Free Republic

ith its lace curtain bungalows and steepled Anglican church, the once tranquil town of Camden in New South Wales seems the most improbable of settings for a row that combines race and religion. Proud of its rich history, the town promotes itself as "the birthplace of the nation's wealth", for it was here, in the early 19th Century, that the sheep and dairy industries first began to flourish. Now the town, which lies on south-west fringes of Sydney, is confronting a very 21st Century issue: the proposal to construct an Islamic school for some 1,200 Muslim pupils. Behind the proposal...

It was as if someone had poured tons of coffee and milk into the ocean, then switched on a giant blender. Suddenly the shoreline north of Sydney were transformed into the Cappuccino Coast. Foam swallowed an entire beach and half the nearby buildings, including the local lifeguards' centre, in a freak display of nature at Yamba in New South Wales. One minute a group of teenage surfers were waiting to catch a wave, the next they were swallowed up in a giant bubble bath. The foam was so light that they could puff it out of their hands and watch...

Robert Poole, a mechanical engineer who has advised the administrations of George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to privatize U.S. highways, estimates that more than $25 billion in Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) highway projects are planned or approved in the United States. Now, a prominent Oklahoma state representative has invited Poole to promote his PPP toll road ideas, a move evidently designed to counter growing citizen opposition. Poole Lobbies for PPP Highways in Oklahoma Oklahoma House Speaker, Republican Lance Cargill, the founder of a group known as The 100 Ideas Initiative, has invited Poole to give a June...

The reappearance of a historical church in the Old Adaminaby township drowned by the rising waters of Lake Eucumbene in 1957 has spooked locals just over a month after fire destroyed the town's St Mary's church which replaced it. The Cooma Monaro Express reports that the old church - which was drowned with the rest of Old Adaminaby in metres of water back in 1957 to make way for the Snowy Mountain Scheme - has been uncovered due to the low dam levels. The steps and some of the brickwork of the Old Adaminaby church are now visible which has...

DEBATES in the New South Wales Parliament are notoriously brutal but MPs can take some comfort from the fact that unlike their patron saint, they won't be beheaded for their principles. Sydney Catholic Archbishop Cardinal George Pell today unveiled a statue of St Thomas More, the patron saint of lawyers, statesmen and politicians, in the Speaker's Garden at Parliament House in Sydney. The bronze statue was a gift to the Parliament from the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney. St Thomas, who was born in 1477 or 1478, was executed in 1535 for high treason after refusing to publicly accept King Henry...

The Federal and New South Wales Governments have nominated Sydney's Opera House for World Heritage listing. The governments have signed a joint nomination that will be sent to the World Heritage Centre in Paris, pending a decision mid next year. New South Wales Minister for Arts and Environment Bob Debus says if the nomination is successful the Opera House will be the state's first building to join the list. "Our nomination argues that the Sydney Opera House is an outstanding conjunction of architecture and engineering, a turning point in the modern architectural movement, an exceptional engineering feat."

What's the deal with these riots in Sydney? You switch on the television and there's scenes of urban conflagration and you think, "Hang on, I saw this story last month." But no. They were French riots. These are Australian riots. Entirely different. The French riots were perpetrated by - what's the word? - "youths". The Australian riots were perpetrated by "white youths". Same age cohort, but adjectivally enhanced. And, being "white youths", they thus offered "a chilling glimpse into the darker corners of Australian society", as Nick Squires put it last week, "with thousands of white youths rampaging through a...

SOME are hunkering down to brave out the nights of terror. For others the rioting, baseball bats and fear of rape and murder have proved too much to bear. But life won't be the same for anyone living in the one-time beachside idyll of Cronulla. Already some families are packing their bags - the first refugees of Sydney's ugliest race attacks. Those who are staying are living in fear of where the next wave of attacks will occur. Construction worker Howard Beale, whose family survived a frightening raid by youths of Middle Eastern descent on Monday night, is at breaking...

THE New South Wales Government is to give police tough new powers, including the ability to declare alcohol-free zones and the ability to search people and their vehicles in an attempt to quash the spiralling violence on Sydney's beaches. Police will also get additional powers to confiscate vehicles owned by people involved in social unrest. "These criminals have declared war on our society and we are not going to let them win," NSW Premier Morris Iemma said. With Sydney now bracing for more revenge attacks following two nights of violence, assaults, car-smashings and damage to property on Sydney's southeastern beaches,...

New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma has conceded there will be some problems when the Sydney Cross-City Tunnel faces its first test of peak-hour traffic. Mr Iemma has officially opened the tunnel, cutting the ceremonial ribbon with the same scissors used for the opening of Harbour Bridge in 1932. After a walk-through by pedestrians this morning, the tunnel opens to cars late tonight. Mr Iemma says any traffic problems connected with the tunnel will be temporary. "I take the advice of the traffic engineers and the experts as to how they're working," he said. "There's a plan to manage the...

Dozens of youths in Sydney's south-west hurled petrol bombs at riot police in a third night of violence last night over the death of two teenagers in a police pursuit. In wild scenes near Eucalyptus Drive, Macquarie Fields - where their friends died on Friday night - teenagers and young men screamed at about 100 police: "You killed our mates, you f---ing pigs. You deserve to die too." Residents of Rosewood Drive clapped and cheered as a policeman was knocked down and could not get up, as a youth hit him with a heavy plank of wood. By 1am today...

ONE gun in the hands of a criminal was one gun too many, NSW Premier Bob Carr said today. His comments follow revelations an early morning commuter was robbed at gunpoint at a western Sydney railway station last month. The 34-year-old victim, known only as Paul, had a gun pressed to his neck and was forced to hand over his watch at Harris Park railway station about 6.45am (AEDT) on January 11. Mr Carr today said the Government was working hard with police to reduce the number of guns in the community. When asked if there were too many guns...

Handguns declared public enemy No. 1 By chief writer NATHAN VASS 14apr02 NEW Acting Police Commissioner Ken Moroney yesterday vowed to rid NSW of illegal handguns after another night of violence on Sydney's streets. One teenager died and two men were wounded in separate shootings yesterday. An 18-year-old was fatally wounded outside a Surry Hills karaoke bar, while two men were shot outside a Mt Pritchard club. An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has found handgun crime rose by up to 440 per cent during the six-year reign of outgoing police commissioner Peter Ryan. Mr Moroney told The Sunday Telegraph...