Replies to post #325323 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

Southeast Desert Metal - EAGLE (Official Video)

"Australia launches emergency relocation of fish as largest river system faces collapse"

TheBlackWreathTV
Published on Sep 4, 2015
The most isolated metal band in the world, "Southeast Desert Metal" hail from the Aboriginal community
of Santa Teresa, in Eastern Arrernte country, central Australia. Their self-titled debut album is out now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Xgqo9ljhpE

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Five Aboriginal women artists from a remote NT community will exhibit their work in Paris


L-R: Elizabeth Kala Kala, Bridget Sampson, Jennifer Wurrkidj and Jesinta Lami Lami at the Darwin Passport Office.
Source: Ingrid Johanson

A women's arts centre in Arnhem Land is sending five women to Paris for an exhibition and series of workshops - but getting passports for everyone proved a challenge.

Updated Updated 20/06/2019

By Evan Young

Art runs in Elizabeth Kala Kala’s family.

The 49-year-old's father was a bark painter, as are her older sisters. A few years ago, they showed her how to draw dillybags, a traditional Aboriginal bag woven from vines and grasses.

That led the Mayali, Kriol and Rembarrnga speaker, who hails from the Bolkjam region of Arnhem Land, to develop her own dillybag designs, which she now designs and screen prints.

“I love my designing,” she told SBS News. “I feel proud of myself because of my dillybags.”


Elizabeth Kala Kala
Babbarra Women's Centre

Ms Kala Kala is among five artists from the Babbarra Women's Centre, a design studio in the Arnhem Land community of Maningrida, heading to Paris in October.

[...]


The Babbarra Women’s Centre artists and team at Maningrida barge landing
Babbarra Women's Centre

The centre works with dozens of local women in Maningrida, many of whom count English as their third or fourth language.

'Very proud'

[...]


Deborah Wurrkidj at Bábbarra Women’s Centre with her Man-djarduk design, depicting the bush apples which grow on her Kuninjku country
Babbarra Womens Centre

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/five-aboriginal-women-artists-from-a-remote-nt-community-will-exhibit-their-work-in-paris

[fuagf]

Australia - Farmer of the Year Award winners share a life-long love of the land

"Australia launches emergency relocation of fish as largest river system faces collapse"

These honest hard workers deserve a mention here.

ABC Rural

By Erin Cooper
Updated yesterday at 1:50pm


Photo: Farmers Susie and Gerard Daly have three children in the business. (ABC News: Erin Cooper)

Related Story: Dammed if you do, damned if you don't: Australia's water infrastructure conundrum
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-13/dams-and-other-solutions-to-drought-water-crisis-nationals-mps/11593394

Related Story: Warning of 'dire consequences' if water trade restricted
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-14/warning-water-trade-restrictions-could-harm-some-irrigators/11597884

The Daly family say they are not "competition-enterers", so you might be able to imagine
their surprise to find out they have been crowned Australia's Farmers of the Year.

Key points:

* The awards "celebrate and applaud the outstanding achievements of those individuals and families making a significant contribution to Australian agriculture"

* Two categories feature winners who were unaware a family member had entered them in the competition

* The "complete and utter devastation" of Cyclone Debbie and deadly bushfires featured in the stories of several winners

"Our daughter nominated us without us knowing, so we're pretty shocked and stoked with the news," Susie Daly said.

Susie and Gerard Daly have run a potato farm in Dunalley in Tasmania's south for around 30 years, but it is a potato farm with a difference — it is also a distillery and factory for making convenience foods.

The couple were inspired to expand their business after bushfires swept through the area in 2013, destroying more than 150 properties and taking the life of a firefighter.


Photo: The Dalys have found ways to use the second-grade potato harvest for their distillery. (ABC News: Erin Cooper)

While that is now long in the past for the Dalys, it helped spur them on to find better uses for their second-grade potatoes in order to make the operation more sustainable.


Photo: The Dalys have introduced new sorting practices to help cut waste on their potato farm. (ABC News: Erin Cooper)

"Because we wash potatoes, there's a part of it that isn't suitable for the specifications for the supermarkets, so we started to look at value-adding our second-grade ones that just had harvester damage or were misshaped, because there's actually nothing wrong with those potatoes," Ms Daly said.

That is where the idea for Australia's first potato vodka came from, and that has since been expanded into potato gin, limoncello and coffee liqueur.

"It was very hard to learn how to make potato vodka because most vodka now is
made with grain … but we're pretty proud of our distillery now," Ms Daly said.

"It's been a tough time, you know, I feel like I've learned two different university careers at once — one in food technology and distilling — it's two totally different things.

"There's been probably more downs than there has been ups, but it's the way of the future for our business, and we now have three children working back in the business, which probably wouldn't have happened if we hadn't diversified."

Leaving the family farm to accept the award at Parliament House in Canberra means leaving their comfort zone.

"It's a big black-tie event and I'd rather be in work clothes
any day than in a suit and tie, that's for sure," Mr Daly said.

The Dalys were also honoured with the Award for Excellence in Innovation, but they were not the only farmers to take home prizes.

Here are the winners of the other categories:

Young Farmer of the Year: Ben Martin


Photo: Ben Martin said it was "great to be appreciated" in the industry. (ABC Rural: Tom Major)

A lot further north, Ben Martin grows mangoes in Bowen in north Queensland.

But like the Dalys, he had no idea his wife had put him in the running for Young Farmer of the Year.

"Huge honour. Something I probably don't feel worthy of, we do a lot for the industry and it's great to be appreciated and thought of in that aspect," he said.

Following in his parents' footsteps, he expanded the mango operation to include 20,000 trees producing different varieties for exportation.


Photo: Ben Martin followed in his parents' footsteps, taking over the mango business. (ABC Rural: Tom Major)

He said he also learned to come back from adversity, bouncing back from the destruction of 2017's Cyclone Debbie.

"Complete and utter devastation. You couldn't drive down the rows,
trees as thick as your legs snapped off knee-high," he said.

"Cyclone Debbie, you know at the time it's hard to see it, but she definitely taught us a lot."

Farming Legend of the Year: Nils Blumann

In his eighties, Nils Blumann has been farming for 63 years, and is not stopping anytime soon.


Photo: Nils Blumann said while "hard work" was valuable, "use your brains as well". (ABC Rural: Emma Field)

The grain and mixed-grazing farmer has a 3,250-hectare property north of Esperance in Western Australia, and has been recognised for his community-wide focus over more than six decades.

Mr Blumann put his success down to this simple statement.

"Hard work, use your brains as well, make do, ensure that you're input costs are low and that you achieve as high a price for your product as you are able to do," he said.

"I love farming and all things associated with growing healthy,
profitable and sustainable crops and caring for our livestock."

Agricultural Student of the Year: Sally Downie


Photo: Sally Downie said farming was "all I have ever known". (ABC Rural: Kathleen Ferguson)

Charles Sturt University student and dairy farmer Sally Downie was praised for her work on a project connecting famers with mental health services.

Ms Downie said she did not expect someone doing their degree by distance could win such an award.

"I am pretty shocked to be honest," she said.

She said agriculture was worth the sacrifices it demanded.

"It's all I have ever known, it is what I have grown up
with and I have always just loved doing it," she said.

Rural Consultant of the Year: Sally Murfet


Photo: Sally Murfet won her award for her work helping farmers build their businesses. (Supplied: Kondinin Group)

Back down on the Apple Isle, Sally Murfet won recognition for helping farmers keep up with changes in technology and rapid globalisation.

"I believe the power of agriculture is its people," Ms Murfet said.

"I get a real buzz out of condensing complex human resource management issues and transforming them into practical outcomes that translate into growth opportunities, from the farm gate and beyond."

Rural Community Leader of the Year: Jackie Jarvis

Based in the Margaret River region of Western Australia, Jackie Jarvis has built a reputation for being a champion for rural women.

"I believe women in small rural towns are often the drivers of innovative new business ideas that can add significantly to the economic and community growth of their towns," she said.

"It is important that they have people willing to help volumise their voice
and support their initiatives, and this has always been my motivation."

Involved in a number of women's organisations, Ms Jarvis was the chief executive of the Rural, Regional, Remote Women's Network of Western Australia — work the judges said has a far-reaching impact.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-16/farmer-of-the-year-award-2019-winners/11605076

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Hope all are enjoying a top Thanksgiving Day. ;-)

This just because it's good to see a justifiable class action get up anywhere.

Queensland 2011 floods: thousands of victims win class action over handling of dams

Judge finds in favour of 6,800 residents who sued over management of Wivenhoe and Somerset dams

Australian Associated Press

Fri 29 Nov 2019 12.00 AEDT
Last modified on Fri 29 Nov 2019 12.26 AEDT


Inundation from flooding in Brisbane in January 2011. Thousands of Queenslanders have won a class action over the release of water from the Wivenhoe and Somerset dams before and during the floods. Photograph: Dave Hunt/EPA

Almost 7,000 Queenslanders have won a class action over the state’s devastating 2011 floods, with a judge finding they were victims of negligence.

NSW supreme court Justice Robert Beech-Jones found in favour of 6,800 claimants who sued the Queensland government, Seqwater and Sunwater over the scale of the disaster.

Nine and Nick Cater ordered to pay Wagner family $3.6m in 60 Minutes defamation case
Read more > https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/nov/22/nine-and-nick-cater-ordered-to-pay-wagner-family-36m-in-60-minutes-defamation-case

Beech-Jones accepted that engineers tasked with managing Wivenhoe and Somerset dams before and during a “biblical” deluge in January 2011 failed in their duty of care.

About 23,000 homes and businesses went under in Brisbane and Ipswich when authorities released huge amounts of water to protect the dams’ structural integrity.

Beech-Jones agreed with victims’ claims that engineers negligently managed the dams and that they did not factor in extraordinary rainfall forecasts in deciding how best to respond to the flood event.

That was despite them being obliged to do so according to the dam manual.

He found that during days of heavy rain, before the peak of the flood on 11 January, dam engineers prioritised keeping downstream bridges open over trying to limit flooding in urban areas.

He said the engineers had “failed to follow the very manual they drafted 18 months earlier”.

No cost decision has been made with the case to return to court in February.

The ruling has been years in the making and was heard in NSW because at the time it was lodged, class actions were not possible in Queensland.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/nov/29/thousands-queenslanders-win-class-action-dams-2011-floods

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‘Unfathomable’: millions of dead fish blanket river near Menindee in latest mass kill

"Australia launches emergency relocation of fish as largest river system faces collapse
"'Drought, climate change and mismanagement': What experts think caused the death of a million Menindee fish" "

Murray-Darling Basin :
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/murray-darling-basin

Authorities blame low oxygen levels made worse by receding flood waters as locals say latest event much more severe than previously

Adam Morton Climate and environment editor
Fri 17 Mar 2023 17.23 AEDT
Last modified on Fri 17 Mar 2023 18.38 AEDT

VIDEO - 0:13 - Millions of fish have died in another mass kill in the
lower Darling-Baaka river near Menindee, in New South West’s far west.

Photos supplied by Menindee residents show dead fish – mostly bony bream, but also Murray cod, golden perch, silver perch and carp – blanketed across the river’s surface.


Second mass fish death in Menindee in two weeks prompts
calls for water quality monitoring
Read more > https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/mar/03/menindee-second-mass-fish-death-kill-in-two-weeks-water-quality-monitoring

It is the latest in a series of large-scale fish deaths that have prompted questions about the management of water levels in the Murray-Darling Basin. Menindee residents who spoke with Guardian Australia on Friday said the latest fish kill appeared larger than previous mass deaths.

About a million fish died during a sustained drought in the same area in 2019 after a rapid drop in temperature led to an algal bloom de-oxygenating the river.

Resident Graeme McCrabb said the scale of the mass kill on Friday was “unfathomable”.

“It’s horrendous here today,” he said, speaking from the riverbank about 5km upstream of Menindee. “The river is just white. I’m looking at probably a kilometre or a kilometre-and-a-half of fish and they’re all dead. It’s unfathomable.”


Authorities say the fish deaths – here visible at the main weir of the Menindee Lakes - are the result of a lack of oxygen in receding flood waters. Photograph: Geoffrey Looney/AAP

The NSW Department of Primary Industries said on Friday there was a “developing large-scale fish death event” affecting millions of fish below the Menindee main weir through to weir 32, adjacent to the Menindee township.

A department spokesperson said the deaths were due to low oxygen levels in the water as flood waters receded.

“Significant volumes of fish including carp and bony herring, nutrients and organic matter from the floodplain are being concentrated back into the river channel. The current hot weather in the region is also exacerbating hypoxia, as warmer water holds less oxygen than cold water and fish have higher oxygen needs at warmer temperatures," the spokesperson said.

“This event is ongoing as a heatwave across western NSW continues to put further stress on a system that has experienced extreme conditions from wide-scale flooding.”

The disaster movie playing in Australia's wild places – and solutions that could help hit pause
Read more > https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/05/the-disaster-movie-playing-in-australias-wild-places-and-solutions-that-could-help-hit-pause

The spokesperson said the bony bream population “typically booms and busts over time”. “It booms in population numbers during flood times and can then experience significant mortalities, or busts, when flows return to more normal levels.”

Geoff Looney, a photographer from Menindee, said the latest mass kill was much more severe than the fish deaths .. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/feb/23/menindee-mass-fish-kill-thousands-of-carp-dead-amid-water-quality-fears .. earlier this year .. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/mar/03/menindee-second-mass-fish-death-kill-in-two-weeks-water-quality-monitoring . “This time there’s hardly a live fish out there,” he said

McCrabb said the fish would have washed through to Menindee by Saturday. “Then it will be just dead rotting fish through the township and people won’t be able to use the water,” he said.

#Breaking: enormous fish kill in #Menindee outback NSW, a few weeks after 10s of 1000s of fish died - @NSWDPIE_Water at the time said it was due to low dissolved oxygen levels, due to increase in biomass as flood waters recede. Locals say this is worse than the 2018-19 fish kills pic.twitter.com/U31zNRRzIU

— Sara Tomevska (@STomevska) March 17, 2023

Menindee is a town of about 500 people around 100km south-east of Broken Hill. Locals have previously accused authorities of contributing to fish deaths by allowing the Menindee Lakes to be drained and not effectively managing water quality .. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/mar/03/menindee-second-mass-fish-death-kill-in-two-weeks-water-quality-monitoring . Officials have denied that they were responsible.

Associate Prof Joy Becker, from the University of Sydney’s School of Life and Environmental Sciences, said an investigation should determine the cause of the mass death.

“Ultimately, fish kill events happen because the quality of the environment cannot sustain fish life,” she said. “It is important to remember that fish kill events impact not only the large-body fish like the Murray cod and bony bream, but also the small-body fish like the gudgeons that are essential to maintaining a healthy aquatic ecosystem.”

The independent MP Justin Field said “we are living in the age of climate change”, with increasingly extreme floods and droughts being compounded by poor government decisions. “No one should think fish kills on this scale is natural,” he said.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/mar/17/unfathomable-millions-of-dead-fish-blanket-river-near-menindee-in-latest-mass-kill