Well prepared 18/1/2013
Ask for a recollection from the 1970s Melbourne movie, Stork, and most geezers would struggle to recall anything more emphatic than Bruce Spence’s hilariously disgusting oyster from the schnozz scene.
But my extremely learned friend, Roger Franklin, remembered a far more telling signpost from the era that the Stork delivered.
Notice the roadsides? Not too many trees, blue sky visible, light grass cover – in other words, terrain that has been shaped and groomed by the hand of man and would have offered little sustenance to a runaway inferno.
The Tout family drove home from Tullamarine last night, via Carngham (near Ballarat).
It was clear to my eye that the roadside vegetation allowed the fire to run for a few miles more than it would have. And that led to the destruction of peoples homes, and the Carngham Station homestead. A sorry business.
As for “Stork”, I was a teenager when the film was released, and fascinated by Jacquie Weaver’s cleavage (or, at least, that of her character in the story). Like me, she has grown older.