Discoveries with Dougall 30 - heritage and pride

Heading out today we left the usual paths and parks and walked through the suburb into the next ones. Ashgrove and Paddington. Old and established suburbs in Brisbane and my focus today is a mixture of houses and gardens. I mark this blog to coincide with news from Cyprus that the Archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Church bulldozed, yes razed to the ground, some heritage houses which he had a legal duty to preserve under cover of darkness to make room for a car park. To say this is outrageous and unacceptable is an understatement. We wait to see whether the authorities will have the guts to order him to rebuild them brick by brick. Sadly a lot of the mud wattle original method of building has probably been lost for ever. 

On the 31st of January 2021 we celebrated 8 happy years on this great continent. Aboriginal people inhabited the continent for thousands of years before the Brits arrived. The year was 1770. So from that day at least, some 250 years ago, towns have been built, lives have been lived and the Australia we know today has taken shape and in this short time they have developed their landmark buildings and their heritage houses and my goodness what pride of place accompanies these accomplishments. 

In Queensland which is our state, there is an architectural style which developed to maximise the benefits of living in this sunny state. Houses built of wood - the material most available at the time- on stilts to remove the danger of termites, louvered windows to shade the balconies and to allow the air flow through the houses. I walk the streets and stop and look at their beauty and their functionality and know that they will be cared for preserved and protected. That is how it should be in any self respecting jurisdiction with pride in the heritage and volunteers in their thousands, to sing its praises to anyone who cares to inquire about it. I have always been so impressed at how in those short 250 years they are constantly searching their history and their ancestry and look to Europe to find out more. And Cyprus with thousands of years of rich history chooses to put up skyscrapers and cement in abundance. Its a crying shame. 

No cars parked on pavements here, no lawns left unkempt, there is respect for what is personal but also what is communal and it leads to a life that everyone can take joy in.