I recently attended the launch of Dr Kerry Blackman and Dr Lysbeth Ford’s book Colonisation …Through Black Eyes at the Gladstone Entertainment Centre. Dr Blackman is a well-known local aboriginal leader and decendant of the First Nation Meerooni-Gurang and Gooreng Gooreng peoples.

Imagine a stranger comes to your door. “Good evening” he says. “I’m from the government. We are going to be resuming your home for important government purposes. Fortunately, we will provide you with alternative accommodation in another town. We hope you enjoy your new home.”

Did you know that wombats grin? According to Jackie French – who spent years studying the mysterious creatures’ individual wombats have different personalities…some are grumpy, some are placid, others cheeky and playful.

Some people have asked me how QER’s project is affected by the current crisis. As you might know, the global oil price has halved in a month. With over three billion people locked down across the world, demand has fallen from over 100 million barrels of oil per day down to about 80 million.

It’s been an amazing, and in some ways scary, couple of weeks. A pandemic has been declared; the stock market’s crashed; the oil price has tanked; borders are closed; sporting and community events halted; even Anzac Day effectively cancelled for the first time since the Second World War.

This week I was invited to help out at the “Pit to Port” event for school students, run by Queensland Minerals and Energy Academy (QMEA). There were about 60 Gladstone students from the local High schools learning about supply chain logistics with help from local industry representatives.

Last weekend my wife and I along with some good friends attended an awareness and fundraising gala for the “Restore More” organization, held at the Gladstone Entertainment Centre. “Restore More” helps educate sufferers of breast cancer about diagnosis and treatment options.

My first part time job as a teenager in Gladstone was a milk delivery run. This meant starting work at 3am in the morning, heading to the old PCD milk factory to load up with milk and dairy products and heading off to deliver around the suburbs of Gladstone.

The bushfires which have engulfed large parts of the country have made for a tragic start to the decade for many Australian communities, but as we have seen so often in the tough times, the best qualities of Australians have been on display.