The Tingle Factor Box

Roaming Roy Is Across Land - Crosslands Reserve

This week, Roy decided he wanted to visit one of the places he knows about close to home, but which he had never visited. Although Roy loves to spend time in the great outdoors he, like so many others, doesn't always make the time to visit places in the local area, often going further afield. He had heard and read a lot about Crosslands Reserve, and had been told that it was a beautiful place, but he didn't remember ever visiting, so thought this would be a good time to change all that.

Roaming Roy Finds A Not So Slithery Friend - Blue Tongue Lizards

Earlier this week, Roy had some friends visit him at home. As they were looking out the back window, they saw a reptilian head poking out of the bushes and panicked. They thought it was a huge brown snake, or a death adder and were all for calling the fire brigade to remove it, or even kill it, but Roy pointed out that it was just one of his lizard friends. He loves the lizards we have, particularly the blue tongues and would not want to hear of them being moved, or worse, hurt by someone who didn't realise what they were.

Roaming Roy Is Among The Weeds - Lantana at Cattai National Park

This week, Roy decided it was time to go for a picnic. He loves picnics, but with so much rain this Summer, he’s not had as many as he would like. When we finally had a sunny weekend, he headed out to Cattai National Park for a look at the historic farm and homestead and to have a picnic by the river. As we drove into the park, we passed masses and masses of a weed called Lantana. He became curious about where this weed came from and decided to investigate.

Roaming Roy Marches Through History - Scheyville National Park

This week, Roy decided it was time for another picnic. He had made sausage rolls on Friday and had a few leftover. Cold sausage rolls are something which Roy thinks make perfect picnic food, so now we just needed to think of somewhere to go to eat them! Roy has been really interested in Scheyville National Park for some time. We drive past regularly on our way to various places, and once we even drove in to have a peek. There were lots of historic buildings around, and Roy just knew it must have a fascinating history. So this week, he decided to find out more and have a picnic at Scheyville.

Roaming Roy Looks After The Salvos

Today, Christmas Day, is traditionally a day for family, gift giving and fun. Roy loves Christmas, but he never forgets that gift giving isn’t just about the people you know. Sometimes the nicest gifts are the ones which help others. Many of his friends leave gifts under communal ‘giving trees’ to be sent to those who are less fortunate and others donate food or toys to charity to be distributed. Yet all too often, charity is something people think about only at Christmas time.

You might remember that last year, for New Year, Roy made a piggy bank. He named her Petunia and decided to fill her up throughout the year and then donate her to charity. All year, Roy and I have been filling her up with loose change, money left on the end of the bench and coins we found. She was a very heavy, healthy little pig by this Christmas! A few weeks ago Roy donated Petunia to his chosen charity and this week he wanted to tell you who that charity was and why he chose it.

When Roy was thinking about charities he could donate Petunia to, shortly after he finished making her, he kept thinking back to something my Great Grandma used to say; ‘always look after the Salvos, because they always look after us’. Her husband had been in the fledgling Australian Airforce during the First World War and the Salvation Army provided him much support and assistance. He told her 'you must never turn your back on the Salvos'. Roy decided that Gran and Great Grandpa would like it if Petunia went to the Salvos, but then began to wonder what else the Salvation Army did during Gran's lifetime which made them so well loved. Gran was born in 1903 and lived through two World Wars, the Great Depression and a variety of other hardships. Throughout these times, the Salvos were always there, and their dedication to helping people made them very important to many Australians.

The Salvation Army are a specific denomination of Christian Church. They believe that they can best express love for God through helping people. Although they are Christian, and are religious people, they don’t only help those who share their faith. In fact, they are one of the biggest and most active social welfare providers in the world! The Salvation Army has been active in Australia for well over 100 years. Edward Saunders and John Gore met accidentally in Adelaide in 1880 and decided to start the Salvation Army movement in Australia. They wrote to the General in England for help and held the first Salvation Army meeting in the Botanic Gardens in Adelaide, 1880. Within two years they had established congregations in Sydney and Melbourne. Throughout all of their history, they have emphasised the importance of helping people. Even at the first ever meeting an invitation was extended to anyone who hadn’t had a good meal to go home with Gore to share his tea! During the wars they provided physical and spiritual support to soldiers, and in the photo above, which Roy owns, you can see them distributing doughnuts to servicemen in France. Similarly, during the Depression they were there to help where possible, distributing aid and support without discrimination. As Gran said ‘always look after the Salvos, because they always look after us’.

Roaming Roy Finds Himself In A Hole- Campbelltown Cattle Tank and Reservoir

This week, Roy was thinking about how it would soon be getting warm and baby animals would be being born. This made him think about Australia's farming history, and how people were able to farm the land, raise animals and move them from place to place in such a hot and often dry land. Roy is always fascinated by the way in which people manipulated the land and the resources to allow farming to take place in Australia, and one of the places he finds most interesting is the Cattle Tank in Campbelltown. He thought this would be a perfect place to visit this week.

Roaming Roy Roughs It In The Pines – The Pines and Roughley House

This week, Roy had great plans for where he wanted to go. He has a friend who works in various museums, and she had been telling him all about an historic house she knows which isn’t far from our home, The Pines and Roughley House. Roy loves historic houses, and is always fascinated to see how people lived in the past, so he wanted to make sure to visit soon. When he arrived, he fell in love with the beautiful farm house, and wanted to tell all his friends about it too.

Roaming Roy Finds A Mates Memorial - The Sphinx War Memorial

This week, with ANZAC Day commemorations so close Roy decided he wanted to visit somewhere where he could reflect on the people who fought in the war, not only those who died but also those whose lives were changed forever. When we think of war we tend to think of the people who lost their lives fighting for their country, but think less about the survivors and what their lives were like. How it would be to live when you had lost so many friends. Roy wanted to visit somewhere which commemorated both those who died and those who lived, and so thought it was the perfect time to take you to a touching memorial in Sydney. A few weeks ago he visited Lady Davidson Hospital (to read about his visit click here), and this reminded him of a fascinating and beautiful War Memorial close to the hospital itself, the Sphinx Memorial.

The Sphinx Memorial is inside the Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park, just inside the Turramurra Gate. To get there, follow Bobbin Head Road from the Pacific Highway at Turramurra. You can visit any day at times when the park is open, but make sure to check the sign to find out what time the gates shut, especially if you come by car, as you don't want to be locked in! The Sphinx Memorial is also the start or end point for some of the walking tracks through the national park.

The Sphinx Memorial is a very special war memorial and unlike any other Roy has visited. Not only is it an amazing sculpture, it was created by one man, a soldier, in memory of his friends and comrades. The soldiers name was William Shirley and he was staying at Lady Davidson Hospital. During the war he had fought with the AIF and while on the Western Front he was gassed, like so many others. Then, he suffered from Tuberculosis and came to stay at Lady Davidson. Between 1926 and 1928, while he was a patient at the hospital, Shirley worked on creating the Sphinx Memorial, his own personal commemoration of his comrades in the AIF. The Sphinx is carved from sandstone and bears the inscription:

To my glorious comrades of the A.I.F
by the late W. Shirley
No 5756 Pte. 13th Battalion
Died 27th August 1929

Shirley died in 1929, not that long after he completed the memorial.

You might wonder why Shirley chose the Sphinx as the theme for his memorial. In World War One the ANZACs were heading overseas to train before being sent on to the battlefields. At first, they were to go to England and from there join the fight in France or the Middle East, but when Turkey declared itself an ally of Germany, the ships were diverted to Egypt. Camp was set up near Cairo at a place called Mena and the ANZACs set to training. The training, which was not far from the ancient wonders of the Pyramids and the Sphinx was intense and difficult, but the ANZACs did get a little bit of time off and visited Cairo as well as touring the Pyramids and the Sphinx. This training was probably the inspiration for the Sphinx War Memorial.

 

Roaming Roy Finds A Little Piece Of Ireland - Irish Martyr's Monument

This week, with St Patricks Day only a few days away, Roy decided he would like to take his friends somewhere which had a great Irish history, in keeping with the day. Now, there are plenty of Irish people in Australia, and have been since Australia was first settled by Europeans, and there are also plenty of Irish places we could visit. Yet there was one in particular which Roy wanted to show you - the Irish Martyr's Monument in Waverley Cemetery. He had visited the monument before, when he last visited Waverly Cemetery (to see his post click here), and was stunned by its beauty and decided that it would be the perfect place to visit for St Patricks Day.

Roaming Roy Finds A Park That's Just Apples - Granny Smith Memorial Park

This week, Roy decided he would like to investigate something a little closer to home. Later this week, March 9th, is the anniversary of the death of one of Australia's most important Granny's - Granny Smith, who died in 1870. Now, you might recognise the name Granny Smith as a type of apple, but when Roy asked his friends how many of them knew about the history of this apple, he was surprised to discover that very few of them knew who Granny Smith actually was! So this week, Roy decided he would like to take you all to what remains of the site of her orchard and tell you about Granny Smith and her famous apples.