Supporting Febfast 2019
Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month
1-7 World Interfaith Harmony Week
5-19 Chinese New Year of the Pig
6 Waitangi Day Aotearoa New Zealand
12 Indigenous Freedom Ride Anniversary 1965 1
13 Stolen Generations Apology 2008 / World Radio Day
18 International Asperger’s Day
20 World Day of Social Justice / World Harmony Day
3 Grameen Bank set up in Bangladesh 1977
5 Anniversary of execution of Dundalli 1855
21 World Hug Day (Peace Initiative)26 Australia Day / Indigenous Invasion/Survival Day
24 International Day of Education
27 Holocaust Memorial Day / Vietnam Peace Agreement Signed 1973
30 Ghandi Day
1 World AIDS Day / West Papua National Flag Day / Sir Douglas Nichols become first Indigenous State Governor of South Australia. 2-10 Hanukkah 2 International Day for the Abolition of Slavery
3 International Day of Disabled Persons
4 Queensland Government gazetted Aborigines Act and Torres Strait Island Act
5 International Volunteer Day / World Soil Day
7 International Civil Aviation Day / 19734 Eric Deeral becomes first Indigenous member of the Queensland Parliament.
8 Bodhi Day: Day of Enlightenment, celebrating the day that the historical Buddha (Shakyamuni or Siddhartha Gautama) experienced enlightenment (also known as Bodhi).
9 International Anti-Corruption Day / International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime (A/RES/69/323 / / World Choral Day
23 High Court handed down the Wik decision 1996
26 Boxing Day
November 10-December 10 is Human Rights Month
Supporting Men’s Health in Movember
20 Universal Children’s Day / Transgender Day of Remembrance
1 International Day for Older Persons
4-10 World Space Week
6-14 Mental Health Week
10 World Day Against the Death Penalty / World Mental Health Day
13 International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction
14-20 Anti-Poverty Week
17 International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
19 – 28 Queensland Children’s Week
20-27 National Unity Week
24-30 Disarmament Week
Welcome to the August retrospective of news and social media presence across the platforms I use.
Gallery of Family and friends
August included travel with opportunities to catch up with old friends and new. There were themes to explore including Multiculturalism and my status as a senior citizen.
My travel took me to Sydney and to my birth city of Geelong for a school reunion and a family celebration. With my new leisure time available as a retiree I decided to take the train using my NSW Discovery Pass which gives me three months of travel from Brisbane to Melbourne and lots of places along the way. Travel hint: pack your own snacks and nibbles as the trip to and from the diner car can be an obstacle course if the train suddenly turns a corner.
While visiting Sydney I stepped out of my comfort zone and tried the latest in hostel type accommodation at The Capsule Hotel, Sydney It’s another one for the bucket list but unlikely to be a repeat experience.
This slide show is a montage of people, faces and places that all have a story. A few shots in my purple hoodie are from a visit to my birth city of Geeelong. I got along to an “old Boys” reunion of St Joseph’s College Geelong, where I jumped in front of the lens with Des Podbury, one of the oldest former collegians and John Mildren, former ALP politician for the seat of Ballarat. My other Geelong old boy catchup was with Russell, with whom I went through St Pat’s Geelong West as well as “Joey’s”. The last pic in the purple hoodie was a family get together with my late’s father’s brother and sister in law, Chris and Margaret.
The lady wearing the Geelong footy scarf is my late mother’s only surviving family member, Majella Tracey FMM. Religion pops into a few of the other pics with a selfie taken with Bishop Vincent Long and a series of heads from St Mary’s Cathedral as well as a memorial plaque to Gough and Margaret at St James Church.
The pick of the pics is the one where I am wearing my Keffiyeh with a young Middle Eastern guy. I was in Parramatta and popped into the local Macca’s for a coffee, Ahmed, the young man in the pic noticed me and made a point of coming over to chat. He had never seen an Aussie wearing a Keffiyeh. We chatted and he introduced himself as a Muslim from Lebanon. We talked politics, religion and peace and embraced each other in a quiet suburban space of harmony.
The group shot was taken as part of Rainbow Seniors Free Screening of Victor Victoria.
Photography
Politics
How do we have respectful disagreement with politicians like Peter Dutton or media moguls like Rupert Murdoch?
How do we tell Senator Fraser Anning he is not just wrong but offensive?
How do we tell John Howard he was a liar about the Iraq invasion and Tampa?
How do we tell Malcolm Turnbull he is a gutless weak political leader?
How do we have a respectful disagreement with #Indonesia about the genocide and transmigration policies in West Papua?
How do we have a respectful disagreement with weapon manufacturers and the government s like ours that support them?
How do we have a respectful disagreement with Donald Trump?
