Volunteer Award

I do a fair bit of Volunteer work not cause i have to but because i enjoy doing it.

Some of what i do is be a receptionist at a referral centre, help people fill in forms, make people feel special by speaking to them and finding something about them that i will praise.
Another part is i put together a newsletter for the area, people send me in articles i go through these articles try to make them sound a little nicer, look for spelling errors or just normal grammatical errors, make the article look nice then put the newsletter together, with a fun page which consists of a recipe, a find a word and some trivia or jokes.

We used to have a manager and the person we have there now is in an acting position, so another part i do is that i get internal emails anything that i think can help where i do my volunteer work or issues that may be coming up, i send them to another person who works for this same place.

Today i received a phone call telling me there was a luncheon on tomorrow and im thinking yeah ok, but it seems that someone has put my name forward for a Volunteer Award, and tomorrow there will be a luncheon to receive the award.

Im surprised about getting a nomination as i dont do volunteer work to get awards, but it is nice getting something to say thankyou for the work i do.

This all might seem weird how i have written this, but last night i had 5 1/2 hours sleep and im really tired at the moment, but im trying to keep myself awake and go to bed close to the time i normally do...sigh........
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The White Australian Policy

At one stage to immigrate into Australia you had to get through what was known as

The White Australian Policy

On 5 June 1901 the Immigration Restriction Bill was introduced. Thought to be the first step towards the 'White Australia Policy,' the most controversial part of the Bill was a dictation test which was aimed at keeping Australia a 'white-society.'
The language dictation test was based on the tactics of the Natal (South Africa) Immigration Restriction Act 1897. Rather than immigrants appearing to be prevented from entering the country on the grounds of race, the test used literacy to discriminate against non-Europeans. Legislation involving a similar test had already been introduced for the same purpose in Western Australia (1897), New South Wales (1898) and Tasmania (1899).

There were some politicians who objected to the policy. Their objections, however, were not on the basis that it was racist and discriminatory, but because it did not go far enough in ensuring the 'racial purity' of a white Australia.

Under pressure from its allies, the British Government attempted to curb Australia's Immigration Restriction Act. The Bill was ammended by allowing the 50-word dictation test to be in any European language (not just English).

The Act essentially prohibited anyone from entering the country if they were found to be mentally ill, carrying a contagious disease, likely to be unable to support themselves, contracted as a manual labourer, or to have a criminal record.
The Act also allowed immigration officers to test any migrants (but was aimed at those who were 'coloured') with a 50-word dictation test in any European language before they could enter the country. Statistics show that between 1902 and 1903, out of the 805 times the dictation test was conducted, only 46 people passed.

After pressure from a number of countries, particularly Britain and Japan, in 1905 the Act was changed it allowed the dictation test to be administered in any language.
This amendment did not improve the circumstances of the non-whites trying to enter the country because they still could be tested in a language which they most likely did not know.
If anything, the number of those who were allowed to enter the country decreased by 5 percent between 1904 and 1909, as only six people passed the test which was conducted 554 times.

Maltese applicants were given a test in Dutch. A political activist who spoke
several European languages eventually failed when he was tested in Gaelic. If
they complained that they didnt understand the language it was written in they
were still made to do it. As the law said they could be given the test in any
language.

This technique continued to be used by Customs until the early 1960s


The second component of the 'White Australia Policy' was the Pacific Island Labourers Bill.
The Pacific Island Labourers Bill dealt with achieving the deportation of the group which was of major concern.
At the time that the Bill was introduced there were around 10 000 Pacific Islanders (also derogatorily known as Kanakas) living in Queensland and Northern New South Wales.
Mostly from Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands, since 1863 they had migrated to Australia to work on the sugarcane plantations
Despite assisting the growth and prosperity of Queensland's rapidly expanding sugarcane industry Australia wanted them gone
The Act placed severe restrictions on Pacific Islanders. They were completely prohibited from entering Australia after 31 March 1904
The very few who were exempt from the Act were those Pacific Islanders who had come to Australia before 1 September 1879, to work as crewmembers on ships.

A number of the Pacific Islanders who had come to Australia quite some time before as youths and had worked hard to establish a life for themselves. Some were leasing farms, or even owned their own house or had children in Australia. Confused about why they should have to leave, a number sender petitions to the Governor of Queensland, the Prime Minister and even the King. In 1906, the Commonwealth government accepted recommendations from the Royal Commission to allow several exemptions from the Act. For many, though, it was not enough. The final deportation lasted from the end of 1906 until the middle of 1908. A total of 1654 Pacific Islanders were allowed to remain in Australia.

I remember being told about the test when i was younger and found it a little strange that people who wanted to migrate to Australia had to do these tests and also thought it was not very nice that people who came from Asian countries where given the test in another language which they couldnt understand.

From heresay the people where told that they had to do the test if they wanted to live in Australia and they should know how to answer the questions, being told "how much do you want to live in Australia then if you cant do the test"

I didnt know about The White Australian Policy till i got older, im gonna come across racist here as i can see why it was brought in as people fear what they dont know, and some of the problems that are happening in Australia are from people from other countries.

But then the other side, it would be like me closing my eyes and not appreciating the world for what it is and i wouldnt know about some of the different foods and sayings that i have learnt.

To me i think that everyone is the same, it is just that we look different as of the countries we come from.

Call me racist if you want, but i dont care as people who know me, know that i am not racist.

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Adding Ringtones to your Iphone

A friend of mine gives me her Iphone to add apps and songs to it.

She wanted a certain song added as her Ringtone and i wasent sure how to do it, but i found this clip from Cnet and it shows you how to do it step by step.

Its pretty easy to do as he shows you perfectly..

Hmmm i cant see how to add the clip here so here is the link to it Iphone ringtones
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Chair Collapse

I felt sorry for this lady today, while i was out doing my shopping i saw this lady go to sit down on a chair in the shopping centre with the chair collapsing on her.

The lady was of a larger size and all i could think was how she would probably be so embarrassed.

I was talking to one of the cashier in the supermarket i was in and he was telling me how the chair had broken on the weekend with a poor women falling onto her face, what the shopping centre had done was just screw the leg back in.

The chairs have been there for i dont know how long.

Hopefully this time they fix the chair properly or get new chairs

The last i saw of the lady was that she was sitting outside with 2 ambulance officers seeing to her, she was asked not to move from where she fell by the ambulance people but she stood and walked outside. It looks so she may have hurt her back but hopefully she is ok.
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Australian Football League (AFL)

I thought i would write about some of the sports people in Australia play, i am only going to do one at a time though as there is alot of information about some of the sports

The first one i thought i would write about is Australian Football League or AFL as most Australians know it....

In 1857, Tom Wills, one of the founders of Australian Football, returned to Australia after schooling in England where he was football captain of Rugby School, being a cricket player he advocated that there should be a game that could be played through winter to keep the cricket players fit.

Wills wrote a letter in 1858 to Bell's Life in Victoria & Sporting Chronicle, stating the need to form a "foot-ball club"

Thomas Wills got together with William Hammersley, James Thompson, and Thomas Smith on May 17, 1859, to draw up a set of rules.

The game that was drew up was to become Melbourne Rules Football. They borrowed liberally from other football codes, Gaelic football (kicking and marking) Rugby (shape of the ball and the body contact) and soccer (the positional names) Players could swap clubs during the season and the premier was decided by consensus.

The Melbourne Football Club was formed on August 7, 1858 – the year of the code’s first recorded match between Scotch College and Melbourne Grammar School.

When the game first started in 1877, it was called the Victoria Football Association (VFA).
The competition included as Foundation clubs

• Albert Park,
• Ballarat,
• Barwon,
• Beechworth,
• Carlton,
• Castlemaine,
• Geelong,
• Hotham,
• Inglewood,
• Melbourne,
• Rochester
• St Kilda.
  

In 1866 some early rule changes were implemented, with the introduction of time limits for matches and behind posts next to the goal posts, the winning team became to be the one with the most goals scored in a set time.

In 1873 team uniforms introduced. Previously sides where distinguished only by their caps.

In 1897 the system of scoring points was introduced.

Up until 1868 Australian Rules football had been played in two halves but that year four quarters were introduced into the game. Around the same time umpires began playing a bigger role, now bouncing the ball (instead of throwing it up) at the start of each quarter and after each goal.

In 1897 the scoring system was formalised with six points being awarded for a goal and one point for a behind. This scoring method still remain in place today in the modern game. In the same year the first finals were held (won by Essendon).


The foundation clubs –

• Carlton,
• Collingwood,
• Essendon,
• Fitzroy,
• Geelong,
• Melbourne,
• St Kilda
• South Melbourne.
  

In 1908, Richmond and University joined the competition.

But after the 1914 season, University left the League.

In 1925,

• Footscray (now the Western Bulldogs),
• Hawthorn
• North Melbourne (now the Kangaroos) joined the VFL.
  
  
  

In 1982 South Melbourne where moved to Sydney becoming The Sydney Swans

1987 the competition expanded with the teams below joining

• West Coast Eagles
• Brisbane Bears.

In 1990 VFL changed to their name to AFL, after that three more teams joined in the following years

• 1991 Adelaide
• 1995 Fremantle
• 1997 Port Adelaide

Foundation club Fitzroy merged with the Brisbane Bears to form the Brisbane Lions (after the 1996 season).

How things evolved for AFL

1879- Football was allowed on M.C.G

1858-1891- The creation of football began and certain decisions where made to decide the structor of the game. 1887-20 players where agreeded for each side more where allowed if agreed.

1896- Oct 3rd new rules including crossbar on goals, abolition of behinds and no marks under ten yards. Throw-ins to be from ten yards either side of the goals were introduced

1955- 15 yard penalty was introduced against offending players this stops players holding the man. 1962- V.F.L- replays were permited on Saturday nights.

1966- Umpires are instructed to cut ball ups penalise the flick pass and give frees when scrimmages delop.

1976- Two umpires are used for the first time.

1979- V.F.L. match played in March For the first time.

1988- May 11- The V.F.L.introduced the 50 metre penality

1994- Feb 9 - In addition to the final eight, the A.F.L. reduces the length of the quarters to 20 minutes plus time added on for stoppages.

1980- The match of the day was broadcasted for the first time.

There are now 16 teams that play each weekend.

Players each year are up for an award called The Brownlow Medal, its in the memory of Charles Brownlow who was veteran of over forty years with the Geelong Football Club and the VFL.
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Some Links for AFL Pages

AFL Football

Full Points Footy

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Some more things about me

As i cant think of anything else to write at the moment i thought i would write a few more things about me

• I used to drink loads of orange juice easily 2-3 litres per day, so one day i decided to stop drinking it, it was really weird as when i stopped i got ill, i got headaches and felt sick, if i let myself have a little bit of orange juice i felt better, so im guessing i was addicted to orange juice, sounds weird huh....

• I love to read, from an early age i was read too and i was encouraged to read books by myself, i remember reading a book by myself, im guessing 9 years old, it could have been earlier but im not sure...i am always reading and can loose myself easily into any book, if i dont read i start to feel strange as if part of me is missing, hehe at one stage i think i got through almost every Barbara Cartland book, i rarely read love stories anymore, but at the time i was reading Barbara's ones i enjoyed them...

• I love to play World of Warcraft, i can easily spend hours on there playing away and sometimes dont get off the computer till 4am, which makes it hard to wake the next day...

• I do volunteer work, ive been doing it now for around 10 years or so, i started of working for St Vinnies, but now work for another place where i talk to people who have mental health issues make them feel worth being around and help people find jobs, put together a bi-monthly newsletter that goes around the area i work...

• I have a bad habit of playing with the skin around my nails, i pull the skin off when it feels dry...

• I have very hard nails, if i go to scratch someone i hold back a bit as i dont want to pull any skin away which i can easily do, my nails also grow pretty well, even though they grow in weird shapes.....when i was younger i did something to the pointer finger on my right hand (i cant remember what i did), but i remember it growing back really weirdly, now the way the nail grows, it takes skin up with it, imagine the feeling you have when something is under your fingernail and it is annoying, i always have that........ive had my finger nail taken off to see if that was the problem but the problem is still there.....

• I have something called Lingual Tonsils, what that means is that the tonsil tissue has grown into my tongue, hence my tonsils are at the back of my tongue, i have a really bad gag reflex from it, i cant have things in my mouth much or i feel as if im going to gag, sometimes having a toothbrush can cause the problem, ive had my tonsils taken out twice, the first time when i was around 5 (i got told he didnt cut them out properly and left some of the tonsil tissue in my throat), then second time when i was 15, but as i said i have lingual tonsils, so i still have my tonsils hehehe........

• When i was young around 3 or 4 years old i pulled a cup of coffee onto my head, burning my face and scalp a little, my mum told me that one of my eyes had a big blister over it but it eventually went away......you can see the scar tissue on my forehead only when i get sunburnt as it goes redder, i have a problem when i go to a hairdresser, when they use the hairdryer on me i have to tell them to be careful of my forehead, which some of them forget to do grrrr......

• If i get sad i write poems and i do have some of the poems i wrote on this blog, but lately i havent been sad so i havent been able to add any poems on here, not that im complaining....

• Between the ages of 16 and 18 i was taught to cook at TAFE, i didnt get a certificate from the course as i had to do science and i really cant get my head around science, my brain seems to work better with being able to see examples.......i did learn to cook though and can make many types of food, but ask me to cook something simple like steak of sausages im a little confused, i know the principle of cooking them but its not something i can do as easily as something fancy say like a greek chicken pie....

• I love learning trivia, you could call me a geek but i just love it, i love finding out things like. When you blush, your stomach lining also reddens.... i think this type of stuff is cool

• I have 4 nephews and 1 niece, one of my nephews and my niece are by marriage, so i find it weird calling them my niece and nephew as i didnt really have very much to do with them....

• My big toe is longer than my second toe, not sure what that means, but there ya go.....

• Both of my parents are dead, my dad dying about 15 years ago and my mum dying around 5 years ago, i wear my mums wedding ring, but as she had smaller fingers than me i wear it on my little finger, so i dont loose it i wear another ring in front of it, the ring is probably not worth much, but it is my mums and it would hurt me alot if i lost it

• I love to do any type of craft work like sewing, painting, knitting, decoupage, sticking things together, making jewellery (i rarely buy earrings i make my own to suit) i have sold some of the things i make but i get easily bored with what im doing and move onto the next thing...

• Im a horder and alot of times it annoys me i wish i could throw away some of the stuff i have, and before you say why dont i, i often do, every now and then i sit down and go through things i own and get rid of them

Now to think of something else i can write about next time hmmm

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