War Memorial battle dioramas get revamp

The Australian War Memorial is renovating its prized dioramas ahead of a $27 million redevelopment. Source: AAP

WHEN the Australian War Memorial first displayed its battle dioramas in the 1920s, their realism was overwhelming for one veteran of the fighting at Gallipoli.

Curator Nick Fletcher said the man found the Lone Pine diorama just too much.

"He said 'I have to get out, it's all coming back to me, my mate was killed behind me in the middle of that scene. I can't stay'."

The memorial's dioramas are carefully constructed tableaux of particular battles and they remain extraordinarily popular despite modern interactive computer technology.

Now the dioramas featuring the battles of the Western Front of World War I but not Gallipoli, are being cleaned and conserved as part of a $27 million redevelopment of the memorial's First World War galleries ahead of the Anzac centenary.

War Memorial acting director Nola Anderson says the restored galleries will reopen in 2014.

"Not much has happened to these galleries since 1971, which is when this wing was opened. They will be the last of our galleries redeveloped to modern museum standards," she said on Wednesday.

"We will have more collections, we will have new technology but we will have some of the things that (the) Australian public know and love and that includes the dioramas."

Mr Fletcher, lead curator for the redevelopment, said memorial founder Charles Bean understood the average Australian would never be able to visit the battlefields or the graves of loved ones.

"Therefore, the dioramas provided a way in which people could put themselves in that scene and try and understand what their family had gone through," he said.

Work on the first dioramas started in the 1920s with sculptors visiting the actual battlefields and working from paintings and photographs.

Each is crafted of plaster, newspaper, horsehair and chicken wire over a timber frame and feature soldier figures cast from pewter and lead. Each figure is unique to a particular diorama.

The dioramas and original backgrounds were painted by prominent artists such as Louis McCubbin.

Conservator Alana Treasure says much of the work involves removing 40 years of accumulated dust and grime using a brush and vacuum cleaner, while lying on scaffolding over the diorama surface.

"We are not going to overpaint anything, unless there's a loss and you are looking at just plaster."

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Forest deal pressure mounts on Tas MLCs

THE blowtorch is being applied to Tasmania's upper house members as they prepare to vote on the state's historic forest peace deal.

Major employer Ta Ann has flown in its group managing director from Malaysia, while federal environment minister Tony Burke has been in Hobart, both warning members of the legislative council (MLCs) the industry faces a bleak future without the agreement.

Environmental groups and the timber industry defied 30 years of animosity to reach an 11th-hour deal to protect 500,000 hectares of forest last month.

Legislation giving effect to the agreement has passed the lower house but faces a stern test in the 15-member legislative council when it is debated next week.

Thirteen of the members are independent and several have expressed concerns, but they have been left in no doubt about what voting down the deal could mean.

Timber processor Ta Ann group managing director KH Wong has confirmed his company, which employs 100 Tasmanians, would close its two mills and quit the state.

Mr Wong has also upped the stakes by saying the company would open a new $10 million plywood plant if the deal goes through.

He says the support of mainstream green groups The Wilderness Society, the Australian Conservation Foundation and Environment Tasmania is needed for markets to be satisfied the state's timber products are produced sustainably.

"To keep our mills going we must have the market," Mr Wong told reporters on Wednesday.

"If we lost the market we cannot move forward.

"I hope all these members understand the importance of this IGA (intergovernmental agreement) and they will support the industry."

An unlikely alliance of Ta Ann and the environmental groups - one that has already caused a split in the green movement - was due to meet MLCs on Wednesday afternoon.

Successful passage of the legislation will also unlock the remaining $100 million of federal funding promised to restructure the sector.

Minister Burke has conceded more money will be needed but is yet to say how much the government will commit.

He said MLCs would be taking a risk if they voted down the bill.

"There is no plan B," Mr Burke said.

"If the Tasmanian parliament decides to run the risk that this agreement is not required then that's a decision for the Tasmanian parliament to make."

He said a delay would mean the Commonwealth reviewing its involvement in the process.

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Summernats could set burnout world record

PEOPLE who love to hate Canberra's annual Summernats car festival will have one more reason to consider leaving town for the 2013 event - organisers are hoping to set a world record for the biggest mass burnout.

Seventy street machines will line up side-by-side on the first Friday in January to simultaneously smoke some rubber.

"It's the brainchild of our general manager ... if anyone wants to know who to complain to," event co-owner Andy Lopez told reporters on Tuesday.

"It will be unlike anything that has ever been seen or heard before."

The only similar existing world record is for mass doughnuts.

The 26th Summernats will run from January 3 to 6 at Canberra's Exhibition Park.

Just over 90,000 revheads attended the four-day event in 2012. It was arrest-free, proving organisers had successfully made Summernats more family friendly after bad crowd behaviour in 2008 threatened its viability.

Mr Lopez on Tuesday said the world needed a mass burnout record.

"So we are going to deliver," he said when launching the 2013 event with ACT Tourism Minister Andrew Barr.

"We went to Guinness and said how about 30 (cars), and they said, 'It's actually meant to be really hard to set a world record. How about 50?'

"And we said okay we'll do 70."

To set the burnout record all 70 cars will have to burn rubber for at least 10 seconds simultaneously.

The car festival will kick off on the Thursday with the so-called Citycruise down Canberra's main street, Northbourne Avenue.

The 2012 event was the first time in 18 years that machines at the country's biggest car festival were let loose on public roads.

Summernats' original Saturday afternoon "Supercruise" was scrapped after a number of events in the early 1990s ended in street riots.

But the ACT government has embraced the event since Mr Lopez took over three years ago. Mr Barr has declared it "reformed".

In October the government signed a deal that will see the event remain in Canberra until at least 2019.

On Tuesday the tourism minister said Summernats brought in millions of dollars to the ACT "at a time of year when traditionally we don't have strong tourism".

"We want to continue to see the event grow both in terms of its economic contribution to Canberra and also the number of people who come to the city," Mr Barr told reporters.

Mr Lopez in January savaged the "snobs and bigots" who criticised Summernats for being too noisy and anti-social.

Asked if the event was "sexist" because patrons have, infamously, yelled "show us your tits" at women, he insisted such behaviour wasn't as prevalent as it once was.

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Mars rover detects hint of life in soil

The Mars rover has detected organic compounds that could suggest there was once life on the planet. Source: AAP

THE Mars rover Curiosity has offered a tantalising taste of evidence that there was once life on the Red Planet.

NASA's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instruments have been sending back information as it hunts for compounds such as methane, as well as hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, that are the building blocks of life.

Researchers were excited to detect simple organic compounds in the soil scooped up from a crusted dune.

But they cautioned that the traces of carbon could have come from meteorites or even particles the instruments picked up before launch from Earth.

They hope to find more evidence of organic compounds as Curiosity makes its way across the barren, windblown sands of Rocknest towards Mount Sharp, searching for a good place to start digging deeper.

"It's not unexpected that this sand pile would not be rich in organics. It's been exposed to the harsh Martian environment," said Paul Mahaffy, NASA's principal investigator for Curiosity's sample analysis.

"It's going to be an exciting hunt to find early environments that might be protected from this harsh surface environment."

The instruments captured stunning pictures of the sand scooped up from the drift - which one researcher described as coarser than flour but finer than sugar.

Curiosity was also able to analyse crystals and other materials found in the sand. By heating the samples, they were able to detect a significant amount of water in the sand, along with some carbon dioxide, oxygen, and sulfur dioxide.

"The Curiosity rover is kind of like a CSI laboratory on wheels," Michael Meyer, the lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program, told a news conference.

"These results are an unprecedented look at the chemical diversity of the area that is representative of the rest of the planet."

Scientists do not expect Curiosity to find aliens or living creatures but they hope to use it to analyse soil and rocks for signs the building blocks of life are present and may have supported life in the past.

The $US2.5 billion ($A2.41 billion) Curiosity rover - which landed in Gale Crater on August 6 - also aims to study the Martian environment to prepare for a possible human mission there in the coming years.

US President Barack Obama has vowed to send humans to the planet by 2030.

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Sundance deal looks shaky amid delays

SHARES in Sundance Resources remain in a trading halt, as a potential takeover deal with suitor Hanlong Mining appears to be falling apart.

Sundance released a statement on Monday saying Hanlong wanted to delay the deal because it could not secure credit approval by the China Development Bank by December 13 as part of a revised scheme implementation agreement.

Last month Sundance reported that Hanlong had secured $US438 million ($A425.39 million) from a Chinese bank to fund its acquisition of Sundance Resources.

"Sundance has not agreed to amend the scheme timetable," the company said in a statement on Monday.

"Sundance will consider its position when it has adequate information and will further update the market when it is in a position to do so."

Sundance is now seeking further particulars from Hanlong around the "term sheet delivery and scheme timetable consequences".

The company said the trading halt would be lifted on Wednesday.

Sundance is developing the $4.7 billion Mbalam iron ore project in Cameroon in west Africa but it is dependent on a larger partner, such as Hanlong, providing funding.

Analysts have questioned the viability of the project, given recent iron ore price volatility and its location.

The trading halt and statement come just days after Sundance signed an agreement that it said paved the way for development of the Mbalam iron ore project.

The company on Friday said the Mbalam deal would lead to issuing of a mining permit and commencement of construction and brought the company a step closer to a scheme implementation agreement with Hanlong.

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Make GST change a priority: Baird

NSW has welcomed a federal government commitment to review the GST threshold on overseas purchases. Source: AAP

NSW Treasurer Mike Baird has urged Canberra to lower the $1000 threshold on overseas online purchases "as a matter of priority", saying the provision is costing the states hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.

The federal government on Monday acknowledged the $1000 threshold at which GST is collected on goods and services purchased from abroad is high by international standards, but rejected calls for an immediate reduction.

Instead, and in line with the task-force that analysed the so-called "low value parcel processing", Labor will begin preparing business cases and possible implementation plans for reform, with a final response to be released in 2013.

Mr Baird welcomed Canberra's commitment to reviewing the low-value import threshold, but urged the federal government not to be complacent about the pace of reform.

Online growing was a growing part of the retail market, and the tax system needed to be brought into the "modern age to capture that", and provide local businesses with a level playing field.

"We have always said there is still some work to do in terms of how this can be administered in the most efficient and cost-effective way," Mr Baird said in a statement.

"However, this is not an issue that we can afford to be complacent about and we urge the Commonwealth to pursue as a matter of priority.

"Not only does the current threshold mean that states forgo over $600 million of GST revenue per year on transactions in goods and over $1 billion per year on transactions in services, but it also provides a tax advantage for foreign retailers."

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Sundance deal looks shaky amid delays

SHARES in Sundance Resources remain in a trading halt, as a potential takeover deal with suitor Hanlong Mining appears to be falling apart.

Sundance released a statement on Monday saying Hanlong wanted to delay the deal because it could not secure credit approval by the China Development Bank by December 13 as part of a revised scheme implementation agreement.

Last month Sundance reported that Hanlong had secured $US438 million ($A425.39 million) from a Chinese bank to fund its acquisition of Sundance Resources.

"Sundance has not agreed to amend the scheme timetable," the company said in a statement on Monday.

"Sundance will consider its position when it has adequate information and will further update the market when it is in a position to do so."

Sundance is now seeking further particulars from Hanlong around the "term sheet delivery and scheme timetable consequences".

The company said the trading halt would be lifted on Wednesday.

Sundance is developing the $4.7 billion Mbalam iron ore project in Cameroon in west Africa but it is dependent on a larger partner, such as Hanlong, providing funding.

Analysts have questioned the viability of the project, given recent iron ore price volatility and its location.

The trading halt and statement come just days after Sundance signed an agreement that it said paved the way for development of the Mbalam iron ore project.

The company on Friday said the Mbalam deal would lead to issuing of a mining permit and commencement of construction and brought the company a step closer to a scheme implementation agreement with Hanlong.

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Make GST change a priority: Baird

NSW has welcomed a federal government commitment to review the GST threshold on overseas purchases. Source: AAP

NSW Treasurer Mike Baird has urged Canberra to lower the $1000 threshold on overseas online purchases "as a matter of priority", saying the provision is costing the states hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.

The federal government on Monday acknowledged the $1000 threshold at which GST is collected on goods and services purchased from abroad is high by international standards, but rejected calls for an immediate reduction.

Instead, and in line with the task-force that analysed the so-called "low value parcel processing", Labor will begin preparing business cases and possible implementation plans for reform, with a final response to be released in 2013.

Mr Baird welcomed Canberra's commitment to reviewing the low-value import threshold, but urged the federal government not to be complacent about the pace of reform.

Online growing was a growing part of the retail market, and the tax system needed to be brought into the "modern age to capture that", and provide local businesses with a level playing field.

"We have always said there is still some work to do in terms of how this can be administered in the most efficient and cost-effective way," Mr Baird said in a statement.

"However, this is not an issue that we can afford to be complacent about and we urge the Commonwealth to pursue as a matter of priority.

"Not only does the current threshold mean that states forgo over $600 million of GST revenue per year on transactions in goods and over $1 billion per year on transactions in services, but it also provides a tax advantage for foreign retailers."

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Qld party death prompts Facebook warning

A BIRTHDAY celebration that spiralled out of control near Brisbane has left a teenager dead and a man facing a possible murder charge, prompting police to warn about the dangers of promoting parties on social media.

Police say between 100 to 150 people were at the party at Station Road, Woodridge when a brawl erupted and spilled on to the street.

A 17-year-old boy was seriously injured in a hit-and-run during the fracas and later died in hospital.

A 21-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and callous disregard, but is yet to be charged.

His car has been seized and is undergoing forensic testing.

Acting Superintendent Darren Harland says the party was gatecrashed after it was advertised on Facebook.

"(There is) the potential for uninvited people to arrive at your party and if you advertise on social media, this can be one of the consequences," Supt Harland told reporters in Logan on Sunday.

Detective Inspector Christopher Jorry said the victim's family were in shock, but may release a statement later on Sunday.

"We're providing them with the support they need and deserve, but they are a large family, they come from a close-knit family community and they're offering support to each other," he said.

Nearby resident Asmatullah Nasrullahi said he heard people swearing and yelling on the street before seeing a car speed away.

"I was a bit scared because I was at home by myself," he told AAP.

"I could just tell by the noise outside that something was going to happen."

Mr Nasrullahi said he was not surprised the incident occurred in his street.

"This is a low income area and the kids who live here don't have any chance for a good life," he said.

Insp Jorry rejected witness accounts the brawl was either gang or racially motivated.

"There's nothing to suggest that from our investigations at all," he said.

Police on Sunday were doorknocking residents in the street as they continued their investigations.

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Explosions, gunfire rock Afghan airport

A SERIES of explosions followed by gunfire have rocked the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad as its airport came under an attack claimed by the Taliban, witnesses and officials say.

The Taliban told AFP that they had launched an assault including a suicide bombing on the airport complex, which contains a major NATO base.

Militants entered the airport on Sunday, they said. An Afghan government official confirmed that clashes had taken place within the airport complex.

A guard said that after the initial huge explosion the airport had come under fire from rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and small arms.

There was no immediate word on casualties.

The hardline Taliban Islamists have waged an 11-year insurgency against the Afghan government, which is backed by 100,000 NATO troops, since being overthrown in a US-led invasion for harbouring al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

A spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force confirmed that there had been "multiple explosions in the vicinity of Jalalabad airport", but had no further details.

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