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Foundation News
Latest News from Moggs Creek.
Web Master's Four Wheel Driving of Central Australia.
We have recently returned from a 6 week trip to Central Australia. Our objective on these trips is to find those secluded camp spots where we are away from crowded and noisy conditions. The bane of us campers are those folk who turn up with a noisy generator to power all their freezers, fridges and plasma TV's.
The Oodnadatta Track after rain. Treacherous and slippery. A few times I saw the TVan through my rear vision mirror trying to overtake the 4WD. The 'centre differential lock' stopped that effect. I often wondered what it was for.
The rig we have used the last 2 tears. For you buffs, a 4WD Toyota 100 series, turbo charged diesel with electronic economy chip. We traveled across the Simpson Desert with this set up last year (in convoy with friends). All 1000km and 2100 sand dunes. Quite an introduction to four wheel driving, literally being thrown in the deep end.
Next to Lake Eyre.
Trapped in between flooded rivers on the Oodnadata track. This is a bleak spot but we camped with good company and our port wine really helped tolerate the cold and wind. (and this is a desert?)
Next day the river had almost dried up. However some folk a few rivers down camped too close to the dry river bed and were unlucky enough to be washed out. Their 4WD had to be retrieved down stream later.
Wash day, off the Gun barrel Highway.
Another magnificent sunset in central Australia. To sit in front of a fire with a glass of wine in a deserted location, nothing more peaceful.
The 'Breakaways'. Near Coober Pedy and on our way to the Painted Desert.
Another remote spot. The 'Painted Desert' simply amazing colours. Note Venus and Mars chasing the sun. Our van's plumbing froze up during the night.
An ancient aboriginal petroglyph at Roma Gorge in the West McDonnell Ranges.
This was an 8 km trip in along a rough river bed. Only to be attempted with a high wheel clearance 4WD.
Palm Valley. Close to Hermannsburg. A wet and rough trip in.
The river crossings were quite deep and well above the car door bottoms. Water saturation of the carpets was a problem in the car. Interesting to note that if you keep up with the bow wave traveling in front of the car, water does not get in. On crossings where travel speed is reduced because of large boulders under the water, ingress occurs quickly.
8000km traveled
For a more detailed report and photos of this trip click here.
Soon, Historic Moggs Photographic Group Exhibition
In a few months Group M, the 1960's photographic group based on Moggs philosophy, will hold an exhibition of its early work. This is the work that was collected by the National Gallery of Victoria in 1967 and sent to be hung on the walls of the Australian Pavilion at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games.The exhibition of 240 large prints had previously been shown at the Lower Melbourne Town Hall in 1965
It was tragic for the Moggs photographic group that rioters damaged the prints beyong recognition. Other pavilions were also damaged.
Equally sad was the fact that Group M's (M stood for Moggs) second large photo exhibition, titled. A Time To Love' was destroyed in one of the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires. The work was originally exhibited at Melbourne's Museum of Modern Art in 1965. Fortunately, much of the work was reprinted and copied on to CD's in 1990 by Kodak. It is this work which will be shown in a few months.
We thank the MAP Group of photographers, their president Julie Millowick, and the NewNorth Gallery at Fairfield in Melbourne for their great assistance in this historic project. More details will be shown in a couple of months.
Movies You Must See, Visions You Must Share
Sam Said "The Dark is Light Enough" and here's your chance to prove it. If you are not already a member of the Moving Clickers (Australia's oldest film society) and would like to see any of these movies, phone 9509 1470 or email margot@myaccess.com.au
You can dine and drink before the show.
12 year old Reuben Maskell took these photos during his recent Christmas holiday break.
Many years ago a hang gliding site was approved and prepared at Moggs Creek by the Geelong based Moggs Creek Dynasoarers Club (See earlier entry on Foundation News) The site overlooks the Creek, but is near power lines. Once in the air the soarers have to cross the busy Ocean Road and navigate to land on the beach.
Thanks to Reuben for these photos.
Let's remember Black Saturday
A year ago 173 people died in the tragic bushfires in Victoria. The 2 photos below are simply reminders, we know the tragedy all too well.
Thanks to Andrew Chapman, vice president of the MAP photographic group for these photos. They were both taken at Ryans Road in Belgrave South - not far from where two members of the Sir Samuel Moggs Foundation lost their homes on Ash Wednesday in 1983.
After the successful tour of several hundred prints in the 'Beyond Reasonable Drought' exhibitions around Australian galleries, the MAP Group has helped raise money for drought relief by sales of this thoughtful and well-produced book.
All praise to the group and the organisations that supported them. You are also invited to help by purchasing the book. You could call David Johns or Michael Silver at NewNorth Gallery in Fairfield, on 03 9018 3081
The Sir Samuel Moggs Foundation praises the MAP group for its prolonged determination to collect photos of the country-wide drought. We also praise MAP's contribution to the development of interest in purposeful documentary photography. This is an area of potentially great social importance - an area where Australian photographers could well devote more of their imagination and energy.
MAP's book was launched on 5 November. Some photos of the launch can be seen below the invitation.
Double Click above pictures to enlarge.
30th Anniversary of Moggs Uprising
This amazing historical photo has just been discovered in official archives. It shows Margaret and Russell Mogg trying to proclaim that Moggs is spelt Mogg's.
Their friends called them noble opportunists. We in the Sir Samuel Moggs Foundation believe that their actions mounted to nothing less than a potential uprising.
By removing the Moggs Creek sign on the Ocean Road thirty years ago and replacing it with their own version they apparently sought to rewrite the true history of our area.
Public outcry meant that the correct sign was promptly replaced, and the claims made by their supporters to large sections of land along the creek were never successfully upheld.
Apologies to Margaret and Russell Mogg - our criticism was unjustified. Further evidence now shows that for a few years the local council did have a Mogg's Creek sign erected on the Ocean Road. In time, of course, that was corrected to Moggs Creek.
Sir Samuel Moggs Foundation supports documentary photographer Maggie Diaz
An exhibition of the work of American/Australian photographer Maggie Diaz has been travelling around Victorian art galleries for over a year. The Moggs Foundation has purchased three of Maggie's prints and thus become a patron of the exhibition.
The photo shows Maggie on left, with curator of the exhibition Gwen De Lacy. Several of Maggie's photos are also shown. Maggie started in Australia in the 1960's and thus was contemporaneous with the Moggs Creek Clickers and Group M Photographers, but being a committed professional, Maggie did not join Group M and did not become involved in documentary series photography.
Here are four of Maggie's photos. In a future website update we will show more of her prints and tell you about her unusual background. We will also try to show the fine efforts of curator Gwen De Lacy and hopefully some of Group M's work from the 1960's for comparison.
American born photographer Maggie Diaz has worked as a photographer for more than four decades. A collection that has been hidden away in boxes for nearly all that time, has now been revealed in her first major retrospective: Maggie Diaz – Into the Light. This exhibition opened at City Museum, Old Treasury in the heart of Melbourne in 2007. It has travelled to many other Victorian galleries since 2007 and is still on show in mid 2009. Influenced by Bresson and other photographers featured in Edward Steichen’s 1955 exhibition, Family of Man, Maggie looked for subjects on the streets of Chicago, where the children became familiar with her non-invasive presence. This 1952 photo, sometimes called 'The Botticelli Girl', was taken while Maggie was documenting one of the poorest area's of Chicago. The area was subsequently cleared for new housing development.
In the late 1950s, Maggie married Clem Fraser – a charismatic Australian graphic designer. The marriage lasted three years and as a divorce gift Clem bought Maggie a one-way ticket to Australia "to meet his family". Maggie arrived in Melbourne on the first voyage of The Canberra in 1961 and quickly established herself as one of the city’s leading artistic and commercial photographers at a time when there were few women working in the field. In the 70s and 80s Maggie created a successful business in portraiture, actors’ composites, fashion photography, promotional work, technical work, newspapers and anything else that came her way. In the early 1990s Maggie became involved with Melbourne’s ‘fringe’ theatre scene, photographing scores of plays for La Mama, The Courthouse, and Playbox. This photo is for La Mama publicity.
Maggie calls this photo, 'The Real Australian'. It was taken in a Fitzroy hotel in the 1990's. Maggie was commissioned to do night shots of the City of Melbourne and established herself as an expert in the use of available light in the publication "Printing is People." Maggie had studios on St Kilda Road, Melbourne, and later, Nicholson Street, Fitzroy. She became resident photographer for radio station 3AW, and produced powerful imagery for the 1962-63 Brotherhood of St Laurence annual report. In 2004 Maggie Diaz celebrated her 80th birthday with a slideshow at the Carlton Courthouse. The sell-out event generated long-overdue interest in Maggie’s life and career, and a mention in Victorian Parliament for her contribution to Melbourne.
Titled, 'The Dancing Girl', this photo was taken by Maggie while she was employed by the City of Chicago in the 1950's. After she won a handsome prize for her photography, Maggie was in soon demand and working for Chicago’s elite Tavern Club, where she captured millionaires and musicians on film and produced two books. At the same time, and in a strange juxtaposition of wealth and poverty that was to mark Maggie’s later work, she documented Lower North Center – a housing development for the underprivileged of Chicago. This photograph is from that series.
Twenty Secrets About The Great Ocean Road- Elizabeth Quinn tells all.
We believe this young couple are training for the 'Inaugural Moggs to Nelson 400 km Beach Walk'
From the Herald Sun of 6 March 2009
Moving Clickers treasurer Bob Edmonds stands down after 50 years of service.
At the 2008 Moving Clickers AGM at the Quaff Restaurant in Toorak the gallant Bob Edmonds asked the committee to find another to take over as treasurer.
Left, Alex Stitt President Back, Jonathan Cecil- Commitee Right, Bob Edmonds, retiring Treasurer.
Some Moving Clickers members enjoying the excellent food and wine at the Quaff restaurant.
Left to Right along the back row we have Jon Cecil (Com) Marg, Bob, Trevor Ling (new President) then various members and on the extreme right (only half a face) Ian McKenzie (Com) in the the foreground (right) we have David Webster a former President.
It's a good time to recall that two other Moving Clickers members also served on the committee for many years. Don McDonald helped form the Moving Clickers over 50 years ago, then became its first secretary: His wife Joan also served on the committee as secretary for many years.
Bob receiving his 50 years of service gift. The remarkable thing is that as treasurer, Bob did not let the Clickers fall into the red and has not (as yet) been accused of having expensive overseas trips to study film societies in Greenland or Mongolia.Of course Paris is different.
Marg Edmonds
Thanks to Lina Papa for taking these photos.
Unfortunately the following committee members could not be present at the AGM.
Sir Sam Wines - A New Idea for an Old Tradition
'Fairhaven writer Elizabeth Quinn ponders the significance of personal beach-side memorials bewteen Fairhaven and Aireys Inlet. Article courtesy of Elizabeth Quinn and The Sunday Age.'
When Top Gear AND Trioli give Moggs a mention, can fame be far behind?
The October 2008 edition of Top Gear Australia magazine featured a photo-story about what it's like to drive The Great Ocean Road. While Sir Samuel Moggs didn't get a mention, Moggs Creek certainly did.
In true Sir Sam logic, journalist VirginiaTrioli mentions Moggs Creek as part of a short article about her favourite Melbourne places, published in a longer profile of Trioli in the December 2008 edition of The Age Melbourne Magazine.
Moggs Writer Vince Maskell Has Sent Us This Historical Account Of Moggs In The Media Truth or dare? Sir Samuel Moggs and the mainstream media
While much has been written of Sir Samuel Moggs in illustrious journals such as The Quarterly Clack, The Moggs Financial Times and The Daily Sludge, his story has only appeared in the mainstream media a few times, on those handful of occasions when journalists have taken the initiative and actually asked questions, rather than re-writing the press release of an under-worked over-imaginative public relations copy-writer.
If Sir Samuel had hired a PR firm to tell his story them there might have been all sorts of spin-offs – Hollywood movies, Broadway musicals, opp-shop tea-towels – but the true believers know that something very worthy would have been lost in the process. It would have been a less charming, less mystical story.
So, which newspapers have sought to tell the story of the late, great, premature explorer?
The first evidence is in the wonderfully-named Truth newspaper, which ran a brief news item on Saturday February 15, 1958 wondering where Moggs Creek was. The question arose from the sighting of a ‘Moggs Creek Forever’ sticker on a grey Holden in Richmond. The innocent query from Truth generated quite a response, leading to ‘Historic Moggs Creek. Back On The Map!’ (Saturday February 22 1958).
This article recorded some of the correspondence received, including John Crook pointing out that the grey Holden was actually an official Moggs Creek vehicle, ‘a 1958 plovered Chartreuse Cadillac convertible’.
The article concluded:
…there’s no doubt Mogg’s Creek exists in fact; but that a lot of hocus-pocus is and has been manufactured about it by a group of people with a highly-developed sense of humour. Originally members of a camera club and ski enthusiasts, they’re determined to keep the euphemistic stories about Mogg’s Creek alive forever.
…since The Goon Show is being taken off the air this week, Truth cordially recommends the ABC to replace it with an all-Australian Mogg Show!
Unfortunately the ABC did not take up this suggestion but in August 1974 The Age, which has a different reputation to that of Truth, decided to enter the Moggs debate, running stories on the third and thirteenth of the month: ‘Moggrakers mass for historic coup’ and then ‘How Sir Sam sailed up Mogg’s Creek’.
These stories, by Peter Smark, appeared in the Ebenezer column, a column meant to be light-hearted but not entirely trivial. He quotes solid, reliable sources; namely The Moggs Creek Historical Society. Keen for a debate, Smark argues the validity of some of these society’s claims: “This is poppycock,” he says in one paragraph.
Smark goes into some detail about Sir Samuel Mogg’s private life, referring not only to Dame Minnie Mogg but also to Lady Mary Mogg, a former fishwife of Ipswich, Suffolk.
Whether friend or foe of Sir Samuel, Smark has some respect for the great man, saying in his closing paragraphs:
“In any case, it is common ground between scholars of The Age and The Moggs Creek Historical Society that the Airey’s Inlet area was the cradle of European civilization in Australia.
“The main purpose of the Mogg-minded must be to reach into the schools and set right the history books so that the cry of “Get Mogged” will become a rallying cry for feats of valour and endurance.”
Over a decade later, in March 1987, The Age ran a short article (with a large photo) about the Sir Samuel Moggs memorial on the Great Ocean Road., ‘Mystery man adds color to a memorial quest’.
The article began: ‘Someone recently painted Sir Samuel Moggs blue. Bright blue.’ The new colour of Sir Samuel wasn’t the main point of the story, though. The bust had been recorded as part of a survey of monuments and memorials by the Royal Historical Society of Victoria.
The Age journalist John Schauble described our great hero as a ‘peripatetic knight’. Schauble then had the temerity to suggest that the bust might have been part of a “ a long-running practical joke by members of the Melbourne University Camera Club.”
The next day, March 10, The Age ran a follow-up story in its News diary column, ‘Monumental mystery solved’. The article quoted a former Moggs Creek Clicker, Tom Gilhooley of Clayton. “We were all mad. We’d spin off all these crazy groups like the Moggs Creek Movie Makers, and we had stickers saying ‘Moggs Creek Forever’, and we even had a post office box at Aireys Inlet.”
Much more recently Moggs Creek has popped up in the media, courtesy of Top Gear Australia magazine, and Virginia Trioli.
With 2009 being the 250th anniversary of Sir Sam landing on the Moggs Creek sand there might be a little more media.
Our cricket advisor has examined the Rees-Mogg argument and tells us. In an article in The Times in April of this year, Lord William Rees-Mogg suggests that cricket is a good game which is being ruined. He claims that the traditional match is dying - and being replaced by something far less interesting. Lord Mogg considers that: "The history of cultures is a bell-shaped graph. There is the gilded morning of discovery and delight; there is the classical centre period, the Augustan age of the culture; there is the afternoon, with cucumber sandwiches at tea-time; there is the evening when the night is coming on." He continues: "A rather obscure 18th-century clergyman, the Rev James Bramston, described the process in lines of poetry far above his usual standard. Indeed it had been suggested that they were supplied to him by a poet of genius, Alexander Pope. "What's not destroy'd by time's devouring hand? Where's Troy, and where's the Maypole in the Strand?" Thus he argues that: "The culture of cricket now seems to be going the way of Troy, or indeed of the Roman Empire. The glory of cricket, with its intelligence and the complexity of the interplay, is sinking into the past; we are moving, surprisingly rapidly, into the dumbed-down cricket of Twenty20. Cricket first developed on village greens such as Hambledon; it looks as though it may come to an end at Bangalore." It is difficult not to agree with some aspects of William Rees-Mogg's criticism - thus: "I also find it offensive to see cricket becoming part of a culture of instant gratification. "We want sixes and we want them now," is a poor spirit in which to watch as subtle and flexible a game as cricket." Subtle indeed, you might say - but Lord Mogg concludes on a firm note: "I do not wish Twenty20 well, though I welcome new funds for cricket and cricketers. I think Twenty20 is a decadent, dumbed-down, third-rate formula for sub-prime cricket. I would not therefore welcome its success." The Moggs 20/20 cricketing foundation has replied with this comment.
Lord Rees-Mogg's excellent reputation as a cricket analyst is well known and well justified. In this case, however, he has allowed his judgement to be overwhelmed by his own particular historical experiences and, if I may say so, his religious biases.It is well-known that Lord Mogg is a devotee of formal Christianity, and in our opinion this respect for tradition is indicative of his unwillingness to give adequate respect to new and vivacious forms of the game.Tides are a menace for five day beach cricket and have resulted in postponements of important matches or the inconvenience of transferrence to the Aireys Inlet Lagoon. We must not let the attractions of 20/20 cricket be cast aside, merely on the grounds of respect for Lord Rees-Mogg.
JC, on behalf of the Moggs 20/20 Cricket Foundation
A Little Story of the Past. The Tour de Moggs by Vin Maskell
The Moggs Creek Dynasoarers Hang Gliding Club's Glider Base. For many years, Moggs has been the home of 'Victoria's most popular hang glider launch site'. Here are some photos of the facility. It is not true that Sam himself designed and regularly used this launch pad but we know that he would have approved of Moggs being honoured by hosting this wonderful facility.
Moggs from almost in the sky. here's a tele photo of the Ocean Road as it winds it's way past Moggs towards Eastern View.
View from the launch site.
Details of the development and use of the launch site are shown on this notice at the site itself.
To Contact the Dynasoarers Hang Gliding Club Contact The Secretary, PO Box 1554 Geelong 3220
Grant Awardees Progress - MAP and Mystee have success. A Moggs Foundation grant was made to MAP documentary photographers. They have had notable successes. Some dozen of their photos, showing the drought throughout Australia, have been purchased by the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) and their 80 print exhibition will be on show in galleries throughout Australia over the next 3 to 6 years. We have been invited to the opening of the exhibition at Old Parliament House in Canberra on 8 July '08. Cheers to you MAP and thanks also for your offer of one of your impressive prints. Below, is the MAP story - remember you can look at their photos on www.mapgroup.org.au
“Many Australian Photographers Group,” known as MAP Group, is a non-profit association of around 40 photographers who share a passion and commitment to high quality, independent documentary image making. Our photographers range from emerging to well established, many of whom are recipients of national and international awards. The photographers of MAP Group are currently completing a nation-wide philanthropic project documenting the drought and its impact on Australia’s water resources. We have called this project “Beyond Reasonable Drought”. This ambitious project aims to record the impact of the eleven-year drought on the land, the people and the psyche of the nation. Participating photographers have made hundreds of road trips throughout Australia to document what they see and to record the stories they hear. To date, the photographers have travelled many thousands of kilometres and worked thousands of hours, in their own time and at their own expense. Another Moggs Foundation awardee, Mystee Unwin, is in the US. Mystee has recorded her impressions of the Australian drought in a series of small paintings which at present are being curated by Foundation chair, John Stanley. At present Mystee is working on illustrations for a US television mini series - the title of which must be kept secret. Oh mysterious Mystee! Great Ocean Road Coastal Committee
The committee has an attractive website which keeps you up to date on many matters concerning Moggs and all those other lovely places along this most wonderful of roads.
Go to: www.gorcc.com.au
You can download their 6 page attractive newsletter and find out who is on the committee and what they are planning.
Interesting Application Received
Support has been requested to develop a special type of emergency housing. Called the MOGGS, meaning, Material for Onsite Generally Grave Situations, the plan is to mould waste plastic containers into a 5 metre diameter saucer shaped disaster home.Tens of thousands MOGGS are proposed to be moulded in Australia and shipped to disaster prone countries where they can be flown by army helicopters to badly affected areas.
The lightness of the polythene (milk bottles) base of the 'saucer' and the clear top (coke bottles) is a great attraction. Another assett is the fact that the compact shape allows for 10 complete emergency home units to be carried in a single 3 tonne package.
Readers should note that this is as serious an idea as the circumstances which it is designed to ameliorate.
We hope to give more details in the future.
Patrick Dangerfield, drafted by Adelaide Crows ...Vince Maskell reports: You can see the story in the Geelong Advertiser.
Following reports that a member of the glorious Moggs family had been honoured with a significant valley being named after him, the Foundation sent its chairman to explore almost unknown areas of Northern New South Wales.
Setting out from Armidale, on the icy New England Plateau, and at an elevation of some 1000 metres the possibility of discovering a deep warm valley, a sort of Shangri-La, seemed remote.
Photo shows John Stanley boldly crossing the Sara River in flood.
ANCIENT MAP FOUND
Fortunately a secret map suggested that the verdant; indeed, lush countryside might be nearby, as shown by the State and National Parks.
This map is now available on the Internet, thanks we believe to representations made to Google by the Foundation.
FORTUNATE FIND
After being lost for days and sidetracked through minute towns with the unlikely names of Backwater, and Wards Mistake, we discovered an old house with knowledgeable local occupants.
Photo shows the local farming family giving advice about how to find the beautiful Moggs Valley.They do not wish to be named. People in the area are few and do not want to reveal the hiden riches of the Moggs Valley.
After many hours of effort we discovered this old decrepit sign. Clearly designed to discourage public interest in the Shangri-La nearby. It should be noted that the sign is slightly misspelt - there should be no apostrophe in Moggs.
A larger investigative expedition to uncover the hidden riches of the Moggs Valley is planned. As you can see in the distance, the land is beautiful and probably holds significant historical value.
Moggs Foundation Grants MAP Group Photographers and Mystee Unwin.
The Foundation has awarded a grant to the MAP group. This collection of first-class Australian photographers are, at their own expense, recording the damage which the drought has done to the Australian landscape and those who rely on farming for their livelihood.
The following two photographs are by Andrew Chapman. You can see many more excellent photographs of the MAP group's work on www.mapgroup.org.au.
It is great for the inheritors of the Moggs photo tradition to once again be working with a group of top-notch Australian documentary photographers.
The Foundation has also awarded a grant to painter Mytstee Unwin. Mystee has just completed her Creative Arts degree, with honours, at Melbourne University.
Mystee has made a series of miniature paintings which express the dramatic and at times sorrowful landscapes so characteristic of drought-ridden Australia.
Mystee's friend David adjusts the Sam Moggs cap while she displays the Award notification.
Concern with the social consequences of the drought was emphasized in November 2007 when environmental groups organised the Walk Against Warming, in Melbourne. About 15,000 people joined the march, including many children who were encouraged by their parents and their school to become involved.
The photo shows marching parents displaying the art work of their young children.
In front of the Victorian State Library, many thousands of March supporters loudly voiced their approval of the proposal that Australia ratify the Kyoto Protocols.
(These two photos are courtesy of the Moggs Free Press)
CAN YOU HELP ! ................................................... The Sir Samuel Moggs Foundation has awarded research grants to writer Vince Maskell and to historical student Corrie Bussem. Their valuable work will appear on this website in due course.
Corrie Bussem is researching the history of the Valentine Nott Mogg family who lived in the St Arnaud area of Victoria from the mid 1800's to the early 1900's. It is possible that during times of drought in the Western District this Mogg family grazed sheep in the area now known as Moggs Creek. As Early as the 1890's writers to the 'Geelong Advertiser' referred to the area west of Aireys Inlet as Moggs Creek.
For the moment, we invite you to open 'Sporting' to discover the other side of Vince Maskell - his cricketing prowess. Do not miss the valuable historical insights shown under Research.
Chairman: Dr John Stanley, c/o Vince Maskell, 48 Boyd Ave, Moggs Creek,Vic, 3231
email: Correspondence: John Crook (President) PO Box 341, Werribee Vic 3030 Phone 03 8742 0250
You can become a supporter and help the creative, dedicated people who honour the foundation.
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SUCCESS FOR EXPEDITION. 
