My preferred vantage point.

Its been a lovely week and weekend. As the new one starts I sit at my desk. There above me is a Campari and Soda bottle carefully brought back from Italy in the summer, bearing wild orchids now, the kind that Brisbane gardens seem to have an abundance of, and just behind, my Birthday card from George. There on the corner of my desk, one step up from the orchids,  my African mama and papa, memories of an early married life, but also my Cypriot idol from some 3000 BC. This is my preferred place, my recurring vantage and one I am so fond of, writing and reading at my walnut desk, also a birthday present from Geneva days. On the other side a hand thrown ceramic bowl with an "M" motif, Gs creation, and a very old painted pot with visible signs of age and beauty carrying pens and pencils, an early gift from one of my first and dearest friends at University, Sophie Day. Moving around the world as we have done has meant that sometimes your nearest and dearest are elsewhere and this can be difficult and quite lonely at times. A quick glance up or a lingering look and they are never very far. This is the way to have them always by your side, looking up to them for renewal, remembrance and making relevant all that happens every moment of the passing day. 

Mother - a play about homelessness.

Photo courtesy of Creative Brisbane. 

Today is her last show and I cannot let her go without saying what an astonishing performance Noni Hazlehurst gave in "Mother" which is on at the Cremorne Theatre, QPAC. If you get a chance see this play which was written by Daniel Keene and directed and co produced by Matt Scholten, dont miss it. 

The Sydney Morning Herald was right to say that "Noni Hazlehurst gives the performance of her life".

Daniel Keene writes "We are living in a time when for many people, the most vulnerable among us are objects of scorn. Refugees are labelled criminals for fleeing oppression. They are liars, cheats and opportunists. The homeless, the poor, the disenfranchised are held in contempt. They are feckless victims of their own inherent weakness, their laziness, their irresponsibility."

Noni chose to do a one woman play and her subject matter, which was so ably written by Daniel Keene, is the story of a woman called Christie who once had a partner and a child but who has been rendered homeless, kicked out by her feckless partner, alienated from her child, struggling to survive, living a detached almost crazed existence, with no one to turn to or to hear her. 

Noni portrays this woman with raw realism, compassion and an enormous heart. Her performance touched every single person in the audience and she was given a standing ovation at the end of it. 

The Director noted that that in this day and age when we sometimes abstain from things in our lives, food, chocolate, alcohol, material possessions, we take it on as a bit of a personal challenge, yet he points out that the hardest thing to give up is judgement. It would be good to remember this in our daily lives. 

A baby ringtail possum in our garden.

He/ She was curled up in a little ball by our garden fence. We knew not all was well because, there it was in the daylight and sluggish in its movements, so as any animal lover would do we immediately identified the nearest vet, wrapped it up in a towel with history, and set off. Delivered it to the vet and now awaiting to hear its fate. Hera Senger could this be a Mouse II ? We have offered to have it back, if it is well enough.

Crazy Chooks

I have just done a post about Ekka, the agricultural show that is on every year at this time in Brisbane. This year's highlight for me must be the crazy, mad, bad hair day- good hair day, fancy my feathers poultry group comprising backyard chickens, colloquially known here as "chooks", bantams, cocks, cockerels, turkeys and a variety of breeds, silkies, brahma chickens, polish chickens and lots more feathered friends, the varieties and species being quite expansive, which are all there competing for best of .... award. They were unlike anything I have ever seen.

The Poultry, Birds & Eggs Competition has been running for over 100 years, making it one of Ekka's longest running competitions.

I spent time trying to take some half decent photos as poultry can be skittish, peck- ish, preen- ish, What adjectives would use to describe them ? 

EKKA TIME

This is a time in the year which I enjoy a lot, not only because the temperatures are cool and the skies a deep blue but because this is when country comes to town. So much of what makes Australia is because of all the farmers out there, be they beef farmers or vegetable and fruit farmers who tend to the animals and grow the fruit and vegetables on the land, sometimes in very remote areas.  Recently a lot of the farming areas have been declared drought affected. This is not something which Australia is unfamiliar with but each time it happens there are devastating effects on the land and the animals and the farmers to whom they belong. The fact, that in spite of these hardships they come to Brisbane to put on a agricultural show which is unrivalled fills me with admiration and gratitude. So every year I volunteer and help out where I can, and this year was no exception. What gave me a kick this year is being asked to make a floral crown for Captain Cook who graced one of the sculpture parks. There are amazing sights that can be enjoyed at Ekka, starting with Captain Cook looking festive, displays of orchids and bromeliads, farm displays, the art and craft, the quilts, the steam engines and old tractors, the competitions for the best dogs, cats, cattle, horses and poultry, fashion shows, dance routines, wood chopping, drag racing, show jumping and fireworks every night to delight the thousands who flock there to enjoy the show with their families. 

History Alive.

The island is celebrating this month and a festival is being held near Point Lookout. 

I came across this blackfella, though he is largely white, he is a direct descendant of one of the most famous people born on Stradbroke island. Kath Walker who was a well known poet, activist and environmentalist.He told me all about the two sides of the family, the Aboriginal side and the Scottish side and their long history and association with the island. It was fascinating to hear this and to understand his own connection to the island. 

Kath Walker was born on Stradbroke Island in 1920. her father taught her to be proud of her Aboriginal roots but like a lot of Aboriginal people her opportunities were quite limited.She left school at 13 and went into domestic service and then into the army. She soon understood how difficult it was for Aboriginal people to achieve when they were not even recognised in the Constitution so she fought tirelessly for their rights all over Australia. She published her first collection of poems called "We are going",  the first aboriginal woman to be published. She wrote extensively about being Aboriginal but also about nature and human rights. She hoped for a better understanding between black and white Australians. She took on her tribal name Oodgeroo meaning "paperbark tree" and Noonuccal, her tribe's name and she lived on the island for many years promoting black culture and rights. She died in 1993. 

Understand Old One by Oodgeroo Noonuccal

What if you came back now
To our new world, the city roaring
There on the old peaceful camping place
Of your red fires along the quiet water,
How you would wonder
At towering stone gunyas high in air
Immense, incredible;
Planes in the sky over, swarms of cars
Like things frantic in flight.

Her work is recognised worldwide. The theme of many of her works is the hope for understanding and peace between black and white Australians. 

"But I'll tell instead of brave and fine 

when lives of black and white entwine. 

And men in brotherhood combine, 

this would I tell you, son of mine." 

As if this wasnt enough of a treat for me we then went to Frenchmens Beach where I saw this :

In the late 19th Century, four men sailed west from the French-speaking South Pacific islands. They landed on this beach, which was named after them. The four men, Jack Newfong, John Lifu, George Fenoch and Richard Martin, were taken to the Myora/Moongalba Mission, where they ended up settling. Descendants of these four men still live on North Stradbroke Island.