A Century of Hindsight

Remembering my Grandfather, Ted ROSS who went to war, was injured at the Battle of Bullecourt, captured by the Germans and irrevocably changed forever.

ANZAC has always been a contentious issue in our family. Firstly, those who had served seldom spoke about their involvement. Certainly, Ted Ross’s attitude was never communicated by Mum, probably because they, in the vernacular peculiar to the Ross family, ‘didn’t get on’. Indeed, the lasting impression was that Ted suffered what is now called Post Traumatic Stress syndrome and that his behavior on return from the prisoner of war camp precluded a reasonable discussion of what it was like. It is unknown whether he ever attended ANZAC services.

Secondly, Mum [Martha] and Dad [Bill], while they seldom discussed their war service, weren’t all that fussed about April 25th. They may have marched when they were younger but I have no recollection of them doing anything other than having a quiet holiday on ANZAC day. Russ [joined the Navy when he was fifteen and who served in Vietnam], had a few friends from his navy days but didn’t make any special efforts to get together with them on ANZAC day.

After Bill died, Mum exhibited a new interest in their military service; she got their medals refurbished and in the days leading up to 2015, suggested that we [the four sons] might like to accompany her in the March. I was hesitant because I had a preconceived idea that the First World War was a nasty business cloaked in sacrifice and that the whole Gallipoli/ANZAC history had been corrupted for the benefit of those who had a vested interest in sustaining the myth. Russ agreed to march just this once, to support Mum and Geoff was happy to join in. So I proudly donned my Grandfather’s medals, walked along side my brothers, Russ wearing his own medals for the first time and Geoff wearing Dad’s medals.

But I decided that I was loath to participate in something that was really repulsive and so I did a little research and turned up some interesting observations; Seumas Milne, writing in the Guardian, a blog called honest history and a [now defunct] web diary contained words that I could never write, provided me with a framework with which I could build a reasonable facsimile of what the First World War was like. Paul Keating, with his usual panache, wrote a moving and eloquent Remembrance Day address, saying, “despite the fact that the military campaigns were shockingly flawed and incompetently executed, those ordinary people distinguished themselves by their latent nobility”. And that is what we should remember on ANZAC day.

As it turned out we had an interesting bonding experience, one that I can understand veterans find self affirming: the oration given at the dawn service was particularly apposite. Watch the video here.

Coalition for Community Energy

Embark and C4CE join forces

Embark has joined forces with the Coalition for Community Energy (C4CE) to help drive community energy going forward. We hope you will continue to support this movement – donations to Embark in its new form are still tax deductible and we welcome any financial support and any volunteering support you’d like to offer.

Over seven years Embark delivered:

• Lismore Community Solar in partnership with Farming the Sun — two council-based 99kW community solar projects, which created the first investment model of a community-council solar project.
• Sydney Renewable Power Company — a 520kW community solar project at ICC Sydney, which has created the largest community solar project and pioneered the community investment in a public company model.
• Purchase and deployment of a portable wind monitoring system to help communities assess their wind resources.
• Development of a community investment model for the 270MW Sapphire Wind Farm.
• Co-authoring of pivotal documents such as the Guide to Community-Owned Renewable Energy for Victorians for the Victorian Government; the Best Practice Guide to Community Engagement in Wind Energy for the ACT Government (2014) the ARENA funded National Community Energy Strategy (2014) and the ARENA funded Finance and Funding Toolkit for Community Energy and Small-Scale Solar (2017).
• A range of education initiatives with community members, businesses and levels of government, including the establishment and maintenance of online resources through our wiki.
• Supported dozens of communities across Australia and internationally in communities (such as Fukushima) to unlock community energy in their local area.
• Helped to found the Coalition for Community Energy which last year delivered the second successful, biennial National Community Energy Congress.

Despite operating in a difficult energy context – there are now more than 90 community energy groups and more than 70 operating community energy projects across the country. Embark was founded to catalyse the fledgling community energy sector and guide it on its way. At the launch in 2010, commensurate with the groundbreaking ceremony for the Hepburn Community Wind Farm, there were only a handful of communities embarking on the journey to owning their own clean energy generation.

In early 2017, the Embark Board decided that true to their vision, community energy was now mainstream in Australia. Having achieved the above, it was time for Embark to move forward to the next chapter.  We would like to thank Embark founders and staff for all their hard work and commitment to our sector. Over the past three years the Coalition for Community Energy has been  auspiced by the Alternative Technology Association with the Community Power Agency acting as secretariat.  C4CE has grown to now more than 90 member organisations and has held two extremely successful Community Energy Congresses.

Going forward we see a really important role for C4CE to act as a connector for the community energy sector and to have the ability undertake sector wide projects. That’s why Embark and C4CE are coming together. We are in the final steps of joining the two organisations, the Embark wiki, C4CE website, our mailing lists and more.  We will continue sharing more exciting stories of community energy success, just in the future it will be under the banner of C4CE.  If you have any questions or queries please do not hesitate to contact info@c4ce.net.au.

Taryn Lane, Donna Luckman and Gavin Ashley

What is the Embark wiki?

An online best-practice toolkit, offering information and advice on a wide range of community-owned renewable energy issues. Often, this information and advice comes from community energy pioneers and subject experts. We’ve developed this site specifically for Australian communities, to provide interested groups with reliable and relevant information on a range of topics that can help communities assess, plan and implement renewable energy projects. With a wiki platform, users can collaborate on articles by writing, editing, and updating content. This means we can provide the most accurate and up-to-date information. We’ve got the ball rolling with a wide range of articles to help community groups start thinking about renewable energy projects. Our vision for the site is to have a large group of collaborators who write, edit and comment on content for the site. To ensure the quality in the short term, we are limiting access to approved contributors only. Over time, we will extend access to everyone.

Exploring the site

There are two ways to find content on the site. If you know what you’re looking for; you can use the search function at the top of this page. If you’d simply like to browse or need some direction, click on ‘articles’ in the top navigation to see our list of major categories and articles. This site will continuously grow and evolve, so even if the information you’re looking for isn’t here today, make sure you visit us again soon. If you have any suggestions for topics to address, or any questions, email us at info@embark.com.au.

You may find empty pages where we’ve yet to add articles on important subjects. If you have the expertise or knowledge, and would like to write any of these articles, please apply here. The Embark wiki will grow with support and contributions from industry experts, renewable energy pioneers and community groups. We welcome your submissions and reference materials. If you’d like to be one of our contributors or editors please click here.

http://embark.com.au

Here you’ll find a broad range of topics including reference material, practical ‘how to’ articles and case studies. The topics have been grouped into categories to help you navigate the site. Keep visiting the site — we will continue to commission new articles on topics we think are important and as the technologies become more appropriate for community-scale initiatives.

Coalition for Community Energy

ABOUT C4CE – http://c4ce.net.au 

Community energy is a hugely exciting opportunity with growing support.  However, there are still significant barriers to realise the full potential of community energy in Australia.  That is why the organisations at the forefront of the emerging community energy sector in Australia have founded the Coalition for Community Energy (C4CE).
The Coalition for Community Energy was founded using a Collaborative Impact approach and credit needs to go to Nicky Ison and the team at Community Power Agency who have worked tirelessly to bring the organisation to life.

C4CE facilitates collaboration. It’s Strategic Initiatives and Congress build on the strengths of its member organisations ~ community energy projects, groups, support organisations and stakeholders in the wider renewable and mainstream energy system ~ to create mutually beneficial outcomes.  C4CE fosters win-win situations and in so doing is creating a quicker, more efficient path to a community energy sector with hundreds of community energy projects that benefit all Australian communities. C4CE initiatives are created and led by one of more members. The overall coordination of C4CE is led by the Steering Group with the support of a Secretariat. C4CE believes collaboration creates greater impact than the simple sum of individual member efforts. Together, we can make the difference.

C4CE’s objectives are to:

• Guide and support development of the community energy sector
  Create a coordinated voice to better advocate for the needs of the sector
  Grow the sector’s profile, influence and membership (beyond the ‘usual suspects’)
• Facilitate the alignment of efforts by Members with support, systems, tools and training which enable collaboration for collective impact
• Identify and create strategic opportunities and attract investment for the sector
  Coordinate strategic initiatives which build the knowledge, know-how and capacity of Members and the sector.

http://renew.org.au/buyers-guide