EACH year literally hundreds of community events take place across our regions. From small community events to large-scale productions (think Kyneton Daffodil and Arts Festival and our own ChillOut).
While they are all unique and take up an enormous amount of community volunteer effort, they are also all dependent on one big factor – the support of local businesses.
The annual Daylesford Art Show is no exception. Local business and individual sponsorships are what allows the Rotary Club of Daylesford to host the event annually.
This year the support of Community Bank Daylesford District will not only see a
dynamic and entertaining opening night (more info down the track but let’s just say
a certain realtor with a gift of the gab will join forces with an inspiring local artist)
but the banks’ support and financial contributions will allow the local artists to once
again highlight their incredible talents.
The opening night also doubles as the Community Bank Daylesford District
Awards Night where winners are announced and our artists get to shine. Live music,
entertainment and an auction featuring original paintings by Brian Nash and David
Bromley will feature at the opening, where everyone is welcome, but get in early to
secure tickets.
Blooms The Chemist continues to showcase last year’s artwork in the pharmacy
thanks to a supportive team led by pharmacist Andrew Wryley, who is a generous
supporter of local art. Blooms is sponsoring Best in Show with a generous $2000 first
prize.
The Biggin & Scott Daylesford crew is sponsoring the youth prize of $750 and
Matt Layfield and his crew at Daylesford Meat Company are sponsoring the third
prize worth $1000. The committee would love to hear from anyone keen to sponsor
the second prize, valued at $1500.
The Daylesford Art Show, being held from October 27 to November 1 at the
Daylesford Town Hall, is thanks to the support of a small but committed local Rotary
Club and made possible due to continued support from an engaged and supportive
business community.
Youth Category update: we hear our budding youth artists needed a little more
time so the closing date has been extended to Wednesday, October 12.

Words: Contributed | Image: Tony Sawrey

HAVING a ball while netting plenty of essential tennis skills is high on the agenda for Daylesford Lawn Tennis Club’s newly appointed Hot Shots coordinator Jack Elliot.

 “The main thing is just to have fun and socialise,” says Jack, ahead of the new tennis season which starts Thursday, November 3 with a special program of free Welcome Week activities. As Hot Shots coordinator, Jack is looking forward to sharing his love of tennis while providing beginner and pre-match juniors with plenty of valuable tennis skills over the season.

Away from the courts, Jack is currently completing VCE at Daylesford College and says getting a regular hit of tennis provides life-balancing relief from the pressures of study and preparing for final exams that begin this month.

Hot Shots is aimed at youngsters aged from about four to 12 years of age, imparting invaluable formative skills that can set juniors up for a lifetime ahead of healthy tennis enjoyment. “And it’s just a great way to make new friends,” says Jack, who also happens to be current men’s club champion and a great role model for young players.

Jack says he did the Hot Shots program himself, at Creswick, after being introduced to tennis by his elder brother at about age five. “It’s just a great development tool and equips you with skills that are transportable to other sports as well.”

As the new season starts, there’s also plenty on the club’s agenda for adult members and new players as well, including adult beginners. “Our Welcome Week begins on Thursday November 3 with our Twilight Competition,” the club’s Dianne van Baalen says.

“We are planning a week of free tennis to encourage community members out onto our beautiful grass courts.”

Over November 3-November 9 the club’s ‘Week of Free Smashing Fun for Everyone’ offers some great no-cost activities including:

• Twilight Thursday Tennis for people wanting to enter competition tennis;

• Saturday Hot Shots and Junior tennis; Social Carousel Tennis for anyone wanting to have a social hit;

• Open Court Tennis for beginner and ‘out of practise’ adults keen to give tennis a bash;

• Free coaching session with Daylesford’s tennis pro Brain Carr; and

• Wear Your Whites old time tennis hit up – and more.

For more information head to the club’s website and Facebook pages.

Words: Eve Lamb | Images: Kyle Barnes

Lucky strike!
One of the most exciting successes in gardening is creating a new plant from a
small growth taken from a favourite tree or shrub.
In most cases, successful propagation from cuttings is relatively simple and
straight forward, all you really need is a sharp knife, a good sharp sand mix and a
well-lit, warm spot in which to place the cuttings.
There are two basic cutting types to consider; soft or semi-ripe wood (usually
evergreen plants) and hardwood (mostly deciduous).
Although there are no hard and fast rules, particularly if you have a heated
propagating unit or glasshouse, softwood cuttings are usually taken in spring, summer
and early autumn, while hardwood ones do best in late autumn and winter.
One of your first considerations for propagating plants from cuttings is to ensure
you start them in the best possible growing medium. There are several brands of pre-bagged propagating mixes readily available at almost all gardening outlets.
But if you would rather prepare your own, one of the better cutting mixes can be
made from equal parts of coarse sand and finely crumbled peat moss.
The next, and probably, most important consideration is the environment.
Warm, slightly moist, but not damp atmosphere with adequate air movement and
permanently moist, but not wet, growing medium. Somewhat similar to that of a
heated glass house.
The next option is one of those little plastic covered greenhouses. In a warm,
sheltered and well-lit spot, they really do the trick in raising seedlings, restoring tired
indoor plants, but best of all, propagating new ones.
A 2m x 1.5m walk-in with shelves can be had from most hardware shops for
around $100.
For best results, if you intend to produce a quantity of most shrub cuttings, you
really need a propagating unit. But this needn’t mean a commercially produced one.
A large foam box covered with a sheet of opaque glass placed in a well-lit, warm spot
or a greenhouse will usually do the trick.
If you really only want to grow one or two plants from the cuttings from a friend
or neighbours’ garden you can even have success with a potful of cuttings on a well-lit
kitchen window ledge.
Even more so if you cover it with a ‘bell jar’ cut from the bottom of a 2-litre
plastic drink bottle.
With softwood cuttings, take healthy young side shoots approximately 10-15cm
long and check for progress. If there are no roots but the bottom of the stem has
callused (grown a scab), you’ll know it won’t be long before there are roots. Replace
the cutting and check again in about 8-10 days. Once they have roots 2-3 cm long
they can be potted out.

Got a gardening question? Email glenzgardens@gmail.com

DUO, Hayden Walsh and Karen O’Sullivan, who recently launched
their book If I can, you can, are teaming up once again for a special
project and asking the community to participate in the Mount
Macedon Realty: Wooling Hill Run 2022 this month to raise funds for
Kyneton Health’s Palliative Care in the Home program.
Hayden and Karen, who are both much-loved members of the Kyneton
community, are putting the call out to their family, friends and neighbours to get
behind this cause by participating or donating to help their local health service
provide end-of-life care in people’s home.
They’ve signed up and have committed to walk the beautiful 1.2km, all-abilities
course that can be walked, run or wheeled as many times as participants chose until
October 30.
Hayden said he wanted to inspire people of all abilities to sign up for the Mount
Macedon Realty: Wooling Hill Run 2022. “Karen and I would like you to join us on
Sunday 30 October to walk a lap of the course on the final day. Let’s get together and
raise some money.”
Karen said Hayden continued to inspire her and many others with his passion
for life and the wellbeing of others. “As a member of the Central Highlands Rural
Health board of directors, I know first-hand how important it is for the community
to support their local health care service.”
Event hosts Troy and Liddy Upfield from Wooling Hill Memorial Estate, and
major sponsor Lisa Fowler from Mount Macedon Realty, are aiming to raise $60,000
to purchase a new van to transport essential equipment, including electrical hospital
beds and air mattresses, wheelchairs, and other mobility aids to and from clients’
homes to enable specialist community nursing staff to provide the best end-of-life
care and support in the home for clients and their carers.
The Mount Macedon Realty: Wooling Hill Run 2022 is open for participants
to sign up any time until October 30 at the Wooling Hill Memorial Estate, New
Gisborne. Individual and team entries are welcome.
To take part or sponsor head to www.woolinghillestate.com.au/charity-run/
Link: www.GiveNow.com.au/cr/HaydenandKaren

I SPENT a couple of years in the Hepburn Shire Council, starting as a volunteer at the Visitor Information Centre, and with that my stellar career in the Tourism Department had begun.
It was just one of those times in life that you find everything simply works out.
Within a few weeks I had completed my training as a not-so fresh-faced 40-year-old
novice to an expert in all things about the shire of potholes (Thanks, Denise).
Next, I was picked from the bunch for a paid position as an administration
assistant to the tourism officer. I am not sure how I got the gig. I had come from a
corporate life in the CBD complete with support staff, where the only thing I knew
about a fax machine was that you put the documents into the secretary’s in-tray and it
would end up back on your in-tray stamped ‘faxed’.
I was taken under the wing of the Tourism, Recreation and Economic
Development manager at the time (yes, a mouthful of a title) and rose through the
ranks to Visitor Services coordinator which meant running the four visitor centres
throughout the shire. Unfortunately for me I am not a bureaucrat, which is a skill
that requires patience and lacks the energy that an independent entrepreneurial brain
brings with it. Suffice to say, it wasn’t a long career.
However during this time I was taught the skill of the community consult,
meeting a few nay-sayers down in Hepburn over a signage debacle. The boss and I
turned up, listened to their concerns and drove away. I asked him how we were going
to resolve the issue and he said: “Through community consultation and they have
now been consulted.” Situation closed, I suppose.
Then another important lesson was bestowed upon me from a certain ex-mayor,
let’s call him Warren, because that is actually his name. I was trying to get a grant to
improve the entry to Daylesford, coming from the Ballan direction.
Over one lunch and a bottle or two of red wine Warren and I had developed
the six steps of tourism, an in-depth look on improvements into Daylesford tourism
infrastructure. This was to form the basis of the grant proposal, which never got up
and was shelved.
Until one day I was called into a former CEO’s office and was questioned about
the six steps of tourism project, which had impressed they/them. They wanted to
know the board of players, who had developed it and how long it took to author. I
obviously had to embellish the process, after all I couldn’t say it was developed during
a long lunch at a café over the road by two booze-fuelled mates.
This brings me to this big rainbow structure that is going to be placed in one of
four spots in Daylesford. How is it possible that this gets the green light so quickly?
Don’t get me wrong, on one hand I think it’s a great thing. However should we
pause for a conversation, as on the other hand does it truly represent our collective
community? Can we the residents decide what should represent us?
Are we a health and wellness town, or better represented by old, gold and bold
and is the Tinder trophy being shoved down our throats? Does Tinder snap its fingers
and our council assumes the position? Or does Tinder have to grind its way through
the normal planning processes like the rest of us, swiping left and right until due
process is meet?
Puns intended, rant over…

CRESWICK Primary School teacher Vicki Hughes has just clocked up 42 years of service to education – and has the certificate to prove it.

Earlier this year the state government awarded Vicki a personalised Certificate of Recognition and commemorative booklet but she’s taking the attention all in her stride.

“We were called down to Melbourne and had our presentation at the Grand Hyatt Hotel ballroom,” Vicki said.

“They gave us afternoon tea (and) the (then) Education Minister James Merlino did the presentation and made a big speech. But it doesn’t change anything,” she added.

“I normally keep anything like this very low key because I just enjoy what I’m doing. And even coming off Covid and remote learning, I’m just as enthusiastic about coming in every day as I was back in 1980.”

Vicki completed her Diploma of Education at the Ballarat College of Advanced Education (BCAE) graduating in 1979. Her first placement was the following year as the sole teacher at Ross Bridge: a little school between Ararat and Lake Bolac.

“It was quite exciting to think ‘I’m going to be here, first year out with 21 children from prep to grade six’,” she says.

 “And it was an absolutely brilliant first year. I think it was the best way to learn because everything was on you. As well as teaching, you had to be the cleaner, bookkeeper and liaise with the parents. You were the hub of the community.”

The following year, Vicki went to another single teacher school at Lake Burrumbeet before going on to Linton, Haddon, Smythesdale, Scarsdale, Cape Clear, Linton, Brewster, Ross Creek, Windermere, Trawalla as a shared specialist and finally Creswick Primary school where she has taught for the past 30 years.

In that time Vicki has seen the practice of education evolve and change. For example new programs have often been very cyclic with a lot of fundamental things being reinvented; particularly with literacy and mathematics. But they seem to go back to the same old or similar ways of doing things to get the best practice out of both teachers and students.

“Fundamentals are important and pupils need to continue learning them; reading aloud to someone, talking about what they are doing, learning their mathematics tables. Life’s a lot easier when you go back to those basic skills and learn to do the hard yards.”

She has also seen greater stresses being put onto parents. While many now need to work longer hours they also have greater demands placed on them as far as aligning activities for their children.

“It’s almost like every day they are expected to organise something for them,” she says. The other significant change Vicki has noticed is the emergence of the internet along with social media and gaming as being of stronger interest to children today.

“It has certainly had an impact on the children and what they do in their own time,” says Vicki. “In my initial schools, kids would be outside the whole time, running, playing football. That’s not to say it isn’t happening now but there is a lot of screen time intruding into their time along with the isolation that goes with it.

“Often they are not actually getting out and communicating in a face-to-face situation. They are certainly communicating across their devices but it’s different.”

Reflecting on her long career Vicki has the memory of countless enjoyable moments.  She can still name all 21 students from her first teaching position at Ross Bridge, with one of those inspired to become a teacher because of her. Vicki was also lucky enough to teach tennis player Zoe Hives, race walker Jared Tallent and lawyer Julia McGrath, Liberal Democrats candidate for Ballarat in the 2022 federal election.

“I try to remain in contact with a lot of my ex-students and at Creswick in particular I am now teaching some of the children of children I originally taught when I first arrived here. And it is really lovely to see how their lives have developed. Also you can have a lightbulb moment with any child at any time and that pleases me still.”

Words: Tony Sawrey | Image: Kyle Barnes

Talented musical collaborators, the Saltbush Ensemble, are next up in the
Daylesford Christ Church’s popular concert series, with a mid-afternoon
performance this Saturday, October 15.
The 2.30pm Italian Affections concert will feature Saltbush’s Ryan Williams
(recorders) and Reidun Turner (viola da gamba) together with guest collaborator Joy
Lee (harpsichord).
Together they’ll present a “whirlwind of Italian virtuosity” exploring the very
beginnings of the sonata to the greats of Corelli and Vivaldi, with bookings online
through Trybooking.

HEPBURN Shire Council has shortlisted four sites for the Big Rainbow. They are Lake Daylesford, Victoria Park, the Community Skate Park and the Lost Children’s Reserve.

People can vote for their favourite site at the council’s Participate Hepburn website or with hard copy forms from the libraries and customer service centres. The council says it has considered a number of factors and settled on the shortlisted sites it thinks would be most suitable as the Big Rainbow’s new home.

“We are asking you, the community, for your local knowledge to help us decide which one of the four locations is best for this landmark. The purpose of the engagement is to determine the most appropriate site for the location of this Big Rainbow landmark.

 “During this engagement we will: inform key stakeholders and the community about the project and the opportunity to engage; share information about the four shortlisted site options and how they have been chosen; identify any relevant stakeholder and community knowledge relevant to the final sites; and gather local knowledge that will inform council’s decision making.

” In preparing the shortlist of the four sites, council considered: access (for installation, maintenance, visitors); compliance (heritage, Djaara, VicRoads, planning, OHS); impact (significance, findability, shareability, conflicting or complementary uses, neighbours); risk (vandalism, reputation, safety); amenity (parking, toilets); and cost (any unique cost to council for a particular site?). The survey is open until Sunday, October 30.

Mayor Cr Tim Drylie, pictured, said he did not have a personal preference for the final site but many had been considered before it was brought down to the four. He said the criteria on the website was clear about why the sites had been chosen with several important factors.

“I think there will be many other sites people might consider but when you drill down into the detail there will be a mix of factors of why it is not going to work for whatever reason.” Cr Drylie said the sites did not have to necessarily be council owned but it “certainly helped” in terms of planning permits not being needed.

“I just think this is a really positive message of inclusion and diversity and a great opportunity for the visitor experience – those are the two major things here and I am hopeful that it is received within that intent and we can cover off any objections that might come along the way. Certainly the council’s intention is a very good and positive one.

“The message now is for people to jump on the website and fill out the form before the end of the month.” Cr Drylie said if anyone did not want the Big Rainbow in Daylesford they could email through “the normal channels at the shire”.

THE value of forking out a cool $100,000 or so to upgrade the Daylesford CFA rescue truck was well demonstrated in recent days. When the truck was called in to help free a man trapped in a crushed utility following a head-on collision near Glenlyon, the new addition of battery power to run its critical lifesaving equipment proved a massive help, members of the volunteer brigade say.

“Our rescue truck has had a complete workover and the ‘jaws of life’ have all been changed from hydraulic powered to battery power, which helps tremendously at a rescue, not having trailing hoses,” brigade secretary and treasurer Paul Anderson says.

“We do still have hydraulics on board but it’s been significantly boosted by also having battery power for our spreaders, cutters, rams and lights, which are now all battery powered,” adds the brigade’s Glenn Webster. “It makes it a lot easier at a rescue scene so it’s a big step forward,” says Glenn, training coordinator for both the Daylesford Brigade and Glenlyon Group of brigades of which it’s a part.

“A few weeks ago we had a very serious crash just out of Glenlyon, truck versus ute, and we were able to use both the battery operated tools and the hydraulics. “It was a technically involved rescue, and it was very comforting to have both.”

Glenn says the Daylesford CFA rescue truck is called on to cover a large area, and now 19 of the brigade’s 50 volunteer members are trained up as qualified rescue members.

“Glenn has been instrumental in the training of the crew, who now would be one of the best equipped and most professional in Victoria,” Paul says.

While the battery power enhancement of the rescue truck was funded via the state’s fire services levy scheme, Paul says the eight CFA brigades of the Glenlyon Group are also very grateful for the fundraising support of Daylesford cafe, Cliffy’s.

“Cliffy’s year ran their 2021 Christmas coffee morning again which raised over $17,000 which was split this year among the eight local brigades, who were then able to purchase essential equipment,” he says. The money, which Glenn notes has been spent on vital items like UHF radio, is a great help ahead of the new fire season.

“We’re expecting at this stage that the declaration of the fire danger period may be a little later than most years,” he says. The wet La Niña conditions are more conducive to creating grassfires as distinct from forest fires and they’re also hoped to make for a potentially “quieter” fire season overall.

Words: Eve Lamb | Images: Kyle Barnes

Two of Musk’s most beautiful gardens will open to visitors as part of Daylesford Spa Country Railway’s special fundraising run day next month.

On Saturday, November 12 the Daylesford Spa Country Railway will run trains from Daylesford to Musk, departing every half hour from 9.30am to 3.30pm with the $30 per person ticket including visits to both Musk Farm and Musk Manor gardens.

The event will also feature music, plant sales, refreshments and ticket prizes with all proceeds supporting the railway and accompanying children under 18 years free of charge.

Musk is known for its gardens with the soil ideal for planting and the surrounding forest and hills provide the perfect landscape. Musk Farm is an iconic garden that was developed by the late Stuart Rattle and has been loved by succeeding gardeners. Its many garden rooms are a delight for visitors as each offers another style and perspective on gardening from the picking areas surrounding the lovely renovated schoolhouse to the forest garden at the eastern end of the property.

Musk Manor is a young garden set in 2½ acres amid older trees. The garden has recently been developed to be a haven for birds, bees and butterflies. There are many flowering shrubs in the large garden areas, each of which have their own predominant palette. Attention has been paid to colour and scent. Many bird species can be seen in the garden over the spring and summer.

NB: There is no parking on site at Musk. Entry to the gardens can only be obtained via park and ride from Daylesford station

Lauded as “one of Australia’s most angelic-voiced sopranos” Sara Macliver is headed to Daylesford this month to dispense a feast of Italian music together with the Genesis Baroque ensemble.

Featuring works by Vivaldi, Scarlatti and Monteverdi, The Italian Tour performance will take place at Daylesford’s Christchurch Anglican Church on Saturday, October 22 at 5pm. It will mark a regional debut for the Melbourne-based Genesis Baroque ensemble which comprises some of Australia’s finest historically informed musicians.

The ensemble was founded by baroque violinist, Jennifer Kirsner, and is led by renowned baroque violinist and concertmaster, Lucinda Moon who is former concertmaster of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra. The ensemble released its critically acclaimed first studio album of Arcangelo Corelli’s Concerti Grossi Opus 6 via ABC Classic in August 2020, debuting as the highest selling Australian album on the ARIA classical album charts.

Regarded as one of the leading exponents of Baroque repertoire, Sara Macliver records for ABC Classic and has more than 35 CDs and many awards to her credit. She is a regular performer with all the Australian symphony orchestras as well as the Perth, Melbourne and Sydney Festivals, Pinchgut Opera, the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Musica Viva, and a number of international companies.

More info and bookings for this month’s upcoming Daylesford performance are available via Genesis Baroque’s website.

Words: Eve Lamb | Image: Rhydian Lewis

IT’S time to crack out your cake tins and whip out the wooden spoon as Lyonville gets set to host its big bake off fundraiser on Sunday, October 23.

After a pandemic-induced break, the Lyonville Hall Community Asset Committee is hungry to again hold the Lyonville Bake Off, raising funds for the historic hall’s upkeep.

The committee’s Dot Fuller says there are six entry categories for budding or wellseasoned cooks alike to sink their teeth into.

“We’ve got categories for kids under 12, decorated cakes, general cakes, cupcakes and slices, tarts and pies, and a special dietary category which is a new category,” Dot says.

“So there’s lots of opportunity for enthusiasts to enter their baking creations and be in the running to win a rosette and a prize voucher. We’d also encourage anyone who has a speciality to enter on the day. We’ve already had one man enquire about entering croissants.”

Dot says that the first bake off was held back in 2015 and since then the Lyonville event has proven its popularity with those who like to bake – and those who like to eat.

 “There definitely are some talented cooks out there and we often have a bit of friendly competition between past winners. I’d encourage anyone to enter. Your entry doesn’t need to be professional or polished. It’s an opportunity for the community to come together. This is a community event run solely by volunteers with all proceeds going to the upkeep and improvement of the Lyonville Hall.”

Once the panel of judges have made their decisions on the day and the winners are announced, the winning entries are then auctioned off to the highest bidders. Hungry attendees also have the chance to buy slices of any of the other baked entries at the bake off cake stall.

 “Our cake stall on the day is an opportunity to sit down and have a tea or a coffee from our baristas as well,” Dot says. Those keen to enter can email Dot at dottifuller@gmail.com

 Words: Eve Lamb | Image: Kyle Barnes

THE Victorian Seniors Festival is back, bigger and better and in its 40th year.

Hepburn Shire Mayor Cr Tim Drylie said in line with the council’s new ‘No Barrier’ Positive Ageing Strategy and the council plan, the council was working with the local community to increase access to events and address social isolation.
“There are currently over 7000 residents within Hepburn Shire over the age of 55, which is 46 per cent of the shire’s population, whilst the state average of people over the age of 55 is 28 per cent. This makes the Seniors Festival event even more important to us.”
The 2022 Victorian Seniors Festival will feature live and online events, including concerts, dances, sport, the arts, history talks and tour, with events across the state supported by the Victorian Government. The events are designed to empower seniors to connect, socialise and further their wellbeing.
This year’s theme – Takin’ it easy – focuses on presenting accessible and comfortable spaces, both live and online, to ensure seniors feel relaxed to participate and ease back into events.
Building on the success of the previous Victorian Seniors Festivals, this year’s events will include online and radio programs, as well as First Nations performances and entertainment from multicultural artists.
The Country Concert series will take the festival fun on the road to 26 regional towns and the Aged Care Tour will entertain aged care residents with music and magicians from September to December.
To ensure older Victorians can make the most of the festival, Victorian Seniors Card holders can access free travel on public transport services from October 2-9 – including on V/Line.
For V/Line trips that require a reservation, bookings open on Tuesday, September 6. For more information head to www.seniorsonline.vic.gov.au/free-travel
Information programs can be found at Coles stores, local councils, libraries and community organisations.
For information about the Victorian Seniors Festival call 1300 797 210 or visit www.seniorsonline.vic.gov.au/festival

Seniors Festival events in Hepburn Shire

(Events are free but tickets are limited.)

Hepburn Shire Council, with the support of the Seniors Festival, Cresfest and Attitude Clunes are running the following events:

Lonnie Lee Stage Show (rockabilly) – October 10 (pictured above right)
Regent Cinema Ballarat – 49 Lydiard Street North, Ballarat Central
• Free tickets to the show, with free bus travel and packed lunch included.
• Free tickets to show only.
To book tickets call 0438 406 538.

Skiffle Party with supporting acts – October 12
Dean Hall – 1376 Ballarat Daylesford Road, Dean
• Free tickets to the show with free light lunch provided.
To book tickets go to www.trybooking.com/CCLHR or call 5345 2356.

Skiffle Party with supporting acts – October 26
Lyonville Hall – 4 Bremner Avenue, Lyonville
• Free tickets to the show with free light lunch provided.
To book tickets head to www.trybooking.com/CCLIA or call 5345 2356.

Talking Ageing with Attitude Conference 2022 – October 28
Clunes Town Hall – 98 Bailey Street, Clunes
• Free tickets to the conference with free morning tea and lunch provided.
To book tickets call 0438 406 538.

For a list of all events happening throughout Victoria head to www.seniorsonline.vic.gov.au/victorian-seniors-festival

OVER The Log, a tale of a pioneering woman, is a fascinating read, written by Jenny Trewhella about her great-grandmother Betsey Trewhella (nee Noal).

It follows the hard life of Betsey as she and her growing family move from Cornwall to Blackwood and finally Blue Mount, taking in the years from 1854 to 1867 – and the Australian gold mining rush of the era.
In the book, which is a fictional story based on fact, Betsey’s husband Ben leaves Cornwall for what they hope is a better life in Australia. Mining in Cornwall is over and the Gold Rush has began on the other side of the world.
What Jenny captures is not the often boring historical records of the period, but the interesting minutiae of life. What people were thinking, how they were surviving the harsh climate, and mostly, how women, the forgotten heroes of many eras, were living their lives.
I found the book, all 350 pages of it, virtually impossible to put down over a recent weekend, as it brought to life the history of this region. There’s even a visit to Daylesford, staying at the Albert Hotel with its corner-facing door, not to be used by a law-abiding family for good reason, and trips to Jubilee Lake and Wombat Hill.
I chatted to Jenny about her book, her next novel, her own story and her love of history.

Donna: I loved your book but I must say I didn’t like Betsey’s husband Ben Senior very much.
Jenny: I think he was a total patriarch and a religious bigot. I have him saying the Aborigines are alright, but they are all heathens, my goodness. And he did say (when collecting his family from the boat from Cornwall) that a child of his would never look that ill. The only son and heir nearly died on that trip. I think that trip was just so tough for Betsey and I gave her a cabin but history tells me that women and children were usually just in one big room.

Donna: How did you come to write a book at all?
Jenny: I have always been interested in the history of real people and their day-to-day life and just imagining what it was like for them, what they went through. I had this idea about Ben heading off to Australia leaving Betsey behind and her knowing that she was pregnant again. I think the women were either going through morning sickness or feeding all the time. I am a feminist, of course, and I think often things don’t change because the men are in charge and they don’t want change, but the women do.

Donna: Are you the keeper of history in your family? And it must be amazing to have so much history and a famous name for this region?
Jenny: No, my brother Dennis is. He lives in Trentham but he is the one who strolls all over the world making notes. He was a great source of information for me. I absolutely love history, I find it fascinating. And yes, we are famous because of the (Trewhella) jacks but lots of us these days are environmentalists. My kids and I am. But my grandfather (used those jacks to) cut down timber until there wasn’t any good timber left.

Donna: How did you start with so much information?
Jenny: I started the novel with mum and I visiting Betsey’s youngest in 1953. I thought I am just going to start with me and my connection and then I thought about Betsey and the pregnancy and the move to Australia. Things like when they moved to Blue Mount and Ben said they had a spring up the hill and the women could walk up there to fetch water and that would be good exercise for them.

Donna: And how did you come up with the title?
Jenny: It was because Betsey faced so many challenges even before they left Cornwall. They had been quite well-to-do but they were miners and the mining was finished and they were poor as far as disposable income goes.
But off they went on this idea of going to Australia. And Betsey said it was all like pregnancy and birth – women just make the best of difficult situations. She is off the ship and dog tired and has to walk up that steep hill to the hut next to the Blackwood battery of all things – which of course suited Ben. I could have called the book It Suited Him. And then she was confronted on a late afternoon in August with a log she had to walk over to get to their new house, also in Blackwood.
She said to Ben that once she crossed that log she was never going back to Cornwall, and they had money and could have gone back, but they were committed to Australia – and now there are thousands of us.

Donna: Did you have any help to write the book?
Jenny: I was thinking about writing it and my son said he knew a woman who had a writers’ group in Bacchus Marsh, the Harvest Writers. We meet in the Bacchus Marsh Library and that little group worked through the book with me. We tossed ideas around and they have been fantastic. I found that really helpful. I do have another book, about my mother’s side and how her great-grandfather was transported from Ireland to Australia after he was accused of stealing barley meal. He was a tailor but no-one wanted to buy a nicely made suit in a famine. His wife and son eventually came out and he ended up being a farmer at Barwon Heads, before it was Barwon Heads. It is a fascinating story and I have decided it will all be in letters.
Every letter in Over The Log, is made up because some women in my family decided to have a bonfire. The only real letter is the one at the end from William Trewhella who wrote about missing his family but he was also having problems with his neighbours. I love that and it never goes in the history books. But he wrote a letter and said the next door neighbours were giving him the irrits.

Donna: You were brought up in Box Hill?
Jenny: Yes, my dad was the youngest of Ben Junior’s and he was a school teacher. His mother Sarah Trewhella (nee Hosking) wanted a school teacher in the family. But we always went to Trentham one or two times a year for holidays and love it up there. I have a small mud brick place in Lyonville and we really love it there as well. I have had an interesting life, I was in nursing and am a retired minister of the Uniting Church. I am also working on my own story.

Donna: Finally, where can people buy your book?
Jenny: I am talking at a book launch at the Trentham Neighbourhood Centre, which is being held by the Trentham and District Historical Society, on Sunday, October 16 at 3pm. The books are $25 and all proceeds from sales go to the Trentham Museum because I believe Trentham needs a museum before any more people die and their records are burnt or thrown out in a skip. I think history leads us towards our future.

THE Kingston Old School will open its gardens to the public on Saturday, October 22 with all proceeds from the day going towards the Stop AusNet’s Towers campaign.

he grounds of this historic one-hectare property have been transformed from asphalt playground into magnificent gardens, with rooms formed by high hedges.
Around each corner is a new visual treat. In addition to a meadow surrounded by beautiful trees including copper beech, purple beech, horse chestnuts and maples, there is a woodland garden, a bog garden, a pond garden, an avenue of pear trees and a dry garden to admire, as well as a parterre and a ginkgo grove.
The gardens were last opened to the public in 2017. Many former students made the trip back and recalled memories of their school days. They particularly remembered the “helicopter tree”, so called because of the way the seeds spun as they dropped from the old sycamore tree.
The Kingston Old School gardens were featured in the 2020 publication, The Garden State – Inside Victoria’s Private Gardens by Richard Allen and Kimbal Baker.
The gardens will be open from 10am to 4pm and there will be garden tours at 11am and 2pm.
Fresh coffee and homemade cake will be available to purchase, as well as a sausage sizzle. Plants will be available for sale from Daylesford’s Friends of Wombat Hill Botanic Gardens, and entertainment provided throughout the day by The Roundabout Folk Band, The Creswick Choir, and local artists, Neil Adam and Judy Turner.
There is also the chance to win a hamper of local gourmet produce, two weekend passes to CresFest23 and more.
Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the gate on the day.
The school is on Kingston Road, Kingston just off the Midland Highway.