skip over the breathing rocket

[R.Jones@mirinz.org.nz]

     Andrzej Markiewicz seez:
     
     Subject: woomera- what is it
     
     >Woomera is an aboriginal word. It is the name of an implement
     >they use for flinging a spear. They also use it for carrying food, 
     >water etc..It is made of wood, about 1 foot long and shaped like a 
     >long ovoid bowl with a kind of hook on the end.
     >It is also a place name, but the name was given by white people
     >back in the fifties. What happened was the British and Australian 
     >governments undertook a massive relocation programme from the central 
     >desert area of South Australia- in other words they kicked the 
     >Aborigines off their land forcibly- because they wanted to establish 
     >a nuclear test site (Maralinga) and a rocket research and test 
     >facility. This was Woomera, which was also used by the American air 
     >force. Let's see Skippy solve that one.
     
     This is interesting. 'The Dreaming' followed on from 'Breathing' and 
     predated 'Rockets Tail'. Later TLTC&TC was filmed in the London 
     Underground (Aldwych) (which has doubled as a bomb shelter).......
     
     Perhaps there is a common thread running through these themes (ie a 
     connection with a place where bombs and missiles are tested)? It is of 
     interest that Christmas Island (an Aussie possession in the Indian 
     Ocean where the Brits tested their bombs when they got too big for 
     South Australia) is home for cats abandoned by the bomb people when 
     they left. In order to survive, these cats learned how to catch fish 
     from the sea. Now, as we all know Kate has/had a cat called Rocket. So 
     the only remaining question is 'does Kates cat eat from a Woomera'? If 
     so I suspect it may have three heads and a scorched tail.
     
     Speaking of things nuclear, does the end of the cold war means the 
     demise of that element of conciousness that explored the human 
     condition and produced so many wonderful songs in the anti-nuke/war 
     theme (eg Kate's 'Army Dreamers' and 'Breathing', others including 
     Dylan, Baez etc). I apologize to Ken (from Wellington) for again 
     showing my age, but when I was very small I remember my parents taking 
     me outside and showing me a red sky. Apparently the Americans had let 
     a bomb off in the Pacific (Johnstone Island I think). Such events, 
     awesome as they are, must surely be highly stimulating to the artist.
     
     Rhys