In this dynamic interview, New Lyre’s David Gosselin and Rising Tide Foundation President Cynthia Chung discuss the deeper implications of Friedrich Schiller’s strategic insight into shaping a culture of universal citizens capable of seeing through the lies and shadows of evil that have always pervaded human civilization.
This exercise is done by exploring an important and often-overlooked work composed by Schiller in 1787 entitled the Ghost Seer. Of all Schiller’s vast works of poetry, drama, lectures, and prose, this particular piece stands out as his only known short story which explores the life of a young German nobleman on vacation in Venice (the center of world empire for hundreds of years), who finds himself the target of an intricate operation designed to deconstruct his identity through a vast conspiracy and arts of illusion, psychological profiling, intelligence gathering, and deceit.
Anyone wishing to truly step into the deeper causal processes shaping…
Well, tomorrow is the last day of October – and then the day after, on Monday, we have the significant first of November when some more restrictions are going to be lifted for the people that are fully vaccinated!
I have an appointment for Specsavers for Monday morning, for I need new reading glasses. Specsavers is in the Dapto Shopping Centre. Summah is going to take me there at 10am and doing some shopping for me at Coles while I am at the optometrist.
Today I went across Fowlers Road to the Bowling Club to get some take away fish and chips with some vegies for lunch. This meal was the best! 🙂 Really, very, very good!
On this coming Thursday Monika is bringing Carter and Evie along around lunch time. I am very much looking forward to this. I haven’t seen the kids in ages. Dear little Carter said the other day that he wants to see great-grandma, that’s me! 🙂 I hope the weather is going to be nice: Then the kids can play outside on the deck! 🙂
Next Friday, early in the morning, I am going to see my two doctors again. I love to talk to them. It is so good, that they have some extra time for me. They make every effort to bring my blood pressure under control. But I still get exhausted very quickly and very often extremely tired – I have to do everything very, very slowly . . . . There is not much I can do in one day, but I can still do something. For instance I can still prepare my own meals and take showers by myself! 🙂 I can take walks with my rollator and enjoy nature. I love eating good, healthy meals. However, I cannot consume meals that are too large for me. I like very small meals, but I like to eat often. I always have a very good appetite! 🙂 I try never to throw away any food. I don’t mind eating left-overs. 🙂 I like to prepare vegies and fruit. What has to be cut off, goes into the council’s FOGO bin and gets recycled. These FOGO bins are a very good idea.
I really wanted to mention today my first love. I met him in the spring of 1952. We had to cut it short, but it was beautiful while it lasted! 🙂 One year later, in the spring of 1953, I did fall in love again. But for some reason he never loved me back the way I would have liked him to. Maybe he thought, he was not quite the right young man for me – I can still remember, what he used to humorously quote to me in a singing voice: ‘Der Mann, der vor mir war, der war so wunderbar!’
In the spring of 1955, when I was twenty and seven months I finally realized that it was no use waiting for Karl-Heinz to change his mind about a togetherness with me. I started going out with a girl-friend. The two of us were looking to meet nice, young men by out on dance floors! At the same time a colleague of mine introduced me to her older brother and for a few weeks we went boating together on one of Berlin’s lakes. This was the only time that I dated an ‘older’ man. He was already 30, and his girl friend had moved to West-Germany! When I met Peter, who was only 20, I preferred him, and we stayed together for over 65 years! 🙂
I know, last year, when Peter knew already that he had to leave me quite soon, he was not afraid of dying, but he did not like the idea, that I would be very lonely . . . .
Well, I do have my memories, don’t I?
My doctors tell me, I should socialize more. Maybe I should . . . .
How do I do this? Well, I can only keep an open mind. That bit of time, that perhaps is still left to me, might become more and more precious!
This is an interesting memory for me, how Peter and I were doing last year in September. It was published just a few days before my birthday. I remember, on that birthday Matthew and Caroline took us up Macquarie Pass to Moss Vale for lunch. In the park near Moss Vale Railway Station there were not many tulips. Maybe the weather had not been good for the tulips. I think we took some pictures, but I don’t know where they are.
Despite all the struggles with Peter’s deteriorating health and so much slowing down due to old age, we do count ourselves lucky that we still have some time together and that we have a caring family. I am sure, our family is going to be greatly relieved too, if we do get this fexible Respite Care, that I mentioned in one of the above comments. When I feel too stressed, my blood pressure tends to go sky high. The health profession gets extremely worried, when the blood pressure reaches as much as 200! But I believe that basically I am quite healthy for my age. As soon as I am less stressed, my blood pressure goes very much down. Besides I do get some medication now, and the last few days we were able to spend some days without having to go out anywhere. Going out on our own for…
Fully vaccinated Victorians need to quarantine for a week after visiting an exposure site, but unvaccinated people must spend a fortnight.(ABC News: Danielle Bonica)
Help keep family & friends informed by sharing this articleabc.net.au/news/victoria-covid-exposure-sites-sunday-october-24/100563498COPY LINKSHARE
Health authorities have listed new tier 1 COVID-19 exposure sites in Victoria.
The new tier 1 sites are:
Fobia Industires in Benalla for seven days from October 11
The Deck restaurant and bar in Shepparton on October 19
9 Grams cafe in Torquay on October 20
The government has stopped listing all exposure sites, instead only publishing the most high-risk venues publicly. Others are managed by contact tracers privately and through the Service Victoria check-in app.
Anyone who has been to a tier 1 exposure site at the specified time must get tested and isolate for 14 days if unvaccinated, or for seven days if fully vaccinated.
Check the list below for all of the exposure sites and times.
What do you want to know about COVID-19? How has the pandemic impacted you? Let us know
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Australia’s healthcare system is generating tonnes of COVID waste. Doctors and nurses are trying to do something about it
The Business / Emilia TerzonPosted Wed 13 Oct 2021 at 6:42amWednesday 13 Oct 2021 at 6:42am, updated Wed 13 Oct 2021 at 4:08pmWednesday 13 Oct 2021 at 4:08pm
Clinical waste has increased by 40 per cent at one healthcare organisation in Melbourne during the pandemic.(ABC News: Emilia Terzon)
Help keep family & friends informed by sharing this articleabc.net.au/news/healthcare-waste-covid-plastic-recycling-reusing-hospitals/100533552COPY LINKSHARE
The Australian healthcare sector’s reliance on single-use plastic has never been more visible than during the COVID-19 pandemic — and now frustrated doctors and nurses are fighting back to save both the environment and money.
Key points:
Doctors and nurses are concerned about the levels of single-use plastic they’re seeing during the pandemic
A pilot project is recycling syringe caps from COVID vaccines
It’s found this has economic benefits
The healthcare sector has been battling its environmental footprint for years.
Overall, it accounts for 7 per cent of Australia’s carbon emissions, with much of that attributed to its supply chains.
Doctor Forbes McGain has long been on a war against waste at Western Health’s hospital at Sunshine in Melbourne’s north, where he’s been on the front line of battling the pandemic.
From face shields to PPE, Dr McGain has noticed a lot more plastic during COVID.
Dr Forbes McGain is passionate about reducing hospital waste.(ABC News: Emilia Terzon)
“All of this extra waste is to keep us safe,” he says.
“For instance, tens of thousands of gowns are being used daily at Western Health currently. And that’s because it’s a way of protecting staff and other patients from COVID-19.
“A nurse may go through 30 gowns in one day. That’s just standard.
“Every day, we say we’re dressed in oil, because they’re all petrochemical plant products.
“It’s been pretty trying and pretty depressing, like a lot of things about this pandemic.”
What is the pandemic doing to hospital waste streams?
It is difficult to get a national picture of what healthcare waste streams are doing during the pandemic, because this data is not collected at a federal level.
However, Western Health has disclosed its waste figures to ABC News, and they show a microcosm of what’s happening, at least in the Victorian context.
In Victoria, the advice is that all healthcare waste from hospitals, COVID-19 clinics, testing and injecting sites must be handled as medical waste.
Medical waste typically goes into yellow bins. Sunshine Hospital’s waste depot is currently heaving with full bins, and has had to significantly ramp up waste collection to deal with this.
Sunshine Hospital has had to ramp up its collection of clinical waste during the pandemic.(ABC News: Emilia Terzon)
Overall, Western Health’s clinical waste has risen by 40 per cent during the pandemic, to 375,000kg annually.
“None of it can be recycled, because it’s all required to be prescribed waste,” Dr McGain says.
The one silver lining is that Western Health’s much smaller PVC waste stream is significantly down. PVC is largely used in tubing during surgery and is recycled by Western Health, thanks to Dr Forbes’s ongoing war on waste.
“The reduction on PVC over the last two years we consider relates to the reduction of elective surgery, as usually these processes use PVC content,” Western Health’s environmental officer, Carlos Machado, says.
“We have actually seen an increase of 13 per cent on our recycling. So that’s good.”
Sunshine hospital does have a long-term recycling program and it’s also seen a 13 per cent rise in waste streams going into it during COVID.(ABC News: Emilia Terzon)
However, overall its waste streams are up 8.5 per cent from 2.3 million kilograms in 2019 to 2.5 million kilograms this year.
“We have to understand that this is the reality of a pandemic disease, something that we haven’t lived before. And we’re just making our best effort to try to understand where we need to cut down,” Mr Machado says.
The issue is adding costs to healthcare
The Victorian government was asked about its overall official waste figures in the healthcare sector, but it couldn’t supply any data after June 2020.
However, an academic who audits hospital waste across the state told ABC News some hospitals had seen waste streams soar by between 25 to 130 per cent during COVID-19.
“The lower amounts are for smaller hospitals that would rarely have a COVID patient, with the larger amounts at hospitals with COVID wards and patients in ICU,” Deakin University’s Trevor Thornton says.
A nurse who works in one of Melbourne’s biggest COVID-19 hospital wards shared photos with ABC News of what she generates every day in waste.
Inside a typical clinical waste bin which is destined to be incinerated.(Supplied: anonymous nurse)
“In one shift, it’s a new mask three to 10 times a day depending on the patient load. Single-use plastic gowns is probably up to 10. And lord knows how many plastic gloves. Probably 25 pairs. It goes in a rubbish bin,” she says.
“I don’t think it’s the time to be bagging hospitals, as the priority is to firstly keep their patients and us safe. But the waste is obviously a huge issue.
“Everything has the price of what it is. One bag of fluids is $6. I can’t reuse anything but I’m so conscious of how much this is costing the system.”
Dr Forbes is also concerned about these overheads.
“It’s costly. Each gown or each n95 mask that we’re wearing is not particularly expensive but it adds up very quickly when we start thinking about it, even if it’s just a few dollars per item,” he says.
And it’s not just the cost of disposable goods. Waste collection is also an expensive process.
“One small regional hospital that also has an aged care facility attached has increased the use of yellow bins from 15 to 25 a week,” Deakin University’s Trevor Thornton says.
“One issue is that many facilities are not charged by weight for removal rather than by the bin.
“An approximate rate for clinical waste is $1.50 a kilogram. However, in a 240-litre bin, it may only have 8kg of clinical waste and it’s charged at approximately $35. This works out to $4.40 a kilogram.”
Why isn’t more healthcare waste being recycled?
As well as overarching policies about how medical waste should be handled, one of the main barriers faced by the healthcare industry is finding companies that will even consider recycling the waste.
The recycling and waste industry has been under added pressure since many countries in Asia started refusing to take Australia’s excess waste.
In New South Wales, a scheme dreamed up by a nurse at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney reveals the complexities of recycling single-use plastic waste in the midst of a pandemic.
Rodrigo Fritis-Lamora is also dismayed at all the plastic he’s using right now.
“It can be quite sobering to see how much is produced in just from one centre,” he says.
Mr Fritis-Lamora decided to make a point by focusing on a single pandemic waste stream: COVID vaccines.
Every injection involves a range of single-use plastic, including syringe caps and the syringe itself. With tens of millions of doses given, these tiny items add up into tonnes.
A pilot program to recycle syringe caps at St Vincent’s hospital in Sydney.(Supplied: NSW Circular)
Mr Fritis-Lamora’s idea to segment and collect these items eventually got going with help from his hospital and a state-government funded body that aims to promote recycling, NSW Circular.
The three-month trial at St Vincent’s this year collected 80,000 pieces of plastic waste that weighed 205 kilograms – equivalent to 41,000 plastic bags. The scheme has since expanded to include a COVID-19 vaccination hub in Newcastle, where 170kg of plastic caps from vaccines have been collected in just a few weeks.
The next stage was finding somebody to turn it into new items.
Turning syringe caps into wind turbine parts
The pilot project teamed up with a company in the rural NSW town of Orange that makes plastic parts for manufacturing, AllMoulds Plastic.
Rodrigo Fritis-Lamora from St Vincent’s hospital (left) and Scott Candrill from Allmoulds Plastics Group have formed a friendship during the pilot program.(Supplied: NSW Circular)
AllMould Plastic’s founder Scott Cantrill is passionate about reducing his environmental footprint. Half of what he makes is already produced from old waste streams.
He’s now turned the 80,000 pieces of plastic from St Vincent’s Hospital into parts for roller doors and plastic caps that go on bolts.
“When it comes to the commercial side, it will make more sense as we get more (hospitals) on board and scale this up. One pilot program has obviously cost the company a lot of money, but it’s to prove a point,” he says.
The syringe caps are being turned into these bolt caps that go onto wind turbines.(ABC News: Arianna Levy)
The plastic caps have a renewable destination — they’re being bought by a Sydney-based company Ocycut that makes parts for wind turbines.
“I could probably get these components from China for half what I’m paying here in Australia,” Oxycut’s boss Simon Preston says.
But he’s absorbing the extra cost because he wants to contribute to a renewable society.
“The fact that AllMould Plastics is using 50 per cent recycled material in their products, and specifically are also using the waste from the recent COVID vaccination program, for us that just worked perfectly,” he says.
COVID plastic waste recycled into wind turbine parts
“The collection of these two items alone across the NSW public health system could save nearly 70 million pieces of plastic from landfill, amounting to 150 tonnes and generate savings of $150,000 each year,” NSW Circular economist Kar Mei Tang says.
“Moving beyond these two items, if the estimated 40 to 60 per cent of recyclable waste currently going into clinical waste streams was recovered, there are potential savings of $2 to 3 million a year across the NSW Health system that could be reinvested into patient care.”
What about simply reusing more items?
Back at Sunshine Hospital, Dr Forbes is happy to hear about the efforts of healthcare workers interstate to recycle more goods.
But he’s passionate about pushing for something even harder than collecting and recycling single-use waste: he wants to transform the sector’s culture so it is using more reusable items.
He has already helped bring back reusable anaesthesia equipment at Sunshine Hospital, which is sterilised on site. He says this saves each operating theatre $5,000 per annum, which works out to about $100,000 in savings each year for all of Western Health.
“This becomes a large number when considering all of Australia,” he says.
“There are many examples where reusing and washing within a central sterile supply department is still standard of care. It’s just that many hospitals have gone to single use, but we haven’t.
“And we’ve certainly have done lots of interesting studies on that sort of area about how to reduce the carbon footprint and save money.”
Dr Forbes McGain brought back reusable breathing equipment to Sunshine hospital and says it saves money.(ABC News: Emilia Terzon)
Dr McGain is currently pushing for more hospitals to ditch single-use plastic gowns and go for cloth ones during COVID.
However, he appreciates that Australia’s healthcare system is still very much under crisis, especially with the looming potential of a surge in COVID cases as the country opens back up this summer.
“It’s very difficult, especially in a pandemic, to act quickly and deal with it,” he says.
He hopes as Australia’s healthcare sector enters a post-pandemic environment, it won’t waste the opportunity to learn about its disposable culture.
“I think there’s a number of opportunities where you can save money, and you can actually reduce the amount of waste that you do.
“And it can be so exciting for staff to work as a team to do that.”Posted 13 Oct 202113 Oct 2021, updated 13 Oct 202113 Oct 2021Share
Fully vaccinated Victorians need to quarantine for a week after visiting an exposure site, but unvaccinated people must spend a fortnight.(ABC News: Danielle Bonica)
Help keep family & friends informed by sharing this articleabc.net.au/news/victoria-covid-exposure-sites-sunday-october-24/100563498COPY LINKSHARE
Health authorities have listed new tier 1 COVID-19 exposure sites in Victoria.
The new tier 1 sites are:
Fobia Industires in Benalla for seven days from October 11
The Deck restaurant and bar in Shepparton on October 19
9 Grams cafe in Torquay on October 20
The government has stopped listing all exposure sites, instead only publishing the most high-risk venues publicly. Others are managed by contact tracers privately and through the Service Victoria check-in app.
Anyone who has been to a tier 1 exposure site at the specified time must get tested and isolate for 14 days if unvaccinated, or for seven days if fully vaccinated.
SheppartonLess –
The Deck
Tue, 19 Oct
6:45pm – 8.45pm
Address: 198A Maude Street VICHealth Advice: Tier 1 – Get tested immediately and quarantine for 7 days from exposure if fully vaccinated or 14 days if not fully vaccinated
BenallaMore +
Fobia Industries Benalla
Mon, 11 Oct
6:00am – 4:00pm
BenallaMore +
Fobia Industries Benalla
Tue, 12 Oct
6:00am – 4:00pm
BenallaMore +
Fobia Industries Benalla
Wed, 13 Oct
6:00am – 4:00pm
BenallaMore +
Fobia Industries Benalla
Thu, 14 Oct
6:00am – 4:00pm
BenallaMore +
Fobia Industries Benalla
Fri, 15 Oct
6:00am – 4:00pm
BenallaMore +
Fobia Industries Benalla
Mon, 18 Oct
6:00am – 4:00pm
BenallaMore +
Fobia Industries Benalla
Tue, 19 Oct
6:00am – 4:00pm
SheppartonMore +
Telstra Shepparton Marketplace
Mon, 18 Oct
8:30am – 5:30pm
TorquayMore +
9grams Torquay
Wed, 20 Oct
1:00pm – 2:30pm
GeelongMore +
The Deck Geelong
Sat, 16 Oct
7:00pm – 9:00pm
CobramMore +
Cobram Nails & Beauty
Fri, 15 Oct
11:00am – 4:30pm
CobramMore +
Cobram Nails & Beauty
Sat, 16 Oct
1:00pm – 4:30pm
BendigoMore +
Golden Vine Hotel Bendigo
Sat, 16 Oct
3:30pm – 5:30pm
Quarry HillMore +
Queens Arms Hotel
Sat, 16 Oct
5:30pm – 7:30pm
KenningtonMore +
Kennington Tavern – Kennington Village Shopping Centre
Sat, 16 Oct
8:00pm – 9:30pm
BendigoMore +
Gallery Cafe
Sun, 10 Oct
3:10pm – 4:10pm
BendigoMore +
Fit Republic
Fri, 15 Oct
2:00pm – 3:30pm
BendigoMore +
Fit Republic
Sat, 16 Oct
12:00pm – 1:30pm
BendigoMore +
Fit Republic
Sun, 17 Oct
12:45pm – 2:15pm
BendigoMore +
Fit Republic
Thu, 21 Oct
10:45am – 12:30pm
MulgraveMore +
Woolworths Waverley Gardens
Sat, 16 Oct
1:30pm – 7:00pm
ClaytonMore +
McDonalds Clayton II
Mon, 18 Oct
5:00am – 9:00am
GeelongMore +
Caffiza
Mon, 18 Oct
5:30pm – 7:15pm
GeelongMore +
Malt and Shovel Taphouse Geelong
Sat, 16 Oct
5:00pm – 7:00pm
Swan HillMore +
Swan Hill Pet Boarding
Fri, 15 Oct
7:30am – 6:00pm
HuntlyMore +
BelleAmi Hair and Beauty
Mon, 18 Oct
10:00am – 2:30pm
HuntlyMore +
BelleAmi Hair and Beauty
Mon, 18 Oct
10:00am – 2:30pm
SouthbankMore +
Focus Apartment Construction Site
Thu, 14 Oct
5:30am – 4:00pm
SouthbankMore +
Focus Apartment Construction Site
Fri, 15 Oct
7:00am – 3:00pm
SouthbankMore +
Focus Apartment Construction Site
Sat, 16 Oct
8:00am – 3:00pm
WodongaMore +
Border Dance Works
Tue, 12 Oct
4:45pm – 6:15pm
SheppartonMore +
Sherbourne Hotel – Gaming Room
Sun, 17 Oct
9:00pm – 11:59pm
ChurchillMore +
Cafe Alfa
Sun, 17 Oct
10:30am – 11:25am
SheppartonMore +
The Deck
Fri, 15 Oct
8:30pm – 10:30pm
SheppartonMore +
The Deck
Sun, 17 Oct
7:00pm – 9:00pm
SheppartonMore +
The Deck
Tue, 19 Oct
8:30pm – 10:30pm
BendigoMore +
The Rifle Brigade Hotel
Sat, 16 Oct
1:50pm – 3:30pm
BendigoMore +
Cafe Essence
Thu, 14 Oct
7:00am – 3:00pm
BendigoMore +
Cafe Essence
Fri, 15 Oct
8:00am – 3:00pm
BendigoMore +
Cafe Essence
Sat, 16 Oct
9:00am – 9:30am
KenningtonMore +
The Massage Shop
Thu, 14 Oct
12:55pm – 2:35pm
BendigoMore +
McQuinns Gym
Fri, 15 Oct
11:27am – 1:30pm
SheppartonMore +
Wild Life Brewing Co.
Sat, 16 Oct
4:30pm – 7:00pm
South GeelongMore +
Luce Fit Australia
Mon, 11 Oct
4:15pm – 5:30pm
DaylesfordMore +
Blooms The Chemist
Tue, 19 Oct
2:45pm – 4:05pm
SheppartonMore +
Shingo’s Lounge
Sat, 16 Oct
6:00pm – 11:30pm
MorwellMore +
Wyncity Morwell
Fri, 15 Oct
11:00am – 9:00pm
KenningtonMore +
Feelgood Fitness Strathdale
Mon, 11 Oct
6:00pm – 7:30pm
KenningtonMore +
Feelgood Fitness Strathdale
Tue, 12 Oct
3:54pm – 7:30pm
BendigoMore +
Nude Food Breakfast Bar
Fri, 15 Oct
9:30am – 11:00am
DonaldMore +
Donald Hotel
Thu, 14 Oct
6:30pm – 9:00pm
BendigoMore +
McQuinns Gym
Tue, 12 Oct
5:00am – 7:00pm
BendigoMore +
McQuinns Gym
Wed, 13 Oct
5:00am – 11:00pm
BendigoMore +
McQuinns Gym
Thu, 14 Oct
5:00am – 11:00pm
BendigoMore +
Honeyeater Salon
Sat, 9 Oct
8:00am – 3:00pm
Traralgon EastMore +
PhysiPole Traralgon
Thu, 14 Oct
5:30pm – 6:30pm
Ocean GroveMore +
Feed Me Bellarine, Ocean Grove
Tue, 12 Oct
7:30am – 11:30am
Ocean GroveMore +
Feed Me Bellarine, Ocean Grove
Wed, 13 Oct
9:00am – 4:30pm
Ocean GroveMore +
Feed Me Bellarine, Ocean Grove
Thu, 14 Oct
9:00am – 4:30pm
PaynesvilleMore +
Paynesville Wine Bar
Tue, 12 Oct
3:30pm – 5:30pm
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Paynesville Wine Bar
Wed, 13 Oct
3:30pm – 5:30pm
BendigoMore +
McQuinns Gym
Sun, 10 Oct
12:30pm – 8:00pm
BendigoMore +
McQuinns Gym
Mon, 11 Oct
5:00am – 8:00pm
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McQuinns Gym
Tue, 12 Oct
5:00am – 8:45am
RedanMore +
Anytime Fitness
Mon, 11 Oct
5:00pm – 6:00pm
ThomastownMore +
Greek Orthodox Church Of Thomastown – The Transfiguration of Our Lord
Sun, 10 Oct
8:30am – 1:00pm
Hepburn SpringsMore +
Hepburn Bathhouse and Spa – Sanctuary Mineral Bathing Area
Sun, 10 Oct
1:00pm – 2:30pm
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Vanilla Spice
Sun, 10 Oct
1:30pm – 2:30pm
MaldonMore +
The Maldon Lolly Shop
Sun, 10 Oct
2:00pm – 3:00pm
Deer ParkMore +
Direct Chemist Outlet – Brimbank Shopping Centre
Sun, 10 Oct
9:00am – 4:30pm
Ballarat CentralMore +
Oscar’s Hotel and Café Bar
Mon, 11 Oct
12:30pm – 2:30pm
WinchelseaMore +
Winchelsea Hotel
Sun, 10 Oct
1:00pm – 2:45pm
GrovedaleMore +
The Grovedale Hotel Gaming Room
Tue, 12 Oct
10:15am – 1:30pm
Soldiers HillMore +
The North Star Hotel
Wed, 13 Oct
12:30pm – 2:15pm
SheppartonMore +
Goulburn Valley Grammar School Bus – Tongala to Goulburn Valley Grammar
Tue, 12 Oct
7:15am – 9:15am
SheppartonMore +
Goulburn Valley Grammar School Bus – Goulburn Valley Grammar to Tongala
After looking up the two above posts, I did become a bit teary. I had no idea that there was something like a World Polio Day, but Mecca mentioned it this morning in his Regional ABC Morning Program!
I could not resist publishing this older blog once more. It certainly does bring back memories!
Peter with Gaby
This pictures was taken in Düsseldorf, Germany, in a park called ‘Hofgarten’, on 17th June 1958. Gaby was not quite nine months yet at the time.
Uta and Peter with Gaby
This pictures was taken by Uta’s Mum on her balcony in Berlin in August 1958. Gaby was nearly one year old. We were for a visit in Berlin at the time.
Uta with Baby Martin, two months, Monika, eighteen months, and Gaby thirty-three months.
This pictures was taken near Fairy Meadow Beach, New South Wales, Australia, in June 1960.
Uta and Peter (25) with all three children
This is where the pioneer family ended up in Oak Flats, NSW, Australia, which was ‘the sticks’ at the time. This picture was taken on the 28th August 1960 which was Gaby’s birthday. We were building a garage at the time. One year later the children were stricken by polio; as it turned out, Gaby very severely.
I wrote the above in January 2013. I was looking for a photo from our Berlin visit in August 1958 and found one in this blog. I was pregnant at the time. In December our daughter Monika was born in Düsseldorf where we had one room in my father’s apartment. We thought being given the opportunity to go to Australia as migrants was the best thing that could have happened to us.
11 Responses to “The “Pioneer Family””
berlioz1935 January 23, 2013 at 4:47 pm Edit # The beginning in Australia was tough and sometimes we felt like a “pioneer family”.. On the beach picture you can clearly see the Fairy Meadow Hostel were we lived for a while.
REPLY
auntyuta January 23, 2013 at 5:18 pm Edit # You’re right, Peter, the beach was only a few steps away from the hostel. I thought it was great to have the beach so close. The picture you refer to was taken in June, in the middle of the Australian winter!
REPLY
Robert M. WeissR January 25, 2013 at 8:41 am Edit # Great archival type photos, which reminds me it’s time to straighten up our family photos.
REPLY
auntyuta January 25, 2013 at 11:12 am Edit # Thanks for commenting, Robert. I read your profile, which is very interesting. Do you do any writing? You seem to be a very contemplative person. If you’re writing, I’d like to hear more about it. Cheerio, Uta.
REPLY
backonmyown January 26, 2013 at 12:00 pm Edit # I love the old photos. Your family was beautiful. My youngest sister Gerry had polio when she was two years old. Fortunately she had no lingering effects, and recovered completely. I was ten at the time. I remember how scared we all were.
REPLY
auntyuta January 26, 2013 at 6:01 pm Edit # Hi, Pam. We always love to look at all our old photos. Gaby was severely effected, She became a quadriplegic and needed an iron lung. Monika had some lingering effects in one of her legs and Martin recovered completely. It was a very scary time for us when all three children suffered from the disease.
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backonmyown January 27, 2013 at 2:44 am Edit # I can’t even imagine how terrified you and Peter must have been with all three children seriously ill at the same. My middle daughter is a public health lawyer. She has asked me lots of questions about the polio epidemics. I’ll tell her about your family’s story. Thanks for sharing it. Pat
Three Well Beings January 26, 2013 at 4:56 pm Edit # I really enjoyed seeing family photos, Uta. From what you’re sharing, the children were very young when they contracted polio. I cannot imagine how difficult that must have been! I do remember when that disease frightened families and changed lives forever!
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auntyuta January 26, 2013 at 6:07 pm Edit # That’s right, Debra, they all contracted polio. Martin was 1, Monika 2 and Gaby was struck down with the disease on her fourth birthday. No vaccinations were available at the time. A bit later oral vaccinations were introduced. I think this stopped the spread of polio in Australia.
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Three Well Beings January 26, 2013 at 6:50 pm Edit # I really can’t imagine, Uta! As a mom, this must have been devastating. They were just babies. I’m a little awed you can even talk about it. oxo
auntyuta January 26, 2013 at 8:45 pm Edit # It was a very emotional time for Peter too. All three children were admitted to Wollongong Hospital. Gaby went on to Intensive Care at Prince Henry Hospital in Sydney where she was in a coma. According to the specialist there was not much chance of her surviving. We had gone in the ambulance with her and stayed with her through the night. Early in the morning we went back to Wollongong on the milk-train. That morning after a lot of weeping we went to see Monika and Martin in Wollongong Hospital. Martin Baby soon became the darling of the nurses. He looked so cute. When we saw him he started throwing all the toys out of his cot the nurses had put in there for him. Monika was more sick than Martin and absolutely quiet. A few days later Martin was allowed to go back home. We were overwhelmed when we had him back home. Monika had to stay in hospital a bit longer. Once she was home she was referred to a specialist who treated her leg. Some muscles were weakened because of polio. She had to wear special boots and a splint on her left leg which she hated!
Auntie, Sister. Grandmother, Great-Grandmother, Mother and Wife of German Descent I’ve lived in Australia since 1959 together with my husband Peter. We have four children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. I started blogging because I wanted to publish some of my childhood memories. I am blogging now also some of my other memories. I like to publish some photos too as well as a little bit of a diary from the present time. Occasionally I publish a story with a bit of fiction in it. Peter, my husband, is publishing some of his stories under berlioz1935.wordpress.com View all posts by auntyutaPublishedJanuary 21, 2019
3 thoughts on “Here are two pictures from 1958 and another two pictures from 1960”
DebraEditI see that I responded to the original post. I was then ‘Three Well Beings.” I love the photos of your sweet family, Uta.Reply
auntyutaEditThanks for commenting again, Debra. I find it very rewarding to look at some of the old photos again and again. Some of these photos just seem to stick to my memory. Time and time again I love to look at them again to strengthen my memory. Gee. was that really our family at the time? And how amazing is it how much time has elapsed since these photos were taken! Reply
doesitevenmatter3EditYour vintage photos are so special and lovely! I know they bring you smiles. And memories of wonderful and not-so-wonderful. Oh, that is so sad and challenging that all of your beautiful, precious babies got polio. I can’t imagine how difficult that was for you as their mama. I have an older friend who had polio as a child. From then on, he always had struggles with his legs and walked with difficulty.(((HUGS)))
AuntyUta 