The Tree is dead

To-day, official reports have come that the Tree of Knowledge at Barcaldine, in central western Queensland, is dead. The Tree of Knowledge was included in The National Heritage List for the following reasons:

(a) the place has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place's importance in the course, or pattern, of Australia's cultural history - for its association with the Shearers' Strike of 1891 and as the starting point of political and social processes, which led to the eventual formation of the Australian Labor Party.

(b) the place has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place's strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons - for its association with the Trade Union Movement and Labour/May Day celebrations

Now a person or persons unknown has/have poisoned The Tree and it is dead.

The tree had struggled but was kept alive with a great deal of skill by specialist arborists and the determination of a number of local Barcaldine people led by long-time/life-time Australian Labor Party stalwart, Pat Ogden - the Licensed Victualler of the Globe Hotel.

There is hope, though. In 2005, Labour Day in Barcaldine saw the planting of a strong and healthy offspring of the Tree of Knowledge. The 14-year-old offspring was raised from cuttings made by Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries scientists in 1990, and planted in Barcaldine on Labour Day.

Miss Eagle wishes to pay tribute to Pat Ogden and his stalwart committee members who for so long not only kept The Tree alive but also kept alive Barcaldine's place in Australian history. Miss Eagle had the privilege of flying the Labor flag at two elections back in the '80s in the Federal seat of Kennedy, of which Barcaldine is a significant party. She knows first hand of the work that has been done by Pat Ogden, the committee, and the community of Barcaldine.

She was there for the marvellous first re-enactment of the Shearers' Strike in the early '80s produced and directed by the late Gilbert Spottiswood. Then afterwards she recalls adjourning to the Globe Hotel. The front bar was overflowing and in the tiny dining room at the back a rowdy talent quest was conducted on a dining room chair with the audience awarding points in the manner of Shearers 3-Squatters 0.

Such a night had never been seen in Barcy and was only exceeded by the celebrations on the Labor Day weekend of 1991 to mark the birth of the Australian Labor Party underneath the Tree of Knowledge during the Shearers' Strike. Those celebrations were so mighty that the Globe was drunk dry.

History was made to-night.

Wayne Bennett leaves the coach's box
to congratulate the Broncos.

History was made to-night.

Wayne Bennett is now, officially, the greatest NRL coach

after the Broncos decisive 15-8 win in Sydney
against the Storm.
The Storm got in there: Blair, Geyer, Slater

The Storm tackled

They tackled Shane Webcke

They tried and rejoiced

But it was not enough.

It was a great night for the Broncos

Shane Webcke and Sam Thaiday tackle the Storm
Matt King of The Storm under a Broncos tackle
The Broncos rejoice in Victory

The Storm: their faces say it all

The historic figures of the night: Wayne Bennett, Australia's greatest NRL coach; Shane Webcke retires after 254 games and Shaun Berrigan was awarded the Clive Churchill Medal.

Broncos Captain Darren Lockyer sums it up for the media

The Battle of the Coaches

To-night is an historic event in Rugby League as the Broncos play the Storm at Olympic Park in Sydney.

If Wayne Bennett's Broncos can overcome minor premiers Melbourne, he will become the most successful coach in premiership history. Bennett's five premierships (1992, '93, '97, '98 and 2000) equal St George legend Ken Kearney and super coach Jack Gibson.

This is at the heart of the dilemma in Miss Eagle's Household. Our Queensland origins mean that Wayne sits high in our hearts. We love and respect him as we do few individuals. Miss Eagle and Herself think he is a wonderful role model in life. Miss Eagle loves Mrs Lockyer's boy Dazza and to-night is the farewell - win, lose or draw - of that wonderful stalwart, the grand old man of the Broncos, Shane Webcke. How wonderful it would be to send Shane out on a grand final high after years of sterling service. Miss Eagle always pictures Webcke as a man of broad shoulders backing up the team and keeping it upstanding in the face of tremendous assaults.

Then there is the Storm. This team gets Miss Eagle and Herself where they live - in Melbourne. Craig Bellamy coaches the Storm. A win by the storm to-night will set Craig on the path to super-coachdom. He has worked miracles at the Storm. This year the Storm have topped the ladder at 44, losing only 4 games. They are Minor Premiers. The also swept all before them at the NRL's Dally M Awards with Craig named Coach of the Year; Cameron Smith crowned Player of the Year; and everyone's favourite Cooper Kronk named Five-eighth of the Year.

Not only will Bellamy and the Storm do themselves and Melbourne proud if they defeat the Broncos to-night, it will also be proof of Bennet's influence since Bellamy had been Assistant Coach to Bennett at the Broncos, and - prior to that - Assistant Coach to that other great Queenslander, Mal Meninga, at the Canberra Raiders.

Now if all this is not enough to trouble Melbournians who love Broncos, then there is the fact that the Storm is riddled with Queenslanders: Billy Slater (be still Miss Eagle's beating heart), Cameron Smith, Antonio Kaufusi, Dallas Johnson, Cooper Cronk, Nathan Friend, Michael Crocker, Jake Webster (the only Melbourne born player) spent his formative years in Queensland, Sam Tagataese (began his Australian career in Queensland), Jeremy Smith, Dennis Scott, Smith Samau, Greg Inglis, and Scott Anderson. Out the thirty young men in the 2006 Squad, 14 are from Queensland. Is it any wonder that a Broncos v Storm game causes tremors in this household.

Herself is in denial. She doesn't want to know. Everything stopped last weekend for her and both the Broncos and the Storm are winners. Miss Eagle will watch every second of the match on television to-night - barracking for Mel-bun; Mel-bun; Mel-bun but carrying Brisbane in her heart every inch of the way.

Vindication - but will there be Justice

Miss Eagle received news this afternoon of the result of the Coroner's findings on the death of Mulrunji (otherwise known as Cameron Doomadgee). The Coroner found that an individual policeman kicked Mulrunji and so contributed to his death. Miss Eagle hesitates to call the Coroner's finding justice: vindication, yes; justice, yet to be seen.

Mulrunji has been vindicated. Will justice follow?

One of the great sadnesses in this whole sorry saga is the death of Mulrunji's son.

The Queensland Police Union is in denial on the subject.

Dear Reader, why does this not surprise Miss Eagle? If the Commissioner has the same attitude, the future will remain as bleak as it ever has been when Aboriginal people come in contact with whitefella's law and the Queensland Police will have lost an opportunity to move forward.

The Coroner has made a number of recommendations in her report and Miss Eagle publishes them.

Miss Eagle is a Queenslander. She has lived in the Northern Territory and in Walgett in north-western New South Wales. All these places have significant Aboriginal communities. Miss Eagle cannot say forcefully enough that the attitudes of the Queensland Government on Aboriginal issues and policies is still rooted in the early 20th century. There is no difference whether the Government is Labor, National Party or Liberal. Queensland refuses to implement policies which work elsewhere.

One of the Coroner's recommendations is for the establishment on Palm Island of a community patrol. Miss Eagle lived for a number of years in Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory. The Aboriginal community of Tennant Creek established many, many years ago the first Night Patrol in this country. The Night Patrol picks up non-violent Aboriginal people under the influence of alcohol. These people are either taken to their homes or to the alcohol and drug abuse centre. Violent people are left for the police to put in the watchhouse. Such a detox centre is also a recommendation of the Coroner. See what Miss Eagle means? Hardly rocket science. Aboriginal people themselves control these systems in the interests of their own communities - but in Queensland........

And as for the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Deaths in Custody? Well, if you live in Queensland, the attitude would be: why bother.

~~~~~~~~~~

INVESTIGATION OF MULRUNJI’S DEATH

ARREST AND POLICING

1. The arrest of Mulrunji was not an appropriate exercise of police discretion. There were a range of alternatives to arrest available that should have been preferred. These include giving a caution, issuing a direction or commencing proceedings by way of notice to appear or summons.

2. The Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 (PPR Act) should be amended to
reflect the principle of arrest as a last resort. This might be achieved by amending s 198
to provide that a police officer may only arrest an adult without warrant where the
officer reasonably suspects that he or she has committed an offence and where they
reasonably believe that no other action, in all the circumstances, is appropriate given
the matters set out in s 198.

3. The PPR Act should be amended to include an explicit statutory duty to consider and
utilise alternatives to the detention of intoxicated persons in police cells.

4. The Operational Procedures Manual (OPM) should be amended to instruct officers to
consider arrest as a last resort and consider all alternatives before arresting a person,
particularly in cases of minor offences.

5. The OPM should be amended to reinforce the need to consider and utilise alternatives
to the detention of intoxicated persons in police cells.

6. The inappropriate arrest of Mulrunji reflects a lack of awareness of the legal bases upon which a person may be arrested without a warrant. The Police Commissioner should
consider whether this reflects upon police training generally or a need for further training of Senior Sergeant Hurley or other officers who gave evidence at this inquest.

7. The decision to arrest Mulrunji also reflects a lack of awareness of the alternatives to
arrest and confusion about their availability in the case of intoxicated persons. The
Police Commissioner should consider whether this reflects upon police training 27. The involvement in the investigation of Mulrunji’s death of officers from Townsville and Palm Island was inappropriate and undermined the integrity of the investigation.

8. The decision to arrest Mulrunji and the evidence of Senior Sergeant Hurley discloses a
lack of awareness of, and a failure to take into account, the recommendations of the
RCIADIC relating to the arrest of Aboriginal people for drunkenness and public order
offences. The Police Commissioner should consider whether this reflects upon police
training generally or a need for further training of Senior Sergeant Hurley and the other
officers who gave evidence at this inquest.

9. The Police Commission should give particular attention to the training of officers
working in Aboriginal communities. Such training should be provided prior to any
service in Aboriginal communities and should deal specifically with the
recommendations of the RCIADIC and how these are relevant to policing and the
exercise of discretion to arrest. Training should include ‘experiential training’ based on
the Kowanyama trial, as identified in the Cape York Justice Study.

10. Immediate attention should be given by the Queensland Government to the proper
funding and support of the Community Justice Group on Palm Island.

DIVERSIONARY CENTRES AND COMMUNITY PATROLS

11. Urgent attention should be given by the Queensland Government to the establishment of a diversionary centre on Palm Island to provide an alternative to police custody for people who come to the attention of police while intoxicated.

12. Such a centre should be established following consultation with the Palm Island
community and its design and operation must be responsive to local conditions and
needs.

13. The establishment of a diversionary centre should be accompanied by the development of a protocol with the Queensland Police Service, in conjunction with the Palm Island community, as to its use as an alternative to detention.

14. The establishment of a diversionary centre should also be accompanied by training of
police officers working on Palm Island as to the use of the centre as an alternative to
detention.

15. Urgent attention should be given by the Queensland Government to the establishment of a community patrol on Palm Island.

16. The structure and functions of such a community patrol should be developed following consultation with the Palm Island community.

17. It is vital that any community patrol that is implemented on Palm Island is adequately supported and funded to ensure its success.

ASSESSMENT AND MONITORING OF HEALTH

18. There was no assessment of Mulrunji’s health upon being received into police custody at the Palm Island Watchhouse. There was no adequate reason for this failure.

19. The OPM should be amended to fortify the direction given to police in relation to the
conduct of a thorough initial health assessment of any person brought into police
custody. In particular, the OPM should note that where a person taken into custody is
unable initially to be properly assessed because they are violent, aggressive or non-
cooperative, consideration must be given to conducting an assessment by another
means (such as through the cell door) or having another officer conduct the assessment.
In the event that an assessment still cannot be conducted, further attempts must be made
at the earliest available opportunity.

20. The OPM should be urgently reviewed with a view to providing a much greater level of practical guidance to officers on how to conduct health assessments and checks of
persons in their custody.

21. Pending such review, the OPM should be immediately amended to incorporate the
Medical Checklist currently used by Victorian Police. Queensland police should receive
training in the use of that checklist and commence using it immediately.

22. The failure to properly assess Mulrunji’s health suggests a lack of appropriate training for officers in the conduct of health assessments of people in custody. The Police
Commissioner should urgently consider increased and improved training of police
officers in relation to health assessments, particularly for officers in charge of watchhouses who should receive more intensive and specialised training.

23. The content and scope of such training should take into account the RCIADIC
recommendations, in particular:

• Such training should include information as to the general health status of the
Aboriginal population, the dangers and misconceptions associated with
intoxication, the dangers associated with detaining unconscious or semi-rousable
persons and the specific action to be taken by officers in relation to those matters;
and

• In designing and delivering such training programs, custodial authorities should
seek the advice and assistance of Aboriginal Health Services and Aboriginal Legal
Services.

SUPERVISION, MONITORING AND CARE IN CUSTODY

24. The Police Commissioner should consider the need for greater training in relation to
monitoring equipment of officers who are in positions that may require them to have
responsibility for people held in custody,

25. Theoretical and practical training in first aid and resuscitation should be mandatory for all officers who are in charge of a police watchhouse. Wathchhouses should be
resourced with appropriate equipment to enable first aid and resuscitation to be
provided whilst maintaining proper workplace health and safety standards and
protection for police officers.

26. People in custody should not be left unmonitored under any circumstances. The Police Commissioner should conduct an urgent review to ensure that this practice is not
undertaken elsewhere in Queensland and that staffing levels are adequate to ensure that
persons kept in custody are never left unmonitored.


INVESTIGATION OF MULRUNJI’S DEATH

27. The involvement in the investigation of Mulrunji’s death of officers from Townsville
and Palm Island was inappropriate and undermined the integrity of the investigation.

28. In all deaths in custody, officers investigating the death should be selected from a
region other than that in which the death occurred. The OPM should be amended to
require this.

29. The OPM should be amended to require the appointment of the officer in charge of.

30. The OPM should be amended to make explicit the need to consider, when selecting
officers for involvement in an investigation of a death in custody, the impartiality and
the appearance of impartiality in the conduct of the investigation.

31. The involvement in the investigation of Mulrunji’s death of officers who knew Senior Sergeant Hurley personally, or were friends with him, was inappropriate and
compromised the integrity of the investigation.

32. The OPM should be amended to explicitly require officers involved in an investigation into a death in custody to disclose any relationship with an officer involved in, or a witness to, that death.

33. The investigation’s appearance of impartiality was further undermined by the following conduct:-

• It was inappropriate for Hurley to meet the investigating officers at the airport upon
their arrival;

• It was inappropriate for Hurley to drive the investigators to the scene of Mulrunji’s
arrest; and

• It was completely unacceptable for investigators to eat dinner at Hurley’s house
while the investigation was being conducted.

34. The OPM should be amended to more clearly state the need for officers involved in an investigation to consider the impartiality and the perception of impartiality in the
conduct of the investigation at all times.

35. The discussion by Senior Sergeant Hurley of the death of Mulrunji with Sergeant Leafe and Police Liaison Officer Bengaroo prior to being interviewed was inappropriate and contrary to the OPM. It had the potential to undermine the integrity of the investigation and undermine the appearance of integrity of the investigation.

36. The OPM should be amended to require the officer in charge of an investigation of a
death in custody to instruct officers involved in, or witness to, the death not to discuss
the matter with other witnesses prior to being interviewed.

37. Consideration should be given by the Police Commissioner to the training officers
receive to ensure they are aware of their obligations under the OPM if involved in
deaths in custody. In particular the Commissioner should ensure that officers strictly
comply with section 16.24 (vi) to (viii) of the OPM and immediately arrange for the
next of kin to be notified where a death in custody occurs.

38. The CMC should be actively involved in all investigations into deaths in custody from the outset. Consideration should be given to having a senior officer of the CMC
involved in all investigations into deaths in custody.

39. Difficulties in cross-cultural communication between police and Aboriginal witnesses may have impaired the effectiveness of the investigation of this matter by police. Significant attention should be given by the Police Commissioner to the training of officers, particularly those who are working in or near large Indigenous communities
such as Palm Island in relation to communication with Indigenous people and the use of
support persons and interpreters. This is a matter that is fundamental to the effective
and fair administration of justice in Queensland.

40. The OPM should be amended to include, as an appendix, Chapter 9 of the Supreme
Court of Queensland Equal Treatment Benchbook on ‘Indigenous Language and
Communication’. The OPM should direct officers to follow and apply the contents of
that chapter to the greatest extent possible.

A Sabbath meditation

Get ready, get set.............

Winners are Grinners
Matt King being interviewed after the game
Happiness is......
Matt Geyer with Joey (Andrew Johns)

....for the Grand Final to end all Grand Finals. Miss Eagle is over the moon.

Her teams meet in Sydney in the NRL Grand Final next weekend:
Brisbane v Melbourne - The Broncos meet The Storm.

What is Desert Spirituality?

You may, dear Reader, be wondering what is Desert Spirituality.

Here is a very good description.

In the Australian context, the desert experience is based, firstly, on the experience of Jesus in the desert and his continuing withdrawal to quiet places. This continues with the early Christian experience of the desert fathers and mothers who withdrew to the desert. We have their writings and the writings of those who came after.

Secondly, Desert Spirituality in the 20th and 21st centuries has an eco-theology. Paul, in his letter to the Romans (1.20) says: For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead. Desert Spirituality seeks to know the Creator through Creation. A third and vital part of Australian Desert Spirituality is an indigenization of faith through an understanding of the landscape of Australia and an understanding of its people whether they are of the First Nations or are of settler status. So often, the Christian tradition in Australia is a transplanted faith and Australians looks to the USA, Europe or the United Kingdom for their faith and whatever is the latest religious experience. This has grave consequences for our stewardship of this nation and our relationship with one another.

Desert Spirituality is a life and a journey taking us to a more basic and elemental way of living our lives, desert-ing consumerism; desert-ing ambition; desert-ing self-centredness. The Desert has much to teach us and, when we physically leave the Desert, we can carry the experience with us in our hearts, our spirits, our lives.

Interested in Desert Spirituality

Ian Robinson at The Living Desert, Broken Hill

Miss Eagle publishes below a letter from her good friend, the Rev Ian Robinson. Ian is a Uniting Church Minister based in Perth, West Australia. Miss Eagle is a friend of both Ian Robinson and Michael Kelly. She first met Ian and Michael at Shared Meanings, a retreat attended by 135 people at the Australian National University in December 2000. They have remained in touch ever since.

As will be noted from the two posts below, Miss Eagle has just returned from an inspiring desert journey/retreat led by Ian at The Nine Mile just out of Broken Hill next door to The Living Desert. It will be a major milestone in Miss Eagle's life.

Miss Eagle commends their request to you.

TO ALL THOSE INTERESTED IN DESERT SPIRITUALITY
Both Fr Michael Kelly

(Benedictine, Arcadia, NSW)

and Rev Ian Robinson

(Spirit Journeys,
and Australian Research Institite in Desert Spirituality (ARIDS))
invite you to offer your details into a network on Christian Desert Spirituality.

We feel that this interest is a God-blown wind of the spirit at this time.
Initiailly, we are wondering just who is doing what, since we are both aware
of some others in addition to ourselves, but the desert is a big place and…


We need to plead with you to pass this around as widely as possible
to your networks for return to Ian Robinson by the end of September.

Ian will compile the information so send it to idtr@westnet.com.au
with the following information in the following four categories (you may fit more than one).

A. Name and contact details.
B. Brief description of interest /activity.(100 words max.)
C. Category/categories of your interest/activity?
1. Those who are doing desert retreat journeys from towns .
2. Those who are following the Desert Fathers and Mothers in non-desert settings
3. Those who are resident in a retreat centre in the desert itself .
4. Those who are doing relevant research or resource-writing.
D. I would like to receive news on Desert Spirituality happenings.
E. I am willing to be listed on a web page.

What will happen to the information?
Firstly, knowing what is available could be useful to seekers in this area.

For those who are willing, we can post it on a web page. (see E above)

Secondly, it may also be useful for passing on relevant news, courses, conferences on Desert Spirituality.

This list will not be passed to anyone else for any other purposes.

If you wish to receive no such news,

please still let us know what you are doing and add the note at the bottom

that you wish to receive no further communication. (see D above)

If you know of something happening

but you don’t know their contact details and can not forward this email to them,
please let us know whatever you can about them and Ian will try to chase them up.

Thanks
Ian D.T. Robinson

idtr@westnet.com.au
AND
Fr Michael Kelly

(who is heading off on annual retreat)

Miss Eagle is back

Homestead at The Nine Mile, Broken Hill

Miss Eagle is back - but busy. But to get back into blogging, this is a quick post. The destination was The Nine Mile. The Nine Mile is a sheep station - sheep ranch to those in the USA - just out of Broken Hill and right next door to The Living Desert. It is the property of Greg and Mia. The trip was organized by Spirit Journeys Australia and our leaders were Ian Robinson and Ross Neville.

Below is The Shearers' Quarters where we stayed - a group of nine of us - and looked after ourselves. For details about the journey more details will be posted at The Trad Pad.

The Shearers' Quarters at The Nine Mile, Broken Hill

Trippin' on out

Miss Eagle is signing off for a few weeks. She departs at the weekend for The Nine Mile where Mad Max and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert were filmed. For more details of Miss Eagle's destination see here. The focus at this time is not on blogging but on preparations. Miss Eagle is getting the desk cleared at work; getting the Mitsubishi in order (it has new tyres, it has been detailed, and to-day the mechanic comes); and organising the gear.

And, dear Reader, your correspondent does not travel light. She has tried it and it doesn't work. She wishes she could say differently. So the spare bed has two small suitcases on it (one for undies - it already has the thermal underwear in it, one for the rest); an old Persil box full of writing materials - journals, coloured pencils and markers and calligraphy stuff; and camping and camera gear and a stack of CDs. To this will be added a box of books but a lot of those are still in her bedroom on the bedside table. Miss Eagle will be camping in her Mitsubishi wagon.

After The Nine Mile, it is over to Robertson to check out all that stuff that Denis and Anni blog about. Then down the south coast of New South Wales and across Gippsland to Upper Gully. So a few ks will get notched up as well as lots of good times.

So, blogging friends, see you in a while.

Wedgies on the wing

Denis Wilson of The Nature of Robertson has sent me a collection of Wedgetailed Eagle shots. Miss Eagle thinks they are wonderful - particularly the one where the wedgie is upside down, perhaps with an eye on some prey. Thanks to Denis, Miss Eagle has quite a collection.

Here are Denis's comments.

Here are a bunch of Eagle pix for you. Most are not good photos, (Miss Eagle loves them, Denis. Dont't be too modest.) but I have sent them, as a study in how the wings work. Some show the deep V shape when they are circling. When flying low and flat, the wings beat, and then the tips of the wings get bent back up by the effect of the air during the downbeat. There were 2 birds, one of which has a shorter tail than the other (regrowth after moulting). The long tailed one shows how its tail is also used aerobatically, as it is noticeably deeply V shaped (in a vertical sense) as well as being wedge shaped in outline. In other words, the longest feathers are held lowest.

None of these shots compare with the Sea Eagle shot, but they are interesting for various reasons. Wedgie wings 1 - the bird is actually flying away from me (not immediately obvious). The reflection is coming from the side of the V shaped tail (as the bird is turning it is using the deep V of its tail to help get turning power).

Wedgie wings 2 has a weird effect - you can see the close wing is spread, but the other wing appears to be closed, but uplifted on the tips, almost like a butterknife.

Wedgie Wings 3 has the bird looking almost perfectly in balance, and looking relaxed.

Wedgie Wings 4 has it nearly balanced, as it flies over, but its left wing is being uptilted by the wind.

These are just sent to you for interest. I used my 2 favourites on the blog tonight. I love the one where it is flying downhill, to the left (#1)

New from the industrial front

Amcor Flexibles
29 Bell St
Preston
[Between Chifley Dv and Albert St]

The AMCOR strike is entering a new phase tomorrow (Monday 14 August). To comply with a Federal Court order, the AMWU State Secretary will recommend a return to work at a mass meeting at 10am.

A letter given to the members states the intention of the meeting.
"The purpose of the meeting is to comply with section 1 (b) and (c) of the order"
These sections direct the union to "take all steps reasonably available under its rules" to ensure a return to work.

The Federal Court has threatened to jail AMWU officials and seize union assets if the union fails to comply with the order. Unions however are democratic institutions; the recommendation to return to work can either be accepted or rejected. The feeling to stay out until the issue of forced redundancies is resolved is strong. AMCOR workers need supporters before, during and after the meeting. More updates will come. You need to keep in contact with the website and the picket. Things could change very quickly in the new situation.

Please consider turning up and give your support if you haven't as yet. Spread the word. Messages of support: contact@unionsolidarity.org
Community picket roster: Paullie 0402 273 677
More info: Dave Kerin 0412 484 094 Joe Montero 0402 679 201, 9486 6306

A literary meme - Part 2

This follows on from the previous post.

6. One book that wracked you with sobs?

Miss Eagle doesn't think she was wracked with sobs when she read this book - and she can't remember the last time this happened - but the tears flowed. The book in question is Barbara Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer. What a beautiful book! How Miss Eagle would love to be able to write a book such as this. Miss Eagle is a great fan of Kingsolver. I only have three of her novels under my belt (the other's are the Poisonwood Bible and The Bean Trees) but Miss Eagle's project is to read all of them.

7. One book you wish had never been written

If anyone is writing another conspiracy theory/mystery thriller which includes gnosticism and the marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, could you please desist. Put down that pen! Delete that stuff from your computer! The world does not need one more piece of this drivel!

Back in the 80s, Miss Eagle read Holy Blood, Holy Grail which talked about the marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Interesting ideas but nothing to write home about. Then in the 1990s, Miss Eagle came across Foucauld's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. This tour de force by one of the world's great public intellectuals covers everything - every mysterious organisation ever thought about by a conspiracy theorist. A sort of history of everything laid out in 600 pages with a satirical edge. Coming from the intellect of Eco, it is sometimes difficult and is nothing if not comprehensive. After that, Miss Eagle decided, why would one waste time reading The Da Vinci Code.

8. One book you're currently reading

Miss Eagle is currently immersed in Karen Armstrong's latest, The Great Transformation: the world in the time of Buddha, Socrates, Confucius and Jeremiah. This is going to be another tour de force from a great public intellectual. And, while on the subject of public intellectuals, can we name Karen Armstrong - who describes herself as a freelance monotheist - the most intelligent woman in the universe? Now this topic takes a huge sweep through time and across cultures, regions, and religions. Miss Eagle will suspend judgment on whether this Axial Age concept is worthwhile or merely another bundling book of life, the universe, and everything. Miss Eagle got in early with her copy on backorder from Readings based on a review in The Age. You see, dear Reader, the eight century BCE holds a great fascination for your correspondent because of the eighth century prophets of the Judaeo-Christian tradition. This was a period of strong voices, often from simple backgrounds, speaking out on ethics, justice, and humanity's relationship with its Creator - and the consequences should we contravene these natural laws. So if this was the situation in the middle-east of that period, then Miss Eagle was eager to participate in Armstrong's exploration into this period in other spaces and places.

Miss Eagle thinks that the purpose in Armstrong's epic is to help us to understand one another better at the deepest levels of the human spirit - something she lives out in her own life. This understanding is something that humanity is in sore need of at this point in history. Let's take up the challenge and join her on the adventure into these little known realms.

9. One book you've been meaning to read.

Miss Eagle keeps a list of books she means to read in a Task on Microsoft Outlook. Now, this doesn't mean she gets to actually read these books but as interesting ones come to her attention listing them means they are not forgotten. One from this list is Traumascapes by Maria Tumarkin. Traumascapes is a book about place - places scarred by tragedy. Miss Eagle, dear Reader, is a great believer in the spirit of place and so the theme of this book is appealing. But let Miss Eagle tell you one story that almost certainly has not made it into this book. A friend of Miss Eagle's from her Mount Isa days is a keen historian. In her research, she visited Linda Downs. Linda Downs had been the site of a battle between Aboriginal people and police. Seven police died. The police then decided to take their revenge and killed ten Aborigines for every police killed. 70 people. My friend tells me that, in accord with Aboriginal spirituality which says the spirit of a dead person returns to a tree, there are 70 trees at this site. All are dead and the atmosphere is one of ethereal silence. A sacred place of great trauma, indeed.

10. Now tag five bloggers

Aah, who gets tagged now?

Cee at Voracious Reader, Daniel at DanielBowen.com,

Miss Eagle has actually tagged more over at The Trad Pad

A literary meme - Part 1

Big Tree, Gardiner's Creek - Louis Buvelot

Collection of the City of Whitehorse, Melbourne

Anni Heino has tagged Denis and Miss Eagle with a book meme. So here is Miss Eagle's literary effort, Anni.

1. One book that changed your life

Miss Eagle's earliest memories of reading are the volumes of Australian poetry on her grandparent's bookshelves at Wilston in Brisbane. Here began her love of the Nationalists - those new generations of Australian poets whose stories of the social life and character of a newly discovered continent became woven into our lives; those poets who were published in the Pink Pages of The Bulletin.

Nana O'Carroll's particular favourite was Fair Girls and Grey Horses by Will Ogilvie. Needless to say, Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson were there. But Miss Eagle's earliest very own copy was a volume titled The Australasian Book of Verse for Boys and Girls. This book was on her bookshelf for decades until it literally fell to pieces. All the greats were represented along with people who talked about "out where the crow flies backwards and the pelican builds its nest". In adulthood, this love of Australian poetry became a love of the bush and transferred itself to art in the form of the works of Louis Buvelot and the Heidelberg School and the novels of the period of which the foremost is Such is Life.

And then, of course, there is no substitute for seeing Australia for oneself which Miss Eagle has been doing consistently for three decades and will continue to do. Next weekend, Miss Eagle traverses central and north-western Victoria en route to Broken Hill and then across to Robertson in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales up behind the Illawarra where she may, at last, get to meet Anni.

2. One book you have read more than once.

For this, Miss Eagle has singled out a little known 20th century spritual classic, A Testament of Devotion by Thomas R. Kelly. Miss Eagle tries not to be without a copy of this little masterpiece but has given away numerous copies. Last year though, on Ebay, she obtained from the USA a first edition complete with dustjacket. What joy!

3. One book you'd want on a desert island.

At the age of 17, Miss Eagle fell hopelessly in love with Boris Pasternak after reading Dr Zhivago. Since then, she is never without a copy on the shelf. Pasternak's masterpiece gives the appearance of prose but it is, quite simply, poetry paraded as prose. And if you loved the movie, Miss Eagle wishes it to be known that the movie is only a very small portion of the book. But the main reason Miss Eagle keeps a copy on the bookshelf is not the novel itself but the collection of Dr Zhivago's poetry which comes at the conclusion of the novel. Aaah, the romance, the religion and the tragedy of Russia!

4. One book that made you giddy?

The award for this goes to The Outcasts of Foolgarah by Frank Hardy. Outcasts is a political satire published in 1971. The book is dated now because the politicians it lampoons are virtually unknown even to people of middle years these days. The Outcasts were the dunny men. The thesis of the novel is that the only ones with true freedom are those who are very wealthy who can own or flout the system or the very poor who are outside the system. The dunny men were too poor to have mortgages from the bank over their homes. They built their homes out of materials salvaged from the dump. They owned their own homes and so had a wonderful freedom. Miss Eagle had led a sheltered Catholic girl hood in a respectable family. Frank Hardy gave Miss Eagle an education in amongst the hilarity of The Outcasts.

5. One book that you wish had been written

Miss Eagle has a dear friend, Jenny. We live far apart these days and our friendship is the occasional email letter interspersed with funny emails. Jenny is older than Miss Eagle and a former animal control officer and pound keeper. She is or was a world expert in her field and what Jenny does not know about animals and their owners is not worth knowing. Jenny is of British origins and grew up in Kashmir where her father was stationed with the British Army. Jenny had a privileged lifestyle. She came to Australia, completely helpless but ready for adventure, when she was 18. She knew precious little so when she wanted to learn something she asked someone to take her on and teach her. This was how she came to be a panel beater at one point in her life. Jenny's adventures were many and through them all she became a woman of great wisdom and great humour. Miss Eagle used to say to her that she had to write her story and, if she didn't, Miss Eagle would follow her around with a tape recorder. This has never happened and Jenny emailed Miss Eagle a couple of weeks ago to say she has lung cancer. She has returned from treatment to palliative care. Now Jenny is at an age where news of life coming to an end is not a surprise. But I don't think this what she or her friends would have chosen for her. So, it looks like Jenny's story will not reach a wider public. But there are those of us who love her very much and there will always be a very warm space in our hearts which is especially hers.

Miss Eagle will take a pause.

The second five questions of the meme will be in the next post.

An adventure on the journey of life.

Miss Eagle's good friend, Jim Phillips of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory, was diagnosed yesterday with bowel cancer. Miss Eagle asks for prayers for Jim - particularly as his work, business, and family life have to be sorted out to enable him to seek treatment interstate.

In the Territory there is a saying: Get a pain, catch a plane. So next Thursday Jim is on a plane to Brisbane.

Tennant Creek (pop. 4,000) and Alice Springs (pop. 25,000 and five hours away) is not the place to deal with something as serious as this. Jim's dearly beloved, Sylvia, keeps the admin part of the business going. An excellent supervisor keeps the real work going. We need prayer so that Sylvia can be relieved of her admin duties - which are vital to the sustainability of the business - to be with Jim in Brisbane.

Jim and Sylvia walk and work closely with God day by day in every way.

Please be with them as they journey with Him on this adventure too.

On a collision course: political ministry and social justice

Business interests like to use their clout to buy individual politicians and buy governments. Newspaper interests can manage the media in their own self-interest. But in the end and on the day, each person has one vote. Corporate entities do not vote. The Australian and The Daily Telegraph and The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald don't vote. We do.

John Howard pretends that he ignores opinion polls but he doesn't. He is very attuned to them. The one that seems to have his fullest attention at the moment is the poll indicating the majority of Australians don't think much of his new IR laws and that this point of view could impact on the sensitive seats of those Liberal politicians in marginal electorates. Oooh-wah!

The point of democracy is that when the electorate is not happy, politicians get the pointy end of public opinion delivered where it can hurt the most - in their own hip pocket.

Middle-class Liberal politicians who have been in their seats forever or who are business or professional people clearly don't have a clue about the life of working people in factories, and small business, and offices and call centres. If they had the beginning of a clue, these new IR laws would not have seen light of day in their current form.

And now the Libs find that their slimey Kevin Andrews (who interfered with the affairs of the Northern Territory some years ago without any consultation with Territorians and what they wanted) can't sell their latest dogma - and it's beginning to hurt. So they have called in the jovial public face of Joe Hockey to assist the undertaker look of Kevin Andrews.

These two Liberal ministers are good Catholic lads: Andrews, from a family with a trucking business in Gippsland, was educated at St Patrick's in Sale in conservative, Irish Catholic Gippsland. Hockey's family was well heeled enough to afford the school fees at posh Jesuit school, St Aloysius' College at Kirribilli (Joe has not moved far geographically). Middle-class well-heeled Catholics moving against the social justice teachings of their church!

Wannabes?

Just who do you wannabe?

Who'd wannabe an Aborigine? First the whitefella comes and takes your land off you - the land that provided your food, your shelter, your economy. Then, after two hundred years of being pushed around, you get some of your land back. Then along comes this mob of whitefellas and they decide that you, blackfella, have to own your house and land just like a whitefella and get into the mainstream economy of rising interest rates on housing, etc. And they have found a beaut way to get you, blackfella, to do this. You will have to buy your land, which you already own. And to enable you to do this a law will be passed in the Senate of the Parliament of Australia by Senators who haven't really bothered to talk to you, blackfella. Isn't this a great idea?

Just who do you wannabe?

A refugee? Australia locks you up, preferably in some other country that, in another context, the Australian Government refers to as a failed Pacific state. It locks you up for so long that you may never recover. In fact, you may never get out. You may become so mentally ill that you take your own life just as one refugee did in this week past. Isn't this great?

The Prime Minister of Australia is trying to instill Australian values into the population by fiat. Australia is a secular country in the Western Christian tradition. This Christian tradition has, as its central figure, a man who was a refugee. His life was threatened and he had to flee Palestine (yes, he was a Palestinian of middle eastern appearance, so he was) to that hospitable country of Egypt. You know that one - the country whose inhabitants Australians have traditionally referred to as WOPS (Wily Oriental Persons).

Now at the heart of the Christian tradition is the Bible and there are a couple of funny things in that collection of books. One of the books has outlined how people are to treat the sojourners (an old-fashioned word for refugee). Now this method does not include off-shore facilities or detention centres or temporary protection visas. In fact, the book reminds its original readers that they once were sojourners. Funny that. A bit like white Australians, the original readers of that book had to leave their own country and sojourn in another country to make a life for themselves. And in some other books, there was a useful little sentence about treating other people like you yourself would expect to be treated. Now howzat for some good Aussie values.

Miss Eagle wonders if this is what the Prime Minister of Australia expects for himself if he seeks to teach us traditional values - and the most basic tradition of all - To love your neighbour as yourself. John Howard loves himself by locking himself up in a concentration camp, oops I mean detention facility, on Nauru from whom the rapacious whitefella has stripped anything of commercial value. Yeah....well....

So who do you wannabe? And are you traditional enough to honestly want for other people, your neighbours around you, what you want and expect for yourself? Or turn it around the other way. Do white Australians wish to experience the mess they have made for other people?

Amend what? Our behaviour?

To-day the Howard Government is out to tick off another one of its stick-it-to-'em agenda items - by moving amendments to the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976. They have long been critics of the Land Councils which operate under the Act. You may remember, dear Reader, that this nation's illustrious leader once appeared on the television carrying a huge map of Australia which had huge areas of black on it. He was intent on informing the nation that Australia's Aboriginal people were intent on this huge land grab. Of course, while he did not say it word for word, the implication was that the world as we know was about to come to a sticky end. Miss Eagle thinks that Howard may now regret making this television appearance as much as he came to regret his comments about Asian immigration. The latter has been the cause for statements of public regret but no public regret has ever been uttered for the former.

Sean Brennan gives well-informed and lucid comment on the proposed amendments here. As Brennan points out:

When the miners side with Land Councils against the government, it is a sure sign that government ideology about indigenous affairs is trumping workability and genuine stakeholder interest.

But the biggest rort of all is the government pretence over land and housing ownership in Aboriginal communities. It storms ahead ideologically without meaningful consultation in what appears as a land grab and government knows best attitude. This will change little. And if housing and land ownership is the issue there are other ways to do it which would be drawn out in an extensive two-way consultative process.

Australian governments, both Labor and Liberal National Party, have failed to bring active and meaningful economies into Aboriginal communities. Then there is their destruction in funding of public housing.

There are whitefella towns in this nation whose economic raison d'etre is to act as service centres for surrounding regions. This means that there are towns that exist purely on the basis of the delivery of health, education, and community services. Does it never occur to government to ensure that Aboriginal communities have some forms of economic exchange other than the community store and the - sometimes government enforced - canteen? Delivery of health, education, and community services can be developed into an economic base. This could not be done for each and every community but hubs could be developed which would fulfil this function. Regional Community Development! This - combined with private home and land ownership arrived at in an equitable way which did not impeach Aboriginal autonomy and Aboriginal ability to control their own affairs - could take things forward.

This government goes beyond white paternalism. It is dogmatic in ensuring its view of the world takes over. But does it back things up with money?

Wadeye Shared Responsibility Agreement (21 March 2003)

PDF (39kb) RTF (281kb)

Take the Shared Responsibility Agreements, for instance. In that now well-known community, Wadeye (Port Keats), there is the now famous deal to eliminate truancy. Only if the kids turned up for school could they access the swimming pool. Reasonable idea, one would think. A bit of lateral thinking. And it worked. The kids turned up at school.

But....and it was a big but. There was no room for the kids who turned up. Did no-one know how many kids were to be serviced? Had governments been relying on kids not to turn up so they didn't have to expend according to the potential need? In other words, did government have a vested interested in kids not turning up and then not having to meet the need either with buildings, or staff, or employment of community skills.

The neglect of educational facilities for Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory is the stuff of legend - denial of the use of silver bullets on The Barkly, refusal to buy a water cooler for the students at Rockhampton Downs, the kids who have been educated on dirt floors, and the list goes on!

So who wears the blame for all of this? Aboriginal people of course. Now Miss Eagle is not being chauvinistic. Aboriginal people, like everyone else, have to take responsibility for their own lives and their own choices. In every circumstance, Aboriginal people have to do their level best to lift themselves up by their bootstraps. And so many are - sometimes against tremendous odds. But whitefellas won't admit to the hurdles they put in the way. In fact, sometimes - not always, but sometimes - things would be helped if whitefellas would just get out of the road.

Call for Community Assembly at Amcor

Under the Howard Govt's new industrial relations laws, unions, their officials and individual members can face draconian fines for picketing. This doesn't stop the men and women of Union Solidarity. Union Solidarity doesn't picket. It holds community assemblies. The call went out last night for urgent support for a community assembly at Amcor. It is set out below. Amcor is under a cloud because of an investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission into a suspected breach of the Trade Practices Act which also involves Richard Pratt's Visy Industries.

Amcor Workers on Strike Urgent Support Needed

Community Assembly - Amcor Packaging

Friday 4 August

7.00am onwards

29 Bell StPreston

(Between Albert St and Chifley Drive)

About 100 workers at Amcor Packaging in Preston voted tonight (Thurs 3 August) to continue a strike in support of union delegates and members victimized by management. AMWU delegates have been targeted for forced redundancies. The workers at the plant defied a commission order to return to work and possible fines under Howard's new IR laws.

These rank and file workers require our full support!!

more info: Dave Kerin 0412 484 094 Joe Montero 0402 679 201, 9486 6306

Happy Birthday to horses everywhere

To-day, August 1, is the birthday of the horse. So Miss Eagle takes the opportunity of wishing horses everywhere a Happy Birthday and hopes the next year brings lots of green grass, considerate owners, and a fruitful time of breeding, and winning.

Here are some famous Australian horses, including a reference to Miss Eagle's childhood favourite, Radish.

Bernborough

CarbineWinner
Gunsynd

Kingston Town
Might and Power

Phar Lap
Tulloch