Echucamoama issues 5 (low res)

S PRI NG/S U M M ER 2016

Sparks fly upward Out of Echuca and into Africa Jolly joker gets real

SPRING/SUMMER 2016

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Gathering of friends and food

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Lunch 12pm – 3pm Dinner 6pm – Late

503–505 High St, Echuca (03) 5480 1900 www.sunago.com.au

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WORDS

Lana Murphy, editor lana.murphy@riverineherald.com.au Ivy Wise Natalie Durrant Tyla Harrington Sophie Baldwin Jessica Gledhill Ben Carter Mark Fitzgerald Trent Horneman Andrew Mole

PHOTOGRAPHY Sitthixay Ditthavong Lana Murphy Dave Ethell

DESIGN

Brendan Cain Bella Considine Alysha Bathman

ADVERTISING Haydn O’Neale, general manager haydn.oneale@riverineherald.com.au Emma Mortimer Carly Richardson Vanessa Brewis Kerry Vevers Stuart Addicott

PUBLISHER Riverine Herald 270 Hare St, Echuca, VIC 3564 P: (03) 5482 1111 W: www.riverineherald.com.au facebook.com/ EchucaMoamaMagazine

Welcome to E M. In just two years, this magazine has become a familiar part of Echuca-Moama’s tapestry, celebrating the people, places and faces that make this region so great.

Step foot into any one of the trend-setting coffee shops, buzzing tourist hubs or award-winning accommodation providers and it’s fairly likely you’ll stumble across one of the striking covers we’ve produced in the past 24 months.

From a lollypop-wielding beauty queen and walking piece of art to a local football star and a 77-year-old cactus enthusiast.

Now we have a masterful Mathoura farmer on the cover; A woman who fell into the welding world, almost by accident, and is having a whole lot of fun doing it.

When this magazine was first pitched in 2014, some questioned whether or not it could last the distance. How many stories were there to tell? It’s just a set of regional twin towns, after all.

You know, just a set of twin towns set either side of one of nature’s true beauties, the Murray. Surrounded by towering river red gums, wonderful wildlife and creaky heritage buildings with walls that whisper tales from other times. Twin towns with paddlesteamers and an historic port that tells stories of bygone era to the herds of tourists. Just a set of regional twin towns with dozens of schools packed with loads of vibrant young leaders. Businesses built from the ground up with nothing more than passion and some elbow grease. A whole community that supports whatever — and whoever — needs it at the time. Like when Phil Evans pitched his idea of an inclusion project, or when Emily Umbers decided she would build a toilet in a rural Tanzanian village.

In this EM, we meet a cackling ventriloquist determined to prove he’s not a onetrick pony, a man who’s boyhood dream of becoming a slaughterman became a harsh reality and a couple of senior citizens not letting a little thing like age get in the way of living. There’s also the tale of 90-year-old Peter Tripovich who is nearing the end of his walk around Australia more than 10 years after he started. Incredible tales of incredible people.

But you’ll just have to read ahead to find out more.

Thank you to the people in this spectacular region for telling their stories, businesses for continuing to support us and our talented writers, advertisers and designers who work together to create something special.

Enjoy,

Lana Murphy Editor

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contents need for mead 14 The Honey is almost eternal. It has been found in the tombs of the Pharaohs, discovered in Georgian ceramics more than 5000 years old and turns up in Echuca-Moama sandwiches or chicken dishes circa 2016.

Out of Echuca and into Africa Tripping around Australia 35 Not 52 Peter Tripovich is just about many people would see an upside in swapping life in one of the world’s most liveable cities for an isolated corner of a Third World country where even a toilet is a treasured luxury.

Who said that?

‘76 — It was a class act 21 Echuca 42 We ventriloquist Darcy Elliott lets caught up with the people behind us in on what makes this self-taught thrower of voices tick and what the next step might be.

no welder that’s 26 That’s my grandma A Mathoura farmer and would-be artist took a long time to get her creative act together but when she did it unlocked a torrent of spectacular innovation.

Ride ‘em cowboy and cowgirl 32 Definitely a sport for spectators, bull riding was where Lee Kimber started his rodeo career but today he and partner Cherie O’Donoghue have given up the bone-jarring business for the sedate lives of farmers and parents — with the occasional event.

the 40-year reunion for Echuca High School’s class of 1976 and it appears those still with us have plenty of life left in them.

the boat? Ruck on 46 Rocking Women have often struggled to find a voice in the wider world of sport but we’ve discovered in downtown Echuca there are some people working hard to change all that and John Douglas is one of them.

walked out. At 90, he would not be blamed for kicking up his feet and watching the ducks glide by. But this former serviceman is determined to finish a charity walk around Australia he started a decade ago.

epiphany that included 56 An just about everyone Phil Evans is an ordinary bloke who just happens to have achieved some extraordinary achievements. Along the way he managed to convert a fair part of Echuca-Moama as well.

leading lady 62 Our For more than 50 years Helen Coulson has helped weave the social tapestry of Echuca-Moama’s story.

of the desert drop 64 Ships anchor in Kyabram

WANT MORE EM MAG? Find us on facebook: facebook.com/EchucaMoamaMagazine

Getting Victoria’s first camel dairy farm up and running has been a tough ask but it helps if you had spent a bit of time running them around the Top End first.

64 a bloody business but 69 It’s someone has to do it When Tyla Harrington was six yearsold she asked her father if she could go to work with him. He said no. Her father was a slaughterman. It was his job to work inside the walls most of us would like to avoid

to run to, 78 Nowhere nowhere to hide From starting barrier to back straight racehorses are always under the eagle eyes of the stewards. When admitted to their on-track enclave every kind of gizmo is at their beck and call to ensure the punter gets the best possible run for their money.

milking everything 82 Shannon’s out of every day in his life Sophie Baldwin knows exactly how good Shannon Fink is at his job — he has taken her 40-something body and like any good panel beater started to knock hers into better shape.

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The love of his life was all his life Michael Gould gave up everything in a heartbeat for the woman who had captured his heart. But he has no regrets about the remarkable life he lived.

of the fight 92 Lord We go toe-to-toe with local mixed martial artist Mason Lord to find out what makes someone get a kick out of being kicked — or worse.

the dream 98 Bringing to a new world Life has been a constant battle for Rene Park and she has loved every minute of it. This amazing woman, dedicated to education in two countries, tells us why she set up her own school and why she left her South African homeland to come here.

older? Better get fitter 102 InGetting little more than a year one 50-something went from being quite fit to a fitness machine and told EchucaMoama he plans to keep going that way for a long time to come.

veteran couple with 106 Our some vintage passions We catch up with former farmers Barbara and Lindsay Vagg to discover just what makes these octogenarians tick with so much energy and enthusiasm.

106 swift, and swifter, 110 The rise of Heidi We talk with, and listen to, one of the rising songbirds on the local scene who has been invited to take the stage at the Deni Ute Muster, and is tinkering with the notion of heading for Tamworth next year.

cavity to crisis 114 From you need the dentist We managed to avoid the chair herself but she still came away with all the goss on what goes on behind the mask and what’s in the mind of the person holding that drill.

and son holding 118 Father court in the sport of kings We take a look at the footballer and the farmer, and the father and son, as they work hard but always dream of finding that elusive champion.

a success story 124 Here’s you can bank on Not many people realise it but every time they walk down Nish St and pass Trophyman they are in the presence of Australian corporate history unmatched by anything in the twin towns. So what is one of our best-kept business secrets?

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Watersun Homes Watersun Homes welcomes you to the Spencer 3400, a large contemporary home that encapsulates an extensive indoor outdoor living space that suits country lifestyles. An impressive open plan that encourages family connectedness while offering loads of space to relax or seek solitude. This home displays a vast array of upgrades, including stone bench tops, 9’ ceilings, porcelain tiles and an extended alfresco to name just a few. Feel free to visit the display which is open from 12 noon to 5 pm Saturday to Wednesday. Our Sales Consultant, Cynthia Opie, phone 0409 945 588 is readily available to assist you in developing your dream home.

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Perricoota Road, Moama

NEW LAKE AND FACILITIES COMING TO LAKEVIEW ESTATE A new lake is about to be created at the rear of Stage 4 in our Lakeview Estate. An absolute asset to the estate with picnic and barbecue areas, children’s playground, scattered seating to enjoy those sunny Moama mornings and Villawood’s signature Folko Cooper sculptures. The lake will be approx. 1 km in diameter and will make a great addition to the existing walking trail along Perricoota Road.

Construction of the lake will commence in September 2016 with the completion date scheduled for March 2017. Like our FB page to stay up-to-date with the Lake’s progress. www.facebook.com/VillawoodPropertiesBendigo/

Paul Gray Builders Paul Gray is excited to announce the construction of their new spec home in the tranquil settings of the Lakeview Estate in Moama on Lot 59.

This beautiful 3-bedroom spacious family home will feature an open-plan design with a separate 2nd living area and study. Paul has designed the house to reflect a country-homestead style in natural earthy tones with a fresh modern interior. The carefully designed layout fills the home with sunlight creating a fresh and inviting ambiance. The home also boasts a master chef kitchen for entertaining.

Selling Agent

Charles L. King & Co

(03) 5482 2111 172 Hare Street, Echuca

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EchucaMoama

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The need for mead Honey is almost eternal. It has been found in the tombs of the Pharaohs, discovered in Georgian ceramics more than 5000 years old and turns up in Echuca-Moama sandwiches or chicken dishes circa 2016. But as NATALIE DURRANT discovered, honey is also made for mead. >>

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>> HONEY has been used by humanity for thousands of years.

Spanish cave paintings show our forebears began chasing bees for their golden nectar at least 8000 years ago.

Recorded beekeeping can be traced back to Cairo in 2400BC. Although a spectacular source of nutrition it wasn’t long before honey was elevated to more venal heights — as a form of currency, a tribute or offering to the deceased or the gods.

By the 11th century AD, German peasants were paying their feudal lords in honey and beeswax.

But in 21st-century Womboota, the humble honey bee is today being used to create a range of the world’s oldest alcoholic drinks — mead.

At the Old School Winery, where Frits and Suzanne Massée have been producing their golden brew for about 20 years.

Two decades might be barely a blip in the honey story but it does help that the meadery is now part of the centuryold school and Womboota’s old school property, where the Massées and their daughters Freya and Kate live in the renovated school building.

With a little bit of old fashioned do-it-yourself a deliciously rustic building rose on the site of the original school to house the meadery and tasting room, complete with cheerful potbelly stove and nook displaying hand-made pottery.

The versatile third-generation potters have their own kiln from which to turn out their pottery.

Apart from their historic indulgence with honey, the family is also slowly revealing some local lore at the same time.

“We find remnants when we’re gardening,” Suzanne says. “We have found the outlines of the old tennis court and an outline of Australia in brick.”

Surrounding the tasting room is a sprawling expanse of garden, the shady trees scattered with tables and chairs for visitors to escape the summer sun.

“It’s a cool garden because it’s often hot here,” Suzanne explains as she leads me along the tracks.

“City people like it here,” she gestures to a tranquil outdoor setting before stepping towards a chook pen.

“And here are the winery chooks. People love coming to the

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country and seeing chooks. And the chooks welcome visitors and particularly their cars; they like picking insects off them.”

The garden is a continual work in progress, as the droughtdoomed herb garden has given way to other more hardy plants to make a comeback, under the watchful eye of Freya.

Beautifully bucolic — but you can drink the sight in, but not drink it.

The mead you can.

As one of the world’s oldest alcoholic drinks mead has a rich history.

While most people associate mead with the Vikings and the Celts — and judging by their consumption it’s easy to see why this would be the case — its naissance goes back much further into the shadows of time, thousands and thousands of years to Africa, Northern Europe and even Asia.

They also produce banksia mead from banksia honey sourced in the Little Desert.

“As a rule, red gum mead is more consistent in taste,” Frits explains. “But the honey varies with the seasons as well, giving it a different taste.”

Once the mead is made it is matured in oak barrels or stainless steel vats.

“Making mead is as time-consuming as making wine,” Frits says.

Mead making has been slowly growing in popularity, although there are still very few manufacturers in Australia, and most of those only doing it as a family tradition.

“There are not many mead makers, but there are few home brewers,” Suzanne says.

Mead is made by fermenting a honey solution with wine yeast, “The South Australian market is very big and in Tasmania it is a growing market.” although pure mead has no grape or fruit juice added.

The Massées buy their honey locally, usually river red gum, and yellow, black and grey box honey.

And now the Americans have recently started to get a taste for mead.

>>

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“TO A LOT OF MELBOURNE PEOPLE, WHO ARE REALLY CITIFIED, THEY FEEL LIKE THEY’RE COMING TO THE EDGE OF THE OUTBACK.” SUZANNE MASSÉE

>> “It’s a growing business in the States, with America running big mead competitions,” Frits says.

Barbera vines (an ancient northern Italian grape variety) at Womboota.

“I make it through the year, but I aim to do the mead in spring and autumn. Making mead involves controlling the fermentation process. So if it’s more or less nice and cool, it makes it easier.”

Their whites and reds are made the traditional way with a basket press.

And the best part of mead making?

“You’ve got to do a lot of tasting,” laughs Frits.

Traditional mead is very syrupy, but the Massées produce meads ranging from dry to sweet.

“The dry and medium-sweet meads we regard as a table wine so they can be drunk chilled.”

They also produce two fortifieds and a Bard’s Reward sweet mead which lend themselves to being mulled (warmed) — with your personal choice of spices added.

“It’s the fun one to have because people like adding their own spices, which is why we don’t put any in when we make it,” Frits says.

For many trying mead for the first time, there is a certain surprise the dominant flavour is honey and not grapes.

“Because it’s made from honey, people think they can quaff it and they often say their children would love it, but we have to remind them it is alcohol,” Frits laughs.

As well as their mead, Suzanne and Frits dabble in table wines, buying their grapes locally, although they do grow some

Suzanne says the development of the Backroads Trail in 2012 had been a great incentive for the region.

“The Backroads Trail has added to the range of tourists we see here,” she says.

“It’s also brought another element of traveller, those in 4WDs, who go further afield. It’s been a really good addition.

“To a lot of Melbourne people, who are really citified, they feel like they’re coming to the edge of the outback.”

“They want to know how we survive out here,” Frits laughs.

The answer is easy though — a lot of hard work and dedication.

They are only closed for two and a half days a year (Christmas Day, Good Friday and Anzac Day morning), but wouldn’t have it any other way.

“It’s very much hands on and it’s time-consuming, but it’s good to break it up by talking to people and we always try to get them proceed on the Backroads Trail,” Suzanne says.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way, we love it,” she says.

“And I certainly don’t have time to go kicking cans up the street,” Frits quips.

No, not when you are as busy as the proverbial bee. 

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Echuca ventriloquist Darcy Elliott lets IVY WISE in on what makes this self-taught thrower of voices tick and what the next step might be. >>

EchucaMoama

Darcy’s no dummy when it comes to his comedy

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Who said that?

>> IT REALLY is impossible to have a conversation with Darcy Elliott.

You’re too busy laughing.

teaching myself.”

As for the dialogue, Darcy is more of an impromptu comedian and likes to play off the audience.

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Because he is so bloody funny.

“I’m more improv and off the cuff,” he said.

Put a puppet in his hand and the Echuca ventriloquist is hilarious.

“I find it really hard to write comedy and I think that comes because I’m so impromptu, so I have a fair bit of trouble doing that.

Maybe because he can get away with more if it’s the dummy making the smart cracks.

A born performer, Darcy was a regular at talent shows and stage productions in his younger years.

“When I was about 12 or 13, I started performing and doing musical theatre,” he said.

He has racked up 10 shows with youth theatre company MelO-Dramas, where he took a voluntary leadership role, helping younger students, starred as the lead in one of Tongala’s Little Theatre productions and has been a member of EchucaMoama Theatre Company for several years.

“I always lent towards comedy roles and was always a class clown,” he said.

But the day his grandparents took him to see world-famous ventriloquist David Strassman would change his life.

“I always wanted to do musical theatre but I had a little bit of a change,” he said.

“I went to see his show and I said ‘that’s it. That’s cool and that’s what I want to do’.

“I used to do talent comps and sing, because my sister did, and I wanted to be better than her.”

But after seeing Strassman, Darcy decided to do ventriloquism at the next Campaspe Shire Talent Quest.

“I’ll write something and I’ll read it over and I’ll think ‘yeah that’s funny’ and then I’ll read it over again and think ‘maybe it’s not so funny’. By the third time reading it over, I’ll have convinced myself it’s not.

“That’s probably my biggest struggle and people who have seen me around town say ‘Oh, I’ve seen him before’, which is probably one of the hardest things doing this sort of thing in a small town because people see you again. “But comedians usually get different audiences all the time. People in small towns don’t understand that. People expect you to have an hour or two of material, when to write five minutes of material takes you ages. It’s not as easy as people think.

“And that’s the biggest thing out of everything that I struggle with.

“My dad and my wife Rachel say to me all the time ‘you need to write new stuff’ but it’s something I really struggle with.”

Admitting he is a lazy preparer, it is really do or die before a gig.

“Sometimes I’ll have it my head and I’ll be like yes, I know what I’m going to do — this, this, this and end with this and other times I can be really busy, where I’ll literally get in the car and on the way there think ‘okay, what am I going to do?’,” he said.

“I went down to the Dancing Emu and bought this $50 monkey puppet,” he said.

“I’m pretty lazy and off the cuff in that respect as well, but I think that’s what makes my style work. I’m really like ‘let’s just do it’.

“I did it and I think I came second or third and dad was like ‘cool, if that’s what you want to do, do it’ and I’ve been doing it since then.”

“You’re in there and you’re either go to sink or swim and you want to be able to swim. I’m best put in that high pressure situation.

He now has nine puppets, but the monkey has always remained his favourite.

“I mainly use two or three. A lot were impulse buys,” he said.

“The main ones I use are the monkey and old man puppet, mainly because when I do adult comedy I can get away with a lot more stuff. That’s what I like about it. Stuff I couldn’t normally get up there and say, but because the puppet is saying it, I can get away with it.”

So how does he do it?

“I find that really hard to explain,” he said.

Self-taught, Darcy just “started mucking around trying to talk without moving my mouth and watching myself in the mirror”.

“The main thing I like to do is get someone up and turn them into a ventriloquist dummy, so I have some basic lines and things that I do and then if the audience is into it I can feed off them.

“Or if there is someone in the audience, like a figure everyone knows, I’ll get some inside jokes and try to tie it in.”

Often giving his time freely to entertain others or help other young entertainers in progressing their own development, Darcy scooped three Australia Day awards in Echuca in 2012, the biggest of them being the overall Campaspe Shire Award for arts person of the year.

He also took out the awards for Echuca arts person of the year and Echuca young citizen of the year for his development as a ventriloquist, but more importantly, his volunteer efforts.

“I don’t necessarily practice. I just find myself doing weird stuff.

Like, in the car or in the shower, I’ll sing a song but without moving my mouth,” he said.

Darcy has also tried out for Australia’s Got Talent (AGT) three times and although he did not make the finals, he reached a higher stage each time.

“That’s how it evolved from there.

The second time, in 2012, he got through the producers and got yes’s from judges Dannii Minogue, Kyle Sandilands and Brian McFadden, but didn’t make the semi-finals.

“When I was younger, I was really big on voices. Just making really annoying sounds and it probably came a little bit from there as well and I rolled it all into it.

“There’s probably stuff I still need to learn but I find it easier

“That was probably the first time ever performing that I got nervous and I got there and walked on the X and just froze for >>

EchucaMoama

DARCY ELLIOTT

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“I USED TO DO TALENT COMPS AND SING, BECAUSE MY SISTER DID, AND I WANTED TO BE BETTER THAN HER.”

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>> a bit … and you realise you’re not as confident as you think you are,” he said.

The last time was this year and Darcy managed to get through the three stages.

After making it to the semi-finals and a snippet of his audition, where he used Dave Hughes as a puppet, airing on television, Darcy was eligible for a wild card entry.

“It was a good learning experience. And you learn things every time you go and that’s how I look at it,” he said.

“I don’t do this because I want to get famous or anything. It’s more about challenging yourself to get that little bit further each time.

“There’s so many platforms for singers, but not many platforms for what I do. So when there is one, I jump at that opportunity.”

His experience with AGT even led to gigs with grand finalist stand-up comedian The Old Fella — retired farmer Rod Gregory, who came fourth on the talent show.

His comedy has spread more recently into major roles in EMTC’s productions Hairspray and this year’s successful Anything Goes.

Darcy has come a long way in a very short time.

With early aspirations to become a world-famous ventriloquist and work in Las Vegas, the recently married 24-year-old is now quite content to keep performing in his local community.

“In the last 12 months I’ve had more of a realisation that I love it but if I was to do it fulltime, I may lose some passion for it,” he said.

“I love it as a hobby but I don’t want to throw my whole life

into it. Some people say that’s a shame, but I love it so much that I don’t want to lose my passion for it.

“I don’t want to lose that by trying to make it my job.”

Although he always has big plans, he has no imminent plans to leave Echuca-Moama.

“I love it here and I love being in a country town. Knowing everyone and the lifestyle, I like that,” he said.

“And something that still allows me to be part of theatre.

“As I get older, I want to try to help younger kids in Echuca who probably think that you have to leave Echuca to be able to make something of yourself. To a certain extent, it’s true, depending on what your career is.

“But if you have passion for performing, you can still do that on a platform in Echuca.” Darcy said amateur theatre was extremely important in smaller communities and encouraged people to support it.

“Although I love my sport too, it allows people who aren’t necessarily sporty people or involved in clubs to express their passion, whether it be performing or building sets or doing sound or being part of a band.

“It allows so many different people to come together and still be able to express that.

“We have some amazing talent in our theatre company and if you didn’t have theatre companies and amateur theatre, you wouldn’t allow those people to put that on show.

“Also, it’s good to be able to get juniors started in a theatre company and work their way up.

“You aren’t going to keep everyone there but you can keep some of them, and keep the circle of life coming through the theatre company.” 

25

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26

EchucaMoama

27 EchucaMoama

THAT’S NO WELDER,

that’s my grandma

A Mathoura farmer and would-be artist took a long time to get her creative act together but SOPHIE BADLWIN writes that when she did it unlocked a torrent of spectacular innovation. >>

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EchucaMoama

>> THE genteel arts of tapestry and quilting are, by and large, the exclusive province of the more grandmotherly amongst us.

“Andrew was a perfectionist and he would soon let me know if my work was so much as a millimetre out.”

But drought, and a frustrated determination to find her true artistic niche, took her to, of all places, a TAFE welding class for women.

And suddenly it all clicked.

Julie works with the same gear as industrial welders, face lost behind the dark glass of her safety mask, sparks flying.

But when her day is done there is something beautiful to behold, not just another boiler or sheets of steel at a building site.

Today the 65-year-old’s art is found across the country — in a remarkable range of settings.

If you’ve ever been to Mathoura you can’t miss the large cod that welcomes you to town — yep, that’s Julie’s work.

She had found her milieu, and in it her ability to finally express her inner self, to take an inert metal and create something singular, something spectacular and something that was her — and hers.

At Cobram racecourse there is a horse and sulky taking pride of place — yep, that’s her again.

“I have always been creative. Over the years I have tried tapestry, quilting and pottery but it wasn’t until I started a welding class for women at TAFE that I found my niche,” Julie said.

“That class was so enjoyable, we did it for six years and we actually completed it twice because we had so much fun, in fact if the funding hadn’t been pulled we would probably still be going,” she laughed.

In gardens as far afield as Narrandera and Melbourne you might find one of her majestic emus.

On the Mornington Peninsula one garden has a menagerie of African women, crayfish and brolgas.

Working as Ironic Iron, Julie hasn’t looked back since that welding course a decade ago.

She began with baby steps, making things just for her garden, but the bush jungle drum soon spread stories of this amazing >>

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Granted she lived on the family farm at Mathoura, but even so welding was hardly an essential skill for the property’s matriarch.

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So it’s hard to see where this background provided the launching pad for Julie Guinan to make the jump into welding.

The class Julie and her friends completed was the same course apprentice welders complete — and she learnt a lot from Andrew Gorham, her teacher at the time.

30 EchucaMoama

“I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN CREATIVE. OVER THE YEARS I HAVE TRIED TAPESTRY, QUILTING AND POTTERY BUT IT WASN’T UNTIL I STARTED A WELDING CLASS FOR WOMEN AT TAFE THAT I FOUND MY NICHE.” JULIE GUINAN

>> grandma and as she built them the people came.

Now her garden despairs of any more attractions, because Julie can’t keep up with the orders and so it waits.

“I am the artistic one but Peter, my husband, has got the structural knack and he helps me with that. He is also great with the tape measure while a few millimetres don’t worry me too much (not that she would ever confess that to her welding teacher).”

There has been nothing Julie hasn’t had a go at.

A bloke from the pub requested a crayfish, months later he ended up with a finished, 4 m monster.

“But I still don’t know why I said yes to that one,” she laughed.

Welding is not just hot work, it is also hard, but Julie cut her teeth on hard work helping run The Springs, the family farm, so that’s not too much of a problem just yet.

She is still regularly out working on the farm with Peter so all those years of manual labour have certainly come in handy

when it comes to welding.

“I do have to lift heavy things and I can usually manage to move things around on my own most of the time,” Julie added.

Frequently using scraps of metal from around the farm, Julie’s work really is a credit to her ingenuity.

“It’s easy to think of metal as a hard, stiff product, but it is really very malleable and lots of people say that my work looks soft.”

Now technically a senior citizen Julie is not fazed and has never considered slowing down — let alone considered planning for it.

“I wish I had started earlier. I have so many ideas in my head, but I guess I may not have been ready when I was younger.”

Well if welding was a long time coming it has been worth the wait — for Julie but also everyone who orders a piece of her spectacular art (and eventually, one day, maybe, for her garden). 

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Ride ‘em cowboy

EchucaMoama

— AND COWGIRL Definitely a sport for spectators, bull riding was where Lee Kimber started his rodeo career but SOPHIE BALDWIN writes that today he and partner Cherie O’Donoghue have given up the bone-jarring business for the sedate lives of farmers and parents — with the occasional event.

IT’S been called the most dangerous eight seconds in sport.

A cowboy tentatively eases himself onto a tonne of testosterone — and rage — fuelled animal, hangs on with one hand and waits for the gate to swing open.

The massive bull explodes into the arena where it not only wants to get the man off its back, if he gets to gore him as well that will make it a good night out.

Legendary bulls have been given named such as Chainsaw, and didn’t get tagged with them because of their good nature.

Lockington’s Lee Kimber has (painfully) seen the light and no longer risks life and limb aboard bulls and bucking horses but back when he was younger and sillier he was on the rodeo circuit fulltime.

That meant as many as 60 events a year, crisscrossing the country in light planes to make sure he was ready to be launched skyward from the next bull or horse.

The son of Australian rodeo champion parents it never occurred to them — or him — that he might do something else.

His parents had Lee compete in his first competition ride when he was just six.

And he spent the early part of his career on the circuit full time, often with a truck full of horses in Queensland and another in Victoria. Even he concedes, looking back, that it was a hectic, even crazy, time.

Today Lee and partner Cherie O’Donoghue still come screaming out of the gate but it is on their own horses and except for roping and tackling a few calves a far safer way to spend an afternoon (or evening) on the job.

They are both national champions — over and over — in a range of disciplines but there’s no 60 events a year.

Cherie was a late starter, she didn’t get going until she was 21, but has always had a love of horses and it was the fast speed of the sport that initially piqued her interest.

Despite starting way behind most of her competition she collected her first title at 27.

Both have made it to the top of the toughest sport going around and while there is little room left in their trophy cabinet the pair are hot favourites to win more national glory later this year.

Lee is currently sitting second in the All Around Cowboy

category and Cherie is in the same spot for All Around Cowgirl.

These days with five-year-old son Beau (5) and financial responsibilities, the couple have had to learn to fit their rodeo commitments in and around their other life of family and growing lucerne hay on their 170 ha Lockington farm.

They have worked out they can fit in everything, although Cherie concedes her rodeo career took something of a backseat while Beau was younger.

“The environment of rodeo can be harsh, hot and dusty especially during our long summers,” Cherie said.

“We are lucky we have family and friends who are around and can help out, especially when we are both competing but now Beau is older, it is much easier.

“Last year when we went to Darwin it was such a long trip. We took five horses and we had to stop every four hours for them so we ended up making it into a holiday for Beau, doing all the touristy things along the way and he loved it.”

It is fair to say the couple have covered a lot of country in pursuit of the next win but today they do it because they love it, not for a living like they used to.

“Entry fees can be quite expensive ($150) especially when we might enter three events each, so we do take things seriously.

We can’t afford to do it as a hobby but at the same time we don’t dwell on it if we don’t win,” Cherie said.

Rodeo is a sport that demands commitment, dedication and excellent health insurance.

Lee said you have to carry within yourself a desire to succeed and a hunger to win and back it up with hundreds of hours and hours of practice, honing your skills and training your horses.

During the summer months and the peak rodeo season the couple can still spend up to four hours a day working at their craft.

“It is a lot of work but we are both committed which helps to make it easier. In the off season (winter) we still have to put a raincoat on and ride through the mud and in the rain and even if Lee is away driving trucks, I still have to ride his horses,” Cherie said.

The couple have a large team of horses and it is common for them to ride a certain horse in a certain event. They also have >>

Cherie O’Donoghue, Lee Kimber and son, Beau.

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34 EchucaMoama

Photo: Dave Ethell.

“IN THE OFF SEASON (WINTER) WE STILL HAVE TO PUT A RAINCOAT ON AND RIDE THROUGH THE MUD AND IN THE RAIN AND EVEN IF LEE IS AWAY DRIVING TRUCKS, I STILL HAVE TO RIDE HIS HORSES.” >>

CHERIE O’DONOGHUE

them at different stages of development and it is important to always have an up and coming horse, as well as a seasoned professional.

“A horse is everything and can turn an ordinary cowboy into a good one,” Cherie laughed.

“Good riders can still do well on average horses, but you have to have a fast horse to compete in barrel racing. It takes years to train one and I had one good old horse that I didn’t win a title on until he was 21, so they can never be too old, they just have to be fit.”

“We have had some great horses over the years. We have one down the back who is 35, we have won Australian titles on some and they will get to live their final days in luxury here with us,” Lee said.

“Technique is everything and I have been fortunate enough to be taught from some of the legends of the sport, including Neville McCarthy who has won more titles than anyone in Australia or overseas.

“He taught me a lot about steer wrestling and the correct technique, which is very important, especially when you wrestle a 300 kg animal at speeds of 60 km/h.”

Looking back over his career, Lee doesn’t regret the many times he has come second.

“I have been fortunate enough to compete against one of

the greatest cowboys ever in Shane Kenny and I have come runner-up to him many, many times. That I could push him to the limit, and even win a few titles from him, still makes me proud,” Lee said.

In his younger days Lee used to lift weights but these days he is a firm believer in being fit for his sport, hence the hours of practice to make him event fit.

Over the years the couple have competed together in the team rope event, with Cherie roping the front legs and Lee finishing the job off.

Lee no longer competes in bull riding much to Cherie’s relief, although it was once an all-consuming passion of Lee’s, and one of his favourite events.

These days he competes in steer wrestling, rope and tie and team roping while Cherie competes in barrel racing and break away roping, which are female-only events.

The couple don’t see themselves retiring from the sport anytime soon, both believing they have plenty of years left.

So between multiple cuts of their Lucerne hay, baling it and getting it off the property, raising their son, training their horses and keeping fit for the next event Cherie and Lee will keep doing what they do best.

And watch the bull and bucking bronco riders from the comfortable safety of the stands. 

Emily with her parents’ sponsor child Esta (centre) and her family.

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Out of Echuca — AND INTO AFRICA

Not many people would see an upside in swapping life in one of the world’s most liveable cities for an isolated corner of a Third World country where even a toilet is a treasured luxury. LANA MURPHY talks to a local couple whose lives have undergone massive change and now span the globe.

NEVER doubt a thoughtful, committed citizen can change the world.

impact you can make by providing two.

Indeed, they are the only ones who ever have.

For Emily, having two toilets at home growing up Echuca was de rigueur.

Emily Umbers was 29 years old, living in a bustling city with a big dream.

Not being able to access one when she was out and about, anywhere, at any time, had never crossed her mind.

One day — in 2012 — she decided to follow it.

It didn’t have to.

“I thought, if I don’t do this now, it’s never going to happen,” she said.

“I was at a point in my life where I needed a change, I’d been in Melbourne for 10 years and scored my dream job, but something was missing.”

That thing was Tanzania; the place Emily now calls her second home.

Little did she know she would change hundreds of lives whilst living there, firstly through education, but then through sanitation.

And if you can change lives with just one toilet, imagine the

But today, having helped provide toilets to some remote Tanzanian communities ranks as one of the greatest achievements in her life.

It’s unlikely they will ever be seen by you or me, let alone used, but for a secluded Maasai community in Tanzania they might be the difference between life and death.

“One of the World Health Organisation’s biggest identified issues is sanitation — the ripple effects of open defecation are astounding, particularly for young girls,” Emily said.

The Maasai are semi-nomadic and live mostly in northern >> Tanzania.

“THE MOMENT I FULLY REALISED I BELONGED WAS WHILE I WAS WALKING ONE MORNING THROUGH THE VILLAGE. I WAS TAKING IT ALL IN AND IT JUST HIT ME — I WAS PART OF SOMETHING. I KNEW THAT NO MATTER WHERE I WAS AS LONG AS I HAD THAT FEELING, I’D BE OKAY.” 36

EMILY UMBERS

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>> “They move with their cattle, live in mud huts and generally have limited food and water,” she said.

So when she met them whilst living in the magnificent African country, she knew she had to help.

“We started a crowd-funding campaign and within 15 days raised the $3000 needed,” Emily said.

“Lots of people from Echuca got on board with it.”

But it wasn’t an easy task. Water had to be trucked in on nonexistent roads for the cement, a language barrier had to be broken. But construction meant Emily could also pay wages to locals, injecting vital money into the immediate economy.

She knew how important this was through her work at the School of St Jude — her base in Tanzania for nearly two years.

Recommended by a friend, Emily left her job, sold her car and bought a plane ticket to a country she knew little about.

The School of St Jude knows education is the strongest weapon in the fight against poverty, corruption and political instability.

The UN says more than 68 per cent of Tanzanians live under the poverty line (about $1.25 a day) and 16 per cent of children under five are malnourished.

St Jude’s is charity-funded and was set up by Australian Gemma Sisia in 2002 in the fast-growing northern Tanzanian city of Arusha — but it still needs a fleet of more than 20 colourful buses to bring students every day from as far as 50 km away to school.

It offers free education to the poorest in an incredibly poor country with an almost irretrievably overstretched, underresourced school system.

Children who show academic promise but come from desperately deprived backgrounds are fed, housed, educated and mentored to become happy, healthy students with bright futures ahead of them. In a country where most children don’t make it to high school, St Jude’s has been a seismic shift, consistently ranking in the top 10 per cent nationally with almost 2000 enrolled students and 450 paid local staff.

In the big picture of this mammoth undertaking Emily didn’t feel all that essential when she first arrived at St Jude’s.

“But that’s a good thing, the aim is to make your role redundant, you want to empower local staff to do what you’re doing,” she said.

“I was probably a little overwhelmed by the brief, I remember reading Gemma’s book on the plane on the way over there and that was about as far as my research had gone.”

But after years working in the not-for-profit marketing sector, she certainly had some skills to offer overseeing the marketing team with media, web management, design and tours.

“I instantly felt a sense of belonging,” she said.

It was the Tanzanian women, in particular, who stole her heart.

“They’re powerful, beautiful, eager, intelligent,” she said.

“They soaked up everything there was to learn and it was incredible to see them thrive.”

St Jude’s employs local staff as headmasters, teachers, cooks, cleaners, builders, mechanics, office staff, drivers, guards and gardeners. Many of them are women, empowered through employment.

Local products are bought for meals, uniforms, buildings and furnishings to support the local community and economy as much as possible.

“The moment I realised I belonged was while I was walking one morning through the village. I was taking it all in and it just hit me — I was part of something.

“I knew that no matter where I was as long as I had that feeling, I’d be okay.”

Emily’s transformation was complete, from her childhood on the Murray and school at St Joseph’s to kicking down a dusty dirt road in a place where she actually made a difference.

A world where she wanted to be because she belonged.

But incredibly, even in the backblocks of Africa, there is no doubt we live in a small world.

“Tanzania has a bit of a mini-Australia there; my apartment on the school grounds was actually next door to a couple from Tatura, what are the odds?” Emily laughed. Life in Tanzania was full of adventure.

The expat community would gather with local friends at weeknight bar gigs, spend weekends exploring the sprawling city and rural communities and take in as much as they could.

It wasn’t long before Emily met Tom — an enchanting Maasai man working in community agricultural development, a man proud of his tribe and of helping to improve his country.

He was fun, charismatic, intelligent and adventurous. The kind of guy you don’t mind exploring Africa with.

Weekend trips to the Ngorongoro crater (the world’s largest inactive volcanic caldera), the Serengeti National Park (home to white-bearded wildebeest, zebra, Nile crocodile and honey badgers) and Zanzibar were the norm.

They went on safaris, stayed in lodges overlooking the Nile Valley, slept in rural communities.

Soon, Emily and Tom had their own hidden camping spots, blanketed by a sprawling sky of stars, watched closely by neighbouring giraffes and buffalo.

“Sometimes I had to pinch myself,” Emily laughed.

“The experiences were quite literally unreal — we were setting camp up once and I thought we were alone, then I turned

37 EchucaMoama

around and saw a giraffe watching.”

Three months soon turned into one year, which then became two.

“I was just really happy,” she said.

“I called work and said ‘I am not coming back’.”

It wasn’t for the handsome man she’d fallen in love with — it was for her.

Tom was away for months at a time, working in development, fighting some of Tanzania’s most prominent challenges; such as its unsustainable harvesting of its natural resources, unchecked cultivation, sanitation, female circumcision, climate change and water- source encroachment.

Emily was making a difference, supporting thousands of children, hundreds of staff and her Australian founder, generating funds through appeals, sponsorship and tours to continue the vital work of St Judes.

That included hosting visitors and families who travelled to see what the school was all about.

One day those tourists were her parents Clare and Ken Umbers.

“During their last week we went to the home of one of our grade 2 St Jude’s students.

“Esta’s story was amazing and her mother Rebecca welcomed us into their very small home.

“A very special bond was established with mum and dad and Esta’s family, she’s now their sponsor child and we know the bond will continue forever.”

Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai was only 16 when she told the world: “One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world”.

Esta could well change the world, but even if she changes just her own, the Umbers have made a difference. 

MAINTAINING THE

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Maasai connection

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Emily, Tom and their son Raphael are now living in Echuca, although Tom admits he misses Africa, its space, its sky, his people pushing their herds slowly across the plains.

BOTH have had to make some major adjustments — the cultural gulf is still incredible.

Emily was the youngest of three, with one set of parents.

Tom has 20 siblings, his father has three wives, and Tom has fought hard for his education and his people.

But community spirit is something he still has.

“There’s actually a bit of an African community here, I’ve met some Tanzanians,” Tom said.

“Next year we want to merge the cultures and host an African community festival in Echuca-Moama,” he said.

Emily and Tom are also securing the link with both their homes by hosting trips to Tanzania — the first tour in March is already sold out.

“We didn’t expect the kind of response we got,” Emily said.

“It came about because we would always speak so highly of our time there and my friends and family wanted to see where Tom was from, so we planned a trip and now it’s really become something.”

The tours will explore all their favourite spots and, of course, “there’ll be lots of time spent at St Jude’s too” (you can find out more at insidetanzaniatours.com).

That place will never be far from her heart.

“A lot of people want to travel and volunteer overseas,” she said.

“That’s wonderful, but if you do please use the skills you have to help others, voluntourism doesn’t really help anyone.”

Emily recommended long-term stays for those who are serious about making a difference.

“And ensure you’re working with a reputable organisation.

“It’s amazing the difference you can make when you set your mind to it.” 

40 EchucaMoama

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42 EchucaMoama

‘76 — IT WAS A

class act It might have been a bit before her time but SOPHIE BALDWIN caught up with the people behind the 40-year reunion for Echuca High School’s class of 1976 and it appears those still with us have plenty of life left in them.

LET’S face it, you either loved or hated your school days but there remains one irresistible thing about them.

The older we get the more curious we become to see where our former class mates have ended up, what they have done, what they are doing and where they are now.

For the Echuca High School Class of 1976 those questions, and more, were answered when they held a reunion in town earlier this year, 40 long years after they had said goodbye to high school.

The organising committee spent about 14 months tracking down every one of the 226 students who attended the year level from 1971–76.

Of the group, 16 had died, a similar number had battled severe illness and if it wasn’t for medical progress would also be gone, while more than 100 (plus partners) made the trip back to Echuca.

Organiser Peter Mitchell said the reunion was one of the best things in which he had ever been involved in and it left him buzzing for weeks.

“There were some people I hadn’t seen for 40 years and I knew who they were straight away while there were others who I was very friendly with and didn’t recognise at all,” he laughed.

“Some had aged like a beautiful red while others, like me, had turned to vinegar.”

Peter said it was interesting to see what jobs people did and while there was the usual list of nurses and builders one had gone on to become secretary to the State Treasurer and another was quite a famous drover, well known for never wearing shoes.

“It didn’t matter what anyone did though, we had gone through all that bullshit at our 10 year reunion, where people were getting married, setting up their lives and having kids back then, this one was just great to catch up, enjoy each other’s company and celebrate being alive.”

Peter said of the group, four couples were people from that year, two had been items at school and the other two hooked up later.

There were quite a few divorces, several second marriages and

The Tongala crew (back from left) Louise Comer, Glenda Langley, Neil Madill, Lorraine Spencer, Wayne Gardam, Dianne Nardella, Geoff Cameron, Peter Hacon, Kerrie Saunder; (front) Debbie Morden, Cheryle Gillard and Wendy Coram at their Echuca High School reunion.

43 EchucaMoama

“WE HAD SUCH A GREAT CROSS SECTION OF PEOPLE COME BACK AND EVERYONE TREATED EACH OTHER WITH A GREAT DEAL OF RESPECT AND AFFECTION, EVEN AFTER SO MANY YEARS.” GRANT MCMURDO

one of the women already had nine grandchildren.

“One bloke joked he shouldn’t have even been allowed into the reunion because he spent more time sitting outside the principal’s office than in the classroom,” Peter said.

“I loved my time at school but I know not everyone felt the same.

“Some were apprehensive about coming back and had issues through those years and weren’t happy at school, but for those that did it was a brilliant experience.

“I have heard stories of people following each other up and catching up and we are now considering an annual reunion.”

School back in the ‘70s was a different time. The emphasis was on hitting the workforce — many left school at 15 to head out and learn their trades.

“Only 50 completed their HSC.” Former school captain Grant McMurdo agreed the reunion was “just fantastic, from the turn out right through to the way it was organised”.

“We had such a great cross section of people come back and everyone treated each other with a great deal of respect and

affection, even after so many years,” Grant said.

“I have such fond memories of school. My role as school captain was a symbolic one, actually I was surprised at the time that I was chosen, I wasn’t always on the good side of the principal.”

Grant is still involved in the education industry as a teacher and he said while the digital era has changed a lot many things are still very much the same.

“We still have an exam-oriented system and while laptops and computers have changed things the work still remains much the same and the best way to engage a student is still to do that through a great story.

“Compared to our era, a lot more students are remaining at school. The biggest difference is the choice with either the VCAL or VCE stream.

“I also think kids are nicer than when I was at school. There doesn’t seem to be as much bullying and harassment now as there was back when I was there.”

While 40 years down the track may not guarantee 20/20 vision it does help people see things through rose coloured glasses. 

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MOAMA BOWLING CLUB

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Rocking the boat?

RUCK ON

>>

>>

EchucaMoama

JOHN DOUGLAS

47

“WE DON’T NEED SPECIAL FAVOURS, WE JUST WANT TO BE INCLUDED. THERE WILL BE PEOPLE THINKING THEY SHOULDN’T BE PLAYING, IT’S TOO ROUGH OR SOME OTHER REASON. I SAY IF THEY WANT TO PLAY, LET THEM PLAY.”

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>>

Women have often struggled to find a voice in the wider world of sport but JESS GLEDHILL has discovered in downtown Echuca there are some people working hard to change all that — and John Douglas is one of them.

LET’S be honest, sport traditionally is a male-dominated business, even when it’s an amateur game in the local park.

Getting ahead is hard enough when it’s a game designed (traditionally) just for women, such as netball.

But try making waves in the country boy’s world, where men are men and women wash the jumpers and run the canteen, and we are not just talking surf’s up, we are right out there where tsunamis begin.

Sure, you could argue times have changed and/or are changing, and that women find it easier to get a kick these days, in soccer and rugby (just recall what you saw in the Rio Olympics) and more recently, and most importantly, on the footy field.

Take the twin towns, where girls have been able to actually get a regular game of AFL-endorsed footy as part of the Shepparton and District Junior League’s Youth Girls division (which has been kicking around since 2013).

Where the local girls have been getting better and better under the enthusiastic coaching expertise of David Pearson.

Douglas was the assistant coach at the time and said the experience has been like no other.

“It has been great watching the sport develop for the girls. It has got me involved with junior sport and opened up another network of friends and associates with the club,” he said.

The Echuca Football Club is making the journey for girls looking to succeed in the sport a possibility as the only club in the immediate area to put forward a team.

“We are part of the junior club, treated the same as the boys’ teams — we don’t need special favours, we just want to be included.

“There will be people thinking they shouldn’t be playing, it’s too rough or some other reason. I say if they want to play, let them play.

“Women’s football has been around in the city for over 40 years,” he added.

The Bombers have been the starting point for a number of local girls in the sport and this season have been very competitive, finishing second on the ladder with nine wins and six losses going into the finals.

This year’s goals are the same as any football team at any club — to push as hard as they can in terms of fitness, cohesion and ball skills to reach that elusive grand final game.

“THE ROAD TRIPS ON SATURDAY AFTERNOONS, GETTING ABSOLUTELY DRENCHED IN MUD, I LOVED IT ALL. IT WAS A GREAT EXPERIENCE AND I WOULDN’T CHANGE IT FOR THE WORLD.” ALANA LONG

49

Nathalia and Finley, with 15 girls running out for the side every Sunday — rain, hail or shine.

Echuca was the first premiers, thrashing Mooroopna by 62-points at Deakin Reserve, and remained undefeated all season.

Alana Long was a part of the team when they completed that perfect season and still looks back on the day as one of her biggest highlights.

“It really started off my footy experience,” she said.

“I fell in love with it from that moment on and loved every game of footy. Pizzle (Pearson) was a great coach and taught me so much.”

Long attributes much of her success on the field to his guidance off it — and on the training track.

“I appreciate everything he did for the club.”

And he was not the only person who helped her achieve her goals.

“Trevor Mellington was our AFL developing coach at the time and was really involved in youth girls and helped me get to where I am now,” she said.

Long now plays for Bendigo Thunder, alongside fellow Bomber Alyx Glanville, in the premier division of the Victorian Women’s Football League.

And her success in the sport doesn’t end there.

Whilst attending the Calder Cannons academy in 2014, Long was also selected in the Victorian Country under 18 squad for the national championships, where she went to Canberra and took on teams from other states and everyone’s arch enemy — Victorian Metro.

Long said she would never have got the opportunity if it hadn’t been for the Bombers. “(The Bombers) were like a family to me, the road trips on Saturday afternoons, getting absolutely drenched in mud, I loved it all,” she said.

“It was a great experience and I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

And she could now take her career even further with promising opportunities on the horizon.

A Women’s AFL League will be launched in 2017 and gives female footy players the option of a viable career in the sport.

The competition will comprise eight teams from existing AFL clubs to play six matches, followed by a top four finals, in a season that will start in February.

A number of clubs are looking towards the VWFL and Bendigo Thunder’s success in the premier division, having won 12 from 12 so far this season, means they are well and truly on the radar.

The Bombers’ manager agrees the women’s league will be a great thing for females in the sport.

“It’s fantastic, it will raise the profile (of women’s footy) and hopefully attract more girls in the junior ranks,” he said.

“Every year we need new players as some leave because of age and school, some move away or they get a job after school.”

His daughter Sophie, and Chelsea Rowan, are both top age players who will be leaving the Bombers next season.

And now that won’t be the end of the journey — the Bombers’ graduates can continue their footy close to home with Shepparton also launching a senior team, as well as the already established Bendigo Thunder.

Or even stay home — the plan for an Echuca female side is already doing the rounds.

“But we need to get stronger numbers in the junior ranks before even considering that,” Douglas said.

However, this could be a possibility within the next five years if interest in the sport continues to grow.

“Come to training and try it out, everyone is welcome as we need new players every year,” he said.

The side trains every Wednesday from 4–5.30 pm at Vic Park, with pre-season starting in mid-February.

Sport fosters a number of qualities, such as the ability to take part in a team and a sense of achievement and responsibility, and most importantly it gives people an outlet for physical activity and enjoyment.

The team has provided girls the opportunity to participate in sport and create lasting friendships with people who share the same passions and interests.

And this wouldn’t be possible without the continued support of the club and the community.

“Spectators and supporters are also always welcome,” Douglas said.

“And the club is continually looking for sponsors for game day awards or sponsorship for the junior club.”

And who knows, we could see some of our Bombers running onto the G as part of an Australian Women’s Football League in the not-too-distant future.

AFL clubs are already sinking money into netball teams and the new national league, it’s not such a great leap to see them investing in women’s football. 

EchucaMoama

They play against teams from Shepparton, Mooroopna,

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50 EchucaMoama

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52 EchucaMoama

Tripping around Australia

Peter Tripovich is just about walked out. At 90, he would not be blamed for kicking up his feet and watching the ducks glide by. But this former serviceman is determined to finish a charity walk around Australia he started a decade ago and as he told LANA MURPHY, the only thing that will stop him is death.

ECHUCA’S Peter Tripovich is still slogging his way around Australia with the words of his father and King Solomon ringing in his ears.

“Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

It’s a statement that’s stuck with him, and one that’s getting him through his walk around Australia — 10 years after he started it.

The 90-year-old is so close to the finish line, he can almost taste it.

He knows nothing will ever be as sweet.

Never one to let age get in the way of things, the former farmer and RAAF serviceman started a mammoth task when he was 79 years old.

He set out on a mission to pound the pavements of Australia’s coast, raising money for International Children’s Care (ICC) — an organisation raising funds to alleviate poverty and build brighter futures for destitute children in developing countries.

But after a year of walking, only 5500 km from the finish line in Pemberton, WA, Peter left to care for his sick wife at home.

“It was a pity to leave the walk early, especially so close to the end,” Peter said.

“But you have to put your loved ones first and Jan needed me.”

Jan died, and as years passed, Peter’s trip became a distant memory.

“I sold the van and caravan, I thought I was finished.

“But people always said to me — Pete, you should go back and finish.”

So he did. Picking up exactly where he left off in January this year.

“There is no point sitting around waiting to die — I might as well do something exciting,” he said.

He and driver Damien Buegge drove out of town and onto Pemberton with little more than a pile of books and a first aid kit.

Peter estimated a return in July, but injury and a little thing called old age have slowed him down.

He now hopes to see Melbourne in early October.

“I’ve had a bit of a niggle on my foot,” he said.

A niggle — otherwise known as a torn Achilles tendon and infected blister.

“But I just keep going slowly, just limping a little,” he said.

Wake up is always at 3.30 am, on the road by 4 am.

Damien, the driver, meets him around 7 am in the van for some brekkie before Peter hits the road solo again.

53 EchucaMoama

”I ALWAYS THOUGHT, GEE, I SHOULD GO FINISH THAT, I REALLY SHOULD. THERE IS NO POINT SITTING AROUND WAITING TO DIE — I MIGHT AS WELL DO SOMETHING EXCITING.” PETER TRIPOVICH “What else am I going to do?” he asked.

“I need to get in 12 hours of walking, best to start early.”

Although he knew it would be a hard feat meeting the 50 km a day quota he achieved last trip, he’s still managing to walk about 30 km daily.

Once, he did 83 km — albeit by accident.

“Last time I did this walk I spent some time camping by the roadside, I thought I’d give it another go,” he said.

“We needed some repairs on the van so I told Damien to go ahead to Ravensthorpe while I set up camp about 30 km out.

“He called and checked on me around dinner time, I said I was fine and was looking forward to the sleepover.

“But I didn’t realise how bad the mosquitoes were. I couldn’t cope, so I got up and walked the 33 km to the next town, I got there in the early hours of the morning.

“I had nothing left in the tank.”

He thinks like an athlete he said, just looking to the next checkpoint.

“I don’t really let my mind wander,” he said.

“It’s just like a marathon, I aim for this tree and when I get there I aim for the next, I just keep pushing.

“I’ve been in the bush pretty much all my life. I like to see scenery and the formations of the country. I don’t get bored at all because I see something to interest me all the time.

“But I’m done for by sunset, I go to bed with the chooks.”

No surprise, given his decades spent pulling out tree stumps with ropes and pulleys, living life in the bush after the war.

He’s become a bit of a star, walking through towns packed

with media scrums and school children, eager to find out just how he’s doing it.

“That’s easy,” he said.

“It’s for the children.

“Children are so important in this world, they are the leaders of tomorrow and they deserve a good start in life.”

Between his two trips, Peter visited the Thai/Burmese border border region to help build shelters for children and villagers.

An experience that’s had a lasting affect on him.

“It puts things in perspective, these children in third world countries are just like they are but they’re living in unlucky circumstances.”

After raising $25,000 in 2005, he set a new target of $50,000.

One that’s been smashed by $20,000.

“This is easy compared to their living conditions,” he said.

The friendly larrikin who likens his appearance to a whippet said he couldn’t think of a better way to spend his 90th birthday in February.

The pair of unlikely friends enjoyed some baked beans and dog biscuits out beyond the black stump, somewhere between Esperance and Norseman in Western Australia.

They’ve had some rest periods — “doctors orders” and met “so many lovely people who want to help”.

“My favourite part about all this is meeting new people, telling them about why I am doing this and hearing stories from around the country,” Peter said.

“There are so many kind souls on this earth.”

And Peter is one of them. 

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56 EchucaMoama

An epiphany THAT INCLUDED JUST ABOUT EVERYONE Phil Evans is an ordinary bloke who just happens to have achieved some extraordinary achievements. And as MARK FITZGERALD discovers, along the way he managed to convert a fair part of Echuca-Moama as well. >>

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EchucaMoama

“I’M JUST A RUN-OF-THE-MILL COUNTRY KID I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT. THERE’S NOTHING SPECIAL ABOUT ME, I’LL GIVE YOU THE TIP.” PHIL EVANS

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>>

EchucaMoama

TO MEET Phil Evans is to meet someone you would just as easily walk past on the street without a second glance.

Thomson left the latter with no possible response other than ‘it can and it should’.

To talk to Phil Evans, however, is an entirely different experience altogether.

And the two immediately set about making Phil’s vision a reality.

Phil fixes you with the clear eyes of a man entirely at peace with his conscience and a look that invites you to make the same appraisal of yourself.

After organising another football game and recognising the impact it had on the kids involved including Evans’ own, Evans and Thomson formed a steering committee that applied for a grant to the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust, a philanthropic body established in 1951 by its namesake.

Then he talks.

People who know Phil call him passionate; enthusiastic; driven.

All those qualities could be true of a person born to work in sales or any number of other fields.

But it takes something special to be an evangelist.

You have to have conviction to be an evangelist, and to hear Phil Evans talk is to hear a man whose convictions frame his every word.

The second son of Lockington-Bamawm dairy farmers Russell and Kath Evans, the former elite junior footballer, the kid who grew up wanting to be a stock and station auctioneer and the man known uniformly to those who love him as Flipper, now has a remarkable achievement to his name in the area of disability and he can’t see what all the fuss is about.

Not that that matters, because as Andrew Thomson — his friend of 30 years and member of the steering committee of Phil’s community disability inclusion vehicle the One and All Inclusion Project — will tell you, “there’s plenty of people who will be happy to talk to you about Flip.”

The submission was successful and the committee was given $60,000 to establish Evans’ vision.

“We nearly fell over,” says Thomson.

As Thomson describes it, from that auspicious starting point, Evans then came into his own.

“Flip drew on all his contacts in the community to make the project happen and he did that with massive passion and drive,” Thomson says.

“He has an amazing ability to connect with people from any walk of life — corporate people, sporting identities, community organisations and of course people with a disability — and with him driving it the One and All Inclusion Project went from strength to strength.”

Today it is an Echuca-Moama institution.

It runs annual camps, deb balls, sporting events and fun days for people with a disability and has an annual fundraising and awareness day called Orange Day that sees people throughout the region bedecked in orange.

“Flip came to me about seven years ago with an idea,” says Thomson who still works as a rural access officer for the Shire of Campaspe.

The centrepiece of the project is the Echuca Moama Rockets — a football team — and the Rockettes, its netball counterparts.

“He says he had just seen a game of footy where disabled kids were playing alongside abled kids and he wanted to know how he could make things like that happen more often,” he says.

The Rockets compete in the AFL-inspired Football Integration Development Association’s (FIDA) Northern Conference against teams from Shepparton, Wodonga and Wangaratta and recently had their first win when they hosted the Northern Conference round robin carnival in June.

The game in question was the first inclusion game in the Echuca-Moama region organised by a group of parents from the Echuca Specialist School, concerned their children were missing out on experiences children without disability take for granted.

At the time Evans was the owner of local sports store Sportspower and had been asked to supply jumpers and other equipment for the game.

Naturally he obliged, and as a thank you was invited along.

Evans remembers the day as an epiphany.

“I had a vision,” he says.

“I just thought ‘why can’t this happen more often’?”

No doubt the look on his face when he posed that question to

In 2015, Evans, now president of the One and All Inclusion Project, accepted the Community Group of the Year award at the Victorian Regional Achievement and Community Awards ceremony on behalf of the group he had originated six years earlier with nothing more than an idea.

So what can be said of a person who takes it upon himself to create out of nothing a boundary breaking juggernaut on behalf of people with a reduced capacity to help themselves?

Hero?

Legend?

Saint?

“I’m just a run-of-the-mill country kid I would have thought,” Evans says of himself. >>

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EchucaMoama

“HE HAD JUST SEEN A GAME OF FOOTY WHERE DISABLED KIDS WERE PLAYING ALONGSIDE ABLED KIDS AND HE WANTED TO KNOW HOW HE COULD MAKE THINGS LIKE THAT HAPPEN MORE OFTEN.” ANDREW THOMSON

60 EchucaMoama

>> “There’s nothing special about me, I’ll give you the tip.”

Phil Evans was born in 1972 in Echuca.

His older brother Paul had been born four years earlier and in no time the two were as thick as thieves.

“We had a real bond; we never fought,” Evans remembers.

But something separated the brothers in a permanent way.

Paul was born with a disability — arthrogryposis — a disorder affecting muscle development.

As Evans describes it, his brother simply had “no muscles”.

“Paul spent four or five years in callipers and Phil spent hours outside specialists’ offices in Melbourne with me when Paul was being treated,” Kath Evans says.

Evans downplays the impact of his brother’s disability on his passion to improve the lives of disabled people through One and All, but his mum says their home was one where compassion was easy to learn.

“It was something we taught both our boys and something Phil learned just by being Paul’s brother — anyone who is less abled than you still deserves to be treated with respect,” she says.

The bond between the two is all the more remarkable for the particular talents each was blessed with.

“Paul was born with brains,” Phil says of his brother, who finished a Business degree and works for the City of Bendigo.

“When brains were being handed out, I lined up for thickshakes and asked for two,” he jokes.

But the boy could play footy.

Herald. The job suited his personality and the experience in a sales-marketing environment provided a foretaste of his role in selling the message of inclusion that following other customer-focused work as a sports store owner and a publican has now become such a large part of his life.

So large in fact that he has taken the message abroad.

On a 12-month trip around Australia with wife Belinda and their three children, Evans established a version of the One and All Inclusion Project in Esperance, WA, that has since been absorbed by Inclusion WA. “When we were over there I had some involvement with Clontarf which was founded by (former Fremantle Dockers coach) Gerard Neesham,” Evans says.

The Clontarf Foundation uses football as a tool for improving the life skills and employment readiness of young Aboriginal men.

“The kids they work with are rewarded with football for doing schoolwork and other things that prepare them for the real world,” he says.

Evans involvement in Clontarf saw him spend two weeks working at the Clontarf Aboriginal High School with some of Australia’s most disadvantaged young people.

“The school had barbed wire on top of the fences but I got to see indigenous kids using footy as a tool for learning life skills,” he remembers.

As evidenced by his work with the Rockets and the Rockettes it is a model Evans believes in to his core.

Evans excelled at junior football, being selected to represent Vic Country as a teenager and playing pre-draft games with Essendon and Carlton, but an AFL career was not to be.

His work in establishing the One and all Inclusion Project brought him to the attention of Murray Human Services, where he now works as enterprise and inclusion manager, overseeing its supported employment program Task Force.

Eventually he settled into senior football at Echuca Football Club but a severe head injury brought his career to an end at the age of 24.

This year he received a Victorian Disability Award for Excellence in Employment Outcomes for his work with Task Force, an honour he takes in his stride.

“When that happened I thought life was over but my thought process changed and life took me in another direction,” he says.

“It’s more about Task Force ticking a lot of boxes and creating some great opportunities,” he says.

That direction included coaching, travel and marriage, parts of his life that provide balance to what might otherwise be an overwhelming list of responsibilities.

In years 10 and 11 he boarded at Salesian College, undertaking an agricultural course that saw him split his time between the classroom and the farm, with a view to fulfilling a childhood ambition to be a stock and station auctioneer.

Returning home however he found it difficult to combine work in that area with the right football opportunity, so he eventually took a job in advertising at The Riverine

Evans will look to step down as Rockets president at the end of this year, but is confident that part of his legacy is in safe hands.

“When you have a baby you want to see your baby walk and I think it’s time for the Rockets to be okay without me,” he says.

“If I can’t give 110 per cent then it’s time to step away,” he says.

As for the future, Evans is prepared for any possibility.

“You just don’t know what’s going to jump up,” he says.

Whatever it is that jumps up next in Flipper’s life, be sure he will give it 110 per cent. 

62 EchucaMoama

Our leading lady For more than 50 years Helen Coulson has helped weave the social tapestry of Echuca-Moama’s story.

LANA MURPHY found out what keeps her going after all these years.

HELEN Coulson is many things; writer, teacher, historian and advocate.

A mother, wife and grandmother.

A published author, former Port of Echuca manager, founder of the Echuca Historical Society.

A 2016 recipient of the Order of Australia medal.

She is a living legend of Echuca-Moama.

Without her, the town would be a very different place.

But she didn’t really mean to make such a difference.

“I love the boats and barges.

“They’re what I’m most interested in.”

The PS Adelaide — which celebrated its 150th anniversary this year — was the first to arrive at the Port of Echuca purchased by the Historical Society and Apex club.

Then came the Pevensey and the Arbuthnot and eventually the feature film All the Rivers Run which put Echuca on the international map.

“I certainly won’t take credit for that one,” Mrs Coulson laughed.

“I just do what I do, I do what makes me happy, and whatever else happens, happens,” she said.

But there’s no doubt without her lobbying for change the port would still have been a bare industrial space.

When she was told she was one of 186 Australian women to receive the OAM this year, Mrs Coulson was baffled.

It’s also unlikely the story of Echuca-Moama would ever have been told without Mrs Coulson’s documentation in EchucaMoama, Murray River Neighbours— reprinted three times, including in 2009.

“For me I have been recognised for things I’m simply interested in, things I enjoy, it’s just convenient that people have enjoyed what I’ve done,” she said.

Growing up in the Dandenong region of Victoria during the 1920s and 30s, Mrs Coulson was always curious about history.

She would ask questions of her elders, take notes and write stories about those who came before her, making little books of history for no one but herself.

It wasn’t until 1948 after she and husband Max moved to Horsham that she became a published historian.

But Mrs Coulson never knew just how much her skills were needed until moving to Echuca in 1960.

“I was so taken by the town’s unique history and inspiring stories,” she said.

“I could not believe they weren’t documented, there were so many tales to tell.”

“I realised very quickly nothing much had been printed on this town’s history so I wrote a rather pathetic first book and it just took off,” she said.

It took off because rather than dry, academic publications, because Mrs Coulson’s writing is engaging, relatable and easy to understand.

And although it was a time long before the internet and copy and paste, it was easy for her to write, most of the facts were just sitting in her mind.

“I’ve always strived to make things readable and tell a story,” she said.

It’s what has kept her sharp after all these years.

And so it began.

She helped found the Echuca Historical Society that year and campaigned tirelessly for the restoration of the port and wharf area which, due to years of neglect, had become derelict, used only for storage and scraps from Evans’ Sawmill.

“You could not even imagine it,” she said.

“The wharf was a complete danger zone, just covered in saw dust as it was machinery dominated, you should’ve seen the Bridge Hotel — nothing like what it is today — and there were no boats at the wharf.”

Becoming the port general manager during the 1980s allowed her to incite more change.

“Doing it up just completely rejuvenated the area and we were thrilled to pieces to get the boats back,” she said.

“HOW DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU’RE GOING UNLESS YOU KNOW WHERE YOU CAME FROM? DON’T YOU THINK IT’S IMPORTANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE YOU WERE HERE?” HELEN COULSON

63

She’s still part of the Historical Society, is a Friend of Old Moama (active in the creation of the Chanter St heritage precinct), advocated for the new Campaspe Regional Library (writing a history of it only three years ago) and just published her book on the PS Adelaide.

She uses technology almost as well as a teenager, although she said she struggles with the concept of email sometimes.

“But it’s important to keep up with changes especially as a writer, and as a person,” she said.

Mrs Coulson never let herself be placed in a box, even as a young woman during the 50s she was independent, empowered, a visionary.

She has always been a step ahead of the pack, working toward a brighter future while also looking further into the past.

“How do you know where you’re going unless you know where you came from?” she asked.

“Don’t you think it’s important to know what happened before you were here?

“That way you can better help shape the days to come.” 

EchucaMoama

Today she lives alone and functions largely independently, spending hours documenting history, writing words and thinking.

64 EchucaMoama

Ships of the desert DROP ANCHOR IN KYABRAM Getting Victoria’s first camel dairy farm up and running has been a tough ask but as TYLA HARRINGTON discovered, it helps if you had spent a bit of time running them around the Top End first. >>

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66 EchucaMoama

>> ANY new business will have humps to get over but Megan and Chris Williams brought their own to the launch party when they opened Victoria’s first camel dairy farm.

With advanced diplomas in farming as a foundation, Megan and Chris had the background required to transition from the traditional to being right out there.

It was back in 2014 when the Kyabram couple decided kiss their cows goodbye and become just the second camel farm in Australia.

Soon that would come as second nature.

“We were traditional dairy farmers, rearing heifers to start our own dairy,” Megan said.

“But with the everyday challenges in the dairy industry we simply wanted to do something different,” she said.

“We had both spent some time in the Northern Territory, which was where we had met, working with camels.

“And we had heard you could milk them so we thought, why not?”

It was the rest, they soon found, which was a little more complicated.

“Chris and I underestimated the work it would take,” Megan said.

“It was a steep learning curve but it was exciting.”

Because not only were Chris and Megan milking the camels, they were also processing the milk and then marketing the branded product.

They were and still are doing everything.

“EVERYONE LOVES WATCHING THE PROCESS AND WE THINK PEOPLE WOULD LOVE TO COME IN FOR A CAMELCCINO OR CAMELSHAKE.” MEGAN WILLIAMS

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“We bottle the milk to either 500 ml or one litre, comply with all the food safety regulations then we sell it to whoever wants to buy it.

“At one stage we were selling well more than 500 litres a week but over winter it has slightly dipped.

“Our main areas are Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra and Adelaide and we have a few stores scattered throughout country regions.

“We also have a large number of private orders.”

Today Chris and Megan milk about 100 camels twice a day, seven days a week by a portable machine.

But unlike cows you can’t just get milk from camels — they have to give it.

“What happens is we bring them into the dairy yard and then bring the calves over to have a suckle. That stimulates them and they let down and we put the cups on.

“We only put milk cups on once they let down.

“They only let down for about 90 seconds. During that time you can get between two and ten litres.

“We have to keep the calves with them to help stimulate the milk production.

“We tend to average five to six litres from each camel per day.”

But that’s only after the camels are trained, Megan said, which takes about four to six weeks.

During the training Megan and Chris also work to gain the camel’s trust.

“Once you have that they become very co-operative,” Megan said.

“But you have to gain their trust, they won’t just give it to you.”

Chris and Megan’s camels love pats and attention.

And with three young boys of their own, there’s plenty of hands to manage the patting shift.

“The biggest difference I’ve found is camels are a lot more affectionate and they are really smart,” Megan said.

“They’re actually a protective species and they have an inquisitive and curious nature. All our camels sniff and touch us and come up for cuddles, and the calves just swamp us.

“Cows are more creatures of habit and they don’t care if they don’t get a pat along the way.

“But all our camels love pats, and they each have names and personalities.

“Another difference is the fencing around the farm, which has to be more strategic.

“We source all our camels from the wild so we also have to fence train them.”

So what about the spitting?

“There is none,” Megan said.

“They can spit but only when they are very defensive, but it never happens to us.

“There’s only one camel that has ever spat at us and that was because we were trying to load it up. We couldn’t load it and it took a bit of time so he got a bit cranky.

“You just have to take a gentle approach and don’t pressure them.

“And of course rewarding them with food helps a lot.”

In terms of taste, Megan said camel milk was creamier and saltier.

She said it was also the healthier alternative.

“Analytic tests show camel milk has 30 per cent less fat, 40 per cent less lactose and has higher amounts of calcium, magnesium, potassium and iron than ordinary milk.

“It also has different levels of insulin.”

Megan said their camels are also run on a dairy diet.

Four of the herd also double up as riding camels.

“It’s similar to riding a horse. Obviously there’s a hump in the middle,” she said.

“Either one or two people can sit on them.

“Camel and riding and tourism have been around for a very long time. It’s camel milk that has taken off in the past three years.

“When Chris and I met in 2008 I was working as a tour guide, dealing with camels.”

So you could say Megan — who was born in Kyabram — has always been destined to find the niche market she has.

Their camel milk — which sells for $21 a litre — can be purchased from Shebani’s Mediterranean Restaurant in Echuca and Annie Dillon Florist and Gifts in Kyabram.

But milk is just part of their booming little enterprise — thanks to their camels they also sell soap, lip balm (chocolate, unscented and peppermint) and laundry powder.

Chris and Megan’s farm is growing, and growing quickly.

“There’s huge demand,” Megan said.

“We have plans in the pipeline to move to a much larger farm, and we hope to set ourselves up for tourism as well.

“Everyone loves watching the process and we think people would love to come in for a camelccino or camelshake,” she said.

“So many groups come and tour the farm so we want to try and make the most of the tourism side of it.

“We now employ two fulltime staff and that’s set to grow and we see ourselves growing three or four times bigger than we are.”

Today there are a lot of humps at their farm but that’s no problem, they’re good for business. 

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“We are the factory. We have a processing room on the farm,” Megan said.

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It’s a bloody business BUT SOMEONE HAS TO DO IT When TYLA HARRINGTON was sixyears-old she asked her father if she could go to work with him. He said no. Her father was a slaughterman.

It was his job to work inside the walls most of us would like to avoid. It was his job to help feed the nation. >>

>> THE Beatles singer songwriter Paul McCartney once said “if slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian”.

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What he didn’t say was if people could see inside an abattoir we would witness what it takes to be a slaughterman.

EchucaMoama

He didn’t tell us that these men were putting their body on the line so that meat could be served to Australia — the country that (as of last year) became the meat-eating capital of the world.

And he didn’t say that of the men we would be looking at, few — if any — would retire in the same position.

Because it’s almost an impossibility.

Arthritis, zoonotic diseases, repetitive strain injuries — and all the cuts and tears along the way — can bring a slaughterman to his knees well before retirement age.

Echuca slaughterman Jay Harrington, my father, who has been in the industry for more than 30 years, said he could count on one hand the people who retired with a knife in their hand.

“Most have to become labourers, who earn less money, while others have to do something else,” he said.

“But when you’ve been doing something for so long it becomes all you know, so a lot have to stay.

“After putting your body on the line for the industry it doesn’t seem fair to have to drop wages to remain in it.

“With the retirement age being lifted, bowing out as a slaughterman has become almost impossible.

“I do think the government does need to provide some sort of compensation to the abattoir owner because they have to employ people they know will come under injury.

“You always hear about the poor farmer or the poor supermarket but never the poor slaughterman because for some reason we’re considered the underbelly of the workforce.”

Let’s imagine the Echuca abattoir walls are glass.

For a moment, let’s imagine stepping into the shoes of a slaughterman.

At 6 am every day my father changes into all whites and steps on to the kill floor with his knives.

Once the knives are sharpened the pigs and sheep start coming down the chain.

And the slaughtermen start work.

“We can have anywhere between 1000 to 1600 units,” he said.

“If one man stops we all stop.

“The chain is as quick as your weakest man, unless that man is covered by the rest of the team.”

Let’s imagine the walls have always been glass. Let’s go back to the beginning when dad was just 16.

He was working a fish and chip shop in Kyabram when, after being recommended by his boss, he rode his pushbike to the abattoir facility there, which has since been shut down.

“It was a daunting experience. I had never been in an atmosphere like it,” he said. >>

“AT THE MOMENT THE INDUSTRY IS STRUGGLING. WE’RE AFFECTED BY THE DROUGHT, FLOODS AND ANYTHING THE FARMER IS AFFECTED BY.” JAY HARRINGTON

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>> “The manager said I could start straight away. There was no induction — I was just put on the floor and the slaughtermen showed me what to do.

“There were no knives. I was just on a trial to see how I would go.

“At the end of the week the slaughtermen started to take me under their wing.”

He was earning $110 weekly as a labourer at 16-years-old working five days a week on a tally roster — working until the number of animals required to be killed, were killed.

“I remember a rail landed on my head. I walked up to one of the slaughts and blood was running down my face,” he said.

“He told me to go home but I said I was fine and kept working.

“Then he went to management and said I should be on adult wages. The next week I was paid $300 a week — adult wages.”

Eventually he found the courage to tell his colleagues he aspired to be a slaughterman.

“The next day I was told I could start training,” he said.

“After time as a labourer the slaughtermen (about five at the time) said I could have some knives.

“Back then we held pigs (that were already dead) over a hot tub of water and had to use a tool to scrape the hair off. After 10 minutes you would be exhausted.

“After my first day of that I had blisters all over my hands.

“It was full on and demanding but because I was with a good bunch of blokes they all helped me ease into it.

“It (killing animals) became second nature to me. It was my job.”

But it was this second nature that landed him in surgery after he slid his hand up a blade while sticking a calf.

“There was no such thing as gloves then,” he said.

“When I was sitting in hospital I watched my fingers turn black.

“I learned my lesson. I shouldn’t have been using the knife I was using.”

In 2011 The Age reported the meat industry contributed about $2.5 billion to the state’s economy, providing jobs and industry to towns around regional Victoria. The news outlet also reported it inflicted an almost unrivalled injury toll on its 18 ,600 workers and almost one in 10 of them were teenagers.

At the time, WorkSafe, the state workplace regulator, had won convictions in cases involving workers losing fingers and thumbs to meat mincing machines or pneumatic cutters, and getting arms caught in unguarded conveyors.

In the financial year just closed there were 355 workers’ compensation claims in Victoria’s meat industry that required at least 10 days off work, or cost more than $580 in treatment, or both — almost one a day.

Nationally the industry’s injury and illness rate remained twice as high as that in the construction industry, and four times the average of all workplaces.

“The slaughtermen had told me to use the cold water I had beside be but I just went hell for leather.

“Cuts and bumps come with the job,” Mr Harrington said.

“I had 21 days to see whether I could keep up with the slaughtermen or not. I was able to keep up so I got the job.

“I saw a man shoot his finger off with a gun and a lot of people kicked unconscious.

“THE TRUTH IS — WE’RE DOING OUR JOB JUST LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE. SOME PEOPLE MIGHT NOT LIKE IT BUT SOMEONE HAS TO DO IT.” 73

JAY HARRINGTON

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“We meet all the standards we have to. Everything is in place to make sure it’s as healthy and safe as it can be but that doesn’t mean there isn’t risk and danger involved.

“There is.”

Eventually dad moved to the Echuca abattoir now known as Riverside Meats where he contracted Q fever — what he refers to as the abattoir asbestos.

“Q fever was the worst flu I ever had,” he said.

“When the shots were introduced I was tested and I didn’t need one. If you didn’t need one that meant you have had it before.”

According to qfever.com.au claims made to the Australian meat industry are at least $1 million annually.

It is considered among the most costly and infectious diseases in Australia.

It can also cause severe complications including extreme fatigue or heart and liver damage. Up to 20 per cent of cases are complicated.

Sometime after contracting the disease dad opted for a career change — but it didn’t last long.

“I missed the camaraderie of an abattoir,” he said.

“It’s a different industry than it was when I first started.

“There are a lot of rules and a lot of regulations, which I agree with and welcome.

“At the moment the industry is struggling. We’re affected by the drought, floods and anything the farmer is affected by.”

Given the injuries and the bad days, would he turn back the clock?

“I wouldn’t,” he said.

“For me personally, it is a great career choice if you’re willing to work hard.

“If I could go back to the 16-year-old boy I was I would still walk through the doors I did.

“In saying that though, if you think you’re going to live your life right through as a slaughterman you might want to re-evaluate because chances are you won’t.

As for McCartney’s statement?

“The walls are glass to me and I still eat meat,” he said.

“He is implying that abattoir workers are of a different breed because they see the inside of an abattoir and still eat meet.

“The truth is — we’re doing our job just like everybody else. Some people might not like it but someone has to do it.” 

on al d’s

“It’s almost unthinkable.”

5 01 ©2

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Photograph: Leticia Lopes Photography

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We have been looking after Echuca-Moama for over 100 years, support the club that supports the community.

Choice of two roast meats, roast potatoes, vegetables, bread roll and condiments PLUS warm dessert. Only $13.50.

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Monday lunch and dinner specials $15 Bovine & Beverage – T-Bone steak cooked just how you like it with the choice of sauce, chips, vegetables or salad and a drink. * Not available public holidays.

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Leave the car at home and get the free courtesy bus to pick you up and drop you off. (Within a 10 km radius).

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78 EchucaMoama

Nowhere to run to, NOWHERE TO HIDE

From starting barrier to back straight racehorses are always under the eagle eyes of the stewards.

And as BEN CARTER discovered when admitted to their on-track enclave at Echuca Racecourse every kind of gizmo is at their beck and call to ensure the punter gets the best possible run for his or her money.

WHAT’S the first thing the punter needs when they arrive at the racetrack?

A race book — so much easier to read than the one in the newspaper but with nowhere near the valuable form guide that comes in, well in the form guide.

But there’s a few blokes who can never do that, and for good reason.

While you’re urging your pick to the finishing line, you may never notice the serious, eagle-eyed guys with binoculars at critical points around the track.

That’s partly because the race stewards spend most of their time behind closed doors in their race control office.

But the success of any race day relies on them. A lot.

They are, in a way, keepers of the punters’ cash.

They are there to make sure each and every runner in the field does their best, so no-one can say they were dudded out of their hard-earned dough.

Chief among them is Echuca’s Peter Ryan, chief steward, assisted in his role on Echuca Cup Day earlier this year by Taylor Wilson, Dan Conway and Jeff Anslemi.

The group is an experienced lot, with Conway heading towards 25 years of regulating meets, Wilson is up to a decade himself and Ryan’s been in the hot seat for 33 years after stints as a jockey and trainer.

And his family’s imprint is very much on the town; with Ryan’s father Frank honoured by having the Echuca Harness Racing Club track named after him.

“We run all aspects of the meeting,” Ryan said from his seat at the helm of the race control room.

“We inquire into incidents — but always hope there aren’t any.”

The need for more than one steward would seem obvious.

Like everything else done by race control, it’s in the interest of absolute fairness.

“Every (race) day is different,” Ryan said.

“That’s why we have a panel and vote. You’ll never know the answer to everything (on your own).”

The Racing Victoria stewards’ room looks about as big as a family lounge. But there’s nothing relaxing about it on race day.

Instead the crew have access to multi-camera live streaming and rewind footage — and instant replays of every race.

79 EchucaMoama

Echuca Racing Club’s chief steward, Peter Ryan.

The stewards file a detailed report after each race and it is filed for use — for ever.

Track command centre also has constant communication open to Racing Victoria HQ at Flemington, including form analyst Andrew Kassay.

Additional decisions can be considered by another group there in real time.

Much like the National Rugby League’s referee bunker system.

Although Ryan raised some conjecture about who thought of the concept first.

“They probably pinched the idea off us,” he said with a laugh.

“We’ve been doing it for two years.”

The stewards inspect average betting taken on the course for each race, also searching for any anomalies. >>

80 EchucaMoama

>> “We look at all the prices at Flemington (to compare data) and see if everything’s above board,” Wilson says.

“They’ve got all bets from around the country in front of them.”

Wilson seems like the stewards’ technology guru — and the only one aged under 50 in the room, as he jokingly reminds Ryan.

Each race brings with it an assigned sequence of events.

Wilson’s role will be to watch all the camera footage and make appropriate notes on the perceived efforts made by each horse and rider.

Ryan, binoculars grasped in hand, heads upstairs to the tower above the winning post, with another pair of eyes at the turn for home.

The radio crackles to life in race control once more before race one in a conversation that will take place nine times before the day is over.

It’s Ryan — to everyone on course who has an official capacity.

“Ambulance online?” he asked.

“Clear, Pete” came the response.

“Vets online?”

“Clear, Pete.”

“Starters online?”

“Clear, Pete.”

And finally to Wilson.

“Bunker online?”

“Clear, Pete”.

“All good,” Ryan pronounced, and, it’s all go.

Despite all this technology jockeys can’t access their mobile phones, iPads or any other similar telecommunication devices from 40 minutes before their first ride of the day.

“Including an iWatch,” he says.

“We’re just getting used to those, too.”

The cameras switch between the standard TV angles and a separate set that can be manipulated from many angles for

the benefit of adjudications.

“I can rewind and get instant feedback of any incident that takes place,” Wilson said.

On Cup Day, the main concern for Ryan and his team has been the heavy track after recent rains.

“It’s got to be safe for horse and rider,” Ryan said.

“Visibility has to be good with stuff flying around in the horses’ faces and horses need footing.”

The stewards arrive two hours before race one to inspect the track, describing the Cup Day surface as the worst you can rate — a heavy 10.

“The track should dry as the day goes on,” Conway says.

“We’ll stay at a 10,” Ryan says.

Ideally?

“A rating of three or four is ideal,” Ryan says, “especially at the start of summer”.

“It’s good to have a bit of give in them so horses don’t jar up.”

The stewards also deal with late intrusions — both directly via the usually closed door of their office and over the phone.

Ryan regularly took and made calls during the day. You’d want to hope his phone battery has been fully charged before he heads out to the turf at half-hour intervals to oversee the galloping action.

“I’ve spoken to a trainer,” Ryan said ahead of race one.

“They have a scratching time and he’s missed that, so we’ve scratched the horse ourselves.”

Wilson turns to his chief.

“The trainer reckons he scratched all three (in his stable) at the same time. Can we check that?”

“I’ll see what I can find out,” Ryan replies.

“There’ll be a minimum fine. We’ll chase it up. If it’s the standard fine it’ll be $200.”

Later there will be a phone call to the trainers to confirm the fine. According to Ryan, they take the news well.

“We try to be as fair as we can,” Ryan said.

“SOME HORSES GO FLAT OUT. SOME LEAN BACK. THEY’VE ALL GOT PERSONALITIES, MATE. THEY’RE NOT MOTORBIKES.” TAYLOR WILSON

“It’s difficult but it’s what we do,” he said.

Next up is trainer Adam O’Neill of Bendigo popping his head in to inform Ryan that horse number five in race two — Son Of Zeus — will have a change of tactics.

It sounds surprising, but this isn’t a Formula One free-forall dash to the line. Yes, the opposition — and the paying public — are made aware of the racer’s tactics ahead of the start.

“He’s going to go more forward from the (start) barrier,” Wilson tells Kassay.

“We need to know at least half an hour prior to the race so if we think it worth releasing to the public we can. Trainers let us know and 99 per cent of the time we release it to other trainers as well. What we do also protects the punter.”

“We’re a punter-driven organisation,” Ryan said in agreement.

“That’s where the majority of revenue is from so if there’s information which may assist them they get it. They’re investing. We release gear details, tactics and so on, to be as transparent as possible.”

Race one is run and won, with New Zealand horse Madam Zabeel beating fellow Kiwi Guru Jim and Small Town Honey to the line.

“Number five (Outdone) hampered 11 (Mrs Bignell) at the start and number three (Guru Jim) bounded away and then lost ground,” Wilson said as he made notes on the TV replay.

“Number 12 (Cheveley Road) raced wide early before being permitted by its rider to go forward.”

All of this takes place in near-silence. If you’re in the race control room you can’t see the crowd outside. Or hear them either.

“Can we get twelve and five looked at?” Ryan said of the result.

“Five was a beaten favourite.”

Not to be outdone, Outdone (that’s horse number five in race one) was done out of a podium place and ended the run in fifth.

“Twelve was disappointing and eased on the home straight,” Wilson adds.

Like his fellow stewards, Ryan looks sharp for the occasion, finely cut in suit and tie.

Appropriate for such a formal — and vital — role on race day.

The heavily-backed Carringbush Lass beats New Zealand’s Worship The Blade and Son Of Zeus.

Ryan walked back to the bunker, stopping to scribble the race result in his program.

15–14–5–9–2–7. Margins? Two lengths then a short half-head.

The riders file in for the obligatory weigh in.

Pat Holmes, having ridden Emsgem, gave his helmet to Ryan, who passed it to Wilson.

Chris Nicoll was next, telling the scales official he also had “200 grams of mud” from that ride.

Then Ryan had another brief chat, this time with Cory Parish, who was on board Separate Ways.

“It didn’t handle the track well from the get-go,” Parish told the chief.

With the weight room all done, the result as it stands is confirmed — bar any post-race protests to be filed.

“Correct weight, thank you,” Ryan says to the scales official.

Always seeking what’s correct. And won’t be satisfied until he finds it.

Like the way movies engage us, the trackside turnstiles only keep clicking if people like the stewards team manage expectation as fairly as possible. And it’s amazing to see how much goes into making it a fair contest.

But, as Ryan said, he and his team were only there because they all first and foremost love horse racing. With all its quirks.

“It’s a unique sport,” Wilson said.

“Some horses go flat out. Some lean back. They’ve all got personalities, mate. They’re not motorbikes. Some really go into their shell on race day. Some come out.”

And the stewards also protect their own reputations — partly by not punting.

“We’re not allowed to bet,” Ryan said. “That’s an absolute given.”

“People invest a lot of money to get their horses to this stage so — as best we can — they are entitled to a fair race.”

The post-race routine ends with the jockeys weighed near the stewards’ room entrance. Right in front of Ryan.

Before long, there’s another race field being called into barrier position.

One by one, the jockeys confirm to Ryan that the track is wet and heavy.

And Ryan’s straight out the door again.

Wilson takes up the theme.

Jamie Mott, rider of Outdone, the pre-race favourite, told Ryan the horse was pushed too hard in the middle stages and it may have been detrimental to how it finished the 1600 m race.

“At the end of the day it comes down to the dollar,” he said.

The stewards also check whip use by each jockey. They are allowed five uses of the whip before the last 100 m. From then on there’s no limit.

Post-race, Ryan signed his name under the column headed “all clear”.

Ryan heads out into the open for race two. Now you can hear

“Punters want to see their money going round on a horse — and we do our best to oblige.”

And he’ll stay all afternoon until they are all all-clear.

Before signing off on another Echuca Cup Day. 

EchucaMoama

Even for someone who loves racing, Ryan said dealing out penalties was the hardest part of his job.

the laughter, the public address announcer and the clapping of hooves on the mounting yard’s concrete path.

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“But it’s one rule for everyone. Every case is on its merits and you use your discretion. And if one’s needed, there will be a set penalty.”

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OUT OF EVERY DAY IN HIS LIFE

SOPHIE BALDWIN knows exactly how good Shannon Fink is at his job — he has taken her 40-something body and like any good panel beater started to knock hers into better shape.

DON’T be fooled by that smile.

Behind its welcoming charm is one very tough cookie, a man still in his twenties who is working as hard as the people he trains to be a success.

Shannon Fink has a dream and he’s more than happy to put in the hard yards to make it a reality.

He’s already taken one of his biggest steps becoming the owner of his own gym — Fitmob.

And you can take it from someone who has been trained by Shannon that smile of his, which so easily takes you in, is particularly deadly during training.

He may be a nice guy to say hello to, but he also knows how to push his clients to get the very best out of themselves — and arguing (even pleading) with him is pointless.

Nor does he tolerate excuses. I thought I was pretty good at them, and have tried them all in the past eight months (FYI, none have worked).

But credit where credit is due, this guy isn’t doing a bad job for someone who left school at 15 to work on his parents’ dairy farm.

Funnily enough though, it is growing up on the family dairy farm and working alongside his hard working mother and father is what he credits with instilling in him such a strong work ethic.

“I wouldn’t be the person I am today without my parents. They have always encouraged me to chase my dreams and they have always had my best interests at heart,” Shannon said.

“I can remember helping mum and dad milk when I was about three years old — growing up on the farm we always just knew the cows had to be milked and that was it.

“The job had to be done — rain, hail or shine — and that’s a lesson I have carried through my whole life. If there is something you want, you just have to work hard for it,” he shrugged.

Shannon’s working career may have started at a young age and at times included three jobs at the same time, demanding 80-hour weeks.

But he reckons it’s all been worth it, and has all counted for something, because today he is doing exactly what he loves.

Always a fit and active kid, it wasn’t until his parents sold the dairy farm in 2006 that Shannon decided to complete a Certificate 3 and 4 in personal training.

He continued working in the agricultural industry, milking for a while and then moving into sales as a dairy rep.

But 2010 was the turning point, that’s when he finally decided to make fitness his mission — and make people like me pay the price in pain.

Shannon started working at the YMCA in Echuca as a gym instructor and personal trainer. >>

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milking everything

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SHANNON’S

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>> He had no idea joining up with Johnny Micalizzi to run the FitMob boot camp would eventually take him to where he is today.

Starting out initially kicking bums in boot camp, Shannon progressed to classes and personal training sessions.

He became second in charge when Johnny and Mel took off on holidays and then this year he took over the whole shooting match.

And while there are plans afoot to introduce a few new things in the future, including a teens boy weight class, Shannon essentially wants to build on the great base he already has.

“I want to start working closely with football-netball clubs from pre-season right through and I would really love to sink my teeth into that.

“Echuca-Moama has one of the highest percentages of obesity and diabetes in Australia and that makes me want to do my job better and educate people on health issues,” he said.

“We also have a dietitian available for consultation here so we can offer the complete package to people serious about making a difference in their lives.”

Owning a gym might be a lot of hard work but Shannon said it was also challenging and rewarding.

“There is a lot of variety involved in this job. I can find myself rehabilitating somebody back from an injury or training them up for something they have coming up, from elite athletes to mums and dads or kids,” he said.

“The best part about my job is watching people achieve their goals, whether that is losing weight or training for

a particular sporting event.

“When you see someone work their butt off and get to the stage where they can achieve what they set out to do, I feel very proud.

“And it’s not me that has done it either, it’s them. I can offer advice but I am taking the backseat, they are the ones putting the work in. I am just helping them along in their journey.”

With that smile back on his face, Shannon described his training methods as hard but fair.

“To be a good trainer or coach it is all about balance, I am hard but I am not over the top.”

Down the track Shannon would love to franchise and open the FitMob brand in a few different locations.

“I would love to grow the business and I have visions of achieving that one day.

“We have great trainers, good ethics and great training methods, I will be giving it a crack anyway,” he said.

And does Shannon have any advice for any young people out there?

“Life is all about balance and if you really want something you can get out there and achieve it.

“If you are passionate about something put your head down and bum up and that is the only way to get there.”

Then he put that smile back on his face and turned to greet members of his next training session as they came through the door.

Glad I was too busy working to join them. 

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Michael Gould gave up everything in a heartbeat for the woman who had captured his heart. But he told LANA MURPHY he has no regrets about the remarkable life he lived. >>

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WAS ALL HIS LIFE

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The love of his life

>> MICHAEL Gould is, by his own admission, an unconventional man.

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To ensure there is no confusion, he warns you when you first meet.

“They should’ve told you,” he says.

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“I don’t believe in boredom.”

A hopeless romantic, the former British Army major has seen every corner of the globe (“except for South America, there’s never been a need”).

Posted to Germany as an 18-year-old in 1950, he was immersed in a country “still in the after-shock of some of the worst atrocities of mankind”.

He went on to climb the army ranks, secure classified postings in Hong Kong and Singapore, come face-to-face with death near the North Pole and dined with the Queen, not once, but four times.

But through it all he is most proud of two things.

One is Cymru. “I am a crazy Welshman, my response to most quirks in my personality is, ‘it’s a Welsh thing’,” he said, staring at the flag of Wales perched on top of the verandah of the home he shared with his late wife Marion for 21 years.

And she is the other thing.

During a posting in Albury in 1971, Michael was a dignitary at the official opening of the Wodonga Civic Centre.

“The chairman of council was talking to me and I made some very, very profound remark,” Michael remembered.

“And a voice beside me said ‘what do you use as a yardstick for making that statement?’

“I turned and saw this very attractive, dark-haired lady standing beside me, and she continued, ‘go on, tell me.. how can you make a statement like that?’

“From that moment on, I loved Marion.”

He can’t remember what he said.

“It’s not relevant,” he said. “She challenged me.”

A local school teacher, four years his senior, and an artist and intellectual, Marion was now also the keeper of his heart.

They would meet frequently at the Albury War Memorial, share stories and talk well into the night, just like giddy teenagers.

But Michael was a 40-year-old man. He was married with two children and a high-ranking official.

And he gave it all away for his Marion.

“There was no question about it,” he said.

“I returned to the UK, resigned my commission and planned my move.

“I returned in 1974 to set up my new life with Marion, a life where I was constantly challenged by a brilliant woman, I had to do something to show my love.”

Between the meet and the move, Michael made Marion a spoon.

There was no homeware store, or Tupperware-style party, no welding, bending or buying.

Just a week of labour, using nothing but a chisel, a knife a piece of wood and the inspiration of love.

A piece of Welsh oak from a lavatory seat was the base for the handcrafted, ancient love spoon. It featured two Ms, a heart and a wren bird, and of course, a bowl.

“The giving of food via the bowl of the spoon is the key to the giving of love,” Michael said.

“It evokes this concept of love, affection, warmth, of giving from one to another.

“It’s not an inanimate object, it’s part of a story.”

It takes a true craftsman to create an authentic Welsh love spoon, the ancient art is dying, but Michael’s refined skill has allowed him to craft spoons for some of the planet’s most notable names.

“My grandfather would shepherd me, I would watch him carve things and when I was five he told me ‘take this stick and turn it into a bird’, so I did,” Michael said.

Since then he’s produced about 400 spoons — every one of them an individual piece of this most ancient art.

Michael spent 22 years away from his hobby while serving in the British Army.

It took love’s spark to reignite his passion.

Proud recipients of his work include Prince Charles and Princess Diana, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke.

“It’s an old fashioned principal called loyalty,” Michael said.

“Some people don’t understand that. I honour the Queen, the royal family, senior politicians; I am an Australian of Welsh extraction.”

It’s no surprise he is patriotic.

Born in 1932 in the small south Wales town of Porthcawl, Michael was one of two children in a poor family, with an artistic seamstress mother and a father who worked at the nearby golf club.

He spent his childhood largely alone.

“I didn’t play football or cricket,” he said.

“But I lived 200 yards from the beach. I got to know the names of all the crabs and the prawns.

“People would ask ‘Where is Michael?’ while others responded ‘He is on the beach, talking to the crabs and prawns of course’.

He attended a council school in Porthcawl, enrolled in the same class with the same teacher who had taught his father 25 years earlier.

“Miss John was very tall with a grey bun down her back and black eyebrows,” Michael laughed.

At 17 it was time to work and his first role, as a bank clerk, was “incredible” he said.

“Incredibly boring.”

At 18 he was conscripted for national service, attended an Oxford cadet school and was gazette a second lieutenant in the Royal Army Ordinance Corp and packed off to Germany as part of the occupation forces after World War II. “I was going to be sent to Korea but they decided I was not worth sending that far,” he laughed.

“It was quite a different job description than what I’d been used to.

“The postage book I was in charge of in the bank was valued at

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“EVERY SHAPE, BUMP AND LUMP HAS TO BE THERE FOR A REASON. AND IT’S VERY IMPORTANT WHERE YOU GET THE WOOD.” MICHAEL GOULD

eight shillings. The first job I had in Germany in a 17-vehicle battalion was to be in charge of two ships loaded with Centurion tanks worth 48 million pounds.”

While the devastated and cowed Germany was slowly emerging as a functional political and economic entity under the US-led Marshall Plan, Michael said he witnessed many Germans “work very hard at coming back to life”.

Sometimes that would mean big parties. But Michael wasn’t interested.

“I lived 25 miles from Dusseldorf, which is like the Paris of Germany, it was wild.

“Other young men with me had fun and said ‘let’s go party’ while I said ‘I am going down to the river to see what I can find’.”

Stones, trees, branches, leaves, Michael was curious about anything to do with nature.

“I liked finding things,” he said.

“They all thought I was weird.”

They didn’t think he was weird when midway through a distinguished military career, within reach of staff command, he threw in the towel.

“I had to have a meeting with the general, who said I had a promising career and could not understand why I was resigning.

“I told him I didn’t want it anymore.

“He said ‘no one has ever said that before’.

“To which I said ‘you’ve never met me before’.”

It was the end of his days hobnobbing with the Queen — but that didn’t matter, he had his own queen now.

“The first time I met Her Majesty she was a princess, I was an officer cadet on parade, frozen to attention,” he said.

“Second time was dinner in Sennelager when I was president of the officers’ corps, I welcomed the guests, with the Queen at top, me at the bottom and proposed the loyal toast from 50 yards away.”

The fifth time was in Blackdown, UK, at the headquarters of the ordinance corps.

“Junior officers must never finish a meal before Her Majesty puts her cutlery down,” he recalled.

“I remember continuously looking around to see if she was done yet, pushing a pea around in circles with a fork.”

They are some of many memories that still flood Michael’s mind, all these years later.

Twenty two years with the British army changes a man.

“I still wake at 6 am every day with the sound of the bugle playing in my head,” he said. >>

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>> “When I woke up this one morning I was standing on a frozen beach 10 km south of the North Pole, just one of my little adventures.”

Michael was in charge of vehicle management during an arctic expedition in the late 1960s. The Americans took him for a joy ride, flying along the coast and landing on what seemed isolated land.

“Just listen,” the US soldier said. “Can you hear the tracks of a tank? We will just stay here for a moment but be ready to move.”

Before they knew it the end of a 120 mm gun loomed over the hill, closely followed by its much bigger tank.

“Major, I think it’s time we pissed off.”

Hundreds of flashbacks move in and out of Michael’s brilliant mind, sadly recently found to be in the early stages of Alzheimer’s.

“Things just come back vividly. I remember what I did, how I did it, why I did it, how I felt, it becomes very easy, it comes back in dreams,” he said.

He remembers a Chinese driver he lived with in Hong Kong, opting to bunk with him instead of living with “four boring people in an office”.

“I didn’t speak a word of Chinese, he didn’t speak English, it didn’t matter,” he said.

When he and Marion arrived in Echuca in 1995, he took on the management development program for dairy farmers across Victoria and South Australia, igniting a passion for small communities, farmers’ rights and the

agriculture industry.

Together they also created exquisite dancing puppets — Michael would design and carve, Marion would paint.

They built an art studio and a woodwork room right near the car port. Marion continued to win increasingly-prestigious awards for her art while Michael spent hours every day labouring over wood.

“Everything I create is an act of love,” he said.

His hand-carved furniture, remarkable spoons and dancing, decorated dolls.

Even a baton he carved and polished to ward off “anyone who makes a fuss”.

Still working with only a handful of tools, the 84-year-old produces commissioned work for families, scouts, schools and institutions around the country — always telling a personal story.

“Every shape, bump and lump has to be there for a reason. And it’s very important where you get the wood.”

Like a lavatory seat made from Welsh oak, found in the rubbish pile at his father’s work, which would become the symbol of undying love between two star-crossed lovers.

It still hangs above the bed the couple shared.

“I’ve lived a full life,” Michael said.

And he never once missed the army, he never missed being posted around the world.

“I had Marion, I had my whole world right in front of me.” 

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>>

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BEN CARTER goes toe-to-toe with local mixed martial artist Mason Lord to find out what makes someone get a kick out of being kicked — or worse. >>

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>> HIS nose has been broken eight times.

And he works fulltime as well so he has a lot to juggle — and

Which is hardly something to be sneezed at.

juggling isn’t easy with constantly damaged hands.

Then there have been the fingers pointing in different

Starting his fight journey at age 15, Lord spent long periods in

directions.

active bouts and then found work life taking over too much.

And toes often found to be in locations other than sticking

But lately he’s been back mixing it with the meanest in the

straight out from the front of the foot.

domestic MMA scene.

But that’s all just another day in the office for Mason Lord,

A quick glance at Lord’s DNA might help explain someone

Echuca mixed martial artist.

getting into MMA at the tender age of 15 — fighting was

After six years as an MMA pro, in a world of caged aggression,

always in his family.

Lord dismisses all those broken and bent bits as mere

Making the transition from being a toddler to a takedown

distractions.

specialist rather obvious.

While there’s a definite tough-guy front when he’s dealing

“It was easy and normal for me,” Lord said. “I didn’t know any

with opponents on the mat, when not competing he is as

different. I was never interested in other sports, even before

chatty and chirpy as your average district footy player.

mum was boxing.”

And he’s got plenty to chat about, with MMA gaining

Yes, you read that last sentence right.

prominence in Australia and the UK after it initially took off via Brazil and the US. His only restriction would seem to be where he lives, in country Victoria.

It has meant he must chase after his dream, logging

Mason’s mother Kim was an Australian amateur boxing champion in her own right.

“He grew up around it,” she said.

And Kim’s own career was meant to last just one fight.

thousands of kilometres to Melbourne and back — and

So how did she end up with five years’ worth of bouts to her

beyond — just to stay in the game.

name?

“It’s about the discipline (of it),” Kim said. “I now do cross-fit and body building. It’s all about discipline — with your eating and training and everyday life.

“We all get up and go to work. That’s discipline and challenging yourself personally, which was the capture for me.

“I suppose it’s horses for courses,” she said.

“I’m true to the boxing side of things. I love the art and game of it. It’s like a chess match.”

“With Mason, cage fighting gets a really bad wrap but for the wrong reasons,” Kim said.

“The one-punch (can kill) thing is terrible as we all know but none of that happens with guys that train, whether as boxers or martial artists. It’s a disciplined sport and they are in control.”

“Cage fighting to the untrained eye does look brutal,” she added.

“But any contact sport is. Rugby, footy — there would be deaths and disability from them, too. Maybe more so than fights.”

Then after the referee has called time the respect between fighters still shines through.

And for all his fearsome style, Lord’s not in the killing business, just the grappling, and (occasionally bone breaking) striking business.

And prefers the former, apparently.

“It’s more where my experience base has been set,” Lord said.

“That’s where I’ve done the most work. I’ve done kickboxing bouts but (grappling) is where the allegiance lies. That’s the best way to say it.”

For Lord the discipline of martial arts training has sustained him throughout his life.

In fact, he’s not so sure things might not have taken an entirely different turn without MMA. Trained fighting got him away from what Lord has called “the wrong crowd” and shaped who he is today.

“It’s a lifestyle and as such you either love it or you don’t, really,” he said.

For those unfamiliar with the world of MMA, two months is the usual amount of preparation time for a fight.

The Echuca MMA club’s motto is “do unto others and then kick them in the head”.

Then he enters the ring and it’s open season.

But that doesn’t mean Lord’s just a street brawler by another name.

preparation has gone into it, Lord’s only thought is to get out of there as fast as possible. >>

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But once he’s in there, regardless of how much training and

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What does Kim make of Mason’s MMA career? And the difference between the sweet science of boxing and the presumed brutality of cage fighting?

rules, of course. Proper stuff.

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“You’re pushing yourself outside your personal boundary — and there’s that little bit of adrenaline rush.”

He enjoys a good fight — but only under agreed competition

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Mason Lord’s mother Kim is a former Australian amateur boxing champion.

>> And he’s laughing while he admitted that.

But it’s less about his opponent, Lord has said. More a mental challenge against himself.

And he can manage on average around three to four fights every 12 months.

“That would be a sensible amount if you’re fit and well,” he said.

“Maybe you could do one a month, but it’s up to the individual. But one a month is a reasonable thing if you’re only fighting and not working. That’s the hardest part — trying to fit everything in.”

And if there ever came a chance to fit in a new challenge such as MMA at the Olympics — under the guise of a reboot of the ancient Greek art of pankration?

Well that would apparently get all his attention.

But for now, we’ll let it be mum who has the last word.

“For me as a mum I would love to see him take on something a bit more docile,” Kim said with a laugh.

“You don’t bring your child into the world to fight. But I’ve done a combat sport so I can understand how he got into that.” 

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Life has been a constant battle for Rene Park — and she has loved every minute of it. This amazing woman, dedicated to education in two countries, tells IVY WISE why she set up her own school and why she left her South African homeland to come here.

AFTER a long battle to have her own children, there was no way South African mother Rene Park was going to send them to boarding school from an early age.

“I wanted to make sure we gave our children the very best education. I didn’t care we were a little country school,” she said.

But living in the isolated north-east farming province of Kwazulu Natal gave her no choice — because there was no local school.

“Iwantedtobeexceedingwhatanyotherschoolwasdoing, so I started visiting all the best private schools. I went everywhere and researched all the best so we could follow the independent schools’ curriculum but add to that and extend the children and enrich that curriculum as much as we could.”

“Allthechildrenhadtogotoboardingschoolfromgradeone,” Rene said.

“Becauseofwherewewere,theclosestbigtownwasanhour away called Grahamstown, which was an educational hub.

“Socomegradeoneallourlittlechildrenwouldheadoffto boarding school at the age of five or six.

“Sothatwaswherethedreamtostartaschoolofourownand just keep our children at home came from. Because those first couple of years at school are just so important.

“Andforthemtobeathomewasthemostimportantpart.”

With a hunting lodge on their farm, the couple hosted some hunters who also happened to be successful businessmen and former teachers.

“Itwassofortuitous.TherewasabuildinginBedfordthatwas for sale. It was built as the prep school 110 years ago. It was absolutely perfect,” she said.

“I started telling them about our plans and the need for a school in our community and one of them said ‘I want to see this building’. We went into this building and one of them, Pete, said ‘right, I’ll buy it for you’.”

Rene spent a year setting up Bedford Country School, which comprised of pre-school (age three) to grade 3.

After being restored to its former glory, the independent school opened in 2009 with 32 children and two teachers — Rene and another, with an assistant each.

As well as being the grade 1–3 teacher, Rene was also the headmistress and chair lady.

By the time she left for Australia, the school was almost at 100 children.

“It was such an amazing journey,” she said.

“IlivedandbreathedBedfordCountrySchoolforthoseyears.

“It was incredibly hard to leave.”

However, in the end, the country’s political situation and uncertain future forced the family to leave.

With her husband’s sister and brother-in-law moving 10 years earlier — settling on a farm just outside of Moama — the Parks came here.

You just have to listen to Rene for five minutes to understand how passionate she is about early education.

Her eyes light up, she becomes animated and her speech quickens — she could talk about it for hours.

Unfortunately we only had one.

“Ifeellikethefirstsixyearsofachild’slifewritesthescriptfor the rest of their school career,” she said.

And having run a pre-school and founded her own school she would know better than most.

“Mypassionistogiveeverychildthebest opportunities, expose them to as many different things as possible and just help each child reach their full potential,” Rene said. >>

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TO A NEW WORLD

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Bringing the dream

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“I FEEL LIKE THE FIRST SIX YEARS OF A CHILD’S LIFE WRITES THE SCRIPT FOR THE REST OF THEIR SCHOOL CAREER.” RENE PARK >> “Forme,beingsurroundedbychildreneverydayissucha precious gift to me.”

and that we are safe.”

Rene, her husband JJ and children Jenna, 13, Scott, 11, and Murray, 3 1/2, arrived in Echuca-Moama at the start of the year, leaving their dairy farming community behind.

“When I tell my friends in South Africa our children walk home after school and they let themselves into the house on their own, they can’t believe it,” she said.

And that’s another plus of living in Australia.

“IthinkIknewfromalittlegirlthatIwantedtobeateacher,”

“It’sjustabsolutelyunheardofinSouthAfrica.Youjustcan’t

she said.

risk it.

“AllthelittlechildrenonthefarmwouldcomeandIwould teach them to speak English. I spoke fluent Zulu.”

“EventhoughlifeinSouthAfricaisstillgood,it’sthatfreedom to do things. The freedom for our children to go fishing in the dam. It’s like those layers of worry are coming off.”

Rene studied to become a pre-primary and primary teacher, before running a pre-school in Bedford.

It was there she had the idea of opening her own school.

Although the move has been challenging for the family, their lifestyle has dramatically improved.

“Myolderchildreneventuallyhadtogotoboardingschool in South Africa, so, for me, the best thing about being in Australia is that every morning, I wake up and I get to wake up my children and every morning I count my blessings that I’ve got them at home with me,” she said.

“IlovethefactI’minvolvedintheirlivesnow,thatItakethem to sport, that I can be there for all those things which are so important because they grow up so quick. In the blink of an eye, they’re big.

“Ioftenthink‘Iwantmychildrentoknowtheycanachieve anything’ and to be brave enough to step up to those things, even if you are so scared. Just be brave and say ‘yes, we can do this, yes, we can start a new life’. You’ve got to just conquer those fears.

“Themostimportantthingisthatwearetogetherasafamily

As for her teaching career, Rene has had to start all over again.

Her 20 years of teaching experience and founding a school in South Africa did not matter in Australia.

However, the owners of Echuca’s Pink and Blue Early Learning Centre could see Rene would be the perfect kindergarten (pre-school) teacher.

“Ihadtodoasix-weekplacementtogetmyqualification,” Rene said.

“You just have to start like everyone else, from the very bottom.”

Now qualified, Rene uses Australia’s early years learning framework in her program, but “enriches it and extends the children”.

Every morning starts with movement, ball and midline exercises.

She also incorporates music, maths, science and baking into her program.

“Tomakeanexperiencereallymemorableandfromthemto

learn from it, it has to be multi-sensory,” she said.

“Bakingandscienceareamongstthosethatofferthemostand the children love it. To get the maths concepts, you bring in baking by measuring.”

And then there’s the yoga and meditation.

“Reachingouttothecommunityissoimportant,”shesaid.

Rene regularly takes her class on visits to Glanville Village.

Children decide what to make for the residents and do room visits, where they sing and interact with the elderly residents.

“I come away from there feeling like it’s food for my soul,”

Rene said she always thought grade one was her passion, but she said pre-school allowed more freedom.

“Tobebackinthatenvironmentwherethatpressure’snot there. Letting each child develop at their own pace, finding how they learn and working and developing each child and what they’re interested in,” she said.

By the end of the pre-school year, Rene hopes the children leave with a huge amount of self-esteem and, most importantly, a love for learning.

“I want them to come away every day thinking we had so much fun. I want them to have that love for learning,” she said.

Rene said.

“Thisisgoingtosetthepathfortherestoftheirschooling

“Childrencanlearnsomuchfromolderpeopleandviceversa.

They love the interaction. They give hugs and they’re so open to all of that and it’s the lessons they learn from each other.

“Andthechildrenwouldhaverecognisedthedifferencethey made from that little visit and how much happier they left that resident feeling. For them to recognise how they can make a difference to people’s lives is such an important skill.

“Makingadifferenceinourcommunity,makingadifferencein our environment.”

What Rene loves about the early years’ framework is that it is play based.

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“It doesn’t matter the content of the curriculum you’re teaching, if you can build a child’s self-confidence and selfesteem, through story or whatever it may be, that child can go on and achieve anything in life.”

Rene said there was no greater achievement than watching a child blossom.

“Whenyoushowerthemwithobviouslygenuinecompliments and you boost them, you can literally see a child blossoming in front of you,” she said.

“Andtoknowyou’vemadeadifferenceinachild’slife,there’s nothing better for me.” 

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With Bedford Country School also an eco-friendly school, Rene incorporated recycling, gardening, sustainability and community outreach into its program and is doing the same at Pink and Blue.

“Thesechildrenarehavingsomuchfunandtheyarelearning without even realising.”

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“Wecanachievesomuchmoreintheafternoonifwehave20 minutes of meditation, of yoga, of quiet time,” she said.

days literally groan under the scientific and mathematical concepts that we are learning through play,” she said.

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GETTING OLDER?

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Better get fitter

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In little more than a year one 50-something went from being quite fit to a fitness machine and told NATALIE DURRANT he plans to keep going that way for a long time to come.

WHEN Peter Hill walks into the room, he doesn’t, really. He all but bounces such is the spring in his stride.

Exuding energy this 58-year-old looks as fit as that proverbial Mallee bull.

That observation was confirmed when Peter declared he holds a record for the most number of push-ups in 60

seconds — 113 if you’re wondering. And adds his heart rate does not increase more than 10 per cent and is back to normal within 30 seconds.

His energy is the product of an intense fitness regime, complemented by a healthy diet.

“Some people make a conscious decision to improve their

>>

A reason to smile!

Campaspe Dental Care is an independent private dental practice, servicing the Echuca-Moama region, including all of the Shire of Campaspe and Murray River Council.

Our aim is to provide the highest quality of care, with a strong emphasis on prevention and patient education.

We always seek to uphold the highest standards of care, whether it is a routine dental check-up, through to the provision of dental implants, and including our hygiene and oral therapy department.

Our friendly, caring staff is dedicated to helping you keep your teeth for life. We listen to your needs and explain your options clearly. We are committed to making each patient visit a pleasant, relaxed experience.

Our range of services include: • General exams • Fillings • Implants • Crowns & bridges • Whitening • Hygiene • Dentures • Root canal treatments • Children’s dentistry Contact the clinic on 5482 1217 to make an appointment. www.campaspedentalcare.com.au 525 High Street, Echuca

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“IT TAKES COMMITMENT AND A BIT OF TIME, BUT IT’S DEFINITELY BENEFICIAL, PARTICULARLY GOING INTO YOUR 60S, 70S AND 80S.” PETER HILL

>> health by keeping active,” he said.

“I don’t think that the capacity of your body is compromised as much as you think when you age.

“I’m amazed at the capacity of the human body and the cardio system if it’s managed right.”

Peter does an intense 45-minute cardio and weight program — six times a week.

“It’s not light, passive stuff, it’s repetitive weights, push-ups, full body workout from the fingers to the toes,” he drops to the floor and effortlessly rolls his body an inch off the ground with his ab roller before leaping back to his feet.

“It has taken me about six months to get to this this level. I have never smoked, I hardly drink and I am conscious of my diet.”

He has maintained his current level of fitness for 12 months and credits much of it to his wife, Gaye.

Eleven years ago, despite being extremely fit, Gaye had a heart attack, her arteries clogged by cholesterol.

Despite regularly changing medications for several years, her cholesterol levels remained stagnant — until she began cardio work 18 months ago.

“She started going to the gym four to five times a week and the next time she saw the cardiologist at the Epworth he was blown away by her results. Her cholesterol levels were dramatically different and the only thing she had changed was the exercise,” Peter said.

So Peter, despite already being quite fit, decided to really jump on the exercise bandwagon — boots and all.

“I’m now fitter than I’ve ever been,” he said.

“Obviously the older you get the more discipline you need to stay on top of your fitness.

“It takes commitment and a bit of time, but it’s definitely beneficial, particularly going into your 60s, 70s and 80s.”

Peter is also a strong proponent for encouragement.

“But one of the most important things, the crucial thing, is encouragement. If you give someone encouragement, instantly their confidence lifts, particularly once they start seeing the results.”

So get on your bike (or your rowing machine or your pogo stick), the sooner you start, the sooner you will see the results. 

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OUR VETERAN COUPLE WITH SOME

vintage passions Farmer and journalist NATALIE DURRANT catches up with former farmers Barbara and Lindsay Vagg to discover just what makes these octogenarians tick with so much energy and enthusiasm.

WITH Echuca-Moama’s ageing population, being an overactive octogenarian is always a bonus when it comes to taking care of yourself and having the independence to do just about anything you want.

And Barbara and Lindsay Vagg say the secret to their good health is hardly any surprise — a healthy mix of exercise, sensible eating and positive outlook.

Moama Senior Citizens’ Centre, Probus commitments, the Independent Retirees Association and bushwalks behind their Moama home.

But they do manage to save time for family commitments with three children, nine grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

And of course the garden has to be kept in manicured

It certainly helps this couple indulge their particular passions — from the proverbial green thumb in the garden to their great love, three cars and membership of the Echuca Historical Vintage Car Club.

“I guess you don’t have to do so much in the winter, but in

The former farmers retired from the Bunnaloo district in 2004 but have hardly had a moment to spare in the past 12 years.

“It’s very calming and relaxing.

Not with everything required to look after their babies — a ‘65 Chevrolet Impala, an ‘84 Datsun 280 ZX and an ‘84 Toyota Crown.

To be classified as a vintage car, vehicles must be more than 25 years of age.

condition — regardless of weather conditions. the spring and the rest of the year I spend quite a lot of time gardening,” Barbara said.

“There’s a saying, ‘you’re never far from God’s heart in a garden’ and it’s so true.

“You’re in a different world when you’re in the garden — and you can never walk past a weed. I spend a lot of time weeding,” she smiles.

An active retirement was a natural progression for the

“It keeps us busy,” Barbara smiled.

Vaggs, who were born and raised in the Tantonan-Bunnaloo-

“It’s a big club too,” Lindsay chimes in. “In 2004 it had 50 members and now there are 260.”

Womboota area.

Along with meetings once a month, the club has regular day outings, as well as week-long jaunts once or twice a year.

“Most of the cars range from 1960 to 1975 but there are some very old ones,” Lindsay says. “We have to give those a half hour head start.

“Because we do cover a reasonable distance, we have to have cars that can travel an average of 90 km/h and some of the older ones are pushing to get to 70 km/h.”

Then there are the twice-weekly exercise classes at the

Lindsay attended the Tantonan school until Year 4 and then the rode seven miles to Bunnaloo school before heading to Melbourne for secondary schooling.

Barbara had a similar experience, attending Womboota school.

“Getting to school wasn’t easy in those days,” she says. “I had to board in Echuca for high school and then went to Melbourne boarding school.

“I used to come home on the weekends on the old steam >> train.”

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>>

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The pair were married in Echuca in 1955 and were extremely active in the rural community.

“Looking back on my time there, the building of the Bunnaloo Community Centre was an achievement,” Lindsay says.

“The old hall was built in 1924 and by 1980 it had gone way past its use-by date.

“We had an executive of local people and we decided as a community how we would finance this building” The answer lay in rice. Contract harvesting to be exact.

STRONGER. FASTER. FITTER.

Once district farmers had grown the crop, they paid the community to harvest it. At one time, this included 13 harvesters operating, along with countless other volunteers with shovels, pulling down rice banks.

With everybody helping out, their best yield raised $22,000 — in one day.

“They closed the Caldwell rice silos for a day just for us to deliver the rice,” Lindsay recalled.

The hard work paid off in 1984 when then Member for Farrer Tim Fischer opened the new complex, alongside Lindsay.

“It was a building to service the western side of Murray Shire,” Lindsay says proudly. “We had a vision to bring it all together and it was a big effort and it’s still working well today.”

That community spirit has transferred from Bunnaloo to Moama and for Barbara, 82, and Lindsay, 84, age is irrelevant.

“It’s just a number; you don’t worry about your age,” Barbara says.

“You just need positive ideas to hang onto.”

“And enjoy what you’re doing,” Lindsay adds. “I like to watch the stock exchange.”

“Eat well and keep fit,” is Barbara’s advice. “If you look at our calendar there is something on nearly every day.”

That calendar will include a visit from a special friend in September — Chicago’s Leona Harley.

Their friendship has spanned 69 years when the pair started writing to each as 12-year-olds.

Barbara and Lindsay have visited the States twice and welcomed Leona to the land Down Under for the first time last year.

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So do they still write or have they upgraded to email?

“No, they ring each other all the time and talk!” Lindsay laughed.

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In fact, they were the first farmers in the district to grow rice even though they also cropped and had cattle and sheep.

THE SWIFT, AND SWIFTER,

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rise of Heidi IVY WISE talks with, and listens to, one of the rising songbirds on the local scene who has been invited to take the stage at the Deni Ute Muster, and is tinkering with the notion of heading for Tamworth next year.

SOME of Heidi Moncrieff’s more formative moments were thumping out Taylor Swift songs in her bedroom, twanging the strings of her purple guitar — but she’s very quickly come a long way from that invisible audience.

The 17-year-old is more mature than most teens her age — and she certainly has the voice to match.

The songs with which she woos real audiences today include Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, and especially Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire as her musical connection runs deep with the man in black.

With just a guitar — albeit an upgrade from plain purple to the more professional Martin — and a voice telling the story with a raw emotion, not unlike her hero, it is a remarkable recipe for on-stage inspiration. And it is a warm voice; it cocoons you with its web of resonance and its depth.

That colourful guitar would follow the next year.

Which was another milestone moment when she was also selected to sing with the Australian Children’s Youth Choir.

Heidi said she did take singing lessons but admitted she preferred to go it alone.

“I never enjoyed getting taught,” she said (hoping her mother wasn’t hearing her).

“I like doing my own thing.”

After moving to Echuca-Moama six years ago, the Moama Anglican Grammar School student caught the attention of local musician and X-Factor contestant Tyler Hudson.

Tyler was one of the judges for the You’re the Voice singing competition at Moama RSL in 2012, with Heidi, then 12, winning the under-13s section.

But whatever the genre she turns to, there is this delicious smoothness to Heidi’s delivery that makes you think every one of the songs she chooses was written just for her.

She received $500 towards music equipment for her school and a one-hour recording session at Kickback Recording Studios.

Yet the singer herself is just happy to smile and refer to her music and her talent as kicked back, chilled, smooth and comforting.

While Tyler helped put Echuca on the musical map after making the top 24 artists on season five of the X Factor Australia, Heidi has no plans to audition for any reality music shows.

Music runs through Heidi’s DNA, her mother Marion is a violin teacher, and so it was no big surprise when Heidi started singing in her Melbourne school’s choir while only in grade 4.

“That whole instant success thing isn’t for me,” she said. “For a lot of them, you hear about them for about a year and that’s it.” >>

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“THAT WHOLE INSTANT SUCCESS THING ISN’T FOR ME. FOR A LOT OF THEM, YOU HEAR ABOUT THEM FOR ABOUT A YEAR AND THAT’S IT.” HEIDI MONCRIEFF 112 EchucaMoama

>> Now Heidi regularly gigs at the Echuca Star Hotel, Gypsy Bar, Moama RSL and American Hotel as well as being in demand for private functions throughout Victoria and NSW. slinging the guitar strap over her shoulder. social side. I love it when it’s packed and when people sing along and enjoy themselves.

“Sundays are particularly great.”

With a confidence which belies her age but clearly reflects her talent, Heidi said she rarely got nervous.

“It depends on who’s watching. I’m usually pretty comfortable with my surroundings and I just go with it. Mum gets more nervous than me.”

Her gigs always cover favourites of the country scene, such as The Gambler, Dixie Chicks’ Travelling Soldier and a bit of John Denver, Bryan Adams and Kerry Underwood.

And it’s that country style she will be channelling this month after being invited to join the Deni Ute Muster Deni Showcase Spectacular.

She will be performing six songs on the Friday and Saturday.

After that, it will be all about concentrating on her education because even she realises in the short term her music might have to take something of a second place because 2016 is her final year of school and she does want to go to university.

Even if she is not quite sure what she will do there — although music (even if she doesn’t like being taught) must be a possibility.

With a love of music — along with an interest in legal studies, food technology, business, maths and English — Heidi has a few serious calls in her immediate future.

However, realising how tough the music industry is, Heidi is not about to jump head first into trying to make singing her career.

“I’m just enjoying my gigs on the weekend and doing it more as a hobby at the moment rather than doing it fulltime,” she said.

However, she has some advice for aspiring musicians who don’t know where to start.

“It’s the biggest gig for me, so I’m excited,” she said.

“Be confident and make sure you have the support of your family,” she said.

“I’m not nervous yet but I’m sure I will be once I get on stage.

“And just enjoy what you’re doing.”

What I’m most excited about is getting to hang out with Keith Urban and Shannon Noll.”

A colourful guitar wouldn’t go astray either — if you are looking for a start. 

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“It’s an escape,” she said. “I love doing gigs because I love the

“I’m just thinking about it at this stage,” she said.

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There simply isn’t a weekend that goes by that doesn’t involve

Once she has the ute muster under her belt, Heidi will decide whether to give Tamworth Country Music Festival in January a crack.

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FROM CAVITY TO CRISIS

you need the dentist TYLA HARRINGTON managed to avoid the chair herself but she still came away with all the goss on what goes on behind the mask and what’s in the mind of the person holding that drill.

THEY’RE feared, people cross the street to avoid them, even skip appointments.

immediate and (mostly, depending on people’s own dental hygiene) long-lasting impact.

Repeatedly.

Anup Shenai, who opened Moama’s only dental clinic (Moama Dental Clinic) in July, has been sitting people in chairs for a long time.

In fact, in so many cases, they are downright loathed.

But they love it.

Because once they get you in the chair, get to the root of the problem, dentists are miracle makers.

The pain, the pressure and the panic all melt away as the anaesthetic kicks in, the drill whines up and whatever it was that finally forced you through the front door is fixed.

There aren’t many careers where you get to have such an

He has owned Rochester’s Dental Clinic for years but admits there are some days that are like pulling teeth.

Literally.

“It’s one of the most stressful jobs in the healthcare industry,” Dr Shenai said.

“People come to you because they are in pain not because they want to see you. >>

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Dr Tony Lee.

>> “It’s like ‘I hate you but I need to come to you’. It is a hard job.

“By accident, but also deliberately,” he said with a laugh.

“There’s a lot of things about it that are hard to conquer, but the challenges can be quite satisfying once you do manage to knock them over.

“Children sometimes bite when they feel uncomfortable.

“You also have to explain to people that even though it is fixed they now have the responsibility of looking after it, otherwise it’s back to square one.

“It’s our job to put a smile on their face.”

Which, as it turns out, isn’t as easy as it sounds.

But once you get it. Once you see a full set of sparkling teeth, behind a confident person, that’s what keeps someone like Dr Shenai going.

“It’s certainly satisfying to construct a smile,” he said.

“Cosmetics are really common such as a smile makeover.

“It can take a lot of time if people haven’t been to a dentist in a long time.

“I have people that come in and say, ‘I haven’t smiled in years’.

“They have broken teeth, or teeth have gone rotten. You can see it really impacts them as a person.”

“But we get used to it — it’s just one of the hazards we have to deal with.

“We deal with two groups of people. One group are the people that come and see us every six months and the others come and see us when they are in pain and have to.”

Dr Lee grew up in Sydney before moving with his family to Adelaide as a teenager, graduating with a Bachelor of Dental Surgery from the University of Adelaide in 2004.

“I did reasonably well at school and there were a few jobs I was looking at. I went with dentistry because it was the more hands-on,” Dr Lee said.

“I worked in Adelaide following graduation, in private practice and as a tutor at the University of Adelaide, before returning to NSW. “I worked in private practice in Sydney and on the Central Coast for nearly a decade before making the move to Echuca in late 2014.”

When it comes to being a dentist there’s also another hazard few other professionals face — being bitten.

Soon Dr Lee also developed an interest in implants and decided to complete a Graduate Diploma in Oral Implants in 2011.

Tony Lee, who has owned Campaspe Dental Clinic for 18 months, has had more than one patient sink in the fangs.

Today he is also a member of the Australian Dental Association and the International Team for Implantology.

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“I THINK I ENJOY THE SCIENCE BEHIND IT BUT THERE’S ALSO AN ART SIDE TOO THAT IS QUITE NICE TO BE INVOLVED IN.” TONY LEE

“I think I enjoy the science behind it but there’s also an art side too that is quite nice to be involved in,” he said.

“Sometimes you get people who come in who are really nervous and you have to try and calm them down.

When you’re able to do that it’s certainly a good feeling.

“I also like that I’m not always behind a desk.

“I don’t like how many dentists are becoming a business — it seems to be a trend in America, not so much Australia, but money is being put first in a lot of practices.

SPRING BETTER BUYS.

“That’s not what I’m about and I don’t like seeing it,” Dr Lee said.

“I think it’s a great job but one that has changed a lot in the last 30 years.

“I think if you are happy to move with the times then you will be able to do it.

“Moving to the country has given me more opportunities and has made a big difference.”

Dr Shenai studied in India for five and a half years, graduating in 2003.

His father was a dentist which meant following the same path was always a strong possibility.

“We’ve been at the Rochester practice for eight years,” he said.

“Most of our new patients were coming from that area so we thought why not open a clinic in Moama?

“Since Moama didn’t have a clinic this was an opportunity to fill that gap.

“We have had a lot of requests. I think it will also benefit people all the way to Deniliquin.

“We will also be opening for a half day on a Saturday.”

So what is the key to the perfect smile?

“There is no magical wand that dentists can wave and make teeth shine,” Dr Lee said.

“It’s a combination of things that people have to do.

“You have to brush twice a day, floss and tone down on all the sugar.”

And Dr Shenai agrees.

“Eating sugar isn’t bad. All foods have sugar in them. It’s about having sugar with your meal because that’s when acid is already attacking your teeth,” he said.

“Don’t have sugar in between your meals — that’s when problems can start to occur.”

And that’s advice you simply can’t sugar coat. 

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What Dr Lee loves most about being a dentist is a combination of things.

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FATHER AND SON

holding court in the sport of kings TRENT HORNEMAN takes a look at the footballer and the farmer, and the father and son, as they work hard but always dream of finding that elusive champion. >>

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“HE COULD HAVE BEEN A MELBOURNE CUP HORSE. PARTICULARLY BEING ONLY FOUR, A GOOD STAYER HASN’T HIT HIS PRIME AT THAT AGE. YOU WILL STRUGGLE TO FIND ANOTHER ONE LIKE HIM.” >>

DARYL ARCHARD

IN A different life, Echuca’s Rhys Archard could have, would have, been an AFL footballer.

If not, then surely someone with a sensible 9–5 job and carving up the country leagues.

But there’s nothing coulda, shoulda, woulda where Rhys is concerned — it’s a freezing mid-winter morning, the sun barely peeking over the horizon and the mercury shivering somewhere around 3°C. And our man couldn’t be happier, somewhere out there at Echuca Racecourse, shrouded in fog alongside his father Daryl, both with binoculars fixed on a horse as its pounds around the bend into the home straight.

Rugged up, mostly silent, the father and son team are focused on finding their next champion.

Daryl has trained horses for more than 40 years, having graduated from full-time dairy farmer to full-time trainer in 1999.

Horses had always been a part of his life and that love is easy to see in this environment.

For those who enjoy a day at the races, it looks like a fairly

Just lately there had been a shining light in the Archard stable.

Leveraction, a seven-year-old gelding with a knack of winning country cups had added wins in the city to its repertoire.

It gave Archard senior his first Echuca Cup this year, a win in Flemington and then it all unravelled. Leveraction tore a tendon and while the long-term prognosis was good, given the horse’s age (it turned eight on August 1) he and its owners declined to risk a total breakdown and Leveraction was retired.

The double dip of a prominent winner not only guarantees a stream of prize money it also builds confidence in your brand, attracting new owners and new business.

And the money to go after better horses at the yearling sales.

Some in the racing industry will spend a king’s ransom to find a champion, while others will tread a path less travelled.

Leveraction arrived at the Archard stables in 2013. Deniliquin owners Wayne Campbell, sons Tony and Jeff and brother-inlaw Doug Adamson bought the gelding for $4 000.

The amount they spent was absolute pittance, but seemed fair price given his temperamental forays in Queensland.

running mostly on country tracks, this is a tough business at

In a ruthless industry where poor performance will eventually mean a trip to the sales ring, all it took was a bit of TLC.

the best of times — and a lot of hard work.

Archard knew the horse was something special.

social, at times glitzy, lifestyle, but for country trainers

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Daryl and Rhys Archard.

“He was locked up all day in a barn, the only time he would see daylight is when he went out for track work and to race,” he said.

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Since then, Archard has enjoyed a rich vein of form, with city wins and country cups piling up.

Much like his trainer, there is nothing flashy about Leveraction, he jumps out fast and tries to run the rest off their feet.

In short, the horse was a winner. More than $400,000 prize money, 13 wins and 24 placings.

Daryl understands the value of a quality horse in your stable, as well as the fickle and brutal twists of fate the sport of kings can deliver.

Having grown up riding at pony clubs, Archard took an interest in horse racing, first taking out a licence as a hobby trainer in the 1970s.

He trained his first winner at Deniliquin on Anzac Day 1975 and can still recall the dulcet tones of legendary race caller Jack Styring announcing his arrival as an up and coming trainer.

“Ask him where he took him next,” Rhys was quick to add.

“Well I naturally took him to Caulfield. He didn’t disgrace himself.”

In the mid ‘90s, still only a part-time trainer, he came across Section, a horse Archard regards as easily the most >>

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>> talented equine to walk into his stable.

different direction.

The prodigious talent had not gone unnoticed.

As a kid, Archard and sister Bo worked at the stables, mucking out stalls, feeding and tending to the horses.

Section had attracted the attention of Sydney’s leading trainer and Australian racing’s first lady Gai Waterhouse who had offered a stack of money to buy him.

The connections knocked it back.

A rising four-year-old, the horse had won the JRA Cup, placed in the Geelong Cup and was competing in the LKS Mackinnon Stakes on Derby Day 1995, en-route to a Melbourne Cup. Then tragedy struck.

The horse broke down, ending its racing career in the blink of an eye.

To this day, Archard has the walls of his stable office lined with racing photos.

He looks upon those of his fallen champion with mixed emotion.

While he clearly acknowledges it was the best horse he had trained, part of him can only wonder what might have been.

Because for every fairy tale racing tosses up, there are scores of broken dreams you never hear about.

“He could have been a Melbourne Cup horse,” he said.

“Particularly being only four, a good stayer hasn’t hit his prime at that age.

“You will struggle to find another one like him.”

Rhys Archard’s sporting journey could easily have gone a

Only slight, he began to ride work for his dad at aged 15 or 16.

Despite his slender frame, Rhys was too heavy for a career as a racing jockey.

“The only way I could have done that was to be a jumps jockey and I am not brave enough for that,” he said.

Instead, he would ride track work six days a week, then hop to an office job and then spent evenings honing his skills as a footballer.

“I worked in an office for a bit, but that life was not for me,” he said.

Rhys quickly gained attention for his football prowess.

At 20, he won the Morrison Medal, awarded to the best and fairest player in the Goulburn Valley Football League.

He dominated the field, with boundless energy that earned the attention and praise of those in the AFL scene.

In late 2006, he was placed on Adelaide’s rookie list, but his AFL dream would last less than 12 months.

He went on to play in the South Australian National Football League competition for North Adelaide.

In typical fashion, he went on to dominate the competition, winning the prized Magarey Medal, for the competition’s best and fairest, in 2009.

If things continue on the same path, he could easily have another in September.

But while he will be remembered as a champion footballer, the son has his sights set firmly on emulating, then outperforming, the father.

Having worked by dad’s side for years, Rhys took out a trainer’s licence last year.

After several attempts, he landed his first winner, Make Mine Brandy, on Echuca Cup day this year, less than an hour after his father’s big Cup win with Leveraction.

While Daryl took a tremendous leap of faith to go out on his own and set up a new stable, Rhys has had the benefit of a mentor and the facilities to help get him off his feet.

That is not lost on him either.

“I am fortunate to have access to a water walker and a treadmill,” he said. “It would be bloody hard to go out on your own as a trainer these days.”

Sometimes it means missing a training session to take his horses to the races, sometimes it means having to play an amazing game to reach a compromise.

Earlier this year, Leveraction was racing in Melbourne while Rhys was playing footy. He asked coach Simon Maddox whether he could start the third quarter on the bench so he could hear the race.

Maddox, a mad racing man himself, gave his blessing on the proviso he kicked three goals in the first half and the side was 10 goals up at half time.

True to his word, Archard had three down by quarter time and was revving up his team-mates to extend their lead.

His first win as a trainer has got Rhys’ career up, now he too is looking for a star to help keep things going.

Together, father and son; will cast their eyes over as many as a dozen new horses this year, trying to find the next Section or Leveraction.

They won’t all make it, the search will go on — and so will the hard yakka. 

So much more than just trophies

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These days, he has crossed the river to play for Moama in the Murray Football League and unsurprisingly he won another league best and fairest, the O’Dwyer Medal.

These days Rhys continues the balancing act, training and playing football during winter, as well as working at the stable.

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A year later he was back in Echuca.

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HERE’S A

success story YOU CAN BANK ON Not many people realise it but every time they walk down Nish St and pass Trophyman they are in the presence of Australian corporate history unmatched by anything in the twin towns. So what is one of our best-kept business secrets?

ANDREW MOLE found out. >>

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Phil and Kylie Masters. >> COME on, here’s a curly one for you. Name the oldest continuous business in Australia.

It’s Westpac (formerly the Bank of New South Wales) of course.

Did you get it?

OK, so try for number two, this will test you.

It’s the Australian Agricultural Company.

A massive farming aggregation, it was once bigger than Belgium and the Netherlands combined, spread across the Top End of the country and running hundreds of thousands of sheep and/or cattle.

Bet you missed that one.

Now we could be here all day working our way down to, say, number 10, but we’re not really interested in going that far.

We’re going to stop at number seven.

So can you name the seventh oldest company in Australia — and even better, do you know where it is based?

If you said P. Blashki and Sons well done you.

But if you also said it is based in Echuca, well then gold star and go straight to the top of the class.

And just as the good old Bank of NSW has changed its name over the years, you will be fascinated to know P. Blashki and Sons, still operating as a registered entity, is now owned by, and run as part of, Trophyman in Nish St. Blashki was founded in 1858 (although it did not become officially registered as a corporate entity until 1875, which still has it at number seven) and opened for business in Swanston St in the heart of Melbourne, almost opposite the Town Hall.

Salubrious digs back then and about as central as any business could get.

Jewellers, silversmiths and purveyors of regalia (almost exclusively for the colony’s vibrant Freemason movement) Blashki is noted for several major works, not the least being producing the original Sheffield Shield for the direct commission of Lord Sheffield.

Fast forward to 1988 and Phil Masters, a brash youngster of 18 years, launched Hawthorn Engraving, catering for the lowvolume engraving market, while still working as an apprentice cabinetmaker.

It would take Phil two years to go fulltime with his engraving business — he would be sawing wood and hammering nails all day and toiling under lights with engraving well into every night.

“Then I met a bloke called Keith Ryall, who had his own dream at Ballarat where he was going to build a castle — Kryall Castle,” Phil said.

“I approached him one day and said I wanted to do some work for him and after a bit of a chat he commissioned me to do all the initial signage for the business,” he said.

“For me that was a major turning point — and the end of my cabinetmaking career, although I did manage to complete my apprenticeship.”

Phil is able to swing his seat around and point to a sign hanging on his wall — the first one he made for Kryall Castle and given to him after the Ryall family eventually sold out of the castle.

And clearly this seemingly ordinary, even bland, sign is very near and dear to his heart because it still brings a smile to his face when he points it out.

But before you forget about Blashki, in a totally unrelated decision, Phil’s parents Glenise and David bought the business in 1982 after the founding family, which had run it for 124 years, ran out of children interested in going on. >>

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“FOR ME THAT WAS A MAJOR TURNING POINT — AND THE END OF MY CABINETMAKING CAREER, ALTHOUGH I DID MANAGE TO COMPLETE MY APPRENTICESHIP.” PHIL MASTERS 128

>>

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“When mum and dad took over Blashki was predominantly a Freemason business but each one of them would also bring something else to the equation,” Phil said.

“Dad was fascinated by militaria, he had also served in Vietnam, and mum was into the academic world, so dad starting building a network of contacts within the defence forces and mum introduced academic regalia,” he said.

At that stage there was no connection between Phil’s engraving business and the rapidly expanding Blashki empire.

Although Phil’s growth was also becoming exponential, he was acquiring businesses to expand his base and he kept looking for new opportunities.

His parents were also expanding, repeatedly moving into bigger and better locations to accommodate their operations.

Then Phil met another bloke who would help change his life.

Barrie Beehag owned Echuca Trophies and was looking to sell due to ill health and the two struck a deal.

Suddenly Phil was stretched, with a growing Melbourne network and now an enterprise in Echuca.

helm of the business until 1916, might not recognise.

He would get the academic regalia but the massive growth for the business had been its work with the Australian Defence Forces.

Phil said the easiest way to describe his company’s partnership with the Australian military is “that anything that bolts onto, or is sewn into, uniforms in the army, navy and air force is produced by Trophyman”.

It is an astonishing relationship — last year alone Trophyman provided 350 dress swords to the ADF. And also does a spectacular one-off every year which is the Governor-General’s Prize to the Australian Defence Force academy’s number one cadet each year.

Trophyman also covers similar inventory across all emergency services — for example all the Victoria Police emblems and rank were originally designed and supplied by the Trophyman team.

Although cost-conscious governments have now moved that contract overseas the Trophyman designs are still the ones used.

So 11 years ago, enchanted by the river lifestyle and opportunity, he upped stumps in Melbourne and relocated to Echuca-Moama.

“Lanyards, swords, epaulettes, aiguillettes, chevrons, all rank insignia, service ribbons, drum majors’ maces, band banners, embroidery we do it all,” Phil said.

It was a serious punt, because he decided not to sell Hawthorn Engraving, a much bigger show through acquisition and years of building a national client base. He would just bring it north with him and relaunch it all as Trophyman.

“Today we have a factory and retail outlet in Melbourne, a retail outlet in Adelaide and a factory and retail outlet here in the twin towns to cover the whole country — we employ 24 people and have invested heavily in cutting-edge technology to make sure we remain at the cutting edge,” he said.

“People thought we were nuts but my wife Kylie was from Mildura, so she fitted right in to the river life, and I loved it.

“Initially we lost a bit on the Melbourne end but within two years we had trebled our overall business,” Phil said.

“It was the best of both worlds — a fantastic place to live, and for our own kids, and a great place to do business and provide jobs and a fairly significant investment into the local economy.”

OK, let’s just recap, because we’re almost there and we don’t want any of you getting lost.

The Blashkis found their business in Melbourne in 1858.

Glenise and David Masters purchase it from the family in 1982.

Phil Master launches Hawthorn Engraving in 1988.

Kylie and Phil Masters move to Echuca-Moama in 2004.

Right, now for the final act in this dynastic saga. The elder Masters have been running Blashki for more than 30 years and have decided to call it a day.

So two years ago Phil and Kylie maintain the link, add Blashki to the Trophyman stable and inherit an unparalleled piece of Australian business history.

Albeit one Phillip Blashki, the English tassel maker who came to Australia to first service the gold-rich colony and was at the

“Obviously much of this is contract work and we have to tender on a regular basis, so some years we are doing some things and not others, and that is always changing.

“We even did all the Qantas and even Ansett uniform extras but that has also gone offshore now.

“But trust me; if it existed, or exists, in the defence forces and emergency services across the country, we did it.”

Today Trophyman, the Masters family and all that national impact is discreetly hidden behind the doors at 91–93 Nish St. Who would have guessed it?

And don’t now try and claim you knew about the amazing history of the Trophyman story because we know you didn’t.

But next time you are at the annual awards night at your sporting club, or at the annual presentation night at school, you might look at those trophies with a lot more respect.

Because they are just the tip of a remarkable business story tying together two families and spanning 158 years.

That’s even older than the Riv. Echuca itself is only three or four years older, depending on who’s telling the story.

Now there’s a success that really is worth saluting — probably with a dress sword made by Blashki and Sons (aka Trophyman). 

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