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| Beige Shane |
G'day Possums,
Mrs Wombat and I had a
mission to attend to t'other day in Pt Lonsdale.
Now for you two
Americans, three Russians and the solitary Frenchie who read this stuff; Pt Lonsdale is at the head of Port Phillip
Bay and is known for its lighthouse and shipwrecks which like its neighbour
Queenscliff, was settled around 1835 and was a Pilot station, fishing village,
goods and transport hub as well a
favoured tourist destination in the late C19th.
Many of the larger
buildings have heritage listings and there are still many of the old fishermen's cottages and other small homes
which, since the 80's, as both places have regained their popularity particularly with retirees, have been renovated
and then sold or passed on to their children.
It is now very expensive
and very middle class.
It was while driving
through Pt Lonsdale and on the way to Queenscliff that I noticed how
"Beige" both places are. There is, because of Council Building
control over colour, material and style, a stylistic blandness which has
overtaken what was once (from the 40's -80's) a daggy, quirky and relaxed
holiday destination.
It reminded me of suburbs
like Balwyn, Malvern, Camberwell and Toorak where there is a female tribal
uniform of open-necked blue gingham shirt, red and white hounds-tooth pattern
neckerchief, blue pullover (round neck, de rigueur) and probably a box pleated
skirt with sensibly heeled court shoes.
Pearls...necklace or
ears, are optional extras.
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| Queenscliff bland |
There was a limited colour
range in the buildings Grey-blue, Grey, Beige (of course) Grey-Green as
well as White in all it's Cream and "Off" variations. The ubiquitous
Weatherboard Planking was predominantly (and what we later informed when visiting a couple who are about to embark
on building a new home in Queenscliff, "Heritage") a sharp edged
profile and not the old style Bull Nose or Rebated bottom edge or even the
Architectural Block so popular as a faux stone look in the C19th.
Windows likewise, have to
be vertical with a certain proportion and are also apparently called
"Heritage."
It is an interesting
conundrum: do you allow more adventurous architecture with new buildings,
materials and colours and alter the character of a place or do you legislate to
"beige " the area into the blandness of middle class submission? Are
the developers/builders, turned Councillors to blame or their building material suppliers?
It's all so safe as to be
dead!
But the real deadness,
not just the architectural and renovation symptoms of it; the deadness of
spirit, of soul, imagination and humanity were best exemplified by the Ruling Rabble in Canberra this week.
The shocking (to us, in
the south) video revelations of how incarcerated children in the Northern
Territory are treated caused Truffles Turdball to immediately call a Royal
Commission!
"Ooohh, didn't he move fast and
decisively," some say.
Others might query why
the explosive program was "Held " for at least six weeks during the
election campaign, when Truffles would have been alerted to it by right-wing
board members at the ABC?
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| Pt Lonsdale from Queenscliff pier. |
Others too, are wondering
why the Chief Minister of the NT who lied about knowing about the child abuse
and the tear-gassing, water-boarding and "spit-helmet-ing" of
children was able to set the parameters of the enquiry?
Others are also
questioning the appointment of Justice
Martin to adjudicate the enquiry as his history of "odd" judgments
against indigenous defendants and leniency toward "white" offenders
is the stuff of scandal, "up North."
Everyone is querying the
competence of both the Attorney General "Bookshelves" Brandis and the
Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Nigel Scullion, the latter who had quipped in
an interview, ".....the video's didn't pique my interest!" And the
former had difficulty explaining ( so why should today be different?) why only
two tame "UncleToms" were called, not to advise but ratify the
decisions being made over their heads about the 97% of the incarcerated who are
indigenous.
The stench of
incompetence and corruption grows every day with this poisonous and feral cabal
in Canberra.
Oh and by the way, who
was Federal Minister for Aborigines prior to 2014? Why, Mr Abbott,
Rabid-the-Hun, his incompetent self, of course!
This shameful episode was
quickly followed by the sheer farce ( but again shame for the nation) of
Truffles kow-towing to the ferals in his cabinet like Vichy Abetz
("....Rudd hasn't the temperament or capacity..") , or Bestiality
Bernardi, ( "...Abbott would be a much better Onion than Rudd...") or
Horse-Shite Cormann, ("Hij niet leuk
..." English and economics are
his second language) by not
endorsing the multi lingual, ex- diplomat, ex- Foreign Minister and
ex-Prime minister, Kevin Rudd as being, "not qualified enough" to
apply to the United Nation as Secretary General.
Goodness!
What qualified
"Eleventy" Hockey to be Ambassador to Washington: that he was widely
seen as an abject failure as Federal Treasurer and made Australia's economic
situation much worse?
It's so typical of the
Liarbrils to tear down anyone who might have done something useful and of benefit : like saving the country from
recession....Rudd, Swann and Co. did that in spite of Eleventy Hockey and the
rest of the rabble advising a course which what would have sent the country
into a depression... but then Ruling Rabble Mk2 have their chance
again.... around 2017 we'd all better
duck.
Oo-Roo, Petals
Shane
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