Round the New England blogging traps 29 - writing and rates

I suddenly realised just how long it had been since my last run around the New England blogging scene, fifteen months! I have been monitoring, but not reporting.

In Clarence Valley Council rating by the numbers, North Coast Voices had an interesting discussion on the rate setting process and especially the use of the index of relative socio-economic disadvantage as one factor in rate setting. The piece includes a link to the council minutes, as well as the ABS statistical series presenting the latest indices.

Reading the Council minutes, I was struck by just how complex the rate setting process can be in largish geographical areas with their variety in local conditions. I was also struck by the apparent decline in land values within the Council area. The latest Valuer General valuations placed a value of $4.2 billion on rateable land, down from $4.8 billion three years before. That's a fall of 12 per cent.

North Coast Voices continues its environmental campaigning, including Screenshot from Metgasco Limited proposed unconventional gas drill site at Bentley, NSW. For those not familiar with the intensity of on-ground feeling, click through the link to the story in the Northern Rivers Echo.

Meanwhile, on Northern Rivers Geology, Rod Holland has put together a consolidated List of Natural Gas Posts. These provide a factual geological analysis of the different types of gas and gas extraction.

Up the mountain road from the Clarence, last year saw the death of one of Denis Wright, one of New England's best known bloggers. The last post on My Unwelcome Stranger carries Denis' final message, as well as the eulogy by friend and colleague David Kent. Denis really was a remarkable man.

Staying in Armidale, Janene Carey's Turkish Delights describes a recent trip to Turkey. Janene is a very good writer and a fellow board member of the New England Writers' Center. On Saturday, I had coffee with her in the Mall before my return to Sydney. We chatted about writing, including the difficulty of actually making a living from the craft. I described the overall trip in a post on my personal blog, A fleeting visit to Armidale.

Still in Armidale, Paul Barratt's On final for Armidale describes his flight into town. Paul has been on something of a nostalgia trip recently (A day trip to Dangar Falls, Those were the days). A bit dangerous from my viewpoint because of our shared links.

Some of my favourite New England photo blogs have gone into extended recess. That's a pity, because they were an invaluable source of ideas and inspiration. However, Julia's Newcastle Photo continues, again with an environmental theme.

Moving back to the Northern Rivers, Jan's A Tapestry of Life continues to give, as she says, "glimpses of an active, contented life in country Australia." That's true! 

Moving to the far west and back to writing, Nicole Alexander (blog here) was born and raised on New England's northwest plains. She calls it NSW, but I don't know that place! Her family property is located north-west of Moree near the Queensland border. Her new book, Sunset Ridge, is now out.

New England has a remarkable number of writers. Of course, the questions of just who is a New England writer or what New England writing is are open questions.

I must stop here. I am out of time!

Round the New England blogging traps 28 - a strange mixture

Congratulations to Keith Burgess on having A Woodsrunner's Diary selected by the National Library as worthy of permanent preservation under Australia's national electronics archive arrangement. Congratulations, too, to Bronwyn Parry on the forth coming publication of her new book, Darkening Skies.

Back in November 2011 (APN ceases daily publication of Tweed Daily, Coffs Advocate) I recorded the ending of the main print versions of two of the older New England papers. Over on North Coast Voices, Newspaper circulation figures show decline on NSW North Coast provides figures showing the continued decline in newspaper circulation for the Northern dailies. It still makes me sad, although I don't think that any of the chains help themselves.

Paper	April-June 2012	Variation %
Daily Examiner, Grafton (M-F)	4,830	-8.35
Northern Star, Lismore (M-F)	12,700	-5.41
Maitland Mercury, Maitland (M-F) (January-June)	3,961	-7,06
Herald, Newcastle (M-S)	44,879	-6.7
Northern Daily Leader, Tamworth (M-S) (January-June)	7,084	-3.55

North Coast Voices also provides a critical follow up report on the closure of the Grafton gaol (This Stoner-Gulaptis pea and thimble trick would be laughable if it didn't affect NSW North Coast families) and reports on  anti coal seam gas activities (among others, Get ready to Rock the Gate on Saturday 13 October 2012 at Murwillumbah during the National Week of Action).

Staying with politics, on the Regionalstates blog, Ian Mott analyses (Another Poll, another new state mandate) the numbers suggesting considerable support for subdivision of Queensland into new states. Very similar sentiments continue to be expressed in Northern NSW.

Moving away from politics but staying in the Northern Rivers, Mark's Clarence Valley Today continues it's delightful photographic exploration of local life.

In Grafton, the Jacarandas are flowering. When I was in Armidale a week or so back, I noticed that the signs of spring were everywhere. It's a lovely time.

Jan's A Tapestry of Life is another Northern Rivers blog dealing with the detail of daily life. I find the domestic blogs relaxing because they keep me in touch with life across the North. The patterns of daily life vary a fair bit across New England depending on where you live, but it's always interesting. Thought of Jan in her vegetable garden; I have to water my own seedlings in a few minutes! 

I wanted another domestic post before going back Sharyn Munro has been away from her mountain (Spring hit) on a book tour. I still haven't added her books to my now 400 plus New England collection. Reminder to self - do so. Staying in the Hunter, Tricia on little eco footprints hasn't posted since 21 September. But her post then, Do you embrace moments of silence?, struck a chord.

In maintaining my blog list and on these reviews, I pick up not just New England blogs but those who blog with New England connections. We are varied lot.

One of Don Aitkin's claim to fame is that he was the first student admitted to the newly autonomous University of New England. In addition to his other writing, Don is now a blogger. You will find his blog here. Over at his place, Winton Bates worries Is it the duty of government to realize the good life for all citizens?. Wint6on was at UNE with me and features in Matthew Jordan's history of UNE, A Spirit of True Learning. On Matthew, I see that he is now an Executive Officer in the Historical Publications and Information Section of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. That strikes me as a useful link!

Finishing on a strictly parochial note, one of the really wonderful things about blogging and the on-line world is the way my New England focus brings me into at least indirect contact with all sorts of people with New England connections that I would not otherwise know. Many would not consider themselves New Englanders in the way that I use the term.

Consider this post by Richard Tsukamasa Green on Club Troppo: Australian Art : In the suburbs, and below them. I bet you didn't know the new book that Richard refers to.

Well, I'm out of time.  

Round the New England blogging traps 27 - crowd sourcing and the survival of New England

Almost three months since my last New England blog round-up.

Tonight we start with Outback 2012: Tibooburra Hotel, for Gordon Smith from lookANDsee is back on his outback adventures.

Over on Mind the Gap, Sarah Thorneycroft uses this cartoon to illustrate her post Says who? The post says in part:

We have in place in society at large, education particularly and academia specifically, an assumption that knowledge cannot exist of its own accord, it must be verified by others. Which, generally, is fair enough because the world is full of idiots who will happily believe anything sans any sort of critical thinking. However – when this assumption is so pervasive that it manifests itself in systems like peer review and beliefs like ‘Wikipedia is not a reliable source’, we have a problem. It strikes me that several of the component assumptions that contribute to this are completely spurious.

The assumptions are, and I quote,

• ‘knowledge must be reviewed by experts’
• ‘experts must come from institutions’
• ‘experts must be verified by an authority’
• ‘crowdsourced knowledge cannot be accurate’

Now there are some aspects of Sarah's line of argument that I disagree with. I might pick those up in my next Belshaw's World's column. Others I agree with. Those that I agree with provide me a unifying theme in today's selection of New England blogs.

The idea that only academics or at least those from institutions can be experts is actually quite new. It certainly wasn't held as a universal view by those in the early days at either the New England or Newcastle University Colleges. It really began to emerge in the explosion in university numbers during the 1970s, in the rise of "professionalisation" in the 1980s. It's a very silly view.

Consider Keith Burgess's A Woodsrunner's Diary. Yes, the topic is a narrow one in some ways -  "18TH CENTURY LIVING HISTORY, HISTORICAL TREKKING, & LONG TERM SURVIVAL" . But could anyone deny that Keith is not an expert in his area? After all, he is involved with it all the time. He also adds to the texture that is New England blogging life.

Or consider Rod Holland's Northern Rivers Geology. Congratulations, by the way Rod, on visitor 10,000. Now Rod's topic and area specific focus actually makes him the single most important source of accessible public information about the geology of the Northern Rivers. To someone like me, that's very valuable.

As a former co-editor of the now defunct student newspaper Neucleus, Winton Bates (Freedom and Flourishing) occupies a feature spot in the centenary history of UNE. His blog deals with some pretty serious stuff. It also reflects not just his academic interests, but also his experience as a senior official with what is now the Productivity Commission. Winton writes outside the groves of the academy, but could anyone deny the deep thought and research imbedded in his writing?

Paul Barratt (Australian Observer) is very different again.  In May 1999, Paul accompanied Defence Minister John Moore on an official visit to China, Korea and Japan. This photo from the trip was taken in Shanghai.

Sadly, Paul is one of those partially sidetracked by Twitter, so his blog has suffered. Paul writes on many things including defence and immigration and is frequently interviewed on ABC. He is no academic slouch. He is also a major advocate of New England causes, of its history and is a member of the New England New State Movement Facebook page.

I could give other examples such as Sophie Masson (A la mode frangourou) on food and writing. Still, I have probably said enough to make my point.

I now want to turn to a second point, that crowdsourced knowledge cannot be accurate. Now if you look at the Wikipedia definition of crowdsourcing, you will see a pretty academic definition. Let me simplify.

Crowdsourcing is a form of collaborative working and checking where the internet allows those writing to access a broad set of views on particular topics and to collaborate in ways not otherwise possible.

Crowdsourcing is actually central to the continued survival of the very concept of New England.

In a way, I dealt with all this in Keeping the New England dream alive. There I said:

This story will not be written by the big wigs or fat cats in Sydney or Canberra. It won't be told by prominent individuals. It will be told by thousands of people who care at their level within their constraints. It will be told by a Rod who cares about New England geology, by a Lynne who documents New England life and who cares about Bellingen hospital, by a Janene whose friends don't understand why she wants to work for a local newspaper, by a Paul who retains his links even though the world has taken him far away, by a Greg or Mark who try to keep the new state dream alive.

What I didn't articulate because I hadn't thought of it in that way is that New England is crowdsourcing.

New England has been deserted by the local media who have lost the ability to even see the broader whole. New England has been deserted by most, not all, of the academics who once focused on New England issues for, sadly, those issues now lack academic sex appeal and certainly do not help careers. New England has been deserted, too, by local politicians who no longer see relevance of the concept of a broader North in the pecking order games of Sydney or Canberra. 

In its place and however imperfectly, crowdsourcing has come to provide a substitute. At a time when all the traditional formal mechanisms deny or at least ignore the validity of the North as an entity, our history is being recorded via the internet; our geology is discussed there; the tenor of daily life is recorded there. In that last post, I also said:

We care. We count. Individually, we don't matter. We can be forgotten, ignored. Collectively, we will change things. Forget us at your risk, for we are not going away. You won't see what we do unless you look; both local and social media interactions continue below the horizon. Yet the interaction goes on.

Again, this is actually crowdsourcing.  I suppose that we often think of political movements in formal and macro terms. Yet what the internet and especially blogging and the various specialist fora have done is to provide a vehicle for sharing at the a wide variety of micro-levels.

I hadn't expected when i began writing what was meant to be a blog review that it would carry me back to that earlier post. I accept that there is a degree of repetition. Yet that's no bad thing.

I do promise, however, to return in my next blog review to a more detailed report on just what our fellow bloggers are actually writing!  

Round the New England blogging traps 26 - romance with a dash of geology

On Freedom and Flourishing, Winton Bates What is the case for government funding of mitigation research? looks at the justification for government funding of climate change research. Winton was co-editor of Neucleus with me back in those distant days.

Staying with the University of New England, on Northern Rivers Geology Rod has continued his fascinating analysis of New England's geology and geography. To illustrate my point, have a look at Where the river joins the sea. One of the reasons why UNE was so influential in its earlier days lay in its adoption of a broader regional focus. Sadly, it still has to recover that.

Still sticking with UNE, New England blogger and Armidale Express journalist Janene Carey had a fascinating profile of local independent MP and UNE Chancellor Richard Torbay. In a comment on an earlier post, Janene asked me questions for Richard. Personal events intervened. But, Richard, I would be a darn sight happier if you were to come out with a broader New England focus including support for self-government.

If you go to Canberra without that broader base, then you are likely to be ineffective.

Mark's Clarence Valley Today remains a superb photo blog. It helps that I know the areas that he writes about quite well, but he just has some fascinating stuff. 

Published by Penguin, Cathryn Hein's new book is described in this way:      

When a tragic horse float accident leaves young showjumper Brooke Kingston unable to properly manage her family's Hunter Valley property, she believes nothing worse can happen. Until she discovers her well-intentioned family have employed a new farm manager for her beloved Kingston Downs. But stubbornness runs in the family, and Brooke isn't about to leave her home or abandon her darling horse Poddy. Working on the principle possession is nine-tenths of the law, she digs in her spurs and stays put.

You will find her blog here. Now Cathyrn and fellow New England writer Bronwyn Parry are doing a rather effective job in cross-promotion. 

Cathryn describes Bronwyn's latest book in these terms: 

Trapped in rugged country in scorching summer heat, pursued by ruthless gunmen who can’t afford to fail, Jo and Nick will need all their skills and courage to survive.

The national parks where Ranger Jo Lockwood works, on the edge of the NSW outback, are untamed stretches of dry forest cut through with wild rivers. She’s often alone, and she likes it that way until she discovers the body of a man, brutally murdered, in a vandalised campground.

I have yet to read Cathryn, although I intend to do so as soon as I can get to a bookshop. I can tell you that Bronwyn is a bloody good writer. She really is, and her sales attest to that.

I know that I carry on about this, but we New Englanders really don't have access to our own cultural life because we don't exist! I try as best I can, recently not well, to feed back to you some of the depth and texture of our life, but it's hard.

The broader New England is a natural historical entity in the way very few Australian areas are. We exist because geography and history dictate that we do. Yet I would bet you London to a brick, to use a now ancient phrase, that the Armidale Express would classify Bronwyn as an Armidale or, at best, a Northern Tablelands' writer.

The Newcastle Herald would classify  Cathryn as a Hunter Valley writer. And yet they write in a common genre, draw from related geographical experiences, are understandable to each other and cross-promote.

I always knew about the commonalities and links. I did not realise until started writing in detail about the North just how deep and unique our history and cultural life has been. And damn all Australians or even New Englanders know about it.     

Round the New England blogging traps 25 - a few writers

New England crimance (crime plus romance!) writer Bronwyn Parry is appearing on a crimance panel at the Melbourne  SheKilda 2011 – Australian Women Crime Writers’ Convention. Bronwyn has also finished the draft of her latest book and is now going through the editing stage (Revisions).

Another New England romance writer, Nicole Alexander, interviews a third New England writer - Cathryn Hein & the power of stories. Born in South Australia’s rural south-east Cathryn’s debut novel, Promises was released last month. She hails from a family of jockeys and admits to growing up horse mad. Now living in Newcastle, Cathryn writes full-time. 

Nicole herself has a rural background, now hailing from north west of Moree. Her blog contains a variety of stories extending well beyond writing.

Armidale writer Jeremy Fisher reports on a variety of upcoming conferences. This includes a call for papers for an Armidale conference. In this case, I have taken the the liberty of repeating the post in full.     

"Where do you think you are? Writing Australia

Arts New England: Centre for Research and Innovation in the Arts will be presenting a symposium on 15 November, 2011, to consider the development of an Australian identity in and through Writing (defined as a process of creativity unlimited by form, linearity or mode). The symposium will explore a range of ways in which Australian writing has evolved and is evolving.

Guest speakers include:

Angelo Loukakis, Executive Director of the Australian Society of Authors, has worked as a teacher, scriptwriter, editor and publisher. He is the author of the fiction titles For the Patriarch, Vernacular Dreams, Messenger, and The Memory of Tides. He has also written a number of non-fiction works, including most recently a book of the SBS television series Who Do You Think You Are? His collection of short stories, For the Patriarch, was winner of a New South Wales Premier’s Literary Award. Angelo Loukakis is a past member of the Literature Board of the Australia Council and chair of the New South Wales Writers’ Centre. He has taught writing, publishing and editing subjects at UTS and the Australian Catholic University. His latest novel, Houdini’s Flight, was released in 2010.

Lisa Heidke, author of Lucy Springer gets even (2009), What Kate did next (2010), and Claudia’s big break (2011). Lisa will speak on the challenges of writing chick-lit.

Sophie Masson, Chair of the Australian Society of Authors and former member of the Literature Board of the Australia Council for the Arts and author of more than fifty novels for young people. A graduate of UNE, Sophie is published in many countries. In 2011 her historical novel, The Hunt for Ned Kelly, won the Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children's Literature in the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, while her alternative history novel, The Hand of Glory, won the Young Adult category of the 2002 Aurealis Awards for Science Fiction and Fantasy. She has also had many books shotrtlisted for various awards, written several novels for adults, and four thrillers for teenagers under the pen-name of Isabelle Merlin. Her short stories and essays have also been extensively published, in print journals in Australia, the UK, USA, and online in many different publications and blogs. Sophie will speak on French-Australian identity

Papers for the symposium are sought on the following themes:

Context and environment

• Indigenous matters
• Censorship, legal, moral and ethical problems
• Expatriate writing
• Outside looking in, or inside looking out: other tongues and accents
• Syllabus studies
• Historiography

Industries, products and production

• Publishing and its products
• Writing and new media
• Popular culture – newspapers, magazines, pulp fiction, TV/film, music, theatre
• Careers

Processes

• Individual/collaborative/community
• Technology
• Shapes/forms/structures

Modes/Genres

• Biography/Romance/Horror/Crime etc.
• Narratives without words
• Professional writing
• Advertising/Public relations

In the first instance, submit a 300 word abstract of your proposed paper by 17 October to Dr Jeremy Fisher jfishe23@une.edu.au"

Speaking of Sophie, her blog A la mode frangourou continues to be a delight! For those interested in blogging, Sophie had a post (Food for Thought) on Writer Unboxed about her experiences in creating her blog.

Turning now to another Armidale writer - there are a lot of us!. Denis Wright has been exploring the nature of the Tao in a very good and clearly written series of posts. You will find the first post here. Once there, you can follow the later posts through via the links in the posts.

This one may well be a tad late.

Another New England writer is Hunter Valley based Sharyn Munro who blogs under the title The Woman on the Mountain. Sharyn's latest book, Mountain Trails, was reviewed in these terms in The Adelaide Advertiser Magazine     

‘You may think your neighbours are eccentric, but Munro’s are animals: spotted quolls, possums, wallabies, koalas, snakes, frogs and echidnas to name a few. She describes them in short, often humorous vignettes of her life on the edge of a national park, 90 minutes from the nearest town.

‘Her style is engaging and informal as if telling stories over a cuppa, and her enthusiasm and concern for the creatures are infectious. The stories are illustrated with her own sketches. Munro ends with a restrained but passionate call for action to protect wildlife. As a reminder she includes a list of species already driven to extinction.

‘A good read.’

Sharyn's previous book, The Woman on the Mountain, has largely sold out. However, you can get a copy plus her new book from the publishers at a special combination price.

Well, I have run out of time and I haven't even had a chance to discuss the latest Captain Thunderbolt controversy. More later!  

Round the New England blogging traps 24 - land, mining & the environment

Now that I have my computer back with bookmarks intact, time for another  blogging round up.

Starting this time with politics, the group political blog North Coast Voices has maintained its normal themes. Over recent posts, it has reported on British Government anti-whaling measures; reported on the techniques Fox News uses to brainwash America; published the statement by Page MP Janelle Saffin expressing continuing reservations on the Government's decision to allow resumed exports of live cattle to Indonesia; supported the attempt by the NSW Greens to effectively ban mining in the catchments of North Coast rivers; examined gender balance among the new senators now entering Federal Parliament; opposed antimony mining near Dorrigo; critically discussed a US climate change scientific skeptic; and run the proposed GetUp commercial targeting retailer Harvey Norman that was banned on the grounds that it might expose the networks to legal action.  And all this in the space of four days!

I have spoken before about the environmental wars across new England. In this context, the antimony mining story is worth examining in a little more detail. Here NCV is quoting a column by David Bancroft in the Grafton Daily  Examiner. After talking about Chinese investment in rural land, Mr Bancroft concludes:

Quality of life and the environment feature pretty high on my agenda. And we need to be mindful of what happens after we sell off the farm. In the case of the proposed antimony and gold mines in the Wild Cattle Creek and Tyringham areas - the mining company would be Chinese, the approving authority the Bellingen Shire Council and most of the workers (and there is unlikely to be too many of them) would probably be based in Coffs.

But who cops the risk if a tailings dam fails and mercury or other heavy metals spew into the tributaries of the Nymboida River?

The Clarence Valley, of course.

And it appears unlikely to receive any of the benefits.

Mining has helped Australia ride out an international financial storm, but we need to be careful that we look at more than dollar signs when considering projects. There's more to lose than a few dollars.

If you look at Mr Bancroft's comments, they mix together Chinese ownership, environmental risk, and that fact that the employment goes to one area, the risks are carried by another. This mix is fairly typical.

Fellow New England blogger Peter Firminger from Wollombi (@PeterFirminger) has been tracking aspects of the environmental wars for some time. In the Hunter and on the Liverpool Plains a key concern has been coal seam gas and open cut mining. Here you have landowners pitted against mineral interests, you have environmental concerns, while there a major problems in the distribution of costs and benefits. The Sydney government gets the benefits from royalties, while the Hunter gets little cash returns and carries the costs.  

The recent purchase of 43 farms outside Gunnedah by the Chinese Government-controlled Shenhua Watermark Coal Corporation in order to gain access to the underlying coal has added fuel to the fire because it is part of a growing concern about growing foreign ownership of agricultural land. 

In Foreign investment and food security another New England blogger Paul Barratt (@phbarratt) suggested that neither food security nor national sovereignty were valid reasons for opposing overseas investment in Australian rural land. However, add in opposition to mining and you get quite a potent mix. Here Peter Firminger pointed to a story in the Australian about Green activist Drew Hutton's Lock the Gate campaign. According to the story:     

A new political disconnect has written a fresh chapter of rural discontent. The unrelenting march of open-cut mining and coal seam gas exploration of the new century has replaced deregulation and industry adjustment of the 1990s as the reform-driven existential threat to country life. Food security has become the proxy for fear of foreign capital.

Accepting that the story is somewhat sensationalised, it's interesting because it runs somewhat counter to another thread in New England, anti-climate change. In The Peter Rowe Column in Coff's Outlook, Hugh states:  

But it is to those two (Julia Gillard and Bob Brown) we must ask the questions as to the detail of this horrendous, and totally unwarranted, carbon tax being imposed, without referendum, on the Australian people.

I know the North pretty well, and its very difficult to harmonise the various and apparently discordant threads. The common theme is, I think, a feeling that decisions are being taken elsewhere ignoring, even in contempt of, local views.

This was meant to be a straight blog report. Still, I think it important to actually record something of the pattern of local views. 

Round the New England blogging traps 23 - life style

Just over a month since my last blog round-up. Last time I focused on a few personal blogs. I decided to continue that theme looking for blogs and stories that might reveal aspects of life across the broader New England.

On the North Coast blog Mountaingirl Musings, Pearl has been worried about income pressures. Money's Too Tight To Mention begins: The budget is getting stretched way too tight and something has to give. Pearl is not alone here. There are many people on the North Coast on benefits or other low incomes that are finding things such as rising utility prices hard to manage. Pearl's solution is to make things to sell at local markets. Here she wrote:

We have a number of markets here in town so that becomes an obvious option. The big one would be most ideal but I physically can't walk that far - no it isn't far - but it just isn't an option.

So I look to the smaller markets. They do have the advantage of being on twice a month and have just implemented a "car boot sale" type component. I need to find some more info but it would mean that the car is right next to me eliminating the need for walking.

Over the last twenty years, the type of markets that Pearl is talking about have spread widely across New England. They come in many forms and sizes. Part social, part commercial, they have come to fill an important gap.

This photo from What's On In Armidale shows  the Armidale Farmers Market. It is held on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of the month down by the creek in Curtis Park. It currently has a modest range of about 30 stallholders. There are some great veges, meat and local wine producers. Also the odds and ends of the car boot section.

Staying with farmer's markets, Little Eco Footprints is a Newcastle blog, one that I had not seen before, and a very popular one measured by the comments.

Introducing Emu, Flappy, and Duffa Dilly Bong starts this way:

Daddy Eco was away this weekend, and wasn't there to talk sense into Little Eco and I when we spotted three very cute four week old Pekin Bantams at the Farmer's Market.

And very attractive arrivals they are too. I hope that Daddy Eco wasn't too cross!

I see that Mummy Eco is a slow food exponent, and lists a number of interesting Newcastle sites that I had not seen before including:

• Slow Food Hunter
• Hunter Organic Growers Society
• Hunter Bio Dynamic Group inc
• Newcastle City Farmers Market

Staying with food, Sophie Masson's A la mode frangourou continues to offer some most wonderful recipes. For a number of years I have been main cook because that was easier from a family viewpoint and found myself getting most dreadfully stale. Bored with cooking, in fact. Sophie inspires me to explore new things.

I won't give an individual post because they are just so very good. Congratulations to Sophie as well for winning the NSW Premier's Award for children's literature! 

It's show time around New England.  This photo of the Bellingen Show comes from Lynne Sanders-Braithwaite's  SIXTY EYES 2011 VISION.

This blog is a daily photo blog, and is but one of Lynne's blogs!

There was a time when it looked as though social change would destroy the local show. Too much other entertainment, pressures on the agricultural sector, simple changes in tastes. Fortunately they have survived and still form an integral part of New England life.

I think that the strangest thing I have ever done at a show was judging the Walcha Miss Showgirl competition! Now that, it seemed to me, was a dangerous task!

The shows themselves are but one element in the changing pattern of local events across New England.

This next photo from Mark's Clarence Valley Today shows one dance at the Clarence Valley Multicultural Festival. Mark comments:

The great thing about the multicultural festival is that you realise how many different cultures there are in the Clarence Valley and how proud they are of their cultural heritage. The stereotype of rural New South Wales is one of monoculture, the Festival of the Five Senses shows that that is not true. 

It's actually never been quite true. A fair bit of my historical writing has been concerned with diversity and the changing pattern of life across New England and across time.

I fear that I have run out of time. That's all for now, folks! 

Round the New England blogging traps 22 - a few personal blogs

A while since my last full blog round-up, although I have referred to a number of blogs since then.

On Canons of Medicine 2.0 my first experience with death in hospital ... records just that. I have been following this blog for a little while. It's simply a record of the life of a medical student at the University of Newcastle. It's unusual as a student blog, and is also a blog written from the perspective of the Muslim faith. 

John George Archer's blog is a relatively new one on my list. John is from somewhere on the North Coast. Short posts with a high visual content.

Sophie Masson's A la mode frangourou, another new one on my list, is an absolutely luscious blog, perhaps one of the best in Australia. French-Australian, Sophie is one of the better known New England writers and writes about food and lifestyle from a French and New England perspective.

All her posts are good. However, I want to mention one because it bears upon something that I have been writing about on and off for several years, the failure of regional areas to develop their own cuisines for both life style and tourism purposes.

The best French-style cheese outside of France looks at food in Tasmania where, to Sophie's mind, a regional cuisine is evolving. I won't go on at this point, but will come back to the issue later.

Denis Wright's My Unwelcome Stranger is another new blog on my list. I knew Denis at UNE, but did not know that he had a blog until very recently. Have a look at More Calliope tales (pt 4): Aunty Anne’s TV for a rewarding look at Australia's past. Denis is fighting am aggressive brain tumour; his writing is one response. 

Shayrn Munros'  The woman on the mountain continues to provide a picture of nature and life in the countryside of the Hunter Valley.

This photo shows a rather large Eastern Grey Joey having a feed. I have to say mum looks very patient!

Moving to the Mid North Coast, Paula's life perchance is?

I don't quite know how to describe this blog, it's sort of a moving somewhat surreal story involving a cast of strange characters.

You are either going to like it or hate it! If you haven't visited before, I suggest you go back a few pages and then read forward.

Finally, some time ago I mentioned that Bellingen blogger Pip Wilson had been badly bashed in an apparently random attack, so badly bashed that recovery was uncertain. Pip is still suffering from the effects of the bashing, but has resumed posting on Wilson's Blogmanac. 

Round the New England blogging traps 21 - a few photos

I have been remiss in not mentioning before that our fellow blogger Bronwyn Parry has been unwell.  Partner Gordon Smith has been posting regular updates on Bronwyn's blog. Fortunately Bronwyn seems to have come through a very serious operation okay.

In this blogging round-up, I thought that I would focus on New England photographic blogs, or at least blogs with a high photographic content. I also thought that I should write in such a way as to make the post more accessible to those who do not know New England, including the large number of US visitors attracted by the title.

For the benefit of those who do know New England, the New England or Northern Tablelands is Australia's largest tablelands and stretches from the Hunter Valley into southern Queensland. When I speak of New England I mean not just not the Tablelands, this is often described as the New England, but also the river valleys that flow from the Tablelands to the west, north, east and south. While diverse, it is an area also united by geography and history.

The boundaries ascribed to New England and hence its size vary. However, the boundaries set by the 1935 Nicholas Commission as suitable for self-government within the Australian Federation cover an area of 64,000 square miles, 166,000 square kilometres. The area I cover in my present history of New England project is actually larger, because it includes part of New England now included in Queensland.

Whichever way you cut it, we are talking about a large geographic area. To put this in perspective, England is 50,346 square miles, 130,000 square kilometres.   

For those who are interested in a little more, in The colours of New England I tried to paint a picture of the area's diversity using a combination of prose, poetry, photos and painting.

My coverage today begins with a Gordon Smith photo, Storm season begins. This shows storm clouds gathering over the University of New England in Armidale. This attractive if small cathedral and university city is located on the Tablelands and for much of the twentieth century was regarded as the capital in waiting for a self-governing New England state.

The Clarence River, the big river, rises in the Tablelands and flows north before heading east to the sea. This photo by Clarence photo-blogger Mark Bellamy  is entitled "Oh the Flame Trees Will Blind a Weary Driver". Mark's caption reads:

Don Walker wrote the lyrics to Flame Trees about Grafton.
It's the classic aussie country town song of love, loss, friendship and anti-nostalgia.
I can't get this tune out of my head at this time of the year.

This song from 1984 is one of the best known ones from Australian band Cold Chisel.

As you might expect given its size, each river valley in New England is different. Then within each valley you find variety again.

The Bellinger River lies to the south of the Clarence. A much smaller river, it runs through a very pretty valley. The first thing that generally strikes a visitor from inland New England is just how green it all is. This photo from Lynne Sanders-Braithwaite is simply entitled REPTON NSW DECEMBER 2010. 

  

Much of life along the rivers flowing from the ranges to the Pacific Ocean centres around the river and nearby sea. This photo from Lynne, again from the Bellinger Valley, is simply entitled NORTH BEACH POOL.

I am out of time now. More later.

Round the New England blogging traps 20 - potpourri

I am very behind at the moment on everything, including posts on this blog. Still, I wanted to do a quick New England blog round-up since it is over three weeks since my last one. 

My blog reporting really is a bit of a hit and miss affair. It's not just that it's sometimes irregular, more that I don't know how representative my coverage is, given that blogs rise and fall all the time. At present I have fifty blogs on my list. That may sound like a lot, but its actually not once I exclude blogs that haven't posted since my previous round-up. I really need to do some more blog searches to find out just what I'm missing.

As you might expect, the inclusion of Newcastle in Lonely Planet's top ten cities list has attracted attention and not just from me.

On Canon of Medicine 2.0, a blog written by a student from Sydney now doing medicine at the University of Newcastle, the news was greeted with acclaim. In Lonely Planet: Newcastle one of the hottest cities in the world!?, Marcus Westbury responded in a similar if lengthier way. He put his views about Newcastle this way:

I love Newcastle. I love its culture. I love its creativity. I love its natural environment. I love it’s old buildings. I love its fading beauty. I love its creative community. I love its unpretentious awesomeness.

Craig Wilson from Media Hunter joined the chorus. In Newcastle named among world’s best cities by Lonely Planet, he wrote among other things:  

I’m proud to come from Newcastle. It’s town that has never had it easy. We’ve taken our lumps over the years (earthquake, major industry withdrawal, flooding) and have been poorly neglected by government at both State and Federal level despite contributing significantly to the economy. We don’t complain, and we just smile at those who condescendingly dismiss Newcastle as an unfashionable old steel town.

Why? Because we all know how bloody good it is to live here. And now Lonely Planet is letting the cat out of the bag.

Those who read this blog will know that I am not a Newcastle person, coming from further North. Still, I know the city well. My own biased take was set out in my Armidale Express column:

As it happened, Monday’s announcement by Lonely Planet that Newcastle had been listed as one of the world’s top ten cities for travel in 2011 has really put the cat among the pigeons when it comes to tourism promotion.

In the parlance so beloved by officialdom, NSW has two tourism brands, Brand NSW and Brand Sydney. Both brands are tired, neither has worked very well.

There has been little room in this two brand world for a more differentiated tourism strategy. Newcastle people have long complained about this.

Now, in a single blow, Lonely Planet has created a third and rival brand, Brand Newcastle based on life style and the visitor experience. I think that that’s a good thing.

And so I do!

I have only just discovered Marcus Westbury's blog. I had never heard of the Renew Newcastle Movement, nor of the plan to take the Movement national. Wow. Here is something that I must write about. In the meantime, please visit Marcus's blog.

In 5 facts about digital life – post #14 on Media Hunter, Craig has continued his fact series. While the individual facts sometimes seem trivial, they provide a picture of the evolving digital world. You can find the whole series here.

When Craig first began, the blog provided information and comment on the Northern media. This has dropped away for reasons that I can understand.

This is a professional blog linked to Sticky Media. Craig may be a proud Novocastrian, but his firm operates in a national and global marketplace. He needs to reflect that. Further, and as I know from my own experience in operating a national consulting business out of Armidale, to be typed as local or even regional can be a kiss of death in a nation that counts everything outside the main metro centres as second rate.

Changing directions entirely, Jeremy Fisher is a writer and Senior Lecturer in Writing at the University of New England. Until December 2009 he was the Executive Director of the Australian Society of Authors. As you might expect, his blog is about writers and writing. Just at present, his posting is irregular. I hope that that changes.

Bronwyn Parry is another New England writer, one that I mention often. Bronwyn hasn't been well; Deadline distractions - and a winner records her efforts to progress her latest book before her operation. We wish her well.

On lookANDsee, Gordon Smith, Bronwyn's partner, continues his photographic exploration of the Northern Tablelands, this time with a focus on fungus. 

This mean looking creature is a bracket fungus.

There is a fair bit of angst around the Hunter just at present on environmental issues. On the Newcastle Australia photo blog, Julia uses irony in a plea for better planning. By the way Julia, just at the moment, whenever I click on a photo or a post title or archive on the side bar, even if I click on comment, I get a message asking me if I want to make a particular web address as home page. Something wrong?

On Wollombi Valley (and on Facebook too), Peter Firminger continues to support the campaign against coal seam gas mining. Sharyn Munro (The woman on the mountain) shares Peter's general environmental concerns. In Scenic drive she records  her reactions at the drive through the Hunter valley's open cut mines.

It's actually quite hard for someone not living in the Hunter Valley to keep track of all the environmental and planning issue around at the present time. There are just so many of them.

Staying in the Hunter but with an Armidale link, in the Ultimate Shehan, Bolting Bear records a very strange dream he had. The story begins: 

I took a nap this afternoon after returning to the hostel, and I had a dream.

Basically I was in a small house with two companions, a male rhinoceros and a female pygmy elephant, both capable of speech. They were actually intergalactic warriors on some mission, but they had taken those forms for some reason that now escapes my memory.

Now if this were my daughter, I would say that she had been watching too much Sanctuary!

In Voting, Bolting Bear explains his reservations about voting. He also notes that he thought of joining Sporting Shooters Association of Australia upon his return to Armidale, but was puzzled about the views of the Shooters & Fishers Party on immigration. Indeed, he wondered why they had a policy on this issue at all.

While it does seem like a reasonable statement, personally I suspect that people are uncomfortable with immigration because of the increase in numbers of ethnic minorities and foreign cultural practices, rather than an actual fear of a shortage of resources. We export a lot of food, and my understanding is that there are skills shortages in a number of different fields, Medicine being one. Also there is the ageing population.

Reading Bolting Bear, he is into hunting but with bow and arrow. It's clearly a very modern bow complete with lights and a sight. However, I did wonder whether or not there might be a possible link with my old Armidale blogging friend Le Loup and A Woodsrunner's Diary.  I really do enjoy this blog. While I have no desire to get dressed in historical clothes and go adventuring with historical equipment, it is fun to read.

Turning to matters political, and as I have already mentioned on my personal blog, North Coast Voices has just turned three. My congratulations.

It has, I think, been a little while since I mentioned Lynne. In nellibellingen she has continued to record details of her life in the Bellinger Valley. One thing that struck me, though, in A WEEKEND ALONE was the cost of the bus fare between Bellingen and Armidale.

The two places are 154k apart, around the same distance as between Sydney and Newcastle. The return train fare between Sydney and Newcastle is $15.60. The return bus fare to Armidale is $90. Yes, there is more traffic on the Newcastle-Sydney run. However, train fares are subsidised, bus fares are not. It's one og the things that makes life difficult.

Enough for now.

Around the New England blogging traps 19 - Armidale sojourn

Again a month since my last blog round-up. This time my excuse is my Greek trip!

Starting in Armidale, detective romance writer Bronwyn Parry has been on a trip to collect material for her next book. While the location is fictional, it is in fact based on the north-west. To collect material, Bronwyn based herself in Inverell and then spent time travelling round the sites and small towns. I look forward to the reports.

Bronwyn's partner, Gordon Smith, has been continuing his exploration of New England's National Parks.   

This, believe it or not, is a caterpillar. Pretty, but formidable. I always admire the way in which Gordon is able to capture colour.

In Old News from Armidale and New England, Gordon has continued repeating newspaper stories from New England's past with a special focus on the Tablelands. In reporting on a sports day held at Walcha in 1851, the Maitland Mercury said in part: 

Fourteenth ditto of £3 – a swimming match, 100 yards-gained by Gullidge, of Sydney. – This match was exceedingly well contested by Mr. Grant, of Emu Creek. Had the winner not adopted the aboriginal mode of swimming for the last 20 yards, viz., rolling, and throwing the hands forward out of the water, he would have been hard pressed by Mr, Grant.

This sounds very much like the Australian crawl. I had thought that this was a uniquely Australian invention. I see from the Wikipedia article that it was not.

In his latest round of newspaper reports, Gordon also reports a 1925 West Australian story about the use of radio waves  to detect metal ores. I quote the start of the story;

Recently newspaper articles announced that a German company had an apparatus for exploring likely localities for metalliferous deposits, and people from the other side of the world testify to the success in Europe of this latest scientific advance. Two Australians, Mr. F. H. Fraser and Major T. I. Farrow, have, however, forestalled the Teutonic radio men. They have proved that the directional beam is the eye that can penetrate earth and rocks, and show the location and extent of lodes and lenses of ore. Recently large scale tests were carried out on the side of a mountain mass near Hall’s Peak, 20 miles east of Hillgrove (N.S.W.), by a syndicate which is opening up a silver-lead deposit there.

I had no idea this sort of thing was done so early!

Staying in Armidale, Paul Barratt returned to the city for the 50th anniversary of his 1960 TAS (The Armidale School) Leaving Certificate Class. This was held as part of Old Boys Weekend.

Paul's post, The Class of 1960, fifty years on, provides a detailed description of the day.

I won't steal all of Paul's thunder, it's an enjoyable post to read, but I wanted to pick up a few highlights. 

One event of the day was a presentation by Emma Buzo of a photo of her father, New England playwright and writer Alex Buzo, from the 1970s, framed with a bio that Emma herself had written. Alex was in Paul's class.

The photo shows Paul as MC with Emma and Headmaster Murray Guest. 

I wrote a little about Alex in Death of Alex Buzo, with an edited version, Belshaw's World - Death of Alex Buzo, appearing in my Armidale Express column while I was away.

Emma herself is going to TAS from the start of next year as drama teacher and manager of the Hoskins Performing Arts Centre. So the wheel turns! For more on Alex, Emma, and the company Emma founded to produce, promote and perpetuate the work of her father, see The Alex Buzo Company.

The weekend was also marked by the launch of A Song to Sing-O, Jim Graham's memoir of 43 year's involvement with musical drama at TAS. The photo shows Paul Griffith launching the book at the old boys' dinner.

Paul followed his first post up with a later post, Direct from Boggabri, for one night only, providing more information from the Jim Graham book launch including past and present photos

There is no doubt that Jim Graham had a major influence and not just at TAS. Outside touring companies, much of New England's music and drama relied on home-grown amateur productions.

This was true not just for the Tablelands, but across the broader New England. Jim Graham's productions of Gilbert and Sullivan, and the Queen Victoria Music Halls, as well as other productions, brought a highly professional note to local theatre. While school based, they also toured.

The next photo shows the 1960 production of the Mikado. You can see the detail in the costume and the sets.

In addition to his his direction, Jim also wrote scripts. His Ginger Meggs and the Missing Link went national.

Finishing this post in Armidale, Le Loup's A Woodrunner's Diary continues his exploration of living history. In What Would You Like To See?, he wrote:

If there is anything that you would like information on or any videos you would like to see that you think may fall within my range of knowledge or skills, please let me know.

There's a challenge that has already been followed up with some questions. 

 

  

Round the New England blogging traps 18 - mainly political

Richard Torbay paid a rather nice tribute Dr Rob Robertson-Cuninghame AO (1924-2010). Because I know that many people are interested, I am using my post UNE Passings - death of Rob Robertson-Cuninghame as an entry point to add information as I get it.

Staying with Richard Torbay, I see that he has agreed to chair a NSW Joint Parliamentary Committee to review parliamentary procedures. Because this also bears upon what is happening in the Federal Parliament, I am quoting the release in full:

Speaker Richard Torbay has welcomed the move by the Premier, Kristina Keneally, to further reform parliamentary procedures in NSW.

He said he would accept her offer to chair a Joint Select Committee on the issue and is pleased that it has the support of the Leader of the Opposition, Barry O’Farrell, and other Members.

Mr Torbay, who was appointed as an Independent Speaker in 2007, said that a number of reforms had already been put in place and Standing and Sessional Orders have been previously amended to include:
• The Legislative Assembly already reads each day the prayer and Acknowledgement of Country at the commencement of the Parliament.
• Family friendly sitting hours have been introduced and Friday sittings of parliament have been formally incorporated into the parliamentary program.
• Several changes have been made to the way Parliamentary committees operate including a requirement for the Government to Committee recommendations to report within six months
• Proceedings in the House have been streamlined by introducing the ‘consideration in detail’ stage
• Legislation in NSW has already been passed allowing the Speaker to exercise a deliberative and casting vote and allowing the Speaker to speak on the floor of the House as required.
• Re-written Standing Orders into plain English
• The Government is now required to formally respond to petitions signed by 500 or more persons.

Mr Torbay said the Premier had contacted him and asked him to consider, among other procedural matters:
• the Speaker be Independent of the government and if the Speaker is a member of the government for the Deputy Speaker to be drawn from the Opposition.
• time limits on questions and answers in Question Time and requirements for answers to be responsive to questions
• Opposition leaders be entitled to ask supplementary questions
• appropriate time be allocated to debates, member’s speeches and consideration of private members bills
• recognition of traditional owners be made at the beginning of each sitting day
• there be oversight of bills by committees
• the number of sitting weeks be set.

Mr Torbay said, “I welcome this opportunity to further improve Parliamentary Procedures and processes and I am keen to work with all Members of Parliament.

“As soon as I receive the Terms of Reference I will convene the first meeting as soon as practicable and look forward to presenting the recommendations to the Premier and Leader of the Opposition,” said Mr Torbay.

On North Coast Voices, Clarrie Rivers reported on a trip inland. The posts in order are:

• The journey of a modern day Marco Polo
• A view of Armidale 
• Uralla, Walcha and their hinterlands
• Walcha to Bingara via Manilla and Barraba
• Walcha news
• What's in the news in Armidale? Part 1: UNE
• What's in the news in Armidale? Part 2: The New State Movement ... still!
• In and around Bingara 
• News and Views in Bingara
• Myall Creek
• Farewell to New England

In Armidale, Clarrie Rivers coincided with my column in the Armidale Express: Belshaw's World - time to repeat the new state question. I think it fair to say that CR's reaction as expressed in What's in the news in Armidale? Part 2: The New State Movement ... still! was somewhat under-whelmed.

The post attracted comments from fellow new staters, two of whom are on my blog list, Ian Mott and Peter Firminger.

In a post on his Regional States blog, The myth of new state duplication costs, Ian attacked the idea that new states must increase costs through duplication. A related argument, but not from a commenter on the NCV post, was expressed by Paul Barratt in Australian Observer: Over-governed, yes, but not in the way you think.

Peter Firminger is an environmental and community activist in the Hunter Valley dedicated to building the Wollombi and Broke communities. I often mention Peter in these round-ups because he highlights stories and ideas relevant to his area. Now in Rural Blogging he looks at a new topic, in so doing identifying general sites that I had not seen and will follow up.

I do like the way in which my fellow bloggers broaden my knowledge!

I realise that I have run out of the time allocated for this post without even having scratched the surface. Still, I will have to leave things here.   

Round the New England blogging traps 17 - politics & pastoral

I quote from the University of Newcastle's Coal River Working Party blog:

We are nothing without our history, and our records, lay testament to who we are as a people.  All these things could become real if we wish them to be. Dreams are always dashed when someone say’s ‘its too expensive’ and the result invariably is we don’t do anything exciting.

I have to agree.

Staying on history, I see from Headlines from Armidale in Old news from Armidale and New England that, on 5 April 1988, cricketers from Newcastle defeated those from Armidale. No further information is given!

The surveyors trying to map New New England and especially the very rugged eastern escarpment faced a tremendously difficult job. This photo shows  Werrikimbe NP: surveyor’s blaze. 

nellibellingen has carried a range of historical posts. At the moment I haven't quite worked out how Lynne's various blogs fit together. Her BLOG IT ALL - THAT'S NEWS TO ME does provide something of a guide, but I'm still confused. I will write a proper story when I have!

Turning to more current events, in Bailed Up! Now into our 14th day of political uncertainty North Coast Voices calls on the independents to make up their mind. The blog's perspective is certainly less sympathetic than mine! I quote:

Now we are approaching a political climate in which supposedly considered judgement is beginning to give way to highway robbery as the three remaining unaligned seasoned independent MPs hold the nation and the two main parliamentary parties to ransom.

By contrast, in Tony Windsor’s gone to Tamworth, Paul Barratt writes:

The (very) Independent Member for New England has gone home to Tamworth to ponder the decision he should make about who should have the opportunity to form the next government.

I do not envy him the decision he has to make, but I know that it will be a conscientious one and, whichever way it goes, I expect that he will receive strong support from the local communities.

Another New England blogger, Dermott Banana, in Devil Calling, has a different take on that phone call made by Liberal senator Bill Heffernan to independent Ron Oakeshott. The photo from DB shows Mrs Oakeshott and two of their kids.

The post begins:

Last weekend, while the whole country wondered what the independent MHRs would do, Rob Oakeshott was driving to a ceremony in Lismore to commemorate the Sandakan Death March. His wife was in the car with him, and she answered his mobile phone. The caller said in a gruff voice he was the devil.

As we now know, the caller was Liberal Senator (and complete douchebag) Bill Heffernan. His defence for such inappropriate behaviour to Sara-Jane Oakeshott? He thought he was actually talking to one of the Oakeshott children. Yeah. Right. Coz that makes his behaviour more acceptable in some weird universe, does it?

In fairness, Messrs Oakeshott and Heffernan are meant to be friends, but it was still a dumb thing to do because the call seems to have been misunderstood. I understand from friends in the New England electorate that something of a phone campaign is going on to try to force the independents to side with Mr Abbott.

In National Wattle Day on Snippets and Sentiments, Gaye reports on National Wattle Day (1 September). Interestingly, my own family asked why some of our political leaders were wearing wattle. Here I quote from Gaye: 

In 1988 the Golden Wattle (Acacia pycnantha) was made Australia's official floral emblem, and in 1992 the Commonwealth Government formally designated 1st September as National Wattle Day. It's also largely the source of our green and gold colours.

The celebratory day was chosen by our earlier generations to be an occasion "primarily to inspire and stimulate an Australian national sentiment". It was felt this could be accomplished by embracing such sentiment in a native flower, and uniting as a people on the day to do it honour.

The Wattle had been selected as the most suitable of our native flora because of its accessibility, occurring throughout the length and breadth of our continent.

I love the wattle. Given that my family did not understand, maybe we should be paying more attention.!

Pip Wilson's Wilson's Blogmanac has still not been updated. Bellingen based Pip was bashed up in one of those random incidents. The last I heard was some weeks ago when he was being moved from intensive care. I hope that he is okay.

After a gap since July, Bolting Bear has begun reporting again. BB is, I think, a medical student at UNE who also happens to be Muslim. Brisbane, as the name says, is the story of a trip to Brisbane. I like BB because he provides another entry point into the changing mosaic that is modern New England.

It has been a little while since I mentioned A Woodsrunner's Diary. This blog continues its eclectic mix of living history and historical trekking items. Primitive Skills. Stalking., for example, shows you how to get real close to a wallaby (kangaroo?).

Finally, Sharyn's The woman on the mountain has some good wallaby photos.   

Round the New England blogging traps 16 - Hunter Valley sojourn

One of the things that I have always liked about Newcastle, apart from its very difference to the world in which I grew up, is the accessibility, the feeling of closeness,  to the Harbour.

This photo from Newcastle Au Photos City & Hunter draws this out very clearly. Isn't it a great photo?

I was going to leave this blog here, and then I thought of something that happened during the week.

David Roberts from UNE's Heritage Futures Research Centre sent me an article that he and Erik Eklund from Monash University were preparing on the treatment of Newcastle's Coal River Heritage Project.  Now before going on, I want to insert another photo from Newcastle Au, one that has absolutely nothing to do with convicts, but is still linked.

The following photo shows a group of terraces from Newcastle East. The photo could have come from North England, and indeed many of those who came to Newcastle were from this area.

But how does this industrial shot link to convicts? Well, for a number of complicated reasons, Newcastle has in some ways been written out of Australian history.

The core of the draft article on the Coal River Heritage Project is the difficulty in gaining recognition that Newcastle was a major convict centre in fact worthy of recognition.

In similar vein, Australia's industrial past and Newcastle's role within it is rarely dealt with today. I stand to be corrected, but I see very little on it. With the exception of the occasional passing reference or footnote, Newcastle really does not exist in historical terms.   

Concluding, this really is a great photo blog. Just take a bit of time and browse the various tags.

I continue to enjoy Sharyn Munro's The woman on the mountain. Sharyn has a real love affair with wallabies! She has also just been visiting south east Victoria. As I read Magical Mallacoota, I thought of my last visit there all those years ago.

I was reading Wollombi Valley On-Line when an odd thought occurred to me.  The trigger was a story:  Womens Spirituality Workshop.

This, by the way, is a shot of Wollombi.

Living in Sydney as I am just at present, it's easy to forget that the desire to discover spirituality is one of the themes that appears across New England's alternative life style settlements.

The University of Newcastle's Cultural Collections blog continues to provide a range of fascinating material. As just one example, the story Henri Rochefort – Noumea to Newcastle is not just a fascinating yarn, but also provides both a slice of French history and a visitor's snapshot of Newcastle in 1874.

Staying in the Hunter, it has been a little while since I visited Gaye's Snippets and sentiments. Gaye's blog is a gentle, personal, blog with a nature focus; it is always a pleasure to read. Re-visiting, I discover that they have bought a house further north in Baradine, a small community near the Pilliga Scrub, an area that Gaye has always enjoyed. While they will be staying in the Hunter for the present, the aim is to retire to Baradine.    

All for now.