Patriot Realm

Back in 1904, HG Wells wrote a short story about a man who stumbled into a forgotten kingdom where everyone was blind. He thought that would give him incredible power because he possessed something that they did not. The ability to see.

He soon learned that his gift of sight was seen by the villagers as an affliction of the brain that must be caused by two things on his head that he called eyes. They pitied him and, instead of being a gift, the eyes were perceived as a curse, an illness and a disturbance of his brain.

It did not take long before the man realised that, when surrounded by the blindness of ignorance, knowledge itself was an enemy to be ousted and eradicated.

How many of us today feel as though we have stumbled into a land of the blind and our ability to see is regarded as an evil affliction to be stamped and cut out?

In this world of misery and mayhem, violence and vitriol, chaos and calamity, I often think of a man I call Mr Beaconsfield. 

Redhead and I met him in Tasmania, Australia,  when we were on a motoring holiday some years ago. We had visited the museum dedicated to the Beaconsfield mining disaster. For those of you who do not know of it, the Beaconsfield Mine collapse, occurred in Tasmania, on April 25, 2006. The incident gained international attention due to the dramatic rescue efforts and the survival of two miners who were trapped underground for an extended period.

It was a gold mine, and the collapse happened about 925 metres underground. Three miners were initially trapped: Todd Russell, Brant Webb, and Larry Knight. Unfortunately, Larry Knight lost his life in the collapse.

The rescue operation became a major focus for emergency services and mining experts. The two surviving miners were located in a small steel cage that had been partially buried by fallen rocks. The rescue operation involved drilling a borehole to reach the trapped miners, and communication was established with them through a small PVC pipe.

Flysa spent some of the early years of his life managing construction projects in the northwest of Western Australia to assist in the transportation of iron ore. The projects comprised railways, bridges, and wharves. But how did the iron ore get there? To answer that question, we have to go back a few years.

About 4.5 billion years ago, the Earth was formed as a sphere of molten rock from gases emitted by the Sun. Over millions of years, the surface gradually cooled and formed a solid, uneven, crust with constant upthrust from the molten interior (magma). Volcanic emissions from the molten interior, which broke through the crust, released water vapour into the atmosphere, which gradually condensed and fell as rain, covering the lower depressions in the earth’s surface with water by the force of gravity, thus forming the oceans. Cometary impact also contributed water to the oceans. That all occurred about 3.8 billion years ago. All the time the mountains were pushed up by the magma at the rate of a few millimetres a year, which continues to this day.

Some time ago,  I watched the Netflix Mini series " The Railway Men. " What a great tribute to the Railway employees who saved thousands of lives during the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. 

The incident, one of the most devastating industrial disasters in history, occurred on the night of December 2-3, 1984, in the city of Bhopal, India.

The incident not only left a tragic mark on the affected community but also raised critical questions about industrial safety, corporate responsibility, and the environmental impact of chemical disasters.

The catastrophe unfolded at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant when a lethal gas, methyl isocyanate (MIC), leaked into the atmosphere. The gas quickly spread across the densely populated city, affecting thousands of residents while they slept. The immediate and severe health effects included respiratory problems, blindness, and various other life-threatening complications.

The birth of Australia’s iron ore industry was a transformative moment in the nation’s history, paving the way for its global economic standing. Central to this story is the collaboration between Lang Hancock, a maverick prospector from Western Australia, and Henry J. Kaiser, a pioneering American industrialist and businessman.

Their partnership in the mid-20th century marked a critical chapter in Australia’s journey to becoming one of the world's leading iron ore exporters.

Lang Hancock, often regarded as the "father of the Pilbara," made his monumental discovery of vast iron ore deposits in Western Australia's Hamersley Ranges in 1952. This discovery came at a time when Australia’s iron ore resources were largely untapped due to government-imposed export restrictions, stemming from fears of domestic shortages. Hancock’s find, however, revealed the enormous potential of the Pilbara region, which would become a global hub for iron ore mining.

Hancock was not merely a prospector; he was a visionary who foresaw the immense economic opportunities that lay within the Pilbara’s red earth. He was also fiercely entrepreneurial, seeking partners who could help transform his vision into reality.

Henry Kaiser was a towering figure in American industry, with a legacy spanning shipbuilding, steel manufacturing, and construction. By the 1960s, Kaiser had turned his attention to international opportunities, including mining. Known for his bold and innovative approach to business, Kaiser saw in Australia’s iron ore deposits a chance to supply the burgeoning demand from post-war Japan and other industrialising nations.