OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums General Discussion Forum Off Topics Australia's Current State !

I ONCE LOVED MY COUNTRY !

I remember back in 1968 living in Brisbane that the 3 major cities back then were Sydney. Melbourne & Adelaide. Adelaide was the Industrial Hub City.

Adelaide - South Australia was where you went to work in the Iron Ore Industry or where you could get a job making railway tracks for B.H.P. You could get a job building ships, submarines, cars, washing machines, fridges, TV�s, Hills hoists, Victa Lawn Mowers, or make tyres at the Bridgestone / Uniroyal factory.
Lightburn Washing Machine Company even made a car called a Zeta. It was not much of a car but at least it was Australian and we built it.

I worked at Port Stanvac where we made our own Petrol, Diesel, Kerosene and Oil. We had Oil Rigs in Bass Straight, North West Shelf and the Timor Sea.
We even had Australian owned Service Stations like Golden Fleece, Ampol, Neptune and many of us young wanna-be mechanics back then worked as a driveway attendant.

I remember catching a train from the city to Gawler and then on to Freeling, Hamley Bridge, Stockport, Riverton, up to Clare, Gladstone, Laura etc. And all these towns were bustling with activity and on the weekends they were all open for business.
Our shops were filled on every shelf with food and products all proudly made or grown in Australia. Our fridge was full of Lamb Chops and Steaks because it was cheap as we were a huge Lamb and Beef growing Nation. And once a month Mum would make us all a delicacy! It was called a Sunday Roast Chicken.
I remember when we all had trade skills and high quality Sidchrome / Dawn tools that would last and last with an "Unconditional Guarantee".
But most of all we had mates. We as Australians watched each other�s backs even if we had not met yet, and we'd all said G�Day to everyone with a smile.
Our kids could go anywhere they liked on their bikes just as long as they were home before dark. Australia was pretty safe back then.

Yes Australia was once a self-supporting nation that had it all. It had Farms that produce our dairy, fruit & vegie and meats etc.
And Politicians back then were known as statesmen and they were voted in by the people for the people on behalf of the people and did what the people wanted.

We had public utilities owned by us the people that guaranteed our Electricity, Water and Sewage forever.
No one knew how much the Snowy Mountain Scheme cost, we just built it.
No one knew how much the Sydney Harbour Bridge or the Indian-Pacific railway cost ! WE JUST BUILT IT!

Then came CORPORATE GREED !

Now everything above has GONE.
Now we don�t watch each other�s backs any more, but watch each other through security bars, burglar alarms and cameras, also security screens.
Now we Dob each other in and are encouraged to do so.
Now we import poor quality chemically processed food.
Now we import cheap tools that break just taking them out of the packet that they come in.
Now we rely on ships to bring in our fuels.
Now we can�t afford our own Lamb or Beef any more.
Now we eat steroid pumped chicken just about every day.
Now we import trade skilled workers on 457 Visa�s
Now we have high unemployment as nearly all of our Industry and Manufacturing has gone offshore.
Now we have that many Laws that we have just about outlawed ourselves. But I guess we need even more laws so now we will have Sharia Law as well.
We now pay for water that falls out of the sky at $3.80 a litre.
Now we have taxes for everything. Taxes for carbon, Taxes for sake of having taxes, (They call them Levy�s) and don�t forget the newest tax is the ISLAMIC TAX (Halal Certification)
Now here in South Australia in our towns we have Railway Stations and railway tracks but no trains.
We have Public Bus Stops in our Towns but no buses.
We have Hospitals and Clinics but no Doctors or Nurses.
We all have Mobile Phones and have little to no reception.
We have Digital TV�s with stuff all Signal.
And the worst of all is our once great nation is being sold off piece by piece to every other country on earth except us.

Yes I did once love my country !

I totally agree with you Bonnar bloke the place has gone to pot. where is the pride of things sporting the label "Made In Australia" People don't talk to each other in restaurants any more they just play with their phones. Where has good old fashioned service with a smile gone to. I could go on and on but you get the point.

Please don't get me started, just so glad I'm as old as I am and won't live to see this country totally destroyed

Thats very true BB, being 15 I never got to experience any of this, only once I got into the old lawn mowers, fuel cans and machinery that I realized how much better Australia was back then.

Sadly my generation isn't the one that will make it better, they will just make it worse. To be honest I wouldn't be surprised if the Greens win the election and we get a Green's PM because of them....
They have been born and raised to sway to the no country, no gender, no race Idea. Its sad really.

Ahh well, we can only hope

P.S. being a petrol can collector that Esso reference is really bugging me, Esso has always been US owned, by Exxonmobil. They bought out the Australian Atlantic Petroleum, Exonmobil closed Esso Australia when they realized the Mobil brand would make them more money here. I couldn't help myself lol.

Evening all,

Yup, I sure wish things were more like they were when I was growing up too. But I have to keep the faith. I have two daughters at uni age. I have to believe this world will be good one for them - and if it's not, well, isn't it our fault?

I do have concerns about the state of local manufacturing and agriculture but here's what concerns me most:

We are making our political and policy decisions based on the 24 hour news cycle. Decisions made in haste and carried out at blinding speed. Proper decisions made for the proper reasons with proper thought and discussions from both sides of politics in the interests of the country and not just the next Twitter feed. The ABC show "the hollow men" would have been funny if it wasn't so damned true!

I'm also deeply concerned about the global frenzy around nationalism and basically, in a word, that's what your alluding to BB. This global movement has more power to destabilise the globe than anything else that's going on at the moment. The situation leadership wise in the U.S. is......scary.
The point is, we need to be very careful. Let's not throw the metaphorical baby out with the bath water as they've done in the U.S. We need to remain calm and focused. Knee-jerk behaviour at the ballot box could do untold damage.

Phillip Adams interviewed a bloke on LNL who suggested that in the absence of fact or experience we form views which are defensive/ protective in nature and that the starting point in developing 'rounder' views is curiosity.

I reckon that's gold

Cheers,

Kye, you are a wise man, far beyond your years

G'day Kye,
There's some interesting history behind those names, US originated though they are.

'Esso' is just the phonetic spelling of the acronym 'SO'. The Standard Oil Company Trust was a huge US petroleum industry company, that was established and controlled by the Rockefeller family. The US Government forced it to be broken up in 1911, into 34 'independent' companies, many of which retained the 'Standard Oil' words in their new names.

The Standard Oil Co. of New York became 'SOCONY Mobil', and later just 'Mobil'; the Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey became Esso, and later Exxon. Then in more recent times [1999], these two re-amalgamated to become ExxonMobil!

Why the invented name 'Exxon'? Because 'Esso' has a rude or derogatory meaning, in some of the world's languages.

The beginning of the end for Australian ownership of our 'downstream' [i.e. refining and distribution] petroleum industry was in 1952, when the then Federal Government sold its half of the joint-venture 'Commonwealth Oil Refineries' company to the other half-owner, the Anglo-Persian Oil Co., which later became British Petroleum, then just BP.

BTW 'upstream', in its petroleum industry meaning, refers to the production and transport, and some processing, of crude oil and gas. It's usual for oil wellhead fluids to include oil, dissolved gases, and water - often salty water.

These fluids are separated adjacent to the wellhead before the sales gas and oil are conveyed, by pipeline/s and/or tanker/s, to the next processing stage.

The water is generally disposed of at the wellhead; either by re-injection into the oil-bearing formation, or in the case of offshore platforms, purification to a standard which makes it permissible to pump it overboard into the sea.

The Bass Strait standard for discharge to sea is <30mg/L of oil-in-water - 30ppm.

Does any one know when Esso petrol stations ceased in Australia ( Sydney)?
I recall an Esso in the suburb of Eastwood where I grew up, becoming a Mobil in the early 1980s some time.
Now Mobil servos are no more, in Sydney and surrounds at least, taken over by that slave driver 711 with its sub continent work force.
It's sad seeing so many names disappear over the years and there being seemingly less companies in each sector.
They say our market can't support so many companies competing with each other, as their justification for duopolies such as Coleworths
but there didn't seem to be any trouble before, when Australia's population used to be much less.
I think piss poor ethics in Australia's corporate environment is the culprit with monopolistic attitudes to blame.
Bunnings hardware chain is another prime example of one of these monopolistic companies getting too big for its boots and stifling diversity in their field.
They already had a big store in Mascot in Sydney's South, yet decided to open an even more gargantuan facility in neighbouring Alexandria at about the time Masters were operating for the first time. It was pretty obvious why they did it and I have heard through the grape vine that is the only reason it was established.

1990. Esso sold their servo chain to Mobil, then the two companies merged in 1999. So it ended up as little more than a rebranding exercise.

Maybe the process started earlier with some petroleum stations. I swear the Eastwood Esso
became a Mobil much earlier, 1984 perhaps.

Well, there were always sales of individual company-owned servos, for example when they weren't meeting Esso's KPI's for turnover or profitability.

Here in Adelaide all the Mobil sites have become OTR's (On the Run)which is a consortium that now controls all the BP sites along with Mogas and several independents. Woolworths are getting out of the fuel business and those sites are transferring over to BP which will progress across to Shahin's group of OTR (Peregrine Group) So all we have here now is Coles Express, a few Caltex sites and the occasional independent sites with United and Liberty slowly getting pinged off and becoming OTR's. The Peregrine Group will surely own well over 65 percent of the fuel selling market along with Brumby's Bakery, Smokemart, Wok in a Box, Happy Wash and Krispy Kremes outside of Victoria.

One thing that does puzzle me though and that is why is Mobil still putting so much cash in to the now defunct Holden Racing Team (now HSV Walkinshaw Racing) being their major sponsor and only selling a bit of Mobil 1 oil ?

Cheers,
BB.

Yep, it's a bit curious, BB.
The local Mobil distributor here, Guzzardi Petroleum, sold out to United Petroleum [hack, spit], so there aren't any Mobil servos or depots closer to here than the outskirts of Melbourne.

Your 100% right there Gadge.

Caltex is Australian owned, but its an American brand. They merged with Ampol so who knows, they even use Ampol for there Singapore branch.

Matilda sold out to Puma not too long ago, it was a pretty new brand but it was still Aussie, they even had the massive Kangaroo during the 82 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane.

One of the things that attracted me to Southern Cross mowers is that I loved the idea of them being made in the big country town of Toowoomba in Queensland, Australia. The Foundry once employed a great many local people and made a great many products. When you think of the amount of local manufacturing that has disappeared today, it is shocking to say the least. Toowoomba also had a large milk factory that processed milk from the region's many farms. Then deregulation came along (for "necessary" reasons, we were told by those in power) and so the factory closed its doors and so did many of the local dairy farms. I am certain that I will live to see the day when all of our milk is processed in China and shipped back to us, unless things change for the better in a hurry (but I am not sure when or if that will ever happen).

I got to thinking one day, if someone was to rebuild these mowers here in Australia, or even carry on the legacy of trying to produce an all-Australian made engine or mower, they would really have their work cut out. Where are the foundries? Where are the moulds? Who would be even willing to contemplate such a venture today, with the market place flooded with cheap overseas imports? Where are the skilled labourers, designers, engineers and craftsman gone? Even the bolts, nuts and screws would in all likelihood come from China.

We also now live in a world so dominated by rules and regulations and safety that we are seeing a whole generation of our children being wrapped in cotton wool. Trees have to be felled in parks in case a branch should fall on "Little Johnny's" head while he is playing. Sand is now regarded as being unhygienic and is being replaced with rubber mats, as is lawn and concrete. I expect any day soon they will be wrapping up playground equipment and posts in bubble wrap in case some kid is texting and not looking where is he walking.

As a good mate told me recently, Australia cannot even manufacture toothpaste or mouthwash any more, and many of our foods now come processed and packaged from overseas, and there are only a couple of soap manufacturers. We cannot even knit socks any more and you don't mend anything, you just throw it in the bin and buy a new one. The art and science of making many simple household products is being lost. Almost 95% of all non-food products on our shelves are "Made in China". I commented that if ever there is another global war, or even a war involving only the Asian countries, Australia will soon run out of basic essentials. There are craft industries making small amounts of old-fashioned products, but they would not be able to keep up the demand. Will we learn how to make things for ourselves again, or will we simply starve? My mate then laughed and said "Well mate, if ever there is a war the enemy will be able to smell us coming! And we can fend them off with our terrible bad breath!" Ain't that the simple truth!

The milk is a big problem Vint_mow, my mate lives on a dairy farm, his mum sells the milk to Dairy Farmers and said that in the past decade or so the South East Queensland region has dropped from around 2500 farms down to around 100.

As for the poles being wrapped in bubble wrap, its already happening!!! The poles at my school are being wrapped in the protective gear they use for the goal posts on a football field. But with the rules and laws I wouldn't be surprised if the school got sued for a kid walking into a pole....

I hope there is never a war with China, because like you said we would have nothing here! I wish someone would try to bring it back here, Trumps trying to bring it back in America, so why can't we ?

I was angry at the start of this, now I'm getting depressed. Kye, the world has moved on and you can never go back

Well Norm there's no chance of you doing something untoward with a gun is there, as we can't make those either anymore.

BTW the new Joint Project Strike Fighter (F35) couldn't complete its display today down at Avalon, Victoria as it was apparently too windy, so they landed at Point Cook and will fly home when the weather is better.

Shame if a war started in Winter, hey can we delay fighting til the weather improves ?

Unbelievable !

At one stage we even assembled a small batch of the famous Bell 206 Jetranger helicopters.
I believe it was CAC ( Commonwealth Aircraft Corp.) of Melbourne. It was a special variant I believe.
You will be heartened to know that we still build the body work of nearly all the buses and coaches you see and catch on our roads, though imports from China and Malaysia have made inroads.
Gemilang of Malaysia have recently won the tender to supply new double deckers for Sydney's Northern Beaches when Volgren of Melbourne have been exporting deckers to Hong Kong and Singapore for many years.
The other major local bus builders include Custom Coaches of Sydney and Bustech in Queensland who have been supplying the last 300 or so latest buses for Sydney using Volvo and Scania chassis.
Iveco Australia (formerly International Acco) are still manufacturing trucks at their Melbourne facility and are a major supplier of heavy duty trucks for the domestic market. Chances are that garbage truck roaring in your street at 5am is one of these.
RFW trucks based at Chester Hill in Sydney are a specialised truck builder who also carry out repairs to other trucks and actually make their own axles and other truck components that are said to be superior in durability to their American and European counterpart
There was a story years ago where Brisbane City Council were after a specialised sewerage sucking truck and looked all over the world ( except here!!) , only for a Swedish firm to tell them that RFW in Sydney were the only ones who could build them their truck. Only then did BCC knock on their door and got their sewerage truck!

BB, my brother who lives in Sydney called in today, hadn't seen him for a few years. He came down to the Air Show for a look yesterday and he didn't even mention the F35 so it couldn't have been too impressive, and he loves his planes was an air traffic controller for about 35 years