Stop Press | Orange's old aerodrome marker brought back to life

It was moved when the aerodrome was turned into sporting fields and left covered in grass for years but the council restored and relocated the marker and put up an information sign explaining what it was all about.

Plans for the new sporting complex on part of the old golf course show the sign being retained so thankfully there's no plans to move it. Council also put back the windsock on what was Windsock Corner, so-named when the road was a racetrack.

The old aerodrome was opened in February 1938 by Minister for Defence Harold Thorby and was the only access to Orange by air until work began on Spring Hill Airport in the late 1950s. Because of its limited area the aerodrome, up to the 70s, was used only for training and light aircraft.

Former Orange Qantas pilot John Ellis remembers the last time he saw the sign from the air was in 1958 when he flew over before landing there in a de Havilland Chipmunk aircraft. John Swain is another pilot who remembers the circle along with aero club members like Russell Tym who are happy to see it preserved. Hazelton Air Services also used the aerodrome for charter flights so it has lots of history. There's also been serious crashes there, including a Dragon Rapide.

A driving instructor from north Queensland wants national laws to force tourists to display T-plates on their cars to reduce the number of crashes on our roads.

He says he regularly sees pile-ups because the overseas drivers don't understand our rules, drive on the wrong side of the road and are confused on roundabouts and at intersections. Well, that's also a pretty good description of Orange drivers and wouldn't it be safer if they were forced to display different signs so we could keep out of their way. We could have a 'TG' for tailgaters, 'LC' for lane changers, 'SH' for speed hogs, 'A' for arrogant and 'NILR' for no indicators leaving roundabouts. And while we're at it, the Roads and Maritime Services should register pedestrians after giving them a test to see whether they're capable of pressing a walk button and then waiting for a green light before crossing the street.

Charge them a registration and licence fee, issue a number plate to hang around their neck and if they run into a car, charge them with negligent walking and fine or ground them for six months.

Researchers at the University of Western Australia found in a study the use of the word 'mate' didn't make anybody more trustworthy when speaking. They said speaking 'good Aussie' made people more likely to be trustworthy but 'don't bother using mate...'.

Well, what about that? Mate is one of our best-known words. It first meant a partner in an enterprise, but as a republican mood emerged on the goldfields, more emphasis was put on equality. Then in World War I mates became Diggers, giving the word a national overtone. Mate still has plenty of flavour. It's used to describe an associate or friend, but is also a popular form of address among men as in 'How are you going, mate?' It's also handy when you can't remember someone's name. You simply call them mate. Sometimes it's also used in an unfriendly sense, like 'Watch it, mate ...'

We can agree with the study's finding people were more likely to trust someone who speaks in the same language.

We can hold a sensible conversation with only a few words like g'day, owyagoin', orright? colenuforyer? (or in summer, hotenuforyer?), fair dinkum, she'll be right, give it a go, bewdy, goodonya, no worries, fairenuf, absolutely, cool, awesome, seeya and catch ya. In fact, the way we love to twist, make up, join and shorten words and phrases has almost reached the stage where people who talk proper would be totally misunderstood.

And remember, sausages were snags and if you went somewhere on shank's pony, you were walking. A town was the smoke and anything good was a pearler.

People were up the creek without a paddle, flat out like a lizard drinking, game as Ned Kelly, bald as a bandicoot, mad as a cut snake, barking up the wrong tree, lower than a snake's belly, all dressed up like a pox doctor's clerk and couldn't drive a nail into a bucket of water.

An unhelpful person or thing was about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike and when something happened that brought tears to the eyes, we wouldn't have missed it for quids. That's if we hadn't shot through, taken a powder or done a runner.

Fred has been fishing all day without any luck. On the way home he stops at a fish shop and asks the bloke behind the counter to throw him three of his largest trout.

The bloke is puzzled: "Throw them to you? Why?"

"I want to be able to say I caught them myself."

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