Because racism does matter to some people. Or has that thought never crossed your mind?
Gympie and ancient history
- Thread starter Old Bob
- Start date
Because racism does matter to some people. Or has that thought never crossed your mind?
And if different 'breeds' of people were 'shown' like cattle, you might have a point.
Since they aren't, you don't.
'Spoil' implies a purpose in pure breeding a genetic heritage. What is the purpose of being genetically pure for humans?
Don't even need to go so far as Nazi eugenics to show where this thinking falls apart.
Because the concept of racial purity is based on bigotry rather than good science.
Athon
Akhenaten
Heretic Pharaoh
Glad to see you again mate. I took it as being well-meant, and I'll add to it by saying that I always look forward to your posts, because I know something interesting will be discussed. No sarcasm this time, Bob, I really mean it.
I think you might have expressed it better, and it's not fair to single out our Japanese mates, but I often find myself thinking the same thing. I reckon we're harder on ourselves actually, than any of our overseas critics. We're probably about average racists, I'd think.
Damn staraight, and when you say things like this it tells me that you are no more racist than I am myself, for better or worse.
That's not to say that we don't have to try our best to be tolerant of different attitudes, although I fail badly and often myself.
I'd want to know more about your definition of intermarriage and "sides", but I agree that coming from different religious, cultural etc. backgrounds can cause heaps of problems once the first blush of young love passes. Keep in mind though, that exactly the same sort of problems occur just as frequently when people from near-identical backgrounds marry, due to a single, insurmountable difference of opinion. Religion does that sort of thing all the time.
Mate, a few more posts like this and I'm going to get my old electricity and phone accounts out, and start scanning you some more obvious evidence than I've provided so far to indicate that you are, in fact, discoursing with a local.
I thought it was chlamydia , rather than syphilis, so there you go.
In any case, it's the bloody Yowies and Bunyips that bother me more than the drop-bears.
Akhenaten
Heretic Pharaoh
I acknowledge your analogy, but I must point out the other side of the same coin.
Wikipedia said:
Now, nobody in Australia is going to deny the value of the Murray Grey, but I imagine the friends and relatives of that cute Shorthorn and her Scots boyfriend would have had a field day with it, with lurid headlines in all the moospapers.
A similar story is that of the Santa Gertrudis, another intermarriage between Brahman bulls and Shorthorn cows. The Hindu cattle in India, where the slaves came from, must have been outraged.
ETA: The human equivalent of this sort of thing is called multi-culturalism. The ways in which various governments have tried to implement it as policy have mostly been fiascos, but leaving people to their own devices has worked out rather well. Don't you like spaghetti or Chinese food? I probably shouldn't mention it, but I love a Schnapps Godwin after dinner myself.
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Akhenaten
Heretic Pharaoh
I'm wasting my time here, aren't I?
Piggy
Unlicensed street skeptic
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2006
- Messages
- 15,905
Well, at least Gympie and Ancient History got a band name cite out of it. 
You deserve a medal for trying.
Malkuth
Muse
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2009
- Messages
- 693
Akhenaten
Heretic Pharaoh
Well, at least Gympie and Ancient History got a band name cite out of it.
Excellent! That's a great idea for a thread too. I look forward to contributing.
Thanks Mate. I've challenged myself to find the worthwhile bits in OB's posts and see if I can make a subject out of them, but that last one has me completely stumped
Thanks both and cheers, I was losing heart for a second there.
ETA: @Malkuth. Now THAT'S funny. Well spotted
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Back to the serious stuff, Akhenaten if you know old family's in Gympie some may have scraps of info that may agree that Gympie has a interesting past. We would all love to hear what they say regards rumour of early miner's running into ancient workings. The first settlers are supposed to have lost cattle down holes before we knew gold was under Gympie. I can't verify any of this but you may be able too.
Akhenaten
Heretic Pharaoh
The best answer I can give is this:
Somewhat ironically, G E Evans was a Queenslander, just like Old Bob and I. I believe the above poem was written in Toowoomba, not Gympie, but that's pretty close in Queensland terms, eh?
Read the rest of The Women of the West
Read more about George Essex Evans.
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Akhenaten
Heretic Pharaoh
Yes. It's a terrific poem. Glad you enjoyed it.
Now this is yet another interesting subject that you bring up, and it's going to be even better because I've seen the min-min lights myself.
I'm not going to do any Googling until we've had a chance to discuss.
My own experiences are from Boulia and from near Goulburn in NSW, although I don't know if the Cockroaches call them that.
I've got a few theories, none of them supernatural, and I'll bet others here have some min-min stories as well. I'm looking forward to hearing them.
Regards,
Dave
Akhenaten
Heretic Pharaoh
Well, I suppose I could start the ball rolling with a couple of observations . . .
Whatever they are, I tend to think they're real, as opposed to being an optical illusion, but I base this conjecture on there being multiple witnesses with different viewpoints more than anything. I anticipate being set straight on the facts of the matter.
- Whatever the min min lights are they're not that far away at times. On the three occasions I've seen them, there were trees visible both in front of and behind the lights.
- I would have said that mostly they stay pretty close to the ground, although it's possible that they were sometimes at a greater distance and higher up, so that my perception was tricked.
- On two occasions they had the appearance of being able to keep up with a car travelling at 100 kph +.
- I'd attribute them something like the brightness of a full moon, only apparently smaller.
Whatever they are, I tend to think they're real, as opposed to being an optical illusion, but I base this conjecture on there being multiple witnesses with different viewpoints more than anything. I anticipate being set straight on the facts of the matter.
Akhenaten
Heretic Pharaoh
I can't really help much with tales of old Gympie. My Dad was a copper, and moving to Gympie was a result of that. I couldn't say anything about the background of the people I knew, and I don't recall too many yarns, although I do have a couple about Gold and one or two about the one that got away on the weekend trip over to Fraser.
For my money, the biggest mystery for a while in Gympie was the location of the Wollemi Pine nursery, and that's part of a 100% true story about science doing great things.
I look forward to swapping yarns about these things after we have a yack about the min min lights.
As you know, I'm in the deep south now, so I really have lost touch with Gympie except for a few old friends that I exchange cards with at Chrissy. I'll see if I can get in touch.
In the meantime, here are some valuable local resources that you may well be aware of:
The Local History Collection has its own room at the Gympie Library. This collection seems to contain some unique stuff that would only be available locally, such as:
- The Gympie Times on microfilm from 1868
- Local, district and school histories
- Genealogical research materials
- Copies of over 6000 historical photographs
- Gold mining historical information
- Material on local indigenous history*
And I reckon you'd be aware of The Gympie Family History Society in the old railway station building. They appear to have lots of resource material, especially about the old families.
Happy Hunting! Let's hear about what you uncover.
Cheers
PS * I'll leave it to you, mate, to tell the story of where Gympie got its name. I have painful memories of its namesake myself
Elizabeth I
Philosopher
Well, I suppose I could start the ball rolling with a couple of observations . . .
- Whatever the min min lights are they're not that far away at times. On the three occasions I've seen them, there were trees visible both in front of and behind the lights.
- I would have said that mostly they stay pretty close to the ground, although it's possible that they were sometimes at a greater distance and higher up, so that my perception was tricked.
- On two occasions they had the appearance of being able to keep up with a car travelling at 100 kph +.
- I'd attribute them something like the brightness of a full moon, only apparently smaller.
Whatever they are, I tend to think they're real, as opposed to being an optical illusion, but I base this conjecture on there being multiple witnesses with different viewpoints more than anything. I anticipate being set straight on the facts of the matter.
Will-o-the-wisp?
Akhenaten
Heretic Pharaoh
That looks like a very similar phenomenon to what I've experienced, although I saw no evidence of any heat at all. I note, however, that the min min is mentioned in the addendum to the article. I'm not too sure what to make of the fact that there are odd lights happening everywhere, except to say that the superstitious must live in a very scary world. Poor they.
On second thoughts, it occurs to me that the widespread nature of these things might indicate that there are a number of explanations, even for the different observations of an individual such as myself. ???
Earlier, when I mentioned thinking that the lights were real, I should have elaborated to say projections of real things, such as a night-time mirages of distant lights or something. I thought that might account for their apparent and sometimes very rapid movement.
The min min lights, as mentioned in your reference, were a source of fear to the aboriginals, particularly for their children. For aboriginal children to approach the (possibly reflected light from the) campfire of another tribe could also be dangerous, and would be a good start to a myth.
Stanbroke cattle station was where my son was the station pilot. He would run at night to keep fit along the station roads. One night he had a dull bobbing light ahead, thinking it was a station hand with a torch he caught up to it. Only to find it was a sort of floating light about 1.5 meter above the ground clearly lighting up sticks and grass, a soft moon coloured light. Needless to say it spooked him and the run back was a record. He says it was within 20 ft(M) before he realised what it was. They show a intelligence.
Akhenaten
Heretic Pharaoh
Wow! That sounds eerily familiar to my Boulia experience.
Is Stanbroke up in the Gulf Country? My respect to your boy; I've seen those bush pilots in action and they've got great big brass ones, no question.
The light we saw at Boulia (there were about 10 of us, as I recall) was exactly as you describe it, except that we perceived it as being further off.
Because we were playing soldiers at the time, we couldn't wander off after it, and I'm probably thankful for the excuse because I admit it was spooky. Eventually it just bobbed off among the trees and disappeared.
The 1.5 metres off the ground (occasionally more, I might have said) seemed to discount a man carrying a lantern or something of that nature, and as your son describes his encounter, he would have been close enough to have seen a man.
I do agree that they give the appearance of intelligence in that they sometimes seem to be able to match their movements with us observers, and also appear able to move against the wind and around objects.
Your story also matches others that I've heard, so I think my mirage theory is shaky. I don't think you can get close to a mirage.
Did you read Elizabeth I's link about will o' the wisps? There were a couple of theories there, but I don't like the swamp gas explanations. Ball lightning might work though. I've no personal experience of ball lightning myself.
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