YARNS Winter Issue 03 by YARNS Magazine

EDITORIAL

WINTER ISSUE Hi, I am Petra Jungmanova a Czech artist, author and curator living in the beautiful bush Capital of Australia, Canberra. Yarns Magazine is my creation. In the Czech Republic I was immersed in the creative arts, culture, adventure, and nature. When I came to establish my new life in Australia some 20 years ago, I was determined to discover and expand upon the things I love in this amazing and unique new world that unfolded before me. The inspiration for the Magazine came from my love for adventure, travel, human stories, and connection to the land. I believe in the beauty and goodness in people, and that as we are the ultimate creators of our lives, we have the power to uplift each other. Added to this is my conviction of our need to learn to connect with, and understand, the collective experiences of Indigenous communities around the world, as their stories become increasingly relevant to our lives today and for the future. In Yarns we will all share stories of various dreamers, romantics, creatives, travellers, adventurers, and achievers from Australia and other cultures around the world. People who have ‘walked the walk’ and are telling their unique ways of how they experience their lives. Plus, we will be featuring places and things, that I feel complement these experiences. This Winter Issue (Volume 3, 2022) contains a curated mix of stories from, and about: people, places, and things, covering the tapestry of a ‘real’ life in Australia and places overseas. These are stories that touched deeply my heart; I hope they will touch yours too! Future Editions which will come out quarterly. Importantly, we at Yarns Magazine acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the Lands where we live, learn, work and play; and we pay our respects to them and their elders past, present, and future. Peace, love and happiness,

Petra

DISCLAIMER

All rights reserved. No part of this publication - YARNS Magazine (ISSN 2653-5343) may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any forms or by any means, including photocopying, or other direct or electronic methods, without the prior written permission of the Editor, except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by Copyright Law.

Editor PETRA JUNGMANOVA Contact details: +61 413 644 284 petra@yarns.today

CONTENTS

10 14

DAY 1

8eský Krumlov

Alexander Kokic Schmidt

Bar Beiruit

Chef Karl Krautler

Clair et Foncé

Cuddle Therapy

121

Elena Vasilantonaki

145

Enigma Fine Chocolates

169

Julie Kinney

195

ÃÆȸ¶ ²Ã¾ À³¶ÃÅÄÀ¿

215

6 19

Kate Bender

241

F!NK + Co

265

Kokoloko Dance Studio

287

Gillian Willson

Thomáš Honz

337

Holly Adam

363

Tony Jaggers

397

Leanne King

415

Emily Dickinson Poems

443

311

þESKÝ KRUMLOV

Day 1 This little town in South Bohemia changed not just my life, but actually many people’s lives - particularly travellers who fell in love with its beauty and magic and never left. I was not born there but I do consider this place as my favourite home out of my various addresses in The Czech Republic and Australia. My creativity took me there. I was lucky to be selected for, and offered a place to study Ceramics at, the prestigious St Agnes College of Fine Arts. I leaft the family-nest at 18 to make brand new friends and have amazing adventures in this Fairy-tale Town. Who would not love total freedom in place like this? In every issue of Yarns, I’ll be presenting a story of other beautiful places in my Birth Country, The Czech Republic, Czech, Czechia, Bohemia…. No matter how you call it, it’s beautiful and packed with places of outstanding beauty and cultural significance, like this town, my beloved Krumlov, for example. This little medieval town has a rich history, and fortunately was forgotten by the Communist regime which saved it from the dramatic architectural and other changes and damages inflicted upon many of the Country’s other incredibly rich heritage sites during that unfortunate period. Fortunately, Krumlov was loved and saved by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and given ‘World Heritage City’ status. These days the restored city has a dreamy somewhat Disney-movie like look with its castle and church dominating the shape of the town with the River Vltava (Moldau) casually meandering around it in an ‘omega’ shape, past various pubs, bars and accommodation. Interestingly, a friend recently told me when he was living in London it was cheaper to have a weekend in Prague (some 2 hours away) than a night out in London. I had many addresses living there alone, or with cool friends from art school, and one in particular with local gypsies near the Monastery under the Castle. So, navigating through the crowds on my mountain bike on the way to, and from the College of Fine Arts became a normal thing.

I þeský Krumlov

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Attending the College in a place like this of course was amazing. The classes we took outdoors to sketch details of the Castle or nature were just wonderful as everything around us was so ‘sketchable’. However, life in the city itself was another thing. I had my black German Shepherd, ‘Hata’ with me. Unlike my soft and gorgeous ‘Hata’, Number 2, who currently lives with me in Australia, ‘Hata’, Number 1, came from the Border Protection Working Dog line, so I had to train her differently. She knew sign language, and went with me absolutely everywhere - pubs, trips, even College. Walking her in the misty morning by the river upstream through the Town Centre and having the City to myself before it woke-up, and filled with ‘robotic’ tourists, was priceless.

I þeský Krumlov

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I’ll never forget the wanderings through Krumlov Castle from the Monastery, all the way past the Castle gardens, to surrounding fields, with just the moon and silent sculptures. Due to its ancient roads which are too narrow for much vehicle traffic, the City itself feels very safe, so I’d still do it all today, including walking into the night and laying on the warm concrete roads, heated by the summer’s sun; watching the moon; and listening to the night creatures. Having ‘Hata’ made me feel extra safe. She used to wait for me on Fridays near the kilns at my College and then we would travel by train to see my family in Beroun (some two hours away), or hitch-hike (yes, together!) to Kutna Hora (also 2 hrs away) where my friends were. It was one big great adventure!

Day 1

©Dreamst

©Dreams

I þeský Krumlov

time

What’s really fabulous about Krumlov is when people from all over the world come and stay little or a lot longer, so it’s always full of interesting people doing interesting things. The Pub Culture certainly helps, I think the Pubs and Bars there offer a perfect mix of rustic, comfortable and beautiful, with stunning views, of course. Literally everything is pretty in the historical centre and views of St. Vitus’ Church, the Egon Schiele Art Centrum, or the Castle are equally stunning. My mates used to have a large room they shared in the City Centre where we would crash if we stayed too long in the pub. It was really crowded (with more than 10 people) and so much fun – skinny-dipping at night in the river or going in pyjamas to the pub next door! So, I think there is beautiful adventure to be had there for anyone. I absolutely loved visiting with my family, and for my son to make his own story and friendships there. All day you can find numerous cafes there, or quiet places to hide with a book including the Serene Teahouse, or Castle Garden with its pond and revolving theatre. Music is always on the cultural calendar so making plans and going out is very easy, especially after 9 pm. Pubs don’t have TV screens, but have paintings and photographs hanging on the walls, like the Gypsy Bar with live instrumental Gypsy music every Friday, and sketched portraits of Rock regulars over the years. They are absolute gems in today’s fast paced world with social media on slaughter. For anyone who loves to quietly ponder and wander through city landscapes with music or being creative there is no better place in the world. The rich Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque history full of ghost stories, Alchemy (Krumlov and Prague being the centres of Alchemy in the country since the second half of the 16th century), the mad royal- Don Julius Caesar d'Austria, and everything that makes an historical place delicious is there. Even after so many years, I’m still finding new Alchemy Symbols on houses when I’m returning from my favourite ‘U Dwau Marii’ Medieval Restaurant (with the best Cinnamon Mead) and seeing new angels on buildings. No wonder Egon Schiele fell in love with the place ‘back in the day’, but he was a ‘naughty’ boy and with his love of painting ‘ladies of the night’ and living like a true Bohemian, during his life, he was not so much loved back by the locals. These days Krumlov loves the ‘wild’ Egon. It is a true ‘Centre for the Arts’ and artists from all over the world have a chance to apply to create and exhibit there in the Schiele Gallery. There was some nude modelling for international photographers. ‘Yes’, how I love my forever young portraits now! Also, anyone wanting genuinely great experiences there are places for any budget like charming Krumlov House Hostel, a 5-minute walk from the Town Square, or the lively ‘Travellers Hostel and Pub’ right in the City Centre. There are also heaps of lovely apartments right under the Castle, and if you want to do something really nice, the Hotel Ruze located in the former Jesuit College right behind the St. Vitus’ Church and with beautiful views of the City and a large breakfast terrace!

stime

Day 1

I þeský Krumlov ©Dreamstime

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I þeský Krumlov

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I þeský Krumlov ©Dreamstime

The Krumlov experience would not be complete without a hike to the Chapel on the Mountain of the Cross with the best view of the City for a Sunset picnic or going on the ‘large-tyre’ on the River around the City and seeing it from the ‘slow floating’ perspective. Festivals, Krumlov’s got it all! I aways loved the Five-Petalled Rose Festival when the Spirit of Historical Krumov comes alive. It dates back to the 16th century to the time when the last descendants of the Rožmberk Family ruled in southern Bohemia. The beauty of Krumlov is not only by Day and Night but also Sunrise and Sunset, particularly from one of many bridges within walking distance that cross the River. It’ll stay forever in your heart and maybe you’ll fall in love and move there! Cesky Krumlov deserves some more detailed explanation and I believe the extract from Wikipedia provides this succinctly. Wikipedia: ‘Thanks to the convenient location by the river, the area has been permanently inhabited. The area's oldest settlement goes back to the Older Stone Age (70,000–50,000 BC), the mass settlement is proven in the Bronze Age (1,500 BC). Celtic settlements were here in the Younger Iron Age (c. 400 BC), and the first Slavic settlement from the 6th century AD. In the Early Middle Ages, trade routes led through this territory along the Vltava. The Český Krumlov Castle was founded shortly before 1250 by a local branch of the noble Vítkovci family, descendants of Witiko of Prčice. The first written mention of Český Krumlov was in a 1253 deed as Chrumbenowe. The town was established in two stages. The first part called Latrán was built spontaneously below the castle, settled mostly by people who had some administrative connection with the castle. The second part was subsequently founded as a brand new settlement and called Old Town. Since the foundation of the town, both Czech and German nationalities were represented. A Jewish community is documented since 1334. In 1302 the Vítkovci line became extinct and King Wenceslaus II, who acquired the estate and castle by escheat, ceded it to the Rosenberg family, who later made it the main residence of their family. Peter I of Rosenberg, the Lord Chamberlain of King John of Bohemia, had the present upper castle erected in the early 14th century. Under his rule the Rosenberg estates flourished. Český Krumlov achieved the highest prosperity in the 15th century during the rule of Oldřich II of Rosenberg, when the estate territory was considerably enlarged. The Rosenbergs strongly promoted trade and crafts within the town walls. In the late 15th century, when gold was found next to the town, German miners came to settle, which shifted the ethnic balance even more. In one of the churches, the sermons were preached in Czech until the 1780s, when Church of Saint Judoc was closed. In 1555, William of Rosenberg joined the town parts of Latrán and Old Town, which had been up to then separate, and unificated the town. In the late 16th century, he had the castle rebuilt in the Renaissance style. Day 1

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Day 1

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In 1602, William's brother Peter Vok of Rosenberg sold Krumlov to Emperor Rudolf II, who gave it to his illegitimate son Julius d'Austria. After the Bohemian Revolt and the 1620 Battle of White Mountain, Emperor Ferdinand II gave Krumlov to the noble House of Eggenberg and the town became seat of the Duchy of Krumlov. From 1719 to 1947, the castle belonged to the House of Schwarzenberg. In the 19th century, the industrialization and development of transport occurred, and most of the town fortifications was demolished. There were 8,662 inhabitants in Krumlov in 1910, of which 7,367 (85%) were Germans and 1,295 (15%) were Czechs.[8] After World War I, Český Krumlov was a part of the Bohemian Forest Region in a newly-created Czechoslovakia, but German-Austrian deputies declared the region be part of German-Austria. In 1919, the Treaty of

I þeský Krumlov

©Dreamstime

Saint-Germain-en-Laye recognized the area as part of Czechoslovakia. In 1938, it was annexed by Nazi Germany, as part of the Reichsgau Oberdonau unit of Sudetenland, under the Munich Agreement. After World War II, the town's long-time German population was expelled and the town was returned to Czechoslovakia. During the Communist era of Czechoslovakia, the historic Český Krumlov fell into disrepair. However, since the Velvet Revolution of 1989 much of the town's sights has been restored, and it is now a popular tourist destination. In August 2002, Český Krumlov was damaged by 2002 European floods.’

krumlov.info/en/cesky-krumlov

Day 1

Alexander Kokic Schmidt

ALEXANDER KOKIC SCHMIDT

Day 2 I had the pleasure of experiencing Alexander play at the residence of the Austrian Ambassador during a local charity event. I did not expect something so sophisticated and moving from my experiences within the diplomatic community. To my surprise when we met at the same place a few weeks later, I learned that Alexander also composes his own music. I believe that classical music still has a presence in everyday life, whatever shape. It’s my go to music when I work and travel. Petra: Where were you born? Alexander: I was born in Canberra, Australia. Petra: What was your first exposure to music? Alexander: My first memory of exposure to music was when I was four years old, and my parents took me to see the London Philharmonic when we were living in England. I distinctly remember seeing the violins and timpani. This image is very well etched into my mind. Petra: What influenced you growing up? Alexander: When I was very young it was principally my parents’ enthusiasm and interest in classical music, particularly live performances, which sparked and developed my taste and want for music. My parents bought me a guitar and then a small keyboard for Christmas to play on and this further encouraged me. We used to visit many museums and I remember having a fascination about all kinds of mechanical instruments, including planes, trains, cars and other more scientific varieties. However, as I was growing my fascination seemed to rapidly turn to the musical kind. After all it was fun creating a lot of noise on them. Petra: When did you start playing piano? Alexander: I was six years old when my parents moved to Wiesbaden, Germany. A family friend offered us some trial lessons with a teacher who visited their home. After this I was captured by the proper instrument, and I was very fortunate that my parents recognised this and bought an upright piano and the teacher started coming to our home too.

Day 2

Alexander Kokic Schmidt

Day 2

Alexander Kokic Schmidt

Day 2

Petra: What does music mean to you? Alexander: This is a question I find very difficult to answer. What music means has had very different definitions depending on what stage of life I was in, and what was happening around me and within me, particularly when referring to my own playing. It has been everything from an expression of high art and glee to a painful burden, and even physically destructive. It has been something which has always been present. Through it I have grown, learned to cope with the world around me, been ecstatically happy, and importantly, it has brought opportunities to engage and communicate with many different cultures. Petra: When did you start composing music? Alexander: Composition started for me very late. It wasn't until I was in my last years in high school when my music teacher encouraged me to write down my improvisations. Since then, it has formed part of my musical journey, coming to prominence at different points in time. Petra: Can you share your composing trip to the Louvre? Alexander: When I had returned to live in Germany I was based in Frankfurt. One of my musical engagements there was composing a solo Piano Suite. One night at about 2am, I was struggling particularly to figure out the theme for one of the movements of the Suite and was desperately looking for inspiration. I had a mental light bulb ‘go-off ’ and I realised that I was in the wrong physical space for inspiration. Given that Paris is a five-hour train ride, and I knew that there was a train leaving at 6am, I knew what I had to do. I packed a small case; caught the train and had a quick nap; then after settling-in at a hotel in Paris I arrived at the Louvre around noon. I went into the Hall of Statues with manuscript paper and a pencil, and then by closing time, I had come up with not only a theme, but also composed the whole movement. The piece became the Fifth Movement of the German Word-Art-Music Project called “Das Marsyaprojekt”. This is a work based on the Greek Myth of Marsyas and Apollo that addresses the learning process we all must undergo in any field of learning. Petra: What is your performing history in Australia and Europe? Alexander: I have always had a preference for organizing Soirées in conjunction with my piano performances. They provide me with the most satisfaction as they intimate affairs involving anywhere between 30 to 100 people. Additionally, as I have moved around a lot, soirées have been the easiest for me to coordinate. In these I have presented classical, folkloric and more modern pieces, whether the evening has been focused on a solo performance, or with accompaniment. I have also played with ensembles such as the Australian Duntroon College Military Band. A personal highlight was when I was able to form a small orchestra at the Australian National University School of Music, which I conducted while presenting my own compositions.

Alexander Kokic Schmidt

Day 2

Petra: What are you working on now? Alexander: I had the good fortune to live in the deep winter in Iceland with a close friend in a small town called Mosfelsbaer. Here in the wind and snow, I learned from him and his father a lot about their ancient culture and their legends. I am working on a composition which derives from my experiences in the landscape and stories from this beautiful and hostile land. Petra: Can you describe the difference between the Australian and European audiences, and how the different peoples experience culture? Alexander: My experience in Europe, both performing for, and being part of, different audiences, was one where they really were looking for new works. Performing the

Alexander Kokic Schmidt

classics was very well accepted, but the audiences got particularly excited when presented with new ideas. In Germany there was a lot of eagerness for works to provoke thought. The exhibitions and sets brought by different artists/musicians heavily focused on engaging art which is directly relevant to current questions and debates in the different societies. I remember attending concerts, during the easing of restrictions in the pandemic, where classically trained pianists were bringing new compositions addressing the challenges of lockdowns. These were often supported by local governments and, of course, private enterprise. My experience in Australia is that a focus on this art form is slowly developing, but not to the level or norm found in Europe. Here I find one can often find an art presentation to be simply for the sake of the art, and so it easily stagnates with similar types of works being presented, season after season, because they reliably bring in audiences.

Day 2

Alexander Kokic Schmidt

However, there are very good organisers who strive to, and do, address questions in society and create intriguing ideas with which to experiment on a constant basis. However, compared with Europe, the impact is limited. Additionally, in Europe there seems to be more diversity within the audiences themselves. Also, I believe a big reason for this difference is that here, it is difficult for artists to find and hire venues at reasonable prices as costs for venue hire are at a premium, and then this gets reflected in ticket prices. So going to live performances becomes more of a special occasion, as you really have to set funds aside, rather than (say) a normal weekly activity. This results audiences being very cautious about what type of performance they are going to attend and so artists must take a more conservative approach with their works to guarantee they can cover venue costs. Petra: What has been your experience entering the European music scene as an outsider? Alexander: My experience entering the European scene as an Australian was a lot of fun. It did help having multiple languages at my disposal as this is so commonplace in Europe. Also, this meant I was able to be part of many different cultural circles. As people in Europe are very engaged with the Arts, it was very quick for me to find myself with people to talk to, and who were curious about what I was doing. It was wonderful to see how prominent live music and other arts are in people’s lives, particularly in Germany. There were plenty of people willing to assist, answer questions and give me a leg up. To my surprise, this applied also to venues themselves - they really worked with artists. Naturally you still have to be proactive. However, this is very gratifying as this often is the main hurdle, particularly once one has cracked the networking hurdle.

Day 2

Alexander Kokic Schmidt

Day 2

©Alexander Kokic Schmidt

Alexander Kokic Schmidt

Petra: What brings you most joy teaching music? Alexander: Private piano tutoring has been a big part in my musical experience. Once I felt advanced enough, I started teaching people ranging from as young as four, to well into their retirement. When I was teaching full-time, I used to run concerts each semester. I would encourage the students to speak a little to the audience before they played, at least give the names of piece and composed it. What brought me particular joy was when the students would start talking about the musical structures and music theory of their pieces and a bit about the history. These moments made it feel that what I had been teaching them was actually sinking in properly, especially if it came from students who did not seem so interested in that other side of music. It is a wonderful feeling seeing that the many hours spent with them in the studio is bearing musical fruits. Petra: What is your dream? Alexander: My dream is to have a performance venue where I can facilitate live art from varying parts of life and from differing cultures and genres. Petra: Can you describe your creative process when you are composing a new piece? Alexander: This varies for the different types of works. Typically, if I am working with someone, I enjoy having periods where we talk about the project in different settings, like parks, cafes, and museums. Once we break down the subject, I like to divide it into sections and from there develop musical ideas. Often the theme will come through improvisation or a breakdown of the syllables of a dominating phrase. After that I seek to develop the theme or follow the divided sections to help create the relevant development for the mood of the theme. This is a very flexible process and I read though the manuscripts of different composers for inspiration to see how they tackled different challenges and what their solutions were to create a particular feeling or tone.

Day 2

Alexander Kokic Schmidt

Day 2

Alexander Kokic Schmidt

Petra: What is the role of classical music in the current world and how do you view it in the past when it was the ‘pop’ music of the time? Alexander: I think that classical music has a very relevant role in the current world. For many I have seen it has become “just another genre to listen to”, rather than its own ‘dusty and stiff ’ thing separated from the more modern genres. Many more people are engaging with it as our experience of live music is what has changed dramatically, particularly as a lot of live music has had to move online to survive. I see that classical music has also taken this turn and is doing very well in this medium. I believe that as the pandemic hit us, as a society, we used social media platforms to express our musical intent. So now you can very easily find many musicians and amateurs posting and performing classical music on these platforms. It has been very encouraging to see the styles of classical music being treated more as just different genres, with little separation being made between modern music and older styles. You can find many examples where performers and producers of classical instruments and electric instruments /synthesisers are mixing their respective genres and borrowing from each other - thus very much blurring and removing the old notion of the division of “classical music vs modern music”.

Day 2

BAR BEIRUT

Day 3 Bar Beirut does not need a big introduction - it’s larger than life, and incredibly friendly and nurturing at the same time. It’s my go to ‘happy place’ in Canberra, the ‘boring’ (unless you know where to go) Capital of Australia. I’d recommend anyone visit the Bar, have delicious healthy food for dinner while sipping-on one of their exciting cocktails, and watching the best belly-dancing I’ve ever seen. Soumi Tannous now kindly shares what inspired him and his wife, Chantelle, to bring taste and fun of Middle East with Parisian flair to Canberra. Petra: Why Bar Beirut and what can people expect to experience there? Soumi: It’s the place where everything happens, and anything goes. Beirut is regarded as one of the best places in the world to party. As wars have come and gone, Beirut has been continually reinvented by generation after generation of cocktail lovers and clubbers who revel together in its music, dance, and hospitality par excellence. Even during the wars, people would still come together in underground bunkers to celebrate birthdays and weddings. We'd dodge bullets to drive to 'Sunday Lunch' - an important day on the weekly calendar for families to meet up and feast in their homes. This is a society that is determined to smile and refuses to be defined by war. That is what makes Lebanon so great – the people and our connection to one another! I was born and raised in Beirut and spent my early adulthood working in bars and clubs in the famous capital. It means a lot to share this experience with people in Australia. As for Bar Beirut, people should expect the unexpected. Along with great hospitality, cocktails and food, we are really proud of the community we have created - it is diverse, inclusive, safe, a little bit cheeky, and a whole lot of fun.

Bar Beirut

Day 3

Bar Beirut

©Zachary Griffith Botanist Creative

Day 3

Bar Beirut

Day 3

Petra: What makes your place so different to the other restaurants in Canberra? Soumi: I think our point of difference comes down to how we make people feel. We really are spoilt for choice in Canberra. There are many incredible restaurants

Bar Beirut

and bars that serve top notch food and drinks. Our focus has always been on the customer, many of whom have become great friends over the years. Also, our determination to share what Lebanon is really about, beyond what you may hear about it on the news.

Day 3

Our interior is uniquely ours and captures the heart and soul of Beirut beautifully. It was created skilfully by interior designer Kelly Ross. We are so proud of how everything represents our country and culture so perfectly.

Bar Beirut

The space has two distinct areas divided by an interpretation of a traditional archway. Our front section focuses on ‘place’ in terms of archaeology, aged textures, and clues of the past in a casual dining setting with comfortable banquette seating.

Day 3

©Avon Dissanayake ©Prince Sagar

The second half of the venue is a nod to the late-night haunts for which Beirut is so famous. Haunts that became meeting places and refuges for brilliant minds. Our colour palette is playful and drawn from both the mountainous surrounds and the faded bright buildings that line the streets of Beirut. Petra: What does hospitality (being hospitable) mean to you? Soumi: Treating people like they’re coming to my home and can’t wait to come back!

Bar Beirut

Day 3

©Zachary Griffith Botanist Creative

Bar Beirut

©Zachary Griffith Botanist Creative

Day 3

©Zachary Griffith Botanist Creative

I took a job at the local Soldier's Club. I called the traditional ‘meat tray’ raffles and the bingo and learned the Aussie lingo. I strongly encourage all new arrivals to spend some time out in the bush. I believe this should be part of everyone's Australian migration story. It is such an enriching experience, and you'll get a real insight into daily 'Australian' lives like meeting locals who will invite you in for a 'cuppa'.

Bar Beirut

©Zachary Griffith Botanist Creative

After a 12 months stay, we were both looking to make a move back to a city and agreed on Canberra. Initially, I picked up some temporary roles including working on the night of the 2015 Federal Budget at Parliament House, where I served the hen Prime Minister, Tony Abbott and Finance Minister, Joe Hockey. This was a surreal experience for me.

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Bar Beirut

After that, I worked in various bars around Canberra before an opportunity presented for us to go out on our own. We were at the park with our children when we received a call from a real estate agent who told us about a bar for sale. The timing wasn’t ideal - we had a three-year-old child and a three-month-old baby. However, it felt like a now or never moment and so we scraped together every penny we had to open the bar. Petra: How would you describe Lebanon? Soumi: Anthony Bourdian said it best: ‘We soon met lovely people from every background. We found fantastic food everywhere. A city with a proud, almost frenetic party and nightclub culture. A place where bikinis and hijabs appeared to coexist seamlessly—where all the evils, all the problems of the world could be easily found right next to and among all the best things about being human and being alive. This was a city where nothing made any damn sense at all—in the best possible way. A country with no president for over a year, ruled by a power-sharing coalition of oligarchs and Hezbollah, with neighbour problems as serious as anyone could have, a history so awful and tragic that one assumed the various factions would be at each other’s throats for the next century. Yet you could go to a seaside fish restaurant and see people happily eating with their families and smoking shisha, people who in any other place would be shooting at each other. It’s a beautiful city, with layers of scars the locals have ceased to even notice. It’s a place with tremendous heart. It’s a place I’ve described as the Rumsfeldian dream of what, best-case scenario, the neocon masterminds who thought up Iraq imagined for the post-Saddam Middle East: a place Americans could wander safely, order KFC, and shop at the Gap. Where dollars are accepted everywhere and nearly everybody speaks English. That is an egregious oversimplification. But it’s also my way of telling you, you should go there. It defies logic. It defies expectations. It is amazing.’ Everyone should visit! Petra: What do you love most about working with people? Soumi: I like the stories and getting to know people, and particularly introducing my culture in a dish or in a drink. I like hearing about other people’s stories; where they have come from; their struggles and successes. Petra: How would you describe traditional Lebanese food? Soumi: Traditional Lebanese food is homestyle cooking; every family has a traditional way of making something. For example, my neighbour doesn’t like my mum’s tabouli as she believes my mum cuts the tomatoes too thin. So, it’s for this reason, that we’ve taken a modern approach to our cuisine, drawing on Lebanon’s unique position where the Middle East meets the Mediterranean. Day 3

Bar Beirut

Day 3

©Zachary Griffith Botanist Creative

Bar Beirut ©Zachary Griffith Botanist Creative

Petra: Everyone seems to be your friend, do have many regular customers? Soumi: Most of our customers are regulars, and all our regulars have become our friends. Petra: You also provide belly dancing as part of your entertainment in your own unique way. Can you describe the different style? Soumi: In Beirut, we don’t wait for the weekend to party. We are grateful for every day, and that is what living through war gives you; a real appreciation of life and a lesson in how to live in the moment. COVID has certainly changed how we meet and gather in Australia, and we found many people were wanting to avoid the crowds on the weekends. And so, Wednesday in Beirut was born. Every Wednesday we have either belly dance or burlesque performers – sometimes if you’re lucky we have both! Petra: What is the role of your family in the business? Soumi: My wife, Chantelle, is my business partner and she runs everything in the background. You won’t see her here much as the kids destroy everything, so we do our best to keep them away! Petra: What brings you most joy? Soumi: It’s the simple things - seeing my kids happy to see me coming home after work, Sunday BBQs, catching up with good friends. The joy of people around me also brings joy to me personally, but to know that everyone is happy around me is what brings me the most joy. Petra: What is important to you? Soumi: My family and being able to provide for them, both to my immediate family here in Australia, and to my mother and siblings in Lebanon. Petra: What do you like about Canberra? Soumi: Canberra feels like home. Lebanon is a very small country, half the size of Tasmania, so every knows everyone and I feel that sense of community here in Canberra too which I love. Anywhere you go, you’ll always bump into someone you know. I like that we have four very distinct seasons in Canberra - it’s a place where you can enjoy every season, from extreme heat to the extreme cold. For me, it has everything I could possibly want out of a city – great facilities, clean air, wide open spaces, strong local economy, a vibrant and culturally diverse community, and it’s safe. Day 3

CHEF KARL KRAUTLER

Day 4 Have you ever wondered what it would be like running a five-star hotel with thousands of staff? I was fortunate to meet the ‘beyond accomplished’ Austrian chef, Karl Krautler, whose love of life has been re-energised wherever in the world his amazing resume of work has taken him. It is my pleasure to introduce him through his amazing Yarn! Petra: Where were you born? Karl: I was born in Austria and in the early part of my childhood I lived on a farm until my father gave up farming and we moved on within Austria. Petra: What inspired you to learn cooking? Karl: I’m not sure if the inspiration came from the surroundings of fresh products and the different flavours I experienced when I was in the kitchen with my mother, or the coming together of the ingredients during preparation and cooking, for example, from a dough to something crispy and sweet and wonderful to eat. The kitchen was always a happy place for me - seeing people coming and having a good time, to being happy to enjoy the food and appreciating it with lots of laughter. In Year 12 as an extra curriculum subject, I choose cooking and I really enjoyed it. Austria, being a tourist country, entering the hospitality industry and becoming a chef offered a good outlook and prospects, as well as the possibility to travel and work in different places. Petra: Was food big part of your life growing up? Karl: I grew up on a farm, so animals and growing produce was always there. My mother was a typical housewife in the sixties. The kitchen was the centre of the house, and everybody congregated there. A big stove was always on, summer and winter, and there were always pots on it cooking something from stews to leftover milk which when reduced to a creamy consistency, and when eaten with a few spoons of sugar, made a very delicious dessert - but only given on good behaviour. Sundays were roasts, mainly chicken or pork. Friday was baking-day: poppyseed strudel, raisin brioche, with apple strudel for Saturday or Sunday breakfast. So, most Fridays I always stayed in the kitchen to clean the bowls in which the strudel filling was made. 69

Chef Karl Krautler

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Chef Karl Krautler

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Another favourite was oranges in syrup with fresh cream, sometimes on Sundays. Monday was left-overs from the weekend, like the old roast all diced-up and sautéed with onions, herbs, potatoes, and an egg mixed-in and then served with a salad. During Summer, salads were a staple, and in the Winter it was cabbage in many forms - from pickled to cooked (home-made sauerkraut), plus a great variety of dumplings. When pigs where killed there was lots of activity from preparing the meat for smoking, to making sausages, and delicious pork roast with sauerkraut and bread dumplings. Only hot food was served in the evening, so for lunch-time it was always cold - salads, cold-cuts and left overs. Petra: What was your culinary journey like when starting in Austria? 73

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Karl: I started my apprenticeship in Austria in 1974. The curriculum was based on the Haute Cuisine of culinary excellence and its meticulous cooking styles as laid down by Escoffier, the godfather of the French Cuisine. In the late 60’s Paul Bocuse popularized the Nouvelle Cuisine movement of lighter and more seasonal fare as compared to flour thickened sauces. Finishing my apprenticeship, I worked in various restaurants in Austria and mixed my new learned trade with the innovations of Nouvelle Cuisine, even though during these times in Austria the food was very traditional with only slight variations possible so as to stay authentic to the regional Austrian cuisine.

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Chef Karl Krautler

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Chef Karl Krautler

In 1983 I travelled to London to work for the Hilton Hotel Group at the Park Lane progressing from a single kitchen with a small team, to a multi-kitchen set-up with hundreds of staff. This was a big learning curve - an eye opener, and it showed me there is more than just cooking in our profession – it is a fast-paced job with long hours. I worked in the Banquet Kitchen and remember the Christmas period when Duck a l’ Orange was the most preferred dish, Second was Roast Beef Rib, and then Yorkshire Pudding. We had to roast the ducks in these huge ovens in which you could literally step inside. The next step was to break down the roasted ducks and get them ready on platters, which were reheated and sauced, then ready to serve. There was no plate service as it is done now at large functions. It was traditional Silver Service – referred to as ‘Service Anglaise’ by the French. Served by waiters from serving dishes, it was always an impressive site when this parade of 20 waiters (depending on the size of the function) directed by the Head Waiter marched into the ballroom. It gave great satisfaction to see how ceremoniously the food we prepared was served. I found the atmosphere in these kitchens at times stressful, but good stress. To ensure it stayed positive you had to make sure that the products or food you had to prepare were ready on time. To meet this deadline involved good teamwork with long hours of hard work. Next, in 1982 came a big move to Hong Kong, which was a big life-changing experience. The humidity and cold rooms with air conditioning, took some time to get used to. Plus, with the different foods (from taste to smell), it was all a bit overwhelming and yet exciting at the same time. Working with products like Kobe Beef, Belon Oysters, Beluga Caviar, Wagyu Beef was amazing as I had only heard of, but never cooked with, them. Then there were all these other new ingredients that I came across; not to forget the cooking technics used in Asian cuisine. My main responsibilities were to train and introduce new menu items. As a result, it was a very creative time. I was able to draw from Haute Cuisine, Nouvelle Cuisine, and the new wave of Fusion Cuisine and blend classical French techniques with the contrasting culinary cooking methods and influences of traditional cuisines from the Middle East, the Asian Region, and laterly South America. It was a ‘perfect storm’. I had all the ingredients, plus the means to create harmonious dishes that elevated the quality and impact of the main ingredients. Yes, there where some failures, but they were needed to improve.

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After that in 1988 came Seoul, Korea with my first posting as an Executive Chef. The Summer Olympics, which had just finished, opened Korea and especially Seoul to the World. This change had a great influence on our everyday life and I was not sure what would be the best approach to run a kitchen in such an environment. The traditional ‘Escoffier approach’ involved kitchens being set-up with a military-style of leadership from General down to Conscripts. As I had experienced this myself, it was not the approach I favoured or could take. The relationship I wanted to build was based on speaking ‘Chef to Chef ’ with the context being food. With this approach not only is there room to disagree, but also, to enforce. I believed that this created a more friendly approach to work with the employees, unlike the autocratic approach common amongst chefs at the time. The Hilton Hotel’s food and beverage outlets included: a Coffee Shop, Lobby Lounge, European Style Deli, French Restaurant, Japanese Restaurant (including Sushi & Sashimi, Teppanyaki and Tempura Stations), an Entertainment Centre, the usual Room Service, and large Banquet Facilities. Organising the food imports was most important as at that time all meat orders were quarterly through tender, resulting in tonnes of meat being ordered in one go.

Chef Karl Krautler

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Chef Karl Krautler

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During this time I had the opportunity also to work with some renowned Michelin Star chefs from France, including R. Gillard, from the Prouhez Restaurant, as well as, Joachim Splichal, voted “Best Californian Chef ” by the James Beard Foundation, and chefs from other Asian countries with whom we held food promotions. It was an immense melting pot of all these different cultures, cooking methods and ingredients. After Korea we moved back to Europe to Belgrade, (then) Yugoslavia, and just as we all settled-in, we had to pack-up and leave due to the regional conflict there at that time. It was then 1992, and I was asked by my employer if I was interested in opening a hotel – ‘Opening a hotel!’ My first thoughts were both terrifying and also very exciting - to start something new - with it being up to me to make it happen. So we went to Bali to become familiar with the demands and operations of Resort Hotels. 2 months later, and 6 months before the opening of the new operation, we arrived on Guam in the Mariana Islands (USA). Time to finalise the concepts for the restaurants, write menus, finalise kitchen set-ups, hire staff, purchase equipment and food inventory, undertake staff training, and prepare opening activities. Guam has a diverse population and then, was short of skilled labour. We had to make it happen without the abundance of an infinite pool of labour that I was used to. We needed a different approach to entice the local community to choose us as their preferred employer in the hotel industry. We found this involved showing them that they were not just signing up for another job, but to have the feeling of joining a family with the same values and beliefs. For me being exposed already to the culture and lifestyle in countries where some of these locals originated helped me form a good bond and to convey that message. The months before opening time were not very eventful until, with 4 weeks to go and after moving to the Hotel from the opening offices on a Friday, on the Sunday an Earthquake of magnitude 8.2 struck the island. That was the time when the second and final group of newly hired staff was to come on board; training was due to start; kitchens were to be commissioned; produce was to come; ovens fired-up; and the cooking to start. This caused a little pit of panic as we were unable to go into the hotel to get our material for training, and we had to wait until structural engineers checked-out the building. So taking a step back and looking at the situation, we had to improvise and so did most of the training on the beach. Overcoming some logistical problems was next, as the Guam Port was damaged and no large ships could dock, so we were short of tables and chairs, but it all sorted itself out and we were grateful that other hotels lent us some equipment. The opening went ahead on time and was successful.

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Next in 1995, and after more than 2 years on the beach, we came to Adelaide, South Australia (SA). Now we had to get used to a smaller kitchen, smaller budgets, and less staff. However, the shortcoming of available staff available was made-up by the abundance and variety of food products available. It was a positive step back into hands-on cooking - experimenting again including drawing from French methods, Australian produce, and Asian, Middle Eastern, and Mediterranean influences. It was Heaven and time to further develop and evolve my recipes and create new ones - modern Australian cuisine at its best. I added a new skill - the paring of wine and food, especially for the wine festivals in the Barossa Valley (SA). Other highlights included: the Fine Dinning Dinners made up in makeshift kitchens nerve-racking, but always good fun; cooking 100 + steaks on an open chargrill all ready to be served at the same time; in 1997 being part of the Opera in the Outback in the Flinders Ranges (SA), where we catered for 200 people for 2 days - dinner, breakfast, and lunch. The latter involved a full 36 hour non-stop operation in the middle of nowhere cooking in tents and under the sky which was kind of magical. Onwards again - in 1999 to the First City Hotel in New Delhi, India. Arriving at 3 am in the morning it was still 34oC. I was not sure if I had made the right choice, but after 3 years I could say: ‘Yes, I did’. The job had its own unique features, for example, how do you choose a team of chefs and stewards when you must choose from hundreds of applications, particularly where the first stage is handled by Human Resources, while the second is up to me and my expatriate team. We soon found out that two groups of chefs applied. One with good cooking, but poor communication skills and from an older generation; the other, from a younger generation who went to school, had a good command of English and technical knowledge, but poor cooking skills. We had to forge a well-balanced team but throughout the three years, it was a constant battle to keep both groups motivated and bring them closer together - extra training, promotions, English-classes helped to overcome that. Another delicate situation was to convince the owners we should buy some of our pots and pans from Europe. When asked why import, when pots and pans are available locally, and if I could cook in a locally-made pots, I had to say ‘Yes’ while trying politely to explain the differences - lifespan, equal heat distribution, and so on. By then the owner said we had enough staff to stir the milk, so that it does not burn! On the Food-side, having a French Restaurant, a multicuisine Coffee Shop, a Teriyaki Restaurant, Room Service and Lobby, we stayed more on the conservative side, but added some creative twists to our presentations. The Function-side was the more interesting part, having of to cater for 1000 to 3000 people. Organising the menu by incorporating various cuisines; the set-up and flow of the guests; and, the execution of the function and clean-up (leftover food, equipment) was overwhelming. However, once the overall concept was established and the food to be served identified, I just needed to break it down into smaller sections (like a puzzle), and put it all together on the day making sure no piece was missing! 85

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Chef Karl Krautler

Next in 2002 to Mumbai, India - my 3rd opening and with all the experience and material and some employees from Delhi, it was all over within a year and very successful. So in 2003, I moved to the Park Hyatt Hotel in Canberra, Australia. Also included in my responsibilities was the food production for the Federal Parliament House of Australia for State Functions; its internal Restaurants; and special Functions like Budget Day and the Midwinter Ball; and so on. Additional responsibilities covered also formal events and business functions for The Australian National Museum and the War Memorial. Not much cooking was involved, the particular need was to rotate from one establishment to the other to ensure that everything was functioning smoothly. Next, in 2007, I got the opportunity to work for the Shangrila Hotel Group in the Philippines at the the Makati Shangrila, Manila. Again, another smoothly operational large-scale very bust establishment. So, in 2010 I thought that it was time to start semi-retirement, so I returned to Canberra and worked for the Capital Hotel Group and then the Commonwealth Club where I’ve been for the last 7 years. The semi-retirement did not happen! I felt like I’d completed a circle, starting from a single kitchen through multi-kitchen establishments, and back to a single kitchen. The funny thing is the 10- or 12-hour shifts are still on despite coming from hotels that catered for 3000+ covers a day to 150 covers! I guess the reason I am not wanting to retire is that all that exposure to different cultures and the evolution of food of the last 48 years gives me a reason to stay on and use that knowledge to keep on experimenting and cooking new dishes! Petra: How would you compare the presentation and culture of the 5-Star Hotels in various countries in which you have worked? Karl: In Asia and India during my time from the 80’s to 2000, each of the countries had its own strong hotel philosophies, values, expectations, and experiences. Properties had a high level of luxury, personalised services, amenities, and sophisticated accommodations. The staff in these hotels were very proud to work there and it became like a second family to them. Guam and Australia offered more relaxed behaviour and different attitudes, but with more empowered employees. Petra: You cooked for various celebrities and amazing places, can you share some experiences? Karl: The hotel in Adelaide (SA) was used by many celebrities during my time - the most notables where Michael Jackson, where for security reasons the hotel staff was used to make a corridor two deep from his car to the entrance. Michael, as well as his sister, Janet had their own chefs travelling with them. We were asked to make a platter of non-red meat sandwiches and fruits for them. While I wanted to give him an Australian-taste, I could not really give him a vegemite, or a smoked kangaroo sandwich. We never heard anything back but the sandwiches were eaten.

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On another occasion, after a plate of nice, chilled watermelon was sent up to Janet’s room I had a bite of the leftovers - the chef who cut the melon used a chopping board where previously someone had cut chilli - the only explanation as the melon was very spicy! Then there was when the rock group, Oasis was sitting on the patio and asked for some pizza in the afternoon. I was called from my break as we did not have pizza on the menu. So, I made pizzas and went back on my break after we served it only to be called back and asked to make the same again as they really enjoined it! In Canberra for the official dinner for Queen Elizabeth II in Parliament House in 2006, the Main Course, I remember, was Victorian Farmed Best-End Rack of Lamb, Potato Terrine, Sauté Spinach and Mint Jus. Overall, the feedback on the function was very positive. I’m not quite sure if she personally enjoyed it as she left some food on the plate, or was that just being polite? Many a time the whole Federal Cabinet and the Prime Minister would dine at the same time. At first it was always a bit nerve-racking, but then you get used to it. At my present place of work, I had the opportunity to meet a bunch of TV and Celebrity Chefs from Australia, Manu Feildel, Christine Manfield, Scott Pickett, Yasmin Newman, and Nino Zoccali to cook their dishes and draw some further inspiration from their food. The challenge is that even if you follow the recipe, there are always some small differences. Petra: What is your favourite part of being a chef? Karl: There is the professional part. I love food and cooking, particularly the creation of dishes through: mixing flavours and cooking methods; modernising the ingredients and equipment that changes the flavours, textures, taste, and mouthfeel of a dish. You are always surprised at the different outcomes - mostly good, but at times there are some misses. There is always the challenge to create a dish consistently every time while it’s on the menu. Also dishes usually keep evolving in presentation or by adding complementary flavours, like through the use of gels. This is more so now when working in a single kitchen restaurant and catering business! In relation to working in 5-Star hotels, it was the planning, organising, and execution of running and managing kitchens, with the varying processes involved from family events of 10 covers, to VIP events with covers in the hundreds, and still incorporating the creativity to give customers a well and truly memorable experience. Finally, there’s the appreciation received from the customers. Apart from the cooking, there’s the travel opportunities that came with the job - being able to observe different cultures, and interact with people in the countries I visited and in which worked. Even so you are really in the same job, although your workplace changes. However, no day is the same. This is the challenge and that’s what I like – I could not imagine a ‘nine to five job’ sitting at a desk.

Chef Karl Krautler

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Chef Karl Krautler

Petra: What’s your opinion of the ‘Fine Dining’ culture disappearing in Australia? Karl: How do you define ‘Fine Dining’ culture? Is it the Etiquette - as outlined by Brillant Savarin, a former lawyer turned gastronome, where the whole restaurant scene included: digestives; waiters in black tie; table service; a formal dress code; the standard for how a meal would progress - starting with small bites and appetizer; a main course followed by salad; cheese; dessert; and with each course accompanied by a liquid, mostly wine. The Maître d’ basically would tell you what to eat and what to drink? I remember during my apprenticeship, our Maître d’ said to the Head Chef: “I have 4 more guests to come; get ready for 2 ducks and 2 beef ”. Then when the order came in, the Maître d’ made the choices for each guest and the Sommelier sold them the wine. This was the common practise. From a service perspective - ‘Yes,’ it is disappearing as we do not have enough qualified and skilled personnel. Then, there is also the increasing costs to the establishments. From a food perspective, in the early times (more so in Europe than in Australia), Fine Dining was based on French cuisine, and meticulous cooking styles. With the evolution of cuisines from Haute to Nouvelle, to Fusion, Regional, and Molecular Fine Dining in Australia (food only) is continually on an upward trend. Also exposure to food through cooking shows, celebrity chefs, etc. has changed the way we eat and what we eat and this has an impact on our dining culture. The emphasis on Fine Dining for me is in the food rather than the overall etiquette and it is stronger than ever. It is not just Haute Cuisine, it has many influences from other cuisines and is associated with high quality, natural/ luxurious ingredients served in unique and beautiful presentations Petra: You are also a passionate runner, what role does running play in your life? Karl: Well, the health, mental and social benefits that running gives are immense. You can do it anywhere and it’s also a great way to stay fit. At the start for me back in Austria, it was more to stay fit. With my seasonal jobs I had Winter and Summer seasons - so in Winter I skied; and in the Summer, as I worked near a lake, I went swimming. These activities were incorporated in my daily routine when I had my afternoon break - it was fun and kept me fit. Moving to big cities like Seoul, Hong Kong, etc. where your job takes up more time, you can feel you are breathing a bit heavier walking up the stairs. So, I started running more indoors than outdoors. As time went on during my runs which were between 30 min to an hour, my mind replayed situations that happened at work, or where I was planning for a big function or new menus. I did not think about running as running as it was not work for me as such. Somehow it became a time where I could resolve issues or plan. However, the one thing I love about running is that you never know how close to success you are by just pushing a little bit more. It shows that at times there is very little between success and failure. Day 4

Chef Karl Krautler

It also keeps me mentally very strong and a small improvement in your runs promotes more motivation. I saw this during my first marathon that I was running in Canberra. Unfortunately, Covid broke my regular visits to Sydney for the Annual City to Surf Race which was, and will be again in the future, a regular running event and part of my running routine. Petra: You ended up settling in Australia after working and travelling the world with your family, what do they think about the incredible adventure you shared? Karl: Well, I could not have achieved all of that if my wife did not stand by me as she did. She gave up her career and made a full commitment to support me and to make sure that our growing family stayed together. This allowed me to concentrate fully on my career. While most of the time we lived close by the hotels I worked in, home life was a very normal family life. It just got a bit hectic when it was time to move on. However, my wife oversaw the packing and the logistics with the movers - what goes where; what do we have to bring ourselves. Over time she became an expert. Once the family all settled-in, they were like long staying guests in the hotel, having all their amenities they could ask for.

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Moving to Australia was a big one as we knew we wanted to stay here, particularly as it was time for the children to go to school. Again, my wife did the pre-school pick-up and found schools that had good reputations and followed through with the all the logistics. She also explored where we should buy a house. It always worked out well. For my children it was always an adventure to see these different countries and experience the different foods. It gave them some life skills, subconsciously, like resilience, open mindedness, exposure to different foods and languages. This gives them a great basis to appreciate their life here in Australia. Petra: You mentioned food being the bridge among cultures and people. Karl: Food Culture provides a mechanism for communication with others that do not speak the same language, or have different lifestyles. It helped me to connect to people from different backgrounds. Food is not just there to keep us moving forward, it means so much more. It exposes traites in people, like passion, personality, attitude, doing it from the heart, emotions, open mindedness, dedication, service, professionalism, teamwork, consistency, energy, attention to detail, creativity, flexibility, taste, and style. Through food and cooking, individualism is diminished, friendships formed, and disciplines strengthened. If you are in a foreign country and you eat their food, it identifies you with these people. Since this ‘necessity of life’ is needed all over the world, it is natural that it forms a bond. Petra: What brings you most joy? Karl: My family. Positive vibes and a feel-good energy especially after a run, or a good service and positive customer feedback. You tend to forget all the hard work you put in, and you are just happy what you have achieved. But there are also the daily things that are around us, just as they are, that give you a feeling of contentment. Petra: What is important to you? Karl: Health, Purpose, and Relationships Health - While this is not always up to us, it is my primary goal. I feel it should be everyone’s primary goal to look after oneself to ensure that you are the best yourself you can be. By being in good health, you can overcome a lot of today’s challenges Purpose - This is why we do things. It keeps me going to persevere against challenges like I faced in the countries in which I worked, and still face now Relationships – ‘Family’- your partner and children give good positive energy, stability and responsibility for our duties. ‘Friends’ - with a close circle of friends (3) you can talk about the experience(s) you have / had together and talk about the future. Also, you can rely on them.

Chef Karl Krautler

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Clair et Foncé ©Clair et Foncé

CLAIR et FONCÉ

Day 5 I’m someone who deeply values beauty and joy in life. Connecting with Lucia Arcadia (from Geraldton, Western Australia) has been a pleasure and a surprise as she is so talented in such wide range of activities and it related to preserving her eco-conscious lifestyle and product philosophy. Please enjoy her gorgeous story. Petra: Where are you based? Lucia: We are based in Geraldton, Western Australia. It's about a 4.5 hour drive north from Perth, the State Capital. Petra: What inspired you to start your beautiful brand and what’s the meaning of 'Clair et Foncé'? Lucia: I first started Olive + Mustard in 2017 selling my oil paintings, but since then, my business and I have gone through many transformations to be where we are now. Last year we (my sister, Layla and I) started our perfume brand 'Clair et Foncé'. 'Clair' is the French word for 'light' and 'Foncé' is the French word for 'dark' so the translation is ’Light and Dark’. We chose a French name because one, it's a beautiful language; and two, we have French heritage going all the way back to the Huguenot-era from the 1700's, and we wanted to incorporate that little part of our family history in the business. Petra: When did your love affair with perfume start? Lucia: Oh, my love for perfume started as early as I can remember. I've always had a 'nose' for beautiful scents. My grandmother was an elegant woman - fashion forward; a red lip always; and would smell of the most wonderful scents. It would seem that my mother and aunt also have that in common with my 'Nanny', as they also have a love for all kinds of fragrances. So, I would say that it definitely started from my family.

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Petra: You are an eco-conscious lifestyle brand - how would you describe your philosophy? Lucia: I think when you emulate nature, or at least try, whatever you are creating will be more harmonious, and therefore more fruitful in life. Petra: What does ‘living gently’ look like to you? Lucia: ‘Living gently’ to me looks like nurturing yourself - with the right food, the right people and the right environments that suit you, your values and your beliefs. Petra: What about Micro Farming? Lucia: My partner and I started our Microfarm in 2020. We wanted to create a beautiful and harmonious space full of organic wildflowers, so that we could not only sell our flowers, but use it as a space for our photo shoots. We've had two seasons now, with the last being very prosperous and enjoyable. It's now the start of our flower season (we only grow during the cooler months as Geraldton is far too hot in the summer), so we are busy preparing the soil for planting next week. Our flowers will be ready mid-August. Petra: What about Botanical Alchemy? Lucia: I started Botanical Dyeing about four years ago. I grow and use my own organic ‘dye’ flowers to print and infuse sweet little flower shapes onto the silks. It's very rewarding to see the final product. Petra: Can you describe the process of creating a perfume? Lucia: Our perfumes are 100% all natural. We use high-quality essential oils, resins and a carrier oil such as sweet almond. We don't use any harsh chemicals, as it doesn't fit our brand philosophy. We love wearing a soft, natural feminine scent. Petra: Do you work intuitively and follow your creativity? Lucia: ‘Yes’, very much so, I couldn't think of another way to work if I'm honest.

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Petra: Now, Wildflowers & Photography? Lucia: I grew up in the middle of a wildflower hotspot, so having an interest in, and photographing flowers have always been constant themes in my life. We have just added a new offering in our business incorporating this. We style and photograph products of other brands, but in a more 'poetic' way, using nature as a main feature in our shoots. What we desire to capture in an image is the ‘essence’ of a product - the 'soul', so to speak; we want it to tell a story, whist also showcasing the product.

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Petra: What brings you joy? Lucia: Many things bring me joy. I probably have to many things to list, but a few of my favourite things are: my dog Alfonze - he's my shadow, my best friend and loyal companion; my partner, my family, wildflowers, photography, astrology, and looking into the mysteries of life. Petra: What does beauty and romance mean to you? Lucia: Beauty to me is nature and kindness. It's the stars above our heads; it's the relationships we have with animals. Of course, I love the aesthetics of life: flowers, fashion, art, but I think beauty is in the small moments of everyday life. As for romance, I think everyone's love language is different. For me personally, it's being there for someone throughout the ‘ups and downs’ of life; having a good sense of humour; and having a stimulating conversation. Petra: What’s the dream? Lucia: The dream for me is to enjoy my life; help people where I can; and to bring beauty into the mundane.

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Cuddle Therapy

CUDDLE THERAPY

Day 6 There is no doubt that global events in last few years have affected each of us in their own way. So, I caught up with Bethany Heap owner of Cuddle Therapy Australia, The Cuddle Academy and Connected Heart one beautiful day in coastal Wollongong to discuss ‘cuddles’ and life and why we all need human connection. Petra: Firstly, you can tell us a little about yourself? Bethany: I was brought up in the suburbs of Sydney with three wonderful sisters in what some may regard a lower socio-economic area, but I had really good friends and people around me. I married young and had two boys. We we were married for 10 years and although we were very good friends, we just wanted very different things, and so I guess we just grew apart and divorced. Then I had a very brief relationship with my daughter’s father. He's still active in her life, but we're not together. I guess career wise I've had a bizarre kind of existence. I've jumped all over the place, but for the last 10 years, I've been working for myself, primarily. Before that, I worked a little bit for a comedy agency, a photography agency, in retail and even in martial arts. So, I’ve done a whole bunch of things – even cooking demonstrations, you name it. However, in all this, I was always drawn to people, and I guess I this gave me an alternative perspective. So, I studied relationships and human connection and have been working with people for the over the last 10 years in a kind of coaching and holistic counselling capacity. Petra: When did you get involved in Cuddle Therapy? Bethany: About three years ago, right before Covid, I purchased Cuddle Therapy Australia. It's a unique close-contact business that is there to support people. Suddenly, with Covid everyone seemed to need support as we’ve all been thrown into chaos – through isolation, social distancing and not being allowed to go near or touch anyone. It made me realize the true importance of this business and so for the last two years, I've have been developing it further and seen it truly grow. A lot of people have been entering the industry and it has reached the point where I feel I now need to introduce more restrictions and regulations into what we do so people can really understand Cuddle Therapy.

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Petra: Can you give some more detail about what Cuddle Therapy involves? Bethany: Basically, Cuddle Therapy is platonic touch. The very first act from birth is being held closely. If a baby's born prematurely, subject to medical needs, touch is often encouraged particularly to help make the baby thrive. The need for close contact doesn't go away as we grow. Indeed, it’s a fundamental human need. So, what cuddle therapy does is to offer that kind of support and fill that ‘holding space’ for people who don't have it in their lives. There's a lot of people suffering depression; who are isolated, bereaved; have been through a lot of trauma. It is common for these people to be scared to open-up to people again. Then there's people with fear of touch. What we do is we work with them to get them to open-up or become more comfortable with touch – through touch. Petra: Would this be helpful with bad relationships, domestic violence, physical and emotional abuse? Bethany: All those things, we work on the physical aspects of as well - our clients are a blend of people. Another example is our seniors who are amongst the least touched in our society. They reach a certain age, and they can find themselves isolated and left alone, without simple human contact. There’s no one to sit and have a cup of tea with them; touch their arm or hold their hand; watch a movie with them; to lean on. There are so many health benefits through touch, like lowering blood pressure and decreasing depression or anxiety. It helps us adapt to change and feel safe. Petra: What are the changes that you see when people undergo (say) a week of sessions here? Bethany: You can quite often see clients fairly stressed before the first session. They're a bit tense, nervous, and sometimes fidgety. So, to have them go through a few sessions, and then just be able to relax and be comfortable, it's almost like a little bit of brightness comes to their face; a little bit more color and life. They have a little bit more of that energy, that life force, behind them, and often say things like: ‘I've got a bit of energy to move now, I can function a little bit.’ It's quite remarkable how someone who has been isolated for so long, for example, can just completely change demeanor, that can actually assist in removing fear of touch. So, once they readapt and get comfortable with someone holding space for them and physically holding them, they suddenly function better again. The interesting thing with touch is that it releases all our happy hormones like oxytocin, dopamine and serotonin, and encourages them to flow through our body. However, on the other hand unwanted touch does completely the opposite, it increases all our stress hormones. So, you can't cuddle, or hold somebody who doesn't want it. It won't release the good stuff.

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Petra: When it comes to physical assaults, psychological abuse, etc., do the scars also create like a muscle memory in the body? Bethany: There can be - a simple touch can trigger somebody, and their body will tense up. There's also another memory trigger that can come into play during Cuddle Therapy that’s located right near our smell sensors. We can actually smell a scent that can then re-trigger the trauma. So, it's not actually a conscious trigger, and it's not actually a recognition. It's suddenly this feeling of fear or dread that people don't always recognize by: ‘Oh, hang on, I've done that because of this’. They can respond by thinking: ‘Hang on what's going on?’ and get a fear response. For example, if a therapist wears strong scent that happened to have very similar to notes one worn by the person who caused the trauma, that can produce a ‘trigger’ response. So ‘Yes’, there's absolutely muscle memory and this type of tension needs to be worked through carefully. As not all cuddle therapists are psychologists (although some of us are counsellors), where possible, we like to work hand in hand with psychologists and therapists and be able to cross-refer, so we can work on the physical aspects, and they can work on the psychological aspects. When it comes to the session itself and physically cuddling someone, is there much talking or, music or, is the cuddling done in silence? Bethany: Every session is different, some people want to talk your ear off, for example, if they've been isolated and / or alone for a long time. Petra: So then, is it about, say, the basic needs of being witnessed, seen, heard? Bethany: ‘Yes,’ it is - absolutely, but because it's also client-focused, every session is tailored to that client. There are clients who fall asleep on you and so we provide space for that. Then there's others who'll have a cry, and you don't have to tap into why they're crying or try and solve that crying. Simply, it's okay to cry, so they're allowed to sit there and cry. Then there's others who want to talk to you and want to open-up about their traumas. This is where we encourage our therapists to make sure that they've got a support or referral network, so they're not acting out of the scope of their profession. Petra: So, do the clients have to manage this themselves or do your therapist provide referrals? Bethany: ‘No’, people can book themselves and find the nearest Cuddling Therapist as we are Australia-wide. I have had a few NDIS Facilitators contact us on behalf of their clients about whether or not we can help with their clients, and a lot of us can. In some cases, there can be sensory issues, which have been exaggerated during lockdowns and Covid. This also has restricted people’s natural ability to reach out, or shake hands, or greet friends with a hug. This is a vital human need. You must be safe, don't get me wrong. It's not about not being safe, by any means. It's about the fact that we are still human, and that's not going away. Day 6

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Petra: I just find it really hard not to be able to touch someone's shoulder or hug people immediately, because I'm a big hugger. It's so important, and it's kind of hurtful when you are approaching someone, and you see people being evasive due to the fear of human contact. To me, it’s kind of upsetting in a primal way. Bethany: Absolutely it is, going completely against our nature. As I said, it's not to encourage unsafe practices, but you also don't have to live in fear, thinking every person is going to give ‘me a disease, or to cough or sneeze on me’. It's not the truth. It's not the reality. Petra: How to you sort out potential problem clients? Bethany: Clients will usually contact us direct, or like I said, through a third party. We'll have a consult with them over the phone to find out their needs. Sometimes that's not pretty when people tend to ‘try it on’ and ask for services that we don't (and won’) provide. Yes, it is a purely platonic service; there is no intimacy and nothing untoward within our physical therapy sessions.

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So, we have a chat with them to find out their situation, their background, and why they're seeking the service. Once the client has been qualified - so we know that they are safe, we are safe, and it's going to be a professional exchange, and depending on the therapist, we will organize sessions from the therapist’s home, the person’s home, or a clinic. I tend to go to person’s home more than anything at the moment. We book the session for as long as the person needs. Then, before any session begins, the person completes a Disclaimer Form. Petra: How long are the sessions, like a one hour? Bethany: ‘Yes’, usually a minimum of an hour. I've had clients who have seen me for two and three hours - it's completely up to them. We do charge on an hourly basis, but ‘Yes’, the session is under the client’s control from the beginning. However, it’s facilitated and managed by the therapist. So, like I said, if they want to talk, we can talk. If they want to lay down and watch a movie they can lay down and watch a movie and just have us there with them. If they want to have a cry, then we hold space for that. We offer tissues, give them a drink, and hold them while they have that cry. Every session is completely directed and is different because clients come for different reasons. They might have lost somebody close to them, just been un-parented adults or, been looking for a parental, or grandparental figure. We have such a mix- some might not have a partner and just want someone to hold space with them, not in an intimate way, but just as an interaction. We give them the presence and the humanity of the womb, if you like.

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Petra: Hearing all this, I’m thinking, it's like the communal nature of people coexisting together has broken down and taken away virtually completely. We're living increasingly solitary and isolated lives, particularly for women even just raising kids. Bethany: We don't really have the village-type community anymore, it’s broken down. ‘Yes’, you've generally got two parents working trying to survive, but parents can split up. Then there's not necessarily grandparents or aunties and uncles, or anyone else around. Like I said, I've got three wonderful sisters, but they're in Melbourne, Newcastle, and Narellan in NSW. So it's not like we are together on a regular basis. For me, we're not in that circumstance. So ‘Yes’, I think as a society, we've really lost that ability to just call on a friend or neighbour – to just reach out and say: ‘Hey, can you go pick up such and stuff ?’ We don't seem to have that anymore. Petra: I feel like COVID made it whole lot worse, particularly when you see and hear about people looking at other people as enemies. I feel like now there's great collective trauma around the world. Bethany: ‘Yes’, as I said, demand for our services increased greatly due to Covid. People became threatened by people for no particular reason. I've had people say: I'm not going to talk to anyone if they’re not vaccinated’, and ‘I'm not going to sit with someone who's not vaccinated’. There's no such thing as unvaccinated Covid. Everyone that I know, who has got it has been double or triple vaccinated, and they've got it from people who are double or triple vaccinated.

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Also, I've got friends who are / have become single over the last couple of years. They all complain about not being able to meet anyone - no avenues at all. ‘Yes’, the world's becoming harder, in general and we're getting very technology heavy and busier than ever. I see this as another reason for the increased demand for our services. Petra: It's almost like, having a genuine human connection is a conscious effort and a lot of work. To make it work, like to make a relationship as a friendship work when people are used to technology, and they're not used to face to face connection, being vulnerable. Bethany: I think that started before the Covid impact occurred. We really had technology overload, so you text people you know, email people, use Facebook or Instagram messaging in all these different avenues and so it loses context and time. Then there's all these messages getting mixed up with people not sure how to interact, and there's further miscommunication going on, with people getting upset with each other. It's a hard world out there and you really just need to be willing to extend a hand. Remember never take it personally if they turn it down, but be there because that's what people need!

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ELENA VASILANTONAKI

Day 7 The potter in me recognizes the potter in you. I’m thrilled to bring you a yarn with ceramic artist Elena Vasilantonaki all the way from sunny Greece. Elena creates wonderfully mystical clay art available online and appreciated by collectors all over the world, I hope you’ll enjoy the beautiful imagery of her functional, authentic pieces. Petra: Where are you based? Elena: I am a Greek ceramicist living and working in Athens, the capital of Greece. My studio is located right next to my house in the southern suburbs of the city, a short walk from the sea. Petra: What was it like growing up in Greece? Elena: My family moved constantly due to my father’s military job. No matter the place, we were always surrounded by ancient monuments as Greece is full of them and we never missed a chance to visit museums. I would describe myself as an introverted child and teenager. Lack of stable friendships and environment played a big role in this, I believe. As a result, I spent many hours alone drawing and reading. Schools in Greece do not emphasize the arts - there is just a basic knowledge of materials and means available to express a creative need. You pretty much have to do the research on your own. All I had available back then was a drawing block and drawing pencils. Petra: What is the exposure and role of pottery in everyday Greek life? Elena: Growing up in Greece, I was generally surrounded by ancient and traditional pottery forms that have changed little since the old times. Functional storage jars, large pithoi decorating the yards, and amphora (aged under water until rediscovered by the fishermen) can be seen in many Greek houses.

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The museums are full of them, and successful replicas are sold in markets on all Greek Islands. However, I did not become familiar with the word clay or the material itself until much later in my life. Pottery, no matter how much it once flourished in Greece, was simply dying in the years that I was growing up. Very few traditional or studio potters were still active; schools did not familiarize students with the material of clay; the possibility to study ceramics was non-existent. Things are slowly beginning to change nowadays following the general trend to take pottery classes as a means of self-expression, and therapy from our exhausting fast rhythms in life. Contemporary pottery studios with beautiful facilities are already very popular in Athens and other cities as well as the Islands, with classes available for local as well as international students. There are now many Greek ceramicists who can exhibit their work in museums and galleries and use the internet for their global exposure. Petra: What fascinates you about ancient pottery; what are your favourite styles; and why? Elena: I am really drawn to the worn-out surfaces of ancient pottery and the simple and organic forms of the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages prevalent throughout the areas bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Then, there’s the naked unglazed ceramic surfaces; the marks of the makers hands and tools; and the patina of time. These are the same qualities that I strive to achieve in my work. These objects were fully functional back when they were made but can been seen mainly as decorative today. My work questions the idea of function and utility, but above all, the notion of time and progress. My aim is to create contemporary work with an ancient feel.

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Petra: What inspired you to study pottery? Elena: Making with my hands has a psychotherapeutic effect. It is a way to fight overthinking which causes anxiety, and to focus on the present moment. For me, discovering clay was like beginning a journey of self-discovery. It is a means towards a slower way of living where I have the time to pause and look inside. It allows me to ask questions like: what is it that I like; what makes me happy or unhappy; what fulfills me and why? In the process, the answers to these questions become works. Something that I create in order to express a feeling, or an attitude towards life, or simply because I seek to forget myself in the meditative process of adding one coil on top of another. Besides that, it was the material itself - the clay and its properties that inspired me to further pursuit in this field: the plasticity of the material; the endless possibilities and combinations of clays, glazes, firing temperatures and techniques that each render a different result. Petra: How do you view the relationship between pottery and the earth from which it comes? Elena: Absolutely fascinating - whenever I get the opportunity to dig up my own wild clay (from the hills of my village in Chania, Crete), something very special happens through this process. The smell and texture of freshly dug clay; the rich terra-cotta colour; the surrounding olive groves; and the peace and quiet in the air - all bring childhood memories to mind. We are, to a great extent, defined by our childhood memories. To me, this is the answer to my quest for identity and belonging, and the feeling of a deep connection to mother land.

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Petra: How would you describe the process of one of your clay art works from the beginning to the end? Elena: It’s slow and intuitive. I look at photographs of ancient vessels and objects which I have taken in museums visits. I observe the form and the worn-out surface. This is my source of inspiration. I make some sketches; play with proportions; alter a simple object like a spindle whorl into a vessel; add or remove handles; think of colour and finish. When I have a clear idea of what I want to make, I start by preparing my coils and then I start building from the bottom up. Coil building is a slow process, and it can take a few days to finish a vessel. I must wait for the clay to dry and be hard enough before I continue adding coils on top, otherwise the whole pot is going to collapse. This is why I usually work on more than one vessel simultaneously. Also, I like to try something slightly different with each one, constantly experimenting, as one idea leads to another. So, I end up with a small collection of vessels based on one initial idea - no two are the same; each one is unique. Petra: What is your favourite part of the creative process? Elena: Definitely having my hands in clay. The meditative state of slowly building a pot, coil by coil. Sometimes I wish it never ended. Petra: I Imagine living in Greece you must be inspired constantly and discover something new in the ancient world all the time. Elena: In Greece it is pretty common to see ancient ruins everywhere. New ones come to light every day whenever new constructions begin. The museums are filled with ancient finds. Growing up in Greece, this is something a lot of people take for granted and so does not attract their attention, or maybe impress them as much as foreign visitors. Others, myself included, are captured by the surrounding aura of times past and forgotten and spend much time exploring ancient ruins and museums. It’s an endless source of inspiration.

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Petra: Do you travel a lot to particular locations, or is your creative process more spontaneous? Do you allow yourself to be surprised by random ancient discoveries? Elena: I have travelled a lot throughout Greece and Cyprus as a child due to my father’s military job. Visiting ancient sites was something my mother would organize for the whole family, and I guess this played a role in shaping my love for trips and the ancient world. I like to travel to places with historical interest, where there is something to see from ancient civilizations. This way a trip to another destination also becomes a trip back in time and I enjoy this journey very much. Petra: You ship your work around the world, is there much love for your contemporary ceramics with your unique ancient feel? Elena: I am humbled by the love and response from people to my work. ‘Yes’, it means a lot to me that another human being from a faraway place on our planet, which I might not have visited and maybe never will, wants to own a piece made by me with all my love and care. Selling my work online has opened my eyes to the beauty of the fact that technology can bring people closer and not just take them apart. It’s a powerful tool which has made it possible for makers to share their work with the world without depending solely on galleries and wholesale markets. Interacting directly with collectors and buyers leaves behind a warm heartfelt feeling.

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Petra: Who buys your clay art and how is it used around the house? Elena: I make both small and large vessels that can be used for decorative purposes, both inside and outside the house. The smaller pieces, bud vases and small bowls or plates, may be used for both decorative and functional purposes. People looking for a small present, or a little something to add a special note to everyday life, will buy these pieces. The larger vases and bowls are usually used as centre pieces on coffee and dining tables. I like to make works that question the idea of functionality. Some of them are left unglazed and are purely decorative statement pieces. Design studios and concept stores will often buy the larger scale works, or order them to be made. Petra: What do you love most about living in Greece? Elena: I like a simple and relaxed way of life, and in Greece I can have this - a house close to the sea or nature; simple healthy food; the warm and bright sun; and sweet summer nights with plenty of wine. Petra: What brings you joy? Elena: The sea, the sun, and selling my work. Petra: What would you say to someone who is flirting with taking up pottery and discovering their own style? Elena: I would say go for it! It’s a passion. It’s therapy. It’s a journey to self-discovery. Every time I get asked this question, the same words of Constantine Cavafy come in mind: “As you set out for Ithaka, hope your road is a long one, full of adventure, full of discovery.” pilosclayart.com

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ENIGMA FINE CHOCOLATES

Day 8 Who does not love chocolate? Actually, I know a few people, but seriously the comfort, experience and shared joy makes it the perfect little pleasure. Enigma Chocolates has been around for a while; I’ve been enjoying their yummy creations for years. I’ve talked to the owner Stuart Strutt-Shotton about the sweet journey, their current address in the middle of Canberra makes them perfectly accessible and always with a new exciting taste – so, trips to hairdresser got more delicious for us! Petra: Where are you based? Stuart: We are based in an ‘eat street’ in the centre of Canberra, Australia’s Capital. Petra: When did your love affair with chocolate start? Stuart: Like most people, chocolate has been a part of my life since before I can remember, so I’d say it started pretty early. However, it’s only been within the last nine years that I have come to understand the true complexities and stories of beautifully made chocolate. Getting to understand what great chocolate is, and can be, has created a true love of, and appreciation for, it! Petra: Is the whole family involved? Stuart: In one way or another, ‘Yes’! Although my wife Adna works full-time in the Public Service, she has been a huge driving force in the business since way before we even did our first market stall back in 2015. She has been behind the stalls of countless markets, and now also works at the shop on her days off. Our daughters have all helped out with customer service at markets, with our eldest now also working in our shop. They’ve all been there to put stickers on packages, stamping bags, folding and making boxes.

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Petra: For a long time, Canberra did not have much to offer in the artisan food range. So what made you start your beautiful chocolate business? Stuart: After working in Melbourne for 3 years (including 2 years with the hospitality industry leading, Vue de Monde Group, and time at Burch & Purchese Sweet Studio), I took the opportunity to travel overseas. I worked on a private yacht in the Southeast of France and then headed up to London where I worked at Bread Ahead in the Borough Market (learning skills in bakery), and Paul A. Young Chocolates in Soho and Camden Passage. It was at Paul’s that I really started to understand the attention and care chocolate needs and deserves, and it changed the course of my career. When I got back to Australia and found myself in Canberra, I wanted to continue working with, and learning from chocolate, so that’s where the idea for Enigma was born!

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Petra: Did you still have to learn the basics about chocolate? Stuart: I have been a qualified Chef for over 18 years (after a 4-year apprenticeship) and had worked with the very basics of chocolate, but it wasn’t until I started working at Burch & Purchase in Melbourne and then Paul A. Young in London that I started to really hone-in on the craft and gain the important knowledge about working with chocolate.

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Petra: I imagine working with such a wonderful product would make it very tempting to experiment, so what was your sweet journey like from the beginning? Stuart: I take an idea or concept (such as an old classic combination like rum and raisin, or something nostalgic like a lamington), and then start to work out what can be done to turn it into a chocolate truffle or bar. Another example is taking the elements that make up a Banoffee Pie and reforming them into a 1 or 2 bite chocolate truffle that has all the flavours and textures that make you go ‘Wow, that tastes just like a Banoffee Pie’!

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Petra: How playful and open is the Canberra market and other places where you take your product? Stuart: We’ve always had great support when it comes to the locals, particularly when we attended the different markets Canberra has to offer. Once people are familiar with our products, we find that they are very willing to try the new, playful, and at times experimental items that we’ve created. Petra: Did you have to start selling at various regional markets like most new boutique businesses? Stuart: We started off at The Old Bus Depot Markets in Kingston, Canberra. From there we would do the Handmade Markets at EPIC and The Forage Markets back when they were at the Little National Hotel Carpark in Barton. From those markets we gained a great following that led to some of our products being in a few retail outlets and inevitably we saw that the demand had grown enough for us to take the plunge and open our current brick and mortar shop in Canberra City.

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Petra: There is such a mystique and romance around chocolate. In today’s world, where people are busier and disconnected more than ever, is there a place for a humble truffle made with love? Stuart: Most definitely! We’ve always noticed people are wanting to buy chocolates for gifts and presents and wanting something high quality that is made with respect and full of love (that also tastes and looks amazing). This was even more so during the recent lockdowns when people were ordering from us for friends and family members in Canberra and interstate to show that they were thinking of them. What better way to do that than with beautifully made chocolates! Petra: I enjoyed visiting your shop and sampling your unique range of truffles. Can you describe what exciting selections you have on display at the moment? I loved the champagne one. Stuart: The Champagne one is a big favourite - the ganache is made with just Moët and French milk chocolate. We have also our Burnt Honey Caramel (our take on the classic salted caramel) made with sea salt from Tasmania; our Rocher (another take on a classic) in which we use beautiful hazelnuts grown in the Batlow Region of NSW; and we use The Canberra Distillery’s Coffee Liquor in our Espresso Martini Truffle. Petra: You mentioned collaboration with a local gin distillery, what can we look forward to there? Stuart: We’ve been using The Canberra Distillery’s products for years now and love the quality and being Canberra-made is a great bonus! Seasonally we use their limited-edition Sloe Gin for an Autumn/Winter truffle and the Summer Gin for Spring/Summer. Petra: What is the best thing about chocolate? Stuart: Its complexity, character, and versatility. When you’ve found chocolates that have been made with care and consideration (including cocoa with 100% traceability), there’s just no turning back to the ordinary and lacklustre run of the mill stuff! Particularly with Single Origin chocolates, it’s important to showcase and highlight the flavour imparted to the cocoa by the Regions and Countries of origin. Petra: What brings you joy? Stuart: Hands down it has to be being with my family, whether it’s going for a walk, or spending the weekend at the beach! Plus, cooking and baking (when I get the chance) and listening to music and podcasts.

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JULIE KINNEY

Day 9 Many years ago I purchased a wonderful garden book by Julie Kinney. I was always curious to connect and find out more about her world. Here is a Yarn for everyone who loves gardens. Petra: When did your love affair with gardens start? Julie: My love of gardens is probably by osmosmosis as a child of the fifties when so much was based on self-sufficiency. Peas were seasonal treats that were shelled on the backdoor step; fruit came from the garden; and my mother always had lots of colour through the garden. I recall the colourful display of orange Nasturtiums under purple Jacaranda and loving that. Then going through the Eighties white phase and thinking of it with distaste. Finally full circle, and I fell back in love with bright colours which to me were my Mum - so special! Petra: Did you grow up with a garden and family of gardeners? Julie: Mum came from North Queensland and such different gardens to what she was confronted with in Western Australia, so I imagine she was on a big learning curve. My grandparents in WA came from the Goldfields with minimal water so they were not gardeners, other than to have a few token plants and lots of green lawn. My grandmother did grow some Roses and loved her Christian Dior which she pronounced ‘Die or’ and we would have a smirk but wouldn’t have dreamed of correcting her. However, they did have a big sloping property down to the Swan River with a large Pomegranate tree and clumps of Bamboo and Flame Trees (Erythrina Sykesii) which we loved to play amongst on our way to their little jetty on the river. Petra: When did you start appreciating the importance of gardens? Julie: I think I just assumed everyone made gardens as everyone in my world did. In NZ and the UK, I particularly appreciated the roadsides. With Hydrangeas and Foxgloves in NZ and so many varied little species along the UK verges with Bluebells and Dog Roses and the wonderful Cow Parsley, I did wonder why you would want anything else. I was lucky enough to be mainly in the countryside with passionate gardeners and beautiful gardens, so when I came home to Australia, I just took it for granted that it’s what one did. 195

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Petra: What does garden mean to you? Julie: I wouldn’t like to be without a garden, although I call February my townhouse month because of the searing heat and the endless extra watering required. I swear to simplify every year, but with the first cool day, I am out there again - can’t help myself. I love the contact I make with passers-by when in my new front garden. I love the physicality of new projects or bagging up some horse manure from nearby stables; the planning and the continual learning about new plants and methods; and possibly my favourite, good gardening books. I am an addict for good garden writing. Petra: Have you been gardening your whole life? Julie: The whole of my married life I have spent creating gardens or renovating them. Some in the early stages were ridiculously ambitious, but I had successes too. We moved a bit so there was always another new project. Sometimes life was too busy, and the gardening was minimal, but it was always recreational and a point of discussion with good friends. An outing to a nursery was a favourite weekend event and I can remember bribing my then young son by offering him a stop at the pet shop en route to look at goldfish for his collection. Anything to buy me time in a nursery. I love the structural building of a garden too, like stone retaining walls for which we would spend hours collecting the stones, rustic arbours from dead branches collected on farms, mosaic pavers. All done by us but just occasionally the bonus of having someone else come in and do a ‘professional’ job was much appreciated. Petra: Can you share your experiences discovering the world’s gardens, and what are your favourites? Julie: I am fortunate to have seen a lot of gardens, but I always like to say my favourite garden is the last one I was in. I do love gardens where the owner, or at least the gardening person, walks with us and tells their stories - success and failures, warts and all which gives a garden real heart. One of my favourite experiences was a tiny walled garden in Provence, France up near the very steep Mount Ventoux which features in the Tour de France from time to time. It had simple metal arbours covered in climbers. The garden was split into quarters by narrow slate paths, all perfectly lined with low stepover box hedges and then filled with exquisite Spring flowers like Irises and Tulips. To one side was a sitting area with a rectangular basin as the French call their water features. It had much detail, but it didn’t feel busy - just perfect as we sat with chilled drinks soaking it all in. Through to the back garden and it was almost a wilderness. Flowering plants everywhere for picking and propagating, with vegetables mixed throughout. So joyful and such a contrast. Sadly, the owner has since sold, and I suspect the passion isn’t there anymore. Gardens are such transitory moments in time.

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I adore Autumn gardens and the gardens of Mt Wilson in NSW are just fabulous. The colour and form of the trees and leaves just enthrall me. Of course, up there they are in beautiful garden settings, which makes for a greater experience. My Lotto dream is a plot of land to grow an arboretum. Dame Elizabeth Murdoch’s Cruden farm is a joy. I love the provenance of her Oak trees and her optimism in continuing to plant trees. One of my Australian friends lives in a small rural village in England, and she arranged for me to take a group to her village for the day. We all wandered at leisure and the doors and gates just magically opened to entice us, sometimes literally through the house to get to the back garden where they had a treasure to show; sometimes over the back fence where the owners were busy in their vegie patches. We lunched in a garden by a stream with a waterwheel, drinking homemade Elderflower cordial and eating what they called Barossa Chicken. We wandered into grand walled gardens, over tiny bridges, down laneways spilling with climbing Roses. These are such special moments with which no one garden can compete. When I first took a group to HRH’s Prince Charles Highgrove many years ago, it was a very formal affair and despite having presented names and passport details ahead of the event, on the day a very English Bobby climbed aboard the coach to inspect our passports and ask us to hand-in our cameras for the duration. This was when the TV series HEARTBEAT was popular, and no one would hand cameras over until he posed for us. Luckily, he had a good sense of humour. The garden of course was superb and sections of it are embossed on my mind, but it’s the people who make these visits stand out quite often. Not just the Bobby issue but two of my lot had to go and knock on the front door of the house as we passed by. Luckily, I knew no one was home as the garden only opened in HRH’s absence back then. It’s all good fun when there is a group. Petra: How would you describe your garden-tour business and what do people experience in the beautiful adventures? Julie: A lot of my travellers are single people, and they enjoy not only making new friends but the general camaraderie of a group of like-minded people. One regular traveller told me that she lived quite a solitary life and these trips really brightened her life. The great thing about touring is that people come with a positive outlook. They want to enjoy themselves without the hard work of planning everything everyday. I might be madly working until midnight sometimes, but they are relaxed and that’s what its all about. I like to introduce a few unusual elements to my tours and once took a group to Newmarket in England, arriving at the same time as champion racehorse Winx. (That part was pure serendipity) They weren’t racing people, but we did the champion stables, racing museum and National Stud (all of which I might add had complementary gardens) and everyone was swept up in the euphoric moment and we were feted for being Aussies. It became a highlight of that trip. Meeting quirky personalities too is important as is always home cooking where possible or really great regional local food and wine. Gardeners are generally foodies too. It is a joy to be able to plan events.

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Petra: What are the most beautiful and romantic gardens to explore in Australia? Julie: I wouldn’t presume to choose them. Everyone’s ideal is different. I am a passionate plant person, so I might be looking from a different perspective to someone else; plus currently I love the newer cutting-edge natural styles with fewer flowers, but a lot of grassy waving movement which I find romantic. Stonefield’s in Victoria has to be high up there on a Wishlist for a lot of gardeners and I know it won’t disappoint, as is the Secret Garden in Margaret River. The name alone makes it desirable, and it is joyful. The small Sheringa in the Adelaide Hills has a wondrous Spring display if you are lucky enough to visit with tiny trails through many nooks and crannies and the gardens of Mt Wilson have to be classified romantic. I really feel I shouldn’t have named any gardens as there are so many that truly can be classified romantic. Petra: ‘The Gardener Wanderer’, what inspired you to put together such a beautiful book? Julie: I was approached by the publisher, and I must say my initial reaction was, who me? But on reflection I decided it was a challenge I would love. They gave me a free rein and it did take some time to come up with what I thought was a logical and hopefully enticing combination of gardens. Being surrounded by good gardeners between the Capes where I live in Western Australia, and my connections with many of the garden/gardeners was strong so I felt I would give authenticity to my stories. Petra: What’s your next project? Julie: Hmmm! The jury is still out on that one. I keep being sidetracked. I write a monthly newsletter for my Mediterranean Gardening Margaret River group that I founded 9 years ago. I have written for the MGS quarterly magazine, and I have been involved in organising gardening events for my group and for the paying public. Just recently I have joined a small stone carvers’ group and feel so thrilled they would allow a rank amateur like me to have a go. I am loving the experience and the camaraderie of the group each week and have been persuaded to enter work for an exhibition. My next book is there but not today… Petra: What would be your advice to people who would like to create a beautiful garden but don’t know where to start? Julie: Talk to people and read…magazines, books and newspapers. Make a scrapbook of the look you like, then research the plants. The more you learn about the geographical area in which you are going to garden, the better to make suitable plant choices. Some people say look at what other people in the area have planted but that’s not always wise or clever planting.

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Many times it’s plain unimaginative and remember, you are planning to create something quite beautiful. You need to consider the time you are prepared to give this garden. Simple isn’t a bad thing if time is limited and perhaps the landscaping side is your forte and uncomplicated planting. I met someone in the Orange Region of NSW recently who had never gardened before moving there and they just treated it like any other project they had approached in the past. Research and reading, personally I don’t think you can fill your time in better than good gardening books especially when you are on a mission. Head to your local library with your Wishlist if you don’t want to add any more books to your shelves. I have to keep culling as I have no more room for new bookshelves. Petra: How essential are gardens, on a daily basis as the extensions of our homes and the holistic human experience? Julie: Many people in the world live in properties where they can’t have a garden and they manage, possibly with plenty of houseplants. Others live in apartments with a central garden everyone can enjoy, but here in Australia I would hazard a guess that most people still would consider a home with a garden of any size a desirable way to live. You are talking to the converted here, but I love to look out to a garden be it the natural world or man-made. I am lucky enough to have bushland across the road from my suburban house and I like to think if I had to stop gardening at least I would have that to enjoy. I am also aware that homes we have sold in the past have had gardens which enhanced the value and enabled them to sell swiftly so you are value adding by having an attractive garden. We are so lucky to live in a climate which enables us to make the most of being outdoors in our gardens, and this is an important part of our lives. Anyone who gets to spend time gardening and communing with nature has to be a more well-adjusted human being. I was going to say relaxed, but my husband told me that watching some of us gardening ferociously and passionately wasn’t relaxing. ‘Why have seats scattered around the garden if you never sit in them?’ he would grumble! Petra: What brings you most garden joy? Julie: That’s not an easy question. I think it’s probably that there always will be something for me to learn and so much is fleeting. The seasons change, colours change, plants thrive or not. I love the nuances and the challenges. Everyday a tiny bulb will show its face, or an exquisite leaf will have dew on it. Treasure and surprises, I can’t wait to go outdoors every day to capture them in my mind. Petra: Are gardens making comeback with people being more conscious about their environment? Julie: Many people are being drawn to gardening by planting food and I think that leads on to ornamental gardens which are suited to our climate. I don’t think it matters how people enter gardening as long as they do. It is the most therapeutic occupation, which assists our fitness levels both physical and mental. I notice just how many young people are gardening on their verges now. The Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden programme in primary schools is wonderful for introducing children not just to gardening food, but to preparing the same food into something delicious, and then going home and introducing their families to these delicacies. Our local school even has a stall on the boundary to sell their excess produce. Day 9

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Day 10 Among the gentle rolling hills in the Southern Highlands of NSW, a beautiful part of world just a throw away from Sydney, is located a very romantic and picturesque truffle farm. Nothing beats the experience of arriving through the mist with high anticipation and excitement ready to immerse yourself in the rustic and rich world of truffles. Personally, I think truffle hunts will never lose their charm and here, the lovely hosts Tanya and Patrick, are there to make sure everyone has a great experience. Petra: What is the story of your farm? Tanya and Patrick: Our Black Perigord Truffiere was established 16 years ago and was one of the first operating and producing truffieres on mainland Australia. We grow both French Black Perigord truffles (Tuber Melanosporum), and a small number of summer truffles (Tuber Aestivum) Petra: Where are you located? Tanya and Patrick: We are located in Robertson in the beautiful NSW Southern Highlands. Robertson is noted for its distinctive red volcanic basalt soil. At an elevation of 731m. at the top of the Illawarra escarpment, Robertson receives a generous amount of rainfall, and is referred to as the green heart of the Southern Highlands. Rolling farmland and remnants of cool climate rainforest make the area especially beautiful. Petra: What is so special about the Southern Highlands area? Tanya and Patrick: The Southern Highlands is a cool climate region with rich volcanic soils supporting a range of gourmet produce. It is home to many artisan craftspeople and specialist producers, including mushroom growers, free range farmers, vineyards, and truffieres. Artists also take inspiration from the natural landscape and have made their home here. The Southern Highlands has four distinct seasons, and with the cool (often cold!) climate and European trees, people come especially to see the beautiful autumnal displays as the leaves change. Petra: What can people experience on your truffle hunts? Tanya and Patrick: Our truffle hunts run during the winter months of June through to the first week of August. The tours last for two hours and include a brief history of the establishment of our Truffiere, and a little of the science and magic behind growing truffles. We then spend about an hour in the truffiere with the amazing truffle dogs hunting for and digging up truffles. The tour ends with a truffle tasting menu, including lots of delicious freshly harvested truffle.

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Petra: What it the history of truffle hunts and why do people love them so much? Tanya and Patrick: Truffle hunting was first documented back in the 1400s, when secretive truffle men in France and Italy searched for truffles in the wild woodlands. It was documented that “sows should be muzzled when hunting truffles to prevent them eating the prize”. The history of truffle cultivation is relatively short, but has really taken off in Australia in the last decade. Our climate in Robertson is perfect, as the winter frosts lead to proper maturation and the development of the distinct truffle aroma. A truffle is the fruiting body of the subterranean fungus, so unlike other agricultural produce which you can see growing and maturing, truffles can only be detected by scent. This is where the fun begins. We think people love the hunt because of the mystery and intricacy of the relationships involved: between oak tree and truffle, the highly-trained beautiful truffle dogs and their handlers, and of course the ultimate prize of a perfect truffle. Our tours are also very hands on, which people tell us is fabulous. Guests are invited to get down and smell the earth with the dogs, and to actually dig for our ‘black diamonds’ themselves in order to experience the thrill of seeing and feeling the truffle in the earth. Animals are used to seek-out the truffles because they release a chemical scent that attracts animals to them. The animals if left unchecked, will eat the truffles and this is how non-cultivated truffles propagate. Truffles are often considered an aphrodisiac because the scent they give off replicates human pheromones such as androstenone. So, could there be a better reason to fall in love with truffles? Petra: How can you tell a good truffle and what does the grading process look like? Tanya and Patrick: Truffles are graded in three categories, Extra grade, First Grade, and Second grade. The grading is an international standard. Extra grade: “ Superior quality” are a minimum of 30g whole and intact with a good aroma and well-rounded shape which may include ripples in the appearance, and are free of any irregularities. First grade: minimum of 30g, with a good aroma, but not as intense as the aroma of an Extra grade, the shape may be knobbly, yet remain whole. Second grade: truffles that do not qualify for either Extra grade or First grade, primarily because of shape, or superficial defects like surface nicks and root marks where the truffle has grown around the tree roots. These truffles still have a good aroma, and may include truffles that have been cut, or are pieces. These truffles are primarily used in making sauces and incorporated into cooking where the visual aesthetic of the truffle is not necessary. Grading truffes comes from experience, and having a highly tuned nose, similar to the nose of a perfumiest who works for perfume companies developing fragrances.

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Petra: Why are truffles so valuable? Tanya and Patrick: The question could be: Are truffles valuable because they are good, or are truffles good because they are valuable? There are many reasons why truffles are so valuable. Black Perigord truffles can sell for over $3.00/g. Truffles are scarce - they are one of the true seasonal crops and cannot be artificially grown or grown out of season. They cannot be cultivated in a hot house and are difficult to grow, requiring specific climatic conditions and soil composition. Even after doing everything “perfectly”, a truffiere may still fail to produce. Truffles must be harvested manually and require trained dogs to “sniff ” them out. They have a very short shelf life, a maximum of 10-14 days once harvested. Petra: Under what trees are truffles found? Tanya and Patrick: Black Perigord truffles grow primarily under Hazelnut or certain types of Oak trees. We have English Oak (Quercus Robur) which are deciduous and Mediterranean or Holly Oak (Quercus Ilex) which are evergreen. The trees are inoculated with the truffle spores as saplings and can start producing truffles from about 5 years onwards. However, in saying this, it took 15 years for our first Tuber Aestivum truffles to grow. The symbiosis between the mycelium (the fungus) and the host tree is simply magical, and beneficial to both. It’s one of the fascinating relationships that our guests always love to learn about. 225

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Petra: Truffle dog or truffle hog? Tanya and Patrick: Truffle dogs for sure. Hogs are not used as the sows want to eat the truffles, and it is very difficult (and unprofitable) to restrain a 100kg+ sow when it wants to eat your product. Truffle dogs, like all scent detection dogs, are happy with their reward of a treat or a ball and will not eat your product. We use both English Springer Spaniels and American working Labradors. It is a common myth that Lagottos are the best truffle dogs, however most dogs can be scent-trained. We have an Irish Wolf hound as a pet, and she can certainly identify the scent of truffles, probably from the aroma that dominates our kitchen during winter. Petra: What is the best way to eat truffles? Tanya and Patrick: ruffles have such a distinct and dominant flavour, that it is difficult to suggest a best way to eat truffles. Many Instagram food photos show lavish amounts of truffle shaved on the dish, we find that this can sometimes be an overkill (and terribly expensive). We prefer a delicate truffle flavour that enhances the meal. Making truffle butter is a great way to use and then keep the truffle for an extended period, as it is stabilised by the fats in the butter. Truffle butter on fresh warm bread is simple and delicious. Truffle oil is great when made with real truffle but has a limited shelf life.

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There are so many ways to enjoy truffles, but some of the common ways are: • Truffled scrambled eggs. Truffles and raw eggs in their shells are stored for 24 hours in a sealed jar. The aroma from the truffle is absorbed through the porous eggshell and the eggs take on the truffle aroma. Truffle can also be shaved on top of the cooked eggs. • Truffle risotto. Similar to the eggs, where the rice and truffles are stored in a sealed container and the rice absorbs the truffle aroma. Truffle can also be shaved on top for extra flavour. • Truffle pasta, a simple angel hair pasta with lots of truffle butter and parmesan cheese. • Truffle butter on a ham and cheese toastie is probably Patrick’s favourite. • Truffle mash potato • Shavings of truffle can be placed between the skin and meat of a chicken and roasted. • Truffle shortbread biscuits. Tanya makes these every year and they are always a hit. • Truffle brie cheese. Cut a wheel of brie in half, shave truffles in between and re-join the halves. Let it sit overnight so the cheese absorbs the aroma, then lightly oven bake it so that the cheese becomes slightly “oozy and incredibly moorish”. Generally, truffle products that are commercially sold are made exclusively of, or have, synthetic truffle aroma in them. This does not give the true experience of fresh truffle. Petra: What would be your advice to someone who has never tried a truffle, where to buy it, and how to store it? Tanya and Patrick: If you have never tried truffle before, a small, very fresh and good quality truffle is a start. Straight from the farm is best; we happily send or deliver fresh truffles. Shave small amounts over warm buttery pasta, make a truffled brie, or aromatic truffled scrambled eggs or a risotto. If that’s a bit daunting, we would also suggest purchasing Robertson Truffles truffle butter and start with a simple pasta dish. Our butter has no artificial chemical ‘essence’, is rich in fresh truffle, and provides many options to integrate truffles into dishes. The truffle butter allows you to control the amount of truffle you use, and the truffle butter will preserve and not spoil as raw truffle will. You can even freeze it and use it whenever you wish. Fresh truffles have a short shelf life and need to be wrapped in an absorbent paper towel, then stored in an airtight glass jar and kept in the fridge (not frozen). Truffles will sweat and the paper towel should be changed every 24 hours to best preserve your truffle. The aroma of fresh truffles will start to fade within days. However, when truffle is mixed with butter, the fats and oils in the butter preserve the aroma and prevent the truffle from spoiling.

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Day 11 I noticed Kate’s work at the lovely X Gallery in Bungendore and it left me curious as to who is it behind those beautiful paintings. So when I contacted Kate, she kindly welcomed me into her Bungendore garden studio surrounded by rose bushes and trees no wonder her work reflects the beauty this life has to offe. In our current world, I think beauty is more important than ever. Petra: What inspired you to follow a creative path? Kate: As a child I loved all things art and craft. I was fascinated always by colour and the way it made me feel - a new packet of textas for school was my greatest joy. I loved to draw and make all sorts of things with whatever was handy. I would take even what I had made and sell it to my friends at school - until my mother found out and beat it out of me! Slowly but surely, the number and type of things I made dwindled to nothing after every creation was met with disapproval, discouragement, and brutal criticism. I was conditioned to think I wasn’t good enough to do anything vaguely artistic. I gave up - it was a part of me that was to remain hidden until much later in my life. Petra: When did you start painting? Kate: When my daughter was at school, a very dear friend of mine encouraged me to start making beaded jewellery with her. I loved it - putting the colours together was magical. Then we started making glass pieces to incorporate into the jewellery. Frustrated by the limitations of using wire to make jewellery, I started learning some silversmithing. I was fortunate to be taught by Helen Aitken-Kuhnen, such a fantastic class with inspiring people. A fellow classmate said she was going to the Australian National University (ANU) School of Art, Canberra to do a degree in silversmithing. I was intrigued by this possibility and started to make plans to follow her. That was until another classmate brought a scrap of an oil painting to insert into a pendant she was making. I couldn’t take my eyes off it. There was an instant realisation - I wanted to paint! I enrolled in a couple of night classes to learn how to paint and put a portfolio together, then applied to study painting at the ANU School of Art the following year. I graduated in 2014.

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Petra: What does your art journey look like? Kate: I loved the experimentation at art school, and the long path of discovery to what I want to express in my paintings has been interesting. The hardest thing I have found is putting blinkers on and following one path as I have been overwhelmed by the endless possibilities of painting. The changes brought about by Covid-19 in the last two years has certainly helped me focus on a particular direction.

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Petra: How does your garden influence your work? Kate: Through challenging times, both personal and external, increasingly I relied on the beauty contained within our garden to centre myself and find some momentary joy. I am totally entranced by the beauty of a single flower, it takes me away temporarily from all my stress and worries. I try to practice mindfulness to help ease stress. Noticing the garden on my way to the studio, and once I’m in the studio enjoying the view into the garden, soothes my soul.

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Petra: What do you like about living in Bungendore, NSW? Kate: I love the community of Bungendore as living in a small town feels like being part of an extended family. I love also the sense of space and quiet at our home; the view on our corner of Gibraltar Peak; the easterly breeze on a summers evening; the train station just around the corner which is so handy for a day trip to Sydney, the proximity to Canberra; and also to the South Coast for that beach fix.

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Petra: Why do you like painting flowers? Kate: I love the fragile ephemerality of the Rose, and also the sensuality of the curvaceous and billowing petals of the mature bloom which conveys a sense of both movement and joy. The Rose is symbolic of powerful emotions and desires, with all its paradoxes and ambiguities – besides its diverse beauty it can be healing yet harmful; passionate yet mournful; flourishing yet decaying. My Rose paintings are an unashamed celebration of feminine sensuality, both the strength and delicate beauty that a Rose contains. Capturing all the details of a Rose is not essential to me. In fact I find too many details a distraction from the sensations and emotions that colour within a form arouses. If there are too many details, it becomes more about the painting and the image itself rather the evocation of mood and meaning.

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Petra: You mentioned that people cry in front of your paintings, can you explain some ofthese reactions? Kate: Some people have had really strong emotional reactions to my paintings. A painting can trigger memories of a loved one, a scent, a feeling of joy, or sensuality. It is the most incredible feeling to be able to generate such feelings in another person by something I have created, I hope to be able do it many more times. Of course not everyone will have such responses, art is so subjective and personal, but when they do it’s an amazing moment to experience. Petra: What are you hoping people will experience with your art? Kate: Painting is a form of wordless communication and capable of generating intense feelings in a viewer, and I hope people will form a really strong emotional connection with my work. As colour has always generated strong visceral emotions in me, reactions which I find endlessly fascinating, I try to capture and pass on these feelings in my paintings. Form and colour are essential for the essence to evoking: a reminiscence, a feeling, a sensation, and a moment in time. The colour palette of each painting sets the tone: sometimes it’s musical; sometimes it’s emotional; and sometimes it’s a sensation, or even a scent . Petra: What are you working on now? Kate: I have been working on a few commissions since my recent exhibition. I’ve just finished a red diptych of three Roses which is so moody and sensual - I think it’s my favourite so far. I’m currently working on a commission for two paintings which will be sitting side by side, and I’m really excited by them as well. Perhaps they could take over as my favourites so far… I’m surprised by how much I’m enjoying painting Roses. The possibilities and ideas for the next paintings feel like they’re about to burst out of me, I just need more hours in the day! Petra: Do you see more demand for beautiful paintings with people paying more attention to interior design since Covid started? Kate: ‘Yes’, I think it’s essential to experience beauty, and it’s something for which we’re all crying out with so many terrible things happening in the world. A beautiful painting upon which to meditate is one way to remind us there is still beauty in the world. When the news is filled with disasters of every kind, a beautiful painting can soothe our soul, lift our spirits, give us hope and inspiration.

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F!NK + CO

Day 12 If you ever visited any fine dining establishment in Canberra you’ll instantly recongnise the iconinc water jug designed by Robert Foster. Sadly Robert lost his life in a tragic car accident and left his beautiful family, incredible body of work and legacy behind. I’ve visted the Queanbeyan studio and talked to Gretel Harrison, widow of Robert Foster to talk about FINK. Petra: What are the beginnings of F!NK? Gretel: F!NK & Co was established by my spouse, Canberra-based artist and designer Robert Foster in 1993, with the aim of creating a design and manufacturing business that would support and generate opportunities for Australian designer-makers. The company started with a single product – the F!NK Water Jug, which, after nearly 30 years of continuous production, is one of the country’s most recognisable design objects. Tragically, Robert was killed in a car accident in July 2016. I tool over responsibility for the company after his death and today, F!NK & Co is a much loved and respected Australian design company with an international reputation for producing world-class tableware, hollowware, jewellery and lighting. We continue to be knownfor products that meld refined craftsmanship with shapes and colours largely inspired by the Australian landscape – tropical corals, fish and anemones, endless blue skies and vast ancient deserts. Petra: What does F!NK mean? Gretel: F!NK is the promise of modern design excellence, uniting the utmost respect for the design ethic with refined craftsmanship. This craftsmanship combines traditional artisanal practices alongside innovative contemporary manufacturing techniques, joined with the wit and rigour of designer-founder Robert. Our vision has been to produce innovative objects that challenge other utilitarian objects. Petra: How would you describe the materials and techniques you use in the production? Gretel: With nearly 30 years of manufacturing experience, every piece in the F!NK range has its own story of development and usually involves some form of technical and aesthetic innovation. Each piece has its own sometimes comical persona, reinforcing the quirky and unique nature of its distinctive design. Particular attention is given to the functionality, performance and the quality of making and finishing.

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F!NK works predominately with aluminium because of its flexibility to form organic shapes and its unique ability to be anodised, which allows for the surface to be coloured in a vast range of colours. As every piece is hand finished, this results in an object embedded with its own unique characteristics – as much a work of art as a production piece. F!NK prides itself in developing unique and bespoke processes to produce each piece. Petra: How did the now famous F!NK Jug make it into fine dining restaurants? Gretel: The F!NK Water Jug was designed originally for the Republic Restaurant, Canberra in 1993 with Robert hand-making three uniquely different jugs with varying angles. He also made a range of other products including the bar and glass hanging unit. Since then, the Water Jug has been extremely well received and F!Nk has worked with numerous restaurants and hotels in Australia, including Capella Lodge (Lord Howell Island), Longitude (Uluru), Southern Ocean Lodge (Kangaroo Island) and Akiba (Canberra). The F!NK Water Jug is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA) and is also used in the Museum’s restaurants. Day 12 I 268

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Petra: How has F!NK evolved over the years? Gretel: From a single artisan working in a small studio, F!NK has evolved and grown with the ongoing release of new products. With more products comes more work, and with more work comes more staff. Our seven staff are mostly from a creative background and artists or engineers in their own right. Creating a creative work place has always been a very important focus for our company and the workshop is accessible to all our staff to make their own work. Whilst all of our products are made by us in our workshop, we are extremely fortunate to have supportive local subcontractors, including our powder-coaters, laser cutters and the people who make our packaging. All of F!NK’s materials are sourced from Australian suppliers and we recycle all of our excess materials and waste products. Over 30% of F!NK’s production is now exported, including to places like the MoMA which has the biggest giftware mail-order catalogue of its type in the United States.

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Petra: Can you share Robert Foster’s creative story and contribution? Gretel: Robert had vast experience and knowledge, but most importantly he was approachable, open, likeable and generous. An artist’s work is usually seen as their legacy, but with Robert the influence he had on the artistic careers and the lives of those he mentored is equally significant. A bit of background will perhaps best help understand the origin of his creativity and drive which led him to become highly qualified, and work and achieve international recognition around the World not just with F!NK, but also his own independent projects which he continued in conjunction with his F!NK career. Robert was born in Kyneton, a rural town in Victoria, and grew on a bush (on three sides) property in rural Bendigo, some 110 kms. From the State Capital, Melbourne. His parents were both teachers and the family travelled around the country a lot. This had a profound impact on Robert as he ‘made things’, as he has said: ‘influenced by the ‘making-do’ of bush craft’. This was his response to: ‘the way natural materials and simple techniques were used to make objects - how nature could combine with the man-made’.

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As he grew, his ‘making’ progressed to making jewellery in his father’s shed. ‘My father was a potter and an art schoolteacher, which led me to play with ceramics from a young age. However I was attracted to the qualities of metal; the ability to control it, its versatility and its precision’. Interestingly his paternal grandmother had studied metalwork in Melbourne in the 1930’s. So this creativity was certainly in Robert’s genes! Robert’s parents’ love of the arts extended to the emerging art and craft movements in Indigenous Communities and so in the early 1970’s when they travelled around Australia,

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they visited several remote to such outstations. These encounters fuelled Robert’s growing fascination with the making of ‘things’ – tools and utensils, but this time in ways passed down over the millenia. Robert often acknowledged these travels into the outback, and experiencing Indigenous craftfirts-hand were one of the primary influences on his craft. He has said hammering, ‘smashing rocks together, making flints’, is one of the first actions we as humans did.’ For him the influence was more about ‘the act of making than particular materials or specific forms,’ and would underpin his work as a silversmith.

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In his words: ‘I just start hammering the material; for me the hammering and forming process (raising) become like sketching or doodling in 3D - a free headspace. With the brain in a different mode, the actural form starts to evolve and find its own way. When I ‘raise’ on an object I get really excited, thinking – this is the life! I should do this every week’! Petra: How does F!NK support emerging artists? Gretel: F!NK has employed graduates and students regularly from the Australian National University’s (ANU) Art School – particularly from the Jewellery & Object Workshop.

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We have provided also an opportunity for students to do a 3-6 month’s internship with our company, thereby helping to nurture their creative interests, and inspire their artistic careers in the crafts and metal- smithing industries. Collaboration has been at the centre of our success. Over the years we have worked with many artists and designers in the production of our range, and in many other projects. F!NK also donates work for fundraisers to organisations such as the Capital Arts Patrons Organisation (CAPO), the proceeds of which go directly to supporting local artists.

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©F!NK + Co MORTALITY REFLECTED 2011 470x65x210cm, Steel Frame, acrylic top, cast polyurethane, fibre optics, 12 volt quartz halogen globes, tinted glass gel

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Petra: F!NK also does major works, what are some in Canberra? Gretel: There are so many – here are some examples at: - the British High Commission, a droplet light installation; - the Australian National Botanic Gardens, Wayfinding Signage. - the Realm Hotel, in the foyer we hung a vibrant red sculptural curtain installation comprising 7,500 anodised aluminium rectangles of various sizes hanging from stainless steel cables/rods creating a five storey curtain of flickering red; - the ACT’s power utility, ACTEWAGL, in the foyer, we installed ‘The Journey’- a lighting installation comprising 37 tusk-like forms Robert called ‘Ossalites’. These were inlaid into the floor, housing an LED lighting system connected to motion sensors which triggered a series of dazzling multicoloured lighting sequences. The Ossalites range in height from one to three metres and create a mesmerising forest of lights. - Radford College, we suspended a 1.5-metre Globe of the Earth in the atrium of the Senior College Common Area. Robert use d Google Earth data to generate over 200 latitudinal cross-sections of the Earth’s surface to formulate the geographical relief of the globe. The see-through structure is anodized blue for oceans and silver for land. Titled “Blue Mantle” as a representation of how fragile is the mantle of life within which we exist. This work is now an inspiration to the students and a reminder of their future responsibility to our world. - the Nishi Hotel, Robert designed and made the interiors of four lifts. He used recycled basketball courts for the walls which had an etched effect with hand carved handrails. The ceiling and lighting were made from hand hammered, finely perforated, anodized aluminium - softening the lift interiors like a cloudy sky.

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©F!NK + Co THE JOURNEY 2010 Thermo formed acrylic, DMX controlled LED lights, powder coated aluminum various dimensions Collection ACTEW Corporation, Canbrerra

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©F!NK + Co TEAPOT 2001 Anodised aluminum 26x13.5x7cm Collection Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK Purchased with the Yorke-Radleigh Trust Fund

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Petra: What are you working on next? Gretel: We are currently working a single stem vase paying homage to the lighting installation ‘The Journey’ that we installed at ACTEWAGL. Bengt Cannon, who was part of the team that worked with Robert on this installation, has recreated and scaled down the tooling used to create the ‘Ossalites’, enabling us to create three unique forms in three varying sizes. These vases are made from anodised aluminium and are formed using Robert’s unique water forming process to produce natural, organic shapes. Each vessel incorporates a seam resembling a spine. These minimalist forms are designed to house a single stem flower or to be grouped together forming your own personal mini sculpture. Petra: What is Robert’s legacy? Gretel: He has left an indelible artistic legacy that is felt across Australia and around the world. Robert was named the 2015 ANU Alumnus of the Year for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and his memory is treasured by the many young artists that he mentored and employed, along with the numerous students to whom he provided internships and experience for over 20 years. He is greatly missed by the Canberra art and design community. From a professional perspective, he will be remembered for his continuous technical innovation; his attention to detail and mastery as a maker; his design language of expressive and often curved forms; along with, his lack of fear in embracing the full spectrum of intense colours. This is being given a clear focus through the new annual Robert Foster F!NK National Metal Prize being offered by Craft ACT and supported by the Tall Foundation and F!NK. The Award is to celebrate outstanding work in the field of contemporary metal working by designers and craftspeople – both established and emerging, in recognition of the value of high-quality craft making skills, good design and innovation.

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WRAP PLATTER 2008 Press forged and hand raised anodised aluminum 50x40cm Collection Adrian Sassoon, Uk

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KOKOLOCO DANCE STUDIO

Day 13 I had the privilege to be a photographer at a beautiful event with heart in Canberra’s Civic Centre where Becky Fleming and dancers from her Kokoloco Dance Studio preformed the most fun and exhilarating routine. In no time, this had most of the crowd dancing with them. I come from a culture that values and loves dancing together in public, so this was such a treat, and when you have someone like Becky who can create a joy for everyone present, what a gift! Petra: Where are you based? Becky: Our studio is based in the Latin American Cultural Centre in Red Hill, a suburb of Canberra, the National Capital of Australia. Petra: When did you first fall in love with dancing? Becky: I've loved dancing from as long as I can remember. It's the only profession I ever wanted. Petra: What influenced you growing up? Becky: My main dance influences were Michael Jackson, the Alvin Ailey Dance Company and iconic dance movies like Dirty Dancing, Flashdance and A Chorus Line. Petra: What does dancing mean to you? Becky: Dancing means everything to me. It's my life and what brings me the most happiness in all ways - learning, teaching and performing. Petra: What inspired you to open your dance studio? Becky: After returning from dancing in Latin America, I was teaching for other ballroom studios and wanted to teach styles I'd learnt and performed overseas and to create more opportunities for myself and others.

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Petra: What styles of dance are available to explore in your studio? Becky: At Kokoloco we teach Salsa, Brazilian Samba, Brazilian Funk, Bachata, Reggaeton, Heels, Twerk, Burlesque, plus dance fitness classes like Zumba, Brazilian Fitness, Aqua Zumba, wedding dances and customized Hen’s Parties! Petra: You are available for events and private performances; can you describe the variety? Becky: We create our own KOKOSHOWS at the end of each dance term, plus perform at weddings, corporate and private functions, mostly Brazilian Samba shows (as they are the most visually spectacular) but also Latin styles, Burlesque shows, and we create customised shows for themed events - we do it all, He-he! Petra: What does your typical performance look like? Becky: No two shows are the same, but often, we will come out as a surprise to the music, perform, then encourage guests/ the audience to get up and dance, which definitely livens up the party! Petra: Seeing you perform and the joy you bring, what do you feel when you dance? Becky: I feel pure joy and happiness when I dance. Even if I'm physically tired and sore, there is no better feeling than dancing and bringing joy to the people watching.

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Petra: I loved witnessing the response from people of all ages, especially the children, and you picking up a little girl to dance with you. This was such a beautiful, connected moment of humanity. Is it common for everyone to join in and let their hair down? Becky: Thank you for this question and comment, that's so sweet. Every audience and event are different - some people are more open and confident to get up and dance; others might be more reserved if it's earlier in the night, or it's a smaller or quieter style event. We find that cultures that really celebrate music and dance are much more receptive to join in, which we love! Petra: Here in Canberra, famous for its public servants, do people know how to truly relax and have outrageous fun? Becky: Ha-ha, it all depends on the event and group of people. Canberra can be conservative, but I believe everyone ultimately wants to feel free and relaxed to have fun, but definitely in the warmer months and party season, Canberrans are more relaxed! Petra: Who are your students? Becky: My students are of all ages from 5 to 80's, and from all backgrounds and abilities. The main group is females between 18 & 40 who love dancing, getting fit through dance, and enjoy the community that dance brings. Petra: What brings you most joy? Becky: Dance brings me the most joy, also my partner, cats, living a healthy lifestyle and the summertime. Petra: Can anyone start to dance - irrespective of age, size and fitness? Becky: Everyone can start dancing, irrespective of age and fitness levels, although be ready to sweat and work hard (while also having fun)!

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GILLIAN WILLSON

Day 14 I had the pleasure of meeting Gillian standing by the side of the road in front of the famous Dalgety Pub at the base of the Snowy Mountains Region of NSW. I couldn’t help but overhear the conversation taking place next to me while waiting for the ‘folks in lycra’ to cycle past on the 2022 Circular Cycling Tour from Jindabyne to Dalgety and return. Gill was shouting directions to cyclists and having that most interesting conversation with another onlooker standing-by. I was stuck accidentally in Dalgety on a very spontaneous trip to the Snowy Mountains to catch the last Autumn sun, so I made most of that morning and enjoyed the event and contacted Gill afterwards. Who knew that she would turn-out to be so travelled and accomplished? I can’t wait to see her upcoming Adult Pantomime! Petra: Where were you born? Gill: I was born in Harrogate Hospital, North Yorkshire, England. We lived in a small market town called Knaresborough, which had a huge viaduct over the river Nidd. Look it up, it’s beautiful. I moved many times as a child, living in Yorkshire, the Midlands, South Wales and then Hertfordshire - all while in Primary School. I had one more move during High School to Bedfordshire and then finally, off to Lancaster to become a teacher. I taught in East London and Essex before travelling to Australia. Petra: When did you come to Australia first and what impact did it have on you? Gill: I first came to Australia in Nov. 1994 on a Working Holiday Visa for one year. My sister was already living here after also first coming out on a Working Holiday Visa in the late 80s. During the year I worked mainly on the South Coast of NSW in Outdoor Education. I enjoyed the relaxed lifestyle of living in a sleepy coastal town in Australia (‘OZ’). I had never lived by the ocean before and loved spending time reflecting on the vastness of the ocean and its ever-changing moods. It was a far cry from the streets of East London that I had just left. I returned to the UK in Nov. 1995 and spent the following couple of years walking around in a fog - I guess a form of depression when I think back. It took me that time to adjust and feel like I could live in the UK again. Then, I got the call from Australia offering me a job to come back! I didn't accept that job, as it required me to leave the 3 jobs I was doing at the time with little warning. I was then offered another option to return as an Intern for another year. I accepted this offer, and in Aug 1997 I told my parents I was returning for just one year to get it out of my system and see more of Australia! It’s now 25 years later and I am still here, married and with 2 Aussie kids!!

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Petra: What is the story of you settling in Dalgety? Gill: On returning to ‘OZ’, I continued working in Outdoor Education for a few years; then gradually moved more into hospitality roles within the campsites; and finally into management at a Conference Centre. I met my husband during this time and the year after we were married, we made plans to travel around Australia in a converted bus. Before we left, however, we were offered the opportunity to manage a Ski Lodge in Smiggin Holes in the Snowy Mountains. We thought this would be a good place to start our travels, as our plan was to work our way around Australia. On completing our first ski season, we were offered to return the following year and feeling like we'd just got the hang of the job, we accepted. As Bruce had never been to the UK to meet most of my friends and family, we decided to spend the months between seasons over in the UK. Following our second ski season, we bought a unit in Jindabyne in the Snowies, thinking it would be a good investment, even if we didn't stay in the area. After our third season, we were invited to buy a local business. We deliberated over this for about 6 months before deciding to go ahead and purchase it. I was pregnant with our first child at this point, and it felt like it was providing for the next stage of our life. I became pregnant again a couple of years later, and it was clear our 2-bedroom unit was going to get a little cramped. We were also over living alongside seasonal workers who enjoyed partying or playing computer games at 2am every night! We had enjoyed always driving out to Dalgety for day trips, especially on our days off from managing the ski lodge. So, it was no surprise that we went to check-out houses in Dalgety when we decided to upgrade from the unit. Having grown up in villages in England, I felt at home in a place like Dalgety. There was a pub, a shop, a school and the Snowy River - what more could you want? We bought the cutest cottage and began our quiet family life in the countryside. I have always felt like I was on a permanent holiday in Dalgety. I am someone who needs a quiet space to re-energise. Petra: Can you describe your work in the orphanage? Gill: Back in 2002, when we took our first trip together to the UK, the travel agent asked if there were any particular countries we wanted to visit en-route. We decided Thailand was a great option for a beach holiday before landing in the middle of a UK winter! She then asked if there were any other countries we'd like to visit on the return to OZ. Before we had come to the Snowy Mountains, we had been attending a Baptist Church which was connected to an orphanage in South Africa, so we put South Africa out there as a possibility. The travel agent typed the route into her computer and was amazed to find a flight with Qantas that required you to travel to the UK via Thailand and back via Johannesburg (‘Joburg’)! She was amazed, as she had never come across this before and the price was really good, but we had to book it by 5pm that day!! This felt like a sign, so we booked it! In April 2003 we arrived in ‘Joburg’. At the orphanage, which was mainly for children orphaned due to AIDS, I was invited to run the Preschool as I am a trained Primary School teacher. My husband volunteered to help in whatever manual-way he could. So, he helped build a house the Zulu way, which meant build a wall, if it is the wrong place, knock it down and build it again! I loved my time in the Preschool. I felt I could really help establish some semblance of order and progression using my professional skills. Day 14 I 314

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I was able to establish good relationships because I decided to watch how the Zulu women interacted with the children. I observed early on that the kids took advantage of the many young, western volunteers and had them wrapped around their little fingers. I was determined not to let that happen. It became clear early on that the big kids were going to be a pain when they returned from school, before we had finished in the pre-school. They would come knocking on the windows and pull faces. On my second day, using a technique I had observed the Gogos (Zulu Grandmas) using, I ran outside the classroom grabbed a stick and chased them waving it in the air. Ha-ha! It worked perfectly, they never bothered me again. I was obviously never going to use the stick, but they didn't know that, and I gained their respect that day! However, one month is not long enough and I came away convinced that short term volunteering is not the way to go. It was heart-breaking for both us and the kids to up and leave, just as you had established special trusting relationships. Those kids still have a tug on my heart. I fell in love with Africa on this trip. Interestingly, as a child growing up, if you had asked me where in the world I would like to travel, I would have said Africa. Australia was never even in my radar! Petra: Can you describe your work in prison? Gill: In 2018, I was given my second opportunity to go to South Africa. At this time, my family and I had spent 10 months in the UK (2015/16), where we studied with a Christian organisation called ‘Ellel Ministries’ - whose main purpose is to train Christians in the ‘Healing and Discipleship Ministry’, that is, learning how to pray with hurting and wounded people within the Church context. Too often people enter churches and put on a mask; sweeping their own issues under the carpet; feeling that they must pretend to have it all together now that they are Christians - unrealistic nonsense really. Day 14 I 316

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Whereas Jesus said that he came to bind up the broken-hearted and to set the captives free, many of us remain captives to our own inner wounds. Becoming a Christian is a new beginning, a new journey of renewal in all areas of our lives. God doesn't want to leave us the way he found us; He wants to heal our every wound. It was this message we took to the church in South Africa. As part of this trip, we had the privilege of ministering in a prison in Johannesburg. An experience I will never forget. It was an all-male prison, where the inmates were casually hanging around the corridors as we walked past, a mostly female entourage. We were being led by their well-respected Chaplain and we had no problems as a result. The inmates were respectful and polite. In fact, we were in a wing of the prison called ‘Christ the Redeemer’, which we found out had a waiting list of prisoners from other wings wanting to be moved there, as it had a reputation for transforming people's lives. We joined them in a chapel service. The worship music was loud, and the musicians were all inmates, playing drums, electric and bass guitars and keyboards - they were very talented. We taught them on the power of forgiveness and how it is the key to healing. We used skits and got participants up from the inmates. There was a profound sense of joy and brotherhood in that room - beautiful. We visited also a halfway house/farm which was being established by former inmates who had come out of prison with a new sense of purpose in their lives. Here the plan is to train them up in many skills, so that they can better return to their communities. Sadly, for many, they will never be allowed to return to their own communities because of their wrong-doing in the past. They are determined, however, to go out and bring all that they have learnt to others. I reflected on our prisons in the West and whether there would ever be such freedom given to bring the hope of Jesus in such a way as this - where a whole section of the prison was given over to a Chaplain! The inmates slept on bunks in dormitories of about 20 men. We were invited to go into one of 2 dormitories where the men had pushed their bunks closer together, in what was already a cramped room, to make space for a ‘Prayer Room’ at the far end. One member of the dorm would be praying in this ‘Prayer Room’ throughout the day and night on a roster basis. Constant 24/7 prayer - I didn't expect to find such peace in the midst of a prison – Profound! Petra: What inspired you to write stories and do pantomimes with local children? Gill: Growing up, in every year of my early life there would be a play or pantomime to attend in which my Dad or Mum would take part. In fact, my parents met through being part of a local amateur dramatics group in the 1960s. I loved attending these plays and aspired one day when I was old enough to take part. I did perform in a few school plays and when I was old enough, I was a puppet in one of my Auntie's pantomimes, fulfilling a long-time ambition! My Aunty wrote a pantomime every year, which was performed in her church hall before Christmas. They were often hilarious and a highlight of the year. Inspired, I took to writing my own ‘panto’ whilst in my last year of primary school. It was ‘Hansel and Gretel’, and I made the whole thing rhyme, but when I showed it to my friends who had said they would be part of it, they decided it would be too hard and lost interest. I was devastated and tore it up and threw it away! That was the end of my panto career until I graduated as a teacher; moved to East London; and helped run an after-school kid's club at church.

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I decided to give writing a panto another go, and took the storybook ‘Jane and the Dragon’ (about a young well-to-do girl who wanted to become a knight, rather than learn to sew!) and rewrote it in panto form. It was a huge hit, much to the surprise of all the parents who attended. I discovered then that this was one of the most fulfilling things I had ever done. It was the following year that I came to Australia, so panto-writing was put on hold. Once my daughter started school in Dalgety, I revived my ‘Jane and the Dragon’ script and we put on a performance on Presentation Night at the Dalgety Primary School (DPS). It was such a buzz getting a laugh out of the crowd and seeing their enjoyment. Petra: Can you describe your plays and their connection to your area? Gill: Over the next few years, I wrote 4 more pantos for the students at DPS to perform. These were originals - the first one, inspired by the opening scenes of a novel by Michael Condon called ‘The Trout Opera’, is based in Dalgety and opens with a kid dressed up as a trout crossing the Dalgety Bridge to take part in a school play. That was all that was required to get my creative juices flowing! The next panto was called ‘The Tale of Rosie Trout - A Trout Opera’! This is the tale of a trout that played too close to the dam wall in Jindabyne and found herself sucked through the wall and falling into the Snowy River. It then tells of her adventures in the Snowy, the characters she meets along the way, and her eventually realising that Dalgety is the best place in the world. So, she sends a message back home to tell her family to come and join her and finishes stating that her family held hands and yelled ‘Geronimo, before they all jumped right through the wall! Day 14 I 320

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The next panto was entitled ‘Banjo - the Horse from Snowy River’, about a clumsy Brumby that preferred dancing to anything else and his relationship with a local farm boy, who tries to train him. It ends with the boy up entering him into a horse race with his nemesis from school, the daughter of Mr Menace. It involves a 'dance-off' with Shaun the Sheep and a lot of slap-stick comedy. The final one was ‘The Yeti of Dalgety’, about a Yeti who accidentally ends up in Dalgety and a group of local kids who try to protect him from the evil Yeti-catcher, who makes money from selling Yeti fur coats to the snobs! Sadly, the DPS is being threatened with closure due to low numbers of students and this may mark the end of my panto relationship with the school. Petra: What are you working on next, an adult pantomime? Gill: I am, and also toying with the idea of establishing the Dalgety Community Panto! I have put out my feelers for interest and am happy to report there is definitely potential. Watch this space! Petra: How do you see life in the country and the impact of being part of small community? Gill: The beauty of living in a place like Dalgety for me is the peace and quiet which would not suit everyone. If you need a lot of action, then Dalgety is not the place for you! Many people move to somewhere quiet and find they can't cope. You have to like your own company, but then there is always the pub! Again, there can be the misconception about country pubs being unfriendly and everyone staring at you when you walk through the door. My advice, smile! I have found that people are friendly if you are friendly to them, in other words, don't be shy! I am naturally shy around strangers, but I figure that many people feel the same way and are waiting to see if you are going to be friendly to them first. Since the day we moved to Dalgety, we were made to feel welcome and part of the community. At that time there was the Summer Tennis Comp., which proved great for meeting people. We were added to a team and played every week. No one took it too seriously and anyone could play, whatever their level. Some would rock-up in their work boots, ‘Stubby’ in hand and a ‘Barbie’ on the back of the ‘Ute’ - great stuff! One thing about Dalgety, if there is any event on, everyone turns up! There is still a great community spirit. The Dalgety Show always draws a crowd from far and wide. Our front yard used to become a car park, until we put a fence up and shocked a few people the following year! One thing that is guaranteed every year is a successful show. It is the one time in the year I make myself get into my art studio and try to produce something to enter the Art Show. One year I came 1st and 2nd in the mosaic category out of 2 entries!! Does wonders to your confidence! Petra: What is your view of people wanting to escape the city life with a romantic idea about their new life in the country? Gill: I think many people who 'escape the city' come wearing their rose-coloured spectacles, often coloured with childhood holiday memories. However, it is a whole different living permanently in such a place. If you're used to everything being on your doorstep, then think again. If you don't want to get to know your neighbours, think again. If you can't leave your doctor, dentist or hairdresser behind, think again! I have watched many people move here over the 14 years we've lived here, only to spend half their time driving back to Sydney/Newcastle for appointments.

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The other thing to consider seriously is whether you will cope with being far away from certain family members or friends. I have observed retirees moving here before any grandkids are born, but as soon as that happens, they have to move to be closer, which is totally understandable. Things you won't get here that you may be used to in the city include: takeaway delivery, choice in many services, entertainment on tap, and anonymity. What you will get – Community! You can always live quietly and not get involved in anything, which is fine, but you will miss out on so much that is special about country life. Some people have to be involved in everything and on every committee, and we need such people. However, that is not me, I prefer to find my lane and get involved where my strengths lie. It takes all sorts to live in a small community, but to me, it's mostly about being kind, respectful and friendly. Petra: You and your family survived a horrific camping accident, what kind of impact it has it had on your attitude to life? Gill: There is the small Dalgety community and then there's the wider Snowy Mountains community which is a very active community and growing fast! We became aware of the big heart in both communities in 2012, when our family was the victim of a terrible camping accident. The wider community pulled together and put on a fundraiser for our us was very humbling.

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On the day of the accident, we had driven to Kiama, a coastal town south of Sydney, to celebrate Father’s Day with family members who live there. We would usually stay with family, but on this occasion, we decided it would be fun to camp. There were several moments in the day and evening leading up to the trip when I almost pulled out of the plan, not the least being that we got away later than planned, but because my father-in- law had booked campsite for us, we felt obliged to camp. In the end, it was about 10pm by the time we finally had the tent set up and we were ready for bed. As the kids fell asleep and I lay there, I became aware of a conversation coming from an adjacent public car park. It seemed there was a boy planning to drive his car, but his friends were trying to stop him because he'd been drinking. He was leaving a party and was upset by something that had happened. All I can figure out is that he saw an opportunity and put his foot down. Being a small car park, he lost control immediately and drove through the fence and through our tent - dragging us all along for about 20 metres.

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Evidently, I had blacked out immediately and when I came around, I was looking up at stars and several faces looking down at me. It was clear I had some serious injuries and I realised quite quickly what must have happened. Thankfully and miraculously, all of us survived! I was airlifted by helicopter to Sydney; the others were taken in 3 separate ambulances to Wollongong hospital - the kids were 4 and 7 at the time. My daughter was then transported in the middle of the night to Randwick Children's Hospital, Sydney due to concern about her lung. My husband had a broken pelvis and ribs, and my son friction burns to his legs as they had had to lift the car off his leg. Really it was a miracle, as there was clear evidence on the bedding that the car had run across every one of us! During the week after the accident my daughter drew an inspired drawing of angels lying across the top of us in the tent. Thankfully, after just a few days, all the family was released to go home, but I remained in hospital awaiting spinal surgery. Every day medical staff would touch my toes and ask if I could feel ‘that’. They couldn't quite understand why I was not paralysed, because apparently my spine had a 90-degree bend in it! (One of the doctors drew me a picture of it!). After about a week, I finally had surgery to fuse my spine, using 8 screws and 3 titanium rods. Unfortunately, one of the screws was accidentally placed into my spinal canal, so I required a second emergency operation to correct this error. Despite the immense pain I was in, I felt God's presence with me in the most profound way, I had complete peace. In fact, I can say honestly that my time in hospital was one of my most precious times. This is odd because as a child it was my greatest fear! Due to the fact that my husband was visiting nearly every day - which involved 3 hours of train travel with a broken pelvis and crutches, as well as watching over the kids, I decided to move closer to them for my rehab in a private hospital, this was just 3 weeks after the accident and I remember walking through the doors of the new hospital to be welcomed by a doctor, who was sitting behind the reception desk. She asked me who I was and promptly said "You can't be!". She had just been reading my file and was not expecting me to be able to walk through the door unaided. I kept on progressing much faster than anyone expected and was released to go home within 2 weeks. I was, however, sent home with lots of strong pain-killing medication (opioids), which I did not enjoy taking. As time wore on, my swelling came down in my back, only to reveal a lump, which turned out to be a screw head, which made life rather uncomfortable, especially if I leant back on a firm chair! At my 6 monthly review with my surgeon, he took one look and said he was afraid that he must replace that screw, which meant returning to hospital for more surgery. So, in June 2013 (10 months after the accident) I was back in hospital.

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Now I had heard about God doing miracles in people's bodies removing metal and I had been asking for one of those miracles, so I figured one less screw would be a start and asked my surgeon as they wheeled me into the operating theatre, if he could just take that one out. He replied, "No, I'm not happy to do that, it is early days. I will just replace it with a smaller screw." When I came round after the surgery, the surgeon was waiting by my bed. As soon as I opened my eyes, he told me he had good news - he had taken out all the metal!!! Everyone in his medical team seemed shocked and one of them told me they had never seen him do that and that they thought they sometimes did it in America. He told me that I had healed really well and proceeded to explain that he gave my spine a good tug - too much information, thank you! Someone had told me that surgeons are glorified carpenters!! Needless to say, I thanked God for answering my prayer, I have no doubt that he took over the surgeon’s hands that day. I knew that my healing had come through the thousands of friends praying for me worldwide. Following this surgery, I no longer wanted to be taking the strong drugs, so I came off the opioids - with some withdrawals, and by Christmas, was on no pain killers at all. The young lad who had caused the accident was most remorseful and sent us a beautiful letter within a week stating how he was so sorry and that it was the worst thing that had ever happened in his life, he was only 19. I had already forgiven him, as I knew he had not set out to cause this accident. This letter helped the rest of the family, especially our daughter. You could see the joy on her face when she read his ‘sorry’. It took my husband a little longer to come to that place of forgiveness. After all, he had been conscious through the whole event and then had the trauma of discovering whether his family was alive. He recalls the time in the tent, when describing being tumbled around, imagining it as if he were in an avalanche. He said he remembered also thinking that he didn't know you could be run over by a car and survive - but we all did! The young lad was sentenced to 2 years jail time, with 9 months non-parole. I believe he served that and was released after the 9 months. We have never met, but I do hope that he knows that we have forgiven him and that he has been able to forgive himself. Petra: What do you love most about the Snowy Mountains? Gill: Living in the Snowy Mountains gives me daily appreciation of Creation. Every day I look out of my window and see God's glory in my surroundings. Every evening He gives me a new sunset design at which to wonder and attempt to capture in a photo, with the intention of one day painting a picture. Both those things feel impossible though, because they could never do it justice, they would just be my own flawed interpretation of something perfectly beautiful. However, I still have thousands of those Sunset pictures on my iPhone! Then there's the platypuses, wombats, kangaroos, echidnas and multitudes of birds singing every new day. It is good to be alive and this is only a shadow of heaven! Petra: What brings you most joy? Gill: What brings me most joy? In typing this and relaying my story, I realise it is just that, I love to tell stories, or more accurately write stories. I am less eloquent in person, but I have enjoyed this process and feel inspired to keep writing.... I feel a panto coming on...!

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Day 15 I’m thrilled to introduce Czech painter Tomáš Honz. He paints the beautiful nature around him ‘en plein’ air, leaving the four walls of his studio behind to experience fully painting and drawing in the landscape. This practice goes back centuries but was truly made into an art form by the French Impressionists. Their desire to paint light and its changing, ephemeral qualities, coupled with the creation of transportable paint tubes and the ‘box’ easel (the precursor to the ‘en plein air’ easels of today} gave artists the freedom to paint ‘en plein air’, the French expression for ‘in the open air’. Tomas captures the world around him in a sensitive and intimate way. What a joy to be able to capture life itself ! Petra: Where do you live? Tomáš: In the most beautiful city I know - Prague. Petra: What inspired you to study art? Tomáš: Since I was little, drawing and painting were my favourite activities. While other kids were playing soccer outside, I was pretending not being home so I could draw dinosaurs. Also, my grandfather was a talented landscape painter and taught me to paint with oil before I started primary school. I loved it. Nothing other than studying art made sense. Petra: When did you start paint in nature? Tomáš: My first few paintings were created with my grandfather. I was about 6 years old and was not attending school yet. I kept one of them at home and it’s surprisingly good. I discovered regular ‘en plein’ air painting as an important part of my art practice much later when I was studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. Realistic painting (actually any painting) was not very popular back then, and so much to the displeasure of Professors. However, I was stubborn, and I knew that without the smell of oil paints and a direct confrontation with a real world, art would not make a sense to me.

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Petra: What do you love about landscape painting most? Tomáš: Essentially the opportunity to experience the landscape on my own skin. Like, when I’m standing in front of an easel - sweating in the sun with bugs bothering me; when it rains onto my pallets or my fingers are frozen - the painting becomes more authentic. That physical aspect transfers into the painting. It’s the same with reaction of my body. I want to live outside and suffer, sitting in my studio is boring.

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Petra: Are your locations from your immediate surroundings, or do you travel around the Czech Republic and Europe? Tomáš: I paint best the places that I know and understand. I feel that I can go deeper and create a more honest painting. At the same time, I travel al lot - sometimes for long periods and I always have my painting equipment with me. Painting follows me everywhere and it can’t be stopped. So, I have pictures from everywhere I’ve been.

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Petra: Can you describe what your creative process looks like from beginning to end? Tomáš: If we are still talking about ‘en plein’ air painting, first and foremost is the thought or idea. I can’t travel spontaneously to some random spot and hope that I’ll paint something there. I always need to know why I am travelling somewhere and what I want to create there. Typically, if something interests me, I sketch it down, take photos or at least make a mental note, and return to that place sometime later. After that I’m trying to paint in a way for the viewer to understand what the painting is about. Often it means avoiding pretty shortcuts, and in a way paint an uglier painting. I want to be honest, not liked.

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Petra: How long does it take to paint one of your paintings? Tomáš: Outdoors, the painting process alone takes typically one to two hours. It must be this fast because the light changes so fast. Later in studio, usually I need about 30 minutes for corrections. People are sometimes amazed that it takes so little, but often they don’t appreciate that there are many hours spent in the background on preparation and failures. All the struggles have led me to perfect my technique so that I am able now to use fewer brush strokes so that my paintings still contain all the imagery and feeling I wish to convey.

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Petra: Are you also painting people, portraits? Tomáš: Sometimes, but I always return to nature. I’m a landscape painter. Petra: Which places and regions are your favourite? Tomáš: Those that awake my fantasies. If I’m able to see stories there, I return over and over again. Often, they are rocks with moss growing over them, deep forests, or wild ravines. I love working with the element of mystery, but light is often enough. Sometimes it creates something so interesting for my eyes that I have to try capture it. Petra: Do you work alone? Tomáš: Aways, for no matter how extroverted I am outside my art practice, when it comes to painting, I need to be alone, and no one can disturb me. I’m also careful with the music selection when painting, but often I will choose simply the sounds of my environment. Petra: Where do you exhibit? Tomáš: Regularly in various places as exhibitions are vital. At the moment, there are two coming-up: one in Hluboká nad Vltavou, a city in South Bohemia; and the other in Vienna. Petra: How can people buy your paintings? Tomáš: They can contact me via email or social platforms; you can find almost everything I do on Instagram. On my website there are paintings with pricing and accessibility. I’m trying to keep it current. Petra: Where around the world would you like to paint, and are there any dreamy places? Tomáš: Right before the pandemic started, I planned to move to Taiwan; it’s my favourite country. I studied there in the past and since then I keep returning. The Pandemic has spoiled it, so I’m waiting for the opening of international borders.

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Day 16 I met Holly’s horses at a petrol station on one of my trips for YARNS and arranged to visit her and her family subsequently at their Snowy Mountains stone cottage. It was a great adventure. Petra: Where were you born? Holly: West Wyalong in the Riverina, NSW Petra: When did you your love affair with horses start? Holly: When I could walk, I was always drawn to them and started riding when I had mastered walking! Petra: How did your horsemanship develop over the years? Holly: I started at trail riding places, then when I was 10, I would go to the markets and help an old lady give pony and cart rides. Eventually, she asked me to ride the ponies through the week and taught me to break them in to the carts/sulkies. Then, I travelled to markets up and down the Far South Coast of NSW and she paid me to do all the rides. I owned my first horse at 12, Sammy, he was an ex-mini trotter, and became a little champion at pony club and shows. I then rode for years and worked at trail rides and rode in the bush with friends, chasing Brumbies and going on our own adventures from dawn ‘til dusk. I started strapping and riding showjumpers at 15. Les Symons, he is from Bermagui, a show jumper and his partners, daughter and son-in-law had 2 trucks and 13 horses. So, each weekend I worked and looked after them all, and also rode 1 or 2 in junior events. I learnt a lot and love the time and effort they put in for me to compete.

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8 years ago, I fell in love with stock horses, and was fortunate enough to meet an amazing man who owned the most beautiful looking horses I’d ever seen. Actually, until then I’d never looked in a paddock where every horse was beautiful. We would break-in a couple of groups of young ones a year at the stud. Then, when I moved to Scone, a town in the Upper Hunter in NSW, I fell into an establishment set up for breaking and training where my skills and education excelled. I went to clinics and watched their DVDs and started competing in Australian Stock Horse (ASH) Shows with my own young horses that I had bought and trained. Next, I bought a mare and put her in foal to my favourite stallion in the world, and 8 years later I own HAchdeecee (HDC) Stock Horses, I currently have 4 broodmares with pretty exceptional breed lines and train and sell my youngstock. I compete in ASH Shows still and team sorting and have started Extreme Cowgirl/Cowboy Racing and do clinics. On 2nd April 2022, I will be competing at Australia’s Greatest Horsewoman Event in ‘The Cowgirl Up Challenge’, the biggest competition / opportunity of my life. Petra: What is your favourite style? Holly: Obstacles Petra: Can you share your plans to establish Extreme Cowboy / Cowgirl Racing in Australia and why are you passionate to start it? Holly: Obstacles are great training and disciplinary aids when starting and teaching horses. I want to start a club in my area as its fun, both slow and fast paced, and anyone with any breed of horse can learn and train for the obstacles and courses. Petra: Can you describe your lifestyle when you travel to shows around Australia (with your family)? Holly: Sometimes I travel alone and sometimes the kids and / or Rob come along. We travel basic - swags/mattress in the Ute. or float, BBQ and beer/cider and the horses, and of course, when possible, the sausages…. The show friends become like family and it’s great to be in the company of like -minded people.

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Petra: What do you love most about living in the Snowy Mountains? Holly: The Snowy Mountains are beautiful when white with snow, but the mountains and bush are just as beautiful and so peaceful in the Spring and Summer months when camping/bush riding is great for the soul, and even better with our friends and family. Petra: How did you build your life - bit by bit? Holly: I work, always have, ‘waaaayy’ too much. I also love to barter. Helping people has got me a lot also, mostly with horses. It’s good to help others and you can learn new things all the time too. It’s taken a long time to get where I am - my own business, my own stud (well 2), the sausages and the horses. There were plenty of wrong paths chosen, but thankfully I learnt from mistakes and never stopped moving forward. Don’t ever look back!! Petra: What is unique about the horses you breed? Holly: I have certain bloodlines that I like, but I also love colour - Palomino, Buckskin… not unique, but people always want those colours. Petra: Your kids are both natural with horses and your son does Rodeo at the high-end level even at his young age. What do their childhood and teenage years look like? Holly: Dustin and Chellsea have ridden horses since they were 4 & 5. They both loved horses, and for a good while, it was their life outside school. However not anymore, Dusty has always wanted to be a World Champion Bull Rider, and he’s well on his way - Junior World Qualifiers and The PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Tour this year. He’s very focused and has the want to be the best. He has a natural ability when on them. Chells now ‘LOVES’ Rugby Union - she’s in the junior team and is very dedicated and focused on training and her games. They both still have an incredible ability with the horses, but also have found their callings in other areas.

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Petra: Your partner does rodeo as well. Do you do everything together as a family? Holly: Robert used to Rodeo but hasn’t for a long while now. He loves taking Dusty and knows many people at each Rodeo. I try for all of us to be at the one event when I can, but we are often all in different directions.

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Petra: As a mother, how do view the difference between kids growing up in cities versus outback? Holly: Well obviously most cities have more funding and resources and there’s many opportunities in bigger areas, but I would never consider my kids growing up in the city. We are lucky in country areas to have so much freedom - smaller regions have closer relationships with community-type groups and sports. Country kids are naturally outdoors- type kids - most of them are eager to learn and are brought up helping out and fixing things.

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Petra: How do you feel the ‘Spirit of the Outback’, what does it look like to you? Holly: I spend the majority of my outdoor time with horses or my dogs, my speaker blasting my favourite songs, and of an evening, sitting with a beverage or two and listening to the sound of my horses chewing their dinner. The outdoors in the country is so calm and relaxing.

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Petra: What does freedom look like to you? Holly: Freedom is the life I live now, Although I work hard, I do what I want, and I go where I want, as do my kids and my partner… I’ve wasted many years not being free, and I’ll never let that happen to me or my family - we will always be free! So: Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire; If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter - for there always will be greater and lesser persons than yourself; Time is free, but it’s priceless; Music – occupies the mind and soothes the soul; and Dreams - they can come true!

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TONY JAGGERS

Day 17 One sunny afternoon I wandered into the charming Dromedary Hotel in Central Tilba, ordered a local beer and luckily Tony Jaggers was performing in the courtyard. His music and voice were so fantastic I had to ask him for an interview and of course his story of creativity is amazing, enjoy! Petra: Where are you from? Tony: Actually, I was born in a place called Tumbarumba, way up in the hills in Victoria and my parents were both schoolteachers who moved around probably every three years. As a result, I’ve moved around to places like Balranald, and Armidale in the Northern Tablelands of NSW. One focal point in my life is we had a ‘holiday house’ in Durras South, a township on the coast south of Sydney. It was a little old Miner’s hut with just one room set just over 90 metres from the beach. We went there every school holidays. So, I’ve had an attraction to this area all that time. That’s also where I surfed, something that became my main passion and so, I virtually grew up there. We’d come to Moruya, the closest and main town to buy food and other items. It was very small little town then; it’s grown big now. When I left school I did not do as well as I should have, because I was off playing music when I should have been at school. I was left behind in Armidale, because mum and dad had moved to Sydney when I was in my last year of school. I was supposed to be boarding with an old grandma and I did a deal with her - she kept 10% of the money mum and dad sent and I went and lived with a drummer who had left school. It all came out when my results came through when we were at Durras at holiday time. There was a big domestic blow up about how badly I’d done, and my parents said I had to go back to school and repeat 6th Form and I said: ‘No way’ as I did not like school. I liked English and that was about it. I did Latin as well - which is really weird because I’ve never found an ancient Roman to speak with in that language! Anyway, my parents sent me off to Canberra, the nearest city, to look for employment. I got a job at the Australian National University which sort of impressed them a bit. I was not much more than a bottle washer in the laboratory, but I managed to hang-in there for two years. Petra: Were you doing any music at that stage? Tony: Before that I had been when I was in Armidale, I started playing guitar in 1965 when I was 16 with a band that I’d put together in little town called Uralla. We used to play in Armidale. That was just after the Beatles had hit Australia in 1964. I remember going to the ‘Battle of the Sounds’, in those days it was an Australia-wide talent competition. I remember going to our finals and hearing ‘Jumping Jack Flash’ by the Rolling Stones on the radio in the car. It was the ‘Beatles boom’ that inspired me. I was so enthused I even built my first guitar, which was not much good, but I got a good one later. I had several bands in Armidale and continued playing since 1965. Day 17 I 390

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When I moved to Canberra, I found it very hard to get into the music scene. I used to go to ‘open mics.’ and talent quests and win them, but music was sort of pushed aside as my passion was to get back to the Coast on weekends and go surfing. After about two years I couldn’t stand Canberra anymore, and after going down one weekend with my mates from Canberra, I asked them when they got back on Monday to ring my boss and tell him ‘I’m sick’. So, I Just stayed down the Coast and I just loved it down there. Then my first wife and I moved down here, she was from Canberra and she a ‘real Canberra girl’. She is a lovely lady; we get on fine; there is no animosity; we just decided to separate, and she returned to Canberra. I stayed down the Coast and with very little money I opened an Indian Import Surf Shop and took in local art and things on commission. I renovated a beautiful old building in Moruya (that now has disappeared) as my little shop for which I was paying about ten dollars a month rent because I had done all the work on it - things were cheap in those days. It was pottering along quite well when one day this young schoolgirl walked past. I was just so stunned by her, I asked the schoolkids hanging around, because it was the cool place the hang around after school: ‘Who is that girl?’ The response: ‘That’s Shirley Dance’. So jokingly I said: ‘Tell her I love her’! She turned up the next day to hang out and she never went away! She ended-up working for me as she was not keen on school either (although she schooled herself afterwards and became very good at her work, administering a Doctor’s Surgery). As she was only very young then, there could be nothing too serious. She worked for me and when she got about eighteen, we realised we had to ‘let it out’ that there was a relationship there and then finally we got married. So, it was all surf, sand and sun in those days until Shirley was 21 and I would have been around 28 or so. Day 17 I 394

Then there was a musical event down here and I got talking to a band from Braidwood about their gear. This brought back memories as I hadn’t played professionally for some time, although I still had guitars which I still played at home all the time. Anyway, I hopped up with these guys and we did some songs. After that they said: ‘Hey, we want you in our band’ - and so I joined the band and started playing again, so slowly my lifestyle moved away from being able to get up at six and go surfing, because I would come back from gigs in Canberra and Braidwood with frost on the car. I continued playing music and I formed a band with some young guys down here, we played for a while together and then it became just a jumble of different bands, bands, bands and touring up and down the coast because in those days there were with no restrictions on the sale of alcohol, etc. It’s no use listing all the bands because there are just so many and different styles of music. Somewhere along the line, I got interested also in the woodturning and started doing that a bit and playing. However, somewhere further along the line I had a heart attack, I think when I was about fifty and I had to stop doing the woodturning because it was bit of a strain. I was still involved in music and was arranging for bands to come down and play at the Waterfront Hotel, in Moruya. Petra: Were you also in radio then? Tony: I started in radio around 1989 at the beginning of the radio station – 2EAR FM, a total community thing, so I’ve been there nearing thirty-five years. Because of my musical involvement, I had access to musicians I had worked with along with others like in 1969 I met a fellow in a band called The La De Das called Kevin Borich, one of Australia’s top guitarists, who is still playing today at 74, and we maintained a long friendship. We teamed-up in 2018, along with another two legends who also became friends, the late Phil Emmanuel, OAM (who sadly passed away a few months after the event), and Tim Gaze, and did the Guitar Legends Show over the river here. Kevin’s in the Australian Blues Foundation Hall of Fame. Anyway, over the time the Radio Station brought more music to me as I instigated putting on music shows to raise money for it. Probably not worth mentioning the musicians’ names, just because they are long distant, although a lot of them are still playing, and the whole music scene has changed. The main thing is the music was all good. After the heart attack, I went back to woodturning for a while and at the same time, I was putting on some blues acts here, including one with a band called ‘Malt and Mike Blues Band’ from America, supported by Australian Ross Ward, who’s still performing strongly. I did a little support bit at the start. I had been due to see the Rolling Stones, but I wasn’t able to go as I was in hospital. As I was a member of a Yahoo Group called ‘Rock and Roll Scars’, which was all about us old Rock ‘n Rollers and swapping memories of the sixties mainly, I had posted this to the Group and sold the tickets on the site. After ‘Malt and Mike’, Ross came over and said: ‘Look I know it’s no compensation, but here’s two tickets to the Canberra Blues Festival’ in 3003. I thought this was fantastic with acts like Diesel and the Screaming Jets appearing. Although all those great bands, and solos like Ross, were appearing, it was a dud! It failed, they lost money, because Canberra is a strange place to put on shows. It is very hard. Ross is a solo Blues player and I fell in love with the Blues music. I had a grounding in Blues music because my mum used to sing to me what we called in those days ‘Negro Spirituals’, like ‘Swing Low Sweet Chariot’ and those sorts of songs that formed and the basis of the Blues. 395

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With this love, I started playing ‘acoustic guitar’ Blues and entered the Memphis Blues Challenge, coming out third, but I didn’t get the trip to Memphis. I started slowly doing a solo show with Blues, but I could not get a lot of work. Then came the dark years where I started playing clubs and pubs, using recorded backing and playing songs that the audience wanted. I made good money and a living out of it. However, it was a little soul destroying. Mind you I don’t care what I’m playing when I’m playing, but there were some gigs of which I was not proud, because I remember playing to my Blues mates once using backing tracks and one of the old guys, ‘Harmonica Ron’ yelled: ‘You are cheatin’! He’s right, it’s a cheat. If you can’t produce your music there on a spot without bloody thing playing in the background, it’s not your music. So, I did that, I had an agent who got me all over the place - my furthest North being the “York St, Club” in York Street, Sydney; and my furthest South, the Eden Fisherman’s Club. West, and I’m proud of this one, I used to be a regular at the Press Club in Canberra! I don’t know if it still has music, but it used to have Blues music all the time. Also in Canberra, I went to places like: The Old Canberra Inn, The Yacht Club at Gungahlin. I stared playing more Blues and things; had another spate with the backing tracks; then came back to Moruya. From then on it was just picking up gigs wherever they were and in amongst that I played at all the major festivals in Australia along the East Coast, including the ‘Broadbeach Festival’ in Queensland, and the ‘Thredbo Festival’, where I was invited because I went up there as a busker and won the Busking Competition. I got invited back the following two years. Also, for eight years I ran my own tent at the Great Southern Blues Festival. This was huge, having two massive circus marquees and two smaller tents. My tent was the ‘acoustic tent’ with sit down seating and salt & pepper squid - very civilised, a chill out tent! What used to happen was the American blokes, who had just delivered a blistering electric-set on the main stage would come-over to the ‘acoustic tent’ for a ‘feed’ and say: ‘Ah, can I get up to do couple of acoustic songs’? Through this I have built-up an amazing network of so many musicians and friends, like the legendary Billy Thorpe who was a good friend until his untimely passing just over 15 years ago. Normie Rowe was the first famous person I played with in the 60’s. Anyway, I’m still doing the music – playing solo gigs is what I’ve come to now, because of age, and the heaviness of the equipment. I still do the turning, but when I turned seventy, I thought I’m going to retire. I’m going to take it easy and stop pushing myself because I’m always on the run. At some stages I thought of stopping all together as I was seeing that what I liked wasn’t being played in the areas I liked. Then I started to get into places like The Tilba Valley Winery and I’ve realised that people are happy with what I’m playing - a mix of my original things, some traditional Blues music, and then my take on Australian stuff that’s popular, plus some ‘Cold Chisel’. However, I do it my way and I’m happy (and regularly asked) to continue. Petra: Because you travel alone and perform alone, it’s all around what you can carry, so is it kind of like basking? Tony: It is, very much so. One of my main restrictions is I’m not able to soundcheck myself and so, I must have faith in the gear and everything sounding good at the front. Now, I’ve adopted an approach like some of the Blues guys who just go ‘full-on’ really loud on the ‘Stomp Box’ with everything going. However, I tend to lower it down a bit and always check with the public or someone that everything’s going right. Everyone says; ‘Nah, it’s fine’! I don’t think they really care though, you know, they just happy people drinking and listening. Day 17 I 398

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Petra: Do people buy you beer a lot? Tony: Yeah, that’s one of the indications that you’re good. You know what annoys me most though? They tend to do it at the end of the bloody night when I have to drive home. I’ll be on the second last song, and next minute someone puts glass of wine down there. So, I gauge it very carefully. I have a couple of drinks before I go on and one during to make sure I don’t go over. I don’t want to lose my licence. However, every bloody bugger wants to buy me a drink at the end of the night when I can’t take it. I just gauge the audience reaction to how I’m going as you can tell pretty if what you are doing is not pleasing the audience.

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However, it’s very hard when you are on your own to judge things like the ‘front of the house’ sound. I keep asking poor Shirley to come, but she says: “I’ve been listening to your bloody music for forty-one years!” Petra: I really enjoyed listening to your music at the pub; it’s so relatable particularly with your great voice and there are songs to which everyone can relate. You’re like a disappearing act, live acoustic music in pubs now being full of TV screens and poker machines. Tony: That’s why I left clubs, because they made me set up-in front of massive TV screens

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playing a football and would be putting my speakers up, then next: ‘hey mate get your bloody speaker out of the way, you know, the football’s on next’! At some of the places even if the screen was next to me, they wouldn’t even bother turning it off and so, the bloody late-night movie would come on while I’m playing. So it was absolute crap to be quite honest. That’s why these places like the Tilba Pub, and the Wineries are great - it's just people listening to the music. When I play, I think my eyes are closed most of the time, I usually wear dark glasses anyway. I still get nervous on the way to gig, but I can be crook, tired, completely buggered, then as soon as I start playing I feel wonderful. I’m just in the zone and everything is fine. It’s so cathartic playing music and then I feel good afterward. If my back’s gets sore, it’s usually gone – just lug my gear-in and go home. Sometimes, the next day I might be a bit seedy, but maybe that’s the alcohol. It’s just a magical place to be. It’s very relatable to surfing because in the days when we surfed, it was not crowded, and you’d be out in this beautiful blue sea with these perfect breaking waves when you’d be just off in another zone. That’s where I am in music when I play my music.

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Petra: So, there is no sign of retiring from music? Tony: No, not now. I was thinking about it, but mainly because I felt that at my age, I was letting my age dictate the way I felt, and I don’t feel seventy in my head. I feel far too young. I get slapped across the ears sometimes if I notice a pretty young thing walking pass and I mention to Shirley: ‘Gee, she’s good’! You know I’m old, I’m not dead! The body lets me down a bit. One of the things that bugs me is that I can no longer have dreams of getting my five acres and turning it into a garden paradise because things just don’t grow fast enough in the time I’ve got left. Petra: How do you see the music scene now - I grew up with instrumental music? Tony: There was a sell-out show at the Waterfront in April by a so-called ‘band’, ‘Bliss n Eso’. Now they don’t have any instruments, they have a laptop. I think I’m a not mad fan of it, but then I remember my peers and adults saying they weren’t really fans of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones: ‘You can’t call that music,’ so I’ve tried to keep an open mind on it. I think the reason why the electronic music has taken over is this sort of ‘tribe’ mentality in young people nowadays. They like to gather. Also, perhaps, it could be associated partly with the drugs of choice these days which seem to result in ‘up, up, and at it’ feelings. Unlike in the 60’s where it was weed, when you got laid back in the groove of someone playing. But with the electronic music over the River, I watched crowds of three hundred young people and they were just having fun moving to the beat as the electronic music provides that bottom end bass-beat which actually rattles our house at times. So what? I’ve been in trouble for playing too loud all my life, so I can’t say anything! ‘Yeah’, electronic music is creeping in. I don’t know what’s going to happen in music because there are so many more females and while they are brilliant singers, they don’t seem to have songs with ‘hooks’. It seems common for them to perform, and you walk away with your head ‘clear’. Whereas, with the Beatles for example, when you’ve heard one of their songs once, it stays in your head. For me, Missy Higgins is a good example of a female singer with ‘hook’, she’d be one of my favourites. I think what will happen eventually, but maybe won’t because when the Beatles came along, we had a music revolution that turned the whole music industry upside down. Now ‘Punk’ almost did it with the early ‘Pistols’, the ‘Clash’ and such bands that started to put music back into it, and I love that music from that period, but then it became a bit dull again. Petra: Do you compose your own music? Tony: I do compose songs and lyrics. However, I’m not a great lyricist and I tend to make my lyrics more a vehicle for the melody. Although the last song I wrote was when I was deciding to give-up a ‘Swan Song’. It was about walking past a mirror; seeing the lines I my face as my hair turned grey; and this is the swan song I’m going to sing to say

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I love basic hard rock music, but I don’t get a chance to play it. I have recently auditioned a ‘baser’ and a drummer to form my new three-piece rock band to play hard rock of the Angels and Choirboys and ‘hard rock’ groups of the eighties. At first, I wondered if people really want to hear that anymore? Then I listened to what was on the radio and obviously the answer is ‘Yes’! So, I thought it’d be a chance to turn the electric guitar up to 11; a solid body one, not acoustic; and just play guitar and scream. Petra: I think in Australia there is lot of love for that kind of music - Pub Rock, my favourite. I think it would be a privilege to see someone perform live; it’s rare these days. Tony: Yes, it is. Pub Rock bands provided the ‘glory days’ of Australian music: the 70’s and the 80’s produced the best rock bands. They were loud and they were powerful; the singer was covered in sweat; the band was covered in sweat; Jimmy Barnes would be sculling a bottle of Vodka! There was excitement and everyone was just dancing their own weird dance. There was a bit of aggression in it outside, but there is still bits of aggression outside discos, but it was the best of times musically. We had some fantastic rock bands. Petra: I think it was just the energy behind it. There doesn’t seem to be much energy in live performances these days? Tony: You’re absolutely right. I don’t know if this is just me, but I don’t like the fact that some so-called rock bands these days look like a group of ‘bank-tellers’. I reckon if you going to go ahead and play hard music, hair still needs to be there. I don’t know maybe I’m old fashioned. With my three piece, my flowing locks would be flying around when I play guitar. I won’t be standing there or sitting on a stool. Good music is about energy. I bought front row seats for Shirley for her birthday to a Rolling Stones Concert in the Hunter Valley and when 75 year old Mick Jagger came out hitting the stage, it was just pure excitement - 3000 people, brilliant! That’s what’s it all about, you know it’s going to be exciting. These days young kids go on stage in shorts and thongs and just wander-on.

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Day 18 I met with Leanne King over cup of tea in beautiful Wollombi, in the heart of the Hunter Valley. Leanne facilitates Aboriginal cultural experiences and consultancy, and you can often find her in her ‘off-grid’ hidden in her bush cabin or, like me, on top of a hill in the rugged bush. Leanne is highly qualified to bring her views on Aboriginal culture and connection to the Land to us all in her unique way. She is an amazing and unique woman. Petra: Can you tell us a little about your background? Leanne: I've done a lot of things differently. I don't know how, or why things happened – things have just happened. I was a mature age university student in my mid 30’s, not really knowing what I wanted to achieve. After my years of study, I went on to become a lecturer. I loved my years teaching at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). Then I went onto to work at the Australian Catholic University (ACU) for nearly 10 years, as Coordinator of Aboriginal Unit and lecturer on a Teacher Education Program. I still do Sessional Work, like teaching the Pre-service Teachers because that's a core part of the Curriculum. Petra: Such as about the Culture? Leanne: ‘Yes’, how to teach or embed Indigenous perspectives into their teaching, because it's part of the Teacher Standards. Also, as of this year, I've just about finished my first Semester of another Masters in Indigenous Language Education which means that I will be able to teach language. Here I am, like 63 years old loving the learning and still loving life. Petra: Is your son proud of you – of everything? Leanne: Because he’s 47 now, he’s getting old, but ‘Yes’, and that's about the formal part of my learning, plus my informal learning, I guess, for the last 30 odd years, I’ve been going bush and learning from whomever I can learn. Petra: From Aunties and Uncles? Leanne: ‘Yes’. My main teacher has been Uncle Paul Gordon a Ngemba man, born at Brewarinna in North Western NSW. That's also where most of Uncle Wayne’s learning comes from as well. So, for 30 odd years of going bush and learning different stuff, there's this love for the bush, lore and culture. ‘Yes’, I’d go out and learn out at Brewarrina, or I’d come up to here, Wollombi. Over the years I learnt more stuff about here because Uncle Paul used to live up here. For me I feel that that's the more formal learning and the university is the informal stuff. I guess in this world though to have authority in a lot of things, you've got to have the piece of paper. Petra: It’s been your life, hasn’t it? I mean, your whole life? Leanne: ‘Yes’, well more than half of it. I grew up knowing that I was Aboriginal, but I guess as a teenager, it really hit home what it actually meant to be Aboriginal? 415

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Petra: You mean the spiritual evaluation? Leanne: Well, just within my own identity and, ‘Yes’, I do a lot of work with kids and I know many in today's world (from the little ones up) struggle with the fact that: ‘Yes’, they all might know they’re Aboriginal and from whatever Mob, but what does it really mean? Now, and this is only my opinion, it's not every Aboriginal’s opinion, it's like being lost; not knowing that full part of your story – like: ‘Yes’, what does that mean in today's world to be Aboriginal? This can apply also to adults. Petra: What do you think it means? Do you think l these young people are basically disconnected? Leanne: Well, it's about connection and relationships - lots of disconnection. I think being Aboriginal is all about: your story; your connection to country; your connection to family; all of your cultural practices and language; and I think as I'm getting older, I'm realizing that there was something that was missing like, ‘I’m Dharug, but I can't even speak Dharug’. I know a lot about their foods and a lot about their sites and all that kind of stuff but just something was still missing. Petra: That’s something that you’re studying now? Leanne: ‘Yes’, it's part of the Masters of Indigenous Language Education. This Semester has been mainly about Linguistics and Phonetics and all that kind of stuff. Each student concentrates on their own language because it's open to people from any Mob. Once we get qualified, we'll be able to go out into communities and teach. Petra: Did you have to find someone who will mentor you in the language? Leanne: ‘Yes’, because Dharug is Sydney-based. It was the first one that was pretty much “wiped-out” because that's where the impact, the invasion, the settlement, (whatever word you want to call it), started and from where it spread. It has had the longest impact on the Dharug people, I believe. Petra: It was like a genocide, wasn’t it? Leanne: ‘Yes’, so I believe. ‘Yes’, a lot of people use different words for it – but just cut to the chase! ‘Yes’, there was a lot of killing and a lot of people talk about Stolen Children. However, our Land was taken from us; the land we have tendered for longer than any other people on Earth. Our Land is part of our identity, and part of our connection to everything, our relationships, our learning and how we how we behave. However, if you stop and think about being raised within kinship, that's where you sit within all of your relationships, with country, people and responsibilities. You are born knowing exactly your responsibility, but not necessarily your rights. All these other words, everything that I know from the way I have learned, it is all about responsibility. You know your responsibility, whether it be to that rock, or that tree, or to look after that plant, or animal, and your responsibility to look after them. If you're looking after that part of your world and you know those people over there are all looking after their parts of their world - no one has a problem – particularly you don't! In our world today, we're too busy worrying about what everybody else is doing. If we just went back to our way of being responsible; living our responsibilities to country and family, life would be so much different. However, we now live in a very contemporary world. We all want cars, the big house; this and that. It's all very different. Petra: No land has ever been returned – like the land around Sydney, like Kuringai? You don't hear about it, and I don't know much about it. Leanne: No. I think native title is a different world and everybody gets caught up in different Mobs. You know, whose country is whose? Even here, a lot of people will say: ‘it's Worimi Country; it’s Wonnaruah Country; it’s Darkinjung Country; Day 18 I 418

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You've been up here, it’s different. It's such a special place and such a sacred area where major ceremony has happened; Mobs have met together for thousands of years, without aggression. However again, ‘Yes’, we're all caught up in this ownership stuff, which would never have happened before because we knew our responsibility. Now we have this concept of ownership, but if we all let that go and just looked after Country, it would be different. Petra: Do you think there's been improvement when it comes to Aboriginality being acknowledged? Leanne: It’s political. ‘Yes’, it's very political to be Aboriginal - to stand and say to you: I'm an Aboriginal person, I have to fulfill three criteria: • I have to be able to prove my descendance as an Aboriginal person; • I have to state and stand strong in who I am, stating I am Aboriginal; and • be known in your community as an Aboriginal person. If you can prove those three things, you can get a piece of paper of Confirmation of Aboriginality. Petra: I see you get ‘paper’. Leanne: ‘Yes’! I believe there’s just way too much political stuff in our world. I've had the learning through both the university world and through elders, and mainly Uncle Paul, in our traditional world. Petra: How did you find Uncle Paul? Were you introduced and by whom? Leanne: ‘Yes’, I was introduced to Uncle Paul by one of my family members. Petra: How does that happen? Do you request the introduction, or is it when someone feels like you need it? Leanne: ‘No’, things just kind of happened. I stayed in touch with him, and I did lots of learning, plus he showed me a lot of groups when he and his family lived up in Brewarrina. I would go up and stay on the property and learn and just ‘be and connect’. It was an amazing experience, and still is because I'm still learning. Every day you learn something. Petra: Is it different to learn from male opposed to female? Leanne: Well, when I was wanting to learn, and I was looking for Aboriginal women to teach, I didn't have any connections with such women. However, in the last half a dozen years prior to COVID, I was also going out to the desert and volunteering to look after the old women ‘on country’. Petra: Like outside Alice Springs? Leanne: No, in a little place called Balgo. One way to get there, you fly to Darwin; Darwin to Kununurra; from Kununurra you hop-on the mail-plane and fly into the Community. The mail-plane is very small, or you can drive on a dirt track which would take you all day. There's only about 300 people the Community, but it has a Women's Centre. The women in the Women's Centre, the ‘old girls’, were not well, but if they passed, in their own country or in the desert, they would be kept ‘on country’ rather than be taken to a big town and be put in a nursing home. Petra: So, it's like a hospice? Leanne: Well, it was just a house. ‘Yes’, when they called for call for volunteers, I went up half a dozen times and I would help the ‘old girls.” You'd be volunteering pretty much 24/7. You stay in the house; you go on a shift; you cook, you clean, you bathe the old girls that are there. They were just beautiful and I realized that I knew more ‘Kutija’, which is the language from that part of the desert, than I knew of my own language. You're immersed in it, and that really made me think I wanted to learn my own language, which is Dharug. Day 18 I 420

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Petra: With your qualifications, who can you reach? Leanne: Well, teaching children in schools, or teaching adults, it won't really matter. Where has this whole story led? Well, in a kind of big circle, as seven or eight years ago, three people, Uncle Paul, Phil and I, bought (new) the property you’ve seen. Petra: What was it like, an Outdoor Education Centre? Leanne: Well, it's got a very big camp, so: ‘Yes.’ You have to have somewhere to live, and also to be able to share and grow; to have camps and help people grow up around Aboriginal culture. Over the years, there's been changes - I am now sole custodian of the property which is called Ngurrumpa. Petra: It’s a big block of land and very wild to get in, and when in, there. Leanne: It is very wild to get in, but it’s still very well put together when you are in there. Petra: You’re not afraid? Leanne: ‘No’. It's all about trust as well. Petra: Trust in your ability? Leanne: Just trust that you're going to get looked after. ‘Yes’, there's old people everywhere and the same old people that look after us and you're just going to trust that you're going to be ‘OK’ and if something goes wrong, well, it's your time. Petra: Because you live ‘off-grid’ there’s nothing? Leanne: ‘Off-grid’- ‘Yes’, and I have connection with the outside world only if I choose to turn it on as I have satellite. Petra: What does your normal life look like? Leanne: It's not really a normal life, although I still do some sessional teaching. Sometimes some teaching/cultural awareness classes are conducted online, it depends on what comes my way. My business is Wollombi Aboriginal Cultural Experiences and Consultancy. I take people up the mountain, and we talk about Bush Medicines and Foods, as well as Culture and Stories. Then we go down and I do a site interpretation. Also, I do a lot of consultancy work. That's one side of it, but I also run camps, like women's camps, school kids. I've had the National Aboriginal Islander Dance Academy (NAISDA). They did one of their residentials because they do residential learning. It was just an amazing week. Dancing and learning and taking students bush and doing site interpretation. In addition, I do Immersion Training, be it a weekend, or a week. I've had Newcastle University, and the ACU. I think Macquarie University is going to come on board and NAISDA. Petra: Do people just bring a backpack and food? Leanne: I can cater for it, or you can bring your own food. Everything can be tailored, and I'm very flexible about what can happen. It's about what you want to get out of the experience. Petra: Do they return? Is an ongoing relationship? Leanne: A lot of experiences are. There's still the formal teaching, cultural experiences, and cultural tours. I work also with the Parramatta Council and do walk and talks on country and talk about Dharug Country, and the plants and the food and all that kind of stuff. I do ‘walk and talks’ for them. Day 18 I 422

Petra: Would you be like referred to as Auntie? Leanne: I think in today's world according to Land Councils and other organizations, if you turn 50, you're an Elder because we die so young. Our mortality rate is much lower, but I think being an Elder is much more. It's all about knowledge, showing humility and sharing, and a whole lot more. I think, you also need to earn that respect as ‘eldership’. Petra: Would that come from your own community? For example, Uncle Paul who is a significant figure around most of NSW and beyond. He seems the one to go to about cultural learnings. I've done a cultural walk around the Shoalhaven River, and I know the guys who do the walks go to Uncle Paul for knowledge and advice. Leanne: ‘Yes’, and that’s all about that knowledge. The ‘knowledge holders’, they were the clever fellas within the Mobs; there was ‘Ngangkari’ or doctors within our Mob. You would be called an Elder within your own Mob. It seems to be becoming more of a status thing as far as our contemporary world, with our ‘Colonized Minds,’ is concerned - a western concept. Petra: ‘Yes’. That’s why I was wondering when you become elder, like Elder as a status in the community, what makes one an Aunty or Uncle? Leanne: Well, I'm on 63, so I am getting older as we do. Petra: You’re an Aunty then? Leanne: That’s kind of how I talk to people about that, and ‘Yes’, a lot of people ask: ‘Well, how do you want to be referred to?’ So, I guess by reputation a lot of people just call me ‘Aunty’. I prefer Leanne, that’s just fine. Petra: I just thought that with the medicine when you mentioned doctors, and again I don’t know anything about this world, would that belong to the knowledge? So, then would it be passed on just to people who were medicine people? Leanne: ‘Yes’. You couldn't just go in and learn it. Traditionally it is something you're born to, pretty much. However, there's still ‘Ngangkari’ out in the desert who are now practicing in Adelaide hospital and do come to NSW, and that's one thing, one beautiful thing. Petra: Is that like Shamanism where people kind of see that someone has a gift for spirituality and healing? Leanne: I’m not sure how that works but, ‘Yes.’ I know there's both. In the Central Desert of South Australia there’s the Ngangkari Mob who are healers. They come to New South Wales every now and again and I got them up to Ngurrumpa for a weekend and a lot of people that were not well came to the property and had healing. It was just an amazing day. Petra: Was there a lot of praying or what? Leanne: ‘No’. It's kind of like Reiki. They work with your spirit and feel in your body what's out of alignment and know where your spirit is. ‘Yes.’ Fix up that spirit, that's all I can put it down to. Petra: When it comes to the herbal part, is that the common knowledge like the healing herbs and all that? Leanne: I don't think a lot of that is common knowledge. There's an Elders Group on the Central Coast and I took a whole lot of plants and information over there and did a talk on Bush Medicine and Bush Food and these old women were just loving it. They just soaked it up because they hadn't had that knowledge shared with them or given to them because of the disconnection between our culture and colonization and what was taken away. 423

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Petra: It seems quite magical Leanne: I think it is. I feel really fortunate for the people who come into my life and share stories and grow-me-up, so to speak, help me be the best person I can be. Once you start learning what Aboriginal Lore is really about, you find it’s about respect; about responsibility; about trust; about love; about humility; about not having ego; and all of those things that are everywhere around us. You can see in our lessons that are engraved in rock, teaching us how to behave. If you've been up to the Map-site it tells you a big story on how to behave and how to live in this world because that's all about respect and doing the right thing by people. Even in contemporary times, we have a new part to our story, were someone has gone into that site and taken-off a piece of rock off. So, now we’ve got a story and a lesson about respect: I can bring some contemporary story into the old stories, but also new stories too as a lot of places in caves and stuff have been graffitied, defaced or otherwise damaged. There's a big story Uncle Wayne tells about a cave up in Katoomba-way in the Blue Mountains in NSW, where there was graffiti on a cave painting with a beautiful story behind it. The Authorities thought it would be better to clean-off the graffiti, but in so doing, they cleaned off the artwork/story underneath. So not only did we lose the ancient story, but also the contemporary story that could have been spun on respect. Although, ignorance, lack of awareness and understanding of the consequences of actions will continue to cause ruin as there are (potentially) so many more, if we look with the right heart and the right thoughts, and right intent, we should be able always to put that ‘positive’ on it. Petra: I've been like catching up with Uncle Wayne and we went to the caves and there was the graffiti, and it was just a few weeks later, we read in the newspaper that someone chain-sawed part of a cave. It was upsetting and we were saying that it almost looks like an inside job. So how do you get the message across to your community? Leanne: Well, it’s really nice around here because a lot of people who were here when Uncle Wayne was out here and felt great respect and if they knew they've got a site on their property, they would ring and ask if we wanted to come out and have a look? We've seen some amazing stuff by people inviting us onto a property to have a look, and now we can share more stories about whatever is interpreted. Petra: But I mean, the other way like, how do you educate your own people to appreciate your own culture for what it is? As a sort of cultural education from a young age for example, if there is a disconnect and you don't have family loving grandparents. Leanne: As I said earlier, it's about education. ‘Yes’, we've got to teach our kids; we've got to teach the whole Nation. We need to teach everyone about the importance of the culture in the ‘Beginning of Time.’ It pretty much comes back to all those stories and how can we take those stories and live the best way we can live in today's world. Petra: It's almost like teaching everyone to love and understand the story and appreciating its cultural heritage. For example, my son is young, and I've been taking him with me all the time and he's got so much love for this country, for this land, for the culture and it’s now part of him. Leanne: Everything is about the story. ‘Yes’. Well, that’s the way I see it, really. It’s sad to think that a lot of people, who have come from oppressed situations from overseas, can connect with our Mob and Aboriginal Culture more easily than (so called) ‘white’ Australians (for want of a better term). Well, I've been fortunate enough to have travelled the world, well, some of the world through attending Indigenous Conferences. I've given papers in Canada, Hawaii, New Zealand, Peru and in most Day 18 I 428

instances, they've been at World Indigenous Education Conferences. There was another one, my “big note story” I call it, when I actually gave a paper at Cambridge University. Petra: Oh, that's great. Leanne: ‘Yes’, but I think from a 15-year-old mum, and I don't know how it happened, I just did it and, got to talk to a whole lot of people from around the world, at Cambridge University! Petra: I don't know, but are there many women like you who are connected? For example, in Australia, not just women who work with Culture, but specifically women academics sharing Knowledge? Leanne: ‘Yes’, when I was in academia there was a lot more of that. However, I got through three quarters of a PhD before I realised I'm going to be ‘out on-country sharing story’, rather than ‘in a box in that institution’, and that I didn’t really need that piece of paper, and so I left. If you don’t have a good supervisor or people you work with while studying for a PhD, it can mean the making or breaking of the PhD and that was pretty much my story. I don't think they were committed to match my commitment to what I had to teaching and learning practices for Aboriginal students. Petra: What would this look like in practice? You taking the teaching, can you rollout a program for primary schools, high schools to train the teachers who will then train the teachers so you don't have to take the classes yourself? Leanne: I don't know. I like that ‘one-on-one’, as in I like, groups and stuff. I've gone into kindergartens, like preschools and I take stuff in. Petra: Like stories? Leanne: ‘Yes,’ I'll take stories. I've got a really big kit with kangaroo and possum skins in it. Once I held up the Kangaroo skin, with its big tail, in front of a group of Year Ones. They couldn't guess from what animal it was! So, ‘Yes’, our kids need a lot more education! So, with this kit, I go into lots of different schools - high schools, preschools, whatever. I'll teach, sit and do whatever with anyone who wants to sit and learn, and ‘Yes,’ just sit and share a story. My basis is it's all around. Petra: When people come in here to Ngurrumpa and work with you, will that get a lot of sharing going? Leanne: ‘Yes’. The best thing happens sitting around a fire. We light the fire, and we just sit there, and if it's a clear night, you might start sharing stories about the sky. Similarly, if you go for a walk, you might share stories about plants. Petra: I think you've got the best fireplace position. Just on that hill with the view. It’s special, isn't it? I mean, I imagined as a woman living here alone at Ngurrumpa, that there would be degree of feeling safe on the land. Leanne: ‘Yes’, there is. I've had a lot of groups come and spend a couple of days or whatever, and they’ve got to be out of the place at 12 o'clock as the buses will be down the bottom of the hill waiting for then. I’ll find they're still sitting at one o'clock around the fire, or we're all sitting around talking about stuff and I'm wondering if the bus is there; then we start talking about something else and people just have that, once they're there, that hesitancy to leave. Petra: ‘Yes’, that was beautiful. Leanne: It’s a beautiful nurturing feeling. It’s just someone there. That's my world, right? ‘Yes’, and I worked with a lot of women, sometimes I’ll go over to the Coast and see women over there and we'll go out to sites and do stuff. Sometimes women will come here to me and I'll just have a women's weekend. 429

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The biggest group I've had there was 59 women and children. That was just a blast. It was just so much good fun with all these women sitting around yarning and feeling safe and it was just amazing to be able to just pull it together with everybody throwing in for food. It was just people, women that I knew. It wasn't a paid gig or anything like that. I do have to earn a little bit of money through the business, but with a lot of stuff also I just want women to come out if they want, so they just come out. I think it's really important to help women find themselves and if they need to relax. Petra: To find a safe space? Leanne: ‘Yes’, a safe space for women to be and that's going to be much easier now because previously there was a family and there were young men on the property and all that stuff. Now, it's just me. Petra: Would it be people needing to escape certain situations? Leanne: Well, that's a possibility, like if they needed a timeout or a space, where they can be safe and not have to worry about it. It's a great place for kids to run around and ‘Yes’, I've had a kid. Well, it was a women's weekend and one of the women brought up her friend's child. She was caring for her and this little child was just beautiful. She might have been about six, maybe seven. She was at school and just a beautiful little girl and she was calm and relaxed and because it was a bit wet the kids got together and at night made a play that they’d practice through the day, then put it on for us women at night. It was just lovely and I found out, I think it was on the second last day of the camp, that this child at home would punch holes in walls and yet she was so calm and relaxed, I just could not believe it. That’s probably one of the most amazing things that I've seen. Another amazing experience was the privilege have having the Ngangkari visit. It was beautiful. Petra: Is it really significant not having men on the property? Like living on the property for those reasons? Leanne: ‘Yes’, for those women. It makes it easier because if I wanted a women's camp, you would have to ask the people that owned it, or live there, to go away. Or, for the men, if they were having a men’s camp, I would leave. But then again, because I was in Sydney last week, friends, with a very big, blended family asked if they could come out for a few days? I said: ‘Look, it's all yours. I'll be in Sydney.’ They came out and the kids supposedly had a great time, and ‘Yes’, it was really nice. That place is there for not just for me; it's to be shared and as a place where people can grow. Petra: I’m just wondering while listening: what's the best place for people reach out to each other? People who want to be connected culturally. People who are struggling with their identity or Aboriginality; or even wanting to learn about a culture on some intellectual level, let's say? It's so confusing for so many. How does one reach out to someone? Do you go to Local Council or how do people do it? Leanne: Well for me, just the website and through word of mouth. They can ring me. Petra: ‘Yes’, because you're so well known! Leanne: Also, because I'm a firm believer in ‘if it's meant to be you'll find each other’! Like, ‘Yes’, who would have thought that I would have ever gone out and been a volunteer in the middle of the desert. ‘Yes’, I loved it. ‘Yes’, they talk about it, and I'd go back at a drop of a hat. They say how a country can ‘sing you’ and I think the desert can ‘sing you’. 431

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Petra: Sing - what does it mean - like ‘singing’? Leanne: ‘Sing you!’ ‘Yes,’ it's a real spiritual type of phrase; ‘to be sung’ – ‘ to be sung’ back to that country. Petra: ‘Yes,’ meaning ‘accepted’? Leanne: ‘Yes.’ Well, I was definitely accepted, but also to make me want to go back all the time. ‘Yes’, there's something - there’s a pull, that pull back up that country for me, is amazing. There were some really tricky episodes up there in the desert, but just the ‘hum’ for me was enough; the privilege of looking after these old girls when they come out of the desert with babies on the hips. They were really strong with their culture and we did Ceremony and stuff. Petra: There will be women who can’t read and write, but the culture would be really strong, wouldn't it? Leanne: ‘Yes’, and it's really tricky because this little place Balgo has one Police Station, one Clinic, one Shop, one Arts Centre, and there's one Catholic School and one Church. They're very much indoctrinated from the beginning within the Catholic system and so it’s very indoctrinated into the Christianity. I found that really amazing because of all the learning and stuff I've done in New South Wales, up there and down here. It's pretty incredible when you get up there and you think: ‘Yes’, it must have been like this as they’re the last ones out of the desert so to speak! You think: ‘Yes’, their culture is everything; and ‘Yes’, there’s some of that indoctrination by the Church. You can just see it. They still go to church on a Saturday and for traditional Ceremony Time, they must wait for the Jesus's time to finish and then they can go and do Ceremony. Jesus-time is Christmas. When the Jesus-time is done, that's when big Ceremony happens up there. ‘Yes’, I could tell so many different stories but this was just a beautiful learning. Petra: Is there a place that is pure in its culture? Leanne: I don't think there's anywhere in Australia that's pure in its culture. We're all still colonized in some way. Whether it be with the motorcar, or having to be dependent on Government monies, or whatever. We're still colonized even in our views and how many years have our kids had to go to school? Leanne: ‘Yes’, we've had 50 years of our kids having to go to school. That's a couple of generations now. Petra: There's not even an option for an Aboriginal School in that either. I mean, in the languages for the culture. Leanne: Well, Wollombi has an Aboriginal School. It’s Barker College (from Sydney), but it's an Aboriginal School. Petra: With the language? Leanne: I don't know how much language there is online, I might have to go down and have a yarn to them, which I might one day, but these days, I tend to go up the hill and stay there. I love my little space up there. Well, I own that one there or I am custodian; but also in the ‘white’ way, I’ve got papers that I own a big property up in Coonabarrabran in NSW as well. I don't do anything with the country there.

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It's 650 acres and it's got a site on it with engravings in a cave. It's just such a beautiful property and now I’ll just leave it. It's got a house and everything on it. I've gone to visit it and I'd like to do some more stuff. I'll probably retire there, maybe because it's a much better access. Petra: I was going to say, I've been on your driveway! Leanne: ‘Yes’, that's very real. It’s the only thing with this property and it's very isolated. As I'm getting older, I need to be more sensible. Petra: ‘Yes’, I was just thinking how courageous to really do that with the access and all that. It really terrified me. Leanne: It terrifies a lot of people. Petra: Have you thought about publishing a book? Leanne: A lot of people have asked me that, saying: ‘Well, what a story!’ Maybe one day; I don't know. There's probably be too much research I’ll have to do, or recalling maybe. I don’t know. ‘Yes,’ it'd be interesting. I could probably do it. It has crossed my mind a couple of times. My son says: ‘You should write a book, Mum.’ Yes, I've had a pretty amazing life. Petra: ‘Yes’, so did I. Leanne: The little Housing Commission kid, it’s pretty neat. Petra: But there’s humility. Leanne: I think, ‘Yes’, and often pinch myself and think: how fortunate am I to have lived the life that I have? It's just been an incredible journey. Petra: I think especially for someone growing up in that particular era and being a teenage mum, as well as, in the time when Aboriginals were not respected. Leanne: ‘Yes’. Well, I often wonder how. Again, my Nan was single, my Grandfather walked out on my Nan with six kids. So, she was an Aboriginal woman with six kids on her own. How those children weren't taken off her. How I wasn't affected, or my Father was not affected by the Stolen Generation is beyond me. I think about that story a lot and how she must have had been a courageous woman. She passed when I was about 14. I didn't have a lot of contact with her for various reasons. I think it was because she was always moving to stay one step ahead of the institution, the Government people. That's the only thing I can surmise as to why those kids weren't taken away and why she wasn't affected by it. Petra: That's very gutsy for that time. Leanne: ‘Yes’ as I said. This is not written down or anything but knowing the Aboriginal history and we're talking, well Dad was born in 1936, so in mid-40s and that's a while ago. Petra: I think that's still a pretty amazing history to have that as your own personal story. When you have non-Indigenous people trying to be academic about Indigenous Studies and there are so many of them and with such people even being decision makers for Park and Site Managements and all that, it seems from the small amount I’ve seen that the people are not properly qualified really to make decisions about Cave Paintings and protection and all that. Leanne: ‘Yes.’ You usually find that's the case. If I could push or put something out there, I would really love our mob to be not so political. There's all of this mine, mine, mine but it's that colonized mindset that does that. Day 18 I 438

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Petra: It's a lot of anger, isn't it, when it comes to presenting things? Leanne: ‘Yes’, and then there are still a lot of people out there who are angry about what's happened and have had a right to be angry, but if you keep that anger, you will get sick. Petra: Different voices? Leanne: ‘Yes’, we need to be able to heal. Petra: ‘Yes’. I think that's what academics like yourself have: the language - that language that people can actually listen to, plus that calm approach. Leanne: ‘Yes,’ I think it's a really big part of the problem. We need to teach our kids, all our kids, about racism. There's so much racism still in this world and we just wish that would go away. Do you put on rose-colored glasses and just hope that that people can move-on; get educated; and leave the fear behind? Because a lot of what is embedded in our learning and our colonized world is based on fear. Petra: Fear in what sense? What do you mean? Leanne: Well, one, there's always the fear of the unknown, but ‘Yes’, if you think about Native Title, everybody was afraid that Aboriginal People would take everybody's land. Well, that was never ever going to happen. Even now, there's that fear that people will destroy sites because they think: ‘Oh, well an Aboriginal site - Aboriginal people will find out about this and want that back.’ Petra: ‘Yes.’ Do you think it's happening? Wow. I never thought about the destruction of the sites. Leanne: It has happened in the past where people have destroyed sites. Now they do it for greed. Petra: To collect things to sell? Leanne: ‘Yes’, but even if you think about the big mines and stuff like that, they do it out of greed. They'll blow it up - think of WA. They're blowing up sites to make room for more mines or whatever. There's still a lot of stuff going on in the Territory and in WA. It’s disgusting! Petra: ‘Yes’, that is really disgusting!

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Emily Dickinson Poems

EMILY DICKINSON POEMS

Day 19 “Hope” is the thing with feathers “Hope” is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul And sings the tune without the words And never stops - at all And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard And sore must be the storm That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm I’ve heard it in the chillest land And on the strangest Sea Yet - never - in Extremity, It asked a crumb - of me.

I'm Nobody! Who are you? I'm Nobody! Who are you? Are you – Nobody – too? Then there's a pair of us! Don't tell! they'd advertise – you know! How dreary – to be – Somebody! How public – like a Frog – To tell one's name – the livelong June – To an admiring Bog!

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A Bird, came down the Walk A Bird, came down the Walk He did not know I saw He bit an Angle Worm in halves And ate the fellow, raw, And then, he drank a Dew From a convenient Grass And then hopped sidewise to the Wall To let a Beetle pass He glanced with rapid eyes, That hurried all abroad They looked like frightened Beads, I thought, He stirred his Velvet Head. Like one in danger, Cautious, I offered him a Crumb, And he unrolled his feathers, And rowed him softer Home Than Oars divide the Ocean, Too silver for a seam, Or Butterflies, off Banks of Noon, Leap, plashless as they swim.

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Success is counted sweetest Success is counted sweetest By those who ne'er succeed. To comprehend a nectar Requires sorest need. Not one of all the purple Host Who took the Flag today Can tell the definition So clear of victory As he defeated – dying – On whose forbidden ear The distant strains of triumph Burst agonized and clear!

Wild nights - Wild nights! Wild nights - Wild nights! Were I with thee Wild nights should be Our luxury! Futile - the winds To a Heart in port Done with the Compass Done with the Chart! Rowing in Eden Ah - the Sea! Might I but moor - tonight In thee!

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I felt a Funeral, in my Brain I felt a Funeral, in my Brain, And Mourners to and fro Kept treading - treading - till it seemed That Sense was breaking through And when they all were seated, A Service, like a Drum Kept beating - beating - till I thought My mind was going numb And then I heard them lift a Box And creak across my Soul With those same Boots of Lead, again, Then Space - began to toll, As all the Heavens were a Bell, And Being, but an Ear, And I, and Silence, some strange Race, Wrecked, solitary, here And then a Plank in Reason, broke, And I dropped down, and down And hit a World, at every plunge, And Finished knowing - then -

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