lifeasdaddy

Barbeque - Canadian style

IMG_4717.JPG, originally uploaded by dugspr — Back in Canada.

Yes, that's snow.

A picture of concentration : National Guardsmen Prepare for the 56th Presidential Inauguration

National Guardsmen Prepare for the 56 Annual Presidential Inauguration, originally uploaded by DVIDS247.

Photo by Cheri Cramutolo for the 106th Public Afairs Detachment.

Krupp guns of the Boer War.

As I mentioned, Observatory Park contains the South African War Memorial to those people and animals from the Colony of New South Wales who served in the Boer War (1899 - 1902)

It has a Krupp field artillery piece mounted on blocks behind it.  It seems to have orignally had wheels on either side, implying that it was designed to be horse drawn.

The breech block shows the markings of Krupp and that it was manufactured in 1895 at Essen.

The internal diameter of the barrel measured 75mm.

I've been able to find this Order of Dedication Service for the ceremony on Sunday June 2nd, 1940. The official register of War Memorials in New South Wales shows this information but it doesn't say much about the gun.

My friend Nico added a useful piece of information about the stampings on the breech block.  The "Fried." stands for Friedrich, as in Friedrich Krupp.  "Friedrich Krupp" makes up the first part of the name of the manufacturing company.  The three interlocking circles in a triangle pattern were part of the company's mark.

(There is a useful wikipedia article about the Krupp firm here, but itmay be subject to some bias from time to time since it deals with matters pertaining to War Crimes in World War Two.  Such Wikipedia articles are prone to be hacked or subverted from time to time.)

War memorials and ex-service clubs around Australia can be found adorned with various artillery pieces and even naval guns, some formerly used by Australian forces, some used by our wartime enemies.

 So, from where did this artillery piece come?  Was it one of ours, or one of theirs?

I can't find any direct evidence at the moment, but a search of the holdings at the Australian War Memorial reveal just three items relating to Krupp during the Boer War.  They are three photographs, two photograph show Krupp guns captured from the Boers, and the other photograph shows Krupp guns being used by the Boers.

The Australian War Memorial photographs are here,   here,  and  here.

It seems likely then that Krupp supplied the Boer side in that conflict, and therefore the piece shown at the memorial on Observatory Hill was captured.

The Sydney Observatory. A great place for a family visit.

On Saturday we took a trip to the Sydney Observatory which is now a museum of astronomy and a division of the Powerhouse Museum .  Edward's cousins went there for a tour last week and told him about looking at the Sun through the big telescope.  He was keen.  It would also give me the opportunity to take some photos for my Sydney then and now ... photographic project.

We knew that the first tour would start at 11am, so Saturday at 10.20am was a good time to look for a parking spot in Upper Fort Street, and we got the closest public parking space to the Observatory.

I took a couple of important photographs for my project and then we went inside and read out some of the informational plaques to Edward along the way.

This one explains the time ball.

 

We went inside to the reception desk and booked ourselves into the 11am tour.  Usually the fee is $7 for adults and $5 for children (from 4 to 15 years) but because we are members of a museum with reciprocal visiting rights at the Powerhouse Museum, for us it was FREE!  

Then we entered and walked through the other parts of the Observatory viewing the range of exhibits.  These included historic astronomical  instruments including telescopes and orreries and explanations of some of the principles of optics.Here's the transit circle:

 

  Ed got a lot out of pressing the buttons on the interactive exhibits.  We also walked through the gardens and admired the outstanding views afforded by the position of Observatory Hill.

 

Then it was time for the 3-D movie show and the telescope viewing.

The movies on show were Bigger than Big and After Stars   both produced by Swinburne's Space Works.

The old-school 3-D glasses were obligatory, and wearing them added to the fascination for Ed.

Movies over and our knowledge of some facets of astronomy enriched, it was off to some telescope viewing led by our guide, Lisa.  We ascended the narrow stairs to the southern dome and saw the auspiciously named Meade LX200 EMC telescope.  I think this one is a 16-inch model, which is actually the same as used in the Meade company's own observatory.

 

 

Lisa mounted a small ladder and started to manually turn the wheel to open the dome.  You'll see here too a view of the cover on the end of the telescope.  Whilst I'm sure it is of the highest quality, it does look as though it was made by Playschool presenters out of cardboard and sticky tape.

 

 

We did not actually use the 16- inch telescope, we used a parrallel smaller telescope fitted with a filter. The filter on the telescope permitted direct viewing of the Sun, which would otherwise cause blinding to the viewer.  I can't show the view through the eyepiece, but I can give you a good view of the bridge framed by the dome aperture.

A tour of the  grounds of the Observatory Hill reserve even revealed a war memorial of which I had been unaware.  This one for the New South Wales contingent to the South African (Boer) War.

It includes this small artillery piece which was manufactured by Fried. Krupp in 1896 at Essen.

 

 

 

The visit to the Observatory sparked plenty of questions from Edward about black holes, pulsars and stars so today we borrowed some books on astronomy from the library.  Edward got straight down to reading them when we got home.

 

 

 

 

Here's the heritage listing for the Sydney Observatory which gives some good detail about the history of the buildings.
 

Annual Australian Climate Statement for 2008

The Australian Government's Bureau of Meteorology recently released its Annual Australian Climate Statement 2008.  This gives in summary detail about our climate over the 2008 year regarding rainfall and temperature, especially in comparison to national averages, and in comparison to the period 1900 to 2008.

It has received little attention in the Australian press so far.

The national debate about climate change is so emotionally and politically charged that lest I be accused of quoting selectively to confirm my own biases on this, I simply encourage you to read it here for yourself.

Since the actions to be taken by the Commonwealth Government on our behalf regarding the matter of climate change is likely to be one of the two most significant things this government does in the present term, we really need to be very well informed about the facts of the matter on climate change.

Sydney then and now: Sydney Observatory

Sydney Observatory, originally uploaded by Powerhouse Museum Collection.

I could not get to the same position as the original photographer because that place is now in the air above the Cahill Expressway Loop.

This is the best I could do today wihtout a crane and a suspension cage:

and here is a view of the building unobscured by the trees:

The Sydney Observatory  is now part of the Powerhouse Museum.  Today we checked out the observatory, did the tour, and looked through the telescope and I'll blog more about that visit soon.

Sydney then and now: Scots Presbyterian Church and Assembly Hall

This 1930 photograph is in the Tyrrell Collection of the Powerhouse Museum, by an unknown photographer. 

Paula Bray blogged about it here.

Paula wanted to know if I could take a comparison shot, so here's one I took today:

The Heritage listing for the building can be found here, although it is out of date, as it does not include the recent complete redevelopment of the interior of the Church combined with the addition of an apartment development within, behind and above the Church which can be seen in this photograph behind the facade.

I have been to a service in this Church since the redevelopment, and it's really beautiful.

The Defence of Rorke's Drift 1879 - frame conservation

New Galleries, originally uploaded by Art Gallery of New South Wales.

A landmark 1882 acquisition of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, "The Defence of Rorke's Drift 1879" by Alphonse De Neuville has been a perennial feature of the Gallery's display to this day.

The 1885 photograph  by Henry King above shows it on the far wall through the archway.

But more than a century on display took a toll on the frame which measures 255.7 x 377.5 x 30.0cm.

After more than 18 months' restoration work, the frame has been rejuvenated and replaced. The art gallery has a series of photographs documenting the restoration here.

Photograph by Felicity Jenkins for the Art Gallery of New South Wales on Flickr.

Security at sports venues.

"Many families with young children come to the game each year to catch a glimpse of their cricketing heroes and they do not want to walk away having their day spoilt by drunken idiots.

from this Sydney Morning Herald item.

The security at the recent cricket Test match held at the Sydney Cricket Ground got plenty of ink in the papers this week, with many complaining of over zealous security staff, etcetera.

 

There's an interesting innovation in the USA with NFL football fans being able to report security problems including drunkenness at most stadiums via SMS text message.  [ tip viaSchneier ]

 

The FBI's code cracking contest

See how you go.

[ tip from Schneier ]