The Weekly Times - TWT - 1st August 2018

4 THE WEEKLY TIMES Wednesday 1 August, 2018
New Eastwood
carpark welcomed
Dear Sir,
Eastwood is a vibrant
shopping centre, with
shoppers coming from
all over Sydney to shop
here.
I write this letter to
congratulate the Mayor
and Ryde Councillors on
passing a new 150 – 200
car park space on the
East side of Rowe Street
in Eastwood.
It is well overdue.
Congratulations to the
councillors who attend
our chamber meetings
every month and have listened
first hand the frustration
from the members
as well as the schools in
our area, about the traffic.
Our next step is we
need to hasten the traffic
study plans, to controlling
traffic and pedestrians
at East and West
Parade crossings as well
as the pedestrian crossing
at the corner of The
Avenue and Rowe Street,
near the National bank
corner.
We need pedestrian
traffic lights, as in Martin
place and at Meadowbank.
Once again thankyou
Ryde Councillors this is a
big step forward.
VICTOR TAGG
President,
Eastwood Chamber
of Commerce
Marsden High
move supported
Dear Sir,
As last year’s School
Captain I want to publicly
support the relocation
of Marsden High to
Meadowbank TAFE.
From its current capacity
of 700 to increase to
1500 students makes
this a fantastic investment
for the future of
Marsden High and education
in our area.
While this is a costly
investment - education
will always pay for itself
over time, in this instance
with first-class facilities
to assist with student
learning, more resources
accessible to hundreds
of students, easy access
to TAFE for schoolbased
apprentices and
part-time TAFE students
NOW IN SIX LANGUAGES!
www.weeklytimes.com.au
Letters to the Editor
and Marsden’s name and
identity will remain after
its transition from its
Winbourne Street site to
the education precinct.
This is truly a spectacular
development for Ryde
and most importantly our
state and unlike previous
instances where school
property has been either
left abandoned or sold to
developers, the current
Marsden site will remain
as open space, a park
and a much needed netball
centre for ERNA.
This relocation is an example
of innovation that
our government needs
and I am glad to support
the State Government,
Victor Dominello, Marsden’s
P&C and Marsden’s
Principal Mr Berry
in this relocation.
Students deserve the
best facilities, and moving
to the Meadowbank
TAFE site will allow Marsden
students access to
some of the best facilities
that our state has ever
seen.
Victor Dominello has
worked tirelessly for
Ryde and I’m thankful
that he’s now provided
for Marsden.
ALESSANDRA
SOMIDO
2017 Marsden School
Captain
Checking facts on
climate change
Dear JB
When you’ve stopped
sneering at poor old
Mark, consider checking
the Web for “Before
the Flood,” a program
fronted by Leonardo Di-
Caprio.
I’ve just shown it to
Year 9 Geography.
Then, on your next
overseas jaunt, fly to Kiribati
and ask the good citizens
of that island what
they think about climate
change.
You are, my friend, on
the wrong side of history
(and science, more importantly.)
BOB SELINGER
Eastwood
Dear Bob, It’s well
intentioned but misguided
teachers like
you that are brainwashing
our schoolchildren
with this rubbish.
Hope we all live
long enough to accept
your apology. JB
LETTERS
Welcome
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from our readers. Full
name, address and
telephone number
MUST be supplied, even
if not for publication.
Send to: TWT PO Box
123, Ryde 1680 or email:
contactus@weekly
times.com.au
Impressive golf
Open champion
Dear Sir,
The British Open Golf
Championship will
never be the same, and
for the better.
At the weekend, Francesco
Molinari became
the first Italian to win the
world’s most prestigious
golf tournament at
Carnoustie, on the east
coast of Scotland.
These days, male international
golf is dominated
by young and
physically imposing
players, six feet plus in
height who hit the ball
literally out of sight.
Francesco, at age 35
and a diminuative five
feet seven, is not unaccustomed
to winning
but the manner of this
achievement was stunning.
No bogies in in the
weekend rounds and a
calmness and composure
in the face of fierce
competition from the
world’s best players is
already legendary.
JOHN FRYER
Ryde
Time to blow
a fuse NSW!
Dear Sir,
Malcolm Turnbull’s
federal government
review of savage energy
market pricing
wouldn’t have been
necessary if the economic
gurus of the
1990s hadn’t brainwashed
conservative
state governments
into believing privatising
power meant
cheaper electricity.
It is quite obvious
these economic experts
didn’t know difference
between volts
and amps by declaring
privatised power stations
meant competition
in the spot market
automatically led to
cheaper power.
They also believed
free market competition
also led to increased
reliability. They
were suffering from a
mental power failure on
that one too.
Eighty years of power
industry history shows
we have turned a complete
circle and now
face plunging back into
the dark ages.
Prior to 1950 power
stations were owned
by private Australian
companies. Then from
1950 to 1990 power
utilities were nationalised
and run by governments
and in the
process power stations
became, dare I say it,
more efficient!
The proof is in the
pricing. In the 1990s
the average price of
NSW electricity was
$23.35MWhr* now in
the privatised, competitive
market it has
soared to $82MWhr*.
Whose lightbulb moment
led to that outcome?
Today the reliability
of the power networks
has seriously deteriorated
as starkly shown
by the recent failure of
Tasmania’s power link
with Victoria; the closure
of the Hazelworth
power station, the recent
South Australian
blackout and the baffling
switching-off of
Wallerawang Power
(1000MW).
To make matters even
more dire, NSW Premier,
Gladys Berejiklian,
has overseen the
biggest fire sale in Australian
history by selling-off
six NSW power
stations for just over $
1.56 billion dollars.
Then the Chinese
company China Light
and Power that brought
Wallerwang Power Station
(1000MW) in 2013
sold it six months later
giving the state a loss
of 10 percent of our
base load power stations.
It’s decision making
like this that led to
the Tomago Aluminum
smelter being forced to
shut down to avoid an
embarrassing blackout
on that sweltering day
of February 10, 2017
and now on a regular
basis must shut down
its three potlines.
This short-fall would
not have happened if
Wallerawang power
station was still operating
and the proposed
addition of two units at
Bayswater power station
had gone ahead.
But the new owner
of Bayswater Power
Station AGL was more
interested in its shareholders
than the security
of the power system.
AGL CEO Andrew Vesey
was pleased to announce
that AGL’s halfyear
profit was $622
million and shareholders
will be getting a
$1.1billion dividend to
help keep them warm
this winter.
Under the stewardship
of Gladys Berejiklian,
the state has
been hit by a chain of
disastrous decisions,
for example the selling
of the Land Titles service
and the slashing of
TAFE and to add insult
to injury there’s now
also been our short-fall
in power.
It’s bad enough that
Queensland beat us
regularly in the NRL
Origin series but what
is even more galling
is that in the last
12 months we’ve
also been importing
5,507gigawatt hours
from the Sunshine
State.
Before this mob got
into government NSW
was exporting power.
This has been a shocking
home-goal for NSW
and we should all be
blowing a fuse over it.
*Australian Energy
Market Operator
(AEMO)
TONY MORRISSEY
BSc (ENG) UNSW,
SMIEEE, MIE AUST
CPENG
Hunters Hill Guest Column
Finding Islands of my Own:
tribute to Phillip Parker King
THE NATIONAL Trust
Vienna Cottage Committee
and the Anglican
Parish of Hunters Hill
will again be presenting
their Annual Heritage
Lecture and Musical
program in the Horbury
Hunt designed, heritage
listed All Saints Church
in Ambrose Street Hunters
Hill this Sunday August
12 at 2.30 pm.
The church contains
some of the finest stained
glass in Australia and
speaker this year will be
Paul Brunton AM Emeritus
Curator,
State Library of NSW.
Title of his talk will be
Finding Islands of my
Own: Phillip Parker King,
the first internationally renowned
Australian.
Son of Governor Philip
Gidley King, Phillip Parker
King (1791-1856)
was born on Norfolk Island.
In 1817 the British Government
appointed Lieutenant
P P King to explore
those parts of the coast of
New Holland not surveyed
by Matthew Flinders.
* * *
IN FOUR voyages between
1817 and 1821
King surveyed the north
and west coasts of the
continent and the recently
discovered Macquarie
Harbour in Van Diemans
Land.
On these four voyages
King made a significant
contribution to Australian
exploration by establishing
the insularity of several
islands, by investigating
the inner geography
of many gulfs and by giving
the first report of Port
To The POINT
with JOHN BIRCH
Darwin.
In 1821 King had been
promoted to commander.
Two years later in 1823
King returned to England
where he was recognised
as one of Britain’s leading
hydrographers and in
February 1824 was made
a Fellow of the Royal Society.
In May 1826 he sailed
in command of H.M.S.
Adventure with H.M.S.
Beagle in company, to
chart the coasts of Peru,
Chile and Patagonia. This
arduous task lasted until
1830.
There were narrow escapes
from shipwreck
and the two commanders
were under great strain.
When the expedition
returned to England in
October 1830, King was
promoted to captain.
* * *
KING HAD extensive
landholdings in Sydney
and was commissioner of
the Australian Agricultural
Company for ten years
and a Member of the
NSW Legislative Council.
King was honoured
on the 2-pound postage
stamp of Australia in
1963.
He was the first Australian-born
to reach the
rank of Admiral in the
Royal Navy and for years
the only Australian-born
to attain eminence in the
world outside the Australian
colonies.
In 1836 Charles Darwin
described him as ‘my
beau ideal of a captain’.
Conrad Martens’ painting
in the State Library of
his funeral with a 22 gun
salute on Sydney Harbour
in 1856 paid homage to
the last journey of a great
Australian.
* * *
A MUSICAL program
featuring the historic Bevington
organ will
also be performed.
The organ built in 1887
by Henry Bevington and
Sons, Soho, London, is
one of the largest examples
remaining in the
world of a Bevington organ
in virtually original
condition.
It was installed in the
Church during construction
and was first played
in June 1888.
All Saints’ continues to
have a strong musical tradition.
The afternoon will conclude
with refreshments.
Tickets $20 from jabirch@bigpond.com
or
phone 9816-1794.
Funds raised will support
the maintenance of
All Saints Church
and the restoration of
the Vienna Cottage verandah.
JOHN BIRCH AM is
Chair of the Vienna Cottage
Committee
Unique quilts on display
The Biennial Hunters Hill Quilt Show opens on Thursday August 9 in
the historic Hunters Hill Town Hall from 7.30pm with the presentation of
prizes by local artist Robyn Ross.
Pictured celebrating the
‘hanging’ of their two raffle
quilts are Grace Widders,
designer of Going
Round in Circles and
Robyn James, designer
of Castles in the Air with
Quilt Show Convenor
Meg Moodie and Hunters
Hill Quilters President
Judy Grierson.
Entry $20.
The Show is open to
the public from Friday
August 10 until Sunday
August 12 from 10am to
4.30pm with $6 entry fee.
For the three days
visitors are invited to
browse, admire and critique
the 60 exhibited
unique quilts made by
members of the Hunters
Hill Quilters group.
On display at the show
will also be a new exhibition
for 2018 showcasing
‘Fiddle mats”, sensory
mats made with lots of
textures and fiddly bits,
designed to provide
‘Touch Therapy’ for sufferers
of Alzheimer and
Dementia.
Hunters Hill Quilters
first became aware of the
need for ‘Fiddle’ mats in
2016.
The mats are designed
to safely stimulate and
soothe people with Alzheimers,
dementia, autism
or head trauma.
Sized for wheelchairs
or table tops, these mats
are greatly appreciated
by nursing homes and
carers.
The selection on display
will be donated to
local nursing homes.
Enquiries Judy 0414
574 117 or Iris 9953
5097.