Remembrance day (November 11), 2007, Adelaide River, Northern Territory. Janie at the unveiling of a plaque in remembrance of the nurses. At the hospital siding at North Australian Railway at Adelaide River. The last bombing raid in topend [and over mainland Aust] was 12th November 1943 over Adelaide River. (not my photo.) No decent websites to direct you to, so I am bunging in Janie's speech. "The NT Nursing Museum at Charles Darwin University and the Friends of the North Australia Railway [NAR] welcome you to Adelaide River. Welcome to the Hospital Siding of the Railway for this unveiling of a plaque celebrating nurses. "I am Janie Mason, representing the Nursing Museum. I will speak first about the significance of this plaque commemorating nurses and the significance of this special place to celebrate nurses and nursing. "Trevor Horman of the Friends of the North Australia Railway will follow, to talk of the importance of the railway in Territory history and particularly during the defence of the north during the early years of WWII. Lieutenant Colonel Nothard will speak of nurses serving with the Australian Defence Forces, and Rob Knight, the elected member for Daly, will speak and unveil the plaque. " Welcome. "Welcome everyone to this celebration of nurses, this celebration of nursing. "Welcome first to our special guests today, our Nursing Museum volunteers, Sue Green, Jenny Hanley and Jaci O'Brien. They are our most constant, consistent and long term volunteers. They have moved our small museum from mere collections of memorabilia to professional museum practice, unexpected in small community museums. This professionalising has been with the advice and support of Museums and Art Gallery NT [MAGNT], especially the Regional Museums Officer, Sue Harlow. "Welcome also to ... Professor Sandra Speedy, Head of School of Health Sciences at Charles Darwin University Warren Snowden, MHR, Member for Lingiari ... "Welcome to nurses from the hospitals and clinics, from general practices, aged care, Charles Darwin University, nurses retired and still working. Welcome to MAGNT staff and Museums Australia NT, to the RSL, current serving army personnel, and Historical Society NT. "Welcome nurses and friends A SPECIAL PLACE: ADELAIDE RIVER,NORTHERN TERRITORY "We celebrate today nurses who served our country, both military and civilian. And we celebrate in a special place in the history of our country. "Most people, if they know anything of Adelaide River in the Northern Territory, know only of the War Cemetery and maybe, its civilian section with the post office memorial. In the centre of the war graves however, is a pedestal with names of those who died in this arena of war. They are buried elsewhere or their bodies have nto been found. Among those names, is a nurse - Sister Margaret de Mestre. She was on the hospital ship Manunda when it was hit in the first bombing raid over Darwin, 19th February 1942. She refused evacuation and stayed with her patients, to die later from her wounds. "Probably few are aware that Adelaide River was the biggest defence forces base in the southern hemisphere, as mainland Australia was attacked in WWII. A tent hospital for 1200 patients was situated not far from this hospital siding, on the sourthern side of the river - the 119th AGH. The words on the plaque being unveiled today are from Lorna Laffer, a nurse based at the 119th AGH who worked over a year on the hospital train. "It was from this siding, originally a spur line for cattle pick-up, that patients were transhipped south on the hospital train. The patients were carried in converted cattle carriages. For an understanding of how big this Adelaide River base was, there is a helpful model on display in the Adelaide River Railway Refreshment Rooms, so lovingly maintained by the Friends of NAR. THE HEROIC AND THE MUNDANE OF NURSING "It is appropriate that we celebrate here today by unveiling a plaque with the words of a nurse who worked here. It is interesting to consider Lorna Laffer's words. They celebrate both the heroic, moving, idealistic , as well as the mundane and ordinary. " The Nurses' Memorial at the Australian War Memorial [Canberra] also has this mix of the heroic and the mundane. It is set almost inconguously, amongst the large and heroic statues of men and their guns and tanks, striving and conquering. The nurses' memorial in contrast, is low-set, two rippling panels of glass. My taxi driver called it the shower screen. "It is interesting that the quotations on those glass panels are also this miz of heroic and mundane. When I left there after my first visit, and today several visits later, I still remember best, the mundane- the nruse who grew tomatoes for tomato sandwiches, to give the patients some variety in their diet. These words show so clearly how much the nurse was, often stillis, the Jack

So the other day I'm getting ready to leave the house and I see this guy on the stoop of my neighbor's house across the street. In some bizarre byproduct of professional paranoia, those of us in the private eye biz have a crazy sort of sixth sense for spotting each other. So, like Obi Wan sensing a disturbance in the Force, I say to myself, "I bet that guy's a PI." I hunker down to watch and grab my camera. He's obviously older than me and probably has been in the game longer than I have and you never know when you might pick up a good piece of tradecraft. Or, if things go pear-shaped I have a front row seat, can document it in photos and call the cops if it gets out of hand. So I watch this guy knock for, like, 10 minutes straight and peer into the windows. I find myself hoping that I don't look so ham handed and obvious when I'm out hunting someone up. Then, he opens my neighbor's mailbox and flips through the letters. He also opens up and searches through a gym bag on the stoop. To top it off, he goes to my neighbor's truck and searches through the tool bin in the bed. Friends, this is just wrong. This guy has just committed three criminal acts. Minor yes, but still wrong. And, he's so fucking clueless that he doesn't know that I've got him on film doing it. My profession takes a lot of hits as being sleazy and underhanded, mostly fueled by stereotypes in popular entertainment. In any event, public perception of what I do is usually pretty negative. So, guys like Poundcake here piss me off. I call the cops and report him as a suspicious character and report that I observed and have evidence of him tampering with mail and committing trespass to chattel. Then I go and confront the guy. Sure enough, he tells me it's okay, he's a private eye and he needs to talk to my neighbor about a case he's on. I don't really know my neighbor. He's perfectly acceptable as neighbors go. Quiet, works in one of the construction trades and drives a large enough truck that I suspect that he's compensating for a small package. A regular guy. I feel no obligation to help out Poundcake with any information. Instead, I ask for a business card and to see his license. He tells me he's out of cards and refuses to show me his license. I now suspect that he's an ex-cop working unlicensed. This seriously burns me up. I spend on average $2,000/year in licensing fees and state mandated insurance to operate legally. When the TPD cruiser rolls up I show the cop MY license, tell him that I have photos of Poundcake committing some misdemeanors and I inform the cop that if Poundcake is operating without a license that that is another gross misdemeanor. I sense from behind me that Poundcake doesn't like me anymore. Friends, if I ever get that fat, dress like a used car salesman and become blatantly sloppy in my fieldwork, please, please intervene