You're *not* the centre of the universe

From the great xkcd, puzzled that an older civilisation would have got naming rights for much of the world, and understandably puzzled by using relative locations.

(And for those in the northern hemisphere, please also learn 'north' does not = 'up'.)

James

Reflections, light and water in Wellington

I don't think this café was always a café, you know. And how 'HB' can be the initial letters for 'Clothing Factory' beats me.

Mermaid in the Museum of Wellington City & Sea

Keep right in the cablecar.

Blue skies and the observatory

Maori carvings awaiting erection

I think the market will crash soon.

...

Pretentious architecture and blue lights.

Cause sunbathing later

Restaurant & fishing boat

Hooked on Scotland.

The light in the old cathedral.

And the words on the University Bookshop.

amam Wag.

Wake.

Beached boat.

Beached whale?

Protected stream.

Gordian knot.

And more on the wonders of windy Wellington soon.

James

Happy Canada Day! / Jour heureux du Canada!

Mes amis / My friends!

A great Canadian view...

Biennale Personalle

Two years ago today, we were in Venice*. As a celebration of that day out, here is a selection of photographs taken by Bev and I.

A water gate and window box achieving an Italian flag effect.

Candleholder for your plaque. Otherwise who is going to be scared by your wolf by night?

The vital Venetian chimney tops to collect sparks and avoid fire. Despite all the water, fire was a major risk.

Don't feed the cherub too much spinach.

"When you said two outboard motors, I thought..."

A delivery barge, a tree, a nap and thou...

The original Arsenal. Interestingly this Naval shipyard is still closed to the public, but I suspect the defences of Italy aren't dependant on their products as Venice's were.
Garden and church.

You can't get the plasterers to finish a job properly, here.

Church with tollbooth. Or is is an aquatic confessional?

* I'm writing this in the evening in Victoria, so it is the afternoon of the same day in Venice. With the international date line, you've got to be careful about such statements!

Seventy Years of 'Dunkirk Spirit'

Bombed on the beaches, British soldiers use Lee Enfield rifles to fire back at the German Luftwaffe. (BBC.)

It's 70 years since the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was rescued from the beaches of Dunkirk from the temporarily-halted German forces between 26 May and June 4. It was officially 'Operation Dynamo' As is well known, much of the rescue work, coordinated and supported by the Royal Navy, was by the 'little ships' resulting in one of the rarest, and most cherished yacht badges seen since. (The St George's Cross flown from the jack staff is known as the 'Dunkirk jack' and is only flown by civilian ships and boats of all sizes that took part in the Dunkirk rescue operation in 1940. The only other ships permitted to fly this flag at the bow are those with an Admiral of the Fleet on board.)

Those fishing boats, ferries, yachts and dinghies ferried the soldiers from the beaches to the larger Royal Navy ships that could get no closer, and sometimes they took them all the way back - when the Channel must have seemed its widest.

This year 50 ships, many original survivors, set out to recreate that remarkably flotilla's incredible achievement.

In the middle of a war being lost, it was not a simple task, or one that was all good, nor as black and white as often portrayed. Herman Goering convinced Hitler that his Luftwaffe could finish off the soldiers on the beaches. The Royal Air Force (RAF) did their best, at significant cost, to stop them, but back and away from the beaches - a job often not appreciated by the soldiers bombed by those German bombers who got through. Time was bought by rearguard actions, particularly the 'last hope' garrison at Calais, dropped water and ammunition (but without hope of rescue or other relief) by a scratch force of RAF Westland Lysanders and outdated Hawker Hectors - two aircraft types named for military heroes of yore. Some French soldiers were rescued, others turned away - and later those rescued were mostly repatriated to France, after the French surrender.

"Wars are not won by evacuations" Churchill reminded a relieved Britain, but though denuded of their arms, those soldiers were going to be the last line of defence for European democracy - after the Royal Navy and the force tested next - the RAF, soon to come though victorious by a narrow margin in the Battle of Britain, and the high water mark of fascist fortune.

Here in the Imperial War Museum, London, is one of the little ships of Dunkirk- in fact the littlest, Tamzine - sailed by amateur or professional civilian sailors that brought the soldiers off the beaches. Author.

Since then the Dunkirk Spirit has rightly been an iconic symbol in British culture.

The BBC report on the flotilla here. The BBC also present an audio-slideshow, including original accounts recorded in 1990, here.

Interestingly, the event has been a popular topic for children's authors. [Edited to add I've done a review of a pre-eminent example here.]

James

Sky yacht

High observation deck?


Thanks to the photo archives at LIFE magazine, another period post on my Vintage Aero Writer blog. Pop over for a look at a unique yacht and an early example of the bikini.

James

Australia Day 4: Pick a flag - any flag

As Bev's said in her post here, flag waving is something that's done a lot on Australia Day, but not so much for the rest of the year. Above is a window display on Australia day at Queenscliffe. The shop was shut, and I'm sure the staff were all at the beach or the barbie, with young Shane wondering who's lifted his beach ball and waistcoat.

The flag is also seen a lot on cars around Australia day, but not often as large and frequent as on this ex-US Naval Jeep. Perhaps he wanted the nationality of the owner to be unmistakable?


One of the great things about Australia is how many things actually are a mess, and don't make a lot of sense. This includes our flag, which isn't even all ours. The Australian flag can be easily confused for the New Zealand one, both being a quarter borrowed from Great Britain's Union Flag, and with stars on. (The Kiwi's one has fewer stars, and their stars are red.) To confuse matters further I thought I'd do a quick survey of some of Australia's flags. So here's a selection.

Seen here being dropped (with accessories) in front of Melbourne to open the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Museum's Pageant, this is the RAAF Ensign. The bit with the kangaroo in the roundel is folded over, of course.

The Royal Australian Navy Ensign has a white ground with blue stars, and is similar in colours to the Royal Naval ensign.


The Merchant Ensign for civil ships is identical, to both the flag and the Navy's ensign, but on a red ground. Seen above aboard a Sydney harbour ferry and below next to the Australian flag, flying by Cape Schanck Lighthouse on Victoria's coast.

Seen by another lighthouse, Cape Ottway, this photograph by Pam shows the Australian flag again, but partnered with the Aboriginal flag.


The Aboriginal flag has an interesting story behind it, and is unusual among these flags in that although they are all meant to be cared for within a set of rules, it is actually copyright, with the intellectual property belonging to its designer. Today a hoo-hah (as reported in The Age) over Google using the flag as part of a competition design on their website brought this into focus. Winning designer schoolgirl Jessie Du, 11, is a student at Rydalmere East Public School. Her design had the koala and possum beside the central yellow disc of the Aboriginal flag, but;

"The designer of the flag, Harold Thomas, who owns the copyright to the flag, refused to give Google permission to reproduce the design on its website, Google said." The Age went on to state: "Thomas, who lives in Humpty Doo in the Northern Territory, said he refused only because Google did not approach him in a respectful way and had demanded to reproduce the flag without charge."

How very Australian. And very Australian too is flags at the cricket, as seen here at the MCG.

So you were wondering what it is made up of, right? The Australian flag is composed of three parts: The Union Flag (often known by its nickname the Union Jack) in the top left corner, the 'Star of Federation' in the bottom left corner, and The Southern Cross, taking up the right half of the flag. The Star of Federation is a seven pointed star, representing each of six states with a point on the star, and one more point for Australia's territories. The Southern Cross is a constellation that can be seen from all of Australia's states and territories, of course. The Union flag ensures that Australia carries (combined) the full set of the flags of the countries that make up Great Britain, while failing to do the same for its own states and territories. Very Australian.

As Australia is a federated country, each state does have its own flag. This is the Victorian example, with its own Southern Cross.

There is another flag that most Australians would recognise, that comes in pairs. One example is seen here, and it's the flag you swim between at the beach if you want the lifeguard's cover. I'm not sure how fast you need to pedal to stay on the water, or if it's for the fish - you know, that 'one that needs a bicycle'...

Sorry. So to finish, I'd like to introduce another nation's flag. The 26th of January is shared with India as they celebrate their Republic Day, and despite the recent sad events, most Indians share a great time and their marvelous culture with us in Australia. This final picture was taken on Australia day a couple of years ago as the Indian contingent in the parade passed by.

James

Australia Day 1: 1788 and all that

Today is Australia Day. It's the 222nd anniversary of the First Fleet arriving in what was to become Australia on 26 January 1788, starting the European settlement of Australia that has continued to this day. The Sydney Museum has an excellent model of the First Fleet ships on show (below) and I wonder how many of those aboard realised they were arriving in mid-summer?

Understandably, there is a view that the Aboriginal peoples who were already living here may have a rather less positive perception of the arrival of these convicts, sailors and marines. Although it has no effect on the tragic history of Aboriginal rights and life since that day, it's often forgotten that Australia really is entirely a land of immigrants as all the humans arrived from overseas - the earliest remains found in Australia are Mungo Man from 40,000 years ago. Estimates often giving a remarkably recent figure (in pre-history terms) of between 40,000 to 50,000 years for the first colonisation of the continent, although some believe it to be much earlier.

Of course the First Fleet was a direct result of the arrival of Lieutenant James Cook in His Majesty's Barque Endeavour on one of the world's great voyages of exploration. (The introductory image at the top shows the replica of HMB Endeavour sailing up the Yarra in Melbourne.) Again, an aspect of Cook's exploration of the Eastern coast of Australia and the arrival of the First Fleet is that it could so easily have been a French story, as the French Navy were literally on the spot - or in the natural harbours - at both events. While there are a scattering of French names (particularly in Tasmania - itself based on a Dutch navigator's name) it's a monolingual Anglophone culture in law. Yet it could have been like Canada, with a foot in both French and British culture and language, or a member of the Francophone world like -er- Monaco.

Often overlooked near the Circular Quay in Sydney is this mosaic map (above) showing the very first developments of what was much later to become the city of Sydney, Australia's eternal second best conurbation.

Of course, the First Fleet was the beginning of a social experiment that failed at its origin - to export 'the criminal class' from Britain, and to develop colonies with these prisoners. No one has yet managed to export their 'criminal class', so that part was a failure, but we seem to have managed to build quite a habitable country on this unprepossessing foundation. The convicts would try to escape from the marines and soldiers (obviously to get to what would become Victoria and Melbourne from the rather inferior Sydney and New South Wales) as seen above at Sovereign Hill historical re-enactment. But to get away they would have to get through the Blue Mountains (below) one of Australia's natural wonders which is essentially untouched except for the viewing platforms and coach parking (not included in the picture).
And when it's been another great Australia Day here, and we are rolling home with a beaut sunset to the West, it's the start of another cold, winter's day in Britain. We've just celebrated five years and one day here, and it's bonzer, mate.

James (a Melburnian)