save this memory
for a few moments
the sun will rise again
One of my rare photo’s of a sunrise. This image was captured at Portland Bay in far South West Victoria Australia. Before 1788 Australian Aboriginals would stand right here in July to October and see hundreds of Southern Right Whales floating, breaching or even scraping off barnacles directly under the cliff.
From the 1790’s Europeans came hunting the whales for oil/blubber and they were slaughtered in their hundreds, probably thousands during the C19th until a sighting in the C20th was rare. After Australia banned whale hunting in 1968 the whales slowly began returning until now in the early C21st they are always seen, but only in the tens. The numbers of pre 1788 will most likely never be reached again.
I really like this, gives me a peaceful, hopeful feeling.
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Thanks for your positive response to my haiku/image Claudette.
You may find some of my sunset haiku/images connect with you also.
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Thanks Denis, I’ll check them out.
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As a historian and former history teacher I always enjoy a haiku with a story behind it, a haibun as it were. Welcome to the haikumily.
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Thanks Ronovan. And thanks for setting up the opportunity for haiku hounds to share their haiku on your blog site. As a former history teacher also I still like to share knowledge and information hence my blog to write a haiku, illustrate it with a photo and add some connecting text for where , how, why or what
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Nice optimistic verse.
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Thanks for your supportive comment about the haiku verse Jane
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Love the haiku, the photo and the story behind the location of the photo. Great job!
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Its great to hear you liked the approach I am using with a haiku supporting a photo and a short story about the image. I deliberately planned my blog to share poetry, images and Australia so I am glad to hear a fellow blogger appreciates .
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Well, it seems you’re doing a great job at what you set out to do. Keep up the good work. 🙂
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Thank. I aim to be a bit more regular, Donovan’s challenge is a great prompt.
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Pingback: Ronovan Writes #Weekly #Haiku #Prompt #Challenge Roundup #58 | ronovanwrites
I like the photos, the poems and prose in your post. Beautiful sunrise. Hope the best.
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Thanks for your supportive comment
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Have you beento Logan’s beach in Warrnambool to see the whalesduring the winter? It is wonderful to see the the mothers and calves playing.
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Hi Suzanne I grew up in Warrnambool and went to secondary school there. Back then the whales were way off the coast and very shy as whaling was just finishing in Western Australia, it was stopped in 1969.
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Warrnambool would have been a pleasant place to grow up then. I am a newcomer to the area but quite possibly of the same age group as you. I remember the Save the Whales campaign but thought it was mid 1970s. The whales return to Warrnambool regularly now. We had two mums and babies this winter. I always find them joyful animals and think they musy be very forgiving to come around us humans given the way we treated them in the past. Nice to talk to a blogger that shares my interest in haiku and in nature and also knows the same areas of the country that I do. I love Tower Hill too. You would have seen it change radically in your life time. 🙂
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There have been up to 6 or more whales in Lady Bay at one time over the last decade. My Uncle and Aunty had a house on the cliffs at North Portland and the whales would come into shallow water to scrape barnacles. One could look down on the whales under the windows. I knew Tower Hill in the late 1950’s when it was agisted for cattle, before the park days and revegetated recovery. Early 60’s photos are hard to believe when compared to today.
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Yes it is great area to live in. Nature is bountiful here
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