thoughts from Tarnagulla

Douglass Baglin

2010-10-25T13:34:00.003+11:00

Douglass Baglin produced a multitude of coffee-table Australiana photo books. He died October 7, 2010.

His books can often be found at garage sales, op shops etc.

Next time you see one, take a closer look.

Text quoted from article in link above (who knows when the link will become dead?):

"The world was Baglin's oyster but Hunters Hill was his home

14 Oct 10 @ 10:25am by Charis Chang

TO some, Douglass Baglin’s life might have seemed like one long adventure.

But the prolific international photographer, filmmaker and author was also a tireless heritage campaigner in Hunters Hill.

Baglin, who died aged 84 on October 7, left one of Australia’s most extensive image libraries.

He was part of the vanguard of the Australian conservation movement who lived in Hunters Hill in the 1960s and formed the Hunters Hill Trust.

A lover of heritage buildings, Baglin lived in one of the oldest homes in the area, Villa Floridiana, from 1956-88.

He took photos for the Trust, helping to get the area declared a conservation area in 1981 and captured its beauty in Hunter’s Hill: Australia’s Oldest Garden Suburb and The Heritage of Hunters Hill.

But although Baglin loved Hunters Hill, his photographic eye wandered far and wide.

One of his first commissions was as part of Sir Edward Hallstrom’s 1959 expedition, where he filmed the first European contact with New Guinea’s pygmies in Jimmi River Valley.

He was Australia’s official photographer for The America’s Cup Challenge in 1967 and his work has been published in Life, National Geographic and Bunte of Germany. More than 80 books feature his photos, including Sandstone Sydney and Dinky-di Dunnies. “His adventures were many and often the stuff of Boys Own Annual,” said his niece and collaborator Yvonne Austin.

On his 19th birthday Baglin enlisted in the RAAF as a trainee pilot but was upset when the war finished two months later. At 22, he was on expedition in New Guinea, she said.

In 2007 Baglin received a Medal of the Order of Australia in the General Division (OAM) for his service to the community as a photographer of indigenous people, plants and wildlife of Australia, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands and of historic buildings, particularly in the Hunters Hill district.

Many of his photos were donated to the State Library, including more than 7000 Hunters Hill negatives and transparencies.

“His work is impressive for its sheer volume and range of subject matter,” said State Library photography curator Alan Davies.

Baglin, who had no children, died at Redleaf Manor, Concord.

A service was held at All Saints Anglican Church, Hunters Hill, and he was buried on Wednesday next to his wife Elaine at their property, Merrendee, near Mudgee."

How much is enough?

2010-02-09T16:20:00.001+11:00

For some reason I was recently reminded of a book I read in 1994, still relevant today:

How Much is Enough?: The Consumer Society and the Future of the Earth

by Worldwatch Institute on July 1, 1992

July 1992
Alan Durning
ISBN: 0-393-30891-0
200 pages

Tarnagulla Primary School excels

2010-01-28T21:17:00.004+11:00

The much-hyped www.myschool.edu.au website says the 41 students at Tarnagulla PS are young geniuses.

Is it the teachers? Fresh air? The rusty old tractor to play on? The fact that everyone knows everyone? Who knows?

Even more interesting is poshness measure, ie. the ICSEA. Can this be true? See below:

Bottom quarter: 0%
Middle quarters: 3% and 18%
Top quarter: 79%

The copy/pasted table doesn't show up properly in my browser:

Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA)

School ICSEA value: 1102

Bottom quarter	Middle quarters		Top quarter
0%	3%	18%	79%

Lanolin grease

2010-01-26T20:50:00.002+11:00

For some years now I have been rubbing lanolin grease onto the surface of most rusty things I value. For a while, maybe a few weeks, every bit of dust sticks to the grease, but after a while the surface turns a dull very dark brown colour and the rusting process appears to stop. Apparently lanolin has been used since ancient times as a rust inhibitor. It can be bought at various hardware outlets, or maybe in bulk from wool processors.

Newsletter for Tarnagulla?

2010-01-19T23:00:00.002+11:00

Has anyone seen the neat little Chewton Chat? A neat little newspaper. Available around Chewton as a few A3 pages or as a pdf file at www.chewton.net

How about something like this for Tarnagulla?

Tarnagulla in the news

2010-01-15T22:44:00.001+11:00

$535k for Tarnagulla

09 Jan, 2010 04:00 AM

THE State Government has announced hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding for Loddon Shire projects for the second time this week.

But Member for Bendigo West Bob Cameron denied the grants were part of a pre-election ploy to win votes.

Tarnagulla will receive a new hall, main street and park under the latest round of funding.

Mr Cameron yesterday announced $225,000 for the Tarnagulla Community Hall and $235,000 for the streetscape project. The Federal Government has provided $75,000 for the hall.

read the rest here:

http://www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/news/local/news/general/535k-for-tarnagulla/1721187.aspx?storypage=0

Ikea home delivery

2010-01-07T21:58:00.002+11:00

I have only just become aware that Ikea in Adelaide and Perth (apparently the same business) will take orders over the phone and then send the goods via courier. Some of their prices are a bit higher than Melbourne, but it might beat a long trip for some things...

Car rego rip-off

2010-01-02T22:07:00.003+11:00

Can anyone tell me why car registration in Australia is a flat fee? We are forever told user-pays is the economically rational and efficient way for things to be done. So why not fund the compulsory car registration/insurance via fuel taxes? Say the average car travels 15,000km p.a., using say 1500 litres of fuel, then 50c a litre would collect $600. People would pay according to how much they drive, instead of the existing system whereby low-km drivers subsidise high km drivers.

RECS rorting

2010-01-01T23:13:00.002+11:00

I know for a fact that people are knocking on doors, giving away compact fluorescent bulbs, then asking the occupant to sign something that says the bulbs have been installed to replace incandescent bulbs. Whoever is behind this then earns a Renewable Energy Certificate (or part of one), even though the home may already have compact fluorescent bulbs. If anyone knows anything more about this, I'd be interested to know.

Two books I like

2010-01-01T23:02:00.002+11:00

One of my favourite books is The Bicycle and the Bush by Jim Fitzpatrick. It has a lot of detail about early bicycles in rural Australia, they don't look a lot different from pre-1995 mountain bikes: diamond frame, fat tyres.

Another very good book is The Life and Adventures of Edward Snell: the illustrated diary of an artist, engineer, and adventurer in the Australian Colonies (1849-1859), , really good reading. He never made it to Tarnagulla, but did work on the goldfields around Bendigo.

things I like

2010-01-01T22:42:00.000+11:00

I like old bicycles. Around Tarnagulla are almost endless tracks through state forests, good places to ride mountain bikes. My favourite is a 1987 Apollo Everest, CrMo frame, alloy parts. I like the full bone-shaking experience without any suspension. I like the look of tapered forks with a curve toward the end, also a horizontal top-tube.

2009-12-30T23:34:00.000+11:00

Tarnagulla is a good quiet place to get away and consider the simpler things in life.

Ebcot.com.au is my idea for the Environmental Building Centre of Tarnagulla. Or is that Experimental? Either way, the idea is to display new, and old, ideas, techniques and products relevant to building in a way that minimises use of raw materials. Emphasis is placed on the ability of materials to be re-used or recycled.

I really like the traditional miner's cottages that can be seen around the goldfields.

More later....