Tag: Books

200 YEARS BEFORE ‘ME TOO’, MARY REIBEY BECAME THE BUSINESS LEADER OF THE COLONY OF NEW SOUTH WALES.

On By Everald ComptonIn Gender Equality, Good Books, History

Next time you have a twenty dollar note in your hands, take a close look at who is honoured on it.

You will note that Mary Reibey is on one side and John Flynn is on the other.

Flynn (about whom I wrote the book ‘The Man on the Twenty Dollar Notes’) is a legend as founder of the Flying Doctor and School of the Air. Mary Reibey is known by few, but richly deserves her honoured place in our national history as her achievements in our colonial era were quite extraordinary.

Eminent historical novelist, Grantlee Kieza, has written a well researched book to greatly upgrade her profile.

He is a valued friend of mine and we meet often for breakfast to chat about the books we are writing. Grantlee is far more productive than me, writing two, sometimes three, books every year, whereas I write one. He has written best selling books on such Australian legends as Hudson Fysh, Banjo Patterson, John Monash, Bert Hinkler, Henry Lawson and others. Talking with him is a huge learning experience for me and I am enormously grateful for it.

The front cover of his book below invites us to enjoy the fascinating story of THE REMARKABLE MRS REIBY. Grantlee has done all of us a huge favour by writing it so superbly. Make sure you buy his book soon.

Mary Reibey (her name then was Molly Haydock), a teenager living in poor circumstances in the English town of Stafford, stole a horse, tried to sell it, was caught & sentenced to death. In the shadow of the gallows, the lawmakers decided to give her another chance and ordered that she be transported to Australia for a term of 7 years, which she would eventually voluntarily extend to 70.

After months on a filthy boat and facing appalling conditions on arrival in Sydney, she settled down to the task of rehabilitating her life. She soon won a pardon and built a future. She fell in love with a decent man, married him, had 7 children, but unfortunately he died. She embarked on an amazing business career as a working mum that led her to become a real estate mogul, a shipping magnate and a philanthropist. Her achievements were an incredible feat.

Indeed, she became the wealthiest woman in colonial Australia and the acknowledged leader of a male dominated business community. From those positions of power, she often funded new public services that the colonial administration had ignored.

Her finest achievements were that she was the founding shareholder of the Sydney Morning Herald and the Bank of New South Wales (now Westpac) both of which have lasted for two centuries.

In all her endeavours, she faced the usual hurdles that have deterred many women in their rightful quest for gender equality. She was persistent, respectful and able and won acceptance strictly on merit. She was recognised as the ‘go to’ person if you wanted to achieve anything of significance in the colony and beyond. Smart male investors would say to friends, ‘If you want to make money, invest in whatever Mrs Reibey is doing’. (My Sydney readers will be interested to know that she owned Macquarie Place and lots of land surrounding it.)

She died in 1855 at age 78. New South Wales had lost its greatest pioneer. She left an inspirational pathway for others to follow, showing how constant setbacks can be overcome on a pathway to greatness.

There have been many women of courage and ability who have contributed mightily to the creation and development of Australia as a nation and as a society, but there are not many whose record is of greater quality and permanence than that of Mary Reibey.

However, we can be sure that the future will bring forward a new style of female leadership to the ever changing life of Australia and will ensure that gender equality is permanently embedded as a cornerstone of the nation.

I had an experience a week ago that pointedly displayed that future.

I visited the Linville School in the Brisbane River Valley where I first enrolled as a student 86 years ago. The School had 20 students then. Now it has 23. They gave me a wonderful welcome and invited me to spend 30 minutes talking to the students about my experiences of life and answering their questions. I was greatly heartened by their positive attitudes.

My closing comment was,

‘I hope that one of you will one day become Prime Minister of Australia. In saying this, may I predict that it will probably be one of the girls.’

The female students rose as one, clapping and cheering mightily. The guys sat in respectful silence, clapping politely.

My wife Helen was with me and I whispered to her,

‘We are looking at the future’

Proud to be known as the ‘Boy from Linville’.

Everald

ARE YOU BOGGED MATE?

On By Everald ComptonIn Good Books

Whenever I hold launch functions for any of my (4) books, I always donate to a real good cause the royalties I get from my publisher for book sales at the function.

So it is that at the Linville Launch of my book CATCHING THE LINVILLE TRAIN, I will be giving the royalties to ARE YOU BOGGED MATE?

I knew nothing about this great cause until I was told about it by my friend Tanya Grimward who is the friendly proprietor of the LINVILLE HOTEL where my local book launch will be held this coming Thursday, 20 July, at Noon.

ARE YOU BOGGED MATE? is very much involved in mental health in rural Australia where there are more suicides per head of population than in our cities. Depression caused by financial issues relating to droughts, floods, fires, debt, losses etc is great and growing.

Mental health is now the greatest medical problem in Australia. I know this from my work as an Adjunct Professor at the Thompson Institute for Medical Health Research at University of the Sunshine Coast and so I admire the initiative taken by ARE YOU BOGGED MATE?

So come to support them this Thursday. The lunch is at the Linville Hotel at Noon. Cost is 50 dollars a head and a signed book can be bought for 30 dollars, of which 10 dollars goes to ARE YOU BOGGED MATE?

Sign up for lunch today by sending an email to Tanya Grimward at contact@thelinvillehotel.com.au and she will email you with banking details.

If you cant make it to Linville on Thursday, please buy a signed copy of CATCHING THE LINVILLE TRAIN from my website (everaldcompton.com then click on shop). Royalties from sales anytime this week will go to ARE YOU BOGGED MATE?

See you Thursday (or say hello on my website).

Cheers

Everald

LOOKING FORWARD TO HAVING LUNCH WITH YOU AT LINVILLE ONE WEEK FROM TODAY.

On By Everald ComptonIn Good Books, History

PUT THIS DATE IN YOUR DIARY RIGHT NOW.

THURSDAY 20 JULY NOON – LINVILLE HOTEL – LUNCH WITH EVERALD

Send an email today to

contact@thelinvillehotel.com.au

to book your seats at the table. They will send you banking details.

Cost is 50 dollars per person for a wonderful lunch at an historic hotel while you enjoy a chat about my book CATCHING THE LINVILLE TRAIN as well as helping to raise funds for a wonderful charity called ARE YOU BOGGED MATE that cares for people in the bush who are having a battle with mental health.

I lived in Linville 90 years ago and passed the hotel on my walk to school. Back in those days it was called the Club Hotel as you can see on the painting that’s on the back cover of my book.

You will enjoy your drive to this pleasant rural village. Its less than a couple of hours drive from Brisbane, Ipswich, Toowoomba and the Sunshine Coast so you can relax in historic surroundings on a pleasant day.

It will be good to meet you and I am certain that you will drive home feeling real good.

Cheers

Everald

JOIN ME FOR LUNCH AT THE LINVILLE HOTEL

On By Everald ComptonIn Good Books, History

Linville is in the Brisbane River Valley just 125 kilometres from my Aspley home in Brisbane if you travel via Caboolture and Kilcoy.

It is where I started school 86 years ago and the place where my book CATCHING THE LINVILLE TRAIN begins a lively account of my journey through the world.

I am travelling there on THURSDAY, 20 JULY, to enjoy lunch at NOON with my friend, Tanya Grimward, who is the owner and host of the grand old Linville Hotel. We hope that 50 people will join us for a happy chat and some top quality bush tucker.

I will sell and sign the book for 30 dollars, of which 10 dollars will be given to a great cause that Tanya and I admire and support called ARE YOU BOGGED MATE. It helps country people to handle mental health issues and stop the depression that too often leads to suicide.

A splendid two course lunch is yours for 50 dollars a head and I intend to get around all the tables and say hello to everyone who comes to join us.

YOU CAN BOOK BY EMAILING TANYA AT

contact@thelinvillehotel.com.au

She will email you the details of how to pay and confirm your booking.

You can see the hotel in the painting that appears on the back cover of my book. Back in my school days, the pub was called the Club Hotel and the son of the owner at that time used to play marbles with me in its backyard on our way home from school.

So there is more than a bit of nostalgia for me when I dine with you on Thursday 20 July at Noon. My work as an international fund raising consultant took me from Linville to all five continents organising campaigns in 26 nations.

I did not ever forget my happy days in Linville. It was the ground of my being.

See you there,

Everald

ON BEING A GOONDEEN

On By Everald ComptonIn Good Books, History

In the heritage of Indigenous Australians a GOONDEEN is ‘ a father figure; a very wise, smart and respected person, a clever fella who shares his life with others and cares for all.

Let me tell you a story that began in 2016 when I accepted with humility an invitation to become GOONDEEN EVERALD.

A respected friend of mine is Bill Synnot, as fine a citizen as I have come across, who has had a successful career as in Change Management. He decided to organise and finance the publication of a book called ‘Goondeen’ and establish the Goondeen Institute which would promote the spirit of Goondeen.

The first decision of the Goondeen Institute was to appoint three modern Goondeens.

*UNCLE ALBERT HOLT, a distinguished Indigenous Elder from Cherbourg in Queensland.

*HENRY PALASZCZUK, a migrant from war torn Europe who became a Member and Minister of the Queensland Parliament and whose daughter, Annastacia, is Premier.

*Me, a young lad from the bush who has tried to make a difference.

Bill then appointed an author, Sophie Church, to write the book, and Andrew Schulz, organiser of the Year of the Outback, to become the advocate of the project.

Many working lunches followed in Bill’s office where the six of us discussed many aspects of our lives and our work and our vision of Australia as a caring and sharing nation.

The book was launched in 2017 at Old Government House at the Queensland University of Technology by Annastacia and it has sold well, to the extent that there is now a Chinese translation of it which helps mould a better understanding of Australia by China.

Bill then had the book adapted as an educational resource for use in Primary Schools and now more than 50 schools are using it. Some are taking it very seriously by implementing a study program. On completion the students become GOONDEEN GUARDIANS, after making a commitment to live as sharers and carers in helping to create a cohesive society.

So it is that yesterday I was invited to the Springfield Central State School to individually declare 22 students to be GOONDEEN GUARDIANS and make a graduation address by giving examples of people who showed us how much more we can achieve in our vocations if we work in teams rather than as loners and how life reaches the highest level of quality where we daily share and care.

So, you can see me above doing my bit in bonding with my fellow Goondeens at Springfield (and their parents and teachers).

Actually, I could show you more photos, especially one of the GOONDEEN GARDEN that the students have created with an splendid indigenous mural containing sketches of Albert, Henry and me.

So, why am I telling you this.

I am proud to be involved in a movement where all who belong to it are creating caring and sharing communities in which they dont just talk about it, they become personally involved.

My day ended on a high note, when one of the new GOONDEEN GUARDIANS (female) said to me,

‘Are you indigenous?’

(I am very much a white man, so here is the subsequent conversation)

‘What makes you think I am indigenous?’

‘You tell wonderful stories and indigenous people are great story tellers.’

‘I have no indigenous ancestors, but I am spiritually indigenous as every one of us is an Australian.’

‘So am I and I hope that I will grow up to be like you and be able to tell great stories about it.’

‘I am sure you will do better than I have.’

Over and out,

A proud GOONDEEN,

Everald

If you would like to learn more, go to

Resources

CALLING ALL OLDIES. ITS TIME FOR WISDOM SHARING.

On By Everald ComptonIn Ageing, Good Books, History, religion, Seniors

I write books as a delightful way to relax as I enjoy trying to relate my life experiences in an entertaining way that my friends will enjoy.

So it is that, in the six years since my 85th birthday, I have written and published 4 books and have just begun the fifth.

May I suggest that you do likewise and commence right after reading this. There is no time to waste.

I can hear some of my friends saying ‘I am no good at writing things down’ but can I nicely say this is just an excuse. All you have to do is ask one of your grandkids to put it into their computer while you chat away about what you want to say. Then you work together to knock it into shape.

When you finish, there is no need to publish it publicly unless you deliberately choose too. If you have a computer and printer its easy to print off 50 copies to give to family and friends.

Just dont die without recording the music that is in your soul. Your accumulated wisdom is of value to all around you. All you have to do is decide whether to tell you life story or just describe important events in your journey or be like Agatha Christie and write a thriller that your fertile mind will enable you to think up.

Let me briefly tell you my story as an amateur author.

During my long career as a fund raising consultant, I wrote some boring books on raising money, then wrote a family history and my personal history.

I enjoyed doing that, even though none of them were a great success, so late in life I decided to get serious about my writing and enjoy doing so.

My first choice was not a hard one to make. John Flynn, Flynn of the Inland, had been a role model of my life since I learned about him at Sunday School so I wrote THE MAN ON THE TWENTY DOLLAR NOTES. I decided to write it as an historic novel, depicting him as an old man reminiscing about his life. I made sure I got the historical facts correct and created conversations that related to the personalities of those involved. It has been my best seller, 6000 copies sold so far.

Buoyed by that, I decided to write another one and chose to tell the story of how the nation of Australia was created in 1901 and how its Constitution was written as I reckon most Australians don’t have a clue as to what happened. DINNER WITH THE FOUNDING FATHERS follows the same theme as with Flynn. I have our first Prime Minister, Edmund Barton, inviting the most famous of the Founding Fathers (Deakin, Griffith, Forrest, Kingston, etc) to dinner after the event to review what they did and what they could have done better.

Then I wrote A BEAUTIFUL SUNSET. It is pure fiction, the story of a man who has a terminal illness and decides to make his last 3 months the greatest of his life despite huge criticism of his decision to depart via Voluntary Assisted Dying. It is a positive tale of life and death and legacy.

My latest is CATCHING THE LINVILLE TRAIN that describes the events, people, places and causes that determined my life of 91 years which began in the little village of Linville. I reckon it is my best and I was chuffed when a reader whom I have never met went on Facebook this week to commend it with these generous words,

“Well, I’ve read a few books but none are as engrossing and well written as this. If you are interested in history or philosophy, grab a copy. It is brilliant.”

Thank you Noelle.

Right now, I am working on another one, WALKING WITH THE GREAT SPIRIT. I will tell you about it another time. As soon as you can, I want you to start writing and enjoy it. There is no hard work involved. The world needs your words. There may be no tomorrow.

But let me finish with a few comments about the photo below.

My computer reveals to you that I am working on ‘Walking with the Great Spirit’. Beside it are my four books and in front of them is my whisky mug called TOBERMORY. It is a splendid whisky from the Scottish Isle of Mull where Australia’s Governor Macquarie is buried and the tiny Isle of Iona is nearby. You will find it is highlighted in the book I am currently working on.

Salut

Everald

Feel free to go to my website

Everald’s Mission

Click on SHOP and buy a signed copy of any or all of my books.

Then become an author yourself. Best Wishes.

I AM PROUD TO BE A WOKE, BUT TURN MY BACK ON CANCEL CULTURE.

On By Everald ComptonIn Community and Values, Good Books, History, religion

Some people on social media regularly accuse me of being a WOKE and they do not mean it as a compliment.

So, I typed WOKE into Google recently and it instantly came up with this description.

Woke is a name given to people who are –

‘AWAKE TO THE NEEDS OF OTHERS, WELL INFORMED, THOUGHTFUL, COMPASSIONATE, HUMBLE, KIND, AND EAGER TO MAKE WORLD A BETTER PLACE FOR ALL PEOPLE.

Even though I have a healthy self ego, I can’t claim that I qualify for this accolade, but I proudly proclaim that I am trying to do so as a REFORMING CONSERVATIVE.

I live and move and have my being from a basic set of values and ethics, but I am a reformer who acknowledges that we live in an ever changing world and have a responsibility to ensure that the inevitable changes meet the needs and aspirations of humanity.

I hold the view that to achieve this I am more likely to do so as a WOKE.

Sadly, whatever I try to achieve as a reformer is declared by the Christian Right to be socialist. In their view, it is not possible to have a conscience and also remain a conservative. They declare me to be a ‘leftie’.

Fact is that I have never ever joined a political party and never will. I have been a swinging voter all my life and vote for candidates of quality, never a political party.

However, when I study the lives of people who claim to be WOKES, I do find that far too many are extremists who forget that a WOKE is someone who is thoughtful, but we can’t be this if we have closed minds that takes us out to the extremes. This is not at all smart.

I find that WOKES who move to extremes are actually addicts to the CANCEL CULTURE, people who are destroyers of any form of enlightened thought. They declare themselves themselves to be God and sit in judgement of the world when their own lives and deeds would not stand any genuine scrutiny.

They fill me with disgust when they want to take down statues of Captain Cook, an explorer of extraordinary achievement, who simply carried out the written orders from his King to claim the great south land as part of his empire.

I am even more disgusted when the CANCEL CULTURE guys want to rewrite all the children’s books I loved reading at school just because their closed minds declare them to to racist or sexist.

But let me calm down and move on as I declare myself to be a REFORMING CONSERVATIVE WOKE who is proud to be identified by this title forever.

If you have never met me and want to check me out so you can decide whether or not I am a nutter, please buy my book CATCHING THE LINVILLE TRAIN. It sets out my views on 30 significant historical events that I have experienced in my 90 years on our planet, plus 20 influential people I have worked with and 20 historic places I have visited that influenced my thinking. Also a chat about what I think have been the main achievements of my life. All of this began 85 years ago when I took my first journey away from my home village of Linville on the train going to Toogoolawah.

I think you will find that I qualify as a REFORMING CONSERVATIVE WOKE but, if you decide otherwise, then please tell me where I went wrong,

But, whatever you decide, please join me in giving the CANCEL CULTURE guys a solid kick in the butt.

A signed copy of CATCHING THE LINVILLE TRAIN will cost you 35 dollars. Just go to my website

Everald’s Mission

click on books and follow the prompts, or just send me a message with details of your postal address and mobile phone and I will post it to you and send banking details.

Enjoy the read.

By the way, the photo below shows what a WOKE looks like. Stern, angry, fearsome, avoidable

Cheers

Everald

A REFORMING CONSERVATING WOKE

SCOURGE OF THE CANCEL CULTURE

WOMEN

On By Everald ComptonIn History, religion

Men have controlled the world since time began and in our modern era there are far too many males who want a strong degree of control to continue forever.

The cold hard facts of the matter are that they remain in charge of the domination stakes as women are still not paid equal money for equal work and have to work much harder to advance their careers than men do.

Of considerable concern is that domestic violence just grows and grows as some men try to retain control by physical power alone.

Churches give bad leadership in this situation as, throughout the world, they are still male dominated even though women comprise more than 60% of most congregations and the hope of ever having a female pope is as close to nil as is possible.

So this Sunday at my local Church, Aspley Uniting, I will try to make a contribution to the cause of changing attitudes about the role of gender in society.

I am giving the ‘sermon’ and will base it on the lives and leadership of five great female leaders who were Christians.

*Saint Teresa of Calcutta who spent her life caring for those in hunger and poverty. Malcolm Muggeridge once wrote a great book about her called ‘Something Beautiful for God’

*Florence Nightingale who was British and created the nursing profession despite great hostility. The world knows her as ‘ The Lady with the Lamp.’

*Saint Mary MacKillop of Australia who enabled the poor to get an education. The only person in the Roman Catholic Church was excommunicated for defiance of orders from her Bishop and rise from ‘disgrace’ to be declared a saint.

*Gladys Aylward, a Christian missionary from England who saved the lives of many children in the Civil War in China. Originally she was rejected as a missionary because ‘a white woman could not survive alone in China.’

*Catherine Hamlin of Australia, gifted surgeon who devoted her life to doing incredible work for the poor as a medical missionary in Ethiopia. She is still active at 96.

Clearly, there are many more women who deserve an accolade, but I can’t fit them into one sermon.

PLEASE JOIN ME TOMORROW MORNING SUNDAY, EITHER AT THE CHURCH IN ROBINSON ROAD ASPLEY AT 8.30 OR 10.15, OR BY LIVESTREAMING ON THE CHURCH WEBSITE, THEN OR AT ANYTIME IN THE NEXT FORTNIGHT.

Front Page

I have highlighted below the cover of a wonderful book on the life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the powerful crusading Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of America who died a few years ago. I enormously admired her.

She was out numbered by dominating male Justices but she influenced their decisions mightily and courageously, particularly in cases involving discrimination and injustice.

Her quest for equality extended to her religion.

She was Jewish and the fundamentalist males of her religion have for centuries, in the ritual of their daily prayers, said

‘I thank you God that I was not born a woman.’

That says it all.

Everald

An old bloke from the bush where ‘men were men’. Whatever that means.

IN 1937 A SIX YEAR OLD BOY TOOK THE FIRST JOURNEY OF HIS LIFE ON THE LINVILLE TRAIN.

On By Everald ComptonIn Community and Values, Good Books, History

On the back cover of my new book, CATCHING THE LINVILLE TRAIN, there is a splendid painting that depicts the scene.

My friend, Noela Lowien, a talented painter who lives at Kilcoy in Queensland, not far from Linville, has captured the moment.

Never before had I ever travelled beyond Linville, a tiny village in which a timber mill was the focal point. My dad worked as a labourer at the mill earning 3 pounds a week (six dollars).

This day was a huge adventure for me. It took me to Toogoolawah, a distance of 20 miles, to spend a day at the rural school where they tried unsuccessfully to teach me wood work. It took a long time for the world to work out that my only skill was talking.

That first journey turned out to be the first of many thousands that followed to every continent on the globe. The book chats about the significant world events that impacted my life, famous people I worked with, historic places I visited and nostalgia about books, films, theatre, sport and the important things I believe I have achieved, concluding with a memorable journey back to Linville on my 90th birthday to walk for 14 kilometres along the now disused railway track and raise 35000 dollars for ACTS.

Well, the book is being launched on Thursday evening of the coming week, 16 March, at 6.00pm at All Saints Anglican Church in Hamilton Road at Chermside in the northern suburbs of Brisbane, 140 kilometres from Linville.

You are welcome to join me there to share a red wine and a chat. Its a fundraiser for a Uniting Church charity that I chair called ACTS that gives direct cash grants to people in crisis situations. It will cost you a few dollars, but you will enjoy a happy evening.

All of the royalties that I would normally earn from book sales that night go to ACTS

SEND ME A MESSAGE AND I WILL BE IN TOUCH.TO ORGANISE A PLACE FOR YOU.

So far, 112 people have registered to attend and have paid up in advance, but I can fit you in for sure.

Cheers

Everald

PS. Noela Lowien has also done a flattering portrait of me which is on the front cover of the book. Noela will be at the launch. You can sign her up to do a portrait of you.

JOIN ME FOR A DRINK AT MY BOOK LAUNCH.

On By Everald ComptonIn Good Books, History, religion

THURSDAY, 16 MARCH, 6.00PM, ALL SAINTS ANGLICAN CHURCH, HAMILTON ROAD, CHERMSIDE, BRISBANE

You will meet Rebecca Levingston of ABC Radio who will MC the evening.

Also Wayne Swan, Greg Cary, Paul Scarr, Anthony Lynham & Shayne Neumann who will comment on my latest book

CATCHING THE LINVILLE TRAIN

The function is a fundraiser for ACTS, the community service arm of the Aspley Uniting Church, which makes direct cash grants to people in crisis situations. Last year, we shared 77,000 dollars to the bank accounts of more than 100 people who were in significant trouble.

For a modest 25 dollars per person you enjoy a great evening and some excellent drinks and savouries, most of which have been donated by generous supporters of ACTS.

A signed copy of my book is available for 25 dollars. All royalties on book sales at the launch go to ACTS.

And you can make a tax deductible gift to ACTS if you choose to do so.

In addition, we will all enjoy the company of many fine people who have already signed up to attend.

My book is not my autobiography. I wrote that a decade ago.

CATCHING THE LINVILLE TRAIN is all about the world that opened up to me following my first train journey from the tiny village of Linville to the world 85 years ago when I was just 6 years old. There are 81 short chapters about the great national and international events of my era, influential people I worked with, historic places that impacted on my thinking, nostalgia about books cinema theatre and a humble analysis of five important things I feel that I achieved in my life. Finally, I return to Linville and look at where our world is heading.

There are many of my 17000 friends on Twitter and Facebook whom I have not yet had the privilege of meeting so this book launch is a time when I hope to say hello to you.

If you would like to catch up, send me a direct message on Twitter or Facebook and I will make contact.

In the meantime, you will note that I am already at work signing books. I am delighted that so many have been ordered in advance.

Cheers

Everald

2023: THE YEAR OF LIVING CURIOUSLY.

On By Everald ComptonIn Good Books, Government, History, religion

I have given up on making new year resolutions. Most of them are dreams.

In 2023, I will concentrate on ATTITUDE CHANGE.

Am intending to take a searching look at my usual habits and gradually improve them, making radical changes if necessary.

I will commence by being curious about every challenge that faces me.

Before charging in to fix it, I will get CURIOUS and ask ‘why did this happen, can it be fixed by simple commonsense, is there a new way to fix it that has not been tried before, can it be done without generating anger and distrust while fostering goodwill and community spirit?’

I intend to base it on the thoughts expressed in a highly popular television series many decades ago by Professor Julius Sumner Miller. He called it WHY IS IT SO? His philosophy was to face every challenge by asking HOW DID THIS HAPPEN and WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO SOLVE THIS. Do nothing without first becoming CURIOUS.

So it will be that with family, business, politics and religion I will get ultra CURIOUS in 2023.

But I will not just get live on curiosity. This will be useless unless I then act decisively to act, create and resolve. Results must be achieved otherwise I am wasting my life and doing nothing to lift the lives of others.

I need a base from which to start.

My 91 years of experience of life will help but I need to be across what is happening right now that can help me in becoming adequately curious.

You will note from the image below that I am reading a selection of essays on what we can learn from 2022 to prepare us for 2023. They are written by top quality academics from the Universities of Australia who write splendid articles for publication daily in a news service called CONVERSATIONS that you can discover on Google. Their writing will help us to get CURIOUS about how we can do much better in 2023. I recommend that you buy and enjoy the book. Its a good read.

I am also basing my venture into the realm of the curious on the inspiration given to us by extraordinary leaders whose lives, in life or death, impacted us in 2022.

My hero of the year is President Zelensky of Ukraine. A great leader of huge courage and ability.

Also Elizabeth11 – grace, dignity, calm, wisdom, longevity.

Mikhail Gorbachev – with huge courage he destroyed communism and paid a great personal price for doing so.

Sidney Poitier – magnificent talent as an actor who tried valiantly to close the racial divide.

Roger Federer – as graceful and talented a tennis player as ever graced a court and an inspirational person of huge generosity. In old fashioned terms, an absolute gentleman.

However, nothing will be possible without a core set of values on which I base my life and this means that any success I can achieve will be founded on my performance as a committed working partner of Jesus of Nazareth in constantly trying to have a creative role in achieving a better world.

So, a great year lies ahead in 2023.

It will be as good as we make it personally. It will be utterly pointless blaming politicians and everyone else for our problems. Our fate is entirely in our own hands.

But let us not forget that our first and correct and most positive challenge is to get CURIOUS.

Enjoy a happy, prosperous, satisfying year of achievement that you share with family and friends in creating a better society than we now have.

Shalom,

Everald

And don’t forget to get fired up for 2023 by reading my 3 books.

THE MAN ON THE TWENTY DOLLAR NOTES

DINNER WITH THE FOUNDING FATHERS

A BEAUTIFUL SUNSET.

And watch out for the publication of my new one that will hit the bookshops at Easter

CATCHING THE LINVILLE TRAIN – for a journey through history.

Go to my books website

https://EveraldBooks.com

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MY BOOKS ARE A GREAT CHRISTMAS PRESENT. 50 DOLLARS BUYS ALL 3 OF THEM POSTAGE FREE.

On By Everald ComptonIn Good Books, History

Want to give a valued friend an interesting Christmas present?

May I humbly suggest that you just can’t do better than giving your friend all three of my books?

This is the way you and I will personalise the deal.

I will write your friend’s name in each one, add a greeting from you and me and sign them.

The packet will be posted directly to them so it arrives in the week before Christmas.

Placing a Christmas Order with me is very easy.

Send an email to me at the address for my book sales,

everald@bigpond.com

Give me the name and postal address of your friend as well as your mobile number. Include details of the greeting you want me to write in the book.

I will send you an email confirming your order and giving you my bank details so you can remit 50 dollars to me.

My three books are pictured below.

DINNER WITH THE FOUNDING FATHERS tells the inspirational tale of how the new nation of Australia was founded in 1901.

A BEAUTIFUL SUNSET is a gripping novel about a man with a terminal illness who decides to make the final three months of life the greatest of all his days.

THE MAN ON THE TWENTY DOLLAR NOTES is a powerful history of the greatest nation builder Australia has ever produced – John Flynn, Flynn of the Inland.

50% of the royalties on my book sales are given to ACTS, the community service arm of the Aspley Uniting Church, of which I am Chair. It gives direct cash grants to people who are in genuine need such as victims of floods, fires, droughts, domestic violence and poverty.

Send your email to me right now so an old bloke like me has time to get all the orders ready to post in mid December.

One more thought.

If you would like to enjoy my three books for your own Christmas holiday reading, or make it a gift to one of your family, the same deal of 50 dollars free of postage still applies. I will personalise and sign them for you and post them right away.

Either way, I will watch out for your email.

Cheers

Everald

PS. Some advance news. My next book CATCHING THE LINVILLE TRAIN is now with my publishers, Echo Books. It will be available for your Easter holidays next year.

THE MAGNIFICENT LEGEND OF HUDSON FYSH

On By Everald ComptonIn Business and Enterprise, Community and Values, Good Books, History

Exactly 100 years ago this month, a passionate aviator, Hudson Fysh, flew a light plane that carried just one passenger out of a rough airfield at Cloncurry in north western Queensland to launch a new airline that he had just founded. He called his pioneering venture Queensland and Northern Territory Air Services. To keep it simple, the locals called it QANTAS, a revered name that will carry it into its second century.

While Fysh had a vision for it to become the finest bush airline in Australia, little did he realise that it would one day become an international airline of considerable significance and longevity.

Fact is that Fysh was a World War 1 veteran who had returned home after serving in the fledgling Royal Australian Air Force, mainly in Palestine. He had no money, but had managed to convince some eminent Western Queensland cattle men to back him as the initial investors. He went very close to bankruptcy several times in the early years of QANTAS, but battled on tenaciously to bring his dream to reality and success.

Even in those early tough years, he also provided a great community service to Inland Australia by joining with John Flynn, Flynn of the Inland, to create the Flying Doctor Service. He and Flynn fostered a partnership that flew doctors and nurses to very remote places to save lives, often in dramatic circumstances. For 90% of those flights there was no airstrips in places where people were injured or ill. So they landed valiantly on either unpaved roads or in large paddocks, but did not ever damage a plane or kill a patient. It was an incredible achievement.

Now, an eminent Australian historian, Grantlee Kieza, has written a superb book about Hudson Fysh that has just reached the book shops. Grantlee has given me an advance copy and I can tell you that it is a splendid read about an inspirational human being. I strongly recommend that you buy and enjoy it.

I especially recommend it as I want you to discover that Grantlee has generously dedicated the book to me. The citation, that I have photographed below, reads,

‘For Everald Compton, a nation builder who like Hudson Fysh has encouraged so many Australians to soar.’

I am enormously proud of those words and I gratefully thank Grantlee for them, even though I know that I don’t deserve his accolade.

But any mention of nation builders anywhere reminds us that the noble building a nation is not of much interest to most Aussies. Our nation has too many people who are capitalists with a goal of plundering the economy and there are too many socialists who are convinced that Australia owes them a living permanently. Only a few believe in a society that fosters the ideal of a SHARED GOOD in which we seek to excel.

Grantlee has, during his distinguished career as an author, written several fine books about great Australians who contributed mightily to our nation. I have read many of them and particularly enjoyed four of them. MACQUARIE tells us about our finest Governor who changed our country from being a penal colony to become a prosperous civilisation. HENRY LAWSON and BANJO PATTERSON tell us of how Australia produced literary giants who ranked highly internationally, while MONASH tells us how valiant Australian leadership hastened the end of World War 1 by winning a famous victory against Germany at the battle of Villiers Bretonneux in northern France. He has several more books such as those four in the pipeline.

My own books pale into insignificance in comparison to Grantlee’s literary skills even though THE MAN ON THE TWENTY DOLLAR NOTES (about Flynn of the Inland) and DINNER WITH THE FOUNDING FATHERS (about the creators of the Australian nation, Barton and Deakin, and their eminent team) have sold well and are steadily growing in popularity.

Sadly, QANTAS today would bring tears to the eyes of Hudson Fysh. It is a pale shadow of its former greatness, having alienated far too many of its loyal passengers with very ordinary and unreliable service. I have been flying with them for 70 years now but they cancelled my membership of their Chairman’s Lounge because I am ‘too old’ to be a regular passenger. Fysh would never have done that to me.

This insult, however, does not deter me from flying with them on most occasions that I travel as I want to continue to show my respect to their gallant founder, HUDSON FYSH, a very great Australian. Indeed, one of the very greatest.

The thoughts of a proud Aussie.

Everald

JIM CHALMERS BUDGET – WHAT IS YOUR JUDGEMENT?

On By Everald ComptonIn Community and Values, Constitution, Good Books, Government, History

The first time I took an interest in a Federal Government Budget was 77 years ago when I had to write an essay about it at High School in Toowoomba. I knew so little about Budgets of any kind that I barely scraped a pass.

Since then, I must report that I have never ever seen a Government Budget that everyone thought was the right one. Indeed, voters are usually split somewhere around 50/50 in their opinions of its worthiness, no matter what type of government is in power.

This year has been no different.

I have known Jim Chalmers for 15 years having first met him when he was the key economic adviser to Wayne Swan and played a considerable role in deciding Australia’s response to the Great Financial Crisis. We have kept in regular contact down the years and I was greatly honoured when he launched my book DINNER WITH THE FOUNDING FATHERS at a function in Brisbane two years ago.

He has put an enormous amount of work into this current Budget Update and I know that he firmly believes in its capacity to work for Australia. I also know that he a person of honesty and integrity who will readily admit to any errors of judgement that he may have made and do something about fixing them if he believes that criticisms are valid.

The main criticism in the public arena has been that there is little of obvious significance in the Budget to directly help pensioners, people on fixed incomes, and those who have not had a wage rise, to handle the widespread ravages of inflation and huge rises in energy bills. I feel for them mightily but I can’t see a way to solve that problem until inflation comes under control. The key issue for us to understand is that inflation is not a domestic issue for Australia alone. Every nation in the world has been hit with it and it already has caused some political casualties, eg, former British Prime Minister, Liz Truss, who totally misjudged it.

My view is that, while the Ukraine War initially created some inflation, it has been grossly fuelled by far too many businesses using inflation as an excuse to unjustifiably put up prices and lie to us that inflation was the cause. It is one of the purest examples of greed I have ever seen. Quite disgusting.

Nevertheless, there were many good things in the Chalmers Budget such as in the area of child care and paid parental leave, flood relief etc.

This brings us to an important point for debate.

Must governments do everything for us. Do they need to control and dictate our lives and how much should we determine for ourselves? And in what ways are we personally responsible for our neighbours. If there are struggling pensioners in my street, should I take them some food as often as I can? The answer is YES.

I remember the dark days of the Great Depression of the 1930’s when my mother took meals to friends who were unemployed and there was no dole to sustain them. I was her helper in cooking and delivering, even though I am certain she would have done much better without my amateur efforts.

So it is that Australia’s most urgent need is to have strong caring communities and it is our calling to create them wherever we live. And to ask Jim Chalmers to back us in every way that he can when the next Budget arises in May 2023. State and Local Governments must do likewise. They share responsibility with the Feds and ourselves.

I hope you will find time to enjoy reading my book DINNER WITH THE FOUNDING FATHERS. It tells the story of how the Australian Constitution was written in the 1890’s and implemented in 1901. It forecasts that we now need many changes to it that will enable us to adapt to a totally different world 120 years later. For example, if we had only two levels of government instead of 3, Australia would have much more money to provide for the needs of pensioners. If we had a UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME embedded in the Constitution, then no one would ever be in need or left behind.

We face a challenge right now. We know that we live in a world of huge change and I reckon that Jim Chalmers has the ability and humility and decency to help us face those changes and lead us to a better quality of life that gives us the opportunity to shine as good citizens. Let’s keep him on his toes while he walks with us towards the light on the hill.

And keep smiling.

Everald

COVID, UKRAINE, INFLATION, FLOODS

On By Everald ComptonIn Community and Values, Environment, Good Books, Government, History, Natural Disasters, Nuclear

Life is tougher at this point in time than it usually is.

There are many reasons for this, but four stand out as cornerstones of perils that impact our lives.

First of all, we have COVID.

It hit us without warning and dominated our lives for two years. We had no previous experience upon which to base our response. After all, the last great killer virus was the Spanish Flu of 1920. That’s a century ago and there are no survivors to tell us of their experience. So we battled valiantly to curb it, made some mistakes, suffered prolonged isolation & economic hardship and watched it foster divisions in our society, particularly when State Governments severely criticised one another while all had a bad relationship with the Federal Government. But, in the end, we won and we express gratitude to all who led us to a place of general safety as we now plan how to better handle the next virus that will inevitably hit us soon and for which we are not adequately prepared.

Our second crisis is the war in UKRAINE.

The most pointless conflict in the history of humanity. Created by Putin, a psychopath, who hugely underestimated Ukraine’s Zelensky, the world’s most revered leader. We mourn for the people of Ukraine who are suffering enormously. We share their pain as the war has severely diminished the world’s food and energy supplies and contributed to the curse of inflation. It has also revealed to us the weakness of world leaders who sit gutlessly on the sidelines, pointlessly wringing their hands, because they tremble in fear of a nuclear World War 3. That’s a carbon copy of the scenario that caused World War 2.

Number 3 is INFLATION.

This continues to rise and have a huge impact on our cost of living, particularly for those on fixed incomes. It seems to be out of control internationally and this is only partially attributable to Ukraine. Its major cause is unrestrained capitalism where far too many in the arena of business are raising prices for no reason other than to make huge profits and take the heaven sent opportunity to blame it on inflation. It is as huge a fraud as I have ever seen and it has been made even worse by wealthy people and their political clones implementing policies that claim it can be fixed by tax cuts for the rich which will ‘trickle down’ to the poor. Never in history has wealth ever trickled down to help the needy. It is simply a myth that is intended to make its greedy proponents look like good citizens. Tax cuts are undeniably a welfare hand out to the upper crust. Corrupt in the very extreme.

Last, but by no means least, are FLOODS.

They are frequent and more severe than we have usually experienced. And they are again hitting us hard right at this moment. Climate Change is a contributing factor but necessary action on it is not the complete answer as it will take decades of world wide cooperation before it will reduce the impact of climate on our weather. Our immediate aim must be for our entire community to be better prepared in every possible way. Very important must be to have decisive action taken by governments to financially help people have their homes demolished or moved from flood plains to higher places. Right now, it is almost impossible to insure a home that has been flooded and this, cruelly, makes the home unsaleable. The same applies to farmers and their herds and crops. It is a task we cannot avoid.

So, what is our overall challenge in finding solutions to all four challenges.

Firstly, we must be rid of the ancient and stupid ideologies that plague the closed political minds of both Right and Left. We need to foster an open minded implementation of a belief in THE SHARED GOOD. It is quite simple really as it is based solely on commonsense.

Secondly, let us never ever lose HOPE.

Lastly, let’s rejoice that, whenever there is a crisis, many good people get together to help one another. This is shown by the wonderful community spirit that is prevailing in the current floods. It is heart warming to witness the generosity and goodwill that is being shown all over Australia right now.

May it continue in better times as the future of the world is in the hands of those who turn up.

And please help me to remain solvent by buying all 3 of my books on nation building that you will find right here on my website. They make wonderful Christmas gifts.

THE MAN ON THE TWENTY DOLLAR NOTES is about the life of Australia’s greatest nation builder, Flynn of the Inland.

DINNER WITH THE FOUNDING FATHERS tells the compelling history of the giants who founded Australia in 1901 by leading 6 very independent States into Federation.

A BEAUTIFUL SUNSET which is a challenging novel about a Christian who handles terminal illness positively, a very topical subject now that all States have passed legislation to make Voluntary Assisted Dying legally available to all who choose to use it.

Half of the royalties of my books go to ACTS, the community service arm of the Aspley Uniting Church, of which I am Chairman. We send cash gifts to needy people who usually are not members of our congregation and are hit by floods, droughts, fires, domestic violence and elder abuse, all of which are huge national challenges in which we can all participate.

Grace and Peace.

Everald Compton.

JOHN HOWARD – A SENSE OF BALANCE

On By Everald ComptonIn Community and Values, Elections, Good Books, Government, History

When John Howard’s long and eminent political career ended, he became an author of distinction.

His latest book A SENSE OF BALANCE is, in my view, his best work to date.

I enjoyed his previous books LAZARUS RISING and THE MENZIES ERA. The first was his autobiography and the latter was a biography of his mentor. Both are excellent reads.

A SENSE OF BALANCE is quite different.

He describes it in this way. ‘How a sense of balance has defined us as a nation and will safeguard our future.’

It is actually about the crises that Australia has faced during his parliamentary career and beyond. He believes that we have survived because we did not let any crisis upset our sense of balance and this has enabled us to set the basis for a robust future for our nation.

He covers crucial subjects such as the Covid pandemic, election of Donald Trump, Brexit, the rise of China, climate change, the defeat of Scott Morrison, our relationship with royalty, Nine Eleven , 6 prime ministers in 11 years, Republic, Indigenous recognition, plus other matters of significance such as Afghanistan and Iraq.

Despite being a solid Conservative, he attempts to highlight both sides of any debate before setting out his own views in moderate fashion. He gives the clear impression of wanting to create a balanced community debate on all the issues he raises and I hope this happens.

I certainly would like to debate his views on climate and royalty and the Voice Referendum.

The most powerful element of his book is contained in the background to its title – A SENSE OF BALANCE.

While not exempting himself from criticism of some of his own divisive decisions and policies, he laments the way that society is so rigidly divided on far too many issues. He is particularly concerned, just as you and I are, that our divided opinions are now expressed so strongly that they too often convey pure hatred of those who hold opposing views. This is not a healthy situation for the future of our nation.

He particularly laments the fact that his beloved Liberal Party can no longer be described as a ‘broad church’. These were two words he often used to describe the many viewpoints that existed in the ranks of his Party. He actively encouraged the ‘broad church’ but this has now been replaced by hard line factions such as the stark divisions between the Christian Right. and the Menzies moderates and the ‘wets’ and ‘dries’.

He hints in his book that the Liberals may now spend a long time in opposition due to their factional wars and long battle to achieve relevance as they lose ground to Independents.

Howard now has many critics who do their best to demean his legacy but he did try follow the Menzies ideology. I remember the day that Menzies announced the formation of the Liberal Party in 1943. He said on ABC Radio that his party stood on neither the left nor the right. He emphasised that it was a Liberal Party not a Conservative Party. It was firmly in the middle ground of politics. That, Howard acknowledges, is no longer true.

This means that the Liberals must create a modern ideology as they currently don’t have one. Their sole philosophy is ‘Don’t trust the Labor Party as they will lose your money’. That slogan will never again win them an election. Never.

Reading the book made me think of Howard’s two great legacies to Australia.

The greatest was the gun banning legislation he had courageously enacted after the Port Arthur massacre. The threats against his life by gun lovers were very real. His security team made him wear bullet proof vests when addressing meetings about the legislation. Now millions of Americans fervently wish they had similar gun laws.

The other was the simple fact that his eleven years in power were an era of general economic prosperity that was subsequently undone by Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison.

His prime failures were getting us involved in disastrous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan which are still unresolved. He comments on them in this book.

I have known John Howard personally for decades, a friendship that continues to this day even though our stance on political issues often differs. When I wrote my book DINNER WITH THE FOUNDING FATHERS, I sent it to him to review before I published it. He graciously responded and found common ground on lots of issue but differed on our views of the validity of the Whitlam sacking in 1975.

Anyway, the key point is this.

Read A SENSE OF BALANCE and debate it on social media. John Howard wrote it in the hope of creating widespread debate. It is worthy of that honour.

Cheers

Everald Compton

POLITICIANS AT PRAYER

On By Everald ComptonIn Community and Values, Good Books, Government, History, religion, Uluru

While I was in Canberra attending the Opening of Australia’s newly elected Parliament in the last week of July, I was invited to coffee with the Rationalist Society. They were making calls on MP’s and Senators advocating that Parliament should permanently drop the historic tradition of beginning each day of debate with a prayer.

When they invited me to join them for coffee, my first thought was that the issue was trivia, but I had 30 minutes to spare and decided it could be interesting to find out why they chose to spend time, money & energy making an issue of this.

I found that they are rational people who try to live by exercising rational thoughts and rejecting all aspects of the impact of spirituality in doing so.

They believe that Parliament is a place where legislation is to be debated in a rational manner and must devote its time to doing exactly that. Praying for guidance from a God has nothing to do with it and no Parliamentarian should ever use his or her personal religion to influence the Parliament.

So, they hold the firm view that prayer to a Christian God, or any other God, has no place in any Parliament, especially as the most recent Census shows that less than 50% of Australians identify with any religion and, therefore, would certainly approve the removal of prayers from the daily agenda.

They also believe that the Christian prayer discriminates against Muslim and Jewish Parliamentarians, as well Indigenous ones who have their own heritage of spirituality. There are also several atheist and agnostic MP’s.

Above all, the records show that only a small number of MP’s and Senators ever attend the saying of the prayer which is recited in a boring tone without conviction. Just enough are there to ensure a legal quorum is present. While the prayer is being said, those present can be seen reading and answering their emails and texts.

It really is a farce.

The Rationalists say it should be replaced with 5 minutes of meditation when members reflect on their conscience and personal responsibility to the voters of their electorates in the matters to be debated that day.

I note that the Rationalists have achieved some success. The newly elected President of the Senate has publicly supported them. At another level of government the Wagga Wagga Council, by a vote of 5 to 3, scrapped the prayer at the opening of Council meetings and replaced it with a time of reflection when all Councilors are required to be present.

May I raise another matter which is similar?

We should remove the practice whereby those being sworn into Parliament are asked to ‘take a holy book in your right hand and swear etc’. This usually means a Bible or Quran. What they should be holding is a copy of the Constitution of Australia. However, I was in the Gallery and noted that about a quarter of the Parliamentarians refused to hold anything, but the ceremony went ahead anyway.

(I would have objected on the grounds that I am left-handed).

However, the issue that really aggravated me was the requirement that they swear allegiance to Queen Elizabeth, not the People of Australia. This is an absolute disgrace.

Be this as it may, my great hope is that one day our Constitution will state that no one can nominate to be elected to Parliament unless they have a proven record of voluntary service to the community, no known violation of gender equality & have successfully completed a course of study that has embraced a full understanding of democracy, the constitution and how government and parliament actually perform their work. This will raise the quality of Parliament by 1000%.

So it was that at the end of a pleasant coffee chat, I wished the Rational Society well, but said that I want, at age 90 & growing in frailty, to concentrate on 3 personal passions – railways, longevity & Uluru.

Plus writing books about physical and social nation building.

You can buy them on my website

https://everaldcompton.com.

It is actually a rational thing to do.

Everald

A long term working partner of Jesus of Nazareth in striving to create a better world.

A NEW PARLIAMENT FOR AUSTRALIA

On By Everald ComptonIn Community and Values, Elections, Environment, Good Books, Government, History, Law

This weekend, 227 Members and Senators will travel to Canberra from all corners of our continent to be sworn in on Tuesday to serve in the 47th Parliament of Australia since Federation in 1901.

It will be led by the nation’s 31st Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, who as the Leader of the Labor Party, follows three conservative Prime Ministers, Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison, whose tenure will not be treated by historians as kindly as they may have hoped.

Many significant changes have been promised and are expected to be implemented.

If they are not achieved satisfactorily, and begin to produce promised results, voters will react harshly in Election2025 as the people of Australia now have a low tolerance level for crude party politics and inept governments.

So, what are the priorities and which of them are the most urgent?

While I dont expect Albo to take notice of my thoughts, these are my top ten priorities and I have listed them in what I believe is their order of importance.

*HEALTH – We have massively underinvested in all aspects of health, while private health insurance has been plundered by the medical profession and allowed to descend into an unaffordable disaster.

*INFLATION – This is seriously expanding the daily struggle for existence of a growing number of Australians in more ways than any other factor. It has been mainly caused by the greed and corruption of capitalism at its very worst, with costs being faked as a excuse to generate excessive profits. This must be eliminated quickly .

*ENERGY – a costly disgrace, caused by a decade of irresponsible neglect in failing to replace ageing power sources, that is particularly severe on pensioners and low income earners.

*AGED CARE – pitiful and disgraceful. Words cant adequately describe the humiliation and misery that people are suffering in their final years for no valid reason.

*CLIMATE and ENVIRONMENT – long overdue for serious investment, plus personal changes to our own lifestyles. Climate deniers are the world’s most irresponsible people and must be sidelined.

*AFFORDABLE HOUSING – will be solved only when governments make their surplus land and airspace available long term via low cost leases.

*ULURU STATEMENT – Its time to rectify the omission of Indigenous heritage from our original Constitution in 1901. It can be delayed no longer.

*INFRASTRUCTURE – it is either ancient or inadequate or inferior or inefficient. Huge defect in our quality of national life and our level of productivity

*WATER – we are the driest continent on the planet, yet we have never ever harnessed and sustained our water resources in an intelligent manner.

*CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE – long overdue, especially reform of the size and powers of the Senate and the powers of the Crown being passed to the People of Australia,

I an attending the entire opening week of Parliament in Canberra.

Have arranged 24 appointments with Ministers, Shadow Ministers, cross benchers and back benchers from all parties and Independents. I carry out my negotiations as a swinging voter who never has and never will join a political party as I regard them as gatherings where closed minds can flourish.

My personal mission on this visit to Parliament is to take part in discussions on the Inland Railway, Gladstone Railway, Aged Care, Affordable Housing, Uluru Statement and Voluntary Assisted Dying legislation for ACT & Northern Territory. My intention is to follow up these issues relentlessly until results are achieved.

Am hopeful of positive results as the Prime Minister appears to be seriously implementing a significant agenda for change, quite different to the negativity of recent governments that sought to revive ‘good old days’ that have never existed.

Over and above all of this, I hope that dignity and decency will return to the Parliament after a long absence.

Especially, I hope that Question Time will become a place of respectful debate. At present, it projects to the nation a very divisive and angry image which fosters discourtesy in our society.

It particularly encourages school children to speak in the same way to their teachers. They are just following the poor example of our national leaders.

I yearn for the dignified tradition of Menzies and Chifley who regularly debated one another in Parliament with huge courtesy and respect, as well as making excellent use of the English language as their sauce of power.

Yours in genuine hope for a Parliament of quality and achievement.

Everald.

And don’t forget to buy signed copies of my three books from my website

EVERALD@LARGE

or online from Booktopia or Amazon or Dymocks or Fishpond etc.

Even though I say so myself, they are an entertaining read.

ELVIS

On By Everald ComptonIn Good Books, History, religion

Enjoyed a relaxing and interesting evening at the local cinema.

It was a movie filmed recently on the Gold Coast of Australia that powerfully depicts the spectacular life and sudden death of Elvis Presley.

45 years have passed since Elvis died, so he may not be on the radar of many younger Australians, but back in my more youthful days, he was a legend.

Neither his singing nor his acting ever impressed me at that time in my life, but he captured the hearts and minds of my generation in a hugely impressive fashion. Almost unbelievably, 500 million recordings of his music were sold and his movies were big box office attractions.

His style of singing was ultra physical, hurling and shaking his body in every direction and this caused far too many women to descend into a state of hysterical fantasy. Church leaders in America tried to have him banned from performing because he was ‘sexually provoking’. What particularly upset them was that, at every one of his performances, many women, both young and old, took off their panties and thew them on to the stage, right at the feet of Elvis.

Elvis had become a God and this upset Church leaders even more.

But we all have Gods because we have a very human need to worship heroes or believe in causes.

It is usually a singer, actor, sports champion, charismatic community leader or politician, or a football club or many similar obsessions. Gods can also be alcohol, gambling or sex.

In my life, my role model is Jesus of Nazareth.

There are other people whose lives have greatly inspired me too, such as Martin Luther King, St. Francis of Assisi, Winston Churchill and Mahatma Gandhi. In the sporting world, I am a huge fan of Roger Federer and I never miss plays or movies in which Judi Dench or Maggie Smith are acting.

What is sadly lacking in my life is a political leader to inspire me,

Just look at our current world leaders.

Putin (murderer) Biden (weak) Boris (irresponsible dill) Xi (utterly without personality), and until recently, Morrison (Australia’s worst ever Prime Minister).

But, I live in hope. This is an asset none of us must ever lose.

Nevertheless, back to Elvis. At the conclusion of the movie, I really did feel sorry for him.

His professional career was dominated by a retired Colonel who signed him up as a highly promising unknown with a contract that earned him half of whatever Elvis earned, plus endless expenses paid solely from Elvis share. This meant that Presley was constantly in a sparse financial situation.

It all got too much for him. He had to perform superbly every day or his fans would be stricken and, to keep going, he took huge number of pills daily, all washed down by lots of Coca Cola, a deadly combination. At the same time, his marriage broke up and his relationship with the Colonel became vitriolic.

Eventually, he just collapsed and died. Many say that his stage performance at Las Vegas the night before he died was his greatest.

Tom Hanks acts the fat old Colonel. Does it superbly. In the end, you hate his guts. This is not a trivial matter for any of us. We all tend to find people in our lives whom we hate and this, too often, sadly fuels our lives as much as our heroes do.

May, I make this trivial comment of personal fantasy in closing.

In my public life, I have made more than 10,000 public speeches in 26 nations in many settings that have occurred in my public life which has so far lasted for 70 of my 90 years, They were mostly about campaigns I have been organising or public issues in which I have been involved or sermons at Churches or talks at service clubs and conventions.

While, I was often able to stir up enthusiasm in the crowds of listeners, I did not ever cause women to rush forward and throw their panties on the stage. Elvis left me struggling far behind in the skills of human motivation. My life really has been a terrible failure in comparison.

However, I am absolutely certain that the world needs an Elvis from time to time.

Cheers

Everald

Keep on buying my books.

THE MAN ON THE TWENTY DOLLAR NOTES

DINNER WITH THE FOUNDING FATHERS

A BEAUTIFUL SUNSET

You can buy them online, in print or kindle, at Booktopia, Dymocks, Amazon, Book Depository etc

or from my website

EVERALD@LARGE

and click on BOOKS

IN THE STEPS OF FRANCIS OF ASSISI

On By Everald ComptonIn Community and Values, History, religion

Tomorrow, Sunday, my local church, the Aspley Uniting Church, at which I have been an Elder for 63 active years, celebrates ACTS SUNDAY, as we do every year at this time.

ACTS is the community service arm of our small Church which has about 100 regulars attenders.

Obviously named after the New Testament book, ACTS is an abbreviation of ASPLEY CARING THROUGH SERVICE.

It’s purpose is make direct cash grants to people in strife, especially those who are not members of our Church and live far beyond Aspley. We achieve this through a network of friends, usually Members of Parliament or Ministers of Religion, who let us know of people facing tough times and have little hope of receiving government aid.

For the last two years, we have made grants totaling 75000 dollars each year. The funds are donated to ACTS by our church members over and above our usual Sunday offerings, plus friends of members who want to identify with what we do. Gifts are tax deductible as we have legally established ACTS as a public charity.

We take pride in the fact that all of our ACTS team are unpaid volunteers. Our only expenses are the annual fees to our auditors.

On Sunday, when I report to the congregation on our work (especially mentioning 29 grants of 1000 dollars direct to bank accounts of flood victims this year and 35 grants of 1000 dollars to people hit by bush fires last year), I will talk about the man who is our role model.

SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI

Francis was born into a wealthy family in Assisi one thousand years ago and lead a very happy social life in the days of his youth. This changed when on separate occasions he was significantly confronted by a beggar and a leper seeking alms.

To cut a long story short, he renounced all claims to his family wealth and went to live for the remainder of his short life with the poor and the sick, begging for alms in the same manner as they did, wearing the most shabby clothing, and sleeping with them in the streets.

Eventually, he founded an Order of Franciscan monks who spent their lives caring for beggars and lepers. The Order exists to this day in many nations.

Frances, on many occasions, told people that, while making regular gifts to the poor and the sick is an essential element in the life of a Christian, we cannot possibly know what their existence actually is in reality until we choose to live the same life.

Few of us, and particularly me, will deliberately choose to live in poverty, but we can come to a realisation that no matter how generously we give to people in need, we are only ‘dancing around the edge of the fire’. Even though our actions help, we can always do better.

Francis died a young man. Only in his mid forties. The toll of his spartan life caught up with his huge huge personal commitment to humanity.

So it is. At the Aspley Uniting Church, we intend to do better every year by extending the size and outreach of our work and identifying more closely with the pain of those we try to help.

Huge challenges lie ahead of us in facing crises in the areas of domestic violence, elder abuse, homelessness, poverty, mental illness etc.

We intend to give it our best shot.

Listen in to our Church Services on ACTS Sunday tomorrow, 19 June, on https://aspleyuc.org.au at 8.30am or 10.15am or any time later on live streaming.

If you would like to get involved with ACTS, we will welcome your contact on https://aspleyacts.org.au

If you buy any of my signed and personalised books, ACTS gets 5 dollars from the royalties of each book sold, Go to https://everaldcompton.com & click on Books.

Choose from (or buy all three)

THE MAN ON THE TWENTY DOLLAR NOTES

DINNER WITH THE FOUNDING FATHERS

A BEAUTIFUL SUNSET

Our world is a great place when we work together to make it progressively better for everyone.

Let me close with a few words from a famous hymn written in honour of Francis of Assisi.

‘Make me a channel of your peace. Where there is despair in life, let me bring hope.’

Everald