Backbencher

Have a great summer. See you next year if you don't graduate.
Best of Luck
Karen

Tom-

I think that it is only fair that you should know that the blogger website has been a bit quirky today and has declined to accept my posts a few times (Earlier it wouldn't open reliably either, but that was less of a factor). I did eventually get it through, but 12:01, which is after the noon deadline. NOT MY FAULT! There may be others that have also experienced website error... you may have to allow a bit of extra time for that. This is, of course, your decision and I trust you will do the right thing.

I have enjoyed your class... this is the most nontraditional History class that I have ever taken, it was a welcome relief from what I had expected. Thanks for putting forth the extra effort to keep it interesting... I am sure that I speak for all of us on that.

thanks again-
Mike

I reviewed the newspaper called The Press and read two articles. The first one was a headliner and was titled ‘Experts Warn of Virulent New Bugs’. This sounded so exciting. It was about a new form of superbugs that are antibiotic resistant. The bugs have adapted a new way of surviving. They are looking for similarities between these bugs and E coli because they are both antibiotic resistant. I checked out the sports section next and read about the Argentinean Rugby Union and how they need to bounce back and make some profit after losing a court case which came from a young player become quadriplegic. I found these two articles relevant as we do not have a superbug and how it could spread to other nations and could be a benefit with the correlation to E. Coli. We also do not obviously have a rugby team and so anything related interests me.

Car ripped in Half during high speed chase.

It seems that the unresolved issue of high speed police chases is a topic in Australia just as it is in the United States of America. This particular story involves a fellow that during his high speed chase attained speeds of over 100 kilometers per hour through town. Doing the math, it really doesn't seem like that phenomenal of a speed to me. What is that, about 65 mph? Admittedly this occurred in the middle of the night (or wee hours of the morning, if you prefer) and I find it highly suspiciouos that the driver may not have been fit to drive at ANY speed.

This is an issue I take offense with, because so often these kind of police chases end in death... not really a necessity considering that most of these vehicles have license plates and the owners could easily be picked up the next morning. It seems police are a lot more interested in easy convictions than public safety... besides that, high speed pursuits are a lot of fun. Personally, I think that this kind of behavior on behalf of the police is inexcusable.

As is so often the case, the high speed pursuit ended in death, with one man killed and another having to be brought to a medical facility for emergency care.

This little story is immediately followed up by another similar story (in the same article) of another high speed pursuit involving a couple and children... the children are now in the care of the Salvation Army, the woman and children left while the man fled on foot. Not very manly sounding, is it? It seems these sorts of problems are universal.

This movie is about a young couple Rob and Lucinda. They are very happy together and live out in the countryside. Rob farms and is a milker he owns some 100 head of cattle. A friend of Lucinda tells her to try and make Rob mad at her. Thes it too prove that he loves her. So one day she jumps into the milk tank and Rob is mad for a little bit but then he jumps in with her and they are happy. They both fight over a quilt at night when they sleep and that is the main reason for the rest set of events. The quilt gets stolen and to make Rob mad is she sells all of his cows to get the quilt back. Rob is defantatly mad now and he leaves her. He moves in with another girl and eventually marries her friend who told her to do all of this stuff. In the end they both realize that all of this was just a scheme by Lucinda’s friend to get Rob away from her. They are finely together and get married and live happily ever after.

It seemed like throughout the whole movie it was just me yelling at the screen waiting for them to get back together. And if they hadn’t in the end I would have not liked it at all, but because they did I didn’t mind this movie at all. It is defiantly a romantic movie.

The last research paper I did on Austrlians in WWII lacks a second journal article. This is because something that I had said in an earlier lecture review is quite true. It is hard to find information on what the Australians did during the war.

Before the influx of Europeans to Australia, the average aboriginal woman had not experienced the oppression that she has since colonization. She shared a relatively equal position of power with men within her clan. Some have argued that her position within the clan was higher than that of males. Women were responsible for not only childbirth and rearing but also food gathering and other domestic responsibilities. These contributions 'made them indispensable to their men folk "(Bell, pg. 46). Over time, the government began issuing rations to the aboriginal settlements and thus delegating women to the role of wife and mother.

As the contacts with aboriginal women and white men increased, the rate of bi-racial children increased as well. There were few white women in the vast emptiness of the outback and because of this, relations between black women and white men increased. These relationships were not always in the best interests of the women. The term "black velvet" was often used by men to indicate sexual relations with aboriginal women. According to Miriam Dixson the "Australian male experiences with Aboriginal women have contributed an early layer to the general low esteem in which women are held in our country" (Dixson, 1999.).

As the number of liaisons between black women and white men grew, white women became increasing hateful toward the black woman. "In frontier and pastoral areas black women frequently worked as prostitutes and concubines, putting sexual labor in tandem with domestic work"(Woollacott,2001.). Discrimination of black women by white women was often perpetrated under the guise of protection but their real intentions were to gain power and control over them. Their consensus was that white women were superior in every moral way to the blacks and thus, aboriginal women needed protection from their immoral culture and instinctual ways. Abuse thrived under such an ideology not only by white men and women but by the government as well.

During the 1920's and 1930's, the concept of eugenics began to evolve. Eugenics was "the science that taught that one of the responsibilities of the contemporary state was to improve a nation's racial stock by breading programs was… extremely influential" (Manne,online). The Australian government thought that it was possible to breed out the aborigine and thus create an entirely white Australia.

The government felt strongly that children of aboriginal and white decent should not be raised within aboriginal society. It was thought that by removing them from their aboriginal mothers, much of their immoral blackness could be removed as well. Although they would clearly not be equal with whites, they could be raised in such a way as to be useful as domestic servants. Many of the children, known as the "stolen generation" were sent to mission schools. One such school, run by Kimberley pastoralists,, was accused of wide spread abuse of Aboriginal girls. In a recent book review, Ros Kidd states that "monks blamed the scarcity of women and children among groups who occasionally visited the mission on the practice of 'promised marriage', particularly to elderly men, which led to illicit dalliances for which women suffered severe punishment. In extending 'loving protection' to women and children, Catholicism would supplant such savagery".

The sexual abuse and exploitation of the stolen girls was rampant. This abuse was often perpetrated by priests or other men that came in contact with the girls. In the report "Bringing them Home" from the Australian Federal Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission a women writes about the abuse that she suffered. "The saddest times were the abuse. Not only the physical abuse, the sexual abuse by the priests over there. They were the saddest because if you were to tell anyone, well, the priests threatened that they would come and get you. Everyone could see what they were doing but we were told to just keep quiet and just everyday you used to get hiding with the stock-whip"(Pattel-Grey,1999). Another girl went on to write about how she was sent to work and subsequently gang raped repeatedly by the farmer and his employee. After returning home, she told the "matron" and was severely punished and was threatened into silence. Instead of protecting her, the nun again sent her to the farm and the abuse continued.

Although the stories of abuse are widely accepted as historical fact, many Australians prefer to acknowledge a much milder view of the abuse of women and young girls. In an editorial comment in the National Observer, Senator Herron submitted that he had originally denied that there even was a generation of stolen children and that in denying this fact he was "insensitive and mean spirited". Many others believe that the government should not proceed with reconciliation efforts due to the difficulty of differentiating full aboriginals from part aboriginals. Still others feel that the atrocities committed against the aboriginal woman could be considered traditional. In 2002, a northern territory judge ruled that "a 15 year old aboriginal girl knew what was expected of her and didn't need protection when a 50 year old man committed statutory rape against the girl and shot a gun into the air when she complained about it…expert testimony submitted by an anthropologist in the case called the man's arrangement with the girl 'traditional' and therefore 'morally correct'" (Shah,2002.) With the continued oppression of these women within the Australian society and legal system the Aboriginal woman faces many future hurdles in their fight for equality.




References:

Bell, Diane. Daughters of the Dreaming. McPhee Gribble, 1983.

Dixson, Miriam. The Real Matilda. University of New South Wales Press. 1999.

Woollacott, Angela, The Meanings of Protection. Indiana University Press, Vol.14 No. 4. 2003.

Kidd, Ros. Mission Girls and Loving Protection. Australian Humanities Review. March, 2002.

Shah, Sonia. Judge Rules Rape of Aboriginal Girl “Traditional”. Women’s E-News. May, 2006.

Pattel-Grey, Anne. The Hard Truth: White Secrets, Black Realities. Australia Feminist Studies, Vol.14, No30, 1999.

Editorial Comment, The Hypocrisy of Aboriginal Claims. National Observer. Winter2000. Issue 45.

Evan Kimball
Professor Isern
History of Australia and New Zealand
May 5, 2006
Aussies in WWII
The Australian presence in the Second World War is a topic that is often ignored in American History classes and possibly those of other countries. I personally had heard almost nothing about it until I took the History of Australia and New Zealand class at North Dakota State University. But Australia did in fact take part in the war, and they also did some fighting that wasn’t necessarily in their best interest.
Even before its colonial days Australia seemed to desire the chance to prove themselves to Britain, their mother country. They seemed to have tried to provoke more British colonial interest in the Far East to make the Empire stronger and also insure their protection from invading nations. Into WWII the Australians had hoped for the build of a large naval fleet in their area. The British never really did build this fleet though. It is possible that they didn’t fear hostile forces on that side of the world and instead focused their sailing on transportation and the trade of goods. In fact, it did seem the Japanese power at the beginning of the war in Pacific caught almost everyone off guard.
When WWII broke out in Europe, Australia was quick to send soldiers to aid in the fighting. Australian troops helped fight the Axis powers in, “Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa.”[1] They were given dangerous assignments and it sometimes felt as if the British were using them as cannon fodder. The Australians fought desperate campaigns at the Suez Canal, Greece, Crete, Syria, Egypt, and Palestine.[2] Battling in these areas was involved with the three part Australian plan for the war which involved acting as, “a granary for countries on the front lines such as the British Isles; they could help drive German and Italian forces from the north coast of Africa; they could help drive the Japanese from conquered territories in the Pacific.”[3]
The Australians also faced a shortage of supplies and the inability to make them for themselves. One thing they had hoped for was to sell agricultural products to other countries, especially Britain and obtain planes and other weapons of war from the British. But the British were simply too busy trying to produce for themselves to fight the German air raids on their own country. The Australians knew that they lacked a ground force capable of fighting off the Japanese and hoped to boost up their naval and air powers.
The Japanese advance through Southeast Asia was moving very rapidly. Many of these nations simply lacked the armed forces to repel such an attack. One reason for this is very simple; many of these countries were not independent. The British, Dutch, and French, among others, all possessed colonies on the coasts of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The nations in control of these Asian lands were either busy fighting the Nazis or had already been conquered by them. The Axis alliance was sort of a double-edged sword for colonial nations in Europe. While the Germans were fighting them in their homelands, the Japanese and Italians were attacking their colonies, forcing them to spread out their troops and separating them from the resources of those lands. The British for example, were fighting to protect their own country while also defending Palestine and the Middle East, and fighting the Japanese in Asia.
Certain events early in the war also had a drastic effect on the Asian warfront, although indirectly. The hasty surrender of France may have protected Paris from being leveled, but it also lead to several negative effects for Australia and the British Empire. German troops in France placed the Axis that much closer to British landfall and also made Europe easier to defend from Allied invasion since they had control of the coastline. French surrender also opened up their colonies to Japanese invasion. So the Axis acquired a quick victory over and ally power that should have a major threat to their plans, and were able to move closer to their next target on both fronts.
The attack on Pearl Harbor was actually quietly celebrated by the British and Australians. The British Empire had been praying for the entry of America into the war. An event like Pearl Harbor was something for which they had been hoping. What they hadn’t expected was the Japanese attacks on other Asian ports at the same time. The Americans were entering into the war, but almost their entire Pacific fleet was at the bottom of the ocean, and the British fleet in the Pacific was on the retreat.
The British still claimed to be working in the best interest of the Australians, but many of the Aussies could see the imminent danger they were in. At the time it was believed, and it was probably true, that the British were more interested in protecting India. India was the pride of the British Empire in Asia and would not be lost lightly, so they claimed that it was important to protect and that Australia was safe when, “Churchill refused to concede that Australia lay exposed to the Japanese”[4]
The Japanese bombings in the Northern Territory and Western Australia proved that they were definitely in danger of invasion. Once problem they knew they faced was that they didn’t have enough troops to defend their country. This wasn’t simply because their armed forces were spread out all over the battlefronts, but because the country itself was too physically large for their population to protect. After the war, this fact would lead to a drive for immigrants to move to Australia. The nation desired to never feel so vulnerable again.
The war was turning on all fronts after the United States joined in. The Middle East proved too difficult for the Axis to hold, along with Northern Africa, and they were forced to return to Europe. The Allies invaded Normandy and opened the door to the reclaiming of Europe. The United States Navy along with Australian troops were turning the tide in Pacific War. Even the Soviets had shown the ability to hold back the Nazi invasion. But as the Soviets were chasing the Nazis, some Australians took it with mixed emotions with, “anxious if not strident voices of alarm and prophecy began to be raised again in Australia about the threat of communism to western civilization.” Even with the war still raging around them, the Australians were looking to the future. At least one Australian feared Asian communism particularly when he told a Donald Horne, “that he expected that China would conquer Southeast Asia by 1957.”[5]
Australians celebrated the end of the war in Europe just like the other Allies, and they were able to do so because the Allied Alliance in the Pacific was also nearing victory. With the end of the war the Australians set forth to fix the deficiencies and dependencies they had had during the war and formed an Alliance with the United States, since they had saved them from the Japanese where the British had failed.

[1] www.awm.gov.au
[2] Clark, 263.
[3] Clark, 270
[4] Day, 211.
[5] Horne




Bibliography
Clark, Manning. A Short History of Australia. Camberwell, Victoria, Australia. Penguin Books Australia Ltd, 1995.
Day, David. The Great Betrayal. Sydney Australia, Angus & Robertson Publishers, 1988.
Horne, Donald. “Australia Looks Around.” Foreign Affairs. Vol. 44 Issue 3 (April 1966): 446-457
Second World War 1939 – 1945, http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/ww2.htm. (accessed May 5, 2006)

" Go to Oz flight of the Kiwi" is an article about how over 480 New Zealanders are leaving their country to go to Australia. The reason that they are leaving is for better lives and better jobs. The reasons that Australia is so attractive to Kiwis is that with there passports they do not need to go though the normal immigration that other people would have to go though. They can work and live in Australia for as long as the like with their passports. If they like it the can apply for citizenship with out having a visa first.

This is starting to cause some concerns because of the threat of terriosm is becoming so high. Many officials are worried that with this open door policy that Australia has with New Zealand that terrorist will get a New Zealand passport and come in to do harm. New Zealand has a very easy passport requirement. Australian government is looking for oppiontions to fix this. They think that there will have to be some changes and more background check of New Zealand passports.

I thought that this was an interesting article because I did not the know that there was so many people leaving New Zealand. I thought that this was a country that was a parasites. In fact I was thinking of spending time there. Well the article did not change my mind it just makes me wonder what is so bad in New Zealand that so many people would leave every week. Is this a country that the population will start to delcline if this keeps up?

I found an article titled Major Methamphetamine Dealer Jailed from the Press Newspaper out of New Zealand. This article told about a major methamphetamine dealer named Rongjun Sui who was caught when police searched his house near Park Terrace in central Christchurch. Sui was caught with 881 grams of methamphetamine as well as cash of $25,650. He received a nine year and four month sentence from Justice Fogarty. Sui did plead guilty, but he had little choice considering the police caught him red handed.
Is methamphetamine a major problem in New Zealand? It is a major problem here in Fargo. The Midwest is thought to be one of the hotspots in entire country of meth users and dealers. A major thing that the police do in this area is informational classes regarding the effects of meth usage. I attended one of these classes that was offered here, at NDSU. I have to say that the police did a good job of presenting this information and warning students. Is this being done in New Zealand? Another thing that the US has done to hinder the manufacturing of meth is to limit and regulate the buying of certain chemicals that are used to make meth. Store clerks are supposed to keep track of who is buying these products and inform the authorities if anything is suspected. Is anything like this being done in New Zealand? From my understanding, the usage of meth has gone down in the area testifying to the efforts of the police in the area.

The book The Bone People was a good book. It was written by Keri Hulme. The story takes place in New Zealand and is about an artist. The artist, Kerewin, lives in a tower with two others, a mute boy named Simon and a man named Joe. Simon had broken into Kerewin’s house and they then became friends, living together. It was a strange book when you think of how they came together and how they interacted with one another. Joe is Simon's adoptive father and thier relationship is a love hate kind, with Joe being abusive to Simon. After a confrontation they all part ways. They all are apart, but realize that they need each other’s company and eventually all come back together. This book was not based on a true story, so there is no historical significance to that aspect of the story, but is does give you an idea of what it is like in a small town in New Zealand. I think this book shows the relationship between the three very well and although it was not one of the best books I have read, it was an alright read and it was able to keep my attention till the end. I would recommend this book because it is a good read.

The book, Coates of Kaipara, written by Michael Bassett is the biography of New Zealand Prime Minister, Gordon Coates. This book talks about this man’s political career along with all the ups and downs, achievements and failures, and his popularity and contempt. Coates was born on the Hukatere Peninsula, Kaipara Harbour. His father suffered from bipolar disorder so he learned the roles of responsibility early on. Near their farm was a large Maori population, where Coates learned the language and culture. Educated by his mother and the local schooling, he found an interest in politics. Coates first became involved at the Otamatea County Council in 1905. He was the Council’s chairman for three years where he learned the system and earned a good reputation. Coates did not see himself relating to the Liberal Party because while growing up on a farm he knew what the hardships were like and the Liberals opposed freehold for farmers. In 1914, Gordon joined Reform where he made friends with politicians with different political beliefs. He worked mainly on improving life in the Far North of New Zealand. In 1925, the Prime Minister at the time, W.F. Massey passed away and Coates became Prime Minister after defeating William Nosworthy in a caucus ballot. The book talks about how he was very charismatic and seen as good at what he does, however he was not always good at maintaining relationships with the public. The cabinet had mostly conservative views but at times Coates seemed to make decisions sometimes opposed by those under him. During the Great Depression, New Zealand’s economy began to deteriorate and the Reform Party began to receive amounts of criticism. Overall this was a good book depicting the life of Gordon Coates. I see him as having the right ideas but not taking the right road to get there. He wanted to help the farmers and the Maori people but his tactics seemed a bit drastic. In the words of Michael Bassett, “Gordon Coates deserves to be seen as the politician who pushed the role of government beyond barriers that his fellow conservatives thought prudent, yet stopped short of what his Labour opponents saw as desirable.”

This movie is about a young girl names Sybilla. She lived in the Australian countryside with her family. When she is young her parents have to send her to her grandmother because they don’t have enough money to support her. She has dreams of becoming a writer and a poet. Her grandmother thinks if she is married it will be good for her. But she wants to discover herself before she becomes married. Later on in the movie she meets Harry, who is a rich station owner, and they both fall deeply in love with each other. He finally asks her to marry him but she once again says she has to find herself first. For two years they are apart and Sybilla is working as a governess for a station to pay off her father’s debt. Harry once again asks to marry her and she declines again on she hasn’t found herself yet. The movie ends with her writing a book about her life and it getting published.

The whole movie wasn’t too bad but the ending wrecked it for my self. So I was a little disappointed about that. She had a good life in front of her and she threw it away because she wanted to find herself and be independent.

I watched the movie Picnic at Hanging Rock. The cover of the DVD made it look very old fashion and I read the summary on the back of the case and it talked about it being suspenseful. I asked Jen if it was scary because I hate scary movies, but she said I’d be fine ;) The movie was about a finishing school for girls, which is located in Australia who go on a field trip to a local landmark- Hanging rock. This adventure of running into poisonous snakes and ants takes place on Valentine’s Day in 1900. When they get there four of the girls begin to search the rock and without explanation they disappear. A teacher goes to search for them and they too unexpectedly disappear. Many search parties are assigned but the girls and the teacher are never found. The mystery begins here as to why the girls disappeared. The focus is more on the reaction to the disappearance. The headmaster’s reputation is jeopardize as many students are withdrawn by their parents. The girls seem affected by the magnetic force of the rock and wonder if that is the reason why they disappear. The movie was a kind that I don’t watch on a regular basis. I really enjoyed this film over all..I liked the suspense. I didn’t like how the ending was left for the viewer for solve I really wanted to know what happened!! This movie is based on a book and I someday I would really like to read it.

The movie The Last Wave was a good movie, although it was kind of hard to follow at certain points. The movie started out in a small town. A man is painting and there are children playing outside when it begins to rain very heavily. The rain soon changes to very large hail and everyone is inside. David is then first seen and he ends up being the main character in the film. He is a lawyer and is doing a case involving the stealing of ancient Aboriginal artifacts and a murder that is linked to the theft. David begins to have dreams about water and drowning. He has trouble trying to defend the five Aboriginal men who are on trial because they refuse to talk to him. At the end of the movie, David is taken to a spot where there are murals painted on the walls depicting what had already happened and what was going to happen. The mural showed a huge tidal wave hitting. David leaves and ends up on the beach where he is met by the wave he had seen in the painting. I felt this was a very good movie. I really liked how they incorporated the Maori culture into the story and how they movie kind of built up to the end with his dreams predicting the ending. The movie really doesn’t tell you what ends up happening with the wave, but I think it is obvious what happens.

"Mmmmm Beer" is an article about Richard Emerson a brewer of beer. Richards story starts off even before he was born on a trip that his parents took Richards mother got sick with rubella and this caused Richard to be deaf. This did not stop Richard it made him more determined than ever to seceeed.

The first time that Richard was introduced to beer making was by his grandpa and his "hoppy home brew." Then Later when he got older he went to school in the UK and found new types of beer that he would like to bring home to New Zealand. With this decide Richard took a year to study beer in Europe. He learned how to make the best beer.

When Richard got done studding beer he came home to start his own business. To get the 100,000 that he need to start his family and friends bought stock in the company. There was 15 people that invested in the bewery. They all say that this is the best investment because they knew that Richard would not give up until it was a huge success.

I first thought this article was about beer making but it was about over coming the odds. I love these type of articles because this gives you hope in the world. I would suggest this article if you want a feel good article.

Harry Bioletti's book, The Yanks are Coming: The American Invasion of New Zealand 1942-1944, tells the story of the clash of two cultures forced together by World War II. Americans arrived in New Zealand to help fight the Japanese in the Pacific during WWII, and Bioletti's work "details the effects of the American presence and the ways in which the visitors were affected" (vii). Certainly, the New Zealanders and Americans both experienced culture shock as a result of American troop deployment to New Zealand. This was in part because neither group really had a realistic conception of the other before the Americans arrived. Upon arrival, the Americans were seen as wealthier, powerful, conversational, and brash, characteristics that helped them win over the hearts of many New Zealand women, married and unmarried. This fact was the major source of conflict for New Zealanders. In fact, several significant skirmishes resulted due to the "simmering resentment felt by the New Zealand servicemen toward their better paid, better dressed American allies" (150). Despite some of the negative clashes, Bioletti provides many essays written by individuals on both sides which speak to the mutual respect and friendship which characterized NZ-U.S. relations. In the end, many New Zealanders were grateful at the security provided by the "invading" troops of the United States. In the end, it appears that the lasting impact of the Americans could be positive or negative. It would all depend on who you ask.

Bioletti's work is valuable as a look into the personal experiences of many individuals, both American and New Zealander, during this time period. Cultural interaction occurred in relationships, radio, dancing, songs, drinking, food, and fighting (sometimes against each other). The author would have been better served to focus more on these everyday interactions. Instead, much time and space is wasted defining military jargon, providing place names, and naming every warship that was stationed near New Zealand. Though the book is dry in these places, it is rich in the personal essays from Americans and New Zealanders who participated and observed this unique period in New Zealand's history, the time of the "American invasion."

It appears that Australia suffers many of the same ills as government in the US does. This news article (National News) states that 200,000 dollars has been diverted from Victoria's roads where it was originally allocated to other recipients. Sometimes that seems to be the only function of government, to take money from one groups pockets and redirect it into another groups pocket. Needless to say, there is a great deal of public outcry, any roadwork done will have to be paid for anyway, and the benefactors of the redirection of finance aren't the ones who expected it. The money has largely been reallocated to projects outside of Victoria, both road and rail projects alike. The general outcry seems to be that residents of Victoria are being punished over a broken promise by some political entity that tolls should not be imposed on roads. Western Australia, Queensland, and NSW are all scheduled to be benefactors of the reallocation of funds.

Transport Minister Warren Truss is refusing to comment, citing that it is innapopriate for him to do so. Politically unpopular with somebody or else another no matter which side he takes, I can readily see why he would choose to say nothing.

The 25 April 1915 is a very detailed and analytical study of the Australians and New Zealanders as they prepared and went off to war. He reinforces the sense of being naïve and eager of battle using the letters and diaries from Egypt. He describes the independence that the Australians exhibited in Egypt, by saluting officers that they liked and following orders as they saw fit. During one exercise, a group of Australians were to be the headquaters, symbolized with a red flag. Their orders were to be in a safe place. So the set up their HQ in the company mess, several miles from the training area. They were given a stern repremaind but the officers saw the irony of the situation and let them off with a warning.

This time of carefree joy lasted on the boats to Gallipoli. The men were eager to fight but the reality of war soon shattered that. Denis Winter than has an aside discussing, were the landings futile? Was ANZAC Cove the right place? In this section he discusses the landing area and the three alternate plans that the army did not use. And finally he discusses the difficulty in reading documentation from the Great War and how many things seem to contrdict one another. Then he returns to the story of the ANZACs.

Thei objective was to capture several ridges, but the attack bogged down on the second ridge, before the third and final Gun ridge. This would be the sceen of battle for the next several months. The letters home now are of dispair and tragedy. The hope and carefree attitude is gone. The New Zealanders seem more crushed than their Australian counterparts.

Denis Winter is known by Australian historians for his works in ANZAC history. I think what is appealing about his book is that it reads like a story. The use of quotations from diggers' letters and diaries really make the book come alive. Instead of a nameless face, there is a human being inside of that uniform.

The book is not in chrnological order by discussed by place and group. For instance there is an introduction to ANZAC Cove then a chapter on soliders and the next on commanders. He makes a distinction among the soldiers. His interjections in the middle of the book also help put a new perspective on the Gallipoli campaign. This book would be great for the casual reader and professional historian alike.

I found myself paging through the New Zealand Herald this morning to see if any new revelations had taken place with alleged piece of paper that cost Telecom a billion dollars. Would you believe that they had another article printed on this story? This one was titled, "Brash calls for select inquiry into broadband leak." National Party leader Don Brash is calling for an inquiry as to how this Cabinet paper got out costing Telecom now, close to $1.8 billion. Apparently, "The Government's decision to force Telecom to open its network to rival companies was to have been part of the May 18 budget." “Dr Brash told his party's Canterbury/Westland Regional Conference in Picton today that the leak "could only have come from one of Helen Clark's inner circle." The response to that was, "And Helen Clark can hardly complain, because it's she who's set the ground rules; it's she who's set the appallingly low standards for this administration." I am starting to wonder if these last few articles about this government leak are not just an attention grabber. It is starting to sound like a comical soap opera, and I almost cannot believe that the articles written for this newspaper are even being printed. In another article that caught my eye this morning apparently they are having banking issues as well. The article, "Man Charged $12m for bank card" outlined how a man who saw an ad for a personalized bank card for $9.95 ended up paying much more than that. I am assuming that when the man tried making another small purchase they told him he was over his limit leading him to call the bank to find that he was charged $12.18 million for a $9.95 personalized bank card. How do you not read this stuff and laugh? I know that America is notorious for things like this, but New Zealand. I don’t see New Zealand as a nation that is capable of this type of behavior, but I have been proven wrong before.

The movie UTU is about the Maori wars with the English. The movie’s main character is a Maori man who was a British scout. While he is away helping the British, his village is attacked by other British forces and everyone is killed. When he returns to his village he finds everyone dead and becomes very angry. He kills the British soldier that is with him and decides to get revenge against the British. He has his face tattooed with a tribal pattern and it is a type of ritual scaring I think. He begins to get his revenge by killing a pastor in front of his own congregation. He beheads the pastor in front of everyone. He then continues to take revenge on the British. He raids a house and kills a woman. The woman’s husband then seeks revenge against him and begins to try to track him down. He is also be followed by other British as well. He is eventually caught and is put on trial. They find him guilty and he is executed. The movie UTU was a pretty good movie. I think it was one of the better movies I saw for this class and I really liked how it showed some of the history, both of the Maori with the facial tattooing and the British. It did a nice job of showing what life would have been like at the time and although it didn’t have the best acting it was still a very good movie.

I looked at the New Zealand Herald. This paper is somewhere between the pictured filled Australian papers and the more sedate Christchurch paper. The Herald has quite a few pictures and a little bit of American pop-culture included in it, but this paper gives you the impression that its really all about New Zealand. I think that the differences between the OZ and NZ newspapers says something about their countries. Australians are still looking outward for a definition of themselves while New Zealanders have started to define themselves a people by their own standards.

One article that I looked at was about how a Wellington bank charged a man $12 million for a bankcard. Adrian Rumney ordered a personalized bankcard from National Bank which should have cost him $9.95 but obviously a mistake was made. It took a few days for the situation to be resolved, but eventually the charges were taken off of Mr. Rumney's card. A spokesman for the bank said that new procedures are being implimented to make sure that this never happens again.

Another article is about a British scientist who is planning of sueing a NZ lab. Dr. Jeannette Adu-Bobie and her family claim that she was infected with meningococcal disease which resulted in her losing both legs, one arm, and several fingers on her remaining hand. Dr. Adu-Bobie was working with a strain of meningococcal disease when she was infected with it. The strain the doctor was working with and the strain that infected her have been found to be indistinguishable from each other.

"Return to Snowy River" is a movie that is a squeal to the movie "Man of Snow River." The first movie is based on the poem by Banjo Paterson. This movie is about how a mountain man returns to his home to claim the women he loves and the right of his people. The man is Jim Craig he is what Manning Clark would call a currency boy. His lines are from the convict stock.

Jim comes home to his mountain home after he makes his mark by putting to together a herd of the best breeding horses that he can get. When He gets home what he is find is that the woman that he love (Jessica Harris) is being courted by an English Bankers son that is part of mount guard of the area. Jessica dose not love the bankers son and decides not to continue with this relationship. This up sets her father on of the wealthiest cattle men in the district. He wants Jessica to marry the bankers son so that it will further his relation and business deal with banker. Jessica and her father fight and she runs away. In fact she runs away to Jim and his mountain home. She begins to help Jim with the horse breeding business. They get a cataract with the government for the horse. This dose not set well with the bankers son for two reasons. The first is that Jessica rejected him and the second is that Jim got the horse contract that his family had gotten for years.

This is were the trouble begins. The bankers son goes up to steal Jim's horses to get revenge on Jim. This gets on of the young me killed and a Jim's best mate seriously injured. The whole district come together to get back the horses an put a stop to the bankers son. Jim and everyone dose this. In the end Jim and Jessica have the horses back and the blessing of Jessica's father.

I think that this is an Australian movie because talks about the currency boys and how they get the best of the British and the wealthy squatters. It also looks at mateship and how it works. Where you mate will help you no matter what but they are not neccaerly you friend.

I read the newpaper review on The Age. I hope that both drivers that hurt the little girl were punished severly. I have a little boy and God help anyone who hurts him purposely or accidentaly. What are the punishments and procedures for dealing with negligent vehicle accidents that result in injury or death to innocent bystanders? I hope articles like that one help to deter drunk drivers and idiot drivers because it only takes one mistake for one second to drasically change someone's life.

Muriel's Wedding is about a girl in her early twenties whose father pays everyone off so his family will succeed. Muriel steals some money from her father and sets out on her own to prove she isn't worthless after all. She meets a wonderful friend Rhonda and they decide to stay away from Porpoise Spit forever. Rhonda suddenly gets spinal cancer and Muriel decides to cope by going into bridal shops, trying on dresses and getting her picture taken. She applies to marry a man so he can live in Australia and compete in the Games. Even though the marriage is a sham, she thinks she is getting back at all of those back home who thought she would never amount to anything. She realizes this isn't who she wants to be, makes amends and decides to quit lying all the time.
There are a lot of concepts in this movie that we discussed in class: That marriage equals success for a woman, working class Joe's watch cricket, the women are supposed to listen to their husbands, and they drink a lot of tea.
The movie itself is very enjoyable and out of all the movies I've watched it was the only comedy, it was very nice change in pace.

The Dig Tree was about the famous Australian explorers Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills. They were to lead an expedition north to map the Australian interior.
This expedition was doomed from the start Burke was chosen to lead it but he had no experience, and his lack of experience would affect the group greatly.
They started out with: 26 camels, 23 horses, 19 men, 6 wagons, and so much equipment; most of which they didn't need.
They could have shipped most of the equipment on ahead and saved the precious animals but Burke chose not to.
People kept coming and going from the expedition so it was hard to establish a group unity.
He meets Wright, a sheep station manager, and Wright gives him advice: leave the Menindee as soon as possible, and keep the group together so they all arrive when the watering holes are full. Burke took the first piece of advice but ignored the second.
Then Burke split the party and left Wright to come up to Cooper's Creek at a later time, but without sending back help Wrights group never makes it.
Then he split the group again and he leaves behind the only camel handler.
Gray, King, Wills, and Burke make it to within 20 kilometers of the northern most part of Australia but are forced to turn back, Gray dies and when they return to the big coolibah tree where they left Brahe, he had left earlier that morning.
They dig up the supplies and leave a note of their own but don't change the carving so it looks like no one was there.
Burke and Wills die and King goes to live with the Aborigines he is the only survivor of that group of four and many others that were in the other two groups also die.
This expedition marks Australian's most famous one and without Wills it would not have happened, but Burke's rash uneducated decisions is what caused the downfall in the end.
This book states plainly about how harsh the Australian climate can be, which we learned about in class. Also I think we should have done a little more on Burke and Wills in class because they are such interesting gentlemen.
The pictures were really beautiful and very interesting.

In Gallipoli it is about two young men by the names of Frank and Archie. They are from Western Australia. They become friends. Frank and achy have one thing in common before they meet; they are both one of the fastest runners in Australia. After a while Archie wants to enlist in the light horse Calvary unit to gain glory, and Frank is not too enthused about it. He finally does it and they both meet in Egypt where they have their training before deploying to the beaches of Gallipoli. They are both now in the light Calvary division and are ready to fight. You realize how horrible trench warfare is towards the end of the movie where most of the battle scenes happen. After the battle Frank loses his friend Archie when they were told to attack the Turks, almost everyone was mowed down by machine guns. The movie does a good job showing how overwhelming and confusing war is. Also it shows how someone who is your best friend can be lost in an instant during a war, and I think that happened to a lot of young men.

I liked this movie because I am a fan of war movies. But I don’t believe the movie was too historically accurate but war movies are rarely accurate. I recommend this movie as a good one.

The First article that I read was called "Breasts of Champions." This is an article about a sports bra designer that creates protective bras for Olympic women. These bras are very popular 95% fencer and women in fighting arts. This bras were created by Max Rutherford at the age of 65. He is from New Zealand. It is his hope that he can go Athens to see his bras at work. He also plans to get the women's opinions on how comfortable the bras are and how to improve them. Before doing bras Rutherford was a mechanical engineering for motorcycles. All though this the bras are more for him. Rutherford states this is more particle because the breast is very tender and needs special care. There is also not many companies that take a particle comfortable for women. He makes the bras in New Plymouth plant and his company dose all of the distribution from there as well. Rutherford say that his biggest market place is the inter net and word of mouth.

I found this article funny in the fact that you think of men from New Zealand a manly men that do manly things. This article really took that away from me. Lets face it bras are not that manly or at lest they should not be. It is also neat that a man takes a women's needs seriously. Many men that work in this field are more concerned with the look not the comfort.

I read the newspaper called The Age on May 6 and found a few articles very interesting. The first one that caught my eye was about a little girl that was struck by a car yesterday when she was being pushed in her stroller across a crosswalk. She was hit by an 80 year old man and went flying. She is unconscious and very sedated. They expect her to be on life support for at least three weeks. The thing that is unbelievable about this story is that in 2003 a car crashed into her daycare center and she was trapped underneath the burning car. She lost both her feet and some fingers and 85% of her body was burned. I cannot believe the trauma and bad luck such a young child could go through. The reason I was drawn to this article is because I have a passion for children. Most of my jobs have been with children and I hope to be a school speech pathologist someday. I feel this has do with the study of Australia and New Zealand because it shows the care and support the people have for their country. I think they maybe shouldn’t allow their elders to drive after a certain point. I feel that this accident could have been prevented.
The other article that caught my eye was about a town that we have studied in this class- Alice Springs. The town camps that are known for their domestic violence, high crime rates, and poverty will undergo a $30 million facelift. With this facelift they plan to decrease all of these conditions. I chose this article because it shows how the country wants to turn the horrible into a benefit.

The movie Gallipoli was a good movie, it was interesting to watch and had a good story line. It was also interesting to see australian fatalism at work. I just want to compare this film to an american war movie such as saving private ryan, or some other movie like that. in saving private ryan a family has lost three of its four sons in World War II and the movie follows the band of troops sent to save the last son and send him home and they do but a good number of them die but even at the end of the movie after alot of soldiers die they find private ryan and send him home leaving the watcher with a feeling of victory. With Gallipoli it is not how you feel after the movie you feel defeated and that all of that lose of life was for no reason. The movie starts out with the two main characters being runners both having opposeing views on the war, one wants to join the other doesn't, then they race against eachother and become friends. The one that wants to go to war talks the one that doesn't into joining with him. They are seperated for a time but after a few minutes of film they are transfered to the same unit. Then they get shipped to Gallipoli in southern Turkey where the fighting begins in ernest. Then at the end of the movie there is a great charge out of the trenches from the australians toward the turkish lines and the film gives the impressions that they barely make it ten feet before they are shot down. In this great and final charge of the movie one of the main characters dies but the other lives it is quite sad actually.

Rabbit Proof Fence was directed by Phillip Noyce and starred Tianna Sansbury and Evelyn Sampi. The movie is about two sisters that escape a training camp for half-breed children. There use to be a law in Australia that all half-aboriginie, half-white children would be taken to camps to learn to assimilate into white society. They would be taught English and european customs only, and that it is only acceptable to breed with whites in order to get rid of most of their aboriginal blood over generations.
The girls try to make it back to their homes and families by following a rabbit proof fence that they recognize. The fence runs over a thousand miles thgrough rough terrain, especially for two little girls. The best acting performance in the film was done by Kenneth Branagh who played Mr. Neville. Neville ran the training camp, and he was sure that what he was doing was in the best interest of the children and for the greater good of Australia. I recognized the actor from Mary Shelly's Frankenstein which he played Dr. Frankenstein. He encompasses a very strong pressence. He reminds me of more of a stage actor due to his sometimes over dramatic acting, but it is consistent with his serious look and the character's personality.
The movie definitely shows racism at a level that can make you sick, but it also depicts whites as stupid, lazy, and ignorant. Even if the times were misconstrued with ignorant ideas does not mean that every white settler agreed with it or is natually evil and narrow-minded. It did show the Aboriginal culture in good detail, and the cinematography was just as good as Whale Rider regarding backdrops and camera angles that helped to enhance the mood of the scenes. The movie did drag at times, but it was overall a good movie.

This movie tells the true story of Ned Kelly, the Australian outlaw. He is a legendary Bush Ranger. In the beginning of the movie he is convicted of stealing a horse and some other crimes later on. Kelly rides out on his own and begins to rob people. The Aussie government declares Kelly an outlaw. Kelly reminds me of an American outlaw Jesse James. His gang kills anyone who gets in their way. Kelly believed that the police force was corrupt and for the most part he was right. He went against what they were trying to do. So he is kind of a liberated outlaw once again like Jesse James. He is finally killed in a showdown.

This movie was interesting because it reflected a similar out law that us Americans are fascinated with. We made Jesse James to be kind of a hero when he was robbing banks that the rail road companies had money in. It is kind of weird with most of these movies I have been watching that you can relate them to American history and culture in some way.

Burt Monroe is a New Zealander who ends up breaking the world land speed record. He was a retired Vet of WWII. He had owned an Indian motorcycle, but wanted it faster. If I am correct I believe Indian is an American made motorcycle. Burt sets out to make his Indian faster by making modifications and using scraps. After he makes the modifications he takes his bike to the salt flats to test how fast it goes. Some people thought it was too dangerous for Burt to ride because it was a bike built from scraps essentially. But he does anyways and ends up breaking the 200 mile speed limit, making him the world’s fastest man on an Indian.

I liked this movie a lot, because I am sort of a motorcycle my self. It was interesting to see what kind of modifications he made to his Indian. Actually it would be sweet one day to own an Indian, which has a lot of history in American’s eyes.

This book looks at the removal or kidnapping of half -cast children in Australia. These are child that are half white and half Maradujara. This book starts when the white people start coming to the northwest part of Australia and the things that they did to the local population. They started out with the whaling ships that would come to the cost and the kill the men and take the women rape the women and then kill them as well. Then it move on to the first settlement of white people this was a military out post. This out post was to help the white people settle into this world. The military post also had another purpose to protect the native population from the white people and helped them become part of the new changes that where taking place. What this did was make the native population depended to the whites.

Later in the book it talks about how many of the native population moved to the sheep and cattle station. What the white people found out about the natives is that they make some of the best hands to take care of the livestock. They know the land well and how to live on it. They also make great house help that can double duty. This is where the half-cast starts many of the stock men and the station bosses did not have wives and women were hard to find. This would mean that these men would take wives form the native population. This would of course lead to children. These children were not accepted by either society. This was noticed by the government. The solution that was devised was to take these half bread children and take them to boarding schools or to adopted them out to white families so they could survive in the white world.

This is where the story really starts. There are Three girls that are half breeds, their names is Gracie, Molly and Daisy. The local government agent begins to notice that these girls are there and that they are not fitting in. So he sends a telegram about the girls to the Moore River Native Settlement. When they get there they are treated like they are in prison. The treatment was bad and they would not be allowed to talk to their families or have anything that is part of their old life. After the bad treatment and the life of being locked up the girls decided to run away. This is a long journey that can be very dangerous. The girls first big challenge is making fire and cooking food. There is also finding water. Somehow they found there way home by following the rabbit proof fence. This is a fence that runs north and south designed to keep rabbits out of good grazing land.

The book is written by the oldest daughter of Molly so there is a lot of family history it is very well written. I find it very odd that this practice of removing these children from their families until the 1970's. This almost a hundred years longer then the United States did this type of things with the Native Americans. I hope that the families that had did this done to them got some type of apology form the Australian government. It also seems that the Australian government is not trying to hide their mistake which is a good thing. That is a good step to healing wounds.

I looked at the The Press out of Christchurch. What stuck me intitially when I looked at this paper was that it looked a lot different from the other newspapers I've reviewed. It didn't have many pictures, it wasn't full of American pop-culture, and these two things made it seem more credible to me. I also thought that it was a lot more regionally and nationally focused than the Sydney and Melbourne papers.

An issue that was talked about a lot in The Press was about the Telecom company. This is a huge company in NZ. Apparently there was a leak in a Telecom office which caused some commercially sensitive information to be leaked. This past week Telecom's profits have been dropping drastically. Other smaller NZ companies are celebrating Telecom's downfall becasue now these smaller companies can get a toehold in the market. The NZ government has also become heavily involved in this.

Another article I found interesting was one about the lack of elderly housing on the South Island. This problem is worst in the Nelson and Marlborough areas. Most elderly people want a small and low matinence place to live, but a lot of elderly people are keeping their family homes. This is going to become an increasing problem in NZ because the 65+ age group is projected to grow from 12% to 25% of the population in the next 25 years.

The film Gallipoli begins in the state of Western Australia. Our two primary characters are Archy Hamilton and Frank Dunne. They both have a passion for running and other athletic pursuits. Archy's Uncle Jack has high hopes for him, but when war breaks out Archy decides to join the army in the light horse. At first Frank has doubts in joining the army, but he too joins up with the infantry with several of his mates. Frank and his mates are shipped to Egypt for training and Frank happens to meet Archy again. The ANZACs amuse themselves with games and the city of Cairo until they have orders to ship out.

ANZAC Cove is the final scene in the film, but the focus is not placed on the guns and explosions. The Australians remain the focal point of the story, as Frank and Archy huddle in a trench. Frank is made a dispatch runner and Archy remains with the rest of the group. Archy is to be part of an attack, but it goes horribly wrong. The colonel orders the first of three waves to go over the top. The major wan to halt the attack due to the precise Turkish fire. Frank arrives to headquarters with a dispatch, but the colonel refuses to call off the attack. Frank rushes to the general to call off the attack, but it is too late. The final wave goes over the top with Archy.

This film is great because the focus is not the war but the relationships formed by the men. The men are seen as naïve and eager for war, which is true. The romantic notion of war is what these men believe in, but the reality of it is that war is hellish. The bonds of friendship know no bounds, but they are futile in the hands of other men. Frank tries to do everything in his power to save his mate, but he fails. Gallipoli, the film and the battle, is about futility and mateship. War is still a very romantic notion in the hearts of many Americans but not for Australians or New Zealanders.

A Town like Alice is a novel written by Nevil Shute of which a movie was later made in 1954. The story is about an British woman named Jean who was taken captive during WWII. She eventually meets man named Joe (who is from Australia), and they begin to form a very close relationship. At one point, she ends up thinking that Joe is killed. After the war, she comes into some money (inheritance $) and goes on with her life until she finds out that Joe could still be alive. She decides to go looking for Joe in Australia. Meanwhile Joe is indeed alive and goes looking for her in England. Eventually the two cross pathes again, get together again, and basically live happily ever after.

While I did see the movie before I read the book, I think that I enjoyed the book more (as people usually do). It seemed more in-depth and helped me understand this period of WWII that I really have no idea about. The romance between Joe and Jean was really very interesting, especially when they were prisoners. At first I found myself worried that Joe might have died (when I watched the movie), but after reading further I kind of liked how they go searching for each other. I liked how they didn't give up on each other and how it all ended well (I hate depressing endings).

Overall, this book is fairly dated but still fun to read. It gives you a view of what Australians thought back in the 50's during the war. I would rate it 7 or 8 out of 10.

I think Whale Rider was a pretty good movie. It is about a Maori girl from New Zealand named Paieka. The movie is based on her relationship with her grandpa. Her grandpa, Koro, is the oldest of thier village and is seen as a leader. I think the movie does a good job of showing the Maori culture, which is traditionally male dominated. Paieka, was a twin, but at birth, her mother and twin brother both died. Her grandpa was upset with this because her twin brother would have been the new leader of the village. Her grandpa was mad that she was a girl, but she wins over her grandpa during the movie. The grandpa is responsible for finding a new leader for the village and Paieka wants a chance, but because of tradition, is told she can't. She participates anyway and proves to her grandpa that she should be the new leader. I especially liked the scene when Paieka rides a whale out to sea. I think the movie does a good job of showing the Maori culture and I liked how tradition was important, but was compromised. Overall I feel this was a good movie. I think the movie did a nice job of showing the Maori culture and I feel it had a good plot to it. I think Whale Rider was a good film and was glad I saw it.

Gray Escapes Deportation

This article concerns a man who is described in two ways that seem to be exclusive of each other, it makes me wonder how well researched (or well written) the story is. the individual, described as both a "Christchurch businessman" and a penniless drifter (perhaps at different times in his life?) had entered multi million dollar transactions in Canada. His situation may be somewhat explained by delusionary behavior, which may be the issue that saves him from deportation to stand trial there. He is also accused of having issued a bad check in Colorado for tens of thousands of dollars for a fifth wheel trailer.

The man's negotiations in Canada obligated him to purchase a couple of hundred million dollars worth of oil companies, restaurants, and hotels... I am not sure what nation's currency that would be in, though... Canada's or New Zealand's. Either way, a lot of money.

Is it possible that people with mental issues cannot be held liable in NZ? A specific explanation is not offered by the article; it only states that Calgary will not be receiving Mr. Gray as a result of a deportation... yet.

This article taken from the New Zealand Herald (online). This is from the upcoming Sunday issue, is apparently printed somewhat in advance of the date in our time zone.

It concerns a British female scientist working in a lab contracting meningococcal disease... I assume that is meningitis, apparently from working in a lab with samples of it. She had amputations that included, fingers, both legs, and an arm... so this is disastrous and her life is pretty well ruined. It may be debated whether it was due to her own negligence whether or not save procedures were followed... but the point that I found interesting here is that she is suing (for a relatively small amount, not the multiples of millions that you would expect if this were in our country) for damages.

I had been left with the impression from our classes that this was not done in New Zealand due to differences in the legal structure. Apparently it is more complex than I had first understood.

The amount seems inadequate compensation for her suffering, though... perhaps that is a part of the difference. She is only asking $331,000 NZ...which will not even begin to cover her lost quality of life.

All in all, a very tragic story.

The movie Quigley Down Under is basically a Western filmed in Australia that features stars such as Tom Selleck, Alan Rickman, and other familiars. Quigley (Selleck) is an American that an Australian man hires to kill Aborigines. When Quigley refuses to do this deed, well you guessed it...trouble breaks loose. Quigley is beaten up and left for dead in the hot Australian desert (once again an excuse to show off the scenery). As Quigley and his friend Cora go through the story, they begin to form a sort of mateship (is that the right word in this case?). Cora's past was pretty interesting and part of her coping with it was what I thought made the movie somwhat emotional.

Tom Selleck did as good a job acting in this movie as he probably ever will. One actor that I thought was kind of funny was the 'Crazy Cora' lady that Quigley meets in Australia. She is kind of disillusioned in that she thinks that he is her long lost husband that has come to finally claim her. She then commences to follow him for the majority of the movie.

One thing I do like is a good "western" (whether Australian or American). It had beautiful scenery, as Australian movies always seem to manage. Westerns don't even have lots of violence, but it does have to retain those good old-fashioned American values that I love, where the hero always does good. Gun fights however, will always be a close second: I just loved when the showdown at the end (and as I've said before: revenge/justice is a good basis for plot in my book).

While I don't know enough about Australia to know if this sort of thing took place exactly like it did in the movie, it does seem pretty possible judging from all the other movies about Aboriginal prejudice and racism that I've seen. Overall, this was one of my more favorite movies I've watched this year. 9/10.

Picnic at Hanging Rock is about a boarding school for young girls named Appleyard College. It is a very strict school and the girls are suppresses on all levels. On Valentines Day they get a field trip to Hanging Rock, which is supposed to be associated with a volcano. It is almost a mythical and wonderful place. With a lot of mystery shrouded around it. Anyways the story continues where four girls wonder off into Hanging Rock and three mysteriously vanish. The teacher goes to look for them and ends up misses herself. The rest of the movie is spent trying to find these girls and the teacher. Many questions arise on their disappearance, Was it kidnapping, did they get lost, did they fall in a hole? Throughout the rest of the movie there is the teeter-totter between foul play and accident. One of the girls was found but had no recollection of the incident. Also the teacher was found dead.

This is defiantly a suspense film, and they do a good job of it, I got sucked in immediately. It is not too bad of a movie, but the one thing I actually liked is that the viewer can really make up his or her mind on what happened to the girls. Because it ends with out any real answer to what happened to the girls.

This film is a remake of an American Western with an Australian twist added to it. The basic story is that Matthew Quigley is lured to Australia to work for a cattle baron (perhaps a squatter?) under the premises that he is being hired to shoot predatory animals. In reality, he is hired to eliminate the aboriginal natives to the area. This doesn't go over well, and results in Quigley being set up to be killed, but the tables are slowly turned on the cattle baron during the course of events that unfold. Quigley collects a female lead in the form of Crazy Cora, and is helped on his way by the aborigines that he was brought in to assassinate. The action portion of the film ends with the cattle baron's house servant, an aborigine, returning to the bush in a symbolic gesture toward multiculturalism. One is lead to believe that the end of the film marks the beginning of romance for Cora and Quigley... at least I was left hoping so, but nothing is for sure in the mind of that woman... she was more than a bit odd.

Nods toward the portrayal of the similarities between the old west and the outback, the plight of the American Indian and the aboriginal Australians, and the similarities of the harsh, dry outback and what was once termed the "Great American Desert". I thought the film did a decent portrayal of the sad state of race relations in Australia, the landscape, and the very real issues of whites dominating and taking control of the land. The ranching perspective was realistic, though I might have chosen sheep if I had produced the film. The notion of an individual controlling huge tracts of land also accurately portrayed the situation of the day.

If one chooses to see it as such, this film is an American Western... but I do think that it does a remarkable job of portraying the similarities between the two vast lands and how they were wrested from the inhabitants, the isolation of being so far from civilization, and the ever present dangers of living in that isolation.

And besides that, the film has Tom Selleck in it, which makes it pretty good film in my book.

Once Were Warriors is a book written by Alan Duff in 1994 from which a movie was made. The book is a brutal story of a New Zealander family that lived in the slums of New Zealand, called Pine Block. The story follows the story of a family that goes through all the worst kinds of family struggles (rape, gangs, abuse, and many other things). The sad thing is that the kids all fall into different forms of trouble and by the end of the movie only three of them are still alive. This book does end somewhat happily, as the mother eventually gets rid of her abusive husband and moves on to help other kids in the slums remember their warrior history (hence the title: Once Were Warriors).

This book was not a quick read by any means, simply because I really don't like reading about abuse (& don't really care for movies like this either). The book is well done in that it examines everything that is going on with the entire family and even lets the reader get inside their heads and the emotions they are feeling.

Overall, I liked the insight that this book gave me more than the movie (Once Were Warriors). After seeing both, it would be interesting to talk with the author (Alan Duff) about his childhood in New Zealand and what he thinks New Zealanders should remember about their Maori warrior history (this is the theme of the book & movie). While hard to read/enjoy at times, this book was good in that it gave readers a view of what life is like for some people and what an abusive relationship does to people. I suppose I would give it a 9/10.

In the Movie Whale Rider there is a girl and her name is Paieka. She lives in a Maori tribe, which is a male dominated society. Koro her grandfather, is the eldest of the tribe. He is getting old and it is time to pick a new leader for the tribe. Traditionally it has always been a male to ride the whales back and perform the tests to become leader. Earlier on Piakea’s twin brother died at birth, and he was going to be the heir to the leader of this tribe. So during the movie Paieke is not very liked by her grandfather. When the training and testing begin Paieke is better than all of the boys, but Koro will have nothing to do with it. Koro is confused asks the gods for help and the next day many whales are beached on the shore. Paieke saves them all by riding the biggest on e out to sea so the other whales will follow. Koro now realizes that she is supposed to be the next leader of the tribe.

This is not a bad movie; it has beautiful shots of New Zealand. It makes me want to live there. Anyways I like how this movie shows someone going against the norm in society. You can relate that to any American movie and realize that the Maori people are not that different from us, if they encounter the same social and gender norms we faced.

The movie the Piano was a decent movie. It was a story about a woman named Ada who is a Scottish widow. She is mute, and stopped talking at the age of six. Her father pushes her into a forced marriage with a man named Stewart. Stewart is from New Zealand and Ada moves in with him. Stewart refuses to bring Ada’s piano with them, and it ends up that he sells it to his neighbor, a man named Baines. The neighbor allows Ada to play at his house and a relationship forms between the two. When Stewart finds out about this, he is mad and ends up cutting off one of Ada’s fingers. Ada ends up going with Baines and as they are crossing the sea, Ada decides she wants to have the piano dumped over the side into the water. The piano is dumped and Ada gets caught in the rope tied to the piano. She is pulled under and once underwater she untangles herself and is saved. After this, the movie basically ends with Ada teaching piano lessons. She appears to be happy, and has a new fake finger. Overall, this movie was kind of weird, but I thought it was alright. I watched it with my girlfriend and she seemed to like it more than I did. Overall, I think it did an alright job of showing what life in New Zealand is like.

I really didn’t like this movie all that much. The movie is about a shool having a field trip to Hanging Rock Volcano. The head mistress is there telling the girls about the dangers associated with hanging rock. Soon four girls climb the rock and then disappear. One of the four is found later on in the movie, but she does not know what happened. The movie is kind of boring in that the whole time they are wondering what happened to the other three girls. One of the women working at the school tries to look for the girls, but goes missing as well. She is seen running around in her underwear before going missing. The rest of the movie revolves around the search for the girls. The one girl was found, but the other girls are never found. Also, the head mistress of the school dies without explanation. The movie really doesn’t tell you all the much of what happened, it just leaves you wondering how they died and what happened to the other girls. Also, this all takes place on Valentines Day. I thought this movie was just kind of strange. After the somewhat exciting part, they began to look for the girls and I expected that at the end they would find them and the entire thing would be explained, but the movie just doesn’t really tell you much. The movie does show some of landscape on of Hanging Rock, which is found in Australia. Other than that, this movie is kind of pointless, the movie just leaves you with questions as to what happened and kind of annoys you by not answering them. Overall, I did not like this movie very much. I do feel that it would be a much better movie if they had just showed what happened to the girls at the end.

Did anyone hear anything more about the kids who got stuck in a gold mine in Australia? I heard a blurb on FOX NEWS but they did not give a lot if information on it.

I just recently pulled this off my shelf and watched it for the first time in about a year. This is a move about a woman in her early twenties that is faced with low self esteem and slightly over weight. To discover who she is, she takes off on a vacation that is paid for buy steeling from her parents in the thounds of Australian dollars. There she meets up with the high school a list crowd and trays to fit in. Here she discovers that she could that she can't fit in because they have the same low self esteem. Also they are cold and back stabbing. Toward the end of the trip she runs into another person from her high school. They start to hang out together. After the trip they move in together and start new jobs that are minium wage. They start a life of parting and sex.

Back at home things are not going great for Murial's family. Her father is being investigated for stealing funds from the government for the funds that Muriel stole. This puts a lot stress on her parents so much so that her dad starts to have an affair and her mother begins to shoplifting at a store like wal-mart. Things continue to get worse when Murials's friend gets cancer of the spinal cord and can't walk any more. While in her friend is in the hospital Muriel starts to got wedding shops and trying on wedding dress. She tells the clerks that she needs a photo of how she looks in them because her mother is sick. As this goes on Muriel sees an add in the local paper that is looking for wife for a South African Olympic swimmer so he can become an Australian citizen. Muriel agrees to the wedding.

The weeding takes place and it is one of tackiest things that I have ever seen. The is the beginning of the end of the movie. At the wedding every one ignores Murial's mother and this sends her over the edge. Her mother burns down the backyard and kills herself. At the funeral Muriel realizes all that she has lost and makes amends for the past. This is where she finds her self confince.

This movie is very deranged. It makes you wonder if the Ozzys have every heard of prozac. Well this was a fun movie that will keep you guessing on what strange thing will happen next.

Once Were Warriors was directed by Lee Tamahori in 1994 and features actor Cliff Curtis that I remembered from the awesome movie, Whale Rider. The story is set in Aukland, New Zealand and follows the story of Jake Heke and his family. At first, I figured that this would a normal movie, until I got into it and saw how Jake's drinking takes over him, how he beats his wife, and how it affects his family. Beth's wife is in conflict over whether of not to leave him. Jake's children all have unique problems of their own (getting in trouble with the law, street gangs, ect).

It is difficult to enjoy this movie and would be a tough film to watch more than once, though I would reccommend that people see it just to better understand not only something that is a problem in NZ, but also a problem in America (abuse). I also read the book Once Were Warriors, so it was interesting to me to see how the two tied in to one another (similarities, things they left out).

The acting in this film was well-done. Cliff Curtis did as good of a job as he did in Whale Rider, which coincidentally is also filmed in New Zealand and deals with a messed up family. It makes me wonder whether this is a New Zealand problem of family disfunction or if it is big in Austrlia as well.

It was interesting to see how Jake affected his entire family and not just his wife, however I really didn't need to watch a movie to know this. Overall, I guess I would give it a 7 or 8/10 just because it's not one of those movies that you'd own and watch again and again. It is worth viewing once though.

Old Melbourne Gaol

The name of the structure that is called the old Melbourne gaol suggests that this is the original place for such an activity, such may not the case. This gaol reputedly dates back to 1841, and fell into disuse as early as 1929. This buildings turn at infamy has arrived and left, no longer a public gaol since 1929. Some other entity now holds the title. It is operated as a tourist attraction by the National Trust of Australia... which is not to say that it is run by a bank in the sense that we might use that term here. The National Trust of Australia is organized to preserve sites of Australian heritage.

It is a famous structure for several reasons. Australians are proud of their history, and this building served to disempower some of the roughest and the toughest of the lot during a time that will probably be remembered as the frontier days of Australia. Today, tours are given there, even night time ones specifically designed to enhance the overall creepiness of the place.

The most famous resident was probably Ned Kelly, a bushranger executed in 1880, despite public sympathy for his situation that continues even today. Death was by hanging. More than 130 others met the same fate here, usually done on the lowest landing of the staircase in the full view of the rest of the gaol's inmates. The landing was designed with a trap door in the floor for this purpose, in a particularly visible place. There can be very little doubt that intimidating the rest of the prisoners must have been the penultimate goal of each execution.

Oddly enough, the gaol kept quite a collection of curios, as if some person in authority must have had a fascination with the macabre. For instance, not only was Ned Kelly's face made into a "death mask" for the purported use in phrenology (studying the bumps on the head, a near forgotten pseudo science), but his corpse was also decapitated and the head removed. Ned's suit of armor has been acquired and placed on display at the old gaol, too.

The actual building itself is a three story structure, long and narrow and open through the center between floors. Individual cells line the lengthy walls, stacked on all three levels. The overview of the hanging level reminded me of the arrangement of the rooms of the famous bar and brothel in Tombstone, Arizona known as the Birdcage Theater. No doubt the patrons of the small rooms overlooking the stage in the brothel were better entertained for the short while that they were clients of the establishment they enjoyed. Both places were in use at the same time... I point this out because I thought the similarity of arrangement for viewing "the show" makes it hard for me to imagine that the location of the gallows could have been coincidental. I think it was placed there intentionally to intimidate the prisoners as much as might be humanly possible.

Not surprisingly, the building has acquired some considerable reputation for being haunted, and is a favorite amongst ghost chasers. Several paranormal occurrences have been reported there... I will add a link or two for those that might want to check out what is available on the subject, but I am not going to go into it because I don't feel the details of the individual reports are relevant to history. The fact that it has acquired such a reputation and the fact that there are reports of sightings are about all I am comfortable stating. These things are readily verifiable.
This is a historic place of interest, but like many such places it has become something of a tourist trap. This is both good and bad, these places sometimes sacrifice a bit of historical accuracy to make themselvessalableleable in a competitive entertainment world... but also results in the preservation