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Pioneering TV presenter reveals terminal diagnosis live on air

<p>Popular New Zealand TV presenter Joanna Paul-Robie has revealed she is dying of cancer. The pioneering presenter, known for her work on TV3, shared the heartbreaking news during an interview with Radio New Zealand on Friday morning.</p> <p>Paul-Robie, who has been a beloved figure in the broadcasting world, made the announcement while accepting the Icon Award for her contributions to the creative industries.</p> <p>“I was so touched because this award means so much to me, coming from Tauranga Moana,” she said. “But more importantly, because I am, unfortunately, dying – I have terminal cancer – and really to have this award before one posthumously gets it is an even better break. I can’t tell you the lightness, the brightness, the feeling of aroha inside me last night.”</p> <p>Reflecting on her career, Paul-Robie recounted her experiences as one of the few Māori individuals on New Zealand's television screens. “The newsroom was really … it was being run by mostly a pair of middle-class, middle-aged white men who had the audacity and the balls to say ‘If it bleeds, it leads’ but these guys you know they had never been in a Māori world,” she remarked.</p> <p>Starting her career at Radio New Zealand, Paul-Robie later became a newsreader for TV3 and played a significant role in establishing Māori Television in 2004, serving as a program and production manager.</p> <p>During a 2011 interview with <em>NZOnScreen</em>, she spoke about the challenges and triumphs of setting up the network. “There’s been a handful of people in the world who have built a television station and taken it to air,” she said. “There are only a handful of people in the world who can do that and even though it nearly broke me in half on the day that we launched, I thought ‘hell we did that’. I think it is difficult for someone like me with an A-type personality to think now you have done your big thing maybe you should take it easy now.”</p> <p>Paul-Robie's courage and dedication have left an indelible mark on New Zealand's broadcasting landscape. Her announcement has been met with an outpouring of support and love from colleagues, fans and the wider community, who admire her strength and resilience in the face of such a personal battle.</p> <p><em>Images: <span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">NZOnScreen</span></em></p>

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‘Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds’: who was atom bomb pioneer Robert Oppenheimer?

<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/darius-von-guttner-sporzynski-112147">Darius von Guttner Sporzynski</a>, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/australian-catholic-university-747">Australian Catholic University</a></em></p> <p>Robert Oppenheimer is often placed next to Albert Einstein as the 20th century’s most famous physicist.</p> <p>He will forever be the “father of the atomic bomb” after the first nuclear weapon was successfully tested on July 16, 1945 in the New Mexican desert. The event brought to his mind words from a <a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/manhattan-project-robert-oppenheimer">Hindu scripture</a>: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds”.</p> <h2>Who was Robert Oppenheimer?</h2> <p>Born in 1904 in an affluent New York family, Oppenheimer graduated from Harvard majoring in chemistry in 1925.</p> <p>Two years later, he completed his PhD in physics at one of the world’s leading institutions for theoretical physics, the University of Göttingen, Germany. He was 23 and enthusiastic to the point of alienating others.</p> <p>Throughout his life, Oppenheimer would be judged either as an <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Inside_the_Centre/L9wRLVcUI-sC?hl=en&amp;gbpv=1">aloof prodigy or an anxious narcissist</a>. Whatever his contradictions as an individual, his eccentricities did not limit his scientific achievements.</p> <p>Before the outbreak of the second world war, Oppenheimer worked at the University of California, Berkeley, and the <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/J_Robert_Oppenheimer_and_the_American_Ce/U12mDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&amp;gbpv=1&amp;dq=Robert+Oppenheimer:+A+Life+from+Beginning+to+End&amp;printsec=frontcover">California Institute of Technology</a>. His research concentrated on theoretical astronomy, nuclear physics and quantum field theory.</p> <p>Although he confessed to being uninterested in politics, Oppenheimer openly supported socially progressive ideas. He was concerned with the emergence of antisemitism and fascism. His partner, Kitty Puening, was a left-leaning radical and their social circle included Communist Party members and activists. Later, these associations will mark him as a communist sympathiser.</p> <p>As a researcher, Oppenheimer published and supervised a new generation of doctoral students. One of these was Willis Lamb, who in 1955 was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics. The Nobel Prize eluded Oppenheimer three times.</p> <h2>The second world war</h2> <p>Two years after Germany and Soviet Russia attacked Poland, the United States entered WWII. Oppenheimer was recruited to work on the infamous <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/the-manhattan-project">Manhattan Project</a>. His ideas about chain reaction in an atomic bomb gained recognition among the US defence community. He started his work by assembling a team of experts. Some of them were his students.</p> <p>In 1943, despite his left-wing political views, lack of high-profile career and no experience in managing complex projects, Oppenheimer was appointed director of the <a href="https://about.lanl.gov/oppenheimer/">Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico</a>. He was enthusiastic. He seemed to have “<a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Inside_the_Centre/L9wRLVcUI-sC?hl=en&amp;gbpv=1&amp;dq=Rabi+%22reserves+of+uncommitted+strength%22&amp;pg=PA670&amp;printsec=frontcover">reserves of uncommitted strength</a>” recalled physicist <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1944/rabi/biographical/">Isidor Isaac Rabi</a>. His task was to develop atomic weapons.</p> <p><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Los-Alamos-National-Laboratory">Los Alamos Laboratory</a> expanded rapidly as the project grew in complexity, with the personnel exceeding 6,000. His ability to master the large-scale workforce and channel their energy towards the needs of the project earned him respect.</p> <p>He proved to be more than just an administrator by being involved in the interdisciplinary team across theoretical and experimental stages of the weapons development.</p> <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-JWxIVVeV98?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> <h2>The nuclear test</h2> <p>On July 16, 1945 the nuclear test, <a href="https://armscontrolcenter.org/quotes-from-trinity-test-observers/">code named Trinity</a>, took place.</p> <p>The first atomic bomb was successfully detonated at 5:29 am in the Jornada del Muerto desert. As his chief assistant, Thomas Farrell, recounted: "There came this tremendous burst of light followed shortly thereafter by the deep growling roar of the explosion."</p> <p>Oppenheimer later <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/J_Robert_Oppenheimer/EoA8DwAAQBAJ?hl=en&amp;gbpv=1&amp;dq=%22A+few+people+laughed,+a+few+people+cried,+most+people+were+silent%22&amp;pg=PA44&amp;printsec=frontcover">recalled</a> that “a few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent”. What he knew for sure was that the world would not be the same.</p> <p>It was too late for the atomic bombs to be used against Germany in the war – the Nazis had capitulated on May 8. Instead, US President Harry Truman decided to use the bomb against Germany’s ally, Japan.</p> <p>Shortly after the atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, Oppenheimer confronted the US secretary of war, Henry Stimson, demanding that nuclear weapons were banned.</p> <p>Similarly, when speaking with Truman, Oppenheimer talked about his feeling of <a href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/2020/07/11/when-truman-titled-a-hollywood-epic-and-then-sabotaged-it/">having blood on his hands</a>. Truman rejected Oppenheimer’s emotional outburst. The responsibility for the use of the atomic bombs, after all, rested with the commander in chief (himself).</p> <p>Truman’s rebuttal did not prevent Oppenheimer from advocating for the establishment of controls on the nuclear arms race.</p> <h2>Arms control</h2> <p>In the postwar years, Oppenheimer settled in Princeton, New Jersey, at the Institute for Advanced Study. He read widely. He collected art and furniture. He learned languages. His well-paid position enabled his pursuit of a deeper understanding of humanity though the examination of ancient scriptures. <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/American_Prometheus/F79LEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&amp;gbpv=1&amp;dq=Robert+Oppenheimer:+A+Life+from+Beginning+to+End&amp;printsec=frontcover">He argued</a> for the unity of purpose between the sciences and humanities.</p> <p>Oppenheimer’s patronage supported and encouraged other scientists in their research. But his chief concern was the unavoidable arms race. He advocated for the establishment of an <a href="https://www.iaea.org/about/overview/history">international body that would control the development of nuclear energy</a> and its usage.</p> <p>In 1947, a civilian agency called the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Atomic_Energy_Commission">Atomic Energy Commission</a> began its work. Oppenheimer urged strongly for <a href="https://www.iaea.org/about/overview/history">international arms control</a>.</p> <p>The Soviet Union’s first atomic bomb test in August 1949 took the US by surprise and pushed American researchers to develop a hydrogen bomb. The US government hardened its position. In 1952, Truman refused to reappoint Oppenheimer as the adviser to the Atomic Energy Commission.</p> <p>After 1952, Oppenheimer’s advocacy against the first test of the hydrogen bomb resulted in the suspension of his security clearance. The investigation that followed in 1954 exposed Oppenheimer’s past communist ties and culminated in <a href="https://www.history.com/news/father-of-the-atomic-bomb-was-blacklisted-for-opposing-h-bomb">his security clearance being revoked</a>.</p> <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uYPbbksJxIg?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> <h2>McCarthyism and academic freedom</h2> <p>In the era of Joseph McCarthy’s witch-hunts, his fellow scientists considered Oppenheimer as a martyr of the cause of academic freedom. “In England”, commented Wernher von Braun, a former Nazi turned American pioneer of rocket technology, “<a href="https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/ahf/history/oppenheimer-security-hearing/">Oppenheimer would have been knighted</a>”.</p> <p>After 1954, Oppenheimer did not cease to advocate for freedom in the pursuit of knowledge. He toured internationally with talks about the role of academic freedom unrestrained by political considerations. He argued that the sciences and the humanities are <a href="https://archive.org/details/scienceandthecom007308mbp/page/n7/mode/2up">not separate human endeavours but interlocked and inseparable</a>.</p> <p>Oppenheimer died at the age of 62 on February 18, 1967.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209398/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/darius-von-guttner-sporzynski-112147">Darius von Guttner Sporzynski</a>, Historian, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/australian-catholic-university-747">Australian Catholic University</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/now-i-am-become-death-the-destroyer-of-worlds-who-was-atom-bomb-pioneer-robert-oppenheimer-209398">original article</a>.</em></p>

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F1 pioneer passes away

<p>French racing driver and engineer Jean-Pierre Jabouille, who in 1979 gave Renault their first Formula One victory, has died at the age of 80.</p> <p>The Renault-owned Alpine team has paid tribute to the two-times race winner as a pioneer whose victory at Dijon-Prenois was also the first in Formula One for a car with a turbocharged engine.</p> <p>The Parisian took only two F1 wins but it was his first at Dijon-Prenois in July 1979 that made his name and ensured he became the toast of France two-and-a-half years after he put the first laps on the Renault RS01 at Silverstone.</p> <p>Jabouille was a late starter to racing and didn’t make his international single-seater debut until he was 27 years old, when he took part in occasional F2 races in 1969.</p> <p>Having become a test and development driver with the Société des Automobiles Alpine manufacturer, Jabouille had entered his first Le Mans 24 Hours in 1968, starting a run of 14 appearances at La Sarthe that spanned a quarter of a century.</p> <p>He was also hired directly by Steve McQueen to be one of the drivers in the classic 1971 <em>Le Mans</em> movie.</p> <p>“BWT Alpine F1 Team is incredibly saddened to learn of the passing of Jean-Pierre Jabouille,” read the moving tribute on the BWT Alpine F1 Instagram post. </p> <p>“A humble racing driver, brilliant engineer, and a pioneer of our sport. Jean-Pierre was a true racer.</p> <p>“He spearheaded Renault’s journey into F1 in 1977 with his resilient and dare to do attitude. He was Renault’s first Grand Prix winner in 1979, a landmark moment in Renault’s journey in Formula 1. His determination and dedication to succeed inspired many, and these values remain central to the current team in its now blue colours of Alpine.</p> <p>“We are where we are today because of Jean-Pierre and his legacy lives on.</p> <p>“We’d like to extend our most sincere condolences to his family and close friends.</p> <p>“Merci pour tout, Jean-Pierre.”</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CoK-vfvrl-v/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CoK-vfvrl-v/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by BWT Alpine F1 Team (@alpinef1team)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p>Jabouille was still competing well into his 60s, appearing at a national Gran Turismo level for France, and was still occasionally spotted at Le Mans in recent years – even demonstrating his old Renault F1 cars for his legion of racing fans who will remember his legacy for years to come.</p> <p><em>Image: @alpinef1team / Instagram</em></p>

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Iconic artist and broadcast pioneer John Pickup passes away at 91

<p>John Pickup OAM passed away on Tuesday at home in Murwillumbah.</p> <p>The broadcast pioneer, who spent over 40 years working at the ABC, enjoyed a varied career across Australian TV and radio.</p> <p>As well as his broadcast work, John found success with the Brushmen of the Bush - a group consisting of five Broken Hill artists. They dedicated their time to depicting the outback and garnered international recognition during the '60s and '70s.</p> <p>The group - John Pickup, Erin Minchin, Pro Hart, Hugh Schulz, and Jack Absalom - came together when artist Erin Minchin needed help with a charity fundraising exhibition. They went on to showcase their work around the world, raising thousands for charity along the way.</p> <p>"They donated a lot of paintings to charities all over the country," fellow Broken Hill artist Howard Steer said of their generosity.</p> <p>Pro Hart’s wife, Raylee Hart, told the ABC that “there was a great sense of community” around them while reflecting on time spent with the Brushmen.</p> <p>John was the last surviving member of the Brushmen of the Bush after Jack Absalom’s death in March 2019.</p> <p>Despite John’s skill with a brush, it was not his painting that saw him awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in 2020, but instead his 57 years of service to broadcasting.</p> <p>Opening up to AnArt4Life about the honour, John said, “while I am extremely proud to receive an OAM, I was also honoured to receive numerous messages from people thanking me for training them in broadcasting as that training sent them on their present career path: to receive these messages of congratulations was very gratifying".</p> <p>John launched his media career in 1947, and moved to the ABC in 1950, where he remained for more than 40 years. He spent time in the sound effects department, as a manager, and as a broadcaster for the company.</p> <p>But his most unique role comes from his time with sound, when his right hand secured itself a place in the history books by becoming the first “animated object” ever seen on Australian TV in 1956.</p> <p>John was a floor manager at the time, tasked with opening a book set to feature in the broadcast’s opening shot.</p> <p>"I took my right hand up to makeup, had it satisfactorily made up," he told ABC Radio National's Late Night Live of the incident.</p> <p>“Come eight o'clock, I get the cue from the floor manager. I pick up the book, I open to the first page,” John went on, “it just so happens that … my right hand is the first animated object seen on national television."</p> <p>Raylee Hart, while speaking of John, noted that Pickup’s death marked the end of an era, but shared her hope for the future in knowing that “there’s always something else for another era.”</p> <p><em>Images: Facebook</em></p>

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“You will be dearly missed!”: Pioneering tennis coach Nick Bollettieri dies

<p dir="ltr">Renowned tennis coach Nick Bollettieri has died aged 91, with tributes flowing in from fans and former students.</p> <p dir="ltr">Bolletieri was born to Italian immigrant parents who served in the military and dropped out of law school to become a tennis coach, going on to found the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida in 1978, which produced some of the world’s best players.</p> <p dir="ltr">Bollettieri’s academy was later bought by the International Management Group (IMG) in 1987.</p> <p dir="ltr">Having coached 10 World No.1 players, Bollettieri was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2014.</p> <p dir="ltr">His former students include the likes of Tommy Haas - Germany’s former World No. 2 - as well as Andre Agassi, Serena and Venus Williams, Monica Seles and Maria Sharapova.</p> <p dir="ltr">Following the news of his former mentor’s death, Haas was among the first to pay tribute to Bolliettieri, describing him “a dreamer” and “pioneer”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Thank you for your time, knowledge, commitment, expertise, the willingness to share your skill, your personal interest in mentoring me and giving me the best opportunity to follow my dreams,” Haas wrote on Instagram.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-b19ade94-7fff-28e1-321f-2a8f6ff7da4e"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">“You were a dreamer and a doer, and a pioneer in our sport, truly one of a kind.”</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">A pioneer, a visionary, a mentor, a coach, and a friend 💙 </p> <p>One of the biggest influences in the game of tennis, Nick Bollettieri, has passed away at the age of 91. Our condolences go out to his family, friends and everyone he impacted. <a href="https://t.co/jQMWhar9FR">pic.twitter.com/jQMWhar9FR</a></p> <p>— ATP Tour (@atptour) <a href="https://twitter.com/atptour/status/1599826153279082496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 5, 2022</a></p></blockquote> <p dir="ltr">2013 Wimbledon runner-up Sabine Lisicki said Bollettieri had “shaped the game of tennis” and helped children achieve their dreams.</p> <p dir="ltr">“You have given so many children a place to work for their dream. Supporting them with your knowledge and the belief that anything is possible. I was fortunate to be one of them,”she tweeted. </p> <p dir="ltr">“You will be dearly missed!”</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-cc8902de-7fff-5a02-cc53-815fe5f3160d"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">Agassi said that Bollettieri had “graduated from us” with a heartfelt throwback photo of them both.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Our dear friend, Nick Bollettieri, graduated from us last night. He gave so many a chance to live their dream. He showed us all how life can be lived to the fullest…</p> <p>Thank you, Nick 🙏🏼 <a href="https://t.co/PhO36oPWpI">pic.twitter.com/PhO36oPWpI</a></p> <p>— Andre Agassi (@AndreAgassi) <a href="https://twitter.com/AndreAgassi/status/1599815626109116416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 5, 2022</a></p></blockquote> <p dir="ltr">“Our dear friend, Nick Bollettieri, graduated from us last night. He gave so many a chance to live their dream. He showed us all how life can be lived to the fullest… Thank you Nick,” he wrote on Twitter.</p> <p dir="ltr">Former World No. 1 Billie Jean King described the late coach as one of tennis’ “most passionate coaches & advocates”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Nick was always positive & was able to get the best out of everyone fortunate enough to work w/ him,” she <a href="https://twitter.com/BillieJeanKing/status/1599772629925249024">wrote</a>.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family & team at the Academy.”</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-74f5b032-7fff-ab3f-d17b-280b723853e0"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">Patrick Mouratoglou, another coach who worked with Serena Williams, wrote that Bollettieri’s passing represented the loss of an important figure in the tennis family.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">I am very saddened by the loss of <a href="https://twitter.com/NickBollettieri?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NickBollettieri</a> <br />The tennis family has lost someone very important today, someone who has made our industry grow and has opened opportunities for coaches and players. <br />We will remember the very special human being you were and will miss you.</p> <p>— Patrick Mouratoglou (@pmouratoglou) <a href="https://twitter.com/pmouratoglou/status/1599766583513006080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 5, 2022</a></p></blockquote> <p dir="ltr">“Someone who has made our industry grow and has opened opportunities for coaches and players,” he said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“We will remember the very special human being you were and will miss you.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Sports journalist Ben Rothenberg described Bollettieri as “an absolute giant in the sport” and said it was “hard to overstate how much he changed the course of pro tennis in the last four decades”.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-f4123164-7fff-00bd-9120-06ecfdc79a61"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">Another social media user shared a clip of the coach answering questions from his son and other young tennis students, including the question of what made him want to coach.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">RIP Nick Bollettieri! </p> <p>Your answer to my son‘s question should be taken as a great lesson for each of us.</p> <p>We will always remember you! <a href="https://t.co/uB45UKcRCo">pic.twitter.com/uB45UKcRCo</a></p> <p>— Ovidiu Ursachi 🇪🇺 (@ursachi) <a href="https://twitter.com/ursachi/status/1599821824132530177?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 5, 2022</a></p></blockquote> <p dir="ltr">“Well, I wasn’t a good tennis player, but God gave me the ability to make people feel good about themselves. That’s what it’s all about,” he said in the clip.</p> <p dir="ltr">“And remember something, Nick doesn’t want to be remembered for the ten No. 1’s, Nick wants to be remembered that I made an impact on your life.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Even though I trained ten No. 1’s in the world, I also helped a lot of inner-city children that have nothing,” he said when asked how many good players he had trained.</p> <p dir="ltr">“That’s important to me. Nick wants to be remembered for helping me have a chance in life. That’s important.”</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-cfc523b2-7fff-1ce5-d628-4c3cc3e150c1"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>

News

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People are shivering in cold and mouldy homes in a country that pioneered housing comfort research – how did that happen?

<p>The poor state of Australia’s <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-18/apartment-owners-sound-alarm-over-alleged-building-defects/101247114">residential</a>, and particularly <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-16/australian-first-study-mould-biotoxin-illness/101223548">rental</a>, housing stock is attracting increasing attention. This week it has been reported many renters are living in <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-16/renters-shiver-below-minimum-healthy-temperature-report-finds/101333256">unhealthily cold</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/aug/16/australian-rental-homes-colder-and-more-damp-than-who-safety-standards">damp housing</a>. The head of UNSW’s School of the Built Environment, Philip Oldfield, recently <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jun/13/freezing-indoors-thats-because-australian-homes-are-closer-to-tents-than-insulated-eco-buildings">described</a> the average Australian home as “closer to a tent than an insulated eco-building”. </p> <p>A <a href="https://www.propertycouncil.com.au/Web/Content/Media_Release/National/2022/Over%20100%20organisations%20join%20forces%20in%20push%20for%20improved%20energy%20efficiency%20in%20Australian%20homes.aspx">joint statement</a> by more than 100 property, community, health and environmental organisations has called on next week’s meeting of the nation’s building ministers to increase the energy efficiency of new homes. The alliance wants to lift National Construction Code standards, such as raising the minimum thermal performance to seven stars, alongside a “whole-of-home” energy budget. The statement said Australia <a href="https://www.energymagazine.com.au/room-for-improvement-australia-and-germany-swap-notes-on-energy-efficiency-reform/">lags far behind</a> international energy-efficiency and building standards.</p> <p>These concerns coincide with a growing housing shortage, rising building costs and a changing climate. But these circumstances are no reason to defer housing reforms. In the past, in a remarkably similar set of circumstances, Australia became a global innovator through a dedicated government agency focused on thermal comfort and performance. </p> <h2>We once led the way in building for the climate</h2> <p>We must go back to the second world war, though, to see Australia at the vanguard of housing built for the climate. The Ministry of Post-war Reconstruction’s substantial and alarm-raising <a href="https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-851519579/view?partId=nla.obj-851583656">Commonwealth Housing Report</a>of 1944 had forecast a shortfall of 300,000 dwellings by war’s end. On top of a materials shortage and a rapidly growing population, Chifley’s Labor government was keen to tackle the housing crisis head-on and to demonstrate Australia’s scientific prowess across a range of technical industries. </p> <p>As the magnitude of the looming housing shortage became clear, a group of architects established a Small House Bureau to reinvigorate the housing landscape. In Victoria, the director was celebrated architect Robin Boyd. He advocated for smaller homes, notably if the main building material could be earth. </p> <p>Boyd <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/206872165?searchTerm=The%20materials%20are%20already%20on%20%E2%80%98your%20vacant%20building%20site">told a growing readership</a> desperate for cost-effective and accessible alternatives that earth walls were “cheap, strong, weatherproof, and highly insulating”. The materials are already on “your vacant building site”, he cried. Thus, it seemed reasonable to “make it of mud!”.</p> <p>At the same time, the Commonwealth Experimental Building Station was set up on 16 hectares of bushland in Ryde, north of Sydney. Its mandate was to carry out experimental construction in different climatic and geographic locations. It was also to advise regulators, housing authorities and government departments. </p> <p>Engineers, builders, architects and the public welcomed the innovative scientific approach to housing design across the nation’s varied and extreme weather and seasonal conditions. Post-war architects and scientists were keen to place a climatically defined framework on both the layout and construction of Australian homes.</p> <p>One of the station’s main directives was to address “heating, lighting, ventilation, sound and thermal transmission, and performance generally”. The station developed an advanced thermal modelling program to enhance indoor comfort. The modelling took into account solar radiation, the value of shading, strategic ventilation and insulation.</p> <p>Amidst a slew of controlled experiments, the station’s chief technical officer, English architect and engineer George Middleton, championed the practical application of earth walls. Following a scoping tour of England, America, Russia and across Australia, Middleton examined the structural integrity, durability and effective function of “Pisé” or rammed earth. </p> <p>A devotee of the aesthetic qualities and durability of earth, he produced several technical papers that placed earth walls “high among the accepted building methods”.</p> <p>Continuing to advocate for earth over prefabricated materials, Middleton released Build Your House of Earth in 1953. It remains the authoritative text on rammed-earth building in Australia. </p> <p>In just a few short years, the station researched, experimented and built dozens of prototypes. Its thermal response analysis tool (replicated 20 years later by UK building authorities) was ground-breaking.</p> <h2>Australia needs to make up lost ground</h2> <p>Despite the station’s record of achievement, its funding for such investigations was cut in 1955. Some thermal investigations were all but abandoned. Without ongoing testing and field application, the capacity to influence material and performance standards waned. </p> <p>The station did continue to provide regulations and standards for building systems and materials, and it was restructured in the mid-1980s into the National Building Technology Centre. It was later absorbed into CSIRO’s Division of Building, Construction and Engineering, which still oversees the Building Code of Australia. </p> <p>At the centre of building research in Australia, the station was innovative and experimental. It was created decades before the energy conservation movement began to investigate building efficiency <a href="https://neep.org/blog/reflecting-history-energy-efficiency-while-looking-future">in North America and England</a>. </p> <p>But our innovation and desire for experimentation have faded. Decades of industry lobbying, <a href="https://theconversation.com/buck-passing-on-apartment-building-safety-leaves-residents-at-risk-119000">toothless enforcement</a>, a lack of investment in and subsidies for refurbishing existing dwellings, and an outdated rating scheme (<a href="https://www.nathers.gov.au/">NatHERS</a>) have left many Australians out <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-16/renters-shiver-below-minimum-healthy-temperature-report-finds/101333256">in the cold</a>.</p> <p>In a continent notorious for its extremes, it is time to invest again in thermal research and testing. Australia needs to build resilience into new and existing houses. In a rapidly changing climate, we must consider the capacity and efficiency of earth and other natural materials as a viable and proven alternative to prefabricated materials.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/people-are-shivering-in-cold-and-mouldy-homes-in-a-country-that-pioneered-housing-comfort-research-how-did-that-happen-188809" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. </em></p>

Home & Garden

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Pioneering a new way to retire

<p>For a new generation of Australians, being retired doesn’t mean what it used to. From rediscovering passions and hobbies left behind in the hustle and bustle of daily life to packing a bag and exploring the world, pursuing the lifestyle of your dreams is simply not restricted by age.</p> <p>Having a sense of security, whether it’s related to feeling at home where we live or trusting that we can access the care we need as our health changes, is another priority for this generation.</p> <p>Then when it comes to how and where we live, easy maintenance, independence and cost effectiveness are the <a href="https://www.seniors.com.au/news-insights/australian-seniors-series-quality-of-life-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three top considerations for Aussies</a> according to the latest Australian Seniors Quality of Life report.</p> <p>With all of these considerations in mind, it can feel daunting to figure out whether living at home or moving into a retirement village suits our wants and needs – which is where<a href="https://www.rymanhealthcare.com.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Ryman Healthcare</a> comes in.</p> <p>Ryman has been pioneering retirement living for over three decades and challenging the status quo when it comes to how Aussies live in retirement.</p> <p>If you are trying to figure out this next exciting phase of life means for you, here are three ways Ryman Healthcare stands out from the crowd, ensuring you can live life the way you want to.</p> <p><strong>Ultimate freedom to lock and leave</strong></p> <p>If you’re anything like <a href="https://www.rymanhealthcare.com.au/pioneers/cindy-and-del" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cycling duo and Ryman Pioneers Cindy and Del</a>, adventure is in your blood.</p> <p>When they moved into their apartment in a Ryman village several years ago, it served as an even greater opportunity for them to live out their motto: “Do it while you can!”</p> <p>While many of us might worry about leaving our belongings and home unattended for long stretches of time, Cindy and Del say the security and maintenance services provided by Ryman means they have the peace of mind to live life to the fullest – and that it’s as simple as shutting their front door.</p> <p><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/08/Ryman_Healthcare_Cindy_and_Del_01_1280.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><em>Endurance cyclists Cindy and Del say Ryman has given the security to embrace their motto of doing it while they can. </em></p> <p>“We did feel a little bit nervous about leaving the house, but not here – not at Ryman,” Cindy says. “We just come and go as we please, and we know that the place is safe and secure.”</p> <p>“A big thing about the apartment is, we just close the door and come back a couple months later and it’s just the same,” Del adds. “We don’t have to worry about security. We don’t have to worry about maintenance or gardens. It’s all done.”</p> <p>When they aren’t circumnavigating the country, Cindy and Del can be found planning their next adventure or getting involved in the activities available through Ryman – think everything from dance lessons to playing bowls, creating charcoal art and more.</p> <p>They’re not the only ones taking advantage of these opportunities either, or the sense of community created and put front and centre by Ryman.<strong> </strong></p> <p><strong>A community like no other</strong></p> <p>Engaging in activities with others and staying connected with the local community is beneficial not just for our mood, but also our mental and physical health, no matter whether we’re retired or working.</p> <p>Ryman retirement villages champion this by removing the stress that comes with maintaining a family home, allowing residents to pursue their passions, connect with fellow residents, and stay active mentally and physically through regular events, activities and trips.</p> <p>For <a href="https://www.rymanhealthcare.com.au/pioneers/lynette" target="_blank" rel="noopener">yoga lover Lynette</a>, living in the Ryman community has seen her continue her decade-long practice of mindful yoga and embrace her love of walking. With walking being one of the many social activities in the village, Lynette has made plenty of friends through Monday outings with her walking group.</p> <p>“A lot of people still believe that you’re going to a rest home,” she says. “They don’t know the concept of a retirement village. You go there, it’s beautiful. You’ve got facilities. You’ve got activities. And you don’t stop <em>living</em>.”</p> <p><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/08/Ryman_Healthcare_Lynette_02_1280.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><em>Lynette, a former corporate high-flyer turned yoga lover, says Ryman’s sense of community has helped her when she needed it most. </em></p> <p>Having this strong social network also helped her adapt to life after her husband’s passing.</p> <p>“My husband passed away exactly a year ago, so walking was fantastic because it cheered me up to see the flowers and the gardens and meet people,” she says of the group she now considers to be as close as family.</p> <p>Lynette and her husband moved into the village with the knowledge that “one would go before the other”, but living there has helped her find inner peace and support when she needed it most.</p> <p>“I’m so pleased that we moved because I’ve had a chance to make a lot of friends,” she says.</p> <p>“I’ve had a chance to get to know pretty much everyone in the village team. And everyone has been so supportive, particularly over the last year, that it’s my family now.”</p> <p>Having that level of support also provides Lynette and other Ryman residents with peace of mind when it comes to their health.</p> <p><strong>Rest assured that your future is in good hands</strong></p> <p>With four in five Aussies prioritising good physical and mental health, Ryman’s comprehensive care options give residents the confidence to live life with the knowledge that there is care available as their needs change.</p> <p>With aged care built into the fabric of their villages, Ryman offers living options ranging from independent and assisted living to residential aged care and specialist dementia care.</p> <p>For <a href="https://www.rymanhealthcare.com.au/pioneers/brian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Brian and Pauline</a>, who have been married for more than half a century, these options have ensured they can stay together and still access care for their differing needs.</p> <p>After Pauline received a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s shortly after they moved in, Brian has stayed in their apartment while Pauline moved into the village’s specialist dementia care just a short walk away.</p> <p><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/08/Ryman_Healthcare_Brian_03_1280.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><em>Brian’s apartment and the care centre are mere steps away, making it easy for Brian and family members like his grandson Tom to visit every day.</em></p> <p>“Our apartment is just a few steps away, on the same floor, so it’s very easy to pop in and see my wife or nip around and get something for her,” Brian says. “It’s been very, very good.”</p> <p>Having the support of the village’s nursing team has also been invaluable, allowing Brian to enjoy the village’s sense of community while trusting that his wife is in good hands.</p> <p>“My wife’s cared for, and we can still be together,” he says. “It’s a great relief.”</p> <p>All of these Ryman residents – each one a pioneer of a new way of living – are enjoying their lives in retirement to the full. So if you’re still trying to decide your future, get ready to <a href="https://www.rymanhealthcare.com.au/the-ryman-guide" target="_blank" rel="noopener">explore the possibilities</a>.</p> <p><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MqECwJ0symg" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></p> <p><em>All images: Ryman Healthcare</em></p> <p><em>This is a sponsored article produced in partnership with </em><a href="https://www.rymanhealthcare.com.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Ryman Healthcare</em></a><em>.</em></p>

Retirement Life

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Politics, pioneers, performance: 50 years of Australian women’s art and feminist ideas

<p>In the first century of the third millennium, art by women is finally being regarded with the seriousness it deserves. Last year the National Gallery of Australia presented <a href="https://knowmyname.nga.gov.au/">Know My Name</a>, a mammoth exhibition in two parts. Anne Marsh covers similar territory in <a href="https://www.mup.com.au/books/doing-feminism-hardback">Doing Feminism</a>, her compilation of women’s art and feminist ideas made, for the most part, in the last 50 years.</p> <p>She describes her book as “the history of the relationship between avant-garde positions and feminism as it emerged in the visual arts in Australia”. Marsh does not claim to have written an all encompassing history of the complex nature of art by women, which was <a href="https://www.daao.org.au/bio/joan-kerr-2/biography/">Joan Kerr</a>’s great undertaking in <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2011519">Heritage</a>(1995).</p> <p>Nor does the book seek to retrieve forgotten women artists hidden away in storage rooms of public galleries, which was <a href="https://sites.research.unimelb.edu.au/cova/home/people/centre-fellows/janine-burke">Janine Burke</a>’s achievement in the 1970s. Rather Marsh is tracking the contribution of her own generation of artists and writers to feminist avant-garde art and ideas.</p> <p>Those who doubt the extent of the change that has swept through our culture need only look at <a href="https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/the-field-revisited/">The Field</a>, the exhibition that opened the 1968 National Gallery of Victoria building. Of the 40 artists shown in this celebration of colour field abstraction, only three were women. </p> <p>It is unfortunate that Marsh has made a significant error in her description of The Field, which implies that it came from the curatorial vision of <a href="https://about.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/file/0029/15788/mccaughey.pdf">Patrick McCaughey</a>, author of one of the catalogue essays. The exhibition curators, who are not named, were Brian Finemore and John Stringer. She also writes that McCaughey was then the gallery director. McCaughey did become director of the NGV, but that happened in 1981, not 1968.</p> <p>In 1973, five years after The Field, the Art Gallery of NSW celebrated the opening of the Sydney Opera House with a large survey exhibition <a href="https://www.daao.org.au/bio/event/recent-australian-art/">Recent Australian Art</a>. The only work by a woman was Ewa Pachucka’s <a href="https://searchthecollection.nga.gov.au/object?keyword=Ewa%20Pachucka&amp;searchIn=artistOrCulture&amp;searchIn=title&amp;searchIn=medium&amp;uniqueId=14870">Landscape and Bodies</a>. The catalogue misspelt her name.</p> <p>Neither of these exhibitions included work by Aboriginal artists, nor artists of non-European descent. The world, including the world of art, has indeed changed. </p> <p>While Marsh maps these changes as they concern women artists, she does not ignore the other changes swirling in Australian culture concerning women. Significantly she charts the importance of those Aboriginal artists including Brenda L. Croft, Fiona Foley Judy Watson and Julie Gough whose art also makes them visual historians, recovering the past through art.</p> <h2>Walking and chewing gum</h2> <p>The 1975 visit to Australia of the American critic <a href="https://www.theartstory.org/critic/lippard-lucy/">Lucy Lippard</a> is sometimes claimed to be the “official” beginning of the Australian feminist art movement. Marsh rightly refutes this. </p> <p>Second wave feminism in Australia emerged during the 1960s within a culture that also saw opposition to the war in Vietnam, conscription of young men to fight that war, sexual liberation and access by women to contraception and abortion.</p> <p>Vivienne Binns’ 1967 solo exhibition at Sydney’s Watters Gallery was the first exhibition by a woman artist to fully enrage the art critics, all of whom were male. </p> <p>Binns’ works <a href="https://searchthecollection.nga.gov.au/object?keyword=Vivienne%20Binns&amp;searchIn=artistOrCulture&amp;searchIn=title&amp;searchIn=medium&amp;uniqueId=177495">Phallic Monument</a>, <a href="https://searchthecollection.nga.gov.au/object?keyword=Binns&amp;searchIn=artistOrCulture&amp;uniqueId=116421">Vag Dens</a> and <a href="https://searchthecollection.nga.gov.au/object?keyword=Binns&amp;searchIn=artistOrCulture&amp;uniqueId=40748">Suggon</a>threatened their fragile egos. While Marsh notes that Binns was close to fellow Pop artist <a href="https://www.portrait.gov.au/people/mike-brown-1938">Mike Brown</a>, sadly there is no mention of <a href="https://www.daao.org.au/bio/pat-larter/personal_details/">Pat Larter</a>, another friend of Binns who operated in the same context and whose own performance art was even more anarchic. Larter was a <a href="https://www.wikiart.org/en/artists-by-art-movement/mail-art#!#resultType:masonry">mail artist</a>, who coined the term “Femail art” for her postal adventures.</p> <p>Marsh concludes that Binns was “more clearly a pioneer of the pop avant-garde” than a feminist pioneer. Bearing in mind the range of other artists celebrated throughout the book, this is a tricky argument.</p> <p>Feminism has always flourished alongside other concerns – including politics and the environment. Some of the most interesting images in Marsh’s book come from those women artists who protested against the US intelligence gathering installation at Pine Gap.</p> <p>The ability of women artists to walk and chew gum at the same time is described in Lippard’s 1997 essay on the late feminist activist <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-art-has-lost-two-of-its-greats-vale-ann-newmarch-and-hossein-valamanesh-175435">Ann Newmarch</a>, which is reprinted in full. The feminism of this generation of women artists was never separate from either rigorous philosophical debate or activism in other fields.</p> <p>By moving the bulk of her concerns to the period after 1975, Marsh is able to focus on artists whose careers coincide with the time-frame of her own professional life. Even so it is a huge task to map both feminist art and feminist writers over such a long period, at time when the world changed and the once marginal became mainstream.</p> <p>Marsh’s research methodology is best described as organic, reaching out through known networks and associations to collate records of art, events and ideas. This could reasonably be described as an academic incarnation of the approach used by the collectives that were the driving forces in 1970s feminist movements.</p> <p>At times the material is so rich in content that it threatens to overwhelm. Because of her history as an activist both in the Women’s Art Movement in Adelaide and later as a part of the Lip collective in Melbourne, Marsh has a long association with many of the artists and writers included. A number of archival photographs place her at some of the more interesting events in women’s art activities in both cities during the 1970s and 80s. </p> <p>In order to correct this bias towards the personal, Marsh has made a conscious effort to include artists from Tasmania, Fremantle, Perth and Brisbane. Some of these inclusions are uneven. </p> <p>While political poster art as nurtured by artists at Sydney’s Tin Sheds, is given due prominence, there is no mention of the very lively poster art fostered by Griffith University’s Margaret Bonnin. Yet the Brisbane political posters were a crucial part of the creative response to Joh Bjelke-Petersen’s oppressive political regime.</p> <p>Marsh rightly identifies the significance of Ngurra (camp/home/country), a collaboration between Dolly Nampijinpa Daniels and Anne Mosey. This is listed as being exhibited at the Biennale of Sydney and the University of South Australia. Yet the work was first developed when the two artists worked together at Yuendumu’s Night Patrol and was exhibited at Alice Spring’s very lively women’s collective, <a href="https://www.wts.org.au/">Watch This Space</a>.</p> <h2>Old friends and absences</h2> <p>Readers who visited the NGA’s Know My Name exhibitions will recognise many old friends on the pages. <a href="https://knowmyname.nga.gov.au/artists/frances-budden-phoenix/">Frances Phoenix</a>, who spent most of her life in relative obscurity, is again recognised as the pioneering feminist of sexual and political activism that she was. </p> <p>Ann Newmarch’s iconic poster Women Hold Up Half the Sky is once more reproduced – this time matched with a photographic record of Nat Thomas’s tribute performance, mimicking the subject matter.</p> <p>There are some great photographic records of past events and performances, including Jo Darbyshire and Michelle Elliot’s Chile’s Art Stains Bond’s Art: Guerrilla Girls Say Boycott, a record of the 1989 protest against Alan Bond’s links to Chile’s Pinochet regime. <a href="http://www.barbaracleveland.com.au/">Barbara Cleveland</a>, from a later generation of activist performance artists, continues to show how the personal can become political.</p> <p>Because of the range and variety of artists and writers whose work is discussed, the book presents an organisational challenge. The chosen solution has been to divide it into two parts, listing all names at the beginning of each section, then subdividing further by decade and theme. Sometimes this works, as with the Bad Mothers’ Collective of the 1980s who happily contest any sentiment concerning mother and child relationships in the chapter “Mother and child: discourse and dialogue since 1979”.</p> <p>Other sections are less satisfactory, especially as most art movements don’t easily divide by gender. The section on murals privileges Geoff Hodge’s 1981 Parkville community based mural projects, rightly seeing the way such events could evolve into projects breaking down barriers of gender and culture.</p> <p>Yet there is no mention of some of Australia’s most interesting urban community based murals, those made by Merilyn Fairskye and Michiel Dolk in consultation with the people of <a href="https://www.cityartsydney.com.au/artwork/15-women-woolloomooloo/">Woolloomooloo</a>, planned in 1979 and finally completed in 1982. These tributes to the ordinary people of what was once a slum, who fought to save their suburb from the developers – and won, are so well known as public works of art that their omission is surprising.</p> <p>It is however understandable that oversights will occur when dealing with such a mass of material, and there are pleasures to be found within these pages. </p> <p>Works illustrated are discussed either by the artists themselves or by the critics who have written most memorably on them. But despite a rough division of chapters into chronological and theoretical frames, the experience of reading is a bit like viewing a kaleidoscope. There are many possible patterns and no easily identifiable path.</p> <p>The second section consists mainly of extended extracts from archival texts. Some of these key critiques, first published many years ago, make this book a very useful research tool.</p> <p>Marsh is not dogmatic in her feminism, and where they make a contribution, men’s voices also discuss the women who have reshaped our culture. Scott Mitchell’s account of the women from <a href="https://warlu.com/">Yuendumu</a> who visited Sydney in 1982 describes how they came to understand the western art market could work for their community.</p> <p>The radicalism of the late 1970s is beautifully encapsulated by “White Elephant or Red Herring?” Ian Milliss and Vivienne Binns’ account of the artists revolt against the international focus and gender bias in the 1979 Biennale of Sydney. It is a reminder that activism can work. </p> <p>Then there is the extract from an article by Julie Ewington, that erudite curator and critic, whose career has spanned the 1970s to the 2020s. Present in the first 1977 Adelaide Women’s Show, held at the Experimental Art Foundation, she wrote that the "collective was so huge, so large in fact that there was every possibility that it might collapse under its own weight; yet in some ways it was one of the best and most rewarding collectives."</p> <p>It is a description that could also fit this book, which has so much rich content, yet often fails in details, including the spelling of people’s names. There are many people listed in the acknowledgements, but no mention of a copy editor. This is not a surprise.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images </em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/politics-pioneers-performance-50-years-of-australian-womens-art-and-feminist-ideas-175840" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.</em></p>

Art

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Alan Jones announces "pioneering" new career move

<p dir="ltr">Former<span> </span><em>Sky News</em><span> </span>host Alan Jones has made a major career announcement, just over a month after his contract at the outlet wasn’t renewed.</p> <p dir="ltr">Jones revealed he has signed with Australian Digital Holdings to create a digital TV show that will stream on Facebook, YouTube and other social media platforms.</p> <p dir="ltr">He held a press conference at Sydney’s Hilton hotel on Friday to share the news.</p> <p dir="ltr">“This is a pioneering initiative, this has never been done in Australia before,” Jones<span> </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/current-affairs/alan-jones-reveals-new-job-after-being-axed-from-sky/news-story/135e27c03b5a0e933ae6431875792df8" target="_blank">said</a>.</p> <p dir="ltr">“It is very much the tomorrow of media.”</p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CXSDNfjv_Iw/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CXSDNfjv_Iw/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by ALAN JONES AO (@alanjonesao)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">The veteran broadcaster said he had been “encouraged” by his successful Facebook page prior to signing with the platform.</p> <p dir="ltr">His new show will stream for the first time at 8 pm on Monday, and will be accompanied by a daily podcast called<span> </span><em>Alan Jones 7 am Comment</em>.</p> <p dir="ltr">Jones is well known for his controversial views and told reporters that the “biggest issue facing Australia is self censorship”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“There are thousands and thousands of people saying, ‘What is Alan Jones saying?’” he said.</p> <p dir="ltr">He added that the show was taking an online format - which will be reliant on advertising revenue - because “there is a lot of interference in what people want to write or want to say” in traditional media.</p> <p dir="ltr">“And therefore sometimes what comes out is not quintessentially your view,” he said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“We’ve got the best legal minds behind the operation, so they will all be consulted, but I will be saying what Alan Jones thinks, I won’t be responding to legal letters as to whether I can say that or say that.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Jones also spoke about rumours he would be running for politics which emerged earlier in the week.</p> <p dir="ltr">He confirmed that “every political party and some political parties that I don’t think even exist” approached him, but that he did not want to “sit in the Senate and say nothing”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I don’t think that’s me,” he said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Can you tell me three people who’ve said something significant in the Senate in the last month? I don’t want to join that crowd, no thanks. Look, I think there’s something wrong [with] the parliamentary system, and I don’t want to be part of that. There are so many disaffected parliamentarians who speak to me.”</p> <p dir="ltr">The newly formed Australian Digital Holdings, headed by former ABC chairman Maurice Newman, said several other unnamed broadcasters would be joining them.</p> <p dir="ltr">“There were people who approached me, and believe in me and believe in what I’ve done … and they embraced that and said, ‘We want you to be our inaugural broadcaster’,” Jones said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“But there are others lining up.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Jones abruptly left<span> </span><em>Sky</em><span> </span>last month, accusing the network of “cancelling” his conservative views.</p> <p dir="ltr">Though his contract was due to end on November 30, it was decided that he wouldn’t stay for his final weeks at a meeting on October 29.</p> <p dir="ltr">His 8 pm time slot has since been filled by<span> </span><em>Inside the News</em><span> </span>with Rita Panahi.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: @alanjonesao (Instagram)</em></p>

News

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‘New Bradfield’: rerouting rivers to recapture a pioneering spirit

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The “</span><a href="https://www.deb2020.com.au/newbradfield/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">New Bradfield</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">” scheme is more than an attempt to transcend environmental reality. It seeks to revive a pioneering spirit and a nation-building ethos supposedly stifled by the </span><a href="https://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/news/townsville/townsville-enterprise-to-receive-24m-for-hells-gates-dam-case-after-months-of-bureacratic-delay/news-story/492dba14afd4ce71ffd08f12d38c15a6"><span style="font-weight: 400;">bureaucratic inertia</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> of modern Australia.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This is not a new lament. Frustrated by bureaucracy, politicians in North Queensland have long criticised the slow pace of northern development.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In 1950, northern local governments blamed urban lethargy. </span><a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/63184273?searchTerm=concern%20at%20drift%20in%20north%27s%20population&amp;searchLimits="><span style="font-weight: 400;">One prominent mayor</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> complained: “</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">… these young people lack the pioneering spirit of their forebears, preferring leisure and pleasure to hardships and hard work.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">These sentiments were inspired by an agrarian nostalgia that extolled toil and toughness. Stoic responses to the challenges of life on the land are part of the </span><a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/9284258"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Australian legend</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">With drought devastating rural and urban communities and a state election looming in Queensland in 2020, </span><a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/queensland/leaders-tout-bradfield-scheme-options-in-queensland-election-fight-20191101-p536o2.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">both sides of politics</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> have proposed a “New Bradfield” scheme.</span></p> <p><strong>An idea with 19th-century origins</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Civil engineer John Bradfield devised the original scheme in 1938. His plan would </span><a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/97050378?browse=ndp%3Abrowse%2Ftitle%2FQ%2Ftitle%2F379%2F1939%2F05%2F04%2Fpage%2F10280686%2Farticle%2F97050378"><span style="font-weight: 400;">swamp inland Australia</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> by reversing the flow of North Queensland’s rivers. Similar proposals go back to at least 1887, when geographer </span><a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/35590102?q&amp;versionId=44284267+219718360+231090219"><span style="font-weight: 400;">E.A. Leonard recommended</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> the Herbert, Tully, Johnstone and Barron rivers be turned around to irrigate Australia’s “</span><a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/13361128"><span style="font-weight: 400;">dead heart</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">”.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As the “dead heart” became the “</span><a href="http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/finlayson-hedley-herbert-14881"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Red Centre</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">” in the 1930s, </span><a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/6707892?q&amp;versionId=7723963"><span style="font-weight: 400;">populist writers</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> revived the dreams of big irrigation schemes.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">These schemes have always been contested on both </span><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-18/fact-file-bradfield-scheme-drought-relief/11216616"><span style="font-weight: 400;">environmental and economic grounds</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. A </span><a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/20252029"><span style="font-weight: 400;">compelling history of Bradfield’s</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> proposal reveals many errors and miscalculations. But what the scheme lacked in substance it made up for in grandiose vision.</span></p> <p><a href="https://www.textpublishing.com.au/books/the-water-dreamers"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Water dreaming</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> has been a powerful theme in Australian history. The desire to transform desert into farmland retains appeal and </span><a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/97099323?searchTerm=bradfield%20AND%20%22Nimmo%22&amp;searchLimits=exactPhrase=Nimmo%7C%7C%7CanyWords%7C%7C%7CnotWords%7C%7C%7CrequestHandler%7C%7C%7CdateFrom=1944-01-01%7C%7C%7CdateTo=1948-01-01%7C%7C%7Cl-advstate=National%7C%7C%7Cl-advstate=New+South+Wales%7C%7C%7Cl-advstate=Queensland%7C%7C%7Cl-advstate=Victoria%7C%7C%7Csortby"><span style="font-weight: 400;">discredited</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> schemes like Bradfield keep reappearing.</span></p> <p><strong>Contempt for nature and country</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While less ambitious than the original plan, the “New Bradfield” scheme still engineers against the gradient of both history and nature. It would have irreversible consequences for Queensland’s </span><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/am/experts-dismiss-new-drought-proofing-bradfield-scheme/11666006"><span style="font-weight: 400;">environment</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, society and culture.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">What’s more, the new scheme manifests much the same mindset as the old.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It’s an attitude that privileges the conquest of nature: in this case literally up-ending geography by turning east-flowing rivers westward. Its celebration of the human struggle against defiant nature reprises the pioneering ethos.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Like many pioneers, “New Bradfield” proposals disregard the interests and land-management practices of Indigenous people. The bushfires ravaging the eastern states show the folly of </span><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-14/traditional-owners-predicted-bushfire-disaster/11700320?sf223598160=1&amp;fbclid=IwAR2UkvGj_wyO4s6tbRqyI5sI6UgEI6SvqkoMwxCFEkKEV6FO7ZGJfGMP3Kc"><span style="font-weight: 400;">ignoring traditional ways of caring for country</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> .</span></p> <p><a href="http://www.hcourt.gov.au/cases/case_d1-2018"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Overlooking native title realities</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> can also cost governments and communities.</span></p> <p><strong>Polarising debate neglects more viable projects</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“New Bradfield” is promoted as “</span><a href="https://www.deb2020.com.au/newbradfield/?utm_source=Digitaliyf&amp;utm_medium=GSearch&amp;utm_campaign=NBradfield&amp;gclid=CjwKCAiA8K7uBRBBEiwACOm4d-0xBRkgojO1Wykl937_rMhWhPhAb2ZsKhcKHOqdM2OuG11V34XdHBoCxBMQAvD_BwE"><span style="font-weight: 400;">an asset owned by all Queenslanders for all Queenslanders</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">”. But </span><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-darling-river-is-simply-not-supposed-to-dry-out-even-in-drought-109880"><span style="font-weight: 400;">environmental destruction</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and </span><a href="https://theconversation.com/drought-and-climate-change-are-driving-high-water-prices-in-the-murray-darling-basin-119993"><span style="font-weight: 400;">disputes over water sales</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> in the Murray-Darling Basin sound a warning.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Queensland Farmers Federation has </span><a href="https://www.qff.org.au/media-releases/qff-welcomes-lnp-commitment-new-bradfield-scheme/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">cautiously welcomed</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> the new scheme. Others have dismissed it as a “</span><a href="https://www.queenslandcountrylife.com.au/story/6479100/cold-water-poured-on-bradfield-mark-ii/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">pipe dream</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">”.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Thus, northern Australia again sits amid a polarised debate about its utility to the nation. Such polarising contests diminish the likelihood of more viable projects being implemented.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Extravagant expectations of “untapped” northern resources have been </span><a href="https://scholarly.info/book/northern-dreams/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">proffered for nearly two centuries</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Distant governments have fantasised the Australian tropics as a land of near-limitless potential. Northern communities have many times been disappointed by the results.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Today’s promises to “</span><a href="https://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/news/opinion/flow-of-jobs-water-vital-for-nq-says-lnp-leader-deb-frecklington/news-story/053bb635b9cb86461ead6eedd39756ca"><span style="font-weight: 400;">drought-proof</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">” large areas of Queensland rely on similar images. “Drought-proofing” aims to keep people on the land but often defies economic and social reality.</span></p> <p><strong>Dam developments have an underwhelming record</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The “New Bradfield” rhetoric echoes the inflated expectations of myriad disappointing northern development plans in the past. The </span><a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781349905737"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ord River project</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> was touted as an agricultural wonder that would put hundreds of thousands of farmers into the Kimberley. Its success lies forever just over the horizon.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Much closer to the present proposal is the Burdekin Falls Dam. It sits in the lower reaches of the same river earmarked for the </span><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-01/bradfield-scheme-is-moving-water-from-north-to-south-feasible/11662942"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Hells Gates Dam that would feed</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> the “New Bradfield” scheme. Damming Hells Gates has been advocated since at least the 1930s and has </span><a href="https://www.townsvilleenterprise.com.au/news-media/news-centre/advocacy-alert-hells-gates-funding-agreement-signals-boots-on-the-ground/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">new supporters</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Back in the 1950s, damming the Burdekin was expected to generate hydro-electric power and irrigate vast swathes of farmland. After decades of political squabbling, the dam was completed in 1988. It does not generate hydro power. Although it irrigates some land downstream, the anticipated huge agricultural expansion never happened.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Burdekin Falls Dam has helped the regional economy and could help to overcome the water shortages of the nearby city of Townsville. But it has not met the inflated expectations widely proffered decades earlier. The benefits that would flow from another dam further upstream are likely to be even more meagre.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Grandiose visions of northern development have a habit of </span><a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/8505121?selectedversion=NBD660057"><span style="font-weight: 400;">failing</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. A “New Bradfield” scheme, animated by an old pioneering ethos, is unlikely to be different.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Drought-affected communities would derive more benefit from sober proposals that acknowledge the past, integrate Indigenous knowledge and incorporate agricultural innovation.</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Written by Patrick White, Russell Mcgregor. Contribution by Janine Gertz. Republished with permission of </span><a href="https://theconversation.com/new-bradfield-rerouting-rivers-to-recapture-a-pioneering-spirit-127010"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Conversation.</span></a></em></p>

Cruising

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The story of my pioneering family

<p><strong><em>Carol Burrows, 78, is an amateur writer and poet. Here she shares what happened next in the story of her grandparents, Deborah and William Watt, a pioneering family in Australia, <a href="/lifestyle/family-pets/2016/06/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-pioneering-family-in-australia/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">after the tragedy that struck them one fateful day as they struggled to survive at the turn of the 20th century.</span></a></em></strong></p> <p>The Karoola ship sailed from Perth to Sydney, taking a family of two adults and four children to the Mahina for their journey to Auckland. It was June 1913 and the war was imminent. Their years in Australia had come to a halt as the going had been very tough, since grandad had lost the use of his right arm in an accident, while clearing land in Boulder Western Australia. His brother had told him of a farm he could move to in North Auckland.</p> <p>Arriving in New Zealand with their four children – Deborah, nine, Bill, seven, John, five, and Hugh, 15 months – after a torturous trip in very rough seas, they were met by grandad’s sister who put them up for three days before they left for the north to a place called Ohiwai. Their northern trip turned out to be in vain as the farm did not eventuate. After staying there for a few weeks collecting Kauri gum to sell, as their money was running short, they returned to Auckland to look for work. The gum was sold – three bags sold for a total of £5 at the time – but that money didn’t last long. They stayed with grandad’s sister again as houses were hard to find. When they eventually found one, they paid 18 shillings a week for a three bedroom place with kitchen and living room but they had no furniture, except the bedding they bought with them from Australia and a few plates, cups and cutlery. Meals were eaten off the bench and they slept on the floor and used their suitcases for chairs. Their money was running out even though they were living as cheaply as they could and no one wanted to employ a man with one arm. Grandad was at his wits end when he saw an ad in a paper for a horse and cart for sale. He contacted a friend and borrowed £10 and bought the horse and cart, then went to the market to buy some vegetables to sell door to door on his way home.</p> <p>Unfortunately the horse refused to co-operate and would not pull the cart. Someone offered to tow the cart home and Grandad led the horse. He was so disgusted he sold the horse and cart the next day for £7, not good business and the children walked around the area selling the vegetables for a few pence.</p> <p>They were now desperate for money so grandma approached the local Presbyterian Minister, who was very sympathetic and gave her a job doing the washing for him and employed grandad in the garden. He was so pleased with the result he employed them fairly regularly and paid them five shillings a day. This led to more jobs and though it was hard work it was helping with day to day living. Three of the children started school at Remuera primary.</p> <p>Shortly after this, a cheaper house became available. It was empty and only 11 shillings a week though the grounds needed clearing as they only had a few old shrubs and a bit of gorse. Grandad and the children cleared it and they soon had their own vegetables and a lovely lawn and were very comfortable. They bought just the necessary furniture and then, through the influence of the minister, grandad was offered a position as nightwatchman on the Auckland wharf, just at weekends at first and then later it became permanent.</p> <p>All this time the family they left behind were not told of their plight, so it came as a great surprise when one day grandma opened a letter from her sister and found £1.10 inside. She sat down and cried. She was so grateful.</p> <p>One day the owner of the house they were renting, came to see them and said he was going to increase the rent. They were furious as they had brought the place up to a much higher standard than when they first moved in. They promptly looked around for another place and found one in Remuera, much larger but it needed doing up. They moved in and grandma and the children did some painting and papering while grandad bought the garden up to standard.</p> <p>They felt their luck had changed and were very happy there. Frank, their youngest, was born. Grandma was very ill for two months but when Frank was two-years-old she went to work washing and ironing and was paid 5 shillings a day, which bought her clothes. She took Frank with her each day and grandad worked shift work as a night watchman from 4am to midnight and then from midnight to 7am. He was paid £2 and 10 shillings a week. When he came home at 7am he would sleep for a few hours and then go gardening for half a day and get five shillings. They saved their money and eventually bought the house.</p> <p>They later bought a cow for £16 and rented a paddock. The cow gave three gallons of milk in the morning and two at night. They made butter and had all the milk and cream they wanted. Eventually, the cow had two calves. The boys milked the cow before and after school. The family may have been poor and were mostly barefooted but they all worked together to improve their lot.</p> <p>The cows began to escape from the paddock and complaints from neighbours whose vegetables the cows were feasting on poured in, so they decided to sell them. Unfortunately they only managed to get £10 for one cow and two calves. Later they were told one of the calves alone would have been worth £10 if it had been sold separately. They were not good business people, obviously.</p> <p>In 1918 they all caught the flu during the epidemic and were all sick at the same time. So many people died and they were lucky to survive, though Hugh had pneumonia and they nearly lost him. In 1925 there was a polio epidemic and the youngest, Frank, then nine years old, was paralysed in the arms, legs and chest. The doctor gave them no hope of his recovery. He was in hospital for three months and his legs and arms were put in iron frames but he survived. He had therapy for 12 months afterwards but never recovered the use of his right arm completely.</p> <p>A loving family they survived the enormous hardships thrust on them with stoic determination and raised a very talented family who obtained both academic and sporting honours and were all a credit to their country.</p> <p><em>If you have a story to share please get in touch at <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="mailto:melody@oversixty.com.au" target="_blank">melody@oversixty.com.au</a></strong></span>.</em></p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><a href="/lifestyle/family-pets/2016/06/having-a-sibling-makes-boys-selfless/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Having a sibling makes boys selfless</strong></em></span></a></p> <p><a href="/lifestyle/family-pets/2016/06/sibling-rivalries-in-my-childhood-shaped-who-i-am-today/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Sibling rivalries in my childhood shaped who I am today</strong></em></span></a></p> <p><a href="/lifestyle/family-pets/2016/05/kids-are-the-worst-instagram/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>In pictures: Kids behaving badly</strong></em></span></a></p>

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A day in the life of a pioneering family in Australia

<p><em><strong>Carol Burrows, 78, is an amateur writer and poet. Here, she shares the story of a family tragedy. It’s the story of her grandparents, Deborah and William Watt, a pioneering family in Australia whose life was filled with hardships as they struggled to survive at the turn of the 20th century. </strong></em></p> <p>The morning began like any other for this pioneering family in the depths of Western Australia. Little did they know that this day would determine the rest of their lives.</p> <p>Deborah had come to Australia 16 years previously, the youngest of nine children from County Durham England, and moved to Perth with her family. Bill left New Zealand where he was born, aged 19 hoping to make a fortune on the gold fields and met Deborah when her sister married his mate and she went to holiday in Kalgoorlie with her. She was just 19 and he was 28. They married in Boulder in September 1902 and had recently won a land grant in a government ballot. In 1904 the government decided to hold a ballot to open the land up so it could be farmed and to increase the population in this part of the country. The young couple were very excited when their names were drawn and were looking forward to a much better life after living on the gold fields of Kalgoorlie since their marriage two years earlier. This seemed to be their chance to create a better future and a better life for themselves and their baby, now six months old.</p> <p>The isolated land was a 121 acre block many miles from the nearest town and had to be cleared for farming. As the land was cleared the government paid the farmers so much an acre to sow wheat or anything else that would be profitable. It was an opportunity for Bill to establish himself as a land owner in a new land. </p> <p>The life was hard for a city girl but Deborah rose to the occasion even though the living conditions were very primitive. Bill built a two roomed dwelling out of canvas and lined the walls with newspaper. The floors were compressed mud but they managed to get some old linoleum to cover these. He had made them a table and chairs and they’d been given a bed so they had the essentials. The ablution block was very primitive as there was no water apart from the creek and every day Bill would carry six buckets to the dwelling for all their needs. There was a long drop toilet usually full of spiders, snakes and toads that were prevalent in the area. Cooking was done over an open fire and the washing outside in a large bowl on a shelf Bill had constructed for the purpose.</p> <p>Bill left home early this particular morning to carry on clearing trees down by the creek. It was quite a walk from the house and after Deborah had finished her chores she intended to take the baby to meet him as she did each day for lunch. They would picnic beside the stream in the fields that were full of wild flowers at this time of the year. Deborah loved to pick these to decorate their primitive canvas home. </p> <p>The work on the land was extremely hard as it was covered with scrub and large trees. Bill had to dig around the trees after ring barking them and cut the roots, except the main one, before lighting a fire under each one of them. In the evening he would go around them again with fuel to keep them burning. Eventually they would be burnt out and ready to fell.</p> <p>This particular day there was a terrific wind blowing and Deborah begged Bill to stay home but to no avail. He intended to just check that the fires were alright then come straight back. He hadn’t been gone long when she heard him calling her name. She was horrified to see him trying to crawl home with blood pouring from his face and arm. The wind had blown a tree over as he was attending to it and a branch caught his arm doing terrible damage.</p> <p>He was bleeding profusely and fainted as she managed to get him onto the bed. The bedding was quickly soaked with his blood. Grabbing the baby, Deborah ran the two miles to the nearest house crying as she ran and calling to Mr Conway, a neighbour. Luckily he heard her before she had gone too far as the strong wind carried her voice towards him. Together they ran back to the house where Mr Conway was able to help control the bleeding and also assess the damage as he was a trained First Aid officer.</p> <p>Bill had a compound fracture of the upper arm and two breaks below this and a severed artery in his arm. If the bleeding was not stopped he would bleed to death. To stop the bleeding Mr Conway tied the artery together with string saving Bill’s life and then left him with Deborah while he went to get help from the people who managed the railway station. As it was several miles away this took some time but they loaned him a horse and cart to collect Bill and Deborah and transport them to the station. There was no doctor in the district but there was a goods train due in four hours that could take them to the nearest hospital. Bill was suffering terribly as they had no painkillers to give him to ease the pain.</p> <p>The station master and his wife helped look after them while they were waiting, and looked after the baby so Deborah could accompany Bill on the train. He was taken on a stretcher in the luggage van and suffered terribly on the 90 mile journey as there was no way to make him comfortable and each jolt caused him to suffer more pain.</p> <p>When they arrived in Northam, the nearest hospital, the ambulance men didn’t realise that Deborah was with Bill and in their haste to get him to hospital she was left to find her own way there. After a very long walk she eventually arrived but couldn’t find where in the hospital they had taken him. She was so exhausted she sat on the steps and cried. A sister from the hospital found her there and took her in to see Bill and gave her a bed for the night.</p> <p>They set Bill’s arm and he was forced to stay there for several weeks. However, it never healed and eventually he was transferred to Melbourne for further surgery. Unfortunately Bill lost so much blood it had weakened his heart that the doctors couldn’t perform surgery. He lost the use of his arm. He did recover and lived until he was well in his 80’s learning to live very successfully with one arm.</p> <p>Deborah stayed on in Northam while Bill was in hospital and managed to get a position with a family housekeeping and looking after six children where she was paid 15 shillings a week.</p> <p>They had to walk off their land as Bill took many months to recover and they lost what little they had. They eventually returned to New Zealand during the depression years and after enduring many months of abject poverty when Bill could not get any work he obtained a night watchman’s job on the wharf in Auckland where he stayed for many years. During this time they raised five children, four boys and a girl.</p> <p>It was certainly the most traumatic day in their life and set the seal on their future.</p> <p><img width="499" height="280" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/22096/carol-burrows_499x280.jpg" alt="Carol Burrows" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"/></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><em>Carol Burrows (right) with Melissa, her youngest daughter. </em></p> <p style="text-align: left;">What have you discovered about your ancestors when looking into your family history? Tell us in the comments below.</p> <p><em><strong>If you have a story to share please get in touch with <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="mailto:melody@oversixty.com.au" target="_blank">melody@oversixty.com.au</a></span></strong></em></p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><a href="/lifestyle/relationships/2016/04/my-grandparents-world-war-i-love-story/"><strong><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">My grandparents’ World War I love story</span></em></strong></a></p> <p><a href="/lifestyle/retirement-life/2016/04/why-everyone-should-share-their-life-story/"><strong><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Why everyone should share their life story</span></em></strong></a></p> <p><a href="/lifestyle/family-pets/2014/11/why-you-should-write-your-parent%E2%80%99s-biography/"><em><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Why you should write your parent’s biography</span></strong></em></a></p>

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Doctors pioneer new stroke treatment with amazing results

<p>Researchers and doctors at Royal Melbourne Hospital are pioneering a new form of treatment for the sufferers of strokes with exceptional results. By combining two different types of treatment, the study has almost doubled the number of patients who were able to walk out of hospital.</p><p>The new approach works by combining two different types of treatments – first using an advanced brain scan to identify which areas of the brain were irreversibly damaged and which could be saved; and then a new stent technology was used to remove the clot. Combine this with the more traditional clot-busting medication, and the amount of people who walked away from a stroke without a disability jumped from 40 to 70 per cent.</p><p>Researchers will be presenting their results at a major stroke conference in Nashville, after the study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.</p><p><strong>Related links:</strong></p><p><a href="/lifestyle/technology/2014/08/5-apps-that-could-save-your-life/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Here are five apps that could save your life</strong></em></span></a></p><p><a href="/lifestyle/technology/2014/08/5-apps-that-could-save-your-life/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Seven easy steps to start a walking group in your retirement village</strong></em></span></a></p><p><a href="/lifestyle/retirement-life/2014/10/starting-a-walking-group-in-your-village/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Did you know physical activity is in decline? Are you guilty?</strong></em></span></a></p>

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Remembering Marion Downs – the pioneer that addressed hearing loss in children

<p>It was only a couple of decades ago that if you were born deaf nobody would know for years. It was up to parents to notice that perhaps something was amiss when their babies grew to toddlers yet weren’t learning to talk like their peers. Often such a late diagnosis meant deaf children never developed the ability to talk.</p><p>Luckily, these days life is different for those who are born with hearing loss. And we can all thank one extraordinary woman: Marion Downs.</p><p>Marion Downs never intended to be an audiologist. She dropped out of college in the 1930s to have children but once her kids were old enough to go to school, she finished her bachelor degree and enrolled in graduate school at the University of Denver. She received her master’s degree in audiology in 1951.</p><p>It was a field dominated by men who told her that it made no difference to children whether hearing loss was detected at birth or later on. It was a ‘fact’ that this mother did not believe and years of research later would prove her right: the early years are critical period for language and speech development and delays in identification and treatment can profoundly affect quality of life.</p><p><a href="/health/hearing/2014/12/facts-about-hearing/" target="_blank"><em><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Related link: 10 things you didn’t know about hearing</span></strong></em></a></p><p>In 1959, she worked at an Otolaryngology clinic at the University of Colorado School of Medicine where, along with Doreen Pollack, she began the practice of fitting hearing aids on babies before six months testing her theory the earlier remediation, the better the functioning would be. In 1962, she developed an observational test on newborns and for the decades following, she would travel around the country to urge people to screen newborns for hearing loss. Throughout her life, she trained peers, lectured around the country and authored many books and articles on various aspects of audiology.</p><p>It was only in the late 1980s and early 1990s that scientific neurological reports confirmed Marion Downs early remediation theory. In 1993, the National Institutes of Health instituted universal newborn hearing screening.</p><p>Downs died of natural causes at aged 100 in November 2014 but will always be remembered for her contributions to improving the lives with people suffering hearing loss.</p><p><strong>Related links:</strong></p><p><a href="/health/hearing/2015/01/different-types-of-hearing-loss/" target="_blank"><em><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">The different types of hearing loss explained</span></strong></em></a></p><p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="/health/hearing/2015/01/different-types-of-hearing-loss/" target="_blank"><em><strong>Food that can help prevent hearing loss</strong></em></a></span></p><p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong><a href="/health/hearing/2014/12/foods-to-prevent-hearing-loss/" target="_blank">Future-proof your sense of sound now</a></strong></em></span></p>

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