Today, we'll meet a quick-thinking kid who helped save his dad's life! Then we'll mooooove onto a story about some stuck stock! We'll also watch some silent movies with a magnificent musician! And we'll meet a young footy player who is setting an example by standing up for herself.
You call Triple 0 – that's zero zero zero — when you need help from the police, ambulance or fire brigade. And that's what a man called Nick did recently when he wasn't feeling too well. He and his son were visiting a city called Geelong in Victoria, a couple of hours away from their home in Horsham. But before Nick could tell the person on the phone what was wrong, he collapsed. That's when Nick's seven-year-old son Harry came to the rescue! Harry took the phone and calmly spoke to the emergency services, telling them what happened. Despite being in an unfamiliar place, Harry looked at the street signs and told the people on the phone what they said, so that the ambulance knew where to go. Thanks to Harry staying cool, calm and collected , his dad Nick got the help he needed and is feeling much better. Nick and the ambulance paramedics say Harry is a hero!
Chinderah Island is a tiny patch of land in the Tweed River, in Northern New South Wales. About two years ago, there were floods in the area that caused lots of damage, so everyone has been very busy getting things back to normal… they haven't had time to investigate how a cow ended up on the island. Back in 2022, a couple of weeks after the floods, a fisherman named Nathan spotted the brown cow on the island. But no one had reported a missing cow! So, for two years, Nathan has been delivering fresh water to the animal to make sure it's OK. But on a recent trip, Nathan saw that the cow had a companion – a black bull! No one knows if the bull swam to the island, was washed there in recent rains, or if the brown cow had a black bull baby! Everyone agrees that the two animals should be brought back to the mainland, but no one can agree on whose job it is – the council, the mystery cow owner, or the owners of the island. Until the beasts are moooved along, they're being closely watched and looked after. What an udderly perplexing story.
Old movies were very different to the ones we're used to today. They used to be in black and white and had no sound, so words on the screen would tell you what characters were saying and doing. Musicians would also play live music alongside the film to help tell the story. And in a country town called Pomona in Queensland, you can still watch silent movies every Saturday at a place called the Majestic Theatre! In fact, the theatre's been entertaining locals for over 100 years. For the past 35 of those 100 years, A musician named Ron West has had the important job of playing the music for the theatre's silent screenings. He loves the fun of it, and loves that he gets to improvise – that means, make the music up as he goes along sometimes! And audiences love the movies with Ron's music! But now, Ron is 90 years old, so he's decided to retire. A young musician named Chris Rose will take over from Ron, keeping the tradition of Saturday silent movies alive at The Majestic Theatre. The community love their theatre, and Ron hopes the silent movie tradition will continue long into the future.
Sophie is 13 and she lives in Darwin in the Northern Territory. She absolutely loves playing Aussie rules football. Her dream is to one day play the game professionally, in the AFLW. Recently, Sophie was playing a game of footy against another local team. Sophie's team were doing really well, and were leading the game by a lot of points. Out of nowhere, a player on the other team called Sophie a racist name. Racism is when someone says or does something mean to someone else because of the colour of their skin, or where they're from. Sophie is Indigenous, and the mean name was supposed to make her feel bad about being Aboriginal.That's discrimination. But Sophie didn't let it get to her. She kept playing, and told her coach after the game. Sophie's teammates backed her up, and helped her to feel better about what happened. Sophie says she won't let it define her, or change her love for the game. She says that she comes from a long line of strong people who stand up for who they are and what they believe in, and she's proud to do the same. Adults who work with professional sports players heard Sophie's story, and say she did an amazing job by speaking out and being strong.
The Amazon rainforest is the largest tropical rainforest in the world… it stretches across countries including Brazil, Peru and Colombia, in South America, and it's almost as big as the whole of Australia. Hidden deep in the rainforest, in the shadow of a volcano, amongst the brush and trees sits an ancient city, only recently re-discovered after about 2000 years covered in forest growth. The discovery, in eastern Ecuador, has changed what we know about the Amazonians – the first peoples of the Amazon. Before this finding, most scientists thought that Amazonians were nomadic – that they moved from place to place. But this huge ancient city shows that they that often they stayed in one place for a long time and built up a community. Archaeologists have found evidence of more than 6,000 homes, connected by impressive and complicated roads.The soil near a volcano has lots of nutrients in it, which means it's great for growing healthy plants and crops. That's probably why the ancient Amazonians built a city there. Scientists think that this is probably what led to the end of the city, too, that a volcanic eruption might have destroyed it. We don't know a lot about the people that lived there yet – like what they ate, or what their societies were like, so scientists are excited to keep exploring and learning from this newly re-discovered ancient city.
Quiz Questions
- 1.What number can you dial in an emergency?
- 2.What colour is the new bull discovered on the island?
- 3.What's going to happen at the cinema when Ron retires?
- 4.What sport does Sophie play?
- 5.In which rainforest did people rediscover an ancient city?
Bonus Tricky Question
What's the word for when Ron, or another musician, makes up the music as they go along?
Answers
- 1.Triple 0, zero zero zero, 000
- 2.Black
- 3.Someone new will take over the job, and the silent movie tradition will continue
- 4.AFL
- 5.Amazon
Bonus Tricky Answer
Improvise