Out to Space

Lest We Forget

Australia is not a military nation, not to me, anyway. However, ANZAC Day is set on 25 April as a national public holiday to commemorate the courage of those who risk their lives to defence the country. In fact, a threat from the neighbours is quite rare to this continent country. Border security was heavily politicised by the former Government in the fear-of-terror scheme. On the other hand, the Army’s roles are more keeping the peace in the Pacific region, in a less invasive way than the US to the Middle-East.
The first ANZAC Day Dawn Service is held in Sydney. The calm and graceful ceremony at The Cenotaph, Martin Place effectively unites the audience which has built up before 4am.

Road blocked on George Street

It is a mixed crowd attending, veterans who might have lost their friends and colleagues, young cadets who may lead significant missions in the future and, especially, the generation who may not comprehending this experience as much but certainly is absorbing it with respect.

Gathering at Martin Place

Memory in Solitude

Hanging on and reading the message

Navies of the Future

On Father’s shoulders

The growing popularity of ANZAC Day is probably an antidote of the meaningless Australia Day. Stilgherrian has more of his personal views on the day.

Rosemary on the ground

13-15 April is Songkran Festival, traditional Thai New Year. Thai community in Sydney has the celebration called Thailand Grand Festival in Tumbalong Park, Darling Harbour. Last year I explored the Buddhist ceremony and the entertainments on stage. This year is pretty much the routine with merit making and blessing in the morning then stage shows in the afternoon. No Aboriginal welcoming protocol has a presence here, just the Premier representative. Do we need a black fella to officially open every single event in Australia or, at least, just an acknowledgement?

The best improvement this year must be Singha Beer tent and the promotion girls are willing to table serve the customers while gulping some beer with her friends along the way. It feels like home. Of course, there are loads of food. Many of them you cannot find in typical Thai restaurants in Sydney. Other than that is largely tourism promotion.

The hi-light performance would be Joe Louis Traditional Thai Puppet Theatre. Unfortunately, the show has to stop due to the rain. The best Thai attitude is still applied here by stating it is the shower of the angels even though everything is on hold for a while. Nevertheless, when weather is clear, the event continues and the crowd is back again despite of the soggy ground.

I would like to use the word Songkran on this post which unofficially unannounced in the event. It is the best we can get on such a special occasion away from home in Sydney.

69 shots of where people set there bottoms down at Fair Day of Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras 2008 Festival.

While New Mardi Gras is releasing their official images of Mardi Gras Slide Show, I have my own angle of the events. It is obvious what fascinates my eyes at Fair Day. The colourful stuff they bring along on the day reflects the diversity of the community.

69 Blankets slideshow features Magic Games by Jacques Renault, released by RCRD LBL under a Creative Common BY-NC license.

The Great Wall of Sydney has already been dismantled but to complete the picture of APEC 2007 on the ground, the police has to be a big part of the jigsaw piece. Like it or not, they were the one who have to enforce the law and took the action on the streets. And they knew they would not be so popular, especially, the peak of the ground event—confrontation with the protesters.

The key strategy of this biggest police operation in Australia was using themselves as a fence closing Hyde Park North.

The only exit and entrance to the centre of the protest was on Park Street. The protesters could not move anywhere, let alone go near the restricted area. Although it turned out to be a mild protest, some officers were willing to strip off their dignity by removing their name badges during the operation so that they could not be identified.

However, most of officers tried their best to do their jobs.

Special power and more resources were given to this APEC event to insure the perfect face of Sydney but it turned the city into an authoritarian fortress. I disappointed in myself for not questioning them enough when it came to my encounter. Well, they’ve got guns.