Thursday, July 22, 2004
I promised I wouldn't post any more kangaroo stories.
So I'm breaking my promise.
You know why this annoys me?
I'll tell you why. The only reason Canberra is where it is - in the middle of the freakin' bush - is because politicians and public servants argued for decades about whether Sydney or Melbourne should be the national capital.
Like it matters. Oh, I forgot, it matters immensely - to politicians and public servants. Nobody else. Sydney, you want to be capital? Fine. Melbourne? Fine. Toss a coin.
But no! They went and built an entire new city - relatively recently, starting in the 1930s and completing it after WW2 - in between Melbourne and Sydney to house a bunch of politicians and public servants who live in their own little world set apart from the real drivers of the economy - private enterprise - in all the other states and cities.
And now the kangaroos are reclaiming it.
Kick those politicians outta Canberra, kangaroos!
Interestingly, here's a quote from a native woman in the nineteenth century when the land had been taken over by farmers.
At the opening of the Tharwa Bridge in 1895, the guest of honour, Ngunnawal woman Nellie Hamilton, said:
'I no tink much of your law. You come here and take my land, kill my possum, my kangaroo; leave me starve. Only gib me rotten blanket. Me take calf or sheep, you been shoot me, or put me in jail. You bring your bad sickness 'mong us.'
Sad.
is it time for a nap yet? i think so
You know why this annoys me?
I'll tell you why. The only reason Canberra is where it is - in the middle of the freakin' bush - is because politicians and public servants argued for decades about whether Sydney or Melbourne should be the national capital.
Like it matters. Oh, I forgot, it matters immensely - to politicians and public servants. Nobody else. Sydney, you want to be capital? Fine. Melbourne? Fine. Toss a coin.
But no! They went and built an entire new city - relatively recently, starting in the 1930s and completing it after WW2 - in between Melbourne and Sydney to house a bunch of politicians and public servants who live in their own little world set apart from the real drivers of the economy - private enterprise - in all the other states and cities.
And now the kangaroos are reclaiming it.
Kick those politicians outta Canberra, kangaroos!
Interestingly, here's a quote from a native woman in the nineteenth century when the land had been taken over by farmers.
At the opening of the Tharwa Bridge in 1895, the guest of honour, Ngunnawal woman Nellie Hamilton, said:
'I no tink much of your law. You come here and take my land, kill my possum, my kangaroo; leave me starve. Only gib me rotten blanket. Me take calf or sheep, you been shoot me, or put me in jail. You bring your bad sickness 'mong us.'
Sad.
is it time for a nap yet? i think so
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