Many coastal communities in Papua New Guinea are particularly vulnerable to change. Global drivers such as peak oil, fluctuating economic conditions and climate change all have complex impacts on local livelihoods.
In response to rapid and accelerating rate of change and uncertainty, CSIRO research helps make predictions of their potential impacts and allowing groups to plan proactively. This requires designing flexible strategies that can bring benefits under a variety of future conditions.
Planning sustainable development for such uncertain futures is a key area of research for CSIRO. The design of development programs which can improve livelihoods and achieve the United Nations Human Development Goals, while also being adaptive and flexible to uncertain futures, is a big challenge. Such planning must include the multiple groups which have an interest in development, including members of the local communities, government, civil society and international donors.
Our research project “Climate futures, ecosystem services and livelihood adaptation strategies in West New Britain Province, PNG” explored these issues. From 2011-2013, we worked with local communities, non-governmental organisations and government groups to develop a framework using CSIRO science to help inform future decision-making in a collaborative way. We hope you enjoy the video report.
SWAMPED (Copyright JLeahy on Creative Writing Wk 3)
Mangrove stumps – Public Domain
The river emptied rapidly as the new day reluctantly begun. The sun had not yet arrived for warmth was lacking. I stood facing the river, able to see the creek. A war that was not ours took many of my family’s lives here, on this customary landmark. The small creek had reduced to a thin flow of a silver running snake. It slithered along a dark swampy path, often picking up flashes of light from the sun on its scales. The flashes only came when the mangrove trees allowed the sunlight trickle through its dense, green-yellow leaves. In contrast to the creek, the river was fuller, darker and moved in a quiet menacing meander. I was the tallest, standing amongst the mangrove stumps. Around me was hazy with un-condensed dew and I could not find my way, even though I had been here many times. I could almost smell the dank, which hung in a strange and familiar blanket.
This is the opening of a short-story (non-fiction) for our exercise in the Creative Writing Workshop – Kenmore. I wanted to share the opening with you. I may post more depending on how the story ends up. It may become a chapter in the JL memoir. I hope you like it.
The SBS News brings us the first carbon positive pre-fab home in Australia. This house and the news made my Cool Stuff list.
Carbon zero is the benchmark for best practise when building today, but in the future the federal government expects so-called “carbon positive” buildings to play an increasingly important role limiting global warming.
In a significant step forward in efforts to reduce emissions, Melbourne-based architects have designed what is being billed as Australia’s first carbon positive pre-fabricated home.
Here is a short video of the house and to read more click on the link below. SBS News clip or read more here
I have previously made a post about the betel nut culture. I wanted to show some art and objects made for the betel nut culture. This is a collection of objects that were used by those who chewed betel-nut in Asia and the Pacific islands. While the habit may be disgusting to some, indigenous artists have specifically crafted a wide collection of ‘tools’ that can break the nut open to containers that store lime or referred to as lime pots as the one pictured above. Often, these objects are quite small and are hand carried in a bag by the users. As a museum curator, I find the tribal patterns exquisite and many represent cultural and spiritual meanings. The objects also tell stories. Perhaps in the future, on this blog, I may be able to bring some interpretations and explanations about some of the traditional Papua New Guinea patterns showed here. To introduce the art of the betel nut culture, here is a small collection I found on the public domain.
Lime pot lid and also sticks for dipping into lime for chewing. Sepik, Papua New Guinea.
‘Seeking Humanity’ is an art exhibition by renowned Australian artist, Wendy Sharpe. It is not about politics, but puts a human face to those who have fled situations of great danger in their home country in search of safety and freedom in Australia.
A previous Archibald winner and 2014 finalist, Wendy has drawn portraits of 39 asylum seekers and refugees. Through her art, she shares their lives with us to show that underneath all the troubles and politics around the issue, we are all the same; we all have the same hopes and dreams. The show will start on February 17 and end on May 24 in Penrith, Sydney and Canberra.
‘Seeking Humanity’ is brought to you by the Asylum Seekers Centre. All portraits will be on sale with proceeds going to the Centre to help provide practical and personal support for asylum seekers.
Click on the link and press play to watch Wendy draw live.
Curled into a ball, our spiny visitor on the floor of the workshop in Bellbowrie – Picture by Flynn and Chris.
One of the luxuries of living in the Australian bush is the unusual ‘visitors’ we get. So, far in the three years we have lived in Bellbowrie, Queensland, we have had some interesting ‘visitors’. We have had the slithering kinds, the furry kinds, and scaly kinds, and two days ago, a spiny kind.
My younger son Chris and his friend Flynn were downstairs in Chris’s workshop and they heard a noise of something knocking thinks over. With their phone lights, they saw a dark mop run to the corner and wedge itself between a child’s chair legs. I kept these chairs for children’s art classes. Even when they had switched the lights on, they could not tell what it was. When they got closer, they were surprised and started yelling in excitement. We all rushed downstairs to see what it was.
Wedged between the small chair legs was a frightened little spiny ‘visitor’ – an echidna. The poor echidna was so frightened that it rolled up in a ball with its head between its front legs. The boys carefully removed the chair to take the picture above and then put it back. We never got to see its face and after half hour or so, with the lights off, it disappeared.
‘Dame’ here is a male short beak echidna that lives in Australia zoo and is much-loved by all the zoo keepers. Photo: Australia Zoo
Judging from what I saw and the image Chris and Flynn took, this spiny visitor was a short-beak echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus). It is also known as the spiny anteater. There are five sub-species of this echidna in Australia. The Echidna generally is a highly adaptable creature and can be found in coastal forests, alpine meadows and interior deserts of Australia. They weigh up to 6 kilogrammes and can grow up to 45 centimetres. Read more here
After all this time, this spiny ‘visit’ finally solves the mystery of the half-moon shape hollows dug into the base of plants in my garden. The markings would have been made when it was looking for ants, baby roots and worms to eat. I have been blaming my chickens and the bush turkeys for these markings.
The ornate rainbow fish (Rhadinocentrus ornatus) is a small and beautifully coloured freshwater fish. You don’t often spot them straight away in dark creek ways because their colours show when the light catches their scales. Few populations of these fish are scattered in freshwater creeks in parts of Brisbane where I live, and some creek systems in Queensland’s Redlands, Moreton Bay and Byfield regions.
Ornate rainbowfish (R.ornatus) Castaways Creek Photo Leo O’Reilly/ANGFA
The ornate rainbow fish, also known as soft-spine sun-fish can also be found in Nambucca, New South Wales. Four distinct populations have been found in the areas between Queensland and New South Wales.
The numbers of the ornate rainbow fish have decreased rapidly due to human impact. Urban and rural development have caused experts to fear that certain species of the fish have already been lost forever. Every creek in the parts of Australia where the fish is found, has its own unique population which varies in colour and scientists believe they could also be genetically exclusive. The ornate rainbow fish on average grows five to six centimetres long. They can grow up to 8cm long.
“The sad tale is that every time we lose a population of ornate rainbow fish from a creek system we are effectively losing a very unique group of fish forever”, Wildlife Queensland.
Wildlife Queensland has issued a fact-sheet for voluntary information on spotting of the ornate rainbow fish. They hope this data collection would determine where the fish are still found and how many types are left. The information would also assist Wildlife Queensland to educate the public and minimise threats to the fish life.
I really liked the story about the missing shoes and I accidentally came across it while having a conversation with my son. I enjoy conversations with both my sons because I learn a lot from them. When they were younger I still learnt from them, but, it is nothing like the age now where they are growing into young adults and they have their own views and interests. Nathan, my eldest (19) is a storyteller so he often suggests some interesting topics for my readers. While I bring you some of these interesting topics, I have personally learnt a lot from reading these topics myself. In a way, life as a parent starts by being a teacher, and eventually your children become your teacher and you are their student.
Together, Nathan and I watched a show called the Drunk History this afternoon. It is a comedy about drunk actors re-telling history. The show was quite funny. One of the historical features in this show caught my attention, and in a more serious way. It was a story about the Native American super athlete, Jim Thorpe. Now some of you may know that Thorpe was celebrated for his legendary achievements in athletics and football. Thorpe’s life before he became an athlete was quite moving. What caught my attention and I found to be truly inspiring, was a story about Thorpe’s participation in the 1912 Olympics and what he did (as pictured) when his running shoes went missing.
And, yes, he’s wearing unmatched , different sized shoes he found in a garbage bin at the Olympics. This didn’t stop him from winning two gold medals.
As Wheeler details in Jim Thorpe’s biography, Thorpe’s sneakers went missing before the final event of the 1912 three-day Olympic competition.
Thorpe’s emergency plan led him to burrow through the trash for a shoe too small then borrow a shoe so oversized he had to stuff it for his foot to fit.
What the mismatched pair produced was his magnum opus in the finale, winning the 1,500 meters in 4 minutes, 40.1 seconds – a time that a gold medalist decathlete wouldn’t beat until Mykola Avilov ran a 4:22 at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games.
“That story always evokes the greatest response when I share it,” Wheeler said. “I think it can still inspire generations to come. I think in the case of Jim Thorpe, the true story is just as good, or better, than the mythology.”
When people make lists of the greatest athletes of the 20th century, they are populated with the usual suspects: Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, Serena Williams, Wayne Gretzky, Jim Brown, Pele… but there is one name that should always make the list even though many people, even the biggest sports fans, may not recognize it, or if they do, they know little about the man- Jim Thorpe.
The story of Jim Thorpe is one of determination, triumph, tragedy, racial prejudice, controversy, and extraordinary athletic achievement. Born approximately May 28, 1887 (the exact date has been disputed) in a small one-room cabin near the town of Prague, Oklahoma, Jim was the son of a farmer named Hiram and a Potawatomie Indian named Mary James, who was a descendant of the famed Native American warrior Black Hawk.
Jim, or by his Native American name Wa-Tho-Huk meaning “Bright Path,” grew up on Native American land fishing, hunting, playing sports, and learning from tribal elders. He was actually born a twin, having a built-in best friend and brother to play with. Unfortunately, when Jim was only nine, his twin brother died from pneumonia.
The stress of losing his brother caused Jim to act out and he was sent to an “Indian” boarding school in Lawrence, Kansas. A few years later, his mother would die while giving birth. Shortly thereafter, his father died as well.
Left an orphan, Jim fled his hometown and began attending Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. The school was founded by United States General Richard Henry Pratt in 1879 with the purpose of integrating Native Americans into the American way of life by “eliminating their Indianness.”
It was there that a 17-year old, depressed Jim Thorpe walked by the school’s track & field practice on the way back to his dorm. He saw all the boys running and jumping and later said he thought to himself “I can do that better than they can.”
Tribalmystic Stories 