January 30 with PHOTOS, people! The camera purged itself, FINALLY!!!

Ivy Garden beneath Oak tree near Parliament Station.

Parliament Station - great oxymoron as barely any pollie is eye-balled using the sucker.

1803 Charles Grimes hopped off his boat at Frankston, tripped over Kananook Creek and met up with a group of 30 of local Bunurong Aboriginal People.

See? The ugly side of the city only comes out after a skinful of grog is imbibed after dark.

1856 The Wild White Man, William Buckley, who had lived with the Bunurong People for almost 32 years after escaping from the short-lived Sullivan Bay settlement near Sorrento, popped his clogs in Tassie.

 

Repairs to Vic Parliament House.

Wave to Brumby and pals, boys and girls!

1883 The Kalkadoon Aboriginal People, having suffered from a long period of harassment, imprisonment and deaths from the Native Police, killed Marcus de la Poer Beresford,  nephew of the Marquess of Waterford, who had become a cadet in Qld's Native Police Force only the previous year.

 

If you go down to the Parliament woods today....

1893 The Victoria Railway offices were completed in Spencer Street on what was originally known as She Oak Hill, the first race course in the Port Phillip Colony. By 1833 John Batman had parked his carcass there in a cottage and when he dropped off the perch in 1839 Guv Charlie La Trobe  and Police Magistrate Billy Lonsdale dealt with the colony from their office at the site.
In 1888 the 2 storey railway headquarters building was proposed to reflect the booming land riches, with the 3rd floor added in 1912 and part of the 4th floor in 1922 (remainder added in 1958). After a lull of disuse of 10 years it reopened as The Grand Hotel and Apartments.

 

Silhouette of St Patrick's Cathedral spires.

Or left-over vampire stakes, take your pick.

1911 Bookies were banned from all NZ racecourses, today being the final time they were allowed on to the (now former) Takapuna Racecourse.

 

More building works to Parliament House.

And not a builders crack in sight!

1913 W. Somerset Maugham and his lover Gerald Haxon stayed overnight in Wellington on their travels between Samoa and Tahiti.

 

There's an old piano and they play it hot behind the green door,

Don't know what they're doing but they laugh a lot behind the green door...

Actually, it's St Peter's Bookroom , Eastern Hill, Melb.

No jocularity present when we ventured inside...!

1923 Canadian National Railways began the merging of all railway lines, which became CN Rail, by taking over the Grand Trunk Railway.

 

I can haz for my portico at home, yes?

Entry to St Peter's Bookroom.

1954 The Queen and Prince Phillip waved ta-ta to the sunny climes of NZ at Bluff as they sailed off on S.S Gothic following the first tour of the Shaky Isles by a reigning monarch.
While the Kiwis were waving goodbye to the Queen this side of the ditch saw Victorians waving goodbye to the Dimboola to Rainbow passenger service.

 

My second home I keep in the City *plums shoved into cheeks*

St Peter's Anglican Church, Eastern Hill, tacked onto St Peter's Bookroom for some reason...

1964 The official residence of the Canadian High Commission was officially opened in Canberra by the then Aussie PM Menzies.  The building was designed by Canadian architects Mathers and Haldenby. The roof is covered in copper while Canadian timbers have been used extensively throughout.

 

Magnificent fire mural on side of MFB Head Station "The Legend of Fire".

Created by Harold Freedman from 1980-1981 it was officially unveiled by then Premier Lindsay Thompson in 1982. 

Lower part shows human use of fire, and energy, including (or so I'm told) a computer and phone.

Harold Freedman also gave us the wonderful History of Transport Mural located at So Cross Spencer Street Station. 

Yellow = New Zealand
Orange = Canada
Green = Australia
Red = usually British or other nationality
Anything in bold, italics and coloured blue is a link to another site with more info.
Anything outrageous is usually humour and/or sarcasm.

Monster Community Fete and Garage Sale this Sunday January 31.

Monster Community Fete/Garage Sale

Sunday 31 January

11.00am – 4.00pm

Positive Living Centre

51 Commercial Road

South Yarra

 

Funds raised will benefit people living with HIV/AIDS

who access the Positive Living Centre.

 

Books, clothing, Trash ‘n Treasure, plants, sausage sizzle,

afternoon tea, CDs etc.

 

Stalls from the VAC/GMHC and a number of community groups.

Screaming down the January Laneway, about to make a sharp right turn into February with bells and whistles

I have photos.
Many photos.
Odd, interesting and quirky photos that are made all the more humourous with a silly caption.
They are snoozing in my camera.
My camera is in my handbag.
My handbag is nestled in my backpack.
My backpack is in the lounge room.
I am in the dining room.
My arms and legs are painted on.
Here endeth the lesson.

1829 McGill University, built from the legacy of fur trader James McGill, was opened in Montreal.

1842 Auckland began celebrating the arrival of Lt-Guv William Hobson with a great regatta which has sprung up each and every year known as Anniversary Day.

1856 Alexander Dunn became the first Canadian to be awarded the VC for his participation in the Charge of The Light Brigade at the Crimea two years previously.

1875 The Kaiapoi Woollen Mills was birthed.
History of the mills HERE.

1879 Thrill !!! to the news that almost 14 miles of train track began rollicking between Springhurst and Wahgunyah.
Known as the Wahgunyah Line it did not survive being *Jeffed.... more info HERE and fab photos of the stations HERE.

2003 ATSIC and former test cricket captain Ian Chappell called for the 1868 Aboriginal Cricket Team to be officially recognised as the first representative team of Oz to tour the Old Dart.

*Reference to then-Vic Premier Jeff Kennett under whose leadership much public infrastructure was closed, sold off or merged; effectively "Jeffed".

Yellow = New Zealand
Orange = Canada
Green = Australia
Red = usually British or other nationality
Anything in bold, italics and coloured blue is a link to another site with more info.
Anything outrageous is usually humour and/or sarcasm.

January 28 Closets are for Clothes...at the 3rd stroke it will be time for all politicians to grow a brass pair

The drunken junk mail delivery chick was spotted sprawled across a raised garden bed in another nearby street yesterday; trolley blocking the footpath with the baleful eye glaring and sneering grunts directed at all who were trying to give her a wide berth.
Thankfully she roused herself to get on her way by the time Dad had finished at his physio and we returned. Dad carries a walking stick and has been rather short of patience of late....

Fab new book out - Closets are for Clothes (That's So Gay) by Rachel Cook.
It's a history of queer Australia for teens/young adults, filling in many gaps in our history that The Powers That Be have whitewashed for so long; presenting personal stories to grab the reader instead of the usual dry make-it-as-dull-as-ditch-water-so-they-don't-ask-questions type of history lesson that has been chanted to bajillions of bored students since cocky was an egg.
Big launch tomorrow night at Hares and Hyenas bookstore.
More details HERE.

1848 Irrigation pioneer of Oz George Chaffey was pupped in Brockville, Ontario.
Full bio HERE.

1895 The first emissary the Govt of Canada had appointed to anywhere in the world, John Short Larke arrived in Sydney with instructions to 'promote trade between Canada and Australia in every possible way'.

1901 Wellington blacksmith William Hardham became the only Kiwi to receive a VC for his fighting in the South African War.

1914 18.46 miles of train track opened up the line between Chillingollah and Manangatang.
Stations in between are Chinkapook (originally birthed as Christmas Tank) and Cocamba.

1923 Steam tramway servicing the Baulkham Hills/Castle Hill district was blessed with fairy dust and turned into a railway on this day.

1965 Queen Liz the 2nd officially proclaimed the new Canadian flag.

1970 The very first Oz gay rights group was born when the Australasian Lesbian Movement was launched on the opening of a branch of The Daughters of Bilitis.

1998 Dr Wendy Beck announced that large earth mounds, approx. 3,000 in number and found along valleys near the Murray River and tributaries, were cultivated gardens created by Aboriginal Peoples from as long ago as 1000 BC.

Yellow = New Zealand
Orange = Canada
Green = Australia
Red = usually British or other nationality
Anything in bold, italics and coloured blue is a link to another site with more info.
Anything outrageous is usually humour and/or sarcasm.

Babbling like a diarrhetic brook...but way less picturesque, Bruce.

Feral Beast has come up with the suggestion of attaching a bicycle bell to the handles of Dad's wheelchair.
I think he's a'scared of the potential blood-letting should the public fail to get out of the way.

Spent Australia Day watching the 2 specials of All Creatures Great and Small; have whetted FB's appetite for the series now.
Didn't hurt that the celery-wearing 5th Doctor co-starred in it, either.

Parked my arse in the sun for 10 mins to get my dose of vitamin D when the chooks decided I looked tasty.
Peck peck peck which didn't cease even when I offered to fit them up for a roasting pan.
Can't get decent respectful chooks these days.

Is it Tom Barnaby or his frustrated wife Joyce who is doing everyone in throughout Midsomer?
What else does Tom keep in the attic and why does Joyce get thinner and thinner? If it was simply a case of her inability to cook then my ex-MIL would have had no worries losing weight!

Do we really give a fat rat's clacker about the union jack in the corner of our flag?
Seriously, does no one realise the poor volunteer surf life savers (including RNLI) do body retrievals when people are 'lost' at sea?
Can you tell me how many camillia trees were harmed in the brewing of that pot of tea?
Does Tony Abbott believe the tripe he's prattling or is he rehersing a comedy routine?
Can we clone Red Symons so he can never, ever leave our airwaves ever, ever again?

January 26 and I think I'm going vegan this year...

 Today is Australia Day.
Go forth and bbq any meat you find lying around....although I don't advise following in the steps of the bloke who et badgers and stuff *gag*.
Do as I do and gobble up all those carbon-emitting lambkins with rosemary and minted peas and the odd baked spud....

1798 Explorer George Bass transferred 5 escaped convicts from Glennie Island back to the mainland expecting them to walk back to Sydney.
Strangely they were never seen again....*cue alien music*

1838 Waterloo Creek Massacre took place 50kms south-west of Moree.
5 white men were killed while between 120-300 Aboriginal People of the Kamilaroi Nation murdered by police commandant Major James Nunn.

1858 Adelaide was roasting nicely to the tune of 46.8 degrees C.

1882 The rail line from St Arnaud to Cope Cope was officially opened.
Yes, yes, I know, it's on your daily trek to the coalface...up a little from Gre Gre North and Gre Gre South, to the left of Teddywaddy West and south of Wachem West.
Easy to find.

1924 3AR, Victoria's first radio station, began cluttering up the airwaves with chit-chat.

1927 Perth magistrate, G.T Wood was appointed as Royal Commissioner to investigate the charred remains found on Forrest River by Aboriginal deacon and tracker, Rev James Nobel.

1938 The first Day of Mourning was held when defiant Aboriginal protesters gathered in the Australian Hall in Sydney calling for citizens rights.

1940 Brisvegas was baked to a crisp by 43.2 degrees C.

1957 The Argus ceased publication.

1968 Lionel Rose was the first Indigenous person to be named Australian of The Year.

1972 The Aboriginal Tent Embassy was set up in the wee hours on the lawns of Parliament House in Canberra.

1998 Cathy Freeman was named Australian of The Year.

The Rules of Engagement with Wheelchairs

My weapon of choice = a 55kg wheelchair + Dad weighing in at 70kgs with myself propelling it weighing in at 95kgs, plus whatever shopping I have hanging off the back.
Your choice of defence? Your foot. Survival of the fittest.

If you choose to walk along narrow footpaths with your head inserted up your own backside and refuse to use the eyeballs planted on the front of your dial that God gave you to get out of the way of a behemoth bearing down upon you then I shall not be held responsible for injuries to imbeciles.
Think of it as "natural selection".

Your 3 wheeled pram is light, made for off-road driving and carries a light-weight passenger so you shall yield to moi and move over onto the nature-strip lest your instep become bruised.
*Unless you're the drunken junk mail delivery woman we discovered in Canterbury St, Hughesdale, sprawled across the footpath necking her bottle of home made rocket fuel shortly after Xmess, then we may give way and go around.

Councils, be warned. I shall shortly be darkening your door with wild demands of repaired footpaths and kerbing. Ridiculous expectations, I know, but I shall make my presence known and feared amidst the maintenance dept.

Lastly, I am legally blind and in charge of a wheelchair. While I may have Feral Beast to guide me it's a free-for-all should the spirit take me.
Be afraid.
Anything outrageous is usually humour and/or sarcasm.

January 23...what was I doing here again?

Enjoy the offerings of today's date in history and the fun video at the end, sent to me by Lisa from Timespanner.

1788 Gov Phillip and his men were warned away from the southern end of Botany Bay by Aboriginal People with spears. Later that arvo one of Phillip's men was ordered to drop his dacks to answer questions the Indigenous People had about the sex of these white people.
They're still sniggering at the memory....

1855 Wairarapa was hit by a massive 8.2 earthquake, the most severe to shake NZ since European settlement began in 1840.
More info on the quake HERE.

1895 Romaine Callender, an inventor from Ontario, demonstrated his new creation in New York; the automatic telephone.

1949 Fire destroyed the transit barns at Regina which housed trolley coaches, streetcars and buses.
For some fab history info on Regina trams (streetcars) click HERE.
Though, we won't mention the elimination of conductors in 1920... !

1951 The yacht race to celebrate Canterbury's centenary began on this day which was to sadly end in tragedy in the following days.
More info HERE.

2003 The Qld Govt included the Aboriginal Flag in the flag raising ceremony for Australia Day for the first time.

Yellow = New Zealand
Orange = Canada
Green = Australia
Red = usually British or other nationality
Anything in bold, italics and coloured blue is a link to another site with more info.
Anything outrageous is usually humour and/or sarcasm.

Dropkick moronic halfwit imbecile neighbour behind the wheels of cars

5 dead in a horror smash, one of their mates caught well over the limit the following night, umpteen teens who seem to think they're 10 foot tall and bullet proof.
But it doesn't end there.
Ohhhh, nooo!
Dropkick moronic halfwit 30-something imbecile who lives down the road with his hard working parents and brother (when he's not holidaying his time away at Her Majesty's leisure every other year for the usual drug related burgs) likes to drive.
Fast.
Up and down a residential street, full of houses with young children.
On the weekend he was roaring up the street when we all heard the BANG followed by the revving engine.
Out we crept, wondering what on earth we'd be faced with to discover an elderly neighbour venting his spleen at the driver, really giving him what for.
Dropkick moronic halfwit imbecile had smashed into a parked car with such force he'd shunted it 3 car lengths, crumpled the whole boot in and was just completely blase about the extensive front-end and engine damage to his Honda Prelude (radiator was busted, as was the steering linkage, transmission, etc).
When the old guy was done the car's owner asked him what the story was.
"Oh...er...um....my foot slipped..."
"Your foot slipped?" he was asked incredulously.
"Um...yeah, my foot was sweaty and it, uh....slipped off the accelerator...." by this time the dropkick moronic halfwit imbecile realised it sounded pathetic even to him and he just trailed off with a shrug.
"Um...do ya want my details or something?"
"Yes!" snapped the owner, laughing at the idiots attempt to act straight, like he wasn't high.
And here we are on another Friday night, watching Skyhooks' 'Horror Movie' aka the 6.30 news while the braindead oxygen thief screams up the road yet again.

January 22 transport in all its forms on this day through history

 Today in history it's all about transport...public transport, water transport, tram, train even space, ferry and steam boat transport but sadly no broomstick transport.
We'll work on that last one while we gaze (without bursting into flames) at this lovely pic Feral Beast took of our local catholic church window...

1840 First settlers arrived at Wellington on the Aurora, the first part of the New Zealand Company.

1859 Back on January 13th Spencer Street Station was opened in Melbourne with the first passenger services tootling through the tracks while Melbourne celebrated with a public holiday.

1903 The Christchurch Tramway Board held its first meeting.

1906 The US steamer Valencia sank off Vancouver Island with 126 drowned.

1910 Flinders Street Station that we know and love was officially opened.

1956 Circular Quay Loop of Sydney's underground railway line was opened with flourish and fanfare.

1984 A Sydney Harbour Ferry, Karrabee, went down the gurgler at Circular Quay during the Great Ferry Race.

1992 Dr Roberta Bondar became the very first Canadian chicky-babe in space when she was up in the velvety blackness for a little more than 8 days.

College of Surgeons.

Yellow = New Zealand
Orange = Canada
Green = Australia
Red = usually British or other nationality
Anything in bold, italics and coloured blue is a link to another site with more info.
Anything outrageous is usually humour and/or sarcasm.

Be part of history in the making! Mark your diaries for tomorrow!!!

Yes, boys and girls, oysters and clams, Kung Fu Masters and Grass Hoppers alike - the world's very first ORIGINAL Pride March song "Proudly Walking" will be aired on Thursday morning 21st January 2010 at 9.10am (DST Eastern states Australia) on Doug Pollard's fab show 'Freshly Doug' as always on the ever bubbly JOY 94.9 (on the fm end of the dial).

If you're interstate or overseas go to joy.org.au and click listen live to hear the gorgeous song created by the uber-talented lads Will Conyers and David Peake.

Let everyone know of your support tomorrow by sending an email to

onair@joy.org.au

or an sms to  

0427 JOY 949

The more the merrier!

The CD will be available on February 7th 2010 at Pride March 2010 BUT you can hear it FIRST on-air on JOY 94.9 fm.

Cos you know it makes sense that The Fair Isle of Oz leads the way with the world's very first ORIGINAL Pride March song!

Chewsdee, bangers an' mash wif brown onion gravy, cauli in cheese, pumpkin, carrots...

 ...you get the picture for tea tonight.

Another gloriously overcast and miserable-looking day we shall all cherish greatly in the midst of Summer (yes, snow did fall on the Vic Alps although I have yet to recieve the memo of Hell freezing over for any particular reason).

1835 Almost all of the remaining Tasmanian Aboriginal People (IE-those who they hadn't managed to slaughter) were placed on Flinders Island (despite the vigorous protest of Chief Justice Pedder who claimed it was an 'unchristian' attempt to wipe out the whole race).
1840 Hobson buggered off from Sydney to become Lt-Guv'na of New Zealand.
1901 The Govt of Canada bought the Plains of Abraham Battlefield to be kept and maintained as a national park.
More info HERE.
1935 The Duke of Gloucester popped into Christchurch during his visit.
1943 With the Dutch Royal family in exile in Ottawa during WW2 the room in the Ottawa Civic Hospital was declared Dutch territory when Princess Margriet was dropped off by the stork to Crown Princess Juliana.
1947 The TSMV Wanganella went aground on Barrett Reef at the mouth of Wellington Harbour, all on board safely rescued.
1954 The Queen and Prince Phillip visited NZ Christchurch until the 22nd, with Prince William's current visit to the Shaky Isles almost 56 years to the day of his grandparents' visit and 75 years to the day of his great-great-uncle's visit.
1956 Two new banks graced The Fair Isle of Oz with their presence.... The Bank of NSW ('You can bank on the Wales!') and the ANZ Bank (Australian and New Zealand Bank).
1993 The very first Tassie Native Title meeting was held on Cape Barren Island.

Captain's Log Monday, January 18, 20 bajillion years somewhere in the past...

 It's persistently precipitating here, boys and girls, which is the polite way of saying that it's pissing down.

Get out your gum boots and half-built arks they're expecting snowfall on the Vic Alps and more rain throughout the rest of the week.

1788 The ship 'Supply' carried Captain Arthur Phillip into Botany Bay; over the following three days Aboriginal poeple watched the arrival of 9 ships into Botany Bay.
1815 Guv'na Macquarie opened the residential school for Aboriginal children in Parramatta.
1851 The Union Bank of Australia opened in Lyttelton.
More info HERE.
1894 New Brighton Pier, in Chirstchurch, was opened.
Piccys HERE.
1967 Yellowknife became the capital of Canada's North West Territories.
1972 Ottawa banned the use of aircraft and large ships in the Gulf of St. Lawrence seal hunt.

1988 First Fleet re-enactment ships rocked up in Botany Bay.
Indigenous locals no doubt thought "Pfft, here we go again!"

Holyman House, Flinders street, Melbourne.

Getting arty farty.

The metropolitan rail network.

Exciting stuff, eh?

Cubism interpretation of Field of Daffodils.

Unless I'm reading the art guide upside down again...

Yellow = New Zealand
Orange = Canada
Green = Australia
Red = usually British or other nationality
Anything in bold, italics and coloured blue is a link to another site with more info.
Anything outrageous is usually humour and/or sarcasm.

January sixteen until the Midnight Cock crows!

Today is Dies Saturni, Latin for Setern's Day that we all know and love these days as Saturday (or in broad Strine, Sat'dee).
Careful you plan on going to see amazing things at the theatre tonight...



1749 The Haymarket Theatre was host to one of the worst riots in history following the infamous Bottle Hoax of London.


1796 The first theatre, "The Playhouse", of the new settlement with 120 seat capacity opened at Sydney in Bell Row (Bligh Street).


1800 Fredericton, in New Brunswick, played host to the very first duel between John Bliss and Samuel Street over the question of slavery; shots were exchanged near the present-day Playhouse Theatre before Bliss apologised to Street.



1936 Union Airways began flitting through the air between the North and South Islands in its inter-island air service. Founded by WW1 Flying Ace Major Allister Miller who had fought in the theatre of war over the Western Front with the Royal Flying Corps.


1939 Joe Schuster, a chappie from Toronto, published his first ever Superman comic strip, after spending much of his childhood enthralled by the silent movies at the theatre where his uncle worked.


1941 Those Kiwi lassies showed they were of fine mettle when the NZ Women's Auxillary Air Force was born.


2002 The Indigenous Land Council handed over the title deeds to Coobabla Farm, in Westralia, to the Woolah-Wah Land Aboriginal Corporation.

Yellow = New Zealand
Orange = Canada
Green = Australia
Red = usually British or other nationality
Anything in bold, italics and coloured blue is a link to another site with more info.
Anything outrageous is usually humour and/or sarcasm.

January 14, 1890....exciting times, dear friends!

Yes, indeed, the Lillie Bridge Pony Races were run to great acclaim (not forgetting the 75 yards handicap) as was The Royal Museum which sounded more like a freakish indoor side show than a museum as we would know it today.

Spain was infected with a republican outbreak but, fear not!
"The troops are in pursuit"

 News from New Zealand contained information that bags of letters had been destroyed in America....but the wanton destruction of Kiwi missives are of no consequence when one reads further that the Exhibition Rifle meeting was opened in Dunedin.

From Tassie we hear that the Agent-General has solemn news...there is a demand for bismuth in Paris.
Ahhhh, Paris is simply not gay Paree without the bismuth in the morning.

Beware when fishing one does not have want to burst a blood vessal and drop off the perch, so to speak...they shall gossip about you for days in the media!

Aussies in 1890, just like now, were obsessed with the page 3 girls weather and, Lo, they were plenty pleased to read about "Phenomenal Rainfall at Bourke"...and other weather reports that tickled their fancy.

NSW in the grip of an economic depression saw that kiddies were still vaccinated....but the vaccinating nurses' pay packets were stung in another, unkind, manner.

See? I CAN multitask with only 3 pairs of hands and 6 feet!

What hope do we have when the idiots wielding a spray can cannot even spell?

Or are we to mentally picture a gang of hoodie-wearing miscreants with only jocks covering their nether regions as they lope along the train tracks, ape-style, marking their territory?

*trots off to bleach her brain....*

Old mile marker on Clayton station.

Feret's mum, Shazza, was sorely disappointed in her boy.

How many times must she tell him (whilst tucking the packet of Winnie Blues under her t-shirt sleeve) his name was spelt with a double T...

Oooooo, shiny!

Really, Seb?

Were you really here?

Or was it an hallucination of your pubescent brain whilst inhaling the stench of wet concrete?

 Shiny chandelier in Chaddy.

I have photos....

...but I'm being incredibly lazy and leaving the uploadage thingie til tomorrow after we trundle Dad down to his physiotherapists and back and then go shopping and back and then take Feral Beast out for his walking thingie and back....
There's a lot of to-ing and fro-ing up there ^
I may hold it over until Friday when we've been and come back from swimming and been and returned from shopping and been and returned from something that shall probably do my back in.....
Maybe after the activities we have planned for Saturday...?
No?
Sunday has 3 activities penciled in and all require me to be looking at the crack of Dawn despite the fact that chick has let her arse spread 3 axe handles wide and isn't into bleaching......
*crickets chirping*
I may hustle my lazy arse tomorrow sometime......

Down at Rickett's Point...

...umm....

Tree trolls.

Seriously....

 

Mother Nature leaves her Xmess decs out for awhile in Oz...

Inundated with the masses of the great unwashed.

Bajillions, if I counted correctly...

No matter how hard he looked Feral Beast just couldn't spy Brian sailing merrily over the waves....

 All that sparkles is gold...

 

Brian?

The masses increased substantially as the heat wore us down...

See?

MASSES!

Tres cool tooties.

Grass beds, shoes/thongs recommended.

Thinking of Brian and Michelle....

and Scott and Mark...

...and The Vintage Kitten.

Had a fab time, wish you were here.

Summer By The Sea activities

Got a life saving email the other day listing the many fabulous, mostly free Summer By The Sea activities on around the Victorian coast this January.
Dad has been ill again and I'm quite thankful I'd booked one of the activities for Feral Beast and I to have a Mental Health Day out of the house, as Dad lives with us and there is no respite from the stress, otherwise.
Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary was host to some great activities yesterday; beach walk, rockpool ramble, sea search and an Aboriginal History and Bush Tucker walk, the latter which we attended.
These are fantastic activities for all ages all around the coast, check the link and have a gander as something might take your fancy.
Photos another post, too tired and stressed, again, to upload the suckers.

That elephant in the room, Racism, is raising its ugly head again

Lordy loo, give me strength!
Poop is hitting the fan over a current TV ad for fast food which was posted onto Youtube.
Now, the ad in question actually pokes fun at a sole white bloke surrounded by dark-skinned people who are barracking, singing and dancing for their West Indian cricket team which is beating the crap out of the (traditionally white) Aussie cricket team. 
Well, I hope they're beating the crap out of the pissy Aussie cricket team, at any rate.

The theme of the ad is "In awkward situations share this food" with the white bloke sharing around the fast food to 'break the ice' so to speak.
But, as it was posted on Youtube some in USA are now squealing that it's racist,  'perpetuating a stereotype that African Americans eat a lot of fried chicken'.
Umm, hello?
It wasn't directed at African Americans.
It did not depict African Americans.
I do not know of any cricket team which features African Americans.

This bloke may have summed it up perfectly

Brendon O'Connor, an associate professor at the University of Sydney, told 9 Network News that the association between fried chicken and ethnic minorities was a distinctly US issue: "They have a tendency to think that their history is more important than that of other countries."

And that sweeping statement is, to me at least, far more racist but seemingly (on the surface) factual than the uproar over the black face skit or this ad. Many Americans are genuinely interested and knowledgeable in the history and culture of other countries, it is the loud-voiced minority who taint the whole population as insular, backward and blinkered.
Which brings me to the next hot potato - that of the attacks on Indian nationals and the murder of one young Indian man recently.
I think there's a mix of both racism and opportunism about these attacks; these students usually get the crap jobs to earn money, working the crap hours no one else wants..remember the (then newly arrived) Greeks and Italians doing the menial work back in the 50s, 60s and 70s, working 2 or 3 jobs back-to-back to give their kids a good chance? Soon to be replaced by the Vietnamese doing the shit-can work?
These Indian students rely on public transport to travel at night to and from work to pay for over-priced, over-crowded rental digs, to pay their parents back or to repay a loan taken out for their studies.
What no one is willing to say out loud is that old adage "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"
Invest heavily in the police with both money and realistic laws and there will be a huge decrease in these crimes on both Indian nationals, Aussies, men, women, boys, children, LGBT community and everyone else under the sun.
Mandatory sentencing for attacks on coppers. What a joke, no immediate sentence for bashing a cop tells the dickheads it's a free-for-all.
Zero tolerance on ALL CRIMES. Body searches for knives is a breach of the Victorian Charter of Human Rights? Bull. Those knives are a breach of the human right to live, breath and expect to travel unmolested.
Have a properly funded, properly numbered police force with the laws to back them up and the sentencing to follow through with a message that play time is over and this BS will NOT be tolerated anymore.

Regurgitations of grey matter and photos, both optional

 Tim Holding has closed the City Museum, located in the Old Treasury Building, without any real explanation.
This is the same bloke who says the Govt will happily give taxpayer's money (AGAIN) to Tiger Woods to trot back Down Under to play around a round of a few extra marital holes and over-saw the building of the $750 million North-South Pipeline which many claim will take water from the struggling Food Bowl so we can flush a dunny in Melb.

So, sleeze, sport and flash-in-the-toilet-pan obviously appeals to certain ministers while steadfast, popular museums, Aussie heritage and history don't rate a dicky bird.

 Quite like this 'un.

 

 Dunno, but that abstract art work is growing on me...

 

 Two views of the same line of buildings.

The dear old Sir Charles Hotham Hotel, originally a coffee palace then a pub now a back-packer's hostel with a decaying paintwork that does it no favours when one can see what beauty it once paraded HERE.

Tucked away down Downie St.

Immigration Museum shedding light on the not-too-distant past...

Daniel may have found the name Connex in the seating pattern but I've found Metro

 

 

 

 

Ok, I'm stretching it somewhat but what else do I have to do on a looooooong train journey? LOL

Did you know New Zealand once attacked Oz ?! And a cemetery so pretty you could picnic in it

Yes, true.
Weeeelllll....purely by 'accident' - maybe, maybe not accidental, depending on which Kiwi was giving the media soundbyte, but apparently the acting NZ PM claimed it wasn't accidental.
1955...when spin doctoring was in a world of its own and could spin a PR line to the public that claimed the sky was green and the grass was pink if it wanted.
Did he know something others didn't?
Were there secret orders to do away with the Currarong Post Office?
Had Aussie Post royally pissed some Kiwi off by ruining their air mail delivery?
Was there someone in the seaside village who'd asked to hear "fush and chups" once too many times?
Go pop over to Timespanner and check out the article on the blasting of Currarong, while thanking our lucky stars the Black Prince can't "be sent around to sort us out" again!
Perhaps their captain knew The Gruen Transfer would one day suggest invading NZ and thought they'd get a few shots in first?
Bwhahahahahahahahahaha  ;)
---------------
Go and also check out the Yarra Plenty Library Local History blog, it's full of fascinating pieces of information, links and news.
They are currently looking for any memorabilia of the Strathewen Public Hall, which was destroyed in the Black Saturday bushfires but is being rebuilt.
Also they have links to Wikinorthia, with new entries including the totally serene and blissful looking Hurst Family Cemetery, which has a link to photos elsewhere on the web.
Remember to check out the list of labels down the left-hand side of the blog page as these lead to other historical societies, groups, information, links galore and just generally interesting bits 'n' bobs.
Now, could I get away with a picnic in that cemetery......

Vale Lonsdale House

I read today that demolition of Lonsdale House will begin next week and within a month it will be but a memory.
If you're unable to troop down there to take some last photos enjoy the lovely Art Deco building HERE and HERE.

Fitzroy Gardens amble...

Click on photos to view larger image.

Finial on Parliament House fence.

Near Lansdowne Street, almost opposite tower of St Pat's College.

Looks like some kind of kiosk or canteen but cannot find exact identification online, no mention of it amongst Fitzroy Gardens structures.

Any help appreciated!

Moreton Bay Fig.

 

Statue with piddly dribble of water cascading seeping from his urn.

 

Creek.

Read.

 

 

Miniature Tudor Village, following nosh up.

Fairy Tree with new paint work.

 

Weeds...?

 

Diana the Huntress at the entrance to the Conservatory.
FB noted, "She's not big on bras, is she, Mum?" 
"No, son, sports bras weren't in fashion back then..."

 

 

 

Sinclair's Cottage.

 

Read.

 

Statue of Meditation.

Last remains of original iron fencing that once surrounded the garden beds.

To appreciate how many statues have been lost from the Fitzroy Gardens, many of which originally adorned the Cremorne Gardens, click HERE to see original photos and the tale of what became of them.

Anything in bold, italics and coloured blue is a link to another site with more info.
Anything outrageous is usually humour and/or sarcasm