An exhibition entitled Our Feathered Friends – The Art of Birds celebrating the diversity of birdlife in the Top End and Central Australia through the eyes of both indigenous and non - indigenous artists.

As well as reflecting the Territory’s abundant and diverse birdlife, the exhibition illustrates the relationship between people and birds in our region At CDU Art Gallery, Building Orange 12, Casuarina Campus; open Wednesday to Friday from 10am to 4pm and on Saturday from 10am to 2pm.

This year sees the 75th anniversary of the first bombing raids on Darwin, and many events are planned to mark the occasion; here are just a few:

• The screening of The Awkward Truth , a documentary on the circumstances surrounding the bombing on 19 Febr uary 1942. At 6pm on 17 February at the BCC Cinemas, Mitchell Street; free entrance.
• The USS Peary Memorial Service on The Esplanade at 8.15am on 19 February.
• The Bombing of Darwin Commemoration Service at 9.30am on 19 February at The Cenotaph.
• Two exhibitions on the rais ing of the wrecks in Darwin Harbour, one at Darwin Memorial Uniting Church, the other at the NT Library, both are on show throughout the month. In connection with these exhibitions, David Steinberg will be speaking about the sa lvage operations at our meeting on 7 February.

For more information and details of other events, go to darwin.nt.gov.au/node/9167.

The other day I visited a well - known shopping emporium in search of socks. It's been a long time since I needed a new pair so I was comp letely unprepared for the super sock selection on offer. I wanted two pairs of white cotton short socks to wear in my trainers. Shouldn't be too difficult you say!

The selection before me reminded me of that ad on TV a while back, where a young fellow went to his local corner store to buy a bottle of milk, and the shop lady reeled off an amazing variety of ways to get your milk ration. Well, I can assure you , socks are similar!

There are long socks, short socks, no - show socks, knee hig h or ankle socks, tenn is, golf and football socks, bed socks and house socks. (My house must be considered deprived as I've never bought it a pair of socks). I needed two pairs, but they only come in bundles of three pairs, or you can have five pairs or a jumbo collection of ten pairs. (No four pairs, so none for octopuses). I settled for three pairs of anonymous socks.

On the way to the sock bar I passed a rack of packaged items, sold under the heading “For Hollywood Starlets ”.

I felt that Darwin is a bit far removed from Hollywood and I haven't noticed a plethora of starlets around, so I paused to examine the merchandise. What a revelation! Why wasn't it there when I needed it? Modern technology has produced a device to assist modern misses to maintain an assured pertness of their bosoms when time and gravity take their toll.

It involves the application of a rather complicated kind of Band - Aid to achieve the desired angle. It would appear that one size fits all so for the better e ndowed this might be a problem and I do wonder wha t reaction there may be when a fellow tries his luck and tries to get a little hands - on experience and he encounters the Band Aid technique in use.

Another device is available for giving a girl a real boost; I guess it beats a pair of socks under the boobs as we did in my day, and if you place them strategically differently you can have the cleavage to die for. As an avid people watcher as they walk past my market stall I shall be taking a renewed interest in things other than tattoos!

With more than fifty years of teaching experience behind him, Tom Dinning, our speaker on 1 September, is currently teaching photography at Casuarina College adult night classes. He’ll be telling us something of the history of photography, the way it has been used in the past, the impact it has had on our lives and the way we use it today.

Our Fun Quiz Day is back on 20 September. There are no big prizes for winners – just permission to be smug about being the smartest.

Come along and enjoy this social morning.

Gayle Carroll
Vice-President

Our Christmas lunch will be held on 1 December at Sage Resort on Lee Point Road; you’ll find details about the lunch on the reservation form which is on page 11. The traditional Raffle Tickets will be attached to the next edition of the Newsletter.

It hardly seems any time at all since the Dry set in and yet we’re already preparing for the Wet with the City of Darwin conducting its annual pre-cyclone season clean-up across the city. If you have items which may become a dangerous hazard in the event of a cyclone that you would like to be collected, you are asked to place your rubbish outside your property, but in such a way that you keep the pavement clear for pedestrians.

If you live in the northern suburbs (Alawa, Anula, Brinkin, Jingili, Karama, Leanyer, Lyons, Malak, Marrara, Moil, Muirhead, Nakara, Tiwi, Wagaman, Wanguri and Wulagi), you should place items for collection on the nature strip on 28 August.

For the rest of the city rubbish should be put out on 17 September. Items which can be left out for collection include furniture, carpets, timber, white goods (fridges, freezers, washing machines…..), waste building products (such as wood, bricks and steel), television sets and computers. As recyclable items will be separated at the time of collection for recycling or reuse, residents are asked to separate recyclables from other rubbish.

The clean-up teams will not collect garden refuse, flammable liquids, paint, asbestos or car parts. For information on how to dispose of such items call 8930 0300.

If you require assistance to move large items to the nature strip for collection, call 8930 0300 no later than the Friday preceding the collection dates given above.

Until 30 September, CDU Art Gallery is hosting Salon 16 (also known as the Salon des Refusės) which showcases some of the art works submitted for this year’s National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA), but which just failed to make the cut.

The Gallery, which is situated in Building Orange 12 on the Casuarina Campus, is open from Wednesday to Friday between 10am and 4pm and on Saturday between 10am and 2pm. Meanwhile, the finalists and winners in this year’s NATSIAA are on display at the Museum and Art gallery of the NT until 30 October.

One of the (many) peculiarities of the English language is the multitude of names given to collections or groups – mainly wildlife, but also people and things. We are all familiar with a pride of lions, a mob of kangaroos or even a murmuration of starlings, but how about a confusion of guinea fowl, a journey of giraffes, an eloquence of lawyers, a bellow of bullfinches, an aurora of polar bears, a sounder of wild boar or a company of archer fish?

The tradition of creating collective nouns arose in the Late Middle Ages, and continues today; a parliament of owls, for example, was first coined by CS Lewis in the 1950s in his ‘Narnia’ stories.

Or a collection of interesting objects? Would you like to share your interest (passion) for ten minutes or so with other members? You have the chance to do so on 23 August whe n there’s another session of Collectibles. If you’d like to show and tell please call Gayle on 8945 5406 so that she can draw up a running order.

This year’s Census, which takes place on the night of 9 August , will rely heavily on the ele ctronic transmission of the data – more than two thirds of the population are expected to complete the census online. When contacted about the procedure to be followed by members preferring to complete a paper form, the Australian Bur eau of Statistics replied as follows:

For people requiring a paper form there will be an instruction to call the automated Paper Form Request System (PFRS) on the Census Instruction Letter which will be delivered to households across Australia in early August. If U3A member s would like to arrange for a paper form to be sent to them, they can call the PFRS on 1300 820 275 and follow the prompts. The 12 - digit Census Login Number provided in the instruction letter will be needed to complete the request.

If you or other members have any further inquiries regarding the census, please do not hesitate to call the Census Inquiry Service on 1300 214 531.