farmdoc's blog post number 416

I’ve previously written of my distaste for the age of celebrity we live in. And I’ve also written about the ordeal of miners Brant Webb (photo, left) and Todd Russell (right). Here in Tasmania, this island with a population of only half a million people, parochialism reigns. And so Webb and Russell are celebrities. (A celebrity being a widely known person.) In some circles they’ve been afforded folk hero status. Maybe they deserve it, maybe not. I think fate placed them in an horrific situation which they dealt with courageously and tenaciously, but the real heroes were their rescuers who voluntarily assumed potential mortal risk. Anyway last Friday Webb announced his candidacy for the Australian Labor Party in the Tasmanian State seat of Bass, at the State election next March. Thus he joins a growing list of celebrity political candidates – mainly sports stars and media personalities – of whom most (I think) have been elected. Webb has no political background, and no stated vision for Tasmania or even Bass. He doesn’t live in Bass. And, based on my meetings with him, he’s not a man of notable intellect. So as a candidate his only asset’s his celebrity status. Here is the official spin. I think he’ll be elected. So much so, I have a 2-cent bet riding on it. In our problem-ridden Nation and State, we need to elect the best people. Not just the best known.

farmdoc's blog post number 176

During my work I’ve been down the Beaconsfield gold mine. I can’t recall if it was two or three times, but they were before Anzac Day 2006 when a rockfall killed miner Larry Knight, and trapped miners Todd Russell and Brant Webb for 321 hours. A week ago I finished reading Bad Ground: Inside the Beaconsfield Mine Rescue, by Age journalist Tony Wright, Russell and Webb. The story's riveting, and Wright – whom I suspect did most or all the writing – captures the tension of not only the trapped men and their families and rescuers, but also the tiny town suddenly thrust into the global media spotlight. It can’t be easy writing a non-fiction rescue book when all readers know the outcome before they start the first page. Wright et alii do it surprisingly well. Now I’ve read the book, I’m tempted to see Beaconsfield: A Musical in A-Flat Minor. Early last week when this show was announced, it caused such a sanctimonious outcry that last Wednesday the playwright Dan Illic changed its title to Beaconsfield: The Musical. Pity. The bleeding hearts need to lighten up. I’m with Jack Marx. Larry Knight's family – and everyone else – have the right to mourn him as they wish, but 2½ years after the event, their concomitant responsibility is to allow others to make of it what they will. Unless they do that, their self-imposed preciousness will prevent them honouring Knight's memory with the dignity and respect it deserves.