preparation

Archie Newfong was born on 15 October 1910. He was the descendant of the Ngugi people of the Moreton Bay area and a Chinese fisherman. Archie Newfong, like many Aborigines living on North Stradbroke Island, was employed at the Dunwich Benevolent Asylum, which was established in 1865 to provide shelter and care for the poor and needy of Queensland. In 1920 the Aboriginal workers of the institution began a campaign for cash wages, not rations but for equal pay under the awards applying to white employees. Archie Newfong was a superb sportsman playing cricket and football. He was also a boxer. One year he won the Amity Cup on his horse, “Pet”. The Amity Cup was a horse race along the beach at Dunwich held each year. In 1941 Archie became the heavyweight boxing champion of Queensland. After the World War tWO, Archie became active in the Incapacitated Servicemen and Women Association serving as a welfare officer helping returned diggers put their lives back together. He went on to become State President for seven years from 1977. Archie and his son John were active campaigners during the 1967 referendum, which gave power to the Commonwealth Government to legislate on Aboriginal matters. John went on to become a journalist for a major newspaper and was heavily involved in the 1972 tent embassy in Canberra. In 1988 Archie Newfong was appalled to hear of the motion moved at the RSL’s national congress by the Victorian president, Mr. Bruce Ruxton. The motion called for Aborigines to be race-tested before being allowed to claim government benefits. The motion was widely condemned and Archie campaigned in the Courier Mail on 29 September to have the motion rescinded. The Courier-Mail reported on 22 April 1991, that 80-year-old Archie Newfong had unveiled Australia’s first Aboriginal war memorial in the Jebbribillum Borta Park at Burleigh Heads. Throughout their lives, Archie and his wife Edna campaigned for the betterment of Aboriginal people. His wife was Edna Crouch, who came from a famous sporting family. She had represented Australia in the national women’s cricket team that played England in 1935. Their exemplary lives deserve to be better known. Source: thecommunityleader.com.au/in-the-community/local-history/...

The Melbourne Cup might be the race that stops the nation, but the Birdsville Races is the race that sees the nation flock to one of Australia’s most remote towns. Well, maybe not the whole nation, but over 6,000 eager racegoers transform the 100–person town of Birdsville into a pumping metropolis the first weekend of September. It’s not just punters who travel hundreds of kilometres for the event – with $200,000 dollars in prize money up for grabs – horses and jockeys have been known to venture from interstate and overseas to gallop in the 13-race program. Source: www.outbackqueensland.com.au/news/everything-you-need-to-...

Just as a matter of interest , what was the very last ship to be launched on the Wear?

Hi Dave Forbes, I believe the last ship launched on the Wear was the ferry Superflex November. She was launched on 12 December 1988 at the Southwick shipyard of North East Shipbuilders.