Shearing senator
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John ‘Wacka’ Williams is returning to the shearing shed.
Senator Wacka may have declared before the last election that the only certainty was he would not be going back to shearing, but he is clearly proud of his former occupation.
Along with Health Minister Sussan Ley, who once worked a shearer’s cook, Wacka will preside over the induction of shearing legends into the Australian Shearers’ Hall of Fame at Hay in southern NSW on Easter Sunday. It’s part of the Festival of the Blades celebrations which On the Pulse understands includes a Shearing Writers’ Forum, working dog trials, blade shearing demonstrations, a celebrity alpaca shear-off, and tours of iconic sheds.
Quiet please
Last Saturday evening, members of Lions clubs gathered in the dining room of the East Inverell Bowling Club for the regional final of the Lions Youth of the Year contest.
When the first speaker, Macintyre High’s Sarah Flick was ready to start there was still chatter among the audience. “They’re adults so you have to make allowances,” quipped the evening’s emcee Tom Cattell.
Recycling words
The mystery of who said “It’s (almost) Easter and it feels like Christmas”, first raised by On the Pulse last week in conjunction with the $30 million election promise for our hospital, seemed solved this week.
Mayor Paul Harmon confidently stepped forward and confirmed to On the Pulse that the one-liner was indeed his.
But just when On the Pulse thought everything was clear, curiosity led to a quick Google search.
On the Pulse wishes it had just left well enough alone, because wouldn’t you know it? The phrase was actually used prior to March 2015! The sentence was recorded on flickriver.com in March 2013, lurvely.com also in March 2013, a person by the name of Nicola Cooper used it on her blog in April 2011 and it was used by ‘The Flying Dutchman’ on Me109.org during March 2008.
Ah, setback.
Seems there’s a possibility it was ‘borrowed’ by the mayor. Nevertheless, On the Pulse stands by its initial impression: it’s a damn good one-liner, and it shows just how strong councillors are on recycling.