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Southern YarnThe July 2015
N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E D O W N U N D E R C L U B O F W I N N I P E G I N C .
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find us on facebook or the webwww.downunderclub.mb.ca
email: [email protected]
JULYAnnual Pool Party and PotluckSUNDAY 19th July, 2 - 6 pm
Jason and Lynley Davidson57 D’arcy Drive, WinnipegThe Club will provide burger and buns, but it is apotluck, so bring and share side dishes anddesserts. Let Lynley know you are coming bycalling her at 204-275-7631 or 204-943-3775.NOTE: this event was originally scheduled forthe day before.
AUGUSTSaturday 22nd August Golf Tournament at The Players2695 Inkster Blvd.
Details to come, but let Peter Munn know you’reinterested. Phone 204-237-1805
SEPTEMBERWine and CheeseSaturday12th September, 7pmScandinavian Cultural Centre,764 Erin St.
We get back in the groove with this favouriteevent. There will also be an opportunity to viewthe video of our historic ANZAC Day ceremony.
FOR YOUR CALENDAROCTOBER 24th Formal DinnerNOVEMBER 27th AGMDECEMBER 6th Children’s Christmas Party
RSVPIf you let us know you are coming, we can beready for you! RSVP to (204) 487-0067 [email protected].
Advertise in The Southern Yarn. Contact Jenny (228-9959,[email protected]) for all the rates.Send your submission by email [email protected] or mail to PO Box1655, Stn Main, Winnipeg MB R3C 2Z6.
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When the FIFA Women’s World Cup came to town in June, Aussies and Kiwis from the DUCW joinedthousands of soccer fans at Investor’s Field to cheer on all the teams. One of those supporters was PamDebenham, Peter’s sister, who was out from Australia with her partner Heather Reid. Heather wasrepresenting the Matildas as the head of Capital Football in Canberra. Photos: Terry Roberts and PeterDebenham cheering New Zealand’s women’s World Cup soccer team in their match against China. Hydesmithphoto. Top right – Peter, Pam and Joanne Debenham. Lower right – Peter and co in supporter mode.
Up From Down UnderOn Friday and Saturday June 12 and 13, Gerry Gordon and Jenny Gates performed at the SwanRiver Folk Fest, bringing the sounds of Australia to this northern Manitoba event.
Known as “Up From Down Under”, we were one of many groups and performers repre-senting 13 different countries and cultures. [More online]
Each of our four performances was dedicated to the memoryof Monica Black, who for many years was THE face of down underat the event.
Huge thanks to Matt Black and his mob at the Australia/NewZealand display for inviting us back for our 6th appearance at thetriennial festival, and stocking us up with treats and eats for thejourney home. Beauty, mates!
2 The Southern Yarn • www.downunderclub.mb.ca July 2015
G’day!I have been perplexed for the past couple ofweeks – trying to identify a bird that Icould hear but not see - until recently – Ihave now confirmed that it is a house wren.Poor little guy spends much of the day call-ing for his mate. Obviously something musthave happened to her – maybe a cat orhawk, but definitely not what got the butch-er bird in the Birds I View story contributedby my cousin in Red Rock, NSW (p.6).
Our Little Free Library has proved popu-lar with locals and passers by, and our-selves! I recently found “Wings above theDiamantina” in there and devoured italmost in a sitting! When I Googled theauthor, Arthur Upfield, his own story was sointeresting that I plan to feature him innext month’s Getting to know …
Thank you to other contributors thismonth: Jenny Gates Peter Debenham, DavidWhyte, Brian Hydesmith and Murray Burt.
Enjoy!
For sun lovers, the past week hasbeen heaven. Temperatures in thehigh 20s, and sunshine.
Following a phone callfrom my brother , who hadjust returned from a visitthere, I was reminded ofthe heat and sunshine ofWest Wyalong, about 300miles due west of Sydney,where he and I spent manyholidays with relatives on a2000 acre wheat and sheep property. Thetwo of us (beginning before I was a teenag-er) would travel by train from Melbournelate in the day to Albury, where a differentrail gauge forced us to change trains, to asteam train headed for Cootamundra, where
we hung about the station in the middle ofthe night until another train took us to
West Wyalong. We generally spent about 2
weeks there, exploring, hunting,helping on the farm, and havinggreat fun for two city slickers.One of my two uncles on theproperty had 2 boys, and thefour of us became firm friends.Over the later years, we drovethere, continuing to enjoy the
high heat, low humidity and sunshine ofcentral NSW in the summer. I was able tovisit there on a recent trip down under, andevery memory was a pleasant one.
Enjoy the summer, Peter
editoriallyyours
Charlie Powell
(403) 270-4414 Phone1-866-470-4414 Toll [email protected]
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What’s happening here? Read all aboutit in the August issue of The Yarn.
Sharing books through the free lending libraryidea is a fun and creative idea that brings commu-nities together.
A Flamin’ ShameThe Waltzing Matilda Centre, built in 1998in Winton, Queensland, was destroyed byfire on June 18. According to ABC reporterChrissy Arthur, “Firefighters were called tothe famous museum and tourist spot about2:00am.”
Two crews from Winton and one fromLongreach, almost 200 kilometres away,attended the scene. Winton Mayor ButchLenton said the firefighters fought to savewhat they could, including a World War Iexhibition.
“With the Banjo Room with the war stuffin it, if that there has gone, well, that historywill be gone that’s for sure,” he said.
“Unfortunately it is a bit of a kick in theguts but we will tough it out and keep goingwith it.
“There have been no injuries and we aregrateful for that, but unfortunately you lose alot of history which you can’t regather.”
[More online].
Eating ‘junk food’ regularly is thenorm for VictoriansA study, reported in Australian Food News,shows thatp a c k a g e dsnacks as wellas fast foodssuch as hotchips or pizzahave become
dietary staples for average Victorians.Titled “Shape of Victoria”, the survey of
1000 people was conducted by the CancerCouncil Victoria and Heart Foundation ofVictoria and among other things showedthat over 80 per cent of people believedovereating was the ‘new norm’. At least 85per cent said junk food has become part oftheir daily diet. Most people do not actuallyknow how much they eat in any given day.[More online]
Remember the America’s Cupwin in 1983?Alan Bond dead: businessman dies in FionaStanley Hospital where he had been in aninduced coma following complications afteropen-heart surgery. His son, John Bond,announcing the death of his father AlanBond on Friday morning June 5th, recalledthe “larger than life” tycoon. “To a lot of peo-ple, Dad was a larger than life character whostarted with nothing and did so much. Hereally did experience the highs and lows oflife.” [More online].
But they have a new coffeeoption to go with it …Thanks to a New Zealandcompany, Jed’s Coffee Com-pany, a new coffee ‘beanbag’ has been introduced tothe Australian market.The five strength levels,ranging from smooth toextra strong, will compete with similar prod-ucts from Robert Timms.
This is a first in Australia for Jed’s whichhas been manufacturing instant coffee andespresso beans for the New Zealand marketsince 2010. [More online].
Mars New Zealand celebrateswinning prestigious D&AD BlackPencil Auckland, NEWZEALAND, 8 June,2015 – Mars NewZealand, with its agencyColenso BBDO, has been recognized for out-standing creativity at the D&AD PencilAwards 2015. Its work on PEDIGREE’S K9FMwas awarded two Yellow Pencils and theprestigious Black Pencil, the highest acco-lade for outstanding creative work - awardedto just five winners out of 20,000 entries.
K9FM is a creative campaign fuelled bythe insights that drive PEDIGREE®’s mis-sion – to make the world a better place fordogs. Dog experts suggest that leavingmusic or radio playing when your dog ishome alone gives them a sense of companyand comfort. It works to block out noisesfrom outside the house that might concernor excite them. Building on this insight,PEDIGREE® created K9FM - a radio stationjust for dogs, that combines classical music,talkies, dog traffic, virtual outings, medita-tion, affirmation half hours and ‘learninghuman’. [More onine]
July 2015 www.downunderclub.mb.ca • The Southern Yarn 3
newsfromOzvarious sources, see web links in online edition
newszealandsource: NZ Herald, unless otherwise noted
Kiwi Installations & saleskiwiinstallations.com
Roll-up Security Shutters,decks, fences and more.
Free in-home/cottage estimates.
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Treaty PeopleThis is the third and final in our look at Treaties inour 3 countries. This month it’s Canada.
Treaties with Aboriginal people inCanada The Government of Canada and the courtsunderstand treaties between the Crown andAboriginal people to be solemn agreementsthat set out promises, obligations and bene-fits for both parties.
Starting in 1701, in what was to eventual-ly become Canada, the British Crownentered into solemn treaties to encouragepeaceful relations between First Nations andnon-Aboriginal people. Over the next severalcenturies, treaties were signed to define,among other things, the respective rights ofAboriginal people and governments to useand enjoy lands that Aboriginal people tradi-tionally occupied.
Treaties include historic treaties madebetween 1701 and 1923 and modern-daytreaties known as comprehensive land claimsettlements.
Treaty rights already in existence in 1982(the year the Constitution Act was passed),and those that came afterwards, are recog-nized and affirmed by Canada’s Constitution.
The Royal Proclamation of 1763and the Pre-ConfederationtreatiesIn the 18th century, the French and Britishwere competing for control of lands in NorthAmerica. The two colonial powers formedstrategic alliances with First Nations to helpthem advance their respective colonial inter-ests in the continent. For example, in whatare now New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, theBritish made a series of “Peace and Friend-ship” treaties with the Mi’kmaq andMaliseet tribes between 1725 and 1779.
By the early 1760s, the British had estab-
lished themselves as the dominant colonialpower in North America. The British RoyalProclamation of 1763 prohibited the pur-chase of First Nation lands by any partyother than the Crown. The Crown could pur-chase land from a First Nation group thathad agreed to the sale at a public meeting ofthe group.
Several treaties were signed after theRoyal Proclamation and before Confedera-tion in 1867. These include the Upper Cana-da Treaties (1764 to 1862) and the VancouverIsland Treaties (1850 to 1854). Under thesetreaties, the First Nations surrendered inter-ests in lands in areas of what are nowOntario and British Columbia in exchangefor certain other benefits that could includereserves, annual payments or other types ofpayment and certain rights to hunt and fish.
Historic treaties afterConfederationBetween 1871 and 1921, the Crown enteredinto treaties with various First Nations thatenabled the Canadian government to active-ly pursue agriculture, settlement andresource development of the Canadian Westand the North. Because they are numbered 1to 11, the treaties are often referred to as the“Numbered Treaties.” The NumberedTreaties cover Northern Ontario, Manitoba,Saskatchewan, Alberta, and parts of theYukon, the Northwest Territories and BritishColumbia.
Under these treaties, the First Nationswho occupied these territories gave up largeareas of land to the Crown. In exchange, thetreaties provided for such things as reservelands and other benefits like farm equip-ment and animals, annual payments, ammu-nition, clothing and certain rights to huntand fish. The Crown also made some promis-es such as maintaining schools on reservesor providing teachers or educational help tothe First Nation named in the treaties. TreatyNo. 6 included the promise of a medicinechest. [More online]
The Treaty Relations Commissionof ManitobaThe Treaty Relations Commission of Manito-ba (TRCM) is a neutral body, createdthrough a partnership between the Assem-bly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) and Canadawith a mandate to strengthen, rebuild andenhance the Treaty relationship and mutualrespect between First Nations and Manito-bans as envisaged by the Treaty Parties.
The TRCM will enhance and maintainpositive intergovernmental relations andcooperation, conduct independent researchthat advances discussion on Treaty relatedissues, and facilitate public understandingof the importance and role of Treaty makingin building a stronger and healthier nation.Learn more at [More online.]
4 The Southern Yarn • www.downunderclub.mb.ca July 2015
Law services at your place of convenience
Wm. B.K. Pooley b.a. l.l.blawyer • notary public
home visits . office visitsday, evening & weekend appointments
204-783-1632
gettingtoknow…history and members of our club
Find out more aboutthe Treaty Relations
Commission of Manito-ba at their website.
We will not be shamedNursing student Sarah-Kaye Steinmann wasa victim when views of her were uploadedonline and distributed without her permis-sion.
She’s just one of the revenge porn vic-tims who are speaking out and going on theoffensive for change in police attitude orchanges in the law.
Young women, mainly in eastern Aus-tralia, are greatly distressed that images ofthem nude, and sometime indiscreet, areposted without their knowledge on “revengeporn” websites. They’re putting the pressureon the law to take a tougher line.
Some of them, “called revenge porn vic-tims,” made this line of thinking clear in anarticle by reporter Natalie Rochenski of theSydney Morning Herald last week under theheadline “We will not be shamed.”
The women say the focus shouldn’t be ontelling them (the women) to cover up, ratherit should be on shutting down the predatorybehaviour of perpetrators — and consideringprosecution.
The practice of uploading nudes to file-sharing websites has been in the spotlight inrecent weeks after images of more than 700women from the Brisbane area were sharedon a New Zealand-based server.
Police issued a takedown request onJune 23, but the images were uploaded againseveral days later.
Nursing student Sarah-Kaye Steinmann,20, found in May that a folder featuringimages of her had made its way online.
“The photos that were shared of me wereof sexual intercourse that my former partnerhad taken at the time on his phone,” shesaid.
“It’s not something I had taken and sentto him, it’s what he took on his own phone,which at the time I was fine with becauseyou don’t think that’s going to happen.”
Ms Steinmann said she went to policebut nothing was done.
“I was literally met with a deadpan face ...he was not interested,” she said of the officerwho took her complaint.
Ms Steinmann said she showed the offi-cer Facebook messages in which the manresponsible for uploading the picturesthreatened to kill her.
“The only thing he said to me was ‘Howdo you know this guy is even a real person?’”she said. “He said it was probably just a fakeprofile.”
Ms Steinmann said all the officer gaveher was a piece of paper with ACORN writtenon it – the acronym for the Australian Cyber-crime Online Reporting Network.
Sources— SMH, Wire services
Refugees scooped by Oz navy‘treated like animals,’ face ‘brideshopping’ The Australian-run detention centre onNauru has become a centre of despair for itsasylum seekers and is a now political hotpotato for the Abbott government in Canberra.
Nauru is where the Australian Navydeposits the illegal traffic of refugees it inter-cepts from South East Asia, and unloadsthem well clear of Australian territory.
It has financial appeal for the Govern-ment of Nauru and controls the unwantedsmuggled refugees for Canberra.
Last month the stories broke about “des-perate and dispirited asylum seekers form-ing suicide pacts.” The Nauru “guests” at theAustralian compounds were identified bynumbers instead of by name, and were “treat-ed like animals by some guards,“ accordingto accounts by two social workers whoworked at the centre.
In the suicide pacts, “There was a singleadult female… There was a group of teenagegirls… There was a group of fathers… Therewas a group of mothers,” said NatashaBlucher, a caseworker who personally signed10 reports alerting centre management tothe suicide pacts.
Ms Blucher and another former socialworker, Michelle Groeneveld, were among 10Save the Children staff ordered to leaveNauru last October when former immigra-tion minister Scott Morrison claimed theyencouraged refugees to self-harm.
A subsequent government review dis-missed the claims, but none of the workersat the centre of the storm has spoken pub-licly until now.
Ms Blucher said she often clashed withguards about the practice of identifyinginmates as numbers.
“Most of the time it wasn’t toxic but thensometimes ... I would challenge them onthings that they were doing or ask them tostop treating people with disrespect or askthem to stop referring to people by their boatIDs,” she said.
There have also been sinister storiesabout the sexual exploitation of inmates byguards. Ms Blucher described an atmos-phere where local Nauruan staff saw thecamp as a showcase for bride shopping.
Ms Groeneveld argues the AustralianGovernment was deliberately cruel and didnot meet needs on purpose.
“It’s very obvious in that environmentthat the Government do not want to give anycomfort or make anything comfortable at all,”she said.
Social workers were constantly reportingabuse. When late last September, as someasylum seekers on Nauru were planning tokill themselves, the Government decided tosack some Save the Children case workers.
“I believe we were scapegoated to takethe attention away from what was happeningin the camp, which is the sexual exploitationof children, abuse, people’s human rightsnot being met, medical negligence - a boil-ing pot of despair,” Michelle Groeneveld, ofSave the Children Fund staff, said
She viewed the dismissal as an act ofintimidation. Last week the sacked socialworkers demanded a public apology fromCanberra.
The action was based on a false intelli-gence report about their conduct. For thefirst time, two of the social workers, NatashaBlucher and Michelle Groeneveld, who wereamong the Save the Children staff ordered toleave Nauru last October, have broken theirsilence. A Government review has alreadydismissed the pair’s claims, but none of theworkers at the centre of the storm has giventheir account in public, until now.
Murray Burt writes this column to raise sensitivi-ties to the Commonwealth’s value and to lift thecurtain on our understanding of a third of the pop-ulation of the world. The Commonwealth nameand significance is rarely mentioned in daily news,he says. It should be.
Burt is president of the Manitoba branch of theRoyal Commonwealth Society; past president ofthe Commonwealth Journalists Association; secre-tary of the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders ofCanada advisory board; Hon LCol of the 78thFraser Highlanders; a senator of the 166th Bat-tery RCA (Kenora) and a director of The IntrepidSociety. He is retired from more than 50 years ofjournalism.
July 2015 www.downunderclub.mb.ca • The Southern Yarn 5
commonwealth place by Murray Burt
Revenge porn vic-tims seek tougherpolice responseand change in law. Photo: RobertShakespeare
The following was submitted by DavidWhyte, my cousin in Australia.
We live in the small quietvillage of Red Rock onthe mid north coast of
NSW. There are beaches and dunes, an estu-ary, heath and swamp, banksia and paper-bark woodland, and eucalypt forest – so wehave a wide variety of birds. The main visi-tors to our backyard are Rainbow Lorrikeetsand Crested Pigeons. The streets (usuallyempty) are controlled by Spur WingedPlovers which demand that 4WDs andmotorhomes stop until their chicks havesafely crossed the road. In November thebeaches are littered with dead Muttonbirds(Shearwaters) which didn’t survive themigration south.
In March I have seen Brahminy Kitesswoop down and grab small white birds offthe sandspit across the river. I guess thesewere young Little Terns which hadn’tlearned to fly in time to join the migrationnorth to East Asia. But our “best” bird story isalso a snake story.
In our back yard, we have a bottlebrushroughly cut back to chest height. A Hillshoist, in the middle of the yard, nearly touch-es the bottlebrush. We had been hanging abirdseed feeder from this bush.
One cool and drizzly morning I lookeddown from upstairs and saw about 20screeching Lorrikeets sitting along the out-ermost wire of the Hills hoist, all looking inone direction - at the bottlebrush. On top ofthe bush was draped, totally motionless,eyes unblinking, a 2 metre carpet snake, itsfirst 30cm or so in an ominous S bend. Anumber of Crested Pigeons sat quietly in a
plump row along awire further away.Confidently assuringAnn that the snakewas too cold to movefast, I got up closeand personal with mycamera. Some Blue-faced Honeyeaters
and Noisy Miners dropped in briefly,screamed “Snake! Snake! Snake!” and tookoff again. Nothing else was happening so wegot on with our day. A bloke had come thatmorning to install a new screen doorbetween the kitchen and back verandah. Atone point I glanced outside and noticed aButcherbird perched on the Hills hoist, closeto the bush, looking with great interest at thesnake. I turned away again and almost imme-diately heard a squawk. The snake had theButcherbird in its coils. The bird must havefluttered down for a closer look, and beengrabbed! The bird would have been dead inseconds, I’m sure. But the snake continuedto do everything slowly and surely.
The whole process took about 45 minutes.After holding the bird tight for some time, thesnake then maneuvered it so it could swallowit head first. Then it slowly moved its headand body over the bird, a few millimetres at atime, with long pauses between moves. Final-ly the bird was just a lump about 60 centime-tres down the snake’s body.
I’ve wondered why it was the butcherbirdwhich got taken, and not another species.Maybe it’s because the other birds are oftenin flocks and therefore warn each otherabout dangers like snakes.
The butcherbird, on the other hand,hunts solo and perhaps also has the boldcuriosity of a predator. An inquisitivenesswhich might normally be an asset was onthis occasion the cause of its death.
Board of DirectorsPresident: Peter MunnVice President: Catherine BoweringSecretary: Margaret MunnNewsletter Editor:Charlie PowellTreasurer: Peter DebenhamSocial Coordinator: Liz HydesmithMembership:Norm GriffithsPast President: Terry Roberts
This newsletter can be downloaded in PDFformat from the website. Thank you to all ofour contributors within the club, fromoverseas and information services. Layoutby [email protected]
The Southern Yarn is published by the DownUnder Club of Winnipeg, Inc. (DUCW). Theviews and opinions expressed bycontributors to this publication are notendorsed by, nor do they necessarily reflectthose of, the members of the DUCW. TheDUCW and the Editor of The Southern Yarndo not accept any responsibility for thecontent or accuracy of information orwebsites contained in this publication.Articles may be republished withpermission of the Editor.
T H E D O W N U N D E RCLUB OF WINNIPEG INC.Station Main, PO Box 1655, Winnipeg Manitoba Canada R3C 2Z61-204-832-4405info@downunderclub.mb.cawww.downunderclub.mb.caLike us on facebook!
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6 The Southern Yarn • www.downunderclub.mb.ca July 2015
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birdsiview…by Charlie Powell
Continued from page 5: Commonwealth Corner
Blogger’s defaming of SingaporePM draws $200,000+ bad news The blogger whose writings offended thegovernment and was convicted by Singa-pore’s High Court last month for defamingPrime Minister Lee Hsien Loong by accusinghim in a blog of misappropriating state pen-sion funds, gets another day or two in courtthis week starting today.
Small comfort that. Roy Ngerng, a 33-year-old now-fired government employee,has a summary judgment against him. It isthe first such ruling in the city-state over apurely online article, and raises the prospectof damages of $200,000 or more. Ngerngsaid he is already bankrupt and faces morebad news this week
“My intention has never been to defamethe prime minister. It has always been tofight for the CPF (Central Provident Fund),the pension funds of Singaporeans.
Ngerng, who has already admitted thathis May 15 blog accusing the prime minister,who is also chairman of state investmentfund GIC, of misusing the Central ProvidentFund (CPF), was false and without founda-tion. He offered Sg$5,000 as compensationto Lee, who rejected the amount.
Ngerng, who writes a blog called HeartTruths, was seeking trial to defend himselfbut High Court Judge Lee Seiu Kin ruled thatthere was “no triable defence against theplaintiff’s claim”.
“There is no doubt that it is defamatory tosuggest that the plaintiff is guilty of criminalmisappropriation,” the judge said in a writ-ten ruling.
GIC is a sovereign wealth fund that man-ages more than $100 billion of the city-state’s foreign reserves. The CPF is the statepension scheme that pools Singaporeans’retirement money.
In June, Ngerng successfully raised morethan Sg$112,000 through crowd funding tofight the case, with over 4,000 people con-tributing cash.
He is currently facing two criminalcharges for staging an illegal march callingfor greater transparency in how CPF assetsare invested.
Lee’s office did not immediately respondto an AFP request for comment.
Singapore has consistently ranked highin surveys as one of the world’s least corruptcountries, but rights groups say its leadershave used financially ruinous defamationsuits to silence critics and political oppo-nents.
Media firms like Bloomberg, The Econo-mist and the Financial Times as well as localopposition figures have previously paid dam-ages and apologized to Singapore leadersincluding Lee and his father, former primeminister Lee Kuan Yew, 91, for publishingarticles found to be defamatory.
Singaporean leaders maintain that thelawsuits are necessary to protect their repu-tations from unfounded allegations.
Lee, 62, has been prime minister for 10years. The senior Lee served as premier from1959, when Singapore gained self-rule fromBritain, its colonial ruler, until he steppeddown in 1990 in favor of his deputy GohChok Tong.Sources — Sumit Galhotra/CPJAsia Program
Bird I viewcontinued…The sequel was we called WIRES to get rid ofthe snake. There was a delay while the twolocal volunteers “finished feeding theirbats”, and then in the late afternoon theyarrived, an elderly couple kitted out in longsleeves and boots, with rolls of pressurebandage clipped to their belts and carryingstainless steel crooks. They helped eachother carefully over our knee high terrierfence, and peered shortsightedly towards thesnake on the bush. We stood back respectful-ly to see how it was done. “Give it a poke andsee what it does”, said the wife. The husbanddid so and the snake reached up to get awayonto the garage roof. It was hooked downand wangled into a sack, eventually to bereleased outside town.
epagesfor news that just would not fit in the print issue
July 2015 www.downunderclub.mb.ca • The Southern Yarn • e-page 7
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