All Quotes

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"A glorious thing it is to live in a tent in the infinite—to waken in the grey of dawn, a good hour before the sun outlines the low ridges of the horizon, and to come out into the bright cool air, and scent the wind blowing across the mulga plains. My first thought would be to probe the ashes of my open fireplace, where hung my primitive cooking-vessels, in the hope that some embers had remained alight. Before I retired at night, I invariably made a good fire and covered the glowing coals with the soft ash of the jilyeli, having watched my compatriots so cover their turf fires in Ireland. I would next readjust the stones of the hob to leeward of the morning wind, and set the old Australian billy to boil, while I tidied my tent, and transformed it from bedroom to breakfast-room. As the sun came up, it changed that plain white room into the most exquisitely-frescoed pergola, with a patterning far surpassing the best of Grinling Gibbon’s handiwork. In a constant play of leafy light and shadow, I would eat my tea and toast in absolute content, while outside the blue smoke of the fire changed to grey in the bright sunlight. The mornings were spent in wandering from camp to camp, attending to the bodily needs of the scattered flock. I knew every bush, every pool, every granite boulder, by its age-old prehistoric name, with its legends and dream-time secrets, and its gradual inevitable change. There was no loneliness."

- Daisy Bates (author)

• 0 likes• Travel writers• Women born in the 19th century• Non-fiction authors from Australia• Women from Australia• Anthropologists from Australia•
"Every one of the natives whom I encountered on the east-west line had partaken of human meat, with the exception of Nyerdain, who told me it made him sick. They freely admitted their sharing of these repasts and enumerated those killed and eaten by naming the waters, and drawing a line with the big toe on the sand as they told over in gruesome memory the names they dared not mention. My first words to them were always “No more man-meat.” From the weekly supply train, I would procure part of a bullock or sheep and show them the game food areas, mallee-hen’s eggs, rabbits and so on, that must be their meats now, with as many dampers as I could provide, and a drink of sweetened tea. One morning very early, the news came that Nyan-ngauera had left the camp, taking a fire-stick and accompanied by her little girl. No one would follow her or help to track her. For twelve miles I followed the track unsuccessfully, but Nyan-ngauera doubled many times and gave birth to a child a mile west of my camp, where she killed and ate the baby, sharing the food with the little daughter. Later, with the help of her sons and grandsons, the spot was found, nothing to be seen there save the ashes of a fire. "The bones are under the fire", the boys told me, and digging with the digging-stick we came upon the broken skull, and one or two charred bones, which I later sent to the Adelaide Museum."

- Daisy Bates (author)

• 0 likes• Travel writers• Women born in the 19th century• Non-fiction authors from Australia• Women from Australia• Anthropologists from Australia•
"Know all persons, that we, three brothers, Jagajaga, Jagajaga, Jagajaga, being the principal chiefs, and also Cooloolock, Bungarie, Yanyan, Moowhip, Mommarmalar, being the chiefs of a certain native tribe called Dutigallar, situate at and near Port Philip, called by us, the above-mentioned chiefs, Iransnoo and Geelong, being possessed of the tract of land hereinafter mentioned, for and in consideration of 20 pair blankets, 30 knives, 12 tomahawks, 10 looking-glasses, 12 pairs scissors, 50 handkerchiefs, 12 red shirts, four flannel jackets, four suits of clothes, and 50 lbs. of flour, delivered to us by John Batman, residing in Van Diemen's Land, esquire, but at present sojourning with us and our tribe, do, for ourselves, our heirs and successors, give, grant, enfeoff and confirm unto the said John Batman, his heirs and assigns, all that tract of country situate and being in the bay of Port Philip, known by the name of Indented Head, but called by us Geelong, extending across from Geelong harbour, about due south, for 10 miles, more or less, to the head of Port Philip, taking in the whole neck or tract of land, and containing about 100,000 acres, as the same hath been before the execution of these presents delineated and marked out by us, according to the custom of our tribe, by certain marks made upon the trees growing along the boundaries of the said tract of land; to hold the said tract of land, with all advantages belonging thereto, unto and to the use of the said John Batman, his heirs and assigns for ever, to the intent that the said John Batman, his heirs and assigns, may occupy and possess the said tract of land, and place thereon sheep and cattle, yielding and delivering to us and our heirs or successors the yearly rent or tribute of 50 pair of blankets, 50 knives, 50 tomahawks, 50 pair scissors, 50 looking-glasses, 20 suits of slops or clothing, and two tons of flour. In witness whereof, we, Jagajaga, Jagajaga, Jagajaga, the three principal chiefs, and also Cooloolock, Bungarie, Yanyan, Moowhip, and Mommarmalar, the chiefs of the said tribe, have hereunto affixed our seals to these presents, and have signed the same."

- John Batman

• 0 likes• Businesspeople from Australia• Explorers from Australia•
"The problem ... was that the original novella was not structured for film. It has big gaps in time and essentially starts another story two-thirds of the way through. This is when Davidge takes the young Drac back to Dracon and has to deal with their prejudice against him. We just didn't have the money for that. I had to create a new ending where Zammis is kidnapped by gypsy miners who use Dracs for slave labor. Davidge has to rescue him, and this leads to a new understanding between the two races. There was a good line in the film that got cut out, where Davidge's friends come to help him and run into a party of armed Dracs. The Drac who knows about Davidge and Zammis is about to shoot the friends when one holds his hands up and says "Hold it! I don't understand it completely either, but we're on the same side now!" I also wanted to have a scene at the end where Davidge is shown on Dracon at Zammis' acceptance ceremony. To be officially accepted into Dracon society and become head of your family line, you have to stand before the Council of Elders with your father. He introduces you by reciting your line's entire heritage. That's from the book and I wanted to make that a big scene, but it wound up as a matte painting because that's all there was money for. That's as close to the Drac culture as we could afford to come."

- Enemy Mine (film)

• 0 likes• 1980s American films• Science fiction films• Films about extraterrestrial life• Films set on fictional planets• Films directed by Wolfgang Petersen•