Sheila Fitzpatrick at UQ

We went with Jim and found it very interesting. After the talk we introduced ourselves to her then walked back over the green bridge and had dinner at Jim's, stayed overnight and had breakfast in Ipswich with Em before loading the rest of the shed into the Impreza. Home by 10 am for Dick's violin lesson.

Jim left early to pick up Mike, Paul and Julie from Coolangatta airport, with an early morning wait at Kirra beach thrown in.

Hosted by the School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry and the UQ Art Museum

Speaker: Professor Sheila Fitzpatrick
               The University of Sydney and the University of Chicago

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. How should it be remembered today? Interpretation of the Russian Revolution has always been politically contentious, in the West as in the Soviet Union and its successor states. But the centenary, coming only a few decades after the collapse of Communist regimes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, finds Western scholars at a loss – and in Putin’s Russia is an outright embarrassment. In this talk, Professor Sheila Fitzpatrick will survey past and present interpretative controversies about the Russian Revolution.

Celebrating (or not) the Centenary of the Russian Revolution

Thu 7 Sep 2017 6:00pm–7:30pm

Russell and Waitangi

On Tuesday morning we started with a walk at Whangarei Falls, a lovely spot close to the city centre, before heading north to Russell where we caught a ferry and took in the sights from the lookout. It was a lovely sunny clear day for this. We then drove around to Waitangi where we met Diane, Doug, Robin, Margaret and Peter in a minibus, and had lunch together before visiting the museum and wandering around learning about the Treaty and spending time together. They were taking Robin further north for the night.
We took a scenic drive back to Whangarei and another enjoyable evening with Allan and Heather.

Mildura Calling

This time next week we will be in Mildura for the centenary of Mildura High School which started as an agricultural college. I have gathered my relevant books and started with Mildura Calling by Alice Lapthorne. It is nice to revisit the history of the irrigation settlement and the Chaffey brothers, especially as I was house captain of Chaffey in 1966 - the girls were not the best house in my time, although the boys were. Next reading will be on the riverboats. I am looking forward to going on the Melbourne again after 25 years. It has an impressive steam driven engine. I just read about all the firewood which was cut to fire the steam driven pumps for the irrigation until they were replaced by electric pumps. Somewhere further down the track I will get to salinity.

Gormans Gap

Lieutenant Owen Gorman was the last commandant of the Moreton Bay penal settlement. In 1840 the first settlers began to arrive on the Darling Downs, west of the Dividing Range. So a wagon route had to be found to bring supplies from Moreton Bay. Gorman succeeded in finding a way through on 17 October 1840 probably following aboriginal trails. On Wednesday evening a small group of us walked up to the top monument from Unemployed Road, pausing for photos on the Camel's Hump at sunset, then returned to our cars down the eroded track in fading light, to celebrate 167 years since he did it.