Wilson's Blogmanac
Mon, 23 Aug 2010 17:45:01 +0200
Graeme Dunstan, dedicated peace and environment activist
http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/aug4.html 1942 Graeme Dunstan, prominent Australian organizer of festivals and celebrations, and activist for environmental, political and peace issues. He is an an alumnus of Duntroon Military College and a graduate of the University of New South Wales (UNSW), where he was President of the Students' Union and co-editor of its newspaper, Tharunka.
In 1966, while President of the UNSW Labor Club, he was active in organizing anti-Vietnam War protests. As organizer of the LBJ Welcome Committee he stopped US President Lyndon Johnson's motorcade in Liverpool Street, Sydney, by lying in front of the president's car, upon which NSW Premier Robert Askin famously said "run over the bastards".
In 1973 with Johnny Allen as director of the Aquarius Foundation of the Australian Union of Students and Dunstan, as director of the Foundation's biennial Aquarius Festival, together they produced the Aquarius Festival which took place in Nimbin, New South Wales.
Dunstan was the first community arts officer (1981 - '85) employed by the City of Campbelltown and in that role set up the Friends of the Campbelltown Art Gallery which lobbied successfully to found the Campbelltown Regional Art Gallery.
In 1985-89 he was a Festivals Consultant to the Victorian Tourism Commission and in that role he was one of the initiators the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Ltd serving as its founding Secretary In 1987.
As a freelance event organizer, Dunstan founded the Lismore Lantern Festival in 1992-3 and produced other innovative celebrations including the Byron Bay NYE (1995), Bondi Beach Christmas and NYE celebration 1996, Nimbin 'Let It Grow' Mardi Grass (1998 - '99), the Sunshine Coast Schoolies Week (1997), the annual Eureka Dawn Walk (1998-) and the annual Independence from America Day Parade in Byron Bay (1998-).
He is presently captain of http://www.Peacebus.com which is both a website and a campaign vehicle from which he organizes Cyanide Watch and other actions of witness for peace, justice and a sustaining Earth ...
Pictured: Graeme at my place shortly before I was his honoured lieutenant at the Ghostdance at APEC http://wilsonsalmanac.blogspot.com/search?q=ghostdance
Categories: activist, australia, peace
Wed, 04 Aug 2010 13:18:53 +0200
'Mad Shelley'
http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/aug4.html 1792 Percy Bysshe Shelley ('Mad Shelley'; d. 1822), English poet. Percy Shelley started life in a favoured position in British society, as his father was a baronet. At Sion House Academy the lad was a hell raiser, and he was expelled from Oxford for a booklet he wrote urging "the necessity of atheism", whereupon his father cut off his money. Shelley then lived on secret remittances from his sisters.
The young poet had such an active imagination that, although he detested falsehood, he could not give the same account of an event to two people.
After eloping to Scotland with Harriet Westbrook he became interested in the ideas of the radical/anarchist philosopher William Godwin. He began to visit Godwin's house and fell in love with Mary Godwin (later called Mary Shelley), the sixteen-year-old daughter of Godwin by his first wife, the feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft, who had written A Vindication of the Rights of Women and had died eight days after Mary's birth in 1797. (Mary wrote Frankenstein while with her husband, Lord Byron and others in Switzerland.)
Shelley drowned in a squall (July 8, 1822) while on a boat with his friend Captain Williams on the Bay of Spezzia, Italy. Byron, Leigh Hunt and Trelawny burned his body as required by quarantine law ...
Categories: uk, english-poetry, poetry, history, biography
Wed, 04 Aug 2010 12:37:23 +0200
Loch-mo-Naire pilgrimage, and the serpent
 http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/aug4.html We discussed in the Book of Days on August 1 how Lughnasadh (Lammastide) was for Celtic people and others in Europe a time for visiting healing wells and springs. Today we look at an ancient healing waters custom from Scotland that was practised annually on August 4, leading one to postulate (do you like that? "leading one to postulate") that it was a Lammas commemoration. Its rites contain actions that remind one not only of Celtic practices, but also the Christian sacrament of baptism.
Loch-mo-Naire, a lake in Strathnavon, Sutherlandshire, famous for its supposed miraculous healing qualities, was a site of pilgrimage for the lame, sick, impotent, and mentally ill. At midnight, these faithful unfortunates would gather on the shore of the loch to drink from its sanative waters, strip naked, and walk backwards into the loch. After immersing themselves three times, they would throw offerings of silver coins into the depths.
An old tradition informs us how the loch obtained its wondrous qualities and its name. Long, long ago, an old woman had somehow come to own some bright crystals, which, when placed in water, had miraculous powers of rendering the liquid an infallible cure for all "the ills to which flesh is heir". As the fame of these wonder-working pebbles soon spread far and wide, it soon attracted the greed of a member of the neighbouring Gordon clan, who made up his mind to secure the miraculous crystals for the Gordons' exclusive use.
To this end, Gordon feigned sickness, but the moment he presented himself to the crone, she divined his intention and fled. Escape, however, was impossible, because she was old and her pursuer had youth and swiftness on his side ...
Categories: folklore, calendar-customs, scotland, dragon, legend
Wed, 04 Aug 2010 12:27:39 +0200
GetUp launches TV ad as Abbott delays paid parental leave
 http://bit.ly/blhwzh "After parodying Julia Gillard's climate policy in a TV ad earlier this month, GetUp, an independent Australian advocacy organisation, has turned its attention to Tony Abbott in a new commercial featuring the Coalition leader's statements about abortion, the cervical cancer vaccine and the role of women in society.
"'Tony Abbott said that politicians are going to be judged on everything they say.' Australian women are judging his comments and they're justifiably concerned about the stance he would take on issues like abortion and women's health were he Prime Minister,' said GetUp National Director Simon Sheikh.
"'From counselling against the vaccination for cervical cancer as Health Minister, to calling abortion a matter of a woman's "convenience", Tony Abbott has consistently taken stands that show a lack of respect for issues that affect Australian women and matter to them most.'
"'Tony Abbott's paid parental leave policy was the one issue that Australians supported, and even that is now being delayed and weakened in the interests of big business,' Mr Sheikh said.
"New poll results released today by GetUp indicate that Mr Abbott's stance on women's health issues are influencing the views of Australian women. An Auspoll survey found that his opposition to safe non-surgical abortion medication and to the over-the-counter availability of emergency contraception has a negative impact on the opinions of one in two female voters ..."
Categories: women, australia, media, conservative, action, activism
Wed, 04 Aug 2010 00:18:39 +0200
Bello Bards in another triumph
I have it on good authority (as yet to be confirmed), that not only did Bello Bards http://bellobards.blogspot.com/ poet, Elizabeth Routledge, win the cup of the prestigious Nimbin Performance Poetry World Cup http://www.nimbinpoetry.com, but also my mate, Craig Nelson, won the People's Choice Award. Our little village of Bellingen has many poets of esteem and talent, and our contingent said "Look out, Nimbin, the Bello Bards are coming this year!" Well done to all who performed, and congratulations to those Bellingen poets whose talents were acclaimed and rewarded.
Categories: bellingen, poetry
Tue, 03 Aug 2010 13:46:41 +0200
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