Andrew McMillan. Wordstorm Festival. Alice Springs 2009

Statement on the death of Andrew McMillan

Respected Northern Territory writer Andrew McMillan, 54, died this evening at his home in Darwin. He was with friends.

“Andrew was one of the Territory’s great eccentrics—but also one of its best contemporary writers,” said Mr Mackinolty.

“He came to the Territory chasing music as a journalist, which led to the influential book Strict Rules which covered the Warumpi Band/Midnight Oil tour of the Territory and never looked back as a writer.

“He followed this with Death in Dili, Catalina Dreaming and An Intruders Guide to East Arnhemland—the latter led to his being awarded NT Writer of the Year in 2009.

“He was also the leader of the band, Darwin’s Fourth Estate, a notorious collection of journalists and real musicians. The band’s last performance was held nearly a year ago, to celebrate a Living Wake for Andrew.

“He was working till the end, writing, performing and producing a CD with his latest band, The Rattling Mudguards, as well as finalising an anthology of his writings. Both will be released posthumously.

“At his wish, Andrew will be buried near Larrimah, followed by a wake at the Railway Club on dates to be announced.

“Andrew made it known that he is deeply grateful for support over the last year given to him by the Palliative Care staff at RDH.”

Chips Mackinolty,

Darwin

28 January 2012

You can see a little more about Andrew here.

…the world’s premier institution for information and research about the cultures and lifestyles of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, past and present.

The Institute undertakes and encourages scholarly, ethical community-based research, holds a priceless collection of films, photographs, video and audio recordings and the world’s largest collections of printed and other resource materials for Indigenous Studies, and has its own publishing house.

Its activities affirm and raise awareness among all Australians, and people of other nations, of the richness and diversity of Australian Indigenous cultures and histories.

Fine words and noble ambitions that AIATSIS has strived to fulfill over the past 50 or so years. From my own research on Aboriginal bird knowledge I found the resources in the AIATSIS library and archives an great source of information and inspiration.

But more than a few in the fields of research – anthropology, linguistics, law and archaeology – central to the very fine work that AIATSIS has sponsored over the years are dismayed at this recent announcement in the AIATSIS Grants page:

With the greatest reluctance, the AIATSIS Council has decided that applications for research grants will not be invited for the 2012 year. Although an important discretionary program, this will be the first time in over 20 years that grants will not be available.

AIATSIS funding from Government has fallen steadily over the past decade, in inflation-adjusted terms. Submissions to Government for increased base funding, or exemption from the efficiency dividend, have been unsuccessful. We have now passed the point where all legislated functions can be delivered, and in this context Council took the view that decisive action was called for.

Whilst Council noted, and appreciates, the Government’s decision to exempt AIATSIS from the additional 2.5% efficiency dividend in 2012-13, this will have no positive impact on ongoing funding.

An internal review of the grants program found that it isn’t meeting the intended purposes.

It has been substantially unchanged for over a decade, and would need to be redesigned to meet current expectations from Indigenous communities, researchers and AIATSIS priorities. In addition, the grants program is no longer eligible for inclusion in the Australian Competitive Grants Register, due to a Government policy decision in 2010.

For these reasons, Council reluctantly decided that the grants program could not be funded next year. Instead, the funds will be used to bolster research in priority areas which are critically short of resources.

In the overall scheme of research in Australia the AIATSIS small grants certainly provided bang for the public’s buck. A quick look at the grants over the past few years reveals the depth and breadth of the research funded by these grants – which at about $680,000 per year are pretty modest. Follow the highlighted links for the 2011, 2010 and 2009 research projects and see the breadth, depth and quality of the research for yourself.

Does any of this matter?

For mine it does. Very much.

I agree with the commentator who noted that:

…for very little money AIATSIS was able to tap into some of the latest research and then ensure that outcomes were returned to the institution: manuscripts / audio / visual etc.

This wonderful repository will no longer be fed by this emerging research. While the networks and loyalties of researchers who are funded (such as myself for my PhD field research in the mid 1990′s) will no longer be developed.

The fact that AIATSIS has to manage with dwindling government funding cannot alone explain this action. It is extremely disappointing.

Your thoughts are welcome.

Pied Oystercatcher Haematopus longirostris

I’ve been camping with a few mates in the Gippsland lakes for he past week or so and on the rare day of good sun I caught up with a few of the local waterbirds, including one of my favourites, the Pied Oystercatcher.

Here are some pix of Haematopus and his mates …

A "flagged" Pied Oystercatcher

Australian Pelican Pelecanus conspicillatus

Pelican coming in for landing ...

Eastern Great Egret Ardea modesta

White-bellied Sea Eagle Haliaeetus leucogaster - juvenile

... being harassed by a Whistling Kite Haliastur sphenurus

White-bellied Sea Eagle - adult

Another shot of the Pied Oystercatcher ...

Campsite ... and stars

I went camping to the Gippsland lakes this past week and pointed my camera skyward on a cold clear night.

Here is some of what I saw…

Orion's Belt ... and more

Homestead, Rotamah Island

Moonrise over Gippsland lakes

* Thanks to Dave Graney for the words … an music.

Yindjibarndi Elder Allan Jacobs. Source: Yindjibarndi.org.au

Over at AASNet (the Australian Anthropological Society web discussion group) a recent thread that dragged a hangnail across the raw ethical and professional nerves of many anthropologists caught my attention.

This thread raised issues of particular relevance for those anthropologists that provide consultancy services – particularly those working on mining and major development projects – rather than those that work for a single agency or company.

Somewhere in that thread I found the following article written by Dr Barbara Dobson and Ken Macintyre – both anthropologists that have worked in this field for many years – that looks at these issues generally and also in the light cast by recent events in the west.

Barbara and Kenneth note that:

From our experience, mining companies rely on the anthropologist’s advice on issues of indigenous heritage and Native Title.

No anthropologist is coerced into unethical situations or practices. They have a choice.

They either do so willingly or they do not take on the job.

What follows is a lightly edited version of their paper which I present here as a guest post.

The Yindjibarndi documentary & issues relating to consulting anthropologists

Congratulations to the Yindjibarndi Traditional Owners on their documentary which exposes a company’s bullying tactics over access to indigenous land and cultural heritage.

This documentary will hopefully generate further discussion on the role of anthropologists vis-a-vis mining and development with a view to the real world of consultancy anthropology.

The way we see it is that the role of a consulting anthropologist is one of research, recording and facilitating Aboriginal consultations.

It is fundamentally the role of a field secretary who is aware of the socio-political and cultural context in which they are working.

The anthropologist records the events and discussions taking place between indigenous people and the proponent in a non-prejudicial manner, and when facilitating meetings, the anthropologist must include the relevant recognised heritage spokespersons and Native Title representatives who speak for the particular Project Area under consideration, and they must ensure that the Elders/ Native Title Claimants/Holders are free to ask questions of the company and to have their say on any issues of concern to them.

The anthropologist should not in any way influence the outcome of these meetings, no matter who their client is.

The question of who pays the anthropologist shouldn’t matter; whether it is a mining company or an Aboriginal organisation, the results should be nonpartisan.

Sadly, too often highly qualified anthropologists perceive themselves as ”fixers’ for a wide array of mining or development-related issues and they do not hesitate to manipulate local Aboriginal politics and take advantage of indigenous poverty by offering handfuls of cash to achieve company ends.

There is always the potential for a conflict of interest between the anthropologist’s professional or personal code of ethics and the mining company’s way of achieving their economic objectives.

In discussing all this we should get away from the noble idea of anthropology and get down to the nitty-gritty of Anthropolitics – because that’s what it’s all about.

The Yindjibarndi documentary says it all.

A white mining company wants to access mineral resources on the cheap.

It comes up against a formidable Aboriginal group such as the Yindjibarndi who understand the Company’s exploitative tactics and who stand up for their rights as Native Title Claimants.

Prior to the meeting the Company knew that in order to get its approvals through it would have to go through the motions of a democratic voting process or rather pseudo-democratic voting process.

In consultation with their anthropological advisor and legal expert, arrangements were made to bus the dissident group to the meeting, thereby stacking the votes in favour of the Company’s agenda.

A tried and true tactic which never fails – unless of course it is captured on film and carried into cyberspace for the whole world to see, as in this case.

The strategy of bussing people around is not new. It was used effectively during the Swan Brewery protest in Perth where Aboriginal dissidents were ferried in from Wiluna to speak against local Nyoongar Elders who were trying to protect their spiritual heritage from development. The Wiluna people were not related to the Swan River Nyoongars but this didn’t matter to the politicians.

The development still went through.

Behind all of these tactics, there is an economic or political motive which is to divide and dominate. Indigenous poverty facilitates this behaviour.

There is also the ever-present inter-group indigenous factionalism and jealousy which fuels such actions.

However, without the white agents such as the anthropological advisor and lawyer to approve, orchestrate and mobilise the dissident group, and the Company to fund it all, none of this would take place.

It’s a question of ethics and no matter how much professional accreditation one has (or doesn’t have), it all comes back to the anthropologist’s own ethical and moral conscience.

It is well-known that if an anthropologist does not come up to company standards and does not get the desired results, he or she can be easily removed and replaced by another anthropologist who will comply.

There are high expectations and pressures placed on company-employed anthropologists to assist in furthering and fulfilling company objectives.

It is difficult for an anthropologist not to comply with company objectives because this can mean loss of contract, and loss of employment (present and future) not only with this company but with others for word-of-mouth travels fast in the mining industry where anthropologists are soon branded as either ‘good’ or ’bad.’

This labelling has nothing to do with professional anthropological accreditation but rather how successfully an individual complies with achieving the company’s goals.

A “good” anthropologist gets the company its desired outcome;’ a “bad” one doesn’t. There is a lot of money at stake and anthropologists come cheaply in the scale of things.

What some anthropologists are doing today in manipulating Aboriginal groups against another in order to achieve Company ends is not only unethical but potentially very dangerous.

It is only a matter of time before someone is seriously injured or even murdered as a result of family disputes over Native Title or sacred sites brought on by white anthropologists and lawyers manipulating potentially lethal variables.

We have experienced firsthand attempts by company-hired anthropologists to solve things politically for their client by bringing in dissident groups to speak against local Native Title Claimants who are trying to protect their heritage sites.

This strategy only exacerbates and widens the conflict between groups whose relations are often already strained.

Once again we congratulate the Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation for standing up for their rights and exposing exploitation and unfair dealings which too often go unreported.

We would recommend that the Yindjibarndi documentary be made compulsory viewing for Applied Anthropology courses ( especially for those students intending to become consultant anthropologists) so as to give them a realistic insight into ‘on-the-ground’ complexities and manipulations that occur in the real world of anthropolitics.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

For some more background on these issues see this recent letter from a firm that had been engaged to do heritage survey work for one company in the west and also this post that raises concerns about site damage on Yindjinarndi lands.

The Bitch - 580 horses to carry a dross of export cattle

I ran into the back of “The Bitch” yesterday morning a few klicks out of Daly Waters heading west along the old beef road – now called the Carpentaria Highway – headed for Borroloola, on the McArthur River in the NT’s Gulf country.

I managed to squeeze past her – and her three sister trucks – over the next hundred or so klicks and pulled up ahead to take some shots as they rolled past in clouds of red dust

She's' Lovin' It (sic)

After taking these shots I caught up with this mob again at the Heartbreak Hotel at Cape Crawford where they all turned right to head another couple of hundred k’s down to Brunette Downs station to pick up their loads of cattle and carry them back north to the export yards a thousand or so klicks away in Darwin.

She's Got It

The Beef Roads program ran across Queensland, the Northern Territory, Western Australia and northern South Australia from about 1949 through to the early seventies and included essential arterial roads like the Carpentaria and Tablelands highways in the NT.

And while they have had a fair bit if upgrading over the years they can still be pretty rough going.

No-name...

As I followed The Bitch down the jump-up just before Cape Crawford the rear trailer – being outbound they were all empty – jumped and bounced across the rough surface like a thing possessed. No way was I going to try to overtake her there.

At Cape Crawford I wandered over to catch up with the four drivers while they grabbed a quick corn-beef sandwich in the shade of The Old Girl.

Modern day beef roadies Ian, Jason, Stephen & Rankin...

Ian, Jason, Stephen & Rankin were all out of Kalala Station outside of Daly Waters on the Stuart Highway.

Stephen told me that their trucks were all Kenworth “650″ models and pulled about 580 horsepower. Each of the three trailers ran on twenty huge tyres. Adding the eight drive and two steering tyres they ran to a total of 70 wheels on the road.

The Old Girl at rest. Cape Crawford, November 2011.

Each trailer carries about twelve or thirteen head on each of two bays on two decks for a total of 12 bays and upwards of one hundred and forty-four head of cattle.

In rough terms that means that The Bitch – and her sisters – will each carry cattle worth – at current values of $782 a head for export cattle – $112,600 from Brunette Downs to the yards in Darwin. Each load will weigh around 50.4 tonnes.

Across the four trucks in this convoy the total value of this run will be around $450,000 with a weight of 200 or so tonnes.

The last trailer...

and the dust it raises...

Delamere Air Weapons Range, NT. Source: NNTT

Most people wouldn’t have heard of the Delamere air weapons range much before last week’s visit to Darwin of the world’s most powerful man and the announcement that a relatively modest force – to be known as the Marine Air-Ground Task Force – will be based in Darwin at the local Robertson Barracks.

But soldiers can’t ply the pointy end of their trade, particularly the fun stuff that goes bang, from inside four walls at a Darwin barracks. Luckily the Northern Territory provides ample space and facilities to conduct the live firing exercises that modern armies need.

Delamere air weapons range is the smaller of three live firing areas that the Australian – and many other – military forces have used in the Top End for some time.

I’ll have a look at the largest of these, Bradshaw – about the size of Belgium – next.

But first up, where – and what – is Delamere?

Delamere air weapons range covers an area of about half-a-million acres and with Shoalwater Bay in north Queensland, Bradshaw and Mount Bundey ranges in the NT forms part of perhaps the world’s best war-games backyard any defence force could want.

Being 100 or so kilometres away from Australia’s northern air defence base at Tindal near Katherine and not much further, in air time at least, from Darwin means that Delamere is ideally placed as a place to drop big things that go boom.

B-52 Stratofortress. Source: US Air Force

The American’s have been using Delamere well before 2005 when AUSMIN, the annual Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations, decided that Delamere and RAAF Base Darwin would support an enhanced Strategic Bomber Training Program:

The United States is rebalancing its force presence in the Asia-Pacific region, including through the rotation of US strategic bomber aircraft through Guam.

There are opportunities for Australia-US training to be enhanced through a regular program of visits to Australia by US B-52, B-1 and B-2 aircraft and combined training with the Australian Defence Force … It continues a long-standing and mutually beneficial combined training and exercising program.

A B-2 Spirit. Source: US Air Force

In March 2007 the Military Press reported on a typical B-52 bombing run by planes from the 96th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron out of Andersen Air Force Base in Guam:

Andersen Airmen flew to the land ‘down under’ this week to demonstrate the capability and flexibility of the B-52 Stratofortress bomber to their Australian partners.

They completed a series of scheduled Green Lightning exercise sorties at the Delamere Bombing Range while also providing aerial flyovers for the Australian International Airshow 2007 in Victoria, Australia. The missions over Australia were flown under two different types of mission profiles.

The Green Lightning missions were 12-hour, round-trip flights into the Delamere Bombing Range beginning and ending here.

Later missions saw a B-52, along with a KC-135 Stratotanker for support, landing at the Royal Australian Air Force Base Darwin to fly sorties supporting the Australian air show.

“We departed Andersen and received 80,000 pounds of fuel from the KC-135 tanker accompanying us,” said Capt. Mike Maginness, a B-52 co-pilot with the 96th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron.

“We continued our mission to the Delamere Bomb Range where we received permission to employ six BDU-50 inert bombs.” This was the third time Andersen-based bombers have participated in the Green Lightning exercise. B-2 Spirit bombers completed the first Green Lightning exercise from Guam in July 2006, while the first group of B-52s completed their sorties in October 2006.

A B-1B Lancer from the 28th Bomb Wing. Source: US Air Force

I don’t know about the B-1 and the B-2 but from personal experience the B-52 is a truly fearsome thing.

When I first moved to Darwin in the mid-eighties I lived for a while on the Coonawarra Naval Base – now notorious as the home of the Darwin Immigration Detention Centre.

Coonawarra Naval base – which in the perverse logic that is typical of Darwin is inland, while the Army occupy the Larrakeyah Barracks surrounded in large part by Darwin Harbour – is situated right at the end of the very long (3.3 kilometre) Darwin airport runway.

KC-135 Stratotanker. Source: US Air Force

B-52 Stratofortresses – and their essential companions the no-less frightening K-135 Stratotankers - are very scary beasts. Back in 1985 I would be woken at breaking dawn by the house – and every thing in it – rattling and shaking as if by an earthquake. But it was no earthquake – just a few B-52s dragging their fully-loaded weight off the ground and into the air a few hundred metres away from my bed.

All other sensations were drowned out by a blanket of one of the ugliest sounds known to man or beast. Just think about the forces involved in dragging 120 and more tonnes – 32 of which can be weapons – into a the air on a warm tropical morning.

The B-52s would be followed by the K-135 tankers full to the brim with their load of fuel to get the B-52s back to base. The K-135s were an order of magnitude louder and dirtier again than their suckling companions.

Even at the end of Darwin’s long strip – which has a distinct up-hill kick over the last kilometre or two – they would be struggling to make height above the straggly scrub. The K-135 Stratotankers weigh up to 135 tonnes fully loaded, 90 tonnes of which can be made made up of their load of fuel.

And there have been a few “incidents” over the years at Delamere and Tindal with the US Air Force planes.

In September 2004 a United States Marine Corps pilot ejected from his F/A-18 fighter jet moments before it crashed. He was one of about 300 US servicemen taking part in the joint US-Australian military exercise Southern Frontier. The following year, during the same joint exercise, a “range incident” at the Delamere range  saw a weapon released from a United States Marine Corps (USMC) F/A-18 Hornet strike the ground in close proximity to a control building. And back in August 1998 a United States Marine Corps F/A-18 aircraft crashed at Delamere.

I’ve picked up some interesting chatter from various spots on the web about the future deployment of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force in the Top End.

While us acclimatised locals either suffer in sweaty silence or reach for another beer to cope with the worst of the Darwin build-up – and this year’s is relatively mild – it can be an … ummm … stressful time for those not used to the heat and humidity.

And Darwin – or Robertson Barracks – isn’t exactly seen as a comfort post. One comment on a military weblog reckoned that while the Northern Territory might be a great place to conduct large-scale training exercises most of the troops won’t be based at or near Darwin but at Bradshaw an awful long way from Darwin.

One commentator described Bradshaw as a “shitty place to be posted”.

Other comments included:

I reckon the Marines would probably rather go back to Iraq than Bradshaw!

To give some perspective Darwin is seen as a crappy posting in the Australian army and that is living in a city – these guys are going to be lucky (like really lucky, really, really, kissed-on-the-penis lucky) if they get to Darwin on their weekends every other week from Bradshaw where there is quite literally n-o-t-h-i-n-g, not even a small town – the only trace of civilisation is a gas station a long drive away.

And Delamere doesn’t seem much better.

While it might be acceptable for Australians used to the heat, flies, dust and distance from anywhere, I doubt if too many Marines will be taken in by the romance or big-brotherish nature of life at Delamere as painted in this puff-piece from Airforce, the RAAF’s official newspaper:

DELAMERE has all the ingredients of a great reality TV show. Eight Air Force members living and working together while serving their country at a remote outback post.

According to resident cook, Corporal Eddie Sequitin, “it’s like a Big Brother house without the eviction”. Of course, they’re much too busy for any Big Brother antics, but it makes an appropriate analogy about life at Delamere.

Made up of a Range Safety Officer, cook, medic, supplier and three explosive ordnance technicians, the small detachment is a happy bunch of characters with an obvious fondness for their unique lifestyle. As part of that lifestyle, they willingly give up weekdays with their families to spend it out bush, more than 200km from RAAF Base Tindal and 100km from the nearest neighbour. They either catch a chartered 30-minute flight or take the two-hour drive out. Fortunately, they get to go home on weekends, during which time the range is managed by two Air Force caretakers.

Supplier Corporal Geoff Page says with a wife and two kids back home at Katherine, it’s “the love of the job” that keeps him coming back each week. “It’s my third year here, and I love the place,” he says. “I’m one of those old-time equipos, so I like to be outdoors doing stuff with my hands, rather than sitting behind a computer screen. “Out here, you’re not tied down doing the same thing over and over again; there’s always a chance to go out and jump on a tractor or help the blokes clean up the ranges.

“It really feels like Air Force because you’re doing something to directly support the aircraft flying, and can see what’s happening, like the bombs dropping. Then you get to go out afterwards and clean it up, which is great.”

Medical assistant Corporal Claire Aram, who also looks after all the administration at Delamere, is the only female on board, and has been for the past three years. “It’s a great place, because we all get along really well here,” she says. “Everyone gives that little bit extra to not be overbearing, which could easily cause problems within such a small unit. “It’s been a totally different experience for me [as a medic]. For instance, I’ve had the opportunity to shoot 81mm mortars with the US Marines and I’ve got a licence for just about everything that drives. You keep your ears open and you learn a lot out here.”

And – in an echo of the “only-trace-of-civilisation-is-a-gas-station comment above – this story of a trip to the Top Springs pub won’t ease the minds of those looking for a little light R & R close handy.

She said being a remote posting doesn’t make Delamere boring. “Sometimes it can be very peculiar, for instance, we didn’t have a cook one day so the four of us decided we didn’t want to cook for ourselves. So we drove 100km to the Top Springs pub, which is the closest shop, so they could cook us a meal. “They only had spaghetti carbonara cooking that day, so we ate that and then drove back again. It was a 200km trip just for dinner.

 As well as tolerating each other, they also have to share their limited space with other visitors, such as the US Marine Corps, who are currently staying on site as part of Exercise Southern Frontier. “When the Americans come in, normally they are a mortar battalion, which is a different type of Marine,” says Corporal Page. “These guys are forward air defence, so every exercise is different. They’re all really nice guys and because you’re in such a tight community, you get to know them pretty well, so it’s good.” While the average posting to Delamere is three years, most members request to stay longer. Must be that Big Brother feeling.

Others have a different perspective on a night out at the Top Springs Hotel.

This is from the decsion by the NT Licensing Commission in relation to complaints that the Hotel had breached sections of the NT Liqour Act, namely Section 102 –Liquor not to be sold to an Intoxicated Person; and Section 121 – Failure to Remove or Exclude Intoxicated Person from the Licensed Premises.

The following paragraphs describe the conduct of the Hotel’s patron, a local cattle-station worker, the subject of the complaint about what hopefully is not a typical day at the Toppy:

i) An intoxicated Webb soon struck up a conversation with Dormer but quickly took offence at the fact that Dormer was a teacher at Lajamanu, an Aboriginal community. He removed his shirt and was agitated and abusive towards Dormer. 

j) This behaviour resulted in Webb being reminded that he was earlier asked to leave and was again told to leave the premises by Haseldine who had by then returned to the Back Bar. Her evidence is that after asking him to leave, she watched him get off his chair as if he intended to leave. She did not remain to ensure that he left the premises however as she was called away to the shop to serve a customer.

k) At around that time and in response to Webb’s drunken, aggressive behaviour, Dormer and his wife decided to leave the premises. While they were attempting to leave, Web attacked Dormer from behind and they fell to the ground. Webb bit him on the stomach and was abusive and threatening. He also smashed the shop’s bain-marie to the floor. Even as they found refuge in their car and attempted to drive away, Webb continued being violent and threatening bashing his fist against the car window. Osborne and Biggs attempted to restrain Webb and Police were called by Haseldine at 3.30pm.

Any of your stories about the Top Springs pub, adventures with local and US servicemen and women out on the town or your thoughts about Delamere as a suitable place to spend some time are welcome….

Buffy, the deceased Buff-banded Rail. Killed by cats.

Earlier this year I moved into a small flat in the northern suburbs of Darwin. Among the factors that attracted me was that it was in a small complex in a quiet street, had a good jungly air to the yard and – tucked away at the bottom of the thin block – a small spa pool.

There is a pretty good local bird population but most of those are up in the trees and bushes – the Australasian Figbirds love their eponymous floral partner in the front yard and there is a constant variety of birds fluttering overhead in and out of the various fruiting and flowering palms and trees in the neighbouring yards. Right now a Calistemon has burst into flower outside my back door and there is no shortage of cantankerous Honeyeaters clamouring for the abundant nectar.

But there were few ground-dwelling birds in my yard until a few months ago when I noticed a brief flash of feathered chestnut skulking in the ferns near the pool. I didn’t think much of it at the time until a few days later I saw this most beautiful bird – a Buff-banded Rail Gallirallus philipensis – in full view.

Like any good flatmates, over the next few weeks we became more and more familiar with and tolerant of each other’s company. As long as I didn’t make any sudden movements or loud noises she (I have no way of knowing the sex of this bird but she sorta fits… I’m also very cautious about the traps associated with anthropomorphising – attributing human characteristics to – my companion) would quite happily poke around within a few metres of me.

She’d tolerate my presence in the pool, to which I adjourn most evenings with a drink and the radio for a half hour’s cooling solace from the heat of the day. She would sneak between the gaps in the neighbour’s fence, popping back in to pursue some hapless bug and unconcerned about my splashing about. At dusk she would flutter clumsily up into the leaves of a tall Drascena near to the pool and make her roost there for the night.

Last week I went away overnight for work. As I got to my door late the next evening I noticed that tell-tale smell of death that so often permeates Darwin in the build-up. At first I thought it was just a neighbour’s discarded fish-frame or someone’s barbeque leavings gone off in the sun and humidity. The next evening the smell still pervaded but less pungently. And skulking around in the shadows was a moggy cat from over the road.

That evening – and the next morning – no Buffy the Buff-banded Rail. Nor since. But the cats are still around providing choice targets for the odd chunk of rock.

I’ve not been able to find Buffy’s corpse but I’m satisfied that one or more of the cats got her. Bastards

Buffy - ready for a dip...

So now I’m a bit like Tony Soprano and his ducks. I listen for Buffy’s piercing “swit“ call in the pre-dawn and every evening as I lie in the pool I keep half an eye out for her coming through the fence. Or  taking a quick dip in the pool.

Nothing.

Yet another reason why I hate cats.

And Buff-banded Rails are pretty common in this part of the world and can be found around most of the Australian coast and inland near to water. And they seem to have an affinity with – or supervisory caution – around snakes.

The Birding-Aus weblog recently hosted a few posts from various parts of the country about the activity of these birds in close human proximity.

Dean in Victor Harbour reports that:

Our resident BB Rail (which has been seen around our garden area since July 15) is very intrigued with snakes. We have a couple of Red-Bellied snakes around the place which we know about by the alarm calls of Fairy-Wrens and Scubwrens. On 2 occassions, we have seen the B-B Rail follow the snake keeping only a few inches away while it can see it. Yesterday (13/10) the snake had gone into a thick area where the Rail could not see it. The Rail anticipated where it might reappear and hurried around the area waiting for it to show, which indeed it did. It’s been fascinating to watch this activity. The Rail has become much less timid since we first observed it. One can generally walk around and it does not bother to move and goes on feeding. It is a very relaxing bird to watch as it methodically works over an area.

Tom from Samsonvale in SE Queensland reported that he:

Saw something very similar last Sunday at Samsonvale Cemetery (SE Qld). Marie and I were waiting for a Spotless Crake to reappear on the edge of a small wetland and I noticed a large snake (probably an Eastern Brown) moving slowly under the lantana. Whilst trying to point the snake out to Marie I noticed a Buff-banded Rail walking purposely behind it, obviously aware of the snakes presence. Unfortunately we didn’t see the outcome of the encounter but I felt that the rail was actively ‘stalking’ it’s mortal enemy.

And Gavin wrote in about some observations from Mango Hill in Brisbane’s northern suburbs:

I can remember witnessing this behaviour many years ago … albeit with a smaller non lethal snake – Common (Green) Tree Snake. This is the first time I can recall someone else mentioning this behaviour. Thanks for sharing the observation.

Rest in peace Buffy – the cat’s gain is our loss.

That's enough for me...Buffy after a dip.

The NT News "I Float & I Vote" free sticker. Campaigning journalism or advertorial?

Late last week the NT News fired its latest shot in its remarkable media campaign against what fishing columnist and commercial tour guide Alex Julius described as a “recreational fishing no-go, no-take zone wish list.”

Julius was referring to the “I Float and I Vote” rally held at Darwin’s Stokes Hill wharf on the morning of Saturday 5th November and promoted by a raft of local fishing supply shops, Pete Davies – self-described radio shock-jock at Mix 104.9 FM – and the NT News, which led the charge.

According to Julius the rally attracted “awesome” support, with hundreds of people and boats gathered to protest against a proposal by the Australian Marine Conservation Society (the AMCS) that apparently called on the Federal Government to establish 12 fishing ‘no-go zones’ in Top End waters.

The first reference in the NT News to “fishing bans” was back in early August, when a brief piece by Nick Calacouras reported on Greens leader Bob Brown’s call for 30 per cent of the Australian coastline to be declared as marine parks.

A few weeks later Federal Minister for the Environment, Tony Burke, released two “draft marine bio-regional plans and proposed marine reserves” for Commonwealth waters between Shark Bay in Western Australia and the Gulf of Carpentaria in the east.

North Commonwealth marine reserve network proposal

Notwithstanding that Burke’s plan would be of immense interest to the NT News’ fishing constituency I haven’t been able to find any articles in the NT News on those plans or the three-month public consultation period associated with them.

The NT News’ silence continued for the next six weeks or so until October 18 when the AMCS issued a media release announcing the publication by the Save Our Seas Alliance of a booklet called “Twelve Tropical Sea Treasures.”

Twelve Treasures makes a persuasive case for the establishment of marine conservation reserves across the Top End.

The next day the NT News launched a splenetic tirade against “tree-huggers and preservationists”, including this quote from a fisho with a novel approach to Darwin’s evolutionary theory: “Where do people get the idea we are supposed to keep everything on earth alive forever? Species have been coming and going for time immemorial.”

To be fair, throughout the NT News’ campaign against the marine reserves (a term it steadfastly refused to use, preferring instead the misleading “no-go, no take zones”) at least senior journalist Nigel Adlam gave the supporters of the marine reserves some coverage, albeit limited.

But by any account, during the next three weeks of its campaign the NT News presented its readers with a biased and highly subjective view of the AMCS proposals that was a bull’s roar  away from “fair and balanced.”

On October 19 the NT News reported Amateur Fishermen’s Association president Warren de With (who also owns a fishing and hunting supply store) as saying that the AMCS “…agenda is contrary to all available scientific advice, which shows that our NT Fisheries, particularly our recreational fishery, are sustainably managed and that closures are not necessary.”

de With’s comments not only went through to the keeper without challenge but were adopted by the paper as truth writ large.

In the next day’s editorial, the NT News railed against the:

“Politically-minded conservationists [who] are as capable of deceit and obfuscation as any mainstream politician: They will no doubt draw a stark picture of marine protection in the far north – pristine seas in need of saving from rapacious, unthinking, redneck Territorians.”

I can’t find any reference to rednecks in any material from the AMCS or elsewhere but I wouldn’t be alone in thinking that it was a reasonably accurate portrayal of more than a few local fishermen and women.

The subtext of the NT News campaign was that us good old boys in the north don’t want those meddlesome southerners messing with our “unique Territory lifestyle.”

This is the sort of xenophobic tosh that the NT News and conservative politicians (from both sides) love to trot out when it suits an agenda or sells papers.

Or radio ads. Here is self-described radio shock jock Pete Davies quoted in the NT News sister publication, the Sunday Territorian on October 23:

“If Canberra decides to pacify the latte-sipping oxygen thieves of the south, then they’ll just turn around and do it. They don’t give a shit about our vote.”

A week later the NT News announced that it would sponsor a “I Float and I Vote” campaign culminating in a land and sea-based rally at Darwin’s Stokes Hill wharf on November 5.

In the previous ten days the NT News had published eight articles on the “no-go, no-take” zones issue.

In the following week the paper published a further ten articles – including two editorials – all supporting the rally and repeating the untruths and spurious assertions that littered its earlier efforts.

This is from the editorial in the NT News the day before the rally:

“Southern conservationists say the no-go zones will protect fragile ecosystems. But there is no scientific evidence – not one jot – to show that Territory coastal waters are in danger from recreational anglers, the commercial fishing industry or even oil and gas explorers. Indeed, scientists have found that the impact on the marine environment is minimal. So why is there a campaign to try and fix what is not broken?”

It seemed that the only way that the supporters of the marine reserves could get their message across was to buy space in the NT News – which is what they did the day before the rally with a full page ad that set out eleven points in support of marine reserves.

Also on the day before the rally the AMCS and the Save Our Tropical Sealife alliance issued a media release – headed Territorians Deserve Facts on Marine Sanctuaries – that provided more than a few uncomfortable truths for the promoters of the I Float and I Vote rally:

Based on thorough scientific analysis, the alliance is calling on the Federal Minister for the Environment, Tony Burke, to protect a proportion of the most important underwater habitats for tropical marine life that occur in Commonwealth waters, more than five kilometres offshore. Even the most ambitious interpretation of the alliance’s proposal would leave open the vast majority of these waters for recreational fishing.

…

We need to get the balance right. Less than one percent of our marine environment is protected from sea floor mining, oil and gas exploration and bottom trawling,” said Gavan McFadzean from The Wilderness Society. “Currently we only have one conservation reserve in Territory waters and none in Commonwealth waters off the NT Coast.

The NT News ignored the reasoned arguments of the AMCS and the Save Our Tropical Sealife alliance – perhaps because it put the lie to the papers’ repeated assertions that there was no scientific evidence or research that supported marine reserves.

And that is most likely why the NT News also chose to ignore the media release by the NT branch of the Australian Marine Sciences Association (AMSA), Australia’s largest professional association of marine scientists, which for the last fifty years has been advancing marine science and its understanding in Australia.

AMSA expressed its “deep concern” about the recent media controversy in the Northern Territory surrounding the establishment of marine reserves in north Australian waters.

… public claims that marine sanctuaries have ‘no scientific basis’ were misinformed and regrettable and it was very important that Territorians be made aware of the national and global scientific consensus on Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and their important role in ocean management.

NT Branch President of AMSA, Professor Karen Edyvane, in promoting the association’s national policy statement on Marine Protected Areas, stated that, since the first scientific studies on MPAs were undertaken in the early 1970s, a clear global scientific consensus has developed on their benefits, and also, the urgent need for governments to establish such areas.

“Australia’s marine science community overwhelmingly supports the establishment of Marine Protected Areas, particularly ‘no-take’ areas. This is recognised through almost four decades of independent, peer-reviewed science on the ecosystem and societal benefits of MPAs, and also consensus and position statements by our leading marine science experts and organisations.”

Professor Edyvane said “Like the public debate surrounding the science of climate change, recent public comments that there is no scientific basis for marine sanctuaries are, not only misinformed and regrettable – but highly counter-productive in a very important area of public debate.”

Even if the NT News saw fit to dismiss the Save Our Tropical Sealife alliance (consisting of eight well-respected environmental groups) and the Australian Marine Conservation Society as “southern latte-sipping tree-huggers” it is far more difficult to ignore the Australian Marine Sciences Association or its local representative, Professor Karen Edyvane.

And it isn’t as if Professor Edyvane is hard to find or reluctant to talk to the press. Any of the eight journalists that wrote articles for the NT News during this campaign could have found her by a quick look at the phone book, by a Google search or a drive out to the local university.

Professor Edyvane works at the Charles Darwin University where top of the list of her current projects is the development of the NT Marine Protected Areas Strategy, which involves the establishment of:

 … a comprehensive, adequate and representative system of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to be a part of the National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas. In order to address national and international obligations and cater for unique Northern Territory circumstances, a stakeholder inclusive strategy for identifying, selecting, managing and monitoring a system of MPAs has been initiated.

The MPA strategy aims to recognise the unique and relatively pristine habitats of NT marine ecosystems, their strong socio-cultural associations and the prevalence of coastal Indigenous ownership and legal rights (e.g. Land Rights Act, Native Title Act, Sacred Sites Act). It will also recognise the significant social, ecological, fisheries and economic benefits of establishing MPAs and the need for a science-based and participatory approach to MPA identification and selection.

You can read Professor Edyvane’s impressive Curriculum Vitae here.

And for just a small part of the scientific evidence, research and rationale behind marine reserves the NT News could also have looked at the Australian Marine Sciences Association site, the Federal Environment Department’s webpage and the NT Government’s marine biodiversity homepage.

So much for the claims by the NT News of a complete lack of scientific evidence in support of marine reserves.

There is none so blind as those who will not see.

And what of those on the receiving end of the NT News campaign? Well, Stuart Blanch of the NT’s Environment Centre told me that:

“…the NT News vacated the field of quality journalism and really showed that ideology, populism and running with the mob triumphed over quality journalism. And that’s a shame. They really could have done a lot better.”

Professor Edyvane is no less scathing.

“With the inaccurate, misinformed and highly partisan, ‘anti-Marine Park’ views of the Territory’s only daily newspaper, the NT News, Territorians are neither being informed of the basic scientific facts, nor the overwhelming scientific consensus and support for Marine Parks – including ‘no-take’ Marine Sanctuaries.”

The NT News has instead, engaged in gross misinformation, inflammatory and partisan anti-Marine Park media coverage and editorial commentary – directly fuelling major public outrage and vehement opposition to Marine Parks.

We are literally seeing a ‘race to the bottom’ as each pro-fishing lobbyist and politician (on both sides) in each edition, tries to ‘outshock’ the previous ‘anti-Marine Park’ public statement.”

“This is not only a triumph of short-term, self-interest over long-term, public benefit, but also, a tragedy for public debate in the Territory on an issue of major public and environmental concern. At a basic level, this debate has to recognise that Marine Parks are, quite simply, essential for ocean management and managing the Territory’s outstanding marine ecosystems and heritage. At a fundamental level, the debate is also, very much about the long-term and particularly, the legacy and the quality of ocean life we want to leave future Territorians.”

Eurasian Hoopoe. Photo by Birds of India photographer Rajiv Lather

Australian birders – well some of the twitchier variety anyway – have been all in a lather since the recorded arrival late last week of a single Eurasian Hoopoe at the Roebuck Plains Roadhouse, 30 kilometres outside Broome in the far north of Western Australia. It all started with a post at Birding-Aus, an Australian birders web-log. At 2.43 pm last Friday – just as most of us were thinking about that first beer at the pub after work – the following note appeared on Birding-Aus:

This isn’t a crank posting, there is actually a Hoopoe at Roebuck Roadhouse 30kms out of Broome right now. Bird was found by Kim Oton, Maartin Hulzebosche, Arthur Keates and Chris Hassell a few minutes ago.

You can see some of Kim Oton’s photographic proof – including a rather intimidated Peaceful Dove – here. You can see more of Rajiv Lather’s work at his excellent Birds of India site.

As best as I can tell this Hoopoe is an Australian first.

Just how it managed to find its way to Broome – which is no stranger to birds from far-off continents – was the matter of intense speculation on Birding-Aus and elsewhere.

Here is one theory:

…the correct answer is that ssp epops is strongly migratory between Eurasia and Africa, the bird would have got here…by accident down the wrong side of the Indian Ocean.

And another:

There’s a lot of cargo ships oil/LNG tankers and iron ore vessels moving between north-western Australia and China these days. Don’t know if any of these ships anchor at the Port of Broome, but they certainly do at Port Hedland, which is about 450 km SW of Broome. Port Hedland ships would pass close to Broome’s coastline. Also, I think cruise ships anchor at Broome. I think it would be easy for a Hoopoe to hitch a ride on one of these ships.

The thread then descended into bad jokes and puns about illegals and boat-arrivals. If anyone is interested, the bird was still there as of Sunday afternoon.

We’ll leave that Hoopoe in peace for  for a while.

Hoopoes, while as rare as in Australia, are common in many other parts of the world and, perhaps because they have a head alternately shaped like a golden crown or a double-headed garden pick-axe they have attracted a firm place in myth, legend and religion.

I’m organising a session at next years International Society of Ethnobiology conference in Montpellier dedicated to ethnoornithology, a sub-discipline of ethnobiology which examines the points where birds, culture and peoples intersect…and sometimes collide.

One of the papers we are hoping to post there is from Michel Hasson and Michel Louette who have been working in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In the abstract for their paper, which examines the “Interpretation of bird activities and superstition in Katanga” in the DCR they look at a local Hoopoe legend:

The following legend perpetually circulates among people in Upper Katanga: the Hoopoe does not leave during the rainy season, but shuts itself up in a tree hole with a supply of seeds stolen from the fields.

It is supposed to steal peanuts, beans, and other cultivated grains on which it would feed during the rainy season.

The villagers try to find these Hoopoe “retreats” because, in addition to proteins provided by the bird, they would also benefit from these various seeds for their own use. Ornithologists evidently know that the Hoopoe is insectivorous.

There is no shortage of other tales about the Hoopoe, not least this marvellous connection with ancient royalty:

How King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba first met, by Ilil Arbel, Ph.D.

King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, ruled not only over men and women, but also over the beasts, birds, demons, spirits and all the specters of the night. Naturally, he could speak all their languages.

One night he invited all the birds to sing to his noble guests. All came except the hoopoe. Angry, the king ordered a search, and when the hoopoe was found and rebuked, the bird explained that he was not guilty of disrespect. On the contrary, for the last three months he had hardly tasted any food or water, flying all over the world to discover if any place existed which was not yet subject to Solomon.

Finally he found the land of Sheba, ruled by a beautiful and wise woman called Queen Balkys, where they have not heard the name of Solomon. The lush land in the middle of the desert boasted gold, silver, and great gems, and one of the most valuable treasures of the royal line was the throne, intricately carved of precious woods and inlaid with ivory and gold. The inhabitants of Sheba did not know the meaning of war, said the hoopoe. Solomon could easily conquer the land and take all its fabulous riches.

But that was not the king’s wish. Instead, he wrote a letter and tied it to the wing of the hoopoe. The letter invited the queen to come and pay tribute to King Solomon, like the rest of the kings and queens of the world. If she would consent to do so, he would treat her with honor and bestow gifts upon her country. If she would refuse, her land would be attacked and destroyed in the name of the one true God who gave Solomon his supremacy.

All of this reminded me that some time ago I found that the Hoopoe had been crowned as Israel’s national bird. As Israel’s Y-Net News noted back in 2008 the Hoopoe made it through a unique selection process:

President Shimon Peres announced the Hoopoe as Israel’s new national bird.

The Hoopoe won an election held by the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, which concluded on Thursday after months of voting. 155,000 people participated in the nationwide election.

The road to choosing Israel’s national bird was long but entertaining.

Last December, over 1,000 bird lovers participated in a seminar held in Tel Aviv University, during which they were asked to select 50 nominees for the title out of a long list of various candidates. That list was then narrowed down to the bulbul (Pycnonotidae), the red falcon, the goldfinch, the biblical vulture, the spur-winged plover, the honey-sucker, the warbler, the white-chested kingfisher, and the white barn owl. 

The Hoopoe raked in 35% of the votes nationwide, and also won first place in the election held by Ynet with 20% of the net-surfer vote. 

Peres commended the election, and said that “Today more than ever we need green scenery, fresh air, and the beautiful, multi-colored birds that flock here.” He added that “Ornithology is one of the main assets of our small country.” The president also remarked that 500 million birds pass through Israel’s skies annually. “For such a small country, that’s a world record,” he concluded.

Now that’s democracy.

And I hope that Broome’s Hoopoe story has a happy ending.