WAR OVER GULLIES. Report by ERWIN CHLANDA.
A string of gullies rivalling King's Canyon in beauty, just a few
minutes' drive from the centre of Alice Springs, could be a top
attraction for tourists and locals, but is likely to be locked away.
While the tourism promoter CATIA and Alice in Ten want to open up Mount
Gillen and Desert Park land that is currently unused, including the
gullies, the Lands Department is shutting off vehicle access to the
ranges' southern flanks, and a major part of the park.
CATIA's Craig Catchlove says the part of the MacDonnell Ranges within
the town area is a "massive tourism asset, intrinsically linked to the
Desert Park's viability as an attraction".
Several of the gullies are on Desert Park land which extends to
Bradshaw Drive and the Stuart Highway, taking in the Western side of
The Gap, and goes to the edge of the town dump.
The communications towers at the top of the range, and the road leading
to them, as well as the Larapinta Aboriginal town camp, are excised
from the Desert Park land.
CATIA is hoping to arrange tours to the towers by an operator using a
special vehicle to cope with the steep road.
The western boundary of the Desert Park land runs north-south roughly
through the summit of Mt Gillen, marked by a trig point.
The park's southern boundary runs along the southern base of the range,
and the northern flank of the Ilparpa claypans.
In effect the Lands Department's action will be cutting off the eastern
access to the Desert Park, the dump end, even by foot.
Lands Minister Kon Vatskalis says the access road from the dump is
being closed by the Alice Town Council.
However, council's works manager, Roger Bottrall, says the council is
only closing a short section of the road in front of the dump, between
6pm and 6am.
Mr Bottrall says the council will be permanently locking the gate to
the commonage road upon request of the Lands Department.
He says only Power and Water will be given a key, for access to the
sewage plant.
But Mr Vatskalis says keys will be supplied "to those who agree to the
conditions of entry".
He would give no details.
The only remaining vehicle access to the park's southern section will
soon be from Ilparpa Road, via the claypans.
"There have been proposals to close that but the department has no
intention at this time to do so," says the Lands Department's Peter
McDonald.
He says: "If there is a proposal by the tourism industry, of course we
would listen to whatever they wish to do, and ensure there is an access
available that still allows us to manage the area."
At present locals and visitors can drive to the bottom of the gullies
over existing roads and tracks, initially leading through commonage
land, and then walk and climb to the top of the range, through mini
canyons (slot gullies) with waterholes and caves, and rich in trees,
shrubs, grasses and wildlife.
The walk to the top takes about two hours, and at the summit walkers
are rewarded with spectacular views of the West and East MacDonnell
Ranges, and the township.
That opportunity will be all but lost if trekkers have to start from
Ilparpa Road or the dump, making the walk too long.
There is also a track on the northern flank, from Flynn's Grave.
Mr McDonald and Mr Vatskalis say the closure is part of a strategy to
stop vandals with trail bikes and other off road motor vehicles doing
damage to the environment, as well as illegal dumpers of rubbish.
The area has long been neglected by authorities, and inadequate
policing has allowed noise and dust nuisance for Ilparpa residents from
off-road motorists.
"Local residents and the Ilparpa Landcare Group have been concerned
about the damage irresponsible vehicle use has been causing in the area
for some time, and this will now help control that," says Mr Vatskalis.
He claims public consultation took place by way of a survey at the 1999
Alice Springs Show, indicating "overwhelming support" for the move.
In fact the survey question made no mention of shutting out vehicles,
nor denying access to a major section of the Desert Park and to the
gullies.
The question was: "Do you support the proposal to rehabilitate the
claypans area and control access?"
"Some Ilparpa people want even more stringent access restrictions,"
says Mr McDonald.
Mr Vatskalis says "all appropriate measures have been taken to properly
advise Ilparpa residents of the action, including a letter drop."
He does not claim that anyone else, including the general public and
tourism planners, have been told about the proposed closure.
Mr McDonald confirms that no other notification has been given about
the closure. He says the government has the right to close off Crown
Land.
Mr Vatskalis declined to comment further comment.
WANTING TO SEE THE BACK OF BURKE. Report by ERWIN CHLANDA.
Araluen MLA Jodeen Carney and Greatorex MLA Richard Lim may miss out on
future CLP preselection after a failed bid to unseat Opposition Leader
Denis Burke.
CLP insiders, who want to see the back of Burke, say Ms Carney and Dr
Lim had assured their Alice Springs backers they would be part of a
group of six Parliamentary Members dumping Mr Burke, and installing MLA
for Blain Terry Mills.
The Parliamentary wing is mum about the events in a secret meeting, but
the insiders believed the coup failed when Ms Carney defected to the
Burke camp after being promised the Deputy Leadership.
The Opposition Leader - apart from his own vote - before the spill
meeting on Thursday had the support only of Tim Baldwin, Steve Dunham
and Mike Reed - the latter believed not to be seeking re-election.
Ex-teacher Mills had the support of the three Alice based MLAs,
including MacDonnell MLA John Elferink, as well as the Top End's Peter
Maley and Sue Carter.
However, the sources say, Ms Carney did a back-flip and that meant Mr
Mills no longer had a majority, and he withdrew his nomination.
Dr Lim then joined Ms Carney, leaving fellow Central Australian Mr
Elferink out in the cold.
Media later reported that Mr Burke was confirmed as the Leader
unopposed.
Alice Springs CLP members, due to meet today, may resort to
dis-endorsing Ms Carney and Dr Lim.
In the 2001 election Ms Carney was endorsed for Araluen with the help
of Top End CLP leaders, and against the wishes of local party members
who wanted Peter Harvey in the seat.
Mr Harvey later stood for Braitling, but lost to sitting Member Loraine
Braham, formerly CLP, who had turned independent during the row over
the preselection in which she was dis-endorsed.
When asked to comment about the failure to dump Mr Burke, CLP treasurer
Andrew Maloney and a member of its Alice Springs branch said: "The
decision is disappointing and not in the best interest of CLP efforts
to return to power.
"However, the Parliamentary wing thought otherwise and it is entirely
its decision as to who is going to lead their team.
"The Alice CLP Branch invited Ms Carney to explain her actions on two
occasions but she thus far has declined to answer questions," says Mr
Maloney.
The CLP in Alice Springs now has only one branch, after Greatorex
became part of it and Araluen also joined in the wake of dropping
meeting attendance.
Mr Maloney says the Alice Springs CLP branch is the party's strongest
organisation in the NT - responsible for the Assembly seats of
Greatorex, Araluen, Braitling and MacDonnell, and with a membership of
about 180.
The CLP was formed in Alice Springs some 30 years ago.
The first NT Chief Minister, Paul Everingham, was an Alice Springs
lawyer.
JOB FOCUSSED STUDIES. Report by KIERAN FINNANE.
Once again "mature age" students dominated the Northern Territory
University graduation ceremony in Alice Springs last Friday. Among the
32 to collect their degrees, certificates and awards, was Pauline
Kearns who graduated as a midwife and was also awarded the 2003 Faculty
Prize, presented by the Alice Springs' Branch of the Australian College
of Midwives (ACMI) for being the best student, both academically and
clinically.
According to NTU's Course Coordinator for Midwifery, Bev Turnbull,
Pauline was a standout student. "She was also the only full time
student in Alice at the time, so given she had no one else to interact
with, which is really helpful for external students, her accomplishment
is even more notable," says Ms Turnbull.
Pauline and family came to Alice on a working holiday three years ago
and decided to stay.
Already a registered nurse, Pauline got work at the Alice Springs
Hospital and after a year's stint in the special care nursery, looking
after premature and sick babies, she decided to train as a midwife. She
continued working, with some study leave granted by the hospital.
Luckily her family are all pretty independent. She says it was a busy
year: study, work and sleep, no free time.
Studying on her own was fine, she says. She had nothing to compare it
with: "I just got focussed and got on with it."
Since graduating she has delivered 12 babies. Senior staff have been
available if required but so far she has managed well on her own.
"Attending a birth is very intense but very rewarding," says Pauline.
"If the births are hard or there are unforeseen problems, it can also
be emotionally draining.
"Sometimes there can be a lot of disappointment for people, but more
often it's a wonderful experience."
Part of her training involved spending two weeks in a remote community.
Says Pauline: "The cultural aspect is very interesting. Every community
is different and I've learnt to be open-minded and flexible. It's been
a real benefit to experience this."
Also at the ceremony, gaining her Certificate III in Community Services
- Aged Care, was Lorraine Granites from Yuendumu.
She is the senior worker in the community's old people's program, which
provides care for the elderly while they are still living with their
families.
Her job involves leading a team of women delivering personal care, from
help with showering to providing meals and day care. Lorraine also
helps to solve problems and liaise with other services, many of them
based in Alice.
For two out of four weeks in very month, she is effectively supervising
the program, which has over 50 clients on its books, 18 of them with
medium to high care needs.
To gain her certificate, Lorraine was assessed in the workplace as
having achieved all competencies.
Christine Kendrick was on stage three times during the ceremony,
graduating with a Bachelor of Business, as well as collecting the
Butterworths prize for the best performance in computer-based
accounting technology and the Zonta Club of Alice Springs' academic
achievement award of $500.
Christine and her husband came to Alice eight and half years ago and
have "never regretted it".
She quickly found work in book-keeping, her occupation back in London,
but was determined to gain an Australian qualification.
"I also wanted to expand my knowledge of accounting, to show that I
could do it and to get a better job."
She's done it all, with, she says, a lot of encouragement form NTU
staff, naming accounting lecturer Maritana Richards and former NTU
coordinator, Helen King, in particular. "When you were asking yourself,
ÎWhy am I doing this?', Helen King had a way of giving you a
little push. She was a great asset to NTU," says Christine.
She's taking a break from study this year but is keeping an eye on the
future offerings of NTU in its new guise as Charles Darwin University.
IRELAND AND THE NT: A LOT IN COMMON?
The once poor cousin of Europe, the Irish Republic, remote and
underdeveloped, had one thing in its favour when the information
revolution happened: a highly educated population. They were poised to
turn the Irish economy around. Chairman of the Centralian College
Council, John McBride, sees in the example of his native country a
message for his adopted home, the Northern Territory. Here is an
extract from his occasional address given at NTU's graduation ceremony
last Friday:
The Territory is a place of opportunity and an exciting yet
sophisticated place to live in. To keep that excitement and opportunity
alive and attract others to build a stronger and more dynamic Central
Australian region, we need the education infrastructure that our new
[Charles Darwin] University hopes to bring to this region.
My background and education and indeed higher education are as a
consumer, not an academic. I was born in Dublin, Ireland, more years
ago than I want to remember. I came from a hardworking, middle class
family, growing up with my parents and three sisters. Attracted to law
and economics, I completed degrees in both and was admitted to practise
as a Barrister and Solicitor in Ireland in the late Îseventies. I
completed Articles of Indenture to become a Solicitor with one of
Dublin's leading law firms. It had a client list of national and
international corporations in Ireland, the envy of many other firms.
After graduating and being offered a junior associate position with
this firm, I asked for a leave of absence for 12 months to go and
travel and see a bit of the world. I had not done so up until that
time.
I arrived in Australia. Shortly afterwards gaining admission as a legal
practitioner in the Supreme Court of Victoria and the Northern
Territory, I moved to the outback to take up a position with Paul
Everingham's old firm. I have remained in Central Australia and loved
every minute of it ever since.
It was the base of education and qualifications that I gained in
Ireland that gave me the opportunity to participate and contribute as a
solicitor in the Territory.
In Ireland as a teenager growing up I lived in a country that had
always placed great importance on education and learning. It celebrated
its poets and playwrights. Took pride in its Celtic origins and Gaelic
language and boasted one of three mythologies, the others being Greek
and Egyptian, not dissimilar to Indigenous Australia's love and respect
in their cultural dreamtime.
The importance my country of birth placed on education was great, even
though post-graduate employment opportunities in Ireland were very
limited. Ireland was then an agriculturally based economy and industry
was negligible. There were little or no mineral or oil deposits to mine
or refine. Coupled with a population that boasted it had Europe's
highest dependency ratio, emigration from Ireland was acceptable and
encouraged as a fact of life. Yet knowing all this, successive Irish
governments placed a huge emphasis on students being retained in
secondary and post compulsory education for as long as possible.
Ireland's strength lay in part in its enviable educational standards
set by and for its citizens. Means-tested grants and scholarships were
offered to its financially challenged students and I recall the
introduction of free education into the secondary school system in the
late Îsixties being hailed with great enthusiasm.
Through general enthusiasm for a better education and in many cases, a
ticket for a career and life opportunity abroad, Ireland became
recognised as having one of the best educated under-employed labour
forces in Europe. Work opportunities even in the classical professions
of medicine, law, engineering, accounting and the like, were limited.
Gradually, with international borders broken down, after Ireland joined
the European Economic Community as it was then called, did things
change. A common agricultural policy and regional development policy of
the EEC, at the time, presented an opportunity for Ireland to receive
substantial development funds for infrastructure from European capital
to industry in remote parts of Ireland. Employment gradually improved.
The brain-drain slowed down but still continued from Ireland but with
its greatest asset still its educated labour force, Ireland was ready
and poised to meet the challenge of e-commerce and IT developments in
the late Îeighties and early Înineties.
The government of Ireland set about changing the very basis of the
Irish economy from an agricultural based one to a high-tech and
financial services based economy. Multi-national corporations entered
the economy, attracted by government subsidies in exchange for
guarantees on local labour and employment content in such industries.
The Celtic tiger arrived and the poor relation of Europe status exited
the description previously given Ireland.
I believe, in large part, there is a lesson to be learned from my
country of birth's transition from a remote and poor economy of Europe
to one of its leaders in GDP and other major indicators. It is that
with education and training that even regional and depressed regions
can turn about their circumstances for the better.
I believe education and learning can never be in over supply and can
only help equip all of us to a better understanding, reasoning and
ability to meet each and every challenge, both social and economic, in
our locality.
It is for this reason that Charles Darwin University and its Alice
Springs campus, encouraged and supported by us all, will bring about
many improvements to our region in a sustained way over time.
STOP SEWAGE PROJECT, SAY RESIDENTS. Report by ERWIN CHLANDA.
Residents in the Heffernan Road rural area don't want Power and Water
(P&W) to set up, over their back fences, what they fear will be a
new system of sewage ponds in the guise of storage tanks.
The residents are circulating a petition urging Chief Minister Clare
Martin to stop the P&W scheme under which treated sewage would be
pumped to land of the government's Arid Zone Research Institute (AZRI),
on the South Stuart Highway.
The residents fear the effluent, later to be used for a proposed
horticultural project, and initially to irrigate a pasture, will be
stored in open ponds, causing problems similar to those experienced by
the neighbours of P&W's existing sewage plant at Ilparpa.
Gil Gric, one of the promoters of the petition, says because of
P&W's abysmal record its assurances that there will be no mozzies
can't be trusted. He says the same applies to the foul smells that are
the hallmark of the existing plant.
Mr Gric says he is concerned that the irrigation effluent, rich in
dissolved minerals, will contaminate and raise the ground water in the
rural residential area, fouling bores.
He says the project is an inadequate measure to deal with the town's
sewage disposal crisis.
The plant should be transferred to the Brewer Industrial Estate, well
away from residential areas.
He claims use of effluent water for horticulture, including grapes, is
not an efficient form of disposal because the need for watering of
those plants is least during the winter tourist season when the
production of sewage is greatest, and evaporation is poor.
But P&W's Water Facilities Manager, Paul Heaton, says while there
"will necessarily be some on-site storage [of effluent] at AZRI to
facilitate pumping operations, this will be in lined storages and thus
there will be no opportunity for mosquito breeding".
Mr Heaton says ground water levels "in bores adjacent to St Mary's
Creek have risen because of the combined stormwater and effluent
outflows into St Mary's Creek".
That creek is intermittently used by P&W to dispose of effluent
spilling over the existing evaporation ponds into the Ilparpa swamp.
It has now been channelled to flow under Ilparpa Road and the South
Stuart Highway, and - depending on the size of the flow - floods out
near the Pioneer Park racecourse, the site for the Desert Knowledge
complex, AZRI, the rural residential area and even the airport land
south of Colonel Rose Drive.
Mr Heaton says: "There has been a general trend of rising bore levels
in most of the farms area.
"Many bores rose considerably in the mid-1970s due to flooding and
substantial river flows - similar to what occurred in the Town Basin.
"There is no doubt that the outflows in St Mary's Creek also recharged
the local area.
"Ground water management in the Farms Area and beneath the
horticultural development will be one of the key components to be
considered and managed."
Is P&W guaranteeing that whatever it does, it will not contribute
to the further rise of the ground water table in the Heffernan Road
rural residential area?
Says Mr Heaton: "P&W is funding an investigation into the hydro
geology of the AZRI site to determine what if any effect there will be
on the ground water table and the overall suitability of aquifer
storage.
"One of the critical aspects will be to ensure that the amount of water
stored, can be recovered so as not to contribute to a net ground water
table rise, as well as to ensure that irrigation of horticulture will
neither cause a significant increase or lowering of the ground water
table."
SCHEME However, while that study is clearly not yet completed, some $6m
has already been allocated for the AZRI scheme, and work has started.
The search for a private user of the effluent has been under way for
some two years.
Mr Heaton said recently an agreement with a company - not yet named -
is expected in the near future.
Meanwhile the terms of a government licence for P&W to allow
effluent to drain into the Ilparpa swamp remain a mystery.
From 2005 P&W must stop discharges during "dry weather" - but it
remains unclear how "dry weather" is defined.
Says Mr Heaton: "The statement in our discharge license is Îdry
weather effluent discharges are to cease prior to December 31, 2005'.
"Wet weather discharges can continue. However as part of our licence we
have to agree with the Controller of Water Resources (within DIPE) on
what are the rules for those releases.
"This is based on a realistic recognition that there are circumstances
(such as an event of biblical proportions where it rains for 40 days
and 40 nights) in which it is impracticable to prevent overflows."
Asked whether discharges will be permitted only in the event of
"biblical proportions of rain for 40 days and 40 nights" Mr Heaton
said: "The licence itself does not define wet weather, and the exact
definition will need to be agreed to by the Controller of Water
Resources.
"However, it would be reasonable to expect that wet weather would
include sufficient rain to cause the swamp to fill and the [St Mary's]
Creek to run."
OUR FUTURE MOVIE MOGULS? Report by KIERAN FINNANE.
The future Northern Territory film industry will be well served by the
dozens of clever young arts and media students being trained in Alice
Springs schools and community groups.
It's the season to be seeing the results of student work.
In the past fortnight, I've been to showcase evenings at Centralian
College and at the Learning Centre at Larapinta Valley town camp and to
the Trash Theatre / Centre Stage production of Titus.
Although quality varied during each of the presentations, overall each
was genuinely entertaining and full of exciting promise.
At Centralian there were some delightful dance numbers, choreographed
by student Fatima Kamara, a dazzling dancer herself and joined by other
young women with flair.
In quite a long program, several video works were shown. Two that stood
out especially were "The Yobbo", by Philip Drummond, Daniel Buck and
Michael Downs, and "The Circle", by James Berry. "The Yobbo" is a very
funny, clever take-off of a David Attenborough doco, the wildlife being
the all-Aussie beer-bellied male.
With "The Circle" James Berry does a beautifully conceived, poetic
reflection on life, from birth to death, set to Pachelbel's Canon.
Year 10 ASHS students, who come across to Centralian for Year 11 Multi
Arts, impressed with their engaging short play, "One Last Sleep Over".
They were Julia Winterflood (J), Cherisse Buzzacott (Abbie), Ala Fiefia
(Hen), Bronte Hewett (Quincy), Beth Sharp (Gertie), Stacey Blom
(Maddie) and Kirri-Lee Bawden (Belle).
The students wrote the play together with their teacher, Glenda
McCarthy, and presented it with the conviction that comes from knowing
the material inside out. (The unplanned arrival on stage of someone's
little sister hardly caused a flutter.)
No doubt drawing from their own lives, they played girls who have been
friends from childhood, getting together on the eve of their Year 10
formal for a last sleepover, reflecting on the past, wondering about
their futures and the survival of their friendships. On a more
ambitious footing was the staging of Titus last Thursday at Araluen.
The abridging of the play was not without cost to the coherence of the
narrative and at times it was hard for the young actors to deliver
their Shakespearean lines with the right kind of force and clarity. At
other times, though, there was some excellent acting, in both comic and
tragic veins, and it was particularly pleasing to see a number of young
men on stage with a powerful presence.
The production was also quite stunning for its look and feel. Much of
this was derived from the costumes and particularly the set, designed
by young Rob Evison. It was simple but created the space and structures
appropriate to the epic scale of the play's action.
Trash Theatre deserves much greater audience support than it got last
week.
If audience reaction were the meter of excellence, then a short film
shown at Larapinta Valley would have to win first prize. Made by young
people from the town camp, it was a silent comedy, featuring an
astonishing toddler who loads his baby sibling into a toy pram and goes
"cruising" Sÿ all over town and eventually to the top of Anzac
Hill.
There's nothing like a couple of adorable kids to get to an audience's
heart, but I've never witnessed anything quite like the joyful reaction
to this little duo's adventures. Behind the cuteness factor, though,
were excellent direction and timing of sequences by the young,
presumably first-time, film-makers.
Those were the days, my friend. COLUMN by STEVE FISHER.
Wherever you are, you can be sure that the old-stagers will tell you
that the place was always better several years ago.
I do that whenever I visit my home town, which is now restricted to
once every few light years due to the high cost and the greenhouse gas
emissions required in getting there.
In a nutshell, it used to be better in Ipswich, England, when six-lane
concrete highways did not circle the town and when there were no
out-of-town shopping malls built on the fields in which I used to play
as a child.
It was better when the trains ran on time and the winters were colder
so that you felt like you had been in a winter instead of a mush. And
it was better when lots of people went to work wearing flat caps and
riding bicycles at the same early hour for a day of earnest toil in the
manufacture of tractors and assorted light engineering.
Most of all, there used to be proper cinemas in town. Then one sad day
they all moved out, joined together and became multiplexes. I remember
riding out to a multiplex on my treadly. The car park was vast. So big
that I couldn't see the other side. I leaned my machine against the
shiny glass panels at the front of the building and went inside. "Where
can I leave my bike?" I asked the usher in a friendly but purposeful
way. "I don't know, but not there," came the reply, as if only people
who arrived in cars were welcome. I stormed out and went home, missing
my solitary chance ever to see "Beverly Hills Cop 2". See what I mean;
places used to be kinder before they became modern.
In Alice Springs, lots of people say that it used to be better between
10 and 30 years ago. Their views feature on letters pages and
metamorphose into a kind of infectious bug that quickly becomes the
talk of the town. I like listening to people who talk about the past.
They create a few pieces of the jigsaw in my mind of the Alice that
used to be. I heard a great story about the confusion when the traffic
lights were installed and about the queues when K-Mart opened. And
another, about the way that folk used to congregate at the railway
station to meet the train coming in for the supplies and news that it
would bring.
The problem is that I have no first-hand knowledge of the past in Alice
Springs except sepia prints of people in suits and big frilly skirts. I
saw a photo of Railway Terrace taken from the top of ANZAC Hill in the
Îthirties, showing fields where the fast food drive-throughs and
video shops are now located. The sacred Aboriginal puppy site is there
somewhere, before it became hemmed in by the brick buildings of
multinational companies. It must have been better in the old days.
What? Now I'm doing it too. Sometimes, I don't know what to believe. So
my little puzzle is a contradictory one. On the one hand, who can
resist an old-fashioned photo of a simpler time? But then again, too
much cheap coffee dulls the senses and makes us think that law and
order involved happy-go-lucky policeman who stood in pubs slapping
passers-by on the back in a warm and comradely way. Or that waste was
always well managed and that litter didn't exist. Nobody was ever drunk
in public and that the streets were not paved with broken glass on
Monday mornings. This is surely rubbish, excuse the pun.
Our minds play tricks. For example, I don't think that people really
wore flat caps to go to work in my home town during my lifetime.
They did between the wars but somehow my subconscious wants to come
from a place where workers rode upright bicycles instead of Ford
Explorers. And so, hey presto, in my mind it becomes the truth.
Overall, was Alice Springs better in the old days? I may know nothing,
but I would hazard a bet that it wasn't.
afishoutofwater@bigpond.com
Lazy weekends and stupid stats. COLUMN by ANN CLOKE.
There is still much debate as to whether in fact Australia should
celebrate the Queen's Birthday - which is okay, because we've managed
to do it again this year!
The royalists say yes (although Her Majesty's actual birthday is on the
April 21), others say let's seize the day, but call it something
entirely different. It's observed in Western Australian on September 29
and June 2 marked HM's day in New Zealand. Trans-Tasman, the weather
wasn't quite as bright as ours here in the Alice. The date seems
flexible enough to change weekend to weekend, year to year, around
Australasia: we all love long lazy weekends in spite of inclement
climateSÿ maybe the Kiwis should defer their day Îtil
mid-summer?
I had a look at international holidays on April 21 to see who actually
celebrates HM's birthday on the day - the 21st marks San Jacinto Day in
Texas and Tiradentes Day in Brazil. From the 16th and running for five
days is Holy Week in Venezuela and Tourist Week in Uruguay, both of
which encompass the 21st , but have absolutely nothing at all to do
with the Queen's birthday! There was no mention of the British Isles
celebrating at all on the day.
Just for interest and to fill in time between serious subject research,
and the sundown Todd River circuit David and I power walk (?) every so
often, and with temperatures plummeting to a low, suitable to warrant
switching on the heating, I checked what happens internationally whilst
desert dwellers and visitors are in the midst of Finke fever. I noted
that in the list of International Public Holidays, June 10 was marked
as "Birthday of Her Majesty the Queen in Australia" which would lead
anyone overseas who didn't know, and was looking at that particular
website, to believe that she's Queen of Oz only and enjoying cakes,
candles and balloons over here!!
There were no other public holidays on that particular date so I surfed
around: on June 3 it's Bank Holiday in the Republic of Ireland; the 5th
is Liberation Day in the Seychelles; the 9th is Senior Citizens' Day in
Oklahoma; the 17th is Independence Day in Iceland; the 18th is Queen's
Birthday in Fiji; the 23rd is a National Holiday in Luxembourg; the
24th is not only Peasants' Day in Peru, but also Fisherman's Day in
Madagascar, Mozambique and Somalia; the 30th is Day of the Army in
Guatemala. So many other occasions, Constitution Day, Emancipation,
Memorial, Commemorative or Independence Days - an intrepid traveller
could circumnavigate the world waving flags and clocking up
international holidays!!
"You lucky thing!" groaned my sister, Lynn, from her sitting room in
Christchurch, when I rang to tell her about our idyllic Queen's
Birthday break, the brilliant weather, a family barbeque breakfast, the
vibrant Sunday market, the town packed with Finke followers, visitors,
happy to be here and sun-downers on the veranda with friends that
evening.
Then I mentioned that we have yet another long weekend coming up, when
we celebrate Show Day, early July.
"We are lucky," I responded enthusiastically, and hopefully we'll have
dazzling sunshine and beautiful clear blue skies again, although
sometimes the weatherman wakes up a bit grumpy on Show Day - sends grey
skies instead of blue.
And in August we have Picnic Day in the Territory.
Wouldn't it be great to have three day weekends every weekend. Here in
the Centre our long weekend is synonymous with the Finke Desert Race,
the longest desert race in the worldSÿ
We already have our Territory Day, so perhaps a new title for our June
break could incorporate Desert Dwellers or Finke: go Finking, camping,
gardening, playing and partying, and forget the Queen's Birthday which
she has well and truly celebrated back in April. Maybe we should call
it what it is - APHINA - we're enjoying "Apheena" with the ph,
phonetically sounded like fun and frivolity: Another Perfect Holiday in
Northern Australia.
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