In a world where, on occasion, death, injury, and illness at work are hidden away and taken for granted, Workers' Memorial Day is an opportunity to highlight the preventable nature of most workplace accidents and ill health and to promote campaigns and union organisation in the fight for improvements in workplace safety.
The slogan for the day is Remember the dead - Fight like hell for the living!
Wild campsite! - Colo River off the Putty Road
Misty Morning over the Colo River
Gentle horse near the Colo River
Strange spider
Autumn fungus
Wiseman Ferry crossing on the small ferry
Kookaburra feathers left by feral cat?
A glimpse in Dharug National Park
Pretty compost toilet in Dharug National Park
Dharug National Park is over 14000 Ha and takes it name from the Dharuk People. Hundreds of sacred sites such as engravings, painting, hand stencils and middens are in this special area. As with so many First peoples the Dharuk Nation were pushed out of this area by early settlers.
Fossil Rock Lookout This vista encompasses all that I love about the Blue Mountains.
Flat Rock Lookout
Autumn Fungi on our bushwalk
Shrub near Orama Lane Katoomba
Artwork by Del Kathryn Barton for Art & Australia’s edition of ‘ The Nightingale and the Rose ‘ by Oscar Wilde
This artist uses vivid colour acrylics applied with brushes, toothpicks for fine dots, and drawing office pens.
Margaret Olley 2011 by artist Ben Quilty
This artist is this years winner of The Archibald Prize – Australia
When Ben Quilty first asked legendary painter Margaret Olley to sit for him she said no.
Quilty met Olley when she was a guest judge for the 2002 Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship, which he won. ‘She’s been a friend and great supporter of my work ever since,’ he says.
Born in Lismore in 1923, Olley was awarded the Order of Australia in 1991 for service as an artist and to the promotion of art. In 1996, she was awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia.
‘She’s such an inspiration,’ says Quilty. ‘She was a feminist ahead of her time. She’s vigorously passionate about social and political issues, as well as art, and is enormously compassionate. Margaret has such an infectious attitude to both life and death. Recently, I was amazed at how many new works she had on the go. She said to me, “I’m like an old tree dying and setting forth flowers as fast as it can, while it still can.”
As for the bright palette: ‘You just need to walk into her home, which is also her studio, to see that you couldn’t use anything but striking colour. It’s full of translucent works-in-progress, beautiful drawings, sculptures and flowers, so I wanted the portrait to reflect that.’
50 years ago, Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space, but the unsung hero of the Soviet Union's triumph at that time, was a brilliant scientist and rocket genius - Sergei Korolev
The flight of Vostok 1 – was a defining moment of the 20th century and opened up the prospect of interplanetary travel for our species.
“The reactor has an amazing safety feature,” said Kirk Sorensen, a former NASA engineer at Teledyne Brown and a thorium expert.
“If it begins to overheat, a little plug melts and the salts drain into a pan. There is no need for computers, or the sort of electrical pumps that were crippled by the tsunami. The reactor saves itself,” he said.
“They operate at atmospheric pressure so you don't have the sort of hydrogen explosions we've seen in Japan. One of these reactors would have come through the tsunami just fine. There would have been no radiation release.”
Thorium is a silvery metal named after the Norse god of thunder. The metal has its own “issues” but no thorium reactor could easily spin out of control in the manner of Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, or now Fukushima.
Thorium is as common as lead. America has buried tons as a by-product of rare earth metals mining. Norway has so much that Oslo is planning a post-oil era where thorium might drive the country's next great phase of wealth. Even Britain has seams in Wales and in the granite cliffs of Cornwall. Almost all the mineral is usable as fuel, compared to 0.7 per cent of uranium. There is enough to power civilization for thousands of years.
Native Fuchsia (Epacris longiflora) One of several ‘native fuchsias’ in Australia, all unrelated to the South American fuchsias. However, this Epacris longiflora must be one of the most beautiful!
Mountain Devil (Lambertia Formosa)
Blue Mountain Lookout on the way to Leura Cascades
Looking down on Leura Cascades
A section of Leura Cascades
Bush Peas or Eggs and Bacon (Pultenaea)
Hairpin Banksia (Banksia Spinulosa)
Neat garden container made of timber wedges!
The elusive Indian Tiger
In the last few months leaders of 13 countries - including India, Russia and China - have come together to affirm their commitment to save tigers from extinction.
There are only 1200 tigers in the wild in India and only a few thousand in the world.
A national survey in Britain by the RSPB, records a rise in the populations of small birds, including long-tailed tits, goldcrests and coal tits.
Welcome to BBC’s Springwatch 2011 April 22nd ! First presented by Bill Oddie in 2005 and now has children and adults all over the UK participating, by sending in their home videos and pics each spring.
