604, and 5 for 167 defeated India: 272 and 201. Won by 298 runs. Australia won the Series 4-0. Man of the series was Australian captain, Michael Clarke, hard to look beyond his 300+ in Sydney, 200 in Adelaide and a further century in Perth   Player of the Series Clarke had a golden series with the bat, amassing 626 runs at 125.20 with a strike rate of 69.86, while Ricky Ponting’s series reaped 544 runs at 108.80.  Both men scored double centuries in the 4^th test, and I notice that Ponting was not out with 60 runs in Australia’s second innings.  India have now toured Australia 10 times and are yet to win a series here, with this campaign arguably the most miserable of the lot. This was Australia’s first 4-0 series sweep over India since 1967/68.  Sir Donald Bradman’s 1947/48 side won the first-ever rubber between the two teams 4-0, albeit in a five-Test series, likewise Allan Border’s 1991/92 outfit, while Steve Waugh’s Australians swept to a 3-0 triumph in 1999/2000.

Meantime, in relation to the headlines above concerning the Australia Day protests at the unofficial Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra, this was the way the Age Editorial saw things in this weekend’s paper.

“Australians all did not rejoice   January 28, 2012   [Opinion from ‘The Age Newspaper]]

A CINDERELLA story it wasn’t, though a dropped shoe has come to feature prominently in it. The Aboriginal protest outside the Lobby restaurant in Canberra on Australia Day, which led to Australian Federal Police officers whisking away Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, has been noted and commented upon around the world as well as around the nation. This is chiefly perhaps for the extraordinary images it produced. It is not every day that a democratic head of government can be seen held firmly in a protective clutch by one of her police escorts, then stumbling and losing a shoe, and finally being dragged by the escort and his colleagues to a waiting car. And that dropped blue shoe, retrieved by a protester and waved triumphantly at the departing Prime Minister as she sped away, provided a concluding dramatic flourish to the day’s events. It does nothing, however, to help understand them.

As to the conduct of the protesters, the judgment of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Mick Gooda, suffices: ”While we need to acknowledge that there’s a real anger, frustration and hurt that exists in some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities around Australia, we must not give in to aggressive and disrespectful actions ourselves.” All Australians have a right of peaceful assembly and protest, but hammering on the glass walls of a restaurant with enough force to give rise to fears that the glass will shatter, potentially harming those inside, is hardly peaceful protest. There is no justification for such aggression. And, though some have criticised Ms Gillard and Mr Abbott for leaving under the cover of a police cordon instead of boldly speaking to the protesters, the Prime Minister had to take heed of her security detail’s assessment, which was that it would have been unsafe for the politicians to remain.

The hurried departure of Ms Gillard and Mr Abbott is not only, however, a story of a protest that got badly out of hand. It is also a story of a protest driven by the ”real anger, frustration and hurt” of which Mr Gooda spoke. That does not excuse the protesters’ actions, as Mr Gooda and other indigenous leaders have recognised. The frustration and hurt were real nonetheless. Specifically, the protesters, who were associated with the Aboriginal tent embassy that has stood outside Old Parliament House for 40 years, were reacting to a comment by Mr Abbott that the embassy may no longer serve a useful purpose. He was referring to the fact that Australians are much more aware of indigenous issues than they were 40 years ago, but it seems that at least some of the protesters misunderstood him. He spoke of a need to move on, though he did not literally mean that the tent embassy should be torn down. Yet that is the implication many took from his words – with the connivance of one of the Prime Minister’s staff, now no longer on staff, who revealed Mr Abbott’s presence at the Lobby.

Many indigenous leaders would agree with Mr Abbott that the tent embassy has passed its use-by date. If it is to go, however, the decision should be made by those who maintain it. The right of peaceful protest must not be infringed, and white politicians who presume to offer indigenous people advice – especially on what many, perhaps most, of them think of as invasion day – should think carefully about how it might be interpreted. It is too early to know whether the restaurant protest will have long-term consequences for Ms Gillard, Mr Abbott or the tent embassy. But January 26, 2012, is already an unusually memorable Australia Day, for all the wrong reasons. It starkly reminded the nation of divisions that have not yet been resolved, and it did so at a time of renewed agitation to recognise indigenous people in the constitution. Some may see the day’s events as an obstacle to that overdue change; on the contrary, they should be a spur to bring it about” [end of editorial].

Personally, I don’t think the causes that the protestors are concerned about will gain much additional support of sympathy because of the nature of their actions on Australia Day and since. The nature of their concerns are in many cases quite real, but they will never get the broad support of the Australian electoral through protests that become violent, and/or through the kind of ‘language’ being directed to the Australian government and it’s people by some of the protest leadership – the kind of response which does not even have the support of the principal Indigenous leaders in Australia.

Now, back to the tennis – two nights to go, with the Women’s Final due shortly.  At least some Australian success this afternoon, with young Luke Saville [who won the Junior Wimbledon title last year],  also won the Australian Boys Single Championship today.  Saville, the world’s No.1 junior and top seed, beat unseeded Canadian Filip Peliwo 6-3 5-7 6-4 on Saturday to add to the Wimbledon title he won last year.  He joins Bernard Tomic as a dual grand slam junior champion and is the third local to win the Australian Open boys’ title in six years. Tomic won the title in 2008 and followed that with the US Open junior championship the following year, while Brydan Klein took out the Australian Open boys in 2007. Saville, who turns 18 next week, is the only local to win a title at the Australian Open this year.  The Junior Girls Singles Final result saw Taylor Townsend [USA] defeat Yulia Putintseva [Russia]  6/1, 3/6, 6/3.  I note also that some Wheelchair Tennis finals were also held today – everyone is catered for!

Two major finals on tonight – Women’s Singles, and the Men’s Doubles. The Women’s match was over rather quickly – the girl from Belarus was simply too strong for Maria Sharapova tonight, as after a nervous start, she virtually won every game after the first couple. Australian Open Women’s Singles Final:  Victoria Azarenka [Belarus] defeated Maria Sharapova [Russia] 6/3, 6/0. The Men’s Doubles Final followed – red hot favourites, the Bryan Brothers expected to win yet another  Well, another shock result, and another match over much quicker than anticipated  –  Leander Paes [India] & Radek Stepanek [Cze] defeated  Bob and Mike Bryan in 2 sets – 7/6, 6/2.

A lovely fresh morning greeted this day, overcast though the promise of warming up as the day went on.  I must admit that awaking to a empty house, apart from myself, has certain attractions, particularly early in the morning, when I don’t have to worry about disturbing Susan, not that much noise comes from this writer. Apart from checking up on a bit of morning news, and tuning in briefly to our local radio to make sure all is running smoothly,  this is not a house where one has the TV or radio blaring throughout the day regardless of whether one is actually listening or watching those mediums. I’m afraid I could not cope in a environment of that nature these days! Anyway, I woke much earlier than I probably would have preferred or needed to, and while a bit more sleep ‘may’ have come, decided to get up and do something useful – like a walk to the local shop for a morning paper, some water for the gardens, and a small spot of early morning garden trimming. Much much more needed in that area, and I think February will be a busy month for that kind of activity!!

A little piece from today’s ‘Letters to the Editor’ in the Age newspaper, which attracted my attention, and I like reading  –  “We Australians who are also Muslims join in celebrating this day and in expressing our patriotism. When Islam receives largely negative attention in the media, Muslims who have adopted Australia as their homeland hope to express their solidarity with it. Islam teaches that loyalty to your homeland is part of your faith. It is the religious duty of Muslims to obey the government and the law.  As Australian Muslims, we are blessed to live in the land that grants us freedom and protects our rights. Long live Australia” [written by Maureen Choudhry of Narre Warren].

Just one of many reflections arising from yesterday’s celebrations of our ‘Australia Day’ which as usual for this date, saw thousands of migrants and refugees welcomed as Australian citizens’ at citizenship ceremonies throughout the nation. That particular pledge, undertaken by our new citizens which occurs after having first passed the relevant citizenship test, reads as follows:

‘From this day forward, under God I pledge my loyalty to Australia and it’s people, whose democratic beliefs I share, whose rights and liberties I respect, and whose laws I will uphold and obey”  [Australian Citizenship Pledge]

Just looking at the major headlines in today’s age, we see that:

• Australia Day shame [as Julia Gillard is dragged to a car by her security team amid clashes between police and Aboriginal protestors].
• Coup attempt inflames PNG political crisis – as an attempted military coup led by a retired colonel in Port Moresby yesterday caused a tense standoff between forces loyal to Peter O’Neill and Sir Michael Somare, who both claim to be Papua New Guinea’s prime minister.
• Trauma numbers on rise for falls – falls, particularly in the elderly, are catching up to road accidents as a major cause of trauma injuries in Victoria.
• Scots defy Cameron on vote for breakaway – Scottish prime minister Alex Salmond has taken a formal step towards an independence referendum that the government hopes will secure a mandate for withdrawal from the United Kingdom within five years

Didn’t feel like cooking for just myself tonight, so went out and bought a pizza of the seafood variety. I knew I really shouldn’t have done that, but it was enjoyable enough, although as expected, the reaction of my body later on was ‘uncomfortable’  –   it is occasionally difficult to regularly discipline myself into the correct foods to eat, although tonight would have been okay had I left some of the pizza for tomorrow. Not a huge eater in one attempt these days, and when I try to be, I ‘am told’ quite quickly that was an unwise action. We do slip up on the odd occasion!!

It was a solid, and long five hours tonight, in front of the TV watching the second of the Australian Open Men’s Semi Finals – Novak Djokovic vs Andy Murray. I’d set myself up for a long night, but did expect to have retired before 12.45am. Watching the match on my own as usual, though there was a bit of communication on Face Book with son James, and a couple of his friends, all of us presumably from different parts of Sunbury.  I also found a chat message from friend Jena, in the Phillipines – I’m sure that she didn’t appreciate, or understand my quick reply that ‘would love to chat, but too busy watching the tennis’ tonight!!  I’m afraid [much to the annoyance probably of ‘former’ friends] that online chats are not something I have much desire to involve myself in these days – there are always other tasks that I feel my time could be better utilised towards!  I guess that’s why most of my former online friends have disappeared – I don’t really blame them, my attitude has been my choice!!

Anyway, tonight’s match went for five sets, early on dominated by Djokovic, who then started to exhibit his usual performance of pain, breathing difficulties, etc,, and I genuinely expected that if Murray won the 2^nd and 3^rd sets, which he eventually did, that Djokovic [as he has done on occasions previously in his career] would throw in the towel, and give the match to Murray. Well, myself, together with son James, and his friend on Face Book were all proved wrong, and Djokovic found a ‘new lease of life’, and came back at his opponent, racing through the 4^th set, before we had a very long and tight final set. Murray had plenty of chances to break service, and even win the match –  at one stage, Djokovic stepped up to serve in that final set with the score in his favour at 5-2. But he faulted, Murray rallied, and suddenly the score was 5 all!! For the next 10 minutes, either man could have won the match, but once again, Andy Murray failed to take full advantages of the opportunities he was given, and consequently fell just short – seems to be the story of his career to this point in time – World No. 4, but he can’t get past the three in front of him, in the tournaments that really matter. I’d earlier sent a message to English friend, Jane [who I recalled was a bit of a tennis fan] – yes, she’d heard that he lost – but he will Wimbledon, next Grand Slam tournament, after France, on the agenda.

Final result in Men’s Semi Final No. 2:  Novak Djokovic [Serbia] defeated Andy Murray [Great Britain]  6/3, 3/6, 6/7, 6/1, 7/5

Women’s Doubles Final:  Svetlana Kuznetsova & Vena Zvonareva [Russia] defeated Sana Errani & Roberta Vinci [Italy]  5/7, 6/4, 6/3

Interestingly, the tennis coverage had a brief interruption, when Channel crossed to the Moonee Valley Racecourse, where viewers were given the privileged opportunity of witnessing that magnificent racehorse ‘Black Caviar’ run and win it’s 17^th race in a row. The Club was forced to throw open it’s gates to let all in who wanted to see the horse run such is the extent of ‘Black Caviar’ mania at the present time.  While there was not much betting on the horse, with the result considered a foregone conclusion – odds of &1.02 return for a $1 bet –  the atmosphere at the racecourse was electric as race time approached. I’m not sure off hand if there are horses with better records [I think there a couple on the international sceme] but Black Caviar’s win took her equal with Hong Kong’s former super sprinter ‘Silent witness’ as well as with New Zealand stayer of the 1950s ‘Mainbrace’ on 17 consecutive wins. I think our friends over in England are going to see Black Caviar run over there later in the year.

As for the Cricket Test, at stumps on Day 4 from Adelaide, we see the following scoreboard.  Australia:  7 for 604, and 5 for 167 versus India: 272 and 6 for 166 at stumps.

An early drive up to the studio this morning, do  bit of program printing, and drop off some paperwork. There was no one on air! Back into town for a bit of shopping  – Adam on duty at Baker’s Delight, though I didn’t see him to speak to. Later sent him a brief thanks for the little ‘freeby’ that Bakers’ were giving to customers in acknowledgement of Australia Day, their ‘little thank you from us to you’!! 

I also passed the Australia Day ‘ceremony’ and local awards presentation at the Village Green. I noticed Councillor Jack Ogilvie was already making his speech, so decided it was too late to join the ‘sadly’ typically small crowd of locals who turn out for the free breakfast & presentations etc. I have been a couple of times, and have noticed each year that the occasion, here in Sunbury at least, doesn’t attract much patronage. A pity.  Actually, I would have liked to have discovered who was awarded the local citizen of the year award – will probably have to wait until next week’s local papers to find that out, unless I give Jack a ring!

As for the principal national awards, I am extremely satisfied with this year’s winner. As announced at 6:50pm in Canberra last night, the acclaimed actor and arts supporter Geoffrey Rush has been named Australian of the Year 2012 at a public event on the lawns of Parliament House in Canberra. The Prime Minister,  The Hon Julia Gillard MP, presented Mr Rush with his Australian of the Year trophy and congratulated him on the honour. A wonderful and well deserved choice.  In Summary, the four principal awards made for this Australia Day, with bios provided by various media sources, are as follows. As Ian Narev, CEO of the Commonwealth Bank, which has been the major sponsor of the Australian of the Year Awards for more than 30 years, said, in congratulating this year’s award recipients: “The recipients of the Australian of the Year Awards for 2012 remind us of the great diversity of achievements, talents and contributions in Australia,” said Mr Narev. “They inspire us with their commitment, passion and hard work. We can all feel very proud to call them our fellow Australians.”. More than 5,000 nominations were received from the public for the 2012 Awards

Australian of the Year:  Geoffrey Rush    Geoffrey Rush, has now celebrated 40 years as an Australian actor, achieving the rare international distinction of the ‘Triple Crown’ – an Oscar, a Tony and an Emmy.   He also has three Australian Film Institute honours, three British Academy Awards, two Golden Globes, four Screen Actors’ Guild Awards, and last year was inducted into the ranks of Australia’s elite with a Helpmann Award.  Geoffrey was born in Toowoomba, Queensland in 1951, moving with his family to Brisbane in his primary school years. He completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Queensland and made his professional debut at the Queensland Theatre Company in 1971 where he worked as an ensemble member for three years. For the next 20 years he worked primarily in all the major theatre companies of Australia and, in the mid 1970s went to Paris to study at the prestigious Jacques Lecoq School of Mime, Movement and Theatre.  In the mid 1990s he began his film career. His performance as pianist David Helfgott in the film Shine put him firmly on the world stage and earned him his Oscar for Best Actor. At the time he received his fourth Academy Award nomination playing Australian therapist Lionel Logue in The King’s Speech, which he also executively produced, the revival of Belvoir’s The Diary of a Madman played to acclaim in Sydney and in New York. In the past year, he also starred in and executive-produced Fred Schepisi’s film of Patrick White’s Nobel Laureate-winning novel The Eye of the Storm, and played Lady Bracknell in the Melbourne Theatre Company’s celebrated production of The Importance of Being Earnest.

Seen as a creative mentor by many, Geoffrey supports young actors and arts companies. He is Patron of the Melbourne International Film Festival; of Toowoomba’s Empire Theatre Foundation distributing bursaries to young performers; and of the Spina Bifida Foundation Victoria. He is an Ambassador for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and UNICEF Australia. In 2011 he was appointed as foundation President of the newly-established Australian Academy Of Cinema and Television Arts.  An internationally acclaimed and recognised actor, Geoffrey remains extraordinarily grounded in his local community, his country and the Australian arts industry.

Senior Australian of the Year: Laurie Baymarrwangga –  Laurie Baymarrwangga, is an extraordinary elder from the island of Murrungga in East Arnhem Land, Northern Territory.  Now aged in her 90’s, Laurie was unable to travel and attend the ceremony in Canberra.  Laurie has shown extraordinary commitment to maintaining her culture, the environment of her beloved Crocodile Islands and ensuring younger generations continue to keep their heritage alive.  During her lifetime, Laurie has seen the arrival of missionaries, exploitation by Japanese and European fishermen, war and tumultuous change. Undaunted, she has almost single-handedly nurtured the inter-generational transmission of local ecological knowledge through a lifelong commitment to caring for kin, culture and country.  In the 1960s, Laurie established a housing project on her homelands that has benefitted generations of kin. Speaking no English, with no access to funding, resources or expertise, she initiated the  Yan-nhangu dictionary project.  Her cultural maintenance projects include the Crocodile Islands Rangers, a junior rangers group and an online Yan-nhangu dictionary for school children.  In 2010, after a struggle stretching back to 1945, Laurie finally received back payments for rents owed to her as the land and sea owner of her father’s estate. The great-great-grandmother donated it all, around $400,000, to improve education and employment opportunities on the island and to establish a 1,000 square kilometre turtle sanctuary on her marine estate.

Young Australian of the Year: Marita Cheng – 22 year old engineering advocate Marita Cheng of Brunswick East whose leadership is changing the occupational landscape for women by encouraging girls to pursue engineering studies and careers. The daughter of Chinese parents, Marita was born and raised in Cairns, Queensland and now studies at the University of Melbourne. While still a university student, Marita Cheng has demonstrated vision and leadership well beyond her years and is dedicated to encouraging young women to become interested in an engineering career. She founded Robogals Global in 2008, as a response to the traditionally low levels of participation by women in science, engineering and technology. Robogals Global uses fun and educational activities to teach secondary school girls about science and technology. By 2010, Robogals had run workshops for 3,000 girls in Australia and has now expanded to 17 branches across Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Marita’s own career path includes studying for a Bachelor of Engineering and a Bachelor of Computer Science on a Paterson Scholarship. She has been a recipient of the Nancy Fairfax Churchill Fellowship, an International Youth Foundation Youth Action Net Fellowship and an Anita Borg Change Agent Award.  Marita has also been a panellist on ABC TV’s New Inventors and hopes to become the founder of a robotics company, creating robots that will take care of many everyday and mundane tasks.

Australia’s Local Hero:  Lynne Sawyers   Foster mother and carer Lynne Sawyers of Darbys Falls,  has shared her home, her family and her love with more than 200 children. For 15 years, she has been on call to care for lost, abused and bewildered children in heartbreaking circumstances. Lynne first became interested in being a foster mother when she’d heard about a young girl in the area who’d run away from home. Her husband mentioned he’d seen the girl by the side of the road talking with authorities and they wondered what would become of her. It was then, after gaining family agreement from her husband and four children, Lynne decided to take action. Having experienced a  happy childhood herself, she wanted to give back. It took three years to complete the required training and pass the authority checks before she welcomed her first foster child into their home. Many of the children she has fostered arrived on her doorstep with a range of problems – physical, intellectual and emotional. They have ranged in age from a week old baby she brought home from a hospital to teens struggling with life’s complications. Lynne lives near Cowra and, even though she has had up to six children at a time in her home (as well as her own youngest daughter Emma), she has given them a rounded, supportive and non-judgmental family environment, often their first such experience. Her warmth, humour and generosity have had an enormous impact on these children. Because of her, many are now leading fulfilled, happy lives and have adopted Lynne as their ‘second mother’. Lynne has worked tirelessly without leave, or overtime or penalties for difficult working conditions, but she could not imagine living them in any other way. At the age of 68, she continues to travel hundreds of kilometres every week, prepares up to 15 meals a day, washes clothes, sews, bakes and raises funds to help children and currently has three teenagers living in her loving home.

So there you go, four well deserving winners of those major awards. Dozens of other Australia Say awards and recognitions were announced for today, as usual, and, as usual, I searched for my name amongst them, but couldn’t find it!!!  L  For consolation, let’s see how the two major sporting events currently running in Australia, progressed today.

Australian Open Tennis 2012 –

Women’s Semi Final results this afternoon:  Victoria Azarenka [Belarus] defeated Kim Clijsters [Belgium]  6/4, 1/6, 6/3, and Maria Sharapova [Russia] defeated Petra Kvitova [Cze]  6/2, 3/6, 6/4

Men’s Semi Final [tonight]: Rafael Nadal [Spain] defeated Roger Federer [Switzerland]  6/7, 6/2, 7/6, 6/4

4^th Test: stumps on Day 3:  Australia: 7 for 604 and 3 for 50.  India: 272 [India’s Virat Kohli scored 116 runs, while for Australia, Shaun Marsh failed with the bat yet again.

Prior to the start of tonight’s Men’s semi-final, Susie left for another drive across the city to her friend’s place down in South Gippsland – never happy about her making that trip [the third time in 2 weeks now!!], particularly after she experienced car problems today – at she left to do a shift at the bakery just before lunchtime, her car wouldn’t start. She took mine instead, and left it to Dad to call up the RACV to fix the problem. A flat battery, I was just hoping it wouldn’t re-occur on her drive tonight.  Hadn’t heard anything by 10pm, so had to assume she had arrived safely.  Apparently will be away until Monday at least!!

Meanwhile, a bit of excitement for the PM in Canberra today, according to this report  –  “Julia Gillard clung to her bodyguard as she was dragged off her feet away from a crowd of angry protesters in Canberra today. In extraordinary scenes, riot police were called in and formed a shield around the prime minister as she made a hasty escape outside a citizenship ceremony.  Dramatic footage showed the flustered PM losing her shoe as her security escort ran a gauntlet through about 200 protesters from The Lobby restaurant near Old Parliament House — where Gillard had been handing out medals to emergency services representatives — to her car waiting outside.   The group had trapped Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott inside the restaurant until dozens of extra police, including the riot squad, were called to the scene shortly after 2.30pm (AEDT).   Protesters had been taking part in an event to mark the 40th anniversary of the nearby Aboriginal Tent Embassy when they surrounded The Lobby restaurant and banged on the three glass sides, chanting “shame” and “racist”.  The two leaders, protected by police and security officers, escaped out a side door after about 20 minutes”.  Apparently, no charges were going to be laid after this occurrence, strangely enough!

The morning was a little cooler today, and when I woke [without need] at 5am, I was glad I did not have to get out and go up and do another Wednesday morning radio show – Ron was back, but I did ring him just before 6.45 am, to relay some of the local sporting results from last weekend.

A pre-arranged visit, late this morning, from a local  health professional – essentially to discuss value & effectiveness of current medications, etc.  This was quite a useful 45 minutes, and I was pleased I’d made the time for it.  Was also a welcome relief from the road works currently going on in front of our home, works that were essentially blocking access for most of the time.

By lunch, on Day 2 of the 4^th cricket test [Australia vs India], the Australian score had moved to  3 wickets for  419 runs, with former captain, Ricky Ponting, not out 198, and new captain, Michael Clarke, not out 210 runs!  The current partnership between Ponting and Clarke had already exceeded the highest partnership for any test wicket at the Adelaide Oval. Magnificent effort by these two, yet again.  Eventually, about half hour after the tea break, Australia declared it’s innings closed at 7 for 604 runs. Ricky Ponting scored 221. Michael Clarke 210 [out straight after lunch].  By stumps on Day 2, Australia’s position looked even stronger – the stumps scores: Australia 7 declared for 604.  India 2 for 61 [with that man, Sachin Tendulkar at the crease].

After a relatively lazy day [watching all the workmen out in the street], and cooking a meal for Susan and myself [which I ate late – usually the other way around],  it was off to the gymnasium for another ‘Lift for Life’ session of about an hour from 7pm. As usual, pleased I made the effort, although the program itself seems to be a bit disorganised with the supposed supervisors of participants [of whom I’m the only one I have come cross so far] generally unsure of the program if the regulars are not on duty.  However, we eventually overcame the difficulties that created, and got through a satisfying session Although the sessions are supposed to be under supervision, I will be happier once I become more familiar with the various pieces of equipment and apparatus, and can then feel a little more independent.

While I was at the gym, Susie & Jodie were playing in a volleyball game, over in the Footscray area I think –  Jodie was rather tired ‘before’ she left, having just spent three days with her work colleagues from Surf Life Saving Victoria on an extensive swimming and fitness course. While her job role is not so much on the life saving aspect of the organisation, I gather all staff need to be suitably prepared for unforeseen circumstances. Personally, it’s a pity that they have to travel so far for their weekly game of volleyball –  they were playing in Sunbury last year, before the Jimmy/Susan split up but I think those matches were very family orientated [on Jimmy’s side] as far as team make-up is concerned, so the more distant team is a better arrangement.

Today’s Australian Open Quarterfinal results

• Men: Andy Murray [Great Britain]  defeated  Kel Nishikori [Japan]  6/3, 6/3, 6/1   and  Novak Djokovic defeated David Ferrer 6/4, 7/6, 6/0
• Women: Petra Kvitora  [Czech Republic] defeated Sara Errani [Italy] 6/4, 6/4 ,  Maria Sharapova [Russia] defeated Ekaterina Makarova [Russia] 6/2, 6/3.

I’m glad the Djokovic game finished when it did after 3 sets. Yes, I was watching it, but by 10pm and thereafter, strangely ready to sleep. Even an attempt to do a bit of reading first, proved unsuccessful!!