Mapping the Devastation and the Loss

It’s hard to get your head around the impact of the Victorian Bushfires, especially for those of us in other parts of the world. Leaving aside the terrible human tragedy, with hundreds of lives lost, the fires of the last few days have destroyed a massive chunk of Australia’s natural and cultural heritage.

NASA has posted a series of images of the fires from space.

The CSIRO/Geoscience Australia has battled to keep the ‘Sentinel‘ site alive, which the emergency services themselves use to plan their response. It shows what the current situation is, within a few hours.

And, most poignantly, Google Maps Mania has a timely post, which uses Google Street View to show you what the country towns looked like before the disaster of the past weekend.

UPDATE: Google has released their own dedicated page to display an up-to-date map based on CFA updates.

UPDATE: Amazing photos published by The Boston Globe, of all places.

Australia: Stranger Than Fiction

Came across this great essay from the BBC’s H2G2 site (Hitchhikers’ Guide To The Galaxy) which explains Australia fairly accurately to the novice outlander. Some attribute it to Douglas Adamas, which I don’t believe (I’m an admirer of DA’s style of writing, and this ain’t it, Someone’s probably been confused by its placement on the BBC site)), but it’s still an accurate view from the outside: somewhere in the UK.

Highlights:

The second confusing thing about Australia are the animals. They can be divided into three categories. Poisonous, Odd, and Sheep.

Australian beaches are simply the nicest and best in the entire world. Although anyone actually venturing into the sea will have to contend with sharks, stinging jellyfish, stonefish (a fish which sits on the bottom of the sea, pretends to be a rock, and has venomous barbs sticking out of it’s back that will kill just from the pain) and surfboarders. However, watching a beach sunset is worth the risk.

Happy Australia Day!

The Blog Is Back, Again, Sigh.

Seems every few couple of years, my hosting company seems to enjoy locking the site away for a week or two. Always a concern, seeing that occasionally, it’s deleted completely, but it appears that the site is back and running.
I say ‘appeared’, because no-one has told me what is happening on the hosting side of things. Poor, poor, poor service.
Might take that backup, now. Any suggestion for replacement hosts, folks?

Hurlstone Quotes - About Environment and Heritage

The School was the first agricultural high school established in Australia and the first in NSW to accommodate boarders. The current site for the school was established in the 1926 and has been responsible for fostering and developing a unique and scientific approach to managing Australia’s rural enterprises. Hurlstone Agricultural High School has been assessed as being of high local significance.

Parsons Brinckerhoff Australia in the Environmental Assessment for the (now-delayed) South West Rail Link in 2006

An independent view from the people the government listened to when setting up the SWRL project, which has been delayed by the mini-budget.

Mapping the Hurlstone Debate

For all those (including myself) who need to know a little more about the land that is being discussed, I’ve put together a map that can be used in Google Maps (in your browser) or Google Earth (if you have installed the software).

It shows some detail of Hurlstone, and some of the other schools that are being mentioned in the media, on the web and in Parliament.

Click here for the maps: see it with your own eyes.

Hurlstone Quotes - About The Future Role Of Agriculture

Investment by governments and international partnerships in research and development is another key part of the productivity equation.
Today, we have improved technology; better farming practices, plant breeding and food distribution systems
But we are constrained by limited available agricultural land and shrinking water resources.
Governments must refocus on investment in agricultural research and development to boost productivity within the constraints of land and resource availability.

The Hon. Tony Burke MP – Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, speaking to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Nov 19, 2008

Commentary from the Federal Government regarding the need to invest in agricultural R and D.

Hurlstone Quotes - About The Budget

The follow quotes are from a meeting of the GENERAL PURPOSE STANDING COMMITTEE No. 2: "Examination of proposed expenditure for the portfolio area: EDUCATION AND TRAINING" of Wednesday 19 November 2008. The full transcript is available on the ‘Save Hurlstone’ FaceBook group.

They are attributed to Mr M. Coutts-Trotter, Director General, Department of Education and Training

…we are going to have a look to see whether some of that site, potentially up to 140 hectares of that site, could be sold, but that is a process that is going to take quite some planning and quite some consultation first and foremost with the school community.

…Obviously there is a history and tradition at Hurlstone that we have to consider and respect, but there are other students and other schools in the southwest of Sydney that are looking for other opportunities – Casula, James Meehan and other schools. If we can find a way that respects and supports the quality of what happens at Hurlstone Agricultural High School but we can also free up many millions of dollars for reinvestment in other public schools as a starting point, I think that is a fair and appropriate thing to do

Q: What if the community said they did not want to sell it, they want to keep it? Your consultation with the community almost presumes that you are going to sell it anyway.
Mr COUTTS-TROTTER: Consultation with the community starts from the starting point that we would like to sell some of the site because it is simply so enormous. It now sits on very valuable land.
Q: It is really about the value of the land?
Mr COUTTS-TROTTER: In part, of course. It is about the value of the land to generate money that can be reinvested in other schools in western and south-western Sydney and other parts of the State.

…I think the fact that the farm runs at a loss is a correct statement, but the indication that that is the reason why we are looking at Hurlstone Agricultural High School as a potential site for some asset sales would be wrong. The reason we are looking at it is we have a chance here to release money for reinvestment in public schools.

Q: Of the 160 hectares at Hurlstone Agricultural High School, how much land are you looking at selling, or have you not made a decision about that?
Mr COUTTS-TROTTER: We have not made a decision. We need to go through a very detailed process of consultation and planning. It is a 160-hectare site. I think the school buildings occupy more than 20 hectares. Obviously there is the issue that has arisen about the memorial forest. I understand the Premier has given a commitment that the memorial forest certainly would not be considered for sale. That just indicates that with a site of that size, we will have to go through a very detailed process of planning and consideration, and that will happen over the next two months.

My main takeaway-from this: during exams and marking, and over the holidays, the school community will be consulted not about if, but how much of the land will be sold.