Dear reader,
Our trained Semaphore staff are second to none.
We apologise for the tardiness in getting Frank’s latest dispatch to the printers.
We, the editorial department of pcbycp, the thinking persons ‘Global Times’, are sure that after this brief explanation you’ll be sympathetic to the vicissitudes of postage in remote areas.
In normal circumstances the dispatch is relayed to us via our Wimmera receiving station as morse. The morse transcript is then translated via the enigma machine, (on loan from the AWM’s ‘Glorious men and Women of Anzac WW2 Annexe’) on to plain type transferred to standard letter format. The proofs are the roneoed off and sent via native runner, motorcycle courier and Camel Corps to the respective receiving offices of pcbycp located in undisclosed locations across the state of Victoria. A master copy is then set aside at this ” technology transfer stage” and distributed to outlying receiver stations for storage via heliograph, semaphore and bonfires strategically placed upon places of height under circumstances of ‘favorable prevailing winds’.
In the field our trained staff de- code messages from Urdu into plain English for transmission to the Signals Directorate for approval.
Ces and Quent out in the field on the Nth West frontier
After translation from Urdu, (for that is the only language our morse telegraphy staff are technically proficient at) a master copy is then sent to the Australian Signals Directorate for censoring and vetting to the general public. One can’t be too sure these days about intercepts from nefarious sources to our North, near north and just from across the other side of the Yarra. In the interests of national security we beg you to print this edition of Musical Dispatches, cover it with bread knife thinly dipped in unsalted butter, (for our metropolitan readers) breakfast marmalade and eat it.
For a less efficient, and much more archaic method of postage and transfer try Australia Post.
No guarantee of arrival, nor responsibility for lost postage other than a grudging; ‘that’s the best we can do’. And to paraphrase the old Benson and Hedges advert; ‘ Isn’t that all the time’!
Ces relaying messages via Heliograph to ‘Camp Rolfe’ (Yuendumu) whilst translation is interpreted in Urdu.
Frank writes……(from several weeks ago)
Hola amigos,
Some of you have asked me where you can obtain information on the current coronial inquest. It is all available
online at:
https://justice.nt.gov.au/attorney-general-and-justice/courts/inquests-findings/kumanjayi-walker
Including transcripts and live-streaming. Proceedings will continue on Monday morning 19th September.
Camel Corps await messages outside ‘Camp Rolfe’ Relay station Yuendumu
When it comes to metaphors, euphemisms and irony, I’m no spring chicken myself. I always savor it when I find others using these to effect.
In an ABC (NT) news item Samara Fernandez-Brown is quoted:
“This can no longer be an argument about ‘a few rotten eggs’… at some point we need to inspect the chicken creating those eggs”
Signals Directorate staff vet volunteers prior to intensive training course in Morse, Heliograph and Semaphore.
Samara was referring to the text messages exchange between Zac Rolfe and some of his colleagues which Zac’s own barrister described during the inquest as “patently racist and abhorrent”
Not for me to proceed with a lengthy opinionated analysis of the inquest proceedings. I’ll confine myself to suggesting you look up the meaning of the idiom “enough rope”.
Meanwhile I have once again witnessed a manifestation of the boiling frog analogy or death by a thousand cuts. The transition from village (community) to town to urban service centre.
Native Runners, kept in traditional holding bay at ‘Camp Rolfe’, prior to transportation to NT Prisons
When I went to pick up my mail, I spotted a pile of bound mail “Oh, I see the mail hasn’t been sorted yet”, “No, that is mail being returned” Unclaimed mail is after 30 days returned to sender. That is the rule.
It is now two decades since these were the sort of conversations that took place (in English or Warlpiri): “Do you know this person” “Yes, she’s gone to Nyirrpi and will return soon” or “Yes, he’s moved to Ntaria for good”. “Hey, there’s a couple of letters for you at the Post Office” or “I’ll take those, she lives a couple of houses from mine”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsYzBuDrE5Q
Chau
Frank
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiEgDChHksg
Terry at work with Roneo machine and Camel Special Filter.
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