A lagoon is a body of salt water partly separated from the sea. There is usually some sort of barrier which separates and protects the lagoon. This may be a pebble or shingle beach, sand bank, or perhaps a coral reef surrounding an atoll. An atoll is an oceanic island formed by a volcano.
"Lagoon" refers both to coastal lagoons, and the lagoons in atolls, formed by the growth of coral reefs on slowly eroding central islands.
Cryogenian
The Cryogenian is a geological period, from ~720 million years ago (mya) to 635 mya. It lies in the middle Proterozoic eon before the Ediacaran period.
The period is important to both Earth science and biology because it contains the two longest and most severe ice ages of all time:
These two snowball earth events were previously put together as the "Varangian" glaciation. They covered much, possible all, the Earth with ice. The root cause of the temperature drop may have been the removal of CO from the atmosphere by photosynthesising bacteria and eukaryotes in the previous periods. Much else happened: the supercontinent Rodinia broke up and another, Pannotia, began to form. Fossil steroids suggest the presence of early sponges, and amoeboid cells with tests (coverings) appear in the fossil record.
Humphrey Appleby
Sir Humphrey Appleby, GCB, KBE, MVO, MA (Oxon), is a character in the British television series "Yes, Minister" and "Yes, Prime Minister". He was played by Sir Nigel Hawthorne. In "Yes Minister", he is the Permanent Secretary for the Department of Administrative Affairs (a fictional department of the British government). In the last episode of Yes, Minister, "Party Games", he becomes Cabinet Secretary, the position he retains during "Yes, Prime Minister". Nigel Hawthorne that portrays this character won the BAFTA Award for Best Light Entertainment Performance four times: 1981, 1982, 1986 and 1987.
Ararat, Victoria
Ararat is a city in south-west Victoria, Australia. It is about west of Melbourne, on the Western Highway. It is the only town in Australia to have started by Chinese people. It is the biggest town, and the centre of the local government area called the Rural City of Ararat. The town is built between mountains with good farming lands all around it. There are about 8220 people living in Ararat.
Europens first moved into in the area in the 1840s after explorer Thomas Mitchell passed through the area in 1836. In 1841, Horatio Wills, on his way to land further south, wrote in his diary, "like the Ark we rested". He named a nearby hill Mt Ararat. The city was named after the mountain.
Gold was first discovered in May or June 1854, by Joseph Pollard at a place called Pinky Point, about to the west. Within weeks there were more than 9,000 people in the area looking for gold. A Post office opened in the area, called Cathcart, on 1 February 1856. The name was changed to Ararat on 31 August 1857.
In April 1857, a group of 700 Chinese miners on their way to the Clunes, Victoria gold fields in central Victoria, found gold at the current site of Ararat. This was called the Canton Lead. The Chinese has been forced to walk from South Australia, more than , because the Victorian government had tried to stop Chinese people coming by ship. Within two weeks more than 20,000 people arrived at Ararat to dig for gold. European miners tried to chase the Chinese miners off the gold fields, but they stayed, and in three weeks had found more than of gold. This was the start of great growth in Ararat. The city's link to China continues as it has a sister city link with Taishan, China. By 1859, Ararat had a newspaper, hospital, churches, courthouse and a mechanics institute (meeting rooms with a library).
By 1863, most of the gold had been found, and Ararat become a town centre for the farmers in the area. French settlers planted grape vines in the area in 1863. When the railway was built to Ararat in 1875, it became an important rail junction.
Farming is the main business in the area, with farmers growing sheep, beef and wine. The Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE has a college in Ararat; this is the Australian College of Wine. This is in the old Ararat pyschiatric hospital, called "Aradale". The town has a regional airport YARA (ARY).
The first prison, the Ararat County Gaol, was built in 1861, and was used a prison until 1887. During that time, three prisoners were hanged, and their graves can still be seen. In 1887, the prison was set up as a prison for criminals who were insane, and renamed J Ward. One prisoner was kept locked up in J Ward for more than 60 years. J Ward was closed in 1991, and is now a museum.
HM Prison Ararat was built just outside the town in 1967. It replaced the prison at Ballarat. It is a low to medium security prison with space for 382 prisoners. About 50% of the prisoners are sex offenders, while the other 50% have special needs or need protection.
Ararat is an ideal base for looking at the areas many natural attractions such as the Grampians National Park, Mt Langi Ghiran, Mt Cole, Mt Buangor State Park, Ararat Hills Regional Park and the Pyrenees Ranges. Ararat is also close to many wineries, which are part of the Grampians Wine Region.
Tourist attractions include:
The city is built on the Western Highway which is the main road between Melbourne and Adelaide. Ararat station has V/Line buses and trains running daily to and from Melbourne, as well as The Overland train service from Melbourne to Adelaide. Since 2008 the Ararat Transit bus service has operated around the city five days a week, providing 86 services on three routes, which join up with the train services.
Ararat has an Australian Rules Football team which plays in the Wimmera Football League. The team first played in 1871, and was one of the first four teams to form the Wimmera Football Association in 1902.
The horse racing club, the Wimmera Racing Club, holds about five race meetings a year at Ararat including the Ararat Cup meeting in November.
Ararat Harness Racing Club has regular meetings at its race track in the town.
Golfers play at the Aradale Golf Club on Grano Street or at the Chalambar Golf Club on Golf Links Road.
Two Royal Australian Navy ships have been named after this town. HMAS "Ararat" (K 34), a World War II Bathurst class corvette, and HMAS "Ararat" (ACPB 89), an Armidale class patrol boat.
Alan Ball
Alan Ball may refer to:
Clunes, Victoria
Clunes is a town in Victoria, Australia, about 36 kilometres north of Ballarat, in the Shire of Hepburn. In 2006 there were 1605 people living in the town. Clunes was the site of the first gold rush in Victoria.
The town was home to Victoria's first gold discovery made by James Esmond. His discovery, printed in the Geelong Advertiser on 7 July 1851, started the first gold rush in Victoria. The town began a few years later. With the opening of a big gold mine, by the "Port Phillip and Colonial Mining Company", the town's population grew to over 6,000 people in the late 1880s.
Clunes post office opened on 1 October 1857 and in 1874 Clunes was joined to the Victorian railway network. Clunes station, shown in the movie Mad Max, was opened in the same year.
In 1873 mine owners tried to bring in Saturday afternoon and Sunday work. The miners refused to work the new hours and went on strike. Some days into the strike the miners started the Clunes Miners' Association. The Association used force to stop the mine owners from bringing in Chinese miners to work in the mines. They stopped the coaches and sent the Chinese back to Ballarat. This action was called the "Clunes Riots". The Clunes Miners' Association is one of the earliest beginnings of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union.