Hunter Street once again and the new bumptious presence of the University of Newcastle city campus. Or 'New'.
No gain without pain. A lane was closed all year while building was in progress now the whole street is closed.

Funeral in Christchurch Cathedral Newcastle.
  Margaret Henry has died. She was a very active worker and advocate for the city and its people.

  What would she have thought about the fact that the new  Minister of Defence is a female?

What would a Tom Murphy achieve on this backdrop at Port Stephens?  This city father from afar told us about the transformation of Pittsburgh from heavy industry.
Didn't he tell us create a vision as a basis for urban development and one we are very determined about so as to avoid being reactive and enter into  debates and see opposition as normal.
His talk was straight forward which was a relief, sponsored by the university.

'
Eloi, Eloi, lamma sabachthani?'  This week's religious dramas will be from the sacred living script of old.

It was more than coincidence that the film 'Into the Wild' was shown late last night (on SBS) - the night of Earth Hour. Also the night before Palm Sunday and the end of daylight saving time.
With social networking it seems less likely that any of us would literally drop-out and 'find ourselves' in the wilderness anymore.  How surprising,  an anarchic, lyrical film such as that emerging from our materialistic society.

Fitness, leisure, summer weather. Swimming at The Forum (sic) Newcastle University.

High achievement pays off. The University of Newcastle Chamber Choir conducted by Philip Matthias is simply the best and was heard in their first Christmas recital last night. Every song was notable and perhaps the earlier numbers were most worthy of comment but Christus est stella matutina, Alleluia was outstandingly beautifully done.
Over the decade the ambitious choir has won popular contests and awards and has toured overseas and the hubris must have spurred them on. The conductor is at the heart of their success I would think.

The best in any establishment has to come from the top, I've decided, be it group, institution or whatever. Not hierarchial yet still have influence from the top. Managers need to have some involvement in day to day core activities and lead the way in a practical manner. It means more than a mission statement. Staff are professionals often times, yet can still be led to aspire to be competent, yea, even to excel.

WAR on the HILL? FAR on the HILL?
BAR on the HILL at the university.
Vertically, spatially and subliminally unrelated to The Hill (inner city)?

Bio: Marriage for an ex-Newcastle young woman means two celebrations here and in the US.
This bride studied at Newcastle University and her ability with the Japanese language led to her employment in Japan and then in the USA where she met her husband to be. They have settled in Australia and look forward to a cross-cultural future. The photo with shade maintains some privacy.

Education, the latest industry, has hung up it's shingle outside the former offices of Newbold's Refractory in Mayfiled with a takeover by the university.

Newbold's held property in Mayfield with a Head Office and a Bowling Club and industrial plant for the making of furnace bricks or graphite refactories and crucibles, standard clay and silica firebricks and adhesives to supply industry throughout the country and for export.
Newbold came from Staffordshire and began brickmaking early in the nineteen- hundreds moving to Mayfield in 1918. The company was acquired by BHP in 1974.
Newbold was a keen gardener and his home, The Gables, in New Lambton, was a showpiece according to the Australian Dictionary of Biography Online edition.
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Change is constant and empires come and go. The big steelworks that once dominated the city have gone and the associated Steelworks Golf Club survives with a new identity.
The nearby BHP Billiton workshops and labs are said to be reborn as part of the University (nextdoor).
Is it more the case that when art, science and religion are in tension rather than in alliance that new ideas are stimulated?

The Great Hall at the University of Newcastle was open for business at the weekend. Academic and cultural events are seen in this centre opened in 1973 and built as a result of a public appeal. A tapestry adorns the wall and a pipe organ is both ornamental and is a fitting instrument for symbolic rituals.
I entered the hall. What was blazoned across the stage? Keep Watching the Ministry.....that you fulfill it.
Very apt but this line is from the Scriptures.
Had Art, Science and Religion been transformed into a meta-trinity? Packaged into an educational commodity of great potential. The names of subjects crossed my mind. Towards Nirvana and Capital Raising; The Tao of Management, Gender studies and the Papacy; Symbolic Order and Opus Dei; Extatic Levitation and Civil Engineering. I had vaguely heard of the end of history or was it.... the end of knowledge?
I realized the hall was full of chatty folk and children who were eating their packed lunches. No, this was really a church conference using the hall and taking their lunch break.

Surveying expedition, Semester 1, 2009.

Before the start of the day at Newcastle University

McRae family circa 1862 Winda Woppa signage.

A bit, sort of, about Tea Gardens and Hawks Nest has been an idea for a while. However, the topic has, sort of, been gazumped (which is of minor importance) as the area happens to be getting publicity lately. Round the time of visiting there, a very upsetting incident of cruelty and neglect was publicised and my interest in Hawks Nest was shelved. However, although I am not an/a historian or a writer, some facs about the genealogy of Tea Gardens and Hawks Nest will be set down here.
Prof Steffen Lehmann of University of Newcastle, tells us about maintaining a sense of memory when it comes to Heritage. Heritage cannot be reproduced, he said. Yes, new work or renovations can be so perfect that they looks phoney. It is interesting to hear him put a name to the impression that is found, namely 'disconnected from place' when places all turn out looking the same with a loss of what's local and a loss of identity.
The prof will lecture at the City Hall tonight at 6pm on .....Sustainable urban growth.

Maintaining a sense of memory, the Pioneering Poles: stilted figures, still and isolated, kith and kin of the timber trade, watching the seen. Rediscovery of the family, after decades, has led to this embedded wooden group and what did they saw?
Industry and noise, work and play, sore-dust, saw-millers by the shore while the tree rings out, clawed into the saw blades.
Ancient, noble timbers, sequestrated carbon, shipped away, now found prostrate on an Indian rail line or lining a building in England.

Remnants of a jetty with a load bearing capacity licenced to carry a white see-gull and its brother. The story board tells of the pioneer's household and the planting of pine trees which maybe those tall trees in the background.

The patriarch pioneer was only 14 years old when he arrived from Stroud in the UK and began the timber trade. Eventually, three vessels were used to transport timber to Sydney. Timber work ended round hundred years ago and the family changed to the fishing industry, on up to the present day.
The twin towns of Tea Garden and Hawks Nest have seen amazing treasure on their waterways.

On higher land around the district, away from the lakes in the rainforest brushes, red cedars were felled. From Karuah to Mount George and Gloucester down to 12 mile Creek timber getters worked away.

Around Winda Wopper the timber mills were fed by loads carried by Droghers or steam driven punts. The mills became steam driven. Taylor's mill at Winda Woppa was large and was there till 1953. The Booral Company began thereabouts.

Hardwood was another treasure which was in demand with the development of railways and was shipped out to India. The axe men became expert at producing lots, such as, 1500 rail sleepers each week - by hand. Pavers were made for London.

Steam locos came into use in the Myall to carry the timber and workmen travelled ontop of the rolling stock - that is, massive logs on axels and wheels - and they controlled the long load using ropes and leavers in daring feats. Footage is recorded in old movie of a train thundering downhill. Tall timbers by Ken Hall in 1937 is one such film. Timber works operated around the Myall lakes and beyond.

The information is from a local historian who is with Parks and Wildlife.

Picture below: The singing bridge links Tea Gardens and Hawks Nest. Before this was a ferry which crossed where the concrete slab is shown.

Older federation timber houses are in the township and development is changing the scene on the banks of the waterway and estuary of the Lower Myall River with the Myall lakes 18 kilometres upstream.
A classic little old weekender is shown.

The Forum on the campus of Newcastle University. Sport, as a study and as a commodity, is a topic to consider but The Forum is no centre for rhetoric but is one for fitness.

The Hunter Building at the University of Newcastle is not shown to advantage yet it has style and while it appears unobtrusive it has a number of levels around courtyards and has interesting twists and turns and is a mini-university all under one roof.

About 1971 the Teachers' College occupied stage one of this site which after a few years became known as Newcastle College of Advanced Education with Griff Duncan as the foundation principal. In 1985 the last links with the Union Street site were severed.
A multitude of buildings were developed and another change of name to the Hunter Institute of Higher Education came about but was in vain. After 40 years of teacher education and an enrolment of over 4000 a White Paper governmental policy led to amalgamation with the University of Newcastle, next door, in October 1989.

The Hunter Institute at Tighes Hill showing a small part of the campus which, as a branch of Technical Education, covered the industrial careers of those into steel and riverts and more.
Newcastle University had its origins there and when it moved to its present site the union building, to the right in photo, was retained by the Tech college, so it was the first tech to enjoy such a facility.
The educational experts are in a debate provoked by a new English Grammar text. One writes: there is absolutely no evidence that knowledge of grammatical terminology ...leads to an improvement in students' written communication...but we are concerned if they can't use those categories of words appropriately. (the Australian 16 June 08)
Where will these cultural wars end! How will we learn proper English?
I just discovered a topic about the use of articles and count and non count nouns and it is suggested there is a continuuem of sorts to consider. One could try and sort it out sometime soon.