Words: Eve Lamb | Image: James Penlidis

IT’S not your average job description but being Australia’s “leading female magician and mentalist” is a profession Daylesford’s Cath Jamison simply loves.
“When I was a kid, five years old, I got a magic kit and I loved it,” the award- winning entertainer says.
“I was a quirky kid and I’m a quirky person.”
Today, Cath’s mind-blowing and frequently uproarious shows have earned her a reputation as a leader in her field and she’s known as one of Australia’s most unusual women entertainers wielding her trademark sass, style, and mind illusion to captivate audiences.
She’s been described in high profile places as ‘Ellen DeGeneres meets Derren Brown’, and this wickedly hilarious entertainer has won more awards and done more big gigs than you can wave a wand at. Think Melbourne International Comedy
Festival, Adelaide Fringe, Melbourne Fringe, Adelaide FEAST and Midsumma Festival.
Her inexplicable shows have held even seasoned entertainers, like Tim Burton, Dawn French and Melissa Etheridge, spellbound.
Cath and her partner Nicole Peters moved from Mount Martha on the Mornington Peninsula to Daylesford in March last year, as Cath says the town and wider locality ticked all their boxes.
“We’ve always wanted to live and buy in Daylesford. We absolutely love it here,” says Cath who didn’t gain the title of ‘Australia’s leading female magician and mentalist’ overnight.
As a youngster doing magic tricks was “a hobby” and Cath trained and became a professional gardener and horticulturist working at the Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens and Royal Exhibition Building gardens to make a living.
But the love of entertaining, magic and mystery, and of working a crowd was always there.
“I went to magic school in Brunswick Street and I went ‘Oh my God, that’s what I want to do’,” Cath says.
Busking and playing bagpipes in a pipe band, and even dispensing one particularly crowd-enthralling act that involved juggling rubber chickens, all fed into her development as an entertainer. But it was her passion for acute observation of the
human psyche that led to her evolution as a mentalist as well.
Fascinated by the psychology of human behaviour, Cath began to observe the body language and behaviours of those around her and embarked on studies in mentalism and the esoteric fields of telepathy, telekinesis, clairvoyance, pre-cognition and mind control.
Together with her onstage collaborator, Daylesford’s Aurora Kurth, Cath became part of the immensely popular Sass & Secrets show, a cabaret-style magic and mayhem act that blends comedy, music, mentalism and mirth.
It proved a sellout at Daylesford’s last ChillOut Festival when they performed it at Peppers Mineral Springs where they so impressed that they’re already booked in to bring it back for next year’s ChillOut.
Cath says Sass & Secrets has also just been accepted by Regional Arts Victoria to participate in the state’s Connecting Places program which enables regional venues across Victoria to host shows that might otherwise be out of reach. Maldon’s new
Festival of Dark Ideas 2023 will be just one of their many dates.
But besides Sass & Secrets, Cath is also busy doing her own magician and mentalist gigs and teaching others the craft of magic.
These days she’s able to make a living from her unique talents fulltime as a magician and mentalist for hire for private gigs, from large corporate functions to intimate cocktail party affairs.
“I’m up to Cairns in a couple of weeks to do a big corporate women in business gig,” she says.
“I also have the Australian School of Magic running since 2006,” she says. Through the magic school Cath is able to share her love of magic and teach youngsters, aged from five to teens, some of the tricks of the trade.
“A lot of magicians are getting work now because people are hanging to be connected,” she says.
“There is more to this world than can be explained and when you talk about magic, there’s a collective consciousness and it’s all about everyone connecting and being happy.
“Magic for me is really about entertaining and transporting people back to their childhood, taking them on a roller coaster of emotions.”

KORWEINGUBOORA local Abigail (Abbey) Wehrung loves where she lives on the fringes of the Wombat Forest.

Surrounded by her menagerie of animals including nine horses, dogs, chooks and a goat, she knows there is no place like home. But her day job as a professional women’s basketball star is constantly demanding her time, energy and commitment.

As well as local games she was part of the Australian women’s national basketball team (The Opals) in the 2021 Asia Cup in Jordan, taking third place. Abbey was born in Daylesford in 1995 and began her professional basketball career in 2014 when she joined the Canberra Capitals competing in the Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) but her interest goes back many years before that.

One of three competitive siblings, she began by playing basketball with her dad Duane in the backyard. Unfortunately he died before seeing Abbey begin playing organised matches at the age of nine.

After rising through the junior leagues in Ballarat and making her international debut at the 2011 FIBA U16 Oceania Championship, she won a scholarship to study at the Australian Institute of Sport, Canberra, graduating in 2013.

“When I first moved away it was really hard,” recalls Abbey.“It was just Mum and my two brothers at home and I was pretty used to the country lifestyle and a quiet household. It was a bit of a shock to the system initially. It is always hard moving away and leaving. I just love home so much.”

However travel has remained a large part of Abbey’s life and sports career. She did four years with the Canberra Capitals and during the off seasons would come back and play with the Ballarat Rush in what was the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) competition now known as NBL1 South.

“After I finished with the Caps (Canberra Capitals) I came home and played for Bendigo Spirit in the Women’s National Basketball League before joining Adelaide Lightning. Now I’m back for another season with Bendigo Spirit again. So I’m back home, which is really nice.”

To maintain this form of high level commitment is trying for any talented player no matter what sport they play but Abbey must call on an inner strength beyond that of many of her colleagues. In 2020 Abbey along with her brothers Nathan and Dan also lost their mother Kerryn; a loss that put an incredible strain on Abbey’s sporting commitments, almost prompting her to retire.

“Mum did a tremendous job raising and supporting us when Dad passed. To then lose her was really hard. I had to go to Adelaide pretty soon after and I kinda tossed and turned about whether I went or stayed home. But I knew she would not have wanted me to stop so you just kind of have to keep going. I know she would be looking over us happy that we are still happy and finding joy in, kind of a shit storm, I guess.”

To embody this form of personal loss says so much about Abbey’s personal motivation and personal resilience; qualities she will have to call on again and again with more trips away from her beloved Korweinguboora. And while she is developing business plans to put in place post-career, at this stage she considers herself blessed to be able to purely focus on basketball as a job with all the future experiences it can offer.

“Female athletes, specifically basketballers don’t really hit their peak until 28-29,” she says, “and I’m just enjoying it while I can. My next goal is to make the Opals squad again and hopefully take part in the 2024 Paris Olympics.”

Words: Tony Sawrey | Top image: Contributed |On court action image: Craig Dilks

SO, the Big Rainbow is coming to Daylesford.
I kinda thought we would win. I mean the other towns were a little bit,
well, not really on my gaydar. But then, maybe they are LGBTIQA+.
I have been to Katherine in the Northern Territory and I can’t say it glittered. Not
at the time anyway. Broome in Western Australia has an awesome outdoor cinema
and amazing sunsets, but not really any rainbows as such. Hay in New South Wales?
Never been there, so not sure.
Anyway, we have won, although if you check out the Big Rainbow Project at
www.bigrainbowproject.com.au, there’s nothing about Daylesford winning. Still just
lists the four finalists and tells people to stay tuned. Strange.
The Big Rainbow is a Tinder initiative, that’s a dating website. It was launched at
a hackathon in Hatch Labs in 2012 and is the world’s most popular app for meeting
new people. It’s also pretty widely thought of as a website where you can hook up for
casual sex. I don’t know, I have been married a very long time and don’t know about
sex any more.
Anyway, I never thought I would be writing about Hepburn Shire Council and
Tinder in the same sentence. But there you go. (I do know some people have talked
about the council and another word for sex in relation to The Rex. Bit rude.)
Anyway, about 16,000 people around Australia voted, with most for the Big
Rainbow to be placed in Daylesford. The council are saying that was akin to public
consultation. Oddly, there was no way to say you didn’t want the Big Rainbow. In
reply to a query from myself, a council spokesperson said if someone didn’t want the
Big Rainbow in Daylesford, they just had to vote for another town. I asked what if
they didn’t want to foist it onto any town. No answer. Hmmm.
So, now that we have all decided we want the Big Rainbow here, we have to
decide where it goes. There are lots of ideas on Facebook. Someone said on top of The
Rex because it needs all the good luck possible. Someone said to link the BP servo
with the units opposite. They need luck too. Someone else said upside down at the
Skate Park. That’s quite smart. Someone else said Creswick. That’s just dumb.
Despite it just being announced on Wednesday, the council has already chosen
four possible spots. (I must have missed that bit of public consultation.) So we can
now choose, through the council’s Participate Hepburn website, to have it at Lake
Daylesford, the Skate Park, Victoria Park or the Lost Children’s Reserve. Not the one
at Musk, the one on the road to Ballarat opposite the Mill Markets.
They are apparently the best spots because, being council-owned, they don’t need
planning permits. And those permits can be pesky things sometimes. Damn you, The
Rex, costing more than $1 million to renovate.
But I am not sure. Lake Daylesford is a pristine, natural area and if you got rid of
the geese because they are not indigenous to the region, surely a big rainbow sculpture
is not quite right. The Skate Park doesn’t have a lot of parking and is pretty regularly
vandalised from what I hear. Victoria Park? Perfect for ChillOut but a little isolated
the rest of the year. Lost Children’s Reserve? Surely that is a monument for the three
young children who died who we apparently can never forget. (No hate mail please.)
But never fear. Mayor Drylie said the council would never choose not to listen to
its ratepayers and those four sites are not the only ones on the table, although they
are the only ones listed at Participate Hepburn. So keep those ideas coming. Maybe
it needs to be on wheels and move around the region? Who says big things have to be
stationary? It could be Australia’s first mobile big thing. Just sayin’…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Words: Eve Lamb | Images: Kyle Barnes

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

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

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

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

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

Words: Eve Lamb | Image: Rhydian Lewis