Pittwater Offshore Newsletter

History Corner

Soon after 1804, the year of the area survey by Governor Hunter, early documents reveal that Pittwater was listed in grand sounding terms as forming "The Hundred of Packenham in the County of Cumberland in the Parish of Warrabeen". This last name should not be confused with Narrabeen which was then spelt Narrabine. The division of land areas into hundreds was begun by Governor Phillip and persisted until the time of the appointed Surveyor General, Sir Thomas Mitchell, in 1828. The Hundred of Packenham is marked on the maps of his time, but careful search has not revealed any clue to the reason for the intriguingly numerical name. (Note: There was later a Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell but neither dignitary inspired the naming of Sydney's Mitchell Library. This was named after a wealthy benefactor named David Scott Mitchell.)

It was not until 1866 when the east coast of Australia was surveyed by Commander Sidney that the bays and points of Pittwater were formally named, probably for the first time. But before then they been given their informal and more appropriate names and few of those recorded on Sidney's maps remain in use. As officially stated on Sidney's maps, Morning Bay and Night Bay lie on each side of Long Nose but this could, in fact, be Woody Point. Careel Bay is Evening Bay. Scotland Island is Pitt Island. The southern inlet at the head of Pittwater is Pitt Inlet, today known as Winji Jimmi , itself a corruption of the native name of Winnereremy. West Head is named as Three Heads and only the North Head of Broken Bay was allowed by Commander Sidney to retain its original name of Hawke Head. This is not derived from the Hawkesbury River as is generally supposed, but was the name given to the headland by Captain Cook, who forgot none of his friends. In the Historical Records of N.S.W. where there is a copy of Cook's appointment to the command of the Endeavour, the first signature to the document is by Ed. Hawke. Sir Edward Hawke was First Lord of the Admiralty from 1766 to 1771 when he was succeeded by the Earl of Sandwich.

In 1829, William Romaine Govett was sent by the Government to survey the coastline between Port Jackson and Broken Bay. In his journal, now in the Mitchell Library, he has a watercolour painting of Barrenjoey which is still in excellent condition. As well, he lists his impressions of the country and includes sketches of the strange birds and animals he saw. Describing his impressions of Pittwater, he wrote " Pittwater, a quiet inlet of the sea, protected from the boisterous waves without by a ridge of mountain and a narrow sand-bar, forms a beautiful and romantic lake, and is found to be a convenient shelter in adverse weather. The ridges which divide the creeks are mostly barren, rocky and precipitous, and the summits of some rise in rugged and exposed peaks, in some instances like the castellated ruins of a fortress, with its dilapidated walls and shattered battlements. (Wow! Does that sound like home? L.W.) The caves or hollows are called by the natives 'gibbie gunyahs'. It was in one of those deep gullies that I saw a host of most singular animals, called 'flying foxes'."

Next Month: Govett leaps onto Barrenjoey.

Leicester Warburton

Attention all offshore families with children 2-6 and beyond

The Scotland Island Pre-School is working towards providing Long-Day Care. As a first step KU (Kindergarten Union) Childrens Services who are the licensee for the pre-school require feedback on the level of interest and commitment. Please print out and fill in the survey and drop it into the Preschool or Church Point Post Office by end of May. To complete the survey, please click this link, then print the page shown. Our unique and high quality pre-school needs to service what the communities real needs are with regard to childcare.

This is also an opportunity to gauge the other children related needs that exist. Please take a moment to identify where your interests are now and in the future.

REMEMBER IF YOU HAVE PRE-SCHOOL AGE CHILDREN WE NEED YOU TO FILL OUT THE KU SURVEY….JUST FOLLOW THE LINK, PRINT, COMPLETE AND SEND/HAND IN TO PRE-SCHOOL.

Drive your car from Church Point to the Bays

Many locals have dreamed about driving their car from the point across to the island or bays. A Queensland man has developed composite panels & a jetdrive for a Suzuki 4WD to convert it to a carboat. He estimates the entire car & package will cost $50,000+.

The article was in the Sydney Morning Herald approximately 18 mar.05

Huge Crowd attends Car Park Meeting

A much larger than expected crowd (about 120) turned out to discuss the future of Church point and the car park, as the photo to the left shows. 25 souls volunteered to do a variety of tasks to stimulate further interest in solving this ongoing problem.

Some advice for a newbie offshore resident

My husband and I are seriously considering moving to Scotland Island (or Lovett Bay or Elvina Bay) in the near future. We have two young children, boy/girl twins nearly 18 months old.

We would like to talk to other parents in the offshore community who can advise us about: childcare, community activities for families and the practicalities of getting two small children on and off the island.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks so much.

Melissa and Mike Gilliland m.gilliland@bigpond.com (02) 9427 3020

Stress Buster Exercise

Working Memory
A colleague tells you his mobile number but you haven’t’ got a pen or phone handy to record it in – you have to use your mind. It is 092837964.
Try saying it once to yourself, and you can guarantee you will forget it. Try it now and see. Come back to this email in one minutes time and see if you can recall it then.
Welcome back, now try breaking the number up into short sections and repeating them five times – you will remember it for a short while – long enough to get to a pen or phone, but then it will be gone. Try it now, go and get a glass of water, and see if you can remember it when you get back.]
Working Memory is short term, front of mind, and relies on repetition. Like all aspects of the mind, it is more efficient if you break things up into patterns. If you rely on this memory alone to do everything though: not only will you find it hard to remember things in the long term, but you will also become mentally exhausted and stressed out. (thanks to zenatwork)

Water & Waste Water Workshop

‘On current predictions of urban growth and water consumption, most of Australia’s cities will run out of drinking water within the next twenty years.’
Professor Nicholas Ashbolt, University of NSW.

On SUNDAY JUNE 5TH 2005, we are holding a workshop to address the following objectives:-

• To understand the latest technologies in the management of water and waste water that could be applied to our offshore area.

• To examine the advantages and disadvantages of each technology

• To select the technologies that we believe would be most appropriate for our conditions

• To consider the next steps in working, together with the Centre for Waste Water Technologies from the University of NSW, towards installing the selected technology/ies through a Pilot Program, and thus not only having the most suitable system for our needs, but becoming an acknowledged leader in what will become a necessity in the years ahead – the efficient and effective management of water and waste water in NSW and Australia.
These steps to include the most likely funding sources.

The workshop will be facilitated by Bill Gye, and attended by Professor Nick Ashbolt (Centre for Waste Water Technologies, University of NSW).

It will run from 9.00am to around 4.00pm and be based on a high degree of participation.

Tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided, and lunch will be handled on a ‘bring a plate’ basis.

Places are limited, so if you would like to participate, please advise your name, Email address, Postal address, and telephone number by MONDAY 9th MAY to:-

Greg Roberts – pittpoint1@optusnet.com.au 9979 9599

Medivacs on Scotland Island

Did you know that the Scotland Island Rural Fire Brigade can assist in the case of a medical emergency? We have a number of first aid trained volunteers who are ready and able to assist on these occasions. Our members can collect the ambulance personnel from the Water Police boat, transport them direct to the patient, assist with assessing, stabilising and transporting the patient off the Island.

However, the Brigade does not automatically get called in case of emergency despite years of trying to get us listed in the system. The procedure for calling in a medical emergency on the Island:

Call 000 & ask for ambulance
Ask for the Scotland Island Rural Fire Brigade to be notified
If possible, call the Brigade

Men's Weekend Retreat at Pittwater
Respect and Awareness

Uncle Max teaches respect and the responsibility of man for holding the consciousness of the land. This is the ancient knowledge of “singing the land” and watching the land talk.

The experience offers an opportunity to be open to this awareness through the aboriginal cultural teachings of the Senior Yuin loreman and elder Uncle Max Harrison. The teachings will relate to climate, bush tucker, healing and respect for Mother Earth.

This Men’s Retreat weekend is from Friday evening 6 May until Sunday afternoon 8 May 2005 at YHA Morning Bay in the Ku-Ring-Gai National Park, Pittwater. All the participants including Uncle Max will be staying at the YHA at Morning Bay, which will be booked exclusively for this gathering.

Food will be provided and transportation to and from Morning Bay/Church Point will be provided at specific meeting times.

• On Friday evening Michael Edols will screen his highly acclaimed movie Lalai Dreaming. Michael is happy to talk about his experience of making the film in the Kimberley.
• Bring musical instruments if you wish for the campfire on Saturday night
• The cost for the weekend is $360.00 per person.

If you would like attend this retreat or have any questions please contact Penelope Star Peter Kirychenko M: 0421 174 178 M: 0408 960 091
star@ozzienet.net Email: peter@accc.net.au

Island Thinking - May 14th

Our next event will be lots of fun - A participative night of laughter and spirit reading local island stories written to capture the essence of our offshore life. The stories will be read live by their creators- local offshore residents. More material always welcome! The night will be facilitated by Juliette Robertson so get your pens out and e-mail your delightful scribbles to Juliette@thejfactor.com.au before the day.

Details: 7.30pm Sat May 14th at Edna Carew's waterfront home - 81 Florence Terrace....there's a log with the number carved into it on Florence Tce. About 6 or 7 houses North of Eastern wharf, There will be balloons & a lamp put out on the night. Edna can be contacted at carew.hoffmann@bigpond.com (Bring something warm if its a cool night, a nibble and a swig to loosen that tongue!)

Everyone welcome. Here's a taste...

"The tinnie is so heavily laden that prow is barely above water and I am soaked by every wave during the crossing. Docking at the island I desperately try to hang onto the wharf steps with one hand while slinging bags out with the other. One or two cans will invariably have had enough by this stage and go over board, refusing to take any more. Then I have to get the load up the hill. I did try dragging it up in rucksacks once, and once only. We have now invested in a quad bike instead. Picture scenes from India of buses and trains bursting with people, chickens, pigs, bags and kids and you won’t be far wrong. Through an ingenious system of bungies, ties, string and sheer determination we can fit a full trolley load and two people on the bike. As it bounces its way up the track the pillion has to leap off, from time to time, to catch escaping carrots and assorted veggies". Anne Palmer
For more info about the night contact Juliette on 9979 2411 juliette@thejfactor.com.au

Waht is tihs all aoubt?

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe and the biran fguiers it out
aynawy. . WOW

Have your say

I love the new wharf at the point, but do we really need two wharves? I mean, how many boats need to tie up at the same time? The new one is modern and efficient and the old one is garbage. I say get rid of it. It would make an excellent bonfire and we could throw some of the old never-to-be-driven-again wreaks in the carpark on it as well.

Art Project – Call for Interest

My area of interest is the importance of community and how people relate to their place and culture. One aspect of this is the importance of our environment and how we interact with it, and how this affects our immediate and long term well-being. I am conducting a series of exhibitions, which includes seven communities from around the globe and addresses the importance of connection to place for global communities and their culture. I do this in response to our times, when homogenisation, globalisation and capitalisation threaten many communities and their identity. In celebrating the diversity of culture, yet the common thread of connection to our place, I hope to inspire the exhibition audience to think about these issues.

I am hoping to include Scotland Island as a community in the project. The initial kind invitation of Emmie Collins allowed me to visit the island for the first time in March, and I have also been working in collaboration with Claire Atkins and Penelope Star to set up the project. I will travel to Scotland Island again in mid July to meet people and talk with people from the community. I would like to photograph people from the community and also record people’s views on what their place and community means to them. The photographs and sound will also be used by Claire Atkins on the island as part of a future community performance piece.

If you are interested and willing to be a part of this project, I would like you to contact me on 07 3844 3111 or you can email me at judy@xyris.com.au I will also be looking for accommodation on the island for about 2 weeks. If anyone is able to offer some budget style accommodation, I would also be interested to hear from you. Any period, even if for a few days, would be most helpful.

Many thanks and best wishes, Judy.

Mark these dates in your diary!

Friday 3, Saturday 4, Friday 10, Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 June at 8:00pm, when the
Scotland Island Players will be presenting their latest revue Anyone for Tennis? (The Secession Revue).

We have a cast of “thousands” – well not quite but there are over twenty of your island mates in it. Some have never been on stage before, so come and give them your support. Oldies are Bob Blackwood, Tracey Smith, Paul Burchall, Lizzie Brand, John Travers, Toby Jay, Nettie Lodge and Lisa Atkins and Newbies include Giles Westley, Phil Meeks, Alison Trapnell, Shayne Chamen-Kraal, Annette Ritchie, Gordon Floyd, Matt Bowden, Graham Catt, Bill Lee, Kim Fitzgerald, Isabelle Moodie, Shar Jones, Claire Atkins, Sandy Bartlett, Greg Muno, and Kerry Borthwick-Bolton. And we mustn’t forget Trudy’s girls who are making a cameo appearance.

Music, lyrics and sketches by Bob Bolton (who is also the Musical Director); sketches by Kerry Borthwick-Bolton, Nettie Lodge, John Travers, Camille Blythe and Claire Atkins.
Choreography by Denise McConnell. Direction by Kerry.

PS: Another reason you don’t dare to miss this happening is that you might get a mention!!!

Bookings and tickets are available from Rosemary and Colin at Scotland Island Lodge, opposite the Fire Station on 9979 3301. Ticket prices are $15 adults and $10 children.

See you there.

From the SIRA President’s desk

SIRA’s April work
Most of SIRA’s time last month was spent on issues relating to Church Point, the Master Plan, the car park and the Pasadena Development application (see separate article in this issue of PON ). Most of the Committee spent the evening of the planned committee meeting at a Pittwater Council meeting. Bill Gye and I spoke for SIRA, Larry Eastwood for WPCA and Fraser Cooper Southern as a concerned island resident. We had a quick Committee meeting before the Public Meeting on April 17 to deal with urgent business and the rest has been undertaken by appropriate sub-committees. We are developing our advocacy campaign to save the car park. You will note that the Church Point Master Plan which we support, on the condition that there is no loss of free and unrestricted parking in the reserve, also flags the development of a larger commuter wharf at Church Point. More information about the objections SIRA has to the development of the Pasadena at Church Point can be found by clicking here

Can SI become a model sustainable Community?
Don’t miss the Water and Waste Water Workshop on Sunday 5 June in the Community Hall

Horst Kanngieser 1940- 2005
Island residents were shocked and saddened to hear of the sudden death of long time resident and ferry driver Horst Kanngieser. We send our heartfelt sympathy to Tilly, Anya and Paul. A formal obituary is being prepared for the next newsletter.

SIRA Committee Report
To read all the latest news from the most recent SIRA committee, please follow this link.

Shar Jones
President
29.4.05

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The views expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily the views of the Scotland Island Residents Association (SIRA), or any of the associated Pittwater Offshore Resident's Committees