Southern YarnThe March 2016

N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E D O W N U N D E R C L U B O F W I N N I P E G I N C

downundercalendar

find us on facebook or the webwwwdownunderclubmbca

email infodownunderclubmbca

MARCH BowlingSaturday March 26th 2016 7pm Windsor Park Bowling Lanes 678 Elizabeth Rd

Cost will be $1500 for adults and $1000 for kids Includes 4 games prizes and snacks RSVP to Terry 204-663-6549

APRIL Saturday 23rd 6 PMANZAC Day commemorationScandinavian Cultural Centre764 Erin

Make a date to commemorate ANZAC Day witha memorial service singing of our nationalanthems and a delicious POTLUCK dinner Thisis always a memorable event so come and be apart of it and the fun to follow And donrsquot forgetndash the Bar will be open

RSVPIf you let us know you are coming we can beready for you RSVP to (204) 487-0067 orsocialdownunderclubmbca or look for thenew RSVP page under EVENTS on our website

Advertise in The Southern Yarn Contact Jenny (228-9959infodownunderclubmbca) for all the ratesSend your submission by email toinfodownunderclubmbca or mail to PO Box1655 Stn Main Winnipeg MB R3C 2Z6

onlin

e

Many of us know how Bingo Bowlingworks But we shouldnrsquot assumethat everyone does It combines the

skill of bowling with a bingo grid It is a teamgame that is contested over a set of lanesEach team is assigned to one lane

The lane is presentedwith an overhead bingogrid Like a bingo card abowling bingo grid con-sists of 25 squares Themiddle square is still afree space The other 24squares consist of possi-ble single frame or sin-gle ball bowling scores

One bowler on theteam will bowl a ball Ifthe outcome of the ball ison the bingo grid thebowler may accept thatresult reset the pinsand the process repeats for the next bowlerOtherwise a bowler may take up to threeballs to achieve one of the needed outcomes

A turn ends either when a score isaccepted three balls are thrown or if it is

impossible to achieve one of the neededscores

The first lane to achieve a total blackoutyells BINGO and wins the game

This game is a race therefore it is run bya moderator who gives the signal to start If

there is a pinsetter stopor other trouble play isstopped by the moderatorwhile the trouble isrepaired The moderatormust give the signal toresume after a stoppage

A square labeled withthese scores must bedone on the first ballstrike left right headpin gutter ball split aces

A square labeled witha spare must be complet-ed in two balls

The following numer-ic scores are possible and can be done in upto three balls 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13and 15 Of these 9 is the most difficult toobtain followed by 6 8 and 12 [more detailonline]

Tannis and Brian Hydesmith celebrate a bingo at the 2014 DUCW Bingo Bowl Christmas party

Saturday March 26th Bingo

Did youknowFive-pin bowl-ing is playedonly in CanadaIt was devised around 1909by Thomas F Ryan at hisToronto Bowling Club inresponse to customers whocomplained that the ten-pingame was too strenuousHe cut five tenpins down toabout 75 of their size andused hand-sized hard rub-ber balls thus inventing theoriginal version of five-pinbowling [Source Wikipedia]

2 The Southern Yarn bull wwwdownunderclubmbca March 2016

Grsquoday ndash

Growing up in the northern Brisbanesuburb of Sandgate (QueenslandAustralia) in the 50s and 60s meant

easy access to many great spots for birdwatching particularly the Moreton Bay fore-shore Cabbage Tree Creek the threelagoons and our backyard It was on thesecond lagoon that I first came across thelotus bird ndash see ldquoBirds I viewrdquo on p6 ndashturns out theyrsquore found throughout tropicalregions of the world Canrsquot wait for climatechange to bring them up here to sometimestropical Manitoba

Part of that growing up experience wasalso having to put up with school One sub-ject that made it less unpleasant was SocialStudies because thatrsquos where we learntabout early famous explorers like CaptJames Cook Burke and Wills Ludwig Leich-hardt and Jackie Blaxland Wentworth andLawson etc One that really captured myimagination was Matthew Flinders (andTrim) who not only was the first to circum-navigate the continent but was also the firstto use the name Australia Later I enjoyedreading Ernestine Hillrsquos touching biographi-cal novel ldquoMy Love Must Waitrdquo aboutFlinders exploits and his prolonged andforced separation from his sweetheart andwife Ann So since his birthday is 16thMarch hersquos the one wersquore ldquoGetting to knowhelliprdquo this month - see p 4 I am sure everyAustralian can name at least one placenamed in honour of this great hero

Thanks to this monthrsquos other contribu-tors - Peter Munn Brian Hydesmith Mur-ray Burt Ed and Judy Powell AND ouradvertisers

Enjoy

Spring hassprung orso it seems

Our mild winter seems to be slipping awayinto above 0rsquoC temperatures and unlessMarch brings some surprises we could beon to an early spring I have always touted

April as the nicest month in the Winnipegcalendar we can really appreciate the com-parative warmth tulips and daffodils arestarting to peek through you can spendtime outside without being bitten bymozzies and who doesnrsquot want to get ridof their parkarsquos and scarves

Hope to see many of you at our bowl-ing night on Saturday March 26th itrsquos lowkey and fun for the whole family

RegardsPeter

editoriallyyours

Charlie Powell

presidentrsquosramblings

Peter Munn

Australia Sale Add-on flights are available from

all major cities

More than 40 yearsrsquo South Pacific experience

Call Sherry Georgia Jason for details and more specials at Downunder Travel

WINNIPEG TO SYDNEY return C$154026 Mar ndash 21 Jun or 24 Jul ndash 21 Sep 2016

WINNIPEG TO AUCKLAND return C$153027 Mar ndash 26 Jun 2016

11 Nights ndash Auckland Rotorua Wellington Queenstown amp Christchurch C$ 3757Rtn Airfare ex Vancouver trsf fees taxes Accommodation in each city

FREE Wellington Tour Auckland and Milford Sound cruises Te Puia Steambox 01 Apr ndash 31 Aug 2016

Fourth Line 7 Nights ndash 7 NIGHT FIJI DIVE SPECIAL C$5559Rtn Airfare ex Vancouver all trsf Beachfront Bure Accomm All meals diving massage

Travel Validity 01 Mar ndash 30 Jun 2016

Liz Hydesmith has been in Newcastle NSW this month visiting family The new ANZAC MemorialWalk along the beaches is a very nice addition to the city [More online]

Redcliffe Lagoon also known as SettlementCove is on the foreshore with views acrossthe Moreton Bay to Moreton Island

Frewville is on the mapJust 10 minutes southeast of downtown Ade-laide Frewville Foodland now can make abold claim ldquothe best supermarket in theworldrdquo Early this month the family ownedstore won the International Retailer of theYear excellence award at the IGA Conferenceheld in Las Vegas

The store goes above and beyond withlive music coffee bar local organic producetasting display and cheese bar ndash setting thestandard that others try to follow The in-store bakery specialises in European loavesand pastries cooked on-site in a hearth oven[More online]

Speaking of Fruit and VeghellipApple and PearAustralia Limitedare using cartooncharacters ldquoBattlerPearrdquo and ldquoGuruPearrdquo to communi-cate that bruisedand misshaped pears can still be eaten Thecampaign was created after two hail stormshit the Goulburn Valley during the last peargrowing season Battler Pear is printed onpackaging with text saying ldquoWeather dam-aged pears still taste great Help our growerswin their battle to keep growing next sea-sonrdquoGuru Pearrsquos message is ldquoStorm dam-aged pears still taste great Supportinggrowers now is good karamardquo The campaignhas seen Woolworths Coles and IGA allagree to sell the damaged fruit [More ]

OrnithorhynchusThe New Daily recently reported the goodnews that the countryrsquos oldest known livingplatypus has been found in a Melbournewaterway

The article goeson to say ldquoThe 21-year-old was foundduring a survey ofwaterways in Bel-grave last year withtwo young malesindicating reproduc-tive success Mel-bourne Water said Melbourne Waterrsquos urbanplatypus program has run since 1995 part-nering with research group cesar in 2007

The survey of 16 waterways over Spring2015 found 21 of the egg-laying mammals ndashtwo of them entangled in litter

Platypus ecologist Josh Griffiths said lit-ter was a big threat to Melbournersquos platypuspopulation [More]

1983 file picture of Martin Crowe acknowledgingthe crowd after making a century (NZ Herald)

He was a champion a hero a friend MartinCrowe New Zealandrsquos greatest test cricketbatsman died in Auckland after a prolongedbattle with lymphoma

The 53-year-old cricketing legends deathwas a shock to many despite his lengthy ill-ness There was palpable in the outpouringof grief from friends family and the cricket-ing community

Crowes close cousin the actor RussellCrowe summed it up for many when hedescribed the batsman as my champion myhero my friend

[More online here here and here]

Birdersrsquo delightSamantha Gee ofFairfax Mediareports that the pop-ulation of kakariki(or New Zealandparakeets) in theAbel Tasman Nation-al Park has beengiven another boostwith 16 of the yellow-crowned parakeetsreleased into the park this week

Over the last two years a total of 38kakariki have been released into the park asa result of the Project Janszoon and Depart-ment of Conservation breeding program

Project Janszoon ornithologist Pete Gazesaid while a small population of wild kakari-ki existed in the park they had disappearedfrom the lowland forests where they used toto be common and there was now a focus onre-establishing the population

ldquoNow after our releases you walk intoWainui Hut and you will hear kakariki sever-al times Gaze said You encounter themmore and more [More online]

Who wouldnrsquotwant to moveto TokoroaDoctors it seems

Dr Alan Kenny isdesperately trying toget a young GP toshare his workloadHowever even thepotential income ofNZ$400000 + hasnot been enough to attract any applicants totake up the offer in the rural communityThe position was advertised as being fourdays a week with 12 weeks annual leaveRead more ndash then apply [More]

March 2016 wwwdownunderclubmbca bull The Southern Yarn 3

Kiwi Installations amp saleskiwiinstallationscom

Roll-up Security Shuttersdecks fences and more

Free in-homecottage estimates

Call Terry 204-229-6642 or 204-663-6549

newsfromOzvarious sources see web links in online edition

newszealandsource NZ Herald unless otherwise noted

MatthewFlinders

16th March 1774 ndash 19th July 1814

The first to circumnavigateAustralia and thus prove it to be a continent

1774born in Donington Lincolnshire England

1789joined the Royal Navy

1790sailed as a midshipman with Captain Blighon HMS Providence transporting breadfruitfrom Tahiti to Jamaica

1795 Flinderrsquos first trip to Port Jackson NSW as amidshipman on HMS Reliance with Gover-nor John Hunter He proved to be a fine navi-gator and cartographer

Sails with his good friend and shiprsquos sur-geon George Bass in ldquoTom Thumbrdquo from PortJackson to Botany Bay

1798Lieutenant Flinders given command of theNorfolk and names Bass Strait then contin-ues south around Van Diemenrsquos Land

1799Sailed the Norfolk to Moreton Bay steppedashore at Clontarf and named RedcliffeTrim (the cat) born aboard the Reliance1800 Returned to England

1801Commander Flinders given command of theInvestigator to chart the coastline of NewHolland

17th April Flinders married his longtimefriend Ann Chappelle but was not allowed totake her with him on the Investigator despitedesperately trying to So she was obliged toremain in England and would not see Mattfor 9 years Hence Ernestine Hillrsquos novel titleldquoMy Love Must Waitrdquo

Trim (the cat) however was allowed tostay on the ship

Due to the scientific nature of the expedi-tion Flinders was issued with a French pass-port despite England and France being thenat war

18028TH APRIL while heading east along thesouthern coast he meets up with the Frenchexplorer Nicolas Baudin They have a scien-tific chat and Flinders names the placeEncounter Bay

9TH MAY Flinders arrives back in Syd-ney and is rejoined by Bungaree the aborigi-nal man who had sailed with him in 1799

22 JULY after a quick refit the Investiga-tor heads north up the Queensland coastthrough Torres Strait and does a detailedsurvey of the Gulf of Carpentaria Then dueto leaky timbers Flinders was forced tomake haste around the rest of the westernand southern coast arriving back in Sydneyon 9th June 1803

180317TH DECEMBER ndash on his way back to Eng-land and Ann ship problems forced him tostop in at Mauritius where the suspiciousFrench commander detained him for 7 yearsdespite his French passport (and a pardonfrom Napoleon in 1806)

1810OCTOBER he finally arrives back home ndash inpoor health but determined to complete hismaps and atlas and catch up with Ann ndashthey have one daughter Anne born 1st April1812

181419TH JULY died in London aged 40

The kitten named Trim fell overboard butmanaged to swim back to the vessel andclimb aboard by scaling a rope taking noteof his strong survival instinct and intelli-gence Flinders and the crew made him theirfavourite Trim sailed with Flinders on HMSInvestigator onhis voyage ofcircumnaviga-tion around theA u s t r a l i a nmainland andsurvived theshipwreck ofthe Porpoise onWreck Reef in1803 WhenFlinders was accused of spying and impris-oned by the French in Mauritius on hisreturn voyage to England Trim shared hiscaptivity until his unexplained disappear-ance which Flinders attributed to Trimbeing stolen and eaten by hungry slaves

4 The Southern Yarn bull wwwdownunderclubmbca March 2016

Law services at your place of convenience

Wm BK Pooley ba llblawyer bull notary public

home visits office visitsday evening amp weekend appointments

204-783-1632

gettingtoknowhelliphistory and members of our club

Itrsquos time to choose the NZ flagdesign you want to waveItrsquos your choice Kiwis The new flag or theold This is the month you select it

In the final referendum eligible votersare being asked to choose between the cur-rent New Zealand flag and the Silver Fernflag (black white and blue) which was cho-sen as the preferred alternative flag in thefirst referendum on the issue

Being out of the country doesnt meanyou should miss out on having your say onthe flag choice Check the out-of-country vot-ing drill at your nearest NZ High Commis-sion or embassy

Another big Christchurch quakeChristchurch NZ was shaken awake againlast month There were harrowing near miss-es but the city emerged (Feb 15) from a mag-nitude 57 quake with no deaths and littlemajor damage

The quake five days from the fifthanniversary of the worst quakes there everwas centred offshore 31 kilometres deep and15 kilometres east of the city

Tremors were felt around the SouthIsland and in Wellington the capital on theNorth Island

Itrsquos a change of directionAustralians migrating to NZConsistent political stability and strong eco-nomic performance are reasons people wantto live in New Zealand and are moving therefrom Australia

More people are making the move fromAustralia instead of the other way around forthe first time in decades as Kiwis achieve abuoyant economy and are joined by foreign-ers in search of work

New figures from Statistics New Zealandshow 25273 people migrated east across theTasman Sea in 2015 compared to 24504who went the other way This net flow of 769to New Zealand is the biggest since 1991 andthe number of people coming to Australia isthe lowest since the same yearmdashSource TheAge

Pacific islands set up cybercrimeplatform to beat threat Law enforcement legal officers and govern-ment officials from across the Common-wealth Pacific region met in Nukursquoalofa

Tonga for three days last month to tackledeepening concerns around cybercrime

There are growing worries that cyber-crime poses a major obstacle to socio-eco-nomic development peace and stabilityCross-country collaboration by the memberstates which includes assistance from inter-national agencies is hoped to enhance indi-vidual country responses to the disturbinggrowth of advanced cybercrime in resource-constrained environments

Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-Gener-al Josephine Ojiambo said cybercriminals donot respect national boundaries

Recent research points to the cost ofcybercrime climbing to as much as $21 tril-lion by 2019

mdash Source Commonwealth Secretariat

Vanuatu election conduct getsjust a passing grade More than 200000 voters across Vanuatursquosmany island communities cast ballots in asnap election that international observershave described as successful despite chal-lenges in the lead-up to the polls

The countrys Parliament was dissolvedin November by President Baldwin Lonsdaleafter 14 MPs including a former prime min-ister were jailed for bribery

Vanuatu a cluster of western PacificIslands is 41st in size of the 53 Common-wealth nation members

The political breakdown in the capitalPort Vila followed a period of instability withfour changes of prime ministers in the pastfour years A total of 264 candidates werevying for 52 seats Foreign electionobservers remained until well after the vote

Hubert Ingraham the former prime min-ister of the Bahamas was chairman of theCommonwealth Observer Group monitoringthe election He said they went fairly wellin the country of more than 80 remoteislands

On Oct 21 Vanuatus Deputy Prime Min-ister Moana Carcasses was sentenced to fouryears in jail for bribery and corruption join-ing 13 other MPs mdash or half of the countrysgovernment mdash in being sentenced to three or

more years in jailAs one of two former prime ministers

jailed in the scandal Mr Carcasses wasfound to have made cash payments amount-ing to 35 million vatu ($452000) to his fel-low parliamentarians last year while inopposition

Vanuatu which gained independence in1980 and has an estimated population todayof more than 270000 is still recoveringfrom a deadly category-five storm a year agothat destroyed homes and crops and contam-inated water supplies

India dramatically addressesmass sterilizing of womenIndia is stepping back from its practice ofwholesale birth control It is changing themethodology Years and years of masslaparoscope snipping of the fallopian tubesof the young and poor women about fourmillion a year is being replaced

Prime Minister Narendra Modi lsquos govern-ment is liberalizing the process It is intro-ducing injectable contraceptives free ofcharge in government facilities followingthe long standing recommendations of theWorld Health Organization and internationalorganizations among them the US Agencyfor International Development and the Bill ampMelinda Gates Foundation It favors thatprocess without restriction for women ofchildbearing age

Family planning takes on new meaningA thorough New York Times article last

month reported that the number of livestouched by such policies is enormous andgrowing ldquoIndia will soon surpass China asthe worldrsquos most populous nation and by2050 it is expected to gain 400 million newcitizens more than the population of theUnited Statesrdquo it said

Enjoy

Murray Burt writes this column to raise sensitivi-ties to the Commonwealthrsquos value and to lift thecurtain on our understanding of a third of the pop-ulation of the world The Commonwealth nameand significance is rarely mentioned in daily newshe says It should beBurt is president of the Manitoba branch of theRoyal Commonwealth Society past president ofthe Commonwealth Journalists Association secre-tary of the Queenrsquos Own Cameron Highlanders ofCanada advisory board Hon LCol of the 78thFraser Highlanders a senator of the 166th Bat-tery RCA (Kenora) and a director of The IntrepidSociety He is retired from more than 50 years ofjournalism

March 2016 wwwdownunderclubmbca bull The Southern Yarn 5

commonwealth place by Murray Burt

Vanuatu parliament

Lotus birdI guess every bird in fact every creature hassome unique distinguishing feature for meone of the most fascinating is the lotus birdor comb-crested jacana Its claim to fame isthe ability to walk on floating debris and veg-etation and they can be found worldwidewithin the tropical zone

I first witnessed them in action onSandgatersquos ldquosecond lagoonrdquo in the 60s walk-ing on the leaves of water lilies

Their secret lies in the extreme length oftheir toes and toenails ndash the longest relative-ly of any bird in the world And because oftheir mode of transport theyrsquove acquired thenicknames of lily-trotter lily-wader andChrist-bird ndash since at times the leaves aresubmerged and they appear to be walking onthe water

In appearance they probably resemblethe plover most and in fact also havespurred wings They are brownish on theback and wings black on the chest and backof the neck and white on the throat and tailIn addition to these normal colours theyhave a bright scarlet comb a beautiful mar-gin of pale orange to the whiteness of thethroat and some red and yellow about thebeak

An additional rare feature of the lotus-bird is its characteristic of carrying itsyoung beneath its wings especially as a pro-tective measure when it senses danger

Its nest is made of water weeds and othervegetation arranged on a broad floating It isthereby safe from predators on the land

They can also dive underwater to escapedanger despite the absence of webbed feetThey feed on insects and invertebrates

You can watch one in action online

And therersquos even a poem about the jacana

Portrait of Jacana - the Christ birdBy Soulo

Lily breaths of billabongssubmerged within a wetlands throngWears rippled bangles round her stalksJacanas step in Christ-like walk

Cyan shades of wetland huesLotus curves to tranquil viewsMuted in the dusk or dawnA perfect cup in Holy form

Pristine innocence of bloomFace upturned to Tropics moonor closed to sleep sheathed dignity Will wake and sleep in trinity

Jacanas wearing bleeding crownsWalk with faith on flooded groundWhilst Lotus lifts her leaves in prayerthe dragons pierce aquatic layers

[source online]

Board of DirectorsPresident Peter MunnVice President Catherine BoweringSecretary Margaret MunnNewsletter EditorCharlie PowellTreasurer Peter DebenhamSocial Coordinators Liz Hydesmith Joanne DebenhamLucia BarronMembershipNorm GriffithsPast President Terry Roberts

This newsletter can be downloaded in PDFformat from the website Thank you to all ofour contributors within the club fromoverseas and information services Layoutby designhydesmithcom

The Southern Yarn is published by the DownUnder Club of Winnipeg Inc (DUCW) Theviews and opinions expressed bycontributors to this publication are notendorsed by nor do they necessarily reflectthose of the members of the DUCW TheDUCW and the Editor of The Southern Yarndo not accept any responsibility for thecontent or accuracy of information orwebsites contained in this publicationArticles may be republished withpermission of the Editor

T H E D O W N U N D E RCLUB OF WINNIPEG INCStation Main PO Box 1655 Winnipeg Manitoba Canada R3C 2Z61-204-832-4405infodownunderclubmbcawwwdownunderclubmbcaLike us on facebook

Proudly printed in Winnipeg byKendrick Quality Printing Ltd

6 The Southern Yarn bull wwwdownunderclubmbca March 2016

birdsiviewhellipby Charlie Powell

jacana