June 24th, 2023Just Sayin’…

By Donna Kelly

I HAVE been thinking about two things this week. Yes, you know me, multi-tasking yet again.
The first was after chatting with Anneke Deutsch. Anneke received one of the King’s Birthday honours, for her services to the community.
A proud lesbian herself, Anneke has spent many years working towards improving the lives of lesbians, especially older lesbians – along with a great career in prosthetics.
She is very inspiring to talk to – kind of makes you wonder what you have been doing with your own life – but it was also quite confronting.
I think here in some areas of the Central Highlands we live in a bit of a bubble. Same-sex relationships are common and I think nothing of seeing two women or two men hugging it out in the street. Of course, being of my generation, if it gets too involved I think ‘get a room!’ but that’s the same for hetero couples as well. There is only so much I want to see.
But Anneke reminded me that up until 2008 you could not put down your same-sex partner’s name on your superannuation form – and in the 70s and 80s a single woman needed a man as a guarantor on a mortgage. And as she said, that was unjust but doable if you had a father or brother who had not disowned you – because you happened to be born a lesbian.
Anyway, it is great that her work in this field – hopefully you have read the story on page 5 – has been recognised by such a mainstream award. I am sure King Charles would approve.
The other thing I have been thinking about is The Block. There are lots of rumours swirling, locally and in the metro media, that Scotty Cam and his crew are heading our way for the 2024 series of the housing renovation/building show.
From what I can gather, they are after 3/4 acre blocks ready and waiting for period homes to be moved onto them. And then you need room for lots of crew and cameras and building equipment and cranes etc. And fans.
So, for possible locations, I am thinking around the Smith Street development in Daylesford – very near Mitre 10, one of the show’s main sponsors. Or there is apparently some land at the back of Hepburn, which is just down the road from the Mitre 10. Or, drumroll please, the back subdivision at Glenlyon, of one-acre blocks, where bitumen has only just been laid down for some of the back lanes and driveways. I mean, who lays down bitumen in winter and why would you change the lovely, gravel laneways into city streets – unless city folk were making their way here.
This year The Block is coming together at Hampton, as in Melbourne, not Little, but last year it was in Gisborne, the first time it had been held in a regional setting. It was awful – the winter weather was crap, the mud was metres deep and the landscaping looked like a nightmare.
I talked to some Gisbornians (is that right?) and they agreed it was awful – mainly because it took them so much longer to get to and fro from their home, just a few doors up, not only because of the works but the rubberneckers driving by to try and catch a glimpse of Scotty and his merry men and women. But, on the plus side, they said real estate prices had now gone up again.
Good or bad news? I don’t know. If they do hold it here it will be a great tourism win for the region, which is always good. But it might mean an influx of new residents in a region already struggling to provide enough infrastructure for those who are already here, including older lesbians. We could try to have some input perhaps, but it might be already too late to down tools. Just sayin’…