A Barrister's Blog
The Lighter Side of Law
by Paul Cutler
Skylab
In the early hours of 12 July 1979, Skylab (NASA’s first space station) fell out of orbit and crashed to earth. Although it scattered wreckage in an arc over the Indian Ocean parts of it came to rest at Balladonia in Western Australia. That would be Balladonia, population 14, which is located 900+ km east of Perth (i.e. out in the desert).
I have recently returned from a road trip holiday (I drove to Perth). In my travels, I stayed overnight at the Balladonia Roadhouse and visited the small onsite museum which has some Skylab memorabilia. I had heard stories which I didn’t believe, that the local shire council issued a littering fine to NASA for the mess that their space station created. It turns out those stories are true! It’s my photo of the infringement notice which appears with this post. Apparently it’s also true that US President Carter personally called the Roadhouse and offered to make good any damage caused by the falling Skylab (there wasn’t any).
The infringement notice was personally handed to a NASA representative when they visited Balladonia. This apparently caused a good natured “diplomatic incident”. The fine was never paid.
The Vibe
Family Law disputes often bring out the worst in people and solicitors should be wary about acting for family member combatants. So, when Brett Smith decided to act for his daughter in law against her first husband, he should have anticipated that emotions might run...
The Prophecy
I don't usually blog about overseas judgments, but as I've just come back from North America, I thought I would share the humour of the Court of Appeal of Alberta in R v Pelech, 2012 ABCA 134 at [2]: At about 2:00 a.m. on December 6, 2009, an Edmonton police officer...
The Messiah
As the 2015 court term draws to a close I was looking for a Christmas theme to blog about. With the able assistance (again) of Luke Fermanis of my chambers I was directed to paragraph 4 of Adamson J's judgment in Murphy v Zeitouneh [2015] NSWSC 876 : The pleading is...
The Spy
This month, I will let the judgment of Smithers J in Grant v Headland (1977) 17 ACTR 29, speak for itself, other than to say I doubt that Mr Grant (who served 1 month in prison with a 2 year good behaviour bond) would be dealt with so leniently in 2015: In May 1977...
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