A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent
When checking the "Victorian breakfast wrap" on the The Courier website on Friday (23/09 7:05am), I learned it was on that day in 1942 that the "Manhattan Project" commenced under the direction of US General Leslie Groves. As reported, the aim of this top-secret World War Two project was to develop an atomic bomb and trigger the surrender of Japan. What most readers of this newspaper might not realise is that two of the three eminent Australian scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project were from Ballarat. Sir Harrie Stewart Wilson Massey was born in Invermay (now on Ballarat's northern outskirts) on 16 May 1908, the only child of Harrie Stewart Massey, a miner, and his wife Eleanor Elizabeth. Eric Henry Stoneley Burhop, born in Hobart on 31 January 1911, moved with his parents (local Salvation Army officers Henry Augustus Burhop and his wife Bertha) and two older sisters (Edna and Vera) to Ballarat in 1923. Burhop attended Ballarat High School (which then did not admit until Year 9) for most of his secondary education, receiving his Leaving Certificate (Year 11) in 1926. He then attended Melbourne High School for his final year. Both men graduated from the University of Melbourne, from where they also proceeded to the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, England (then headed by the father of nuclear physics, New Zealand scientist Ernest Rutherford). It was from Cambridge University that they were both recruited to America for the war effort by the third and better-known Australian scientist on the Manhattan Project, Sir Mark Oliphant (later a Governor of South Australia). All three Australians became Fellows of the Royal Society, Britain's prestigious 356-year-old national academy of science. In the years after the war, Massey also helped develop the Skylark rocket for high-altitude research above the Woomera Rocket Range.
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Chris Evans, St Albans
Overt better than invisible
In response to Mr Ben Taylor's letter in relation to "No place for politics", I thank him for admitting he is a paid up member of the Liberal party. I am a paid up member of the Australian Greens. However, I disagree his claims of independence. We should ask who is helping to fund his campaign.
Local government is by its very nature political. The philosophy of the party you are a member of is a philosophy you agree with that will influence your vies and decisions you make when you vote on contentious issues.
The people and businesses who supported you in your campaign will expect you to support their views. Party support and the best for a local government area is not contradictory, as party involvement at a local level allows councillors to obtain advice from local residents of the same ilk.
It is also out in the open as the policies of parties are there for all to see. There are no faceless people quietly leaning on councillors with their secret agenda.
Mr Taylor says “let's keep parties out of politics” but this leaves it open to keeping the old school of local government continuing with secret meetings, with faceless men determining Ballarat's future.
Local government needs to be political party orientated because out of the rough and tumble of party politics, candidates have to show their true colours in relation to their vision of Ballarat. This will result in a more open government of this wonderful city.
Murray Legro, Mitchell Park
In response to Ben Taylor and other candidates for Ballarat council elections, I disagree with the premise that a person's political ideology should not be raised in the mind of conscientious voters. I believe coming forward with what your values are and what party best represents them, is a transparent and honest method of being able to provide a big picture of what your goals will be if you're given the chance to represent the Ballarat community.
