Baddaginie - Sri Lankan Name in Australian Town

Baddaginie - Sri Lankan Name in Australian Town

Entrance of the Baddaginie

Baddaginnie is  a rural locality with a small village (a small town) in Victoria, Australia. It is located on the Albury-Wodonga railway line, in the Rural City of Benalla, 12 kilometers south-west of Benalla itself on the old Hume Highway. It is situated in mainly flat unforested country, one kilometre west of Baddaginnie Creek. The town was surveyed in 1857, named after the nearby Baddaginnie Creek, but settlement was slow. A Post Office finally opening on 16 September 1879.

The site for Baddaginnie was surveyed in 1857. Its named is believed to be derived form an expression learned in Ceylon by the surveyor, meaning "hungry", as the survey team was without food when it arrived at Baddaginnie. 

  

Baddaginie Main Street in 1905

Baddaginie Main Street Today in 2012

The name ' Baddaginie ' has an interesting history in itself. It's a Sinhalese ( Sri Lanka- Ceylon) expression meaning ' empty belly(stomach)'. Baddaginie small town sits on the Melbourne- Sydney railway line halfway between Benalla and Violet town.  Sri Lankan labourers built this stetch of the raiway line in the mid 1860's.It seems that when they arrived at what was to become the site of the village, the promissed food supplies had not arrived, so they called the place ' empty belly' or ' Baddaginie' in Sinhalese and it stuck. 

Main Store in 2001

Main Store Today in 2012

The village was a stopping place for changes of horses on the Sydney road. Early industries included grazing, a quarry, vine growing and the cutting of timber for firewood and box wood. The timber cutting was itinerant, which delayed the formation of a sufficiently large settlement for a primary school until 1873. Before the turn of the century Baddaginnie had three hotels and a butter factory. In 1903 

Baddaginie Sports Meeting on 19.02.1913
Special Trains were run & Large Crowds Attended

The Australian Handbook described Baddaginnie -

Baddaginnie has a store, a school, a reserve and a church hall. The district's census populations have been 32 (1861), 276 (1911) and 235 (1961). At the 2006 census, Baddaginnie and the surrounding area had a population of 460.

Today in 2012 there are small primary School and a Secondary School was running in this small town center.

Small Play Ground for the Primary School

Baddaginnie is a closed station located in the township of Baddaginnie, on the North East railway in Victoria, Australia. The station had a single platform to the west of the broad gauge line, with the standard gauge line running parallel to it.

The station opened on 19 June 1882 for goods and on 3 July the same year for passenger traffic.  A new platform, station building and goods shed were provided in 1908, and these remained until 1960s when it was rebuilt to allow the standard gauge line to run through the goods shed. The broad gauge crossing loop was extended, a new signal box provided, along with a replacement goods siding and shed behind the platform.  

The station remained open to passengers until 5 July 1978 when with the introduction of the Winter Timetable, it was closed completely.  

The goods platform was visibled in 2008. But today all desepired.

George Eugene "Joey" Palmer  the 1880s Australian test cricketer, died in Baddaginie on 22 August 1910. He was born in February 1859 and played in 17 Tests between 1880 and 1886.

"Joey" Palmer had an intense career, His Test career was short in years but he toured England 4 times and at his peak he was considered a top medium pace spinner. Palmer had a particular love for the SCG, where his best Test bowling of 7-65 occurred.

After returning from the 1886 tour to England he damaged his knee and never played Test cricket again but came to play first class cricket in Australia until the end of 1896/97.

Most deadly animal - Anopheles mosquitoes

According to the World malaria report 2011, there were about 216 million cases of malaria (with an uncertainty range of 149 million to 274 million) and an estimated 655 000 deaths in 2010 (with an uncertainty range of 537 000 to 907 000). Malaria mortality rates have fallen by more than 25% globally since 2000, and by 33% in the WHO African Region. Most deaths occur among children living in Africa where a child dies every minute from malaria.

Malaria is caused by Plasmodium parasites. The parasites are spread to people through the bites of infected Anopheles mosquitoes, called "malaria vectors", which bite mainly between dusk and dawn.

First Postel Stamp in the World

The First Modern Postage Stamp - Penny Black

The first issued postage stamp began with Great Britain's Penny Post. On May 6, 1840, the British Penny Black stamp was released. The Penny Black was engraved the profile of Queen Victoria's head, who remained on all British stamps for the next sixty years. Rowland Hill created the first stamp.

Rowland Hill Invents Adhesive Postage Stamps

A schoolmaster from England, Rowland Hill invented the adhesive postage stamp in 1837, an act for which he was knighted. Through his efforts the first stamp in the world was issued in England in 1840. Roland Hill also created the first uniform postage rates that were based on weight rather than size. Hill's stamps made the prepayment of mail postage possible and practical.

Penny Red

The first postage stamps were a great success. But like anything new, they were far from perfect. Some letter recipients were able to remove the red ink cancel and use the same stamp a second time. Others varnished new stamps with gelatin or other coatings so a cancel could later be wiped off. While such frauds were uncommon, they could not be ignored. 

One source of the problem was Rowland Hill's choice of black for the penny stamp. Black cancellation ink is so hard to see on black stamps that the Post Office directed the use of red cancels. But the red ink was neither as durable nor as consistent in color as black ink. 

Another difficulty, ironically, was that the ink used to print the stamps was too stable. Ideally, cancellation ink is more lasting than the stamp ink. That way, a stamp will be visibly damaged, or even destroyed, before any cancel can be removed. 

Hill soon set up experiments, or trials, to improve the stamps. The "rainbow trials" tested many colors and types of stamp inks, all meant to be less permanent than the original black. The "obliterating trials" tested different inks used to cancel, or "obliterate," the stamps to see whether they could be removed without harm to the stamp. Based on this research, Hill chose a particular black ink for the cancels, and a red ink for the penny stamp. The Penny Red was introduced on February 10, 1841. A better blue ink was also found for the Twopenny Blue. Together with the Penny Red, the 1841 Twopenny Blue would remain in use for the next 38 years. 

The Two Penny Blue

Just two days after the launch of the Penny Black, the world’s first postage stamp on 6th May 1840, Great Britain issued the world’s second postage stamp, the Two Penny Blue. The Two Penny Blue was intended for double rate letters, but because of the increased cost, it was printed in far fewer numbers – making it even rarer and more valuable than the Penny Black! Now you can own a genuine Two Penny Blue from over 160 years ago! The Two Penny Blue Stamp comes with a specially designed deluxe, genuine leather folio (small enough to fit in a safe deposit box), and a narrative detailing the fascinating story of this historic stamp. The stamp itself is protected to prevent damage from dust, dirt and fingerprints. Actual size of folio is 13½” (34¼ cm) x 4½” (11½ cm) when open.

bamboo is the tallest grass

The bamboo is the tallest grass. It grows to a height of about 35 meters and has a thickness of about 30 cm. bamboos grow at a great spread. They can grow about 40 cm, in a day. One bamboo was known to have grown 90 cm, in just one day.

The bamboo is usually thought to be a tree or a tall bush. That is why it is usually referred to as the bamboo tree. Actually the bamboo is a grass. There are more than 1000 varieties of them.

Bamboos have smooth, hard, strong trunks. Inside it is hollow. There are many joints in the stem. Some varieties of the bamboo bloom every year while there are others that take about 30 years. Some varieties bloom only after 100 years. Once the plant blooms, it dies. New plants spring out from the seeds of the blossoms that have fallen down.

The bamboo is found in tropical and sub-tropical climate in Asia, South America and Africa. Since ages the bamboo has been used for a variety of purposes. It is used for construction of roots and walls of huts and houses, making mats, baskets, flute, paper, chairs, tables, cots and posts. The tender shoots of certain varieties of bamboo are also eaten as a vegetable. It is truly the most useful grass to mankind being light, cheap and strong.

Humming Bird

Hummingbirds are indeed the only birds capable of truly flying or hovering backwards. They are able to rotate each of their wings in a circle, and this enables the hummingbirds to fly forwards, backwards, up, down, sideways, upside-down and even hover. For this reason, hummingbirds are also known as 'King of fliers'. 

However, other birds have been observed fluttering backwards. This is the case with some warblers when they feed. Waterbirds such as herons and egrets have been observed fluttering backwards when they are engaged in territorial disputes and the dominant bird gains the upper hand. This is only short-term, unlike the sustained backwards flight of the hummingbird. Birds such as kestrels and terns, which hover by flying into strong winds, actually fly backwards in relation to the ground, but forwards against the wind which is pushing against them. The Roller pigeon can turn somersaults in mid-air as it catches insects in mid-flight.

Hummingbirds are the only birds that can fly upside down. They do so because of their angled wing structure. However, a hummingbird can fly upside down only for a short period of time. A hummingbird can also fly backward; it does this when removing its bill from a tube flower.