STORMY OUTLOOK

Early morning  view  from  The Strand, Townsville, looking  towards Magnetic Island . Photo by Aeronautical  Correspondent  Abra. 

(Island. Townsville. Abra. )

PENAL COLONY EARLY PUBLICATIONS

An historically significant bound volume containing the first eight issues-May to December 1821- of Australia’s first periodical, The Australian Magazine, at $45,000 , is one of the many  items of  note  in the latest acquisitions  from  Douglas Stewart Fine Books, Melbourne. 

Edited by Reverend   Ralph Mansfield  and printed  by  Robert   Howe , it  went out of circulation  in  September  22, 1822  after 14  issues. 

Robert Howe (1795-1829) was a member of Australia’s most important early publishing dynasty.

His father, George  Howe (1759-l821) , printed the first book in Australia in l802 , the New South Wales  General Standing Order , and  Australia's  first  newspaper , the  l803  Sydney  Gazette and New South Wales  Advertiser .

The first issue of The Australian Magazine – printed by Robert Howe – was published on May 1. 1821,  10 days before George Howe’s death . Having already succeeded his father as Government Printer, Robert also became editor, printer and publisher of the Gazette, which he had formerly helped his father to  publish .

According to  the bookshop, ‘Robert Howe was dissipated as a young man and in 1819 fathered an illegitimate son. Next year, however, he experienced a spiritual awakening and, in his own words, was “wonderfully and mercifully visited by God and snatched from infamy in this world and Hell in the next”.

He joined the group of Methodists who were working in Sydney ,and their influence, particularly that of Reverend Ralph Mansfield, was apparent when he published The Australian Magazine; or, Compendium of Religious, Literary, and Miscellaneous Intelligence, the first periodical to appear in  Australia. 

Reverend  Mansfield (1799-1880), was a recently ordained and zealous Methodist minister who had arrived in Sydney from Liverpool, England, in September 1820.

Mansfield’s editorial Preface, dated December 1, 1821, bound in at the front of the  above volume stated:

‘Our design, from the first, has avowedly been, “to disseminate useful knowledge, religious principles, and moral habits.” And though some, we are aware, object to our Magazine, that it wears too grave and religious an aspect, candour must compel them to acknowledge, that we have not swerved from the intentions we distinctly proposed. Political discussion, and party spirit, and personal allusion, we have scrupulously avoided. Literature and science, while we have devoted to them a portion of attention, have been kept subordinate and subservient to our primary design. Of Colonial occurrences we have endeavoured to select the most interesting; though this department is, in a great measure, superseded by the weekly Journal [i.e. the Sydney Gazette].’

(Publications.Colonial. Books.)

WHISTLING DUCKS HARMONISE

 (Ducks.Townsville. Vallis.)

FIRST WORLD WAR SOUVENIR

Our Shipping Reporter  detected the following  cotton handkerchief  with a large   central cartouche  depicting the  Gallant Sons of Empire -Australia and New Zealand - storming ashore  at  Gallipoli . 

Smaller uncaptioned cartouches at each corner depict ships of the Royal Australian Navy including HMAS Sydney, and at lower centre a depiction of the German light cruiser SMS Emden after its engagement with the Sydney, captioned ‘”The Scrap Heap”. There is a view of the Emden after the fight with the  Sydney off  the Cocos Keeling Islands. 

Believed  to  have been made in the United KIngdom, the scarce lithographic printed handkerchief , dug out of the  latest  list from  Douglas Stewart  Fine Books, Melbourne ,  by  our  waterfront  roundsman ,  is  priced  at  $750.  

(Gallipoli. Souvenir. Emden.) 

AUSTRALIA'S GOT LEAFY TALENT

BUSHLAND  PRIMA  DONNA   

(Bush.Talent .Vallis.)

DRYING OUT

 

(Birds. Wet. Queensland.)

ELECTION EXCLUSIVE: BOB HAWKE RESURRECTED FROM CELLAR

 A 2013  bottle of  Penfolds Koonunga Hill Cabernet  Sauvignon  , the label  signed by  the  late  , great  Australian  Prime Minister,  Bob Hawke , above  , is  the prize   in  a   fund raising   raffle   for  Edwina  Andrews  , the  ALP  candidate for  the Queensland  seat  of   Herbert, which   takes in  the city of Townsville. Donated  by  a  thoughtful comrade,  tickets are  $5.

Notification of the raffle, to be drawn April 20, contained the  following   comment: 

Whether it's one for your mantelpiece, one for your cellar or just one to toast one of our really great Labor Prime Ministers with your friends, I'd encourage you to buy as many tickets as you can so that we can all keep the legacy of Bob and all the other great Labor Prime Ministers alive for the benefit of today's Australians and our future generations.

Remember in Australian political history, it's always been Labor Governments that have been the nation builders and it's always been Tory governments that  have been the divisive social wreckers.

Hawke  consumed a  variety of libations during visits to sunny Queensland , especially  during  the above  event  in Cairns , possibly the proposed aquarium  project? 

On the death  of  Bob Hawke, the above sign appeared  with  a  variation of his  famous  statement  about  any boss  who sacked a  worker who  did not turn up  after  celebrating  the  Australia ll  win  over the  New  York  Yacht  Club  in  the  l983  America's  Cup  Yacht  Race.  

(Hawke. Wine. Election.)