Jump to It What’S It Like to Skydive? STACEY POST Reports
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word watch AMANDA LAUGESEN says g’day to some Australianisms. his year the Australian National Dictionary I remember the way they had of putting Centre celebrates the 25th anniversary things, like if a bit of country was hard Tof its core work, the Australian National country, they’d say: ‘Aw, she’s bad, that end Dictionary (AND). of the place. Saw a bandicoot with a cut The AND, edited by WS Ramson, is a dictionary lunch round his neck out there.’ of Australianisms – that is, words and meanings bonzer—surpassingly good of words that have originated in, or have 1959 H. DRAKE-BROCKMAN West Coast special significance to, Australia. Stories. Hail, beauteous land! hail, bonzer Modelled on the Oxford English Dictionary, West Australia; /Compared with you, all entries in the AND, which number others are a failure. approximately 10,000 headwords, include a mate boomerang v. series of quotations which tell the history of 1983 Bulletin. When they call you ‘mate’ in the word and how it has been used over time. 1891 Worker. Australia's a big country / An’ the N.S.W. Labor Party it is like getting a kiss Freedom's humping bluey / And Freedom’s The dictionary was a milestone in the from the Mafia. on the wallaby / Oh don’t you hear her lexicography of Australian English and provides Cooee, / She’s just begun to boomerang / The second edition of the AND, currently being invaluable insight into the rich literature, She’ll knock the tyrants silly. edited by Bruce Moore, will include more politics, and culture of Australia. than 3,000 new headwords, and many new up to dolly's wax—to be satiated (with quotations for the 10,000 headwords of the Here are some favourite quotes of Dictionary food) original dictionary. Centre staff: 1965 B. HUMPHRIES Nice Night's A version of the Australian National bandicoot Entertainment. Everyone was full up to Dictionary can be accessed online at James Paton and Owen Horton. 1980 ANSELL & PERCY To fight Wild. dolly's wax and I was absolutely stonkered. http://bit.ly/rep_AND Jump to it What’s it like to skydive? STACEY POST reports. fter jumping from a plane, you have Horton, who is studying Economics and life sentences just 60 seconds of falling through the Archaeology, and Paton will travel to Florida Aatmosphere before you need to deploy Skydiving has taught me in December to compete in the National MELANIE NOLAN looks at the ADB’s close connection with the Canberra community. a parachute. It’s a great way to focus the mind, Collegiate Skydiving Competition. says undergraduate and skydiving enthusiast to embrace life at every Owen Horton. Teams are given a ‘pool’ of formations to opportunity. complete during each jump. They have to “When you’re out the door you switch out squeeze in as many repeats of the pool as of any other mindset and switch into free-fall s the year of Canberra's centenary Jim Gibbney was another recruit from the and have helped choose Canberra entries for possible before separating and deploying their mode. You don’t think about anything else, “The parachute ride can be quite relaxed draws to a close, I’d like to reflect upon Library. He worked in its archives division the ADB. parachutes. The footage is then given to the you just naturally go through the motions. though; sometimes we just chill out up there, Athe long and continuing relationship before joining the ADB in 1965. As well as Fitzhardinge and Gibbney feature in The ADB’s take it nice and slow, even link our canopies judges to score. that the Australian Dictionary of Biography writing over 80 ADB entries, and editing “During free fall your mind is a lot sharper Story – a history of the ADB being launched at up. But often we just hook it in to a dive and “An example of a pool would be a head-down (ADB) has had with the local Canberra countless others, Gibbney maintained the and you get this great rush of adrenaline.” ANU next month. come in quite fast. Then it’s a quick pack, and exit with a single-hand contact or ‘dock’, then historical community. Biographical Register. We have also begun to add thematic essays to Let’s pause here a moment. back on the plane. We aim for five to eight switching to a head-up position followed by One of the ADB’s founders, Laurie Fitzhardinge, By 2011, when it was replaced by Obituaries our websites. Of particular interest to Canberra To get that 60 seconds of free fall, a skydiver jumps on a good day.” another dock, like foot to knee,” explains was a librarian at the Commonwealth National Australia, the Register consisted of 300,000 readers is one by Dr Karen Fox, A City and its has to leap from a plane that is cruising at Paton. “Then we might separate and conduct citations on index cards and a further 32,000 Twenty-three-year-old Horton and his skydiving Library (now the National Library of Australia) People: Canberra in the ADB, which highlights about 14,000 feet above the ground. team mate James Paton have been jumping dual 360 rotations before coming back in to in an in-house database. the many people in the ADB with a connection from 1934 to 1946. And, if that doesn’t get the blood racing, from planes since they were teenagers. start the pool again.” Following his retirement in 1984, Gibbney to the nation’s capital. A classicist by training, in 1951 he was the speed your body travels towards the Horton and Paton will be the only Australians published Canberra: 1913–1953, one of Paton, who is studying Commerce and Asia appointed reader in the sources of Australian We hope that one day we may have the earth surely will. represented at the competition. three commissioned bicentennial volumes resources to greatly expand the number of Pacific Studies and working part time to History in the ANU Research School of Social “What we do is called ‘free-fly’ skydiving. on Canberra. entries on Canberrans to create a full-scale fund his skydiving adventures, says jumping They hope as university-level Australian Sciences. By flying our bodies vertically we push up to out of planes has given him a new way of skydiving grows in popularity, more teams will Fitzhardinge and Gibbney were also members Dictionary of Canberra. around 300 kilometres per hour, so we only get approaching life. be able to head overseas to compete – would Three years later he began compiling a of the Canberra & District Historical Society, as The ADB’s Story is being published by ANU about 45 seconds before we have to separate you take the leap? Biographical Register – a basic card index of was Nan Phillips, the ADB’s first administrator. E Press as part of the ANU.Lives series. and deploy. We fly smaller, more aerobatic “Skydiving has taught me to say yes to as Australian lives, as a first stage in the creation Many members of the society have also served Karen Fox’s article can be found at canopies than the tandem jumpers use, so we much as possible and embrace life at every Video: See Paton and Horton in action of the ADB. on the ADB’s Commonwealth Working Party http://adb.anu.edu.au come down a lot faster,” explains Horton. opportunity.” http://bit.ly/rep_skydive 8 ANU Reporter Summer 2013 ANU Reporter Summer 2013 9.