Did we all see the steam train era? the first diesel engine takeover
The school desk seating two, inkwells and nibbed pens
73 years old my memory still works wonder what others remember
Those my age also saw, nearly over night, film developing businesses close after digital took over, but long before we saw the box brownie as some thing bright and new
How about the Saturday nights in the picture theater followed in our teens by the drive in movie We [my age] in fact saw the first Australian TV broadcasts, some, not everyone could afford it, saw it in a neighbor's lounge room sharing their TV
Brought about by the 50 years celebration of the moon landing I think maybe others memories are worth hearing

Dear Belly,

Ah yes, memories - we all have them.

I'll start mine with a few thoughts I wrote on
my seventeenth birthday:

"A kaleidoscope of many pieces
A puzzle not yet completed
A child still,
And yet, tomorrow's woman you are.

Full of promise, tanned by the sun
Athletic and proud
Of flame-coloured hair
Glowing, rich and natural
Like baroque splendour that dreams are made of.

Perceptive eyes,
Clear and light
The colour of a cloudy summer's day
Constantly changing with your mood
Innocent, yet knowing you are

Tomorrow's woman, dabbling in poetry
Searching for meaning in things abstract

You are summers by the sea
Wind-blown hair
Bare feet
Pre-washed denims
Turquoise and silver

Winters on the ski-slopes
A cup of hot chocolate
Fire light and guitar music
And seventeen today!"

More to come later.

Dear Belly,

Talking about television.

Here's another one I wrote :

"I'm a TV addict don't you see?
TV to me is sheer poetry
I switch it on and to me it shows
Everything I want to know.

Drama, series, music, sports
Public Affairs and news reports
Children's programs that do educate
To all of them I can relate

day and week-ends too
I push the button for a good view
It's entertainment, light and serious
From the funny to the mysterious

I love it all
It's fun - TV
And, one day soon
The star will be ME!"

I remember walking to school barefoot and carrying my shoes and socks because we were working class poor and shoe leather was expensive.

I also remember getting boils because our diet was deficient. that was in the war years and things improved from about 1946 onward.

Steam road vehicles have gone as have steam farm tractors and portable engines, except for a few valiant holdouts.

The iceman, the clothes prop man, the milkman and the rabbitohs (except for the football team) have all gone and the '48 door sedans' are but a fragrant memory.

I was born too late to see Australia transformed from the land of the Aboriginals to an Anglo-Australian nation. But the big change I do get to witness is the transformation of Anglo Australia to Sino Australia.

I do get to witness is the transformation of Anglo Australia to Sino Australia.
Mr Opinion,
Yeah, I remember rather well when the change happened. The 1972 Govt gave the go-ahead for this & Al Grasby hit the START button !

Ise Mise it was much the same for me but my birth was in the postwar baby boom
Foxy, you remind me women are more mature at that age than men well done by the way'
Mentioned my view we are different people at different ages the person I now am was born around 36 years into my life
The 17 year old had left home and returned several times,to work
But the links remained strong every Friday night catching the Coma Mail steam train home side of mutton under my arm for a battling family
Siblings walked three miles [eachway] to meet me at midnight love those memories
If you could tap your younger self on the shoulder what age would you do it at and what advice would you give
Mine would be to my lardhead self at age 12 tell me to get involved in education not wagging it to work on farms, and too to say stay in one job and bank rather than waste
That lardhead had he taken my advice may well have been run over by a bus ten minutes later so we are who we are

Dear individual,

Yes it had its beginning in the early 1970s with the end of the White Australia policy. But the really big migrations of Chinese into Australia happened when John Howard and Tony Abbott were sucking up to the Chinese Communist Party with the free trade agreement.

The first Chinese Consulate in Australia was
established in 1909 and diplomatic relations were
established in 1941.

When were you guys born?

I also believe that Chinese were hear even earlier.

Anyway, what's all this fuss? What percentage of
the population do they make today?

Are they really such a threat? Or are you just
buying into what's in the media and what some
political strategists tell you?

Chinese came here first to mine for gold, we greeted them with hate and racism, for being more productive in that than we had been
Still coming long after that it was in fact a hero of my party, and this country, who increased the flow
He opened the door to students studying here after CHINA massacred its people in that square
Bob Hawke, well done great man!
Saying they are in big numbers over looks the fact they just are not
Hanson like, racial hatred as a tool of politics, first Asians then Muslims now Chinese, only highlights some of us are racists
Right now, serving in our military services are the children of all three mentioned groups,

Mr Opinion,
You have a lot of history to read up on if you think Howard brought in the Chinese !
These miners of the 1870's were extremely hard working & their descendants morphed into Australian society without a single glitch.
You're literally being offensive comparing the modern illegal immigrants to those early Chinese !

Dear Foxy,

Australia has a Chinese future. Take a visit to Sydney and have a look around: I reckon every second person is Chinese. If you tell me how to upload photos to OLO I will show you typical scenes from Sydney. And if you don't believe those then come and have a look for yourself.

This thread started out well.

Mr Opinion,
If you're so concerned then you'd better show your photos to the Labor crowd, they're the ones that opened the gates & greedy Australian land owners are selling to foreign buyers !
If I had my way the sellers would need to grab their profit & move out of Australia.

I agree ise mise in fact we do it in every thread
But the idea was ok still thinking about those days
Would walk two miles to town to buy a Pepsi Cola, in the crinkly glass bottle, with Eta peanuts, in the waxy paper they came in
Petrol was less than 20 cents [two shillings] a gallon, Diesel 11 pence
Tomatoes needed to be eaten in a few days but had taste
Wood burning stoves, in the bush at least, did our cooking even in summer
And boy did it get hot
TV dinners and, for a few years, the death of conversation at tea time

Dear individual,

Where did you get the idea that I am concerned? I'm not concerned; I'm just pointing out that Australia has a Chinese future.

Dear Belly,

Perhaps my background might give a different glimpse
to what has changed in our lifetime.

My parents arrived in this country in 1949. They
were refugees. Displaced persons I believe the
term was to describe them. They fled their country
when the Soviet Union occupied it. They were invited
by the Australian government of the time (populate
or Perish) and they came out to Australia having
agreed to work for the government for two years.

They arrived by ship, disembarking in Sydney and from
there being taken to migrant camps in rural areas.
They were housed in military barracks. Accommodation
fashioned from old corrugated iron Nissen huts. They
were shocked at the primitive conditions.

Men and women were separated into single sex barracks
with shared bathrooms. There were communal dining
rooms serving unfamiliar and unpalatable food.
These places were neither comfortable nor welcoming.
They lived there for years. Men were classified as
labourers and women as domestics (despite their
qualifications).

They were hard times. The sense of isolation ended when
they managed to buy their own home and move out.
But even then - it took a long time for them to be
accepted by the locals in their neighbourhood.

It's part of my family's history.

Dear Foxy,

What part of eastern Europe did they come from? if you don't mind me asking.

Mr Opinionated,

5 % ? And, by the way, Australia has a Chinese past: they built many parts of Australia. They were the backbone of Darwin's economy and social life when I went to school there in the late fifties, even though they couldn't become citizens: when I was there, the government floated the proposition that, if any Chinese applied, they could become citizens after fifteen years. Fifteen years. One of my first funerals was for a Chinese bloke, a lovely old man (with a gorgeous grand-daughter), who had been born there in 1894, but could never become a citizen.

So what have you done for your country lately ?

Joe

Dear Mr Opinion,

They came from Lithuania.

Dear Foxy,

I bet your parents could have provided an oral history that would have made one's hair stand on ends.

Dear Mr Opinion,

My parents had a sad history. They lost
not only their country, but members of their
family, their social status, and family
posssessions. They instilled in their children
the importance of education. The war taught them
that wordly possessions can disappear over night
but what's in your head is more difficult
to lose. Anyway, I grew up in a loving family
environment. For which I am very grateful.

Both my parents have passed away - but their
legacy lives on and shall continue to live on
in my children and my grand-children.

Dear Belly,

Now something on a lighter note about what's
changed in our lifetime.

Here's something - tongue-in-cheek that I
wrote when I was such a fan of Sylvester
Stallone and the Rocky films:

"Why I like Sylvester is because he acts so tough
He's well built, good looking, and quite often rough
He's a guy who never loses, defeat is not his game
He's a real Italian hero
With victory to gain

Rocky, Rambo, Cobra are names by which he's known
But the biggest one of all of them is none other than
STALLONE
Put the two together, Sylvester and Stallone
And what you get is the toughest fighter the
screen has ever known

Fighting for good causes
For Justice, to be free
Fighting for the underdog
For folks like you and me

And as we leave the theatres,
We look up at the sky
And up there on the billboard
It's Him,
Oh what a guy!

Dear Foxy,

I gather from the way you write that you are an Arts grad. Is that so? What areas did you study?

Dear Mr Opinion,

I have more than one degree.

I'd prefer not to elaborate on this forum
for obvious reasons.

As for my writing? I've been doing that from
a very young age. I specialise in children's
stories.

Dear Foxy,

Similar. I have three Arts degrees, each in a different field, two at postgrad level. I also have a vocational degree which I did in order to have a livelihood. I have never had an interest in being in academia but love being a scholar; planning to do another degree in humanities.

Back to the thread. I remember my first Guy Fawkes cracker night in Townsville, in probably 1947. Crackers & sky rockets, now gun powder was available again. Interesting isn't it, that we can't be trusted with such dangerous stuff today.

I remember my first air rifle, at 10, & my first 22 at 12. Again we are no longer mature enough to own such dangerous stuff.

I remember living at Bathurst in a dirt floor tin unlined tin shed, while dad built our house when ever he could get materials, so short in supply after the war.

I remember getting our first post war car, a 1928 Chev in about 1949. Even if you could afford one, cars were still in short supply.

I remember playing football in the snow at Millthorpe in about 1950. More than half the kids were barefoot.

I remember a dozen or so every night, standing outside the appliance store in Randwick, in about 1958, watching the TV the owner left running in the window for those who couldn't afford one. They were about a months salary for most back then.

I remember winning my General motors scholarship to study Engineering at Sydney Uni. It was that or a teachers scholarship to get to uni for most of us.

I remember after 3 years of trying to live on 7 pounds a week alone in Sydney, I chucked it in, joined the navy & learned to fly. God it was great to eat regularly, & I remember the first time I landed on an aircraft carrier was even better.

I also remember having to fund myself, the last year of my BSC, after I left the navy. No HEX back then.

Yes some of it was tough, but I wouldn't want to change a thing, it was great, & the same for everyone.

Foxy Loudmouth Hasbeen, well done, truth is of value so I am going to put that younger me down
I hated School, my brain did not get going till after, leaving home to work saw me hooked on learning to read and still hooked
But that young country kid learned so very much, from new Australians
Italians took me under their arms and I learned more from them than ever at school
My dad, a hardworking man of his time, was just a bit racist,asking brand new arrivals to speak English
I asked him could he speak Greek, not a happy memory
Do we men remember how we desperately wanted to be old enough to wear long pants?
This winter morning as is true of most days, I wear the shorts because I do not like long pants
I do thank that young kid, his interest in reading made me today's man,he even then, wanted to be the best worker his boss had, and still thinks that is worth doing in everything

Dear Hasbeen,

The smartest thing I've heard you say to date is that you dropped out on an engineering degree. I wish I could say the same!

Just the mention of engineers makes my appetite disappear. Don't get me wrong I do fully appreciate a true, competent, not-up-him/herself engineer but the gits they let lose on the unsuspecting public is nothing short of scary. I'm certain that incompetence has literally become a prerequisite for passing the tests !
Many times it was the designing engineer who relied on us crap-kickers to make their designs work. I was convinced that they thought that water runs uphill ! My favourite (not) engineer specialised in complexity because he would design a breadknife with wheels & a bull bar were he asked to design a bread knife !

Mr Opinion, did you miss I went back & finished at my own expense.

Not your type of engineer individual, I was lucky enough to get involved in the plastic industry in the 60s. We were still only coming to understand what we had, & what they could do.

It was an incredibly exciting time, as we learned what wonderful new products we could make using the properties of the different materials.

We could pump out electronic components for cents, that had cost tens of dollars previously. Our new components were a number of orders of magnitude smaller & lighter, enabling so much development of products. The old heavy easily broken phone became strong & light, as did so many things.

Much of what we did was hidden, componentry in larger products, only possible because of light strong dimensionally accurate plastics. Very little of todays world could exist, without the development we started in the 60s.

Then of course I read Chichester's book, Along the Clipper Way. Big mistake. As soon as I had put a few thousand together, I bought an old yacht, & sailed off to see all the wondrous things & places in that book. Never did get back to the real world, thank god.

Dear Belly,

What an uplifting discussion.

So good to get away from the usual political stuff.

It's wonderful to read about people's lives and
experiences. Actually brings a lump to my
throat.

I remember how hard it hit me when my dad died suddenly
of a massive coronary at the age of 52 in Sydney.
We were overseas at the time and I wasn't able to make
it home in time for his funeral. I was devastated and as
always put my feelings down in writing:

"The pain we feel for familiar things
That all too often in a flash bring back
glimpses of days past.
And then I remember him.
But with difficulty for he has not been gone long

The memory is clear and always sweet
The grey at his temples
That turned white so quickly people said

His joy at his privacy
Able to forget briefly his daily bread

Giving
Above all else I remember the giving
The smile, the talk, the laugh
Are all things that linger with moments shared
now rembered

But the giving will be his epitaph
Give and you shall receive
Words etched in sweat on my father's grave
His legacy lives on.

Dear Hasbeen,

So what are you telling us, that you're just an engineer?

So what are you telling us, that you're just an engineer?
Mr Opinion,
What he's telling us is that he is an Engineer who designs things that are of use to the rest of us. Unlike social engineers who keep throwing spanners into the works ;-)

Thanks Foxy, my much loved dad died at age 54 and at a time the family had just returned from Queensland after failing a new start project, [we failed because only some could find work in rural town]
Hard times and it had impact on the rest of my life as I took his role
Hasbeen not sure if engineers are trained in management maybe you can tell me
But in at least the roads in my state 80 percent of and engineers job was management
Now maybe many just never had greatness in them, but they more often than not failed in that area
Honest true story, *I team leader/union delegate, asked our headman, on behalf of the whole crew, to sack a drunk*! who was drunk all day everyday, AND to do the same with a drugo [same story]
He informed me UNION DELEGATE he could not, as the union would be on his back
35 years ago things got better when workers got to sit down and talk with the boss

Dear Belly,

We have a great deal in common.

I also had to step in caring for the family and helping
out after dad died. And later caring for my mum as
you know. It's only been a short time she passed away.

Still I think it's made us who we are today. And I count
my blessings as I'm sure you do too.

I respect you so much.

Not in their engineering studies Belly, other than project management. Most good engineers complain that they get pushed further into management, the more they learn how to be good engineers.

Most of these are put through increasing numbers of management courses, mostly not of much use to anyone but the course organisers. So yes many are muddling through in management. However in my experience, most of them are better managers than those who's training is in university management courses. There is nothing more useless than professors who have never managed anything teaching kids how to manage.

Not quite Mr Opinion. You see while you were studying tweedle winks stuff in sociology, I was doing more math & statistics. I see you have learned well the arrogance of the academic particularly those in make believe disciplines.

I only gave up when I discovered most of the teachers knew just a little less than I already did. Books written by the really knowledgeable are wonderful things, only exceeded today by what is available on the net. Wish we'd had it back in the 60s.

Hasbeen a truth, in my case the then NSW RTA sent young graduates on tour, they would spend about two years in one place
It seemed we got the brand new ones, and it showed
They, the best of them gained skills as they went
Thinking back to those days things have changed
Road stabilisation used many different products mostly bagged Lime [would have done better using the Queensland more road base solution]'A whole semi trailer would arrive and no more than two men[me always] would first throw in on the road as the truck moved forward
Then open every bag, burn the empties,and be taken for a shower
Then come back and empty the second load
Those days are gone tanker and pumps now

Dear Belly,

Good Morning.

We celebrated my Birthday with the family yesterday.
It was wonderful. My grand-kids are the joys of
my life. And it was a lovely day.

One of the gifts that I received was a DVD -
"The Happy Prince." It was on the last days of Oscar
Wilde - so vividly evoked in Rupert Everett's
directorial debut. It was a desperately moving film.
Rupert Everett not only directed the film but acted
the part of Wilde. Truly gut-wrenching.

It also showed the effects of prejudice on human beings
but at the same time it showed the true riches of love
as well.

Not for the faint-hearted.

I'm still thinking about it this morning.

cont'd ...

Do you think that our prejudices are as bad today
as they were those decades ago? Have we not
really progressed all that far? Do homosexuals
still get bashed today?

'What has changed in our lifetime'? I've changed.

Unfortunately, my education amounted to the NSW Intermediate Certificate in 1954. My IQ was measured at school and found to be about average. My parents were informed; your son might get into some sort of trade. But forget all about going to University, or pursuing some academic or scientific career. What changed my life, was the military, Vietnam, and later the police force.

When growing up, I recall being allowed to ride on the Bakers Cart; the odour of fresh bread; and kicking the football around the street, all were treasured memories. The milkman leaving milk in our billy can (no milk bottles), as his horse-drawn cart made its own way up our road. We left a note advising him of quantity, a pint or quart, with the money on the front step. It was never stolen. Another bloke used to come around every few months, yelling out 'clothes props' from his horse and wagon.

There were the pictures on a Saturday afternoon, always a double feature, including several cartoons. Later when old enough, it was on Saturday evenings, also a double feature. Plus the 'Twentieth Century Fox' News, a cartoon, the movies, with an interval in between. At the end of each session, God Save the King/ Queen, was played. We all dutifully stood, being as it was our National Anthem at the time.

The Vietnam War had a profound effect on my thinking, as well as many others of my vintage. A very turbulent time. I was in the ARA, so I was sent anyway. Those who chose to avoid conscription were generally looked down upon by my group. As I aged (nearly 80), I understood more clearly those who claimed to be 'Conscience Objectors,' they did have a legitimate case as well. Perceptions of cowardice were often erroneous with most, as I learned much more about their ethics and morality as the years passed. I think the whole question of the Vietnam War, split our entire population, like none other, in contemporary times.

Foxy o sung wo, must be reading my mind both posts [the thoughts behind them] could have been mine
This bush breed kid never knew what a homosexual was, until first job in Sydney
Yes we carry the racism we learn with us, I carried that one for about the first half of my life
But voted yes and as long as it is not compulsory support them still
Cloths props yes o sung wo, you left out the rabbit o,on the street often and many saying it was cat not rabbit they sold
In fact much later a work mate breeding them, [not one anothers best mate] sold me a pair for mum who loved them each fortnight
We got our heads together and put the story around he was selling me cats
Boy we had fun, telling each other the horrible things they thought I would do on finding out
Remember all those radio shows? Tarzan, a host of them and we did not miss listening to them

They were good days I reckon BELLY. We had bugger all money, but we managed to amuse ourselves without the need to have outside stimulates. We treated girls with respect, and no four-letter words could be heard in their presence.

I think our society has lost much over the years, particularly our kids. The last three or four decades especially. If you disagreed with a bloke, you'd have it out behind the toilets (at school), otherwise behind the pub's car park. No 'glassing' in the face, a good old fashioned stink, probably shaking hands at the end of it?

It beats me where our culture, our honour, and morality has gone? As we've become even more advanced, we've become more vicious even more brutal towards one another? And I don't know why?

the Vietnam War, split our entire population, like none other, in contemporary times.
o sung wu,
This it definitely did here because it facilitated of the removal of National Service in exchange of votes !

Dear individual,

The biggest event happening in our lifetime is the transmigration of Chinese to Australia transforming the country from Anglo Australian to Sino Australian. Come to Sydney and have a look for yourself if you don't believe me. Maybe the Chinese Communist Party will award us with honorary Chinese citizenship. The ones who have really suffered are the poor old Aboriginals: first the whites take their land only to be taken again by the Chinese.

Hey Mr Opinion,
I'd tend to agree with that.
I went to Sydney about 18mths ago;
- Via 'planes, trains and automobiles'.
(It's a long and painful story just like Steve Martin's.}

I saw a few Aussies around at the airport, but once I got down to the train station; every single stop around the city was 90% Asian passengers.

"The ones who have really suffered are the poor old Aboriginals: first the whites take their land only to be taken again by the Chinese."

I feel sorry for the ones joining with Islam who somehow foolishly think the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Dear Armchair Critic,

There are a lot more Chinese in Sydney now than there were 18 months ago. By my count it's 1 in every 2 people. And rising! It's good to find someone who can back me up in what I have been saying. They're been brought in for one thing only: their money, which we need to keep the Australian economy afloat so that we can all retire at 55. A bitter pill to swallow.

Well as few posts highlight yet another thing that has changed
Our xenophobia has found new targets about every decade
At my birth it was Refos, ww2 refugees
Then Asians *the no Asian Aussie crowd*
Next Muslims no discrimination, some insist on hating them all
Now Chinese, anyone from Asia is branded Chinese
Prefer to remember those first ten years
Much more fun, running amuck but being home as warned,before dark

Dear Belly,

What's happening to our country?

What's with the blame game?

Foxy we need accountability from all sides of politics
A very long time ago a politician Labor, was forced to resign because he failed to pay tax, on a teddy bear,and tv he brought back from a trip overseas [1970s]
If we had that much accountability now?
Politicians play the divide card and those divisions are now entrenched,we are poorer for that
Too we are more interested in our own lives than even easily ignoring this truth politics is worse for our refusal to become engaged
But once the slowdown arrives ,and it will,things will change for the better as people will find reason to get involved

It beats me where our culture, our honour, and morality has gone? As we've become even more advanced, we've become more vicious even more brutal towards one another? And I don't know why?

Posted by o sung wu.

Immigration & multiculturalism old mate

Dear Hasbeen,

If it wasn't for multiculturalism Australia
would still be a cultural backwater today.
Just remember who it was that built the strong
foundations that have served this country for
decades.

cont'd ...

If you want to see what Australia would be like
today without immigration and multiculturalism -
travel to rural areas.

Hi there HASBEEN...

I agree with you in principle. I'm a great believer of selective immigration, determined by us. We select who we'd like to have settled here, not the morally corrupt UN or any of its sycophant Nations, trying to tell us what to do. For multiculturalism to succeed, it must evolve in its own good time, and not be involuntarily stuffed down our necks, by restrictive laws 'forcing us' to accept others. A bit like water, it finds its own level. People are no different.

Similarly, if two Aussie blokes, who don't like each other, and frequently say so across the back fence, rarely need mediation or police interference, provided it's kept reasonable. People can often work out their differences, without the heavy hand of the law, bashing one side or another into submission? You can never legislate for people to like each other.

While off topic think with me on this
Look at America, consider its open gate welcome, indeed asking, for refugees/migrants
Read any cities phone book, note the surnames, they came from all over the world
We could be a mini me to America, sometimes the fears and reactions are the same
I remember we kids absorbed the racism of our parents,towards REFO,S
In time we saw they worked hard saved, and showed us how to own a home in record time
We soon found out they are mostly just like us
My mums mum had eight kids, one daughter 13 my mum gave birth to 16 but lost eight before their first birthday
My cousins wed refo,s from all parts of the world, by now their children have children, and no one dare tell them they are not Australian

Dear Belly,

Just a bit on the lighter-side.

Mr Opinion may well be right about the future of
Australia being linked with Asia. I've just come
across these two links that may be of interest:

http://theconversation.com/australia-moving-on-up-from-down-under-7658

And -

http://news.curtin.edu.au/stories/australias-due-to-collide-with-asia-whether-we-like-it-or-not

Foxy, I rarely use public transport, but did have occasion to travel on trains in Sydney a couple of times back a few times. I saw virtually nothing but Asian, mostly Chinese faces on each occasion.

I did not at any time however, feel threatened by my traveling companions. I think they make good citizens, provided they was well in the minority. God help us if they become the majority. Asian countries do not have great welfare or health care systems or intentions.

I have travelled by train in Brisbane more often, usually to Brisbane airport, & the suburban network after the airport train. On at least 3 occasions I have felt threatened by groups of Islanders, acting aggressively to each other, Aboriginals, & other travellers. These Islanders are usually in groups, usually fairly large, & although they may not have had aggressive intentions, they certainly gave this impression. So much so that the more old fashioned Ozzies tended to gather closer together than on occasions when Islanders were not present.

These are only personal observations, but there has been a bit of aggression between Islanders & aboriginals in a couple of Brisbane suburbs the train line I use passes through, which may explain the groups.

I never ever felt threatened by the islanders on any of the dozens of Pacific islands I visited as a single handed yachtsman. They were always welcoming & friendly.

Foxy found that interesting hasbeen yes understand in fact some are not quite right in the head
Dislike train travel but as a kid just loved it the trip in to Sydney from the Southern Highlands seemed to last forever
Counter punching the view the Chinese will overrun us in several threads not going to happen

Dear Hassie and Belly,

Love both you guys, and reading about
your life's experiences.

More please.

They make my day.

I'm in a bit of pain at the moment (more surgery
next month).

Caucasion heritage Academics & Social engineers changed every aspect of life in our time.
Now that it is too late to turn back, the panic is showing !

Dear Belly,

You are just so wrong. Australia does have a Chinese future. In fact Australia's politicians will make sure of it because large-scale migration of cashed-up Chinese is the backbone of ScuMo's economic policy. And of course the Chinese who are bringing in the money to keep the economy afloat will demand a say in things so expect to see an ever-increasing number of Chinese politicians entering parliament at all levels.

What Australia does have is a surfeit of Chinese men's trousers with annoying fly zippers, all of them are too short (as far as I've been involved).

To use the fly effectively the pants must be pulled down unless one is endowed with a longer than normal hose pipe.

I still have a couple of pairs of Australian made work trousers with button fly and they do not suffer from the problem of an inadequate opening.

Mr Opinion give me the numbers, how many Chinese are in our parliaments, state federal and local government
Back on thread subject, we will have different memories from different days as our ages are not all the same
But I saw us go from the FX and FJ Holden to more brands of cars than I can count
From the radio being our home entertainment to all those TV channels we now have

Dear Belly,

I'm talking about the future so sorry can't give you numbers yet.

Come and take a look around Sydney and I think you will also predict that Australia is changing from an Anglo Australian nation into a Sino Australian nation. We have a Chinese future, one that your descendents will be part of. All that your grandchildren and great-grandchildren need to learn is how to exclaim three simple words 'Yes Master Lai!'

I recently used the bus almost daily for some years to and from the city centre of Adelaide. It struck me that the people who used buses were quite different from people who never did and always used their own individual cars instead: of course, older people, students, schoolkids and women are much more likely NOT to have vehicles, and therefore have to rely on public transport more than average.

Therefore they're much more visible on buses and trains than men, Anglos and 'working' hipsters.

Joe

Well Mr Opinion my first ever trip to Melbourne was about 15 years ago,
Found it felt more like Australia than Sydney loved that market
Sydney has changed, so very much, in my life time, walk in to that huge shopping building in Parramatta, you will not spot a Aussie as you think of them
However just as it has been in America, some future poster writing about this subject, may well look and see those people in his or her times are as Aussie as any
If I could pick my neighbors you bet Chinese and Asians would be welcome here
Why was Melbourne more Australian?
Nothing to do with race people spoke to each other on the trams!
said g'day as they passed sat down in the pub to say hello, cab drivers mostly from the sub content market stallholders from the middle east but with an Aussie drawl

Another thing that has changed is the location of petrol pumps in most cars, they usually used to be on the firewall but now are inside the petrol tank, so if they break down it means a tow truck to get home/nearest service centre.

My Alvis had gravity feed to the carburettor, only a stop cock and no petrol pump at all.

Speaking of ethnic Chinese, I'm bound to say, they rarely cause any trouble, in terms of street offences, or crimes against the person. It's my belief, the majority work and study incredibly hard, and they're as honest as any average caucasian Australian. The only Chinese involved in street gangs and assaults are mostly second or third generation.

These youngsters, I'm ashamed to say, are those youths who've been contaminated & ruined, by our current Aussie educational system, where a lack of personal discipline and respect, for their parents, teachers, and everyone else in the community is, for the most part, almost non-existent.

While it's true, they do have several well organized criminal gangs ('triads' being the best known) that operate mainly here in Sydney, as well as Melbourne & Adelaide; however, they generally confine their illicit activities to their own ethnic Chinese. Much of it is centered around illegal gambling and the occasional drug importation. The 'Triads' and similar, tend to operate more in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Thailand & of course Mainland China, rather than bothering to expand into Australian markets, where there's already very stiff (sometimes 'bloody)' opposition from the violent Lebanese and Vietnamese gangs.

If I were to identify the one fundamental flaw of the Chinese character; they delight in gambling, so much so, those who don't exercise personal discipline, can blow all their worldly assets over a short period and result in Bankruptcy.

As a former policeman, from a purely law-enforcement perspective, I'd prefer to allow a million Chinese into Oz, with their exemplary, 'hard work' ethic, together with their attitude for academic excellence, then a hundred Lebanese of questionable backgrounds.

I agree o sung wu. I met a number of Chinese in New Guinea, the Solomons & the other Pacific islands. The "One talk" culture of the Melanesians make small business ownership difficult. Much of the small business, particularly trade stores on smaller islands is run by Chinese. In my experience they were more fair & reasonable traders than many trade store operators.

One thing we have to look forward to, perhaps, is some very beautiful women as the result of intermarrying. Around Rabaul, where the Japanese were in possession for most of WW11 there are many mixed race folk as a result. Many of these have a mix of Tolai the local people, Japanese, Chinese & European blood lines. These people are very hansom, & the girls are the most beautiful I have ever seen anywhere.

Foxy you say to see what Oz would be without multiculturalism, look to the country areas. Well sweetie, that would sure suit me. Why do you think I live way out of a city.

In the 60s, I would drive into the CBD of Sydney, with my girlfriend, park in one of the main streets, & go to a movie or a show. That is how a decent city worked. I can still do it in my country town, & the people are friendly.

If Sydney, Melbourne & increasingly Brisbane today is what you get from multiculturalism, the sooner we get rid of it the better from my point of view.

G'day there HASBEEN...

As you correctly say, they are very enterprising and generally fair in all their business dealings, the Chinese. And when it comes to money, they're sharp as the proverbial tack! Apropos your commentary on interracial marrying, they can produce some stunningly beautiful women as you say. With lithesome figures together with delicate and wholly flawless features, wearing their delightful, figure-hugging Asian dresses!

The Chinese are the second earliest settlers to this country after the Europeans.
They have integrated admirably. Their patience is their strength.
Their background is also their back bone.

Good to see indy you have that right
Seems a thousand years ago but my dad came to Sydney to keep us together after I left home
We rented from a Chinese businessman, honest kind and caring
Never forget his tragic death drowning in a flood
We left the city after a few years and never regretted our return to the bush
The skills and work attitude we took back saw us all in work so it payed off

Yes we had Chinamans dam, not far out of Young. Some might realise Young was originally Lamming Flat, & was the scene of race riots during the gold rush. I believe quite a lot of Chinese were drowned in that dam during the troubles.

We had some of the decendents of the Chinese at school in Young, & running businesses in town.

Hasbeen yes knew about Lamming flat, not the only site such things took place
If fact ties in with my earlier statement here we always find someone to hate
In this case at least some of those who rioted and murdered must have been migrants themselves
Hope a day comes, even if it is forced on us, that we can live together without hate

Hey Hey BELLY, Hey Hey! '...That we can live together without hate...'! I think a bridge too far regrettably, still it's good to hope.

Remember when vegetables were pickled so that they would keep as there was no refrigeration?
(Well, maybe you don't it's a few years back).

Now jars of pickles and jars of pickled vegetables, such as gherkins, have "Refrigerate after opening" on their labels.

Progress!!

With lithesome figures together with delicate and wholly flawless features, wearing their delightful, figure-hugging Asian dresses!
o sung wu,
A real contrast to obese, tatooed, foul-mouthed, lazy, white Australian sheilahs ! Is it any wonder the West is going downhill ?

Tattoos on girls improve with age and become more modern,
what starts as a Rembrandt becomes a Picasso.

Remember the jars of fruit and the pickles boy you cannot buy them like Grandma made
Too the days picking blackberries to make jam, raiding the wild Jam melones for that reason too
Even picking up coal from the railway line to supplement the fire wood
How about the chip heaters? for bathwater
O sung wo, we probably bought hate out of the caves with us,maybe it help block out our raiding the next tribe for brides and goods

Hi there Belly...

You might be right. The two most dangerous of human emotions are hate & malice in my opinion!

Talking about hate and malice?

What a difference there was between my father
who died of a massive coronary at the age of 52
and my father-in-law who lived to the ripe old
age of 91. My father was tender, loving and
giving. My father-in-law, well he was totally different.
I wrote:

"What was he like in his youth -
This man I now call father?
My husband's father
My children's grandfather

The signs of age are creeping up on him
He keeps score of everything
that displeases him
Writes it down in his book of accounts."

We made our peace in the last days of his
life. For which I was grateful.

Well done Foxy, I too ask those questions, having lived longer than my dad and mum
Too grandparents on both side who all died in their 73rd year why
I at my age we all do, ask why so many my age are so bitter, so remote from what they once had been or in some cases carrying they discontent into old age with them
Hate and even dislike can be built on very shaky grounds
We put our rubbish bins out at the end of the lane, from my work days end I have retrieved all the bins and stopped tourists filling them back up
Too sick to put mine out and too sick to go up and collect them my near neighbor has come up with the view I targeted him! by not removing his
See? some things need more thought before we hate

Hi there FOXY...

As always, you write beautifully, occasionally with great despair, and other times, with considerable levity. But always with great vibrancy & spirit. Good one you, please keep it up.

Dear Belly and O Sung Wu,

Two of my favourite posters with such big
hearts.

You give me wings.

I cried, do not get me wrong I am an alpha male, but cried at a front page story in this days SHM online edition
It started out as a Feminist bit, then opened up about men, no not insulting
Feeling sorry for us, a long read a deep one, but it made me cry
Good men do, and are not afraid to say so
But the past me hid it did everything to not show it
At age 5 I would not dare do such a thing
Why did I cry, if you read the story, and it is worth it, it talks of lots of things the father son relationship one of them
Men must be men stuff
It bought me back to my 16th birthday, living away from home, dad got the train down and we went to the races
But as we waited for the steam train to take him home we sat on either end of a long railway seat, and cried
Never dare say I love you mate never admit we cried but maybe those memories remind me we must never lock up our true feelings

Dear Belly,

A great big hug to you.

I think that today men are now permitted a more
gentle and expressive personality than would
have been considered appropriate a few decades
ago.. The 1950s "tough guy" image of manhood
has less and less appeal to both sexes these days.
Of course there are still neanderthals around who
believe that a woman's place is in the home, barefoot
and pregnant and a man needs to walk around with his
club.

Like the feminine role today, the masculine role is now
more ambiguous, more flexible, more subject to
interpretation by the individual.

Today we value a person's indiviual human qualities,
rather than his or her biological sex as a primary measure
of a person's worth and achievement. And those you, dear
friend have in spades - and your ability to show emotion
proves it.

Foxy yes in fact that change has been huge in my lifetime
But in the link it is probably not working now,it showed why men are men
That do not be a cry baby you are a big boy thing
It opened my eyes
And confirmed my intention to learn something new everyday is worth the effort
While I live I grow was something I adopted long ago, after seeing it on a tree

FrostBite I dare not take it for granted you are pulling our leg
You need to know life can get better over night, in small country towns at least joining social groups, even bush fire brigades and such, is a real life dating service
I think you can find what you are looking for but be careful online you never know who is behind the keyboard

got me! second look it looks like spam, pathetic stuff frostbite