History worth preserving

NICE article about the shed at 76 Napoleon St, Battery Point ( Mercury, June 29). The shed was used by William SavilleKent, the initial inspector-general of fisheries who rented the then house and land to establish the first oyster and fish farm in Australia. Fish farming now brings in about $700 million a year so his work was of fundamental importance. The shed was a coach house built for Captain Robertson who leased the property to Saville-Kent.

What Saville-Kent did have constructed was the rock sea wall that extends from 76 back to our jetty at 68 Napoleon St. Records show that wall was 300 feet long, the exact distance of the current wall. There has been debate about the origin of the rocks but that was settled by the excellent aerial shots taken by the council to support its case to build the walkway. Those show the original rock frontages exist from our jetty all the way back to Sir AJ White park whereas from our jetty to the end of 76 there are no rocks other than those on the wall so clearly Saville-Kent used the readily available rocks. I support Lloyd Clark’s bid to get council and/or government to help fund the shed’s reconstruction. Just as, if not more, important is getting heritage recognition of SavilleKent’s wall. His importance to Tasmania’s subsequent future cannot be overstated.

Vying for ferry spots

AS a Bruny resident I, like many others, am most concerned about the so-far available information on the Bruny Island ferry contract, part of which, the booking system, flies in the face of advice from all community groups on the island. I look forward to Sealink’s public consultation. I find it ridiculous that islanders will now have to vie with visitors to access our homes via our only road home, the ferry. This is part of the National Highway, and it should be our right to travel without encumbrance in line with all Tasmanians.

Imagine having to book to leave your homes and return without any choice because a booking has been made for a particular time. Traffic, doctor delays and other factors determine time of travel and should be flexible. How will the operator determine booked vehicles stuck in traffic in Main Rd, Kettering, at peak times. The infrastructure is not in place to put in a special lane. We also do not require this company to spruik Bruny on our behalf to tourists. Luke Martin and the Tourism Council already have overkill on this.

TAFE neglected

It WAS wonderful to read the Governor’s passionate advocacy of better education ( Mercury, June 28). However, there was no mention of one of the most important and neglected sectors of education, TAFE and similar work skill bodies. Our civilisation depends on people who build and maintain our houses, factories and machines, provide day-to-day human services to those needing care, and produce most of our food. They typically learn primarily by doing. Traditionally the main path was apprenticeship, but regulation has largely made apprenticeship impractical.

TAFE and similar institutions have replaced it. Yet this whole sector is grossly undervalued and underfunded and, unlike universities, access to most courses in most states depends on cash upfront. This makes it inaccessible to many of those most suited to these occupations. We have serious shortages of skills in several areas. Our immigration is heavily skewed towards people with practical skills, but we are neglecting development of our own.

Honour survival

MICHAEL Mansell rightly points out that not enough recognition is given to former Aboriginal inhabitants of our island (Letters, June 25). He says the original population was some 10,000 pre-settlement. Other experts suggest about half that. Regardless, there is little argument the population was reduced to a few hundred in the first 25 years of European occupation by our brutal settlers who today would be classified as criminals. Not only did they rob, rape and murder the innocent Aboriginal people, they transported from Britain young men and women to be worked here as slaves, called convicts, often for the most minor offences. The Aboriginals survived for close to 40,000 years, including through the last ice age, because they knew how to respect each other and their environment. What chance is there for our descendants to survive for a similar time? Our European settlers were a disgrace. Why glorify them? On the other hand the Aboriginal people and communities who were here should be respected and remembered much more than they are. So yes, Michael Mansell, we should honour the original Tasmanians with memorials and with a public holiday in their memory.

Fixing footy

FOR several years, truly-AFL regions have had to put up with rubbish issued by the AFL hierarchy. How is it previous (and current?) CEOs say Tasmania can’t support an AFL team when most AFL sponsorship comes from non-Australian motor vehicle manufacturers (GM-H, Ford, Mazda, Hyundai, Kia, Toyota, etc).

If North Melbourne (Hobart) and Hawthorn (Launceston) were offered 25 per cent of what South Melbourne (Sydney) and Fitzroy (Brisbane) were given to relocate, it might save some Melbournebased teams and solve Tasmanian/interstate football. Leave the originals (Melbourne, Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon) alone. Melbourne-based teams and infrastructure remain in Melbourne. Melbourne teams could be required to play half their roster games in Hobart, Launceston, etc (resulting in those same teams having 50 per cent of home games still in Melbourne). Similar arrangements could be made with Cairns, Townsville, Darwin, Alice Springs, Karratha, Broome, etc, so the AFL could be truly Australian.