SUNBIRD FANDANGO

Vallis  photo.

 

THE LONG CALL TO ARMS IN AUSTRALIA

Australians  on  way to  German  New Guinea in First World War , above, training  on  Palm Island , near Townsville . Surrendered   Germans pictured  below , followed by  smiling  Kangaroo  in  cartoon  dropping  "new  guinea "  donation  in   the   Empire  Bank  Fund. 

 

Second World War  advertisment .

WORLD ON FIRE

Sunbird  in  Flame Tree  and  imprisoned  Peace Dove  plead for  end  to  bloody  wars  in  MIddle East , Ukraine , Myanmar , Haiti  and  many other places   turned   into  a  hellscape  on   the   planet .  

 

BEE HUNTING GROUND

 

Vallis pix. 

SERIOUS BOOKPLATE LOVERS

Bookplate of WWll  Australian Chief Censor ,E.G. Bonney, a  prominent journalist , who after a send off  party in Canberra,  in  March l948 ,  took  over  directorship  of  the  New York  Bureau  of  News  and  Information to spread  the  word  about  Australia in  America .

A  post   Little  Darwin  ran  about  the  art  treasures, including  some of  the bookplates   in  the   superb   Special Collections  section  at   the  Eddie  Koiki  Mabo  Library , James  Cook University ,  Townsville , was  picked  up  by  The   New  Australian  Bookplate  Society.

 As a  result,  Special Collections  has  been  asked  to  write an  article   about  the   bookplates  in  its  extensive ,  interesting   trove.   

The Society was informally launched at a bookplate exhibition held at Stop Laughing , This is Serious Gallery, Blackheath, in the NSW  Blue Mountains,  in October 2005. The gallery name was inspired by the l933 Stan Cross  drawing - described as Australia's funniest cartoon .

The exhibition  was attended by artists and other lovers of bookplates.  A  meeting was held a year later at the Royal Australasian College of  Physicians, Sydney,  to officially form  the Society .

The purpose of the Society is to raise awareness of the art of bookplates among printmakers, collectors and the general public. At present there are approximately 80 personal and institutional members distributed in almost all Australian states as well as New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.

It has a webpage  and  is on  Facebook and Instagram.

AUDACIOUS FRENCH TIE ME SKINNED KOOKABURRA DOWN PIERRE SCAM

There is an intriguing story behind a rare  book -  about  a  bogus  early voyage to New Guinea - which  strangely contained the  first illustration of  an  Australian   Kookaburra , below,  in  print ,  on offer by  Douglas  Stewart   Fine   Books , Melbourne. 

The  wonderfully illustrated  work , Voyage a la Nouvelle Guinee, dans lequel on trouve la description des lieux, des observations physiques & morales, & des détails relatifs à l’Histoire Naturelle dans le Règne Animal & le Règne Végétal, by Pierre Sonnerat (1748-1814), published Paris :  Chez Ruault, 1776, is listed for $6000.

It  is described  by the   bookshop  as  " a fascinating  confluence of  fact  and  fiction."

Sonnerat , it says , was the  nephew of  the French colonial administrator and explorer , Pierre Poivre, and  became his private secretary in the Mascarene Islands  in  the  Indian  Ocean. 

From there ,Sonnerat was stationed in Pondicherry . He made several trips to China and South East Asia, where he collected natural history specimens.

The  book  contained  an extraordinary range of natural history specimens , some scarcely  expected  to  be found in tropical jungles.

There  were three types of Antarctic Penguins , as  well as  the common Australian  Kookaburra , not  found  in  New  Guinea. 

In reality, Sommerat never visited  New Guinea .The book was a work of  fiction based on natural history specimens largely gathered in the Philippines  and Indonesia !

Douglas Stewart  says  the penguins and  kookaburra  were  given to Sonnerat by the  famous naturalist   and botanist  Joseph Banks  at  the Cape of  Good Hope in 1770.

Banks was  on his way home after the voyage on  Captain Cook's  Endeavour and asked Sonnerat to  deliver  them  to  widely travelled French  naturalist  Dr Philibert Commerson , based in  Mauritius. 

The skins were sketched by Commerson’s artist, Paul Philippe Sanguin de Jossigny, and upon the death of Commerson in 1773, Sonnerat retained Jossigny’s illustrations, signed them, and passed them off as his own work, including them in  his  fake  voyage to New Guinea.

Sonnerat's book  is  still regarded  as an important  early achievement in recording  newly  discovered species .

THE WAY AHEAD FOR AUSTRALIA AFTER NATION DIVIDING FOOTY GRAND FINALS ?

Flashback to l969 cartoon with a powerful  message, applicable  to modern  Australia,  by  Peter  Burleigh, in  Broadside, Melbourne  , edited  by Pete Steedman.

Those stirring  words of wisdom in the above speech  were  uttered  in the House of Representatives, Canberra, resulting in an instant order for meat pies , before  Burleigh departed for  Britain , a great loss to  learned debate in the nation . Yet another Burleigh special from the past is being prepared  for Little Darwin ... maybe a few  more , which could include a cheap  alternative  to  the  outrageously costly  AUKUS  nuclear subs .