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In January 2012, the National Trust of Australia decided to participate in the National Year of Reading . The National Year of Reading is a Federal Government initiative aimed at supporting reading, while respecting the oral tradition of storytelling. It's about helping people discover and rediscover the magic of books. On social media, this event was tracked using the hashtag #NYR12; these are the quotes we shared under that tag, from a miscellany of texts that focus on history or cultural heritage.
Citation preview
The National Trust of Australia (WA)
for the National Year of Reading
2012
Presents: The #NYR12 Compendium of
Quotes.
CONTENTS Introduction 1. Marshall Walker, The Pump 2. Stephen Kinnane, Shadow Lines 3. Gary N. Smith, History News 4. George Fletcher Moore Diary of Ten Years of an Early Settler in Western Australia
5.
Olive Gear, Wandoo Heights: a wildflower journal 6. Kim Scott, That Deadman Dance 7. John Dowson, Fremantle Port 8. Andrea Witcomb & Kate Gregory, From the Barracks to the Burrup: The National Trust in Western Australia
9.
Jeremy C. Martens, Government House and the Western Australian Society 1829-2010
10.
Lowitja O'Donoghue CBE AM Successful Tourism at Heritage Places 11. Stephen Kinnane, Shadow Lines 12. Graeme Davison & Chris McConville (eds), A Heritage Handbook 13. Joy Lefroy & Diana Frylink, The Pipeline CY O’Connor Built 14. Graeme Davison and Chris McConville (eds), A Heritage Handbook 15. Stephen Kinnane, Shadow Lines 16. Andrea Witcomb & Kate Gregory, From the Barracks to the Burrup: The National Trust in Western Australia
17.
Anne Brearley, Ernest Hodgkin’s Swanland: Estuaries and Coastal Lagoons of South-western Australia
18.
Jeremy C. Martens, Government House and the Western Australian Society 1829-2010
19.
Olive Gear, Wandoo Heights: a wildflower journal 20. Cyril Ayris, C.Y. O’Connor: a brief biography 21. John Boyle O’Reilly, Moondyne: a story of life in West Australia 22. Elizabeth Hof, The Curtin Family Home 23. Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Wind, Sand & Stars 24. Joy Lefroy & Diana Frylink, The Pipeline CY O’Connor Built 25. Andrea Witcomb & Kate Gregory, From the Barracks to the Burrup: The National Trust in Western Australia
26.
John Dowson, Fremantle Port 27. 28.
Gordon Stephenson, The Design of Central Perth: some problems and possible solutions Andrea Witcomb & Kate Gregory, From the Barracks to the Burrup: The National Trust in Western Australia
29.
Iain McCalman, Alexander Cook, Andrew Reeves (Eds), Gold: Forgotten histories and lost objects of Australia
30.
Jeremy C. Martens, Government House and the Western Australian Society 1829-2010
31.
John Dowson, Old Albany 32. Iain McCalman, Alexander Cook, Andrew Reeves (Eds), Gold: Forgotten histories and lost objects of Australia
33.
Jenny Gregory, City of Light: A History of Perth since the 1950s 34. Jenny Gregory, City of Light: A History of Perth since the 1950s 35. Ron C. Bertelsen, Geraldton to the Abrolhos 1898 - 1964 36. A History of the World in 100 Objects, Neil MacGregor 37. A History of the World in 100 Objects, Neil MacGregor 38. Heritage Politics in Adelaide by Sharon Mosler 39. Colin Amery & Brian Curran, Vanishing Histories: 100 Endangered Sites
40.
Jeremy C. Martens, Government House and the Western Australian Society 1829-2010
41.
Andrea Witcomb & Kate Gregory, From the Barracks to the Burrup: The National Trust in Western Australia
42.
“A Saturnine New Chum”, A Colonial Christmas Ode 43. George Grey, Expeditions in Western Australia 1837 to 1839 44. Conclusion 45.
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INTRODUCTION In January 2012, the National Trust of Australia decided to participate in the National Year of Reading . The National Year of Reading is a Federal Government initiative aimed at supporting reading, while respecting the oral tradition of storytelling. It's about helping people discover and rediscover the magic of books. On social media, this event was tracked using the hashtag #NYR12; these are the quotes we shared under that tag, from a miscellany of texts that focus on history or cultural heritage.
#NTWA - #NYR12 1
“Kalgoorlie, principally a mining
town, was far more than that in the
1940’s. It was a mini metropolis that
had flourished in utter isolation and
yet achieved a self-contained,
integrated strength. A maverick town
where the conquest of a near endless
range of difficulties provided the city
planners with impetus to succeed.”
Marshall Walker, The Pump pp. 15
ISBN: 085905 323 7
#NTWA - #NYR12 2
“Geoff (Harcus) and Thomas (Bropho) first met on the Esplanade, the site of open discussion and free speech in the city. Mostly left- wing groups used the grasses open are between the city and the river as their public meeting ground amid a sea of conservatism.”
Stephen Kinnane, Shadow Lines (2003) pp. 329
ISBN: 1 86368 237 6
#NTWA - #NYR12 3
“In most communities funding for cultural heritage runs well behind the visual and performing arts, education, and social service agencies. The public wants their heritage touchstones preserved, but often don’t feel the urgency to continue funding them once they are saved.”
Gary N. Smith, ‘House Museum Partnerships with Local
Governments: A Broken Model?’ History News (Spring 2011) pp. 24
#NTWA - #NYR12 4
“How often I wish that some of you were here! for this wild life although it has its inconveniences, has it pleasures too. I am sure you would enjoy it, if once for the roughing was a little over ... I feel very happy just now in every respect except my solitude. Great rumours of ship arrivals! – are they true? – any from England? –any letters?”
George Fletcher Moore Diary of Ten Years of an Early Settler in Western
Australia
ISBN: 1104172054, 9781104172053
#NTWA - #NYR12 5
‘Tread softly through the bush, tread softly
The forest floor composed of leaf and twig,
Flower petal, seed pod and bush debris
Rests lightly on the ground.
Compact it not, lest doing so
Regrowth is impeded, flowers suppressed,
Nature thwarted.
…
Tread gently through the bush, tread gently
Then you will spare the life of insect and of flower
The fairy orchid and moss and fern.
The bush so independent and so vulnerable…’
Olive Gear, Wandoo Heights: a wildflower journal
ISBN: 978-0-9577570-0-4 (095775700X ) #NTWA - #NYR12 6
“Bobby climbed the fence surrounding the yam
grounds, and was still quite a long way from the house when a soldier yelled out for him to halt. Bobby had not seen the man, and now he
waved, friendly-like, but the soldier gesticulated angrily and raised his gun to his shoulder... Horses and carts of various kinds
began arriving a little later. Under a full moon the buildings of The Farm huddled, surrounded
by tethered animals, wagons and sulkies and carts. Soldiers moved around its perimeter, and the windows were small rectangles of
brightly glowing amber. The high tent beside the house shone like a lamp, human figures
flickering and flowing within it. “
Kim Scott, That Deadman Dance pp. 364
ISBN: 978140504 044 0 #NTWA - #NYR12 7
Norman Lindsay sketched a boat pumping water whilst transiting Fremantle in 1909 on
his way to London aboard the new Orient Steam Co. ship Osterly. Years later, in 1932, at the height of the Great Depression, when he
was in Fremantle on his way back from overseas aboard the mailboat Mongolia, the
press asked him about the art market in Europe. He told them that: "Art had crashed all
over the world".
John Dowson, Fremantle Port, pp. 61
ISBN: 978 0 9805395 3 0
#NTWA - #NYR12 8
“That the Barracks and the Old Observatory had an important role to play in Perth's sense
of place was never envisaged by those concerned with imagining and realising Perth's
future; nor was there a discussion of the cultural or environmental implications of the
plan to reclaim large sections of the river. Increasingly, however, a significant number of
the population did think these things mattered, and they took to expressing their views in the
local media and through active forms of protest.”
Andrea Witcomb & Kate Gregory, From the Barracks to the Burrup: The National Trust in
Western Australia, pp. 40
ISBN: 978 1 921410 24 6 #NTWA - #NYR12 9
“Ever since the earliest years of the Swan River
settlement, the governor and his wife had been closely associated with a range of
charitable activities that aimed to ameliorate the position of colonists in need. This crucial aspect of vice-regal patronage was a shared responsibility; and the governor's wife often
took a leading role in organising and dispensing charity.”
Jeremy C. Martens, Government House and the Western Australian Society 1829-2010,
pp. 174
ISBN: 9781742583402
#NTWA - #NYR12 10
"Who better to interpret our environment for tourists than Indigenous people who have developed an understanding and knowledge of their country which can
never be duplicated by non-Indigenous tour guides?"
Lowitja O'Donoghue CBE AM Successful
Tourism at Heritage Places. Australian Heritage Commission, 2001.
#NTWA - #NYR12 11
“The overhead tree branches shield the lakes,
flowerbeds and walkways from the harsh Western Australian light, and bear witness to all that happens beneath them. Each year the leaves become filled with the stories that they hear winding their way around the tracks that
circle the park... Each story captured in the branches and collected in the leaves, creates
another ring of history around the trunk of the tree's skin and becomes another earthly layer in the park's foundations. These stories amass
and rupture the tarred surfaces of the pathways ringing the lakes as the tree roots break through the surface of any substance that the city attempts to layer over them.”
Stephen Kinnane, Shadow Lines (2003) pp. 228
ISBN: 1 86368 237 6 #NTWA - #NYR12 12
“What really makes the house of a great man or woman historically important is what makes
any building historically important – namely, that it throws light on a significant aspect of
the lives of people in the past. It is not just as an antique, nor as a shrine, but as a document,
as a piece of vital evidence about the past society that created it, that a building deserves
to be regarded as historic.”
Graeme Davison & Chris McConville, A Heritage Handbook, pp. 71
ISBN: 0048200409
#NTWA - #NYR12 13
“Here is the weir dammed by concrete Approved by parliament
Who argued and argued about giving money To Forrest the Premier
Who visited the goldfields and met the nurses Who cared for the sick
Who used the water carried by camels For men from the east
Following the digger looking for gold Who needed the pipeline O’Connor built.”
Joy Lefroy & Diana Frylink, The Pipeline CY
O’Connor Built, pp. 13
ISBN: 192073160-1
#NTWA - #NYR12 14
“We may liken some old buildings to palimpsests – parchments which have been
successively written upon, crossed out, erased and written over by different hands so as to
leave several distinct ‘layers’ of writing. Reading such a manuscript calls for high skills
in palaeography (the study of obsolete scripts), contemporary idiom, and knowledge of the various periods in which the document was
composed.”
Graeme Davison and Chris McConville (eds), The meanings of heritage’, A Heritage
Handbook, pp. 74-75
#NTWA - #NYR12 15
“They are always with us, the people of other eras that exist alongside our own, quietly watching the new psyche of the
city take form as the world that they inhabited is redrawn, torn down,
reclaimed and redeveloped.”
Stephen Kinnane, Shadow Lines, (2003), pp. 377
ISBN: 1 86368 237 6
#NTWA - #NYR12 16
“[In 1970] The Trust argued that all Class A
reserves, state forests, and other reserves in
any part of the state, required protection from
mining unless parliament decreed otherwise. It
believed that the north of the state required
equal protection to the south-west, citing
particular concerns for the fauna of Barrow
Island, the ecologies of Hamersley Range,
Windjana and Geike Gorge national parks.”
Andrea Witcomb & Kate Gregory, From the Barracks to the Burrup: The National Trust in
Western Australia, pp. 227
ISBN: 978 1 921410 24 6
#NTWA - #NYR12 17
“What a sight as the visitor arrives at the small
coastal town of Augusta; a grand vista of
houses nestled between gum trees along the
banks of a peaceful river in the lee of Cape
Leeuwin, the grey-green treescape
(peppermints) to the east and in the distance
the vast expanse of the Southern Ocean where
waves roll onto the long sandy beach.”
Anne Brearley, Ernest Hodgkin’s Swanland: Estuaries and Coastal Lagoons of South-
western Australia, pp. 311
ISBN: 1 920694 38 2
#NTWA - #NYR12 18
“[On the death of QV1] While consular officials and prominent citizens called at Government House to pay their respects to the late Queen, and the building, like many others, was draped in black and purple, it was not a focal point for public mourning; in fact, the military parade to mark Victoria’s funeral marched straight past Government House, and the eighty-one gun salute by No. 1 Battery of Field Artillery was fired on the Esplanade.”
Jeremy C. Martens, Government House and Western Australian Society 1829-2010, pp. 179
ISBN: 9781742583402
#NTWA - #NYR12 19
“The air was hot and heavy The path like an unswept waste
Thick with twigs and debris And alive with ants in haste. But above and all around us
On trees some great, some small Were blossoms of such radiance And white as the purest snow.
The trees which bore these blossoms Had barks both rough and gnarled
Many showed signs of hardship With (red)gum dried on their bark.”
Olive Gear, Wandoo Heights: a wildflower journal
ISBN: 978-0-9577570-0-4 (095775700X )
#NTWA - #NYR12 20
“By the time he turned fifty C.Y. O’Connor was known in Perth and on his many construction
sites as The Chief. He had a reputation for protecting the welfare of his workers – perhaps
this was something he had learnt from his father during Ireland’s potato famine. He
introduced an eight-hour day in his department and he was invariably a soft touch
for any Irishman who went to him seeking work. He was even more meticulous in his
work and he insisted that those working for him were equally diligent.”
Cyril Ayris, C.Y. O’Connor: a brief biography (2007) pp. 34
ISBN: 0 9578853 4 2
#NTWA - #NYR12 21
“The mahogany sawyers had left their logs and were
sleeping in the cool sand of their pits.
Even the travelling ants had halted on their wonderful roads, and sought the shade of a bramble. All free things were at rest; but the penetrating click of the axe - heard far through the bush, and now and again a harsh word of command, told that it was land
of bondmen.
From daylight to dark, through the hot noon as steadily as in the cool evening, the convicts were at
work on the roads - the weary work that has no wages, no promotion, no incitement, no variation for
good or bad, except stripes for the laggard.”
John Boyle O’Reilly, Moondyne: a story of life in West Australia (1879)
ISBN: 1 920897 03 8
#NTWA - #NYR12 22
“Elsie Curtin’s support at home during John Curtin’s years in parliament was critical to his success in the electorate of Fremantle. Curtin
wanted Elsie, whom he called Nippy, to maintain a presence in their family home and
in his electorate. At a time when electoral offices and staff were not provided to
members of parliament, she dealt with mail, press cuttings and other day to day
administration, and gave tireless assistance to constituents. She was president of the
Fremantle Labor Women’s Organization from 1944 to 1946 and supported other
community groups.”
Elizabeth Hof, The Curtin Family Home (2010) pp. 8. ISBN: 1876507497
#NTWA - #NYR12 23
“A civilization is a heritage of beliefs, customs, and knowledge slowly accumulated in the
course of centuries, elements difficult at times to justify by logic, but justifying themselves as paths when they lead somewhere, since they
open up for man his inner distance.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Wind, Sand & Stars (Terre des homes, 1939).
ISBN: 0151970874
#NTWA - #NYR12 24
“In 1895 Premier John Forrest visited the Goldfields. It was clear to him there was plenty of gold in the region but he also observed how
the acute lack of fresh water was causing widespread health problems and deaths from
diseases such as typhoid and dysentery. Forrest asked Charles Yelverton O’Connor, the
State’s Engineer-in-Chief, to devise plan to supply fresh water to the goldfields.
O’Connor’s scheme was simple yet effective. It involved pumping water from a storage dam at
Mundaring near Perth through a pipeline to Kalgoorlie 560 kilometres away ”.
Joy Lefroy & Diana Frylink, The Pipeline CY O’Connor Built.
ISBN: 192073160-1
#NTWA - #NYR12 25
Many, especially historic houses, had been abandoned and were barely intact or
representative of their original use…. The restoration of properties was closely allied with the desire to put Western Australian heritage
‘on the map’, to register its presence in the face of development pressures which seemed
to have completely disregarded it. In the context of heritage battles in the 1960s and
1970s, restoration was a political act. It resisted the erasure of Western Australia’s
historic built environment. ”.
Andrea Witcomb & Kate Gregory, From the Barracks to the Burrup: The National Trust in
Western Australia, pp. 113
ISBN: 978 1 921410 24 6
#NTWA - #NYR12 26
“RMHS Ellinis in Fremantle in the early 1970s:
This well-loved ship had a long career spanning almost 50 years. Beginning in 1932 as Matson
Line’s SS Lurline, she became a US naval transport in World War Two and took Prime
Minister John Curtin to the USA to meet President Roosevelt in 1944. John Curtin, the Federal Member for Fremantle 1928-31 and
1934-45, had a heart attack a few months after his return and died the next year while in
office. In 1963… she became a 1,688 one-class passenger liner for Chandris. For some ten years the Ellinis made regular voyages to
Australia.”
John Dowson, Fremantle Port, pp. 157
ISBN: 978 0 9805395 3 0 #NTWA - #NYR12 27
“Perth was founded as a capital on 12 August
1829. The site chosen has fresh water and building materials… the earliest recorded town plan was printed in London by J. Arrowsmith in
1833 ‘from documents furnished’ to the Colonial Office by the first Surveyor-General, John Septimus Roe. It is essentially the street
layout of today’s central Perth. The only major alterations have resulted from the reduction of
northern and eastern parts of the proposed Crown reserve or domain, the insertion of the
railway on drained wetland, [and] road building on reclaimed river land.” (pp.1)
Gordon Stephenson, The Design of Central Perth: some problems and possible solutions.
ISBN: 0 85564 107 X
#NTWA - #NYR12 28
“During the two and a half hours we were in the house [Tranby] the two family dogs,
several cats of every colour and the pet joey kangaroo wandered through. The ‘pets’
presence was clearly visible throughout the House having been laying in the babies cradle,
on the bed, in the chairs, on the table-cloth and cushions...the family pet dog was quite
comfortable sleeping in the Grand Father chair in the lounge room.” (pp.182)
Andrea Witcomb & Kate Gregory, From the Barracks to the Burrup: The National Trust in
Western Australia.
ISBN: 978 1 921410 24 6
#NTWA - #NYR12 29
“The party was numerous; the tent one of the largest in the camp, was lined with green baize;
one end of it was fitted up with sofas, arm-chairs, and a grand piano. Small, round tables were tastefully dispersed, on which some very
pretty ornaments, books, portfolios of drawings were placed. At the other end there
was a large table with cups and saucers of every size and pattern, a large mud and stone
fireplace, with a blazing fire, on which two immense kettles were singing. Loaded pistols
decorated the mantelpiece.” (pp.229)
Iain McCalman, Alexander Cook, Andrew Reeves (Eds), Gold: Forgotten histories and lost
objects of Australia.
ISBN: 0 521 80595 3
#NTWA - #NYR12 30
“[I had] a proud swelling of my heart to see how loyal Englishmen are, all over the world,
and specially in Australia; loyal even when such thousands and thousands of miles of sea
stretch between them and their Queen and Empress.... So whenever I tell you of all the
honour and hospitality shown to your father and me, you must always first think that it is
really our darling Queen to whom all her distant subjects vie with each other in showing their love and loyalty.” (pp.143) – Lady Barker, the
Governors wife, to her child, about arriving in Albany.
Jeremy C. Martens, Government House and Western Australian Society 1829-2010.
ISBN: 9781742583402
#NTWA - #NYR12 31
“This wonderful harbour is naturally defensive, and could be made almost impregnable by sitting guns in a central permanent position
west of the entrance to the inner harbor. Considering however that the importance of Albany has been greatly diminished by the establishment of Fremantle as the Port of
Western Australia, I think that the only reason for its defences would be to deny the port to
any cruiser of fleet engaged in attacking commerce. For this the present defences
suffice, and might be maintained.” (pp. 205) - Lord Kitchener, 1910, on Albany.
John Dowson, Old Albany.
ISBN: 978 0 9805395 0 9
#NTWA - #NYR12 32
“A place of tall grass and some flowers blushing unseen, as two miles from Lombard Street is too far to travel on shanks pony, so the Botanical Gardens is merely a tale that is told to the majority of Ballarat people. Plenty
of gum trees and graceful lightwood adorn the reserve. The curator has planted some tree’s
he brought from home. Some day these might be worth a long journey to see. About Seven acres are enclosed by a post and rail fencing, but the rest of the 60 acres is a wilderness.”
(pp. 278)
Iain McCalman, Alexander Cook, Andrew Reeves (Eds), Gold: Forgotten histories and lost
objects of Australia.
ISBN: 0 521 80595 3
#NTWA - #NYR12 33
“Along… St George’s Terrace…it seems there’s not even a façade I can recognize. Great ugly boxes of glass and concrete-oppressive to the soul and offensive to the eye…But before the soul withers in this alien atmosphere, you are
saved and refreshed by the sight of the old Palace Hotel, miraculously preserved on the corner… Further down the terrace glows the
soft rose - the crumbling soft brick rose - of St George’s old cathedral...With any luck they
might be able to save at least a church and a pub to keep something of beauty and dignity
and history along the terraces of Perth.”
Jenny Gregory, City of Light: A History of Perth since the 1950s. (pp. 219)
ISBN: 0 9594632 5 9
#NTWA - #NYR12 34
“The Barracks archway became a symbol. People tended to identify its planning
destruction with so much of the recent casual scarring of the city in the name of progress-
and, in a general sense, with governmental and departmental arrogance… Whatever the aesthetic value of the archway, it is to be
hoped that the successful fight for its survival has taught the Government a lesson- That it cannot consistently act on the basis that Big
Brother knows best.”
Jenny Gregory, City of Light: A History of Perth since the 1950s. (pp. 118)
ISBN: 0 9594632 5 9
#NTWA - #NYR12 35
“[Off the Abrolhos] In the early days the loading of the crayfish would be carried out on the mothership / carrier vessel which would be rigged with mast and sail. The halyards which
were used for hoisting the sails would be, sometimes in conjunction with davits, adapted to hoist the holding crates out of the water… Then the crayfish would be bagged ready for the trip to town... Fishermen on the whole
were innovative people who by their distant lifestyle away from amenities quickly adapted to improvising equipment to suit a purpose.”
Ron C. Bertelsen, Geraldton to the Abrolhos 1898 - 1964 (pp. 78)
ISBN: 978 0 646 50707 1
#NTWA - #NYR12 36
The emergence of cities and states in different
parts of the world has many consequences, among them the appearance of the world’s
first written literature and the development of scientific and mathematical knowledge. These early cities and states did not exist in isolation, but were connected through extensive trade
networks by road and sea…these people created many sophisticated objects, notably of materials such as bronze and golf which have often survived. Many of these objects were clearly made as demonstrations of power, designed to impress subjects, visitors and
possibly posterity.”
A History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil MacGregor, pp. 95
ISBN: 978 1 846 14413 4 #NTWA - #NYR12 37
“Technological innovation [has] enabled more
objects to be produced and used by humankind than at any previous time in
history, changing the way we relate to each other and to the material world. But many of these objects (particularly since the invention
of plastic) have been ephemeral and disposable, which has given urgency to
questions about the environment and global resources. As has been true for almost two
million years, the objects we have produced over the last century convey our concerns, our creativity and our aspirations, and will continue
to reveal them to future generations.”
A History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil MacGregor, pp. 627
ISBN: 978 1 846 14413 4 #NTWA - #NYR12 38
“In March 1980, Lord Mayor Bowen announced that ACC would undertake a heritage study of the City of Adelaide. According to Bowen, the
study would end debate about the historic merit or otherwise of individual buildings. The
motive was not solely to preserve the built heritage… The development industry and the heritage lobby wished to identify once and for all those buildings in the City which could be
redeveloped. Through a reverse twist, the Heritage Register in Adelaide began by identifying sites for redevelopment and
heritage items by default.”
Heritage Politics in Adelaide by Sharon Mosler, pp.80-81
ISBN: 978 0 9870730 4 4
#NTWA - #NYR12 39
“The archaeological remains of ancient empires litter the soil of Africa and the Mediterranean. Some of the most famous sites of the ancient
world are suffering from the depredations that accompany mass tourism… The museums of the West are conscious that they hold a great many
artifacts that rightfully belong to Africa, and some items are occasionally returned. But the
rationalization of the world’s treasures is a subject for long term debate, whereas the
important thing for Africa is to secure as much of its fragile heritage on the ground as is
possible.”
Colin Amery & Brian Curran, Vanishing
Histories: 100 Endangered Sites. (pp. 116)
ISBN: 0 8109 1435 2 #NTWA - #NYR12 40
“There has been a growing awareness that Government House itself is a public institution that both belonged to Western Australia and is not longer a symbol of imperial dominion. This
shifting awareness in the late twentieth century coincided with rising republican sentiment but
also reflected the strength of the heritage movement that resulted in the house’s official registration under heritage legislation in the early 1990s. The protection afforded by this
legislation ensures that in the future Government House will continue to occupy its special and unique place in Western Australia’s
history.” (pp. 324-325)
Jeremy C. Martens, Government House and Western Australian Society 1829-2010.
ISBN: 9781742583402
#NTWA - #NYR12 41
“The history of the Trust in Western Australia also shows that the politics of the people involved in it
cannot be reduced to a simple nostalgic conservatism. A significant number were among the first social historians in the country, with a
concern to document and preserve the history of convicts and the working classes as much as that
of the ‘gentry’. They were also ahead of their time in realizing that the significance of landscapes lay
as much in their cultural as in their natural heritage. Although they did not do much with this realization until recently, they were not unaware
of Indigenous heritage issues.”
Andrea Witcomb & Kate Gregory, From the Barracks to the Burrup: The National Trust in
Western Australia, pp. 314
ISBN: 978 1 921410 24 6 #NTWA - #NYR12 42
Oh, let England boast of her snow and frost.
That make to her Christmas dear;
But in summer time of this sunny clime
We welcome old Christmas here.
They may find relief from their "Old Roast Beef”
And their plum puddings hot and warm,
In drinking old ale till the night grows pale
At the fear of the coming storm.
But the mutton cheap, from our scabby sheep,
Is the grub that most pleaseth me;
And pneumonia meat is a greater treat
Than the beef of the old "countree."
Excerpt from A Colonial Christmas Ode By “A Saturnine New Chum”. From Melbourne Punch
reprinted in The West Australian, Thursday 14 April 1864 via Trove.
#NTWA - #NYR12 43
“For a few minutes we lay on the bank of this clear spring, resting our wearied limbs, and
admiring the scenery around us. There is something in the wild luxuriance of a totally new
and uncultivated country, which words cannot convey to the inhabitants of an old and civilised land, - the rich and graceful forms of the tress, the massy moss- grown trunks which cumber the soil, the tree half up-torn by some furious
gale, and still remaining in the falling posture in which the winds have left it, the drooping disorder of dead and dying branches, the
mingling of rich grasses and useless weeds.”
George Grey, Expeditions in Western Australia 1837 to 1839 - Volume 2.
ISBN: 0 85905 048 3
#NTWA - #NYR12 44
CONCLUSION In Australia nearly half the population struggles without the literacy skills to meet the most basic demands of everyday life and work. There are 46% of Australians who can't read newspapers; follow a recipe; make sense of timetables, or understand the instructions on a medicine bottle. In 2012 Australian libraries and library associations campaigned to turn the year into the National Year of Reading, linking together all the great things that are already happening around books, reading and literacy, and giving them an extra boost, with inspirational programs and events taking place across the country. The National Trust of Australia (WA) used quotes relating to cultural heritage to share our passion for reading, and participate in this National Year of Reading.
Why Reading Matters, from the National Year of
Reading 2012, & the National Trust of Australia (WA).
#NTWA - #NYR12 45