Monthly Archives: May 2012

Hello Mrs. Yollis and class,

The meaning of "fad", according to one of my dictionaries, is a temporary, usually irrational, pursuit, fashions, etc.   (The Little Macquarie Dictionary, 1983). It made me think back to what might have been a fad when I went to school.

Did we play chasings with dinosaurs? No, I'm not quite that old.

Did we play computer games? No, they weren't available yet.

This means somewhere between the dinosaurs and computer games, I must have seen or been part of fads.

MARBLES

One of the first fads I can remember at school was marbles. Each recess and lunch break mostly boys would set up their marble games on the large dirt playground.

Game 1: They might call, "Four and your tor back!"

What this meant is if you could flick your marble along the ground and hit their marble at the end of maybe a three feet run, you were given your marble and four extras back. If you missed the marble was theirs.

Game 2: Another game was where each player would place some marbles in a large circles they had drawn in the dirt. They would take turns flicking their marbles into the circle. If they hit any marbles out of the circle, they could keep them. If their marble stayed in the circle, it was lost until someone could hit it out.

Game 3: This was played one on one. One player would challenge another. The challenger would flick his marble along the ground. The challenged would then flick his marble and try and hit the other. If he hit it, it was his. If he missed, the challenger would have a turn. This would go on until one of the players won.

Many years later I returned to my old school as a teacher. The dirt playground was covered with asphalt and marbles were no longer played. Some fads can go on for a long time while others fade away.

COLLECTOR CARDS

Cards with chewing gum first appeared when I was about your age. The idea had come from America and it caught on quickly. We would buy and trade cards to try and have the complete set. My favourites were...

Addams Family - This old US television shows was a big hit here. I once had all of the cards. If I still had them, they might now be worth quite a bit more than when I got them.

Combat - This was a TV show set during World War II. It followed a US Infantry Squad in Europe.

The Samurai - This show was made in Japan. It was a series of adventures with Shintaro, the samurai, and Tombe, his ninja friend. The would battle the evil dark ninja.

In those early TV days, there were Australian TV shows but I don't remember ever seeing cards for Australian shows.

HAIRSTYLES

This is a fad still working today as it has into the long past history. Hair has been worn in many different styles throughout the centuries.

While I was at school, The Beatles from England started to gain favour. Boys, often to the horror of the parents, started to grow their hair longer.  The hippy era started. Long hair, peace and flowers became popular as was the 'new' music. Many of my friends grew their hair longer, dressed in jeans and old shirts and considered themselves trend setting and different. I kept my hair short so, in a way, I was the different one.

Here is a WIkipedia link on hairstyles...

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

TOYS

Model Railways - When I was your age, model railways were the rage. Many boys had train sets. They had been made in England by a company called Triang. They all looked British. At that time steam trains still pulled passenger and freight trains on the real railways and many boys dreamed of being engine drivers.

Railways is an interest I have kept since that time and have ridden behind steam train hauled trains when they were on the real railways and now on historical railways in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Below is a photo of the first model train I owned. It's now around 50 years old but has had some upgrades so it can still run.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Barbie Dolls -No, I didn't collect these but I had to include them as many girls had them when they arrived in Australia.Other toy fads over the years include - Rubik's Cube, Beanie Babies, Cabbage Patch Kids, Matchbox Cars, Yo-yos and Virtual Pets

COMPUTERS

I was in high school when I saw my first computer in 1969. We had a science fair and a teacher had organised to have a computer on show. It was very large and could only play tic-tac-toe. I'm not certain but I think I was able to beat it.

In 1971 I visited Australia's only nuclear reactor at a place called Lucas Heights. It's still our only reactor site today and is used to make nuclear medicines. It had a large computer room. In the middle was a large computer. It accepted punch cards. A programmer had to push out little punched pieces on perhaps hundreds of cards then feed them into the computer. If one card had an error, they started again.

Elecronics became a hobby.

It was 1975 when I really caught the computer bug. I was at university and started a new course called, "The Computer Simulation of Behaviour". We didn't have cassette drives, floppy discs, hard drives, CDs, DVDs and Bluray discs back then. I would carry my programs around on a long piece of ticker tape. When I placed it in a reader, the machine would "read" the punched holes and my program would start.

I could see a growing fad here.

In 1981 I was part of a program to introduce computers in the classroom and have never looked back. Computing is no longer a fad for studious science types, it's a part of our normal world. However, more portable, powerful and capable computers have led to fads...

The First Computer Games I remember -

Space Invaders (I was hooked on this one for a time)

Asteroids

Pacman

My First Emails - We had a FrEdMail (Free Educational Mail) account at my school around 1990. Not long after I first started paying for an internet account. I have had the same email address from this supplier since the mid 1990's.

Social Networking - We now have Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, You Tube, and many others ways of sharing on line. Some are very big for a while then disappear as a new fad hits

Emailing a fad? Seems to be a part of normal life now.

WHO STARTS A FAD?

It could be you - When I was at high school, I had some leather. I cut out strips and made them so they could be put on a watch. I would sell them to others for $1 and had a good little business going. Soon others started to make them and sell them. Within a year, the fad had faded and my leather had run out.

It could be someone famous - Have you ever wanted to wear the same clothes as a singer or have your hair the same way?

It could be an inventor - Think of items like iPods, iPads, Bluray players. Do you like these?

Do you know about 78rpm, 45rpm, 33rpm vinyl records? They were once very big but now are only owned by collectors and hoarders like me.

I know you know about music CDs and probably music cassettes but do you know about 8 track stereo? It was a fad in the 1970s and was a great sound system but has gone.

I know you have used DVDs and Bluray disks to watch movies but do you remember BETA and VHS video tapes? Yes? What about 8mm movies? Before I had video tapes, DVDs and Bluray, I used to carry an 8mm movie projector to school (I still have it). I would load a roll of film onto it and show the class cartoons, science films and even small parts of movies. Spools of film are still in many cinemas but now many cinemas, including my local, also have movies arrive on computer hard drives.

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

With so many fads, I wonder what the next will be? If we knew this, it might be a way of becoming rich. 🙂

By the way, my current fad is commenting on blogs. With the use of Skype growing in classes, I wonder if we will soon be able to virtually appear in a classroom in 3D and share lessons. Imagine being able to see someone appear in front of you when you connect.

@RossMannell

Teacher, NSW, Australia

2 Comments

Hello Year 2/3,

Your questions are very interesting. If I were closer rather than all the way down here in Australia, I would share a book I have entitled, "The Olympic Factbook". It has information about the modern Olympic Games from the first in 1896 to 2000. I have done a little research into your questions. Let’s see if I can help with them…

 

How many people compete?

The 2008 summer games were held in Beijing, China. 10,500 people competed in 302 events in 28 sports. Did you know there are also Winter Olympic Games?

 

Where do people come from?

I think there were 208 countries entering in the 2008 games. You can find a list of all of the countries involved in the 2008 games using this link…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Summer_Olympics

When is it happening?

The London Olympics will run from July 27 to August 12, 2012.

 

When was the first Olympics?

Did you know the first Olympic Games were thought to have started in Ancient Greece over 2750 years ago? There was a very big break before the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. The 1896 games were held in Athens, Greece.

 

What do athletes wear?

During the opening, athletes wear clothes designed by their country. In the events, it depends on the sport. Swimmers need swimsuits. Runners need light clothing and good running shoes. Can you imagine how it would look if the clothes were mixed up and a swimmer were to try to swim in the light clothing and running shoes of runners or a horse rider were to wear a swim suit?

 

Where in the world has the Olympics happened?

1896 Athens, Greece

1900 Paris, France

1904 St Louis, USA

1906 Athens, Greece

1908 London, Great Britain

1912 Stockholm, Sweden

1916 Berlin, Germany (not held)

1920 Antwerp, Belgium

1924 Paris, France

1928 Amsterdam, Holland

1932 Los Angeles, USA

1936 Berlin, Germany

1940 Tokyo, Japan / Helsinki, Finland (not held)

1944 London, Great Britain (not held)

1948 London, Great Britain

1952 Helsinki, Finland

1956 Melbourne, Australia

1960 Rome, Italy

1964 Tokyo, Japan

1968 Mexico City, Mexico

1972 Munich, Germany

1976 Montreal, Canada

1980 Moscow, USSR

1984 Los Angeles, USA

1988 Seoul, South Korea

1992 Barcelona, Spain

1996 Atlanta, USA

2000 Sydney, Australia

2004 Athens, Greece

2008 Beijing, China

2012 London, England

2016 Rio, Brazil

Notice some of the games weren’t held. The 1916, 1940 and 1944 games weren’t held because of World War I and II.

 

Where haven’t the Games been held?

There are 300 countries in our world yet only Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, England, Finland, France, Great Britain, Germany, Greece, Holland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, USA, and USSR have held the summer games. The Olympics are very expensive to run so they are only held in wealthier countries. No modern Olympics have yet been held on the continent of Africa.

 

What games and sports are held?

This has changed over the years as sports are added and taken away. Here is a link showing the events for the 2012 London Olympics…

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/olympics/article-1356990/London-2012-Olympic-Schedule-released-Every-event-happens.html

 

What day do the Olympics start?

The Opening Ceremony for the 2012 London Olympics is on July 27 but football actually starts on July 25  so all matches can be fitted in.

Have fun at the Olympics. 🙂

 

@RossMannell

Teacher, NSW, Australia

2 Comments

Dear ♥Ell♥e♥ and ಢAcacia✄,

We also have daisies, lupins and sunflowers here. Many plants were introduced here over the years. For trees, the only place we would see an oak tree or sequoia would probably be in botanical gardens. They are not native to Australia. We do have pines, both introduced and native. There are pine plantations around for their timber but I do have a favourite native pine…

Fossils existed of my favourite ancient pines. They were some 90 million years old. That means they were around during the time of dinosaurs and may have even been by some dinosaurs. They were thought to be extinct.

In 1994, a NSW National Parks and Wildlife Officer was walking in a remote part of Wolemi National Park about 200 kilometres west of Sydney. He came across unusual trees in a rainforest gorge. Being interested in botany, he realised the importance of what he had found. The tree was named the Wollemi pine and is the same plant as the 90 million year old fossil. Isn’t that amazing?

So rare were these trees, their location was kept secret until enough of them could be cultured to save their species. Now they can be bought for gardens in Australia and other countries.

Here’s a link to some information…

http://www.biotechnologyonline.gov.au/enviro/wollemi.html

 

Have you ever seen any pictures of Half Dome?

While I have never been to Yosemite, I have seen documentaries on its beauty.  I have seen photos of Half Dome and recognised it as a granite mass. It makes you wonder how spectacular a landslide it would have been when the other half fell away.

We don’t have anything as spectacular as that in our area but we do have granite here. Like Yosemite, many natural features around here are due to volcanic activity. Volcanoes are long gone from my area. They were active perhaps 400 million years ago.

Are there any special kinds of flowers or trees in NSW( New South Wales)?

There are many trees and plants native to Australia around here. Many of the photos I sent were very Australia and are native only to this country. Some are related to plants in other places like South Africa and New Zealand but there are some that might be interesting to you.

Go back to the flower photos…

http://rossmannell.posterous.com/photos-for-ellie-and-others-interested-in-my

The first five photos in the yellow section are examples of wattle. Their scientific name is acacia. Does that name sound familiar?

 

Australia’s floral emblem is the Golden Wattle, (Acacia pycnantha). It appears on the Australian Coat of Arms.

 

Wattle does cause trouble for some people. If you have hay fever, you might find yourself sneezing.

Another very Australian flower is my state (New South Wales) floral emblem. It is the waratah in the photo below...

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

How many flowers do you have in your backyard?

We have orchids, Geraldton wax, waratah, grevillia (a number of types of these as the parrots like their nectar m- Photos 2 and 3 in red), bottlebrush (for honeyeater birds - Picture 1 in the red section of flower phots), wattle (the first five yellow flowers), lavender, dahlia, anemone, lilli pilli, hibiscus as well as apple trees and an orange tree. One or two of the flower photos I sent were taken in this yard.

How many trees do you have in your backyard?

We have two trees  (pine and Japanese maple) as well as many bushes

What national parks do you go to the most?

Around my town there are three national parks and a nature reserve. I walk in each of them but my favourite is the nature reserve. They are…

Ben Boyd National Park

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Ben Boyd National Park covers a large area along our coast. You can see its northern most strip of trees running along the beach in the distance. Looking further back, the trees in the distance are mostly part of the South East Forest National Park.


South East Forests National Park

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South East Forest National Park covers a huge area of bushland. I've seen a large number of birds, mammals and reptiles in my walks. This guy is an eastern greay kangaroo. He stood to about my shoulder height. I took a few photos before he disappeared back in to the trees.


Bournda National Park

Bournda National Park runs along the coast for about 12 kilometres (7.5 miles) to the north of my town. It has an amazing 10 km (6.25m mile) coastal walk. The picture shows just one of the many wonderful coastal scenes along the track.


Bournda Nature Reserve (my favourite walking park near town)

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The track I follow is really a fire trail. It is about 10 km (6.25 miles) long. After a sometimes steep climb to a ridge, I walk along the track in the photo. At this point I no longer hear the sounds of traffic and in 10 years have rarely met anyone else on the track.

About 20 miles from us is another national park well know for is beaches and beautiful coastline scenes. It is…

Mimosa National Park

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I have to drive to get to this park as it would take me most of a day to walk to it. Once there, you have access to some wonderful bays and beaches. I also walk a less used track to a tidal creek the gives me access to more coastline.

What is your favorite kind of flower?

I think the grevillia are a favourite of mine as they attract many birds to our yard and in the national parks. I also have a soft spot for eucalypt flowers on often tall trees.

What is your favorite tree in the U.S you have seen in a picture?

Australia doesn’t have as many plants that change leaf colour in autumn (Fall) so I like plants trees like maples and others having colour change (as long as I don’t have to rake the leaves). I also like the sequoia because they can be so tall.

2 Comments

Hello Royce,

The Northern Hemisphere (north of the equator) and the Southern Hemisphere do seem to do things in opposites. When one has summer, the other has winter. When one has autumn (Fall), the other has spring.

Did you know the difference is caused by the tilt of the Earth as it spins around and orbits the Sun?

 

 

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When it's orbiting on one side of the sun, the angle makes the Northern Hemisphere tilt more towards the sun and so it has summer. Being a little more tilted away, the Southern Hemisphere has winter,

On the other side of Earth’s orbit around the sun, the Southern Hemisphere is tilted more towards the sun and is in summer. The north has winter.

Isn’t our planet amazing?

@RossMannell

Dear AA,

They're initials I've often seen when visiting some of my favourite blogs. I think our goal is the same, to encourage children to see how talented they are in what they share. 🙂

What level of teaching was my favourite?

When I was studying for my science degree at university, I knew I could end up teaching maths and science at high school. My problem was, I had very many interests (and still do) so being restricted to the two subjects wasn’t attractive. I wanted to specialise in primary school (5 to 12 year old). This would allow me into art, craft, history, music, literature and writing.

To supplement my income in early years as a student and casual teacher, I tutored children from general primary up to Year 12 high school maths out of school hours.

The couple Year 12 students were outstanding and could challenge me when there were more difficult problems to consider. In one case, I can remember saying I would call back after I thought about the solution. After the ten minute drive home, I called back with an answer.

My first longer stay on a class as a casual teacher was six months working with Kindergarten (Prep or Reception). They were aged only four and a half to five and were absolutely wonderful to work with. I remember parents were often amused by a 185cm (6'1") 25 year old male skipping and dancing with the class. 🙂

Apparently I made an impression on the school principal as she asked if I was interested in a position in the government pre-school section of the school working with three and four year old children. While tempting, government pre-schools weren’t that common so I would have been greatly restricting my future options so I passed on the offer.

This was followed with time on a Year 4 while still a casual teacher. Student teachers seeing me with the children gave me the nickname, “Teddy Bear”. When the class learned I was offered a permanent teaching position in a one teacher school in far western New South Wales, a number wanted to go with me. 🙂

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

The photo was taken from an old VHS tape I made of my first school. All children were in the one room and I was the only teacher. It was 100km (62 miles) from the nearest town and served sheep and cattle properties.In that isolated school for the two years, I had children from five to thirteen. The thirteen year old girl was studying correspondence high school and would bring in materials to the school.

These years were followed on Years 3, 4 and 5 in different schools. These tend to be my favoured levels because of many happy memories. I enjoyed all of my classes over the years and treasure the memories. A number of former students are now Facebook friends so I see photos of their own children and still feel a part of their lives. Some have commented their entry into teaching or the IT industry was influenced by their experiences in my class. One told me he didn’t know how he might have turned out had I not been there when he needed someone to trust. These are special memories.

I still wouldn’t choose high school. Apart from too many years away from that level of maths and science, I still love too many different subjects to be a two subject teacher. 🙂

@RossMannell

Teacher, NSW, Australia

2 Comments

Dear ♥Ell♥e♥,

Here are some photos of fungi (e.g. mushrooms and toadstools). I find they can be just as interesting as flowers but they usually only appear after rain when it's warm. Only a few days after taking these photos, they were gone.

Schools and students have permission to use any of these graphics for non-commercial, educational purposes.

The second last is a picture of some fungi on a tree. With a nose and a mouth, I couldn't resist adding eyes so the last photo of the fungi has a slight change.

 

3 Comments

Hello Ellie,

I've pulled some photos of flowers from my collection so you can see the types of colours I see when out walking. Most are in the wild. Some are from gardens. Many are native to my area. Perhaps my two favourites are grevillias and banksias. Grevillias have wonderful colours and nectar many birds in my area love. Banksias are unusual in shape and popular with bees and honeyeater birds.

Strange though, when I went through my collection, I was able to group the flowers into orange, purple, red, white and yellow but I didn't have any blue flowers. The colours photographed are common around here but I can't remember photographing any blue flowers.

Here is a collection of colours...

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1 Comment

Dear Madi,

This is a wonderfully prepared project. There were times when men argued against women voting because they didn't feel women had the mental and emotional capacity to vote. It seems to me those men didn't have the mental capacity to understand both men and women should have equal rights to vote.

In the 1800s and early 1900s, the suffrage movement gained strength. There were women in those days who were considered very radical. It was a time when society told women their place was in the home raising children not being involved with men's politics. The suffragettes slowly gained support by clearly showing they were capable and were determined to have equal rights to vote. They were amazing women.

With such strong movements in England and the United States you might have thought those countries would be the first to allow women to vote but history tells us it was New Zealand. They allowed women to vote in 1893.

As you pointed out, South Australia was our first state to allow women to vote. At that time, Australia didn’t exist as a nation. It was up to the states to decide if women should vote. When Australia became a nation in 1901, the first election recognised the right of women to vote if their state had already allowed it. In 1902, women were given the right to stand for Federal Parliament.

Did you know the notion of democracy (where power of government rests with the people) started in Ancient Greece (Athens)? Citizens were given the right to vote on what the government did but not on the politicians. This sounds great, the right to vote over 2000 years ago but who could vote?

In those days, you had to be a citizen to vote. That meant being able to show your family had a long history in Athens. Slaves and non-citizens (even if they had been born in Athens), didn’t have the right to vote. Women weren’t even considered no matter how long a history their family might have had. I wonder if women were pushing for the right to vote back then?

Women in charge…

In 2010, Sydney had a first in government with women in every major political position. Look at this…

Sydney Lord Mayor – Clover Moore

Premier of N.S.W. – Kristina Keneally

Governor of N.S.W. – Marie Bashir

Prime Minster – Julia Gillard

Governor General of Australia – Quentin Bryce

Queen of Australia – Elizabeth II

Thank you for sharing your excellent project.

Project link...

http://madelinef.global2.vic.edu.au/2012/03/30/womens-rights/#comments

Hello Hannah,

Owing to a number of commitments, this is the first time I have been able to visit the “OSG’s AP U.S. Government & Politics” blog for some time. On checking, I see your post was the latest and on an important topic.

“Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the moral and intellectual capacity, as well as the inalienable right, to govern himself with reason and justice.”Harry S Truman

I have heard of some problems with the US electoral system where votes were recorded incorrectly and voters were excluded although eligible. In a fair and democratic system, each vote is of the same value and all eligible have the ability to vote. Unfortunately, our systems sometimes fail so the quest for a better, fairer system is important.

I hope your group activity comes up with ways of improving the system.

As I am not familiar with the U.S. system, I thought I would share a little about the Australian system. I spent a number of years as an Assistant Returning Officer (ARO) in charge of an electoral site for federal and state elections. The title simply meant I was in charge of a school being used as a voting location for elections.

Australia only has about 20% of the US population and still relies on non-electronic voting by voters. When a voter arrives at a voting location, they are directed to the appropriate table. For local voters, this means the appropriate alphabetical table.

Local voters…

1.   An official first asks the voter if they have voted previously. There are checks to see if they have or not but that’s done when voters are tabulated.

2.   They are then asked their name and address. The official locates them on the electoral roll and rules a line between two markers beside their name. This later allows the roll pages to be electronically scanned to check who has or has not voted. Voting is compulsory in Australia. Failing to vote can lead to fines.

3.   The voter is now handed the voting papers that have been initialled on the back by the official. Federal elections generally have two voting papers, one for the Senate and one for the House of Representatives.*

4.   The voter now moves to a booth and marks their selection on the voting papers with a provided pencil. Considering the size of the Senate paper, voters can choose to number every candidate or simply put “1” in the party of their choice to record votes according to that party’s decision.

5.   Once the vote is complete, the voters place each paper in separate voting containers and their job is complete.

6.   When the polling location closes and scrutineers from the various parties are in to observe the count, the ARO unseals the boxes and counting begins.

7.   Once the count is done and the papers are collated according to first choice, the ARO completes a tally sheet and phones the results to the head office. The head office then passes on the results to the national tally room.

8.   After a clean up of the location, the staff is dismissed and the ARO takes the votes to the head office for their electorate.

Voters not in their electorate but in their state vote absentee as local booths only have their own electoral rolls. These votes are tallied separately by the head office.

Out of state voters have to present themselves at the electorate’s head office to record their vote whereas Australians overseas can vote at consulates or embassies.

*Australian Government

Our federal government is divided into two “houses”. The Lower House is known as the House of Representatives. This is where you find our Prime Minister. Candidates are locally elected in electoral divisions within each state. The Upper House is known as the Senate. Its members are voted in by states. This means when I vote for the Lower House, I choose between local candidates to represent my area.  My vote for the Upper House is tallied as a state vote with the Senators being the twelve people with the highest votes in each state, and two with the highest votes from each territory. This gives us 76 senators and 150 representatives.

 @RossMannell

Teacher, NSW, Australia

5 Comments

Ellie wrote a wonderful story about a rose who had written a scary story. I thought she might like a graphic of a rose character for story. She has three colour versions to choose from.

Schools and students have permission to use these graphics for non-commercial, educational purposes.

One student was interested in my scouting background. In order to be able to share photos and extra comments, this post has been set up for Leila.

This was my old Senior Scout uniform I wore in my later teens. It is now over 40 years old. It is a little bit of a cheat as it has Scout and Senior Scout badges attached. Rather than lose badges I added both to the uniform when I left Scouts. The round brown badges are Scout badges whereas the square badges and round white badge belong to Seniors. Here's a little explanation of what you see...

The Scout Green Cord from the Senior Scout shoulder epaulet to the pocket was the highest award for Scouts but not in scouting.

The three stripes on the left pocket shows my rank was Troop Leader. As we often didn't have an adult leader, I would find myself running meetings as though I was leader. I had two Patrol Leaders (two stripes), two Seconds (one stripe) and about 8 seniors scouts in my troop.

Above the left pocket is an "Air Scouts" badge. My troop was officially an Air Scout senior group. In early years, we had pilot leaders who would instruct scouts in aeronautics as a lead up to flying but by my time, we kept the title but no longer had pilots as leaders.

One badge on the left shoulder bears a crown ( a closeup photo is below). This was the highest Senior Scout award and still exists for Venture Scouts (the newer title for Senior Scouts). It's title depends on the current sovereign of Britain. As Queen Elizabeth II is the current ruler of the United Kingdom (and officially the ruler of Australia), it is know as the Queen's Scout Award. When a king takes the throne, it will be known as the King's Scout Award. The badge was personally presented to me and other Seniors in a special ceremony held at our state's Government House. The then Governor of New South Wales presented it to me. It is equivalent to the American Eagle Scout and is the only badge a scout can earn and still wear if they become a scout leader.

With a student making a marvellous post about birds in his area, I thought I would share a few pictures of birds I’ve photographed around my area (including some from an animal refuge I’ve helped).

The student’s post… Justin

 

The little pied cormorant (Microcarbo melanoleucos) is often seen diving for fish in our tidal saltwater lake. You can probably see its webbed feet to help it swim.

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Australian Wood Duck (Chenonetta jubata) a visitor to our area can often be seen on a nearby sport oval. They sometimes breed in our area. Once I had to stop cars while a clutch of ducklings waddled across a bridge to the safety of a creek.

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Gouldian Finch (Erythrura gouldiae) showing colour variation & Star Finch (Neochmia ruficauda) bottom right. These finches aren’t native to our area but are endangered in the wild. They were filmed at Potoroo Palace Native Animal Sanctuary.

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King parrot (Alisterus scapularis) male. Very much brighter than the females. They sometimes visit my yard.

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King parrot (Alisterus scapularis) female.

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Rainbow Lorikeet (Trichoglossus haematodus) Living on nectar, imagine children on high sugar diet. Excitable birds often feeding on nectar in my yard.

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Tawny Frogmouth (Podargus strigoides) not common to see in the wild but I have found them in my area. Looking owl-like they aren’t an owl but are generally nocturnal.

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Magpie Goose (Anseranas semipalmata)  They are native to northern Australia. This bird came into care at Potoroo Palace after being found with a deformed left foot.

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Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae) These birds are often heard in may area. Their call is said to sound like a laugh but is towarn other birds to keep out of their territory.

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Emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae) These large birds aren’t found in my area but were common in the first school where I was a teacher. I sometimes had to chase them out of the school grounds before the children arrived.

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Australian Magpie (Cracticus tibicen) Some males can be very aggressive in breeding season although they generally aren’t. As you can see in this image, they can come close to people. The photo wasn’t taken with a telephoto lens. He just wanted a free handout.

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Little Corella (Cacatua sanguinea) It was unusual to see them on a tree in my yard. We normally get sulphur-crested cockatoos after the pine nuts. One day they arrived and posed beautifully. The more regular sulphur-crested cockatoos are out of picture shot.

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Crimson Rosella (Platycercus elegans) These birds have a beautiful piping call. they are reasonably shy but a pair often makes visits to my yard for a share of the seed left out. This bird is a male. The females have more subdued colours.

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Australian Pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus) These are beautiful fliers. They can sometimes be seen gliding through the air across the lake or soaring high in the sky using thermals.

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Now for something completely different, an audio file. The superb lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae) is elusive to photograph as they are very shy. When hiking I often hear their call. They mimic sounds they hear so can imitate many others birds. One day while out walking, I was finally in a good position to make an audio recording of the male lyrebird’s call. I was hidden downwind behind a tree. Here is what was recorded…

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These are only a few of the birds to be found in my area but show the diversity of the area.