Straya, what's wrong with you?

[Svartalf]

The Australian department of Agriculture and Aquatic resources burned 106 irrepleaceable leaves from the French Herbal from our Museum of Natural history that were supposed to be lent to fellow Ozzie herbalists.
This is a crime against science as well as a destruction of an historical monument (several of those leaves dated from the La Pérouse expedition, in the XVIIIth century)... My google fu is miserable, and I can't get details on what exactly happened... can the locals get more data on this outrageous kerfuffle?

Nor is this an isolated incident, I hear the same entity also destroyed rare lichens sent from NZ. What the fuck is wrong with your agricultural authorities?

[pErvinalia]

I haven't heard about this one. Our biosecurity laws are probably the toughest in the world, so much so that there's multiple reality tv programs showing confused Asian tourists getting run through the ringer by customs officials for bringing in foods and donkey dicks and the like.

I'll comment more when Hermit posts the link...

[Brian Peacock]

They don't just get run through the ringer - they get the run with a finger.

[mistermack]

I would lichen this to the holocaust. Why can't they leaf well alone?

[Brian Peacock]

[JimC]

We were merely defending ourselves from a perfidious French biowarfare plot...

[Svartalf]

This is not a biaowarfare plan, it's a fucking diplomatic incident... our museums have suspended all lending to Ozzie institution until this is resolved, explanations are had, and some kind of reparation obtained, though the actual loss is fundamentally irreplaceable.

[pErvinalia]

I wish Hermit would hurry up and post an article!

[Hermit]

Sorry about the delay. I somehow missed this thread until I found it today while looking for something else.

The way I see it, blame rests with both the Jardin des Plantes at France's Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle and the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS).

The failure to send a one page customs declaration form along with the parcel containing the priceless specimen of leaves, is astounding. The museum sends loans out to other countries all the time, and it always makes sure that such a document accompanies the goods. Not this time. Morons. The customs declaration would have prevented the disaster.

As for AQIS, it seizes and destroys illegal organic imports every day, but this was not a pair of cowboy boots made of alligator leather worn by some fat Floridian tourist. It was sent by a French museum to the director of the Queensland Herbarium in Australia, FFS. The sensible thing would have been to keep the item in quarantine, and notify the sender that that's where it stays until the missing document is provided. Alternatively, AQIS could have just sent the package straight back. Unfortunately, neither AQIS, nor the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, under the umbrella of which it operates, ever explained how the tragedy unfurled.

My guess is that one person at AQIS is responsible for the tragedy on the Australian side. Having ignored standard procedure and deciding to incinerate the irreplaceable treasure instead, he should have been summarily executed in public, preferably using the same guillotine with which Robespierre lost his head in 1794, and in the same location - the Place de la Concorde in Paris.

Article detailing the history and significance of the collection of Australian leaves that was the victim of criminal negligence here. I found it totally fascinating, but understand that many may not bother reading it. It's a bit lengthy.

[pErvinalia]

Svarty still hasn't forgiven us.

[macdoc]

herbicide?

[Brian Peacock]

[Svartalf]

Sorry about the delay. I somehow missed this thread until I found it today while looking for something else.

The way I see it, blame rests with both the Jardin des Plantes at France's Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle and the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS).

The failure to send a one page customs declaration form along with the parcel containing the priceless specimen of leaves, is astounding. The museum sends loans out to other countries all the time, and it always makes sure that such a document accompanies the goods. Not this time. Morons. The customs declaration would have prevented the disaster.

As for AQIS, it seizes and destroys illegal organic imports every day, but this was not a pair of cowboy boots made of alligator leather worn by some fat Floridian tourist. It was sent by a French museum to the director of the Queensland Herbarium in Australia, FFS. The sensible thing would have been to keep the item in quarantine, and notify the sender that that's where it stays until the missing document is provided. Alternatively, AQIS could have just sent the package straight back. Unfortunately, neither AQIS, nor the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, under the umbrella of which it operates, ever explained how the tragedy unfurled.

My guess is that one person at AQIS is responsible for the tragedy on the Australian side. Having ignored standard procedure and deciding to incinerate the irreplaceable treasure instead, he should have been summarily executed in public, preferably using the same guillotine with which Robespierre lost his head in 1794, and in the same location - the Place de la Concorde in Paris.

Article detailing the history and significance of the collection of Australian leaves that was the victim of criminal negligence here. I found it totally fascinating, but understand that many may not bother reading it. It's a bit lengthy.

Given them leaves dated from before the guillotine was invented, I guess being broken on the wheel like the smuggler Mandrin was would be more appropriate.

[Hermit]

Given them leaves dated from before the guillotine was invented, I guess being broken on the wheel like the smuggler Mandrin was would be more appropriate.

Logic fails galore. Firstly, the mode of execution is not determined by the age of the treasure destroyed. Secondly, the killing device existed for several centuries prior to the time it became commonly known as the guillotine. Besides, the crime was committed in 2017. The guillotine remained in use until 1977, when Hamida Djandoubi was guillotined in Marseilles. Why not bring it out of retirement for this worthy occasion?

Mind you, had you advocated breaking on the wheel on the grounds that guillotining the perpetrator is much too humane, considering his crime, no member of any civilised society would have disagreed.

[Svartalf]

The device itself did NOT exist, similar instruments, like the Italian mannaia, the Halifax gibbet, or the Maiden in Edinburgh, but those devices had significant differences with the version devised by Drs Louis and Guillotin.

Also, if we are to revive obsolete methods of execution, and since this happened over an importation matter, an execution mode formerly used for smugglers seems more appropriate to me than one that never was used to punish such crimes.