Making his mark
Former ACK student (2007-12) Liam Durkin is excelling as editor-journalist for several Gippsland newspapers. He is editor of the Latrobe Valley Express and two other area titles. Also, he writes regularly for the Trafalgar News.
The Durkin name is highly respected in South Gippsland and beyond. Their name is a byword in the potato industry. Liams younger brother also attended ACK as did an Uncle Kelly, a teammate and friend of Shane Crawford’s in the First XVIII. Kelly’s daughter started at Assumption this year.
Liam and his brother play local area cricket and footy. Liam is a strong advocate for regional newspapers and in a recent interview he was quoted as follows, “In terms of the newspaper game, it’s hard to quantify just where its heading, because even when I first started it seemed like people were talking about the end of the printed issue and moving solely to digital format.
But I still feel there’s a great market and a great desire for a printed newspaper to be hitting letter boxes every week.
“It does seem like political correctness has just gone totally too far to the left or too far down one particular stream and whether there’s a way to correct that or not, I don’t know. It seems no matter what you do, you’re going to offend someone regardless of what political views you have. It is very tricky. And this comment is probably, ironically, going to offend people, but it does seem like people enjoy being offended in this day and age.
“Perhaps one of the biggest challenges for the future is not so much fabricated facts, but fabricated evidence. If I was going to pinpoint the biggest challenge moving forward, that would be it. We have so many media streams, and that’s all well and good, but it seems like anyone who’s been to an online college or anyone who has been able to get a PHD out of a cereal box, automatically becomes an expert in a certain field. And their word is gospel and no one else can ever just disprove whatever they’ve got to say, or no one can ever dare challenge what they say. They could absolutely be off the mark, or they could absolutely be spot on. But it seems like there’s no room for disputing whatever evidence they seem to come forward with. So, yes, that term, ‘fabricated evidence’ is a major challenge”.
Liam, beyond competing himself, gave me valued help at First XVIII and XI level.
Home of the Cats
Geelong’s football venue in Kardinia Park has been transformed over recent decades into a fine multi purpose stadium now with a capacity of near 40,000. No longer can the AFL ignore the Cats right to home finals if the occasion arises.
Brisbane gets home finals with a 30,000 capacity, Sydney just over 40.
Thus, if the Cats make finals they must get a home one. Good to note the new stand is named after Joel Selwood their long time inspiring player and captain and a really fine person. Joel is pictured with his wife and first child.
Australia Day
Here are some facts you won’t see in the mainstream media and certainly not on the taxpayer funded ABC.
Australia Day does not celebrate the arrival of the first fleet or the invasion of anything. Captain Cook did not arrive in Australia on the 26th January. The landing of Captain Cook in Sydney happened on the 28th April 1770 – not on 26th January. The first fleet arrived in Botany Bay on 18th January. The 26th was chosen as Australia Day for a very different and important reason.
The 26th of January is the day Australian’s received their independence from British Rule. However, Captain Cook’s landing was included in Australia Day bi-centenary celebration of 1988 when Sydney-siders decided Captain Cook’s landing should become focus of the Australia Day commemoration.
Sadly, the importance of this date for all Australians has begun to fade and now, a generation later, its all but lost. The media as usual is happy to twist the truth for the sake of controversy. Captain Cook didn’t land on the 26th January, so changing the date of any celebration of Captain Cook’s landing would not have any impact on Australia Day, but maybe it would clear the way for the truth about Australia Day.
Maybe the protestor vandals should read up on true history. James Cook was a brilliant navigator and explorer and is honoured by statues and plaques in many countries around the world.
Varia
The summer season has ended, and football is well and truly back again. Across our vast land thousands of cricket teams and their players have packed away their kits until October.
In the suburbs, towns and bush the game has been played for well over a century and a half. A fair percentage of Australia’s greatest cricketer’s have come from the ‘bush’-e.g. Charlie Turner, Bradman, Woodfull, Ponsford, O’Reilly, Walters, McGrath, Hazelwood to list but a few. The player pictured is leaving a remote outback field for the last time in his season.
