Dear reader,
The forgotten people was named 1949’s greatest ever speech by the editor of the Truth and the ‘Girl Guides Tribune’.
still in a state of shock as to the federal elections unexpected outcome we’re still hoping desperately that it may be a very minor win for Labor, who pushed by the Teal-dal wave of reformists finds itself in government. And yet Labor may still have a majority?
Like most voters of the insensible centre we hope they don’t make the Liberals well and truly sidelined at the very least for the next three years. Cos with Super funds, vested interests and the status quo upheld in the Australian body politic, we are fearful that the Imperial Guard of the right- wing looney Coalition may fade from the public debate and become irrelevant.
‘Good riddance’! you may say, we are inclined to agree.
But without the likes of Tudgey, George, Clive, Barnaby, Matt and Pauline on the front pages, just for starters are worried about losing some of our star characters and then without their influence and vile personality dysfunction this blog may lose its relevance.
With the loss of so many moderate liberals we’re increasingly fearful that the rat- baggers who’ve given us so much joy may be pushed into the shadows of looney right conspiracists and other adherents to the thrall of Murdoch. All of this may be lost to us. And be forgotten!
There is hope however, with Angus rumoured to be elevated as Shadow Treasurer we know that’s a huge tick for Cayman Island registered trust funds, and hope yet that great initiatives like the Murray Darling, and with a bit of luck healthcare, energy and aged -care policies may still be skewed by self interest. For without base self-interest and greed out Royal Commission’s would lose their entertainment value. That would be a CURSE!
It was re- contextualised with a Hills Hoist converted in the 1950s to a ‘Tiemekangaroodownsport’ early warning radar display.
And with Dutto as the Opposition leader in waiting, there is still fun and laughter to be had. But the fear is, that with a new government actually listening, (this usually passes after a week or two) to the people in the street, there is a chance for real reform. But as the Chinese Premier Chow en Lai said so many years ago about the French revolution; ‘its still too early to tell’!
But is it too early for our heroes?
Find out in this next thrilling instalment, Maralinga or burst!
‘How far do you reckon it is’?, Ces wiped the dust from his mouth and pointed to the old terminal.
‘I dunno’, Benny-boy said as he reached into his haversack for his field glasses ‘perhaps one or two k’,
‘Well then, what are we waiting for’?…
‘I dunno’. Terry said quietly ‘But it’s a long long time since I’ve be up here and funny seeing it deserted. In its heyday this was absolutely packed with Canberra bombers, Bristol freighters, ground-crew and military personnel. All hell bent on delivering to Australia and the Empire the bounty of nuclear energy’!
‘Yeah Terry and a bit of the Big Bang theory’, said Ces with a tinge of irony.
‘Big bang’?,Quent queried, ‘the Atomic Bomb that was just a sideline, we were really looking to unleashing its power for good’! Terry said that with a satisfied proprietal air. We could tell he took great pride in keeping Radium Springs in good order.
‘For good’, queried Ces?,
‘Yeah, to make mighty inland lakes and build a mountain range across Central Australia to create rainfall and upgrade the sheep wheat belt, and make these desert sands the ‘bread basket’ of the Pacific’.
We could tell that Terry was passionate. We felt humbled by his vision. Whereas we just had a conviction, that until the evil opressor who so cruelly violated Ms Culthrope as she performed her sacred duty as a intern tea-lady in Parliament was brought to justice, our passion, our determination , out integrity as human beings was unresolved. But Terry, undaunted, was a man of vision. We listened in rapture as he described the vision of a Golden Age in raw, unquestionable Atomic Energy.
It was updated again for ‘Australian’s who lived beyond the ‘Barnaby Line’.
‘We were also going to blow up the Great Barrier Reef, convert it to Superphosphate and open it up as the worlds first integrated canal and real estate subdivision, under the name ‘Plutonium Ponds’. We had offers from Miami, Las Vegas and Manilla to build the worlds biggest casino, and then we had the great artesian bore breakaway!!
‘What was that’? Quent asked.
A bloody big hole in the ground’? Ces wryly remarked,
‘No’! Terry replied; ‘something much more visionary!
‘We were going to blow up the entire arid wastes of Central Australia. Move all the flora, fauna and natives off the site into a special compound called ‘Woomera- Ville’ where they could keep their primitive customs and beliefs whilst, (for a tourist entry fee capped at the CPI) could do something useful and generate tourism pounds!. And then through a succession of highly controlled blasts remove at least 1 km of earths crust to create a new inland sea. And from that opportunity, build a canal from Darwin to Adelaide. We called that the ‘Fark-en far Canal after the Chief Engineer, Sir Anthony Farken OBE from the Queensland Department of Inland Rivers,Policing, Gambling, Banana growing and Native Administration. The furthest and most far sighted far- canal EVER!!!!
And flood it! Thus opening up the potential for an inland transport hub using real ‘Mississippi style’ stern wheelers with real-estate opportunities for coastal development. The sky was the limit, and’……. ….. Terry paused in his soliloquy,
‘What happened Terry’? Ces dryly asked,
‘The….. the whole thing got put off, the Poms who supplied the nukes said they couldn’t do it’.
‘Why? asked Ces, was it environmental, industrial’?
‘Nup, they said; ‘capacity constraints’!,
Both Churchill and Ming (R.G Menzies) warmed to the idea of an Atomic future for The Empires ‘white colonies’. (where even the black bits were bleached white by CSR and Bex Powders)
‘But I reckon it was jealousy, We really had a use for nukes in opening up the interior and I think that the Poms were miffed that we could use nukes for a power of good, rather than threatening wops in places like Egypt.You remember the Suez crisis was on’…
Our heroes paused to think about the unrealised potential, like the recent decade of stalled Climate response thanks to the Coalition’s bludgeoning obstinacy..another tragic waste of opportunity?….
‘Well then’, Benny-Boy wryly smiled, ‘I spose like our mission to bring the benefits of civilisation to Afghanistan it just didn’t quite work out that way’.
Will it work our for our heroes? Does anything work out in the end?
Find out in the next optimistically charged episode… ‘Sophie made it happen, lest we forget’!,
Eric Abetz, a staunch supporter of ‘The Forgotten People’, and the ‘WHITE EMPIRE’. Enjoys a cup of Robur.
Or ‘I forget what it was I was supposed to forget about’.