1109 September 2011

Judith Pembleton, Editor After reading the June editorial, some readers wrote to me of their desire to see The Australian Friend continue to be printed, as they prefer paper in their hands when reading. It is my understanding that this is what is intended with The AF Online. While Standing Committee has agreed to fund [...]

This article is based on one I wrote for the Tasmanian Quaker Newsletter entitled Seeing that of God through my work with Horses. I was then asked to share with Australian Friends how my ever-deepening connection with the ‘Spirit of Equus’ supports my personal, spiritual and professional journey through life. This adventure is constantly evolving [...]

Renee Ellerton, West Australia Regional Meeting I have a deep yearning to live out the foundational Quaker advice, ‘Take heed, dear Friends, to the promptings of love and truth in your hearts. Trust them as the leadings of God…’ In 1999 I found a home in Quakers and over the years have come to feel [...]

I started to attend the Quaker Meeting in Wahroonga 22 years ago, when my daughter was 2 years old. I was working full time and her baby sitter was a devout Catholic woman from Malta who often took her to services at the Catholic Church. My daughter had asked her baby sitter why Jesus had [...]

Valerie Joy, Queensland Regional Meeting We have all heard of Doctors without Borders, and also Engineers of the same ilk, but I was surprised to hear there is an international organisation called Musicians without Borders (MWB). Started by Laura Hassler, who lives in The Netherlands, they quote the composer Paul Hindemith: ‘People who make music [...]

I was surprised and pleased to be asked to represent Australian Friends at the Aotearoa New Zealand Yearly Meeting in May. My partner Gary and I decided it was an opportunity for a longer trip and after contacting a friend there, he spoke at five orchid societies on the North Island over two weeks. So [...]

    ‘Be patterns, be examples in all countries, places, islands, nations wherever you come; that your carriage and life may preach among all sorts of people, and to them; then you will come to walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in every one; whereby in them you may be a blessing, [...]

Western Australia Regional Meeting (WARM) looks forward to welcoming Friends to Perth to the cliffs overlooking Derbal Yarragan (Swan River Estuary) for Yearly Meeting 2012 at Christ Church Grammar School, Claremont. The Yearly Meeting gathering will be contained around the estuary end of the campus and will use the chapel, Walters and Knutsford house accommodation, [...]

Michelle Harris, Concerned Australians (http://www.concernedaustralians.com.au/) In 2010, two Northern Territory elders visited the United Nations in Geneva. They returned to Australia rejoicing about their personal experiences. Rev Dr Djiniyini Gondarra OAM from Galiwin’ku and Rosalie Kunoth-Monks OAM from Utopia shared with others their reactions to the experience of having been truly listened to. It was [...]

David Atwood (pictured, photo supplied by David) has recently retired after nine years as Director of the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) in Geneva, and 16.5 years on staff . When he speaks to Friends at Yearly Meeting in Perth in January, David will draw on his experience of QUNO’s work to reflect on the [...]

Cambodia  One question QSA staff and Management Committee members are often asked is – how do you know the projects work? The answer to that is not only in the reports and statistics supplied by the project partner, though they do give an interesting perspective on what is happening. But the real impact is understood [...]

Nansen Robb and Gina Price, West Australia Regional Meeting We head for the scarp in the late afternoon, led by our three rambunctious young men, Atticus and Aaron Toyne and Nansen Robb, with two young boys hot on their heels. Th ere are a few kangaroos out for their evening graze. We adults consider just [...]

Margaret Clark, Canberra Regional Meeting Sometimes when insomnia strikes I write. Very early this morning I was working on the Family Page for the Ninth Month Australian Friend when a casual glance at the internet brought shattering news from Norway and a change of topics. My youngest was in primary school when the twin towers [...]

Adrian Glamorgan, West Australia Regional Meeting When Jakob von Uexküll was nine years old, his pacifist father made a deal: if Jakob handed over his toy guns, in return his dad would give him a stamp collection. A philatelist was born. Jakob’s stamp collection eventually became a stamp business which, when sold, provided the means [...]

Book review by Frances Parsons, Tasmania Regional Meeting. The Gardener’s Gamble : a social history of Australia through the Dawson Family by Helen Laidlaw (2010, Cedar Ridge Books, Kiama) available from www.thegardenersgamble.com.au Helen Laidlaw’s Th e Gardener’s Gamble is, as she says on the title page, ‘A Social History of Australia through the Dawson Family’. [...]

Poem by Gina Price, West Australia Regional Meeting I work with joy, when I feel led I don’t look for thanks, when I feel led I radiate peace, when I feel led I don’t voice complaint, when I feel led I care for myself, when I feel led I overcome obstacles, when I feel led. [...]

Book review by Heather Herbert, Canberra Regional Meeting Ritual Abuse and Other Acts of Love by Elspeth Liberty (2011) available from www.elspethliberty.com) Though only 260 pages, this is not a light read – not a walk in the park. The wild and exuberant seascape by Rebecca Arman that lights up the cover of the book [...]

Jenny Spinks, Bega Eco Neighbourhood Developers Inc. Bega Eco-Neighbourhood Developers (BEND) is going really well. Vegies, a few chooks, many children and 15 (out of a future total of 30) sun drenched winter homes now occupied by committed and positive people. Ten of the households are the renters – such a vibrant bunch of people! [...]

Emily Walpole, Young Friends Clerk. Long has the question been asked, ‘How to keep in contact with distant Friends?’ This is especially pertinent for Young Friends. Today, it should be more easily solved but sometimes months go by without any movement on the email list. For a community as supportive as ours, it’s curious that [...]