A is for Accident

Any regular readers may have noticed a new image on the right hand-side of this blog, as well as a new page tap above this post 'April 2012's A to Z Blogging Challenge'. Today, therefore, is day one of blogging in alphabetical order of my chosen subject matter being, of course, Cam's Fam. And so...

A is for Accident. 

As in 'an accident of a very serious nature [that] happened ... to Mr Cameron, of Wickham steam saw-mills, by which it is greatly feared he will lose his right hand' [1]

I found this reference searching the aptly named Trove website of digitised Australian newspapers. It is exactly that: a treasure trove of information and revelations about the past. And, to my excitement, our past!

The Mr Cameron referred to in the article on p. 3 of Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser is our Robert, formerly of Garmouth. While I have only really fed you tidbits of his background, (with more to be revealed in due course), an accident involving him was newsworthy because our Robert was quite the entrepreneur and pioneering businessman in the fledgling Hunter region of the mid to late 1800s. 

At various periods of his life he was a shipbuilder, government contractor, and timber merchant. At the time of the accident in 1873 he was the owner of a saw-mill in Wickham. Thankfully it didn't appear to incapacitate him as he died at the grand old age of 80 but, with no occupational health and safety officers to provide follow-up reports on the incident, it is a mystery as to whether our Robert did indeed lose his right hand...

[1] 1873 'NEWCASTLE.', The Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser (NSW : 1843 - 1893), 13 March, p. 3, viewed 1 April, 2012, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18771864. 

SERIOUS ACCIDENT.-We regret to learn that an accident of a very serious nature happened, on    Saturday, to Mr. Cameron, of the Wickham steam saw- mills, by which it is greatly to be feared he will lose his right hand. It appears that Mr. Cameron was adjusting some part of the machinery, when, in withdrawing his hand, he got it in between the cylinder and the bench, thereby severely crushing it. Although a very serious affair, we are glad to be able to state that Mr. Cameron is able to get about and look after his business.

"Winona Forever"

It seems like everyone is doing it - actors, sports stars, singers, doctors, nurses, bogans on Bondi Beach... Some keep it to themselves, saving it for that special someone. Others flaunt it, doing it where everyone can see. It could be black, blue, pink... even fluorescent! It's no longer restricted to dingy alleys or South-East Asian holidays.

I'm talking about getting inked. 

What are you talking about? 

I came across this really interesting article recently, Tales of Tattoo Trend as old as Australia, which notes that a number of convicts arrived in Australia with tattoos. I had absolutely no idea that tattooing was practiced by anyone at that time except tribes in far flung regions of the then-growing British Empire.  

To read that a female convict arrived with "two double hearts pierced with darts and surrounded by a wreath" tattooed on her right hand got me to thinking... who in our family has a 'distinguishing feature' like a tattoo? And, what was the thinking behind it? 

In the interests of full disclosure I admit to being a clean-skin. I've been into a tattoo parlour to support my best friend get her body permanently etched with a shortened version of her family motto but the closest I have been to a tattoo myself is a henna tattoo, a memory that only lasted about 4 weeks after a visit to Dubai. I often joke I'm the only lesbian in Sydney without a tattoo, given that it is such a common form of expression in the gay community. (Well, the community at large really.) I currently have two piercings in each ear lobe, and in the past I have had a piercing in my left ear cartilage and my tongue! 

And you?