Researching Australian Military Service Records at the Gunning Library

Participants at the Gunning Library Workshop, Friday 30 September 2016. Photo courtesy of Maree Roche

The Gunning and District Historical Society, in conjunction with the Gunning Library, held its second community workshop on Friday 30 September 2016. The topic was "Researching Australian Military Service Records" facilitated by Gunning resident Dr Michael de Percy from the University of Canberra.

Information and paraphernalia provided by the National Library of Australia's Trove team and also the Research Centre at the Australian War Memorial were welcomed by the participants, many traveling from as far as Ulladulla, Canberra, Mt Pleasant and Breadalbane to visit the village.

Two sessions were held from 10:30am to 12:30pm and from 1:30pm to 3:30pm. Participants enjoyed morning and afternoon tea during the sessions, allowing time for new connections to be made and to share stories and ideas about researching family histories.

The workshop covered the basics of researching the information available from the Australian War Memorial, Trove, the National Archives of Australia, and ancestry.com.au (which can be accessed for free from the Gunning Library), with some venturing into the births, deaths and marriages websites for NSW and Victoria.

Some of the participants were able to discover digitised war records of various family members. This is much easier for those who served in the Australian Imperial Force in the First World War and the 2nd Australian Imperial Force in the Second World War. But it can be particularly challenging to find information on those who served in the Citizen Military Forces (CMF) or in the Royal Australian Navy.

The Australian Army website provides more information about searching records from various conflicts, and online access to the records from the Royal Australian Navy are still somewhat limited but improving over time.

Some of the participants discovered various records of family members who were Prisoners of War or Indigenous servicemen. Others worked patiently and were rewarded by discovering their family members under slightly different names (for example, one "James" was officially "Jim" in the records), while others were able to find new information such as newspaper articles on Trove about the exploits of their relatives some time after the war.

Some of the more difficult to find records appear on the Australian Government's World War Two Roll website, which is currently being updated to a new website managed by the Department of Veterans' Affairs.

One participant was able to complete an assignment for school based on the service records and was very helpful in assisting other members of the group to grapple with some of the more technical issues that inevitably arise when using technology!

Others will have to request a copy of their relative's records, but were able to register to request this information either for purchase or physical viewing from the National Archives in Canberra.

Overall, participants reported that the event was a success, with many wishing that the sessions were longer. Ideas for future sessions included a session on researching family history and creating a blog for use by individuals and community groups.

The Gunning and District Historical Society plans to run one of these free community sessions each quarter. Details of the next workshop will be advertised in the Lions Club of Gunning Noticeboard, on the Gunning Community Announcements and Events Facebook page, and on this blog.

If you have any other ideas for community workshops using the computers at the Gunning Library, please contact Dr Michael de Percy at: michael.depercy@canberra.edu.au.

Book Notes: "Phantom of the Opera" by Gaston Leroux

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


A timeless classic in the Gothic horror genre, rightly compared with Victor Hugo's Hunchback of Notre-Dame. The afterword mentions an American reviewer's distaste for the opera ghost being merely human, but after seeing many horror movies in recent times where the face of the supernatural being is revealed, I am inclined to prefer the man masquerading as a ghost any time. Apparently Leroux wrote detective novels before this work and the influence is noticeable. The nature of the building and the brilliant descriptions (or more accurately, allusions) to the opera itself recall many a nightmare where one is trapped underground. Leroux had access to the Palais Garnier to research his work and it is obvious in the story. This was an easy and enjoyable read and one I should have completed many years earlier. While I do not usually have a preference for the Gothic genre, this 1910 classic presents a complex mood that, for me, was belied by the images of the phantom singing with Marina Prior that haunted Australian televisions screens throughout the 1990s.



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Video: The Week in Politics with Michelle Grattan

VIDEO: Michelle Grattan on the government's approach to welfare

Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra and Michael de Percy, University of Canberra

University of Canberra professorial fellow Michelle Grattan and senior lecturer in political science Michael de Percy discuss the week in politics, including Nationals MP George Christensen going solo, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s announcement of a rise in Australia’s humanitarian refugee intake, Education Minister Simon Birmingham foreshadowing changes to the Gonski schools funding model, and how the government is approaching welfare spending.

Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra and Michael de Percy, Senior Lecturer in Political Science, University of Canberra

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

The biggest issue not on the political agenda...

Road user charging belongs on the political agenda as the best answer for congestion management

Marion Terrill, Grattan Institute and Owain Emslie, Grattan Institute

Road user charging is probably the best idea we have to reduce congestion and to enable better decisions on road investment. Average travel speeds in our cities are decreasing, and congestion is only likely to worsen as our population continues to grow.

Urban Infrastructure Minister Paul Fletcher recently gave an important speech, albeit largely unnoticed, in which he made the case for a universal road user charging scheme. Charging people to drive has previously been the dream of transport and economic policy wonks – serving politicians tend to see the idea as political poison.

Fletcher trod gently, cautioning his Sydney Institute audience that “there is a lot of work to do” and that any move in this direction would be “a ten to 15-year journey”. It is still remarkable that a federal minister even took these first steps.

Singapore introduced the world’s first electronic road pricing system back in 1998 to manage traffic volumes in the city.

Jason Tester Guerrilla Futures/flickr, CC BY-ND

Fletcher warned of the potential impact of electric vehicles on fuel excise revenue, but automated vehicles represent an even bigger change.

The future of road use is made unclear by the looming arrival of these vehicles. Despite predictions that these could be the answer to traffic congestion, complications include the interaction of autonomous and traditional vehicles and the complexities of human behaviour.

Autonomous vehicles could even lead to greater congestion. The ease of travel in these vehicles might encourage travellers to take more trips as they reduce the time cost of being stuck in traffic by being able to read emails and stay connected while the car drives itself. Empty vehicles travelling to pick up goods and passengers could further clog roads.

Thus it is prudent to target road congestion now, especially when current strategies aren’t helping much. Building more road capacity or even improving public transport can’t solve congestion.

The best strategy is management of demand via a pricing mechanism that reflects the cost of the congestion caused by one more vehicle on the road. With prices that vary by location, time of day and distance travelled, such a scheme would encourage people to take non-essential trips at a different time, or not at all.

The European experience of road user charging has produced multiple economic and social benefits (Federation European Cyclists/flickr, CC BY)

The charge could be efficient, as the trips that are discouraged are those for which the congestion caused outweighs the benefit derived. And it would be fair: drivers adding to the delay faced by others pay more, while those who drive in non-congested areas or at non-peak times pay less.

The ability to observe road users’ willingness to pay for road space will also give a better signal to planners of where additional road capacity will be of value to the community.

Don’t treat it as a revenue raiser

So Fletcher deserves plaudits for raising the issue. But he got one important thing wrong: he said that the fuel excise tax funds road spending.

Pointing out that fuel excise receipts would fall with the advent of more fuel-efficient vehicles, and electric cars in particular, he argued for a road user charging scheme on the ground that it would raise revenue for road spending.

Linking fuel excise to road funding is a furphy and gets us onto the wrong track at the very start of the road-pricing journey. Fuel excise is merely one source of general government revenue and is not in any way hypothecated, meaning pledged by law to be spent on a specific purpose – in this case roads.

It is no more relevant to say that falling excise revenues will put road funding under pressure than it is to say this will put pressure on health spending or the age pension.

Furthermore, about 75% of road funding comes from state and local government revenue, while fuel excise is a federal tax. It is true that falling fuel excise receipts would add to the federal government’s deficit problems. But there is no reason why a loss of fuel excise revenue must be replaced by another charge on motorists, or why motorists alone should fund additional road spending.

Take care to avoid an inefficient, distorting tax

Paul Fletcher deserves kudos for putting road user charging on the table.

Stefan Postles/AAP

The government should take a holistic approach to repair its pressured budget. It should restrict the most wasteful spending, wherever it is, and introduce or increase the most efficient, fair and simple taxes. It is not helpful to limit our thinking to motorist-based taxes to solve that part of the budget problem caused by falling fuel excise receipts.

The other problem with introducing road user charging as a revenue raiser rather than a congestion reducer is that a scheme designed on those terms is likely to produce poor results.

If we approach the task asking how we can maximise revenue, we’ll end up with charges on the wrong roads, at the wrong times, priced to maximise financial return rather than optimise congestion. For example, we might charge heavily on major roads, just to increase revenue, when some targeted charges on minor roads might do more to reduce traffic. In short, we’ll have one more inefficient, distorting tax.

So kudos to the minister for opening the debate. Let’s talk about road user charging, but let’s talk about what it should really achieve.

If we start by asking the right questions, road user charging could be the best congestion management policy we’ve seen in Australia. It could improve the driving experience without the need for big spending on more road capacity, and make sure we get the most economic and social value from our roads.

Marion Terrill, Transport Program Director, Grattan Institute and Owain Emslie, Associate, Grattan Institute

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Book Notes: "On Liberty" by John Stuart Mill

On Liberty by John Stuart Mill

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Revisiting On Liberty was an interesting exercise. It is little wonder that it was, and, according to the introduction, is ever more so, a gospel for living as an individual. What was most challenging was to find that so much of my education has led me to read Mill as if it were gospel, agreeing at every turn with almost everything. Its simplicity may be a reason for this, but it is also evident that a liberal education cannot be anything less than based on Mill's philosophy. Ideas affecting liberty, such as the after-hours lock-out laws in Sydney, are covered by Mill. Yet contemporary ideas of libertarianism seem to deny Mill's authority on the matter. But finding my own philosophy so closely aligned with Mill's is something worthy of further challenge and reflection. That this "little book" has since become a program for governments throughout the Anglo world appears to have reached its peak, with issues such as national security throwing into conflict the ideas of Hobbes and Mill on the nature of the "good society". Yet this gospel of the liberal tradition, in my mind, at least, wins again and again when read from the lofty heights of experience which I could neither conjure nor comprehend all those years ago. Mill really is the "godfather" of the liberal tradition and, like any gospel, rewards one with each subsequent reading.



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Upper Lachlan Shire Council Elections: Meet the Candidates

Gunning forums lively debate https://t.co/nbWxjsLWit via @CGazette

— Michael de Percy (@madepercy) September 7, 2016

My comments on taxi industry reform, ABC Radio's PM program

Taxi de-regulation has been mismanaged: expert https://t.co/ggwDhbqCWL @clint_jasper pic.twitter.com/O9jAsTFxNf

— ABC Current Affairs (@amworldtodaypm) September 5, 2016

Upper Lachlan Shire Council Election: "Meet the Candidates" evening in Gunning, 31 August 2016

With candidates for the Upper Lachlan Sire Council elections at the Old Hume Cafe in Gunning, 31 August 2016

On the evening of Wednesday 31 August 2016, candidates for the Upper Lachlan Shire Council elections spoke to members of the Gunning community at the Old Hume Cafe.

The council elections will be held on Saturday 10 September 2016. Twelve candidates are running for the nine council positions. 

About 50 people attended the event organised by the proprietor of the Old Hume Cafe, Peta Luck. To put this in perspective, that is about 10% of Gunning's population.

The key issues raised by the community related to roads, youth, tourism, wind farms, and what is becoming known as "Collexit".

Many community members are opposed to further wind farms in the Shire, with already some 12 wind farms in existence. The major issues with wind farms relate to perceived health impacts and the effect on property valuations in the vicinity.

Roads are a perennial issue for Gunning, The recent heavy rainfall has seen many in the community cut off through flooding on various roads in the Shire, including the Gunning-Collector Road and on Gundaroo Road last weekend at Sutton.

Regular commuters to Canberra will notice the veritable patchwork of hot mix that appears to wax and wane as the rain falls on Gundaroo Road. There is clearly a safety issue but of course local governments are often at the mercy of the NSW Government when it comes to major roads.

Facilities for youth and tourism got a guernsey, with many in the village asking what council intends to do to encourage young people to stay in the village, and also to attract more tourists, particularly from Canberra.

Issues from Collector were raised, with some residents of Collector lobbying for an independent body to manage funding from the wind farm companies. While some candidates were willing to discuss the issue, others were opposed on the basis of short-term planning that may actually lead to assets that the Council may become responsible for maintaining at a future date.

Candidates for the Upper Lachlan Shire Council elections

Many in the community felt that Council was not doing enough for the areas outside of Crookwell. For the residents of Collector, leaving the Upper Lachlan Shire and becoming part of the Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council is regarded as a viable alternative known colloquially as "Collexit". 

It would appear that the candidates have a bit of work to do to earn the votes of the residents of Gunning. There is much to do in the local area, much of which relates to normal maintenance issues before anything new can be added.

But the turn-out for the event was encouraging, and candidates are making frequent appearances in the village of late.

Whether this will be enough to satisfy the residents of Gunning is another thing. But it is clear that the event sparked a good deal of interest in the community.

Don't forget to vote on Saturday 10 September. For further information, including postal voting and the location of polling places, visit http://www.votensw.info/.

Information on the individual candidates is available at http://candidates.elections.nsw.gov.au/ contest/councillor/LG1601-131-01-00. Further information about the candidates was published recently published in the Crookwell Gazette.

Thank you to Peta Luck for organising this event and for the opportunity for me to act as the master of ceremonies for the evening.

Book Notes: "Utzon and the Sydney Opera House" by Daryl Dellora

Utzon and the Sydney Opera House: Penguin Special by Daryl Dellora

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I picked up this essay in the foyer of the Sydney Opera House while waiting to go in to see My Fair Lady. The theatre was great but the book made me angry. The way Utzon was treated by a conservative NSW government was very similar to the way Walter Burley Griffin was treated with his grand design for Canberra. These outstanding architects were basically bullied so the respective governments could take over the original plan and make a mess of it. The cheap approach ended up costing more and was less functional in both instances. I noticed the poor acoustics in the Joan Sutherland Theatre and wondered why the opera is not in the concert hall. Now I know.



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Book Notes: "Ego is the Enemy" by Ryan Holiday

Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


After reading The Obstacle is the Way, I decided to read this most recent work by Ryan Holiday. While the way some of the snippets of biographical histories have been used as examples could be challenged from their somewhat mono-cultural bent, and there were quite a few typographical errors which put me ill at ease, I still found this work helpful. Again, I marvel at the wisdom of somebody so young but the depth of reading by the author is obvious and this encourages me to look beyond the standard criticisms of formulaic success manuals with small historical snippets as supporting arguments. I particularly like the bibliography and I will request a copy of the extended reading list available from the author. But as part of my overall reading plan, I am glad that I took the time to read Holiday's work and I intend to read the rest very soon.



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