What a week it was.

Last week Fortress Glenlyon, aka Glenlyon Progress Association, hit back via its Glenlyon & District News, not once, but with two missives from its committee members. Secretary Forell, protesting the fact that the broader Coomoora to Drummond ‘district’ prefer a committee – independent of the GPA and with members drawn from their own districts – to successfully drive broad community engagement and development of this region’s Community Plan. And Vice President ‘Anon’ backs up with another misguided and equally rhetorical No Minister. It’s a pity they can’t set aside the anti-council proclivity and devote their collective committee energy to working openly with members, and heaven forbid – the community. For the record I am a paid-up GPA member.

And at last Tuesday’s Council Meeting a packed agenda of important items was disrupted by an abusive and selfish vocal group totally disrespectful of the broader community. While seeking their premeditated glory time in the spotlight, and with the arrogance of being absolutely right with their view, this group could not accept the decision of council to pass Local Law 2, notwithstanding many of their own inputs and others from the community had been respected. Following an extensive 12-month long community engagement campaign – no group had been ignored. Thankfully we have a Council of independent minds with the ability and will to work in the best interest of the whole community.

Be careful what you wish for. Many local residents were pleased to see Council let lapse the proposed 53-lot subdivision at Smith Street, Daylesford. This now leaves the developers – free from negotiation with planning officers who sought optimum community outcomes – able to take any new preferred plan directly to VCAT, with no oversight from Council. Perhaps an 80-lot subdivision?

This is the very reason Council has fought hard to set in place a review of the Hepburn Planning Scheme. The preliminary stage was passed on Tuesday    – www.hepburn.vic.gov.au/minutes-agendas/ – attachment 17.

Cheers, John Cottrell, Deputy Mayor

and Holcombe Ward Councillor

– Hepburn Shire Council.

Email: jcottrell@hepburn.vic.gov.au 

Mobile: 0429 094 023

THE Trentham & Districts Community Bank has donated vital equipment for aged care residents at Trentham Health.

Representatives of the bank met with senior Central Highlands Rural Health staff to celebrate the growing collaborative partnership between the organisations. 

Health service CEO Maree Cuddihy took the opportunity to express her appreciation for the community bank’s vital and ongoing support of the local Trentham community.

The event marked the formal receipt of $3000 funding for the acquisition of a Vital Observations Machine, a high-tech device that efficiently monitors and quickly alerts any irregularities in various vital signs such as blood pressure, pulse rates and blood oxygen levels.

The bank also announced a further grant of $1995 for the purchase of a patient transfer assist trolley which will enhance the safety and comfort of residents as they relocate from chairs, sofas or wheel chairs.

This new equipment promises to significantly improve the quality of care for aged care residents, which in turn leads to considerable enhancement to their quality of life.

After a comprehensive tour of the community health and aged care campus, the representatives discussed potential forms of future collaboration to advance their shared objective of enhancing the quality of life of residents within the Trentham district.

Words: Contributed

ENTERTAINER Tom Curtain spends most of his time in the Northern Territory where his Katherine Outback Experience is based. But from November to March he takes the whole show on the road down south, escaping the wet of the top end summer.

The We’re Still Here tour takes in towns throughout rural Australia. But while his main occupation is performing, he has also seen his travels as an opportunity to give talks to school kids in regional towns about the difficult subject of bullying and its effects.

And earlier this month, on Friday, February 14, it was the turn of children from The Daylesford Dharma School and St Michaels, Trentham, Bullarto and Hepburn primary schools to join him for a sing and dance at the Daylesford Town Hall.

Tom does these talks as part of his role as ambassador for the Dolly’s Dream Foundation. Amy ‘Dolly’ Everett was a victim of bullying and ended her young life at just 14 years of age.

The Dolly’s Dream Charity was established by her family and friends in her memory and aims to create positive change, help prevent the lives of other children being lost, and act as a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves.

For an hour or so Tom and mandolin player Chris Matthews performed for the kids including his song Speak Up which he recorded specially to talk about the issue to school kids. Proceeds from the sale of Speak Up go to the foundation to raise money so they can continue their important work alleviating the effects of juvenile bullying. 

“I met the Everett family years ago as I was training horses in the NT and we knew them really well, and little Dolly before she passed away. That really inspired me to try to help out with a song project that could raise awareness about bullying and the devastating impact it can have,” Tom said.

There is no doubt that Tom is able to forge a real connection with his young audience with them dancing and singing along to his songs. And while such a get- together was clearly an opportunity to goof off from the drudgery of school classes, it was also an effective means to initiate a conversation about a subject that is often hard to broach.

After an hour or so, the singer was making for the door all the while answering questions from adoring kids and getting his picture taken. Next stop was the Trentham Football ground and the multitude of tasks that needed to be completed before the evening’s gig.

But it obviously wasn’t a problem for Tom Curtain. He was happy to include the work of Dolly’s Dream as part of his national touring schedule.

“Sure, it’s all very hectic,” Tom says with a laugh, “but I just think it is a bit of a priority to try to help out and spread the word wherever I can as we go around the country.”

“I met the Everett family years ago as I was training horses in the NT and we knew them really well, and little Dolly before she passed away.”

– Tom Curtain

Words & image: Tony Sawrey  

Pictured above, Tom Curtain, left, and Chris Matthews, with primary school students at Daylesford Town Hall  

KERRYN Wildenburg is a smart woman with an amazing dream.

Her determination, her compassion and her incredible work ethic in pursuing that dream have come together to see her become one of four finalists for the Victorian Agrifutures Rural Women’s Award.

Kerryn’s idea is to create a permaculture food forest in Kyneton that, among other things, will help supply the Kyneton Caring Community Foodbank.

She already works part-time at the Foodbank, which helps out about 1800 people every month across the Macedon Ranges – but in reality, between it and the food forest farm, she’s happily putting more than 40 hours a week into her passions.

“We’re almost finished our Foodbank expansion, we’ve been working on this for over 12 months – to see it actually come to life is amazing,” she says.

It’s set up like a mini-supermarket, except it’s free because it offers emergency food relief to those who need it. It’s also set up right next door to the IGA in Kyneton – and far from being unhappy about that, the IGA is supportive.

“They let us borrow their forklift and use their trolleys – IGA is a big supporter of us, and so is Woolworths, we have donation bins inside their stores as well as in Coles in Woodend,” Kerryn explains.

Foodbank? Done. Community support? Done. Fresh fruit and vegetables? Not so much. But it was working at the Foodbank that gave Kerryn the vision for the project. If she wins the upcoming award, she’ll put the $10,000 bursary towards developing it.

“Some weeks at the Foodbank we have heaps of fresh fruit and vegies, and other weeks not much at all and we know that everybody should have access to fresh fruit and vegetables and when your budget’s tight, it’s one of the things that you’re not going to invest in because it’s quite expensive.

“So my project is to create a permaculture food forest. We’ll teach people skills – we’ll teach them how to garden, we’ll teach them permaculture, we’ll teach them how to cook the food, we’ll teach them how to preserve the food using old-school methods. Simple things. And then they can potentially take the food to market, create their own small businesses – but the bulk of the food will come back to the Foodbank so that people have access to fresh food all year round.”

It’s a fabulous idea. And Kerryn is taking it even further.

“We’ll offer a mentoring program, with people coming out to the farm, with a little drop-in centre and it won’t just be for people who are going through tough times, it can be open to schools with kids and community groups coming to do workshops.

“We can bring different groups in, we want it to be a space where the whole community is welcome. And what better way to unite people than with food? The idea is there will be something for everybody, just a safe space where you can come as you are and you’ll be welcome, warts and all, because we understand that sometimes life throws a curve ball and it’s hard to deal with it but together, we can  support each other.”

The four-acre farm already has a small orchard and if Kerryn wins the bursary, she will put it towards education and do a certificate in permaculture design, a plan for the food forest and then, find people who want to get involved with donations of time, machinery or plants.

“Whatever that’s going to look like, one step at a time. Because then I want to create a template, food forests that can be replicated throughout Victoria and eventually, Australia – complete with mentoring programs as well – a plan that can be replicated on a small or large scale.”

The Victorian winner will be announced at a ceremony on March 24 and will receive $10,000 to implement their project.

“I want to create a template, food forests that can be replicated throughout Victoria and eventually, Australia – complete with mentoring programs as well.”

Words: Kate Taylor | Image: Contributed

IT WAS almost the perfect storm as Hepburn Shire Council came together last Tuesday, February 18 to vote on three of the most contentious issues ever debated – Local Law No. 2., the Smith Street development and an extra $3 million for The Rex building for the eventual Hepburn Hub – taking the overall cost to a staggering $12.735 million.

Protestors to Local Law No.2 gathered outside the Daylesford Town Hall singing songs – recognising that the law would no longer allow buskers, or anyone keen to demonstrate their vocal cords, to perform without a permit.

Plenty also arrived on bicycles, with the law making it unclear as to whether bicycles were still allowed on roads in Daylesford’s main shopping area, or whether the ban was just over footpaths.

Once the gates were opened to the path to the town hall, more than 500 people took up every chair on both levels, many carrying placards which were waved at every opportunity.

Mayor Cr Licia Kokocinski asked everyone to be seated if possible citing safety issues. She also pointed out the direction of the public toilets – a touch of irony with the Rex debate ahead.

All councillors chose to defer or just not present their commitments over the past month, choosing instead to allow as much time as possible for questions and those keen to address the council.

Cr Don Henderson asked for public question time to be extended by 15 minutes with 39 minutes for questions, and six minutes for those addressing council.

Questions from the public ensued including queries on the restricted use of footpaths by bicycles, if council had consulted with the Dja Dja Wurrung people, why council would not agree to forming a working group with locals, how unsightly properties would be judged, why scavenging from tip sites was being halted, and whether the need for a permit for camping or caravanning on both public and private land could lead to homelessness.

Daylesford resident Jen Bray presented councillors, to loud applause and cheering, with “a concise list of amendments” for them to adopt saying “we believe you share our values”.

By the end of the meeting, Local Law No. 2 was adopted with a range of amendments including the rewording of clause 2.9.3 regarding the use of wheeled toy vehicles and bicycles in Vincent Street.

It also included a recommendation that working groups be established to consider policies and guidelines that underpin the local laws regarding firewood collection, salvaging at the transfer stations and planting on nature strips. Council will also develop an appeal process.

Meanwhile, the new budget and scope of works for The Rex building was also adopted while the 53-lot subdivision at Smith Street was knocked back. It is believed the developers will now take the issue to VCAT.

Words: Donna Kelly | Image: Kyle Barnes

CANCER services in the Macedon Ranges have been boosted with the launch of the region’s first oncology chemotherapy service. The first patients will receive treatment at Kyneton Health at the end of February.

Patients currently travelling outside of the region will be able to receive a range of treatments close to home, including chemotherapy and other supportive therapies such as blood transfusion and immunotherapy.

The service is overseen by medical oncologist Dr Sam Harris, who has been running an oncology clinic twice a month in the Ambulatory Care Centre of Kyneton Health since 2018.

“The team at Bendigo Health Cancer Centre have always been passionate about patients receiving treatment as close to home as possible. The challenges of a cancer diagnosis and related treatment are large enough, without the added burden of travel. Patients across the Macedon Ranges have routinely travelled one to two hours for treatment, often on a weekly basis. With the launch of this chemotherapy service here in Kyneton, we hope to alleviate some of the stress associated with accessing cancer treatment,” Dr Harris said.

The oncology chemotherapy service has been supported by The Lions Club of Kyneton who raised more than $3000 last year. The donation helped Kyneton Health purchase a designated chemotherapy refrigerator, which is vital to the service.

Patients attending the oncology service will benefit from a holistic approach to their care with the close support of Kyneton Health’s Allied Health team. Physiotherapists, dietitians, social workers and occupational therapists will work alongside Dr Harris to create a personalised program tailored to each patient’s treatment plan. 

To coincide with the opening of the oncology service, Kyneton Health’s Healthy Mind and Movement will launch a targeted program for patients with cancer under the banner Moving through Cancer. The physiotherapist-led program will include education and exercise to support patients throughout their treatment to improve endurance and overall wellbeing.

Details: 5422 9900.

THE Australian Open is a famous January event but in March it is the Newstead Open.

Newstead is home to a wealth of artists across a diverse range of media and 20 of them will have work on show at 11 studios and galleries around the town.

Over the first two weekends of March the artists invite the public into their domains to have a look at their working life. Taking the time to visit a studio brings an immediate sense of connection with the maker and their work. It is an opportunity to discuss process and materials, and to see firsthand the environment from which many of the artists draw inspiration. Each studio bears the stamp of the artist and is completely individual.

Artists include Chrisanne Blennerhassett (prints) and Angie Izard (ceramics), Carol de Graauw (silver smithing and ceramics) and Wendy Dwyer (glass), David Golightly (mixed media), Chris Johnston (ceramics) and Andrew Kimpton (sculpture), Ken Killeen (drawing, painting, sculpture) and Diane Thompson (mixed media), Sarah Koschak (ceramics), Belinda Prest (drawing) and Trefor Prest (sculpture), Prue McAdam (painting) and Richard Sullivan (prints), Roger McKindley (sculpture), Selina Wilson (painting and mixed media) and photographers of the Goldfields Janet Barker, Patrick Kavanagh, Geoff Park and Bronwyn Silver.

Link: www.newsteadopenstudios.org

MIKE Rutherford, a Trentham local, studied photography at RMIT and worked as a commercial/advertising photographer in Melbourne, Sydney, Singapore and London until the late 1990s, when the rise of digital photography (everyone became a photographer) made analogue photography redundant in advertising. He says it’s also a fairly ageist profession. Mike chatted with Donna Kelly.

Donna: When did you get involved in photography?

Mike: I have never abandoned personal photography but two trips to India last year inspired me to not only take new images but to use manipulation in photography in ways that create art rather than a realistic image.

Donna: What do you get from your art?

Mike: I love the entire process – from taking the image to manipulating, printing (often multiple prints ’til I get it right) and writing a narrative that accompanies the images. I particularly love the feedback – both good and bad – that I get from people who view the images, whether it’s at the exhibition at the Cosmo Hotel or on Facebook, as it means the story I am showing is reaching people. I am particularly influenced by the works of photographers Sebastiao Salgado and John Claridge, both of whom use exquisite black and white photography to show humanity in all its forms, and classic photographers like Irving Penn and Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Donna: What do you hope others find in it?

Mike: I hope that the viewer is drawn into each picture, seeking the story behind it. Whether it’s railway tracks that lead the viewer into looking into the forest in the background or a stack of life-size fibreglass animals in a yard. I also want to use photography to show the impact of climate change in rural Australia. Even though the Central Highlands doesn’t suffer the drought that is elsewhere in Australia and, thankfully, we have not had a major bushfire for some years, living in the bush can be tough. My images are often of abandoned farmhouses, empty swimming pools, unused playgrounds. Small icons and graphic shapes, often neglected, offer unique visual inspiration.

 Donna: What are Still Scapes?

 Mike: The name is a combination of still life and landscape. There is something of both in these images. Still Scapes shows images from India and regional Victoria that are dark, moody, sometimes confronting and more than the usual digitally enhanced landscape photos.

Donna: What is your Central Highlands story?

Mike: I bought a property in Trentham in the mid 80s and have been repairing it now seriously for three years. I want to the make the cottage at least liveable, it was very neglected – built in the 1860s.

Donna: And where can we see your work?

Mike: The Cosmopolitan Hotel until March 31, mikerutherfordphoto,         www.mikerutherfordphotographer.com and saatchiart.com/mikerutherford

“Still Scapes shows images from India and regional Victoria that are dark, moody, sometimes confronting and more than the usual digitally enhanced landscape photos.”

RENTING in Victoria remains tough, following another month of low vacancy rates, says the REIV.

Its latest rental data shows that vacancy rates have remained stable across regional Victoria at 1.7 per cent through the month of January.

CEO Gil King says while 1.7 per cent is a very low vacancy rate, it is an improvement on the 1.2 per cent we were sitting on this time last year.

“A 3 per cent or 4 per cent vacancy rate is considered a healthy one; having vacancy rates as low as 1.7 per cent is not sustainable.

“Vacancy rates are low across the state, with the Geelong region sitting at 2.2 per cent, Bendigo at a very low 1 per cent, Ballarat on 2.1 per cent, the Wimmera region with the lowest rates in regional Victoria on a measly 0.7 per cent, Shepparton on 2.7 per cent, East Gippsland is hovering on 0.9 per cent, Warrnambool is tracking at 1.2 per cent with Mildura just ahead on 1.6 per cent and Wodonga and the Murray region has vacancy rates of 1.5 per cent.”

Mr King said there had been some relief for regional Victorian renters with the average rent dropping slightly to $350 a week.

“With vacancy rates staying below 3 per cent since March 2016 in Victoria, we simply need more rental properties across Victoria to help offset this demand.

“New rental homes are swamped with applications, and properties are only taking a short turnaround to be rented out.

“Sadly this means that many vulnerable families are still missing out on gaining access to a rental home, which is placing a lot of pressure on local welfare services.”

Mr King said landlords remained confused about the upcoming changes to the rental laws introduced by the Victorian Government, with many being apprehensive about how the new regulations will impact them.

“With low vacancy rates across Victoria, it’s already incredibly tough for a person to get a rental home; the REIV is deeply concerned of the impact that these rental reforms may have on the Victorian rental market.

“As always, if a buyer or a seller is looking for objective information on the market or an agency– they should visit reiv.com.au”

VICTORIA’S property market is humming along with multiple quarters of sustained growth, boosting prices across the state, according to REIV CEO Gil King.

“This period of property growth has resulted in an increased amount of buyers looking to get onto the market and purchase their slice of paradise.

“Property owners are being rewarded with increased value on their investment, with many looking to sell their home and either upsize/downsize.

“Victoria’s auction market is back to top form, with the first weekend of February recording a massive clearance rate of 80 per cent.

“The last time Victoria recorded an auction clearance rate over 80 per cent was back in April 2017.

“Our market is in great shape and this month’s decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia to keep interest rates on hold will allow the party to keep going.”

Mr King said the RBA, in early February, voted to keep interest rates at a record low 0.75 per cent, where it had remained since October last year.

Despite natural disasters and bushfires over summer, the real estate market has performed better than many expected, he said.

“Record low-interest rates make it easier and more affordable to purchase a property.

“Combined with easier lending protocols and the first home buyers incentives, prospective buyers have a much more inviting path to become property owners.

“Increasing the number of homebuyers has a flow-on effect in our local economies. More homes being bought or built create direct jobs in our community, it is imperative to make it easy as possible for buyers to purchase land.

“Victorians who invest in real estate are seeing great growth with their investments and with an increase in buyers, the market requires more sellers to keep up with demand.

“Selling your home is easier than before with properties taking less time to sell. Properties for sale are attracting massive interest from buyers and are sold quickly.”

Oak & Monkey Puzzle is the five-acre design, event and horticultural production-focused property of multi-awarded, landscape architect and urban designer, Natasha Morgan and her young children.

Natasha says: “Oak & Monkey Puzzle (named for several gold rush trees found on the property) is the physical manifestation of a dream held by a family from the city that made a tree change with a purpose in 2014.

“It is a beautiful rural property of productive gardens, colonial namesake trees, and a celebration of country living. It’s also an evolving special hub for landscape architecture, garden design, artisans and craftspeople by way of workshops, collaboration and bespoke events and engenders a warm sense of real community.

“We live in this incredible little microclimate here in the Central Highlands, on the edge of the Great Dividing Range. Long winters, mild summers, lichen-encrusted branches and mossy hollows are supported by twice the local average rainfall and beautiful deep soils, where most parts nearby are no more than rocky shale.

“Whilst the sun is shining on the other side of the ‘hill’, this is life here ‘in the clouds’, as I call it.

“It’s incredible to think we are at the end of traditionally the hottest time of year and yet it’s an oasis of verdant green here as much of the country is scarred black from devastating revenging fires.

“This is my oasis. This is life in the clouds. And it’s another thick misty morning in this wonderland to celebrate a new week.”

Natasha is passionately intent on creating a hub at Oak & Monkey Puzzle as a place for experiencing and sharing passions as a part of a vibrant community of creatives, artisans, craftspeople and country dwellers – a special place to visit, to experience and learn, to share skills.

To this end she presents an opportunity to visit Oak & Monkey Puzzle, with the Autumn Open Garden on Sunday, March 22 from 10am to 4pm in celebration of the Daylesford Macedon Flower Farm Trail, a  Consortium Botanicus initiative (www.consortiumbotanicus.com.au/) of which Natasha is a founding member.

This is an opportunity to talk with Natasha about her tree change with a purpose and the design and construction of the gardens, and to “pop down a picnic blanket under the ancient oak canopy and revel in the stunning property, nestled in the Wombat State Forest”.

Tickets: www.oak-and-monkey-puzzle-autumn-open-garden.eventbrite.com.au or www.natashamorgan.com.au

Words: Glen Heyne

Images: Oak & Monkey Puzzle

IN THE centre of Daylesford, with a prominent balcony and lush beer garden, the majestic Daylesford Hotel has been lovingly restored by its owners and boasts a great range of Australian and imported beers and a great wine list.

It is also the perfect choice for eating out with dinner available seven nights a week from 6pm, lunch Friday to Sunday 12pm to 3pm with a diverse menu to suit all tastes and a range of daily specials. 

Living a life of leisure as we do, it was no problem to head along to partake in a nice Friday lunch and sample some of the drinks on offer. The obvious choice was a couple of DH sauvignon blancs at $9 a glass. It’s a light, bright easy drinking wine with distinctive fruit flavours and ideal to go with our selection of entrees.

Amanda decided on salt and pepper squid which can be found under Bar Bites on the menu at $14. The fried pieces of calamari were tossed in a mixture of crunchy stir-fried garlic spiced salt and came with nuoc cham, a classic Vietnamese-style dipping sauce. I went for the crusted silken tofu with steamed vegetables in black bean sauce, coming from the Smalls menu for $16. This is a great choice for those vegans out there who know how tasty silken tofu can be when it’s fried until golden brown, coated with a savoury, spicy and sweet chilli sauce.

For the mains, how could I pass up the pan-fried Atlantic salmon fillet? ($33) The portion was expertly grilled and placed upon a traditional nasu dengaku or miso-glazed roasted eggplant by chef Gavan Anders. Atlantic salmon has a strong flavour but was perfectly complemented by a creamy miso sauce and topped off with a wakame seaweed salad.

Naturally a good cool-climate chardonnay was in order to truly bring out the exquisite flavour of this dish and I chose the Poppet Head offering from Hanging Rock Winery at $10 a glass or $50 for the whole bottle. Why not? It was Friday afternoon after all.

Amanda settled on a Sher wagyu beef burger with chips ($26) which came served on a milk burger bun with bacon, swiss cheese, cos lettuce, tomato, dill pickle and mayonnaise. It was a hefty creation that handled well, meaning the whole thing did not come to pieces the moment you started to eat it and the wagyu patty, created from beef produced by the Sher family at Ballan, was juicy and rich. So, what do you drink when you are taking charge of a wagyu burger? Why, a Smythes Creek pinot noir of course at $12 a glass or $60 a bottle!

Time slowed, stopped, ebbed out. The afternoon light flowed softly through the stained glass windows as our thoughts turned to dessert. We contemplated the specials board and chose the queen of puddings at $15. No idle dish this one and best shared. It featured a base of bread and butter pudding with sultanas layered with a rhubarb and berry coulis topped with an ornate crown of baked meringue stars (browned with a blowtorch, I suspect). There is nothing to add here. Words fail you before the queen of puddings.

The Daylesford Hotel has a menu (and those great specials on the blackboard) that is sure to keep every visitor happy. It is a combination of classic pub meals mixed with the best flavours of Asia and not only that but with Thursday steak night and Sunday night roast there is plenty to keep folks coming back. Booking are not necessary but if you happen to have a party of eight or more, give them a call.

Words & images: Anthony Sawrey

THE Rex’s budget has blown out to $12.735 million – with an opening date of April 2021.

Hepburn Shire CEO Evan King told The Local that the building in Vincent Street, Daylesford, had been bought in 2016 for $6.345 million with $3.390 million spent so far on renovations – and another $3 million needed to complete the eventual Hepburn Hub.

Mr King said the council’s intention was to borrow the extra $3 million – potentially paying it back with the sale of the current library, council offices at Duke Street and the information centre.

The project stalled in June 2018 after it was realised the renovation cost would be more than $1 million, creating a need for a planning permit.

The new project scope and its budget was adopted at the Hepburn Shire Council meeting on Tuesday, February 18 at 6pm.

Just for fun, The Local decided to see what else the council could have done for The Rex price tag…

Moon real estate

Join the 250 plus celebrities and buy a hunk of land on the moon. In fact, at $376 per 20-acre lot, according to www.lunarland.com, you could buy 664,893 acres. Plenty of room for a future hub.

Bump off your enemies

Data from the Australian Institute of Criminology shows that a hitman can be hired from as little as $4500. However, a quality hitman could be as much as $45,000. Meet halfway, at $20,000, and you could get rid of 625 people you’re not too keen on. (Please note, The Local does not endorse anyone having their enemies killed.)

Super sports car

Lamborghini’s Veneno Roadster retails at about $8.5 million so you could either buy one and a half, which would be odd, or just one with insurance and a decent, fortified garage.

Fly high

For $57,000 you and a plus-one could fly from Melbourne to London return 219 times in the “Residence” onboard Etihad’s A380. A luxury three-room apartment in the sky with an ensuite shower room, private bedroom and separate living area.

Win the Melbourne Cup

Winx’s foals are looking to sell for about $2 million each, and Winx has made about $24 million in prize money. So buy six foals (save the other $735,000 for feed and training) and if only three become Melbourne Cup winners they could pool $72 million in winnings. Enough for five and a half Rex buildings.

A yacht

The 41-metre Royal Huisman ocean racing yacht, below, is available for delivery for $12.8 million. Like The Rex, she is not new, but only built in 1997 with all renovations already completed! She accommodates eight guests and six crew in her lavishly decked-out cabins. And a fully functioning cinema…

The Local

Have your own news outlet – so only good publicity – for the modest amount of just $10 million with plenty left over for print and paper. You would also receive a very nice card from the owners of The Local Publishing Group thanking you – from Hawaii.

WHEN David Hall accepted his Australia Day Award for Citizen of the Year for Hepburn Shire at Daylesford Town Hall, there was a huge group of invisible helpers standing on the stage behind him.

It’s traditional for the award to be given to one person, one citizen, and David is certainly well deserving of the nod, but he acknowledges he does not work alone.

Since retiring 20 years ago, David began a new career of achievements, contributions, involvements, committees and advocacies that is as astounding to most as it is just normal for David.

“Well, it has been 20 years…and I did manage to grow some vegetables as well,” he said.

In his acceptance speech, David noted all of his fellow community members and that only with their contributions would the achievements have been possible.

“Anything I did, I did with a strong team of people – there’s no false modesty there. There are a lot of wonderful people here doing great things together.”

And those things truly have been great.

Firstly, it was U3A Hepburn Shire.

“We got together and decided to form a U3A – and now we’ve got about 250 members, a very big range of activities and we’re always looking for more people to join if they wish.” In 2018, U3A successfully nominated David as a Victorian Senior Citizen of the Year.

As with each of David’s achievements, he insists on using the word “we” instead of “I”.

Next, it was time for David, and his late wife Lorelle, to found the Words in Winter festival.

“My wife and I had visited a literary festival in Queenscliff and, coming back in the car, we thought what a great idea it would be to have that here. So we recruited a team of really wonderful people, there were so many great people, and we put our heads together and decided how to go about it. We hadn’t run a festival before but we sort of learned on the job.

“We wanted to give creative people an opportunity to strut their stuff, and to give locals the opportunity to participate – and I think we succeeded. People from Hepburn Shire come and people from Melbourne come, it’s good for business too.”

David was the festival co-ordinator for its first seven years, when it spread to other shire towns. 

Another community project that David was involved in was the ARC recreation centre at Daylesford Secondary College.

It started when he saw a sign inviting people to come along to a community meeting, and it continued when he walked out of that meeting as the committee chair. The group had been working for many years by then on the project.

“We found we had to raise several hundreds of thousands of dollars to get anywhere and we did that, thanks to this community. The Department of Education rounded off the funding and we now have two multi-purpose courts.”

Then David – and others – noticed that the Bendigo Bank was starting to form community banks and they wanted in on the action.

“We thought it would be good because these banks put an incredible amount of the profit back into the community, in various worthwhile activities.”

After many years on the steering committee, David has seen the Daylesford District Community Bank established and grow. So far, it had donated $330,000 back to the community.

Now, David has his sights set on creating more affordable housing in the shire.

“I chair a team working to expand the stock of affordable homes within the Hepburn Shire for those who are disadvantaged and the lowly paid.”

David jokes that the reasons behind his long history of helping the community are selfish. But they are not. They are what makes him a Citizen of the Year.

“The reward for me has been not only as a contributor, but also the friends I’ve made. I have a circle of really great friends.”

Words: Kate Taylor | Image: Kyle Barnes

IT IS coming up to a great time to visit Dubai with the World Expo looming from October 20 this year and going all the way through until April 10 next year. With the motto being “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future” this is shaping up to be an amazing science-bending event.

Last year, on a connection back from Europe, we took a couple of days out, albeit in the humidity and heat of June, to take in some of the sights of this amazing city. We had arranged with a private guide over the internet from Australia for US$250 to meet us in our hotel lobby, so we weren’t exactly sure how things would go.

At precisely 10.30am, as arranged, in swans a vision from Lawrence of Arabia, perfectly groomed, pressed and dressed from head to toe in white flowing wear. This chap’s name was Sammy, our fabulous tour guide. We clambered into his immaculate Range Rover, with fresh bottled water and cool fragranced air pumping around the cabin.

First stop was the spice markets where the atmosphere was thick with fragrance and humidity. The local hawkers had recently been told by the Sheikh, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum not to hassle the tourists, not a man one would want to disobey, so it was a lot gentler experience than the rough and tumble I went to a few years prior at the markets with stallholders pushing, shoving and yelling to try to get my foreign coin.

Although this sightseeing tour took in all the major sights you would expect like the Sheikh’s mostly unguarded residence and Palm Island, it was Sammy’s explanation of what it was like to live in Dubai as an Egyptian national that was the highlight for me. His take on Westerners, his explanation around his religion and the meeting of what turned out to be the love of his life were all up for discussion.

It seems that there is a fair bit of racial pecking order going on in Dubai which starts from the top as an Emirati, who if they marry another Emirati get showered with gifts including a house in an exclusive estate valued at US$15 million, which of course comes with a car and boat as well as a financial gift from the Sheikh. In fact, we even spotted some Emirati royals driving past, no armed guard needed as these guys are protected, they are the ones with only three digits on the number plate.

The pecking order goes lower to include the Egyptians and other United Emirates races with the bottom of the ladder being the labour force which we saw being freighted into worksites in non-airconditioned buses in the searing heat and oppressive humidity with nothing but a bush to sit under for their break in the middle of the 15-hour day. These guys were from India and the Philippines.

In terms of the religion Sammy explains: “Salat is the obligatory Muslim prayers, performed five times each day, in Islam, the direction of prayer has to be towards the city of Mecca.” I asked him how he knew which direction that was. His reply? “Oh, there’s is an app for that.”

Our guide also talked about meeting his wife. “I saw her in a shopping centre and asked for her number and she simply wrote down her father’s number.” It turns out that if she had provided Sammy with her number, she wouldn’t have been the right girl for our Egyptian oracle.

The courting went on for months with chaperones and no touching until their fathers could work out the dowry details.

It seems that on our way around this desert city affectionately known as “Gulf Tiger” everything was on a large scale. They were getting close to finishing the world’s tallest building with an 828-metre reach into the sky along with bigger versions of the London Eye, Eiffel Tower and Little Venice with 20 new hotels in various states of construction which all must be finished by October in time for the World Expo – by order of the Sheikh.

It seems to me that Dubai is getting set up to be a Middle Eastern playground. And if that isn’t enough of a reason to stuff yourself into a tin can hurtling at 1300kph at 12,000 meters through the sky for 15 hours then there’s Elon Musk’s latest offering. A hyperloop moving passengers from Dubai to Abu Dhabi in just 12 minutes instead of the 90 minutes it takes by car now. That’s also opening in October.

In terms of the religion

Sammy explains: “Salat is the

obligatory Muslim prayers,

performed five times each day,

in Islam, the direction of prayer

has to be towards the city of Mecca.”

I asked him how he knew which

direction that was. His reply?

“Oh, there’s is an app for that.”

Link: www.toursbylocals.com

Words & images: Kyle Barnes