In early April 2018 we have the Commonwealth Games taking place on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. An exciting time for us Aussies who love our sport, we're hoping being the home team will see us win even more Gold than usual!

The main venue is Carrara Stadium and the official motto of the games is "Share The Dream". The opening ceremony takes place on 4th of April 2018 and the games end on 15th of April 2018. The Commonwealth Games mascot (pictured above) is Borobi the koala, who was officially named as the mascot of the 2018 Commonwealth Games in 2016. Borobi is a blue koala, with indigenous markings on its body. The term "borobi" is an Aboriginal term for koala.

 We're excited to see the Commonwealth Games return to Australia and wish all athletes success!

We have a number of t-shirts in store you can wear to the games to show your support for Team Australia - check them out in our Aussie t-shirts section here.

Red poppies were among the first plants to spring up in the devastated battle fields of Northern France and Belgium, the sight of poppies on the battlefield at Ypres in 1915 moved Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae to write the poem "In Flanders fields" - recited below.

In Flanders fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

John McCrae (1872–1918)

The Red Poppy has become a symbol of Remembrance, worn on Armistice Day and also ANZAC Day in Australia and New Zealand. Red Poppies also adorn the Roll of Honour at The War Memorial in Canberra. For detailed information from The Australian War Memorial, visit their page here.

We are proud to offer Red Poppy products in our online store for the centenary of Armistice Day in 2018 and also for ANZAC Day events.

On the 1st of December 2017, our family lost someone very special to us. Our Mother's close friend of over 50 years and surrogate Aunt to my Sister Donna and I, we called her Aunty Mal.

Never a fan of her given name Marilyn, those close to her always called her Mal. She grew up on the Northern Beaches of NSW just like our Mum and they met when they were young adults. It was a friendship that would last their entire lives, regardless of distance, no matter what was happening in their individual lives. They were always there for each other when times were tough.

 Aunty Mal lived in various places throughout the years.. from the Central Coast of NSW and Bidwill in the Western Suburbs of Sydney when her kids were young, to Dalton in NSW (the earthquake capital of Australia), to iluka on the North Coast of NSW. Our family visited and occasionally stayed with her in each of these places and a couple of times in her life, Aunty Mal even lived with us. Most notoriously in a caravan out the front during my teen years. Mal was not related by blood but she was closer to us kids than any of our Mum's siblings.

Knowing Mal is a lesson in true friendship. At the toughest times in our lives, she was there for us. Anytime something big was happening, she would drop whatever she was doing and come to us and we appreciated it more than she will ever know. Our Mum Emily meant the world to Aunty Mal and she meant the world to our Mum too. They may not speak for months at a time but when they did catch up, nothing had changed between them. It was like they had spoken the day before.

When we lost our Mum in April to a stroke, Aunty Mal was living in a nursing home on the Central Coast and her health was not so great. Mum had seen Aunty Mal last in 2016 when we took her up for Mal's 70th Birthday party in October - at the time Mum had been on oxygen for several years and Mal had also been put on oxygen. By April, Mal was no longer able to travel any real distance and she was heartbroken not to be able to come be with us at this time, but we understood, we knew losing Mum would have been heartbreaking for her as well. We know in the months that followed she missed Mum every day.

We visited with Aunty Mal during those following months and talked about old times when she lived with us and about various times we visited her in the different places we lived. Really, she felt like our closest connection to Mum and we really treasure those times.

In mid November Aunty Mal phoned and let us know the she had cancer. She explained they couldn't even really give her any kind of life expectancy as it was aggressive. We visited her on the 19th of November for what turned out to be the last time we would see her, it was a special visit, we think she knew it would be the last time she saw us. She said she would be happy to see our Mum again and had come to terms with the fact that she is dying.

None of us truly know what happens after we die but we choose to believe they are together again. Thank you for being such a special part of our lives Aunty Mal, Rest in Peace and give Mum a big hug for us xx

Limited Edition Hoodie Offer and New Products in Store

First-off - we have a time-limited offer on a special print run of our famous DJ Jahman Rasta Lion hoodie (see design above), normally printed on khaki green, this print will be done on deep red. We are taking orders until the 10th of October (this Tuesday) for this limited run on an alternate colour.

Any hoodies sold will be included in this limited run and will be ready to dispatch from Sydney on 27th of October - click here to order a limited edition hoodie.

New Products! We have just finished adding The Mountain "Fall Release" to our store. Included are new hoodies, longsleeve t-shirts, baby onesies and ladies fitted tees in classic and popular designs. To view all new items in this range, click here.

Remember - we now have AMEX, Afterpay, Bank Deposit, VISA, Mastercard and Pay Pal available in our store. In October we are offering free delivery Australia wide on orders over $150 (via regular post).

• There are only two egg-laying mammals in the world, both of which come from Australia – The echidna, or spiny anteater, and the platypus.
• A kangaroo’s tail does not touch the ground when it is hopping at speed. The animal only uses the tail to balance its jumping efforts, and to rear upon when stopped.
• The first flight across the Pacific Ocean was made by Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith, from Oakland in California to Brisbane, Australia in 1928.
• 95% of the world’s opal are dug up in Australia, and also the biggest opals outright. (The record holder being 6.8 kg!)
• The first around-the-world passenger service by an airline was started by Qantas, in 1958.
• Qantas stands for Queensland And Northern Territory Aerial Services.
• Qantas is the world’s second oldest airline, (est 1920) with only KLM being older.
• Australia took on its unification of the six British colonies in 1901, when a single Australia-wide government was formed.
• Australia is one of the most governed countries on earth, with one politician for every 20,000 Aussies. The British have one politician for every 45,000 people.
• Australia’s National Anthem was “God Save The Queen”, up until 1984, where upon it was changed to “Advance Australia Fair”. This was due to a referendum in 1977. It took that long to get a non militaristic and politically correct version out. (The original second verse was cut completely)
• On the 7th of March, 1856, workers in Sydney belonging to the Stonemason’s Society were the first workers in the world to gain an eight hour working day. (reduced from ten hours)  This is celebrated in Australia by the holiday, “Labour Day”.
• The first pension for women in the world was brought in by the New South Wales government in 1926.
• The first ‘secret ballot’ system for parliament in the world was introduced in the Legislative Council of Victoria, Australia, on 27-8-1856. The rest of the world took another few decades.
• The preferential voting system was first introduced into the world in Queensland, in 1892.
• The Utility, or as it’s called in Australia the ‘ute’, was invented in Australia by Ford in 1932. The legend has it that it that a farmer came to Ford, looking for a car that could “work on the farm all week, and then take the wife to church on Sundays.”

We now offer Afterpay as a payment method in our online store! Afterpay is a way to buy from our store now and pay later in 4 equal instalments, which is paid every fortnight. This allows you to buy the items you need without the full upfront cost and has been of great benefit to 1000s of Australians who now have Afterpay accounts.

For more information about Afterpay or to register an account with Afterpay, visit their website.

John Williamson is one of our contemporary musicians and sings with a truly authentic Aussie sound, over the years he’s put out some brilliant songs that speak to the hearts of most Australians but I wanted to highlight one of his really fun songs that he put out in the early ’70s.

Old Man Emu

by John Williamson

Let me tell you of an interview with an Old Man Emu
He’s got a beak and feathers and things, but the poor old fella ain’t got no wings
“Aren’t you jealous of the wedge-tail eagle?” – dom ba da little da da da

(Spoken in tempo) “While the eagle’s flying round and round, I keep my two feet firmly on the ground
I can’t fly, but I’m telling you, I can run the pants off a kangaroo”.

doo dee ba doo doo doo , boo da da doot doo doo doo
He can’t fly, but I’m telling you, he can run the pants off a kangaroo.

Well he was the model for the fifty cents – oom ba da little da da da
The designer should have had more sense – oom ba da little da da da
If you take a look, it’ll prove to you, I ran the pants off that kangaroo.

Doo dee ba doo doo doo…Boo da da doot doo doo..
Take a look it’ll prove to you, he can run the pants off the kangaroo.

You can’t loop the loop like a cockatoo – Oom ba da little da da da
Swoop and toss like an albatross – Oom ba da little da da da
“You silly galah, I’m better by far, than a white cockatoo or a budgerigar;
They squeak and squawk and try to talk, why me and them’s like cheese and chalk”
Ba da da Doo dee ba doo doo doo…Boo da da doot doo doo doo
He can’t fly but I’m telling you, he can run the pants off a kangaroo…

Well the last time I saw Old Man Emu – Oom ba da little da da da
He was chasing a female he knew – Oom ba da little da da da
As he shot past I heard him say “She can’t fly, but I’m telling you
She could run the pants off a kangaroo”. –

Ba da da Doo dee ba doo doo doo Doo dee ba doo doo doo…Boo da da doot doo doo doo
She can’t fly but I’m telling you, she can run the pants off a kangaroo

Well there is a moral to this ditty – Oom ba da little da da da
Thrush can sing but he ain’t pretty – Oom ba da little da da da
Duck can swim, but he can’t sing, nor can the eagle on the wing
Emu can’t fly, but I’m telling you, he can run the pants off a kangaroo.

Well the kookaburra laughed and said “It’s true, oom ba da little da da da,
Ha Ha Ha Ha Hah Hoo, He can run the pants off a kangaroo”.

• The Emu is native to Australia and it is believed to have existed almost unchanged for over 80 million years.
• Emus grow to approximately 6 feet tall and is the second largest bird in the world.
• Emu and ostrich are totally different birds. The only similarity they share is that they are both flightless.
• The Emu is an omnivore. In the wild its diet consists of grains and seeds and small rodents, reptiles and birds.
• Females can lay up to 60 eggs per season. The average egg production for a hen is 30 to 40 eggs.
• The eggs are dark green and weigh 1 to 1 1/2 pounds (500 to 780 grams).
• The male Emu incubates the eggs 50 to 60 days and then raises the chicks.
• An Emu grows quickly and reaches its full height in one year.
• Emus love water and are excellent swimmers.

We sell some terrific emu products in our store, from pewter figurines to plush toys, check them out here.

CLANCY OF THE OVERFLOW

by A.B. ‘Banjo’ Paterson

I had written him a letter which I had, for want of better
Knowledge, sent to where I met him down the Lachlan, years ago
.He was shearing when I knew him, so I sent the letter to him,
Just “on spec,” addressed as follows:  “Clancy of The Overflow”.

And an answer came directed in a writing unexpected,
(And I think the same was written with a thumbnail dipped in tar)
‘Twas his shearing mate who wrote it, and verbatim I will quote it:
“Clancy’s gone to Queensland droving, and we don’t know where he are.”

In my wild erratic fancy visions come to me of Clancy
Gone a-droving “down the Cooper” where the western drovers go;
As the stock are slowly stringing, Clancy rides behind them singing,
For the drover’s life has pleasures that the townsfolk never know.

And the bush hath friends to meet him, and their kindly voices greet him
In the murmur of the breezes and the river on its bars,
And he sees the vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended,
And at night the wondrous glory of the everlasting stars.

I am sitting in my dingy little office, where a stingy
Ray of sunlight struggles feebly down between the houses tall,
And the foetid air and gritty of the dusty, dirty city
Through the open window floating, spreads its foulness over all.

And in place of lowing cattle, I can hear the fiendish rattle
Of the tramways and the buses making hurry down the street,
And the language uninviting of the gutter children fighting,
Comes fitfully and faintly through the ceaseless tramp of feet.

And the hurrying people daunt me, and their pallid faces haunt me
As they shoulder one another in their rush and nervous haste,
With their eager eyes and greedy, and their stunted forms and weedy,
For townsfolk have no time to grow, they have no time to waste.

And I somehow rather fancy that I’d like to change with Clancy,
Like to take a turn at droving where the seasons come and go,
While he faced the round eternal of the cashbook and the journal –
But I doubt he’d suit the office, Clancy, of  “The Overflow.”