Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Chequebook journalism reaches record high
On Channel 10 trading last week, chequebook journalism hit a record high at over $400,000 per story.
Douglas Wood was an Australian hostage recently released from captivity in Iraq, after either:
a) protracted negotiation with local warlords;
b) a daring raid after sufficient military intelligence had been gathered; or
c) a spot of luck when a chance raid on local militia revealed Wood hidden out the back.
The truth is most likely to be option c), a balance of a good fortune and no doubt some derring-do and quick thinking. The ‘truth’ is of course relative, and at the moment, according to those who own the information, the truth is option b): good intelligence, local allies on the ground, excellent planning and precision military execution.
To keep people motivated and on a war footing, it is important for governments to put out ‘positive-stories’, which it says ‘balance’ all the constant sniping from a left-wing media bent on undermining George Bush’s efforts to democratise the Middle East.
A similar positive story was the daring rescue of a female (surely no coincidence) US Marine, who had been captured in the early part of the war, after the official hostilities had been declared over. It turned out that the rescue had all the authenticity of a Jerry Bruckheimer movie – and indeed was probably scripted and produced by him.
Whatever the truth, Douglas Wood, a civilian contractor who chose to go and work in Iraq, was liberated from captivity and has returned to Australia to sell his story.
Channel 10, of the NewsCorp stable, has paid a record sum for his services: $400,000. This is largest amount of money ever officially paid for exclusive rights to a story.
This deal stops him recounting his story to any other media outlet for 2 months, after which his story will no longer be valuable. His obligations to NewsCorp have included a few puff-pieces in The Australian (national daily) and an interview on Channel 10 so hard hitting, it probably would have failed to make an impression on a sponge.
But what most demonstrates the general lack of standards in the media, is that the editorial team at The Australian (think broadsheet Daily Mail, but a little to the right) is endorsing Woods’ personal line on the war in Iraq, trumpeting Woods’ agreement with Bush-Blair-Howard policy as a total justification of its own pro-war editorial stance.
Self-serving is the phrase that springs to mind. It’s like trying to find an objective opinion on the band The Cure, by just asking teenagers dressed head to toe in black.
The rival (more centrist) Fairfax Press (The Melbourne Age and The Sydney Morning Herald) have got a little precious about the whole affair and undoubtedly feel irked of the ‘exclusive’ deal that Woods has signed. The editor of the Melbourne Age took offence that The Australian had endorsed Mr Woods view that his captors were arseholes and that there was no evidence that he had been mistreated. That Mr Woods had been held captive for six weeks, against his wishes and probably tied up, didn’t really matter, just as long as he had been given three square meals per day.
Does this matter? Does the average Australian read or notice the editorial slant? Do they appreciate the nuance in the journalism, which betrays a clear opinion? Probably not. But when chequebook journalism begins to gag whole sections of the press, especially when they may have a different view the truth is sold to the highest bidder.
The truth of Douglas Wood’s rescue will now not be known. That he was rescued was no doubt ‘good news’ and really nobody would have cared one iota had he simply wandered aimlessly into the Australian army’s barracks. But now that smoke and mirrors (or as politicians seeking to hide something call it, ‘the fog of war’) have been deployed to mask the true nature of his rescue, the integrity of his story suddenly becomes important. Wood’s and the government’s claims now need a more rigorous level of scrutiny than the pathetic excuse for an interview shown on Channel 10.
This scrutiny will not be provided by a NewsCorp outlet (ie Channel 10), as the organisation has openly professed its support of the war and good news stories. But now, due to Woods’ deal with Channel 10, his story and the integrity of Channel 10’s journalism – and for that matter, the government - is now never likely to face up to the scrutiny of a more questioning public.
Monday, June 27, 2005
The weekend's rugby
Either way, nobody in the NH or the SH (Scrum V again, Northern and Southern Hemisphere) expected the Lions to beat the ABs (Scrum V). To beat the ABs is NZ is tough; to beat them in the pouring rain, is even harder. Australia and South Africa know all about that.
Most are criticising SCW for picking a ‘RUWC 2003’ Benefit team, choosing a number of old buddies from the competition in Australia. At the beginning of the tour, he said based on current form, one England player would make the First XV. A few tour games later and things have changed enough to see eight in the XV and 13 in the squad.
Maybe SCW was under pressure from the sponsors to pick Wilkinson, regardless of who was playing better than him at No 10. NZ and Aus both have strong sides (despite comparative tiny numbers of players to pick from) precisely because of competition and merit based selection.
In Australia, Rathebone, Gitteau (world's best No 12?), Chris Latham, George Smith and Jeremy Paul all made the side in the last 12 months through injury to someone else, but have not lost their place since, despite the other players (Sailor, Flatley, Rogers, Samu and Cannon) regaining fitness. Merit, must be the governor of selection, not sponsors, experience or just plain ole' good mates….
The Lions paid dearly for it.
When SCW leaves the game to go under the employ of Southampton Football Club, many will question the legacy he left English Rugby Union. A great coach, who steered the England team steadily towards a peak at the RUWC in 2003? Or simply a half-decent motivator, who found himself in the right place at the right team with a great squad of world-beating players?
When a few retired or got injured England had a shocking run, loosing twice in NZ, then being stuffed in Brisbane and having two ordinary 6Nations Championships. Was this lack of SCW or lack of talent? Hate him or hate him more, in Australia, the 51-15 stuffing handed out in Brisbane in June 2004 was not quite as sweet as a win over a SCW England side.
It is shaping up to be a great 3Nations. The ABs will always be strong, but Australia is fresh from mauling two second division sides (Samoa and Italy) and are looking pretty polished and South Africa have had a good warm-up series against France (who Australia meet this week).
Australia’s game against Italy probably answered Eddie Jones’s selection questions. The back row must be Smith, Waugh and Lyons, Larkham must play at 10 and Gitteau at 12, Rathebone should start over Sailor (improving quickly again) and Latham must play over Rogers, if fit.
The Australian backs will need just 40% of possession to win any game. Their forwards won them much more than this against Italy and Samoa (unsurprisingly), but will have to fight hard to secure that level against top-flight sides. On an individual basis few Australians seem to make it into anyone’s World-15. As a team unit, surely they (remain) the best in the world?
This weekend’s game against France at Lang Park will be intriguing. We will only know how good Australia is after that, but I suspect the team is right up there.
Saturday, June 25, 2005
Whales and ICRW
Campbell’s tirade was passionate and remorseless, but was it justified?
Undoubtedly, food was an important product of the whaling industry in the early 20th century, but its primary purpose was in the production of oil. Until the widespread production of crude oil in the latter half of the 19th century, most house that were lit or heated by whale oil. For this reason, many species of whale were hunted to near extinction, before the signing of the International Agreement for the Regulation of Whaling in 1937 and the inauguration of the International Convention on the Regulation of Whaling, in 1946.
The purpose of the agreement is explicit; the preamble shows that it was not about protecting whales, but rebuilding a ‘natural resource’ for future orderly exploitation.
To protect future whale resources, it was understood and agreed that only the regulation of hunting would save certain species of whales and sanctuaries and moratoriums were required to protect feeding and calving areas.
The Convention also established funding mechanisms for the scientific research into whale populations. This research has been carried out diligently and with great success, considering some species of whale spend their entire lives in oceanic waters and travel many thousands of miles per year.
But the purpose of this research was to capture enough information to allow an informed decision on when the hunting of whales could recommence.
Again, the notion that whales were a ‘resource’, to be used sustainably was underlined when a new management policy was agreed, designed to “bring stocks to levels providing the greatest long-term harvests.”
In 1982, the Commission agreed that the commercial take of whales should pause from 1984/85, with the twin exceptions that Aboriginal hunting and a take for scientific studies could continue, within set quotas, until it could be established that numbers were back to a regenerative level.
Since then, the key messages of the original agreement from 1936 have been lost. There is now a widespread view that whales are completely and indefinitely protected and the Japanese are cruel itinerants to the agreement. So it would surprise many to learn that hunting is merely in abeyance, until such time as we can get back to work.
The reason for the discrepancy between public opinion and the realities of the Convention’s agreement is the success of the environment movement – and Greenpeace in particular – in promoting the complete and indefinite protection of all whales. But while Greenpeace has successfully shaped public opinion, the International Convention on the Regulation of Whaling still stands.
Japan’s current take of whales, under the pretence of scientific research, is a sham. Japan knows this, the rest of the world knows this. This is why Japan recently sought amendments to the management regime to recommence the legal commercial hunting of whales.
Their motion was defeated and their plan suffered two further blows when the Australian delegation sponsored and won a vote on a non-binding resolution to condemn the Japanese scientific take followed by the defeat of Japan’s request to increase their scientific take. Australia spearheaded the ‘no change’ caucus from a passionate and entrenched perspective, but due to the binding agreements of the ICRW, could only argue for the continued ban based on scientific findings. There could be no moral argument within the bounds of the current treaty.
But are the Japanese justified? Should we recommence the commercial take of whales, surely a natural resource much like any wild fish stock? A wealth of information has been obtained on whale numbers, breeding habits and on the sustainability of stocks. Indeed, the International Whaling Commission’s Scientific Committee probably has a better understanding of whale stocks than any other body has a handle on any other resource from the ocean. We are better equipped and able to carry out sustainable whaling than ever before.
But the world now consumes some 79 million barrels of oil per day. Hunting whales for oil once again would have zero impact on our current crude supply crisis. While a number of boutique oil based products could be produced from whale oil, this cannot be a reason to recommence hunting. On a local scale, provision is made for an indigenous take from the wild for the production of combustible oils, but this must continue to be closely regulated.
The dinner table – on which the majority of the Japanese scientific take ends up – is a more likely possibility, but again, the numbers involved would make an infinitesimal difference to the imbalance of global food stocks. 60 years ago, in many parts of the world, food supply, rather than distribution, may well have been an issue but in this globalised world, hunger is solely a factor of food distribution. So again, whale product could only be a boutique commodity. A small indigenous (“Aboriginal” is the word used) take is sustainable, and currently carried out quite legally, under one of the two exceptions to the moratorium on the commercial hunting of whales agreed in 1986.
The most sustainable ‘use’ of the whale lies in tourism. No doubt over-inquisitive tourist boats interfere with the behaviour of whales to a certain extent (and thus probably impact on whale populations), but this must be infinitely better than sending explosive harpoon heads into their backs, breaking up their complex social groups and mucking around with the ecology of the oceans.
Before the signing of the Convention in 1946, an unregulated commercial whaling industry took many species of whale to near extinction. Since then, there has been countless other examples of wild animal ‘resources’ being driven to extinction or at best, decimation, from which they probably will not recover. In many cases, this is despite regulation and quotas. Only regimes of absolute and indefinite protection have saved species such as the African Elephant, the Siberian Tiger, the Black Rhino or the Himalayan Snow Leopard.
Most of the world does not need to hunt whales today and it is doubtful they ever will again. At the current meeting of the Commission, Senator Campbell had to scratch around for the right words during his emotive plea for continuing the moratorium, as it had to be couched in scientific terms. But surely now whether we hunt whales or not is a moral issue and the time has come to lay the International Convention on the Regulation of Whaling to rest. A new comprehensive treaty on the protection of whales must be negotiated.
Thursday, June 23, 2005
h2g2
The state of play
In the final analysis, it has to, eventually. Whether it ends now, in an Ashes series, time will tell, but unless you are the only nation that plays a particular sport (think USA and American Football and to an extent, Baseball, at which they sometimes loose) you cannot stay on top forever.
The ODI loss to Bangladesh was undoubtedly an aberration. It seemed the team was ill prepared and sloppy in the field. To their credit, Bangladesh did bowl well, but Australia should have been quite capable of defending 250. There were some improvements in the next game against England and I guess Australia could take heart that it was two players who played the best games of their international ODI careers who won the game. But the ease at which England then brushed aside Bangladesh told heaps.
It is not time to start panicking yet. Australia often dig that little bit deeper when it really matters. In recent years, England have won Ashes Tests but only when the results did not matter. A steely Australia should soon emerge to defend the Ashes with spirit; it is simply a case of whether they have the depth in quality the bowling attack.
Australia is now blooding some youngsters in the batting line up, but in the bowling department the old guard remains entrenched. McGath and Warne remain two of the world's best bowlers, but only on their day and they will soon loose the edge. Coupled with an out-of-sorts Gillespie, an injured Lee and the Australian attack looks weakened and probably incapable of bowling England out twice at least three times.
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
We will all suffer from affluenza
Quickly we saw a flurry of reformist zeal: a minimum wage, guaranteed union recognition, reform of the Upper House and tax breaks for the lower earners.These were heady days, ripe with change.
Eight years of continued economic and material growth later and Gordon Brown’s dream of eliminating child poverty is within reach, more people are employed than ever before, average incomes have grown and yes, most the poorer have got wealthier.
Sunday, June 19, 2005
Lamington National Park
History
Lamington National Park has a rich modern history and a similarly fascinating natural history. It forms part of the north and western rim of the Mount Warning Shield Volcano – a 60km ring of rainforest covered escarpment (the McPherson Range), with Mount Waring isolated in the centre and with steep valleys radiating outwards from the rim. The fertile volcanic soils, high rainfall and sub-tropical climate have created a biodiversity hotspot, warranting World Heritage status as part of the Eastern Rainforest Reserves Australia World Heritage Area.
The Park was named after a former Governor of Queensland (1896-1901), Charles Wallace Alexander Napier Cochrane Baille, or Baron Lamington to people who weren’t his mates, who visited the park just once, in 1897, to shoot koalas.
The altitude of the rim – about 1,100m – and the prevailing moist easterlies create a cool micro-climate that has allowed more temperate tolerant Antarctic Beech trees to so far survive Australia’s 60 million year continental drift northwards from Gondwanaland towards the equator. Lamington is the most northerly extent of these ancient trees (some over 2,000 years old), any further north and it is too warm and rainforest takes over. Many of these trees would have been just middle-aged when the Industrial Revolution kick started global warming. They have survived and adapted over millions of years, but they could be early casualties to global warming. - another two or three degrees warmer up there and vine thickets and figs will take over.
Just off the peaks of the rim, the cooler microclimate gives way to sub-tropical rainforest, carved away by fast flowing water creating deep gorges and valleys. Further down the slopes, lower rainfall means more open forests, eventually giving way to open bush forest.
The O’Reilly factor
The modern history of the place is similarly as rich. In 1911, a bunch of Irish settlers, the O’Reilly brothers, attracted by cheap land just released by the government, pushed their way up the steep ridges in an attempt to farm dairy cattle. Huts were built and an area was cleared before agitation from the beginnings of the green movement succeeded in having the area designated a National Park in 1915.
Now, isolated in the middle of a National Park, and facing the enormous logistical problem of getting milk down of the mountain on a daily basis, without a decent road, the O’Reilly family realised they were better employed as guides to the growing number of visitors wanting to visit the park. They began their operation by carting groups up on horse back and putting them up in a series of huts. Later, the dairy farm became a guesthouse; further helped in the mid-1930s when a logging track was cut to the boundary of the National Park, then extended by the family to the doors of their guesthouse soon after.
The Stinson crash
O’Reilly’s further came to the attention of visitors when, in 1937, one of the brothers set out to find the site of a crashed Stinson aeroplane that failed to arrive at its destination. After two days searching through thick rainforest – some 10 days after the crash - Bernie O’Reilly found two survivors next to the wreckage. Four people had died in the crash. Bernie set out to find the seventh passenger, who had set out for help. He was later found dead after falling over a waterfall. The two survivors were later evacuated by a local farmers. The full story is recounted in the book “Green Mountains”.
This story of local heroism is all the more remarkable when you experience the terrain in which this happened. The rainforest is so dense and the valley’s are so steep that movement is severely restricted and navigation all but impossible for lack of clear view through the canopy. To have searched this huge area, looking for something as insignificant as a crashed Stinson is astonishing.
Now, O’Reilly’s Guesthouse is the sole operator, smack bang in the middle of a World Heritage area and a Mecca for bushwalkers. The family still runs the show and still guide guests through the park, being entitled ‘Honorary Park Rangers.’
Yesterday
The Green Mountains/O’Reilly’s settlement is up high at nearly 1,000m, so on a wet, windy and winter’s day, when we arrived before 9am it was only a 6 or 7 degrees. Through the day it didn’t really get much warmer, as later cloud came down and the place was shrouded in mist and drizzle.
Still, I guess it is ‘rainforest’ and true to form, it was raining; just a bit of the 2,000mm of rain they get each year up there.
It was the amazing trees which made the place. There were Antarctic Beeches, some over a thousand years old, huge Watkins and Strangler figs, Hoop Pines and Bolly Gums. But most astonishing were the Brush Box trees – huge stands of trees 40-50m high, some with trunks 15, maybe 16, metres in circumference. Standing underneath is quite humbling.
Our walk took us down a steep forested valley, dropping maybe 200m down to Canungra Creek. I had feared that the creeks would be dry, but this was a major creek and still full, well into winter - too full for James, as he slipped off a rock right up to his middle. Matthew also went in, crossing a creek.
On the way back up the valley to O’Reilly’s you pass by some wondrous waterfalls. Being such an overcast day, you could take some great photos of falls, with slow shutter speed, without fear of over-exposure. The results below are probably testament to the natural beauty of the place, rather than any latent ability I have with a camera.
Also pictured is the rainforest canopy walk; a series of suspension bridges at the lower canopy height. James also bravely ventured further up a ladder to a platform about 30m up in a Brush Box tree.
We had a late lunch at the famed O’Reilly’s Guesthouse before setting off down the gloomy rainforest track through the trees and mist with 50m visibility, followed by a 20km winding road down the valley.
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
The Challenge of Densification
For the former, more sprawl means open space comes at a premium. For the latter, a steady supply of land allows its profligate and wasteful use, resulting in inefficiencies that make Australians some of the most resource and energy intensive people in the world. South East Queensland (SEQ), the centre of habitation in the State, has a population density of approximately half that of South West England, still a relatively rural area. As a consequence, Australians are the highest per capita producers of greenhouse gas.
Monday, June 13, 2005
Mount Beerwah
So I am not quite sure what my Chief Executive would have thought about our trip to climb Mount Beerwah in the Glasshouse Mountains. But then frankly, what I do at weekends is none of her bloody business.
The guidebook describes it as a ‘scramble’; a Grade 2 ½ to 3 walk. The sign at the bottom of the mountain suggested it was ‘moderate to challenging’. Richard just described it as ‘good fun’. Either way, the kids didn’t go.
Mount Beerwah is the highest of the Glasshouse Mountains. It is the hard basaltic core of an eroded volcano, as evidenced by the hexagonal columns on the cliff faces. Imposing, at 557m, it sticks straight up out of the plains to the north of Brisbane. On the panoramic shot below, it is the one on the right, just off centre.
After a short walk up through bush, you appear at the bottom of a steep, bare rock face, stretching some 200m up. As far as climbing goes, the first 20m were the most difficult, but of course, the easier climbing further up becomes not so easy when the consequences of missing a foothold become more severe. It was, in short, terrifying.
Richard gleefully reminded Adrian and I that last year he had led his two daughters (both under 10) up to the top last year!
Once above this section, the rest of the climb is short walk through a sandy grotto, underneath a rocky overhang, then a long scramble up through rocks and scrub; hard going, but at least there was plenty of vegetation to grab onto if you fall.
The view from the top was outstanding. To the north you can see Mount Coolum (50km) and further still, Mount Cooroy (I think) about 75km away. To the south you could see all the way into Brisbane and beyond to Mount Tamborine, approx 110km away.
The terror of climbing up was probably exacerbated by the knowledge that at some stage, you will have to go down again. Fortunately, this was easier than expected – you simply slide down (in a semi-controlled fashion) on your backside stopping at each foothold; not very graceful, but nevertheless effective. Again, the bottom section was the most difficult and it involved waiting until a bottleneck of climbers cleared.
The few pictures below hopefully demonstrate the steepness and openness of the climb and the great view from the top.
In the afternoon, Adrian, Richard and Lisa and their three kids came over for a dinner of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.
Saturday, June 11, 2005
Australia 74 - 7 Samoa
Plenty for Eddie Jones to think about though, provided everyone is fit. Whilst Gregan will be picked (despite Whittaker playing well), who will play at five-eight? Larkham, Flatley or Gitteau? Personally, I would like to see Gitteau at 12 and Larkham at 10, but Gitteau controlled the game so well at 10, it would difficult to move him. The back three will probably be Latham, Rathbone and Tequiri as I’m not sure Sailor played well enough to change Eddie Jones’s mind. On the back row, Elsom played well enough for a spot against Italy, but Jones is still likely to go with Lyons, Waugh and Smith.
Either way, when reserves get the chance to play through injury, they very rarely pass over the opportunity to impress. It will probably mean that Flatley, Sailor, Rogers, Elsom, Roe, Whittaker and Tiranui, but that’s quite a bench line-up.
Thursday, June 09, 2005
Tri-Nations
A New Zealander walks into the bedroom with a sheep under his arm. His girlfriend looks up in surprise.
He says, "This is the pig I have sex with, when you've got a headache."
His girlfriend says, "I think you'll find that's a sheep."
The man replies, "I think you'll find I was talking to the sheep."
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Lighting our civilisation
Most of us have experienced shonky electrical products that seem programmed to self-destruct the moment our warranty is up. Many of us are frustrated that we can’t pick up a bargain 386 PC which can run Word, Excel and enough games to while away an afternoon. Instead we are paying the same price for a PC today that we were 10 years ago. It’s just that the PC is a million times quicker and runs flabby software you simply don’t need.
Durability also impacts on replacement-as-new prices. To cut the boys hair we bought some electric clippers – a bargain at $17. In 12 months of use they became increasingly blunt and eventually unusable.
The dilemma: spend probably twice as much getting the relevant metal parts sharpened (that is, if you can find anyone to actually do it) or spend $17 and get another set, complete with bonus plastic comb, full set of adjustments power cord and transformer.
Society is simply wasting itself away with crappy products unfit for their purpose and energy profligate to the extreme. Being wasteful with our products makes us wasteful with our environment. What makes it more shameful is that we allow our wastefulness to overstep our environment’s carrying capacity.
There are many reasons why we purchase cheap and nasty materials that are poorly put together. They range from the cultural – our obsession allowing the ad-men to tell us what we should buy; economic – our leaders’ obsession with global trade; and political – our indifference vis-à-vis allowing companies and governments to externalise environmental costs of production, thus shielding us from the true cost of our behaviour.
A most illuminating example of our wastefulness is our attitude to light.
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For some reason we need a little LED to assure us an electrical appliance is switched on. But worse, we also need a little LED to tell us when something is not switched on! My house is so full of such wasteful appliances you don’t need to turn on the lights to find your way to the bathroom at night. It is possible to navigate your way from the steady green and red glow emanating from the PC modem, the cordless telephone X 2, the microwave, the cooker, the TV, DVD player, amplifier, speaker system, video player, smoke alarms and mobile phone charger.
Pressures of business profitability persistently drive companies to cut more and more costs by simplifying designs and using ever-cheaper components. Now, most electrical components lack even an ‘off-switch’. Your two choices are ‘on’ and ‘nearly on’, also known as ‘standby’. On standby an appliance can use up to 65% of the energy required to function.
While most of my night lights can be killed at the end of the day by the flicking the switch on the wall, where the switch is hidden behind furniture (the amplifier and laptop), behind the appliance itself (the microwave and the cooker) or causes the need for a system reset (the modem) I am stuck with the glow.
Masses amounts of public money have been lavished on educating the public on energy conservation. We dutifully turn down our boilers a couple of degrees or learn to switch lights off when leaving a room. But all this is pretty much wasted if we continue to stack our homes with more and more electrical junk, complete with LEDs letting us know when it is switched off.
From now on, when replacing an electrical item (just out of warranty, less than two years old) the first question I will ask the sales rep is “Does it have an off-switch?”
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To say that Brisbane has a homeless problem would probably be overstating it. Sure, it’s a problem for those on the streets, but numbers are small and programs are in place alleviating the discomfort.
You see a few regulars on your daily route; a mixed bag of old fellas, indigenous people and those with emotional or mental health problems; the usual vulnerable suspects.
I was unsure of where they headed at night until my cycle ride through Brisbane over the weekend. It seems that most settle underneath the southern end (it gets the evening sun and is somewhat sheltered from any rain) of the William Jolly Bridge. Here, a number of cardboard and tented residencies look like they have been there a while. I am told a soup-van comes down every night to ensure that no one is freezing to death.
Probably 20-30 people bed down here each night. They do so under the glare of enormous floodlights that beam into the night lighting up William Jolly Bridge. How is it that we can find the public money to keep a concrete bridge lit up every night of the year, but cannot find the resources to secure proper shelter for the most vulnerable in society? How ironic that homeless people have found their homes underneath the glare of lighting extravagance.
Our wasteful attitude to light is directly aligned to our wasteful view of energy and ultimately, our regressed view of our place in the environment.
Monday, June 06, 2005
The 'Queens-land' celebrates
Her Majesty the Queen’s Birthday maybe pretty much ignored in the rest of the Commonwealth, including in her home nation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, but in her land of her namesake, Queensland, the date is still celebrated with all due pomp and ceremony.
Though Australia narrowly escaped becoming a republic in a referendum in 1999, Queensland remained a staunchly Monarchist State with some 63% of voters choosing to retain the current feudal ties, more than any other.
Queenslanders celebrate the Queen’s Birthday with a public holiday. Unofficial festivities range from a family BBQ in the park to watching footie on television or a few beers in the pub followed by a lamb sandwich later on. Many tradesmen celebrate the bonus day off work by doing additional cash-in-hand work for ridiculous prices.
The formal State celebrations are highlighted by a sombre message by the Speaker of the State Parliament on the following Tuesday, often attended by over 10 members of the public.
You only need stroll the streets of Brisbane to appreciate the deep affection Queenslanders have for the Queen. For example, browsing through a bookshop I noted more than three books about Her Majesty, tucked away on the fourth floor in the ‘Bargain Clearance’ section.
I also recall that morning several red shirted youths enthusiastically singing ‘God Save the Queen’, after having watched the UEFA Champions League Final in a bar before breakfast. The Queensland flag, currently flying from the Story Bridge after Queensland’s victory over NSW in the first State of Origin Rugby League game, also features the Union Flag.
“The Queen is deeply venerated in Queensland,” said State Opposition Leader, National Party MP, Lawrence Springborg. “In 1999, Queenslanders voting overwhelmingly in favour of retaining the Queen and I personally think she’s really great. She remains as relevant today as she ever has done.”
Premier Peter Beattie also joined the chorus. “It is fantastic that we honour such a great band. Although they accomplished great things, who knows what more they could have achieved had they not been so traumatically torn apart.”
2005, Queenslanders had hoped, would be the year the Queen visits her number one fans. Her Majesty the Queen had been invited to the Brisbane celebrations on several occasions, but had so far turned down the offer, claiming that she had important business at ‘Imperial HQ’, keeping check on her Prime Minister.
The Queen’s previous visit to Australia was last year, when she sent a proxy, heir to the throne, Charles, Prince of Whales. The Prince was asked to stop by in Melbourne, on his way back from New Zealand. She also made her grandson Prince Harry stay a year to look after some sheep and be photographed in a jackeroo’s hat.
But sadly for Queenslanders, when asked if she was able to attend the celebrations in Australia this year, Her Majesty replied that she “couldn’t really see the point in going when it wasn’t ski season” and “besides, isn’t it was one of Hitler’s?”
Saturday, June 04, 2005
Brisbane's city centre cycle paths
Much of this is now done and a path winds through park after park and through some of Brisbane's famous landmark areas such as Kangaroo Cliffs, the Botanic Gardens, Riverside through the CBD and of course, Southbank.
Where private property extends down to the riverbanks the council has invested (dumb people would say wasted) millions of dollars in putting in boardwalks over the river, include the famous floating Riverwalk, extending about 1.5km in the New Farm Area.
We got as far east as New Farm Park, which features an amazing grove of Weeping Figs, where between the mass of knotted drop down buttress roots a children's play area has been constructed. Westwards we got to Highgate Hill and stopped in to watch the second half of a game at Souths Rugby League Club.
Lunch was eaten right in the heart of the city where the cycle track winds hugs the banks beneath huge skyscrapers. Our route also included cycling over the Story Bridge.
All in, we did about 25kms, taking in some of Brisbane CBD's best open space areas. It really is a credit to the city authorities (State and Council) that they have created these recreational opportunities throughout the city. We may pay a little more in taxes, but we really do get value for money. And cycling is a surprisingly great way of seeing a city that is mostly geared towards the private motor vehicle.
The map opens in a new window; the numbers related to where each photo was taken.
(Click thumbnails to open largers image.)
Friday, June 03, 2005
Mostly stupid
Fans of Douglas Adams will remember that ‘mostly harmless’ was the edited version of the entry for Earth in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, the previous, unedited version being just ‘Harmless’.
But while it seems that the powder was mostly harmless, its fall-out threatens to be anything but with tempers flaring in Indonesia (as should be expected after a terrorist act against them) whilst the Australian government attempts to downplay the act as simply, ‘reckless’.
It begs the question of what would have happened if the reverse had occurred and white powder had been sent to the Australian Embassy in Jakarta.
(Labor) Opposition defence and homeland security spokesman, Robert McClelland, suggested that overdramatising the incident could place Australian embassies at great risk.
But then he later said that it was ‘too soon to link the incident to the Schapelle Corby case.’
Can you see what we’re dealing with here?
Thursday, June 02, 2005
No terrorists here, thanks
This venting has included someone posting a suspect package to the Indonesian Ambassador in Canberra, initiating a security threat, an evacuation of the building and the placing of 22 staff in isolation. The package was confirmed later to have contained a ‘biological agent’, subsequently found to be just a dull white powder and ‘some bacteria’.
Foreign Minister “Lord” Alexander Downer said, "All of us pour condemnation on this action and our hope that none of the staff will have in anyway been harmed”.
One word that was not been used by Downer was ‘terrorist’.
A couple of years ago when some goon was using similar tactics to clear out US government offices, everyone was quick to label them with the ‘T-word’, no doubt because he was one of those damn muslim-ists.
But I guess this episode in Canberra is just an over-exuberant Australian patriot who is upset with the decision of an Indonesian court, and not a terrorist at all.
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Immigration in the news again
In addition to a number of high profile cock-ups at the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, including the wrongful incarceration of two Australian citizens and a third being lost ‘somewhere’, Federal Immigration Minister, Senator Amanda Vanstone, has recently admitted to a further 85 cases that will go to an inquiry set up to investigate the failings.
Any good opposition would be going to town. Harsh immigration regimes, as Tony Blair found in the last UK election, are an easy target. All kinds of accusations can be thrown, some spurious, but most – those focusing on the inherent racism of the regimes – right behind the eight ball.
Unfortunately, the Australian Labor caucus is in no position to criticise the Howard government, being firm advocates of the current government policy. That is locking up any asylum seeker who doesn’t fancy sticking around the tented transit centres of Pakistan and Jordan and manages to gain entry to Australia under their own steam.
The only acceptable opposition to the policy is currently from a Liberal MP – Petro Georgiou - who has put forward two Private Members Bills calling for the mandatory and universal detention policy to be rescinded or relaxed. Of course this will never happen, but at least someone out there has principles.
John Howard is currently in talks with Mr Georgiou in what will essentially be an arm twisting exercise; a number of Representatives and Senators from the Coaltion have briefed that they are sympathetic to a change in the law.
Public attitudes towards Howard’s policy is a difficult subject to find meaningful research into. Certainly it is suggested that most Australians are aware of the policy and most disagree with it. Unfortunately for those in detention – including until yesterday, a three-year old Vietnamese boy who had spent his entire life in detention – it didn’t really matter enough to Australians at the last election.
Chequebook journalism reaches record high
Posted by Living with Matilda at 5:50 PM
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On Channel 10 trading last week, chequebook journalism hit a record high at over $400,000 per story.Douglas Wood was an Australian hostage recently released from captivity in Iraq, after either:
a) protracted negotiation with local warlords;
b) a daring raid after sufficient military intelligence had been gathered; or
c) a spot of luck when a chance raid on local militia revealed Wood hidden out the back.
The truth is most likely to be option c), a balance of a good fortune and no doubt some derring-do and quick thinking. The ‘truth’ is of course relative, and at the moment, according to those who own the information, the truth is option b): good intelligence, local allies on the ground, excellent planning and precision military execution.
To keep people motivated and on a war footing, it is important for governments to put out ‘positive-stories’, which it says ‘balance’ all the constant sniping from a left-wing media bent on undermining George Bush’s efforts to democratise the Middle East.
A similar positive story was the daring rescue of a female (surely no coincidence) US Marine, who had been captured in the early part of the war, after the official hostilities had been declared over. It turned out that the rescue had all the authenticity of a Jerry Bruckheimer movie – and indeed was probably scripted and produced by him.
Whatever the truth, Douglas Wood, a civilian contractor who chose to go and work in Iraq, was liberated from captivity and has returned to Australia to sell his story.
Channel 10, of the NewsCorp stable, has paid a record sum for his services: $400,000. This is largest amount of money ever officially paid for exclusive rights to a story.
This deal stops him recounting his story to any other media outlet for 2 months, after which his story will no longer be valuable. His obligations to NewsCorp have included a few puff-pieces in The Australian (national daily) and an interview on Channel 10 so hard hitting, it probably would have failed to make an impression on a sponge.
But what most demonstrates the general lack of standards in the media, is that the editorial team at The Australian (think broadsheet Daily Mail, but a little to the right) is endorsing Woods’ personal line on the war in Iraq, trumpeting Woods’ agreement with Bush-Blair-Howard policy as a total justification of its own pro-war editorial stance.
Self-serving is the phrase that springs to mind. It’s like trying to find an objective opinion on the band The Cure, by just asking teenagers dressed head to toe in black.
The rival (more centrist) Fairfax Press (The Melbourne Age and The Sydney Morning Herald) have got a little precious about the whole affair and undoubtedly feel irked of the ‘exclusive’ deal that Woods has signed. The editor of the Melbourne Age took offence that The Australian had endorsed Mr Woods view that his captors were arseholes and that there was no evidence that he had been mistreated. That Mr Woods had been held captive for six weeks, against his wishes and probably tied up, didn’t really matter, just as long as he had been given three square meals per day.
Does this matter? Does the average Australian read or notice the editorial slant? Do they appreciate the nuance in the journalism, which betrays a clear opinion? Probably not. But when chequebook journalism begins to gag whole sections of the press, especially when they may have a different view the truth is sold to the highest bidder.
The truth of Douglas Wood’s rescue will now not be known. That he was rescued was no doubt ‘good news’ and really nobody would have cared one iota had he simply wandered aimlessly into the Australian army’s barracks. But now that smoke and mirrors (or as politicians seeking to hide something call it, ‘the fog of war’) have been deployed to mask the true nature of his rescue, the integrity of his story suddenly becomes important. Wood’s and the government’s claims now need a more rigorous level of scrutiny than the pathetic excuse for an interview shown on Channel 10.
This scrutiny will not be provided by a NewsCorp outlet (ie Channel 10), as the organisation has openly professed its support of the war and good news stories. But now, due to Woods’ deal with Channel 10, his story and the integrity of Channel 10’s journalism – and for that matter, the government - is now never likely to face up to the scrutiny of a more questioning public.
Posted by Living with Matilda at 5:50 PM
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Monday, June 27, 2005
The weekend's rugby
Posted by Living with Matilda at 5:51 PM
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As many questions surrounding Clive WoodWood’s (or to use BBC Scrum V terminology, SCW) selection policy as to whether BOD (Brian O’Driscoll, Scrum V again) was taken out the game intentionally.Either way, nobody in the NH or the SH (Scrum V again, Northern and Southern Hemisphere) expected the Lions to beat the ABs (Scrum V). To beat the ABs is NZ is tough; to beat them in the pouring rain, is even harder. Australia and South Africa know all about that.
Most are criticising SCW for picking a ‘RUWC 2003’ Benefit team, choosing a number of old buddies from the competition in Australia. At the beginning of the tour, he said based on current form, one England player would make the First XV. A few tour games later and things have changed enough to see eight in the XV and 13 in the squad.
Maybe SCW was under pressure from the sponsors to pick Wilkinson, regardless of who was playing better than him at No 10. NZ and Aus both have strong sides (despite comparative tiny numbers of players to pick from) precisely because of competition and merit based selection.
In Australia, Rathebone, Gitteau (world's best No 12?), Chris Latham, George Smith and Jeremy Paul all made the side in the last 12 months through injury to someone else, but have not lost their place since, despite the other players (Sailor, Flatley, Rogers, Samu and Cannon) regaining fitness. Merit, must be the governor of selection, not sponsors, experience or just plain ole' good mates….
The Lions paid dearly for it.
When SCW leaves the game to go under the employ of Southampton Football Club, many will question the legacy he left English Rugby Union. A great coach, who steered the England team steadily towards a peak at the RUWC in 2003? Or simply a half-decent motivator, who found himself in the right place at the right team with a great squad of world-beating players?
When a few retired or got injured England had a shocking run, loosing twice in NZ, then being stuffed in Brisbane and having two ordinary 6Nations Championships. Was this lack of SCW or lack of talent? Hate him or hate him more, in Australia, the 51-15 stuffing handed out in Brisbane in June 2004 was not quite as sweet as a win over a SCW England side.
It is shaping up to be a great 3Nations. The ABs will always be strong, but Australia is fresh from mauling two second division sides (Samoa and Italy) and are looking pretty polished and South Africa have had a good warm-up series against France (who Australia meet this week).
Australia’s game against Italy probably answered Eddie Jones’s selection questions. The back row must be Smith, Waugh and Lyons, Larkham must play at 10 and Gitteau at 12, Rathebone should start over Sailor (improving quickly again) and Latham must play over Rogers, if fit.
The Australian backs will need just 40% of possession to win any game. Their forwards won them much more than this against Italy and Samoa (unsurprisingly), but will have to fight hard to secure that level against top-flight sides. On an individual basis few Australians seem to make it into anyone’s World-15. As a team unit, surely they (remain) the best in the world?
This weekend’s game against France at Lang Park will be intriguing. We will only know how good Australia is after that, but I suspect the team is right up there.
Posted by Living with Matilda at 5:51 PM
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Saturday, June 25, 2005
Whales and ICRW
Posted by Living with Matilda at 5:14 PM
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Australian Environment Minister, Senator Ian Campbell, is no supporter of hunting whales. In the recent furore at the International Whaling Commission in South Korea, there was no pretence of diplomacy. Time and again he accused the Japanese of lying about the purposes of their ‘scientific’ take of whales. It is simply a ‘slaughter’ and the carcasses are not bound for any scientific research, they are bound for the dinner tables of Tokyo. "To basically say to Japan in very clear terms that blowing up whales, destroying them with explosives and slicing them up and selling them in Japanese whale restaurants, is not science."Campbell’s tirade was passionate and remorseless, but was it justified?
Undoubtedly, food was an important product of the whaling industry in the early 20th century, but its primary purpose was in the production of oil. Until the widespread production of crude oil in the latter half of the 19th century, most house that were lit or heated by whale oil. For this reason, many species of whale were hunted to near extinction, before the signing of the International Agreement for the Regulation of Whaling in 1937 and the inauguration of the International Convention on the Regulation of Whaling, in 1946.
The purpose of the agreement is explicit; the preamble shows that it was not about protecting whales, but rebuilding a ‘natural resource’ for future orderly exploitation.
"Recognising the interests of the nations of the world in safeguarding for future generations the great natural resources represented by the whale stocks;
Recognising that the whale stocks are susceptible to natural increases if whaling is properly regulated, and that increases in the size of whale stocks will permit increases in the number of whales which may be captured without endangering these natural resources;
Having decided to conclude a convention to provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry."
To protect future whale resources, it was understood and agreed that only the regulation of hunting would save certain species of whales and sanctuaries and moratoriums were required to protect feeding and calving areas.
The Convention also established funding mechanisms for the scientific research into whale populations. This research has been carried out diligently and with great success, considering some species of whale spend their entire lives in oceanic waters and travel many thousands of miles per year.
But the purpose of this research was to capture enough information to allow an informed decision on when the hunting of whales could recommence.
Again, the notion that whales were a ‘resource’, to be used sustainably was underlined when a new management policy was agreed, designed to “bring stocks to levels providing the greatest long-term harvests.”
In 1982, the Commission agreed that the commercial take of whales should pause from 1984/85, with the twin exceptions that Aboriginal hunting and a take for scientific studies could continue, within set quotas, until it could be established that numbers were back to a regenerative level.
Since then, the key messages of the original agreement from 1936 have been lost. There is now a widespread view that whales are completely and indefinitely protected and the Japanese are cruel itinerants to the agreement. So it would surprise many to learn that hunting is merely in abeyance, until such time as we can get back to work.
The reason for the discrepancy between public opinion and the realities of the Convention’s agreement is the success of the environment movement – and Greenpeace in particular – in promoting the complete and indefinite protection of all whales. But while Greenpeace has successfully shaped public opinion, the International Convention on the Regulation of Whaling still stands.
Japan’s current take of whales, under the pretence of scientific research, is a sham. Japan knows this, the rest of the world knows this. This is why Japan recently sought amendments to the management regime to recommence the legal commercial hunting of whales.
Their motion was defeated and their plan suffered two further blows when the Australian delegation sponsored and won a vote on a non-binding resolution to condemn the Japanese scientific take followed by the defeat of Japan’s request to increase their scientific take. Australia spearheaded the ‘no change’ caucus from a passionate and entrenched perspective, but due to the binding agreements of the ICRW, could only argue for the continued ban based on scientific findings. There could be no moral argument within the bounds of the current treaty.
But are the Japanese justified? Should we recommence the commercial take of whales, surely a natural resource much like any wild fish stock? A wealth of information has been obtained on whale numbers, breeding habits and on the sustainability of stocks. Indeed, the International Whaling Commission’s Scientific Committee probably has a better understanding of whale stocks than any other body has a handle on any other resource from the ocean. We are better equipped and able to carry out sustainable whaling than ever before.
But the world now consumes some 79 million barrels of oil per day. Hunting whales for oil once again would have zero impact on our current crude supply crisis. While a number of boutique oil based products could be produced from whale oil, this cannot be a reason to recommence hunting. On a local scale, provision is made for an indigenous take from the wild for the production of combustible oils, but this must continue to be closely regulated.
The dinner table – on which the majority of the Japanese scientific take ends up – is a more likely possibility, but again, the numbers involved would make an infinitesimal difference to the imbalance of global food stocks. 60 years ago, in many parts of the world, food supply, rather than distribution, may well have been an issue but in this globalised world, hunger is solely a factor of food distribution. So again, whale product could only be a boutique commodity. A small indigenous (“Aboriginal” is the word used) take is sustainable, and currently carried out quite legally, under one of the two exceptions to the moratorium on the commercial hunting of whales agreed in 1986.
The most sustainable ‘use’ of the whale lies in tourism. No doubt over-inquisitive tourist boats interfere with the behaviour of whales to a certain extent (and thus probably impact on whale populations), but this must be infinitely better than sending explosive harpoon heads into their backs, breaking up their complex social groups and mucking around with the ecology of the oceans.
Before the signing of the Convention in 1946, an unregulated commercial whaling industry took many species of whale to near extinction. Since then, there has been countless other examples of wild animal ‘resources’ being driven to extinction or at best, decimation, from which they probably will not recover. In many cases, this is despite regulation and quotas. Only regimes of absolute and indefinite protection have saved species such as the African Elephant, the Siberian Tiger, the Black Rhino or the Himalayan Snow Leopard.
Most of the world does not need to hunt whales today and it is doubtful they ever will again. At the current meeting of the Commission, Senator Campbell had to scratch around for the right words during his emotive plea for continuing the moratorium, as it had to be couched in scientific terms. But surely now whether we hunt whales or not is a moral issue and the time has come to lay the International Convention on the Regulation of Whaling to rest. A new comprehensive treaty on the protection of whales must be negotiated.
Posted by Living with Matilda at 5:14 PM
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Thursday, June 23, 2005
h2g2
Posted by Living with Matilda at 9:49 PM
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Was the late Douglas Adams visionary or flukey, or did he just think it was a neat idea?
When he wrote about the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, I guess computers were beginning to chat to each other, albeit in small numbers and through immensely complex systems, requiring a PhD in computer science to send through a tiny sprite (remember those?).
His idea, of a wireless networked, hyperlinked information system was the forerunner of the 3G mobile phone and the weblog. Why of why, has no one manufactured a mobile case with the words 'Don't Panic' written in large friendly letters on the front cover.
bbc.co.uk have kicked over their own version. Guest editors - budding Ford Prefects - can submit their recollections, tips and info to the site, from where global hitchhikers can download where the best place to eat is in that location.
The site is pretty funny, though will need studious editing (ahhh, the scurge of the world wide web!) to ensure it is not hijacked by roaming submitters marketing products and that it doesn't degenerate into a mass weblog.
Have a look, and tap in where you live. Find out where the nearest (geographically, if not temporally) place to eat is.
Posted by Living with Matilda at 9:49 PM
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The state of play
Posted by Living with Matilda at 5:42 PM
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A few losses does not make a crisis, but the Australian cricket team are now beginning to feel the pressure. Although being far from invincible (a series loss in India in 2002 springs to mind), the team has been the dominant force in world cricket for the passed 16 years, beginning with the 1989 Ashes turnaround in England. But now Australians are asking themselves, is this dominance coming to an end?In the final analysis, it has to, eventually. Whether it ends now, in an Ashes series, time will tell, but unless you are the only nation that plays a particular sport (think USA and American Football and to an extent, Baseball, at which they sometimes loose) you cannot stay on top forever.
The ODI loss to Bangladesh was undoubtedly an aberration. It seemed the team was ill prepared and sloppy in the field. To their credit, Bangladesh did bowl well, but Australia should have been quite capable of defending 250. There were some improvements in the next game against England and I guess Australia could take heart that it was two players who played the best games of their international ODI careers who won the game. But the ease at which England then brushed aside Bangladesh told heaps.
It is not time to start panicking yet. Australia often dig that little bit deeper when it really matters. In recent years, England have won Ashes Tests but only when the results did not matter. A steely Australia should soon emerge to defend the Ashes with spirit; it is simply a case of whether they have the depth in quality the bowling attack.
Australia is now blooding some youngsters in the batting line up, but in the bowling department the old guard remains entrenched. McGath and Warne remain two of the world's best bowlers, but only on their day and they will soon loose the edge. Coupled with an out-of-sorts Gillespie, an injured Lee and the Australian attack looks weakened and probably incapable of bowling England out twice at least three times.
Posted by Living with Matilda at 5:42 PM
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Wednesday, June 22, 2005
We will all suffer from affluenza
Posted by Living with Matilda at 12:48 PM
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On May 1st 1997, 18 years of cruel, heartless and latterly corrupt Tory rule had come to an end in Britain. The country ushered in a New Labour government, led by the charismatic, modernising and pragmatic social democrat, Tony Blair.Quickly we saw a flurry of reformist zeal: a minimum wage, guaranteed union recognition, reform of the Upper House and tax breaks for the lower earners.These were heady days, ripe with change.
Eight years of continued economic and material growth later and Gordon Brown’s dream of eliminating child poverty is within reach, more people are employed than ever before, average incomes have grown and yes, most the poorer have got wealthier.
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Sunday, June 19, 2005
Lamington National Park
Posted by Living with Matilda at 9:03 PM
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As I have been a bit disorganised in arranging time off at work (new job, in the middle of load of community events etc), I am having to rely on days out, rather than trips away. If this means getting up ridiculously early to get somewhere far away, then so be it. On Sunday, we went to Lamington National Park (at last).History
Lamington National Park has a rich modern history and a similarly fascinating natural history. It forms part of the north and western rim of the Mount Warning Shield Volcano – a 60km ring of rainforest covered escarpment (the McPherson Range), with Mount Waring isolated in the centre and with steep valleys radiating outwards from the rim. The fertile volcanic soils, high rainfall and sub-tropical climate have created a biodiversity hotspot, warranting World Heritage status as part of the Eastern Rainforest Reserves Australia World Heritage Area.
The Park was named after a former Governor of Queensland (1896-1901), Charles Wallace Alexander Napier Cochrane Baille, or Baron Lamington to people who weren’t his mates, who visited the park just once, in 1897, to shoot koalas.
The altitude of the rim – about 1,100m – and the prevailing moist easterlies create a cool micro-climate that has allowed more temperate tolerant Antarctic Beech trees to so far survive Australia’s 60 million year continental drift northwards from Gondwanaland towards the equator. Lamington is the most northerly extent of these ancient trees (some over 2,000 years old), any further north and it is too warm and rainforest takes over. Many of these trees would have been just middle-aged when the Industrial Revolution kick started global warming. They have survived and adapted over millions of years, but they could be early casualties to global warming. - another two or three degrees warmer up there and vine thickets and figs will take over.
Just off the peaks of the rim, the cooler microclimate gives way to sub-tropical rainforest, carved away by fast flowing water creating deep gorges and valleys. Further down the slopes, lower rainfall means more open forests, eventually giving way to open bush forest.
The O’Reilly factor
The modern history of the place is similarly as rich. In 1911, a bunch of Irish settlers, the O’Reilly brothers, attracted by cheap land just released by the government, pushed their way up the steep ridges in an attempt to farm dairy cattle. Huts were built and an area was cleared before agitation from the beginnings of the green movement succeeded in having the area designated a National Park in 1915.
Now, isolated in the middle of a National Park, and facing the enormous logistical problem of getting milk down of the mountain on a daily basis, without a decent road, the O’Reilly family realised they were better employed as guides to the growing number of visitors wanting to visit the park. They began their operation by carting groups up on horse back and putting them up in a series of huts. Later, the dairy farm became a guesthouse; further helped in the mid-1930s when a logging track was cut to the boundary of the National Park, then extended by the family to the doors of their guesthouse soon after.
The Stinson crash
O’Reilly’s further came to the attention of visitors when, in 1937, one of the brothers set out to find the site of a crashed Stinson aeroplane that failed to arrive at its destination. After two days searching through thick rainforest – some 10 days after the crash - Bernie O’Reilly found two survivors next to the wreckage. Four people had died in the crash. Bernie set out to find the seventh passenger, who had set out for help. He was later found dead after falling over a waterfall. The two survivors were later evacuated by a local farmers. The full story is recounted in the book “Green Mountains”.
This story of local heroism is all the more remarkable when you experience the terrain in which this happened. The rainforest is so dense and the valley’s are so steep that movement is severely restricted and navigation all but impossible for lack of clear view through the canopy. To have searched this huge area, looking for something as insignificant as a crashed Stinson is astonishing.
Now, O’Reilly’s Guesthouse is the sole operator, smack bang in the middle of a World Heritage area and a Mecca for bushwalkers. The family still runs the show and still guide guests through the park, being entitled ‘Honorary Park Rangers.’
Yesterday
The Green Mountains/O’Reilly’s settlement is up high at nearly 1,000m, so on a wet, windy and winter’s day, when we arrived before 9am it was only a 6 or 7 degrees. Through the day it didn’t really get much warmer, as later cloud came down and the place was shrouded in mist and drizzle.
Still, I guess it is ‘rainforest’ and true to form, it was raining; just a bit of the 2,000mm of rain they get each year up there.
It was the amazing trees which made the place. There were Antarctic Beeches, some over a thousand years old, huge Watkins and Strangler figs, Hoop Pines and Bolly Gums. But most astonishing were the Brush Box trees – huge stands of trees 40-50m high, some with trunks 15, maybe 16, metres in circumference. Standing underneath is quite humbling.
Our walk took us down a steep forested valley, dropping maybe 200m down to Canungra Creek. I had feared that the creeks would be dry, but this was a major creek and still full, well into winter - too full for James, as he slipped off a rock right up to his middle. Matthew also went in, crossing a creek.
On the way back up the valley to O’Reilly’s you pass by some wondrous waterfalls. Being such an overcast day, you could take some great photos of falls, with slow shutter speed, without fear of over-exposure. The results below are probably testament to the natural beauty of the place, rather than any latent ability I have with a camera.
Also pictured is the rainforest canopy walk; a series of suspension bridges at the lower canopy height. James also bravely ventured further up a ladder to a platform about 30m up in a Brush Box tree.
We had a late lunch at the famed O’Reilly’s Guesthouse before setting off down the gloomy rainforest track through the trees and mist with 50m visibility, followed by a 20km winding road down the valley.
Pictures:
- Orange fungus on tree
- More of the orange fungus on tree
- An enormous Brush Box, nearly 20 metres in circumference
- Canungra Creek
- Another enormous Brush Box
- Tree ferns in rainforest
- That Brush Bob again
- Mini eco-system, 30m up in the rainforest canopy
- O’Reilly’s Guesthouse, shrouded in cloud
- Elabana Falls
- Brush Box Falls
- The rainforest canopy walk
- More waterfalls
- Matthew and tree
Posted by Living with Matilda at 9:03 PM
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Wednesday, June 15, 2005
The Challenge of Densification
Posted by Living with Matilda at 5:58 PM
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It is accepted planning lore that ‘urban sprawl’ is inefficient use of land and the answer to creating more sustainable cities lies in densification: either from subdividing smaller lots, terraced housing or mixed dwelling developments. This seems to hold for both crowded islands such as Britain and enormous landmasses like Australia.For the former, more sprawl means open space comes at a premium. For the latter, a steady supply of land allows its profligate and wasteful use, resulting in inefficiencies that make Australians some of the most resource and energy intensive people in the world. South East Queensland (SEQ), the centre of habitation in the State, has a population density of approximately half that of South West England, still a relatively rural area. As a consequence, Australians are the highest per capita producers of greenhouse gas.
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Monday, June 13, 2005
Mount Beerwah
Posted by Living with Matilda at 8:48 PM
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I guess every now and then you need to do something which pumps the system full of adrenaline – just to prove that you are still alive. We are bombarded by a culture of risk aversion; indeed a big corporate push at Brisbane City Council is for ‘zero-harm’ – no harm to anybody, anywhere (including home).So I am not quite sure what my Chief Executive would have thought about our trip to climb Mount Beerwah in the Glasshouse Mountains. But then frankly, what I do at weekends is none of her bloody business.
The guidebook describes it as a ‘scramble’; a Grade 2 ½ to 3 walk. The sign at the bottom of the mountain suggested it was ‘moderate to challenging’. Richard just described it as ‘good fun’. Either way, the kids didn’t go.
Mount Beerwah is the highest of the Glasshouse Mountains. It is the hard basaltic core of an eroded volcano, as evidenced by the hexagonal columns on the cliff faces. Imposing, at 557m, it sticks straight up out of the plains to the north of Brisbane. On the panoramic shot below, it is the one on the right, just off centre.
After a short walk up through bush, you appear at the bottom of a steep, bare rock face, stretching some 200m up. As far as climbing goes, the first 20m were the most difficult, but of course, the easier climbing further up becomes not so easy when the consequences of missing a foothold become more severe. It was, in short, terrifying.
Richard gleefully reminded Adrian and I that last year he had led his two daughters (both under 10) up to the top last year!
Once above this section, the rest of the climb is short walk through a sandy grotto, underneath a rocky overhang, then a long scramble up through rocks and scrub; hard going, but at least there was plenty of vegetation to grab onto if you fall.
The view from the top was outstanding. To the north you can see Mount Coolum (50km) and further still, Mount Cooroy (I think) about 75km away. To the south you could see all the way into Brisbane and beyond to Mount Tamborine, approx 110km away.
The terror of climbing up was probably exacerbated by the knowledge that at some stage, you will have to go down again. Fortunately, this was easier than expected – you simply slide down (in a semi-controlled fashion) on your backside stopping at each foothold; not very graceful, but nevertheless effective. Again, the bottom section was the most difficult and it involved waiting until a bottleneck of climbers cleared.
The few pictures below hopefully demonstrate the steepness and openness of the climb and the great view from the top.
In the afternoon, Adrian, Richard and Lisa and their three kids came over for a dinner of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.
Posted by Living with Matilda at 8:48 PM
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Saturday, June 11, 2005
Australia 74 - 7 Samoa
Posted by Living with Matilda at 12:44 PM
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The Wallabies strolled to a win in their first game of the season. An under strength Samoa put up little resistance to an under strength Australia. The seventy-something to 7 score line reflecting Samoan indiscipline and Wallaby domination of possession. Plenty for Eddie Jones to think about though, provided everyone is fit. Whilst Gregan will be picked (despite Whittaker playing well), who will play at five-eight? Larkham, Flatley or Gitteau? Personally, I would like to see Gitteau at 12 and Larkham at 10, but Gitteau controlled the game so well at 10, it would difficult to move him. The back three will probably be Latham, Rathbone and Tequiri as I’m not sure Sailor played well enough to change Eddie Jones’s mind. On the back row, Elsom played well enough for a spot against Italy, but Jones is still likely to go with Lyons, Waugh and Smith.
Either way, when reserves get the chance to play through injury, they very rarely pass over the opportunity to impress. It will probably mean that Flatley, Sailor, Rogers, Elsom, Roe, Whittaker and Tiranui, but that’s quite a bench line-up.
Posted by Living with Matilda at 12:44 PM
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Thursday, June 09, 2005
Tri-Nations
Posted by Living with Matilda at 10:15 PM
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With the Tri-Nations competition just 5 weeks away, the 'be nice to Kiwis' jokes are rolling in.....A New Zealander walks into the bedroom with a sheep under his arm. His girlfriend looks up in surprise.
He says, "This is the pig I have sex with, when you've got a headache."
His girlfriend says, "I think you'll find that's a sheep."
The man replies, "I think you'll find I was talking to the sheep."
Posted by Living with Matilda at 10:15 PM
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Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Lighting our civilisation
Posted by Living with Matilda at 2:51 PM
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This is an interesting take on durability – the appropriateness of materials and products for their use.Most of us have experienced shonky electrical products that seem programmed to self-destruct the moment our warranty is up. Many of us are frustrated that we can’t pick up a bargain 386 PC which can run Word, Excel and enough games to while away an afternoon. Instead we are paying the same price for a PC today that we were 10 years ago. It’s just that the PC is a million times quicker and runs flabby software you simply don’t need.
Durability also impacts on replacement-as-new prices. To cut the boys hair we bought some electric clippers – a bargain at $17. In 12 months of use they became increasingly blunt and eventually unusable.
The dilemma: spend probably twice as much getting the relevant metal parts sharpened (that is, if you can find anyone to actually do it) or spend $17 and get another set, complete with bonus plastic comb, full set of adjustments power cord and transformer.
Society is simply wasting itself away with crappy products unfit for their purpose and energy profligate to the extreme. Being wasteful with our products makes us wasteful with our environment. What makes it more shameful is that we allow our wastefulness to overstep our environment’s carrying capacity.
There are many reasons why we purchase cheap and nasty materials that are poorly put together. They range from the cultural – our obsession allowing the ad-men to tell us what we should buy; economic – our leaders’ obsession with global trade; and political – our indifference vis-à-vis allowing companies and governments to externalise environmental costs of production, thus shielding us from the true cost of our behaviour.
A most illuminating example of our wastefulness is our attitude to light.
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For some reason we need a little LED to assure us an electrical appliance is switched on. But worse, we also need a little LED to tell us when something is not switched on! My house is so full of such wasteful appliances you don’t need to turn on the lights to find your way to the bathroom at night. It is possible to navigate your way from the steady green and red glow emanating from the PC modem, the cordless telephone X 2, the microwave, the cooker, the TV, DVD player, amplifier, speaker system, video player, smoke alarms and mobile phone charger.
Pressures of business profitability persistently drive companies to cut more and more costs by simplifying designs and using ever-cheaper components. Now, most electrical components lack even an ‘off-switch’. Your two choices are ‘on’ and ‘nearly on’, also known as ‘standby’. On standby an appliance can use up to 65% of the energy required to function.
While most of my night lights can be killed at the end of the day by the flicking the switch on the wall, where the switch is hidden behind furniture (the amplifier and laptop), behind the appliance itself (the microwave and the cooker) or causes the need for a system reset (the modem) I am stuck with the glow.
Masses amounts of public money have been lavished on educating the public on energy conservation. We dutifully turn down our boilers a couple of degrees or learn to switch lights off when leaving a room. But all this is pretty much wasted if we continue to stack our homes with more and more electrical junk, complete with LEDs letting us know when it is switched off.
From now on, when replacing an electrical item (just out of warranty, less than two years old) the first question I will ask the sales rep is “Does it have an off-switch?”
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To say that Brisbane has a homeless problem would probably be overstating it. Sure, it’s a problem for those on the streets, but numbers are small and programs are in place alleviating the discomfort.
You see a few regulars on your daily route; a mixed bag of old fellas, indigenous people and those with emotional or mental health problems; the usual vulnerable suspects.
I was unsure of where they headed at night until my cycle ride through Brisbane over the weekend. It seems that most settle underneath the southern end (it gets the evening sun and is somewhat sheltered from any rain) of the William Jolly Bridge. Here, a number of cardboard and tented residencies look like they have been there a while. I am told a soup-van comes down every night to ensure that no one is freezing to death.
Probably 20-30 people bed down here each night. They do so under the glare of enormous floodlights that beam into the night lighting up William Jolly Bridge. How is it that we can find the public money to keep a concrete bridge lit up every night of the year, but cannot find the resources to secure proper shelter for the most vulnerable in society? How ironic that homeless people have found their homes underneath the glare of lighting extravagance.
Our wasteful attitude to light is directly aligned to our wasteful view of energy and ultimately, our regressed view of our place in the environment.
Posted by Living with Matilda at 2:51 PM
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Monday, June 06, 2005
The 'Queens-land' celebrates
Posted by Living with Matilda at 4:31 PM
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Her Majesty the Queen’s Birthday maybe pretty much ignored in the rest of the Commonwealth, including in her home nation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, but in her land of her namesake, Queensland, the date is still celebrated with all due pomp and ceremony.Though Australia narrowly escaped becoming a republic in a referendum in 1999, Queensland remained a staunchly Monarchist State with some 63% of voters choosing to retain the current feudal ties, more than any other.
Queenslanders celebrate the Queen’s Birthday with a public holiday. Unofficial festivities range from a family BBQ in the park to watching footie on television or a few beers in the pub followed by a lamb sandwich later on. Many tradesmen celebrate the bonus day off work by doing additional cash-in-hand work for ridiculous prices.
The formal State celebrations are highlighted by a sombre message by the Speaker of the State Parliament on the following Tuesday, often attended by over 10 members of the public.
You only need stroll the streets of Brisbane to appreciate the deep affection Queenslanders have for the Queen. For example, browsing through a bookshop I noted more than three books about Her Majesty, tucked away on the fourth floor in the ‘Bargain Clearance’ section.
I also recall that morning several red shirted youths enthusiastically singing ‘God Save the Queen’, after having watched the UEFA Champions League Final in a bar before breakfast. The Queensland flag, currently flying from the Story Bridge after Queensland’s victory over NSW in the first State of Origin Rugby League game, also features the Union Flag.
“The Queen is deeply venerated in Queensland,” said State Opposition Leader, National Party MP, Lawrence Springborg. “In 1999, Queenslanders voting overwhelmingly in favour of retaining the Queen and I personally think she’s really great. She remains as relevant today as she ever has done.”
Premier Peter Beattie also joined the chorus. “It is fantastic that we honour such a great band. Although they accomplished great things, who knows what more they could have achieved had they not been so traumatically torn apart.”
2005, Queenslanders had hoped, would be the year the Queen visits her number one fans. Her Majesty the Queen had been invited to the Brisbane celebrations on several occasions, but had so far turned down the offer, claiming that she had important business at ‘Imperial HQ’, keeping check on her Prime Minister.
The Queen’s previous visit to Australia was last year, when she sent a proxy, heir to the throne, Charles, Prince of Whales. The Prince was asked to stop by in Melbourne, on his way back from New Zealand. She also made her grandson Prince Harry stay a year to look after some sheep and be photographed in a jackeroo’s hat.
But sadly for Queenslanders, when asked if she was able to attend the celebrations in Australia this year, Her Majesty replied that she “couldn’t really see the point in going when it wasn’t ski season” and “besides, isn’t it was one of Hitler’s?”
Posted by Living with Matilda at 4:31 PM
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Saturday, June 04, 2005
Brisbane's city centre cycle paths
Posted by Living with Matilda at 10:42 PM
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Took a fantastic cycle ride through the city centre today. It is a council policy to eventually open up pedestrian and cycle access along the both banks of the river from Queensland University to Hamilton.Much of this is now done and a path winds through park after park and through some of Brisbane's famous landmark areas such as Kangaroo Cliffs, the Botanic Gardens, Riverside through the CBD and of course, Southbank.
Where private property extends down to the riverbanks the council has invested (dumb people would say wasted) millions of dollars in putting in boardwalks over the river, include the famous floating Riverwalk, extending about 1.5km in the New Farm Area.
We got as far east as New Farm Park, which features an amazing grove of Weeping Figs, where between the mass of knotted drop down buttress roots a children's play area has been constructed. Westwards we got to Highgate Hill and stopped in to watch the second half of a game at Souths Rugby League Club.
Lunch was eaten right in the heart of the city where the cycle track winds hugs the banks beneath huge skyscrapers. Our route also included cycling over the Story Bridge.
All in, we did about 25kms, taking in some of Brisbane CBD's best open space areas. It really is a credit to the city authorities (State and Council) that they have created these recreational opportunities throughout the city. We may pay a little more in taxes, but we really do get value for money. And cycling is a surprisingly great way of seeing a city that is mostly geared towards the private motor vehicle.
The map opens in a new window; the numbers related to where each photo was taken.
(Click thumbnails to open largers image.)
Posted by Living with Matilda at 10:42 PM
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Friday, June 03, 2005
Mostly stupid
Posted by Living with Matilda at 12:13 PM
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It has pretty much been confirmed that the white powder posted by a terrorist to the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra was – quote - “Mostly harmless”.Fans of Douglas Adams will remember that ‘mostly harmless’ was the edited version of the entry for Earth in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, the previous, unedited version being just ‘Harmless’.
But while it seems that the powder was mostly harmless, its fall-out threatens to be anything but with tempers flaring in Indonesia (as should be expected after a terrorist act against them) whilst the Australian government attempts to downplay the act as simply, ‘reckless’.
It begs the question of what would have happened if the reverse had occurred and white powder had been sent to the Australian Embassy in Jakarta.
(Labor) Opposition defence and homeland security spokesman, Robert McClelland, suggested that overdramatising the incident could place Australian embassies at great risk.
But then he later said that it was ‘too soon to link the incident to the Schapelle Corby case.’
Can you see what we’re dealing with here?
Posted by Living with Matilda at 12:13 PM
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Thursday, June 02, 2005
No terrorists here, thanks
Posted by Living with Matilda at 1:45 PM
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Following the conviction and sentencing of Gold Coast woman, Schapelle Corby, on drugs charges in a Bali court last week, Australians have vented their frustration on anything Indonesian, apart from cheap furniture purchased from A-Mart.This venting has included someone posting a suspect package to the Indonesian Ambassador in Canberra, initiating a security threat, an evacuation of the building and the placing of 22 staff in isolation. The package was confirmed later to have contained a ‘biological agent’, subsequently found to be just a dull white powder and ‘some bacteria’.
Foreign Minister “Lord” Alexander Downer said, "All of us pour condemnation on this action and our hope that none of the staff will have in anyway been harmed”.
One word that was not been used by Downer was ‘terrorist’.
A couple of years ago when some goon was using similar tactics to clear out US government offices, everyone was quick to label them with the ‘T-word’, no doubt because he was one of those damn muslim-ists.
But I guess this episode in Canberra is just an over-exuberant Australian patriot who is upset with the decision of an Indonesian court, and not a terrorist at all.
Posted by Living with Matilda at 1:45 PM
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Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Immigration in the news again
Posted by Living with Matilda at 11:47 PM
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Despite an election being nowhere in sight, immigrants are back on the political agenda.In addition to a number of high profile cock-ups at the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, including the wrongful incarceration of two Australian citizens and a third being lost ‘somewhere’, Federal Immigration Minister, Senator Amanda Vanstone, has recently admitted to a further 85 cases that will go to an inquiry set up to investigate the failings.
Any good opposition would be going to town. Harsh immigration regimes, as Tony Blair found in the last UK election, are an easy target. All kinds of accusations can be thrown, some spurious, but most – those focusing on the inherent racism of the regimes – right behind the eight ball.
Unfortunately, the Australian Labor caucus is in no position to criticise the Howard government, being firm advocates of the current government policy. That is locking up any asylum seeker who doesn’t fancy sticking around the tented transit centres of Pakistan and Jordan and manages to gain entry to Australia under their own steam.
The only acceptable opposition to the policy is currently from a Liberal MP – Petro Georgiou - who has put forward two Private Members Bills calling for the mandatory and universal detention policy to be rescinded or relaxed. Of course this will never happen, but at least someone out there has principles.
John Howard is currently in talks with Mr Georgiou in what will essentially be an arm twisting exercise; a number of Representatives and Senators from the Coaltion have briefed that they are sympathetic to a change in the law.
Public attitudes towards Howard’s policy is a difficult subject to find meaningful research into. Certainly it is suggested that most Australians are aware of the policy and most disagree with it. Unfortunately for those in detention – including until yesterday, a three-year old Vietnamese boy who had spent his entire life in detention – it didn’t really matter enough to Australians at the last election.
Posted by Living with Matilda at 11:47 PM
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| I am employed by Brisbane City Council. All views expressed in this blog are my own and in no way reflect the views of my employer. |
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