Wednesday 29 April 2015

WHAM ARTIST CONVERGENCE : BUANGOR (between Beaufort & Ararat) : MAY 3 2015 FROM 10AM TO 3PM

FROM THE WHAM FACEBOOK SITE:
Say your goodbyes to these beautiful old redgums who've been living in the Middle Creek area long before it had that name - 200-400 years previously, at least. Say goodbye to the young trees too. There aren't too many growing on adjacent farmland. NONE of these trees are protected. 
Not by the ‪#‎AndrewsGvt‬.
Not by anyone who has the power to protect them. 

Say goodbye.

AN INVITATION
Noticed any roads authorities vandalising ancient habitat trees
on the Western Highway lately? 
Come to Buangor on the 3 May - Sunday - 10am to 3pm 
and help record the treasures we are losing. 

Bring all your own materials, picnic, chair, etc. 
(NB - good toilets at Beaufort!) 
The enormous environmental damage being inflicted upon us all 
is to save a TOTAL OF 2 WHOLE MINUTES of travel time 
between Beaufort and Ararat! 
For more details contact as per poster or via WHAM on Facebook

Numbers to phone for more information:
0408 545 229
0400 713 175

Could you also bring Yellow Ribbons
to tie around the trees
As a symbol of our care for them
Please know, we are being positive about saving these trees
for future generations


Sunday 26 April 2015

Development plans before the #BallaratCouncil could be disastrous for #BallaratEast and its residents who access their homes and St Paul's through St Paul's Way. Please make your comments by 1 May 2015 if you wish to alter or stop this development.

Have your say on St Paul’s Way


Have your say on St Paul’s Way

St Paul’s Way – have your say – up until May 1st 2015
Proposed Residential and Commercial Development 
‘Marvella Heights’ St Pauls Way, Bakery Hill:
Amendment C191 to the Ballarat Planning Scheme proposes to:
  • Rezone the land from Public Use Zone Schedule 5 (Education) to the Mixed Use Zone
  • Rezone the road reserve to the west from Commercial 1 Zone to Mixed Use Zone and remove the Heritage Overlay (HO176) from the road reserve
Planning Permit application PLP/2014/829 is for a:
  • Six lot subdivision
  • Staged development of four multi-storey residential apartments
  • 19 townhouses
  • Four office and retail units with 2 associated residential apartments
  • Waiver of carparking and creation of an easement

Miss Eagle's comments:
Could people please have a look at this and comment. I am not alone in thinking that this is over-development of the site. 
Access to historic St Paul’s will be severely affected. The Fire Station will have its views impeded, the Dean’s House at the back of St Paul’s will be overshadowed. Many houses that have their vehicle entry off St Paul’s Way will be affected and there is no visitors' parking on the site. My guess that St Paul’s Way will become untrafficable on a regular basis and houses and St Paul’s will be affected. 
I believe that perusal of the block by council officers was never undertaken at the time of maximum usage at St Paul’s – and it will be too bad when there is a huge funeral!!! 
See more at: http://ballarateast.net/have-your-say-on-st-pauls-way/#comment-249132

Saturday 25 April 2015

Lest We Forget - a pacifist's remembrance of the centenary of ANZAC Day - Part 2


"Fat" was a recurring figure in working class literature
of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
He was included in the work of Henry Lawson.
~~~
The Bulletin Reciter 
A Collection of Verses for Recitation 
from 'The Bulletin' Sydney 
The Bulletin Newspaper Company, Limited, Publishers
1880-1901

Glory of Women
You love us when we’re heroes, home on leave,
Or wounded in a mentionable place.
You worship decorations; you believe
That chivalry redeems the war’s disgrace.
You make us shells. You listen with delight,
By tales of dirt and danger fondly thrilled.
You crown our distant ardours while we fight,
And mourn our laurelled memories when we’re killed.
You can’t believe that British troops ‘retire’
When hell’s last horror breaks them, and they run,
Trampling the terrible corpses-blind with blood.
O German mother dreaming by the fire,
While you are knitting socks to send your son
His face is trodden deeper in the mud.

~~~

The Fat Man and The War
They sing of the pride of battle,
They sing of the Dogs of War,
Of the men that are slain like cattle
On African soil afar.

They sing of the gallant legions
A-bearin’ the battle’s brung
Out in them torrid regions
A-fightin’ the foe in front.

They sing of Mauser and Maxim,
And their doin’s across the foam,
But I hear none sit of the Fat Man
Who sits at his ease at home,

Contrivin’ another measure
For scoopin’ a lump o’ tin,
New coffers to hoard the treasure
That his brothers’ blood sweeps in;

Chock-full o’ zeal for speedin’
The sword of his Queen’s behest,
But other men’s legs to bear it
Is the notion that suits him best.

Nothin’ he knows of fightin’;
He was never built that way;
But the game of War is excitin’
When the stake’s worth more than the play.

An’ a fat little man in comin’,
When the turmoil has settled down,
An’ the dogs of war are silent,
An’ the veldt is bare and brown.

When the sun has licked the blood up
An’ the brown earth hid the bones,
His miners will go out seekin’
For gold and precious stones.

Like a ghoul from the reekin’ shambles
He grubs out his filthy pelf,
Reapin’ a cursed harvest
Where he dursn’t have sown himself.

Now, this is one man’s opinion,
An’ I think it is fair an’ right:
If he wants the land of the Dutchman
Let him go like a man an’ fight.

If the African mines have treasure,
An’ the Fat Man wants a bone,
Let him go by himself an’ find it,
Let him trek for the Front alone. 
By Magnet (a pseudonym)

~~~

Inscription for a War
Stranger, go tell the Spartans
We died here obedient to their commands
               Inscription at Thermopylae

Linger not, stranger; shed no tear;
Go back to those who sent us here.

We are the young they drafted out
To wars their folly brought about.

Go tell those old men, safe in bed,
We took their orders and are dead.


Perhaps some day the sun will shine again,
And I shall see that still the skies are blue,
And feel once more I do not live in vain,
Although beret of You.

Perhaps the golden meadows at my feet
Will make the sunny hours of spring seem gay,
And I shall find the white May-blossoms sweet,
Though You have passed away.

Perhaps the summer wood s will shimmer bright,
And crimson roses once again be fair,
And autumn harvest fields a rich delight,
Although you are not there.

Perhaps some day I shall not shrink in pain
To see the passing of the dying year,
And listen to Christmas songs again,
Although you cannot hear.

But though kind Time may many joys renew,
There is one greatest joy I shall no know
Again, because my heart for loss of You
Was broken, long ago.


The Country Women's Association even printed a card, to be left on a seat, that not only called for peace but also recognised the common humanity of the 'enemy':
But other hearts in other lands are beating
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine
O hear my song, O God of all the nations,
A song of peace for their land and for mine.
A song of peace , South Australian CWA, Dowlingville Branch
Taken from this site 
The site linked above contains an Australian treasure trove
of poetry and song
some relating to protest against war.

Lest We Forget - a pacifist's remembrance of the centenary of ANZAC Day - Part 1


When one thinks of anti-war poetry, 
more often than not it is the poetry of World War 1, 
of the horrendous battlefields of the Western Front
of the poetry of Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen
Wilfred Owen is the author of what may be the best known anti-war poem,
Dulce et Decorum Est
Please go here for Dr Andrew Barker's analysis of Dulce et Decorum Est

As I write this, on the centenary of the landing at Gallipoli, thousands of Australians have left their homes to attend Dawn Services across the country, to keep alive the ANZAC tradition.  Other thousands of Australians have left their homeland to commemorate the Australian war dead in Turkey and France.  I have chosen to stay at home and write this reflection.

My own commemoration was done on Thursday night as I watched on television Kate Aubusson's wonderful remembrance, Lest We Forget What?.  Kate's film is the best thing I have seen or read about our ANZAC tradition - the research done, the people featured in the film, the things we didn't know and which are seldom revealed.  

I think this day on the war-time service of the men in my family - especially of the one who didn't return home, my great uncle Claude Gallaway.  He perished on the Western Front in France.  He was 26 years old.  Through the Australian War Memorial records we have been able to see the heart-breaking letters written regularly to the powers-that-be from my great grandmother and my three great aunts reminding them that their son and brother was still missing.

My grandfather, Jack (Rupert Franklin Gore) Gallaway, and his brother William Gallaway were Lighthorsemen

In World War 2, my uncle Roland Gore Gallaway served as a Coastwatcher on Manus Island and later in Japan with the Occupation Forces. My uncle, Jack Franklin Gallaway, served in the Royal Australian Navy in World War 2 and in Korea. Jack wrote The Last Call of the Bugle: Kapyong, Korea.  The title of the book refers to Korea being the last Australian conflict for which the call went out for volunteers.

My father, John Joseph (Jack) O'Carroll, served in Malaya in the 2/10th Field Regiment of the Eighth Division.  He was invalided home six weeks before the fall of Singapore.

For my generation, Vietnam was an issue and a horror.  It was then I became a pacifist. I have seen no reason in the decades since to resile from this decision.

Across history we have seen one conflict begetting another. World War 1 begat World War 2.  The American invasion of Iraq in recent decades has certainly influenced the current violence in the Middle East. There is the history of foreign military involvement in Afghanistan.  In recent generations, we have developed the so-called proxy wars. Australia is becoming enmeshed in these wars of empire.

I believe that pacifists fulfill the slogan we say each Anzac Day.  We are there to remind people of the cost, the horror, the futility of war ... Lest We Forget.


"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them."

Lest We Forget.

Thursday 23 April 2015

Should Labor talk to the Greens?


Open Labor is holding a debate in Melbourne to-night. The question is Should Labor Talk To The Greens?

Miss Eagle has written to Open Labor letting her views be known.  Miss E is dyed in the wool Labor - but is rather selective. Miss E was once, but is no more, a member of the ALP.  She is a twice-failed Labor candidate but bears no animus re that. It was a significant experience and it led to her becoming an organiser with the AWU - the first female organiser in Northern Australia and only the second female organiser in its history.  

Miss E still has quite traditional Labor views on many topics, particularly on work, labour, and workplace rights - but feels she has nothing in common with Labor in relation to its ambiguous stance on environmental matters and its progressively harsher stand on the matter of refugees and asylum seekers since 1992.   Both of these items, in Miss E's view, are highly moral in nature and values.  Labor's attitudes on these policy matters do nothing to attain the moral and advantageous high ground.  They send Australia and Australians deeper into a vandalistic and inhumane mire.

In light of these views, Miss Eagle has written to Open Labor as follows:

Dear Open Labor,

My view is that The Greens should enrol in the ALP and immediately establish a faction.  It's the only way I can think of for environmental concerns to get an authentic guernsey in the development of a collective environmentally concerned mind within the ALP.  

Under Rudd and Gillard, Labor made a mess of their attempts at being 'green' i.e. the pink batts (policy would have been helped by consultation with a relevant tradesman but where are they in the ALP - does anyone even sleep with a tradie anymore?) and giving tradeable electricity to homeowners (more to the rich and the middle class) instead of including renters (clearly don't give a darn about low income people, let alone pensioners and the unemployed, who rent! And completely ignore the situation of people living in public housing).  Should I mention here how a Victorian Labor Government upgraded public housing and privatised a portion of it thus decreasing the quantity of public housing available to Victorians.

The ALP is lagging and conservative.  Its careerist politicians are concerned with the Almighty $ and assuring for themselves lucrative post-politics careers.  I won't name names - but I don't think I need to.  We can all finger Labor politicians who are guilty of this.

I don't think Labor has clearly defined and delineated its role in this post-GFC world.  Without a clear path, ideology, or compass, it means that Labor will wax and wane in its policies instead of defining a clear path, a steady compass forward.


Sincerely,

Brigid Walsh

(once an ALP member; twice an ALP Federal Candidate; once an AWU organiser)​

When are the professional unemployed in receipt of Newstart not really unemployed? When they provide professional services as volunteers in community organisations.

Picture below is from here
What is the difference between a paid job and what is carried out by volunteers?  In some cases, not much at all, if anything.  In fact, we are not facing up to things.  Should much of the activities carried out regularly by volunteers be called what it is? Unpaid Work. And should Unpaid Work carried out by Newstart recipients be measured and categorised?

This has been brought home to me by a friend of middle years who is unemployed and receives Newstart.  My friend is not short of work ethic; nor short of qualifications - a primary school teacher and IT trainer.

My friend volunteers for various organisations and has also done unpaid mentoring in a public school.

The tasks carried out by my friend under the guise of "volunteering" is work, skilled work, undergirded by professional qualifications.  It is the sort of work, in my view, that if there was no one available to volunteer to do this work, it would have to be paid for.  The only trouble is that the volunteering is for community organisations.  These community organisations tend to rely on funding from a variety of sources - all tiers of government, their own fundraising, donations.  In short, they are not able to provide the resources and investment available to private organisations.  

I'm not sure how volunteer work in community organisations is categorised or valued.  My friend is using professional skills based on professional qualifications.  Not all volunteer work in community organisations could be classed as professional but I am sure there are many other people besides my friend using professional skills on an unpaid basis who would like to be paid for their work.  

I would love someone to advise me on 
  1. What is work in this context?
  2. Are statistics kept in a manner that is discernible about the professionally qualified services provided by Newstart recipients?
For more on long term unemployment,

Wednesday 22 April 2015

National Volunteer Week 11-17 May 2015 --- and there's a job on the Yarrowee for you with billy tea and scones to follow.

High Tea on the Yarrowee - Saturday 16th May

High Tea on the Yarrowee


National Volunteer Week - Working Bee
Saturday 16th May, 2015
Yarrowee River
Hummfray Street, South (footbridge), Mount Pleasant
1:00 - 3:30pm
 

More than 6 million Australian volunteers give happiness to others each year. And research says that that those volunteers are happier as a result. So this National Volunteer Week (11-17 May 2015), help us make Australia the happiest place on earth, by giving as much of your time as you can. Give Happy. Live Happy.

To celebrate the Leigh Catchment Group will be holding a working bee on the Yarrowee River. We will be doing some maintenance on a planting completed in 2014 and preparing some ground for planting in June 2015. All volunteers will be rewarded with 'High Tea on the Yarrowee' . This will include scones with jam and cream, tea, coffee and bush tea for those who would like to try something different.
BYO: Gloves and sturdy footwear
We will meet at the footbridge on Hummfray Street, South, Mt Pleasant (near the Prest Street bridge).
For a map of our meeting site click here


For further information contact:
Kate Constance
Mobile: 0409 585 998
Phone: 5341 2364
For further information on the benefits of volunteering click here
Forward
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Letters with the Committee for #Ballarat in their sites - an organisation whose actions contradict their words

I have to-day posted this letter on my Facebook site ~~~ Miss Eagle


Before and after pix on the Western Hwy Duplication
The people are Isobel Mackenzie (aged 91 years)
and
Helen Lewers 
who tied themselves to a redgum in protest.
Trees scheduled for destruction are draped with silver collars
by the roadworks people.
Clearly, the Committee for Ballarat doesn't give a fig about what is actually happening out on the Western Highway duplication as it moves steadily from‪#‎Beauffort‬ to ‪#‎Stawell‬.
On the Committee's website they say this of themselves:
Committee for Ballarat tackles the social, economic and environmental issues of our time and envisions innovative ways to address them. We employ intellectual rigour and strategic thinking to solve the problems we face now and into the future. We connect and engage with stakeholders, involve and inform the community and seek expert advice. And we use our influence and connections to guide and progress key projects and programs of that are of benefit to our region.

I wonder where the 'intellectual rigour' was in regard to the environmental issue of the destruction of ancient vegetation and current animal habitats on the duplication of the Western HIghway. I wonder how many of the Committee's board members live in areas of #Ballarat covered by a heritage overlay or in areas where historic oaks and elms are covered by heritage laws. If this is the case, I'll bet they would kick up a fuss if this urban heritage was to be damaged and/or destroyed. No amount of argument about progress or profit would keep them quiet. But of course, they live nowhere near where the Western Highway duplication damage is being done. The site of the destruction is out of sight and out of mind to them. It is not rigorously in their sight.
... and, dear Committee for Ballarat, if you think you are dealing with just another "mob of Greenies", I would draw your attention to the number of rural landholders involved in protesting the Western Highway destruction; the number of people involved in rural businesses; the number of people with tertiary education. In fact, the demographic of WHAM is, in the main, of the sort that would line up for a committee such as yours ... but only if it has the environmental rigour your organisation falsely professes to possess. You, dear Committee, are so short-sighted you can't see the development of a treeless desert in your neighbourhood
Miss Eagle and Isabel Mackenzie 
on their way from #Ballarat to #Ararat for a WHAM meeting

Wednesday 15 April 2015

A step too far: Woolworths puts its foot - and its trademark - in Anzac memories

From Inside Retail

Woolies pulls pin on controversial Anzac site

unnamed-52
Woolworths have apologised after its Anzac commemoration website caused social media outrage by inviting users to share war tributes under the slogan “fresh in our memories”.
The site was taken down on Tuesday night after receiving widespread criticism on social networking site Twitter, with users labelling the marketing stunt crass and insulting to Australian diggers.

In a statement issued after the campaign was taken down, the supermarket giant apologised for branding the site.
“We regret that our branding on the picture generator has caused offence, this was clearly never our intention,” Woolworths said on its Facebook page.
“Like many heritage Australian companies, we were marking our respect for ANZAC and our veterans.”
Woolworths urged people on the site to share stories and profile style pictures of veterans by uploading images to the website, which then branded them with the Woolworths logo and the phrase “Lest we Forget 1915-2015. Fresh in our memories”.
The food retailer said the site was developed to give staff and customers a place to put their stories to mark the centenary of Anzac.
“We continue to be proud supporters of the RSL and Camp Gallipoli in this important year and look forward to working with them into the future,” the company added.
On Wednesday morning, the fallout from the furore continued on Twitter.
“I’m still amazed at the utter ghoulishness of Woolworths shoehorning the word ‘Fresh’ into community memories of war” one user tweeted.
“@woolworths very on the nose and in bad taste Woolies. Sack the person who approved of this campaign,” another tweet read.
RSL president rear admiral, Ken Doolan, labelled the Woolworths campaign “unfortunate”.
“I think they have taken the right action … pulling it down,” he told Network Nine.
“There is a very fine line to be judged here, where you are dealing with such sensitive issues and the Australian public speak very clearly and very loudly when that fine line is crossed.
“On this occasion unfortunately it was crossed, it was insensitive, it has been taken down.”
Australian minister for veterans’ affairs, Michael Ronaldson, said Woolworths did not seek permission to use the word ‘Anzac’.
Under law, permission is needed for the use of the word Anzac in any such material and it must be granted by the Australian Government.
“In this instance, permission was not sought by the campaign proponents, nor would it have been approved,” he said in a statement.
As soon as the Woolworths campaign was brought to his attention, he contacted the company to end it.
The word Anzac cannot be trivialised or used inappropriately, he said.
NSW minister for veterans’ affairs, David Elliott, described the Woolworths campaign as “distasteful”.
He said Anzac Day is to be commemorated, not celebrated.
“For these firms, and there a number of examples, to use the Anzac and the veteran and the whole notion of sacrifice and service for their own commercial gain, or indeed personal gain, I find highly distasteful,” he told Fairfax Radio.
AAP

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