2011 "LIVE HISTORY " ON DRUITT

During the week I went into the City to visit the exhibition of my daughter Maz Dixon's Paintings at the GAFFA Gallery on Clarence Street. On my way back to Town Hall Station from that happy experience I was crestfallen when I saw that the historic PHOTIOS BROTHERS Store had closed - and obviously some time ago. It is a great shame that this bit of our commercial history could not have been preserved.Surely everything doesn't have to be shallow glitz and glamour!

Read below the story of our discovery of the PHOTIOS BROTHERS Store in 2011........and weep!

THE 1880's LIVE!

Rain and cold in Sydney town greeted us as we emerged from Town Hall underground Station, and, neath the protection of a vast freebie Commonwealth Bank Golf Umbrella looked for 66 Druitt Street, which runs East - West along the North side of the Town Hall down to Darling Harbour.

The trip had its origins in my efforts to help my wife, an accomplished dressmaker of children's clothing, to locate a supplier of what is called "ric rac braid"( this is braid in a wave like pattern as will be seen in the photos). She had a well-stocked supplier or two in Brisbane, but the North Shore of Sydney has not so readily given up its sources, despite keen searches from Hornsby to Gordon. I found a supplier in the City - relying on the trusty Google - Photios Bros of 66 Druitt Street , Sydney . What a GEM!

Now you see - "Ric Rac"Braid , and the card system - neat!

The trip had its origins in my efforts to help my wife, an accomplished dressmaker of children's clothing, to locate a supplier of what is called "ric rac braid"(this is braid in a wave like pattern as will be seen in the photos). She had a well-stocked supplier or two in Brisbane, but the North Shore of Sydney has not so readily given up its sources, despite keen searches from Hornsby to Gordon. I found a supplier in the City (relying on the trusty Google) Photios Bros of 66 Druitt Street , Sydney . What a GEM!

Whoa! Don't think I've suddenly gone mad for fabrics and the like! But the shop and its antique apparatus is a joy to behold. The large A4 size boards standing on edge at the bottom right hand corner of the first photo contain tiny samples of up to about 20 stock items with their reference numbers. Once the desired item is identified the reference number leads the staff to the appropriate stock box. These shallow boxes can be seen lining the walls and shelves by the hundred, and in addition on the upper level there are the reserve stocks.

AA blaze of colour from the Feather Boas

Boxes and boxes and boxes!

The only concession to modernity - other than electric light and buzzer ( ok and an aluminium ladder!) that I noticed, was the EFTPOS  machine carefully kept out of sight. This store is truly worthy of Heritage Listing as it operates. It brought back many memories of the type of business and business systems, that were flourishing in this part of Sydney (from Kent to York Streets and from Druitt North to King Street, when I was a schoolboy - much of what was still in operation in the late 1940's and early Fifties was not all that different it seems, from what had carried Aussie  commerce through World War I. Different to-day!  Business systems and equipment seem to have a life cycle of about 6 years if they are lucky - often half that time!

Costume Jewellery - your lady could look like Liz Taylor used to  - and for a fraction of the cost!

These are natural feathers - stunningly beautiful - and ( to me at least) surprisingly inexpensive!

Anyway, Photios Bros. is well worth a look, and who knows you might choose to buy some exotic bird feathers for your hat or whatever, some stage jewellery, some chandelier crystal drops, some braid, a feather boa, the sky's the limit - or rather the ancient pressed metal ceiling's the limit - these good folk deserve to be encouraged!

  For another view of the subject, and of these photos ,which I took with my HTC Wildfire S Phone, I am sure you will find my wife will do her usual brilliant posting over at:http://hotfudge8.blogspot.com/

1968....."........................AND ABOUT 23 MILLION BLACKS"

SOUTH AFRICAN NAVY FLEET OILER AND SUPPLY SHIP PROTEA BROADLY SIMILAR TO SAS TAFELBERG

Between October and November, 1968 two South African Navy frigates and the Fleet Auxiliary TAFELBERG paid a courtesy visit to several Australian cities. The squadron was in Sydney from 2nd to the 8th of November and the vessels were berthed at Garden Island with the TAFELBERG alongside the Northern most wharf.

As a member of the Executive of the Junior Australian- American Association I, along with a number of my colleagues, was on the Royal Australian Navy's hospitality invite list. So it happened that a group of us , among many others was invited to a Cocktail Reception aboard the TAFELBURG.

There was at the time the beginning of a thaw in South African - Australia relations which had been severely strained over the Apartheid issue.So there was a little anxiety on our part as to how the evening would go. It was to prove very revealing,

We had a very fine view up the Harbour to the Harbour Bridge. The hospitality was generous and the immaculately turned out officers were doing their best to be good hosts and succeeding well,despite a perceived awkwardness on both sides. Making small talk whilst sipping a drink and looking toward the Bridge backed by the declining Sun, I asked the young officer I was chatting with : "How many people are there in South Africa?" He promptly answered "" About 3.5 millions" and lapsed into a silence which lasted so long I expected to hear no more. Then after at least 30 seconds he said : "And about 23 Million Blacks."

I had lost any desire/curiosity to hear more, and could hardly wait until I could decently excuse myself and be gone. What got to me was that the fact that the appropriate answer of "26.5 Millions"did not occur to him. The 23Million Blacks were nothing but an afterthought, they didn't count.

I doubt anyone was more surprised than me when South Africa made a relatively peaceful transition to full democracy in 1994.

"HORSES FOR COURSES" EVEN APART FROM RACING !

BERNBOROUGH

When I was a child the great horse BERNBOROUGH was the darling of the Newspapers and the Newsreel Cameras. Out of 37 Starts the great horse had 26 Wins 2 Seconds and one Third. At one stage he had 15 consecutive wins carrying heavy weights and finished that streak carrying 10Stone 5 Pounds in the long Doomben 10,000. 

Not many horses have that sort of stamina. So we have the phrase "Horses for Courses" - some horses can perform better on certain racecourses than others.

"Hello!" You are thinking to yourself is Tony a secret racehorse fanatic? NO! This is just a diversionary way of introducing some information about......steam locomotives!

Most people looking at a steam locomotive will not think twice about any of its features. But to the initiated a great deal can be told about it's designer's and owner's intentions for it by even a brief glance. The main giveaway is the size of the larger wheels - the DRIVING WHEELS as they are called. If they are small, the main purpose of the locomotive is strength - it will usually be a Goods / Freight locomotive. If the wheels are very large , it's main purpose is speed - it will always be a passenger train locomotive.

NSWGR 36 Class Passenger Locomotive 4-6-0 5 Feet 9 Inches Driving Wheels

NSWGR 57 CLASS 4-8-2 Goods Locomotive of 1927 5 Feet Driving Wheels

But the "Horses for Courses" principle has still more far-reaching influence on the design of a steam locomotive.At  the most basic level, the "loading gauge" must be considered. This is the maximum height and width that the locomotive must conform to so that it will fit into tunnels, under signal frames and bridges and be able to pass trains on adjoining tracks without contact and also pass through Station platforms without contact. These last two requirements are not simple  because curves of varying intensity will cause the locomotive to protrude at a tangent to the curve as it goes around it. In fact when first brought into service (in the days before computers) the 57 Class was found to be unable to pass through some stations until the platforms were shaved back. Even beyond these basic measurements, comes the matter of weight, both absolute and distributed along the length of the locomotive. Absolute : the bridges and viaducts to be traversed must be able to support the dense weight of the locomotive.; distributed : the weight will be heaviest on the axles of the Driving Wheels - this is important to ensure the maximum adhesion of the wheels to the track, but still it must not be too great for those same bridges and viaducts.

Having got that basic requirement right, there is the question of  turning the locomotive at the end of its planned runs. In Australia especially most lines end in rural areas, in a dead-end. The locomotive needs to be turned on a turntable for its return trip. The size of that turntable will govern the size of the locomotive that can be employed. That is the size of the locomotive complete with its coal and water carrying tender.  Turntables in NSW were fairly commonly 50 Feet in diameter in major facilities they were even larger, but if the locomotive was to serve widely it must conform to the lowest diameter. Sometimes when there were problems, smaller 6 Wheel tenders were used to shorten overall length.

So that covers the basic concerns that must be addressed. But more is demanded: the routes the locomotive is expected to cover and the gradients which will be encountered must be carefully studied in order to determine the steam generation that will be required. Regular heavy climbing up stiff gradients will require large amounts of steam to be generated. This in turn will govern the size of the boiler and the firebox , and it will also determine the amount of water and coal that the tender must carry having regard to the water replenishment opportunities along those route. The size of the boiler will also need to take into account the desired size of the Driving Wheels and the loading gauge once again. 

                                          "FLYING SCOTSMAN"  4-6-2 in Australia

                                                        NSWGR 38 Class 4-6-2

Here we see the "horses for courses" factor fully at work. The famous locomotive "Flying Scotsman" was designed by Sir Nigel Gresley specifically to haul the "Flying Scotsman" express between Kings Cross Station London 392 miles to Edinburgh Scotland   . It did this at sustained high speed and was able to draw water from pans set between the tracks without stopping.It was the most famous train in the pre-War Empire. YET  when the "Flying Scotsman" locomotive made a prolonged visit to Australia some years back and double-headed with 3801 over the Blue Mountains, it quickly became apparent that it did not have the steaming capacity for the prolonged strenuous climbing required . The result has been described as 3801 pulling "Flying Scotsman" and their train over the tough route.  

So when one looks at a steam locomotive one is seeing the complex solution to a wide variety of problems and challenges. Designing a steam locomotive is an  art  underpinned by much science.                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

2011 EX LIBRIS "A HISTORY OF PRIVATE LIFE"

I love Roman portraits of this style . They usually seem to be young couples -
perhaps  it was "chic"to have one done. 

This is certainly a handsome book, a 670 page larger format softcover, published by Harvard's Belknap Press in 1992. But like the Church of England Curate's egg it is "good in parts".  It is made up of a series of chapters by different authors and at times their writings are somewhat contradictory, and at other times disclose a degree of anti-Christian prejudice. But those parts are minor and , for the most part it is an interesting and rewarding read.

I wanted to bring to your notice a really interesting piece from the book, which for the life of me I can't find at present, despite three careful skimmings ! I am sure you have had the experience - you KNOW roughly where it is in the book, you KNOW it is on the left hand page starting in the lower half etc., but the more you look, the more the text seems to conceal itself. So, I am simply asking you to let me tell you.

 The author is dealing with aspects of law in the period of late Antiquity, recounting some surprising oddities. The example is given of a law that provided the death penalty for anyone who, coming upon a man spreadeagled and staked to the ground at his feet and ankles at a cross-road, attempted to cut him loose. Weird, we might think - what was going on?

Further research showed that the penalty for rape at the time was to be thus spreadeagled at the crossroad and left there to die!! Obviously family or tribal sympathies - if not Charity - might have tempted someone to remove the wretched fellow from his agony. But the death penalty was a strong deterrent! The good old days.

The motive may not have been "women's rights"- rightsspeak lay many hundreds of years in the future, but concern for family honour worked in this time to protect women from harm as far as practicable. The same result is sought to-day but dressed up in different verbiage.

2011 EX LIBRIS :: "WOMEN IN THE DAYS OF THE CATHEDRALS" A MARVELLOUS WOMAN IN A.D. 841

Revealing surprisingly attractive personalities in dark and distant times.

We are often left with an absolutely false and depressing view of Medieval times, and in fact, the word itself has become a pejorative term, doing a great injustice to the people of those times and their achievements in the face of barbarian Viking, Mohammedan (from North Africa) and Magyar (from Hungary) raiders. 

Some 650 years before Rabelais, and later Montaigne wrote their treatises on Education, a laywoman, wife and mother named Dhouda wrote "A Manual for My Son " which was published in French in 1975.

Charlemagne had been crowned Emperor by the Pope in the year 800. But upon his death, in 814, his three sons began to fight among themselves over who should rule. Dhouda was of noble birth and began to write her work at age 40 years in 841 . The times were troubled indeed and it must have been hard to know where to stand. Dhouda's husband was Bernard of Septimania who was executed for treason in 844 for supporting Pepin of Aquitaine in the struggle against his brother Charles the Bald. Dhouda's son William was also executed for treason five years  later in 849.  

But, in 841, all of that lay in the future. Before we read somethings she wrote, we need to know something about her. She was, like all educated Catholics of her time totally immersed in knowledge and love of Sacred Scripture - both New and Old Testament were her daily points of reference, as they were for her sons. So she could confidently write to them making allusions to details of Sacred Scripture with no doubt that they would understand. She was a prayerful person, praying the Divine Office every day. She was a very down to earth, practical achiever, managing the family estates whilst her husband and sons were away for extended periods on military campaigns. This practicality of hers even extended to negotiating loans when extra funds were needed for the estates. She was a devoted wife and mother as will become plain, and in so  many ways she was a model of Christian living. Let us hear her words, from this work which occupies 370 pages in the modern translation,   the first of which to Son William was "Lege"("Read") :
First she urges him "to read and to pray ". "" In your involvement in the preoccupations of this world, do not neglect buying yourself many books with which you can, through the teaching of the holy Fathers and masters, discover and learn about God the Creator more than you can find here........you have and will have  books to read, to leaf through, to meditate, to deepen, to understand, and you will even very easily find scholars to teach you.They will provide you with examples of the good you can do to comply with your double duty( no doubt to his father and to his lord.)..She later went on.."People who apparently succeed in the world and are rich in possessions and who nevertheless, with dark malice, never cease to  envy and to tear apart their neighbour as much as they can, and this under  cover of honesty  ..... those I invite you to watch, to flee from  , to avoid" Perhaps surprisingly, only 10 of the 370 pages are taken up with issues of morality. Dhouda is always humble and tenderly respectful in addressing her Son :  "I pray and suggest humbly to you..", "I exhort you my son....", "I , your mother, however lowly I am according to my smallness and the limits of my understanding...."                                           

This was a labour of love and that is a key feature of her writing : "Love God, seek God, love your younger brother, love your friends and the companions among whom you live at the royal or Imperial Court, love the poor and the unhappy, love everyone so that you may be loved by all, cherish them so as to be cherished by them."

If the above book were to be purchased for the full story of Dhouda alone , it would be worthwhile. The lengthy account of Dhouda from pp 45 to 54  is a joy to read and I have only been able to give my readers a brief taste here. I urge you to track down the Book and get to know more about this dear lady from 1,200 years ago! 

A final, fitting consequence of her life: Her Grandson William the Pious was instrumental in the founding of the great Abbey of Cluny which led the reform of the monastic movement and truly flourished for centuries to the greater glory of God.

2011 IDENTITY : HOW OTHERS SEE US AND HOW WE SEE OURSELVES

This post first appeared on 27th October,2011. 

It seems timely as my 77th Birthday is only 14 days distant.

First Holy Communion - Front Row Second on Left 1947

In some ways, I suppose, we are most ourselves in the eyes of others when we are little children.We are just little  - whoever. It is that simple. 

But within our own being we are then not yet fully ourselves, because we are not free to say whatever we wish , and in fact we do not yet have ideas or opinions on many, even most subjects. Later as teenagers we have strongly felt opinions or prejudices , sometimes ill-informed, but not at all times freely expressed. Our identity is gradually unfolding to the world like a  flower.Our sense of our own identity is powerful at this time. Others' sense of our identity, will then depend on how successfully or completely we have negotiated the shoals of puberty. Most of our peers , being in just the same stage of confusion as we are at some stages, will think we are great or a drag. Older folk will see the forming personality more readily and begin to react accordingly, but often they will react to the projected personality which at this stage may be somewhat at odds with the authentic personality now formed.

                                                      1958 On ferry leaving Circular Quay

As we reach the stage of being a young man or woman,our identity just completed, begins to be moulded by strong external influences,our equally mature peers, our studies, our vocation and or, employment.This effect works on how we see ourselves and how we are seen by others.To take exceptional cases, the young Sailor sees himself as just that and is likewise perceived as a sailor. In the employment sphere  the young man or woman can come to identify themselves with the corporation which employs them. The Sailor is a NAVY man and affects to have no time for Soldiers/ the Army or Airmen/the Air Force. The Commonwealth Banker will affect to look down on The Westpac man.Others will come to identify the individual with that employment. "Here comes the NAVY!"as he enters a social gathering. Or, "What has the Commonwealth Bank got to say for himself??"This phenomenon has even been publicly acknowledged in St.George Bank's TV Commercials, distinguishing its man as socially acceptable whereas a mere "banker"was not.

THE FRENCH BANKER 1986

More important than all of these for the average man is his identity as a husband, father and grandfather, this is an enduring underpinning of the superstructure.And it is itself ideally resting on the foundation of his relationship with God.

Magnetic Island with my beautiful family 
- that is me behind the camera -the Paterfamilias.1986

So, where am I going with this?

Well, in my time I have been:
the Catholic Schoolboy
the Steam Locomotive Buff
the aspiring Seminarian
the Seminarian
the ex-Seminarian
the young Commonwealth Public Servant
the Solicitor for Railways young man
Mr Commonwealth Bank
the Naval Reservist
the Man from United Dominions
The Man from the Banque Nationale de Paris
The Man from the Archdiocese of Brisbane
The Man from Ignatius Press
The Publisher of Foundation
The Queenslander
and always, through it all The Catholic

But all the employment identities are long since gone,and the question arises
then, what is my identity now?

                                                                       FLORENCE, 2009

 At 71 years I am still The Catholic, The Husband, Father, Grandfather, the Publisher of FOUNDATION .the Queenslander at heart, the Blogger of "VEXILLA REGIS"http://vexilla-regis.blogspot.com/, of" EDWARD BECKMANN "  http://edwardbeckmann.blogspot.com/                                                                                  of  "CONRAD BECKMANN "http://conradbeckmann.blogspot.com/ of "CARL DOPMEYER "http://carldopmeyer.blogspot.com/ and most recently of " PORTA FIDEI - DOOR OF FAITH "http://portafidei.blogspot.com/ , not to mention this Blog.

I once heard a mature man address another in the middle of a formal meeting saying : "Stripped to the core M...... I am a PATRIOT"to the considerable embarrassment of everyone else in the room. Not that we didn't all consider ourselves PATRIOTS, but in Australia we don't go about saying such things to colleagues - it seems absurdly pretentious. Happily, though there were suppressed smirks ,no-one actually laughed .But it was a close-run thing. Due allowance was made for the fact that he was in the Advertising business. But, at the heart of it , it was a pretty sad statement : stripped to the core of our being, patriotism though admirable in every way, comes nowhere near the fundamental importance of our relationship with God. 

So, when it all falls away, "stripped to the core"I am a Catholic.

 I have been through all my life, and with God's Grace I shall be, through all my life and beyond. That is what Jesus Christ wanted for everyone.All else that really matters in my life is my wife , children and grandchildren all my family and friends and yes,I am also a Patriot.

TONY DIXON

2011 MOVIE :COMPANY MEN - BEEN THERE TWICE AND BEEN DONE BY THAT

Originally posted 12th March, 2011

                                                          COMPANY MEN

To-day with my dear wife,I went to the movies. We saw "COMPANY MEN".

Without hesitation I urge you to see it. It is very much a story of our times - the shedding of activities and employees by major companies seeking to ride out difficult times. Along the way , we are shown the degrading effects of being "let go" , of family and personal degradation by the rolling consequences of lost position and status. And interestingly and very accurately, we are shown how tough it is even for small business operators to stay afloat in hard times. We are still feeling the "crush of the wagon wheels"as a Wyoming Jesuit once hoped I would avoid.

The acting and direction are brilliant, the whole being very tightly managed and free of unnecessary theatrics, making it so much more effective.

Having been twice a victim of such a situation, though with very different backgrounds, I found the movie very realistic, and telling. In fact, afterwards I could scarcely talk about it without being moved to tears. Go! See it! Please, for my sake and yours - these are uncertain times.You may begin to understand.

I thank God someone has made this movie , and with such integrity.