MANTA RAY IN DEFUNCT MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN WHICH CELEBRATES FREEDOM FROM COCKROACHES

Anybody  read  text  messages   at  the Townsville  Bulletin ?

In  the poorly  displayed   text messages in the Murdoch Townsville Bulletin,  one    pointed  out    the   fountain  in  the    Anzac Memorial Park  on the waterfront   had  not  been  working  for  five  weeks ,  asked  why. The paper did not respond  to this  text , so the presumption is that   nobody  at the  Bulletin reads  the  messages  , or  else  did not  think  it  was  worthwhile following up .  

 Readers  of   this  blog  well  know that  our  eagle-eyed   Shipping Reporter   has   long  been drawing attention to the fact that  the fountain -which  marks the centenary  of  Queensland breaking away from the  colony of  New South Wales  - has been   the  subject  of  spasmodic   ejaculations   for ages  , without   the  entire   local   media   noticing , not  just the  Bulletin .

 

 The  neglect   of   nearby   war   memorials  in   Anzac Park and elsewhere  in this  garrison  city  is   repeatedly  highlighted  by  the Shipping  Reporter , the only   one  north  of   the  North  Bondi  outfall .

 

The  Shipping  Reporter   sailed  up  to the    bung fountain  mentioned in the text message   days later  and  found the   top chamber  bone   dry , the bottom one  still  slimy  , with  what   looked  like , below ,  a  dead   baby  manta ray . 

 On closer examination , he was  relieved (as in pleased )  to see it was not an unfortunate  part  of  the  marine  life ,  but  possibly a  butcher's apron!!! 

  Nearby  a  woman   with  three  young  children  was  having her photo  taken  in  turn  by  the  kinders  as  she posed  on the side of the  fountain ... the slimy green  water  in  the  background .    

Further  along, where there is a bubbler  for humans and  dogs , there was a   collection   of   multi  coloured  plastic  bottle  tops  , not  the  kind  of  display  you  expect  to  see  in  an  Anzac memorial  walkway . 

Our Shipping  Reporter  regrets having  not splashed out    recently  and  bought  a  rare painting of the Queensland    freedom    fountain  actually working in great  gusto   at   the   Townsville  Art   Society  gallery  , Jezzine Barracks .