#colonial days

[yr-obedt-cicero]

Hi! If you don’t mind me asking what is up with the nicknames in the 1700s/1800s? Bc literally like Martha Washington JR was nicknamed “Patsy” and I don’t see how that works anyways love ya! <333

Hello. The simple answer is, colonists were weird with nicknames.

“Patsy” was a nickname for names like Martha and Matilda, like how “Polly” was a nickname for Mary. Oftentimes, M's were changed to P's, and a feminine suffix was added at the end. Additionally, the nicknames were usually an altered version of a nickname. So, it would roughly follow down the pipelines of nicknames like “Peggy” for “Margaret”; Margaret → Meg/Meggy → Peg/Peggy. Or Mary → Molly → Polly. Elizabeth → Beth → Betsey.

As you can see this with many figures like Margaret “Peggy” Schuyler, Martha “Patsy” Jefferson, Mary “Polly” Eleanor Laurens, Elizabeth “Betsey” Schuyler, etc, etc. It is similar with the nickname “Neddy”; Edward → Ed/Eddy → Ned/Neddy.

[scotianostra]

On January 31st 1761 Lachlan MacQuarie, was born on Ulva, a small isle off the island of Mull.

Lachlan joined the Army in 1776 (aged 14) and served in Nova Scotia as well as New York and Jamaica. As a lieutenant he served in India from 1787 to 1801 and later in Egypt where he was involved in defeating the army of Napoleon. In 1810 Macquarie became Governor of New South Wales at a time when it was still being used as a penal colony. The previous Governor had been Captain Bligh of the “Bounty”.

Macquarie followed a policy of encouraging the former convicts to settle in Australia - despite opposition from the “free settlers” who wanted to retain privileges only for themselves. Australia would be a different place if he had not succeeded. He transformed Australia into a thriving country and Sydney from a shanty town to a Georgian city and is regarded as the “Father of Australia”.

His policy concerning the Aboriginals was an expression of the same humanitarian conscience. He organized the Native Institution (a school for Aboriginal children), a village at Elizabeth Bay for the Sydney tribe, an Aboriginal farm at George’s Head. Orders of merit and even an old general’s uniform were bestowed on deserving chiefs.

It must be noted also that he ordered The Appin Massacre, to round up all Aboriginal people in the area after some unrest. Those who resisted were to be shot. On 16 April 1816, at least 14 were killed by shooting; others were driven to jump to their deaths into a rocky gorge, near Broughton Pass.

So he wasn’t perfect, but who is, a bit of a rogue as well by all accounts, was adverse a wee bit of embezzlement, but managed to wriggle out of it, “laws” he laid down were of the strict Presbyterian upbringing on the Islands on the Inner Hebrides, nude sunbathing was banned as was “shooting a neighbour’s dog on a Sunday” As a Scot his ability to have a good drink were evident, of his army life in India he “took to the field” with “eight dozen bottles of brandy and Madeira” and “a quantity of gin”. One of his diary entries, penned after a big night out, shakily read, “No beer for three months’!

For the Australians reading this Lachlan also set aside land in Sydney for "recreation and amusement of the inhabitants of the town” He named it Hyde Park, it was here Australia’s first sanctioned horse racing took place. At one of the fairs at the park he organised, “ladies raced in sacks for a cheese” where men would bet on the results and have a laugh! At another two men competed in a mile foot race before slugging it out for 56 rounds in Australia’s first bare knuckle prize fight. Now the remark about the sack race might make you think he was a misogynist, maybe he was, but he was ahead of his time and a revolutionary for the fairer sex, giving plum jobs to women, with reformed banknote thief Elizabeth Killett appointed to run the Sydney Market.

But his liberal attitude to the convicts finally was his downfall, Macquarie’s critics sparked a British government inquiry into his rule and the governor resigned, setting sail for Britain in 1822 with a shipload of kangaroos for his friends and patrons it was said that…

“as a Scotsman he was drawn to an animal with an inbuilt sporran”. Other men may lay claim to be “The Father of Australia” but are any as colourful as oor Lachlan?

Macquarie died in London in 1824 while fighting charges made against him as Governor. He was buried in a Mausoleum on the Isle of Mul in a mausoleum near Salen with his wife, daughter and later son. The grave is maintained by the National Trust of Australia and is inscribed “The Father of Australia”.

As I stated earlier, and with a lot of these anniversaries about people born during the days of the British Empire, Macquarie was heavily involved in atrocities. I will point to one quote attributed to him....... in 1816 around the time of the Appin massacre, that all Indigenous people “from Sydney onwards are to be made prisoners of war, and if they resist they are to be shot and their bodies hung from trees in the most conspicuous places near where they fall, so as to strike terror into the hearts of the surviving natives”

You can find out loads about him online one of the sources can be found at the link at the bottom. The BBC made a drama-documentary in 2011 called The Father of Australia, https://nativistherald.com.au/2018/04/20/australias-founding-fathers-lachlan-macquarie/

[norrisjm]

Oliver Miller Homestead

[kropotkindersurprise]

January 25, 2024 - A day before the celebration of "Australia day" the statue of Captain Cook in St. Kilda, Australia, was sawn off at the ankles, with the words "The Colony Will Fall" painted on the statue's plinth.

[la7ma-mafrooma]

It's international women's day. White feminists will speak about the hijab being "oppressive" but will not speak about the IOF abducting Palestinian women, stripping them of their hijab, and denying them the right to wear it.

It's international women's day. White feminists will tell you the importance of making period products free, but will remain silent when Palestinian women and little girls in Gaza have to use leftover fabric from tents because aid is blocked and they don't have pads.

It's international women's day. White feminists will gladly share fake accusations -which have been debunked- about mass rapes against Israeli women, but will completely ignore the sexual violence and rape threats Palestianian hostages have been and are subjected to in Israeli prisons.

It's international women's day. White feminists will scream about women's education and the Taliban -even though they only use it for their Islamophobic agendas, not out of concern- and they will remain silent when we say schools and universities in Gaza have been bombed, and there is an educational crisis.

Stop looking the other way. Stop being silent. Free Palestine.

[liberaljane]

Digital illustration of an indigenous man with two braids wearing a jean jacket. There's text that reads, 'Columbus didn't discover anything.'

[seohyun0306]

Today, April 27th, marks 30 years since the official end of South African apartheid and the first democratic election ever held in the republic. Like Nelson Mandela said, our freedom is still incomplete without the freedom of Palestine. Just as the South African apartheid regime was crushed, so shall Israel.

[useless-bulgariafacts]

Whatever the case, feel free to write long-winded explanations in the tags, I WILL read them!

[sayruq]

[cavalierzee]

Zionists Morphing Into Nazis

During the Holocaust, Nazis would paint the Star of David on the homes of Jewish people – marking them for forced eviction.

Zionists do the same to Palestinians. The Star of David marks a Palestinian home for eviction, and then destruction.

Ousman Noor

[scotianostra]

July 23rd 1773 saw the birth of Thomas Makdougall Brisbane.

Brisbane was born at Brisbane House in Noddsdale, near Largs in Ayrshire, the son of Sir Thomas Brisbane and Dame Eleanora Brisbane. He was educated in astronomy and mathematics at the University of Edinburgh.

Thomas joined the British Army in 1789, enjoying a distinguished career in Flanders, the West Indies, Spain and North America. Indeed, such was the impression he made that it was the Duke of Wellington himself who made the recommendation that Sir Thomas serve in Australia in 1821.

As Governor of New South Wales – a post he held until 1825 – he immediately began working on a series of reforms to tackle the problems of a rapidly expanding colony. This included improvements to the land grants system, currency reform, and experiments in growing tobacco, cotton, coffee and flax.

His keen interest in science led him to become the first President of the Philosophical Society of Australasia (now the Royal Society of New South Wales) and he established the colony’s first agricultural training college, also assuming the role of first patron of the New South Wales Agricultural Society.

It was during this period that the famous city that now bears his name was established, a fact that is entwined in the history of the transportation of convicts to the area. Sir Thomas was looking for a new site to house repeat offenders and was shown an area around a large river at Moreton Bay. By 1824, convicts had moved in and both the river and the area became known as Brisbane. 

After returning to Scotland in 1825, he was elected President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1832, succeeding Sir Walter Scott, and was created a baronet in 1836. While continuing his astronomical research, he received honorary degrees from both Oxford and Cambridge universities, and was President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.

He regarded his greatest achievements, however, as those that benefited his own community. He established the Largs Brisbane Academy to give local children the opportunity of a better education, and made provision for a new sewage system in the town to clear the streets of dirty water. This effectively reduced the prevalence of deadly diseases in the area, including the scourges of cholera and typhoid. He is remembered in the town today in the names of Brisbane Glen, Brisbane House and the Thomas Makdougall Brisbane Bridge.

On his death in 1860, Sir Thomas was  lauded: as a dedicated military leader, effective governor and celebrated astronomer.  He is buried in the Brisbane Aisle Vault, which is in the small kirkyard next to the remains of Largs Old Kirk, as seen in the second pic.

Much more info for the diehards here https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/brisbane-sir-thomas-makdougall-1827

[mismaxx]

“The West's post-Holocaust pledge that genocide would never again be tolerated proved to be hollow, and for all the fine sentiments inspired by the memory of Auschwitz, the problem remains that denouncing evil is a far cry from doing good.” ― Philip Gourevitch

[sonyaheaneyauthor]

24th August 1991: Ukrainians celebrate their declaration of independence. X

The majority of people in every region of Ukraine voted to break free from the Soviet Union.

[fiercynn]

On 7th June 2022, Afro-Palestinians of the Old City of Jerusalem rejoiced; their brother Mohammad Firawi was finally coming home.  It had been five long years since Firawi – then a twelfth grader in the middle of school exams – was accused of throwing stones at Israeli police, taken away from his home and shuttled around nine Israeli prisons. Now aged 25, he was ready to be back in the African Quarter, and they were ready to welcome him.  The community’s joy was interrupted, however, when two days later, Israeli intelligence re-arrested and expelled Firawi from Jerusalem for a week. Their reason? That he “defied Israeli orders to refrain from celebrating [his release].” Re-arrest is common practice after prisoners’ release, for reasons as impossible to justify as they are to fight. When one’s existence is made a crime, even moments of joy are closely monitored and policed.   “[The] Israeli occupation wants to prohibit any expression of happiness in the community,” Firawi tells Skin Deep, “even adopting the policy of prohibiting any symbols resembling Palestinian identity, including the Palestinian flag. They fight anything they believe negates their alleged sovereignty in Jerusalem.”

[archiesoniconline]

Sonictober 2024 Day 11! Theme: Space. Their old favorite viewing spot of the planet below, now a place of mourning instead of comfort. Is this paying respects, or simply self-imposed torture? Only that brilliant sunrise knows for sure…

Art by AidenEye

[lotusinjadewell]

Huế, Vietnam. Credit to itscthinh (Instagram).