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Me mate rings up. He is looking after a good mate of his just out of hospital. He rolled his cruiser on the way back to Kowanyama. He is ok, but apparently when the Doc looked at his blood test he asked whether he has got diabetes. Nope never had any probs with that, neither in the family. As it happens he stopped at the Termite, a fruit & veg shop between Kuranda and Mareeba stocking up on Mango chutney and honey, comfort provisions to cope with isolation during the wet. So as the accident happen all the bottles and jars smashed and he got covered from top to toe with the stuff. It was dry on his skin when he eventually got picked up and it only came off when he got a clean up at the Cairns Base. Now my mate recons it was all that mango chutney and honey that elevated the sugar level.

Anyhow we also had a long chat about Tony Roberts ‘The Brutal Truth’ in the last The Monthly. A well written lengthy essay. Some would find it confronting or shocking, however my mate is about to start a book on similar historical account on the frontier war in Queensland. So we were particularly interested in how Tony went about handling the issue and the interesting bits he came up with. Who can forget Uncle Phillips interview of Tony on Late Night Live With Dolly as guest. Revealing stuff.

Personally I am surprised no one has yet framed this sorry story as Hughes has done with ‘Fatal Shore’. As indeed our country was founded on red blood from black and white people.