Call of The Reed Warbler – Messenger to the anthropogenic age

Introduction 

 Paul Keating once famously remarked one can always rely on self-interest when dealing with State Premiers, who will invariably yield on policy at the prospect of getting a bucket of cash. 

 Similarly the best prospect of attaining a more sustainable future for this generation and the next is to illustrate the economic benefits both now and stretching into the future, in addition to its ethical underpinnings. 

 “Call of the Reed Warbler” does that very well and has the added weight of a narrative from a lifelong farmer whose research into large scale farming both here and in similar dry continents such as in Africa is based on a combination of modern science, observation and practical experience. His concept of sustainable farming promises greatly enhanced yields based on an organic style best described as having a covenant to coexist with nature herself. 

From a purely financial perspective it is the equivalent of putting a value on your principal asset which of course is the land and those related natural resources one can call upon to ensure a natural constant rejuvenation. This is in stark contrast to the activities of the early settlers whose farming and tree clearing weakened the landscape and denied its ability to cope with naturally occurring drought. The result, only too easy to observe, are in the pictures of massive erosion and large stretches of salty unproductive land. 

In fact it raises the question of past drought declared natural disasters were more a feature of degraded lands inability to cope with an age old cycle rather than the perception of an unexpected disaster.  

This summary will be divided roughly into sections covering the author's ideas but I have also added in other material where I think it is relevant.  

Introducing the author Charles Massy – 

Massey has interviewed regenerative farmers across Australia whose stories appear alongside his own self-deprecating journey of discovery, where he talks about earlier mistakes he made using traditional farming practices that put too much pressure on the land.

His baptism of fire arose at an early age following the death of his father when he was fresh from graduating with a science degree, was thrust into the position of managing the large family Merino and cattle property. He returned much later in 2009 to the ANU to complete a PHD in human ecology.

His lifelong association with the land saw him firstly focus on genetic advisory services that ushered in a superior new type of merino sheep before turning his attention to regenerative land care management. He subsequently managed much larger properties and additionally served the local community as a bushfire captain. 

 By way of a succinct introduction to his work I am including his reported speech at an RCS Forum at Beef 2018 in Rockhampton in 2018. In a nutshell he is advocating to farmers it is their job to get out of the way of Mother Nature!   

  “It is a huge mind shift, and there was no empathy or understanding that came with that mind,” Mr Massy said. “The current industrial paradigm (is one in which) we see nature as the enemy to be dominated.”

It is only in the last 10 years, he says, that thousands of scientists around the world have put together a more complete picture of the earth’s systems and how they interact.

Industrial agriculture has been implicated in destabilising seven of those eight systems.

But counter to that is significant evidence that regenerative agriculture offers the best of all solutions to turn around those Anthropocene problems. A key message was that “you can’t fool around and interfere with one cycle without all the other ones being destabilised”.

Turning it around involves increasing ground cover and nutrient rich shrubs to get “as many solar panels on our landscape for as long as we can, to pass those sugars into the soil to build the carbon to feed the bugs and to bury those long-term carbon polymers”.

He offered several case studies to demonstrate how quickly things can be turned around – examples of country that was previously bare and flint-hard after over a century of set stocking transformed in 10 years to regenerated grassland with soft and absorbent soils, a greater variety of shrubs “which have thousands of additional nutrients in them”, collectively maximising the ‘solar panels’ on the landscape.

“Once you drive the solar you get a deeper-rooted variety of plants, more air pockets, more active soil biology, and it leads to an enormous increase in water holding,” he explained.

Several pictures demonstrated the “fence line effect”, one showing the result of three inches of rain in two hours on two neighbouring paddocks – on the set-stocked paddock the water is pouring off, on the holistically managed paddock it is all being absorbed into the soil.

“If you think about it, here we are on the driest continent on earth, where we often get hard rainfalls, and in 24 hours one neighbour triples his effective rainfall.

“It is all pretty profound stuff.”

Mr Massy said these results have been achieved in “incredibly tough” seven to ten-inch rainfall areas in Australia and South Africa and Mexico, where graziers have been able to triple their production essentially by increasing groundcover and shrubs.

One farm revegetated and measured by an ex-CSIRO scientist near Canberra for the past 30 years has been shown to have sequestered 11 times more soil carbon than its total farmed emissions in that period, and has moved soil carbon levels from one to four percent in the same time.

“A lot of the research now into these cycles shows that if we can just put one percent more carbon into the soil we can store an extra more than 140,000 litres of water per hectare just by doing it.”

Mr Massy said that with returning to scientific study after 30 years came an understanding of complex adaptive systems – earth systems, water catchments, even the world wide web – which if destabilised have a capacity because of their complexity to adjust and ‘self-organise’ back to health.

“This concept of self-organisation in natural systems and even the world wide web have an in-built capacity if they’re destabilised or if there is a new factor such as a drought or change in management, to reorganise if allowed to reorganise back to health and resilience. “

Old land and new landscapes

The Australian land mass was once part of a much larger one which remained submerged for nearly 4 billion years beneath the sea to accumulate vast salt deposits below the water table. Our soils are generally poor since the sea washed out most of the soils nutrients except for a thin rich top soil. Remarkably the Australian landscape had adapted to harness and store meagre rainfall and thrive in what would be considered untenable conditions in other countries. So that it is a fragile environment that requires a unique application of farming skills to ensure it remains sustainable.

Conventional thinking held that such a fragile land was unsuited to the existence of hard hooved animals but Massey found that animals could actually enhance the sustainable ecology of the land. Counterintuitively he discovered that as long as these animals only grazed for short periods and were moved on before exhausting the grasslands their presence actually enhanced the natural outcomes. This necessitated much smaller paddocks and the availability of water not being far away. The reason being their hooves aerated the grasslands and they fertilised the land. It was important to provide long rest periods for pastures that were able to rejuvenate. In fact properties employing this methodology actually dramatically increased their stocking levels and became impervious to drought. He also proposes mixed farming, such as cereals cropping combined with livestock which yielded superior results. The downsize is it involves a much heavier investment in fencing to support rotation, but this is more than offset by either less input or no input at all for herbicides and fertilizers.   

Questions arise over whether our finite water, land and infrastructure systems can sustain the projected level of population. Nobody has the definitive answers as there are any number of futurists willing to stake a claim both for and against Australia being able to support an increased population scenario. To reiterate, one can not only draw comfort from the stories of increased yields by Massy but equally in the positive lead from overseas countries like France and the Netherlands.

For instance France’s agroecology policy aims to move agriculture towards the objective of combining economic, environmental and social performance.

The ministry forecasts by 2025 most  French farmers will sign on to the concept, which includes practices such as rotating crops to improve soil fertility and cutting reliance on chemical fertilisers.   

Pre colonization

Living on a large island which had become separated from the mainland Australian Aboriginals are thought to have enjoyed a period of 60,000 years of isolation prior to colonization. Like many indigenous societies its oral and visual history does not reveal definitive records of changing climatic and land mass conditions although it has been gauged they were involved in extensive burning of bush land to seek out game in what is known as fire stick farming which permanently changed the landscape. 

Aborigines also engaged in some agriculture using water channels for irrigation planting of a variety of wild grains which were cultivated into regular crops. They also engaged in seasonal eel framing. They erected stone cottages where they lived during the time of harvest. There is no doubt this was a type of sustainable farming just as their seasonal food sources were guided by movements in the heavens. 

Aboriginal people would have had a very practical reason for their interest in astronomy: the sky is a calendar that indicates when the seasons are shifting and when certain foods are available, says Roslynn Haynes, an associate professor at the University of New South Wales and author of Explorers of the Southern Sky, a history of Australian astronomy.

"Constellations appearing in the sky, usually at sunrise or sunset, were very important. They helped [Aboriginal people] predict what was happening in the world around them," says Haynes.

For example, at different times of the year the Emu in the Sky is oriented so it appears to be either running or sitting down. Depending upon its position people in the western desert knew it was time to hunt for emus or collect their eggs.     

It is difficult to ascertain population levels at the time of colonization due to their rapid decimation from the newly contacted diseases and ensuing wars but estimates vary up to about a million. 

A feature of the Australian bush is many of the species require the intense heat from a bushfire for the seeds to burst from their pods to later germinate. Evidence points towards Bushfires being an integral part of our landscape for a very long period of time- possibly caused by periodic manmade burning and lightning strikes.

Many have argued the more recent tragic bush fires would not have been as ferocious had periodic large-scale burning become more widespread beforehand.

What we can learn from the aboriginals is the land owns us, not the other way around. It is only in partnership with nature that modern methods can be effective which the overarching view of the author.     

Hence, the idea is also to work in partnership with nature by setting aside connecting corridors of land and vegetation to maintain biodiversity which he ably demonstrates will sustainability enhance yields of existing land use.

A Farmers lament -Rain no longer follows the plough!

The early settlers reshaped the landscape with extensive tree felling and overgrazing by sheep and cattle unaware of the consequences of their actions as if Australia was an extension of an English county. During the early periods buoyed on by a repeat of unseasonably good rainy seasons an errant philosophy took root from successive good harvests – the rain always follows the plough.

The repeated cycle to clear the land gained momentum to the extent more and more marginal areas were opened up for farming with disastrous results. Soon landowner’s optimism gave way to despair as they were forced to walk off the land which was destitute as a consequence of the inevitable drought cycle which took them by surprise.

In the more immediate post war period the same pattern was to occur. The then liberal government created solder settlements; small farming land parcels granted to returning servicemen. Although many of these holdings through amalgamations and capital improvements continue, many were forced to walk off the land heartbroken. I remember vividly, the anger and frustration in my uncle’s voice, as a youngster staying on his farm, to hear him berate the government for their foolishness. He did everything in his power with letters and consultation, knowing full well there was never a hope in hell they could become sustainable farmers from such small uneconomic land holdings.

Fortunately today a few of these lessons have been learnt and larger scale amalgamations have occurred in most agricultural sectors to ensure farms collectively are viable holdings. However, encouragement to use irrigation for water dependent crops such as rice and cotton were examples of continued bad policies which are correctly condemned by the author

A perspective on modern day agriculture and farming in Australia

What has changed over the last few decades and identified by the author is the growing realization of a new spirit that at last acknowledges the land it is not here for us to do with it whatever we please. Rather, it is a dry fragile country that uniquely can rejuvenate itself by the propensity to retain water and vegetation plus trees to bind the soil and contain nutrients.

There currently exists a mixture of the large scale technologically based farming more reliant on chemicals versus those in favor of a more bio diversified approach that relies more on nature for its sustainability. But overall, despite our poor beginning most farmers today are becoming more environmentally minded and intent on preserving the land in perpetuity for future generations. One aspect I think that has tremendous potential to continue to yield outstanding results is Land Care.

Local LandCare groups ensure farms are not only sustainable, but set aside corridors of up to 12% of the land as sanctuaries for nature. Land Care, introduced in 1989, is an exciting government funded initiative which enables groups to receive grants and technical advice to help better maintain the native landscape and set up the vital corridor sanctuaries which interlink the properties within each respective land care group. There are 4,000 community LandCare Groups currently engaged at many different levels. Such moves facilitate improved farm yields.

Australia’s approach to farming is diverse, like the physical landscape itself. According to the author the future for the bush in the sheep and wheat belt, represents an ecological opportunity. Hard evidence exists where the rejuvenate methods are being employed the resultant higher yield and improved landscape will surely lead to a transformation in the agricultural sector.

To reiterate the need for smaller paddocks and more intense use (but not to degrade the vegetation) are suggested by Massy as methods that mimic the past rejuvenated outcomes inherent in nature. Paradoxically the thrust of evidence points to more intensive stocking of animals. That is based on smaller areas of stay for short durations, but not sufficient to denude the grassland. But the key is to allow a longer recovery period afterwards. This is in contrast to the traditional large scale paddocks and only occasionally moving stock once the area has been exhausted of its sustainable grassland. Rather obviously this will involve investment in additional fencing or a way found of corralling animals in smaller areas. It's of equal importance areas are not left too long without the imprint of animals which the author proposes can be so organised to mimic the prior effects of grazing wildlife. 

It is in effect facilitating a relationship with nature that one seeks to attain and for which yields will continue to surprise on the upside.   

The anthropogenic age

A feature which distinguishes us from the animal world is our innate ability to tell stories about ourselves. 

But it is only over the past several decades we have realized the extent of the severe climatic instability and uncertainty that underpinned our evolutionary journey over the past few million years. What we can say with a high degree of certainty, is we prospered due to an extraordinary ability to alter the landscape and adapt.

In turn, that shaped us in our evolving identity, in the sacred practices, values and expressions of what it is to be human. That is; ‘the sense of self’. 

So here we are in the Age of Humans, known as the Anthropocene, a new era with attendant greater risk for sustainability requiring another narrative.       

This is the message of Massy who cites the error of the mechanical mindset, a legacy of the enlightenment philosophes such as René Descartes.        

What is it that can lead us to a new moral sense of meaning in this new world? This provides plenty of room for discussions and rather obviously the impetus it also makes much more economic sense to change practices and policy.

Is there a link between culture and our survival and if so what is it?

Does our moral sense of empathy need to change?

Is it essential to develop new values to ensure one engages in a meaningful way.

Ultimately that comes down to politics and behaviors because the Anthropocene is of our making. We have, in the past, changed ourselves, in tandem with adaptations to the new environment, so in this age that needs to be repeated with a much greater sense of urgency.

The Author is appealing for this change away from the mechanical mindset that prevailed no so long ago and mostly continues, although encouraging signs are emerging.     

Understanding the water cycle, soil and ecosystems 

The thirsty camel and water shortages

Most of us love water which is possibly the most valuable of all resources – to enjoy the refreshing sea, river, stream or lake. But the bulk of our fresh water resides in the polar ice caps which are now threatened by global warming. Water occupies about 70% of the earth’s surface and is 75% of our human body mass.
The author points to improved vegetation to avoid excessive runoff. This is achieved by natural grassland and landscape contours sculptured into the land to facilitate catchment areas. The connecting corridors of vegetation complements biodiversity and riparian zones that interface the land to the rivers and streams, to create rich vegetation made up of hydrophilic plants.

But as Australia is the driest continent on planet earth and given a continuation of the over use of water, it is not surprising shortages have remained one of the most crucial of issues. The question asked frequently is how one can best support a burgeoning population demanding more water from dwindling sources.   

One of the worst areas affected is our largest river the Murray which has seen the corruption of measurers introduced to increase the so called environmental water flow, depleted by irrigation.

The Murray flows along the eastern side of South Australia, and part of the New South Wales and Victoria borders. Irrigation from the Murray sustains this region which produces 50% of Australia’s fresh fruit and vegetables, but at a terrible cost to the river and its ecosystem. Although flows improved with flooding, earlier periods have resulted in degradation to the extent there was so little water remaining in the once mighty river its flow was insufficient to carry any fresh water into the ocean.

This environmental position for the river, if practices had been allowed to draw out unstainable amounts for irrigation, would have a devastating effect on its biology, eliminating many species dependent upon brackish waters.   

But the future for the Murray Basin exists for both sustainable agriculture combined with the preservation of swamp land, vegetation and trees essential to biodiversity that will support that landscape.  

Overall we are slowly learning from past mistakes and some progress is being made. For instance the per capita use of water in Australia has reduced over the past few years. In 2019, according to the Department of Meteorology, the nation used 10 % less water per capita than the previous year. Groundwater storage has remained steady over the past decade after falling precipitously over previous periods. 

Soil management and avoiding the ravages of drought     

To reiterate as per previously outlined Massy maintains if we want to avoid the ravages of drought it is essential to rotate stock regularly. This is the key as the grass protects the soil and enhances health whilst facilitating the plants ability to trap water and provide housing for natural pest control.

He also talks about drilling as opposed to the more invasive ploughing of fields in preparation for sowing that underpins solar power as in photosynthesis with less reliance on fertilisers and herbicides. . 

Conclusion

Massey provides plenty of food for thought and an air of positivism that we can in fact farm sustainably and at the same time become much more profitable.

The world needs a new transformative narrative that has to be tailored individually to each country's or regions ecological settings. I would like to see more research funds supportive of advancing these ideas, inclusive of the flexibility for some modification in the process.

I don’t think Massy thinks this is the only one best way. Such is the complexity of nature that learning more about its remarkable creative power is never going to present an absolute answer. But we can achieve far better outcomes than the past sometimes woeful practices have delivered. The proof is in the pictures and narrative both here and abroad, as his narrative ably suggests. They suggest it is morally reprehensible to continue down the traditional road when we know it isn’t working and there exists evidence based science of viable alternatives.  

Lindsay Byrnes 31/10/2020 

For further reading and references

Charles Massy | ANU Fenner School of Environment & Society
https://fennerschool.anu.edu.au/people/visiting/dr-charles-massy
https://fennerschool.anu.edu.au/people/visiting/dr-charles-massy#acton-tabs-link--tabs-person_tabs-middle-2

Transforming landscapes - Griffith Review

https://www.griffithreview.com/articles/transforming-landscapes/

Beef Central Forum

https://www.beefcentral.com/beef-2018-review/our-job-is-to-get-out-of-the-way-of-mother-nature-charles-massy/

 

Creating a sustainable Murray-Darling
ttps://www.natureaustralia.org.au/what-we-do/our-priorities/land-and-freshwater/land-freshwater-stories/creating-a-sustainable-murray-darling/

Culture

Introduction

When we talk about culture it is usually in the context of race, ethnicity or nationality. We generally ascribe race to biological distinguishing features and ethnicity as the beliefs and customs that relate to a particular group or nation. The latter will reference a culture, whilst nationality denotes your country of birth or adoption. Hence different peoples in a country can have varying ethnicities. Ultimately most immigration will result in a merger of different cultures into one more predominant representation although traditional pockets persist which can be the source of conflict. 

 

But in terms of providing any meaningful data on race, anthropologists have abandoned any such idea other than to point to biological differences in colour and so forth. Rather it is acknowledged such is the evolutionary spread across regions that any enduring differences are not possible to distinguish one race from another (except for biological differences in appearance) in any meaningful way. Nevertheless a degree of disriminisation remains.    

 

In a nutshell where there are differences these relate to our culture that has to be learnt. The customs, art or religion and so forth are introduced via the family and community. But in a worn torn country, punctuated by violence it is hardly surprising that children can grow up to perpetuate that violent culture in their own life.

Similarly, if unreasonable economic hardships are imposed this may provide the catalyst for a growing nationalistic culture to develop even within a democratic society. That was the case when unreasonable demands were made in Germany at the cessation of hostilities at the end of the First World War. 

 

Defining Culture

I am defining culture for the purposes of discussions as what the majority of people think is right, good or true at a particular time without usually questioning it. There are varying inputs that make up a culture inclusive of politics, religion and various customs. It would be a mistake to say one overshadowed the other but in the West one might reasonably assume the Judeo- Christiana tradition permeates laws and governance systems.   

Christianity for instance formed the values that were fundamental to the legal and governmental institutions and customs of Australia. But there was no obligation to belong to a Christian religion or any religion. 

 

Cultural hegemony

In philosophy in modern day times we refer to cultural hegemony; to reflect the dominant view supported through ideological or cultural means. In other words it is the values, norms and ideas that permeate a particular worldview, which may be routinely expressed by social institutions.

Such a view is generally held to be true, mostly just on face value, by the majority, so that the remainder also are prone to follow on. 

 Changing a bad culture is difficult – How can you do that?

In Kevin Brinkman’s article that appeared in ‘Philosophy Now’ he contends that these three big ideas – ideology, cultural hegemony, and the sociology of knowledge – when joined together will help us answer two big questions: Why is our culture the way it is? And what can we do about it?

Kevin Brinkman, sets out the steps one can take in modernity to change culture with some help from 3 modern day philosophers; Louis  Althusser (1918-1990), Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) and Karl Manheim (1893-1947).

He contends they could help us to do this.  Althusser is regarded as the most influential by rendering a respectability to Marxist ideas, as opinion is prone to recoil in horror at the mention of his name, associated as it is with the evils of the Slim Stalinist era. 

His work continues to provide food for thought for philosophers and activists examining alternatives to our present economic and social construct.  

In his early formative years he became heavily involved in Catholicism, in conjunction with a membership of the Communist Party in 1948.  

Althusser had previously spent the war years as a prisoner of war at a camp in Northern Germany, where he credits his ideas on communism as arising from that experience.

 Antonia Gramsci

Similarly Antonio Gramsci was an Italian journalist and activist who is best known for his work on Marxism, economics and politics. He was imprisoned by the Mussolini’s fascist Italian government, where he wrote Prison Notebooks.

The upshot of his theory was that the state represented domination on behalf of capitalism and the ruling class. He is attributed to introducing the concept of cultural hegemony, the role of the state and how it accomplishes its ideological framework in hegemonic beliefs, via mass media to avoid thoughtful analysis.

 Karl Manheim

Mannheim talked about social constructs and is known as the founding father of the sociology of knowledge. He was also agreeable to Marxism. Mannheim held each generation to make fresh contact with the older version to slightly alter particular cultural aspects. The upshot is each new generation opens up opportunities for social and cultural continuity and change.

But rather than becoming wedded to such views can we steer a middle course and as suggested by the author change culture with humility and civility, knowing that everyone is upset about something in the culture, and that many people are doing their best to make this a better world.

A Big Picture perspective

According to the author culture is always interacting with various influences that keep it in a state of flux. Once hegemony can be challenged, and eventually replaced, by another, it can happen in a perfectly peaceful way.

This is in contrast to the economic determinism often associated with Karl Marx, or the political determinism often associated with Carl von Clausewitz, or the cultural determinism often associated with Max Weber. In all these cases, the named dimension holds decisive influence over the other two, such that the other two dimensions of human life cannot in the end affect what will happen in the determining dimension. In reality no single dimension of human life is deterministic. This is good news for those without power – those not occupying seats of economic, political, or cultural leadership – because it means the path of development of society is not set in advance. It implies that a small group of concerned and committed individuals can begin the cultural change process, which moves out to the economic dimension by its ability to multiply and sustain itself, exerts influence on the political dimension, before thoroughly influencing the cultural dimension.

He summaries the advice of this article in the words of the anthropologist Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world” (Earth at Omega: Passage to Planetization by Donald Keys, 1982, p.79).

 

How Did Our Culture Get This Way?

In this model, a cultural hegemony forms through three stages: its supporters acquire some power; they get institutions on board; and then let the institutions spread the culture.

Power is a natural and inevitable part of human society. Although philosophers such as Marx wanted society to ultimately move beyond power dynamics, someone, or some group, is always more powerful than another.

According to our philosophers, the last stage of establishing a hegemony – spreading a culture – is the easiest to achieve. Winning power requires fighting. Winning institutions requires negotiation. Winning individuals requires only their consent to the values of the institutions. Most of the values of most individuals are unconsciously absorbed. We do not often question the values of our culture (for example, human rights, individualism, and materialism) because, in the words of Gramsci, they have become ‘common sense’ (Selections, p.134). For example, we are pro-choice or pro-life usually because that is the stance of our family or religion.

Althusser describes the process of accepting the culturally hegemonic institutional line as moving from being ‘free subjects’ to willingly accepting subjection ‘all by [one’s] self’ (Lenin, p.182).

How Can Cultural Values Be Reformed

Cultural values are reformed in three stages: get people thinking, get people together, and get institutional change.

Culture is not something static – people are always changing culture. So the real challenge, after all, may not be how to change culture. Our three philosophers have given us a roadmap for how to do that. The real challenge may be changing culture with humility and civility, knowing that everyone is upset about something in the culture, and that many people are doing their best to make this a better world.

 

Australian Perspective

So one might ask the question in Australia, where we operate as a democracy, are we nevertheless in the grips of what some might say are moves that risk taking away the safeguards that promote an egalitarian society?

A salient point I think is important to note is the current nature of our present position as part of a global village, which means the communicative tools to initiate change are more favourable than in any other time in history. I have long argued for a return to Keynesian style economics in numerous letters to the Editor in the AFR, but that requires a change in thinking from the ‘individualism” style has permeated policy from the nineties onwards.      

A short history of Australian culture.

Australian cultural identity has developed and changed from that of a near British replica that failed to honour or acknowledge indigenous Australians, to a more multicultural urbanized mass reconnecting with more of a sense of place.

In 1897, Australia had just recovered from the effects of the earlier land boom and was enjoying the highest living standards in the world. The country was capitalizing on its many endowments, although these were not shared by the aboriginal community.

At that time a sense of humor and romantic notion of the bush persisted, as epitomized by such remarkable poets as Henry Lawson and Banjo Patterson. Lawson was a city bound chap; only venturing out in the bush briefly for a month during his life. This was hardly surprising with such a population concentration in the eastern seaboard was evident from the outset due to a lack of arable land. Today Australia remains one of the most urbanized countries in the world.

But Australia was immune to the hideous face of slavery that continued on in democracies in various guises as a creeping societal cancer fueled by ongoing ambivalence and greed.  

For instance slavery existed between 1842 and 1904 involving the South Pacific islanders in Australia, known as Black birding.  

The State Government attempted to control it but lacked constitutional power to enforce the law.  It only died out 1904 as a consequence of the Australian commonwealth, calling for the deportation of all such people.  

 

Aboriginal people were also treated as slaves and keenly sought after by the pastoralist industry. This was evident in the pearling industry and in their use as household servants.

Today the legacy of slavery still exists throughout the world with large groups of people effectively enslaved under the guise of different descriptions.  

Our first Nations Australian aborigines who remarkably were not considered citizens able to vote in federal elections until the 1962 referendum was passed.

 

Mother Country culture was firmly entrenched at the time of Federation at the turn of the century. After the Federation that commitment continued with huge sacrifices in both World War 1 and 2 with combined fatalities of around 120,000 and three times that number wounded. That loyalty was perpetuated by Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies who served as 

Prime Minister between 939-1941 and then uninterrupted from 1949-1966; retiring at aged 70.

Menzies was more English than the English themselves. Famous author and archaeologist, Jared Diamond (Author of ‘Collapse; why civilizations collapse’ and ‘Guns Germs and Steel’) remarked when he last visited Australia that during his earlier visit in the early sixties the country was a carbon copy in thought and culture of England. Menzies presided over a period of rapid post war growth, fuelled by migration under the White Australia Policy and exceptionally high birth rates. There were 4 million births between 1946 and 1961, and that group known as the Baby boomers still have political clout.

Australia remained somewhat of a cultural desert for artists until the late fifties and early sixties when a number of important cultural centers were finally established that supplemented the earlier establishment of the Australian Broadcasting commission in 1932 ( The ABC ). In 1956; the Australian Opera, 1959; the National Institute of Dramatic Art and in 1961 the Australian Ballet. Despite these additions Australia continued to import most of its culture from abroad particularly from the “Dream machines” from what was being manufactured in America. Roy Rogers and tales from the ‘Great Dividing Range’ featuring cowboys and Indians dominated my childhood memories, as did spitfires, fighters and tales about adventures set in England.

When I read Bill Bryson’s book entitled “Thunderbolt Kid” about his boyhood experiences growing up in the USA, I was reminded of my own childhood experiences. Assuming a certain indulgence I will recount a few boyhood experiences which paint a country picture of the culture that existed then.  

Culture in the NSW country from the post war period.  

I grew up in the picturesque small dairy farming town of Kyogle, situated on the NSW side of the border with Queensland.
The back fence was all that separated our house from fields of grazing cattle and the river; an endless source of entertainment and excitement for me. I was scarcely ever indoors, coming in only to listen with bated breath to the daily radio broadcast of “The Search for the Golden Boomerang” and other popular radio serials broadcast then. Radio, books, comics, making slingshots, bows and arrows, climbing trees or exploring the river banks kept us actively interested. I can never recall feeling bored. In later life when I watched the same radio script on TV, I was sorely disappointed, actors and sets seemed surprisingly insipid and imprisoned on the tiny screen.
I loved the weekly visit to the movies. Afterwards we feasted on chips, smothered in salt and dripping with fat, wrapped up unceremoniously in old newspapers; pure manna from heaven.  When I returned home it was time to re-enact the scenes, embellishing the storyline to make it more exciting as I was playing in the bush outside.
Supermarket shopping didn’t exist, so there was a constant stream of merchants and visitors to our house, the milkman at first light, filling your jug with fresh milk and cream, a baker carrying his basket under his arm of freshly baked bread exuding its enticing aroma, the postman’s shrill whistle, ice from an ice cart for your ice chest, an insurance man collecting the premiums and a salesperson selling encyclopaedias.
Each week the faithful ‘Dunny man” had to carefully exchange your full dunny for an empty one which was an operation that required a combination of brute strength (as they were rather heavy when full) and skill to ensure you didn’t spill any of the contents out while lifting on to the truck. The contents were respectively referred to as “Night Soil”. The sign ‘Night Soil’ was emblazoned on the side of the old truck that excluded copious amounts of blue smoke as its engine groaned under the strain of its heavy load. The immediate post-war period was not only known as the baby boom times but also as a time where the Nation (particularly country regions) invested heavily in social capital. The culture was such that local service clubs were eagerly joined by a population intent on leaving behind the dread of war in pursuit of community support.         
I think we lived in a more egalitarian society then as it never occurred to me that we might be regarded as battlers so to speak. Christmas time was always an exciting time. Receiving a bike for a Christmas present eclipsed all known joyous experiences in my life. My parents, sensing my excitement, had laid a string throughout all of the rooms of the house and back down the stairs to be attached to the bike situated on the front lawn. Christmas morning at first light they invited me to follow the string and see what was on the end of it. Needing no encouragement I tore through the house and in a state of heightened excitement finally surveyed the wondrous sight, I immediately hopped on and cycled away. It didn’t matter to me that it was a very old bike, where rust had been carelessly painted over with bubbly paint and made to look new with a false “Malvern Star” sticker on it. To me it was simply the best thing that could have ever happened and I was far too excited and happy to pay any close attention to such things.  It was only in later life when I recalled those images more carefully that I realized those bubbly painted surfaces were the result of paint failing to bond on rusted old surfaces. A few splashes of paint and a brand new shining bell was all that was needed to transform that rusty old bike into the gleaming new machine I had long dreamed about. Freedom is an elusive state but I never felt as carefree as riding that bicycle around in the country. Taking my lunch with me and cycling off to a destination of my choice, stopping for a drink at a little shop I was totally ensconced in my own world of adventure.  

To reiterate, one must remember growing up in the fifties was a time when the country was fiercely loyal to the Queen under the guiding hand of Prime Minister Robert Menzies. During Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation we all made up scrap books as school projects. When she visited Australia no one really knew why we should all be excited, it was as if we were all swept along with this national bout of infectious enthusiasm and delight for the Queen. The cheers of the schoolchildren echoed everywhere as she was greeted with unanimous delight.
But tragedy was to strike us and the close knit Kyogle community in 1954. Our family house had been purchased on the basis it was flood free. As an added precaution it was built on high stilts. Even so, despite the cyclonic rain on that fateful day, it was thought our house would not be flooded. As the floodwaters entered our backyard I imagined myself as a fisherman and unconcerned dangled my fishing line in the brown waters. However soon the rising waters were inching their way up our back steps so we evacuated to a neighbor’s on much higher ground. My father told us he was staying on to protect our furniture and effects.

That night I peered out over the murky waters to see my Father swimming around in the flooded house, placing objects onto higher advantage points in a futile attempt to avoid the ever rising floodwaters. The waters were rising at an alarming rate and it was with some relief, we watched in silence as my father finally wearily swam out through the bedroom window and with measured strokes struck out for the bank and safety at last. Fully clothed, cold, exhausted but determined he slowly hauled himself up onto the bank to join us on the veranda, in time to see our house disappear under the cruel raging waters of the Richmond River.

There were pieces of corrugated iron from roofs around and it was soon turned to good use in makeshift canoes, folded over and sealed both ends with tar, to deliver milk and supplies. I remember search parties each morning looking for bodies and everyone helping one another. There was the drone of the old DC3 aircraft parachuting supplies to a stricken community cut off by floodwaters the likes of which had never been seen since.     

We moved to Coffs Harbour in the fifties where there was a culture of trust to the extent you could leave the door of your home unlocked as there was virtually no crime helped no doubt by an alert police force that knew everyone’s business. There was also an air of freedom, even to the extent I have fond memories of our pet dog called Rex, who became an honorary citizen. He was a very intelligent foxy who was given the keys to the town. His daily routine, after breakfast, was to visit the Red Cross Snack Bar and then morning tea at my father’s work followed by lunch at home and then a final goodbye to the Red Cross workers in the afternoon. If there was any event in town he was always around to check things out as an accepted observer. He was always very careful crossing the street and would wait patiently for a lull in the traffic, or wait for the traffic lights once they were installed in the town. He even visited the golfers during the North Coast Open observing the professionals and crowds of people. I recall walking along the fairway when I overheard a conversation: ‘what’s that dog doing on the course’ only to hear the usual chorus of answers, ‘that’s Rex, he turns up everywhere, always welcome and always well behaved!! 

Umm I thought – yes that’s exactly right!!

We were spoilt for choice at Coffs with beaches to the north and south of the town. I recall eating oysters on the rocks and on the odd occasions catching good sized bream with my mother cheering me on. You couldn’t eat oysters off the rocks today. Today I still think we suffer from a lack of homespun culture. Not many people realize that more attend culture and art in Australia than Sport, but the institutions that serve us, including all popular mediums continue to be under funded and forced to import and rely on an ever increasing slice of programmers from overseas.

But the post war period also continued on at times in blissful ignorance, with racial prejudice and abuses never far away, hidden away by a majority who enjoyed a seemingly carefree existence. That seemed to me to be very much like what is described by author Bill Bryson’s account of the life and times of Thunderbolt Kid in America. It was in the sixties that most of the earlier post war respect for authority was challenged with the arrival of the flower power generation who protested against the establishment and authority. More liberal ideas flourished which brought improvements for a more open society but I think it was also a time of self-indulgence exclusive to those who fully endorsed its self-serving ideology.

Culture has changed and particularly as a consequence of immigration and Multiculturalism. That has brought many more rich experiences to our culture with varying degrees of success. As a country we have the highest rate of intermarriage between first and second generation migrants.

 

Statistics

For those who like statistics here are a few of the changes over the past 100 years taken from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.  

1.    The average age has increased from 24 to 37.

2.    Population has increased fivefold.  

3.    Today 2.6 people compared to 4.5 per household.

4.    Divorce numbers are up 95.7 times.  

5.    60% growth in natural increase 40% immigration

6.    Today the position is reversed.   

7.    96% then listed as Christian religion

8.    61% today.   

Conclusion 

Today we can think of any number of issues in Australia indicative of measures that can be reasonably demonstrated to risk us moving the nation away from a desirable egalitarian system of governance.

 

Dreamtime

Mystical type experiences or a sense of wonderment have always held a sense of fascination. As a child what comes to mind are memories of a kind of a dreamy state of wonder which came over me at bedtime. My room with its long row of glass louvres over one side, adjacent to the giant hypnotic eucalypts behind our family home, was the perfect setting for imagined other worlds.

The rattle of glass window louvers shimmered in the pale light to the sounds of wind or rain and the incessant buzz of cicadas or the more strident cry of - “mowpoke!, mowpoke!" of the mowpoke owl before drifting off into sleep where strange creatures good and bad inhabited my dream world.  

But such memories are from a western language perspective.

For the Amondawa tribe they don’t incorporate the abstract idea of time-  https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-13452711

The circular cycle of existence for the Australian Aboriginal peoples also doesn’t equate between past present and future. Rather their experiences are integral to the Dream-time.

Dream-time however is not about dreaming. I will attempt to explain what is meant in the following brief narrative.   

The creative spirits are believed enter the womb of the mother from the creative landscape spirits of that place where conception arose. The creation spirits, bestow specific preordained totems, representing animals and landmarks of that country’s region which in turn determine the responsibility of the child as the clans are co-dependence in one inseparable Land. That in turn depends on what side of the Moiety that are born as either a child of preservation or hunter or gatherer as per the totems that determine those responsibilities. Those animals outside of the totems must not be hunted. There is a further allocated totem according to the discernment of the elders on reaching maturity of a person exhibiting a particular charisma. No known form of discipline was ever exercised by the clans towards their children who were regarded as free spirits until such time they entered adulthood. Then began intense training to understand the law, their responsibility and initiation ceremonies were performed. The idea of time as a historical reference was not present. Nor was there a distinction between secular and spiritual which would have been nonsensical to them.

Biology dependent on Belief

 The Biology of belief

Introduction

I find it fascinating to reflect back and imagine the original primordial soup (Note 1) that occurred about 4 billion years ago which evolved from the almighty upheavals that gave birth to the Universe.

Although the early temperature was hostile to life, at 300 degrees Celsius, early forms of microbes have been discovered existing without oxygen in similar conditions within the heart of a volcano. (Note 2).

Therein a continuous migration amongst encoded lifeless forms, including viruses, banded together as determined by natural selection. That then became intelligent cells reliant on the DNA (Note 3) building blocks that underpin what make up life today. You might refer to this process as a form of evolved intelligent design or creation or biological evolution, (whichever term you feel best or most comfortable to describe it) arising effortlessly over many billions of years to our present wondrous life world of today.

To reiterate, before that momentous crossover into self-consciousness, in much earlier periods a series of seismic events transformed our living planet to create nature’s vision splendor. The timing of those massive upheavals was necessarily precise to change our planetary environment to enable life’s previous abundant first single cell life to evolve into the multi celled life complexity we see today; as our planet temporarily appearing like Jupiter – totally wrapped in thick ice –then thawed to cause water to carve out the new landscape warmed by immense erupting volcanoes. Miraculously the planetary environment reached a state of equilibrium to give birth to the first evolved multi cell creatures which are evident today in the fossilized imprints- as if just recently left in dried mud- in the thin layers of ancient rocks in the remote areas of what is known as the Flinders Ranges in South Australia. Note 4

So we might loosely associate that development as a continuous evolved intelligent transition or creation if you will. 

Astrophysics Jesuit George Coyne who was the Director of the Vatican Observatory since 1978 explores these ideas for the universe in a similar way: A theologian already poses the concept of god’s continuous creation with which to explore the implications of modern science for religious belief. God is working with the universe, the universe has a certain vitality of its own like a child does, and it has the ability to respond to words of endearment and encouragement.

Looking backwards in time my mind struggles to imagine how those first awakenings of self-consciousness were played out in humanity’s journey of discovery. I rather think those first early insights will remain hidden forever in our oral history, in the evolving stories of dance, in the lyrical chants of the ancients or in the wondrous dreamland scenes carved on rock walls up to 60,000 years ago. Elkhonon Goldberg in ‘The Executive Brain’ suggests religious ideas about this time may have first emerged as we struggled to separate the thoughts we have about others and are separate to those we think about. He suggests such self-memories about a deceased person may have been attributed to the current spirit of that deceased person as it became a taboo custom to speak of the dead.
These insights into our past are only made possible by the evolution of our self-consciousness which enables us to make sense of such things; to ponder the sequential events needed for one single cell to become the 50 trillion estimated to make up the human body. The mechanism to enable enjoyment of our enhanced understanding is in the architecture of our frontal lobes which allow us to retrieve information stored in the older ‘limbic’ areas of the brain for dynamic processing in the frontal lobes area coupled with repositories of self-awareness. Elhanan Goldberg in ‘The Executive Brain’
Interestingly just as these frontal lobes are our most recently evolved brain area they remain by far the most vulnerable or fragile to trauma and the onslaught of dementia which exhibits those frightening losses of cognitive memory ability. It is not that memory is lost in dementia patients but rather the circuitry connections to memory are either damaged or severed, - Elhanan Goldberg ‘The Executive Brain’.

Self-consciousness is thought to be only evident in humans and maybe in other highly developed life forms albeit such views continue to be debated and constrained by a lack of any known developed animal language.

Given our newly acquired self-consciousness- an insatiable curiosity combined with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge it is hardly surprising we have complex ever changing belief systems.
But with the onset of a scientific age of new discoveries to contradict many of the rigidly held religious ‘beliefs’ scientists became very wary of making any references to ‘beliefs’ in scientific discourses. They prefer to talk about concepts which were to be only to be accepted as science after stringent evidentiary validation. Materialism which manifested as genetic determinism erroneously took hold.   

Book Review- The Biology of Belief
The title of Bruce H Lipton’s (Ph.D.) book ‘The Biology of Belief’ aroused my interest- no doubt as was the author’s intention to engender for him a wider reader’s audience.
The author’s first watershed moment is vividly described in the Prologue when he was lecturing medical students in the Caribbean

‘I had resigned my tenured position at the University of Wisconsin’s School of medicine and was teaching at an offshore medical school in the Caribbean. Because the school was so far out of the academic mainstream, I started thinking outside the rigid parameters of belief that prevail in conventional academia. Far from ivory towers, isolated on an emerald island in the deep azure Caribbean Sea, I experienced a scientific epiphany that shattered my beliefs about the nature of life.
My Life changing moment occurred while I was reviewing research on the mechanisms by which cells control their physiology and behavior. Suddenly I realized that a cell’s life is controlled by the physical and energetic environment and not by its genes. Genes are simply molecular blueprints used in the construction of cells, tissues, and organs. The environment serves as a ‘contractor’ who reads and engages those genetic blueprints and is ultimately responsible for the character of a single cells ‘awareness ‘of the environment, not its genes that sets into motion the mechanisms of life.

His book is an amalgam of the next 20 years of research and experience which I will attempt to engage sufficient portions so that one can make sense of the nature of his findings.

Cells as Miniature Humans
He introduces us to the idea that every cell in our body – and there are roughly 50 trillion of them – is a smart cell capable of fulfilling all of the known bodily functions we attribute to our mind and body as a whole. This intelligence is resident in the cell membrane and reacts to its physiology through controlling proteins able to override the genetically encoded DNA resident in the cell nucleus. That is to say that although the DNA which is resident in the cell nuclei does determine our preprogrammed genetic characteristics their operation can be turned off and on by the controlling proteins within the cells membrane environment. Hence the author contends our ‘belief systems’ are instrumental in the control of our biological functioning rather than by genetic determinants. Lipton explains the trend scientifically towards genetic determinism was adopted since the discovery of genes provided the final missing link to show how Darwin’s species adaptations or changes were all transferred genetically into each new evolved generation.
An analogy to help explain the Magical Cell membrane
Lipton uses the analogy of the test pattern appearing on old TV sets. Those of us old enough to remember will recall how a test pattern appeared on our TV sets once the day’s program’s came to closures traditionally after midnight.
‘Think of the pattern of the test screen as the pattern encoded by a given gene, say the one for brown eyes. The dials and switches, TV fine –tune the test screen by allowing you to turn it on or off and modulate a number of characteristics , including color, hue, contrast, brightness, vertical and horizontal holds .By adjusting the dials, you can alter the appearance of the test pattern on the screen, while not actually changing the original broadcast pattern. This is the role of the regulatory proteins.

Waltzed through the ‘Magical Membrane’ and on to ‘The New physics; Planting both feet on thin Air” Lipton waltzes his readers through chapters entitled ‘Magical Membrane’, and on to ‘The New Physics”: Planting both feet firmly on thin Air’; to introduce the dual wave -particle physics theory to understand how energy underpins his biological beliefs and to persuade us more research is needed into the fields of energy waves rather than what is currently disproportionately devoted to genes. The question one skeptic might immediately ask is would this approach risk ‘throwing the baby out with the bathwater’ since it would signal a retreat away from genealogy which forms the mainstay applications of westernized based prescriptions. On a more general note however I think few would argue, not least of which, the inhabitants of developing nations, to say modern medical advances have ensured improved longevity and help enormously to maintain improved healthy sustainable lives. A visit to any impoverished nation reveals the extent to which provision of improved medical and mental health facilities with an array of prescription drugs has a beneficial improvement in the overall wellbeing of the population.

However I do not think the author risks ‘throwing out the baby out with the bathwater’ but I rather think the question might well be asked in reverse, ‘has the westernized approach become guilty of putting too much faith in the genealogy? , or put another way ‘putting too many of its research dollars into one basket?’ As Lipton reminds us ever since Darwin’s species adaptations or changes were thought to be conveniently verified via the modus operandi of genetically transferred information within the DNA of the cell nucleus into each new evolved generation, scientists have assumed this must represent the crucial frontier area to find future cures for such things as cancers and incurable disorders. Whilst it is true to say the environment was accepted as playing a pivotal role in outcomes this was more generally attributed to the overall attitude of the mind and reactions to external stimuli rather than thought be equally present in the individual cell intelligence as suggested by Lipton.
The manufacturers and distributors of drugs found a powerful advocate in money motivation to direct disproportionate research efforts into the genealogy pool and away from other forms of research which may be far less drug dependent and be more successful without the dreaded side effects of prescription medicine.
Maybe we are at the crossroads where a more multi-disciplinary approach offers the best future opportunities. We can be optimistic that so-called reliance in genetic determinism is almost dead in the water.
Positive thoughts and a conclusion
I think I am a positivist by nature but as the book moves into the realm of a personal empowerment treatise for living and loving, for me, I think his views are more intuitively driven than as a logical progression from earlier chapters. My point is a personal one and does not detract from the thrust of his inspirational message of self-empowerment which will be met joyously by many less skeptical readers than me - particularly as he shares his own personal journey in tandem with his fascinating scientific treatise.
The author’s message is of hope and joy with an emphasis that nurturing children is more important than their genealogy and that we can influence our outcomes by positive thoughts and what are fears already etched in subconscious memory might be unlocked in conscious thought. They are aspects that many of us have long held to be true, but Lipton takes on an evangelical emphasis to encourage believers to no longer feel they are trapped in the rut imposed by the false belief we are constrained by a preprogrammed genetic disposition.

But equally we know that the outcome does not always turn out as positive as we might have hoped as we are confronted by children born or contacting an incurable chronic disorder who die prematurely notwithstanding the loads of love nourished upon them so that it remains an enduring life mystery. The author does not broach such issues except to say that he thinks his biological way of thinking stands a better chance of finding a cure, by forging new frontiers into science.

The author’s admission that he has become a spiritual scientist oddly enough tucked away as an epilogue, was to me disappointing as I think he would be more effective if discussed earlier on. His spiritual visions are lucid, concise and exciting as he asserts our life in not arbitrary as may have been inferred from Darwin and his successors. Rather, it is rooted in a series of endless repeating patterns which depend upon cooperation for survival.

Who knows – maybe one day our cell’s membranes intelligence may respond to treatment to expand our conscious awareness sufficiently to ensure no damage can be done.
I would recommend this book for anyone with any interest in alternative idea to traditional biology.

Lindsay Byrnes September 2020 

 

Note 1 – Primordial Soup https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUPE2zYFhqM

 

Note 2 –Microbes in a Volcano

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLpam8jMp-o

 

Note 3 –DNA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O80feu-8yh0

 

Note 4 - first evolved multi cell creatures

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo49Pyhii-k

 

Biology of Belief - by Bruce Lipton (full documentary)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjj0xVM4x1I