Bendigo Magazine - Issue 48 - Spring 2017

ISSUE 48 | SPRING 2017 www.bendigomagazine.com.au

CRUISIN’

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HOME DESIGN AT NEW HEIGHTS

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from the team

It’s such a beautiful time of the year. The days are getting longer and warmer, the winter sports are starting to head into finals season, if they haven’t finished already, and we’re all looking forward to local gardens and native forests becoming awash with colour.

As well as the seasonal changes, there is so much to see and do in and around Bendigo. The annual Swap Meet is fast approaching, the Bendigo Bank Fun Run almost upon us, and another exciting exhibition is booked in for the Bendigo Art Gallery. Three of the team members behind this international event, The Costume Designer: Edith Head and Hollywood, talk about their roles at the gallery and some of the logistics involved in putting together such a collection.

In this edition of Bendigo Magazine, Paula Hubert looks into the history of the city’s famous Joss House, the second oldest Chinese temple in Australia, while Linda Barrow chats with couples who enjoy taking to the open road in their classic cars.

Sarah Harris spends time with an artist and self-professed ‘deathie’, and Lauren Mitchell enters the calm waters of La Trobe University’s new canoe trail. We look at the Athletic Development Program of a local college, Raelee Tuckerman highlights the hard work put in by one of the region’s rising netball stars, and, of course, there are the reflections and thought-provoking musings of our usual suspects.

As is expected with the changing of the seasons, restaurants are tweaking their menus, wineries are moving along their processing line and interior design trends are taking a new turn. Spring has certainly sprung.

Happy reading to you.

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16/08/2017 8:20 pm

MANAGING EDITOR / CREATIVE DIRECTOR Dustin Schilling DEPUTY EDITOR Sue Turpie CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER David Field WRITERS Linda Barrow, Ben Cameron, Sarah Harris, Geoff Hocking, John Holton, Paula Hubert, Colin King, Lauren Mitchell and Raelee Tuckerman CONTRIBUTORS Lisa Chesters, Jayden Donaldson, Melinda Rosser and Finn Vedelsby EVENTS PHOTOGRAPHER Ashley Taylor PRINT MANAGER Nigel Quirk ADVERTISING advertising@bendigomagazine.com.au PO Box 5003 Bendigo, VIC 3550 Phone: 0438 393 198

Bendigo Magazine takes all care but accepts no responsibility for unsolicited materials. Bendigo Magazine holds copyright to all content unless otherwise stated.

ISSN 1833-1289.

While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information in this publication, the publisher accepts no responsibility or liability for any errors, omissions or resultant consequences including any loss or damage arising from reliance on information in this publication.

The views expressed are not necessarily endorsed by the editor or the publisher.

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contents

PEOPLE & LIFE

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

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Offering sanctuary

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Paddles up The ‘aha’ moment of mathematics

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Head above the rest

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Finding Balance

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Made with love

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Evolution of a home

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Natural progression

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A rare photo

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Death becomes her

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Getting with the program

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Timely innovation

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Oh, so strange

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Alexandra fountain

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Igniting reconciliation

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Eat, drink and buy local

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Living the past

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Car couples

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104 Return of the cup 108 Sharpshooter in demand 110 Weight expectations

68 62 FOOD & WINE

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Delicious lamb

HOUSE & GARDEN

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Food at the cutting edge

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Heartfelt history

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Distinctive flavours

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Make a statement

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Planting the seed

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Design on a grand scale

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TAVERNS TO TEMPERANCE: PUBS OF BENDIGO August 25 – December 3 In a place where drinking beer was once seen as safer than drinking water, pubs were prolific as centres for social and commercial life in Bendigo. From the sly grog tents of the goldfields, to home style ‘taverns’ and the flourishing brewing industry, Taverns to Temperance: pubs of Bendigo illuminates the history of pubs and drinking culture in Bendigo.

Belmont Hotel, Prop Anne Jackson. c 1893. Photograph, Courtesy Vince Scinetti

cheers to spring

Learn about the role women played in the city’s hotel history, step up to raise funds for the Bendigo Health Foundation, or marvel at the creations of a Hollywood designer.

THE COSTUME DESIGNER ON SHOW September 29 January 21 Having worked on more than 1000 films and with eight academy awards to her name, Edith Head is considered royalty in Hollywood when it comes to costume design.

And thanks to its growing international reputation, Bendigo Art Gallery will host an exhibition featuring more than 70 costumes and items from Edith’s career which spanned some five decades.

The Costume Designer: Edith Head and Hollywood will be at the gallery from September 29 to January 21.

Films highlighted in the exhibition include: The Ten Commandments, Samson and Delilah, The Emperor’s Waltz, Sunset Boulevard, Vertigo, The Heiress and more.

The exhibition features costumes worn by Shirley Temple, Gloria Swanson, Veronica Lake, Olivia De Havilland, Dorothy Lamour, Jane Russell, Hedy Lamarr, Anne Baxter, Fred Astaire and Yul Brynner.

For more information visit www.bendigoartgallery.com.au 6

Women were instrumental in the development of the pub industry although women were not permitted to drink in hotels. A large proportion of early publicans’ licences were held by women who operated pubs as a means to provide for their family.

Conversely women also played a large part in resistance against the growing industry surrounding pubs and drinking. The groundswell of temperance societies and later the ‘6’oclock lockout’ all sought to disparage the consumption of alcohol and improve family life for women and children.

Through the cloudy glass of a well-worn goldfields ‘nobbler’, this exhibition views pubs as places of entertainment, accommodation, social and political activism and even autopsies and inquests.

GET FIT FOR FUNDRAISER November 5 Pounding the pavement to raise money for Bendigo Health, the annual Bendigo Bank Fun Run is a must on the charity and fitness calendar.

For those keen on pushing themselves, there is ample room for the serious runners; and for families and those in it for fun, there are shorter courses that can be walked or jogged, or a combination of both.

Each year thousands of competitors set off on the course which veers through the streets of the Bendigo CBD, and raise thousands of dollars for the Bendigo Health. Before each race there is a warm-up session to get the blood pumping. After the race, everyone receives a medal of participation. There are also massages, sausage sizzle, merchandise stalls and other activities happening on the day.

For more information, or to register as a solo participant or as part of a group, visit www.bendigobankfunrun.com.au

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events

September 9 Golf Croquet – Come and Try Eaglehawk Community Croquet Club www.facebook.com/eaglehawkcroquetclub/ September 9-10 Wedderburn Vintage Machinery Rally Wedderburn www.bendigotourism.com

RENDER SOLUTIONS With almost 20 years of experience under their belts, the team at Render Solutions certainly know their product and how to best deliver it to their customers.

Family-owned and operated, the company first opened its doors in 1999 and has been going from strength to strength since.

Brendon Frost says Render Solutions pride themselves on providing a high-standard of work to major builders and the general public within 1.5 hours of Bendigo.

Render Solutions specialise in cement and acrylic rendering for any project

ranging from standard homes to commercial builds.

They are experienced in the solid-plaster restoration of heritage properties, Venetian polished plastering as well as being central Victoria’s retailier for RMX Orange Board Cladding System for which they can supply, install and render from frame until completion.

For more information on Render Solutions, visit www.rendersolutions.com.au to see their vast gallery of projects, or phone Brendon or Simone on 0417 479 491.

September 17 Naturally Loddon – Nardoo Hills Mt Keran www.bushheritage.org.au September 23 Tavern to Temperance: The pubs of Bendigo Bendigo Post Office Gallery www.bendigoartgallery.com.au September 29 to January 21 Costume Designer: Edith Head and Hollywood Bendigo Art Gallery www.bendigoartgallery.com.au September 30 to October 1 Tarnagulla Strictly Vintage Fair Tarnagulla Community Centre www.loddon.vic.gov.au October 6-15 Bendigo Uncorked Week Various venues www.bendigowine.org.au October 7 Bendigo Orchid Club Spring Show Truscott Reserve California Gully www.oscov.asn.au/boc

Junior Handlers Competition (L-R): Jack McDougall, Mikaela Toman, Amelie Ryan, MacKenzie Punton

AGRICULTURE PROGRAM BREEDING SUCCESS The latest expansion of the Agriculture program at Catholic College Bendigo has been very popular, with 160 Years 8 and 9 students now studying the subject.

Students love the hands-on learning and developing practical skills in agriculture and horticulture.

In July, the college’s Polwarth Stud had its most successful showing ever at the Australian Sheep and Wool Show, against strong competition from established breeders in Victoria, Kangaroo Island and Tasmania.

The College entered five ewes and ‘Jimmy’ the Polwarth Ram, allowing both junior and senior students to take part in feeding, caring for and showing the animals over four days.

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Their hard work was rewarded with a swag of titles and ribbons — Grand Champion Polwarth Ewe, Junior Champion Polwarth Ewe, two firsts, two seconds and a third prize.

The school’s agriculture program covers agricultural sustainability, animal health, handling and husbandry, seed germination, Occupational Health and Safety practices and farm maintenance.

Students develop strong skills and the confidence to undertake Certificates II and III in Agriculture during Years 10 to 12, opening pathways to further study and careers in the industry.

In the past year, students have also displayed animals at Alpaca Colourbration and the Bendigo Agricultural Show. The College also runs its own show where students present sheep, cows and alpacas and compete for the Stockmanship Awards.

October 14 The Handmade Market Bendigo Rotary Park, Kangaroo Flat www.jazsmum.wixsite.com/ thehandmademarket October 15 Trove Makers’ Market The Good Loaf Sourdough Bakery and Café www.trovebendigo.wix.com/trovebendigo October 21 to November 19 Mica Grange Sculpture Exhibition and Spring Open Garden Mica Grange www.micagrange.com.au October 31 Morning Melodies Bendigo RSL www.bendigorsl.com.au/ November 1 Bendigo Jayco Cup Bendigo Jockey Club country.racing.com/bendigo November 5 Bendigo Bank Fun Run Bendigo CBD www.bendigobankfunrun.com.au Until November 11 Gary Bish: The Inside Story Bendigo Art Gallery www.bendigoartgallery.com.au November 18-19 Bendigo National Swap Meet Bendigo Showgrounds www.bendigoswapmeet.com.au

29 September 2017 – 21 January 2018 A large slice of Hollywood history honouring the career of multi-award winning costume designer Edith Head.

Tickets: www.bendigoartgallery.com.au

#EdithBendigo

Open 10am – 5pm Monday – Sunday including public holidays 03 5434 6088 42 View Street Bendigo Victoria

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offering sanctuary Shelley and her family have created a beloved home and haven for rescued and retired animals, and those in need of some country R&R.

By Sue Turpie Hidden away in the undulating hills of Axedale, Yalooka Farm is a haven to the animals who find themselves there and the people who are lucky enough to visit. It’s an animal orphanage cum retirement village cum breeding facility cum family home and secluded accommodation run by Shelley and her family.

It is no surprise that the family came to live on 54 hectares here, Shelley is originally from Bendigo, returning after years living on the Apple Isle and her husband, Ed, is a sixth-generation farmer from Tasmania. The couple even turned to the land when naming their property. The word Yalooka comes from the local Aboriginal community — it was the name they gave to the Campaspe River. The couple had not long purchased the land at

Axedale when their first furry housemate came along.

“Daisy rescued herself; she just turned up,” Shelley laughs. “We came to the property one day and there was this cow.” From that one unexpected visitor grew this unexpected lifestyle.

“When we brought our initial stock, the guy was selling up everything because he was retiring. We brought about 50 goats off him.

We had no idea at the time. We were like a lot of people and thought you stick goats in a paddock and they eat anything.”

Now Shelley is expert in her field.

“Google was our best friend to start with,” she jokes. “Now we’re in a lot of Facebook groups.

The goating community is very supportive. You

can often put up something on the Facebook site and you’ll get plenty of comments saying what you can try. Goats Australia have a couple of vets who have goats and they’re happy to give advice or tell you that you need to see a vet.

“My vet in Strathfieldsaye is great. Sue wasn’t really a goat vet, but is now and does webinars and that sort of thing on goats. They are so compassionate — we wouldn’t be where we are now without them.”

Not that Shelley minds the vet bills or the outlay, for her it’s no different than having to feed, house and upkeep the children.

The establishment is self-funded, with farm stays helping to pay for the upkeep of rescued animals, as does the breeding program which involves adopting goat kids 11

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out to suitable homes. Given her passion for the animals in her care, Shelley scrutinises potential families and none of the rescued animals are adopted. The only animals that leave the property are kids that have been bred at Yalooka and even then “our girls get a good year to two years’ break between kids. Their health is more important to us,” Shelley says.

The animals that now call Yalooka home have come from near and far.

A goat, Alfie, was born in a stock crate when a truck broke down. One of a group of linesmen working nearby took Alfie in, but their backyard in Melbourne was too small and after eight weeks they couldn’t keep him.

The family phoned Shelley and asked that he come and stay with her.

“They still come and visit Alfie,” she says, “and I send them pictures every now and then. We’ve got a few like that. People have brought a goat from a market cheap because they (felt sorry for them) and then realised they can’t keep them. We’ve a set of twins, Basil and Lilly, and their owner still comes to visit them and he brings a big bag of carrots and things for us.

“We’ve had quite an influx recently, so we’ve got 81 goats. The retirees and rescues just chill and do their thing. Even our chickens come from Edgar’s Mission, one of the biggest farm animal rescue organisations in Australia.”

Listening to Shelley describe each animal is like listening to someone give an update on their neighbours; that one there can be a bit moody,

while that one can be a bit cheeky. And Shelley knows them all by name. William, Edna, Audrey, Felix … everyone has a name and their own personality. There’s even a Steady Eddie. “I had to sit there and go through the baby name books, when you’re naming like nearly 80 goats,” she laughs.

The people who stay at Yalooka are as dynamic and varied as its permanent residents. Many come from Melbourne, keen to teach their children about farming. “Some kids have never been around farm animals, they’ve only ever known a dog or a cat,” Shelley says. “I get women having a girls’ weekend; they go to the races and then light the fire pit, sit around and enjoy a drink. I’ve got a set of astronomers who go to an event in Heathcote. It’s nice to be able to share what we have, and educate a few people in a roundabout way.”

There is a go fund me which is used for bills and food. Shelley is trying to build more shelters but as she says: “It all takes cash.”

“We plug along doing what we do. If anyone wants to volunteer they can, it’s tough work, I can tell you that, cleaning up and feeding, but it has to be done. My husband works away quite a bit. We’d love to take more animals but I’m only one person, and we’re not going to take more animals if we can’t give them the proper care.”

Any animal lovers or veterinary students who would like to volunteer can contact Shelley. For more information on Yalooka Farm go to www.yalookafarm.com.au

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CELEBRATING ARTIST’S STEEL EVOLUTION It was a marriage of old and new at Dudley House, with visitors enjoying a collection of modern, eye-catching work by Bendigo’s Andre Sardone on display through this historic and iconic property.

Anne and Ian Flatley

Annie Ziegler and Anthony Ward

James Mitchell and Trystan Rees

Jennifer and Peter Goddard

Lorna Callahan and Hattie Parris

Robert and Pam Davey

The collection, aptly titled Steel Evolution, featured sculptural works made from scrap, salvaged and reclaimed steel and timber.

The exhibition was opened by Noel Muscat and Dr Sam Bowker was guest speaker at the event.

For more information on the artist and his creations, visit the Andre Sarone Art page on Facebook.

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Steve, Sienna and Jackie McDonald

Jess Pembertom and Kate Smith

BREWING FUNDS FOR CHARITY

Judith Telfer and Megan Mannix

Morgan Lawson and Josie Sheppard

Kristie Miller, Georgie Butler, Ivy Pinner and Belinda Pinner

Steph Conway, Ross Kieswetter and Julia Conway

Run by the Bendigo Volunteers Group, Percy and Percy in Hargreaves Street supported the Biggest Morning Tea raising funds for cancer research.

From 9am to 11am one dollar was donated from each hot drink served, and customers also further supported the fundraiser by dropping money into charity boxes in the cafĂŠ. The cafĂŠ raised $350 for this worthy cause.

head above the rest

Alfred Hitchcock, Grace Kelly, Clara Bow, Gene Kelly … While costume designer Edith Head has worked with the biggest names in Hollywood, her extensive portfolio of designs makes her a star in her own right. Bendigo Art Gallery will host a selection of these in its latest exhibition, The Costume Designer: Edith and Hollywood.

With her dark, round glasses, tailored skirt suit and distinctive hairstyle, Edith Head’s signature look is now as famous as the actors and directors whom she worked for. But behind her self-imposed ‘uniform’ was a hard-working, shrewd businesswoman who will go down in history as arguably the most successful female costume designer. One documentary interviewee described Edith as not necessarily the most talented, but certainly the smartest. That being said, Edith’s designs were classic, memorable and perhaps, most importantly, created to appease everyone involved in the film-making process especially the stars she worked with during her career, which spanned more than five decades.

Edith worked on almost 1000 films, starting at Paramount Pictures and then Universal Studios. She created a rapport with the actors and actresses she dressed by designing clothes that highlighted their assets and disguised what they considered to be their flaws. It was the ability to do her job so well that made her a favourite for so many. Her costume designs, that earned her eight Academy Awards throughout her career, will soon be on display at the Bendigo Art Gallery. The collection of garments span her work from the 1930s to the 1960s, and will come from the archives of Paramount, and the Collection of Motion Picture Costume Design as well as from other private collections.

Here, three of the staff from Bendigo Art Gallery who have been involved in the organisation of this latest international exhibition, give some insight into their roles and the collection itself.

Collections Manager Simone Bloomfield oversees the “logistics side of things when organising and preparing for an exhibition, which includes engaging contractors and suppliers and ensuring they meet our strict deadlines”.

What have you needed to consider or work around for the exhibition to come to fruition?

Every exhibition is different, and each brings new challenges. With each new international exhibition, the layout and floorplan is different — to add interest and to accommodate the content and size of the exhibition. With this exhibition, one of the issues that revisited quite a few times was the point of entry. There was quite a lot of back and forth with the exhibition designer trying to decide the best location for entry; one that would stand out to visitors, would best cope with crowds, would not encroach on the actual exhibition layout …

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Do you personally have a favourite exhibit or piece that appeals to you and why?

For me it would have to be the sketches. I studied drawing at university, so I am always very interested in sketches, journals and works on paper the most. I’m often very keen to learn about the preparatory work done before the final piece. Perhaps that is why I enjoy my role? I’m very involved in the planning before the final exhibition is revealed.

Has this exhibition presented challenges that have been new for you?

If so how did you deal with those?

While I’ve been at the gallery for a long time — about 16 years — this is the first international exhibition where I have been in this role as collections manager. It was challenging at times, but very rewarding as you see it all coming to fruition. My institutional knowledge put me in good stead for making most of the decisions but lucky for me, if I were presented with something I wasn’t sure about, there is a great team of people here I can refer to.

Do you feel it’s important for the gallery to evolve and show new exhibitions and why?

Absolutely! We take pride in our ever-changing and progressive exhibition schedule. This constant reinvigorating of the space creates interest for our visitors.

Part of our mission statement is to ‘collect, preserve and display works of art and to elucidate their history and background for the pleasure and education of the public’. I feel that we do this very well, bringing many Australian exclusive exhibitions for both our local and broader community to enjoy.

Curatorial manager Tansy Curtin is at the helm of the exhibition, taking care of its development including researching costumes, contacting owners and negotiating loans.

“For a designer such as Edith Head who was so prolific, it has meant that I have had to be quite selective with items for inclusion in the exhibition,” Tansy explains. “While I have significant experience in exhibitions relating to fashion and Hollywood having curated our Marilyn Monroe exhibition and project managed the delivery of Grace Kelly: Style Icon amongst others, I am by no means an expert in the history of Hollywood costume. So each time I begin working on a new exhibition I start by undertaking a lot of research, which luckily for me is something I love to do.

Edith Head in her Paramount Pictures studio 1940s Š Paramount Pictures 17

Preparing a Shirley Temple dress from ‘Little Miss Marker’ for the exhibition. From the collection of Nicholas Inglis, Brisbane.

How do you feel about the pieces in the collection?

Often when I work on an exhibition for an extended period, I tend to develop a connection to the subject and objects. One of the aspects of my job that I love the most is I have the opportunity to see items as few people do — as I place garments on mannequins I can examine the sewing techniques and get a real sense of the fabric. Or if working on a painting exhibition, I get to see the backs of paintings — there is a real intimacy in seeing these significant objects up close and having the opportunity to touch them (with gloves of course!) is a wonderful experience.

Do you feel it’s important for the gallery to evolve and show new exhibitions and why?

Galleries and museums must change and develop exhibitions, programs as well as adapting to and engaging with new and diverse audiences. Bendigo Art Gallery’s exhibition program is very diverse and includes exhibitions across many genres — fashion and textiles, painting, photography, drawing and much more. Finding the right balance is one of the challenges of course, we work on our exhibition program anywhere from three to five years ahead for our larger international exhibitions, with a little more flexibility for smaller shows.

So, as you can imagine it’s important to have a holistic approach to programming. Yet, sometimes opportunities arise which have to be taken, so we also pride ourselves on being quite nimble and flexible in our programming. Moreover, galleries and museums are not simply a place for passive viewing of exhibitions or works of art, many visitors want a more social experience and so the programming and events for exhibitions are developed concurrently to add value to the exhibition experience.

Bendigo community and the whole of Victoria. I get to indulge my thirst for knowledge and then share it with our community, often through beautiful and interesting objects — a great job if you ask me!

Curator Clare Needham has worked closely with Tansy on the development of this exhibition.

What has your role been in this exhibition?

A large part of my role has been sourcing and selecting still and moving image content for display within the exhibition. I was also lucky enough to work with Tansy on the Marilyn Monroe exhibition in the same way. I have really enjoyed having the chance again to dig deep into a range of archives to draw out some fascinating content that not only enhances the audiences’ experience of the static costumes on display, but their understanding of Edith Head and her fascinating career.

These visual elements provide a context for the costumes on display showing how they appeared on screen and how they transformed the characters who wore them. Edith Head had an astute skill for disguising apparent physical flaws and accentuating the assets of those she dressed. Having the opportunity to see the costumes she designed, not only in real life, but also on screen or in a photograph, gives audiences further layers of insight into her virtuosity.

You’ve been with the gallery for some time now, what do you personally get out of working on exhibitions such as these?

Some of the moving image content sourced for the exhibition includes archival footage of Head on screen. In the height of her career, Head forged a popular and approachable personal brand. Through television appearances, in advice columns and a best-selling book titled The Dress Doctor, she offered fashion advice to everyday women, making accessible the glamourous world of Hollywood. Footage like this allows the voice of Edith Head to permeate the exhibition and really bring it to life.

Exhibitions such as this allow me to indulge in my love of research and development. I very much enjoy developing an exhibition from a little kernel of an idea — undertaking research, catalogue writing, loan negotiation (sometimes travel!) — to finally installing and delivering an exhibition that people engage with and enjoy. Working in a public gallery such as Bendigo is very fulfilling since it is possible to see what a positive impact the gallery can have on individuals, the wider

Every exhibition has its own set of parameters and things to consider.

In the context of the work I have been doing, sourcing still and moving image content, there have been several key things to consider including distance from the archives (they are all based in the United States), licensing copyrighted content and technological change. All of

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From your perspective what have been things you’ve had to consider or work around for the exhibition to come to fruition?

Edith Head in her Paramount Pictures studio © Paramount Pictures

Edith Head with costumers in her costume department at Paramount Pictures © Paramount Pictures

the still and moving image we are working with was produced in the middle of the twentieth century, so in many cases has not yet been digitised for play back or display in a twenty-first century context. In the development of the exhibition, we have had to work very closely with those who manage the archives to ensure this fascinating content will work within the exhibition. This has been a really rewarding part of the process.

Edith Head with 5 Academy Awards © Paramount Pictures

Do you personally have a favourite exhibit or piece that appeals to you and why?

Edith Head designed for such a diverse range of films so it is hard to choose a favourite item. While she wasn’t known for the flamboyance of other costume designers of her time, I respect the way she designed costumes not only with aesthetics in mind, but the potential for the costume to transform or define the character who wore it on screen. She really engaged with the psychology of the character and considered how the costuming would enhance the viewer’s experience of the storyline of the film. This really comes to the fore when you see the costumes being worn on screen. It is little wonder that throughout her career Edith Head was nominated for 27 and won 8 Academy Awards — the most ever won by a woman.

What is your favourite aspect about working at the gallery? What do you get out of your role, especially with regards to exhibitions on this scale, both professionally and personally?

I enjoy working hard as a team to bring an exhibition idea to fruition.

Like Tansy I am interested in the research and development part of an exhibition, expanding my knowledge and being able to share these insights with audiences. I am always interested in the reaction to the exhibitions we produce; whether they are completely immersed, confronted or challenged, illuminated or inspired, as long as they engage on some level I am pleased.

Exhibitions, such as The Costume Designer allow the gallery to develop extended networks with collections and collectors across the world and provide professional development experiences. I really enjoy building collegiate relationships with others working in similar contexts across the world and having intimate access to amazing collections I ordinarily would have to get on a plane to visit.

See the following page for ideas for visitors on where to stay and play in Bendigo during the exhibtion...

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stay and play There’s much to see and do throughout Bendigo, from local wineries, eateries, parks and gardens, as well as stylish places to stay. Here is a small sample of those on offer.

If you’re in the city to wander through the latest exhibition at the Bendigo Art Gallery, The Costume Designer: Edith Head and Hollywood, then why not take some time out to stroll through the neighbouring Rosalind Park garden and conservatory. Climb the stairs of the poppet head at the top of the cascades and take in the vast view of the city and surrounding region.

Perhaps beforehand, check into the stylish range of guest houses available through Bendigo Holiday Rentals. Their stylish properties are 2,3 and 4 bedroom self catering apartments and houses that offer free WiFi and light refreshments.

Being centrally located, you’re sure to find a location that suits. All properties are easy walking distance to great shopping, tourist attractions, the new Bendigo hospital, local eateries and so much more.

For information and bookings, visit www.bendigoholidayrentals.com When it’s time for lunch, head to House of Khong in Hargreaves Street for a taste of Chinese, Cantonese or Thai food. You

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can dine in, or sit under the trees in the Civic Gardens and admire the grand old Town Hall.

From here it’s a short walk to enjoy the latest exhibition at the Post Office Gallery.

Built in 1887, it’s another fine example of Bendigo’s historic architecture and home to the Visitor Information Centre where you can purchase a souvenir or two.

Time for dinner? The Malayan Orchid in View Street delivers a clever blend of traditional-style cooking with readily available local produce, marrying culinary influences from Asia and Australia.

For evening cocktails, something sweet or an alternative dinner option you can call into Rocks on Rosalind, also on View Street. The staff at this modern restaurant and bar have a wealth of knowledge when it comes to fine food and quality beverages.

You can’t leave the region without knocking on the cellar door of a few of the local wineries. Out of the 60-plus to choose from there’s Mandurang Valley, Sandhurst Ridge, Ellis Wines, and Blackjack to name a few.

Lisa Phillips and Rob Clark

Stomperoo, Sharon Telford and Bill Swannie

Bernadette Cosgriff and Julie Nelson

Clare Sanford, Rhonda Knight and Ann-Maree Sanford

Helen Mack, Margot Palmer and Kiri Rawson

Jamie and Anthea Staiff

ALL THAT JAZZ IN CASTLEMAINE This is the fourth year Castlemaine has welcomed artists and music enthusiasts to its annual three-day jazz festival.

The festival saw performers entertain residents and visitors in various historic and quirky venues throughout the town.

It was also an opportunity for musicians to network through jazz jams at the end of the day.

Special events included a masterclass with Hetty Kate and a Jazz Mass held in collaboration with the Anglican Christ Church.

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Ashleigh Zera, Nikita O’Brien, Kaitlyn Morrissey and Lucy Parsons

Bentley, Emmersyn and Mykhail Geary

HIGH FIVE FOR FUNDRAISER Matilda Shannon, Mia Shanahan and Alicia Smalley

Charlie Simpson, Angus Schumacher, Daniel Clohesy and Patty Blandford

Fergus Payne and Lachlan Bonney

Sam Simmons, Cogho and Lachlan Sharp

A Give Me Five for Kids day was held at Triple M Park with Strathfieldsaye Storm taking on Kangaroo Flat.

The day included the under-16s game as a curtain-raiser, along with a netball clinic and Auskick games at half-time.

For the youngsters in the crowd there was face painting, and a football jumper auction after the match raised further funds to be donated to local children’s hospital wards.

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finding

balance

Tony White looks at his role as frontman of the Fountaineer as a creative outlet, something that fits in between family and work. It’s an outlet driven by a love of stories that shows in his music, and his ultimate career goal — working at the Bendigo Library.

By Ben Cameron

24

Fountaineer frontman Tony White is almost the anti-musician.

The 36-year-old father of two is not sure he wants to be a full-time musician, let alone identify as one.

“For me it’s not a career thing, it’s about creating something,” he says.

“I wouldn’t say I’m necessarily a muso either, I just love writing stories and putting music together. I don’t have any training or anything.

“I’m not sure if I’d like this as a job, to be honest.

“If I was 20 and didn’t have responsibilities, you’d probably just throw everything into it. I’m not, and I made a deal with my family before I made a deal with the record label.”

Stress was the main reason why he quit teaching English at alternative school for at-risk kids.

everything,” he says.

“It killed me, it really broke me,” he says.

“I’ve done things like uni where you do it to get a pass, this is something we’ve actually done to try and do really well.”

“I was probably not prepared ... how it would affect my mental health.

The LP was recorded that year at a farm house on Lake Eildon over five days.

“It was hard to get the kids excited about books and bloody pronouns.

“It’s been sitting on a hard drive for years, basically,” Tony says.

“I learnt a lot about people and the town.

I reckon somewhere in the writing of the record is, a piece of that place I reckon.”

A Groovin the Moo slot in 2015 proved a breakthrough moment that scored them a supportive manager.

That record is debut LP Greater City, Greater Love.

“He really believed in the album,” Tony says.

The long road to its release began in a cupboard at a family friend’s house in Bendigo.

“We wanted to get it out there now but he said ‘No, there’s magic on here.’ ” The band fought the label’s pressure to rerecord, including “the most nostalgic song on the record”, The Cricketers.

He could be kidding, but Tony says his dream gig is not filling band rooms, but stacking shelves.

It was there a pre-teen Tony found a neglected guitar.

“I want to work in the library in Bendigo, I really would love that,” he says.

Over many years, Tony would lock himself away in his bedroom writing music, only to appear for the occasional solo show.

“We had to redo my vocals, my singing from three or four years ago was bad.

“It wasn’t very good music, but I think every year I got better, or learned new things,” he says.

A lot was recorded during early mornings in his bedroom.

“I’ve gone for a couple of jobs with them and haven’t even got to the interview.

“It’s a magical place.”

Tony talks to Bendigo Magazine on a June evening from a well-worn path: somewhere between his home in Golden Square and band rehearsals in the northern suburbs of Coburg and Brunswick.

“Hopefully I’ll get home around 1am (tonight).

It’s very draining, it’s really hard,” he says of the common commute.

It’s probably why his day job in a call centre job at Centrelink appeals so much – it’s easier to combine the grind of getting Fountaineer off the ground with a punch-in punch-out job.

“There’s no stress ... so if I can balance family and music and this job...”

“I’ve been writing songs since,” he says.

“I’ve always written songs about Bendigo, but they were too explicit.

“I didn’t take myself seriously enough.

“I was always looking for a punchline about some new shop that opened. The only people who would get it were from Bendigo.

“I didn’t quite let myself go and make more accessible music.”

“It was a really good move (in hindsight),” he says.

“Some of it we kept, it’s a real mixture.”

“I think you can feel that in the record, it’s got that stadium feel but it’s also introverted as well,” he says.

“I don’t like doing music at night because it just swims around in my head and I can’t sleep.

“I’d be up really early, 4.30am, 5am. I’d do a few hours before work, the dawn is in there somewhere.”

But things shifted with a phone call to his brother Francis in 2013 – it was time to finally get that band together they’d envisioned since their teens.

“This is the first band where we’ve given it

25

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made with love

For more than 10 years, Sonia Brit has been celebrating beautifully made items and supporting creative locals. She’s just upped the ante with her latest project —‘Made For You’ — a wonderful initiative that looks to take her philosophy of community artistry and expand it even further into the community.

By Amy Doak Sonia Brit isn’t one to back away from a challenge.

“People who know me know that I make decisions with my heart and not my head,” she laughs.

A good thing too. Sonia’s store, bob boutique, is full of heart. Sonia opened the store back in 2006, after six years of wholesaling her handmade creations. The little haven she created in Williamson Street, under the historic Shamrock Hotel, is perfectly captioned as ‘a cute shop for grown-ups’.

When Sonia opened the store, it wasn’t cool to buy handmade things and it especially wasn’t cool to buy local handmade things!

Sonia persevered and, sure enough, people started to appreciate that local art, design and manufacturing was actually pretty great.

In 2012, Sonia was diagnosed with a brain tumour. She was running the store, making the products, dealing with the artists and for a time she was worried that all her hard work would be undone.

“I soon realised what wonderful support I

had in my life,” Sonia says. “My customers were amazing and my mum (local artist, Gail Tavener) was just incredible.

“I didn’t really want to tell many people (about the illness) but I realised that experiencing that doesn’t have to make me a victim. Everyone has adversity in their life.

It’s not about the adversity though; it’s what happens next that matters.”

What happened next was a new project – one that Sonia didn’t really plan for. “Mum and I do all the sewing here. The dresses, 27

the homewares, the toys. It’s a lot of work, so about 10 years ago we outsourced our best sellers – the tote bags and the cushions – to Radius. We also used Sanctuary Textiles for some of our trickier stuff.

It was lovely to know that quality work was being done and we were also helping the local community. The people there really were a part of Bob, and when I was sick, it was their work that allowed me – and Mum – to recover.”

Radius and Sanctuary Textiles were both non-profit disability organisations that created work opportunities for local people who were part of the NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme). In October 2016, it was announced that Radius would be closing its doors.

Two months later, Sanctuary Textiles received the same news.

Judy, who was head sewer at Sanctuary Textiles and an integral part of the Bob workspace was at a loss. “She had 30 years experience as a sewer and all this talent and nowhere to go,” Sonia explains.

“A lot of people said that it wasn’t my responsibility to worry about it – that I had enough to worry about and I should just get my bags made interstate or in China. I know they were coming from a place of concern, but I could never do that. It’s not just a bag, or just a cushion.

It’s made with love.”

Sonia sat on it for a while, but as things began to close down, she knew she couldn’t let it go. “I knew if I didn’t do something, I would be worse off.

“I spoke to Judy and she just wanted to keep the job she had. So we spoke to Sanctuary Textiles. They were really supportive, and we brokered a deal to take on their industrial sewing machines and their

huge cutting table. Then we thought, ‘What are we going to do with this?’

“We got this little space and we call it The Bat Cave. We’ve got all our beautiful fabrics in there and the whole operation is all set up. All Judy’s clients were so rapt to have the business continue, so we’ve got a league of really lovely loyal customers.

“It dawned on me then that I had this really brilliant team around me and I am so lucky to have them. My mum, of course. Jamie, who works in the shop, is also a graphic designer and so is my brother, Jason. We work with all these other studios and artists locally, so I thought, ‘Why don’t we just pool everyone?’ All the screen printers, fabric designers, draftspeople, pattern makers – and make it a one-stop-shop for local people, businesses or groups who want quality-made products.”

This new business – Made For You – is all about thinking big and shopping small. “It’s so important to keep things local and communitybased,” Sonia says. “If you’re a café and you want aprons with your logo on it, come to us. If you’re an artist and you want a range of bags with your work on it, come to us. We can do anything. It’s great for people to know they can buy something and it’s not just made well, it’s also ethically produced, zero kilometres; not made using toxic dyes or fabrics and we don’t have people working in a sweat shop 18 hours a day.

“The thing a lot of people don’t realise is that just purchasing a few products locally can make a huge difference. Shopping elsewhere, or just buying a bargain, can result in people shopping themselves out of a community. When something is made with love, it’s so much more.”

Learn more about Made For You by visiting www.soniabritdesign.com.au

28

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paddles up

La Trobe University outdoor education lecturer Chris Townsend leads an excursion along the Serpentine Creek, trailing Bourke, Wills and Whistling Kites.

By Lauren Mitchell The canoe slips gently from the ramp into Serpentine Creek ripples. Outdoor education graduate Kerrie Jennings is on rudder duty at the back. She’s also tasked with calling instructions to a paddler who’s not been in a canoe since Wet Wet Wet was in the charts.

High school camp, 1994.

I’m assured this is an all-abilities activity.

In the previous three weeks alone three primary school groups have explored this place, thanks to a new dedicated canoe trail mapped out by La Trobe Outdoor Education lecturer Chris Townsend and a passionate group of students.

Today’s task is to showcase the trail to some inexperienced paddlers, plus place six bright yellow buoys at points of interest 32

along the creek. Part of the trail’s purpose is to share the historic and ecological stories of this place, via an annotated trail map that can also be read by E-devices. Marker buoys are situated at the points of interest and can be found via the map, or GPS.

paddlers. Stop one being Durham Ox Inn.

“There’s so much history here; Indigenous, settlement and natural history,” Kerrie says.

“Learning about it just gives you that feeling of being in nature, of slowing down and taking the time to take notice of things. It’s a special place.”

“You could put a hundred points of interest on this place,” Chris says. “We’ve chosen six. One of the secrets of good interpretation is not to give people the answers, but to give them something to think about. The experience should help a visitor train their eye on what to look out for.”

Kerrie and her fellow students liaised with the Indigenous Dja Dja Wurrung Association and Loddon historian Paul Haw, plus considered interpretation theories in choosing what to share with

From the water the 1850s red-brick inn seems cushioned in a bed of red-seeded reeds. It’s believed to have been a meeting point for a Bourke and Wills search party in 1862.

The experience is also about encouraging safe nature tourism for the growing number of people buying canoes and kayaks.

“Canoe and kayak ownership in Australia has

gone up by 250 per cent in the last 10 years,” Chris says. “The majority of people explore on their own, but a canoe trail can take some of the guesswork out, so people can have a safe experience.

canoe ramp, signs, buoys and online resources. Students took the photographs and researched the stories. La Trobe graphic design alumnus Ben Gosling designed the signs. The rest is thanks to Mother Nature.

“I wrote my thesis on canoe trail development in Australia; where they were developed, how, and what sort of features were put in place. We’re in the process of developing 11 trails at the moment and this is number five. Plus, we’ve got three more to go on this river system.”

Stop two on the trail is at a scar tree, a tall trunk marked with the distinctive oval ‘scar’ left by the Indigenous practice of removing the bark, yet preserving the tree. The Loddon Valley’s waterways feature the country’s largest collection.

Chris’ original interest came after a visit to the Murray River at Barmah, where he saw many kayaks and very little action.

“There were nine four-wheel drives there with kayaks on the roof that weekend, but only two hit the water, and only for a matter of minutes,” he says. “I thought, what a shame. What would you need to do to suggest people go a bit further and safely explore what they don’t know?”

The La Trobe crew has worked closely with the Loddon Shire to get the infrastructure in place here, which includes an all-abilities

Historian Paul explains; “These trees died before 1900, which was when the settlers damned the creeks up for permanent water and drowned the trees. Some of these scars were made before Captain Cook’s arrival.

When the bark was taken the Aboriginals had no comprehension they were about to be taken over by another civilisation.”

Paul says the red gum bark was used for many purposes, including carrying babies, as frames for drying possum skins and for making canoes. We paddle north-ward to find an example of the latter, but the weather has other plans. A gust whips up and the sky

turns dirt brown.

A growing headwind on the journey back doesn’t stop Kerrie noticing and naming the circling birds above. Chris says apart from Barmah in the breeding season, he’s never seen more birdlife than here. Today black kites and whistling kites appear dark against coffee clouds.

And then comes the nankeen night heron.

Not usually seen until twilight, it’s a rare treat for this lucky paddler. “Once you start to learn about the environment you begin to realise just how distanced from it we are in day-to-day life,” Kerrie says. “And it’s so important to get back to it.”

The Serpentine Creek Canoe Trail was developed with the assistance of the Loddon Shire Council, the State Government and Dja Dja Wurrung.

You’ll find the trail, an hour’s drive from Bendigo, via this Google map https://www.google.com.au/maps/ dir//-36.124647,143.9145094/@36.1245237,143.9140122,18z

Image courtesy of Andrew Bird 33

Amalia Di Iorio and Joanna Barbousas

Jess Bourke and Patrick McCallum

Julia, Peter, Leah and Wendy Morris

Mishel McMahon, Janet Bromley and Joanne Osborne

Richard Speed and Gordon McKern

Tayla, Tanya and Helena Sanderson

Alicia Thomas and Sarah Wallace-Smith

Henry and Karen Thomas

Jan and Michael Reynolds

Virginia and Ian Furness

Sue Jeavons and Gail Bragg

Tim and Viv Paramore

UNI HOSTS ANNUAL PRIZE CEREMONY Each year, La Trobe University hosts the Bendigo Campus Prize Ceremony at Ulumbarra to celebrate and congratulate scholarship and prize recipients.

This year’s event again brought together generous donors, academic staff and student recipients to celebrate their success.

Photos courtesy Reed Graduations

ARTIST CREATES FANTASTICAL WORLD Guests, patrons and fellow artists visited the Bendigo Art Gallery for the official opening of an exhibition of work

by Rona Green, an artist renowned for her prints and paintings of anthropomorphic characters.

Adorned with the tattoos and uniforms of archetypal gangsters, urban legends and Aussie stereotypes, Green creates a fantastical world where dogs postulate as standover men, cats become villainous masterminds and rabbits are fierce cyber warriors.

The artist’s work is funny, charming and habitually disturbing.

34

Rui and Dave Jeffery

Aoi Whitehorn and Nobuko Comer

GET A HANDLE ON OPENING Miah Monaghan and Michelle Davies

Kylie Jeffrey and Amanda Millington

Andrew and Sarah Stewart

Hannah and Liv Jeffrey

Oishii on Wheels was launched recently at the Handle Bar in Bendigo.

Michelle Davies and her crew made an amazing 1000 origami cranes to wish everyone good luck.

Oishii on Wheels is Japanese cuisine that delivered to customers. Owen Davies Photography was on hand to capture the event.

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the 'aha' moment of mathematics Meet the former Bendigo High student who has wowed the maths world and ‘eats problems for breakfast’.

By John Holton It’s quite a journey from a desk at Bendigo High School in the 1960s to a Chair in Mathematics at the University of San Diego.

But for alumna, Professor Ruth Williams, it’s been a journey powered by a love of maths and a fascination for lifelong learning.

Ruth enrolled at Bendigo High in 1967, the same year the Alexander Wing opened.

There’s a certain serendipity that her recent visit coincided with the beginning of renovations on the building.

She also remembers 1967 as a time when the Vietnam War dominated headlines and had its own effect on education.

“There was a shortage of maths-science teachers because of conscription,” Ruth remembers. “They lured a lot of older teachers out of retirement and I think we were the beneficiaries … we received an excellent grounding in maths.”

The truth is, maths had already gripped her at an even younger age.

“My love for maths developed when I was at primary school,” she says.

“I always liked getting the right answer by the right method. I really believe that when we’re starting out on our educational journey a little encouragement can spark a lifelong fascination for learning.”

At Bendigo High School in the late ‘60s, that mantle was carried by the principal Miss Anderson.

“She encouraged everyone to strive to do their best … and look their best,” Ruth says. “You

never came to school without your hat.”

solvers.

It was at Melbourne University that she began to find her niche, first studying a Bachelor of Science, before completing an Honours year in maths.

“The challenge in teaching maths is moving students from what they already know to discovering something new,” she says. “In a way it’s like building bridges. You can have one bad experience in a maths class and it can make the whole structure unstable.

“In the second year of my degree I took a class in real analysis,” Ruth says. “It was the most enjoyable class I’d had to that point – clear, precise and beautiful, with challenging problems. We were encouraged to use our intuition, something that’s still really important to my work.”

When she eventually researched her Master’s Degree, the topic was differential games – the study of mathematical models of tactical situations that evolve over time. It was her introduction into maths that addresses reallife problems and she hasn’t looked back.

She now has a Chair in Mathematics at the University of San Diego where she teaches and continues to analyse maths models associated with randomness and congestion effects in networks that are subject to fluctuations, such as the internet, transportation systems and customer service.

“My work covers two types of situations,” Ruth says. “Models that can be applied across a wide range of applications, and specific models I create for a particular purpose. There is a lot of collaboration, which is the nature of maths, and one of the things I love.”

Ruth teaches probability theory to undergraduate and post-graduate students and feels lucky to have the opportunity to encourage future thinkers and problem

“But what I try to remind my students is that we don’t do things because they are easy, we do them because there is a problem that needs to be solved, and maths holds the key.

When the pieces fall into place, that’s amazing – you’ve discovered something new!”

Over the past three decades, Ruth has received numerous scholarly accolades, but was most recently honoured with the 2016 John von Neumann Theory Prize. In the world of maths it’s on a par with the Nobel Prize, and the citation praised her work for its mathematical depth and elegance”, something that makes the honour even more meaningful for Professor Williams.

“There is always a series of rational steps to arrive at an answer to a mathematical problem, but what many people don’t realise is that there is an intuitive side to maths,” she says.

“What I do involves an intuitive side where you’re trying to figure out what might be true, and rigorous side where you are proving what you think is true is actually true.

“It’s something that’s endlessly fascinating.

When you solve a maths problem there’s a kind of ‘aha!’ moment – and it’s always wonderful.”

37

Taverns to Temperance: pubs of Bendigo 25 August – 3 December 2017 From the sly grog tents of the goldfields, to home style ‘taverns’ and the flourishing brewing industry, this exhibition illuminates the history of pubs and drinking culture in Bendigo.

51 – 67 Pall Mall, Bendigo Victoria 3550 T 03 5434 6179 postofficegallery@bendigo.vic.gov.au www.bendigoartgallery.com.au Open daily 9am – 5pm (closed Christmas day) Entry by donation. Wheelchair access Post Office Gallery is proudly owned and operated by the City of Greater Bendigo with additional support from Creative Victoria.

Image: Backyard Drinking, Forest Street, Bendigo, c1890, Source Museums Victoria / Courtesy Rodney Aikman.

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evolution of a home Meet a couple for whom the blurry line between art, life and building a home is where the magic happens.

By John Holton

Ray and Diedre’s mudbrick home rises from the Maiden Gully bush as if it was planted as a seed and, like a stately tree, is still growing and evolving.

It’s a home that’s impossible to squeeze into any sort of architectural box—maybe bush shanty meets Maiden Gully gothic—but the beauty of this build is that it grew from a state of mind, or two. Those of its artist creators, Ray Pearce and Diedre Outhred.

Ray has been working in clay for more than 40 years, while Diedre is an accomplished painter and drawer. Their home is as much an extension of their artistic practice as it is a place to live and exist.

“Part of me would like to live like a dog, where home is just wherever you are,” Ray says, only half-jokingly. “But we’re human beings, so home is something different. It’s the place that allows your intellectual life to flourish. Home furnishes that sense of wonder and curiosity.”

Ray and Diedre measure the evolution of the house in decades rather than years. After 25 years they’ve only recently installed electricity and plumbing. “Civilisation at last,” is how Diedre puts it. But for this couple, the leap into modern convenience has been something of a double-edged sword.

“For many years we lived like alert dogs — fully alive,” Ray says. “Civilisation can sometimes be a little disappointing. We’ve been very poor at times, but poverty has made us. It’s made us think of other ways to do things — given us

wealth in so many other ways.”

The house sits on 6.5 hectares, surrounded by forest. The nearest neighbours are a mile away, but as Diedre jokes, they still begrudge their closeness.

“If we moved away from here I’d miss the bush as much as our home,” she says. “I had a rambling childhood in Blackburn surrounded by 100 acres of bush. If I was home alone here and someone broke into the house, I’d head out into the bush and I know I’d be fine.”

Ray grew up in suburban Golden Square in a house built by his dad, and jokes that he’s had a lot of experience of living in a half-built house. It was a sparse childhood, but one with lots of freedom, something that he’s grateful for.

“It was common for people to build their own home then, but it’s much less available to people these days,” Ray says. “ All the regulations and hoops to jump through — so many opportunities have been eroded.

Consequently there’s a whole generation of people who can’t afford a home and with it we lose a sense of community. Our fathers built their homes with help from their neighbours and families.”

Ray and Diedre’s home is a story manifest; every brick, every pane of glass, every floorboard has a backstory. There are stained glass windows reclaimed from a synagogue; treasures the couple have collected from tips and junkyards over their lifetime; red bricks

that Ray moved from house to house over the years now have a permanent home underfoot.

“It would be so much harder to build this house now,” Ray says. “Finding cheap or free secondhand materials now is a rarity. The house grew from what we had; the materials made a lot of the decisions for us.”

Diedre sees the house as a legacy for their family — a place that she hopes will attract people well beyond her’s or Ray’s lifetime.

“When my kids were adolescents I think they found life pretty tough here at times,” Diedre says. “But they come back now with their friends who are blown away by the place. And now a third generation has a sense of this place as home which is really wonderful.”

Ray and Diedre always wanted the house and the property to be a place that people were drawn to. It’s why they regularly open it up as a place for musical performances, art installations and banquets.

“We even had bellringers here for a performance earlier in the year,” Ray says.

Ray admits the house will never really be finished, and doesn’t really know what ‘finished’ would look like.

“It’s never felt like work,” he says. “The house has a kind of momentum that pulls us along with it. It’s slow building, yes, but in the act of doing you discover magical things.

“There were times when we asked ourselves, ‘Do we really need a tower?’… well of course we did!”

39

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Opening doors to the world The international focus of BSSC is wide ranging and includes sister school relationships in Germany, Indonesia, China and France. Students participate in regular curriculum-based travel to these countries—as well as Italy and Greece—enhancing their intercultural understanding.

the opportunity to study and practice language with native speakers.

Bendigo mayor, Margaret O’Rourke, recently welcomed more than 70 international students to the college from Germany, China, Karen State, Indonesia and Italy.

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a rare photo

LEFT TO RIGHT: Member for Bendigo East Jacinta Allan, Member for Bendigo Lisa Chesters, City Of Greater Bendigo Mayor Margaret O’Rourke and Member for Bendigo West Maree Edwards

Why is this photo of four women rare? All of these women are elected representatives for Bendigo.

By Lisa Chesters - Photography by Ashley J Taylor In fact, at a local, state and federal level, the majority of our elected representatives across Central Victoria are women.

This is not just a rare photo for Bendigo but a rare occurrence across Australia.

Bendigo is known for its firsts. The first Myer store; first Fernwood Gym, Australia’s largest franchise of women’s only gyms. In fact, the gold that Bendigo is famous for was first discovered by three women.

You could ask if there is something in the water with the number of women in leadership and pioneering roles across the Bendigo now and throughout our region’s history?

I represent the federal electorate of Bendigo.

In 2013, I was the first woman to be elected to represent the seat since Federation. The electorate stretches from Elmore in the north to Macedon in the south and covers 6255 sq km.

At the State Parliament level, there is much to celebrate. In 1999, Jacinta Allan was the first woman elected to represent Bendigo East. Maree Edwards was elected to represent Bendigo West in 2010. Mary-Ann Thomas was elected to represent Macedon in 2014. So every inch of central Victoria is represented by women in the Victorian Parliament. It is an honour and a joy to work with Maree, Jacinta and Mary-Ann. It’s a similar story at local government level.

For the first time, all mayors of central Victorian municipalities are women. Another first is the majority of councillors across the three municipalities are women, so we can expect there to be a few more female mayors during this current council term.

Why does electing women to represent us at a local, state and federal level matter?

Equal representation of women in politics can be framed in a number of different ways, but first and foremost it’s a rights issue. Women make up a little more than half (50.2 per cent) of the Australian population. Where there are not representations in similar numbers it amounts to a representation gap. This gap limits the capacity of women to have their voices heard and to have their issues addressed in parliaments.

Studies demonstrate that gender-diverse representative teams are more effective than those with limited gender diversity. Women focus on different issues and have different styles of governing.

Gender has, for a long time, been an important subject of debate. For example, inequality in income according to gender continues to be one such battleground. The Australian gender pay gap is 16.2 per cent and has hovered between 15 per cent and 19 per cent for the past two decades.

We often hear about the glass ceiling, a

metaphor used to describe the invisible barrier that holds women back from achieving higher office and leadership positions. The existence of the glass ceiling suggests there is an unconscious bias and discrimination against women. Schoolchildren often ask me why there are not equal numbers of men and women in parliament. Good question.

Differences in gender parity between political parties are stark. Only 20 per cent of the current Liberal National Government members are women. In contrast, 44 per cent of Labor’s representatives are women.

So there is more work to be done.

In my view, the culture within the corridors of power has to change to reflect community and community expectations. Today, every parent wants their daughter to achieve her dreams – AFL player, prime minister or world-class surgeon. This is cultural change.

If, as a society we continue to say and act as though our sons and daughters are equal, then culture change will occur and gender inequality will disappear.

For the school students of Central Victoria it’s normal to see women as the politicians who attend their school assemblies and awards nights. This alone encourages the next generation of civic and political leaders to see inclusiveness as a vital part of our role, so that we can ensure gender equality for the generations to come.

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getting with the program Aspiring young sportsmen and women are gaining solid ground in all aspects of development thanks to an innovative athletic program offered through Bendigo South East College, currently overseen by one of the city’s own sports stars.

While there seems to be an abundance of programs on offer to young sportspeople throughout the major metropolitan areas, the Athletic Development Program at BSE is doing its best to level the playing field for regional and rural children. ADP acting manager Chris Hogan has made a name for himself as a respected sportsman and teacher. Beginning his career in education at Rushworth P-12 as a PE teacher, he became involved with the ADP in 2015. With a Bachelor of Applied Science in Human Movement, and being captain of the Bendigo Braves basketball team, this role seems tailor-made.

The college describes the ADP as a “complete sports education and training program aimed to assist students in the pursuit of sporting and academic excellence.”

“My background fits perfectly with this,” Chris says, “and to work with our staff who are sensational and give kids this opportunity is ideal.

I’m very lucky.”

As are the students who benefit from a program that goes above and beyond basic fitness skills.

“The beauty of what we do is that there are no performance indicators,” Chris explains. “It sounds clichéd but we have a holistic approach to developing good people before anything else.

Probably the most important thing underpinning everything within ADP is each student signs an agreement that holds them accountable for their

behaviour and academic progress, and they all do a sensational job of this. The idea is they’re doing their individual best and contributing to BSE as well as the broader community. All the sporting achievement and development that goes along with that is a bonus.”

The home of ADP is “the hub” with offices, kitchen facilities, exercise equipment and more. For someone who has seen many changes in the sporting world, Chris and the other staff joke that they wish they were teenagers again.

“For me as a basketballer, I ride on the coat tails of Kelsey Griffin and Kelly Wilson who we have coaching here,” Chris says. “I would love to be 13 years old and work with them, then to be in the gym with Valerie Stoimenov with his experience as an AFL strength trainer and working with Olympic athletes … At times I pinch myself because can’t believe I get paid to do this.”

In today’s world, there are added pressures to being a teenager and an aspiring sportsperson with social media and the Internet used as a platform to promote achievements. Chris acknowledges that social media can put undue pressure on parents, as well as developing athletes who can make unrealistic comparisons to other children. Part of the program is monitoring the participants to ensure students are achieving but within reason. As Chris explains, it’s okay if children are enjoying playing several different

sports but if it becomes detrimental to their health and development then “that’s a problem”.

“We’re trying to get a broad picture of that, working in collaboration with the parents and organisations to understand what is best for them.

There is also a Mind Program, to have young people who are mindful of their thoughts, feelings and how they’re travelling is vitally important as well. Sport is a wonderful mechanism to deliver these sorts of skills.

“But the reason a lot of kids are in here is because they love to compete. We’re all like-minded, but we’ve also been around long enough and we’ve made all the mistakes hopefully our students don’t make and we fill that mentor role.”

Year 8 student Tara, a keen footballer and competing in the junior national titles in karate, is enthusiastic about the program. “The people are so nice, especially the coaches, and I’ve made so many friends,” she says. While Matt, a competitive swimmer, says coming to the school was the best decision he could have made. “Everyone’s helped me settle really well, and they all have such good knowledge about sport. I’m improving and getting better times in my swimming.”

While the program is still in its relative infancy, the enthusiasm and dedication from all involved is evident, with everyone anticipating what the future will bring both in and beyond the hub.

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oh, so strange Foreword: I am writing this in July 2017, the week in which two overweight, narcissistic, crazy men, with hideous haircuts, are rattling their nuclear sabres at one another across the Pacific Ocean. In a curious twist of events it is the Russians and the Chinese who are calling for deténte.

By Geoff Hocking Just flicking around the screen the other night I happened upon The Putin Tapes on SBS. American film director Oliver Stone had interviewed the Russian president and at one stage, when they were discussing the prospect of nuclear conflict, Stone inquired whether Vlad had ever seen the film ‘Dr Strangelove’. He hadn’t. Stone obtained a DVD and proceeded to show the leader of all Russia a political/satire/black comedy produced in 1964 and starring Peter Sellers in several roles, as was his wont, including the role of Dr Strangelove, a wheelchair-bound ex-Nazi nuclear scientist.

Essentially, this film imagined the result of a world where an irrational leader had access the red button and could bring the world to the brink of nuclear Armageddon.

I am not sure whether the Russian leader got the American joke. Everyone knows the Yanks can’t do irony and I think the Ruskies may be much the same. Strangelove is an irony-ridden screenplay.

I first saw this film in 1964 at the now longgone Lyric Theatre. This was not too long after the Cuba Missile Crisis, when we all thought we were going to meet a quick and fiery end.

Trust Peter Sellers to find the funny side in this.

There were only two of us in the cinema that afternoon and it is very strange to be watching a comedy, albeit a very bleak one, in the dark, with no supporters for a belly laugh. Laughing alone in the dark is not very rewarding. I think they may have been the reaction Putin was having as well when he was watching the movie accompanied only by Stone with one or two interpreters at hand. I guess that is why ‘laugh tracks’ are added to TV shows.

Laughing likes company. The Lyric closed its doors soon after, they were obviously unable to survive on the occasional patronage of a pair of young pseudo aesthetes.

At around the same time the live theatrical performance ‘The Playboy of The Western

World’ was on the old stage at the Capitol Theatre. My mate and I — having committed to becoming cultured by attending such things as obscure movies, classical music and theatrical performances — rocked up to the Capitol.

We were greatly disappointed to discover that the play was actually about Irish migration to the United States, not scantily clad ‘bunnies’ cavorting on the stage performing for a dressing-gown clad pipe-smoker. We decided to do some research before our next venture out into the dark.

How the experience of the theatre in Bendigo has changed since the sixties. When we sat to endure the ‘playboy’ back then, the Capitol was still a large flat-floored hall with the stage, raised quite high, at one end. Rows of unforgiving Bentwood chairs stretched from stage to back row. You had to sit halfway towards the back just to be able to see the actors feet on the stage. There were not many bums on seats the night we were there.

In recent years the Capitol has raked the seating, giving every patron a clear view of the stage, added surrounding sound systems and even a bar for its thirsty patrons who could enjoy a most useful networking experience during the interval.

I saw ‘The Playboy…’ again at the Capitol after more than a 30-year interval. This time I understood what it was all about, and what is more, I could actually see the stage and the seats were much more forgiving.

Even more recently the Ulumbarra Theatre has opened next door in the old Bendigo Gaol and is a splendid space with wide comfortable seating, bars and much more.

Bendigo’s theatrical experience has certainly come a long way since our student days and with it comes worldclass performers and performances.

It was welcoming experience to re-enter the old gaol for the first time after many years. As students we spent quite a bit of time in that gaol. One of our mates lived inside, his father was the governor. When we paid our friend a visit we had to knock on the big doors and a smaller inlet door was opened from within by one of the warders. “Oh! It’s you two again,” he would say “Welcome to prison”, as we made our way to the Governor’s residence. We were always there for a performance. Our ‘in-mate’ was also from the Tech, an Elec. Eng. student with a passion for the piano who was learning his craft within the confines of prison walls.

However, the bars that captured him had a syncopated beat, and cool jazz was one of those cultural experiences that we had also added to our list.

It appears that our old gaols do rock these days, and not of the breaking kind, but the kind with a bopping beat.

Although not exactly Jailhouse Rock, during the recent Castlemaine Jazz Festival, which is now held over the Queen’s Birthday weekend in June each year, we enjoyed some smooth tunes at the Old Castlemaine Gaol. Another goldfield’s house of correction, built in the same architectural style as Bendigo’s, the Castlemaine Gaol has been taken over by some enterprising locals, and to accompany the Governor’s Restaurant and Bar, presents music most weekends and is a great venue for smaller theatrical performances.

So as we can keep adding to our list of cultural experiences we still spent a lot of it behind bars.

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igniting reconciliation Traditional Aboriginal burning practices are being returned to Dja Dja Wurrung country in a move by DELWP that is also repairing bonds to both culture and the environment.

By Sue Turpie - Photography by Julie Millowick

Rising with the smoke from these small fires being traditionally lit in the forests of Dja Dja Wurrung country are the hopes of the region’s Indigenous people, the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, and the community. Hopes that after generations of farming and mining the lands in central Victoria, the Dja Dja Wurrung people are returning to country and its management practices by playing an integral role in fire management in the area. Hopes to repair damage done to land that had been kept in pristine condition for more than 50,000 years, by the world’s oldest human culture.

Assistant chief fire officer, Forest Fire Management Victoria, Loddon Mallee Region Scott Falconer says the initiative started some

46

three years ago when the State Government went into a Recognition Settling Agreement with Dja Dja Wurrung, after which DELWP began to work with the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation in a partnership arrangement. But this move goes beyond fire management, it’s a chance to form bonds and heal wounds.

“This shifted things culturally,” Scott says.

“There were discussions about how we can help realise Dja Dja Wurrung’s aspirations at managing their country. We explored what using Indigenous fire practices might look like in a contemporary context … that idea of marrying western science with traditional custodian knowledge.

“We wanted to embed this knowledge into our

systems. It’s a genuine practice which has gone through approval process for prescribed burns and we’ve created something quite unique in doing that.”

The first traditional burns were only recent, however during the past two years, the project has resulted in employment opportunities with seven Indigenous positions created in the past two years.

“The burns we did were low intensity which were about bringing regeneration to a altered environment. The Indigenous people call it upside down country, which is a beautiful description of it when you know Bendigo because wherever you go it’s been mined and the forests had been cleared. The two burns we did were about a gentle approach

Traditional burning returns day one

to fire, which we’re excited about in terms of regeneration and possibilities for the future.”

The change seems timely given that the younger generation is growing up with vast knowledge on environmental issues and the importance of caring for the world.

“You couldn’t have done this five years or 15 years ago, there is a sense of synchronicity where everything is slotting together at the right time with the right people. There’s something in that way we now honour the landscape and the way we honour a different culture. I think this is a sign that society has evolved because people are willing to have those conversations and respect is being shown; it’s marvellous. It was a first step, but an important one and genuinely a reconciliation.”

Chairperson for Dja Dja Wurrung Trent Nelson with Scott Falconer

47

Mick Bourke presenting Minister Lily D’Ambrosio with a gift.

Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning’s Dja Dja Wurrung district fire planner Mick Bourke, who Scott says is an integral player in the partnership, spent his time first understanding the DELWP process and then taking that information back to the corporation. He also travelled north to some of the Indigenous groups there to learn about what they were doing with traditional fire practices.

“It’s always been a big thing in Victoria as we’ve not been able to use our traditional fire practices so we’re trying to bring those methods back to here,” Mick says. “Black fellas farm in a way that’s not the same as western-style farming.”

Mick explains that the Indigenous people were dispersed throughout the country when the settlers arrived and they would see their use of fire as an act of warfare when it was all about farming and looking after the land.

“Some people say it’s been 180 to 200 years that the fire practice hasn’t been used but there’s Elders I’ve been told used some of their methods were working the train line and roadside. The connection’s still there, it’s not fully broken, now we can mend it and do a lot of research, a lot of monitoring, and revive it back to its full potential.

The team prior to a traditional burn at Happy Tommy Track.

“This is a big, positive step forward. We’ve still got a lot of learning to do because the country has been tipped upside down some of the old methods won’t work today because of the way the land is. We’ll be assessing whether some fire regenerates the seeds, but as the country is upside down some of these seeds would be two or three metres underground so we’re working with the nurseries and doing some hand planting. We’ll just practise and learn from our mistakes. Fire is only one key of the whole process, it’s bringing the people together, closing gaps.

We’re breaking down barriers and creating pathways for these kids, they could be our next leaders.

“It’s like when you throw a rock in the water and it has that ripple effect, there’s a lot coming out of it. We want to learn and work together and translate the science for the Elders. A lot of this is about good things, righting wrongs and education. It’s taken 300 years to get the land this way, it’s going to take a lot more to get it fixed.”

48

Uncle Tom Baksh with Dja Dja Wurrung dancers.

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living the past

ABOVE: Darren Wright, Joss House supervisor BELOW: Bendigo Postcard Murray Views No.15 Joss House, Emu Point, circa 1950.

From the collection of Dennis O’Hoy

The Bendigo Joss House is the second oldest Chinese temple in Australia and a wondrous link to the region’s gold rush history so it seems remarkable that it was earmarked for demolition

By Paula Hubert The two stone-sculptured lions sit majestically at the front of the Joss House to ward off negative spirits and demons from entering this place of worship. Some would say that they have done a sterling job guarding one of Bendigo’s cultural treasures.

Built in the 1870s at Emu Point, this intriguing building has defied all the odds. It was left abandoned for 30 years and demolition was mooted on a number of occasions, notably in the 1960s when the temple site was rescued from becoming a car park for the Commonwealth Ordinance Factory.

The Joss House was restored when it was taken under the wing of the National Trust and officially opened to the public as a heritage tourist attraction in 1972.

Darren Wright, the Joss House’s supervisor, says it remains a significant historical and cultural connection to Bendigo’s gold rush history and is the only one to survive in

Central Victoria — about 100 similar temples were once dotted across the Victorian goldfields.

Unfortunately, little evidence remains of the daily life of the 5000 gold seekers who arrived from China’s southern districts in the 1850s in search of Bendigo’s alluvial gold.

“The Ironbark Chinese Camp was the largest of the camps with 1200 people and 80 businesses. This was Bendigo’s original Chinatown,” Darren says.

He describes how an assortment of shops from bakeries to butchers thrived on the streets and market gardens flourished next to the creek.

The area needed a permanent brick temple

after a weatherboard version was blown down in a storm in 1868. The elders involved the industrious community in what could be described as a 19th century version of crowdfunding, raising money from Chinese games, lotteries and performances from opera singers and entertainers for the temple build.

51

But the Chinese presence was viewed with suspicion by locals.

“Paranoia was rife. It was the classic fear of the unknown. They had a different belief system, different values and a different language. They were viewed as competition,” Darren explains.

There was also misunderstanding about the goings-on at the Joss House.

“The term Joss House is derived from the Portuguese Dios, meaning God.” Darren explains.

“It got confused with old English slang for a doss house – a place of cheap accommodation for travellers and transients which attracted the criminal element. We still get groups of seniors who still think that.

“I say hands up anybody in the crowd who thinks this is a place of ill-repute and half-adozen hands will go up. They think it was a gambling den, an opium den or a brothel.

“People are surprised and delighted when they realise this is an authentic temple. It follows Chinese traditions and principles that date back over 2000 years ago,” Darren says.

The Joss House remains a stunning structure and anyone travelling on Finn Street near the tram stop will see a blaze of vibrant red – the temple’s colour denoting happiness, strength and vitality. The temple was built using handmade red bricks, very distinct from the grey ones that were manufactured in the nearby Chinese brickmaking kiln, the only known one that has survived outside of China. (The kiln is buried underneath the nearby PepperGreen Farm site).

Feng Shui principles are used throughout the design to divert negative energy and bad spirits which are said to travel low and in straight lines so they can’t turn left or right.

Doors are positioned to be off-set, walls deflect and spirit steps stop negative energy from entering the buildings. A magnificent fishpond greets you as you walk through the gateway, its occupants denoting abundance and prosperity.

“The temple is a blend of all three philosophies – Daoism, Confucianism and Buddhism. You follow elements of them depending upon the circumstances in your life,” Darren says.

The main altar is dedicated to Guan-Di, the god of war and prosperity who is still worshipped today as a wise judge, guide, protector and bringer of wealth.

The altar has incense, offerings, sacred vessels and fortune-telling sticks for those seeking help with big decisions in their lives.

Prayers are no different now – people flock here on auspicious days in the Chinese calendar; students pray at the Confucius altar hoping for good exam results; others pray for happiness, good health and prosperity.

“One couple from Melbourne, who opened a new restaurant, wanted to make sure they had the blessings of the powers that be so they brought up a whole roasted pig as an offering to Guan-Di,” Darren says.

Three generations from one Chinese family followed an old custom and placed a teddy on 52

the Buddhist altar for the Chinese goddess of compassion Guan Yin, praying for a new addition to the family. They now come up regularly to give thanks for the safe arrival of a baby girl.

“We’ve seen a significant increase in visitors particularly from the Asian community. We are getting more worshippers than ever before.

“Ancestor worship is important. You pray to a given God but your ancestors or those in the community of the hereafter then petition for your family,” Darren says.

An Ancestral Hall is dedicated to all those Chinese immigrants who died in Bendigo.

The National Trust erected a large tablet in the 1970s to pay homage for the 400 missing ancestral tablets that once had a place at the altar racks.

Darren relates an extraordinary story of how children dared each other to enter the ‘haunted’ Joss House when it was left derelict for 30 years.

“A nine-year-old girl climbed through the broken window and took an ancestral tablet as a souvenir.”

Realising its significance, she returned the artefact 67 years later on the basis that her identity would never be revealed.

The tablet in question was dedicated to a Chinese hawker who died, aged 41, in 1870 so this was one of the first tablets to be placed at the ancestral altar.

“He is buried in the Chinese section of the Bendigo Cemetery in Quarry Hill, his footstone still remains visible,” says Darren.

“Bits of the jigsaw puzzle that is representative of our history are not always there at the time but we are gradually adding more pieces to it.”

Dennis O’Hoy, who was bestowed member of the Order of Australia for his involvement in preserving Bendigo’s heritage, provides invaluable advice.

“Dennis’ grandfather was a Chinese Mandarin who set up in this camp and had a series of shops in Bridge Street. Dennis is the cultural custodian – if we need to know something we can ask him,” Darren says.

The Joss House is now operated by Bendigo Heritage Attractions and is open every day apart from Christmas Day thanks to the dedicated volunteers. Darren, along with volunteer guides Mikelle Dingwall, Val Hogan, Stan Cue, Brenda Fielding, Angela Zheng and Fiona Liebert, provide a wealth of local knowledge during the tours. Their enthusiasm is clearly appreciated, judging from the compliments and positive feedback in the visitors’ book and on numerous tourism forums.

“I get fulfilment that something that has almost disappeared on several occasions has managed to survive and continues to perform its original function.

“I’m not a religious person but Confucius told us how to live a good life and keep the bad stuff away. To know where you are going to, you need to know where you have come from.”

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natural progression Artist Natalie Ryan grew up in country Victoria, and while she has lived in some of the busiest cities, designing for large textile corporations, her return to Colbinabbin has seen her reconnect with her love of nature and inspired her to establish Meander Art.

By Sue Turpie A childhood spent surrounded by native bush and wildlife influenced this local artist even before she created her first drawing at only a few years old. While there were years dedicated to studying and working in metropolitan areas as well as living overseas, Natalie Ryan never forgot her roots. Some five years ago she returned to Colbinabbin, reconnecting with her love of the local flora and fauna to establish Meander Designs.

Melbourne and spent time working with two major linen companies, however nature still called and she started attending weekly classes studying botanical painting at the Melbourne gardens. That call would never leave her, and it is here in central Victoria that she continues to foster her true love. Natalie’s work is delicate, intricate and quite beautiful.

The finish and attention to detail comes from a true appreciation for her subject matter.

Natalie studied textile design at RMIT in

“I learned a lot studying painting at the

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Botanical Gardens and realised that was where my passion was,” Natalie says. “I moved back to my grandparents’ house five years ago, doing freelance textile design. I still pop into the Rushworth Forest every now and then because there’s some great wildflowers in there. I always loved doing that with my nana, learning all the names of the local flowers and animals.”

There was a lot of time spent in the city, studying in Melbourne, working in Sydney,

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then London for the backpacker experience, then back to Melbourne, before country Victoria. Natalie admits she missed the country.

“I lived in Elwood so I guess being close to the beach was my version of country,” she says, “but I love living back here now. It’s really inspiring for my own work, and doing work for clients.”

Creating her own artwork was a way of filling in the quiet times of the year, when freelance textile design work was at a lull, and it turned out to be a perfect fit.

“In the down time, which is usually January and February, I thought I needed to start doing something for myself,” Natalie says. “I’ve always loved painting nature and the local wildflowers and plants that grow around this area and I thought I’d set up Meander Designs.

From Meander Designs I’m getting a lot more work along a similar vein, people are asking for that style of design for their own.”

Natalie laughs when she says her style of drawing hasn’t changed since primary school.

So, it begs the question, why study? Of course, it’s about honing techniques and finetuning your craft. For this artist, watercolour is her favourite medium.

“When designing textiles, the design had to be printable and water colour would lend itself to that,” she explains having worked for both Sheridan, where everything had to be hand painted, and then for Linen House, which also involved hand painting.

“They had other designers who just did computer work. Hand-painting things is an easier way to get your own style, I think just using illustrator your own personal touch can get a little bit lost in the design.”

Natalie spent 10 years at Linen House where her main job was designing the children’s linen; the Hiccup range.

“I much prefer the grown-up stuff,” she jokes.

“The styles change so quickly in the kids’ fashion that one year it might be rainbows and unicorns and simple designs and the next year they want really complicated designs that are completely different. It’s very fast fashion compared to the botanical stuff, which is slower. That I prefer. And the way that collaborations are happening now means it’s a great time to be designing. There’s always something new and exciting happening. It’s an evolving industry to be in.”

The excited artist is currently designing wallpaper for a Sydney company, while enjoying life in a thriving country community.

As she explains, “You never know what’s around the corner.”

For information and examples of Natalie’s work visit www.meanderdesigns.com.au or www.bendigomade.com.au if you would like to purchase some of her artwork.

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Reggie with Patch Freedom family

Noel Freedom family Joan and Jane Freedom family

Carmel and Kevin Freedom family

Chris Freedom family

Ursula and Helen Freedom family

Come see for yourself!

The people you see in these photographs are not just residents.

They are much loved members of our Freedom family. We consider it not just our job to care for them. It is our privilege and our passion.

Love, decency, respect and kindness are the values we chose to live by to honour the dignity and beauty of the human being at the most vulnerable stage of life. Ultimately they are the values that make real freedom possible.

Come see your local Freedom community, call us on 1800 984 840 or visit freedomagedcare.com.au

death becomes her

Artist and self-professed “deathie” Hayley West is at the forefront of a literacy movement challenging the big business of dying.

By Sarah Harris Death is calling Hayley West and, while not yet sure exactly where it will lead, she’s thinking the cemetery, or more specifically, cemetery tours.

A graveyard is a good, contemplative place to explore society’s most shrouded subject and you don’t have to worry about disturbing the residents.

“I have come to the conclusion I am probably too loud to work in traditional spaces like hospices or funeral homes,” the artist laughs.

If curiosity doesn’t kill the cat, it will almost certainly draw it to a patch of sun in Hayley’s light-filled studio The Departure. Here, parked next to a wicker coffin and cabinets filled with exquisite handmade funerary urns and the skulls of small animals, the artist works luminous with life. She is weaving a shroud, a memorial to the people who died in Castlemaine in 1875 — the year The Woollen Mill, where her moveable studio is currently based, began operating.

“Death has always been a bit of a theme of my work from when I was an undergrad,” Hayley, who studied her Bachelor of Fine Arts (Sculpture) at RMIT, says. “But it was when I decided to do my Masters (Masters By Research Visual Arts) exploring grief through personal experience and artistic practice I really started researching hard into the whole funeral industry.

“It became evident it is quite fraught. I found it was a very closed industry and very defensive 58

about competition and being exposed to the wider world. Since then I have become an advocate for death literacy and empowering people through knowledge, not only by talking about death and dying with family, but also being informed and learning how to shop around and doing it before it is a vulnerable time.”

Hayley, who was then living in the Blue Mountains, became involved in the Death Cafe movement – a growing social franchise dedicated to increasing awareness of all matters finite. “It was like a massive epiphany for me that there were other people who wanted to talk about this,” Hayley, who has continued her involvement with death cafes since moving to Castlemaine, recalls.

Hayley grew up in a family that simply couldn’t talk about a most tragic loss. Her sister Amelia drowned when she was three. “I was about six,” Hayley reveals. “It was one of those situations in the ‘70s when there were no pool fences. Mum went to the toilet for five minutes and came back and Amelia was on the bottom of the pool. When she died every reminder of her was taken out of the house. There were no photographs, no toys and she was never spoken of. We all knew that the day she died or her birthday Mum would be really upset and we knew we had to be careful around Mum, but we never talked about it.

“It didn’t really affect me until I was in my 20s and my dad was dying. In the palliative care ward he was calling out for her and it was

the first time I ever heard him say her name.

After he died I went to grief counselling and it all came back what happened that day. It was the first time I started thinking about grief as an emotion for myself both as a child and an adult.

“A lot of people don’t experience grief until later in their lives, but it is important to realise grief is normal. So many people aren’t prepared because they haven’t talked about it and it is just so alien to them the way they are feeling.

“One of the ways kids can really engage with the topic is talking about the death of pets.”

This is evidenced by the scores of fond tributes and farewell messages scrawled on the concrete floor of The Departure by young visitors keen to memorialise animals, birds, fish and even the brief fluttering of companion insects.

Hayley’s own daughters aged seven and 15 have never been spooked by the subject of death because it is talked about openly. “One of our family excursions in India last year was to the dissection labs at Mysore Medical College,” Hayley, who is married to fellow artist Tobias Richardson, reveals. “We also spent a week in Varanasi (the holy city of pilgrimage where the dead are cremated).

The girls found it fascinating and it is. It is incredible to think that in this ancient city people are still doing the same thing. The bodies are brought down to the Ganges and

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put onto pyres and the same thing has been happening for thousands of years and that is just what people do.”

Many other cultures also have a much more open, hands-on attitude toward their dead, Hayley observes. “In Bolivia, Indonesia and Mexico, death is part of living, whereas here it is separate and we let others take it out of our hands.”

What happens after death has always been regarded as a mystery, but that doesn’t mean the bills should be too. “Most people will sit down with a funeral director at the point when they are at their most vulnerable and they don’t shop around,” Hayley says. “People don’t want to cut costs when it comes to their loved ones and most will spend about $5000 on a coffin and you don’t need to do that when there are other options.

“In Australia you don’t need a coffin to be

buried. You can be buried or cremated in a shroud. You can even transport the body to the cemetery plot or crematorium in the back of a ute yourself if you like. There is no law in Victoria that says you have to use a funeral director.”

The giving of advice like this has become an integral part of Hayley’s practice. “I see it as an ongoing performance work where I am the artist, but I have this knowledge that I can share and exchange with people,” she says.

Hayley’s next major project is an interactive performance work in c3, the contemporary art space at Abbotsford Convent, involving a cooling bed — a highly portable device which can be used to keep a body at home at mortuary fridge temperatures for vigils — from October 25 to November 19.

For more information, visit www.thedeparture.com.au 60

Beautiful gifts l

Discover quality souvenirs made in Bendigo and region.

Indulge with artisan gifts and delicious treats to take home and savour your Bendigo experience.

Unearth the stories of our history makers from gold to food or artists spaces with our broad range of local authors.

www.uniquelybendigo.com.au

Perceptions

AUGUST 9 – NOVEMBER 12, 2017 An exhibition of fine couture, photography and jewellery designed to impress and inspire. Featuring photography by Joel Bramley, Bespoke couturier by Briana Hurley-Shaw and Jewellery by Carol de Graauw.

BENDIGO VISITOR CENTRE Open 9am to 5pm daily (except Christmas Day) 51-67 Pall Mall, Bendigo • 03 5434 6060 • tourism@bendigo.vic.gov.au www.bendigotourism.com • #Explore Bendigo

timely innovation David and Martin Ruffell take their passion for quality watches a step further, launching their own line Mr Wolfe.

By Sue Turpie It was a bold move to realise a dream, but it turned out that the timing was perfect for Ruffell Jewellers to launch its own line of watches. Even the name, Mr Wolfe, is associated with time, even if incidentally.

As David Ruffell explains, he knew they were going up against a market dominated by international brands but believed they could create something new that would appeal to their customers and the wider public.

And it has, being both a classic design and something Bendigo born.

David and Martin Ruffell have always embraced their passion for quality, goodlooking watches and this seems a natural progression for Ruffell Jewellers.

“Dad and I are watch nutters,” David says, “we’ve got loads of them. It was a dream to design our own. We used to joke about it and being jewellers, we have the means to do that. It’s only been the past couple of years though that we thought we should seriously investigate the idea and see if it was achievable. It just so happened this big 62

trade show came up last year when we were discussing it again.”

David and Martin ventured to Hong Kong, home to the world’s largest watch manufacturers.

“We sat down with a few different watch houses to talk about what we wanted and what they could do for us,” he says. “Initially we thought it was going to be too hard in terms of the order numbers that they wanted, and we didn’t want to choose from their range and just put our logo on it. We came back a bit deflated and thought maybe it was just going to be too hard.”

However, the pair didn’t give up and continued to exchange emails with a few companies and found one willing to make their specific choice of watch. Once Martin and David settled on the design it was only a few months later production started. The result is eight different watches sold through Ruffell Jewellers and three other outlets; Eaglehawk, Swan Hill and Balwyn in Melbourne.

Given Ruffell Jewellers’ experience it seems only natural that the response to Mr Wolfe watches would be positive. The feedback has been that people feel they’re buying a piece of Bendigo because the watch was designed by a local company.

“These are a classic, clean, stylish design.

They’re waterproof as well, which is a huge bonus, and we made sure they had a reliable movement. We see enough watches worn by people who come in to get their battery changed, and took note of the style of watch people are wearing,” David explains.

“Every one of the watches has the name Bendigo engraved on the back, and they’re named after features of Bendigo: High Street, Capital, Fortuna. Hungerford is a name through our family so it was a cool way of putting our name on it without putting our name on it. This is our entry into the watch industry … and we’re only a tiny little speck in that.” Time will tell … pun intended.

To see the complete range of Mr Wolfe watches range visit www.mrwolfe.com.au

David Ruffell pictured wearing a Mr Wolfe watch

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Andrea Griffiths and Carly Grigg

Annabel Bates, Cassandra Rowe and Meagan Worme

Barbara McNicol and Gradey McNicol

Ian James and Stephanie Corsetti

Janelle Brown, Donna Morris and Camille Merriman

Kylie Bain, Jacinta Campbell and Holly Franchina

CHEERS TO LOCAL WINERIES Wine enthusiasts packed the Wine Bank on View Street for one of the biggest events on its calendar, its annual wine expo.

The day was an opportunity to sample over 100 wines from local, interstate and international wine producers all under the one roof.

Aside from enjoying a drop or two of some fine wines, participants also mingled with some of the winemakers.

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Daniel and Jane Hopkins

Henni and Andreas Greiving

WINE, FOOD AND FUN IN HEATHCOTE

India and Adrian Munari

Jim Pearce and John Storck

With so much to be proud of, it’s a credit that Heathcote on Show manages to fit everything into one long weekend.

This year’s program featured all the well-loved favourites including a myriad of red wines and vintage launches, tastings at more than 25 cellar doors, winery dinners and long lunches.

Veronica Arbogast and Jarryd Beer

Laura O’Brien and Tania Caligiore

On top of this were musicians and community activities at renowned locations throughout the region. The hop-on hop-off bus meant everyone could safely enjoy a drop or two.

Experience the next step in the Rocks drink culture revolution.

Australian Bar Manager of the Year, Top 10 finalist in multiple Australian Bartender of the Year Awards and former manager of some of the most exciting bars across the country, industry veteran

~ Tim Wastell ~ joins the Rocks on Rosalind management team. Finn’s grand master is a walking encyclopedia of all things beverage; Tim’s ability to predict your best drink choice is more accurate than your own.

Come and discover a bar experience like never before.

Photo courtesy of Bendigo Magazine.

Open 7 days, lunch and dinner 12 View Street, Bendigo VIC 3550 P 03 5441 2222 E dine@rocksonrosalind.com W rocksonrosalind.com

OFFERING CUISINE WITH A BLEND OF PERFECT ASIAN TECHNIQUES & CULINARY ADVENTURES….

restoran

malayan orchid

OPEN MONDAY - SATURDAY • dine-in • take-away

• new menu • exciting wine-list

Winner Best Asian Restaurant - Regional Victoria (Savour Australia TM Restaurant & Catering)

155 VIEW STREET BENDIGO PH: 5442 4411

delicious

lamb

Set aside some time in the kitchen to create this mouthwatering, Greek-inspired meat dish.

By Beau Cook

Beau Cook has shared his recipe for slowroasted lamb shoulder, a seasonal dish given spring is the time lamb is in peak supply.

The meat can be served with either roasted vegetables, making a lovely family meal to enjoy at the dining table. Another option is to enjoy with a Greek-salad, something to share sitting outside setting with friends on these warmer evenings.

A healthy, home-cooked feast made from readily-available ingredients.

SLOW-ROASTED LAMB SHOULDER WITH TZATZIKI Serves 8 • 1 large red onion, chopped • 4 garlic cloves • 1 tbs dried oregano • 2 tsp sweet paprika • 1 tsp cracked black pepper • 2 tsp sea salt • 1 lemon, juiced • 2 tbs red wine vinegar • 1/3 cup olive oil • 1 tbs honey • 2-2.5kg bone-in lamb shoulder, excess fat trimmed • Lemon wedges, and seasonal sides of your choice, to serve TZATZIKI • 1 cup Greek yoghurt • 1 Lebanese cucumber, grated, juice squeezed out • Handful fresh dill, chopped • ½ lemon, juiced • ½ tsp finely grated garlic • 1 tsp salt • 4 tbs extra virgin olive oil

1. To make marinade, place onion, garlic, herbs and spices, lemon juice, vinegar, oil and honey in a food processor and process to a coarse paste.

2. Coat lamb shoulder all over with marinade paste, then seal in an airtight container and refrigerate overnight to allow flavours to develop.

Remove from fridge 1 hour before cooking.

3. To make tzatziki, combine all ingredients in a bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight.

4. When ready to cook, preheat oven to 140˚C. Wrap lamb shoulder in baking paper then wrap and seal with foil, place in a heavy-based roasting pan and roast for 4 hours or until meat is tender and falling off the bone.

5. Remove baking paper and foil, return lamb to roasting pan, increase oven to 220˚C. and roast for a further 15-20 minutes or until lamb starts to caramelise. Remove from oven and set aside to rest for 10 minutes.

6. Using a fork, shred meat and serve with tzatziki, lemon wedges and a selection of your favourite sides.

Roasted veggies and a Greek salad would work perfectly.

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food at the

cutting edge

Ungoverned by traditions and inspired by a melting pot of cultures, Bob Yam reflects on an industry boldly going where it’s never gone before.

By Sue Turpie Chef and co-owner of the Malayan Orchid, Bob Yam has seen the hospitality industry ebb and flow over the years, and explains that today society has a relationship with food it has never had before.

“Normally people used to eat to live, now people live to eat … society has changed,” he says, and with the media coverage and cooking shows being so popular people are thinking more and more seriously about “what they’re putting in their mouth”.

“On top of that you have people being cautious about eating a balanced diet and counting calories. Because of this food has become a real focus and a big part of society,” he says.

“People think more about what they’re going to eat, such as the sugar content and fat 68

content, and how it’s going to affect us. For us, we have to serve what the customer wants.

It’s not what we would like to produce or sell as much, but more what the public wants from us, and therefore the public demand and love for food also determines what we sell.”

However, Bob believes because there is always a demand for something different, the chefs in Australia have a creative freedom that gives them the best of both worlds.

“Cooking is an art itself. If you become a chef you’ll come to a time in your life where you don’t need to sit in the kitchen and ask yourself what will go well with what. You work out what you’re going to cook inside your head. It’s like a musician who doesn’t need a keyboard in front of them, they can put

beautiful music together in their head sitting in a park with a pen and paper. Obviously you have to fine tune it, but cooking is the same.

There’s no limit to what you can do, and now with logistics and having long-life ingredients, you can get anything you want from anywhere in the world.”

He explains that fusion and its place in today’s food industry is seeing menus constantly evolving. Also, we have the means to access foods that historically would have been governed by the seasons, or by rations and world events.

“Simple fusion, from back in the olden days, is when you talk about something like chicken and vegetables which has been served in this country for years. If it’s cooked in Asia, it’s

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probably two variety of vegetables with one protein and that’s it. But here you have carrots, onions, broccoli, snow peas, zucchini, baby corn and it’s all thrown in. That’s what we call chop suey, as in it’s all thrown in and cooked together.

“Today fusion means doing something that is a little more authentic but using fresh local produce from this area … kangaroo, yabbies, rabbit and all the different types of meat you find around here. The beauty about living in this country and being a chef is you can cross over from one culture to another so you can put a couple of Japanese dishes on your menu. You can put a couple of Chinese dishes on your menu, and Indian, Indonesian, French, Malaysian … and it’s all right. But if you go to Asia, you’re looking at quite authentic stuff and that’s the way it should be.

“People are entrenched in tradition, but here if you like something different, it’s like ‘Why not?’ That’s the beauty of this country. You can go into a pub here and you have pasta on the menu, and Dijon mustard being used, which is French, and then you have tortillas being used.

It’s a cross of European, French, Indian and Mexican and more, and it’s because they can get that produce.

“At the Malayan Orchid we’re trying to go down that road as well. But probably not as extreme as that modern fusion. But we use different ingredients to make something new, all you need to do is understand the component of the flavours and then work towards a balance of the sweet, sour, bitterness and so on.

“As long as you have balance there’s no limit to what you can do. Australian food, I would consider, seriously, as one of the best in the world. We’re not bound by authenticity, we’re not bound by rules and regulations set by older generations. We can explore and do whatever we want, and that’s its beauty.”

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Bendigo Uncorked Week 6 - 15 October 2017

10 Bendigo wine and food events in 1 week with feature events Bendigo Heritage After Dark and Heritage Uncorked

Sponsor

All the details at www.bendigowine.org.au

Join us on

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distinctive flavours A stunning white from a local five-star vineyard, a beer with a slightly citrus edge and Italy’s favourite aperitif cocktail.

By Finn Vedelsby — Rocks On Rosalind

BRESS SILVER CHOOK HEATHCOTE VERMENTINO 2016

BRIDGE ROAD BREWERS CHEVALIER SAISON

Bob from Bress Winery explained that half of this wine was fermented in stainless steel, on it’s own skins, for at least a portion of it’s indigenous yeast fermentation. The other half was very unconventionally fermented as whole bunches.

An easy drinking, lighter-bodied beer with a slightly sour aspect, this beer screams ‘warm weather session’ like few others.

Originating from the Wallonia region in Belgium, this beer style was originally brewed in the cooler, less active months by farmers and stored for drinking in the warmer months. Cheers!

Malolactic fermentation was not encouraged and the wine spent two months on lees, with regular battonage.

Prior to bottling, the wine was not fined and was given minimal filtration to ensure maximum retention of flavour and concentration.

It is also essential to consider seasonality in food options at this time of year and that is especially true for fruits and vegetables. Local apples and pears are in season and readily available, as is the fabulous vegetable that is rhubarb. The leaves of the rhubarb plant contain several poisonous compounds including oxalic acid, which is a nephrotoxic and corrosive acid traditionally used to make fly spray.

This has resulted in a wine of texture, flavour and nine parts awesome.

Q: How do we savour this delicious vegetable without causing ourselves a mischief then?

A: Aperol.

Aperol is a gorgeous Italian aperitif based on bitter orange and rhubarb. It is a low alcohol option for long afternoons and perfectly mixes with equal parts Proscecco and soda water to create the ‘Aperol Spritz’.

There may be something better than this drink in spring, although, for the life of me, I can’t remember what it is. So let’s just say that there is a reason this drink is Italy’s most mixed.

Fill a large wine glass with ice.

Add equal parts Aperol, your favourite sparkling wine (Proscecco works well) and soda water. Garnish with orange and an olive.

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planting the seed The gentle rolling hills that fold away from central Victoria’s granite outcrops to Bendigo hold a revelation – stunning wines with a rich heritage.

By Melinda Rosser The first grapes were planted in the Bendigo region in 1855, just after the start of the massive gold rushes which brought tens of thousands of hopeful diggers from all over the world to Bendigo to seek their fortunes.

They brought with them a lust for gold, but also the wine and food knowledge of Europe and it was only a few years before the judges at the 1873 Vienna Exhibition were heard to exclaim of Bendigo’s early Hermitage (Shiraz) wines that “no Colonial wine can be that good”.

THE REGIONAL STORY The tradition of wine grape-growing in the Bendigo region is nearly as old as Bendigo itself.

Credited with being Bendigo’s first vignerons are Jacques Bladier and a German named Delscher, both of whom planted vineyards at Epsom about 1855, and Jean-Baptiste Loridan, whose vineyard of 10,000 vines on the Sheepwash Creek was noted in the May 1856 Bendigo Advertiser as being two years old.

It is believed that when the easily accessible gold ran out in Bendigo, viticulture was something the general labour force who knew hard work and the area could easily turn to.

But the threat of phylloxera in late 1893, at the Emu Creek vineyard of Frederick Grosse, marked the beginning of the demise of the original wine industry in the Bendigo district.

The resurgence of the wine industry in Bendigo is traced to the planting of Balgownie Estate vineyard in 1969. Bendigo’s new wave of winemakers are winning attention with their elegant reds and stylish whites. The majority of the 26 local Bendigo wineries are small to medium-sized, and are still run by the families who founded them. Regular visitors to the region fondly refer to it as “The Winemakers’ Region”, knowing it is not uncommon to meet the winemakers, sleeves rolled up, tending vines or working in the winery.

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CLIMATE AND WINE STYLES Situated completely inland within the zone of central Victoria, the Bendigo wine region has a Mediterranean climate with warm, dry summers and mild, wet winters. The climate is perfectly suited for the Shiraz and Cabernet the region is renowned for, and is now carving an exciting reputation for Mediterranean-style

such as Sangiovese produced by Balgownie Estate and Sutton Grange and Nebbiolo

by Sandhurst Ridge and Glenwillow. An impressive list of whites and rosé are winning national awards for the region.

Make the most of the Bendigo wine region by visiting the many cellar doors or joining the Bendigo winemakers at one of their annual events.

THE DAWNING OF THE NEW BENDIGO WINE REGION Established by the legendary winemaker Stuart Anderson, Balgownie Estate was the first vineyard planted in the Bendigo district in more than 80 years. The emergence of Balgownie Estate as a serious red wine producer in the 1970s led to the rapid

expansion of the central goldfields wine growing region and was a significant player in the rebirth of the Victorian wine industry.

Balgownie Estate’s red wines were inspired by the classic wines of France and the Estate Cabernet Sauvignon and Estate Shiraz were highly sought after from the first vintage release in 1972.

Winemakers at Balgownie have been notably loyal and long standing. In more than 40 years, there have been just five: impressive in an industry with a pursuit for excellence in wine and where winemakers are prepared to travel the globe in search of it. Current chief winemaker at the helm is Tony Winspear, carrying on the unmistakable flavours of Balgownie Estate.

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YOUNG GUN OF WINE MELANIE CHESTER The new wave of Bendigo region winemakers include Melanie Chester, chief winemaker at Sutton Grange Winery.

This year Melanie was announced in the Top 50 Young Guns of Wine in Australia. She has been the winemaker at Sutton Grange Winery since August 2015 and picked up the Gourmet Traveller Young Winemaker of the Year award in the same year.

She found her love of wine growing up in a family of barrel makers in South Australia.

“I love winemaking,” she said.

“I worked at Seppelt in Great Western, which is where my first introduction to Shiraz came from. I knew growers in Bendigo, so have been making wine from the region for a while.

“It’s good that as a region Bendigo has such a strong offering and so many wine styles.

“I love making Shiraz and am really excited to make Shiraz in this pocket of Victoria,” says Melanie.

BENDIGO UNCORKED WEEK Wine and food lovers rejoice! The Bendigo winegrowers are hosting Bendigo Uncorked Week this spring. It’s a whole week filled with Bendigo region wines, local food and the chance to step inside some of the city’s most famous historical buildings.

Tickets are on sale for the two feature events, Bendigo Heritage After Dark on October 6 and Heritage Uncorked on October 14. Both events are unique to Victoria and are always a highlight on Bendigo’s spring calendar. The week in between will be filled with intimate wine and food events including wine at the movies, a dinner underground and a laneway fiesta.

Tickets are sold separately, so visit www.bendigowine.org.au for the booking and event details, and plan to be part of Bendigo Uncorked Week.

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Nick Bray, Cynthia Lim and Lizette Snaith

Jo Law and Leesa Vaughan

FOOD DELIGHTS AT POP UP EVENT

Carolyn Pitson, Elizabeth Murphy, Elaine Wilson and Kylie Clark

Emma Nielsen, Emma Healion, Rebecca Johns, Katherine Loy and Fiona Curtain

Food Fossickers and Rocks on Rosalind recently hosted their second Pop Up event celebrating local produce with a gourmet lunch event.

The Farmer’s Feast was the second of the series of the Great Local Lunch.

There were three shared table courses of the best Sunday lunch fare on offer.

Ethan Ridgeway, Jay Harkness, Ben Massey, Sarah Hore and Eddy Power-Hall

Felicity Pearce, Jeremy Stokes and Charles Gebhardt

Guests heard from Ben Massey, the head chef from Rocks on Rosalind, as well as local producers Allen and Lizette from Warialda Belted Galloway Beef and Alan and Deb Weir from Dunluce Lamb.

Cellar Door Open Daily 11am-5pm (Closed Christmas Day) Taste and Purchase Current and OlderVintages | Boutique Accommodation Now Available 156 Forest Drive Marong,Victoria Australia | Phone: (03) 5435 2534 | Fax: (03) 5435 2548 | wine@sandhurstridge.com.au

Stephanie Pell and Nick Pardo

Matt Hagen and Caz and Brad Robinson

Ilona Lee and Kate Davies

Jeigar Hynes, Ben Duncan and Renato Angelo

Rachel Harrison, Rebecca Chalmer and Elle Gentle

Liam Jones, Daniel Major and Darcy Geyer

GALA EVENING FOR SECRET MEN’S BUSINESS Secret Men’s Business helps men deal with depression by healing the body first so that the mind can follow.

The organisation recently hosted a black-tie gala ball as a fundraiser for this initiative and to celebrate the launch of the online SMB program platform.

Guests donned their finest, then danced and mingled the night away at the Gallery Café.

For more information on Secret Men’s Business, visit the group’s Facebook page.

WINE. FOOD. FUNCTIONS, WEDDINGS & CONFERENCES Visit our Cellar Door and Gallery. You can relax and enjoy wine tasting in air conditioned comfort or relax outdoors in the gardens.

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CHAMPION EVENT FOR BENDIGO

Nathan O’Neill and Jeremy Stokes

James Williams and Jacinta Allan

With its expansion almost complete, Bendigo Stadium will see the best junior table tennis players converge for the 2018 world championships.

As City of Greater Bendigo Cr James Williams says the championships is a great example of the city attracting and hosting world-class sporting events.

Maree Edwards and Jacinta Allan

Christian Holtz and Glenn Harvey

Officials and special guests were at the stadium recently for the announcement.

More than 320 athletes and support staff are expected to attend along with hundreds of spectators daily.

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Photograph by Ewen Bell 80

alexandra fountain

We know Alexandra Fountain is the heart of Bendigo, but it also possesses the “Psyche” of Bendigo … and a heritage link to Mad Max.

By Colin King When Bendigo’s renowned Victorian-era architect, William Vahland scored the job of designing Alexandra Fountain, he would have been delighted to learn that sculptor and fellow north German, Emanuel Semper, would be visiting Melbourne for the International Exhibition of 1880/81. Semper was duly snapped up to do the four, classical semi-nude female figures that adorn the Charing Cross masterpiece.

According to the Heritage Council, it is rare to have such classical dis-robed models applied to a fountain. Perhaps not so surprising in Bendigo however given that mining magnate, George Lansell, contributed £500 to the cost with the proviso that the design be approved by him. George’s Fortuna Villa was not short on statues of bared classical maidens both inside the mansion and among its grounds.

Bendigo also went on to have several nude statues installed in Rosalind Park, thankfully without the hue and cry that erupted when the same thing happened in Adelaide. Legend has it that the prudish city of churches experienced kickback when they unveiled a copy of Canova’s unclad Venus in 1892. Bendigo’s own replica of Canova’s Venus that has stood in the Conservatory Gardens since 1901.

Nine months before the fountain was unveiled in 1881 by the future king of England, the Bendigo Advertiser reported that Herr Emanuel Semper had completed the statue of Psyche for the fountain — Psyche being a copious beauty from Greek mythology and the wife of Eros, God of Love. The statue was described as being conceived in a bold

spirit with drapery across the knees. From that description, Psyche has to be the one facing Mr Beebe’s restaurant. The other three were not named but it’s a good bet that the next most brazen of the four, the one facing Mitchell Street, is Aphrodite. A sculpture of Aphrodite can be spotted in an old photograph of Fortuna Villa’s entrance hall, and as always, the Goddess of Love is depicted undressed.

The two slightly more modest maidens must surely bare the local names, Campaspe, mistress of Alexander the Great, and Ida, one of the nymphs of Mount Ida in Crete.

Explorer Major Mitchell experienced a classical-Greek phase when he became the first European to pass through central Victoria.

He named Mount Macedon as he stood on its summit and spied the distant Port Phillip Bay. Mitchell whimsically equated Phillip to the king of ancient Macedonia, even though he would be well aware that the bay was named after NSW’s first governor. Mitchell then named the Campaspe River and Heathcote’s Mount Ida to be in harmony. That left central Victoria’s other significant eminence glaringly out of whack because Mitchell had already dubbed it Mount Byng. The problem was solved when one of the earliest squatters, in his own moment of whimsy, adopted the Greek moniker of Mount Alexander instead … and it stuck. If Victoria was a football oval, then it would have begun colonisation with the allGreek spine of Phillip at full forward, Macedon at Centre half forward, Campaspe running around the centre and Alexander and Ida as centre half back and full back respectively.

Semper completed two other works during

his short stay in Melbourne. One was the female statue of Justice that sat above the Supreme Court building. Sadly, the Tasmanian freestone did not withstand the elements and it was replaced with a bronze replica in 1967.

His other work is now an incongruous gothic entrance to the futuristic Melbourne University underground car park that featured in Mad Max. The entrance is flanked by two huge Atlantes figures in the style of Atlas holding up the world. They originally supported a grand sculpted pediment on Melbourne’s Colonial Bank building. The overall work is generally attributed to James Gilbert but newspaper reports of the day have the classical figures modelled and carved by Semper. It was gifted to the university upon demolition of the bank in 1932 and incorporated in the car park in 1972. The heritage listed “Mad Max carpark” in Carlton and our Alexandra fountain appear to be Semper’s only surviving works in Australia.

Undergoing restoration works at the time Bendigo Magazine went to print, our four Greek maidens have already seen off five generations of Bendigonians and no doubt, will see the rest of us off. They were there when the first tram ran to Eaglehawk and still around when the last one returned to the depot. They sniggered when councillor Hamburger had seats installed around the perimeter fence in the early twentieth-century, and they saw the Queen of England up close in the 1950s. As far as statues of sirens go, the modern-day version in Marilyn Monroe was a mere flash in the pan. Perhaps that’s because Semper’s name translates from Latin as “Ever”. Made by ever, for ever.

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111 Mollison Street Bendigo | www.eplusarchitecture.com.au | Ph: (03) 5443 0055

heartfelt history

Rick and Larni Walduck

An amazing development in his veterinary practice saw Rick Walduck invited to Bendigo, where he subsequently bought one of its oldest homes. Originally owned by a mine manager, this Honeysuckle Street property was built in 1868 just 17 years after gold was discovered in Bendigo.

By Jayden Donaldson — McKean McGegor Real Estate Photography by Nathan Clarke and Andrew Kendall — Top Snap Central Victoria The house has since been sold at auction, but Jayden sat down with now former owner Rick Walduck to discuss the property that he has held so close to his heart for more than 20 years.

When did you purchase the Honeysuckle Street property?

We purchased the property in 1991. The background to the purchase was that as a Melbourne-based veterinarian, our practice introduced the first animal microchip and registry system into Australia in 1989. As a result we were invited by the local vets in Bendigo to present the then new, but now well-known technology.

The following morning while reading the local newspaper, I spotted the property in the real estate section and on a whim contacted the agent to view the cottage and immediately fell in love. We subsequently purchased the property as a family weekend retreat.

Though structurally sound, the cottage required cosmetic renovation to bring it up to a comfortable modern-living standard.

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What initially attracted you to the property? Do you have any favourite features?

As a family, we have always been attracted to early Victorian properties and visited many over the years.

Basically, this cottage is a unique classic original sandstone miner’s cottage straight out of the pages of Bendigo’s early goldmining history.

Favourite features include the original and now restored cedar fireplace surround in the lounge. This had been painted and boarded up with cement sheet. The 3m x 3m stand-up dry cellar carved out of sandstone under the kitchen is a thoroughly unique feature, complete with original walk down steps and whitewashed walls and meat hanging hooks. This was an accidental find after purchase having not been told of its existence by the agent at the time. We have also enjoyed many hours sitting on the front verandah enjoying views of the cathedral directly ahead and to the right, the poppet head of the Central Deborah Mine and uninterrupted views of the lights of Bendigo beyond.

When purchasing, were you aware of the property’s history?

When we purchased we were aware that the property was a gem, but only later did we realise how unique it was. There are few sandstone cottages remaining in Bendigo with the classic detached washhouse intact; complete with a fireplace and copper. Subsequent to purchase we researched the property extensively through the Bendigo Library and Titles office and found details and names of previous owner’s right back to construction in 1858. It was indeed the home of a number of mine managers and their families. Following our initial inquiries we organised an inspection by the heritage advisor from the City of Greater Bendigo who, with great excitement, confirmed that the wooden fretwork on the verandah was the only firsthand preserved example he had come across. He had only seen examples in catalogues. A number had been damaged or 84

missing so we had templates made of the complete ones to create Baltic replicas using the original construction method.

Did you always intend to do make improvements and refurbish?

Absolutely yes. It was always our intention to preserve and restore all of the heritage features and replace later repairs/renovations with original fixtures and fittings where possible. This included exposing and treating the original Baltic flooring in the hallway, removing the green paintwork from the wide sandstone steps leading from the kitchen, replacing the light and power points installed in the 1960s with heritage ones, and restoring the washhouse to working order.

Basically the entire restoration was a family affair supported by qualified and specialised contractors to work on plumbing, electricals and carpentry. The final detailing, including colour selection and soft furnishings, was left up to my talented daughter Larni.

With the restoration being such a family affair, were there any challenges when it came to signing off on final ideas and plans?

Essentially no disagreements between us. We believe we had a clear vision from the outset, with an unwavering commitment to preserving the past, just as we are currently achieving with our present property – the Goldmines Hotel in Marong Road.

Did you face any major obstacles during the restoration process?

The only major challenge was the need to replace the old sewerage line with a complete new PVC line along the driveway past the beautiful original Peppercorn trees after multiple blockages and cleanouts due to root invasion.

This project and our current work on the Goldmines Hotel are testament to the strong sense of duty we feel to maintain and preserve all heritage buildings for the sake of future generations.

It is clear that we all have a responsibility to value, preserve and admire the priceless architectural achievements of our Bendigo forefathers and highly skilled craftsmen and artisans.

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make a statement

Want to stand out from the crowd? Contrasting finishes and distinctive shapes can be brought together to make a striking combination for any room in any home.

Whether you’re aiming to create something visually stunning when furnishing your new home, or working to develop a modern twist within a period property, these interior design ideas are on-trend and workable for any property type.

Distinctively different surfaces can be combined to give your space a visual edge which enhances the overall vision and draws your eyes towards key elements.

Black metal works perfectly against timbers with natural finishes, and the inclusion of the plush velvet fabric of an occasional chair softens the overall effect and portrays comfort. Distinctive artwork or eye-catching décor pieces add in your own flavour and sense of personal character.

Our hot design tip - according to insiders, anything with bone is going to be the next big thing in interiors.

Wall colour in picture: Haymes Phantom from Paint Right, Bendigo Globe West ‘Drake’ 3m dining table - rustic teak with metal leg and matching buffet, Globe West ‘Pepper’ dining chairs with black metal leg, Globe West ‘Kennedy’ velvet swivel chair, Globe West ‘Taj’ bone cube side table, Madison Grey Rug by The Rug Collection – all available to purchase from Make Your House A Home, located at the Design Precinct Bendigo, 132 High Street, Bendigo.

Wall art and decor all available from OZ Design Furniture Bendigo, 89-91 High Street, Bendigo.

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design on a grand scale Owner-builder Peter and wife Katrina started with an undulating blank canvas and from there, with the help of a local building designer and expert tradespeople, created something inspiring and unique.

By Sue Turpie Beautifully blending old and new, natural and man-made; striking seems the only word fitting to describe this exceptional home. If reading a list of its varying finishes and surrounds – traditional cement render, reclaimed bricks, black granite, black steel, native flora – one could struggle to appreciate how they would all work together in one property.

Yet here, the finished product is eye-catching and exciting. As its owners agree, you are never going to appeal to everyone but it’s hard to imagine anyone who wouldn’t appreciate the craftsmanship and work that has gone into this family home.

For Peter and Katrina, the build itself was as rewarding as is now sitting

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back and enjoying the finished product. Even more so for Peter who is already contemplating the next project. He was involved, literally hands-on, in every aspect of the building process. A nurse by trade, he is someone who always wants to learn and admires the work ethic and talent of the designer and tradesmen he’s worked with. Individually each element involved in this project was crafted with care and brought together with a true passion.

The project took about seven years, starting with a block of land in Kronk Street which would provide the inspiration for the home designed by a local building design practise.

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“I don’t like to have pre-formed ideas,” Peter says. “We like to create, to get a feeling for what we want. I like wandering about the block and then once you have a concept, pick contrasting materials. The home is a modern shape but built using old things.”

“The building designer was excited, because we said no budget, within reason, not that we’ve got that much money but we’ll make it happen somehow, and no time frame. We just said this is what we want, you can be creative and he loved that. We just went for it.”

The result was a home with almost 30 squares of living space as well as balcony, swimming pool, outdoor entertainment area, pavilion, downstairs double garage, workshop with bathroom facilities, wine cellar and extra storage.

The design of the home and its architectural features work with the natural landscape of the land, such as the cantilevers that sit under the living area and balcony, with their seven-metre overhang also providing shelter for parking. The true beauty of this home, besides its visual appeal, is attention to detail involved in its design and construction.

“To the outsider they wouldn’t know how much research has gone into this. Peter goes into great detail with his workmanship as do all the tradies, and the quality is amazing,” Katrina says. And it’s eco-friendly with extra insulation, double-glaze windows, and thoughtful use of the natural light.

“It’s a modern natural home, if there’s such a thing,” Peter laughs. Well, there is now.

Given how involved in the project Peter was, every aspect of the house has a story behind it. It is a cliché, but if only the brick walls could talk.

The bricks that form the second storey of the home, along with the 4.5 square metre pavilion area and internal feature wall, are all handmade and second hand, all 27,000 of them. They’re a stark contrast to the polished finish of the black granite, dark steel and floor to ceiling windows, giving the home that something unique.

“I love modern shapes but using old material,” Peter explains, “so while we were waiting for council approval, we started collecting handmade bricks which was hard work. I got offered bricks from buildings that were being taken down, from walls, paddocks. It creates some interest, because once you start stacking the bricks at the front of the block 90

people get to know what you’re after. There was a farmer from Marong who called in … I got some from Echuca, some from a pub in Bendigo, some from Tatura.”

The intricate nature of the project meant Peter selected the tradesman on their ability. The bricklayer he worked with before on their Lucan Street renovation project, which saw an impressive modern extension added to an historic building.

“The guy who did the steel work for this house, one man on his own, was incredible. The beams holding up the home were laid out in the driveway, and he drilled them all and welded them up; 16 metres and 1.3 ton each. They were hoisted up by crane and worked to come within millimetres. He was amazing, a real craftsman.”

The same could be said about Peter, too, with so many features he personally added to this property, they could fill a book. Here, the photos speak for themselves.

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BLESSINGS AND BEST WISHES FOR HOSPITAL

Imelda Ewart, Lois Dyllon and Cathie Boschert

After extensive planning and much hard work, St John of God officially opened its impressive $40 million development.

Ron Deeble and Lisa Yesuratnam

Judy Woodlock, Marsha cameron, Lillian Tipping and Lucy Coburn

The project began in 2015 and includes a three-storey wing, which means an extra 44 beds for the hospital, two operating theatres, refurbishment of existing bedrooms and more.

There were many officials and friends of the hospital on hand to see St John of God Health Care Trustee chairman Eva Skira and group CEO Dr Michael Stanford do the honours, while the blessing was conducted by Diocese of Sandhurst Bishop Leslie Tomlinson.

Lisa and Paul Banks

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eat, drink and buy local Sonia Anthony is a passionate advocate of local produce – so much so, she has a local restaurant where the menu is based on goodies from nearby; she created a tour to celebrate and share many of her finds (From Market To Paddock To Plate) and now, she has a book out, so you can all enjoy her discoveries!

By Amy Doak It’s been five years since Sonia Anthony and her husband, Nick Anthony, opened the doors of Masons of Bendigo. Located in Queen Street in the old Masons Glass factory, the restaurant quickly developed a solid fan base with both locals and visitors. Their roaming menu, featuring a selection of shared plates from top dishes, is a particular favourite amongst diners, and their quality food and service has earned them Gold at the 2016 RACV Australian Tourism Awards and ‘One Chef Hat’ by The Age Good Food Guide in 2017 and 2016.

Sonia, who has a great love of learning when it comes to homegrown producers and food, has been involved in the Bendigo Community Farmers Market and the local Food Fossicker’s group. I first met Sonia last year, during her fantastic ‘From Market To Paddock To Plate’ tour and it wasn’t long before I realised just how much she practises what she preaches when it comes to food.

For those of you who don’t know, the tour is held bi-monthly and caters for a small group of 8-10 guests. A mini bus picks you up at Schaller Studio and, with Sonia, you head to the Farmers Market to meet some local growers and check out some produce. From there, it’s on to B & B Basil, then McIvor Farm, to learn more about how people in the region are growing great food in an ethical and responsible way. Then, to a winery to meet four amazing winemakers who all have a different story to share about how they create their equally delicious wine. Finally, it’s back to Sonia’s house where she takes all the food she’s sourced with you during the day, and cooks you up the most incredible dinner.

Following the tour, I asked Sonia if she’d perhaps be interested in working with me — as a publisher and a writer — in taking the ethos of her tour and restaurant and putting it into a book. When she said ‘yes’, I could never have imagined the journey it would take me on.

Sonia has a fascinating history as a chef — working in Melbourne, London and Singapore with some top names in the industry before returning home to set up Masons, and to discover more about the food and wine that is on offer around the region. Her knowledge is extensive and her enthusiasm is infectious. As we travelled around central Victoria and chatted to a selection of local food and wine producers, I realised more than ever, that it is important to ask the question: Where did this come from?

In creating her book, A Sense Of Place, we met Peter and Marlies from Salute Oliva in Boort. They grow their own olives and press their own Extra Virgin Olive Oil – and from start to finish, the process is completely chemical-free. There’s Allen and Lizette from Warialda Beef — their Belted Galloway cows live a heavenly existence, and the couple’s love for the animals ensures that not a single element of the animal is wasted in their top-to-toe approach. Or Belinda and Jason from McIvor Farm Foods — their Berkshire pigs grow happily outdoors in chemical-free,

picturesque surroundings, and the couple don’t just farm pigs but work hard to ensure that the soil on their land is in better condition than it was when they started farming it.

All up, 11 different producers who are passionate about their community, their product and leaving the world a better place than they found it — a little like Sonia herself really.

Sonia also generously shared a few of her tips as to how you can shop, cook and eat whilst keeping in mind where your food is coming from. Surprisingly, it’s not as complicated or challenging as you may think.

And the biggest bonus of all? She also shared some of her favourite recipes, using produce from the growers and makers we met. A lot of those recipes people might also recognise from the delicious Masons of Bendigo menu – yup, even the homemade olive bread with miso butter!

What began as a way to share an inspiring passion has turned into a project that truly celebrates the Bendigo area and all that it offers. We should all be proud of what is being created here.

You can find Sonia’s book, A Sense Of Place, from local stockists including Dymocks Bendigo, Bob Boutique, Organise My, Bendigo Wholefoods and the Bendigo Tourist Information Store, or you can purchase direct from Masons of Bendigo or from the publisher: www.oftheworldbooks.com (along with titles from a few other local writers!)

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car couples

The traditional view of classic and sports cars is that it is a bloke’s domain. But in Bendigo there is evidence that the world of polished fenders is attracting both genders.

By Linda Barrow

Or, as one wit put it: Couples who drive together thrive together.

Bendigo is home to a wide range of specialist car clubs including sports, classic, veteran and single-make car clubs and you’ll see them out and about in droves on sunny Sundays.

Take a closer look. There’s a strong chance that there’ll be a couple in the cab.

It’s turning out to be a pastime that couples can share, no matter their age or mechanical ability.

So we thought we’d step behind the scenes to chat to three Bendigo couples to find out what’s driving this movement.

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GRAEME AND GAYE As the owner of Ultimate Tyre and Auto in Kangaroo Flat, you’d think that Graeme Jenkins would have seen enough of cars in his day job.

But for him, cars are a lifetime passion. He is happy to work on them — and drive them to their limits — in his spare time.

Graeme has a very sporty orange 1970 Triumph TR6; an early 80s green Mazda RX7; a couple of motorbikes ... and a bright purple and wonderfully quirky 1976 Kombi Van. Graeme has always enjoyed the fast-tracked, competitive, racing side of things – as a young

bloke he started with motocross and go-karts, and with his current fleet of cars, he still races now, competing at places such as Winton and Phillip Island.

It’s fair to say the Kombi was not Graeme’s first choice as a vehicle, but his wife Gaye had always wanted one. So, one day, several years ago, he told her he would be late home from work: he had to call in to help his father who was unwell.

Instead, he secretly took a train to Swan Hill (“As far as the train went.”); then a bus to Mildura; then a taxi to the place selling the vehicle: then drove the second-hand Kombi all

the way back to Bendigo.

When he finally got home he asked Gaye to get his lunchbox out of the car, but when she went to the “car” she found a cream Kombi van with “Jessie” painted on the side.

“I didn’t even know he’d left Bendigo,” says Gaye.

The Kombi is no longer cream, or called Jessie, but in its new life it still has its fair share of adventures.

Most notably, its pop-top randomly flew up and open when they were travelling at about 100kmh – apparently Kombis can do that — on the way back from a trip to Byron Bay.

The top stubbornly refused to sit back down, so they had to sling a bright orange rope from a service station around it. Gaye spent the rest of the trip sitting on an Esky in the back of the Kombi, holding on to the ropes.

“It’s always an adventure going out in an old car,” says Gaye.” You never know what’s going to happen.”

“I can’t believe how many people of our age are involved in car clubs. You meet new people, have weekends away and travel to new places.

It’s great,” says Gaye.

“It’s something men and women can enjoy together.”

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ROB AND WENDY Rob and Wendy Cowling came to the Bendigo Sports and Classic Car Club (BSCCC) through their lovely cream 1962 Triumph TR4.

They say the change of rules regarding car club registration has made it far more accessible for people to drive an older car.

“Several people have more than one car,” says Wendy. “It’s great that you can get out and you are not paying up to $700 in registration per car.”

They have also done six events with the RACV Fly The Flag group, and have done a couple of trips with the Castlemaine MG club. Rob is currently planning an alpine trip.

While Rob enjoys the strategy and planning (and the driving) Wendy believes it’s good for everyone.

“You get to enjoy each other’s company and other people’s company, and you see places you otherwise wouldn’t see.”

ROD AND SALLY For Rod and Sally Thompson, motoring adventures are an important break from their busy jobs running the Bendigo Pottery complex.

Sally was a welded-on cyclist when she first met Rod, but she says he has now taught her a ”wonderful appreciation of classic cars”.

Rod’s love of cars started in his early 20s when he started rallying Datsun 1600s in club rallies in NSW and Victoria. In 2003 he bought his first open top Datsun Roadster … and never looked back.

They now own three 1968 Datsun 2000 Sports Roadster models (plus enough spare parts to make another one!) and a Nissan 350Z. “I enjoyed the Roadster so much. I wanted to fix and improve it, and therefore got a second one, so I could be working on one and one could be driven. The third one is a dedicated race car,” says Rod. 96

Rod loves his serious racing, and his engines to the extent that he does a lot of work in his home garage — complete with hoist — and is involved in plenty of R and D with a guy known as “the Guru” in Melbourne.

“It’s a constant development and improvement with cars. It’s a quest for the most powerful engine,” says Rod. The Roadster is so much fun to drive with its convertible top down that they try to take the top down as much as possible – well, at least until the temperature goes below eight degrees. After that they get ice on the windscreen.

Rod and Sally are members of several different car clubs, including the Datsun Sports Roadster Club of Victoria, which attracts a wide range of drivers – mechanics, lecturers, a priest. The only thing these people have in common is their car and their willingness to be involved. And

that is enough to forge a strong bond of friendship.

It was on one of these trips that the most extraordinary thing happened.

Rod and Sally were driving through relentless fog and rain over the NSW Alps, when the man driving behind them started beeping his horn and flashing his lights.

They pulled over to find that their fuel tank was virtually dragging on the ground. The tank is normally held on by two straps, but one had snapped and disappeared.

Luckily the guy behind them had a strap to help out … ironically the exact same strap that Rod had given him two years earlier when his own fuel tank had come adrift!

But it’s to Sally that the final word comes: “You get in the car, and you are all set to go and you breathe a big sigh. You leave the working day behind. It’s totally rejuvenating.”

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WOMEN IN REAL ESTATE A few friends recently formed a networking group known as WIRE (Women in Real Estate) with the aim to create a network of similarly minded and driven women for support and friendship within the broader industry.

What started as a couple of women getting together is now a membership base of about 50 people. The group recently got into the festive spirit hosting a Christmas in July lunch at Rocks on Rosalind.

Amy Fox, Rose Pearson and Emily Hellstedt

Cathy Hamilton and Jane Disc

Shiree Reeve, Katrina Turner and Ros Anderson

Karen Tait, Jenny Donaldson and Kylee McCalman

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It’s been 140 years since the first Australian Sheep and Wool Show, and as this year has proven again, the event continues to go from strength to strength.

Thousands visited the Bendigo Showgrounds to enjoy the food and fashion, learn from the best sheep breeders in the business, and socialise at the Women in Wool luncheon.

Jan Hay and Helen Scheuffele

Margot Falconer, Ronnie Moule, Yvonne Wrigglesworth and Phil McConachy

Other highlights included the Bendigo Festival of Lamb, yard dog trials, craft displays and shearing demonstrations.

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focus on

eye disease

By Dr Farokh Irani MBBS (melb), Dip Anat, FRANZCO – ophthalmic surgeon – Eye Surgeons Bendigo Cataracts, macular degeneration, glaucoma and diabetes are the most common eye diseases to cause visual loss. These eyesight problems cannot be corrected with glasses.

Cataracts: The lens inside the eye becomes cloudy. This happens gradually and is more prevalent as we age. Symptoms include difficulties distinguishing small print and fine details and may be accompanied by glare, washed-out colours, and difficulty driving at night. Frequent changes in glasses and the desire to constantly clean them are other symptoms.

Advanced cataracts can cause total blindness.

A day procedure under a local anaesthetic is the remedy. I personally do not use needles, stitches, or even an eye cover. There is instant vision before leaving the hospital and nearly always a reduction in the need for glasses.

Macular degeneration: This is a degenerative

disease of the central retina at the inside back of the eye. It causes a decrease in the central vision, which is needed to read, recognise objects and discriminate detail. It is classified as wet or dry.

is insidious and sufferers do not realise anything until it is late (“the thief of sight”). Early detection is critical.

The dry is often slow and causes progressive, painless loss of central vision and difficulty adjusting between light and dark.

Diabetes: A vascular disease of the retina.

It causes a drop in vision because of fluid accumulation at the back of the eye. Other times there is bleeding inside the eye also. Prevention by undergoing regular eye examinations is paramount. If the sight is affected, then to remedy this or just to prevent blindness, therapies such as laser, injections of ocular drugs, or surgery may be needed.

The wet form is sudden due to leaking of fluid and blood causing a rapid drop in vision. It also causes distortion of vision (objects are crooked or misshapen). Treatment is possible by administering special drugs into the eye via an injection.

Dry can become wet, even subtly, and so regular monitoring is essential.

Glaucoma: Results in damage to the optic nerve (at back of eye and connects eye with the brain) causing first loss of peripheral vision then later central vision. This disease

Treatment is to lower eye pressure with drops, laser treatment and sometimes surgery.

All of the above conditions can be successfully managed by Eye Surgeons Bendigo, experts in screening, diagnosing and treating eye diseases.

Eye Surgeons Bendigo operate from Bendigo Day Surgery at 1/1 Chum Street, Bendigo.

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WE ARE EXPERTS AT • Cataract surgery • Surgery to eliminate glasses Diseases of the Eye • Macular degeneration injections • Diabetic eye disease and other retinal problems • Laser to rid eye floaters • Glaucoma • Eyelid surgery

Principal Eye Surgeon Dr F. B Irani has over 21 years experience treating eye diseases and performing eye surgery.

Ph: (03) 5442 8322 (Bendigo Day Surgery) Suite 1, 1 Chum St, Bendigo

www.eyebendigo.com.au

independence and ethics

By Dirk de Moore — Audiologist, Bendigo Hearing Clinic This year has seen an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) inquiry into the Hearing Aid Industry, as well as considerable media coverage of the industry. As an audiologist with more than 30 years of experience in the field, I felt it appropriate to address some of these issues and provide advice for consumers.

The ACCC highlighted extensive practices within the hearing aid industry which it considered unacceptable. These included: • Examples of significant overpricing of hearing aids; • Clinicians being paid additional financial incentives to sell more expensive models.

• Many hearing aid outlets owned and operated by manufacturers or distribution chains where this is not made transparent to the consumer.

The ACCC argued that these factors could influence the price, type and brand of hearing aid that a clinician recommends to you. Sadly, much of what has been reported has been correct.

However, these practices are not unique to the hearing aid industry. I’m sure experienced medical practitioners, dentists and many other health professionals like me, lament the trend towards corporatisation of the medical model where profit

driven motives may take precedence over what is in a patient’s best interest.

With the Commonwealth Government’s scheme for pensioners and veterans, many clinics set sales targets for their clinicians to ‘top-up’ eligible clients from free to more expensive hearing aids.

Even the Commonwealth Government’s own clinics offer public sector audiologists added financial inducement to ‘top-up’ pensioners and DVA card holders.

Audiology Australia, the peak professional body for audiologists responded to the ACCC report by saying, “Audiology Australia’s Code of Conduct requires that members must make recommendations to clients based on clinical assessment and the client’s needs, not on the basis of financial gain on the part of the member.

In addition, Audiology Australia members must not engage in any form of misinformation or misrepresentation in relation to the hearing services or devices they provide.”

Advice If considering a trial or purchase of a hearing aid: • Ask if the clinic is independent of both hearing aid manufacturers and distribution chains.

• Ask if the clinician will receive any form of financial commission. (Under professional codes of conduct they must disclose this if asked.)

• Don’t feel pressured to make a decision. Take your time and consider your options.

• Compare prices. Like other consumer products there are hearing aids which cover a range of technical features and pricing levels.

But remember, at the end of the day it is a successful outcome you are looking for.

• And make sure you are offered a trial period with return option to ensure the product you select is suitable.

A hearing aid fitted by a qualified, experienced and ethical clinician can significantly improve your quality of life. For more information contact Bendigo Hearing Clinic on 5442 5800, or visit bendigohearingclinic.com.au or visit public and resources sections of the Audiology Australia website audiology.asn.au for position papers and media releases on these matters.

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Kristy Bridgeman, Rebecca Bentley and Lisa Boland

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Debra Allan and Ian McBurney

Bryley Savage, Doug Falconer and Jacqueline Brodie Hanns

Rob Stephenson, Win Scott and Dr Penny Davies

Anne Henshall, Amy Doak and Marie Scholtes

Peter Pascoe, Chris Kennett and Bruce Mutard

CHRISTMAS SPIRIT IN JULY There was plenty of cheer and festivities to ward off the winter chill in Bendigo with the LQ Market Christmas in July.

Prizes were awarded for the bestdressed, and there were loads of activities for children as well as all manner of crafts, foods and goods for sale.

A Reasonable Christianity Café in Kennington also joined in the fun serving food and drink to patrons.

BENDIGO FESTIVAL IS THE WORD Just when you think it can’t get any better, the Bendigo Writers Festival does it again.

Thousands visited the arts precinct for the recent annual writers festival.

With three days of events featuring screenwriters, authors, political thinkers, journalists, comedians ... this event draws people from within the city’s boundaries and well beyond..

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Noel Ridge, Brendan Baker and Norm West 104

return of the cup

Descendents of racing royalty have had their wish realised with the 1917 New Zealand Cup now back in its place at the Bendigo Harness Racing Club.

By Geoff Hocking Bendigo has been punching above its weight in the international sporting hero-stakes for, as it appears, well over a century.

Both our human, and equine, competitors have been sent abroad to achieve international success, whereas others have excelled in competition on our own home-grown playing fields, tracks and chlorinated swimming pools.

From Olympic gold achieved by Bendigo’s own Faith Leech, ‘the Flying Fish’, who at 15 years of age swum to glory in the 4x100m freestyle event at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics; to our singing pugilist 1960s Rome Olympian Des Duguid, who may never have won a medal in the ring but certainly deserved gold when he took to the stage, usually up at the YM dance on a Saturday Night; and Australian cycling champion Jack Trickey, also a Bendigonian, who took a tumble after the feed bag he was handed fell into his front wheel at the 105km mark of the individual road cycling race at the Melbourne Olympics. I remember that after the Olympics both Faith Leech and Jack Trickey came to Golden Square State School to show us their medals, Faith displayed her gold and I guess Jack showed us his bruises, but whatever, we were pretty impressed by this visit from our own Olympic royalty.

So much for our two-legged heroes. I guess there is also a long list of Bendigo-born and/ or district-raised proponents of the Sherrinbooting game who should be added to this list, among them are Nathan Brown who played for The Square and the Pioneers before he went to play for the Doggies and the Tigers; Nick Dal Santo (St Kilda & North Melbourne) and the famous Selwood brothers — Joel who captains Geelong, Adam (West Coast), Scott (Geelong) and Troy (Brisbane Lions). All Bendigo boys.

Bendigo has also had quite a few four-legged legends of the track.

Local pacer, Adelaide Direct, bred by Sam Lewis of Parker’s Plains at Baringhup near Maldon, had sailed across the Tasman in 1914 where she was raced for three seasons.

She returned home victorious, the 1917 New Zealand Trotting Cup in her luggage. The New Zealand Cup is the Kiwi equivalent of the Melbourne Cup; held by the Metropolitan

Trotting Club in November, Cup Day is the biggest day on Canterbury’s social calendar. At the time the prize was worth 2200 sovereigns.

In the 1920s a trotter named Grand Voyage, out of the Belmont Stud at nearby Huntly, earned legendary status and a place in the Trotting Hall of Fame.

Also in the 20s, Glideaway, a pacer owned by Kangaroo Flat butcher Alf Petherick earned in total just shy of £3000 from her first win in Ballarat in 1923 to the 1927 season when this local champion also set sail for competition in New Zealand. In 1929 Glideaway won the Otahuhu Cup in Alexandra Park, Auckland and the Dunedin Cup at Forbury Park. In all, Glideaway’s earnings here and abroad would have returned to her owner almost $168,000 in today’s currency. It is said that her earnings built the property at 181 High Street, Kangaroo Flat for her owner. It is also said that she had no choice but be a champion pacer as her owner was the local butcher, and dog food was always an alternative future.

Recently, the long-lost trophy from Adelaide Direct’s win at Addington Raceway in Christchurch — well it wasn’t really lost at all it was just not in Bendigo — has been donated to the Bendigo Harness Racing Club’s collection of historic memorabilia.

Known then as the Sandhurst Trotting Club, the club had its beginnings in the late nineteenth century when, in 1876, more than 3000 patrons flocked to the Epsom track to watch three trotting events run over, consecutively: 3 miles, 4 miles and five miles.

Its next iteration as the Bendigo Trotting Club, with George Lansell as president, was formed in 1923 and ran at the Epsom track until it went into recess in 1932. A new body was formed in 1951, named the Bendigo and District Trotting Club, but were hampered by the lack of a track. While they inspected the proposed showgrounds in Holmes Road and the old Marong track, where races had been held at what was once known as St Patricks Trotting Club, now the Marong Golf Course. It was not until 1954 that races could be run on a purpose-built track. 14,000 turned out at the

Adelaide Direct (Manny Edwards) after the 1917 Cup.

opening night at Lord’s Raceway, Junorton, on November 17, 1954.

The Bendigo Harness Racing Club memorabilia and history sub-committee has been developing its own historical collection to which the 1917 New Zealand Cup will now assume its rightful place.

The cup has been kept for the past 100 years by the descendents of Sam Lewis, and has for several years languished in a cupboard at Mr Lewis’ granddaughter, Sue Mayne’s home in Hobart. On delivering the cup to the BHRC Sue said that “It (the cup) was my grandfather’s and my mum was the last of five girls in the family, so that is how it came to be with me. Mum’s wish was that it would be delivered back to the racing track. It’s where it belongs.”

BHRC Committee member Noel Ridge agreed ‘Adelaide Direct was the first significant horse from the Bendigo district. (The Cup) is local history and a significant part of Bendigo’s history, it’s an honour to have it as part of our memorabilia collection’.

The sterling silver cup was made in 1916 by London silversmiths Charles Boynton and Sons. Engraved into the bowl are the words: New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club – Presented by Mr Chas. Louisson – President to M. Edwards – Owner of ‘Adelaide Direct’ – Time 4min 27 4/5 sec. – Winner of NZ Cup Race November 1917.

To give some idea of the monetary value of this cup to BHRC, a similar cup, the Invercargill Perpetual Trophy, has recently been valued at NZ$100,000.

105

Paige Stephenson, Maddy Townsend, Bridget Pearson, Molly Mathisen

Nick Howe, Sarah Nash

Emily Cossar, Olivia McCartney, Laura Valentine, Kayley Steward, Taylor Mann, Zara White

Caitlyn O’Hara, Tara Everist, Suzie Cockroft

2017 SOUTH BENDIGO FNC BALL The club’s annual gala ball was held at The All Seasons Conservatory.

The black-tie function was an outstanding success with over 140 guests in attendance.

Following an excellent day against Kangaroo Flat, both on field and court, the players joined members and supporters evening. 3:03 PM Page 1 Bendigo on my mind for ad.unforgettable Hocking 17/05/2017

Only ten years in the making.

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200 pages, A5 paperback, featuring author and illustrator Geoff Hocking’s comical drawings, historic photographs and documents, some colour, mostly black and white — and his mother’s recipe for her traditional Cornish Pasties.

Ten years of reminiscences of life in Bendigo, as it once was and as it sometimes is today.

RRP $25 + $5 postage (boutique edition 100 copies printed) available here and there or from the author casbooks@bigpond.com

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108

sharpshooter in demand

When you are Bendigo netball’s rising star and everyone wants a share of your goal-scoring talent, the biggest game-day challenges can take place well away from the court …

By Raelee Tuckerman Ruby Barkmeyer reels off her long list of netball teams like a seasoned veteran looking back on a career, not a 16-year-old recounting the past 12 months.

There’s Kangaroo Flat’s A-grade team in the Bendigo Football Netball League, her Geelong Grammar school side, and the Geelong Cougars 19-under squad that contests the elite Victorian Netball League.

All three competitions run concurrently.

Add to that the BFNL open-age representative squad, North Central region’s 17-under team, Victoria’s 15-under side and an All-Australian schoolgirls group that toured Fiji in May. “I have to think twice to remember which uniform to put on before I leave for a match,” jokes goaler Ruby, who travels hundreds of kilometres a week to get to games and relies on family and team officials for transport because she’s not old enough to hold a driver’s licence.

“Sometimes I head straight from school training to VNL training and games and I have to go with my coach because Mum and Dad are not in Geelong to take me.

“On Saturdays, Mum and Dad come down to watch me play for Grammar in the morning, bring me home to Bendigo in time for Kangaroo Flat’s match at 3.20pm, then drive me back to school on Sunday nights.”

The year 11 student has boarded at Geelong for almost two years, after being scouted by the school’s netball coach Di Honey, who is also an assistant at national team Melbourne Vixens.

“Ruby played in a Victorian under-12 side with Di’s younger daughter and she has followed her progress ever since,” mum Melissa Barkmeyer explains. “She

approached us when Ruby was in Year 9 at Crusoe College, planted the seed and gave us six months to think about it.

“I didn’t want her to go at all at first. Then I was happy for her, but the day we dropped her off was awful and I still hate it when she goes back on Sundays. We all miss her but she’s getting amazing netball and educational opportunities.”

Ruby recently made her international debut in Fiji, representing Australia at a tournament featuring schoolgirl sides from Pacific islands, New Zealand and South Africa.

They encountered monsoonal rains, a leaky stadium roof where holes were plugged with duct tape and toilet paper, birds nesting in the rafters and a last-minute rush to have the courts ready in time for the first whistle.

“It really made me realise how lucky we are in Australia and appreciate the facilities here,” says Ruby, who helped propel her under-16 side to finish runners-up to the Kiwis.

The All-Australian touring team was selected at last year’s national championships to give the best young up-and-comers a taste of life as elite netballers.

“We were in Fiji for 10 days but we never got to the beach — it was all netball and then back to the motel, though we did run a netball clinic at a school in Suva, which was fun. The kids treated us like celebrities and wanted our autographs.

“The tournament was a great experience.

We hadn’t played as a team before and had three days to train, learn our structures and how each other combined.

“As soon as we stepped on the court against

New Zealand for the first time, you could feel that great rivalry between us. They were a much older team and played harder and more physical, but we learnt a lot from it.”

Watching Ruby maintain her composure, outmanoeuvre opponents and sink shots from all over the goal circle, it is hard to believe she is still in her mid-teens.

“From a young age, she’s just been very laid back,” says Melissa. “She’s very grounded and mature beyond her years. Sometimes I need to remind myself she’s only 16, still a kid.”

This attitude helped Ruby win an A-grade premiership and grand final MVP medallion with Kangaroo Flat last season, also earning the honour of being named the league’s rising star.

This year, she was part of the BFNL open squad that took out Netball Victoria’s association championship against some of the best club players from across the state.

With the 2017 local competition coming to a close, there’s little rest ahead for Ruby. She will contest the state championships with North Central’s regional squad in October, and trial for the Victorian 17-under state team over coming months.

Long term, she aims to play in Australia’s national league, following in the footsteps of former Bendigo stars Caitlyn Thwaites, Chloe Watson, Bec Bulley and Sharelle McMahon.

Performance often comes with the pressure of expectation, but Ruby is determined to stay focused on her goals and not get distracted by outside attention.

“I try not to think about it,” she says of the hype, “I just go out there and play my own game.”

109

weight expectations

Ten months after he took up powerlifting Kevin Gray claimed a world record. Now the competition at home is hotting up as his fiancée Ashleigh Hutchins raises the bar.

By Sarah Harris Kevin Gray’s powerlifting achievements are so remarkable that coach and trainer Dean Mawby struggles to find an analogy a lay person might understand.

“Kevin is quite exceptionally gifted in the squat,” Dean says. “To break a world record you might expect to be working for 10 years; to do it in less than 12 months like he did is unheard of. To try and put it in some sort of context, it would be like pulling a kid out of the under 16s and putting him in the AFL where he wins the Brownlow after playing only half a season.”

Dean who, as a teen competitor, set a national squat record which was unbeaten for more than 20 years, believes Kevin has it in him to lift his way to a world record that will stand for decades.

Competing at the Pacific Invitational in May this year Kevin exceeded the under 59kg weight class record held by legendary Russian powerlifter Sergey Fedosienko by 12.5kg, hoisting a staggering 240kg.

The extraordinary lift by a complete unknown earned him a fan following

110

overnight, but Dean has always been confident of Kevin’s ability.

The long-time Bendigo chiropractor spotted Kevin’s potential after seeing him in his first novice competition and invited the 32-year-old to come along to his Real Strength Studio where, after a few pointers, he added 20kg in one night.

“He scouted me basically,” Kevin laughs. “He said, you have done a triple bodyweight squat. I had never thought about it that way. I didn’t know it was anything special.”

Now he is demonstrably a world-class athlete, but growing up in New Zealand Kevin felt somewhat precluded from sport because of his stature. “Later I got into cycling with a bunch of friends and got pretty serious with that and did a few 160km and 100km races in New Zealand.

Then I got into trail running and did four half marathons consecutively.

“For me is is a lot about mental toughness. There is a drive to show people that it can be done. I like to prove that if there is some sort of issue, it can be overcome somehow. There were definitely a few sports I

111

wished I could do when I was younger, but this sport ... this sport found me and my physique is actually an advantage, at least in the squats, although not in the dead lift.”

Like the best stories it all started with love. If Kevin had not met Bendigo girl Ashleigh Hutchins and followed his heart to Australia he might never have found his sporting calling.

The two started chatting online after Ashleigh returned from the 6th World Dwarf Games in the United States where she won nine medals (five gold, two silver and two bronze) competing in athletics, swimming, soccer and floor-hockey.

“Kevin was interested in what the Games were like and so we got talking and after a while he came over to meet me,” Ashleigh, a childcare worker, reveals. Their relationship progressed and Kevin decided to move to Bendigo where he quickly gained work making dental tools for the equine industry. For a while the pair discussed both competing in the 2017 Dwarf Games (held in Canada in August) but ultimately decided against it.

“I didn’t really like the idea of the Dwarf Games in the end,” Kevin admits. “It comes across like you are special and I didn’t like that feeling.”

Instead Kevin found a sport where he could compete against everyone and it was a matter of weeks before Ashleigh, 23, joined him at Real Strength. In August she competed in the Junior Nationals in Melbourne lifting a personal best of 130kg in squat and 115kg in the dead lift to place third overall.

Now it’s game on in their household to see who can achieve the most in the respective classes, with the couple travelling from Bendigo to Castlemaine three nights a week to train. “We are both very competitive,” Kevin laughs. “Hopefully one day we will have children and we can show them it doesn’t matter what, where there’s a will you can mix it with the best.”

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