What it does is cause a sleep loss which we are seeing and hearing everyday in the media (how modern society is affected by the world wide sleep epidemic) - by Sleep organisations, Professors, Drs, Universities who all receive sponsorship to go into the schools (to teach about sleep), media, with 'how to cope with daylight saving' - we know DS causes sleep loss to fatigue, many other medical situations but we will 'help' you with.

Of course, this all costs $$$s, but the practises continue, the sleep debt continues as so many people are affected.

Obesity is another, overtiredness causes our bodies' hormones to crave sweet and carbohydrate foods, consequently obesity is a result which the sleep organisations have told us. 

The medical case against daylight saving is overwhelming but has been ignored by Health Ministers (not even considered by a NSW fairly recently retired health minister), many MPs, the majority of MPs still treat daylight saving as an 'innocent' and just one big joke; all those people saying daylight saving makes them tired; how stupid.

Consequently they don't even bother to read and take even a little notice of the medical facts.

They only go with their own personal selfish wants and misguided thinking, researching nothing!

Daylight saving causes debts which has been stated in the everyday business world but this goes unheeded too and ignored. 

The body clock works 24hrs a day - everyday of the year, so is disrupted by the daylight saving clock time and should be stopped altogether.

This is what was promoted for - a trial to really experience the differences for three years from 2011 which would have been the very practical answer to the block-out of reason thus the curse continued.

Jillian Spring,

Billinudgel

For the majority of us, the 18^th of August is just another day in the month of August, nothing special springs to mind; however for a small percentage of people living in Gunnedah and surrounding district, the 18^th of August takes precedence over almost all other days on the calendar.

For a small group of men and women, this day is undisputedly their day, Vietnam Veterans Day, when this elite group of ex-servicemen and women remember the months they share with their mates in tropical Vietnam.

The traumas of the experiences are as diverse and varied as lady luck dealt each individual their individual hand. Some Vets had a relatively minor role to play during their tour of duty depending on which branch they were in, while others would not have experiened a full week of near normal existence since returning home after engaging in patrol sand/or fire fights where a minute seemed like an hour and the action they not only witnessed but engaged in is imprinted on their mind until the day they die.

Traumatic as the theatre of was was the more lasting wound lay waiting for these men and women when they returned home and tried to digest the rejection of a substantial and influential section of the RSL and a noise and malicious minority of the population for just being in Vietnam doing the job they were trained and ordered to do. 

For most of you, this is nothing new that you did not already know. What disturbs me is the fact that those of us who have ever worn the uniform of any Australian Defence Forces have done nothing in Gunnedah since 2006 to join our Vietnam Vets commemorate their day at the Gunnedah Cenotaph.

The Gunnedah RSL Sub-branch has decided that 2017 is the year that we stand with the Vietnam Vets and show that we care and remember the men and women who dies on those far off fields of Vietnam.

At this point, I invite any person who ever wore the ADF uniform, whether it was as a National Service Member who spent as little as three days in the “Nashos”, anyone who served in the regular ADF regardless of whether you were posted overseas or note, and you, the general public, to join us at the Gunnedah Cenotaph at 11am on the 18^th of August so that we can join our surviving Vietnam Veterans commemorate their day.

The Gunnedah RSL Sub-branch invites all Vietnam Veterans and their wives, partners, carers to join us at 12.00 for a 12.30pm light lunch and drinks at the Gunnedah Services Bowling Club after the ceremony at the Cenotaph. 

There will be no cost involved and entry for anyone who wore the ADF uniform and your wife, partner, carer will be via wearing your service medals.

Peter Kannengeiser,

President, on behalf of the Gunnedah RSL Sub-branch executive and members

I am researching the life of Calder Woodburn, who died in active service in the RAAF in 1942.

The Woodburn family lived at Warrawoona near Gunnedah in the 1930’s.

Two of the children attended the Frank Lynne School near their home. There is a memorial avenue named after Calder Woodburn south of Shepparton in Victoria. 

I am seeking information and photographs of the property and the school. Thank you for any assistance which can be offered. Sincerely, Jan Braham PO Box 4064 Branditt Vic 3630peterjanbraham@bigpond.com

Jan Braham,

Victoria