Diversity, SIEV X and Kangaroos

It's been a fascinating two days so far in Canberra. Yesterday I was able to rest most of the day, as my hosts had other things they needed to do: this has been very good for the dodgy knee! In the evening I was meeting with Canberra Friends for a workshop on 'Diversity of Quaker Belief': there were a dozen people present most of the time, and it all went down well and provoked some good discussion. One of the questions I ask people to consider is 'What do Christians see as the essential beliefs to make someone a Christian?': answers to this have been surprisingly variable. Australians do seem somewhat more liberal than the average church in Britain, and there was considerable debate as to whether believing that Jesus was uniquely God incarnate was necessary in order to be a Christian. I won't give away the other talking point yet, as there are more Quaker groups to work with on this subject! As ever, we started with a bring and share meal which ended with a refreshing fruit salad: they do do fruit well in Australia, and seem to be able to grow almost anything here. Such a change after all the imported stuff with high food miles that we get in the UK - though one has to remember that Australia itself is a huge country and 'local' may mean 'only 500 km away' - all distances are in kilometres here. Catch up, Britain!

This morning I was up with the lark, at 6.30 a.m. for a dawn visit to the SIEV X memorial. The Suspected Illegal Entry Vessel X was a 20m boat filled with over 400 Indonesians, some apparently forced on at gunpoint by the Indonesian police, and allowed to sink with the loss of over 350 lives, mostly women and children, by the Australian navy 'protecting the borders' in 2001, at the height of an election campaign with immigration a big issue. The memorial has a post for each life lost, and some are laid out in the size and shape of the boat. It is all beside a lake, and each post is decorated by a sponsor. It was a moving experience.

Before we got there, however, I saw my first kangaroos! These were in the park where the memorial is located, and were in the wild in their natural state. It was fascinating to see them hopping around, very much symbolising this amazing land with its contrasts and its riches. Also happening were balloon flights, half a dozen hot air balloons drifting across the sky in the morning sun. What an eventful early morning!

Later today I'm going to the Australian Quaker Centre, and I'll write about that in the next post.