Kindle

I received my recently purchased Kindle from Amazon today and have been busily down loading books.

I like it but I am disappointed that Amazon offer so many discounts that are for North American customers only. Surely they must realise that the world is a lot larger outside of North America?

Does anyone use Kindle books and do you have any you would recommend?

Happy Birthday to the "Coathanger"

Happy 80th Birthday to the Sydney Harbour Bridge

Official name              Sydney Harbour Bridge

Carries                        Trains, Motor vehicles, pedestrians and bicycles

Crosses                      Port Jackson

Locale                        Sydney, Australia

Design                        Through arch bridge

Total length                1,149 m (3,770 ft)

Width                        49 m (161 ft)

Height                       134 m (440 ft)

Longest span             503 m (1,650 ft)

Clearance below       49 m (161 ft) at mid-span

Construction begin    28 July 1923

Construction end      19 January 1932

Opened                   19 March 1932

Coordinates             33°51′08″S151°12′38″E

The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge across Sydney Harbour that carries rail, vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian traffic between the Sydney central business district (CBD) and the North Shore.

The dramatic view of the bridge, the harbour, and the nearby Sydney Opera House is an iconic image of both Sydney and Australia.

The bridge is nicknamed "The Coat hanger" because of its arch-based design.

Under the directions of Dr J.J.C. Bradfield of the NSW Department of Public Works, the bridge was designed and built by British firm Dorman Long and Co Ltd of Middlesbrough (who based the design on their 1928 Tyne Bridge in Newcastle upon Tyne) and opened in 1932.

Sydney Harbour from the air, showing the Opera House, the CBD, Circular Quay, the Bridge, the Parramatta River, North Sydney and Kirribilli in the foreground

According to the Guinness World Records, it is the world's widest long-span bridge. It is also the fifth longest spanning-arch bridge in the world, and it is the tallest steel arch bridge, measuring 134 metres (440 ft) from top to water level.

Until 1967 the Harbour Bridge was Sydney's tallest structure.

An estimated 469 buildings on the north shore, both private homes and commercial operations, were demolished in order to allow construction to proceed, with little or no compensation being paid. Work on the bridge itself commenced with the construction of approaches and approach spans, and by September 1926 concrete piers to support the approach spans were in place on each side of the harbour.

The south-eastern pylon containing the tourist lookout,. Both pylons were made of granite quarried at Moruya, NSW

As construction of the approaches took place, work was also started on preparing the foundations required to support the enormous weight of the arch and loadings. Concrete and granite faced abutment towers were constructed, with the angled foundations built into their sides

Sydney Harbour Bridge under construction

Once work had progressed sufficiently on the support structures, a giant' creeper crane' was erected on each side of the harbour.

The arch being constructed. Courtesy, State Library of New South Wales

Once the arch was completed, the creeper cranes were then worked back down the arches, allowing the roadway and other parts of the bridge to be constructed from the centre out. The vertical hangers were attached to the arch, and these were then joined with horizontal crossbeams. The deck for the roadway and railway were built on top of the crossbeams, with the deck itself being completed by June 1931, and the creeper cranes were dismantled. Rails for trains and trams were laid, and road was surfaced using concrete topped with asphalt. Power and telephone lines, and water, gas, and drainage pipes were also all added to the bridge in 1931.

HMAS Canberra sailing under the completed arch from which the deck is being suspended in 1930

(Note: HMAS Canberra was sunk during the battle of Savo Island, in the Pacific theatre of war on August 8–9, 1942. As HMAS Canberra’s guns took aim at the Japanese, Chōkai and Furutaka opened fire on her, scoring numerous hits within a few seconds. Aoba and Kako joined in with gunfire, and within the next three minutes Canberra took up to 24 large caliber hits. Early hits killed her gunnery officer, mortally wounded her captain (Getting), and destroyed both boiler rooms, knocking out power to the entire ship before Canberra could fire any of her guns or communicate a warning to other Allied ships.)

The roadway of the bridge, (below) from the southern or city approach. From left: walkway, eight traffic lanes (the two leftmost once carried the Sydney trams), two railway tracks, and cycleway. The gantries with lights controlling traffic tidal flow are clearly visible, while the tollbooths can be seen near the bases of the high-rise buildings.

A popular tourist attraction, you can climb the bridge on organised tours. All climbers are required to wear a special ‘jump suit’ and are provided with protective clothing appropriate to the prevailing weather conditions and are given an orientation briefing before climbing. During the climb, attendees are secured to the bridge by a wire lifeline. Each climb begins on the eastern side of the bridge and ascends to the top. At the summit, the group crosses to the western side of the arch for the descent. Each climb is a three-and-a-half-hour experience.

 

Bridge Climb participants, wearing the mandatory special jumpsuits 

In December 2006, Bridge Climb launched an alternative to climbing the upper arches of the bridge. The Discovery Climb allows climbers to ascend the lower chord of the bridge and view its internal structure. From the apex of the lower chord, climbers ascend a staircase to a platform at the summit.

Bridge Climbers admire the view mid-climb, while a second group reach the top of the arch.

Road Tales

When Rhonda and I are off touring around the country it is a ‘game’ of ours to make up seemingly credible tall tales associated with some aspect of our trip.

We’ve been doing this since we first met over 40 years ago and we continued it as we grew together and as Kat, our daughter grew up.

In the beginning it was all innocent enough – a simple observation by Rhonda - and I carried it on into a string of “facts” that, at first she was believing, and then realised I was telling tall fibs and we laughed later about the trip – and that not only started the tradition it became a base for a ‘common remark’ that brought us all back together again.

I seem to remember it was some dairy cows, friesians I believe, on the hillside outside of Kiama, a coastal areas south of Sydney.

Rhonda commented that all the cows were walking around the hill facing the same direction. Now, anyone who knows dairy cows knows that they will always move as a herd in the same direction – usually from the milking sheds and then back towards them for the next milking. At least, that’s what my Uncle Bert taught me about his dairy cows.

Jokingly, I said, ‘That’s to make sure the milk stays level in their udders!’ She looked at me in disbelief. So keeping a serious face and talking as if I knew what I was talking about, I continued. ‘No, seriously, they have two legs shorter than the other. It’s very common in these parts. It’s because its so steep on these coastal hillsides, the two short legs are on the up-hill side and the two long ones on the downhill side.’

We travelled on for a while. I could see her thinking about it as I stifled the urge to laugh, let alone smile.

‘What if they want to go the other way around the hill?’ she asked.

‘Ahhhh! But they don’t, you see. The milking sheds are on the other side of the hill and they leave them after being miked and continue their grazing around the hill until they return outside the shed. In the morning the farmer finds them all lined up in the yard outside the shed and he’s just got to walk them in, milk them and turn them out again.’

We drove on in silence for about another ten minutes.

‘How can he milk them if they have two legs shorter than the other? You are having me on, aren’t you?’

‘No! No!’, I was quick to protest. ‘His shed is specially built so that it has a split floor with one section higher than the other and he just works from the low side. It’s like a Rota-lactor! You know, one of those circular, automatic, milking sheds. He just attaches the milking heads to the teats and when she’s finished giving milk they just drop off. In the meantime she munches on some good lucerne hay as she’s moved around the milker.’

‘Well, I  still think you are having me on!’ she said.

About an hour or so later we arrived at her parents home, just in time for dinner. As we were eating she turned to her father, a real knowledgeable man of the world and asked:

“Dad, do the cows at Kiama really have two legs shorter than the other to keep the milk level as they walk around the hillsides?”

Her father stopped in the middle of his dinner, looked at her studiously and then looked over at myself. I could almost hear his brain ticking over and I expected a blast from the father of this innocent girl.

That’s right,’ he said. 'But its more to stop the cream from slipping off the top of the milk, darling.’ And he put his head down and went back to his dinner.

There was silence in the dining area until all of a sudden her mother said:

‘You men, I don’t know why and how you can be so mean!’

We all looked at each other and burst out laughing and ever since that day I only have to mention the milk and the cream or the Kiama cows and Rhonda and I have a good chuckle!

Next time, I'll tell you about "The Pot Hole Men"!

Weekly weigh-in - March 18

Weight Watchers Weigh-in today: 110.0kg 

Original weight Jan Second: 116.8kg  

Weight Lost since 2nd Jan : 6.8kg

Weight Loss last week: 1.0kg  

That's a total of 15lbs since we began back in January this year!

Davis descendants just won't go away!

In my previous post Rebutting comment re-Davis family I wrote (and I quote):

"Had a note from one, Garry Poole, who commented on my articles on the Davis Family - Gounyan Creek, Murrumbateman - an updated post – and  Gounyan Creek Murrumbateman . Now Mr Poole claims to be third generation Davis family and says that all my information is so wrong that it is just pure sh*t and that if I want the correct information I should ask the members of the Davis Family."

To which I replied:

1. "Mr Poole, firstly I do not post abusive comments under a topic banner. I deal with them in an open forum. 
2. Secondly, I did say in my article, Gounyan Creek, Murrumbateman - an updated post::“One must also appreciate that the records of the early days of settlement were poorly kept and often misreported, so one must draw their own conclusions from such records on the evidence before them:” 
3. Thirdly, Mr Poole, much of my material comes from the Davis Family’s own history and research, or, from official documents of the day.
4. As far as my “…… asking the Davis family for the truth about their history ……”, that would be a bit like asking a politician if he was honest – the answer is sure to be a self-fulfilling statement of assertion rather than fact.
5. I did speak to members of the Ngunnawal indigenous group in this area – notably members of the Bell, Brown, Bulgar, Merritt, Monaghan and Phillips families, all  descendants of the seven clans who lived in fairly specific localities. "

Today, I received the following (lengthy) email from one, Beryl M Pittman, extolling the virtues of the Davis family and demanding that I delete my blog,

"Dear JohnD,

My name is Beryl Pittman, and I am proud to be a 3 x great granddaughter of George and Mary Granny Davis of Gounyan near Yass.

I have only just been made aware of your blog and wish to answer your statements.

 I have been researching and chronicling this family and its activities for over 40 years, in company with a large band of cousins, and believe that I have seen just about every bit of paper that has either George or Mary Davis's name on it. A book written in 1989, From a Little Acorn is available for purchase at the Yass Valley Visitor Centre. AND by the way - the cemetery at Gounyan is not a remnant, is still active and is a vital record of family history, not just the Davis's, but also of other local families. Another well researched book I could recommend is Far Away days - A History of the Murrumbateman, Jeir and Nanima Districts by Dorothy Mulholland - also at the Visitor Centre or The Yass Historical Society.

 Flogging of convicts - you are writing of a time when the convict era was well over - transportation to the colony of NSW ended in 1841. Besides that, there would have been no need to send anyone to Queanbeyan for a flogging - Yass had its own resident scourger from the early 1830's. Any flogging had to be done under the order of a Magistrate - and there would be a paper trail to trace, if there was even a remnant of truth in what you write. Yes the Davis family did have a small number of assigned convicts, but most of them stayed in the district, and in the employ of the family long after they served their sentences - which indicates no bad feelings.

Land acquisition - George Davis - not Mary, was granted 60 acres of land which they named Gounyan and maybe I should point out here that it is a native word - meaning child born here, honouring the other families who had also lived there. The other land that came into their possession later was purchased by them - they did not just take it over. You could spend a couple of years going over papers in the NSW Land Title Office (I have) to see that. All land was taken up under the various Government schemes of Pre-Emptive or Conditional Purchase etc., and yes, some of it would have been paid for by the family's involvement in gold mining - even fossicking in Gounyan Creek. Most was paid for from the profits of their farming activities. As far as dumping convicts on a vacant block of land - believe me, when George and Mary Davis walked into the Yass district in 1827, there was no grand mansion awaiting them. The humble home they did build is still there, albeit now almost in ruins.

You have cast nasty aspersions on a woman who rose from an unfortunate background to a position of distinction within her community. Do you really believe that a woman, aged almost 70 years of age at the time of her husband's death, had an unnamed boy friend John living at Queanbeyan - 40 odd miles away. The charge of poisoning is just scurrilous gossip. There is no evidence of anything of this nature taking place - if it had I am quite sure one of the researchers would have found something about it.  I might add that Mary Davis, with her Mediterranean complexion, would have felt great empathy with the aboriginal women in particular. For some time she was the only European woman in the district, and probably was helped by her friends when she gave birth to her last child in 1829 and in turn she, as a midwife, would have been present for some of their births. The women learnt from each other, the use of herbs - good medicine, and the gathering of certain berries etc., for food.

The Sawyers Arms was not only an inn for the supply of grog - it was a home, church, school, and home-away-from home for travellers on the road from Sydney to Melbourne - as well as the locals - and fully licensed and inspected by authorities.

As for bad blood between the Ngunnawal and the Davis's - I don't believe that either. Fact - I was engaged (gratis) by members of the Merritt clan, living in Penrith and Warren, to write up their family tree. The first tenet of family research is similar to the Doctors Creed - first do no harm - and your article has caused a lot of harm and distress to family members. We were alerted to its existence after one family member was greeted in the street with a comment So much for your Mary Davis, the truth is coming out now. Well it is not truth, and I would ask, in the name of all that is decent, that you please take this blog down, or alter considerably what you have written. How would you feel if someone wrote something similar about one of your loved ones?

You cite no sources - hearsay is not good enough.

Yours 

Ms Pittman - you are entitled your opinion and because you were not as personally abusive as Mr Poole I gave you "fair hearing", in that I posted your email without any alteration or abbreviation. I also looked up your extensive work on chronicling any facet of the Davis Family History - Truly, a marvelous effort at establishing the self-aggrandisement of a family group.

Perhaps I've been a tad unfair, as it may appear that I have 'singled out' the Davis family for it is common knowledge that many other family groups in the early years of settlement were scoundrels and rogues who were, like "Granny" and her husband, William, ex-convicts deported from England, who went on to create empires and huge family dynasties - and many of the descendants were a marked improvement on the source of their origins, no doubt by the process of introducing new blood to the bloodlines..

I am curious about your reference to the Merritt clan - wasn't one of them "done" for bank robbery - a comic performance where they walked unmasked into a bank and demanded money with menace, even though they were a well recognised sports-person in the region??

You would also be aware of "The Jeir Tragedy", where Sidney Davis and others were called upon to give evidence to the local magistrate under subpoena as to the curious fatal shooting of a Mr McFeeter, with Sergt. Jeffries of the Constabulary sitting in on the proceeding but finding no evidence to proceed upon as the magistrate was left to rule the wound as 'self-inflicted'?

Ms Pittman, as I told Mr Poole:

"I am happy for you to have your say and if it is reasonable I am willing to post your version of the Davis family history. Alternatively you may start your own blog and write what you like to see in print."

As to my "accuracy", you stated "You cite no sources - hearsay is not good enough." - I suggest you follow my links (above) and go and read my blogs and stop 'over-reacting' when your pet fancy is shown with what is possibly another light!

 May I also point out that the following historians felt about history:

"History will be kind to me for I intend to write it." 

Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)

and

"Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes."

Voltaire (1694 - 1778)

Dogs just seem to love me ....

Well, the daughter and partner Anthony turned up - with the two 12 month old puppies (a cocker spaniel X called Candy - who simply adores me - and a Terrier X named Caddy who is Denny-the-dogs best playmate!) Fortunately I had enough notice to take time to 'dog-proof' the backyard where I'm top-dressing the lawn before Autumn gets into full swing.

Candy

Caddy greets me!

They left Sydney around 7 pm on Friday and drove down, arriving about 10.30pm - just in time for me to go to bed. Kathleen and Anthony were due to go to a craft fair at the National Convention Centre the following day but Anthony was full of the 'Flu, on antibiotics and had missed the last two days at work.


I could not understand why they even made the trip down from Sydney!


The next morning, over breakfast, Rhonda and I made an assessment of Anthony and we advised that he did not go to Canberra, that he stayed at our home, sat out in the sun and fresh air, kept his fluids up and took regular paracetamol. Rhonda would go with Kathleen to the Craft Fair, making it a girl's outing and the boys stay at home and have a 'time out' day. They accepted that advice.


So, the boys sat out in the sun, under the sun umbrella and chatted - Anthony borrowed three military biographies from me - the girls went to Canberra and the dogs played.

Caddy and Candy

Until they were exhausted:

Caddy

Candy

Denny

After the dogs were rested and had found some more energy Anthony and I took the three dogs for a walk along the riverbank, damaged by flooding rains, 

Up around St Clements historical church,

Back through town and on to home.

Kathleen and Rhonda came home so I set up the BBQ - Roast Rack of Lamb and baked vegetables - and sat back with a cool beer and listened to what the girls had to say and gave the dogs some more attention,

Denny wanted some 'time out' from the puppies games, so he sought shelter indoors with Rhonda, who was enjoying a quiet cup of coffee.

The cook did a great job with the BBQ - everyone enjoyed it - So he saluted himself!

and Kathleen convinced Anthony that a new Weber BBQ was on the shopping list!

Its now Sunday afternoon and all visitors have departed and an air of serenity prevails once more over the precinct!

Japan tsunami: One year on

It has been almost one year since a massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck Japan, unleashing a terrifying tsunami. The wall of water caused widespread destruction, left almost 22,000 people dead or missing and triggered a nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Here, examine interactive imagery of the destruction at the time of the disaster and how those areas look now.

• This imagery follows on from before and after sliders published in the aftermath of the tsunami, and side-by-side street-view panoramas published late last year.

Japan quake one year on