Late Summer 2008 | Edition #99 | Circulation 4000 copies
John Haton: Shoalhaven Vision p3 | Lake Wollumboola p3 | Bomaderry Creek p7
We have had sufficient audacity of faith to advance a pathway to that future, page together: indigenous and local fishermen and there were with arms extended rather than with fists still clenched. So let us seize the non-indigenous Australians, such mutterings and complaints government and opposition, about that that our people were day. Let it not become a moment of mere sentimental reflection. Prime Commonwealth and state, and brought out to Wreck Bay, and Minister Kevin Rudd 13 February 2008 write this new chapter in our a school was established there. nation’s story together. “ We wait [Note again the first imposed to see how indigenous people priority: “Let us resolve today to are to be represented, to have begin with the little children.”] elected representatives. Locally, It was a government policy we need to be sensitive to what to move the Aboriginal fami- Aboriginal people want. Even a lies.” (Jean Carter “A Big Dose very materially generous white of Social Justice.” Steppin’ Out NEXT… man, late at night – indeed last and Speakin’ Up, Older Women’s night, as I write this – can say: Network, 2003, p 57.) Dennis Argall justifies cruelty towards those language), to learn our world “What our [Koori] friends have Sorry about losing your not like us.” view as so contrary to their own to learn is...” Sorry mate, no, home brother... Sorry not reached across the table • Hard for all decent people deeply-rooted sense of country, start again please. enough? Take it to the Land to the tall dark handsome who hesitate to know where to of symbol, of meaning.” In just the immediate region and Environment Court maybe, young man on the other start on an intractable issue, to Why didn’t the Prime of Nowra there are four different brother? Sorry. Can’t. side of the mosaic we were know whom to embrace, what Minister say: “we will change Koori mobs: Jerrinja at Orient On 12 February The Iworking on, at the Aboriginal way to express regard or care, school systems to support and Point, the mixed-origin popula- Australian reported that “the Embassy. how to act in any concrete way. respect all cultures, especially tion in Nowra, Wreck Bay and Prime Minister ... was confi- “Sorry” I said. He smiled and In the Prime Minister's indigenous culture, so that when Injagunji in Tomerong. They dent the apology would not took my hand. wonderful, urgent and neces- a tiny child comes to school it is evade the sight of most. How are trigger a frenzy of litigation.” “New world,” I said. His hold sary speech to the parliament meaningful and supportive of these communities to work out How soon does he say this after, on my hand strengthened and on 13 February there are, alas, the core of their lives and does their differences among them- in his poll victory speech on 24 stayed. He smiled and said, seeds of new problems. He said: not demand rejection of culture selves and among themselves, November, heaping praise on “Yes.” Let us resolve today to begin and assimilation to another the Koori people, and to have Bernie Banton for his coura- “Where are you from?” I with the little children, a fitting man’s good design”? Didn’t he “…sufficient audacity of faith geous fight for compensation asked. “Moree,” he said. place to start on this day of know in some places they still to advance a pathway to [the] for asbestos victims. It seems a “Moree is a hard place,” I apology for the stolen genera- are told not to speak their own future?” How are they enabled popular wisdom to suggest that said. tions. Let us resolve over the languages in schools? Didn’t he to have the audacity, courage, the dispossessed lack financial “Yes, Moree is a very hard next five years to have every think about it? Didn’t he know hope, space and time to find wisdom, waste their money, are place. That’s why I’m here in indigenous four-year-old in a that the best and brightest out strength together... rather than unfit for personal compensa- Canberra,” he said. remote Aboriginal commu- there can go off to secondary be called into political offices tion benefits and should accept The Shoalhaven is a hard nity enrolled in and attending boarding schools and often run and told how the white world nobly the expertly designed place too. a proper early childhood educa- home, just weeks later? knows the best, how the white community projects proposed • Hard for indigenous people tion centre ... The focus of the rhetoric, in world will intervene—with by the enlightened successful. trapped in poverty and in the Who has determined this any case, was still on remote either smiles, schools or police. In Sweden Kylie’s swimsuit shellacked wisdoms of gener- priority, what is this word communities, not on the young When people campaign to is auctioned to buy cows for ations of imposed policies of ‘proper’? I asked this question man from Moree or the Koori keep Huskisson unchanged are women in Asia. Some people welfare, or shell-backed with on Radio National a year ago: woman in Shoalhaven who they aware of the grand irony? know how to spend wisely. ingrained hatred or despair. “What happens if you dump a said to me half a year ago: “I am Have they read Aunty Jean’s Clack, clack, clack go the • Hard for those people who, national literacy test on kids like sick of hearing about all these words: dominoes of decency. Can we, in the words of Barack Obama, this [in remote communities]? remote communities, don’t they “The history of Wreck Bay is for a moment, take all our domi- “would seek, under whatever How can it respect the fact that see what we face?” that Aboriginal fishing families noes and cards off the table and flag or slogan or sacred text, a they arrive at school to learn The Prime Minister went that lived around Huskisson were certainty and simplification that English (as most likely a third on to say “Let us turn this getting more fish than the other continued on page Late Summer 2008 #99 L E T T E R S
WELCOME SUPPORT Iraq Tragedy COMMUNITY Her Majesty that this ‘honour’ many submissions from the local would in fact do wonders for the community. It had nothing to do I’ve been meaning to write this On the 24th Nov, John Howard I was discharged from Wol- republican cause in Australia. with the water supply agreement. for many months. Well done for and the Liberals were defeated longong Hospital’s Alkira Lodge Times have changed since any all the hard work in getting the and I, like most Greens, am a few weeks ago. I shall soon such honour was last bestowed It is difficult to identify what cred- Bush Telegraph out and with such happy to see them depart. The be notified if the cancer that is on an Australian. Mr Howard is it can be attributed to the Greens interesting articles. Green vote is on the rise and it bothering my prostate has been not to be compared with Sir Nin- Councillors. They played no role seems our message is reaching halted. ian Stephen or Sir Edmund Hillary in the Community Reference Chris Nobel more people. With this in mind, but has come to be reviled by a Group (CRG) set up to advise the Kangaroo Valley I believe it is of vital importance I am concerned, but not to the very significant proportion of the Government on river manage- that we are careful with what we degree that you would expect. Australian population who in no ment, nor were they evident in say and do. I am, however, trou- This is because of the marvellous general respect hold the United the public campaign against the GM CANOLA bled with Adam Bonner’s letter support that the staff provides to Kingdom in disregard. Government’s plans for the river. (new Bush Tele Summer edition its cancer patients. Canola is not just an oil seed crop. 2007) titled ‘Iraq Viewpoint’. It is a matter of record that this Specifically, credit must be given It is also a major animal fodder It is a support shared by doctors, Most Noble Order of the Garter is to the Southern Bass Fishing crop fed to cattle, sheep and dairy While I agree with some of nurses and general staff and one allowed “to excel all other institu- Club for the fish lift and multi- cows. Historically, dairy cows in Adam’s letter, I find some parts that goes beyond the excellent tions of honour in the whole level off-take outcome, to the the Shoalhaven have been fed on objectionable and not in keeping medical service provided. It is a world.” Kangaroo Valley community for Canola stubble and, in drought with the tolerant and humane support that creates optimism, a achieving retention of high water years, the whole plant of failed message of Green philosophy. great help in coping with this Sir Edmund and Sir Ninian bound levels in Lake Yarrunga and to the crops, which has been transport- their countries together and Shoalhaven River Alliance (SRA) ed from Western NSW. In those Adam states ‘But the cost in US particular problem. A kind of were commended for their many for achieving a better outcome for areas where Canola is grown, lives grows each day thanks to family has been created that we wonderful acts of generosity and the environmental flows regime. sheep and cattle are grazed on the the Iraqi resistance’. all feel part of. Why is it that we community spirit. By contrast, for stubble (or failed crop) and so this have to experience adversity a decade under Mr Howard, we The Greens Councillors made plant is a major part of their diet. I for one do not wish for young before experiences such as this followed a path to destruction of a fundamental error by voting US lives to be extinguished in a are unleashed? The staff have community values, disparity in for continued water transfers It is the use of Canola as animal sad war already costing so many providedsomething that if spread incomes and opportunities and to support Sydney’s unsustain- fodder that gives me the great- lives and I don’t believe many to other areas would provide a meanness of spirit. I say nothing able growth – a position that is est concern, once GM Canola is Greens would think this way. more caring society. of making the greatest error of contrary to the policy of the NSW released because THE GENETIC strategic judgement in the his- Greens. MODIFICATION IS IN EVERY CELL I also challenge Adam’s claim that I feel privileged to have been a tory of Australian government in OF THE PLANT not just the seed it is an honourable resistance part of this and extend my heart- invading Iraq, as your government While an improved environmental from which the oil is extracted. fighting US Forces, after all aren’t felt thanks to the team. holds contrary views. But there release regime is needed, it is a these the people placing bombs you have Mr Howard’s standing short-term measure and no an- Farmers and consumers need an- which indiscriminately kill and Donald McHugh after rejection at the polls: an swer to the heavy water demand swers to the following questions: sometimes horribly maim many Wandandian. unhappy and negative and greedy that Sydney’s growth will con- of their own people (including figure who destroyed his own tinue to have. Sydney must solve 1. When approval was given for children). Don McHugh, the author of this party as well. No matter what its water requirements in its own the commercial release of GM letter, was a merchant sea- regard for the long serving, for backyard by recycling wastewater Canola, did FSANZ (Food Stand- Don’t these people only represent man, on convoys from Liverpool the Crown to and stormwater treated to drink- ards Australia New Zealand) or some of the Iraqi people? to Murmansk in World War 2. make a considered judgement ing water standards. Implementa- OGTR (The Commonwealth Office Murmansk is in the arctic north of to link itself to this figure now tion of this sustainable approach Adam also states ‘The US led of the Gene Regulator) assess Russia. This was the convoy route would, in the eyes of many here, is the only way Sydney and the invaders continue to murder the effects of feeding the fodder to provide supplies to the Soviet lower the status of the Monarch Shoalhaven River can survive in innocent Iraqi men, women and to meat and dairy animals. What Union, then allied against Ger- considerably, given such con- the long term. children’. research has been done on the many. These were convoys where tempt for Australian opinion and Terry Barratt, Chair long-term health effects of such if you blinked the ship next to you actual circumstance and for the Does Adam really mean that all Shoalhaven River Alliance a feeding regimen on the animals might just be gone, sunk. honourable criteria of the Order. and then the long-term effects US troops are going around mur- of eating the animal products on dering innocent people? This has A survivor in a family in which DW Carter human health? been the case by some rogue ele- most children died, in the hard Bodalla ments in the army, but surely this times in Ireland, Don came to 2. What are the economic implica- statement is well over the top. Australia from Ireland in the tions of feeding GM Canola fodder 1950s and had an active career GETTING THINGS to our beef, lamb and dairy export I do agree with Adam when he with heavy involvement in union STRAIGHT THE NEW BUSH TELEGRAPH industries? says, ‘Iraq is a basket case’. affairs. In the 1980s he sought to EDITION 99, build an organic growers group, The last NBT edition carried an LATE SUMMER 2008 3. Will animals which have been Later in the article we read ‘Iran meeting in the Tomerong Hall. article by Richard Bates about The views expressed in this fed on GM Canola crops be segre- must consider nuclear weapons Dennis Argall has wanted to water transfers from the Shoal- publication are not necessarily those gated in the supply chain and will in order to deter the US and get his history down for several haven River. of the Editor. they be labelled as such? Israeli aggression’ and ‘Iran must years, but Don is a hard man to Editor: Patrick Thompson fast track their defensive deter- keep up with! The details about plans for the [email protected] 4. How will the transport of rent capabilities’. water transfers to Sydney, Tallowa ✆ 0402 36 1424 this fodder be documented and Dam infrastructure modifications Web Editor: Dennis Argall traced? How will the growers of Surely Adam, if you are railing HOWARD AND THE and downstream water releases webnewbushtelegraph@aplaceofinfo GM Canola guarantee that no against US led war as being crimi- ORDER OF THE GARTER were correct, but the claim that seed will escape into non-GM nal then what you advocate will this was the outcome of a col- Layout: Bungoona Technologies areas when such fodder is trans- make the Iraq tragedy look like a At risk of slowing the move laborative approach between the Pty Ltd, Grays Point nsw ported, and will they finance the Sunday school picnic. towards a republic, I have written Shoalhaven City Council and the Printer: Weston Print, clean-up of any contamination? to the British High Commissioner Greens Councillors is incorrect. Kiama NSW There is no doubting this war is a to discourage the Crown from Send your letters, comments, Minister for Agriculture, Ian tragedy of monumental propor- knotting knickers with our former The agreement signed last March pictures, or contributions to: Macdonald, did not mention the tions and there are no easy an- Prime Minister, as below. was about guarantees of water The Editor, New Bush Telegraph, issues of feeding GM Canola to swers. One thing to keep in mind supply to the urban communities PO Box 2210, TOMERONG NSW animals nor the potential for the (or is this something we don’t Excellency, of the Shoalhaven. It had nothing 2540 escape of the seed in the trans- wish to talk about) is the murder to do with fish lifts, a multi-level BUSH TELEGRAPH on the WEB port of the fodder, in his media and torture that will be inflicted I write with concern, reading take-off structure, maintenance of www.newbushtelegraph.net ✓ release of 27.11.2007. on those who have assisted the news that the Crown may admit high water levels in Lake Yarrunga you can download past issues ✓ US locally when those forces do the former Prime Minister John or increased environmental flows. use our custom search engine for Please write to Ian Macdonald depart. Howard to the Most Noble Order our region and local papers ✓ Parliament House Macquarie St, of the Garter. The Greens Councillors did effect get additional background for SYDNEY 2000 ask some of these Norm Webb some changes to a Council sub- each issue: • lots of documents about questions. St Georges Basin I encourage you to ensure that mission about the Government’s RAMSAR and Lake Wollumboola • HM Government in the UK be plans for environmental improve- read and watch Kevin Rudd’s Sorry Suzi Krawczyk aware and be able to advise ments, but this was only one of speech • download Barack Obama’s Cambawarra full policy platform … and more!!! Late Summer 2008 #99
John Hatton AO, of Huskisson, was President of the Shoalhaven Shire Council from 1968 to 1973, having been What is your view? had a high growth rate. Hand in elected Deputy President in 1966 at the age of 33. High growth is a bulldozer. hand with this is high unem- Stand in front of it and get ployment. This does not appear He was independent member of the state seat of South Coast from 1973 to 1995, widely respected and also crushed, or try to get into the to make sense! We need to know feared for his commitment to public accountability and his pursuit of corruption (matters which he continues driver’s seat to use its power and why. Could it be that if a hundred to pursue). His pursuit of corruption led to a Royal Commission on the recommendation of which the Police energy, but steer it in directions jobs are created, a hundred and Integrity Commission was established that will produce jobs but not fifty people are seeking them ruin Shoalhaven’s beauty and simply because Shoalhaven is lifestyle. Beauty and lifestyle the attraction, a beautiful place are the major growth and jobs to live. Job seekers continually generators. relocate here. Shoalhaven Vision High tech and tertiary educa- Social Climate and tion [e.g. TAFE and Shoalhaven John Hatton bed and breakfast cottages, about Shoalhaven. For those in lifestyle are The Major Campus of Wollongong heritage buildings excite and business, where does the dollar Generally Shoalhaven is a University] and home based The Natural Environment entice locals and visitors alike. come from? The sea change of peaceful and safe place to live computer driven industries are Shoalhaven has eighty kilo- The small industries of retirement, the population shift with a high degree of commu- all rapid growth areas. metres of one of the most beau- Shoalhaven are themselves to the coast, urban and light nity involvement. Sport, church, When, in 1970, Jervis Bay was tiful coastlines in the world, worthy of a visit. In addition manufacturing, cottage, small service clubs, social welfare, under the shadow of the multi- unspoilt beaches, lakes, estu- to the welding, fabricating, factory, town house, office and educational and passive recre- million dollar Armco Steelworks aries, farmland, valley and gorge concrete, prefab, chemical and low-rise tourist development? ational opportunities abound. proposal, many people said country, national parks and similar industries essential to Builders, plumbers, carpen- If other areas in NSW are any ‘Great!’ ‘Look at the jobs!’ Yet reserves. Visitors to Shoalhaven a growing city, there are the ters, roofers, electricians, glaziers, guide, inappropriate, ill planned, Newcastle and Wollongong are stunned by the variety of highly specialised niche market, concreters, brickies, tilers, land- high density growth will bring Steelworks did not prevent high scenery as well as the beauty. engineering, boat building, aero scapers, fencers and a host of with it serious social disruption, levels of unemployment. Not space and innovative high tech related trades and support indus- higher crime rates and negative to mention the social problem The Built Environment and creative artistic and design tries depend on high growth, health outcomes. Shoalhaven’s in high-density heavy industry Nowra and Bomaderry industries. not high rise. The vast majority sense of community is one of its towns. are bisected by the beautiful An expert and independent of buildings are three storeys or major assets. Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Shoalhaven river with the survey commissioned by the less. Shoalhaven has its trouble Tweed Heads and the Central unspoilt Cambewarra range as Huskisson Woollamia Voice Will high-rise add to the dollar spots. Vandalism, crime and Coast are some examples to a backdrop together with towns revealed that visitors and locals income or be a turn off to tourists other antisocial and destruc- study. The Central Coast has big and hosts of scenic villages. almost unanimously liked the and retirees? Of greater impor- tive behaviour seems to coalesce problems with massive growth, Some such as Berry and Milton friendly laid back lifestyle, tance is the question of where around certain areas. We need to thousands commuting daily to are jewels of heritage in a rural the village atmosphere, the exactly high-rise is to be built. find out why and develop strate- work in Sydney, gridlock in peak setting. All provide good shop- unspoilt beaches and beautiful Should such buildings be ugly and gies to overcome or minimise the hours in the heart of Gosford. ping services. With retail and foreshores. prominent, close to the foreshore problems. wholesale outlets up there with Shoalhaven is the number one of lakes, bays and the ocean, on At the Crossroads the best. destination in the whole of NSW the beautiful Shoalhaven River, Employment Shoalhaven needs invest- In the villages of Shoalhaven, outside of Sydney. or tucked away in “less sensitive” Shoalhaven has high unem- ment, innovation, growth, jobs small shops, coffee houses, What would a series of social locations, or not allowed at all? ployment but a severe skills and careful planning. What are restaurants, cafes, curio shops, and economic surveys tell us At least residents deserve a say. shortage. Shoalhaven has always your suggestions? One class of investment over- looked by many is your home, Ramsar listing would give the Wollumboola would help your lifestyle. Collectively, the citi- lake international recogni- protect the natural processes zens of Shoalhaven have billions Lake Wollumboola tion and additional protection that keep the lake as an impor- of hard-earned dollars invested offered by a Ramsar listing. tant wetland. in their homes and gardens. For example, five thousand houses Is it a wetland of Why is Ramsar What would Ramsar represent a value of one billion important? listing actually mean? dollars if each home is valued at The Ramsar Convention is “The Ramsar Convention’s $200,000. Surely then, the resi- international importance? an international treaty which mission is the conservation dents must be given or demand a was agreed in the city of Ramsar and wise use of wetlands by say in their future, their lifestyle Alison Curtin Australian Government at the in Iran in 1971. Australia national action and interna- and the development of their request of the State Government. was among the first of the 116 tional cooperation as a means neighbourhood. The Huskisson What are we talking about? In NSW, DECC is the responsible nations to sign this treaty. It to achieving sustainable devel- survey also revealed that many The Department of agency for assessing and submit- is designed to provide strong opment throughout the world” people come here because visitors Environment and Climate ting proposals to the Australian protection to wetland sites. Of (Brisbane, 1996). feel that the Central and North Change (DECC), is considering Government. The local commu- the 1000 or more sites listed as The key words here are “wise Coast have been ruined. nominating Lake Wollumboola nity are consulted about all being of worldwide significance, use”. Many human activities are Shoalhaven is at the cross- in Jervis Bay National Park for proposed Ramsar nominations 65 are in Australia. Examples damaging to wetlands, and this roads. Hundreds of millions of international recognition under on DECC lands. in Australia of Ramsar wetlands is a concern for all the commu- dollars are driving rapid change the Ramsar Convention. DECC believes that Lake include Kakadu National Park nity. The Ramsar Convention along the entire NSW coastline. In Australia, important Wollumboola is important and in the Northern Territory and has developed guidelines for The bulldozer is at Shoalhaven’s wetlands are nominated to it has been found to meet 5 of Moreton Bay in Queensland . the wise use of wetlands. The door. Do we lie down in front of the Ramsar Convention by the the 9 criteria for Ramsar listing. A Ramsar listing for Lake guidelines seek to ensure that it and be crushed? Hop on it and there is continuous benefit to try to steer it? Worse still pretend present generations, while at the it’s not happening? Sand spit walk. photo: narelle wright same time, sustaining natural We can as a community systems for the benefit of gener- develop strategies to take advan- ations to come. tage of high growth create Ramsar guidelines still allow jobs protect natural beauty, for many activities to occur heritage and retain a sense of on wetlands, such as fishing community. (including commercial fishing), Milton, Berry, Kiama, swimming, boating or the collec- Berrima, Bowral are places of tion of resources for traditional high growth and yet are still or cultural purposes. Activities places of beauty, charm and can continue, provided they are pleasant to live in. I believe sustainable and do not damage together with energy and imag- the wetland or the processes that ination Shoalhaven City can keep the wetland healthy (for develop a vision. example; water quality or the So the bottom line is, why flow of water into the wetland). do you live where you live? What is your vision for your Who can I talk to about town or village, for the whole of this idea? Shoalhaven City? If you had the DECC will provide further power what would you change information meetings for and what advantages and disad- community to discuss the vantages would your changes Ramsar nomination of Lake bring? Wollumboola. You can phone We can make it work but Greg Tedder on 44286300 . hurry the bulldozer is here… Late Summer 2008 #99 Rudd–Gillard, Obama, Shoalhaven: antagonism or inclusion? Dennis Argall an advocate of inclusion and In the introduction to the it here... though we seem to be As the great John Hatton Julia Gillard, the Deputy asserts a new path. He speaks 2004 reprint he reflected on the trapped now in a mood of self- notes we are endowed with Prime Minister, is Minister for of a United States, but there is impact of September 11, 2001. focused consumption: I struggle extraordinary natural riches Social Inclusion. What does little reported here in Australia “...History returned that day with my bills, um, excuse me, I and human potential. John asks this mean? In a speech last of thought behind such rhet- with a vengeance... This past, can’t talk, I have to get back to questions. It would be good to November Ms Gillard said: oric. The ABC’s North American directly touches my own. Not my X-Box. have lots of ideas for NBT 100, “The concept of social inclu- correspondent seems to stay in only because the bombs of Al Perhaps this, in Obama’s deadline April 10. sion in essence means replacing the press lounge lounging. A Qaeda have marked, with an Blueprint for America sounds a bit The Shoalhaven can go a welfarist approach to helping caller to Illawarra local radio eerie precision, some of the land- like our recent past: forward and up, or just slump. the underprivileged with one recently said: “How can Obama, scapes of my life—the buildings “Under the Bush adminis- We can be a positive commu- of investing in them and their an American, say ‘We can make and roads and faces of Nairobi, tration, foreign policy has been nity and a great regional centre, communities to bring them the world right?’” What Obama Bali, Manhattan; not merely used as a political wedge issue or be bogged in social prob- into the mainstream market is saying is that American power because, as a consequence of to divide us – not as a cause to lems. What, for example, will economy. It’s a modern and fresh has been exercised wrongly, that 9/11, my name is an irresist- bring America together. And it we do about the families that approach that views everyone as America will remain powerful ible target of mocking websites is no coincidence that one of the will arrive here with the 500 a potential wealth creator and and needs to be a force for good from overzealous Republican most secretive administrations inmates of the new gaol? Run invests in their human capital.” in many areas. operatives. But also because of in history has pursued policies from expanding ghettos or Several Koori people in the A younger Obama wrote an the underlying struggle—between that have been disastrous for work for social inclusion? Lock Shoalhaven have been talking extraordinary book about his worlds of plenty and worlds of want; the American people. Obama up the chooks and put out the privately about this kind of search for his identity in 1995: between the modern and ancient; strongly believes that our dog, or open our hearts and thing, through the past year. his Kansas wife’s brief marriage between those who embrace our foreign policy is stronger when minds? A world beyond Noel Pearson’s to a brilliant Kenyan student, his teeming, colliding, irksome diver- Americans are united, and the Why is our local government visions. father, in Hawaii; his primary sity, while still insisting on a set of government is open and candid persistently stuck in mucky The old antagonism and years with his Indonesian step- values that binds us together, and with the American people.” states, chewing its way through enemy focusing of the Howard father in the poorer quarters those who would seek, under what- It is worth looking at that big issues without vision. Where era simply vanished – at least of Jakarta, his struggles with ever flag or slogan or sacred text, a Blueprint (link to download from are the younger people with for now. We seem to have a substances and perspectives as certainty and simplification that our website) in its details. The vision, integrity and imagina- muddled pause in community a student; his pull away from justifies cruelty towards those not foreign policy content includes tion to sweep all that away and expression. We need now to find corporate employment to work like us... “ [emphasis added] this: enable us to become a leading, our voices again, to find positive on community capacity building We watch from a distance “Not talking [to people we intelligent region which others voices, rather than critical, divi- in the worst corners of Chicago; the way his inclusive perspec- don’t like] doesn’t make us might follow? sive voices. Inclusion seems a his finding of extended family tives and policies are widening look tough – it makes us look We seem stuck in a situa- good basis for moving forward. in Nairobi and rural Kenya. support – the whole world seems arrogant, it denies us oppor- tion where thrills are secured by Barack Obama is clearly to take great interest in what will tunities to make progress, and pettifoggery and mob-leading. come after the destructive years it makes it harder for America That era is ending in the wider of G.W.Bush. Even if Obama to rally international support world. We will be left behind Sussex Inlet does not secure the Democratic for our leadership. On chal- without new leadership that Country Garden Party’s nomination for the elec- lenges ranging from terrorism sees broader issues and builds Shop 2/ 191 Jacobs Drive, tion in November, these policies to disease, nuclear weapons community, rather than working Sussex Inlet will now be a force in America. to climate change, we cannot constantly to divide. Fruit & Vegetables, In a speech in Iowa in November make progress unless we can Do you have the courage to Obama said: draw on strong international pursue change? Send us ideas Tobacconist, Nursery, “I won’t just ask for your vote support.” for our 100th issue? Can you Garden Care Products as a candidate; I will ask for your And it is valuable to see get people together to consider 4441 2716 service and your active citizen- the detail of policies to reduce what is the way to change the Open 7 days ship when I am president of the petroleum consumption by 30% council. Do you have the vision Local Home Delivery Available United States. This will not be by 2030 and carbon emissions and strength and integrity to a call issued in one speech or by 80% by 2050, to spend $150 organise to be a candidate – to program; this will be a cause of billion on clean energy tech- nominate by 27 August, to be Laser ApT my presidency. ” nology development. elected to Shoalhaven City This combination of social Oh dear, how far this is from Council on 27 September? Your inclusion and of service goes our cat-fighting Shoalhaven party affiliation is not the main further than currently articu- political scrums, enmired in thing, the question is how to lated Australian policy. But if it manipulation and craftiness and lift accountability, integrity and New Computers Sales & Service happens in America, we will see narrow vision. vision. Printers Multifunctions Scanners Reconditioned Systems Modems + ADSL + Dial-up The Education + Repairs + Upgrades Shop 1, 74 Kinghorne Street, Nowra 2541 Olive Farm TEL (02) 4423 3376 FAX: (02) 44233378 Email: [email protected] Well-known For Our… s Delicious Olives s Extra Virgin Olive Oil s Local Honey s Free Range Eggs s Fresh Seasonal Vegetables Wholesale Prices Direct to Public Cnr Peterson Rd & Princes Hwy, Falls Creek, NSW 02 4447 8791 [email protected] All Trade Welcome Late Summer 2008 #99 Apathy - a time for action Patrick Thompson What can we do about it? simple lives and whose ecolog- leisure, their ecological imprint It will lead to a greatly changed It is a depressing scenario. ical imprint is only slight. I then is to the planet what a herd of world. Our younger genera- Like ostriches with heads Recognition of the problem is thought of the 10% of the world elephants is to a rice paddi. tion must be equipped for it. It buried in the sand human kind one thing, but doing something who enjoy incomes that allow None of this is to say there means more than a computer for continues to procrastinate while about it is another. Currently us to do as we please. We can fly is no hope. There is hope. As is every child. The classroom and our planet draws closer to the it is business as usual. World to Europe and land at Heathrow, outlined elsewhere in this issue, the family will undergo a phil- great abyss. energy needs are predicted to the world’s busiest airport, there is a mood for change. In osophical shift, one based on It is now 40 years since I first double in the next few decades. which is currently doubling its Australia, and more impor- humanity’s place in the natural wrote a piece on climate change. This is not only due to the emer- capacity. On arrival we can take tantly in the United States, world. It was a university essay and in gence of China and India as advantage of the cheap airfares there is a new breed of leader And what of Aboriginal it I quoted the then president major contributors to global to go on to any European city emerging. Barack Obama, a people, they have much to teach of the Australian Academy of output. Australia also wants for as little as one cent with young Presidential hopeful, is us. We can learn from them the Science. He had pointed out that to grow and double its energy Laker. (Yes, the climate change talking about an 80% reduction trick of ‘living ecologically’. The whilst global temperatures had use. South Australian’s are the conscious Europeans are in no in carbon emissions by 2050. It Hon Nick Minchin and the other been steadily rising since the biggest uses of air conditioners hurry to bring about change.) can be achieved. The only thing skeptics are wrong. We can live start of the industrial revolution in Australia. Around 90% of Then lastly, I thought about to fear - to quote from another in a sustainable and beautiful there appeared to be a reversal their homes are air conditioned. our leaders. They have most to US President - is ‘fear itself’. world but to achieve these ends due to dust in the upper atmos- Most of them use older, low loose, but they are going to be To achieve big reductions in there can be no room for apathy. phere caused by supersonic jets. energy output models and will the hardest to shift. It is the 1% carbon emissions, our leaders We the people must apply the How wrong these observations no doubt along with the rest of of the world – our leaders – the must act. Carbon trading will pressure from the grassroots have proven. us move to ‘more efficient’ but rich and famous, who are having work as a mechanism and the up, if the changes from the top In about 1980 my own obser- higher energy using types. a massive ecological impact. Just market economy will bring down are to occur. We all have a vations taught me how finite a Ross Gittins recently wrote in going about their daily work and about the adjustments needed. part to play. world we live in. I was travel- the Sydney Morning Herald how ling with a group of people on it is predicted that energy use the South Island of New Zealand will cost us more in the future and there was a heavy haze that but incomes will grow faster severely reduced visibility. All and so the relative cost of energy day the sun was seen as a red will fall. The problem with the ball. On inquiring from a local modern market economy is that as to the cause, I was told it was it works in terms of growing due to bush fires in Oz. Indeed people’s incomes. It is supposed there had been severe bush to work also in regulating a fires back home that had at the scarcity of global resources. It time threatened many Sydney is supposed to be a magic wand homes. The western side of the that as a mechanism makes all Southern Alps in NZ is always things ‘sustainable’. But, of covered with ash and red dust course, it doesn’t. from its neighbour across the No price can ever be put on Tasman. the health of the planet. The We live in a beautiful land. For market economy does not work 40,000 years Aborigines have as a mechanism to sustain the lived essentially in harmony atmosphere and the oceans. with their environment. No True the price of fish will doubt they brought about signif- increase as they become scarce, icant change on their arrival but as will other natural resources, an ecological balance returned. but this does not lead to sustain- When Europeans arrived the ability. It is a cursed word. It has Aboriginal people lived rela- been abused and misused. tively happy and healthy lives. Who then will save us? Who We changed all that for them. then will take responsibility and We also changed the land. We force change? Will it be our set about clearing the vegeta- leaders - a word of caution. tion and mining the soils and Last year, listening to parlia- minerals of our continent. It is a ment I heard the Hon Senator process that continues unabated Nick Minchin rabbiting on today. Indeed it is a process that about ‘greenies’ and how they continues to accelerate. all wanted to us to live in caves In global terms for the first or go back to the dark ages. time in human history we are It made me think about the threatening the stability of our vast majority of human kind planet. You know it. I know it. who continue to live relatively Stand made for last rock wallabies on the Shoalhaven
A brush tailed rock wallaby, ‘Roxy’ by name, is the last female in a shrinking colony on the Shoalhaven River (Telgraph, 21/11/07). The southern rock wallaby is considered a sub-species. The situation is desperate, so another female and two males were brought in from Cessnock to build up the colony numbers, despite the impact on the genetic diversity.
The Shoalhaven colony has been the subject of a recovery program for three years but this has not stopped the loss of numbers from foxes, dogs, hunters and competition from goats.
We hope that the introduction of new genetic stock and the flush of growth with all the summer rain will give this colony a fighting chance.
Picture: Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby. photo shane ruming Late Summer 2008 #99
NEXT… continued from page COMING EVENTS The ICE ask this Aboriginal man and La Traviata will be performed at the Ulladulla Civic that Aboriginal woman if they Centre, Saturday 19th of April 2008, doors open at 7pm and the show would like time to explain their world, their needs, first of all will start at 8pm, (three hour production including the interval). Message to each other, to us later if they The tickets will be sold by IGA Milton, Travelscene at the Ulladulla Plaza wish, with some expectation of Message from the NSW be contacted during emergency a future different? and Issa Shalhoub 0414 553 574. Ambulance Service under the name ‘ICE’ (In Case Of Emergency). Aboriginal Australia exists The cost is $45.00 per seat and $40.00 concession. here in the Shoalhaven, there We all carry our mobile The idea was thought up by a will indeed be more of it with a It will be Cabaret Style with Bar Service and BYO Nibbles ONLY. phones with names and paramedic who found that when gaol and the following families numbers stored in its memory he went to the scenes of acci- This event is a fund raiser for Rotary and follows the success of last coming to Nowra. Aboriginal but nobody, other than if we dents, there were always mobile Australia exists around us in year’s production of Kiss Me Kate were to be involved in an acci- phones with patients, but they depressed and traumatised dent or were taken ill, the didn’t know which number to lives, in a raped civilisation, a people attending us would have call. He therefore thought that it denied Dreamtime. It will not Bundanon’s 15th our mobile phone but wouldn’t would be a good idea if there was become detraumatised or given know who to call. Yes, there are a nationally recognized name for place or space by hastening Birthday Party hundreds of numbers stored but this purpose. In an emergency the assimilation of small chil- which one is the contact person situation, Emergency Service dren, any more now than in WHEN: From 10am Sunday 20 April. Main event kicks off at 1pm. in case of an emergency? Hence personnel and hospital staff this ‘ICE’ (In Case of Emergency) would be able to quickly contact the past. WHERE: Boyd Education Centre, Riversdale. Off the Illaroo Road to the To all Koori friends we say Campaign. the right person by simply dial- “Sorry” and say “Have auda- west of Nowra. The concept of ‘ICE’ is ling the number you have stored catching on quickly. It is a as ‘ICE’. cious courage, faith and hope. COST: $15 for singles, $25 for doubles/families, children under 15 free. method of contact during emer- Please tell people about this. Work it out brothers and sisters, gency situations. As cell phones It really could save your life, or tell each other your dreams, Highlights will include: are carried by the majority of the put a loved one’s mind at rest. your fears, your needs and ✪ A welcome to country by the local indigenous community population, all you need to do is For more than one contact jokes. Take your time, this is featuring a dance and didge performance with participants drawn store the number of a contact name simply enter ICE1, ICE2 too urgent to bugger up. Tell from four local high schools, person or persons who should and ICE3, etc. us when you want us to come up your road to learn your ✪ International didge playing star William Barton, understanding.” ✪ The band CODA with their theatrical mix of classical, far- To Gubba [white] readers we eastern, rock and electronica musical styles, ask: find a dark hand, shake it, ✪ Circus Monoxide amazing the crowd with their daring, skill and mean it. Organic produce at affordable prices provided comedy, by a non-profit community group run by volunteers ✪ ...we see our indig- Wire MC bigging it up with guitar, rhythm and rhyme with his Supporting local growers V Bulk buying power V Sustainable & ethical crew 'Cuzco', enous brothers and Available at Tomerong Village Markets, ✪ sisters with fresh eyes, Jimmy Little returning to the estate where came with his dad, to 3rd Saturday every month, with new eyes, and we milk the cows as a boy, to perform the highlights of his five decades Tomerong School of Arts Hall, as one of Australia's leading performers, have our minds wide Hawken Road, Tomerong ✪ Indie-pop sensation Kate Miller-Heidke bringing her explosive Call 4443 6607 or 4441 8626 open as to how we soprano trained, ARIA nominated act to this astonishing setting. might tackle, together, the great practical chal- Sussex Inlet lenges that Indigenous Mechanical Services Reluctant sale of Australia faces in the Comprehensive mechanical services future. Let us turn this NRMA Road Service magical hideaway page together: indig- Suzuki outboard sales & service Marine servicing enous and non-indig- Shop 1 20km Bodalla, enous Australians... (02) 4441 1955 138 Junction (02) 4441 3055 Court, Nowra Kevin Rudd, 20km Narooma, Unit 2/4 Flood Avenue Sussex 13 February 2008 4423 3281 surrounded by forest. 80 acres, of which some ARBOR MEDIC+ Laura’s Garden Café Valley Come in and regenerating rainforest Patrick Faulconer experience the difference Organics certified arborist Freshly squeezed orange juice 100% Certified Organic and about 5 acres very Your Organic tree removal Breakfast Supermarket on Wheels deep black soil. aesthetic pruning and Lunchesé Fruit & Vegetables free consultation 4443 3663 and a large range of Groceries Formerly NASAA arborist reports Shop 3, Free DeliverY certified organic 200 Kerry St, in the Shoalhaven: Sanctuary Point Nowra, Bay and Basin, orchard — now Kangaroo valley and Milton Certified Organic Produce does not pollute the classifiable neglected. land with pesticides, herbicides, or hormones. INLET CONTRACTORS The farmer cares for the environment by Excellent creek, good ABN 19 048 187 253 promoting a vibrant living soil and a balanced REAL HOME MAINTENANCE eco-system far into the future. Food produced this way is tastier, more nutritious and is your water supply. small PAINTING best health insurance. ARBOR MEDIC+ QUALITY CARPENTRY for the SHOWER LEAKS GOOD FOr YOU – cedar house and shed. shoalhaven area & RENOVATIONS GOOD FOr THe PlANeT GUTTER CLEANING Big independent power Tree & Shrub Rejuvenation SUSSEX INLET a specialty Contact Suzi and Peg: system... $300k ? MOBILE 0421044635 4455 6956 Phone/Fax 4446 0569 PH 4441 2476 e: valley [email protected] 02 4443 4499. Late Summer 2008 #99
Enviroscene Bomaderry Creek Bushland Deadly Acid Rain – Acidification Bernie Clarke Sewage can kill seagrasses, A Secret Garden deoxygenate water and poison The year 2007 has flown the plankton. Low dissolved oxygen Terry Barratt have worked hard to protect and major urban growth in North coop and left us with a warning. concentration is a common promote the Bushland against Nowra. Planet earth is having a heart cause of fish kills, stress and Bomaderry Creek the entrenched attitudes of our So, once again it’s up to the attack. Prognosis, climate disease in fish. Bushland is the home of many Councillors. local community to get things change. If surgical procedures 20,000 aircraft adorn our unique plant and animal We had all expected that back on track! suffer further delays the damage skies every day discharging species, with a scenic rainforest the main battle was over when The ACF and the Friends will be irreversible. toxic hydrocarbons and partic- filled gorge as its main feature, the Government dedicated the have approached the State Our ailing planet is being ulate matter, most of which providing a great place for locals Bomaderry Creek Regional Government strongly opposing bombarded with millions of descends on our ocean. Carbon and visitors to get away from it Park in 2002 over one third of the road and seeking expansion tonnes of hydrocarbons and dioxide from industry and cars all. It is the largest urban bush- the Bushland. Since then, to of the regional park to take in particulate matter every day. is carried skyward and ulti- land reserve in the Shoalhaven their great credit, the National the remaining two thirds of the Smoke stacks emit sulphur mately ends up in our ocean offering an outstanding oppor- Parks and Wildlife Service has Bushland. The Landcare Group dioxide and nitrogen oxides, where it dissolves in a process tunity for residents of the invested time, skills and dollars is producing a film promoting when mixed with water vapour called ocean acidification. growing urban communities of ($150,000+) in the upgrade the Bushland which will present it forms sulphuric and nitric Nutrient-rich waste kills Bomaderry, North Nowra and and management of their one the viewer with an insight into acid, or as dry particles that huge areas of the ocean. A adjacent villages. third, while Council has belat- the many fascinating features latter mix water to form acids. recent United Nations survey The Bushland should be better edly played catch-up in the of the Bushland, and how it Such emissions change chemi- put the number of such ‘dead known and valued than it is, yet land they own with some can best be enjoyed and looked cally and return to earth as acid zones’ at 147 and increasing by the Shoalhaven City Council limited weed control and track after. It will complement the rain, snow or particles. 10 every decade. Teaming shoals does nothing to promote it for its improvements. popular Bushland walks book More than 6000 of Sweden’s of cod have disappeared off the recreational and tourism values At the same time, our local produced by the Group in 2001. lakes have been killed by Atlantic coast of Canada and and is hell bent on destroying state member and Minister They are also continuing with airborne acid, their fish wiped never returned. Ninety percent these values in the interests of for Tourism, Matt Brown, has their work on weed and rabbit out. Twenty thosand more lakes of our stocks of large fish have urban expansion. joined in an unholy alliance control particularly in order are dying due to sulphur dioxide disappeared during the last 50 For many years the Australian with the Council to promote to protect the habitat of the and nitrogen oxides from smoke years. We are killing life more Conservation Foundation (ACF), a road through the Bushland threatened Bomaderry Zieria. in far away Britain, Germany, quickly than it can reproduce. the Friends of Bomaderry Creek with the aim (as publicly stated They have recently completed a Poland and other countries, Acidification of our seas and Bomaderry Creek Landcare by Mayor Watson) to facilitate detailed survey of the distribu- carried long distances on the threatens to ravage marine life. tion, condition and threats to prevailing westerly and south- ‘This problem will continue to Phil Atkinson, Terry Barratt, Jim Walliss and Robin Moyes discuss their this unique plant. Anyone inter- erly winds. Scientist say more affect our oceans’, according to plans to produce a film on the Bushland ested in helping or just keeping than 1000 tonnes of sulphur Australian marine biologist Dr in touch with the ongoing compounds fall on Sweden Will Howard. Acidification has work of ACF, the Friends or the every day, wiping out fish life. already been set in motion on Landcare Group please give me Norway’s Prime Minister had our Great Barrier Reef, says coral a call on 4422 1211. called for measures to combat scientist Dr Charlie Vernon, If the community is prepared acid rain which had wiped who has studied one quarter of to commit so much time and out entire fish species in thou- the world’s coral species, and resources to the cause, surely sands of Scandinavian lakes The warns ‘If we continue producing Council can take a fresh look at acidity attacks fish in several carbon dioxide at the rate we are its promotion of urban-devel- ways. It hinders reproduction, it now, by mid-century coral reef opment-at-any-cost and put in depletes the calcium content of in this world will stop growing. a greater effort in promoting bones, deforming the fish and They will be going backwards’. and protecting this marvellous it leaches aluminium and other Through photosynthesis recreational and educational dangerous metals from the soil of phytoplankton our Ocean resource. forming metal deposits on the produces the oxygen for every And surely it’s not expecting gills that slowly asphyxiate the second breath we take. If the too much of our State fish. ocean were to cease to function Government and its Tourism as it does, human life would Minister to protect the very CLIMATE CHANGE IS come to an end. asset it established in 2002. KILLING THE OCEAN’S LUNGS REFERENCES: Acidification, Jes We are treating the Ocean Sammut, UNSW; Planet Ocean, New with contempt, as if it were infi- International. 2007; see also, NBT web nite. The entire ocean surface resources page. You mean there’s a is now contaminated with billions of small plastic particles. Millions of tonnes of military munitions have been dumped restaurant at Orient Point? into the ocean. Human pollution adds another 22 billion extra Dennis Argall Max’s wife Cathy, Australian born Turk, who met Max tonnes of carbon to the atmos- selling carpets when when she was visiting family phere every day, great quanti- We had heard about it from Paul Greene – the in Turkey years ago. Max spent 12 years away from ties descend on the ocean as acid Olympic sprinter and indy muso, not the one with professional cooking, before this venture towards rain. Famous ocean explorer the Brylcream teeth. So we went to Orient Point, new culinary fame, starting out in Orient Point. How Jacques Yves Cousteau’s lament where few venture. A spectacularly beautifully do we keep him there? before he died, ‘The sea is the placed little village, facing across the estuary of the universal sewer’. Crookhaven and the Shoalhaven. Where the Jerinja The menu is not big, the tables are few, as you would The ocean contains 90% of Aboriginal community has the best view .. but no expect of a take-away where Max puts his elbows on the planets biomas and more one living there personally owns a house, so no the counter to have the kindest conversations with than 90% of all its water, one can borrow for business development – the the smallest girls from the Aboriginal community, which covers 70% of the earth’s terrible poverty niche of Aboriginal community, buying the smallest bag of chips. surface. Acid caused by green- which must be fixed. The fish has hardly left the sea before frying gently in house gases is ravaging marine The central business district of Orient Point turns its olive oil in a pan and being served with utterly fresh life, according to scientists who back to the sea and faces a community notice board. side items. The delicate ravioli hand made... and so warn of an ‘Ocean time bomb’. It is a small building, with a post office in the middle, on. Only fitting of course that the arrival of the ravioli Sewage treatment is unable the size of a goodly laundry, a shop on one side and saw the Three Tenors replaced by Andrea Boccelli to to keep pace with the world’s a bit of a take-away on the other. “Can’t be” we said. sing Besame Mucho. At lunch. Ev drove home, I was rowing population and is the But it was... the Orient Point Cafe. bowled over by Max’s secret formula herbal tea! most serious area of concern. Two hundred years ago there Can we organise a special NBT group dinner some- We do this review so you can run over to Orient Point were one billion humans on and keep this show on the road. Max was an Istanbul time – maximum 16? planet earth, today we boast six chef, better at cooking than money, according to Give us a call 4443 4499 and a half billion. Late Summer 2008 #99
another angled shaft. This shaft went both up and down from where we were at an angle of Grand Final Day 1970 about 45 degrees. It had loose rubble on its base and we SUPPORT YOUR John Holschier Right beside the main shaft was the first solid rungs of the ladder. weren’t stupid enough to follow LOCAL COMMUNITY Sanctuary Point a smaller, narrow shaft that had This was the first time any of us it any further. ADVERTISE IN a ladder going right down to the had abseiled but we didn’t know Back down the ladder we THE NEW BUSH I met my mates, Campbell bottom, or so we had been told. what we were doing, we just went to the bottom of the Spence and Tony Trist, out on The only problem was that the climbed down the rope until we mine, another 50 feet down. TELEGRAPH the main road and we set out first ten feet had rotted away as got to the ladder. By this time we were all used ONLY $6 on our bikes for a day around it was exposed to the weather. On later climbs we measured to the climbing and the initial PER COL/CM Rushworth. We had been told That’s what the rope was for. how deep it was but on this first fear had gone. Also we were at about the Phoenix Gold Mine Of course we may have been climb we discovered that there the bottom so we couldn’t fall TELEPHONE and wanted to explore it. I had teenage boys and invulnerable were three landings. The first anywhere. The bottom tunnel taken a rope with me because but we didn’t want to climb was just a little rest stop (it was was amazing. It went for perhaps 0402 361 424 we knew it would be needed if straight down without having about 50 feet below the surface). a kilometre and it had not only we were to get down and, more some idea of how deep the I was glad to reach that stop as trolley tracks along it but also We headed into Rushworth importantly, back out again. shaft was. How to find that out? I was pretty scared and my legs the trolleys themselves. We took and called in at one of the cafes Rushworth is about 10 miles Easy! Drop some stones down were shaking. It was good to turns giving each other trolley to buy some drinks and get an or 16 kilometres from the farm the shaft. We only managed have a rest before going on. rides along tracks that hadn’t update. It was half time and and very flat until you are nearly a couple because people were At about this time two foot- been used for 40 years. What Collingwood were 44 points there. Even though our bikes already down there and yelled ball teams, some say the most an amazing place. We found no in front. Enough said. We took didn’t have gears it was pretty up to us to stop it. We could tell traditional of rivals in footy, were sign of the water that had halted our drinks and rode and walked easy riding. by their voices that those blokes running onto the MCG in front mining and the tunnel was our bikes up Growlers Hill, the The Phoenix mine was down were older than us so we bolted of a huge crowd of over 100,000 really solid. highest point in Rushworth. a track off to the right of the and hid behind some bushes. A people. I imagine that their legs The climb back out was not There we ate our lunches and main road just as you come into few minutes later a few guys, would have been shaking too. nearly as scary but it was quite climbed the tower which was Rushworth. We found it pretty who looked about eighteen or Collingwood, coached by Bob a haul. Once we were out of the used in summer for spotting easily and started exploring. nineteen emerged from a side Rose, were the favourites and mine our interest turned to what bushfires. It is a great view over First there were the sheds. They tunnel. We stayed hidden until were trying to win their first was happening in the footy. We the ironbark forests and also a were made of timber and corru- they were well gone. premiership since 1958. Ron certainly had mixed loyalties great place to get a fast start to gated iron and contained a lot of Dropping stones down the Barassi’s Carlton had won two that day. Tristy was a Richmond the journey home. old machinery, the most inter- mine didn’t really give us an years before but weren’t consid- supporter, I naturally followed What we didn’t know whilst esting of which was the stamper accurate picture of what the ered to be in the Magpie’s class. the Bombers and Campbell was we were doing all this was that battery. This machine was used shaft was like so we decided to As the two teams charged a Magpie fan. In those days Ron Barassi was giving one of to crush rock so that gold could dip some sticks into one of the through the massive “run- Collingwood was more hated the greatest half time talks of be more easily extracted. It was diesel drums, light them and throughs”, erected by their than Carlton, so Tony and I were all time. He was also telling his run by a huge diesel motor, a drop them down. Hopefully adoring fans, the three of us hoping the blues would win. team about a tactic which was modern addition to gold mining we’d be able to see the shaft all climbed further down into Campbell was deservedly confi- to change the way footy was as the Phoenix was the last mine the way down as the flaming unknown territory. Another dent of a Maggies’ premiership. played forever. to operate in Rushworth closing stick fell. As it was we couldn’t 50 feet down was the second in the 1930s due to water in the get the sticks to light. Diesel landing. This one actually had mine. does not just catch fire like a tunnel which we carefully SUB-EDITOR REQUIRED The mine itself was really petrol would. The sticks may not explored by torchlight. We fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too interesting. It had a poppet head have caught fire but the drips followed this tunnel for a while over the main shaft. This was of diesel did and they fell down until we came to another shaft Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can. a wooden tower with a wheel the shaft as little red beacons of which went straight down too i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. at the top of it for lowering and light, whistling like a mortar far for the torchlight to see how The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch raising a basket containing ore does, without the explosion at deep it was. There were a couple at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in or men between the surface and the bottom. Luckily we hadn’t of planks down there which the bottom of the mine shaft. tried that trick first when those we carefully tested for strength a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be guys were down there. before putting them across the in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed John is a teacher at Falls Creek writing The rope we had was just long shaft and crawling across. From it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed his memoirs for family. Here is an excerpt, enough for us to tie it to a tree there the tunnel went around ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and about the lows and highs on Grand Final and lower it down so it reached a curve before it ended with Day 1970. I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! Council Doings The coming agenda Patrick Thompson expressed its concern and disappointment at the approval Public interest in the activ- of a 5-story development at 90 Here are just some planning, as a dispersed ‘city’ of steel industry and having ities of Council should be a South Street, Ulladulla despite items… on the fringe of a large capital been ambassador to China in priority. The NBT aims to keep community opposition and city. The future is not fixed a critical phase. He has been its readers informed on civic prior to the finalisation of the ■ The Apology has been by constant widening of the conscious of the environmental matters. This year in September review of DCP 56. The forum spoken. The binding of wounds Princes Highway. impact of China’s develop- Council elections will occur. believes this approval further, and building of communi- ■ The Australia 2020 Summit ment (from a situation of per Council is elected for a four- ‘Undermines confidence in ties must follow. And we must will be held in Canberra on 19- capita steel consumption about year term. the DCP 56 review process have concerted action in the 20 April, dealing with 10 areas 6% of Australia) since then. The NBT 97 reported that and further demonstrates that Shoalhaven to link with the of policy concern. The Prime If his climate change report is the position of Threatened the 6 storey development in Koori communities, help them Minister has said that if six not creative and constructive Species Officer was under Wason Street, Ulladulla has bind wounds and strengthen good ideas come from it, it will and supportable, it will be a threat. Council has decided on now set a precedent for high their own culture and lore as be worthwhile. Anyone can surprise and a disappointment. maintaining the position but it rise buildings’. It is an outcome well as find their places in the make a submission. Do it. (Link It looks likely to be a challenge will be subject to a six monthly the forum says: ‘the Mayor economy of the twenty first to background and submission to government. review. assured the community would century. form at our web site) ■ The climate change issue In the last year NBT has not occur’. ■ The problem of the home- ■ Ross Garnaut delivers and argument about it tends to also reported on a number of Development at Huskisson less has been highlighted. a report to government on obscure the inescapable facts of development issues that are continues with the approval We await government ideas climate change in August diminishing energy supplies – shaping the future of our fair of the Beach Street DA with – there will be appointments (see our web site for link to unless and until there are sane city. We have reported that only the Greens & community to the “Australian Social the interim report). Ross is no renewable energy policies. the overwhelming majority groups opposing. The sale of Inclusion Board” which may ordinary economics professor, Links to these matters at of people when surveyed are Council’s Huskisson carpark is deal with this and other social having cut his teeth as advisor www.newbushtelegraph.net opposed to high rise develop- also proceeding. disadvantage. to the PNG Government in Be part of all this, this is a ment in our coastal villages A majority of councillors ■ There will be more its negotiations with Rio turning point in history – if we and towns. Sadly – a majority also voted against councillors Community Cabinet Meetings Tinto over Bougainville in choose to make it that. Forward of Council – has other ideas. having to provide a written – it would be good if these the 1970s, shaped the Hawke movement needs positive Development proceeds a pace. report after they have been on a acquire constructive meaning. Government’s collabora- ideas, not just criticism. Be ‘in Recently, the Ulladulla & rate payer funded trip to attend ■ We must seek to feature in tion with China on China’s community’, not ‘out of sorts’. Districts Community Forum a conference. the review of infrastructure core need for development Dennis Argall