“Facing Africa had me quietly rooting for a sweet outcome beneath all that blazing sky and swirling dust” – Henry Roi About Facing Africa Fuerteventura, 1901. The island, just off the coast of Africa, is in the grip of a severe drought. As merchant and journalist Javier Morales campaigns to reforest the island, Famara, the […]
Click on the above to read more about this book. You can see my reviews and details of more of Isobel Blackthorn’s books right here on this web den.
Isobel Blackthorn is author of the Canary Island quartet, which has received glowing reviews incuding The Drago Tree, A Matter of Latitude and Clarissa’s Warning.You can see my review on this blog of The Perfect Square, which is a meditation on art and artists. Her dark fiction includes Twerk and The Legacy of Old Gran Parks and Cabin Sessions. Her collections of stories includes, All About You, Eleven Tales of of Refuge and Hope.
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Fire Season is well and truly on us in Western Australia, with big bush blazes already in November and now summer even hotter. (And as I write this there are awful fires across the world in California.)
Firefighters Memorial in Kings Park in Perth
In the heart of Perth lies Kings Park, an area of mostly bush land even larger than Central Park in New York, sitting on a bluff above the winding Swan River.
View of Swan River, Perth and the Darling Range from Kings Park
The Firefighters Memorial in Kings Park was created in 2014. It is a relatively plain affair in which a huge flame-shaped stone stands against a background of the very kind of bush that can turn into a raging blaze sweeping across thousands of hectares.
The first firefighter to die during service in Perth was North Perth Station volunteer Mr Frederick Maller. He was crushed by a falling wall in 1908.
Since then, 93 others have perished fighting house and bushfires. Their names are on the plaques that sweep behind the memorial over which stands a statue of two exhausted firefighters.
The Memorial Grove stands against bush land
Here is some of the article written in the West Australian newspaper on 30th of January 1908 about Mr Maller’s death:
Shocking Accident at a North Perth Fire.
‘A fire at which Frederick Thomas Maller, the captain of the North Perth Fire Brigade, received fatal injuries occurred in the early hours of yesterday morning at Mr Geo Redmond’s grocery shop … The alarm was given shortly after 2am and the North Perth Brigade under Captain Maller were on the scene a few minutes later. By this time the fire had gained a good hold of the building and was burning fiercely. Captain Maller recognized that prompt action was necessary and finding that there was a good pressure of water he took charge of one of the hoses and rushed up to the front of the building which consisted of one storey and was built of brick. Constable Strapp of North Perth who was only a few yards away had noticed that there were no girders in the building, and he shouted to Captain Maller and other members of the brigade who he thought were venturing to close to move away. He had just uttered this warning when a horrible accident occurred. The parapet wall of the building collapsed and thundering down to the pavement the debris overwhelming Captain Maller while Constable Strapp and some of the firemen had narrow escapes. Maller made an attempt to rise but a further fall of bricks together with portions of the verandah occurred and he was almost buried. Constable Strapp and the members of the brigade quickly extracted the unfortunate man and found that he was seriously injured and unconscious. First aid was rendered on the scene, but it was recognised at this time that there was little chance of his recovery. His chest was crushed, his legs broken and there were several ugly wounds about his head. He was removed in the Perth Fire Brigade ambulance to the Perth Public Hospital where he succumbed almost three hours after having sustained his injuries.’
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Lady Elliot Island is a coral quay on the south end of The Great Barrier Reef. The tiny island has featured on an episode of David Attenborough’s TV series, Great Barrier Reef not only because of the bird life, turtles and manta rays there but also because it is a conservation success story.
Our BeeBear spent two amazing days and nights there. Naturally, she is bursting to talk all about it to the birds of Mawson’s house and to Tammy Turtle and to YOU.
Where is Lady Elliot Island? Zoom in on a map of Australia. Find Queensland. On the east coast of Queensland, you can see a large island, Fraser Island / K’Gari which is the largest sand island in the world. Lady Elliot Island lies north of K’Gari.
Just getting there was an adventure. First, BeeBear (and her people) flew ALL DAY from Perth in Western Australia to Brisbane in Queensland in Boeing 737 (comfort and movies) then on a turbo prop aircraft to Hervey Bay (shaking and rattling and sandwiches). Then the planes got even smaller. We hoped none would shrink too small to carry a small bear.
We flew out on a Beechcraft B 200 from Hervey Bay and returned on a Cesna 210 Centurion. As an experienced aviator herself, Beebear helped to oversee the control thingygums. If you zoom in on the photo below you can see the navigating thingygum. It shows our position and the red line shows our flight path.
Our flight from the coastal town of Hervey Bay to Lady Elliot Island took 80 minutes. We headed out over the sea and then northerly between the mainland and K’Gari/ Fraser Island, the big one in the distance (below). It’s the largest sand island in the world.
Beyond Fraser Island is The Pacific Ocean where the turtles roam for years on the currents after laying their eggs on Lady Elliot and on many other islands of The Barrier Reef. Just look at those blues! BeeBear was mesmerised by the colours of the ocean.
The colours and swirls and patterns of coastal seas are just too blue for words. And these pics were taken through slightly fuzzy perspex windows so in fact they looked even bluer. We flew past Fraser Island and had a good view of the little islands and sand banks too.
See that little island in the foreground of the picture above? Imagine an island like that all for oneself. Our BeeBear thought it just about the right size for a a small-winged bear to settle down on. She would just sit there in the shade by the sand all day simply being stunned by the colours of the sea. Cyclones could be a bother though.
Thar she blows! Lady Elliot Island hoves into sight (above). You can see the main coral reef where the deep dark blue ocean is breaking to white tops (and you can compare with the picture on the brochure at the top of the post). Within the reef lies the lagoon. You can do reef walks at low tide and snorkel there at high tide. You see green turtles and reef sharks and all kinds of starfish and fish and lots of coral. The island is so small that, as you can see, the airstrip goes right across the middle, one side to the other.
If you look through the blur of the propellor (above) you can see two bands of blue at the end of the landing strip? That’s the lagoon, and after the lagoon the dark deep blue of the Pacific Ocean. We were to see turtles right there where the runway strip ends.
And there is the Eco Resort on Lady Elliot Island. It’s deliberately low key and low impact. The staff are very involved in caring for the island. They plant trees and count the birds nests and the turtle nests and inform visitors about the wonders of the island.
The island was actually a conservation disaster until some decades ago, and since then it has been restored tree by tree. More about Lady Elliot Island in the next post when we go for a walk and enjoy the Slow Life.
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Mark is guardian and blundering typist for Mawson, one of this bright world’s few published bears. Of Mawson’s first book, ‘It’s A Bright World To Feel Lost In’, a reviewer said,‘Reading this book is like receiving a great big hug of reassurance and a huge hot chocolate with fluffy marshmallows.’
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