Archive for January, 2006

Green + green = an easier conscience

It’s good to be back online. We are in the Kinglake fire region and though we had power, we were offline most of the day. It was chilling to hear the wail of a …

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Coping with fires & trying to fill community development jobs

What incredible heat and what a devastating period for southern Australia, Victoria in particular – our thoughts are with the family and friends of those killed, those who have lost their homes, with farmers suffering huge stock losses and with those just waiting and watching.

Despite the tragedies it does seem as though this time round, in Victoria, after a lot of acrimonious debate, that coordination and communication between agencies, volunteers and community has been really good and communities in fire prone areas have all got used to ‘having a fire plan’. As the fieries say, it makes such a difference when the community is well prepared!

Personally, I will never forget the evening of a similar heat-packed day in Kangaroo Ground, years ago, trying to stay cool on the deck of our ‘oiled cedar’ house. At 9.30pm – I still recall the time – the wind suddenly blew up, the CFA fire alarm went off, then in a split second the power went off and there were huge flakes of ash floating around. No power meant no radio or TV, so we had no idea what was going on! Have you been here?

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“‘Wolf Creek’ will do for backpacking what ‘Jaws’ did for swimming”

Phillip Diprose from Victoria emailed us with this Sun-Herald quote, published on the Official Movie Website, after reading the PWF ‘Declining domestic tourism’ article. Interested in the ‘official’ explanation for declining domestic markets Phillip says that while recent fuel prices have clearly had an impact on numbers travelling by car to the NT and Queensland, what about the impact of ‘Wolf Creek’? He reckons that just about anyone who saw this movie and has had limited exposure to distance in Australia would become extremely reticent about travelling by car to the more remote places.

Are you in the tourism industry or in the market for a NT touring holiday? What level of influence do you think the film is having? Apparently it is only soon to be released in the NT due to the Falconio murder trial – interesting to see what Territorians think!

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After the comparative frenzy of Melbourne Christmas dinner seating 23, our extended family celebrates a January birthday at a relaxed country gathering. This year the birthday was a 91st and we lunched casually on the deck at Chateau Tahbilk’s new …

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In September 2005, a Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Community Business Partnerships acknowledged the long-term partnership between Vectra Corporation, an Australian company that provides IT infrastructure and security services, and Community Information Strategies Australia (CISA), a community organisation that

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