Yay! My desktop is working again. New video card, new (better, stronger) power source. It seems it was the power source after all. Oh well. At least it gave me a reason for updating my old video card :-)This photo is one I took of the Old Windmill Observatory in Wickham Terrace, in Brisbane. It is the oldest standing structure in Brisbane. It was built in 1828 by the convicts. Australia was settled as a penal colony. The Poms (erm...English) sent their criminals here because their prisons were getting too full, and basically, they just wanted to get rid of them. The original penal colonly was at Botany Bay (now Sydney Harbour), but the worst of all penal colonies was the one at Moreton Bay, where Brisbane is. The man in charge at the time was Captain Patrick Logan. A more evil bugger I doubt you'd be able to find at the time. This man would make Sadam Hussein proud, he was that bad. A very brief history of the birth of Brisbane can be found here:
In Brisbane, a lot of the roads were originally laid by the convicts. During the war time (WW2), the Americans under General Macarthur, while stationed here, laid the first bitumun roads. In some cases, these were the first roads at all, as a lot of Brisbane, except for the CBD itself and nearby surrounding suburbs, still had dirt streets.
When I was growing up, we learnt a lot of the old australian folk songs in school, right along with most of our country's dark history. These days all the kids are learning here in Australia seems to be what the various states of the US are. Ask a typical 9 year old Australian what the Capital of Australia is, and they couldn't tell you (it's Canberra, by the way). Ask them where Capitol Hill is in the US - they give you the right answer. Most also don't seem to know that our national anthem is Advance Australia Fair, and NOT the US national anthem. I know I seem to have a go at the yanks a bit, but it hurts that my own country - the land of my birth - no longer seems to have any pride in themselves. Australia has such a very rich history, and yet they don't teach it in schools anymore, and most parents don't seem to care. When I was a kid I loved doing assigments in Primary School on Bush Rangers and Convicts, and the First Fleet. I remember my grade 6 teacher teaching us how to sing The Wild Colonial Boy, and Botany Bay, as well as The Queensland Drover and a fair few other Australian Folk Songs. But such is life, apparently. No more griping from me. :-)
I do love history, though, and I do enjoy learning about new cultures. And I'm only mentioning the US so much because I am currently doing some learning (by choice). I realised that while every other Australian seemed to know a great deal about American History, I did not. So I started with the first thing that came to mind - the American Civil War. It helps that Foxtel is broadcasting a program called The Civil War, just now, all about the American Civil War. I've been reading, digesting, learning, and discovering. I've been listening to American Civil War songs - I was surprised at how many of them I knew from my school days. I remember my sister teaching me "John Brown's Body", though I learnt it as "John Brown's baby has a cold upon his chest..", when I was little, and in winter, walking home from primary school, we'd sing it as a marching song, to keep us warm. So far it's been an interesting trundle through the annals of history.
But this blog is supposed to be about windmills (done that - I mentioned the Old Observatory Windmill), and Lighthouses and all things cool. Well I think history is cool (thanks Dad for getting me into that in the first place). As to lighthouses? They are a fascination of mine. A few years back I went all the way across country, from East Coast to West Coast (first time I had ever left the East Coast, too, and it was way cool!), and I got to see some pretty amazing lighthouses in WA (Western Australia). I got to visit the south-western most point of Australia, where Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse is (that thing is massive!), and, for the very first time in my whole life, I got to watch the sun set. Now that sounds a bit odd, I know. I've seen the sun set in the eastern states, sure, but I've never really seen it set over the horizon, as it is supposed to, because the sun sets in the west. I've seen it go down over mountain ranges, over buildings, but never over the horizon. In WA, I stood on the beach, and watched the sun set over the ocean, and over the horizon. It was breathtaking, and amazing. And recently when I went for a visit down south, I happened to be on a train as the sun was rising over the ocean, and I got to see the sun rise over the east, over the ocean. Two of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. Oh and in WA, I saw my second only ocean ever. In the east, we have the Pacific Ocean. In the west, its the Indian Ocean. I live on an island (Australia is officially the LARGEST island continent in the world), and yet we have more than one ocean surrounding us. How cool is that? :-)
There's still a great deal of this land of Oz that I've yet to see, and one train ride I still want to do - the Ghan, right up the middle of Australia, from Adelaide to Uluru (that's Ayers Rock) to Darwin. I think I am lucky because even though there is still so very much of this beautiful country I've never seen, I can at least say I've been out of my home town, out of my home state, and I've seen a great deal of both as well. I've spent time on sheep and cattle farms, I've milked cows, I've ridden horses, I've been in places so hot that the skin just flakes off you like dandruff, and if you open your mouth the flies take up residence. I've swum in billabongs (waterholes for non aussies), told stories around campfires about the Bunyip and the bush rangers, I've played Cane Toad Footy, and I've been chased by both a herd of cattle and a hell of a lot of Big Reds (them's kangaroos, folks). I've also gone up in two hot air balloons, which I loved, and would very happily do it again in a minute. Plus I've sailed the seas - or at least the bay, and felt the wind in my hair, and grease on my hands, and the coal dust in my mouth. I think I can honestly say "I have lived", and been proud to do so. I know it doesn't sound like a great deal, but life is what you make it, and I don't believe in sitting back and watching it slip away. Not too many people can say they were involved in taking an old retired steam tug for a very slow joy-ride down the river, either. Actually, only three others can say that, because they were on her with me :-) But that's a whole other story. Needless to say, I love my life.
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