The Local May 22, 2023

The Local - The Heart of the Highlands

Front cover: Creswick Theatre Company has been having a wickedly good time preparing to stage the dark comedy Arsenic and Old Lace. Read all about it on page 23.

Image: Eve Lamb

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The content expressed within this publication does not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of The Local Publishing Group Pty Ltd. The Local Publishing Group's editorial guidelines and complaints-handling process can be found at www.tlnews.com.au We welcome all feedback.

The Local is a fortnightly community publication covering the Central Highlands of Victoria.

The next edition is out on Monday, June 5, 2023. or online on Sunday, June 4 at www.tlnews.com.au

Space bookings: Wednesday, May 31

Copy deadline: Thursday, June 1

Editorial deadline: Thursday, June 1

General manager: Kyle Barnes on 0416 104 283 or kyle@tlnews.com.au

Editor: Donna Kelly on 0418 576 513 or news@tlnews.com.au

Editorial assistant: Eve Lamb on 0493 632 843 or editorial@tlnews.com.au

Sub-editors: Nick Bunning, Lindsay Smith & Chester the Cat

Writers: Eve Lamb, Kevin Childs, Tony Sawrey, Jeff Glorfeld & Donna Kelly

Photographers: Kyle Barnes, Eve Lamb & Nadine Jade

Graphic designer: Dianne Caithness

Contributors: Glen Heyne (gardening), Darren Lowe (music), Richard Cornish & Jen Clarke (recipes), Clive Hartley (wine) & Bill Wootton (poetry)

Accounts | Julie Hanson Delivery | Tony Sawrey

The Local - The Heart of the Highlands

Sharing and repairing: more fixers welcome

CRESWICK’S upcoming Repair and Share event is pretty much what the name suggests.

Organised by sustainability group Transition Creswick, it’s all about repairing broken items, similar to the successful Repair Cafe concept that’s keeping serious volumes of perfectly fixable stuff out of landfill in many communities already.

To get the ball rolling, a couple of months back Transition Creswick tested the waters by running a Repair Cafe event at Creswick, with a little help from the established Daylesford Repair Cafe.

About 40 people turned up at the Creswick Neighbourhood Centre with things that needed repair - and it all went so well that now Transition Creswick is getting set to hold another similar event.

The upcoming Repair and Share event is set for this Sunday, May 28 and will take place from 1pm to 4pm, once again in the Creswick Neighbourhood Centre.

Transition Creswick facilitator

Tim Drylie, pictured, says everyone is welcome to roll up with items that need fixing – and, in this case, also with goodies to share.

He says the Repair and Share concept will incorporate a share table where locals can share and swap intrinsically valuable things like home-baked cakes, or that excess quince crop that would otherwise go to waste in the backyard, or those eggs the chooks have laid in over-abundance.

Tim says it’s hoped the concept will become a regular monthly fixture, and he also says more people with handy repair skills of all kinds are encouraged to get in contact as their abilities will be very welcome.

This includes things like the ability to provide basic bicycle repairs, mechanical repairs, ceramic repairs and even IT know-how. A volunteer fixer who is a qualified electrician would also be most welcome.

“The Daylesford Repair Cafe has been very successful over several years and has made a big difference in terms of stuff not going to landfill,” he says.

“We ran our first Repair Cafe a couple of months ago in conjunction with the Daylesford Repair Cafe as a bit of an outreach. It was very successful and we had people with all sorts of repair skills including clothes-mending, knife-sharpening, bike repairs, ceramics repairs and small appliance repairs.

“Repair and Share is a slightly different approach but we have a strong affiliation with the Repair Cafe. At the moment we’re putting the structures in place to ensure it’s all done safely and the checks and balances are done. It’s with the broader idea of having a community exchange market down the track, enabling non-monetary trading.”

Tim says it’s also about good conversation and community connectivity.

“There is a natural abundance that we can all bring to our community that helps build resilience. I think a lot of people are experiencing frustration at having appliances break down. Built-in redundancy is an issue, and it might be something as simple as needing a bike tube changed or a sweater darned.

“We’re tapping into expertise that may not otherwise be valued as much in our current economy, and it’s often very satisfying for people who have these sorts of skills to give back in this way.”

Transition Creswick is auspiced by the Creswick Neighbourhood Centre and some of the other projects with which it’s currently involved include the Hepburn EV Bulk Buy scheme and the creation of an indigenous food garden. Details: transitioncreswick@gmail.com

Words & image: Eve Lamb

Your say...

The 5000 Club community luncheon volunteers are very heartened by the generous response from local individuals and companies to the recent article in The Local (April 24, 2023).

The article focused on the club’s future following the election of new president, Sandy Breen, when our founding president, Loretta Little, came to the decision to step-down from her leadership role after eight months of chemotherapy and radiotherapy and recovery from the after-effects of treatment for cancer.

Recording the 5000 Club’s history was not the intent of the article and any omission of the role of the local Anglican Parish in the club’s founding is regretted. However, it is incorrect, as stated, that Loretta “came on board at a later date”, after the 5000 Club was founded by the parish.

For the record, Loretta had volunteered at the Sacred Heart lunch in St Kilda for years and after moving to Daylesford felt that a mini version of the lunch would be welcome in Hepburn Shire. Speaking to an Anglican parishioner she was informed that the Daylesford Parish was considering establishing a lunch in Stanbridge Hall.

Loretta contacted Father Andrew Eaton and his wife, Monica, and together they put together the framework for the project with the support of the parish. The first lunch attracted 12 guests, with Fr Andrew helping with setup, Monica cooking soup, and Loretta cooking the rest of the food. Loretta bought groceries from her own funds to supplement the menu and was the organiser and planner for the weekly lunches. After Monica ceased cooking soup, Loretta assumed this task, and many years of soup came from her kitchen.

Until May 2019, the 5000 Club paid the parish for utilities and rent for use of Stanbridge Hall. The club then sought incorporation as an independent organisation and moved to the pavilion at Victoria Park.

Loretta remains as an ex-officio member of our committee and under the leadership of our new president, Sandy, the wonderful 5000 Club volunteers continue to do what they have done for over twelve years…to serve the people of Hepburn Shire. - the Committee & members of the 5000 Club.

Letters and musings are always welcome. Email news@tlnews.com.au

Doppelgänger!

People could be forgiven for thinking English actor Jason Statham had taken up playing table tennis at Victoria Park in Daylesford. He was snapped by internationally renowned photographer and Hepburn resident Margund Sallowsky. It's actually Julian McLucas, also from Hepburn. You can meet him and others at the Vic Park Table Tennis Centre on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays from 10am to noon.

Lockdown life leads to sequel and 10th novel

OH, WHAT one could do if only given the time to think, to have the freedom from the millstone of work and social distractions. What art we could create, what books we would write.

So, while being traumatic for many when Covid drove the country into isolation in early 2020, it was for others an opportunity to think, research and create.

Author Catherine de Saint Phalle was one of those people. After coming to live in the Central Highlands scant months before everywhere went into lockdown her response to the isolation of Covid was to sit down and write another book.

Her new work is titled Call Me Marlowe and published through Transit Lounge Press. The work was released on May 1 with an official launch at Brunswick Bound bookshop in Melbourne on May 18.

Born in London, Catherine’s childhood was spent between France and England and she started writing stories at seven. She left France in 2003 to live in Australia and was shortlisted for the 2017 Stella Prize for a memoir of her parents called Poum and Alexandre Call Me Marlowe is her 10th book and a product of her life in lockdown in a little cottage in a big garden overlooking Daylesford.

“I bought the house in late 2019 and I was here full time for three and half years,” says Catherine.

“I think that place is always important to any writer and being in the country offers a different pace, different feeling with people who live there and it inspires and nourishes you. I wrote my whole novel here during that time and along with two translation projects I was actually quite busy.”

Set in both Prague and Melbourne, Call Me Marlowe captures a man’s search for his heritage in the hope of understanding his estrangement from his mother. And with a gentle touch, the novel explores the nature of trauma – both personal and political – in the lives of its characters.

“I wrote it as a sequel to my 2019 novel The Sea and Us but the publisher wanted it to be a stand-alone so I worked on it again which made me revisit it in a different way.

“So it can be considered as a stand-alone but by the same token it is the same character (Harold Vaněk) and the story just continues. I may even write a third novel about him, I don’t know. I am even referring to him in a new book in a very distant way.”

Catherine says it is typical for her to take two to three years to write a book, putting aside time for writing in the morning with translation projects in the afternoon. The next work is, in her words, a strange mix between a memoir and a novel.

“The main character is a potter but I’m only five or six chapters into it. I’m still on the worksite as it were, with piles of rubble peeping out of everywhere.”

And when looking at a screen, researching, writing and thinking become a little tedious, there is always the garden to retreat to. Catherine is passionate about growing things, the beauty of nature and the respite gardening offers from the mental toil of writing.

“My garden kept me sane during Covid,” she says. “It continues to do so now and I work very hard on it. The presence of nature is so important to me. You feel safe and never feel alone because nature is so omnipotent and always there.”

Words: Tony Sawrey | Image: Contributed

The Local has a copy of Call Me Marlowe to give away. For your chance to win email news@tlnews.com.au with your name, town and contact number. Entries close on June 3.

$1.85m for Rainbow Health

The state government is backing LGBTIQA+ events across Victoria, as well as supporting hundreds of service organisations to become more inclusive for queer communities.

Marking IDAHOBIT last week, Premier Daniel Andrews and Minister for Equality Harriet Shing announced the government is investing $1.85 million for Rainbow Health Australia to deliver inclusion training to service organisations to make sure they are safe and trusted by the LGBTIQA+ community.

Rainbow Health Australia is a trusted organisation located in the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University, supporting LGBTIQA+ health and wellbeing through research, training and resources.

This investment will support up to 400 organisations to undertake Rainbow Health Australia’s training program How2 – helping them improve LGBTIQA+ inclusion in their workplaces in a sustainable way, including by developing and implementing an inclusion plan.

Rainbow Health Australia will also partner with an Aboriginal-led organisation to come up with the best approach for supporting Aboriginal-led organisations as they undertake this work. It will also create networks of organisations that have completed the program, providing a place to share experiences and advice.

The How2 program provides a foundation for service organisations that want to complete Rainbow Health Australia’s accreditation program Rainbow Tick – a world-first framework for organisations to demonstrate they are safe and inclusive for LGBTIQA+ people.

The government is also delivering $700,000 in LGBTIQA+ Organisational Development Grants, with recipient organisations to improve the support they can provide to the LGBTIQ+ community.

PUBLIC NOTICE

Notice is hereby given that a Special Meeting of Council will be held on Tuesday 23 May 2023 commencing at 3:30pm. The proposed business to be transacted at this meeting will be for Council to consider the release of the Draft Budget 2023/2024 for Public Exhibition. This meeting will be held virtually, with the public able to witness proceedings via the live stream on Council’s Facebook page. Only the business as detailed above will be transacted at the Special Council Meeting. This Special Council Meeting is called pursuant to Council’s Governance Rules 2022.

Enquiries: Manager Governance and Risk –03 5321 6434.

2023 Venie Holmgren Environmental Poetry Prize

The 2023 Venie Holmgren Environmental Poetry Prize has been launched by Holmgren Design with a major prize of $1000.

In her late 50s Venie Holmgren began to write poetry and her first published anthology, The Sun Collection for the Planet in 1989, became a poetry best seller.

At the same time, she applied her environmental activist skills and commitment to the campaign to save native forests near her home on the far south coast of New South Wales, where she was arrested twice for obstructing log trucks.

After 16 years of solo self-reliant living she moved to the local town of Pambula where she penned her travel memoir, several more books of poetry and travelled widely as a performance poet.

In 2010 Venie moved to Hepburn where she wrote her last poetry collection, The Tea House Poems. In January 2016, Venie "caught the bus" at the age of 93 .

The judges are Hepburn Springs resident Peter O’Mara and Alison J Barton.

Peter's long friendship with Venie Holmgren is still held close. Peter has poetry work published in magazines, literary and critical writing journals, anthologies and online both in Australia and overseas.

Alison is a Wiradjuri poet whose work is widely published in myriad journals. In 2022 Alison’s poetry was recognised in the Queensland Poetry Oodgeroo Noonuccal Poetry Prize, the WB Yeats Poetry Prize for Australia and the Liquid Amber Press Poetry Prize.

All entries must be received by Monday, August 7 with the winner announced at the Words in Winter festival in Daylesford on Sunday, August 27.

*In a tribute to Venie after her death, journalist Kevin Childs started his piece in The Local's February 15, 2016 edition with the following:

"The farewell to Hepburn poet Venie Holmgren was as spectacular an event as many she saw in her 93 years.

"From her astonishing coffin, to the graveside where a bloke jumped into the hole, it was a day for some tears, much laughter, stories, and such warmth and affection that, were the day not so hot, would warm you through.

"For instance, how many funerals are there where, prominent among papers marking a life, is an ASIO file, noting that Venie and her late husband Jack ran a specialist magazine business opposite the Perth garage where the spooks parked their cars?"

Read the full story at www.tlnews.com.au

Poetry prize link: holmgren.com.au

many ways you can give us a hand.

Writing the Rainbow

New chapter for historic library building

THE permanent relocation of Clunes Neighbourhood House to the town’s former free lending library building is poised to breathe new life into one of the town’s historically significant sites, invigorating the business area as well.

For the previous 20 years or so Clunes’ historic former free lending library in Templeton Street has sat largely unused, save for some assorted community meetings and a brief stint involving youth activity.

But plenty of groundwork by dedicated community volunteer committee of management members has paved the way for the beautiful old building’s reinvention – for essentially the very same use its founding mothers intended way back in 1852.

Stage one works inside the building are now in full swing and are scheduled for completion in June, says Clunes Neighbourhood House manager Lana de Kort.

When the new flooring and other internal works are finished at the end of June the Neighbourhood House will then base itself there permanently, having previously been housed in the town’s Lee Medlyn Bottle Museum complex for the past 10 years or so.

In the meantime, while key works are under way, the Neighbourhood House is temporarily working out of the town’s BOOM co-working space in Fraser Street.

Lana says the move has been informed every step of the way by what the community wants, guided by the ethos “focus on the Neighbourhood and the House can follow”.

“The Committee of Management and Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action approached us to use the building at a time that was perfect for us,” she says.

“We’re still continuing to take responsibility for the Lee Medlyn space and we will work out how the community wants to use that into the future.

“Most of the works here (in the free lending library building) will be finished by the end of June, and that will enable us to get into the building. The current work is the first stage of a series of stages and we expect there will be four stages.”

Lana says funding for this work was “just the latest in a series of smart decisions made by people protecting this building” and was secured by Graeme Johnstone, Phil Taig and Denise Fordham (the then committee for the building) through the Hugh D.T Williamson Foundation.

“The volunteers that went before us did engineering, structural reports and historical reports, along with stabilising works so now we’re at the stage where we can preserve and restore.

“With these reports, as well as engineering reports completed over the last decade, we have been well placed to work with DEECA to begin the safety works to restore the entrance and meeting rooms.

“The volunteer committee stabilised the building and we had an event in February where people could look through the building and share their ideas for it. The real magic is that the ideas that the community has come forward with are essentially exactly the same ideas that brought the building into being in 1852.

“Back in 1852 a group of women from Clunes identified a need for a space where people could come together and read and learn together. They worked with the community to raise the funds for the building. They lobbied landowners and the mining industry to support the development of the building as a place to develop literacy skills.

“I think it started off as the mechanics institute but it was always a place of informal learning. It’s always been a space where the community can come together and grow and that’s what we intend it will continue to be as we go forward.”

The Clunes Neighbourhood House itself has existed for four decades, operating from various venues, and is a vital community hub delivering social connection activities including group exercise, training courses, general support including digital literacy, emergency relief support and help navigating things like applying for the state government’s power saving bonus.

Lana says staged work planned ahead will also include shower and laundry facilities that will be made available for use by those who need them through a partnership with Anglicare Victoria.

There are also plans to accommodate the re-introduction of a regular children’s playgroup and to use one of the beautiful old high-ceilinged rooms within as a parlour to host music events among other activities.

“For us it means we have a permanent home,” Lana says.

Words & image: Eve Lamb

Detox your Home is Victoria’s free, safe way to dispose of unwanted household and garden chemicals – without harming your health or the environment.

Register today for Sustainability Victoria’s free household chemical drop-off day, supported by Hepburn Shire Council.

Detox your Home accepts:

Acids and alkalis

Aerosol cans

Ammonia based cleaners

Anti-freeze, coolant

Brake fluid

Car care products and waxes

Cooking oil

Cosmetics, nail polish and remover

Detergents, bleach, disinfectants and drain cleaner

Fertilisers

Fire extinguishers

Floor-care products and waxes

Fuels: petrol, diesel, kerosene, other

Glues: water-based and solvents

Hand sanitiser

Herbicides and weed killers

Insect spray, pesticides, rat poison

Oven cleaner

Pool chemicals

Solvents

Thinners, turps and paint stripper

Transmission fluid

Wood preservatives and finishes

And other items found at home with these symbols:

For a full list of chemicals accepted, visit: www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/ accepteditems

To register Scan the QR code, visit sustainability.vic.gov.au/ detoxyourhome or call 1300 363 744

Creek name change

Geographic Names Victoria has gazetted the renaming of Jim Crow Creek to Larni Barramal Yaluk in the Victoria Government Gazette.

Hepburn Shire Council has worked closely with the community and project partners Mount Alexander Shire Council, North Central Catchment Management Authority and DJAARA to campaign for the renaming of the creek over many years.

Mayor Cr Brian Hood said the decision by Geographic Names Victoria was welcomed.

“The term Jim Crow has its origins in racial segregation and anti-black racism and is therefore unacceptable. Larni Barramal Yaluk, which means home or habitat of the Emu Creek, reconnects the landscape with Dja Dja Wurrung culture and language.

“This change ties in with the council’s ongoing reconciliation and recognition work. We are very pleased the creek is now formally renamed.”

Dja Dja Wurrung Group CEO Rodney Carter reiterated the importance of the name change.

“This creek has an identity and has a spirit. We are at last affording it the respect it deserves by giving back its name, to now say its name is speaking to Country in the most beautiful way,” Mr Carter said.

Hepburn Shire Council and Mount Alexander Shire Council both resolved to request Geographic Names Victoria to rename the creek at council meetings in April last year.

There are strict protocols on renaming roads, features and localities. The process included significant community engagement on renaming of the creek in late 2021, with overwhelming support for a change.

An historic reference to the name Jim Crow Creek will be included in the VICNAMES register and will remain a part of the region’s history.

Hepburn Shire will work with other road partners to install new signage at the creek.

For information on the background and process involved in the creek renaming visit https://participate.hepburn.vic.gov.au

Just briefly...

A dusk to dawn cat curfew starts in Hepburn Shire from July 1.

Mayor Cr Brian Hood said community consultation had shown strong support for the curfew. The fine for a first infringement is $184.92 with that amount tripled for subsequent offences. If a cat is found wandering during curfew hours and it is not registered, owners will be required to register it before it is released.

Victoria’s draft 10-year Mineral Springs Master Plan is now on public display at www.engage.vic.gov.au/mineral-springs-masterplan

The plan includes four objectives including: traditional owners; health and water quality; land manager operations; and mineral spring aspirations. The objectives will help to set service expectations and investment priorities for the mineral springs which are on Dja Dja Wurrung, Wadawurrung, and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country. Submissions close on June 26.

The Daylesford Football Netball Club will host a Pride Cup event against Springbank Football Netball Club on Saturday, May 27.

The event is run in partnership with the ChillOut Festival and Pride Cup organisation. This year’s guest speaker is Diana Taylor, the vice-president of the Geelong Football Club and a trailblazer in the Australian Rules football industry. Tickets are $70 and include a two-course lunch and guest speaker.

Tickets: www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1048696

Daylesford & District Historical Society is hosting an exhibition to showcase a set of portraits of Dja Dja Wurrung people photographed in 1866 at the Coranderrk Aboriginal Station.

The photographs are made available by Djaara elder, Uncle Rick Nelson and inform the impacts of colonisation on generations of Dja Dja Wurrung people. An official public opening and Welcome to Country, will be held outside the museum on Monday, May 29 at 11am. The museum will open May 27-June 3 from 10am-2pm.

Hepburn Shire Council's Biodiversity Grants are now open for amounts up to $5000. Applications close on June 5.

Organisations to receive funding last year included Daylesford Community Centre, Hepburn Gardens for Wildlife, Hepburn Wildlife Shelter, Blampied Kooroocheang Landcare Group, Daylesford Primary School and Wattle Flat Pootilla Landcare Group. Link: www.hepburn.vic.gov.au/grants.

Hepburn Shire Council has awarded $25,320 to support community-led projects in the latest round of its community grants program.

Successful applicants were Lab Kelpie - $2500, Victoria Street Craft Group, Creswick - $2500, Hepburn Netball Club - $2500, Riding for the Disabled, Daylesford - $2270, Bullarto Public Hall Committee - $2500, Clunes Museum$2500, Creswick Men’s Shed - $2500, 5000 Club - $2000, Trentham Lions Club - $2000, Anglicare - $2000, Cool Country Men’s Shed - $1052 and Pavilion Arts & Sustainability - $999.

Nominations are now open for the 2023 Macedon Ranges Youth Awards to help recognise the amazing achievements of young people in the shire.

The awards are open to young people living in the shire who are aged between 12-25 years and have made a significant contribution to the community. Award categories include: Willpower; Good deeds; Pure imagination; Nicely played; Skilling it; and Well aware. Nominations close June 30 with winners announced August 10.

A digital driver licence trial will start in Ballarat next month before a statewide roll-out later this year.

From June, full licence holders in Ballarat will be able to sign up for the pilot through the Service Victoria or VicRoads websites before the trial begins in July, with those who register progressively invited to add a digital version of their licence to their phone.

Hepburn Shire Council is after feedback and ideas on the future of Clunes, Creswick, Daylesford and Hepburn Springs, Glenlyon and Trentham.

Surveys are at www.participate.hepburn.vic.gov.au/future-hepburn. The closing date is June 18. Community Conversation events will be held from 4pm to 6pm at Victoria Park, Daylesford - May 29, Hepburn Springs Reserve - May 30, Trentham Sportsground Reserve - May 31, Clunes Town Hall - June 1, Creswick's Doug Lindsay Reserve - June 7 and Glenlyon Town Hall – June 8.

Artists of the Central Highlands

Acclaimed arts couple Julie McKenzie and Malcolm King have further enriched the Hepburn Shire’s rich arts scene after moving here from interstate last year. Julie is particularly renowned for her landscapes and Malcolm for his travel poster works. They are both widely collected and exhibited, and their studio has screenprinted works for some of the biggest names in Australian contemporary art.

Eve: When did you move to Newbury, from where, and what motivated the move?

Julie & Malcolm: We moved in January '22, basically to spend more time with our daughters in Melbourne and Ballarat.

Eve: What genre of art do each of you practice?

Julie: We both paint and Malcolm is also printmaker. I make landscape-inspired work and Malcolm is more eclectic, figurative and abstract - and mixed media.

Eve: Are you both full time professional artists?

Malcolm: We have been working as professional artists as long as we have been together - 40 years or so. Julie worked parttime in the music industry and community based services until 2002. Since then, until last year, we had been operating our own artist run gallery, Kingstudio, in Milton and then Maclean in New South Wales.

I have an extensive career facilitating community-based art and artists in schools programmes over several decades, and also teaching printmaking and graphic design for TAFE NSW.

Eve: As a couple, how do the two of you get along artistically speaking?

Julie: There is no rivalry, mostly collaboration. Our work is so different, although we now have separate studios. Malcolm is my best critic. Over the years we’ve worked on a lot of community-based arts projects together, or separately, in Sydney, regional NSW, the Northern Territory and Western Australia. These projects have included murals, mosaics, graffiti, textiles, theatre sets and music production. The latest collaboration was last year with a commission, painting a large honour board/mural at the Victorian Trades Hall - which got a bit feisty.

Eve: You each have your own studio at Newbury. Are they open to the public?

Malcolm: Yes. We’re at 538 Blackwood Road, Newbury and will open the studio on random weekends, the next being the King's Birthday weekend in June, or by appointment. People can contact us on 0415 836 194 or 0432 719 402.

Eve: What motivates and inspires each of you in your personal creative practice?

Julie: Waking up each day. Landscape. I love the diversity of the Australian landscape, from the tropical to the pastoral and everything in between. I like to think my work is like a record of landscapes that are rapidly being destroyed by over development and now the impacts of climate change.

Malcolm: The relentless busy-ness of the world and a low boredom threshold, provides a rich canvas both to draw from and on.

Eve: Can you tell me what have your (respective) arts world highlights been?

Julie. Meeting the people that buy my work, people from all over the world from different cultures and socio-economic backgrounds. I’ve won a few prizes in exhibitions promoted by groups in all the places I’ve lived. Winning the Bentley Acquisitive was an unexpected highlight. Having the inaugural opening of the Milton ARTFest in NSW at our gallery was another.

with Eve Lamb

Malcolm: Over the years I’ve been exhibited twice in the Wynne Prize and have received Australia Council funding for numerous projects, and had works in national, state and regional collections. Our print studio has screen-printed for other artists including David Boyd, Charles Blackman, Wendy Sharpe, Adam Cullen, Ken Done and others…

Eve: Which artists, living or past, do you each most admire?

Julie: So many. Kandinsky. The Blaue Reiter group. My knees went to jelly when I saw my first Kandinsky at the Tate in London in 1980. Margaret Preston, Margaret Olley. Too many to name here.

Malcolm: The German expressionists, Kandinsky, Klee, Matisse, (particularly the cut-outs), many contemporary indigenous artists, Rover Thomas, Judy Watson. Ian Fairweather, William Kentridge, Reg Mombassa. The list could go on and on, so I’ll stop there.

Eve: Do you have any special arts events or projects coming up?

Julie: We’re both working on new works in paint and print, interpreting our new surroundings here in the hills. The Macedon Ranges, Central Victoria and the Goldfields provide a rich social, political and natural history to inspire and comprehend.

Malcolm: The open studios for the Kings Birthday from June 10 to 13, and throughout the rest of 2023.

Image: Eve Lamb

RANGES AG

That’s not a ficus...this is a ficus!

Hi Glen,

I’ve just been reading your article in The Local regarding indoor plants in winter. Our ficus has been slowly taking over the corner of our lounge room.

I’m loath to trim it but seek your advice on the best way of keeping it under control.

Kind regards, Wendy

Hi Wendy,

Thanks for the question. The fiddle-leaf ficus really should be called the finicky ficus - quite often difficult to get started but if placed into the right environment once they get going they’re almost bullet proof.

I’m glad you had the foresight to attach that (rather boastful) photo, because it enables me to give you a more detailed answer, which is yes, you can keep it under control and remove those mammoth arching branches.

As we are now entering the wintry season, and almost all growth slows to a stop, within reason you can really get going on the tidy-up. But it should be done in stages and with sharp secateurs, cutting just above a healthy stem, leaf or bud.

For starters take off the three or four long branches back to top of the cluster of leaves. That should be enough for the plant to take.

After a few weeks you might like to shorten the rest of them, perhaps even completely removing any spindly stems to encourage the rest. And generally tidy it up. I don’t need to tell you anything else, you are obviously already doing everything right.

Evergreen bulbous plants

Generally when gardeners think of bulbs, it’s probably daffodils or tulips and all the others with an annual resting period.

However there are a great number of bulbous plants with the advantage that, being evergreen, their foliage is a permanent feature in the garden. No long months of bare spaces.

The most common and most widely known of these, of course, is the ubiquitous agapanthus in all of its forms and colours, from the stately A. Praecox, with its tall, slender-stemmed crown of white or blue flowers, down to the dainty variegatedleaved miniatures. Widely known as African lily, agapanthus proudly grace many an Australian country front fence, including our own, and thrive with little or no attention.

An interesting and worthwhile evergreen is arthropodium cirratum, the New Zealand Rock Lily. This bulb produces arching sprays of attractive little flowers above slender, evergreen foliage. It will grow quite happily in full sun in cool climates, but needs semi-shade in warmer areas.

An excellent evergreen which can be grown as a pot specimen is clivia miniata, (left photo), which produces 50-60cm stems, topped by large balls of vibrant orange, trumpet-shaped blooms. Clivia comes in many forms and colours, all hardy and thriving in shady conditions.

Extremely hardy and exceptionally free flowering is tulbaghia violacea (centre photo). Its narrow foliage is quite neat and it quickly forms a reasonable-sized clump. Small heads of lilac flowers are borne on 30cm over a period of many months. They will tolerate a wide range of soil conditions and grow well in full sun or partial shade.

Dietes is a group producing luxuriant strap-like foliage. D. Bicolor (right photo) have 5cm lemon-yellow, iris-like flowers with three distinct brown and orange spots in the centre of each flower. Growing to a metre in height they are adaptable to easily grow in sun or shade.

Got a gardening query? Email glenzgarden@gmail.com

MESSAGE FROM THE MAYOR

The major outcomes from the Council meeting held on 16 May were:

• The introduction of a cat curfew from 1 July 2023, whereby cats must be securely contained within the owner’s property between sunset and sunrise. A cat curfew is a key action in Council’s Domestic Animal Management Plan, which was informed by strong community feedback. The dusk until dawn curfew is a good further step as Council moves towards the 24hour containment of cats by 2025. And a reminder - all cats over three months of age must be microchipped and registered. Further details on enforcement measures can be found at www.hepburn.vic.gov.au/cats

• The introduction of an Affordable Access to Council Facilities Policy to replace the old fee waiver policy. The new arrangements will make it easier for community groups to access Council facilities free of charge and will reduce the administrative burden on Council staff.

• A new 21-year lease will be entered into for the Creswick Transfer Station.

• Councillors received and noted the financial reports for the nine-month period to 31 March 2023. The Special Council Meeting scheduled for 23 May will consider the release of the 2023/24 draft budget for public consultation. Council remains in a delicate and challenging financial position which must continue to be prudently managed if community needs are to be met and longer-term viability enhanced. We encourage community members to review the draft budget and provide feedback at https://participate.hepburn.vic.gov.au. The final budget for 2023/24 is due to be adopted at a Special Council Meeting on 27 June.

Perhaps the most pleasing development in the past month has been the decision by Geographic Names Victoria to gazette the renaming of Jim Crow Creek to Yarni Barramal Yaluk. Council worked closely with the community and project partners Mount Alexander Shire Council, North Central Catchment Management Authority and DJAARA, to campaign for the renaming of the creek over many years. The term Jim Crow has its origins in racial segregation and anti-black racism, and is therefore unacceptable. Larni Barramal Yaluk, which means ‘Home or habitat of the Emu Creek’, reconnects the landscape with Dja Dja Wurrung culture and language. This change ties in with Council’s ongoing reconciliation and recognition work and is further evidence that well-constructed input from the community can lead to constructive change.

Community events - The past month has featured a number of prominent community events – including the iconic Trentham Spudfest, the Bullarto Tractor Pull and the Anderson’s Mill Heritage Weekend in Smeaton – each of which was a credit to the organisers and many volunteers, and proudly sponsored by Council. And a large audience was in attendance to celebrate IDAHOBIT Day (International Day Against LGBTIQA+ Discrimination) on 17 May in recognition of Council’s support for diversity and inclusion. Planning – watch out for Community Conversation events across the Shire. These consultation sessions are a significant opportunity to help shape revised planning regulations. Come along and have your say on matters such as the preservation of town character, urban design, protection of the environment and heritage assets, transport and housing.

Cr Brian Hood, Mayor

COUNCIL PLAN FOCUS AREAS

HAVE A SAY ON TOWN FUTURE

Council has launched the next stage of our strategic planning project, Future Hepburn. We are looking to our community to help develop structure plans for:

• Clunes

• Creswick

• Daylesford and Hepburn Springs

• Glenlyon

• Trentham

Structure plans will guide future growth and appropriate development to 2050. They aim to protect what we value, improve liveability and empower our community to thrive.

We invite you to get involved!

• Complete a survey via Participate Hepburn at https://participate.hepburn.vic.gov.au/future-hepburn or pick up a survey from a library or Council hub.

• Come along to a Community Conversation and chat with our planners, Councillors and staff from right across the organisation.

Community Conversations will be held:

Daylesford – Monday 29 May, 4pm to 6pm at Victoria Park Pavilion

Hepburn Springs – Tuesday 30 May, 4pm to 6pm at Hepburn Springs Reserve

Trentham (incl. Listening Post) – Wednesday 31 May, 4pm to 6pm at Trentham Sportsground Reserve Pavilion

Clunes – Thursday 1 June, 4pm to 6pm at Clunes Town Hall

Creswick – Wednesday 7 June, 4pm to 6pm at Doug Lindsay Reserve Glenlyon – Thursday 8 June, 4pm to 6pm at Glenlyon Town Hall. Find out more about Future Hepburn and town structure plans at https://participate.hepburn.vic.gov.au/future-hepburn

DRAFT BUDGET OUT SOON

Council will hold a Special Meeting on Tuesday 23 May from 3:30pm to consider the release of the 2023/24 draft budget. Once released, the draft budget will be open for community feedback.

You will be able to view the draft budget via Participate Hepburn at https:// participate.hepburn.vic.gov.au or at libraries and Council hubs.

Submissions may be made via Participate Hepburn, with hardcopy feedback forms available at libraries and Council hubs They must be received by Council by 5pm on Thursday 8 June. Council will consider the budget at a Special Council Meeting to be held on Tuesday 27 June at The Warehouse - Clunes. Council meetings are livestreamed via Facebook at www.facebook.com/hepburncouncil

JOIN OUR TEAM

Are you looking for a career move or a job closer to home? We are recruiting new staff across a number of roles. We offer attractive and flexible working arrangements.

Stay up-to-date with the latest job opportunities and apply at www.hepburn.vic.gov.au/jobs

The Council Plan 2021-2025 describes how Council will strive towards our vision, where to focus efforts, and how to measure progress. Each Focus Area has a series of priority statements, with actions against each item.

The Local's Education Feature

KIND CREATIVE CONNECTED

viding high quality

Literacy and numeracy

Performing arts

Visual arts

Italian language

Physical education

Kitchen garden P —6

Camps & excursions

Intervention & extension

Buddies Prep & grade 6

Respectful relationships

The federal government has announced the members of the National Respectful Relationships Education Expert Working Group that will support the delivery of respectful relationships education in schools.

The expert working group will be chaired by the chief executive officer of OurWatch, Patty Kinnersly, during its first year and meet for the first time next month. The group will guide national collaboration between states, territories, the non-government schooling sectors and experts to support the delivery of ageappropriate, evidenced-based and expert-developed respectful relationships school education. This is in line with Recommendation 10 of the Respect@Work: Sexual Harassment National Inquiry Report.

Advice from the group will support the implementation of the government’s $83.5 million Consent and Respectful Relationships Education program.

The working group will guide a rapid review into existing delivery approaches of RRE in schools to identify best-practice and opportunities for improvement.

National Respectful Relationships Education Expert Working Group members include: Patty Kinnersly (Chair), CEO of OurWatch; Professor Peter Buckskin, Aboriginal Engagement and Strategic Projects, University of South Australia; Chanel Contos, Teach Us Consent; Heather Clarke, National Association of Services Against Sexual Violence; Associate Professor Michael Alan Salter, School of Social Sciences, University of New South Wales; Dr Fiona Martin, Educational and Developmental Psychologist; Dr BJ Newton, Social Policy Research Centre, UNSW; and Katrina Marson, Relationships & Sexuality Education Alliance ACT.

The working group will also include a representative from the federal government, a member from each state and territory government, and representatives from the National Catholic Education Commission and Independent Schools Australia.

Minister for Education Jason Clare said teaching respectful relationships education in schools assisted students build the skills, values and attitudes required to develop and maintain positive, healthy, and respectful relationships.

“This expert working group will work to ensure that age-appropriate, evidencedbased respectful relationships school education is delivered. Evidence shows that improving attitudes and understanding is a key way to prevent sexual harm and violence. If we want to see a societal shift in attitudes, we need to start with young people."

Govt blocks websites

It is getting harder for academic cheating services to target Australian higher education students with another 100 academic cheating websites blocked.

This is the third time the higher education regulator TEQSA has used protocols with Australia’s major ISPs to disrupt access to websites targeting students studying with an Australian higher education provider. This brings the number of illegal cheating websites blocked under these protocols to 250 since August 2022.

Cheating websites offer to sell students essays or assignments or accept payment for someone to sit exams on a student’s behalf. Illegal cheating services threaten academic integrity and expose students to criminals, who often attempt to blackmail students into paying large sums of money. Blocking these websites seriously disrupts the operations of the criminals behind them.

Analysis shows that after TEQSA began using these protocols in August 2022, web traffic from Australia to illegal cheating services halved in semester 2 2022 (September – November) compared with the same time in 2021.

The federal government is working with the higher education sector to reduce the risk posed by cheating services. Australia’s anti-cheating laws make it illegal to provide or promote academic cheating services. Penalties include up to two years in prison and fines of up to $110,000. Students who are found to engage in cheating are subject to their institution’s disciplinary penalties.

In addition to TEQSA’s enforcement action and work with providers and international partners to share intelligence, the agency has also developed a range of resources for students and staff.

These include advice on avoiding cheating services for students and a new training course to upskill academics and staff within institutions to deter, detect and respond to cases where students outsource work to third parties.

Suspected cheating services can be reported to TEQSA for investigation at www. teqsa.gov.au/cheating

Educational excellence that places student wellbeing at the heart of learning.

Our students are immersed in an academic program that follows the Australian Curriculum and so our teachers place a strong emphasis on explicit teaching and monitoring of the core literacy and numeracy achievements of our students. This year our NAPLAN data revealed 100% of year 3 students scored ‘Above’ the National Minimum Standard in all Literacy areas and 100% of our year 5 students scored ‘Above’ the National Minimum Standard in all Literacy areas and Numeracy. We use this data alongside an assessment schedule that includes Essential Assessment testing and PAT maths to support individual learning plans. Most importantly, we prioritise student wellbeing as the foundation for meaningful learning. Each day our students engage with their teachers in our Awareness program that is supported by the Australian Curriculum General Capabilities, that ensures that students develop to be able to live and work successfully in the 21st century. Our students’ social, emotional and moral intelligences are cultivated as a normal part of the school day.

Learning from nature through connecting.

Our Bush School program has been developed by Dr. Gen Blades to ensure that this important nature based learning helps to develop problem solving, resilience, environmental and indigenous knowledge, and key educational outcomes. We are committed to providing an experience for our students that builds a deep relationship with nature for life. One of the ways that we do this is by being a River Detectives School. For 8 years we have run this program from Cornish Hill in the Smith Creek corridor, and this year we won the North Central CMA Regional Recognition Award for outstanding contribution to natural resource management.

A rich learning experience that is deeply valued by all of our students.

Our teachers integrate an extensive amount of excursions, incursions and camping programs into learning to inspire our students to discover how they can make a meaningful contribution to their world. We have an elected student action team, Grade 6 Leadership program, and our students run different interest clubs during the colder months. We participate in the Sporting Schools program and provide musical tuition for our students for violin and piano, and music composition.

Our Education program is accessible to all.

You do not need to identify as being Buddhist for your child to benefit from the critical thinking and inquiry skills that a philosophical education instils in children. We aim to be accessible to all families in our community and our school fees are low and are able to be negotiated through our volunteering program and through bursaries. At our school you will meet a friendly learning community who support each other to experience a sense of belonging.

We warmly invite you to contact us at any time for a school tour and experience first hand our outstanding education program.

Creativity at Ballarat Grammar

As we move into the future, the importance of critical thinking and creativity cannot be overestimated. The passionate teaching staff of art and design and music at Ballarat Grammar believe these skills are essential for success in tomorrow’s world.

An education fostering creativity and developing analytical thinking through problem-solving and innovation. We believe that by developing these skills, our students will be ready to face the future challenges.

In Years 7 & 8, Ballarat Grammar’s Art & Design program offers opportunities for students to explore diverse perspectives and approaches, enabling them to develop unique ideas and produce meaningful and impactful work.

Students move through a carousel of eight bespoke studios: Textiles, Ceramics, Printmaking, Painting and Drawing, Product Design, Systems Engineering, Photography and Visual Communication. In addition to the art and design subjects, students also experience the performing arts disciplines of dance and drama. At Year 9, students opt to choose two of these subjects to deepen their knowledge and understanding in those areas in preparation for VCE level studies.

At VCE level, students select from multiple creative pathways. Two visual arts courses are on offer: Creative Practice and Making and Exhibiting. Students are also offered the opportunity to study Visual Communication Design, Product Design and Systems Engineering.

The Product Design course is streamed to reflect the interests of students, with a Fashion Design stream running alongside a more traditional resistant materials route. The Systems Engineering course allows a creative outlet for those students who prefer a technology-based experience, with the course focusing on electronics, programming, and the construction of mechatronic projects.

Across all programs, Ballarat Grammar students experience the satisfaction of developing traditional skills but also learn how to integrate industry level technologies using computer aided design and manufacturing facilities.

At Ballarat Grammar every student in Year 7 participates in a year-long Instrumental Program where they embrace the opportunity to learn an instrument that is new to them.

Through this program, students develop the core skills of creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication, while enjoying the experience of growing together and performing on stage.

For some students, this program begins a lifelong love of performing arts and the opportunity to continue their journey through academic or co-curricular offerings including choirs, bands and orchestras.

In a world where screen time dominates, learning an instrument can be the perfect antidote. Not only does it provide a break from technology, but it also offers a myriad benefits for students of all ages.

Numerous studies have shown that learning to play an instrument can improve cognitive skills such as memory, concentration, and coordination. Playing an instrument can also enhance creativity, providing an outlet for self-expression, encouraging innovative problem-solving skills.

Learning an instrument in an ensemble allows students to connect with others who share their passion through collaboration as they perform together, building communication and teamwork skills.

Studying creative subjects as part of a student’s academic program is crucial. It helps develop critical thinking, problem-solving skills and cultivates creativity and a sense of well-being, which are necessary attributes for success in many areas of life.

Moreover, creative subjects develop a well-rounded educational experience, helping young people to understand and appreciate the diversity of the world they are about to enter.

EAT | DRINK | ENJOY

Out & About in the Central Highlands

Music news with Darren

Gig Guide

Odessa at Leavers, Creswick

Auld Alliance - Saturday, May 27

Dave Graney and Clare Moore – Saturday, June 3

The Palais-Hepburn, Hepburn

Lloyd Spiegel Trio - Friday, May 26

Leilani Le Fleur & Jothi - Saturday, May 27

Paco Lara - Friday, June 9

Internationally acclaimed maestro flamenco guitarist Paco Lara will launch his new album Duende at the Palais-Hepburn as part of his regional Victorian tour.

Paco’s home town is Jerez in southern Spain, recognised around the world for its famous sherry wine, Andalusian horses, exceptional flamenco artists and its food, culture and arts.

Lowe

Wine notes with Clive Hartley

All points of the compass: Living in the Central Highlands of Victoria is like being in the centre of the universe. Well, in wine terms that is. Because at every point of the compass you can drive to a different wine region that offers you a diverse and interesting day out experience.

Travel an hour north and you can visit Bendigo. Here the climate is considerably warmer and is ideal for producing cabernet sauvignon and shiraz.

Towards the north-east we have Heathcote. The rich, deep Cambrian soils provide the foundation for delicious reds. These igneous soils were forced to the surface by two fault lines that run through the region. The epicentre of the region is just north of the township, and include classic producers such as Jasper Hill, Munari, Sanguine Estate, Vinea Marson and Paul Osicka.

Staying more local, and lying directly east, we have the golden triangle of vineyards around Lancefield, Kyneton and Mt Macedon. The cool climate dictates that sparkling wines, pinot noir and chardonnay are the most commonly planted varieties. Internationally renowned Bindi and Curly Flat make some of Australia’s best wines. Hanging Rock ‘Macedon’ sparkling is superb. Other gems are Granite Hills Riesling, Lyons Will Estate Gamay and Cobaw Ridge Lagrein.

In the south-east there is the tiny region of Sunbury and the renowned Craiglee vineyard, a quiet achiever if ever there was one. Its medium-bodied, elegant shiraz is listed on the Langton’s Classification of Australian Wine. Appointments only.

Paco’s first production in Australia was the Andalusian Guitar album launch show which he started touring shortly after he moved here in late 2017. In 2021, he had a sell out show in the Playhouse Theatre at the Sydney Opera House and at the Adelaide Guitar Festival. Last year, the show was presented at venues around Australia.

Got a gig happening? Email news@tlnews.com.au Or post it on Gigs at www.tlnews.com.au

Driving directly south, and you pass through parts of the Ballarat region where Eastern Peake reigns, before coming down to Geelong. You first hit the warmer Moorabool Valley before ending up on the Bellarine Peninsula. The valley has Bannockburn, Austin’s, Lethbridge and Clyde Park cellar doors. On the cooler Peninsula there is Scotchmans Hill and Banks Road which both offer excellent choices for lunch. Pinot noir features in both sub-regions. The peninsula wines are lighter and more focused on red fruits, while the warmer Moorabool Valley has more earthier, darker fruit-focused wines.

Turning west and north-west you enter the Pyrenees above Avoca, where more full-bodied reds take over, namely cabernet sauvignon and shiraz. Top cellar doors include: Redbank, Summerfield, Dalwhinnie and Taltarni. It is not much further to reach Best’s Wines at Great Western. I might leave that one for another day.

Clive Hartley is an award-winning wine writer, educator and consultant. His Australian Wine Guide (7th ed) is available for purchase – www.australianwineguide.com.au

Remember we offer free delivery, T&Cs apply. Delivery times are Monday to Saturday between 10am and 4pm.

We accept credit cards over the phone or we have an on-board eftpos machine. You will need to be at home for the delivery with proof of age if asked by the driver. Give the Foxxy team a call on 5348 3577. Keep safe, everyone.

Arsenic and Old Lace at Creswick Theatre

CRESWICK Theatre Company has been having a wickedly good time preparing to stage the dark comedy Arsenic and Old Lace.

The script by American playwright Joseph Kesselring was written in 1939 and sweeps its audience into the world of two (seemingly) dear older ladies, the Brewster sisters, who live with their nephew in Brooklyn.

The gals are sweet and welcoming women who just happen to have a personal practice of murdering single men - to save them from being lonely.

“It’s a farce,” says director of the Creswick Theatre Company version, Jenni Sewell, pictured below. “It’s a very funny script, subtle but clever, and there’s bits in it where we just crack up in rehearsals.”

The original Arsenic and Old Lace made its Broadway debut in 1941, enjoyed a successful three-year run, and went on to be made famous by the 1944 film adaptation directed by Frank Capra and starring Cary Grant as Mortimer Brewster.

The Creswick Theatre Company production features a cast of 13 and is being staged over June 16 to 25 with four evening shows and two matinees.

Jenni says tickets are selling fast.

“We have a seating limit so if people really want to see it they should get tickets.”

Elly Kries has one of the lead roles as Martha Brewster and, when The Local dropped in on a recent rehearsal, was obviously having a rollicking good time getting into character for the part. But there are challenges.

“It’s really hard when everyone’s breaking up laughing, not to crack up yourself and just keep performing the part,” Elly said.

“It’s a great script and I do like playing dress-ups and being someone else for a little while.”

There are plenty of strong character parts including Elaine, the minister’s rather naughty daughter played by Imogen Nooney.

“She’s a bit saucy, a bit more worldly than a minister’s daughter really should be,” Imogen said of her character.

Ellen Scott plays Officer O’Hara, an interesting character as well.

“He could best be described as duplicitous,” Ellen said. “He lives one life to earn his keep but has been writing a play... for 12 years.”

Like many of his fellow cast members, Ballarat’s Chris Andrew has been with CTC for a while and has appeared on stage in previous productions with this lively little community theatre company. For Arsenic and Old Lace he’s playing Dr Reverend Harper.

“It’s a challenging role but I love it,” he said. “It’s heaps of fun. I love being on stage and bringing fun and laughter for the audience.”

Tickets: www.humanitix.com

From left, Elly Kries, Kari O'Gorman, Craig Jackson, Chris Andrew, Imogen Nooney, Ellen Scott & Tony Meehan

Words & image: Eve Lamb

one of a kind

The Daylesford Hotel is one of a kind. It’s majesty, it’s music and it offers many spaces, with over 100 year’s of history in the heart of town. A traditional style pub with all the modern delights, offering pub meals as well as a broader range for all dietary wants and needs. Wine & dine on the Sunset Balcony overlooking greater Daylesford or find a Cosy Corner and curl up next to the fire inside. Finally, after many years we are back. Open from midday everyday with lunch specials and entertainment in the evenings; including Open Mic on Mondays, Trivia on the Wednesdays & live music through to Sundays.

Be sure to book ahead for dinner, music, events & accommodation. Check for more details here:

WE OUR LOCALS

We are proud to offer you Green Hills Natural Beef and Lamb from our very own farm in Malmsbury. It’s as local as you are. In store today.

WHOLE GREEN HILLS RUMP ONLY $99

One of the most versatile cuts, the rump is full of flavour. As the name suggests, it is from the backside of the cow so it is a hard-working muscle. Whilst not as tender as Scotch or Sirloin, it makes up for it with bangs of flavour. Min 3kg.

SMOKED PORK HOCKS

Normally $16. Now $12 - just in time to make Richard Cornish’s fantastic Smoky Maple Baked Beans.

The Coronation of Poppea at Daylesford

Following its critically acclaimed production of Rossini’s La Cenerentola in 2022, Lyster Opera is now touring with the early music masterpiece The Coronation of Poppea.

Composed in 1643 for the Venice Festival by the most acclaimed composer of the day, Claudio Monteverdi, The Coronation of Poppea was an immediate success and was played across Europe. The score then mysteriously disappeared for over two centuries, and when it was rediscovered, it was met with renewed acclaim.

The story is set on Mount Olympus, where three goddesses compete to establish their supremacy over the mortal world. They set into action the story of the Emperor Nero, who is determined to have his mistress Poppea ascend the throne – but needs to remove a few obstacles along the way, including anyone who might stand in the way.

Monteverdi’s music is sweeping in its emotion, ranging from humour to romance to revenge. The roles of Poppea and Nero are sung by soprano Piera Dennerstein and tenor Hew Wagner, with Helen Koehne as the Empress Ottavia, Michael Lampard as Poppea’s discarded lover Ottone and Kerrie Ann Bolton as Poppea’s nurse, Arnalta. The goddeses are sung by Mandy Lyn Brook, Angelique Tot and Adelaide Soccio Greenaway, with Troy Castle and Josh Morton-Galea as the soldiers Liberto and Lucano. Pamela Christie returns as musical director and accompanist.

For director Jamie Moffat, who is also singing the role of Seneca, The Coronation of Poppea presents special challenges. “It's important to not treat it as a museum piece,” he says. “It’s a witty and really theatrical work, so we shouldn’t smother it with too much reverence. It clearly wasn’t intended by its creators to be taken literally. At the same time, we shouldn’t be gimmicky about it. It has survived over the centuries because its story and music are so strong.”

Lyster Opera will be performing the opera in English in an edition edited by conductor Raymond Leppard. New costumes designed by Maddy Connellan will be featured. The performance will include a brief talk by Rachel Buckley.

The Coronation of Poppea will be performed at Oxley Shire Hall on May 27 at 2pm and Christ Church Daylesford on June 3 at 2.30pm. Tickets are $35 and $28 (concession) from www.lysteropera.com.au Details: 0410 890 388.

Piera Dennerstein and Hew Wagner as Poppea and Nero

Silent film gets new life from a qeychak

AN ALMOST century-old silent masterpiece of documentary filmmaking will be given new life next month when an acclaimed singer performs a “sound-track”.

Grass, made in 1925, recounts the yearly migration of 50,000 tribespeople into Iran, taking 500,000 animals across fierce wide rivers and snowy peaks to fresh pasture. The trek has been going on for a thousand years.

The film will be shown at the Castlemaine Documentary Festival, which runs from June 16 to 18, with the music by ZOJ, a Ballarat duo comprising acclaimed singer Gelareh Pour and her partner on drums, Brian O’Dwyer.

Festival director Claire Jager found ZOJ, which is modern Persian for couple, through a computer search for Iranian musicians in Central Victoria who might compose an original score. To Jager’s knowledge, such a silent film-live music collaboration has not been done before.

Born in Iran, Gelareh is a singer and songwriter, who also plays a bowed lute called a qeychak. She has performed in Iran, Tajikistan and across Europe. In Australia she has appeared at festivals and venues across the country, collaborating with leading innovative musicians as well as producing three albums.

So how did all this come about? “Inadvertently,” says director Jager. “A Turkish woman got in touch with me to suggest a festival of Iranian films, which led to Grass.” Another happy coincidence: it will be shown during Refugee Week.

It is one of the first films to study a culture. Jager says she knew of it through her 30 years in the field of documentaries and was able to track down a new print in the US.

Under its full title, Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Life, the documentary was chosen for preservation by the American Library of Congress as “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant”.

Another reason for Grass having such fame is that Merian C. Cooper, one of its three directors and producers went on to make the classic King Kong

Another producer was Marguerite Harrison, who also worked as a reporter and translator as well as spying for the US in Japan and the Soviet Union in the 1920s. She was held for 10 months in the notorious Lubyanka prison.

She first met Cooper at a ball in Warsaw during the early days of the war between Russia and Poland, giving him food, blankets and books when the Russians jailed him in 1920.

By contrast, another documentary takes the viewer into the world of descendants of camel drivers in Australia, commonly called Afghans, although most were from the far west of British India, including today’s Pakistan. Others came from Egypt and Turkiye.

Watandar, My Countryman centres on an effort by a descendant of the cameleers, Muzafar Ali, to film them to try to understand his new Afghan-Australian identity. It is directed, written, and produced by Jolyon Hoff who, like Ali, lives in Indonesia. Journeying far from his favourite surfing beaches, Hoff undertook a type of road trip looking for the cameleers and filming Ali on his mission.

Another festival highlight is Weed & Wine, described by Jager as an intriguing account of a French family with centuries-old vineyards and a son who runs a staterecognised cannabis farm in California.

And this year C-Doc introduces a second venue - The Yurt - a beautiful microcinema located in easy walking distance to the Theatre Royal. The Yurt features an alternative program of family-friendly sessions across the Saturday and Sunday mornings and enticing programs for young people in the afternoons and evenings. It will also host an immersive interactive parlour game, Werewolves, for more daring festival-goers.

Link and tickets: www.cdocff.com.au

Words: Kevin Childs | Images: Contributed & Katrina Penning (centre)

By contrast, another documentary takes the viewer into the world of descendants of camel drivers in Australia, commonly called Afghans, although most were from the far west of British India, including today’s Pakistan.

Grass

Watandar, My Countryman

The Yurt

Recipes with Jen Clarke

Zucchini and rice gratin (Serves 4 as a side)

May is my favourite month, and, after a wintry start, there has been some blissful, calm autumn weather. The trees are turning, mushrooms are emerging and the smell of wood smoke lingers in the air.

With the evenings closing in, we can turn our minds to warmer dishes to combat the chilly nights. I recently saw a recipe similar to this that involved flour and milk and thought ‘too stodgy’, so here is a lighter and simpler version. I like the idea of draining the zucchinis and using the resulting liquid in the dish. Zucchinis are abundant and cheap at the moment and this is a perfect dish for the cooler autumn weather.

Ingredients:

3 medium zucchinis

2 teaspoons salt

¼ cup plain uncooked white rice

1 leek, sliced (or you could use an onion)

One clove of minced garlic

2 tblsp olive oil

Approx ½ cup chicken stock or water

About ½ cup grated parmesan

A bit of butter to dot over the top

Salt and pepper

Coarsely grate the zucchini and put in a colander or sieve over a bowl. Toss with the salt and leave to drain for 15–20 minutes. Preheat oven to 180C. Butter a twolitre gratin dish. Boil rice for five minutes (set a timer) in lightly salted water. Drain and set aside. Squeeze the zucchini and press into the sieve to release the juices. It is surprising how much liquid comes out. Drain the squeezed zucchini on paper towels. Pour the liquid into a measuring jug.

GUILDFORD FAMILY HOTEL

Warm two tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan and add the leek. Cook gently for 5–6 minutes until soft. Add the garlic and stir for 30 seconds. Stir in the grated zucchini and season with salt and pepper. Toss in the pan for a couple of minutes. Measure the strained zucchini juices. Make up to 1½ cups with chicken stock or water and add to the pan. Bring to a simmer, remove from the heat and add the rice. Add most of the parmesan (leave two tablespoons for the top). Transfer to prepared baking dish, dot with butter and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Bake for 25–30 minutes until it is bubbling and nicely browned on the top and the liquid has absorbed.

Biggest Morning Tea

A Biggest Morning Tea will be held at Plaistow Homestead at Joyces Creek, near Newstead, this Thursday, May 25 from 10am to 12.30pm.

The event is hosted by Lilian and Peter Skilbeck.

THE REGION’S BEST KEPT SECRET

"Whenever people gather almost inevitably a discussion will occur about one’s health and of course that will include cancer in one of its many forms," Peter said.

"In Victoria there is a fabulous organisation, Cancer Council Victoria, which provides a diverse range of services to support anyone currently diagnosed with cancer of any form and their families.

"Cancer Council Victoria have an online and telephone nurse support and advisory service, provide wigs and some financial support, organise respite holidays, are proactive in providing lifestyle recommendations to promote healthier, longer disease-free lives but also provide extensive funding for research into causes and treatments for cancer in its many forms.

Friday Night Raffle

Raffles drawn at 7.30pm

OPENING HOURS

Wed/Thurs/Fri - 3pm till late - Dinner from 5.30pm Sat - 12pm till late - Lunch from 12pm - Dinner from 5.30pm Sun - Lunch only from 12pm

35 Fryers Street, Guildford Victoria

Bookings Essential - 03 5473 4021

"All of these services are provided free thanks to fundraising by the community. Cancer Council Victoria receives no government funding for its programs."

Lilian said for the past 25 years the community had attended a Biggest Morning Tea at Plaistow Homestead with every cent raised going directly to the organisation.

"After such a wet late summer and autumn the gardens at Plaistow are looking lush (and so are the weeds) so come with family and friends to enjoy some fellowship and great music, spend some cash on the stalls all while you enjoy an endless cup of coffee or tea and scones fresh from the oven." Entry by donation.

Plaistow Homestead is at 324 Rodborough Road, Joyces Creek, about 7km from Newstead. Follow the flags from the intersection of the Pyrenees Highway and Rodborough Road to the venue.

Volunteers to help on the day would be appreciated - email Lilian and Peter at plaistow@bigpond.com or call 0419 884 710.

The Local is running a producers' series over the next few editions. Here Kevin Childs talks with Peter McQueen from Red Hare Estate Vineyard.

Black-faced Suffolk sheep graze in Denver, with alpacas not far away. Nearby the grape-stripped vines are shutting down.

Here, at the Red Hare Estate Vineyard, the grapes were on the vine longer thanks to late flowering, followed by wet conditions, then dry and cold.

Despite the unpredictability of the seasons, and with the passion that often seems to come from those in the wine game, owner Peter McQueen is not afraid to talk of his love of the land.

Mind you, this is from a bloke who seems unafraid to take a punt. Having lived in Queensland and Melbourne, he took his family, including children aged four, six and eight to the south-west of France, where he spent two years renovating a chateau.

“Through my oldest son’s schoolfriends I got involved with wine,” he says. “I’m not a winemaker, our business is architecture, business development and real estate.” (His wife, Kim McQueen, has a Daylesford real estate firm.)

Over 18 months the vineyard was totally renovated, reopening in July. It now opens Friday to Monday (Thursday by appointment), has a new bar outside and a pizza oven. From experience I can say it’s a casual and enjoyable place, with delicious charcuterie plates and dogs welcome (up to 10 one weekend).

Cheers for hares at Denver

An extra attraction in October is the romping of black lambs in the vineyard. “City people can get a country experience, as well as the wine.”

We turn to the name of the winery. There’s a lot of red, in the autumnal leaves and the soil. There are hares in the vineyard. Apparently, they keep down the rabbits and their young, they have no scent to draw the vineyard’s two dogs.

Grapes were first planted here by John Fontanella about 17 years ago, says Peter. Just over two hectares are under vine and another 2.4 hectares are being planted. One vineyard has pinot grigio and pinot gris and another the only prosecco in the shire, he says.

“This is one of the highest (level) proseccos in Australia. The cool climate means the grapes ripen extremely slowly, leading to subtle wines.” His new vines will be gamay and pinot noir.

The wine is, he says, “a reflection of us: very fresh and not sweet…”

Having just had 14 people pick four tonnes of grapes last weekend, Peter gets a hearty laugh out of the notion of the romance of wine. “You’re asleep by six.”

Next day the aching muscles and backs are memorable. But worth it.

Words: Kevin Childs | Image: InkdFoto Advertorial

Full house for Buried Child

The Mountview Theatre was buzzing at the gala night of its second production for the year, Buried Child, on May 12.

Mount Players president Karen Hunt said a full house enjoyed the debut performance of the intense drama, above, which is the company’s entry in this year’s Victorian Drama League Awards.

"The stage was transformed into an old, run down farmhouse set in Illinois in the mid 70s, creating a macabre, tense atmosphere from the moment you sat down. The cast and crew are to be congratulated on the acting, set design, sound and lighting which, after months of hard work, culminated in a production we are incredibly proud of."

Karen said the One Act Play Festival will return for July 8/9 with "a very funny" Shakespeare production in August. Link: www.themountplayers.com

Front, from left, Ron Kofler, Garry Dover, Vicki Smith & Duncan McGauchie, rear, Jason Triggs & Ashleigh Macken

Kyle’s Rant

RECENTLY we got ChatGPT to write up a piece of editorial, which it quite frankly penned from its electronic anus. See below.

The horse has bolted out of the stable gates and spilt the milk which was in the bottle with the genie - who just won’t get back in. I am talking about artificial intelligence (AI) and its role within our society.

This stuff is here to stay. There is no pulling the plug and it is likely to become self-aware within the next decade or so. In terms of medical breakthroughs it will be nothing short of a Godsend, of that I am sure, however when it, AI, no longer needs us to keep its battery topped up and feed it information, what happens then?

Right now, here at little old TL HQ we get paid a small fee by the tech giant Google to put up four stories a day onto Google News Showcase, 365 days a year and we are a small community newspaper. Imagine all the other newsrooms and sites that are getting paid by Google to do the same but on a massive scale of seven or more stories a day per organisation year round.

Think about the massive scale of information that is feeding the monster and the frightening part is that started last year and will now go on almost indefinitely or until we are no longer required. So in a manner of speaking it’s like the AI baby is in the high chair and we (the news organisations) are feeding it with lots of yummy news to grow up to be a nice and strong cyborg.

Apparently, one of the new AI applications we should see rolled out shortly is the lack of pricing on the shelves at the supermarket as we hurtle towards “smart pricing” (SP). SP will determine how often you buy a product or if you rely on a certain product, and will price it accordingly. There will be no visible pricing, just a barcode you can scan, and the pricing is decided for you along with stock and availability.

The way forward for me is to legislate against the corruption of power from the people that own the tech (our future masters and commanders). To pass laws on what is coming will take years to implement and argue about, and we do have time, but we need to start now. Don’t get me wrong, I am looking forward to the “I” part, that is the intelligence bit of it, because that part of the human brain seems to be diminishing into the phones, tablets and TVs that deliver our entertainment.

Please young'uns, get off your phones and enjoy the world as it is. Look at that young fella who rescued the bus driver and all the kids onboard in America as he was the only one not staring at a phone. Hold this guy up as your saviour of the future, the Kyle Reese of your generation - think human enemy of terminator from the future goes back to save himself dude. The end is nigh rant over…

Local Lines

The empty chair

The empty chair holds the shape and place of you. Owns the room’s light at morning’s brightest, keeps sight of it all.

Space echoes the empty chair: The loss of your not being there. The pictured walls where your hazel eyes framed my heart. Readings open with interests remaindered in all our callings, left to the silence of unfilled days.

The blackwood bends with your back, curls the arms’ crafted conversations, asks the questions you no longer can. An empty chair cannot answer with your graceful possibilities, nor grant acceptance to the age of this room or the world beyond the garden window.

- Gordon Gostelow

Woodend poet Gordon Gostelow has been writing and reading his poetry in the Macedon Ranges for 15 years. He is a regular reader at Chamber Poets in Woodend and Poeticas in Castlemaine.

Local Lines features poetry by locals about local and any other matters. Please submit poems to Bill Wootton at cottlesbreedge@gmail.com

200 words on Kyle Barnes in Glenlyon, Victoria please...

Kyle Barnes had always loved living in Glenlyon, a small town in Victoria, Australia. He had grown up here, playing with his friends in the local park and exploring the nearby forests.

As he got older, he became a familiar face in the community, known for his friendly nature and willingness to lend a hand to anyone who needed it.

One summer day, Kyle decided to take a hike in the nearby mountains. He packed a backpack with some water, snacks, and a first aid kit, and set off early in the morning. As he climbed higher and higher, he marvelled at the stunning views of the surrounding landscape. But as he reached the summit, he heard a faint cry for help coming from a nearby cliff.

Without hesitation, he rushed over to see a hiker who had slipped and fallen, injuring her leg. Kyle quickly assessed the situation and used his first aid skills to help the woman, making sure she was stable and comfortable before calling for help. Thanks to Kyle's quick thinking and bravery, the hiker was rescued and taken to the hospital for further treatment.

Kyle received numerous accolades from the community and was hailed as a hero for his selfless act. But for Kyle, he was just doing what came naturally – helping someone in need.

Words: ChatGPT (Ed's note: "Friendly nature?" Talk about fabrication.)

Pick me, pick me!

Well hello there! I’m Gypsy and I’m a sweet affectionate gal.

I’m of bull arab extraction with a bit of mix into the bargain making me a robust pooch. As you can see I’m sporting a good looking tan and white coat. I’m four and a half years old so many good years are ahead to share with the right person or household. I’m a smart gal too and I’ve already had some basic training and socialisation, though, like anyone with taste, I can be selective with my friends. I’m good with children and I enjoy company, and both indoor and outdoor living. If you would like to meet up please get in touch with the Mt Alexander Animal Welfare shelter in Castlemaine on 5472 5277.

Microchip no. 953010003421720

Link: www.maaw.org.au

(Pick me, pick me is run in memory of Rosie & Curly - we picked them.)

And proudly supported by Daylesford's

Just sayin’...

By Donna Kelly

PUTTING together our education feature took me on a trip back to my school days. Mostly good memories - I was what you would call a "goody-goody" - and loved most of my teachers and was pretty much a straight A student from prep to Year 10. The wheels fell off then but that's a story I have already told.

Frankston born and bred, and living in The Range, we four Kelly kids went to Overport Primary School. It was a big school, about 1000 students I reckon, and about 35 in each class. A bit of a shock to the system but we all settled in pretty well.

Mum would drop us off in the Holden Premier (KEO 505 - funny how you remember some old stuff but not what you had for breakfast) and off you would go to your respective classroom. We were all two years apart so when my brother started in prep, I was in grade 2, my sister was in grade 4 and my other brother was in grade 6.

Dad was on the school committee for a while but by the time I was the oldest at the school he had quit so I never got to take home the important looking letters for him which I was quite annoyed about.

Mum did canteen duty now and again which was always great because you got free lollies and a school lunch order. I think I mostly had a sausage roll and maybe a bag of chips. Don't worry, little lunch was mostly healthy, a bunch of grapes. And be assured there was not a bento box in sight.

School was different then. Most of the teachers smoked, they still had the strap for the boys and the other punishment was often sitting with both hands on your head for long stretches of time or having to write lines on the blackboard.

We had different "houses" and you could win points for your house with the principal's myriad competitions. I learned all of the poem My Country for one of them and had another win in maths by learning how to not look down when writing answers to equations on the blackboard. Shaved seconds off the time it took - yes, it was about accuracy but also speed.

When primary school came to an end I found myself at a very newly built Mt Eliza High. That was a bus ride away and I only knew one other student. Most of the others were already in cliques from their own primary schools but I slowly made a group of good friends, all quite different but all good value. Some are still friends.

I still did well and enjoyed most of the classes but found it quite tricky to traverse the moving from classroom to classroom depending on the subject for that period. Kyle would say I still have geographical issues but who did not turn the Melway sideways and upside down as they navigated?

It was the late 70s and Mt Eliza was in an experimental stage. We learned 10 different languages over the first two years - for a long time I could ask "where is the toilet?" in Swahili. We were meant to be immersed but I think overwhelmed would be a better word. We were also perhaps among the first schools where everyone did both wood and metal work along with cooking and craft. Boys and girls. I joined both the Scrabble and religious education clubs - both because they were held inside during winter lunch times. I also edited the school newspaper, no surprise there, and continued on with my straight As. It was going well until a friend mentioned they were moving to Frankston High for year 11. Hmmm, I thought, that sounds fun. What could go wrong? And that story has been told before.

Anyway, I hope you have a look through our feature, check out schools if that is on your agenda and maybe relive your old school days. I get the feeling, even with rose-coloured glasses, they might be better now. Just sayin'...

Ageing DisGracefully members, including Max Primmer, get together at the Daylesford Mill Markets cafe on Thursdays at 11am. All welcome. For information email ageingdis3461@gmail. com, call 0427 131 249 or head to the Ageing DisGracefully Facebook page.

Ageing DisGracefully is an initiative of Hepburn House.

Here is the crossword solution for Edition 279. How did you go?

All words in the crossword appear somewhere in the same edition of The Local.