HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY... hope you all have a great day...

*starts hummming Waltzing Matilda... Tie Me Kangaroo Down... Advance Australia Fair..
ooohhhhh think I might have "Green & Gold Malaria" today.. LOL

We have what we call bush poets that write about aussie life, this is one of Rupert McCalls (Queenslander) poems about Aussie Pride.. For those who don't understand the Aussie Language there is foot notes at the end of the poem... =D ENJOY

GREEN & GOLD MALARIA

The day would soon arrive when I could not ignore the rash
I was obviously ill and so I called on Dr Nash
This standard consultation would adjudicate my fate
I walked into his surgery and gave it to him straight.
"I wonder if you might explain this allergy of mine
I get these pins and needles running up and down my spine
From there, across my body, it will suddenly extend
My neck will feel a shiver and the hairs will stand on end
And then there is the symptom that a man can only fear
A choking in the throat, and the crying of a tear"
The Dr scratched his melon with a rather worried look
His furrow brow suggested that the news to come was crook
"What is it Doc?" I motioned "Have I got a rare disease?
I'm man enough to cop it sweet so give it to me please"
"I'm not too sure" He answered in a puzzled kind of way
You've got some kind of fever but it's hard for me to say
When is it that you feel this most peculiar condition?"
I thought for just a moment then I gave him my position
"I get it when I'm standing in an Anzac Day parade
I get it when the anthem of our native land is played
I get it when Meninga makes a Kiwiw-crunching run
And when Border grits his teeth to score a really gutsy ton
I got it back in '91 when Farr-Jone held the cup
And I got it when Japan was stormed by "Better Loosen Up"
I get it when the Banjo takes me down the Snowy River
And Matilda sends me waltzing with a billy boiling shiver
It hit me hard when Sydney was awarded with the Games
And I get it when I see our farmers fighting for their names
It flattened me when Bertrand raised the boxing kangaroo
And when Perkins smashed the record, well, the rashes were true blue
So tell me Doc" I questioned "Am I really gonna die?"
He broke into a smile before he looked me in the eye
As he fumbled with his stethoscope and pushed it out of reach
He wiped away a tear and then he gave this sirring speech:
"From the beaches here in Queensland to the sweeping shores of Broome
On the harbour banks of Sydney where the waratah's in bloom
From Uluru at sunset to the might Tasman Sea
In the Adelaide cathederals, at the roaring MCG
From The Great Australian Bight up to the Gulf of Carpentaria
The medical profession call it "GREEN AND GOLD MALARIA"
The rash that you've contracted here is "good old Aussie pride"
I'm afraid that you were born with it and one thing is for sure
You'll die with it young man because there isn't any cure...........

"Melon = Head; Crook = Sick; Anzac Day = acknowledging the war vetrans;
Meninga = Mal Meninga was a great Queensland Rugby League player;
Kiwi = New Zealand; Border = Alan Border was a great Queensland Cricketer Captain of Australia; Farr-Jones = Nick Farr-Jones great Queensland Captain of Rugby Union player
Better Loosen Up = Is a Melbourne Cup winner (Horse race that stops all of Australia for 5 mins); Banjo = Banjo Patterson great Australian poet; Billy boiling = a pot of boiling water on an open fire; Bertrand = John Bertrand Captain who won America's Cup;
Perkins = Kieren Perkins Australian Champion Swimmer......"

Happy Australia day to you all.. Thanks for telling me.. Have a lot of fun..

I had no idea there was an Australia Day...is it like an independence day or something??? Happy Australia Day to everyone also :D

Happy Australia Day to you Jacqueline and all my Aussie friends here at Caedes!!..=D
I didn't know there was such a day either!

On January 26, 1788 Captain Arthur Phillip took formal possession of the colony of New South Wales and became its first Governor.. here's a site that has a timeline of Australia Days.. link There a big celebrations all over australia, lots of bbq's, fun activities, fireworks etc .. ohhh and a day off work for most.. =)

Very interesting. I learn something new every day..=)

Not an Aussie, but had a dear friend from Australia who turned me on to Damper Bread (I think that's the name)...don't suppose any of you can hook me up with a recipe?

Happy Australia Day...it's always nice to learn about traditions of friends from other countries!

Sure do.... here you go...

* 2 cups self-rising flour
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 tespoons sugar
* 3 tablespoons butter
* 1 cup milk

Mix the flour, salt and sugar together in a bowl. Cut in the butter until fine crumbs form. Add milk to make a soft dough. Knead lightly on floured board until smooth. Shape into round loaf, brush with milk, and bake at 375 degrees F. for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the loaf makes a hollow sound when tapped.

Happy Australia Day Jacqueline, Sophie, Jemma, Sam & anybody else I missed ! I hope you all had a great day, & I hope you all have a great year ! Hip Hip Hurray !!

"bake at 375 degrees F. for 30 to 40 minutes..."

I don't know where you got this recipe J, but the *correct* way to cook damper is on a campfire. And it must be completely black on the outside, like charcoal!

I know that Sam... but not everyone can make a campfire in the snow... hehehehehe.. thats why i put this one.. When I make it when we go camping i dont even measure anything, and all i use is flour, water and a little pinch of salt... lol

ok... here is the bush way of making damper, the other one was how its cooked in bakeries etc... this is the real "fairdinkum" damper

Damper - Recipe
The recipe was made from the basic products available to the average "bushy" at the time - plain flour, water, milk and salt.

There is no quantity type recipe for this - you make it up as you go.

Basically you take a quantity of flour (perhaps 250 - 500 grams) and a pinch of salt. Add to this either enough water to make a dough, or equal quantities of milk and water to make a dough. The dough should be rather firm and not sticky. It may need some kneading too.

Now take a large sheet of foil and put the dough in the centre. Wrap the dough in the foil and place it under the coals of the fire, or in your oven heated to, at a guess, 200C (make your own experiments) and take the damper out and check occasionally until it's done.

That's how you make it. It's best eaten with butter and a cup of billy tea.

Originally billy tea should never be drunk with milk and dampers should never be made with self-raising flour

Thanks Jacqueline for the recipe, the authentic one & the revised edition too !!

YAY!!!! I can't wait to try this! My friend used to make this for me all the time, and yeah, with a decent slab of butter, this is one damned yummy bread!!! Thank you for posting the recipe for me, I really appreciate it!!

And if you are genuine bushie you won’t have foil so you roll the dough long and thin and twist it round a stick then turn the stick over hot coals til done (the foil is better though).

yep thats the real bush way.. and you get splinters in your tongue.. LOL...

Yeah... when the splinters get you the cook laughs, because you laughed when he /she burnt their fingers over the coals. But another Bundy cures all these little things eh.

Bundy sure does... lol..

Hope you all had a Happy Aussie Day 8•)

Did everyone have a good one? I'm not even in Australia at the moment....I almost forgot....how Un-Australian of me LOL!

Thanks for the reminder Jaqueline!!!! What did you do to celebrate?

I recommend Peppermint tea with the damper....or if you're a city slicker, trade both for a *Four and Twenty with some Heinz *Big Red and a bottle of Bundaberg Ginger Beer....

*Four and Twenty-brand of meat pie that comes from a supermarket freezer and is made with various forms of roadkill, usually adds five pounds to the scales until completely digested.
(Estimated digestion time: Seven years, six months and 14 days...)

Big Red: Kangaroo of the male variety that reaches over 6ft when upright and has a nasty right hook, also a variety of tomato sauce that goes very nicely with all forms of roadkill, in all stages of decomposition.

LOL @ Soph... My family had a bbq so thats what we did... you cant have peppermint tea with damper... geez.. you gotta have billy boiled normal tea.. Your right about the estimated digestion time of the pies, lol.... but... if your a Queenslander you dont drink Bundy Ginger Beer.. You gotta have a XXXX ....

Or real Bundy :-)

YES!!!

Reminds me of a recipe for those lost in the bush.
It involves a cockatoo and a stone.
(Note that a cockatoo is a native bird that reputably makes extremely tough eating.)

...Place (deceased) cockatoo into water with stone.
...Boil until stone goes soft.
...Throw away cockatoo and eat stone.

- courtesy of my late father.
He never could repeat this without chuckling.

LOL... I've heart that one too.. it's called stone soup... you can always have wombat stew too..