Today’s dispatch is  Bought and Sold.  Originally dispatched on 24 November  2015

¿Hola que tal, compañeros?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gtj3ayme1Io

To set the scene I’d like you to listen to Kimberley musician Patrick Davies’ ‘Bought & Sold’.
Here are the lyrics:
Chorus:

No I don’t have enough time, in my day,
to be messed around, or led astray,
a drunk out on the street, I would rather be,
at least I wouldn’t have all the pain and misery. 

Seems like more and more people, bought and sold,
the bucket of dreams, that’s just full of holes,
and there’s so many people walkin’ ’round without their soul,
and as for a conscience, all you find is a great big hole,
And they buy up all of your wishes on all of the stars,
the sun and the moon, Jupiter and Mars,
they buy everything, that their greedy eyes can see.
There’ll be a knock on the door, and they’ll be trying to buy you and me!

Chorus

Yes the other night, on the river sand,
I was in a conversation, with an ‘ole black man,
and here is a question, that he put to me,
My boy, how come all my land’s been stole’, withouta askin’ me?

Chorus

In 1971 we did that once in a lifetime trip. We drove from Calgary across Canada and the Northern U.S.A. down to New Orleans and all the way down to Panama City, whence we caught MV Tahitien that took us to Sydney via several French Pacific colonies. It was her last trip (she was subsequently sold and refitted as a cruise ship under another name).

We travelled third class. When the ship anchored off the Marquesas Islands, a large number of ‘natives’ came on board. That was when we became aware of a fourth class (restricted to non-Europeans). The fourth class passengers were headed to Papeete where the South Pacific Games were to be held. That the fourth class consisted of the third class deck and lacked bedding didn’t bother the Marquesans. They sang and danced continuously until Tahiti was reached. According to Wikipedia MV Tahitien travelled at 17 knots/hr thus the 1400Km distance would have been covered in 45 hours. We in la troisieme classe didn’t sleep either, it is all a bit of a blur made blurrier by the plentiful table wine. We shared our table with several of those rare individuals, French teetotallers. All the more for us! The first and second class passengers missed out on the blur, there being no access to the silver tails and vice versa.

On the way to Panama we visited a museum in Managua. A rather modest and underfunded establishment in the Somoza family’s Nicaragua. Dictators tend to prefer to squirrel their fortunes away into Swiss Bank accounts or Cayman Islands based investments, rather than spend it on Museums.

As we walked in, the sole occupant was an old lady (probably no older than what I am now, but at the time she seemed very old) leaning on a walking stick. She was in charge of the Museum that she told us her father had established. She bemoaned the fact that the Government wasn’t forthcoming with the funding needed, inter alia, to prevent national archaeological treasures from being smuggled out of the country to be sold to foreigners. We were deep in conversation with the old dignified and knowledgeable lady, when we were interrupted by a raucous noise similar to that made by a screeching descending flock of kirli-kirlilpa (pink galahs). The old lady immediately recognised the visitors, their photo had been on the front page of the newspaper. They weren’t galahs, they were members of the Florida State Horticultural Society on a field trip. They were staying at the Managua Hilton. They were very chuffed by having been recognised. They were loudly exploring the museum when one of the horticultural gentlemen loudly posed the question to another horticulturalist “WONDER IF YOU CAN BUY ANY OF THIS STUFF?” (they buy everything, that their greedy eyes can see.)

 A year ago the Northern Territory Government sold the insurance assets of the Territory Insurance Office for $236M to the German based Allianz Group.

A month ago the same NT Government announced the granting of a 99-year lease on the Port of Darwin to a Chinese company. The deal is “worth” $506M.

Yuendumu Police Station cost $7.6M

Wadeye Police Station will cost $24M

Arlparra (Utopia) Police Station $7M

The NT’s new Super Prison- is estimated will cost $2B over the next 30 years.

This all is great news for the NT’s Indigenous population, these Police Complexes aim at (and I quote):

“Working in partnership with the community to ensure a safe and resilient Northern Territory”

As for the NT’s new Super Prison- Aborigines stand a far greater chance of being able to enjoy its hospitality, than us kardiya.

No I don’t have enough time, in my day,
to be messed around, or led astray,
a drunk out on the street, I would rather be,
at least I wouldn’t have all the pain and misery.

As for selling, you can’t get past the myth that Robert Johnson’s ability to play guitar was due to him having sold his soul to the Devil (at the Crossroads)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd60nI4sa9A

and there’s so many people walkin’ ’round without their soul,
and as for a conscience, all you find is a great big hole,

And a final flourish from Patrick Davies.

‘Rocky old road’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFAdylvx34c

…no you can’t take all you are given,
oft times it means selling your soul…

 Hasta la proxima vez,

Franklin