Dick Smith - Hero, I think not

[rgmwa]

I think the phrase could be a useful addition to ones repertoire, but first I must understand its meaning. Thanks.

Being successful or famous is not an issue, but being egotistical and arrogant with it won't win you any friends.

 

rgmwa

 

 

[Litespeed]

Whilst I do not know Dick personally, I do know several stories about him and all showed him in a very good light.

 

Years ago he insisted on his children attending public school rather than private and always did a great deal supporting his local public schools.

 

Even do free helicopter rides..........caused quite a stir with dept of ed loosing the plot over it.

 

To me he is a good bloke..... would get my vote for peoples president.

 

Phil

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

During Dick's Australian Geographic years I had the privilege to be a part of one of his expeditions. It was written up in Australian Geographic Issue #38.

 

We went in search of the lost anchors of the Beagle. In 1839, during the Beagle's voyage with botanist Joseph Banks (the voyage which followed the one carrying Charles Darwin), Captain Lort John Stokes anchored in the lower reaches of the Victoria River to re-supply with fresh water. They had significant difficulties finding a fresh water supply and were forced to spend around two weeks ashore and dig a sizable well to fill their barrels.

 

The place where they anchored has now come to be known as Whirlpool Reach as it is affected by large (10m) tides which rip in and out at up to 7kts and develop treacherous and powerful whirlpools when at full flood. While at anchor, and utilising two bow anchors at most times, the Beagle was frequently spun around her own chains and they often became entangled which required pulling the anchors and re-setting them, sometimes up to four times a day. Stokes was concerned that they often had difficulty retrieving the anchors as the bottom was quite 'sticky'.

 

During the latter part of their stay they encountered the smaller neap tides and re-setting the anchors wasn't needed as they weren't being spun around so much now that the waters were calmer.

 

However, when they were ready to leave they found it impossible to break the anchors free, they had had enough time to sink deep into the ooze and were stuck solid. They attempted to break them out by hauling the chain tight at low tide and waiting for the tide to come in. The anchors were so fast that the bow of the vessel was dragged down to such an extent that Stokes feared the vessel might break her keel, so he ordered the anchors to be cut loose.

 

Dick has had a keen eye for expeditions to retrieve Australian historical treasures ever since his successful 1978 expedition to find the Kookaburra. Along with the lives of pilot and mechanic Anderson and Hitchcock, it was lost in the Tanami desert while searching for Kingsford-Smith during the 'Coffee-Royal' affair in 1929.

 

The 'Anchors of the Beagle' expedition was suggested to Dick via Australian Geographic magazine by people from Darwin's maritime museum, and editor Howard Whelan put the wheels in motion.

 

Accommodation for all of us was arranged at the Bullo River Station homestead, home of the celebrated author Sara Henderson. I was hired to provide the helicopter services as Dick didn't have the time to bring his Jetranger all the way to the north of the NT - he flew up in his Citation instead. There were several quite well known people on the adventure including Nigel Scullion (now Senator for NT), the owner of Darwin's Bare-foot Marine who conducted the Sonar/GP Radar survey.

 

It was mildly intimidating flying Dick around in my Jetranger since he'd only recently returned from his North Pole expedition in his, and that followed his Round the World first-in-a-helicopter not long prior. Nonetheless he was very generous with his comments - especially so considering that we had some very challenging operations to conduct. Landing on tiny peaks with uneven surfaces or deep in gorges with minimal blade clearances, and the helicopter wasn't fitted with dual controls so he was entirely at my mercy, not an enviable situation for any experienced pilot.

 

I found Dick to be an all-round 'nice guy' and very generous with his time, among other things he gave me a lot of helpful input into methods to improve my business.

 

As far as his aviation side is concerned - and this was several years after his sojourn into the regulatory side - whenever Dick arrives at an airport he goes and visits any open hangars to have a chat about the state of aviation play in general, and that way keeps his finger on the pulse and is consequently probably more knowledgeable than anyone else in Australia about the way all levels of people in aviation feel about all aspects of it. I don't know of any other individual or body of people, regulatory or otherwise, who bother to do that.

 

From my viewpoint Dick is one of the few Australians who has always fought to improve the lot of other Australians, whether it be actually accepting the challenge to Chair the CAA when his constant criticism of DoA/DCA provoked others into inviting him to 'put up or shut up' or his 'buy Australian' campaigns, his outspoken views about foreign ownership, immigration, conservation, research or his philanthropy - he has given over a million dollars to worthy Australians.

 

Sadly he's been heavily criticised for his occasional unpopular remarks, very much as a result of the tall poppy syndrome I would suggest, to the extent where he has become noticeably embittered and I don't blame him. He kept Dick Smith Foods running for a long while after it ceased to be profitable, solely, I have been led to understand, to keep Australians employed. Anecdotally I heard that the last straw was when he heard that people had said they wouldn't buy his goods "because he's rich enough already" ...

 

Just about to post this and saw Litespeed's comment. Welcome back Phil, haven't heard from you in a long while!

 

 

[Litespeed]

Well said Mate.

 

been busy with life.

 

Dick always gets bashed often by vested interests who know better.

 

AS said above -anything in the Murdoch press is dubious and often politically motivated.

 

Just like the line "Is that the truth or did you read it in the telegrath"

 

How goes the building?

 

 

[shags_j]

Ballina is in the sector that I control so I better not comment too much on the article from an ATC perspective.

 

However as a pilot: Is he really using a report from 2004 as an argument? He is a clown. The guy who invented class E airspace (Where IFR need a clearance and VFR don't, sounds safe) is complaining about not having enough CTA. wtf!

 

 

[shags_j]

Hang on. It says in the article that we were going to change to the US system. We never said that did we? We were changing to ICAO which afaik the US does not comply with.

 

 

[dazza 38]

Nobody is perfect and I like the bloke.

 

 

[bexrbetter]

Dick was arguing that if Australia wants to have Qantas as a national airline it can't be expected to compete with airlines with a (Asia) cost base. We can't have it both ways where we enjoy cheap airfares but also want our pilots and maintenance engineers paid at Australian rates.

Got very little to do with it, an over used Political line to suit the Plebs that doesn't stand up with facts.

 

Qantas have long been one of the cheapest carriers, certainly on my routes anyway. What puts me off flying Qantas are the old cranky bitches.

 

 

[robinsm]

Met the guy a few times at various sites, liked him. Admire his rise and get up and go. Dont really care what other think, I take people as I find them.

 

 

[coljones]

Hi SrPilot, the first one would best describe the syndrome...Cheers, Ross

The first actually is the refuge of the scoundrel when caught with their hand in the till - "you can't stand success" they and their acolytes and running dogs cry.

"The tall poppy syndrome" is all about pegging back the egomaniacs in our lives, not pegging back those who make a genuine success with their lives and contribution to society.

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

For anyone who might be interested in my trip down memory lane, I dug out a few scanned photos that I took during the Beagle Anchors Expedition, in order the photos show -

 

Day 1, unloading Nigel Scullion's workboat to set it up for towing a non-magnetic dinghy containing the GP radar and magnetometer survey equipment. This was quite dangerous work as the crocs in this part of the river, which is effectively the estuary of one of the largest rivers in Australia, are very large and exceptionally aggressive. Working close to the water's edge required having a couple of other people standing on vigilant watch with pistol and rifle just in case.

 

On day two Dick and a couple of others of us conducted an aerial survey along the banks of the Victoria River. Dick was looking for something he'd researched but didn't say what, he just directed the flight. After a couple of hours he gave up and we were about to return when he told us what he was hoping to surprise us with, it was a large Boab tree which had initials carved into it quite high up, the site of the burial of a/the ship's carpenter. As soon as he mentioned it I knew where it was as I'd come across it by chance some years earlier during a break while mustering on Bradshaw Station.

 

I learned something very interesting that day. We'd all assumed that when the tree was carved the inscription would have been quite close to the ground and as the tree grew the inscription ended up in its present high position. Apparently that's not how it works, a tree grows out of the top only, so a mark on a tree always stays at the same position relative to the ground, so they must have built quite a substantial scaffold to carve the man's 'headstone'. The carving would have got wider of course, as the tree increased in girth. Much later, around the beginning of the Great War, others also carved the tree, the date 1914 can be seen in the third picture.

 

By the third day we still hadn't found anything of significance on the towed array. The fourth picture shows a group think-a-thon during which the historians laid out what was known about the 1839 landing in the area, much of which came from the published and private works of the botanist Joseph Banks. Gladly he was also an exceptional artist and drew everything very accurately. Our big break-through came when someone suggested examining the skylines in Bank's images to try and find exactly where he had been when he drew each of them. That way we could use the descriptions to verify the whereabouts of the various features of the Beagle campsite and determine whether we were searching in the right place for the anchors.

 

Using that method we quite quickly located the main camp, fireplace and quite a number of artifacts, then a large stone table which had become overgrown but was obviously the food preparation area. Two of us then used the remaining information from Banks' writings to work out exactly where they must have dug the well, we flew to the supposed site and found a deep depression edged with a thick tar-like substance, exactly as Banks described (last two photos).

 

Armed with that information, descriptions from the ship's log and Banks' images showed exactly where the Beagle had been anchored (Whirlpool Reach is twelve miles long and two wide, so previously we had been looking for the proverbial needle ...) and the next day the survey started to produce results. By the end of the expedition the magnetometer had located two long items in a slight V shape with a large lump at the end of each buried some 30m into the mud below 10-15m of turgid brown water teeming with crocs and sharks. We concluded it could be the anchors and chains but the difficulty and expense of retrieving them was far greater than the value of having them. And it was always possible that they weren't the anchors at all ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ev17ifly2]

I don't think Dick Smith would see himself as a hero. One of those words which appears to be loosely used by the media these days. Maybe the words businessman, entrepenour , adventurer, visionary or proud aussie may be more apt. Think back to those other two "heroes" from the Beaconsfield mine accident in Tas. They were victims who survived not heroes as the Media would have us believe.

 

 

[facthunter]

He's been very candid about his abilities as a pilot. No illusions of grandeur there. That gives him a bit of a start. He flys anything ..Nev

 

 

[Phil Perry]

In many Australian social groups, anyone with an aeroplane of any type is a fat cat capitalist pig. Seems to be different in the USA.

AAAAAAH. . . that's it then PM,. . . . . I'm fat,. . .I fly ultralights, but my wife calls me a fat pig for very different reasons. . . . .(!) One of these is parking my car too close to her precious bloody lawn and then daring to tread on it when I get out. . . .?

 

 

[farri]

Perfect?.... What`s that?.....Like!... Dislike!....Shouldn`t come into it.

 

Frank.

 

 

[Methusala]

People in the public eye are always subject to close scrutiny. Dick Smith is a successful entrepreneur. You don't get there by thinking along parallel lines. He produced a fairly balanced documentary on alternative energy sources, shown by the ABC a time back. I've met him and he doesn't have a lot of time for chit chat. But compared to the Packers and Murdochs (and others) he is quite friendly and straight forward.

 

 

[rhysmcc]

And rumours he is starting his own political party based on population control (through immigration rather then birth control).

 

It does seem to be very much his way or you suffer his constant attacks. He gives just as much as he gets.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Well. . . . . .I've only met Dick Smith ONCE. . . . . .

 

At a radio store in Richmond Vic, er,. . around 1973,. . . . I'd bought a "Dick Smith Electronics" frequency counter ( radio ham stuff ) which didn't work,. . . .and this bloke said to me,. . ."HAve you filled in the coupon which came with the kit saying " sorry Dick. . .it doesn't work,. . .and sent it back to us ? . . . . . must admit, I hadn't seen that.

 

I didn't find out until the next day that this personage was in fact the man himself,. . .he was quite nice, and asked me how long I'd been interested in amateur radio etc,. . .but I thought he was just a shop assistant. . . . .

 

Dunno much about his flying, although I did watch a programme about him flying a helicopter around Australia, and he visited a bloke who repaired the "Dog fence" at the top of SOuth Aus. . .it was actually quite interesting. As you are possibly aware,. . .we don't get a lot of home grown Aussie TV programming oop ere in't North. . . . .

 

Can't comment on anything else in this thread, but they sent me some new components, and my frequency counter was restored to working,. . .I wonder if Mr Smith still sells electronics ? ? ? ? ? ?

 

( 3 minutes left until I'm a pensioner )

 

 

[Gnarly Gnu]

And rumours he is starting his own political party based on population control (through immigration rather then birth control). It does seem to be very much his way or you suffer his constant attacks. He gives just as much as he gets.

He does bang on about global overpopulation (silly idea if you do the math but few seem to) so if this is the case he may top himself soon to show by example so this discussion is unnecessary. Be fun to have a party to the left of the Greens though.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

He does bang on about global overpopulation so if it's the case he will top himself soon so this discussion is unnecessary. Be fun to have a party to the left of the Greens.

Hiya Gnarly,. . . . .

 

We actually have a GREEN member of parliament,. . . voted in for a second term ( One of them only ) so there must be enough people interested in their manifesto. . . .to have voted her back in. . . . . I actually READ thir manifesto,. and,. . . .well,. . .er,. . . . .if I wanted to go back to being agrarian, living in a yurt,. . .using oxen to earn my daily bread,. . . .then this was obviously the lady to vote for,. . .but since she was in a constituency far removed from where I am domiciled,. . .I didn't vote for her. The green party candidate in Cannock ward got 17 votes.. . .2 more than the monster raving loony party, started by the pop star screaming lord Sutch, who has been deceased for twelve years. . . . their main platform being the removal of all powered vehicles from the UK road system,. . .to be replaced by bicycles only for transport. . . . .dunno how they were going to re-supply the local Tesco supermakrket with a bike. . . they didn't say. . . . . .maybe thousands of bikes with baskets on the front. . .? dunno

 

 

[fly_tornado]

have you seen mad max phil? GNu's vision of big Australia where the free market operates without government impinging on personal freedoms.

 

 

[dazza 38]

He does bang on about global overpopulation (silly idea if you do the math but few seem to) so if this is the case he may top himself soon to show by example so this discussion is unnecessary. Be fun to have a party to the left of the Greens though.

So you don't think that 7 billion people on the planet is being over populated ?

 

 

[Methusala]

Soon to be 9 with the expectation of 12 before something (I don't know what and neither I'm sure does GG but not good I think) tips the balance and Malthus intrudes to right the equation. Don

 

 

[Gnarly Gnu]

So you don't think that 7 billion people on the planet is being over populated ?

Not wanting to drift off topic but I'll answer this as there seems to be a few Malthusians about (plus those wishing the government to take away even more of their personal freedoms. Serfers?).

 

No, 7.5 billion is not even close to exhausting the resources and space; the earth can easily handle many, many times this number. Don't accept the rubbish Dick Smith and the media spout Dazza, just grab a calculator for a start. As an experiment let's put the entire 7.5 billion people into the state of Queensland only - 1,852,642 sq km. One square km is 1,000,000 m2. This gives us 247 square meters available space for every single person. Sure not all of the QLD land mass is easily habitable but the exercise proves that space is not an issue by any stretch as we know that cities like Hong Kong are operating with population densities down to as little as 18m2 per person and Manhattan works fine at 38m2 per person for example. This of course leaves the rest of Australia and every other continent of the world plus the oceans for wildlife and to provide food and resources. With modern farming techniques food is absolutely not an issue, in fact using techniques like aquaponics very likely you could also produce all the necessary food for everybody within the space of just QLD, not that this would be necessary though.

 

So the problem certainly is not a lack of space, food or resources - the problem lies with people and specifically sin which is within each of us. Leads to wars, strife, greed all sorts of nasty things. So some space to keep different tribes, cultures (prior to the lefts failed multi-culture experiment) and nations apart somewhat is actually quite helpful towards keeping peace. Anyway we will know the Malthusians are serious when they lead by example; apparently the world is overpopulated but not with them.

 

 

[red750]

And you can pack 18 people into a lift, but would you want to live like that?