Tag: Australia

Two Very Aussie Things

For those who may not know what these photographs represent, keep reading.

The first photo is a poster for a charity fundraising event held at the RSL community centre in aid of the cancer centre at St Andrew’s hospital, Toowoomba, Queensland.

The required fancy dress is Bogan style, a checked flannel shirt and hairdo called the Mullet. This haircut is said to be the anglicised name of French guru Henri Mollet’s hair style.

Although there are later versions of its creation, the Mullet was embraced and immortalised by bogan Australian men in the 1970s and 80s perhaps as a form of rebellion.

The name also refers to an edible fish (sea mullet, Mugil cephalus) which occurs around much of the Australian coastline. I can see a similarity, dead fish on head…

Can’t say whether I liked this hair fashion statement or not, kind of an interesting trend at the time which didn’t concern me. A question has been raised asking if today’s Mullet is a fond, ironic reclamation of Australian identity or a cheap way to cut your hair—particularly prevalent for both men and women during Covid-19 restrictions.

Look closely… a night-time view across Toowoomba, Queensland, and high above—that’s the Southern Cross star constellation which is imbedded in Australian and Pacific Island cultures.

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

Cat Circumnavigates World: True Story of Trim

Bedtime reading for kids and cats: Trim the courageous cat and his real seafaring adventures around the world.

A small book containing a big story. Matthew Flinders, British navigator and cartographer, sailed to and from Australia between 1795 to 1803 for various reasons including mapping the entire coastline. On these precarious, dangerous and adventurous journeys, Flinders was accompanied by Trim, his black cat with white paws.

Page 12 : Hand-written front page of Matthew Flinders tribute to his seafaring cat Trim, written 1809 and published 2019.

Written in conjunction with Flinders biographical tribute, this book “Trim The Cartographer’s Cat” or “The Ship’s Cat Who Helped Flinders Map Australia” shows a new and fascinating insight into the man who was the world’s most accomplished navigator and cartographer.

Matthew Flinders RN was the first to circumnavigate Australia and also instrumental in giving our continent its name. Trim accompanied Flinders through good times and bad, including a shipwreck, and this small volume has exciting chapters on their 19th century nautical experiences.

Page 29 Flinders and Trim dined onboard in the gunroom, the junior officers mess. Actually, Trim helped himself to their dinner.

Trim was a seafaring daredevil, surviving fur-raising adventures. When he wasn’t climbing rigging or cadging food, he caught his own ocean-fresh flying fish suppers.

I like to think Trim’s name relates to a ship being “trim” as in desirable weight distribution for better handling at sea. Certainly he was a neat and ship-shape cat! However, you may find that Trim was named after a character in a 1759 novel by Laurence Sterne.

MAIN CONTENTS (but plenty more topics)

  • “A Biographical Tribute in the Memory of Trim” by Matthew Flinders.
  • “Matthew Flinders Trim’s Shipmate and Bedfellow” according to Dr Gillian Dooley PhD.
  • “My Seafurring Adventures with Matt Flinders” from Trim himself, assisted by Philippa Sandall.
  • Timeline: The Voyages of Matthew Flinders and Trim.

The book illustrations are wonderful, research is thorough, the format is highly readable. A great read for those who are interested in factual exploration history. I feel as if I got to know Flinders and his life skills. Of course, Trim’s rodent catch-and-clean-up service is another skill altogether! This book has given me more than I learned at school – and is suitable reading for a family or feline friend.

By all accounts, both Flinders and Trim were exceptional characters.

Pages 42-43 Illustrates the circumnavigation routes of HMS Investigator and HMS Porpoise

“Not many ships cats have one memorial statue, let alone six. But Trim does, including one outside Euston Station in London.”

Trim The Cartographer’s Cat

Without venturing into the politics of what happened to Matthew Flinders (or Trim, or indeed First Nations People) after he sailed from Terra Australis, I enjoyed reading this publication and will go so far as to say every library should own a copy.

Meow! 😸

❤ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

Book: “Trim The Cartographer’s Cat”
Format: Hardback
Edition: 1st
Pages: 128
ISBN 9781472967220
Imprint: Adlard Coles
Illustrated: Beautiful maps, historical artwork, quirky original illustrations
Dimensions: 182 x 129 mm
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Booktopia Online

Anzac Day 2022

Anzac Day remembrance © Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2022

LEST WE FORGET

Anzac Day commemorations will take place on Monday 25 April 2022 across Australia, and at the Australian War Memorial’s Sculpture Garden, marking the 107th anniversary of the landings at Gallipoli.

This Anzac Day also marks the 80th anniversary of Anzac Day commemorations at the Memorial.

This year’s commemorative program will include: 

5.30 am     Dawn Service
9.30 am     RSL (ACT Branch) Veterans’ March
4.45 pm     Last Post Ceremony

Australian War Memorial, Canberra https://www.awm.gov.au/

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

Cotton Harlequin Bug

Image courtesy of Dot Bernet © September 2021

The whole plant was covered in these fast-moving jewel-like bugs! It was fascinating to see them sparkling in the sunlight in a suburban garden.

I am reading “Miss Benson’s Beetle” by Rachel Joyce, wherein Miss Benson and her assistant Enid search for a golden beetle in the wilds of New Caledonia, far removed from the comforts and safety of home, and this book has heightened my interest in insects.

The little Cotton Harlequin bugs (above) were enjoying lunch.

Scientific name: Tectocoris diophthalmus

Size: 2 centimetres

The Australian Cotton Harlequin Bug is a member of the Jewel Bug family named for their bright metallic colouration.

The males and females of the Cotton Harlequin Bug are different colours, with the females mostly orange and the males mostly blue-red.

The Cotton Harlequin Bug lives in urban, agricultural and coastal areas of eastern Australia. It eats sap from many species belonging to the hibiscus plant family (Malvaceae) including ornamental hibiscus species and cotton.

Reference https://australian.museum/learn/animals/insects/cotton-harlequin-bug/

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

* * * *

A display of Australian beetles at the Cobb and Co Museum in Toowoomba, Queensland. Read about my visit https://thoughtsbecomewords.com/2019/06/30/toowoomba-mountain-air-and-heritage-preserved/

The Oldest Foods on Earth

The Oldest Foods On Earth cookbook photo © Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2021

‘The Oldest Foods on Earth’ introduction by author John Newton who asks ‘What do I mean by Australian native produce?’

Quote “Indigenous foods we have always eaten, e.g. oysters, crabs, rock crayfish and all the fish that swim around us… and varieties of duck and quail… but outside the familiar are an estimated 6,000 edible plants including 2,400 fruiting trees in south-east Queensland alone, and 2,000 truffles or subterranean mushrooms.  Of those, 6,000 non-Indigenous Australians currently use less than fifty.

“Why should you eat these foods?  Firstly, for their unique flavours, then for their nutrient values… they are among the richest on the planet in the nutrients we need for health.

“This book is a guide on how to source, select and cook with Australian native produce ingredients.” © John Newton 2019

Published by NewSouth Publishing Australia with recipes from chefs such as Peter Gilmore, Maggie Beer and René Redzepi’s sous chef Beau Clugston. ‘The Oldest Foods on Earth’ will convince you that this is one food revolution that really matters.

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

Indigenous painting ‘Possums and Tall Trees’ an Arabana ILF children’s book by Aunty Kathy Arbon 2018

DID YOU KNOW? Former teacher Suzy Wilson, the owner of Riverbend Books in Bulimba, Brisbane, got the ball rolling in 2004 when she launched the Riverbend Readers Challenge to raise money to boost literacy levels. The Challenge grew, and then teamed up with the Fred Hollows Foundation and the Australian Book Industry to become the Indigenous Literacy Project in 2007. In 2011 it was superseded by the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF), a national not-for-profit charity focussed on improving literacy levels in very remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Source https://www.indigenousliteracyfoundation.org.au/

Review ‘The Brisbane Line’ by J P Powell

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This is a book I had to read.  The name is derived from “an alleged 1942 WWII government plan to abandon Northern Australia in the event of a Japanese invasion”—there is nothing alleged about it.  My father was a young soldier in WWII based in Melbourne when his division received the command to form The Brisbane Line.  It made such an impression on him that later, when he was married, he relocated the family to Brisbane where I currently live.

I dearly wish I could discuss this novel with my late father but I do remember him reminiscing about the off-duty times and leave in tropical Far North Queensland where hi-jinks often lead to a soldier’s death.   I am sure there was tension, corruption and murder among the thousands of American troops stationed in Brisbane, but on the other hand I know families of young women who married GI Joe’s and went to live in US never to return.

Enigmatic protagonist, Rose, has a boyfriend who is a prisoner-of-war and she says “It’s men who cause the trouble in the first place.  It’s just another hypocrisy.”

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Suitable for crime readers and historians, this well-researched yet fictionalised novel is based on a real person and his original paperwork.  It is more interesting than a text book and follows Sergeant Joe Washington, a US Military Police officer and amateur photographer who joins local police in battling crime and black market corruption.  Joe also has grave suspicions of a murder cover-up.

The humid atmosphere is laced with grunge and irritability offset by guys and gals dancing the night away at the Trocadero Dance Hall.  Well-known landmarks and people make an appearance, for example notorious cop Frank Bischof, author Thea Astley and General Douglas MacArthur, an American who in WWII commanded the Southwest Pacific region. 

The book is gritty and at times the inequality upset my 21st century sensibilities but it is based on true events.  Powell has recreated a vibrant town which embraced a huge influx of cashed-up strangers in uniform and the repercussions this had on Brisbane society, some of which still lingers today.

In “The Art of War” Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu wrote “All warfare is based on deception” and “The greatest victory is that which requires no battle” so I think Judy Powell’s book shows there was no battle—but plenty of deception closer to home.  

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

Author Profile

Briobooks
http://briobooks.com.au/authors/jppowell
YouTube Avid Reader Books interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbE0v3Yhkx0

Brisbane Line JP Powell Author Photo 2020 (5)Judy Powell is an archaeologist and historian with a passion for bringing the past to life.  She has worked as a high school teacher, an academic, a National Parks officer, a museum administrator and has excavated in Jordan, Cyprus and Greece as well as leading historical archaeology projects in Australia.  Powell, who lives outside Brisbane, was awarded a QANZAC Fellowship by the State Library of Queensland to pursue research into, and writing of, a series of crime novels set in Brisbane during World War II.

Wild Flamingos in Australia?

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Flamingos swamped by cheesecake topping 2020

Australia was once a continent graced by flamingos.  These tall pink birds are more associated with Africa and the Americas, but a long time ago they called Australia home.  For at least 20 million years, flamingos thrived on vast Australian inland lakes, until a drying of the outback ended their reign, perhaps a million years ago.

The Lake Eyre region in South Australia once had three species, more than Africa today.  Altogether Australia had at least six flamingo species, including the Greater flamingo – the main flamingo in Africa.  Australian museums have accumulated more of their fossils than of some regular Australian birds such as parrots.  At some sites their remains lay near those of outback crocodiles, dolphins and lungfish.

Flamingos are still regarded as Australian birds, for a very tenuous reason.  In 1988 a Greater flamingo dropped in on North Keeling Island, a remote Australian territory 2750km north-west of Perth, staying a couple of months.  Greater flamingos are found in Asia and southern Europe as well as Africa and this one had wandered over from India or Sri Lanka.

In Adelaide Zoo you could have seen the only flamingo left in Australia, a Chilean flamingo known warmly as ‘Chile’.  She was thought to have been imported in the late 1970s.  For quarantine reasons flamingos are now forbidden imports, which means that Australia is destined to become a flamingo-free zone unless another long-legged pink nomad wanders over from Asia.

FlamingoSource Australian Geographic by Tim Low • February 6, 2017

More flamingo facts and fabulous photographs:
https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2017/02/australia-was-once-full-of-flamingos/

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

Shortbread Surprise in Self-Isolation

When you are stuck at home for weeks on end, the stuff and junk around your home can become unbearable.

It does at my place.

Shelves seem crowded, cupboards appear to bulge, clothes hang on available doorknobs, and too many cardboard boxes hold bits and pieces of my memories.

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During my Covid-inspired clean-up, I unearthed one particular item decades old.

DRUM ROLL PLEASE, MAESTRO…

 

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McKENZIE’S RICE FLOUR SHORTBREAD RECIPE

225g plain flour
1 pinch salt
115g rice flour
115g castor sugar
225g butter

Sieve flour, rice flour, sugar into basin, rub in butter and knead until smooth paste formed.  Turn on to floured board, make shape or shapes as desired, prick with a fork.  Place on cold greased slide, cook in a slow oven ¾ hour to an hour, until a pale brown.

MY FATHER’S FAVOURITE SHORTBREAD RECIPE

Reproduced in original style from my mother’s PWMU Cookery Book 1976
Printed in Australia by Simpson Halligan Co Pty Ltd
Distributed by Jolly Book Supplies, Brisbane
Twenty-first edition revised and enlarged with over 200,000 copies issued

Mix 227g (1/2 lb) butter and 113g (1/4 lb) fine white sugar or icing sugar; add pinch salt and .45kg (1 lb) plain flour; knead all well together; roll out to the thickness of about half an inch, cut into rounds or finger lengths; prick with fork.  Note 340g (¾ lb) flour and 113g (1/4 lb) rice flour may be substituted for .45g (1 lb) flour.  Bake in slow oven about 40 minutes until fawn colour.

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Bought new rice flour

Put the kettle on

Time for a cuppa!

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

ANZAC Day At Home

ANZAC Day At Home 2020

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As part of the RSL Queensland’s ‘Light up the Dawn’ campaign, all residents are encouraged to say The Ode and take the pledge by standing in your driveway, on your balcony or in your living room at 6am on ANZAC Day to remember all those who have served.  You can learn more on the link below.

RSL https://rslqld.org/News/Latest-News/Light-up-the-Dawn

In memory of the men and women in my family.

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

‘Share Your Story’ Writing Competition and Anthology

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LEGENDARY BULLOCK TEAM leaving Jondaryan Woolshed, west of Toowoomba, Queensland, loaded with bales of wool. In his heyday 1858-1862 manager James White employed 88 blade shearers in this huge T-shaped woolshed. Illustration hand-printed 1985 by H. Sperring.

Submissions are open for ‘Bedtime Yarns and Ballads from the Australian Bush’ in 2020 Share Your Story.

Here’s what coordinator, author and literary entrepreneur, Michelle Worthington has to say in her newsletter:  ‘This year’s theme ‘Bedtime Yarns and Ballads from the Australian Bush’ will have judges looking for creative, engaging short stories or poems inspired by life in Australia, Australian animals, the Outback or overcoming adversity which will appeal to children aged 0 to 12 years to be read at bedtime.’

Map of Australia 06A ‘yarn’ is a rambling story, particularly one that is implausible, and poetry must be in traditional Australian ballad format.  Michelle encourages writers to think of a modern version of Blinky Bill, Banjo Patterson, Dorothea Mackellar, ‘Wombat Stew’ (I add my own personal favourite ‘Snugglepot and Cuddlepie’) for a new generation of readers.

Michelle Worthington goes on to say ‘We would love aspiring authors of all ages to have the chance to be published in our next Anthology to raise money for Aussie’s doing it tough, with proceeds donated to the NSW Rural Fire Service’.

NOTE:  ‘The winning entries will be included in an Anthology to be launched in October 2020, and all successful authors and illustrators will be invited as VIP Guests to the Pyjama Party Book Launch at the Queensland Children’s Hospital and locations around Australia during the launch month.’

Entries open 1 Feb 2020 and close 9pm 30 April 2020

Poetry Clipart 08For competition guidelines and entry requirements, visit the website to sign up for Share Your Story newsletter

https://shareyourstorypublishing.com/

Michelle Worthington is an international award-winning author and business woman.  As Founder of Share Your Story Australia, she waves her wand to coach aspiring authors and illustrators all over the world to achieve their dreams of publication.  Michelle is also available for speaking engagements, book signings and school visits.  She runs diverse workshops, and if you are thinking of becoming a writer, check out Share Your Story or visit Facebook or contact Michelle for further information.

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Maybe you could rework the legend of NED KELLY (December 1854 – November 1880) an Australian bushranger best known for wearing a suit of bulletproof armour during his final shootout with the police.

The Very Hungry (Ugly) Caterpillar

A traumatised mandarin tree, the insect world in disarray, a true caterpillar tale with an accidental cliffhanger. 

Read what happens when two very hungry, very ugly caterpillars dine sumptuously on a modest little mandarin tree.

The long dry spell had finally broken, the tropical summer rains poured down, green vegetation burst forth and so did the insects.

Here is my report.
♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward Butterfly Caterpillar 01Butterfly Caterpillar 02Butterfly Caterpillar 03Butterfly Caterpillar 04Butterfly Caterpillar 05Butterfly Caterpillar 06Butterfly Caterpillar 07Butterfly Caterpillar 08Butterfly Caterpillar 09

Obviously the hatched butterfly photographs were not taken by me but never say die. GBW.

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There are five little Orchard Caterpillars on the leaves of this mandarin tree. Protection is in place so hopefully they will survive this time!

Review of Mocco Wollert’s Life in Darwin, Northern Territory

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The book title is a typical Darwin expression with good connotations, and Mocco says she is an optimist, she lives on hope and in hope.  Originally from Germany, she worked hard with what she had, overcame obstacles and adapted to Australian life with her Aussie-born daughters Susan and Kim and beloved husband Niclas.

The other love in her life is Darwin, 1950s Darwin, at the Top End of Northern Territory.  No supermarkets, no fancy restaurants, definitely no air-conditioning, miles and miles of dirt roads, and at that time populated by about 8,000 people.  Tough, rough and ready people at that.

The strength of a woman when put to the test reverberates powerfully through Mocco Wollert’s narrative.  From good, bad and ugly circumstances, Mocco’s words shine.  She comes across as forthright in her opinions, honest, funny, emotional, grumpy yet ultimately loveable.  She certainly faced challenging circumstances, some which made me wince and some which would have seen me walk away, but not Mocco!

The chapters of Mocco’s book are grouped under headings, for example ‘Beginning the Adventure’, ‘Career Change’ (actually a couple of career changes) ‘Health Matters’ and ‘Decision Time’ all of which prepared me for her decade of thought-provoking reading.

Understandably there are heart-rending moments like depression in ‘A Night of Gin’ and the 1974 Cyclone Tracy devastation.

I remember sitting under our ceiling fan watching the ABCTV news on Boxing Day, 26th December, as black and white film footage showed our nation the flattened landscape which was once Darwin.  On a lighter note, it was rebuilt and continues to thrive, as did Mocco.  Small moments often stick and I enjoyed Mocco’s recollection of wigs and frizz hair-related matters in ‘Hairdressers’ where men were taboo.

Under the subheading ‘Sport’ on page 211, I think this paragraph typifies the tenacity of Darwinites and perhaps a large area of northern Australia.  “In spite of the heat and humidity, people played sport.  Golf was Niclas’ passion and he became quite a good golfer with a handicap of 16.  Watching today’s golf tournaments on television, I marvel at the green fairways and manicured greens.  There was none of this in Darwin.  The fairways were rough and, in the dry season, as dusty as a (cattle) station in drought.  The ‘greens’ were sandy plains without a blade of grass.”

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There are 47 photographs throughout the book, vivid examples of the era, and a pictorial of Darwin homelife which includes Mocco in weather so scorching she wore a bikini to hang washing on the Hills Hoist.  And there is a great little story behind the snapshot of her small daughter meeting Queen Elizabeth II.  Not telling, you’ll have to read the book!

‘Bloody Bastard Beautiful’ is Mocco Wollert’s tribute to Darwin, an intimate recollection of a more rugged time in 20th century Australia, told openly and honestly, and ultimately life-affirming.

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

AUTHOR PROFILE

IMG_20191122_183655Born in Germany but a true-blue Darwinite by 1960, Mocco Wollert is now a recognised poet and author who lives in Brisbane, Australia.

Mocco has nine poetry books published as well as winning prizes for poems published in newspapers and anthologies.

Her Darwin memoir ‘Bloody Bastard Beautiful’ was first published by Historical Society of Northern Territory and later by Boolarong Press 2017.

For information on today’s Northern Territory, visit https://www.australia.com/en/places/northern-territory.html

DarkOz Comic Book Manifesto

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Late last year at Brisbane GenreCon, I said hello to Darren Koziol, mastermind behind Australian comic books DarkOz.  His display table was beside ours and I was lured over by the bright yet disturbing cover of the Retro Sci-Fi Tales Christmas Special #1 December 2019.  I purchased a copy and three quirky Christmas cards were thrown into the deal.

After chatting to Darren and learning about his creative skills and the help he gives budding comic book creators, I expressed interest in ‘The Comic Book Manifesto: Making Comic Books In Australia’.

Even coming from a non-comic book person like me, I feel this booklet gets to the essence of creating artwork and design and offers inspiration for those interested in furthering their artistic abilities.

It’s a small volume which packs a punch; under the heading Influences & Individuality, Mike Speakman says ‘Seek out advice from your peers, listen to it all, but remember to put your own spin on things.’

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DarkOz Retro Sci-Fi ‘Space Valiant’ art by Graeme Jackson from Retro Sci-Fi Tales #7

It was a week before I managed to fully read my copy of this idiosyncratic Christmas Special but I loved the tall tales and clever retro illustrations.  Inside, two wacky characters Bruno and Maggie feature in three comics—the one I particularly liked was ‘Space Elevator’.  Original, creepy, humorous with a twist in the alien tale.  Being retro, the slant was towards American-style comics but I was pleased to see ‘Great Australian Bight Bite’, short, sweet, deadly.

When I was a kid, the exaggerated reactions and cryptic comments from characters in comic books never really appealed.  Like most people, I seem to remember Lee Falk’s ‘The Phantom’ in our daily newspaper alongside the funnies but I think for over ten years Charles Schulz and ‘Peanuts’ blitzed all else for me.  Now I have greater respect for the patience, skill and hard work involved in comic book production.

Comic books have come a long way!  Or have they?  Happily the tradition lives on.

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

INFORMATION

Darren Koziol, Editor/Director/Writer/Space Explorer
https://www.darkoz.com.au/
https://www.darkoz.com.au/Retro.html

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Bushfire Prayer for Australia

Bushfire devastation across rural Australia, everything and everyone is at risk, rain is desperately needed, it will arrive too late for many, let’s pray many thousands will be spared the burning embers ♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

[PLEASE NOTE: ChildFund Australia has posted a link to the ABCTV website with a list of charities for appeal donations.  ABCTV list https://about.abc.net.au/appeals/  Get behind the genuine charities which are supporting our bushfire affected communities]

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A bushfire prayer read by Dot Bernet of Uniting Church Australia (Brisbane) and blessings written by Rev Jennie Gordon Pastoral Resource Minister (Gippsland) January 2020.

My Tree Orchid with Pink Flowers

Trees are dropping leaves to survive and the ground is like iron.  Just the other morning I watered my Dendrobium orchid and the long buds were tightly closed.  Drought conditions have sent the ants in all directions in search of sustenance but even they were absent.

In the afternoon I returned from lunch with friends and à la voile!  There was my tree orchid in full bloom!

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Springtime is not properly acknowledged in my garden until this orchid flowers.  It is always my September spectacular.

Australian orchids tend to be small, for instance the Cooktown Orchid which is the floral emblem of Queensland, but this species is large and robust.  The dull afternoon light does not do justice to its display.

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A semi deciduous pink-flowering orchid, it is ‘probably’ native to Australia, a Dendrobium Nobile, and in this case has been grown as an epiphyte – tree hugger.  It has been in the family for over forty years and needs basically no care at all.  The blooms have a very faint fragrance.

Why I say ‘probably’ native to Australia is because I always thought it came from the Pacific region.  In fact, originally its forebears came from northern India/southern China where it would have been quite used to extremes in temperature.

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Then I discovered hybrids have been produced.  These can be subdivided into two types, the ‘English’ and ‘Japanese’ type, and later I read this historical document courtesy of The Shambles, a country garden at Montville in south-east Queensland:

Dendrobium nobile  Reliable soft cane epiphytic orchid.  We have many unnamed flower colour varieties from mauve, pink and white range.  A trouble-free orchid flowering in spring.  Introduced to Britain c.1836 by Loddiges’ Nursery.  Requested from Loddiges’ Nursery on 1st February 1849 for Camden Park NSW Australia and obtained from them, brought out from England by Captain P. P. King in that year.  India www.qos.org.au 1A.1885, 13.1900/1,15.Camden Orchid walk, West Garden, near back stairs, Blue trellis garden, Rain forest walk.

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After reading the Wagga Orchid Society PDF (link below) and using a bit of guesstimation, years later my orchid could have been transported from the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia, on consignment to a Brisbane plant nursery.

I now look at my tree orchid in awe and wonderment – such a lineage.

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The following shot was taken a few days later in much better sunlight.  There was a bee hovering around but it refused to be photographed.

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♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

P.S. If you are interested in lovely flowers and picturesque settings in rural countryside, I can recommend a visit to the website and blogspot of The Shambles country garden, Montville, Queensland.

https://montvillegarden.com/
https://montvillegarden.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/montvillegarden
and further reading
http://waggaorchidsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Dendrobium-nobile-orchid-growing.pdf

The Shambles Monsieur Tillier Rose
The Shambles and ‘Monsieur Tillier Rose’

Re-reading Old Stuff

It was a nice surprise to discover an older piece of writing I’d forgotten, particularly when it still holds up.

My overview of Fiona McIntosh’s historical fiction “Tapestry” was penned for Top 40 Book Club Reads 2015, a regular Brisbane City Council Library Service booklet written and compiled by unacknowledged library staff.

The book—billed as timeslip fiction—has a layered plot and it was hard to write a 100 word description without sounding too stilted.  McIntosh chose settings in two countries, Australia and Britain, in two different eras of history.  I particularly liked the second half in 1715 within the Tower of London.

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Synopsis by Gretchen Bernet-Ward

After visiting the Tower of London to research her book, McIntosh had “An unforgettable day and I attribute much of the story’s atmosphere to that marvellous afternoon and evening in the Tower of London with the Dannatts when the tale of Lady Nithsdale and my own Tapestry came alive in my imagination.”

Author Fiona McIntosh has written quite a stack of books set in many parts of the world, and in different genres: Non-Fiction, Historical Romantic-Adventure, Timeslip, Fantasy – Adult, Fantasy – Children, and Crime.

Check your local library catalogue in person or online.

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

In order of appearance, the Brisbane Libraries Top 40 book club recommendations for 2015—I have not read Poe Ballantine’s chilling tale “Love and Terror on the Howling Plains of Nowhere” and I may never read it—See how many titles you’ve read!

The Visionist;  Moriarty;  Tapestry;  The Bone Clocks;  California; Z – Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald;  The Mandarin Code;  Merciless Gods;  Upstairs at the Party;  Friendship;  Birdsong;  Heat and Light;  Time and Time Again;  What Was Promised;  The Austen Project;  The Paying Guests;  The Exile – An Outlander Graphic Novel;  Lost and Found;  Amnesia;  Cop Town;  Mr Mac and Me;  Nora Webster;  The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden;  Inspector McLean – Dead Men’s Bones;  The Soul of Discretion;  We Were Liars;  Stone Mattress – Nine Tales;  Family Secrets;  South of Darkness;  The Claimant;  This House of Grief;  She Left Me the Gun;  Mona Lisa – A Life Discovered;  The Silver Moon;  Revolution;  Love and Terror on the Howling Plains of Nowhere;  What Days Are For;  Mistress;  Warning – The Story of Cyclone Tracy;  The Birth of Korean Cool.

Jimmy Barnes Working Class Rock Star Book Review

It is said Jimmy Barnes is the heart and soul of Australian rock and roll…if you like his style.  His rasping voice was the sound of the Eighties and everyone knew his song lyrics.  Four decades later and he’s still going strong. 

James Dixon ‘Jimmy’ Barnes (né Swan) was born in Glasgow, Scotland on 28 April 1956 and raised in Elizabeth, South Australia.  His career as the lead vocalist with the rock band Cold Chisel, and later as a solo performer, has made him one of the most popular and best-selling Australian music artists of all time.

From 1973–present, Barnes career has spanned singer-songwriter-musician with vocals, guitar, harmonica and flute and he has received tonnes of music awards (and two Australian Book Industry awards) been inducted twice into the ARIA Hall of Fame and presented with the Order Of Australia medal.

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Underneath the gravelly vocals and rough exterior, Jimmy Barnes struggled with an inferiority complex which manifested itself in alcohol and drug addiction for many years.  The question on everyone’s lips was ‘How did he survive?’  Barnes wrote two autobiographies ‘Working Class Boy’ and ‘Working Class Man’ to answer this question.

I doubt his first book ‘Working Class Boy’ (published 2016) was fully edited.  Raw and basic, it is a litany of hope, fear, addiction and the search for acceptance.  Acceptance from his violent father, his mates and his audience.  He writes about childhood abuse, how he ran amok through the towns of Elizabeth and Adelaide and later the Australian east coast, singing, drinking, finding a dealer, finding a girl and not sleeping for 24 hours or more.  A son, performer David Campbell, is the result of a fling in his teenage years.  Barnes’ second father, the man whose name he adopted, was a mentor of sorts until rock music became the epicentre of his life.

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Jimmy Barnes ‘My Criminal Record’ collectors edition in vinyl

Barnes second book, a sequel titled ‘Working Class Man’ (published 2017) chronicles his thoughts of suicide and his continuous drug-taking and excessive alcohol consumption to the point of tedium.  A horrible thing to say when I think of the mental and physical torment he was trying to escape.  Still, it didn’t stop him singing—albeit clutching a Vodka bottle on stage every night—nor did it stop him gaining more and more success and greater financial stability as his music career took off.  He began to live the life of a rock star.

Then Jimmy Barnes body let him down.  After surgery, he tried to calm down and write his life story.  It’s not a pretty read, examining old memories, but it’s honest.  There are plenty of photographs and name-dropping, and Barnes talks about his wife Jane Mahoney, their children and extended family.  He is now a grandfather and this shocked me the most!

“If you want to write a memoir, you’ve got to be ready to bare your soul” Jimmy Barnes

No rating because of the ‘chicken and egg’ situation, did his fame boost the books or did the books boost his fame?

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

Website https://www.jimmybarnes.com/
Biography https://www.jimmybarnes.com/biography/
Books https://www.jimmybarnes.com/books/
Press Interview and Movie Clip  https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/for-hyperactive-jimmy-barnes-new-album-and-tour-is-just-the-beginning-20190528-p51s26.html

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https://www.jimmybarnes.com/news/tour-announcement-jimmy-barnes-is-shutting-down-your-town/