The Virtual dam is the dam you have, when you don’t have a dam – Dam confusing isn’t it?

This 2005 article is reprinted here in the public interest to show in context, 2005 and 2010, as the final consultation (now called Water Security) closed on May 24, 2010; and the Virtual Dam is close to being a reality. This post links to the next three posts and a previous post “London Bridge – Australian style: 420 million years ago,” published on May 6, 2010.

Not impressed in 2005

In 2005 the Queanbeyan and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) community were invited to comment on ACTEW’s “Future Water Options.” Submissions closed on 11 March 2005. [Information was available on the ACTEW 2005 website under <futurewateroptions>but are not available now. National Library of Australia has a copy see at the end of this post].

Actually ACTEW had not one but several options for Virtual dams in the pipeline at that time but Googong was in “Queanbeyan’s backyard” and this article was written and published in the Queanbeyan Age under “Queanbeyan Outlook with Connee-Colleen, Virtual Dams: a reality or a disaster,” March 8, 2005, p.5, to make the Queanbeyan community aware of Virtual Dams.

Millions of dollars

A Virtual dam is a dam that uses existing infrastructure where water from a river can be pumped to a Water Treatment Works, without storage; or water can be pumped into an existing dam for storage .

Pumping and pipeline building costs money so whilst virtual dams are cheaper than new dams they still cost millions of dollars.

In the immediate short term (in 2005) the ACTEW strategy is to look for cost effective solutions that address the ACT water shortages during dry conditions and delay spending money on infrastructure. Actually ACTEW has several options for virtual dams.

Short term strategy

In 2005 ACTEW was in the process of lobbying to drastically reducing environmental flows during dry conditions from the Cotter and Googong dams and have spillage counted as part of these calculations.

Generally water release is controlled by the amount of water coming into a dam equaling the amount of water leaving the dam.

For some reason (the platypus and wildlife were winners in 1999) because the existing 1999 Environmental Flow Guidelines required that Googong reservoir release 2 million litres of water every day into the Queanbeyan River, irrespective of the amount of water flowing into the dam. Spillage is not part of these calculations.

Greed before need

It is the two million litres of water released each day, even during the present worst drought on ACT records, that has ensured our Queanbeyan River is a healthy habitat for our endangered platypus and other native wildlife.

Whilst people may agree with ACTEW that a reduction in environmental flow is a good thing because it makes more water available for people, this rhetoric does not mean it is a good thing if it means less water for the Queanbeyan River and the native wildlife like our endangered platypus.

ACTEW pat themselves on the back, that they are exporters of water, and after high grade treatment, releases almost half of the water used by the ACT and Queanbeyan, finds its way back into the river system.

Up and down stream

This returned water may help people living down stream from the ACT but it does not help the upstream Queanbeyan River or our upstream (from the ACT) Queanbeyan platypus.

Eventually as the region develops and population increases long term solutions including options for new tunnels or dams with costs from $116 to $240 million dollars will be built in the ACT.

Of concern to Queanbeyan right now are the short term, cheap solutions that ACTEW are trying to implement.

Cheap at $ 35M

One of the cheapest Virtual dam options includes the use of Googong dam for extra water storage. At a cost of only $35 Million it will provide the ACT with enough water for about another 10 years.

During the 1965-68 drought water from the Tantangara Dam was released down the Murrumbidgee River and pumped into Cotter Dam.

This option is not considered again under recent proposals probably because of expense and the risk of an environmental contamination, the introduction of alien fish or pests and disease to the Cotter River from the Cotter Dam.

Angles Crossing

The Googong Virtual dam proposal involves releasing water from Tantangara River (Dam) down the Murrumbidgee to Angles Crossing in the ACT, where a weir will be built to hold enough water which will be pumped into an underground pipe to Burra Creek.

Imagine Burra Creek with 18 billion litres of water flowing down it into the Googong Dam as part of the Virtual Dam project proposed by ACTEW?

That Burra Creek might be in shock is an understatement. It is also an understatement to say that bank erosion is inevitable. How much erosion to the banks of Burra Creek, is not explained.

Seat holds power

The powers of the ACT to control all the water in the ACT plus all the water in the Molonglo and Queanbeyan River catchment is encapsulated in the 1909 Seat of Government Acceptance Act.

ACTEW has details of all the dams on its website but it is difficult to find information on the building of Googong in the 1970′s or any conditions.

Let’s look after Queanbeyan’s backyard, our river and the wildlife that inhabit it. Let’s keep our river healthy by making sure that environmental flow releases continue as they have been during dry conditions, during the present drought.

Long term disaster?

Let’s make sure that any short term solution doesn’t leave us with a long term disaster.

Smaller environmental flow releases could be confirmed and implemented as early as August 2005.

Let’s tell our city cousins the kids from the bush are not impressed.

END

Footnotes / Resources

1. “Queanbeyan Outlook with Connee-Colleen, Virtual Dams: a reality or a disaster,” (5) The Queanbeyan Age, March 8, 2005, p.5.
2. ACTEW (Australian Capital Territory, Electricity & Water) had information on their ACTEW website in 2005 but they are inactive now (six years later). ACTEW also handed out information booklets on “Future Water Options.” Connee has booklets stored but they are not available at the moment to footnote – sorry.
3. NB: The National Library of Australia holds a copy of ACTEW’s future water options:
Future water options for the ACT region [electronic resource …
Available in the National Library of Australia collection. Author: ACTEW Corporation; Format: Book, Online;
catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/4282079 – Cached
4. If you google “Future Water Options” (Australia) and ACTEW you should come up with some links:
5. A discussion paper produced by the Future Water Options Sub …
A discussion paper produced by the. Future Water Options Sub-Committee of the. Mary River Catchment Coordinating Committee. 2nd EDITION …
mrccc.org.au/downloads/…/Water%20for%20the%20Future.pdf

Copyright
All content on Before Canberra Copyright © Connee-Colleen unless otherwise noted – apologies extended if inadvertently a copyright has not been acknowledged – please inform so this can be rectified.

Three new flags unfurled on three new flag poles – Queanbeyan Reconciliation Garden – opened June 1, 2010

¹ Indigenous Australians with their ancestry of over forty thousand years, and newer Australians who have relocated to Queanbeyan within the past two hundred and twenty-two years, started a Reconciliation Walk, in Queanbeyan, almost 20 years ago. ²

Since those early days when everyone walked over the Queanbeyan Bridge and walked up Monaro and Lowe Streets to Town Park for games during Naidoc Week; at some stage Council became involved and the walk went to Council Chambers in Crawford Street to unfurl our three flags: the Australian flag, the Aboriginal flag and the Queanbeyan City Council flag.³

June 1, 2010

This year was different, steady rain all weekend continued in the early hours of Tuesday morning, threatening the planned Reconciliation Walk and the planned opening of the new Reconciliation Garden in Town Park on June 1, 2010.⁴

So when the rain stopped and the sun shone in time to dry the wet, green grass and leave time to set up the barbi and sizzle some sausages, it added to this happy, memorable-moment in our town’s history.⁵

Subtle simplicity

On the corner of Lowe and Campbell Streets, the new Reconciliation Garden, is a composition of natural elements of rock, earth, grass and a mixture of native-healing plants and exotic plants representing our Indigenous culture and the culture of our newcomers.⁶

All these element are within the Aboriginal symbolism of a meeting place; with three short curved paths meeting at a rock in the center, symbolizing that different people who follow different paths can still meet together. ⁷

Queanbeyan Reconciliation Garden 2010 - Mosaic artwork-circle

Powerful symbolic setting

Mosaic artwork in Queanbeyan Reconciliation Garden 2010: ⁸

Two small, powerful, mosaic-artworks, set in oval-shapes (like eyes) display symbolic healing-motifs and add a touch of colour to create interest and curiosity and stimulate the mind, at the Reconciliation Garden.

One mosaic has a black circle and a white circle on a brown background, with one quarter of the two circles overlapping.

The inter-mixing of the black and white circles symbolizing reconciliation.

Queanbeyan Reconciliation Garden 2010 - Mosaic artwork-hands

Shirt cuffs and hands

The second mosaic features a black and a white hand clasped in a hand-shake.

The black hand has a shirt-cuff motif of the Aboriginal flag.⁹

The white hand has a shirt-cuff motive of the Australian flag.¹⁰

Powerful messages of the importance that flags hold within our psychic.

Only two sites

Until Tuesday Queanbeyan’s three flags were only flown in two prominent and important locations:

(i) In front of the Council Chambers in Crawford Street;
(ii) In front of the Tourist Centre, corner of Lowe-Monaro Streets and Farrer Place – the War Memorial precinct.

New prominent  and important

On Tuesday June 1, 2010 the Reconciliation Garden became the third prominent and important location in Queanbeyan when our three flags were unfurled on the corner of Lowe and Campbell Streets as the final moment before the Reconciliation Garden was officially declared open to the community.¹¹

“Each year National Reconciliation Week (NRW) celebrates the rich culture and history of the First Australians. It is the ideal time for everyone to join the reconciliation conversation and to think about how we can help turn around the disadvantage experienced by many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.”¹²

Theme for NRW 2010

The theme for National Reconciliation Week (NRW) May 27, to June 3, 2010 is “Reconciliation: Let’s see it through”!¹³

“NRW 2010 will highlight that a decade after the historic bridge walks it’s fair to say the future for reconciliation has never looked brighter.”¹⁴

“And while there’s still a way to go, respect, trust and the knowledge to turn good intentions into effective actions pave the way forward.”¹⁵

END

Footnotes / Resources

1. All photos in this post are © Connee-Colleen.
2. Comment: Wradjuri Elder Dawn Johnston was the Aboriginal Health Officer at Queanbeyan Hospital; in the early 1990s Dawn said she wanted to organize a walk and asked how to do it. Connee remembers bringing in a old “white-single-bed-sheet from her home, as a banner for the group to paint on and telling Dawn the information she needed and who to contact: how to close roads, notify the police and the newspapers etc; but it was left up to Dawn to work with the Aboriginal People, which she did.
3. The first early walks need to be researched; the newspapers were present and there were games in Town Park; specific dates would clarify exactly what and when events took place; the route of the walk and when they went to Council?
4. Connee-Colleen © “Queanbeyan Outlook (234), Reconciliation”, The Queanbeyan Age, June 4, 2010, p.13. Comment: The rain was needed as Australia is perpetually in drought, the rain was steady and soaking, the type of rain you need; not the rain that washes the top soil away; but it is still nice to have the sun shine on a special activity.
5. Council put on the BBQ and volunteers helped cooked the sausages. The Reconciliation chocolate mud cake was delicious.
6. (i) Mayor Tim Overall made this comment during his speech, that “two children from each school helped with the planting of the native plants, which had been used for healing by traditional Aboriginal people, and the exotic plants”; (ii) The Mayor also recognized the Ngunawal people and the Ngambri people, as (both) custodians of the land, as is required by Council’s Memorandum of Understanding.  (iii) Comment: Council’s Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Ngambri Elder Louise Brown (Elder Matilda House’s sister) representing the local Aboriginal people of this country and Wradjui Elder “Aunty” Ethel Baxter representing the broader and all encompasing Aboriginal people who have made Queanbeyan their home. (iv) Comment: The Mayor’s mention of the participation of our youth in the planting at the Reconciliation garden is an example of Queanbeyan’s motto: “Faith in the Future” because youth are our future.
7. The design shows that the three paths representing different cultures: Indigenous Aboriginals and “those people who have arrived since 1788″ can meet together; a committee which looks at Aboriginal issues in Queanbeyan was part of the process that made this symbolic garden so successful.
8. Connee’s interpretation is justified as that is what we are all invited to do when viewing art or symbolism. The individual names of the artists and the committee at this stage are not known – recognition was a group acknowledgement.
9. The Aboriginal flag was designed by an Aboriginal. The publicity and controversy when Aboriginal athlete (runner) Kathy Freeman wrapped the Aboriginal Flag around herself at the Olympics and ran around the track holding it high gave the flag the profile it needed. The Aboriginal Flag now holds a place of pride and is flown with the Australian and Queanbeyan City Council flags; All over Australia the Aboriginal flag is recognized. (A separate post will cover this topic).
10. Comment: Flags in Australia are still under scrutiny. Australia did not have its own official flag for about 150 years and used the Union Jack (Britian’s national flag). The Union Jack is now in the corner of the Australian flag but still causes controversy. (A separate post will cover this topic and look at some of the flags Australian’s call their own).
11. Comment: The flags mark the new Reconciliation Garden as a prominent and important location being on a major corner where they can be seen clearly.
12. (i) A National Press Release, for National Reconciliation Week (NRW) published in: “Queanbeyan City Council, For Your Information – National Reconciliation Week: 27 May – 3 June 2010″. The Chronicle, May 4, 2010. p.8.  (ii) The local and national media give the NRW a lot of well deserved publicity and coverage.
13. Ibid.
14. (i) NRW press release. (ii) Comment: The “Bridge Walk” refers to the Sydney Harbour Bridge Walk, on May 28, 2000 during Reconciliation Week when about 300,000 Australians, walked in solidarity with Aboriginal people across the bridge to gain recognition for a better deal for Aboriginal people and say “sorry” for past injustices; the day was captured in a trail of smoke from a plane high above the 300,000 walkers that spelt the word “sorry” in the sky (great photo by Jessica Hromason) this added momentum for the Apology issue to come out into the open.
15. Comment: (i) Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard refused to say “Sorry” during his long term in office; (ii) the issue stayed alive for another ten years and it was a newly elected Prime Minister Hon Kevin Rudd who used the Federal Parliament, as the venue to say an official “Sorry” in Parliament House on February 13, 2008: for the injustices that Aboriginal people have suffered. (This will be a separate post). (iii) Prior to saying “Sorry” on February 13, 2008, Prime Minister Rudd had on the previous day, February 12, 2008, held the first Aboriginal “Welcome to Country” at Parliament House (a real extravaganza) to open his first session of Parliament; Local Aboriginal, Nagambri Elder Matilda House was part of that grand “Welcome to Country” (there was Aboriginal dancing etc from other groups) and Elder House gave the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd a “Aboriginal Message Stick”.

Copyright
All content on Before Canberra Copyright © Connee-Colleen unless otherwise noted – apologies extended if inadvertently a copyright has not been acknowledged – please inform so this can be rectified.

Aboriginal words are difficult to speak, let alone spell, because the Aboriginal language is a musical language, and can have a “ring sound” where letters run together and words are not pronounced as separate letters – an example being the “g” in Ngunnawal (or Ngunawal or Ngambri) – the “g” is silent in these Ngunnawal words. ¹

An example of a slight variation in the Ngunawal Aboriginal spoken language, compared to our written language (that is based on hearing and then interpreted into letters and words, is the variation in Ngunawal (with one “n”) and Ngunnawal (with two “nn”). The difference may have been as simple as holding the “n” for a longer period of time like a song note–we don’t know and this makes it impossible for us to know how they pronounced similar words to show the variation. ²

Aboriginal elder Don Bell (1935-2008) asserted that Ngunnawal with two “nn” means “language” and Ngunawal with one “n” means “people.” Elder Don Bell was “an Elder of the Ngunawal people from the Canberra area and grew up on Hollywood Mission at Yass, NSW, learning his traditional culture from his parents and Elders, including his grandmother Queen Lucy of Yass. Don Bell  also asserted that he was the great-grandson of Queen Nellie Hamilton of Queanbeyan and Queen Lucy was Queen Nellie’s daughter.”³

Sing-song-sound

The sound of the first part of the word Ngunnawal – “Ngun” is like saying “sung” and holding the word up into the top of your pallet and nasal, so the “ung” rings in your ears. Then remove the “g” sound; substitute the “n” sound for the “s” sound from the word “sung” (almost slurring the whole word) so that the first part of the word “Ngun” is one “sing-song-sound-note” (without saying or hearing individual letters) although the “g” is kind of in-there, as part of the overall sound. The emphasis is on the musical-sound. The pronunciation of the last portion of Ngunnawal, the “awal” appears to be straight forward where the letters are the phonetic sounds and run together quickly. ⁴

Our town

Our town’s name, Queanbeyan is based on an Aboriginal word, from the local “Queanbeyan” Aboriginal people, who were native to our town; within the combined Ngunnawal people (nation); the word Queanbeyan appears to have slipped further and further away from the original Aboriginal language pronunciation into a standardized “English” pronunciation based on the written rather than the spoken word. ⁵

It would appear that someone in officialdom in Sydney standardized the spelling of our town as ‘Queanbeyan’ when it was gazetted on 28 September, 1838 – five days later on October 3, 1838 it was officially proclaimed the village of Queanbeyan. ⁶

Cu-Um-bean phonetic for Queanbeyan

Cu-Um-bean, is the phonetic spelling used by Stewart Mowle for the word Queanbeyan and has credibility because of Mowle’s linguist and musical skills in many Aboriginal languages, in this area, and his long 70 years of close association with local Aboriginal people from 1838, when he was just 16 years of age until 1908, when he died aged 86 years. ⁷

For these reasons the authenticity of Stewart Mowle’s pronunciation is creditable and he asserted this in a letter to the editor of the Queanbeyan Age in 1905, when he used the phonic spelling of Cu-Um-bean, for Queanbeyan. ⁸

Journalist – Kyun-bi-ana

The most popular Aboriginal meanings for Queanbeyan are ‘clear water’ or ‘beautiful lady.” ⁹

But Frederick Slater said Queanbeyan meant “the sun, the great orb of the day, father attached, … Father of Light.” Slater also wrote that the original Aboriginal pronunciation for Queanbeyan was Kyun-biana, in the Journal, Mankind in 1934.” ¹⁰

Slater’s pronunciation and meaning are more unusual, and a less often quoted pronunciation, when the original Aboriginal meaning and Aboriginal pronunciation for Queanbeyan is under discussion. ¹¹

Phonetic connection

Slater’s  phonetic spelling of Queanbeyan using the “k” sound for “Kyun-bi-ana, appears to link with Stewart Mowle’s phonetic spelling of “Cu-um-bean” using the “c” sound at the beginning of his phonetic spelling and pronunciation for our town Queanbeyan (both “k” and “c” sounds are the same). ¹²

To explain how the “Qu” may have crept into the spelling of Queanbeyan and still have a “c” pronunciation we only have to look at the spelling of Quay, the example of spelling and phonetic pronunciation before us everyday in Sydney as “Circular Quay.” ¹³

Usage and abuse-age

Quay is pronounced “Key” and spelt “Quay” and is still in use today – language pronunciation and spelling cannot be standardised as it depends on usage and is constantly changing. ¹⁴

It must also be remembered that not only convicts had accents and were mostly illiterate but also the general population of the Colonies during that period, bought with them their own prejudices of correct spelling and pronunciation from various localities and countries as English was not standardized. ¹⁵

Right or wrong ?

One sound that is probably correct in Queanbeyan is the “be” sound in the middle of Queanbeyan because the “be” sound exists in all researched variations of recorded phonetic spelling made during the contact period in the 1800s. ¹⁶

When comparing many of the various phonetic spelling examples that have been recorded, research suggests that it is wrong to emphasise Queen” at the beginning of Queanbeyan and the emphasis of “ann” or “yann” on the end of Queanbeyan may also be wrong, ¹⁷

Convict usage – Quinbean

“Quinbean” was the name used as the location of Timothy Beard’s property, Beard, a former convict was a pioneer squatter near Queanbeyan prior to 1828. ¹⁸

Timothy beard did not have a title or grant for the land but is listed and located there in the 1828 census along with his three assigned convicts who worked the property. ¹⁹

Surveyor usage – Quinbean or Quinbeam or Qiom-bee-ann

Sir Thomas Mitchell (1792 -1855), who was the Surveyor-general of New South Wales used two variations and spelt the name of our town Queanbeyan as “Quinbean”or “Quinbeam.” ²⁰

Yet another variation “Qiom-bee-ann” attributed to Surveyor Mitchell, one of Australia’s early, east-coast explorers who liked to use local Aboriginal place names, by Frederick Watson in the Story of Queanbeyan 1838-1938. ²¹

Surveyor usage two – Queenbeenn

During Surveyor White’s time Queanbeyan was spelt “Queenbeenn” writes Rex Cross in Bygone Queanbeyan but Cross does not give any further information, although we can asume that Surveyor White was in the area in 1833 because Wilson writes that Francis Mowatt built The Lodge at Yarralumla after January 1833, and surveyor White included The Lodge on his survey map of January 1834. ²²

Land owner usage – Quinbeane

In September 1832, John Palmer, (died 1830)  the owner of Jerrabomberra enlarged his property by adding an ‘adjoining 640 acres at a place called “Quinbeane”. This information comes from the NSW Government Gazette, 1832. ²³

But it should be noted that John Palmer applied from his home near Parramatta, Sydney and may not have visited the Queanbeyan site although he could have obtained the spelling of “Quinbeane” from a government report. ²⁴

Scientist usage – Quinbien

Doctor John Lhotsky was born in Lwow (formerly part of Poland) and is referred to as a Pole or German scientist-naturalist, who visited extensively in the area around Queanbeyan and Monaro region in 1834. ²⁵

Lhotsky had studied gramma and came to Australian in 1832. He wrote the pronunciation of Queanbeyan as “Quinbien” in the vocabulary list he made when communicating with young Aboriginal youths during a visit to the “Menero Downs” in 1834. ²⁶

Poet’s usage: Quaen-bien

Joseph Kelly, was living at Molonglo when he wrote a poem about the Queanbeyan River in 1865.

Kelly spelt Queanbeyan phonetically as “Quaen-bien” but did not explain the meaning of Queaen-bien or where he heard it pronounced; or by whom; when his poem was published in the Queanbeyan Age in 1865.

Quoted below is the first verse from Kelly’s five verse poem, The Quaen-bien: ²⁷

Through many a lonesome valley,
Through many a shady dell,
Where summer wind breathes dally,
And bright -plumed songsters dwell,
Even murmuring onward floweth,
Our own old Quaen-bien … . ²⁸

Stewart M0wle (1822-1908)

Most of the following information comes from Wilson’s Murray of Yarralumla:²⁹

In 1838 when Terence Aubrey Murray met Stewart Mowle he was so impressed with the 16 year old that he asked him to manage his property at Yarrallumla, on the Limestone Plains near the village of Queanbeyan.

Murray advised Mowle to stay aloof and separate from the workers, whom he would be in charge of – sixty men, all older than Mowle (he was an unusual six foot four inches youth, educated and intelligent and self-assured) and most of the men were ex-convicts or convicts.

Stewart Mowle’s main friend, who kept him company was a young Aboriginal boy Tommy, the son of a local Elder, who was his equal in age, intelligence and position.

Mowle learnt the language and the skills of the local Aboriginal people through constant contact and usage.

Mowle kept a journal, but in later years destroyed it; and even later regretted destroying it; and later still Mowle wrote a retrospective journal based on his memories; held at the National Library Australia (nla).

Mowle shared his life and travelled widely through the Monaro region, always learning from local Aboriginal people – their songs (and sung with them) as well as their language and customs.

Mowle’s linguist and musical skills and his contact from 1838, the year that Queanbeyan was proclaimed a village, gave Mowle more experience in the language and customs of this area than other migrants to this country.

Stewart Mowle’s asserted the above in a letter to the editor of the Queanbeyan Age in 1905, when he used the phonic spelling of Cu-Um-bean, for Queanbeyan. ³⁰

Pronunciation of Cu-Um-bean

Sound the “c” and add “u” saying the letter “u” as (you) and when the “Cu” are put together it sounds-like “q” but the emphasis is on the “c” sound, which makes it more musical; Then sound the capital “U” with more emphasis on the sound, do not speak it as the letter “you” but as the sound “uh”. Then join the “m” as one sound – “Um” (like when someone suggests something to you and you are not sure and say “Ummm”. Then add the “bean” as one word – without distinguishing each letter during pronunciation – Cu-Um-bean. The dashes as separations (slight pause) help give Cu-Um-bean a lyrical pronunciation. The capital “U” in the middle must be emphasized, because Mowle’s interpretation is based on his knowledge and musical ability and gives emphasis to help us understand and follow a truer pronunciation. ³¹

NOTE: This post was accidentally published, incomplete, on May 24 – it has now been revised. Reference and footnotes completed – May 25 at 9.50 am Eastern Australian time – apologies extended.On October 24, 2010 the first three paragraphs were reconstructed to clarify meaning.

END

Footnotes / Resources

1. Comment: (i) Indigenous Aboriginal refers to Australia’s Indigenous Aboriginal people. (ii) The Ngunawal people’s land was a huge area that included Queanbeyan and Canberra. and is a combination of many groups of Aboriginal people who lived within the huge Ngunawal area. (iii) Some of the various spellings and pronunciations in addition to Ngunawal and Ngunuwal are: Ngoonawawal. Wonnawal and Nungawal – and there are others, which add to the discussion on pronunciation; See also Tindale’s Aboriginal maps on language.
2. Connee’s opinion and impressions through the experience of being taught by local Ngunawal people in the 1990s.
3. (i) Bell. Don, The Swan. [Aboriginal Dreamtime story]. Gundaroo, NSW. (SBN 1 875495 34 7) p. 20. (ii) Bell. Don, Mununja the Butterfly – (ISBN 1 875495 29 0) – Don Bell’s photo and linage is on the back cover. (iii) Comment: There is no date on either book but the book Mununja the Butterfly was launched at the Canberra Museum and Gallery on February 26, 2000. If memory serves correct the book, The Swan, was published after the Mununja the Butterfly book.
4. Connee’s opinion and impressions through the experience of being taught by local Ngunawal people in the 1990s.
5. Comment: Connee’s ongoing research has focused on the Queanbeyan Aboriginal group (as distinct from other groups: eg. Ngambri and Pialligo, all of whom appear to belong to the Ngunawal people with a common Nugunnawal language – Since Ann Jackson-Nakano published her book: The Kamberi in 2001; the group who used to refer to themselves as “Ngunnawal” (spelt with two” nn”) broke away from the Nugunawal/ Nugunnawal (territory) and became the “Ngambri” group. A dispute about the name of the territory continues between calling it Nugunawal country or Ngambri country. Queen Nellie was from the Queanbeyan group ( group is sometimes referred to as a “tribe” – although “tribe” is too American and the Aboriginal people were nothing like that). Connee’s references date from the mid 1800s and are part of Connee’s ongoing research manuscript which will be published at a future date. References to Queen Nellie by Gillespie that Nellie was the “last of the Aboriginal people in this area seem to stem from the mid 1800s documentation, which specifically states that Nellie is the last of the “Queanbeyan” Aboriginal people that the others have been gone a long time (specifically gone from Queanbeyan). There were at that time other Aboriginal people from other groups living in this area. Don Bell claimed he was a descendant of Queen Nellie at the back of both books: The Swan, and Munjuwa the Butterfly, and always said that Queen Lucy was the daughter of a union between Hamilton Hume (one of the Hume men) and Queen Nellie, and that Lucy was born around Gunning. Bell said that Queen Nellie was “taken” by Hume when she was young. Bell also said that the child Lucy was so white that the Aboriginal people tried to “smoke” her to make her black. Bell made these assertions to many people and was believed by many including author Gillespie.
6. Connee-Colleen © Queanbeyan Outlook, Kyun-biana (98). The Queanbeyan Age, 13 July, 2007, p. 23.
7. Sheedy. P.B. (BEM) & EA Percy. Monaroo to Monaro – History of Monaro Street 1830s-1995. pp xii – xiii.
8. (i) The Queanbeyan Age, 1905; (ii) Cross, Rex. Bygone Queanbeyan – Revised Edition. 1985. p. 1: (iii) Wilson, Gwendoline. Murray of Yarralumla. Canberra, 2001. pp 61; 98-110.
9. Connee’s opinion.
10. (i) Aboriginal, Ngambri Elder Matilda House asserts that Queanbeyan means “beautiful woman”; (ii) Cross. 1985., writes that Queanbeyan means “beautiful lady”, p. 1.
11. (i) Cross, 1985. p. 1; (ii) Slater, Frederick. [article in] Mankind Journal, Vol 1, No 10. October 1934.
12. Connee’s opinion.
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid.
15. Ramson, W.S. (Ed). English Transported: Essays on Australian English. Australian National University Press. Canberra 1970.
16. (i) Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales A Selection. (Edited and with an introduction by Donald R. Howard). Signet Classics 1969. (ii) Geoffrey Chaucer (born c. 1340, London); his Lord’s Prayer is a good example of changes in English; another example is doing your own family research or genealogy, which usually unearths changes in spelling and dates of what you thought were authentic names and dates, which results depended on the literacy of the recorder or the accent of the informant plus there are changes within the language during our lifetime, all the time as new words are invented and old words change in meaning.
17. Connee’s opinion based on local research.
18. Ibid
19. (i) Cross, Bygone Queanbeyan. 1985, pp. 4, 5; (ii) Errol Lea-Scarlet, Queanbeyan District and People. Queanbeyan. 1968, pp. 13-14, 16-17.
20. Australian 1828 Census (film and/ or book at libraries and Archives in Australia); records convicts, their families (if they came with them, transportation ship and date of arrival; years of sentence; convict assignment; religion; location and/ or employment (in 1828).
21. Rex Cross, p. 1.
22. Watson. Frederick, A Brief History of Canberra, 1927, on line: this reference on line may not be available at the moment. I will try and find the hard copy of the book and reference it again. <http:/www.standard.net.au/~jwilliams/xabor.htm>
23. (i) Rex Cross, p. 1. (ii) Wilson, Gwendoline. Murray of Yarralumla. Canberra, 2001. p. 63.
24. (i) Rex Cross pp. 4, 47; (ii) Errol Lea-Scarlet pp. 10-11, 15-16.
25. Errol Lea-Scarlet pp. 10-11
26. (i) Rex Cross, 1985. p. 1, 67-68; (ii) Errol Lea-Scarlet. pp. 18, 25. (iii) ‘Menero Downs’ is another variation of Aboriginal language “territory” name; Monaro (is the variation in use today; and Moneroo (was in use in the late 1800s).
27. Young, Michael, with Ellen & Debbie Mundy. The Aboriginal People of the Monaro – A documentary history. NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, 2000. pp. 81-2.
28. Lyall L. Gillespie, Early Verse of the Canberra Region. Canberra, 1994. p. 47.
29. Wilson, 2001. pp. 98-110.
30. (i) Wilson, 2001. p.61. (ii) Queanbeyan Age, 1905.
31. Connee’s opinion.

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In WWII the Country Women’s Association of New South Wales (CWA-NSW) cottage-industry, included knitting and making wearing apparel including “40,000 sheepskin vests and 24,000 other sheepskin articles” for the forces; as well as hundred and thousands of camouflage nets, which surpassed the work done by women working from homes during WWI.¹

Serving the Country

In her book Serving the Country, author Helen Townsend writes that in one year alone the CWA-NSW women, and other participating NSW women, made “more than half a million” camouflage nets, which “saved the Government millions of pounds as well as manpower and resources”.²

The CWA started making camouflage nets using balls of string, in 1941 and the process of making them was nicknamed “netting”.

Mass production

By 1942 the expertise of the CWA netting-work was recognized when the New South Wales (NSW) Eighth Division serving overseas requested the CWA make camouflage nets for them; the women worked so hard that by 1943 there were sufficient nets and they were informed by the Minister of the Army, Mr Forde, “that netting would cease shortly”, the women continued netting because they loved the activity until 1944 when the CWA women started to recondition army clothes (trench trousers, tunics and great-coats) – by the end of 1944 they had reconditioned 264,800 articles of clothing.³

A talented, mechanically minded Queanbeyan man, William Genge’s flat-feet prevented him from serving overseas – instead he served at the Sydney Commonwealth Aircraft Factory, at Lidcombe (a Sydney suburb) putting in and testing Bauefort Bomber engines in planes for the Australian Air Force – his children and wife, Catherine (known as Kate) lived nearby – Kate remembered the deafening roar when the factory tested the Bauefort Bomber’s engines for the rest of her life.⁴

With a brother and son serving overseas, and alarmed at the possibility of loosing all her family when the three Japanese midget-submarines invaded Sydney Harbour on the night of May 31, 1942, ⁵ Kate’s mother, Edith Pearl (Lodge) Cantle (still living in Queanbeyan) asked her daughter Kate (Cantle) Genge to send her 8-year-old grand-daughter Irene, back home to safety in Queanbeyan.⁶

Netting circles

Eight year old Irene went with her grandmother Edith Pearl, to the CWA rooms, in Monaro Street, Queanbeyan, which was just one of the 400 CWA netting circles, where women sat around a large frame “netting.” Eight-year-old Irene liked “netting” so much that her grandfather made her a small “netting” frame behind the kitchen door where she could do “netting” in her spare time at home in the 1940s.⁷

The CWA had a central role in organizing cottage-industry and provided the CWA rest-rooms as work-places where women like Edith Pearl, who was not a member of the CWA, as well as other women who belonged to other organizations (like the Red-Cross) could participate and contribute to the war effort together.⁸

Popular pastime

The Australian War Memorial, in Canberra, only ten minutes from Queanbeyan, has a great collection of private poems, photographs, diaries and memorabilia, collected from members of the forces by WWI Australian War Historian “Bean” ⁹ who set the standard in collecting and research, so any Australian could do research and write their own interpretation of the war based on words written during the war by the forces and not only rely on official records and official interpretation and propaganda.

The following poem was written by L/Sgt R.A Wickens, whilst serving abroad in 1942; during the Great War (WWI) when brothers often served together and were wiped out together; in this poem written in WWII the brothers are serving in separate forces – and the poem gives a picture of the war effort by an Australian family – abroad and at home – as Dad, Mum, sister and sons all serve. ¹⁰

Just Camouflaging Nets

Young Tommy’s in the Army,
With bully beef and stew,
While Jimmy drinks the salt sea air,
All dressed in Navy Blue. John is with the RAF
Just squaring up some debts
And poor old Mum just sits at home,
a’camouflaging nets

My Dad’s become a warden,
But considers it a trifle.
And sister Sue does her bit, too–
She helps make the rifle.
Now Billie’s left his scholarship
And joined the sea cadets,
So the only one who’s left at home is
a’camouflaging nets.

Now this may seem a lot of rot–
A silly waste of time.
To sit around and tie on rags
On piles of netted twine.
But just suppose your in Tobruk,
Then you’d pray they’d spend more days
a’camouflaging nets.

Now my Mum looked at it this way:
She’d tons of time for thought
And with us all so far away,
What price the memories brought?
Though I’m Mum’s son, a digger too,
Now she’s no time to fret,
Just plays her role, God bless her soul,
a’camouflaging nets.

END

Footnotes / Resources

1. Country Women’s Association of New South Wales: (i) The Golden Years: the story of fifty years of the Country Women’s Association of New South Wales. 1927. p. 26. (40,000 sheepskin vests and 24,000 other). (ii) Silver Years, Country Women’s Association of New South Wales, 1922-1947. pp. 23; 26. (iii) Note: All references to the Country Women’s Association (CWA) in this post refer to the CWA in the state of New South Wales (NSW) Australia, and not to the CWA in other states of Australia or other countries throughout the world.
2. Townsend, Helen. Serving the Country – The history of the Country Women’s Association of New South Wales. 1988, p.125.
3. (i) Ibid pp. 124-25. (ii) Golden Years, 1972. pp. 24-25.
4. (i) Connee-Colleen © “Queanbeyan Outlook (45), Women making camouflage at home”, The Queanbeyan Age. June 20, 2006, p. 5. (ii) Connee-Colleen. Interview: Catherine “Kate” Mary (Cantle) Genge (1912-2010), Queanbeyan, 2006. (iii) Note: Catherine “Kate” Mary Cantle married William Harold Genge (c.1934): There were four children from the marriage: Irene Edith Genge (born 1934); Catherine Francis Genge (born 1939); Rosemary Ann Genge (born 1941); William Robert “Billy Bob” Genge (born 1944).
5. (i) < http://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/midgetsub/index.htm> (ii) Connee-Colleen. Interview: Catherine “Kate” Genge, 2006.
6. Connee-Colleen. Interview: Catherine “Kate” Genge, 2006. (iii) Note: Edith Pearl Lodge (1886-1968) married William Charles Cantle (1872-1960) in 1910, there were four children from the marriage: Edith Jean Cantle (1911; Catherine Mary Cantle (1912-2010); Robert John Cantle (1914); Arthur Herbert Cantle (1917).
7. (i) Townsend. p.125. (ii) Connee-Colleen. Interview: Irene Genge Queanbeyan, 2006. Irene Genge (born 1934) married Hilary George Bateup (1957).
8. Townsend. p.124
9. (Ref to come)
10. Ibid p. 126.

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Stanley Melbourne Bruce was the eighth Prime Minister of Australia and second youngest to hold that office at 39 years of age. He was Prime Minister from February 1, 1923 to October 22, 1929.¹

It was a great achievement for Stanley Bruce to hold a Nationalist-Country Party coalition together during his 6 year term as Prime Minister of Australia from 1923 to 1929. Earl Page was the deputy Prime Minister and this was the first time that every member of the Cabinet was Australian born.²

Free booklet

Bruce’s term in office and  sheer determination saw the Public Service, including the Australian Federal Parliament move from Melbourne to Canberra, and its opening on May 9, 1927 by the Duchess and Duke of York, later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.³

The glamorous, and free, 32 page booklet that accompanies the National Archives  of Australia exhibition ‘Stanley Melbourne Bruce – Prime Minister & Statesman,’ reports that few of Ethel’s letters have “survived, and only a few references to her appear in Bruce’s papers and in departmental files held by the National Archives.” ⁴

All about Ethel

In a corner, at the back of the exhibition, can be seen a few items on loan, relating to Lady Ethel Dunlop Bruce who died aged 88 years, and childless, in March 1967.⁵

Ethel was one of seven daughters (Melbourne born) to Andrew George Anderson in 1879.⁶

Eternal partner

Ethel Dunlop Anderson married Stanley Melbourne Bruce (also of Melbourne) in Sonning, Berkshire in England in 1913. They were the first occupants of the Prime Minister’s Lodge in Canberra and Ethel provided the visitors book, signed by the Duke and Duchess of York: Albert, May 9th, 1927 and Elizabeth, May 9th, 1927.⁷

Signed with a flourish, “Yours, Bruce of Melbourne”, is a poignant reply to Prime Minister Holt’s letter, which expressed condolences from Mrs Holt, himself, the Government and Ministerial Colleagues to Lord Bruce after Lady Bruce’s death.⁸

Lord Bruce replied, “My wife’s passing is a loss beyond measure” – Lady Bruce had a great memory for faces and names and would whisper these to Bruce. She was Bruce’s closest confidant.⁹

Bruce’s backlash

Often remembered as being more pompous and more British that the British, Bruce argued a pro-business approach between Australia and England; trying to keep wages low in Australia to be competitive in England. His slogan was “Men, money and markets”.¹⁰

He was the first Prime Minister to loose his seat whilst in office – the industrial backlash saw his defeat in the 1929 election, during the onset of the depression.¹¹

Heaven’s above

Five months after his wife’s death, Bruce (1883-1967) died in England and the Australian Parliament agreed with his last request to scatter his ashes over Canberra.¹²

As a memorial service was conducted below, Bruce of Melbourne’s ashes were scattered over Canberra from a plane above .¹³

Artifact gifts

In 1962 Prime Minister Menzies acknowledged Bruce as, “probably the most outstanding Australian of our time”.¹⁴

Gifted by Bruce to Australia, this rare exhibition of Bruce’s rare artifacts at the National Archives of Australia, which is located behind old Parliament House, closes May 29, 2010.^{15 – 16}
END

Footnotes / Resources

1. (i) National Archives of Australia. Stanley Melbourne Bruce Prime Minister & Statesman, © Commonwealth of Australia, 2009. p. 7 (Free exhibition booklet) (ii) The youngest Prime Minister was John Christian Watson (37 years) first Labor Prime Minister in 1904:
2. Ibid p. 7.
3. Ibid p. 25.
4. Ibid p. 21.
5. Ibid p. 21. Photo: Ethel Bruce (NAA: A1486,1); HMAS Hobart Bell presented: Ethel Bruce, 1938. (NAA: M4254, 18).
6. Ibid p. 21.
7. Ibid p. 21-22. Visitors book (NAA: M4254,2).
8. Ibid p. 21.
9. Ibid p. 22. Bruce’s letter (NAA: M2684, 78).
10. Ibid p. 7.
11. Ibid p. 7.
12. Letter in Exhibition.
13. Letter in Exhibition.
14. Ibid p. 1.
15. Ibid: (i) Freedom of the City of London, gold casket and parchment (NAA: M4254, 40 Part 1); (ii) Freedom of the City of Stroke-on-Trent, Staffordshire china teaset, 1926 (NAA: M4254, 12); (iii) Bruce’s uniform of a privy councillor (NAA: M4254, 29); (iv) Melbourne centenary china jug, 1934 (NAA: M4254, 15); (v) Gravel from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Preparatory Commission, 1947 (NAA: M4254, 33); (vi) The seal and illuminated parchment of Bruce’s appointment as a viscount, 1947 (NAA: M4254, 25); (vii) Photo: Lord Bruce of Melbourne and Sir Earl Page at the Australian National University, 1958 (NAA: A1200, L25029); (viii) Red coat and black trousers of Bruce’s captain’s uniform of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, Scotland, 1954 (NAA: M4254, 32); (ix) Gold cigarette case from the Duke and Duchess of York, 1927 (NAA: M4254, 41); (x) Plus various photos.
16. Connee-Colleen © Queanbeyan Outlook (231) “E & S Bruce” The Queanbeyan Age, May 14, 2010, p.11.

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And some ‘Afhgan’ cameleers stayed and married European and Indigenous [Aboriginal] women in Australia, raising their children in the Islamic faith.” ¹

“From 1870 to 1900, as many as 2,000 cameleers, known as ‘Afghans’  in Australia, and 15,000 camels arrived from Afghanistan and northern India (today’s Pakistan). … Some returned home others stayed, establishing communities in outback towns from Bourke, New South Wales, to Broome, Western Australia.²

First shipment

Around 1864 an agent had been employed to select (with great care) “Candahar” ³ superior-camels  to ship to Australia.

The selection was evidently successful as the Blackwall’s cargo of  “one hundred and twenty-two camels disembarked in good health at Port Augusta on January 7, 1866.” ⁴

Pregnant production

Even though three camels had died on the voyage, with most of the female camels pregnant the expected birth of forty to fifty young camels, was ample replacement.

The Hon. Mr Elder was the force behind the introduction of the new “beast of burden” to the colony in 1866 and like most introduced species their impact on the environment was untried and unknown.⁵

Environmental eating

Sailing from Kurrachee on October 23, 1865 the Blackwall, with Captain Harrison in command arrived at Port Augusta, South Australia, seventy-six days later with the cargo that heralded a “new era, in the carriage of goods to and from the Far North”, reported the Queanbeyan Age.⁶

When taken into the bush the camels “avidly” ate half a dozen varieties of plants especially the acacia.⁷

Zemindar overseer

With each camel capable of carrying from four to five cwt it was intended to moderately load them with four hundred and fifty pounds of goods, with each trip expected to move twenty-five tons of stores.

“Arab drivers, Mohammedans of perfect sobriety”, were said to be a “superior lot of men in personal appearance with the skill to manage the animals,” reported the Age, “and disembarked with their saddles and necessary furniture.” ⁸

Baggage and people

“Camels can travel seventy or eighty miles a day with the greatest of ease”, continued the Age, “the motion as easy as horseback and on long journeys, less fatiguing.

Riding-camels are  fleet of foot and able to travel six miles an hour at an easy ambling pace – the baggage-camels carry the heaviest loads, and go at a slower pace.” ⁹

Shearing dollar

Most of the cavalcade of camels were destined for Umberatana in South Australia, with a detachment going on to Lake Hope with provisions, and then return with wool to Port Augusta.

During the sea voyage the Candahar camels had grown a wooly coat and when clipped at Umberetana; the camel-wool-clip was expected to  yield from twenty-five to thirty pounds in weight.¹⁰

Uncharted interior

This return on the camel-wool was worth from 7 pence to 9 pence per pound – an unexpected added bonus.¹¹

The National Library of Australia was host for a traveling exhibition from the South Australian Museum in 2007 called: Pioneers of the Inland: Australia’s Muslim Cameleers 1860s-1930s, which told the “stories of the Muslim explorers and pioneers who unlocked the deserts, opening crucial lines of supply and communication between coastal and inland towns, remote settlements, mines and mission stations.” ¹²

Black and white

It must be remembered that Australia was inhabited by Aboriginal people before white settlement and exploration. It must also be noted that un-named Aboriginal guides (blacktrackers) showed explorers the way and gave them information that aided settlement.

In this context the Afghans were crucial in moving goods and chattel’s so that Australia’s interior could be charted, from the time of the 1860 ill-fated Bourke and Wills expedition through Central Australia.¹³
END

Footnotes / Resources

1. Australians have a habit of shortening names. Instead of referring to people as from Afghanistan they just call them Afghans. (A postman becomes a “postie”; a milkman becomes a “milko” etc – virtually any name will be shortened – if at all possible).
2. National Library of Australia exhibition:
http://www.nla.gov.au/pressrel/Stories-of-forgotten-pioneers-at-the-National-Library.html
3. ‘Candahar’ is in Afghanistan; it is also spelt  ‘Kandahar’.
4. Queanbeyan Age, Feb 8, 1866: “The Camels and Donkeys”– South Australian Register.
5. Queanbeyan Age, Feb 8, 1866.
6. Queanbeyan Age, Feb 8, 1866
7. Camels are now considered an pests because of increase numbers and the damage they have done to the plant life, which has outstripped its ability to replenish. Acacia trees also called mimosa – an Australian wattle. Wattle is Australia’s national emblem. In South Australia Maku (or witchetty grubs) are dug for in the roots of acacia bushes:
www.aboriginaleducation.sa.edu.au/…/Aboriginal_history_in_SA_s.pdf
8. Queanbeyan Age, Feb 8, 1866
9. Queanbeyan Age, Feb 8, 1866
10. Umberatana is a station (property) in South Australia: www.southaustralianhistory.com.au/umberatana.htm
11. (i) “Connee-Colleen. Queanbeyan Outlook – Beastly burden” (225) The Queanbeyan Age, April 1, 2010, p.11. (ii) Queanbeyan Age, Feb 8, 1866.
12. (i) Quote from an Australian National Library media release:

http://www.nla.gov.au/pressrel/Stories-of-forgotten-pioneers-at-the-National-Library.html

(ii) The exhibition was accompanied by a 192-page, fully illustrated book, published by Wakefield Press.
13. Connee-Colleen’s comments based on general-reading.

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A publication in 1991 of a chance discovery by Dr David G Bailey from Ontario, proved that the “interaction and interference” of grapefruit could alter and increase the levels of a blood pressure drug called felodipine.¹

Many labels on our pills and potions give specific instruction to take the medication before or after or with food or water, but how obedient are we to these words of wisdom when we know that the food or the drink is good and healthy for us too?

In today’s secular world, which is less dependent on God’s word and has more faith on the pills and potions that industry churns out and Doctors hand out to those seeking eternal life, there is still a need to be obedient.

Alcohol part

Since 1991 researchers “have learned that grapefruit juice interferes with the natural breakdown of many other medications, so that their levels in blood can increase – sometimes to a dangerous extent.

“These include some blood pressure drugs, antihistamines, hormones, antivirals, statins (for cholesterol), opiates, sedatives and even viagra. And we have found other fruits (limes, Seville oranges and even sometimes apples) that can increase drug levels in your body,” writes Dr Kruszelnicki in Good Weekend.²

In August 2008 a month before the Kruszelnicki article Dr Bailey announced that the “above-mentioned fruits, can paradoxically, decrease the blood levels of certain other medications.”³

Connected

The time lapse of 17 years between Dr Bailey’s 1991 and 2008 research findings on the interaction of natural foods and manufactured drugs show that this research is just the tip of the iceberg.

It would be foolish to suddenly stop eating healthy food or to stop taking medication but it is important to read and obey the instructions on your medication.

It is also wise to rely on your own intuition if your health is not improving and seek your doctor or pharmacist advice on possible interactions between medications or food that could aggravate illness.⁴
END

Footnotes and Resources

1 Kruszelnicki. Dr Karl S., “Myth Conceptions”, Good Weekend. September 20, 2008. p. 11:
“This interaction first came to medical attention in 1991 with the publication of a paper in The Lancet by Dr David G. Bailey, from Ontario. The paper opens with three dry words, “A chance finding”, and goes on to describe, in very academic language, that grapefruit juice can increase the levels of a blood pressure drug. For example, instead of there being five micrograms of drug X per cubic centimetre of blood, there may

Although the game of golf can be traced back to Scotland in the 15th century, about 500 years ago, the first golf played in Australia was near Bothwell, Tasmania, in the 1820s.¹

This year in the 21st century, it will be 114 years since the first recorded game of golf was played in Queanbeyan, Australia, on August 12, 1896.²

On that day the gentlemen of the town of Queanbeyan, Mr Downing, Mr Cadden and Mr Ling started their game of golf from the “putting” ground at the Glebe paddock, near the former Beatty slaughter yards; then down to the river where the present Leagues Club is located, then back through the “business district” to finish near the courthouse on the corner of Lowe/ Monaro Streets and Farrer Place.³

Gutta percha and cleek

Golfing super stars, like Tiger Woods as well as the course, the equipment, and the rules of the game of golf played today, are a far cry from that played in Queanbeyan when the game of golf was first introduced by the gentlemen of the town in 1896.

The object of the game, in 1896 was to drive a “gutta percha ball” over the long course in as few hits as possible, with the “cleek” which was a stick with a steel crook at the end, reported, The Queanbeyan Age.⁴

And apart from negotiating “all fences, logs, and ditches” and anything else “that maybe in the way” the “game of golf is a very simple one”, wrote the Age – then added almost as an after thought, “the ball has to be put into certain holes on the way.”⁵

Evolutionary changes

In 1901 the Queanbeyan game of golf moved to Trinculo Place on the other side of the Queanbeyan River where land had been set aside for public recreation and once again Queanbeyan residents marked out a “rough” informal course for themselves.⁶

Some technological changes were sometimes accidental like the “dimples” in Golf balls, which were “introduced in 1908 when it was discovered that after a ball was nicked and cut it traveled better.”⁷

But whilst many things have changed since 1896 most golfers would agree, that the difficult task of placing the ball in “certain holes” along the way remains the same.⁸

War and depression

World War One followed by the 1930s depression, which was followed by World War Two saw the lack of manpower and money interrupt major improvements to the local game of golf and the course.⁹

In 1945 the nine-hole golf course was still covered with native grasses and was dissected by a storm gully that sometimes flooded, but these were not the only problems, as the game of golf in Queanbeyan was shared with animals who turned the golf course into a collision course.

Golf balls were hard to find in the horses hoof marks and with no watering system the golf season was closed in summer when the fairways were too hard to play.¹⁰

Hide and seek

On the fifty-sixth anniversary of the game of golf in Queanbeyan, The Queanbeyan Age, wrote on August 12, 1952:

Over the weekends horses are not only straying, but galloping over the fairways.
The owner, or someone sent to collect the horses, chases the horses among the players and tracks up to a yard long are skidded in the long grass”.

Men and women

On July 5, 1924 when the Queanbeyan Golf Club was formally organized, the men were full members of the club. The women, formed a ladies association with their own committee on 16 July, and were associate members.¹¹

In 1928 Mrs E.W. Holloway became the first women president¹² of the golf club even though women played golf as associate members until 1991, when women became full members.¹³

When a watering system was installed and club-house amenities improved the club membership expanded followed by an improved financial footing and the move out of the rough to the excellent and beautiful golf course which now embraces the Queanbeyan river corridor was achieved.¹⁴

Convict world demolished

Progress never occurs without regrets and over time the Queanbeyan Golf Club purchased several parcels of land and the golf course expanded to its present 18 hole course.

This buy-up of land included part of Captain Alured Tasker Faunce’s Dodsworth Estate, named after Captain Faunce’s family in England and on it the old timber slab Dodsworth  House, the old Courthouse and first Benevolent Asylum (Hospital) – they seem to have all been demolished during the 1960s and are a great loss given their age and connection to historic Queanbeyan’s early history.¹⁵

In 1838 the same year that the town was gazetted and proclaimed convicts were building the Courthouse complex and house needed for the Police Magistrate Captain Faunce; by 1839 convicts had sufficiently built Dodsworth House and the courthouse for the Faunce family to move and live there.

Around one hundred and thirty years later they were all demolished.^16-17
END

Footnotes / Resources

1. Marshall, Barbara, and Bob Woods, Out of the rough – a century of golf in Queanbeyan. Queanbeyan Golf Club, 1996. p.  (ISBN 0 646 29359 1).
2. The Queanbeyan Age, August 15, 1896.
3. The Queanbeyan Age, August 15, 1896.
4. The Queanbeyan Age, August 15, 1896.
5. The Queanbeyan Age, August 15, 1896.
6. Marshell, 1996.p. 11.
7. Marshell, 1996.p. 11.
8. Marshell, 1996.p. 11.
9. Marshell, 1996.p. 11.
10. The Queanbeyan Age, August 12, 1952.
11. Marshell, 1996.p. 40.
12. Marshell, 1996.p. 51.
13. Marshell, 1996.p. 101.
14. Marshell, 1996.p. 16.
15. Marshell, 1996.p. 12.
16. Lea-Scarlett, Errol. Queanbeyan District and People. Queanbeyan: Queanbeyan City Council, 1968. p. 30.
17. Connee-Colleen, © Queabeyan Outlook (53) “Golf rough 1896.” The Queanbeyan Age, August 18, 2006, p. 16.

END

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Check out the size of London Bridge – compare the size of the people on top of London Bridge!

“London Bridge arch, about 18km from Queanbeyan (NSW) began to form when sediment and coral remains were deposited on an ocean floor 420 million years ago – it was then subject to intense pressure.

Over time the ocean receded and erosion shaped the landscape.

London Bridge is a natural limestone arch that was formed by water slowly leaching through the limestone, enlarging cracks until a passage was big enough for Burra Creek to pass through.

Aboriginal occupation

It reached its present size about 20,000 years ago” and housed Aboriginal burial remains prior to white intrusion.

Captain Mark Currie’s Aboriginal guide directed him to the arch in 1823  and local Europeans nick-named it London Bridge.¹

Man-made disaster?

The arch is now a heritage listed tourist attraction and is part of the Googong Dam catchment area.

A proposal by “Australian Capital Territory Electricity and Water” (ACTEW) to construct and operate an underground pipeline that can transfer up to 100 megaliters/ day of water from the Murrumbidgee River (within the ACT) to Burra Creek (in NSW)” where the water will then flow along Burra Creek through the London Bridge Arch to Googong Dam for storage will mimic the one metre height of floods (above the natural water line) under London Bridge and (so it is said) will not have any adverse effect on the natural limestone arch.²

Fortune cookie

London Bridge is falling down;
Falling down, falling down;
London Bridge is falling down;
My fair lady!

Will this old English nursery rhyme that was (and perhaps still is) a popular school yard playground game in days of yore become the future catch cry for our own historic, heritage-listed natural, limestone arch London Bridge?

Find out more

View ACTEWs Murrumbidgee to Googong Water Transfer, draft report on line at:

<www.actew.com.au>

Community comment, so far, favours a pipeline water transfer from the Murrumbidgee River all the way to Googong Dam and not the cheaper alternative to discharge water into Burra Creek.

Protest now

Given the rarity of floods and the regularity of droughts in this region there has always been erosion rest periods under the arch but under the draft proposal by ACTEW water will increase and Burra Creek water level will rise and the arch will face erosion by un-natural regular, water-pressure.

There are many other environmental concerns – so have your say.

Closing date

Closing date for  comments is Monday May 24, 2010 at 5pm.

Remember

View ACTEWs Murrumbidgee to Googong Water Transfer, draft report on line at:

<www.actew.com.au> .³

END

Footnotes / Resources

1. (i) Brief information learnt during an excursion to “London Bridge” from a pamphlet “Googong Foreshores London Bridge Waling Track,” distributed by ACT Parks, Conservation and Lands – their website: <www.tams.act.gov.au>
(ii) The excursion to London Bridge was part of the Canberra & Region Heritage Festival 2010, and was led by National Trust member Robert Abell – his very informative and authoritative geological handout can be found at <Rsabell/londonbridge/nationaltrust/april2010>.
2. Too often experts justify “that nothing will happen” and too often it is too late to repair the damage when we (the community) find out they were wrong – connee.
3. Connee-Colleen © “Queanbeyan Outlook (229) “London Bridge”, The Queanbeyan Age, April, 30, 2010, p 13.

Copyright
All content on Before Canberra Copyright © Connee-Colleen unless otherwise noted – apologies extended if inadvertently a copyright has not been acknowledged – please inform so this can be rectified

Some quotes are throw-away lines; some make us feel good; others affect our lives in the short term; then there are other quotes, like the “most important thing” quote, that have a truism, which leaves such an impression on us that they stay embedded in our minds, surfacing to influence us and changing our lives in a routine pattern.

Quotable quote

The most important thing

Is to begin

And to begin

With a great spirit

Of boldness

And decisiveness ¹

Thought and talk

It is very clear that desire and inspired thought and talk by themselves are wasted if we never begin.

It also clarifies that to push oneself over the line to completion, instead of giving up at the first difficulty, you needed to have a ‘great spirit of boldness and decisiveness’.

Then “the most important thing” is recognizable as an action, that on some occasions, when life has gone beyond thought and talk and an action has begun with a great spirit that was both bold and decisive progress is accomplished.

All guilty

The sin of commission is when we do something wrong.

The sin of omission is when we do nothing.

Perhaps the sin of omission is the most common sin of all – one we are all guilty of participating in, without really acknowledging that we are sinning. ²

Wind of change

There is no claim that the “most important thing” quote will change lives but what it can do is clarify previous experiences where a previous measures of success has occurred and the reason for that success.

So what’s important?

“The most important thing

Is to begin;

And to begin

With a great spirit

Of boldness

And decisiveness.” ³

END

Footnotes / Resources

1. The “most important thing” quote was heard on Australian radio in the late 1970s – author unknown.
2. Sins of omission and commission are common expressions especially within many religious beliefs.
3. (i) Connee-Colleen, © Queanbeyan Outlook (16) “Most important thing is to begin,” The Queanbeyan Age, May 24, 2005. p.5. (ii) Also see on this site the post (pub April 29, 2010), “Thought and talk,” the story of Florence Nightingale, which is an example of “the most important thing quote.” Originally the two posts: “Thought and Talk” and “All  guilty” were combined in the same Queanbeyan Outlook article (16).

Copyright
All content on Before Canberra Copyright © Connee-Colleen unless otherwise noted – apologies extended if inadvertently a copyright has not been acknowledged – please inform so this can be rectified.