BONDI BEACH FOR SEAGULLS

 

ODD INSIGHTS INTO THE DEPRESSION : FURS , CARS , ENGAGEMENT RING FIGHT

 Covering  the period from the Wall Street Crash of 1929 to the early days of the Depression,a  plastic bag  of  battered and torn  British newspapers came our way ,providing interesting reading .  For example, the price of  desirable   stoles   made from  skunk pelts , trimmed with tails and lined with silk,   had been slashed.

Daring   young women who travelled in airy  automobiles were offered a range of Louvre ( Paris and London ) leather " motor coats" ranging in price from seven and half    to fourteen  and a half  guineas,in colors that included  nigger, wine, bottle , Lido , beige. Storm cuffs , stand up collars  and  scarf collars  came  in handy  when  driving about in the  rotten  Pommie weather.   

An item in The Observer of October 13,1929,headed RIGHTS OF A FIANCE reported the"  peculiar lawsuit " involving  a young man from the upper class demanding the return of a valuable  engagement ring from a   well known young lady  in  Budapest  society ,

Soon after the engagement was announced, he heard rumours that his fiancee  was suffering from serious  heart  trouble , and had asked her to be examined by a doctor, which she refused to do .

 As the man's friends continued to  insist  she was " organically unhealthy ", he had  decided to trick her into a medical examination.This involved  her seeing a surgeon  to  supposedly  have  a small scar removed from her neck 

When she discovered that the surgeon had been instructed to  first carry out an inspection of her "heart, lungs, etc.", she  refused to proceed . After this , the man  considered himself justified in breaking off  the engagement. 

FRAGMENTS FROM THE PAST: CAIRNS

Well worn l966 Date Book  advertising Walker's Book Shop , Lake Street, Cairns, North Queensland .The cover was designed by American Hallmark artist  Robert Schneeberg. Dates to remember included Australia Day, Anzac Day, Jewish New Year and Melbourne Cup  Day. There  is  a long list of  people  in the back of the  book  living in various parts of Australia , one  employed by Hong Kong Airways, a couple residing in  Fannie Bay, Darwin, others in Townsville ,Sydney ,Western Australia.  

Torn from the Cairns Post came the  following story about a pelican following  a man and his dog begging for a feed on the  Esplanade at Cairns. The photo, taken by  Post photographer  Andrew James,  had won a prize in the Nikon-Kodak Press Photographer of  the Year (1998).It was  to  be used in  the   Cairns Post 1999 calendar .

ISLAND FEATURES IN IMPRESSIVE DISPLAY OF UNIVERSITY TREASURES

 

The latest online post in the James Cook University display of 50 treasures to mark this year's 50th anniversary is a  watercolor  painting believed to be  of  Alma Bay ,Magnetic Island, by marine zoologist and artist , the late Ray Kenny .

The above shot of Alma Bay is not the painting , it is from the Little Darwin photographic collection .

Kenny, born at Perth , Western Australia, in 1925, is remembered in prizes for biology science  students. He studied the impact of  heat on invertebrates  in Australian waters and North Carolina , USA. He also founded the Townsville Art Society and the JCU Art Collection.  

On October 30 ,the 50th anniversary exhibition,drawing on  rare and precious artefacts ,including manuscripts and artwork,from the university's Special Collections section will go on display at the  Perc Tucker Gallery in Townville .  

ALL QUIET ON THE WHITE HOUSE FRONT

 

Down Under virus free Vallis pix. 

WHERE THERE IS SMOKE , THERE APPEARS TO BE NO OBSERVANT REPORTERS... BUT ASSORTED GIGGLING GERTIES

 

Townsville is a strange  place  when it comes to reporting what is  visibly  going on  in the so called Queen City of the North .  A large part of the  city , especially near the  waterfront , is blanketed  in  smoke , and the media seems not to  notice, certainly  no mention  in  the Townsville Bulletin .

 Early  one day recently  , our recuperating Shipping Reporter  took the  above shot  of  a  fire across Cleveland Bay. Later a substantial  part of the city  was  covered  in smoke.  People were looking  towards the waterfront and  asking  what was  the cause of the  haze.

Due to high temperatures and strong winds, large  parts of North Queensland are  dry, a fire at  Cooktown  destroyed a house .

Despite having  received some slight  showers of  late, Magnetic Island  is  very dry .

 The  Bulletin, with a  photograph of  a  laughing  weather bureau spokesman , ran  a report on the coming wet season   in which it was said  there could  be  flooding , not a  matter for mirth in  a city which recently suffered extensive flooding . Another inappropriate  laughing reporter staff  photograph  accompanied  a  crime report .       

BEWARE OF KILLER FLAMINGOS : ISLAND WELCOME BY VALLIS, OUR TRESPASSING PHOTOGRAPHER