Book Review

Bowraville

Written by Dan Box

Published 2019

Dan Box was an Australian journalist. Australian was owned by Murdoch, so I didn’t read anything from them. I was a late reader about the Bowraville murders.

There were three Bowraville murders, all children, in 1990. In 1991 *James Hide was arrested and charged with the murder of the third person who was killed. Nine days later the clothing of the first victim were found in the local river, and ten days later the second victim’s body was found. Hide’s lawyers asked for the charges to be heard separately and the court judge agreed. None of the families could understand why. The jury sat in the Grafton court in 1994, heard the first murder case, and found Hide not guilty. In that case the other two murders would not be heard.

*name has been changed

The police inspector, Gary Jubelin, wanted to keep on inspecting, and was given approval by his commander. By 2003 Jubelin took his information to the coroner and asked him to hold an inquest which would help the police to take Hide back to court. In 2004 the coroner said he could not make a decision, and sent a letter to the state director of public prosecutions, Nicholas Cowdery, asking him to make a decision. By May 2005 the DPP had agreed with him, and sent the murders back to court.

It was February 2006, 16 years after the murders, that it would end up, all three together, in court. Hide still did not answer any questions – he did not have to prove nothing. Once again he was found not guilty.

For the next few years Leonie Deroux, one of the family, wrote letters to local politicians, the state governor, the Ombudsman, newspapers, senators, ministers, the federal opposition and the Prime Minister eventually. She asked her local MP for assistance with a change of the ‘double jeopardy’ legislation.

Box met up with Gary Jubelin in 2014 and was told about the murders. Jubelin wanted him to write about them, the families, what has happened and what should happen. Box took this on. He didn’t get to meet the Aboriginal families until 2016, but had spoken to them by phone before that. He visited Bowraville, went to where two of the bodies had been found, joined the families in court, wrote podcasts and wrote articles for the Australian. He spoke to Gabrielle Upton, the NSW attorney general, and finally, after a final request from her to the Court of Criminal Appeal, the trial went back to court on 29 November 2017 – 27 years after the murders. It took the three judges nine months to make their own decision – there will not be a retrial.

This, for me, means that this country – or, at least, NSW – have not decided to rewrite the double jeopardy legislation and hear all three murders in one court. I can’t think why they have done this; my condolence and support go to the Aboriginal families who must be the first families in this country who suffer this ridiculous ‘law’.

Dan Box had learned, at this trial, that he had to change the name of the man who had been charged – he is now known, in this book, as James Hide. He is still out of jail, but for me, he is guilty. How many others who have read or will read this book think that too?

Box did so well, preparing his journalism and his writing. I would hope that he and the police and the Aboriginal families will get on with their lives, but I know that won’t happen.

Protests and protestors

A couple of days ago I saw an Extinction Rebellion Friday afternoon “regenerate” coffee advertised in Ipswich. I looked it up on Google and it’s not too far from me: I thought about going there. It would be my first connection with this group, who I fully support.

Except that today I also saw a university student’s protest happening all around the country, in Brisbane too, this afternoon. I would have loved to go to that, but it’s too far from me for an evening, when I just can’t catch a train to get in there by 5pm which could possible lead me into trouble after dark returning.

Why do I think of those sort of problems? I am a university student, taking the BA for recovery of my aphasia. I am a climate change supporter, but I can’t go to the actual protests which could lead to my arrest. I have been to climate change protests, but they were ones held in the middle of the day – 2013 was everyone for climate change and 2019 was run by schoolies for climate change who wonder about their own future. I would go to anything about climate change in the middle of the day.

I looked up on Google to see what problems have been reported on trains recently and I couldn’t find anything. Sure, there were a couple of issues in March and May 2019, but nothing yet in 2020. I am wondering why I am so concerned about this… maybe I just need to go into Brisbane and join in with that protest. It’s me and I should be there!

Later: it’s now just after 5pm and I got back home after going to the ER “regenerate” coffee in Ipswich. Which wasn’t happening. Even the café where it was advertised didn’t know about them! That frustrated me, but I still enjoyed the drive. Right now I’m feeling very hot, and there’s nothing on telly and I can’t be bothered writing the poetry report for my latest assignment (yes, I’ll do that over the weekend), but right now I’m gonna put my feet up, have the aircon and a glass of cold Merlot.

I hope you’ve had your “good day”.

How much water is on Earth?

This question raises more questions, as I found out on a USA government website called USGS – Science for a changing world. I already knew what they said in there, that the oceans on this entire planet are made up of 97% of saline water “on, in, and above the Earth”.

So what can we drink? Where in the world are communities missing out on tap water? It seems that there are 785,000,000 people who don’t have access to easy drinkable water. That’s around 10% of the entire population! Where do they get their water from? WHO gave information which you can read – but only if you are interested. Which you should be, because if you’re in Aus and usually have lots of water to drink and use, you should feel very sad for those in the world who don’t have what we have.

In Australia there are six large (and a lot more smaller) approved and working desalination plants. The Sydney plant will double its size, possibly this year, providing 30% of the drinkable water to the Sydney population.

Desalination started in Australia after the drought of 1997-2009 which ran many towns almost out of fresh water. Australian engineers had seen what Israel is doing, and has been doing since the 1990s. According to the Scientific American website, Israel “now gets 55 percent of its domestic water from desalination, and that has helped to turn one of the world’s driest countries into the unlikeliest of water giants.”

Perhaps that will be what Australia can become, when this country is so much dry land. The ABS showed, in 2008, that 16% of the water consumption was to households when the majority of it was to agriculture – 59%. The rest of it was 13% to water suppliers and 12% ‘other’, which is mining, manufacturing and anything else. By now I suspect that the water required for agriculture has risen, but there are no current details from ABS. There also should be an essential percentage the fireys use on bushfires right now.

In 2017 researchers into desalination found out about “the invention of a graphene-oxide membrane that sieves salt right out of seawater.” Perhaps, when usable, these would provide tap water to the other 785 million people who don’t have taps for drinkable water.

But what I wonder about is, by the flurry of population increase, perhaps desalination either used now or the graphene-oxide membrane suggested for the future or anything else that scientists come up with can actually run this entire planet out of water. When would or could that happen? Year 2050? Year 2200? Year 2500? Think about it!

I’m just very happy I’ll not be around even by 2050.

Climate change

As a supporter of Climate Change I have seen arguments from so many deniers. The first protest I had attended in Brisbane in November 2013 about climate change. There were other protests that year in other cities over the country:

Melbourne: https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/school-strike-for-climate-to-bring-melbourne-s-cbd-to-a-standstill-20190919-p52t1i.html

Brisbane: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-17/thousands-rally-across-australia-for-national-day-climate-action/5097536

Sydney: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/nov/29/climate-change-marches-australia-sydney-canberra-perth-weekend-of-protest

All 2013, The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/dec/19/2013-climate-change-review-global-warming

Have you read all those?

In 2017 the Lowy Institute had a poll of the population, rising to 57% of those who think climate change is essential, regardless of the cost. The bushfires this year ‘earned’ $2 billion more spending on future protection of fires.

https://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/majority-australians-believe-global-warming-serious-problem

Australia’s School Strike 4 Climate first protested in 2018, following Greta Thunberg’s solo protest at the Sweden parliament house. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-30/australian-students-climate-change-protest-scott-morrison/10571168

Their protest in September 2019 drew an incredible number of supporters: Melbourne - 100,000; Sydney - 80,000; Brisbane - 30,000; Adelaide - 20,000; Hobart - 20,000; Canberra - 15,000 and Perth - 10,000.

There will be more ongoing protests held this year, twenty twenty - 2020. There will be more people coming along on the protest marches. So who are we trying to turn around to us?

Around the world other media have reported the hottest records ever. This isn’t just Australia – it’s USA, India, UK, France, Panama, South Africa, Egypt, Germany – everywhere within the world.

Ice sheet collapse: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-change

Climate change world over: https://edition.cnn.com/specials/world/cnn-climate

A decade of disappointment: https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change-decade-record-temperature-fridays-for-future-environment-crisis-a9267601.html

Geopolitical tensions: https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/01/1054811

Climate breakdown: https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/newsfeed/2019/12/2019-year-climate-breakdown-191230093418508.html

Marine science issues: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/07/climate/climate-change-marine-science.html

Early spring, hotter summers: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/climate-change-bringing-earlier-springs-may-trigger-drier-summers

Deforestation tipping point: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200107142308.htm

The last decade in 7 days: https://grist.org/climate/we-broke-down-the-last-decade-of-climate-change-in-7-charts/

UK’s climates in 100 years: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-50976909

Have you read all of those?

National Geographic provided charts of global temperatures, greenhouse emissions and atmospheric carbon since 1900s.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/12/the-decade-we-finally-woke-up-to-climate-change/

The NASA Global Climate Change group provided a similar graph of atmospheric carbon dioxide, more now than ever.

https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/

And the Climate Council provided information on the “Top 10 climates moments of the past decade”.

https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/top-10-climate-moments-past-decade/

Were you a denier? Are you still a denier? Don’t you believe all the media, all the science and meteorologist websites, all the weather people? Don’t you like the Extinction Rebellion protest which holds up traffic? Do you blame them for what’s happening in climate change?

Are you still a denier?

I hope you aren’t. I hope that right now you are one of the 57% of the population who agree with climate change – and this poll should have grown a lot in the very recent reports of what’s happening throughout this globe.

More than half believes in climate change, because it is for real. We need to change, and change NOW.

What will you do?

How do you write your reviews?

In my Griffith University study I had thought I could major in Journalism, but last year I started thinking perhaps I could do two majors: the second one would be Creative Writing, which I have been doing for years and I love it! Courses I’d already done were Creative Writing, Forms and Structures and Writing the Short Story. This term I’m doing Writing Poetry and Documentary Scriptwriting. For the rest of this year I will do Writing Crime and Contemporary Romance and Writing for Children and Young Adults. All of those except documentary scriptwriting are required for the major.

After my stroke I had rushed in to get my first book published. I had written more than half of it before my stroke, and finished it after the stroke with my aphasia. It was published in 2015 and I had a library meeting for my presentation of it. Some of the people who came to that had already read the book and said that it was just right for them. I had read a review in Goodread which didn’t really have any comments about it, but gave me 1/5. I re-read the book again in the last couple of days and still wonder what those reviewers didn’t like about it.

This is what this blog is about – writing a review. The links here are how you can write a book review. Read them, and then perhaps re-read any book you haven’t enjoyed and re-review it!

Bookish: https://www.bookish.com/articles/how-to-write-a-good-book-review/

Bookish is a book club for people who enjoy books. The article is titled “Anatomy of a book review: Tips for writing a good book review”.

BookRiot: https://bookriot.com/2019/02/14/how-to-write-a-book-review/

This website is good - it has quite a few pages on different books, and also audio. It’s included in the Riot New Media Group. The article is titled “How to write a book review: 6 steps to take”.

The Writing Centre: https://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/assignments/crinonfiction/

The University of Wisconsin - Madison might intend those who write ‘critical reviews’, but a critical review seems to be about any reviews, even if they scored a book 5/5!. Their website page says “Your stand must go beyond your ‘gut reaction’ to the work and be based on your knowledge (readings, lecture, experience) of the topic as well as on factors…”   

The Literary Hub: https://lithub.com/how-to-review-a-novel/

This page is titled “How to review a novel”. The writer, Mary-Kay Wilmers, looks at the various ways that a reviewer may approach the review. Wilmers has written a lot that you may need to skim over, but a lot of it applies to a review.

The Writing Center:  https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/book-reviews/

Based at the University of North Carolina ta Chapel Hill, this page suggests that is gives tips for critical reviews. As mentioned earlier, what is called a ‘critical review’ seems to be about any review.

If you have read these and want to review, just be aware of what a negative review can do for a writer: I believe that a review can give positive comments to any writer, whatever you think of them.

If you don’t think you can be positive, then simply don’t review!

Tiny homes

Recently I looked through some pictures online which advertised tiny homes. Some of them are lovely, like this one built in Aus by Titan Garages…..

Or this one, also in Aus by Aussie Tiny Houses, with a bedroom upstairs!

I thought about these for people who have lost their homes in the raging bushfires last year and the start of this year. Too many of those people have nowhere to move to. Titan’s price for this one is $44k and Aussie Tiny Homes is $69k. There are others on both of these websites which are bigger (all under $100k) and could possibly fit a family of four. There’s enough land around throughout this country where they could be set up.

These could also make a community for homeless people. Have you ever thought about this?

In New Zealand in the 1980s my ex and I bought a bus which we converted into a home. We lived in it with our first child and moved down to Palmerston North then Napier, stopped at a house in Taupo while I had my second child and extended the bus, then moved back into it and on to Mt Maunganui and Auckland. We had a lounge with TV; a kitchen with a cooker and microwave, dishwashing area and benchspace; a laundry area which plugged into water outside for me to do the clothes washing; a shower and toilet; bunks for the two kids; and a double bedroom with a door that opened to outside (this door opened while we were driving and my three cats sat and looked out at the car following us!!). We worked while we lived in that bus – I worked for IHC in Palmerston North and Taupo, and became an administration manager in Auckland and it was perfect for how we lived!

After moving to Aus I didn’t see so many buses like that – the pre-built motorhomes I have seen around here are much more expensive. Converted buses are better, especially for young families. There are so many homeless people, even families, federally in this land. If they can’t get a converted bus then can they be offered a ‘tiny home’ which could be perfect for them as they’re fighting through property loss / poverty / homelessness?

Within the cities there are smaller buildings – like the river side in Brisbane around New Farm area – and I would love to see more of these built anywhere. But they are expensive… much more than a ‘tiny home’.

Google it! Check out the links for the tiny homes in Aus. Or have a look at RV Life Australia or the Grey Nomads or Home Beautiful for bus conversions.

Best luck!

Self-made NZ motorhome - perfect for family!

What else would you do, PM Morrison??

This morning SBS posted an article against Morrison for the latest ‘ad’ he’d approved. What he posted and what he said is stupidity!

The bushfires are federal, and people are dying and property burned right to the ground. The bushfires have been burning for months, and have gotten worse since before Christmas, yet Morrison still vanished over to Hawaii. Since he got back he has wandered around some of the dead properties, still wearing a tie and with his hands in his own pockets. He is not the PM or the leader that he thought he was. Only his wife gave a volunteer firefighter a hug which he absolutely needed! Morrison had to grab the hand of a woman who wouldn’t shake his hand – why did he??

Why is the world being told that Australia defence forces are being used – troops, helicopters, ships – to fight the fires so late in the season? Why didn’t Morrison want to give volunteers any funds when they had been there for weeks already? Why did he then agree to pay only the NSW volunteers when the funds for these bushfires are now federal and needed by every firie volunteer?

Why has Morrison denied climate change, and anything from that which had set off the bushfires?

This video, from Morrison, should not have been posted at all. The defence troops should have been called in weeks ago, and maybe between them and volunteers and firies they might have controlled the fires and might have saved lives and property.

There’s a lot more work to be done, PM Morrison. Just don’t ignore it!