ROYALAUTO FEBRUARY 2009
The real
Australia See our star landscape for yourself
PEOPLE Jeff Kennett, the Lord Mayor & our Best voice DISCOVER Gourmet Gippsland, the Murray & Route 66 CARS Honda Jazz, Lexus IS F plus Get fuel savvy
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A luxurious retirement is in your reach. Take hold of it now. Contemporary retirement living at its stylish best • Designed by leading architects, this award winning Melbourne property enjoys premium views over the city and Toorak • Luxury appointed one, two and three-bedroom apartments with large terraces • Secure undercover parking, intercom and monitor security • 24-hour emergency call system in every residence • Private resident access to Toorak Place retail shopping • Easy access to public transport on Toorak Road One-bedroom from $395,000 Two-bedroom from $815,000 Three-bedroom at $1,395,000 * Prices correct at 29/09/08
Inspection times: Mon - Fri 2pm - 5pm or by appointment, call 132 836 or 0412 299 847 28 - 30 Jackson St, Toorak, Melbourne, www.toorakplace.com.au ARH0002513
february 09
contents > 14 people Industrial designer Peter Wilson, Jeff Kennett, tenor Roy Best ... and more
> 27 discover East Kimberley reality check, the tastes of Gippsland, surprising Oklahoma ... and more
> 53 in motion Renault Laguna, Honda Jazz GLI, Lexus IS F ... and more
> 70 go guide A new series on Victoria’s parks ... and more
> 82 m-zone Member offers and news
58
‘Jazz has a roomy and invitingly orderly appeal.’
> Cover: Lake Argyle, East Kimberley. Photo: Tourism W.A.
MEMBERLINE
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RACV COMMUNITY FOUNDATION 9790 2919 E-mail: care@racv.com.au Website: racv.com.au RACV OFFICES Registered Office Level 7, 485 Bourke St, Melbourne 3000 RACV Service Headquarters 550 Princes Hwy, Noble Park North 3174 RACV INQUIRIES 9790 2211
ROYALAUTO
OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE ROYAL AUTOMOBILE CLUB OF VICTORIA. VOL. 77 No. 1, FEBRUARY 2009
PUBLISHER/MANAGING EDITOR Neil Spark EDITOR Jeremy Bourke ART DIRECTOR Lisa Luscombe ADVERTISING MANAGER Robert McWaters DEPUTY EDITOR Kirstie Reeve OFFICE MANAGER Claire Dickinson ADVERTISING CO-ORDINATOR Sue O’Neill CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING Maree Trimby DISPLAY ADVERTISING Robert McWaters (Mgr) (03) 9790 2759 MELBOURNE (03) 9696 9960 SYDNEY (02) 9977 0302 BRISBANE (07) 3391 6633 ADELAIDE (08) 8379 9522 PERTH (08) 9429 3075 CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING Phone (03) 9790 2761 Fax (03) 9790 2636 ROYALAUTO DELIVERY
> Editor’s note
See list on page 86
RoyalAuto is a forward-looking publication. We want to give you places you can go, cars you can buy, events you can take part in, offers and discounts you can get from RACV. On occasions, however, we look back. Back to August 2007, for instance, to an article about travel oddities. It was illustrated with a cartoon by George Haddon of tourists looking into the window of a lunch shop in France which, oddly enough, was closed for lunch. The cartoon saw George voted Best Humourous Illustrator at the Stanleys – the Australian Cartoonists’ Association annual awards. It’s George’s fifth Stanley in a distinguished career. In another moment of reflection, we omitted to acknowledge the City Museum for its help in setting up the photo of Committee for Melbourne CEO Sally Capp in the December/January edition, particularly its striking red sign. The Museum, in Spring St, presents the story of Melbourne through a diverse range of exhibitions. Find out more at www.citymuseummelbourne.org. And if you, the reader, ever want to look again, you can find out more about RoyalAuto online. We’re starting with selected features from the new edition, and in the first week of each edition’s publication month the full magazine will be on the site in PDF format. There’s more to come on the site and we’ll keep you informed. RoyalAuto’s website is Jeremy Bourke www.racv.com.au/royalauto. GEORGE HADDON
RACV SHOPS
I th I
ht it must have been obvious
f w
ilk in California and was given
>inside story ...
13 RACV (13 7228)
ROYALAUTO GENERAL INQUIRIES Phone (03) 9790 2821 Fax (03) 9790 2628 E-mail royalauto@racv.com.au EDITORIAL & ADVERTISING OFFICE 550 Princes Hwy, Noble Park North, VIC 3174 COLOUR REPRODUCTION PMP Digital PRINTER Hannanprint Victoria MAILHOUSE D&D Mailing Services DISTRIBUTION Australia Post CIRCULATION 1,424,722 (C.A.B.)
‘I get up in the morning and it’s like the 1812 Overture going off in my head. I’m alive.’ – Jeff Kennett, p16
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52% – one in two Australian homes now have broadband internet, a 22% jump in the 12 months to June 2008. Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics
curiously victorian
Words: Jenny Brown Picture: Philip Castle
SIMON SCHLUTER / FAIRFAX PHOTOS
the cottage Captain Cook never set foot in Victoria, even though he is credited with sighting the far east coast in 1770 as the first part of the unknown southern continent that he could reliably chart. And while it’s curious that we have Cook’s Cottage in the Fitzroy Gardens in Melbourne, there is no reliable way of telling if Cook set foot in that, either. We do know that the diminutive home was built by his parents in Great Ayton, Yorkshire. But that was in 1755, the year Cook joined the Royal Navy, and he was to spend most of his life from then on at sea. In 1933, when it came up for sale, it was won for Victoria and transported brick by brick to become a centenary gift to the Victorian people, and one of our favourite postcard attractions. Whether it ever felt Cook’s footprint probably doesn’t matter to the 120,000 yearly visitors who pay homage to one of the world’s greatest and bravest explorers.
Q&A > it’s all about me: Robert Doyle ME L BO U RN E ’S N E W LO RD MAY O R
What’s one thing most people would be surprised to know about you? I haven’t lived at home since I was 10. What’s the smartest thing you’ve been told? You don’t have to be a genius. You can hire geniuses, but you have to have judgment. How would someone you love describe you? Infuriating. Have you ever been mistaken for someone else? No, but I was once asked ‘Didn’t you used to be somebody?’ What’s the oldest item in your wardrobe that you still wear? I’ve got a pair of R.M. Williams elastic-sided boots that I’ve had for 25 years. What do you look or feel really good in? Not Speedos. Blue suit, white shirt, striped tie. What’s one simple thing you’re really good at? Ironing shirts. What do you least like to do? Respond to questionnaires. What’s the one talent you wish you had? Either to play league football or a musical instrument. One thing you refuse to eat? Smoked eel. I’m glad I ... have been to a Geelong premiership. What was your best break in life? Preselection for the state seat of Malvern in 1990. What was your happiest birthday party? When I got my first two-wheeler. Who’s your most memorable character? My grandfather, Robert Bennett. He played league football and district cricket and drove a steamroller. What will people remember you for? Enthusiasm. What do you want to be remembered for? Leaving the city a better place than I found it. Interview: Allison Harding
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from the president
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Government’s commitment to mplementation of the the first section of the tunnel State Government’s is welcomed but it is Victorian Transport Plan fundamental that the whole will deliver real project to Caulfield be improvements to both delivered as one continuous roads and public transport project. across Victoria. The plan The $38 billion plan, as includes most of the public announced, will provide a transport and roads projects significant boost to Victoria’s which RACV had proposed in its economy and create jobs in a submissions to the review deteriorating economic carried out for Melbourne’s eastenvironment. The State west corridor by Sir Rod Government has indicated Eddington and also to the State that the budget for this plan Government for the broader will be a combination of state Victorian Transport Plan. RACV and federal funding over a 12is pleased that its “number one” year delivery period and project – the missing link from We urge the beyond. RACV believes this the Metropolitan Ring Road to State timeframe is too long and the the Eastern Fwy/ EastLink – is Government to Government needs to part of the plan. implement alternative delivery There are, however, a number of accelerate key and risk allocation methods shortcomings with the plan: projects in the that can bring forward the A lack of commitment to the Victorian construction of many projects east-west road tunnel from the in the plan. Eastern Fwy to the Tullamarine Transport Plan While in the current economic Fwy/CityLink and the Western as a matter of circumstances private sector Ring Road as recommended in urgency bids for public-private the Eddington Report. partnerships could be difficult, A lack of commitment to the it is reasonable to expect this entire east-west rail tunnel from will change as the economy Footscray to Caulfield, which improves. Irrespective, the Government needs to was also recommended in the Eddington Report. embrace a number of alternatives for public-private An overly long timeframe for delivery of the key partnerships including ‘shadow’ tolls, land value projects forming part of the plan (to 2017 and capture and even direct tolling where the project beyond). would not otherwise be delivered. Adopting one or A failure to plan for the long-term future (more more of these methods should achieve accelerated than 12 years) for Melbourne’s transport network. timeframes for critical projects and resultant The east-west road tunnel, including an extension substantial benefits for the community. to the Western Ring Road, would give an It is also somewhat disappointing that the plan alternative to the West Gate-Monash corridor. This does not provide for a longer-term vision for existing route is Melbourne’s only major east-west Victoria’s transport system. The city’s growth is road link and is critical to the flow of freight and such that planning for Melbourne 30-40 years out is business and private vehicles. In recent times essential. There is a need now to plan rail and major incidents along this corridor have effectively road routes and growth centres to address some shut down Melbourne for hours, creating chaos for of the inherent problems in our transport network business and the community. The State and reserve land as appropriate for these Government is repeating the mistakes of the past purposes. by planning to build an expensive Maribyrnong Despite the deficiencies mentioned above, there is tunnel which is only a stop-gap approach for what no doubt the Government’s plan is a vital step in should be an additional continuous east-west link. keeping Melbourne moving, and we urge the Such a short-sighted approach will leave residents Government to accelerate key projects and and commuters with the terrible impacts of initiatives as a matter of urgency and to reassess ‘freeways’ with traffic lights and not solve the basic the matters raised above. RACV will continue to problem. work with the State Government in order to achieve The east-west rail tunnel recommended in the an improved transport system which will benefit our Eddington Report is required to provide new members and the wider community. stations at points of high demand and greater capacity for the Melbourne rail network. The John Isaac, President and Chairman of the Board
8 FEBRUARY 2009 ROYALAUTO
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PATRON > Professor David de Kretser, AC, Governor of Victoria BOARD OF DIRECTORS > President and Chairman
John N Isaac > Deputy Chairman
Peter C Chandler AM KSJ > Managing Director & CEO
Colin Jordan > Other directors
Graeme J Chipp Alexander Downie Netta M Griffin Clive K Hall* Bruce Hartnett Dr Michael W Heffernan Ross M Herron Merran H Kelsall John H M Marcard Paula Piccinini John Rawlins Suzanna Sheed Kevin W White * Past President and Chairman
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Australia’s Best Cars
Hyundai i30 - Best mid-sized Car under $28,000
Hyundai iMax - Best People Mover
Of all the cars on Australian roads, motoring experts chose Hyundai i30 & iMax as the class winners in Australia’s Best Car Awards. To find out why they caught the judges’ “i”, call 1800 186 306 to locate your nearest dealer and see for yourself today.
visit www.hyundai.com.au or www.australiasbestcars.com.au HMCA3220/RACV
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RACV introduces Emergency Home Assist. It’s like Emergency Roadside Assistance for your home.
INTRODUCING RACV EMERGENCY HOME ASSIST.
If your emergency requires a
It’s like Emergency Roadside
you don’t need to worry about a thing.
combination of tradespeople, we’ll automatically organise them as well –
Assistance for your home.
ONE ANNUAL FEE WITH NO EXTRA COSTS. An annual fee gives you 8 call outs per year – there is nothing more to pay.
For over 80 years Victorian motorists
No weekend or after hour rates.
have relied on RACV to give them peace
No hidden fees. Even the cost of all
of mind.
labour and materials used during the
The reassurance that, wherever you may be and whatever time of day or
service call out is included in your
night, the RACV will be there to help
annual fee.
you get back on the road or make it
EVEN BETTER VALUE WITH YEARS OF MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS.
home safely. Now, that same peace of mind is available for home owners. With our unique, new fast response service to help you cope with home
If you already belong to the RACV, your
emergencies.
Years of Membership Benefits discount applies. That’s a saving of up to 20% off
FAST EMERGENCY HELP 24/7. If you’re unfortunate enough to have a
the annual fee of $140.
home emergency, help is just a phone
FIX OR MAKE SAFE.
PEACE OF MIND.
call away, at any time of day or night, 7
We’ll either fix the problem on the spot
RACV Emergency Home Assist gives
days a week. The service is available in
or make temporary repairs to make
most areas of metropolitan Melbourne.
sure that your home is safe and secure, reducing the risk of further damage.
you peace of mind every day of the year for one annual fee. That’s why we say it’s like RACV
ONE CALL AND WE’LL TAKE CARE OF EVERYTHING.
If your emergency requires additional
As soon as you call, we’ll arrange to
you wish, we will happily arrange for
For further information call our
have one of our skilled tradespeople on
a qualified tradesperson to quote on
Member Line on 13 RACV (13 7228),
your doorstep as soon as possible.
doing the work for you.
visit racv.com.au or an RACV shop.
repairs, we’ll give you expert advice
Roadside Assistance, for your home.
on what should be done next and if
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MANY EMERGENCIES COVERED. Damage to the roof, gutter or downpipes. Causing water to leak internally through the ceiling or walls.
Broken or damaged heating/cooling system. As a result of gas or electrical problems, faulty components or the inability to reignite the pilot light.
A blocked toilet, pipe or drain. Preventing smooth water flow, causing overflow or backup.
A blackout or power failure in the house. When the supply of power to all or part of the house has been disrupted. (Excludes area-wide blackouts).
A burst tap or showerhead. The inability to control water flow as the result of a burst tap or showerhead causing significant water wastage, home or property damage. Burst pipe. Physical breakage of a pipe or joint, causing significant water wastage, home or property damage.
Broken door or window. Where home safety or security is threatened as a result of door or window damage, including broken glass, damaged locks, jammed doors or windows. A gas leak. Internal or external gas leaks as a result of damaged gas appliances or leaking gas pipe lines.
RAC0260
Broken or burst hot water system. Broken or damaged system as the result of a burst unit, gas or electrical problems, faulty components, or even just the inability to reignite the pilot light.
Being locked out of the house. Unable to gain access into your home.
Emergency Home Assist. It’s like roadside assistance for your home.
Introducing RACV Emergency Home Assist, a unique fast response service to help you with home emergencies. • One annual fee • 8 emergency call outs a year • 24/7, 365 days a year • No after hours or weekend rates • Includes the cost of labour and materials used during the service call • Cover for a variety of home emergencies • One call and we’ll take care of everything.
For more information call 13 RACV, visit racv.com.au or an RACV shop.
feedback > LAW CHANGE A LEMON
> WORKING ON IT
> DIRECTION APPROACH
Last year RACV lodged a submission in support of Labor’s proposed ‘lemon’ laws, and that submission was, for some months, accessible on the Consumer Affairs Victoria website. This was commendable, but now Mr Brumby has quietly abandoned the proposal, using recent local and world events as a distraction and hoping we would not notice. Labor gave us an ironclad guarantee that lemon laws would be introduced if it won the 2006 election. RACV members should be made aware that Mr Brumby has dishonoured this commitment and Labor has reneged on its promise of proper consumer protection for car buyers. Helen Moss, Croydon
I refer to Dean Barton-Ancliffe’s letter (RA, Dec/Jan). The Monash-CityLink-West Gate upgrade is a complex project being undertaken over 75km of operating freeway. Programming the works to cause as little disruption to traffic as possible, while the freeway continues to carry more than 160,000 vehicles per day, has been one of the major challenges. While roadworks to add the lane on some short sections of the Monash Fwy appear almost complete, the application of the final surfacing and linemarking, the installation of regulatory and direction signage, and the installation of freeway data stations to monitor and control flows, are all still to be completed before the road can be opened safely in its final form. VicRoads understands the frustration of drivers as construction works continue and appreciates the patience shown to date. Motorists can be assured that VicRoads is constantly monitoring progress and will open sections of road as soon as we can safely do so. John Cunningham, Monash-CityLink-West Gate upgrade project director, VicRoads
As indicators are used to make other drivers aware of your intentions, I consider that they should be used when exiting roundabouts.
> GET IT RIGHT When are the cars of Australia – and that also means the European cars – all going to have their indicator stick on the right side of steering wheel? It would be a great help especially if you have the option of driving a Toyota (right hand), or Vito and Renault (left hand). You may as well have the driver sitting on the left-hand side instead of the right-hand side, too. Helen Woodhouse-Herrick, North Balwyn
GO WILD IN STYLE WITH AUSTRALIA’S MOST SUCCESSFUL ADVENTURERS!
John Butler, Bendigo
> ON A HIGH I enjoyed the article Summer Heights Highs by Melanie Ball (RA, Sept). Your description of such a beautiful place sent me reeling back to my days in the Yarra Valley, riding one of my horses into the mountains. Through your story I could feel the wind in my face, smell the magnificence of eucalyptus and let my eyes and ears drink in endlessly the beauty and sounds of the bush. Thank you again for taking me back to the yearning places of my heart. Keep up the good work. I feel inspired to keep going and never give in. Deborah Smith, Goroke
North Star Cruises Australia offers adventure-cruises all around the Australian coastline and, in the stunning waters of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Sea. Our guests consistently respond with “that’s the best holiday I have ever had!” All cruises are activity based and feature the True North’s unequalled style, the finest in fine dining and an Australian crew. Multiple expedition boats (not zodiacs) encounter wilderness in small groups and to add yet another dimension to adventure, the True North sails with her very own air-conditioned helicopter!
North Star Cruises Australia The Kimberley Wilderness Season commences in March - a wild and beautiful panorama of rugged mountains, spectacular gorges and majestic waterfalls. Unexplained rock-art, extraordinary wildlife and monster barramundi!
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> COMPULSORY HEADACHE
> CONGESTION CONTENTION
> WRONG WAY
Regarding a proposal for compulsory roadworthy checks (J. Michael, RA, Oct), the majority will be again penalised by increased costs while the problem will still exist with the minority who don’t care or want to flaunt the laws. Some people will find it easy to get a backyard mechanic or a friend to provide the relevant paperwork. Isn’t it much easier just to target those breaking the law? If you and I can see them, I’m sure the authorities can, too. John Phillips, Burwood East
While it is normal for an organisation such as RACV to promote the building of new roads, freeways and tunnels, research should be undertaken to justify these future projects. RACV contends that building these roads will reduce congestion in the metropolitan area – surely RACV should point to cities where this idea has been successful. I challenge RACV to name any city in any country of the world where the building of roads has had a beneficial effect on congestion. The very fact we have been building freeways and widening major roads over the past four decades has led to congestion – the only way to overcome our problem is to undertake a massive investment in public transport immediately, and freeze all road projects. Rod Oaten, Carlton North
The State Government has announced use of emergency lanes on the West Gate Fwy during peak travel times to relieve the congestion. Quite simply, this is wrong, dumb, and dangerous. Having next to no emergency lanes available will slow traffic down considerably when a breakdown or accident occurs. With the incline on the bridge remaining as the bottleneck, it will create five lanes of frustrated motorists instead of four. The solution must be to limit trucks to left, or right, lanes. Trucks are the cause of the slow incline rate on the bridge because they are allowed to travel in all four lanes. Restricting them to two lanes means other traffic can proceed at a better pace. This system should at least be trialled in the current environment. Dean Betts, Hamlyn Heights
> YAWNING CONTAGIOUS? Isn’t it true that road signs are intended to make you want what you see? Think about the big yellow M – McDonald’s – or the picture of the Colonel – KFC. Aren’t they meant to make you think about wanting to eat? So how come we have roadside signs that suggest you are tired, such as ‘Yawning?’ and ‘Feeling tired?’ Isn’t it only natural that when you see these signs you start feeling sleepy? So you decide you would like to have a rest. Where do you go? If these signs were near a ‘P’ spot it would make sense, but they rarely are. Heather Griffiths, Upper Ferntree Gully
Letters cannot be considered for publication unless they have the writer’s full postal address. This applies whether they are submitted by e-mail, post or fax. Letters may be edited for clarity and length. We are unable to reply to letter writers because of the quantity of letters received. Send your letters to the editor: > E-MAIL royalauto@racv.com.au. > POST 550 Princes Hwy, Noble Park North 3174. > FAX 9790 2636.
escape for the weekend and rent one day free
Rent a Hertz car for the weekend and, as an RACV member, you’ll receive one day’s rental free. Hurry, this offer is available between 5 Jan – 31 Mar. Go to racv.com.au/travel, call 13 13 29 or visit your nearest RACV shop. And remember, the longer you’ve been an RACV Member, the more you save with Hertz. Offer available for 3-4 day rentals on selected vehicle groups at participating Australian locations. Not available for use with any other offer or promotion. Vehicle must be collected and returned between midday Thurs and midnight Mon subject to location operating hours. PC 126383 must be quoted to receive this offer. Hertz standard terms, conditions and credit qualifications apply.
I was born in Richmond but we moved to South Gippsland when I was in primary school. It was my parents’ dream to build a house. They’re both really creative – Dad painted and drew and Mum was a very crafty person – but neither had a building background. It took them around 10 years to build a beautiful double-storey mud brick house in the middle of the bush.
I think my fascination with building things stemmed from Lego. Whenever you wanted a new toy all you had to do was make one with Lego and it would be unique. In the country you also had space and room to create. Originally, I thought I wanted to be an architect but I felt more connection toward products. With architecture people are moving within a space. With products they are wearing them, touching them – it’s really intimate. There’s not a huge call for industrial designers in Melbourne. After completing honours at RMIT in industrial design I did some work with a company called Neo-Technics. They ended up offering me a job, but at the same time I’d received an offer to go to Bali and design the interior of a surf shop. It was only for a month but it was one of those life-turning moments where I thought: “Oh bugger it! I’m going to go and do something fun!” I came back and worked a lot in the fashion industry. I also started designing furniture with another designer, Gordon Johnstone. We ended up doing lots of commissions and exclusive pieces for private clients and high-end interiors. The problem was you begin making very similar things because the client wants something like the last piece. I needed a challenge. I landed a job with Mother’s Art, a design consultancy specialising in props and theming for film, TV, zoos and museums – the jobs other studios consider ‘too crazy’. It was a chance to collaborate with some great people and have bigger budgets – hundreds of thousands of dollars and, by the end of it, millions of dollars. We did stuff for the Commonwealth Games, Werribee Zoo, the Melbourne Aquarium, Sea World and the War Memorial. It was a whole other league. I’ve been working for the Melbourne Museum for a few months now in the redevelopment of the Science and Life Galleries. I’ve been dreaming of working here since I was a little kid and used to peek down into the basement windows of the old Russell St building. We’re starting off with dinosaurs – they’re huge! Lots of clients are hesitant about technology, but at the museum they’re looking to find the latest techniques to allow people to interact with objects or gather new and extra levels of information. They encourage visitor participation and active learning. You also get to work with historical experts, experienced curators and multimedia gurus. It’s very cool. I’ve worked on so many crazy and amazing projects – a 1960s submarine, the Yarra River fish for the Commonwealth Games, a lion enclosure, exploding muddy WWI trenches and the big metal Christmas tree in Melbourne. One of the projects that’s given me most satisfaction is a huge Christmas bauble for NZ. I helped in figuring out how to manufacture this giant metal 6m sphere that deconstructed to fit into a shipping container. We ended up doing it as this big geodesic dome, which is basically like little cell structures that lock together. It was always something I wanted to do since seeing Buckminster Fuller’s domes and I actually got to do it, with Matt Gardiner who did a brilliant job with the CAD (computer aided design). I’m not sure what’s next. It’s been a big year – a new job, a newly renovated house and a baby! My partner is creative but in the science field and we’d love to travel and work overseas – Asia is going to take off and Europe is obviously museum central. Who knows? With the new addition to our family we might not sleep for the next year! www.coroflot.com/peterwilson
Interview: Fiona Killackey
Photo: Kim Tonelli
peter wilson
Creating exploding WWI trenches, dinosaur wings and a 1960s submarine activity area is all in a day’s work for this industrial designer.
the next big thing
more
people
> 16 10 years on, Jeff Kennett talks about life after politics
> 20 Roy Best’s life is no soap opera
> 23 Lesley Kool digs deep into history
Sensitive new-age Jeff His premiership, his footy club’s premiership, even his Shed on the banks of the Yarra, have guaranteed Jeff Kennett’s place in history. But he’s not the sort to let history do the talking, so while he may have mellowed, he can still bellow if you push the right button. Interview: Lawrence Money Photos: Jaime Murcia
16 FEBRUARY 2009 ROYALAUTO
people
J
eff Kennett wants his ancestors’ table back. He has asked Channel Nine but no luck so far. It was his maternal great-grandfather Hugo Wertheim who erected the massive red-brick building that now houses Nine’s Melbourne studios in Richmond. Hugo had the biggest piano business in the Southern Hemisphere and Prime Minister Alfred Deakin laid the foundation stone in 1908. Great-grandpappy Hugo was a man with clout: he had phone number 12 in the first Melbourne directory. “They still have the piano factory’s boardroom table at Nine,” says Jeff. “I’ve put my name down for it.” In fact, Jeff Kennett’s clan has left a considerable footprint on the Yarra village over the years. His paternal grandfather Charles Kennett made ladders. Thousands and thousands of them. “He had the State Electricity Commission contract and they changed their ladders every nine months for safety reasons,” says Jeff. “He was a very wealthy man but he lost it all in the sharemarket crash.” The Wertheims hadn’t fared much better. During World War I, they were taken into custody because of their German origins. “They never recovered,” says Jeff. So what about Jeff Kennett himself? How has he recovered? It is almost 10 years since the unthinkable happened twice on the same weekend: the all-conquering Essendon Bombers were rolled by Carlton in a preliminary final and the barnstorming Premier Kennett lost to the quietly spoken Steve Bracks. By that stage, after seven years in office, Jeff was such a political colossus that he had landmarks named after him – Jeff’s Shed; songs written about him – Bloody Jeff; and his name had even entered the language – The Economist wrote about “being Jeffed”. He brooked no disagreement, suffered no fools gladly or otherwise, barbecued his critics and roasted the media; the ABC and The Age in particular. He was formidable, hyperenergetic, omnipotent. So now meet the 2009 model. New Jeff is a relaxed and amiable chap who delivers a warm handshake accompanied by a crinklyeyed smile. “White with one, thanks,” I say in response to his offer, marvelling at the concept of a premier, who went to war against The Age in the 1990s, now brewing a convivial morning cuppa for one of its columnists. But the truth is, Jeff always was an engaging sort of bloke. We had lunched once or twice before his reign began, and met occasionally on the opening-night circuit. For a while there he was my local MP; personable, intelligent and with an impish sense of humour. New Jeff is still all of that, but the emperor now seems to have donned more modest attire. New Jeff is determinedly self-effacing. “I don’t think so,” he says to the suggestion that history will record him as a giant of the Victorian scene. “No, you don’t worry too much about bloody history.” >
>
Photos taken at the Burnley Gardens.
“Well, the only thing I really regret in public life is when we decided to put in a ticketing system for train and trams. It was right to move to a more modern form but I don’t think the supplier ever got it right. I well remember saying, ‘Let’s stop all this, let’s go back to the Hong Kong system’, where you get on a tram or bus, you put a gold coin in a slot. Simple. The
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However, that is being rewritten as we speak. Broadcaster Neil Mitchell wrote recently that “Jeff Kennett had it right 14 years ago” when he swept his impatient broom through the state’s municipal councils. The Australian newspaper a week earlier opined that “NSW needs a Jeff Kennett” to cure its woes. Surely this must amuse the man himself – or perhaps annoy, seeing as he used to cop so much media flak. “I don’t reflect on that, to be honest, because I am so busy with what I am doing now,” says Jeff. “But I love the past, love everything I have done in my life, consider myself to be extremely fortunate. Good family upbringing, which is the kernel for peace of mind. Married to the same girl for 36 years, great children, now with two grandchildren, Sacha and Lily. And I enjoy relatively good health.” So there’s nothing he would change if he could go back to that premier’s desk again? Not the slightest whiff of ‘if only’? New Jeff stops, ruminates, confesses.
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new system came to Cabinet and my minister said it was ready to go, but I had a gut feeling it wasn’t. “However I had sent it back so many times I thought that, at some time, I have got to accept my minister’s advice and I did. “And the ticketing was a disaster. Machines were vandalised, the equipment
didn’t work, it was awful. It was the one time I compromised on my gut feeling.” Still, New Jeff seems laid-back about it now. Is there nothing that riles him, that brings out a touch of Old Jeff? Let’s push the media button. “You guys set yourself up to destroy, not to help. The media invariably doesn’t help the community, you don’t even report facts. You write opinion pieces. The day has long gone when a person writes a column on something serious that is either a factual report or an opinion piece. I say people are entitled to the facts and let them form an opinion. It didn’t happen in my day. “Don’t get me wrong – I enjoyed my relationship with the media – but I was too busy trying to drive change to continually give in to the pandering to journalists. They saw themselves as opposition.” All of which seems to be the underlying reason why late last year Jeff decided not to run for Melbourne lord mayor, a job he surely would have won in a canter.
‘You guys (the media) set yourself up to destroy, not to help. You write opinion pieces. I say people are entitled to the facts and let them form an opinion.’ “If I went back into that job, the fourth estate would be drawing comparisons: with the local Liberal leader, with the leaders in Canberra, asking how I’d get on with Brumby. The only thing the lord mayor can do is be an advocate because I took away half his powers and my successors took away the other half. And the only decision the council makes now is whether to hold Moomba every year.”
Okay, back to New Jeff. He is revelling in community service with Beyond Blue, the organisation championing mental health. It is his great passion but he will step down next year because 10 years is enough. He will step down also as president of the Hawks in 2011 for the same reason. Now he’s planning the decade to follow. “You will see me take on one more area of community service. I will also get into manufacturing in some way. I like to see the widgets, and I want to establish my big Claude Monet garden – 15ha somewhere on the Mornington Peninsula. That is my dream. Then I will plan for the 10 years after that. “You have to be excited about the future. There’s so much to do and so little time. Most people take life for granted. I get up in the morning and it is like the 1812 Overture going off in my head. I’m alive!” Lawrence Money is a Diary columnist for The Age and author of the blog Modern Times
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people
Best of both worlds For two decades Roy Best turned his back on his musical ability. Now the mechanic-turned-carpenterturned-tenor is being hailed as one of the most exciting new talents in Australian opera and has released his first solo CD. Interview: Sheriden Rhodes.
I
t comes as a bit of a shock to some. On more than one occasion Roy Best, one of three winners from ABC’s Operatunity Oz, has stumbled upon someone in need of mechanical assistance after they’ve watched him perform on stage. Rolling up his shirtsleeves, he can’t help but jump in and get them going. “People are quite surprised. They don’t realise that an opera singer can also do things with his hands,” Roy says with a laugh. That’s the kind of guy he is. As Martin Busacott, manager of ABC Classics, puts it: “Not only can he fix the car when it breaks down enroute to rehearsal but Roy is also accommodating, putting up with seven-hour photo shoots in the rain without complaint.” Roy being anything but a prima donna is possibly because success has come late in life. Bullied into silence for 20 years, he is now hailed as the most exciting prospect in Australian opera. And to think it nearly didn’t happen. Despite his obvious talent and his family’s musical background – 20 FEBRUARY 2009 ROYALAUTO
his grandmother was a member of Dame Nellie Melba’s opera company, his grandfather was associated with the predecessor of the Melbourne Theatre Company and his mother played piano – Roy suffered from what he describes as the “age-old Aussie story”. In his formative years, Roy enjoyed singing as a boy soprano in the Metropolitan Boys Choir. But by his early teens his singing had made him a target for bullies at high school, where most of the boys played cricket and AFL. To escape the taunts, he pretended his voice had broken and withdrew from singing altogether. “The sad thing is, instead of celebrating the joy of having the gift of being able to sing, it was ripped out of me in a most brutal way and thrown back at me like there was something wrong with me. It was a huge loss. For a big part of my life this part of who I am was missing.” Leaving music behind, Roy studied industrial design. He worked in the family furniture business, completed an apprenticeship as a mechanic, worked in the building trade and restored and raced his-
Photo: JAIME MURCIA
Roy still likes to get his hands dirty … he’s just finished helping his father John restore this tractor.
toric racing cars with his dad, John. He did his mechanical apprenticeship in Hawthorn, where the Holden Dealer Team started with Harry Firth. He received an apprentice of the year award and experienced the secretive business of the dealership team with Peter Brock. “It was great learning how to build race engines, but it was tough going working for Ian, who lived and breathed motor sports,” Roy says. “I had dirt under my fingernails and my hands looked like tree stumps from a mix of chemicals and my work as a carpenter.” But, as the saying goes, once a singer always a singer. “I’d sing at work, in the shower – anywhere,” Roy explains. Resting his voice for such a long period allowed it to slowly mature, free of the stresses of rigorous training or performances. It was while Roy was working as a carpenter that a colleague who was into classical music commented that he could really sing and should do something about it. “I didn’t seriously entertain the idea that I could make a living from being a singer. Having a wellmeaning friend or two tell you’ve got a great voice is quite different from professionals acknowledging that it is a good voice,” Roy says. It was a blind date, however, that didn’t work out romantically, that eventually got Roy interested in singing again because his date was a member of the Choral Institute Melbourne (CHIME). When Roy first sang with CHIME he remembers everyone and everything going completely quiet. “I realised then I was one of those rare beasts called a tenor.” Roy started having singing lessons and friends encouraged him to apply for Operatunity Oz, an Australia-wide search for new opera talent that was shown on ABC-TV
in 2006. Completely unconvinced of his talent, Roy submitted an 11th-hour entry – ending up as one of three winners from thousands of singers who applied for the show. His singing career has since taken off – appearing with the likes of
‘Instead of celebrating the joy of having the gift of being able to sing, it was ripped out of me in a most brutal way.’ the Australian Pops Orchestra and Australian Musical Events alongside such artists as Yvonne Kenny, James Morrison and Marina Prior. Roy has added several leading tenor roles to his operatic repertoire, including the demanding Turiddu in Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana, a role which earned him a Green Room Award nomination; Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Boheme, and most recently the role of Nemorino in Victorian Opera’s production of The Elixir of Love. He has also released his first solo CD, Heart’s Delight, with ABC Classics and is booked out a year in advance with orchestras, opera companies and musical productions clamouring to work with him. Roy’s days as a singing mechanic turned carpenter are behind him forever. “Once you get past the terror of performing on stage, it’s such a buzz,” he says. “The wonderful thing about opera is that it covers everything that life offers but in a terribly compact way. I still can’t believe I get to do this for a living or that my hands are now so soft and smooth.” Sheriden Rhodes is a Melbourne writer ROYALAUTO FEBRUARY 2009 21
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people
Time and tide Lesley Kool believes there are things far better than pirates’ treasure buried in the windswept beaches of South Gippsland. Story and photos: Kirstie Reeve
L
esley Kool is very passionate about the past. The Dinosaur Dreaming co-ordinator and field leader speaks of her work on the project, an annual dig in its 16th year, much as a gold miner would: of prospecting, and discovering that one piece of palaeontological gold that makes it all worthwhile. Lesley and her husband Gerry were part of a group that found a site rich in fossils at Flat Rocks near Inverloch in 1991, and they regularly ‘prospect’ the coast along this stretch of South Gippsland, searching the ever-changing landscape for signs of life that existed 115 million years ago. The site was discovered the day after a storm. The sand had been washed away, exposing a 4m-wide platform with about 20 bones visible. “We’d never found anything like it before, not in Victoria,” Lesley says. “The fossil layer is still at rich today as in 1991. Nowhere else in Australia has anyone been digging in the same place for that long.” The site is so productive that this month’s dig has been reduced from six to four weeks due to the backlog of material collected over 15 years – volunteers collect an average 1000 bones each summer – that awaits preparation. Lesley explains the rock formations as we walk along the sand towards the dig site, pointing out the fossil layer in the unstable cliff face, a conglomeration of grey sand with streaks of vegetation pressed by time into black coal, which looks much like chocolate ripple ice
cream topped by a hefty serving of sandstone. “We’re here,” Lesley declares, laughing at my puzzled expression as I look for any sign of the dig. “You’re standing on it.” Below my feet and about 1.5m of sand is one of the most significant dinosaur fossil sites in the world. Every summer since 1994, a group of volunteers has carefully probed, carved and cracked their way through a 5m by 2.5m rectangle of coastline, breaking the rocks down to the size of sugar cubes. The dig is ruled by the tide. The volunteers have only three or four hours either side of low tide to work on the fossil layer, and it takes 15-20 people up to two hours each day just to clear the sand and pump out the water washed into the dig site after each high tide. Because the site is within the Bunurong Marine Park, they can only use hand tools. “The results are definitely worth it,” Lesley says. “Each year we find something that helps build up a picture of what it was like.” Sites from Inverloch to San Remo have produced evidence of dinosaurs, but Flat Rocks is the richest. Eagles Nest, where the first fossil bone in south-eastern Australia was found by William Ferguson in 1903, is a kilometre away. A few steps from the dig site are prehistoric freshwater crustacean burrows, some of the oldest in
The rock wall at Flat Rocks. Below: Lesley Kool .
Gondwana. Researchers at Dinosaur Cove in the Otways found a wholebody fossil (before the head was cut off by a machine saw) resembling a modern-day yabby. The fossils at Flat Rocks date from the Early Cretaceous era, and are the bones of dinosaurs which roamed the region when it was a broad, flat valley attached to Antarctica with no sea nearby – and covered by two to three months of polar darkness each year. > ROYALAUTO FEBRUARY 2009 23
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“There are not many sites in the world where polar dinosaurs are found,” Lesley says. “It’s difficult when you’ve got such a diverse group of animals, particularly here in Australia because we know so little about them. There’s really only Victoria and Queensland that have any sort of real concentration of dinosaurs.” Opalised dinosaurs have been found at Lightning Ridge in NSW, and the fossils discovered in Queensland were partial or almost complete skeletons. “Here because it’s a different deposit – we’re digging up river channels – the bones tend to be sorted in layers so you end up with lots of bones, but from lots of different animals,” Lesley says. “And to me that’s more exciting, because instead of finding out about one particular animal you’re finding out about hundreds of animals who lived at the same time, so you can build a much better picture. “We also have plant fossils, so we know what type of plants were growing at that time, so it’s like a little window into an era that is so different than today.” And the curtains draw back on that window with each new discovery. The coastline is constantly revealing more of its polar past as the sea and wind chip away at the surface – the cliff face at Flat Rocks erodes 2-5mm a year – providing ‘surface prospectors’ with fresh discoveries.
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‘It’s the thrill of finding something encased in that rock for 115 million years, and you’re the first to see it.’
It takes a highly trained eye to spot a dinosaur bone. The volunteers at the dig live by one rule: if you’re not sure, ask. “Once it’s gone it’s gone,” Lesley says. Lesley moved to Australia from England when she was 18. She joined the Victorian Archaeological Society, then Friends of the Museum. When a chance arose to volunteer at the first dinosaur dig at Dinosaur Cove, she was “completely hooked”. Lesley was offered a research position with Monash University, where she remained for 20 years. She and Gerry, a former bank manager, retired about two years ago and moved
Kirstie Reeve is deputy editor of RoyalAuto
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to Wonthaggi, where they could be “10 minutes from home walking on the beach looking for bones”. For Lesley, the attraction is simple. “It’s the thrill of finding something encased in that rock for 115 million years, and you’re the first to see it,” she says. ‘Seeing’ is more difficult that it sounds. Volunteers are trained to spot bones by colour and texture before they even pick up a rock. Only a handful of experienced campaigners can confirm identity of the bones, often using a microscope. In 1997 a jaw bone was found at Flat Rocks. Later named Ausktribosphenos nyktos, or the “Australian Cretaceous tribosphenic mammal of the night”, it was long-sought proof that placental mammals co-existed in Gondwana with dinosaurs. Flat Rocks fossils are categorised from 1, usually a fragment, to 5 if it’s something good. “The first mammal jaw was a 10. That’s the most exciting moment, because we realised what we’d found,” Lesley says. Preparing the fossil – which involved picking away with a needle under a microscope, removing grains of sand bigger than some of the teeth – fell to Lesley. Gerry found it so stressful he had to leave the house. “It was the only one – we didn’t know if we’d find any more,” Lesley says. “It’s like a Violet Crumble inside a block of concrete. Teeth especially are very porous, fragile.” The volunteers have since found evidence of the oldest and smallest monotreme in the world, the Teinolophos trusleri, which was the size of a mouse. Three years ago a serrated-edged tooth was the first proof of a multi-tuberculate mammal found in Australia. “As far as I know, it’s the only site in the world where you can find those three groups together with the dinosaurs,” Lesley says. “They were all in the same fossil layer. They were living and dying at the same time – you can’t get any more definitive proof than that.”
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Dinosaur Dreaming will be operating at Flat Rocks on 1-28 February. While only trained volunteers can take part, the public is welcome to view the dig and ask questions. Visit www.sci.monash.edu.au/msc/dinodream. Information on the dig is available at RACV Inverloch Resort, and a presentation and guided tour will be available to resort guests during the dig. Call the resort on 5674 0000. A membership form for Friends of Dinosaur Dreaming is also available on the website. The cost is $44 for families and $22 for individuals. A limited number of volunteer positions are available for the 2010 dig. Call Museum Victoria on 8341 7111 or email discoverycentre@museum.vic.gov.au.
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ROYALAUTO FEBRUARY 2009 25