Yet another Chautauqua. Even through the glass in the window of the train carriage the scene was truly green.  Rice fields grew all the way there and back in Java.
  It must be the case that over centuries of tending the land it has been levelled, divided and devised to succeed in holding a shallow bath of water for the growing of the staple food. 
  The impression is not one of broad acres which would seem fitting to meet the high demand. More often multiple small fields in different stages of growth are seen and well orchestrated and cultivated by one or two expert farmers or a small group.  Corn and other unidentified crops are there also. 

 Amazingly the crops must be harvesting by hand as no mechanisation was apparent except for the rotary hoe seen now and again getting along half submerged. No water buffalo. Fertiliser is made available and was the subject of some scamming according to the press. Plastic pieces were hung to flap in the breeze and act as scarecrows.
  Rice fields have 'fingers' into the small villages

and up onto higher 'shelves' in the hills, every where.
  The island has a fair share of hilly country.  Gardening extended up very steep hills, in valleys and fields and centers of population were a constant feature. 
  Next to the watery fields a farmer's house, in brick, would be seemingly built sat flat on the damp ground.  In all, the housing steadfastly resists change.
  The cooked rice was invariable good. 

In Cooma, inside  a vast shed is shown part of a unit that takes data about the fleece inside a bale of wool.  The bale moves on a conveyor and sensors are pushed into the bale. The marks of the 'stabbings' can be seen in a grid pattern on the bales afterwards.  From Sunhill and Gleneira sheep stations etc to China and to those who still buy wool.  Today is a suitable day for a wooley coat because winter returned for twenty four hours or so, staving off summer for a little while longer. Even snow falls were seen in less likely districts.  Conventional woolen clothing is usually too warm to wear in Newcastle as far as I'm concerned.   

How would you like a crib room like this?  Vans for the Council workers on location. 

To its credit, a state school organized a weekend of Fair Trade debates and stalls pertinent to the fringe who are into sustainability.
Hare Krishner nosh was appropriate.  Of course, the carbon footprint of vegetarinism is a step in the right direction as well as its other benefits.
I'm big on good intentions but conversion to sustainability remains a work in progress.  That and other issues take forever and ever to resolve, such as justice for piece workers who machine our well known clothing brands and the stall in the picture is drawing attention to their conditions. 

In transit, potential conversations around the water cooler.  How are the office converstations in a Google workplace? Is the water in its original state? According to the Sunday newspaper, Google is voted one of the very best workplaces. Now that's good advertising.   

Demolished.  The small family business, Stotts Mowers in Waratah has moved away and, probably, homes will take its place. 
The business was once well known and some thirty years ago could be seen taking part in city processions with a stunt in which a little lawn mower towed big heavy things along. Gender equality was there and the daughter was a competent mechanic.
The business had grown like Topsy with a workshop on the rear of the house.  Later, the house burnt down and the shed was reorganized.
Most of the homes in the vicinity have changed hands a number of times in thirty years. More and more, homes have only become an investment, a negotiable item, two incomes became mandatory, salesmen love the situation which inflates home prices and keeps many on a treadmill.

Take a break

Peters Milk Factory, Taree, with echos of butter churning, dried milk processing, steam cleaning and gum boots  from those days when it was a hive of industry (and sold Peters Ice Cream).
The rail line went past its doors and then to the nearby Co Op milk factory (home of Peerless Ice Cream) where, as well as rail transport, milk cans arrived by conveyor belt from the wharf on the Manning River.
Trucks collected milk twice a day from the dairys before refigeration and bulk handling.

Grass grows over the old rail lines.

At work in Wickham

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.

The key staff in an organization are the cleaners!  These were on night shift at the building society. Research from the UK, finds that the CEOs are outdone by the cleaners. What's new? Even Obama is putting pressure on the financial CEOs. What are his chances?

Sanitized consumers would be shocked by the book from Mary Ruebush: Why Dirt Is Good. 5 ways to make germs your friends. This writer is an American professional into immunology, infections and microbiology. Her thesis is that our immune system gets better and stronger the more it is used and needs exposure to dirt and germs from a young age.
Also, low level anti-bacterial products kill off  weak strains and an advance of potentially deadlier resistant bacteria is possible when our lives become awash with anti-bacterial commodities.
The more you use anti-bacterial soap, the more deadly the bacteria get and the less effective that soap is.
Hence, soap and water is the recommendation and wash the hands for 20 seconds. 

Copenhagen Update on these sites:   Sbs Television World News Australia. 
Green tv video blog.
United Nations.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation Portal. 

The Muster Point landmark, is a tribute to steel industry workers and has a cat and a pigeon at the window of the workshop.

The Rainbow Bridge Story, a piece from the RSPCA Animal Shelter is mailed to animal owners after the demise of their pet.  Outrageous schmalz but it brings a tear to the eye when the pet is your own.  
Save the tears and act now to foster conservation and halt the loss of endangered species.

 

A new water main is installed via lots of little excavations. Is cool clear water our most precious asset?

Inside the woolshed or shearing shed in the afternoon sunlight of spring. Close to the shearers were small holding pens where the floor was of slats.
So behind each shearing stand were these catching pens enabling the shearer quick access to the unshorn sheep.

Smoking is banned inside the building.

Regulations have got tougher so as to protect building workers from accidents.
SafetyLink, at this site: http://www.heightsafety.com, is a local company and a manufacturer of Height Safety Equipment to be seen on ABC TV.
In non-technical general terms, those who work on the top of a building, are now held on the end of a wire, attached to an 'archor', and the small archors are permanently installed across the roof-tops. This together with a safety fence or scaffolding, with a fence, provide a safer place from which to work.
SafetyLink has made an eyebolt and anchor with outstanding properties and other safety products that lift the standards of quality and safety to new heights.

All from the archives. Above, live improvised sound and outdoor cinema

Filming at the corner King and Watt, Newcastle.

Former Victoria Theatre, Newcastle
Filming at Nobbys Beach, Newcastle.
Former Regal Theatre - a 'one man band'

How many men does it take to install a drain?

I want to see on the computer the Australian protocol for the written date, ie: day, month, year every time. Is there any group in existence that tries to save the day-month-year method?
I want to see a good selection of web sites without Google defaulting to American sites so much. Imagine all the other countries subjected to this as well. (notwithstanding the Google option for Australian content)
I want to see Australian spelling in the web content. I want to see Australianisms.
If I sign up and give my address I don't want a request for a zip code either.
Some degree of choice exists and one can change the details on programs and search engines. Protcols from other places could be seen as part of life's rich pagent but other times they are just something I could do without.
Thanks

These storage tanks are getting a big facelift. Petroleum products are held there as is usual.
It's not art unfortunately. They are wrapped, of course, to contain any pollution created by the work.

A context or good composition or somesuch is part of a good photo. One can 'do battle' with the traffic and one way streets and 'no parking zones' so as to reach some unlikely subject for a photo and just go for it and a scene becomes digitalized just in a matter of fact way at first sight and history (or herstory) is recorded. I'm afraid that's it.

Crazed by the heat-wave had I stumbled on the Alhambra or was it only a mirage?
No. An oasis, cool and palm-fringed stood in the park in Hamilton. The air was heavy with the scent of the fruit of the fig trees and the earth was thickly covered with the 'berries' from off these large old shade trees. .

A group of city council gardeners was/were busy working there. Many other council workers were on strike today over an issue. Council workers don't strike very often at all.

These documents are in poor condition but relate to injustice over the "Stolen Wages" where the Aborigines, in all of the states, went unpaid or underpaid for their employment.

Below is a form from the Protector of Aboriginals which is an agreement about an Aboriginal stockman from Woorabinda Aboriginal Settlement who went to a grazing property in 1942 to work for two pound per week of which fifteen shillings was pocket money and one pound five shillings was paid, in trust, to the Superintendent at Woorabinda. A receipt covers those payments made by the employer in instalments.

However, Aborigines found that it was difficult to claim such wages. They did not necessarily understand the procedure and it is claimed that deposits were siphoned off. Thumb prints and pass books were unmanageable They feel cheated.
They worked in many roles such as those of domestics and farm hands. As young teenagers they were ordered out of the missions into the workplace to fend for themselves in instances that are reported and were heard recently on ABC radio. This occured up until the ninteen sixties and beyond.
The Woorabinda settlement still operates in Queensland; we looked last time we were in the area.