Belshaw's Best 9: Patrick Desmond Fitzgerald Murray 1900-1967

This post, Patrick Desmond Fitzgerald Murray 1900-1967, is the summary story of a man.

The Murrays themselves were an example of an imperial family that spanned countries. Yarralumla in Canberra carries the name of a Murray property from the early days of the family in Australia. Later, the Murrays would span colonial service, the military and academia in England, Australia, New Guinea and England. Patrick grew up in this world.

 It is also the story of the early days of a university at a time when I was a student. Again, this was a different world, the last days before mass university education.

Belshaw's Best 8: A Very Sporting Day - interesting but also odd

My best is not always my best writing. Sometimes it stands out in my mind for other reasons. A Very Sporting Day - interesting but also odd is one of those posts.

This post records my reactions back in 2007 on going to see my old school play Rugby. This is a photo of a more recent match this year against Sydney Grammar.

I am not naturally a gregarious person. More precisely, I have learned to be in the right circumstances and mood.

I know that I should go up to people who I know and say hello. I know that they would be friendly. Yet sometimes it's hard to do so. 

Belshaw's Best 7: Judith Wright's "For a Pastoral Family" - and "Skins"

I write a fair bit about my own area of Australia because I am so attached to it. I know it well; it's landscape and people are sunk deep into my soul.

Judith Wright is one of New England's best known writers. Judith Wright's "For a Pastoral Family" - and "Skins" deals with two of her poems, trying to set them in a context.  

Belshaw's Best 6: the colours of New England

Some of my favourite posts are somewhat experimental posts where I have tried to capture some element of the texture of life in areas that interest me. The colours of New England is one such post, an attempt to combine the visual and the written to bring an area alive. 

Belshaw's Best 5: GDP - Australia in its Region

GDP - Australia in its Region dates from November 2006. This was one of a number of posts intended to put Australia into a global and regional context. Given that this post is now almost three years old, how does it stack up?

I don't think that I would change the analysis at all because the drivers I talked about then have continued, as have the Australian policy responses. Growth in India and China has been somewhat faster than I expected, the US's position has been weakened by the Global Financial Crisis, Australia has performed well in economic terms.

Even given our good performance and our current membership of the G20, Australia's share of global GDP must continue to shrink. For the present, we remain a regional economic super power and a small but significant player in the global economy.

The changes to the composition of the Australian population that I talked about have continued apace, with immigration in fact being higher than I had expected. Mr Akya's suggestion that we should all pack up and return to Europe looks even sillier now than it did then.

Postscript

In July the Australian Bureau of Statistics release migration data for the 2007-2008 financial year.

As a end June 2008, 5.5 million migrants from over 200 countries living in Australia were born overseas, over 25% of the population.

People born in the United Kingdom remained the largest group with 1.2 million, followed by those from New Zealand (495,000 people), China (314,000), India (239,000) and Italy (222,000).

However, over the last 10 years those born in the UK declined from 6.1% of Australia's population in 1998 to 5.4% in 2008. Likewise the Italian-born declined from 1.3% to 1.0%. In contrast, increases were recorded for people born in New Zealand (from 1.8% to 2.3%), China (from 0.7% to 1.5%) and India (from 0.5% to 1.1%).

Belshaw's Best 4: End Week Reflections - Quong Tart and the Chinese in Australia

I wrote this post back in February 2007. It was, I think, my first major post on the Chinese in this country and beyond. Since then I have written a number of posts. I have also visited China for the first time, a visit that is now a treasured memory.

This visit shows the open air restaurant down the street from our hotel in Beijing.

This night there was some form of celebration on, a very big group spanning many tables. The women being honoured visited tables for toasts. Others visited her and so it went on.

Memories!

Belshaw's Best - On the enduring power of good teachers

Neil (Ninglun) kindly featured this post in his own archive series. Published on 24 September 2007, I have tried to express in it a very simple and clear message.

I think that most of us can point to teachers who have influenced us in positive ways. In the part remembered words of a hymn from school, Let us now praise famous men:

But some there are who have no memorial
Yet their name liveth for evermore

Their influence carries down through the generations. This may not always be clear, nor are the effects easily measurable in our current age of quantification. Yet no one really doubts their influence.

Belshaw's Best - Australia's Aborigines - an introductory post

I have included this post in this series because it marks the start of what has become something of a journey in a personal and intellectual sense.

I began this 20 December 2006 post with these words:

I have so far hesitated to write anything on issues connected with Australia's aborigines because this area has become a bit of a mine field, especially for some one like me who does not have much direct contact with aboriginal people. However, events have conspired to create a need for me to make some comments.

Unlike then, I now do have contact with Aboriginal people. I work with them every day. However, looking at the post I find it interesting that the views I expressed then are still present in my writing and thinking. While my views have changed on certain points and have certainly become a lot deeper, I remain convinced of the need to recognise the diversity in Aboriginal experience, to establish facts and to avoid stereotyping.

Belshaw's Best - Clare's Muck-up Day - fourteen years comes to an end

Those who read this blog will know that I dearly love my daughters. This post from September 2007 reflects on the end of schooling.

I know that all parents feel like I did at this time. It really is a series of lasts!