Moving around NSW

Yep I'm still in NSW.  Don't really see the purpose of racing home to lockdown.  It's been hard listening to the growing numbers and feeling a bit guilty about not being there.  Have to say I have loved being at Em's.  Getting to cook for her and Joe has been fun and have been trawling through the old Women's Weekly Cookbook for inspiration.  It's interesting to recognise how limited the ingredients are that were used 40 years ago.  Also get to feed the maggies when they come begging and Em is at work. Em and I both enjoy our own space so Jac and I headed off to visit a friend in Armidale to give each other a break.

Morpeth street and sunset from main street

Headed off down the Pacific Motorway having booked a cottage in Morpeth for a night to stop along the way to Armidale.  Interesting little town, sort of like a mini Daylesford, good wine store, not surprising given we are in the Hunter Valley, it's about 2 1/2 hours out of Sydney.  Trying a new wine tonight to go with my Indian curry from the place next door to where I stayed, The Loft in the Surgeon's Cottage.  Shiraz Tempranillo, my two favourite wines together - Phoenix from Pokolbin Estate eminently drinkable, smooth dry and full bodied.  The cottage is very comfortable, in an old stone building, set in a rustic and green courtyard, and love that they have a teapot and looseleaf tea.  Morpeth also has a great pub, the Commericial with a microbrewery so I tried one of their beers sitting at a table on the street.  Was very aware of people not wearing masks and not appearing to socially distance, particularly in the pub where people, mainly men, were congregating in large groups.  Jac made herself very comfortable in the cottage.

From Morpeth I drove to Armidale on the rather intriguingly named Thunderbolts Way.  The road was named after a bushranger, a man who was known for stealing horses but 'only the best'.  That man, Frederic Ward, has that road named after him, Thunderbolt's Rock where he is reputed to have had a hiding place, a statue in Uralla, and his grave is marked with a biscuit tin where visitors leave etters for him.  His bush ranging career lasted 6 years.  6 years and he has all of that, whereas the Aboriginal people who lived on that land for tens of thousands of years, who were massacred and driven off their lands are hardly acknowledged.  There is a tourist map of Thunderbolt's Way which has all the information above, yet I found it hard to pick up anything which had the history of the traditional owners.  By looking at local Government websites I discovered the names of the traditional owners in the stretch between Walcha and Gloucester. I think they were Dangaddi, Worimi and Biripi.  I apologise if I have got any of that wrong or left out any, but it is hard to find that information.  But a bushranger, a criminal who was connected to that area for 6 years and has his story told and celebrated.

The drive itself was good, a large part of the road follows the Nowendoc river. Stopped for a break at Bretti Reserve, a peaceful little free camping area along the river, had a chat to the only couple camping there who told me about Pilligap and the area where there are several artesian springs.  Plan now to come back and do a round trip of all the artesian springs, sounds like heaven.  My friend was just a kilometre from the main centre of Armidale, a town developed by the squatocracy which apparently still has vestiges of the power of those original squatters.  Explored her property, picked veggies from the garden for dinner, had a fire outside then another inside, drank some good Hunter Valley wine and had a relaxing night.  Next morning we went to one of the many spectacular gorges around Armidale to look at the Wollombimbi Falls.  Poor Jac had to stay in the car as it was a National Park.  The area was devastated by bushfires earlier in the year but they have rebuilt a most magnificent viewing platform and refreshed the paths and amenities.   

Decided to head back along Thunderbolt's Way, stopping at another river side camping area and stayed in Morpeth again overnight.  Didn't want to just stay on the Motorway to get back so thought I'd try the Pacific Highway - don't, it was stop and start all the way and many built up areas, though I did take a few side trips.  One to Caves Beach a long stretch of beach which apparently has caves at one end but not at the dog friendly end.  Wild surf and sand had streaks of black, lots of erosion of the sand dunes.  

We had a long walk then back to the Highway with another stop at Chittaway Bay.  The bay is on Lake Macquarie, apparently one of the largest saltwater lakes in Australia.  It felt fairly rundown but got a piece of battered fish to eat and sat on a wharf on the Lake.  And along came a pelican, swimming up close and looked like she was hanging around for a feed. Took some of the batter off the fish and threw it to her, she caught it in her beak, clacked clacked with her beak to get it down and then patiently waited for more.  Jac was completely oblivious, although the pelican would move a bit away when she started walking around.  As Em said, I fed a pelican junk food.  Then got back in the motorway and headed home to Sydney, braving the Sydney traffic.   Some of Sean's extended family were there for dinner and cards and  helped try the sparkling fortified wine which was also from the Hunter Valley and was delicious. 

Footnote: 

Overheard conversation at one of the art gallery/come cafe I went to.  'Victoria is in a bit of a mess' 'Yes its because of the hotel guards who fraternised with the returning travellers' 'mm I think he Premier is Dan Andrews - is he Labor or Liberal?'  'Labor I think' 'Oh well that explains it' ....  Despite that have not had one person recoiling from me in horror when I have told them I am from Melbourne or the Mornington Peninsula.   

Australian Black Lives Matter

I am not marching today, not because the current Prime Minister told me not to, that almost made me want to go.  I don’t want to travel into the city, I don’t want to be in crowds, that’s why, I reckon we've worked too hard to get the corona virus under control to jeopardise it by marching in crowds. However, it's amazing that despite all the Aboriginal deaths in custody we have had we have not seen the outpouring of rage that we have witnessed in the USA.  For some reason here we have been able to go tut tut isn't it awful, but we have not made so much noise abut the injustices against Indigenous Australians.  Is it an issue about us not being able to deeply listen to Indigenous Australians and work with Indigenous communities to address the impact of over 200 years of colonisation? 

Those individual police who use violence against Aboriginal people, who have been responsible for deaths through action or inaction must be held accountable and the police services that do not hold them accountable should be shamed. But it's not just a policing issue.

Governments over the years that have allowed the injustices to continue should be held accountable  So should the Governments and the electorate that have turned a blind eye to the poverty of Aboriginal populations, Governments that have decided on what is best for Aboriginal communities rather than sitting down with them and listening to what they really need.  Governments that have stopped funding to services providing support to Aboriginal populations.  Governments that have presided over Aboriginal children, women and men being incarcerated in far greater numbers than their white counterparts.  Governments that have ignored many of the recommendations of the Royal Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. Who have not acted despite the 432 deaths in custody since the Royal Commission.  Indigenous Australians make up 3 per cent of the population but about 30 per cent of the prison population.  We lock up Indigenous Australians at four times the rate of black Americans in the US. In the youth detention system, about 50 per cent of all detainees are Indigenous. Australia has it's own George Floyd moment

One of the people who was locked up was Tanya Day who died on 22 December 2017 after a train conductor had removed her from a train because she was sleeping on a train.  She was then arrested for being drunk in a public place and died from a brain haemorrhage after she had fallen in the cell and hit her head on the brick wall.   I have to say here that there have been a number of times where I have been drunk in a public place, or have fallen asleep on public transport and not once have I ever been questioned by the police or restrained in any way.   I’ve drunk alcohol in parks with friends and at the beach and never once been stopped or questioned or looked at with fear or suspicion.   That’s white privilege!

Another illustrates the failings of the health system as well as policing, the death of Julieka Dhu in 2014.  She was arrested because of unpaid fines and while in custody complained of pain.  She was taken to the Hedland Health Campus Hospital twice but each time sent back to custody because the healthcare people thought it was simply a manifestation of drug withdrawal.  She was finally taken back a third time and died shorty after from what was found to be an infection cause by broken ribs after her partner had beaten her.  

The Victorian Government abolished the offence of drunkeness in August 2019 some 32 years after this was recommended by the Royal Commission.  Tanya Day may still be alive today if that offence had been abolished earlier.  But that is just one example of the more than 400 deaths in custody since 1987.  We all know about Closing the Gap and the disparity in life expectancy between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians.  One of the most glaring examples of health disparity is type 2 diabetes.  Indigenous Australians are 4 times to be hospitalised for and die from type 2 diabetes. 

While we have  many Indigenous Australians who are well known for remarkable achievements in the Arts, sport and all other areas of human endeavour, achieving well beyond their representation in the Australian community, it is still the reality that income levels of Indigenous Australians are significantly lower than non Aboriginal Australians and they are more likely to live in overcrowded or inadequate housing. 

What happens with policing is the visible end of the systemic discrimination against Aboriginals.  We all need to work together to ensure that all Aboriginal people are able to enjoy the same rights and privileges that most of us expect as part of our daily lives.   I stand with all those who are marching today in spirit, even though I am not there in person.

I leave you with some of the words of the Anthem Song by Tiddas, let's work towards hearing the voice of the hearts who are waiting.  

Don't sing me an anthem
Cause you don't know the words
Words are hard to remember
When they mean nothing at all
To the hearts who still are waiting
For their voice to be heard
Don't sing me your anthem
When your anthem's absurd

We might have been born here
But we're not young and free
We weren't born yesterday
And only liberal by degree

This land may be beautiful
But it cannot be called fair
So don't sing me your anthem
Till we've learned how to share

We are the lucky country
Where anyone can win
If you were born to the right family
And have the white coloured skin

So don't sing me my anthem
Cause the words can't be felt
What's pride in your country
Without pride in yourself?

What's pride in your country
Without pride in yourself?

Don't sing me an anthem
Cause you don't know the words
Words are hard to remember
When they mean nothing at all
To the hearts who still are waiting
For their voice to be heard
Don't sing me your anthem
When your anthem's absurd

Lyrics to Tiddas Anthem song

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