Fleurieu Living Magazine Autumn 2023

FLEURIEU LIVING

Sunkissed Higgins: A home for life

People of the sea

The folk herbalist: Keitha Thuy Young

Artist Alex Linden: Making time

Shacking up modernist style

Because every day should feel like a holiday

Sarah Homes are number one for holiday homes and homes that make you feel like you’re on holiday. It’s easy to see why! They’re designed to include generous living areas and expansive decking. A brilliant space for entertaining or just relaxing. Wide opening sliding doors and full-length windows deliver wonderful views and let you retreat to sunlit comfort. We have a great selection of one and two storey home designs. One is ready to be a special part of your life, year after year. Visit us today, a laid-back Fleurieu lifestyle is waiting.

Our display homes are open 7 days a week and are located at Victor Harbor, Old Noarlunga, Mile End, Pooraka and now open at Murray Bridge. Visit our website for details.

Key Personnel

Petra de Mooy

Petra started her career as a furniture designer/maker, but always had aspirations to write so … why not start a magazine? Making the connections we’ve made and getting to know this region in-depth has been a gift.

Jason Porter

Jason has worked as a graphic designer and creative director both locally and overseas for over thirty years. When not in the office, he can usually be found tweaking the crossover filters on his ridiculously over-the-top audio system.

Kate Le Gallez

Kate started her working life as a lawyer and consultant, before turning to a lifelong love of writing. She confesses to suffering a mild podcast addiction, which results in her overuse of the phrase ‘I was listening to a podcast … ’ as a conversation starter.

Hollie Connery

After over a decade at sea and traversing some of the world’s wildest places, Hollie has landed back home on the Fleurieu. With a diverse repertoire of experience, Hollie comes to her role at FLM with a deep connection to land, community and culture.

Lulu

Our company mascot Lulu started appearing in way too many of our Instagram posts – so now she has her own profile (sad, we know) where you can follow her charmed life. Search ‘@miss_majestica’ if you’re so inclined.

FLM

Featured Contributors

Quentin Chester

A much-travelled writer and photographer, Quentin has been an Australian Geographic contributor since 1986. His love of the bush sprang from a free-spirited childhood in the Adelaide Hills and Encounter Bay. His books include The Kimberley: Horizons of Stone and Australia’s Wild Islands (both with co-author Alasdair McGregor). As well as guiding and photography on his home patch of Kangaroo Island, Quentin continues to travel on assignment to the arid outback and Australia’s wild northern and southern shores.

Kate Washington

Kate loves to try new things, explore hidden corners and be bold. With a raw attraction to the natural world, she has planted trees, taught kids how to garden, worked for the government and even run her own organic veggie farm. She loves this community fiercely and continues to barrack for all things green and beautiful. You’ll find her at her best when bush walking, camping, doing yoga and eating and drinking with friends.

Stephanie Johnston

Book-publisher-turnedurban-planner, Stephanie runs a boutique consultancy specialising in urban and regional planning, heritage assessment, and management and industry research. Stephanie is a member of the State Planning Commission and also writes about architecture, urbanism and heritage for numerous local and international publications.

Other contributing writers, photographers and stylists:

Andrea Ball, Poppy Fitzpatrick, Sam Healy, Mark Laurie, Sam Marchetti, Emma Masters, Surahn Sidhu Nick Stock and Tom Terry.

Publisher Information

PUBLISHER

Fleurieu Living Magazine is published four times a year by Fleurieu Living Pty Ltd. ISSN 2200-4033

PUBLISHING EDITOR AND MANAGING DIRECTOR

Petra de Mooy petra@fleurieuliving.com.au

GRAPHIC DESIGNER AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Jason Porter jason@fleurieuliving.com.au

EDITOR

Kate Le Gallez

ADVERTISING SALES

Hollie Connery hollie@fleurieuliving.com.au

PRINTER

Newstyle Print

DISTRIBUTION

Wrapaway

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Print: isubscribe.com.au

Digital: zinio.com

ALL ENQUIRIES

Petra de Mooy petra@fleurieuliving.com.au

POSTAL ADDRESS PO Box 111, Aldinga, South Australia 5173.

ONLINE fleurieuliving.com.au facebook.com/FleurieuLivingMagazine instagram.com/fleurieulivingmagazine/

COPYRIGHT

All content copyright Fleurieu Living Magazine Pty Ltd unless otherwise stated.

While Fleurieu Living Magazine takes every care to ensure the accuracy of information in this publication, the publisher accepts no liability for errors in editorial or advertising copy. The views of the contributors are not necessarily endorsed by Fleurieu Living Magazine.

Printed

Our advertising partners

A special thanks to the advertising partners that have made a long-term commitment to FLM.

GOLD PARTNERS

Alexandrina region:

Mount Compass on 8 April (Bookings 03 9005 7750)

Aquafest on Barrage Road, Goolwa on 8 and 9 April

*Goolwa Art and Photographic Exhibition at Signal Point Gallery, Goolwa from 9 to 23 April

*The Amazing Magic Mike - Kids Magic

Workshops at Centenary Hall, Goolwa on 17 April

South Australian Wooden Boat Festival at the Goolwa Wharf Precinct on 22 and 23 April

*Cole - starring Michael Griffiths at Centenary Hall, Goolwa on 26 April

Silent Disco 4 Kids Party at Strathalbyn Library

Community Centre on 27 April

*Sista Girl, at Centenary Hall, Goolwa on 5 May

Our Mob 2015, Aboriginal arts at Signal Point Gallery, Goolwa from 5 May to 11 June

Good Things Small Packages, at South Coast

Regional Art Centre, Goolwa from 5 May to 18 June

*Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - The Elton John at Centenary Hall, Goolwa on 20 May

* tickets/ booking required

www.visitalexandrina.com or call Council’s Visitor Information Centre on 1300 466 592 . Alexandrina Council program in 2017. View a copy online for more events in the region, www.alexandrina.sa.gov.au

OUR SPONSORS

From the publishing editor

We also could not be more excited about our cover feature –Sunkissed Higgins. Its unique design and stunning foreshore location made for some spectacular shots but it’s the use of colour and design (and a pretty sweet cactus collection) that really has us excited. It will go down as one of the most unique properties we have featured and the owners are completely delightful.

Through our meandering conversations, we came across an article about blue space and the benefits that bodies of water offer our emotional health and wellbeing. Scientists have found that time spent in or around water results in higher levels of vitamin D and may even contribute to better social relations.

Scientifically proven or not, marine and coastal environments have a psychologically restorative effect for many. And so though we have never ‘themed’ an issue before, we thought we’d follow this unintended commonality through even more of our content. This issue has become our version of a sea-based panacea. We hope it’s not too watered down for you (pun intended).

With this in mind, we invited some inspiring South Australian photographers with a penchant for oceanic and oceanside imagery to submit some of their best. We always love the chance to collaborate and highlight some of the many talented people who visit here, are from here, or who now call this place home.

Our advertising manager Hollie was particularly excited about this issue. As a former skipper and current surfer, ocean-lover and allround-happy local, she was in her element helping to create what we in the office have been calling ‘the happy issue.’

Mark Laurie, who writes our book reviews, also took up the challenge and read and reviewed four books with water or the metaphor of water as a strong theme. One book refers to our ‘sea affected lives’ and one unravels a writer’s search for interesting pools.

Our drinkability feature speaks to the region’s unique terroir and Mediterranean growing conditions. And what is better than a vermentino while watching the sunset over the water.

Our own mascot, Lulu the chihuahua, loves doing circle work on the beach and rolling around in smelly stuff so she is fairly happy there too. Although she’s not so fond of the crashing waves.

As we stroll along the beach in the dying days of summer contemplating all that this oceanside lifestyle offers, we’re renewed in our commitment to telling these stories and our ongoing hope that they enrich all who read them.

As we emerged from a long and much needed summer break, we realised that a fair chunk of our planned content for autumn 2023 seemed to feature the ocean as a backdrop, from sport and recreation, to art and industry.

Below: Exploring the coastline. Photo by Kane Overall (one of the contributing photographers in our ‘People of the sea’ feature on page 26).

FLM

JOURNEY

86 Henry Scott – Connecting a young crop of farmers

32 Skating into action: Josh Smith

ART, FASHION, DESIGN & PHOTOGRAPHY

22 Artist Alex Linden: Making time

70 Artist Deb McKay: Playing in clay

58 Shacking up modernist style

WEDDING FEATURE

100 Mike and Bianca (née Vassallo) Westphalen, Woodburn Homestead 28 January 2023

BEING SOCIAL

Whispers

26 People of the sea: Photography feature

66 My style: Marcus Syvertsen

90 Photo from a reader: Brendan Mann

96 Selections for a liveable and stylish home

52 From little things: Gracie Summer and Jeannie Tilbrook

102 · Fleurieu Film Festival: 4 February 2023

· Santos Tour Down Under: 13-22 January 2023

104 Out and about: Loving local life

ARTIST FEATURE Alex Linden HISTORY FEATURE Shacking up modernist style

WATER FEATURE Valerie Taylor and Timothy Johnston (Photo above courtesy Ron & Valerie Taylor Productions )

Take one

We’re trying a few new things here at FLM in 2023, including sharing the stories behind our many freelance writers and photographers. To kick things off, we’d like you to get to know our new music contributor, Surahn Sidhu.

Since Surahn and his wife Jessica became custodians of a ten-acre almond grove just outside Willunga in 2017, the pair have worked mindfully to create a place of community that nurtures all lifeforms.

Alongside their work at Papershell Farm, Surahn has embedded himself in the local music community via music events at Big Easy Radio, DJ appearances as Sidwho? and at Papershell’s festival, Utopian State. We look forward to adding his contribution to these pages.

How did you end up on the Fleurieu?

After moving home from New York City, my wife Jessica and I settled in Goolwa on the south coast. There we began experimenting with ways of living. A beautiful time of deep yoga practice, starting our family and exploring the silence within. Our journey to Willunga was as a result of a calling to become stewards and farmers. Something deep inside of us was speaking and what we heard when we moved here has changed our lives forever.

What does life at Papershell Farm mean to you?

Learning more about life, about what it means to be human and a part of nature has been at the epicentre of my family’s journey at Papershell. We’ve experienced the full range of emotions here. Our latest incarnation through our Almond Door and Playhouse events gives us an opportunity to expand the community’s minds around performance art, food and wine. We share space with the community in a way that enables conversation around how we can best look after this place and ‘keep the dream alive’ through the lens of gratitude.

Careerwise, give us an overview. Highlights? What’s happening now?

I’ve been afforded a life in music or rather a life in service to music since I was a boy. I worked all through primary and high school as a singer and have always felt there really was no other option for me. Growing up in Adelaide gave me the best possible foundation to tackle the world. After I left school I was lucky to become a partner in a pub in the city, The Ed Castle. Seizing the opportunity, I did my best to help develop the live music scene from the ground up. I saw back then the importance of building community through music and the positive power it can wield.

Fast forward through a life of performing on stages with various superstars. There was a time when the fast lane was the only lane. Now, I live day-to-day, night-to-night, vine-to-vine, tree-to-tree. Life and my ‘career’ has become a heady balance of romance, farming, winemaking, music-making, guidance and preservation of the earth that so dearly nurtures us.

Tell us about how you see the symbiosis of music, art and culture as it sits within the good food, wine and natural wonders we have here on the Peninsula?

The more I understand what this country is and always has been to First Nations people, the more I immerse myself in the gratitude of being here. It’s always been a paradise. It’s by no mistake people gravitate to the waters’ edge, to the dry tree forests and the rolling hills. When we stop to drink it in, we can feel the synthesis of harmonic disposition, where the land and sky itself shape our emotional intelligence to a point of expression, through the great mediums of music, storytelling and celebrating life itself.

And what about the South Australian music community?

SA is popping with talent, venues, support and the ability to remain a fertile environment for artists. The jazz scene here is really special, fostering new and old talent and I'm constantly blown away with young singer/songwriters. The clubs have helped facilitate a healthy progression in electronic music too while world music gets the ultimate airtime every March with festivals like Womad. I look forward to writing more about what is happening in the coming issues.

Above: Surahn Sidhu at Papershell Farm, Willunga

Make a date

FESTIVALS AND EVENTS

Taranga Travels: Italy @ Oliver’s Taranga

McLaren Vale

26 March, 12-4pm

Come and sample flavours from around the world at Oliver’s Taranga in 2023. First up is Italy and the team at Sprout have promised a powerhouse culinary adventure. Think juicy tomatoes, fresh basil, melt-in-your-mouth handmade pasta, slow-cooked meats, and maybe even some tiramisu. Sundays are made for just this type of lunch: good company, great tunes, awesome wines and four delicious courses of amazing food. They’re best enjoyed with friends and family, so bring everyone together for a long lunch to remember. Bookings online via oliverstaranga.com.

Autumn Fair at Willunga Waldorf School

Willunga

1 April, 10-4pm

Come and enjoy the ever-popular Autumn Fair at Willunga Waldorf School. Experience all the charm of a village fair with live music and entertainment while you relax with something scrumptious to eat or drink from the wide variety of food stalls. Enjoy delicious local produce and preserves from our plants and produce stall, or make your own apple juice in the early childhood space. Browse the beautiful local handmade products and meet the friendly locals behind our market stalls. Children can explore the petting zoo, fishing dip and a variety of activities. Find out about the curriculum and browse student work at the educational display, while also having the opportunity to explore the classrooms and grounds.

Festival Fleurieu

Various locations across the Fleurieu Peninsula

21-30 April

April is celebrated through soft autumn weather, Easter rituals and several days of school holidays, as well as the exciting program on offer through Festival Fleurieu. Celebrating its 10th year, there will be a dynamic and innovative program to honour the arts, culture, community and environment focused on our youth, our future thinkers and creators. Enthusiasm, and a belief in the power of community to restore and maintain wellbeing, will drive the core of the 2023 Festival. Look online at festivalfleurieu.com.au for exciting events near you.

South Australian Wooden Boat Festival

Goolwa

28-30 April

A biennial festival held at the historic river port of Goolwa. The Festival delivers an exciting mix of wooden boats, people, food, wine and entertainment. The on-water program is conducted within closed waters on the Murray River – providing a stunning display for spectators. The on-land program includes maritime displays, art exhibitions, children’s activities and more. See our Wooden Boat Festival feature on page 44 for more information.

Tasting Australia

Various locations across the Fleurieu Peninsula

28 April-7 May

What does a true food adventure taste like? Tasting Australia has the answers with a range of events including workshops, long lunches and tastings held across the Fleurieu Peninsula. From vineyards to the thriving craft spirits scene and the many diverse eateries, there’s something for everyone. Visit tastingaustralia.com.au and see our event feature on page 92 for more information.

Above: Always a colourful feast for the senses at the Waldorf Autumn Fair.

Above: Abstract art pictured ‘water, air, mountain’ by Karen Hammat.

NOTE:

WORKSHOPS & DEMONSTRATIONS

Nature crafts with Wattle + Wonder

Willunga Farmers Market

25 March, 9-12am

March 25 is World Eucalypt Day! Hannah from Wattle + Wonder will be set up at the markets running a workshop featuring nature-based activities for children. Stroll in to say hello and entertain the kids while learning something new.

The Green Gourmet and Choice Mushrooms

cooking demonstration

Willunga Farmers Market

15 April, 9.30-11am

Mushrooms are marvellous! Join Andrea from The Green Gourmet and Choice Mushrooms at the market for a cooking demonstration celebrating all things mushrooms. Learn about mushrooms’ amazing nutritional value, how to choose the best mushrooms for your recipe and to suit your taste – plus lots of ideas for new ways to enjoy these fabulous fungi. For more inspiration, see recipe on page 50.

PLACES TO BE & SEE

The Almond Door

Papershell Farm, Willunga will re-open on March 18

Enjoy the gardens and Almond Door – open to the public every Saturday this autumn. The Almond Door also hosts the ‘Playhouse’ night time events with avant-garde music recitals, food from their gardens and wine, beer and spirits served alongside artisan producers from across the Fleurieu. Details are online at papershellfarm.com.

Kookery’s new store

Patapinda Rd, Old Noarlunga

Take a meander down to Old Noarlunga to check out Kookery’s new store on Patapinda Road. Offering all the charm of Amy’s very popular Willunga store, the new store has an extensive range of beautiful and thoughtfully curated homewares and space for workshops. Grab a coffee at a neighbouring cafe, have a shop, then stroll across the road to the beautiful riverside parklands. Perfect to inspire a weekend project. Visit kookery.com.au for opening hours.

High Tea and History at Woodburn Homestead

Langhorne Creek

Various dates across May

To celebrate SA History Month in May 2023, Woodburn Homestead is launching ‘High Tea and History’. This not-to-bemissed experience includes a tour of this unique and historic property highlighting the Homestead’s storied life, from its beginnings as a family home, to its present day, as a multiaward-winning destination wedding venue welcoming thousands of people each year. Enjoy a high tea of delicious treats while engaging in conversation over a pot of tea and a glass of bubbly or two. ‘Carriage of Occasion’ will be making an appearance, with horse and carriage rides available to tour the grounds. Visit woodburnhomestead.com.au for more information.

Nature journalling at Valley of Yore

Myponga

21 May, 10-1pm

Come and try the mindful and creative practice of nature journalling while learning about native plants around the Fleurieu Peninsula. You’ll be treated to a guided walk through nature, receive a stitchbound sketch book for you to journal in and take home with you, and various art materials will be available for you to create with. Complimentary lunch and coffee will be provided by Valley of Yore.

Above: The fine produce of Choice Mushrooms will be featured in The Green Gourmet cooking demo.

Above: Woodburn Homestead will be open for High Tea during SA History Month. >

For long-time or even sometime readers of FLM, you may notice our ‘Markets’ listing has been omitted. In an effort to create more space to focus on what’s happening seasonally in the region, we’ve opted to move the listing to our website (fleurieuliving.com.au/markets). We hope you like the new ‘Make a date’ section.

Secret cellar dinner / staycation at Woodburn Homestead

Langhorne Creek

Weekends across June

This June, enjoy a relaxing weekend away and a five-course dining experience at Woodburn Homestead. For the first time, Woodburn Homestead is offering its exclusive ‘Secret Cellar Experience’ in combination with a luxurious two-night staycation in what will be an unforgettable winter weekend. Guests will be served a five-course chef’s selection menu in the Homestead’s secret cellar on Saturday night. Visit woodburnhomestead.com.au for more information.

The Therapeutic Artist

Fleurieu Arthouse, McLaren Vale

25 March, 2-4pm running for the month of April

This group exhibition brings together professional creative arts therapists, who explore the intersection between artist and therapeutic practice through thought provoking, individual artworks.

Tom O’Callaghan

The Strand Gallery, Port Elliot

7 April-14 May

Working predominantly in oil on canvas, Tom’s light-filled coastal images and Australian landscapes have seen him awarded numerous prestigious art prizes including two firsts at the Camberwell Art Show in Melbourne, also winning best of show at the Victor Harbor Art Show multiple times. Tom continues to explore his artistic expression, painting a wide variety of subject matter using both oils and mixed media. His work is in collections throughout Australia and overseas with paintings in Dubai, Montana and San Francisco, Vanuatu, Dubai, Shanghai and Switzerland.

Youth Refugee Poster Awards

Coral Street Art Space, Victor Harbor

3-30 March

As part of Australian & SA Refugee Week & International World Refugee Day, students were invited to visually portray their ideas about refugees in the Australian context. The result is a striking and stimulating collection of large posters describing cultural diversity and the refugee experience as people escape from troubled places and seek a peaceful, safe and welcoming home. The images are powerful, thoughtful, imaginative and highly creative. The project gives young people a voice to help define what they think about refugees and their place in Australian society.

The Mistletoe Block Project

Myponga Hall

22 April at 2pm

An exhibition of artworks in different media investigating and celebrating a private Heritage Agreement property at Hay Flat owned by John and Dora Dallwitz called Mistletoe Block. Six wellknown local artists – John and Dora Dallwitz, Gilbert Dashorst, Judith Sweetman, Jane Smeets and Bill Page – will create new works that speak to conservation concerns, regeneration practices and environmental issues. The exhibition will be launched at Myponga Hall and will then travel to Coral Street Art Space at Victor Harbor opening 5 May at 5pm.

Water People

Coral Street Art Space, Victor Harbor

28 May-31 July

Water People is a group exhibition with Fleurieu-based established, mid-career and emerging artists, hosting the work of interstate special guest artists and ocean activists Timothy Johnston and Valerie Taylor. Dive deep into the waters of our abundant coastlines reflected through multi-media creativity. This exhibition will play a vital role in this year’s Winter Whale Fest and Welcoming of the Whales Ceremony. Other events include a talk with Valerie Taylor, a showing of her film Playing with Sharks at Victa Cinema, and the opportunity to purchase a signed copy of Valerie’s latest book, An Adventurous Life. See page 38 for more information.

Above: ‘Flight’ by Tom O’Callaghan.

Above: Jane Smeets, New Holland Honeyeater detail. One of the artists who will be in the Mistletoe Block Project.

Sunkissed Higgins

Painting the exterior of your home pink is something of a bold choice. Painting it in five different shades of pink in a wave that builds from a rich, earthy bronze to a gentle candy blush, is aesthetically adventurous indeed. The striking ruby tones and its beachfront Middleton location give the house its name: Sunkissed Higgins.

Story by Kate Le Gallez. Photography by Jason Porter.

Above: The beachfront home, originally a brick shack, has had an extension, design and refurb to die for. Designed by RADStudio and expertly built by 4Life Constructions.

But it’s the philosophy behind the design of this house, and what it represents for the young family who call it home, that truly makes it stand out.

Adam and Chloe Cocks had their eye on the little brick house that would become Sunkissed Higgins long before they bought the property. Moving to Middleton some ten years ago, carpenter Adam and speech pathologist Chloe bought their first place just around the corner from Sunkissed. Walking along the Encounter Bikeway heading out to the point, they imagined life in that little brick house. ‘We kept walking past it and saying that is sick! Imagine renovating that! That'd be the spot, look at the view! We just got amped on it,’ Adam enthuses, eyes alight.

And then, just as they were about to embark on renovations, the little brick house was suddenly on the market – and Chloe’s mum was the agent selling it. ‘I remember where I was when she called me,’ Chloe says. ‘I was driving back on the Expressway. She called and said, ‘I've just picked up this awesome little house, it’s at Middleton Point.’ I was like, don’t tell me it’s red brick.’ Her mum confirmed it was indeed the house Chloe and Adam had been eyeing for so long. ‘I said we’re going to buy it.’ And they did, jumping through the numerous hoops necessary to deal with the conflict of interest sitting between Chloe and Adam on one side, and the house on the other. >

Top: The light-filled kitchen in neutral tones – an entertainer’s delight. Bottom left and right: The couple’s eclectic collection of furniture, artwork and cacti bring colour and personality to the neutral backdrop.

Above: The inner courtyard shows off the beautiful detailing of the paintwork by Colour SA and frames the minimal cactus garden and the sky above.

Having secured their dream spot, the advice from every direction was to knock down and build new. But in the relatively short time that Adam and Chloe lived in the original home, they brought home both of their beautiful boys – Rafa and Valentino, now nearly 5 and 3. And even though Adam had to jerry-rig a laundry in the tin shed out the back, they fell in love with the place. They wouldn’t be knocking it down.

They turned to their longtime friend and architect Chris Rowlands, creative director at RADStudio, to design a family home, retaining the little brick house. The starting point was the lifestyle that Chloe and Adam imagined for their family. ‘One of the main things we wanted to celebrate is how people on the coast should be living, rather than how they do live. We see a lot of these houses that end up being beachfront, they kind of disregard the lifestyle that these guys tend to embrace which is, it’s really social,’ says Chris. ‘It’s not an audacious building that’s sitting there saying we need to be two-storey to take up all the views. They can share the experience.’

This meant retaining the front yard as their main outdoor area, rather than hiding it out the back, leaving Chris to work within the tight angles of the small, ‘pizza-slice shaped’ site, to expand the two-bed, one-bath box into a modern family home with an extra bedroom, ensuite, laundry and extra living space. Not to mention accommodating Chloe and Adam’s wishlist of features that included circular windows, and ‘a little trapdoor to go to the roof to drink beers.’

The result is a masterpiece of geometry that marries acute angles with curves, and family with community, hitting every single beat of the brief that Chloe and Adam entrusted to Chris. Nowhere is that trust more evident than in the sweeping arc of pink that encloses the ensuite and master bedroom. ‘There were a lot of bold ideas. Particularly with painting a house in five different pinks and convincing them that that’s the right thing to do,’ says Chris. ‘But these guys put a lot of trust in what we put forward.’

Top left: The master bedroom with views to Middleton Beach. Bottom left and right: The terracotta toned master bathroom sits inside the curved end of the extension, complete with a porthole to capture the view of the dunes and ocean beyond.

Walking through the house with Chloe and Adam, they continually stop to point out the special moments that the design both actively and passively delivers for their family. There are the obvious showstoppers, like the porthole window in their terracotta-hued ensuite that looks out to the ocean and the electric blinds in the generous master bedroom. ‘I thought it was a bit fancy to have an electric blind but when we wake up in the morning and push the button, it's next level,’ says Adam. ‘The ocean’s right there and we get the sunrise through this window.’

Then there are the quieter moments that are only revealed through living in the house. The sun setting through another circular window in the sunken living area throws its light onto the opposite wall, silhouetting a sculptural cactus during its passage. The eaves on the back room perfectly protect it from summer’s harsh rays, but in winter the room is filled with sunlight. They’re living the life they imagined in all sorts of different ways, from Chloe hosting ten girls for Christmas lunch around the kitchen bench/dining space, to Adam making his run out to the point for a surf and heading straight home to the outdoor shower.

Local company 4Life Constructions executed the build – and are also Adam’s employer. ‘Through the process, I was supervising and on the tools as well. It was a bit of a project for me, because that’s where they want me to be, running jobs for them,’ says Adam. His dual role as project manager and client was both a gift and a challenge, especially as they built through 2022 when the building industry and supply chains were stressed.

His boss and 4Life co-owner, Matt Cates, knew the project was something special as soon as he saw the brief. ‘It's a truly unique experience, one that is both highly satisfying and carries great responsibility,’ he says. ‘Of course, it hasn’t been without its difficulties in places, with a few late nights spent pondering the best solution to certain unique areas. But ultimately the result is a finished product which is truly something special.’ Chloe and Adam also sing the praises of their sub-contractors and suppliers, including Goolwa’s Intime Kitchen & Interiors who did the kitchen and wet areas, including the bespoke curved vanity

>

in the ensuite.

Above left: The sunken living area with beautiful stone tiles speak undeniably of nature. Right: The couple’s cactus and succulent collection marry perfectly with the style of the home. Bottom right: Chloe and Adam Cocks with their children happily at home.

The materiality used throughout the interiors expands the coastal themes. The floors in the kitchen zone are whitewashed Tasmanian oak, with the cabinetry tonally matched throughout the house. The bathrooms and stone flooring in the living area draw on a natural vernacular. They’re more raw and tactile, marrying outdoor lifestyle with internal comfort. The stone in particular, painstakingly laid by Get Laid Tiling, offers an earthiness underfoot. The repeated patterns, like the concentric growth rings in a tree or ripples in a puddle, are beautifully and undeniably of nature.

The exterior and landscaping remains a work in progress, though there are plans afoot for the driveway: ‘I thought, it’s a pretty wide driveway, why not chuck a skate ramp on the side of it?’ says Adam. This unexpected touch shows how high design can also be playful and family-friendly. Chris may have deployed all of his architectural skills in the design, but only ever in service of the lifestyle that Chloe and Adam want for their family, and for their community they’re part of. Through vision and craftsmanship, they’ve preserved the soul of their little brick house, bringing it with them into their dream home and their dream experience living on the Fleurieu.

Above left: The outdoor shower – perfect after a surf. Right: Jam session ready. Bottom left and right: We call them ‘moments’.

Making time

Story by Petra de Mooy

Alex Linden is a long-term observer of the human form. ‘It started pretty young – I was drawing family members (mainly my grandad who was my hero at the time) from around six,’ she says. ‘Even then I remember it was about capturing “the thing” that made that person who they were to me.’

For years she stored away those nuances in facial features and body language in her mind, her art practice on hold. Now, years later, that backlog of creative energy is literally pouring out of her, finding its expression in her beautifully designed and realised art synthesising her strength and conviction.

In 2022, Alex moved onto a beautiful rural property close to Willunga where her extended family helped her to renovate the back shed into a purpose-built art studio. The space is large with high ceilings and good light, split into a ceramics studio, and a dual-purpose drawing and painting studio / office. Front and centre is a display of Alex's three distinctly varied lines of work. A shelving unit displays her production line of functional work (plates, platters, bowls and cups). Among these are her sculptural vessels, which are explorations of light, line and texture. Further inside sit tables full of Alex’s impressive busts (sculptural portraits in clay). A work in progress of the patron

saint of France, Joan of Arc, wielding a sword is powerful in its expression, scale and strength.

The influence of historic figures and heroes – from her grandfather to Joan – has been a consistent presence in Alex’s life. She was exposed to art from a young age, visiting galleries with her mother and grandmother. ‘I remember being very moved and in awe of artists, particularly the Great Masters, the Pre-Raphaelites and the Impressionists. I grew up wanting to be a Great Master, but put that out of my mind because they were all boys,’ she recalls.

Alex loved drawing and was encouraged by her high school teachers to pursue art. Like many teenagers, she wasn’t set on a particular career and so, following her teachers’ advice, she began an advanced diploma in fine and applied arts at North Adelaide School of Art, majoring in ceramics. Her next move was perhaps a little outside the typical artist’s trajectory. ‘I took a year off and worked in my favourite butcher shop because I’ve always loved food and been a big foodie,’ she laughs. The contrast in experience from art school to working in a butchery was stark, but she enjoyed the shop’s camaraderie.

Alex then enrolled in the University of South Australia’s fine arts program, but found the experience discouraging. Art school at that time was a bit soul destroying for the young artist. She found that the particular focus of conceptual art placed little value on technique and skill in the traditional mediums and styles of sculpture, drawing and painting where her own creativity found its natural expression. >

‘I grew up wanting to be a Great Master, but put that out of my mind because they were all boys.’

Page left and above: Alex’s hand-built sculptural vessels.

And then, as artists often do, she put her art career to rest and pursued a bachelor's degree in education to get ‘a real job’, subsequently working in education for six years. But teaching wasn’t her thing. At this stage, married and with a young son, Alex was going through challenges in both motherhood and marriage. She found herself single and parenting solo. Her survival instincts kicked in and she found a new direction in the wine industry where she channelled her creative drivers in art and design into her various marketing and communication roles. ‘I’d draw posters, invitations and design logos, so it [her art practice] was always there,’ she says. Alex found the wine world interesting and engaging, but when she was around artists she found herself getting quite emotional and feeling she wasn’t being true to herself.

Big life changes over the past few years around both her own health and the health of her stepmother prompted her to confront these feelings. She asked herself, ‘What do I want to do and what am I here for? And it kept coming back to making,’ she says, ‘that is a space that I am centred and connected and grounded.’

And that was, as they say, that. In a very short space of time Alex has changed her mindset and found the belief to make and design, build and innovate through her three distinct bodies of work. Her process

is intuitive and experimental, focusing strongly on the human form infused in an organic process. The resulting works speak to the creativity of someone who has been making her whole life, who is an artist in her soul.

Alex instinctively sculpts and builds both her functional work and her sculptural work using armatures (frameworks which support the clay). She hand builds all of her work, rarely turning to the wheel, and finding her way through the form, adding and subtracting what is working and what isn’t. The busts are an homage to her love of the Great Masters and Pre-Raphaelite painters, an experiment in bringing their two-dimensional representations into her threedimensional interpretations. They’re classically beautiful – the long tresses of ‘Lilith’ bring to mind Botticelli’s ‘The Birth of Venus’ – yet recognisably contemporary.

‘This is definitely a belief thing. I was reminded of the brevity of life and it’s very possible to get to your last breath and go “shit I didn't do”… or “why didn’t I?’’ she says. ‘I’ve got everyone believing in me and backing me. It’s a very cool opportunity so I’m doing everything I can and now is my time.’

Alex’s work is available at The Fleurieu Arthouse, McLaren Vale.

Top left: Liliith. Top right: Alex’s three Pre-Raphaelite inspired beauties in her studio. Middle left and bottom: Alex’s platters and bowls – organic forms with some of her drawing talent on display. Bottom right: Alex in her studio.

People of the sea

This enigmatic and beautiful region we live in is surrounded by the sea. Pristine white beaches, soaring cliffs, coastal dunes, limestone, sandstone, slate, shale and quartz. Calm and stormy. A place of recreation and repose. We asked six photographers with ties to the Fleurieu and a strong relationship to coastal South Australia to share their awe-inspiring photos of the marine environment and what this conscious relationship means to them.

Heidi Lewis, Moana, South Australia

Where does your soul feel at home? Mine feels at home by the ocean. To see the water, feel the sand on my feet, surf the waves, and relax in the sun. I go not just for surfing, swimming and sun but also healing, thinking, peace and strengthening myself again. I find clarity, lightness, and a good dose of ‘feel goods’. Vitamin sea is a good prescription for me. @heidiwhophotos

Darren Longbottom, Moana, South Australia

For me, the Southern Ocean is a place I love, full of endless mystery and cherished memories with family and friends. Our coastline remains a vast and inspirational place and provides a conduit for me to explore and create, often seeking critical moments to capture and share its stunning beauty. Conscious of its fragile and fleeting nature, I’m driven to preserve and protect our wild coast through photography. @darrenlongbottomphoto >

Diana Brandt, Seaford, South Australia

As much as I loved growing up on the beach and spending my summer days swimming and jumping waves, the fear of the unknown in the deep ocean was always there. When I finally dived in with my camera, I learned that this is a safe place. A beautiful space. It’s a space where I can surrender. The ocean is where I find calmness and peace, above and underneath. The ocean is my canvas and is where I can create the most incredible art while discovering the beauty of the sea. The fear of the unknown is still there, but the beauty and possibility in the water is worth the fear. I wanna go back in as soon as I get out.

@dianabrandtphoto

Thomas Ling, splits his time between Somerton Park and Encounter Bay, South Australia

For those who engage in it regularly, the ocean provides a stable reference for maintaining cognitive and even spiritual balance. It transcends and mediates our emotions, is an avenue for joy and adrenaline, is calming during times of stress, yet powerful enough to deflate our ego through its unrelenting intensity. For me, all of these reasons are why I keep coming back, and why I can’t see myself ever leaving the coast.

@_brotherfish >

Lahni Tomlinson, Elliston, South Australia

The sea has always been a constant in my life – a teacher and a place of calm. I’m forever in awe of the ocean and what it has done for me and my family. It provides endless opportunity and enhances the lifestyle we live, whether it be fishing or surfing or camping. So many magical moments happen in the water. Taking photos of the sea is more like capturing memories; I’m capturing it in a way of a feeling, if that makes sense. I have spent so much time at these places and they usually hold special times or people. The dunes for me evoke solitude and a sense of isolation in a positive light, which is what I love about this coast. Away from the hustle.

@lahnirose

Kane Overall, Port Willunga, South Australia

The ocean was the main reason I ever picked up a camera. When I was 16 years old, I used to shoot my friends surfing. Then I completely just fell in love with being in the sea everyday and I started building water housings for the cameras I had, just so I could spend countless hours in the water. I make sure I go in the ocean every single day if possible. I feel a huge connection to the sea and feel most comfortable when in the water. I now work full time running my own business shooting stills and video but always dream of being a kid again and roaming about in the ocean with no real pressure or schedule. I think it’s the one thing that makes me truly happy and I’m sure I will be one of those old sea dogs – all salty and grey. @kaptainkirky

Skating into action

Story by Emma Masters.

Sitting on a patch of manicured grass shaded by eucalypts at the relatively new Niipu-niipu Wama (the Kaurna term for friendship) Skate Park at Christie Downs, Josh explains they’re important skills that equip people in all facets of life. ‘It’s the reason I can happily take on challenges and get knocked back and then go again and again,’ Josh says. ‘It’s not something special about me, it’s just a skateboarder’s mentality.’

It’s also part of the philosophy that drives Free Mind Skate School, a skateboard coaching and mentoring school Josh founded at the start of last year. In Josh’s words, Free Mind is ‘focused on building a strong sense of community, while promoting safe and consistent progression on a skateboard.’

Josh was studying behavioural science at university when he first began to see ways to unite his passions. ‘We were learning about the negative impacts of stigmatisation and how it can be reversed and I thought I might be able to do something with skateboarding,’ Josh said. ‘If you go down to a skatepark with a board, it doesn’t matter what age, race, gender or background you come from, people are just like ‘oh sick, a skater’ – there’s acceptance and normality. So I wrote a mentoring program focused on building resilience through skateboarding.’

From the moment Josh began to take on clients, his coaching flourished. But it was only when he was offered a PhD scholarship at the end of 2021 that he was forced to make a decision – a life of academia or take skate mentoring a step further. Lucky for swathes of young people around the Fleurieu, Josh chose the latter and Free Mind Skate School was born. Since then, Josh and his Free Mind coaches Jimmy, Jack, Vanessa, Simon and Denise have held private and group skate coaching sessions and holiday clinics, alongside mentoring sessions for youth in need.

Seeing one of their busy summer holiday clinics in action at Niipuniipu Wama, it’s difficult to imagine this area was once described as a wasteland, where commuters from the nearby train station would pass by quickly and police patrolled regularly. Today, more than thirty budding skaters ranging in age and skill level roll around the park while parents chat on the sidelines and siblings play on the nearby playground.

Following an injection of $3.5 million funding from the City of Onkaparinga, federal and state governments and the Roger Rasheed Sports Foundation, the corner of Morton and Flaxmill roads has transformed into a buzzing sports and recreation hub, which also boasts a BBQ area, courts and an oval.

City of Onkaparinga community development officer Jeffery Purves has been working with Free Mind to hold skate programs. ‘The skate park has been built to cater for all levels, so we thought it would work well, but the programs took off quicker than we could’ve ever imagined,’ says Jeffery. ‘We went over 1,000 attendances for all our sports programs in the first year and skating made up more than half of that. It’s really popular, even the local skate shop has noticed a spike in sales and we want to support the community as much as we can.’

Josh adds that because the skate park was designed to a worldclass standard, it has already hosted two competitions, including the Rumble national skate championships. ‘The Southern Rumble became part of the pro tour for Australian skateboarding and having some of the country’s best skateboarders converge on this park was amazing,’ he says. ‘For some of our local kids, just seeing skaters the same age doing tricks and ripping up their park, they were absolutely blown away. I really wanted the local skate scene to see firsthand the kind of level they can reach, that it’s not unattainable –so it was everything I hoped for.’

With this kind of support, we might just see Fleurieu skaters represent Australia in international competitions or even the Olympics in years to come. The most important measure of success for Josh, however, is the sense of inclusion and belonging that the skaters feel. In Free Mind Skate School, he’s created a community he could have only dreamed of when he was a kid.

Falling down is an essential part of learning to skate. But it’s brushing yourself off and getting back on the board that well-known south coast skater Josh Smith says builds confidence and resilience.

Josh Smith mentoring a group of budding skateboarders at the Niipu-niipu Wama Skate Park in Christie Downs.

Gift ideas – all under one roof at Vicinity Colonnades

With an ever-changing and exciting selection of products, the shops at Vicinity Colonnades always have the perfect gift for any occasion. We scoured the shops and selected but a few to inspire.

Ghanda: Purple cap $14.95; Brown corduroy shorts $49.95; Light brown sun short $49.95

Typo: Novelty pencil $12.99; Drawn daisy case $29.99; Art pads $9.99-$14.99; Tote beach backpack $59.99. ; Elio wood cross $29.95; Dining In $49.95; Water grass fan $14.95; Double candle holder $39.95; Moreton candle $3.95 each.

Tash & Ivy: Pali mini bag $24.95; E.K. mum oil $38.00; E.K. body butter $39.00; CMC (PVC and BPA free) dummy $9.50; Mustard sunnies $12.95; $32.95

; Body polisher $10; Bamboo comb $10; Shea products – prices vary

Beaches Apparel: Billabong hat $49.99; Ripcurl crop t-shirt $49.99; Yeti bottles and tumblers; $24.99-$54.99;

The folk herbalist

Story by Kate Washington. Photography by Jason Porter.

Keitha Thuy Young invites me to harvest cornflowers, as she wanders through the rainbow-laden rows on the half-acre block she farms. My fingers tease the blue, pink, purple and polka-dot petals from their stamens and Keitha starts to tell me a story – her story.

One that weaves its way through a passion for food, seed, herbs and community. A story that speaks of survival and meanders into a promise for a better future.

Keitha, born of Vietnamese and New Zealand heritage, came to the Fleurieu in 2011 with her partner Brett. They interned at Bickleigh Vale Farm with Di Bickford – an early adopter and champion of organically grown vegetables and herbs. Continuing their food growing journey, they travelled to India to stay at Navdanya Farm where Keitha locked onto the ideas of seed sovereignty under Vandana Shiva’s tutelage. On the eve of her return, Keitha promised Vandana she would carry the torch of creating ‘communities of good food and good farming.’ Central to this oath, Keitha said, was knowing that ‘seed is the greatest tool we have to contribute to local food security in the face of climate change.’

Returning to South Australia, the idea for the Seed Freedom Food Festival sprouted as Keitha married her new-found passion for seed with living in the festival state. She worked tirelessly for three years

with a dedicated volunteer crew. Complementing her seed advocacy work, Keitha also shared the joy of growing food with students at Christie Downs Primary School as their garden specialist.

At this time too, Di helped Keitha weave another connection between humans and plants through herbalism – working with plants for healing. ‘I always loved nature, but I saw this green wall. I didn’t see each individual plant as a personality, as an individual,’ Keitha says. Now when walking with Keitha, she speaks and works with plants as though they are long-lost friends. Society has long forgotten the knowledge of plants and our reliance on them for healing, she explains. It’s Keitha’s call to folk herbalism that allows her to rekindle that connection anew each season.

Our baskets slowly fill as the sun makes its midday stride across the farm. Keitha says she’s learned from different sources over the last ten years – books, workshops and mentoring under elders, as well as from the plants themselves. Quoting one of her teachers, herbalist Isla Burgess, Keitha explains that ‘once you start to understand from the senses what the plants are telling you, you can start to know what kind of medicine they have to offer.’

I inquire if this makes healing more accessible, because you can grow and tend these medicines yourself. She answers with a resounding yes. As a disabled woman of colour, folk herbalism allows Keitha to live out her dreams of bringing health through plants to those who need it the most and are least likely to access it. She explains that people of colour, Indigenous, queer and disabled folk are under-represented in Australian farming. They face systemic >

Page left and above: Keitha Thuy Young collecting the harvest in her bountiful McLaren Vale garden. ,

inequalities in access to land, resources and knowledge. Keitha strives to reconnect marginalised groups using mutual aid and a ‘pay it forward’ option on her website.

Keitha’s disability and strong call to plant medicine came after a sudden diagnosis of one of the most severe cases of Crohn’s disease seen in Australia at the time. Crohn’s is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) – a completely separate condition to the more common irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), despite the similar acronym. Keitha was hospitalised while thirteen weeks pregnant and had to have her large intestine removed during life-saving emergency surgery. She pulled through after having an ileostomy bag fitted and spending over fifty days in hospital. There were days when even the most experienced doctors didn’t think she or her baby would survive. Against the odds, Keitha gave birth to her ‘healthy, amazing and miraculous child,’ Millie.

Keitha says she got through that time by living for her baby and her connection to plants. ‘I called on my plant allies for protection and healing multiple times,’ she recalls. She drew upon memories of plants and dreamed of a space to grow medicinal herbs: ‘It was crucial to me making it and having something to live for.’ Not only did Keitha make it through, but she also went on to conceive her second babe –Seed Medicine Garden.

Keitha’s close friend and artist, Amber Cronin, helped her understand that plant relationships are at the centre of everything she does. The Seed Medicine Garden is a social enterprise that combines Keitha’s folk herbalism and seed advocacy, with growing organic food and connecting with community. She’s in the process of developing a formal volunteer and internship program. ‘Volunteers never leave empty-handed,’ she says, having already hosted a regular crew through Amber’s artist networks.

She uses a community supported herbalism model to underpin her social enterprise. Customers subscribe through online-platform Patreon and in return Keisha crafts seasonally inspired herbal medicines, sending them out to subscribers in personalised parcels. Although not widespread in Australia, this model is more sustainable for small producers. The couple also has a land-sharing agreement allowing Keitha to grow and Brett to graze sheep using regenerative practices. Both methods increase biodiversity and soil health. The owner gets their land improved and a healthy basket of veggies, herbs and ethically raised meat in return.

In addition, she’s seeking partnerships with like-minded folk to grow the impact of her social enterprise. While harvesting and tending on the farm recently, Keitha says she and Durkhanai Ayubi (of Parwana fame and fellow storyteller) have been ‘investigating how to bring the culture back into agriculture, recognising the inherent (dis)connection between seed, food, plant medicine and people.’ Her online community on Instagram @thepeacefulseed also demonstrates Keitha’s reach in inspiring and connecting people across the world from her small farm. ‘Storytelling has always been a big part of the work I want to do in the world,’ she explains.

Keitha works with the land, alongside her daughter Millie, trialling seeds and harvesting medicines and food. She lovingly tends the plants and tells their stories. In turn, they provide healing. We come to the end of our harvest baskets full, and I take in this memory. My eyes dart, hover and explore, like the pollinating bee before me. I’m left feeling that I’m part of this colourful earth. I’m blessed to know this amazing human. And to tell some of her story. Go to: www.seedmedicine.garden for more information.

Top: Seeds collected and sorted. Above left: Keitha’s daughter, Millie is always on hand to help with the daily collection of flowers and herbs.

Water people

Story by Emma Masters.

Valerie Taylor is known the world over for many things – an award-winning diver, a trailblazing underwater filmmaker and a passionate marine conservationist. But what often appears as a footnote in her long list of accomplishments is her artistic flair and ability.

As she explains over the call of a persistent kookaburra outside her Sydney home, drawing and painting is something she loved long before she fell head over heels for the deep blue sea. ‘I was born in Sydney in 1935, but we happened to be in New Zealand when war broke out and we couldn’t come back, so I was educated over there and when I returned I got my first good job drawing comic strips,’ Valerie explains.

‘It was a time when there was no television, and comic books like Foxy Fagan and Bugsey Bear were popular and we had Prime Minister Robert Menzies who said, “If it can be done in Australia, we don’t import it”, so we were copying American comics,’ she continues. ‘I also did the children’s page for The Courier Mail and The Sunday Telegraph. It was something I could do anywhere, so even when I started diving I kept drawing and did for about 20 years.’

Valerie closed the book on illustrating comics around 1968. By then, she’d been diving for over a decade and was a member of the local spearfishing club, where she met her husband Ron. Their shared love for the underwater world saw them turn their attention to capturing film of life beneath the surface. In 1969 they worked on the seminal

documentary on great white sharks Blue Water, White Death (released in 1971), which caught the attention of Steven Spielberg, who invited them to consult on Jaws

Both films saw Valerie and Ron bring crews to South Australia, which she says is home to some of the best and most diverse diving in the world – quite the accolade coming from such an experienced and celebrated underwater explorer. ‘South Australia has some of the most amazing, colourful marine life, interesting animals that you don’t see anywhere else, especially around the jetties,’ she explains. ‘If you’re looking for colourful beauty, you’ve got it. If you’re looking for strange fishes, you’ve got it. If you’re looking for big sharks, you’ve got it. If you’re looking for sweet, kindly sea lions, you’ve got it. It’s as diverse as the Great Barrier Reef but you have a problem.’

Her statement appeared to be a clever segue to discussing her affinity with one of the most feared animals on the planet, which call SA home. I gingerly respond, ‘Great white sharks?’ ‘No,’ she says, gently berating me. ‘They just add to it. I’m talking about cold water. Last time I went diving there was for a film series called Coast and when I came out of the water I was so frozen with arthritis I couldn’t even take off my weight belt. I needed a bowl of hot water for my hands so I could work again.’ She was 83 at the time.

Lucky her hands warmed up because when she’s not in the water or campaigning to save marine species and habitat, she’s using them to paint and draw. Even though Valerie quit her job illustrating comics, she never stopped drawing or painting and she’s bringing a selection of her work to the Water People exhibition being held in Victor Harbor at the Coral Street Art Space in late May. >

Page left: Valerie will be bringing a selection of her illustrations to the Water People exhibition being held in Victor Harbor at the Coral Street Art Space in late May.

Above: Valerie with a potato cod on a dive during the filming of one of their documentaries. Photo courtesy Ron & Valerie Taylor Productions.

Some of the pieces are whimsical watercolour paintings from her Melody the Mermaid children’s book, depicting a mermaid’s adventures of the marine world. ‘You might see a mermaid nursing a fish or tickling the nose of a seahorse and the fish are usually correctly drawn but sometimes I make them up. They’re the kind of paintings people like for children,’ says Valerie. ‘There’ll also be paintings of great white sharks taken from my photography, but they’ll be realistic. No mermaids.’

Valerie is also collaborating with her good friend and artist Timothy Johnston on a large piece. Tim, or TJ as his friends call him, founded CollaborOCEANS in 2019, a group that brings creatives together to inspire action to protect oceans and marine life. A year later he opened an art gallery in Sydney, and the two first met not long after that.

TJ says Valerie was introduced as ‘Queen of the Oceans’ and it’s a title and tradition he continues to this day. ‘She’s one of the longest living divers and ocean advocates, has one of the rarest ocean conservation awards ever given and is the first woman to swim open water with great white sharks. And to be as kind and as fierce as she is, she’s a queen in her own right,’ he says.

The two immediately bonded over their passion for art and the ocean and they’re combining their mutual passions in their joint piece for the Victor Harbor exhibition. TJ says the work will involve a series of Valerie’s photos interpreted through his abstract approach to painting

nature. ‘I have done some really abstract interpretations of corals, reefs and aerials of deserts and I really wanted to sort of showcase that part of my work,’ he says. ‘I love vivid colours and want to draw people into the story of beautiful sponge corals from around South Australia and Valerie has taken photos of the Australian sea lion around Hopkins Island in the Spencer Gulf.

‘In one she has on a vivid wetsuit and is holding a sea lion, so I’m utilising that as inspiration, especially because the protection of the species was made possible through her advocacy,’ TJ continues. Valerie explains she has seen colonies on Hopkins Island reduce from hundreds to dozens. ‘They’re found nowhere else in the world outside SA and Western Australia and they’re the most endearing wild animal you could ever meet,’ Valerie says. ‘They’re as cute as a koala but the koala is nervous of you, whereas the Australian sea lion wants to sniff you, it’ll hang on your flippers and try and play with you.’

Valerie and Tim’s works will be exhibited alongside local Fleurieu artists Chris Summer, and Chris DeRosa as well as some emerging artists. There will also be a screening of the documentary Playing with Sharks at Victa Cinema and signed copies of a book on Valerie titled An Adventurous Life. A fitting title to celebrate the life of one of Australia’s living treasures.

This exhibition will play a vital role in this year’s Winter Whale Fest and Welcoming of the Whales Ceremony.

Top: One of Valerie’s whimsical watercolour paintings depicting the undersea world. Above left: Young Valerie in her famous brightly coloured wetsuit. Photo courtesy Ron & Valerie Taylor Productions. Above right: Valerie Taylor and Timothy Johnston on the night they first met (she came to Tim’s exhibition).

WHO WE ARE: Jocelyn Nuemueller

Making waves

Story by Hollie Connery.

The swell has hit the mid-coast in a rare summer offering and the usual crowd starts to gather in the Seaford reef car park. I have arranged to meet two-time world para-surfing champion Jocelyn Neumueller for an interview, and she has invited my son and I to join her for a surf. It’s pumping, and it’s packed.

After a brief introduction, Jocelyn and her team are in their wetsuits and paddling out while I still fumble around searching for a spare leg-rope. Her team are seasoned athletes and surfers and know the waves wait for no fool – they’ll meet us out there. As we paddle past the line-up, we’re greeted with hoots and hollers as surfers cheer one another on and score wave after wave as the sets roll through. Jocelyn is in the line-up, looking for her spot and taking off deep. It’s one of those ocean moments that has a magic to it. The crowd is intergenerational, it's inclusive and diverse, and we’re all equal to the grace and fury of the sea. The sun is setting, the vibes are high and Jocelyn takes off on wave after wave until I lose count.

At 27 years old, Jocelyn is no stranger to the sea. Growing up in Victor Harbor, she comes from a family of avid sailors and as a teenager she won several national sailing titles. She was a sporty kid both in and out of the water. Her natural athleticism saw her achieve success in numerous sports, while at the same time honing her determination and capacity to set and pursue goals. Little did she realise how valuable these skills would become in her later life.

In 2012 at the age of 11, Jocelyn was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease which left her legs paralysed. As she adjusted to life in a wheelchair, sport became her major pathway to recovery.

In 2015 Jocelyn won gold at the Australian National Championships in the 200m para-canoe sprint. Excelling in the sport, she qualified for the Paralympic Games and represented Australia in the 2016 Rio games, ranking fifth in her debut.

But then, shortly after Rio, Jocelyn suffered a training injury which resulted in further paralysis, this time to her left arm. In rehabilitation she re-discovered surfing and fell in love with the sport. In 2022, just four years after the injury that left her with one mobile arm, she

went on to win another world title, taking the World Para-Surfing crown on the Adaptive Surfing Professionals World Championship tour in Hawaii.

More than just a sport, surfing introduced Jocelyn to a community and a lifestyle that spoke to her desire for freedom. ‘It’s so different to how isolating and restrictive being on land is with such little function,’ she says. ‘When I’m on a wave it doesn't matter, the ocean doesn’t discriminate. It’s a feeling of freedom.’

Despite her success, Jocelyn’s focus is not on competitive outcomes but rather on progressing the sport. Better turns, bigger waves and most importantly for her, providing pathways for people with disabilities to experience the freedom she has returned to. A true champion for the sport, she constantly mentors and recruits other adaptive surfers and would like nothing more than to see one of the kids she surfs with one day take the World Champion title from her.

Jocelyn has witnessed how surfing offers her fellow para-surfers purpose. ‘It changes people’s lives,’ she says. And since joining the Surfing SA board two years ago, she’s been able to help expand the opportunities for others to find that feeling, by improving inclusion outcomes for the state. Every competition held in SA now has a para-division or the option for para-athletes to get involved, including at Seaford’s popular King and Queen of the Bowl and the Southern Surf Festival at Middleton. The goal is to normalise the participation of para-surfers in surf culture, explains Jocelyn, by creating space for them to ‘hang out with other surfers, and surf against them without it being identified as being different. As a society that’s what we need to work towards; it’s crucial for understanding inclusion. Setting that tone in sport is a great step.’

It’s truly remarkable what it does to the human spirit to maximise your physical potential and stretch yourself to the limit. The continuous diversification of Jocelyn’s repertoire of sporting skills, and her razorlike focus on living her life to its fullest potential is not lost on the people that meet (or compete against) her. As a champion, a leader and a change-maker, Jocelyn is pushing para-surfing forwards with a positive force equal to the legacy of inclusion – and stoke – she’s leaving in her wake.

Follow the journey on Instagram @jocelynneumueller or visit jocelynneumueller.com.

‘It’s so different to how isolating and restrictive being on land is with such little function’...‘When I’m on a wave it doesn’t matter, the ocean doesn’t discriminate. It’s a feeling of freedom.’

Messing about in boats

Story by Kate Washington.

Built in 1908 and lovingly restored, PS Oscar W is moored at the Goolwa Wharf Precinct and attracts dedicated volunteers and visitors to its deck. It’s a piece of living history and the flagship for the South Australian Wooden Boat Festival. Ruth Jurevicius from the Festival committee explains, ‘She links history with the modern day.’

If you get a chance to jump on board, you feel transported to an older time. ‘When the Oscar’s cruising, she’s got her own heartbeat,’ says Christina Sommervaille from the Friends of Oscar W. You imagine hard-working paddle steamers and their captains, transporting goods and people from river to sea. You can picture the community that formed around them. And clearly still does.

The SA Wooden Boat Festival attracts the finest wooden boats from the region and beyond. There will be an assortment of vessels alongside the PS Oscar W, including vintage sailing yachts, traditional riverboats, putt putts, clinker boats, canoes and rowing boats. In the past, Goolwa Wharf Precinct hosted the gathering. However, with a revitalisation project underway, the Coorong Quays Marina at Hindmarsh Island will accommodate this year’s festivities.

At first, you’d think an assembly of wooden boats would attract only boaties, builders and enthusiasts. However, the Festival committee’s inclusive program will entice all ages and interests, both on and off

the water. The two-day event includes parades and racing events, boatbuilding demonstrations, exhibits, workshops and live music. There’s even a little Pirates’ Tent and roving acts for children. All of this while tasting regional produce and premium South Australian wines.

It’s also a unique opportunity to chat with boat builders and restorers. The Armfield Slip & Boatshed, considered one of the gems of the Murray River, was established in 1926. Now owned by Alexandrina Council, passionate volunteers keep the shed busy working on projects close to their hearts. An old sign in the shed quotes Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows: ‘There is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.’

At the Festival, they will share that ethos at the Armfield Volunteers’ Old Trades Expo, welcoming anyone to drop by for a chat. ‘To see a boat come to life and be used is the real thrill of restoring wooden boats,’ exclaims Rick Eylward, a lifelong enthusiast and volunteer. Keep an eye out for the wooden sailing dinghy, Guillemot, recently restored by the crew. It’s up for raffle with proceeds going back to the Boatshed.

The last time the community came together to celebrate all things wooden boats, it was voted South Australia’s Best Festival at the 2019 SA Tourism Awards. This year promises to deliver an equally good if not better experience. Jump aboard and find out why wooden boats continue to fuel a passionate culture of living and working on the water at the River Port of Goolwa.

The South Australian Wooden Boat Festival will be held on 28-30 April 2023 at Coorong Quays, Alexandrina Cove Lifestyle Village, Hindmarsh Island.

Above: This year the South Australian Wooden Boat Festival will be held on 28-30 April at Coorong Quays. Images above from previous event.

South Coast

South Coast

WHO WE ARE

WHO WE ARE: Chloe and Brad Darkson

People of the sea(weed)

Far from being a new discovery, seaweed has been used by First Nations peoples for thousands of years. Its traditional uses span from edible ingredient to textile; from medicine to a material for building shelter. These days, seaweed mostly gets attention for its favourable ‘umami’ flavour, but this superfood of the sea is no exotic trend.

The Great Australian Bight serves as a biodiversity hot-spot for seaweed. The area is so rich in variety that many species are still unnamed and their potential largely untapped by western science. Closer to home, plenty of the species that we find here along the coastlines of the Fleurieu Peninsula mimic the flavour profiles of the universally known and loved nori, wakame and kombu. You may have even strolled over some on your last beach walk.

The South Australian government has commercial seaweed production firmly within its sights, calling it ‘the next big marine industry for South Australia’. Yet there’s one very dedicated couple who are already ahead of the curve. Chloe and Brad Darkson are bravely pioneering the farming of native seaweed on the Fleurieu. Childhood sweethearts, Chloe and Brad share a mutual connection to water and their travels together have taken them from oyster farming off the icy coasts of Tasmania, to the vibrant paradise of WA’s Ningaloo Reef. Between Chloe’s expertise as a marine biologist and Brad’s artistic and mechanical mind, they’re a well-resourced duo with the passion and dedication to lead a new industry, a reformed model, and a strong and sustainable future for oceanic farming.

The promise of seaweed first captured Chloe and Brad’s attention thanks to a New Yorker article in 2015 about Connecticut-based ocean farmer, Bren Smith. Then in 2019 they took the plunge and legitimised their curiosity by founding Moonrise Seaweed Co. and launching a popular Kickstarter campaign to begin commercially growing seaweed in South Australia. They started off wild harvesting to collect samples for trials, and have since created a range of seaweed-based products sold online and through like-minded partners like Village Greens of Willunga Creek. They’re now working towards establishing the industry’s ongoing viability, with the aim to eventually transition to a sea-based operation.

Chloe and Brad would like to see this new industry grow with First Nations leadership, encouraging multiple small-scale farms instead of mass monoculture. Their approach more closely aligns to regenerative

farming techniques than to traditional aquaculture practices. It’s the long way around, but they wholeheartedly believe in the benefits of developing the enterprise sustainably, from the (sea) ground up. The end goal is a regenerative and sustainable cycle that lowers carbon emissions, encourages habitat and provides valuable dietary nutrients. For Moonrise specifically, it means pioneering a small-scale, First Nations-owned and operated business that creates sovereignty of Country and food, as well as financial independence, and can stand as a model for other enterprises.

Brad is a proud First Nations man. His mob on his dad's side is the Chester family, with lineages to Narungga and many other Nations in South Australia, including Ngarrindjeri. ‘My focus is self determination,’ he explains. ‘I want to make sure I use my time to get us closer to that point where we (as First Nations Australians) can go "hey, these are our waters, we want to farm them and be economically independent on our own Country".’ His shared vision with Chloe is to create clear and easy pathways for community to enter the industry. ‘We are a part of this bigger thing,’ Chloe says, ‘to build capacity for a First Nations industry.’

Moonrise Seaweed Co has been consulting with Kaurna representatives throughout every step of the process. ‘If we can partner with Kaurna on Sea Country, that is a great way to contribute towards sovereignty of Country, sovereignty of food and caring for Country,’ Ben explains.

It’s a mammoth task – farming seaweed and taking down capitalism –and most people would agree to take their hats off to this hardworking young family. The challenge they face is to cultivate and sustainably scale their production on one end, while simultaneously figuring out how to make this gloriously nutrient-dense product that grows abundantly (not to mention organically) in our local waters a common household dietary staple. Moonrise Seaweed Co. are ensuring they build an industry that stays local, further lowering the need for carbon in transport and allowing the economic web to fold back into the surrounding community. Basically, we all need to start eating and bathing in the stuff.

So perhaps next time you dine out, look for seaweed on the menu and sample its unique umami flavours, or maybe stay in and take a shower using seaweed soap. Either way get ready, because if Chloe and Ben have anything to say about it, seaweed will soon be one of the most sustainable industries ever to come out of South Australia's waters.

Visit moonriseseaweed.farm and @moonriseseaweedco to purchase products and follow the journey.

Story by Hollie Connery. Photograph by Jason Porter.

They’re a well-resourced duo with the passion and dedication to lead a new industry, a reformed model, and a strong and sustainable future for oceanic farming.

Must love waves

Selected from the shelves at South Seas Books, Port Elliot.

Ocean Pools by Chris Chen and Marie-Louise McDermott (2022). A beautiful guide to seventy-five pools across Australia for saltwater swimmers. Living by the Ocean published by Phaidon (2021). A collection of remarkable homes in incredible coastal locations. Unearthed: The story of one kid’s surf journey by Stephen Cooney (2021). A funny and poignant memoir of a grommet caught up in the shortboard evolution. Women Making Waves by Lara Einzig (2022). Celebrating surfing’s sisterhood through the stories of women living with purpose. Grajagan: Surfing in the tiger’s lair 1972-84 by Mike Ritter and Jack McKoy (2022). The origin story of the mythical surf break known as G-land. Surf & Stay by Veerle Helsen (2021). Seven breath-taking European road trips made for surfers in Cornwall, Flanders, Brittany, La Côte Basque, Cantabria, Tenerife and Alentejo. Surfer Magazine: 1960-2020 by Grant Ellis (2022). An anthology covering the legendary magazine’s six decades in print. Coastlines: At the water’s edge by Emily Nathan (2022). A stunning collection of photographs from some of the planet’s most aspirational seaside settings. Waterproof by John Ogden (2021). Australian surf photography since 1858.

Marvellous mushrooms

community, and has enabled the pair to be more creative with product development, which minimises waste. ‘If we grow a king oyster the size of my forearm, which we have done before, accidentally,’ chuckles Phil, ‘or if we have tiny ones, or awkward amounts, someone will want them.’

Their bright colours and fascinating textures, reputation as a nutrientrich and delicious ingredient and adaptability as a sustainable alternative to meat, intrigue and delight market shoppers. It’s no wonder that mushrooms have been named as one of the hottest food trends for 2023. Self-described mycophiles (people who are a little obsessed with mushrooms!) Phil Musson and Britt Jones moved from New South Wales to the Fleurieu Peninsula in March 2020, miraculously timing their arrival within one day of the state’s Covid closure. With original plans to work in a winery restaurant put on hold, their fungi-fuelled obsession led to the creation of Choice Mushrooms.

After months of intensive research and growing, Phil and Britt took six kilos of mushrooms to their first farmers’ market – everything they could produce in a 1.2 x 1.2 metre tent in their backyard. ‘We had no idea what the reception would be,’ recalls Phil. ‘There was horrendous sideways rain that day ... and we sold out within the first hour.’

‘The market has become everything to us – it’s like family,’ continues Britt. ‘The interaction with customers is priceless, providing almost instantaneous product feedback.’ Having Choice Mushrooms at the market adds to the diversity of local, seasonal produce available to the

In fact, mushrooms minimise waste at every stage of their lifecycle. Through connections made at the market, Phil and Britt have sourced waste sawdust from a local sawmill, which they use to create substrate, the surface on which their mushrooms grow. Worms of Willunga, winners of the current Willunga Farmers Market Scholarship, then convert the used substrate into their vermicompost, creating a truly circular production cycle.

Other market vendors have also been a vital ingredient in the couple’s success. Pure Mushrooms, a local producer of button and Swiss brown mushrooms, is a weekly market stallholder, and the two producers support and regularly refer customers to each other.

With demand and production steadily growing, Choice Mushrooms are popping up on menus from Restaurant Botanic and Fino Vino, to local favourites Muni, MoonGarden, McLaren Vale Hotel, The Vale Taphouse and Down the Rabbit Hole.

Phil and Britt see mushrooms playing an increasingly important role in sustainable eating. ‘Instead of mushrooms being absorbed into our current food system, mushrooms will begin to change our food system –both by people buying them locally and growing at home with grow kits,’ explains Phil. ‘We also want to start doing foraging tours. We want people being able to go out and get their own mushrooms. It’s a valuable skill to have, and another way of connecting people with nature and where their food comes from.’

Every Saturday morning, an impressive range of mushrooms – from oyster, pioppino, lion’s mane and Australia’s native coral, to the more familiar button and Swiss brown – make their way out of the dark and into the limelight at Willunga Farmers Market.

Story and recipe by Andrea Ball. Photography by Jason Porter.

Above: Britt Jones and Phil Musson from Choice Mushrooms.

Crispy gnocchi, mushrooms and fennel with herbed goat curd

Serves 4 as a main meal – easily halved

Choice Mushrooms and store-bought gnocchi are tossed with a punchy marinade, then oven-roasted with onion, fennel and broccolini, creating an effortless meal with impact. A simple herbed goat curd adds refreshing acidity, bringing all the flavours together.

We’ve used a mixture of lion’s mane, oyster and pioppino mushrooms, but you can use any single or mix of varieties you like. All types of gnocchi will work cooked this way without the need to pre-boil.

Rose harissa is available in jars at independent supermarkets. Regular harissa is hotter, so start with a little and taste before adding more.

What you’ll need

Marinade

100ml olive oil

4 tablespoons rose harissa paste – see introduction

2 tablespoons lime juice

2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves

1 teaspoon Urfa or Aleppo chilli flakes – or a pinch of regular chilli flakes

2 teaspoons maple syrup

1 teaspoon tamari

½ teaspoon fine salt

Vegetables and gnocchi

1 large red onion, cut into thin wedges

1 fennel bulb, halved and thinly sliced

1 lemon, halved widthways

1 large box Choice Mushrooms (about 350-400g)

300g gnocchi – use any frozen, fresh or shelf-stable gnocchi

1 bunch broccolini, thick stems halved lengthways

Olive oil, fine salt and ground black pepper

Large handful toasted hazelnuts, skins removed, to serve

Fresh dill and chives, finely chopped, to serve

Herbed goat curd

150g goat curd (we used Lilyarra™)

1 tablespoon each finely chopped dill and chives

Juice from half a roasted lemon

1 tablespoon olive oil

Flaked salt and freshly ground black pepper

What to do

Heat your oven to 220°C fan and line two large baking trays. Whisk the marinade ingredients together in a bowl and set aside. Place the sliced onion, fennel and lemon in a large bowl with a good splash of olive oil and season well. Toss to coat and divide between baking trays with lemon halves flesh-side up. Roast for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, tear lion’s mane mushrooms into 3cm thick pieces, tear large oyster mushrooms in half, and divide caps and stems of large pioppinos. Leave smaller mushrooms whole. Place all the mushrooms in a large bowl with the gnocchi, add all except 2 tablespoons of the marinade and mix well so the marinade gets into all the nooks and crannies of the mushrooms.

Carefully take the hot trays from the oven, remove one of the lemon halves, add the mushrooms and gnocchi evenly between both trays, spread everything in a single layer, and return to the oven for 10 minutes.

While the gnocchi and veg are happily roasting, mix together all ingredients for the herbed goat curd, including the juice from one roasted lemon half. Add a little water, if necessary, to make a dollop-able sauce. Toss the broccolini with a splash of olive oil, salt and pepper. Take the trays out of the oven again, divide the broccolini between them and roast for another 5 minutes, until the broccolini is just tender and all the other ingredients are beautifully charred.

Spread the goat curd onto a platter, spoon over the gnocchi and vegetables, then top with the extra marinade, hazelnuts and herbs. Squeeze the (now very juicy!) remaining roast lemon half over at the table.

Above: The Green Gourmet will be holding a cooking demonstration for this recipe on April 15 at the Willunga Farmers Market, Willunga.

From little things

Our region is awash with innovators and entrepreneurs. Small businesses and artists bring colour and variety to our townships and we celebrate their dedication and verve, while the natural environment is a seemingly bottomless well of inspiration.

Some of our youngest artists and makers are springing up at markets and shops enjoying the support and acknowledgement of passersby – and earning a little pocket money to boot. Through encouraging these youngsters we are setting the stage for a new generation to continue enriching the region.

Jeannie Tilbrook

14 years

Jeannie grew up in the wild bushland of Karta (Kangaroo Island) on Kaurna, Ngarrindjeri and Nurungga Country. She is inspired by her love for the natural world through sustainable and simple living.

While observing the pollinators and all the cycles of life, Jeannie tends to her family’s gardens and orchards, sewing, growing and harvesting organic seed for her business ‘Jeannie’s Seeds’. She hand selects the seed with horticultural support, and then packages it into her custommade envelopes adorned with her own illustrations and instructions on seasonal planting times.

Jeannie has twelve varieties available and is looking to expand the range each season. Her seeds are available through her family’s online shop and stocked by some of South Australia’s most beautiful stores. Her work has recently been recognised at the DragonFly Dreaming Festival.

A list of stockists and products can be found at bushorganics.com.au

Gracie Summer

13 years

When Gracie was very little, she was always painting and making art ‘like most kids.’ As she got older, she was encouraged to keep exploring her burgeoning talent and so she did, enjoying the focus on art at her Waldorf Steiner school. ‘When I was about eight years old, I went to a few art classes in the school holidays, and this exposed me to different mediums,’ Gracie says. ‘I was then introduced to digital art and really liked how much I could play with ideas without committing.’

‘The desire to make art comes and goes,’ she says. ‘Once I start making art I want to make more. I find it both relaxing and stressful. It’s relaxing when I’m doing something just for me. It’s more stressful when it’s for someone else, as a gift or as something to sell, because I really want them to like it.’

Gracie’s favourite medium is watercolour on paper, and she creates beautifully considered compositions of flowers, people, fruit and landscapes. She also enjoys doing one-off portraits of friends and family, and making unique greeting card art. Gracie has created some art for businesses to use as their logos, including the gorgeous ‘Lucky Ducks’ illustration at Aldinga’s Lucky Duck restaurant, and has illustrated a fiction novel for tweens.

@graceof_arts

Above: Gracie Summer’s hand-painted greeting cards (left) alongside Jeannie Tilbrook’s hand drawn seed packets (right).

The Green Gourmet Connecting food, health and joy

Story by Poppy Fitzpatrick. Photography by Jason Porter.

Some people are blessed with a natural radiance: an internal light that seems to flood the space around them wherever they go. Andrea Ball is one of those people. As I sit waiting under an umbrella in the outdoor patio at Willunga’s de Rose Kitchen, she floats in with an elegance and brightness that somehow makes the scorching afternoon sun feel dull in comparison.

Despite having only moved to Willunga in the last two years, Andrea has quickly spread her light throughout the Fleurieu. Her infectious warmth and excitement for health, community, nature and – above all – food, has unsurprisingly earned her a respected place among like-minded locals. Andrea’s nutritional knowledge, creative flair and love for good olive oil has found a perfect home in the region, whether she’s performing cooking demonstrations at Willunga Farmers Market, developing recipes for local producers, hosting cooking workshops from her home, or sharing her knowledge on the pages of this very magazine.

The seed of Andrea’s curious and open nature was sprouted as a child of adventurous parents. When the family left their home in regional Victoria to follow work, five-year-old Andrea and her siblings were thrown into the heart of busy Bangkok. Unable to start at the local school immediately, Andrea found herself tagging along with her mother to colourful markets, surrounded by fresh seasonal produce and exotic sensory experiences. As a young family in an unfamiliar place, food became its own powerful language – a common ground between vastly different cultures.

Over the next five years in Thailand, Andrea absorbed the teachings of the Buddhist community, who view humans as earth’s temporary custodians for the short time we inhabit it and who walk with an intentionally lighter footprint on the earth, aiming to leave it better than they found it. Andrea also became curious about their vegetarian diets, which she decided to adopt for her own health as well as for environmental sustainability. Her mother allowed it on the condition that Andrea proved she could consume adequate nutrients and take responsibility for cooking her own meals. So, at just twelve, Andrea declared herself the family ‘health food lady’ and learned to cook, while adorning the family kitchen with cards informing her parents and siblings about the nutrition they would all be getting from their vegetable-rich meals.

Above: Andrea Ball at her home in Willunga.

Andrea continued developing her skills and nutritional knowledge in the kitchen, before studying professional writing and science at university. Andrea has since worked for 30 years in health communications, analysing results of clinical trials and translating them into accessible language for consumers. This knowledge has equipped Andrea with the scientific expertise to complement her true passion – her small business, The Green Gourmet. Andrea combines her academic knowledge with her deep fascination for Indigenous food cultures, which have long relied on local and seasonal eating, viewing food as medicine as well as a sacred way to connect family and community.

The Green Gourmet began with and still embraces the ethos of rediscovering the connection between food, health and joy – but moving to the Fleurieu has become the catalyst for Andrea to grow her work in unexpected ways. What began as a side hustle to impart valuable skills and information to home cooks through private workshops and recipe development has since become bigger than Andrea could have ever imagined.

‘I’ve come to realise it’s not about individuals, it’s about whole communities and how we coexist together,’ she says. For Andrea, the Willunga Farmers Market is the embodiment of this natural symbiosis between nature, producers and consumers – as well as her own personal heaven. ‘You could never stop me from going to the Farmers Market. Saturday is my happiest day of the week. I’m not an early riser, but I can’t wait to get out of bed on Saturdays,’ she beams.

Performing demonstrations at the markets allows Andrea to embrace her knack for storytelling, while educating cooks on the nutritional value of each ingredient. Andrea also loves to encourage the use of local products in creative ways, like substituting spinach with baby

bok choy as a leafy green lower in oxalates, making its beneficial nutrients far easier to absorb and digest. Explaining these innovations in cooking, nutrition and farming sets Andrea’s eyes alight as she speaks.

As The Green Gourmet continues to grow, Andrea hopes to facilitate a deeper connection between our local producers and the food we eat and enjoy everyday. This interconnectedness – among broader ideas around food security and accessibility, climate action and health – is what binds us on the Fleurieu, and brings our region the same infectious joy that Andrea radiates.

Chocolate-glazed pumpkin and spice doughnuts

Makes 12 small doughnuts

These little mouthfuls of delicious baked goodness turn the notion of unhealthy doughnuts upside down and sum up everything The Green Gourmet is about!

You can whip up a batch in just 10 minutes, and if you don’t have a doughnut pan, simply bake in a 12-hole muffin tray.

Why you and your body will love these

These give you the moist, cakey doughnut fix you’re craving, while delivering a whole host of nutrients.

The star of the show is Pinnaroo Farms Sprouted Whole Wheat Flour. Using the ancient art of sprouting, the wheat’s nutrients are unlocked, making them more available for your body to absorb. The flour is naturally high in fibre and sweet in taste, giving the doughnuts a wholesome, soft crumb.

Pumpkin, Greek yoghurt and olive oil provide extra flavour, moisture and nutrients, while the small amount of unrefined sugars keeps the doughnuts just sweet enough to enjoy at any time of day without the sugar coma. >

Above: Andrea’s Chocolate-glazed pumpkin and spiced doughnuts pack flavour and nutrition in every delicious bite.

The dark chocolate glaze is the literal and nutritional icing on the doughnut: rich in powerful antioxidants, iron and stress-relieving magnesium. That’s why I recommend you keep a batch on hand at all times – for health reasons, of course!

Andrea’s pumpkin spice mix can be found on her website: www.thegreengourmet.com.au/recipes.

The Green Gourmet will be holding a cooking demonstration for this recipe on April 15 at the Willunga Farmers Market, Willunga.

What you’ll need

Doughnuts

1 cup (130g) Pinnaroo Farms Sprouted Whole Wheat Flour –available from Foodland and Drakes supermarkets (see below right for gluten-free variation)

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon bicarb soda

¼ teaspoon fine salt

1½ teaspoons pumpkin spice mix

(visit thegreengourmet.com.au/recipes to make your own)

½ cup (125g) mashed pumpkin, cooled

⅓ cup (50g) coconut sugar

1 extra-large pasture-raised egg, at room temperature

¼ cup (60g) plain full fat Greek yoghurt

2 tablespoons milk or plant-based milk

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon pure maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract or essence

Dark chocolate glaze

70g dark chocolate (70% cocoa)

2 teaspoons coconut oil

Cacao nibs, for sprinkling

What to do

Lightly grease a nonstick doughnut (or muffin) pan with olive oil and preheat your oven to 180°C (not fan-forced).

Place flour in a medium mixing bowl. Sift in the baking powder and bicarb soda to remove any lumps. Add the salt and spice mix and whisk well to combine.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, coconut sugar and all the wet ingredients until smooth and creamy. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mix. Use a metal spoon to just combine – don’t overmix!

Spoon the mixture into a medium snaplock bag and snip a 1cm hole in one corner – or use a piping bag if you have one. Pipe into the prepared doughnut tin, piping two rounds into each mould, until each is about two-thirds full.

Place in the oven and cook for about 8 minutes for a 7cm x 12-hole doughnut pan or around 12 minutes for a larger 8.5cm x 6-hole doughnut pan or muffin pan, or until a toothpick just comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes and turn onto a wire rack to cool completely before glazing.

To glaze: Melt the chocolate and coconut oil together gently in a saucepan on an induction cooktop or in the microwave in 30-second bursts on medium power.

Dip the top of each doughnut into the chocolate mixture. Sprinkle with cacao nibs and place back on your cooling rack to set. Store in an airtight container out of the fridge for up to 3 days.

Gluten-free variation: Simply replace the 1 cup of Pinnaroo Farms Sprouted Whole Wheat Flour with ½ cup Pinnaroo Farms Sprouted Red Lentil Flour + ½ cup almond meal. Bake for 1 minute less than whole wheat doughnuts.

Above left: Work in progress with Falcon enamel mixing bowls and cooling rack courtesy of Kookery, Willunga. Above right: Yum.

Shacking up modernist style

Story by Stephanie Johnston.

Farmers bought their ‘absolute beach front’ blocks for practically nothing, and, with little or no council regulation, knocked together crude structures of cement sheeting and corrugated iron before variously painting them in pale yellow, blue or green – or the infamous ‘mission brown’ of the austerity era. Communities would spring up on sections of beach where families would go on fishing holidays between the busy harvest and sowing seasons, bringing water, beer and fuel for the generator.

A post-war boom in car ownership gave rise to the shack’s more upmarket cousin – the single-family domestic beach house. Reflecting a new post-war prosperity and increases in leisure time, these holiday houses were often architecturally designed, artistically furnished and thoughtfully attuned to the site, and to the natural and scenic surrounds.

A recent exhibition at Victor Harbor’s Coral Street Art Space provided insight into this particular era of post-war architectural modernism, showcasing eight beach houses in and around Victor Harbor and one in Aldinga. Curator Dr James Curry built on a previous exhibition he curated for the State Library of South Australia, which explored the stories behind modernist homes in the suburbs and foothills of Adelaide itself.

Both exhibitions delved into the State Library’s archives, relying heavily on an extensive collection of photographs and papers of influential Adelaide architect John Chappel. The Victor Harbor Council also came to the party, extending access to their own archives of lodged plans, drawings and budget details.

Between 1956 and 1990 Chappel used his position as architectural correspondent for The Advertiser to advocate for a new ‘modern’ Australian architecture ‘not borrowed from another land, but which belongs to our own country, conditions and time.’ While he showcased the designs of numerous fellow architects in tune with this vision, Chappel was also adept at securing clients with the aspiration and budget to support his own practice.

One of those clients was Eileen Ling, then majority shareholder of Hills Industries, manufacturers of Australia’s iconic Hills Hoist. >

The thousands of beach shacks that line the coast of South Australia owe their origins to the early 20th century, when farmers would knock together roughlymade huts from whatever they could find, scrounge, beg or borrow.

Page left: Irwin Beach House by Sir James Irwin at Aldinga. (Source: State Library of South Australia.) Above: Ling Beach House at McCracken, by John Chappel (Source of photo unknown).

Reflecting a new post-war prosperity and increases in leisure time, these holiday houses were often architecturally designed, artistically furnished and thoughtfully attuned to the site, and to the natural and scenic surrounds.

Located among the dress circle of McCracken and Hayborough, Ling House is elevated at the rear of a sloping block, generating unimpeded panoramic views of Encounter Bay. Chappel responded to his client’s need for a casual and comfortable getaway where her family of grown-up children could gather, and where she could also entertain employees and business associates in a relaxed and informal manner.

A nearby holiday home at Hayborough served a similar purpose for another John Chappel client – South Australia’s prominent and long-serving inventors and manufacturers of agricultural machinery, the Shearer family. Shearer Beach House responds to its steep clifflike topography over three levels, with a discrete entry and garaging at street level, separate lower open-plan living and bedroom levels facing the ocean, and private beach access via a set of external stairs. Built of light-weight materials suspended on narrow steel columns with plenty of glass, the house is quintessentially Australian

modernist, while also managing to provide privacy for its owners both indoors and out.

Curry explores themes of ‘openness and exposure’, ‘privacy’ and ‘shared sensibilities’ as he paints a picture of privileged Adelaide families embracing the modernist ethos as a means of escape from their more formal and complicated lives in town. The simplicity and seclusion of an open-plan beach house designed with modernist principles gave them the chance to unwind with friends, away from observation and scrutiny.

The Grose holiday house at Victor Harbor, for example, was a dramatic departure from the family’s 1890s heritage home in College Park. Architect Brian Vogt was president of the Adelaide branch of the Modular Society, and applied those principles to the design, which was constructed as a prefabricated modular kit then assembled on site. Only one room in width, the Grose Beach House features an informal open-plan living-dining area with exposed >

Page left top: Floor plan and perspective drawing for the Ling Beach House. Page left bottom and this page top: Shearer Beach House, Hayborough, by John Chappel (Source: State Library of South Australia). Above left and right: Grose Beach House by Brian Vogt at Victor Harbor (Source: State Library of South Australia).

rafters, and is elevated on slender steel columns which provide all rooms with expansive views to the north and south. The house is remarkably in step with 21st-century climate-responsive design, with overhanging eaves and adjustable louvres providing shade and cross ventilation, while glass windows and cement sheeting were left unfinished and exposed for minimal upkeep.

In post-war Adelaide people were also bound by banking, finance and re-sale constraints, which would make them cautious in embracing innovative designs for the family home. In commissioning a second home however, they could be more relaxed and willing to experiment.

In the case of the Laidlaw family beach house, a family association with the firm Perry Engineering led to a number of ‘shared sensibilities’ between the Laidlaw’s main home at Beaumont and Crail, their holiday house on the Hindmarsh River. Both houses feature aluminium windows produced by the family business. These enabled greater connection with the surrounding bush and garden, inviting early forays into indoor/outdoor living. The Laidlaw homes also featured modern Australian furniture, with tables, chairs, sideboards and

lighting by Douglas Snelling and Grant Featherstone, while the light and open spaces provided an excellent setting for contemporary Australian artworks – mostly purchased from Kym Bonython’s gallery in North Adelaide.

Up the gulf at Aldinga we have the exquisite Irwin Beach House, designed by Lord Mayor, alderman, president of the Architect’s Institute, local Toc H president, and club architect for the Adelaide Club – Sir James Irwin. Knighted in 1971, Irwin is best known for designing the 1959 former Advertiser building in Adelaide’s CBD, and the General Motors Holden plants at Woodville and Elizabeth.

In his memoir, Sir James succinctly summarises the allure of the modernist beach retreat to Adelaide’s industrious elite, as he recounts time spent at his Aldinga holiday house with family and close friend Colin Gordon – the first lay headmaster of St Peter’s College.

‘Originally it was a beautiful remote spot near our great friends Colin and Pat Gordon; when we sold it, it was in the middle of a suburb,’ he writes. ‘But we loved it, finding it a lifesaver during the frantically busy years, and we refused to have a telephone.’

Top: Crail at Victor Harbor, by Caradoc Ashton, Fisher, Woodhead and Beaumont Smith (Source State Library of South Australia). Above left and right: ‘… and we refused to have a telephone …’ Irwin Beach House interior at Aldinga (Source: State Library of South Australia).

Whispers from the forgotten

Words by Sam Healy.

On the edge of the Myponga Reservoir, there’s a sound that resonates between the trees unlike any other. It seems to lift the earth like a parachute moments before it takes flight. In that exhilarating knowingness lies an unseeable force so mighty that even the pines bend and whisper to it.

Questions about the source of this sound grew in my mind and finally flowered when I had the honour of hearing Mark Koolmatrie speak. Ngarrindjeri Elder, founder and operator of award-winning Kool Tours and chairman of the South Australian Aboriginal Heritage Committee, Mark spoke eloquently yet accessibly about connecting to country. Hoping he may help me understand my experience in the reservoir, I introduced myself.

‘Where are you from?’ he asked with his beaming face. ‘Myponga,’ I proudly declared. ’Ahh, Warki country,’ Mark nodded. I didn’t know this. I thought it was Kaurna country. Already deflated, and with apologies spilling out of me, I asked him to elaborate. It turns out, everyone thought it was Kaurna country until very recently.

In the early eighties, Dr Philip Clarke, Honorary Research Associate at the South Australian Museum, conducted a huge research project which included interviewing elders going back three generations. Only last year, within this library of largely forgotten knowledge and wisdom, Mark and Dr Clarke stumbled across a vitally important fact: Myponga was the land of the Warki people.

The peace this brought Mark was palpable and I wanted to understand more about how this knowledge affected him and what it might mean for the broader community. Mark suggested I think of a jigsaw. When the jigsaw is finished, you see the ‘self’ and everything that creates it. Locality is an important piece of this jigsaw, but it’s not the only piece.

The western perspective understands the importance of ‘selfawareness’ through experts like psychologist Daniel Goleman. Goleman says that people who lack self-awareness find it difficult to live a truly happy and productive life. We also know that living in areas with more greenery can boost cognitive function and improve mental health in adulthood. This allows self-awareness to thrive.

Place, or country, is inextricably linked to ‘self-awareness’ and so is at the foundation of wellbeing. When this ‘jigsaw’ is completed, you understand the pieces of yourself and, by definition, you have a relationship to place.

‘When you’re helping country, you are healing yourself,’ Mark smiles. ‘By having access to country, we can heal from the historical trauma and find ourselves.’ For so long, the puzzle that made up the country where Myponga is found wasn’t complete. ‘If you look at that jigsaw – there’d been a whole section missing, an unknown void. And all of a sudden, we’d found it in the research, we’d found the horizon,’ says Mark.

‘By discovering the people we were able to strengthen our understanding of self. Remember though, we don’t yet know how to complete this jigsaw ... but our ancestors did, the Warki people did.’

'We long for these pieces – the skills and knowledge – so we can get back to that connection, so we can all find it and experience it regularly. Then we will all have the tools to access strength and resilience. It’s a process of learning and relearning.’

The Warki people are no longer forgotten and the effect this has had on Mark is intoxicating. Through this tragedy and discovery, there’s an opportunity to learn more about the places that make us feel better, the places that care for us, the places we call home.

In that sound between the pines, the Warki people whisper. If we take the time, if we get out of our own ways for just a moment, we can feel something different, something better. And with that comes a burning desire to see more, to learn more, to connect more.

Written on Warki land.

Above: Mark Koolmatrie, Ngarrindjeri Elder, founder and operator of award-winning Kool Tours and chairman of the South Australian Aboriginal Heritage Committee.

My style

Marcus Syvertsen Interior Designer

Marcus Syvertsen always loved art and design; you could say it was his personal passion. And for many people, that’s how it would’ve stayed. But not for Marcus. Allowing himself to be led by his dreams, he eventually stepped away from his career as a paramedic and began again first with an online shop LIttle Road Home and then as the director and principal interior designer of Little Road Studio.

Even while he was still donning the hivis green shirt and slacks, Marcus was studying interior design. The turning point came when he and his wife Megan decided to move to Willunga with their young family. Collaborating with an architect and a builder on the design of their new home on their empty block gave Marcus the outlet he needed to exercise his design vision – and he did so with flair.

From there, the seed that was Little Road Studio began to take root and grow, and

within a short time he opened a bricks-andmortar concept store and design studio in Aldinga. ‘I took on one project at a time and before I knew it I had an interiors practice,’ he says.

The design practice, which focuses on immersive, bespoke and timeless residential and commercial projects, has now eclipsed the need for the retail store. In 2022, he decided to move to an office in McLaren Vale and eventually closed the shopfront to make more time for clients.

From his own home to his retail offering, and now his ever-increasing list of interesting projects, there’s been an evolution of style, distinguished by quality materials and selections. Marcus and his team are excited for what 2023 will bring and already have many projects in progress.

‘We are currently working on a number of beautiful new builds, renovations and as well as commercial projects including luxury accommodation, retail and hospitality.’

EAT

The Salopian Inn is Marcus’ go-to date-night destination. ’I love the freshness of [chef/coowner] Karena’s food. The kingfish sashimi is my absolute favourite. And I love gin so it’s kind of heaven,’ he says. ‘I also love that we’ve been able to put our mark on the interiors.’ Little Road’s interior refresh involved new paint, lighting, tables and chairs and – our favourite – more upholstered bench seating, making better use of the space and introducing splashes of colour.

SHOP

Marcus loves to shop at Victor Harbor’s Charlie & Jack owned by Kristy Robertson, master green thumb and collector of beautiful things. Marcus says, ‘She does it so well. There’s always something different with her beautiful plants and pots.’ But it’s not just about plants, she also has a curated selection of cards, jewellery, gifts and homewares.

DRINK

Last year, Little Road Studio worked with the Oliver family at Oliver’s Taranga Vineyards on the renovation of their 1850s worker’s cottage and large cellar door extension. Marcus’ team nailed the brief, creating an inviting environment using a warm colour palette, rich timber tones and lush textures. Marcus’ tip: try the Chica Mencía Rose or Brioni’s Shiraz.

STAY

When looking for accommodation, Marcus says it’s all about the experience and finding something a bit different. And La Shack at Port Willunga certainly delivers. ‘La Shack has a beautiful, warm and comfortable interior and the styling is amazing,’ Marcus says. And all a stone’s throw from beautiful Port Willunga Beach.

I LOVE

Marcus and his family were excited to see that the new Tree Climb at Kuitpo Forest is up and running. ‘My daughters’ new fav place to visit.’

Above left: The Kingfish sashimi at Salopian Inn is Marcus’ favourite. Right: The 1850s workers cottage at Oliver’s Taranga was recently transformed in collaboration with Little Road Studio.

Above: La Shack.

Places we love Lino Ramble

Words by Kate le Gallez.

‘Old age starts where curiosity ends.’ Or so

Portuguese Nobel Laureate José Saramago is believed to have said.

He would have felt at home visiting Lino Ramble’s cellar door at 48 McMurtrie Road, where Andy Coppard and Angela Townsend follow their curiosity to make wines ‘we like to drink’ from varieties climatically suited to the region.

Winemaker Andy and ‘everyone’s backup’ Ange, first met while working at a local winery. United by a shared interest in doing things differently (and purposefully) instead of because ‘it’s the way things are done’, they released their first Lino Ramble wines in 2012.

With the support of local growers, they’ve focused on varieties from regions in Portugal, Italy and Sicily where the climatic conditions mirror our own. They pioneered arinto, grillo and bastardo

in the region, producing wines that suit both the environment and our lifestyle.

Serious about hospitality, you can expect to find Andy in the cellar door over the weekend, while their weekday team – Judy, Bob and Lee – are passionate hosts with deep industry knowledge. Over ten years in, Andy finds that visitors continue to resonate with their approach.

Ange is in charge of aesthetics (among other things) and she works closely with Emily Sheppard from Studio E Creative to design their distinctive labels. Each wine sports a vintage lino print motif, and is named for a childhood game. ‘As the years have gone on, Lino has got a style of its own,’ Ange says. ‘Now you can tell if something’s a Lino print or not straightaway.’

A decade ago Andy and Ange set out on an adventure, curious to see what they could do and we’ve willingly joined them on the ride. Age won’t be catching up with them anytime soon.

THE EXPERIENCE

Take a seat at the bar or grab a table outside and settle in for a relaxed tasting for $10 per person (redeemable on purchases).

DRINK

The rewards of their ongoing commitment to sustainable viticulture (in partnership with Chalk Hill Viticulture). Even from young vines, the grapes that go into the Dot to Dot Arinto demand only half the water of the neighbouring shiraz, and the resulting nashi pear characters and natural acidity make for a delicious drink. The Pee Wee Novella Nero D’Avola is a crowd favourite.

LOOK OUT FOR

Ange’s personal approach to interior design. Her collection of vintage wares reflects the brand’s wistful nostalgia, but her selections aren’t merely aesthetic; there are personal stories and memories hidden all about the room. Ask about the goat over the fireplace and the yodelling cowboy poster – there’s a story there.

BEHIND THE SCENES

Their first barrel of muscat was gifted to Ange by her father-in-law, Dick (though Ange had been surreptitiously sampling the liqueur for years). It’s called Mr Wolf on the label, but is known fondly as Dick’s Muscat.

WE LOVE

The authentic and sustainable approach to winemaking, alongside the playfulness and personality of the cellar door.

Playing in clay

Story by Petra de Mooy.

Walking through the art-filled home of ceramic artist Deb McKay, there’s much to take-in. Arriving in Deb’s large open-plan living area where we sit to resume talking about art and design, there are views out to her beautiful gardens.

Her backyard is laid out in a series of rooms separated by her carefully plotted gardens, which create soft walls between the outdoor dining area, pool and courtyard. ‘Layering is a really big feature of my work, like in nature,’ she says. ‘When I look out my window where I sit and work everyday, it's layered. Layer, upon layer, upon layer, upon layer that builds to make a whole. I like that.’

The garden isn’t big, but it works so well that I must admit to being a little envious. Artists often trade time between making and gardening and of late Deb has been spending more time in the studio. ‘It’s so overgrown,’ she laments, but she’s busy making her new work which is a time-consuming process.

Back inside, we enter Deb’s studio adjacent to the living area. When Deb and her husband bought the house four years ago they renovated and eked out this small studio space from the generously proportioned dining area. ‘It’s tiny,’ she says, leading us into the studio. The room is orderly, with purpose-built shelves and cabinets lining the walls left and right. And though it is small, like their garden it has been meticulously planned.

One wall is lined with a series of Deb’s black anemone pieces. ‘I made twenty-two as a commission and twenty-two cracked so I had to remake them,’ she says. The sting of so many do-overs has since passed, so she can now laugh it off. Her work table is set to one end of the room in front of a large window overlooking some of Deb’s favourite plants including euphorbia, snow pear, lions tail, purple salvia, white iris and Chinese star jasmine. Deb explains she and her husband have built, renovated and landscaped numerous homes. All while holding down their jobs and having their three now grown-up children.

Last year was a good year for Deb’s ceramics practice, a busy year of focus and working hard. 2023 is shaping up a little differently. ‘This year I am playing. It’s really important. I’m working with colour and trying some new concepts,’ she says. Deb’s work is primarily monochromatic in white porcelain and black clay, sometimes highlighted with gold embellishments. But Deb is experimenting and trying a new direction – always an exciting time for an artist as they stretch themselves to expand their vocabulary.

Until recently Deb’s work has been mainly sculptural. Her intricate clay and porcelain pieces evoke sea anemones, crustaceans, quills, spores, shells, coral and petals. They suggest both real and imagined sea, animal and plant life. It’s no wonder her work has been a finalist in the Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize. This recognition came early, when Deb boldly submitted her work after only just starting her practice in 2018. This vote of confidence led to further submissions and to her winning the Waterhouse Emerging Artist Prize in 2022. >

Page left: Anemone cluster, porcelain. Above left: 'Drift', porcelain, gold lustre, glass cloche. Above right: 'Unfolding', black midfire clay, glass cloche.

When I ask Deb about being an ‘emerging’ artist she answers plainly that she isn’t anymore. In leaps and bounds she has found a passion and a direction and is working obsessively at it, conceding that the pieces take hundreds of hours. Deb makes and textures each element separately, before she delicately assembles the wet clay pieces into her sculptures ready for firing.

‘I came from a great family of makers and I've always been a maker. I've made curtains and knitted blankets. I’ve sewn, I’ve stitched, I’ve made gardens and renovated homes,’ she says. So while she has seemingly achieved a lot in a relatively short time, the journey has been long and diverse. From a career as a fashion buyer and an educator, and personal experience as a homemaker and renovator, Deb’s cultural and artistic awareness has been a lifelong project – and an invaluable foundation for the work she’s now creating.

Now in her year of play, Deb has started adding functional elements to her work as part of a series she has started to explore. The vessels are a celebration, or perhaps study, of her mother’s fine needlework. The surfaces are embellished with her interpretation of needlework on porcelain. ‘It’s a bit of homage to mum,’ she says. Deb’s mum can no longer do the fine work, so it’s a lovely interpretation and a meditative and cathartic process. Where daughter once marvelled at her mother’s work, now mother finds joy in these beautiful creations.

Deb joyfully embraces the daunting task of creating at such a detailed level. ‘My work takes a lot of time. It’s very therapeutic and it’s very easy to get lost in what I do,’ she says. It’s not a chore for Deb. It’s a meditation.

Deb’s artwork is available through The Strand Gallery in Port Elliot.

Above left: This year Deb is experimenting with colour by dyeing the porcelain – now working delicately and colourfully with joy. Above right: 'Pt. 2 Fragile Forms' won the 2022 Waterhouse Emerging Artist Prize, porcelain and gold lustre. Bottom: Deb Mckay in her home.

202 Main Road McLaren Vale (in Hardys Tintara Winery) Meet artists in their studios · See an art exhibition · Buy a gift made by a local artisan · Enjoy a coffee surrounded by beautiful art fleurieuarthouse.com.au

Drinkability

Wine reviews by Nick Stock

Freshness is something we prize in wines both old and new. It’s a sense of vibrancy and liveliness, that sensation of being entertained by flavours and textural sensations that draw us back for another sip or a second glass.

Hither & Yon

Fresh off the Bushing trophy at the McLaren Vale wine show for their 2021 aglianico, Richard and Malcolm Leask are advocates for newer varieties to the region that originate from Mediterranean shores. They work tirelessly in the vineyard and you can taste it.

Lloyd Brothers

David Lloyd’s holdings along a prime stretch just off Oliver’s Road are home to mature plantings as well as young vines. Led by ex-Wirra Wirra duo Sam Temme and Gonzalo Sanchez, the wines take a fresh stance across all styles and the early results are impressive.

Harrison

Riley Harrison’s eponymous label is a breath of fresh air in the Fleurieu region. He honed his approach at Samuel’s Gorge and now makes his own range of wines that follow an evolutionary path. Well considered, well made and well worth seeking out.

The Stoke & Guroo

A pair of projects that are doing wonders to raise the profile of Kangaroo Island wine. Ranging across a number of different varieties and styles, the wines are united by a shared sense of drinkability and refreshment.

Harrison Grenache Mataro Greg 2022

Enjoy the aromas of blueberry, blackcurrant, liquorice and red plum, some florals here too. The palate has such alluring textural flow, smoothly delivered with rich dark berry flavours. A great debut for this wine. Drink over the next eight years.

Harrison Cabernet Franc Vento do Mar 2022

From 50-year-old vines in Blewitt Springs, this wine sets a course for medium-weight, fresh and lively drinking. Plenty of lighter red fruits, with leafy tones and red flowers. There’s a briskness to the palate with a straight-shooting feel. Drink now.

Harrison Sol White Blend 2022

An impressive blend of roussanne and grenache blanc that carves a unique course of texture and elegance. The palate rolls in smoothly with assertive and concentrated orchard fruit flavours. Love the duality of richness and freshness. Drink over the next five years.

Hither & Yon Grenache Touriga 2022

Bright red berries with some darker tones swirling, this wine has an appealingly fresh nose bursting with fruit and fragrance. The palate holds a gently tangy edge, with juicy red and dark fruits and dark cherry to close. Drink now.

This quality comes naturally to Fleurieu wines, thanks largely to the fact we’re never far from the ocean. Many of the world’s iconic wine regions – think Bordeaux in France and California’s Napa Valley – rely on climatic conditions shaped by proximity to the ocean to underwrite the style and quality of the wines they make.

Winemakers can’t simply dial up these qualities in the winery. They can only ever come from the grapes themselves. So enjoy these selections and celebrate the natural beauty of the Fleurieu.

Hither & Yon Touriga Tempranillo 2022

There’s so much to like about this wine, it’s rich yet agile with such pure fruit-driven appeal. Blueberry and dark plum aromas and flavours are intense and so fresh. There’s fleshiness and smooth, velvety texture to really enjoy. Lip-smacking, drinkable red blend.

Hither & Yon Grenache Rosé 2022

This fresh, dry and juicy rosé has plenty of blood orange, papaya and rockmelon fruit aromas and flavours on offer. The acidity sits so bright on the palate with a really pleasingly tart, tangy edge. So refreshing. Drink now.

Lloyd Brothers Nouveau Field Blend 2022

A new-wave red that’s aimed at true refreshment and versatility. Chill it down and drink it like a rosé or splash it around as a light-bodied red. The shiraz and grenache blend brings pretty red flowers and berries. Fills the mouth with bright fruit and fragrance. Drink now.

Lloyd Brothers Estate GSM 2021

The effortless depth of fruit in this grenache, shiraz and mataro blend is classic McLaren Vale. Rich raspberry and red plum as well as blackberry aromas and flavours. Smoothly toned with silky, fresh and velvety tannins. Fresh berry finish. Drink now.

Lloyd Brothers Estate Shiraz 2021

A style of shiraz that goes right to the heart and soul of the place in which it’s grown. Intense red and dark plum fruits lead the way. Smoothly delivered tannins carry long and even, leaving fresh plum fruits in their wake. Drink or hold.

Guroo Pinot Noir 2022

Made by Stephen George – pinot noir guru and founder of Ashton Hills Vineyard – as part of the Guroo project. Attractive strawberry and raspberry fruit aromas with pristine fresh fragrance. It’s a beacon of possibility for Kangaroo Island pinot noir, showing elegance and purity. So drinkable now.

The Stoke Sauvignon Blanc 2022

This is nicely pitched into a zone of sliced green melon, sliced pear and gooseberry fruits. There’s a vibrant feel to the palate with juicy pear, apple and melon flavours. It has a crispness that really appeals, as well as a smoothly resolved feel. Drink now.

South Seas Books

is an independent bookshop on the Fleurieu’s south coast. South Seas will ignite your imagination.

53 North Terrace, Port Elliot P: 8554 2301 www.southseasbooks.com.au

South Seas Trading offers a selection of vintage art and design pieces · clothing · jewellery · giftware and books in an evolving Arcadian haven.

56 North Terrace, Port Elliot P: 8554 3540

The series of decisions that took the family business from primary producers to winemakers and eventually to a destination – for wine, food and events – unfolded over many years and with a farmer-ly sensibility to the tensions between agriculture and investment.

WHO WE ARE: Greg Follett

Easy, breezy

Lake Breeze winemaker Greg Follett has just returned to work after his annual phone-free trip to the Follett family’s holiday spot on Kangaroo Island.

A few years ago, there was no need for Greg to physically turn his phone off, because there was no reception. But then the 2020 fires came through, and while the rest of the family evacuated, Greg and his dad Ken stayed behind to defend the property. They were exceptionally lucky; the anarchic fire left them and the house untouched. But they couldn’t let anyone know they were OK. And so it was time for the reception issue to be fixed.

This needs-must approach to progress has been a familiar theme in the Follet family’s humble success. The Folletts have been growing grapes in Langhorne Creek since the 1880s, also farming dairy cows for decades alongside the vines. The series of decisions that took the family business from primary producers to winemakers and eventually to a destination – for wine, food and events – unfolded over many years and with a farmer-ly sensibility to the tensions between agriculture and investment.

Ken was the one to steer their grape production towards wine varieties – shiraz and cabernet in particular – eventually establishing Lake Breeze with his wife Marlene and opening their cellar door in 1991. Today, Ken and Marlene’s three sons, Greg, Roger (general manager) and Tim (vineyard manager) run the family business. And cows (beef, not dairy) are just a side project.

It’s still January, but Greg’s in pre-vintage mode, doing barrel work, getting the tanks ready and ordering yeast. It’s a well-worn routine after over thirty years making wines for Lake Breeze. However becoming a winemaker wasn’t perhaps the foregone conclusion for Greg that many might assume. ‘We didn’t have wine in the family so to speak,’ says Greg. ‘Wine wasn’t really part of our day-to-day drinking, we were more meat-and-three-veg people.’

But between his family’s grape-growing pedigree and a fondness for high school chemistry, winemaking seemed like a good option. After finishing his studies, Greg worked a few vintages outside the family business overseas as well as at home, including at nearby Bleasdale.

He was just 22 when he made those first Lake Breeze wines in 1992 which included the Bernoota and a cabernet, now Lake Breeze icons. ‘I didn’t really know what I was doing,’ says Greg. ‘It was the first time we had enough to enter wine shows and we just killed it with these two wines. And it was like, holy crap, we’ve got something here.’

The ensuing thirty years confirm it wasn’t just beginner’s luck. The gongs have kept coming for the wine as well as for Greg, who’s been a finalist for both Gourmet Traveller’s (2015) and James Halliday’s (2022) winemaker of the year. The winery scored Halliday’s award for best value winery in 2022, a badge which Greg and the team wear with pride. ‘Value for money is one of the things we’re known for and pride ourselves on,’ Greg says. As is their long-standing customer relationships, helped in no small part by Greg’s wife Robyn who manages the winery’s customer list with her warm, personal touch. Longevity in the industry and the region – whether from his involvement in the Langhorne Creek Grape and Wine Association, the Adelaide Wine Show, or as co-president of the local footy club – has given Greg a pragmatic perspective on some of the wine industry’s challenges. Some, like the geopolitical changes, are new. Others, like the expected late start to vintage this year, remind Greg of the past. ‘Our industry just is cyclical, it’s boom-bust. I remember some people in the nineties saying there’s longer booms and longer busts in the wine game, but there’s always challenges,’ Greg says reflexively.

He’s clearly absorbed his family’s farming heritage, at one point referring to his ‘conservative’ nature when choosing new varieties to plant. Yet, the winery’s continuing success speaks to his savvy as a winemaker who’s able to respond to changes in the market while continuing to play to their strengths. ‘Wine styles have changed,’ Greg says. ‘At the same time, Langhorne Creek and, I suppose, us, are known for shiraz and cabernet. And while there’s an oversupply in the industry, still we’re not going to throw out what we’re good at.’

As another vintage rolls around, Greg still looks forward to seeing what another season will bring. ‘I love vintage,’ he says. ‘We’re working hard but it’s when we’re creating things, it’s exciting.’ He might end up with half a tonne of pecorino (the grape, not the cheese) to ‘play with’ and maybe enough nero d’Avola to run two ferments. And of course there’ll be another Bernoota and another cabernet, just like in '92.

Story by Kate Le Gallez. Photograph by Jason Porter.

Above: Winemaker Greg Follett in the barrel room at Lake Breeze Wines.

Faces and places

The Tree at Burbrook Forest

Burbrook has been a single family-owned property in Kuitpo since 1912. Forty years ago, the paddock now known as Burbrook Forest was a grazing paddock with several big stringy bark gum trees. With plans to convert the paddock into a commercially viable pine forest, the family left space around these trees, seeing the value in their history as well as a place for birds to land and nest. The trees were gradually overtaken by the pines, but retained a stark beauty. One tree in particular, now known as ‘The Tree’ has created a cathedral-like space and has become a sought-after location for weddings and events. The now established pine trees stand sentinel around The Tree and create a fairytale-like setting.

Note: Burbrook Forest stands on private property. The owners, however, do hold an open day once a month.

Stay by the sea

THE LOBSTER Normanville

An original ’70s build with no fake stuff. The lobster features real wood floors, stone benches, and high quality upgrades. Come to show your kids what childhood holidays were like! Walking distance to town and the beach, the backstreets are safe so little ones can ride bikes to Little Sister Cafe for an ice block. You don't need to pack a thing, aside from bathers and a book. Once you stay, you will want The Lobster to be a part of your family tradition forever.

thelobster.com.au

OLD COACH ROAD ESTATE

Hindmarsh Valley

Old Coach Road Estate offers the ultimate escape! Featuring a stunning villa perched atop Hindmarsh Valley with breathtaking views of heritage native vegetation, Victor Harbor, Granite Island and the Bluff, guests can immerse themselves in the estate's 200 acres. The gorgeous villa with beautiful architectural elements, local stone and a huge open fireplace, together with luxurious amenities and highly personalized service create an unforgettable experience. From the diverse range of optional extras to the breathtaking scenery, a stay at Old Coach Road Estate promises it all.

oldcoachroadestate.com.au

RIPPLE Port Willunga

Set in the quiet and exclusive survey area of Port Willunga, this modern oasis awaits your next escape. Situated two blocks from the famous Port Willunga beach and a 10-kilometre drive to the endless vineyards and cellar doors of McLaren Vale, it's the perfect base for exploring the Fleurieu. Sun-filled rooms, contemporary furnishings and open-plan living set the scene for a relaxing and restorative stay. Sleeps 6 guests.

@rippleatportwillunga

As the soft days of Autumn roll through, being seaside brings a refreshing lift to the spirits after a long summer. The air is cooler, the walk down to the waters edge a little greener. Find a moment to observe the turn of season in one of these thoughtfully curated escapes.

THE JETTY Port Willunga

Situated on the clifftop of Port Willunga beach, The Jetty is a beautifully appointed accommodation with relaxed coastal style and swoon worthy views. Tailored to couples and smaller groups of adults across its four apartments, enjoy waking up to crystal waters, and relax into the sunset over the sea. Being the closest accommodation to the Star of Greece restaurant and short proximity to McLaren Vale, it is the perfect base to some of SA’s most popular dining and winery experiences. thejettyportwillunga.com.au

TANGERINE DREAM Deep Creek

This ’70s inspired surf shack and nature retreat is located in the iconic Deep Creek National Park, nestled in secluded bushland, amongst yakkas, fresh air and clear skies. You can spin some vinyl, take an outdoor bath or in the cooler months sit around an open fire and listen to the soothing sounds of nature. A short drive to blowhole beach, this little gem is truly the quintessential bush shack. A romantic and peaceful getaway, Tangerine Dream truly transports you to a simpler time. airbnb.com/h/tangerinedreamdeepcreek

THE PINES Maslin Beach

The Pines at Maslin Beach is a light, bright and breezy beachside getaway. Renovated for clean lines and an aspiring environment, The Pines has a vibe like no other. Enjoy the retro coastal style, as you relax on the enormous decking space perfect for morning coffee and sunset drinks. Just a 5 min stroll to the iconic Maslin Beach, The Pines sleeps up to six. With large windows opening up to views to the sea, and a fully fenced large backyard for children and pets this is the ultimate beachside location. Book via air bnb.

@thepines_maslinbeach

This page above: Breathe in the salt air at The Jetty in Port Willunga, a stone's throw away from the water. Far right: Tangerine Dream nestled in Deep Creek.

Kangaroo Island Easter Art Exhibition 2023

Words by Quentin Chester.

Renowned as an inviting bayside town and Kangaroo Island gateway, Penneshaw punches above its weight in surprising ways – including as host to one of South Australia’s most beloved regional art shows.

For over 35 years, the Kangaroo Island Easter Art Exhibition has showcased a vivid array of work from local artists, as well as art –often island inspired – from beyond its shores. Now a biennial event, the 2023 exhibition is shaping up as one of the strongest ever.

Like so much of island life, the exhibition is proudly community driven. Backed by grassroots support, Artists Collective Kangaroo Island has coordinated the event since 2002. From day one, the show has always been about encouraging all-comers, including school-age children, to exhibit their creative output. This welcoming approach has launched many young and emerging artists, while allowing established island practitioners to engage, mentor and occasionally provoke the wider community.

The exhibition’s major prize – the Diana Keir Art Award – honours the memory of one such leading light. Following Diana’s death in 2019, her close friend Alex McCarthy created a foundation to provide enduring support to an event Diana had done so much to foster. First awarded in 2021, this year the prize doubles in value to $10,000.

Since 2014 the exhibition has also been buoyed by the involvement of the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA) who provide one of the

two judges. This year distinguished AGSA curator and artist Nici Cumpston is joined by co-judge Olga Sankey, a practising printmaker, whose Kangaroo Island connections go back to her childhood years at Cape du Couedic Lighthouse where her father was a lightkeeper. Exhibition coordinator Michele Lane is encouraged by this year’s renewed focus on the child and youth sections. ‘Thanks to a generous donation of prize money paired with art supplies from the Kingscote Gift Shop, we’re hoping for a good turn out. And winners of the youth section will also be offered the chance to work with a local artist in her studio,’ Michele explains.

For her part, fellow coordinator Glenda Taylor welcomes the return of the photography section: ‘It’s back bigger and better at this year’s exhibition and digital art has been included for the first time so there should be some interesting artwork to view.’

Other categories in the mix include current works for both two and three dimensional art, while the Diana Keir Art Award is open to all mediums, with this year’s theme ‘Precious Moments’.

The Exhibition opens on the evening of 7 April (Good Friday) at the Penneshaw Town Hall. It runs until Saturday, 22 April. Entries close on 26 February 2023.

To enter the exhibition visit kangarooislandartworks.com, or follow the KI Easter Art Exhibition on Facebook.

Above left: Michelle Lane, 'The Stoics', etching with hand-colouring on cotton rag paper, 60cm x 60cm. Above right: Janine Mackintosh's winning entry from 2022, 'Habitat Sweet Habitat', coastal white mallee (Eucalyptus diversifolia) leaves, chewed by beetles, and flowers caps, linen thread and bookbinder’s gum on canvas, 105cm x 105cm.

beresford suites and villas, the epitome of luxury.

Nestled in 70 acres of rolling vineyards visitors can enjoy an exclusive accommodation experience, combining luxury appointed finishes with contemporary design.

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Autumn at the Strand Gallery

A story of a R ema rkable woman, the R iver and a unique Boat. T his exhibition will be open from Friday 21st to Sunday 30th April 2023 as part of the Wooden Boat Festiva l a nd Festival Fleurieu. It will also feature work by gallery's principal a rtists .

For further information , visit www . strandgallery.com.au or phone Sonya Hender 0419501648

VOKW230217

Above: 'Sweeping Swell, Daly Head' Tom O'Callaghan Oil on Canvas, 165cm x 177cm

‘Alice and the Lotus’

ALUMNI JOURNEY

Since he was just 15 years of age, Henry Scott has been helping to bring together young people in primary industries through a series of events, including the ‘Young Farmers Challenge’ and social meet-ups held during local shows.

Connecting a young crop of farmers

For many Australians, the annual Royal Show is a colourful carnival jam-packed with showbags, thrilling rides and an evening spectacle of fireworks. For others, it’s a time-honoured opportunity to showcase their work, from animal husbandry to baking the perfect sponge cake. But for Middleton local Henry Scott – it’s a chance to connect.

Since he was just 15 years of age, Henry Scott has been helping to bring together young people in primary industries through a series of events, including the ‘Young Farmers Challenge’ and social meetups held during local shows. Growing up on his family’s seaside farm and studying agriculture at Investigator College in Victor Harbor, it’s something the energetic 25-year-old says he felt naturally drawn toward.

‘My brother Ed is a few years older than me and he helped start up events for Rural Ambassadors for country shows to stay in touch, and it grew to involve young people coming together for country shows and the Royal Adelaide Show,’ says Henry. ‘It caught my attention because I liked the idea of linking people together.’

Soon enough, the not-for-profit group SA Next Generation was formed and these days it organises a lot more than get-togethers. They now organise everything from development events such as training in media or public speaking, to an entire day held during the Royal Adelaide Show.

‘Youth in Ag Day involves forums where we talk about important issues in the sector, we have a “farmers challenge” in the main arena and a Royal Rendezvous in the evening,’ Henry explains. ‘In the

farmers challenge, competitors might have to roll up a swag, then roll a wool bale about twenty metres, then fight fire where we make a scarecrow, light it up and they’ve got to spray it down. There are some easy day-to-day challenges and some not so easy – just like life as a farmer.’

It’s become so popular the challenge has now gone national, and the work doesn’t stop there. When I spoke to Henry he was preparing for a Zoom meeting for a national conference to be held during the Royal Adelaide Show this year. ‘There’s a lot to do but it’s exciting and it’ll certainly put us in the spotlight,’ he says.

While the work keeps Henry more than busy alongside his full-time job with SA Water and playing for his beloved Port Elliot Southern Breakers soccer club in his ‘spare time’, he says it has given him numerous opportunities for growth. ‘When I left school I didn’t know what I wanted to do but I knew I didn’t want to go to uni until I figured it out and I've picked up a whole heap of life experience since,’ he explains.

‘Some of it’s come full circle, like I did drama in school and recently was an extra in an upcoming film The Royal Hotel. I messaged my old teacher to let him know,’ he continues. ‘My whole approach to life is that if I don't know something, I give it a go and ask the questions.’ He says that while he’s not a full-time farmer, it will always be an important part of his life. ‘There was freedom growing up on the farm, with being close enough to do stuff, like go to the surf spot after school, and being far enough away to do stuff, like making a go-kart or whatever excited me at the time. I could make lots of noise and not upset the neighbours,’ he says. ‘And living close means I still help on the farm, even on a Sunday when my brother and I might be feeling a bit dusty, we’ll still make it down to set up a couple of fences or move some sheep.’

Story by Emma Masters. Photograph by Jason Porter.

Above: Henry Scott on the family farm, Middleton.

Autumn book reviews

by Mark Laurie of South Seas Books, Port Elliot.

Haunts of the Black Masseur: The Swimmer as Hero

by Charles Sprawson

Published by Vintage

ISBN 9780099577249

$26.99

A classic cultural history of swimming, first published in 1992, its enigmatic title references a short story by Tennessee Williams, a true swimming obsessive. Charles Sprawson matches him, selfdescribing as someone who has ‘spent much of [their] life in pursuit of interesting pools’. Water to Sprawson is both ‘masseur’– supportive, remedial, sensual; and ‘black’ – unknowable, changeable and threatening. His discourse of swimming feats and failures draws heavily upon Romantic-era notions of nature’s duality as both beautiful and sublime.

The grace and lightness of the writing, combined with short, personal anecdotes

and the author’s wit, mask scholarship that is both broad and deep. We read of bewitchment by water of the likes of Shelley, Lord Byron, Goethe, Whitman and Jack London, and of the allure of the grace and form of swimmers and divers such as Annette Kellerman, Eleanor Holm and Esther Williams who were to turn their prowess into Hollywood stardom. Swimming attracts not only heroes and champions it seems, but outcasts, dreamers, compulsives and those for whom a classical education firmly entrenches an innate eccentricity.

Australia’s Annette Kellerman is quoted as saying: ‘Swimming cultivates imagination; the man with the most is he who can swim his solitary course night or day and forget a black earth full of people who push.’

The author and his diverse band of adherents, from antiquity to the present day, invite us to seek such immersion away from the mainstream.

Watersong

by Clarissa Goenawan

Published by Scribe

ISBN 9781922585202

$29.99

This latest work by Indonesian-born writer and translator Clarissa Goenawan follows Shouji Arai as he navigates living and working in modern-day Japan. Living in such a sea of striving humanity is complex enough, but Shouji’s relationships and working life are complicated by his own, deeply veiled family history, a fortune teller’s warning, and haunting recurrent dreams of death by drowning. His challenges are supercharged when he crosses a prominent, connected politician forcing him to flee and abandon all he has.

The novel’s language and tone are precise and restrained, its attention to detail meticulous, while the reader is constantly aware of a limpid, mysterious current washing over the narrative, absorbing and dampening Shouji’s life decisions and choices. This duality matches the inherent tension the author explores concerning our ability to live our lives by our own actions and decisions, regardless of the pasts we inherit.

The fortune teller’s prophecy with which the novel opens is traditionally ambivalent, noting that ‘kindness is often rewarded’, and that ‘with a bit of luck, he might be fine.’ And so Shouji Arai surges towards his future, a future drawn inexorably from his past.

Lines to the Horizon:

Australian Surf Writing

A search for the soul of the nation

Published by Freemantle Press

ISBN 9781760990329

$32.99

A collection of six contemporary essays by emerging Australian writers centred around surfing and its cultural context, with female writers receiving equal billing. Considerable variety is offered, with the complex web of Gold Coast surf culture placed alongside surfing’s engagement as both metaphor and cure for depression as the standout works. Explorations of our relationship with the ocean we (nearly) all choose to congregate around, whether through experience or art, a personal account of travelling and surfing in Mexico, and a granular take on retirement

from competitive surfing, exhibit the horizons of ‘sea-affected lives.’ Common to them all however, is the idea of the ocean as a source of epiphany and revelation, racing down the line from Timothy Leary’s acid-fuelled idea of surfers as ‘futurists’, exemplars of the ‘nonproductive, non-depletive acts’ which are ‘the destiny of man.’

With a few notable exceptions, surf-related writing suffers from an incapacity for surprise, while a self-consciously colloquial form of language tends to isolate the more thoughtful reader and those beyond its clique. There are signs here of what might be possible beyond the usual confected contest dramas, surf travel and adventure tropes, and hazy yearnings for soul surfing’s long-lost days. In these stories lies the basis for some hope that some will ‘dare to throw out the old vocabularies’ as Jock Serong entreats in his forward to the anthology, that we may move on from surfing simply being used to sell everything, and for an Australian literary surf culture, a genuine ‘language of the water’, to emerge.

Waterland

by Graham Swift

Published by Scribner

ISBN 9781471187322

$22.99

It’s early in the 1980s and teacher Tom Crick is confronting the end of history. The Cold War and its attendant nuclear arms race lurch towards some sort of endpoint and the more disruptive of his youthful students call it out, while showing signs of succumbing to a sort of anarchic fatalism, their focus narrowed to the ‘Here and Now.’ They sense a vacuum where their future should be. At the same time, Tom faces the termination of the school’s history department, the premature end of his teaching career and extraordinary developments in his marriage. His response is to suspend the syllabus and lay a deeply personal history before his class, one which swings backwards and forwards between the crisis of his family in the present and his youth in England’s reclaimed and waterlogged Fen country during the Second World War. The students (and readers) are beguiled by stories of rivers, locks, beer and eels; of hearts won and lives lost, success and failure, in places and times where nature and humanity are inextricably linked. Always, everywhere there is water: an inexorable force, a source of barrier and connection, and of life and death. At heart, this award-winning novel is about the importance of curiosity to the vitality of the human condition, its links to history and their collective struggle against ‘the old, old feeling that everything might amount to nothing.’ There can be no end. Our histories haunt and define us, bearing down like the pitiless river reclaiming its path.

Taken an amazing photo on the Fleurieu lately? Tag us on Instagram and you could see your handiwork in print. Each issue we’ll choose an image to publish right here in the pages of FLM. @fleurieulivingmagazine This image ‘Middleton’ capturing a surfer at a favourite surf spot ‘the point’, taken by Brendan Mann: @brendanmann_

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Tasting Australia

Words by Sam Marchetti.

As Karena Armstrong sits at a table in her sun-filled restaurant overlooking vineyards and olive groves, it’s easy to see why she and the Tasting Australia team are keen to share the McLaren Vale region with visitors to the annual food and wine festival.

‘At The Salopian Inn we get to meet directly with many of our producers, farmers, winemakers and distillers; the creators of the produce that we share with our visitors and locals every day. We feel very lucky to work in a region where we can easily connect with the growers and suppliers of our produce who know exactly where and how their food or beverages were grown or made,’ Karena says. And it’s not just at The Salopian Inn that the connection between food and people is strong – it’s a theme that connects many local communities across the Fleurieu Peninsula. ‘Look at the markets!’ says Karena. ‘The Willunga Farmers Market is a valuable part of the region where local farmers and producers exchange the freshest food or goods directly with their customers, who appreciate knowing exactly how their food is grown, reared, caught or created. Supporting local food culture is very much a part of who we are down here.’

As Co-Festival Director of Tasting Australia, Karena is excited to share her home region and has McLaren Vale Made listed as one of her personal favourite events of this year’s festival, which runs state-wide from 28 April until 7 May. McLaren Vale Made joins chefs Gill Meller and Danielle Alvarez with Fabian Lehmann from Maxwell Wines for two intimate dining experiences that celebrate the ‘paddock

to plate’ ethos. ‘This event has such amazing chef talent!’ says Karena. ‘Couple that with the incredible seasonal produce available in McLaren Vale, a visit to Maxwell’s 100-year-old lime cave to chat with local growers Choice Mushrooms and beverages planned by Tasting Australia’s Drinks Curators and this is a truly unique lunch.’

With over a dozen events being held over the Fleurieu Peninsula, Karena has chosen a few events (below) that highlight the diversity of our bountiful region. ‘I’m also very excited that the amazingly talented Trinh Richards from The Little Rickshaw will be joining Heidi Bjerkan and Nornie Bero at the Wasted Town Square Kitchen Dinner. And Mug Chen and Chia Wu from Muni will be cooking alongside me and the team of chefs creating Steamed, a Sunday yum cha event. It’s fantastic to have such great chefs representing the region at our Adelaide events.’

Tasting Australia events across the Fleurieu

Porchetta Party at Oliver’s Taranga Vineyards

246 Seaview Rd, McLaren Vale 30 April, 12-4pm

If a relaxed, fun and informal shared feast sounds like your ideal Sunday lunch, there’s a fair chance the Oliver’s Taranga Porchetta

Party is the place for you. Enjoy amazing local produce, matched to fresh and vibrant wines while looking out over vineyards from the winery’s beautiful new deck. Chef Todd Steele will be dishing up four courses of mouth-watering indulgences, with Oliver’s Taranga wines showcased at their best by winemaker Corrina Wright. And if that isn’t enough to entice you along to this ever-popular event, then just picture the slow-roasted, crispy, Italian-style porchetta that gives the event its name. Chef Steele is a master craftsman on the spit, and Porchetta Party attendees reap the benefits. For those who aren’t partial to pork in general, all dietary needs will find something delicious awaiting them at this event. Tickets often sell out, so get in quick for a Fleurieu afternoon to remember.

Angove McLaren Vale x St Agnes Distillery – The Ultimate Mix

117 Chalk Hill Rd, McLaren Vale

29 April, 6 May 1-3.30pm

For lovers of dark spirits, this will be a special adventure through spirits past and present led by Richard Angove. Bringing a selection of St Agnes Distillery tastings out from behind the new Wine and Spirit bar at Angoves Family Winemakers, Richard will take guests through a unique masterclass. One of Australia’s oldest continuously run, family-owned distilleries based at their Renmark cellar door, St Agnes Distillery and Barrel Halls have been handcrafting and evolving artisan spirits since 1925.

Guests will taste a selection of the family’s newly released single-cask whiskies before comparing them with celebrated and rare vintages of St Agnes brandy. This tasting will be accompanied by matched small plates from head chef Georgie Rogers.

Peninsula Providore Community Extra Virgin Olive Oil Project

Peninsula Providore Farm – Nangkita Grove

2250 Bull Creek Rd, Tooperang

6 May 12.30-2.30pm

Wander through the Nangkita olive grove at Peninsula Providore Farm and experience a generous harvest lunch and a behind-the-scenes look into the workings of a commercial olive grower’s life. As well as great hospitality and a passion for local produce, Mel Hollick will share stories of their award-winning Extra Virgin Olive Oil and their 17,000 olive trees. Guests are invited to join the Community Extra Virgin Olive Oil Project by bringing along parcels of their own homegrown olives to be combined and processed into oil, a portion of which will be ready to be collected and taken home in August.

GSM3

Kay Brothers Wines

57 Kays Rd, McLaren Vale

30 April 12-3.30pm

Deconstruct a GSM wine with Kay Brothers winemaker Duncan Kennedy as he takes guests through a tasting of grenache, mataro and shiraz grape varieties from across the world. Start the expedition at one of the oldest McLaren Vale wineries, Kay Brothers, where after over 130 years of producing wine, they released their first GSM blend in 2022. Guided by Duncan, guests will compare wines from McLaren Vale, Spain, France and Italy across the three separate varieties. Then the varieties will be brought together again for guests to enjoy the exponential power of three in the iconic GSM blend, accompanied by a menu that elevates

the individual styles of these wines.

Page left: At McLaren Vale Made – guest chefs Gill Meller and Danielle Alvarez (pictured) will join Maxwell Wines chef, Fabian Lehmann for two intimate dining experiences that celebrate their ‘paddock to plate’ ethos. This page top: Always a crowd pleaser – join the Porchetta Party at Oliver’s Taranga. Bottom left: The suspended grill at Peninsula Providore. Bottom right: GSM3 at Kay Brothers will feature tastings of Kay Brothers’ award-winning wines – focussing on grenache, shiraz and mataro varietals, accompanied by a menu that elevates the individual styles of these wines.

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IMMERSIVE AND BESPOKE INTERIORS

Selections

Whether you’re looking for that finishing touch or a completely new look, take some time to explore all that’s on offer at these local showrooms and shops. Browse luxe imports and off-the-shelf wares at your leisure, or collaborate with a designer on a bespoke piece made to your specifications. We’re spoiled for choice.

01. Looking for a full service option for your new build or renovation? Beaumont Tiles, Victor Harbor have complete bathroom packages designed to make your selection process that little bit easier. The perfect combination of tiles and barthroomware bring this farmhouse package to life.

02. This light-as-air, contemporary shading system is cleverly designed to do more than just look good. The high-tech structure of Luxaflex Duette Shades provides a contemporary look while also efficiently insulating your space by trapping air within the honeycomb cells. Prices vary based on size. Available through BQ Curtains and Blinds, Victor Harbor.

03 / 04. If you’re looking for the centrepiece around which to design your bathroom renovation, check out the concrete basins at Adelaide Outdoor Kitchens. Visit the showroom to see the wide variety of shapes, sizes and colours. And while you’re there, you can also view the best in outdoor kitchens, BBQs and other alfresco appliances, as well as a striking array of customisable vanities, tables and kitchen benchtops. Basins priced from $400 – $800.

04. Take a walk through the Temperance Precinct on Aldinga’s Old Coach Road, and visit Morocco by Mish. Mish’s boutique features handpicked and handmade textiles, hand-loomed rugs, jewellery, clothing and homewares. Her carefully selected authentic rugs and cushions, including vintage finds, are like a piece of art for your floor, sofa or wall. Available in a range of styles and colours.

03. 04.

05.

Victor Harbor

246 Port Elliot Rd

Ph: 8552 5108

Locally owned & operated

Amazing food. Amazing wine. Amazing view.

Beachfront Bar & Dining + Events Norman Road, Silver Sands Beach. Bookings via www.silversandsbeachclub.com.au

SCAN QR CODE TO SUBSCRIBE TO FLEURIEU LIVING MAGAZINE

In lieu of our printed subscription insert, scanning this QR code will quickly take you to the iSubscribe website, where you can subscribe to receive either our printed magazine or digital downloads.

At Roar, we believe in the importance of building strong relationships. We provide families with easy to access, convenient speech pathology assessment and therapy services for children in their learning environments, or within our two fun and friendly Clinics.

We support little lions to find their ROAR!

Locations:

71 Hill St, Port Elliot

1 Chances Lane, Unley

T: 8166 2129

E: Growl@roarspeech.com.au

Website: www.roarspeech.com.au

Fleurieu weddings

Bianca and Michael met in 2019 at a wedding at Michael’s family property – Woodburn Homestead at Langhorne Creek. Three years later, their Bond-meets-Bridgerton themed wedding pulled out all the stops with the groom arriving in a black helicopter and the bride arriving in a horse-drawn carriage resplendent with two white horses.

Music by a Leah Zweck string quartet at the ceremony and All About Her for the reception set the mood. Family and friends celebrated in a marquee draped with luxurious satin and lit by beautiful chandeliers and fairy lights. The champagne flowed freely and the beautiful venue shone brighter than ever.

Michael and Bianca (née Vassallo) Westphalen were married at Woodburn Homestead on 28 January 2023. Photography by Tomek Celarek.

4 February 2023 – a perfect night under the stars was spent celebrating culture and film at the Fleurieu Film Festival awards night and gala screening at the McLaren Vale / Fleurieu Coast Visitor Information Centre.

Fleurieu Film Festival 2023 Santos Tour Down Under

13-22 January 2023 – The first stop on the cycling circuit for elite teams and cyclists from all over the world is the Tour Down Under. The many Fleurieu-based events were awash with fans and spectators enjoying the sea and vines backdrop of both the men’s and women’s race.

01. Festival Director Carolyn Corkingdale with Bonnie Steele and Serena Carney. 02. Crowd on the lawns. 03. Daniel Roach Memorial Award winners. 04. Lyndal Redman and Mayor Moira Were AM 05. Minister Andrea Michaels. 06. Richard Jasek, Erin Thompson MP, Leon Bignell MP and Karen Raffen. 07. Magdalena Oleksy in Goolwa wearing her brand Legenda Cycling. 08. Peloton heading over the reservoir. Photo by Rob Wilson @curve_gxr_gravelicious 09. Selina Green with Ryder enjoying the countryside. 10. We heard on the grapevine that the Tour Down Under was in wine country. Photo courtesy of @legoman_adelaide. 11. Sam Gartner wearing his brand @lycra_bros_ in McLaren Vale.

Photo by Will Gielewski. 12. Waiting for the race to begin. Photo by Briony Liebich.

Fly the Fleurieu

Pontoon at Horseshoe Bay fly-the-fleurieu.com · @fly_the_fleurieu

My Fleurieu: What the locals love about Fleurieu life

Photos and interviews by FLM photography intern Tom Terry, assisted by Jade Harrison.

Olivia Ieraci – FLAVA Café – Christies Beach

Olivia is a regular beach-goer, especially after work and when it’s perfect for kayaking.

Alesha and Hilda Tucker – Christies Beach

Hilda Tucker is out on one of her regular walks along the gorgeous coastline at Christies Beach, joined by her granddaughter Alesha, who’s down from Brisbane for the week.

Emma White – Delicia Acai + Protein Bar – Christies Beach

The ‘laid-back vibe’ is what Emma loves most about the Fleurieu Peninsula, saying what a beautiful area it is.

Cooper and Rye – Christies Beach

Cooper takes regular trips to the Christies Beach Esplanade to walk Rye.

Bronwyn Field and Abby – Christies Beach

Bronwyn fell in love with the area, having recently moved down from the Riverland, mentioning how welcoming everyone has been.

Josh Winstanley – Moana

Whenever there’s hot weather or a friendly swell, you’ll find Josh down in the surf at his local beach, Moana.

Christine and Zahli Greaves – The Coffee Trough – Seaford

Christine loves pulling espresso shots while watching families, dog walkers and surfers alike, enjoying company, community and great coffees together.

Cheryl Buck – Surf Culture – Moana

Cheryl loves working for South Australia’s original surf school, Surf Culture, and has done so for twenty years. Cheryl is out virtually every day teaching school groups, kids, teenagers and adults how to surf. She loves the look of the ocean, as well as the cliffs on the Fleurieu, especially around Maslins and Port Noarlunga. When she isn’t surfing or teaching, Cheryl will be riding her bike along the esplanade, snorkelling, walking or swimming around Moana, as well as enjoying local McLaren Vale wines.

Cathia Matos – The Red Bakery Van – Moana

Cathia works five days a week and loves the people and the regulars she gets to meet, as well as the views from her office.

WONDER ROOM

It’s more than a cellar door, it’s our Wonder Room...

Dandelion Vineyards is proud to unveil our Wonder Room. Standing atop an ancient ridge, it overlooks the beauty of our Firehawk Farm vineyards and the rolling views of McLaren Vale, the Gulf of St Vincent, Willunga Escarpment, and beyond.

The Wonder Room offers unique wine tasting experiences that represent decades of winemaking knowledge –blending the fruit of our vineyards with the finest traditions of artisan winemaking. The tastings not only showcase biodynamic wines grown on-site but also wines from the pristine locations that South Australia has to offer across our vineyards in the Adelaide Hills, Barossa Valley, Eden Valley, Fleurieu, and McLaren Vale.

We welcome you to experience the wonder that is our Wonder Room. Call for bookings.

Wish you were here...