In the Age yesterday they had an interesting article about recently discovered photographs of Victoria and New South Wales that are over 100 years old:
IN THE 1870s, Beaufoy Merlin and Charles Baylis criss-crossed Victoria and NSW with a horse-drawn darkroom, lugging equipment that was ingenious but heavy, and working magic with chemicals such as mercury and magnesium that may ultimately have killed them.
They created an extraordinary record of life in Australia 130 years ago — streets of packed earth wide enough to turn a wagon and human figures, some sharp and some turned ghostly by movement that the slow shutter speeds of their cameras could not handle.
Now an extraordinary collection of nearly 1000 of their photographs has been found under a Sydney house. A selection of the pictures will go on display next week in the National Library of Australia. The photos lack captions and library staff hope members of the public who recognise scenes or businesses can help identify them. [The Age]
The Age wants people to contact the National Library if they can identify the buildings in the old pictures but on its website the Age only has one picture out of all the old photographs for people to view. Not exactly the best way to get the public involved in identifying the buildings if you ask me.
New Zealand man has put his soul up for auction to the highest bidder, noting that it is “a merry old soul” rather than a “funk soul brother” but that he would “would like to think there is a bit of funk in there somewhere.”
Walter Scott, 24, put his soul up for sale on New Zealand Internet auction site TradeMe, and so far has received more than 100 expressions of interest.
Bids in the auction, which was to close Thursday, had reached $189 late Wednesday.
Scott said he had been thinking about selling his soul for ages.
“I can’t see it, touch it or feel it, but I can sell it, so I’m going to palm it off to the highest bidder,” he said. [AP]
I don’t know what is more absurd, the fact the guy is selling his soul online or that there are people out there willing to pay hundreds of dollars to buy it?
Having on multiple occasions used campervans to tour around both Australia and New Zealand and I think it is safe to say I have developed an appreciation for a good campervan. After checking out pictures of the below campervan I have to say it is the coolest one I have ever seen even if it looks like a dump truck:
Here is a view of the living room area from the bed:
From the living room you can see where the bed is located above:
Here is the kitchen area:
Smartly located near the exit door and the passage to the driver’s cab is a computer desk:
Here is view looking at the kitchen back towards the living room area:
In the following pictures you can see the kitchen has everything you could possibly ever need:
Not only is this campervan a four wheel drive but it even has a motorcycle stored on the back that allows the owners to get to even harder to reach places that their truck can’t get to:
Here is a final picture of the coolest campervan ever:
Somehow I don’t think Britz will be renting these out anytime soon.
As I mentioned in my prior posting I was recently in Canberra for work related reasons once again which is why I have an extensive photo archive of pictures from Canberra on this website. However, since I have taken so many pictures of Canberra during the day; I decided that this time in Canberra I was going to take some photographs of the city at night since I had never tried to do that before.
My Fujifilm Finepix S5700 is not the best camera in the world for taking night pictures, especially since I don’t have a tripod, but the camera is good enough for what I need it to do which take decent pictures to share with friends and family and put on this blog.
I decide to start my walk around Canberra at night at the Parliament House which is the seat of government in Australia:
From the front of the Parliament House I then walked down to the front of the Old Parliament House that was the first seat of government in Australia until the newer Parliament House was built:
From the Old Parliament House and I then walked across the Kings Bridge northeast of the Parliament House and walked over to the National Carillon:
The National Carillon was present by Great Britain to Canberra in commemoration of the Gold Jubilee of the founding of the national capitol of Australia on 26 April, 1970 that was presided over by Queen Elizabeth II.
The National Carillon is actually quite photogenic at night:
The National Carillon sits on Aspen Island out on Lake Burley-Griffin and is only accessed by this foot bridge:
From the island you have a nice view of all the sites on the south side of Canberra to include the Telstra Tower:
From the National Carillon I then walked up ANZAC Parade where the Australian War Memorial is located. Here is the plaque located in the front of the War Memorial that overlooks ANZAC Parade and the Parliament House in the far distance:
Then of course in front of the plaque is the Australian War Memorial which should be a must see for anyone visiting Australia’s national capitol:
From the War Memorial I then called my wife who picked me up and we then drove to the top of Mt. Ainsle which provides an excellent view of Canberra which includes views of the Telstra Tower:
However, the best views are without a doubt the view of the Australian War Memorial looking down ANZAC Parade towards Parliament House:
Just a beautiful that if you are visiting Canberra should take a few minutes to drive to the top of Mt. Ainsle to check out. Besides Mt. Ainsle make sure to take a walk at least around the Lake Burley-Griffin area at night because that is where you get the best ground level views of Canberra at night. It was a great time walking around taking pictures of this great city but I’m glad I brought a jacket because Canberra sure can be cold in June.
I often find myself traveling to Canberra for work related reasons and this month I found myself back in Canberra. Most Australians don’t like the city because they think it is boring and too far out in the bush; maybe that is why I like it so much? I have posted many times before about Canberra so make sure to read my prior postings about this great city and draw your own conclusions.
Anyway this time in town I was staying in the Civic neighborhood on the northside of town. This neighborhood is now considered the hippest area of town because of all the new construction here that is supposed to bring a more cosmopolitan feel and night life to Canberra. This area town is quite nice with all its new buildings but as can be seen during the day, it sure can be lacking in people:
Something I liked about this newer area of Civic was that it was a pedestrian only area. Maybe it is just me, but I don’t mind having to park my car outside the shopping area and walking around. Considering that Australia is not the world’s fattest country maybe more downtown shopping areas need to become pedestrian only?
From the newer pedestrian area I went over to the older shopping area of Civic where you can really tell the difference between the newer and older parts of downtown:
One of the biggest differences is that you have to start dodging cars again to get to the older shopping area. There wasn’t a whole lot to see in this area of Civic so I walked back to the newer area and had lunch at a pretty good Japanese restaurant that was located on the second floor of a building in the pedestrian only area. This restaurant is well labeled and easy to find. The restaurant actually has Japanese people working in it which is always a good sign that the restaurant is probably pretty good. However, like outside there was next to nobody in this restaurant which is a shame because it is quite good.
To be fair though, the night before this area of Civic was packed with mostly college students. That night my colleagues in Canberra took me to the same bar these guys take me to every time we go to Canberra, King O’Malley’s:
King O’Malley’s is like an institution in Canberra the way locals are dedicated to it. The place is an Irish style pub and it was actually quite a fun place, but keep in mind I’m pretty easy person to entertain; the place had Guinness so I was good to go the whole night.
After lunch I then decided to walk over to the massive new shopping mall in Civic. I think the reason there was no one outside was because they were all inside this massive shopping mall:
This mall was actually quite nice and has every store you can think of. It is three stories big and extremely long. I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around this massive place. When it was dinner time I decided to stop at the steak restaurant on the first floor of the shopping center. My colleagues had told me this place had the best steaks in Canberra so definitely wanted to check it out while I was in town.
The place was quite pricey but for a good steak I’m willing to pay good money. Here is what $45 bought me, a small steak, potatoes, break, and a salad:
To say I was disappointed by this meal would be an understatement. The bread they served me at first was extremely hard and nearly uneatable. Then for whatever reason they served my salad with my steak. The salad should come before the steak. The potatoes were good, and the steak though small, was actually above average but not great.
For $45 I definitely felt like I didn’t get my money’s worth. My favorite Australian steak restaurant continues to remains the Red Heifer in Newcastle and this restaurant didn’t even come close to matching it. In fact the rest of the time in Canberra I played it safe and kept going to the Japanese restaurant for dinner where I got more and better food for half the price.
Overall though Civic is actually a pretty nice area to stay while visiting Canberra. It is pedestrian friendly, clean, plus has plenty of shops & restaurants. I really can’t complain even if I got ripped off on my steak.
I had my doubts about the claims of the so called last uncontacted tribe in Amazon because of the willingness of the Brazilian Indian advocacy group Funai and its photographer Jose Carlos Meirelles to hover their helicopter right over the top of the village.
If they were so concerned about Indians remaining “uncontacted” then why fly a helicopter directly over the village? It seems my doubts were valid as news has broken today that the whole thing was a hoax:
Even in an age when cynical sleuths can hyper-analyze stories for truth and accuracy, the occasional hoax still slips through the cracks. Such was the case with a so-called “lost Amazon tribe.”
A few months ago, mainstream news outlets (including, ahem, Yahoo!) reported that a photographer had found a lost tribe of warriors near the Brazilian-Peruvian border. Photos of the tribe backed up his claim.
As it turns out, the story is only half true. The men in the photo are members of a tribe, but it certainly ain’t “lost.” In fact, as the photographer, José Carlos Meirelles, recently explained, authorities have known about this particular tribe since 1910. The photographer and the agency that released the pictures wanted to make it seem like they were members of a lost tribe in order to call attention to the dangers the logging industry may have on the group.
The photographer recently came clean, and news outlets, perhaps embarrassed at having been taken for a ride, have been slow to pick up the story. Now, the word is starting to spread and articles in the Buzz are picking up steam. Expect a lot more brutal truth in the coming days. [Yahoo Buzz]
Make sure to read the whole article in the British Guardian that broke this story because it also shows more of my other criticism of Meirelles which is how he treats these people in the Amazon tribes as nothing more then wildlife. However, I will still maintain that the pictures he took are pretty cool.
The First Fleet of convicts and soldiers with their families arrived in Sydney Harbor in January 1788 to construct the first colonial settlement in Australia. The fleet of ships was commanded by the colony’s first designated Governor Captain Arthur Phillip who immediately set about establishing the colony of New South Wales. The first years of establishing the colony was extremely difficult as the settlers tried to grow crops in a land the understood little about. To make matters worse was the fact that the settlers were occasionally attacked by the black Aboriginal locals that did not look fondly at the white settlers suddenly appearing on their land.
First fleet landing in Sydney Harbor.
Despite the attacks on the settlers the Arthur Phillip issued strict orders to the colonists that no punitive action would be taken against the Aboriginals in return because he himself was under strict guidelines from England to establish friendly relations with the locals. As the attacks continued Governor Phillip decided that something had to be done to bridge the language barrier in order to communicate what the settlers felt were their good intentions to be friends of the Aboriginals. So in order to do this the governor authorized the capture of two Aboriginals in order to study their local Aboriginal dialect along with teaching the natives English. In hindsight it would appear kidnapping is probably not the best way to show your good intentions but at the time Governor Phillip must have felt he had little choice.
Governor Arthur Phillip
Two Aboriginals were eventually captured in November 1789 on the Manly coastline on the north head of Sydney harbor. The two captured Aboriginals were named Bennelong and Colbee and were treated well while in captivity. Little has been written of Colbee but much was written about Bennelong in the settlers journals which seems to confirm the significance and impact he had on the colonists. Bennelong whose full name is Woollarawarre Bennelong was a tall, strong, and handsome man in his mid-20’s when he was captured. Bennelong had an extroverted personality and love to talk and laugh. The personality caused Bennelong quickly begin to learn the European customs and grasp English. He was then able to teach some of the early settlers such George Bass how to speak the Aboriginal dialect. He was soon even wearing English clothes and became good friends with Governor Arthur. In 1790 Bennelong did much to bring understanding between the locals and the settlers which almost ended in disaster when Governor Phillip was speared through the shoulder while trying to communicate with a local tribe. Governor Phillip survived the attack and with the help of Bennelong stop the settlers from retaliating.
Eventually with the help of Bennelong Governor Phillip was able to establish a peace agreement with the surrounding Aboriginals and peace and trade flourished between the two alien cultures. In recognition of Bennelong’s help to the colony Governor Phillip built a house for Bennelong and his wife along the shores of Sydney Harbor.
Governor Phillip would eventually return to England in 1792 and asked Bennelong to come with him. Bennelong agreed and traveled to England with Phillip and a 12 year old Aboriginal boy by the name of Yemmerrawanne. Upon arrival in England Bennelong became a minor celebrity as he dined with the elites of England and even met King George III. However, while in England Bennelong took up a habit that continues to be the bane of Aboriginal society today, he became a drunk. Bennelong is reported to have drank alcohol before while mingling with the colonists but his time in England is what made him a drunk probably because of the homesickness he felt especially after his companion Yemmerrawanne died of pneumonia.
Wollarawarre Bennelong in European dress.
Bennelong asked to return to Australia which he did when he accompanied the new governor of New South Wales, John Hunter back to Australia in 1795. The ships landed in Sydney Harbor in August 1796 and Bennelong quickly found himself a man stuck between two cultures who no longer really felt excepted by either. Bennelong drank his worries away and became well known for engaging in fights and was even speared in the back in one quarrel with an Aboriginal rival.
He would die in a drunken stupor on January 3rd, 1813 at James Squire’s orchard at Kissing Point on the shores of the Parramatta River at the approximate age of 50. Bennelong was the first of many Aboriginals that continues to this day to die because of alcoholism. Despite Bennelong’s tragic ending to his life he is remembered as the First Fleet’s first friend who made early contact and friendship between the locals and the colonists possible. From American perspective Bennelong can be viewed in the same context as Squanto who was the American Indian that helped the early Pilgrims from Europe to survive their first winter in the New World in 1620, but Bennelong has no national holiday in his honor like America’s has with Thanksgiving; not that most Americans even know who Squanto is though.
Squanto aids the early Pilgrims.
However, many of Bennelong’s settler friends would go on not to have holidays in their honor but many important Australian landmarks named after them instead. George Bass for example has the Bass Strait named after him, Arthur Phillip has Port Phillip Bay named after him, and John Hunter has the Hunter Valley named in his honor. What a lot people in Australia don’t realize is that the First Fleet’s first friend has a landmark named after him as well. Sydney’s top tourist attraction, its beautiful Opera House sits on the very spot that Bennelong’s house once stood and if you look on the map you will see the peninsula the Sydney Opera House stands on is named Bennelong Point.
The auction for Perth resident Ian Usher life is currently going happening on E-bay today:
Perth man Ian Usher will discover on Sunday whether his old life is worth the $500,000 he hopes will allow him to start a new one.
If it isn’t, he says there’ll be egg on his face.
Mr Usher, 44, from the southern Perth suburb of Wellard, has decided to auction his entire life on eBay, wanting to retain only his passport, wallet and the clothes on his back.
What he has, he is trying to sell in one big package.
It goes to internet auction on Sunday, allowing the highest bidder to claim what Mr Usher describes as a pre-packaged life.
On the list is a $420,000 house, his hobbies, his job, and even his friends, who have agreed to be introduced to the buyer. [The Age]
I just saw on the Today show this morning that currently the bids for this guy’s life is up to $2.2 million dollars. Pretty amazing.
I really like Australian cockatoos. Yes they are noisy to be around at first but I have long since gotten used to them. They come to my yard often and are fun to watch clown around among each other as well as pick on the smaller birds. These birds are also highly intelligent and I have even seen a cockatoo that was trained to talk by its owner.
However with that said the cockatoos that come to my yard are starting to get on my nerves because they are tearing up my gum tree:
A gang of about 15 cockatoos have been sitting in the big gum tree in my backyard picking off the branches which are falling all over my backyard and covering up the grass:
It is bad enough I have kangaroos tearing down my fence line, but now I have cockatoos destroying my entire yard. I went out there to rake up all the branches and the cockatoos were literally throwing branches at me when I was raking.
This is the first time I have seen cockatoos have this strange behavior. Never before have I had such trouble with cockatoos. If anyone knows why this gang of cockatoos is acting so strange please let me know. Hopefully this gang that is causing the current problems will just move along eventually because I am tired of raking up after them.
