Patriot Realm

Well, I bit the bullet last week. It was time to retire my old " office in a cupboard " and expand my computing needs to a more expansive space. 

New computers. Tick. Truck booked to take the old furniture way. Tick. Happy days! Second hand desks bought and ready to be delivered. There was only one problem:

Some poor bugger had to clean out the old stuff and get ready for the changeover. 

No wonder I have put it off for twenty years. 

In the midst of the most terrible time in our history, even worse than Whitlam or WW2, our country is crying out for a Moses to emerge and lead us out of the wilderness. I rate our present plight as worse than WW2 because at least in that era we were all pulling together for the sake of Australia.

This cannot be said today. Leading up to Federation we had such a man. Someone whose name is probably unfamiliar.

Yet, it was people like him who created the Australia that we knew and loved. A country that gave us pride and showed us that a strong back and a good work ethic could start a revolution. 

During our Australia Day family lunch Waltzing Matilda came up among the collection of background music and prompted quite a discussion, especially from my two grandson’s girlfriends.

My brood have been raised on a diet of Australiana history and anecdotes so the questions have come mainly from the girlfriends who are both city raised born and bred Australian girls.

In the 1880’s shearers wielded a lot of influence on our country. Despite us not yet being a single united nation, in the various states where wool growing was the major industry militant unionism arose with great co-operation between the various state organisations.

In those days, shearers and general farm workers were numerous. Wool was the biggest export commodity of most of the states but the working conditions of those who produced this golden fleece were poor. Are we any richer today? 

Maybe. just maybe, back in 1975, a little baby girl was born in a hospital somewhere,  There was a storm, perhaps, at 5.36 am, and she was born. She was a pretty little thing. A bundle of love bound up in a fragile little package called a baby.

As her mother lay there, gazing with wonder into the eyes of this precious child, the father asked " what will we call her? " 

The mother said " Shirley. After Shirley Temple " and that was that. Imagine that?