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The Ride, The Warning, and What Came After

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Written by: Op-Ed Monty

On This Night, 251 Years Ago: A Warning Rode Into the Dark

251 years ago tonight - on 18 April 1775 – a Boston silversmith mounted his horse and rode into the darkness.

His mission was simple, urgent, and dangerous: warn the colonial militias that British Regulars were marching out of Boston to seize stockpiled weapons at Concord - and possibly arrest key patriot leaders.

A signal had already been arranged in the steeple of the Old North Church - one lantern if by land, two if by sea.

The rider was Paul Revere. And he was not alone.

Joined at different stages by other riders, including William Dawes and Samuel Prescott, the warning spread across the Massachusetts countryside. Farms, villages, and militia groups were alerted in time.

By dawn, when the first shots rang out at Lexington and then Concord, the militias were ready.

The war had begun.

Read more: The Ride, The Warning, and What Came After

The Birth of Australia began at Gallipoli - From 6 to 1

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Written by: Op-Ed Flysa

It has been truly said that Australia arrived in Gallipoli as six separate States and returned as a Nation with its own national identity. In achieving this, of the over 50,000 Australians who served at Gallipoli during a period of 260 days, there were 8,159 deaths in total, comprised of 5,482 killed in action, 2,012 deaths from wounds, and 665 deaths from disease.   

To the armchair Revisionists, these are merely numbers and not men who gave their lives for their country and are buried in a far-off land.  

Recently, a young man I know preparing for the HSC had to write an essay contrasting the saying that Australia discovered its identity at Gallipoli from both a traditional and revisionist viewpoint.

The traditional viewpoint is said to be a statement of history favourable to the march of civilisation with the facts altered to suit, while the revisionist viewpoint is said to be a statement of what actually happened according to the facts. In order to promote the revisionist viewpoint, it was pointed out that the first war fought by the white Australians was with the aboriginals, and in any event, Australia was defeated at Gallipoli.

What the Revisionists ignore is that until Federation in 1901, the present Australia consisted of six separate British colonies, each with its own Governor and laws, even in relation to customs duties between the States-to-be. By the time of the Gallipoli campaign, Australia had only existed as a nation on paper for 14 years.

Read more: The Birth of Australia began at Gallipoli - From 6 to 1

The Glorious Birth of Dusty Gulch - Ratty Airways and the Orange Powered Revolution

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Written by: Op-Ed Ratty News

It began, as many great revolutions do, with a plague.
Not of frogs, or locusts, or even Canberra lobbyists -  But of rats. In Outback Queensland. A humble commenter on our blog was besieged. Rats had invaded his patch, feasting on his oranges, chewing on everything he held dear, and turning his once-serene home into a clattering chaos of claws and tails. 

They were everywhere. 

But instead of despair, the commenters found inspiration. 

A good chuckle, even in the trenches, yes, even in the mud of the Somme,  was what kept our ANZAC boys human. A joke shared over bully beef or between bombardments was an act of quiet courage. It still is.

And so it was that Dusty Gulch was born...

Read more: The Glorious Birth of Dusty Gulch - Ratty Airways and the Orange Powered Revolution

Ion Idriess: Bushman, Soldier, Storyteller: The Chronicler of a Vanishing Australia

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Written by: Op-Ed Monty

He lived it the hard way - from the dust and danger of the outback to the trenches of Gallipoli – and wrote it plainly for all to remember.

There are men who live great adventures, and there are men who write about them. Ion Idriess did both.

With a swag on his back, a rifle in hand, and a notebook never far from reach, he wandered the sunburnt edges of Australia - from the opal fields of Lightning Ridge to the crocodile-haunted waters of the north.

And then, like a bushfire racing the wind, he lit up the imagination of a young nation still finding its story.

Born in 1889 in the sprawl of an emerging Sydney, Idriess was never meant for city living. His spirit roamed from the start - drawn to the scent of eucalyptus and the promise of gold hidden in hard, unforgiving dirt.

Read more: Ion Idriess: Bushman, Soldier, Storyteller: The Chronicler of a Vanishing Australia

The Gallipoli Assassin

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Written by: Op-Ed Monty

He was short, wiry, and came from the dusty outskirts of Clermont in rural Queensland. Half Chinese, all Australian. Quiet by nature, deadly by skill. His name was Billy Sing, and in the trenches of Gallipoli, his name became legend.

Before the war, Billy’s father gave him one bullet at a time to hunt kangaroos. There were no second chances. You hit your mark - or you went hungry. That quiet discipline followed Billy to the battlefield, where he became one of the deadliest snipers in the ANZAC ranks.

While artillery thundered and men charged, Billy lay still... watching, waiting. His war wasn’t loud. It came in the pause of breath, the twitch of a finger, the silence that followed a single shot.

This is the story of a man who made every bullet count. A soldier whose enemies feared him, and whose country almost forgot him.

Read more: The Gallipoli Assassin

Remember, Reconnect, Revive: This ANZAC Day

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Written by: Op-Ed Shaydee Lane

As the sun rises on another ANZAC Day in less than two weeks, and the trial of a war hero looms on the horizon, we stand at a crossroads...not just political, but moral, cultural, and spiritual.

The time is at hand. Our country, our heritage, and the very soul of our nation hang in the balance. Who will we trust with our future? The polished men who lie, profit, and smile as they sign away sovereignty and burden our children with a debt they never incurred? Or will we remember the men who once stormed cliffs and trenches not for gain, but for us? For freedom? For Australia?

This ANZAC Day, as we lay wreaths and whisper “Lest we forget,” we must also look forward. We must remember that bravery is not just a thing of the past. It’s needed now.

Urgently.

And strangely, it may come wrapped not in medals or uniforms, but in something as humble as a teddy bear. Because perhaps, in this moment, what we need most is what we’ve long forgotten: the courage to care, the strength to feel, and the grit to say no... gently, defiantly, but clearly. Maybe this year, it’s Teddy’s turn to hit that electric fence and charge the bull. And maybe, just maybe, we follow.

Read more: Remember, Reconnect, Revive: This ANZAC Day

Teddy, Me and The Silent Three

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Written by: Op-Ed Shaydee Lane

Some memories shimmer in the mind like a heat haze, half mischief, half magic. This is one of those. A tale from childhood, when the world was big, the days were endless, and every fence was both a challenge and a dare…

When I was a little girl - maybe six or seven - my two older brothers and their friend Norman had a gang called The Silent 3.

Their clubhouse was a dusty old coal smithy at the back of our property, not far from the chook yard. It was a corrugated iron shed, long since abandoned and quietly rusting into the landscape. Perfect for a secret gang headquarters.

Inside, the floor was dirt, and it smelled of rust and mystery and was absolutely thrilling.

That smithy became the scene of a plot so bold it could’ve ended in heartbreak. Let me tell you what happened.

Read more: Teddy, Me and The Silent Three

Opening Pandora’s Box: The Risks of Defamation Actions

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Written by: The PR Blog
Foreword
 
Defamation law exists to protect reputations from unjust harm. Yet history shows that bringing such an action can be a double-edged sword. When a defendant pleads justification -  that is, truth -  the courtroom doors swing wide open. Matters that might otherwise remain private can be aired, tested under cross-examination, and placed firmly on the public record.If that defence succeeds -  even on the civil standard of the balance of probabilities -  the plaintiff may emerge not vindicated, but with damaging findings attached to their name.
 
Yet the minefield is not one-sided; defendants, witnesses, institutions, and even governments can find Pandora’s Box opening in unexpected ways, exposing systemic issues or operational decisions that might otherwise have remained contained.Some battles, once begun, cannot be contained -  and the truth, once tested, rarely returns quietly.
 
One wonders whether, in pursuing his day in a criminal court under the stricter standard of proof, Roberts-Smith sees a final opportunity for vindication -  or whether this is simply the next unavoidable chapter in a Pandora’s Box that no one can now close.
 
Either way, the government and institutions involved also face scrutiny that may reveal far more than they anticipated.Should Ben Roberts-Smith be innocent, he will walk free. Unlike Oscar Wilde, who gambled and lost.

Read more: Opening Pandora’s Box: The Risks of Defamation Actions

Not All Heroes Wear Capes - Billy the Cornish Rex: River Swimmer and Restaurant Bandit!

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Written by: Op-Ed Shaydee Lane

We All Need a Billy

Not all heroes wear capes. Some are tiny, grey, and insist on swimming in rivers  -  while being very naughty in restaurants.

In 1984, a tiny grey kitten named Billy adopted our family - and changed everything.

These days, it sometimes feels like the world could do with a few more stories like his. So I’ll take a little trip down memory lane, reminding myself - and perhaps you - of happier, gentler times.

Before Billy, we had known the quiet grace of a white Cornish Rex named Tripitaka - Tripi to us. With his great ears and gentle presence, he reminded us of the monk from the old Japanese television series Monkey. Calm, wise, and kind, Tripi was, in every sense, a small white god in our home.

And then he was gone.

My daughters were heartbroken. They sobbed and cried, and even now, all these years later, they remember that day—the day love left the room and took something with it.

As a parent, I could not bear their pain. 

Enter Billy... 

Read more: Not All Heroes Wear Capes - Billy the Cornish Rex: River Swimmer and Restaurant Bandit!

Arrest of Wallaby Hero! Trevor led off in handcuffs!

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Written by: Op-Ed Ratty News

Dusty Gulch Dispatch: Arrest of Wallaby Hero

A wallaby is arrested. A hero is questioned. A weasel chooses the wrong side. And Dusty Gulch remembers too late who actually climbed the tower.

By Roderick (Whiskers) McNibble, Investigative Observer of Chaos
(and occasional unwilling participant in pastry warfare)

Dusty Gulch rarely appears on maps. It sits beyond the last sensible turnoff, where reality blurs, logic quietly resigns with a dramatic sigh, and even the flies have formed a union demanding better working conditions and a seat on the foreign affairs committee.

Today, the Dusty Dingo Pub was not just a bar -  it was the theatre of pure, unfiltered, gravy-soaked Australian drama.

From the corner, Dennis the Hat watched it all unfold, hat low, pint untouched -  the sort of man who didn’t say much, but usually said the thing everyone else wished they’d noticed sooner.

Trevor the Wallaby -  hero and still-decorated rescuer of Mayor Dusty McFookit (see: The Water Tower Incident, still damp in living memory and trotted out whenever someone whinges about “heights” or “leadership”)  -  now stood accused of the heinous crime of “killing honklanders.”

Yes.

Those honklanders. The smiling, note-taking visitors the government have backed so enthusiastically.

Read more: Arrest of Wallaby Hero! Trevor led off in handcuffs!

The Quiet Blokes Behind the Courage

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Written by: Op-Ed Shaydee Lane

When I was a little girl, my grandmother gave me a book -  a collection of poems by C. J. Dennis.

I treasured it then, and I still do.

Even as a child I could understand his words. There was a delightful honesty in them - a plain-speaking larrikin voice that felt like it belonged to the ordinary Australian bloke.

That same voice stayed with me into adulthood.

Dennis wrote during and after the Great War, not as a soldier at the front, but as someone who listened closely to the diggers and their families - and gave them a voice. He captured the spirit of the men who stepped up, not with grand speeches, but with the simple humour and quiet steadiness that came to define the Australian soldier.

Read more: The Quiet Blokes Behind the Courage

  1. What Do We Think a Soldier Is?
  2. Utopia or Dystopia? How 1960s Mouse Utopias Led to Grim Predictions for Future of Humanity.
  3. “Stone by Stone: The Long Road Back to the Light
  4. How Governments Overthrew Their Own People Through Stealth and Fear - The Silent Coup

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