UNIVERSITY PLACES NORTH QUEENSLAND TREASURES ONLINE

More than  100 years old , this photograph, from a glass  negative ,  shows a  miner named  Johnson with a combination  sluice and  cradle  on  the Copperfield River, Oaks Goldfield , Queensland , in the superb  Reverend Frederic  Charles Hall collection , part of  the new  online Special Collections  repository , James Cook University Library , Townsville, Australia .  

 

Reverend Hall (1878-1926), a very keen photographer , born  Woollahra , Sydney,  hoped to be a missionary in China, but served  in North Queensland,  starting with  two years  under the  first Bishop of Carpentaria , Bishop Gilbert White , on Thursday Island ;   later he was  based at Georgetown with an extensive parish taking in  Burketown, Normanton, Croydon, Golden Gate  and small settlements in the south-east Gulf country. (Years later, author Xavier Herbert  (Capricornia , Poor Fellow My Country ) would  travel  through this self safe  area in a car  with  a  clergyman  he  described  as  being  hooked  on  condensed  milk .) Another Reverend Hall photograph , below, shows elegantly dressed women at  a North  Queensland  picnic.

The website was officially launched  by James Cook University vice chancellor , Sandra  Harding, below, right  , at a  packed ceremony  which  included  descendants  of   Reverend Hall , a grandson ,  from Sydney ,  Kenwyn Arthur Hall , providing details about the   invaluable collection of more than 700 glass negatives and  early photographic gear  used  to  take the  photographs .  

 

As part of the   launch the Special Collections section displayed  some of  its  treasures which included early  paintings of  Townsville , part of  the  Sir Russell Drysdale antiquarian  book collection  on   early Australia  and  documents  from the Pioneer Sugar Mill with which  the renowned  artist  was   associated  ,  ephemera  dealing  with  early North Queensland ,  the  extensive  sketchbooks  of  artist Val Russell , part of the library  and  postcards of Spanish   anarchist  Salvador  Torrents  who  came to  Australia in 1915  (the subject of a  series  in Little Darwin ), mining activities and an early  brochure  which  indicates Queensland  was  the  winter  mecca  for Australasia . 



During  the  launch  it was mentioned  that Special Collections  has  the  important  archive of  the  New  Zealand  author , activist , feminist, environmentalist  and  Communist , Jean  Devanny , who   died  in Townsville , the  subject of  a  series  in   this  blog ,  with  still  more  to  come.

FOLLOW UP :   A quick  online viewing of  a   small part  of   Reverend Hall's magnificent collection  resulted in some interesting  subjects  , including  ones of him conducting  a  wedding   at the  front of a  humpy like structure which  includes a  tent and   hessian  walls,  him mounted on a horse, with six others posing against a  tree , another  one of the group  a  cleric  ;  a couple, both dressed in white , with a silver tea service, a Japanese wall  hanging , an embroidered  tablecloth, tongue and groove walls, an unusual clock ; two women inside a building  sitting at  a table  with a large cockatoo on the back of  a chair , what could be a canary in a cage ;  a view of  Thursday Island and  inside the  All Souls  St  Bartholomew's Quetta Memorial Church  there, see view  below   ; a   funeral procession  in  Croydon  with  a  long line of  men on horseback. 

Lifebuoy  off British-India Steam Navigation Company  SS Quetta  which sank with a loss of  134 passengers on  February 28 , 1890 , Queensland's biggest maritime  disaster , visible on wall  above pulpit  .

The interesting site can be viewed at  nqheritage.jcu.edu.au

SPRING IN NEW ZEALAND

Daffodils in Tauranga , North Island .



A LOVELY BUNCH OF COCONUTS

Australia's number one Jimmy Buffett  fan , seagoing skipper and  artist, Jenn Payne, painted the  above coconuts which were  presented to the  winners of  the  just ended Sealink Magnetic Island   Race Week in which  60 yachts participated  from  near and far , one crew  from  New Zealand. 

 

 The coconuts, displayed aboard  her 43ft catamaran ,Nyeki ,were painted in her studio on the vessel while Larry the talking  Lorikeet, rescued after  Cyclone Larry in 2006  and a  television star , hopped about  muttering ,   " Bugger, bugger, bugger!"   Larry is the  subject  of a painted   coconut  aboard  the vessel which  shows him , a real dude , in  sunnies , sipping  a  cocktail  a  la  Buffett .

 

Jenn presented  American  singer  Buffett with a painted coconut   at a  Brisbane  concert and he named her  Australia's number  one Parrothead  fan . At an earlier   concert in Sydney , she gave  Buffett , whose music  extolls an island escapism  style,  a copy of  Confessions of a Beachcomber, by E.J. Banfield, of  Dunk Island ,Queensland .

Jenn  is shown above  with a range of jewellery  she makes , plus painted items,  some of which  reflect the relaxed Margarita Cocktail  life style of  North  Queensland. The relaxation will end  this weekend with a  wild bout  of  jitterbugging on Magnetic Island  and while Larry  is now spending  some shore leave  at  the residence of  the Queen of the  Jungle , they are not  expected  to  take part  in  the  jitterbugging.   

BUBBLES ON THE BEAUFORT SCALE

Our  latest  dispatch from  Judi and Peter Burleigh comes from famous  Champagne, is lightly effervescent, with a cheeky over-bite and  over-indulgent notes. It  is also signed Peter  de  Liver Damage.

Burleighs  parked their  cruiser, right, De Ulunder , Dutch  for  Butterfly , fluttered off  to vineyards on an extensive study  tour  like  politicians . French sign seems to  indicate that "fluvial " tourists , not the effluvium  type ,  are  welcome  to  come  ashore .   

The French town of Bouzy locates itself on tourist maps by insisting it lies smack in the middle of Champagne between Reims, Epernay and Chalon. In reality this would require a catastrophic upheaval of hills and slopes, the re-arrangement of grape-growing classifications and the forced re-directing of roads. What does this tell you? It tells you that Bouzy, while able to use the title ‘Champagne’ for its wine because it is in the area defined as ‘Champagne’, smarts under an inferiority complex.

 

One of the biggest producers in Bouzy is Herbert-Beaufort, run by three brothers. Beaufort offers the Champagne tourist a tasting room made up to look like a wine cave cut into chalk. It feels like you are inside a cake looking out at the icing, which is plastered all over the walls and ceiling, with fake excavation marks and genuine recessed downlights. Incongruously there are several windows and doors in the wall of icing which lead to the outside world.

Disguised as Croatians , tasting  begins inside  iced  cupcake .

Monsieur Beaufort is packed with goodwill and he talks a lot. It’s a surprise he can breathe and talk at the same time. His grand-daughter, who fetches him as soon as we ask a difficult question like “If Champagne is made from Pinot Noir grapes, which are dark red, how come Champagne is not at least pink?” sits mesmerized by repetition as we receive the benefit of his knowledge. We want to know why Bouzy markets a rough Pinot Noir called ‘Bouzy Red’, unless it’s simply a product of the local sense of humour (apparently no pun is intended in the name of the village). Surely it can only weaken the reputation of Bouzy’s Champagne?

Monsieur  H-B

‘No, no,’ says the Monsieur. ‘It has been made for centuries. You try it.’ We do. No finesse can be found in its thin astringency and it's characteristic of his Champagnes too. ‘The Celts made it,’ he claims with a straight face. ‘Wine has been made in Bouzy since 8000 B.C.’ Skipping a few thousand years, he continues: ‘When the Romans came – we have found many relics – the water supplies were polluted. Their soldiers got sick. So they sterilised the water with local wine.’

 

I am prepared to believe this claim, but the Roman soldiers were more likely vulnerable to low-flying aircraft. Statistically, you’re more likely to be killed by a champagne cork than by a poisonous spider. He charges on: ‘This kept the soldiers’ bowels under control and the Roman Army outlasted the Gauls, who had to drink the unsound water.’ He doesn’t use the English word ‘squitters’ but we know what he means. ‘In bad seasons they also gave their horses and animals water mixed with wine…so Bouzy helped the Romans to victory. After that the Romans nearly always mixed their wine with water.’ He didn’t want to acknowledge that the water may have softened  the taste of  the wine.

DRUNKEN  STUDENTS,MARIE ANTOINETTE'S  BREAST  

 

As Monsieur Herbert’s fountain of questionable wine-associated knowledge continues to spout, I wonder if any of it has reached the internet. Later I find an anecdote about Dublin’s Trinity College, where any student has the right to demand a glass of wine during an exam. To qualify they must be wearing a sword. Under this arcane law, armed, stressed-out, sleep-deprived students can get their alcohol fixes during an exam. Herbert doesn’t claim this story, or any of the others I found on Google. 

 

Perhaps the most famous law that haunts the world of wine is a 1954 decree stating that no flying saucers may fly over, take off from, or land on the vineyards of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. This is designed to repel the fleets of grenache-loving Martians who have screaming kids in their saucer’s backseat and who need a calming taste of  the grape. It seems to work.

 

 

‘…ten thousand years ago,” says Monsieur Herbert, increasing his volume to stop our attention wandering, “a glacier filled the Manche (the English Channel). It prevented the wine trade between England and France. So England began to import wine from Portugal. It was rough and unpalatable so the English added Spirits to it - and liked it. So it was the English invented Port.”

 

There is no hint of a pause before he goes on at top speed: “Also in England, the King needed all the oak wood to build ships for Le Navy Royale which was fighting against Napoleon. The King forbade the use of timber to melt silica to make glass, so the English began to use coal, which burns at a higher temperature, for bottle-making. They brought in glass-blowers from Venice. This glass had a higher resistance to pressure and in this way the Champagne bottle was invented.” This may have been true. There is about 90 pounds per square inch of pressure in a bottle of Champagne - more than triple the pressure in a car tyre. 

 

Far more interesting, the classic Champagne coupe was adapted from a wax mould of the breast of Marie Antoinette and until 1850, all Champagne was sweet and contained up to 30 grams of sugar; today it’s between 8 and 11 grams.

  

But my reverie is disturbed by a change in the drone of Monsieur’s voice. Those of us who are not yet cross-eyed with ennui perk up when he appears to enter the last straight. “In the 1800’s Champagne became really popular in Germany and England. Local families in Bouzy and all over Champagne became rich overnight.” He sighs as if remembering something one of the earlier Beaufort generations had done wrong. “They made unwise decisions.” Presumably they invested in the Edsel, ‘sure things’ at Longchamps or several Brooklyn Bridges. He seems to shrink under the weight of insufficient riches and his eyes wander over the line-up of his wines on the counter. But it’s too late – we have tasted them and they reflect his style: a little sad, a little overblown and a little bitter. We wonder which of the Herbert Brothers he is, Henry, Hugues, or Ludovic.

Burleigh  suggests vats  are  eagerly  cleaned out by  tongue.

The French sell more than 300 million bottles of Champagne every year. The Beauforts have been in Bouzy since 1820 and now produce 140,000 bottles annually, or .00000033% of the national total. They operate independently from the great Houses like Moet, Perrier-Jouet, Mumm and the others. There are many like them, and all are passionately involved in the exacting work of making good champagne. Like the Beauforts they are friendly and welcoming, and their wine is not expensive bought at the cellar door. In any search for perfection, success is elusive.

SH*T TO HIT FAN IN PARLIAMENT OVER CHINESE CHEAP LABOUR

CANBERRA : Parliament is facing a major blockage as cleaners here today  voted to stage a year long strike  over  the use of  a  Peking Duck , above, brought in to Australia   under the new trade agreement  with  China , to clean the Trade Minister's flaming  fury .  The duck, looking like a goose , was shown on television with a toilet  brush in his  hand on the West Wing of  parliament  house.

It is understood he was smuggled into parliament   disguised as a Patagonian Trotting  Duck by  Liberal  Party  Funk  Bunker   sanitation engineer, Harpic Harry, whose erratic behaviour has often been described by  psychiatrists  as indicting he is clean round the bend. Proof positive that  the duck is from Peking and not Patagonia  is the  fact that  he eats recycled  dim sims  with  chopsticks during his five  minute  lunch  break .

 Parliamentary cleaners recently went  on strike  over their  paltry  pay  and during  the outage  all persons entering the building were  given a dishcloth , a peg  and had  to put out the vital  Lady Scott  tissues  themselves.

CLOUD, BUSHFIRE , SUNSHOWER IN QUEENSLAND TROPICAL WATERS

Vallis  Photograph .

FOR WHOM DO THE THROBBING DRUMS OF MER / CANNING TOLL ?

In the 1933  blood curdling novel , Drums of  Mer  , popular  Australian author  Ion  Idriess  painted gruesome scenes  of  cannibalism , with  head  lopping  and pre-SBS  long pig feasts. A contemporary  review  of  the book in  Adelaide  was  headed WHEN TERROR STALKED THROUGH  TORRES  STRAIT .

Succulent  Prime Minister, George Dubya Abbott, recently visited  the  actual island of Mer, in the Torres Strait, after  having  tried to drum up support  in the  WA Canning by-election campaign , loss of which  to  the  ALP   could  see  the  PM  beheaded  by  his  own   party  because it  would confirm the belief that  he  is so unpopular   he  will lead them to certain  defeat at the next Federal election.

 

Ruffled  Malcolm Turnbull  and  Liberal  Canning candidate Andrew Hastie  receive shock news-Libs might retain seat !There are 12 candidates, including  one  from the increasingly attractive  Pirate Party.  Greens , Christians , Animal Justice  and  Sustainable Population are also running in  an electorate  in  which  there  are 112,809 eligible voters .

 Lose the  seat of Canning or just scrape in  and  the  PM  could  , figuratively  speaking ,  be  tapped  on  the  noggin  with  a  large club  while  frolicking  about  in the  surf in his budgie  smugglers , somewhat  like  what happened to Captain Cook .The latest drum from the Australian Financial Review is that the PM is being urged  to get in with an early  human sacrifice in the Sumo-shape  of Joe Hockey  if  they  lose Canning.

On the island  of Mer the  PM was  greeted by warriors  wearing  shark headdresses  and stood under a   giant  arch which  represented  the  mouth  of  a  shark which could be an omen of  what  is to  come in Canberra  if the obviously restless  natives  there  go on the warpath.

 

In this later edition of Drums of Mer the cover illustration had  been  sexed up with a P3 girl  dancing to drums  to tell  the savagely authentic story of  life among   Pacific headhunters.
 

The early Adelaide review said the setting of the   book  would have delighted Rider Haggard  and  mentioned  the plight of virgins , the rusting  bones of  wrecked ships on coral reefs , blackbirding,  fearful shipwrecked Spaniards, a musical  cape made out of the  ribs  of  women  ( perhaps an explanation of why there are so few women in  the Coalition ), daring pearlers ,warlike islanders .

 

Of the author , it  said Idriess, a born  rover , at times a prospector  and sandalwood  getter , had travelled widely and had poured out tales in graphic, if sometimes ejaculatory prose. One of  his books-Lasseter's Last Ride-about  the  fabled  gold reef  in  the Northern Territory  had  been translated into  French , a rare  event  for an  Australian  author .