The new "Shine" 20 years on.

Lat night we went to see the new digitally remastered version of the famous Australian Oscar winning film "Shine".
It was at the iconic Capri Cinema in Adelaide and a crowd of 600 were in attendance.
It was released  to co incide with the 20 year anniversay of the film.
Scott Hicks, his wife Kerry Heysen and Geoffrey Rush were there.
The night was hosted by Nick Prescott of the ABC and Flinders University.
A very enjoyable evening.
In one scene in David's childhood home there was a very tense time with his father.
One of many.
The house was of galvanised iron construction and during this scene you could here rain gradually getting louder on the roof.
After a few seconds we realised it was on the roof of the theatre ,not in the film.
It could have been a welcome addition to the soundtrack as it added to the tension and authenticity of the house.
I also notice on the wall in that scene some pictures of butterflies and a parrot that I recognised from a sun pictorial booklet authored by Charles Barret who is written about on this blog.

I guess it was part of the attention to detail of recreating an era.

The night was great success with standing ovations and an informative Q and A between the audience and Scott Hicks and Geoffrey Rush hosted by Nick Prescott.

An enjoyable night out and it was reat to see all the familiar Adelaide locations in the film.

low is a link about the new release etc.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-14/20-years-on-iconic-movie-shine-keeps-polish-canberra/7732770

In Australian Wilds

My late father in law Dudley Foweraker was an amazing self taught naturalist regarding the Australian Bush.
I have lately been examining his collection of books, notes, drawings and miscellaneous material  that he assembled during his 92 years.
In this collection are books and booklets by Charles Barrett a brilliant Australian Naturalist.

Charles Barrett with Camera

 As a young boy Dud wrote to Barrett who corresponded with many young people around Australia in his role as Nature Journalist.

I found a much used edition of Barrett's  book, "In Australian Wilds".

It is a beautiful rambling narrative of the bird, animal, insect and birdlife as it was in Australia some  90 years ago.
I started to scan the book but then  someone has already done this and you can read it on the internet,
Below is the link.

A great read and insight into how things were and argument for wildlife and habitat conservation..

 https://archive.org/stream/inaustralianwild00barriala#page/n3/mode/2up

"frill" The Frog Mouth Baby

Some time ago I posted about Australia;s wonderful heritage of writers about Nature and Natural History.
see link below
http://geoffthompsonsblog.blogspot.com.au/search?q=our+heritage&x=33&y=8

One such writer and photographer was Ronald K. Monro who died young in war time.
 Below is a short story from his only book and introduction by Charles Barrett who was also a prolific author and expert of his day.
Enjoy.
Since I posted this I have had contact with Ron Monro's son Robin.
That's one of the wonderful things about the internet.
I have now found many of the photos that Ron took in the 2nd world war at the Australian War Museum.
Here is a link to the archives.
http://www.awm.gov.au/search/collections/?q=photographs+by+ronald+keith+monro&conflict=second+world+war%2C+1939-1945&submit=Search

Marsupial Lion-thylacoleo

There was an article in the Adelaide Advertiser on 23/3/12 about how it is now believed "humans killed our big beasts".
It talks about new evidence that demonstrates that Australian extinct animals like the diprotodon and thylacoleo (marsupial lion) were made extinct by humans in Australia about 40,000 years.
Co-incidently I am currently reading a book by Charles Barrett called "Coast of Adventure"
In it he is describing a visit to Australia's North in the 1940's.
The book was published in 1946.
He describes anectdotely an encounter with what sounds like thylacoleo by a local inhabitant of Northern Australia.
Charles Barrett was a prolific journalist and writer on nature in the 1930's and 40's.
He was if you like an Australian David Attenborough of his day.
My late father in law who was an authority on Australian Flora and Fauna in the Riverland of South Australia actually corresponded with Barrett when he, Dudley, was about 16.

There is also reference in Barrett's account of the British Museum having knowledge of the Thyalcoleo at the time which is born out to some extent in an article about Richard Owen in wikipedia.

So my conclusion is that Thylacoleo may have been wiped out by humans in less than 100 years ago not 40,000.
After all the Tasmanian Tiger or Thylacene only become extinct in living memory.
It is a similar animal.

I have included the article from the advertiser and also relevant extracts from Barrett's book and other interesting links.

As a creationist or intelligent design advocate, (immediately some will switch off) it is always interesting to me that as I note new scientific discoveries events and dates are always becoming younger not older:
eg  the recent revelation that a recently discovered pine tree in Australia that was thought to go back millions of years is now contemporary and not ancient at all.

Food for thought!

http://m.news.com.au/SA/fi988873.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacoleo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Owen

Here is a video  link to what it is believed they looked like etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDoMQ4Gj3sI




Please note there is terminology used in this book that would not be used in this day. It was the common vernacular of the day, that was just how it was in those times. Reading Charles Barrrett's books he had a regard and love  for Aboriginal people that many men of his day rarely did. It is not my intention to offend anyone by what is reproduced here.

What do you think?

Our Heritage of Bird and Nature Writers and Illustrators and Photographers

An excited participant in the Birds of Prey spectacular show at the Taronga Park Zoo Sydney,

Copyright Geoff Thompson

The number of people in our recent Australian past who contributed much to our knowledge of God's creation in this country are many. Gradually some of them fade from view, even the more well known ones.

There are people like Neville Cayley,John Gould and there ilk and even more recent ones like Harry Butler,Vincent Serventy, The Leyland Brothers, people and many others who have produced film and television documentaries as well as books.
H. J. Frith was excellent.
David Parer and Elizabeth Parer-Cook has a brilliant dvd documentary on Australian Parrots called "Australia land of Parrots." ABC shops.

Of course most of the first writers and illustrators of wildlife and bird books were artists not photographers and there is a current excellent book "Feather and Brush" three centuries of Australian Bird Art by Penny Olsen. There are still many wonderful bird artists today and it is my intention to move into this area myself using all my Bird photos as a guide for subject matter.
Jeremy Boot is a great bird artist resident in South Australia.
William T Cooper was an amazing Australian Bird Artist and Penny Olsen has edited a beautiful book about his life and work.

Roger Murcott is a local South Australian based bird artist in his "Birds of a Feather" studio at Kapunda.

https://geoffthompsonsblog.blogspot.com.au/2016/02/the-bird-art-of-roger-murcott.html

There are many current wonderful photographers and writers like Steve Parish,Pete Dobre and Ken Duncan.Before them Jocelyn Burt,Michael Morecombe. Nicholas Birks is another current or recent wonderful wildlife photographer specialsing in Birds of Prey.

I find much inspiration from all of these people.

This is by way of introduction of discovering two writer/photographers this week that I hadn't heard of before.Surprisingly I realised that one of them Charles Barrett, was someone my late father in law Dudley Foweraker had corresponded with when he was a young boy.
His knowledge of Birds and Butterflies at the time was probably 2nd to none. It is interesting which birds were considered rare at the time or endangered when reading his notes on  many of the Australian Birds.

My wife and I were in an antiques and bric a brac shop on the weekend and I found a copy of a Sun Nature book No. 3 "Australian Birds and Butterflies" by Charles Barrett who also wrote the introduction to the other wonderful book we found "Australian Nature Stories" by Ronald K. Munro.1944. This latter book was the only one the author produced as he died from what I can determine, as a young serviceman in the 2nd World War.
From the introduction by Charles Barrett some extracts.

"as a boy, Ron Munro spent most of his time in the Gippsland Bush.It was there that he first conceived the idea of writing nature stories. Later he took up photography with the object of illustrating his stories.--For years until he enlisted in the second AIF he was a press photographer on the staff of the Melbourne "Herald" . ---It has been the author's aim to tell bushland stories in such a manner that they will interest both children and grown up folk. --- Ron Munro says that he will be well repaid should his book foster in young Australians a love of wild nature :that assuredly it will do."

 The book is delightful and contains the following list of short stories.

The Kid from Next door.
Freda and Freddie
"frill" the Frogmouth Baby
The Cuckoo in the Nest
Children of the Storm
The Boo Book family
Butcher Bird babies
The lord and Lady of the Swamp
Minnie Miner's Triplets
The Cosy Hollow in the Dead Tree
Teddy Bear and his Pals
Wings over the Lignum
In the Treetops with the Nuthatch Family
Penguins of Phillip Island
Where the Seagulls Nest
Maxi Mudlarks Great Adventure.

I believe this writer and Charles Barrett were much responsible for inspiring my Father in Law to write a similar short story in 1946 called "Puddin'" and then some others in recent years.

see link to Charles Barrett info below
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/barrett-charles-leslie-5142

Charles Barrett with Camera

I am intending to put at least one  of Dudley's short stories on the internet .
See his Eulogy on this blog.


So to all photographers , writers and artists involved in presenting the Natural world keep up the good work. I particular admire the work of Arthur Morris who is right up there as bird photographer. Arguably the World's best.
Special congratulations to Steve Parish who is continuing in the spirit of his predecessors.

A link to Pete Dobre's website  http://www.petedobre.com.au/

Also a wonderful wild life photographer who has spent a lot of time in Australia is Thomas Marent and his signature book. "Rainforest"  .Check out his website.

http://www.thomasmarent.com/

Addendum: 20/10/13 I have now found and purchased a book called.
"Land  of Wonder" compiled by the late Alec Chisholm.
 A wonderful book you should seek out. "an illustrated anthology of the best Australian nature writing"
It was publishes by Angus and Robertson.
My edition was published in 1979.





Geoff Thompson