Tag Archives: promo

One mob

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Lately, if you’re in or near Nimbin, you’ll see this sticker a lot.

ONE MOB sticker on a car – the text is around an Aboriginal flag superimposed onto a map of Australia

It is a vision of Michael Bayles:

One Mob is a living concept.
It is a way of life that people have lived with in this country,
since the beginning of time.

It is about sharing, caring, honour, integrity, principles and pride.

To make people feel good about who they are,
and the place they come from.

We have called this place home for millions of years,
Now you call this place home.

You have to honour and look after it,
like the first people who called it home,
so it will last another million years.

Through your actions today, you will be an honourable Ancestor
to the children of the future.

You can get a sticker in person from the community-run Nimbin Museum. It’s worth a visit. But don’t worry if you can’t get to Nimbin, you don’t really need the sticker. This vision is livable.

Va va Vrroom!

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Vrroom is the best educational resource on the web, in the world.

Ok, since I’m part of the Vrroom team, you shouldn’t take my word for it. But these words are not mine. They were spoken by a history teacher, last week, at the launch of the site. It was an unsolicited accolade – I’m just reporting. Really.

So yea, almost two years after it was conceived, the National Archives of Australia finally launched its virtual reading room for teachers and students. The forum was the conference of Victorian history teachers, and the speaker was the lovely Ms Megabyte. Thanks, Mega!

Ms Megabyte demonstrates Vrroom

We also ran two workshops on using Vrroom, and (!) for the duration of the conference, we hosted the Vrroom room, an internet cafe where you could get a personalised introduction to the site – or check your email.

Vrroom room internet cafe

Whew… Check it out.

Prehistoric pine and platypus

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In the Australian National Botanic Gardens the other day, I was stopped in my tracks by the sight of the cage that protects the young Wollemi Pine tree:

cage

I remember when the news broke of its discovery in the depths of a rainforest gorge in the huge Wollemi National Park, just northwest of Sydney. A rare story of species discovery, rather than extinction! And a species that is old, old, old – prehistoric. That was about the extent of my knowledge recall.

This was my first encounter with a real live Wollemi Pine. The cage is odd. But it also adds to its appeal. And you can peer through and see the tree, gloriously alive and flourishing:

This is what the Gardens tells you on the spot:

I was inspired to find out more. Did you know…

  • each tree is bisexual, having both male and female seed cones – I guess this is a male one:
  • it sheds whole branches, rather than individual leaves, and
  • it is being exhibited alongside a platypus at World Expo 2005 in Japan.

See the Wollemi Pine website for information, inspiration and… a demo of clever marketing.