July 9, 2022 · 12:39 am

Applauding Professor Trevor Wilson, Historian …. His Memorial Service

Trevor Wilson Eulogies, 24 June 2022

 Jenny Wilson [00:00:24] Emeritus Professor Trevor Gordon Wilson, AM. Known as Trevor to Mum and his colleagues, as Gordon to his daughters and granddaughters, as ‘Trevors’ to his grandson Ben, was born on Christmas Eve in 1928 in Auckland, New Zealand. Sara and my existence depended on a crowded train from Oxford to Manchester and a custard tart. A story that will be told shortly. But Dad’s existence depended on the war that became his great area of research, writing and teaching. The First World War. Trevor’s dad, Andrew Gordon Kingsley Wilson, was fighting as an ANZAC in the trenches in France.

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July 8, 2022 · 11:47 pm

Shane Warne’s Post-Tsunami Philanthropic Reach at Galle and FOG Remembered

Item in THE ISLAND

No foreign cricketer is likely to ever capture the hearts of Sri Lankans quite like Shane Warne did. Yet, of all the heartfelt tributes paid to the spin great on the island he had helped to rebuild from its worst ever natural disaster, the late spin great might have been most touched by a quiet moment in the small village of Seenigama this week. Back in the early 2005 at the urging of Muttiah Muralitharan, Warne had visited the seaside community on Sri Lanka’s south coast, one of many that had been flattened by the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.

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July 8, 2022 · 1:58 pm

Vaddas, Rodiyo and Ahikuntakayo: Some Bibliographcal Items

LC Arulpragasam 2019 “The Veddas in the east of Ceylon in the 1950s,” 13 Oct 2019,https://thuppahis.com/2019/10/13/the-veddas-in-the-east-of-ceylon-in-the-1950s/

Michael Roberts 2017 “The First Settlers and Their Claim to Ownership of Terrain. A Comparative excursion,” 18 January 2017, https://thuppahis.com/2017/01/18/the-first-settlers-and-their-claim-to-ownership-of-terrainstate-a-comparative-excursion/

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July 7, 2022 · 9:32 pm

Aid Across Flood Waters: Dr Enoka Guneratne on Duty

Current Affairs News Item,on Channel Nine, 5 July 2022, where the title reads “Doctor’s mercy dash across surging floodwaters to help patients”

New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet has warned that flooding across the state is far from over. More than 50,000 people are now under flood evacuation orders or warnings and whole suburbs that have been cut off are still in need of access to essential services, which is where Dr Enoka Guneratne comes in. “I come from a third-world country, but I’ve never seen this,” the Richmond doctor, who is originally from Sri Lanka, said about the devastation left by the floods in Sydney’s north-west.

Dr Enoka Guneratne and the SES crew helping her. (A Current Affair)

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July 7, 2022 · 8:58 pm

Introducing Rohini Ravindran in the Kamala Harris Office

DBS Jeyaraj, in his website 28 January 2021, where the title reads thus “US Vice President–Elect Kamala Harris’s Key Sri Lankan Tamil Aide Rohini Lakshmi”

An overwhelming feeling of relief has descended upon the world – not merely the US- after the Presidential elections of the United States of America ended. Joseph Robinette Biden jnr known as Joe Biden is the new US President-elect. Biden’s creditable, credible electoral triumph has ensured that decency, dignity and decorum will once again return to the Oval office of the White House. A double delight in the 46th US President to be’s victory is that of the shattering of glass ceilings by his running mate Kamala Harris. The new US Vice President- elect would not only be the first US woman vice-president but will also be the first person of Afro-Caribbean origin and South Asian descent to be elected to that post.

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July 4, 2022 · 12:43 am

Prosecute the Financial Coterie Who Guided Sri Lanka into An Abyss

Sanjeewa Jayaweera, in The Island, 3 July 2022, where the title runs thus “When will the Gang of Four be held accountable for their irresponsible decisions?”

Most living in Sri Lanka feel like they have got into the boxing ring with Muhammad Ali. The ferocious punches thrown regularly are taking their toll, with most either on their knees or on the canvas. The final punch that will knock us out seems inevitable, but the question is when? Cabraal, W D Lakshman, P B Jayasundara and S R Attyglla

The Group of Four: SR Attygalle, N. Cabraal, PB Jayasundera, WD Lakshman

The pounding started initially with queues to buy milk powder for children, which then got extended to buying cooking gas, then to long power cuts, and now to queues extending several kilometres to buy petrol, diesel, and kerosene. Along the journey of suffering, we have also been penalized with hyperinflation. The saying “it never rains but it pours” seems so accurate.

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July 3, 2022 · 7:23 pm

Doug Walters: The Laconic Aussie Allrounder & Maestro

Lawrence Machado ….. an article was published in the Hills to Hawkesbury Community News (https://hillstohawkesbury.com.au/doug-walters-am/)

Kevin Doug Walters, one of Australia’s iconic and much-loved cricketers, has been awarded Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for significant service to cricket at an elite level. This adds to his MBE awarded in 1975, Centenary Medal in 2003, and an inductee into Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1994.

The incomparable Doug Walters played 17 seasons for Parramatta District Cr.icket Club Picture: PDCC

The North Rocks local took the award with his customary humour, telling the Hills to Hawkesbury Community News: “I was very surprised as I thought I was over the age for these sorts of things!”

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July 3, 2022 · 3:14 pm

Asylum Australia for Sri Lankans? THEN and NOW

Michael Roberts 

Through the first decade of the 21st century fishing trawlers attempted to breach the Australian borders with illegal migrants and this process continued even after Eelam War IV ended in May 2009 …. indeed, even receiving a boost because of the circumstances of considerable segments of the SL Tamil populace in Sri Lanka and in refugee camps in southern India.

In July 2012 I presented a BIBLIOGRAPHY on this topic in Thuppahi and I call attention to it here: …………. ………………………………………. http://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2012/07/30/a-flourishing-bibliographical-tree-tamil-migration-asylum-seekers-and-australia/

epa03396379 A young girl from a group of Sri Lankan asylum seekers as they arrive at Bungus port, near Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia 13 September 2012. At least 40 asylum seekers from Sri Lanka were transferred from Mentawai Islands, West Sumatra to the Immigration Detention Pekan Baru, Riau. Total number of migrants for 2012 is close to 10,000, with many of them Afghans, Iraqis and Iranians who have paid people-smugglers to ferry them from Indonesia to Australia. EPA/STRINGER

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July 3, 2022 · 2:54 pm

More Abject Prostrations from Sri Lanka!

Chandrasena Maliyadde = “Beating the Fuel and Energy Crisis”

The shortage of fuel and energy has brought the whole of Sri Lanka to a standstill and its citizenry of all walks to mile-long queues. It disrupts social movements, economic activities, business and production of all scales in all the sectors. Addressing the Parliament, on 7th June, Prime Minister (PM) has stated that we have to find $3,300 million for fuel and $250 million for gas over the next six months and that “We need to find new ways as an alternative to the traditional ways if we are to elevate the country from this position”.

 

 

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July 3, 2022 · 2:47 pm

Royal: The History of a Hostel & the Sociology of a School

Uditha Devapriya, in The Island, 2 July 2022, with input from Uthpala Wijesooriya, Pasindu Nimsara, and Keshan Themira &  archival images courtesy of the J. R. Jayewardene Centre

Somewhere in July, the Hostel of Royal College, Colombo will unveil its annual Day. Organised after seven long years, the Hostel Day will incorporate a number of aesthetic, cultural, and sports events. Many of them have been held over the last two months and a few are yet to be finalised. In the face of an unprecedented economic crisis, it has been a challenge to have held them at all. For the residents of the Hostel, it has also been a baptism of fire, no less than a continuation of what was once a long tradition.

the young co-authors    Royal Colleg Hostet – Group Photo

 

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