New Episode of The Australian Baby Boomer Podcast

In a new episode of The Australian Baby Boomer Podcast, I speak with Kath Moore. Kath has always had a love of making art, of drawing and of seeing the beautiful colours of the world. Her artistic expression has formed the background of her work right through the time she spent in the teaching profession, and now since her retirement ten years ago, it has again come to the fore. As soon as she retired, she enrolled in the Claremont School of Art, and then travelled to Florence to the Angel Academy of Art for an intense Summer School. I was fortunate to be invited to her home to see the beautiful range of artwork that she has made and to talk to her about her art.

Podcast

Just a short one today to let you know that The Australian Baby Boomer Podcast is now available on Spotify.

Action on climate

At a time when the window is closing on our ability to stop our rush to the tipping point on climate change, I thought it would be timely to remind you of one of the great prescient science fiction writers who described a world where people had taken to living underground because the surface no longer supported their lives.

Here is the link to the E.M. Forster short story, The Machine Stops. I read it when I was a kid and it has stuck with me all these years.

Here is the Wikipedia summary posted on the site where you can get a free download:

The Machine Stops is a short science fiction story. It describes a world in which almost all humans have lost the ability to live on the surface of the Earth. Each individual lives in isolation in a 'cell', with all bodily and spiritual needs met by the omnipotent, global Machine. Most humans welcome this development, as they are skeptical and fearful of first-hand experience. People forget that humans created the Machine, and treat it as a mystical entity whose needs supersede their own. Those who do not accept the deity of the Machine are viewed as 'unmechanical' and are threatened with "Homelessness". Eventually, the Machine apocalyptically collapses, and the civilization of the Machine comes to an end. --Wikipedia

Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre in Flood                     

Today the land is singing.

She sings with rains from the North

filling river-beds boiling with fish

guiding the clever pelicans

following the first trickle down

singing through the channel of

water, bird, insect, wind

a haunting, meandering song

drifting across and through

her long desert dreaming.

She has been slow to stir, but when she does

she smiles and welcomes the flow

as it funnels-in and spreads

painting a fresh scene

on an ancient theme

free from cruel and ugly shackles

trappings of modernity

seeking to control her music

She opens her heart

her voice rising to crescendo

giving thanks

giving back

giving, and giving

and giving

New interview on The Australian Baby Boomer Podcast


The new episode is in two parts. The first part describes a time at the Royal Military College of Duntroon in Canberra in the late nineteen-sixties and early nineteen-seventies. It includes a personal account of a young man's experiences with hazing or so-called 'bastardisation' that was practised at the time.

The first part of the podcast episode was posted this morning, and the second part will follow in the next day or two. Please follow the link above if you would like to check it out.

Just a little more about the new podcast. There are now six episodes up, an introduction from myself and five interviews with different people, each choosing a part of their life to talk about.

To give an idea, here are the summaries:

Introducing The Australian Baby-Boomer Podcast - Episode 1

August 28th, 2019

In this episode you will be introduced to this new podcast series that will be by and about Baby-boomers, their stories and reflections, and to Baby-boomer Iris, its coordinator. The first episode provides a brief rundown on what you can expect in upcoming episodes. Watch this space.

The Builder

September 11th, 2019

Today's interview is with Trevor. After finishing his carpentry apprenticeship, Trevor found work in the north-west of Australia, a place where the heat is extreme and desert stretches across the continent. At times, the days can reach 50 degrees centigrade. It was the late sixties. He'd just begun his working life when his number came up and he was conscripted into the army.  He was facing the prospect of being sent off to war in Vietnam.

Then Gough Whitlam's Labor Party came to power and conscription was ended. Trevor was able to leave and return to work in the building industry. He'd met a mate in the army and together they formed a successful building company that went on to build in remote Aboriginal communities. This was a pivotal time in his life. Trevor learnt much from this work, and his love of the desert country and people has never left him.

The interview ends with reflections on the way in which the drawing up of building regulations and checking jobs has changed over time, and perhaps not always for the better.

The Storyteller

September 5th, 2019

Once upon a time there was a storyteller called Bea. In this episode, Bea talks about her many years of experience as a professional storyteller, travelling all around Australia and to other countries sharing her stories with children and adults alike. Enjoy!

Reflections on life, death and living a meaningful life

September 2nd, 2019

In this discussion Maarten reflects on how he created a full and meaningful life once he retired from his long-term workplace. It seems he did not so much retire as step back to consider the bigger picture, before choosing to throw himself into those things that provided the most meaning for him. Central to this endeavour are community, enjoying life, and doing useful work. 

A childhood in Perth in the 1950s

August 31st, 2019

In this episode, Geraldine talks about her life in Perth, Western Australia in the years that followed the second World War. As a returned serviceman, her father barely spoke of the war, except for one memorable occasion that Geraldine remembers here. Geraldine's childhood was not trouble-free, but she recalls it as a free and happy time. It was also a time when Australia was opening up to immigration from a range of European countries for which English was not the first language spoken. The new immigrants brought with them their skills, cultural and culinary traditions, and friendship, expanding the horizons of mainstream Australians of the time. 

A childhood in Cue in the 1950s

August 28th, 2019

In this episode a retired teacher, Norm, reminisces about his childhood in the tiny desert goldfields town of Cue. Freedom was the order of the day and he reflects that it was as much by good luck as it was good management that he survived to tell the tale. 

I have recently started up a podcast called The Australian Baby-Boomer Podcast.

If you want to check it out, here is the link:

https://theaustralianbabyboomer.podbean.com/