4 July 2011

Getting rid of Jervis Bay?

| johnboy
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The Canberra Times reports that the tiny patch of Jervis Bay administered by the Commonwealth as an addendum to the ACT (it never was much of a port) might be handed back to NSW:

A historic shake-up has been canvassed to improve services in Jervis Bay, amid concerns about a ”poor standard of housing” and challenges to deliver an adequate water supply.

Documents obtained by The Canberra Times under freedom of information laws suggest imposing NSW laws on the area considered part of the ACT was one option to improve service delivery.

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Could we swap Jervis Bay for Batemans, perhaps?

Gungahlin Al said :

I put it to you that the h remains largely silent and therefore it is an.
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-anh1.htm

Al, the site you’re using is on English from a British viewpoint, so the opinions expressed in it don’t apply to Australian English. I think he’s wrong about British English anyway, but it is George Bernard Shaw who makes this point most eloquently when he demonstrates Eliza Doolittle being taught to pronounce her Hs with the phrase “In Hertford, Hereford and Hampshire, hurricanes hardly ever happen”.

Clearly the formal pronunciation of the initial aspirant is a hard one in British English, but it is also characteristic of the Australian, American and Canadian dialects of English to emphasise initial aspirants even further than the British, South African and New Zealanders do. These dialects also have accents where initial aspirants are omitted, making the use of ‘an’ obligatory by these speakers. Australian, American and Canadian dialects do not have any accents where initial aspirants are omitted, so the use of ‘an’ is universally and absolutely incorrect in these dialects.

I’m sorry, I have very little patience for this kind of thing. Those who don’t pronounce the H at the beginning of historic are welcome to say “an ‘istoric” if they so desire, but when they’re writing they should also write it thus. Those who use ‘an’ and also pronounce the H, are pretentious gits and should be socially ostracised to avoid annoying we more practical souls.

That, or we could just stay on topic…

dvaey said :

If theyd given us Batemans Bay way back then, we probably wouldnt be having this argument right now.

Spot on. Should still be considered given that every capital city is required to have a port. Half of BB is owned by Canberrans anyway isnt it? It certainly depends heavily on Canberrans in the holiday seasons.

creative_canberran11:11 pm 04 Jul 11

Jethro said :

(‘a historic’ makes you look uneducated).

You can always hedge your bets and use both: http://www.pm.gov.au/blog/historic-day
Page title: “an historic day. Text says “a historic day”.

Unfortunately it is using “an” before historic that makes you look uneducated, since it was used during the 18th and 19th centuries in a period where the “h” sound in history and some others words tended to be omitted.
Now that we use the h sound in history, or hotel is another example, you should say “a”. Who says “an hotel”?

Source: http://oxforddictionaries.com/page/aoranhistoric

Mr Gillespie said :

Gungahlin Al said :

*an historic…
Sheesh.

Uh-uh. We pronounce the “H” in Australian English.

“Historic” doesn’t have a silent H, unlike “hour” where the H really is silent.

This is one of those debates where both are completely correct, but one side is more correct than the other.

(‘a historic’ makes you look uneducated).

If theyd given us Batemans Bay way back then, we probably wouldnt be having this argument right now.

creative_canberran6:55 pm 04 Jul 11

Slight error in the original post, Jervis Bay has not been part of the ACT since self government in 1989. ACT federal electoral boundaries apply but residents have no relation to the Legislative Assembly. Residents have access to ACT Courts and and ACT law is applicable, but no more so than any other ADF member as per s61 of the Defence Force Discipline Act. Also AFP not ACT Policing have jurisdiction. So really this sounds like the Commonwealth hoping to offload some expenses onto the NSW Government.

Um. well I didn’t think a Capital could be a capital city without a port? Is this correct?

Mr Gillespie5:04 pm 04 Jul 11

Gungahlin Al said :

*an historic…
Sheesh.

Uh-uh. We pronounce the “H” in Australian English.

“Historic” doesn’t have a silent H, unlike “hour” where the H really is silent.

yes perhaps we should annex QBN makes the same sense…

This has been in the works for some time. The 2011 Governing the City State Report says on page 51: “Since the mid 1990’s, the ACT has indicated that legacy statutory and service arrangements do not make sense in the self government environment” and “the ACT has expressed a desire to cease all service provision to the Jervis Bay Territory”.

dtc said :

“imposing NSW laws on the area considered part of the ACT was one option to improve service delivery.”

Has anyone been to NSW?

It’s a far more pragmatic place than ACT, that’s for sure.

“imposing NSW laws on the area considered part of the ACT was one option to improve service delivery.”

Has anyone been to NSW?

Actually, Jervis Bay isn’t part of the ACT, but a separate Commonwealth territory. However, for historical reasons, ACT laws apply, and the Territory government administers aspects of the place on a fee-for-service basis.

http://www.regional.gov.au/territories/jervis_bay/governanceadministration.aspx

Gungahlin Al1:04 pm 04 Jul 11

GBT said :

That is meant to be since historic doesn’t begin with a vowel sound.

I put it to you that the h remains largely silent and therefore it is an.
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-anh1.htm

Back on topic, I’d be disappointed to see Jervis lost to the ACT. Then I couldn’t use my usual slag off about the Gold Coast not really being part of Queensland because it is overrun by Mexicans: “The Gold Coast is to Victoria as Jervis Bay is to the ACT.”

bitzermaloney12:28 pm 04 Jul 11

They’ll probably do a swap for Tralee… but only after they approve the housing development.

That is meant to be since historic doesn’t begin with a vowel sound.

Gungahlin Al said :

*an historic…
Sheesh.

I think “an historic” is becoming archaic seeing as historic begins with a vowel sound. It is definitely less commonly used than “a historic” nowadays.

Words beginning with a vowel sound such as “an honour” are a different case.

Gungahlin Al11:47 am 04 Jul 11

*an historic…
Sheesh.

luther_bendross said :

J-Bay is a beautiful part of the country. I vote that we simply skull drag Canberra and superimpose over Jervis Bay. Gungahlin can stay here.

+1

Although I would miss the mountains.

luther_bendross10:21 am 04 Jul 11

J-Bay is a beautiful part of the country. I vote that we simply skull drag Canberra and superimpose over Jervis Bay. Gungahlin can stay here.

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