More new and exciting things happening every day - life continues to be so great. But I am gonna tell all about my confrontations with spiders - my arachnophobia. Such horrible things, in my opinion. While I do abhor unnecessary cruelty to animals, spiders are one -thing - that I am not friends with. Huntsman spiders in particular - I will vacate a room for these huge, horrible, hairy things. I have always been reassured they are actually completely harmless - but I have to question that - how can something possibly be harmless when they give me a heart attack every time I see one? And we used to get them in abundance up on the station. But several of my encounters with these things occurred in places other than the station, but I'll start up there. This is possibly a good time to get a cuppa (or something stronger), put your legs up and settle in - or walk away.
I remember this little scenario as though it was yesterday. I was riding happily ('happily'? The temperature would have been well over 40C) on my bicycle, darting between the bushes on the side of the road on the hill behind our station homestead. Suddenly I became vaguely aware of something on my right arm. I remember slapping at it a couple of times and stopping it momentarily. Then it would take off again. Brrr - I still get the shivers when I think about it. Another slap and another momentary stop. Eventually I felt this - thing - heading toward my hand - and suddenly two very very very - try endlessly - long and very very very hairy legs appeared out of my cuffs (I must have been wearing long sleeves - in that heat?). Well! Did that set me off, or what! I actually cannot remember anything much after that except screaming blue murder and running like the devil back down the hill to the house. I must have been stripping all the way (first streaker on the station?) because by the time I had nearly reached our back door - and my mother who must have been running up the hill toward me, trying to find the snake (that, in her mind, being the only thing that could cause such crazed reaction) - I was stark naked. The spider being long gone, along with my clothes. Now, a 'few' years later, I also have to wonder - how in the heck is it possible to strip like that when running like that? How the jolly heck did I undo and take my shoes and sox off and my long pants? While running, for goodness sake? I know I sure as hell didn't stop. Why was I wearing it all in that heat in the first place? Once Mum had established there wasn't a snake at all but a poor, 'defenceless' (yea right) little spider that had caused this (she must have been able to translate that much from my babbling), I was thoroughly berated and left to try to dress myself - which meant retracing my steps and collecting all my clothes - again in that unbearable heat and all the while, fully expecting that 'poor defenceless' little horror to pounce on me and gloat. But until that moment I hadn't actually realised I wasn't wearing a stitch - but when that realisation did hit me - hmmmm - I turned a very nice shade of red. On retracing my steps I also discovered I had an audience, albeit from afar - all the other kids were watching from the tank where they had been swimming. Therein arises another question - why were they enjoying that water - and I wasn't??? Well, this happened just a 'few' years ago - when I was a child - so I guess all this will remain a mystery forever.
More exploits next blog.
Friday, October 12, 2012
Sunday, October 7, 2012
EDGE OF THE OUTBACK
Here we are, as promised.
EDGE OF THE OUTBACK
I offer no apology for the fact that both past and present tenses are used in this piece; also that the imperial system is used (even though the metric is used in Australia). I was raised on this and continue to use it in this piece.
Mention the TRUE Australian outback to most people, be they from another nation or Australia and visions of a vast, barren desert, miles upon miles of virtually nothing except a bush here and maybe a tree there and plenty of red bulldust, usually come to mind. Overall not an attractive picture, so most would think.
How wrong can one be.
I was born in Adelaide, capital of South Australia and raised on a sheep station in the north eastern pastoral district of that state. The station was 115,000 acres, which was small compared with other stations further up and out. Our livelihood depended on Marino sheep for their wool and a few head of cattle. The land, which is very barren, it's true, is comprised of such vegetation as salt and blue bush, mulga and gum trees among others. We averaged less than seven inches of rain per annum so could not rely on cropping. Ours was among the first of the 'big' sheep stations heading north of Adelaide.
Peterborough was and still is the nearest town, being thirty miles away. Along with my three older brothers and our cousins I was educated, until the ripe old age of eleven, by School of the Air and correspondence school.
There were times when we actually did have heavy enough rains to isolate us completely but with today's technology this no longer happens. In those days (and I am only going back thirty or so years) we had our own generator providing us with thirty two volt power, a telephone connected to a 'party-line', mail once a week and groceries monthly. The wonderful Royal Flying Doctor Service provided our medical services in emergencies.
My brother and his family were living on and managing the station until the last few years. With improved roads and transport my niece and nephew were able to attend the local primary school in Peterborough. Both then followed the lead of the generation before them and attended boarding school in Adelaide. While the station is still in our family, it is now managed by an employed couple.
As can be gathered by the information above, rain water was and still is very scarce. While all (or most) stations have several large concrete tanks, dam water was used for personal bathing, washing and dish washing. The water looked dreadful, like wishy washy mud, but to many it was a real novelty to wash and swim in. We also used to swim in the tanks; in fact this was more common than swimming in the dams which usually did not have enough water in them in which to swim. However there was the very rare occasion when water was plentiful, thereby allowing us to swim in the dams and even in the creek, which was a lot of fun. When swimming in the dams you just had to be careful not to be nipped on the toe by a yabby (similar to a crayfish or lobster and just as tasty). A good deal of outback Australia's water is supplied by huge artesian basins.
.
While kangaroos are a dearly loved part of the Australian fauna, they, along with rabbits and foxes, are also a terrible menace in the outback. Our station is surrounded by a supposedly dog proof fence. However it seems no-one told the kangaroos about this as they cause more damage to the fence than anything else does. In fact, dingoes are plentiful further north and rarely venture as far south as our station, but we do get the odd stray. They rip the stock to pieces - not to eat - just for the fun of it! Rabbits, kangaroos and other pests eat the spear grass and general vegetation, what there is of it, which is food for our stock.
As children, we often rescued orphaned 'joeys' (baby kangaroos), emus, the odd kids (baby goats as most would know), lambs and calves. We also kept a carpet python snake as a 'pet' at one stage. Let's just say it decided to take up temporary residence on our tennis court and we decided not to try to make it move on. All these babes were released back into the wild once old and strong enough to survive by themselves.
Entertainment was a little different out there. Travelling over one hundred miles for any kind of social occasion was very much the norm. 'Local' towns held annual horse racing carnivals where the focus was certainly more on local gossip, drinking, 'high' fashion, drinking, eating, oh and did I mention drinking - rather than the races themselves. Races? What races? We actually had race horses at one stage but that was well before my time.
Up to the age of eleven my only real play-mate was my cousin. Her rather co-managed the station with my father, his brother, for many years. My cousin and I were eventually sent to different schools in Adelaide and have never really been close since. She married and remained in South Australia, not far from the station, whereas I married and now live in Perth, Western Australia.
We all learned to ride horses and motor bikes and to drive cars (on the station only) almost before we could crawl. That just seemed to be part of life out there.
At times were were almost completely self-sufficient; raising our own chickens, cattle for their milk and its bi-products, lamb and mutton, vegetables and fruit. However much of this had to stop due to drought. We even produced bread from our own ovens. In those days we were fortunate enough to have an excellent cook, along with governesses and a 'cowboy'. Those days are long gone now and we no longer produce any of the above, apart from the meat. While parts of the sprawling homestead have been modernised for practicality the bread ovens have been preserved, along with our old milk separating cellar, although none is used.
Like most stations we have a couple of 'outstations'. In better years one of these held a family of about fifteen children; the other has been empty as long as I can remember. Now both stand abandoned and empty.
The homestead itself is typical of many country homesteads, with huge rooms, very thick stone walls, completely surrounded by wide verandahs, huge open fireplaces and very high ceilings. This building,a long with the engine room, slaughter house, shearers' quarters, shearing shed, stables and assorted other buildings, resembles a small village.
And then there are the 'creepy-crawlies'. The worst and most venomous snake is the Common Brown but we also have had visits from the King Brown, which lives further north. Another common species is the afore-mentioned Carpet Python, which is harmless. As for spiders, the harmless Huntsman is easily the most common and they can grow to be enormous. I am afraid that I am very much an arachnophobic (see note below) and have suffered from this fear since childhood. I used to try to overcome this for the sakes of my daughters - but that didn't work - they are now worse than I am! We also have the Redback spider, which is a cousin to the Funnelweb, although not as venomous.
Among my childhood and teen memories is one relating to an 'uncle' who lived on a nearby station and who owned and flew a Tiger Moth aeroplane. This uncle used to fly lower over our station dropping bags of sweets attached to tiny parachutes, for us children. This occurred annually, after he had visited the Royal Adelaide Show. We used to love racing each other into the huge creek bed at the front of the homestead searching for those little parcels; a bit like an Easter egg hunt. We also had an airstrip, as did and do most stations, only ours has been overgrown by salt and blue bush. It would in all probability cause an emergency instead these days.
The aforementioned creek could be very dangerous but also very exciting in heavy rains. It didn't even have to be raining on the station; as long as there had been heavy enough rains upstream, the chances were very high of our creek coming down a 'banker' (meaning a usually bone dry creek suddenly filled to overflowing with water). I have only witnessed it once but would not have missed it. Imagine standing in a completely dry creek bed and suddenly hearing an almighty roar - looking in that direction and seeing a huge bank of water, usually feet deep, coming straight for you, taking all in its path. These 'bankers' have been known to drag fences, trees, windmills, junk, animals and anything else that gets in the way as far as the creek travels. We have found items on stations over two hundred miles away.
There really is just so much more to the magnificent Australian outback than has been mentioned here. To the eye of the uninitiated it probably still is and always will be a vast, barren, boring, unending desert with very little, if anything, to offer - especially when compared with mountains (we have those in the outback, too), lush green pastures, rivers, waterfalls, flowers and other flora and fauna. Yes I concede that the outback could well be considered 'ugly'.
But it is not.
It is really beautiful if one bothers to take the time to really look and appreciate the beauty. You do not need a vivid imagination to really see that beauty - there are mountains, beautiful scrubs of trees and wildflowers in abundance. Just the colours of the hills and valleys at dawn and sunset and after rain, are spectacular in themselves. I have seen many magnificent paintings of different settings in the outback - they cannot be imagined, they are real, just as are those of snow-capped mountains, waterfalls, rivers and forests.
The fauna is as impressive as that of the lusher areas too. As previously mentioned kangaroos abound out there, but not koalas. These gorgeous creatures are fussy eaters in that, while Australia has numerous types of eucalyptus trees, the koala will only eat the leaf of one species and this is only found in certain areas of Australia. Other fauna includes hundreds of different sorts of lizards, snakes (both of which are reptiles), along with many other creatures, some of which are harmless, some not. Emus, eagles, eaglehawks, galahs, sulpher-crested cockatoos, rosellas, cockatiels (which have a different name in each Australian state), wild canaries, budgerigars to name just a few. There are also hundreds of species of smaller ground-living birdlife.
Like every nation, Australia has many features of interest for the tourist but I just feel that the outback, which really does have just so much to offer, is too often overlooked. After all, it does make up most of the nation but still so often goes by unnoticed. So - this is my little effort to help acknowledge and salute it - as deserved.
I have also just decided to start adding parts of my auto-biography in here. This will give an even better look at life in the outback and also includes some rather amusing stories about my 'brushes' with spiders.
Stay tuned.
EDGE OF THE OUTBACK
I offer no apology for the fact that both past and present tenses are used in this piece; also that the imperial system is used (even though the metric is used in Australia). I was raised on this and continue to use it in this piece.
Mention the TRUE Australian outback to most people, be they from another nation or Australia and visions of a vast, barren desert, miles upon miles of virtually nothing except a bush here and maybe a tree there and plenty of red bulldust, usually come to mind. Overall not an attractive picture, so most would think.
How wrong can one be.
I was born in Adelaide, capital of South Australia and raised on a sheep station in the north eastern pastoral district of that state. The station was 115,000 acres, which was small compared with other stations further up and out. Our livelihood depended on Marino sheep for their wool and a few head of cattle. The land, which is very barren, it's true, is comprised of such vegetation as salt and blue bush, mulga and gum trees among others. We averaged less than seven inches of rain per annum so could not rely on cropping. Ours was among the first of the 'big' sheep stations heading north of Adelaide.
Peterborough was and still is the nearest town, being thirty miles away. Along with my three older brothers and our cousins I was educated, until the ripe old age of eleven, by School of the Air and correspondence school.
There were times when we actually did have heavy enough rains to isolate us completely but with today's technology this no longer happens. In those days (and I am only going back thirty or so years) we had our own generator providing us with thirty two volt power, a telephone connected to a 'party-line', mail once a week and groceries monthly. The wonderful Royal Flying Doctor Service provided our medical services in emergencies.
My brother and his family were living on and managing the station until the last few years. With improved roads and transport my niece and nephew were able to attend the local primary school in Peterborough. Both then followed the lead of the generation before them and attended boarding school in Adelaide. While the station is still in our family, it is now managed by an employed couple.
As can be gathered by the information above, rain water was and still is very scarce. While all (or most) stations have several large concrete tanks, dam water was used for personal bathing, washing and dish washing. The water looked dreadful, like wishy washy mud, but to many it was a real novelty to wash and swim in. We also used to swim in the tanks; in fact this was more common than swimming in the dams which usually did not have enough water in them in which to swim. However there was the very rare occasion when water was plentiful, thereby allowing us to swim in the dams and even in the creek, which was a lot of fun. When swimming in the dams you just had to be careful not to be nipped on the toe by a yabby (similar to a crayfish or lobster and just as tasty). A good deal of outback Australia's water is supplied by huge artesian basins.
.
While kangaroos are a dearly loved part of the Australian fauna, they, along with rabbits and foxes, are also a terrible menace in the outback. Our station is surrounded by a supposedly dog proof fence. However it seems no-one told the kangaroos about this as they cause more damage to the fence than anything else does. In fact, dingoes are plentiful further north and rarely venture as far south as our station, but we do get the odd stray. They rip the stock to pieces - not to eat - just for the fun of it! Rabbits, kangaroos and other pests eat the spear grass and general vegetation, what there is of it, which is food for our stock.
As children, we often rescued orphaned 'joeys' (baby kangaroos), emus, the odd kids (baby goats as most would know), lambs and calves. We also kept a carpet python snake as a 'pet' at one stage. Let's just say it decided to take up temporary residence on our tennis court and we decided not to try to make it move on. All these babes were released back into the wild once old and strong enough to survive by themselves.
Entertainment was a little different out there. Travelling over one hundred miles for any kind of social occasion was very much the norm. 'Local' towns held annual horse racing carnivals where the focus was certainly more on local gossip, drinking, 'high' fashion, drinking, eating, oh and did I mention drinking - rather than the races themselves. Races? What races? We actually had race horses at one stage but that was well before my time.
Up to the age of eleven my only real play-mate was my cousin. Her rather co-managed the station with my father, his brother, for many years. My cousin and I were eventually sent to different schools in Adelaide and have never really been close since. She married and remained in South Australia, not far from the station, whereas I married and now live in Perth, Western Australia.
We all learned to ride horses and motor bikes and to drive cars (on the station only) almost before we could crawl. That just seemed to be part of life out there.
At times were were almost completely self-sufficient; raising our own chickens, cattle for their milk and its bi-products, lamb and mutton, vegetables and fruit. However much of this had to stop due to drought. We even produced bread from our own ovens. In those days we were fortunate enough to have an excellent cook, along with governesses and a 'cowboy'. Those days are long gone now and we no longer produce any of the above, apart from the meat. While parts of the sprawling homestead have been modernised for practicality the bread ovens have been preserved, along with our old milk separating cellar, although none is used.
Like most stations we have a couple of 'outstations'. In better years one of these held a family of about fifteen children; the other has been empty as long as I can remember. Now both stand abandoned and empty.
The homestead itself is typical of many country homesteads, with huge rooms, very thick stone walls, completely surrounded by wide verandahs, huge open fireplaces and very high ceilings. This building,a long with the engine room, slaughter house, shearers' quarters, shearing shed, stables and assorted other buildings, resembles a small village.
And then there are the 'creepy-crawlies'. The worst and most venomous snake is the Common Brown but we also have had visits from the King Brown, which lives further north. Another common species is the afore-mentioned Carpet Python, which is harmless. As for spiders, the harmless Huntsman is easily the most common and they can grow to be enormous. I am afraid that I am very much an arachnophobic (see note below) and have suffered from this fear since childhood. I used to try to overcome this for the sakes of my daughters - but that didn't work - they are now worse than I am! We also have the Redback spider, which is a cousin to the Funnelweb, although not as venomous.
Among my childhood and teen memories is one relating to an 'uncle' who lived on a nearby station and who owned and flew a Tiger Moth aeroplane. This uncle used to fly lower over our station dropping bags of sweets attached to tiny parachutes, for us children. This occurred annually, after he had visited the Royal Adelaide Show. We used to love racing each other into the huge creek bed at the front of the homestead searching for those little parcels; a bit like an Easter egg hunt. We also had an airstrip, as did and do most stations, only ours has been overgrown by salt and blue bush. It would in all probability cause an emergency instead these days.
The aforementioned creek could be very dangerous but also very exciting in heavy rains. It didn't even have to be raining on the station; as long as there had been heavy enough rains upstream, the chances were very high of our creek coming down a 'banker' (meaning a usually bone dry creek suddenly filled to overflowing with water). I have only witnessed it once but would not have missed it. Imagine standing in a completely dry creek bed and suddenly hearing an almighty roar - looking in that direction and seeing a huge bank of water, usually feet deep, coming straight for you, taking all in its path. These 'bankers' have been known to drag fences, trees, windmills, junk, animals and anything else that gets in the way as far as the creek travels. We have found items on stations over two hundred miles away.
There really is just so much more to the magnificent Australian outback than has been mentioned here. To the eye of the uninitiated it probably still is and always will be a vast, barren, boring, unending desert with very little, if anything, to offer - especially when compared with mountains (we have those in the outback, too), lush green pastures, rivers, waterfalls, flowers and other flora and fauna. Yes I concede that the outback could well be considered 'ugly'.
But it is not.
It is really beautiful if one bothers to take the time to really look and appreciate the beauty. You do not need a vivid imagination to really see that beauty - there are mountains, beautiful scrubs of trees and wildflowers in abundance. Just the colours of the hills and valleys at dawn and sunset and after rain, are spectacular in themselves. I have seen many magnificent paintings of different settings in the outback - they cannot be imagined, they are real, just as are those of snow-capped mountains, waterfalls, rivers and forests.
The fauna is as impressive as that of the lusher areas too. As previously mentioned kangaroos abound out there, but not koalas. These gorgeous creatures are fussy eaters in that, while Australia has numerous types of eucalyptus trees, the koala will only eat the leaf of one species and this is only found in certain areas of Australia. Other fauna includes hundreds of different sorts of lizards, snakes (both of which are reptiles), along with many other creatures, some of which are harmless, some not. Emus, eagles, eaglehawks, galahs, sulpher-crested cockatoos, rosellas, cockatiels (which have a different name in each Australian state), wild canaries, budgerigars to name just a few. There are also hundreds of species of smaller ground-living birdlife.
Like every nation, Australia has many features of interest for the tourist but I just feel that the outback, which really does have just so much to offer, is too often overlooked. After all, it does make up most of the nation but still so often goes by unnoticed. So - this is my little effort to help acknowledge and salute it - as deserved.
I have also just decided to start adding parts of my auto-biography in here. This will give an even better look at life in the outback and also includes some rather amusing stories about my 'brushes' with spiders.
Stay tuned.
Saturday, October 6, 2012
I keep thinking life just couldn't get any better but then something always happens that proves that thinking to be wrong - again. I am soooo loving everything that I am doing now. Research for my book on stations is absolutely snowballing - I am meeting the most wonderful people - even some 'new' relations and family friends that I didn't previously know existed. Amazing. Even had a wonderful drive into the 'country' last week - to a small town out there, meeting another couple of retired pastoralists. Such lovely people and the drive was beautiful. A five hour round trip which many would baulk at but not me, nor most country people. If you are not prepared to travel, you would probably never leave home at all if you live out there. We used to travel up to two hundred kilometres for dinners and parties in my childhood - so what? This is outlined in my piece, 'Edge of the Outback' which I am going to repost here tomorrow. Just to give you a taste of what that life is like......
Stay tuned.....
Stay tuned.....
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Life continues to be FANtastic. Something exciting seems to happen daily at the moment - whether big or small - it happens and it's all soo good. But I am only human (or so I keep trying to convince myself) and do have my 'downers' - the nastier of these in the past might have kept me down - but they don't any more. I recover from the initial hit, look at the problem, then simply go around it - upward and onward. And every day I make sure (not that it's exactly hard - I love it all so much) I achieve at least one thing on my 'to do' list with each of my books or causes. I have always been a phonophobic (is that a word??? - I hate using the phone - will avoid it in every way possible - thank goodness for email) but I am even starting to actually talk to people via the telephone, just about daily too. While that would not be considered an achievement to most - normal people - it is for me but, hey, I have never claimed to be normal - whatever that is!!!
While I am a non-fiction writer I have recently been asked to consider using my creativity and imagination (what creativity and imagination????) to write short stories. I believe this would be delving in the realm of fiction. So I have actually begun doing this and will possibly - very possibly actually, add them to my blog.
I will also be repeating my 'Edge of the Outback' from time to time, along with 'The Year My Life Began' and other pieces as I write them. Just to make sure no-one forgets them of what I am 'all about'.
Stay tuned.
While I am a non-fiction writer I have recently been asked to consider using my creativity and imagination (what creativity and imagination????) to write short stories. I believe this would be delving in the realm of fiction. So I have actually begun doing this and will possibly - very possibly actually, add them to my blog.
I will also be repeating my 'Edge of the Outback' from time to time, along with 'The Year My Life Began' and other pieces as I write them. Just to make sure no-one forgets them of what I am 'all about'.
Stay tuned.
Friday, August 24, 2012
DON'T TRY TO TELL ME THE SYSTEM'S WORKING
I received the following during the week:
'My 13 year old son was assaulted at school last Thursday. He was pushed to the ground, punched twice in the chest and strangled to the point he was fighting to breathe.
He told no-one as he was petrified of the outcome.
When he got home from school, he told me what happened. I just lost it - I was so emotional it couldn't contain myself.
After checking him, I found a few scratches on his neck and some redness, I took photos of those. I rang the police who told me there was nothing that they could do because it happened on school grounds. I explained to them again louder, that my son was assaulted, again 'mam there is nothing we can do'.
I rang the school principal, who the next day, spoke to the boy who assaulted my son, the boy said he didn't know his own strength, two witnesses said that they thought my son was playing.
Then the principal said to me that he does not believe that the matter is assault or bullying and that the matter is closed.
My son is too scared to go back to school so he spoke to the principal over the phone. My son told him everything that happened an also told him that this same boy had been bullying him for a few weeks. Jacob told him that was not playing and that he was choking - he said he didn't speak to a teacher because he didn't want to be known as a wimp. The principal then informed my son that he does not believe that it is a bullying matter nor an assault.
That as far as he is concerned the matter is closed. My son has not been back to school since last Thursday, he doesn't know if he will be called a wimp etc. Since my son has been home from school his sister and twin brother have had this boy go up to them saying my son is not at school because he is a wimp and a baby.
I contacted Today Tonight. They have been doing stories on bullying for a few weeks - they are coming out to my house next week to do a story on this.
Children have the right to feel safe at school, if your principal won't believe you, then what hope do kids have The police - I am so incredibly disappointed in them - no wonder there are so many teenage suicides, people don't take bullying seriously.
NOW tell me that the wonderful system currently in place is working!!!! It's NOT.
This story is being sent to all Ministers of Education around the nation, including the Federal one, along with the major magazines. This is completely out of control and given that the governments (Federal and state) have been gloating about new legislation having been introduced for many different things, bullying included - there is absolutely no reason WHY it cannot be done for bullying in schools.
We are also in the process of contacting the magazines which cater for the young and vulnerable minds in Australia, with the hope of writing appropriate articles on bullying (for free, we are only trying to help the victims) for these magazines. I will not be sparing feelings except for those of the victims.
'My 13 year old son was assaulted at school last Thursday. He was pushed to the ground, punched twice in the chest and strangled to the point he was fighting to breathe.
He told no-one as he was petrified of the outcome.
When he got home from school, he told me what happened. I just lost it - I was so emotional it couldn't contain myself.
After checking him, I found a few scratches on his neck and some redness, I took photos of those. I rang the police who told me there was nothing that they could do because it happened on school grounds. I explained to them again louder, that my son was assaulted, again 'mam there is nothing we can do'.
I rang the school principal, who the next day, spoke to the boy who assaulted my son, the boy said he didn't know his own strength, two witnesses said that they thought my son was playing.
Then the principal said to me that he does not believe that the matter is assault or bullying and that the matter is closed.
My son is too scared to go back to school so he spoke to the principal over the phone. My son told him everything that happened an also told him that this same boy had been bullying him for a few weeks. Jacob told him that was not playing and that he was choking - he said he didn't speak to a teacher because he didn't want to be known as a wimp. The principal then informed my son that he does not believe that it is a bullying matter nor an assault.
That as far as he is concerned the matter is closed. My son has not been back to school since last Thursday, he doesn't know if he will be called a wimp etc. Since my son has been home from school his sister and twin brother have had this boy go up to them saying my son is not at school because he is a wimp and a baby.
I contacted Today Tonight. They have been doing stories on bullying for a few weeks - they are coming out to my house next week to do a story on this.
Children have the right to feel safe at school, if your principal won't believe you, then what hope do kids have The police - I am so incredibly disappointed in them - no wonder there are so many teenage suicides, people don't take bullying seriously.
NOW tell me that the wonderful system currently in place is working!!!! It's NOT.
This story is being sent to all Ministers of Education around the nation, including the Federal one, along with the major magazines. This is completely out of control and given that the governments (Federal and state) have been gloating about new legislation having been introduced for many different things, bullying included - there is absolutely no reason WHY it cannot be done for bullying in schools.
We are also in the process of contacting the magazines which cater for the young and vulnerable minds in Australia, with the hope of writing appropriate articles on bullying (for free, we are only trying to help the victims) for these magazines. I will not be sparing feelings except for those of the victims.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
A RECIPE WITH A DIFFERENCE
Just a little interlude here - something for a bit of a laugh (IE not to be taken seriously)
A RECIPE WITH A DIFFERENCE
CHRISTMAS CAKE
You will need: 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar, 4 large eggs, 2 cups dried fruit, teaspoon baking soda, 1 cup brown sugar, lemon juice, nuts, bottle whiskey.
Just a bit of fun for you.
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