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Now painted into the corporate livery,Ex Hanson,59104 "Village of Great Elm" approaches Newbury on 21/June/24 working 6A61 12.24 Whatley to West Drayton Frays Sidings.
66076 passes Stewartby on the Bedford - Bletchley branch with 4H10 09.57 Bletchley - Peak Forest.
The consist of coal hopper HTAs perhaps due to the recent down turn in coal traffic.
07/04/15
2 new EAH girls for my smallish EAH collection, which I'm currently working on and I'm so excited for Sweet Screams Abbey! She was on sale for $5 last week, what a deal! :D
A recent burn in Ocala National Forest. Essential for the survival of Florida Scrub.
The red leaves make the forest look as though it is still burning.
Taken for the London Cycling Campaign magazine.
Lighting: 1x 580ex at 1/2 power in 28inch softbox from left
just the empty left side and lack of balance, bums me out. Like the chick and her expression, nice light and shadows. Meh.
It's been kinda a doll drought at my local savers till today!
I was very excited to see the Barbie as Snow White doll here, because I didn't know if she was ever released in the US Market?
Btw can anyone please help me identify the long haired Barbie in the Pink Dress? I think she might have been rebodied but her facial screening and long hair is throwing me off! I'm guess it could be anywhere from 2005-2008...
Any help would be great!
Imagine living caged. Imagine a huge wall being built around your home. Imagine this wall destroying trees and causing homes to be demolished. Possibly yours. What would you do?
The Israeli Wall has been comdemned by the UN, and yet it is still being built. The Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign’s most recent map of the Wall’s path, finalized November 2003, reveals that if completed in its entirety, nearly 50% of the West Bank population will be affected by the Wall through loss of land, imprisonment into ghettos, or isolation into Israeli de facto annexed areas .
Israel maintains that the Wall is a temporary structure to physically separate the West Bank from Israel and thus to prevent suicide attacks on Israeli citizens. However the wall’s location, (in some places reaching up to 6km inside Palestinian territory), and projected length, (currently 750km, despite a border with Israel of less than 200km), suggest it is more realistically an additional effort to confiscate Palestinian land, facilitate further colony expansion and unilaterally redraw geopolitical borders all the while encouraging an exodus of Palestinians by denying them the ability to earn a living from their land, reach their schools or work places, access adequate water resources, or reach essential health care. (http://www.palestinemonitor.org/factsheet/wall_fact_sheet.htm/)
A DYING GHETTO
(Exerpt from Chris Hedges' Wall of Horrors)
Qalqiliya is a ghetto. It is completely surrounded by the wall. There is one Israeli military checkpoint to let people into the West Bank or back home again. Only those with special Israeli-issued permits can go in and out of Qalqiliya. It is not the Lodz ghetto or the Warsaw ghetto, but it is a ghetto that would be recognizable to the Jews who were herded into walled enclaves by Pope IV in 1555 and stranded there for generations. Qalqiliya, like all ghettos, is dying. And it is being joined by dozens of other ringed ghettos as the serpentine barrier snaking its way through up and down two sides of the West Bank gobbles up Palestinian land and lays down nooses around Palestinian cities, towns, villages and fields.
Construction began on the barrier in 2002 with the purported intent of safeguarding Israel from suicide bombers and other types of attacks. Although it nominally runs along the 1949 Jordanian-Israeli armistice/Green Line that demarcates the boundary between Israel and the Palestinian-held West Bank, around 80 percent of the barrier actually cuts into Palestinian territories --at some points by as much as 20 kilometers.
If and when the barrier is completed, several years from now, it will see the West Bank cut up into three large enclaves and numerous small ringed ghettos. The three large enclaves will include in the south the Bethlehem/Hebron area and in the north the Jenin/Nablus and Ramallah areas.
B'tselem, a leading Israeli human rights organization that documents conditions in the occupied territories, recently estimated that the barrier will eventually stretch 703 miles around the West Bank, about 450 of which are already completed or under construction. (The Berlin Wall, for comparison, ran 96 miles.) B'tselem also estimates that 500,000 West Bank residents will be directly affected by the barrier (by virtue of residing in areas completely encircled by the wall; by virtue of residing west of the barrier and thus in de facto Israeli territory; or by virtue of residing in East Jerusalem, where Palestinians effectively cannot cross into West Jerusalem).
I stand on Qalqiliya's main street. There is little traffic. Shop after shop is shuttered and closed. The heavy metal doors are secured to the ground with thick padlocks. There are signs in Hebrew and Arabic, fading reminders of a time when commerce was possible. There were, before the wall was built, 42,000 people living here. Mayor Maa'rouf Zahran says at least 6,000 have left. Many more, with the unemployment rate close to 70%, will follow. Over the tip of the wall, in the distance, I can see the tops of the skyscrapers in Tel Aviv. It feels as if it is a plague town, quarantined. Israeli officials, after a few suicide bombers slipped into Israel from Qalqiliya, began to refer to the town as a "hotel for terrorists."
There are hundreds of acres of farmland on the other side of the wall, some of the best farmland in the West Bank, which is harder and harder to reach given the gates, checkpoints and closures. There are some 32 farming villages on the outskirts of Qalqiliya, cut off from their land, sinking into poverty and despair. Olive groves, with trees that are hundreds of years old, have been uprooted and bulldozed into the ground. The barrier is wiping out the middle class in the West Bank, the last bulwark in the West Bank against Islamic fundamentalism. It is plunging the West Bank into the squalor that defines life in the Gaza Strip, where Palestinians struggle to live on less than $ 2 a day. It is the Africanization of Palestinian land...
If the barrier is being built for security, why is so much of the West Bank being confiscated by Israel? Why is the barrier plunging in deep loops into the West Bank to draw far-flung settlements into Israel? Why are thousands of acres of the most fertile farmland and much of the West Bank's aquifers being seized by Israel?
The barrier does not run along the old 1967 border or the 1949 armistice line between Israel and the Arab states, which, in the eyes of the United Nations, delineates Israel and the West Bank. It will contain at least 50% of the West Bank, including the whole of the western mountain aquifer, which supplies the West Bank Palestinians with over half their water. The barrier is the most catastrophic blow to the Palestinians since the 1967 occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
The barrier itself mocks any claim that it is temporary. It costs $ 1 million per mile and will run over $ 2 billion by the time it is completed. It will cut the entire 224-mile length of the West Bank off from Israel, but because of its diversions into the West Bank to incorporate Palestinian land it will be about 400 miles in length. A second barrier is being built on the Jordan River side of the West Bank. To look at a map of the barrier is to miss the point. The barrier interconnects with every other piece of Israeli-stolen real estate in Palestinian territory. And when all the pieces are in place the Israelis will no doubt offer up the little ringed puddles of poverty and despair and misery to the world as a Palestinian state.
2011 Ford Crown Victoria PCF with the California Highway Patrol. I was given the chance to photograph it somewhere that was not in a station parking lot or next to a brick wall, rather out in its natural habitat! Most of us know that this car was retired in recent months from CHP Contra Costa (320). All of these photos are located in Brentwood, CA making for beautiful scenery! It racked up quite a bit of miles, I believe it was around 188k which is not much compared to some of its sisters. The officer loved it to death, and never wanted to get rid of it but time goes on. Never forget the polar bear!
I had the funny wolf girl before, sold her off... regret a bit, so here she is again after so long...
From my recent SG50 Heritage tour.
davidcandlish.photography/travel-2/2015/8/19/singapore-sg...
The story of the Elibank Castle reads like a ripping yarn. She was one of the earliest vessels built in the Great Lakes Area of NSW.
This image, obtained from recent satellite imagery, shows the location of Banyetta Point where the massacre of crew members on the first voyage of the Elibank Castle to the Solomon Islands in 1884/5.
To fully present the astounding events surrounding this vessel a report is presented for each of three periods in her short life:
- grounding in New Zealand in 1875
- first trip to the Pacific Islands in 1884
- final trip to the Islands in 1885
Section 1 deals specifically with her movement to New Zealand and subsequent grounding. Section 1
Section 2 deals with her first visit to the Pacific Islands in late 1884 and the murder of 5 crew members, including the captain.
Section 3 deals with her second and final visit to the Pacific Islands in 1885 when all but two of the crew were murdered - the survivors sailed the ship to New Guinea and were forced to abandon her and take to the long boat. Only one man survived and he turned up in Cooktown; seven months after the massacre in the Solomon Islands. Section 3
Details
Name: Elibank Castle
Type: Topsail Schooner – two masts
Official Number: ON 71811
Registered Sydney 3/1875
Length: 80 ft
Breadth: 18.5 ft
Depth: 6.85 ft
Registered net tonnage: 69.62 tons
Builders: William Peat and Donald Cameron
Location: Coolongolook, NSW.
Launched: September 1874 (no specific record)
Owners:
1875 – 1877 James Mathew Banks (NZ)
Registered in Wellington, New Zealand (2/1875)
Stranded Ninety Mile Beach; Recovered
Registered in Wellington New Zealand (10/1875)
1877 – 1879 George Parkman Austing (NZ)
Registered Dunedin, New Zealand (17/1877)
1879 – 1880 James Anderson (NZ)
1880 – 1884 Keith Ramsay, John Graham & James Anderson (NZ)
1884 - Capt. Augustus Otto Wilhelm Routch
Registered in Sydney 114/1884
Early Life
The Elibank Castle was built by William Peat and Donald Cameron on the banks of the Coolongolook River at Coolongolook. No details of her launch have been found but a report from 7th September 1874 indicated that launching was imminent.
"Peat and Cameron's vessel now building at the Coolongolook is nearly ready for launching. She is a pretty model and right well put together with well seasoned timber, and bids fair to prove a first class little craft to brave the dangers of the coast. September 7, 1874." The Maitland Mercury - 19 September 1874.
SECTION 2 - FIRST TRIP TO PACIFIC ISLANDS - 1884/5
Events on Bentley Island - 1884
Following the purchase of the Elibank Castle in October 1884 she was registered (Sydney 114/1884) and set sail from Brisbane for the Pacific Islands on 6th November under the control of Captain Howie. Her first port of call was the Louisiade Group of Islands off the Eastern tip of the mainland of what was then British East New Guinea (now part of the Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea). She reached Teste Island (also known as Wari Island) and then travelled on to Bentley Island (also known as Anagusa or Angusa Island) where the ship’s owner (Otto Routch) planned to establish a copra station. Two members of the crew William Reid and John McCord were left on Bentley island while the Eilbank Castle continued to Goodwin Island and then on the Bayetta on Rendova Island.
While on Bentley, William Reid was murdered on 23rd December 1884. John McCord wrote from Teste Island as follows “I regret to state that my mate William Reid was killed on 23rd December by natives on one of the Engineer Group. I have every reason to believe from the statements of the natives that a Chinaman named Ah Sing, camped on that island beche-de-mer fishing, either instigated the murder or is chargeable with complicity in the crime. Reid was, at any rate, shot with his (the Chinaman's) rifle. Being ill with fever I did not consider it safe to stop at Bentley Island by myself, therefore went to Teste Island, where I am at present stopping with the missionary”. The note was written to Mr. J.C. Baird and delivered by the master of the ketch Wild Duck when she docked at Cooktown on a voyage from New Guinea. The Queenslander - 31 January 1885
Events on Renova Island in the Solomons - 1885
Despite the death of Reid, the Elibank Castle continued her journey to Banyetta on Rendova Island in the British Solomon Islands. On Tuesday February 3rd, just a few days after the news of Reid’s death was received, the Elibank Castle arrived at Double Island flying distress flags that were reported by the steamer Port of Melbourne. The customs authorities at Port Douglas dispatched the tug Dingo and escorted her into port. Henry Charles Banks, the chief mate, brought the news of terrible events at Point Banyetta. He reported that the Captain - James Howie; Able Seaman - Carl Johann; and three kanakas (Ki-haah, Pine-ee, and My-le-Sah) were brutally murdered on the 15th January by the natives off Point Banyetta, of the Solomon group, while attempting to land. “On the boat getting towards the beach they were attacked by a number of the savages; there were probably over 60 in number. The murder was witnessed by those on board the vessel at anchor, and was committed with tomahawks, spears, and other weapons. Some of the natives, upon the boat nearing the shore, rushed suddenly into the water up to their waists and made for the boat. The captain had no suspicions that the natives were hostile, as he gave instructions before leaving the schooner that he would return during half an hour. The natives pulled the bodies out of the water and carried them ashore, together with the boat with the oars and articles of trading. The natives were accompanied by a large number of dogs, who were licking the blood of the victims. The boat was carried inland and ultimately disappeared. The mate says he fired two shots from the schooner with a rifle, to which no response was made. At about 10 a.m., however, there were rifle shots fired at the vessel, which passed over our heads and around the men on board. At about 11 a.m. George Palmer, the cook, went aft with a rifle and ammunition to keep up a continual fire until we got the canvas set.
We knocked out the shackle of the 45th fathom of the anchor cable, so as to be all ready for slipping. Whilst the hands were loosing the topsail a bullet severed the starboard clew, while another passed through the bunt of the sail. The shots were fired by the natives under cover of the bush. A consultation was held to consider the best means of saving the lives of the men and property on the schooner, and it was decided to slip the cable, but the vessel twice canted towards the shore. A squall fortunately came up, which favoured our getting away from the shore, when we slipped the cable and got away in the mist. It was thought to be the most prudent to proceed to Sydney direct. Being without anchor cables we put into Cairns Roads [Double Island], but the winds being exceedingly boisterous and heading, and our canvas being very dilapidated we were compelled to come on to Port Douglas".
LATEST BY WIRE - PORT DOUGLAS, February 3. - Cairns Post 5 February 1885
Inquiry into events on Rendova Island
An inquiry was subsequently held on the events at Banyetta Point (current name) and reported as follows:
"MURDERS AT THE SOLOMON ISLANDS.
On the 4th instant we published a telegram from Port Douglas announcing the arrival at that place of the schooner Elibank Castle, in charge of the mate, Henry C. Banks, who reported the murder of the captain and four hands at Point Benyetta, Solomon Islands. Pursuant to instructions from the Colonial Secretary, the police-magistrate at Port Douglas (Major Fanning) has since held an inquiry into the matter, and has forwarded to the Under Colonial Secretary the depositions, which have been kindly placed at our disposal.
Henry Charles Banks, the chief mate of the Elibank Castle, which was on a trading voyage to the South Seas when the outrage was committed, deposed: We left Brisbane on Thursday, the 6th November, 1884, the Solomon Group being the last islands we touched at; the name of the last island, at which the murders occurred, is Benyetta; on the morning of 15th January the captain, James Howie, Carl Johann, able seaman, and three kanakas went on shore to trade for copra and tortoise shell; immediately on boat getting towards the beach she was attacked by a multitude of savages numbering, as far as we could guess from the vessel, over sixty, witnessed from vessel with glasses by me and the crew, the attacking party of natives using tomahawks, spears &c., some of them being up to their middle in the water; the captain, when going on shore, said that he would be back in half-an-hour, and we saw two natives; I did not see, myself, the two natives pulling a dead body out of the water; l and the rest of the crew saw natives carrying the boats, oars, lengths of calico, &c., along the beach; the boat disappeared, and I never saw it again; I fired two shots towards shore with a Snider rifle to see if any of the crew were alive, that is those that went ashore; about 10 o'clock a.m. the natives kept firing at us from the bush, the bullets coming in all directions among us, over our heads and between us; at about 11 o'clock a.m. I sent the cook, George Palmer, aft with rifle and ammunition, to keep up a continual fire, which he did, whilst we got canvas on the vessel and pulled up chain from below, and knocked out forty-five fathom shackle-pin, all ready for shipping; whilst a kanaka was loosening topsails one bullet severed starboard clew, another went through bunt alongside of him; at noon we looked everywhere from the vessel with glasses, and could see no-one, the natives being all concealed in the bush; after due deliberation and consultation to save our lives, the vessel and property, we unanimously decided to slip our cable, the last shift for our lives; the vessel canted in shore twice; at last a heavy squall coming away, favoured us; we slipped our anchor and cable, and got away in the mist; after the mist cleared away, I took glasses, but could see no one; we then held a consultation - by we, I mean myself and the crew - and decided that it would be most prudent to proceed to Sydney and do our best to get the vessel there; set all canvas, and proceeded; the following are the names of the murdered boat's crew which left the ship for the island - Captain James Howie, Carl Johann, able seaman; and three kanakas, named Ki-haah, Pine-ee, and My-le-Sah; all the names appear on the ship's articles; I saw the boat attacked immediately it arrived on shore; the ship was about 600 yards from the beach, and from what I saw I have every reason to believe that the persons enumerated previously were foully murdered; I have nothing more to say with regard to this matter, excepting that the reason I could not arrive at Sydney was because I was so very short-handed; there being only one man upon whom I could depend, I had to make for the first port - namely, Cairns. I arrived at Double Island, and anchored there. When at that place the harbour-master rescued me, and brought the ship to this port ; Double Island is about half- way between this port and Cairns; the captain and Carl Johann were both armed with revolvers when they started for shore, but from the sudden attack were unable to use them, as I did not hear any shots; to my knowledge the captain and other members were perfectly sober; the trade was solely confined to copra, beche-de-mer, tortoiseshell, and anything of that kind, there was no recruiting for labour; I can form no opinion as to the reason why the natives made this wanton attack, as I never visited any of these islands before ; I believe the captain had been at this island before; at the other islands in the Solomon Group which we visited we were received well by the natives ; when the captain left the vessel he did not ex- press any fear of danger; we remained at anchor exactly four hours after the boat was attacked ; the ship was well provided with arms, ammunition, and every other department; we had no arms for traffic; there were six Snider rifles and six revolvers only on board; I saw the captain and boat's crew land ; there were about sixty or seventy natives close by with spears, tomahawks, and shields; the captain had no time to trade, as directly the boat touched the beach they were attacked by the natives; as far as I know, the captain gave no provocation to the natives.
David Brown, boatswain, gave corroborative evidence, and added that the captain had bought some ground while at Bentley Island, that the captain and crew who were murdered had previously been ashore on the morning on which the outrage was committed, and that natives had been off to the vessel to trade, but that nothing had occurred likely to lead to any disturbance.
George Palmer, cook, in the course of his evidence, deposed; I saw the natives with their spears and axes, up to their waists in the water, chopping at what I look to be the kanaka making for the ship; I then went for'ard and told David Brown that the boat was attacked, when he came up all we could see was the natives running away with the calico and other trade; I looked through the glasses again and saw the natives dragging the dead body of a white man out of the water on to the beach; I could see the man was dead from the appearance of the body, which was only about 250 yards away; David Brown called the mate, who, on coming up, saw at once what was wrong, and the only thing that could be seen on the beach was the dogs tearing away at something which we could not distinguish; I then called Thomas Hogan, who was in his bunk asleep; he came up; the mate, Mr. Banks, fired two shots towards the shore, but got no reply ; we then decided to wait till 12 o'clock, to see if any of the men would turn up; we were all standing aft, and the natives commenced firing; none of us were armed; they continued firing for about three-quarters of an hour; two bullets went through the topsails, and one was found on the deck; I then got a rifle, and fired in the direction from which the natives were firing; I was standing on the starboard quarter; from what I saw I have no doubt whatever that the captain, Charlie [Carl], and three kanakas were murdered; I did not hear any firing from the captain and his party when they reached the shore; the cable was slipped at 12 o'clock, and we reached Double Island Point about the beginning of this month; the natives' object, I believe, in attacking the boat was to take the trade, and afterwards the vessel; we were not engaged in the labour traffic; the three natives who brought the copra off to the vessel were quite contented with the trade given in exchange; I gave the captain and Charlie the revolvers on the second trip; the captain did not express that there was likely to be any difficulty on shore.
Augustus O. W. Routch, owner of the schooner Elibank Castle, stated that the vessel had been licensed by the Governor of New South Wales to trade in the South Sea Islands, and was registered in that colony.
While the accounts vary slightly, it is quite clear that the stated intent of the voyage was not to recruit for the labour trade and the vessel was not licensed to engage in the labour trade. There is little doubt, however, that the hostile response at Banyetta was a reaction against previous labour recruiters and their actions. This first voyage of the Elibank Castle to the Pacific Islands resulted in the murder of a total of six people and it was a great surprise to many that a second voyage was undertaken in 1885.
Image Source
iTouch Map -Banyetta Point on Rendova island, Solomon Islands
Acknowledgements: The assistance of Mori Flapan (Mori Flapan boatregister) by providing access to his extensive database is greatly appreciated.
All Images in this photostream are Copyright - Great Lakes Manning River Shipping and/or their individual owners as may be stated above and may not be downloaded, reproduced, or used in any way without prior written approval.
GREAT LAKES MANNING RIVER SHIPPING, NSW - Flick Group --> Alphabetical Boat Index --> Boat builders Index --> Tags List
I shot this scene on my recent trip to Perth, Australia. To grab the reflections I had my tripod legs spread wide and half in the water waterline.
This is a composite of two images. The first taken at f/8 & 15sec, the second at f/8 & 3sec. The shorter exposure is blended over the longer in Photoshop with an opacity of 30%.
.......to Weston is 32006, who retains this purple livery formerly with branding for "Bath UniBus" and "Coast20" and no doubt since its return a few days ago it is seen on the 20, and you can tell this pic was taken near to Christmas 2018 as it carries a Nativity themed advert and people are wearing winter clothing.
My recent crochet addiction has piqued my mother-in-law's interest and she decided she'd like to learn as well. So while Paul and his Dad were watching some terrible new year's film featuring guns and bloodshed, we spent a rather more peaceful hour with a bag of yarn going through the basic stitches.
Universal wheel trim, Renault Trafic wheel trim Vauxhall Zafira wheel trim, Universal wheel trim, Ford Focus MK1 wheel trim & Universal wheel trim 'Solus'