IT could be back to the future for a long-lost Tasmanian bird as the debate rages over a new logo for the Hobart City Council. Former mayor Damon Thomas has proposed the council revert to its historic coat of arms, instead of the futuristic logo which incorporates two interwoven blue and green bands, dubbed a set of Band-Aids by one alderman. It just so happens that the coat of arms – designed in 1951 and based on an earlier unofficial crest used by the city from the 1850s … [Read more...] about Gone but not forgotten
Archives for June 2015
Caught in the headlights
The tiger snake gave me an unsympathetic stare. Forget ophidiophobia – the fear of snakes – I was afflicted by something far more frightening. Feelings of panic, a knot in the stomach, a rising nausea…. I had glossophobia, the fear of public speaking and the tiger snake, rising to near its full one and a half metres in length to view me through the glass of its pen, didn’t seem to care. My encounter with the snake and a near 300-strong audience came during the 2014 … [Read more...] about Caught in the headlights
Seal of approval in the suburbs
A quiet Sunday afternoon in the suburbs surrounding Prince of Wales Bay. People walking dogs, a man fishing from a boat, children playing in a playground at the water’s edge. It could have been any suburb, any Sunday, until something remarkable happened, an event which could only occur in a city where the human and natural worlds come together and share common ground. A fur seal made an appearance, drawing human onlookers to the foreshore and sending anxious black swans … [Read more...] about Seal of approval in the suburbs
The north versus the south
A great white egret gave me a menacing stare on the boardwalk which runs through the Tamar Wetlands Reserve in Launceston. The egret, standing more than a metre tall, had flown with slow, lazy flaps of his giant wings from his feeding ground in shallow water to roost on the boardwalk at mid-day. The late autumn wind blowing in from the south had eased, and the beautiful egret with lacy, pure-white plumage wanted to soak up the sun which had just broken through the … [Read more...] about The north versus the south
The voice of Tasmania
The eastern rosellas were in full voice, chattering in the white peppermint gums as I followed the narrow road to the deep north one sunny afternoon last month. I borrow the title of Richard Flanagan’s epic novel simply because my journey was inspired by the author himself. Long before he had been awarded the Man Booker Prize I attended the launch of The Narrow Road to the Deep North and asked Flanagan he if he would sign a copy for me. His inscription said I’d “find some … [Read more...] about The voice of Tasmania