November, 2011

The Bitch – and her sisters – will each carry cattle worth – at current values of $782 a head for export cattle – $112,600 from Brunette Downs to the yards in Darwin. Each load will weigh around 50.4 tonnes. Across the four trucks in this convoy the total value of this run will be around $450,000 with a weight of 200 or so tonnes.

Darwin – or Robertson Barracks – isn’t exactly seen as a comfort post. One comment on a military weblog reckoned that while the Northern Territory might be a great place to conduct large-scale training exercises most of the troops won’t be based at or near Darwin but at Bradshaw an awful long way from Darwin. One commentator described Bradshaw as a “shitty place to be posted”.

there were few ground-dwelling birds in my yard until a few months ago when I noticed a brief flash of feathered chestnut skulking in the ferns near the pool. I didn’t think much of it at the time until a few days later I saw this most beautiful bird – a Buff-banded Rail Gallirallus philipensis – in full view. Over the next few weeks we got more and more familiar with each other’s company. Now it is dead. eaten by neighbourhood cats.

Professor Karen Edyvane: “With the inaccurate, misinformed and highly partisan, ‘anti-Marine Park’ views of the Territory’s only daily newspaper, the NT News, Territorians are neither being informed of the basic scientific facts, nor the overwhelming scientific consensus and support for Marine Parks – including ‘no-take’ Marine Sanctuaries. The NT News has instead, engaged in gross misinformation, inflammatory and partisan anti-Marine Park media coverage and editorial commentary.”

One night King Solomon invited all the birds to sing to his noble guests. All came except the hoopoe. Angry, the king ordered a search, and when the hoopoe was found and rebuked, the bird explained that he was not guilty of disrespect. On the contrary, for the last three months he had hardly tasted any food or water, flying all over the world to discover if any place existed which was not yet subject to Solomon. Finally he found the land of Sheba, ruled by a beautiful and wise woman called Queen Balkys, where they have not heard the name of Solomon.

Lorna Fencer Napurrurrla was non-conformist, original (and) abandoned conventions, revolutionary, independent, mercurial, unrelenting, tough, funny, flirtatious (and) seriously dedicated, go it alone, irreverent, talented, energetic, confident, irascible, feisty, loud, imperious, cranky and her imperial majesty. She was prolific, chaotic and partial to intellectual stoushes, wicked, impish, forcible and would brook-no-opposition, a dab hand at getting others to do her bidding, tough, overbearing, born-to-rule, with a strong sense of self belief, a strong sense of self worth, bossy, wicked, (with a) rapier sharp wit.She was a loner, eccentric, individualist, over the top fearless, go it alone, against the grain, (and) very, very funny.

UPDATED – Now with added Gerry Wood! That’s not all! Just next to this rubbish dump there is an open sewerage pond where the raw sewage is pumped out straight of the houses. It is just very rough and ready – a hole in the ground surrounded by a chain-mesh fence. Pure raw sewage. The tip is about 2 or 3 minutes drive from the community. Kids walk back and forth. Dogs can get into the sewage ponds and then they go back to the community. It is a disgrace.