I've just finished watching the ABC's coverage of the Bali memorial in the Domain. Good work on all fronts. I thought Marie Bashir was pretty boring, and I couldn't help but heave an ironic sigh at her having the same surname as that other Bashir character in Indonesia... still, as the governor of NSW I don't suppose she could've been left out. Her aside, I was impressed by the service and the ABC's presentation of it. Dignified and controlled without being cold (Geraldine Doogue was audibly tearing up at several points), emotive without being overdone (as some of the American memorials post Sept. 11 struck me as being). Speeches were good, musical performances were fine, though the Americanisms in Nikki Webster's accent annoyed me a bit. Hell, I didn't even mind Kasey Chambers that much. David Hobson ended it with a particularly good rendition of the national anthem, and Iva Davies' performance of "Great Southern Land" was done well too.

There's even some good news out of Bali, as some of the people on the Australian consulate's "grave concerns" list have been found alive. No indication if they're alive and well, but alive will do. There's still over a hundred people on the list, but I daresay if they can find any of them still breathing they'll accept that as a good sign.

I daresay there's going to be a lot of "Australian spirit" rhetoric surrounding the Bali event. Let me, then, present you with something I found in the Herald today. It's nothing to do with Bali, but it's one of the best illustrations of the Australian spirit I've ever seen.



It looks better in the paper (whoever scanned it for the Net hasn't done a great job; I might rescan it from print myself at TAFE and post it here), but even so. That was taken at Cessnock where there are bushfires raging. Irrespective of the fact that one is blazing just a few metres from them, these cricketers are still playing their game. That, folks, screams Australian spirit to me. A bit foolhardy, possibly even a little stupid, but determined not to let disaster get in the way of whatever it is we're doing. That shot makes me very happy indeed.

posted by James Russell | 2:10 PM