Category Archives: Getting to Know

Thank you, Gordon Keatch

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The following words were shared on behalf of all the members of the DUCW at the memorial reception for Gord on Thursday August 8. Twenty four Club members attended the service to say farewell and thank you to our dear friend.

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Ah Gordon, you were the best mate any of us could ever hope for, especially those of us in the Down Under Club of Winnipeg.

We loved your kind and generous heart, your wit and wisdom, and your willingness to step up whenever anything needed to be done. You were our friend, mentor and sage, and despite umpteen years as a Canadian citizen, you were still a fair dinkum Aussie through and through. You loved the AFL, cricket, lamingtons, pavlova, the Australian anthem, and wearing a kangaroo embroidered baseball cap. You still even had your accent, and you loved the Down Under Club.

As co-founder of the Club and president for 49 years, you guided us from humble beginnings getting together in people’s basements over beer, wine and chips, to an active group of Aussies, Kiwis and Canucks meeting regularly at the Scandinavian Cultural Centre over beer, wine and chips. Continue reading →

Yarn February – March 2019

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The Southern Yarn’s February – March 2019 issue is ready for your reading enjoyment again. Here’s the editorial to get you started:

Thanks to Jenny Gates for typing up the Getting to Know feature for this issue – about “Two-Up” (p.6). Now, I think there needs to be some explanation for readers who have never attended one of our events here in Winnipeg.

We play Two-Up at many of our gatherings – it is easy and fun for all ages, and results in a winner in just a few tosses. So, here’s the explanation: the way we “place our bets” is to stand up and place both hands on your head, or both hands on your butt, or one hand on your head and the other on your tail. Everyone who doesn’t match the result of the toss of the two pennies (yes, we use genuine pre-decimal Australian pennies) is out and they sit down. Those left standing place their bet again and there is another toss. It usually only takes three or four tosses to get a winner. So, we’re not really breaking any laws; and, in fact, we’re upholding a long-observed ANZAC Day tradition.

There is a charming 1937 book titled The Lore of the Lyrebird by Ambrose Pratt in which much of the credit for advancing the knowledge of lyrebirds is said to be due to an amazing friendship between a male lyrebird and a widowed lady named Mrs Edith Wilkinson, who, at that time, lived hermit fashion on one of the higher slopes of Mt Dandenong, Victoria, Australia. Since then these birds continue to fascinate and impress and have become superstars through YouTube and David Attenborough documentaries. They are also the subject in this issue’s Birds I view (P.8).

Thank you this month to Jude McCudden, Jenny Gates, Chris Brasher, Malcolm Whyte, Judy Powell, Peter Munn, Terry Delong, Murray Burt, our advertisers and you, our readers!

Yarn December 2018 – January 2019

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The end of the year is upon us, and the final Yarn of 2018 is upon us. 

Here is the message from the Editor:

The month of November heralded several momentous events: the Melbourne Cup, the US mid-term elections and the DUCW’s Annual Meeting, to name a few. More seriously, of course, it was the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day. Here in Canada, “Remembrance Day” is commemorated more like ANZAC Day is downunder – the 11th of November is a public holiday, there are dawn services as well as larger gatherings at 11:00 around cenotaphs in most towns, Veterans, active service personnel and cadet units parade while pipers and bands play and march, speeches are delivered and prayers are offered, the Fallen are remembered in the moment of silence between the Last Post and Reveille. A very informative site to visit regarding the Armistice is: https://armistice-museum.com/understanding-the-history/the-armistice-of-1940/ Thank you again to all who have contributed to this issue of the Yarn – we may even be running to 8 pages! For insight into other historical events regarding the Armistice, read on!

Yarn June 2018

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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!