The key thing to remember here is that in space, nothing is ever still. You probably feel like you’re sitting still as you read this, but you’re not.
Earth is spinning on its axis at a speed of around 1,600km (1,000 miles) per hour.
It’s also whizzing around the Sun at around 108,000 km/h (67,000 mph), and beyond that, there’s the Solar System’s own velocity to take into account, as it circles the centre of the Milky Way at a staggering 828,000 km/h (500,000 mph).
And that’s before we even consider the ongoing expansion of the Universe.
Also the Milky Way and other nearby galaxies are moving at around 600km/s towards a point in space lying beyond the plane of the Milky Way, in the direction of the constellations Triangulum Australe, the Southern Triangle and Norma, the Carpenter’s Square. The Great Attractor.
I went to visit the exhibition of the artefacts and coffin of the Great Egyptian Pharaoh Ramsesses II. In Ancient Greek texts he is referred to as Ozymandias. Ramsesses II is thought to the be Pharaoh at the time of the Jewish ‘Exodus’. My favourite actor Yul Brunner played Ramsesses II is the 1956 film The Ten Commandments. The Aussie actor Joel Egerton played Ramsesses II in the 2014 film Exodus: Gods and Kings.
I took some photos. See below. And this is what I learnt.
He reigned Egypt around 3200 years ago, for at least 66 years, and died at quite an old age of 91. Ramsesses II rose to becoming Pharaoh at age of around 25.
He was a formidable warrior king conquering lands from Israel to Turkey. But also a peacemaker with the earliest known peace treaty in world history being written by Ramsesses with the Hittite Kingdom (Turkey). He was also a prodigious builder ushering a new golden age of peace and prosperity. He had at least eight wives, with the best know being Nefertari, and was father to over 100 children.
And The Pharaoh was worshipped as a god. The Pharaoh was the son of Re or Ra, the Sun god, and the earthly incarnation of the god Horus. The Pharaoh mediated between the gods and all people living on earth, a bit like the Pope. It was the divine responsibility of the Pharaoh to uphold the concept of Ma’at, or Universal Order, and live by its Principles.
The Pharaoh was mummified since according to their beliefs the life force of the deceased royal resided in his mummy. For the miracle of rebirth to occur, the mummified form must remain intact.
Also in order to reach Paradise the Pharaoh must first navigate the dangers of the Underworld, a bit like Dante. Only the most powerful magic- provided by spells , materials, and symbols- could control the evil forces that lurked there.
For Egyptians, the act of waking each morning was a form of rebirth. Each, night, the deceased Pharaoh relived his journey through the Underworld with the god Osiris and was reborn each dawn in Paradise.
By the time of his death, aged about 90 years, Ramesses was suffering from severe dental problems and was plagued by arthritis and hardening of the arteries.He had made Egypt rich from all the supplies and bounty he had collected from other empires. He had outlived many of his wives and children and left great memorials all over Egypt. Nine more pharaohs took the name Ramesses in his honour.
Most are aware of the recent release of #UFO files by the Pentagon. And that there were many UFO sightings that could not be explained. Imagine now that we try make contact with Extra Terrestrials (#ET )and succeed. The #Aliens reply back with a worrying message. It is clear these Aliens are a much more technologically advanced than human civilisation.
How would you respond to the Alien message? Would you welcome them and send the coordinates to find our planet?
Those are the questions that form the main premise for the 3 Body Problem. I being a SciFi nerd , have already read the great novel (three books) by China’s foremost SciFi writer, Cixin Liu. It has won SciFi highest literally award: The Nebula prize. I highly recommend you read it.
The book is not only about Science, and Aliens, and the Cosmos. One learns a lot of Chinese history and customs. It also has a deep philosophical discussions on the human race and the damage we are doing to the planet. As well as our fear of the Other, the real Aliens, the ones outside our normal experiences and expectations. It ponders whether the fundamental nature of matter could really be lawlessness or chaos? The universe progresses into increase in entropy , lack of order or predictability gradually falling into disorder. How videos games of AI reality level can indoctrinate and strongly influence human minds. Mentions how a woman should be like water, able to flow over and around everything. The main protagonist is a woman scientist.
Now #Netflix has made series on the #3BodyProblem . I watched all episodes. It is a good show but many differences to the books where most protagonists are Chinese. Even so I enjoyed it and recommend you view it especially if you are SciFi nerd or just love UFO and ET stories.
We are aware of the terrible conflict in progress between Israel (the Hebrews) and the Palestinians of Gaza. So I dug into deep time history to find out the origin of these two peoples.
The Palestinians have been in the Canaan area, i.e. Israel, Lebanon and Syria, for the longest time. They originated around 12 century BC from the “Sea Peoples”, a confederacy of predominantly seafaring raiders from the north and the west of Europe and North Asia that emigrated eastwards. Egyptian texts refer to them as the ‘Sea Peoples’. But it remains unclear who the Sea Peoples were, where they originated from or even why they came. I have attached a map of their Invasion of the Eastern Mediterranean.
The northern group of invaders settled on the coast of present-day Lebanon – an area that the Greeks later referred to as ‘Phoenicia’. The original Lebanese.
The southern group of invaders, the Peleste – subsequently known as the Philistines – was prevented from entering Egypt, and ended up in Canaan – an area corresponding roughly to modern-day Israel, Palestine, southern Lebanon and southern Syria. The Philistines or Paleste (original or indigenous Palestinians) disappeared from history in the 7th century BC, leaving only their name, Philistia (or Palestine), to designate the territory they had occupied.
The Sea Peoples may have migrated due to dramatic climate change, earthquakes or famine, or may have been pushed out by invading northern tribes in Europe and Northern Asia. Equally, they may simply have been one of successive waves of invaders looking for land to farm. What we do know is that they wreaked havoc and destruction all the way down the east coast of the Mediterranean, and that following violent conquests they generally burnt cities to the ground.
The Hebrews (Israelites) make appearance around 200 years or so after the Paleste or Philistines (original Palestinians) had already occupied Canaan, a land that included present day Israel. They waged war on the Palestinians and managed to make a peace truce for awhile, and succeeded in ruling Canaan for a period. But eventually suffered same fate as for the “Sea peoples’ with Israel being overrun by the Assyrians (Iranians and Iraqis?) from the east.
It was in Canaan that the Hebrews, having recently escaped slavery in Egypt, looked to build their own kingdom. Under attack from the Philistines the Hebrews put aside their quarrels with one another, and at some point in the 10th century BC appointed Saul as the first king of their territory – Israel. The biblical stories of Samson, Samuel, Saul, and David and Goliath are all concerned with Philistine-Hebrew conflicts.
Finding themselves in a state of permanent war, and fearing that their culture might be lost, the Hebrews began to record their history, and continued to do so over the following centuries in writings that came to be known as the Tanakh – the Hebrew Bible. Christians and Muslims base many of their religious beliefs on what is written in the Tanakh. It is also the textual source, with a few alterations in the order of books, for the Christian Old Testament.
The period during which the Hebrews were led by Saul and the subsequent reigns of his son-in-law, David, and David’s youngest son, Solomon, in the 10th century BC were a high point for the Israelite Kingdom, during which it became rich and prosperous.
Following the death of Solomon, however, the Hebrews fell back into quarrelling and the land was once again divided into two kingdoms: the northern and wealthier kingdom of Israel, with its capital in Samaria, and the smaller southern kingdom of Judah, with its capital in Jerusalem.
Too weak to resist invaders, Israel was eventually overrun by the Assyrians (Iraqis?) from the east.
The COVID pandemic concerns has been in most of our minds for several years. And we are still discussing where did the virus come from: the laboratory or from the wild? And in this blog I will discuss what I learnt from history that may point to an answer to our current queries. I know it is long, more than 140 words, so hopefully you will perservere.
Let’s go back in time 235 years. The date is 22 January 1788.
Imagine we are first Europeans to make a recorded landing in a new continent shown on ancient maps as Terra Australis Incognita: Unknown Southern Land. Now we call it Australia.
After a gruelling ocean journey of 252 days, our (First) Fleet of 11 sailing ships land in a big bay that has no fresh water. Two days later, we send a party of sailors, led by Hunter and Bradley, to try find fresh water. The party explores an opening between two precipitous rock (North and South) heads that leads into another big bay, which they discover is actually a huge harbour. In fact they much later they find its three huge interconnected harbours, which they call Port Jackson, Middle Harbour and North Harbour. What they did not know was that millennia before all this was incised deep river valleys which became flooded by the rising ocean after the melting of the ice caps at the end of a long ice age.
On 26 January 1788 these Europeans, mostly British, find a spring with fresh water (later called the Tank Stream) in a deep anchorage cove which they call Sydney Cove, now Circular Quay.
Then they further go exploring and land on a headland that protrudes half way through the Harbour. They encounter a friendly group of Indigenous people (who they call Aboriginals, from the Latin of “First Original Peoples”). The Indigenous people call this head land : Cubba Cubba (even though there was no Fidel Castro!). Loving simplicity, we now call it Middle Head. “Head” was a popular word amongst us!
The Indigenous tribe that was met for the first time were called the Borogegal, and they lived mostly in the area of the Great Harbour known to them as Goram Bullagong (now called Mosman Bay, after a famous whaler), and Cubba Cubba (see of my photos from my recent visit). Another tribe was prominent in the general area called the Cammeragal. Both “gals” or tribes spoke the same language : Kuringai. The Indigenous people were amazed by what they called “winged boats” or some called them Boo-Roo-Wang.
When they met the Europeans at Cuba Cubba and Korea (Chowder Bay), it was estimated that there was at least 3000 Indigenous people around the Great Harbour. Within 50 years of European Colonisation of Sydney Harbour the Indigenous people were reduced to less than 300.
The Borogegal had been in the Mosman area for at least 3000 years. The Cammeragal had been in the Sydney Region for at least 10,000 years. And further inland the 350 original “gals” had been in This Brown Southern Land of the Dreaming for over 60,000 years. Now, there are still some, but not many. They are almost extinct. That leaves less than 5,000. There are a total of 468,000 Aboriginal people in Australia, of whom 99% are mixed blood and 1% pureblood.
What happened originally on First Contact to result in such a dramatic reduction in Indigenous population?
A catastrophic viral Epidemic! Sounds familiar?
In April 1789, a little more than 1 year after after first contact in Sydney, an epidemic of smallpox virus hit Sydney and it killed only the Indigenous people. Newton Fowell, a Midshipman, describes what he saw as he rowed around Goram Bullagong’s 18 km shoreline, with 10 beaches: “Every boat that went down the Harbour found them laying dead on the beaches”.
The Europeans were not affected. An investigation was carried out and it was stated that none of the Europeans in the First Fleet had any symptoms of smallpox infection. It was then blamed on the French who had landed almost same time at La Perouse next to Botany Bay.
Now it is blamed on a likely accident or deliberate act of release of the smallpox virus that was kept by the ship’s surgeons in bottles, in not very safe or secure stores or “labs”. These bottles were supposed to contain a mild form of the virus (cowpox) which would be used for inoculation of the Europeans, if needed. But what if the virus in some of the bottles was no mild, a more deadly aggressive infectious variant? And what if the bottle was broken or deliberate spilled and infected a local Indigenous person who had absolute no immunity to this new virus since was never seen before in Australia? Accidental or Deliberate . Whatever, it facilitated hugely the conquering of the huge southern land from the local original owners!
This is a historical story of a shipwreck, two lighthouses and a haunted cemetery in Sydney, Australia. The ghost story fun part is at the end for those with little patience or addicted to only 140 word reads ! There are lots of photos too that I took during my Flanerie of these sites.
The shipwreck was the worst disaster in Australian naval history. It happened on a dark, stormy and windy night in 20 August 1857 at South Head, Watsons Bay, Sydney. The ship was a beautiful timber, three masted full rigged ship (see drawing) called The Dunbar. The Dunbar was initially built as a troop ship for use in the Crimean War (yes that had been another war in Crimea before the current ongoing one!). Later it was used to carry passengers to The Australian Gold rushes in 1856.
The wreck had a profound effect on the people of Sydney Colony because nearly all the passengers were Sydney residents returning home. It’s was bringing back mothers with their daughters and sons who had spent boarding school at “home”, Britain. Also there were many important people returning to the Colony of New South Wales, Australia.
Captain James Green thought of delaying entry until daybreak into Sydney Harbour due to poor night visibility and stormy conditions. But he was pressurised by many who were very eager to comeback soon after 81 days ocean travel to their dear ones at Sydney Cove. Due to all this pressure and since he had experience of many a passage through the Heads into the Harbour, Captain Green unfortunately decided to proceed trying to enter the Harbour in that fateful night.
The Captain saw the light from the Macquarie Lighthouse (see my photos) in the distance. He thought to keep it to his left and then he saw what appeared to be the entry passage between high rock bluffs of South and North Heads. But it was a false gap. It was actually the bay at the Gap, a false appearance of an entrance, between the Lighthouse and the northernmost point of South Head.
The Gap is an ocean cliff on the eastern side with views to Manly at North Head and the Pacific Ocean. Vaucluse is the only adjacent suburb, to the south. Today, The Gap is known as a notorious suicide spot.
The Dunbar crashed broadside on to the 50m high cliff face midway between the Macquarie Lighthouse and The Gap. The power of the giant waves and the rugged rocks utterly smashed the ship to smithereens. With exception of one sailor, the remaining 121 passengers on board perished. Most bodies smashed on the rocks and some eaten by sharks.The lone survivor stayed on rock ledge for two days until someone looking over the cliffs edge spotted him and then he was then rescued by winching him up to the top. The Dunbar shipwreck is located beneath the South Head cliffs near the existing Signal Station Tower.
The investigation inquiry into the disaster concluded that Captain Green had been misguided by the light of the Macquarie Lighthouse which Green thought was nearer to the north edge of South Head, immediately adjacent to the entrance to the Harbour, but which was in fact many miles further to the south inland.
It was then decided to construct a new lighthouse on the north most end of South Head immediately adjacent to the entrance through the Heads into Sydney Harbour. This lighthouse built in 1858 was painted red and white, the colour of St George, and was named Hornby Lighthouse (see my photos).
Twenty two bodies were retrieved from Sydney Harbour, most washed in terrible shape, smashed and bitten by sharks, on to the beaches of Mosman. Many body parts and cargo were also retrieved.
The remains of The Dunbar unfortunates were buried at Camperdown Cemetery, Newtown, Sydney. There is a communal flat slab burial inscribed tomb at the corner of the cemetery next to one of the ship’s anchors. The cemetery is the only remaining cemetery from the early Colony. The other two cemeteries have been covered up by the Sydney Town Hall and the Central Station.
My visit in August 2023 to Camperdown Cemetery, which has been founded in 1848, showed that the cemetery suffered much from general neglect and uncurbed vandalism with lots of graffiti done to the tombs and locals use it as a dog walking park! (see my photos) Many people who were important in the early history of the Colony are buried there including the unfortunates of the Dunbar shipwreck. St Stephens Church inside the cemetery is very impressive. See all my photos.
Now here is the spooky fun part.
The ghost story is of a lady, Hannah Watson, and her lover. Hannah, the wife of Captain Thomas Watson, the Harbour Master of Sydney, was having an affair with Captain John Steane of the Royal Navy. Thomas Watson, on discovering his wife’s infidelity, cursed the lovers. Hannah wrote to Steane, begging him not to return to Sydney, but it was too late. Hannah Watson died and was buried in the cemetery. John Steane outlived Hannah by only a few days. The ship in which he was returning to the arms of his beloved was the ill-fated The Dunbar. John Steane’s body was one of the few that were recovered intact. It is buried in a separate grave next to the Dunbar Tomb (see my photos), and only a few metres from the plot where Thomas Watson had recently buried his wife.
It is claimed that Hannah Watson has been seen emerging from her tomb in the form of a ghostly grey lady. She is said to drift slowly to the grave of her erstwhile lover, John Steane.
Macquarie Light House at Watsons Bay Hornby Light House at South Head, Watsons BayHornby Lighthouse immediately adjacent to entrance to Sydney Harbour, North Head in the BackgroundView of Sydney City and the Mosman North ShoreThe sandstone Bluffs near the Dunbar Shipwreck siteStanding on South Head near the Hornby Light House looking at Entrance to Sydney Harbour with north head in distanceJohn Stein tomb at Camperdown Historic Cemetery. the Ghost of his lover Hanna Watsons leaves her grave nearby to join him every nightThe Dunbar Shipwreck Victims Tomb at Camperdown Historic Cemetery Inscription on the Dunbar Shipwreck Victims Tomb Slab at Camperdown Historic CemeteryMoreton Fig tree at entry to Camperdown Historic Cemetery founded 1848Aboriginals Rangers Memorial Stele at Camperdown Historic Cemetery
For many arrival to Sydney was by ship. The first thing they saw was the sheer sandstone rock bluffs of the Heads that rise about 80m above sea level and bound the passage into the Harbour. And after that many probably saw the buildings of the Quarantine Station on the western slope of North Head. A beautiful site, that contained so much pain and sorrow, with magnificent panoramic views of the Harbour, Manly and in the far distance, Sydney town.
The voyage by ship from Europe took 3 months.The close quarters combined with poor standards on the ships were a perfect breeding ground for disease.
To protect Australia from the sick in these ships the concept of quarantine was designed. It was to separate the sick and keep the healthy passengers isolated for at least the incubation period of the disease.
The site for isolation was the Quarantine Station at North Head now known as Q-Station.
The Q-Station site was chosen since it was far enough removed from the centre of Sydney. Also there was a spring nearby to provide fresh water for the internees. The 277 hectare site is situated on the western side of North Head, on a natural amphitheatre of land centred on Quarantine Beach.
Q-Station operated officialy from 14 August 1832 to 29 February 1984. Importance of the Station was in response to the 1829-1851 major Cholera pandemic in Europe and later the major Spanish Influenza pandemic of 1918-1919. In all, between 1828 and 1984 at least 580 vessels were quarantined at the Quarantine Station. More than 13,000 people were quarantined at the station of whom an estimated 572 died and were buried there. I did visit one of the disused and unkempt cemeteries where about half of the dead were buried but I will post notes and photos on a later post.
I went to on a flanerie with my trusty Canon camera and took some photos of the Q-Station buildings and site. See them below.
The landing to the Q-Station with Manly in the backgroundQuarantine Beach next to the landingQuarantine beachView from Quarantine Station to passage to North Manly Harbour with the Ferry crossingA potential Internee at the First Class block of Q-Stationtoo beautiful to be kept locked up at the Quarantine StationFirst Class block accomodation at Q-StationFirst Class room with all The Inhaling Block: internees inhaled steam and 1% zinc sulphate The room in the Inhaling Block were up to 60 internees where made to inhale steam and zinc sulphate Steep Stairs down to the Quarantine Beach and Inhaling Block areaBath tub in the Shower blockThe Shower BlockToilet and Shower blockClothes washing blockOld photo of Nurses and DoctorsChild internee with smallpox disease
In previous posts on #Australia, I mentioned the #TankStream. Its one of the main reasons Governor #Phillip chose the cove of the mouth of this little creek as the site of his Penal Settlement. The creek provided for thousand of years the #Gadigal #Aborigines with fresh water, fish and other resources. And in 1788 it was about to provide the new Penal Colony with fresh water for about 40 years.
In 1788 when the first fleet landed the Tank Stream was a little ferny creek with a thick wood of mostly eucalyptus trees.The site eventually became known as Sydney. Phillip own words were: “it was at the head of the cove, near the run of fresh water which stole silently along a very thick wood”. The Stream flowed north towards Sydney Cove from a swampy ground located just to the west of current Hyde Park in the Sydney CBD. The original vegetation and the mouth of the Tank Stream in 1788 probably looked very similar to the current Parsley park reserve at Vaucluse (see the photos that I took).
Decades after all the clearing of this “wood” and vegetation in 1790 the Tank Stream ran dry. Phillip made the convicts cut three large holding Tanks into the sandstone to store the water due to drought. The Stream was then named the “Tank” Stream.
In 1826 (38 years after arrival) the whole of the Tank Stream was abandoned as a source of water supply. It was replaced by an underground channel which brought water from the Lachlan Swamps in Centennial Park to a reservoir in Hyde Park.
The creek that Phillip had identified as a reason for settling at Sydney Cove (now Circular Quay) and which had sustained life in the early Colony, was eventually buried under a growing City and effectively killed.
However, the Tank Stream became a “ghost’ creek, haunting the basements of all the tall buildings built over it. The Stream was still Alvie ! And it still exists at Circular Quay in a series of Fountains built on the western end of the Quay (see my photos). The existing Ship Inn Pub at the Quay was erected in 1905 directly over the mouth of the Tank Stream on what used to be mudflats.
The Fountains that carry the water of the Tank Stream were designed in 1981 by the sculptor Stephen Walker, and consist of five separate linked pools depicting a variety of flora and fauna which used to be on its original banks. The Central fountain includes four columns I bronze that rise out of the water. I took some photos of the Fountains: see below. One of the inscription reads:” the Tank Stream Fountain recalls mankind’s past dependance on this flowing stream”.
Parsley Bay ReserveThe Fountains at Circular Quay that still flow with the water of the Tank StreamParsley Bay ReserveParsley Bay Reserve
For hundreds of years travellers to #Sydney #Australia arrived by ships. What they first saw was the craggy, sheer verticality of the rock bluffs that lined the Gap or channel from the Pacific Ocean to Port Jackson (aka Sydney Harbour). These bluffs are known as North Head and South Head. They are sandstone rock cliffs, weathered by the Pacific Ocean storms and turbulent waves, salt spray and ferocious winds.
The gap between the Heads was seen by Captain James #Cook during his sailing coastal passage of discovery of Australia in 19 April 1770. But Cook did not realise that beyond the Gap was a huge Harbour (in fact 3 harbour areas). Even so he still named what he thought was a small bay : Port Jackson. In 1788 Captain #Phillip arrived with the first fleet of convicts. Phillip found the Gap when he sent a survey team to look for a reliable steady source of fresh water. This water source was the Tank Stream that flowed into Sydney Harbour at Circular Quay (and it still does). Hence, the Penal Colony was established at Circular Quay and adjoining Rocks area.
South Head near the Gap is the site of Australia’s deadliest ship disaster. In 1857 The Dunbar perished by getting bashed to smithereens against the sandstone cliffs near the Gap. 122 people died in this tragedy with only one survivor.
There is also a great story about the Quarantine Station at North Head, but I will leave this for another time when I go visit and take some photos.
Another story concerns a religious sect at #Balmoral Beach. In the 1920s the Theosophical Society build the Star Amphitheatre in Balmoral Beach to allow the mystic Krishnamurti to give lectures and to watch for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. They believe that Jesus would come walking though the Gap between South and North Heads.
North Head lies high above the Pacific and the Harbour. Its edges are sheer vertical sandstone cliffs which makes one feel on the Edge of Limitlessness. The Headland was originally stitched with old stone walls that were built under work schemes during the 1929 Great Depression.
And recently it was upgraded with some beautiful cut sandstone benches in lookout with paved paths. The main lookout that was upgraded is now called by its Aboriginal name of #Burragula (it was formally known as Fairfax Lookout). This lookout is right above the cliffs where the Harbour surrenders to the Ocean. Two kilometres or so across the water is South Head.
With all this history of North Head I decided to visit the place and take some photos to complement what I wrote above. See the photo gallery below.
Burragula Lookout at North Head ManlyBurragula Lookout at North Head ManlyBurragula Lookout at North Head ManlyBurragula Lookout at North Head ManlyBurragula Lookout at North Head ManlySouth Head as viewed from Burragula Lookout at North Head ManlyBurragula Lookout at North Head ManlyView of South Head and Port Jackson with Sydney Skyline from Burragula Lookout at North Head ManlyView of North Head from South Head
About 2 million years ago the magnetic field of Earth reversed from what it currently is. South became North.
And this reversal may have provided a spark for evolution of our biological family and Genus : Homo.
Around 2008 at a cave called Malapa in South Africa, not far from Johannesburg, paleoanthropologists found several fossils. These fossil bones were originally thought to be Human of the same Genus as us: Homo. But then on very close and comparative examination the scientists decided that it was an advanced species of a previous primitive hominin of the Genus: Austrolopithecus.
Hence, the new fossil hominin was called Australopithecus SEDIBA. The species name SEDIBA is Sesotho language for spring of water, which is believed to have existed at the time in Malapa.
Sediba hominin was considered to be ALMOST HUMAN.
Probably a step in the evolutionary path from the primitive Austrolopiths and the more modern Homo such as Habilis and Erectus. Erectus represents the longest living Species of the Homo Genus , having lived at least 1.8 million years on Earth prior to becoming Extinct. Our Species Homo Sapiens has only been around for 300,000 years or so. Here is a drawing of the different genus and species.
The Global Soul 