Saturn disappears behind the moon on 4 August 2014 - see it in Broken Hill

Community Event
Astronomers are looking forward to an exciting astronomical event tomorrow  4 August 2014, when Saturn disappears behind the moon, as they become perfectly aligned for about an hour.

The event is known as a 'lunar occultation of Saturn'. It is the third time it has happened this year. In this instance, it will be a first quarter moon. Central and eastern Australia will see the moon to the west.

Outback Astronomy is putting on an event. It could be a great opportunity to check out Broken Hill's famous night sky. The event (and Outback Astronomy) takes advantage of Broken Hill's inland remoteness, which is not effected by big city lights.

Here is a link to Outback Astronomy's website where you can find more details about their 4 August 2014 event -

http://www.outbackastronomy.com.au/show-times/tonights-sky-moon-bonus-4-august

Below is a tweet I saw about the 4th August event. The tweet takes you to a link to a great article I read about this lunar event, and which I have sourced some of my information for this blog post.

Thanks to Tanya Hill and 'The Conversation' website -

http://theconversation.com/third-time-lucky-saturns-disappearing-act-29928

#BrokenHill will be watching with clear sky ... Saturn's disappearing act http://t.co/h2cDUkfPKM via @ConversationEDU
— Outback Astronomy (@OutbackAstro) August 2, 2014

Times - Adelaide 8.33pm - 9.28pm; Melbourne 9.24pm - 9.52pm; Sydney 9.22pm - 10.22pm. As Broken Hill is closer to Adelaide than Melbourne, I'm guessing the event will commence around 8.50 approximately and might take 45 minutes. No doubt Outback Astronomy would have more details.

I published a post about Outback Astronomy on the 28 of May, 'Outback Astronomy - starry skies shine in Broken Hill'.

You can find a link to the article below -

http://www.ilovebrokenhill.com/2014/05/outback-astronomy-starry-skies-shine-in.html

The post was written by Linda Nadge of Outback Astronomy, about her exciting new astro tourism business. It was the first guest post I have published on www.ilovebrokenhill.com .

I wish you beautiful clear skies.

Enjoy, cheers, Jane Deany

Broken Hill Science Week event by ANU 14 August 2014

Community Event
As part of the upcoming National Science Week (NSW) which will be held between 16 and 24 August 2014, Australian National University (ANU) is holding an event in Broken Hill. The event is being held in partnership with the Broken Hill City Council.

The ANU event is part of "a series of informal, science-based conversations with rural and regional communities around the country on aspects of climate adaptation relevant to community concerns and interests."

Details of the event are below -

Date - 14 August 2014

Venue - Aged Persons Rest Centre
254 Blende Street, Broken Hill NSW 2880

Theme - Environment and Nature

Cost - Free

ANU Contact - Stacy-ann Robinson 02 6125 9909

Light refreshments will follow the event.

Environment and Nature

Here is the National Science Week website where you can find out more information about this and other events, plus lots of other information.

www.scienceweek.net.au

Just go to 'Find an event' tab and type in the post code you want. Fro Broken Hill it's 2880, confirm the name Broken Hill, then hit the search button.

So far I have found three events in Broken Hill, but others may still be being organised.

National Science Week is NSW is An Australian Government Initiative.

I used to be a science teacher many years ago. I even studied advanced genetics.

I think National Science Week is a fantastic initiative. Well done to all those involved.

Cheers, Jane Deany

Farrer MP Sussan Ley pushes to 'sublet' childcare places

Politics - Childcare
The current member for Farrer is The Hon Sussan Ley MP. Farrer is the Federal Australian electorate in which Broken Hill sits.

Ms Ley is a member of the current Abbott Government. I had the pleasure of meeting Ms Ley briefly at Parliament House in Canberra last year (2013). See blog post about my meeting here - 8 June 2013, Broken Hill, Sussan Ley and the Canberra connection -

http://www.ilovebrokenhill.com/2013/06/broken-hill-sussan-ley-and-canberra.html

The Hon Sussan Ley MP

Fast forward to this week. I was interested to read an article in the major daily Victorian/Melbourne newspaper 'The Age' on 26 July 2014 p 21 News section, that Ms Ley was keen to support some of the proposed recommendations from the Productivity Commission, in particular the idea of 'subletting' childcare places.

As I don't have children, understanding details about arranging childcare isn't my strong suit.

However, if you do have children, childcare is a huge issue.

I didn't realise that if you took your child out of childcare, temporarily, say for example you're having another child, or want to travel, and you therefore don't need the place for a while, there was a reasonably significant fee to hold the position open.

Another example that Ms Ley cited, "was a fly-in-fly-out (FIFO) worker, who may wish to take their child out of childcare for an ad hoc week to spend time with them", so it would make sense that they could do so without a significant financial penalty.

The Productivity Commission recommends the removal of regulatory requirements to allow parents to temporarily return their childcare places if they are not being used.

Sounds a great idea to me.

The Commission handed down a 900 page draft report into childcare and early childhood learning last Tuesday 22 July 2014. The broad aim being to create a more flexible and accessible sector.

A number of recommendations were made, and the final report is due by the end of October 2014.

The government did not wish to fully respond to the report until the report is finalised.

Whether it's Broken Hill or anywhere else in Australia, accessible and affordable childcare is a hot topic for discussion. It is critical for families to enable parents to work.

I hope there are many positive changes for the better as a result of this Productivity Commission report and the recommendations they make.

Cheers, Jane Deany

Judith Ireland and Rachel Browne are the authors of 'The Age' article were I sourced my information.

Why is Broken Hill a great place to visit?

Broken Hill
Rather than me talking about all things Broken Hill, I would really love locals and visitors points of view about what they love about the city.

I find it hard to say that I have just one favourite thing about #BrokenHill .

Is it the colours, people, history, architecture, mining, sculptures, art, cute and affordable real estate (especially the miner's cottages), remoteness, or maybe the fun clubs?

These are just a few things I love about Broken Hill.

I love this Broken Hill vista
nice full moon too

This post hopes to prompt you to tell me and the readers of www.ilovebrokenhill.com about what you love about the city.

I will use Twitter and Pinterest to help me distribute this question. Oh, of course I mustn't forget Facebook, YouTube and Google+   ;-)

I really would love to hear your views.

Why do you like / love Broken Hill?

The more comments the better.

I know a lot of people do love the city, I meet them all the time.

Tell us, please do tell us! Cheers, Jane Deany

Broken Hill's Phil LeMay Wins Best Songwriter at 2014 SA Country Music Awards

Music

It was great to read a happy story about Broken Hill musician Phil LeMay in today’s Barrier Daily Truth (BDT).

Phil came first in the 'Songwriter' category at the recent 2014 South Australian (SA) Country Music Awards.

BDT’s Andrew Robertson reported, on the front page of the 25 July 2014 edition -

“He’s known locally (in Broken Hill) for his blues music but songwriter Phil LeMay is proving he can also cut it on the country stage.

The local musician has picked up a gong at the SA Country Music Festival and Awards and now has set his sights on more success.

A long-time blues player, LeMay said he only decided to enter the annual event held at Barmera each year at the last minute.”

Phil LeMay at
Coburn Hotel
31 December 2011
from Hotel's website

Here is the link to an excerpt of the article - 

http://bdtruth.com.au/main/news/article/6308-Local-songwriters-success.html

I met Phil 18 months ago approximately, when I was visiting Broken Hill on the Australia Day weekend.

He was participating at a poet’s weekend, and many of the participants were staying at the same place I was.

As I was visiting Broken Hill by myself this trip, the group invited me to join them for dinner which was great.

I also caught up with some of them the next day for a chat.

Phil recited one of his Broken Hill inspired poems and I thought, now that would make a great story for the blog.

I’ve since chatted to Phil a few times, and hopefully he will allow me to publish one of his poems.

Back to music, I’ve also heard Phil on the guitar as he’s known for his blues music, and I know he can sing and play.

In the meantime, congratulations on your award Phil.

Well done, cheers, Jane Deany

Royal Flying Doctor Service is a vital service worth supporting

I wanted to write something about Broken Hill today. Thought I would check Twitter again for some inspiration, rather than other sources which I've used in the past. www.ilovebrokenhill.com 's Twitter handle is @ilovebrokenhill .

The following tweet by @missemilymaree (Emily Biddiscombe) did the trick.

If you, your family, or just someone special to you have ever had a medical crisis in a regional area, the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) might just save your life. The organisation is a medical service that looks after the remote regional Australian population.

These guys do an amazing job much of which would not be possible without the generosity of every day Australians.... pic.twitter.com/RlxyUX0iRW
— Emily Biddiscombe (@missemilymaree) July 14, 2014

Well it's Sunday, I'm off for a bike ride, so this is just a quick post to remind readers to think of the Royal Flying Doctor Service and consider making a donation.

The RFDS's website is www.flyingdoctor.org.au . 

www.ilovebrokenhill.com supports the RFDS.

RFDS is a Broken Hill Attraction
RFDS's main base is in fact in Broken Hill. It's a great attraction to visit if you're heading to #BrokenHill for a trip.

I have written about the RFDS a few times, here's a link to my post of 4 February 2013, which talks about the RFDS base as an operating tourist attraction.

In May 2013 the service celebrated its 85th anniversary of operation, see my post of 26 May 2013.

Thanks Emily Biddiscombe for reminding us of this vital regional medical service.

Cheers, Jane Deany

Broken Hill's On The Grapevine and Twitter

Broken Hill from another point of view
In case you are not aware, www.ilovebrokenhill.com has a Twitter account @ilovebrokenhill.

Whilst I was checking the latest #BrokenHill (not case sensitive) happenings in Broken Hill via Twitter a little earlier today, I once again noticed 'On The Grapevine - Broken Hill's Online Community' website courtesy of one of their tweets under their @OTGBrokenHill Twitter handle (account).

Heritage listing a focus of funding talks #brokenhill http://t.co/CytDCcLnfg
— On The Grapevine (@OTGBrokenHill) July 17, 2014

If you want to check out an interesting website, focused on all things Broken Hill, and which is very different to www.ilovebrokenhill.com , have a look at www.onthegrapevine.info .

They have the following themes on their site -

Town Talk
What's On
Positions Vacant
Home Ideas (Recipes, DYI and Craft, Kid's Corner)
Gallery

It looks a really good source of a variety of information about Broken Hill. I think the folk at 'On The Grapevine' love Broken Hill as well.

Happy surfing (web), cheers, Jane Deany

Community Development Grant of $500,000 to Lifeline Broken Hill

It was great to receive the media release announcing a $500,000 Community Development Grant is to be given to Lifeline Broken Hill.

The Hon Sussan Ley MP, Federal Member for Farrer (the Federal seat in which Broken Hill resides) is visiting Broken Hill and will present the cheque for $500,000 to Scott Hammond, the CEO of Lifeline Broken Hill today, Wednesday 9 July 2014 at 10am.

Where - Lifeline Broken Hill, 194 Argent Street.

The Hon Sussan Ley MP
image courtesy Steve Block

The major funding grant will help Lifeline develop its local Community Neighbourhood Centre and Workshop. Over 2,000 people access Lifeline Broken Hill's face to face service annually, and is part of over 26,000 information and referral contacts which are made each year.

...$500,000 Community Development Grant for Lifeline Broken Hill ...

The Lifeline Broken Hill team also provides training to over 300 frontline workers and an additional 200+ community members.

It is such a fantastic worthy cause, and I'm glad the Federal Government is supporting Lifeline's wonderful and extremely important work.

My family have been touched by suicide, so I fully appreciate just how crucial every dollar that goes to support Lifeline is.

If you need crisis support please call Lifeline 13 11 14.

Lifeline provides 'crisis support and suicide prevention services'.

If life is in danger call 000.

Jane Deany

NAIDOC Week 2014 celebrations in Broken Hill 6 - 13 July

Community Event/Day
This year, NAIDOC week runs from Sunday 6 July to Saturday 13 July 2014, so we are right in the middle of this important national event.

NAIDOC week celebrates the history, culture and achievements of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. The event is held each year on the first full week of July.

NAIDOC stands for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee.

The theme this year is "Serving Country: Centenary & Beyond"

In Broken Hill, the first official event was the flag raising ceremony which was held yesterday, July 7th at 10.30am at the Broken Hill Civic Centre Plaza.

There are several other events planned during the week.

Today, Tuesday 8 July, there is the 'Elders Morning Tea', and the city's signature NAIDOC Week event will once again be the family fun day at Sturt Park on Thursday the 10th.

http://t.co/MEnhajAmUM: #NAIDOC Week 2014 celebrations in #BrokenHill 6 - 13 July... http://t.co/zGM0QaQrl4
— Jane Deany (@ilovebrokenhill) July 7, 2014

The Thursday event will run from 10am to 3pm.

The venue is -

Sturt Park - Chloride, Wolfram, Sulphide and Beryl Streets, Broken Hill.

There will be music, dance, traditional food, art, activities, jumping castle, stalls from different organisations, face painting, karaoke, merry-go-round and a special guest appearance from Yamba the Honey Ant.

Transport is available at the following times: 9:30am Creedon St Bus Stop, 10:00am Patton St Chemist and 10:15am Miani's McCulloch St.

On Friday, 11 July, there is the Pancake Morning Tea.

Check out the NAIDOC website for more information.  www.naidoc.org.au.

Enquiries - Aboriginal Affairs Broken Hill 08 8088 0002

Enjoy, cheers, Jane Deany

Finding fellow Broken Hill lovers in Melbourne seems easy

I am sometimes surprised, although not really, how often, when I begin to talk about Broken Hill and my www.ilovebrokenhill.com blog, that I hear people I'm chatting with exclaim that they too love Broken Hill.

Jess, Jane Deany aka me and Siana Braganza
at Docklands Library in Melbourne
(yes this is relevant to Broken Hill!)

I bumped into a lady I know, Siana Braganza today, at the new Docklands Library in Melbourne, (the library just opened three weeks ago ... it's pretty cool, but that's another story).

Siana told me how she had very recently visited Broken Hill over a long weekend, and how much she enjoyed her visit there. She was really enthusing about the 'Hill'.

I hope to be able to interview her soon and will publish this interview soon.

It's just one of the many examples of finding people everywhere, who love Broken Hill!

Why am I not surprised! Cheers, Jane Deany

Lifeline Broken Hill's annual art exhibition is on again now June-July 2014

Venue for Lifeline Broken Hill's annual art
exhibition - GeoCentre courtesy VisitNSW.com

Art Scene
Last night Lifeline opened it's annual Lifeline Broken Hill fund raising art exhibition. The exhibition will run from 27 June to 13 July 2014.

The exhibition, in it's 25th year this year, is once again being held at the Albert Kersten Mining and Minerals Museum also known as the GeoCentre.

There are 110 pieces in this year's exhibition and prices range from $75 to $1,200 (only 1 piece is over $1,000). Forty artists have entered works in the exhibition.

Address:     2 Bromide Street, Corner Silver City Highway (Crystal Street).

Hours: 1pm - 4.45 pm Saturday and Sunday, 10 am - 4.45 pm Monday to Friday.

Entry to the exhibition is by donation.

'Before Facebook' by Karrie Lannstrom, oil on canvas

Artists are allowed to enter up to four paintings, which must be original works, suitably mounted for hanging and available for sale. Generally 25% of the profits from items sold will go to Lifeline, and the remaining amount will go to the artist.

It is a very worthwhile cause so do try and go along and support the wonderful work of Lifeline.

This year, as in other years, there will be some great art. I went to the exhibition several years ago and was lucky enough to attend the opening night which was a lot of fun.

Queries to Lifeline Broken Hill's office - telephone (08) 8087 7525,
194 Argent Street.

You can also donate to Lifeline directly from their website www.lifeline.org.au.

Please note you can call Lifeline for crisis support 24/7 on 13 11 14.

Cheers, Jane Deany

Escaping Broken Hill, or in and around Broken Hill - Mundi Mundi sunset

There's a band in Broken Hill called 'No Exit'. To play in it, you can't want to leave Broken Hill, or so I was told. Well, as I said in my last post of 8 June, I'm trying to have a break from my blog www.ilovebrokenhill.com (and leave Broken Hill so to speak), but old habits die hard.

When I began www.ilovebrokenhill.com I said to myself that I would publish on 8th, 18th and 28th of each month. I've done this since I started the blog over 2.5 years ago. Only missed 'deadline' once. This is my 237th post.

As it's the 18th of the month, I wanted to say something, and an easy idea popped up earlier today. This was courtesy of catching up with Lincoln J., someone I've recently met at several professional development events in my hometown Melbourne.

Royal Botanic Gardens, South Yarra,
a peaceful location in my hometown Melbourne

At today's event, which included four talks and four related workshops, not to mention lunch, one of the talks was about mindfulness and meditation.

The exercise we were given in the meditation and mindfulness workshop was to think of a place where we found peace, and reflect on that for five minutes or so. My place was the quietest part I can find at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne.

As I chatted to Lincoln at lunch, I asked him where he thought of during the meditation session, an amazingly (to me) he said he thought of watching the sunset, looking over the Mundi Mundi plains, just near Silverton and Broken Hill.

Sunsets in and around Broken Hill, Silverton and Mundi Mundi are spectacular.
Put catching a sunset in the area on your list of things to do when you visit!

Thanks for the inspiration Lincoln.

Cheers, Jane Deany

www.ilovebrokenhill.com is two and a half today. Is it break time for Jane Deany?

Two and a half years ago on 8 December 2011, I began my first blog. It was important that it would be about something I was passionate about. It didn't take long for me to decide to write about Broken Hill.

Famous Broken Hill sculpture and me.
Another of my favourite photos.

What a journey it has been over that time. This is my 236'th post and there have been well over 60,000 visits to www.ilovebrokenhill.com in that time.

I've created matching social media accounts, and the blog has become more like a website, and has changed quite a bit in appearance.

Word spreads
I've been telling friends that I want to take a break from the blog, so as to sit back and decide whether or not I would continue posting, or not.

two and a half year anniversary
for
www.ilovebrokenhill.com

It's amazing that quite a few friends are surprised and are saying, "no, don't stop. It's part of you". That type of thing. That's making it even more difficult than it already is to be able to decide whether to continue with it or not.

I already have another art story to run for an important Broken Hill event later this month (Lifeline's annual art exhibition). So this (probably) won't actually be the last post, but it will be a time where I stop and take stock. I won't get the local paper Barrier Daily Truth (on-line digital subscription) anymore.

It's funny that one of my newer friends has already sent me two articles in the last week, which he felt I might be able to use as a basis for more stories.

As I found from the start, I never seem to have any trouble finding story ideas when the subject is Broken Hill.

Stay tuned.

Cheers, Jane Deany

Impact Minerals have new drilling project at Curnamona Province near Broken Hill

Mining

I was reading Broken Hill's Barrier Daily Truth (BDT / www.bdtruth.com.au) newspaper on Wednesday 16 April and noticed a short piece on page 4 with the headline "Miner spruiks new BH project". The company in question was the Perth based minerals company 'Impact Minerals' (ASX: IPT / www.impactminerals.com.au), which listed on the Australia Stock Exchange (ASX) in November 2006.

The area they where they plan to drill is known as 'Curnamona Province' and is located 20km east of Broken Hill.

The joint venture (JV) project with Golden Cross Resources Ltd (GCR), is headed by Impact Minerals and will target high-grade nickel (Ni), copper (Cu) and PGE. There is one exploration licence (EL7390) covering 200 square kilometres

Disclaimer
Before I go on, this post is in no way a recommendation in any shape or form. If you wish to invest in this company you would need to seek independent investment advice. I am just posting the story because it's about mining and Broken Hill.

Interview
Here is a short interview of Impact Minerals CEO Dr Michael (Mike) Jones by Symposium's Kerry Stevenson, recorded in April 2014 as an Investor Update | ASX:IPT | Symposium Investor Roadshow.



It was an amazing coincidence that later, on the same day that I read the BDT article, that I would meet the very Dr Mike Jones.

I was invited to attend a Symposium Investor Roadshow event in Melbourne, by Symposium MD Kerry Stevenson. Not only was Mike Jones one of the four presenters at the roadshow, but I had the opportunity to meet him, and needless to say, I told him that Impact Minerals was in the Broken Hill news that very same day.

Let's hope they find what they're looking for.

Cheers, Jane Deany

NB information for this article was sourced from www.impactminerals.com.au , BDT and Symposium - www.symposium.net.au 

Is the end in sight for www.ilovebrokenhill.com?

I've always loved this photo of me
with one of the sculptures from the
Living Desert Sculpture Symposium
at sunset New Years Eve 2005-06

The romance may not be over, but sometimes ... well ... breaks are necessary. Even endings are needed. After all, stories usually do come to an end.

Next week is www.ilovebrokenhill.com 's two and a half year anniversary.

Separation is coming.

60,000 visitors have checked out the site, not inconsiderable.

Lots is happening in Broken Hill, but there are many other places and things to spend my writing and research energy upon.

I actually have another blog/website project which I began on 1 January this year. It's called www.coworkingiscool.com . The title may tell you, I'm pretty keen on coworking. I have written about coworking on www.ilovebrokenhill.com , see link to these posts here 8 October 2013 and 8 November 2013. I was focusing on how coworking could benefit regional areas such as Broken Hill.

There may be life yet in www.ilovebrokenhill.com after my break, it may not be over yet. After all, when the subject is Broken Hill, I can always find something to write about.

I'm pondering a potentially final post, and maybe a few others before then.

I've had many story ideas, and there are still plenty of possibilities. There's always something going on in beautiful fascinating Broken Hill.

Difficult decisions to be made. Letting go is hard!

Cheers, Jane Deany