#3 memory

Boxing Day. 1983? almost definitely. we went to somewhere along the sydney harbour to watch the beginning of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. I don't remember the race at all, or where exactly we were, but I remember running around in my pink terry towelling shorts looking through binoculars. my sister was wearing yellow.

indigenous ad campaign???

ok, so above is an ad showing on australian tv at the moment. it's basically a government ad, aimed at helping people quit smoking. Australia has a well publicised problem with a gap in life expectancy, health and education levels between indigenous australians and white australians. I think it's great that there is an ad that is designed to connect with indigenous folks. But does it work? i don't know.
What I do know is that while i was visiting central australia, we stopped in at Kings Creek Station, where there was a big display about a local program that is providing scholarships for indigenous kids to go to boarding school in Adelaide. the white kids in central australia attend "school of the air" - classes conducted over radio or internet, with class work supervised by parents. But the indigenous kids need to get out of their communities where the engrained feeling is that school isn't necessary. which may well be the case if you never want to leave your community (which are often like small farms where two families live together, self sufficiently), but if you want to live or work outside your small community, you need an education.
SO sometimes i really think that no matter how much the government does to help reduce the gap, the indigenous communities need to do just as much.