wha01 – Page 3 – Western Heritage Australia

Calvary in Kabul

Posted on 17 August 20214 September 2021 by wha01

That half of the Afghan population who are women might have a particular reason to dread a renewed Taliban regime in their country as it would deprive them of every single advantage gained since 2001. Civilisation, as we see it, means the freedom to seek and achieve one’s potential. The Taliban are enemies of that civilisation.

They proved this beyond all doubt when in 2001 they dynamited the “Buddhas of Bamiyan.” They were 2000 years old and belonged to the world!

In Memory of the Forgotten

Posted on 5 August 20216 August 2021 by wha01

But the very real Orwellian nightmare of the first Soviet years, from 1917 to 1924, had its very real human victims; numbered amongst them were the “Besprizornye.” These were seven million homeless urchins […]

The Charters that gave Australians Liberty!

Posted on 30 July 202127 September 2021 by wha01

Australians largely take their freedoms for granted, not realising the importance of the unbroken chain back to the English common law, the key agreements, and the system of governance which underpin that liberty. How fragile are those freedoms? It is not inconceivable that they could disappear in a generation if the cultural memory is lost, supplanted by disruptive ideologies or loss of pride in our Western inheritance.

Reflections on Orwell – D. Duffy

Posted on 27 July 202127 July 2021 by wha01

Reflections on OrwellAuthor: David Duffy A little while ago, I chaired a talk on George Orwell and his significance in the year 2021. “Orwellian” is now part of our language and cultural hemisphere. In my vote of thanks, I quoted the early 19th century Russian monk Pechorin in his letter to Alexander Herzen, the famous […]

The Fog of Woke

Posted on 23 July 202128 July 2021 by wha01

The purpose of this short vignette is to introduce you to some of the jargon of Critical Social Justice. The difficulty in understanding someone versed in Critical Theory is that the words used are often identical to the commonly used words, but with completely different meanings and obscured subtext.

It needn’t be Grimm. Western Folklore in Australia

Posted on 10 July 202128 July 2021 by wha01

In 1854, the eminent folklorist Joseph Jacobs was born in Sydney, New South Wales, though his working life was spent abroad – predominantly in England and the U.S.A. He wished that English speaking children could read tales which had emerged from the folklore of the British Isles, rather than those of the continent made popular by Charles Perrault in the 17th century, and the Grimm Brothers in the first half of the 19th century. Jacobs lamented that Perrault’s genius displayed in Cinderella and Puss in Boots had ousted the English classics of Catskin and Childe Rowland. Likewise, Tom-Tit-Tot had given way to Grimm’s Rumpelstiltschen and The Three Sillies to Hänsel and Gretel.

Law in the early colony of New South Wales

Posted on 6 July 202128 July 2021 by wha01

English law was brought to the newly founded colony of New South Wales in 1788, which extended from Tasmania (then Van Diemen’s Land) to Cape York in the north and from the east coast to the 135th meridian (roughly to Coober Pedy). For the first three decades, the colony was administered by military leaders who were answerable only to the Crown, the first of which was Captain Arthur Phillip. He arrived on the HMS Sirius with 11 vessels in the fleet carrying 1480 people – half of them convicts. From the start New South Wales was not to be administered solely as a military prison.

The Scientific Method – the birth of the quest for truth

Posted on 4 July 202128 July 2021 by wha01

Atlas, the Greek god of philosophy, mathematics and astronomy, holding up the celestial sphere of the universe – 2nd century A.D. Roman copy of Hellenistic original.

Foundations of Western Theatre

Posted on 29 June 202128 July 2021 by wha01

The three Greek playwrights whose names echo down the ages are Aeschylus (Ai-skillus) 552‑456 B.C., Sophocles (Soffa-cleez) 496‑406 B.C. and Euripides (Uri-p-deez) 480‑406 B.C. Fewer than ten percent of their works have survived into the modern era. The 5th Century B.C. was the Greek classical age which saw a flourishing of art, philosophy, theatre, and […]

Greek Lyric Poetry: Works of Sappho, Pindar, and Aeschylus

Posted on 27 June 202128 July 2021 by wha01

An excellent video from 1979 by Prof. David Grene (1913-2002) University of Chicago. They told me, Heraclitus, they told me you were dead,They brought me bitter news to hear and bitter tears to shed.I wept as I remembered how often you and IHad tired the sun with talking and sent him down the sky. And […]

Aesop’s Fables

Posted on 26 June 202128 July 2021 by wha01

Australian children encounter Aesop’s fables early on in their lives. Well known amongst a long list of over a hundred titles attributed to him include: The Boy who cried Wolf, The Tortoise and the Hare, The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs, The Fox and the Grapes, and The North Wind and the Sun. The […]

Magna Carta

Posted on 15 June 202128 July 2021 by wha01

No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgement of his equals or by the law of the land. To no one will we sell, to no one deny, or delay right or justice.

Statues of Sydney

Posted on 13 June 202128 July 2021 by wha01

A photo-essay taking in a slice of bronze statues that can be found around Hyde Park, the Domain and the Botanic Gardens. Past Monarchs, explorers, playwrights, poets, and Governors are found in this area, as is the magnificent Archibald fountain with its mythical Greek themes.