Skip to main content

Wayfaring by the sea


We've been wayfaring again at last and in gorgeous summer weather. The first week was given over entirely to rest at Shellharbour which about 100kms south of Sydney. We had a delightful spot right on the water, just the place for me to try to learn how to photograph the sea splashing on the rocks.

The trees are Norfolk Island pines, which are not native to Australia (they come from Norfolk Island) but appear just about everywhere at the beach.

Musing:
I filled in time reading several books on Australian History while on holiday. In 1788 The Brutal Truth about the First Fleet by David Hill there is info about the first white settlement of Norfolk Island as well as Australia. "[Govenor] Phillip's instructions, signed by King George III, had explicitly called for early settlement of Norfolk Island [as well as Australia]... The British wanted to secure the island, which had been noted by Cook on his voyage eighteen years earlier, as part of the empire. It was believed it could produce a superior hemp or flax for sails and canvas -- both vital for the Royal Navy."
The flax turned out to be a dud but the trees weren't.

Comments

  1. My daughter is spending ten days with friends down at Culburra. Can't wait to see her photographs!

    Interesting about the Norfolk Pine. There is a "pine" over on Michelle's Christchurch blog that I am trying to identify. Love you to have your tuppence worth.

    I am trying to weave my way through Cochrane's "Colonial Ambition". I would like to read more during 2009 ...

    ReplyDelete
  2. I checked out the conifer on the Christchurch blog ... I have no idea what it is.

    Colonial Ambition looks like a very long (though interesting) read.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Norfolk pine is something I've seen only as houseplants, given the regions in which I've lived of late. Your post made me read up about it a little. :-)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Larras Lee

We passed through Bakers Swamp without noticing anything.  Then reached our last dot on the map for this trip - Larras Lee and saw this.  The roadside monument says: In Memory of  WILLIAM LEE  (1794 - 1870)  of "Larras Lake"  a pioneer of the sheep  and cattle industry  and first member for  Roxburgh under responsible  government (1856 - 1859).  This stone was erected  by his descendants.  --- 1938 --- This is a repost from a few days ago. Thinking I would use this for this week’s Taphophile Tragics post I dug a little further into William Lee’s story, it’s a very colonial Australian one. William was born of convict parents, living his childhood years around the Sydney region. In his early 20s he was issued with some government cattle, recommended as a suitable settler and granted 134 acres at Kelso near Bathurst. He was one of the first in the area and did well. A few years later he was granted a ram and an increase in his land to 300 acres. William developed a r

The end

I retire from the workforce this week and to celebrate have decided to retire my current blogs and start afresh with a single consolidated blog -  My Bright Field  - to record the delights of my new life adventure. If you are interested follow me over there.  I will still be Sweet Wayfaring and collecting Royal Hotels.  The delights I discover along the way will appear together with my gardens and towns where I live.

Coolibah?

Is that a Coolibah tree beside the abandoned house? Every Australian knows about Coolibah trees because the bush ballad Waltzing Matilda is nigh on our unoffical national anthem but most of us live nowhere near the inland where they grow. Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong, Under the shade of a Coolibah tree, And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled, You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me. Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda, You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me, And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.