Month: October 2021

Edited by William W Emilsen and Elizabeth A Watson, MediaCom Education Inc, 2021

If you were asked, ‘What are the distinctive characteristics of the Uniting Church?’ How would you respond?

Twenty young people aged from late teens to mid-40s from around Australia were invited to talk about their experiences growing up in the Uniting Church. These are their stories.

They represent the first two generations who were born into and grew up in the Uniting Church. As a guide, they were provided with some non-obligatory suggestions relating to their experience of church, such as the distinctive characteristics of the Uniting Church, its future, factors that have kept them in the Uniting Church and those that would tempt them to walk away from it. The writers incorporated these in quite different ways. Their stories are a joy to read.

Their experiences have been varied, positive and negative, but throughout their stories are many common markers.

Multiculturalism in the Uniting Church, its covenanting with First Nations people and the courage of the church to speak out publicly on contemporary social and political issues were acknowledged. Detailed comments on mentoring of young people stands out as most important, but declining levels of commitment and support for young people’s ministry is seen as a concern.

Surveillance for Survival, by Henry Houghton and Richard Smith, Green Hill Publishing, 2021

Henry Houghton, past Director of Mapping and Surveys and Surveyor General of Western Australia, and Richard Smith, Earth Systems Scientist, coauthored this copiously illustrated history of satellite imaging and interpretation particularly focussed on Western Australia.

They tell of the early days and development of the science and technology, which is in itself fascinating to science professionals and laypersons alike. ‘Make do’ solutions and interaction between world agencies to make this new 1960’s technology accessible to the public led to expertise in interpreting sometimes obscure data for the benefit of planners, agriculturists, mineral exploration and the general public, spinning off the back of early weather surveillance satellites. This history is recounted in a way to interest both the  professional and general reader.

Perhaps the most compelling narrative running through the book is the way economic considerations override the invaluable, but maybe not as easy to quantify in return for dollar, long-term ecological implications of the Earth observations from space. This led to the Leeuwin Centre for Earth Sensing Technologies and other scientifically valuable consortia being closed even with very successful contributions to the science, after relatively short existence (less than 25 years for Leeuwin Centre), and the government of the day having no compunction in deconstructing the satellite imaging centre attached to Department of Land Information.