Robyn Davidson - Tracks (from Alice to the West Coast)

[Jerry_Atrick]

My partner came downstairs from her Netflix Lair having watched a movie called Tracks in which, in 1977, Robyn Davidson left Alice Springs and tekked across to the west coast with 4 camels and a dog.

 

I have never heard of her before..  Did I really live that sheltered a child-hood?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robyn_Davidson

 

Was she famous in Aus at the time?

[onetrack]

Yes, she did make the news quite often, but I think you might have had to be tuned in to media sources with a rural flavour.

[rgmwa]

National Geographic followed her journey and wrote it up in the magazine. She attracted a lot of attention at the time.

Edited June 11, 2023 by rgmwa

[pmccarthy]

[facthunter]

Tis said to be the only cigarettes with the maker on the packet. Nev

[Jerry_Atrick]

4 hours ago, rgmwa said:

National Geographic followed her journey and wrote it up in the magazine. She attracted a lot of attention at the time.

Sadly, my family was not the type to buy Nat Geographic

[rgmwa]

Never too late...

 

May 1978

Edited June 11, 2023 by rgmwa

[Old Koreelah]

Jerry you’ve been a bit busy to keep up with all the local stories. Robin Davidson’s camel trek was well covered by some of our media. I read her book and watched the movie.

 

Her life has some parallels with that of another pioneering Australian woman, Daisey Bates, who was married to Breaker Morant.

Davidson went on to link up with the famous author Salman Rushdie.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Thanks, OK.. but I was firmly "rooted" in Aus at the time (ughh! I can already read the responses)... As I was 11 at the time she did it (unless she waited to the end of the year, at which point I wouid have been 12).

 

Have just purchased the book... Now I have to find one on Daisy Bates!

 

 

 

 

[pmccarthy]

Probably best to Google Dailey Bates. The books have been hagiographies - more balanced research recently shows she was a more complex person.

[Bruce Tuncks]

I've had it suggested that Breaker Morant and BRS were similar characters. But I liked Breaker Morant ( well, the film portrayal ) and reckon I would not be alive without him. My grandfather was one of those " undisciplined" australian troops in WW1 who likely would have been killed by the poms. The aftermath of Morant was that pommy court-marshals could no longer kill Australian troops.

I think they killed about 70 poms, but not one Australian died from any court-marshals in WW1. ( Morant was of course in the Boer War, and he was in trouble for killing civilians...  Very much like Ben Roberts-Smith )

Do you guys think that BRS and Morant were similar? Do you think Morant was guilty as charged?

 

[facthunter]

ALLL depends on the quality of the  evidence and the context of it. Nev

[Bruce Tuncks]

Most guys just think you were lucky jerry....  I do.

[Old Koreelah]

4 hours ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

4 hours ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

Do you guys think that BRS and Morant were similar? Do you think Morant was guilty as charged?

 

It might be said that both are victims of changing times; neither would be the first to overstep their mandate. Lots of war crimes by both sides remain unprosecuted or forgotten. Perhaps their bad luck was timing; there was a public interest in these events and justice had to be seen to be done.

[gareth lacey]

My father who served in WW11 in Burma,India,Singapore ,Java told me a story of captured Japanese soldiers that had committed crimes to local villages they were tied to a tree and had mortars fired at them, do we call that a war crime, yes but consider the locals who wanted instant justice ,he also told me that the Japanese were the most cruel of soldiers and as he said "we took no prisoners " during the war ,he was also a hangman at Sentosa war trials for an extra 2 shillings a day , different times but war does change people 

[facthunter]

For a JAPAN MAN to be taken prisoner was the ultimate dishonour. That's one reason why they didn't treat prisoners well.  Nev

[Old Koreelah]

54 minutes ago, facthunter said:

For a JAPAN MAN to be taken prisoner was the ultimate dishonour. That's one reason why they didn't treat prisoners well.  Nev

Although that was the ethos of the traditional Samarai, but let’s not forget that (like the armed forces of Germany, USSR and the Allies) many soldiers were not from the central culture. The men conscripted from throughout Japan’s empire were expected to abide by the dominant culture, despite coming from widely different communities. Koreans, Okinawans, Taiwanese and probably Manchus. I bet most just wanted to survive. Some Australian POWs on the Burma Railway remember being treated well by a Japanese Christian guard from Nagasaki, who had to hide his religion from his comrades.
 

To survive, some POWs were pressed into service by their captors, including Allied prisoners. Some may have worn several different uniforms.
 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang_Kyoungjong

[onetrack]

I can recall a story told by the Burma Railway POW's, who were mistreated especially badly by one vicious, sadistic Korean guard. As soon as the Allies arrived and the Korean was disarmed, a group of Australian POW's attacked the Korean with their basic tools such as shovels, and beat him to death before any Allied soldiers in a leadership position could intervene.

 

As to whether Breaker Morant and BRS are similar characters, I'd have to opine - No. Breaker Morant became especially embittered and commenced to shoot Boers who were captives, including civilians. He killed many more captives than BRS.

But more than that, BRS has now been defined as a rather manipulative liar and a bully who uses his huge size to dominate others and bend them to his will.

 

He has received far better and more thorough military training than Breaker Morant ever had - but decided to become a law unto himself, and to disobey what he was taught. Then when he was in danger of being discovered indulging in lawless behaviour, he tried (and succeeded, in one case) to try and make others go along with his fabricated versions of events. My previously good opinion of BRS has gone downhill since more truth has been revealed about his nature and his lawless actions.

 

I believe Breaker Morant simply became enraged, perhaps even unhinged, to the point whereby he set out on a permanent revenge mission, that meant he would shoot any Boer he found, regardless of whether they were combatants, prisoners or civilians. It was reported that Morant became "like a demented man", when he was first notified of British troop murders by the Boers.

 

Mind you, I believe there were others worse than Morant who were never charged, and Alfred Taylor stands out as one particularly invidious British combatant. Taylor carried out a range of murders, looting and pillaging and was even disliked by many of his compatriots for his sadism.

[Old Koreelah]

Our veneer of civilization is quite thin. The Geneva Convention (and similar efforts to tame the savage beast) are quite recent and easily overlooked in the heat of the moment. Not long ago it was normal for our ancestors to pick over those fallen on the battlefield for anything useful, and finishing off the dying.

 

Body cams and drones might curb some excesses, but we’d be better off in the long run if were a bit more selective about our leaders. That might require a huge cultural shift for some.

[facthunter]

If you have $#!t Leaders you'll only get$#!t results.   Nev

[onetrack]

Yes, interestingly, the Americans in WW1 were quite appalled by the WW1 Diggers fairly constant looting of dead Germans for anything useful - including money and jewellery. It seems that it was a widely accepted custom in WW1 amongst the Australians, but I'd put that down to a degree of weak leadership and poor training. Of course, the conventions of the era also probably played a part and it was a totally different era and outlook to today.

[Bruce Tuncks]

My understanding of the Morant prosecution is that it was politically easier for a far-away Australian to be made the scapegoat rather than a closer pom.

The anti-war lot of ( mainly rich women ) were based in England. And I like how the Australian government let their displeasure be known, thus saving future Australians from pommy firing-squads.

As an irrelevant aside, the railway station in the film was my ( at the time ) local station of Gawler Central.

[facthunter]

In a war field situation when a soldier is dead what use are his shoes to him?  It may help someone else to not get frostbite. Plenty of soldiers treat the enemy dead with respect. Fuel from his vehicle will keep yours running. His weapons may aid your effectiveness. Nev 

[Bruce Tuncks]

U are quite right nev. Only the yanks were so rich as to look down on the practise

[Bruce Tuncks]

I reckon I'm only here cos of breaker morant. My grandfather was one of those undisciplined  australian troops who would have been killed by the poms.