Twitter's Galah Session

Twitter's constant tweeting reminds me very much of what the Galah session was for outback  Australia in the days of the pedal wireless. This terminology refers to the hour or so talk-time given to women living in the outback when the pedal wireless was first introduced to the Outback of Australia.

I will clarify two things quickly so you don't get too confused. A Galah is an Australian bird in the Cockatoo family and is known as the "squawker" who is incessantly noisy about nothing. They are smaller birds than a cockatoo and are a pretty grey and pink colour with a topknot of white feathers.

In Australian slang, if someone was to say of another person 'that they are a bit of a Galah' it is quite derogatory and simply means that they aren't to be taken seriously. That is basically the polite explanation of the meaning but then you can put inflexion in your voice so it can actually be quite scathing. 

The pedal wireless was instigated by the Australian Inland Mission Minister Dr John Flynn. He is revered in outback Australia because this pedal wireless saved many, many lives. The pedal wireless virtually opened up inland Australia. But there are too many stories to say more here. Just know that this pedal wireless was used every afternoon by the women of outback Australia where they could have some social interaction with other women. They talked a lot, not a lot listened and everyone talked at once because there was no way of knowing who was speaking at the same time.

And to anyone listening they sounded just like a mob of Galahs, hence the name. I have talked to people in the outback on these pedal wirelesses and I'll tell you straight that if you have a bit of a storm around, getting the message correct through all the static is a real feat of good listening skills! 

So with everyone tweeting at the same time on Twitter it reminds me very much of these outback Galah sessions.