Rotary Castlemaine’s Art Show is on again and being staged over the upcoming Kings Birthday long weekend.

Chewton artist Greg Wood (pictured above) will be the featured artist and judge for the upcoming Rotary Castlemaine Art Show.

Supported by the Mount Alexander Shire Council Events Grants Program, it will be the local Rotary Club’s 36th Annual Art Exhibition.

The annual event transforms transforming the Castlemaine Town Hall into an art gallery and offers art lovers a great opportunity to snap up some quality original artworks.

The annual fundraising event also features the popular art show raffle tickets sale and this time ’round the first prize is a wonderful print entitled Clunes, by artist Jeff Makin, with plenty of other raffle prizes to be won as well.

Words: Eve Lamb. Image: Supplied

The Maine Piano Guerrillas may have been a hit during the Castlemaine Fringe Festival – but they are not giving up the gig just yet.

The MPG’s project saw 10 pianos placed around the town, meaning there were  plenty of impromptu performances across the four weeks of the festival.  

But despite the festival being over, the pianos aren’t going anywhere. And it all  makes for a great story.

Helen Sandercoe told The Local that it all started seven months ago when three  people were having coffee at the Wesley Hill Market and one said “let’s put pianos  in for the Fringe – and then a couple of weeks later, one suggested to make piano  guerrillas our thing. And we were off.”  

Helen said the real guerrilla act was to put a piano in the underpass of the  railway. At midnight. “And feedback is that it’s changed how people feel about the underpass, they feel safer.”  

The pianos, mostly uprights, were sourced from “people who don’t want to keep  their pianos anymore and people who are moving”.  

“It’s that thing about brown furniture and, you know, no one in the family plays  the piano, so it just sits there. Then you sell the house and you try to leave it behind and the new owner says, no, you have to get rid of it.  “We had that story twice.

“Two of the piano owners had to get rid of them because  they’d not played them. But, of course, that’s a problem for an old piano because if  it’s not regularly tuned, then obviously all sorts of things can happen. And one of  them had rats inside – that was the player piano – but they’re all nice instruments. There’s a charm in them, a real charm.”  

The pianos will now stay where they are – ready to be played at any time. The  thought of vandalism is also there, but so far, so good.

Pop-up piano concerts are  more likely to be on the agenda.  Funding has come from Mt Alexander Shire Council in the form of a $500 grant but any other funding would be gratefully received.  

“We’re always up for more funding. Just to move the piano and tune them is  quite a bit. But we’d love this project to keep going and bring music happiness to this  area.”  

Another guerrilla, Greg Maxwell, said while he and Helen were not musicians,  they would love more to be involved in the future.  

“Lots of musicians don’t want to play in public but it seems to me that that’s exactly what we need. We need these people to come out and just share the piano as a  community instrument.  

“One of our young players, David, talks about it being like being around the  campfire, it changes the mood of people.  

“He says even playing for his family, everybody relaxes, the tone drops. They sit  and listen and enjoy his playing. And I think that’s what we’re trying to rediscover.”  

Helen said the guerrillas were moving from a group from saving pianos to being a  group that uses or activates the pianos by having pop-up concerts around the town.  

“We’ve come up with this idea of milk crate concerts where you bring a milk crate  and cushion, and you just sit there for half an hour and listen. And get to meet the  person next to you.”  

Greg said the stories of the pianos were often touching.  “One of the pianos came from Elphinstone and it’s at the Taproom. The family’s  great-grandmother or grandmother bought it 70 years ago in Bendigo and it’s stayed  in the family all this time.  

“The grandson told us the journey of it and how his father used to play it regularly  and then it got to the stage where they wanted to move it on. But they didn’t until the  Fringe.  

“And Maria, her story’s quite remarkable. She had this piano in Fryerstown that  was in a shed. It’s the one that’s in the underpass because it couldn’t be tuned. She told us this whole story about it, about how it had come with her when she left home and  she’d had it her whole life.  

“She was just so thrilled that we were giving this piano a new life. And if we do  swap it out, it will be the one that will go on the funeral pyre for a midwinter festival.  A final sort of viking funeral.  

“That’s the emotional relationship that people have with pianos. She knew it had  had this wonderful last few weeks of life.”  

Pictured, Maine Piano Guerrillas Helen Sandercoe and Alan Joyce .

Words: Donna Kelly | Image: Kyle Barnes  

The Castlemaine Art Museum is hosting an exhibition celebrating the work of renowned local iconoclast, artist “Sir” Leslie Thornton.

The exhibition spans the 50-year career of “Sir” Leslie Thornton, acknowledging decades of sustained practice and a life-long commitment to creating.

It features over 130 works and celebrates Thornton’s whimsical, playful and Aussie-centric approach.

His reverently irreverent homage to the local sits comfortably alongside the cultural and relevant – developed in the parallel practice streams of painting, sculpture and fictitious documents.

The exhibition is a prime opportunity to appreciate the wit and wile of Sir Les – a true-blue iconoclast whose art imitates life as he lives and sees it.

The exhibition is accompanied by a public program, including intimate tours of the exhibition with the artist.

Sir Leslie Thornton: Castlemaine Art Museum’s First Blockbuster is on show in CAM’s Stoneman and Benefactor’s Galleries through to June 30.

Entry to Castlemaine Art Museum (CAM) is free.

Coming up May 16-18, the The Alchemy of Gold is a new three-day forum happening in Castlemaine, and the name is a bit of a give-away.

A brand new feature event, it features three days of lectures, workshops and field trips all led by gold rush experts and celebrating the rich history of Victoria’s central goldfields.

Chairing the organising committee, Castlemaine’s Alice Matthiesson says a main aim is to increase public awareness, education and appreciation around the area’s rich goldfields heritage.

“People need to understand what a historic landscape is and why it’s so precious,” Alice says, explaining the motivation behind the new event and how it brings together multiple local heritage organisations.

The extensive list of guest speakers, many of them high profile, cover a wide range of specialist areas of interest from Chinese on the Goldfields to early goldfields mining methods, political and social upheavals to bushrangers and women on the goldfields.

“The idea is to bring the gold rush experts together for a big education forum,” Alice says.

“We were losing historical fabric and once it’s gone it’s gone. Towns like Castlemaine are at risk of over-development and thoughtless development.  

“If you understand what you’ve got you perhaps look after it a bit better. We want to draw attention to local places that are important to our gold-mining history.

“We have over 40 guest speakers who are all experts in their area. The idea is we are leaving a legacy that could be repeated in two years time either here in Castlemaine or in other shires which have goldfields heritage whether they’re here or in places like Beechworth, and they could pick it up and run it.”

The new three-day long event is happening as part of the wider Australian Heritage Festival and Alice says it’s expected to increase demand for accommodation in Daylesford and surrounds as well.

More details including the full list of speakers and ticket sales can by found at www.thealchemyofgold.com.au

Alice says ticket pricing has been set low so as to be cost neutral, and it’s best not to leave it too long to book.

“For catering planning purposes we will be closing off ticket sales about a week before the event,” she advises.

Words: Eve Lamb. Images: Supplied

Affordable housing, spreading kindness, appreciating the great outdoors and peace. It’s a fairly compelling mix and it’s all part of what makes Daylesford’s Mary-Faeth Chenery tick.

Mary-Faeth is one of the newest inductees onto the Heather Mutimer Honour Roll, an accolade bestowed at the  Hepburn Shire Council’s recent  IWD event held in Trentham.

“For me it’s continuing to focus on kindness and inner peace and trying to radiate that to others,” she says as we chat about her volunteer contributions that led to this recent recognition.

Originally from North Carolina USA, Mary-Faeth retains the trace of a US accent. In her light-filled Daylesford home a Steinway grand piano is a family treasure and when quizzed she says that yes, she does play a little – “classical”.

Her little schnauzer-poodle cross dog named (Ellie in honour of Eleanor Roosevelt) snoozes alongside on the couch as we chat about the recent IWD honour, spirituality, community, and some of the challenges our world faces.

The IWD recognition in large part acknowledges Mary-Faeth’s ongoing leadership in striving to ensure affordable housing exists, particularly for the largest growing cohort of homeless Australians, older women.

Prior to “retiring” and shouldering her current voluntary roles, Mary-Faeth headed up the Department of Outdoor Education and Nature Tourism at La Trobe University in Bendigo.

She has a masters in management, a PhD in psychology and has studied theosophy and spiritual traditions and practices from around the globe.

Her work toward perpetuating global peace includes serving as a distinguished representative of Australia at numerous international events organised by the Global Peace Initiative of Women.

And, as co-founder and president of Older Women in Cohousing (WINC), Mary-Faeth has made great strides in addressing the housing security needs of older women, including older lesbians.

Under her leadership, WINC is now developing a project that will provide 31 new, small, sustainable and accessible homes within a mutually supportive community in nearby Castlemaine.

Since 2017, she has worked with her co-founder to establish the organisation, acquire the property, foster a community of older women and secure planning permission for this innovative “village”.

“We are now receiving interest from all over Australia and from the media,” says Mary-Faeth whose vision aims to help ensure older women experiencing financial hardship have the opportunity to live with dignity and agency.

She is also founding member and current president of Safe Place Homes, an incorporated society dedicated to alleviating housing challenges within the Hepburn Shire and beyond.

This work (all voluntary) has notably contributed to the inclusion of four social housing units as part of Daylesford’s Middleton Fields development.

Quietly honoured and humble in receiving her IWD honour, this well informed and erudite local pauses and reflects for a moment before thoughtfully answering the question I put to her: “how can anyone help make the world a better place in such troubled and troubling times?”

“Something my spiritual teacher Ananda Tara Shan said to me is ‘look for where the good is radiating and follow that’. That to me is a good approach.”

“And,” she adds, “I think it’s terribly important to listen to others.”

Words: Eve Lamb

GDTA track builder, life member and naturalist, Richard Piesse, died peacefully at Peter Mac Hospital on December 28, 2024, after a long battle with melanoma, aged 82.

Richard managed the building of both the Lerderderg and Leanganook tracks on behalf of the Great Dividing Trail Association (GDTA)

He had great knowledge of central Victorian plants and initiated a flora guide for the Castlemaine Field Naturalists Club.

In 2013, he won Bushwalking Victoria’s Distinguished Service Award (Gold) for his role in advancing the development of recreational bushwalking in Victoria. He was a founding member of the Old Scotch Collegians’ Walking Club.

Richard was a contributor to our community in many  ways: as a member of the Great Dividing Trail Association, the Field Naturalists Club and the Friends of the Box Ironbark Forests and as a volunteer for the Chewton Domain Society and the Castlemaine Tourist Information Centre.

His detailed knowledge of the natural history of the Goldfields region made him an invaluable contributor to field guides of the area and a knowledgeable leader for many bushwalks in the region.

Richard moved to Melbourne to be close to his children some years ago. He had been sick for some time, but this did not stop him from regularly travelling by train to Castlemaine to volunteer in the Tourist Information Centre or to go on bush forays with Field Naturalists and FOBIF.

As late as last March, Richard attended the Blackwood launch of the GDTA’s interpretive signage project on the Lerderderg Track.

Richard loved our local bush and was a knowledgeable and engaging companion to have on our many bushwalks.

He was always ready to provide advice to volunteer organisations and land managers about maintaining, developing and protecting our natural heritage.

His passing is a loss not just to his family and friends, but to the wider community as a whole.

Richard leaves behind two daughters, Fran and Cecilia, and many grandchildren, who he absolutely adored.

His family held a private funeral and planned to scatter his ashes on Mount Alexander/Lianganook, which was, for him, a happy place.

There are two memorial services planned for Richard; a family memorial will be held in The Gleeson Centre in the Darebin Parklands, Separation Street, Alphington on Friday, February 7, from 1pm.

On Saturday, February 15, the Castlemaine Field Naturalists Club will host a memorial in the Former Tea Rooms at the Castlemaine Botanical Gardens starting at 3pm.

His knowledge, his friendship and his contributions will be long remembered.

This obituary & Images: Supplied GDTA

Local musicians and artists will be presenting a program of live entertainment in Castlemaine’s Mechanics Lane this summer.

The line-up ahead will include live music, performances and DJs, a dance class and even a sound healing session.

Coming up next on the program is Club Unity set for Saturday 14 December from 5pm to late.

Club Unity is a street party where everyone is welcome with the Mount Aleander Shire Council seasonally activating the Mechanics Lane space.

Celebrating unity and togetherness, the Club Unity event features Luqman, Joel Pearson, Monica Santos (Argentina) and Giovanni Riveros (Peru), Coterra, and DJ Jen Moore.

There’ll also be food by Lucha Libre and a bar run by Castlemaine Fringe Festival.

to February 2025, local musicians and artists are taking over the public space with live music, performances and DJs, a dance class, sound healing, and more.

Mount Alexander Shire Council’s Manager of Economy and Culture, Merryn Tinkler, said the council was pleased to be able to support local artists through the free summer program of events scheduled for the Mechanics Lane space.

“We have an extensive artistic community in our shire, and it’s wonderful to be able to show our support by providing a free and professional space for them to share their skills,” said Ms Tinkler.

“This year’s summer program promises to deliver some exciting experiences – from sound healings with gongs and singing bowls, through to a dance class teaching participants how to do the salsa!”.

“It’s always a treat to walk to Mechanics Lane and be surprised by the music, performances and events taking place there.

“I encourage everyone to take a look at the program and see if there’s something there for them.”

To find out more visit the events section of the Mount Alexander Shire Council’s website.

Ceramics by Musk Vale’s Minna Graham and Clunes’s Chandra Paul are part of a new group exhibition featuring new work by five Central Victorian artists.

The Unfathomable exhibition opening tomorrow at Lot 19 Art Gallery in Castlemaine aims to take that which is hard to explain and transform it into quality works of art.

Represented artists include Minna Graham from Musk Vale, Jackie Gorring from Allendale, Ella Hughes from Guildford, Chandra Paul from Clunes and Dannielle Wilkinson from Castlemaine.

The exhibition opens tomorrow, Saturday, December 7 at 2pm then opens Saturdays and Sundays up to December 22 from 10am to 4pm.

It was a fire in a baker’s shop in November 1854 that first spurred on the locals of Castlemaine to form a volunteer fire brigade. 

From that public meeting in a town hall 170 years ago, Castlemaine Fire Brigade is now a mainstay of the community, a strong cohort of members who still come together to protect their beloved town and its surrounds.  

The Castlemaine Voluntary Fire Brigade was one of the very first volunteer fire brigades established in the state. These days, the brigade has 52 members and attends about 150 callouts per year.  

Brigade captain Terry Franklin has been at the helm of the Castlemaine crew for 13 years, and said he is proud of the brigade’s contributions over the years.  

“One of the main reasons that the brigade is so important to the community of Castlemaine is that we’re there for people when they need us no matter what,” Terry said. 

“Whether it’s a fire at their home, or their cat or bird is stuck up a tree, we’re the people they call and they know us because we’re from the community too.  

“We love to be of service not just to Castlemaine, but the surrounding communities as well. It’s something we just do, and we don’t necessarily take time to reflect on it – we’re just there for people when they need us because they need us.”  

“We’ve always made sure that we’ve created an atmosphere where everyone feels welcome, and that’s the way it should be at a brigade. It’s for everyone and our doors are open, so welcome – come on in.”  

Often brigades have a particular fire or incident that defines their history, and for Castlemaine this took place on 17 November 1981 when an intense blaze took hold at the Castlemaine Woollen Mills and required the work of 150 firefighters from 12 local brigades to control it.

The fire caused large economic damage to the town, and many reflect on this fire as ‘the big one’.  

In more recent times, brigades have formed strike teams travelling across Victoria and interstate, as well as fighting significant fires and attending large-scale incidents closer to home. 

As well as their recent 170-year anniversary celebration, held over the weekend of November 16-17, the brigade also held an awards dinner where multiple members were honoured for their service, including ex-Captain William ‘Bill’ Chapman, who was presented a 70 year CFA Life Membership Medal.

Member Brian Tresidder was also awarded Life Membership with the brigade in recognition of his service, with a number of members also receiving service awards ranging from five to 55 years.

On Sunday 17 November, the brigade opened its doors to the local community for an Open Day to celebrate the milestone, with family activities and safety advice ahead of the fire season.

Looking forward, Terry is hopeful for the next generation and beyond of the brigade.  

“I hope we stay strong, and we continue to serve the community as we have done for the past 170 years. We have a lot of new members and I look forward to seeing them continue to keep our service to the community alive and well long into the future.”  

Words & Image: Supplied by the CFA

Detectives are investigating the circumstances surrounding a suspicious building fire that occured in Castlemaine on Saturday, November 16.

Emergency services were called to reports of a building fire on Etty Street about 10.45pm.

No one was inside the building at the time of the fire.

A crime scene has been established and a fire investigator was attending the scene on Sunday.

The investigation remains ongoing.

Anyone who witnessed the incident, or with information or dashcam is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report online at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au

Special zones where buyers and sellers can more safely exchange items that have been purchased online have been established outside 35 24-hour police stations across Victoria.

The exchange sites provide people transacting items listed on online marketplaces with a safer alternative than meeting unknown people at locations such as their homes, parks, or carparks.

While many of the 35 sites are located in metropolitan areas, regional 24-hour police stations with Safer Exchange Sites in the central Victrian region include: Maryborough, Bacchus Marsh, Ballarat, Bendigo and Castlemaine.

Each Safer Exchange Site has clear signage outside the 24-hour police station, as well as CCTV coverage and lighting.

The roll-out of these sites follows a successful trial which commenced at a small number of 24-hour police stations across Melbourne’s northeast in mid-2022.

During the trial’s six-month evaluation period, thefts and robberies in the area stemming from online sales decreased, while police officers at these stations also observed people exchanging items on a regular basis.

This concept was originally developed following an increase in robberies, thefts and assaults linked to online trading, which peaked in 2020 before COVID lockdowns. Smartphones are the most common high value item stolen in these incidents.

While this offending slowed during the pandemic, Victoria Police did not want to see this trend return and Safer Exchange Sites were introduced as a result.

Exchange zones have been popular in the United States as online marketplaces continue to gain in popularity, with feedback indicating people feel safer meeting in designated sites with good lighting and CCTV.

Goldfield Crime Investigation Unit detectives arrested seven people after allegedly seizing drugs, cash and weapons in Castlemaine last week.

Officers executed search warrants at three residential properties in Castlemaine and Campbells Creek on Monday, 14 October.

It is alleged drugs, cash and weapons including a sword and gel blaster were seized.

A 51-year-old Castlemaine man has been charged with traffic GHB, amphetamine and heroin. He has been bailed to appear at Castlemaine court on 21 January.

A 40- year- old Castlemaine man has been charged with traffic GHB, amphetamine and heroin. He was remanded in custody and required to appear at the Bendigo Magistrates court last Wednesday.

A 41-year-old Campbells Creek woman has been charged with traffic GHB, possess amphetamine and cannabis, possess prescription medication and possess proceeds of crime. She will appear at Castlemaine Magistrate court on 21 January.

A 53-year-old Frankston man was also expected to be charged on summons for possessing amphetamines.

Two men and a woman were also interviewed by police in relation to other matters.

Garden lovers will have a superb opportunity to explore multiple stunning private gardens during the Castlemaine and District Festival of Gardens this November.     

A curated selection of 23 gardens will open during Melbourne Cup week, from Saturday, November 2 to Sunday, November 10.     

A number of properties are located in Castlemaine itself, while others can be found a short drive away, in outer areas of Mount Alexander Shire.

The theme of the festival, The Art of  Gardening, celebrates the creativity of  gardeners who have turned their patches of soil into environmental masterpieces.     

Like artists, gardeners employ all the essential elements of art in their creations:  colour, line, shape, form, tone and texture while adding in a good number of the  principles as well: contrast, balance, emphasis, proportion, repetition and pattern.

Visitors will be inspired as they meander around a diverse selection of gardens,  with their creators on hand to share their knowledge.

Several properties offer plants and handcrafted items for sale, providing an opportunity to take home a memento.     

The festival showcases grand country gardens, historic gardens, verge gardens, sculpture gardens, town gardens of many varieties and a purpose-built accessible garden.

Regular visitors will be delighted to see a number of gardens which have been part of the festival for many years, together with 13 new gardens to discover.     

A souvenir festival program is available at www.festivalofgardens.org, as well as from retail outlets around the Mount Alexander Shire and Bendigo.

Garden devotees can follow the festival on Facebook CastlemaineDistrictFestivalOfGardens and Instagram festivalofgardens or by signing up for the occasional e-newsletter from the website.     

Entry to each garden is $5 per adult, children free. Payment is by cash, direct to the gardener at the gate.     

Town Folk Festival, a single-day contemporary folk music festival has announced its expansion this year, bringing an enormous line-up of local and international talent to  Djaara/Castlemaine on Saturday, November 16.  

The line-up includes A. Savage (US), the solo project of Parquet Courts  frontman Andrew Savage, singer-songwriter Marlon Williams (NZ), and four-time  ARIA award-nominated future-soul powerhouse Ngaiire.  

In their only Victorian appearance for 2024, global touring The Teskey Brothers  will perform on the main stage, along with Yirinda, the project of Fred Leone and  Samuel Pankhurst, who combine ancient Aboriginal language with sublime modern  production.  

The mesmerising Grace Cummings will play songs from her acclaimed third  album Ramona, alongside Jess Ribeiro, Queenie and many more.  

Maintaining its family-friendly, community-oriented atmosphere, the festival  will activate local venues such as The Bridge Hotel and Shedshaker Brewery, with the  exciting addition of a major festival site at the Sunken Oval.  

Festival director Jeremy Furze said Town Folk was growing up.  

“After three iterations in ‘cute neighbourhood gathering’ mode, the time felt right  to kick off the training wheels and step this thing up to ‘big fat festival’ mode,” he said.

“The  multi-stage, multi-venue format will remain – again utilising all the wonderful spaces  along Walker Street – but this year we will drop a stage on the Sunken Oval across the  road and push the faders up a few notches.”  

There will be performances from A. Savage, Aplegate, Don’t Thank Me, Spank  Me!, Felicity Cripps Band, Grace Cummings, Harmony Byrne, Jess Ribeiro, M79,  Marlon Williams, Merryn Jeann, Ngaiire, Queenie, Ruby and Loretta, Tek Tek  Ensemble, The Maes, The Teskey Brothers and Yirinda.  

Tickets have gone on sale now.  

Words: Darren Lowe

My Father’s Suitcase is described as a gripping tale of resilience and survival that offers hope to others who have experienced family violence and suffered at the hands of a sibling.

The book is a memoir which explores not only the troubled relationship between author Mary Garden and her younger sister, Anna, who died in 2023, but is also a big slice of social history of New Zealand in the 50s and 60s.

And while Mary may have started with anger about her sister, that changed as she wrote and her anger moved towards those around her who enabled the sibling violence to continue.

“I knew I had a focus on my sister’s treatment of me and this whole nothing of sibling abuse, it’s a huge missing part of family violence, but it is also about the dysfunctional family unit it exists within,” the Castlemaine resident and prolific feature writer, said.

“As I was writing I became less and less angry with her and by the end I felt quite compassionate, she had such a shit life. I mean, my mother used to say in front of Anna, ‘isn’t Mary pretty’, or ‘if only Anna was more like Mary’.

“And then I felt enraged about all those people who enabled it, the bystanders, all those people who knew about my sister’s violence and didn’t protect me.

“People say writing can be cathartic but I had already done a lot of therapy and work on my sister, so for me it provided more clarity and insight.”

My Father’s Suitcase grew out of her second memoir, Sundowner of the Skies, a biography of her aviator father, Oscar Garden, which was short-listed for the NSW Premier’s History Award 2020 for a book of international significance.

Her first book, The Serpent Rising, a memoir of her years entangled with various gurus in India in the 1970s, won the High Country Indie Book Award 2021.)

“In 2005 I did my first article on my father, who died in 1997 and had been a famous aviator. I did a feature article but when it was published it just exploded and I got emails from everywhere asking if I could write a book.

“I thought there was no way I could write a book but people pounded me for years and I started a book on my father and got a research grant, and I just hit a brick wall.

“I had a lot of self doubts, and of course I hated what my father had put my mother through, but I eventually went back to uni and did an editing course.

“Unfortunately I got a high distinction so I ended up doing a diploma and then a wretched PhD on journalism and the use of blogs and Twitter. And I thought if I can do this 80,000-word PhD I can do this book on my father, so I whipped it out really quickly and put a whole personal thread through it.”

Sadly, Mary’s publisher was not keen on the final three personal chapters, asking Mary to concentrate on aviation, and left much on the stone, so to speak.

Happily what was left became the start of her new book, My Father’s Suitcase, although some people told her that with Covid happening, no one wanted to hear about trauma.

“But I talked to many people and people do, so my book is not really my book, it is their story too, things that resonate with many people.

“And I just sat down and wrote it, it literally just poured out. So much so I had to see a hand therapist. And it turned out not to be just my difficult relationship with my sister but it includes the social and cultural history of the time in New Zealand.”

My Father’s Suitcase is available at all bookstores with signed copies at Paradise Books in Daylesford.

Words: Donna Kelly | Images: Contributed