Category Archives: Events

Yarn October-November

The Autumn (October-November) 2018 version of The Southern Yarn greets us with the arrival of chilly weather and colourful leaves, and some early snowfalls. Read it all here!

All our back issues are available at the Yarns page, too, of course.

Editorial: 
Lots of bits of news for your reading pleasure again this issue. While browsing, the persistent story that kept coming up was the drought that is affecting widespread parts of Australia, as well as New Zealand. Folk have even resorted to rain dances!  While it is a good example of typical Aussie humour in the face of hardship, it could be taken as a bit too light-hearted for such a critical issue. I believe the “performers” are dead serious and desperate to get the attention of the public and the politicians any way they can. For many, it is past the point of rain now providing relief: they need financial and emotional assistance. And in the longer term, some new strategies to mitigate the hardships of future prolonged extreme dry seasons. Obviously great minds have been at work addressing this challenge for some years. A good summary of one such effort is the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) publication: “The science of providing water solutions for Australia” [available online here]. For our part, we catch what spring run-off we can and pump it into barrels for use on the garden. This year there was precious little (yes, Manitoba experienced a drought, too), so plan B was drip-irrigators, sprinklers and buckets. My thanks, on your behalf, to the other contributors to this Yarn: Jenny, Ed, Peter, Judy, Murray, Brian and our advertisers! Enjoy, Charlie.

AFL Grand Final this Friday night!

Join us this Friday September 28 for the 4th Annual AFL Grand Final Night in Winnipeg.

Members and friends of the Winnipeg Bears Australian Football Club and the DUCW will be at Boston Pizza, 1475 Henderson Hwy, from 9:30 pm onward.

The Aussie Rules football grand final is the biggest event on the Australian sporting calendar, and will be broadcast live from Melbourne. This year it’s the Collingwood Magpies versus the West Coast Eagles. The large projector screen will be going, with all the pre-game live music and, of course, a rousing rendition of the Australian national anthem. Can we top last year’s effort?!?! Yes, we can!

No need to RSVP. Just turn up and be part of the event. Family and friends welcome.

More details at the WBAFC’s Facebook page.

World Masters Ultimate Club Championship

All this week in Rosser, MB (30 mins NW of Wpg), New Zealand and Australia are competing in the World Masters Ultimate Club Championship.

Note that finals are on Saturday August 4 at Investors Group Field, so if you can’t make it out to Rosser, there is an opportunity to see our teams in Winnipeg. Here’s hoping both the Kiwis and the Aussies get to the finals.

The New Zealand teams are:

  • Silver Foxes – Women, Pool B
  • Aotearoa Eh!? – Mixed, Pool B

The Australian teams are:

  • Duff Stout – Men, Pool D
  • Fine Wine – Mixed, Pool A

Visit the WMUCC website for tickets and other information. I also found this link especially helpful.

Thanks to Terry Roberts for letting us know about this.

New Zealand represented at Indigenous Day event

Thanks to DUCW members Penny and Sam Hechter for attending the Indigenous Day Live celebrations in Winnipeg on June 23 and letting us know that New Zealand was represented at the event.

“It was a wonderful surprise to see the trio perform, including a haka performance. ”

If you hear about or see any Aussies and Kiwis at events here in Winnipeg, let us know and/or take a photo so we can help spread the word.

This is definitely an event to watch out for next year.

Yarn June 2018

The June issue of the Yarn is available for download. You can download it here, or from the Yarn archives page.

And let’s start adding in the editorial on these announcement posts…

Apologies for not getting a Yarn together for May, but I was away for half the month, downunder. The primary reason was a reunion of the class of ’69 who attended Queensland Agricultural College – it was certainly great to meet “old” mates again. Of course, with every trip back “home” there are always many reunions – other friends, family and, naturally for me, the birds. I managed to photograph about 40 different birds and chose one of them, the fan-tailed cuckoo, for Birds I view this month, p.6.

Thank you to Jenny Gates for her summary of our ANZAC commemoration on April 28th. While in Queensland, I also visited the Sandgate Museum – friendly volunteers and a very well-presented display of memorabilia – I noticed a protected copy of “The Anzac Book”. I have since found a pdf copy online – 100% the words of the men who wrote them in 2015 at Gallipoli. Something else that caught my eye was a notice on a lamp-post on the South Bank in Brisbane calling for new sensitivities to events of history.

Thank you also to Catherine Bowering for her second part of the Nancy Wake story, Getting to know, p.4 – it’s a big help having such articles written and offered. Others who have contributed this month are Peter, Murray, Judy, Malcolm and our sponsors – Thank you!