Buck passing
I’ve commented here before about the republic debate and how I’d like to see it widened to address issues that are more relevant.
I’m frequently annoyed at the buck passing between Federal and State Governments on health in particular.
We have a major problem in this country in that no level of government has sole responsibility for the most important sector of public service.
The states run the hospitals, but the Commonwealth accredits and funds them.
According to all reports the hospital system is in crisis. The Commonwealth blames the states and the states blame the Commonwealth.
Nobody is talking about a solution to this dilemma of responsibility because it suits politicians to blame someone else. You don’t need a university degree (if you can afford one) to work that out.
Politicians won’t encourage public debate on this issue either, because the end result will be the loss of power for one or the other, and the loss of someone to blame.
Clearly the health system should be the responsibility of either the states or the Commonwealth, but not both. For the states to assume full responsibility they need greater funding powers. That means giving them back the authority to raise income tax.
Nobody will like this idea, so it makes more sense for health to become a federal responsibility.
If you take health away from the states you may as well take away education and police as well, because there won’t be much else left.
Then we’re at the point of abolishing states as we know them and creating regional government.
Forget the republic. Let’s have a real debate about what sort of future we want for this country (and state).
Wilbur Smith
I’m currently reading my second Wilbur Smith novel, called Rage. It’s the third book in the “Courtneys in Africa” series and follows Power of the Sword, which I finished a few weeks ago.
Smith tells a great yarn from the perspective of several contrasting characters. The lives of these characters intersect, but they are vastly different in many ways.
He conveys the fascinating modern history of Southern Africa through the eyes of people representing key elements in that complicated society.
Power of the Sword traces the period from the end of the First World War to the end of the Second.
South Africa during that time came to grips with its union of the two British colonies (Cape and Natal) with the old Boer republics (Transvaal and Orange Free State).
There was deep mistrust between the English and Afrikaners following the Anglo South African War and Prime Minister Jan Smuts was considered to have betrayed his Afrikaner people by forging a strong alliance with Britain.
There was a failed attempt by militant Afrikaners to support the Kaiser in the First World War and one of Smith’s characters, Lothar De La Ray, fights against Smuts’ Army in the German cause.
His life entwines with Centaine Courtney when he rescues her in the Kalahari Desert and fathers her second child, who she abandons and Lothar raises (Manfred).
That meeting was the subject of the first book in the series, which I haven’t yet read.
Lothar and Centaine go their separate ways. She founds a diamond mine and becomes one of the richest people in Africa, surviving the Great Depression with her wealth intact.
Lothar borrows from her to open a fish factory at Walvis Bay, but the Depression sends him under, so to speak, and Centaine calls in the loan.
With smouldering resentment, Lothar and Manfred survive in shanty towns with an Ovambo native friend, Hendrik. They escape a typhoid outbreak, taking with them an orphan Afrikaner girl, Sarie.
Lothar plots revenge on Centaine and plans a diamond robbery with his old Commando colleagues. It’s bungled and he’s apprehended after a shoot-out on a kopje in the desert, but only after Manfred and Hendrik get away with some of the loot.
Lothar was arrested by the Administrator of South West Africa (Namibia), Blaine Malcolmess, who becomes Centaine’s lover. They later marry after Blaine’s wife dies.
Meanwhile, Centaine’s first son Sharsa Courtney follows her ruthless example and becomes a successful politician and businessman.
The son that Centaine abandoned to Lothar, Manfred De La Ray, grows in his father’s image as a bastion of hardline Afrikaner society, raised by a preacher while his father rots in jail.
In Rage, these two men come together in the National Party Cabinet as Government Ministers. Ironically, Sharsa foiled an attempt by Manfred to assassinate Jan Smuts during the Second World War, without knowing his identity.
The character of Hendrik’s brother Moses Gama, who Sharsa met working on the family diamond mine in Power of the Sword, develops in Rage as he becomes a radical leader in the black nationalist movement.
Rage has a greater emphasis on black characters, tracing the history of South Africa through the 1950s and 60s as apartheid was formally established.
There’s a coming together of the Afrikaner and English elements of white society, especially after Britain was seen to have abandoned her former colony and dominion through Harold McMillan’s “winds of change” speech to the South African Parliament.
That’s where I’m up to now, seeing the half-brothers Manfred and Sharsa come closer through mutual necessity. Manfred knows about the fraternal relationship, but Sharsa doesn’t.
Their own sons are developing as characters in the novel and, I assume, are featured in the next instalment.
I like the fact that Smith doesn’t moralise or lecture. He simply tells the story and lets readers draw their own conclusions.
He understands that each character, representing elements of society, believes they are right. The Afrikaners thought apartheid was a reasonable policy. The English came to accept it and, of course, the blacks resented it.
Smith was born in Central Africa and has a deep empathy with the continent. He tells a great story and I’m thoroughly enjoying his work.
Goldies Spur
Yesterday I walked up the Goldies Spur track from the Buckland River bridge to a point near Green Hill in the Mount Buffalo National Park.
It was a hard walk and very steep, climbing from 400 metres to 1100 metres.
I had a good view of the South Face on Mount Buffalo heading up. Waterfalls were cascading down the mountain and could be heard across the valley for several kilometres.
The road snakes along beneath power transmission lines. I walked in short bursts of 100 metres or so, caught my breath and set off towards the next visual target.
My legs handled the effort, but I was wearing different boots to other days and my feet blistered on both heels.
The map I had was very accurate in pinpointing the electricity pylons, so I had markers on the way up and could count my progress.
It was with relief and wonder that I crossed the final ridge at Buffalo Gap and looked in awe at the Great Dividing Range rolling onwards indefinitely into the distance.
The Buffalo Range Road forks away from there and looks as though it would be an interesting longer walk.
I continued along Goldies Spur for a few kilometres until it started a sharp descent, I then retraced my steps to Buffalo Gap for lunch. The temperature there was icy.
This area was ravaged by fire in January and the evidence is stark. I found it interesting that on the way up I could see green regeneration and there were very few trees completely destroyed.
On top of the ridge it was like a war zone, with trees fallen everywhere and little sign of new life. I suspect the harsh winter is to blame. Heavy snow may have toppled the trees over and regeneration couldn’t begin until spring.
Recent snow melt was obvious from the seepage and run-off, probably in the last few weeks.
The downhill climb was okay, but hard on the feet, and I’ll need a few days for them to recover. It all took me four and half hours.
Zimbabwe Test
I’m going to Sydney for a few days to watch the cricket Test between Australia and Zimbabwe.
I normally go to Melbourne for some of the Boxing Day Test, but with the twins due at Christmas I don’t plan to be away at that time.
I’ve always had an interest in Zimbabwean cricket anyway. I spent a month there in 1990 and my Zim friend worked in the same law firm as John Traicos.
Traicos holds the unique distinction of having represented both Zimbabwe and South Africa at Test cricket, some 20 years apart. He played for South Africa in their last series before the world ban and, I think, was in Zimbabwe’s first Test match. In the old days Rhodesia competed in the South African first class competition.
Zimbabwe could be competitive at international level if it survives the devastation that’s currently being inflicted on the country by Robert Mugabe and his henchmen.
A lot of players have left and there isn’t much money to develop the game. I’m hoping for a good contest this week though. I really admire what Heath Streak is doing to hold that team together.
Unless I come across an Internet cafe the next update here will be on Monday. Likewise for the news and weather sites.
Mount Porepunkah
Today I completed the longest walk of my current fitness campaign, climbing to the summit of Mount Porepunkah from bottom to top and down again.
Juliet drove me to the second cattle grid along the Roberts Creek Road, close to where I started a previous search for the Leviathan Battery historic gold site.
It was 9am and pleasantly cool when I set off along the narrow valley. The road is well engineered and ascends at a gentle gradient during the early stages.
This time I had no trouble finding the battery site. Just before I reached the second water tank the old cylinder engine was clearly visible in the gully. I didn’t walk down to see it closely, because the banks are very steep, but it’s an impressive piece of antique machinery.
You can’t see it from the water tanks or the other side of the creek, so I must have just walked past it last time.
I filled up the water bottle there and continued ahead. It remained a gentle climb until I reached a signposted intersection that shows a track leading to Tawonga Gap in the east.
The road became rougher and steeper from that point, and I wouldn’t fancy taking a two-wheel drive up there, which I have done once before.
The next milestone is the Havilah Road intersection and there are some nice views down the opposite valley towards what I assume is Running Creek. I caught glimpses of Mount Feathertop in the distant east, still snow covered on top.
A short steep ascent followed to where a track branches off to the summit; the main road continuing to One Mile Creek in a westerly direction. I had been here before in August when there was nearly a foot of snow on the ground.
I walked to the telecommunications tower on top of Mount Porepunkah, elevation about 1200 metres, and arrived there just before 11.30am.
I had lunch and took some photographs before starting the downward journey. I rang Juliet on the mobile (excellent signal) and told her I might walk all the way home if I wasn’t too tired, otherwise I’d call her from the bottom to meet me along the One Mile Creek Road. I felt good, but my feet were sore.
Just as I began basking in the achievement of “bagging a peak” and starting down I encountered a cyclist pedalling madly to the top.
I thought he must have been some super-human athlete in training for the Olympics or something, but he looked about 70 years old. He was followed by a couple of other old blokes on bikes, both looking at least 60. Unbelievable.
It was a slow descent along the One Mile Creek Road. The temperature was fairly cold on top of the mountain, but warmed quickly on the way down.
This route is less steep on the upper reaches, but has some challenging slopes at the bottom. I think I’d prefer to approach the mountain from Roberts Creek.
I reached the bottom at 1.45pm and decided to walk all the way home, where I arrived an hour later.
There are only four houses at the top end of One Mile Creek Road, so it’s quite amazing that I encountered five vehicles, including a truck, on the short and dusty section to the Great Alpine Road. I walked from there to Porepunkah along the rail trail.
I enjoyed the walk, but wouldn’t like to tackle it in summer with heat and flies. There was no water beyond Roberts Creek.
I guess an extra two hours would be required to walk the complete circuit from Porepunkah to Roberts Creek and back via One Mile Creek. I’m happy to hitch a ride and skip the early part.
Leviathan Battery
I came across an old state heritage document recently that describes some of the historic mine sites in this area.
One fairly close to home is the Leviathan Battery and I set out today to find it. This is the information I had:
LEVIATHAN (HUNGFEE) BATTERY SITE
Upper Ovens goldfields, PorepunkahLOCATION: Roberts Creek, near Porepunkah, 5.3 km along Mt Porepunkah Road,
from second cattle grid.SITE HISTORY: The Leviathan Reef was discovered at Roberts Creek in 1913,
by W. Hungfee (of the Quan Kee Hotel). He erected a 10-head battery and
worked the reef until 1915. According to Kaufman, the battery was removed
in the 1980s.DESCRIPTION & INTERPRETATION OF FEATURES: Features of the Leviathan Reef (Hungfee) battery site are a portable steam engine, battery foundations,
and cyanide works. Portable steam engine. The double-cylinder engine is still
standing on rear wheels. The smoke box is partially rusted and the flue
is missing. Most of the boiler’s wooden lagging is still in place, but the
fly-wheel and all brass fittings have been removed. The engine measures
9 inches in diameter, 16 inches in length, and has a total dimension of
13 ft. The maker’s marks around the wheel hubs read: “Marshall Sons and
Co., Gainsborough”.Battery foundations: Only traces of wooden bedlogs and some stone retaining
are left to show the former position of the battery.Cyanide works:15 m west of the engine, on the north side of the creek, is
a small tailings dump and a partly buried cyanide vat. The vat is constructed
of stone (1ft-thick walls) and measures 15 ft x 12 ft. The wall nearest
the creek has been washed away.CONDITION OF FEATURES: Battery has been removed but portable engine and
cyanide vat. Area overgrown with large man ferns.SIGNIFICANCE RANKING: Site listed on Heritage Inventory.
I couldn’t measure the exact distance from the second cattle grid because I parked the car a kilometre or so past the grid and walked the rest of the way.
I found several places where the road crossed a creek. At two of them I saw circular tanks that may or may not have been related to a mining site. Other physical evidence was hard to spot because of thick ferns and blackberries.
The cylinder engine can be seen in a gully just before reaching the second water tank. It’s not visible from the tank or past it. The banks are steep and I didn’t venture down.
It was an enjoyable walk and not too hard.
Before trying to find the old battery site I walked up Apex Hill for the first time in about three years. I followed the phone cable track heading up and took the walking track down.
The uphill section was hard work, but easier than the last time I did it. My legs didn’t turn to jelly this time.
Yesterday I walked up the back of Winters Hill and followed forestry tracks along the Buckland Valley. I climbed a hill that was nearly adjacent Harris Lane, enjoying a spectacular view of the valley floor and Mount Buffalo.
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