Friday, September 29, 2017

Today's ABC Open photos

'Compulsory' autumn shot
By simplycheecky ·  · From Pic of the Week
                'Compulsory' autumn shot, walking through the autumn tunnel.                    blished 19 May 2017.  Canberra ACT 2601



Uluru, Northern Territory
By malcolm_cross ·  · From Pic of the Week
Uluru Northern Territory Some of our tour group on our 10 kilometre walk around the base of Uluru, just after sunrise the beautiful colours that change by the minute and the diversity of the landscape is breathtaking.      Published 10 May 2017.  Petermann NT 0872




Loved this place, see you again one day I hope
By missybaxta ·  · From Pic of the Week
                                    Loved this place, see you again one day I hope.                                 Published 19 May 2017.  Petermann NT 0872



Fishing with the old girls
By Clancy McDowell ·  · From Pic of the Week
                 Fishing with the old girls. They always catch more than everyone else.                    Published 19 May 2017.  Broome WA 6725






Dolphins playing in the waves
By trace2674 ·  · From Pic of the Week
                                         Newcastle Beach this morning.                                            Published 24 Mar 2017.  Newcastle NSW 2300




Europe in Central Victoria
                                Cultural influences on the landscape                                           Published 08 Sep 2014.  Yandoit Hills VIC 3461

Saturday, September 23, 2017

Today's ABC Open photos

Feral deer on a foggy morning
By andrewmckenzie65 ·  · From Pic of the Week
Feral deer on a foggy morning in Raymond Terrace       Published 17 May 2017.  Raymond Terrace NSW 2324




Where the mountains meet the plains
By melanie_jenson ·  · From Pic of the Week
                      Edgeroi, NSW.       Published 17 May 2017  Edgeroi NSW 2390




Smoke adding an eerie feel to this shot
By sammjc23 ·  · From Pic of the Week
Afternoon walk, Wimmera River              Published 17 May 2017.  Drung VIC 3401



Sunrise on Craig's Hut in the Victorian High Country
By james_terry70 ·  · From Pic of the Week
This is the set from the movie Man From Snowy River. No snow but a heavy frost.              Published 17 May 2017.  Mount Buller VIC 3723



Making a better future through education
By John Schultz ·  5 min read · From Right Wrongs

My name is John Schultz and I work with the Worimi Aboriginal Land Council at Port Stephens.
There are a few businesses the land council runs. One of them is Sand Dune Adventures, if it’s an adrenaline rush that you want. We also for cultural tours of the sand dunes.
We’ve got the biggest sand dunes in the southern hemisphere, and what not many people know is there’s a fresh water river that flows underneath it.
All the greenery that you see at Stockton Beach, if you dig down, there’s actually fresh water under there.
They say it’s better than tap water because it’s been purified and filtered through the sand so it’s nice and fresh and it’s always cold when you dig it out.
As a cultural officer for the land council I enjoy doing Aboriginal dancing for kids that come from local primary school, sometimes as many 140 students in one day.
Traditional Aboriginal dancing, I just love it; it’s where I’m from, and I connect more to the culture through the dancing of it.
I am a descendant of the Worimi people, we’ve been here for a long time. If you see a black fella you always wave and say hello because you never know it could be your first, second or third cousin.
People call me Happy John, but that hasn’t always been the case.
When I was in primary school I moved around a lot. I went to about seven different schools and ended up on the New South Wales South Coast and then I did my year 10 all the way down there.
I came to Hunter River High at Raymond Terrace to do Year 11, before my life went off the tracks. I went down to Sydney, drank, and smoked, did a lot of dumb stuff, didn’t go to school.
What do Aboriginal Education Officers do?
One day Brooke Roach, the Aboriginal Education Officer (AEO) from Hunter River High School, rang me up one day and said ‘come back up and finish school’.
If Brooke hadn’t rung me and called me back to school I don’t know what would have happened.
The 1967 Referendum that recognised Aboriginal people in the constitution led to new Commonwealth Government policies and programs to improve the education of Aboriginal people.
Aboriginal education officers (AEOs) is an example of how Commonwealth government funds the State governments to work in schools where significant numbers of Aboriginal students are enrolled.
Brooke said to me: ‘if you’re not going to get on the train and come back up, I’m going to come down and get you’.
I was scared enough to get on the train by myself, and he picked me up from the Newcastle train station and brought me back to school.
I ended up living with him for two years until I finished my Year 12.
Brooke and his family, and three kids, they call me their black kid, sometimes. When I lived with him they just adopted me as their own black child. Because they’re Aboriginal of course as well, but they’ve got fair skin kids, and I count them as my brothers.
With the people I’m surrounded by now, I count them as family. I know if f I get into trouble or anything bad happens I can always count on them, they’re always there.
I guess you could say I’m a role model for my community. I knew what I was doing was wrong and I grew sick of it. I knew that I was in the wrong and I knew that I could do better.
My family all smoke and drink, and I knew I’ve had to make a change somewhere in my family line, so I thought I’d step up and do it.
Now I’ve got a car a job, and a child, so I’m actually pretty happy that I took the time and took Brooke’s advice and came back up and finished school.
It was pretty terrifying but at the same time I just learnt to just put it all behind me and move on because I can’t dwell on it because I’m not that sort of person.
Finding the drive to do better
Playing sport taught me about finding the drive to try to do better.
I was in Year 11 and I ended up going to the South Coast Rugby League trials for the NSW schoolboys side. I made it all the way to the second division in it, so if I’d finished that I would have been in the first which is the New South Wales.
It made me push on. It made me want to do better in Year 12. It’s a good achievement to get. It gives you more of a drive, so you try to do the same thing, and see if you can get it next year.
Getting my HSC was awesome. I’m the first out of five kids in my family to get it. It feels pretty good.
I’m the second youngest so it shows that I actually am going to go places, and I can do stuff if I put my mind to it.
Recently I became a dad, which is a new challenge that I’m ready for. My sisters and my brothers, they’ve all had kids, and when I was young we used to look after them a lot.
I’ve nursed kids since they were born, so it’s really like a sort of second language to me, so I know what I’m expected of and what I can do for my kid.
Education will be a priority for my child. My child won’t be able to say ‘I’m not going to do Year 12 because you didn’t go to Year 12’.
One day I would like to go back to university, because I’m really interested in teaching, that’s what I wanted to do after school, but I had the year off instead of going to uni.
Now I’ve started working at the land council they’ve got big plans and futures for me here and this year I’ve started working full-time. Having a full-time job excites me, because I know that I’m always going to get an income.
But university is always open and it’s an always an option to anyone, so at the end you’re going to get the degree and you’re going to get a good job out of it.
Money is important, to make a better future for yourself and your kids, because if you don’t have no money, the education, you’re not going to have all these things, and have to rely on benefits such as Centrelink. I’m over Centrelink, I’ve done it all my life. Now it’s time to get my own job and start a new future for me and my family.
I feels like I’ve broken the history in my family. I’m the first one to finish school, I’m actually the first one to get my licence and a car that’s in my name, and has insurance. It just helps out a lot for what you want to do if you’ve got big dreams like I do.
My dreams are pretty big here at Worimi Land Council. I’m looking at not running the place, but being one of the head people in where I’m working at the moment. It will be good if I can get on that stepping stone, and can stay there and commit and put the effort in.
Produced with the assistance of ABC Newcastle’s Jill Emberson and Anthony Scully.
Published 18 May 2017.  Williamtown NSW 2318


Saturday ritual at the local Farmers Market
By simplycheecky ·  · From My Back Roads
Not being a 'snob' but you can taste the difference between the stuff you buy in supermarkets and the farmers market. And the most important thing is nothing can beat the interaction with the farmers.           Published 04 May 2017.  Canberra ACT 2601

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Today's ABC Open photos

Roosting owls
By tealebritstra ·  · From Pic of the Week
I had a really lucky day with spotting roosting owls today! There was a pair of Barking Owls (Ninox connivens), and three separate Southern Boobook Owls (Ninox boobook) including this one.  Unfortunately, this individual had chosen a rather open spot to rest, and was being harassed by several medium-sized birds. The poor thing almost looks like it's asking me for help getting rid of them 😉 On the bright side, the other birds did eventually leave it be, hopefully allowing it to get some rest.                                     Published 16 May 2017.  Glen Eden QLD 4680



Loch Ard Gorge
By james_terry70 ·  · From Pic of the Week
Loch Ard Gorge is a stunning and beautiful spot on the great ocean road, but it is one of the most dramatic scenes for the lose of life in the 1800's as the gallions hit rocks along the ship wreck coast, with passengers scrambling to the beach for survival.               Published 17 May 2017.  Port Campbell VIC 3269



Beauty and the beach
By 5Cees_Photography ·  · From Pic of the Week
                                Published 17 May 2017.  Bondi Beach NSW 2026



                    Lunching on the Yamba headland
By Di Lymbury ·  · From Pic of the Week
This white-faced heron was preying on small lizards for its meal at the headland overlooking Main Beach, Yamba.  There were three there, and they seemed to be getting lots of catches.     Published 16 May 2017.  Yamba NSW 2464




Afternoon stroll
By danielkrige ·  · From Pic of the Week
                                          Published 16 May 2017.  Surry Hills NSW 2010




Home Sweet Home
By georgie_mann_photos ·  · From Pic of the Week
Enjoying a little social media hiatus lately, but couldn't resist this one for WHP home sweet home project ❤️         Published 17 May 2017.  Dunkeld VIC 3294

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Sunday, September 17, 2017

Today's ABC Open photos

The Opera House Cave in Namadgi
By gkennedy_landscape ·  · From Pic of the Week
Trying to find it in the dark was almost a bad decision, but in the end it definitely wasn't.  Published 15 May 2017.  ACT



The fading light on Uluru
By honeycut ·  · From Pic of the Week
Published 15 May 2017.  Petermann NT 0872










When the morning glow hit the foreshore
By steve_outandabout ·  · From Pic of the Week
                                            Published 15 May 2017.  Canberra ACT 2601




                               Living the high life
By Fiona Gray ·  · From My Back Roads
When we get a bit of time away from work, we do like a "staycation".
Exploring our local area and checking out the places we don't get time to over a standard weekend is our idea of a holiday, plus we get to take the dogs with us.  Often, though, we will spend a day or two out Tabulam way where you can hear the wind in the trees, look for tiny native flowers & explore the pre-historic landscape.
Staying on a property nearly a thousand feet above sea level, the views seem to go on forever.  On a clear night, we are craning our necks looking skyward and trying to identify the stars and planets as the campfire throws sparks up, seemingly putting on its own display in response.  A two hour drive is more than worth the effort and sure beats any holiday that requires a passport. 
Explore your own backyard first, there's plenty to see and experience that will never be listed in a travel agency.                       Published 14 May 2017.  Tabulam NSW 2469






City to sea
By Twofoldbay ·  · From Invisible Farmer
From the bright lights of the city to the quiet dark waters of Twofold Bay, my wife made the transition so smoothly you would swear she was a local.  Her first day out on my father's boat Marauder saw her fall in a bag of salmon - screaming they were going to eat her.   From there, I took her tuna fishing to South Australia - so seasick we had to put her ashore at Port Lincoln to recuperate - or as she put it - "FATTEN UP". 
Back she came, chumming and cooking, and keeping me company.  She did a couple of years on the Beach Seine MAC in Sydney trying to bash some sense into the NSW managers; and gave up before it made her mad/or caused irreparable damage to someones head.   
Trawling around Eden, Hobart, a trip or two Orange roughy fishing from Hobart to St Helens in 1992; then after we sold Osprey, we bought Roamer and she came full time with me beach seining for salmon. With our deckhand, she christened us two and a half men.  
Nothing to throw her over the side with an anchor to wade ashore when we were shooting in salmon or mullet. Many phones were drowned. 
We now own the Marauder (after my father's boat); she now owns an oven which I ensured was put on board, for her delcious scones, she still gets chucked over the side but its all good.          Published 16 May 2017.  Eden NSW 2551



Back in my own backyard
By clairebearagram ·  · From Pic of the Week
Published 16 May 2017.  Ben Lomond TAS 7212