Perth Happenings

 

Perth Happenings

Last week we traveled to Perth for training. We arrived in Perth the night before and stopped by the Perth Mint.

At the entrance of the Perth Mint is a bronze statue called “The Strike”. It depicts two miners in the gold rush days at the exact moment they strike gold. The miner’s faces show shock, surprise and delight.

The Perth Mint was established in 1899 and is Australia’s oldest operating mint. It produces 80% of gold and 30% of silver production in Australia.  It was established to refine gold from the gold rushes and they had some of the nuggets found on display.

It was also used to mint gold sovereigns and half-sovereigns for the British Empire. They showed us replicas of the largest nuggets found. The largest nugget ever found was called the Golden Eagle. It weighed over 77 lbs and was found by a 17 year old boy working on his fathers field. The nugget was sold to the Western Australian government and was melted down during the Great Depression to raise funds for the state. 

The other replica nugget shown was one called the Hand of Faith Gold nugget and is the largest nugget in existence and is on display at the Golden Nugget Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. It weighs approximately 60 lbs and todays value would be about $3.5 million.

The Perth Mint continues to provide refining and other services to the gold industry and manufactures many collector items for investors and coin collectors.

It is responsible for manufacturing and marketing most of Australia's legal tender precious metal coins, including proof quality Australian Nugget gold coins, Australian Platinum Koala coins, Australian Silver Kookaburra coins, Swan series coins and bullion. We even found coins and bars of the Pink Panter, James Bond 007, and Sponge Bob.

We also discovered our weight in gold.

Included at the Mint were unique Western Australian treasures including exquisite Argyle pink diamonds you could purchase. These were a bit out of our price range…...maybe someday.  

We were captivated by a traditional gold pour in the Mint’s original 1899 melting house.

It was amazing to gaze at the Guinness World Record largest coin weighing one ton of pure gold - valued at more than $94 million. The coin was created in October 2011and is approximately 31 inches in diameter and 4.7 inches thick. It is made of 2,231 lbs. of 99.99% pure gold. It features the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on one side and a red kangaroo on the reverse side.

One of the beautiful sights in Perth is the Matagarup Bridge and the Swan River that weaves through the city.

Zone Conference training was on Tuesday and Thursday. It was great to be with all the missionaries and to see all the senior couples. President Wi Repa taught us that the most important voice we will hear in our lives is the voice of the Holy Ghost. God usually answers our prayers through the Holy Ghost. As we pray, the Holy Ghost teaches and confirms truth. Communications from the Holy Ghost are powerful. Throughout our life we receive guidance from our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ through the Holy Ghost. He counseled us that when the voice speaks, write it down. We will receive guidance throughout our life but never know when that inspiration will apply in our lives. D & C 84:85 tells us to treasure up in our minds continually the words of life, and we will recall it at the very hour that we need it. We face different needs and circumstances every day. Promptings from the spirit will help you know what to do and say. As we act on the promptings from the Holy Ghost and receive revelation that guides our lives, we will receive more and more. It's like the dot-to-dot pictures from childhood. As we connect each of the dots, we begin to see the whole picture…. what a grand masterpiece it is.

Northern Zones

Senior Missionaries Meeting

Southern Zones

On our way home from Zone conference on Tuesday we ventured into downtown Perth.  Elder and Sister Hadfield took us to the best souvenir shop in Perth to find Dave an Indiana Jones hat. It reminded me of the souvenir shops in New York City that are stuffed to the brim with all kinds of treasures. We struck gold. We found treasure after treasure and had a great time. 

We then continued our experience downtown and found the General Post Office. The General Post Office is a heritage landmark building in Perth. The building was completed in 1923 after almost a decade of construction. At the time of its opening, it was the largest building in Perth. 

We stopped by Betty’s Burger for dinner then went up to Kings Park.

Kings Park is both one of the world's largest and most beautiful inner-city parks and also a rich cultural heritage site. The iconic State War Memorial honors the fallen from all wars in which Australia has participated. The Flame of Remembrance burns continuously. The four torches of the Flame represent the Navy, Army, Air Force and Women’s Services. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II lit the Flame of Remembrance in the year 2000 from the Eternal Flame at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

The Queen's Tree was planted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1954 as a commemoration for her visit to Western Australia. The Red River gum tree can live from 500 -1000 years.

The view from King's Park to the city of Perth below is beautiful at night.

Wednesday, we held our first Senior Missionary activity. We started off by visiting the Western Australia Maritime Museum and the Josephine’s Garden video exhibit. Perched on the edge of the Indian Ocean, the WA Maritime Museum is symbolic of Fremantle’s past, present and future as a coastal city and port. We even saw a sheep cargo ship in port ready to take the sheep on a grand cruise over to far away lands. It is a big controversy here between the "greenies" and the sheep farmers as to whether live sheep export should be allowed. 

At the entrance to the museum stands a bronze statue honoring the British and Maltese girls and boys who migrated to Australia as part of an assisted migration scheme during the 1950s and 1960s. This migration often involved children being sent alone across the ocean. Due to economic hardship in post-war Malta, many families opted to send their children to Australia for a better life, with the Australian government providing assisted passage. Some accounts document harsh living conditions, lack of family support, and instances of abuse experienced by these young migrants.

At the maritime Museum there were many historic objects and vessels that highlight WA’s sporting, sailing and adventure heritage, including the America’s Cup winning yacht, Australia II. The Australia II is an Australian America's Cup challenge racing yacht that was launched in 1982 and won the 1983 America's Cup for the Royal Perth Yacht Club. She was skippered by John Bertrand, and was the first successful Cup challenger, ending a 132-year tenure (with 26 successful defenses) by the New York Yacht Club.

Empress Joséphine Bonaparte sent expeditions to Australia and other countries around the globe to gather flora and fauna to fill her garden in Paris.  Some items shipped to Paris included black swans, kangaroos, emus and hundreds of exotic plants from Western Australia. 

We ate lunch at our favorite Fish n Chips restaurant (Twin Fin)

 

Elder Hadfield and Graham the bike guy. Graham fixes all the bikes the missionaries break.

After lunch we visited The Round House (the prison). The prison had 8 cells, toilets and a two-story section for the entrance and warden’s quarters. A bake house and laundry were built under the front landing, and a well was dug inside The Round House. The cells were designed to take “two persons for four in an emergency”. An 1837 report stated that 43 men were held in the Round House. Prisoners received 1 ½ pounds of bread a day and a quart of water. Those sentenced to hard labor worked for 10 hours during the day. Many volunteered for hard labor as they received ½ pound of salt meat each day. Good behavior was rewarded with a ½ pound of meat on Sundays.

On display was also the Public Stocks which were introduced in November of 1833. The hope was “that by a degrading public exposure of offenders it would speedily and effectually reduce the vice of drunkenness and of Disorderly Conduct prevalent throughout the colony”.

From 1850 to 1868 convict men were sent from Britain to provide a cheap labor force for the struggling colony.

A curfew bell was installed outside of the round house and rung each night at 9:50 for the purpose of warning those “Ticket of Leave" (on parole) convicts, who were in the streets of Fremantle or drinking at the numerous hotels in the vicinity, that it was time to return to their lodgings by 10'oclock, a condition of their leave. If disobeyed and apprehended by the local police, their night was spent locked up in the Round House.

A cannon was shot off at 1:00 every day and the time ball seen in the top of the photo would lower so ships in the harbor could set their clocks and know what time it was.

Thursday after Zone conference we visited Pinnaroo Memorial Park again to see the kangaroos. They provided great entertainment.

This dad was very protective of the mom and Joey and stayed by her side and watched us the whole time.

A great time was had all week with lots of eating.

Our favorite Italian restaurant in Perth named......Italian

Back in Albany we enjoyed teaching, visiting members, another fast breaker and hosting a great night at the branch Family Home Evening. Dave stopped by the GWM (Great Wall Motors) one day to take pictures of the Chinese imported trucks. We sent a message home to Jared (our favorite auto collector) to see if we should send him one. He declined.

Tidbits from Australia

A napkin is called a serviette in Australia

A diaper is called a nappie

The gas station is a Servo

Everyone (including Dave) says “no worries”

To arrive or turn up at a place is to “Rock up”

 A run away truck ramp is a truck arrestor bed

We love you all! Hooroo for now.