Jag
Taken at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. Getting a little chubby again, I see.
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Scenic World and Echo Point
The phrase “Scenic World” summons up images of a theme park, which (as a tourist) doesn’t hold a lot of attraction for me. There are certainly elements of a “theme park” (the tourist shop, the cable cars), but Scenic World (in The Blue Mountains) offers a hell of a lot more.
“We’ve been closed for three months”, our guide told us, adding that it was great to re-open. He told us they’ve been doing a lot of work with medical experts to ensure the attraction is now “Covid-Safe”. He went on to remind us of “social distancing” and to explain how often everything was cleaned.
Normally the cable-cars and the “steepest train ride in the world” can hold significantly more, he told us. For me, that there wasn’t so many people was an added attraction. The crowd on our trip (maybe forty people, I didn’t count) consisted mostly of family groups with lots of under 10s. There were a few adults on romantic weekends too.
As I was all by myself, I let the family groups go in first. I couldn’t help but notice the number of times parents said, “sorry” for the behaviour of their children. “No worries”, I replied, adding “…we were all probably much worse”.
The kids loved the cable car and train rides (and so did I). I also loved the board walk in the rainforest. There were lots of terrific opportunities to stop, enjoy the silence, and take photographs. In some ways, with so few people allowed to visit, it was a much more enjoyable experience than I’d expected.
The experience cost me $49.95 as a one-off, though for not much more I could have bought a 12-month pass with unlimited rides. Once was enough for me.
After yesterday’s joyous weather, rain set in. Though I had vague plans to get up and enjoy the dawn, the grey sky outside offered little enticement. I stayed in bed, and after eating the hotel breakfast, headed back to Echo Point.
The sky was grey, with visibility down to 30-50 metres. So in short – there was nothing to see of the landscape. However, close up, it was terrific to walk through the forest, and enjoy the rain falling on the plantlife.
Great City
“Sydney is such a great city” a mate said to me late this afternoon.
We were sitting having a glass of wine at The Woolloomooloo Wharf, enjoying the warmth of a winter’s day in Sydney, and reflecting on how lucky we both were.
Both of us have jobs we love, and we’re both generally pretty happy with our lives.
“You need to make sure you get out and enjoy as much of it as possible”, he advised, with the wisdom of being twenty years older.
He’s bloody right.
NSW’s New Alcohol Laws
A few weeks ago, as a result of some high profile recent violent attacks, the NSW Government enacted some new liquor licensing laws.
In short, Sydney has gone from being a 24-hour city, where you could pretty much purchase alcohol at any time of the day to one with restrictions. Bars now have a “lockout” from 1.30am, which means no entry after that point. Alcohol sales now stop at 3.00am. Oddly enough, they resume at 5.00am. There are, of course, arguments for and against this approach.
You get the message from the tone of this sign, the owners of The Columbian on Sydney’s Oxford Street, aren’t too happy with the new licensing laws in NSW. I’ve seen similar signs at other venues on the street. It’s their quiet protest, I guess.
Construction work at South Lismore Public School
Construction work has officially commenced on the new flood-resilient buildings for South Lismore Public School, marking a significant milestone for the 100-year-old institution. For many locals, the sight of the rebuild brings back powerful memories, particularly for those of us who grew up in the area. I had the privilege of attending the school in the 1970s, and with this new chapter beginning, I joined ABC Radio Lismore today for a brief local history spot to share some recollections of my time there.
Transcript: South Lismore Public School Memories
What do you remember about your primary school? Was it the teachers that stood out to you, the cute little buildings, perhaps even the canteen and what you used to order for lunch?
Construction is underway on new flood-resilient buildings at South Lismore Public School, a school with over 100 years of history. And the ABC’s James O’Brien attended the school back in the 1970s. He’s here to share some of his stories and memories about the amazing things he remembers learning about, and the people who came out of there.
Good morning, James. Thanks for coming on.
Hey there, Bridie.
What do you remember most about the school? What sticks out as the most prominent part?
Well, I think at the moment, because the construction is underway, I remember back in the 1970s, the school was rebuilt then. And it was about the time of the ’74 flood that they saw the need for a new school. So, my strongest memories of going to South Lismore Public School between ’71 and ’77 was the reconstruction of the new school.
So, those buildings that were recently pulled down, they date back to the ’70s. There were a couple of older buildings that were still around. But yeah, it was the sound of jackhammers and pile drivers and the fact that we kept staying in our classroom. And I do remember one day when one of our teachers just got so annoyed by all the sound that she just stopped the class for half an hour.
She just couldn’t take it anymore?
No, she was completely over it. I remember we had some new demountable classrooms at the time, and there were some students in those. And it was a couple of years of really quite difficult times at the school in terms of the whole construction work. But then when the new buildings arrived, the strongest memories I have, first of all, is we had carpets. We had fans.
I remember the library was this little tiny part of one of the old wooden buildings, and all the books moved over, and the library was too big for the books that we had. But it was this huge transformation of the school.
Can you remember primary school age James’s face walking into, for the first time, the carpeted classrooms?
Look, I remember we all were allowed to go and have a look, and I actually spent Sixth Class in one of the carpeted classrooms. And I think we were all just amazed because, you know, before that it was wooden buildings and wooden floors and all of those sorts of things.
Any air conditioning back in those days?
Look, I’m trying to remember now if it was air conditioning or fans, but certainly we had some fans. I remember when the fans were installed. And just to give you an idea of how old I am and how old things were back then, we used to have these radios on the walls that weren’t quite high up, or maybe they weren’t so high. They were high for me, you know, seven or eight year olds. And we used to listen to ‘Kindergarten of the Air’ on the radio every morning, I think about 10 o’clock.
Wow. I wonder if anyone else remembers listening to, was it ‘Kindergarten of the Air’, the program, James?
‘Kindergarten of the Air’. It might have had a few name changes, but it was on the ABC, and I remember the ritual of the teacher turning on the radio every morning, and we’d sing along to the songs.
So sweet. And was it an educational radio program?
No, it was songs.
Just songs? Just music?
Kids’ songs. Yeah, nice.
James, any significant alumni, even if it’s just locally famous?
Oh, look, some of the names that people would know pretty well locally. In my year at school, Tracy Bowen was in my year from Bowen’s Cake Shop in South Lismore. Lynne Youngbury, the well-known real estate agent, she was in my year at school. The year below us is a guy called Adam Worling. Now, Adam’s really interesting. He helped a couple of years ago. All the flood kids get clothes, and he waits for their year to all fall. But he’s also, I think, the Deputy Lord Mayor of Sydney now. He’s certainly part of the Clover Moore team, and I reckon he could end up replacing Clover in a couple of years’ time. So yeah, they were all famous alumni. But, you know, I remember all the kids really well. I was looking at some class photographs last night, and I could name every one of them.
And how does it feel knowing that kids will continue to go to this school site, even though it is on the floodplain, and the school culture and history will continue?
Yeah, well, I really like… you know, I was born in South Lismore, raised in South Lismore, and until, you know, my sister got the buyback a couple of years ago, was a proud Southie all the way, and I used to walk to school. I remember walking up and down Casino Street to get to the school. Two of my sisters, who are no longer with us, both went to South Lismore Public School back in the ’40s and ’50s. Their children, who were born in the ’70s, went to South Lismore Public School. The grandchildren also went to South Lismore Public School, and one is still in Fifth Class, I think, years in now. And in a couple of years’ time, probably another great-grandchild, whoever it is, will also be going to South Lismore. So, you know, I stay very close to South Lismore Public School.
Quite a strong family connection. Do you remember what your uniform used to be?
Yeah, I vaguely do. It was a grey shirt and grey shorts, and I’m sure the girls’ uniform was a green check sort of uniform. Gee, you’re making me go back now. And we wore desert boots. All the boys wore desert boots.
Desert boots? What are those?
Look, this kind of suede shoe. You know, they were the popular shoe at the time.
Climbing Mount Steele
“You timed that well”, came the message from a colleague late this afternoon. There were several others, too, referencing the news that Lismore has gone back into lockdown. “Yes, I KNEW Lismore was going to head back into lockdown. Too close to the anti-vaxxers”, I replied. Hopefully it will only be for only a week, and Lismore will return to “normal”, along with Sydney next Monday, October 11.
“I know this sounds very ‘hippy'”, I’ve said to a some friends this weekend, “But I think COVID is the earth giving us all a message to do something about climate change, and generally lead a more simple life”. Of the small sample of four (two couples), there was no disagreement. Even though there have been some very negative things about the last eighteen months, at least it’s meant people have slowed down a little. They haven’t been able to spend more time with friends and family, but hopefully these times have allowed people to be more thoughtful about them, and about the simpler things in life. Like picnics!
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many people in this park, let alone people having a picnic”, I said to a couple of friends yesterday. We’re still not out of lockdown yet, but we are allowed to catch up with friends in public places, like parks. So that’s exactly what half of Sydney seems to have done this weekend.
It was the first time I’ve seen them since June, and the first time I’d seen one of them, since he had been previously living in Canberra. We embarked on a mid-morning walk around Surry Hills and Darlinghurst, taking into the various sites, and discovering new places. My friends moved from Canberra to Sydney earlier this year, and though one had previously lived here, he noted “Sydney has changed dramatically. It’s a much better place than when I lived here in the 80s”, he said.
And that’s when it was time for a picnic lunch. Well, not so much a picnic in the sense of having brought prepared food with us; we popped in and bought some very, very tasty chicken burgers, and found ourselves a spot in a nearby park, next to the Surry Hills police station, along with a couple of hundred others.
“I read the other day some of the native fauna has been really struggling with the lockdown”, one of my friends commented. “There’s just not enough waste food around the place”, he added. It was then a lone white ibis (known in Sydney as bin chickens) came close to us. There were a few lettuce scraps in my cardboard lunchbox container, which the ibis must have smelled even though the box was closed. Using its pointy beak, it was able to reach into the closed box and and pick out the small pieces of food. After a while, we decided to open up the box to allow for greater access.
Those “picnics” and catching up with friends were a lovely way to spend the weekend. And there’s a whole day left, with the Labour Day Holiday tomorrow.
Aside from those activities, I’ve listened to a fair bit of music and watched some television.
Last night I watched a film about the life of Robert Mapplethorpe. Interestingly, I discovered I’ve been mispronouncing his name for at least forty years. It’s “maple” not “mapple” apparently. I also hadn’t realised that he was once in a relationship with Patti Smith, or that his brother was also a photographer. Or that he was a complete arsehole! The film portrays him as as very flawed individual. “Despite his obvious talents, he didn’t have to be so awful to other people, or to be so manipulative of other people”, I thought to myself as I watched the film. The portrayal by Matt Smith (aka Dr Who and Prince Philip in “The Crown”) was, nonetheless very good.
Australia Day 2007
It’s late morning on the day after Australia Day, 2007. I probably did more this week to celebrate Australia Day than I’ve ever done in the past, having attended a few official functions, as well as yesterday’s activities in Hyde Park, The Rocks and last night’s Darling Harbour Fireworks.
It was actually the first time I’d been to the Darling Harbour Fireworks, having previously avoided them, believing they’d be far too crowded for my liking to attend. But no, they weren’t. Darling Harbour easily holds 150,000 people without too much discomfort. Regrettably, however, Darling Harbour doesn’t cope well with 150,000 people leaving at about the same time.
While waiting for the fireworks to begin, I got to chatting with an older couple visiting from The Channel Islands. They were clearly unaware of the significance of Australia Day and had a number of questions for me such as “Do you get the day off”, and “Are these all your popular songs”, a reference to the music being played in the fireworks countdown. It was clear to me the mixture of well known tracks by “Hunters & Collectors”, “INXS”, “Split Enz” could only have been programmed by a forty-year old man, so I explained to her, “Yes, but only from a very narrow piece of Australian musical history”. It wasn’t until the fireworks themselves that we heard anything even remotely contemporary. “It’s funny”, she said, “because I don’t know any of them”. Nor did most of the audience who were, by and large, not forty year old men.
And then as the National Anthem began to play she asked me another question, “Don’t you sing the national anthem?”. I’d actually noticed I was the only person in our area singing along, something I put down to large tourist numbers, rather than anything else. I felt my own embarassment though when they launched into the mysterious second verse, which I explained to her most Australians didn’t know the words to. At that point I decided one of my resolutions for 2007 would be to learn the second verse of Advance Australia Fair .
I was quite conscious yesterday of notions of national identity and pride, having spent the day with Tony, a member of ABBAMAIL visiting from Sweden. Wearing an Australian flag hat, Tony seemed to enjoy the day immensely, as we visited Hyde Park, The Rocks , The Wharves and, of course, for a couple of beers at Opera Bar. There were times when I felt a little of the cultural cringe, as various people declared Australia the best country in the world. The woman next to us as Darling Harbour said, “It’s a little parochial isn’t it?” Yes, I said, “Australia is a great country, but there are great other countries too”.
The display of nationalism seemed stronger than ever yesterday with many thousands of people draping themselves in the flag. I noticed a few lone figures – and yes, they were all by themselves – wearing T-shirts which declared, “If you don’t love Australia, leave”, which worried me. And there was something I saw out of the bus window where a group of older men, wearing Australian flags, who seemed to be taunting a group of young Asian women. But by and large these incidents seemed to be fairly isolated, and it’s hard to know whether it’s a new and growing phenomenon or not.
Clearly notions of national identity have been in the minds of many lately following those stupid comments by the Sheikh. I try to believe he’s just like Fred Nile was thirty years ago, with his every utterance – no matter how out of touch they are – reported by a naive media. For years, the Reverend Fred would appear at Mardi Gras and the media would assiduously report his comments about abomination, Leviticus and the like, until eventually they just lost interest. The same with Pauline. Hopefully it’s all just part of the history cycle, not something more serious.
In contrast to the over-the-top jingo-istic and flag-waving elements of Australian nationalism, I thought Thursday’s Australia Day lunch was a smart, sophisticated way of acknowledging the holiday and our notions of national identity. It was the first time I’d attended the Official Lunch for Australia Day, and so had little idea of what to expect. The company was good, the food was good, and the entertainment was great. Some of the performances – including David Campbell’s version of “The Forgotten Years”, Tim Friedman/Richard Clapton’s version of “Best Years Of My Life” and Bangarra Dance Theatre’s “Moth” – were all really tremendous.
Former NSW Treasurer, and now NSW Australia Day Chairman, Michael Egan told a wonderful anecdote about his First Fleet ancestry. One of his convict ancestors, apparently, carried the first NSW Governor, Arthur Phillip on his shoulders, as the First Fleet came to shore in 1788, with Michael Egan declaring “I used to tell former Premier, Bob Carr, I wasn’t the first member of my family to carry the weight of NSW on his shoulders”.
Speaking of which, the current NSW Premier, Morris Iemma also gave a fairly powerful and convincing speech in which he argued his views about the idea of multiculturalism within Australian national identity. Without wishing to oversimplify the essence of his argument, he seemed to be saying “multiculturalism” (as we’ve come to know it) is transition stage in which migrants are politely introduced into their new country. He was at pains to point out, he’s not an advocate of assimilation, but of the idea that Australian identity is constantly evolving and being influenced by waves of immigration, and that it’s all about remembering the past, but looking forward.
On a much lighter note, there was was the launch of the Australia Post “Legends” stamp series, acknowledging some of the most influential figures in Australian horse-racing. HG Nelson introduced the likes of Johnny Tapp and Bart Cummings to a very welcoming audience of 1,500 people.
Also this week, I went to the Australia Day Lecture, held Tuesday night at the Conservatorium of Music, given by Kim Williams, Foxtel’s CEO. It was an excellent speech, well illustrated with sound and video, in which he explained how he believed notions of Australian identity were inextricably linked with the media.
In our young nation – and I refer here to the time since political federation in 1901 – the role of film, radio and television in the development of that contemporary identity is more prominent than for nations with longer inherited histories which inevitably drive different outcomes. We, as the national anthem says, are ‘young and free’ – more open to the impact of film and TV than older societies.
Evidence of this has continued through the week in the way in which the media has both influenced, and been used, to advance notions of Australian identity. With fears of racial violence, the organisers of the Big Day Out, had asked people this week not to bring Australian flags to the event. In a typically Australian way, people responded by taking as many flags as possible.
I’m still a little tired from a full week of activities. I have no major plans for the weekend except for going to see a preview screening of “The Last King of Scotland”, the new film about Idi Amin. I’ll probably also go to the gym later this afternoon. So hopefully, just a relaxing weekend.
Mind you, it’s a warm day outside, though not outrageously hot. But the wind has picked up, and I have that “oh no, it’s gonna be a bushfire day” feeling.