One of the Sea Shepherds’ fleet — the “Steve Irwin” – is in Sydney at the moment as part of a short tour of Australian cities before they head towards Antarctica for another summer foray with the Japanese whaling fleet. On the bridge –panorama. In the galley — panorama. Here is a view on the bow — panorama. You can see last year’s actions on the ”Whale Wars” show.
On Anzac Day (the national day of remembrance) there are a number of ceremonies in the CBD — including this one at the War Memorial in Hyde Park at noon. Panorama.
Prime Minister Rudd delivered a long awaited apology to Australia’s indigenous people as the first order of business of the new Labor government in Canberra today. Crowds gathered in many venues across the country to watch the historic speech including here in Redfern in inner Sydney. Panorama.
The official start of the war was announced on Thursday at 2.30pm Sydney time and by 5.30pm a large crowd had gathered outside the Town Hall. Panorama. Later the crowd marched down to Circular Quay without much incident except when the State Premier, Bob Carr, happened by accident through the crowd (in an official looking vehicle). The car was splattered with eggs and paint bombs (picture) but Carr continued a dialogue - via mobile phone - with a talkback radio host. … Thinking about the Statue of Liberty I went hunting for the image of it buried in the sand at the end of Planet of the Apes and found it here — with some other nice icons of sci-fi urban apocalypse. The compiler of this gallery has an interesting blog. There is an anti-French ”Sendbackliberty” site here with some intriguing graphics.
Candlelit protest at Bondi Beach this evening (Sunday) - panorama - a low key affair noteworthy for a passionate speech by the local mayor and the torrential storm which later came out of nowhere and brought proceedings to an abrupt halt. Actually there was also a very nice scene before the final speeches and the rain as the candle-toting demonstrators made their way along the line of the surf in the darkness – (reminiscent visually somewhat of the scene in Ivan the Terrible as the peasants wind across the snow to petition the Czar). Here is my panorama of the big Sydney rally in Hyde Park a month ago.
