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Author Topic: Australia by Tibrogargan January 2007 - present and 155216+ views later!  (Read 657623 times)
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Tibrogargan
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« Reply #460 on: May 06, 2007, 04:34:02 AM »

BOWEN

AN ARTICLE ON BOWEN WHEN THE MOVIE CREW ARE NOT IN TOWN!

Bowen is an unusual and attractive tropical town characterised by a lazy and easy charm. There is a sense in which IT is an absolutely classic north Central Queensland town. The wide streets, the easiness of the lifestyle, the simple unpretentiousness which makes no concessions to development or visitors from the south, the languidness of a city slowly melting under a hot tropical sun. There is something which makes the visitor think of the 1940s and 1950s. This is a charming old-style town in an area where the rest of the world has moved on.

Once occupied by the Girudala people, the first European to set eyes upon the present site of Bowen was Captain James Cook who named Cape Gloucester after William Henry, the Duke of Gloucester. Cook passed within 9 km of the coast and was certainly close enough to observe that 'on the west side of Cape Gloucester the land trends away S.W. and S.S.W. and forms a deep bay, the land in the bottom of this bay we could just see from the mast head. It is very low and is a continuation of the same low land as it is at the bottom of Repulse Bay.' Further up the coast Cook named Edgecumbe Bay.

The town of Bowen really dates back to 1859 when Captain Henry Daniel Sinclair sailed from Rockhampton in the 9-ton ketch Santa Barbara in search of a suitable port north of Rockhampton. He found a good harbour which he named Port Denison (after the Governor of New South Wales) and returned south to claim a reward only to find that Queensland was about to become a separate colony and neither the old colony nor the new one was prepared to reward his discovery.

At the same time the explorer George Elphinstone Dalrymple had left Rockhampton looking for suitable grazing land to the north. He recognised the potential of the area but failed to find a suitable port. Hoping that the mouth of the Burdekin River would prove a suitable harbour he persuaded the new Queensland government to send a party to investigate. They found that the mouth of the Burdekin was useless but, in the process, confirmed the accuracy of Sinclair's initial analysis of Port Denison.
In March 1861 the Queensland government declared Port Denison an official port of entry, allowing for the future development of the region. It was decided to establish a town on the shores of the port. Sinclair, who had been working in Sydney, was recalled and appointed harbour master and chief constable of the new township. Dalrymple was made commissioner of crown lands and magistrate. Sinclair set off by sea and Dalrymple travelled overland with supplies including 140 horses and 120 cattle.

Dalrymple arrived on 11 April 1861 and with due ceremony and lots of cheering from the 111 people who had made the journey by sea and land, he raised the Union Jack and declared Bowen (named after the first Governor of Queensland) the northernmost town in Queensland. It was a remarkable formal beginning to the town. Within a year there were 20 cattle stations in the area, and hotels, stores and public instrumentalities had been established in the infant settlement.

Perhaps the most interesting moment in the early history of Bowen occurred in 1863 when James Morrill appeared out of the bush and announced 'Don't shoot mates, I'm a British object'. He had been shipwrecked seventeen years earlier and had spent the intervening time living with the local Aborigines. He went to Brisbane where he became something of a celebrity but eventually returned to Bowen and worked in the customs house. He died in Bowen in 1865 and is buried in the local cemetery. A large and distinctive obelisk marks the site.

In 1863 Bowen became a municipality. It was during this year that the town's first building, the gaol, was burned down. For a while prisoners were chained to logs or fence posts. There is a delightful story from this time of one prisoner carrying his log to one of the local pubs, fronting up at the bar, and ordering a drink.

Bowen's industries include beef cattle, vegetable and fruit growing (including mangoes) a salt works, coke production, a tomato-processing plant and fish.
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« Reply #461 on: May 06, 2007, 04:38:41 AM »

BOWEN BEACH



BOWEN MARINA



PACIFIC OCEAN VIEWS



TYPICAL SUNSET

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« Reply #462 on: May 07, 2007, 03:44:10 AM »

DARWIN

Darwin is the tropical capital city of Australia's Northern Territory.
It has a relaxed outdoor lifestyle and enjoys warm weather all year round. Perched on a peninsula with sea on three sides, Darwin is an excellent base to explore the natural attractions of World Heritage listed Kakadu National Park, Litchfield and Nitmiluk National Parks, the Tiwi Islands and Arnhem Land.

KAKADU




The city was founded as Australia's most northerly harbour port in 1869, and its population rapidly expanded after the discovery of gold at nearby Pine Creek in 1871. World War II put the city on the map as a major allied military base for troops fighting the Japanese in the Pacific.  The city of Darwin was badly damaged during WWII when it endured 64 Japanese air raid attacks, the most prolonged attack in Australia. Much of the town's military history can be explored by visiting various WWII sites that are scattered across town, including ammunition bunkers in Charles Darwin National Park and a variety of old airstrips in and around town.

WAR CEMETERY




The city was again devastated, then rebuilt in 1975 after Cyclone Tracy hit Darwin on Christmas Eve in 1974. Despite its ordeal, Darwin regrouped, rebuilt and now stands stronger than ever - literally - as modern building regulations ensure a similar force could not wreak such damage again. The Museum and Art Gallery has a very realistic Cyclone Tracy display that recreates the atmosphere of that fateful Christmas Eve.

DARWIN HARBOUR



Its colourful history has contributed to the Darwin's cultural diversity - more than 50 nationalities make up its 100,000 population, including the area's traditional landowners, the Larrakia Aboriginal people. The cultural and culinary benefits of such a melting pot are best experienced at its weekly markets, variety of restaurants and through its annual calendar of festivals and events.
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« Reply #463 on: May 07, 2007, 03:51:58 AM »

DARWIN HIGHLIGHTS

TROPICAL SUMMER

Our tropical summer (October to March) is considered by many to be the region's most beautiful time of year. A predictable daily ritual of sunshine and afternoon showers refreshes the landscape and coaxes nature back to life on a grand scale. The sights, sounds and smells associated with this season make summer a truly sensory experience.



HISTORICAL BURNETT HOUSE

Every Sunday from 3.30pm to 6pm the National Trust host a High Tea in the verdant tropical gardens of Burnett House in the Myilly Point Heritage Precinct. Burnett House is a rare example of Darwin's early tropical architecture, having survived both the Japanese bombings in 1942 and Cyclone Tracy in 1974.



DARWIN BEER CAN REGATTA

Get a taste of Australian humour at its quirkiest at the annual Darwin Beer Can Regatta held in July. Participants compete by building boats out of beer or soft drink cans. The event is held at Darwin's Mindil Beach, only five minutes from the city and home of the Sunset Markets.

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« Reply #464 on: May 07, 2007, 03:56:33 AM »

DARWIN FROM THE AIR



HARBOUR CRUISE



SWIMMING COMPANION



KATHERINE GORGE

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« Reply #465 on: May 08, 2007, 02:35:20 AM »

MYTHIC CAT OR JUST A CAT?

Melbourne Zoo's public relations chief yesterday declared the silly season open as senior animal keepers were called in to analyse images of yet another mystery cat seen near the Grampians.

Zoo staff take every sighting of unusual creatures seriously, just in case the fabled American puma or the Tasmanian tiger are discovered in Victoria. Legend has it that decades ago an American circus, or American airmen stationed in the bush who supposedly kept big cats as mascots, released the creatures into the wild, and that their numbers have since multiplied.

This year, 38 sightings of suspected big cats have been recorded by the 50-member Australian Rare Fauna Research Association. If the rare animals did exist, the zoo keepers would like to know, said Judith Henke, the Melbourne Zoo's communications manager.

Senior keeper Noel Harcourt and the keeper in charge of carnivores, Richard Roswell, examined the shaky video recording of the latest sighting taken by campers at Dunkeld - and sold to Channel Seven for an undisclosed sum.

The video shows a large black cat running through open pasture and encountering a kangaroo. But it was too small, ran too fast and looked too much like a regular cat to be anything more exotic, the keepers said.

And that's if you ignore the fact that the kangaroo finally appeared to hop after the cat, suggesting a degree of familiarity.

"There are so many people who keep releasing cats, it's a huge problem for wildlife," Mr Roswell said.

Ms Henke said such sightings were examined about three times a year by keepers. "They're patient souls," she said.



Experts Bernie Mace, John Turner, Gordon Williams and zoo keepers Noel Harcourt and Richard Roswell assess the image of what was claimed to be a wild puma.
Photo: Paul Harris
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« Reply #466 on: May 09, 2007, 06:00:03 AM »

MACQUARIE ISLAND

Lying roughly midway between Tasmania and Antarctica, Macquarie Island is a long, narrow, steep-sided plateau only 34 kilometres long and 5.5 kilometres wide at its broadest point. It is cold and windy, with frequent low cloud and strong westerly winds. Its nickname of 'The Sponge' is well earned: it experiences over 300 rainy days a year.A rare uplifted portion of the sea bed at the edge of two tectonic plates of the earth's crust, the island was declared a World Heritage property in 1997 for its geological qualities. The island lies beside the southern extension of the great Alpine Fault of New Zealand and experiences frequent earth tremors. But it is also home to vast quantities of Southern Ocean birds and mammals, a factor that made it a prime target of commercial interests in the 19th and early 20th century.
Not everyone has been impressed by their first view of Macquarie Island. In 1822 Captain Douglass, of the ship Mariner called it "the most wretched place of involuntary and slavish exilium that can possibly be conceived; nothing could warrant any civilised creature living on such a spot".Despite the harsh treatment meted out to convicts during Australia's colonial era, administrators baulked at sending them to Macquarie Island. In 1826 the Hobart Town Gazette contained the quote: "the remote and stormy region in which Macquarie Island is placed is a strong reason against the adoption of that place as a penal settlement".Discovery of the island is attributed to Captain Frederick Hasselborough of the brig Perseverance who sighted it on 11 July 1810 during a sealing voyage out of Sydney. He may have been preceded by Polynesians or other earlier visitors - he recorded seeing a wreck "of ancient design" on the island. Hasselborough named the place after the then Governor of New South Wales, Lachlan Macquarie.

Hasselborough's main interest was in the enormous numbers of seals on the island - especially fur seals, estimated at the time to number between 200,000 and 400,000. The commercial reaction to his discovery was immediate: during the first 18 months of commercial operations at least 120,000 fur seals were killed for their skins and ten years later the population was almost wiped out.With the fur seal population unable to support the skin industry, the focus of commercial activity turned to the elephant seals whose blubber contained oil that then had widespread commercial use. By the mid-1840s numbers of elephant seals had been reduced by 70 percent.Commercial exploitation then turned to the island's prolific penguin population. Whilst not as valuable as seal oil, penguin oil at least had the advantage of being relatively easy to obtain. After the king penguin colony at Lusitania Bay was devastated by this activity, attention turned to the royal penguins at The Nuggets. At the peak of the industry in 1905, the plant established here could process 2,000 penguins at one time with each penguin producing about half a litre of oil.

During this period a dispute between the colonies of Tasmania and New Zealand about sovereignty over the island was resolved in Tasmania's favour. Macquarie Island is now part of Tasmania's Huon Municipality.From when it was first discovered, Macquarie Island was also of interest to scientists. The Russian expedition led by Thaddeus von Bellinghausen collected flora and fauna on the island in 1820. Charles Wilkes's US Exploring Expedition and two New Zealand scientists, JH Scott and A. Hamilton, followed. Joseph Burton spent three and a half years from 1896 collecting specimens while working with oiling parties on the island. Scientists with Captain Robert Scott in 1901 and Sir Ernest Shackleton in 1909 also collected specimens on the island.

In 1911, Australia's Sir Douglas Mawson established the island's first scientific station. In addition to conducting geomagnetic observations and mapping the island, studies were made of the island's botany, zoology, meteorology and geology. The Macquarie Island expedition also established the first radio link between Australia and Antarctica by setting up a radio relay station on Wireless Hill that could communicate with both Mawson's main expedition group at Commonwealth Bay, and Australia.From 1913 to 1915 the meteorological observations begun by Mawson's group were continued by the Commonwealth Meteorological Service but discontinued after the loss of the relief ship Endeavour with all crew and passengers in 1914. The Ross Sea party of Shackleton's Trans-Antarctic Expedition on Aurora visited the island in 1915, and Mawson returned aboard Discovery in 1930 with the British, Australian and New Zealand Research Expedition.

The island was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1933 and, with the establishment of the Tasmanian National Parks and Wildlife Service in 1971, Macquarie Island became a conservation area. It was upgraded to a state reserve in 1972 and in 1978 was renamed the Macquarie Island Nature Reserve. In 1998 Macquarie Island was granted World Heritage status.Macquarie Island ANARE station was established on 25 March 1948 and has been operating continuously ever since.

MACQUARIE ISLAND



SUB ANTARCTIC SEALS



ON THE ROCKS

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« Reply #467 on: May 09, 2007, 06:04:36 AM »

KING PENGUINS



MAWSON ICE EDGE



ROYAL PENGUINS

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« Reply #468 on: May 09, 2007, 06:08:36 AM »

CRECHE OF EMPEROR PENGUIN CHICKS



HEARD ISLAND



HUDDLE OF EMPEROR PENGUINS



All photographs courtesy of the Australian Antarctic Division website.
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« Reply #469 on: May 10, 2007, 03:56:20 AM »

ANTRACTICA

Antarctica is the coldest, windiest, driest and highest continent in the world. It is also the most isolated. This southernmost land of ice and snow, where for part of the year the sun doesn't rise and for another part, never sets, sits alone more than 2500 kilometres south of Hobart. Only one native warm-blooded animal remains on the Antarctic continent during the freezing winter--the emperor penguin. No human has ever made a permanent home in Antarctica. But people do visit--mostly scientists, support personnel, and tourists. To some it becomes a way of life and they may go back south many times over the years.



Australia claims as territory nearly six million of Antarctica's 13.5 million square kilometres, a patch roughly the size of Australia without Queensland, and the largest Antarctic claim of any nation. The Antarctic Treaty, which Australia signed in 1959, neither supports not denies claims of sovereignty. Only four other nations--France, New Zealand, Norway and Britain, which each also claim part of Antarctica--have formally recognised Australia's claim. But geography reveals the true connection.



 Australia and Antarctica, the only continents entirely within the southern hemisphere, were physically connected in the Gondwana super continent, and in human terms have been linked since explorers searched first for the mythical Great South Land, Terra Australis.Australia, through the Antarctic Division of the Department of the Environment and Heritage, sends scientists and the people who support them to Antarctica under the umbrella of the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE). Researchers from government organisations, including the Antarctic Division itself, the Bureau of Meteorology, the Australian Geoscience Australia and CSIRO, and from Australian and foreign research bodies, conduct and support the scientific work of ANARE.The Australian Antarctic Division maintains three permanent year-round stations and several temporary (summer only) bases on the Antarctic continent, as well as a permanent station on subantarctic Macquarie Island. Australian expeditioners stay in Antarctica for as long as a year and a half, or for as short as several weeks over the brief summer.



Mount Erebus is the world's southernmost historically active volcano.
The volcano is located on the western half of Ross Island.
Erebus is noted for its long active lava lake.
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« Reply #470 on: May 10, 2007, 04:06:18 AM »

ANTARCTIC FLIGHTS



Twice yearly scenic flights are arranged to the coastline of Antarctica where expert Antarctic expeditioners including scientists, glaciologists, explorers, adverturers and mountaineers are onboard to talk on the polar environment and history, video screenings depict life on the ground, and a camera on the flight deck gives you a pilot’s eye view of magnificent plateaux, vast mountain ranges and expanses of permanent ice.



On New Year’s Eve Midnight Sun Party Flights the passengers would be the first to see the sun in the New Year – it is daylight at 12.01am as they sing ‘Auld Lang Syne’ over the ice and dance in the aisles to a live jazz band

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« Reply #471 on: May 11, 2007, 01:11:51 AM »

Great photos Tibro - thanks so much for posting them.
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« Reply #472 on: May 11, 2007, 03:39:42 AM »

My pleasure, Klaas.  

The photographs from Antarctica are particularly stunning.  Government photographers and the best of equipment I would think.
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« Reply #473 on: May 11, 2007, 03:45:26 AM »

COCOS (KEELING) ISLANDS

The Cocos (Keeling) Islands are an Australian territory situated in the Indian Ocean 2768 km north-west of Perth, and only 400 km south of Indonesia. West Island, or Pulo Panjang, is the main island of twenty-seven small coral islands, with a total area of only fourteen square kilometres. Only two islands in the group are inhabited, with a total population of eight hundred. The islands are the quintessential tropical paradise, with palm fringed beaches and uninhabited cays. The islands were discovered in 1609 by Captain William Keeling of the East India Company, but they remained uninhabited until John Clunies Ross took his family there in 1827. The islands remained under the rule of the Clunies-Ross family until 1975 when the Australian Government "reclaimed" them and appointed a new administrator.



The islands played an important role in the capture of the famous German cruiser Emden in 1914, during World War 1. A landing party from the Emden attempted to destroy the wireless station on Direction Island; the Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney heard a message of distress from the island, sped to the scene, and attacked the German raider.

HMAS SYDNEY



The first two salvos were damaging hits on the Sydney, however she quickly found her range and pounded the Emden, putting her on a reef, blazing and helpless; the torrid gun battle put the German cruiser aground on North Keeling. In the engagement, the Emden lost eight officers and 126 men, whilst the Sydney lost four. Her loss  put quite a damper on German intentions in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.  The Emden had been the scourge of the Indian Ocean during World War 1, sinking many thousands of tons of allied shipping. Her sinking was a significant victory for Australia and the allies. Over the past few years there have been expeditions to visit the Emden site.

THE EMDEN AGROUND AFTER THE ATTACK

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« Reply #474 on: May 12, 2007, 02:36:49 AM »

COCOS (KEELING) ISLANDS

Almost all isolated oceanic islands sit atop the remains of ancient volcanoes. The Cocos (Keeling) Islands are two coral atolls which have developed on top of old volcanic seamounts, rising from the depth of 5000 metres in the north east Indian Ocean.The islands' foundations are two of a series of undersea features known as the Vening Meinisz Seamounts. This undersea range of mountains also includes Christmas Island and extends in a north north-easterly direction from a prominent Indian Ocean sea floor feature known as the Ninetyeast Ridge. The Cocos atolls are two peaks in a section of the range known as the Cocos Rise and are connected by a narrow underwater bank at a depth of 700-800 metres.Atolls are more or less circular coral reefs enclosing a lagoon, but without any land inside. On large atolls, parts of the reef have been built up by wave action and wind to form low island chains connected by the reef. The environmental aspects of atoll islands are unique in some respects. For example there is no rock other than coral limestone composed of calcium carbonate. This means that plants requiring other minerals such as silica, can not be cultivated without the aid of fertilisers or some outside source of rock from a larger island composed of volcanic or other igneous rock. The palm tree is native to atoll islands because it thrives on brackish water and the seed, or nut, is distributed widely by floating from one island to another.

COCOS ISLAND



Charles Darwin visited the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in 1836 aboard the HMS Beagle and it was during this visit that he developed his theory of atoll formation. He spent some time exploring the southern atoll and also visited North Keeling. In his publication on coral reefs in 1842, he was the first to propose the theory of reef formation and evolution, building on his discovery of coralline fossils in inland areas and in mountains earlier in the journey and his visit to the islands. That theory, which is still held as valid, explains the dynamics of the three principal categories of coral formation.

Amazing though it is, even tiny, remote islands support plants and animals. Continental islands have a head start in this regard since some of their species may have been stranded when the island formed and have simply persisted there ever since. For oceanic islands and atolls, the situation is quite different. When atolls emerge from the sea, they contain no terrestrial life: all their plants and animals must reach them across a seawater barrier.

WEST ISLAND



As atolls grow large enough to retain fresh water and the interiors are further removed from the effects of salt spray, conditions become more benign and more immigrant species become established. Plants help both stabilise and enrich the soil with organic matter as they die and decay. These improved conditions allow additional species of plants to colonise.
Sixty one plant species have been recorded on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands with only one endemic sub-species; Pandanus tectorius cocosensis. Stands of these pandanus can be found on Home Island and the southern end of West Island. Some plant species are more abundant on North Keeling island than on the islands of the southern atoll, either because of greater areas of suitable habitat or due to clearing over the last 160 years to make way for the coconut plantations.

OCTOPUS BUSH



Seabirds are usually the first animals to colonise an island formed by an oceanic volcano. Young seabirds tend to return to breed in the place they were raised, so new breeding colonies begin slowly. Once a new colony is established it will grow. The size of seabird populations is often regulated by competition for food within easy foraging range of the breeding site. North Keeling Island is the only seabird breeding area within a radius of 900km - it is therefore of unique importance to the ocean's seabird biota. The only endemic bird to the Cocos (Keeling) Islands which can only be found on North Keeling Island is the Cocos Buff-banded rail (Gallirllus phillppensis andrewsi).

COMMON NODDY



On the southern atoll you are more likely to see birds in flight rather than nesting. Most common are the Red-footed booby birds, common noddies, white terns, frigate birds, Rufus Night Heron, White-faced Heron and several types of wading birds. Many of the birds seen are vagrant species, travelling to and from their homes even as far away as China! Approximately 60 species of birds have been recorded on the two atolls.
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« Reply #475 on: May 12, 2007, 02:40:54 AM »

THE COCOS MALAY PEOPLE

The first group of settlers brought to the islands by Alexander Hare were predominately Malay with a number of people of Chinese, Papuan and Indian descent. It is believed the party also comprised a few African individuals. The people came from such places as Bali, Bima, Celebes, Madura, Sumbawa, Timor, Sumatra, Pasir-Kutai, Malacca, Penang, Batavia and Cerebon. They were described by subsequent visitors to the islands as being nominally Muslim and speaking Malay - the trading lingua franca of the then East Indies. Today the Malay dialect spoken by the Cocos Malay people is an unsophisticated oral language. It contains words that reflect the diverse origins of these people and their history of sporadic contacts with outsiders. Of necessity, modern interpretation is given in Bahasa Indonesia/Malay with some adaptation to local usage.

MALAY BOATS



The society that exists today has been held together for eight generations by its very isolation, shared economic endeavour, strong family loyalty, a deepening commitment to Islam and their unique version of the old Malay language of the East Indies. Theirs has been a world sealed off from the outside by geography, politics and language. Few outsiders have lived among them and very little has been recorded of their cultural practices and traditions.Despite their disparate origins, the Cocos Malay people achieved an identity of their own within one generation of settlement. The "Cocos-born", as they were officially referred to, lived separately from both the Javanese contract labourers and the European owner-settlers. They had their own mosques, their own leaders and their own ceremonies.Today the cornerstone of the Cocos Malay society and the focus of each individual's life is the Islamic religion. Few depart from its teachings and observances. Elements of the English-Scottish traditions of the early overseeing families have been absorbed into Cocos Malay cultural practices. Certain foods, dances and musical influences have a western flavour.

MALAY VERSION OF A SCOTTISH REEL



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« Reply #476 on: May 13, 2007, 02:52:53 AM »

THE MOTHERS DAY CLASSIC

The MDC is the biggest community fundraising event for breast cancer in Australia. It involves thousands of women, men, girls and boys of all ages and takes place each year in capital cities and regional areas around the country on Mothers Day.  Participants run, jog or walk the designated course of around 8 kilometres and can be sponsored.

2007 marks the 10th anniversary of the Mothers Day Classic! The event will be bigger and better then ever and we encourage anyone who has attended over the years, to come back and enjoy the celebrations.

The events are organised and presented by Women in Super - a national network of women working in the superannuation industry. The vast majority of the people who help to put together the Mothers Day Classic are volunteers. They give their time each year as a way of actively contributing to the fight against breast cancer.

This initiative was inspired by the knowledge that research is gradually improving the survival rate of the one in 8 women who will be diagnosed with breast cancer during their life. Improving the quality of life of those with breast cancer is a valuable and rewarding investment into our community.



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« Reply #477 on: May 13, 2007, 03:00:43 AM »

AUSTRALIA A GREAT PLACE TO BE A MUM

By staff writers...May 09, 2007 04:45pm...Article from:  news.com.au
 
AUSTRALIA is the fifth best place in the world to be a mum, according to an annual index by child rights organisation Save the Children.

Australia was up two places from last year on the eighth annual Mothers Index, which ranks the best and worst places to be a mother and a child and compares the well-being of mothers and children in 140 countries.
Sweden, Iceland and Norway topped the rankings this year while Niger ranked last among the 140 countries surveyed.

The top 10 countries generally attained very high scores for mothers and childrens health, educational and economic status, Save the Children said today. Rounding out the top ten were New Zealand in fourth place, Denmark in sixth, Finland seventh, Belgium eighth, Spain ninth and Germany in 10th place.

The 10 bottom-ranked countries, nine from sub-Saharan Africa, performed poorly on all indicators.  Conditions for mothers and their children in countries at the bottom of the index were grim, Save the Children said.
On average, one in 13 mothers would die from pregnancy-related causes. Nearly one in five children did not reach their fifth birthday, and more than one in three children suffered from malnutrition.  The bottom 10 countries were Djibouti, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Chad, Yemen, Sierra Leone and Niger.

"If 75 years of field experience has taught us anything, it is that the quality of children's lives depends on the health, security and well-being of their mothers, said Save the Children Australia chief executive Margaret Douglas. "By providing mothers access to education, economic opportunities, and maternal and child health care, we ensure that mothers and their children will have the best chance to survive and thrive," she said.
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« Reply #478 on: May 13, 2007, 03:09:02 AM »

THE HISTORY OF MOTHERS DAY

AN INTERESTING EXCERPT FROM AN ONLINE SERMON.

Mothers' Day does not appear in the official calendar of the Church. It is a modern American innovation, now publicised largely for commercial purposes. For some centuries, there was an earlier tradition in some parts of England where the Fourth Sunday in Lent was called "Mothering Sunday". That day, which would have come a month or so before the date of the American observance in May, is still observed to some extent in Anglican Churches. It was a time when people in some areas visited their mothers and when there was a practice of visiting the cathedral or mother church on that day.

The practice which has now come to dominate in the general community began during the American Civil War when Mrs Anna Reeves Jarvis was organising a special day for mothers who had sons fighting on both the opposing sides. Later Julia Ward Howe, who wrote the rousing hymn Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord, organised a Mothers' Day meeting in her home town of Boston. By 1907 the idea was so popular that Anna Jarvis, the daughter of the Civil War campaigner, began a movement to make it an American national event and in 1915 President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the second Sunday in May as Mothers' Day.

In Australia, Mothers' Day was first celebrated in 1920 at the Presbyterian Church, Burwood, NSW. The Youth Leader John Stewart wrote to Anna Jarvis to get details of the American observance, and the youth group handed out white flowers to all mothers at the morning service. The wearing of white flowers seems to have taken on generally in a few years, but that was about all there was to it. Later, children came to be encouraged to do helpful things for their mothers on that day. It has been massively promoted in recent years by commercial interests as another occasion for buying and giving gifts although that had no part in the original observance. Fathers' Day was invented and placed at a different time of the year entirely for that commercial reason.

Should the church go along with this kind of community practice? The commercial exploitation of Mothers' Day can be rejected as yet another example of otherwise harmless sentiments being manipulated for money making purposes. The values of the market place tend to debase ordinary human values all too easily, especially when new needs and expectations are created by marketing techniques which have the capacity to create demand where none existed previously. But there could still be value in a community observance even if it is distorted by base motives. If people want to give presents, I suppose there is no great harm in that, provided it is kept in perspective and does not become a burden.
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....And at night the wond’rous glory of the everlasting stars..  A.B (Banjo) Paterson
Tibrogargan
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« Reply #479 on: May 13, 2007, 03:12:44 AM »




HAPPY  MOTHERS  DAY




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....And at night the wond’rous glory of the everlasting stars..  A.B (Banjo) Paterson
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