Maude Nificent

OldFart White #Atheist, on BoonWurrung Land; #GoodTVSeries; #CurrentlyListeningTo; #FavouriteBooks (usu non-fict); whinge #Crapitalism; #SystemicRacism; happy to discuss #Bipolar or #MentalHealth or just listen if that’s wot is needed
Banner says “Imagine your ancestors massacring vulnerable people and you celebrating it every year lol. You’re all psychopaths.” Madeline Hayman-Reber
Avatar Description; Wednesday Addams with incredulous expression

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Last Notes

2026-05-08 12:12:47 UTC

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aah… so i just need to raise the issue of neuroplasticity, right?
i’ve only just trained her to tolerate subtitles 😆😆

2026-05-08 02:50:19 UTC

👂 life with a fren who won’t wear hearing aids cos all she can hear is her own breathing etc
(i think this partly an “on the spectrum issue” 🤔 i’m all “dinner is a time for conversation/communion” and she is all “turn the tv up i can hear myself chewing”)
—-
anyway, since she retired completely it has been relentlessly loud tv… 📺
not just the volume up but watching shows that are inherently loud.
i hide in my room to minimise the aggravation, but of course the walls are simply two sheets of plasterboard with an echo chamber between them…
anyway, last night i said i might emerge from my room and socialise if we could have the tv off for a while…
this morning has been lovely and quiet (silence is also a sound, i say)
then fren returns from op shop expedition for books to read, with a vinyl record. it’s a world record club 1950s masterpiece called “bless this house”.🙄
could i find this on my apple streaming service?
well yes, of course. it has been “re-mastered” but seriously not to my taste.
and it’s currently playing at a ridiculous volume so fren can hear it. 🙄
ongoing case of “the orange and the green” here, added to which i am not remotely religious at heart. (i do like catholic 🎶, gregorian chant etc, but not what i like to call her “pagan shit”. )
i did not know bizet had written an arrangement for agnus dei, and okay, it’s a traditional prayer from the tridentine mass but this score and orchestra version are still imo totally shit and over the top. every track sounds like the soundtrack at the denoument of a 1930s b&w movie
i have told fren it is infinitely better than her old gang show records. 🎭
i might be stretching the truth 😆
now we are singing onward christian soldiers 😆
her father always had his own lyrics to hymns, but her mother would not let him share them. nonetheless, fren (with her own special neurodivergent way of walking) is now showing me how her father would march up and down carrying a broom like the cross of jesus to mock the music fren’s mother was playing
much more fun than the tele

2026-04-18 15:29:18 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff — Sun 19 April, 2026
(Please boost for reach, and try to CW your answers
Mound-building termites are a group of termite species that live in mounds,
made of a combination of soil, termite saliva and dung.
Most of the mounds are in well-drained areas, and usually outlive the colonies themselves. Sometimes other colonies, of the same or different species, occupy a mound after the original builders' deaths.
———
Termite mounds are found in Africa, and South America as well as australia, but today’s questions concern two species of termites found only in Aus:
:questionbox: what are the common names of these two australian species of mound building termites?
The first is
Amitermes meridionalis
the common names of the mounds derive from the fact that their wedge-shaped mound is aligned with its main axis running north and south
The second is
Nasutitermes triodiae,
a grass-eating species found in Northern Territory,
Sometimes referred to as the spinifex termite it is also widely known by another name that describes the church-like structure of the mounds —
tall fortresses built of upright columns
that are hollow to allow for internal air circulation
columns are tough and able to withstand the rigors of wind, rain, heat, and hungry predators.
these mounds can reach up to 5 metres or more in height
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/116/426/405/500/928/462/original/6acd0d3e77d2c1ad.jpeg

2026-04-17 23:56:20 UTC

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of course you did
imo all quizzes should have a two-tier scoring system…
🥈 if you know you know, and
🥇 if you can retrieve the answer from your hard drive

2026-04-17 18:28:45 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff — Sat 18 April, 2026
(Please boost for reach, and try to CW your answers)
———
the “Goulburn School Strike of 1962” was a strike like no other,
and one which led to a significant change in federal policy…
:questionbox: what form did the strike take?
:questionbox: what precipitated the strike?
:questionbox: what changed as a result of the strike?

2026-04-17 18:25:50 UTC

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Wilfred Burchett
https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22media%2Ftvprog%2Ftrxbu1224%22;src1=sm1
https://theconversation.com/seventy-years-after-hiroshima-who-was-australian-war-correspondent-wilfred-burchett-45965

2026-04-17 00:17:43 UTC

a #SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff — Fri 17 April, 2026
(Please boost for reach, and try to CW your answers)
———
:questionbox: what’s my name?
i was a controversial reporter and author
born in clifton hill, melbourne, in 1911
to progressive parents
grew up in the country
went to agricultural college for a while
left school at 15
dabbled in languages
with my brother, Winston, set out for Europe by ship in 1936
working for a travel agency in London
resettling Jewish Refugees in Palestine and USA
met and married Erna Lewy
visited germany in 1938 before returning to australia
wrote letters to newspapers warning against the danger of German and Japanese militarism
After the declaration of war by England, became sought after as "one of the last Australians to leave Germany before the war”
1940 obtained accreditation with the Australian Associated Press to report on the revolt against the Vichy French in the South Pacific colony of New Caledonia.
reported from Asia til the end of the war
—
was the first Western journalist to visit Hiroshima after the atom bomb was dropped, writing
“In Hiroshima, 30 days after the first atomic bomb destroyed the city and shook the world, people are still dying, mysteriously and horribly – people who were uninjured by the cataclysm – from an unknown something which I can only describe as atomic plague. Hiroshima does not look like a bombed city. It looks as if a monster steamroller had passed over it and squashed it out of existence. I write these facts as dispassionately as I can in the hope that they will act as a warning to the world”
Elsewhere, military censorship was successful. Civilian casualties were downplayed and the deadly lingering effects of radiation were dismissed.[6] The New York Times published a front-page story with the headline 'No radioactivity in Hiroshima ruin
—
i remarried in 1949
later, reporting on eastern europe, then korea, moscow and china, continued to make claims and left wing comments displeasing to western authorities
In 1955, my British passport went missing, and the Australian and british Governments refused to issue a replacement
for years i got by with a vietnamese leave-pass, then castro gave me a cuban passport.
in 1972 whitlam gave me an australian passport.
in 1982 i moved to Bulagaria, and died in Sofia in 1983

2026-04-15 14:38:25 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff — Thurs 16 April, 2026
(Please boost for reach, and try to CW your answers)
———
:questionbox: what’s my name?
I was born in 1902 in Noorat in rural Victoria
part one of my autobiography
published in 1955
is called I Can Jump Puddles
it tells of my Edwardian era childhood,
growing up in a world of horses and swaggies
and contracting polio at the age of 6
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/116/409/223/696/588/452/original/a7581a6ba6089a18.jpeg

2026-04-14 14:24:08 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff — Wed 15 April, 2026
(Please boost for reach, and try to CW your answers)
———
:questionbox: what’s the australian name for a lake resulting from this phenomenon?
i am a lake formed when a meandering river erodes through the neck of one of its meanders. This takes place because meanders tend to grow and become more curved over time. The river then follows a shorter course that bypasses the meander.
The entrances to the abandoned meander eventually silt up, forming a lake.
these lakes are stillwater lakes, with no current flowing through them, which causes the lake bed to gradually accumulate silt, becoming a bog or swamp and then evaporating completely.
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/116/403/487/329/645/265/original/e088ca0b3f32f457.jpeg

2026-04-13 14:47:19 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff — Tues 14 April, 2026
(Please boost for reach, and try to CW your answers)
———
:questionbox: what’s my anglo name?
i am a town in queensland
my name is a date, though in official documents my name is spelled out in words
i was built on the site of the second landing in Australia by James Cook and the crew of the bark HMS Endeavour (and their first landing in what is now the state of Queensland).
i am the closest access point to the great barrier reef
my population is growing - in 2021 it was 125
i am situated on a peninsula, with the Coral Sea and Bustard Bay on three sides.
———-
an excerpt from Warra Warra Wai, by Darren Rix And Craig Cormick (2024) about when the crew of the Endeavour stopped in the area they called Bustard Bay;
Meanwhile, the men who’d gone fishing were totally unsuccessful in catching any fish, but they were able to return to the ship with the bustard they had shot. It was cooked for the officers and naturalists dinner and banks declared it "far the best… that we have eaten since we left England" and it was this bustard that clearly stuck so firmly in Cook's mind, above anything else they saw that day, because he renamed the place bustard Bay.
The land that the men of the Endeavour thought sandy and barren was able to well provide for the Gurang clan of the Gooreng Gooreng people. Many plants provided foods across the seasons of the year, often things the Europeans did not even recognise as food. The fruit of the mangrove trees, for example, was eaten by being pounded, rinsed and then baked into a damper.
The men employed many methods in the capture of animals and birds for their food, never taking more than they needed. Such lore included the knowledge that booroo (kangaroos) disliked travelling over freshly burned grass, so large areas were burned and hunters then concealed themselves entries in the small unburnt areas, over which the animals would then travel. Bustard were also captured using fire. A circle of grass was fired around them and as they became confused in the smoke, they were easier to catch. All a part of fire knowledge.
Fish were caught lines using fish hooks made from shells, or in stone fish traps or by using fish poisons. Two of the most effective poisons, plentiful in coastal areas, were cockatoo apple and the red ash. The popped bark and leaves were placed in the water and the fish were dead in about 20 minutes. The bark of some other trees only stupefied but did not kill the fish.

2026-04-12 18:44:56 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff — Mon 13 April, 2026
(Please boost for reach, and try to CW your answers)
———
:questionbox: what’s my anglo name?
i am the name of a region centred around Meningie in south australia
i am also the name of a coastal lagoon in south australia
and i am also the name of a national park in south australia
about 156 km south east of adelaide
the national park protects a coastal lagoon ecosystem
situated on Ngarrindjeri country, and my anglo name is presumably derived from a Ngarrindjeri word meaning neck, or long and narrow
the western end of the lagoon is near the mouth of the murray river
(near hindmarsh island)
and i extend south east along the younghusband peninsula
the beach on the coastal side is the longest beach in australia
i am a place of enormous biodiversity,
and especially well known as the setting for colin thiele’s 1964 novel storm boy, a 1976 movie based on that novel and a 2019 remake of the movie
The largest pelican rookery in Australia is in this region at Jack Point, just off the Princes Highway and about 7 km (4.3 mi) north of Salt Creek.

2026-04-12 04:20:08 UTC

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🥇

2026-04-12 00:17:45 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff — Sun 12 April, 2026
(Please boost for reach, and try to CW your answers)
———
wikipedia tells me
A cockatoo is any of the 21 species of parrots belonging to the family Cacatuidae, the only family in the superfamily Cacatuoidea.
The family has a mainly Australasian distribution, ranging from the Philippines and the eastern Indonesian islands of Wallacea to New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Australia.
Cockatoos are recognisable by their prominent crests and curved bills
Cockatoos prefer to eat seeds, tubers, corms, fruit, flowers, and insects. They often feed in large flocks, particularly when ground-feeding. Cockatoos are monogamous and nest in tree hollows.
:questionbox: which type of cockatoo am i? (what’s my common name)
i am native to New Guinea, the Aru Islands and the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland,
i have a crest of long feathers atop its head, with a very large and strong, sharply-hooked black beak (with which it can easily open nuts and seeds), and prominent bright-red cheek patches
at 55 to 60 cm (22 to 24 in) in length and a weight of 910–1,200 g (2.01–2.65 lb).
i *may* be the largest cockatoo species and largest parrot in Australia.. . or close to it
i have one of the largest bills of any parrot (only the hyacinth macaw's is larger). This powerful bill enables me not only to eat very hard nuts and seeds, but also enables males to break off thick (about 1 in (2.5 cm)) sticks from live trees to use for a drumming display.
The male has a larger beak than the female.
The beak is unusual, as the lower and upper mandibles do not meet for much of its length, allowing the tongue to hold a nut against the top mandible while the lower mandible works to open it. i have a distinctive red cheek patch that changes colour when i am alarmed or excited.
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/116/388/857/347/581/154/original/431c284527969c6d.jpeg

2026-04-10 17:14:09 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff — Sat 11 April, 2026
(Please boost for reach, and try to CW your answers)
———
wikipedia tells me there are several different plants sometimes called Billygoat Plum — but today’s answer is an alternative common name, which seems to refer to one plant only
—- based on the botanical name, and the Indigenous uses of the plant,
:questionbox: what is the common name of this plant?
(clue -it’s not a *plum* 😉)
the botanical name is Planchonia Careya
Distribution: Across northern tropical Australia and down the east coast to about Fraser Island, in open forests and woodlands.
Planchonia careya is a small tree, 4-10 metres high, which is briefly deciduous in the dry season. Bark is grey, rough, slightly corky and fissured. Leaves are egg-shaped or spatula-shaped, tapering to the base, shiny light green above, dull beneath, softly leathery, margins having rounded teeth, 2.5-10 cm x 3-6 cm. The leaves turn rusty-orange before falling.
The flowers of are large, white and fleshy with numerous pink and white stamens 5-6 cm long. Flowering is quite prolific but not readily apparent as the flowers open in the evening and usually fall by morning. Flowering period is July to October.
The fruit is green, egg-shaped and smooth to 9 cm x 4 cm.
Seeds are contained in a fibrous, cheesy flesh and the fruit was popular with Indigenous people.
The fruit — which tastes similar to quince — is readily eaten by cockatoos and goats.
Indigenous Australians …
*pulverized the inner bark of this species and added it to small water bodies to act as a fish toxin, allowing fish to be easily collected from the surface of the water. (This is known to have been a practice used at Cleveland Bay.
*The roots of the species were also used as a fish toxin (at Bustard Bay, 650 kms south of cleveland bay)
* boiled the inner bark of this species in water and the resulting liquid was used as an antiseptic wash for open cuts and sores.
*placed the heated leaves of this species over mosquito and sandfly bites to relieve irritation.
*used the flowers of this species as decorations.
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/116/381/530/046/395/263/original/e65823519fbc4424.jpeg

2026-04-09 17:12:33 UTC

Enjoyed #watching “The Undoing” (a 6 part mini series on HBO) made in 2020
synopsis:
A modern twist to a classical "whodunnit" tale,
the life of a wealthy New York therapist turns upside down after she and her family get involved with a murder case.
cast includes Donald Sutherland, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Grant
also features Matilda De Angelis (who plays Lidia Poet in the netflix series)
i’m not a committed fan of whodunnits, but this one was a cut above average.
can’t say much about why without spoilers…
that one of the main characters is a therapist provides a clue that this is more about what makes people tick than about weaponry and the usual forensic hoo-ha.
also, it was set amongst a privileged class of people in NY, and it’s always enjoyable telling some characters on the tele they are “horrible” people, or even “w⚓️s”
————————-
not part of the story, but always of interest to me is the attitudes some people/ characters have to money:
the donald sutherland character in “the undoing” has an “old money” vibe about him, which is a refreshing change from stories about excessively greedy corporate power types.
the rule “first generation makes it, second generation spends it, third generation loses it” is supported by data (the internet told me so it must be true 🤔…) 70% of wealthy families lose their money by second generation, 90% by the third”
“The phenomenon is globally recognized, known as "Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations" (English), "Fu bu guo san dai" (Chinese: wealth does not pass three generations), or "Grandfather in a tent, father in a palace, son in a tent" (Pashto).

2026-04-09 16:07:29 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff — Fri 10 April, 2026
(Please boost for reach, and try to CW your answers)
———
Alf Traeger, was born near Dimboola, 1895
and raised in Adelaide
At the age of 12, he built a telephone from the farmhouse to a shed, making all of the components himself.
He had built his own radio transmitter before graduation from the South Australian School of Mines and Industries, where he studied mechanical and electrical engineering
During the 1920s, he was contacted by John Flynn
hoping to find a way for remote families
using radio equipment
to access medical treatment
Traeger worked on a transceiver for the network, which had to be small, cheap, durable and easy to operate. He found that a person could drive the generator using bicycle pedals, and he built his transceiver into a box. His famous "pedal wireless" used a pedal-operated generator
He divided his time between his workshop and the outback, where he also taught radio operating and Morse code
In 1933 Traeger invented a typewriter Morse keyboard as an accessory to the pedal sets, widely used before the invention of telephony
The Traeger Transceivers company exported radios to a number of countries: in 1962 pedal sets were sold to Nigeria; in 1970 an educational radio network was sold to Canada. Traeger continued inventing: he designed a turbine-driven car and used solar power to convert salt water to fresh water
today’s :questionbox: what is the name of the school that used pedal radios?
and :questionbox: what year were the first school lessons officially delivered from the Royal Flying Doctor Service base in Alice Springs

2026-04-09 04:07:03 UTC

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strange characters in names… 🤔
apostrophe ?

2026-04-09 02:01:41 UTC

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we chose well, eh?

2026-04-09 02:00:13 UTC

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interesting.
talking to my cousin the other day about parents’ generation in our family, and i’m beginning to realise just how much of what her parents did/said was driven by their catholicism
i remember saluting mannix on st patricks day as we all marched past the cathedral, but did not understand much about him until later…
1963 was a depressing year for the nuns at school… first mannix died, then the catholic president of the usa. heavy times. 😆
[@sister_ratched](https://toot.community/@sister_ratched )

2026-04-09 01:53:17 UTC

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it’s quite possible.
most images i have of santamaria show him in an office at home, surrounded by stacks of newspapers. his ncc newsletter (i can’t remember the name) was always carefully filled with references to newspaper articles (i.e. yes, X really said that, check it out!)
i loved to look at different points of view to try and understand what lives inside the heads of people who see the world differently
i do remember my mother always turned the TV volume to zero whenever bob menzies commandeered the air waves for some important address to the nation

2026-04-09 01:00:46 UTC

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cos there really was not much to watch on the tele…
and if you think of it as comedy, it was great entertainment.
(sometimes when i read back my own writing i can hear santamaria’s own personal style of sentence construction in my ear, and then i am quickly motivated to edit and re-write 😆)
i don’t think there was ever a more earnest person on tv, i’ll give him that.

2026-04-09 00:40:55 UTC

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good question
forgive me for cut and paste of AI stuff.. but
“ Bob Santamaria’s long-running television program, Point of View, was primarily funded and sponsored by the National Civic Council (NCC).
Key details regarding the program's funding and origins include:
Media Support: The program was born after Sir Frank Packer, the owner of the Nine Network and a supporter of the Liberal Party, offered Santamaria an ongoing slot.
Subsidised Costs: Packer initially provided the airtime at a heavily subsidised rate of £10 a week to avoid broadcast regulations that would have otherwise classified it as a prohibitively expensive political advertisement. Some sources later described this arrangement as Packer giving Santamaria free air time on the Nine Network.
The NCC's Role: While Packer provided the platform, the NCC—the political organisation Santamaria founded and led—paid for the production and presentation of the commentary, which ran for over three decades.
“
it makes sense.
until mannix popped the clog, the DLP was a major force in aust politics

2026-04-09 00:04:32 UTC

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if i understand correctly what you are talking about….
this might help you navigate without a home button
(personally, i wish the world still ran on fountain pens and carbon paper, and i especially hate having to return to kindy level every time some piece of technology makes a leap-forward.)
alternatively here is a very short video clip with demonstrations…
the home screen example is near the end-
https://youtube.com/shorts/674dVZizwr4?
late edit. i have never used siri, and keep it turned off on all devices.
if i use the microphone function (usually to dictate draft of an alt text while staring at a picture) i always have to edit because the system does not understand much of what i say. if i had to rely on siri i would be up shot creek good and proper.

2026-04-08 23:49:58 UTC

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“Point of View”
Sunday morning TV viewing was a desert, though i think he had better time slots in the beginning. 🤔
He had a huge influence on lots of people.

2026-04-08 23:41:26 UTC

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🥇

2026-04-08 15:16:12 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff — Thurs 9 April, 2026
(Please boost for reach, and try to CW your answers)
———
:questionbox: what is my name?
born 1864 in County Cork
ordained as a catholic priest in 1890
i moved to australia 1913
as coadjutor [assistant/ next in line] Archbishop of melbourne
and became archbishop in 1917
serving in that role for 46 years
my militant advocacy on behalf of a separate Roman Catholic school system, in defiance of the general acceptance of a secular school system, made me immediately a figure of controversy
In 1914, when Australia entered World War I on the side of the UK
i denounced the war as "just a sordid trade war",
& was labelled a traitor.
When the Australian Labor Party govt of Billy Hughes tried to introduce conscription for the war,
i campaigned against it
i spoke out more frequently about the 1917 referendum, which was also defeated. This campaign included a speech before a huge crowd of perhaps 100,000 at the Richmond Racecourse (which was provided by John Wren)
When the Labor Party split over conscription, i supported the Catholic-dominated anti-conscription faction
i opposed the Easter Rising in 1916 and always condemned the use of force by Irish nationalists. i also counselled Irish Catholic australians to stay out of Irish politics…
[yada yada yada]
i predicted the 1915 Treaty of Versailles, would lead to a greater war than the one just ended…
the british tried to keep me from visiting english cities with a large irish population, and there were efforts to stop me returning to australia
In the 1920s spoke against the Industrial Workers of the World and the Communist Party of Australia.
i was leader of the largest ethnic minority in melbourne
and lived at Raheen, in kew
After 1941, authorised Bob Santamaria to form the Catholic Social Studies Movement, aka "The Movement", to organise in the unions and defeat the Communists.
by 1949 it had taken control of the Victorian branch of the Labor Party
i spoke against the white australia policy
although i saw communism as a threat to the church, i opposed - as totalitarian - Menzie’s 1951 referendum to ban communism
when the Labor party split again i supported the new democratic labor party, (DLP) & allowed religious to openly support them
in 1957 the vatican ruled “the movement” should not interfere in politics
By the 1960s the distinct identity of the Irish community in Melbourne was fading, and Irish Catholics were increasingly outnumbered by Italian, Croatian, Polish, Maltese and other postwar immigrant Catholic communities.
i remained active and in full authority, but was no longer a central figure in the city's politics.
I died in 1963, a few months shy of my 100th birthday

2026-04-08 15:02:20 UTC

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song title: I don’t like it
song lyrics: my shopping trolley… murdered
https://youtu.be/rfK9XMEgUkM

2026-04-08 08:03:41 UTC

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ohno… falling into a bookshop is a real wealth hazard
feel better soon
😆

2026-04-08 07:04:28 UTC

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ooh, thank you… these are going straight to the poolroom!

2026-04-07 23:49:46 UTC

scraping number 3
“name that tune”
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/116/366/098/182/875/445/original/357f63312ce1cdf6.jpeg

2026-04-07 23:43:00 UTC

scraping number 2
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/116/366/073/263/500/638/original/f83e40514c40e061.png

2026-04-07 17:04:26 UTC

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asia pacific region generally
not some blind alliance to a country, but alliance to a decent set of values

2026-04-07 16:37:43 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff — Wed 8 April, 2026
(Please boost for reach, and try to CW your answers)
———
:questionbox: what is my name?
i am an australian hit song released in 1998
recorded by Simon Hunt
my official music video features lip syncing by Pauline Pantsdown
Pauline doesn’t like it, but i peaked at number 10 on the ARIA charts
:questionbox: what happened to my shopping trolley?????
———

2026-04-07 08:47:33 UTC

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what… were they excommunicated?
seriously though… i was never sporty, and also smacking the ball with my hand hurt the one time i tried it 😆

2026-04-07 07:51:32 UTC

fren has been #watching a murdoch mysteries episode which features catholic religious (christian brothers??) playing handball. (it’s a canadian show)
this made me curious — my older brother went to a christian brothers college (melbourne australia) in the 1960s, and he was, for a while, obsessed with the game
it’s a fairly fundamental game requiring only a ball, a wall, and some players. no surprise it was popular and hardly an exclusively irish thing.
however, wikipedia tells me the christian brothers are credited with introducing it to successive generations of australian catholics thru their school network, and this thesis i stumbled across suggests it was instrumental in promoting irish identity in various colonies.
i’m a mix of surprise and amusement — i always thought it was a christian brothers obsession because “the devil makes mischief for idle hands”
we know it has been an irish thing for a while, cos the 1527 Statute of Galway, forbade playing ball games against town walls. 😆
https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/bitstream/handle/2123/8827/Light.RP_thesis_2012.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=1
From ‘Irish Exile’ to ‘Australian pagan’:
the Christian Brothers, Irish handball, and identity in early twentieth-century Australia

2026-04-07 00:52:04 UTC

From my collection of old screen shots:
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/116/360/680/986/323/771/original/1bc758f27c123928.png

2026-04-06 16:38:19 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff — Tues 7 April, 2026
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———
:questionbox: who was i?
i was a late-night horror host active on Australian television between 1959 and 1978 — i was some kind of 'zombified' undertaker
Originated as a live (pre-video machine) host of a horror film package for Perth's TVW-7 by 1959, my character was most active between 1966 and 1972 when adopted by the 0-10 Network for the TEN affiliate stations in Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. These separate versions existed because, in this pre-satellite era, the capital-city TV stations of the ABC and the three commercial networks were all locally broadcast – the only TV networking at this time was accomplished via the coaxial cable that connected Sydney and Melbourne, and this was only used for selected programs, due to its cost and limited bandwidth.
Broadcast weekly, [my] Aweful Movies featured mainly B-grade horror movies introduced by local actors with a tongue-in-cheek characterization. The program was renowned for screening low-budget B-grade (or worse) supernaturally themed cinema, even going so far as to present the Worst Movie of the Year on at least one occasion.
Varying widely in appearance and personality, each version took a vaguely sardonic approach to the subject matter, frequently ridiculing whatever film [my character] happened to be hosting. The show was popular with teenagers and university student audiences, who tuned in apparently as much for the commentaries as for the actual movies (which according to at least one observer were little short of atrocious)
Genre was not restricted exclusively to horror, but included sci-fi, suspense, mystery and even the odd matinee serial dredged up from the 1940s. The chief unifying element was the consistently poor quality of the material – the term "Aweful Movie" could often be applied in more than one sense – which was, evidently, part of the show's appeal.

2026-04-05 22:00:55 UTC

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🥇
she would be a bit long in the tooth now, and possibly less busy 🤔
https://www.gevans.org/speeches/Speech795.html

2026-04-05 18:45:48 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff — Mon 6 April, 2026
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———
:questionbox: what was my name, and my acronym?
i was a (primarily women's) Decentralised social anti war movement opposing national service and Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War.
Originally created in response to the implementation of the National Service Act of 1964
requiring that 20-year-old males to serve in the Army for a period of twenty-four months of continuous service (reduced to eighteen months in 1971)
followed by three years in the Reserve.
👉🏻👉🏻The Defence Act 1965 amended the Defence Act 1903 in May 1965 to provide that conscripts could be obliged to serve overseas,
in March 1966 Prime Minister Harold Holt announced that National Servicemen would be sent to Vietnam to fight in units of the Australian Regular Army
At the outbreak of the Vietnam War the national service act lead to the deployment of conscripts.
In October 1964 Joyce Golgerth began contacting mothers of conscription-age sons, leading to the formation of a Sydney group that was later joined by fifteen women.
Other branches of were soon established across Australia; in Victoria the convenor from 1965 to 1973 was Jean McLean.
In 1972 under the Whitlam government conscription was ended and Australian troops withdrew from Vietnam.

2026-04-04 21:46:01 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff — Sun 5 April, 2026
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———
:questionbox: what is my name?
i am a theme pub
situated at Table Top, near Albury in NSW
built in 1987
(and since copied in Cunderdin WA, and at aussieworld on the sunshine coast)
i’m a copy of a pub that featured in Ken Maynard’s cartoons,
a regular feature in the Australasian Post magazine
from 1958 and for about 40 years
and so, although i am only a 40 year old tourist attraction,
my theme is a rather old and “ocker”
(perhaps ken maynard was a fan of steele rudd’s stories in “on our selection”)
the internet tells me my name is an Indigenous word for place of good drink.
another source claims it is derived from a polynesian word.
What the internet does not say, though, is that for many years it was widely understood my name was loosely contrived from the non-Indigenous expression “have a go mate”
My building design is based on the pub appearing in the cartoon,
so i am an old-style two story pub with bull-nosed verandah on the second floor
on the red tin roof is an ancient 1927 chevrolet flat bed truck, lodged there during one of australia’s infamous flood events
my walls are slightly askew, because in the cartoons, that’s how i was drawn
(complete with rabbits in the dry dusty ground, hovering crows wearing hobnailed boots, tons of blowflies, and other whimsical touches)

2026-04-03 14:36:27 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff — Sat 4 April, 2026
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———
:questionbox: what is my name?
I am a Yamatji man from the Murchison region of WA
born on Bullardoo station in 1956
i grew up in Mullewa
i played basketball at state level for a while, which is how i became mates with Richard Walley, a Nyungar man
together we devised a welcome to country ceremony in Perth in 1976
as visiting dancers from the Pacific Islands refused to perform without one
my tv and film career began in the 1980s
I’ve been in heaps of stuff, beginning with the Cowra Breakout in 1984
feature films (Crocodile Dundee) made for TV films, documentaries, comedies
(not just Black Comedy, but Fast Forward)
narrated the Indigenous segment of the Sydney Olympics
i hosted the television program The Great Outdoors for 16 years from its beginning in 1993 to its end in 2009
and now host a free-to-air travel show for NITV on SBS
as well as basketball i love aussie rules, and support the West Coast Eagles

2026-04-02 19:17:49 UTC

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ooh… cake 😃
happy birthday @caity
🎂🎉💐

2026-04-02 18:55:44 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff — Fri 3 April, 2026
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———
:questionbox: what is my name?
i’m known as the _______ affair
nothing salacious, but
a Cold War spy incident in Australia
where a high-ranking KGB officer
from the soviet embassy in canberra
defected in 1954
The defection led to a Royal Commission and the resulting controversy contributed to the Australian Labor Party split of 1955
when a soviet colonel at the embassy learned he might be in trouble back home
(following a purge of stalin’s cronies)
he contacted ASIO seeking political asylum for himself
he did not tell his wife
happy for soviet MVD (Ministry of Internal Affairs men)
to believe he had been taken by australia
the MVD came to fetch his wife
triggering violent anti-Communist demonstrations at Sydney Airport
on the plane, a flight attendant asked Mrs _____ if she wanted to go home or defect, but she was concerned about repercussions for her family if she stayed
while plane re-fuelled at darwin airport, ASIO wrestled her from MVD custody
and she agreed to defect
the photos were very dramatic
Menzies announced australia was now in possession of vital information
establishing a royal commission on espionage
(no one was ever charged as a result of its findings)
there had been allegations some major Labor people were part of a spy ring
The defections came shortly before the 1954 federal election. Evatt accused Menzies of having arranged the defections to coincide with the election, for the benefit of the incumbent Liberal Party.
The belief that there had been a "conspiracy" became an article of faith in the Labor Party and on the left generally for many years

2026-04-02 04:49:11 UTC

lovely cousin just contacted me on facetime: she was wearing this shirt
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/116/333/293/382/587/900/original/8624a81f4e273685.jpeg

2026-04-01 17:16:59 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff — Thurs 2 April, 2026
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———
:questionbox: what is my common anglo name?
I am a strong, flightless bird
i can run, and swim
i am native to the tropical forests of New Guinea, the Moluccas and northeastern Australia.
some people think i am the world’s most dangerous bird but, seriously mate, the ostrich is worse
and i will not have a go unless provoked
i do not have a tongue but i have sharp beak, great for picking up fruit
i have three toed feet, with sharp claws
i have a keratinous skin-covered casque on my head
(it’s a giant knob, a bit like that of a dinosaur, or maybe it looks like night-cap)
i have blue around my neck (and maybe my face, depending on my style)
i come in 3 main styles;
if i am a northern species style of me, i have a single wattle;
if i am a southern species style of me, i have a double wattle
and grow to between 5 and 6 feet tall (up to 2 m);
if i am a dwarf style of me i have no wattle
i am asia’s largest bird
i am a ratite, which means i do not have a keel on my sternum
my closest relative is the emu
my genus is casuarius

2026-04-01 17:16:13 UTC

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Melville Island and Bathurst Island
2nd and 5th largest of australia’s islands

2026-04-01 01:42:53 UTC

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i’m not really agoraphobic…
i just stay home cos being in traffic is too stressful 😜

2026-04-01 01:27:50 UTC

Useless as a screen door on a non-existent submarine.
If he wants people to use less fuel, he should engage with state governments to make killer utes prohibitively expensive to own and operate.
I’d like to see elbow say or do just one thing that shows initiative, or even express a single point of view that passes the “real person” test.
Don’t tell me to pull my head in to help make an unjustified war more bearable. There are SUPPOSED to be consequences for doing the wrong thing.
(If i hear one more strayan bitching about the price of petrol, with no thought for people having the shit bombed out of them, I’m likely to scream)
#auspol #Fuel #PartnersInWarCrimes
https://social.chinwag.org/@abc_bot/116326725424317477

2026-03-31 20:12:30 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff — Wed 1 April, 2026
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———
the Tiwi Islands are officially made up of 9 small uninhabited islands, and two larger inhabited islands.
:questionbox: what are the names of the two larger islands?
the islands were formed by a rise in the ocean level during the last ice age, 8. or 9 thousand years ago
the stories of the flooding are part of the oral tradition of the Tunuvivi (Tiwi) people, who have occupied the area for 40,000 years
The Tiwi are, culturally and linguistically distinct from the Indigenous people of Arnhem Land, on the mainland just across the water
National Geographic has characterised contemporary Tiwi Islands society as reflecting an enduring fusion between the indigenous Tiwi people's traditional beliefs and later European settlers' Catholicism.
in 2021 the population was 2,348 of whom 87% were Indigenous.
Most residents speak Tiwi as their first language and English as a second language
There was early contact between the Tiwi and Macassan
traders, and other visits by early explorers.
The jury is out on the question of whether the Portuguese conducted slaving raids here. Maybe the locals were just hostile to colonisers for some other reason?
There was a catholic mission (from 1911)
and pearling until 1950s
on February 19, 1942, having noticed a sortie overhead, Father John McGrath sent an urgent message from the radio hut located next to Nguiu township Catholic church. The message explained that aircraft had been spotted over the islands, heading south across the Beagle Gulf towards Darwin. Officials ignored McGrath's warning and the Japanese airforce successfully managed to bomb Darwin
a Tiwi Islander named Matthias Ulungura disarmed and captured a Japanese pilot who had crash landed his damaged aircraft on one of the islands, the first Japanese military personnel to be taken captive on Australian soil
Control of the islands was transferred to the Indigenous traditional owners through the Tiwi Aboriginal Land Trust, and the Tiwi Land Council that was founded in 1978

2026-03-31 00:09:35 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff — Tuesday 31 Mar, 2026
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———
:questionbox: whats my stage name?
born Eliza Rosanna Gilbert
in County Sligo in 1821
In calcutta, i left Lt James, my husband of 5 years
and using a stage name, became a dancer
when i had my London debut as a spanish dancer in 1843,
i was recognised as Mrs James
to escape the scandal i departed for the continent,
in paris, i began to mix with people like Franz Liszt, Georges Sand, and Alexandre Dumas
In 1846, i arrived in Munich, where i was discovered by and became the mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria
he granted me a title and a large annuity
i seem to have got up a nose or two
Ludwig abdicated
and in 1848, the year of revolution,
it was once again time for me to move on
in london i met a young cavalry officer with a recent inheritance
but there were legal impediments to marriage
we lived for a time in france and spain
in 1851 i set off for the USA on my own,
and resurrected my career as a dancer
[moving on quickly now thru more relationship yada yada…]
i arrived in Sydney 1855, planning to perform on the goldfields
Historian Michael Cannon writes, "in September 1855 she (i.e. me) performed her erotic Spider Dance at the Theatre Royal in Melbourne, raising her skirts so high that the audience could see she wore no underclothing at all. Next day, The Argus thundered that her performance was 'utterly subversive to all ideas of public morality'. Respectable families ceased to attend the theatre, which began to show heavy losses."
the editor of the ballarat times gave me a bad review, so i went after him with a whip
At Castlemaine in April 1856, i was "rapturously encored" after my Spider Dance in front of 400 diggers (including members of the Municipal Council who had adjourned their meeting early to attend the performance), but drew the wrath of the audience after insulting them following some mild heckling
i departed for San Francisco in 1856. My manager/ lover fell overboard and was lost at sea.
in paris, britain and america, i continued to make a living as a lecturer
i died at the age of 39, and am buried in brooklyn
i have inspired many fictional characters, and been the subject of plays and musicals
one of my stock phrases has inspired a well known song by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross
AUSTRALIAN CONNECTIONS
doing my famous spider dance at the diggings, and giving the local press something to write about
while i was at the diggings, robert o’hara burke (famed explorer) developed a crush on me
like john batman (founder of Melbourne), i had tertiary syphilis

2026-03-29 21:22:44 UTC

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oh thank you! my brain is just not on the ball these days
a whole pack of your favourite jelly beans for you!

2026-03-29 14:28:30 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff — Mon 30 Mar, 2026
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———
:questionbox: whats my anglo name?
i am a gorge, a creek and a national park
in central queensland, nearly 600km NW of brisbane
primarily created by water erosion, my gorge is 30 km long
and 600 m deep at the mouth
prior to colonisation, i was visited regularly by the Bidjara and Karingbal peoples
my rock art sites have been used for 3,650 years,
and Kenniff’s Cave 19,500 years ago
Permanent springwater, cooler temperatures and low levels of direct sunlight provide the conditions that allow remnant rainforest to survive here in the dry central Queensland climate.
my Creek, winding between towering sandstone cliffs, always flows, even when it hasn't rained for month
my anglo name is the name of a mountain range in wales
grazing runs were established nearby in the 1860s
In 1932, a 26,300ha section was declared as national park, after lobbying by the Royal Geographical Society of Queensland,
the greater national park in which i am found now covers 298,000ha of the central highlands

2026-03-29 14:02:48 UTC

https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/116/312/827/235/008/224/original/293595de7857a752.jpeg

2026-03-29 07:19:11 UTC

Albo is a
#Auspol

2026-03-29 05:44:35 UTC

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you get ALL the black ones!

2026-03-29 05:15:54 UTC

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? i don’t even understand how that could be offensive in an australian context, but then, i’m not very bright

2026-03-29 05:13:35 UTC

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soz! it shouldn’t be so hard to reply 🙄
🥇
close enough! 🥇
and the closest guess yet 🥇
today i’m also handing out jelly beans, and i think you deserve two for waiting.
any flavour preferences?

2026-03-29 02:04:26 UTC

🥇
close enough! 🥇
and the closest guess yet 🥇

2026-03-28 20:10:12 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff — Sun 29 Mar, 2026
(Please boost for reach, and try to CW your answers)
———-
:questionbox: today we start with spelling…
is the correct spelling
nullabor or nullarbor ?
Historically, the plain was seasonally occupied by Indigenous Australian people, the Mirning clans and Yinyila people. Traditionally, the area was called Oondiri, which is said to mean 'the waterless'
:questionbox: next, we ask how far does it stretch east to west (or west to east, I’m not fussed)
(the nearest 100kms will do)
:questionbox: what year was the first telegraph message sent across?
:questionbox: what’s the name of the highway from Norseman in WA to Port Augusta in SA?
:questionbox: what year was the highway first carved out?
:questionbox: what year was the highway finally sealed?
——

2026-03-28 02:08:53 UTC

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i was having a joke cos that was scott morrison said…
never mind

2026-03-28 00:14:20 UTC

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well, if it’s good enough for captain cook 🤔

2026-03-27 21:27:45 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff — Sat 28 Mar, 2026
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———-
:questionbox: what’s my common name?
i am the _______ village
a village in the far north of south australia
on commonwealth land
part of a large area designated “prohibited” by the defence department
on the traditional lands of six Aboriginal groups: Maralinga Tjarutja (MT), Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yunkunytjatjara (APY), Antakirinja Matu-Yankunytjatjara (AMY), Arabana, Gawler Ranges, and Kokatha peoples
i was built starting in 1947
to cater for thousands of people moving here
to serve
the nearby rocket range (of the same name)
— one of the most secret allied establishments in operation
during the Cold War
i was a “closed town” between 1947-1982
administered by the Long Range Weapons Establishment (LRWE) under the terms of the Anglo-Australian Joint Project.
at my peak i housed 7000 people
Since 1982, the general public has been able to visit and stay at here. However, only Australian Government (mostly Department of Defence) personnel and contractors to the Commonwealth are able to live here on a permanent basis.
From 1969-1999 the australians and USA had a Joint Tracking Facility at nearby Nurrungar
in 1999 the federal government opened an immigration detention centre here, but it was controversial and only lasted about 3 years
today i am part of an RAAF base
my population varies between 150-200 people
my common name is derived from a traditional word for spear-thrower

2026-03-27 05:21:49 UTC

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it’s always a difficult situation, to be caught between grieving owners and ailing pets
i once asked somebody (very ill german shepherd) “if you came home and learned i had taken him to be euthanased, would you forgive me?”, and in that instance the owner was relieved someone offered to do what they could not
(mind you, it was not the greatest day of MY life… but it was the right thing to do. and although i was not high on that dog’s list of interesting people, on the day, he willingly came with me
but i think dogs and cats very often let us know when they have had enough - esp cats
heartbreaking stuff

2026-03-26 14:44:20 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff — Fri 27 Mar, 2026
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———-
:questionbox: what’s my common name?
:questionbox: what’s the collective noun for a flock of me?
i am a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot native to Australia
in nature i am green and yellow with
black scalloped markings on the nape, back, and wings
in captivity i am bred for colours like blue, white, yellow or grey
Presently, at least 32 primary mutations (including violet) occur, enabling hundreds of possible secondary mutations (stable combined primary mutations) and colour varieties (unstable combined mutations
i am Melopsittacus Undulata
cos i am a melodious parrot with wave patterns
i am found wild throughout the drier parts of Australia, where i have survived harsh inland conditions for over five million years.
my success can be attributed to a nomadic lifestyle and my ability to breed while on the move
my common anglo name might be derived from a Gamilaraay word
i’m usually about 18 cm (7”) long, or 30-40 grams depending on the size of the prime minister’s speedos

2026-03-25 23:33:22 UTC

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aah, and it was memorable !
something to mark off your bingo card

2026-03-25 23:04:11 UTC

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🥇
i don’t recall ever seeing one either, but i agree they are fascinating

2026-03-25 23:01:05 UTC

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not the one… but definitely something unique
💐

2026-03-25 15:05:48 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff — Thursday 26 Mar, 2026
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———-
:questionbox: what’s my common name?
i am a lizard endemic to australia
i grow up to 21 cm (8.3 “) in total length
females generally larger than males
i can live 15-20 years
i am coloured in camouflaging shades of desert browns and tans.
my colours change from pale colours during warm weather to darker colours during cold weather.
i am covered entirely with conical spines that are mostly uncalcified.
i am especially well adapted to collect water or moisture in desert conditions
an array of spikes covers the entire upper side of my body
to intimidate and protect me from predators
and make me difficult to swallow
i look yummy to birds and goannas
while ants look yummy to me
and a spiny "false head" on the back of my neck,
which i present to predators by dipping my real head.
i usually live in the arid scrubland and desert that covers most of central Australia, sandplain and sandridge desert in the deep interior and the mallee belt.
in western australia my habitat coincides more with the regions of sandy loam soils than with a particular climate
i am the only species (horridus) in the genus Moloch

2026-03-23 15:10:02 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff —Tues 24 Mar, 2026
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———
:questionbox: who am i?
i was born in england in 1949
moving to australia with my family when i was 10
my first commercially successful recording was a cover of Sadie The Cleaning Lady
i performed in stage musicals as well as singing pop songs
i was crowned 'King of Pop' five consecutive times from 1969 to 1973
and king of Moomba in 1972
i performed in stage musicals as well as singing pop songs
and was in TV show called Bobby Dazzler
in 1982 i became lead singer with little river band, recording 3 albums with them
real success came with the release, in 1986, of my 12th album, whispering jack, which remains the third best selling album in australia of all time
this was followed by a successful tour
it included the single “you’re the voice”, composed by British songwriters Chris Thompson, Andy Qunta and Maggie Ryder in response to an anti-nuclear demonstration in London's Hyde Park in 1985
the song has since been used with my blessing to support the yes campaign for the Indigenous voice referendum
when it has been used by hate groups in have spoken out
i was named australian of the year in 1987 (and rushed off to get naturalised)
my name is back in the news because my 1988 song two strong hearts contains the line “from the river to the sea”
with olivia neutron bomb i sang dare to dream for the 2000 sydney olympics
after my “last time” tour, when i announced i would be touring again, with tom jones, a fan lodged an unsuccessful claim for damages
in 2025 i won an award for my memoir the voice inside
i’ve been crook, but i’m now cancer free
there are plans for a musical of my life in 2026

2026-03-23 12:28:28 UTC

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————
gerg@hachyderm.io
@npub1ywv…l4wl
[@sister_ratched](https://toot.community/@sister_ratched )
[@anne_twain](https://theblower.au/@anne_twain )
@npub1nkg…vg23
to Greg, soz, do not speak greek, can only apologise, once again, and
to everyone who joined in today, thank you for playing along
and helping me learn a thing or three
i now understand the origins of mother’s lovely, warm encouragement “get up off yer clacker and do something”
———
amended scores are at the bottom of explanations
all my life i have read phrases like “monotreme, egg laying mammal” and assumed that’s what monotreme means.
indeed, under platypus, wikipedia says
“Together with the four species of echidna, it is one of the five extant species of monotremes, mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young.”
while the wikipedia entry for monotreme says “Monotremata. They are the only mammals still in existence which lay eggs, rather than bearing live young….
however, Greg was the first who drew my attention to this:
The name monotreme derives from the Greek words μονός (monós 'single') and τρῆμα (trêma 'hole'), referring to the cloaca.”
and the entry for cloaca says:
the rear orifice that serves as the only opening for the digestive (rectum), REPRODUCTIVE, and urinary tracts (if present) of many vertebrate animals.
[emphasis added]
finally, with respect to question B
wikipedia says
Various dictionaries list "platypuses" or simply "platypus" as the plural. Alternatively, the term "platypi" is also used for the plural, although this is a form of pseudo-Latin; going by the word's Greek roots the plural would be "platypodes"
and while your answer to C was, indeed, correct, Greg, a clarification is provided for those up the back who deserve to hear it.
to be fair, if we apply the “common usage rule” to the plural, everyone deserves a gong for B
As for C:
The scientific name Ornithorhynchus anatinus literally means 'duck-like bird-snout',[12] deriving its genus name from the Greek root ornith- (όρνιθ ornith or ὄρνις órnīs 'bird')[22] and the word rhúnkhos (ῥύγχος 'snout', 'beak').[23] Its species name is derived from Latin anatinus ('duck-like') from anas 'duck'.[12][24] The platypus is the sole living representative or monotypic taxon of its family (Ornithorhynchidae)
Greg’s amended score is now 🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇
Michael La was late the party, but also gets 🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇 along with a bonus prize for taking so much care with his work
everyone else please upgrade your scores accordingly

2026-03-22 23:58:05 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff —Mon 23 Mar, 2026
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———
i am semiaquatic,
i am a monotreme,
endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania
i am the sole living member of my family and genus
i use electrolocation to detect prey when I’m under water
in 1799 the first naturalists to see my body (in a preserved state) assumed I was a fake or prank
i have been a legally protected species since 1912
the Indigenous peoples who know of me and have given me a name in their language are many,
the name i am commonly given in australia is derived from greek, and means “flat foot”
:questionbox: what is my common name?
:questionbox: what SHOULD be the plural of my common name?
:questionbox: do you know my genus name?
:questionbox: what’s a monotreme?
:questionbox: which gender of my species has a venomous spur?

2026-03-21 02:49:40 UTC

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https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/116/264/882/661/734/571/original/4ad4ee5c302a97e4.mp4

2026-03-20 21:09:39 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff— Sat 21 Mar, 2026
(Please boost for reach, and try to CW your answers)
———
:questionbox: What’s my name?
I was born in 1942 in Coburg, Melbourne
initially an apprentice butcher, i turned to teaching
but mostly i am known as an athlete
OPHR (Olympic Project for Human Rights)
had called for a boycott of the 1968 Mexico olympics, or
- exclusion of south africa and rhodesia
- civil and human rights for Black people in USA, and for Africans abroad
the boycott failed, but
on the dais for the medal ceremony after the Men’s 200m
Mexico Olympics 1968
in first place, John Carlos (USA)
in third place Tommie Smith (USA)
raised their fists in a black power salute
as silver medal winner for australia
i wore an OPHR badge in solidarity
i was cautioned by the australian olympic committee
there is some debate about whether i was cut from the team for Munich in 1972 as punishment, or because my times were not good enough
the United States invited me to participate and take part in the 2000 Sydney Olympics when they heard australia wanted me to buy my own tickets
my stand has been commemorated with a bronze statue at Albert park Lake
John Carlos and Tommie Smith were pallbearers at my funeral in 2006

2026-03-19 13:20:02 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff— Friday 20 Mar, 2026
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———
Smaller than tornados, and usually harmless …
Dust devils form when a pocket of hot air near the earth surface rises quickly through cooler air above it, forming an updraft. The hot air rises because it is less dense than the cooler air. In the right conditions, the updraft begins to rotate.
The rising air stretches vertically, moving closer to the axis of rotation
which intensifies the spinning by conservation of angular momentum. The secondary flow of air causes more hot air to speed horizontally inward to the bottom of the forming vortex. As more hot air rushes toward the vortex to replace the rising air, the spinning intensifies.
[it’s a reinforcing feedback loop]
A fully-formed dust devil is a funnel-like chimney through which hot air moves upwards and in a circle. As the hot air rises, it cools, loses its buoyancy and eventually ceases to rise
seems they are found everywhere (even on mars).
“In Ireland, dust devils are known as "sí gaoithe" or "fairy wind" “
:questionbox:
in australia they are commonly known by the name _____ _____
(From Yindjibarndi language, in the Pilbara)

2026-03-18 21:55:42 UTC

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you might be rught, 🤔i think this one might belong in the too hard basket
i remember the trough that was at moonee ponds junction in the 1960s , and was surprised to learn it had been a “gift”

2026-03-18 14:48:42 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff— Thursday 19 Mar, 2026
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———
in the first half of the 20th century,
around 700 watering troughs
were manufactured in Australia
and installed to provide relief for
working horses
(there were even 50 installed overseas)
whose horses?
… the milkman’s; bottle-oh’s; rag-and-bone-merchant’s; baker’s; ice-man’s…
The troughs were financed by a trust fund and if you know the surname of the benefactors, you can answer today’s question…
:questionbox: the troughs are known as ______ Horse Troughs
Each trough cost £13 plus transport and installation. The majority of the troughs were installed in Victoria and New South Wales between 1930 and 1939.
Initially the troughs were individually designed and constructed, however by the early 1930s, J. B. Phillips, a relative of the [benefactors], became the head contractor. Working to a standard design he produced the troughs in Auburn Road in Hawthorn. The troughs were pre-cast concrete with a curved pediment with the inscription "Donated by Annis & George ______ Australia
Manufacture was subsequently handled by Rocla, who produced troughs to the same design in Victoria and later in Junee in New South Wales. With the rise of motorised transport, demand for the troughs declined and production had ceased by the end of World War II
the picture below shows the trough at St Arnaud’s in Victoria
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/116/250/702/435/798/992/original/ff976d1f8580f280.jpeg

2026-03-17 15:30:40 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff— Wed 18 Mar, 2026
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———
:questionbox: what is the colloquial name for a (travelling) stock route?
The _____ _______
more info:
a (travelling) stock route is an authorised thoroughfare for walking domestic stock such as sheep or cattle
the verges on the side of the road are wider than usual, to provide vegetation/feed while animals are “overlanded” or herded a long distance
used from the early colonial period, stock routes provide pasture during times of drought, and access to transport or markets
stock are legally required to travel a minimum 6 miles /10 kms per day to prevent overgrazing
travelling stock reserves are sometimes available along the route for resting stock overnight
Just two of the most well-known travelling stock routes in australia are the Canning Stock Route in WA (2,000 kms long) and the Birdsville Track in SA (520 kms long)
There are about 600,000 hectares of travelling stock reserves in NSW and 2.6 million hectares running for 72,000 kilometres across Queensland..

2026-03-16 14:12:40 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff— Tuesday 17 Mar, 2026
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———
:questionbox: what’s my name?
I was born in cheshire around 1776
i fell in with a bad lot, and was convicted in 1802 of knowingly receiving a roll of stolen cloth
i was set up, you know
in 1803 i was transported to the Port Phillip penal settlement at Sullivan Bay (near Sorrento)
the settlement didn’t last long, but i managed to abscond with 5 others during a storm
long story short, i ended up spending more than 30 years living on and off with the Wallarranga tribe of the Wathaurong nation.
i managed to avoid interacting with white settlers until i learned, in 1835, of a plan to rob an English ship near Indented Head, and possibly murder the occupants.
Some Indigenous friends and I then visited the camp site of John Batman’s Port Phillip Association
it would take a while for me to remember how to speak English
I was still legally a convict, but in exchange for preventing the raid on the ship, and acting as interpreter, a pardon was organised by one of John Batman’s men.
As i was barely literate, my life story was eventually written by someone else.
It was an age when there was a flourishing market in stories of colonial adventure, especially stories involving Indigenous people. They didn’t have to be true.
Tim Flannery reckons my story has been "ignored or mentioned only in passing by historians" because it is "so at odds with contemporary preconceptions”.
What were the odds i could abscond from a penal settlement and survive at all, let alone 30 years?
my name has become synonymous in australia with someone who doesn’t have a chance.

2026-03-15 16:35:46 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff— Mon 16 Mar, 2026
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———
:questionbox: what’s my common name?
:questionbox: what’s my family name?
:questionbox: am i a dog, a cat, or a marsupial?
i am a striped quadruped once found in new guinea and on the australian mainland
possibly now extinct there because of the dingo
but still found in large numbers on the island of Tasmania at the time of white settlement
the last known of my species died in hobart zoo
in 1936
but i am still on the tassie coat of arms
factors contributing to my extinction from tasmania are thought to include disease, dingoes, and a bounty.
although i was often blamed for sheep predation, it’s unlikely i was suited for hunting such large animals.

2026-03-14 16:08:24 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff— Sun 15 Mar, 2026
“i told him, Julie, don’t go!”
(Please boost for reach, and try to CW your answers)
———
:questionbox: what’s my name?
i am a valley in south australia
north east of adelaide
on Peramangk land
from about 1840 onwards
some of my towns were settled by germans
some towns by Britons (many were Cornish)
most of my towns still have a strong lutheran presence
vineyards and wineries are a common feature in these parts,
though i am becoming famous for artisanal and gourmet foods
( i am home to maggie beer, the food author, chef, and restaurateur)

2026-03-14 01:11:16 UTC

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an unusually high score for me, today
✅❌✅✅✅✅❌✅✅✅
The Saturday Paper Quiz No. 591
I got 8/10!
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/quiz/2026/03/14?rival=1011110111

2026-03-12 07:13:47 UTC

hmmm 🤔 i’m not sure i would question the religious sincerity of any politician — it seems like a good way to end up in court and, given my own opinions of organised religion, to be overkill
but… found this an interesting article because it reminds us of some of the greatest “achievements” of the morrison/ frydenburg alliance
is frydenburg really planning to resurrect his career as a liberal politician?
god forbid! everytime i hear the name frydenberg i see great swathes of hawthorn defaced with huge frydenberg stickers and i’m reminded that, had my lovely, conservative aunty who lived in hawthorn all her life been alive during that election, she would have voted against him just because what he did was so ugly
apart from everything else about josh and scotty, people who smile all the time make me very nervous
#auspol #TheJoshAndScottyShow #LiberalParty #JoshFrydenberg
https://kangaroocourtofaustralia.com/2026/03/12/josh-frydenberg-is-a-fake-jew-the-same-as-former-prime-minister-scott-morrison-is-a-fake-christian/

2026-03-11 22:11:14 UTC

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🥈
yep, the character was written by john clarke, but the farnarkeling champion was not Fred Dagg

2026-03-11 16:15:01 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff—Thur 12 Mar, 2026
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———
this one should only be hard for people who don’t know the answer 🤔
———-
:questionbox: Who am I? /What’s my name?
I am a well known, highly regarded farnarkler
a key player in the australian team that brought home the international farnarkeling championship trophy — the bevelled orb
after a series of unbelievable mishaps
i was heavily bandaged during the Australian Sportsman of the Year awards — a well attended post-prandial black-tie wallop in Sydney
I was given a standing ovation as an edited sequence of some of my more spectacular arkles was projected onto a makeshift grommet positioned in the ceiling at the back of the transom housing
Unfortunately, i suffered a catastrophic personal mishap while mounting the podium to pick up the sculpted tribute. i hadn’t felt well since the soup, and it was no surprise to me when i fell through a rostrum interstice only seconds later, while raising the golden artefact and thanking my immediate family.
Organisers said this was the first time since the function’s inception that the award had been taken internally.
i subsequently underwent an accolade-ectomy…
leaving now,
humming
🎶
hey farnarkelers gather round
gather on the grommet
and gather on the ground…
the atmosphere’s electric
we’re waiting for the sound
to open the beginning of the
first war-ble…

2026-03-11 01:44:58 UTC

Someone mentioned #DadsArmy on mastodon recently, and i cannot get Mainwaring’s voice out of my head 😆
a scene where a german spy is trying to get information, and asks Pike “what is your name:, and capt mainwaring — always determined to make the best of a situation, and always in command mode, snaps “Don’t tell him, Pike!
https://youtube.com/shorts/MgoLcCGQUrA?

2026-03-10 23:28:55 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff—Wed 11 Mar, 2026
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———
:questionbox: what’s my name?
i am a light phenomenon
many people report seeing me
in outback australia
a light that sometimes follows travellers for long distances
or can be approached at night but never identified
most commonly described as fuzzy, disc shaped lights that appear just above the horizon
stories about the lights pre-date invasion/ colonial era
it has been claimed the first recorded sighting was in 1838, in SA
though the town of Boulia in Qld claims to be a great place for tourists to see me
i’m seen in lots of places, really
some people think Yunta in SA is ideal, as it is in a low-lying basin where extreme heat occurs
the Ngarluma in the Pilbara region report seeing me
theories about me abound,
and i am often mentioned in australian tv shows or dramas to add an eerie atmosphere to some storyline
———-

2026-03-09 22:28:19 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff—Tuesday 10 Mar, 2026
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———
:questionbox: who am i?
i was born in wellington, new zealand 1912
grew up in sydney
worked as a nurse
moved to new york
became a journalist
married a french industrialist henri flocca
and was living in marseille when the 2nd world war broke out
i worked for the french resistance as a courier
escaped to spain
went to the uk and joined the special operations executive SOE
parachuted into france
joined in a battle
cycled 500 kms to send a report back to london and return to Saint-Santin
i was awarded medals by UK, USA and France
Aus relenting and giving me a gong in 2004
NZ in 2006
i stood as a liberal candidate for Barton in 1949
and again in 1951
and for Kingsford-Smith in 1966
my autobiography is called The White Mouse
my medals are on display in the Australian War Memorial
I died in london in 2011

2026-03-07 13:46:34 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff—Sun 8 Mar, 2026
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———
i am a World Heritage-listed sand island
i am on the south-eastern coast of queensland
and can be reached by boat — for most people, by ferry from hervey bay
for a while, after colonisation, i was known as Great Sandy Island
then, from 1842, i was given the (sur)name of a captain and his wife (James and Eliza) whose ship, the Stirling Castle, was wrecked nearby
i have been used by colonials in a number of ways: logging; sand mining;
internment and the usual abuses of Indigenous people; (you would want a content warning)
i have stunning beaches, and lots of lakes
and lots of native animals
my dingoes are reputedly some of the last of the species to have not cross-bred with dogs
it’s possible their behaviour has changed in response to changes in their habitat
i have a population of 152
and have about 500,000 visitors per year
i am Butchullla country
my Butchulla name is the name of the princess who created me
:questionbox:
what is my Butchulla name?
:questionbox:
what was my anglo name until 2011?

2026-03-06 23:13:12 UTC

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if it’s available interstate now this can only be a good thing, though i try to keep it a rare treat
(in my younger days, had a lot of fun in other states when i went shopping,
i remember asking a butcher in far N qld for “a liver” and instead of a lamb;s fry he emerged from the coolroom with an ox liver over his shoulder LOL)

2026-03-06 23:05:48 UTC

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close!
I’ve placed flake in the Vic category, because it seems to be the place where flake was first produced in commercial quantities.
🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇

2026-03-06 23:02:14 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff—Sat 7 Mar, 2026
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———
:Questionbox: What’s my name?
I was Australia’s first uprising
the story
40,000 Irish convicts were transported to Australia between 1791 and 1867,
in the wake of the 1789 French Revolution, and fearing the influence of radical dissenters, Britain also began transporting political prisoners.
at least 325 to over 600 explicitly recognized as "political prisoners" were rebels involved in uprisings against British rule.
These rebels were primarily transported following the 1798 Rebellion, the 1803 uprising, and the 1848 Young Ireland revolt.
unrest in penal settlements was rife. Between 1800 and 1804 many small rallies and uprisings were planned in the Sydney region, but were thwarted before they began.
in March 1804, rebel leaders – Irishmen Philip Cunningham (a veteran of the 1798 rebellion) and William Johnston – aimed to overtake Parramatta and Port Jackson (Sydney), establish Irish rule and return willing convicts to Ireland.
The plan involved joining with around 1,000 other convicts to escape from the Hawkesbury region before moving on the settlements.
‘Death or Liberty’ was adopted by the rebels as their rallying call.
After the rebellion Governor King had Cunningham and eight others hanged without trial. It is estimated that 39 convicts died in, or as a result of, the uprising, although accurate numbers may never be known.
Seven convicts were sentenced to between 200 and 500 lashes and, with another 23 rebels, were then banished to the Coal River (Newcastle) chain gang.
the rebel password was “Vinegar Hill” (the name of a battle during the 1798 uprising in Ireland)

2026-03-05 23:34:43 UTC

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Hi Caity,
yeah… nah, chiko rolls might have been born here in vic, so you’ve earned a 🥇 gong for that, but were never my cappucino.. a) prefer marathon brand spring rolls and b) the early chiko posters on the wall of a chippy always reminded me of the nude calendars motor mechanics always had on their workshop walls
also, 1, 4, 5 and 7 correct - 🥇🥇🥇🥇 more detail tomorrow
… and now i’m thinking of this atrocious old rubbish from caltex😆
https://youtu.be/fKkoTKduNMQ?
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/116/179/146/418/725/265/original/30b2595615a1df65.jpeg

2026-03-05 14:20:40 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff—Fri 6 Mar, 2026
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The first time i saw battered savs in a QLD take-away i was underwhelmed. They looked less appetising than the pan-fried fritz so popular in SA… but we all have our weaknesses 😃
:questionbox:
today’s challenge is to match the food with its home state/ territory
1. savoury toast
2. pie floater
3. flake
4. barramundi
5. moreton bay bugs
6. rock oyster
7. conti roll
——
(as i’m no expert on foods unique to various states, i’ll be happy to hear from anyone with parochial pride in specialties not listed here)

2026-03-04 14:23:16 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff—Thursday 5 Mar, 2026
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——-
i am a short legged, muscular quadrupedal marsupial
native to australia
my common name is derived from Dharug language
(and sometimes given to promiscuous humans
— a play on a description of my diet)
i have rodent-like teeth
and powerful claws
because i build extensive burrows to live in, my marsupial pouch faces backwards
though mainly crepuscular and nocturnal, i sometimes venture out on cool or overcast days
humans have become oddly fixated on my bowel habits, because my scat has a unique shape
:questionbox:
what’s my common name?
:questionbox: what’s my binomial?
:questionbox: what’s the collective noun for a group of me?
——————-

2026-03-03 16:01:58 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff—Wednesday 4 Mar, 2026
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:questionbox: What’s my anglo name?
i am an internal australian territory
on the land of the Yuin people
i was created in 1915
to meet the needs of the new australian federation
with a population of about 300
i am a port city
home to a naval base
:questionbox: can you name it?
since 2022 i have been administered by the Department of
Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts
(it’s always *some* department)
I am part of the federal electorate of Fenner
my voters are represented in the senate by ACT senators

2026-03-02 20:36:43 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff—Tuesday 3 Mar, 2026
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————-
:questionbox: who said this, and when?
“Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second rate people who share its luck. It lives on other people's ideas, and, although its ordinary people are adaptable, most of its leaders (in all fields) so lack curiosity about the events that surround them that they are often taken by surprise.”

2026-03-01 22:50:55 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff—Mon 2 Mar, 2026
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————-
:questionbox: What’s my anglo name?
I am a coastal pearling and tourist town in the kimberley region of WA
2,046 km north of perth
the Yawuru people know me as Rubibi
in 1883 John Forrest named me after the governor of WA
the colonial pearling industry relied on a mix of slavery and indentured labour
(yes virginia, australia did have bona fide slavery, stop listening to people who don’t want to know the truth)
as well as Indigenous people, colonials also used the labour of Japanese, Malays and other Asians
there was racial tension and there were riots
my township was largely segregated til the 1970s
(well, there was a gate and an employment requirement for Indigenous people to enter, so let’s call it apartheid)
in 1889 an underwater telegraphic cable was laid from cable beach to Java, thus connecting australia to england
i was attacked from the air by the Japanese several times during world war II
i feature in one of arthur upfield’s detective novels

2026-02-28 22:01:49 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff—Sun 1 Mar, 2026
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——
Background:
Agricultural settlement in the Campion district began in the early 1920s, with migrants and soldier-settlers being employed as clearing contractors by the Agricultural Bank of Western Australia and staying on to purchase their own blocks,on marginal land.
With the onset of the Great Depression in 1929, these farmers were encouraged to increase their wheat crops, with the government promising—and failing to deliver—assistance in the form of subsidies
(most state governments were slashing budgets to “fix" the depression, massive numbers of people were unemployed.
and soon, global wheat prices would crash, contributing to the Dust Bowl disaster on the great plains of america. It was a silly time)
Emus regularly migrate after their breeding season, heading to the coast from the inland regions. With the cleared land and additional water supplies being made available for livestock by the Western Australian farmers, the emus found that the cultivated lands were good habitat, and they began to foray into farm territory—in particular the marginal farming land around Chandler and Walgoolan.
The emus consumed and spoiled the crops and left large gaps in fences where rabbits could enter and cause further problems.
it’s said there were 20,000 problem emus in the area at this time
i was not around between the two world wars, but i get the impression the mood was a mix of
*western colonial hubris
*if it moves, shoot it, if it doesn’t cut it down, and
*jingoistic militarism
Major Gwynydd Purves Wynne-Aubrey Meredith of the Royal Australian Artillery's 7th Heavy Artillery led the first operation to eliminate the emus who made it impossible for the settler /soldier/ farmers to bring in their wheat crops
the army’s attempts to cull such large numbers of emus conjure up horrific images in my mind, so i’ll spare you the description.
a movie has been made of this moment in our history, but i can’t bring myself to watch it
:questionbox: what year did the attempted culls take place, and what were they called?

2026-02-27 22:36:45 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff—Sat 28 Feb, 2026
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——
:questionbox: What’s my name?
I am an australian breed of WORKING dog
originating in queensland in the 19th century
i am a medium sized dog
used to muster sheep and livestock
the first of my breed was black and tan with floppy ears,
today, my coat might be short, smooth or rough, and almost any colour from black to light tan or cream.
i might have a white blaze on the chest, or white points.
sometimes i have a double coat, which sheds out in spring in temperate climates
i was rumoured to be a descendent of smooth haired collies, and dingoes
a 2019 report that i have no dingo DNA was not quite correct — the genome study in question was only focused on traits like ear shape or coat colour
i am intelligent and easy to train, and my temperament makes me a good family pet — but i am easily bored and need to be kept busy
i have been exported to many countries including Argentina, Canada, Italy, Korea, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States for various pursuits.
By 1990, some of my kind had been trained as scent dogs with good success rates. In Sweden i have been widely used for tracking and rescue work.

2026-02-26 19:43:06 UTC

#SerenityInOz— a quiz about Australian stuff—Fri 27 Feb, 2026
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——
:questionbox: Who am I?
i was born in Melbourne in 1942
I studied, worked in, then taught mechanical engineering
i first turned to writing and performing in plays in 1967 with La Mama Theatre Company and the Pram Factory,
rising to prominence in the early 1970s as a playwright
i’ve accumulated a lot of honours, gongs and awards over the years, including 4 AFI awards for Best Screenplay
my wikipedia entry lists over 70 plays i have written, and
more than 20 screenplays, many of these (though not all) were based on my plays
some well known titles include
The Removalists
Don’s Party
The Club
Gallipoli