A LITTLE HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
The discovery of Australia, it is now officially recognized, occurred long before the English arrived here at Botany Bay on April 19th 1770. The beginning of the experience in Australia of this pioneer from Canada began on July 12th 1971, 201 years and 84 days after Captain Cook arrived at Botany Bay. I came to live in George Town Tasmania on September 24th 1999, 201 years after Matthew Flinders first sighted the northern coast of Tasmania in 1798. In the other states, cities and towns of Australia where I came to dwell it was well within the second century of Australia's modern historical period. To put this another way, the history of the Baha'i Faith in Australia began in the second half of the second century of Australia's history and my experience here began in the opening years of the third century of Australia's history. Of course the arrival of the Dutch, the Chinese, the Aboriginal people and others long before these two or three recent, modern, centuries alters the historical landscape significantly. -Ron Price, Pioneering Over Four Epochs, June 12th, 2004.
The proper province of history,
said Thucydides,1 is in the
political and military and here
in this life, these domains express
themselves in radically different
institutional arrangements,
taking the attack to the very centre
of the powers of the earth,
defeating the right and left wings
of the hosts of the countries.2
Joys impregnated these days;
sorrows brought forth,
reverence and resolute persistence
helped me overcome obstacles
or simply live with them.
I did not outgrow my childhood
and adolescence, but made use
of them as far as I was able,
in an adult way
with a chart I had to live by.3
1 T. Corey, "Review of Arnaldo Momigliano's The Classical Foundations of Modern Historiography, 1990, in Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2001.
2 'Abdu'l-Baha, Tablets of the Divine Plan, USA, 1977, p.48.
3 J.C. Powys, In Spite Of: A Philosophy for Everyman, Village Press, 1974(1953).
Ron Price
June 12th, 2004