Arts ……………………. 35,36 Cinema ……………….. 33,34 Community ………………3 to

Barbeque Table It's round and brown and always stood Down the back, made of wood. A mee ng place for friends to sit, And ponder life as they see fit. Cockatoos squawk past, so fast, To tell us all they have a past. “Where are all our trees from here? You chopped them down without a fear . Now, we squawk and fly together To annoy you in the weather! But when you have gone away, We chew your table every day. Take a look underneath

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We mark it all with our beaks!” By Mary Murray Peter Locke Trio Peter Locke (piano), Mike Walshe (acoustic bass) and Rob Brice (jazz guitar). Warm up your Sunday with A Journey Through Jazz 2pm. Sunday 15 August St Bernard's Church 2 David St Batehaven Adults $40; SCMS members and concessions $35 Seats are limited, so don't delay. Purchase your ticket at www.southcoastmusicsociety.com Proudly presented by the South Coast Music Society

Gadfly 188 By Robert Macklin It was our first big adventure. Four of us 13-year-olds in Grade 8 had been signed up by our parents for a Young Australia League tour from Brisbane all the way to Cairns. What Vol 16 September 15th 2017 they didn’t tell us was that we were headed for another planet, another world. Vol 28 December 7th, 2017 Vol 48 April 27th 2018 The journey by train took us overnight – passing the girls’ train returning in Rockhampton - through endless fields of sugar cane to the very neat ‘camp’ of dongas where older chaps in officers’ caps took charge. Another train took us up the escapement via the Barron Falls and that was pre y good. But next day came the wonder that in the blink of an eye transported us to that other world. I guess we’d glimpsed it in the YAL brochure and of course we’d learned the bare facts of it at school. But when we climbed down the steps of the Green Island underwater observatory and found ourselves in among the Great Barrier Reef we were simply overwhelmed. It was like Aladdin’s Cave filled with sparkling jewels but all the wondrous colours were alive and moving, the ny fish dar ng in forma on, the shy ones peeping from the waving coral tresses, the big fellas like policemen on the beat, and occasionally the really big groupers with chubby lips and mouths like caves. They cruised by the glass window and they were all unafraid, even the ny ones, even gorgeous coral cod with their wild fans and tentacles. Back on the surface we were all a bit dazed but when the officers said some of us could put on their sandshoes and wade in from the beach with goggles we all jumped at it. When my turn came I took a very big breath then sank into that alien globe. I never wanted to leave. I’d be there yet but I bumped into an officer who was standing in the deeper water to save us from ourselves. We talked about nothing else – except girls – for the rest of the trip and therea er we always had snorkeling gear in the house. But while we occasionally dipped into the chilly waters of the NSW south coast, it wasn’t the same. However, three years ago when a holiday in Cairns became the trigger for my Castaway book, we joined a big boa ul of tourists on a trip to the reef. We knew that hea ng events had damaged part of the coral but the captain assured us we were in for a treat so we signed up for the glass bo omed boat and the snorkeling. So sad. Even as I write these words, my glasses mist. It was another planet all right - it was the colour of Mars, a dirty brown-grey with white stalks of coral and a few patchy fish that ducked away as we reached them. And who could blame them. No doubt there are other areas where it’s in be er condi on, but when UNESCO warned that the reef was in danger through climate change, I applauded the opportunity it offered to add interna onal momentum to ac on that would save the planet and all its wonders. It might even spur the Morrison government into ac on. Well, it certainly did that. Morrison not only sent his Environment Minister, Susan Ley on a no-holds-barred mission to kill the warning, his people spread the word it was all a Chinese plot. And last week they celebrated a great success. The warning was withdrawn. The damage remains, along with the denialist policies that will spread the desecra on. But let’s give credit where it’s due – hat’s off to a ringing triumph for the marketeers of planet Morrison. robert@robertmacklin.com

COUNCIL RATES Sir, I have received a two-page brochure included with my increased rates no ce, poin ng out the defini ons of the various charges and by how much they have increased. What is not explained is why there needs to Vol 16 September 15th 2017 be an increase in council’s rates and charges. Vol 28 December 7th, 2017 Vol 48 April 27th 2018 The Council’s 2021/2 financial budgets allow for a surplus of $2.4M in the General Fund and an overall surplus of $7.6M whereas the 2.0% general rate and charges increase is set to generate just slightly over $1M. The ques on that must be asked of council is, why are rates being increased in a community s ll suffering from the financial impacts of the Black Summer Fires, drought, flooding and the Covid pandemic, just to increase an already posi ve bo om line? Charles Stuart, Member, Advance Eurobodalla

The Beagle Editor Deferment of the Local Council Elec ons has given those who would like to be Elected to Represent the Shires Residents, Ratepayers and Voters more me to get them selves properly organized. Being a paid Community Elected Representa ve is a demanding public responsibility, requiring significant effort in communica ng with the Shires residents. Being elected by the shires voters as their council representa ves, delegates, requires much effort and determina on to properly represent the views and ideals of the Shires Residents.

Staff are employed to assist the elected achieve the shires residents and ratepayers expecta ons in the business owned by the people. Major changes to a tudes of some of the publicly funded employees of the Council are very necessary too. Re establishing a commi ee structure within the Local Council System is needed so any one with ideas and Concerns can be heard properly by all the elected. The elected need to take up the ma ers raised by the public with them by the use of No ces of Mo on or Ques ons On No ce as may be necessary to achieve properly detailed public responses. Live stream recording of public presenta ons needs to be reintroduced too.

Allan Brown Catalina NSW

Vol 16 September 15th 2017 The Beagle Editor, Vol 28 December 7th, 2017 Vol 48 April 27th 2018 I went to my first Al-Anon mee ng to fix my husband's drinking and to save our marriage. I was sure there was something I could do to solve the problem. Surely something was lacking in me if he needed the constant comfort of alcohol. Surely, if I tried hard enough, there would be a miracle solu on to keep the family together. Imagine my surprise when I heard the First Step of this self-help program - "We admi ed we were powerless over alcohol, that OUR lives had become unmanageable." At the end of the mee ng, someone came up to me and explained how her own "rescuing" behaviour had enabled her husband to con nue his drinking. She also explained that her situa on had improved when she was able to step back, not get involved in alcoholic arguments and concentrate on her own health and happiness. This was when I first heard the term "detachment". I was s ll quite confused but that night, I slept be er than I had in years. Over the next few months, I heard other people explain their situa ons. I couldn't believe how much we had in common. I do not find new social occasions easy but I felt at home with these complete strangers. When I was eventually able to share my own story, I was accepted, understood, not judged or cri cised. Not even interrupted!! I learnt through listening that alcoholism is a family disease. Pa erns of excessive drinking can be carried on by each genera on. Pa erns of pu ng up with abusive rela onships can also be passed on. I learned that it is a baffling illness; that it is not just a physical illness; that manipula on and emo onal and financial blackmail are also part of the dis-ease of the family. What was my part in all this? At mes, I felt totally responsible. I was told o en enough that it was my fault. I began to realise that I was more worried about my husband's health than he was. I was so anxious that my own health deteriorated. I was yelling at the children, impa ent and angry with them because I couldn't communicate with him and he wasn't changing his behaviour. If you have related to even a small part of this personal story, then maybe Al-Anon is a safe place for you to be heard. Call 1300 262 666 or visit www.al-anon.alateen.org/australia to find out where there is a mee ng in your local area. Name and address supplied

For the past 5 Rotary Markets in NAROOMA I have manned the main gate asking everyone who comes in for their post code etc (for COVID tracing) & anyone who was from a post code other than 2546 I have asked where they get their travel/tourist info from. Almost invariably they have told me they go straight to informa on centres some even adding that they don't bother with places that don't have info centres. These Vol 16 September 15th 2017 comments were definitely not confined to the supposedly Luddite Grey Nomad con ngent. As a couple of Vol 28 December 7th, 2017 Vol 48 April 27th 2018 people said 'the on-line presence doesn't tell you where the local laundromat is' for example. We have a purpose built building with a great car park for all manner of caravans, Winnebagos & the like, a wonderful li le museum with an historic lighthouse for visitors to enjoy, toilets (there used to be showers but the Council decided they might be used so they were closed), an off leash park for those who travel with their dogs & a facility that was close to everything a tourist might need. What kind of idiocy requires that all of that should be shut down & all without any real consulta on. Ridiculous. Social media comment.

To the Editor, Tone Deaf Has Planning Minister Stokes describing our council as Tone Deaf provided an explana on to make sense of why the hell there is so much community turmoil. Is Tone Deaf discon nuing webcas ng of Public Forum so community views and ideas have limited exposure. Is Tone Deaf Councillors absent from Public Access and Public Forum. Is Tone Deaf accep ng grant funds - taken to a whole new level by Liberal & Na onal Party poli cians ror ng our money to buy themselves jobs for another term? Is Tone Deaf accep ng grants the quantum of which distorts Council’s budget. Is Tone Deaf Batemans Bay pool users who for many years just wanted an upgrade to the 50m pool. Instead have had it taken away, replaced with a 25m puddle. Is Tone Deaf evic ng the Batemans Bay Community Centre users in response to a James Packer Crown casino style ‘unsolicited approach’ by an organisa on wan ng the community facility for less than market rent. Is Tone Deaf allowing an elephan ne carbuncle of a rural rezone/ development with unplanned opportunist access through the quiet enclosed streets of the Estuary at Mossy Point. Is Tone Deaf doing nothing for five weeks having being told Community land at Broulee wasn’t ‘Opera onal’ - knowing the decima on about to unleash on the na ve trees. Is Tone Deaf desperately selling the silver on the sideboard because of budgetary problems but don’t tell anybody, Is Tone Deaf taking no interest in the forty year old zombie subdivision development at Tuross. Is Tone Deaf taking two years to reveal the facts users were asking of Coopers Island Rd.- Why the gate? Is Tone Deaf dismissing residents’ concern over Council’s Dalmeny land sale because they were told twelve years ago. How many new residents have there been in that me? Is Tone Deaf closing Narooma’s Tourist Informa on Centre not understanding that smiles and enthusiasm given by volunteers in TICs are worth twice as much as bought ones. Smiles and enthusiasm your smartphone wont give you. Is Tone Deaf giving away, way too much delegated authority. Is Tone Deaf the inability to admit a mistake, to call out a wrong or to say Sorry. Whatever Tone Deaf is, it’s one of those things that can’t be picked up when broken. Just the same as Trust. Yours in this mad, mad world, G.Fawkes (not his real name but we know it and agree not to publish it)

S ll Life Sarah Winman, 4th Estate, 2021, ISBN 978-0-00-828336-0, 438pp

Vol 16 September 15th 2017 Vol 28 December 7th, 2017 Vol 48 April 27th 2018 A review by Trevor Moore I had been reading too much (if that is possible) non-fic on and decided to lighten up. I ambled into Moruya Books, as I do from me to me, to find a ripping good read. I was encouraged by the incomparable Julie to read S ll Life by Sarah Winman. Put it on the heap, I said. Ah, she said, we just sold the last copy. Instead, I wandered out with Alexandria and Klara and the Sun which I reviewed last month. But the next me I entered the hallowed portals of Moruya Books I remembered S ll Life and there it was. I am pleased I remembered it for had I not, I would have missed one the best reads I have had for a long me. Sarah Winman is a Bri sh writer and, if wri ng were not talent enough, she is also an actress. This is her third novel and I expect to read the previous two, not the least because the first is intriguingly en tled When God Was a Rabbit. Italians are in the news as I write. In a feat that has stunned the world of athle cs an Italian with the unItalian name of Marcell Jacobs (he was born in Texas but raised in Italy) has won the 100m in fine style and in 9.8 seconds. At his fastest he was moving at 43.07kph (26.76mph). But I am not wri ng about the 100m; I am reviewing a book. Sarah Winman got the inspira on for S ll Life when she visited Florence as part of a course she took on Renaissance Art. While she was there, she learned of the flood of 1966 and of the Mud Angels - the young men and women who came from all over the world to help clean up. I knew none of this. Most of the book is set in Florence and the descrip on of the flood is pre y breathtaking. She writes well and I rather liked that she does not use any quote marks in the dialogue. Surprisingly, I found that this made it easier to read and easier to follow the dialogue. In me ways it is hard to say what this novel is about. There is a story, but it is not that which carries the narra ve along. It is the characters that make this book such a lovely read. I could argue that - apart from the flood - not a lot happens. Yet this is a book about rela onships, about love, hope, family and fate. The central character is Ulysses Temper and the book opens in 1944 as the Allies are pushing northward through Italy. He meets a sexagenarian art historian and possible spy, Evelyn Skinner - possibly the author herself is the inspira on for this character - who is ostensibly looking for art that has been looted by the Nazis. Their mee ng lasts for only a few hours before they each go their separate ways, and yet each has an effect on the other that is a theme of the book. They repeatedly come close to mee ng again as the years progress - the book runs up to 1979 - and eventually they do meet again. The book has enough of that feel-good thing about it that you always know they will meet again even though there is no par cular reason for their mee ng. Even though Ulysses and Evelyn are the main characters, I would not say that the book is about the two of them although it is about each of them. Ulysses had married Peg just as he sets off to war not, I think, because he loved her but just because. In Ulysses’ absence, Peg has an affair with an American and has a child, Alys, by him. Ulysses is le (no plot spoilers here) some property and money in Florence and decides

to move there and he takes Alys and a parrot called Claude along. We are le wondering exactly what Evelyn was doing in Florence in 1944. Was she a spy? The last 55 pages of the book is a chapter called All about Evelyn and yet, at the end of it, we s ll do not know why she would have been in Italy in 1944 at the height of the Allied invasion. What we do learn is that she met E M Forster whose classic novel A Room with a View is also set between England and Italy. I was forced to read this book for my “O” level English and as a result hated it with a passion that only a 16-year-old forced to do something he doesn’t want to do can summon up. Perhaps I should read it now. But Evelyn’s mee ng with the young Forster is just a thing that happens: it is not significant in the overall narra ve, or not to me. This is a book that draws you in to its characters and their inter-rela onships. It is well-wri en, and you sort of know that all will be alright in the end. And it is alright in the end though because it is an explora on rather than a story, there is no end. You can make that up yourself. But unlike many books (and, indeed, films) that leave the reader too fill in the conclusion, S ll Life leaves you sa sfied and not frustrated with that. It is a

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great read. Read it now. Do not pass “go”; do not collect your $200. You will not regret it.

Alison’s Pick: From the author of the interna onal bestseller Migra ons comes a pulse-pounding new novel set in the wild Sco sh Highlands In Flynn arrives in Scotland with her twin sister, Aggie, to lead a team tasked with reintroducing fourteen grey wolves into the remote Highlands. She hopes to heal not only the dying landscape, but a broken Aggie, too. However, In is not the woman she once was, and may be in need of rewilding herself. Despite fierce opposi on from the locals, In ’s wolves surprise everyone by thriving, and she begins to let her guard down, even opening up to the possibility of love. But when a local farmer is found dead, In knows where the town will lay blame. Unable to accept her wolves could be responsible, she makes a reckless decision to protect them, tes ng every ins nct she has. But if her wolves didn’t make the kill, then who did? And what will she do when the man she’s been seeing becomes the main suspect? Propulsive and spellbinding, Once There Were Wolves is the unforge able tale of a woman desperate to save the creatures she loves. Part thriller, part redemp ve love story, Charlo e McConaghy’s profoundly affec ng novel will stay with you forever.

13th August 1921 GRAZING RIGHTS. – R. B. Heffernan will offer for sale at the “Examiner” Office on Saturday next, Vol 16 September 15th 2017 20th inst., the grazing rights of Moruya Park for 12 Vol 28 December 7th, 2017 Vol 48 April 27th 2018 months. BABY’S DEATH. – On Monday last Mr. and Mrs. S. O’Cass, of Bodalla, suffered a sad bereavement through the death of their seven-month’s old baby girl from an a ack of gastri s. LICENSING COURT. – On Wednesday the Local Licensing Bench granted the transfer of the license of the Adelaide Hotel from J. J. King to W. Dunmore. Our new boniface has also purchased this Hotel and land. BUSINESS FOR SALE. – One of the most up-to-date and profitable li le businesses in this district is on the market for sale. Owing to ill-health, Mrs. T. Strahan is reluctantly compelled to re re from business, and is now giving anyone desirous of purchasing a well-established and fi ed-up tea-rooms and confec onary, fruit and so drinks shop, the opportunity of securing the popular Shamrock Cafe. PLOUGHING MATCH. – This is the last opportunity we will have of reminding our readers that the A. & P. Society’s Ploughing Match will take place on Wednesday next. As seven entries have been received for the principal event of ploughing opera ons, and the commi ee has decided to accept Mr. Milne’s offer of his paddock at Mullenderee. HOUSE MOVING. – Mr. A. F. Emmo , who a short me ago purchased Mr. Mar n McMahon’s property at Mullenderee, last week had the house removed in its en rety from its old posi on to a new one, about half a mile closer to town. The building was lowered from the blocks by the aid of jacks onto large girders and hauled to the new site by Mr. G. Mitchell’s trac on engine. Mr. C. Pike was in command of the tractor and Mr. C. Stubbs had the management of the building. FOOTBALL. – Bodalla beat Narooma 8 to nil last Saturday. EUROBODALLA SHIRE COUNCIL. – General Business. The Engineer was authorized to spend up to £15 in repairs to the Shire Council’s co age in Campbell St. The Engineer was instructed to no fy the maintenance men to report at once to him any excessive damage done to any of the Shire’s roads by mber or other teams, and that on receipt of such report, that the Engineer inspect the damage and take legal proceedings against the offender. Tenders. Two tenders were received for cement water trough at wharf windmill, and that of John Stewart at £23 was accepted. ADVERTISMENT. – Pause! and read this: Ring ‘phone 21 and you will be able to get the Primest Beef, Mu on, Pork and Small Goods at the Lowest Market Rates at Roy Turnbull’s New Shop at the Freezing Works, Moruya. Only Braidwood ca le killed. No frozen beef supplied. Orders delivered daily to any part of the district. A Trial Solicited. Extracted from the Moruya Examiner by the Moruya and District Historical Society Inc. h ps:// www.mdhs.org.au

Vulcan Street Moruya