Fremantlebiz - Paul's Letter from Australia

Some contemplation on Good Friday

In my note yesterday about Cuballing I overlooked inclusion of a photo of the war memorial. In the image which is now posted you can see the names of some local men who perished in 'The Great War' of 1914-18.

What an enormous loss it would have been for the district's community. Strong, brave men who volunteered, not to sacrifice themselves, but thinking they would soon return with a few extra bob once the job for the King and Empire was done.

However, they soon found themselves on unimaginably murderous battlefields such as at Gallipoli and the Western Front. Most men from Cuballing probably would have departed on a train via the railway line which can be seen in the back of the photo. Western Australian volunteers did their basic training at Blackboy Hill, which was located at the foot of the Darling escarpment near Perth.

Many towns in our south west have similar war memorials. They are our sacred sites, and on Anzac Day next month people will visit them for quiet contemplation of the tragedy which overtook the men, their families and the nation in that terrible war - and others since. I feel sure that on the 25th April the Australian flag will be flying on the flagpole at quiet Cuballing as a token of respectful remembrance.

From the Australian population of fewer than five million people, 300,000 men enlisted for WW1. Over 60,000 were killed and 156,000 were wounded, gassed or taken prisoner. If we consider these figures for a moment, and include the unknown numbers who suffered post-traumatic stress after return to Australia, they equate to a casualty rate approaching seventy percent, or possibly higher.

Today is Good Friday, another sacred day which commemorates a tragedy which occurred much longer ago. Many Australians seem to have lost the plot with this one. If the newspaper advertisements during the week were anything to go by, no Easter celebrant will be dinky-di unless they've acquired several hundred dollars worth of alcohol and enough gourmet food to withstand a major siege until Mothers' Day, which comes up in May.

The sky was red this morning - a shepherd's warning perhaps? There was a flock of screeching cockatoos which flew overhead on Thursday too. Well, it usually rains hereabouts at Easter.

For us, Easter is traditionally a time to stay home and potter around. We have absolutely no desire to participate in the frantic rush to outlying 'holiday' locations; or brush up against any of the traditional Easter carnage that takes place on the country roads.

Courtesy of Mr Cadbury in Tasmania, there will be a dissemination of chocolate artifacts on Sunday. We've been reiterating the warning to our kids that Milly the pup is not to have any.

© MMVIII Paul R. Weaver.

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Original still photographs are stored online in a cache at my Panoramio website or my Picasa site. Most of them have a brief description and a link back to a relevant essay. Images on Panoramio can usually be enlarged several times by clicking them.

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Check out each month's subject index on the Calendar Page for my "common-man" monologues about survival in 21st century Australia – plus a little history occasionally. An original essay is added most days as part of an undertaking to write at least couple of million words. Zzzzzzzz!

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