Jocelyn Bowden was many things to many people, a gardener, a farmer, a Nana, a crusader against injustice.

But to me she was a musician. I’ve been making music on King Island for two decades and I made most of that music with Joc.

I had been on the island just six days when Joc called me out of the blue.

“I hear you play clarinet? Do you want to join some bands”. By the end of the week, I was in five of them.

As the Music Makers dwindled in members, we found new opportunities to regroup and play music.

From playing at Netherby Home, to Senior Citizen’s dinners, to the Imperial 20, to Christmas street markets, Joc was always the one to find reasons to spread joy through music.

As Joc’s feet began to fail her, (a side effect from the medication she was on for rheumatoid arthritis), she could no longer operate the kickers on a drum kit. This didn’t stop Joc collecting an array of percussion instruments, handing them out for audience participation at every opportunity.

When Tim Woodburn, of 40 Degrees South fame, offered to teach a ukulele group, it went without saying that Joc and I would embrace this new way to make music together.

 From humble beginnings in a cold, damp artist’s space in town, we have become an all-inclusive group, encouraging anyone and everyone to pick up a uke, rattle something, or simply sing along.

We even had our 15 minutes of fame with the nationally broadcasted  Ukecantbeserious song ‘Stewy Get Gold’.

But it was always Joc that collected and encouraged new members to join. Because that’s what Joc did. She found people and found ways to integrate them into our community. Once Joc found you, you became one of us.

No matter who you were, Joc found something valuable in you. People like her are the glue that hold small communities together. Joc was the very model of resilience and she epitimised the spirit of community engagement.

It was an honour to be included in her network of friendship and creativity. Vale Joc Bowden.

Jocelyn Bowden loved her music, the community and was always there.

As of July 1, the qualifying age for the Age Pension increased to 67. National Seniors Australia rejects calls for raising the age to 70 on both fiscal and social policy grounds.

NSA chief advocate IAN HENSCHKE writes….

For decades, men could look forward to retiring at 65 and getting the pension.

For women, it was 60. Their eligibility was increased over 10 years between 1995 and 2004 until they too reached the same qualifying age.

In 2009 the Rudd government lifted it to 67 for men and women but it was to be phased in from 2015, with six month increases every two years, starting from July 1, 2017. Now we’ve arrived, after almost 30 years, at a pension age of 67.

Almost 10 years ago Treasurer Joe Hockey announced it would go to 70 by 2035. He asserted it was “highly probable a child born today would live to 150.”

Really? His move followed on from a report from the Commission of Audit, which recommended the qualifying age be linked to life expectancy.

The thinking was because we are living longer than our parents and grandparents, we should remain in the workforce longer.

There was a huge backlash including a campaign led by National Seniors.

A popular slogan at the time was: “Only someone who’s worked in an office their whole life would think you can work until you’re 70.”

In the run up to the 2019 election Scott Morrison dropped the age-70 target as Liberal policy.

His deputy Michael McCormack said it was “probably a step too far” adding “I think if you’re a tradie, or a brickie, or a shearer in rural and regional Australia you don’t want some suit in Canberra telling you you’re going to have to work until you’re 70,” he said.

At National Seniors, we were pleased the government backed away from the unpopular idea and called the decision “a win for common sense”.

A group of academics has revisited the statistics and released a report saying a further rise is warranted to ensure the country has a sufficient supply of workers into the future. Macquarie University Business School Professor Hanlin Shang and his co-authors say there should be three more pension-age increases over the next 27 years.

They suggest 68 by 2030, rising to 69 in 2036, and 70 by 2050. Professor Shang says Australia’s low birth rate is one of the key factors.

“Less people in the working group and more in retirement will make the old age dependency ratio (OADR) higher,” he said.

“What this means is there is less working people to support elderly people. And with more elderly people in the population, this will create a burden for the government pension system.” Professor Shang and his team should read, or hopefully re read, “The Age Pension in the 21st Century” by 2018 Actuary of the Year Michael Rice.

He revealed the cost of the age pension as a per centage of GDP will fall, not rise in the decades to come.

There will be far fewer full pensioners, and far more part pensioners and self-funded retirees.

The “burden” simply won’t be there. The pension was 2.9% of GDP when Peter Costello’s 2002 Intergenerational Report predicted it would grow to 4.6% of GDP by 2042. But it was it was just 2.7% of GDP five years ago, and Rice Warner projected “expenditure to fall to 2.5% of GDP by 2038.” It added “the downward trend will continue well into the future.”

It’s predicted to be just 2.1% of GDP by 2060. Why? Superannuation has been delivering, just as Paul Keating predicted.

His “magic of compound interest” has been adding to the retirement incomes of millions. We reject calls for raising the age to 70 on both fiscal and social policy grounds. Many people exit the workforce because of ill health. We should consider a Canadian style system where you can opt to get the pension earlier but get a bit less. We’ve also argued the best way to tackle declining participation is to provide incentives to those who choose to work longer.

Our Let Pensioners Work campaign calls for a reduction in the income test taper rates so you can keep more of your pension if you choose to continue working.

This is fairer than raising the pension age because it rewards people who want and need to work.

Pensioners who chose to work would benefit from extra income and their participation would also help the economy.

If you are on a pension, and you want to keep working it’ll be a win for the economy, it’ll be a win for the pensioners, and it will be a win for the government. A note to politicians, our latest poll of more than 2,000 people showed just 7% support the move to 70, 45% are fine with 67 and 46% want it back to 65.

An election winning policy would be to lower it back to 65 as they’ve just done in Canada.

INDEPENDENT Murchison MLC Ruth Forrest has sponsored an e-petition in the Upper House on behalf of King Islanders.

The petition called for increased physiotherapy services for King Island to reduce waiting times and to ensure King Islanders get access to physiotherapy in a timely manner particularly in the areas of chronic health care, acute injuries and post-operative patients requiring regular physiotherapy.

The petition requested the Tasmanian Health Service gain an understanding of the island’s unmet needs; extend the number of days that physiotherapists are on the island to enable more appointments and consider a change to the current same day fly-in fly-out approach.

The Premier and Health Minister Jeremy Rockcliff acknowledged in his reply the unique challenges of King Islandand its remoteness.

While he pointed to the Government’s healthcare priorities, the response avoided addressing the petition’s specific King Island requests and spoke more broadly and descriptively about health and physiotherapy services across the North West. 

“Recent changes to the Patient Travel Assistance Scheme aim to address these issues [access to allied health and preventive services which includes physiotherapy],” Mr Rockliff said.

The response to the petition included discussion around healthcare worker resourcing, healthcare scholarships, state budget health services funding and the release for public consultation of the Long Term Plan for Healthcare in Tasmania 2040.

Ms Forrest was disappointed in the response to the King Island resident petition.

“While the response is welcome it failed to address, or seek to resolve, the very real and current challenges faced by King Island residents in terms of timely access to locally provided physiotherapy,” she said.

“The specific request in the petition to have physiotherapists visit extended to two days, rather than a fly-in fly-out one day service means residents of King Island have very limited access, and was completely ignored by the Government response.

“To suggest a person can fly off King Island with the support of PTAS for physiotherapy services is again welcome but may be somewhat self-defeating as the trip to and from mainland Tasmania may exacerbate their injury or surgical recovery, they are seeking the physiotherapy care for.

“I appreciate the work of UTAS in commencing training of local allied health workers but this does not assure us of more physiotherapists and certainly does nothing to address the current backlog of patients needing physiotherapy on King Island.

“I was disappointed with the response overall as it completely ignored the very simple and practical solution for the short-term demand provided by the community,” Ms Forrest said.

The petitioners request and the government’s full response can be read at ruthforrest.com.au/images/Petition_KI_Physiotherapy.pdf

It is only a few days until two very special commemoration ceremonies that relate to the very strong heart of our island community, and to your RSL Sub branch. We need you on Tuesday 11 July.

The 80th Remembrance Ceremony of the crash of Beaufort Bomber A9-352 will commence at 11am in the King Island Cemetery. This commemorative event has created national interest and will include senior Airforce Officers and a RAAF fly over (subject to weather). We need you!  

The descendants of Pilot Officers Bill Edwards, John Kildea and Harold Snell are honouring the island and travelling from the mainland for this commemoration. The relatives of Clarence Leesue, from South Australia, are unable to attend but will be represented by an RSL member. The Lancaster family will be speaking about relatives Buff Cheese and Jack Lancaster, and an RSL member will speak about Nancy Morrison.

The discussion with the families has resulted in two copyright photographs, from the Edwards family collection, that have not been seen since the 1940s. They depict the 1943 funeral, and show how islanders quickly responded to the tragedy.

Jim and Dick Chitts were cartage contractors and their truck became the makeshift hearse. Mr Athol Hill, who knew the brothers well, confirmed that it was their Fargo truck. The photo, showing the four coffins draped in Australian flags, we believe was taken at the King Island aerodrome.

The second photograph was taken at the cemetery during the final benediction by Chaplain Victor Deakin from the RAAF Base, East Sale. When first viewed something was wrong – the graves in the background were outside the boundary. When the image was flipped, all was well but it appeared that the RAAF Honour Guard was saluting with their left hands. In fact they were in the process of removing their hats, and this is probably what confused the photographic developer all those years ago.

The community is strongly encouraged to attend and should arrive at the John Street Currie cemetery by 10.50 am. You are welcome to bring a seat and a lay a wreath, just let Margaret Bennett know so you can be included in the Order of Service. In the case of poor weather an adjacent venue will be used for the main service and this will be announced on the day.

We ask is that you do not stand on any grave and have your phone on silent.

The RSL subbranch will have a second function in the Town Hall commencing at 7.30 pm. This is focussed on the World War 2 King Island Comforts Fund. The list of letter writers is extensive and includes King Islanders who enlisted in the Services, family members, islanders who made  donations and service personnel who were not from here.

Ann Ghazarian and her team have spent countless hours cataloguing and transcribing over 600 documents. The following is a list of the majority of the writers. They are in alphabetical order, showing surname first. A number of writers have the same surname and they are listed together. This does not mean they are necessarily related. 

Archie Loris and Lorna, Arkley-Smith John, Ayton John, Baker M, Barlow Ken, Barnes Eric, Jeff and Len, Barr Harold, Batten Lewis, Bertram Barbara and Tom, Birch Graham, Birrell Hayden, Blain Jack, Blight Mervyn, Bowling Bruce, Bramich Alfred, Barth Cecil, Mrs O, Broderick Norman, Brooks Claude, Tom and Victor, Brown Keith,  Burkett Charles, Burns Frank, Cheese W.(Buff), Clemons Richard,  Conley Albert, Connors Stanley, Cooper Freda and Ian, Cornelius Walter, Cox William, Curbishley Ted, Davies Desmond and N, Denby Jessie, Dobson Albert, Drake Harry, Enniss Dick, Farrell John, Philip and Tom, Fisher A and W, French Reg.

Goldsworthy Lindsay, Graham Jack and Jim, Groom Reg, Gunter Colin, Haines John, Harris Bernard, Hays Darcy and William, Heddle J, Robert and Walter, Heinrich Ray, Hill L (Mrs), Holmes Joseph, Hooley John, Hooper Richard, Ibbott Charles, Ims Ron, Jackson Alice, Allan, Ernest and Jim, Jaynes Robert, Johnstone Easton, Joyce Joseph, Keating Jack, Kee Gordon and Joyce, Khyatt Ray, Lacey Keith, Lancaster Jack and Peter, Last A and Harold, Littlejohn Frank, Lonongan H, Lott Dorothy, Fred and Harry, Lynch Kelvin and Les, Mallett James, Manson John, Marshall John, McArthur Robert, McHugh Linda and Max, Milgate Stan, Miller Jean and Sydney.

Milsom Frank, Nance and Ruby, Misson Bert, Monger Roulston, Moon George, Morrison Code, Paterson Donal and Dudley, Percy Royce, Phelps William, Phillips Max, Punshon Eric, Reading Leslie, Ross Len, Rowe Don, Russell Ern, Sadleir Joseph, Scott Mick, Shea Reg, Smith Earl and Raymond, Stansfield Les, Stillman Ron and Stella, Stuart Jock, Stubbs John, Sullivan Jack and Richard, Summers Eliz, Jack and Lil, Tatham George, Tattersall Murray, Thompson Mick, Thow Charlie, Towns Gordon. Viney Alf, Walsh Ambrose, Walters Victor, Watson Carrie, Whitty John, Wilshire John and Tom, Wilson Stan and Victor, Yeomans Monty, Youl Beryl and William.

Some Service files include a photograph of the veteran and these have been recently added to a person’s dossier. If you have a photograph of a person named please let Margaret Bennett know – margiejbenn51@protonmail.com

The collection will remain on King Island and will take pride of place in the RSL Sub branch in a controlled atmosphere. The intention is to eventually have online access so all can view the collection.

Don’t miss out, so attend the Community Presentation in the Town Hall at 7.30 pm on Tuesday 11 July.

All the records will be there for viewing only (due to conservation and preservation requirements) and there will be a unique 45 minute visual presentation, followed by a question session. Again, don’t let the weather keep you away, come and learn how this small island truly united when times were really tough and batted way above the national average.

Hot drinks and snacks will be provided and we ask for a gold coin donation per family.

IT WAS good to see that both North and Currie were able to field a full side of 15 players each on Saturday without having to call on top ups from Grassy.

Loki Bell was back for Currie and Max Sainsbury dusted off his old boots to play his first game in quite a while. Glenn Aldridge played for North, also for the first time in quite a while.

Currie won the toss and elected to kick to the tennis court end and were quick to get the ball forward for a strong mark by Tom Graham, but his kicking let him down and the goal umpire only raised one flag. North rebounded from the kickout to see Keenan Fanning mark up forward and he did not miss.

From the bounce Currie worked the ball round to see Jak Youd drift forward, but he to missed what he should have got. North worked it forward again to see Luke Graham mark, played on and dribbled one through for their second. David Vellekoop lined up for a shot and missed but then got a 50 metre  penalty for some reason and this time he did not miss.

Young Mathew Button got into a fair bit of the play and kicked a nice goal along the ground from the boundary.

Justin Summers scored a nice goal from the boundary when he grabbed the ball from a throw in and snapped it out of the pack to see it go through just before the siren to see North 32 points up at quarter time.

The second quarter saw Currie start well with a quick goal from Josh Bellchambers. Justin Summers got a free and handballed it off to his brother Jeramy who slotted through a quick reply.

Play was getting tight with both sides working well at times to get the ball forward but unable to convert. Youd copped a heavy knock which saw him leave the ground with the blood rule.

Max Sainsbury took the resulting free and then awarded a 50 meter penalty to kick an easy goal. Sainsbury was in the action again when Currie got the ball out of the center to him, and kicked a big goal from the 40 meter line to see them reduce the margin to 21 points at half time.

The third quarter saw teams once again going in hard for the ball with players getting frustrated at times with how the play was going. Vellekoop had a chance to get North their first goal of the quarter, but he had his points boots on and another goal went begging.

Tom Graham took a strong mark forward for Currie and kicked a nice goal. There was still a bit of heat in the game which saw Fanning get a free and then a 50 for an easy goal. Play out of the center went North’s way and a tackle ended up in a bit of a brawl.

Jeramy Summers got a free and a 50 for an easy goal on the siren to see them 27 points up at three quarter time.

Currie started the last quarter well with some nice play to Joel Williams, who had moved forward, and he did not miss. Vellekoop replied for North when he took a pack mark in the square and found his goal kicking boots for an easy goal. North replied with another through Alex Goldsmith who kicked it off the ground and it went through for a major.

 Justin Summers was giving North plenty of drive round the ground and from the center. He took a big run out of the center and through to Vellekoop, who was playing his best game this season and kicked his third. Bailey Rainbow was a real workhorse for North in their back line, while Dale Ellis was also giving North plenty of drive round the ground. Josh Bellchambers worked hard for Currie along with Dylan Beecroft and Jak Youd. Max Sainsbury was enjoying his game as he kicked his third for the game. Some clever short passing saw the ball end up with Youd, who was able to convert for Currie. Clint Stretton took a nice one handed mark and went back and slotted it through to see Currie end up going down to North by 21 points.

If Currie had been able to match North in the first quarter, the score line might have been a lot closer, however this was still an entertaining game – apart from the two reports.  Next week North and Grassy do battle again. The last time they met things got a bit heated, so it will be interesting to see how both sides attack in this round.

MARGARET
STANSFIELD

A COMMON waterbird on King Island is the Purple Swamphen, which also inhabits outlying islands including Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands.

Our friends in New Zealand call it the Pukeko, but the classification is the same, belonging to the rail family along with crakes and coots.

They were mentioned by McGarvie and Green as plentiful in 1971 in the north of the island, though interestingly, they were not listed by the Victorian Field Naturalists expedition led by Archibald Campbell in 1887.

The Purple Swamphen is a large water hen with a distinctive heavy red bill and forehead shield. They have red eyes and a deep blue head and breast with black upperparts and wings.

In bright sunlight, the plumage shines with an intense blue sheen. Legs and feet are deep orange and as it walks it flicks its tail revealing its white coverts. Both male and female are similar in appearance and their voice is often a loud, harsh screeching which increases as the call progresses, often at night.

On King Island, the predominant habitat is wet areas where there is plenty of vegetation such as paperbark ti-tree, rushes, around farm dams, fresh, brackish and saline creek lines and swampy areas. Roost sites are often in vegetation over water. They frequent road verges near drains where the grass is lush and where they can quickly hide in the undergrowth if threatened. Today, vegetation clearing is the greatest threat to these birds, especially when swampy land is over-drained.

Nests are often in the tops of rushes where the birds trample them to just above water level. A secure platform is made with slender and finer rushes to provide safety for the eggs and chicks. The female usually lays five eggs between July and January and sometimes rears two broods. Living in family groups, responsibilities like feeding the chicks and chasing any predators away is a combined task. When disturbed these birds run or fly with their legs and large toes trailing, though they can also swim.

The Purple Swamphen is an omnivore which means eating a wide variety of aquatic vegetation, plants, seeds, insects and small animals including frogs. I have also observed them taking eggs and other young birds such as ducklings.

When the Agricultural Bank of Tasmania commenced full-scale land clearing after World War 2 for the Pegarah Estate Soldier Settlement Scheme, many unforeseen problems emerged as new pasture was sown.

One was the presence of a host of insects that ate the pastures. To eradicate them, the landowners were encouraged by the Agricultural Bank to broadcast Lindane with their fertiliser to eradicate the insects.

Lindane is an organochlorine used as an agricultural insecticide.

The unwanted side effect was that it killed many birds who survived their habitat destruction, but then lost the food resources they depended on.

Birds mostly affected were the small bush birds and birds who mainly forage on insects and feed among leaf litter along drains and creeks.

The Purple Swamphen was among these victims. Fortunately, with many creeks and dams being fenced off, it has given these birds the opportunity to survive, and you will see them in many parts of the island.

As for my previous endings let me reiterate ‘This is a warning of the consequences of indiscriminate land clearing’.