Bromberg's Judgement

Bromberg's judgement on Bolt is worth a read.

So many have commented without doing so.

My take is that he could have made no other judgement on the basis of the legislation.

The Ghost in the Machine

The rat has been removed, but its ghost remains.

Not long after the successful rodent extraction, the ABS warning light started to glow intermittently. The car was due for a service, so in it went.

Verdict – faulty ABS sensor. Fair enough – but which sensor? The answer was passenger side front – the same place where the rat was found. 

Eerie.

OK – maybe just a coincidence.

The problem is, the light continues to glow intermittently, despite a new sensor and sender.

Now I’m looking for an exorcist. Anyone out there know one close to Toowoomba?

The Dangi - Part 2

Where it is.

A few posts ago, I threatened more stories about the Dangi.
The first time I visited, I asked the bloke with me (who had been there before) why there was a pile of car keys on the turn-off from the Mt Isa – Dajarra road. Turned out that when the local Murris went into Mt Isa to buy cars (usually rego-expired Holdens or Falcons) they’d rip out the key-start barrel and leave the wires dangling so keys weren’t necessary.
That way, the car was available for immediate and shared use by anyone on the place. The cars usually lasted about a year. When they died, they were tipped upside down and used for parts.
I was part of a team back in the 90s negotiating the siting of a new school at the Dangi. It was highly political as the Murris (who outnumbered the non-Murris by about 4 to 1) wanted it built on their settlement about 2 kms out of town, whilst the non-Murris wanted it sited next door to the pub. John Laws and Tony McGrady had been involved and were waiting on the sidelines for the whole deal to go belly-up and become an election issue. The Regional Director wanted a solution which didn’t end up in the media.
We would get the locals together for meetings which would usually degenerate into total and complete disagreement about everything. From memory, there were three unsuccessful meetings. On one occasion, we stayed at the pub overnight. It was February, and stinking hot, so after a few (or maybe more than a few) cold ones at the bar, we set our swags up outside, rather than in the tin shed that passed back then for accommodation.

The Dangi pub today

I remember slowly waking next morning to a strange and powerful stink. Opening my eyes, I saw, about a foot from my face, the snout of a young camel which was checking out the visitor. Camel breath first up after a night on the turps is not recommended. There were three of them hobbled near the pub.
Eventually the school was built halfway between the two preferred options, so we pleased nobody. The principal was provided with a troop carrier which was used to bus the non-Murris in each day (all 4 of them) whilst the Murri kids were happy to walk. They were more likely to go to school if left to their own devices. As far as I know the school still operates. Back then lots of kids moved across the border between Urandangi and Alpurrurulam and keeping track of them was an issue.
Prior to this school there was one operating in the 1930s, but the Principal committed suicide and the school was closed.
That’s a whole other story.

Ry Cooder ▬ No Banker Left Behind

Ry Cooder's take on the GFC.

Woody Guthrie reincarnated....

(From "Pull up some dust and sit down").

Hands on What?

I wonder why it wasn't posted. (Click to enlarge).

Obviously Blot has no sense of humour.
This is professional journalism?

Update -

Fixed now! Glad I could be of assistance.

Propaganda Push

The pox is spreading - mining in the Southwest

Yesterday’s local paper weighed a ton. The poor old newsagent who lobs them into our front yard daily must be suffering a bad case of RSI.

They’re heavy because of the weight of propaganda they carry.

 It must be costing a great deal of money to produce the glossy overkill that’s flooding our newspapers. Big mining is obviously taking a PR pounding given the rise of the Lock the Gate and other movements in this part of the world.

Glossy poster

I’m not personally affiliated with any pro or anti mining movements, but I travel and work extensively in the areas affected, and I’ve seen so far, nothing but distress and damage caused by this exploitation.

Nor have I met anyone whose son or daughter has been employed in the industry. Those employed don’t come from around here. They’re mostly what the locals call blowflies, who fly in and out and have no stake, emotional or financial, in the communities in which the exploration and extraction is happening.

As my father used to say - "In front of the Almighty Dollar every knee shall bend". The combination of quick profits to the miners and royalties to cash-strapped state governments is irresistible. The locals are forgotten in the stampede. 

It’s going to take a lot more than an expensive publicity campaign to get these people onside.

They're bringing out the violins

The violin player on the cover is somehow appropriate.

Smoke - No Mirrors

Forming up - James St Information Centre

The Darling Downs Chapter of the MX5 club disappeared into smoke yesterday.
We were heading off to Queen Mary Falls in one of the most pervasive smoke hazes I've seen since living in Toowoomba.

Hume St Southbound

Heading out, the amount of activity surrounding the Carnival of Flowers was evident, but the spectacle was diminished somewhat by the haze.

Through the smoke darkly

The effect on the New England was ethereal.

Tucker time

We paused for Morning tea at Yangan.

Breeze proof shelter

The shelter shed was obviously a modified off-the-shelf garage, cunningly designed to maximise any heat build-up whilst at the same time screening out any cooling breezes.

Summer has arrived without any reference to Spring, or even a “Gidday” as it whizzed past.

Green grass - brown sky

The scenery became hazily bucolic as we punched South, following the track of the old railway line, the last remnants of which closed in the 1960s.

MX5 road

Once we’d left the New England, the roads became more MX5 friendly, with great sweeping bends.

Upward and into the haze

The mountains loomed ahead through the haze, and soon we were climbing. The country, where you could see it, looked great, but there’s plenty of fuel and fires are obviously going to be an issue.

Mazdas on the edge

Our next stop rejoiced in the name of Dagg’s Falls. Harry knows how it got its name – you’ll have to ask him.

Dagg's Falls

These are the falls.

MX5 drivers

These are some of the people looking at the falls. MX5 drivers smile a lot.

Deep in the forest something stirred

We plunged into the mountain (but stayed on the road whilst doing this plunging).

Lean green hungry country

After lunch at Queen Mary’s Falls, we went for a stroll, and came across some interesting scrub, with the stream flowing through it, and the falls themselves.

Queen Mary Falls

Despite the summery day, it was spring, and the flowers were out.

Bush blossoms

Further along the track was a day lily.

It waited for us

It had obviously decided to pick that time and place to appear, just for us.