I have always had mixed feelings about mobility scooters. Living in Surry Hills, I associate them with a certain…eccentricity… based on the elaborately decorated scooters you often see in the area. Plus, Sydney’s excellent public transport means I have never considered needing one myself, even after last year’s lower limb amputation.
This Christmas, while visiting my sister and brother-in-law in Lismore, I have had a chance to really experience a mobility scooter. Their daughter recently purchased one on their behalf, but so far they are reluctant to use it. Like many of their generation, they seem to resist accepting assistance, even if it means a better quality of life.
Seeing their unused scooter, I decided to give it a try.
In the last few days I have been exploring Lismore with a newfound freedom – the shopping centre, the town, the riverbank – all easily accessible. The wind in my face, the ease of movement…it is exhilarating.
This experience is definitely shifting my perspective. While Sydney’s excellent public transport still makes a scooter seem unnecessary to me and my current situation, I now realize the value it could bring in a place like Lismore, where getting around isn’t so easy. It’s not just about convenience; it’s about independence and the freedom to explore new possibilities.
I don’t really know what to say about the floods in Lismore, except they’ve had a deep impact on me, even though I’m many hundreds of kilometres away, and even though for the most part, I’m reasonably relaxed about floods at home, as I have written previously.
“Yeah the river’s up, but it’s nothing to worry about”, I’ve often said to my family previously. They usually rely on me for forecasts, interpretations from the SES/Weather Bureau etc. And for the most part, I tell them not to worry. But this time around. when it was clear about how bad things could be, I told them to worry. I was especially concerned for my older family members. They might have lived through floods in 1954 and 1974, and it was all okay, but this time around, they’re in their 60s and 70s, and no longer as able to move around as much. I’m actually a bit grumpy with them, and their choices to “stay at home” this time, when I was clear with them about the risk. There’ll be a “family debrief” I’m sure. From afar it was difficult to think of my family facing such difficult times.
The view from above, thanks to ABC News coverage, where you can see a few family homes surrounded by water.
In explaining my own feelings, I went part of the way this week, on the radio show I present, Editor’s Choice, introducing some interviews from some people from home.
This time a week ago my members of my family were surrounded by about six feet of water. It was, literally, lapping their floor boards. They live in South Lismore, and that’s where I grew up, too.
One of my earliest childhood memories is of the 1974 flood. I remember. It was Sunday night, I was 8 years old, and my dad and I went down the backyard, and knowing a flood was on the way, we went under the house to secure the washing machine in case it floated away, and next door, to secure our car on what we thought was higher ground. We went upstairs, watched the Wonderful World Of Disney, and by the time, the show was over, our house too was surrounded by water.
Before that, my mum and dad told me stories of the 1954 flood, of living in a low-set house, where the water reached the top of the windows, and they lived in the rooftop for four or five days. Mum, dad, my four sisters, my granny, and my uncle. This was the days before the State Emergency Service, when hundreds of people in the area died from drowning.
And now it’s happened again, as Lismore, and many other parts of Australia have either experienced major floods, or have succumbed to Cyclone Debbie. We start this week’s Editor’s Choice, with some of the experiences of the people of just one town, my home town, South Lismore, in these recordings from Samantha Turnbull from ABC Radio in Lismore.
I was on the radio last Thursday night, broadcasting to my home home town. As the team at ABC Radio in Lismore took a break “before the worst of it”, I filled in, remotely from Sydney. Because I know the area very well, and because I know what it’s like to live through a flood, I did the late shift from 11pm to 2am, when they took over again.
There was a moment of realisation for me, as I spoke to the bloke from the SES who told me how serious the problem was.
But in the midst of it all, there was also a moment of joy, as a former school teacher, Barbara Kearney called in to say “hello”.
Thankfully, things aren’t too bad for my family, aside from some buckled walls revealing some asbestos, and losing a little bit of furniture. I think it’s been a wake-up call, though, that they’re no longer the young people they once were, who could climb up into rooftops when the floodwaters come up.
I used a Polaroid camera yesterday for the first time in many years, and no, not for the reasons you might be expecting! A friend of mine who is making a television program for screening later this year asked if I could help with the audition process.
I felt like Little Miss Secretary, as I greeted the applicants at a church hall in Darlinghurst, explaining the process to them, getting them to sign release forms, and taking an impromptu polaroid photograph of them.
To be honest, I didn’t know Polaroid cameras still existed. When my sister had one when I was a very young child it was a complex process using a polaroid camera and you could never be sure if they would turn out or not. As I recall, you had to wave it around in the air for sixty seconds before peeling off the sticky paper. By the time I had one in my early teens the process had been simplified somewhat. In fact, using the camera yesterday was remarkably similar.
Before arriving, I’d had a yummy breakfast at Una’s, the well-known Darlinghurst restaurant. Actually I hadn’t known it was open for breakfast until I’d walked past. I had the pancakes with strawberries and ice-cream, along with a coffee, which, although light, was probably about right. I also loved looking around the restaurant, curious to observe the type of people who might enjoy Breakfast
In particular, I loved the old German man (a regular I assume), who said only one word as he entered. “Bratwurst!”, he said loudly, and within minutes it was there. “Very good” were the only other words he used to the staff.
Aside from that it’s been a reasonably social weekend, including a drink with Graeme and Andrew on Friday night, a beer and steak with Mark and Andrew last night at the Strawberry Hills (accompanied by cool jazz!), and then a fiftieth birthday party for a workmate on board the South Steyne at Darling Harbour today.
After all this, I think I’m gonna need a holiday. Tomorrow, I hope to knock off a fair amount of the new Armistead Maupin book, as well as some family history research.
“She looks a bit bored”, my friend Kate said to me, referring to the expression on the face of Emmylou Harris, as she performed tonight at Sydney Festival First Night. I’m not a huge fan of Emmylou Harris, but I was keen to see her perform. I thought she looked more like Deborah Harry, actually. To be honest, I was a little disappointed. She didn’t really seem all that excited to be here. I thought she was going through the motions, though I could be wrong.
Emmylou Harris at Sydney Festival Opening Night
At the risk of being seen as highly parochial, I actually enjoyed the Ruby Hunter tribute more. Although not entirely familiar with her output, I have a strong memory of interviewing Ruby Hunter and Archie Roach many years ago when I was doing the Morning Show on ABC Radio in the Riverland in South Australia in the early 90s. I don’t remember much about the interview, except that I remember Ruby was originally from the Riverland, and I think that’s why I interviewed her.
Ruby was a tremendous songwriter, with many of her songs focussed on her homeland on the Murray River, and her Aboriginality. There was everything from beautiful songs about the water to almost-angry songs about domestic violence. Tonight’s opening night at Sydney Festival was a really enjoyable evening, as they paid tribute to Ruby who died several months ago. The highlights? For me, Tiriki Onus was fantastic, Dan Sultan was way sexy, and it was great to see Tiddas back together.
Kate and I had enjoyed a lovely day together with started with lunch at Red Chilli. We had been there once before, about twelve months ago, and had enjoyed the food very much. The food we had today was not disimilar to the food we enjoyed together in Beijing a few months ago, though not as chilli hot. There’s a pork dish we had today which I can’t recall the name of which I enjoyed very much. And there’s a wonderful chilli chicken dish which is just spectacular. Twelve months ago I thought it was too hot. I had it in Beijing. And then today, I thought it was quite mild. Either way, I thought Red Chilli was a great place for lunch and I would highly recommend it to anyone.
In between that and Sydney Festival, Kate and I wandered around the city for a while. And then we went and bought some socks and razor blades for my friend who is currently in hospital. The socks weren’t so important to him, as the razor blades. We had a conversation on Thursday about how the Mach 3 by Gillette was probably the world’s best razor blade. He’s been struggling with some cheapies, and asked if I could get him some “real blades”. As soon as he mentioned the Mach 3, I knew immediately what he meant. Other blades hack your face to pieces. The Mach 3 is a little more expensive to start with, but last longer, and does a wonderful job on your face. So I picked up those two items, visited him at the hospital, and then re-joined Kate later with chairs for us to sit on as we watched and enjoyed the Ruby Hunter tribute.
As I made my way back to meet Kate, along the way I was rather surprised to discover the statue of Mary MacKillop now outside St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney. On reflection I think it’s a rather nice statue, particularly since it features Saint Mary with people, and you can actually sit down with her, as I noticed quite a few people doing.
A reasonably diverse Saturday, you would agree? :)
It’s late Monday afternoon and I’m thankful my family are safe and sound.
They don’t have any power, they don’t have any food, and they don’t have any clothes.
Like, seriously no clothes aside from the ones they were wearing when they were evacuated from their homes in South Lismore.
Anyone who has ever been to Lismore knows the city floods — hardly a year goes by without the river coming up.
The first big flood that I remember as a child was in 1974. All around Lismore there are signs that highlight that.
The ’74 flood was the biggest on record. But I remember my dad’s sister-in-law Eileen Crummey/O’Brien — a well-known local First Nations woman — talking about floods of similar heights to this week’s in the days prior to European settlement.
Back in ’74 the CBD was inundated as well as parts of North and South Lismore. All of our family’s houses in South Lismore escaped the worst because our houses were built on stilts, as is pretty common in Lismore.
But this year’s flood has gone so much higher.
In ’74 the flood peaked at 12.15 metres. This time, the flood will peak 2m higher than that!
During the 1954 flood, Mum, Dad, Granny, Uncle John, and my four older sisters had to live in the roof cavity of their low-set house for several days as the water swirled below.
Almost 70 years later and only one member of the family survives; my sister Pat. Never in her wildest dreams did she think she would ever be in that position again.
But, today, she found herself sitting on a chair on the kitchen benchtop, with water up to her chest.
She lives in a high-set house now and, when this flood has peaked, she will have had about 2m of water in the upper level of her house.
Pat’s husband Jack and their grandson Sam stood in the water as they waited for boats to rescue them.
I checked in with them all a few times overnight but by early morning I suggested they evacuate.
“Can you get out? I think you need to get out,” I told Pat.
By that time, they had already moved their cars to higher ground and the water was coming up, so they were effectively trapped in their houses.
Thank God the rescue boats arrived in the early daylight hours. They were assisted into the boat via a narrow kitchen window and were taken to the nearby Ballina Street Bridge.
Pat is a little bruised from the experience, but thank God she’s alive.
When I spoke to them on the bridge, there were about 20 other people with them.
The SES told them they couldn’t transport them any further at that stage as they still had another 200 people to rescue.
However, Pat has a lung problem, and her resuscitation machine was covered in water, so an ambulance was called to come and pick her up to take her to Lismore Base Hospital.
Jack and Sam went to the evacuation centre at Southern Cross University until later joining other relatives at a home in Goonellabah, which is up on the hill.
Rescue boats on the Ballina Street Bridge
Everyone has also been joined by my niece Karran and her young family who took refuge in the roof of their two-story house in South Lismore.
I never ever thought I’d recommend that Karran would need to grab a ladder and climb up into the roof, but that’s just what they did.
“That’s what Mum and Dad did in ’54, and I think you should do that too”, I told her.
After a few hours, another family member was able to use his fishing boat to rescue them. This involved a long ride over several kilometres to finally reach safety. The depth and the strength of the fast-flowing floodwater made it frightening to travel in.
“We were at the same level as the electricity wires,” Karran told me.
“I kept the girls’ faces covered — so they couldn’t see anything.”
We all know it’s likely some people have drowned.
No one in Lismore expected such extreme flooding. Both recent arrivals and long-term locals like my family never expected anything worse than the ’74 flood.
It’s been a roller coaster of a day for my family in Lismore, and me. We’ve stayed in touch hourly, though there’s a bit of radio silence now, as mobile phones have started to run out of charge.
“We don’t have any power, so I’ll have to go and sit in the car or go around for a drive,” Pat’s daughter Michelle joked when we spoke earlier today.
I’ve done a couple of spots on ABC Radio today to tell the story of what they’ve gone through. Everyone needs to know how bad this is, and when the time is right, I hope people will support my beautiful hometown.
The location for the Red Lantern has been been a restaurant vortex for a number of years. Ever since the building was renovated in the late 90s – I think it was previously a private residence – none of the restaurants have done terribly well. Although I have a certain fondness for a Middle Eastern themed restaurant that was there for a while, it’s been a virtual black hole for restaurants.
And then, all of a sudden, Red Lantern opened and it became popular. More recently, the restaurant has been featured as one of three restaurants on the SBS TV Show, Heat In The Kitchen. The series has explained it has been an inner-city experiment by a family who run a “cheap and cheerful” Vietnamese restaurant in Cabramatta which specialises and only offers half a dozen dishes.
“Red Lantern” is just around the corner, so it was a little surreal to go from watching the show at home to eating at the restaurant just moments later. We were also pretty excited, because we’d known the history of the place and we were really hopeful that, at last, it would take off as a deservedly great place to eat.
For entrees we had the lightly battered chilli salted squid and the vegetarian rice paper rolls, which included potato and carrot. Both were quite good.
For mains we had BBQ duck and the slow cooked goat, cooked in turmeric and coconut milk. The goat was good, though fairly indistinguishable from lamb, strangely enough. The duck was okay.
Although we quite enjoyed the meals, we were perhaps a little disappointed. Although they was tasty and well presented, the meals lacked a certain “something”.
Or maybe it’s just that Damo and I have been too well fed over a number of years.
The digitised newspaper project from from the National Library of Australia (aka Trove) is awesome. I love it. I’ve known a fair bit about my convict ancestors, as their lives were reasonably well documented through official government records. But searching through the newspapers, I have discovered a whole bunch of reports about many of my others ancestors family members that I hadn’t known previously, and would have been near impossible if I’d had to spend thousands of hours reading microfilms of country newspapers.
For example, both of my grandfathers appeared in court on charges of public drunkeness and obscene language.
The Southern Star (Bega) on Saturday 1 December 1906, page 4 reported that my paternal grandfather James O’Brien appeared in court along with Joseph Noonan (his brother-in-law) on using obscene language in public.
James O’Brien was charged with using obscene language in Bega Street on the morning of November 11. He pleaded not guilty, and was defended by Mr. Curtis. Constable Turner deposed to being attracted to the Bridge Lane after midnight on the 10th by a row which could be heard all over the town; he stood by the roadside, and heard defendant use the words complained of.
By Mr. Curtis : Was in Gipps street when I first heard the noise; there were five men there; was sure defendant was the right man; did not know who the two were who cleared out; he was not making fish of one, and flesh of another; they were all under the influence of liquor; did not know whether there were two horses or one in the buggy.
James Sirl deposed to having been in bed, and hearing bad language on the road. Defendant denied using the language; there were six of them altogether; he was holding the horses when the Constable arrived; asked him what charge he had against me, and be would not say.
By Sergeant Scott: Had two whiskies and three beers that night, but was not drunk (laughter) ; used no bad language; Noonan wanted to fight; am sober now; had two drinks this morning.
Mr. T. J. Bateman, J.P., of Numbugga, whom accused works for, gave him a good character, and said he had never heard him use a bad word. The Bench were unanimous in convicting defendant, and fined him 5s and 6s costs.
Joseph Noonan was charged with using indecent language on the same occasion, and pleaded not guilty, being defended by Mr. Curtis. The constable’s evidence was similar to the former case. Defendant denied using the words complained of, although he may have used other words; he was half-drunk. The P.M.: Which half — the head or the legs?
Witness said they were on their way home, and had a quarrel with two men on the road; O’Brien had a bit of a tussle with Bourke. Jas. 0’Brien deposed that defendant did not use the language.
Larry Bourke was also called, but he stated that he was too drunk to know what was said; he and O’Brien had a row, and he thought he got the worst of it. Mr. Bateman also gave Noonan a very good character, and addded he had never heard him use a bad word. Fined £1 and 65 4d costs. Mr. Curtis gave notice of appeal. Larry Bourke was fined 5s and 4s 4d costs for riotous conduct
My maternal grandfather, Charles Henry Dunn also appeared in court for being drunk in public, as was reported in The Northern Star of June 19, 1940…
Pleading guilty at the Lismore Police Court to having been drunk in Molesworth-street on Saturday night, Henry Snook (72) was fined 5s, with the alternative of three hours’ hard labour. Patrick James Daley (52), who was charged with being drunk in Molesworth-street on Saturday after noon, and Charles Henry Dunn (50), charged with drunkenness in Union street, South Lismore, on the same day, failed to appear, and forfeited their recognisances of 10s each.
I, of course, have never been drunk and have never used obscene language :)
Through Trove, I also recently discovered my uncle, Henry O’Brien was involved in an alleged robbery (though discharged) in Lismore, as was reported in the Sydney Morning Herald of Monday, 16 April 1928 (page 12)…
ROBBERY CHARGE FAILS.
GRAFTON, Saturday. Before Mr. Justice ferguson, in the Supreme Court, two young men, John Joseph Creen, and Henry Augusta O’Brien, were charged with having, at Lismore, broken and entered the jewellery premises of Michael Phillips and stolen 12 watches, 50 bangles, and 24 rings. A plea of guilty was entered by O’Brien, but Green pleaded not guilty. The Crown Prosecutor stated that as O’Brien was an accomplice, and would be wanted to give evidence, the Crown prayed that no judgment be entered against him. His Honor (to O’Brien): You are released. After evidence had been heard, His Honor said the only direct evidence against Green was that of O’Brien, who was an accomplice. It was dangerous to take the evidence of an accomplice unless corrobated by some material evidence. The Jury returned a verdict of not guilty, and accused was discharged.
Most of these stories would never have appeared in a major newspapers whereas, of course, in country newspapers they received top billing. There’s also a tendency for newspapers to report the negative and salacious, but thankfully, the newspaper search has not all been resulting in doom and gloom, as I’ve also found some lovely reports of weddings, engagements and such.
Anyway a big “thumbs up” to the National Library of Australia for this project and a recommendation to go for a search if you dare :)
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James, I have sent you an email. Just mentioning that because last time I did that you said you didn’t check that address often.
Scooters definitely an asset in Lismore; maybe not quite so compatible with the life you lead in Sydney.
James, I have sent you an email. Just mentioning that because last time I did that you said you didn’t check that address often.
Scooters definitely an asset in Lismore; maybe not quite so compatible with the life you lead in Sydney.