Dolphin capers
A pod of dolphins, two adults and four young ones, was spotted on September 2 feeding in the busy working port area of Sullivan’s Cove. A week later they were still at it.
They are not the first dolphins to be sighted in the area over recent months but they obligingly came close enough to shore for Graeme Paine to take these evocative photographs.
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A special night
By SHEVILL MATHERS | Our nearest star, the Sun, from a distance of 150,000,000 kilometres, provides us with light and warmth and from time to time a magnificent nighttime ‘laser light’ show. Well, not quite a laser light show, but something on a much grander scale. The Southern Aurora, Southern Lights or Aurora Australis are term used to describe the displays we see in out southern skies when the sun has had a particularly bad day!
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Tribute to a Tasmanian Tiger
Margaret Scott, literary icon of Tasmania, human rights activist, ABC television panellist with gently understated but devastating humour, died at the age of 71 on Monday, August 29.
Born in Bristol, England in 1934, she emigrated to Tasmania in 1959 and subsequently took up the position of head of the University of Tasmania’s English Department.
She retired in 1987 to pursue her writing of novels, magazine articles and, most notably, poetry.
Margaret Scott was particularly asscociated with the Port Arthur community and the arts community.
We will miss her.
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Journey through time
By PATSY HOLLIS | For his master’s degree in Arts, Design and Environment from the University of Tasmania Fine Arts, ceramicist Ben Richardson created not only monolithic pieces but also the photographs and the words that inspired each one. There’s more here
Living by the sword
It would be difficult to imagine a more unlikely occupation at the beginning of the 21st century than professional swordsman, but Tasmanian Stephen Hand has made a sucessful career as a internationally recognised teacher, scholar, author, fight choreographer and practitioner of Medieval and Elizabethan sword fighting.
Get dressed for battle here
Young Winemaker of the Year
Tasmania’s Bay of Fires winemaker Fran Austin is the 2005 Qantas Young Winemaker of the Year.
Fran said that her win reflected Tasmania’s commitment to super premium wine making.
“This award is good for me, but it provides validation of the Tasmanian wine industry’s focus on quality rather than chasing mid- range of bulk markets.
“There are so many talented young winemakers and exciting wines on the Australian market and this win is quite an honour.”
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[Peter Whyte photograph]
2005 is a winning vintage
The last grapes are in, most varieties are already safely in tank or barrel and winemakers throughout Tasmania are thrilled with the 2005 vintage results.
“Up there with our best ever,” said contract winemaker Andrew Pirie.
“On the whole, better than the exceptional 2000 vintage,” according to Julian Alcorso of Winemaking Tasmania.
Michael Vishacki of Panorama Vineyard in the Huon — “Exceptionally good. The best I’ve seen.”
“Brilliant”, said BRL Hardy’s Bay of Fires winemaker, Fran Austin in Pipers River.
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Whale of a time
Southern right whales put on many boisterous mating displays this year on the lower Derwent River, especially in Fredrick Henry Bay, and seasoned observers reckon it was the best display in decades.
They’re now [August 2005] on their way north, but indications are that they will be back again in 2006 with increased numbers.
Not far from here
Hobart-based painter, Richard Wastell, thanks to a commission from the Devonport Regional Gallery, has produced an sell-out exhibition of paintings that capture the essence of the Tasmanian wilderness, its extraordinary beauty and also its vulnerability and the desecration wrought upon it by man. Read more here
Jurassic legacy
In a moment of geological high drama that may have lasted less than a million years, Tasmania received a huge share of accessible dolerite, the rock that threatened, intrigued and misled our early explorers and visitors. An extract from a fascinating book by David Leaman starts here
Inspiring Freycinet
Rob Blakers spent many years capturing the images featured in this special portfolio from his latest book Freycinet. See more here
Rural Inspiration
RURAL INSPIRATION | Photographer Maria Fletcher says her creative inspiration comes from looking out daily “at a rural landscape which has been shaped over the past 150 years by a small number of farming families. Alongside the cleared paddocks and tree lined boundaries, the land still retains a sense of its ancient human history”. Enjoy her portfolio here.
Bike Heaven
BIKE HEAVEN | There’s no better way to see Tasmania than by bicycle. Every second year there’s a Great Tasmanian Bike Ride that attracts cyclists from all around the world to partake of our island’s scenery and hospitality. For one keen participant’s reminiscences read more here
What’s in a name?
Well, it’s official. Just ask Muddles, officially named by Trina Mangels of Hobart.
We decided our bedraggled little Adelie penguin needed a name and out readers responded with zeal, and often, tongue in cheek.
Five of them will be receiving a copy of Images of Antarctica as a reward for their effort.
Lorraine McNeair of Wynyard came close with Mudwaddle (really, really, close at the judge’s lunch, the tie being decided by the waiter).
Other names submitted included Adelie, Mudelie, Mudslide, Mudson, and some more obscure ones, including Pengathlon, Percy and Maximus. There were many more and we thank our readers, from all parts of the globe, for their submissions.
The calendars are on their way to the finalists.
