Sir Douglas Mawson (1882 – 1958)
By Mary W Maxwell, April 4, 2016
Is there a limit to the human spirit? Some people seem to be able to endure anything, if they have an important goal in mind. Media doesn’t give us real heroes any more, but, don’t worry — that doesn’t mean there’s a lack of them.
A favorite story in South Australia is that of Douglas Mawson, a 31-year old lecturer at the University of Adelaide, who was on the first expedition team to the South Pole in 1913.
Blizzards and winds over 100 miles an hour were standard. Just think about it. No cars, no planes, no nothing, these guys made the journey by dogsled. They wore skis.
Disaster
Mawson’s companions were Xavier Ninnes and Belgrave Mertz. They had a terrible accident. Ninnes fell into a crevice and could not be rescued. He must have died by freezing.
If that weren’t bad enough, all the supplies were on the sled that went down the crevice and could not be retrieved. One supply was tents. Mawson and Mertz then had to detour 27 miles to fetch a tent-cloth they had abandoned. Imagine going all that way just to get a tent, but without a tent how could they sleep at night?
There was very little food. They had to kill some of their sled-dogs to feed other dogs, and eventually had to kill all the dogs for food. Mertz became ill and psychotic. He died, leaving Mawson on his own.
We know that Douglas Mawson survived and indeed lived to be 76 years old. But how can he have tolerated the strain? And I haven’t even come to the pièce de résistance. This hero finally made it back to the camp, but was told by the men at camp that the ship Aurora had left for Australia only 6 hours earlier.
And the next ship’s visit was a year off!
(See blogs.smithsonianmag.com for more thrilling details of Mawson’s adventure.)
Far Eastern Party, Antarctic 1912
The Girls
At Gumshoe we have two girls — Cherri and Cheryl — going to metaphorical South Poles. Will they make it? You bet!
Cherri Bonney is on a mission to get a famous Aussie out of prison. Cheryl Dean, too, is hopping mad about an unfair imprisonment.
(We’re talking about Martin Bryant and Jahar Tsarnaev, for those who are not regular readers of GunshoeNews.com.)
Cherri Bonney, who is a long-distance runner in real life, has been at the Change.org petition game since she signed the first signature on January 20, 2015. Today’s count is 2,157.
Aussies Speaking Up
The following seven comments have come in from petition-signers in just the last week:
Martin didn’t have a justifiable trial — Shaun Mitchell, Australia
Martin Bryant was coerced into pleading guilty by his own lawyer! — Nathan Mullington, Kurri Kurri, NSW
Time for Justice for Martin. The Truth Will Set Him FREE! — Leah Gilvray, Australia
This is the biggest travesty of justice in Australia’s history. — Alan Mogg, Australia
I believe this is a major unproven miscarriage of the judicial system. — Steve Liiney, Australia
Without truth we have no justice or freedom, we need to know the truth through proper and open process. — Clem Grieger, Australia
Don’t punish an innocent man. It’s cruel. — Rosie Anderson, Australia
Cherri, the signature aider and abettor, has run into a bit of shall we say flack but, in her words: “The ‘fight’ is ON! and my god I’M NOT backing down!! Onward we go!!”
Jahar’s Advocate
The other single-minded person I mentioned is Cheryl Dean. For her part, she sees no other way forward but to get Jahar Tsarnaev the hell out of Supermax federal prison in Colorado, where he is so wrongly incarcerated.
Ms Dean has reasons to not want to make a public appearance or give us her bio, but I know something of her bio and it is impressive. You can find her hard-hitting pieces on the Boston Marathon judicial fiasco right here at Gumshoe.
She “lays waste” the prosecution, the defense team, the evidence, the exhibits, and doesn’t stop when it’s time to go for any lying witnesses, and for that matter, the judge. Watch out if you are doing wrong to Jahar. Oh, I forgot, and the jurors.
Did I mention the police, the FBI, and the media?
The Power of Love
Douglas Mawson must have endured his trek through the snow and blustery winds in accordance with the life instinct, the desire for survival — and no doubt patriotism, too.
Ms Bonney and Ms Dean are powered in a different way. They’re unwilling to tolerate what is being done to the two prisoners, “and that’s that.”
Maybe I’m a bit short of estrogen, because when I write about the Port Arthur case, and the Marathon case, I am thinking legal, I am thinking political. But when Cherri and Cheryl go at it, they are being women-all-the-way.
Every woman is a powerhouse of love. That is simply a fact. There is no limit to how much energy and devotion a female can put into helping someone in need.
Today, many women of the baby-boom generation are caring for aged parents, some with Alzheimer’s. Or helping a grandkid who has autism.
Has feminism made it unfashionable to say that a woman’s devotion is a great boon to humanity? Such nonsense! The maternal instinct is the key to biological altruism. It is what caused the entire human social thing to eventuate.
Please watch this love-ly video, “A Mother’s Prayer.” It has had nearly 3 million views.
youtube.com/watch?v=re5EIUIXbhc
— Mary W Maxwell lives in Adelaide.
It takes ‘guts’ and integrity to face and overcome adversity and lies.
Clearly lacking in some mentioned, in recent times from the mainstream media and the ABC, here at gumshoenews.
Wow. Cherri’s song has had 708 Youtube views.
So right! IM NOT BACKING DOWN! the spirit will and does live forever, Martin’s will is in fact to me quite strong! he knows he’s innocent keeping the bad spirit away….forget the wired world and techno dupes, concentrate on our spirit, really this is all we have to survive amongst the jungle of bricks and mortar.
Mawson was a survivor something we don’t forget to easy. 90% is physical 10% is Mental, I know! being an athlete, absolutely no different with Mawson and Martin Bryant.
Talk gets one places, but the actual ‘speaking’ spirit within yourself will surpass the conscious mind 100%….Only danger here is when the spirit is broken! long road back to ‘normal’
Prayer sincerely for Martin Bryant and Jahar Tsarnaev………..
Ms Bonney, Your ever-so-strong pitch makes me realize that I defo don’t have an indomitable spirit. I’ve been terrorized a couple of times in my life and I more or less collapsed. Never had the full-on humiliation (yet), and doubt I could weather it.
My hope for saving my skin is based on getting people to see who the enemy is. At the moment Ned is doing a rip-roaring job of identifying the Jon Faines of this world as the enemy. I think of academics as the enemy, and veritably all judges. (If there are any good ones, why aren’t they railing against the bad ones?)
Luckily some of us are old enough to remember how things worked in the past. They worked OK. We did not need GMOs or police brutality or fear of our neighbor. (So why do we “need” them now?)
Cherri, I am watching you and Cheryl with wonderment, for the very reasons you just mentioned — that you see the soul’s strength. I agree that this has got to be a big factor. But at the same time we have to know who is spoiling the party.
I say Get ’em.
I think people have much more drive and passion and spirit than they know. You have to be put to a test to truly find out. For women they say there’s nothing like the wrath of a women scorned, but this applies to many things. For me it’s about denying justice and purposely hurting or destroying innocent people. That is something that no one should ever accept, and those who perpetrate that injustice should go to prison.
Innocent people should be allowed to freely live their lives. I will continue to fight for Dzhokhar for the rest of my life if need be. That drive and hatred of injustice is in me and can’t be stopped.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s death and Dzhokhar’s incarceration and death sentence, has touched and ruined countless innocent lives, and those who have created all this must be held publicly accountable.
It’s a sad and shocking world where the government and it’s employees are the people who purposely create so much terrible misery for the very people they are supposed to be looking out for.
(See what I mean, Folks?)
Thanks, Deanso, for reminding me of your article about how Jahar’s buddies got “put away”:
http://gumshoenews.com/2016/01/01/how-fbi-prosecutors-and-judges-conspired-to-win/
Similarly, I wrote about cops and others who got killed probably because they knew too much re Marathon case:
http://gumshoenews.com/2015/10/29/five-collateral-deaths-in-boston-marathon-situation-so-far/
And, as you say, many families had shocking experiences. We’re not going to put up wih this kind of oppresssion, are we?
Please Cheryl add me on fb. can I help you help Martin?. kind regards Leah Gilvray
Cherrie Bonney and Cheril Dean together with Mary W.Maxwell ,so much thanks for your hard work you do that justice may prevail for Martin Bryant and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.You are all three truly fighters for those who were prevented from speaking up on themselves.Prayers will be continued….greetings from Switzerland.
Not for the squeamish:
Ah, a reply from John Donne!
No Man Is an Island
No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man’s death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
The greatest and most wise , that ever lived , said that whoever follows his teachings shall suffer injustice and persecution . These days the innocent suffer and we are helpless to change the power that rules this world . Everything has become the opposite of what it should be . There is no justice in the courts . The man with more money always wins . Today money talks bull$@%t walks . The banksters greed has enslaved humanity . How do we wake up when the guns are pointed at us ? Cheryl and Cherri you are Our Lords angels and let us pray that your strength may inspire us all to better living in the way the truth and the life . Love and peace good sisters .