Belshaw's World - flypaper and chip heaters

Each period of New England life has had its own rhythms. Last week, I told a story from New England’s Aboriginal past, the week before I mentioned Masyln Williams’ evocative picture of Tablelands’ life during the 1920s.

Reading Williams reminded me of two things from my own past, things that older Armidale residents will remember that have now largely vanished.

Armidale has always had a problem with flies, both the blowfly and the common housefly. Hiking though the paddocks with the 2^nd Armidale scouts (I still don’t know what happened to 1^st Armidale!), the blowflies used to gather, attracted by the salt in the sweat that soaked our shirts under the packs we carried. Looking forward while walking in file, each scout carried his own crowd of flies hovering around the pack, diving to settle on the sweaty patches exposed as the pack moved.

As an aside, I had assumed that the blowfly was an Australian pest. Apparently not. It appears that the sheep blowfly arrived in Australia from South Africa in the mid to late 1800s, causing a major outbreak of fly strike in many areas in 1897.

The fly position in town was worse. Very few houses then had fly screens, doors and windows were always open in summer, allowing flies to congregate inside. What to do? Well, flypaper was one answer. This was a longish thin strip of paper coated with a sticky substance, sometimes impregnated with poison such as arsenic. This impregnation featured in two famous British murder trials where the accused was alleged to have soaked the fly paper in water to extract the arsenic for later nefarious use.

Hung from the ceiling or from an often begrimed dangling light shade, the flypaper was hardly an attractive sight. For that reason among others, it went out of fashion, despite its sometimes effectiveness in attracting and killing flies.

The second vanished item was far more attractive.

Many Australian places and especially in the country, had no access to gas or electricity. Water for bathing had to be heated on the stove and then carried to the bath or tub. This world was captured in a nostalgic poem by Mary Gilmore, The Saturday Tub. There, standing in a line by the fire, the children take their turn

To stand in tub the size of a churn,
It was, 'where's the flannel?" and, "Mind the soap!"
Slither and slide, and scuffle and grope

Despite Mary Gilmore’s childhood nostalgia, the process was very time consuming. An Australian invention from around the 1880s came to the rescue, one that took advantage of the relative availability of wood. This was the chip heater.

The cylindrical heater included a fire box that was fed with paper, pine cones and chips from the woodheap. Water circulated through the firebox, providing a supply of hot water for bath or shower.

Many older Australians have nostalgic memories of the chip heater drawn from child hood. We had one for a brief period when I was young, and there was an immense thrill in being allowed to light it and then feed the fire! They could be cranky and noisy, but they were also fun.

By the 1960s, the spread of electricity as well as water heated from slow combustion stoves had destroyed the market. The chip heater went the way of fly paper, leaving just memories behind.

Note to readers: This post appeared as a column in the Armidale Express Extra on 10 October 2012. I am repeating the columns here with a lag because the Express columns are not on line outside subscription. You can see all the columns by clicking here for2009, here for 2010, here for 2011, here for 2012.

Belshaw's World - Red Kangaroo & the Bundarra mob: an epic tale of warfare in prehistoric New England

The year is about 1720. The place a major bush camp outside what is now Gunnedah. The smoke from the camp fires drifts into the dusk air. Overhead, the stars are beginning to appear. The visiting envoys sit silent, waiting patiently. The warriors have been in council all day, and it is time for decision.

The trouble had begun some months earlier. The powerful Tablelands’ mob from the Bundarra-Kingston area had been raiding for women in Gamilaraay (Kamilaroi) speaking lands. They left the strong Nammoy River mob alone, but had struck at the Goonoo Goonoo and Maneela (Manila) River mobs with considerable success, seizing women and killing the warriors who had opposed them. Finally, both groups sent envoys seeking help from the Nammoy to get their young women back. The Nammoy could keep the Bundarra women taken, although if many were taken, perhaps the Nammoy would share.

Lit by the fires, Gambu Ganuuru (Red Kangaroo in Gamilaraay), the Nammoy warrior chief, moved to the centre of the gathering.

The Red Kangaroo was then about forty and had been war chief since the age of nineteen. At over 190cm, he was a tall well built man whose body carried the scars of past battles. Now he summed up. The prize of the Bundarra women was not of great concern, but it was “another thing to have this Bundarra tribe come raiding so close to our territory. We are strong now, and we have to break any strong tribe who is a danger to us. Do you agree with me that we fight the Bundarra warriors to prove whose tribe is the ruling tribe, first and last?”

There were ninety warriors in the war party that now assembled. The Red Kangaroo led the forty strong Nammoy party, while Goonoo Goonoo war chief Ilparra commanded the fifty warriors from Goonoo Goonoo and Maneela, with Maneela war chief Mooti second in command.

There was no chance of a surprise attack, for throughout the one hundred kilometre journey small Bundarra parties gathered on all sides, spying on them and driving away the game they needed for food. Finally, a bigger force than theirs came to give battle on a long granite sand-flat through which ran a wide stony creek.

Ilparra was killed early by a spear through the throat, with Mooti taking command of the combined Goonoo Goonoo/Maneela force. For two hours, neither the combined force nor the Bundarra warriors that opposed them could gain ground. Realising that the Nammoy warriors were getting too far ahead and out of touch with Mooti’s party, the Red Kangaroo ordered his men to turn to take the party fighting Mooti on its flank.

The main Bundarra party that had been fighting the Red Kangaroo called out three times. At this pre-arranged signal, those opposing Mooti ran back to the main Bundarra group. Mooti and his warriors pursued, ignoring Red Kangaroo’s calls for them to join him. In the following fighting, Mooti was killed and his warriors broken into small groups.

The position was now desperate. Red Kangaroo’s party were outnumbered, had thrown nearly all their spears, while the Tablelands’ spears would not fit into the Kamilaroi spear throwers. “Gather and break their spears”, the Red Kangaroo told his party. “We must make it across to that pine scrub where they will be forced to fight hand to hand.”

Using his powerful voice, the Red Kangaroo coordinated the fight against the still larger but more disorganised Bundarra forces. Fighting as individuals or in small groups, the Bundarra warriors finally broke and ran. Kibbi, their great war chief, was killed by the Red Kangaroo’s spear.

Red Kangaroo and his warriors came the main Bundarra camp. Only old men and women were there. “Go tell your warriors to bring their women and children back to this camp”, the Red Kangaroo said. “No warrior who comes back will be harmed.”

Under the peace terms now imposed, the stolen women were returned, while five women each were given to the Goonoo Goonoo and Maneela tribes. Thirty four young women and five young boys and girls were taken by the Red Kangaroo and his warriors for the Nammoy tribe.

I hope that you have enjoyed this tale from New England’s more distant past. If you would like to learn more, Ion Idriess’ Red Chief gives a gripping fictional account, while Michael O’Rouke’s Sung for Generations provides a detailed analysis of the source material for all the Red Kangaroo stories.

Note to readers: This post appeared as a column in the Armidale Express Extra on 3 October 2012. I am repeating the columns here with a lag because the Express columns are not on line. You can see all the columns by clicking here for 2009, here for 2010, here for 2011, here for 2012.

New states & development - the discussion rumbles on

Tonight's post is a bit of a wander  around with a special focus on issues raised recently on the New England New State Movement Facebook page. 

Just to set the scene, this graphic is a car window sticker from the 1960s. Things haven't changed, that's what we want, although there is debate among us as to just what development means. How do we balance the environment with development is an example. Are the two in conflict?

One of the issues that constantly comes up is simply the question of giving us choice. Scott Hastings put it this way:

if the present states are so confident in the present structure, let them prove it by asking a direct question in a free referendum: Do you wish to be part of the State of New South Wales.
Of course they're too scared to do this, as the answer would be a resounding NO from the Tweed to the Hunter.

A little history reminder. the people of NSW were never asked if they want to be a state, they just became so as it was the remainder after all the other states were formed.

Just because New England currently lacks the firepower and organization to secede, does NOT in any way mean we consent to being a part of NSW.

I think that's dead right.

My post on this blog, Has the Greiner infrastructure report failed New England?, drew some comments. Sean Duce tartly remarked:

Oh and you forgot to mention Newcastle gets 500 million to reduce travel time by rail to Sydney to the same time period as the World War Two era flyer over the next 10-20 years.

Ouch, Sean.

Mark Zaicos commented:

Let's not forget that Greiner hasn't given up destroying regional rail. Countrylink may be sold meaning rail to the New England heartland will almost certainly be cut.

That's right Mark, but remember that Mr Greiner as premier focused just on the great gods of efficiency and effectiveness. He won't recognise the importance of the vision that we are trying to articulate because he sees the role of state government just in delivering services to the majority in that territory and indeed denies the very validity of what we stand for. We don't exist, so we can be ignored. 

I commented on the neglect of inland New England New. This issue was picked up in the Armidale Express, if with a little New England focus. I quote: 

A $20 BILLION infrastructure spend has snubbed Armidale according to Northern Tablelands MP Richard Torbay.

He said yesterday much of NSW had been sidelined by former NSW premier Nick Greiner’s 20-year vision for main projects across the state.

“I’m just surprised about how often we have to fight for every outcome and this plan shows it will be no different in future,” he said.

“I’m tired of seeing regional projects being an afterthought and they need to feature far more prominently in future plans, state or federally.”

Richard is right, of course, that's what I said in my post. But the problem is that if we are to strike back, we have to look more broadly and we have to make compromises. If we are to get decent development, I should write a post on what i mean by that, we have to overcome the dreaded local parochialism that constantly allows Sydney and the political parties to divide and rule.

This came up in another Facebook discussion. Scott worried that

hmm. been pondering further on the coastal-inland 'rivalry' (silly to even call it that as the coast certainly doesn't operate with any sense of unity, but anyway).

imagining the electoral map of the state of New England raises interesting questions. i'm not sure how well inland voters would accept a state parliament in which coastal seats were in the clear majority...? or perhaps we'd look at a totally new model than what's used in the rest of Australia?

This led to quite an interesting discussion. But to understand the issues, you have to understand the history.

Now to illustrate, this is a photo of the front of the news agency in Gunnedah. It's a very good newsagency that carries every paper in the immediate region. And where does the region start? Newcastle. The SMH doesn't even warrant a poster!

Now this is not an argument about boundaries, another recurring theme in new state discussions.

The issues here have been fairly well sorted, for in the end it's what people want. One state, two states or even three. But in understanding the issues. you have to look at geography and the way that affects our thinking over time.

Here I want to pause for tonight, for changing economics based on geography creates a fundamental challenge for all of us who care about the North. But that's a subject for my next post.   

 

   

 

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.  

Has the Greiner infrastructure report failed New England?

Infrastructure NSW has finally released its blue print into the State's long term infrastructure needs. This photo of Mr Greiner is from the Australian. It's a long report and I have to assess it properly. However, I thought that I would give you a quick preliminary reaction, subject to the necessary qualification that my views may change with further analysis.

To begin with, in presentation, it is one of those reports so beloved by modern governments all expressed in present tense. In <insert date>, NSW will <insert aspiration>. To counter this, my starting point is always to ask if the proposals achieve every one of the expected benefits, will New England be better off and if so how? The answer is not much, with some minor gains in some areas, potential losses in others.

To understand this, you have to look at some of the assumptions built into the report. These include:

1. There is such a thing as a NSW economy. There is not beyond a statistical construct based on current boundaries.
2. That economic growth in Sydney will have spin-off benefits to the rest of NSW. That's an assumption. My view is otherwise.
3. That modelling and policy should be based on current trends, on what is, not what might be. The past is not a good guide to the future, nor does analysis based just on aggregate statistics of what is provide a solid planning base without considering other variables.
4. That you can analyse inland NSW by lumping everything from the escarpment minus the Blue Mountains into a single entity.

The report suffers, too, from  border myopia. It does not adequately recognise the interlinks between parts of NSW and surrounding jurisdictions.

If the report delivers on every one of the identified New England benefits, this is (broadly) what we can expect:

1. The Pacific Highway upgrade will continue because it is current policy, but subject to reviews as to costs and value for money.
2. Some money will be invested in the coal corridor. However, there appears no recognition of the need to assist local authorities to manage the strain on infrastructure created by mining development. 
3. There will be some investment in Hunter water needs. Other water bodies will be aggregated into bigger units.
4. There will be some new investment in dams for irrigation.
5. Other existing projects will continue, but inland NSW won't get anything because this cannot be justified on the economic modelling. I refer you to assumptions 3 and 4 above.

Now because I have only skim read the report, I am happy to be corrected. But do you think that a New England Government would have had quite the same focus?   

Belshaw's World - sharing a love of history

Last year I came back to Armidale to deliver a paper on social change in the broader New England over the second half of the twentieth century. While in town I did as I always do, I went book shopping.

As a writer and commentator on New England history and issues, I need access to books and records, many now out of print and hard to find. For that reason, I buy what I can when I can. I also buy for the sheer joy of it, for we have had some wonderful writers.

On this trip, I struck real gold in the form of Maslyn William's His Mother's Country (Melbourne University Press, Carlton, 1988). I knew of Williams as an award winning Australian writer and documentary film maker, but had no idea of his New England connection.

Williams was born in England in 1911. After his parents’ death, an uncle sent him out to Australia to work as a jackaroo on a large station near Tenterfield. There he fell in love with Australia. His Mother’s Country explains why. Written in the third person (he calls himself the lad throughout), the book describes Williams’ experiences in 1920s New England, the lives and personalities of numerous individuals he encountered, and the distinctive identity of the landscape that ultimately claimed his loyalty.

It really is a wonderful book. It justly won the FAW Christina Stead Award in 1988 and then in the following year the Douglas Stewart Prize in the State literary awards.

Maslyn is not the only writer who describes childhood or early life in New England. Another is Judith Wright, a third Judith Wallace. Their writing traces the texture of a changing world in Armidale and beyond.

Last weekend, I was back in Armidale for a reunion of the TAS Leaving Certificate class of 1962. Those attending had come from all across Australia, from Hong Kong, Canada and the United States.

As I waited to go to TAS, the sound of bagpipe music from nearby Central Park drifted across the motel balcony where I was sitting. Distracted, I packed away my notes and walked to the park to listen. It was PLC’s 125^th anniversary celebrations, and the Scots College band was playing. I met the Headmistress and explained that my brother and I used to line up with the girls for our bread and jam, This was in the old school before the move to the top of the hill.

Later at TAS, we yarned about our shared history, about the changes that had taken place, about the things that we had done. For most of us, to come from Armidale or to come here for school or university is to leave the place. I have been lucky, for I have been able to come back on visits, then to live here again, and now once more to visit. For all of us, the links remain.

In coming columns, I would like to share with you some of those links through the wonderful history that we have in common: from spies to classical Greek plays; from the very local to the regional and beyond; from fly paper to chip heaters; from food to furniture; from our ancient Pleistocene past to the present.

I hope that you will come with me on the journey. I hope, too, that you will contribute your own stories.

Next week, I will give you a story of warfare beyond the frontier of written history, of a time before Captain Cook. It’s an exciting tale that I think that you will enjoy.

Note to readers: This post appeared as a column in the Armidale Express Extra on 26 September 2012. It is my first column after a gap. I am repeating the columns here with a lag because the Express columns are not on line. You can see all the columns by clicking here for 2009, here for 2010, here for 2011, here for 2012.

Computer Problems

I am having another round of computer problems. Posting will be limited until I sort this one out.

Bike riders on a mountain road

Sunday 16 September 2012. Nowendoc-Gloucester Road.

On my way back from Sydney, I stopped at the lookout at the start of the run down into the Upper Hastings Valley below. There are some rather good views.

Now I had noticed before that the mountain road down to the coastal strip had constant motor bike signs. I also noticed the road bikes themselves. Sometimes, they outnumbered the cars and trucks.

At the lookout, every notice on the notice board was bike related. This is an example of one sign. 

After driving down the mountain, I stopped at Barrington for a coffee. I always stop here when travelling alone. There I found another set of bikes.

You see dirt bikes all the time on this road. Sometimes driven, sometimes on the back of cars or on trailers, they are heading for the excitement of wild country driving in the New England escarpments to the west.

Sitting listening to the conversation at this cafe among a group of dirt or mountain bike riders, I wondered how they get on with the road bike riders. They are two very different worlds.

I would like to have stayed and introduced myself, but time was pressing. Grabbing the remnants of my chips, I drove on.      

Armidale - the sounds of distant bagpipe music

Saturday 15 September 2012. I was sitting on the balcony outside my motel room, writing up my notes. Suddenly, the sound of bagpipe music came drifting through the air.

I suppose that it's the Scottish connection, for my grandfather was very proud of his Scottish ancestry, I remember one Christmas he arranged for a piper to come in and play. We sat on the verandah after Christmas lunch watching and listening as the piper strode the lawns below.

Distracted, I put away my notes. I had to be back at TAS (The Armidale School) for a school reunion anyway, so I walked down to nearby Central Park through the bright light. It was one of those superb Armidale Spring days. In the distance, I could see the band on the rotunda.

For those who don't know Armidale, Central Park occupies a block next to the CBD and is a very pretty park indeed.

As I got nearer, I could see the small crowd gathered. It wasn't a big group, just people enjoying themselves in the sun.

Curious, I rushed around taking photos. Then I realised that the band was from Sydney's Scots College. Reporter Jim kicked in. "What's Scots College doing in town", I asked. "It's PLC's 125th anniversary", I was told. "Didn't you go to the procession?" "No", I said. "Didn't know that it was on."

PLC stands for the Presbyterian Ladies College, one of Armidale's many schools. "You must meet the head", my friendly informant said and promptly dragged me across to do just that. "My aunt used to teach at PLC", I explained. "Brother David and I used to line up in the afternoon with the borders for bread and jam." 

I do so love these random things! She allowed me to take her photo, but I think that the following photo with the Scots boys better captures the event.

  

Now the Armidale Pipe Band was gearing up to take it's place on the rotunda. I stood back to watch as they marched down.

Suddenly a voice said "Hullo Jim. What are you doing in town?" I was startled, but shook the outstretched hand. There wasn't time to talk. I watched as the band took its place on the rotunda. I couldn't stay to watch. I had to be back at TAS.

Walking the few blocks east to my old school, I thought about the wonders of serendipity. I had really enjoyed the whole thing.      

Belshaw's World returns to Express in new form

Back in February Belshaw's World, my long running column in the Armidale Express got suddenly and abruptly axed by the new editor. I wasn't alone. In my case, the column was replaced by a new one, the Views of Gen Y.

The wheel turns. That editor is gone, there is a new editor, I am back. It won't be quite the same column. It's in the magazine section and will have a stronger focus on history. It probably won't appear in the public on-line version of the paper. If that's the case, I will repost it here with a week's lag.

I missed the old column, so I am rather glad to be doing it again even if the focus is a little different.