NOVEMBER 2016
FREE
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Living & visiting on the Mornington Peninsula
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M ONTHLY U B LIS H E
Help For The Homeless • Emma McEvoy • A Case Of Serendipity • Balancing • Salon De Refusés • Where Surf And High Fashion Meet • More Than Meets The Eye • A Love Of Cheese Making • The Call Of The Vineyard • Puzzle Corner • Focus On Red Hill
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THE ART OF PERFORMANCE
contents 7. Events 8. Peninsula Styles 11. The Ride of his Life
Phil Trigger talks all things surfing.
16. Help for the Homeless
A local boy is single-handedly keeping homeless people’s feet warm and dry.
Writers: Melissa Walsh, Kristy Martin, Peter McCullough, Cameron McCullough Creative Director: Maria Mirabella Photography: Yanni, Gary Sissons, Jarryd Bravo Publisher: Cameron McCullough Advertising: Brooke Hughes, 0409 219 282 or brooke@mpnews.com.au General enquiries: essence@mpnews.com.au Registered address: 2/1 Tyabb Road, Mornington 3931 Phone: 5973 6424 www.peninsulaessence.com.au /peninsulaessence
20. Emma McEvoy
Taking the photography community by storm.
26. Crafty Cooks on a Mission
The CWA – a team of refined, crafty and creative women on our peninsula.
30. Art that Sparks Conversation
Local carpenter, surfer and sculptor Matt Hill is fast making a name for himself in the art scene with his quirky life-size metal animals.
37. Still Treading the Boards
Roy Thompson is not only still treading the boards; he’s busy script writing as well.
38. Balancing
For a group of young women at Mornington Youth Club (MYC) Gymnastics, it is much more than a sport; it’s a way of life.
46. A Case of Serendipity
Kate Treadwell is a makeup artist from Mt Martha who never dreamed her destiny would lie in importing Moroccan goods, and has now started her online business, Love Moroccan Rugs, and opened her store, Marrakech by Design.
48. The Blue House that Changed Lives
A young couple’s plight to build a house and change a life.
56. Salon De Refuses
The irreverent and playful rabble-rouser of the Archibald, the Salon des Refusés, showcases 'the ones that got away’.
62. Where Surf and High Fashion Meet
Born and bred on the Mornington Peninsula, fashion designer Lukas Vincent has recently won $50,000 in the Australia/New Zealand finals of the International Woolmark Prize.
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66. A Helping Hand for Spiritual Wellbeing
@peninsulaessence
All material is copyright, and may not be reproduced without the express permission of Mornington Peninsula News Group, or the original copyright holder in the case of contributions. Copyright of contributed material rests with the contributor. Disclaimer: The authors and publisher do not assume any liability to any party for any loss, damage or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident or any other cause. This publication is not intended as a substitute for the medical advice of physicians. The reader should regularly consult a physician in matters relating to health and particularly with respect to any symptoms that may require diagnosis or medical attention.
Peninsula Essence is produced Monthly. 30,000 copies (mix of home delivery and bulk dropped at an extensive network of outlets across the peninsula).
A Buddhist monk living in Frankston is helping people find inner peace, while also funding a charity for underprivileged Tibetan children.
70. More than Meets the Eye
He’s the world most tattooed person. He juggles chainsaws and fire torches, and has performed all over the world. But for this tattoo artist and performer, the Mornington Peninsula is fast becoming his spiritual home.
76. A Love of Cheese Making
Tamara Newing stands in her commercial kitchen, lovingly nurturing each and every batch of cheese she creates. This Mt Martha woman is the owner of BoatShed Cheese, a business she began five and a half years ago after the tragic death of her son Reagan in a diving accident.
78. The Brunnings – Nurserymen - Orchardists and Seed Sellers In 1998 Somerville historian Leila Shaw published “The Way We Were.” It is part autobiography and part local history. Prior to her marriage to Gaza Shaw, Leila was a member of the Brunning family and much of the information in this feature article has been extracted from her book.
89. The Call of the Vineyard
Scientist, turned winemaker, David Lloyd on his 21 years at Eldridge Estate.
91. Head Chef delighted to be back in Somerville
Cover Photo: Gunnamatta back beach Photo: Yanni
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Andrew Cox loves the peninsula and when the opportunity came up to work in Somerville it was an offer he couldn’t refuse. The Mt Martha father of two has been back as head chef of the Somerville Hotel for three months now and is embracing the new changes at the venue. PEFC Certified
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94. Crossword 96. Focus on Red Hill November 2016
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November 2016
Peninsula events
November
THE ROYAL SCOTS DRAGOON GUARDS Friday 11th at 7:30pm This British Military Concert Bands promises to be a spectacular concert, giving audiences a whole new experience in Scottish traditional classic tunes, superbly blended with modern music arrangements. thefac.com.au
COOKING EXPERIENCE
TWILIGHT MARKET Saturday 26th 3pm to 8pm Mornington is one of the Peninsula's most appealing coastal towns and its famous Racecourse Market has been a monthly highlight since 1994. marketinfo@craftmarkets.com.au Phone 59763266
Saturday 19th 9:00am to 1:00pm Ever wondered how the Italians and Germans make such great sausages? Green Olive at Red Hill is the place to learn the art of fresh sausage making. 1180 Mornington Flinders Road, Main Ridge. info@greenolive.com.au Phone 03 5989 2992
MELBOURNE COASTREK
FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS
PORTSEA CRAFT MARKET
Friday 18th 6:00am to 11:55pm Coastrek is a 30-60km team trekking challenge run by Wild Women On Top, which journeys along some of the most beautiful coastlines in the world. Raising funds for The Fred Hollows Foundation. melbourne.coastrek@ wildwomenontop.com
Saturday 26th 5:00pm to 10:00pm Create a magical family memory at Frankston's Christmas Festival of Lights. Enjoy live entertainment, stage shows, tree lighting ceremony, fireworks, arrival of Santa and more. Davey Street, Frankston Phone Phone 97841060
Sunday 27th 9:00am to 2:00pm Set amongst the historic Quarantine Station, wander through and soak up the exceptional atmosphere and regenerate your senses at this delightful market. End of Point Nepean Road, Portsea. www.facebook.com/ pages/Craft-Markets-Australia Phone 5976 3266
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November 2016
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THE RIDE OF HIS LIFE
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By Melissa Walsh
P
hil Trigger surfs five days a week or more depending on the weather. He and his brother Paul’s shop at Point Leo is exactly how you would imagine it to be when they built it all the way back in 1977, after buying cheap blocks of land in the coastal area that they loved.
Phil hates wearing shoes and only wears them when he’s making boards out the back of the shop in the same room he started in nearly 40 years ago. He is not into technology and refuses to have a mobile phone. He is relaxed, cool and calm and you would never know he was the part owner of the hugely successful Trigger Brothers surf brand, or pushing 64. For the two brothers, their love of surfing started way back in 1964, with their first ride on their older brother’s surf board at Bonbeach. “The first surfboard we rode was Peter’s 9ft 6 inch Malibu that he custom ordered from his wages received in the Air Force. As soon as we rode it we were hooked,” said Phil who was 13 and his brother 15 at the time. “We used to call ourselves the Bonbeach ripple riders and wore our Chelsea footy jumpers to keep warm. The first time we surfed real surf at Point Leo was at Christmas that year on a trip with mum and dad.” It was only four years later that Trigger Bros Surfboards was conceived with a suggestion by a schoolmate that they make their own. “Peter Evans suggested we make our own boards and Marine Fiberglass Supplies in the city had blanks and everything, but there was no advice and no internet. At first we had no equipment other than a hand plane, sand paper and paint brush to glass it with. To clean up we used boiling water and mum’s washing powder – no gloves,” said Phil, who then got a traineeship with the PMG while Paul became a trainee teacher. “Paul met up with Ted Bainbridge and the two of them took off surfing. I lasted two years in a secure job and then in 1970 took a year off to surf,” said Phil, who kept making boards and then opened a shop in Chelsea two years later selling boards for $69. "Ted and Paul moved into the back rooms, and soon we had a team of hardcore surfers. It was Peter Daniels who gave us the opportunity to surf with someone who would lift our surfing to new heights.” Always trying to work out better and safer ways to surf, the boys soon cut a foot off the end of their boards and found they were a massive part of the short board revolution. “We also noticed the other surfers attaching their boards to themselves with a piece of cord. We thought it was risky but decided to try it one day in two-foot waves at Portsea. We got the nylon cords off the roof racks on Paul’s kombi and poked a hole in the fin with the can opener and knotted the other end to our ankles. Within a month everybody on the peninsula was using hankies, panty hose or a dog collar.” continued next page...
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Attractions
It was 1974 when the young men contributed $1500 into the Peninsula Surf Centre with Ted Bainbridge as manager and front man; little did they know the success that was to follow with a sea change to Point Leo long before it was trendy they now have made 30,000 boards carrying their name. “The land and shop cost us $28,000 and the board-making room out the back is exactly the same. While the shapes of boards might have changed, the process is the same with the same look and the same smells. It is like walking into a time capsule,” said Phil, who still gets in and makes boards with John and Alan who have been with him for 39 years. “It’s a far cry from when we started making boards in the backyard at Helendale Street, Chelsea where we lived seven doors down from the high school.”
the same as our dad’s store.” These days Trigger Brothers continues to be a family business, with Paul in Balnarring, Phil at Point Leo, and son Matthew running a store. They have shops in Sorrento, Frankston and Point Leo, a huge arrangement of products from surf boards to ski and snow gear, accessories, clothes, boards and skateboards, and have won their fair share of surfing competitions. But more days than not you will find Phil checking out the surf at his beloved Point Leo, ready to catch another great wave, or in the back room in his white overalls adding the final touches to the next board.
When you have such a cruisy attitude it seems that good things come to you and Phil says one of the funniest moments in their business was with the purple tracksuit pants. “We had ordered these girls tracksuit pants to be made in different colours. So we had 10,000 pairs of these trackies delivered to the shop and when we opened them they were fluorescent purple and not what we wanted. We didn’t know what we were going to do with them so gave some to Georgia Fish to wear and then everybody wanted them. They became the most popular tracksuit pant we ever sold, and we had to take orders for them,” said Phil with a laugh. “The major surf companies ended up copying our fluoro colours and there were even cheap counterfeit ones being sold in markets.” And as for coming up with the name :Trigger Brothers", Phil said they weren’t the first ones to have it. “My dad and his brother owned a grocery shop in the main street of Queenscliff called Trigger Brothers so we looked at it and kept the name. We even tried to copy the old fashioned writing to stay
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November 2016
December 1975 L-to-R: Paul Trigger, Ian Cochrane and Phil Trigger
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HELP
FOR THE HOMELESS By Kristy Martin Photos: Jarryd Bravo
A local boy is single-handedly keeping homeless people’s feet warm and dry, as Kristy Martin discovers.
K
indness is afoot in the Berry household of Mt Eliza. Ten-year-old Josh Berry is leading the charge, as he aims to collect two pairs of socks for every homeless person in Victoria.
And with 23,000 homeless people in the state, Josh hopes to get his hands on a whopping 50,000 pairs of new socks. It’s a hugely ambitious project for a 10-year-old, but then Josh is not your average kid. The home-schooled local lad has a kindness and compassion rarely found in most adults, let alone someone so young. “Josh has a very compassionate heart,” says his mother, Jane. “He is kind and he just loves helping people.”
Desperate to help, Josh went home and googled ‘What do homeless people need most?’ and was surprised to find that housing wasn’t among the most sought after items – but warm socks were. “Homeless people say that one of the things they need most are clean, warm socks,” Josh explains. “People give blankets and jackets, usually when they no longer fit them or get another jacket, but you never give away your holey socks.” Clean, well-fitting new socks are an integral part of foot care, agrees Melanie Raymond of Youth Projects, one of the organisations Josh is helping. “People experiencing homelessness have major health issues with their feet, because it is difficult to care properly for your feet in those circumstances. “You can’t simply kick off your shoes and relax at the end of the day when you are homeless.
She and her husband Gary are, understandably, incredibly proud of their son.
“Being on your feet all the time in the same shoes and socks, exposed to damp, causes infection and puts people at risk of ‘trench foot’.”
The 2 Pairs Each Project was launched mid-last year, after Josh was walking through Melbourne’s CBD with his parents and saw a group of homeless people.
Trench foot is a painful medical condition caused by prolonged immersion in cold water or mud, which leads to a blackening of the foot and death of the surface tissue.
The weather was chilly and he couldn’t believe these people would remain out in the cold.
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“Imagine if you only had one pair of socks,” Josh says.
“HOMELESS PEOPLE SAY THAT ONE OF THE THINGS THEY NEED MOST ARE CLEAN, WARM SOCKS,”
“What do you do if you want to wash your clothes? “If you don’t have another pair to put on, then your feet get cold.” So far, Josh has collected over 10,000 pairs of socks and counting. He has also been given more than 1451 items of warm clothing and blankets. He and his family make regular trips to Frankston and Melbourne to distribute the socks and other goods to homeless people they are connected with through RDNS (Royal District Nursing Service), Community Support Frankston, the Salvation Army and Youth Projects. They are not only delivering warmth and comfort with each pair, but also helping to boost self esteem. “Feeling clean and refreshed is an important part of maintaining your identity and self esteem in such difficult circumstances,” says Melanie, Youth Projects chair. “Being able to supply clean socks is a small but valuable benefit for people struggling on the streets, whether in extreme heat or cold.” Jane Berry says the sock recipients are always incredibly grateful. “In St Kilda, most people will only take one pair of socks in order to leave the other pair for someone who needs it more.” The Berry family has learned a wealth of information about
homelessness, including that there are three levels – primary: no conventional accommodation or sleeping rough, secondary: sleeping in emergency accommodation or couch surfing and tertiary: lodging in boarding houses or caravan parks. They have visited the tent community under King Street Bridge, helped serve at food trucks and found that many homeless people won’t sleep at night because they don’t feel safe. They have talked to a variety of people, including those with mental illnesses, former prisoners, drug addicts (current and reformed) and even a survivor of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge. “It was important to us to not just give the socks as a token, but to actually stand there and have a conversation with people,” says Jane. “It has been a real eye opener.” Most of the homeless people have little in the way of social networks, so they are just grateful to have someone who will listen. They are always surprised to learn that the help has been instigated by someone as young as Josh. It is through his 2 Pairs Each website, social media and even just word of mouth that the project has gained support from near and far. Earlier this year, he received a $1000 grant from a local newspaper, which he used to buy 570 pairs of socks. continued next page...
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Josh has appeared on Channel 9 News, was featured in the Huffington Post and has received grants from US-based organisations Start a Snowball and The Pollination Project. He has inspired children he knows in Western Australia to sell mandarins from their backyard tree because they wanted money to help him buy socks. He’s got an elderly supporter in Warragul who saves money from her pension and donates socks every month. And he has been continuously supported by countless local residents and businesses. You might say kindness is contagious. Melanie says 2 Pairs Each has greatly assisted Youth Projects, which provides frontline support for homeless people, including free health care, counselling, showers, laundry and food, as well as links to training and employment. “Josh sets a great example for other young people showing that you can make a difference. “He has taken the time to get to know us and what our needs are and why socks are important, and been someone, despite his age, we can depend on for really strong support.” Every decision about 2 Pairs Each is Josh’s own and his parents and sister, Sarah, 13, are there to help every step of the way. He even came up with the ingenious idea of contacting major sports stadiums and ski resorts and asking if they could donate lost property to his cause. The MCG is now regularly donating jumpers, hoodies and jackets that spectactors have left at the grounds. Jane is continually amazed at her son’s determination and also his patience. “I wasn’t sure his goal of 50,000 was actually achievable, but now it’s just over one year on and we are already at 10,000 so I’m thinking ‘Wow, this is amazing’.” Josh hopes he can finish the project within a few years. “Then I can live a normal life,” he says. “I think I’ll have two years’ rest and then hopefully do something else.” We have no doubt Josh will go on to even bigger and better things. Watch this space. If you’d like to help Josh, head to 2pairseach.com.au
With the harsh Australian weather conditions, one thing that really suffers is the old door and window frames of the family home. That’s why a couple of switched on lads decided to bring Living Design Double Glazing to the Mornington Peninsula. Living Design manufacture the best REHAU German engineered UPVC Windows and doors available in Australia, and are the only REHAU Heritage double hung manufacturer in Australia. “We locally manufacture our windows and doors at our factory and we welcome visitors to come in and see the extensive range of affordable products,” said Kim Larmour, of Living Design. “The windows and doors are high performance, maintenance free and double glazed. If your windows are rotted, it’s the perfect time to get the boys to come out and do a free quote. The REHAU windows and door frames are perfect
as replacements for your tired old windows and doors. They maximise energy efficiency and significantly reduce noise. Guaranteed to reduce your heating costs in the winter and cooling costs in the summer and you will never have to paint your windows and doors again.” Specifically designed and tested for the Australian climate, REHAU Window and Door systems are fully welded and internally glazed as standard giving enhanced security, non-corrosive, non-flammable, dust proof, energy efficient, cyclone rated and weather proof, and have a 10 year unconditional guarantee including installation. “Give us a call to do a free measure and quote, or come into the showroom and check out the extensive range, so you can understand fully the product range and its benefits,” said Kim. Living Design Double Glazing was
established in July, 2015 by Simon Craig, Del and Kim Larmour, who are all highly skilled in the industry, with Simon a REHAU Manufacturer since 1988, and Del a qualified carpenter since 1994. “We totally understood the benefits of the product having come from Europe and growing up in Scotland, moving to Australia about 10 years ago. We knew the system would be perfect for Australia and have already got incredible feedback from people who have replaced windows and doors,” said Simon and Del. Unlike many imported brands, Living Design Double Glazing Windows & Doors are Australian made assured to withstand weather extremes. Living Design Double Glazing is also an Australian Window Association member which means the AWA fully guarantee all work.
We manufacture and install the best REHAU German engineered UPVC windows and Cool Gray 11 PMS 368 doors available in Australia. Our windows & doors maximise energy efficiency and significantly reduce noise, are guaranteed to reduce your heating costs in winter and cooling costs in summer and you will never need to paint your windows and doors again.
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Emma McEvoy “My images speak for me, expressing what words often cannot”
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November 2016
By Cameron McCullough Photos: Emma McEvoy
B
ritish fashion photographer Tim Walker one said “Only photograph what you love.” For Emma McEvoy, the things she loves are truly beautiful. The 28-year-old photographer from Mount Martha is taking the photography community by storm with photographs taken both locally and from all corners of the world, which are sublime in their subject matter and construction. Emma has travelled widely, and photographed remote and interesting locations such as Iceland and Namibia. Closer to home, she has worked with a visual arts slant to compose photographs that are winning awards and turning heads. “I have a background in visual arts, so I like to build scenes within the camera as much as possible”, said Emma. This means less reliance on the easier path of altering the images in Photoshop, and more time spent sourcing props and locations to produce her artwork. “Fine art is my passion, and I spend a lot of time getting things just right to keep the photography as pure as possible.” Far from being satisfied with staying local and working on her fine art photography, Emma has chosen to spread her wings and travel extensively. “I was lucky enough to get an artist’s residency in Iceland in 2014, which was an absolute revelation.” “It allowed me to explore photography in one of the most beautiful locations in the world.” The next year her father was heading to Africa on business, and Emma couldn’t hold back from the opportunity. “I’m coming with you!” she said. What came next was a journey that resulted in a photography collection, and subsequent exhibition back in Melbourne.
“I see much similarity between the two countries. I’d love to do an exhibition comparing the two.” It was Emma’s journey to an old diamond mining town in Namibia that produced the work that ended up as an exhibition in Melbourne. “The town was called Kolmanskop. The abandoned ghost town had been completely overtaken by the desert. The rooms were out of this world as they were about to be filled with sand which made them all the more surreal,” said Emma. Back in Melbourne, she knew she had something worthy of exhibition. “I love the idea of exhibiting, but don’t favour the traditional gallery setting. I wanted to make something new and mindblowing!” That began the search for a place to exhibit. Emma knew exactly what she wanted, but finding the location was no mean feat. “I began looking for an abandoned house where I could recreate what I saw in Namibia. It meant finding a wreck that I could fill with sand!” Luckily for Emma, she came across some property developers who had an old house in Fitzroy due for demolition. “They were really supportive. It was fantastic.” Emma then set about filling the rooms with sand, and hanging her Namibia prints on the walls. “It was a great experience, and it was wonderful to speak to people who visited the exhibition. They were probably not expecting to have to climb over sand dunes as they journeyed from room to room to view the artwork, but it really brought to the exhibition the feel of Namibia, and the ever-invasive sand dunes.” The exhibition was a great success, and has opened doors.
“I really like to get off the beaten track and investigate unique landscapes. “
“I am hoping that I may be able to exhibit in Sydney before too long.”
While her two recent trips overseas seem like polar opposites with the frozen landscapes of Iceland, and the fluid movement of desert landscapes in Namibia, Emma doesn’t see it that way.
The sky is the limit for Emma, who started chasing her passion continued next page...
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for photography at a young age. In fact, it was at Padua College that she first began working with photography and fine art. “It was 35mm film back then, and developing in the darkroom”. “It was a great introduction. The course was called ‘studio arts’ and it was a great foundation. It really established my obsession with photography,” said Emma. After school Emma pursued a course in visual merchandising before realising she had left the path that she was most passionate about. Then came a switch to photography studies at Photography Studies College in Melbourne. “It was a four year part time advanced diploma, which I followed up with a Bachelor of Photography”. The journey has resulted in Emma making a career out of her passion, a situation which she doesn’t take for granted. “I try to give back and share knowledge where possible. I really love and appreciate that photography is a community of likeminded people. “ And never in history has collaboration and networking been so possible.
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“With social media like Instagram, you can show your work to a very wide audience. It is imperative to bear it in mind, even to the point of visualizing shots in a square format that suits Instagram.” What does the future hold for Emma? "I have actually just got back from South Korea where I shot a music video, which was something different and great fun! "I was so close to China that I went over to investigate locations for a future trip. I think I will be heading back to China in a few weeks to photograph some amazing abandoned locations there. "Hopefully I can package the new photos together with my Namibian photographs and exhibit them together next year" No doubt that trip will further the trajectory of this rising star of photography; a peninsula girl that has the world at her feet. Emma McEvoy’s artwork is available for purchase. Her website is www.emmamcevoy.com. You can follow Emma’s photography and fine art on Instagram at @e_mcevoy.
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âœ
Body!
CRAFTY COOKS ON A
MISSION
By Melissa Walsh Photos: Yanni
E
ver since the suffragettes shouted “Deeds not words” women all around the world have put that motto to the test, none more so than the Country Women’s Association.
issues. The CWA also encourages supporting community and taking an interest in the workings of government at all levels. It awards educational grants and scholarships.
These refined, crafty and creative women around the country have a huge following on the Mornington Peninsula. Victoria itself has over 5,600 members, 40 Groups and 320 branches throughout the state meeting either day or night. Their aim is to improve conditions by community service more especially, the welfare of women and children.
Member of Honour, Mrs Kaye Kyle, has been part of the CWA Mornington Peninsula for more than two decades, after moving down to Rosebud and not knowing many people.
The CWA is a self-funded volunteer philanthropic organisation with a focus on friendship, personal development and advocacy, and encourages advocating on community issues; sustainable development and the protection of the environment; and social
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“My mother-in-law and sister-in-law are members at Rosebud. When I joined I hadn’t known a great deal about the CWA, but it was wonderful raising money for the community, teaching craft, having big cake stalls at Bunnings, and really feeling like you are making a difference, all with the added bonus of continued next page...
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amazing comaraderie amongst the women,” said the 74 year old. “It is such a supportive network. I have found that I have been able to do jobs within the network that I never dreamed I would do, like state treasurer at one stage and then becoming chairperson of the Royal Melbourne Show.” Mrs Kyle says there are a lot of young ones joining the association now and a lot of night branches opening up for mums who cannot get away during the day. “CWA has night branches and it’s not a new thing. For a lot of country women it was the only time they had free as they were busy on the farms. These days with working mothers we have a group called the Peninsula Belles which is a night time branch. I think it’s more important than ever as there are so many people in need. We sew and knit for different things, supply all the rugs for nursing homes, help out at the high school, meals on wheels, and help children read.” As one of only seven Members of Honour in the state, Mrs Kyle was delighted to have been awarded the title 12 months ago. “I have put my heart and soul into the place for the last 22 years and it is great for lonely people to make such wonderful friendships,” said Mrs Kyle who moved to the peninsula when all her children were grown up. “My husband’s family were all in Rosebud so for him it was like coming home but I felt very alone.” With the CWA members find themselves pushing their boundaries of what they can do.
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"I JOINED WHEN I WAS 52 AND MY ONLY REGRET IS I WISHED I HAD BEEN PART OF IT EARLIER, BEING PART OF A WORLDWIDE NETWORK OF CITY AND RURAL WOMEN SUPPORTING WOMEN, CHILDREN AND FAMILIES.”
“It’s a matter of doing what’s needed. I did creative performing arts so you challenge yourself to do things that are outside your comfort zone. They show you cooking skills and have weekends where they teach you to do preserves or jams or sponges. Rosebud branch is very keen on craft and meets every Wednesday. They give a lot of the knitted blankets or crocheted blankets to the community, make baby blankets and clothing and give a lot of goods to the islanders. It is very rewarding to think you’ve helped in some way.” While the CWA might be great knitters and cook the best sponges, don’t be fooled by the gentle exterior. These are some strong minded women who are not just there to make scones and tea. “We do a lot in the community. We have a voice in Canberra with a national body that takes problems to Canberra. While we are a nonpolitical organization we do have a voice on different committees,” said Mrs Kyle. “I joined when I was 52 and my only regret is I wished I wasn't part of it earlier, being part of a worldwide network of city and rural women supporting women, children and families.”
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Art that
SPARKS c o n v e r s a t i o n
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By Kristy Martin Photos: Jarryd Bravo
Local carpenter, surfer and sculptor Matt Hill is fast making a name for himself in the art scene with his quirky life-size metal animals. He chats with Kristy Martin about creating art that gets people talking.
I
f you type ‘kangaroo sculpture’ into Google’s image search engine, you will come across pages and pages of results. But have you ever seen a sculpture of a dead kangaroo? How would it make you feel? Rye-based artist Matt Hill wants to find out. His piece titled 'What’s that Skip? Did you get their rego?' sets out to challenge the perception of Australia’s iconic national animal. The 1.6 metre kangaroo sculpture, made from Corten steel, was among several of Matt’s works displayed at Merricks General Wine Store earlier this year. Slumped on the grass outside the gallery, the metal roo attracted many curious stares and comments. People didn’t quite know what to think. But that’s the way Matt likes it. And, according to the artist himself, people "ain’t seen nothing yet". He is currently sculpting a dead emu to go alongside the kangaroo, in what will be his own original spin on Australia’s 50 cent piece. He hopes to one day showcase the work at Hobart’s MONA (Museum of Old and New Art), famous for its controversial and confronting displays and described by Matt as the “pinnacle of art galleries”. Matt has set out to make a name for himself with his unique life-size animals that he hopes will spark conversation. He spends hours welding huge elephants and hippos and is always looking for something larger or more provocative to build, like his Roadkill series. “Art can be so repetitive, especially abstract paintings,” Matt explains. “I have put my reputation on the line to do something that hasn’t been done before. “Love or hate these pieces, you will talk about them.” Matt is not afraid to face detractors either, making a point of continued next page...
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replying to any negative comments he gets on social media. “I posted a photo of my kangaroo on Facebook and, to my surprise, 90 per cent liked it, five per cent weren't sure and five per cent were happy to tell me how much they hated it and how wrong it was. “I'm surprised I didn't get more negative feedback, but wait till they see the emu. “Did you know that emus can't walk backwards? “This one should have!” Matt, a carpenter by trade, loves a challenge, so there is a visible progression in his art. He started out making statues of dogs from rusty pipes, but it was when he came across the architectural software AutoCAD that he began to experiment with geometric designs and taught himself to weld. His first piece, titled Simple Sphere, ended up winning an award at an Albert Park art exhibition. Shifting focus from symmetrical cubes and spheres to animals, Matt was originally inspired to create a pair of life-size African elephants after watching a David Attenborough documentary. “I just love making things. “If they sell, great. “If they don't, great - I'll have a zoo at home,” he laughs. “Some people have garden gnomes; I’ll have life-size animals.” One of his latest sculptures, the 2.1 metre Harry the Hippo, took more than 100 hours to complete, while the larger of the two elephants, Ellie, took 150 hours. The impressive elephants, displayed (and sold) as a pair, won the People’s Choice Award at Art Red Hill earlier this year. Works like Harry and Ellie are so huge and heavy they require a crane to be moved. But Matt enjoys placing them on the back of his ute and driving around, simply to gauge people’s reactions. “I have driven them to the city and had people in the fast lane taking photos. “Some reactions are funny, I drove past a busker who stopped singing mid-song to point and tell me he loved the baby elephant.” Matt’s work was most recently displayed at the Dromana Art Show, where he was this year’s featured artist. While the animals are certainly helping to get his name out there, Matt has also experienced success with his industrial landscape art. His geometric steel sculptures, which create dazzling shadows when lit up at night, have been showcased in hotels, wineries and private homes. He has even designed a series of these for hotels in Japan. In fact, Japanese architecture has had a major influence on Matt,
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“LOVE OR HATE THESE PIECES, YOU WILL TALK ABOUT THEM.” continued page 36
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who spent seven years in Hokkaido, in northern Japan, where he owned a bar.
complex and – if his aspirations are any indication - more controversial.
“Three years ago, I sent eight sculptures to Japan to be displayed in a hotel foyer and penthouse rooms.
“I think MONA is the only place you could have Australian native animals that have been hit by an F100,” he says.
“I was at a loose end and I asked the developer what his next project was. “He told me he was just finishing the concept for a hotel in Hokkaido called Aya, which means 'to flow or to weave’. “With this in mind, I designed an off-axis woven metal screen. “I sent him the concept image and he told me that the architect and interior designers loved it. “I sold my design to him for six figures.” Despite his success in the art world, Matt remains humble and is not afraid to have a laugh, even at his own expense. When he’s not working or surfing the back beaches, he is likely to be found drumming up some new art in his mate’s factory. He spends roughly 15 hours a week welding, a pastime he finds almost therapeutic. “I love it, I just zone out until I burn myself,” he jokes. When asked where he sees himself in five years, Matt returns to the idea of exhibiting work at MONA. After all, his sculptures will probably only get bigger, more
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“I guess I'll have to find a cheap F100 now!” To see more of Matt’s work, visit www.matthillprojects.com or check him out on Facebook and Instagram.
YOUNG INVENTOR IN THE ZONE By Melissa Walsh
T
erry Scott has always marched to the beat of his own drum. As a kid at school he thought differently from the other kids, and knew it. Along with his brother David, the pair grew up on acreage in Devon Meadows and spent hours tinkering with their bikes in the shed. They played outdoors from sunrise to dusk while young Terry’s mind was always ticking over about new things to create.
“As an adult, whether I was working in WA as a shotcreter, landscaping, or floor sanding, I always looked for a better way to do things to make the jobs more productive and safe,” said Terry. Now in his thirties, Terry can proudly call himself an entrepreneur with his award winning invention, Neato®, which is a breakthrough organiser that puts all the tools you're working with right at your fingertips. And for this young inventor, everything is falling into place with his creation winning an award in the 2016 Smart
100, the largest awards program dedicated to innovation in Australia. “It’s been a long time coming but when we won the award this year it was proof that the Neato® was something special,” said Terry of his innovative design that starts with three flexible arms that connect with interchangeable attachments from a magnetised board and tray for smaller items, to a mobile phone holder, funnel and high powered light. “Neato® started in 2009 when I was in my garage working on the car and becoming repeatedly frustrated at not having enough hands to do the job efficiently. I realised there had to be a way to work more effectively and it was then the light bulb moment occurred for tool organisation.” With the reality that creativity is an ebb and flow process, it wasn’t long before the peninsula inventor came to a standstill with his idea and longed for further inspiration. Always following his heart and continued next page... November 2016
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“I WAS LIKE ANYONE WITH AN IDEA AND KNEW THEN THAT I HAD TO SPEND THE NEXT FEW YEARS WORKING OUT THE MECHANISMS OF THE PRODUCT, AND HOW TO MAKE IT MOBILE WHICH WAS THE MOST COMPLEX ISSUE."
intuition, Terry soon travelled overseas to the US in 2010 to do some research for the business and watch the US Open Pro at Huntington Beach. In a serendipitous turn of events, Terry found the inspiration he was searching for through an unexpected meeting with the great surfer Mick Fanning. “I was sitting in the street at Huntington Beach literally at a crossroads at my life, looking to the future and where I was going. I knew I wanted to invent this thing and do something special but I felt a bit lost. I wandered across the road to go to the bathroom and saw Mick Fanning walking out. We chatted and I told him I had come from Australia to watch him surf. Because I was by myself he told his staff to give me a wrist band and come and meet the boys. The next nine hours changed my life forever. I figured if someone with such a high profile as Mick Fanning was so nice and bent over backwards to help me, then there was more to the world and what it offered,” said Terry, who came home with a new perspective. “I was reinvigorated and I didn’t know what it would take, but I suddenly had the confidence to know I could do it,” said Terry who had developed a relaxed philosophical outlook from a young age. The next two years, armed with a new found motivation, and a philosophical belief in destiny, Terry worked on bringing his invention to fruition. “I was like anyone with an idea and knew then that I had to spend the next few years working out the mechanisms of the product, and how to make it mobile which was the most complex issue. I collaborated with a product designer, Daniel, and found Brian
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Goldberg who introduced me to IP Protection and trademarks. The first prototype had 109 components that all needed to talk to each other. The final product has 179.” Now Neato® is gaining national attention by motor vehicle enthusiasts, professional mechanics, shed warriors, hobbyists and office workers alike – anyone with two hands looking for a third. And while Terry has been offered some serious cash for his invention, he knows that he wants to keep the personal control over his baby and is offering crowd funding opportunities on his world-first tool management system. To find out about the opportunity to get in early on this inspirational product go to www.inurzone.com
STILL TREADING THE BOARDS By Melissa Walsh Photos: Yanni
H
TUZZI DAVID POND SABATINI LS COLLECTION JOSEPH RIBKOFF DRAMA ANNETTE GORTZ BLUE BLANC ROUGE CAP FERRAT DENNY ROSE ISABEL DE PEDRO BRAX ELISA CAVALETTI GAUDI CREA CONCEPT TALBOT RUNHOF MARELLA CARTISE
e’s worked in the theatre since being a lad; he studied his craft at The Ensemble Theatre in the Round, worked in television and film, and three decades ago decided to make the peninsula his home.
At the ripe young age of 74, Roy Thompson is not only still treading the boards; he’s busy script writing as well. This month he brings his popular stage show to Rosebud with the satirical play, Eric’s Homecoming. “I wrote Eric’s Homecoming about three years ago and we performed it in Mt Eliza Community Hall to a sold out season so I decided this year to bring it to Rosebud,” said Roy, of the show that will be performed with the Southern Peninsula Players. “It is a funny and poignant drama about a family who is welcoming home their son after he has been overseas for several years. The first act we see the family prepare for the homecoming and in the second act his secret comes out.” For Roy writing Eric’s Homecoming was an enjoyable experience, a way to create a light-hearted night’s entertainment centred on a poignant topic. “It has wonderfully rich characters and some Australian characteristics portrayed at their most extreme,” said Roy, whose passion for the theatre was ignited as a young boy when he first saw a production set with James Mason. “I was living in Belfast and was walking to school one day when I saw people filming a movie with James Mason. I didn’t go to school that day and sat talking to him and my life was never the same.”
CATERING FOR: SPECIAL OCCASION DRESSING MOTHER OF THE BRIDE/GROOM
Roy’s career has been long and varied. While he made a living working a nine to five job, acting was always on the horizon. And he has no signs of giving up the stage with this upcoming production and plenty of ideas in the pipeline. Eric’s Homecoming is being performed on Thursday November 3, Friday November 4, Saturday November 5, Friday November 11 and Saturday November 12 at the Rosebud Memorial Hall. Book through the website www.spptheatre.comau or phone 5976 4494.
MON-SAT 9am-6pm SUN 1pm-5pm
9775 4022 5976 1633 9509 0633 5442 1569
72-74 Mt Eliza Way, Mt Eliza 5/59 Barkly St, Mornington 1180 High St, Armadale 75 Mitchell St, Bendigo
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By Kristy Martin Photos: Jarryd Bravo
I
t’s not all flashy moves and sparkly leotards. Gymnastics takes skill, discipline, money and time.
For a group of young women at Mornington Youth Club (MYC) Gymnastics, it is much more than a sport, it’s a way of life. The girls in squad one – the club’s best of the best – train for four hours a day, six days a week. But while the amount of time they put in is comparable to a part-time job, there is no financial gain. Instead, these gymnasts, aged 12 to 22, are driven by a fierce passion and a desire to compete. They train year-round with just four weeks off, showing up day after day and putting their bodies on the line. They’ve got blistered hands, bruises and tape strapping their wrists and ankles. They are subjected to debilitating injuries, repeated surgeries and lengthy bouts of rehabilitation. They compete in strict competitions at state and national level and somehow also manage to balance school and family life. So, how do they do it? A big part of it is having incredibly supportive parents, says coach Micayla Matthews. “The parents basically have to be supportive because they spend so much time driving them here. “They also take them to things outside the gym, like physio, massage and chiro and all those kinds of things they need to do for rehab. “Also, they’re making sure they are eating healthy, supporting them with school and then going to watch them at comps on the weekend, so they really are a big part of it.” For many of the parents, life revolves around gymnastics. This is certainly the case for Mandy Clynes, mother of 14-yearold Hannah. “It’s always been that your life revolves around the club and the training,” she says.
ACT
“But it’s worth it when you see them compete.” Mandy’s daughter Hannah was named Level 8 champion at the Victorian Gymnastics Championships earlier this year. But success in the arena comes at a price, particularly when it comes to Hannah’s social life. “Commitment is a massive thing,” says Mandy. “She’s had to turn down lots of invitations, but I think all the girls are so used to it. continued next page...
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“Their love of gymnastics outweighs going out.” In fact, she never hears Hannah complain. “She recently had a week off after competition and couldn’t wait to get back to training. “She said the break was too long.” For Kim Hutchins, family holidays are scheduled around her daughter Taylor’s gymnastics competitions. “Gymnastics is a huge commitment,” the mum of three says. “We live in Rye and are driving to Mornington for training six days a week.” It is also a massive financial obligation for these families, with annual training fees for the exclusive squad program reaching $5500.
“The value you get for it - the training, the coaches, everything it’s all worth it.” Kim Hutchins agrees. She saw years of hard work pay off when Taylor won overall first place for Level 9 at the Australian Gymnastics Championships in May. “I believe that if my children are passionate about something, then I’ll do everything in my power to make it happen. “I’d hate to have to tell her she couldn’t do something she loves because we couldn’t afford it.” Plus, she says, gymnastics has taught her daughter a variety of transferrable skills, including organisational skills, resilience and determination. “Her time management is very good.
Factor in the cost of leotards, competition entry fees and accommodation and they are potentially shelling out close to five figures.
“She knows what she has to do to get everything done and she does it.
“It is expensive and the cost is something we have to factor in every month, but we are used to it now,” says Mandy Clynes.
“It’s really nice that she feels she belongs to something outside of
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“And her confidence has gone up.
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school, and it is a community of like-minded people. “It has really brought her out of her shell.” MYC Gymnastics has undergone a huge transformation in recent years. In 2014, the club relocated from a small building on Wilsons Road to a spacious new gym at the Civic Centre on Dunns Road. The gymnasts now use entirely state-of-the-art Janssen Fritsen equipment, including a variety of apparatuses and a huge foam pit. Micayla, who along with fellow squad coach Jodie Wade won Gymnastics Victoria’s Coaching Team of the Year in 2015, says the club owes much of its success to its new headquarters. Gymnastics classes are now available to everyone, from kinder kids to adults, and for some age groups there is even a 12-month waiting list. The majority of coaches are former gymnasts themselves and the club also offers teenagers a training program to become coaches. To be selected for the exclusive squad program, gymnasts must be highly skilled, strong, flexible and coordinated.
Just ask 16-year-old Demi Westlake, who was last year diagnosed with bone marrow edema and bone bruising on both ankles. Demi started gymnastics at four years old and was competing nationally at eight, but after her diagnosis was instructed to avoid high impact activities. She even had to limit the amount of walking she did each day. But she refused to give up gymnastics. “It was tough and it was frustrating because it was six months that I was still going to training, but I could only do strength (training) and rehab.” During this time, Demi had to focus solely on bars (most of the girls do floor, bars, beam and vault), but she stuck with it, built up her skillset and still successfully competed in the Victorian Championships this year, where she came fifth. Demi, a Year 11 student at Flinders Christian College, says it has been a struggle managing gymnastics with VCE and doesn’t know how much time she will be able to commit next year.
“You need to be mentally tough, you need to have passion for the sport, you need to be able to work hard and be focused,” Micayla says.
She knows there will come a day when she has to give up the sport altogether, however, like many of the girls in her squad, she simply can’t imagine a life without gymnastics.
“Obviously, with how much training there is, you also need to enjoy it enough that you could give up other things.”
“I’ve been doing it for so long and it’s such a big part of my life that it’s going to be strange when the times comes and I have to stop.”
The dedication in these gymnasts is demonstrated by their willingness to train so hard. “I don’t think you could make a child train for 22 hours a week if they weren’t passionate,” says Kim Hutchins. With the sheer amount of training these girls do also comes the risk of injury.
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For more information about Mornington Youth Club Gymnastics, head to www.myc.gymnastics.org.au
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A CASE OF SERENDIPITY By Melissa Walsh Photos: Yanni
B
ursting at the seams with scintillating sights, sounds, colour and flavour, Morocco is a far cry from the Mornington Peninsula but one woman has found her calling in that exotic land. Kate Treadwell is a makeup artist from Mt Martha who never dreamed her destiny would lie in importing Moroccan goods, and has now started her online business, Love Moroccan Rugs, and opened her store, Marrakech by Design. It was 12 months ago when an introduction to a rug changed the life of this mother of two. In a serendipitous turn of events, Kate went over and saw a new rug that a friend had just bought from Morocco. “After that I was completely obsessed. I went home and looked
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up everything I could about Morocco, and by March this year I was over there on a buying trip,” said Kate, who has found steps in setting up the business all just came together. “On the first day of opening the store, I sold two rugs and the momentum just keeps growing.” People from all over Victoria venture to the Mordialloc shop to see the huge and varied range of Moroccan goods, from handmade rugs, woven by women in the Atlas Mountains, handmade leather bags with vintage coins, Moroccan jewellery, Berber baskets and handmade Berber plates, ceramics, pom pom towels, brass hooks, vintage Moroccan locks, ancient tribal markers, and vintage makeup holders for kohl powder. “The rugs are made by the women living in the Atlas Mountains and each one tells a story. They often make their rugs out of wool
or old used clothes. The symbols on them tell a story about their lives,” said Kate. “We also have these incredible mud cloth towels made in Mali. They are colour blocked and you can see the mud. They make them in the panels and sew them together and then hand block them. We have ceramics and a few things from local artists, paintings, jewellery and craft items. I love the umbrellas and rugs and all the incredible vibrant colours.” Even though Kate is on the phone every night to Morocco, running the shop and the online store, she knows this is exactly what she’s meant to be doing. “This is exactly where I am meant to be and I am loving every minute.” Marrakech by Design is at 228 Beach Road, Mordialloc. Phone 0438640787. www.lovemoroccanrugs.com.au
Expect to pay around half the price FOR AN APPOINTMENT CALL
1300 230 730 SUITE 6 UPPER LEVEL 38A MAIN STREET, MORNINGTON w w w. d i a m o n d c o c o . c o m . a u November 2016
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The LITTLE
BLUE HOUSE
THAT CHANGED LIVES By Kristy Martin Photos: Jarryd Bravo
“Only by giving are you able to receive more than you already have.”
W
ell, we did it.
next step.
My boyfriend, Jarryd, and I took that nerve-wracking
We bought our first house. Only, unlike other couples we know, we won’t be living in the house we bought. And although it is brand new, it didn’t cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. This house only has one room, but it is more than enough. It contains no bricks, no furniture and definitely no televisions. In fact, the house we bought isn’t even in Australia. The house we bought lies in Kampot, Cambodia. It was a gift from us to a family who needs it more. This little blue house that we watched get built means more to us than any house we will buy for ourselves in our future. Because it has changed people’s lives. The family who will live in the house has never had a secure place to live. Their circumstances meant they had to share with another family, in a tiny, rundown shack that wasn’t even sturdy enough to protect everyone from the rains in the wet season. Now they have a place to call their own. A new, galvanized steel house on stilts that not only protects them from rain and sun, but also floods and vermin. It only measures 3.6 x 3.6 metres, but to them it is a palace. It’s got fancy features like insulation to keep the heat out, a rainwater collection system, roll-up sunshades and solar lighting. There is even a lockable front door. Secure housing is something we tend to take for granted in Australia. continued next page...
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For someone like me who, thankfully, has never had to go without food, shelter, healthcare or education, it can be hard to imagine just how tough life in Cambodia can be. In the country’s remote villages, living conditions are some of the worst in the world. The majority of people live on less than $2 a day (if they are lucky enough to find work) and have to build shelters from whatever they can find. So, when Jarryd and I discovered we could provide a new house to an impoverished Cambodian family for as little as $2200 (US), we just knew we had to help. We came across Jason Thatcher and Global Village Housing by chance, when we interviewed him for a local media publication last year. Global Village Housing is a social enterprise that provides housing to poverty-stricken Cambodians. It was started by Jason, formerly of Mornington, whose frequent travels through rural Cambodia with his motorcycle touring company exposed him to the widespread poverty. Since its inception in 2009, Global Village Housing has built and gifted more than 100 homes across Cambodia. According to Jason, the provision of homes is the first step toward breaking the cycle of poverty.
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"THESE HOMES, DESIGNED BY JASON HIMSELF SPECIFICALLY FOR THE CAMBODIAN ENVIRONMENT, ARE PRE-BUILT IN A FACTORY IN PHNOM PENH AND THEN TRANSPORTED AS A FLAT PACK OUT TO REMOTE AND RURAL AREAS."
It helps restore people’s dignity and regain standing in their local community. Having a secure place to live also allows people to focus on other needs, like food, employment and providing education for their children. Global Village Housing employs a local monk who interviews families and village chiefs across Cambodia in order to locate those most in need of a new home. A team of local builders is employed to construct the houses, which creates jobs and puts money back into the local economy. These homes, designed by Jason himself specifically for the Cambodian environment, are pre-built in a factory in Phnom Penh and then transported as a flat pack out to remote and rural areas. They can be erected in less than four hours. Sponsors from around the world pay for the houses, including the materials, transportation, wages and construction costs. Unlike many charity organisations, Global Village Housing allows its sponsors to travel to Cambodia to meet the families they are helping, which is what we decided to do. A few weeks before we left Melbourne, we were sent an email with a photo of the family we would be providing the house for. It was a young couple named Ron and Nharnh and they were continued next page...
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"SEEING THE JOY A FEW FOOTBALLS, FRISBEES AND SKIPPING ROPES GAVE THOSE KIDS AND WATCHING THEM PLAY FOR HOURS ON END WAS AN ABSOLUTE DELIGHT."
expecting their first child. Nharnh gave birth to a beautiful baby girl three days before we arrived and we were lucky enough to visit mum and bub at the local hospital, taking gifts for them that we bought at a local market. When it came time to hand over the keys to the house, there was a little ceremony that involved speeches and contract signing (all recipients must agree to a number of conditions, including that they will never sell or give away the house or damage it in any way). Ron said he now had everything he wanted in life – a beautiful, healthy baby and a brand new home to keep his family safe and comfortable. He looked Jarryd and I in the eyes and told us, through a translator, that we were angels sent from heaven. His words made me cry. I have never felt so wonderful as I did that day. His sincerity and gratitude, so clearly displayed on his face, is something I’ll never forget. We managed to change that whole family’s lives with one simple act. continued next page...
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I can’t even begin to explain how rewarding that is.
you can grab a four of your mates and each chip in $500.
Another highlight from our time in Cambodia (aside from exploring the incredible Temples of Angkor) was providing toys and sporting equipment to the local village children in Kampot.
It is not a lot of money in the scheme of things and when you see the difference it can make in somebody’s life, believe me, it is so worth it.
Seeing the joy a few footballs, frisbees and skipping ropes gave those kids and watching them play for hours on end was an absolute delight.
If you are interested in gifting a house for a Cambodian family, get in touch with Global Village Housing at www. globalvillagehousing.com or find them on Facebook.
We arrived home with full hearts, and Global Village Housing has been wonderful in keeping us updated on Ron and Nharnh and their baby, who was named Socheata, which means ‘the good life’.
A short video of Jarryd and Kristy’s experience can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn3jp6B1N_o
The family are happy and doing well and Ron has even managed to secure some local work. We recently sent money over to them so they can buy two pigs for breeding and then sell off the piglets. This will be a new business venture for Ron and Nharnh and will help them on their path to becoming financially independent. We plan to stay in touch with the couple and would love to go back and visit them someday. We would also like to, when we can afford it, sponsor another house through GVH in order to help another deserving family. Although I understand not everyone is in a position to do this, if you are then I would encourage you to consider gifting a house. Global Village Housing has some great ideas for fundraising, or
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SCARECROW FUN FOR ALL
By Melissa Walsh Photos: Yanni
T
he Hinterland Scarecrow Festival and Trail returned to the peninsula hills during the September school holidays and Peninsula Essence photographer, Yanni, was there to capture the fun and frivolity of this annual festival.
Now running for 10 years, the Scarecrow Festival and Trail has evolved into a unique community art form. Lovingly hand-crafted using a range of materials, the scarecrows have been devised and assembled by local children, families, wineries, artists, schools, businesses and range from the wacky to the extraordinary.
There were scarecrows based on the ‘Aussie Icon’ theme, while some went for the more traditional scarecrow. New artists had the opportunity to display their sculptures and art, and guests snapped selfies with the scarecrows during this funky festival that coincided with the Red Hill Market. Children enjoyed face painting, and there was live music and lots of fun, and awards were handed out for Best Aussie Icon Scarecrow, Best Traditional Scarecrow, Best School/Kindergarten Group Scarecrow, Best Artist Scarecrow, People’s Choice, and Snap a Selfie Competition.
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2016 SALON DES REFUSÉS 24 September - 20 November
By Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery A National Trust NSW, S.H. Ervin Gallery travelling exhibition
T
he irreverent and playful rabble-rouser of the Archibald, the Salon des Refusés, showcases 'the ones that got away’, a prized selection of the humorous, innovative, mad, bad and dangerous entries includes portraits of arts and entertainment personalities such as Osher Gunsberg, David Walsh AO, Jean Kittson, Paul Capsis, Katie Noonan, Maria Venuti and indigenous film maker Warwick Thornton. A portrait of politician Penny Wong is amongst the 40 works selected from the Archibald Prize entries and 24 works from the Wynne entries that will be shown exclusively at the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery.
The Salon des Refusés follows the tradition made famous by Napoleon lll in Paris in 1863, when he insisted that the huge number of works which had been rejected by the Academy for that year’s Salon, be displayed for the public to view and judge. The
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very first Salon des Refusés included works by Edouard Manet and Camille Pissarro. In Australia, the Salon des Refusés exhibition was initiated by the S.H. Ervin Gallery 25 years ago. Each year the Salon panel goes behind the scenes of the judging process, to select an exhibition from the many works not chosen as finalists for the official exhibition. The criteria for works selected are quality, diversity, humour and experimentation. Also on display is Daryl Gordon’s Peninsula People, a selection of portraits photographed over a decade featuring faces of the Mornington Peninsula such as musician James Reyne, Dame Elisabeth Murdoch and journalist Mike Morris and Portraits: Sullivan & Bilbrough, a selection of paintings by two leading Mornington Peninsula-based portrait artists of familiar faces such as Rosie Batty, Kerry Armstrong, Steve Bastoni, John Waters and Paul Salmon.
Andrew Sullivan Bill Brown (Bill Brown, artist) oil on board
Jennifer Riddle Celery Top Islands – Bathurst Harbour, Tasmania acrylic on canvas
Robyn Sweaney By the river acrylic on linen
Entry fees: Adults $7 MPRG and other Victorian public gallery members, National Trust Members and concession $4 (children under 5 free) Salon Searoad Ferries package - $130 Includes return travel between Queenscliff and Sorrento and entry to the Salon des Refusés for up to 4 people. Ferries depart every hour on the hour, from 7am–6pm. Up to $78 in savings! Present your ticket at Searoad Ferries Ticket window for ferry travel and at MPRG for entry into the exhibition. For travel between 24 September–20
Glen Preece Portrait of the artist as an alcoholic (self-portrait) oil on canvas
Andrew Clarke Renewable renegade, vegan vigilante (Ross Harding, environmental engineering consultant and activist)oil on canvas
November. Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery is not open on Mondays. Book now: www.trybooking.com/MJVZ For further media information & images: Rowena Wiseman rowena.wiseman@mornpen.vic.gov.au Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery Location: Civic Reserve, Dunns Road, Mornington Gallery Hours: Tuesday–Sunday 10am–5pm General information: 03 5975 4395 www.mprg.mornpen.vic.gov.au continued next page...
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John Edwards Self-portrait with Elsie as bushranger oil on canvas
Ben Smith Deep rinse cycle, self portrait oil on board
Steve Salo Simon Laherty, actor Back to Back Theatre (Simon Laherty, actor) oil on cavas
Lee Wise Katie Noonan (Katie Noonan, singer) oil on canvas
Kathryn Ryan Winchelsea Pines oil on paper
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Nicolette Eisdell Marta at home (Marta Dusseldop, actor) oil on wood panel
The artist should never try to be popular. Rather the public should be more artistic - Oscar Wilde
Samuel Condon Portrait of Osher GĂźnsberg (Osher GĂźnsberg, TV personality) oil on board
Glenn Morgan Self portrait in shed acrylic on ply
You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance - Ray Bradbury
Sally Ryan #theprincewilkins (Christian Wilkins, social media manager, Nine Entertainment) oil on linen
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Tianli Zu The Senator and Ma (Penny Wong, politician and Senator)
Wendy Sharpe Lilikoi Kaos – Circus Oz (Lilikoi Kaos, circus performer) oil on canvas
His Majesty, wishing to let the public judge the legitimacy of these complaints, has decided that the works of art which were refused should be displayed … - Emperor Napoleon III, in response to protests of the official Paris Salon in 1863 when the jury refused paintings by Courbet, Édouard Manet,
Camille Pissaro and Johan Jongkind.
Andrew Mezei Ascension (Brian Schmidt, astrophysicist, Vice-Chancellor ANU) oil on linen on panel
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WHERE SURF AND HIGH FASHION MEET
By Melissa Walsh
B
orn and bred on the Mornington Peninsula, fashion designer Lukas Vincent has recently won $50,000 in the Australia/New Zealand finals of the International Woolmark Prize.
to nature for me is incredibly vital- I have an affection for sun and the beach and cities like Paris and New York unfortunately just don’t compare!
The 32-year-old designer was recognised for his Exinfinitas label, which merges surf culture and high fashion design. As winner of the Australia/NZ menswear finals, Vincent is now eligible for the International Woolmark Prize, to be announced in January 2017. Vincent joins some esteemed company as a regional finalist; previous Woolmark winners have included Dion Lee and Karl Lagerfeld. The judges, including designer Jason Wu, said Vincent's entry stood out as the clear winner. "Lukas came with a sharp point of view, a plan, a unique use of wool – he really transformed the material," they said. Melissa Walsh talks to Vincent about life, fashion, and his inspirational journey towards a label that is now stocked at select outlets in Toronto, Paris, South Korea and Los Angeles.
In my younger years I had an interest in science, art, the natural world, photography and ultimately creating or discovering new ideas. I kept a journal of new ideas, applied to any area that came to mind. It wasn’t until I was exposed to imported fashion magazines that I developed a fascination with fashion. Pre-internet, it was my first glimpse into this dream-like world that was completely foreign to anything I had known. Initially it was the campaigns that would most appeal. To me it was all about the art within the image- the unique combinations of colours, fabrics, designs, photography style and emotion- that is what I loved most.
HOW DID YOU GET INTO FASHION DESIGN? Growing up, I was never interested in fashion design. I remember specifically saying at my interview for RMIT fashion that I didn’t want to be a designer. Somehow that left a good impression- I was accepted and made class captain before dropping out after 6 months. My very first step toward a fashion career was a job I landed with Bettina Liano, as her creative assistant. Since then, it took around 4 years to get to the point of truly investing my time in design. Previously, I spent years developing my skills as a visual merchandiser, accessories buyer, PR and Marketing Assistant and stylist. I was working with models like Gemma Ward and Miranda Kerr well before they became international stars, so it was an exciting time to be involved. Once I left Bettina Liano I committed to a full time role as a men’s designer at Lee Jeans in 2005. It was from there I really begun exercising my creativity, exclusively within design, whilst still consulting for a few other well-known fashion brands. WAS THERE ANY ONE IN PARTICULAR WHO WAS A BIG INFLUENCE IN YOUR LIFE AND ENCOURAGED YOU TOWARDS A FASHION CAREER? Interestingly, there was no driving force in my life that influenced this career in fashion; it was almost the opposite. For me it was very instinctual. My family have zero interest in fashion and the demographic where I grew up certainly wasn’t the ideal breeding ground for my creative desires. Yet steadily over the last 12 years I’ve been carefully making inroads, doing what I feel is right for me. It has never been easy and an extremely bumpy road, as it commonly is for any true creative, but I feel the adversity has made me stronger and almost unstoppable at this point. HOW LONG DID YOU LIVE ON THE PENINSULA FOR? I was born and raised on the peninsula, though in more recent years I’ve spent more time living between Paris and New York. The peninsula is always the perfect place to retreat and disconnect from the madness. Being close
HAVE YOU ALWAYS FELT INTERESTED IN FASHION?
WHERE DOES YOUR INSPIRATION COME FROM? I work in a very similar way to when I was a child- just slightly more experienced in execution! I’m inspired by the thought of an idea that hasn’t been discovered before. It could be a very simple, innovative idea, or a top-line strategic vision that I’ll implement through an entire body of work. To me, recreating objects that have come before is quite boring, so I like to push myself to experiment where possible. I also have to ensure what I’m creating is wearable day-to-day, so it’s a delicate balance. Being a stylist, I’m also quite inspired by how clothes are put together on the body, so often that will also trigger a new way of doing things. It’s my love of fine fabrics and design, combined with a fashion-forward, yet commercial sensibility that I believe is the ideal combination. WHEN DID YOU DECIDE TO LAUNCH YOUR OWN BRAND? WHAT WAS THE PROCESS LIKE FOR YOU? It wasn’t until I moved back to Australia after living in New York for five years that I really started to assess where I had been and where I wanted to go. Obviously living in a liberating city such as New York is hard to top. Coming back, I was surprised how my perspective had changed- Australia felt incredibly laid back and almost a little too much so for me at that point. The available career choices also didn’t appeal to me anymore. Coupled with this was an incredible dissatisfaction for what I was witnessing in men’s fashion within Australia. My only problem was that I had all the experience and knowledge I needed after working in fashion for 10 years, yet zero money to make this dream happen. At the stage where most people my age buy a house, I decided to take a leap and build a house- a fashion house. It’s frightening the amount of money that has poured into the business- it’s an incredibly expensive industry, if you want to do it seriously well. Even now as success grows, the challenges seem to grow too- so there is certainly never a time when I can truly stop and feel content with the progress. However, the process for me has been a very swift path to relative success- for some; the unfortunate reality is that’s just not the case. continued next page...
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HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE INCREDIBLE RESPONSE YOU HAVE HAD WITH YOUR BRAND AND CREATING A NEW SUB-GENRE OF FASHION WITH THE COMBINATION OF SURF STYLE AND STRONG TAILORING? There are definitely moments I have pinched myself. It’s not every day you have the editor of Vogue Paris knocking on your door for an interview, or accepting international awards for your work from a panel of esteemed figures you admire. I launched the brand a year ago and the trajectory has been incredibly fast- it feels to me as though it’s been perhaps two or three years, considering the overwhelming happenings that have occurred in such little time. I definitely wasn’t expecting to harness the attention of the fashion world, from simply re-imagining my upbringing on the Peninsula and translating it through the lens of high-end fashion. It seems the right time where the industry is bored of seeing the typical offering of fashion and this pursuit of traditional beauty and perfection. Instead now it’s more interesting to learn about a highly personal perspective on fashion and culture, grown from very authentic roots. IS THE KIND OF CLOTHES YOU CREATE THE STYLE YOU LIKE PERSONALLY? Absolutely. What I create is an intimate presentation of everything I love- from fabrics, to colours and silhouettes. I might not have the opportunity to wear everything I create, particularly on the Peninsula! But as I mentioned, to me it’s about creating a look that provokes a response- good or bad, to me it’s not important. What you see in the images is carefully curated to portray a certain look- sometimes that might be out of touch with reality, but if I can inspire certain people to be more individual, I think that’s a positive thing. HOW OLD WERE YOU WHEN YOU MOVED AWAY FROM THE PENINSULA? I moved from Frankston when I was 19, straight after high school, which is also when I started at RMIT. Then shortly
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after at 20 I started with Bettina Liano. It wasn’t until I finished with Lee Jeans, after travelling to New York for work on buying trips, that I fell in love with the idea with moving overseas. At that time I was around 25. I really did most of my growing up living in New York; naturally you grow to become very comfortable with your immediate surroundings and its not until you take that away that things change quite dramatically. It was a huge learning curve and certainly contributed to my capacity to drive this business today. I also had the opportunity to connect with many highly influential people in the industry- creative directors, stylists, editors, photographers - who have all contributed in some way to where I stand today. Having a solid network of connections that possess an incredibly refined taste level has helped evolve and push my work much further. ARE YOU WORKING ON ANYTHING AT THE MOMENT THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE? Currently I’m working on the FW17 collection and International Woolmark Prize final collection. The IWP collection will mark my first ever collection shown on a runway, which happens to be part of the official Paris fashion week schedule. This will be yet another monumental time for the brand and myself. There are also a few, very high profile and exciting collaborations in the pipeline to be launched at the same time. Details are under embargo at present, but will be revealed during the next season launch to media... and mostly witnessed on the runway itself. All I can say is the direction is yet again very Australian - perhaps too much so – but will surely raise eyebrows of our northern hemisphere counterparts. WHAT DOES EXINFINITAS STAND FOR? Ex Infinitas is a Latin arrangement, meaning “Of Infinity”. It provides me the conceptual framework to explore my love of past, present and future sensibilities. From inspiration and fabric, to styling and design- the end result is almost an alchemical fusion of many different elements to create something entirely new and appropriate for now.
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A HELPING HAND FOR SPIRITUAL WELLBEING E ssence
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By Kristy Martin Photos: Jarryd Bravo
A Buddhist monk living in Frankston is helping people find inner peace, while also funding a charity for underprivileged Tibetan children, as Kristy Martin reports.
O
utside a large house on Kars Street, Frankston, a string of colourful Tibetan prayer flags whips wildly in the breeze.
From the exterior - prayer flags aside - this double storey brick house looks like any other you might find on this archetypal suburban street. But this is not your average house. Inside is a Buddhist meditation centre helping people find inner peace, spiritual wellbeing and wisdom, and the people who live here are two Tibetan monks and a Buddhist nun. Welcome to the Medicine Buddha Tantrayana Meditation Centre, a place for learning and guidance, relaxation and mindfulness. The centre is elaborately furnished, particularly the altar, with its artwork, cushions, flowers, crystals, sculptures and shiny golden statues. Buddhist monk Lobsang Tendar welcomes us with kind eyes and broken English. Tendar is his given name and Lobsang his surname, but he tells us he is more commonly known as Lama Tendar (lama means ‘teacher’). Here, at the centre, Lama Tendar is a tantric healer and a teacher of Buddhism, sacred art and chant. The centre is open to anyone, not only those of Buddhist faith, and the weekly meditation sessions attract a strong crowd every Friday night. Lama Tendar is also the founder of the Tibetan Children’s Fund, a non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting Tibetan children with education and healthcare services. “We believe every child should have access to education and health so that they may reach their full potential,” Lama Tendar explains. “Once this basic infrastructure (education and healthcare) is set up, the Tibetan community will be more self-empowered.” The Tibetan Children’s Fund was established in 2008 and has since facilitated the building of a school in Kham, eastern Tibet, where Lama Tendar grew up. The Chongpo Kham School now teaches 140 students a year, and the charity has also sponsored two monks to study as Tibetan medicine doctors, who will work in the Kham region once their training is complete. Lama Tendar himself has a fascinating history. He became a monk at age 12 and went on to study in Lhasa, the continued next page...
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capital of Tibet, where he learnt the ancient art of Tibetan tantric chanting, prayer and meditation.
His time in Mt Martha is what ignited Lama Tendar’s love of the Mornington Peninsula.
In 1989, due to Tibet’s political unrest, he fled to India by walking, with a group of others, for three months through the Himalayas.
“I always wanted to live on the peninsula ever since my first visit here,” he says.
Now an Australian citizen, Lama Tendar travels across the country to teach meditation at different centres and retreats, performing blessings, sacred rituals and Buddhist ceremonies and also participating in community cultural programs.
“I love the energy of the water and now I live in a house where we can see the bay from our living room window.”
In 2015, Lama Tendar was chant master to His Holiness the Dalai Lama during the spiritual leader’s Australian visit.
He lived in Beaumaris for eight years, residing at the Interfaith Household attached to the Stella Maris Church, where he taught Tibetan language, sacred art and chant.
Lama Tendar says he first came to Australia following a tour of Europe as a chant master with the Gyuto monks. “In 2001, I came to Australia for the first time, travelling extensively with the Gyuto monks, chanting, making sand mandalas and teaching deep meditation. “I was part of the group of monks who did workshops in Mt Martha, where we taught children yak butter sculptures and how to make flowers and created a mandala and had readings and meditations.” (Making sculptures inspired by Buddha, animals or plants out of yak butter is a centuries-old Tibetan tradition that stems from the local people giving Buddha everything they got from their domestic animals.)
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Lama Tendar became an Australian citizen in 2005, after returning here as a refugee in 2003.
“In the Interfaith household, there was Father John, a Catholic priest, an Indian yogi and myself. “We three taught at St Bedes Catholic College. “We taught the purpose of peace, understanding and respect. “We shared our knowledge.” Almost 30 years after he left, Lama Tendar returned to Tibet in 2007 and reconnected with his family for the first time. “It was a memorable experience, but it was also there that I saw the desperate need for education and healthcare for the children in my homeland.
“AT THE END OF THE DAY, MY WISH IS EVERY DAY, TO MAKE ONE PERSON HAPPY AND TO BENEFIT AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE.”
“I committed myself in providing these needs to the children of Kham in my village.” Returning to Australia, he formed the Tibetan Children’s Fund, which is now made up of individuals, networks and business partners within Australia and abroad, who all share a common concern for the future of the children of Tibet. Today, Lama Tendar’s work, including conducting healings, blessings and spiritual ceremonies, helps fund the charity. He travels to spiritual festivals around the country to give workshops.
Lama Tendar also takes tour groups on an annual pilgrimage through southern India, visiting sacred Buddhist sites and taking part in daily meditation. “Many people who come on pilgrimage find the trip to be lifechanging and transformative,” he says. “They return to Australia with a different outlook on life and with a full appreciation of their human potential and of their life in Australia. “In this way, they are able to benefit others better.”
He runs classes on how to paint mandalas, a spiritual symbol used to represent the universe, and people travel from as far as Cairns, Brisbane and Sydney for these courses.
Lama Tendar hopes to spread the Buddhist philisophy to as many people as possible in Australia.
At the Frankston centre, Lama Tandar also teaches deep voice meditation, mantras, singing bowls and sound healing.
“We have given people in need strength, confidence and direction, and we try to make them realise how lucky they are and that life is precious.
In Tibetan Buddhism, sound is an important element used in healing the body, emotions and mental states, as well as for cleansing energies in homes and buildings. “Sound is a source of energy that can be harnessed to bring about inner stillness, balance of the body via the chakras and also for an experience of deep relaxation. “Sound can also be a good introduction into meditation, allowing people who have never meditated to experience deep peace.”
“Our goal is to cultivate love and compassion in our world.
“At the end of the day, my wish is every day, to make one person happy and to benefit as many people as possible.” For more information on Lama Tendar and the Tibetan Children’s Fund, visit tendar.net or tibetanchildrensfund.org.au
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MORE T H A N MEETS THE EYE E ssence
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By Melissa Walsh Photos: Yanni
He’s the world's most tattooed person. He juggles chainsaws and fire torches, and has performed all over the world. But for this tattoo artist and performer, the Mornington Peninsula is fast becoming his spiritual home. Melissa Walsh gets beneath the ink of this incredible tattooed man.
W
hen Lucky Diamond Rich first saw a tattoo on his local butcher at just eight years of age, his fascination with these magical drawings began. Growing up in the working class area of Brisbane’s west end, the old English butcher with missing fingers inspired an innate fascination for Lucky, who would eventually become the world’s most tattooed man. “I remember looking at him as a kid with these stamps all over his arms and a couple of missing fingers and was intrigued with it. I immediately went to the milk bar next door and bought heaps of bubble gum so that I could cover my arms with the tattoo transfers,” said Lucky, who in that moment discovered the magical power of tattoos. “I thought it was amazing that someone could have something on their body for the rest of their life and that the tattoo artist was like a magician.” It was eight years later that Lucky got his first tattoo of Richie Rich juggling a club on his hip. “I was 16 when I got my first tattoo on my hip because I was worried what my mum would think.
By this stage I was travelling with Ashton Circus,” said 45 year old Lucky, who had learnt circus performing with a community theatre group during his primary school years. “When I was eight, the community theatre would come to the school and teach basic circus skills. I was a natural at it and won an Australian arts encouragement award which landed me a job at the Fruit Fly Circus in Albury at 14. At a young age I learnt to juggle, and eventually learnt to sword swallow, ride a 10 foot unicycle, and had a natural talent for that stuff. At that time all my mates were doing crime and drugs and I was on the verge of going down that path but I was guided towards the arts. I was lucky enough to have people who saw in me what I couldn’t see and encouraged me to follow the artistic path. They would pick me up from mums housing commission flat and take me to circus training.” This early circus training turned out to be a lifesaver for young Lucky, as well as a way to make money with the young artist soon turning to street performing, going on to win the Australian Street Performers Award in the 1987 and performing at London’s Covent Garden, the Edinburgh Festival, and the Glastonbury Festival. “It was during this time I started collecting more tattoos,” said Lucky, who had then perfected his act, juggling seven balls, a chainsaw, cane knife and an apple which he ate. “I also juggled two continued next page...
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knives and a fire torch on top of a ten foot unicycle and have never had an accident.” Over thirty years, with his entire body now covered in tattoos, Lucky can remember intricate details of each tattoo, who did it, what it was and who was around the space. “It’s like I have a memory recall for it even after all this time,” said Lucky, who already had a full body of tattoos when he decided to become the world’s most tattooed man ten years ago. “I was pretty much covered entirely by the age of 28 and then I decided to start blacking areas in and won the world record for the most tattooed man in 2006, a title I have held ever since.” The previous record holder was Tom Leppard, who was 99.9 per cent tattooed. “I am 100 per cent tattooed. The areas he didn’t have tattooed I did. It was written in the book where he wasn’t tattooed, and so I went about having every bit of skin inked. I went to the Isle of Skye to pay my respects to him in 2006 just after I got the record, and he had been very helpful to me along the way,” said Lucky, who even has tattoos on his gums, eyelids, ears, between his toes and foreskin. Never one to succumb to societal expectations, Lucky said having a full body of tattoos is just another form of artistic expression.
“I like tattoos, and have never really had the constraints that other people have in society. I have always been artistically minded and a performer. Being tattooed seemed like a karmic thing to do, taking the money I earned from my art and giving it to another artist,” said Lucky. While the life of this tattooed performing artist has been blessed in many ways, Lucky has also seen the darker side of fame, having to face a drug addiction problem head on. “I have had an up and down relationship with drug addiction, and have been in and out of recovery for 18 years now. It’s part of the trap of fame sometimes but I know that all of my experiences have pointed me into a different direction now, and my aim is to do community service and help educate youth,” said Lucky, who has recently completed his Certificate 4 in community service at Victoria University. “Being on the peninsula and here in Rye I am tapping into the spiritual side of life. When I look out there at the ocean I think what an amazing place this is that we live in. Jimmy inviting me here to be a guest tattoo artist has turned out to be a majestic thing that heals the soul,” said Lucky of his long standing friendship with James Brown of Splash of Colour Tattoo Rye. “I now need to give back what the community workers did for me all those years ago, continued page 74
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and am working towards community service at the moment.” For Lucky, it turns out his tattoos may be more magic than he realised, giving him the ability to relate to kids on their own level. “I believe in education and being able to tell your story is enough. My tattoos and my experience actually give me a window of opportunity to connect with youth, and I am really buzzed up by the idea of helping out on the peninsula. It’s such a small, close community and I think it’s important to talk to kids from around 10 to 14 when we can educate them.” In the meantime, Lucky will be hanging out with his good mate James and tattooing over the summer at Splash of Colour Tattoo and Body Piercing, Rye. The friends for life met in 1994 when James saw Lucky street performing in St Kilda and asked him to perform at a tattoo convention. “We became friends straight away and it has lasted all these years,” said James. “When he told me he was going for the world record I knew he would do it. He’s a lovely charming person and the perfect example of not judging a book by its cover. If he never had the coat of ink he would be the same wonderful person, always out to do his best at whatever he turns his hand to.”
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A LOVE OF CHEESE MAKING By Melissa Walsh Photos: Yanni
T
amara Newing stands in her commercial kitchen, lovingly nurturing each and every batch of cheese she creates. This Mt Martha woman is the owner of BoatShed Cheese, a business she began five and a half years ago after the tragic death of her son Reagan in a diving accident.
For this author, bread maker, and former owner of Tamara’s Kitchen cooking school in Melbourne, learning to make cheese provided a way to get through grief for the inconsolable Tamara. “I was in my home one day and just started making cheese. By mid 2011, I had more cheese than my family and friends could eat, and decided to take it to a more professional level after selling at a Red Hill stall where I discovered I needed a licence to sell cheese,” said Tamara. Forever the perfectionist and with an absolute passion for cheese now, Tamara decided to hone her skills overseas at the University of Vermont in the US with an artisan cheese course. “I had already been learning with my mentors, Jan and Trevor Brandon of Red Hill Cheese, and one year later launched BoatShed Cheese,’” she said. “We renovated a former boatshed on the property to make the cheese making facility which is how we got the name,” said Tamara
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adding the cheese making process has been done for years without high tech equipment. “It’s about timing and nurturing to create the perfect cheese.” When BoatShed Cheese grew so much they had to find a larger facility, Dromana seemed the ideal place near where the Mt Martha family lives. “We opened the factory just on two years ago and now process 500 litres a week,” said Tamara, who now works alongside daughter Brittany, who is learning about the love of cheese making from her mum. “We have grown to the size we want to now and I am determined to keep it a small and specialised business. We do everything by hand here and I do not want it to become more commercialised," said Tamara. “Cheese beats to its own drum. You cannot rush it and that is one of the things that I love.” BoatShed Cheese has firmly established its reputation amongst venues and foodies alike with multiple awards, increasing market sales, and a loyal list of restaurant clientele. For Tamara, her favourite cheese is still the first cheese she made - Horizon, a pressed surface-ripened goats cheese with a line of ash in the middle.
The range includes Chelsea blue, driftwood, horizon, compass gold and moonstone to name a few. With the local produce of the Mornington Peninsula foods including farm-fresh goat milk, Tamara has been able to create her favourite French style cheese, and travel an exciting and enlightening journey into the world of cheese making. “Cheese was Reagan’s favourite food. He used to stand at the fridge saying ‘I’m a mouse, I’m a mouse’. I feel close to him when I make cheese.” www.boatshedcheese.com.au
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THE BRUNNINGS-NURSERYMEN, ORCHARDISTS & SEED SELLERS
By Peter McCullough
I
n 1998 Somerville historian Leila Shaw published “The Way We Were.” It is part autobiography and part local history. Prior to her marriage to Gaza Shaw, Leila was a member of the Brunning family and much of the information in this feature article has been extracted from her book. She was passionate about her family history and very enthusiastic when it was suggested that The News would publish a story about the Brunnings. She read the draft copy and readily supplied photographs from her treasured collection. Sadly, Leila passed away on 7 April but we feel sure she would have been excited to pick up a copy of this magazine and read the story of her family.
English Origins The Brunning family tree has been traced back to William Brenning of Henstead (born 1675) who married Rachel Ingate of Sotterly on 16 October, 1700. The listed occupations of these early members were often “gardener” or “agricultural worker.” Many could not write and, with different accents, the name evolved into “Brunning.” Leila’s great, great grandparents were John and Eliza (nee Swatman) Brunning who were both born in 1802. They married in St. Margaret’s church, Lowestoft, Suffolk and raised eight children. John, over six feet
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Top: John Brunning & Sons, Bungower Road, circa 1930. Taking trees to the Somerville Railway Station. Above left: John Brunning, 1802 – 1870. Above right: Eliza Brunning (nee Swatman), 1802 – 1890.
Left: George Brunning, 1830 – 1893. Emigrated to Australia in 1853. Right: The first catalogue, 1855. Bottom right: Fully established at St. Kilda, 1896.
tall, was reported as being “...a gardener much respected throughout the village of Lowestoft for his industry, integrity and other excellent traits.”Perhaps business acumen was one of his “excellent traits” for in his will, drawn up in April 1867, he owned seventeen tenement houses in Lowestoft. As well as gardener he apparently also acted as bailiff and estate manager. Eliza was a widow for the last twenty years of her life and lived alone with the servants in her old-fashioned house; one grandson likened her to Whistler’s painting “Old Lady.” All six sons became gardeners and five of them migrated overseas in early manhood. George, Charles, James and William came to Australia where they fared better than John who went to California and, after becoming prosperous, was shot dead at the age of 37 in mysterious circumstances. The St. Kilda Brunnings George Brunning and his younger brother, Charles, sailed for Australia on the “Ganges”, arriving in Melbourne in 1853. On his arrival George, who had served his apprenticeship as a gardener at Somerleyton Hall, set out the gardens of Hon. Frances E. Beaver and Mr. F.G.Stevens. Then, like many others, the brothers set out on foot for the Bendigo goldfields where they had no luck. Shortly after returning from Bendigo, George Brunning obtained the position of manager, with a share in the profits, of Rule’s Nursery in Church St., Richmond. In 1855 he produced a Victorian Nursery Catalogue After saving enough money, George returned to England to bring his wife, Harriet, and son, also George, to Australia. They arrived in Melbourne on the “Royal Charter” in 1856. George then began a small nursery in Argyle Street, St. Kilda, which expanded to an area adjacent to the Grosvenor Hotel in Brighton Road. Land was later purchased in Inkerman Street, St. Kilda and the nursery expanded to a large paddock known as McEwan’s grounds in Brighton Road. It became the largest and most complete nursery in Australia. Always looking for something new, George Brunning brought thousands of pounds worth of unusual plants from England and the continent. In 1883 the St. Kilda firm became George Brunning and Sons based on 10 acres in Brighton Road where they specialized in ornamental flowers and shrubs, particularly roses and pelargoniums. By 1926, however, the land had become too valuable to use for nurseries; it was sold and the company wound up. Meanwhile, Frederick, one of George’s sons, acquired Smith and Anderson’s seed store in Elizabeth Street. After his death in 1905 the Brunning family retained an interest in the business even after the retail shop was transferred to former employees, Gill & Searle. November 2016
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Leslie Brunning, a grandson of George, revised and enlarged the original edition of W. Adamson’s “Australian Gardener.”As “Brunnings Australian Gardener” it became well known throughout Australia and ran to over 30 editions. The Start at Somerville William Brunning, the third youngest of the Lowestoft family, sailed from England on the “Royal Charter”, arriving in Melbourne on 28 December, 1858. He began working in St. Kilda with his brothers but, as the nurseries expanded, there was insufficient room to grow enough fruit trees to meet the demand. Accordingly, in 1865 William sailed from Melbourne to Schnapper Point from where, accompanied by his four year old son, John, he walked overland to Somerville. There he bought two lots: one south of today’s One Chain Road and another on the south-east corner of Bungower and Lower Somerville Roads. More blocks were taken up by settlers around Somerville and in 1866 William cut his ties with “St. Kilda Nurseries”, establishing what became known as John Brunning and Sons “Somerville Nurseries.” As well as supplying the nursery at St. Kilda with fruit trees, they also supplied their own customers throughout Australia and worldwide including Argentina, England, Mauritius, India, New Zealand, Burma, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and parts of Africa. The business grew to be one of the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. A list of customers which has survived since 1918 shows that in that year, the war time manpower shortage notwithstanding, John Brunning and Sons supplied 53 customers scattered across Australia. Apart from George Brunning and Sons in St. Kilda (4,463 trees) private orders ranged from D.Kane of Shepparton (5,440 trees) to McAppes Bros. of Pakenham (8 trees). Above: Brunnings seed and bulb manual, 1911. Left: The Australian Gardener, 1924 edition. Below: George Brunning and Sons Nursery, Brighton Road, St. Kilda.
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William Brunning, Shepherd and Sons and Thomas Thornell, all from Somerville, sent cases of apples to England by boat in 1886 for the “Colonial and Indian Exhibition” in London; this was the first consignment to be sent to England. William Brunning had married Ellen Holmyard and they brought up their four children in Somerville. Although two of the girls (Lucy and Elinore) were to remain involved in the fruit industry after they married, it was left to the only son, John, to further develop the business. The third daughter (Annie) did not marry. William Brunning died at Somerville in 1890 at the age of 49.
Top: Brunnings number one and two stores at South Melbourne. Right: John Brunning’s Somerville catalogue, 1910 edition. Below: William Brunning, 1840 – 1890. Emigrated to Australia in 1858.
Somerville-The Next Generation... John Brunning (1862-1928) and Maria Butler (1867-1918) were married at the Wesleyan Methodist Church in North Brighton and they settled in their Bungower Road home to raise their seven children: Florence May, Thomas William (Bill), Ruby Cora Lyn, George John, Ruth, Arthur, and Alma (who lived for only three days). Maria was a very caring mother and, on cold frosty mornings, she would give Arthur, who was considered more delicate than his brothers and sisters, an empty tobacco tin filled with hot coals from the kitchen fire and wrapped in flannel to keep his hands warm. In the 1890’s John Brunning purchased 117 acres of land in O’Neills Road, Tyabb; this property was contiguous with the Bungower Road property. A further 100 acres were added later, plus a coolstore and two houses. Today, while John Brunning and Sons is very diversified, ranging from cattle farms at Mortlake to offices and warehouses in South Melbourne, the O’Neills Road property is the only remaining part of the original firm to be found in the Tyabb/Somerville area. All went well for the family until World War One when Bill enlisted in the army November 2016
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as a signaller. After a serious bout of influenza in England, he recovered and was sent to France where he was blown up at Passchendaele and was invalided home on a hospital ship. It was an unhappy homecoming for Bill for, while he was at sea, the world-wide influenza struck the family: his mother, Maria, aged 52, and sister, Florence, aged 26 and married for two months, had both died. This was a difficult time for the family as the home and property in Bungower Road were placed in isolation with a nurse employed to tend them. George and Arthur were moved to a small hut in a paddock but still
Above: John and Maria’s four children, Ruby, Florence, George and baby William. Right: John Brunning, 1864 – 1928. Far right: Maria Brunning (nee Butler), 1867 – 1918.
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Above: The original Brunning home, in Bungower Road. Right: Private Brunning, prior to his departure for the Western Front, photographed with Ruth, George, and mother Maria.
caught the disease and were seriously ill. Because of their isolation there was no money for the family to pay the nurse and they were unable to buy supplies. Fortunately a cousin came to their assistance. John Brunning would leave a cheque on the front gatepost for his cousin to pick up before riding to Mornington to cash it at the bank. He would then buy groceries and other supplies, leaving them and the balance of the money, to pay the nurse, at the front gate of the Brunning home. The loss of his wife and daughter shattered John Brunning and, as soon as Bill returned from the war, he handed over the nursery business to Bill and George. The younger son, Arthur, was provided with an orchard near the corner of the Coolart Road/Frankston-Flinders Road intersection. The next decade brought further heartache for the Brunnings: in 1928 another daughter,Ruby, and her baby died following childbirth in the Somerville hospital. John Brunning, aged 66, died in the same year. The Horticultural Digest was later to reflect: “Over his lifetime John Brunning propagated, by budding alone, over 1,500,000 trees, as well as grafting many hundreds of thousands and was known to be one of the most practical men in the trade. Always looking for new ideas he introduced the first hand pump and later the first motor spray pump in the district. In 1889 he grew the first Victorian block of 175 Jonathan apple trees in Somerville. They were the pride of the district and a forerunner of Australian orcharding.”
The three brothers: Left: Bill Brunning (1895 – 1964). Below left: George Brunning (1900 – 1968). Below: Arthur Brunning (1904 – 1966). Right: Loading fruit trees at Somerville Railway Station, circa 1920. Below right: Packing apples, circa 1930.
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Above: Wedding of Thomas William Brunning and Mary Beatrice Fraser, 1920. Below: The Brunning farmhouse, built in 1920 by Bill Brunning. Bottom: Two Bays Nursery: 100,000 peach trees.
Somerville ...And The Next In 1920 Bill Brunning married Beatrice Fraser, with whom he corresponded during the war, at the Presbyterian Church in Alma Road, St. Kilda. Beatrice was one of thirteen children and her father was John Wilson Fraser who owned a lucrative stevedoring business in Port Melbourne. John Fraser bore an uncanny resemblance to the Prince of Wales which led to the belief in family circles that he was the illegitimate son of royalty! To coincide with his nuptials Bill built a solid brick Federation style bungalow which still stands on the corner of Bungower and Lower Somerville Roads. It was rated for the first time in 1920-21 with an annual valuation of forty pounds. Beatrice gave birth to twins (Beatrice and Lillian) at Rockcliff Private Hospital in Mornington in 1921. Lillian only lived for a few days and Beatrice was so small that she had to be fed with an eye-dropper. Warwick was born in 1925 but died at the age of fourteen months, apparently from eating green pears from a box on the verandah! In 1927, the year of Warwick’s death, Leila was born. Remembering the mothers and babies who had died in his family, Bill Brunning donated the land for Somerville’s first Infant Welfare Centre which was built by the local community in 1949 to commemorate those who served in the second world war. To the distress of some family members this war memorial has been demolished, replaced by an Aldi supermarket. During the 1930’s it was common for Bill to travel to Queensland on business trips. Beatrice and the two girls would accompany him in their Vauxhall car, camping along the way. The girls would attend school in Stanthorpe if the stay was extended. Every year Bill and his brother George travelled to Shepparton and the surrounding fruit growing district to get budwood for the nursery trees.
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In 1939 when Leila was in her final year of primary school and her sister had started nursing, their mother died suddenly after contracting rheumatic fever. Leila then spent five years as a boarder at Presbyterian Ladies College after which she worked in a department store at Camberwell junction. Leila and her workmate, Mavis, each bought pushbikes and would sometimes ride home to Somerville after Saturday morning work. They would attend the dance at Moorooduc on Saturday night and peddle back to Camberwell on Sunday. It was at a Moorooduc dance that Leila first met Gaza Shaw, a young soldier home on leave. They married in 1949 and built their home in Tyabb from where Gaza conducted his business as a builder. The following year the first of their four children was born in the Hastings Bush Nursing Hospital. In the meantime Bill Brunning had been active in a number of ways. Two Bays Nurseries, established in 1890 by Griffeth Brothers, was the largest on the Peninsula. By 1915 it reportedly had a nursery of approximately two million trees and 20,000 orchard trees spread over 400 acres in Somerville. The magnificent house, built in 1904, and land were sold off and in 1939 John Brunning and Sons acquired the business. Bill was also an active member of the Somerville Fruitgrowers’ Horticultural and Agricultural Association, serving as President (1924-34) and later Honorary Secretary (1940-61). Finally, after a number of years as a widower, Bill married Peggy O’Malley who lived nearby and had lost her husband. They had a daughter, Helyn. Consequently, when Bill died in 1964 the Bungower property passed to Peggy and when she died Helyn was the beneficiary. Top right: Leila Shaw and John Brunning. Proprietors of John Brunning and Sons during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Right: John Brunning, proprietor of William Brunning and Sons since the early 1970’s, and his wife Pauline.
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This original Brunning holding of 140 acres in Bungower Road which still contains the original farmhouse (built in 1889 by John Brunning) and the Federation bungalow (built in 1919 by Bill Brunning) has been sold in the last few years. It is anticipated that the market gardens owned by the Gazzola family will be extended westwards into part of the former Brunning holding. George Brunning, Bill’s partner in John Brunning and Sons, died in 1968. He had married Catherine Nase, had one son (Anthony John, but known as John ), and lived on the O’Neills Road property. Paralleling the Somerville organization referred to previously was the Peninsula Orchardists Central Association which concerned itself with all aspects and problems of the Mornington Peninsula fruitgrowers; the growing of orchards, pricing of fruit, trading practices, and export opportunities. It was set up in 1938 and apparently faded away around 1953; George Brunning was the Secretary/Treasurer for the life of this organization. John Brunning and Sons Today From about 1968 the family business was run by George’s son ( John) while Bill’s daughter (Leila Shaw) managed the office which was located on 114 acres on the eastern corner of the Coolart Road/Frankston-Flinders Road intersection; this property was also acquired in the busy 1930’s. Leila also organized the apple picking during the season. In the early 1970’s John Brunning became the sole proprietor when he purchased the half share in the business from William Brunning’s beneficiaries. Today the highly diversified firm of John Brunning and Sons is still run by John and his wife Pauline from the O’Neills Road property. Above: The late Leila Shaw, 1927 – 2016.
GPO HOTEL MORNINGTON PENINSULA
Rebranded, Refurbished, Refined Kitchen open all day - Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner
Upcoming entertainment and current menus at www.thegpo.com.au 1003 POINT NEPEAN RD, ROSEBUD 5982 3200
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Where Where Christmas Christmas Wishes Wishes Come Come True... True... Where Christmas Wishes Come True...
THE CALL OF THE VINEYARD By Melissa Walsh Photos: Yanni
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t’s a crisp spring afternoon when I meet winemaker David Lloyd at his winery, Eldridge Estate, and he has just freshened up after working in the winery since the early hours of the morning.
Tall, dark and well-educated, this scientist-turned-winemaker is straight down the line, assuring me that running a vineyard is not as glamorous as one might think, but it does have its upside. Born in South Australia, David says his interest in winemaking has long been a family joke around dinner tables. “You see it was my family that set me on this road many years ago. When I was a baby to shut me up mum and dad would dip my pacifier in Hardys Black Bottle Brandy, a taste I got used to very quickly,” he says with a laugh. “So I was always into wine. Even when I was at University there was a wine club and I just got more and more into it.” Reminiscing about the first wine he ever made, David admits he had a lot to learn. “It was in the mid-70s, a Rutherglen cabernet sauvignon which I would describe as eminently forgettable,” he says with a laugh. “My second was a Coonawarra cabernet which was very drinkable. I put it in a wine show with big producers like Wolf Blass and it got a bronze medal. I rang up the grape grower and told him an
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idiot science person had won a medal alongside the big boys and his response was ‘Well I gave you gold medal fruit’. A couple of years later I rang him and said we got a gold medal Brian. When we got it we were in a taste-off between Main Ridge Estate of Red Hill and we won it.”
“That’s when I discovered the peninsula as one of the best places in the world to live, and one of the best places for chardonnay and pinot noir. That was around 1979 but I couldn’t afford to buy this until 1995,” said David who had been consistently searching for properties at a rate of five or six a week for years.
It was during that time David was doing a Bachelor of Science degree with honours.
“Initially we looked in New Zealand, Tasmania, Adelaide Hills, and Yarra Valley but thought the peninsula had the best combination of everything we wanted. It makes great pinot and chardonnay, is close to a big city to sell your wine, and a lovely place to live.”
“The research year was in pharmacology which is how drugs work. I then did a Diploma of Education and a Post-graduate Diploma of Curriculum of Administration,” said David, who spent the first part of his career teaching science and senior biology to high school students. While a flourishing teaching career was well underway, David’s love was always in winemaking. It was just a matter of time and money. “I decided to make my living out of wine 40 years ago but the problem is you need a lot of money to do it, so I dabbled for many years,” said David. “Being a scientist who was into wine and having to work on a small scale, I discovered a technical issue with making wine that when you are on a small batch there’s a thing called malolactic fermentation. This is something you really want to happen in a red wine, and in small wineries it often doesn’t happen naturally so I researched the science behind it, isolated bacteria and started bringing it up for my wine.” David soon found that other local winemakers would pay him to brew up lots of malolactic bacteria for peninsula wineries.
So David and his late wife, Wendy, bought their eight-hectare Red Hill property, with two and a half hectares of vines just waiting for their attention. “The original vines have been here since 1984, planted by two brothers. The building was here but we changed it from a giant shed to half a giant shed and a home,” said David, who continued to work until 2001 when he was able to devote all his time to the vineyard. The one grape David insisted on growing was gamay, a grape variety grown in Beaujolais. Like all the best grapes, it has a wonderful story behind it. “It was around 1394 that the Duke of Burgundy, Philippe the Bold decided gamay was an unworthy grape for the area and banished it,” explained David. “When we bought this place my late wife and I were standing looking at the hills and decided it would be great for continued next page...
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gamay, so we grafted it when we got here. It is now probably my most famous and popular wine.”
of people who like y our product and they will keep coming back. That’s why we continue to sell 70 percent at cellar door.”
After 21 years of life on a vineyard, David is well and truly accustomed to the rhythm of nature that happens with winemaking.
Starting with one pinot, one chardonnay, a cabernet and sauvignon blanc, Eldridge Estate now make five pinots, three chardonnays, a sparkling, a sauvignon blanc, a blend of pinot and gamay, and gamay.
“There are times you get to enjoy relaxing but it’s not your choice because there’s a rhythm of nature with winemaking that happens and you can’t go against the flow. To go against the rhythm is a bit risqué. You have certain peak times; those when you are getting wine ready for bottling and harvest, and there’s nothing you can do to hold back the tide of nature and the call of the vineyard at that stage,” said David, who has stuck with his philosophy all along. “We started this place on the idea you build slowly, get a loyal bunch
“I think this is a really vibrant wine area, and we have a great future ahead as a region and hopefully the younger generation can keep it going,” said David. Eldridge estate is at 120 Arthurs Seat Road, Red Hill. Phone 0414 758 960. www.eldridge-estate.com.au
TOP 5
Mornington Peninsula wines of the year – tasting notes
Now in its 34th Edition, Australian Wine Vintages (also known as 'The Gold Book') is the essential guide to discovering the best local wines this year, no matter the price point or your level of wine knowledge. Written by Rob Geddes MW, it provides detailed tasting notes of over 3500 wines from Australian and New Zealand in print, and over 13,500 in the App. Rob speaks to Peninsula Essence about his Top 5 Mornington Peninsula wines of the year! For you chance to win 'The Gold Book' jump on our website www.peninsulaessence.com.au 1. Moorooduc Estate Robinson 2014 Pinot Noir $65 score 96 drink by 2024
4. Main Ridge Estate 2013 chardonnay $55 score 95 drink by 2023
Aromas lead here with savoury into strawberry and raspberry fruit complexity. Silky tannins flow into generous full bodied finely woven wine to create a nice acid balance. In the mouth it’s extreme quality, the sort of wine no one will dislike.
This may be Nat's last wine and it is a delight. Rich in chardonnay nuance and dense with age worthy fruit, honey yellow peach and stone fruit aromas with creamy lees, subtle cashew and nuts in a very subtle frame. The palate has plush fruit weight, texture and glamour like a wedding day dotted with a confetti of flavours of wild honey, nectarine and a rich creamy texture. Will settle in bottle.
2. Paringa Estate Peninsula shiraz 2014 $28 score 95 drink by 2023 Deep fragrant aromas with raspberry, resin, smoked meats and white pepper spices. The palate is super fine with refined tannins, silky, luscious, with a fleshy structure. Medium bodied it is complex and very complete wine with perfume, exceptional texture and very attractive spice finish. 3. Stonier Lyncroft Vineyard 2014 $45 score 94 drink by 2024 Chardonnay Aromas have a deep depth dimension, interesting subtleties appear, like nectarine, honey, chamomile and cinnamon. The palate has fruit depth, fresh nectarine and fig flavours, texture and flavour together with great length and modest oak flavours which really help support the long white fruits and texture with finesse on the finish.
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5. Montalto The Eleven single vineyard 2014 Chardonnay $60 score 94 drink by 2023 As they say in the game, this is "a pretty smart wine". The aromas here grow wings and fly, lifting the spring blossom fruit with bursts of high quality oak contributing white butter. Herbal tea spices and white fruits are subtle winemaker inputs in the background. The palate has very good framework, gentle nectarine apple and will grow into itself with enough subtle flavour to grow graceful. Rob Geddes MW is the author of Australian Wine Vintages ($34.95), now in its 34th edition. Visit www.robgeddesmw.com
HEAD CHEF DELIGHTED TO BE BACK IN SOMERVILLE
By Melissa Walsh Photo: Yanni
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ndrew Cox loves the peninsula and when the opportunity came up to work in Somerville it was an offer he couldn’t refuse. The Mt Martha father of two has been back as head chef of the Somerville Hotel for three months now and is embracing the new changes at the venue. “I was previously working at Milanos in Brighton as head chef but really wanted to be closer to home and this is perfect. Coming back to the Somerville Hotel with all the renovations they have done is great and we are also changing the type of cuisine to match the new look of the place. We still have the traditional pub type meals but also more urban gastropub food with slow lamb cooked burgers, pulled pork burgers, and steak sandwiches. We also have the old favourites like chicken parma, beef pie, and fish and chips,” said Andrew. Honing his skills as a chef for 22 years, Andrew says it is all he has wanted to do. “It’s been a trade that’s let me travel and work in different places which has been fantastic.” One such place Andrew had the privilege of working and learning more cuisine was England, where he spent two years. “I worked in London and Surrey which was amazing, and very
different types of food. In London I worked in restaurants, while Surrey was pub style dining,” said Andrew. As fate would have it, it wasn’t just travel that Andrew was able to do as a chef. He also met his wife there while working at Milanos. “She was managing the bistro and I was working as head chef, and that’s how it happened,” said Andrew, who now lives with his wife and two children in Mt Martha. “It’s the best place to raise kids, being in the country and near the beach. We all just love it here,” he said. As head chef of the Somerville Hotel, Andrew is making sure the menu stays varied and offers something for everyone which is why they are in the process of making some changes at the moment. “We offer seniors lunch specials all the time which is great, and our regular menu consists of everything from traditional garlic bread and bruschetta to pumpkin and fetta arancini, or field mushrooms with fetta, thyme, garlic, olive oil and balsamic vinegar for entrees,” said Andrew, who prides himself on simple, tasty food with fresh ingredients. The Somerville Hotel is at 84 Station Street, Somerville. Phone 5977 5241. www.somervillehotel.com.au
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Recipe
WAGYU BEEF BURGER INGREDIENTS Burger- wagyu beef minced Garlic Bread crumbs Salt and pepper Onion Caramelised onion Tomato Lettuce Swiss cheese Bacon Egg Tomato relish
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1. Combine burger ingredients and then char grill 2. Toast Turkish roll 3. Caramelise onions and add to top of burger 4. Place burger on toasted bun 5. Add caramelised onion, tomato, lettuce, egg, bacon, Swiss cheese and top with tomato relish. 6. Add a side of steak fries for the perfect lunch. The Somerville Hotel is at 84 Station Street, Somerville. Phone 5977 5241. www.somervillehotel.com.au
Dishes
must try
Spanish Tortilla
American Skillet Hot Cake
Eskimo Pie
Corner Cafe & Catering
Corner Cafe & Catering
Blue Mini Eatery Emporium Events
1455 Pt Nepean Road, Rosebud Phone 5982 1455 www.bluemini.com.au
1455 Pt Nepean Road, Rosebud Phone 5982 1455 www.bluemini.com.au
2 Colchester Road (cnr Boneo Road), Rosebud Phone 5981 2520 www.bluemini.com.au
Chia Pudding
Vego Salad
Warm Calamari Salad
Blue Mini Eatery Emporium Events
Blue Mini Eatery Emporium Events
Blue Mini Eatery Emporium Events
2 Colchester Road (cnr Boneo Road), Rosebud Phone 5981 2520 www.bluemini.com.au
2 Colchester Road (cnr Boneo Road), Rosebud Phone 5981 2520 www.bluemini.com.au
2 Colchester Road (cnr Boneo Road), Rosebud Phone 5981 2520 www.bluemini.com.au
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Corner
puzzle
ACROSS 1. Least fatty 5. Covered cart 9. Slack 12. Layabouts 16. Elicit 17. Surgical dressing 18. Cleans (carpet) 20. Ashamed 22. Restraining cord 23. Swimming stroke 24. Fruit pastes 26. Tempting 27. Fragile 28. Gossips (6-7) 31. Furious 32. Persist 34. Mark of disgrace 36. Luau souvenir 37. Stealthy thieves (3,8) 40. Major computer firm (1,1,1) 42. Supply (entertainment) (3,2) 43. Leaks slowly 45. Comes before 47. Domestic helpers 49. Dud car 50. Deviates 52. Set of beliefs 54. Happen 55. Nips 56. Relaxation routine 58. Dethrone from 59. Promotional hype 60. Hovel 61. Narrow part of bottle 62. Lingered (on) 63. Plant, ... vera 64. Pure 67. Hurt 68. Facet 69. Jumpier 72. Lingerie item 74. State grants 78. Drily humorous 79. Olympic Games body (1,1,1) 80. In vogue, ... mode (1,2) 81. Granule 82. Fencing blades 85. Dessert, ... pie 87. Follow next 88. Slippery fish 90. Sweethearts’ card
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91. Dues 92. Eccentric pop star, Lady ... 93. Baghdad citizen 94. Better late than ... 95. Skim swiftly 96. Home stereo (2-2) 97. Creamy cheese 100. Sigh of relief 102. No-man’s-land 103. Go for dip 104. Study tables 106. Surmise 108. December 31, New Year’s ... 109. Crony 110. Mum & ... 112. Merriment 116. Graze 118. Appraised 120. Apparel 121. Scan 123. Chesty gasp 125. Origin 126. Dapper 127. Alcoholic derelict 128. 12 o’clock 129. Heredity DNA units 130. Ellipse shapes 131. Jaunty 132. Small bell sounds 134. Most socially popular group (1,4) 136. Wise people 139. Indestructible 141. Section 142. Excursions 144. Chile’s capital 146. Sibling’s daughter 147. Adds seasoning to 148. Flit (about) 149. Opponents 151. ... & outs 152. Counterfeiter 155. Zimbabwe’s largest city 158. Welsh dog 159. Moody 162. Misgivings 164. Cracked on surface 165. Up on ahead 166. Discards 170. Port-au-Prince is there 171. Robben Island detainee, Nelson ... 172. Advantage 173. Olive farm 174. Local dialect November 2016
175. Broke promise 176. Backslide 177. Vacuous 178. Abominates DOWN 1. Disconnect from the internet (3,3) 2. March birthstone 3. Showed by example 4. Inns 5. Bowler’s goals 6. Insect larva 7. Twig shelter 8. Ambitious person (2-6) 9. Frond 10. Acceptable 11. Totally deplete 12. Accommodating 13. Loyalties 14. Assessing 15. Realm 19. Is obliged to 21. Stain on character 25. TV comedy series 26. Teaching session 29. Sexual drive 30. Rudder bar 33. In so far (as) 35. Unpalatable 36. Miming to pre-recorded lyrics (3-7) 38. Word puzzles 39. Nomadic 41. Misinterpret 42. Shank 44. Take a chair 46. Barbiturate 48. Frowns 49. Soothed 51. Thin layer 53. Mistrustfully 55. Cricket legend, Sir Donald ... 57. Abdominal muscles 60. Used spade 65. Composition 66. Steak cut (1-4) 70. Dutch sea walls 71. Whiskey-laced hot beverage (5,6) 73. Rescued by helicopter 75. Fertiliser compound 76. Lifeless 77. Biblical garden
78. Animal’s drinking pool 83. Eject from house 84. Goo 85. Wrote in icing 86. Dollars & ... 89. Country, ... Lanka 91. Scarcely any 92. Roaming frivolously 96. Mob 98. Throat-clearing noise 99. Riding strap 101. Span 103. Chides 105. Spreads out untidily 107. Refusals 111. Nimble 112. Descended rock-face by rope 113. Elementary 114. Slightest 115. Cross 117. Aroused 119. Decimal base 120. Staring 122. Tragedy 124. Extrasensory perception (1,1,1) 132. Dealing illegally 133. Granny 134. Agree 135. International cycling event, ... France (4,2) 137. Butane or neon 138. Actor’s dilemma (5,6) 140. Not to excess, in ... 141. Petrified 143. Flounce 145. Moving cartoons 150. Bus terminals 153. Obtained more weapons 154. Timeless 156. In a distant manner 157. Reviewed (ledger) 158. Code 160. Orange skin 161. Zilch 163. Braces (oneself ) 166. Light 4WD army vehicle 167. Story 168. Orchestra woodwind 169. Trim © Lovatts Puzzles
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Red Hill
on
Red Hill is 73 kilometres south of Melbourne, located in the hinterland of the Mornington Peninsula, between the coastal towns of Dromana and Balnarring. It has a population of approximately 1900 including Red Hill South and is very much a rural area, with the landscape consisting of scenic hills and native forests.
RED HILL FACTS The name Red Hill derives from the rich, red clay that has made the area predominantly agricultural from its first European settlement in the midnineteenth century. At the 2011 census, Red Hill had a population of 1900 including Red Hill South. Many Red Hill streets are named after pioneers: Sheehan, McIlroy, Stanley, Bayne, Arkwell, Eaton, Nash, Perry (sic) and Callanan. Red Hill Post Office opened on 1 August 1871. A railway operated in Red Hill between 1921 and 1959 and was known as the Red Hill railway line. A monthly community market is held from September through May. Patrons can still watch old time games like Pétanque being played and smell the roasting of chestnuts. Other traditional Australian foods such as meat pies and jam donuts are also sold. Since the 1970s, wineries have been established around Red Hill to take
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advantage of the microclimates that suits cool climate grapes, and especially pinot noir. Strawberries, cherries and apples are grown and available seasonally at the farm door. Herbert Robinson (1876–1919), later mayor of Albany, Western Australia, and member of the Parliament of Western Australia was a notable resident of Red Hill. Wine lovers unite at the annual Winter Wine Weekend in June, and join in the fun and sample more than 200 premium wines from some 50 wineries before exploring local cellar doors. Red Hill is very much a rural area, with the landscape consisting of scenic hills and native forests. Scattered throughout the area is a proliferation of vineyards, orchards and berry farms. Many of the vineyards are boutique wineries, offering visitors the opportunity to experience fine dining, wine tasting and the purchase of local produce of the region. Most of the wineries also feature attractive gardens, free for visitors to wander through or have a picnic within. continued next page...
COFFEE SAFARI Fresh brewed coffee is a must have for weekends away and Red Hill coffee is second to none with great coffee haunts around the town. Here are a few to check out when head down to this beautiful end of the world.
EPICUREAN RED HILL 165 Shoreham Road Great coffee made on the premises, great service and awesome bakery treats in the front part of the building.
THE LONG TABLE 159 Shoreham Road Nestled in amongst some shops, this is cafe/restaurant is a cosy and warm place in the winter to stop and enjoy a quiet coffee with friends. The restaurant also has an extensive menu for fine dining.
FOOD ON THE HILL 10/159 Shoreham Road Great spot for locals and visitors alike to enjoy a great cup of coffee with friendly and helpful staff. Relaxed casual vibe and excellent choice of food for all tastes and budgets.
THE GORGELICIOUS STORE 1008 Mornington-Flinders Road Funky relaxed café with amazing coffee blends and all day breakfast menu. A friendly and welcoming space that is unique to the Mornington Peninsula for any family to enjoy for a simple tea or coffee to snacks, meals and even specialised gifts.
WHAT TO DO?
Whether it’s driving through the scenic hills and native forests, enjoying a relaxing stay at a beachfront b&b, or partaking in the fine wines and art, Red Hill is the epitome of a relaxed getaway. Scattered throughout the area is a proliferation of vineyards, orchards and berry farms. Many of the vineyards are boutique wineries, offering visitors the opportunity to experience fine dining, wine tasting and the purchase of local produce of the region. Coming to the commercial centre of Red Hill and further delights await with a variety of cafes, bakeries, galleries and shady laneways with hidden delightful day spas and art exhibitions. Photography: Jarryd Bravo
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Janine Harrison,
opening doors to your new lifestyle. Call Janine today for personalised service and professional real estate advice. Janine offers free property reports, with an extensive knowledge and passion for the stunning Mornington Peninsula and surrounding areas
The commercial centre of Red Hill is spread along four distinct spots on Arthurs Seat Road, Flinders Road and Shoreham Road, featuring a variety of eateries and services. Tucked away along roads and shady laneways around Red Hill, visitors will also find several galleries and cafes. Red Hill is a major centre on the Mornington Peninsula for entertainment events, including the popular Red Hill Show and the peninsula's premier art show - Art Red Hill. The median house price for Red Hill is $810,000. L
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Contact Janine: 0487 000 666 or 9787 0028 Janine@allensre.com.au to start your campaign!
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18 years of yelling & Selling The most experienced auctioneers in Mornington. Bowman and Company, Mornington Peninsula’s experienced real estate experts. Achieving the best results for clients for over 18 years. Contact us today to find out more.
Bowman & Company 168 Main Street Mornington VIC 3931 Telephone 03 5975 6888 Fax 03 5975 6288 admin@bowmanandcompany.com.au bowmanandcompany.com.au
November 2016
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DROMANA 3/277 POINT NEPEAN RD, PH: 5987-2286 JUST A SHORT STROLL FROM THE DROMANA HUB SHOPPING CENTRE s RD, PH: 5983-5503 BALNARRING 18/3050 FRANKSTON-FLINDERS