lifeasdaddy

Edward races his grandfather

Yesterday morning Edward went for a swim at the nearby amateur swimming club.  the races are fun on a time handicap system with swimmers starting on different time marks.

Ed had a couple of races and did very well.  Afterward there was a club photograph. My boy appears at front right.

 
 

The competition is spirited and in the best of humour.  Many members are approaching or more than 70 years old.

This is the type of sporting event which deserves funding.  Not the far upper reaches of sport for the few.

There are a number of swimmers who have significant mobility impairments including joint problems.  There is one man who can only use one arm.  He freestyles using one arm and kicking two legs.  With time handicapping he competes with everyone.

The health benefits, physical and mental, to all involved, our society and our economy are obvious.  If you can't see that, then I invite you to come along and see for yourself.

Powerhouse Museum Favourites - Part 9 : The final presentation.

I'm so proud of Edward.  He did a great job with his half of the presentation today.

For those who couldn't be at the Powerhouse Museum earlier this afternoon I'll give you an overview of the slides and our script.  The talk was not delivered exactly according to this script, but you will get the idea.  I'll redact a few images from the slides, because I don't have permission yet to publish some of the last minute stuff from the Powerhouse Museum here - I haven't asked yet.

Simon, the duty IT/AV tech did a great job getting us set up, and Ali Gordon introduced us.

The Sydney Observatory is great. I loved the 3-D movie there.  To see the movie you have to wear special glasses which make normal things blurry, but the movie is OK.  I also enjoyed looking through the telescope and going on the tour.

 

The Odditoreum is a place where everything is odd.  And the Odditoreum had robots and were trying to get a cow with a mouth down the bottom to eat grass, but it would not eat it.  In the Odditoreum there was like this giant shoe which had  bicycle handles in it.  It was really for the Olympics and was decorated with licorice allsorts, freckles and glitter.

In Zoe’s house there are lots of things to do.  You can push trucks with blocks in them.  There is a crane that’s broken.  There is a conveyor belt and a boom gate. 

I love seeing all the different kinds of transport like a train.  There’s also a bell for a boat in that room 

Here’s a photo of me in the zero gravity space lab.  It feels like you are turning around, but it’s really one bit that turns around to make you feel like you are turning around. Sometimes you feel dizzy when you come off. 

The space lab is where you can do things like in space and you can see a bit of what a space shuttle looks like.  But there is not the whole space shuttle.  You can do a bit of a computer thing.  There’s like a computer and you can switch some things that have lights and you can see this video of Andy Thomas, and he talks about stuff at NASA.

 The Powerhouse Museum tags itself as a Science and Design museum.  On the design half of that tag rests the decorative arts.

Josiah Wedgwood was one of the leading industrialists of the late 1700s and a hugely successful businessman.

 Although there is much to love about the Wedgwood  you see here [ image redacted] – this one from about 1790 is more than half a metre tall- it isn't the Wedgwood piece I love most ... It's a piece that is just about the size of a 50 cent piece.... 

  

Josiah Wedgwood became deeply involved in the movement to put a stop to the world wide slave trade.

To help the cause, he had one of his chief designers Henry Webber  modellers William Hackwood design a statement piece.  It became known as the slave medallion. 

  

This one here, from the Powerhouse Museum’s collection is thought to be from 1787.   We see here, on a white ceramic background,  a black man in chains, kneeling, begging. Around the border of the oval disc – although a bit difficult to read from this image -   is the motto of the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade,

“AM I NOT A MAN AND A BROTHER?” ….

The motto became famous and the medallion became a very fashionable item.  It could be worn as a brooch, a necklace ornament, or even adorning a hairdo. 

There are some examples in other museums showing what we now call an “after market addition” giving it a means to be worn such as a metal rim with a piercing for a pin or chain.

As such, it became the first fashion item to also bear a political message….

On request from a bloke in the then new nation the United States of America called Benjamin Franklin, Wedgwood shipped nearly 200 of the slave medallions to Franklin in Boston  also helping him to raise awareness for the need to end slavery in the United States.  Something that would take a further 80 years and a terrible Civil War in the USA to achieve.

I love the Slave medallion because it symbolises one of the most important civil rights movements of the past 300 years.  A political movement that was right, honourable, improved the human condition and actually succeeded.

You can see both of the extremes of Wedgwood design out there now in the “Inspired! Design across time” exhibition on level 3.

As a father who takes a keen interest in his son’s education – I’ve become a connoisseur of children’s books and early childhood educational aids.  I’m going to talk about one now. 

Let’s look at Maggie’s ABC book.

[ All images of Maggie's ABC book redacted ] 

One hundred and fifteen years ago, in 1894,  William Harrison, , hand made a Christmas Present for his niece Maggie Harrison back in mother England, in Avon. William was just 13 years old himself, and living in Australia. 

The book is personalised for her… painstakingly hand lettered…

 And painstakingly hand illustrated.  Illustrated both with pictures of things which would have been familiar to young Maggie in her home and some less familiar to her but representing the exotic new homeland of her uncle Will.

Go into any library in Sydney or any bookshop and pick up a kids’ book for ages 3 or 4.  You’ll find plenty of examples with big letters of the alphabet and words starting with that letter and accompanying pictures too.

So that educational device is tried and true.

 As a parent, I’ve spent plenty of time teaching Edward about the days of the week, the division between the weekdays and the weekend – and every morning at his primary school starts with talking about the day of the week and the date.

Again, not much has changed in 115 years.

The quality of the production of Maggie’s ABC book is just extraordinary for a 13 year old boy.

William Harrison went on to be Art Director and later advertising manager for Wunderlich Limited, the venerable manufacturer of pressed metal ceilings and building windows.

There are a few other items by William Harrison in the Powerhouse Museum collection – but none of them rival Maggie’s ABC book.

One of the things I love about the Powerhouse Museum is that it can be all things to all people.  There is something here for everybody, and now with more and more items from the collection being able to be viewed on line – the museum goer can make his or her trip on line too.  And not be limited by the constraints of exhibition space.

I can construct or curate my own personal exhibition around my personal interests.  One of my areas of deep interest is Australia’s maritime history, particularly in wartime.  I’ve spent hours trawling through the museum’s on line collection and discovered something intriguing.

World War Two began 70 years ago this week.  After Poland was invaded;  France, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia declared war on Germany, forming the allies.   

The remainder of 1939 and most of 1940 were pretty dark days for the allies.  There were few victories.  One famous victory was a battle in the Mediterranean sea on 22 July 1940 when HMAS Sydney sank the Italian warship Bartolomeo Colleoni.  After that battle in which the HMAS Sydney sustained some serious damage it made its way home to Australia and the port of Sydney on 11 February 1941. There was a huge welcome. 

Between 200,000 and 300,000 people lined the streets of Sydney, including school children who had been given a public holiday, to cheer 400 of the crew marching from Man O’War steps by what is now the Sydney Opera House to Town Hall.

There was a civic reception in the Sydney Town Hall for the crew, and a plaque was unveiled commemorating the naval victory.  Then the assembled ships company received a replica of the plaque in the form of a medallion.  Each medallion was engraved with the man’s name and service number.

[ images of the replica medallion plaques redacted ]

Here they’re pictured in Martin Place outside the G.P.O.

Enough replica medallions were produced to permit one to be presented to each member of the crew. 

The Ship’s plaque was fixed to a gun turret on the ship.  One large identical plaque sits in Sydney Town Hall today. And two of the replica medallion plaques sit in the collection of the Powerhouse Museum

This one was awarded to Frederick Mozart MURRAY ( 20100 ) who was an assistant yeoman of signals.

Fred Murray was not one of the 645 who perished with HMAS Sydney.  He survived the war, and even prospered, being promoted as an officer, and retiring from the navy in 1964 as a Commander.

A lovely piece of naval history.

( Left hand side  photograph from the Tyrrell Collection of the Powerhouse Museum. Right hand side photograph by the author )

The way I first came to love the Powerhouse Museum was though the museum’s online activities.  Chiefly from their presence on Flickr where for a bit over a year they have been displaying photographs from their archival collection – many of them historical images of Sydney and New South Wales.

They exist as fragile glass plate negatives – and prints from the negatives have never been publicly exhibited within the Powerhouse Museum, either through a perceived lack of public interest, or lack of exhibition space, or lack of motivation.

On the internet there are few limitations on exhibition space.  When scanned uploaded and hosted by Flickr the photo sharing website they cost the museum very little to display.  I discovered them there, on the flickr website one day. 

I then started a little photographic project of attempting to take contemporary photographs from the exact same position as that from a century before. 

Here’s George Street, looking south, that’s the corner of Margaret Street on the right.  100 years ago, and the one I took last year.

( Left hand side photograph from the Tyrrell Photographic Collection of the Powerhouse Museum.  Right hand side photograph by the author.)

Here’s the Sydney Observatory – around a hundred years ago, and in honour of the International Year of Astronomy, my pic from earlier this year. 

( Left hand side photograph from the Tyrrell Collection of the Powerhouse Museum.  Right hand side photograph by the author )

Another familiar building is Customs House at Circular Quay, One hundred years ago, and again late last year as a part of modern, busy, bustling Sydney.

Without the Powerhouse Museum setting those historic photographs free on the internet, I would not have been able to do my little photography project.

Thanks to the people who invited us to talk, and thank you for listening to Edward and I and thanks to Edward for his support today.

If you spot any factual errors in the script please let me know.

I especially thank Ali Gordon and Erika Dicker of the Powerhouse Museum for providing illustrative images and helping prepare our talk.

Jedi Knight medal

Edward vanquished Gabrielle in a light sabre fight.  So I promoted him to Jedi Knight and  awarded him this medal:

Inside the Odditoreum

Edward becomes part of the display in the Odditoreum by sticking his head through a hole and becoming part of the Hill of Heads:

At the Powerhouse Museum until 13 September 2009.

Edward and I cooking some roasted tomato soup.

This recipe is pretty easy, and we had good fun.

Edward:  Wash the tomatoes.

Me:  Halve and core the tomatoes.  When I say core I mean cut out the hard piece running along the centre fanning out at one end to which the stalk has been attached.

Edward:  Place the tomatoes cut side down in a roasting dish.  Then wash some fresh basil leaves including stalks and place them on the tomatoes.

Me:  Peel and quarter one medium brown onion.  Peel and slightly crush five cloves of garlic.  The garlic will be removed after roasting, so don't crush it too much.

Edward:  Scatter onion, garlic and some thyme over the tomatoes.

Me:  Roast in oven at around 200 degrees C. for about 45 minutes.

Remove from oven.

Remove garlic, basil and thyme from dish.  Allow to cool.

Edward and I:  Puree roasted tomatoes and onion to make soup.

Either reheat and serve or freeze to use later.

Bon appetite!

And so it goes. Edward learns the craft.

This is a photograph of the tool board in my father's workshop.

Most of the tools here are more than 50 years old, and few are less than 30 years old.  I was taught that if you look after things they'll last.  Dad's workshop proves it.

The skills I have in making, repairing and constructing were learnt at my father's elbow.

And now Edward gets his first lesson on sawing wood from his Grandpa.

Edward and Billy

Down at Mosman, near Balmoral Beach there is a statue of Billy the dog, who was well known as the companion to Inky the street sweeper from 1959 to 1978.

In July 2005 we took a photograph of Ed with Billy and again today, three years later.  How quickly they grow up.

The statue of Billy is by Denis Adams, according to Mosman Council, however the artist is much more likely to be Dennis Adams..

Fun @ the Powerhouse Museum

Last week Edward asked to go to the Powerhouse Museum, which if I had to categorise it, I'd say is a museum of technology, science, decorative arts and design.  So today we made the trek to Ultimo and met up with Ben and Lauren and Edward's cousins Thomas and Eloise.

We especially got Ed excited about visiting the zero gravity simulator  which is part of the Space exhibition.

The Zero-G simulator is comprised of a stationary platform upon which the astronauts (kids) stand surrounded by a cylindrical shaped mockup of the inside of a space station.  The cylinder slowly rotates to simlulate a space like experience.  To the astronauts, nothing much seems to be happening, but when you walk out onto "earth" again, it is quite disorientating.  Thankfully there is a rest area, which I suggest you use.

On the way to the Zero-G experience, then kids also had the chance to be photographed looking like space travellers as they stuck their heads through the painted backdrop.  An oldie, but a goody.

Later the boys had the chance to dress up in astronaut costumes.  There were alien costumes too, but they didn't have the same attraction.

Apart from these obvious novelties, they had some great fun in the Experimentations area which displays pratical examples of some of the fundamental physics of electricity, light, and magnetism.  In this pic, Edward is using a hand cranked generator to power a toy electric train and send it around a small track in the enclosure.

I know that when Ed said last week that he wanted to go to the Powerhouse Museum, he had in his mind seeing the steam engines on display.  The museum includes on permanent display Locomotive No. 1, which was the first steam locomotive in Australia.  Made in England by the Stephenson works, it was transported to Australia by ship and put into use in 1855.  I see from the nameplate data, that it was in fact No. 958, as far as they were concerned.

There is also an engine built in 1882, Locomotive No. 1243 on display and Edward was able to stand on the footplate and operate a few controls.  the display is interactive, and as buttons are pressed the voice of a driver or fireman explain the workings.

There's a section called Zoe's House, which is a contruction and building activity for kids aged 3 - 6.  Ed, Thomas and Eloise all loved this.

The Powerhouse Museum is well set up to light the imagination of children, and as you can see has lots of things for them to do, see, and in which to be invovolved.

But there's also rareities to interest military historians like me.

This enigma machine is part of an exhibition, and was used to create coded messages by the German Army in World War II.

Breaking the codes made by these machines was a turning point of World War II.

There are two other known specimins of these machines in Australia.  One is held by the Australian War Memorial, and one held by the government information security (cryptological) agency Defence Signals Directorate; although both are owned by DSD.

To see inside an Enigma machine, you can check this series of photographs (not from the Powerhouse Museum)

The children all enjoyed taking a break in the courtyard cafe which has some state of the art play and climbing activites, including this giant climbing frame which can be enjoyed by kids of all ages, including this 40ish man who could not resist climbing to the top. 

I managed to control the climbing impulse.

Now, it wouldn't be a visit to a museum if we didn't manage to find an error in a curatorial plaque, and here's the result from today.

There's a display about the work of violin maker William Auchterlonie (perhaps part of the famous golfing family?) and the plaque says that," This page is open to 1924, the year the violin on display was made."

But it is clearly a page from 1934. 

He had been using a day-to-a-page diary from 1930, and the day for that page, Tuesday January 28th, 1930 is crossed out.  Auchterlonie's note begins, "Started in 1934 Beginning of November ..."

SUMMARY:

Edward asked to return to the Zero-gravity simulator, and the engine Locomotive No. 1243 - so I guess they must be the best things in the museum today.

Edward sees his first circus show under the Big Top.

You never forget your first circus.

Today we took Ed to the Big Top at St. Ives showgrounds to see Weber's Circus.

This is the real deal.  The arena is releatively small - which ensures that every seat has a great view of the action, although some may be slightly obscured by the solumns holding up the tent.

The local government doesn't permit the use of animals, but in every other respect there is a full range of top circus acts.  Solo trapeze, aerial steel ring, clowns (non-scary), contortionist, tightrope walk, juggling, dancers, aerial silk act, multiple hula hoops, and an honest to goodness wheel of death.

Edward's attention was captured for the nearly 2-hour show. 

Something he will never forget.

He told me the popcorn was good too.

The circus strikes the big top tomorrow, and then goes to give shows at St. Mary's and Liverpool.  See if you can get along there.  Tell them Bob sent you.

Christmas in Australia

[ Again, this is late due to technical problems ]

It's Christmas Day.   

Preparations began last night with setting out a libation and a gingerbread biscuit for Santa and some water, a carrot and some magic reindeer food for his team.  The pic shows Edward taking a photograph of his tableau.

Then off to bed for our boy, to try to overcome excitement and get to sleep.

On Christmas morning we opened some gifts, including this fishing game for Ed from his Uncle Damian and Aunt Sharon.  It comprises a tin containing magnetic fish.  The fish are caught by Edward using his fishing rod with a magnet on the end.  Loads of fun.

Ed's Grandpa Alan gave him a Hotwheels kit with a hand-held launcher and a few cars. Wow.

Gabrielle and I gave Edward a bicycle, and Grandpa Roger gave him a helmet to preserve his brain.  This bike is decorated with a Lightning McQueen motif, currently one of Ed's favourite movie characters.

We hosted family Christmas luncheon and of course children brought along their newest and best Christmas things.  Eloise was very proud of her new swimming goggles.

When things had calmed down and our guests had gone Edward did some construction work with the wheelbarrow which was gifted by Aunt Jayne.

Later when some quiet time was needed it turned out that the wheel barrow was also a good resting place.  You'll note the more than somewhat glazed look in Edward's eyes.