RALLYING FOR CANCER RESEARCH FUNDS

Stopping at Mount Morgan’s Driver Reviver stop at the Mount Morgan Railway Station last Friday were mates, Matthew Curtis and Joseph Giovinazzo. Matthew and Joseph had travelled from Parkes in New South Wales to participate in the 2023 Sh..box Rally to raise funds for Cancer Research. The Rally started in Rockhampton on Saturday, 18 March and will finish in Hobart in on 28 March.

The mates, whose friendship was formed when they both worked for BHP on the Olympic Dam project at Roxby Downs over 10 years ago, decided to join the rally in honour of Joseph’s father who died of cancer last year.

One of the conditions of the rally is that the cars driven have to be valued at $1500 or less. Their 1980 Mitsubishi Lancer has not only had to withstand the 4000 km trek from Rockhampton to Hobart, but also an additional 1200 km from Parkes to Rockhampton.

Sounds like a piece of cake right? Try doing the 1200 km in a car that hasn’t got air conditioning in the middle of extremely hot weather.

The Lancer was donated to the mates by their friend Jeff Evans and the car was decorated by Matt and his sister.

Driving as the “Super Smash Bros”, entry into the rally was guaranteed once they hit the $6000 mark in their fundraising, which is another condition of entry.

Matt and Joseph did not only want to honour Joseph’s father, but they wanted to join the rally to challenge themselves (and their ageing classic) and raise funds for Cancer Research.

“The biggest part of the challenge for us will be when we have to drive over bulldust roads with the windows up,” Matt said.

“Other than that we are going to make the most of this trip which will be made more of a challenge by the lack of a working fuel gauge,” he said.

They are looking forward to the trip, meeting people and having fun.

“The rally is aimed at bringing people together, visiting small towns and raising funds,” Joseph said.

The mates were happy to see the Driver Reviver sign and were glad of the opportunity to stop and stretch their legs.

“It’s really great to see the Driver Reviver here. It’s such a lovely setting,” they said before heading off to Rockhampton to join the rally.

The Joys Of Working With Wild Clays

Pauline Grabham (pictured) is a newly arrived resident of Mount Morgan. Having an artistic bent, she produces paintings and crafts under the name ‘Shades of Allusion- Art by Pauline’.

Despite years of experience in porcelain and ceramic moulds, Pauline was unsure of hand-building with clay but her participation in a number of Wild Mount Morgan Clay workshops has given her confidence in her newest art – pottery. Pauline was delighted to discover a chocolate coloured clay whilst digging her new garden bed. It passed the plasticity test of being malleable when wet and fired to a beautiful terracotta colour. Pauline built this head and shoulders based on her nephew and was very happy with the result after firing as it retained some dark brown colouration as well. Because the chocolate clay is light and soft, there was a lot of fine surface cracking which doesn’t affect the stability of the sculpture. For this reason Pauline has titled her work ‘I’m not all I’m cracked up to be’.

So far there has been four different coloured clays sourced in Mount Morgan as the table below attests. The harvested raw clay is pictured with it’s fired result underneath. One local reported that a ‘blue’ clay exists in the area as a marker for gold. If you have observed this clay or a white/grey version we would love to know.

Contact Louise on 0427 314 410 or book into one of the upcoming workshops via www.wildmountmorganclay.au

TELEPHONE: 0417 006 591