Category: General Musings

The Sun Herald reports Stockman may have to wear hard hats after OH&S Nannies took a case to court over the death of a jackaroo.

THE owners of a cattle station yesterday pleaded guilty to breaching occupational health and safety rules after the death of a jackaroo. Daniel Croker, 23, was killed when thrown from a horse mustering at Gunbar station, near Hay in New South Wales in 2001. Mr Croker was not wearing a helmet. The case, the first of its kind to go before the NSW Industrial Relations Commission, could result in hard hats replacing the traditional Akubra worn by stockmen and farmers across the country. The NSW WorkCover Authority prosecuted Gunbar’s owners, B.H. MacLachlan Pty Ltd, claiming the company failed to provide safety equipment and training for Mr Croker. B.H. MacLachlan faces a fine of up to $550,000 but will contest some facts of the case when submissions on penalty are heard in June.

Seems a bit odd to me. Will MacLachlan and Company have to muzzle the horses as well. They bite you know. What about hobbling them to stop them kicking. We should also look at filling in all the small holes in the paddocks to stop the horses tripping in a rabbit warren and maybe we should get rid of the cattle – they’ve been known to spook horses. Yellow hard hats – bloody hell. The hat rack on the verandah of the Boulia Pub will never look the same. And the new OH&S Ringer – hardly an inspiration for country music.

It had to happen. A techno dropkick has called his son Ver 2.0.

The summer storms hit Brisbane with a vengence with considerable damage to the community and the power grid. I flew in from Perth yesterday just in time to notice my website had been hit by spammers before the storm struck and took away the power. I was actually in the pool when it struck having given up on fixing my website. I couldn’t get out quick enough. Water – lightning strikes- run for cover – run back and try and secure umbrella (too late) patio furniture (too late). Later all secure – now find the camera to take a shot of horizontal palm trees. Found the camera but couldn’t switch it on due to lack of reading glasses. After the storm had passed I found them in the middle of the pool along with my coffee mug and a considerable amount of local flora and fuana. Ergon Energy reported up to 100 000 homes without power and I went without until 1:30 the next afternoon. Third world service in a state that promised bells and whistles with the new ‘privatised’ power company. 37 degress celcius – no power for the airconditioner or the computer – water for coffee heated on my old gas camping stove – light in the kitchen from my Mothers old Kerosene lamp from the farm in the fifties – hurumph. Tomorrow will be a better day, I’m sure. I hope. Similar storms are forecast for the rest of the week.

I go away for a week and all hell breaks loose. A spammer got onto my site and left a comment on every post that ever was. It then tried to send emails and because the server didn’t recognize the source it dumped them all in a bin. 90 mb worth of emails clogged up the system and if it wasn’t for the abilities and amicability of Gary Gravett we’d all still be looking at a blank screen. Well I would, you all would have gone on to more fertile pastures. The old familiar three column template will be up later tonight and my leave pass has finished. Thanks again, Gary.

Tonight my wife and I will board Virgin and fly west to the land of my fathers, Albany, West Australia. My Mother still lives there at the tender age of 84 and in full command of her facilities. A published poet and writer, originally from the small town of Pemberton, she has inspired most of her children to write. My three sisters also live in the west and it is the son of my youngest sister that has prompted this return to Albany. He is getting married on Saturday. Courtesy of the cheap air-fairs from Virgin ($300 return Brisbane-Perth) four of my five children will also make the journey. My other son will be starting work in Yepoon too soon after the wedding to manage the flight from Perth and the 600 km drive from Brisbane to Yepoon the night before school starts.I am strong on family and am pleased my children will get this chance to see their Grandmother again and socialize with their western cousins. I will not post while I’m away (7 days) so readers may like to go visit new sites linked on my sidebar. Bastards Inc, penned by an irreverant man with just a hint of ex-service about him makes no bones about his opinions of fools. Marty’s Insight does have insight but I note most of his readers would prefer to be ‘kicking cute puppies’ wich seems to be in direct contravention of my ideas of what is reasonable but I’ll let it pass. Bizarre Science appeals to my thoughts that science shouldn’t be used to confuse the youth of the country. He dispells bullshit with fact. They are all well worth the read.

Tonight my wife and I will board Virgin and fly west to the land of my fathers, Albany, West Australia. My Mother still lives there at the tender age of 84 and in full command of her facilities. A published poet and writer, originally from the small town of Pemberton, she has inspired most of her children to write. My three sisters also live in the west and it is the son of my youngest sister that has prompted this return to Albany. He is getting married on Saturday. Courtesy of the cheap air-fairs from Virgin ($300 return Brisbane-Perth) four of my five children will also make the journey. My other son will be starting work in Yepoon too soon after the wedding to manage the flight from Perth and the 600 km drive from Brisbane to Yepoon the night before school starts. I am strong on family and am pleased my children will get this chance to see their Grandmother again and socialize with their western cousins. I will not post while I’m away (7 days) so readers may like to go visit new sites linked on my sidebar. Bastards Inc, penned by an irreverant man with just a hint of ex-service about him makes no bones about his opinions of fools. Marty’s Insight does have insight but I note most of his readers would prefer to be ‘kicking cute puppies’ wich seems to be in direct contravention of my ideas of what is reasonable but I’ll let it pass. Bizarre Science appeals to my thoughts that science shouldn’t be used to confuse the youth of the country. He dispells bullshit with fact. They are all well worth the read.

How anyone can knock an addition to the national infrastructure such as the new Adelaide-Darwin 3000 km rail link offers is beyond me. The link has been a long time coming, promised by politicians for 150 years, it is now a reality and the country’s export/import and defence ability is greatly adhanced. Chris Corrigan from Patricks talks about the link having a return equivalent to a tick’s testicles and Tim Fischer rightly replies; some tick, some testicles. Corrigan is a bean counting profit and loss motivated buisness man and would view any new project from a pure commercial view. Fischer, a politician and one time Deputy PM views such infrastructure from a national viewpoint. The potential to open up trade between Australia, specifically Adelaide and Darwin, and our near norther neighbours is huge. Who gives a damn if it doesn’t show a profit for five or even ten years. In one step it alters the logistics of trade enourmously. Don’t think of the link as a 3000 km rail link between two Australian cities. It is clearly much more than that. It is in fact the bottom end of a rail-sea link between Australia and all of our trading partners. Those long established partners; those being developed and those who have yet to sign up. Defence is well served as well by the new link. When the Leopard tanks first come onto the ADF’s inventory, visionaries wanted to bring them north so Infantry (all situated in the North) and the tanks (all situated in the south) could get together for training. Too hard. The rail link between Victoria and Queensland couldn’t carry them. Rail tunnels alone prevented movement of tanks. This abysmal state of affairs has been rectified but the lesson always stayed with me. National Transport infrastructure should always be placed against a military template of needs during the planning stages. I can recall in my last days in the Army commanding 100 vehicle convoys to Darwin as the ADF come to grips with the obvious need for a defence presence in the Territory. The logistics of such moves were horrendous on both vehicles and men and the trip could take up to 14 days while we waited for the slowest vehicle. Now they can all travell at the same speed, on flatbed rolling stock-overnight Corrigan and his bean-counting type need to lift their thinking beyond ticks testicles and think on a national and global scale. The completion of the rail link certainly ranks as one of the country’s great engineering feats. It involved the laying of 2.9 million tonnes of ballast, 2 million sleepers, 140,000 tonnes of rail and 8 million sleeper fastenings across its length. Perhaps the only comparable rail project being undertaken on this scale, albeit under vastly different conditions, is an 1100-kilometre line being built from Qinghai to Lhasa on the Tibetan plateau. The link was completed in two years and after 150 years of promises from various Prime Ministers I am pleased to get up the nose of the Howard Haters by pointing out John Howard made it possible by supporting the project with 150 million dollars and talking it up so private enterprise entered the game.

My daughter recently bought a Golden Retriever puppy that redefines ‘cute’ What do you reckon? This is a test picture post.

Whatever your politics, whichever God you believe in – I wish you and your family all the best for tomorrow and the days to come. My new patio is up and keeping the 35+ degree summer sun at bay. The pool is clean and inviting and tomorrow – the holy day of families, all my children and partners will be here. This hasn’t happened for several years as they all followed the path of many before them tasting the mysteries of Europe. Albeit lifted by the experience they are all very glad to be back in Australia. 20 plus in-laws will be here as well (my own family are in West Australia) and some old Army friends will drop in. Muslims, Christians, Agnostics, Athiests, Hedonists, Caucasions, a Jew, Aboriginies, Chinese/Malay, Poms, Kiwis and Paddies. Hate Howard, laugh at Latham, Left-wing, Right Wing, Don’t know and Don’t care will all gather at my home at Taigum – symbolic of what is good about Australia. Have a good one! I intend to.

Well, I hope the farmers are happy because I’m not. Coming from the land I’ve always been in tune with their rain requirements but enough is enough. The drought was broken the moment I decided to start rebuilding the Patio. An eyesore and dangerous example of jerry building, it had to go. I bought the timber and Solarspan sheeting with 50 ml of polystyrene insulation to handle the tropical heat. I lined up the plumber, electrician and carpenter but forgot to pay homage to the weather god. Thirty minutes after I disassembled the old construction the drought broke. Now open to the weather, my bar, lovingly topped with Jarrah parquetry reflecting my home in Pemberton, West Australia – the heart of the Jarrah and Karri forests, is ruined as are the shelves for Bundy Rum and Gin and Vodka and glasses that I’ve purloined during my travels. It’s bucketing down outside and plumbers, electricians and carpenters have lost interest in my little project as the city cops a hiding and everyone wants tradesmen to repair the rain damaged houses. Bugger