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.)

BUSH TRACK WALK

 

Views   from Mount Louisa, a  Townsville  suburb , taking  in distant  Magnetic Island and  mainland Castle Hill,access to latter closed  because of  landslides caused by the recent heavy rain, taken by Aeronautical Correspondent  Abra. 

During  WWll there were  about  4000  Americans in  a  depot  at  the  base  of  Mount Louisa, which included the Garbutt aerodrome , now  the  international airport  and  RAAF  base.   

(Track.Townsville. Wartime.) 

AFTER THE DELUGE

 A touch of Jackson Pollock in rain lashed Townsville.

 (Weather. Pollock. Townsville.)

CHINA & THE PHILIPPINES : EARLY EXPLORATION , MISSIONARIES

 Spanning   about 350 years  from the  late  l6th century , the latest  impressive list  from Douglas Stewart Fine Books , Melbourne, includes  many recent  acquisitions  and comprises accounts by European voyagers and missionaries, dictionaries , works on history , politics , religion, philosophy  and  literature, two letters by  famous  explorers  and  several l9th and  20th century  printings.

One of those items, $550, is the  above  circa  l920  London  China Inland Mission  wooden collection box, thought to have been in use up untill the l960s, with chromolithographic labels on three  sides   and  labels  for the   Young  People's  Branch of  the  CIM, money from which was  designed to win  boys  and girls  over to  Christ  in  China. 

The China Inland Mission was founded in 1865 by James Hudson Taylor (1832-1905), a British missionary who worked in China for over half a century. It was a non-denominational organisation that welcomed missionaries from all Protestant groups, including single women.

In its first few decades the CIM campaigned vigorously against the opium trade, ensuring Taylor’s reputation as one of the most influential Europeans to visit China in the l9th century.

A rare 1862 Chinese and  English  instructor by Ting-ku Tong (1832-1892) , consisting of  six  volumes  bound in  wooden  panels, said to be  one of the most important  19th century publications on Chinese Pidgin English , is for sale at  $16,000.

The author is described as the  most important comprador associated with the Jardine trading business during the 1860s, Chief Officer of China Merchants during 1873-1884. The book was designed for residents of Canton to be able to converse about commercial matters with westerners who spoke English. It also served as a vehicle for westerners to learn Chinese.

The  list  includes other  rare  offerings  ranging in  price  up to $90,000-Histoire de  la Navigation de Jean  Hugues de Linschot, Hollandois aux des Indes Orientales .

Inschot was born in Delft in 1563. Between 1583 and 1589 he travelled to Goa, where he was employed as a clerk, and in 1594-95 he accompanied Barents on his second voyage to the Kara Sea.

His work– first published in Dutch in Amsterdam, 1595-1596 – draws from Portuguese, Dutch and Spanish sources, although it is also based to some extent on his own experiences. Not subject to the strict censorship that would have been accorded to Spanish or Portuguese publications, it contains accounts full of practical intelligence on both the West and East Indies, and in particular of Goa.

The above  partial set of Historia general de Philipinas by Juan de la Concepcion (1724-1787),  priced at $18,000, said  to  be  the best and most exclusive history of   the Philippines ever written. There is reference to Spanish possessions in that country and to their  Spanish-American  territory. It also chronicles  the work of the Augustinian Monks and their important missions in  China  and Japan .

(China. Philippines.Exploration.)

MANY MURDERS AND BUTTERFLIES

 

The author of this  1958 book wrote 18 mystery novels,was  a leading figure in butterfly conservation , played the part of  Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in  a  stage production  and  a  prominent  British  singer and  television  actress .

Dulcie Gray was  the pseudonym  and stage name for  Dulcie Winifred Catherine Savage Denison,nee Bailey, (l915-2011). Born in Kuala Lumpur, her father a  solicitor, and educated in England  , she returned to Malaya to teach .

Upon the death of her father  , she returned  to England  and studied at the  Academy  des   Beaux  Arts, London , and  the  Webber-Douglas  Dramatic School . She  married  actor  Michael Denison in 1939.

In  Murder in Melbourne  an  Australian airline  pilot finds  his girlfriend  poisoned with strychnine  in  the bedroom of  a squalid hotel .  An explanatory note states  the first part of the book was written in Melbourne  when  Dulcie Gray  was starring in Tea and Sympathy. 

The book  thanks  Detective Inspector Welby of the  Russell Street Criminal Investigation Branch, Melbourne, for help he  gave the author  about Australian   police   procedure.  Detective Inspector Peters of the CIB is assigned  to  the case. 

Gray was vice-president of the British Butterfly Conservation Society and in 1978  published Butterflies on My Mind, a work on the conservation and life of butterflies in Great Britain. She also wrote a short biography of J.B. Priestly, the English novelist and playwright.

(Murder. Melbourne. Butterflies.)

RED BULL LADYBIRD TAKES POLE POSITION IN FORMULA ONE TREETOP RACE

 Vallis close up.

(Ladybird. Race. Bull.) 

SHIPPING REPORTER BRAVES DOWNPOUR , FINDS FAMOUS SHIPWRECK

 Our waterfront roundsman  has been getting  about  with a  notebook which on its  cover  declares it  is one  to  be used in all  weather condtions . On spotting the notebook, we asked him if he  expects  an  outbreak of southerly busters  or if  he is planning a  trip to  Antarctica. 

In his salty reply, he  said  several of the notebooks had been given to him by a contact in the mining indusry  who  has to take notes, sometimes in the rain  or  with  water spraying  about . 

The Shipping Reporter  is  a great scribbler .  Sometimes his  usual  notebook jottings  are hard to decipher  after coming into contact with  rain  or spillage from  a drinking session with sailors in  waterfront  grog shops .

In any case, soon after he began using a  waterproof notebook he  found  the revised  book about the  wreck of the Pandora  by Peter  Gesner, published by the Queensland Museum,  in  a  Townsville op shop .  

HMAS Pandora, sent by Admiralty to the South Pacific to recapture the Bounty mutineers, ran aground  on Australia's  Great Barrier Reef on August 29 ,1791 ,resulting in the loss of  31 crew  and  four mutineers.

The mutineers  were locked up in a shipboard prison named Pandora's Box. 

For more than 200 years the wreck remained  untouched,a number of  maritime archeology   dives  made  on the site, resulting in a Pandora exhibition in  Townsville's Museum of Tropical Queensland.

One of those involved in the project was marine archeologist  Vivienne Moran ,late of  Magnetic  Island , who ran the above  art gallery  there, dived on the  Pandora , and  also wrote  a book about  Southern  Ocean shipwrecks. 

She knew the late  Dr Colin Jack-Hinton who was the inaugural director of the Museums and Art Galleries  of the Northern Territory, Darwin, which set up a maritime  gallery  in  his  name covering traditional  boats  and  canoes  .

(Pandora. Moran. Shipwrecks.)

WORLD BLANKETED IN BLOODY CONFLICT : TIMELY WARTIME QUILTS EXHIBITION

 The  Dr Annette Gero collection  of  quilts made by military men  from army or naval uniforms is the subject of  an unusual   specially  curated display for  the  Cairns  Art  Gallery.

It is said to include – among the other irreplaceable treasures – several Australian wartime quilts. Made by Australian soldiers who were captured or held in camps or were stitched when they returned to Australia, they cut up their uniforms to create a vivid memory for themselves or to give to their loved ones and families at home.

The  unique  collection contains quilts  made by soldiers. sailors and regimental tailors  over 300 years , in the  Prussian, Napoleonic and Crimean wars, and in  British  India.

 Supplied information states  Dr Gero classes  her  collection  in two groups: those commissioned and made for important people and those made by soldiers during World Wars I and II.

Her recent research on the first group has revealed a fascinating link to paintings and etchings: many of the quilts were bespoke commissions for prominent notables of their day and were deliberate copies of famous works of art. They are elaborate pictorial panels using the compositions of popular etchings and paintings as templates.

The second group made by soldiers was an accidental discovery through a phone call informing Dr Gero of a quilt pictured in the Gympie Times,Queensland ,  featuring a double-headed eagle. “This made me aware”, she said, “that immigrants had bought extraordinary old quilts from their homeland when they came to Australia, the double-headed eagle representing so much of Europe during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. And of course, other quilts reside here from British wars as well…” 

A second one turned up at Christie’s in London at auction. Dr Gero expected to bid against every museum in the world. However, she was the only bidder. At that time no one really understood what these war quilts made from military fabrics were. 

Accompanying the exhibition is Dr Gero’s catalogue, Wartime Quilts: Appliqués and Geometric Masterpieces from Military Fabrics. This richly illustrated book was reviewed by the New York Times as one of the best art and design publications of 2023 and is  available at the Gallery Shop.

(War. Quilts. Cairns. )

TOP END TOPPED UP

 

Darwin rural area lake by Robert Wesley-Smith. 

(Territory. Lake. Wes.)

CITY , ISLAND CLOUD COVER

Townsville from Magnetic Island. 

Distant Magnetic Island. Vallis pix.

KISS ME NOT

Thirsty Temperance women activists of yesteryear pose after a day campaigning  against  Demon  Grog. In  modern Australia , awash  with  liquor outlets  and experiencing  massive  online gambling, many men  kiss  horses  at  Randwick, Flemington and  Fannie Bay racetracks and  as a  result  display repulsive  warts  on  their  lips ,women avoiding them like the plague.

(Temperance. Women. Photo.)  

BUTTERFLY INVASION

 

(Butterfly.Queensland.Vallis.)

MINERAL AND SHELL COLLECTING

In a  follow up to the Little Darwin  recent  post about British mineralogist John Mawe , who in the early 19th century issued a guide  to  collecting the  wonders of the  New World , including  seashells  , he having bought the collection of  Captain  William Bligh's widow,  is  a  circa l811  advertisement for a business  he  ran in  London for those  keen to climb aboard  the collecting  craze, which included royalty . He personally  collected minerals  for the King of Spain and his wife, Sarah, advised Queen Victoria . 

 MINERALOGY.

The study of this useful science has been much retarded by the difficulty of obtaining a Collection, and the high prices generally asked for peculiar Specimens. With a view to obviate this, Mr. MAWE has been induced to form Portable Collections, classed and arranged, with a Catalogue, at Twelve Guineas; larger Cabinets, containing two hundred and fifty Specimens, at Fifteen Guineas; others, containing upwards of three hundred Varieties, Twenty Guineas. Collections, consisting of five hundred larger and fine Specimens (without Cabinet) Fifty Guineas.

Any Specimens may be exchanged, if required; and the Collection may be formed peculiarly rich in any given Class.

Large, elegant and rare Minerals at reduced prices. Precious Stones, Minerals and Shells, purchased.

A great Variety of elegant Vases formed and enriched after the Antique.

(Collecting. Royalty.Minerals.) 

FABULOUS AUSTRALIAN OPERA

A spectacular   opera  could  be  made  about the  life   of   Australian   collector , feminist  and  opera  fan  , the  late  Margaret  Vine ,who had  been  an   art  researcher  at   the   Australian   National  Library , Canberra.  

By Peter Simon 

Called Rocky Road, after her Magnetic Island residence,on Olympus Crescent,  it  could be bigger than the Rocky Horror  Picture  Show . Imagine  a  grand parade  featuring   her  colostomy bag  named Stanley,   rock wallabies , kookaburras  and  curlews  draped  in  jewellery  ,   dancing    books , assorted   prancing  retro clothing , a  pet  Beagle named Ponsonby   who had  a  library card ,  and   jiving  telephone  directories  ,  which   would   make  Giuseppe  Verdi's  much   raved  about   parade  in  Aida , that  included  elephants ,  giraffes and  horses , seem  prety  dull.

Some of Margaret's pet curlews  in the rocks.

To add to the spectacle of the unique opera  , because Margaret had  green fingernails   , Magnetic Island   children  wondered  if  she  were  a  witch ;  she  told them she was , but  did now  have a broomstick,  so   a   coven  of  grounded  island   witches  could   be   included , perhaps  even   Macbeth ? 

A small  number of the pet wallabies that jumped off large  granite boulders onto  her  roof  are shown above. 

 Her love  of opera  was   such  that she   had  two  cabinets  jam-packed  with  opera  CDs  and  made  special plane  trips  to  Sydney to  attend opera  performances. 

Because  she had  difficulty sitting  and the need to cope with  her  colostomy bag , she had to pay for two  airline seats  each way . 

 Little  Darwin  recently  reran   articles  about the remarkable  Margaret  Vine.  As  a  teenager, she was told that because she was a girl, who would probably get  married  early  and have children,  she  would not  be sent to university, but her  brother  would   .

She  went on to  carve out  a  distinctive career as an Australian  art  researcher,  collector , conservationist , feminist . Margaret  carried out reseach work  for  the epic tome  Documents on Australian Internationl Affairs  1901-l918  which included  Bulletin cartoons in the illustrations that could  feature  in  the  Rocky  Road  extravaganza .   

 Some books  from her  collection, in boxes which once formed the base of  her  bed , went  to   Special Collections,  Eddie Koiki  Mabo   Library  , James  Cook  University.

Recently  pulled  out of  a dark  corner were cardboard boxes   containing   a broken  run  of    National Library of  Australia  News  magazines from  the  l970s  to the l990s   that  had    belonged   to   Margaret , which  she had given me .

Some of them  contained   handwritten   annotations   and   underlining  of  text  by  her , including  question and  exclamation marks . Each volume was   closely  examined .

This  resulted  in  ideas  for  a  swag  of  follow up   stories  and  the  proposed Rocky Road  opera  brainwave.  

The  September  1994   issue featured  a  cover   photograph  of  opera  composer   Larry   Sitsky, the associated four page  article   receiving   much  attention   by  Vine, indicating she may have written a  condensed piece about him  and  his  works.

Born in China in l934, the son of Jewish White Russians , he came to Australia in 1951. After graduating in 1956 from the  New South Wales State  Conservatorium of Music in Sydney, he  studied at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music , greatly influenced by the American  music  scene , returning  to Australia in l961 to teach at the Queensland State Conservatorium of  Music . 

He is shown posing before  a poster for his opera The  Golem , based on Jewish folklore, performed  in the Sydney Opera House in October l993 in a  five performance season. In its 18 scenes over  five acts, the cast was covered  with   mud  most of  the  time .

(Opera.Vine.Sitsky.)

ABRACADABRA ! PHOTOGRAPHIC MAGIC BY AERONAUTICAL CORRESPONDENT ABRA

Townsville and Magnetic Island . 

(Magic. Townsville, Abra.)

PROMINENT, FORGOTTEN WRITER

The  superb lists  put out  by Douglas Stewart Fine Books,Melbourne , repeatedly revive colourful , artistic  and  interesting  individuals  from the  past.  An example  is  Kathleen Watson , prominent in the Australian  literary  scene, ,especially in Brisbane and  Melbourne , a novelist, short story writer ,  playwright  and poet , who  died  in l926.

Recently,  the  bookshop  offered for $30  the above  bold signature of  Kathleen Watson , described on it as  a writer, from an autograph album compiled by a member of a pioneering family, Jane Emma Murphy (Balcombe) (1854-1924), “The Briars”, Mornington, Victoria; à Beckett family, Melbourne, by  descent.

Born in England ,the daughter of a well known medical man,Watson  was educated  mainly on the Continent, France in particular. 

 Her family was  connected to the British Army , a brother, Colonel Watson, of the Army Medical Corps, visited Queensland at the end of  World War l , after serving  for  years  in  India.

Her  first literary success was  Litanies of  Life, published in  London.

Soon after , arriving in Australia from Wales,  she  married William Dearden ,deeply involved in the Australian timber industry ,travelled with him  on the North  African coast , the scene for  a  novel, The Gaiety of Fatma. 

 Watson  spent  15 years in Brisbane  where she was a  well  known , vivacious   identity, said to  be  a   cheery, cultured and charitable woman with a wide view of the world and its problems, and intensely sympathetic. 

.She entertained  and   travelled  in  Queensland  with  the French one- armed  General  Paul Pau  when  he  toured  Australia and New Zealand  between September 1918 and January 1919 on a post-war diplomatic  visit.

A newspaper account said that when  General Pau, who had served in the Franco-Prussian War, where he lost his lower right arm ,  was in Queensland his happiest hours were with the country people, with Mrs Dearden (Watson)  as guide, mentor, and friend, and interpreter also, for she spoke French as a Parisian.

Much of her nature , it continued, had the French vivacity and general temperament, and that was not surprising since, as a little child, she had shared the privations of the siege of Paris and heard the German guns thundering on the wider environs.

It is interesting to note that when General Pau was in New Zealand a kauri tree , Agathis australis , was named after him  in his  honor .

For the  Brisbane Courier Mail , Watson  wrote  a series of short stories  under the  title Heniette Says, later made into a  small book.  These were the sayings of a French girl married to an Australian Digger soldier living a new life with him down under. 

It was said the   brave  philosphy and  great literary charm of these   stories made them very popular . They  had all the brightness of the heart of a French woman happily and devotedly linked up with Australia. 

They were  a blend of humour, bright appreciation of and bravery in new and rough surroundings, and with just a little wistfulness in the reflections upon Henriette’s native land. 

A Watson play, If Youth But Knew, set in a London morning room ,  was  performed in Melbourne , along with  other plays by   prominent  playwrights of the day, including  Louis Esson .  In  these illustrations from the program Esson  is quoted  as  saying he hoped a  playright like the famous Elizabethan  playwright and poet Christopher Marlowe  would emerge in  Melbourne .  

William Moore, journalist, art critic and playwright, promoted  Australian art and  drama,  was  involved in annual  drama nights in Melbourne  from 1909-l912.

Esther Paterson  studied at the  Melbourne National Gallery School, was a Fellow of th Royal Society of Arts,London, a member of the  Melbourne Society of Women Painters  and Sculptors and a  council  member of the Victorian  Artists' Society .  

The  James Cook University library   in  Townsville has  a  Watson  volume. 

( Watson. France . Author.)

SETTING SUN

Castle Hill, Townsville . Aeronautical Correspondent Abra .

(Sun. Townsville. Abra.)

BEACHCOMBER TERRITORY

North Queensland. Vallis.

(Beachcomber. Tropics. View.)

GREETINGS FROM PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Attention grabbing carving with message for Donald Trump. 

(Carving. PNG. Trump.)

TRUMP INSPIRES HORROR MOVIES

WASHINGTON : Hollywood has gone into overdrive  producing horror movies  to   make  America  and the rest of the planet  gyrate  in uncertainty  again.  

A  scary  film about to be  launched   will  be called  Dingbat   Donald and the Musketeers which  tells how  they undermine NATO ,  the Ukraine , democracy , the FBI , chop down all of Canada's maple trees  and  cause the Eiffel Tower to  collapse by  selling  France  inferior steel for a spring clean extension . 

Another  shocker  movie  underway is  Putting  Putin in  Pole  Position ,which does not  relate  to  Formula 1.

In an exclusive interview , a spokesman for the Hollywood  filmmaking industry , Adolf  Washington the third , today said  there is a lot of money to be made right now  making movies that scare the bejesus out of popcorn chewing  theatre  audiences. 

He said one film underway-Frankenstein in the  Oval Office- would scare the pants off  many , even  Pentecostals who in the past supported  the monster with a  bolt in  its neck and  hot air in its  brain cavity .  

(Trump. Horror. Movies.)