To Battle under the Rule.

What a phrase to ring in the ears of a half-deaf old Knight, yet it lifted me as it was intoned, asked, and responded to by four young men. To Battle under the Rule.  Warriors come in many guises and these were to battle against the Wickedness and Snares of an ancient foe, in a fine Company, while I, a 'Free-Lance' tend my Tavern and pray in my Crypt.

I was honoured to be asked, personally, to attend this momentous occasion for Catholics in Australia, and Tasmania in particular, by Fr. Pius Mary Noonan, the Monk who came from America via 30 plus years in a Monastery in France to establish the first Catholic, Benedictine monastic community here in a long, long time. And he has been busy recruiting fine and eager men to join him. 

I arrived nice and early.

So I trekked the 60 kilometres or so, on Tuesday 21st, taking my neighbour hermit Nun and a fine, old and Holy Priest, my occasional Confessor, along with me. A tiny Church in deepest Tasmanian country, very like Burgundy - so claims Fr. Pius - was the venue for their Robing and it was full to overflowing. The Archbishop, Julian Porteous attended too. There was a fine supper afterwards at the home of Dr Daintree and his wife Elizabeth. An astonishing crowd of Good people.

The 'Rule' for you layfolk, according to Wiki..... The Rule of Saint Benedict  - Latin: Regula Benedicti-  is a book of precepts written by Benedict of Nursia ( c. AD 480–550) for monks living communally under the authority of an abbot.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_Saint_Benedict

The spirit of Saint Benedict's Rule is summed up in the motto of the Benedictine Confederation: pax ("peace") and the traditional ora et labora ("pray and work"). Compared to other precepts, the Rule provides a moderate path between individual zeal and formulaic institutionalism; because of this middle ground it has been widely popular. Benedict's concerns were the needs of monks in a community environment: namely, to establish due order, to foster an understanding of the relational nature of human beings, and to provide a spiritual father to support and strengthen the individual's ascetic effort and the spiritual growth that is required for the fulfillment of the human vocation, theosis.

The Rule of Saint Benedict has been used by Benedictines for fifteen centuries,

 ...and thus St. Benedict is sometimes regarded as the founder of Western monasticism. 

There is, however, no evidence to suggest that Benedict intended to found a religious order in the modern sense and it was not until the later Middle Ages that mention was made of an "Order of Saint Benedict". His Rule was written as a guide for individual, autonomous communities, and to this day all Benedictine Houses (and the Congregations in which they have grouped themselves) remain self-governing. Advantages seen in retaining this unique Benedictine emphasis on autonomy include cultivating models of tightly bonded communities and contemplative lifestyles. Perceived disadvantages comprise geographical isolation from important activities in adjacent communities. Other perceived losses include inefficiency and lack of mobility in the service of others, and insufficient appeal to potential members. These different emphases emerged within the framework of the Rule in the course of history and are to some extent present within the Benedictine Confederation and the Cistercian Orders of the Common and the Strict Observance.

This new community is firmly embedded within the Diocese of Hobart and while retaining all aspects of 'the Life', will get a great deal of support from many fine Catholics in the region.

Greg Sheridan was privy to some detail before hand which he published a few days ago in the Australian Weekend magazine. Some of it I put here.

Who’d be a monk today?

Australia’s newest and most remarkable monastery is already looking to expand. What attracts young men to a life of poverty and obedience?

Three young men attend to the business — a ceremony, really — of washing my hands. They look fit, they’re lean,heads shaved. One holds a basin under my hands, one pours water over them and one offers me a towel to dry them. All this is done in silence as an older man supervises. 

Then we proceed to the next room for lunch: lasagne, fruit, cheese and surprisingly, a glass of red wine. A young man reads aloud while the rest of us eat in silence. All of this silence suggests a life as radically countercultural as you will find anywhere. 

In many ways it is a rebuke to today’s culture, a challenge to it. I am visiting the Notre Dame Priory in Hobart, the newest and most remarkable Benedictine monastery in Australia.

The washing of the hands proceeds from Chapter 53 of the Rule of St Benedict. Written some 1500 years ago, it states: “All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ.” It mandates washing the guest’s hands.

Here is a group of young Australian men — smart as you like, mostly university graduates in their 20s, with all manner of life and possibility before them — choosing to follow this ancient monastic rule.

The Notre Dame Priory opened its doors in February. The prior, Father Pius Mary Noonan, 50, an American, spent more than 30 years in a Benedictine monastery in France. A slightly built, learned, straightforward man, Pius looks a little like Father Mulcahy in M*A*S*H, and has a strangely similar accent. 

How does he come to be in Australia,

leading this monastery?

A decade ago, an Australian woman arrived at the office of his French monastery and, because he could speak English, Pius was sent to talk to her. 

In his small, book-lined study, Pius takes up the story: “She had been touring French Benedictine monasteries to find one which would found an institution in Australia. We couldn’t do that for her, but she did find one that would come to Australia to give retreats.”

Retreats are an old Christian custom where for a day or more you step out of your routine life and turn your mindto God, under the direction of a priest, nun or other spiritual guide. Pius started coming to Australia every secondyear to hold retreats in Brisbane, Wollongong and Parramatta.

“I came to feel the Lord was calling us to do more in Australia than just give retreats every two years,” he says. “I tried to convince the Abbey [monastery] to do that. The Abbott didn’t want to create a foundation but he did agreeto let me go. I said to him there are young men in Australia who want to be monks and have nowhere to go, so welose vocations or they go overseas. So he said you can go and see if there’s a bishop who will do it. 

Hobart’s Archbishop Julian Porteous, who has given strong leadership to Tasmania’s Catholics, was keen to host the Benedictines. The woman whose initiative brought the monks to Australia now comes in to help with practical tasks.

Across the country there are probably fewer than half a dozen monasteries and convents that follow some form of the Benedictine rule. Like most Catholic orders of priests, brothers or nuns, the Benedictines and other contemplative orders have experienced a steady decline in numbers since about the late 1960s. For a new monastery to open with a swag of new recruits is momentous.

The priory occupies a small house, formerly a parish priest’s house or presbytery, in the bayside suburb of Lindisfarne. I miss the morning mass but join the monks as they chant the Divine Office — the recitation of certain prayers at fixed hours — at 11am in the tiny chapel, the nicest room by far in the bare house. Three monks, each in a white religious habit, are on one side and three on the other. In plaintive Gregorian chant, one side sings a verse in Latin then the other side responds. The verses come from the Book of Psalms in the Old Testament. 

They celebrate mass, and all their liturgy, in Latin, which marks them as highly unusual in Australia.

After lunch we enjoy a half-hour of recreation in the lounge, which is furnished with an old sofa and a few chairs.

They take a vow of poverty, these monks, but they are also living that extra poverty that accompanies a new project built on faith and slender funds.

The monks’ day is mostly spent in silent prayer and study, and in periods of work, but there are two recreation periods: half an hour after lunch, when they usually go for a brisk walk along pretty Lindisfarne Bay, and 20 minutes after dinner. Today they’re in the lounge so we can chat.

I want to know what led them to the Benedictine life. (These are private young men and I have agreed not to publish their names.) “It just seems the fastest way to heaven,” says one. Another says he had been struggling with the idea of a religious vocation and paid a couple of visits to a monastery in the US. 

He describes great beauty witnessing the priests simultaneously saying their morning masses. “I was provisionally accepted there,” he recalls. “I had to come back to Australia and sort out some property and practical matters. Then I basically got cold feet. I was nervous about spending the rest of my life in America. I wanted to live this monastic life in Australia.”

Another recalls a life-changing experience at one of the Australian Benedictine retreats: “I was looking for a quietfew days. I hadn’t expected to go there hung over and heartbroken.” The intense retreat experience, contemplating the things in life that stood between him and God, opened him to the idea of the religious life, the contemplative life.

In a separate discussion, Pius offers his take on motivation: 

“The reasons that bring people to monastic life are in their thousands, but there is only one reason you’ll stay — a great love of God.”

Mostly, young men drawn to this life first undertake a retreat for some days. Then, after discussion with the prior or abbott, they may live in for a few weeks as an “aspirant”, joining in the prayers and community life. After deep consideration and only with agreement of the monastery, aspirants become a novice for at least a year with several more years of instruction in Latin, theology, church history and related subjects. 

It might be seven years before a monk takes his final vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and stability (the latter means staying at the one community).

I ask the four novices and one aspirant (who still wears civvies) how they feel about the small daily sacrifices ofmonastic life. One answers: “After a while you realise that things like not having a cup of tea any time you want it. during the day don’t really matter. It doesn’t really matter not following the detail of events. You still hear the big news — Australia has retained the Ashes or whatever.” Another likes the practice of communal reading at lunch and dinner: “You get to hear some wonderful books that you probably wouldn’t have read otherwise.” 

He nods towards the prior. “Father,” he says, “you must have absorbed hundreds of books over the years.” The reading is not always religious; earlier they read an account of the French Revolution.

Nonetheless, as Pius points out: “This life has high demands. You can’t marry and have kids, you can’t take time off to watch a movie, you can’t even look something up on the internet without permission. You could argue it’s good for your mental and physical health. 

Monks traditionally live very long lives. 

You don’t become a monk for that reason but it’s a life in accord with human nature. Everything is ordered around liturgy, prayer, silence — the ability to serve the Lord and try to become saints.”

Pius readily testifies that he has been happy as a monk: “I have the conviction that my life is in the hands of someone who loves me and wants what is best for me. To discover God’s way is always best. 

This is very countercultural. 

Today’s culture says ‘make life what you like’. But life is best when you see it as a gift and give it back.”

The monks rise at about 4.30am each day — earlier on Sundays — to be ready to chant their first Divine Office at 5am. Later, they will each have a brief, modest breakfast in silence. They chant the prayers known as the Office seven or eight times a day. The Office is mainly the Book of Psalms, and they work their way through the whole book in a couple of weeks. Sometimes they have other readings from scripture and every morning at 10am there is (Holy) Mass. 

Some of the Offices are short, 10 or 15 minutes; some are perhaps an hour. Often they are followed by periods of private prayer, then time for spiritual reading. Books at first are recommended by the prior but later the monks choose their own reading (again, not all of it religious) in consultation with their spiritual director.

As in most Benedictine monasteries there are also designated periods of physical work that provide exercise and humility. The most learned monk — and many go on to earn doctorates at Catholic universities — will do his fairshare of scrubbing floors, cleaning toilets and laundry.

This house in Lindisfarne is full and the monastery has a bigger piece of land in the countryside where it hopes tobuild a larger facility. This is urgently needed because more young men want to join. 

In its way this is staggering.

At a time when the Census reveals a precipitous decline in Christian belief, and most millennials are addicted to their screens, these young men want to embark on a life of quiet but exacting Benedictine rigour.

I notice resting on the table in Pius’s study a book, Strangers to the City, by Michael Casey. A few days later I buy a copy in Melbourne’s Catholic bookshop. This astonishing and enthralling read leads me to my second monastic adventure.

But you will have to ask Greg about that. 

What a busy week, and uplifting.

In this terrible age when Christianity is under severe attack and the only abstinance that seems apparant is of sense, and apathetic hedonism takes so many of our young folk, it is heartening to see some movement in the better direction.

Charge your glasses, tankards, cups and horns - Drink to these fine men. 

Pax, ora et labora. 

Now I have a bit of labora to do on the floor of the crypt.

Oh, PS... the old and Holy Priest I mentioned, offered to pay for the petrol of the journey. I told him to keep his money but to say a Holy Mass for my Daughter. He loves to offer Holy Mass for Special Intentions. 

Middle East Plots and Carnage.

Being a simple sort, not at all included in the considerations and deliberations of those who are in power, I have little idea of what is going on in the world. There are plots within plots. Oh, I hear things of course.  I read all that you do and very likely more. Customers drop in with all sorts of scuttlebutt, but making sense of it through all of the competing ideologies is a tax on the thinking powers of even the most astute. And I have my work cut out cleaning the bars, pulling pints and mopping the floor of the Crypt. The newspapers and the TV 'anchors' make little sense, even when one half-trusts the lying toads. 

So I rely upon finer brains. Brains that are used to plots and alibis, motives and machinations. Someone who has sat on the bench and at the legal Bar rather than the thirst quenching one. And one who has a wife that keeps his puns in check.

So it was that Bill and Sharon put me aright on some matters of right and wrong, good guys and bad guys. These two are - in their own words...

https://www.deadlyduo.net/

We are The Deadly Duo, 

a/k/a Bill Hopkins and Sharon Woods Hopkins. 

In our real lives, Bill is a retired Judge and Sharon will never retire. 

We kill people, and make heroes and heroines out of ordinary folks like us. In fact, some people think we are writing about ourselves. 

Personally, we would never do what these characters do. They take on a life of their own. We only report on what they are up to.

So I asked Bill to 'explain' some things to me. Over a few pints, of course, in the US Room, where he and Sharon are World Famous. Syria, for example, and as a start. Well, it is topical.  And on the proviso that once he had told all the secrets, he would not have to kill us.

Syria, Explained.

President Assad (who is bad) is a nasty guy who got so nasty his people rebelled and the Rebels (who are good) started winning (Hurrah!).

But then some of the rebels turned a bit nasty and are now called Islamic State (who are definitely bad!) and some continued to support democracy (who are still good).

So the Americans (who are good) started bombing Islamic State (who are bad) and giving arms to the Syrian Rebels (who are good) so they could fight Assad (who is still bad) which was good.

Its all Bill's fault, M'Lud.

By the way, there is a breakaway state in the north run by the Kurds who want to fight IS (which is a good thing) but the Turkish authorities think they are bad, so we have to say they are bad whilst secretly thinking they're good and giving them guns to fight IS (which is good) but that is another matter.

Getting back to Syria.

So President Putin (who is bad, cos he invaded Crimea and the Ukraine and killed lots of folks including that nice Russian man in London with polonium poisoned sushi) has decided to back Assad (who is still bad) by attacking IS (who are also bad) which is sort of a good thing?

But Putin (still bad) thinks the Syrian Rebels (who are good) are also bad, and so he bombs them too, much to the annoyance of the Americans (who are good) who are busy backing and arming the rebels (who are also good).

Now Iran (who used to be bad, but now they have agreed not to build any nuclear weapons and bomb Israel are now good) are going to provide ground troops to support Assad (still bad) as are the Russians (bad) who now have ground troops and aircraft in Syria.

So a Coalition of Assad (still bad), Putin (extra bad) and the Iranians (good, but in a bad sort of way) are going to attack IS (who are bad) which is a good thing, but also the Syrian Rebels (who are good) which is bad.

Now the British (obviously good, except that nice Mr Corbyn in the corduroy jacket, who is probably bad) and the Americans (also good) cannot attack Assad (still bad) for fear of upsetting Putin (bad) and Iran (good / bad) and now they have to accept that Assad might not be that bad after all compared to IS (who are super bad).

So Assad (bad) is now probably good, being better than IS (but let’s face it, drinking your own wee is better than IS so no real choice there) and since Putin and Iran are also fighting IS that may now make them good. America (still good) will find it hard to arm a group of rebels being attacked by the Russians for fear of upsetting Mr Putin (now good) and that nice mad Ayatollah in Iran (also good) and so they may be forced to say that the Rebels are now bad, or at the very least abandon them to their fate. This will lead most of them to flee to Turkey and on to Europe or join IS (still the only constantly bad group).

To Sunni Muslims, an attack by Shia Muslims (Assad and Iran) backed by Russians will be seen as something of a Holy War, and the ranks of IS will now be seen by the Sunnis as the only Jihadis fighting in the Holy War and hence many Muslims will now see IS as Good (Doh!.)

Sunni Muslims will also see the lack of action by Britain and America in support of their Sunni rebel brothers as something of a betrayal (mmm...might have a point) and hence we will be seen as Bad.

So now we have America (now bad) and Britain (also bad) providing limited support to Sunni Rebels (bad) many of whom are looking to IS (good / bad) for support against Assad (now good) who, along with Iran (also good) and Putin (also, now, unbelievably, good) are attempting to retake the country Assad used to run before all this started?

I hope that clears all this up for you.

I mulled over that for a while. No wonder his books sell. I urge you all to buy Bill and Sharon's books. He urged me to urge you.  

But, no, it did not clear things up. Not enough, anyway.

I did not press him on the facts of the matter, nor on my suspicion that he had plagiarised it all from some unknown person. You can cross-examine him yourselves. With that sword dangled over him, I am hopeful he will not have me up before his bench for plagiarising his account.

I wondered if Google, the font of all knowldege, could shed light on a part missing from Bill's account. Palestine. 

You know, that UN and Western taxpayer sinkhole wherin vast amounts of our dollars go, and right next door to Israel, which gets the rockets and bullets and knives that those dollars fund. It seems to be involved.

Jean Patrick Grumberg is a journalist for the French-language news site Dreuz, so of course must be one of those we must trust. Hmmmm.  He explained too:

When Was the "Palestinian People" Created? 

Google Has the Answer.

All people born in British Mandatory Palestine between 1923-1948 (today's Israel) had "Palestine" stamped on their passports at the time. 

But when they were called Palestinians, the Arabs were offended. 

They complained: "We are not Palestinians, we are Arabs. The Palestinians are the Jews".

 https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11401/palestinian-people

After invading Arab armies were routed and the Arabs who had fled the war wanted to return, they were considered a fifth column and not invited back. The Arabs who had loyally remained in Israel during the war, however, and their descendants, are still there and make up one fifth of the population. They are known as Israeli Arabs; they have the same rights as Christians and Jews, except they are not required to serve in the army unless they wish to.

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality, today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese." – PLO leader Zuheir Mohsen, interview in the Dutch newspaper Trouw, March 1977.

In an op-ed in the Guardian on November 1, 2017, ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas called on the UK to "atone" for the century of "suffering" that the document allegedly wrought on the "Palestinian people." 

Abbas reiterated the claims he has been making since 2016, to justify a surreal lawsuit he has threatened to bring against Britain for supporting the "creation of a homeland for one people [Jews], which, he asserted, "resulted in the dispossession and continuing persecution of another."

"Palestinians" were the Jews who lived, along with Muslims and Christians on land called Palestine, which was under British administration from 1917 to 1948.

All people born there during the time of the British Mandate had "Palestine" stamped on their passports. But the Arabs were offended when they were called Palestinians. They complained: "We are not Palestinians, we are Arabs. The Palestinians are the Jews".

Bernard Lewis explains:

"With the rise and spread of pan-Arab ideologies it was as Arabs, not as south Syrians, that the Palestinians began to assert themselves. For the rest of the period of the British Mandate, and for many years after that, their organizations described themselves as Arab and expressed their national identity in Arab rather than in Palestinian or even in Syrian terms."

When Israel declared independence on May 14, 1948, five Arab armies joined up to try to kill the infant nation in its crib. After they were routed, some of the local Arabs who had fled the war wanted to return, but they were considered a fifth column and most were not allowed back. The Arabs who had loyally remained in Israel during the war, however, and their descendants, are still there and make up one-fifth of Israel's population today. They are known as Israeli Arabs; they have the same rights as Jews, except they are not legally required to serve in the army. They may volunteer if they wish to.

Israeli Arabs have their own political parties. They serve as members of Knesset and are employed in all professions. The moral is, or should be: Do not start a war unless you are prepared to lose it -- as the Arabs in and around Israel have done repeatedly, in 1947-48, 1967 and 1973.

Incidentally, the land that was being held in trust for the Jews in the British Mandate for Palestine initially included all of what is now the Kingdom of Jordan, which was granted its independence in 1946 as the Kingdom of Transjordan.

Less than a week after the article in the Guardian, Omar Barghouti, the instigator of today's attempts to destroy Israel by suffocating it economically, echoed Abbas in a Newsweekpiece, calling the Balfour Declaration "a tragedy for the Palestinian people."

The same sentiment was expressed at the end of September in a lecture delivered by Rashid Khalidi -- the Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University -- at the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies in New York City: that the Balfour Declaration "launched a century-long assault on the Palestinians aimed at implanting and fostering this national homeland, later the state of Israel, at their expense..."

Khalidi's claims, like those of Abbas and Barghouti, are false. 

Prior to the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, there were no "Palestinians." As the prominent Lebanese-American historian and Mideast expert Philip Hitti stated in his testimony before the 1946 Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry: "There is no such thing as Palestine in history, absolutely not."

Authors Guy Millière and David Horowitz elaborate on this in their 2015 book, Comment le peuple palestinien fut inventé ("How the Palestinian People Were Invented"), illustrating that the purpose of the fabrication was "to transform a population into a weapon of mass destruction against Israel and the Jewish people, to demonize Israel, and to give totalitarianism and anti-Semitism renewed means of action."

The ploy for a while worked beyond expectations. The term "Palestinians" was used across the world -- including in Israel -- to define the Arabs living in the West Bank and Gaza; it is often employed also to describe Arabs with Israeli citizenship. 

The narrative that the Jews displaced them by establishing a state completely contradicts the facts.

What are these facts? When was the "Palestinian people" actually created? 

Simply using the Google Ngram Viewer provides the answer.

Ngram is a database that charts the frequency that a given phrase appears in books published between the years 1500 to 2008. When a user enters the word phrases "Palestinian people" and "Palestinian state" into the Ngram search bar, he discovers that they began appearing only in 1960.

In his November 2, 1917 letter to Walter Rothschild, the leader of Britain's Jewish community, Foreign Secretary Lord Balfour wrote:

"His Majesty's government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine [emphasis added], or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."

Finally, apart from Ngram, there are the words of the PLO leader Zuheir Mohsen, who, in a March 1977 interview with the Dutch newspaper Trouw, stated:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality, today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism.

"For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

So, there are some other views, from horses mouths, to ponder.

M'self, being one blessed with an English birth and Oz nationality, can make little effective comment. I pull pints: I pray to my Supplier. 

I very much doubt anyone has a full hand of reins on the issue of the Middle East.

Have a long, cool drink.

I do wish all sides would sit and do that.

Pax.

A Whale of a Time

We have been enjoying some very fine weather of late and I have no doubt that Al Gore will make something of it, but we are making the best we can too. It is unusual for so many folk to be out on the beach on a Wednesday, as I was m'self, and today they had an extra special reason. Not that I was there at the right time to see the Right Whale just off Kingston Beach.

There was a time, quite recently, when whales were very rare here: and a time long ago when they were common. Hunting them to near extinction did not help. But they are back ! Not just the Right ones, but the Orca ones too. And dolphins. They all come right up the river to the City.

Aneeta Bhole from the ABC reported from the Tavern, cool drink in hand:

Whale spotted in Hobart's River Derwent as heatwave rolls on

A whale has been spotted off a beach in southern Tasmania, drawing curious residents to the shoreline and in boats.

The southern right whale was first spotted early Wednesday morning at Kingston Beach, and enthusiasts posted its location to Whale Spotting Tasmania's Facebook page.

Residents equipped with binoculars and long-lens cameras have lined the shore to catch a glimpse of the marine mammal.

Margate resident Jacqueline was enjoying a day in the sun with her husband when she saw the whale.

She said she was concerned for the welfare of the mammal.

"It absolutely wonderful, I hope that it doesn't get too close to the shore," she said.

Other residents were in awe of the sighting, saying it was the closest they'd ever seen a whale.

Parks and Wildlife believe whale is resting

Parks officer Kris Carlyon said from the photos he had seen the whale appeared to be in a good condition.

"It is simply having a rest, and photos I have seen show that it is healthy ... and should not be disturbed," he said.

Mr Carlyon said it looked like the whale was hanging around before continuing its migration south.

"This is classic southern right whale habitat; a nice, sheltered, sandy bottom," he said.

#Margate resident Jacqueline Verdow is concerned for the welfare of a #whale that's been spotted off Kingston Dog Beach and hopes it "doesn't beach itself". 

"This species is really commonly seen close to shore, and they are comfortable in shallow water down to about four metres or so."

He said the species was heading to feeding grounds in Antarctica.

"This species is currently heading south on its migration to its polar feeding grounds, so it will be resting up before a pretty big journey south," he said.

Mr Carlyon believed the chances of seeing the whales off the Tasmanian coast from now on would be low.

"The peak of sightings of both southern right whales and humpback whales tends to be in October, and sightings are now starting to tail off," he said.

The whales will then start appearing off the Tasmanian coast again in May next year when they migrate north.

Mr Carlyon reminded spectators to follow national guidelines and not approach the whale closer than 100 metres.

He said if the whale then approached you further, that was appropriate under the guidelines.

There is plenty of sunshine around Hobart today, with a top temperature of 31 degrees Celsius expected.

The weather bureau is expecting the city to break a 130-year-old record for the most November days over 25C in a row.

The heatwave has prompted a health alert for the very young and old.

It has,of course (both the heat and the whale) brought the rich and loony out.  We have some here. Helen Kempton hit the local rag asap to denounce jet skiers. (Not unreasonably in my view). I poured her a cool drink.

‘I’d like to see those p***ks on jetskis prosecuted’

TASMANIAN whale watchers have been reminded to keep their distance as an adult southern right whale has a made pit stop in Hobart’s River Derwenton its way south.

The Marine Conservation Program put out an alert this morning after it received numerous calls abouta whale off Kingston Beach from 7.30am this morning.

The MCP also received several reports of vessels and kayaks approaching close to the single adult whale.

“While we understand the excitement of spotting a whale close to shore, we remind water users to observe the approach distances outlined in the national guidelines. Vessels should not approach closer than 100m to a whale,” Kris Carlyon from the MCP said

“These approach guidelines are as much in place for public safety as maintaining welfare of these threatened species — an adult southern right whale may weigh up to 70 tonnes and even an accidental tail flick could cause serious injury or worse.”

There was also public anger at the number of jet skis and other watercraft around the single adult whale.

“I’d like to see those p ... ks on jetskis prosecuted for getting too close. Whale staying inshore at Kingston Beach. Crowd gathering,” a poster to the Whale Spotter’s Tasmania Facebook page said this morning.

Those flying drones to capture whale images also need to be mindful of the law which is that you cannot fly directly above whales at all.

The minimum height to fly a drone is 300m above the animal which is higher than drones are allowed to go without proper authorisation.

Dr Carlyon said it was no longer unusual to see southern right whales around Hobart — unlike 10 years ago when migrating population numbers plummeted and there were serious concerns for the species’ future.

Humpbacks are most commonly seen heading north between May and July and return southward to their subantarctic feeding grounds between September and November.

Southern right whales travel north from June to September to the waters of southern mainland Australia and return southward between September and late October and November

“They like to rest in the calm, sheltered waters off Tasmania’s eastern coast on their way to chase food,” Dr Carlyon said.

“While it is important people follow the guidelines, sometimes the species will be social and drive interaction with humans. But you only see that very infrequently.”

In January this year wildlife enthusiasts were happy to see a pod of killer whales return to the mouth of the Derwent. In 2014, a killer whale was spotted near Hobart and a minke whale entered the river.

Helen had told us earlier....back in January

Killer whales make welcome return to Tasmanian feeding grounds

A POD of killer whales has returned to the mouth of the River Derwent as they make what now appears to be an annual pilgrimage to Tasmania.

The pod, which has been tracked by Killer Whales Australia since 2003, was seen off Bicheno on New Year’s Eve and again spotted and captured by Pennicott Journeys staff at the mouth of the river about 10am yesterday. (Jan 2nd 2017)

A killer whale surfaces in the southern Tasmanian waters between Iron Pot Lighthouse and North Bruny Island. Picture: SUSIE CRETAN/PENNICOTT WILDERNESS JOURNEYS

“We have been tracking them for three days through dorsal fin data we have,” David Donnelly, from Killer Whales Australia, said.

“We have been watching this group since 2003 and know they were in the Derwent last year and in before that in 2010 when they were seen up almost as far as the Tasman Bridge.”

The same pod of three or four orcas also visited last year when they were seen near Bruny Island and again in Hobart’s river.

Mr Donnelly said while in Tasmania the whales would likely dine on dolphins, pelagic species and have a go at sunfish and the odd seal.

Needless to say, the dolphins, seals etc do not appreciate this and as we speak are in contact with 'Change.org'.

“Australian killer whales will have a go at just about anything,” Mr Donnelly said.

Fortunately, humans are not on the menu.

“The animals came right up to a boat near the Tasman Peninsula yesterday and one young male in particular was very curious as they rolled around. However, there has been no record of a killer whale attacking a human in the wild.”

Despite their penchant for mugging seals, they are far less of a worry than 'Yes' voters. 

Now, back to pulling long, cool pints of cleansing Ale.

Pax


PS Some late refs for you.

http://www.themercury.com.au/news/tasmania/killer-whales-make-welcome-return-to-tasmanian-feeding-grounds/news-story/0f30a29d83eb5df7ca9fb1d9dd91b23c

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-22/whale-wallowing-in-hobart-river-derwent/9178732

Billionaire's Boat

Someone has been talking, extolling the beauty of this paradise island and now we reap the ....what?   We have tried to keep this place a secret, even from the mainlanders on the Big Island to the north. But the fame is spreading and now the rich and super-rich are finding their way here.

Sailing past my Cave just 1000 yards away

It used to be that we would get 70's rockers in their third and 'Final' retirement tour polluting our entertainment venues. Then we had the Gambling Billionaire make the place world famous amongst the arty crowd with his spectacular Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), even ferrying folk up the river from the city in his futuristic catamaran. Now we have a really international flavour and it is attracting the hoity toity from afar.

Perhaps also that Tasmania is the least Multicultural state in Oz. (That means the poor and illiterate coloured refugee folk from overseas that come here find so many other poor and illiterate white folk that they leave damned quick).

We are into the 'tourist ship' season here, with liners disgorging thousands of very welcomed visitors every week ( and taking them away a few days later) but my new binocculars picked out the folk strolling the deck on this super-yacht yesterday. Alex Luttrell explained in the Oz room bar.

Largest carbon composite yacht in the world moored off Sandy Bay

THERE are supermaxi yachts — and then there is German billionaire Otto Happel’s Hetairos, which sailed into Hobart yesterday.

The 67m Hetairos, which moored off Sandy Bay, is the largest all carbon fibre composite-hulled yacht in the world.

Built by Finnish boatbuilder Baltic Yachts in 2011, it is almost 50m high and more than 10m wide, with two big masts.

Mr Happel, who lives in Lucerne, Switzerland, has an estimated fortune of $3 billion.

The Mercury’s sailing writer Peter Campbell estimated his superyacht could be worth up to $10 million.

Campbell said it was truly a sight to behold, sitting at double the length of the reigning Sydney to Hobart champion, the 30m Perpetual Loyal.

“It would be one of the biggest cruising yachts to come into Hobart ever,” he said.

“It made for quite a sight coming up the river.”

Campbell said it was clearly a professionally sailed yacht.

“It’s not unusual for private motorcraft to come to Hobart for the summer,” he said.

Accommodation on board includes eight cabins split between 20 guests and crew, with a separate captain’s cabin.

It is understood the crew is using facilities at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania.

It was not immediately known if Mr Happel was on board.

Hetairos is a fast performance sailing yacht with the classic appearance and styling of a Bristol Pilot Cutter. This 66.90-meter ketch was built at Baltic Yachts in Finland and refitted by Vitters Shipyard in the Netherlands.

Dykstra Naval Architects (co design R/P), are responsible for the Naval Architecture and exterior styling working in close collaboration with the owner and the owner's project manager Jens Cornelsen. Intensive towing tank and wind tunnel tests have been carried out to increase performance with the largest composite standing rigging to date.

Hetairos won the judges' special award during the the World Superyacht Awards 2012: 'Notable contribution to the technical advancement of sailing superyachts'.

I suppose the owner fellow and his crew will want a pint or two.

We will welcome them in the Tavern.

Pax

The Old Knight's Birthday

It was my Birthday on the 18th, which accounts for the lack of my presence in the Tavern for the past few days and Saturday in particular. And what a splendid day it was: hot, clear and lacking in wind.  It was an occasion where I was able to 'do the duty' of a Knight and treat folk to some largesse. It is not well known but on a Knight's birthday gifts are given by the birthday chap rather than simply received, although getting gifts is always a pleasure. I now have a fine pair of binocculars.

So it was that this old hermit warrior took a hermit nun to lunch. Nuns are not at all used to frivolity and 'pleasures of the flesh' so she was delighted to have a light dessert lunch of Orange and Almond cake with cream and a fine iced coffee with ice cream to wash it down in my favourite cafe by the beach. We sat beside the beach and watched the children play and it was a further delight to see so many dads with their little ones. We did not mention the newer tradition of dad's only getting to see their children at the weekend.

The evening was altogether different. I attended a Dinner, a fundraiser for a friend who cares for mums and babies. If I am to give, I give wisely at least.

This lady, Gaylene, started up 'Esther's House' some few years ago to help mums with 'crisis' pregancies - with crisis being a broad term.  Just how many babies are tottering around today in this paradise island because Gaylene cared I am not sure, but she has saved many from a gruesome death before they even got a start in life.  Many of the mums are 'single mums'. 

Some customers may wonder just why I am supportive, remembering all the discussions and 'denouncing' of the modern trend of fatherless families that we hear in the Tavern.  Even from me. 

Well there is a Reality to acknowledge and attend to. 

The Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life 

recognises that we live in a Vale of Tears and encourages us to wipe those tears away and get down to the business of Loving in practical ways, no matter what the circumstance.

Many people have difficult decisions and many fail in their courage. Gaylene is there for them.

Ben Shapiro is totally bold in addressing this. One may not agree with all of his views, particulalry the harsher ones, but virtually everything else he says cuts straight through to Truth and Reality. He, too, recognises that it is to each of us to Be Charitable.

Ben would happily give his hand and open his wallet.  As we did.

What an excellent dinner it was too. Some 150 people donated like it was going out of fashion and wanted to get in quick. 

You too can donate.

https://www.esthershouse-pps.com/#home

I was pleased to see amongst this virtually entirely Christian gathering in a Methodist Hall, many of my Catholic friends from my Traditional Latin Mass congregation, and even amongst those serving us. We opened our wallets like there would be no opportunity tomorrow.

There were prizes to be bid-for and won, items silently auctioned (I was outbid on several but then I am a poor Knight) and competetive giving 'races' between the tables. And as an added pleasure I found m'self seated next to a lady known to me only as an occasional facebook friend. Frau Flintstone was anything but flinty. A very pleasant dining companion.

I won a door prize of a bottle of wine, which I gave to Gaylene and her ladies to enjoy. 

I have Ales and Wines a'plenty from my Supplier. 

All in all, a very pleasant way to have a birthday.

Pax.

PS, How old am I? 

This old Knight was born a very long time ago in Mythical times when years were not as they are now.

The Yeah Horse Won.

It only takes less than 1% to win a nation, so remember that all we Christian people who say our prayers at night. Australians love to bet on the races and we have just seen one here that has been years in the running.  The gray filly 'Feministasista' came out of the turn two lengths ahead of the piebald 'Al-Mahadi'sjihadi' as they raced toward the line, and we were all taken by surprise as the rainbow coloured 'Buggerythuggery' came through the middle - after having fallen at various hurdles along the course - to cross the line ahead of the pack by a necklace.

You can be sure that the winners did not pray. They were too busy attacking those that do. The bookmakers took home much of the huge investments bet.

"Yes" shouted the 'yes' crowd which promptly showed all the lerve and tolerance expected, pouring onto the streets and painting the pub wall with crassness.

We have to respect their view, it seems. That's the democratic way.

They, though, had no respect, calumnising in their usual disgusting way, although perhaps not quite with the violence and destruction they visited on the car of a gentle lady quietly and respectfully offered a different view. 

That will come though and they will now go about wrecking whatever institutions the feminists have left standing.  And anyone who gets in their way.

What a sad day.

62% or there about voted for the sodomising of Oz.

They voted to support the less than one percent of LGBTInignogs who rode on a sheep's back. 

The great Oz public has a view which some think we should respect. 

I do not. I am not a sheep.

Pell was not handy to pelt but Abbott got headbutted, and both were depicted scandalously. Nothing will be done about that of course as the pub landlady - a lesbian - gave permission to the grafittists.

Tony Abbott had presaged something of the sort a short while back when the prayerful were thinking that such a win for the buggers and sodomisers and kiddyfiddlers was a remote and well outside chance. 

Same sex marriage debate creates new breed of activists

A few weeks back I attended two separate meetings, of different organisations, both with an interest in public life. The first had about 50 people, mostly over 60, pessimistic about the next election; the second, more than 100, mostly under 30, optimistic about their ability to make a difference.

It might not surprise you that the first was a political party local campaign launch. And here in the United States it might not surprise you either that much the livelier group comprised supporters of marriage as it has always been understood. 

 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/same-sex-marriage-debate-creates-new-breed-of-activists/news-story/bfb3375313c23291de58a5c6f10d0d0e?nk=1dc4d9f3f2a05effc85fce79fb2efc8a-1510825215

But it would surprise most people in Australia, where only aged, churchy losers are supposed to reject changing the nature of marriage.

Six weeks ago, some polls had 70 per cent support for same-sex marriage. With about a week to go in Australia’s postal vote, polling by the No case shows it has fallen to about 50 per cent, with about 40 per cent opposed and 10 per cent undecided.

Polls are, of course, notoriously poor at predicting and this was not an election per se but a postal vote in a non-binding 'plebisite' Very apt name. 

In Ireland, the final poll showed just 18 per cent opposed to same-sex marriage; yet the No vote was 38 per cent (of the 62 per cent that turned out). Perhaps every one of the opponents of same-sex marriage actually voted; or perhaps No voters don’t like ’fessing up, even to pollsters. Just to get 40 per cent would be a moral victory for marriage; but my instinct is that shy No voters mean this result could swing either way.

And just shy of 40% is what we had in Oz, for retaining the traditional meaning of 'Marriage'.  

Win, lose, or draw, though, starting from scratch two months ago, the campaign for marriage in my country has mobilised thousands of new activists; and created a network that could be deployed to defend Western civilisation more broadly and the Judaeo-Christian ethic against all that has been undermining it.

I do hope that network is maintained and developed and deployed as a far better fighting force in the months and years to come. We are going to need it.  This is not a whole war but just one battle in a long, drawn out war.

So why not take notice of what He says?

So far, the campaign to defend marriage in Australia has raised more than $6 million from more than 20,000 donors, and fielded more than 5000 volunteers to doorknock and phone canvass. Even now, on an Australian weekend, more people attend religious services than play organised sport, yet sport makes you normal and religion makes you odd, if you’re ruled by the zeitgeist.

Despite the vindictiveness of the same-sex marriage campaign against anyone who breaks cover, several thousand people, mostly young, have done just that. Such robust characters, once activated, are unlikely to fade away. 

Here is the nucleus of an organisation, created almost from nothing, to rival the left-wing activist group GetUp! that has been around for a decade; and that boasts it defeated a number of conservative MPs at last year’s federal election.

In the medium term, these new activists are likely to mean the long march of the left through our institutions is no longer largely unopposed. 

And we need more standard bearers, at every level, because a majority that stays silent soon becomes a minority.

In Victoria, the left-wing Labor government has reportedly given LGBTI support groups $500,000 to counsel people distressed by the same-sex marriage plebiscite. In that state, parents must sign a special form if their children are to receive religious instruction at school — but it must be at lunch time or before or after class and limited to 30 minutes a week. 

From next year, something called Safe Schools will be compulsory for all secondary students in Victorian government schools. This is a social engineering program that managed to trick its way into the curriculum disguised as anti-bullying, where 12-year-olds are made to role-play being gay and are taught that there’s really no such thing as being male or female.

The Victorian government is also on the verge of giving doctors the right to kill some patients; a moral watershed that has crept up on us, in part because marriage has preoccupied the national debate.

There is a massive job for these newly energised, potential conservative activists that I saw the other night. 

Regardless of the same-sex result, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of conscience and the right of parents to choose for their children need to be reasserted because the marriage campaign has helped to illustrate just how fragile they are.

Merely debating marriage has hinted at the risks facing cultural conservatives, the new dissidents in the world that their decency and tolerance has made possible. 

The Catholic Archbishop of Hobart, for example, has faced prosecution under anti-discrimination laws for a booklet outlining the orthodox Christian teaching on marriage. The threat of protest has caused pro-marriage meetings and rallies to be cancelled. 

A Christian teenager was sacked for putting a pro-marriage message on her Facebook page (and naturally the Australian Human Rights Commission declined to defend her). 

Parents have been lied to on gender-fluidity programs in their children’s schools. 

And these depredations have taken place while the same-sex activists are yet to win!

Now, of course, they have won, so expect far more of that. 

As the ('Australian') newspaper’s Paul Kelly points out, along with former prime minister John Howard: the idea that you can change the understanding of something as fundamental as marriage without changing anything else is an “intellectual fraud”. 

Especially if unaccompanied by any wider charter of freedoms, we can expect same-sex marriage in Australia to have much the same consequences as in other countries. People will take offence at the traditional teaching and the anti-discrimination laws can be relied on to do the rest.

Campaigns for same-sex marriage and the like are a consequence of our civilisational self-doubt and the collapse of cultural self-confidence. 

The decline of belief has meant a reluctance to assert principles and a fear of giving offence. In the meantime, there are three million Australians who haven’t voted and we’re fighting to get them all because, yes or no, everyone should have a say; one way or another, the result will be easier to accept the more closely it reflects the judgment of us all.

I will not accept it anymore than I will accept any unjust, immoral law. 

We must gear up, as Tony says, with this newly minted force of the Old and the Faithful, and find the battlefields to fight upon. I suggest 'defending' those who become embroiled in false charges and incidents incited by the buggers who want the florist and the baker and the Priest to serve their 'wedding needs'.

For, believe me,

Something Wicked This Way Comes.

A Beast lumbers its way into this fair land. And the SSM brigade is just one battalion, along with the Feminist Battalions, coming in ahead of the Anti-Christ.

Those battalions sounded their trumpets a long time ago. We took no notice.

As a customer, Truthphobes, said from the back of the room:

Surprising that 62% of Australians voted in support of the political agenda of the left, either by choice or from being naïve.?

YES it is Sad Day for Australia as homosexuals cheer and Cultural Marxists smile, having landed a huge blow on the institution of the family.

We will find out soon if it was just about “love” as the YES Campaign advocated. As fairies don't live in the garden we can expect the immoral Cultural Marxist “Safe Schools” Program will be rolled out across the nation, corrupting children through the education system in the near future. Plus a lot more, as evidenced from overseas  after nations succumbed to same sex marriage. 

With decades of planning and advocating the left have won and won well. 

We can only hope that Liberalists and Conservatives who care for democracy awaken to the creep of Cultural Marxism.

100 years of Communism, 100 million deaths. It is time Australians learnt more on Cultural Marxism / Post Modernism (Communism with a different label and strategy)

Some will claim “fear mongering” or “conspiracy theory” to what has been written. Who would have thought back in 1984 when homosexuality was illegal, that such a culture change would happen. Worth learning about Cultural Marxist Critical Theory.

Worth learning a little about the 'Wages of Sin' too.

Now, a final word. A 'Reality Check.

Polish the armour, folks. Introduce the sword to the whetstone. 

Battle has decended upon us, like it or not.

It will not end well, so drink up while you can.

Pax