Cinema

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Gadfly 200 By Robert Macklin The announcement that Canberra is to have its own Holocaust Museum raises some fundamental questions about Australia’s own Aboriginal history. Vol 16 September 15th 2017 Vol 28 December 7th, 2017 Vol 48 April 27th 2018 ‘Holocaust’ is now a label reserved for the barbarity that Adolf Hitler and his accomplices visited upon Europe’s Jewish people in World War II. It was made the more shocking by its concentration over half a decade in the obscenity of Auschwitz and the other death factories. Yet the fate of Australia’s Aboriginal people differs only in the period and the location of its execution. It took much longer, and its settings were scattered over a continent bigger than Europe. Its instruments were diverse – guns, poison, dispossession, degradation and disease. The result was the same. There is a singular connection: when the Nazis in November 1938 attacked Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues on ‘Kristallnacht’, the night of broken glass that signalled the start of the horror, Australian officialdom was silent. But William Cooper, a Yorta Yorta man from the Murray Valley, leader of the Australian Aborigines League, took a letter of protest and condemnation to the German Consulate in Melbourne. They refused to receive it. There is also a disconnect: in the wake of the Nazi atrocity, the Germans of a new generation had the courage to own the actions of their forebears, to confess and crave forgiveness, to pay reparations of the exchequer and the spirit. Not so the Australian colonisers. Behind the scenes, however, a Jewish Rabbi, Avraham Schwarz has made it his life’s work to educate Australia’s Jewish community about William Cooper and indigenous issues since the 1990s. He established the William Cooper Legacy Project with Cooper’s oldest surviving grandchild, “Uncle” Boydie Cooper. He persuaded German Chancellor to be, Angela Merkel to accept William’s 1938 protest in 1983. And the new Holocaust Museum in Perth will feature a huge image of William Cooper on its façade. Yet as the centuries pass, the Aboriginal people are still waiting for Australian governments to emulate the German response. Along the way, a cohort of Australians, black and white, have raised their hands and their voices to officialdom, arguing, pleading and demanding the natural justice that we codify in our unofficial national canon as the ‘fair go’. The latest cry for justice, the Uluru Statement from the Heart, is the most powerful yet articulated. It resounds from an Aboriginal gathering – the aroused and re-energised survivors of their holocaust – demanding a Voice in policies affecting the land their ancestors tended for 60,000 years; a Truth-telling of the realities of the occupiers’ attempted ethnocide; and a Treaty that lays down the conditions for a future that will finally ‘close the gap’ in status, wealth and power between themselves and the colonisers of 1788. The response of successive Australian Governments has been either symbolic – Paul Keating’s Redfern Speech and Kevin Rudd’s apology to the stolen generations – or niggardly. ‘Closing the gap’ between the original Australians and the health and wealth of their white compatriots began as an aspiration; it remains as a plaintive echo of systemic failure. Perhaps Canberra’s Holocaust Museum will play a part in turning the national tide. William Cooper’s long journey to the German Consulate would not have been in vain. www.robertmacklin.com

PROCLAMATION. – A proclama on has been gaze ed which makes it an offence to pluck wild flowers except by cu ng. A person cannot pick wild flowers on private land except with the permission of the Vol 16 September 15th 2017 Vol 28 December 7th, 2017 Vol 48 April 27th 2018 owner. A close season will be provided for certain wild flowers. SALMA GUNDY TEA. – Ar s cally decorated with roses were the spacious rooms of “Eversley,” the residence of Mrs. John Emmo , on Tuesday, when a merry me was had at a Salma Gundy a ernoon tea. The charming hostess, Mrs. Gregg, assisted by Mrs. G. A. Sanders, her co-partner in the toy stall at the forthcoming C.E. Bazaar, for which purpose the stall was held, dispensed the dain est of dainty refreshments to the large number of guests present. Miss Tranent was the lucky winner of a dainty prize given for the Salma Gundy compe on, with her cousin, Mrs. E. Hawdon, second. TILBA TILBA water supply, drawn from the springs of Mt. Dromedary, has a pressure of 80lbs. to the square inch. 2000 . of new piping has just been installed, and there are now available 40,000 gallons daily. The banns of marriage of Mr. G. Bishop, of Glenduart, Moruya, and Miss Merle Hutchinson, of Sydney, were read in the Sacred Heart Church on Sunday. SUCCESSFUL OPERATION. – We are very pleased to report that Mr. ‘Jack’ Skehan, of Mullenderree, who was operated on at Lewishham Hospital last week for an affec on of the throat, and whose life for a me was despaired of, is now improving. MOGO. – (From our Correspondent). It is with great regret that I have to report the death of Mr. M. Maloney. That dreaded pneumonia did its deadly work, and despite unfailing medical aid and careful nursing our friend passed away on Friday evening. The funeral service was performed in the local cemetery on Saturday a ernoon, the Rev. Father McCormack officia ng at the graveside. Mr. Mac Maloney, brother of the deceased, is also suffering from the same complaint, and at mes grave fears were entertained for his recovery. Happily, now he seems to be on the highroad to health. Sincere sympathy is felt for the mother, Mrs. Maloney, and family, and it is tragic that all these people are visitors to Mogo, and that on arrival the two sons should have been smi en down. Deceased came down from Sydney to see his sick brother and at once contracted the fell disease. It is to be earnestly hoped that this severe influx of contagious malady, which has so terribly visited us, will pass off, but residents are asked to see that all sanitary arrangements are sa sfactory – the Shire Council would do well to inves gate the ma er. In consequence of the above death the cricket match, arranged to have been contested between Mogo and Bateman’s Bay on Saturday was postponed.

Vol 16 September 15th 2017 Vol 28 December 7th, 2017 Vol 48 April 27th 2018 From awardwinning musician and composer Warren Ellis comes the unexpected and inspiring story of a piece of chewing gum. Featuring an introduc on from Nick Cave.

"Warren has turned this memento, snatched from his idol's piano in a moment of rapture, into a genuine religious artefact." - Nick Cave On Thursday 1 July, 1999, Dr Nina Simone gave a rare performance as part of Nick Cave's Meltdown Fes val. A er the show, in a state of awe, Warren Ellis crept onto the stage, took Dr Simone's piece of chewed gum from the piano, wrapped it in her stage towel and put it in a Tower Records bag. The gum remained with him for twenty years; a sacred totem, his crea ve muse, growing in significance with every passing year. In 2019, Cave - his collaborator and great friend - asked Warren if there was anything he could contribute to display in his Stranger Than Kindness exhibi on. Warren realized the me had come to release the gum. Together they agreed it should be housed in a glass case like a holy relic. Worrying the gum would be damaged or lost, Warren decided to first have it cast in silver and gold, sparking a chain of events that no one could have predicted, one that would take him back to his childhood and his rela onship to found objects. Nina Simone's Gum is about how something so small can form beau ful connec ons between people. It is a story about the meaning we place on things, on experiences, and how they become imbued with spirituality. It is a celebra on of ar s c process, friendship, understanding and love. About the Author

Warren Ellis is an Australian mul -instrumentalist and composer, most famous for his work as collaborator and bandmate of Nick Cave, in both the Bad Seeds and Grinderman. Both solo and alongside Nick he is also a mul -award-winning film composer whose soundtracks include The Proposi on, The Road, The Assassina on of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Mustang and most recently This Train I Ride. His own band Dirty Three have released eight studio albums since 1994 and he is an in-demand producer and writer, working with ar sts including Marianne Faithful, Jupiter and Okwess and Tinariwen.

Vol 16 September 15th 2017 Vol 28 December 7th, 2017 Vol 48 April 27th 2018

“Thanks for the beer, Mick. There’s a bloody lot going on in the world and it’s a case of where to start. We could run a pub test on Glasgow, the ICAC Inquiry into Gladys or even the disclosure of dona ons with Chris an Porter.” “Bugger all that, Bazza. Did you hear about Russell’s missing lawn mower?” Bazza sighed and they both took a good drink. “You are the man to see about all the gossip in the village, Mick. Our Russell is very par cular about his front lawn. In fact, he turned up at my place on Saturday with pen and pad to let me know it went missing right out the front of his place. As he does, he was fas diously mowing the lawn on his side of the footpath. He turned the mower off to empty the grass catcher and when he got back it was gone. I got a bit annoyed when he put me through the third degree with some assump on I needed a lawn mower. I don’t think my goat in the front yard was too impressed either with the slur on the state of my lawn, so I withdrew the offer to lend it to him. Anyhow, lets move on…” “No, No Bazza, you have only got half the story. It’s the biggest crime at Russell’s place since the mystery of the water bo les on his front lawn three years ago.” Bazza lted his head back slightly. “You didn’t hear about that? Russell woke up one morning and there was a bo le of water on his immaculate front lawn. He didn’t think that much of it and disposed of it quick smart. Next morning same thing, same spot. Typical Russel, he checks with Neighbourhood Watch, but it is only him being targeted. Three days later, the same thing happens, a bo le of water le in the same place, on his lawn, in the morning.” Bazza shook his head and took a drink. “Well, Russell decides to stake out his front lawn. He sets up a chair in his front room, to watch all night. He nods off about 3.00am and then wakes to find another bo le of water at 7.00am. By this stage, it is totally doing his head in. He even takes the bo le down to the police sta on for finger prin ng and to report harassment by an unknown felon.” Mick took a long drink and leaned forward with open arms. “Well….. the local constabulary were not about to refer it to the Serious Crime Squad so Russell sets himself up, behind his wheelie bins, for an all night vigil. At 3.30am he jumps out and shines a torch on a woman in her nigh e placing the bo le of water on his lawn. It turns out to be the sister of Cheryl from the top of the street, who was visi ng. Apparently, she is a chronic sleep walker, down to the point of grabbing a bo le of water, and heading out the front door.” They both enjoyed a good belly laugh. “But back to the missing lawn mower, Bazza. A er interviewing the whole street about their movements, and observa ons, between the hours of 9.00am and 10.00am last Saturday, Russell s ll can’t solve the mystery. Anyhow, he goes and buys a new lawn mower on Monday.” “Thank goodness for that, Mick. Russel without a lawn mower is more than I can bear.” “Ah yeah, Bazza, but the best bit is on Thursday night, a bloke knocks on his door, and asks him if there is a grass catcher to go with the lawn mower he put out on the street last Saturday.”

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Have a beer with Baz at john.longhurst59@gmail.com

As Eurobodalla residents, we value the charm of Moruya township with its compact riverside centre in a rural landscape se ng Vol 16 September 15th 2017 Vol 28 December 7th, 2017 Vol 48 April 27th 2018 and greatly appreciate the protec on measures that have been established in past years to retain the character of the town and landscape. Indeed parts of our own 5 acres of land are EEC protected. As Eurobodalla Council is considering the Turnbulls Lane proposed 99 lot subdivision at the Council mee ng on 26 October 2021, when Councillor Anthony Mayne is pu ng forward Ques ons on No ce, I want to stress to Councillors a serious concern about the subdivision proposal - the impact on Turnbulls Lane. Due to its landscape character, this rural lane has become a popular recrea on route for walkers, cyclists and horse riders. Along the southern nature strip, there are many na ve trees including forest red gums and na ve cherries, typically found in the Endangered Ecological Community of which it is a part. Many of these trees would disappear, if the development goes ahead as currently proposed, as the only access to houses fron ng onto the lane would mean trees would have to be removed to make way for 5 separate driveways. I kindly ask you to consider encouraging the Applicant to modify the development by se ng aside that part of the residen al development fron ng Turnbulls Lane so that this par cular area of land, which includes many endemic species, can remain, along with, at least, some of the many beau ful granite outcrops and ancient apple gums that could be of major Aboriginal cultural significance that exist on this 17 ha area of land. The Braemar Estate developers managed to avoid any of its housing lots or individual driveways from fron ng onto South Head Road and this much larger development could be designed to do the same for the sake of saving Turnbulls Lane. We accept that Moruya is growing and that developments are necessary. However we would ask Council to consider the impact that this development will have on the laneway , the trees , the EEC , and a wellused recrea onal facility. This development will be the largest development in the township and will have a significant impact on the “feel” of the town. Preserving the laneway and providing a buffer will make this development more a rac ve and preserve a more rural aspect for all to enjoy. Name and address known and not published