Adventure Ausrama Blog

In a country where swearing in public is an accepted part of normal life it seems odd for Australian authorities to threaten tennis players with fines for doing it on court. At least it remains only a slim possibility at the moment. The problem is that professional tennis is televised in general viewing hours when children could be watching. Andy Murray, at the center of debate for swearing in his match with Denis Istomin, says he will not tone down his behavior. He could have been a little more diplomatic and announced that he would sincerely mend his ways. In a challenge with tennis authorities he would definitely lose. Sarcasm about moving the microphones further away from the court must surely be a joke. Spectators want to experience as much of the action as possible. Blaming other players for swearing more than himself is unsportsmanlike. Saying that swearing in languages other than English goes unnoticed is a bit "iffy" as well. http://www.adventure--...

An outspoken man has died with little fanfare and hardly a report in the media. Yet this man spoke out about injustice in Australia all his life. His name was Arthur Murray. Australians once lived longer than people anywhere else  - the white people that is. "Blackfellas" died young and they could not even vote. Aboriginal men were hired at very low rates of pay in outback cotton fields. Arthur worked with them. Pesticides were dropped directly on top of them, planes flying so low the workers had to quickly lie face down in the mud. The white pilots didn't care. In 1973 thousands of dead fish floated in the Namoi River, killed by pesticides. Arthur had had enough. He went on strike with other Aboriginals. Five hundred disgruntled men marched through the center of Wee Waa. The local newspaper said they were radicals. They were called boongs and niggers, though many had vomited in the fields after spraying and some suffered from permanent coughing. Their tents we...