Buenos dίas compañeros,

My attempt at writing a book is titled ‘Resilience- My Yuendumu Story’. It is in the late stages of gestation and I keep my fingers crossed it won’t be stillborn.

Herewith a vignette from the hopefully final draft:

A young man, having just returned from Yuendumu Police Station told Wendy dejectedly that he’d failed to get his car registered. The reason his application had been rejected was that he had unpaid fines. He’d been fined for driving an unregistered vehicle. He didn’t have enough money to pay for both his unpaid fines and the car registration.
“I hate the police...” said the young man to Wendy. Then a pause and in quick succession:
“I hate Centrelink, I hate the Government, I hate the Land Council ”.
I expect the young man would soon thereafter be again fined… for driving an unregistered vehicle. He may even go to jail for unpaid fines.

Pending legal advice I’m claiming the tome to be a work of fiction and any similarities to real people and events to be purely coincidental!

From George Orwell’s 1984:
“The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became the truth”
Echoed by Lucky Dube:
When lies becomes truth- The future becomes the past. No truth in this world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NM7W0Y_9Kc

You all know that old adage: “A picture is worth a thousand words”
So true! This one from Chips Mackinolty is worth one thousand and four words:

Adiós,

Franklin

Ira studying, an ardent ornithologist

Dear reader, in these conflicted times its always reassuring to know that our sage from the near north-east is hard at it. Whilst we weep for Donald’s devotion to the bible and justice, he is selflessly out in the field observing to his hearts delight the wonders of bird life. And from this observation comes a keen assessment of language and human character. Just a the Lyrebird is known to mimic the cockatoo, the sawmill, the chainsaw and the sound of African Americans being asphyxiated, so our birdo from the bush offers us another teling insight into what makes us tick. 

Due to bushfires and feral cats, this is the only image of a lyrebird we could find

We would have included a sound recording of his bird calls but due to an Covid 19 oversight, his tape recorder and 78 rpm Garrard Radiogram has been seized due to the collapse of funding for those in the cultural sector. We are heartened though to know that the funds that would have been directed to him have been sequestered to the Australian Ballet and Opera, so that high arts can flourish in this season of austerity. 

Now it’s onto Ira, 

Ladies and gentlemen,

Certain birds are noted for their capacity to perch. Notable amongst these, and it is especially noticeable in Europe, are the swallow, thrush, blackbird, redwing, ring ouzel and field fare.. The Latin has it that these are ‘passerine’ birds, ‘passer’  meaning ‘to perch’. This seems to suggest, rather amusingly that birds given (perhaps) to congregating at the margin of things, as in ocean, roadway or meadow, might be referred to as ‘margarine” birds, and might easily lead those lacking the aforementioned Latin, into grave error. What on earth can one do? the poor, sadly, are always with us.

King CNUT, an anagram the significance of which escapes us.

Cnut’s last stand.

However, to return to my main theme.

It is unfortunately the case that the above mentioned selection of birds has earned  itself an unenviable generalized description. You see, in former times, when all the world was young and Julius and Hadrian variously had Europe in thrall, the Latin language held sway in matters of importance. These very words, the words you are reading now have developed from a dog’s breakfast of Latin, Viking, Anglo-Saxon and Norman French, with assorted side dishes of Gaelic, Breton and Spanish. This  means that when yesterday’s language falters in the face of an entirely new one, the very meaning of words themselves change as the centuries drift by.

Lays of Ancient Rome

Which brings me back to our collection of birds.

Two Roman farmers  having a break. One of them suddenly raises his head.

‘Jayziz, Agricola, did ya see that?…’

Roman Farmers

‘Woh? whoh are you lookin’ at?

‘There, look… a couple of fine turds flying through the air. A grand sight altogether…’

‘ Jayziz, Claudius, I see them now meself. Tell me, are they good eatin?’…’

‘What? Only the best thing a man could have for his dinner, and no mistake.’

Polly Farmer

The thrush  belongs to the family ‘Turdidae’ and the genus was known as ‘Turdus’ in Latin (The Latin word for pooh was ‘faeces’) .Our ‘turd’ came out of the dung beetle or ‘Tord-weevil’ in Medieval Dutch. In the eighteenth century , having the form or appearance of a thrush became (hilariously). ‘turdiform’, or ‘turdine’ and in Ireland (I cannot resist this) the modern interest in Eastern mysticism  and particularly the business of the third eye, created…….. ‘turdoid’!

KA BOOM!

The FORCE is with Donald

Watching events in America. 

What’s happening in the U.S is shocking. We at pcbycp daren’t turn on the telly for fear of seeing another shocking event. Happening right before our very eyes!!! Scenes of such brutality and injustice it shakes our very notion of a civilised society to the CORE! And in spite of the injustice, the rioting, the looting, Donald Trump is doing his very best impersonation of Louis XV1th or perhaps Caecescu before it all turned to shite,   and says he just will not tolerate “wapscalliaons, wascals and scally wags diswupting the peace”. He says, (we paraphrase) “you malcontents better watch out, we’ll crush you and any soft-cock governor who doesn’t go hard (no pun intended) will be humiliated by being called  a “Socialist”.. and a “Terrorist”!

George Floyd

And that dear reader is a sign of real leadership. Telling the people what to do in this moment of crisis. From a Bunker, underground. Donald knows about African America. Because he undrestands them he will stand in front of a church and hold a BIBLE. In the U.S…THAT’S LEADERSHIP!

He even has some (African Americans) as friends. Well not as many since Bill Cosby got done, but still, more friends of African American extraction than Rolf Harris has friends in the music industry. When Donald talks of terrorism, he’s making a big claim.  But we support him. Terrosrism is anything that’s not with Donald.  We hear you DON. 

Pink Floyd (no relation)

WE in Australia are so shocked a thing like this would ever happen here. We assure ourselves that we are above this systemic racism. Good thing then we kill aboriginal Australians in police cells, in divvy vans, in remote places, in isolation, in suburbia, in front of the telly and in neglect and sufferance for their own good. For the heinous crimes of unpaid parking fines and jay walking we ensure that their incarceraton will be for their own good. And that’s great news for the taxpayers. And, when confronted with a complex, long standing, intelligent and  ancient culture we dont understand, our first option is to BLOW IT UP.  To keep us safe from DANGEROUS IDEAS

We also, perhaps are more intuitively in touch than our American cousins in support of the rule of law. 

To prove it we’ve been attending day one of the Witness K Trial. 

Witness K, Do you remember him? He’s the bloke that allegedly broke state secrets for exposing Woodside Petroleums barstardry, and Alexander Downer’s bastardry, in corruption, screwing and nailing to the wall any fair negotiation with East Timor. Witness K will go down, for reasons we are not allowed to know in  the interests of National Security. All we know is that we bugged their embassy, intimidated their officials and shafted them good and proper. Real industrial strength espionage. 007 would be proud! We did it to a close friend, the same one we ignored for thirty years. But what we did was NOT terrorism, it was Good Governance under the rule of International LAW!

“Use the FORCE Donald”

This thing in the US is different. Seems African Americans  still don’t understand their place in society.

Witness K Does. 

Heres’ a transcript of his defense, ………………..(deleted by Government censor)

Here’s a transcript of the Crowns case, .. “For dobbing in Alexander Downer, his mates, and standing up for a weak, defenceless little country who looked ot us as a friend, we should throw away the key’. 

Here’s Witness K’s testimony………………………(deleted by Government censor)

Here’s the Crowns first witness……”Hang Him”  (A. Downer) 

Here’s witness K’s plea to the judge…”Have you ever heard of Habeus’……(deleted by Government censor)

May the FORCE be with you Donald

Here’s the Crowns determination………”We hereby submit that Witness K be done like Julian Syringe, and any other silly bastard stupid enough to believe in the rule of Law’. 

Only known image of Witness K

Here’s the defences plea,, “Anyone for tennis?.