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Genevieve · 10-28-2008, 07:51 AM

A big welcome to Bill ( and Kerry?) from the western side of OZ too!!!

I have long felt "blessed" to have lived the life i have and to BE where i am at this current stage of my life/evolution or whatever. I just hope that my inner conviction is right!!

Bill - i do not doubt your sincerity for one moment and i agree with your observations about this country (albeit generalised) but i do have a few questions for you about your preference for calling this project the "Australian Ark"

Please bear with me - i tend to ramble a bit when i have a lot of thoughts coming thru at once.

In general YES we are a friendly and hospitable people ( more so the "bushies" than city folk - who when you think about it - have become homogenised across the globe) The reason IMHO is the very fact that ISOLATION has made us so. An isolated people learns to rely on its immediate vicinity in times of hardship.

I myself was a child of the 60's yet i still distinctly remember living with hurricane lamps on holidays, the vegie man visiting our farm, and then all my teenage years living off pumped dam water and a generator out the back. I used to love the sound of the old generator pumping down as the last light in the house was turned off.

Now THAT part of it is the reminiscence of one little first generation white girl!!! lol However - this country is extrememly fragile in that it is NOT the hospitable land that most of us westerners would like to live on. Not a lot of abundant savannahs and forests full of wildlife in comparison to the vast expanses of "arid" land.

While i realise that this community you speak about will be self contained so to speak (thankfully ... as Bill Mollison once said - leave the bush to itself it can survive perfectly well on its own - just learn to feed yourself with as minimal impact as possible - or words thereof) - it can as you say sustain about 1000 children and adults.

I am really happy that you are choosing to move to this community - but should 500,000 people respond to your invitation to "invest" in this community what then?

Back to the isolation thing now. The true Australians - the Australian Aboriginals - have likewise been isolated from the world - i relate to them not unlike the Hopi. I was wondering how much creedence or importance you see in these people? and their place on this "ark"

Over the years i have been seriously humbled by these people - and as much as i LOVE this land i was born in - i have to admit always feeling a bit of an alien - in that even the food i love is more akin to a european diet - even if i am "living off the land"

Just to put all this in perspective - i was talking via phone today to my Mum and while i have always been known to have some way out ideas!!! lol - i mentioned all the stuff i had been "researching" over the past few months and she said "oh yeah love -dad and i have been talking about all this the last few weeks and we said - well we'll be alright we'll just get the chooks back in and start replanting the vegies!!! lol We are so lucky to be living in the bush she said!!! And thats the point - THEY belong to an already tight knit community and the mean and selfish ones will soon fall by the way. They have utmost trust in the community they live in - they have lived thru hard times before.

Now this is all without an underground bunker or whatever. The point is they are prepared the best way they can.

I mean this in no way as a judgement - but i do question the reasoning behind putting your name to "a" community that even the total membership of PA cannot viably fit into. There are many of us who cannot possibly afford the "relatively cheap" few hundred thousand AUS dollars to have the comfort of a bunker and underground hydroponics system.

As any good "gardener" knows diversity is the key. Don't put all your eggs into one basket (or ark). While the community you speak of may be one end of the diversity spectrum - there are many many others - and hopefully several of them will come thru all this.

And yes we have our share of intolerant people, bumbling politicians and US intervention here as well folks!! I'm praying that the indiginous people of australia get to reclaim Pine Gap as their own ark for storing all the information they have about this country - in that ready made underground bunker!! Then we might ALL stand a chance of surviving on this big brown continent!!

10-28-2008, 07:51 AM	#4
Genevieve Avalon Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: southern part of western australia Posts: 86	Re: A big Aussie welcome Bill A big welcome to Bill ( and Kerry?) from the western side of OZ too!!! I have long felt "blessed" to have lived the life i have and to BE where i am at this current stage of my life/evolution or whatever. I just hope that my inner conviction is right!! Bill - i do not doubt your sincerity for one moment and i agree with your observations about this country (albeit generalised) but i do have a few questions for you about your preference for calling this project the "Australian Ark" Please bear with me - i tend to ramble a bit when i have a lot of thoughts coming thru at once. In general YES we are a friendly and hospitable people ( more so the "bushies" than city folk - who when you think about it - have become homogenised across the globe) The reason IMHO is the very fact that ISOLATION has made us so. An isolated people learns to rely on its immediate vicinity in times of hardship. I myself was a child of the 60's yet i still distinctly remember living with hurricane lamps on holidays, the vegie man visiting our farm, and then all my teenage years living off pumped dam water and a generator out the back. I used to love the sound of the old generator pumping down as the last light in the house was turned off. Now THAT part of it is the reminiscence of one little first generation white girl!!! lol However - this country is extrememly fragile in that it is NOT the hospitable land that most of us westerners would like to live on. Not a lot of abundant savannahs and forests full of wildlife in comparison to the vast expanses of "arid" land. While i realise that this community you speak about will be self contained so to speak (thankfully ... as Bill Mollison once said - leave the bush to itself it can survive perfectly well on its own - just learn to feed yourself with as minimal impact as possible - or words thereof) - it can as you say sustain about 1000 children and adults. I am really happy that you are choosing to move to this community - but should 500,000 people respond to your invitation to "invest" in this community what then? Back to the isolation thing now. The true Australians - the Australian Aboriginals - have likewise been isolated from the world - i relate to them not unlike the Hopi. I was wondering how much creedence or importance you see in these people? and their place on this "ark" Over the years i have been seriously humbled by these people - and as much as i LOVE this land i was born in - i have to admit always feeling a bit of an alien - in that even the food i love is more akin to a european diet - even if i am "living off the land" Just to put all this in perspective - i was talking via phone today to my Mum and while i have always been known to have some way out ideas!!! lol - i mentioned all the stuff i had been "researching" over the past few months and she said "oh yeah love -dad and i have been talking about all this the last few weeks and we said - well we'll be alright we'll just get the chooks back in and start replanting the vegies!!! lol We are so lucky to be living in the bush she said!!! And thats the point - THEY belong to an already tight knit community and the mean and selfish ones will soon fall by the way. They have utmost trust in the community they live in - they have lived thru hard times before. Now this is all without an underground bunker or whatever. The point is they are prepared the best way they can. I mean this in no way as a judgement - but i do question the reasoning behind putting your name to "a" community that even the total membership of PA cannot viably fit into. There are many of us who cannot possibly afford the "relatively cheap" few hundred thousand AUS dollars to have the comfort of a bunker and underground hydroponics system. As any good "gardener" knows diversity is the key. Don't put all your eggs into one basket (or ark). While the community you speak of may be one end of the diversity spectrum - there are many many others - and hopefully several of them will come thru all this. And yes we have our share of intolerant people, bumbling politicians and US intervention here as well folks!! I'm praying that the indiginous people of australia get to reclaim Pine Gap as their own ark for storing all the information they have about this country - in that ready made underground bunker!! Then we might ALL stand a chance of surviving on this big brown continent!!