An Australian Carol - Carol of the Birds - with lyrics

Cross-posted with permission from Beside The Creek

Carol of the Birds

Written  by:  William Garnet James & John Wheeler

Out on the plains the brolgas are dancing Lifting their feet like war horses prancing Up to the sun the woodlarks go winging Faint in the dawn light echoes their singing Orana!  Orana!  Orana to Christmas Day Down where the tree ferns grow by the river There where the waters sparkle and quiver Deep in the gullies bell-birds are chiming Softly and sweetly their lyric notes rhyming Orana!  Orana!  Orana to Christmas Day Friar birds sip the nectar of flowers Currawongs chant in the wattle tree bowers In the blue ranges lorikeets calling Carols of bushbirds rising and falling Orana!  Orana!  Orana to Christmas Day The word "Orana"  means  "Welcome" This link will open a midi file player to allow you to hear the tune and see the words as it plays. Carol of the Birds  Please go to this YouTube to see beautiful shots of the birds in the song.

EUREKA DAY - THURSDAY 3 DECEMBER 2015 : CELEBRATON OF HUMANITY AT ST PAUL'S, BAKERY HILL, BALLARAT

 

Father Constantine Osuchukwu is pleased to welcome you

to a very different celebration of Eureka

- at St Paul's we are celebrating humanity:

the international people of Ballarat 161 years ago

and the multicultural city that Ballarat is to-day.

There will be music, poetry, spirituality - and supper.

Peace-building with The Shift and with the Australian troubador, Murray Kyle

Below is an American e-zine that drops into the gmail from time to time. This is being published as a reminder, a nudge to further thinking about peace. One thing that must be overcome is the idea that peace is merely an absence of war.

At this time in our world, we see the flames of war and uprising across the planet. We see nations not technically at war expanding their military budgets and ordering the next technological level of military equipment. This is part and parcel of everything that is NOT peace. So it is hoped that you take time to read some of the articles in this missive and give some consideration to the thought that peace has to be worked for as actively as some work for militarism and war. We won't get a productive and creative existence that recognises the value of all human beings in any other way.

By Stephen Dinan, founder and CEO of The Shift Network

The politics of peace is dear to my heart as it’s an essential ingredient for making the shift to a sustainable culture of peace.

It is easy to become disillusioned with political processes when we see polarized parties battling each other instead of working together to address critical issues. Yet, all you have to do is visit a country where people are struggling for violence-free elections and good governance to remember the importance of participating in a democracy and ensuring it thrives.

Many of us at The Shift Network are pro-actively engaged with our national representatives to lobby for issues such as the multinational nuclear deal with Iran (very important this month, click here to learn more!) and the Youth Promise Act, an innovative program to address the root causes of youth violence.

To advance this work, The Shift Network has developed relationships with the Friends Committee on National Legislation (the largest and oldest peace lobby), The Peace Alliance (one of the original co-creators of the Summer of Peace), and the Alliance for Peacebuilding (a prominent global peacebuilding association). Several of our team members, including myself, will join the FCNL’s “lobby day” in Washington, DC again this November. I strongly encourage you to join us for an illuminating and effective time (last year we had 400 people citizens lobbying our congresspeople on Iran on the Hill on one day). (See Movement News)

This week in the Summer of Peace we will feature exciting sessions on the politics of peace with Jim Cason of FCNL and Bob Baskin and Heart Phoenix of The Peace Alliance highlighting how you can get involved from grassroots to national levels. (Click here to register free.)

In this edition of The Catalyst, we have an article by our very own Alison Weeks about why and how to support the Iran nuclear deal. We must help stabilize the Middle East and prevent nuclear proliferation. I believe the Iran nuclear agreement is an absolutely essential step in the right direction (and make sure your congress people know you agree if you do).

We also have a profound piece from the Alliance for Peacebuilding on countering violent extremism through practical initiatives that go beyond the use of military options. This is a very well-thought out article and we are proud to support a Joint Statement on Countering Violent Extremism that was presented to President Obama.

Our good friend Matthew Albracht from The Peace Alliance has an excellent piece about bringing peace education to schools as part of their BeTheMovement initiative.

Glen Martin has a visionary piece on global democracy and our member profile is from Peace Ambassador Ella Matheson in the United Kingdom.

Finally, we have a featured article about a peace contest where you can win a free trip to New York to celebrate the International Day of Peace! The contest is part of 1 Billion Acts of Peace, a program sponsored by PeaceJam and supported by 13 Nobel Peace Laureates, the Summer of Peace and many partner organizations. The contest ends on September 14, 2015. To participate all you do is to share peace – click here to learn more. Our featured video is Erica Chenoweth giving a compelling presentation about how nonviolent civil resistance campaigns were twice as effective as violent approaches the past few decades. Our Shift Philanthropy this week is the Friends Committee of National Legislation and our partner spotlight is the Alliance for Peacebuilding. Finally, our featured artist is Murray Kyle from Australia.

Grandmothers Against Detention of Refugee Children - from Ballarat and from Melbourne Ports : World Refugee Day, City Square Melbourne.

Life last week was very busy - keeping up, or trying to keep up  
with the wonderful round of events for Refugee Week in Ballarat.  
Refugee Week culminated for The Editor in joining  
The Grandmothers Against Detention of Refugee Children - Ballarat

for the World Refuge Day event on Sunday 21 June at City Square Melbourne.

 

Grandmothers ready to train to Melbourne - The Editor is on the left.

 For more pictures of the wonderful event at City Square, please go here.

Below is an embedded post  plus an extra link to the Billy-Lids song.

This song comes to us from Grandmothers Adrc -  Melbourne Ports.

Great song. See who you can recognise. To me, Margaret Roadnight's voice is instantly recognisable.Thanks to Brigid Walsh for introducing me to this group of Artists.
Posted by Denis Wilson on Tuesday, 23 June 2015

And there is another interesting site for the song here

Christmas Reflection #1: The King's College Singers - The Angel Gabriel

Red poppies for #Remembrance. White poppies for #Peace. Let's start to wage #Peace not #War

Picture below from here

To-day is Remembrance Day in Australia. At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the nation falls silent for two minutes. Red poppies are in lapels and in the laid wreaths at shrines, cenotaphs and memorials across the country. Red poppies are massed against the names of the war dead at the Australian War Memorial in the national capital, Canberra.

There are news reports to-day that the print media reporting on Remembrance Day is muted compared to that of previous years.  Why is this so?  Is this because Australia is immersing itself in military action at this time in the Middle East?

If we mute our response to Remembrance Day and its memory of "the war to end all wars", is it time to ask the penetrating questions?

• Do we put the same financial, acquisitive, organisational, and human effort into waging peace as we do to waging war?  

• Are we prepared to stand up and say to our government that we want it to pay as much attention to training for peace, preparedness for peace, arming for peace, strengthening the ramparts of peace as we do for training for war, preparing for war, arming for war, strengthening the ramparts of war?

One of the most interesting bodies of literary work in English in the 20th century is the "Testament" series by Vera Brittain - Testament of Youth, Testament of Friendship, Testament of Experience. The experience/s that impacted Brittain's life in World War 1 made her a lifelong pacifist and fighter for peace.  Between the two world wars, she was active in the establishment and the promotion of the League of Nations. She also became a member of the Peace Pledge Union and its offshoot, the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship. The secretary of the Australian chapter of the latter, is Bishop Philip Huggins.

The Peace Pledge Union is notable for its White Poppy campaign.  Many people in Britain wear two poppies - the red for remembrance, the white for peace.

Listen to the song in honour of Vera Brittain

written by Sue Gilmurray