Vale William T. Cooper
6 April 1934â10 May 2015
One of Australiaâs foremost and highly regarded bird illustrators, William Cooper, passed away last Sunday. Best remembered for his remarkable paintings in a series of bird monographs â parrots, pigeons and doves, kingfishers, turacos, birds of paradise, bowerbirds â produced in conjunction with Joseph Forshaw, his exquisite artworks have always been highly sought-after and feature in galleries the world over.
Growing up around Newcastle, Bill was always interested in nature, and he was constantly fascinated by its details â the graceful shape of a feather, the sheen of a duckâs wing, the whiskers on a flycatcher, a pardaloteâs delicate spots. A natural extension of this was to draw what had so fascinated him.
âI was always fiddling around drawing birds,â he once said. This âfiddling aroundâ saw him win art competitions at an early age, and this, in turn, allowed him to meet other artists who helped shape his artistic progress.
As a young man he would spend his evenings after work with paintbrush in hand, refining his technique and always learning the best way to capture the true essence of his subject, whether it was a subtle landscape or a detailed portrait of a bird. This attention to detail brought about a growing number of commissions, and by the 1960s, Bill was able to become a professional artist.
Never content to paint from flat photographs, Bill was determined to paint from life instead, and this quest resulted in numerous trips around Australia, as well as other parts of the world in pursuit of subjects â mostly birds, but various other animals as well.
Billâs excellence was recognised by Sir David Attenborough, who described him as âthe best ornithological illustrator aliveâ. Few would argue with that.
William Cooper was 81 and died at his home at Malanda, on Queenslandâs Atherton Tableland.
In a special memorial tribute the ABC will screen Sarah Scragg's documentary Birdman: The Art of William T. Cooper at 2pm this Sunday on ABC1.
Vale William T. Cooper
12 May 2015
Staff at NLA Publishing are this morning saddened to hear of the loss of William T. Cooper, 'Portrait Painter to the Birds', who has died aged 81. We had the privilege of working with Bill on his biography by Penny Olsen and of meeting him at the book's launch at the Library in March 2014. In December of that year, Bill and his botanist wife, Wendy, received Honorary Doctorates from the Australian National University. Bill had previously been awarded the Gold Medal of the Academy of Natural Sciences (USA) and an Order of Australia.
Bill produced beautiful land- and seascapes before turning his attention to birds. In a career which spanned more than fifty years, Bill captured birds in intricate detail, placing them in their correct natural environment, and focussing as much on bill and eye size as a bird's expression and movement.
The National Library of Australia holds more than 150 original watercolours, sketches and other ornithological works by William T. Cooper. A scroll through these images in our catalogue shows a pair of lairy Green-winged Macaws, distinguished and comparatively sombre Red-tailed Cockatoos and a Great-billed Parrot and a Blue-naped Parrot perched amid vibrant native flowers.
Congratulations to Boomerang Bags Finalists for the 2015 Healthy Waterways Awards - Category: Community Stewardship
May 12, 2015
Vote your favourite finalist to win the $1,000 Peopleâs Choice Award. All voters go into a draw to win a $100 retail voucher, with a winner drawn every four weeks. Vote now -http://healthywaterways.org/awards/vote
Vote for Boomerang Bags under Community Stewardship
See: Living Oceanâs Boomerang Bags for a No Plastic Please Avalon + Pittwater! - Now meeting every Tuesday in Avalon Recreation Centre
Boomerang Bag Avalon Sewing Bees Now Every Tuesday
Surfrider Foundation and Living Ocean
Thank you to everyone who's been involved in the initiative so far, we've got a wonderful group of regular sewing bee volunteers who are really starting to kick some goals!
Thanks to support from Pittwater Council we can now afford to rent out Avalon Recreation Centre every Tuesday, which is very exciting news!!
So make sure you pop into Avalon Recreation Centre on Tuesdays, anytime from 11am-5pm and come join the team. All welcome, no sewing skills needed, we need people to cut material, stamp and of course to come along and have a cuppa.
I'd like to also say a big thank you to Laurel who is our lead sewing bee coordinator, we couldn't be running the program without her dedication and patience.
Jessica Hensman, Operations Manager
PO Box 968, Mona Vale NSW 1660, Surfrider Foundation
E: operations@surfrider.org.au W: www.surfrider.org.au
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About Healthy Waterways
Healthy Waterways is an independent, not-for-profit organisation that works with our members from government, industry and the community to protect and improve South East Queenslandâs waterways. We believe that shared understanding, regional collaboration and targeted solutions across the whole water cycle are the key to improving and maintaining waterway health.
Healthy Waterways was built on a foundation of rigorous science which continues to underpin the organisationâs programs and initiatives. We provide best-practice scientific advice to inform waterway investment, and facilitate regional scientific projects for the benefit of South East Queenslandâs waterways. Our suite of decision support tools model the likely outcomes of waterway strategies, enabling our members to identify the most targeted, cost effective management actions to address waterway issues. We monitor and report on the condition of our waterways and provide capacity building for water professionals and community groups. We support reforms to policy and planning, and our education programs inspire and motivate the community to value and protect our waterways.
Vision: with our members, we have one clear vision to achieve healthy waterways for a healthy economy.
Purpose: Healthy Waterways works to understand and communicate the condition of the waterways to drive and influence future targets, policy and actions.
Values: We respect and value those we work with and the contributions that they make, and act fairly and ethically in all we do.
Scientists and policymakers have extensively studied our collaborative model, including representatives from the Chinese, Singapore, Philippine and Indonesian governments.
Our work has also attracted national attention with formal commendations from the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists and the House of Representatives.
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Starting your beard on the 1st June and finishing on the 31st August, you will have the opportunity to create a very warm winter blanket for your face and raise funds at the same time! Itâs free to grow and you will save a lot of money on shavers for three months! Already got a beard? Great! Get it sponsored and keep on growing!
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Welfare Integrity, Fairness and Sustainability for all Australians
12 May 2015: Media Release, Senator the Hon. Mitch Fifield, Assistant Minister for Social Services
The 2015 Budget is part of the Commonwealth Governmentâs plan to build a strong, safe and prosperous future for all Australians.
In 2015-16, the Government will spend $154 billion on welfare, which is around 35 per cent of total Government expenditure.
The Government is strengthening the integrity of our welfare system to ensure it remains fair and sustainable so that we can continue to support those who need it most. These measures will return around $3.5 billion to the Budget.
Transformation programme
In this Budget, the Government will invest an initial $60 million to kick start the Welfare Payment Infrastructure Transformation to replace the existing welfare payment system and modernise government service delivery to meet the demands of todayâs digital world.
The Department of Human Services (DHS) is responsible for delivering welfare payments through Centrelink to 7.3 million people annually. It does this via a large information technology system which was developed in 1983 and modified to meet government policy changes.
Changes to policy and processes over the past three decades have made the system extremely complex, inflexible, costly to main and difficult to ensure compliance.
The new welfare payment system will save customers time and effort by offering smarter and easier online end-to-end services. It will also reduce the costs of administering welfare payments and save taxpayers money in the long run.
A strong welfare cop on the beat
The Government has zero tolerance for rorting of our welfare system.
We will put a strong welfare cop on the beat focusing on deterrence, detection, investigation and prosecution to track down suspected welfare fraud and non-compliance.
From 1 July 2015, the Government will increase DHSâs capability to detect, investigate and deter suspected welfare fraud and non-compliance.
Activities will target high-risk geographic hot spots, unexplained wealth, undeclared income, and undisclosed changes of customer circumstances, which can lead to ineligibility for payments.
It will achieve net savings of around $1.5 billion.
Income test treatment of defined benefit schemes
The Government will ensure fairer treatment of defined benefit superannuation income for pensioners.
From 1 January 2016, the level of income from defined benefit superannuation that can be excluded from the pension income test will be capped at 10 per cent.
The anomaly was created unintentionally after changes were made in 2007. With the current pension rules, some people are able to exclude a percentage of their defined benefit income stream from the Age Pension means test. For example: a couple with a defined benefit scheme income of $120,000 a year with a 50% deductible amount can exclude $60,000 from the income test. Only the remaining $60,000 is assessed as income under the income test, which results in the couple receiving a part pension of $7,400 per year in addition to their defined benefit income. Under this change this couple would no longer be eligible for a part pension.
Around 65 per cent of income support recipients with payments from defined benefit schemes have deductible amounts of 10 per cent or less and will not be affected by this measure.
Department of Veterans Affairs Pensions and defined benefit income streams paid by military superannuation funds are exempt from this measure.
It will achieve net savings of $465.5 million over the forward estimates.
Better Income Management
The Government is investing $147 million to deliver more streamlined and cost-effective income management.
Around 25,000 people will continue to benefit from this programme designed to support vulnerable Australians.
Financial Wellbeing and Capability services will no longer be compulsory; however, people on income management will continue to have priority access to these services.
The Government is also investing $25.6 million to increase the financial wellbeing of up to 340,000 people, through providing financial counselling and money management skills.
The new model of Financial Wellbeing and Capability services to people across income management locations will help improve the capacity and resilience of families and individuals to manage their finances, avoid the risks of poor financial literacy and help people move out of debt.
The Governmentâs changes to our social security system will result in fairer, more sustainable welfare now and into the future.
PITTWATER WEATHER STATION LAUNCHED
An idea was born
Frustrated at being unable to obtain Local Pittwater Actual weather from any source the means to achieve such information was investigated. (All current internet weather sites give Terrey Hills weather even when you request one anywhere around Pittwater)
Through the Federal Minister for The Environment, referred to the Bureau of Meteorology to be told that just one station would cost $29,000 and that no funding was available â that was a red rag to a bull.
This is despite the fact that there are no BoM Coastal Weather Stations between North Head and Norah Head â a distance of 67Kms. Going south there are stations every 11 â 30Kms to Kiama.
Without any Government assistance, private equity was volunteered by a very generous local willing to give back something to our idyllic Pittwater. Not only is he funding one station â the aim is to eventually have 5 -6 around Pittwater.
This data will benefit sailors, fishermen, power boats, seaplanes, Marine Rescue, Maritime, Water Police, National Parks, the Rural Fire Service and yacht clubs. On Saturday 21st February, 2015 the first station was commissioned at Observation Point, Palm Beach.
This website is most comprehensive with the data available in various formats including gauges that give analog and digital readings: pittwaterweather.com/Cumulus/Observation
Webcams will be incorporated subsequently to give a birds-eye-view.
Permission is pending from Rob Stokes â State Member for the Environment â to position one station on Barrenjoey Lighthouse. This will give both coastal and Pittwater coverage. Other sites will follow when siting permission is obtained.
Report by Rohan Walter
