Many years ago I was in Kununurra in Western Australia, when it was decided to take a scenic flight out over the Bungle Bungle Range and also fly over the Argyle Diamond Mine, which was at that time still operating.

We had flown over the vast mine site and were making a loop back towards Kununurra, when I notice some very straight fault lines, in what is normally very ‘rounded’ landscape. From our altitude it appeared the some of these faults reached the horizon, and were that straight, it looked like somebody had created them with laser beam for guidance.

I attempted to capture these straight fault lines, however by the time the camera took the image we had moved on.

I have never really been sure if what I saw was real. Was it a line on the aircraft window, or was I just imagining this phenomenon?

I was recently watching a beautifully filmed television special on the Kimberley Region, when I spotted these straight fault lines again. Well, I was not imagining anything, these lines were real!!
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The search began through the many hundreds of images on the internet. Bingo!! The fault lines were located and very real, and located near the Piccaninny Creek area in the Purnululu National Park.     

Barry O'Connor
July 2022

I was watching a recent news report on the Avalon Air Show when I saw the images of an aerobatic aircraft crash. The routine was almost identical to one I had witnessed at the Lilydale airport some years ago. The aircraft flew in from the left, did a couple of manoeuvres and then a loop, almost identical to the routine flown in Lilydale. 

I had no personal images of that day, so I did a Google search and located the Australian Transport Safety Bureau report on the incident;

On the morning of 14 February 1982 the pilot attended the air show briefing but as the same manoeuvres were to be flown as on the previous day no individual briefing was held. The weather conditions on the day were not ideal for display flying, with a temperature of 36 degrees Celsius and a northerly wind of about 10 knots with gusts up to 20 knots.

The turbulence was reported to have been moderate from the effect of thermals and trees on the airfield boundary. The pilot taxied VH-TBC to the holding point about ten minutes before his planned take-off time. After taking off, the display sequence was flown normally up until the final steep turn manoeuvres. The aircraft approached the airfield from the southwest at a height of approximately 200 feet above ground level and commenced a left turn at an angle of 60 degrees. The turn was continued through 360 degrees and then the aircraft was rolled into a turn to the right at a similar angle of bank. The aircraft appeared to climb slightly in the initial part of the turn to the right and after turning through 90 degrees the angle of bank increased to 100 degrees and the nose of the aircraft began to drop below the horizon. The aircraft then recovered to a wings level attitude, the nose of the aircraft was raised above the horizon, but the aircraft impacted the ground heavily on all three wheels. The wheels and right main plane broke off and as the aircraft slid forward the engine was torn from its mountings and lodged underneath the fuselage. The aircraft slid for a distance of 90 metres and turned through 180 degrees before coming to rest. Subsequent investigation did not disclose any fault with the aircraft that would have contributed to this accident.

The aircraft was a SOCATA (French Aerospace) Model. TB-10.  Registration VH-TBC.

​Whilst the pilot of the Avalon incident did survive with considerable debilitating injuries, the pilot of the Lilydale aircraft, Mr Eberbach, was killed instantly. He was the sole occupant of the five seater aircraft. Whilst he had experience flying demonstrations at air shows, he was actually employed as an aircraft salesman.

There is a background story to me being at the air show, but that is for next month.

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Barry O’Connor.
May 2025.

​This is a similar image to one of the windows in the room.

We did not have a lounge at this window, but a café style booth with bench seats on either side of a central table.

​However, the view is the same as we had from our room. The other window in the room contained the king sized bed.

Trigger No. 2: I was watching the news about yet another change in the Japanese Government, when I reflected on some of the more unusual events that took place during my visits to Japan on business. I was part of a group of engineers, marketing and sales people from around the world, who were asked by Nissan Diesel to work on a world standard specification for vehicles that could be sold in any country in the world, with the only option being right or left hand drive. 

One day we were to take a break from our meetings. We were collected from the proving ground at Gunma, and taken to the nearby village of Mashiko. This is one of the areas in Japan that is renowned for the production of ceramics and pottery.  The coach stopped outside this very narrow lane within the village. Myself, and Johnny Marks from South Africa, were the tallest members of the group, both being around 190 cm. An older Japanese gentleman walked down the lane towards us. The older gentleman was from the business we were about to visit, he would have been all of 150 cm tall, and when he stooped over he was even shorter. He took myself and Johnny Marks by the hand, one on either side of himself, and walked us back down the lane. One of our group did take a photograph, however I do not have a copy. 

The man took us to what appeared to be a small factory building, which was in traditional Japanese style and looked very old. Inside there were potters throwing dinner plates in one room. In the next, were mainly women, decorating these plates with two blue bands, similar to the one shown here, but the bands were about half of the width. In the next room the plates were dipped in glaze and placed on racks. I believe that the kiln area was off to the side of the facility, however we were not taken in there due to space restrictions and safety concerns. As we walked out of this smaller building into a huge enclosed space, we were greeted with the sight of literally hundreds, if not thousands, of these plates on racks. There were also rows and rows of racks with serving trays, bowls of various sizes, and a variety of other crockery items, all decorated with the same two blue bands. It was then explained to the group that this business supplied the crockery for most of the 5 star hotels in Tokyo, and they had been doing it for over 400 years. These hotels replace their crockery every 12 months, so there is a constant flow of work for the factory.

Trigger 3: Whilst watching the telecast of the Melbourne Cup, I noticed a horse called ‘Tralee Rose’. This brought back a flood of memories from times past when my father, who had a magnificent tenor voice, would sing this song to my mother, when coaxed at public events.  The original Tralee Rose was also Mary O’Connor, the beautiful young girl who inspired the annual Rose of Tralee International Festival. The song ‘Rose of Tralee’ dates back to an original poem written in 1846 by Edward Mordaunt Spencer. The words of the song are credited to Edward Mordaunt Spencer and the music to Charles William Glover, and from records, it appears to have been written around 1850, although no accurate date was located. The song had a revival in 1930, when John Mc Cormack sang the song at the Tralee Festival. It was later recorded by such greats as Mario Lanza and Bing Crosby. 

The chorus,

Though lovely and fair as the rose of the summer
Yet, 'twas not her beauty alone that won me
Oh no! 'Twas the truth in her eye ever beaming
That made me love Mary, the Rose of Tralee.

Barry O’Connor.
November 2021.