The Queen has Died..

[Marty_d]

Yep, not like he had to wait around for it.  As soon as Lizzie took her last breath he was automatically king.

[Old Koreelah]

11 hours ago, Marty_d said:

Yep, not like he had to wait around for it.  As soon as Lizzie took her last breath he was automatically king.

A slightly more reliable, efficient and smooth way to transfer the Head of State title than the abortionate procedure used in the USA.

[nomadpete]

3 hours ago, Old Koreelah said:

A slightly more reliable, efficient and smooth way to transfer the Head of State title than the abortionate procedure used in the USA.

And for all those folk who go on about how much money it costs to have the royals......  The monarchy is a lot cheaper than the money spent on advertising and bribes associated with every USA presidential election. (And how many of those have they had in the last 70 years?)

[nomadpete]

Just looked it up. The BBC claims......

 

"The 2020 US election campaigns smashed all records - with presidential and congressional candidates spending a total of almost $14bn - more than double the price tag for 2016. "

 

So there, over $20 BILLION in the last ten years. And that's not counting what it costs in wages!

 

The monarchy is an absolute bargain compared to tthat

 

(Our monarch doesn't cost us anything!)

Edited September 17, 2022 by nomadpete

[Yenn]

Not only do the USA elections cost billions, the candidates have many volounteer workers who are dyed in the wool political activists and work for nothing.

[nomadpete]

Fanaticism is not good for us.

[Old Koreelah]

[Bruce Tuncks]

It was not Keating when we changed the Anthem...  It was Fraser. I agreed with Fraser about "Once a Jolly Swagman" for an anthem, but we lost the vote to fools who thought Australia has "golden soil", when in fact we have the worst soils in the world. The song we finished up with was clearly penned by a rich but ignorant old fashioned suburban lady.

I would have been proud to have a song about a suicidal thieving swagman as our anthem. Better than the usual jingoistic nonsense. Better by far than the medieval " God Save The King " nonsense too. Gosh, calling on some imaginary magic man in the sky to help your monarch win wars??

Back to Keating, I thought at the time that he did a good job, except for selling off the Commonwealth Bank. I remember his saying "why did we need it"....  yet the answer was there all the time in the Democrat's slogan. "To keep the bas####s honest".

[pmccarthy]

I think the Golden Soil was at Ballarat, Bendigo, Mount Alexander and so on.

[nomadpete]

38 minutes ago, pmccarthy said:

I think the Golden Soil was at Ballarat, Bendigo, Mount Alexander and so on.

Aaaah yes, the Clive Palmer style 'wealth fot toil'. I guess the mining industry gets wealth for toil, whether it's yellow gold or black chunky gold

[red750]

I must say, when our sporting heroes stand on the dais or on the field, it's Advance Australia Fair which gives me goose bumps, more than a swaggie commiting suicide. Maybe an alternative would be I Am, You Are, We Are Australian.

[Bruce Tuncks]

Yep red, that would have been better, as would the peter allen one " I still call Australia home".

I don't think the song about golden soil referred to the gold rushes. I think the silly woman didn't know about agricultural soils....  the best ones are black. And deep.

One of the worst things about " advance Australia fair" is that it sort of asks us to grow the population rapidly. This is the reverse of what we need .

[octave]

3 minutes ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

I think the silly woman didn't know about agricultural soils.

Silly man surely.

[Old Koreelah]

1 minute ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

One of the worst things about " advance Australia fair" is that it sort of asks us to grow the population rapidly. This is the reverse of what we need .

Anthems tend to be adopted at pivotal moments in a nation’s history, which is why they tend to be calls to battle. 
Many of Australia’s early songs and anthems date from Hentry Lawson’s era, when it was normal to be appallingly racist. 
Nations change, and so can our songs.

[Jerry_Atrick]

According to the source of all facts, it was Peter Dodd McCormick who composed Advance Australia Fair: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Dodds_McCormick

 

Never heard of him until today.. But tghat's not saying much, to be honest.

 

 

[red750]

Following Jerry's reference to Wikipedia, I did some further research. Judith Durham wrote some modified lyrics to the anthem to remove some of the words people took exception to.

 

Australia, celebrate as one, with peace and harmony.

Our precious water, soil and sun, grant life for you and me.

Our land abounds in nature’s gifts to love, respect and share,

And honouring the Dreaming, advance Australia fair.

With joyful hearts then let us sing, advance Australia fair.
 

Australia, let us stand as one, upon this sacred land.

A new day dawns, we’re moving on to trust and understand.

Combine our ancient history and cultures everywhere,

To bond together for all time, advance Australia fair.

With joyful hearts then let us sing, advance Australia fair.
 

Australia, let us strive as one, to work with willing hands.

Our Southern Cross will guide us on, as friends with other lands.

While we embrace tomorrow’s world with courage, truth and care,

And all our actions prove the words, advance Australia fair.

With joyful hearts then let us sing, advance Australia fair.
 

And when this special land of ours is in our children’s care,

From shore to shore forever more, advance Australia fair.

With joyful hearts then let us sing, advance … Australia … fair.

 

You should also know that... at the start of 2021, the song's lyrics were altered from "we are young and free," to "we are one and free."

At approval of Governor-General David Hurley, the lyrics of the National Anthem were replaced this year with, "we are one and free." Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, gave an address indicating his approval and rejoicing in the new Australian spirit surrounding the lyric change - 

"While Australia as a modern nation may be relatively young, our country's story is ancient, as are the stories of the many First Nations peoples whose stewardship we rightly acknowledge and respect."

Scott Morrison added, that "In the spirit of unity, it is only right that we ensure our National Anthem reflects this truth and shared appreciation."

"It recognises the distance we have travelled as a nation. It recognises that our national story is drawn from man than 300 national ancestries and language groups and we are the most successful multicultural nation on earth. It reaffirms our resolve as one of the world's oldest democracies, while honouring the foundations upon which our nation has been built and the aspirations we share for the future."

[willedoo]

1 hour ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

Yep red, that would have been better, as would the peter allen one " I still call Australia home".

I remember the parody of that - "I still call Australia by phone". In reference to him living in the USA.

[Bruce Tuncks]

Well Judith Durham's lyrics were a LOT better. At the time, a petrol company sponsored some other lyrics to waltzing matilda.

I dunno what the process would be to change the whole anthem though...  look at the hoo hah which accompanied changing one word.

PS...  I reckon Judith Durham had a great voice.

[Jerry_Atrick]

I wasn't going to watch much of the funeral, and I first tuned in as the hearse was making its way through west London, not far from where I used to live. I tuned in and out for the next couple of hours, until the committal service began. What a day - lasted from 11am to amounst 5pm.. Although I am an athiest, I did appreciate the choristers and felt the committal service was dignified and not too over the top. There was a time for reflection about how society is made up, it's issues and shat can be done to improve things.

 

Obviously, the repoublican debate will start again in Australia - and so it should. It truly is an end of an era, and despite that fact I like Charlie, I know a lot of people don't share my opinions (but, it is funny how the tide of public opinion  here has moved in favour of Charles). Similary, I know a lot of people who do live in Australia do not share my opinion of the head of state in Australia.. and although an Aussie, I haven't lived there for quite a few years, so what weight my opinion has, over say, a newly minted citizen from, say Afghanistan, I am not sure.

 

But in the upcoming debate, I hope, in vain, that the press will retain a modicum of balance. So far, I am not amused! I read this article, and I have to say, at best, I am perlexed: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-18/queen-death-indigenous-australia-colonisation-empire/101445508.

Regardless of how good, bad, indifferent, or otherwise the indigenous life was before the white fella, and indeed before today, it is clear that their freedom and control over the land was disingenously, it is clear they have been denied the very essence of the rights of a citizen of their country for a very long time, and today, there are still systemic issues. But this is not the fault of the current monarchy/head of state.. In fact, wel;l before 1901, the colonies were more or less self-governing, so any fault in ongoing issues of discrimination and inequality lay squarely at the feed of the Commonwealth of Australia, since 1901 to today.

 

From the article:

"The girl with no socks got to see the Queen, while her family and other black families lived in poverty that the Crown inflicted on them. Living homeless in a land that had been stolen from them in the name of the Crown."

 

Yes, the land was stolen from Aboriginals by the Crown - that cannot be denied. The disingenuous use of the absence of man-made boundaries to denote settlements or claims over the land can only be relied on for a very short period of time. The declaration of terra nullius probably wouln't have stood up to an English court even then, given the way the law of equity was forming over the strict common law at the time. Sadly, Aboriginals did not know about the laws under which they were being hammered, let alone have access to adequate representation to the Curia Regis (Court of the King).

 

As early as 1628, the monarch's powers were being reined in, with the requirement of parliament to give permission to the king to raise taxes thanks to Charles I. By the time Australia was a federation, almost all residual power of the crown, known as the royal prerogative was vested in the exectutive (i.e., the government ofd the UK) - at least according to Diceyan - a 19th century constitutional lawyer. Yes, today everything is OHMS (On her/his majesty's service), but it is, and has been for a long time, not much less cermonial than it is now. So, for Stan Grant to lay the blame at the feet of the monarch is - well disingenous - IMHO.

 

The other thing that no one mentions, is for a long time, Australia was isolated, but the world was getting smaller. If it weren't the British, then who could it have been, and how could it have been different? The Japanese? Chinese? other Europeans (Spaniard would have been a blast, I am sure).. I can't think of one country that would have found the resource rich bit and thought, "Nah.. let's move on and leave it to those already here." That is not to defend what the British did - let's face it, the Moaris seemed to get a better deal as they did have man-made boundaries, apparently - so it seems not only did they get a better deal, but they got better pollies, to boot. But to lay the blame of the discrimination and equality of Australian society at anyone other than the successive Australian governments and, let's be fair, citizens is deflecting where the real debate needs to be pointe at (remember, Aboriginals were not even considered citizens for how long??).

 

To put it another way, since Stan Grant thinks the voice, should it be passed, will be a whimper, if we ditched the Monarch and put in a head of state system that was dreamed up by a government, how much more would it lead to progress of teh Aboriginal plight? My guess is none.. What will is focusing on the areas that do control it - the government/executive, the press, the people of Australia. At the moment, they have the most sympathetic ort empathetic federal government to their cause, which I am happy to say I support (in principle). They would be better focusing their efforts in these areas than blaming and remaining angry at an institution governments  use as an excuse (in the name of) to do their nefarious activities.  And levelling it at the current monarchy is the same as saying "Albo is responsible for Scomo, Abbot, and Turbull's carp".

[Bruce Tuncks]

There was a doco I saw where some black women had petitioned the Queen, The poor naive fools, thought I ....  they had foolishly believed the nonsense about the queen caring for them " like a mother".

I never blamed lizzie for this, but I sure blame the education system which had fed lies to these blacks.

[old man emu]

Last weekend they played the local Rugby League Grand Final at Gilgandra. The First Nations people really love the game. They came from far an near to support the team of their choice, or just to watch the finale of the season. 

 

After the match many retired to the local sports club to either celebrate a win, or bemoan a loss with that European poison - alcohol. By the middle of the night the club looked like a battleground with fights breaking out between groups. I bet that the real sources for the fights wasn't too much Vitamin P. I bet it was inter-nation rivalry. So how can we hope for them to produce a united "voice"?

[facthunter]

Keep alcohol out of the equation. There's plenty of white bad drunks too.  Nev

[Bruce Tuncks]

But us whites were culled out by alcohol  a thousand years ago Nev. The poor old abos are just starting. And I agree about them not agreeing enough to have one "voice". In the bad old days, all you needed to do was arm the next tribe, and they would go and kill all you liked.....  they hated each other more than they hated the whitefellers. That "welcome to country" stuff is just a modern bit of whitefeller rubbish, I'm sure the true tribesmen had nothing like it.

Some whites survived because they reminded a tribesperson of a recently deceased. For sure, their skin was lighter, but dying must be traumatic, huh, not to mention the return from the dead.

This enabled Lasseter to survive longer than you would have thought, but others were not so lucky.

[facthunter]

Yes, they are quite superstitious and won't go in a house or any place that's got bad spirits in it. Can't understand the lingo of a tribe 400 kms away.  Nev

[ClintonB]

On 17/9/2022 at 12:16 PM, nomadpete said:

Just looked it up. The BBC claims......

 

"The 2020 US election campaigns smashed all records - with presidential and congressional candidates spending a total of almost $14bn - more than double the price tag for 2016. "

 

So there, over $20 BILLION in the last ten years. And that's not counting what it costs in wages!

 

The monarchy is an absolute bargain compared to tthat

 

(Our monarch doesn't cost us anything!)

Imagine all the mental and general healthcare they could provide for that, and fix the fundamental problems over there, nutters with gun rights along with a general population with no access to healthcare.