The Military Workshop
1st Lieutenant
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2005
- Messages
- 4,778
Hi Guys,
On Saturday and Sunday I went to help out at the home of John and Robyn Farrell who self publish a magazine called Australian and New Zealand Defender magazine.
John started the magazine in 1993 and I have advertised with him since 1998. Incidentally he has not raised the price of his magazine since then ! They run their business out of their house in the suburb of Rocklea which has just been hit hard by flooding.
I could not get through to their suburb on Friday but on Saturday I could park in their street. At that point the flood had gone and the street was filled with all manner of household items, most of which were covered in mud. John and Robyn were fine and it was good to see several strangers helping them clean up.
On Sunday I had to park further away as there were trucks and bobcats working in the street. There were many strangers helping out and points set up where people were doing free sausage sizzles and giving away drinks. Two tennagers walked up and down the street giving away drinks to those cleaning up.
His house is quite a high Queensllander style house but the flood reached to chest level inside the living area of the house. The water reached to about 8 metres above street level. Johm's house would be one of the higher ones in his street and the house next to his had water to the roof level.
He managed to save his computers and cameras (which is his living) but all his furmtiture, bedding, office desks etc are ruined. He has lost thousands of his magazine back issues and most of the two photo books he self published.
When I arrived there was a huge pile of ruined items in the road and hardly any furniture left. The main items that survived were a few books and some framed pictures that were high up. The flood in their area was higher than the legendary 1974 flood. The problem was the speed at which the water rose giving little time to save things.
.
John has a labrador, two cats and 30 birds which were in cages in the garden. As the water rose they had to catch the birds to put them into smaller cages. He managed to save them although one parrot escaped. They were evacuated by boat. Three pheasants that lived in his garden did not survive. A mouse also made it as he made an unwelcome appearance whilst my wife was cleaning up the lkitchen !
One of the problems in their street has been the diesel and chemicals that came out from a nearby garage (I get the feeling the owner is not very popular at the moment). The smell combined with the mud and debris smell was quite unique. All the houses and vegetation have a coating of this mixture.They are avid gardeners and probably the thing that has upset them the most has been the effect om their garden which they had worked
on for 13 years.
I have written to all his advertisers asking them to chip in so he can buy some new stuff and have mentioned supporting his magazine to my customers (Howard has already taken out a subscription).
As you can see I want to help them out. I appreciate others have had it worse but these are good people I know. So here are a few suggestions :
a) Subscribe to their quarterly magazine. It mainly covers current Ausrtalian deployments and exercises Visit http://www.australiandefender.com.au to see contents of current issue and subscription information
A$51 gets you a 2 year subscription within Australia and $49 a years International subscription.
b) Could order either of his photo books on INTERFET (Australian deployment to East Timor) or SpecWarOps (covering the Ausdtralian SAS - I have it on good authority the SAS was not happy wiith this one !) I think he has a few
copies of each left.
c) In the current issue of his magazine he is advertising a photo book called War (132 pages with 72 colour and B/W photos from Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Timor) which includes photos taken by well known Vietnam photographers Tim Page and Sean Flynn (son of Errol - see note below). This book has a RRP of A$110. I have not see it but I am guessing it is more of an "art" book. If you want further information you could ask John to email that advertisement page to you. I imagine having it personalised by Tim Page could be arranged.
d) Another option would be donate to the Qld Flood Appeal. Today they had a fun tennis charity event See www.australianopen.com.au A large Qld corporate mining business has offered to match all donations received so if you want to make a donation it will be doubled. Please see https://rallyforrelief.tennis.com.au
As a side note the photographer Tim Page was helping clean up with John. A call came in from actor George Hamilton wishing them all the best. I asked how they came to know each other and it turns out Hamilton was a good friend of Sean Flynn (son of Errol), Tim's best friend, who disappeared in Cambodia in 1970 and has never been found. Tim has spent a long time looking for Sean and Hamilton has been to Cambodia with him. Tim has an interesting Wikipedia entry.
Please note John has no power so might be a few days before he can reply to any emails.
Anyway, every bit helps. Thanks for reading this.
Regards
Brett
On Saturday and Sunday I went to help out at the home of John and Robyn Farrell who self publish a magazine called Australian and New Zealand Defender magazine.
John started the magazine in 1993 and I have advertised with him since 1998. Incidentally he has not raised the price of his magazine since then ! They run their business out of their house in the suburb of Rocklea which has just been hit hard by flooding.
I could not get through to their suburb on Friday but on Saturday I could park in their street. At that point the flood had gone and the street was filled with all manner of household items, most of which were covered in mud. John and Robyn were fine and it was good to see several strangers helping them clean up.
On Sunday I had to park further away as there were trucks and bobcats working in the street. There were many strangers helping out and points set up where people were doing free sausage sizzles and giving away drinks. Two tennagers walked up and down the street giving away drinks to those cleaning up.
His house is quite a high Queensllander style house but the flood reached to chest level inside the living area of the house. The water reached to about 8 metres above street level. Johm's house would be one of the higher ones in his street and the house next to his had water to the roof level.
He managed to save his computers and cameras (which is his living) but all his furmtiture, bedding, office desks etc are ruined. He has lost thousands of his magazine back issues and most of the two photo books he self published.
When I arrived there was a huge pile of ruined items in the road and hardly any furniture left. The main items that survived were a few books and some framed pictures that were high up. The flood in their area was higher than the legendary 1974 flood. The problem was the speed at which the water rose giving little time to save things.
.
John has a labrador, two cats and 30 birds which were in cages in the garden. As the water rose they had to catch the birds to put them into smaller cages. He managed to save them although one parrot escaped. They were evacuated by boat. Three pheasants that lived in his garden did not survive. A mouse also made it as he made an unwelcome appearance whilst my wife was cleaning up the lkitchen !
One of the problems in their street has been the diesel and chemicals that came out from a nearby garage (I get the feeling the owner is not very popular at the moment). The smell combined with the mud and debris smell was quite unique. All the houses and vegetation have a coating of this mixture.They are avid gardeners and probably the thing that has upset them the most has been the effect om their garden which they had worked
on for 13 years.
I have written to all his advertisers asking them to chip in so he can buy some new stuff and have mentioned supporting his magazine to my customers (Howard has already taken out a subscription).
As you can see I want to help them out. I appreciate others have had it worse but these are good people I know. So here are a few suggestions :
a) Subscribe to their quarterly magazine. It mainly covers current Ausrtalian deployments and exercises Visit http://www.australiandefender.com.au to see contents of current issue and subscription information
A$51 gets you a 2 year subscription within Australia and $49 a years International subscription.
b) Could order either of his photo books on INTERFET (Australian deployment to East Timor) or SpecWarOps (covering the Ausdtralian SAS - I have it on good authority the SAS was not happy wiith this one !) I think he has a few
copies of each left.
c) In the current issue of his magazine he is advertising a photo book called War (132 pages with 72 colour and B/W photos from Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Timor) which includes photos taken by well known Vietnam photographers Tim Page and Sean Flynn (son of Errol - see note below). This book has a RRP of A$110. I have not see it but I am guessing it is more of an "art" book. If you want further information you could ask John to email that advertisement page to you. I imagine having it personalised by Tim Page could be arranged.
d) Another option would be donate to the Qld Flood Appeal. Today they had a fun tennis charity event See www.australianopen.com.au A large Qld corporate mining business has offered to match all donations received so if you want to make a donation it will be doubled. Please see https://rallyforrelief.tennis.com.au
As a side note the photographer Tim Page was helping clean up with John. A call came in from actor George Hamilton wishing them all the best. I asked how they came to know each other and it turns out Hamilton was a good friend of Sean Flynn (son of Errol), Tim's best friend, who disappeared in Cambodia in 1970 and has never been found. Tim has spent a long time looking for Sean and Hamilton has been to Cambodia with him. Tim has an interesting Wikipedia entry.
Please note John has no power so might be a few days before he can reply to any emails.
Anyway, every bit helps. Thanks for reading this.
Regards
Brett