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Ziggy - wrestler, Olympian, hotelier... Ziggy played guitar, jamming good with Weird and Gilly, And the spiders from Mars. He played it left hand, but made it too far, Became the special man, Then we were Ziggy's band. Ziggy Stardust by David Bowie
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ROUND the Central Highlands there are some ultra-efficient folk in hospitality, some friendly, others efficient and some not so much. Then there’s Ziggy.
Running the historic Albert Hotel in Camp St, Daylesford, Ziggy Kelevitz, in another life one of the nation’s greatest wrestlers, chiacks with guests, taking the mickey and at times sounding like Basil from Fawlty Towers. “I’ve been called Basil,” he says, rushing to make a bed and clean a spa. “I may hang shit on people, but they come and they keep coming back.” SCENE: Afternoon, foyer of the Albert. Ziggy sits in one of the comfortable chairs, resting from his recent hip replacement surgery. Enter three tourists from Argentina and Chile, brimming with praise for the eccentric charm of the little hotel. But they have a problem. Chilean woman: “There are three of us and only two towels…” Ziggy:” Share one.” Then bursts into the chorus of “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina”. Exit the tourists, wreathed in smiles, leaving us to talk wrestling. Ziggy retired from the sport at the1990 Tokyo World Championships, aged 36. His first big bout was when aged 11, in Adelaide in 1965. Hungarian born, he and his brother were smuggled out as refugees with their parents, their escape owing not a little to the fact that the border guards were drunk. The family was aiming for the USA, but the first battered old boat was heading for Australia, so they boarded it. A few days a later a plane took other refugees to America. From the age of nine wrestling was the sport he conquered: he won 17 national titles and competed all over the world, including the Olympics in Montreal in 1976, Moscow in 1980 and Los Angeles in 1984. He took out silver medals at the Brisbane and Edinburgh Commonwealth Games and gold at the Edmonton Games in 1978, for long being the only Australian wrestler to have done so. Now he is reluctant to talk about these triumphs, dismissing them as being the past. Resting against a wall is a startling black and white photo of Ziggy in action, his opponent being whirled through the air. Nearby in this foyer is a tall glass cabinet with medals and memorabilia, such as his torch for the relay for the Melbourne Commonwealth Games (“You can buy them”). His daughter put this collection together. He says he can’t find the key to show us the medals.
He’s more interested in showing a little photo album of the massive rebuilding of the Albert after he bought it in 1988. Dating from the 1850s, it is the oldest hotel in Daylesford, he says, and has a sign naming it Wittings Hotel and Store. Our chat is punctuated by the arrival of guests as he goes into host mode, explaining to a woman how to find her way around town, the location of the lake and Hepburn Bathhouse. He runs the six apartments and 11-bed hotel with his partner Elaine, a Scot from Glasgow. Some guests return three or four times, he says. “They even ask for 'our apartment’.” Reflecting on his role he says, “The place runs you, you don’t run the place. But you meet nice people, and they come back. It’s a buzz.” Enter three more guests. Towels again. This time they’ve used them after a shower. “More towels?” he demands. “Did you wet them?” They grin and giggle. Looks like they’ll get more as the Ziggy show rolls on.
Words: Kevin Childs | Image: Kyle Barnes
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