I should have known I would start something when I made mention of building a “bug hotel” for predatory insects to control the pest population in the garden a few issues ago.

It not only drew quite a few comments and questions but it also means I now have been given a new project of my own – turning the old decorative birdcage in our flowering cherry tree into a high class bug palace to join our other bug accommodation, pictured above right.

But this is in answer to a request from Anka of Woodend to learn how to build one of her own.

There are no set rules, other than to create a haven for the bugs and other assorted predatorial good guys from where they can patrol and protect your garden. As you can see from the recycled letterbox and plastic bottle, pictured below right, with one side removed, any type of container in which to place an assortment of twigs, gumnuts, pine cones etc. will do fine.

I’ve seen “hotels” fashioned from a bundle of twigs and leaves, placed into horizontal cans and plastic drink bottles (with the top cut off), and hung from the branches of trees.

Other options include making a pyramid of empty flower pots (on their sides) and stuffing them with dried leaves, straw and twigs etc. Or something as simple as wrapping a pile of pine cones in chicken wire to either sit under, or hang from a shady tree. I’ve even seen a string bag of pine cones hanging in the shade as makeshift accommodation.

More substantial and palatial examples can be constructed using timber and bricks, particularly those with perforated sides, strategically spaced to provide cavities for holding twigs.

The Halls Gap Community Botanic Gardens have several magnificent, fully-occupied examples fashioned out of square four-gallon kerosene cans, strategically  located on large gum trees around the park.

Bee hotels

But the bug hotels, often seen side-by-side with other, usually wooden, structures featuring rows of neat little round holes are bee hotels, ideally formed to accommodate bees.

These can need a little bit of carpentery skills to build with timber, but bamboo stems, or even short lengths of black poly pipe stacked closely together in the frame, will make a perfect substitute. Pre-made and kit versions of these are often to be found in gift shops and garden outlets.

Those of us lucky enough to live in a country area are most likely to help the solitary-living native bees, who will benefit most from a bee hotel, and the security it will provide.

As well as providing accommodation, it’s most important to ensure there are plenty of bee-attracting flowering plants, and a steady water supply for them.

But remember, bees and other insects can’t cope with more than a trickle of water, for fear of drowning. A shallow bowl filled with small pebbles, or marbles, is the perfect solution, but place the bowl in a shady spot and be sure to keep the water level topped up.

If you are seriously interested in the bug hotel culture, and/or attracting native bees, check with Google, there are simply pages of information and illustrations of every possible type of construction. Also there are pages of bee and bug keeping-projects to intrigue children of all ages.

Got a gardening question? Ask Glen. Email glenzgarden@gmail.com

Does anyone else feel like time is flying by? It seems like only yesterday I was testing out and writing last week’s cocktail.

It’s been a week of good news in regards to lockdown restrictions easing. Kids are slowly heading back to school, which should take some of the stress off our mums and dads out there. And great news for our local accommodation services, pubs, restaurants, cafes and shops, they’ve all had the go-ahead to open in some form and hopefully it results in bookings and increased business. Good luck, guys!

Today’s cocktail is for those day dreaming of languid Summer days, good times gathering with friends and sharing food and drink. It also makes use of some great local produce from Daylesford and Hepburn Mineral Springs as well as produce from Daylesford Sunday Market. How lucky are we to have so much good produce around?

Long Summer Daze

Ingredients:

5 strawberries

Half a lime

45mls gin (so many good local ones to choose from)

Ginger & kaffir lime mineral water

Mint to garnish

Method:

Place three strawberries in your cocktail shaker and squeeze in the juice of half a lime, then muddle. Add 45mls of gin and shake vigorously. In a tall glass add some ice, pieces of strawberry and mint, double strain the shaker into the glass and then top with the ginger & kaffir lime mineral water. Shut your eyes and soak up that daydream of sunshine and friends.

Who is it for?

I’m writing a memoir, but who is it for?

Does anyone care that I lived through a war?

Will my granddaughters smile at my teenage romances,

Or laugh at the dresses I wore to the dances.

I’ve lived, laughed and loved in my eighty odd years

The good times, the bad times, the smiles and the tears

All come flooding back as I lift up my pen,

The friends of my childhood, I see them again.

I nurtured three children, a dog and a cat

I sang on the stage, but who cares about that?

I’ve met interesting people in faraway places

Vienna, Shanghai, I remember their faces.

The ship to Australia to start a new life

A nurse, a companion, a mother, a wife

My parents, my brother, lost loved ones I see

As I relive the memories – I’m writing for me.

Irene Mooney

Irene Mooney was born in Scotland, and now lives in Daylesford.  In her eighty-second year she is writing her memoir, which she is thinking of calling ‘Just getting the hang of it when it’s nearly time to go!’.  

Poems for Local Lines come predominantly from a group of poets. However, other locals who would like a poem considered for publication can contact Bill Wootton – cottlesbreedge@gmail.com

JANE Lesock is semi-retired and she has well and truly earned it.

She and her husband Paul had Mount Beckworth Wines for decades before selling the vineyard, although they kept the cellar door part of the business in the main street of Clunes.

The wine is amazing, but it wasn’t the reason behind why the town voted for Jane to be its Female Citizen of the Year in 2012 – that, along with her other accolades, is because of her incredible years of service to her community.

“You do it to help others,” Jane says.

“I did Meals on Wheels for 14 years. And we also did events, raising funds for local groups and we did Feast on Fraser, because the main street of Clunes is called Fraser St and we had people come along and pay big money and it was all-inclusive and they were waited on.

“And then we turned it into Banquet on Bailey, and over the years it raised well over $30,000 for the footy club, the school, the CFA, the medical centre, different groups in town.”

The year after her town gave her the award, she was named Citizen of the Year for Hepburn Shire in the Australia Day Awards.

One of Jane’s longest standing volunteer commitments has been as the treasurer of the Clunes Tourism Association, a role in which she served for 25 years.

“I was made a life member of that association, the first one in its 44-year history,” Jane said.

Then there’s being on the Buy Local Campaign Committee for Hepburn Shire, coordinating and editing the Clunes Monthly Newsletter for the past nine years, being the inaugural recipient of Outstanding Contribution to Tourism through Hepburn Regional Tourism in 2009 and being recognised with the Ripon Volunteer Award in 2018 for longstanding dedication, hard work and ingenuity for Clunes.

But wait, there’s more. Treasurer for the first Clunes Booktown, and now being volunteer registration coordinator and on the judging panel for the Lions Youth of the Year for six years.

Then throw in employment with the National Bank for 25 years.

Jane is justifiably proud of her achievements, of which there have been many, but sees it more as just part of her duty in supporting her local community.

“I just want to be part of the community. Clunes is very unique the way we support each other and it’s just what you do in a country town, you just come together and it makes you feel good.

“It’s giving back to the community, I think and when you come from a small community, sometimes you’re helping older people that have done their share in the past so they may have done a lot more than a lot of people, especially in Clunes, and so now it’s about time we give back to them.”

“I just want to be part of the community. Clunes is very unique the way we support each other and it’s just what you do in a country town, you just come together and it makes you feel good.”

Words: Kate Taylor | Image: Neil Newitt

(This article is supported by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas.)

Planning for developments in the Central Highlands is a burning issue, as shown by the uproar at a town hall council meeting. In the first of a two-part series Kevin Childs reports dismay among a group of residents and the council’s efforts to placate them.

The future of planning has created a wedge between the Hepburn Shire Council and a big group of residents.

A spokesman for 131 residents who sought a postponement of a crucial review of planning, Ross Ulman, says the request has been denied.

Criticism of what he says is inadequate community consultation and engagement in the latest phase of the Hepburn Shire planning scheme review brought a detailed, 760-word response from the council.

Mr Ulman says what he calls the planning debacle, followed a series of council decisions, such as the big Smith Street development, something that could be reflected in the October postal ballot elections.

The Mayor, Cr Licia Kokocinski, says that in planning matters such as Smith Street, council found it had no legitimate or legal right to deny the application because it met all planning requirements.

 “Some people may be unhappy with this, but that is the facts of the current laws we have to follow,” she said. 

“Just because one may not be happy about the project, does not mean that council can throw it out.”

Mr Ulman said the dispute began in early March after the council called for community members to apply for membership of five focus groups to consider the review. He said that some applicants who met the entry criteria and applied in time had been rejected without reason.

 But the council says it is baffled by this allegation and that anyone who expressed an interest in participating was included.

To the council, the focus groups were an additional form of consultation, adding to its consultation strategy to further examine some key themes in the proposed new policies and further refine the draft planning scheme.

The plan was to publicly exhibit the scheme, proposed to be exhibited mid-year, but pandemic restrictions forced the council to run an online survey, directly call focus group registrants and widely advertise in newspapers and on Facebook.

All documents to be discussed at the focus groups, and later in the one-on-one phone conversations, were posted on council’s website and some hard copies given to residents.

The council pointed to almost 200 people at workshops or drop-in centres in five townships, online feedback on council’s Facebook page and website, an online survey, individual meetings with key community groups and committees including the Friends of Ajax Road, Friends of Jubilee Lake and the Dja Dja Wurrung community, as well as key government stakeholders

For their part, Mr Ulman says his group believes that because of the pandemic, face-to-face focus group sessions were cancelled before the groups could meet. And without any consultation with focus group members, they were replaced by one-on-one phone conversations with the council’s senior planning consultant.

This was despite the strong view that a phone conversation between a focus group member and a consultant could never be a satisfactory substitute for an in-person group discussion.

“Almost unbelievably, the conversations were not recorded, and the notes the consultant took during these calls were not provided to the focus group members. And some group members were not even granted conversations.”

Also, written questions sent to the consultant were said to be either not acknowledged or not fully answered. This is not denied by the council.

Words: Kevin Childs

THE marks on the pig’s hind legs looked like dog bites, and it was gasping for air.

On a closer look, its owner found her Labrador-sized pig had been slit around the throat. She was then shot and buried.

This incident near Daylesford caused what is now the usual reaction: horror by some, online abuse from others.

Pig breeder Stephanie Swales seems almost as rocked by the trolls as the attack on her for speaking out. Stephanie felt the need for locals to know what had happened, and says the police asked her to post online. One result was a lot of abuse.

While fond of her pigs, Stephanie says she hunts and in time her animals would be used for the intended purpose.

The attack was condemned by the Sporting Shooters Association as animal cruelty.

It all began when the pandemic rules were eased and a huge amount of people surged to the forest to camp, she says.

Stephanie said there was a huge amount of noise over the weekend, people hooning around in cars and quad bikes and shots were heard throughout until the early hours.

Stephanie, a 28-year-old disability worker, lives on her family’s property. She asked that her exact location not be published.

“We do have poachers – unfortunately these kind of people do the wrong thing, and do give respectable hunters a bad name,” Stephanie says.

Over Friday and Saturday nights her two dogs were “going ballistic” at the noise of bikes, four-wheel-drives and guns. ”We’ve always had hunters, which has never been an issue, but having people behaving like this unfortunately ruins it for people doing the right thing.”

Each morning she takes her coffee to check on her “girls”.

This time her pair of three-year-old Berkshires, weighing just under 50kg, and the five piglets, three-months-old, were gone, through a double-strand hot wire fence. They had been there, “a good kilometre from the road”, when she checked at midnight. Someone has had to physically get them out of their pen and then out of her property.

Stephanie spent all morning searching and checking with neighbours. She ran into a fellow neighbour who was driving out to see what was happening after hearing gun shots. He took her phone number and soon called to say they were on his property. “Pigs have a great sense of smell. They were on the way home.”

She is disappointed that people came on to her land, which is marked private property. The two adults cost $150 as piglets, and then, she said, there was the cost of feeding.

 “It’s disappointing to lose something you have put so much time and effort into, as most farmers will know. They are like dogs and the piglets are like having puppies, mucking around and trying to pull the washing off the line.”

Now she has moved the pigs to 10 metres from her home, 450 metres from where they were taken. “I just hope something like this doesn’t happen again.”

Words: Kevin Childs | Images: Contributed

THE Driveway Project – Life in Lockdown, by Trentham photographer Sandy Scheltema, aims to document life during these unprecedented times of social distancing due to the coronavirus.

It is a way to document history in Trentham and surrounds during this time of staying at home, and a way of helping families feel connected with others in the community.

Sandy says photography can capture history by recording our changed circumstances during these difficult times.

“The project is photographing families who are in lockdown and working, studying, and doing remote schooling at home. Participants are asked to come out in their driveway as a family unit with items that represent what they have been doing in lockdown, and the photographer is documenting them outside their residence.

“Social distancing rules are being adhered to, with the images being taken from at least five metres away. The project will result in a photo series showcasing local families and the way they are dealing with our new way of life. A short description will accompany each image on how life has changed for the family during the coronavirus.”

The images will be shown on the Hepburn Shire Council Facebook page and the Trentham Connections Facebook page and Sandy’s Instagram page. They will also be provided to the Trentham Historical Society as a record of these times.

Sandy said the project had received funding from Hepburn Shire Council and if further funding could be acquired there would be an exhibition, hopefully at the Cosmopolitan Hotel when social distancing rules are eased, and people can once more come together.

“It often falls to photographers to bear witness and document history. This is a wonderful way of doing so during these extraordinary times. Michael Ignatieff said: “Photography has a unique capacity to document reality, and in so doing transform it into images that we are unable to forget.”

If you live in Trentham or nearby and want to be involved, contact Sandy at www.sandyscheltema.com/contact. The project has been funded by a Hepburn Shire Council COVID-19 Community Support Grant.

Images: this page, from top, Lisa and Grant Cramer, Sally and Peter Young,  Emma Pryse and son Rowan

Opposite page, top, Robyn Stickland, Pete Ekstedt and sons Tom (cello) and Ben (skateboard), and bottom, Brigid and Stuart Leong, with Brigid’s dad James Bishop, sons Jay, Hugo and Edwin, and Brigid’s mum Annabelle Bishop

REAL Estate Institute of Victoria president Leah Calnan has said Victoria’s property market seems to be holding its ground well during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the latest REIV Residential Market Index figures.

The RMX is a residential property price index designed to provide a current, simple insight into real property price trends in Victoria. An RPPI measures the price change of the stock of residential dwellings over time.

In mid-March, the price index was heading into possible new record levels. This is based on the prices recorded a couple of weeks before the restrictions came into effect.

The RMX has been gradually declining since late March due to COVID-19, which saw significant restrictions enforced on real estate. Although for now, residential prices in Victoria are still stronger than the same period last year.

“Victorian property prices have held firm during COVID-19, prices are higher than they were 12 months ago. There are many predictions circling about real estate and the economy in general, but looking at what the actual data tells us, the Victorian market is weathering the storm well. At this time, prices are not as affected by the coronavirus pandemic compared to sales volume, which remains much lower than expected at this time of year. ”

The RMX considers all properties, not just the ones sold, and gives weekly insight into real price movement over time, a more accurate and up-to-date reflection on current price trends.

The current RMX reference period is 2016, equivalent to 100. This aligns property prices with the most recent ABS census data at the time of release. Meaning that the property price-weighted average in 2016 was given a value of 100, and price movements over time are relative to this base reference period.

The current RMX value of 124.4 means that on average, properties in Victoria today are worth 24.4 per cent more than they were in 2016.

The week ending May 17, 2020 the RMX had a week-on-week increase of 0.9 per cent, which broke the declining streak seen in the eight weeks prior.

“The Victorian market continues to show strong resilience, with the return of public auctions and easing of some restrictions, we expect transaction volumes to start building soon.”

TAKEAWAY meals have become what some politicians love to call “the new normal”. Ready-to-cook meals for a week are being delivered around the Central Highlands by a fleet of vans, some brand-new, also carrying computer equipment, puzzles, shoes and wine.

The revolution wrought by COVID-19 is locked in. But here’s a fresh twist: takeaway music. When Matthew Carnell started lining up takeaways at his two-year-old Daylesford attraction, Bistro Terroir, he was discussing how the restaurant’s atmosphere might be created.

Then it came: music. With instructions on heating meals he explained how to beam in bouncy French numbers, while possibly dining by candlelight.

“I’m not here to make money,” he says of these pandemic months. “We just want to get everyone through and make some sense of normality.”

Getting through means dishes such as steak frites, minus the frites because chips aren’t much when reheated. Little wonder, however, that this dish was so popular.

Award-winning Sher Wagyu beef from Ballan, most of which usually goes to Japan, came with mashed spuds instead and a sauce.

The beef was cooked by the sous vide (under vacuum) method where it is sealed in a bag and cooked in a water bath at a precise temperature (55 degrees in this case).  All it needed was searing and rewarming. Served with Paris butter, this was $30 per person, but was often enough for two.

One night we had Matthew’s simplified bouillabaisse, which, pleasingly, began as a simple Mediterranean fisherman’s soup made either from the day’s catch or unsaleable left-overs, flavoured with olive oil, garlic, leeks or onions, tomatoes and herbs. Six fish are the ideal, including lobster and crabs.

Here it was a tasty white fish and scallops in an excellent soup. Less decadent, extravagant – and expensive, as Matthew says.

One course I enjoyed was French onion soup, the onions having been cooked just short of burning to give them intense flavour.

The French combination of beans baked with meat to produce a cassoulet is ideal for this time of the year. We had a pork version, with locally made sausages and it was rich and generous enough for another meal the next day, when it’s even better.

Matthew has been promoting local wines and with this dish came a bottle of excellent red from the Latta stable via Dos Deli at the other end of town.

A lot of rebuilding is going on in the bistro. It has taken over the former apothecary next door, which will more than double the seating to 65, and double as a venue. But COVID-19 safety will mean just 10 spaced diners in each room, with two sittings at weekends.

The rear outdoor area, where portraits of a great of French cooking, Paul Bocuse, shares space with the man who brought rock to his country, Johnny Hallyday, and others, Matthew has plans for mid-winter.

If COVID-19 subsides, there will be a “Christmas market” in July, with cassoulet, charcuterie and mulled wine.

And after Winter, breakfast will be on the menu. He’ll serve croque monsieur, a hot sandwich of ham and cheese, and its more elaborate sibling, croque madame, of gruyere cheese, salty ham, a rich bechamel sauce and Dijon mustard on crunchy rustic bread. With coffee.

Matthew’s passion for what he says are the flavour and passion of French food is clear. For someone who once washed dishes for four years, worked 17-hour-days in a Michelin-starred Paris establishment and “only” 12-hour days in the French Alps, he appears to have reproduced that flavour and passion here.

Now, all we await is the café’s exterior sanitising station, the provision of name, address and phone number at the door for diners without the COVID-19 app and, voila, the new normal.                                                            

Words: Kevin Childs

SAILORS Falls Estate, Villas and Vines, was established 20 years ago by Robert and Margaret McDonald. The family business features a vineyard, cellar door and accommodation for 10 people.

Rob said the vineyard was planted with cool climate varieties including pinot gris, pinot noir, gamay, chardonnay and gewuerztraminer.

“In developing the estate we have always had a community focus. We use local winemakers and local vineyard workers. We are blessed by the significant contributions of our ‘vineyard volunteers’ who have assisted us to pick for the past 15 years.

“Our wines are featured in several local restaurants including Sault and Tuki. The full range is also available at Cellarbrations Daylesford and we thank them for their loyalty and commitment to local produce.

“To stay financially viable in a very competitive marketplace during difficult time we have had to be ‘nimble’. Recent arrangements with Clayton from Daylesford Wine Tours has given us a boost in cellar door sales and exposure. Another innovation has been the use of creative blending and the production of champagne style wines such as sparkling rose and sparkling pinot grigio.

“In an Epicure article in The Age, Norman Latta once described vineyard life as a ‘lonely quest’. Our journey has been made a bit easier with local partnership support from our vineyard mates, The Local, some local restaurants and the fabulous team at Cellarbrations in Daylesford.

“Think local, drink local.”

Have a vineyard? Like to tell people what you do in Wine Notes?

Contact donna@tlnews.com.au or on 5348 7883.

Established in 2007, the Young Gun of Wine awards has been seeking and assembling a long list of 50 emerging vintners from across Australia – and Macedon has made the list with several tasty drops.

A panel of wine experts narrow the Top 50 down to 12 finalists before awarding the Best New Act award (to a first-time finalist) and the Young Gun of Wine award. However, the 12 finalists and the public also get to pick their own winners from the Top 50 via the Winemaker’s Choice and the People’s Choice Awards. It’s the latter that really sets Young Gun apart.

Ordinarily, a public event is held in Sydney and Melbourne for tastings and the casting of votes but this year there will be a series of live-streamed events focused on different Australian wine regions which bring the Top 50 to the lounge room.

Macedon’s Wilimee, Dilworth and Allain and Lyons Will Estate have been selected to represent the region in the Macedon, Yarra, Mornington and Geelong event being streamed live on Saturday, May 30 at 4pm.

People can also buy the wines of their choice in advance, taste along and ask the winemakers questions – even anonymously.

Winemaker Ben Rankin, from Wilimee Wines, will be one of the many experts answering questions and sharing knowledge. “Sally and I, with small girls, bought Wilimee six years ago. It’s one of the oldest vineyards in Macedon planted in 1982.

“We renamed the vineyard to Wilimee as next door to us is a heritage-listed ancient Aboriginal quarry, about 1500 years old, named Wilimee Mooring, meaning place of stone axe.”

Wilimee has been selected for its 2018 Chardonnay and the wine will be tasted alongside 2018 Lyons Will Estate Gamay and 2018 Dilworth and Allain Wines ‘Douge’s Vineyard’ Pinot Noir.

Ben said the soil was what made his wine so special.

“The soil here is unique as it’s a 500 million-year old Cambrian soil seabed, which is great for growing vines. We are converting our vineyard to organic, utilising regenerative agriculture principles. The vines are dry grown so yields are low, producing intense concentrated fruit.

“Winemaking is simple, just let the fruit speak of its place. New moon principles are used during wine-making so we don’t have to filter or intervene with the wine. Our chardonnay reflects the ancient soil and the vineyard site. It’s delicious and age-worthy. “

Young Gun of Wine’s virtual event is free but registration is mandatory.

Link: www.younggunofwine.com/events

Words: Collette McKay | Image: Contributed

Another week has flown by, lockdown restrictions are easing and we’ve all finally had the opportunity to catch up with friends and family. How good is that! Life is feeling like it is slowly getting back into the swing of things, the new normal so to speak. With lighter restrictions, Quarantini O’Clock seems like it needed an update, so I’ll be mixing up a cocktail storm during The Barry & Co. Cocktail Hour, here and over at @barry_and_co on Instagram where you can find a tonne of cocktails to make for your small gatherings of five friends and family members.

This Toblerone cocktail is dedicated to my MIL (mother-in-law) who loves nothing more than a creamy cocktail, and I reckon this one tastes pretty darn close to the real thing.

The Toblerone

25ml coffee liquor

25ml Frangellico

25ml Baileys

50ml cream

Teaspoon of melted chocolate

(Make some extra as garnish)

Honey to drizzle

Method

In a 120ml cocktail glass drizzle honey on the inside of the glass. Combine all the other ingredients into a cocktail shaker, add ice and shake until the shaker becomes cold in your hand. Pour into the cocktail glass and drizzle melted chocolate on top.

Crowded with Lego pieces and meccano whatsits,

Crouch’s kitchen bristled red and yellow.

Waxed Home Pride bread wrapping added orange.

Jamie leaned over the mottled laminex table, wheezing.

From somewhere under the house an engine burbled.

Jamie’s mother could be heard pottering, somewhere else.

Let’s go outside, I suggested.

Hunks of fibreglass and metal

landmined the unmowed backyard

Footwear was essential. No back fence

marked off the yard from the lane behind.

The very place for Guy Fawkes Night.

Jumping Jacks popping on cracked concrete,

the cordite stench of exploded penny bungers,

eyes hauling into night sky tracking skyrockets

launched from a brown beer bottle or lead pipe

by Jamie’s older brother, Peter, obeying the directive to

‘Ignite the blue touch-paper and retire.’

The bedrock bonfire blazed and sputtered,

fed by garden trimmings and grey fence palings.

Sparkler-lit words hung in the air while thoughts fizzed.

A Catherine Wheel, nailed to the garage door,

shed coloured sparks as it twirled and spat,

leaving things not-quite-dark when it finished.

Stringy, grey-white wicks linked our

rippling green and red cracker keyboards.

Jamie, bolting back from the detonation zone,

lost a thong and never broke stride, landing

back in it with his next still-running step.

He stood, heaving, in his oversized hand-me-down shorts.

The yard a week later still bore cracker detritus,

remains of red print on damaged white paper,

door scorch-marks, broken glass.

Jamie plodded back to his Lego bricks.

Started snivelling again.

Mrs Crouch somewhere inside.

– Bill Wootton

Bill Wootton lives in Hepburn Springs and has not lit a fuse for 50 years.

Poems for Local Lines come predominantly from a group of poets. However, other locals who would like a poem considered for publication can contact Bill Wootton – cottlesbreedge@gmail.com

MANY people could write the story of William Thomas Hickey, known to all as Bill, but perhaps my memories of walking or riding to and from Sacred Heart, East Trentham between 1950-54 go back further than most.

In the last 80 years or so, many others from far and wide got to know the man who has been referred to over the last few days as – gentlemanly, supportive, generous, genuine and, above all, an iconic presence in our district.

Bill passed away in his usual understated way, quietly in his sleep on Friday, 8 May 2020.  With him has gone a huge number of stories, recollections and much history of the district which he loved, served, understood and promoted during his lifetime.

Born to Jack and Edna (née Kennedy) on April 8, 1940, Bill lived all his life at Chanters Lane, East Trentham. He attended school for only eight years, and not particularly successful ones at that according to his own admission, but what he lacked in reading and writing skills he made up for in eloquence of speech, which saw him serve his riding of Trentham/Tylden on Kyneton Shire Council from 1968-1995 where he was acknowledged for his ‘down to earth manner, forthright participation in discussions, common sense, homespun philosophy, logic and sense of humour.’ An entertaining and informative interview of Bill’s school life by Ina Bertrand in 2007 is available in Trentham & District Historical Society archives.

Always a farmer at heart, Bill’s apprenticeship started early and by the time he was six or seven with older brother John was driving a dray, learning the life cycle of potato growing, and caring for his father’s beloved Clydesdales. Milking before and after school was a part of family life and eventually Bill and John took up full-time dairying. It was a sad day when Bill was forced to despatch his herd on November 3, 2016, yet another nail in the coffin of serious farming in his beloved East Trentham.

Retirement didn’t quite sit all that well with Bill, it made him feel “a little useless” but he told me in recent times he missed “growing things” – perhaps he just didn’t have enough time to develop that dream veggie garden he spoke of!  However, one upside of this forced “early” retirement was the time Bill then had to chat – and didn’t he enjoy a chat!

Knowing so many people – oldies, locals, returnees, newcomers and visitors enabled Bill to keep in touch with most things going on, and his ongoing interest and support of the T&DHS among other community activities was invaluable.

Bill Hickey enriched life in our little part of the world and with the constant love and support of Susie Spence they together contributed much to the district. Bill is gone, but not forgotten, Susie in her inimitable way will continue to contribute while she along with many others will mourn a great loss in her life, and our lives.

Words: Elizabeth Toomey/Trentham & District Historical Society

Image by: Richard Ryan

Image: Bill Hickey

DENISE Robinson’s work is truly beautiful and even more than that, she is a beautiful person.

Her connections to the natural landscape run quite deep, as do her connections to the community that she loves.

For more than 20 years, Denise has volunteered at the Daylesford Regional Visitor Information Centre and it’s fitting because of her passion for the area and its history.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I just don’t leave,” Denise joked.

“Ever Tuesday, except for now of course, I’m at the information centre. I’ve worked with some wonderful people, it’s my little Tuesday team.”

Gardening has always been a passion as well and Denise has been involved with the Friends of Wombat Botanic Gardens group for several years.

“It’s an active and interesting group, I’d like to retire and spend a bit more time with it. I can’t commit to that yet but I can’t wait to get my hands dirty and be part of the growing group, being able to propagate things and raise funds for the gardens.”

Pre-COVID-19, Denise could also be found at Daylesford Neighbourhood Centre, tutoring.

“I would usually do a Winter series of flower arranging, very loosely, as an introduction to floristry, using things from the Winter garden. This is the first Winter I haven’t done it in about 12 years. It’s a really nice thing to do through the centre.”

Keeping with the beautiful floral theme and the natural landscape that she loves, over the past nine years Denise has also been involved in the Fabulous Flower Festa, the flower show raising funds as part of the Swiss Italian Festa.

She also loves history saying “if  I had another life I’d be a volunteer at the museum, what they do there is just amazing, I need more time to do all these things”.

Denise’s own history in the area is interesting too – her grandfather was one of the four original owners of the Mineral Springs Hotel – and the decision that she and her husband Rodney made 27 years ago to turn their holiday spot into a permanent home on the lake was an easy one.

Denise had been living in Daylesford for only a year when she started working as the floral stylist at Lake House.

“I made Alla some posies, tiny little things just the size of your hand, and we presented them to diners on the Sunday of Mother’s Day. I had inherited an old garden, so I pulled the posies together and that was the start.”

That was 26 years ago and since becoming the in-house florist, Denise estimates she has been the Lake House bridal florist for about 500 to 600 brides.

Her picking garden, at Dairy Flat Farm at Musk, is a more recent passion for Denise. It’s two years old and she’s picking more of her beautiful posies from it and selling them at the Lake House’s Wombat Hill Café at the Wombat Hill Botanic Gardens.

“I’m the  Lake House in-house floral stylist, but I’ve never actually sold my work before and just over the last couple of months that we’ve been shut down, we’re trying to be ‘something from your garden’ and not ‘something that you would pick up at the supermarket’ – it’s a little posy that you might pick up while you buy produce and things like that, it’s always fragrant, always beautiful.”

Even in the middle of a global pandemic, Denise finds ways to present “beautiful” to her community.

“Nothing is the same, that’s the lovely thing about being a floral stylist, it’s a gift.”

“I made Alla some posies, tiny little things just the size of your hand, and we presented them to diners on the Sunday of Mother’s Day. I had inherited an old garden, so I pulled the posies together and that was the start.”

Image:  Denise plants jonquil bulbs as part of Daylesford Erlicheer

Words: Kate Taylor | Image: Contributed

(This article is supported by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas.)