Je…

..me souviens…..

“A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun.”

– JRR Tolkien (from ‘The Hobbit’)

When the First Fleet left Botany Bay to sail north in search of a better future (little they knew that Sydney Harbour was just around the bend), they paraded before French Captain La Perouse’s expedition. The following is an account of what happened, excerpted from a great book, The Fatal Shore, by Robert Hughes:

“The departing English now gave the French a spectacular show of fumbling.  Friendship rammed Prince of Wales, losing her jib boom. Charlotte nearly ran on the rocks, clawed off and cannoned into Friendship. Lady Penrhyn just avoided ramming her amidships.”

….the birth of a nation!!!

It’s all about a sense of place, of topophilia….

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“A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun.” – JRR Tolkien (from ‘The Hobbit’)