Saturday, April 22, 2017

Walk My Way - ALWS

On Tuesday 4 July, I'm stepping out to bring love to life through Walk My Way!
I'm going to walk 26 times around the block (along Campaspe Crescent, down Black Dog Drive through the park next to Arnolds Creek, across the bridge and back down Campaspe Crescent), in recognition of the long dangerous journey refugees must take to find safety - and to raise money to help send a refugee child to school at the same time. It's being organised by Australian Lutheran World Service, the overseas aid and development agency of the Lutheran Church. 
It's only $26 to help provide a teacher, textbook and table for one pre-school child living in a refugee camp in Kenya, Djibouti, or Sudan. Many of these kids were born here, and know no other life. Some even arrived alone, without mum or dad. 
I want to help in a practical way that changes lives - and I know school can do just that!
I'd love it if you could support me in this challenge by sponsoring me. Simply click on the Donate button now.
(If you decide you want to give it a go yourself, you can find out more here!)
Thank you so much for taking action to bring love to life for these refugee kids, and supporting me in the Walk My Way challenge! 
Walk My Way (https://walkmyway.gofundraise.com.au/page/AnneRasenberger)

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Lindy Chamberlain's Final Victory

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Lindy Chamberlain's Final Victory




Deputy NT Coroner Elizabeth Morris yesterday found that a dingo killed baby Azaria Chamberlain while the family was on a camping trip to Uluru in 1980.  Lindy and Michael finally got what they wanted - a death certificate officially stating the truth.



Stuart Tipple



Linda Chamberlain-Creighton paid tribute to the family's tenacious solicitor Stuart Tipple, who has stood by the family from the very beginning.  When he became aware of serious deficiencies in the forensic testing procedures in NSW, he lodged a formal complaint which was upheld and changes were put into place to NSW testing procedures and protocols.  And it was Stuart Tipple who agitated for, and finally brought about, the Royal Commission.






When Azaria was taken in 1980, there was no history of wild dogs killing infants but later events produced a dossier of 14 serious attacks since 1986 on humans, three of them fatal.  A 9 year old boy, Clinton Gage died on Fraser Island and two 2 year old girls were killed, one in NSW and the other in Victoria.

Coroner Morris said "I am satisfied that the evidence is sufficiently adequate, clear, cogent and exact that the evidence excludes all other reasonable possibilities to find that what occurred on October 17, 1980 was that shortly after Mrs Chamberlain placed Azaria in the tent, a dingo or dingoes entered the tent, took Azaria and carried and dragged her from the immediate area."






Lindy said yesterday "No longer will Australians be able to say that dingoes are not dangerous and only attack when provoked.  We live in a beautiful country but it is dangerous and we would ask all Australians to be aware of this and take appropriate precautions and not wait for somebody else to do it for them."







A second Coroner's inquest ended with Mrs Chamberlain-Creighton being charged with murder and Michael charged with being an accessory after the fact.  She was found guilty of slashing her baby's throat with scissors and making it look like a dingo attack and was sentenced to life in prison.  After serving three years, she was released in 1986 after Azaria's matinee jacket was found which supported her evidence that Azaria was wearing one when she disappeared.

The Morling Commission debunked the forensic evidence and her conviction was overturned.  Then yet another inquest was held which couldn't determine the cause of death and now at last, we have an end to this tragic event.





Lindy said yesterday that she was glad the saga was finally over and so are we.  Seeing her again reminds us of how she must have suffered from all the vitriol hurled at her and her husband.  When the story first broke about a religious couple who said their baby was taken by a dingo at Ayres Rock, the general public and more importantly, the irresponsible media, refused to believe it.

When it was discovered they were Seventh Day Adventists, a relatively unknown religion, the media pushed the idea that they were members of some bizarre cult who carried out weird rituals and rites.  The newspapers printed the rumour that the name Azaria meant "sacrifice in the wilderness" when it fact is means "blessed of God."  Nobody believed a dingo took the baby because it hadn't happened before.

This woman of steel has finally seen it through to the bitter end, and never faltered along the way.  She had her eyes firmly set on yesterday's legal outcome and against all odds, and three decades later, she achieved her goal - a death certificate stating what really happened on that terrible night.




Michael Chamberlain was not with his second wife in court yesterday, she is recovering from a serious stroke.  But he wanted to speak and said "This battle to get the legal truth about what caused Azaria's death has taken too long.  However, I am here to tell you that you can get justice even when you think all is lost, but truth must be on your side."  He added "If you know you are right, never give up on getting it right."

Azaria would have turned 32 on Monday.   Asked if anyone had phoned Lindy to apologise, she replied "You are being funny, aren't you?"


Source: http://annamariacom.blogspot.com.au/2012_06_01_archive.html


Friday, October 24, 2014

Vintage Visions: The Dionne quintuplets

Friday, May 28, 2010


The Dionne quintuplets


The Dionne quintuplets (born May 28, 1934) are the first quintuplets known to survive their infancy. They are the only female identical set of five ever recorded. The sisters were born just outside Callander, Ontario, Canada near the village of Corbeil.

The Dionne girls were born two months premature. After four months with their family, they were made wards of the King for the next nine years under the Dionne Quintuplets' Guardianship Act, 1935. The government and those around them began to profit by making them a significant tourist attraction in Ontario.

The family, headed by father Oliva and mother Elzire Dionne, married on September 15, 1926. They lived just outside of Corbeil, in a farmhouse in unregistered territory. Oliva, through his father, was a descendant of Zacharie Cloutier[2] (via Louise Cloutier 1632–1699, Charlotte Mignault 1669–1747, and Antoine Dionne 1706–1807). The Dionnes were a farming family with five previous children named Ernest (b. 1926), Rose Marie (b. 1928), Therese (b. 1929), Daniel (b. 1932), and Pauline (b. 1933), who was only eleven months older than the quints. A sixth, son Léo (b. 1930), died of pneumonia shortly after birth.

The Dionnes also had 3 sons after the quintuplets. Oliva Jr. (b. 1936), Victor (b. 1938), and Claude (b. ca. 1940).

Four months after the birth of the sisters, the Ontario government intervened and, in an unprecedented fashion, found the parents to be unfit for the quintuplets, and custody of the five babies was withdrawn from their parents by the Ontario government of Mitchell Hepburn in 1935, originally for a guardianship of two years. Although Oliva Dionne remained part of the guardianship, they were put under the guidance of Dr. Dafoe and two other guardians. The stated reason for removing the quintuplets from their parents' legal custody was to ensure their survival into healthy toddlers. The government realized the massive interest in the sisters and proceeded to engender a tourist industry around them. The girls were made wards of the provincial crown, planned until they reached the age of 18.

Across the road from their birthplace, the Dafoe Hospital and Nursery was built for the five girls and their new caregivers. The girls were moved from the farmhouse to this nursery at the end of September. The compound had an outdoor playground designed to be a public observation area. It was surrounded by a covered arcade that allowed tourists to observe the sisters behind one-way screens. The facility was funded by a Red Cross fundraiser. It was a nine-room nursery with a staff house nearby. The staff house held the three nurses and the three policemen in charge of guarding them. A housekeeper and two maids lived in the main building with the quintuplets. The buildings were surrounded by a seven foot barbed wire fence. The sisters were brought to play there for thirty minutes two or three times a day. They were constantly being tested, studied, and examined with tedious records taken of everything. The Dionne sisters, while living at the compound, had a somewhat rigid lifestyle. They were not required to participate in chores. They were privately tutored in the same building where they lived. Cared for primarily by nurses, the children had limited exposure to the world outside the boundaries of the compound except for the daily rounds of tourists, who, from the sisters' point of view, were generally heard but not seen. They also had occasional contact with their parents and siblings across the road. Every morning they dressed together in a big bathroom, had doses of orange juice and cod-liver oil, and then went to have their hair curled. They said a prayer before breakfast, a gong was sounded, and they ate breakfast in the dining room. After thirty minutes, they had to clear the table, even if they weren't done. Then they went and played in the sunroom for thirty minutes, took a fifteen minute break, and at nine o'clock had their morning inspection with Dr. Dafoe. Every month they had a different timetable of activities. They bathed every day before dinner and put on their pajamas. Dinner was served at precisely six o'clock. Then they went into the quiet playroom to say their evening prayers. Each girl had a color and a symbol to mark what was hers. Annette's color was red with a maple leaf, Cecile's color was green and her design a turkey, Emilie had white and a tulip, while Marie had blue and a teddy bear and Yvonne had pink and a bluebird.


Approximately 6,000 people per day visited the observation gallery that surrounded an outdoor playground to view the Dionne sisters. Ample parking was provided and almost 3,000,000 people walked through the gallery between 1936 and 1943. Oliva Dionne ran a souvenir shop and a concession store opposite the nursery and the area acquired the name "Quintland". The souvenirs pictured the five sisters. There were autographs and framed photographs, spoons, cups, plates, plaques, candy bars, books, postcards, dolls, and much more at this shop. Oliva Dionne also sold stones from the Dionne farm for $0.50 that were supposed to have some magical power of fertility. Midwives Madam LeGros and Madame LeBelle opened their own souvenir and dining stand.[7] In 1934, the Quintuplets brought in about $1 million, and they attracted in total about $51 million of tourist revenue to Ontario. Quintland became Ontario's biggest tourist attraction of the era, at the time surpassing the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. It was only rivaled by Radio City, Mount Vernon, and Gettysburg in the United States. Hollywood stars who came to Callander to visit the Quints included Clark Gable, James Stewart, Bette Davis, James Cagney, and Mae West. Amelia Earhart also visited Callander just six weeks before her ill-fated flight in 1937.


The sisters, and their likenesses and images, along with Dr. Dafoe, were used to publicize commercial products such as Karo corn syrup and Quaker Oats among many of other popular brands. They increased the sales of condensed milk, toothpaste, disinfectant, and many other products through their promotions. They starred in four Hollywood films:

The Country Doctor (1936)
Reunion (1936)
Five of a Kind (1938)
Quintupland (1938)

In November 1943, the Dionne parents won back custody of the sisters. The entire family moved into a newly built house within walking distance of Quintland. The yellow brick, 20-room mansion was paid for out of the Quintuplets' fund. The home had many amenities of the time, including telephones, electricity and hot water. The mansion was nicknamed "The Big House." The building is now a retirement home.

The nursery was eventually converted into an accredited school house where the sisters finished their secondary education along with ten girls from the area that were chosen to attend. Years after, it was used by the Recluses of Corbeil as a convent.

The quintuplets became emotionally closest to their sister, Pauline. While the parents claimed they wished to integrate the quintuplets into the family, the sisters frequently traveled to perform at various functions, still all dressed the same. According to the accounts of the surviving sisters, the parents often treated them at home as a five-part unit, and frequently lectured them about the trouble they had caused the family by existing. They were sometimes denied privileges the other children received, and were more strictly disciplined and punished. They also received a heavier share of the house- and farmwork. They were unaware for many years that the lavish house, expensive food and cars the family enjoyed were paid for with money they themselves had earned.

In particular, the father was resentful and suspicious of outsiders for having lost custody of his children.


2 comments:


  1. Wow what a great write up on the Dionne Quints! My name is Tammy Dionne and I remember when I was a little girl, my paw-paw told me the story of his distant cousins (The Quints). My paw paw was born in 1925. Thank you for showing interest in the Dionne Quintuplets:)
    Reply
  2. wow that was interesting. i hope to get to know them one day and actually talk to them. i also heard they were sexually assaulted by their father and when spoke to the priest about it he only told them to wear a thicker coat. HOW SCARY.
    Reply


Thursday, July 31, 2014

Medicinal cannabis: delaying the inevitable?

Medicinal cannabis: delaying the inevitable?
'Experts, not politicians, should also be deciding whether and how cannabis is regulated as a medicine. Photo: Reuters' '...Australia uses morphine, cocaine, amphetamine and ketamine medically but the recreational use of these drugs is banned. If our politicians wanted to they could allow the medicinal use of cannabis but continue to prohibit its recreational use....'
www.smh.com.au/comment/medicinal-cannabis-delaying-the-inevitable-20140731-zywp8.html

Saturday, May 24, 2014

The baby who survived an abortion and the mother racked by guilt | Mail Online

More info needs to be accessible to the public on the affects of abortion!!

The baby who SURVIVED an abortion... and the mother racked by guilt that she may have harmed the tiny child she now adores

  • Shannon Skinner, 20, and 24-year-old partner Anthony Hunt's story caused media storm earlier this year
  • Couple are showing off Amelia to the world for the first time
  • May take years before doctors can say if abortion drugs Shannon was given to end pregnancy have caused any developmental damage
  • She accidentally fell pregnant when her contraception failed just 4 months after traumatic birth of first daughter

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2636710/I-bear-think-not-existing-The-baby-survived-abortion-mother-racked-guilt-harmed-child-adores.html#ixzz32ccM26OU
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Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Man attacks girl, 8, in grounds of her school

Police hunt for school girl’s attacker
Police in Boxhill are appealing for anyone with information about a man who viciously attacked an eight-year-old girl outside Glenferrie primary school to contact Crime Stoppers. 1800 333 000.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/man-attacks-girl-8-in-grounds-of-her-school-20140520-38kmq.html#ixzz32FAqlnc9