..to see The Well Spring and the end of Civil Society

Shane Framed

G'day Possums,

we've been to another exhibition
at Photonet Gallery in Fairfield: the 4th annual women photographers' exhibition for International Womens' Day which afforded some good looking and conversations and a much needed distraction from the appalling descent into an un-civil society that Oz is spiralling down to. More later in Wombat Droppings.



Three photographers in this show stood out to me; Julie Hough, Judith Crispin and Tania Gioffre.

Julie Hough, Deanna- Firefighter

Julie Hough's three portraits showed  her direct empathy with her subjects without having that "in-your-face" bluntness that some photojournalists seem to aspire to.
There seems to be an absorption of information from both the subject and the viewer that lets the story unfold in a gently informative fashion. 

Judith Crispin, Le Peintre de Lumiere

The look of Judith Crispin's images, taken in Cafe' Bibo in Ballarat are redolent of a European sense of humanity. Photographers like Kertesz, Sander and Cartier-Bresson come readily to mind because of their narrative quality and capacity for observation. It is interesting to note in comparison with Julie hough's work how differently space is utilised even when the subject is treated, as in "Cafe' Bibo" in a planar manner. 

Tanya Gioffre Untitled 4

The warm tones of Tanya Gioffre's six gently surreal pieces are counterpointed by the sense of isolation of the white clad figure in space. Although I found the figure in "Untitled 3" a tad awkward in placement, in "Untitled 6" it was interesting to feel that the figure was the source of the light and not the window. An intriguing ensemble of images. 

Julie Hough

Joyce Evans  and Deborah Horner

The Well Spring at Photonet

Steve Marshall
An interesting show with a variety of styles and approaches, Photonet, 15A Railway Place Fairfield till March 15.


Wombat dropping or Low Down politics in Oz

"Rabbott-the-Hun" feigns horror at "The Drone"Morrison's 3 Badge General being accused of political cover-up whilst ignoring the murder of a young asylum seeker on Manus Island which is run by an ex military type from Sri-Lanka. Tamil refugees on Manus avoid him with good reason.

Where's Wally?

In greeting Canadian Pollie "Rabbott" said, "It's good to be here, It's good to be here, It's good to be here, It's good to be here...."  It is not known whether this will be set to music for future occasions. 

Pyne "The Lying Whyne" screeched around Parliament that ".... telling the truth in Parliament was extremely important.." He did not say when this revelation had occurred to him or whether he felt it applied to him, too. 

Princess Fiona of Young is still confusing conflict of interest,  misleading Parliament, and promoting unhealthy foodstuffs with being a honest, solid member of the House and caring  representative of the people.

It is also suggested that if Tony Shepherd's directorship of Reardon Capital  isn't a conflict of interest with his role as Audit Commission Chairman then Pigs can fly.

Joe "Cereal/SPC/Toyota Killer" Hockey opined that paying less for Health, Welfare and Education would improve these services and that bailing out Qantas so it can sack all its workforce, sell its aircraft and terminals which will actually make the airline stronger, more efficient and less likely to crash and allow its CEO Alan "Leprachaun" Joyce bigger bonuses.

Tardis State, "Where-All-Goes-Backward", pretend Premier Dennis "Inutilus Rusticus" Naptime was celebrating  giving away taxpayer money to have 300 call centre jobs in Geelong whilst at the same time 30 scientists are to made redundant because funding has been withdrawn.  Liarbril imagination at work again ...who needs Bionic Eyes, Ears, and simpler ways of assembling DNA fragments when you can staff a call centre? 

Advance Australia Fare?

The Bosses of both Box Hill and North Melbourne TAFE's have quit...as they now understand that education is justifiably, only for the upper-middle-classes.... no matter how stupid they are; thereby proving Joe "Cereal Killer" Hockey's point that education is improved with a $300,000,000.00 cut.

The first Unionist to be arrested under the new Tardis State "Where-All-Goes-Backward" "Move-on" Laws has been handcuffed and taken away. Police Commissioner Ken "Did-they-Really?"Lay, said, "Did They?" 

Chris Uhlmann now ABC radio presenter, in response to blog, FB and other criticism of his reportage and questioning style of singing only from the Liarbril Party song sheet said, "I don't give a Rat's arse what people think!"  Which is, although not exclusively a Liarbril Party attitude, pretty much the aspirational bogan core of their values.   

Cheers, Petals,

Shane

Fair dinkum ...It's On...

 

Wombat Droppings: Fair Dinkum.. It’s On and Murdoch is off.

Shane with a mate.

Liarbril candidate for Greenway Jaymes Diaz has his 5 minutes of embarrassment and showcases the levels of talent the Liarbrils are blessed with.

And this is what the Ugly American, “Phone Hack” Murdoch wants to see in Parliament?

Julie “Death Stare” Bishop opines that Rudd is fantasizing about the campaign being waged by the Murdoch press. 
She neglected to say which parallel universe she was speaking from.

Will Taylor riposte to Murdoch merde.

Laborite Far North Ex-Premier Peter Beattie has called his wife’s bluff about killing him if he returns to politics and is standing for the Federal seat of Forde… dumped candidate Des Hardman may be planning to revise wife’s idea and implement it himself.

Scottt “The Drone” Morrisson sees no conflict of interest in taking a trip to Nauru funded by Toll Holdings who supply tents and equipment for asylum seeker habitation. Nah, no conflict of interest there…..just good-ol backscratching.

And as one wag reminded us, it was “The Drone” who thought up the “Where-The-Hell-Are-You” ad campaign (when he was allegedly assaulting his fellow workers) at Tourism Australia so it’s a bit hard to understand his vehemence about the boat arrivals when the indications are it was a very successful campaign.

Oohh.. they’re not tourists …they want to stay?  That’s different.

Tony “Rabbott” says, “Me too, Sir, me too!” and supports Labor’s plans for the Gonski education funding reforms. Opposition Education Minister Chris “The Whyne” Pyne, without batting an eyelid, agrees. 24 hours earlier he thought it was awful and dumb which just goes to show that there is no such thing as a certainty, knowledge, trustworthiness or commitment. "Rabbott" and Joe "Oh-What-a-Feeling" Hockey can't agree on whether they will trust Treasury to project budget figures. But this is not an indication that they're a rabble wanting a brawl.No..... this is the next government

Both “Rabbott” and “The Whyne” also neglected to say which parallel universe they were communicating from.

“The Whyne’s “ mouth is a study in itself ….I’ve noticed that the lower part of the lips and jaw operate in a vertical fashion very much like a ventriloquist’s dummy.

Prototype Cyberman perhaps? 

A rogues Gallery

 These are very scary people, they will build nothing.

Another Far North candidate for One Nation (read.. little notion) had this to say …

.....with that level of competence we can understand that she really didn’t even know what parallel universe she was still in!

McDonald’s, allegedly purveyors of  “food” have called in a favour from Vic (Tardis State, Where-All-Goes-Backward) Police to remove a protester from the roof of a proposed site for the diabetes inducing clinic. 14 Divvy Vans and 50 Rozza’s for one woman. 
That’s a lot of burgers and fries there, fellows!

Residents of Tecoma don’t want the diabetes inducing clinic opposite a Kindergarten and after Council knocked back the development the Greasy Arches took it off to VCAAT and got their way. 
Another wag has said, ”You have two possible decisions from VCAAT. Pro development and Ultra Pro-Development”!

Who set up VCAAT in this form?  Why our old mate, the Dorian Gray of Tardis State politics Jeff “Bully-Boy” Kennett of course!   
Another Kennett cock-up where the residents of Tecoma are the ones being “Jeffed”

after being served writs and could possibly lose their homes...... all over junk food!

Police Commissioner Lay assures that the 7 month investigation into Liarbril, Geoff Shaw and the alleged rorting of  Shaw's government car allowance is near final. 
Hmmm.... he must have provided lots and lots and lots of burgers and fries.

Pretend Premier, Dennis “Inutilus Rusticus” Napthine is getting all “hairy-chested” over the fate of his $8,000,000, 000.00 tunnel of faint hopes. 
But says “Rabbott” will support his rail proposal. “Rabbott” says, “Bullshit!”

Transurban doesn’t even want to know about it. There is no business case. There are no solid projections on traffic movement. 

Leigh Sales (ABC, 7:30) interviewing technique with Rudd was more like “Push-Polling” with poor manners. Oh, dear……oh dear.

Cheers Possums,… you want fries with that?

Shane

 Something nice to finish

Art Nouveau water jug and roses

Bec R.

The Australian Index

Looking at the Evidence Before us.

Looking at the Evidence Before us….

G'day Anzacs....

here I am in the Avenue of Honour in Bacchus Marsh.

Shane in the Avenue of Honour Bacchus Marsh

Not because it was near Anzac day and that this avenue of Elms is a beautiful memorial to those locals who perished in WW1 but to look at the house behind me .

Bacchus Marsh Early house

As one of the earliest substantial houses in the area it's being restored by its owners for permanent habitation after years of being derelict.

Around 160 years old it's coming to an age when we Australians perhaps are now beginning to note that we of the White settlement have a small history to preserve and that "progress" can sometimes mean not putting up another high-rise for short term profit.

The land this house has been sentinal to is this...

Market Garden Bacchus Marsh

...rich river flat soil forty feet deep before clay... a source for some of the best produce in Victoria and is in itself, something to be protected from innapropriate development ( like Coal-Mines) and council and state taxes which force the farmers off the land and into the hands of developers as has happened recently in Werribee which has similar soil.

archaeology bits

 Wandering around the house with the owner I was shown some the archaeology being found that tells its story like the low-fired bricks on the right, twisted, gnarled and soft at their 850-900C firing.. or the Cordial bottle from Ballan, a rather rare object I would think.

Ballan Cordial bottle

Cordial from Ballan's mineral springs was prized in Melbourne in the C19th though I  suspect that this bottle dates from the 20's or 30's....

...the house was added to in the 30's as you can see in the wall section on the left

Add caption

but there is still C19th glass in some of the original windows and a poignant reminder of the location of the Avenue and its purpose.

Avenue of Honour Plaque

Another local building to be restored is the Half-Church in Greendale that I

Half Church, Greendale

 photographed in the early 90's. It was deteriorating badly and it was on the verge of disappearing until sold to a couple who decided to restore it.

Half Church, Greendale

Thus keeping alive the story of Captain Moonlight and magistrate Shuter by its solid existence.

Half Church, Greendale

There's still much to be done so pop in and have a chat with Kathie Hollis who will be only too pleased to fill you in on the history of this little gem and the area.

Half-Church Greendale benefactor Kathie Hollis

One of the inspirations for this post was the place Mrs Wombat and I stayed in France.

In Charitie-sur-Loire we  found this delightful accomodation.

This was the stairway to the apartment

Le Meneau Suite La Charitie-sur-Loire

Note the rope as banister... building was built before Colombas reached the Americas....

the floors were C15th terra cotta tiles..it's also a lesson in practical preservation....

for more details....

www.la-charite-sur-loire.com

and as it is close to Anzac Day a memorial from France of the same conflict

A La memoire des Parossiens de Notre Dame morts pour le France

 This was in the Church of Notre Dame in Dijon and noted the dead of the its Parish.

I dont know how many parishes there may have been in Dijon in 1914-19 but there would have been more than one and on this plaque are around 400 names.... sobering stuff eh, Petals?

Wombat Droppings

Anzac day has been and gone to much hype, hoopla and earnestly meaningful homilies about “THE AUSTRALIAN SOUL-CHARACTER-WAY-OF-LIFE-MATESHIP-ALL-FOR-ONENESS-COURAGE-FORTITUDE-RESLIENCE-BRAVERY-HUMOUR AND FIGHTING SPIRIT.”

Ta-Daaaaaaaaa, Ta-Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

Which was earnestly and movingly terrific until an old WW2 female veteran pointed out that every country subscribes to these qualities and that we’re really no different.

Balloon pricked!

I was going to attend a Dawn Service (I’ve never been before) but changed my mind when the brewery inspired “Raise-a-Glass” advertising campaign turned it into a guilt trip based upon boozy past practices (as if Oz doesn’t have enough problems with its’ excessive drinking culture) and as I never feel the need in a histrionic manner, to wrap myself in an Australian flag and paint an Australian flag tattoo on my face to feel “Australian”:  it all begins to sound and look more like Synthetic Patriotism or Disney-fied Nascent Bogan Nationalism to me. 

Hmmm, Evidence.

Clive (Titanic) Palmer (another BIG Miner) has not only resurrected the Titanic he’s now having a go at the United Australia Party (1931-45 under “Ming” Menzies, aka permanent patron Saint for “Little Johnny” Howard) which became the Liarbril Party.

“Titanic” Palmer thinks that the States who create the wealth should keep it……..hmmm… now there’s a progressive bit of social and economic thinking…as a former supporter of largesse to the LNP, "Titanics'"media umbridge at conventional pollies seems more like sour grapes than sound thinking.

What with Katter’s Cabal and the One-Notion lot and The Dyslexic Labor Partly and Born-Agains for Fairy’s all headed by the Liarbrils there are so many “Right-Wings” flying in this election, is it inevitable that they’ll veer to the left or just fly in circles like the Vultures they are?

Evidence.

The Business Council of Australia thinks “Nuclear-is-Good” as does a Jeffery Frankel (allegedly a professor of capital formation and growth from Harvard University) who also thinks “fracking’ is good too and that both are “Green !” 

That destructive technologies like these being touted as “Green” by business types only lets you know that they are the ones who are really FRACKED!

Perhaps both would like to camp for a week or three at Fukushima or Chernobyl and then drink water from streams contaminated with Methane, Sulphur and other “goodies” from fracking….. I’m sure the profits from their business ventures will provide them with adequate private medical services.

Evidence.

Toby Ralph (alleged Liarbril “strategist”) kicks “own goal” by misinterpreting Jonathon Swift’s C18th satirical essay “A Modest Proposal” about culling the poor to balance the economy… as Lawry Mahon and Mike Puleston said similarly in response ”…. from what we’ve seen so far of Abbott….. it’s likely to become a policy document”.

Evidence

Ralph said it was a joke…. like Alexander (Fish-Net) Downer’s “Things that Batter” was a joke that was not meant to insult victims of domestic violence …just a pun on the Liberal’s slogan "The Things that Matter".
 Humour...Nah...policy...Nah.
Electable..?

And here’s another piece of evidence.
"The contact last evening was initiated by Dr Roberts and in no way reflects on the individual concerned or the organisation he represents," Mr Abbott said in a statement. Dr Roberts had on Friday morning apologised to Australian Indigenous Education Foundation chief Andrew Penfold, after The Australian's political columnist Peter van Onselen posted his version of the events on Twitter. Mr van Onselen claimed the staffer told Mr Penfold (CEO of the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation (AIEF).) he would "cut his throat" …of the AIEF budget. when the coalition won government.
But Mr Abbott denied that particular phrase was used during what he described as an "unfortunate exchange" that was out of character. …."The contact last evening was initiated by Dr Roberts and in no way reflects on the individual concerned or the organisation he represents," Mr Abbott said in a statement…
...after review, Mr Abbott said the behaviour was "completely unacceptable" and that Dr Roberts had been demoted as director of policy - a role he had held for two years. Mr van Onselen also said the staffer had asked him to keep quiet, in return for information from inside Mr Abbott's office.

Would the “Real” Tony (the Rabbott) Abbott please stand up!

Evidence.

I saw a cardboard cut-out on “7:30 Report” t’other night…had as much content as cardboard too.  

Evidence.

Tardis (Where-All-Goes-Backward) State, Police Chief Commissioner, Ken (I-Know-Nuffin-Eivver) Lay reluctantly (it seemed) announced that Geoff (Fiddles) Shaw has finally been interviewed by police over the rorting of his taxpayer funded car and fuel card only five months after the alleged events. 
Lay seemed happier announcing that Julia Gillards’ time at Slater and Gordon (twenty years ago) was still under investigation. 
He has still yet to announce the disciplinary matters concerning the direction of one of his officers to use private citizen’s cars as barricades to halt a drugged, unlicensed driver under pursuit …. and we have yet to hear who was responsible for the wild-life slaughter a couple of weeks ago….and the police don’t ever bully their own ..so there!

Evidence.
Mis-Planning Minister, Matty (What’s-A-Green-Wedge?) Guy has announced a new rezoning of green wedge land. Probably to announce that as there’s none left it can now be called Concrete Wedge!

Cheers, Possums
Shane

The Australian Index