Bananas Sink Ships

All around the Hilary Village of Hobart this weekend we have seen arms snapping up in Salute. Old men and young, some ladies too, have been marching through the streets to Remember.  Anzac, as I have been talking about.

So someone asked why I wasn't there. I wasn't an Australian when I fought, said I.  So, no salutin' then, suggested they. No, but someone very close did tell of the 'Salute, and the time when he was Commissioned after spending some years in the ranks. 

On being posted to his new base after being bent and broken and put back together again in training, given the pills to stop his shyte stinking and getting shiny stripes on his shoulders, the first person he encountered was a Warrant Officer. How the WO knew he was brand new, who knows, but as they appraoched one another the WO mouthed quietly, "Wait for it", and gave a Salute.  

He must have seen my friend's hand twitch. The lad was saved from being sunk on his first day. Several years of being a junior and saluting Warrant Officers first are not easy to put behind.

Okd Knights like m'self salute quite differently but old Kings are more used to just a wave of the hand. Ain't promotion grand.

But this fellow does salute from time to time.

I salute some non-military people. I salute Heroes and Saints. I salute aircraft. I salute memories and reminiscences.

Others salute in different ways too.

Here are aircraft saluting. 

Who would fail to salute back.

The salute has a long history to which I can lay some claim. Knights would lift their visor to show they were not about to fight. Their hand would not be holding their sword and their eyes were visible. You could look them in the eye. 

But that was when they were 'in the field' and making their intentions known. On 'parade' they would be more formal like the Officer with his sword at the top of the page. 


Or this fellow to the left.


There are many ways to show intent, or obediance, or Honour.


I salute my favourite aircraft too. I have one on the Tavern wall, top right. 

It was an ugly machine. Not at all pretty. A Thug-flugge. Bent like a banana and built like the proverbial brick khasi for sinking ships. 

A real Knight's Steed.

Bits folded, bite opened out and bits rotated. They were thown around so much that bits fell off too. They fired missiles to order. Martel, TV guided, right up to impact on the superstructure of choice. The last words a ship's Captain might hear was 'Smile, you are on television !'. Really quite cutting edge for those days.

And the men who crewed them were friends of mine. I rememember with affection my time with 12 Sqdn at Honington. Here they are doing what they do. With just a bit of artistic licence. You might notice on the nacelles there is a face. Quite close to home ! 

It is a plane that at least one fine man, a civilian, coveted. He saluted with his wallet and bought one. That is almost unheard of. 

A rich boy's toy. And what a toy.

I can't say that I would buy one, had I the wherewithall. I would buy a PBY and make a Gentleman's Residence in it. 

The fine men I served with and left to get on with things moved around a bit and mixed with others in conflict.

Let this be a Salute to them, their memory and their Professional Art.

Pax.

(Un)Holy Smoke

So, this old fella came by with a 'fee' list that I could chose from for allowing folk into the Tavern. He claimed that we stood on Aboriginal Land and should pay him. I introduced him to my Bouncer. I have to say that Germaine Greer, that maven of Feminism has a lot to answer for encouraging such nonsense, but on the other hand one has to admire the efforts of some Aboriginal folk for pulling themselves into the 21C with a bit of entrepreneurship.

Andy Bolt whet his whisle and told us about the 'smoking ceremony'.  Or rather he brought a few others to tell.

Welcome to what’s actually your country - 

and to an ancient ceremony invented the other day

Tony Thomas checks out the rates charged for a brand new ancient tradition by the Wurundjeri Tribe Land & Compensation Cultural Heritage Council:

Good business.

This reinvented superstition invades even an organisation once devoted to science but now gripped with a global warming alamism which its boss warns ”almost sounds more like a religion”: 

Even the CSIRO, an organisation nominally pledged to rational inquiry and scientific rigour (OK, there is that climate-change hysteria), has bought in to the ‘welcome’ business, having issued guidelines for pay rates and accommodations.... 

when its laboratories need to be cleansed of “evil spirits” 

...by an ochred contractor waving fiery foliage. Exposed and widely ridiculed, those guidelines were quietly removed for the internet. They remain available via Wayback Machine’s web archive, however, and can be read in full here.

The supposedly ancient ‘welcome’ tradition goes back 30-40 years, whereas the House of Commons goes back nearly 700 years. Indigenous entertainers Ernie Dingo and Richard Whalley, of the Middar Aboriginal Theatre, claim to have invented the “welcome to country” in 1976 because two pairs of Maori visitors from NZ and the Cook Islands wanted an equivalent of their own traditional ceremony before they would dance at the Perth International Arts Festival.   

Some ancient traditions go waaaay back. !! 

Another version is that activists shrewdly created the ceremony at about the same time to buttress land-rights claims. And Aboriginal Rhoda Roberts, head of indigenous programming at the Sydney Opera House, says the ceremonies were developed in the 1980s by members of the Aboriginal National Theatre Trust which she co-founded. 

Her speaker-for-hire profile claims she personally invented the term “welcome to country” along with the protocols involved.  She would like welcomes to include marking guests with ochre and Aboriginal sweat.

Yet:

Anthropologists and early settlers failed to record anything much resembling “welcome to country” ceremonies. Bess Price, CLP Aboriginal member of the Northern Territory Parliament and Minister for Community Services, has described “welcomes” as “not particularly meaningful to traditional people anyway.

"We don’t do that in communities. It’s just a recent thing. It’s just people who are trying to grapple at something that they believe should be traditional.” 

Anthropologist Ron Brunton found in WA some evidence for permissions being required to enter neighbouring clans’ land (although more honoured in the breach these days) but saw no evidence of any welcome-to-countries in the state where the ceremonies were (probably) first invented.

Adelaide archival researcher and geologist Alistair Crooks says, 

“During years of geological site inspections, I have never seen or heard of a welcome ceremony being performed when entering tribal land (invited), nor have I seen the ceremony performed when transporting Aborigines into or across various tribal boundaries. Nor is any such ceremony described by any of the early explorers or anthropologists that I am aware of.”

But hey, its a great little money spinner, along the lines of a Mafia shakedown. And of course, kow-towed to by almost any organisation funded by taxpayer's money!  

Good for driving out moths from old suits and overpowering 'Old Spice'.

Clearly, if it is to drive out evil spirits, it ain't working.

Note:  Tony Thomas’s new book of essays, That’s Debatable, will be launched at 6.30pm Thursday, May 19, at Il Gamberos Restaurant, 166 Lygon St, Carlton.

And maybe in the Tavern if he pays a small fee.

Pax 

War Suffering: Then and now.

The conversation the other day ahead of the Anzac Day Remembrance elicited some angst and disapproval in the Tavern.  An issue arose which continued for a while in the Oz room and I had to 'step in' to remind people of some perspectives. It was over the issue of  'Offical' phrases that elevate women's suffering position vis a vis that of men.

Officialdom has strange, distorting glasses.

I could well see the point being made by one chap, Mark Dent, and I agreed with him, but I do so not at the expense of the ladies.

The fact is that World War One, which is the keynote conflict remembered on Anzac Day, even though all wars fought by Oz soldiers are included,  did see some ladies killed in action. They were nurses. Fine gals. 

My good friend the Southern Gal has raised the flag for war nurses before, and well too.  The modern matter of encouraging - or rather demanding - front line combat roles for women pivots around the idea that women can do anything a man can, but don't. 

In WW1 Oz lost many a fine gal in the combat zones overseas.  46, so I understand.

Nearly 3,000 Australian women served as nurses during the First World War.

http://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/womens_mobilisation_for_war_australia 

Most of these served in the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS), although a dozen are also known to have served as Royal Australian Navy Nurses. The rest joined other Allied organisations such as the Red Cross (French, British and Australian), Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service, Territorial Force Nursing Service, Lady Dudley’s Australian Voluntary Hospitals, Salvation Army Nurses and the New Zealand Army Nursing Service. 

Approximately forty women served as masseuses, twenty-nine of these in the AANS. Female doctors, whose services were refused by the Australian military, had been accepted in British army nursing since the war against the Boers, despite lingering reservations amongst some senior military officials about their suitability for active service. Twenty-three Australian women doctors made their own way to Europe to join organisations such as the Scottish Women’s Hospitals, the Endell Street Military Hospital, Royal Army Medical Corps and the French Red Cross, one of whom (Dr. Phoebe Chapple) became the first woman doctor to be awarded the British Military Medal. A further 120 Australian women are known to have served in the Voluntary Aid Detachments established by the Red Cross.

Australian women had a variety of motives for heading off to war, just as did the men who enlisted. Patriotism and a sense of duty featured strongly in their own explanations of why they signed on – a strong feeling that they needed to “do their bit” for their country and the Empire. Many also wanted to be close to their menfolk, whether relatives or friends. And like the men, most were excited by the opportunity that the war presented for travel, adventures and perhaps even romance.

Nurses embarked on the first convoy of ships that sailed to Egypt in November 1914 and, like their male comrades, saw their first action at Gallipoli in April of the following year. Confident of a quick campaign, the Allied command had made little provision for the wounded. For many hours after the landing on 25 April 1915, the wounded lay exposed on the narrow beaches, showered by enemy gunfire. Those who survived were laid out on transports and slowly towed away to safety. Throughout the Gallipoli campaign, the nurses waited to receive the wounded, stationed on hospital ships off the shore or in the hospital camps of Alexandria and Malta, and later on Lemnos Island.

One can only praise these fine women who did what we expect from women. They gave; they nurtured, they were kind and caring, indeed, loving and warm to men who needed their special female succour. 

It is what women are 'fit for' in wartime rather than lugging weaponry and bayonetting the enemy. But in comparing what men and women are 'fit for' we seem to see men as fit to be killed, maimed, suffer horribly, whereas we do not like the idea of woman getting the same 'opportunity'. We just do not see women as having a 'Warrior Spirit', although frankly the battlefields are littered with the bodies of men who do not now see a 'warrior spirit' as much of a recommendation.

The 3000 fine ladies were very likely exceeded in number by the 20+ year old women handing out White Feathers in the street to 14 year old boys.

Compare the 46 who died to the 60+ Thousand men.  The disparity is notable, and even though I do not wish to see or hear of more ladies in body bags, nor does Mark want to hear an 'inclusiveness' that becomes an insult.

Let us hear what Mark had to say. He alerted us to a different kind of war - one waged upon men. The modern one.

Lest We Forget

Every year I attend the ANZAC Day clash between Essendon Football Club and my beloved Collingwood, two traditional rivals playing in the Australian Football League. Aside from the adrenaline which pumps through my veins as I anticipate the spine tingling roar at the conclusion of our national anthem,  there is another  moment when I  must physically brace myself to contain the swirl of emotions which assail my body.  No-it isn’t in reaction to an outrageous umpiring error or a player’s costly mistake. This reaction comes long before the first bounce to commence the clash.

 http://relatingtomen.com/blog/lest-we-forget/

I know that the ANZAC Day ceremony will entail a tribute. This tribute will invariably call upon the one hundred thousand people gathered there to bow their heads as they recall the selfless sacrifice of our brave men and women.

That’s right-the brave men and women.

Being something of a history buff I wonder if perhaps the details of our female battalions who dug in at the Somme and endured the freezing conditions, slept in the mud, blood and guts of their girlfriends and charged the enemy trenches with fixed bayonets had eluded me.

I never saw footage of limbless, blind, deaf, shell shocked, facially disfigured young girls being carried or wheeled off ships as they arrived home to resume their civilian lives. Perhaps the cameras weren’t operating that day.

Yet year after year we pay tribute and give equal standing to both the men and women. 

How is this gross misrepresentation of the facts allowed to go on unquestioned? 

Of course if one was stupid enough to raise the issue at a dining table the response would be as predictable as the effects of gravity. People would screech in indignant outrage: “Our women worked in the factories, nursed and cared for the wounded and suffered the grief of losing their husbands, brothers and sons!”

Hilary Clinton’s infamous line about women being the primary victims of war comes to mind.

'Primary' victims were the MEN, stoopid.
This from a charlatan who claimed to have come under fire in Bosnia - but did not of course.

If a women was ever harmed in war time, particularly in World War One, it was as a result of an unexpected accident or illness. No woman ever fought side by side with the men nor were they expected to fight. Yet, I repeat-they receive the same gratitude, respect and acknowledgement as the men. 

It is incomprehensible and makes a disgraceful mockery of the Remembrance Day ceremonies.

A handful of men suffer from breast cancer. Can you imagine the outcry we would hear from women if all of the breast cancer awareness campaigns spoke of the dreadful devastation of breast cancer wrought upon our women and men without any reference whatsoever to the enormous statistical discrepancy in which gender is most badly affected?  It doesn’t bear thinking about. 

There’s no need to wonder as it would never happen.

This issue of our media never being gender specific about issues negatively impacting upon men’s lives was brought to a head for me over this weekend when a full page article on suicide titled, You’re Not Alone appeared in the lift out section of the HeraldSun.

As I greedily scanned the paragraphs, hoping I would stumble across the sentence alerting the world to the fact that the terrible tragedy we call suicide disproportionately affects our men, I quickly realised my search was a futile one.

Over 75% of suicides are committed by a male. This of course doesn’t mean we should focus solely on males, but given the disparity in the figures one would think we would be thrown a crumb of sympathy, an empathic wink or a pat on the head. 

Nope…nothing. No mention of men as a gender throughout the entire article. In fact the personal focus was on women who had lost a male partner and how difficult life was for them as a consequence.

On the same day as this article appeared the murder of a little boy by his mentally unstable father was receiving wall to wall coverage. Each time the story was told the announcer reminded everyone that domestic violence was a scourge which overwhelmingly affected women although a small minority of men were also victims. Suddenly it seemed very important for the public to understand that this is an issue that harms women and that is where all of our attention should be focused.

This very deliberate censorship can be found in a number of other issues which overwhelmingly affect men. I have never watched, listened to or read a media story on death and disability in the workplace which states-men are the overwhelming victims of death and disability in the workplace. In fact when the Victorian Government ran a campaign on this issue a few years ago, all of the television, radio and print advertisements referred to the Deaths of Victorians in the Workplace.

Oh- and the dead are referred to as people or workers in all of the documentation. We would never refer to the female victims of domestic violence as "people" or "family members". We would be left in no doubt whatsoever that it was a woman who was slapped, pushed, beaten or verbally abused. Isn’t it funny how gender is of no consequence when males are dying?

When our media speak or write about our homeless-that is all we ever call them. We don’t mention the fact that 67% of our homeless roughing it on the streets are males or 75% taking shelter in boarding houses are males.  Can you imagine this percentage remaining a non issue if it were females wandering our streets and making up 70% of our homeless?

Why is this deliberate deception and censorship so prevalent in our media? One could be led to believe there is some kind of agreement in media circles that anything which could focus attention upon the hardship, loss, grief and injustice men endure is to be hidden, glossed over or ignored.

Some claim that more women are victims of family violence. Nevertheless a very substantial proportion of men are also affected. Understanding this, all domestic violence ads still focus exclusively upon women.

Men are not referred to at all, other than as perpetrators of course.

Imagine a suicide campaign with the same resources behind it as the Domestic Violence Industry has. This suicide awareness campaign would involve huge billboards, advertisements on television and a barrage of print articles in our major papers. Women would not be referred to in any way whatsoever. They would simply not exist as victims in the world of suicide. When outraged women ask why we are not concerned about female suicide they would be informed that less women kill themselves and for different reasons. Perhaps we could suggest that if they are so concerned about the plight of women who kill themselves they could start up their own movement to bring awareness to the problem.  Our focus just happens to be upon the men. That would surely soothe their indignation.

I would like this revised version of the pre-match ANZAC Day tribute to be read during the pre-match ceremony. It would go some way to addressing the rather absurd, insulting, inaccurate and somewhat deceitful insinuation that women have sacrificed as much as men throughout the many wars we have  endured.

Ladies and gentleman, could we please be upstanding as we pause and offer a minute’s silence in tribute to the courage and sacrifice of tens of thousands of young Australian men and boys who died so that we might live in a peaceful, free society. Others gave great support to our soldiers and we acknowledge the tireless work of the many nurses who took care of our men and gave them comfort in a time of need.

Personally, I agree with all he said there. But there are some who would be as disrespectful of women as our society is disrespectful of men. They would take the truth of the matter and use it as a weapon.

Two wrongs do not make a right.

Pax 

Sinking in Debt - Again

Socialists decry capitalism with its banks and fiscal policies and the dreaded 'Marketplace'. They aren't very good with money.  But they do seem to get a hold of power quite easily and then all financial hell breaks loose.

This month, indeed this very day, marks the anniversary of a famed speech made to the Oz Parliament  in which the Treasurer of the day declared the Federal Gummunt, (at least), free of debt. This was after an heroic effort to pay off almost $100 Billion of debt racked up by the previous socialist mob. 

Of course, the States gummunts still had their wicked ways with the purse and wallet and the average man and woman in the street were carrying far more debt than they could pay off. But at least the Federal Mob had conquored the Debt Dragon.

Of course, having done the hard yards and strightened out an unholy mess, the Conservatives were replaced by.... yes, you guessed, the bloody socialists again. And now where are we?

Just look at the

http://www.australiandebtclock.com.au/

Tick, tock, tick, tock, the hands spin faster that the spin doctors can catch. But the public is all too easily fooled. There is little traction gained by comparing Oz to other countries as it was back then. I know that 'everyone is doing it' : getting into massive National Debt, that is, but every sane person knows that to conduct one's own affairs in such a manner is a recipe for disaster.

And it will come.

But for a brief moment let us look back at just ten years ago. Eddie Sim introduced David Alexander's short chat and tabling of his words in the bar. Eddie said,......

A sobering document that only disciplined conservatives would ever understand. Labor wasted the fiscal surplus that had been solidly repaid and built over the Howard years only to splurge Australia back into debt yet again . Its history repeating itself time and time again and who pays for it ? YOU DO by higher taxes or reduced government services -- when will Australians wake up ?

David gave the news. David Alexander has a sound pedigree and is and was well positioned to observe: he is federal managing director at Barton Deakin and a former senior adviser to Peter Costello.

The lessons of Peter Costello's 'debt-free day' are worth remembering

The fiscal repair job that helped us ride out the GFC stands as a benchmark for the new generation.

Ten years ago today Australia celebrated an unusual milestone – the federal government announced that its debt had finally been paid off.

"Debt-free day," treasurer Peter Costello called it in a speech celebrating the event. "The day we pay off the mortgage."

 http://www.smh.com.au/comment/the-lessons-of-peter-costellos-debtfree-day-are-worth-remembering-20160420-goauk5.html

As last week's warnings of a credit downgrade ring in our ears, it is worth considering a few lessons from that special moment in history.

Peter Costello at the announcement of debt-free day in 2006. Photo: Rob Homer

In mechanical terms, the $96 billion debt was essentially paid off by a combination of the government living within its means – creating and then sustaining budget surpluses over many years – and using asset sales to retire debt.

If an aging Knight who has managed to get to this point in life completely free of any debt can offer a view, I think Costello was streets ahead of any Treasurer this country has had in its history. The Best we have had. I do not know what sort of Prime Minister he might have made had he and Mr Howard made a 'transition' of power effectively, nor do I know if him being PM would have secured an election which was in fact lost. 

But I would have bet on it.

The biggest spending cuts occurred in the first budget, while political capital was high and the attachment to programs was low. Over time the focus moved from cuts to refusing to take on new expenditure. Saying "no" was tougher than it sounds – and its significance more important than appreciated. Government spending as a proportion of the economy was always lower under John Howard than the level inherited from the Keating government.

Increased revenues in the early Howard years, through bracket creep and measures such as the superannuation surcharge, helped repair the budget, but tax cuts from 2000 meant the ongoing contribution to debt reduction on the revenue side was limited.

Now imagine several sticks of dynamite attached.

Revenues from the sale of public assets, worth $46 billion up to that point, went to debt reduction rather than other purposes. Asset sales came at very high political cost – the sale of Telstra, for example, stretched the political pain over multiple elections for the three sale tranches.

The vast majority of the debt, it is worth noting, was paid off while Australia's terms of trade were below the historical average. The arrival of the mining boom in 2004, eight years after Howard was elected, was well received but by then task of debt extinguishment was largely done.

Australia took a different path to the US and Britain. Costello rejected the Tony Blair approach of building up spending levels and running high deficits, and also castigated the Bush administration for its unfunded tax cuts.

"Supply-side economics is an example of what not to do," Costello said in 2005, presciently predicting major budget deficits.

Australia had one of the most sought-after fiscal positions in the world – debt-free and assets in the bank. In 2008 Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens lauded the financial position built up by Costello, saying "the capacity to respond, if need be, to developments in the future is virtually without peer".

When the global financial crisis hit months later, the super-strong fiscal position – radiating solidity, allowing tax or spending stimulus – coupled with record terms of trade meant Australia was prepared to outperform the world.

But of course the fickle Oz populous had spoken and the adult, Conservative Gummunt of Howard, PM, and Costello, Treasurer, was replaced by the dismal KRudd and Gillard years which handed them the inheritance and a clean credit card. The massive 'Cash-in-the-Bank' that Costello left them was frittered away by Wayne Swan and co in a trice and the credit card took a hammering.  Very quickly we were not only back where Costello came in but going backward at an horrendous rate.

Whoever was sitting in the treasurer's seat during the GFC – Costello, Wayne Swan, Pistol or Boo – would have overseen a world-beating performance.

There are lessons for today's generation.

First, don't allow debt to build up. Labor blithely surrendered our world-beating position with undisciplined spending, but once it's gone it is extremely hard to get back.

Second, governments need to be genuinely hungry for fiscal repair over a sustained period. Otherwise the desire to do better fiscally will be constantly overridden by other priorities.

Third, give up on wishful thinking. People are always coming through the treasurer's door with a proposal that "will pay for itself". Socialists err on the spending side, supply-siders on the tax cuts side. As seductive as these will be to some in politics – and they are always tempting – there is no substitute for hard graft, deferred gratification and honest accounting.

Fourth, make sure policy levers are working with the grain of societal values. Australians have a strong egalitarian sensibility that Howard instinctively understood and was reflected in his policies. The 2014 budget was always going to fail because it ignored this enduring sentiment.

Don't underestimate the deep dividends that come from getting the budget in order. There is a tectonic surge in confidence from consumers, businesses and investors that comes with healthy government finances. There's usually a handy political dividend, too.

The more hand-outs from the dwindling number of taxpayes to the fiscally irresponsible, the more votes go to socialists. Will we ever learn?

Here we are, sinking again. Up to our wastes.

Pax. 

The 'Blooding' of the Australian Fighting Man

That time of year comes around when Nations celebrate and Remember their fallen soldiers, as so it does for Oz at the end of this week.  Every nation has its different day and its different ceremonies and its different myths. Ours is ANZAC  Day. The Australian & New Zealand Army Corps.

It was a mere 13 years after Australia became an Independent Commonwealth in 1901 that we threw in our lot with the forces of Honour and Righteousness. It was to combat an initially European political and Spiritual illness which had quickly spread to engulf most parts of the world.  World War One.  Amongst the enemies we confronted was the Ottoman Empire, and it was upon the shores of the Gallipoli penninsula in Turkey that Australia was 'blooded'.

Our soldiers did well.

They were heroic.

An enduring myth was created which unfortunately presaged the 'victimhood' sense we see all around us. We had rescued Honour from a resounding military disaster and defeat. But honour can so easily be sullied.

But by crikey, like many, we can spin a good yarn and sometimes diminish the real heroism by emphasising a 'poor me' attitude. As if the might of Germany and Turkey and all the rest were not enough, Australians seem to revel in calumnising Britain too ! 

We lost a lot of men for such a small population. They were the best of our youthfulness and vigour, and illustrated that 'larrikin' attitude that takes fun in adversity. A 'Boyishness', irreverend and a challenge to 'tall poppy' authority. The propensity by some to 'whine' in an adolescent way detracts from the mature, adult manner in which our men proved Australia's resolve. This is 'politically' encouraged from some quarters.

Australia can be proud of the reality without the myths.

Bill O'Chee dropped in for a swift few pints to give a view.

Anzac Day 2016: 

Time to end the Anzac myths

One-hundred-and-one years after the landings at Gallipoli, it is time the mythologising about Australia's role in the First World War ended.

Many of the things we have come to believe about Gallipoli - for example, that Australians bore the brunt of the casualties - are untrue. 

 http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/comment/the-hermit/anzac-day-2016-time-to-end-the-anzac-myths-20160419-goafaj.html

There is much of which we can be truly proud in the Anzac legacy. The desire to embellish history is unnecessary and unworthy.

Worse still, some of our misunderstandings are the result of the fevered jingoism of authors such as Peter FitzSimons.  A rollicking good yarn they might be, but a fair representation of history is another matter.

This is a shame, because there is much of which we can be truly proud in the Anzac legacy.  The sad desire to embellish history is unnecessary and unworthy.

More than 40,000 people gathered at the Shrine of Remembrance for the Brisbane Anzac Day dawn service last year. 

Hobart, too, has its dawn service, along with all other cities and towns. I do not attend. Although a Warrior and once a Uniformed Officer in Her Majesty's Armed Forces, I served not in the ANZACs. I respect them. I do not seek to bask in their glory.  I do attend Mass, however, in the Crypt. I pray for the souls of my comrades in arms.

Hobart's War Memorial.

That being so, here are five things worth considering about Anzac Day, and Australia's role in the First World War.

First, the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps, which lent its name to ANZAC, was not composed of just Australians and New Zealanders.  In fact, it was a very multinational and multicultural force.  When the Australians and New Zealanders went ashore, they were accompanied by troops from the Ceylon Planters Rifle Corps, Jewish soldiers from the Zion Mule Corps, and Indian Mountain Brigade, who were all part of ANZAC.

Second, Queenslanders played a significant role in the Gallipoli campaign.  The most vital of the Allied positions was Quinn's Post, since it controlled Shrapnel Valley, and therefore the beach at Anzac Cove.  Quinn's was largely defended by Queenslanders, and when the Turks exploded a mine under the Post in May 1915, it was a young lieutenant from Brisbane, Terence McSharry, who saved the position.  McSharry is largely forgotten today, but he arguably saved the entire position at Gallipoli in one morning.

Third, Anzac Day had its genesis in Brisbane in January 1916. The Mayor of Brisbane called a meeting to consider how to honour our troops. It was proposed that April 25 be made a day of solemn commemoration, and Canon David Garland, the committee secretary, put together a plan for the ceremonies. This plan was adopted by each of the other states, and became what we now know as Anzac Day. 

Fourth, while Australian and New Zealand soldiers took terrible casualties, 

the British suffered far more.   

There were 8709 Australians and 2721 New Zealanders killed at Gallipoli, but 34,072 soldiers from Britain died there too.

It also has to be put in context, however, as I reminded Bill. Britain had a population far greater than Australia's.  Being as I am both English and Australian, and far older and wiser than most, I try to be even handed in this matter.

And the Australian population was largely British. We were a very young country, politically. Our stock was British.

Finally, stories of ANZAC courage are well deserved. 

Australian and New Zealand soldiers were highly regarded for their fighting qualities. Albert Jacka, who won a Victoria Cross at Gallipoli, exemplifies the Australian courage. 

 He was in a trench with four other men when it was heavily attacked. One by one, the others were killed or wounded until only Jacka remained. The Turks then rushed the position and seven of them got into the trench. Jacka singlehandedly attacked them and killed all seven, five with rifle fire and two with his bayonet.

When the war was over, almost 275,000 of these men returned home to build a nation. The traces of war were everywhere. Nearly one in three households sent a man away, but 55,000 Australians were killed and 155,000 were wounded. 

Imagine if that happened today. In an age when we are largely untouched by war, we should spare an hour or so on Anzac Day to honour those who have served to keep our nation free. 

The First World War set out national pride in place, and the annual Anzac parade includes all the fights in which our troops have been engaged.

Australia ALWAYS acquits itself well. Our fighting soldiers are amongst the best in the world, respected and feared. As it should be.

Anzac Day is when we show our respect. For yesterdays and today's soldiers.

Drink to the Oz Warriors.

Pax.

A Most Rare Opportunity

We often get aircraft flying over the Tavern, peering down through the forest canopy trying to glimps our turrets. Hah ! We are invisible to the unGraced eye. But of course there are fine men - and women - heroes up there who see us easily. We even get aerobatic teams. Some of my customers wish they could be up there enjoying the thrills too.

And our friends at 'Vulcan to the Sky', the folk who keep the spirit of the Vulcan aircraft alive and well are offering just that experience to a dozen lucky souls very soon.

It is not usual for the Tavern to spend its time 'advertising' but here we make an exception, especially for our UK imbibers. You know how it is: someone comes in and politely asks if they can put up a poster on the noticeboard.  If it is decent, we agree to it. THIS is just fantastic.

There is only one aerobatics team that is also registered as an airline. That means that very few people will ever experience the incredible excitement of an aerobatics display from the passenger seat of a specially-constructed, high-performance aerobatics aircraft, flying in tight formation with world-class display pilots. 

That’s the astonishing, once in a lifetime thrill that we are offering to help raise money to care for XH558.

Through our contacts with The Blades, a world-class aerobatics team piloted by former Red Arrows, we have arranged for six groups of two people to each join them for a VIP day at their beautiful airfield headquarters, where you will also race a Formula 1 simulator and learn to hover a helicopter.

You will receive first class hospitality throughout the day including breakfast, a freshly-prepared 3-course lunch, and champagne and canapés. All of this is overseen by our amazing and attentive hostesses. It is truly an unforgettable event.

A total of 6 lots are available and will be offered to the top six bidders

This experience carries a reserve of £1,000 for two places.

Terms and conditions: The “day” (Thursday 26th May) will take place at the home of The Blades at Sywell Aerodrome in Northamptonshire. The experience is for 2 people and cannot be sold on again. 

Participants must normally be at least 12 years old, under 6ft 6” tall and weigh less than 20 stone. Any medical ailments must be declared on a medical questionnaire prior to flying. Highest bids will be those as seen by the deadline and correspondence will only be entered with named bidders. Proof of identity will be asked for on the day, so transfer or resale is not permitted.

To make your bid in support of Vulcan XH558 

Consider your maximum bid for 2 places over the reserve of £1,000 and send an email with the subject line ‘Once in a Lifetime Bid’ to.....

 onceinalifetime@vulcantothesky.org

 .....leaving four important pieces of information.  

Your bid in £s

Your name.

Your address.

A daytime contact number.

ENTRIES CLOSE MIDNIGHT SATURDAY 30th APRIL

All bids will remain anonymous and the Vulcan to the Sky Trust will contact the highest bidder/s after the closing date of this auction which is midnight on Saturday 30th April.Payments will be requested within 7 days of notification of a successful bid, so by 7th May.

That is quite a package for 1000 squids and upwards..

It would make a great birthday present. !! 

Sometimes a little money can buy a lot of experience. A lot of money, a lot more ! 

Drink up, but remember, 12 hours between bottle and throttle.

Pax

A Great Spot for a Prison

I had to make a decision recently as to where I should live. It was not a hard decision but there was always an option to move to the mainland: The Great Southern Continent to the north. I decided to rough it out where I was, or rather nearby. Funny how decisions so often turn out to have quite unexpected consequences. 

Take the problem faced by Great Britain several centuries ago with its criminal underclass persisting in stealing handkerchiefs and pocket watches from gentlefolk. What to do with them. .... er... the crims, not the handkerchiefs.

The Amercian colonies had provided a solution for some time but had taken their (actually Britain's) bat and ball, gone to tea and closed the doors, refusing to take any more of the King's riff-raff. Too late, some say. They had 50,000 already and the gene pool was forever established.

View from my window.

But a French chap, Rear Admiral Bruni d'Entrecasteaux  provided some welcome news of a discovery at the ends of the World. Bruni got in just before Matt Flinders and James Cook, the intrepid English sailors, but he failed to hoist his tricolour for Napoleon and France.  Well, he had an excuse. He and his officers were 'Royalists' of the old school but the crew was 'Revolutionary'! Times were changing.

He descibed a place he'd found as..... 

'the most beautiful harbour in the world, where all the ships of all the fleets can anchor in safety'.

So...the Lords in Great Britain decided to build a prison there.

Hah ! 

It was a bit of a blow for Bruni. He'd been sent to the deep south to search for a missing expedition. On 4 January 1793, Admiral d'Entrecasteaux was forced to leave the coast at a position near Bruni d'Entrecasteaux Reef (he did quite a bit of 'naming of remote parts') and sail direct to Van Diemen's Land. Yep, even before the French and the British, the Dutch had been sniffing around and had named what is now called Tasmania. They had even named Oz as New Holland ! 

In this decision the French explorer was unfortunate, for if he had continued his examination of the southern coast of New Holland, he would have made all the geographical discoveries that fell to the lot of Bass and Flinders a few years later. Then, indeed, a French "Terre Napoléon" might well have become a fact.

Many places down this way have French names still.

The ships anchored in Recherche Bay on 22 January, and a period of five weeks was spent in that area, watering the ships, refreshing the crews, and carrying out explorations into both natural history and geography. Beautemps-Beaupré, in company with other officers, surveyed the northern extensions to Storm Bay – the western extension was found to be a mouth of a river and received the name Rivière du Nord – it was renamed the Derwent River a few months later by the next visitor to this area, Captain John Hayes in the Duke of Clarence and the Duchess.

Both Bruni and his second Captain, Huon de Kermadec were to die from illnesses within six months.

But time flows like the Derwent and a Prison is what the Lords in Britain wanted and that is what they built.

I can see the courtrooms now.... " so, you hanky-thieving little git, its hanging or transportation to ten years in a beachside villa (build it yourself, of course) at the end of the world. What do you choose?".

Those thousands of prisoners did not know their luck.

Well, build they did. Few returned home. Would you? OK, they all died, but heck making it to forty in London or British West Hartlepools was rare and one might as well die on a beach by blue waters as anywhere.  And it was a long time ago.

So, I too, stay. and look out of my window.

Looking up the Riviere du Nord, under the Tasman Bridge.

Not that I sit at home all day. I have a Tavern to run.

But I do get to go down to the beach nearby. It is superb.

My windows face North and East so I get a sunrise (which admittedly I sleep through mostly, unlike my hermit-nun friend nearby who sees it from the beach each morning).

Mid-morning sees a diamond-strewn waterscape.

Now, a word, if I may..... Please do not tell anyone about this place. There are only half a million folk in Tasmania and at least half never bother to come down here. They have their own beaches.

But should you decide to come here yourself, you will be very welcome in the Tavern.

Decisions, decisions. I am quite looking forward to the consequences.

Pax