Press Release: Karnak Climbs Down The Walls (TM) Expands Product Line

We here at Karnak Climbs Down The Walls (TM), recently established in the Canary Islands as KCDTW, Inc., value your ideas and input (all 20 of you including, for some reason, a guy named Billy Bob in PA and a woman named Pascale in Paris - but we appreciate your support),  Given that, our present catalogue offerings will be DOUBLED to include the antithesis to Karnak Defies Gravity(KDG), Kismet Embraces Gravity (KEG).  While KDG serves as an attractive wall ornament suitable for garden or lounge, in either singles, pairs, or multiples, KEG is the ideal doorstop, or potentially a small piece of art suitable for the garden atrium.  Buy two, and contemplate the duality of your inner dialogue.  KDG and KEG are the Yin and Yang of the home pottery furnishings world and one is simply not complete without the other.

A future design may possibly incorporate a cavity in the belly designed to accommodate a small flowerpot (or pots) for raising your own indoor herb garden.  As always, KEG can be ordered hand-painted in brilliant, lead-free, washable colors or, for those crafters and conceptual artists among you, unpainted and ready for YOUR interpretation of the effects of Kismet Embracing Gravity.

As a demonstration of our commitment to education here at KCDTW, Inc., Physics Departments of all intererested educational institutions will be given our 10% physics lab discount.  Every student should have a matched pair of KDG and KEG as a physical demonstration of the principle of gravity upon objects, one constantly in motion, the other an immoveable body.  Contact our friendly customer service staff for details.

As always we here at KCDTW, Inc. appreciate your business and are interested in your comments and suggestions for new product lines.

Fun With Cats Part II; Karnak Defies Gravity

Well, that's it for us.  Now that they've discovered the principle of anti-gravity, it's all over.

Hope Springs Eternal

 I know this will come as a shock to our friends but Kismet needs to lose weight.  So we've cut back on the rations and we (I) am taking her for walks.  Believe it or not, she is cooperating, although at her own pace (walk 5 steps, stop, lay down, look around, get up, walk 5 steps, etc.)  Tonight Karnack - the more athletic one - jumped over the wall on the Back 40 and joined us - I think out of curiosity more than anything else.

Here's Karnak and my improvised cat exercise gym.  That's a 150-year-old piece of furniture there.  My family will recognize it as the piece that stood in our formal living room for as long ago as we can  remember.

Karnack "enjoys" the wildlife.  Those are Crimson (Blue-Cheeked) Rosellas (parrots) - a pair - who come every morning to feed.  I think they have, in Karnacks' mind, replaced the Mourning Dove pair who hung around our backyard in Alexandria.

She doesn't seem interested in hunting here and I don't blame her (although she does alert me to spiders).  The birds are as big - or bigger - than she is.  I would not recommend tangling with a Cockatoo or a Magpie (bigger than crows).

 So, the three of us walk around the paved inner court of our compound, pausing to smell the freshly cut shrubs, look in the storm drains for opossums, and just walk through dry leaves so we can hear them rustle.  I occasionally hear a fox "bark" which is more like a yelp.  And that's why the kitties have to be in before we go to bed, because a fox - which are considered vermin here (along with rabbits) - will grab them in a second.  Here, Kismet and Karnack are not at the top of the food chain.  They just don't realize it, so we have to watch out for them.

Kismet doesn't seem that embarrassed by the harness but then again I usually do this in the morning and in the evening when it's dark.  She seems to like it because her tail is always swishing back and forth and she looks around at everything and smells things a lot.  I'm the one that looks silly.  I know, my neighbors have told me so.

We're glad we went to the trouble and expense of getting them out here because they really do add to the quality of life and they seem happy to be with us.  She still sleeps with us - in fact every night I go to sleep constricted by sleeping cats. Now if I can just break Kismet of the 3:30 AM wakeup call for kibble, we'll be alright.

A Boy and His Cat

The Australians show us how it should be done: the Battle of Fromelles, July 19-20 1916 - the last Digger buried 19 July 2010

This past Monday, July 19th, 2010 was the 94th Anniversary of the Battle of Fromelles - a disaster for Australia.

Here is what the badge above looks like after 94 years in the ground:

I will apologize now - there are a lot of links and information here; but this is such a moving event that I think it's important to have it all in one place, especially for Americans.  These are the kinds of things that were happening in France before we ever got there in 1917.  It's because of events like this that General Pershing, the Commander of the American Expeditionary Force, refused to allow Americans, except for one or two isolated occasions (such as the battled of Hamel where we first fought side-by-side with the Australians) to be placed under foreign command.  This was against British wishes, who saw us as simply a manpower pool.  Read the following from Wikipedia and you'll see why Pershing objected:

The Battle of Fromelles, sometimes known as the Action at Fromelles or the Battle of Fleurbaix, occurred in France on July 19-20, 1916, during World War I. The action was intended partly as a diversion to the Battle of the Somme that was taking place about 80 kilometres (50 mi) to the south. The operation sought to retake a salient just north of the German-occupied village of Fromelles, 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) from the city of Lille.

Fromelles was a combined operation between British troops and the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). It would be the first occasion that the AIF saw action on the Western Front.

After a night and a day of fighting, 1,500 British and 5,533 Australian soldiers were killed, wounded or taken prisoner. The Australian War Memorial describes the battle as "the worst 24 hours in Australia's entire history."^[1]

It is believed that Adolf Hitler, then a 27-year-old corporal and a message runner in the 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment, took part in the battle.^[4] Hitler served on the Aubers-Fromelles sector from March 1915 until September 1916.

[COMMENT: one Australian journalist here wondered what the 20th century's history would have been if a 27-year-old AH had caught a "stray Australian bullet." ]

The bodies of Allied soldiers killed in the area re-taken by the Germans were buried in mass graves shortly after the battle. They were transported to sites behind German lines and buried in pits. Most of these were discovered and the remains transferred to what would become official cemeteries.

There was speculation for many years regarding the existence of an unmarked and forgotten mass grave near Fromelles, containing the remains of Allied soldiers killed during the battle and subsequently buried by the Germans.

Research by an Australian amateur historian, Lambis Englezos, identified a site at 50°36′36.36″N 2°51′17.10″E / 50.6101°N 2.85475°E / 50.6101; 2.85475, in a field at the edge of Bois Faisan ("Pheasant Wood"), on the outskirts of Fromelles. Bodies were transported there by German soldiers on a narrow gauge trench railway on July 22, 1916, before being buried in eight pits measuring approximately 10 metres long, 2.2 metres wide and five metres deep. Englezos believed that these grave pits had not been discovered during the official post-war burial campaigns.  In 2007, a non-invasive geophysical survey, commissioned by the Australian government, was conducted by Glasgow University Archaeological Research Department (GUARD).^[5][6] The survey gave readings consistent with pits containing the remains of hundreds of soldiers. A subsequent metal detector survey led to the discovery of Australian Army artifacts at the site.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fromelles

The Australians put on a massive effort.  They hired a contractor, set up a forensic lab, and put out a call to Australians to come forward for a DNA test if they suspected that their ancestor died at Fromelles and was among the missing.  In the end, they were able to identify 96 Australians heretofore declared missing.  They established a new Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery, the first WWI cemetery established since the 1920s.

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2010/s2958850.htm

http://fffaif.org.au/2010/03/17/fromelles-id-profiles/

The story of the two brothers really got to me.

 http://www.portnews.com.au/news/local/news/general/lost-war-heroes-identified-in-mass-grave/1781383.aspx

As some of you know, I am an amateur historical researcher and have had my own battles with bureaucracy, which at times seems strangely resistant to the notion that  they might have "missed" something.  It took me four years to get my great-great-great uncle's name - Private Simeon Ikins, died of wounds received on July 3, 1863 - placed on a headstone on Gettysburg National Cemetery

 I therefore feel a great deal of sympathy for Mr. Englezos, who pursued his research for years and was frequently dismissed as something of a zealot (to be charitable)by those in authority as well as in the media.  I know, I was treated the same way.  Those same people are now honoring him for that very same determination (he was just awarded the Order of Australia Medal).  Those Diggers would still be lying out there in the woods if not for him.  Many families now have the closure that they sought for decades:

http://www.theherald.com.au/news/local/news/general/hunter-family-closes-chapter-with-fromelles-ceremony/1889456.aspx

He's an example for us all not to give up when you know you're right.

They buried all but one of the 250 soldiers, both Australian and British, known and unknown, back in January and February.  And individual grave service was held for every man.  They saved the last unknown Australian for a very moving ceremony attended by the Prince of Wales and the Governor General of Australia this past Monday:

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/politics/greathearted-men-in-tragedy-at-fromelles-20100719-10hp3.html

On Monday I was at the Australian War Memorial conducting some research.  They chased us out of the Resources Room a little early because for the normal 5 PM closing ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown - usually a bugler playing the "Last Post" (the Australian Taps) or a bagpiper playing a lament - there was going to be a special addition.  Because this was the anniversary of the battle, and the ceremony would soon be taking place in France, the Chief Historian was to speak.

The Memorial was full of kids, like it usually is.  They do a great job of getting the cost of war across to Australian kids with special exhibits and tours.  Well, there must have been about 2-300 kids aged maybe 8 though 16 running around and, as usual, just being kids and not realizing what these exhibits and the names on bronze plaques represent.  They know about ANZAC Day, but I don't think they were connecting the dots.

The historian then read a long account of the battle.  He read from the diaries of those killed.  He described the machine gun fire and whole files of men going down like teeth being knocked out of a comb.  The carnage was so great that when it was over in some places informal truces allowed the Australians and British to clear the dead.  In one case, two German soldiers crossed over and carried a wounded man to the Australian lines, placed him on the parapet, saluted and started to walk back to their lines when they were mistakenly shot down by men farther down the trench who had not see what that had done.

[Comment: They ought to put a memorial to those two unknown Germans somewhere out there at Fromelles.]

There has also been some implying that the Germans were brutal in the treatment of the bodies.  I'm not sure that was the case.  While I have see photos of the bodies piled on top of each other on small railway cars, I don't think that is indicative of any disrespect.  They were placed in mass graves - it was the only thing you could do.  According those who exhumed the graves, the bodies had been treated with respect by their enemies, and it's described here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1293660/First-World-War-heroes-set-laid-rest.html

Back to the ceremony at the memorial.  Well, you can guess what happened.  The chatter and the giggling died down as the story was told.  At the end you could have heard a pin drop.  I think it sank into the older ones that these were the great-grandfathers, great-uncles and distant cousins who had never come back but were talked about from time to time at family get-togethers.  The guy in the funny uniform in the old photograph on the mantle at grandma's house.  I related to that: I was always told as a child that someone in the family had died at Gettysburg but there wasn't any more information than that.  It took until 2002 to find his real identity and and where he was buried - under the wrong name since 1863, the name of a man who did not exist.  But we got that fixed.

So now Fromelles is "fixed."  However, I saw a short blurb the other day that they may have found another mass grave.  Maybe some more Diggers and Tommies will get their identities back.

The bronze plaque here was sent to the next of kin of those KIA
and became known as the "Dead Man's Penny."

One last thing.  There has been a lot of melodramatic writing here about how these soldiers got their "dignity" back because they were found and given a proper funeral.  They never lost their dignity - they died in the service of their nation and they laid with their friends and - in some cases literally - their family.  It doens't matter whether we knew where they were or not.

At the dedication of another new cemetery in November 1863, Abraham Lincoln said it best:

"...Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. 

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. "

Now it may seem melodramatic, but anything that was said last Monday at Fromelles was simply icing on the cake.  Nothing that governments nor politicians can say has any meaning when it comes to "dignity."

They always had dignity; now we simply know for certain where at least some of them lie.

Corporal Frank Steed, AIF, KIA Fromelles, France, July 1916.

Lest We Forget.

Potential Breakthrough on the "Mystery Medal"

Our faithful readers - all 18 of you - will remember that I am tracking down the families of the recipients of Commonwealth medals I have in my collection.  Since the British Empire was considerate enough to mark them with the name, serial number, and unit of the recipient, with some sleuthing (and help from interested parties) you can usually find someone who was related to the person and would like the medal back.  For background on this see the "Ikins in the News" page.

This last medal, to 16/802 Private Kohi King, N.Z.E.F. [New Zealand Expeditionary Force] has proven more challenging than the rest.  I have been in touch with his Iwi (tribal) office on the North Island.  They had put a call for information out to the elders with no luck.  His next of kin (NOK) was listed as his father (see below), which means he wasn't married when he left.  Which means (probably) he had no children and thus nobody was actively searching for information on their grandfather, so to speak.  Or so I thought.

I purchased his 1914-1915 Star in New Zealand on the North Island at an antique shop in March of 1987 (the story of how I have these medals is below).

And here is the medal in the photo above:

Private King was Killed In Action at the Somme, France, on September 14th, 1916.
Here is where he is buried - the Dantzig Alley British Cemetery in Mametz, France:

http://www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_details.aspx?cemetery=61000&mode=1

http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=547893

http://www.cwgc.org/search/certificate.aspx?casualty=547893


 Anyway, I posted in the New Zealand Returned and Services (RSL)
Newsletter a request for any information pertaining to Private King.
I immediately got a response from none other than the Director of the New Zealand Army Museum who offered his assistance and then told me that he had a person on his staff assigned to work with the Iwis and she recalled an e-mail from someone asking about a Kingi Temate, who would have been Private King's father - plus the name of the Iwi was correct.  So I fired off an e-mail to the address provided, explaining who I was and what I was doing.  Yesterday I got an e-mail back from a gentlemen in Queensland who provided a great deal of detail and while not a direct descendant (apparently Mr. Temate had three wives), he had heard of Private King when his brother was doing some family research.  So we will talk more this week and see what else we can find out.

I love a good historical research project.  As this medal is, in the Maori culture, an important taonga, or treasure, I want it to go back to where it belongs.  More later.

Lest We Forget.

Windstorm on the Back 40 at Hacienda Ikins

Sorry - this one isn't about exotic travel, just the mundane events of life here in Canberra.  I imagine this may only be of interest to our families.  So all you people in Paris (I think there's one of you and while you are very welcome, I would love to know why) tracking this blog, you can skip to the next post unless you are a meteorologist or an insurance claims adjuster.

So the other night I'm sleeping peacefully, Debbie as well, I have one cat asleep under my right arm, the other on opossum alert at the bottom of the bed (the cats have agreed to work in shifts, the ceremonial changing of the watch will probably soon be listed as a Canberra "must-see" by the city tourist office) the winter wind and rain are really giving the skylights a beating and suddenly outside there is a large CRASH.  You know, the kind you hear and you think "something just happened that is going to cost me a lot of money."

"Boy I hope that's not a opossum, because he's a BIG one," I'm thinking to myself.  I headed over to the window and there is our outside sun awning on its side acting like a sail - the wind has flipped it 90 degrees.  Luckily, when we put it up a few months ago I had tied it off to the hedge over the wall so that prevented it from taking off for parts unknown or at least ending up in the lake.

We also had anchored the four legs by placing them in decorative glazed pots
(Bunnings, $7.99 on sale, Lawn and Garden Department) loaded with polished
landscape stones ($4.99 a bag, Bunnings as well).  It lifted three of the legs out
and in the process smashed three pots.  (I'm not looking forward to another
looooong selection process for the replacement pots).

The remains of one of the aformentioned pots.  I've now got all the little rocks swept together in three small piles.  It kind of looks like some sort of artistic installation - to be frank, it couldn't be any stranger than some of the public art I've seen down here.  See the page on Canberra and the, uh, "thing" in front of the National Library.  Then there's that sheep statue on the sedan chair downtown...see the "Strange and large Things" page.

Australiana - a 77-year-old rabbit hunter that feeds an entire town

Great story from the Sydney Morning Herald (good paper).  One of the things I love about this place is there are folks like this out there just living their lives (there's probably many American counterparts to this guy).  He's unapologetic about the way he makes his living and he doesn't have to be.  Rabbits and dingoes are a scourge down here.  Charles Kuralt would have wanted to interview this guy (youngsters, go ask your Mom and Dad who Charles Kuralt was).

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/keeneyed-hunter-77-provides-for-menindee-20100709-1041z.html

I love rabbits - had a pet one in college - but they are good to eat as well.  I used to hunt them all the time on Harry Diebel's farm (it's now a housing development, thanks to one of his descendants).  The essence of survival in a capitalist society is: find a niche and fill it.  The guy ought to have an apprentice.

Next I would like to append one of those "drunk at the zoo climbs into the lion cage" stories.  However this one has to do with...crocodiles.  Specifically a crocodile named "Fatso."  Talk about Darwin in action.  Watch the video of the guy explaining why he did it.  One look at him and you'll know everything you need to.  But this kind of stuff happens in Florida all the time with alligators.  In fact I just saw one where a guy went after a golf ball in a water feature and came out minus an arm.  Luckily he stumbled into a nearby hospital staff picnic, bleeding all over, with about three trauma nurses present.  I think I'll leave those photos out of the blog...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10611973

Melbourne, Part III, or Chuck and Debbie Rent a Boat

Well, as we have sometimes found on websites down here, the advertised services do not always meet with reality.  For example, we decided it would be fun to go out on a charter boat and fish and easily found an outfit that claimed to be fishing 365 days a year, 7 days a week.  They even picked up from the pier a 10-minute walk from the hotel.  They even have a sign ON the pier, advertising said services, complete with people smiling and holding very large fish.  So we made a lot of plans and then we called them.  It turns out that they're open 365 days a year... except when they are not.  They were on "break."  This is like the guy running the Macquarie Harbor cruise out of Strahan in Tasmania who was operating until he decided to take the Friday off (and we were told this enroute on Thursday afternoon) - the ONLY day we had planned to be in Strahan...  I don't mind people having lives, but how about posting on your tourist-service website (if I can do it, anybody can) when you intend to do it so that some people who may NEVER be (like my brother) coming back to Tasmania can make alternative plans?

So - PLAN B.  Rent our own boat - which we found in a small town down the coast from Melbun - at Mordialloc, a typical beach town that is probably hopping in the summer.  But it's winter.  However, they were open - Allnutt boat rental.

 http://melbourne.citysearch.com.au/E/V/MELBO/0053/01/59/

You Humphrey Bogart and Kathrine Hepburn fans will recall that Charlie Allnutt, Bogie's character in "African Queen," operated a small boat on the Ubangi River.  Ironic. 
  

 Well, it was actually a pretty good little business, although I understand it may not be around in a few months.  The guy running it was very helpful and in the end it was a great deal.  The little boat ("Christine") even sounded like the African Queen.  He even - in typically Australian fashion (one of the things I love about them) - talked me out of buying a $25 rod, pointing out that a handline (which he threw in) was perfectly serviceable for our needs.  We got our licenses and our bait (whitebait - like small sardines) and with hearts of oak, we headed out into the bay (see below), jib in the wind, singing sea chanties as we went out about 1.5 miles (we were told regulations prohibited us from going beyond a 2-mile arc).  Ah, for the life of the bounding main (in sight of the changing sheds on the beach).

.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordialloc,_Victoria

Here's the inlet we fished out of, courtesy of Google Maps...you can see the reef we had to get past past the end of the long pier at the center of the shot...

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&q=Mordialloc+map&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Mordialloc+VIC&gl=au&ei=rFA8TNj5PMjXce-9-dMC&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBgQ8gEwAA

So here she is - "Christine."  That's her in the center.

Now anybody who knows us knows we like small boats ( a la "Master and Commander" see the story at the link here):


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/25/AR2007052500551.html

We like doing this sort of thing ourselves (unless you are going out 60 miles and then...)

 Oh yeah.  I have a beard now.  I was doing the full Charlie Allnutt.


Well, it wasn't long before my "fish-wife" Debbie hauled up the first flathead (kind of like a flounder although it's not flat with two eyes on the same side).  It's what is usually served in fish and chips and here is a good site for information on it - Raw Fish:

http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://www.rawfish.com.au/images/wild-caught-fresh-flathead-fish-fillets-1.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.rawfish.com.au/flathead-the-finest-fish-fillet/&h=1712&w=2560&sz=2103&tbnid=dHqLvMaEGBAgUM:&tbnh=100&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dflathead%2Bfish&usg=__9a0RfhL1NXavERxz0yv7G2OEmws=&sa=X&ei=ul88TNuQOciXcf7ckNAC&ved=0CBoQ9QEwAA

I wasn't far behind...

And no fishing trip would be complete without our
favorite beer from Germany, from the Andechs monastery
(which we fortuitously found in our favorite bottle shop
in Canberra).  This is a centuries-old monastery which has
been brewing beer for something like 500 years (or longer).
This is for the benefit of our neighbors John and Esther, who
introduced us to it.  We have visited the brewery/monastery
twice - it's in the suburbs of Munich (take the S2 tram to Ammersee
and walk the two kilometers or so through the woods).

Or take a taxi.  Either way it's worth it.

http://www.andechs.de/englisch/brauerei/fuehrung/bierbrauen_im_kloster.html

Oh yeah - back to fishing.  Well, we caught about 6 or 7 keepers
(we measured 'em they were over 25 centimeters)
and after 5 hours or so  we headed back.

There were of course the usual ecstatic crowds on the pier hailing our return...

Followed by our Cuban victory cigar (now wait a minute, it's legal down here...)
and a Belgian beer at a local bar and restaurant with a great view of the inlet:

And so we end another installment of the adventures of Chuck and Debbie Down Under.

With, as usual, Debbie taking care of the tab...

How many guys have a wife who:

1) Likes Cuban cigars;
2) Likes Belgian beer;
3) Likes to fish; and
4) Has a degree in accounting?

I still have to bait the hook however.

Eat your heart out.  More later.

An Update to a Weekend in Melbourne

Melbourne is, as any Melburnian (?) will tell you, a very sophisticated and livable city.  Lots of black clothing about.  Chicly dressed women.  A great public transportation system (trams, free hop-on, hop-off tourist buses, a dedicate free tourist tram (the Circle Line), etc.  Great food - especially Asian - a very dynamic place.  They also sell a lot of high-end fashion.  Good fishing (south of town).  Strange plays (see the last post).  They even had a COSTCO - but the deals weren't as good.  Here's a little walk through the visit:

OK - we get it.  Another typically Australian sign warning you
that it's ALL YOUR FAULT IF ANYTHING -
GOD FORBID - HAPPENS; WE WARNED YOU.
Great Hotel  (Hotel Urban) - Fitzroy Street - West St. Kilda.
You get free access to the St. Kilda Sea Baths
down the street, with a cold plunge in the ocean.

Luna Park - old -fashioned amusement park on the beach -
Lots of innocent fun with Australian kids having a great time
on the old-fashioned carousel.

Couldn't resist.

St. Paul's Cathedral.  The price of war, paid in spades by this family.
Spare a thought for these three brothers the next time you are in church.
All I could think about was their mother.
This is a real "Saving Private Ryan."

Lest We Forget.

Flinders Street Train Station, downtown.

The Regent Theater.  Great 1920's architecture.  Reminded me
of the OHIO Theater in Columbus or the Loew's in downtown Akron.
They don't build them like this anymore and more's the pity.

The State Library Reading Room.  By sheer luck we decided
to go into the State Library and discovered a wobnderful art gallery,
a historical exhibit on Melbourne and best of all -
NED KELLY'S HOMEMADE ARMOR MADE OF WELDED PLOWSHARES.
Ned Kelly is a major cultural touchstone for anti-establishment Australians.
Think Jesse James. The late Heath Ledger even made a movie about it.
The Constabulary finally cornered him and his brothers in a hotel, set fire to it,
wounded him, jailed him and then finally hung him in the Melbourne Gaol.
More on that later.

Ned's armor below.

Ned's death mask.
You can see where the rope broke his neck.
My jury is out on Ned as to whether he was
a hero or not.
He did burn a lot of  mortgage papers, though.

So of course the next stop was the Melbourne Gaol.
They don't shy away from telling the story of the many hangings there.
Not even to very small children. 

By the way - she's standing on the trap there.
And that's a rope hanging from the very beam that
Ned was hung from.  There was a very detailed
explanation of the physics of hanging with the
sweet little girl saying at the end:  "But I don't want YOU to die..."

Time to go to bed.  More on the Melbourne (pronounced Melbun) trip, including
my adventures fishing the wily flathead by Marlon Ikins ("While I hold the camera, my assistant Debbie will dive to the bottom of Phillip Bay to free the hook snagged on the coral reef...") later.

Stay tuned for Part  III.  At the moment I have two cats crawling across the keys insisting I go to bed.