The Spirit of the Anzacs.

Wednesday 8^th February, 2017.

Heard from Sue Codee yesterday re my artwork and have arranged to meet her at her studio at 3.30pm today.  Jo has some shopping to do this afternoon, so the morning is spent at the National Anzac Centre. First stop is Mount Clarence and the Anzac Memorial for a spectacular view over Attaturk Channel, Princess Royal Harbour and King George Sound. There is a second level to the memorial, the Padre White lookout where the view is almost 360 degrees. Worth the short walk. The National Anzac Centre is built on the site of the heritage listed Princess Royal Fortress, and overlooks the harbour from which 41,000 men and women departed Australia for the Great War. It’s goosebumps all morning……….. 

When you enter you are given a card with the name and photograph of a serviceman or nurse who went to war and there are several interactive posts where you can place your card and find out more about your assigned person. Right from the start, you are drawn in to the life of the person and their journey, starting with their departure from Albany. This is state of the art technology and the inter-active nature of the Centre is engrossing and while emotionally confronting and draining at times, I couldn’t recommend it more highly. Apparently in the planning stages, committees went round and round and couldn’t make a firm decision until the WA Premier, Colin Barnett put his foot down, threw some money at the ‘problem’ and the result is this amazing centre, being officially opened on November 1^st 2014, the 100^th anniversary of the departure of the first convoy.  Anyway, I could go on, but, just go there!

I still have my soldier’s card and I think Trevor does too, so hopefully we’ll investigate a bit more when we get home. I’ve told Jo I’ll send her what info I have on the war service of our forebears. We also have a quick explore of the Princess Royal Fortress Military Museum .  A fort was built up here in 1893 to protect Albany Harbour from potential foreign attack, the first federal defence project in Australia (even though there wasn’t a federal government at the time).  Trevor and I also walked up the hill to another lookout and the remains of the fortress, gun emplacements, ammunition batteries and old radar installation. 

Jo dropped us back to our accommodation (at the Big 4 Middleton Beach, top spot by the way) to pick up our car and head off to amuse ourselves while she goes and does what she has to do. We decide to drive out to Emu Point and end up having lunch at the Emu Point Café before going for a bit of a stroll and nearly being blown away by the wind off Middleton Bay. Scurrying back to the protected side, overlooking Oyster Harbour, we see a well made children’s playground and a swimming enclosure. Then we went for a drive around Emu Point and ended up at the marina, where the cruises depart from to go up the Kalgan River.

I’d heard about an art gallery in the old Albany Hospital, the Vancouver Gallery, so we found our way there. It’s a very small collection and it probably took longer to walk from the car park than it did to see all the exhibition, but the building was interesting and I got some ideas from one of the pieces, a landscape mad from a collage of photos. 

Like all good towns, Albany has a Tip Shop, but it really is a missed opportunity for the community when compared to the Salamander Bay Recycling centre. Just about time to head over to Sue’s to pick up my purchase. Her work is really eye catching and I’ve bought 2 pieces. Sue said she would sign them for me but when we asked her if she had, she realised she had forgotten. They were already packed up to travel, but Sue quickly undid the wrapping and signed them for me.

We beat Jo home by the amount of time it takes to make a cup of tea. We’re all exhausted. We’ve packed a lot into the last 2 days. Jo is heading off early in the morning so checks the weather forecast and sees that the region down towards Esperance has copped a huge amount of rain in a very short amount of time. She talks to Gary and he thinks she needs to be on the road by 6am to give her a better chance of getting through before any roads are cut.

Trevor and I have never knowingly eaten shark and Jo says if we’re going to try it, we should have it from the best fish and chip shop in town, Moby Dick’s. She orders ‘flake’ and ends up with ‘hake’. The girl behind the counter says if she wants shark, she has to order shark, so none for us tonight. The hake is very nice anyway and there’s plenty of it.