Silent Guests
As I sat working on my computer I looked up to see that some quiet visitors had arrived and were watching me. This mother and her joey took off when I took a step towards them but at least I caught them on camera before they left.
Here at Halls Gap I am basking in the freedom my new state of the art communication system provides. My hosts are amazed that I can pick up a reception and use my laptop so freely. Normally you have to march up on top of the nearest rise to pick up a reception.
Here at Wartook I am staying in a region which was once a vast lake. After a ten year drought this is a bit hard to believe. Everything is parched and dry but some rain has bought signs of life to the ground again.
Do you think this mother and her babe are equally interested in what I am doing?
From the Formless Void
From the formless void
Motes, particles, miniscule molecules of matter
Slowly began to stir
Drawn by an invisible procreative,
Primordial force
They gravitated
Clinging together tenaciously
Swelling into a giant cluster
A sensual shape with
Dark raven wings
Inflaming, arousing desire, Raven
Spread her wings
Dancing, gyrating provocatively
Upon Wind’s fingertips
Wind and raven’s coming together
Borne of frenzied passion
Was a union, an act of love?
From which was birthed
An exquisite silver, moon egg
Swollen with life.
Curled within the silver womb
Amid deep silence
Lay the Goddess of Love,
Goddess of erotic love, fertility
Wrapped in the very wings
Upon which would ride, ravenous
Procreative inspiration
The all powerful
Creative energy
That fuels the universe
Heather Blakey
Electric Force
–Mark Twain
Lightning, whose electricity,
Held the universe together,
Scowled malevolently
Through sword shaped eyes
That pierced the void as
Ravenous Raven, lady of birds and beasts
Erotically danced with promiscuous Wind
Emboldened
Charged by atoms, electrons, protons
Lightning hurled a bolt along a wire of air molecules
That collided upon earth’s stage
At the very spot in Dodona where
a single oak tree stood
Igniting fire.
Raven who lived on peaks of mountainsides,
Who lived in caves
Who rested on the boughs of this very tree
Looked up in wonder
Captivated, mesmerized by
Capricious Lightning’s audaciously bright, flashy show
The gift of fire, of electricity
Bought by Lightning to this most sacred place
His fired passion for Raven
Lives on in the bowels of
the mountains, the caves, the trees
Is told by birds and beasts
Lightning man’s imagination
To this day the Dododan Oak Tree has the property of attracting lightning and the places where lightning struck was regarded, continues to be regarded, as sacred.
In ancient Rome, members of the College of Augurs divined the will of the gods by observing the southern sky for lightning, birds, and shooting stars. A lightning bolt passing from left to right was a favorable omen; a lightning bolt passing from right to left was a sign that Jove did not approve of current political events. Furthermore, whenever the augurs reported any sign of lightning, the magistrates of Rome were required to cancel all public assemblies on the following day. The augurs’ reports became politically useful to postpone unwanted meetings, delay the passage of laws, or prevent the election of certain magistrates by popular assemblies..
Opening Lockfast Places
Rodney (1)
| First voyage Male convicts on board |
|||
| Departure Port: | Portland (Dorset) | Departure Date: | 23 Aug 1850 |
| Arrival Port: | Hobart | Arrival Date: | 28 Nov 1850 |
Convicts landed: 308
Died on board:
GILL John
MURPHY George
SPEAKMAN Thomas
Sources:
Archives Office of Tasmania, Guide to Convict Records by Ship Reference.
Bateson, Charles, The Convict Ships 1787-1868, Brown, Son & Ferguson Ltd 1985.
Broxam, Graeme, Shipping Arrivals and Departures, Tasmania, 1843-1850, Roebuck, 1998, p227.
Phillips, Margaret E., Australian Joint Copying Project, Handbook Part 7, Public Records Office Admiralty Records, National Library of Australia 1993, pp 75-77.
Archives Office of Tasmania, Convict Department, Registers of Convict’s Deaths, 10 Jun 1840-31 Mar 1846, 25 Nov 1845-5 Jul 1874, (Ref: CON 63).
Convicts on board listed by Researchers
ALLEN Charles
BARKER Samuel
BERRYMAN Charles
BROWN William
CAMERON John
EXALL Joseph
GOLD Hugh
GOODWIN Joseph aka STEWART
RANDALL William
RITCHIE David
ROBSON John Boyd
SPACKMAN James
STEWART Joseph aka GOODWIN
WADE William
WARE Charles
WINWOOD Levi
Non-convicts on board listed by Researchers
TYNAN Andrew - Military Pensioner
Studying them
Seeing how they will fit together
To form an impression
the broken mold
Who carries on the tradition of
Opening Lockfast Places
My Coco Pop Day
This is Norma’s Life
Norma Elder runs the busy animal rescue centre in the Riversleigh Village. One moment she is telling a villager that a squirrel is using his tail as a sunshade and is not stuck on the power lines, the next she is offering advice about a fox cub with a broken leg. Norma, a former circus trainer, set up the rescue centre from her small cottage just outside Riversleigh. She has one volunteer who helps to recover wild animals including swans, owls, buzzards and foxes. Norma will tell you that the greatest buzz she gets is when an animal returns to the wild, when they are reunited with a partner like a swan she put back on the lake.
Scary Movies
As Halloween grows ever closer, TV channels play the horror films, and review the history of Halloween (All Hallow’s Evening, Samhain, Day of the Dead). I managed to get 50 of the top 100 Scariest Movie Moments. Of course, I had to watch this to see how many of them I have seen. Not too bad, 45 of 50 movies have passed through my eyes and into my psyche.
50) Last House on the Left
I remember this film with marvellous chills.
49) Les Diabolique
4 
The Thing
I never tire of this film.
47) Nosferatu (the original)
Always the scariest Vampyre.
46) The Sentinel
45) The Wicker Man (not the remake)
I remember being glued to this film.
44) I didn’t get this title, but I had seen it.
43) It’s Alive
Shiver shiver!!
42) An American Werewolf in London
I never tire of werewolf films!!
41) The Hills Have Eyes (the original)
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekkk!!!
40) Black Sunday
39) Dawn of the Dead
Zombie films should be fun and funny!!
3 Peeping Tom
37) House on Haunted Hill
Haunted houses always give me the willies!!
36) Cape Fear (with Robert Mitchum)
How could anyone top Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck??
35) Aliens
The Aliens make this film series, H.R. Gieger’s Alien is CREEPY.
34) The Hitcher
Could anyone pick up a hitchiker after seeing this???
33) The Fly (with Jeff Goldblum)
Even my brothers can’t watch this all the way through!!!
32) Pet Sematary
“Here kitty, kitty…”
31) Friday the 13th
Funny, freaky, a definite carload drive-in movie.
30) The Blair Witch Project
Was it supposed to be scary, I was bored to tears.
29) The Serpent and the Rainbow
2 When A Stranger Calls
I wonder how many kids stopped babysitting after this came out?
27) Frankenstien (the original)
Yes, yes, always the best!!
26) Seven
Very disturbing, and believable. The beast that lurks within man is the worst.
25) Phantasm
Unforgettable, the music is an excellent accompaniment to the tale,
24) Suspira
23) Rosemary’s Baby
Incredible filmmaking, with a well-written story to back it up, the acting was superb. One of the finest horror films to watch over and over.
22) Don’t Look Now
21) Jacob’s Ladder
This is one of the most disturbing films I have ever seen. It still slithers in my subconscious.
20) The Ring
Yaaaawwnnn… wake me up when it gets scary.
19) Hellraiser
I will never watch this film series again, it upset me that badly!!
1 The Haunting
A good ghost story is one that can be retold over and over.
17) A Nightmare on Elm Street
More funny than frightening, but… Freddy is so cool as a nightmare monster!!
16) The Omen (the original)
Gregory Peck is incredible in this film, but then, when isn’t he??
15) Freaks
14) Halloween
How could I be frightened by someone that shares my family name. Mwah-hahahahahaha!!!!
13) Scream
Loved the mask, it still gives me a giggle.
12) Misery
One word… Hobbling.
11) Audition (from Japan)
The people in the Far East are the Masters of the Horror Film, they bring the arts of their heritage to the art of film making.
10) Wait Until Dark
It is bred into our genes to be afraid of the dark, ask anyone that has been lost in the woods!!
9) Night of the Living Dead
Woooo-hooooo!!! The best zombie movie, I enjoyed the heck out of the fact that the hero was one of the first black heroes in film making.
8 ) Carrie
Go Carrie Go!!! Who doesn’t identify with Carrie?
7) The Silence of the Lambs
I must admit, there are Hannibal Lecter quotes that have become a part of my family’s history. “Free Range Rude” is so appropriate in the town I live in!!
6) The Shining (with Jack Nicholson)
“Heere’s Johnny!!” Yeeeeks!!
5) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
This film makes me grateful that I live in the desert.
4) Psycho
Did any of you quit taking showers after seeing this???
3) Exorcist
I could not watch this film all the way through without having nightmares until I was in my 40’s!!!
2) Alien
When the baby alien rips out of John Hurt’s belly I think I jumped straight up to the ceiling!!
1) Jaws
“Shark!!!”
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