William Deane, I hope you're interesting because Matt just informed me there's another whole Twilight novel online. There's a part of me that wants to skip blogging, and get to reading.
The other issue is my computer mouse is not too healthy. He's making it very hard for me to highlight stuff so I can cut and paste. It makes doing these posts a bit challenging. I need to go and get another mouse.
As for William Deane, he's a Governor-General. Well, he was one. I don't think he's the Governor-General anymore.
He was the Governor-General from 1996 to 2001.
Lord Wiki says Baby William was born 4 January 1931 in Melbourne.
His family was Catholic, and he went to Catholic schools. One of the schools was St. Joseph's College Hunter Hill. It's located in Sydney, so I guess the Deane family moved there. Or maybe they sent William off to boarding school. I would think they could find a good boarding school in Melbourne though.
Lord Wiki lists famous people who have gone to the school. There are a lot of sport folks. A huge amount of the Wallabies went to the school. The school itself mentions their reputation. They say, St Joseph's has a proud reputation of sporting excellence and has produced many great state and national representative sportsmen. Much of the college's success is due to the strong team spirit that is fostered by the unique, tight-knit college community, as well access to first-rate facilities and training opportunities.
Deane went to the University of Sydney where he did arts and law. Then he furthered his education at The Hague Academy of International Law. That's in the Netherlands. I say that for those of you who are as ignorant of European geography as I am.
I actually don't know if Deane went to Hague after the University of Sydney, or if it was an inbetween kind of thing.
Anyway, when he was finished with both programs, he went to live in Canberra. He worked for the Attorney-General Department. This department does a LOT of stuff. Their website provides all kinds of information and links....marriage, crime prevention, human rights, anti-discrimination, etc. Well, I guess it's all law stuff. The site looks fun, and it seems to be a valuable information source. I'm going to bookmark it for future reference.
In 1957, Deane was called to the Sydney Bar. That phrase just cracks me up. It sounds like he was invited to go drinking with some friends. Although, since we're talking Australia, we'd probably need to say called to the pub.
Deane was active in the Catholic Community, and also involved with politics. For a short time, he joined in with the Democratic Labor Party. He fit in with them because they had the Catholic thing going on. But then Deane became disillusioned, and distanced himself from politics for awhile.
In 1977, Deane became the judge of the New South Wales Supreme Court. Soon after that, he was appointed to the Federal Court of Australia. The guy was moving up in the world.
By 1982, he was part of the High Court of Australia. One of the cases he was involved with was the Mabo Case....the land title thing. It seems he voted in support of it. Good!
In February 1996, Deane became the Governor-General. It was Prime Minister Keating who whispered to the queen that it was a good idea. I guess she agreed.
Almost as soon as Deane was in office, the Labor government was replaced with John Howard's Liberal government.
I guess maybe the Governor-General is not supposed to criticize the Prime Minister's Ministry. Lord Wiki says Deane was critical about political/social issues, but remained fairly polite about Howard. In turn, Howard kept his ill-feelings about Deane to himself. Well, I don't know if they kept their feelings to themselves. From what Lord Wiki says, they might have made subtle little digs here and there.
The other issue is my computer mouse is not too healthy. He's making it very hard for me to highlight stuff so I can cut and paste. It makes doing these posts a bit challenging. I need to go and get another mouse.
As for William Deane, he's a Governor-General. Well, he was one. I don't think he's the Governor-General anymore.
He was the Governor-General from 1996 to 2001.
Lord Wiki says Baby William was born 4 January 1931 in Melbourne.
His family was Catholic, and he went to Catholic schools. One of the schools was St. Joseph's College Hunter Hill. It's located in Sydney, so I guess the Deane family moved there. Or maybe they sent William off to boarding school. I would think they could find a good boarding school in Melbourne though.
Lord Wiki lists famous people who have gone to the school. There are a lot of sport folks. A huge amount of the Wallabies went to the school. The school itself mentions their reputation. They say, St Joseph's has a proud reputation of sporting excellence and has produced many great state and national representative sportsmen. Much of the college's success is due to the strong team spirit that is fostered by the unique, tight-knit college community, as well access to first-rate facilities and training opportunities.
Deane went to the University of Sydney where he did arts and law. Then he furthered his education at The Hague Academy of International Law. That's in the Netherlands. I say that for those of you who are as ignorant of European geography as I am.
I actually don't know if Deane went to Hague after the University of Sydney, or if it was an inbetween kind of thing.
Anyway, when he was finished with both programs, he went to live in Canberra. He worked for the Attorney-General Department. This department does a LOT of stuff. Their website provides all kinds of information and links....marriage, crime prevention, human rights, anti-discrimination, etc. Well, I guess it's all law stuff. The site looks fun, and it seems to be a valuable information source. I'm going to bookmark it for future reference.
In 1957, Deane was called to the Sydney Bar. That phrase just cracks me up. It sounds like he was invited to go drinking with some friends. Although, since we're talking Australia, we'd probably need to say called to the pub.
Deane was active in the Catholic Community, and also involved with politics. For a short time, he joined in with the Democratic Labor Party. He fit in with them because they had the Catholic thing going on. But then Deane became disillusioned, and distanced himself from politics for awhile.
In 1977, Deane became the judge of the New South Wales Supreme Court. Soon after that, he was appointed to the Federal Court of Australia. The guy was moving up in the world.
By 1982, he was part of the High Court of Australia. One of the cases he was involved with was the Mabo Case....the land title thing. It seems he voted in support of it. Good!
In February 1996, Deane became the Governor-General. It was Prime Minister Keating who whispered to the queen that it was a good idea. I guess she agreed.
Almost as soon as Deane was in office, the Labor government was replaced with John Howard's Liberal government.
I guess maybe the Governor-General is not supposed to criticize the Prime Minister's Ministry. Lord Wiki says Deane was critical about political/social issues, but remained fairly polite about Howard. In turn, Howard kept his ill-feelings about Deane to himself. Well, I don't know if they kept their feelings to themselves. From what Lord Wiki says, they might have made subtle little digs here and there.
What would our world be like if we
knew for sure there
was life after death, and
we could easily talk to our
dearly-departed on the Internet?
The Dead are Online a novel by Dina Roberts
After Deane left his Governor-General post, he became more open with his John Howard criticisms.
Well, I'm already done with Lord Wiki. This might be a short post. I'm doubting that I'll find that much information about a former Governor-General.
This ABC website lists Australia's favorite people. I think I've seen this site before.
I've already written about half the people on the list. Well, there's only ten people on the list, so that's not too impressive.
Anyway, the important thing is...Deane is on the list. If I include him, then I've written about sixty percent of the people.
The Mabo case wasn't the only famous case he was involved with. He also was involved with the Franklin river case. This was that whole Tasmanian dam thing...one of the few times in world history where the environmentalists actually won. Maybe I'm being pessimistic though. Maybe the environmentalists win more often then I imagine. That would be nice.
Deane supported racial tolerance, reconciliation, and multiculturalism. He's the kind of person I like. I like all that stuff.
In 2000, Deane helped launch a program called Racism. No Way. It's basically a program for school kids. Their website looks great. It has information, games, writings, etc.
They have some quizzes. I'm going to take one. I got nine out of ten on the quiz about migrants, multiculturalism, and refugees. Some of the answers were obvious, though. I don't even think you'd need to know anything about Australia. Since it's an anti-racist website, you can assume that the answer which puts migrants in the most positive light will be the answer. The question I got wrong was about mixed-marriages. I said it was at 30%, and it's really at 50%. I assumed this was about Australians who married foreign-born people. But it was really about Australians from two different cultural origins marrying each other. For example, a Chinese Australian marrying an Italian-Australian, or an Irish-Australian marrying a Greek-Australian.
I'm really into the mixed-marriage thing. I want people to mix all together. If Jack brings home a Korean or Russian-Jewish bride, I shall be a bit disappointed. I think we need to add some fun NEW stuff into our genetic pot. Of course Australian gets TOP points, especially if the Australian has a mixed heritage themselves. Swedish would be awesome. African...cool. Maybe Latino. I like Irish. Chinese would be nice. A Palestinian would add some great drama. It might be a Romeo and Juliet kind of thing.
Ah, I'm dreaming of my perfect grandchildren. I'm like Hitler in reverse. But I promise not to go and kill any people...or order the killing of any people.
Back to the ABC website. They say Deane was so popular, that he was voted as being top choice for President when Australia becomes a Republic. I find that very disturbing. Are they saying that if Australia becomes a Republic, there will be no Parliament and Prime Minister??? I hope not! Maybe the President will replace the Governor-General, but there will still be a Parliament. I hope. Otherwise, I might need to rethink my position on the whole Republic thing. I LOVE Parliament. Australia just wouldn't be the same without the Shadow Ministry.
Here's an interview with Deane on the ActNow website. That's the website that's for young people...teenagers and young adults. They provide a photo of Deane. He reminds me a little bit of Jimmy Stewart.
The interview was done at the 2020 Summit.
Well, I read the interview. Deane is a bit evasive actually. I guess he wasn't supposed to share too much information. At one point, he's asked about the Republic. He replies, Well because of my past life, I need to tread very carefully in expressing any views on that. When the time comes I will probably express my opinion but for now I am just listening and learning.
Intriguing! What is it about his past? Maybe it's about him being the possible president?
Here's an ABC report about Deane's last day as Governor-General. It says he left expressing regret that reconciliation between Aboriginal and other Australians hadn't occurred in the 20th century.
What was the last thing Deane did as Governor-General of Australia? He held a lunch for homeless youth.
Wow. Deane seems like a very decent man.
Oh. His good-bye speech is so sweet. He says, this is a pretty sad time for Helen and me. We've been extraordinarily happy here at Government House. What I would like to say though to all Australians is thank you for the immense privilege of being able to serve in this
office.
I like that he admitted he was sad.
The Racism. No Way website actually has some information about Deane.
They have some quotes from him. I like this one: Where there is no room for national pride or national shame about the past, there can be no national soul. That's beautiful. I think it's so important to recognize both the good and the bad. If people look only at the bad history of Australia, well, then what's the point? Why even stay in Australia? Although I'm not sure anyone could find a country that doesn't have a turbulent past.
If you concentrate on only the positive history of a country, you're in denial. And denial often leads to history repeating itself. Or at the very least, it leads to nasty unsympathetic people.
I'm very sick of nasty unsympathetic people.
I also like what Deane says here. Racism is cruel and unjust. It cuts deep, and lingers long in individual and community memories. And it is not a thing of the past....We all have a duty to do what we can to turn this around.
I agree. It's NOT a thing of the past. It's less legalized now, but it's still there.
One New Years, Deane invited sick children to his home to watch the fireworks. If I read this about some people, I might assume they were doing it all for publicity. But I'm getting really strong and positive vibes from Deane. I feel he's the type of person who truly does care. In honesty, it's probably not vibes. It's probably just that I like what I've read so far.
Although William Deane has prevented me from rushing into the mind of Edward Cullen, I'm glad I wrote about him today. I truly am feeling very disillusioned about humanity. I'm getting to the point where I can tolerate only a very small selection of people. To my defense, though, I feel more and more people are becoming intolerant of me. I must be on a different wave-length or something.
Anyway, I think I NEEDED to read about someone like Deane today. He has cheered me up a bit.
I do like reading about people who are very different from me...people whose views I strongly oppose. But today was one of those days where I needed to read about like-minded people.
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