TOTEM TRAIL mapped out
By Andrea Louise Thomas Photos Yanni
I
t’s not every day that a writer can conduct an interview by bicycle, but that’s what happened when I interviewed artist, Lizzie Dennis. We were cycling to see the 24 wooden totem poles on the Somers Totem Trail, which covers about 13.5km. Lizzie has produced an illustrated map of the totems, which is being printed on tea towels and sold as a fundraiser for Somers Primary School as they could not hold their annual art fair this year due to COVID.
E ssence
12 | PENINSULA
December 2020
Lizzie discovered the totems when her daughter Agnes, a student at the school, wanted to do a project about what one could see on a local bushwalk. They came across the totems and became curious about their origins and stories. Totems are a unique aspect of the Somers landscape. They sprang up in conjunction with the annual Somers Art Fair, the major fundraising event for the local school. One of the most popular aspects of the fair was the totem pole auction. Only a very limited number of totems are created each year for the auction and they have always sold quickly.