Friday, April 29, 2011

Friday Photo: Memorial Corona


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There is something quite sobering about the number of memorials along Greek highways and roads that mark the passing of speeding motorists or other road users. Whether on isolated Greek islands, quiet suburban streets or along major traffic corridors, the memorials tend to be large, elaborate, and permanent.

The memorials often contain images of the deceased, several personal mementos, an eternal flame, and either plastic, fresh, or dried flowers.

I have never encountered anyone tending these memorials but the small, oil fed candle these replica church memorials invariably contain, rarely, if ever go out.

My attention was immediately drawn to this roadside memorial in Athens when I noticed the bottle of Corona placed on the structures roof. Was it put there by a family member? A friend of the deceased, perhaps?

I can only hope that alcohol did not play a part in the accident that caused the death of the person being remembered here. However, given the Greek tendency to laugh in the face of Haros (the ferryman who transports the souls of the dead across the river Styx), it wouldn’t surprise me if an excess of drink was the cause of the loss being marked here.

Captain Cook Chased a Chook

Image: Portrait of Cpt. James Cook by Nathaniel Dance, courtesy of Wikipedia…

Captain Cook chased a chook all around Australia,
He lost his pants in the middle of France and found them in Tasmania.
~ Australian childhood/schoolyard rhyme

If Captain Cook did indeed chase a chook (a chicken in Aussie vernacular), all around Australia, historians have ignored the event completely. As for losing his pants in the middle of France, and the subsequent discovery of them in Tasmania…  well, the less said the better.

I mention this today, because it was on this day, two hundred forty-one years ago (April 29, 1770), that the erstwhile English explorer Captain James Cook sailed into Botany Bay on the Endeavour. The bay derives its name from the unique plant specimens retrieved by the botanists Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander who sailed with Cook.

This first landing on Australian soil by the English explorer led to his claiming Australia for the English Crown, although the first English settlement at Sydney Cove, in what is now The Rocks district, was to come 18 years later.

Captain Cook's landing place is now part of Botany Bay National Park which is not only a historical site but a place for seaside picnics and many leisure activities as well.

A modern replica of Cook's Endeavour is usually docked at the Australian National Maritime Museum at Sydney's Darling Harbour.
Image: Endeavour replica in Cooktown Harbour courtesy of Wikipedia…

More Information


Portrait of Cpt. James Cook by Nathaniel Dance, c1775, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. Image courtesy of Wikipedia…

-o0o-


Thursday, April 28, 2011

Charles Sturt [1795 – 1869]

Image courtesy of Wikipedia…

Raise a glass today to Charles Sturt (28 April, 1795 – 16 June 1869).

Sturt was born in India, and among his many titles were surveyor-general, colonial secretary, soldier, convict administrator, and public servant. Charles Sturt also became a renowned Australian explorer.

In December 1826, he embarked on the Mariner with a detachment of his regiment in charge of convicts bound for New South Wales, where they duly arrived at Sydney in May 1827. While in Sydney, Sturt became caught up in the age of exploration, and soon became obsessed with the idea of discovering the inland sea that many people thought filled central Australia.

Despite his lack of experience and qualifications as an explorer, in November 1828, Sturt received approval to proceed with his proposal to trace the course of the Macquarie River.

Thus, Sturt began a long and illustrious career as an explorer of some of Australia’s vast inland waterways that saw him and his colleagues trace the course of the Macquarie and Bogan rivers, give names to the Darling River (after then Governor of New South Wales, Ralph Darling), and the Murray River (in honour of Sir George Murray, secretary of state for the colonies). Sturt also gave name to Lake Alexandrina at the mouth of the Murray (after Princess Alexandrina, who eventually ascended the throne and took the name Queen Victoria).

More Information

Australian Dictionary of Biography Online Edition..
Wikipedia…

Image of Charles Sturt by John Michael Crossland, courtesy of Wikipedia…
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