The village that fought and lost a war against the new water merchants

The tiny gold-mining village of Stanley sits quietly - most of the time - on its plateau in the foothills of Victoria’s north-east high country, its vineyards and groves of walnut and orchards of apple, stone fruits and berries quenched by pure water from beneath the ground. 

David McIntyre , Stanley nut grower, is concerned about water mining in the district.

There’s a little Athenaeum - the old fancy name for a community library - at the crossroads at the centre of town.

Its fine collection of books date to a time when gold miners and their families felt the need for tranquil retreat from the often vulgar doings on the wild diggings. The first librarian was appointed in 1863.

Late last year and right through the summer, Stanley’s Athenaeum hosted an exhibition called “Water and Mining: Water management on the goldfields”.

It told the story of how “water merchants” of the 19th century made fortunes by diverting the flow of the Nine Mile Creek - Stanley’s old name - to serve diggings down the hill.

Read Tony Wright’s story in The Age - “The village that fought and lost a war against the new water merchants.”

Graham's views back in the news - well done!

Beneath the Wisteria supporter from Stanley in Victoria’s north east, Graham Parton, regularly has short letters published in the Stanley, and another appeared today. Well done, and well said, Graham.

A 'captain's call' or a considered Science Minister's decision

G

raham Parton, who had worked and lived, during the week at least, in Tatura, but now lives at Stanley in his purpose built home, had this short note in today’s “Letters” section in today’s Melbourne Age.



Graham Parton.

 

"I wonder if the $4 million for Bjorn Lomborg to spread climate misinformation was another "captain's call", or the carefully considered decision of our Science Minister."

 

Graham Parton, Stanley

All's well, according to 'three older blokes in a pub'

Beneath the Wisteria supporter, Graham Parton lives in Stanley, near Beechworth, and the closest and most influential newspaper is Albury’s Border Mail.

A recent column in that newspaper caught his eye and offended good sense,

Here is Graham’s communication about that issue and it’s interesting to note that “three older blokes in a pub” know more about what causing our extreme weather conditions than the world’s best scientists and climatologists.

 

Hi Robert

Probably not of much interest to your Shepparton readers but I saw a column in the Border Mail today that I just had to respond to. The central premise was that there have been really hot days over the past 50 years ago so therefore this heatwave is just part of a normal cycle. Just to make it worse they have this little vox pop section where a reporter finds three people somewhere in the local region and asks them a question and records their answers. (They got me one once but i had a silly question to answer about whether or not sports people should be subject to the same laws as very one else). Anyway today’s one was asking three older men in a pub if the heatwave had changed their opinion on climate change (which is an interesting question because it assumed they were deniers). All three said that no, it was just part of a normal cycle. So there you have it, three men in a pub!

 

Anyway here's what I wrote to the Border Mail.

 

Your columnist Howard Jones has demonstrated an alarming lack of logic in reaching the absurd conclusion that this summer heatwave is not particularly worse than previous ones. His main “evidence” for this is records that show maximum temperatures reaching into the 40s all through the last century. He may not be aware that those same records have shown that during that time the global average temperature has risen by about one degree and that 2013 was the hottest year on record. Even his totally inadequate method of remembering very hot days from the distant past as a comparison with the current longer hotter temperatures is unreliable. He also needs to consider the trend in overnight lows, which are getting consistently higher, and the fact that these heatwaves happen three times more frequently now than they did during most of the 20^th century. I applaud the Fairfax policy of not giving column space to climate deniers, but how did this one slip through the cracks?