Australia

[Old Bob]

The grey cloud on my memory has lifted and the pretty winter birds were "Satin Birds". We get one or two taipens a year here along with others. A few years back I pinned a good sized tiapan down with out hurting him(her) tied a builders string line around his,her neck. By this time the snake was what we call "bested" so for fun dragged him over to some nursery workers to show them my new pet, they all bolted. Teathered snake in the shade undecided what to do with it as it was dinner time. came back later to find snake dead, alas the line must have been too tight around the neck or it had a heart attack. The tiapan is a travelling snake it moves from place to place following food,think the king browns do the same. While the rest are happy to stay near food and water. Some how crows and snakes have learnt not to eat cane toads as they kill, but the crow turns the cane toad over and eats the tongue as it is the only non poison bit. They all know this so are there memorys inherited or the connected mind bit? The old bushies say a crow can read your thoughts. As soon as you think "I'm gunna shoot you ,you black ====" they bolt.

[Horza]

Hi, another Aussie checking in. I've been lurking here for ages (made this ID about a year ago and forgot all about it) so why not delurk in the Greatest JREF Thread ever?

Australia is a strange place. For a people who have largely elected small conservative governments and prime ministers we're also remarkably progressive when we want to be. Back in the 1900s Australia was looked upon as a freakish social experiment, a reputation bolstered by a series of Australian 'firsts'.

These include:

Electing the first parliamentary socialist government ever, that of Anderson Dawson, in 1899 (ok, it was a minority govt in Queensland and it lasted exactly one week, but still, big stuff in what was still the Age of Empires), repeating the feat at national level in 1904 (this time for three months). The Australian Labor party was an early success (UK Labour didn't get into power until 1931) and but for its tendency to towards split and mass defections at times of high political drama it would have been the dominant force for most of 20th century Aussie politics. Until the formation of the Liberal Party in 1944, right-wing defectors from Labor formed most of the non-Labor governments and parties. These include the Nationalist Party (in power 1917-29), formed by the defection of then Labor PM Billy Hughes over WW1 conscription (for), the United Australia Party (in power 1931-1941), created out of a merger between the Nationalists and Labor members defecting over the pursuit of Keynesian economics by the Labor Scullin government.

The Harvester Judgement of 1907, which was one of the first attempts at setting a minimum wage anywhere in the world. It established in Australian law the notion that an employee was owed a 'living' wage that could "meet the normal needs of the average employee, regarded as a human being in a civilised society." It was reached at the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration, established in 1904 (the Kiwis set theirs up a decade earlier, but they don't have their own thread in HLA so there ).

Women's sufferage - first extended in South Australia in 1894, Western Australia in 1899 and the Commonwealth as a whole in 1902. During the 1916 conscription referendums both sides made extensive use of slogans and advertising targeting women for the first time in political history (though again, the bloody Kiwis extended sufferage first in 1893).

oh and on the definitive Aussie songs - you're missing "Cattle and Cane" The Go-Betweens, "Wide Open Road" the Triffids and "Berlin Chair" from You Am I.

Cheers!

[lionking]

Welcome Horza. Post often.

[Akhenaten]

What he said

Cooee Cobber.

[Akhenaten]

Happy Birthday Bob!



Cheers and best wishes for today and for the year ahead,

Dave



PS Bruce Woodley, of the Seekers, is another famous Aussie having a birthday today.

[Akhenaten]

Originally Posted by Damien Evans

Our situation is rather different.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...-22242,00.html

Originally Posted by MG1962

Sorry I did not see this posted back when you did - Seriously what a beautiful story - one to keep for the next time an anti france thread erupts on here

My apologies if I've appeared to be ignoring you blokes. I simply don't have anything to add.

I've appreciated all your posts and hope others have as well.


Cheers,

Dave

[HawaiiBigSis]

Originally Posted by Horza

Hi, another Aussie checking in.

Welcome, Horza! May you find plenty to add.

[Akhenaten]

Quolls

Originally Posted by Old Bob

One cold winter night about 1945 there was a big ruckus in the chook house. Dad shoots a quoll (think that's spelt right) as it was killing chooks. Have never seen one since they are very rare, perhaps someone we know will provide a picture as he is very good at that. It was spotty black and white like a big cat from memory.

1080 poisoning by the government in the 50s wiped many creatures out and caused cancer in humans as it's made from sodium fluoride. (Bastards)

Originally Posted by lionking

Google is your friend Bob:

http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiv...uolls2004.html

Not that rare, and unlike many of your posts, I actually believe the first part of this post, but not the second.

Originally Posted by Sideroxylon

I used to see a lot of them on sealed roads at night around the Top End - probably enjoying the warmth before inevitably becoming road kill.

First thing we need to do is stop using the term "rare", since it tends to be a bit subjective. Like "common". Depends on where you are really.

The fact is that between the six species currently available, their status ranges from "not-threatened", through "vulnerable", to "endangered". Despite their conservation status, however, there are enough of them about that most people will have seen them or their spoor if they've spent any time in the bush. More importantly, there are enough of them that if we're careful, they'll do alright.

Humans are ultimately the biggest threat to them, through the agency of the usual suspects; indiscriminate poisoning, loss of habitat and competition from introduced species. The method of dispatch mentioned by Sideroxylon does a lot of them in too, and unfortunately this is probably how most folks get their first look at a quoll.

I might have thought that cats and foxes would be less of a threat to quolls, since they're well-equipped to take care of themselves, and in some areas they are considered to be apex predators. The experience of the Eastern Quoll in fox-free (we hope) Tasmania, however, seems to indicate that other carnivores do indeed have an effect. I suspect that pressure would come from competition for prey rather than from direct attacks. They're nasty little buggers if they're cornered, Just like Tasmanian Devils, to which they are related, and I wouldn't take one on without Arthwollipot and something sharp standing by.

As with many native animals, the biggest threat at the moment in some areas is the Cane Toad, Bufo marinus.

Quolls look like this:




©Geocities
©Quoll Seekers Network ©Flamungo



Edumacational Stuff


Australian Government - Department of Leftover Bits and Pieces

Quote:

Quolls are carnivorous marsupials with a pointed snout, a long tail and brown to black fur distinctively spotted with white. They are lively, attractive animals, with bright eyes, a moist pink nose and many sharp teeth.

The largest species, the spotted-tailed quoll, eats birds, reptiles and mammals such as bandicoots, possums, echidnas and rabbits. The smaller quolls eat mainly insects, birds, frogs, lizards, snakes, small mammals and fruit. Quolls also eat carrion (dead animals), and sometimes scavenge around campsites and rubbish bins.

And Bob's dad's chookhouse!

Quote:

Like most Australian mammals, quolls are mainly active at night. Typically, they spend the day in one of their many dens, although Spotted-tailed Quolls and Northern Quolls sometimes forage and bask in the sunshine.

Kingdom Animalia

Phylum Chordata

Class Mammalia

Infraclass Marsupialia

Order Dasyuromorphia

Family Dasyuridae

Genus Dasyurus


The Dasyuridae family also includes the previously mentioned Tassie Devil and the extinct (prolly) Thylacine. All of these have nasty, big, bitey teeth, like rabbits

There are currently six known species of quoll. These are they:


Tiger Quoll or Spotted Quoll, Dasyurus maculatus

These are the dudes in the pictures above, and are the largest and most numerous. They're Australia's largest carnivorous marsupial except for "Matilda", the giant kangaroo from the Commonwealth Games in Brissie, which ate children.

There are two subspecies Dasyurus maculatus maculatus, found from southern Queensland south to Tasmania and Dasyurus maculatus gracilis, found in an isolated population in northeastern Queensland.

Size ranges from 35-75 cm (14-30 in) in length with a tail of about 34-50 cm (14-20 in). When fully grown, males can reach 7 kilograms (15 lb) while females reach about 4 kilograms (9 lb). The northern mob are noticeably smaller than their southern cousins.

Wikipedia

Quote:

Before European settlement the southern subspecies had a range extending from southern Queensland through coastal New South Wales and Victoria to Tasmania. It is now confined to a few areas, mostly in national parks, and listed as threatened in all mainland states. Land clearing, habitat destruction, and possible predation by the red fox and cats have led to the decline. It has a large home range, and can cover over 6 km overnight.

The northern subspecies of the Tiger Quoll lives in restricted areas around Cairns and Cooktown in northern Queensland, and also in Papua New Guinea. It is slightly smaller than the southern subspecies. It is predicted that only 50% of quolls remain compared to last century.

The Tiger Quoll is listed by the IUCN on the Red List of Threatened Species with the status "vulnerable". The Australian Department of the Environment and Heritage considers the northern subspecies D. m. gracilis as "endangered". Chooks consider them to be "threatening".


Western Quoll or Chuditch, Dasyurus geoffroii

Found in the southwestern part of Western Australia, these little fellers are about ½ the size of the Tiger Quoll.

Wikipedia

Quote:

The Western Quoll was formerly found throughout most of inland Australia, reaching areas of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. It is now restricted to the south-western corner of Western Australia, where it inhabits wet and dry sclerophyll forests and mallee.

Of all the other quolls, the Western Quoll is most closely related to the . . .


Bronze Quoll, Dasyurus spartacus (and so's his wife)

. . . which come from New Guinea. The Bronze Quoll was only discovered in the 1970s, and only properly described as a separate species in 1987. The Queensland Museum is studying them, but little is known about them so far.


New Guinean Quoll, Dasyurus albopunctatus

These also come from New Guinea. Who'd o' thunk it?

They're only little, at about ½-1½ kg (1-3 lb) and mainly live in the highlands above 3 000 feet. They spend a lot of their time up in the trees and have transverse pads on the soles of their feet, an adaptation which is not present in the mainland species.

Both of the New Guinea varieties of quoll are believed to be under threat from the same nasties as ours are, but it's pretty rugged and remote up there so I doubt if anyone knows for sure.


Northern Quoll, Dasyurus hallucatus

These appear in a number of separate populations across northern Australia from the Pilbara in the west to around where Bob lives in southeast Queensland.

They're the smallest of all the quolls at a maximum 1 kg (2lb) and are the ones most threatened by the dread cane toad.

The Northern Quoll has recently been listed as "endangered" under Australian Commonwealth legislation (the EPBC Act), although it is only listed as "near threatened" by the IUCN


Eastern Quoll, Dasyurus viverrinus

These are now found only in Tasmania, although formerly they also lived on the eastern mainland. They're about the size of teh kitteh.

Finally, the poor little fellers have found a safe haven. Without the introduced species like foxes, cats, foxes, cane toads and foxes, they are doing quite well, and could even be said to be (shudder) "common" on the Apple Isle. They are frequently observed scavenging in people's yards and stuff.

Did I mention foxes?



Fun Facts

• Captain Cook collected quolls along the east coast in 1770, and recorded "quoll" as their local Aboriginal name. Quolls were often seen by early settlers, who called them "native cat", "native polecat" and "spotted marten", names based on familiar European animals.
  
  
• Male Northern Quolls all die after the mating season, leaving the females to raise the young alone. Deadbeat Dads. Literally.
  
  
• The female Eastern Quoll gives birth to up to 30 young. Of these, only the first to attach themselves to the six teats will survive.
  
  
• Matilda, the Commonwealth Games kangaroo, didn't really eat children, although that would have been much awesomer. That thing was just soooo gay.

Cheers,

Dave

[arthwollipot]

Happy Birthday, Bob! One year older, then, eh?

[eeyore1954]

Originally Posted by Akhenaten

Detroit, Michigan is 6531 kilometres (3919 miles) from Sydney, New South Wales.

Can that be true? i would have thought it was much further. how long would it take to drive there with a new car out of Detroit.

[Akhenaten]

Originally Posted by Akhenaten

Detroit, Michigan is 6531 kilometres (3919 miles) from Sydney, New South Wales.

Originally Posted by eeyore1954

Can that be true? i would have thought it was much further. how long would it take to drive there with a new car out of Detroit.

No, that can't be true at all. The actual distance is 15 254 km (9 478 statute miles). I'd try and pretend that I accidentally measured the chord distance intstead of the arc, but I don't really know what happened. Insufficient/excess coffee is my only defence, or I may have been in Universe #6 that day. Things are somewhat smaller over across up through down there.

Well spotted and thanks.


Now . . . about the driving thing.

Heading over to Seattle is the first leg, and shouldn't be a problem. The drive up the west coast of Canada looks delightful, on well-made roads, and you'll be in Alaska before you know it.

At this point, Google Earth starts suggesting a number of kayak trips, but I think the car might present some difficulties. I'd suggest island hopping across the Aleutians on a resupply vessel out of Anchorage.

The next landfall could be tricky. The Kamchatka Peninsula. I'd suggest a moderate-sized Carrier Force for this leg, and maybe travel at night. Quietly.

Your route now takes you down the length of the Land of the Rising Sun. Ferry services between the islands are frequent and quite safe.

Until you cross over to the Philipines. I'd consider purchasing additional flotation devices in Japan, and test them thoroughly before boarding a Philipines Pherry.

Remember that Carrier Force? Might come in handy for the crossing to Irian Jaya. Don't forget some Marines, because you need to drive through a lot of Indonesia before you reach Papua, and there are some dangerous things in Indonesia.

On to Port Moresby, another island-hopping sojourn through the Torres Strait Islands and . . .

At last! Terra Australis!

Now the tough bit of the trip starts, but there's Aussies about to help you on your way from here on, so you're cruisin'.

25 293 km, and 55 days, 21 hours after starting out you'll arrive in Sydney, the Sin City, Jewel of the Pacific and Hub of the Universe.


Oh wait . . . an American car?

You're stuffed.


You'll need to do the trip in reverse. Fly to Sydney and purchase an Australian V8 Supercar.

These cars are capable of skimming across the water at > mach speeds in total comfort and safety and will have you in San Diego in about 3 hours. The home stretch to Detroit may involve shifting back a gear or two, so allow another 2 hours for that bit.


Cheers and Happy Trails, Pardner

Dave.

[MG1962]

Originally Posted by Akhenaten

You'll need to do the trip in reverse. Fly to Sydney and purchase an Australian V8 Supercar.

Dave.

Grrrrrrrrrrr - ya making me home sick cobber

[Old Bob]

Originally Posted by arthwollipot

Happy Birthday, Bob! One year older, then, eh?

Thanks you arthwollipot, Dave and JREF forum for kind wishes, % wise a year is not much older(any body got young pill they don't want?) The Quoll in the chook house was dark grey, nearly black with white spots, not a bad colour for edge of snow line hunting. That was a couple of years before the mouse plague.

[Akhenaten]

Originally Posted by Old Bob

The grey cloud on my memory has lifted and the pretty winter birds were "Satin Birds".

Also known as the Satin Bowerbird, Ptilonorhynchus violaceus.

Boy


© Pam Russell


Girl


© Oz Trek


Playing mummies and daddies


© chappo's doodlings


The "bower" part of being a bowerbird is explained by the Australian Reptile Park

Quote:

Bowerbirds are so-named because of the intricate bower structures built by the males. These are not nests but display arenas to attract females. The male further enhances the attractiveness of his bower by decorating with blue objects and then carrying out an involved courtship dance. Once enticed into the bower, mating takes place and then the female leaves to build a nest and raise the offspring all by herself.

More deadbeat dads, just like the quolls. There's a pattern forming here.

Satin bowerbirds inhabit the heavily forested and heathland areas of coastal eastern Australia from Melbourne north to central Queensland. A separate race occurs in a small area of far northern Queensland separated by over a thousand kilometres from its southern cousins. We don't talk about them much. They're conservative christians and dull as dishwater at parties.



Distribution


© Great Ramesses Beard Bazaar
London - New York - Paris - Karnak

In drawing the above map and recalling my own sightings, I note that the range of these birds is smaller than, but similar to, the range of the Red Bellied Black Snake, and indeed they both like the damper, darker, more heavily-wooded areas. I'll bet there are some ugly incidents.

Bowerbirds are omnivorous, and their diet includes fruits, berries, new shoots and insects. They aren't above a bit of garden raiding and other scavenging on the urban fringes as well, and this seems to fit the behaviour described in an earlier post of Bob's.



Taxomy Taxomony Latin Wurdz

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Ptilonorhynchidae

Genus: Ptilonorhynchus

Species: Ptilonorhynchus violaceus

Fun Facts

• Satin bowerbirds always build their bowers on a north-south axis.*
  
  
• Man-made decorative objects include anything suitably coloured (blue) such as milk bottle caps, straws and clothes pegs.
  
  
• Seashells, berries and the feathers of other birds are popular natural items used for decorating bowers. Around Pi-Broadford the most common item in the bowers I've stumbled upon are the bright blue feathers of the Crimson Rosella, Platycercus elegans.
  
  
• It has been hypothesized that as males mature their colour discrimination develops and they are able to select more blue objects for the bower.**
  
  
• In Australian slang, a "bowerbird" is a person who likes to collect things. Lots of things. Not necessarily blue.

* Australian Reptile Park

** Wikipedia


Cheers,

Dave, Bowerbirdus amazinghoardica

[Akhenaten]

40 Years Ago

A digger stands at the end of the street, his rifle upside-down.

He died when a woman could walk alone, anywhere in town.

If she's not safe in years of peace, why did he go to war?

What was the purpose? What was the Glory? What was he fighting for?



Sometimes this world worries me; sometimes it makes me cry.

Then one more day is one day closer to the day I die.

And I think I'll leave it all behind, I've had enough to say,

"Go back to nature; live in the forest, before they take it away."



Now I'm no pauper, I don't believe. I've known no poor man's days.

But I'm still hungry to know the reason that I came this way.

Was it to learn that I can't buy the peace I used to know.

When I was just a little boy, forty years ago.



And I will keep on searching until the day I know.

the peace I knew as a little boy, forty years ago.


- John Williamson

.

[Sideroxylon]

Excuse me for heading off the main track and onto the subject of religion but this poem just came to mind for some reason – perhaps it is because that sacred “one day in September” nears.


Life Cycle, by Bruce Dawe.

When children are born in Victoria
they are wrapped in club-colours, laid in beribboned cots,
having already begun a lifetime's barracking.

Carn, they cry, Carn … feebly at first
while parents playfully tussle with them
for possession of a rusk: Ah, he's a little Tiger! (And they are …)

Hoisted shoulder-high at their first League game
they are like innocent monsters who have been years swimming
towards the daylight's roaring empyrean

Until, now, hearts shrapnelled with rapture,
they break surface and are forever lost,
their minds rippling out like streamers

In the pure flood of sound, they are scarfed with light, a voice
like the voice of God booms from the stands
Ooohh you bludger and the covenant is sealed.


Hot pies and potato-crisps they will eat,
they will forswear the Demons, cling to the Saints
and behold their team going up the ladder into Heaven,

And the tides of life will be the tides of the home-team's fortunes
- the reckless proposal after the one-point win,
the wedding and honeymoon after the grand-final …

They will not grow old as those from the more northern States grow old,
for them it will always be three-quarter-time
with the scores level and the wind advantage in the final term,

That pattern persisting, like a race-memory, through the welter of seasons,
enabling old-timers by boundary fences to dream of resurgent lions
and centaur-figures from the past to replenish continually the present,

So that mythology may be perpetually renewed
and Chicken Smallhorn return like the maize-god
in a thousand shapes, the dancers changing

But the dance forever the same - the elderly still
loyally crying Carn … Carn … (if feebly) unto the very end,
having seen in the six-foot recruit from Eaglehawk their hope of salvation


Wondering what it's all about?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_hqosNvv5E
Warning video contains over the top proselytism.

[Akhenaten]

That's brilliant, Mate. Your religion is most welcome here, and I foresee input by other followers in due course

Those verses gave me an insight that I'd missed up until now, and it's changed my opinion slightly about the Faithful (for the better, I think). I love this bit:

Quote:

They will not grow old as those from the more northern States grow old,
for them it will always be three-quarter-time
with the scores level and the wind advantage in the final term.

Shame it will be lost on the furriners.


ETA: Carn the Blues

[Sideroxylon]

Verily that and the following verses go far in explaining some of life’s eternal mysteries – like why Richmond supporters flock to matches and tithe memberships year after year. Recently I was at a loss to understand a young niece taking up with the Tiges but it’s easily understood in the light of this unflagging optimism that their time must some day come again. I must confess that as a worshiper of the mighty Magpies my making this statement surely smacks of irony, however the completion of the holy trinity of Eddie, Bucks and Malthouse is indeed an omen that our destiny is near.

[MG1962]

Although a very corny song, two verses of Up There Cazaley have always touched

Well you work to earn a living
But on weekends comes the time
You can do what ever turns you on
Get out and clear your mind
Me, I like football
And there's a lot of things around
But when you line 'em up together
The footy wins hands down


Now there's a lot more things to football
That really meets the eye
There are days when you could give it up
There are days when you could fly
You either love or hate it
Depending on the score
But when your team run out or they kick a goal
How's the mighty roar (hooray, hooray)

[arthwollipot]

I've posted it before, and I'm sure to post it again. No sport-related song can ever hold a bar to I Was Only Nineteen (A Walk In The Light Green) by John Schumann:

Quote:

Mum and Dad and Denny saw the passing out parade at Puckapunyal,
(1t was long march from cadets).
The Sixth Battalion was the next to tour and it was me who drew the card…
We did Canungra and Shoalwater before we left.

And Townsville lined the footpath as we marched down to the quay;
This clipping from the paper shows us young and strong and clean;
And there's me in my slouch hat, with my SLR and greens…
God help me, I was only nineteen.

From Vung Tau riding Chinooks to the dust at Nui Dat,
I'd been in and out of choppers now for months.
But we made our tents a home, VB and pin-ups on the lockers,
and an Asian orange sunset through the scrub.

And can you tell me, doctor, why I still can't get to sleep?
And night time's just a jungle dark and a barking M16?
And what's this rash that comes and goes, can you tell me what it means?
God help me, I was only nineteen.

A four week operation, when each step could mean your last one on two legs:
it was a war within yourself.
But you wouldn't let your mates down 'til they had you dusted off,
so you closed your eyes and thought about something else.

Then someone yelled out "Contact"', and the bloke behind me swore.
We hooked in there for hours, then a God almighty roar;
Frankie kicked a mine the day that mankind kicked the moon: -
God help me, he was going home in June.

1 can still see Frankie, drinking tinnies in the Grand Hotel
on a thirty-six hour rec. leave in Vung Tau.
And I can still hear Frankie lying screaming in the jungle.
'Till the morphine came and killed the bloody row

And the Anzac legends didn't mention mud and blood and tears,
and stories that my father told me never seemed quite real
I caught some pieces in my back that I didn't even feel…
God help me, I was only nineteen.

And can you tell me, doctor, why I still can't get to sleep?
And why the Channel Seven chopper chills me to my feet?
And what's this rash that comes and goes, can you tell me what it means?
God help me,
I was only nineteen.

[MG1962]

Originally Posted by arthwollipot

I've posted it before, and I'm sure to post it again. No sport-related song can ever hold a bar to I Was Only Nineteen (A Walk In The Light Green) by John Schumann:

There is seriously nothing you can say about this song. It just sits there and stares you down

[Sideroxylon]

Originally Posted by MG1962

There is seriously nothing you can say about this song. It just sits there and stares you down

Very true - one of the few songs that can get me watery eyed.

[arthwollipot]

Originally Posted by Sideroxylon

Very true - one of the few songs that can get me watery eyed.

I still can't sing it.

[Akhenaten]

Another Vietnam War Story or Two

Quote:

I'd been in Vietnam more than a year, first at Tan Son Nhut for about nine months and then at Long Binh for four months. I'd already extended one month and thirteen days and was being heavily encouraged to re-up and extend for another one year tour of duty. The enticements were considerable: cash bonus, rank and of course, the chance to continue serving my country in a foreign war of liberation. To help liberate an oppressed people from the heavy heel of Chinese communism -- that argument was pure ******** to me. A better argument would have been -- Do you want to stay in a situation where you have power totally out of proportion to your age, experience, training and rank? Or do you want to go home, take off your uniform and be a nobody in a job where you have no autonomy, no power, and are surrounded by people who have absolutely no interest in where you have been for the past two years or in what you have been doing?

Not a denial that A Walk in the Light Green is a powerful and iconic song, or that its sentiments are misplaced. Just tryin' to lighten the mood.

I think this song will definitely be close to the top of our list of best ever Aussie songs, when we have one.



Cheers,

Dave

[Damien Evans]

Originally Posted by Sideroxylon

Verily that and the following verses go far in explaining some of life’s eternal mysteries – like why Richmond supporters flock to matches and tithe memberships year after year. Recently I was at a loss to understand a young niece taking up with the Tiges but it’s easily understood in the light of this unflagging optimism that their time must some day come again. I must confess that as a worshiper of the mighty Magpies my making this statement surely smacks of irony, however the completion of the holy trinity of Eddie, Bucks and Malthouse is indeed an omen that our destiny is near.

Indeed, you will fulfill your destiny of losing another grand final in the next couple of years.

YouTube Video This video is not hosted by the ISF. The ISF can not be held responsible for the suitability or legality of this material. By clicking the link below you agree to view content from an external website.

I AGREE

[lionking]

Originally Posted by Sideroxylon

Verily that and the following verses go far in explaining some of life’s eternal mysteries – like why Richmond supporters flock to matches and tithe memberships year after year. Recently I was at a loss to understand a young niece taking up with the Tiges but it’s easily understood in the light of this unflagging optimism that their time must some day come again. I must confess that as a worshiper of the mighty Magpies my making this statement surely smacks of irony, however the completion of the holy trinity of Eddie, Bucks and Malthouse is indeed an omen that our destiny is near.

Geez, and here I was thinking this forum was free from infection.

[The Fool]

Originally Posted by arthwollipot

I've posted it before, and I'm sure to post it again. No sport-related song can ever hold a bar to I Was Only Nineteen (A Walk In The Light Green) by John Schumann:

It was actually not Frankie Hunt that tripped the mine. It was the Platoon commander. Poetic licence for the song I guess. It was a huge tragedy, causing more casualties than the Bn had suffered in the entire war up to that point. A medical officer was killed and more guys wounded when they tripped a 2nd mine while evacuating the casualties. I remember it like it was yesterday. I wasn't there.....but I wasn't far away, with another unit and it floored everyone. The VC sappers used many mines like this that they lifted from our minefields... M16 jumping mines....bastard things.

[lionking]

That's right, I remember you were in Nam. My number did not come up. You probably have a good book in you.

[The Fool]

Originally Posted by lionking

That's right, I remember you were in Nam. My number did not come up. You probably have a good book in you.

want to know something funny? My number didn't come up either I actually joined up.... And I don't know about a book.....I could write a book on insects because in Vietnam I got bitten by every variety that existed....also spent a bit of time with my nose very close to the ground watching them crawl around.

The mine business was a Giant cockup. We put in this huge belt of mines around the main base.....later, when we went to recover some of them we found most had been lifted. Very handy stock of mines we kindly provided to local VC. We told the sappers to put anti lifting switches on some of them and they told us to get ....ed because we didn't have to go back and get them and anti lift switches are bastards to lift and recover (I wonder why????)....Fair enough I suppose.

[lionking]

The job description of a sapper never really did appeal to me.

[Akhenaten]

G'day TF,

Very nice to see you here, and I for one am looking forward to more stories.

I also signed up, in hopes of going to Vietnam, but play finished early and I missed out. IIRC, the last platoon of Nashos were just getting ready for passing out when I arrived at Kapooka in March, 1972. There was actually a lone Nasho in my platoon (8) but he went over the wall on the first night and we never saw him again.

And I ended up in the Spanners, helping to maintain our fearsome Aviation resources.

Well, pretty fearsome, if we ever needed to invade King Island.


Cheers,

Dave


ETA: One of my best mates did two tours, one with 4RAR and one with 6RAR, as an Assault Pioneer. I wonder . . .

Originally Posted by lionking

The job description of a sapper never really did appeal to me.

You're not wrong there mate. Especially the poor bloody tunnel rats. I'll do a write up on them in due course, unless TF would rather do it, as one who's actually been in that arena.


Dave

[The Fool]

Originally Posted by Akhenaten

You're not wrong there mate. Especially the poor bloody tunnel rats. I'll do a write up on them in due course, unless TF would rather do it, as one who's actually been in that arena.


Dave

sorry, going down a hole with a 9mm and a lot of luck doesn't fill me with envy.

I did spend some time working for Lt Col Sandy MacGregor....who got an MC and a US medal for leading the rats. In an Army reserve unit a long time after Vietnam when he was the Units CO. In a terrible postscript some time after I lost touch with them all....Sandy's 3 Daughters were murdered by some crazy guy with a gun who broke into their home. How he ever recovered from that I'll never know. Sandy apparently met the guy years after the murder in a Prison interview and forgave him. How can you do that? A great man...one I will never forget.

[Akhenaten]

Col (Ret) Sandy MacGregor MC


Australian Story - 19 July 2001

Quote:

The Devil You Know

"I felt a chill go through me...I had to think about Sandy facing the murderer of his daughters."
- Sandra MacGregor, wife


"To peacefully confront someone who's killed your own loved ones, in cold blood, takes a lot of guts."
- Charlie Barnett, former Army colleague


Australian Story on July 19 tells the story of Sandy MacGregor, decorated Vietnam war hero, father of six, and now meditation teacher.

MacGregor was a Colonel in the Army when he became the first to lead soldiers into the tunnels of Vietnam, to conduct underground warfare. He was subsequently awarded the Military Cross.

In 1987 a knock on his door changed the direction of his life. A uniformed policeman had arrived to tell him his three teenage daughters and their 19 year old girlfriend had been shot dead by Richard Madrell, a paranoid schizophrenic fixated on one of the girls.

In the aftermath, Sandy's son Andrew (the only remaining child from his first marriage) taught Sandy relaxation and meditation techniques to help both of them combat their grief and distress.

Twelve years later MacGregor shocked many by appearing on Sydney radio and declaring that he had "forgiven" Richard Madrell. He argued that continued hatred and loathing would only make him another victim of Madrell.

These days he teaches other people - many of them prominent business people - the meditation techniques he believes can improve every aspect of their lives.

But he felt his personal journey would not be complete until he finally confronted his daughters' murderer in prison.

[arthwollipot]

I would have been an extremely bad soldier. I'm lazy and I disrespect authority. Not good qualities for the military. I have the greatest possible respect for the people who do a nasty job that I could never do.

[The Fool]

Originally Posted by Akhenaten

http://www.yvonneclaireadams.com/Hos...yMacGregor.jpg
Col (Ret) Sandy MacGregor MC


Australian Story - 19 July 2001

I always remember him as a huge bear of a man. Like a front row forward rather than a senior officer. Our standard joke was that he ate a lot so he could could plug up the tunnel entrances while his guys worked inside.

One of those sorts of officers where a forcefield of military discipline would precede his arrival by up to an hour. You always knew he was coming from the bush telegraph of mad cleaning and tidying. In the field everyone is constantly covered in crap but he always looked like he had just stepped off a parade ground. Rumor was that he was made of Teflon.

He had a habit of just silently looking at you If you told him some rubbish excuse. You were sort of stuck there looking at him...It was like trying to defy gravity.... and you would limply reveal the horrible truth...

Quite a Character,you don't get a Military cross in a packet of cereal...

[The Fool]

Originally Posted by arthwollipot

I would have been an extremely bad soldier. I'm lazy and I disrespect authority. Not good qualities for the military. I have the greatest possible respect for the people who do a nasty job that I could never do.

seriously. My experience was that many, if not most, soldiers are lazy and disrespect authority.
being energetic and respecting authority can get you killed

[Akhenaten]

Originally Posted by arthwollipot

I would have been an extremely bad soldier. I'm lazy and I disrespect authority. Not good qualities for the military. I have the greatest possible respect for the people who do a nasty job that I could never do.

I dispute this, but I couldn't be bothered arguing about it.

Originally Posted by The Fool

seriously. My experience was that many, if not most, soldiers are lazy and disrespect authority.
being energetic and respecting authority can get you killed

Seconded.

[Akhenaten]

Originally Posted by The Fool

I always remember him as a huge bear of a man. Like a front row forward rather than a senior officer. Our standard joke was that he ate a lot so he could could plug up the tunnel entrances while his guys worked inside.

One of those sorts of officers where a forcefield of military discipline would precede his arrival by up to an hour. You always knew he was coming from the bush telegraph of mad cleaning and tidying. In the field everyone is constantly covered in crap but he always looked like he had just stepped off a parade ground. Rumor was that he was made of Teflon.

He had a habit of just silently looking at you If you told him some rubbish excuse. You were sort of stuck there looking at him...It was like trying to defy gravity.... and you would limply reveal the horrible truth...

Quite a Character,you don't get a Military cross in a packet of cereal...

I never met Col MacGregor, but in every aspect other than physique your description fits perfectly with my recollection of another great soldier, Maj Gen Michael Jeffery, also an MC recipient. He visited my FRT a couple of times in the field when he was the Div Commander, and I swear there was, as you describe, a force field around him.

The ADF seems to produce outstanding senior officers out of all proportion to its size.


Mostly

[MG1962]

Originally Posted by The Fool

seriously. My experience was that many, if not most, soldiers are lazy and disrespect authority.
being energetic and respecting authority can get you killed

Which is why Australian troops in action have managed to carve out the name and traditions they have. Process is far less important than getting the job done....as safely as possible.

[Akhenaten]

Originally Posted by MG1962

Which is why Australian troops in action have managed to carve out the name and traditions they have. Process is far less important than getting the job done....as safely as possible.

We're all Jedi, you know.