Sculpture, Oysters, Beardy Street and Aboriginal DNA

I was sitting upstairs in a restaurant overlooking Armidale's Beardy Street. We had been down to a BBQ lunch near Walcha, now New England's sculpture capital. This is a piece by Alec Gill from the Walcha Gallery of Art.  

We had come back a little early to go to the first film in the Armidale International Film Festival. Drinking champagne and eating oysters before the next film, I thought I would like to have establish a business in Armidale with our offices overlooking the Mall. It was just so civilised. I was to do that, if not quite with the results I hoped.

I mention this now because Monday's post on New England Australia, New natural history museum adds to Armidale's attractions and diversity - but can we fix Beardy Street?, ended with a somewhat plaintive Beardy Street call.

While Armidale is constantly adding to its attractions, the decline in Beardy Street and especially the central mall leaves a real hole. I know that this is a parochial post, but I still have this vision of Beardy Street as a cafe/bookshop/small shop strip, the main entertainment hub for locals and tourists alike. .

Staying with my somewhat parochial theme, yesterday's post on New England's History, Musings on the latest Aboriginal DNA studies from Professor Cooper and his team, issues for New England studies, discusses what the latest DNA research tells us about Aboriginal history. They are interesting results that I hope will extend my analysis of the Aboriginal history of Northern NSW.