I am proud ....

[AussieMan]

..... to call myself an Australian. When I went to bed last night it was announced that a grand total of $75 million had been raised in appeals for the bushfire victims in Victoria. That does not include the millions of dollars worth of food, clothing and toys that have been donated. And this comes from a country of only 21 million inhabitants!!

Unfortunately the forgotten disaster is the North Queensland floods. I hope that some of the money and goods that have been donated is diverted to these people as, while they have not lost their homes, the contents of these homes has probably been damaged beyond any future use.

As has been shown in the past when the chips are down Australians get behind those who are suffering whether it is here in Australia or with our near neighbours.

WELL DONE AUSTRALIA my heart swells with pride.

Cheers
Pat

[cheezyflier]

i would say in that case, australians have every reason to be proud:applause:

[demorier]

I heard on the TV news that fire fighting crews from NZ, USA and Canada. Were being activated to come down under and help out. As they still have something like 80 dangerous fires burning through parched south east oz. Many thanks to these people. Around this way it's pelting down, wish we could send some down south.

[wombat666]

Up to $A78M as of 17:00 EST now.
Times are tough but people are just so generous!!
Amazingly part of that are donations from Indonesia and PNG!
Quite a big 'Thank You' from two unlikely sources!
Just proves what goes round comes round.
:applause:
Latest threat area are the Healesville fires, which is rather too close for comfort.
Smoke haze over Melbourne is quite dense, while the CFA 'Dandenongs' crews are on high alert.
The Army teams are moving quite rapidly through fire ravaged areas, they are finding far too many casualties and the numbers are looking grim.
We certainly could use some of that Qld precipitation demorier.
:kilroy:

[harleyman]

Thats great......:applause:


I just saw where the new Iris Website is donating an entire week of sales profits to the wildfire cause too....:ernae:

[AGAS 5]

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CDad%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtm l1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> In a distant scrub, there is a desperate cry.
Will I be heard?
<o:p> </o:p>
An ear pricks up from a nervous dog,
Its master’s attention is drawn.
To the highest peak he climbs
And lets fly an almighty roar.
<o:p> </o:p>
It echoes over hills and mountains,
Heard, and then echoed again.
It soon reaches a crescendo,
Rolling over plains until heard by all.
<o:p> </o:p>
With stiffened backs and sleeves rolled up,
A nation steps forth.
Adversity is no barrier –
A mate’s call remains unanswered.
<o:p> </o:p>
Then, through the haze and destruction,
A hand reaches out.
Fearful eyes look up not knowing,
And tears give way to exhaustion.
<o:p> </o:p>
The hand gives comfort to the hurt.
The hand gives respect to the fallen.
The hand picks up a hammer ‘n nail
And soon, a hand is given back in return.
<o:p> </o:p>
Finally the old boy is resting,
One ear at ready for his masters beckoning.
One ear at ready for a distant call….
<o:p> </o:p>
[I].... Cooee ....




<o:p></o:p>

[jmig]

I agree with cheezy, every Aussie has a right to be proud. Not just for the way you handled this disaster but the way you live each day.

Australia is a great and proud nation of wonderful and caring people.

[Toastmaker]

Yep, Australia has plenty to be proud of - this is just one more example.

(and a good example to many others)


:applause:

[wombat666]

My Country


<style>#container_title .banner a, #container_title .banner a:visited {color: #090DB9;}</style> <table id="container" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr><td>
<!-- google_ad_section_start --> The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes.
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins,
Strong love of grey-blue distance
Brown streams and soft dim skies
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!

A stark white ring-barked forest
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon.
Green tangle of the brushes,
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops
And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When sick at heart, around us,
We see the cattle die -
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady, soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the Rainbow Gold,
For flood and fire and famine,
She pays us back threefold -
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.

An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land -
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand -
Though earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.

</td></tr></tbody></table>