The Hobart Magazine Issue 20 March 2021

THE HOBART MAGAZINE / MARCH 2021: ISSUE 20

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INDEPENDENT + LOCAL

SABRA LANE ON POLITICIANS, MEDIA + HOW HOBART BECAME HOME

HOBART HERITAGE RENOS ON THE RISE MUSICIAN LASCA DRY SPOTTING USEFUL LOCAL WEEDS

WWW.THEHOBARTMAGAZINE.COM.AU

HOW PETER SIDDLE’S BODY BECAME A TEMPLE 1

Austins Ferry - Hobart A cascade of natural light showcasing the sweeping views of the River Derwent. Situated just 15 minutes from the CBD, with convenient bus and transport options.

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Editorial Stephanie Williams (Publisher) editor@thehobartmagazine.com.au Zilla Gordon Advertising James Marten advertise@thehobartmagazine.com.au 0405 424 449 Contributors: Beau Leighton, Peter Carey, Zoe Lovell, Grant Wise, Sarah Aitken, Stephen Burgess, John Stephenson, Annia Baron, Hilary Schofield.

Circulation: 35,000 copies are distributed, with 31,000 to inner city homes and the rest via Hill Street Grocer, and over 250 cafes and public places in and around Hobart.

Publisher Information: While all care has been taken, some information may have changed since publication. The Hobart Magazine regrets it can’t accept liabilities from errors or omissions contained in this magazine. The publisher reserves the right to refuse, withdraw or amend all advertisements without explanation. Reproduction in whole or part without permission is prohibited. The views expressed in articles and advertisements are not endorsed by the editor or publishers. We welcome any questions or feedback, email editor@thehobartmagazine.com.au.

WELCOME TO

THE HOBART MAGAZINE As if on cue, when the calendar clicked over into March, the jumpers came out. It’s such a clear delineation between seasons, and one that we’ve explored this month, delving into why scientists describe Tassie as a pyramid in the ocean, One person who is revelling in all things Tasmanian, is political journalist Sabra Lane. You may have seen her on screen on the ABC’s 7:30, or in her role as recently past-President of the National Press Club in Canberra. She’s now presenting her national radio program AM from Hobart and loving being so close to all the amazing bushwalking tracks down here. We also caught up with Australian cricketer Peter Siddle for this month’s podcast, Lasca Dry chats about her new album launch, we travel to Hanging Rock, and also enjoy a few wonderful Hobart history lessons.

Thank you for your ongoing readership - we’re now up to our 20th issue and can’t wait to share more stories with you all.

Cheers Steph, James and The Hobart Magazine team.

Audi Centre Hobart

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LOCAL LADY

SARAH CLARK

Interview: Stephanie Williams

Sarah Clark is using her skills in gardening to help the homeless in Hobart.

Where in Hobart do you live? I recently moved to Mount Stuart.

What’s the best thing about Hobart? Being so close to the ocean and the bush but still living in the city.

And the worst? Everyone knows everyone!

Tell us a little about your work? I am manager/horticulturist at The Edible Precinct at Macquarie Point. It’s a community garden with a focus on education, sustainability and reconciliation. I grow and maintain all of the plants at Macquarie Point in wicking boxes. We have many different community groups utilising the garden such as the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, Palawa Kipli, Nayri Niara, Aboriginal Men’s Health Group, TMAG and Mona’s 24 Carrots for events, education and harvesting of indigenous and exotic edibles. Angus Stewart, an expert in Australian native plants, was the founder of The Edible Precinct and continues to work with organisations such as TasWater at Macquarie Point in further educating the community on the water-saving benefits of wicking beds. Angus also runs free workshops on various gardening topics such as composting and gardening tips and tricks. One of my favourite jobs is harvesting produce for donations that go to various shelters and The Migrant Resource Centre.

You have been volunteering your gardening expertise at Bethlehem House and now at the new men’s accomodation on Murray Street. How are you helping? I supervise volunteers from Bethlehem House, Hallam House and the new men’s accomodation on Murray Street, as well as volunteers from the Hobart Women’s Shelter. We grow vegetables together at the Edible Precinct, and Macquarie Point donates to the organisations each week. I was recently invited to tour the men’s accomodation after a gardening session with the residents and I found that the garden beds in the outdoor area at Murray Street were bare soil with no plants. I decided that I wanted to fill the empty beds with edible and therapeutic plants for the men to grow themselves. The resident volunteers were keen to help.

How can readers help the work you’re doing with the men’s accomodation? Get in touch with me for more information through Instagram @sarah_clark_tasmania. If you’d like to donate money, I’ve started a GoFundMe page called ‘Edible and Therapeutic Gardens, Men’s Shelters’ to raise funds for seasonal vegetables, straw and compost for the gardens.

I’m inspired by... Dedicated and hard working gardeners.

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What do you love doing outside work? Socialising with family and friends. I love to cook for people.

Where’s your favourite Hobart eatery? Because I’m often wearing work clothes at lunch time I prefer to visit casual places like Cyclo for a beef pho.

Drink of choice and where do you head for it? Tequila at Pancho Villa.

Favourite team? The Hawks.

What’s your dream project to work on? I’ve thought about this for a while and I have to say that my current job is it. I enjoy working with the different artistic minds and self-motivated people who work at Macquarie Point.

For the non-green thumbs out there, what’s the best way to get started with gardening? Connect with your local community garden - there are several of these in Hobart - where you might do seed swaps or gardening workshops and learn about appropriate plants for your area and how to care for them.

What do you never leave home without? Lipstick.

I’d like to travel to... Rajasthan, India because my grandmother is from there.

If I didn’t live in Hobart I’d live... In Melbourne because I grew up there.

Favourite Hobart secret? It’s just out of Hobart but my favourite little island covered in tiny shells is Spectacle Island near Lewisham, a great spot for snorkelling.

Where to next? When I look to the future I think about ways in which I can improve the work I’m doing now.

Quote to live by? “Our prime purpose in life is to help others and if you can’t help them at least don’t hurt them” - Dalai Lama

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LOCAL LAD

LUKE ELIASZ Interview: Stephanie Williams

What happens when street art and opals combine? Jeweller Luke Eliasz is there for it.

Where in Hobart do you live? I live on a gorgeous little historic street in Battery Point. I am continually grateful to live in a place where people greet you in passing.

What’s the best thing about Hobart? When people ask me what Hobart is like, I say ‘It’s like a big country town with a pulse’. I love that there is always something going on here. It’s artsy, musical and just generally oozes good vibes all year round.

And the worst? It can feel a little isolated sometimes, but that could also answer the question above, haha.

Tell us a little about your work? I make fine jewellery that is just a little bit different, I have a unique workflow that has been mostly self taught over the years through trial and error and it has developed into something I am truly happy with. Another thing I love about my work is that I only use Australian gemstones that have been self-sourced or fossicked/mined by friends of mine. There is not one gemstone in my displays that I couldn’t tell you the first name of the person who found it. It’s all about small business supporting small business.

What’s your dream project to work on? A very tough question.

My mind is always overflowing with ideas and things I would love to do. A goal I am working towards is to collaborate with street artists from around the world to create jewellery pieces based on large scale artworks or murals.

How did you become a jewellery maker? If you had told me 15 years ago that I would be running by what all appearances looks like a jewellery store, I would have said you were mad!

I’ve always had a passion for rocks and colourful gemmies, and have been a hobby lapidarist since youth, but never had a passion for jewellery until maybe seven to eight years ago.

My career actually started by glorious misfortune. I had a bad accident playing sport while on holiday overseas, and during my recovery time I picked up my hobby of cutting opals. I started selling them online and having other people make jewellery from the stones I cut, ultimately selling them to fund more rocks for me to cut! Long story short, I had my own ideas regarding the jewellery, so I learned how to do it myself. It wasn’t entirely me though. I have had so many amazingly generous people share advice and help me along the way, and passing it on, I always make myself available to others to share my knowledge if asked.

Where’s your favourite Hobart eatery? Ozus Coffee in Battery Point. Best coffee and toasted sandwiches in the city!

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Your gallery space is filled with some pretty amazing art.

How did you build this collection? I only started collecting art seriously a few years ago but since then it has become a fierce passion. If I see something I like, I will often reach out and see if an artist will do a trade with me. This has become a great way of networking and talking with other creatives from around the world about their workflow and what inspires them.

What is your favourite stone or gem to work with and to wear? Australian opal will always be my true passion, to work with and wear. The spectrum of colours and multitudes of patterns and shapes is endless and they are always surprising me even after all these years.

If I didn’t live in Hobart I’d live... Sometimes I think it would be fun to live in a big city like Melbourne, or Paris or London... but the truth is I love the quiet balance of our little Hobart and wouldn’t trade it for anywhere.

When there’s nothing to do, I... This question doesn’t compute, sorry. Boredom is an alien concept for me.

Favourite Hobart secret? The Smug One mural in North Hobart.

Where to next? I would like get to the point where I can take more time off to travel the world and meet some of the artist contacts I’ve made over the years in person and take my art to the world at the same time.

Quote to live by? “You make your own luck” – Ernest Hemingway.

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BITS AND PIECES NEW OPENINGS Spirited Tasmania by McHenry Distillery has opened at Salamanca Arts Centre (77 Salamanca Pl, Battery Point), under the stairs in the store that previously housed Bruny Island Cheese. They stock a huge range of Tasmanian spirits. Popular Imago Bakery and Patisserie (114 Elizabeth Street, Hobart) has reopened its doors under new management after an extended lockdown closure. Sorell residents will love the news that Uncle Alby’s (4 Gordon St, Sorell) is now open for coffee and treats. Co-owner, Chels (who runs the cafe with her partner Hamish) shared, “We’re be serving up Zimmah coffee with Daci & Daci pastries alongside some homemade goodies. As well as egg and bacon buns for brekkie. My Nan’s apple cakes will be available on Fridays, which aren’t to be missed!” The former chef and owner of Ruckus Fried Chicken is now rattling the pans as head chef at Shambles Brewery’s (222 Elizabeth St, North Hobart) kitchen. You’ll find CBD favourite The Stagg (20 Francis St, Battery Point) have popped up in Battery Point serving coffees and home-made treats - watch this space for news of when they will expand from just a window. If you lust over the fine wares at Luc, then you will love their new kids store Cluck (127 Macquarie Street, Hobart), across the road, a curation of furniture, homewares and iconic design items. South Australia’s award-winning

with all of the starfish, afterwards? They get taken to the South Hobart Tip and added to the huge compost system there!

The next few meet ups are 14 March, 9:30am at Nutgrove Beach, 28 March and 18 April with the locations to be advised.

For more info join their Facebook group: “Invasive Starfish Clean Up, TASMANIA”

Bird in Hand is set to expand into Tasmania, having acquired a pristine stretch of coastline at Seymour on the east coast.

One hundred and fifty acres of the land will be planted under vine, with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to be the focus. Chin chin.

STARFISH CLEAN UP AT NUTGROVE A new group of volunteers are working hard to remove huge numbers of the invasive Northern Pacific Seastar from Hobart’s waters. The starfish, originally from Japan, were introduced via ship ballast water, and they’re so thrilled to be here that their population numbers are soaring and they’re crowding out endemic species. So far the group – divers, snorkelers and helpers on land - have collected 583kg of the creatures. And we know what you’re wondering…what do they do

GLENORCHY GETS A GLOW-UP The northern suburbs are set to transform with impressive plans for the city endorsed at a council meeting last month.

The Greater Glenorchy Plan includes dozens of development plans to the precincts of Glenorchy, Moonah and Claremont to the year 2040. Mayor Kristie Johnston said with an investment pipeline of $1.8 billion over the next 10 years, it was imperative Council created a map for sustainable development. “We want to make sure we are growing and evolving our cities with our communities at the forefront of mind. That our built form captures and highlights the unique characteristics of the northern suburbs so that it’s a place that is recognisably ours and where people feel like they belong. What is imperative in this process, however, is light rail. This vision simply does not work without the critical transport element light rail brings to the table,” Kristie said.

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YOU’RE NEVER TOO OLD TO START! When Gwen Edwards retired from her career working in the children’s section of the State Library here in Hobart, there was another career brewing. “My dream was to have some books published and available in the State Library of Tasmania for the children to enjoy,” Gwen shared.

“I have just turned 80 years young and in the last three years I have had two books published for juvenile readers.” Published

by Austin Macauley, Dragon Tears is a fantasy story set on kunanyi/Mount Wellington along the Pipeline Track near the old Neika school house, while Henry is about a mouse heading out on adventures inspired by a dream Gwen had about a very clever little mouse. “I had always thought there was a gap in books available for young readers. The ideas for my books I’ve had for many years, however until I retired didn’t really have the time.”

Gwen said. You can order the books at Dymocks, or head to www.booksbygwene.com for more information.

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BITS AND PIECES capping jackpots at $1000 and introducing a 90 per cent ‘return to player’ rate.

The policy was opened for public comment last year, and the submissions made public in February.

NORTHERN ‘BURBS BMX RIDERS RECEIVE PUMP UP Riders will have some new tracks to explore with Glenorchy City Council receiving a government grant of $250,000 to fund a $750,000 BMX track at Tolosa Park. The BMX facilities at Berriedale are currently restricted to members only.

According to the Minister for Sport and Recreation, Jane Howlett, the new track would “help to encourage more Tasmanians to take up the Olympic sport while providing young people a safe community space to be active.” The project is expected to be completed by January next year.

DARK MOFO BACK TO BRIGHTEN WINTER Winter solstice festival and drawcard Hobart event Dark Mofo will be back in 2021. Mona owner David Walsh said: “Dark’s back, which, in the immortal words of Mark Spitz, who was also making a comeback, ‘could be good, could be great, could be terrible’. Mark didn’t mention that there is another possibility: it could be cancelled. But it wouldn’t be worth doing if there was no risk. There’s lots of risk, so it must really be worth doing.” Event director Leigh Carmichael said, with some trepidation, the event would run for a smaller one-week timeframe. “Like everyone else, we’ve been soul searching for almost a year, trying to understand our place in a changed world,” he said. “Last year we lost our sense of purpose overnight, and it appears that experience is having a resounding impact on this year’s festival program. Our patrons 10

will be pleased to know they can expect a typically grim and gloomy affair in June.”

The full program will be announced in April, with the festival running from 16 22 June.

GOVERNMENT LEAVES TASSIE POKIE CONCERNS UNANSWERED The state’s gambling reform is causing a stir, according to Independent Member for Nelson Meg Webb who called on the Government to respond to questions left unanswered from its proposed Future Gaming Market (FGM) legislation. The aim of the policy is to create a sustainable gaming industry, ensure the profits of gaming were shared appropriately, and continue to minimise harm caused by problem gaming, but after the recent public consultation period in January and February, Meg said submissions showed “near-universal criticism of the Government’s implementation framework” for the policy. “Numerous submissions are concerned that the proposed future gaming market regulatory model is weighted too heavily to benefit industry at the expense of community,” she explained. “But submissions from hotel operators express dissatisfaction and demand even more favourable and lucrative license conditions and profit-promoting features that put players at higher risk.

This is an industry that has happily taken super-profits for more than 20 years from Tasmanian families and communities experiencing addiction.” Meg said there were expert-advised consumer projections that could be readily introduced such as

TEN DAYS GETS EXPERIMENTA, A NATIONAL TOURING EXHIBITION Blurring the lines of science and art, an exhibition exploring peoples’ changing relations and definitions of life forms will be on display in Hobart’s Plimsoll Gallery (37 Hunter Street) as part of the Ten Days on the Island festival. Experimenta Life Forms: Triennial of Media Art showcases robotics, bio-art, screen-based works, installations, participatory and generative art. Curators Jonathan Parsons and Lubia Thomas wanted to portray how philosophers have wrestled with defining life for thousands of years, and through this exhibition reveal how contemporary artists are approaching this question. “I’m delighted we will launch our three-year national touring exhibition, Experimenta Life Forms, as part of the Ten Days on the Island Festival,” said Jonathan. “It is singularly appropriate that an exhibition that examines life in all its diversity should begin in Tasmania renowned for its unique ecosystems.” You can catch the exhibition from 20 March to 19 May. Below image: Snow Rabbits (2018/2020), Rebecca Selleck.

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BITS AND PIECES THUMBS UP 544 adult Orange-bellied Parrots are in a captive breeding program, helping boost dwindling numbers.

Good luck to Netball Tasmania in their bid for a Super Netball licence.

Luxury car brand Jaguar plans to go fully electric by 2025.

ROLL UP YOUR SLEEVES TASSIE, THE COVID JAB IS HERE The Covid-19 vaccination program extends across the state this month.

Minister for Health Sarah Courtney said, “while the vaccine will not be the silver bullet, it will be our strongest shield to keeping our community and loved ones safe”. The first phase of the vaccination program targets people who are at heightened risk of getting COVID or getting very sick from it such as quarantine and border staff, and specific groups of front-line healthcare workers. Aged and disability care residents and staff will also be vaccinated in the coming weeks through the Commonwealth Government vaccination program. The first phase of the vaccination program, Phase 1A, expects to see both doses of the vaccine in April. Once the early phases of the rollout are completed, the vaccination program will be expanded to include other groups of the community, as per the Commonwealth’s guidelines, Sarah said. You can check which phase you might be in via www.covid-vaccine.healthdirect.gov.au/eligibility.

TASSIE POLICE OFFICERS UNDER PRESSURE Police officers are experiencing significant workplace wellbeing issues, according to the Tasmanian Police Association (TPA). TPA president Colin Riley said at the end of December 2020, there were “very concerning indicators” for officers, including six police officers who have attempted to 12

take their own lives and five who had completed suicide in the last four-anda-half years. “We need to ensure members are not strained to the point of breaking,” Mr Riley said. At the TPA bi-annual conference held last month, Premier Peter Gutwein announced an additional $1.5 million per year to support the health and wellbeing of police officers. “Funding will commence from April this year and will allow a much greater level of support and faster access to psychological services across Tasmania,” Peter said.

Mr Riley said efforts also needed to be made to remove unnecessary stress in the workplace, and when members were on workers compensation, “they need to be shown genuine care in the dealings with them by the apparatus that manages workers compensation.

“Not just initiatives to ‘tick boxes’,” he said. Lifeline 13 11 14.

MILLION-DOLLAR DEVELOPMENT KICKS OFF IN KINGSTON Work is underway on the landmark $300 million Kings Quarter development in Kingston. At the sod-turning last month Premier Peter Gutwein said the first stage of the project would see the construction of 80 new, environmentally responsible homes. The development is also expected to deliver 60 jobs each year during construction and more than 600 new jobs once complete across retail, dining, entertainment and office space, all centred around the Kingborough Council’s new multi-million-dollar public park and playground area.

One child a month is seriously injured after swallowing or inserting a button battery, so it’s welcome news that the Federal Government has introduced new mandatory safety and information standards to secure the batteries. In the meantime, check to see if you have any loose battery compartments lying around the house.

THUMBS DOWN ANZ’s Sandy Bay branch is closing leaving only three brick-and-mortar locations in Hobart.

Koalas. Are we really going to let them become extinct? WWF Australia shared recently that Australia has the worst mammal extinction rate of any country in the world, and the catastrophic bushfires of 2019-20 impacted nearly three billion animals.

NEWS FROM YOUR COMMUNITY

BIRD, MISSING FOR THREE YEARS, REUNITED WITH OWNER When Georgie, a red-tailed black cockatoo, went missing near Margate in February 2018 her owner Hannah thought she might never see her again. But last month, she got a surprise phone call from saying they believed they’d found her bird more than 200km from where she’d last seen Georgie. On the night Georgie disappeared, Hannah said she heard the garage door opening. “I was upstairs and...I ran downstairs and my Alexandrine parrot had pressed the garage door button with her beak and the sound of the door scared

Georgie and she took off,” Hannah said.

The bird was handed into a Deloraine vet, but looked after by the Trowunna Wildlife Sanctuary at Mole Creek. After rushing to find Georgie’s microchip details, the bird was confirmed to be Hannah’s. Hannah made the three-hour drive to be reunited with her bird. “She was so scared and frail. She [had] injuries and [was] terrified,” Hannah said. This is not the first time Georgie has surprised her owner. “I always called her George, until I started noticing, as she was maturing, she had more dots in her feathers… and her beak was lightening up which are all classic signs of a female,” she said. “I had my suspicions”, she said, and now George is Georgie. Hannah said despite being lost for so long, she knew the two would be reunited. “That’s how it would be, I knew we’d be together,” Hannah said. Georgie is now happy in her favourite spot at home eating her favourite food - peanut shells. “It’s a happy ending,” Hannah

said. “I guess the lesson to be taught is parrots are smarter than you think! And you should always keep all your details up to date!”

GOAL FOR A-LEAGUE IN TASSIE A-League games will return to Tasmania this year after an agreement between the Tasmanian Government, Victorian club Western United Football Club and Football Tasmania was reached recently.

Premier Peter Gutwein said the agreement would see Western United host two games a year at UTAS Stadium in Launceston across the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Calder United, a women’s team affiliated with Western United, will also play a match against a Tasmanian women’s select team in 2021, with a W-League game to be played in 2022. “The return of A-League games to Launceston is a great win for our State and once again confirms Tasmania’s ability to host elite level sport,” the Premier said. AFL who?

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BITS AND PIECES WHOLEFOOD FRIDAY NIGHTS IN SANDY BAY Looking for the perfect way to unwind from your week? Source Community Wholefoods in Sandy Bay is opening its doors to the community with its monthly Source Sessions and Food Fridays. Head along to enjoy live music from Hobart musicians, open mic opportunities and wholesome vegan food. Tickets are $10 and include dinner and entertainment.

Non-alcoholic drinks can also be purchased. The event will be held on the last Friday of each month, to their Facebook page or website for more information.

WILL A LIMIT ON CAR PARKING BOOST CBD FORTUNES? Steven Burgess is a director of Complete Streets, an Australian owned firm dedicated to building happier and healthier towns and cities through better street making.

Happy people and great places, or road space and car parking. You have to choose.

They are mutually exclusive.

We know this. Even in small cities like Hobart, people don’t like lots of traffic in their main streets. When we ask Tasmanians what is important to them in their centres, they say they want their centres to be clean, green, safe, respectful of the island’s history, they want a nighttime economy, they want local festivals and activities. They never say ‘I want more traffic’.

Despite this there has been a little bit of crankiness regarding the strategies the governments (local and state) are implementing to make the CBD and other surrounding urban centres more people 14

friendly by removing some of the car-created stress from the environment. The large shopping centres with their worldwide shareholders are already on to this. They don’t let cars come anywhere near their shopfronts, and they discourage commuters from parking in their centres. They make you park miles away and walk to a car-free environment, where you spend a lot of time. Nobody just runs in and gets a packet of gum or the newspaper. You invested in the trip, you end up staying for a long time, and therefore spend more money.

The most successful main streets around the world are the same. Pitt Street in Sydney or, on a Hobart scale, Cuba Street in Wellington are two good examples. They are extremely difficult to get to by car and parking is very scarce.

They discourage commuters and are very successful places.

They are quality people-oriented places. When centres

have too much parking and road space instead of green space and people space, shoppers and commuters drive right into centres, park really close to where they want to go. Shoppers do just the one task and leave. If patrons have the opportunity to do this long term, the centre will fail for a few reasons. The most obvious one is if people just walk a short distance from the car to the primary destination, shops don’t get a chance to sell you anything.

The shopping centres make you walk past as many shops as possible, which improves their level of engagement.

If centres have plenty of car access and parking, it is simply not worth improving public transit access, when we invest in the car mode, we get more car trips. If car travel is given a rails run it is too difficult for buses, ferries or light rail to compete. Also, all that traffic movement makes a place very unfriendly for people. People will visit less, stay for less time and spend less money. I’m sure there are plenty of social and environmental reasons for limiting car travel in cities, but the bottom

line is the bottom line. If you want your centres to attract investment, create jobs and make money, then you have to get more cars out. Hobart’s City Deal is a chance to break the nexus. To invest in public transport to provide communities, some for the first time, a genuine choice on how to get to the city. Public transport can be a genuine alternative, rather than a last resort and Hobart can join the rest of the world in a race to the top.

The less parking you build, the less car traffic you have, the better your public transport becomes, the more money your urban centres make, the more jobs you create. No exceptions. Let’s get about it.

Parking or no parking? You can share your opinion on CBD car parking via editor@ thehobartmagazine.com.au.

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PODCAST

PETER SIDDLE

Interview: Stephanie Williams

Pictures: Supplied

Peter Siddle is a former Australian cricketer, a plant-based athlete, and currently calling Hobart home while playing for Tasmania.

How did you get started in cricket? For a lot of young sportspeople, it starts at a young age in the backyard with your parents or your other siblings. It was no different for me. The Boxing Day Test, being a Victorian, was always a huge part of the summer holidays.

Did you get to go every year? I did. Once I got old enough and could withstand a full day of cricket! Dad was quick to grab me and my brother and take us down and watch a few games. It definitely started in the backyard then obviously primary school. Me and a few mates joined my first club and took off from there.

How did the Cricket Tasmania connection happen? I’ve got a couple of good mates here. Tim Paine - we grew up playing against each other in all the junior stuff, and over the years.

Matty Wade moved over to Victoria to get his shot as a wicket-keeper and I played under him. He was captain of Victoria for a long time. He’s been one of my close mates, we played a lot together with Australia as well. So those two had a bit of a pull, but I’ve come into the back end of my career and I was looking for a new opportunity. Tassie spoke to me at the end of last season, whether I was open to helping mentor the younger guys coming through here. It gave me an opportunity to develop my coaching while still playing. Whether I become a coach, I don’t know, but it gave me that opportunity to work alongside some really good coaches while still playing.

You don’t drink alcohol now, how did that come about? In most sports there’s a culture, especially cricket and football, around the country from the community level to the professional level. It’s pretty common to celebrate wins and have a drink with the boys which I did for a long time. I got to a point when I was 27 and I’d been playing international cricket for about four years and enjoying myself far too much. I’d enjoy a drink with the boys, but sometimes then that’d turn into partying and long weekends and it was starting to become an issue. So I made the decision to stop drinking Was it a transition? Or a full stop. I’ve always been someone that if I set my mind to it, I’ll just go at it and give it a 100 per cent. I think a lot of friends at the start were like, how about you just have six beers and then stop. But as silly as it sounds that if I had one drink, I wanted to have a hundred. I put a ban on myself to stay clear of pubs and nightclubs for a year, even after games with boys. And then once I got through that first year I just got used to it. I’m pretty determined that if I’m going to stick to 16

something, I will. The big defining moment was when we won the Ashes here in Australia, five/nil, and I said at the end of that that I’ll probably have a drink with the boys to celebrate. We’re in the change rooms in Sydney, I was looking around, just the boys - all the families and partners had gone. And I was thinking about whether I’ll have a drink to celebrate. Again I thought if I’m going to have one, I might as well have 100 and I don’t want to have a hundred. So why bother having one? I decided that if I wasn’t going to have one then, I wouldn’t have one ever again.

And I still stand by that. It’s coming up nine years in May. Out of all the things I’ve achieved, it’s nearly one of the most things I’m proud of, over my whole career.

It’s challenging in Australia as it’s so linked to socialising. After a couple of years no one even notices any difference. I’ll go out and party and stay out late. I’ll sing, I’ll jump around and look like a lunatic, but I’ll be completely sober. And now my friends don’t even think twice about getting to the drink. They’ll come back with a soda water for me. It’s just natural now. I’ll still buy the boys a few beers and have my soda water and, and stuff like that. I’ve literally got no interest in drinking at all and I feel great for it.

Former Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee said, “I know there’s more to it than clouds and grass, but I’ve not seen too many vegetarian fast bowlers survive. Colin Croft tried it for 18 months and couldn’t do it. Sidds is trying it and good luck him.” What happened when you removed animals from your diet? The funny thing is, before I explain the rest of it, there’d be hundreds and hundreds of meat eaters that haven’t survived playing any sport. So I know they single out individuals but I can name more people, more meat eaters that have failed than people that have gone vegan or vegetarian. I think people laugh about it. But from my point of view, I’ve copped a lot of criticism over the years, ‘Oh, it cost you your career, you would’ve played for longer’ but people don’t realise that two thirds of my career was as a vegan. People just assume as soon as I changed I was done, but it was literally only the first three or four years that I was a meat eater.

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- I don’t miss that! I think that’s why I’m enjoying my cricket so much now though, just knowing how special those little moments are, that I’m enjoying with whoever I play for, whether it’s Tasmania, Adelaide in the Big Bash, Essex over in England.

It’s interesting that people care so much in the negative. It’s similar to the drinking, I guess. At first people were surprised and, ‘What’s going on with this’ and ‘You can’t do that.’ I’d had a lot of injuries. I wasn’t the most talented, so I always had to find ways to keep developing and be better because I needed to work harder than a lot of people. There’s far more talented players than me, but I just had to work hard. I’d had a massive love for animals from a young age, so it was something I wanted to try. I found the way my muscles and body recovered in between games and in between days of bowling definitely improved. It’s my job.

I need to be the best at it and stay on the path for as long as possible. That’s definitely been a big plus for me, in staying on the park, but also being able to get out there and perform day in, day out for my team.

You spend much of the year traveling.

How do you manage that with your loved ones, especially your brood of dogs. Travel’s always hard but it’s something you get used to. I was just saying to a mate yesterday, the actual downtime when you’re at home, wherever you’re based is sometimes the hardest when you’re away from the actual structure and routine of cricket. You actually become a little bit anxious about, ‘What am I going to do with all this spare time?’ As silly as that sounds, so coming home sometimes is the hardest part. The dogs miss me while I’m away.

How many do you have? I’ve got five.

It’s good fun when I get to see them, but 18

yeah, that’s a part of the job. I’ll have time for that, but yeah, at the moment, it’s trying to work on the cricket and extend this career, as long as I can.

How did it feel getting a hat-trick on your birthday in 2010? How rare is that?

Yeah, it was amazing. I think I’ll look back on and cherish a little bit more once I’m completely done. There’s been 11 hat-tricks in Australian Test history. And two of those guys have got two, so it’s actually only been nine players. I was the fifth, yeah, then four more. There’s been 450 or 460 Test cricketers for Australia and only nine of us have ever got a hattrick. So very special in that front.

What are you thinking when you’re going into the third one? I’ve been on about 10 in Test cricket, so it’s not uncommon to get the two. It’s just uncommon to get three. All I was thinking is just run in, bowl fast. I wanted to hit the wicket on a good length and see what happened. The ball wasn’t quite executed to where I wanted to put it but it ended up being a better delivery than I expected.

So I got to celebrate. Umpire gives it and then they challenge. So I got to celebrate it twice in a way.

Do you miss international cricket? Of course. I had the hat-trick, I had great series wins and other good performances, but just being able to walk out there with the boys, with the baggy green on, I think that’s what I miss the most about it. The pressures and everything that’s on you when you’re having to perform and do well for your country or around selection

And what do you love doing in Hobart?

I’m a mad cyclist. I heard a lot about cycling down here and obviously Richie Porte, the great man, is from Tasmania.

He’s always been someone that I’ve followed for a long time. I remember sitting up when I was a young kid watching the Tour de France with dad.

I’ve always been into cycling, but over the last couple of years I’ve really got into it. It’s been amazing to get down here.

Do you ride up the mountain? I did that the first week I’ve got here. That’s all I wanted to do. I’ve done that a couple of times. I just put the bike on the roof racks and I’ll drive and explore Tasmania. I’ve done a lot of riding around Hobart, but I’ve gone out and done about another handful of rides around the state, just in different areas.

Have you been up to any of the areas where Richie rides? I haven’t done the Scottsdale loop yet. I wanted to do the Ben Lomond National Park, with that gravel track up to the top.

Jacob’s Ladder? Yeah, up there! So I read that you can do that on your own bike. It’s a end of a lot of road races.

I parked the car up there and did that, which was pretty epic and the views were amazing. I’ve been pretty lucky to tick off a few mountains around the state so far. Mountains aren’t fun but once you’ve done them and you get some photos when you get to the top, they’re actually very satisfying.

For more of Steph’s chat with Peter Siddle, tune into The Hobart Magazine Podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or at www.thehobartmagazine.com.au. You’ll hear further insight into Peter’s playing career, his favourite Hobart haunts and discover the unusual sport he competed in as a kid.

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As one of Australia’s most prominent political journos, Sabra Lane is in the box seat when it comes to interviewing decision makers and thought leaders. And she’s now doing it from Hobart.

Did you always want to be a journalist?

In the later years of high school, I thought maybe. I finished year 12 and did a year overseas in Norway. It was while I was away that that really cemented in my mind.

Why Norway? It was an exchange year with Rotary. The district said “We’ve never exchanged with Norway before.

Would you like to go?” And I said “Of course I’d love to go.” My father was a little bit disappointed at the time because he said “Japanese is the language you want to learn. No-one speaks Norwegian.” But I absolutely loved my year away, and I connected with my first family really well. I lived on an island on the southwest coast of Norway. I still speak fluent language, in a dialect they speak on that island. I joke that I must have been a Viking in a previous life.

When I go there I’m usually a little bit rusty, but after 48 hours, I’m back into it.

When you got back, you decided that journalism was for you? I went to Adelaide, I studied at Magill for two years full time. I’d been working part-time in my first year selling shoes, because my parents couldn’t support me all the way. The second year, one of my lecturers knew my circumstances, and one of their commercial networks was looking for someone to listen to their police scanners on weekends overnight.

And I got that job. They speak in code.

They wouldn’t say ‘Oh, there’s a murder on Rundle Street.’ They’d say ‘Oh, there’s a 303 at’ such-and-such.

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I guess it was another language to learn? Yeah, exactly. They all spoke in codes. The firies had their own code as well, so a big fire wasn’t “It’s a big fire,” there’d be a K99. I still remember these things! That was in the era that was before the internet, before mobile phones - I had to learn news judgment really quickly, because it meant paging someone. If they didn’t respond to their pager, you’d have to ring their landline and wake up their entire family. It had to be the right call. I learnt news judgment very quickly. That summer the news director said “Instead of having summer holidays, how about you work full-time, as assistant chief of staff?” I thought that would be a good thing, instead of going home to Mildura.

At the end of that stint, the news director said “Don’t go back to uni. I’ll give you a job.”

Did you ever finish? Eventually I did.

My parents drummed into me the fact you need a degree. I decided to take the job, and then finished the degree part time. Took me another 10 years. The bus of opportunity often only stops once so you’ve got to run and jump.

Which job was that? That was my first stint with the ABC. I had a job at Channel 10, as assistant to the chief of staff for 12 months, before I ended up becoming a full-time on-the-road reporter. Then, at a very young age, I found myself as the chief of staff for the TV newsroom at ABC in Sydney.

That’s big! It was big, and it was a really important job for someone so young. I was good at making people collaborate, and bringing everyone together. After a couple of years, I wanted another challenge, but I found I couldn’t advance.

I felt like I’d been pigeon-holed. I went back into the commercial world and worked at Channel Seven for sevenand-a-half years as executive producer of a national program, Sunday Sunrise, the forerunner to Sunrise. And I left. I wanted to go back to the ABC, to join AM and PM on radio. I’d listened to those programs for years, and I thought “I would give my teeth to do it.” I had no radio experience so I did an audio engineering degree. I can now mic a rock band! By the time I had that certificate under my arm, I went back to manager at the ABC and said “You can’t say no now.”

And you got a role in Canberra. I moved to Canberra in 2008. I was chief political correspondent for AM, PM and The World Today. And then I got tapped on the shoulder in 2013 to join 7.30, up until 2017. It was during that period that I was elected to the Press Club board and in 2018, became the president. I relinquished that in December when I moved down here.

What does it mean to be the president of the Press Club? It’s a treasured institution. There aren’t many places that offer the platform for important leaders, not just politicians, to come and

give a considered speech of half-an-hour and then subject yourself to the open questions.

I watched the Chinese Minister Wang Xining deliver a speech last year. It was fascinating watching him being questioned. Yes. He came there to make a point, but the journalists also were able to ask him a range of questions, openly, without declaring anything. You couldn’t say that the Chinese would allow something similar in Beijing. At the moment, we do provide the opportunity for people to discuss ideas and policies, and that’s a clear example of not only a government getting to put its view directly to the Australian population, but also for journalists to publicly quiz and question him, as being representative of the Chinese government unhindered. Uncensored. To try and understand why China is behaving the way it is towards Australia.

Each day you spend the morning holding decision-makers to account on AM, on behalf of your listeners, which to me that’s a very big responsibility.

How do you get the best out of your interviewees? There’s a lot of ducking and weaving. The actual time in the program is precious. It’s not just the interview. We have important stories from around the country that need to be told.

There’s no other program doing anything like that, and it’s still a really important forum. We’ve seen the most amazing contraction happen in the media landscape, and yet AM is still a really important flag post in the morning for politicians, for business makers, for people right around Australia to be able to tune in.

It’s important to quiz people about what they’re doing, and why. And to be able to do that in a polite way as well. There’s a difference in being determined in pressing for an answer and being rude. You’ve got to go gently. It’s a dance. You’ve got to be really careful. I’m also mindful that people say “You should just shut them down and say ‘If you’re not going to answer the question, that’s it.’”

issue that was important here, deeply, in his heart. They’re not just MPs. We all like kicking them. At the moment, it seems that it’s a rich environment, to say that they’re all a bunch of losers. Many of them do go in there with the right intentions. They want to make the country a better place. But sometimes they get lost along the way. They get lost in their own importance.

I imagine letting something play out can say a lot more than shutting someone down. Correct. If you ask the question three different ways and the person is still not going to answer, listeners can make up their own view. If people don’t like decisions that their politicians are making. Vote them out. Vote for someone else. You have a vote. It’s a very powerful thing. It was a clear example in Tony Abbott’s seat at Warringah. People were so disenchanted with what happened, they voted him out, and they voted for an independent.

What does your morning look like? I’m up at 4:15am, and instantly I’ll check my phone to see if I need to get my head around any prerecorded interviews with our correspondents, so I can be thinking about that as I’m showering. I’ll quickly check the The Australian, the Financial Review, the Sydney Morning Herald, The Guardian, just to see what issues are running. I’ll be in the office before 5:00, then on air at 6:05. I’m not really free until 11:30. I’ll go home, have a break.

I might catch up on some reading, New York Times or something like that. If parliament’s sitting I’ll listen to question time, just to see what issues they think are important. Then I’ll be talking with my executive producer round about 3:30pm, to see what should we be planning for tomorrow? If there’s an interview to be prepared for, I will prepare for it tonight, rather than do it in the morning, because I don’t have time.

Are there any interviewees that have stood out over the years? I like the surprising interviews, where sometimes an interview goes unexpectedly in a way, that you didn’t expect. And I had quite a few of those on the 7.30, where you’d sit down and do and interview for someone for inclusion in a package, and they showed more emotion than you expected.

The former member for Reid, Craig Laundy, was one. I quizzed him about the stand that he’d taken. He was just a humble backbencher then, and he started crying during the interview. And then he said “You’ve made me cry.” I thought that said something about him. It was an

What’s your take on the Government’s handling of the current sexual assault allegations and the commentary around working culture in Parliament House, as someone who has worked there. I can’t talk about the Government’s handling of it, because I still report on it, but clearly the government is under a lot of pressure.

The pressure is quite substantial on Linda Reynolds, because she’s been in hospital.

That says something. The pressure in the gallery at times like now is intense.

You’ve got to get it right. Culture is important. The standards that you set in environments are really important.

Newsrooms are intense and some people can’t handle that kind of pressure.

Sometimes people are quite quick in their judgment, and quick in their assessments, and some people might find that very 21

just gradually taking me to places. We’ve been to Southwest. There’s a lifetime worth of exploring to be done.

Had you been into anything artistic like that before? I got into that when I was in Canberra. I’d been married for quite some time, and that marriage broke up, and I really threw myself into work just to survive. After a couple of years of doing that, I was like “I’m a really boring person. It’s just work, work, work. I need to find something else.”

confronting. Other people thrive in that kind of environment. I’m not missing the kind of pressure that they would all be subjected to at the moment!

Being in the environment, even if you’re not as connected to the story, I imagine it becomes a pressure cooker.

Yeah, it is a huge pressure cooker. I’ve lived in that environment. I was part of the gallery for 13 years. And there are stories that you think “This is really important. Got to do it.” Then you get out of Canberra, and then you see that those stories are not even a ripple.

What’s your view on the current state of journalism in Australia? Never before have journalists been asked to do so much. Newsrooms, when I started back in the ‘80s, were huge. Staff had the luxury of being able to do one story a day. Now, you’re filing live crosses into morning or afternoon news programs, as well as the 6:00 and 7:00 news, as well as filing material for online. They can do just about anything, and they’ve got to be right. You get instant feedback now. No filter. When I was on TV and at the Press Club, I hated people saying ‘Oh, I really liked your outfit,’ and you’d say ‘Well, what did you think about the speech?’ I would try and dress plainly, classically, so that people wouldn’t pick issues with that and would just listen to what was said.

How did the relocation to Tassie happen? I came here in 2017. I did the Overland Track. I just loved the wilderness out in the West Coast there, and when I got to Hobart, I just had a fabulous 22

time here. It resonated with me. At the time, I said to my mum when I returned to Canberra, that when I was done with Canberra I was pretty sure that this was where I was going to come. At the start of last year, I had re-partnered, and my partner had lived in Tassie for a long time.

I had mentioned to friends that this was where I thought I wanted to be. COVID had just hit and one of them said “Have you told management the way that you’re feeling?” So I asked hypothetically, “Would you support that idea?” And there was this pause on the phone, and I thought “Oh no, he’s going to say no.” And he said “Wow, that would be fantastic.”

What do you love about Hobart, now that you live here? I love the mountain.

If I get home and I don’t need to do anything until 2:00 or 3:00, I’ll have a quick sandwich and go for a walk. I love the feel of Hobart. It’s got history to it. It reminds me a little bit of Western Norway, with the mountains and the sea. And the people are fantastic.

Do you get recognised here? A lot of people don’t know who I am but some people do. I’ve joined a little sketch group and a lot of them don’t know my work.

But one of the first nights, a bloke walked in. He looked at me and mouthed “I know you, but I’m not saying anything.”

You’re a keen bushwalker. Do you have a favorite place to explore? I love the mountain, but just anywhere in Tassie. It doesn’t matter where you go. My partner’s also been a very keen bushwalker, and he knows Tassie very well, so he’s

And finally, what are the origins of your name? It’s very distinctive. Sabra means “Israeli-born Jew,” but I’m not. My parents read a story about Robert Frost, the American poet, at the time my mom was pregnant, about someone who was writing his biography. The biographer had discovered Frost’s long-lost childhood love, and her name was Sabra Peabody.

He tracked her down, to find out more about Robert Frost as a child. They spent some time together, and he went his merry way. He caught up with her a couple of months later for another chat, and she said “Since we last spoke, I went up into the attic, and I discovered all this stuff from my childhood, and there was this pencil case. In this secret compartment I found these old poems that Robert had written to me as a girl.” So she said, “You can have them.” The biographer realised how precious these poems were as the first poems of Robert Frost. He put them in the museum, in the safe, with a note not to be opened while Frost was still alive.

Frost had reason to go to the safe and read them. He was so angry that his trust had been betrayed, he said to the biographer, “That’s it. The book’s off. No cooperation.” Some months went by, and then there was a rapprochement, and Frost said “I was so angry with you. You breached my trust.” And then he started crying, and he said “Tell me all about her.” My parents just loved that story.

That’s a goosebumps story. So they said if mum gave birth to a girl, that would be my name. My brothers have very ordinary names.

What are they? Brian and Gary.

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WHAT’S ON IN HOBART MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

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RuPaul’s Drag Race got you gagging for some local drag? Throw on some heels and head to Drag Queen Bingo at Society Salamanca.

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FRIDAY

After their event in Launceston earlier this year, you can now drink for a good cause at Variety of Gins at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, raising money for Variety.

Making mapali. Pic: Brodie Weeding.

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Gather at The Loop to celebrate International Women’s Day with a Women in Film and Television Tasmania panel discussion and live stream from Sydney Opera House. City of Hobart’s website has more info.

Join a cooking class at Gagebrook Community Centre.

The centre aims to make a difference by providing a safe place for people to grow and share their skills.

Are your memoirs just waiting to be written or got a killer idea for a crime novel?

Kingston Writers’ Space meets at the library tonight if you need a little inspiration.

10

If you’re wanting to ditch the car and take a more active commute, Kingborough Community Hub is running a beginner bike maintenance workshop for Bike Week.

Get some huffy puffy with Fitness in the Park at Bellerive Beach, Clarence Council’s free fitness program for the whole community.

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Bottoms up for Variety of Gins.

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Do you really need an excuse to go to the pub?

Meet the winners of the inaugural SciPub Inspiring Women in STEM grant at Science in the Pub at the Black Buffalo Hotel in North Hobart.

Not a fan of the gym? Take a Japanese Sword Classes at Bujinkan Tasmania Budo Dojo.

Liberty opens at TMAG today showcasing local, interstate and international artists’ interpretation of the challenging notions of agency and representations, surveillance and exile.

Get some culture in ya with two-time ARIA-winning singersongwriter Monique Brumby and the TSO performing at the Odeon Theatre.

Teach em’ young.

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Let your inner Shania Twain out with beginner line dancing classes at Claremont War Memorial. Does that impress you much?

Hobart Brewing Co.

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While you can’t go to Broadway right now, Broadway’s coming to Hobart when the best of musical theatre will be on show at the Theatre Royal’s World of Music event.

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The little ones will love a 30-minute Story Time session at Rosny Library - make sure you book via Eventbrite.

A free 30-minute lapsit session for parents, carers and their babies, Rock and Rhyme is back and Bridgewater Library.

Get your weekly dose of laughs from some of Hobat’s best comedians at Jokers Comedy Club at the Polish Corner at 7.30pm.

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For those keen on how primary producers are meeting labour and efficiency challenges, get a first-hand look at an orchard at the 2021 Autumn Future Orchards Walk.

For even more events in Hobart and further afield this month head to

www.thehobartmagazine.com.au/events

MARCH SATURDAY

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Spook yourself out at Tahune Airwalk’s Dark Cave Sky Light performance where a multi-voiced performative reading of Dark Cave is interwoven with viola, cello and voice.

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After his critically acclaimed tour was cancelled last year due to Covid, Tom Gleeson will be at the Theatre Royal for his Lighten Up Tour.

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SUNDAY

Do you know how to check a wallaby’s pouch to rescue a joey? Save our wildlife by becoming a wildlife rescuer at one of Bonorong’s regular training sessions.

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“Are those scallops Tasmanian?” The Dover Seafest is on from 11am - 4pm. Because of COVID, you’ll need to book a ticket!

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They’re here, they’re queer and they’re not on the mainland! Head to TMAG for a night of live drag shows, roving performers at 10 Gays on the Island and live your fantasy, yasss.

Dover Seafest.

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Established in 2017, Blues, Brews and BBQs at Hobart Brewing Co. hosts blues musicians paired with a great selection of locally brewed beers and delicious barbecue fare.

FURTHER AFIELD

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Immerse yourself in a Harmonic Sound Bath at Pure Yoga: 45 minutes of vinyasa yoga accompanied by soothing music followed by a 45-minute musical mediation session.

UNDERWORLD at Port Arthur.

18 FEBRUARY - 30 MAY Mugshots from criminals of the 1920s will be on display until the end of March at Port Arthur Historic Site. These images were taken at a golden age that emerged from the ruins of the war. However, lurking under the surface was a world of gangs and guns, vice and violence.

UNDERWORLD: Mugshots from the Roaring Twenties is on loan from Sydney Living Museums.

27 - 28 MARCH Fancy a trip back in time?

The Hobart Vintage Machinery Society is hosting its biennial Machinery Expo at Summer Hill, Richmond Road, Cambridge. You’ll be able to check out working machines dating back to the 19th century with working demonstrations throughout the day.

Echo Festival.

From Sunday 27 FEBRUARY The Rupertswood Farm Crop Maze is back for five weekends of hide-and-seek fun. From the sky, the maze is a leafy green sheep, but back on the groundyou’ll just be looking for the exit. You need to jump online to book!

Rupertswood Maze.

From 26 MARCH Head to the coast for a festival of senses. ECHO is a curated program of experiences delivered over the weekend before Easter from the seaside towns of Swansea to Bicheno. Dine on locally caught shellfish, wallaby and bush food cooked on open coals, sample the region’s best wine and spirits or take in some art and culture. More information and tickets at www.echofestival. com.au

Got an event coming up in Tassie?

Email us at editor@thehobartmagazine.com.au Ten Days on the Island. Pic: Melanie De Ruyter

Background photo: Tourism Tasmania 25

streeteatsfranko.com.au 26

19-twenty (NSW) March 26th @ franko

on the band stand 5th March The Polaroids 12th March Saucy Jack Lagoon Hill Zydeco 19th March Karia + Onyx Jay Jarome + Rudy Marshall 26th March Franko Finale 19-Twenty (NSW)

Tickets $5.50+bf | 16+U Free Book tickets online at streeteatsfranko.com.au or grab them on the gate *subject to availability

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FEATURE

RENTING WITH MAN’S BEST FRIEND Words and picture: Zilla Gordon

What do Tasmanians love more than their puffers? It could be pets.

About two-thirds of Tasmanians own pets, according to a survey

by Animal Medicines Australia, giving us one of the highest rates of pet ownership in the country. But while we might love animals it seems, we’re not too pet-friendly.

A search on property website realestate.com.au indicated that of the available properties in the Greater Hobart region, less than 10 per cent of them would allow pets on application.

Ten Lives cat rescue centre manager Noel Hunt said renters’ inability to find pet-friendly accommodation was a “common problem”. “Thirty per cent of what comes into us is ownersurrendered and a large proportion of those, around a third, are from people who aren’t able to find suitable accommodation,” Noel said.

He said it was an emotional experience with pet-owners viewing their cats as part of their families and owners’ default position seeming to be no.

Legislation up for debate Noel said Ten Lives wants to see Tasmania adopt similar legislation to Victoria. The Victorian legislation, which was introduced early last year, means landlords aren’t able to ‘unreasonably refuse’ a tenants’ pet application.

REIT president Mandy Welling said she was not surprised that there were few options available for renters with pets, but believed that a legislation change would be bad timing after rental protections were introduced for tenants when Covid-19 hit. “If [landlords] were to be told that they don’t have the right to not accept tenants with pets, that would just be another box for them to tick to say ‘investment property ownership is just too hard’” she said.

Mandy suggested a pet bond might be a better solution. “A tenant could offer a bond as protection for their pet, so if that pet did cause damage, that bond could be revoked and returned to the landlord to repair the damage caused,” she said.

Already paying too much But renters are already doing it tough, according to Tenants’ Union of Tasmania (TU) principal solicitor Ben Bartl.

“Generally speaking, tenants in Hobart spend 30 per cent of their 28

income on rent,” Ben said. “Relative to income, Hobart is the most expensive capital city. There doesn’t need to be a pet bond because rents and bonds have increased a lot over the past five years.”

The average bond has increased by around $200, according to a submission to the House of Assembly (19 July, 2019) from the TU. With rent and bond increases having “little to do with the actual costs of maintaining and repairing a dwelling”, the TU said a pet bond couldn’t be justified.

Update your resume When it comes to getting an animal approved, Noel suggested making a pet resume which would allow you to present your pet’s best qualities, outline their rental history, and provide a reference - like your pet’s vet. Similarly, Mandy recommended getting a previous rental agent to “vouch” for the pet. “That would have a huge amount of credibility to portray that information to a prospective landlord,” Mandy said.

Despite the caution to rent to pet-owners, Mandy and Ben both said renting to a pet owner could be a smart decision for landlords. Low stock could mean renters with pets would be more likely to resign a lease than trying to find a new property, saving the owner reletting advertising fees.

It might be some time before legislation is changed in Tasmania, so if you’re looking to rent with a pet, your best bet is to be honest.

The only exception to Tassie’s ‘no pet’ policy is guide dogs, and doesn’t include assistance or companion animals Reasonable refusal of a pet application could include the pet is too big for the property, or the fixtures and finishes are not suitable for pets.

Many strata title properties have a no-pet policy and pet restriction in their by-law.

Merrell Hobart Store 29

REAL ESTATE

YOU HAVE TO SEE THE VISION: HERITAGE RENOS ARE ON THE RISE Words: Zilla Gordon Pictures: Richard McLennan, Andrew Walter While 2020 was a write off for most of us, Tasmania’s property market shone through and went from strength to strength.

Housing prices have moved to new record highs in Hobart, and Launceston reported in as the country’s top-performing region in 2020, according to data from CoreLogic. Although there are many benefits to a strongly performing property market, buyers might need to make their money stretch a little further. Could the answer lie in the expression: buying the worst house on the best street?

So how do you navigate the world of DIY, renovations and Tasmania’s many heritage listings? Director of Blue Gum Builders Andrew Walter said buyers are often scared when the word ‘heritage-listed’ was mentioned. “They think about how they’re going to have to deal with the heritage council and worry about the amount of work it’s going to be,” Andrew said. The associated cost is also a consideration. But Andrew said cost concerns should be a worry for all buyers. “It’s not specific to heritage-listed property - sometimes people underestimate the cost of renovations,” he said.

A labour of love Andrew has helped clients renovate their historic homes and knows the pros and cons of the process, having restored his former home, a heritage-listed pub in Lewisham. Even as a professional builder, Andrew said he was “a bit hesitant” as it hadn’t been lived in since the 1970s. He knew some of the pub’s history before purchasing the property, but it wasn’t until he started stripping back 200 years of paint from around the doors that he really made some discoveries. “I kept finding all these marks on the door jams - a dot with a circle around it. It was like it was drawn with a compass, but the circle was always broken,” he said. He later found out that the drawings were symbols used to ward off nasty spirits. “There was a murder at the property… a bushranger had killed the landlord,” Andrew said.

Do your due diligence Andrew said buyers wanting to make an offer on an historic property should have a walk-through and make note of “anything that looked a little funny” and pass those notes to a building inspector who had worked in heritage listings for a professional opinion for a second walk through.

“If it needs work, then get yourself a builder who’ll look at the report,” he said. “It’s worth getting a builder to at least give you 30

a vague idea and what it should cost and maybe get them to visit the house.” Andrew also said to prepare for the unexpected. “As you carry out the work, you’ll probably find more things that need to be looked at.”

Having already stood the test of time, restoring a historic property doesn’t have to be rushed. “You can move in and just live in most heritage houses,” Andrew said. “You don’t have to renovate the house in three months.”

He also suggested looking for a good roof. “It generally won’t deteriorate too badly because they’re all built from well-suited materials. They’ve lasted 200 years, so they’ll be ok. Then just tackle the renovations in a prioritised manner.” But the work was worth it. “You can’t buy character!” Andrew said.

Mid-century modern Real estate agent Yvonne Hawkins from Harcourts Launceston agreed saying it’s “lovely” to be able to keep the character in a property. Her recently sold listing in Kings Meadows was lived in by the same person from construction until the owner’s death.

The property remains almost unaltered from its construction some half-a-century ago. “The kitchen could have been from the cover of a Woman’s Weekly magazine,” Yvonne said. “As you walked in here, you just felt that vibe.”

Yvonne also suggested acknowledging the amount of work that would be needed for an older home. “There’s a high demand for DIY properties because of television renovation shows.”

Renovating mid-century houses could still involve labour-intensive repairs and it was important not to put “ambition over ability”. “You have to see the vision,” Yvonne said. “Because of the age and originality, it needs to be done right.”

Renovating Real Estate Knight Frank sales agent Rorie M. Auld shared his insight on Hobart and the current renovators’ market.

How quickly is Hobart property moving at the moment? Wellpriced property is moving very well at the moment. We’re seeing unprecedented demand for Tasmania due to geopolitical, climatic and pandemic factors. There’s been a seismic shift in the psychological disposition of many buyers, work habits have changed and deeper questions are being asked about what’s important in life, not to be too philosophical!

Are buyers apprehensive to undertake major renovations or are they specifically looking for homes they can make their own? I think some should be. In the age of a plethora of DIY TV shows people can sometimes get a little ahead of their skillset and end

up in hot water, both literally and figuratively! Generally, younger demographics are looking to add value by doing some work themselves. Older buyers are less likely to have the time or inclination because they have done it too many times before. I think I fall into this category yet I don’t learn and keep doing it!

What are the benefits of buying a property that needs a bit of work? It allows you to make it your own, no matter how much or how little you want to do. It creates a connection with the property, which I think is special. And of course, if you do have some skills, why not create some upside.

Any tips for buyers considering a reno property? Know your limits, employing professionals will save you money, heartache and pain!

Andrew renovated this former pub in Lewisham.

The kitchen remains untouched from when this Launceston property was built in the 50s.

When it comes to DIY, know your limits.

31

BUSINESS

ISLAND ENTREPRENEURS Interview: Hilary Schofield Delving into the inspiration, influence and individuals behind some of Hobart’s most happening businesses with a social bent.

Three Warriors CEO Corbin Halliday started his natural tanning company in five years ago. Inspired by his journey of health and recovery from mycotoxin poisoning, he wanted a safe, non-toxic and organic product he was happy to put on his skin.

His products are now sold across Australia, in the Netherlands, Iceland, Luxembourg, Germany and Ireland.

Corbin, why a tanning company? You know me, I love tanning, red hair, pale, I live in Tasmania, but I can’t not have a tan. So, after being so ill, I started looking for organic and plant derived products – I found one on the market, tried it and it was shocking – at least for my skin anyway. It made my skin orange and it stunk. I felt good because I had a bit of colour, but it didn’t look good! That gave me the idea to start formulating my own.

The crazy thing is I didn’t make it to sell it, I made it for myself, not thinking I would launch it. I put it on, and people were like ‘wow, it looks good’. Then I started spray tanning my friends and they said ‘Corbin this is one of the best tans I’ve had in 20 years. You should sell it.’

How did you start? I researched each component in all my favourite chemical-based tanning products. I have no biochemistry background, but Google’s pretty amazing…I found health problems linked to each ingredient. It’s pretty scary knowing what you might be putting on your skin.

For each chemical ingredient I found plant derived and eco-certified alternatives – it took me a year and a half. I was

my own guinea pig until I got it right. If I could go back to my school days now, I would have loved to do biochemistry!

What type of entrepreneur are you? I always wanted to have my own business. Mum had a real estate business and a newsagency. My Nan had hotels in Hobart. She was the most amazing entrepreneur you’ve ever met. It was in my blood to do it - when I was little I used to play in Nan’s hotel, play shops with my cousin, and pretend I owned it.

Tell us a bit about Three Warrior’s charitable partners? Ten per cent of our profit goes to Wello water. It’s important to make a positive change, create a social impact from each product sold.

We’re looking at new partnerships to support our environment.

In the long run our planet is the most important thing.

Did you have a business plan? My first business plan is nothing like what it is today. It helped for the initial stage though. What really helped me is creating an image of what you want people to see. Having been a hairdresser, I’m very visual, so when it comes to brand and campaigns, I love that.

How important is living in Hobart? We’re so lucky to have Tasmania as a backdrop. Some of the cleanest air and water in the world, so it’s a no brainer for us to use local, sustainably sourced ingredients. I go to Flinders Island to find my olive oil that comes from these two incredible ladies, they press it themselves. A drop of it on your hand is one of the most hydrating oils you’ll ever put on your skin. It’s the most beautiful ingredient.

How do you achieve balance in your life and business? I bought a jacuzzi! It’s so hard, I burn out every week – you learn to shut-off, but your own business is like your baby.

I was working seven days a week for four years. Now I’ve stopped working weekends and I exercise. Your health is really important.

If you could give advice to yourself in the first days of your business what would it be? I’d tell myself not to stress on the little things and to live each day like your last.

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33

MUSIC

Interview: Zilla Gordon

Picture: Kishka Jenson

Growing up in Ulverstone, singer-songwriter Lasca Dry’s childhood was spent spinning records from the 60s and 70s and dreaming of dance recitals. She created a name for herself as one-half of the folk-rock group The Habits before pursuing a solo career in 2015. Developing a unique flavour of bittersweet melancholy songs, Lasca has released her first solo album, Sweet Sea Surrender, that explores life’s struggles and learning curves.

Your album was recorded in two-and-a-half weeks, was it challenging recording in such a tight timeframe? I’ve learnt a timeframe is crucial to completing a project. Too often I have let myself go for as long as I feel, and years later I still haven’t completed that goal. The challenges that come along with time frames are not good for perfectionists, and I am one. Letting go of a few things and keeping my eye on the overall goal; it’s part of the reason I called my album Sweet Sea Surrender. I had to surrender to the idea of imperfection which then leads to the benefits - at the end of the two-and-a-half weeks, I had an album in my hand. Time management and decision making also were part of this.

Your videos incorporate a lot of traditionally feminine elements, like the colour pink, dresses and sparkles; what do those things mean to you? I am still living inside my younger me. I am drawn to anything that reminds me of my childhood.

End-of-year ballet costumes were a highlight of my year, I was definitely one of those kids that wanted to dress like a princess.

That’s where my inspiration came from for the video clip Better Than This.

You grew up in Ulverstone, what that was like? Growing up in Ulverstone was very peaceful, I had a wonderful childhood there. Full of after school activities, anything and everything you could imagine, I was a very busy girl. And yes I do feel like it offered creative opportunities, that or my mum sourced them out for me. But I was forever involved in eisteddfods, ballet concerts, school musicals, Tas Dance youth performances and the high school concert band. I even got to be an extra on Home and Away for my high school work experience, that one was thanks to my mum!

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How did you first get into music? I started piano lessons at a young age, along with recorder, euphonium, violin and flute.

My parents seemed to always have people over for parties and fires on the lawn, there was always loud music playing such as The Beatles, Elton John, etc., so at a young age I associated this music with family, happiness, good times and still now this music inspires me.

Australian musicians recently wrote to the Government to extend JobKeeper, is this something you feel is important to discuss? How has Covid impacted your work? When Tasmania went into lockdown all of my gigs got cancelled. It’s important to discuss, because music is a very special industry and helps so many people suffering in our world, especially now. What did we all do when Covid hit? Baked bread and played music. We need musicians and if they can’t get work in their industry they will have to look elsewhere. Music is just like any job, you have to spend a lot of time doing it, and if professional musicians can’t afford to pay for their food from a gig, then they will look for other work, meaning time for making, recording etc won’t be there.

When you’re not making music, what are you up to? I’m either watering my sunflowers, cuddling my munchkins (guinea pigs) Byron and Rockie or eating chocolate. I also love acting.

I recently filmed a poem written by Sappho, a Greek poet from 630 BCE. She is the first female songwriter that we know of and definitely one of my idols, along with Jimmy Page.

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HISTORY

Words: John Stephenson Pictures: www.beattiesstudio.com We have a rich history in Tasmania. From the 1840s, photographers started documenting Van Diemen’s Land.

In 1879, Scottish immigrant John Watt Beattie said Tasmania was so beautiful it made his soul sing. He ran a controversial museum, kick-started the tourism industry and explored the island extensively, going where no one had photographed before. When he died in 1930, they said his entire collection was destroyed. It’s been largely forgotten ever since.

My family ran a business called Beattie’s Studio. Growing up, I wasn’t really interested in photography. In 2013 our father passed away and my brother asked if I’d put some old photos on the internet for him. They had been stored under our house, but I had no idea what was in those old wooden shoe boxes.

I found an incredible collection. Every photo gives a feeling of amazement, something beautiful, remarkable, or unfamiliar. I’m on a mission to uncover the stories behind these old photos and the more incredible places and people they depict.

The people of Hobart may remember Beattie’s Studio, but there’s more to the story than portraits, weddings and Mr Beattie. The line of succession goes back 170 years and includes photographers such as Thomas Bock, Charles Woolley, Samuel Clifford and the Anson brothers.

In 1891 John Watt Beattie bought the business and changed the name to Beattie’s Studio. He had a long and distinguished career. After he died, my grandfather, Arch Stephenson, bought Beattie’s Studio and it’s been in my family ever since.

Arch was joined by his teenage son, Alberto, who was my father.

Dad told me he studied the lighting and paintings of Rembrandt.

He won many awards for his portrait photography and was quite well known in his day. In 1988 he opened the Beattie’s Studio Photographic Museum. He photographed so many people under the name Beattie’s Studio, that many referred to him as ‘Mr Beattie’.

Dad brought in my brother William, who is really the one who saw the value in the historic collection and he’s the one who has preserved and spent the most time working on it.

The role of Beattie’s Studio has changed many times, but it’s 36

still as relevant today as it was 170 years ago. It’s left a photographic record of life in Tasmania from the mid 1800s. The collection is certainly unique. As well as iconic images, stunning photos and moments in time captured on film, the collection has lots of family photos, corporate groups, sporting clubs, events and parades. We’ve got military, wilderness, vehicles, trains and transport, animals and ships. There is no index or historical information in the collection, that’s been lost if it ever existed.

I was aware of the Beattie Museum, but I confess I didn’t pay it too much attention until 2013. I stuck my hand up for the job of digitising the collection, not really knowing anything about it or how big a job that would be. Eight years later, I’m still going.

I’m putting the history back through the digital collection, web site and documentaries. I’m telling the stories again. My primary story telling is through video documentaries that I produce. I also re-photograph the scenes to show the passage of time. My footage is as cinematic as I can do and also pays homage to the Beattie photos with a similar style – doing what Mr Beattie might have done if he was still alive. He used the new technology of his time. I like to use innovative new cameras like drones, action and 3D cameras. I add music and sound design to further enhance the experience. Beattie narrated his lantern slide lectures, so I’ve narrated my videos. They are free to watch on YouTube.

The Beattie’s Studio Collection is available online at www.BeattiesStudio.com.

The documentary series Forgotten Tasmania is available on YouTube at www.youtube.com/ForgottenTasmania or just search ‘Forgotten Tasmania’.

Construction of the Commonwealth Bank Hobart, Elizabeth Street next to the GPO c1930.

Victoria Dock, Hobart. Note no high rise buildings c1930.

37

PSYCHOLOGY

The Yin and the Yang Words: Annia Baron

Can an optimist and a pessimist live in harmony? It’s a typical day on the therapeutic couch and my client Jake begins.

“Annia,” he says. “I’ve been together with my partner for a while. He’s amazing; caring, diligent, and we’ve always had good chemistry. We’re total opposites but seem to balance each other out. I’m the Yin to his Yang. Lately though, I’m finding myself increasingly frustrated. I’m an eternal optimist - always have been. Henry’s default, on the other hand, is pessimism. If we’re running 10 minutes late, he frets we’ll ‘miss the whole thing’. If his friend doesn’t respond, suddenly they’re ignoring him. If the forecast is mild and sunny and it starts drizzling, then the whole weekend is ruined. Usually, I’d be able to laugh it off and reassure him for example, ‘Don’t worry baby, it’ll work itself out.’ But lately, that feels like a chore. I feel it’s always me having to lift him up. Maybe we’re too opposite. I wish he were more positive. I also wish he’d close the cap after he uses the toothpaste and stop leaving unfinished cups of tea around the house! But that’s for another session,” he remarks playfully.

They say opposites attract. But what happens when the once interesting idiosyncrasies we were attracted to in our partner or friends, become a point of contention? What do we do when we realise that on a deeper level, our personality or outlook on life is vastly different to that of those closest to us? How do we ensure these differences don’t end up pulling us apart?

Here’s the deal: the reason you’re getting annoyed is because how you respond to others (be it partner or friend) is a direct reflection of where you are at. Their ‘opposite’ (attitude, belief, or action) triggers you because subconsciously, it mirrors back to you something you haven’t yet reconciled within yourself, something you fear, or something you’re avoiding.

To move through these challenges, consider asking yourself the following: Why is this issue bothering me now? What’s changed?

Am I taking things personally because other areas of my life aren’t where I want them to be? For example, have you been neglecting your self-care, personal development, or other responsibilities? Why do I need others to be more like me? Am I seeking validation, security or attention?

And in doing so, remind yourself: These ‘opposites’ that you’re frustrated with now, were part of the reason you were brought together in the first place. Stop trying to mould others into who you wish they’d be and instead celebrate them for who they are. Aim not to project your own 38

issues onto others and rather, learn coping mechanisms that help you regulate and maintain your own equilibrium.

Will it be quick and easy? Not necessarily. Will it be worth it?

Abso-freakin-lutely. Getting real with yourself elevates the quality of all your relationships.

So, no matter how opposite or similar, appreciate the diversity that adds spice to our connective experiences. Continue your inner work and honour the magnetic forces that bring and keep us together.

If you’d like more information or curious about mindset coaching, visit www.remindyourself.com or contact Annia Baron, Clinical Psychologist and Mindset Coach on 0402 448 278.

But what about the hormones?

When it comes to the neuroscience of lust, love, and companionship, well known hormones and neurotransmitters, such as dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin play an integral role. But in the last decade, we’ve learnt that a lesser-known hormone, vasopressin, is also essential in partner preference, copulation, and the formation of long-lasting relationships. As it’s an antidiuretic - working alongside the role of the kidneys to maintain fluid levels - it can be said that vasopressin directs our ‘thirst’ for love.

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WEATHER

Marion Bay turning it on.

TASSIE IS A PYRAMID AND IT CONTROLS THE WEATHER Words: Zilla Gordon

Picture: Stephanie Williams

Australia’s climate has warmed, according to the Bureau of Meteorology’s State of Climate 2020 report. While Tasmania might be known as Australia’s coolest state, experts say weather on our island home is set to change. So just what can we expect, and is it time to swap the Tassie tuxedo for some Banana Boat or an umbrella?

What makes us different?

Dr Tom Remienyi, a climate research fellow at UTAS’ Climate Futures Program, said that because of the mountainous “eastwest divide”, Tasmania can be thought of like a pyramid in an ocean. “A wet side versus a dry side was a key characteristic about Tasmania’s climate,” he said. “It’s highly variable in terms of moisture, but [the water] is on one side of the island.”

BOM climatologist Jonathan Pollock affirmed that Tasmania’s climate was strongly influenced by the surrounding sea. Tassie’s latitude of 41.6 degrees south also affects our climate because it leaves us exposed to prevailing westerly winds, the Roaring Forties. “For Tasmania, there has been about 1°C of warming since 1910, with slightly more warming in the south compared to the north,” he said. “And most of that warming has occurred in the latter half of the record. In recent decades, cool-season rainfall (from April to October) has been very low over most of the southern mainland, but in Tasmania the trend has been mixed with a decline in rainfall around the north and east but an increase in rainfall for the west.”

Launnie vs Hobart Launceston is the place to go for heat, with the city’s average maximum temperature a few degrees warmer than Hobart’s, according to Jonathan, but the difference “wasn’t great”.

Launceston also wins when it comes to rainfall. “Comparing 30 years of rainfall from 1981 to 2020 shows that Launceston’s average annual rainfall was about 100mm more than Hobart’s.”

And despite a very wet west coast, Tom said that Hobart was Australia’s second-driest capital city.

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What lies ahead?

While Tasmania’s weather currently is highly seasonal with a clear summer-winter transition, the weather will change by the end of the century (2100) following a high emissions scenario.

“Really cold conditions are expected to decrease,” Tom said.

“Some of these conditions will become extinct, and some already have.”

The heating up of Tasmania’s coldest environments, like the Central Highlands, would create ecological risks. “There are some species of plant that need the cold temperature to exclude others,” Tom said. Certain species maintained their dominance because they could survive in the coldest regions, where nothing else could. “Those regions are at risk of being invaded,” Tom said. He also said we can expect to see more extreme temperatures in early spring and a quicker transition from winter to summer. “40 degree-days are likely to become unsurprising to residents in coastal cities and towns across Tassie and high overnight temperatures would be quite regular,” he said.

Tom said this presented social challenges too as it is predicted that Hobart’s fire season will start in early spring. “Normally living in a city, you don’t have to think about bushfire risk.”

Jonathan on Modeling Climate Change Predicting how the weather and climate are likely to change over the next 100 years requires some assumptions about future greenhouse gas emissions. The amount of climate change expected in the next decade is similar under all plausible global emissions scenarios. The average temperature of the next 20 years is virtually certain to be warmer than the average of the last 20 years. However, by the middle of the 21st century, higher ongoing emissions of greenhouse gases will lead to greater warming and associated impacts, while reducing emissions will lead to less warming and fewer impacts.

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GARDENING

USEFUL LOCAL WEEDS Words and pictures: Sarah Aitken “Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them,” so said Eyeore, in a rare moment of positivity. As much as we despise their invasive natures, some weeds - when foraged and prepared correctly - can be useful, nutritious and even delicious. Sarah Aitken spoke with local permaculture educator Hannah Moloney about making the most of the weeds in our own backyards.

DANDELION If you have a toddler in your life you’ll likely know the joy of finding and blowing a perfectly spherical dandelion seed head, but have you ever eaten the leaves or petals? They can bring vibrancy to a salad, or the leaves – high in Vitamin A, K, calcium and iron – can be cooked like spinach.

BLACKBERRY Declared a Weed of National Significance and detested by environmentalists and landowners alike, blackberries are notoriously difficult to get rid of. The good news is, their berries are high in Vitamin C, folate, and their anthocyanins might work as an anti-inflammatory, an anti-oxidant and to assist with brain function as we age. The berries can be eaten raw, made into a delicious jam, or added to baked goods. The leaves can also be fermented and used as a tea.

Punnets of the berries go for $4/125g in the shops yet they are truly abundant, for free, in Tasmania throughout late summer and spring.

“I love using the leaves in a smoothie!” says Hannah, “or I put a small amount in salads (they’re incredibly nutritious) and the roots can be made into a dandelion tea once you roast and grind them up.” Some even claim it’s a delicious substitute for coffee, or the entire plant can be soaked and turned into a ‘fertiliser tea’, a real boost for your garden.

FENNEL Once you learn to identify wild fennel’s pretty yellow flowers dancing on the ends of their narrow stalks you’ll see them everywhere – particularly on the side of busy roads.

ELDER “The elder tree can be seen all around Hobart and beyond,” says Hannah. “People will harvest the berries to make jams, sauces, wines, juices and the flowers to make more wine and Champagne, and teas. It also has a whole bunch of medicinal properties.”

Their fronds and stalks can be cooked up, but Hannah prefers their seeds. “It pops up in our garden and we’ll harvest the seed heads to use in cooking and fermenting (it’s a nice flavour in kimchi or sauerkraut).” Sadly, unlike their farmed variety, wild fennel plants do not grow a bulb to roast.

Now is the time to forage for the last of the season’s elderberries – tiny glossy black-red berries that grow in large bunches on leafy green trees, often along creeks.

Other local weeds worth foraging include hawthorn, rosehip, purslane, chickweed and stinging nettle.

NOTE: Please do thorough research on any plant you intend to forage for consumption, and never eat anything you cannot identify beyond doubt. If you’re foraging beyond your own yard Hannah adds: “Make sure they haven’t been sprayed by local authorities or landowners. If you’re not sure, best to not eat them.”

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TRAVEL

Spend some time wandering. Just don’t get lost!

FEEL THE MYSTERY OF HANGING ROCK Words and pictures: Peter Carey As we gradually conquer the Covid travel restrictions we’ve been enduring, dreams of exploring mystical locations can soon be a reality again. A locale which for many years has intrigued me is Hanging Rock in Victoria, the setting for a Joan Lindsay novel, A Picnic At Hanging Rock, later adapted to screen by Cliff Green for the 1975 film directed by Peter Weir, and again, more recently, a TV series. While on a family road trip in Central Victoria, I visited that very site, 76 kilometres north of Melbourne just off the Calder Highway near Woodend.

Whether fact or fiction, the film adaptation, for a long time posed a much disputed question; was it really based on an historic event near the turn of the twentieth century of just pure fiction?

Modern commentary tends to support the view that it was indeed a myth, particularly since apparently no curious researcher has found credible press articles or police reports from the period pertaining to the incident.

the readers with a temptation to speculate on what might have happened, if indeed the intention was to solve the mystery in the first place.

As one of director Peter Weir’s earliest projects, Picnic was released in 1975, during a revival of the Australian film industry.

Despite being one of the few local movies at the time that didn’t feature Jack Thompson, it was well received and fascinated audiences by its skilful mixture of both mild and confronting macabre undertones, while all the time sustaining that temptation to speculate.

So why do I recommend a visit? Apart from exploring the beauty of the area, I was curious to see whether it projected any sort of mystical feeling. As a sceptic to this kind of folklore, I can confidently report that it didn’t, however others might see it differently.

There’s no secret that the screenplay was based on the novel rather than extensive archival research. The author apparently remained tight lipped on the question by deliberately withholding the last chapter, which might have otherwise revealed what really happened to Miranda, Irma, Marion and Miss McCraw.

In so doing, she cleverly emulated a quasi Hitchcock style of suspense, although it’s doubtful that Lindsay might have seen it that way.

It was well worth the $10 entry fee to visit the site up close and personal. The surrounding parklands and a specially developed interpretation centre devoted considerable display material to the story. The walk around the perimeter of the base had a special ambience and offered frequent breaks in the otherwise dense, low-level vegetation, enabling one to capture many interesting samples of nature’s geological creativity, manifested in the plutonic igneous rock formations of this former volcano.

Although Irma was subsequently found, the mystery remains as to why she and a young man who set out to find her, were found in a dazed condition.

Time constraints prevented us from trekking to the summit, at least not on this trip; however at least venturing partly into some climbing tracks fascinated us enough to recount the shot of one of the film’s central characters; Miranda (played by Anne-Louise Lambert) and her party ascending towards it as if absorbed by some kind of hypnotic trance.

One of the tests of good prose work after all is the author’s ability to effectively use imagery to challenge the readers to conjure up the settings, the actions and the personas of the characters; as opposed to spelling it out in detail. To Lindsay’s credit, at the apex of this line of thinking, was her ability to motivate 44

Hanging Rock is in the Macedon Ranges, an hour’s drive from Melbourne via the Calder Freeway.

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HISTORY

For Nine Years Kingston Was the Epicentre Of Tassie Bus-Building Words and pictures: Grant Wise

Grant Wise knows more about the Ansair Kingston bus factory in Kingston than most people - he completed a vehicle body building apprenticeship, and worked there for all the years it was open. Here’s his story.

The Ansair Kingston bus factory existed for just a short while but the buses built at the facility have stood the test of time.

Although the seven examples remaining in Metro Tasmania service will be retired in the next few months and replaced by new low floor city buses which are also built in Tasmania, they are a favourite of many Metro drivers.

The possibility of a bus factory in Tasmania was first discussed as early as 1984 with planning well underway the following year. The Robin Gray Liberal State Government (1982-1989) were determined to get things moving in Tasmania and soon announced that the Tasmanian Development Authority (TDA) was talking with well known Melbourne-based bus builder Ansair Tullamarine.

In 1986 construction started on a substantial building in the then-brand-new Huntingfield Industrial Estate south of Kingston and following much thought the new company was to be called Ansair Kingston.

The Scania handover.

A number of Ansair Tullamarine leading hands were sent to Tasmania to train the new workers and by July 1987 the first bus, a Mercedes-Benz, was handed over to Metro Tasmania and driven out the factory door by a very proud Premier Gray.

From 1987 till late 1995 the company built 221 buses, of which 205 were for Metro Tasmania. They had locally manufactured bodies built on top of Mercedes-Benz, MAN and Scania chassis.

The factory completed all Metro Tasmania contracts and unfortunately closed its doors in October 1995. Since then Metro purchased new buses from the mainland until 2018 when Elphinstone Engineering in Wynyard was contracted to build 99 new Bustech City buses for Metro. Examples of these buses are now in service in Burnie, Launceston and Hobart.

Tasmanian passengers can now once again travel on a locally built city bus and it’s hoped that possible future zero emission battery or hydrogen powered city buses could also be built in Tasmania. If you spot a Metro Tasmania Bus with a three digit number that starts with a six, it was built at Ansair Kingston.

The first Scania chassis in build, 1988.

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My book, Ansair Kingston 1987-1995 will appeal to transport and Tasmanian history enthusiasts, and also readers who like to hear about people building such complex vehicles and the highs and lows that go hand-in-hand with manufacturing them. Ansair Kingston 1987-1995 is available from The Book Cellar, Campbell Town and the Tasmanian Transport Museum, Glenorchy.

Mt Nelson Signal Station views

by Marnee Monczko

But jackets are OK… @kelvin196517

Tense viewing at the Intercultural Sports League cricket final. By Samyak Photography.

With tangerine trees and marmalade skies’ @darranwpetty Ghost hunting at the Royal Derwent Hospital @ausparanormal

Old meets new in the CBD @elijah_sargent_photography

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