Otway life winter15

connecting communities across the ranges winter 2015 issue 7

INSIDE

Beech Forest • Events, Arts & Books • Around the Neighbourhood Houses

Otways - living and visiting Winchelsea Y es HW Princ

ay Rd e O tw

Cap

Birregurra

Colac

Geelong Melbourne

Deans Marsh

Anglesea

Barongarook Aireys Inlet

Barwon Downs Ro

Forrest

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Wye River

Beech Forest Princetown

Kennett River

Lavers Hill Skenes Creek Apollo Bay Hordern Vale

Cape Otway

ad

Lorne Oc ea n

Gellibrand

Pull on your gumboots... ...and explore the waterfalls Winter is a beautiful time to rug up and get outdoors in the Otways. The occasional brilliant blue sky day illuminates fern fronds bedecked with droplets like precious jewels and full creeks rush and rumble over moss covered rocks, through lush valleys to cascade noisily into hidden pools.

The air is so clean and crisp you cant help but smile, even if it makes your teeth cold!

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Editor’s Note After a stunning autumn full of colour due to the preceding cool summer not drying out the leaves prematurely, we hopefully are now entering a winter of comfort and content. Dustings of snow in May and precious waterways pulsing with renewing flows augur a cold, wet season so we hope you have your wood piles ready!

This issue we bring you stories of people with passion: Shivanee Catherine Mansfield, also known as Philip Larkin, shares her knowledge and love of waterfalls in the Otways; Roger Smith speaks of his childhood in Beech Forest and journey to becoming a forest scientist, musician Lilith Lane revisits Gellibrand, the home of her early creative musings; Gwenyth & Myles from The Beechy Pub, Neal Drinnan, novelist and owner of Cow Lick Bookshop tells us why he moved from Sydney to Colac. Every person in these hills, resident or visitor, has a story to tell.

The Team Editor Nettie Hulme Design Gillian Brew Published June 2015

by Forrest & District Neighbourhood House 14 Grant Street Forrest Victoria 3236 P 03 5236 6591 E otwaylifemagazine@gmail.com F www.facebook.com/otwaylifemagazine B otwaylifemagazine.wordpress.com T twitter.com/otwaylifemag View Online issuu.com/otwaylife.magazine Next issue (Spring) deadline 30 July 2015 Otway Life Magazine acknowledges the Aboriginal Traditional Owners of Victoria - including its parks and reserves. Through their cultural traditions, Aboriginal people maintain their connection to their ancestral lands and waters.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this magazine and the advertisements supplied do not necessarily represent those of Forrest & District Neighbourhood House.

Printed by: Arthur Reed Photos on 100% recycled stock

Winter 2015 edition

And this is what our little magazine is for, connecting communities through the sharing of our stories and love of this land. There are several ways you can show your support to keep the magazine alive: buy a subscription only $40 for 4 issues, place an advertisement at a very reasonable rate or make a donation of any size using the Paypal option on our website. Feedback and suggestions are always welcome :).

Contributers: Ami Hillege, Suzanne Frydman, Nettie Hulme, Neal Drinnan, Merrill O’Donnell, Stephen Brooks.

Contents

Beech Forest ������������������������������� 4-5 History Note ������������������������������� 6-7 On the Right Trail ����������������������������� 8 The Beechy Pub ������������������������������ 9 A Beech Forest Childhood ������������������� 10-12 Aire Valley Displaced Persons Camp ������������� 13 Timber to Tourism ������������������������� 14-15 Falling for water ��������������������������� 16-17 Tail of the Journeying Stream ������������������ 18 Otway’s Koala Habitat Rescue ������������������ 19 Forrest Kids Go Bush ����������������������� 20-21 Taking the Plunge ��������������������������� 22 Youthful Pursuits ���������������������������� 23 Arts Addicted to Ice - COPACC ������������������ 24-25 Artist Profile - David Digapony �������������� 26-27 Neil Drinnan - In his own words ������������� 28-29 Lilith Lane - Singing her heart out ������������ 30-31 Otway Produce ��������������������������� 32-33 The Good Life ������������������������������ 34 Around the Houses �������������������������� 36 Community Calendar ������������������������ 39

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Beech Forest Located 43 km south of Colac on the northern edge of the Otway Ranges, Beech Forest is a tiny township, which achieved its moment of national fame in 1983 when a 61-year-old local potato farmer, Cliff Young, won the Sydney to Melbourne Ultra Marathon.

Now Beech Forest is the home to many wonderful food and primary producers, as well as the centre of the Otway Harvest Trail. The town was named after the Beech (myrtle) trees, which abound in the local area. It was first settled by Europeans in the 1880s as a result of pressure to open the Otway Ranges to settlement. The first land selection occurred in 1884 and the first pub was built four years later. It is claimed that the pub was completed using timber from a single giant mountain ash. With the abundance of this kind of timber, Beech Forest quickly became a major centre for the local timber industry. There were 29 timber mills in the district at one point.

This was compounded when in 1902 the railway from Colac arrived. It was a narrow gauge railway and when it was extended to Crowes it became the longest narrow gauge railway in Victoria. The railway provided transport for local timber and huge stands of beech, blackwood and ash were cut down. This historic route is now home to the popular Old Beechy Rail Trail, where walkers or cyclists can experience picturesque forests, farmland and abundant wildlife. During the period from the end of World War I the town became a major centre for potato production because of its acclaimed fertile soil. In 1919 a bushfire destroyed the town and was rebuilt to the east of the original site.

Photo Credit: Nettie Hulme Otway Life Magazine Winter 2015

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Beech Forrest Under Snow 1910 hoto credit: JeanHill.

Old Post Card of Beauchamp Falls

Beech Forest is a central point to access some of the Otways’ beautiful waterfalls and scenic drives:

 C alifornia Redwoods - a spectacular forest of giant Californian Redwoods (Sequoia trees) planted in 1939.

 Triplet Falls & Little Aire Falls - 4 km west of Beech Forest.

 Turtons Track - east of Beech Forest. This is a beautiful 17km tourist route through thick rainforest vegetation.

 Beauchamp Falls & Hopetoun Falls approximately 7km south east of Beech Forest  Old Beechy Rail Trail

 Otway Fly Treetop Adventures - a spectacular 600 metre long, 25 metre high elevated treetop walk. http://www.visitgreatoceanroad.org.au/beech-forest

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Photo credit: Cliff Tann

Ditchley Park Hotel and the Gardner Family Written by Stephen Brooks & Merrill O’Donnell of the Colac & District Family History Group.

For John William Gardner, the allure of fertile farming land in dense ferny soil south of Colac was worth more than gold. Born in Smythesdale near Ballarat in 1861, Jack Gardner was working the Tasmanian gold diggings in 1885 when his father Caleb wrote from Barramunga of the opportunity to select land at Beech Forest. He quickly travelled back to Victoria and commenced clearing land, beginning a connection with the district that would last for the rest of his life and ensure his name is always associated as that of a true pioneer.

The family’s origins were in Oxfordshire, yet in 1852 Caleb Gardner arrived in Melbourne aboard the Castle Tulloch and immediately headed to the Ballarat goldfields. In fact, the entire crew of the migrant ship abandoned their posts in search of gold and it was four months before the shipping company could re-man the ship and set sail on the return journey. By 1884, Caleb was granted land at Barramunga and he soon welcomed his son’s arrival in the Otways.

Jack pitched his camp on a spot he called Ditchley Park and was the first to mark out a block where, within two years, he had built a homestead. In 1888 Jack opened Ditchley House, named after his father’s home in Oxfordshire. He married Annie Gilhome later that year and together they raised three daughters and four sons.

When settlement started, Jack established a butcher’s shop and soon the Ditchley Park Hotel became a landmark in the district and known by all.

Over the following years, there was hardly an event that did not involve Jack Gardner. He never lost an opportunity to advance the interest of Beech Forest Otway Life Magazine Winter 2015

and had the utmost faith in the future of the forest.

He fervently campaigned for the opening of the railway, the first local school opened in 1895 situated on Ditchley Park Estate land and he is credited with building the saleyards and the racecourse. Throughout all these endeavours, Annie Gardner was known for her kindness and generosity and joined Jack in being a strong advocate for better conditions for all those who settled in that isolated part of the state.

The original Gardner house was erected on a high hill, 1700 feet above sea level, and commanded extensive views of the Otway ranges. It had 15 rooms, all constructed of beech weatherboards and was comfortably furnished, setting a standard for others to follow. In 1895, Lord Hopetoun spent several days in the area and at a special ball held in his honour, the Victorian Governor had the first dance with Annie Gardner.

As well as being a farmer, hotelier and butcher, Jack Gardner always promoted the development of Beech Forest. He provided land for the railway station, school, Anglican and Catholic churches and the first public hall.

He and Annie were known for their regular hospitality and in 1895 they organised a New Year’s Day picnic for visitors and residents of Beech Forest. In 1901, they hosted a Christmas Dinner for 50 bachelors in the vicinity of Ditchley Park, reported to be an annual event.

Jack and Annie continually improved and expanded their accommodation, adding extra rooms and renovating existing ones for the comfort of their guests.

In 1912 advertisements for a ‘New Summer and Health Resort’ appeared in local newspapers.

History Note

Photo credit: State Library of Victoria

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Photo credit: Cliff Tann

With the extension of the railway and the increase of visitors to the district, Jack built a new Ditchley Park Hotel closer to the railway station at Beech Forest. A grand opening was held in 1914, with visitors arriving by train from Colac, and a brass band ‘discoursing music en route’. The renovated hotel had 35 rooms, with every convenience for the comfort of travellers and visitors alike.

In 1920, Jack Gardner left Beech Forest and moved to Melbourne. His early mining interest resurfaced and he set up a mining company in Harrietville. He remained a constant visitor to Beech Forest, where, in 1923 he had a heart attack and died suddenly. His body was placed in a railway carriage with the curtains drawn and taken to Colac, where he was later buried.

Jack and Annie’s close family were proud yet apprehensive when their eldest son, John Caleb Gardner, served with the Light Horse Brigade in the First World War. He enlisted three weeks after war was declared and sailed with the HMAT Orvieto in October 1914. Having survived Gallipoli, John Caleb was wounded in action and was repatriated to Australia in 1915.

Upon news reaching the councillors of the Otway Shire Council, the meeting was immediately suspended as a mark of respect. With his death, Beech Forest lost one of its foremost citizens, a man of many talents, ambitious, yet above all, a man who led by example. Jack Gardner can rightly be called the Pioneer of Beech Forest.

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On the Right Trail The Old Beechy Rail Trail enhancement has been officially opened , providing a safer and more enjoyable experience for riders and walkers exploring the trail.

The 50 kilometre trail runs from Colac to Ferguson, following sections of the old rail line.

The Victorian Government contributed $500,000 to the project through a Regional Development Victoria grant, with Council providing more than $330,000.

Mayor Frank Buchanan said the project had resulted in sections of the trail being upgraded and 11.6 kilometres being rerouted off-road.

“This is a great project for our region, and is another step in completing the vision to bring back to life an integral part of our history,” he said.

“The Old Beechy Railway was an incredibly important link for sawmillers and farmers in the Otways who relied on it to cart timber and later vegetables and livestock to Colac, because of poor road conditions.

“While the railway closed in 1962, the landscape that the track weaved its way through remained a rich and valued part of our region, filled with majestic forests, Otway Life Magazine Winter 2015

Photo Credit: Nettie Hulme

scenic farmland and rolling hills. It’s also home to a range of rare and threatened animal and plant species.

“It’s an ideal place for a walking trail, and through this enhancement project, not only has the track been upgraded and rerouted, numerous shelters and bike racks have been installed, as well as 31 interpretative signs and 23 seats along the trail, and a myriad of new trees planted.

“This trail now offers a safer and more enjoyable experience to a wide variety of people, from cycling enthusiasts to bird watchers, historians and nature lovers.”

Cr Buchanan said the project would not have been possible without the cooperation, support and goodwill shown by a range of stakeholders.

“Our community has been fantastic – from the private and commercial landowners who have allowed public access through their land, to the numerous volunteers who gave their time and hard work to bring this project to fruition,” he said.

For more information about the Old Beechy Rail Trail, visit Council’s website www.colacotway.vic.

The Beechy Pub

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Interview with Gwyneth and Myles

2. What do you like about being in a small community?

This community is a wonderful, caring and generous bunch, more like family than customers, everyone looks out for each other, and if anyone needs help there’s always people pitching in, sending food, cutting firewood etc. Obviously being publicans helps to get to know most people quickly, but they’ve all become our dearest friends!

1. How did you come to be running The Beechy ?

Myles and I spent every chance we could camping in the Otways, We’ve holidayed here all our adult lives and Myles’ dad used to bring him here from Anglesea as a kid to go fishing. When we got together 16 years ago we were delighted to share our love of the area and always talked about living here one day.

We were both working hard in Melbourne, Myles as a respected panel beater and I’d been working in project management for the last 15 years for large corporations. We had both had a gut full of city life, it just wasn’t “real” and we started talking about working here somehow, buying a cafe/bed n breakfast or similar so we wouldn’t have to wait for retirement to live here.

We also share a love of food and we’d been doing catering and dinner parties in our limited spare time, just because we loved it! So looking for a hospitality business seemed a brilliant fit.

So sitting up one night working late, I flicked through some searches online to see what was available in the Otways and tripped over the ad for The Beechy. I yelled out to Myles in the next room “what about a pub?” He called back “yeah alright” (I thought he was joking but the next day said “so what’s the go with that pub?” And the rest is history now... obviously a lot of research, and hard work went into getting here.

3. What are the challenges?

Having a country pub is a 7 day a week job, so getting time to be a family and have quality time together is the biggest challenge, thus we close the pub on the Otway Demons home games and go to the footy. Our son Jack (10 y/o) is training with the under 14’s this year so we’ve got an extra excuse to be there, and we love our country footy!

4. What is your vision for the future for The Beechy?

We’re a bit hamstrung at the moment by the lag in development up here. Once people have more direction as to their ability to build and how to manage wastewater there’s likely to be more “locals” to support local businesses and I can definitely see a future as a quaint getaway with a few more facilities for tourists.

We have some exciting renovations planned (a bit at a time) and during winter you’re likely to see a new colour scheme in the pub itself, with some new fixtures and fittings to represent the love of the forests and local area. Down the track, we’d dearly love to revamp the motel units and I’ve always wanted to add a family cabin (or two).

5. What do you like doing in your ‘spare’ time?

There’s not much of it, but when I get any I’m gardening or mosaic tiling. We’re in the process of renovating a little tinnie to get out on the Aire River, and of course the local footy!

6. Anything else you like to say about living in the Otways?

It felt like home immediately!

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A Beech Forest Childhood

by Roger Smith

Photo credit: Michael Collins www.visualresource.com.au Otway Life Magazine Winter 2015

11 Tell us about your early life in Beech forest, what are your fondest memories?

Your question has prompted a rich lode of very happy memories of my boyhood at Beech Forest. I was born in Colac in 1941 and attended Beech Forest State School through to grade 7 and 8 and thereafter to Lavers Hill Consolidated School for forms III and IV. In those years, Beech Forest was still a thriving community whose economy was based largely on agriculture – dairying and potatoes – and the timber industry although in decline, still had some sawmills operating in the district.

The town had all the facilities a young lad could wish for in the form of butcher, baker, grocer, milkbar, churches, hotel, football club, tennis courts, town hall and railway station.

Our cream painted weatherboard house with red corrugated iron roof sat resolutely on the ridge at the eastern end of Main Street, year after year withstanding the battering winter rains sweeping up from the southern ocean. Despite the cold winters and incessant rain all of our spare time was spent outside traipsing up and down the countryside. It seemed to us children that the endless and ever changing local Otway landscape was placed at our disposal to discover and enjoy and we never tired of exploring more and more of the richness and variety of the Otway flora and fauna.

My earliest memory is helping my father construct a chookhouse in our backyard, making sure that the wire netting fences were embedded deeply into the earth to keep out the marauding fox. To wake up the next morning to be confronted by a backyard strewn with bloodied feathers and carcasses was a salutary lesson that stayed with me for life.

The fondest memories of my first 15 years at Beech Forest were of exploring the bush with my six siblings in the immediate environs of our house. We spent our days climbing trees, looking for bird nests, lighting fires in old logs to dry out our clothes, cooking jacket potatoes, searching for mushrooms, scrambling down waterfalls, swinging across gullies on vines, picking blackberries, fishing for minnows in rockpools and

rummaging through the bone heap at the abbatoir.

Year by year as the number of siblings in our family increased we became more independent and adventurous and our bushland territories expanded to enable raids on the local fruit orchards. One of our favourite places to walk to was the Displaced Persons or Refugees Camp down at the Aire River Bridge where if we were lucky enough, the chef would bake us some continental cakes and pastries, much more appealing than our usual fare of bread and jam.

How did your early life influence your career and what is a forest scientist?

To answer the second part of the question I will introduce the subject of forestry.

‘Forestry’ is the science and practice of managing, using, conserving, protecting, creating and repairing forests and their associated resources in a sustainable manner to meet the desired goals, needs and values for human benefit. Forestry embraces a broad range of concerns in what is known as multiple use management including the provision of timber, fuel wood, wildlife habitat, natural water quality management, recreation and so on.

A practitioner of forestry is known as a forester, and foresters who become further qualified with graduate degrees in science may be called forest scientists.

And now to the first part of the question. Although my father was a forester in the Otways for many years, he discouraged me from following his profession mainly due to the restrictions on movement – being constantly on standby and on call for fire fighting during the summer months meant little opportunity for swimming or cooling down at the beach.

Consequently, visits to the beach at Apollo Bay for the seven Smith kids during the summer holidays were restricted to the cool of the evening, leaving little time on the beach before darkness descended.

And then the long return trip from the coast after buying our fillets of barracouta from the Lorne Pier and negotiating the narrow, winding Skenes Creek Road or the even windier Wild Dog Road back up to the top of the Range. The arrival of the small car load of kids at the start of Turtons Pass was always the signal for the family to launch into its repertoire of old time songs to help keep us awake whilst swaying round the bends in the little Morris Eight sedan.

12 A Beech Forest Childhood 12 This was also the time for the family to be on the lookout for the well-known landmarks at the side of the road such as the satinbox wickets, the blackwood walking stick, the ridgetop saddle, the giant mountain ash or the burly beech.

For me as a young lad, this was a magical time with the car moving slowly along the winding track, the car headlamps penetrating deeply into the forest with every turn and exposing the shadowy mountain ash trunks and treeferns.

Looking back, I believe that the numerous trips through the Otway forest at night must have left a lasting impression on my pysche because when the opportunity arose to apply for a scholarship to the Creswick School of Forestry this seemed to me to be the natural thing to do.

You have created a beautiful book, The Redwoods of the Otway Ranges, what do you hope people will experience or gain from it?

From my very first visit to the Redwoods at Aire Valley as a young lad I realised from the conversations of adults that these exotic trees were something special: they were to be treated with great care, and they were not to be climbed or to be interfered with in any way. I was fortunate to visit Aire Valley many times over this period of 15 years and to notice subtle changes in both height and diameter growth.

And later on during my career I had occasion to return to Aire Valley many more times in my working life. I realised that I had a strong attachment to the trees and began collecting all available historical records including growth data and other measurements. Many years later after a visit to California I learnt that the growth of these Otway Redwoods compared more than favourably with trees of similar age growing in their natural environment along the coast of California. I then realised that the data would become more significant over time and that in an organisational environment where responsibility for the management Otway Life Magazine Winter 2015

and protection of public land was constantly changing, there was a need to place the data in a consolidated and permanent place on the public record.

I also hope that this book will encourage the Otway visitor to look beyond the tourist brochures and develop a deeper understanding of our native forests, by studying the changes in the forested landscape over time, and to discover how historical events, both natural and planned, have shaped the structure and condition of the forests as we see them today. I believe there is a need for the younger generation to learn that an old growth mountain forest is not the ultimate ‘wilderness� condition and an end in itself, but is merely one stage in a dynamic series of growth classes characteristic of our native forests.

What are your hopes for a sustainable future for the Otway Ranges?

Given the background of recent land use changes in the Otways it is inevitable that some sections of the local communities will be slow to embrace the changes in forested land use. If forestbased tourism is to develop, as predicted by the land managers and the ecotourism industry, then the wounds created by this long running conflict must be quickly healed. The tourist promoters and the public land managers must recognize the need to build on the rich history and the culture of the forest industry and to utilise the experience and knowledge of those previously employed in the forestry and timber sectors.

Some towns of the Otway Uplands such as Lavers Hill and Forrest, appear to have made significant advances into the field of eco-tourism and are catering to the growing tourist trade. Other towns such as Beech Forest appear still to be in decline. Apart from the tourism/ hospitality industry it is difficult to see another agriculture/forest based industry becoming established in the short term.

There may be a niche for entry to the specialty timber category with wood turning and carving sector but this would be a cottage industry at best.

Roger Smith

A sustainable future for the Otways depends on our ability to maintain our public forest lands as healthy forest habitat and to continue the revegetation of the abandoned weedy private farmlands particularly on the steeper southerly slopes of the Ranges.

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Aire Valley Displaced Persons Camp

Aire Valley Camp remnants in 1959 R B Smith

The primary purpose of the camp at the Aire bridge crossing was to accommodate refugees displaced from their homes and countries in Eastern Europe following World War II. As part of a policy of ‘populate or perish’ the Australian Government sponsored immigration, mainly from the United Kingdom, during the period of 1944 to 1947. But elsewhere in war-ravaged Europe there were several million refugees or displaced persons who had either been forced into Germany to labour for the Nazi war machine or who were anti-communist and had fled before the Iron Curtain came down. From about 1948 onwards, the Australian Government’s immigration department focused on these displaced persons.

The immigration program opened the door to thousands of displaced persons and British migrants. Between 1947 and 1951 about 170,000 immigrants came to settle in Australia.

A considerable number were well educated and had fled their place of birth for fear of either the Germans or the Russians. As part of the placement program, fit and healthy young men were selected to work as labourers for two years in various jobs around Australia, mainly at rural locations and often in public forest improvement initiatives.

In return for their passage and settlement in Australia, the displaced persons had to enter into a two-year contract with the Australian Government, which required them to work wherever directed. Most of the work allocated was of an unskilled nature and little notice was taken of any prior experience or professional qualifications. All men became labourers and the women were employed as domestic workers.

Many of these men and women had previously lived in either concentration camps, prisoner-of-war (POW) camps or other detention centres. When they arrived in Australia, life at first did not seem to have changed much from living conditions in their country of origin. Many of the displaced persons had endured similar conditions in Europe at the hands of Hitler’s Nazi regime. To make their situation worse, they had to contend with the language barrier, isolation from friends and family and the occasionally less-thanfriendly treatment from their Australian workmates.

Having arrived in the country and been processed at immigration centres such as Bathurst in New South Wales, Bonegilla in Victoria or Northam in Western Australia, these displaced persons were dispatched to some of the most isolated places in the country. They received free transport to work, free working clothes, free food in camps and free job placements anywhere in Australia. Some of these jobs included the building and maintenance of railway lines, dam construction, working in the mines or blast furnaces, harvesting sugar cane, fruit picking and the construction of the Snowy Mountains Scheme.

Many of the men from countries such as Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and, later, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia were set to work in various parts of Victoria establishing plantations, building roads and other forms of forest-based employment. Although these men were officially known in bureaucratic dealings as displaced persons, the local people in the country towns to which they were assigned referred to them as Balts, because many of them came from the Baltic states. Official correspondence of the day even used this terminology.

The first batch of ‘Balts’ destined for the Otway forests arrived in Colac on 8 April 1949, having travelled by train from the processing centre at Bathurst in New South Wales.

This group of fifteen men stayed overnight at the YMCA in Melbourne before catching the train to Colac, where they were given lunch by the local CWA. They were then transported in an open tray truck along the rough and winding road to Beech Forest, where they were allocated wet-weather gear before the final journey to their new home – the refitted Aire Valley Camp at the edge of the Redwood plantation. The slender, broom-handle-sized young Redwoods, with spindly branches almost touching the walls of the huts, were then just 13 years of age. It is somewhat ironic that, in the eyes of the incoming inhabitants, the Aire Valley camp would not have appeared too dissimilar to the POW camps from which some of these men had been released a couple of years earlier.

This is a short excerpt from The Redwoods of The Otway Ranges by Roger Smith reprinted with kind permission.

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Timber to Tourism The Otway Fly, planning for the future while remembering the past.

A visit to the Otway Ranges is awe-inspiring. Thinking back to the days before man’s involvement in the forest, it is easy to picture dinosaurs roaming between the enormous trees and thriving in the area. The trees shoot straight up into the clouds and the forest floor is dense with ferns and fallen trees. The area is special and unique in many ways thanks to its vast history. The team at Otway Fly Treetop Adventures pay homage to those who inhabited the forest before them, while also planning for future generations to come.

Beech Forest, home to the Otway Fly, was a timber logging hotspot for many years, and a prime example of the majority of the local towns that were developed by the loggers and their families. Timber logging was and still is one of the largest industries in the area and had a huge effect on the development of the Great Ocean Road. The industry has changed considerably over the years and has helped pave the way for tourism in the region by creating infrastructure and developing the area. The Otway Fly and Beech Forest is now one of the Great Ocean Road’s must visit locations along with the stunning beaches and jagged coastline.

Otway Fly was predominantly built on old logging roads in an effort to miminize the environmental impact construction would have on the forest. The Treetop Walk is the highest and longest of its kind Otway Life Magazine Autumn 2014

in the world. This impressive structure took five and a half months to construct offsite, with the whole project taking 10 months in total. The walk used 125 tonnes of steel, can hold 28 tonnes and can withstand 280 km/h winds. After construction was completed the track was re-vegetated with Soft Tree Ferns and Myrtle Beech, while natural regeneration has also occurred over the years.

Beech Forest is home to many native, and some rare creatures including the spectacular carnivorous Otway Black Snail found locally but nowhere else on earth.

The Black Snail hunts at night, feeding on soft bodied animals such as worms, slugs or vegetarian snails.

Not only is it home to this one of a kind snail but the forest provides shelter for 42 native animals including possums, wallabies and bats. It is also a haven for birds, with 130 plus species living in the Otway region.

The Otway Fly seeks to minimize its ecological footprint and support the principles of sustainable development wherever possible. This means using resources at a rate that allows them to replenish themselves. Examples of this include; the Visitor Center which collects, treats and recycles water; the use of paper bags at the retail store; recyclable packaging and collateral; the use of environmentally-friendly chemicals; and the recycling of bottles and cans.

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Another way the Otway Fly contributes to sustainability and conservation is to educate and inform thousands of students and visitors each year about the magnificent natural environment and the issues that potentially threaten it. Rainforests only cover 0.14 percent of Victoria, and in an effort to protect and conserve this precious ecosystem, the Otway Fly is continuously involved in revegetation programs such as tree planting initiatives and education programs.

This approach is continued through the Zipline Tour at the Otway Fly. This thrilling, adrenalin-pumping experience allows guests to fly through the treetops and experience the forest from above. The tour also includes some great insight into the history of the area, the importance of the upper levels of the canopy in the rainforest, and the sustainability projects that visitors can undertake themselves at home to help conserve our natural wonders.

For further information, latest news and initiatives, please visit www.otwayfly.com.au

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Otways Accommodation

The Otways There simply is no better place on earth ...and simply no better way to find where to stay, what to do and how to get there

www.otwaysaccommodation.com.au

Map Cartography 2005

otway businesses - contact us to be part of the buzz

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Falling For Water

The naming of the Otways waterfalls Lower Kalimna Falls Photo Credit: Shivanee Catherine Mansfield

Shivanee Catherine Mansfield, also known as Philip Larkin, has a passion for falling water that led her on a quest to find, map and name waterfalls hitherto not known to non-Aboriginal people. During the late 1970’s and 80’s, Shivanee, who at the time worked for the Melbourne Map Centre, traversed the rugged terrain in a bid to map up to 75 waterfalls in the rivers and streams system of the Otways. Shivanee estimates that there are over 500 waterfalls in the Otways, with many of them unmapped.

Monomeath means beautiful or serene. This name has been given to falls near Skenes Creek which Shivanee said are set in one of the Otways’ most splendid river valleys in a serene setting rarely visited by man.

Shivanee named the waterfalls after searching through historical records and consulting with locals. Where there were no previous names, Shivanee created names for them based on their natural features and surrounds. For example, Allambee Beek Falls means ‘to tumble down’ . They were so named because “the falls tumble down a large rock face of about twenty metres into a beautiful pool setting.”

‘Waterfalls of Victoria’ by Dacre Smith 1988 ‘250 Victorian Waterfalls’ by Ray Barber and Ian Wace 2011 ‘Melbourne’s Waterfalls – 314 within 100 kms of Melbourne’ by Travis Easton 2015

It is an age-old belief that close proximity to waterfalls leads to an improved sense of health and well-being.

Similar benefits are felt by being close to the ocean with the negative ions produced by moving water. This belief can be attested to by Shivanee who often experienced “peace, freedom and serenity as I sat beside a waterfall, feeling the spray on my face, the breeze and the smells of the forest. It enlivened all my senses.”

• A Trans-Otways Walking Trail loop to be established from Stevenson’s Falls to Cape Otway via triplet Falls.

• A designated walking/viewing track linking the dozen or so waterfalls in the Mt Sabine Waterfall area.

• The Otway’s flora and fauna being preserved for future generations.

• More knowledge and use of bush foods and bush medicine.

• Consideration in the Great Otway National Park planning for people who pursue ‘passive recreational’ pursuits such as art, bird watching and botanic forays.

Galliebarinda simply means “waterfall”. The name has been given to falls in the Cumberland River Valley which are extremely wide. Shivanee said she could not find an Aboriginal word in the Victorian Tribes to describe “wide” so chose the Aboriginal word for “waterfall”.

Otway Life Magazine Winter 2015

Unfortunately Shivanee, who is now in her early 70’s, is unable to pursue her love of walking through the Otways due to health reasons. However, the mountains of research she has collected over decades enables Shivanee to continue to provide advice and collaborate on books such as:

http://telp.com.au/page2.php Shivanee’s wish for the future of the Otways include:

Following are some of the waterfalls Shivanee mapped and named.

17 GALLIEBARINDA FALLS Category No. 3.

Grid reference: Mt Cowley 7620.1.4. 479257.

Primary reference: Aboriginal Place Names by A.W Reed.

Meaning: Waterfall.

HORSESHOE FALLS Category No. 1.

Grid reference: Boonah 7621.2.2. 594375.

Primary reference: Pen & Ink Sketches at Lorne by Brougham Austin 1890. Waterfalls of Victoria by Darce Smyth 1988.

Meaning: A curved bar of iron with a flat face, shaped to fit the rim of a horse’s hoof, to which it is nailed for protection.

YANNATHAN FALLS Category No. 3.

Grid reference : Mt. Cowley 7620.1.4.475270.

Primary reference : Daniel Bunce, The Aborigines of Victoria Vol. No.2 by R Brough Smyth 1876.

Meaning : Jaunt, to walkabout, motion, the art of moving, perambulation, promenade, walking, ramble, to wander, roam, rove, travel, walk.

Reason : Name so chosen as the river wanders through one of the many small gorges, which these falls are set in. The falls drop approximately twenty-five metres over three main sections in a ramble fashion, thus giving the water a lot of motion through these falls. The above Aboriginal word describes these falls in every detail.

More about waterfalls can be found here: http://www.victorianwaterfalls.com/

MONOMEETH FALLS Category No. 3.

Grid reference : Skenes Creek 7620.4.2. 355168.

Primary reference : Daniel Bunce, The Aborigines of Victoria Vol. No.2 by R Brough Snyth 1876.

Meaning :Agree, amity, appreciate, approve, beauty, benevolence., bravo, generosity, gentle, mild, well done, charming, comely, commendation- darling, a favourite, desert, worthy, elevant, endearment, enjoyment, fair, beautiful, famous, fidelity, honesty, good, indulgent, kindness, kind, benevolent, laud, to praise, merit, odoriferous, sweet, pleasant, precious, costly, pretty, handsome, prime, first-rate, properly, pure, in a fit sense, not sullied, rapture, delight, rejoice, relish, right, property, satisfied, seemly, decent, serene, splendid, spotless, deserving, zest, to relish.

Reason : Name so chosen as the falls are set in one of the Otways’ most splendid river valleys. The falls are in a serene setting rarely visited by man. These falls are approximately twenty metres in height which are segmented into several drops, before falling to the valley floor below. The above Aboriginal word describes these falls in every way.

RAINBOW FALLS Category No. 2.

Grid reference : Glenaire 7520.2. 1. 163977.

Primary reference : Waterfalls of Victoria by Darce Smyth 1988.

Meaning : Arch showing prismatic colours in their order formed in sky (or across cataract etc) opposite sun by reflection, double refraction and dispersion of the sun’s rays in falling drops of rain, spray etc; many coloured.

Yannathan Falls Photo Credit: Shivanee Catherine Mansfield

18

Tale of the Journeying Stream This beautiful story is current in verbal traditions in many languages. This present version is from Awad Afifi the Tunisian found in ‘Tales of the Dervishes’ by Idres Shah 1970 Published by E. P. Dutton, New York.

A stream, from its course in far-off mountains, passing through every kind and description of countryside, at last reached the sands of the desert. Just as it had crossed every other barrier, the stream tried to cross this one, but found that as fast as it ran into the sand, its waters disappeared.

It was convinced, however, that its destiny was to cross this desert, and yet there was no way. Now a hidden voice, coming from the desert itself, whispered: “The wind crosses the desert, and so can the stream.”

The stream objected that it was dashing itself against the sand, and only getting absorbed: that the wind could fly, and this was why it could cross a desert.

“By hurtling in your own accustomed way you cannot get across. You will either disappear or become a marsh. You must allow the wind to carry you over, to your destination.

“How can I know that this is true?” “It is so, and if you do not believe it, you cannot become more than a quagmire, and even that could take many, many years.

And it certainly is not the same as a stream.”

“But can I not remain the same stream that I am today?”

“You cannot in either case remain so,” the whisper said.

“Your essential part is carried away and forms a stream again. You are called what you are even today because you do not know which part of you is the essential one.”

When it heard this, certain echoes began to arise in the thoughts of the stream. Dimly it remembered a state in which it -- or some part of it? -- had been held in the arms of a wind. It also remembered -- or did it? -- that this was the real thing, not necessarily the obvious thing to do.

This idea was not acceptable to the stream. After all, it had never been absorbed before. It did not want to lose its individuality. And, once having lost it, how was one to know that it could ever be regained?

And the stream raised its vapor into the welcoming arms of the wind, which gently and easily bore it upwards and along, letting it fall softly as soon as they reached the roof of a mountain, many, many miles away. And because it had its doubts, the stream was able to remember and record more strongly in its mind the details of the experience. It reflected, “Yes, now I have learned my true identity.”

“The wind,” said the sand, “performs this function. It takes up water, carries it over the desert, and then lets it fall again. Falling as rain, the water again becomes a river.”

See more at: http://www.awakin.org/read/view. php?tid=498#sthash.j4sSK5pU.dpuf

But how could this happen? “By allowing yourself to be absorbed in the wind.”

--Sufi Parable

Be prepared to

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Otway Life Magazine Winter 2015

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Environment

19

Otways’ Koala Habitat Rescue Nature is a miracle in the balance, yet once the balance shifts, however slightly, the results can be chaotic and even catastrophic.

In recent years there has been such a shift – in a remote part of south west Victoria, along the Great Ocean Road the koala population suddenly exploded and the manna gum trees which supported them came under immense stress. These trees began to die and after a few years, thousands of koalas were eating the remaining leaves so quickly that the trees were unable to keep producing foliage, causing dieback in immense sections of forest.

As trees die, the ecosystem becomes increasingly damaged and, without help, it is unable to recover. In Cape Otway, the dieback caused a catastrophe. Koalas were, through no fault of their own, eating away their habitat. Trees that should have been regenerating were unable to produce sufficient new growth. Seedlings did not emerge from the ground. Koalas starved.

Since around 2005 scientists and ecologists have been gravely worried. Yet there is hope. One organisation in particular has been working tirelessly on the problem.

The Conservation Ecology Centre (CEC) has been using innovative approaches to protect a few healthy trees in order to gather seed and grow seedlings. Last year the CEC spearheaded a program to plant new trees across the Cape – over 80,000 young trees were planted by an army of volunteers. A pioneering partnership with the Country Fire Authority has led to small gentle burns in the woodlands, encouraging germination of young trees, restoring biodiversity and helping create a healthier ecosystem.

Research is also important, gathering knowledge to ensure a safer future. CEC has been working on how to restore and rebalance the ecosystem, how to effectively protect seed trees for the future and how to create the right environment for new tree seedlings to establish. They are also researching why some koalas are so particular about their food source, while

others seem able to eat a range of species. Findings from this study will assist with helping koalas respond to environmental changes and change their diets to leaves from other eucalypt species.

Sadly, last year there were hundreds of sick and starving koalas that had to be euthanized by the Department of Environment and Primary Industries (now Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning). This was a dreadful task, but when confronted with animals that were reduced to skin and bones, covered in ticks, too weak to climb a tree and suffering from malnutrition and starvation, the only solution was to humanely end their suffering by lethal injection. Every koala was assessed by vets and those strong enough to survive were returned to the bush. Only those with no prospect of survival were humanely euthanized.

This was a terrible time – the once leafy forests were gaunt and bare, the koalas wandering around the bare tree trunks of the once magnificent manna gums. But the balance is slowly being restored. The seedlings planted last year are thriving and earlier plantings are sustaining the koalas for now. Research and monitoring continues apace, with CEC conducting annual surveys of the koala population distribution and the canopy condition across the Cape. Data collection continues to gather vital knowledge to ensure the koalas, and the woodlands on which they depend, have a safe and healthy future. When possible, land is purchased, restored, and kept in trust to secure long term-habitat security for koalas.

The CEC can’t do this work without strong community support. The CEC’s Eco Allies program enables people who support its programs to come and see for themselves what is being done to try to rebalance the mighty manna gum woodlands in the Otways, and to save the animals that so depend on them – the iconic koalas.

Learn more here: www.conservationecologycentre.org/ our-work/koala-habitat-rescue/

20

Forrest Kids Go Bush On Friday mornings at the Forrest Early Learning Centre there is a magical atmosphere in a little bush nook within the school grounds. The Junior Room and the pre-school students are outfitted in matching school issued overalls and rain jackets ready for outdoor play!

A chorus of “Let’s go to Mud Creek!”, “I want to find snails,” or “Let’s head back to the cubbies!” can be heard as the children find their way through the bush to their secret places, their ‘kitchens’ and ‘hotels’. This buzz of joy comes from the involvement of the staff and children in the Forrest Kids Go Bush program, part of the Forrest Early Learning Centre and Forrest Primary School.

There has been a pre-school at the Forrest Primary School site since 1995, and it was quite an innovation back then to have a primary school holding the licence for the pre-school. Between 1972- 1995, it was located at the Infant Welfare Centre.

In 1995 due to overcrowding at this venue, a portable classroom from the Weerite School and a toilet block from the Barwon Downs School were moved to the Forrest Primary School to become part of the site.

In 1996, the new pre-school facility was officially opened. According to the Forrest Pre-school historical records, it was a celebration of mammoth fundraising (many cakes were baked!) and building by families and community people over many years that were committed to having and improving a local pre-school facility for their children.

Jump to 2014 and in response to community needs, there was a change to the administrative structure and the result is the development of the Forrest Early Learning Centre (offering a 3 and 4 year old pre-school Otway Life Magazine Winter 2015

program, Long Day Care Services), the continuation of the Out of School Hours Care (OHSC) program and the Maternal Health Service, all under the one roof.

“This contributes to a unique learning environment”, says Darryl Harty, the Principal of the Forrest Primary School and supervisor of the Forrest Early Learning Centre. The Forrest Early Learning Centre has just been freshly painted. Bold, bright colours have re-energised the learning space and the students, educators and families are delighted with the new feel in the rooms.

The Forrest Early Learning Centre, the Forrest Primary School and families remain committed to being able to provide excellent Early Childhood services. In 2013, the Forrest Kids Go Bush program (FKGB) was established

by Kim Coulter (a volunteer parent) with support from both the Forrest Pre-school and the Forrest Primary School teachers. It has marked a transformation in the philosophy of the Forrest Early Learning Centre to focus more strongly on outdoor play.

Nestled within the stunning Otway Ranges, it is easy to be inspired to create outdoor learning spaces that immerse the children in nature-based play. The Forrest Early Learning Centre and Junior Room educators fully support the FKGB program and the parents believe the benefits are immeasurable! It provides a genuine opportunity for the children to be involved in natural outdoor education, an emergent curriculum and child centred learning.

Lena Collopy, the pre-school teacher since 2010 loves coming to work. She believes that Forrest Early Learning Centre is in a unique position to offer such a variety of activities under the one roof, vegie gardens, fruit orchard, chickens, Forrest Kids Go Bush, and even a couple for horses to pat!

21

Teresa Price, Long Day Care educator and OHSC co-ordinator, finds the learning environment to be a rewarding one.

“The students are involved in cooking, craft, dance and yoga as part of the program. The program remains flexible, allowing the children to pursue their particular interests and to express themselves in the most creative way possible. And of course there is a huge element of fun!”

Multi-age learning spaces are a feature of the Forrest Primary School and the Forrest Early Learning Centre.

This approach encourages cross-age learning and naturally creates supportive and creative learning environments. The FKGB program has slotted beautifully into the ethos of the School community.

The teaching staff involved with the Forest Kids Go Bush program are quick to highlight the value of the program. Kristin Mackinlay, the Junior Room classroom teacher, loves to observe the children’s approach to problem solving, the negotiation required to overcome problems, the children pushing themselves to achieve

a goal, often overcoming physical and emotional fears e.g. climbing along the rope bridge for the first time, and the inclusive nature of the primary school children including the pre-school students in play.

The research from the Bush Kinders and Forest Schools model in Northern Europe in 1950’s, which FKGB is based upon, confirms these observations. The benefits have ranged from children having increased confidence, motivation and concentration, improved social, physical and language skills; deeper conceptual understanding; and a greater respect for the natural environment.

The Forrest Early Learning Centre and the Forrest Primary School is a wonderful example of collaboration and commitment to learning by educators, families, children and the wider community. The development of the Forrest Kids Go Bush program is an example of what can be achieved when learning and development are considered equally important and interconnected.

By Kaz Standish. For more info please contact Forrest Primary School (03) 5236 6393

22

Taking the Plunge to better health

Kerry (second from left) with the swimming group

When Apollo Bay resident Kerry began working on her personal goals, it was great timing. Her local health service provider Otway Health had just developed a more flexible approach to care through the National Disability Insurance Scheme which could give her more options for health and wellbeing in her life. When Kerry took the plunge and committed to the weekly swimming group in Lavers Hill, she took the first step towards a more active lifestyle.

In March of 2015, CCWs accompanied Kerry to the Lavers Hill pool to join the exercise group there. Although initially with trepidation, she thoroughly enjoyed this first session, spending an hour in the pool and announcing how great she felt afterwards. Kerry says that “I love going to the swimming group because I love the exercise and I don’t want to get out because I enjoy the company of everyone and feel wonderful after. And we have a lovely lunch together too.”

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) provides individualised support for eligible people with ongoing and episodic disabilities, their families and carers. The change to an individualised funding system, where participants express their individual needs and goals, is a fundamental change to the way that support for people with disabilities have been delivered.

Otway Health worked closely with the NDIS to provide support and choices for people with disabilities to live the life they want. Current NDIS client Kerry has gone from strength to strength on this new program, embracing all the opportunities that the new program can offer her when partnered with the local health services provider, Otway Health.

Otway Health Community Services Co-ordinator Shelly initially brokered Kerry’s new plan with the NDIS and reports back that, “The vibe is that Kerry is feeling very special to have one on one support and someone to pay attention to her individually. Reports from staff are that she is glowing, happy, is engaged more at planned activity groups and social settings.”

Kerry has lived in Apollo Bay all her life and is well known to locals as she goes about her daily routine around town. For the last seventeen years, Kerry has received assistance from Otway Health’s Community Care Workers (CCWs) to help her remain independent and active in her community. This is the active service model that all of Otway Health’s community services staff adheres to and sees them constantly striving to implement programs that Kerry both enjoys and is challenged by.

Otway Life Magazine Winter 2015

Otway Health provides NDIS services for adolescents, teens and mature aged persons living with disabilities.

Assistance may be one off or ongoing and can include individualised support and activities chosen by the individual, group activities including support to join new groups, respite for carers, assistance with organisational skills, daily living skills and bill paying as well as health education and assisting or coordinating access to specialised health appointments.

If you would like further information or assistance on how to access the National Disability Insurance Scheme call Shelly Forche Baird, Community Care Coordinator at Otway Health on 5237 8500.

The National Disability Service Information number is 1800 800 110. They provide information on the eligibility and types of assistance and supports available.

23

Youthful Pursuits

Venturers from Colac and Warrnambool, on a hike up the river from Fork Paddock, looking for an old rail tunnel in the Otways, near Forrest.

Traversing the Otways By Suzanne Frydman On any particular day you can be sure that there are individuals and groups walking, climbing, riding, camping and generally adventuring in various spots around the Otways. In the school of life that nature provides we can all tap into our wellbeing.

Throughout the Otways there are Scout leaders and other community groups making sure that youth, including at-risk youngsters, have the following reminders about fitting in, being themselves and developing resilience.

Either you were once the child, or a friend, parent or teacher of the child who simply did not fit in, whatever fitting in meant at the time. As a once rider on the 10day Great Victorian Bike Ride, it was one of my teaching highlights to watch a school kid who on most days could not manage to get to school by nine, or find much enthusiasm throughout the school day, have his tent packed by six and leading the charge. Out in the ranges there is space, for all of us.

Many of us who live in or near the Otways don’t get out in it nearly as much as we should or think we do.

And that’s a compelling reason to join a walking club, Landcare group, or any other outdoorsy initiative. One such group for youth that has proven itself many times over is Scouts. As its website states “our programs,

the friendship, the skills learnt and the activities all combine to give children, young adults and adults the resources to develop a sense of personal self worth and confidence”.

One way to develop confidence is to head off a beaten track. Managing this safely is one of the things longtime Colac Scout Venturer leader Geoffrey De La Rue does with groups of fourteen to eighteen year olds.

Geoff explained that Scout groups often access parts of the Great Ocean Walk, and due to his and other leaders’ local knowledge they can head off track and thereby create challenges that require team-work, boundary setting and the development of practical knowledge and problem solving. In a word, resilience.

Bush adventures are a wonderful opportunity for both country and city kids, as well as international exchange students and visitors, to have a new experience that could lead to life-long passions and perspectives.

For further information: https://www.vicscouts.com.au/, http://www.visitgreatoceanroad.org.au/beech-forest, www.soln.com

By Suzanne Frydman www.relaxcommunications.com.au

24 Arts Stephen with one of his large scale works which will be at CrossXpollinatioN

Addicted to Ice

ARTIST Stephen Eastaugh’s 30 year affair with ‘geographic promiscuity’ landed him with an addiction to ice.

The one-time Victorian, who is based in Argentina and Broome, will reveal the works inspired by his 18 months ‘on ice’ at CrossXpollinatioN, a festival of textile and fibre art at Colac Otway Performing Arts & Cultural Centre and Red Rock Regional Theatre and Gallery in July.

Eastaugh’s exhibition at COPACC will feature four massive textile landscape based wall hangings which were produced at Mawson Station over the winter months, while he was the official Australian Antarctic Arts Fellow in 2009.

Some of the large works depict blizz-lines – the rope and chain lifelines strung between all buildings so Antarctic workers can grab hold of them during blizzards and navigate their way during white-outs.

To balance these large scale works there will be dozens of smaller depictions of knots.

“The 18 months I spent on the ice is a timespan no other contemporary Australian artist has committed to the southern white continent,” Eastaugh said.

“My plan upon arrival in Antarctica was to navigate through unusual colours, lines, shapes and textures in search of new views.

Outside the window the conflicting and powerful Antarctic views seemed both calm and lethal and were challenging to absorb.

I have stitched and painted these elements with a desire to Otway Life Magazine Winter 2015

comprehend this location, interpreting my experiences of being there simply with paint and thread.”

As a child Eastaugh was bitten by the wanderlust bug and since then has been unable to make sense of concepts such as home or stability.

“Antarctica is and has never been any human’s home, so to me this seems strangely cosy,” he said.

While Eastaugh’s Addicted to Ice exhibition will be open daily from 10am-1pm at COPACC from July 4-19, his Travailogue exhibition will be open on weekends at RRRTAG throughout July.

“The Travailogue series began in the year 2000 somewhere between Casey Station in East Antarctica and Phnom Penh, Cambodia,” he said.

“The primitive hand-stitching that I use in some works is done to enhance the texture of the little paintings, but also I like the idea of stitching a slow, laborious line across the fabric to represent a complicated journey.

“I use assorted types of bandage material as a support for all these works. This fabric to me with its function of helping to repair the body hints at the travail of travel.

Many people see art itself as a mild form of medicine, but the salve of art has not removed this perpetual bout of travel sickness that has made me geographically promiscuous and climatically challenged.”

For details on other CrossXpollinatioN exhibiting artists, workshops, artist’s talks, a wearable art market, and performances see www.copacc.com.au

Head Full of Love

25

2015

Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes

The Beggars

All My Love

Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow The Beggars Sing the Seekers Saturday, June 20, 8pm

15 years and still going strong, the Roadshow will feature some of the best home-grown talent and international superstars from the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Warning! Suitable for 15+.

Sponsored by Colac Midcity Motor Inn.

Roald Dahls Revolting Rhymes&Dirty Beasts Wednesday, June 24, 6:30pm

Roald Dahl’s classics burst off the page in a spectacular new live show. shake & stir theatre company has created this spectacular new live show. A visual feast with a rocking soundtrack. Great comic actors bring more than 40 fairy tale characters to brilliant life.

Perfect for children 5 to 105.

Sponsored by Quest Skills for Life & Cowlick Book Shop.

Wednesday, July 22, 11am

The Beggars love the sound of the Seekers and they’re making a welcome return with authentic renditions of Georgy Girl, I’ll Never Find Another You, A World of our Own, Morningtown Ride and more.

Sponsored by Arundell, Murray & Ryan.

Head Full of Love

Saturday, July 25, 2pm & 8pm A yarn to warm your heart, and your head.

The annual Alice Springs Beanie Festival is fast approaching and Tilly Napuljari (Paula Delaney Nazarski) is running out of time to finish her new creation and enter it for judging. Nessa (Annie Byron) has run away from Sydney to the Red Centre. Head Full of Love is the story of these remarkable women and the unlikely but inspiring friendship they form. Written by Alana Valentine. Directed by Wesley Enoch.

Sponsored by Baronga Motor Inn.

All My Love

Friday, August 21, 8pm Their lives could have been written so differently: this is the story of poet Henry Lawson and literary icon Mary Gilmore’s lost and forbidden love. Henry and Mary’s love affair was thwarted by a devastating deception.

Sponsored by SLM Law.

Tickets for the 2015 Colac Herald Theatre Season are available at the box office 11am-8pm daily 95-97 Gellibrand Street, ColacBox office: 5232 2077 Administration: 5232 9418 www.copacc.com.au

he elements that are essential are: The dandelion, which needs to be set to the left.

The CrossXpollinatioN logo should be the over-arching logo.

Our theme for this year is LOST&FOUND (please see attached logo)

Workshops, live performances, artist talks & more see www.copacc.com.au

We need to get the sponsor’s logos in: they are Shelton Exhibitions: Timber, Baronga COPACC Daily July 4-19 • 10am-4pm Motor Inn, andRock Starprinting.

Red Regional Theatre & Gallery Exhibition: Weekends July 4 - July 26 •11am - 4pm

Wearable Art Market COPACC, Saturday, July 4 • 10am-3:30pm Find us on Facebook

Baronga Motor Inn

Trevor & Wilma Uwland

26

David Digapony David Digapony is an artist, weaver and sculptor who specialises in woven art and sculptural works. Harvesting nature’s treasures from her wild forests and weaving them into objects that reflect a harmony and communion with nature, David’s creations are a unique design and construction whose living organic form connects you to the wild essence of nature and the beauty of the earth.

David’s works reference the rawness of nature, its coarse textures, earthy tones and delicate forms, and convey the beauty and subtlety of the delicately woven web of impermanence that supports and sustains us.

As weaver of natural materials, each with its own distinct shape, David must work with each piece, rather than impose a pre-conceived idea of how the finished work should look. In this way, the process is a true collaboration between the weaver and nature, and the finished works reflect the wilderness from which they arise and whose essence they contain.

Much of David‘s work is ephemeral art, with each piece having a birth, a life and ultimately a death. In this way each work captures the wonder, beauty and impermanence of the natural world. His ephemeral sculptures are woven from natural materials including branches, sticks and vines that are sourced from the locality in which the work is created. Each work rests in harmony with the landscape and its surroundings

- a collaboration between nature, the artist and the observer.

David seeks to create works which resonate with nature’s wild essence and which invite us to contemplate and deepen our relationship with the natural world and the ephemeral beauty of all that surrounds us.

Artist David Digapony Location Forrest, Victoria, Australia Phone 0466 361 869 Email david@wildandwoven.com Facebook www.facebook.com/wildandwoven Instagram www.instagram.com/wild_and_woven

BUILD YOUR CREATIVITY IN FORREST South West TAFE is offering Certificate IV and Diploma units in Visual Arts commencing July 10.

Students will explore and apply the creative design process to 2D and 3D forms.

Delivered by tutor Salvina Conti at the Forrest Hall, students will attend sessions one day per week on Fridays.

For more information or to enrol phone 1300 648 911.

Background artwork by Margery Fullagar

www.swtafe.vic.edu.au | 1300 648 911

Otway Life Magazine Winter 2015

ENROL NOW

Artist Profile

27

Relax Communications

Suzanne Frydman

Creative Arts Therapist & Yoga Teacher Counselling & Stress Management using therapeutic writing, deep relaxation and other experiential approaches

Ph 0431 121 514

www.relaxcommunications.com.au

28 Books & Writing

Neil Drinnan In his own words

Where do you hail from?

I’m from Camberwell in Melbourne originally, came to the Otways via Sydney.

What brought you to Colac?

The rainforests of the Otways and the Great Ocean Rd brought about my tree change or ‘man-o-pause’ but it was starting my bookshop that brought me to Colac.

Why did you choose Colac to open a bookshop?

I chose Colac because as a writer it was a perfect example of ‘a small town anywhere’, to me it’s somewhere between Twin Peaks and Royston Vasey in the famous English sitcom ‘League of Gentlemen.’ I love it for the same ordinariness I would have hated it for in my youth!

What have been the delights and the challenges of moving from a major capital city to a country town ?

The delight of knowing so many people’s names and what their interests are and the daily joys of being able to help people find the answers to their questions through books. The challenges I guess are that Colac seems to have been given the dubious honour of being the homophobe capital of Victoria… I haven’t found it to be so but a lot of people feel they have to hide their true selves here and that is sad.

Do you have a favourite place in the Otways?

Absolutely, The Redwoods, Hopetoun Falls and Stephensons Falls…I’m a sucker for all the falls!

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

By the time I was in my mid-twenties and getting articles published.

Otway Life Magazine Winter 2015

What inspired you to write your first book?

A dream and a poem that was born of that.

How many novels have you published and do you have a favourite?

I’ve published 5 novels and I guess my favourite is always the last or the next one so I’ll say Rare Bird of Truth and soon it will be GAS BAIT ICE, my forthcoming book...

Do you have a specific writing style?

Yes, it’s cheeky, sometimes camp and occasionally dark.

Are there “messages” in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

Oh yeah but I don’t wield a sledgehammer.

What books have most influenced your life most?

Boys Own Life by Edmund White, To Kill A Mockingbird

by Harper Lee and Valley of the Dolls by Jaqueline Susanne.

29 If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?

Tennessee Williams most definitively!

Can you share a little of your current work with us?

GAS BAIT ICE Moralla, Tidy Town twice running, became something of a boom town in the 1980’s for its quality domestic dairy produce. Like other regional towns, Bodella and Bega with their respectively named cheeses, Moralla was once almost a household name. Unfortunately price wars in the nineties and noughties favoured Bega and Bodella, their infrastructures more dynamic, their workers more adaptable. When larger supermarkets and food chains no longer required Moralla’s product the town began to suffer.

TV ads for Bega cheese had worked their way into the national psyche, who could forget Better Buy Bega? Who would remember Tell ‘er Moralla?

The cheese factory closed down after expensive but abortive attempts at bringing in savvy marketeers from the city and the town’s only real landmark, a huge buttery yellow wedge of Swiss cheese with holes for kids to crawl through, sat abandoned outside the boarded-up souvenir shop and Cheese World Museum.

Back in the day people would stop off. Drivers took notice of the ‘REST, REVIVE, STAY ALIVE’ signs. Children would dash excitedly from cars to climb the Mighty Cheese but paint is peeling off in pizza-sized sheets these days, the cheap particle board it was constructed from is rotten to the core. Warning signs make clear, it’s no longer a safe place to play.

Gone is the miniature railway that toured the cheese factory, gone too is the bird sanctuary that closed after too much interest from the RSPCA and too little from the general public.

Other towns along the coast are thriving with retirees and their superannuation pay-outs but Moralla is fourteen kms from the beach. The retirees from Canberra have bought in Narooma, Turos Heads, Bermagui or Bateman’s Bay where Marina’s, restaurants and seafood co-ops thrive

and Hillsong Churches offer bright, lucrative futures with Christ. In these bustling locales, Leagues clubs and RSLs are turning into small towns of their own from the steadily dripping fat off the poker machines. Moralla has a river for fishing and rich, green dairy pastures but aside from the sawmill and the two pubs, there wasn’t much doing there, not much at all until now…

Do you have any advice for other writers?

WRITE!

BOOKSHOP

WHERE TOWN

ME

ETS

COUNT

RY

T 03 5232 1072 E sales@cowlick.com.au A 86 Murray Street, Colac www.cowlick.com.au

Hey Diddle Diddle

30

Lilith Lane

Singing her heart out What is your connection to the Otways?

I lived in the Otways (Gellibrand) as a teenager on a bush property with lots of trees and Charlies Creek running through it. The Otways to me means fresh clean air, enormous trees, ferns and a strong connection to nature and spirit.

Do you have a favourite place in the Otways?

I guess living in Gellibrand I have a fondness for that area but the drive through Beech Forest to the coast and throughout the Otways is magical. My most vivid memories are of waiting each day outside the general store for the long bus ride to school in Colac often passing Cliff Young the marathon runner clomping along in his gum boots. Working at Gellibrand pottery looking out onto the valley and washing dishes at the Gellibrand Hotel where my mum worked as a cook.

In the imagery and concept of this record I was heavily absorbed in the power of religious imagery, ceremony and ritual. From Santaria to Islam there are amazing things that humans do and create in the name of faith.

I also think the role of music in people’s expression of spirit is very powerful. Music can transport people to other realms. Whether you believe in ghosts, God or the word of Mohammed music is an important human expression and to many it connects them to something sacred. I guess my connection to spirit is nature-based and that connection is what I tap into when I’m making music.

What was it like being a teenager living in the bush and did that experience influence your creative expression?

I think the bush had a huge impact on my creative development because we lived very simply and had to entertain ourselves. Living without electricity for a number of years we were always making things and learning to keep ourselves amused which I think some kids miss out on with over exposure to media, internet Otway Life Magazine Winter 2015

and electronic entertainment. My sister and I would play for hours in the bush,singing, dancing and swimming in the icy cold creek. There was a resident platypus and if we were very quiet sometimes it would make an appearance. I remember it as a very peaceful and nurturing place. Growing veggies and playing with the chickens, goats, dogs etc.

How did you start your creative journey?

One of my favourite things to do was and still is to wander around the bush singing and I also danced throughout my childhood travelling to Geelong and Melbourne to do so. I taught classes at the Gellibrand community house for a while. One of my favourites was an adult tap class with my mother’s friends, some of whom still live in the area today. I ended up singing in bands in high school and music ended up becoming a larger part of my life than dance. I still explore elements of my dance background in my film clips.

Your music and videos sometimes has an ethereal or other world feel what do you hope listeners feel/gain/ experience from your music?

I think music as a creative medium has the ability to carry people to other worlds and experience an emotive connection to the world around us. When I am writing, my songs take me to other worlds and I hope my listeners can experience their own journeys through my music.

Music

What is your current project/s?

At the moment I am gearing up for a string of solo shows along the East Coast then ending up in Tasmania to play at MONA during the dark MOFO festival, writing new material for my next album and enjoying and reconnecting with regional Australia after spending time living overseas and touring with my full band. I have also curated a group art exhibition in the almost ghost town of Corindhap on the Colac-Ballarat road at an unusual pub called the Break of Day Hotel. For this project I have brought together an eclectic group of artists and musicians to interact with the space to present art in a non-conventional way.

How can people buy your music?

My three albums are available through my website, all good digital music stores and CD and vinyl at shows.

(Beast Records, France and Buttercup Records Australia.)

31

32 Advertorial

Delectible Otway Produce Fertile soils, temperate climate and clean air are a winning combination for producing fresh and nutritious food. Here in The Otway Ranges, along the coast and in the hinterland, we have the lot.

There are a range of farming practices from the time honoured and traditional through to the experimental and environmentally sustainable.

Why not try the ‘100-mile’ diet? Choosing to buy produce within a 100 mile radius of your home is a great way to learn about your local farming community, get healthier and move towards a more sustainable lifestyle that will dramatically lower your carbon footprint.

Here we feature just a few of what this region has to offer.

The Gellibrand River Store We are situated smack bang in the middle of gorgeous Gellibrand and are the perfect stop off between Colac and many of the attractions luring people into the deep Otways.

We care about the food you eat and always use local quality produce as a first choice. We also sell local wine and beer.

So why not join us for a fabulous Sunday breakfast with our new winter menu…

Or enjoy the beautiful selection of homemade food for lunch…

Or spend a convivial Saturday evening with delicious food, company and sometime live local musicians…

We now have a take away liquor licence so you would be mad not to come and buy some Glen Loch Apple cider or Local Peverill Wine to take back to your favourite camping spot or local accomodation.

Like us on Facey and be informed of upcoming events: www.facebook.com/GellibrandRiverStore

Gellibrand River •

GENERAL STORE

•

16 M a i n S t , G e l l i b r a n d ( 0 3 ) 5 2 3 5 8 219

Otway Life Magazine Winter 2015

33 25 The Beechy Pub

Otway NouriShed

“Cold beer and a warm welcome” is what will greet you at The Beechy Pub!

We pride ourselves in stocking quality examples of local produce when in season : chutney, jam, beer, wine and chocolate.

Located on the main road through Beech Forest, 45 kms south of Colac and approximately 6 kms from the popular Otway Fly. A favourite haunt of locals from as far afield as Gellibrand and Lavers Hill, & Johanna it also welcomes tourists and day trippers with its focus on good old fashioned country hospitality.

The emphasis is on hearty, plentiful pub fare but special dietary requirements are catered for as long as some notice is given (gluten free, vegetarian, specific allergies).

Meals during winter: dinner is available Tuesday Thursday and lunch and dinner Friday - Sunday.

Theme Night Wednesdays: Theme nights are a feature of Wednesdays, with international cuisine and fancy dress livening up the mid week.

Pizza Night Sundays: Pizza night every Sunday is particularly popular with the locals.

WINTER OPEN HOURS 3pm – 10pm Tuesday – Thursday 12noon – 11pm Friday – Sunday* (Pizza Night Sundays) 35 Main Street, Beech Forest 3237 Phone: 03 5235 9220

We also harvest our own garlic and strawberries in summer and potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes in winter.

Try a yummy treat baked fresh on site or get your day off to a great start with a tasty breakfast every day from 8am.

You can grab an organic coffee, a huge scone or toasted sandwich made with organic sourdough bread, and kick back by the fire or check out the local produce and arts and crafts.

The Otway Fly and several waterfall walks are all nearby, making the Otway NouriShed the perfect spot to rest the legs and fill the tummies!

The store is open seven days a week from 8am until 4:30pm.

www.otwaynourished.com

Otway Nourished

lovely Local Produce 7 days a week

www.thebeechyhotel.com.au

We are located at: 3810 Colac-Lavers Hill Road, Ferguson, VIC, 3237

Look for the big old shed on the corner!

Ph: (03)5235 9226 e: otwaynourished@yahoo.com.au Find us on facebook and Urbanspoon under Otway NouriShed

34

The Good Life

by Ami Hillege

The challenge and the charm of living in the country are often categorized by the challenges to feed one self. Not every season rolls around according to plan.

Take the past autumn for instance. We waited patiently for the tomatoes to turn from pale green to ruby red, but that never happened. The tomatoes remained on the vines and refused to ripen. In a last ditch attempt to preserve some of our summer crop, we ripped out the tomato bushes and hung them on large hooks in the shed. When it comes to growing your own food, there has to be a certain belief that what you’ve planted will actually grow into a food that you can feed your family with. We are hoping that the tomatoes still hanging on the green vines will slowly ripen over the next few months and that we will continue to enjoy these beautiful fruits.

By the end of the harvest season, we’re starting to dream of cold days where the sun forces its rays through thick morning fogs and the days are short.

On days like this we take the time to regroup and take stock of our farm plans. There is always a new project that needs attention.

The wood stacks for winter are moved closer to the woodshed which sits near the back door. Proximity to the house is a key factor in positioning the wood pile.

Daily trips to feed the kitchen stove are made, filling a big metal bucket with logs. The wood we gathered over the past two years will now get used for fuel.

It has sat for a couple of seasons facing the blasting

cold winds from the South. It is dry and the heat that radiates from the wood stove is intense and warming.

Winter is our ‘down’ time. Or that’s what we like to tell ourselves. The harvesting of summer crops has ended, the winter vegetables have been planted and it is once again time to retreat to the warmth of the open fire inside the farmhouse. The apples that hung in great bunches on the trees have all been picked. We juiced around 200 kgs of apples this season to create our first farm cider. We love experimenting with the produce we harvest. We’re crossing our fingers that this batch of apple juice will turn into a delicious sparkling apple drink. In a few weeks we will decant the fermented juice into glass bottles. A mid winter celebration of a successful autumn apple harvest will be enjoyed by family and friends alike.

As the days get shorter and the nights get longer, we are aware that we are on a very specific timeline. The garlic crop needs to get planted. The beds are tilled and have been rested with a good amount of natural nutrients having been dug into them. We will spend a number of days bent over, feeding individual cloves into the rich soil. The long wait till Christmas is only made easier with the knowledge that the garlic we harvest will be chemical free and very very tasty.

And so we retreat into the cold months and wait for the daffodils to poke their heads out of the ground. Winter brings with it a feeling of being cleansed. A new start is just around the corner. But for now, we huddle around a warm fire, open a bottle of red and dream of Spring.

OTWAY FIELDS GROW  EAT  REST

 Newly renovated cabin overlooking the Otways  Gourmet basket featuring organically grown farm & local produce

 Close to Great Ocean Road & Birregurra YOUR ESCAPE TO THE COUNTRY

www.otwayfields.com Tel 0418 757 028 Otway Life Magazine Winter 2015

35

FORREST WORKSHOP 10am-4pm SAT 13 JUNE GELLIBRAND WORKSHOP 10am-4pm SUN 14 JUNE

FREE WORKSHOPS

$5 MATERIAL COST FOR TAKE HOME LED TORCH

Otway Glow Show

BRING THE KIDS & JOIN IN A FUN FAMILY ACTIVITY

PARADE

MELBA GULLY FRI 19 JUNE from 4.30pm

36

Around the Houses Winter Find us on Facebook

Colac Neighbourhood House 23 Miller Street, Colac Vic 3250 Phone: 5232 5368 Email: brimmer@cah.vic.gov.au Opening Hours Monday to Thursday 9am-4pm and Friday 9am-1pm

REGULAR ACTIVITES Just ring for details or to book a place. Everyone is Welcome!

MONDAY Mums and Bubs – support group for young mums Women on the Move Breast and Ovarian Cancer Support Group Mens Social Group English Language Classes Indigenous Story Wall Committee Paliative Care Volunteers TUESDAY Pathways Healthy Lifestyle Tuesday Painters Childbirth and Parenting Cancer Support WEDNESDAY Wednesday Arts Colac Otway Ratepayers Australian Plants Society Raphael Centre Post Natal Depression Counselling

THURSDAY Garden Group Craft Group Meditation Baby Fast FRIDAY Small Talk Playgroup Tax Help Service Community Dinner Epilepsy Group Walking Group ALSO...

Community Garden Free computer and internet access, Wifi Printing, copying and laminating service Form filling assistance Sewing machines Registered kitchen Disability Friendly Ipads made easy Cake Decorators

COLAC COMMUNITY

MEALS EVENINGS

MEN’S HEALTH FORUM

5.30 pm on Thursday 11 June

Join us for this fun and informative night out as a part of National Men’s Health Week!

With guest speakers: Ronan O’Sullivan on prostate health Maurie Oats on advanced care planning Andrew Edgar on building positive relationships And special guest: Dr. Ray Sarkis The forum is for men by men, with the chance to discuss anything that is of importance to your health and wellbeing Light finger food and refreshments will be provided 5.30 pm Thursday 11 June Birregurra Community Health Centre 28-30 Strachan Street Birregurra RSVP: by Thursday 4 June to 5236 4009

Reserve your place by contacting Andrew Edgar Phone: 5232 5176 Email: aedgar@cah.vic.gov.au

Come and enjoy a FREE hot meal each Friday night at the Colac Neighbourhood house

Meals served between 5:30 - 7pm 23 Miller St Colac

Futures Cafe

Thanks to GMHBA, Futures Café, Otway Fresh Pasta and our wonderful volunteers who are the backbone of our Neighbourhood House Otway Life Magazine Winter 2015

Around the Houses Winter Laver’s Hill & District Community House Laver’s Hill Hall Great Ocean Road Phone Julia on: 0417 948 522 Email: jmalcolm@swarh.vic.gov.au Open Monday 10am-4pm

Yoga Tuesdays 9.30-11am $12

Lavers Hill Hall. Contact Catherine on 0447 275 509

Ukulele Group

CFA Shed Mondays from 7.30pm Contact Pam after 7pm on 5237 9235

Lavers Hill Food Swap 3rd Monday of every month

37

Gellibrand Community House Rex Norman Reserve Colac Lavers Hill Road Phone Julia on: 5235 8348 Email: jmalcolm@swarh.vic.gov.au Open Tuesdays 9:30am - 4pm

June

20

Glass Work

If you have admired the work of local glass artist Jan Verouden don’t miss this unique opportunity to learn a variety of glass working techniques from the master herself. Create two of your very own works (a dish and a plate) that will be fired for you. $35 or $20 concession. Materials fee $60

1:30pm at The Shoppe

Mondays in August

Introduction to Mindfulness The art and science of mindfulness with Sue Frydman.

Shown to decrease stress levels, improve immunity, even lower inflammation and decrease pain. Brain-imaging studies show that meditation sharpens attention and memory. Most importantly, it has been linked to increased happiness and greater compassion. Nonreligious, no nonsense, nothing mystical, just science based wellbeing. $50 for a 5 week course

GELLIBRAND

WORKSHOP 10am-4pm SUNDAY 14 JUNE

FREE WORKSHOPS

$5 MATERIAL COST FOR TAKE HOME LED TORCH

Otway Glow Show

Garden Group HELP CREATE THE GREAT OTWAY GLOWWORM

2nd and last Wednesday of every month 9am Behind the Tourist Park at the rockeries.

New helpers are very welcome. BYO tools, gloves, etc.

Call Andrew at COS Works on 5232 9470.

Yoga

PARADE

MELBA GULLY FRI 19 JUNE from 4.30pm

Wednesdays 6:30pm $12/session.

Gellibrand Hall Contact Catherine on 0447 275 509

Walking Group

Thursday mornings 9am Rex Norman Park Duration 1-11/2 hours Find us on Facebook

eig ict N hbour

od H o us e

Forrest &

r ist

ho

D

38 Section Around the Houses Winter Forrest & District Neighbourhood House

Find us on Facebook

14 Grant Street, Forrest 3236 Phone: Gillian 5236 6591 Email: forrest.nh@gmail.com Open Mon 10-5pm Thurs10-6pm

Regular events First Monday of the month BINGO (1-3pm) Light afternoon tea provided.

Cost $5 for 2 books.

Monday Yoga & Meditation will be taking a break over winter.

Tuesday COS Exercise and Weights class 11-12pm For all ages and abilities. Stay on for a light social lunch. $3 or $6 with lunch Wednesday Tai Chi 6.30-8pm with Seona Gunn $10/8conc NEW Hoy (card game like Bingo) 1-3pm 2nd Wed of the month Cost $5 Thursday Gentle Exercise Class 10-11am.

Followed by morning tea. Cost $2 Mind Games 11am-12noon. Cost $2 Community Lunch 12.30-2pm Cost $6 Every Friday Cert IV / Diploma Visual Art 10am-5pm.

Last Sunday of every month Music Jam and Pizza afternoon from 3pm Join in or just sit back and enjoy the vibe.

Pizza available to purchase.

FORREST WORKSHOP 10am-4pm SATURDAY 13 JUNE FREE WORKSHOPS

$5 MATERIAL COST FOR TAKE HOME LED TORCH

HELP CREATE THE GREAT OTWAY GLOWWORM

PARADE

MELBA GULLY FRI 19 JUNE from 4.30pm

Otway Glow Show

On average there is over 3000 house fires in Victoria Prevent fires in your home • Complete the Home Fire Safety Checklist Heaters, chimneys, electric blankets and clothes dryers to see if you’ve done everything you can to can become a fire risk, particularly if they have been protect you and your family. sitting unused for a period of time.

• Launch the Hotspot House to see how to keep • Book a licensed gas-fitter to check your gas heater your home safe • Check chimneys, flues and fire boxes for cracks, rust and debris Go to the CFA Safe Mistake Zone • Check electric blankets for kinks in the wiring to find out how to avoid most • Clean the lint filter in your dryer (and continue to do this after every use) commonly made mistakes • Check appliances for visibly frayed or damaged wiring safemistakezone.com.au

OL5

Otway Life Magazine Winter 2015

Community Calendar

coLAc oTwAY

Calendar of Events SAT 6 JUNE Wonder of Whales Mechanics Hall, Apollo Bay & Cape Otway Lightstation 12pm to 9pm www.lightstation.com SAT 6 – SUN 28 JUNE KINSHIP: A Culture of Connection RRRTAG Open Weekends 11am - 4pm www.redrockarts.org.au SUN 7 JUNE Forrest SoupFest Forrest Public Hall 10am - 4pm forrestsoupfest@gmail.com SUN 7 JUNE Run Forrest Barwon River Reserve, Forrest 10am start www.runforest.com.au

SUN 7 JUNE South Colac Duck Drop Derby Elliminyt Recreation Reserve 12 noon - 5pm ryan.fennell@fennellwest.com.au

SAT 4 – SUN 19 JULY CrossXpollinatioN 2015 Lost & Found COPACC 10am - 4pm www.copacc.com.au SAT 4 – SUN 26 JULY CrossXpollinatioN 2015 Lost & Found RRRTAG Open Weekends 11am - 4pm www.redrockarts.org.au

wINTER 2015

SUN 2 – SUN 30 AUGUST The Corangamarah Art Prize RRRTAG Open Weekends 11am - 4pm www.redrockarts.org.au SAT 15 & SUN 16 AUGUST International Lighthouse Weekend Cape Otway Lightstation 9am to 5pm www.lightstation.com FRI 28 AUGUST FReeZA Battle of the Bands COPACC 7 - 11pm ewarton@cah.vic.gov.au DATE To bE ADvISED 22nd Warm Winter Words A Sunday Afternoon in August Apollo Bay Hotel www.apollobay.com/arts

MARkETS Apollo Bay Community Market Every Saturday Apollo Bay Foreshore Apollo Bay Farmers’ Market Third Sunday of each month Apollo Bay Youth Club otway.farmers.market@gmail.com Colac Lions Club Market Third Sunday of each month Colac Memorial Square Sandra 5231 4235

Promote your event with us www.colacotway.vic.gov.au

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