All Activity

So is that at night as well, batterys or creztive accounting?

I don't really see the problem here. I am sure there are British place names from old English and probably have changed over time. I search the name of the village I lived in Mongarlowe. As far as I know there are no other towns with that name. Yes it is probably is not pronounced accurately. Do people have a problem with Woolomaloo?

While it is reasonable to use indigenous words that had/have meaning in the speech of the people who used them, it is ridiculous to apply words for things that did not exist for those people. As an example, would the concept of "stairway" ever have existed until stairways had been introduced by people who made them? I believe that when the first overland explorers reached northern Australia, near the ocean, the local indigines saw the rifles of the explorers and immediately called them 'musquit' or similar. The reason? They had seen the muskets of the Dutch and Malays who came to fish in the area before the British explorers arrived from the South. The explorers would have been carrying rifles.

As far as I know the aboriginal languages have NEVER been in written form, and "their" FLAG is a recent thing. An indigenous guide I had at Uluru one time was from Katherine and couldn't understand one word of the Local Lingo all of whom lived well out of town which is Ultra Modern, Costly and thoroughly out of character.. IMHO. Nev

Just a heads up, advising that the Govt's 32c per litre reduction in fuel excise ends on June 30th. However, the Govt has decided, in a "balanced" move, that come 1st July, only half the excise reduction on fuel will apply. This means that on the 1st July, fuel prices will rise 16c per litre. The 16c per litre excise reduction will remain in place until August 2nd, when the Govt will again review the fuel situation. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-21/why-fuel-excise-cut-will-continue-to-lesser-extent-until-august/106824392

The bulk of the place names in W.A. are Anglicised from the local Aboriginal dialects, and often are quite inaccurate in the translation - to the extent, that a pronunciation of the proper Aboriginal name of those places would be nearly impossible for most people. The bottom line is, the Aboriginal languages have died out because they have no way of keeping up with technological advances. This is the reason the English language is the language of Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Construction and Aviation. The Aboriginal languages are primarily concerned with place names and land forms, and waterways and waterholes - all that was needed to sustain the nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyle, which involved just the immediate everyday needs.

"Does it matter OT" Sorry OT I meant OME

Does it matter OT? Personally I am proud of our mix of historic British words and the historic indigenous words that make Australia different from the US or Canada or NZ or Britain.

There's Hundreds of different aboriginal Languages and No one could know all of them. Nev

Of Course. Farmers don't pay it either on farm use vehicles. Nev

Yeah, but the Maori language is still a living language. I don't think that any of the indigenous languages of the Greater Sydney Area are still spoken.

GON, the U.S. Military forces leave Australia after a 6 month deployment. There are approximately 2000 Marines based in the Territory from March to October, then they go home. There are no U.S. Military force bases in Australia with permanently-based personnel, unlike Japan, Sth Korea, Germany, Italy, etc. The Australian military facilities used by the Americans are used on a Joint Rotational basis, or are Joint Defence Facilities with some American personnel based here permanently. Marine Rotational Force: - Darwin: Approximately 2,000 U.S. Marines and sailors deploy to northern Australia every year. They arrive in March to conduct several joint drills, such as Exercise Pitch Black and Southern Jackaroo, before returning to the U.S. in October. Aircraft and Bomber Rotations: The U.S. routinely sends aircraft (like B-52 bombers stationed temporarily at RAAF Base Tindal) for operations, and stores aerial troop carriers in the country, but the personnel are continually cycled in and out. Joint Defence Facilities: Bases like the Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap operate as cooperatively managed Australian and U.S. intelligence sites with permanently stationed administrative and intelligence personnel. A number of the overseas American military bases are treated as "Sovereign territory" by the Americans. I cannot see that being allowed here. In the U.K., the bases are leased to the Americans, the British Govt retains sovereignty over the land. In Spain, the U.S. bases are jointly owned by the Spanish and the Americans.

Those Huaneng Ruichi 90 tonne all-electric dump trucks use battery swap technology - something I have been saying for some time, is necessary for speed of operation. The battery swapping is automated and carried out in minutes. Then they can get on with charging the flat batteries at their leisure, when excess or cheap power is available.

Excise is sent to general revenue and should be paid by all. My boat does not use roads, should I be exempt? No.

Only half of petrol tax is going back into roads say motoring groups, amid calls to cut fuel excise

It reminds of when we visit our son in NZ. One of our favourite places to visit is Te Papa Tongarewa which is Wellington museum. The literal translation is "container of treasures" I think it is a great name being both an understatement and a name that is quintessentially NZ.

The words identifying places in the map that PMCC posted are not locality names. They are the names identifying galleries in the Art Gallery. Got nothing to do with actual indigenous people. There's nothing wrong with applying an existing indiginous name to a locality. "What's in a name?" Romeo and Juliet (Act II, Scene II). The name Gilgandra originates from an Indigenous word meaning "long water hole", which is a waterhole in the Castlereagh River alongside the main street. There are plenty of places in the local area that are of indigenous origin. Say the name and people can identify the location.

There's probably 100's of Aboriginal place names already.. Nev

Excise is to Make and repair roads. If you don't go on roads, why should you pay the excise? . Nev

Update your data, GON. The Yanks want to create a massive arsenal storage in the middle of Victoria, and they are servicing their subs in W.A. Don't forget Tindall and Pine Gap. What's going on around Townsville?

The trolley wire Kiruna trucks were quite popular in Europe. But they failed at Mt Isa as they produced too much heat from braking downhill. They did not have batteries, just produced the braking effect by sending the power into big resistor banks. Many mines in Europe and Canada have heaters at the surface just to stop the intake shaft from freezing up.

This is pretty impressive: an electric mining truck that does not need to be charged. Note, though, that it only works in a specific setting. The trick is that it travels uphill empty and downhill fully laden. Through regenerative braking, it generates more than is required to travel uphill again (empty)

The economics would quickly change if they paid excise on fuel like they should..

I guess what is new are battery-powered trucks and autonomous trucks, such as in China and Canada.

Trailing cable electric excavators have been around for fifty years at least.all the really big shovels and draglines are electric. Also the bucket wheel excavators in the Latrobe Valley. Electric wheel haultrucks, with diesel engines driving generators, were developed in the 1960s and widely used. Underground, we had trolley wire electric haul trucks from Kiruna at Mount Isa in the 1980s. The first trolley wire electric locomotives were used in Victorian gold mines and at Broken Hill South from 1902 onward.