Sturt’s Desert Pea

One of my favourite ways to get around Alice Springs is on my bicycle – I enjoy the rhythm of cycling while having an opportunity to notice more of what Alice has to offer.  We are just getting towards the end of the vibrant red displays of Sturt’s Desert Pea on the nature strips, on the islands on the road, and in gardens.  Even though I know where it is now, somehow the colour, so different from any of the other plants and natural features, still surprises me as I round a corner or ride down a street from a different direction.  Some displays are quite small, but there are several large areas which fascinate me – they seem almost over indulgent, as if the plant just had to burst out in a joyous profusion of colour.

The flower is named Swainsona Formosa after an English botanist, Isaac Swainson.  ‘Formosa’ means ‘beautiful’ – aptly named.  It only occurs naturally in arid areas of Australia, and is the South Australian floral emblem.

2-COOL

I have been teaching ICT in Education this week, having been in a permanent state of professional development for the past several months in an effort to ensure I would be up to the task.  I now find that expressions like 'emerging technologies', 'cloud technologies' and my new favourite 'BYOD' [bring your own device - not 'drink' as was suggested today in a quick quiz!] just roll of my tongue, along with the tried and true 'wiki', 'blog' and ever-present 'ePortfolio', which seems to be standard vocabulary in every unit we teach.  I'm happy to say that Google Sites is meeting our needs in the ePortfolio department, and with each workshop we all become more proficient at uploading files and adding pages. As there can be anything from three weeks to a couple of months between workshops, the biggest problem is remembering one's password!

My professional reading has insisted time and again that, if you are going to write a blog, then consistency is the key, so with that in mind I am happily revisiting the past year in Alice through my collection of photographic memories.  Today's shots show the quirky relationship between a number plate and my windscreen one frosty July morning.

Number Plate 2

    One of the many interesting Police number plates - this one was snapped at the Bangtail Muster.

The Corkwood

The corkwood outside my classroom is blossoming. I didn’t know it was a corkwood, or notice when the first signs of its blossoms appeared over a month ago.  The locals did – well, people who have been around the area longer than I have, which is almost everybody.  The flowers are beautiful in the way so many things here are beautiful, in a delightfully understated way – not because they demand to be noticed, but purely for their intrinsic beauty.  

The bees were buzzing around the flowers this morning and two of my students, who are mature ladies from the Arnhem area, were discussing the flowers, the bees and wondering where they could poke a stick to get some honey.  Strangely, I had not asked myself the same question.  My mind doesn’t automatically consider the food benefit of the local flora.  The ladies are not familiar with the corkwood, but they are finely tuned to the environment and all that is happening in it.

I just remembered last summer when some of the young men were here for their classes and a large lizard had attracted their attention.  Had I not come along when I did, the lizard may well have ended up the evening entrée.  They, too, see opportunities beyond my experience. 

When I go on walks with my friends, they notice the tiniest of flowers, and can name each variety we pass.  My landlady is a keen gardener and has designed and planted the delightful backyard where I live - an arid garden, full of plants of the region, some self-sown.  The rain several weeks ago, followed by the unseasonably warm weather, has encouraged the previously low growing plants to reach for the sky.  There’s something very Impressionistic about it – an arid Monet’s garden.  It’s an absolute picture every time I walk out my door. 

Bukhu - Mongolian Throat Singer and Horse Head Fiddle Player

Jeanette Wormald, multi-talented local singer, songwriter and musician, is the driving force behind encouraging local talent and enticing quality performers to Alice Springs with Courtyard Sessions - outdoor concerts in the peaceful surroundings of Olive Pink Gardens and the more intimate House Concerts.  Last Friday I had the pleasure of attending an amazing performance at a House Concert.

Bukhu plays the horse head fiddle with great sensitivity, and performs stunning feats with his throat singing.  I understand this is not so uncommon in Mongolia, but for most of us present, it was a unique treat. Bukhu has a lovely stage presence and entertained us with a varied performance using traditional and modern technology, and a subtle sense of humour.

Below is a link to Bukhu performing Waltzing Matilda which will allow you to appreciate his talent.  Sadly you will not have the benefit of hearing Jeanette sing the first verse unaccompanied - the sweetest and most muscial version I have ever heard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLOE3fBZcUU

                Bukhu signed the Blue Guitar and handed it to Jeanette after the performance.

And the best part of this is that in Alice Springs it only ever takes ten minutes to get to a venue to see quality performances - 20 mins if you are cycling! :)

Number Plates

This is the first in a series of number plate photos, just because they amuse me.  This one, on the eponymous classic Morris, I spied on an early morning walk around the streets of Alice Springs.  Personalised number plates are relatively inexpensive in the Northern Territory, so stay tuned for a few interesting ones.

The Man from Oodnadatta

All my reading for pleasure seems to be based around the people of the Centre.  At the moment I’m reading a biography of John Flynn – ‘John Flynn – Apostle to the Inland’ by W. Scott McPheat.  (See previous post about the Royal Flying Doctor Service)

The biography mentions a book written by Robert Bruce Plowman one of the early Patrol Padres - Presbyterian ministers who did their best to looked after the white folk in the remote areas.  In the style of John Flynn, this care extended to medical, dental, labouring, letter-writing, and spiritual – sometimes even church services.   Plowman was told to “Get a pipe and learn to smoke. It will be a good introduction to bush folk.”

Around 1913 Plowman’s beat ‘was a parallelogram extending roughly 400 miles north and south of Alice Springs, and 150 miles east and west.  In an area larger than that of the British Isles, the white population numbered 400.’(p. 73)  The current population of Alice Springs is 28,000.

Plowman wrote three novels, one of which was published in 1932 entitled ‘The Man from Oodnadatta’.  I was particularly impressed by the words quoted from the Foreward of that book, written by Professor Walter Murdoch: 

Our capital cities are mostly plagiarisms. If there is anything distinctively Australian, in nature or in human nature, to find it you will have to leave the city and wander in the outback.  If you shrink from wandering there in the literal sense – an enterprise not wholly free from inconveniences – you can at least wander there in imagination, companioned by the padre whose simple record lies before you.’

                                                                                                                             (McPheat p. 75)

Isn’t the first sentence brilliant!  I believe this whole observation is as relevant today as it was 80 years ago.  I’m privileged to be able to do my own wandering. If you don’t get to make the journey yourself, I’ll do my best to be your distant companion.

Now my challenge is to see if I can track down a copy of ‘The Man from Oodnadatta’ to add to my reading list!