David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :

'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)

(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.


04 February 2019

Thank You


A big thank you to all the ground and air fire-fighters and their supporting Emergency Services personnel who have done such great work at Hepburn Springs in recent days. No persons or
houses were lost.

 Eugene von Guerard pictured the scene Break Neck Gorge at Hepburn Springs (with Elevated Plains to either side) in 1864. The update below shows the western edge of the fire-blackened area, bordered now by Sunday's reTARdant landscape paintover.


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It was an awesome experience to see the Avro RJ85
pink-bellied bomber fly loud and low directly overhead.

 Low-level fire bombing as an Avro RJ85 air tanker comes in under the tree height to combat the fires north of Hepburn. Photo by Brendan McCarthy, from Bendigo Advertiser 

 Thoughts of Colin McCahon's great JET OUT drawings. Below, his Boy, I would say GET OUT, from Easter 1973, with a local update by FIAPCE.
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  detail
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