Revisiting the 60's - by two nerds
R wrote - Ah the 60's. In all honesty my current 60's are more exciting than THE 60's. I graduated from highschool in 1964 and went on to college at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. It wasn't till my senior year there that things really started to heat up. I can remember seeing the famous Bascom Hill lined with white crosses and watching the protests on tv from my apartment. But for the most part I made my way quietly through the whole thing. In all honesty, I couldn't afford the luxury of being involved. I was too busy going to class, studying and working to support myself. Nary a whiff of tear gas reached my nose. In retrospect we now know that a very small (15%) of the students participated in the protests, those being wealthy students from the east and west coasts who had the time and the affluence.
Clara - We just went on with our lives, regardless, focused on our future, me with teaching, you with Uni, as it needs to be for young people. At the same time, however, our young men, were subjected to a lottery which decided whether they remained focused on their future plans or whether they went to a foreign land to fight an unpopular war. Whether the decision to involve was based correctly or morally, is for the historians to decide. However, we needed/need to give total support for those who followed the directions of the government at the time, wherever that may have been and history must reflect that.
That was then, this is now - we are the matriachs, and have much to contribute as do the patriachs (our guys) re following article, which I include (I know you will question the relevance). G has always said that the answer to Australia's water problem is to 'Flood Lake Eyre". I could not let him miss this - he reads the SMH, the HUGE, size wise, serious one, from cover to cover so this is for you Darling. And it so fabulously Australian - we have visited most of these places mentioned.
Re - A wide brown land - listen to your patriachs - they give you the gift of their experience. Ignore at your/our peril. They have been there and have the knowing. This is where we need to return to, in order to find the answers to the future.
Passionately Clara
Outback ready for good times to flow
By Nance Haxton
Water flows to Lake Eyre
Floodwaters are also making their way to Lake Eyre down the Warburton Groove.The lake has filled completely only three times in recorded history; the last time was in 1974.
But even a partial filling brings great excitement, and as local pilot Trevor Wright explains, it also brings the birdlife.
"It's really caught me by surprise. I never expected that we'd have two years in a row like this," he said.
"I think with the breeding season they had last year ... this year we're going to have a lot more water birds than what we've had previously.
"Having flown around the lake this morning where the water is, that's one of the things - especially pelican numbers - that's really surprised me."
While some townships are cut off, others are enjoying the unexpected boon. Oodnadatta roadhouse owner Adam Plate says the economic boost has spread far and wide throughout the outback.
"What we have as a result of rain is quite a lot of road traffic, millions of locusts [which] have eaten all the trees to pieces and mosquitoes which attack us," he said.
"I guess we'll be affected by the fact that [the] Simpson Desert, which is normally crossed from around about now - it's open for travel from Birdsville east-west, which carries traffic up to Ayers Rock or through Oodnadatta - that will be cut because of the floods ... west of Birdsville.
"So people wanting to cross the desert are going to be thwarted until quite late in the year and I guess that's going to change the way [they travel].""I don't think they're going to end up in ... the middle of the desert, having to drive back 400 kilometres, but you never know"
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