Words: Eve Lamb. Images: Supplied

The Celebration of SAORI Exhibition has returned to Clunes, showcasing more than 100 works by over 30 artists from across Australia.

The exhibition launched at the Clunes Warehouse on Saturday, June 7 and is now continuing through to Sunday, June 22 offering art lovers and textiles fans a unique chance to revel in the colours, textures and forms that are part of this unique hand-weaving method.

A celebration of texture, fibre and colour, along with the SAORI method of weaving itself, the exhibition showcases the work of over 30 artists from across Australia.

Co-ordinated and curated by accredited local SAORI teacher, Clunes’ Prue Simmons (pictured above) of Dyeing To Weave studio, the exhibition brings together students from across Australia who are supported through her studio weaving programs.

Showcasing more than 100 woven artworks, it is the largest SAORI weaving exhibition ever held in Australia.

Visitors can explore this expressive, niche art form, meet the artists, and even try SAORI weaving themselves.

Many of the distinctive works, ranging from garments to home décor, will be available for purchase, offering original pieces to art lovers and creative inspiration for fellow textile artists alike.

SAORI is a freestyle weaving style which originated in Japan during the 1960’s. A modern take on traditional weaving, it celebrates self-expression, mindfulness, and innovation over rules or repetition.

Often described as “weaving meditation,” it encourages intuitive creativity, where artists use texture, colour, and freestyle techniques to create truly one-of-a-kind pieces.

Celebration of SAORI Exhibition is open from Saturday 7th to Sunday 22nd June 2025. Open daily (closed Tuesdays) from 10am to 4pm.

The exhibition is being held in the Esmond Gallery (upstairs/lift available) at The Warehouse – 36 Fraser Street Clunes, Victoria 3370

Words and main image: Eve Lamb

Reading a story in The Local back in April, Blackwood resident Noel Ewer’s attention was quietly captured as he realised it was about his own Great Uncle Thomas.

The story that ran in the April 7 edition reported a tree planting ceremony held back in March in Daylesford’s Avenue of Honour on Daylesford-Malmsbury Road.

The tree being planted was to honour the memory of Private Thomas Alfred Chaplain, Noel’s great uncle who made the ultimate sacrifice in World War One.

Born in 1882, the young Thomas had attended Daylesford State School and later worked as a miner but in May 1915 as WWI raged he enlisted, joining the 26th Infantry Battalion of the Australian  Imperial Force.

The 26th Battalion was a unit raised from Queensland and Tasmania, part of the 7th Brigade and Thomas became among the first Australians to provide reinforcements at Gallipoli, landing there in early September 1915.

Thomas and his battalion endured the brutal conditions of the peninsula – steep terrain, relentless enemy fire, disease and hunger as they played a key role in holding the line at the infamous Lone Pine and Russell’s Top, where trenches were so close that battles were fought not just with bullets, but with grenades and bayonets.

Sadly, it was in these conditions that Thomas fell ill with dysentery, a fate that claimed many young men in the trenches of Gallipoli. He was evacuated to a hospital ship, but succumbed to his illness on the 8th of November 1915.

Thomas was buried at sea, far from his Daylesford home, yet forever remembered on the Lone Pine Memorial in Turkey (Turkiye).

Now aged 82, his great nephew Noel says the story in The Local caught his eye for obvious reasons.Noel’s mother, Marion Ewer (nee Chaplain) was Thomas’s niece.

“My grandfather Robert  was Thomas’s elder brother,” says Noel.

“I’m 82 now and as far as I know I’m the last of my mother’s family, probably the last of the Chaplain line.  I’m not aware of any others.”

Noel has a photos of his maternal grandfather, Robert (Thomas’ brother) and of his own mother Marion (Thomas’ niece), but unfortunately no photos of Thomas himself. He values the information he has been able to amass about his Great Uncle Thomas and says he wouldn’t have known anything about the recent Avenue tree planting in Thomas’ honour had he not read the recent article.

“I was quite pleased to see it,” says Noel who’s been living in Blackwood for about 35 years now.

“We had been to the RSL in Dayleford a couple of years back and they showed us a history book done by local school kids that records all the Daylesford soldiers that went to World War I, including Thomas, and I had been told a little bit of the history. I knew his name was on the war memorial.

“My (maternal) grandfather Robert, his elder brother, worked as a bullock driver and there was also another older brother called William who was also a bullock driver but he never married.”

Suffice to say, visiting the historic Daylesford Avenue of Honour now offers added cause for a little quiet reflection for Noel as he remembers his Great Uncle Thomas and watches the tree that’s been planted in his memory slowly grow with the years.

With Eve Lamb

Coliban Water Channel Walk, 9km section.

There’s some beautiful country up around Sutton Grange and Mount Alexander (Leanganyuk) and today we’re going to sample a handsome piece of it.

After driving to the designated meeting spot, my sturdy walking accomplice, Paddy H, and I join the Great Dividing Trail Association walkers for a 9km hike along a section of the Coliban Water Channel. This is a concrete structural fete that would almost certainly verbally activate even the most reticent of civil construction engineers.

First up we leave some of our cars at our meeting spot on the Harcourt-Sutton Grange Road – which will ultimately become our finishing point for today’s walk.

We now car pool, and ferry some the cars a few ks to the actual start point of today’s walk at Earls Grate, an important Channel structure used for catching and clearing debris and potential contamination, located off the Faraday-Sutton Grange Road, just a tad east of the Mica Grange Garden and sculpture park.

The walk ahead is fairly flat with a rise and fall of 225m and is being led by two GDTA stalwarts Mick Evans and Ed Butler who begins by telling us a bit about the historic, but still used, Coliban Water Channel itself. 

The Channel was built in the nineteenth century to meet the water needs of Bendigo, a city rich in gold but very poor in water. Designed by J M Brady and completed in its first stage in 1877, it had the Malmsbury Reservoir as its water source.

Ed tells us that all up it’s a 70km walk with many original bluestone structures along the way. It’s been expanded over the intervening 150 years and still serves a major water need, but today it’s pretty much bone dry.

We set off,  contouring around the eastern flank of Leanganyuk (Mount Alexander) and the sprawling, undulating landscape is impressive with its granite outcrops.

“So, 70 km all up,” I muse aloud to Paddy H as we stride along with the group as it strings out along the Channel path.

“What!?” Paddy H’s face is ashen and I realise he didn’t quite catch the detail of Ed’s informative talk just before we set off from Earl’s Grate.

“That’s the total distance the Channel walk covers, not what we’re walking today,” I soothe. “It’s just 9km today.”

Relief issues across my walking accomplice’s sun-tanned features.

“It’s a pretty impressive engineering fete,” I say.

“How can you tell an engineer is extroverted?” my walking companion asks.

“I don’t know.”

“He’s the one looking at your shoes when he talks to you!”

In the months since we’ve been joining the GDTA for some of its scheduled walks I’ve discovered that the easy, companionable, and frequently informative chit-chat is a pleasant aspect of participating in their program.

Today’s walkers have travelled from locations including Daylesford, Ballarat, Castlemaine and Clunes.

“Did you do a test run for this walk?” I ask one of today’s leaders, Mick Evans, as we stroll along.

“Yes,” says Mick. “We’re a pretty relaxed group but we always do a reconnaisance visit before we lead a walk.”

A bit further along I chat to a retired nurse who tells me a bit about her former demanding work and her current work running a couple of B&Bs, before we move onto food and cooking.

Further on, a walker from Leonards Hill and I talk birds. She tells me about peregrine falcons roosting in the city as I spot a wedge tail eagle gliding about Leanganook’s sunny outcrops.

The views across the plains, although in dire need of rain, are fairly magnificent and at about the half-way mark we all pull up for lunch at Byrnes Tunnel, blasted through granite as part of the water course.

It’s a decent stop for lunch, and everyone kicks back for a while and relaxes before we cover the last few ks, admiring bushland and a young olive grove along the way, to finally finish at our initial car plant site.

“Great spot and I never would have seen it if we hadn’t done this GDTA walk,” Paddy H announces as GDTA members, well satisfied with today’s leisurely adventure, disperse issuing farewells and reminders that there’s some good walks coming up on the program ahead.

Words, Video and Images: Eve Lamb

Words & Image: Eve Lamb

There must be a fair few familes with a resident “Grumps”.

Newly released at Daylesford’s Paradise Books shop in recent days, Kate Foulds’ debut book, Grumps and the green fishing rod, pays homage to a special Grumps in her life; her dad.

The new children’s book that’s been accepted for release at the National Library Bookshop in Canberra, also captures many precious aspects of the local area and celebrates being out in nature and the Aussie way of life.

It features unfiltered coloured photographs by one of Kate’s former colleagues from her days as a journalist with the Bendigo Advertiser newspaper, Tania Tanti. There are also beautiful nature photos by Daylesford’s Darryl Kirby included as well.

Kate says seeing her first ever book released locally and stocked at Daylesford’s Paradise Books is both “exciting” and “humbling”.

“I think it’s so important to capture some of these oral stories that form the fabric of who we are as Australians,” she says.

“I’ve had a number of people contact me saying ‘we’ve got a ‘Grumps’. So they’re really relating which is great.”

Kate says the book was largely inspired by her own treasured childhood days just getting out and being in nature with her dad who is a keen general fisherman and a skilled fly fisherman.

The book carries the stories of four generations and includes a glossary of some classic Aussie terms.

Kate is a Central Victorian short fiction and memoir writer who grew up on the family farm in Musk before becoming a regional newspaper journalist. 

Her short fiction, Grandma’s Gift, was published in the anthology, Mother – Memories, Moments & Stories and her flash fiction was shortlisted for the inaugural Minds Shine Bright Writing Confidence Competition 2022. 

In 1994 Kate gained a graduate cadetship at Kyneton’s Midland Express office and was a journalist at the Bendigo Advertiser between 1997 and 1999.

As a police and court reporter at the Advertiser, Kate wrote a news story judged a first-place winner at the 2000 Crime Stoppers International Conference in Canada – topping nominations from around the globe including London, New York, Miami and Vancouver. 

Kate has already started work on another book project capturing more of the area’s rich local oral history.

“It’s a long term project and will be a much bigger book,” she says.

Words & Images: Eve Lamb

A bit like that cantankerous yet amazing pud itself, Creswick’s Magic Pudding Playground is serving up some fabulous new “slices”.

New colourful character bollards, similar in style to those at Geelong’s popular Eastern Beach waterfront area, are set to be installed at the much-loved local playground in coming months. More on that later.

Establishment of the playground as part of Lindsays Arts Trail, dates back over a decade and celebrates the town’s famous creative Lindsay family, and particularly the iconic Aussie children’s book, The Magic Pudding created by Norman Lindsay.

The Magic Pudding is Norman Lindsay’s best known children’s book. He wrote it in 1917, partly to settle an argument with his friend Bertram Stevens of The Bulletin and Art in Australia, who maintained that children liked to read about fairies, whereas Lindsay said they liked to read about food.

So, Norman Lindsay cooked up a whimsical children’s book that is still loved around the world by both adults and children today.

For more than a century The Magic Pudding amused generations of children and their parents with the fun and harrowing adventures of Bunyip Bluegum, Bill Barnacle, Sam Sawnoff, the Puddin’ thieves, and Albert, the cheeky ‘never-ending’ pudding.

Creswick was the birthplace and home for many members of the famed Lindsay family including Norman who was also a famous artist, wrote 11 comic novels and illustrated 30 other books.

Proud of their Lindsay family heritage, today’s Creswick locals say planned developments of the Magic Pudding Playground had stalled going back quite a few years ago.

However a dedicated small committee of locals recently got back on the case and has been working hard to see new additions and developments.

Among the committee members, Creswick’s Margaret Giles (pictured above) says those efforts are now yielding the kind of results that kids and families can enjoy.

These include the very recent installation of children’s steppers and balancing planks, a picnic setting and seating  along with some fun new pieces of playground equipment.

New signage featuring some text and illustrations from the original book is also soon to go in, with funding for the various developments coming from multiple sources including two sausage sizzles held at Bunnings, a Bendigo Community Bank Creswick and District, Hepburn Shire Council, Creswick Garden Lovers weekend, state Tidy Towns funding and federal funding.

Margaret says the committee’s efforts have also been assisted through contributions of recycled salvaged timber, and also from the area’s Timber Training School.

Now she says they’re eagerly anticipating the addition of some life-sized colourful bollards featuring six favourite characters inspired by The Magic Pudding book.

“The bollards  are interpretations of the characters and they’re being painted by Talbot artist Penny Hetherington,” Margaret says.

“There are six bollards and we’re hoping to see them installed in September or October,” she says.

“We’ve also been donated a small children’s slide and we’re talking to council to get that OK-ed and approved to install as well. It’s very expensive to install  playground equipment and it all has to be approved and ticked-off.

“We’re also taking about getting some decorative mosaics, we want to reinvigorate the (existing timber) hut as well and also put a rudder on the (playground’s existing timber) boat.”

Fellow committee member Chrissy Austin is also manager of the town’s neighbourhood centre which auspices the working group to assist with fundraising and profile-raising for the playground.

She also has a couple of primary school aged sons who are among the many local children who use and appreciate the playground.

“I don’t think there’s a family with young kids in the area here who wouldn’t use and enjoy the playground,” Chrissy says.

“Yes, we’re only a small committee and we’re always keen to welcome new members to the working group. If anyone is interested in contributing and becoming part of the group they can contact me at the neighbourhood centre.”

Margaret says that as the committee looks to continue its work at the much-loved playground it’s also planning to hold another sausage sizzle at Bunnings in the future and would welcome volunteers.

Those keen to help out can contact Margaret on 0419326453.

Words & Image: Eve Lamb

Losing the function of her hind legs last year wasn’t about to stop pooch Sheba getting out and having a ball.

The beautiful 11-year-old long-haired German-Belgian shepherd and her owner, Clunes’ Dave Liddle, can often be seen out enjoying walks, ably assisted by a pair of sturdy dog wheels.

Attached to Sheba’s hindquarters with a specially-designed frame, the wheels allow her to walk after she lost the function of her hind legs last year due to cruciate ligament and spinal problems, and unsuccessful surgery.

But Dave, a retired UK police dog handler, was not about to see Sheba miss out on enjoying life to the full. So when a vet told him about the option of dog wheels, he wasted no time in jumping online and ordering a pair for Sheba.

Dave says that to start with, Sheba was not all that fond of her new set of wheels or “dog trolley”, as he calls them.

But eventually she settled into using them and now it’s clear to all who meet them out strolling that Sheba enjoys putting her wheels to good use, even managing an impressive turn of speed as she sees fit.

“I ordered it online in December, on Amazon, and they were calling it a wheelchair for dogs. But I call it a trolley. She didn’t like it to start with but now she loves it,” Dave says.

“She comes everywhere with me and we take her to the park and give her a good run. You wouldn’t think she had the trolley on when she’s off running.”

Dave, who relocated to Australia in 2007, has previously owned and worked with several German shepherd dogs, and also labradors, as part of his former career in Yorkshire. During that time he came to love and respect these intelligent breeds in particular.

“I’ve had three shepherds before. They’re excellent. In the city of Leeds in the 90s we used them a lot. They were good at searching and tracking stolen cars or wheres omeone had been disturbed at a burglary.”

Dave was with the UK police for 28 years and also worked with the dogs helping to provide security during special occasions such as dignitary visits.

He adopted Sheba about five years ago from a friend who had become unable to keep up with the zesty shepherd, and says that since Sheba lost the use of her hind legs last year, the wheels have made a major difference to her quality of life.

“It’s fantastic. She’s got her life back. Once she’s got the trolley on, she’s off.”

with Eve Lamb

Muckleford Heritage Walk. 10.5km. Muckleford Nature Conservation Reserve.

Today my trusty walk companion, Paddy H, and I are joining the Great Dividing Trail Association walkers to tackle the 10.5km Muckleford Heritage Walk.

Drawn to its handy ongoing program of led walks, I joined the Association last year. Today, GDTA member and experienced bushwalker, John Lewis will be our walk leader. But members with different specialisations and areas of interest lead different walks that are offered on the GDTA regular events program throughout the year.

At 9.30am, a total 24 walkers – most of them GDTA members plus a small handful of non-member guests – rendezvous at the Red, White and Blue mine site in the Muckleford Nature Conservation Reserve.

The historic mine is worth a look. It features an intact poppet head, a mine shaft, machinery site, mullock heap and dams. The poppet head was originally from the Bendigo Deborah United Mine.

After general chitchat, participant tick-off, a brief introductory talk by our walk leader, and lending Paddy H the requisite $10 (guest insurance and registration fee) that he forgot to bring, we shoulder day packs, apply walking poles and set out.

The time is roughly 9.45am, the sky, blue and fair. But the multiple tannin-coloured puddles strewn about the bush track testify to the recent sorely-needed rainfall that has briefly blessed this parched place.

As we start to cover ground the group strings out along Bells Lane Track. Yet with the walk leader up front and two designated “walk whips” leading up the rear and keeping an eye out for any stragglers forced to heed the call of nature, it consistently remains connected, wending like a colourful serpent through the sun-splashed box-ironbark forest.

We stroll along in easy conversation, walking companions and topics of chit-chat changing up along the way.

There are 3.5 hours generously allocated to cover this 10.5 loop that meanders through the forest and takes in three mine sites: the Red, White and Blue Mine, Frenchmans Reef, and Dunns Reef.

The GDTA walk description we’d received via email as part of registering for this ramble informs that:

Muckleford Forest is an ancient landscape occupied, for tens of thousands of years, by the Dja Dja Wurrung. Then Major Mitchell passed through the area in 1836, and pastoralists soon followed, to squat and establish sheep runs on the grasslands.

Following the discovery of gold at the foot of Mt Tarrengower in 1853, miners spread through the region in pursuit of gold, and the scars of early mining are evident throughout the forest.

“It’s called Tough Guys Book Club and there are two overarching rules. Don’t talk about work and don’t be a Dickhead…” I can hear Paddy H, from somewhere along the track, relishing a captive opportunity to recruit new members for his beloved book club.

I find myself chatting away to long-time GDTA members, like president Tim Bach, who tells me about some appealing walks coming up on the agenda ahead, about walk publications the GDTA has produced already, and more that are in the works.

Other members tell me about fav walks they’ve done, the wealth of knowledge held by fellow members whose personal areas of expertise traverse geology, history and ecology.

Others share esoteric walkers know-how, like how much to expect to pay for a pair of quality walking poles, plus pole pitfalls to avoid at the point of purchase.

Much of John’s introductory talk focused on the area’s considerable mining history. We swing right and take a very gentle climb to stop for morning tea atop the quartzy outcrop that is Frenchmans Reef. The conversation again swings round to the shiny yellow stuff as 24 backsides are planted on or against various natural bushland features while thermoses are dug from daypacks.

“Is this lunch or morning tea?” one walker wonders

“Morning tea. Lunch is later,” someone says… And we’re soon moving again, stopping along the way to check out points of interest that include:

• An iron grill-protected mining tunnel through rock in the middle of the bush
• various ferrous pebble deposits where, particularly following rainfall, gold is apparently far more likely to congregate.
• the sweetly dappled day-bed of a wallaby
• A tiny pond full of frisky frogcall.

More than 300 plant and 50 bird species are reported from the Reserve, according to the GDTA walk description for today’s loop that’s rated “easy” as it only involves an overall elevation gain of less than 200m.

And a fair bit of this cameo incline occurs as the group gambols up the gravelly girth of Dunns Reef where we stop for lunch admiring a view across to Maldon and Mount Tarrengower to the north west.

From here we take the Red, White and Blue Track to complete the loop and arrive back at the Red, White, and Blue mine site with GDTA members already looking forward to their next outing planned for May – the 10.5km Coliban Water Channel Walk.

For the first time in 37 years the Daylesford Hepburn United Soccer Club once again has a senior women’s team playing in the Ballarat and District Soccer League … and loving it.

What started a couple of years back with a clinic and a bit of casual fun booting a ball about, has continued to gain momentum such that the club recently started playing home and away fixtures as part of the League every Sunday.

Training is Tuesday evenings and with 23 registered team members and more lining up to join, this local senior women’s team has been booting goals in more ways than one.

Away from the soccer pitch, club secretary, under-16 girls manager, and keen women’s team player Dianne Tran is a solicitor.

She says that after spending plenty of time watching her kids play soccer from the sidelines, she decided it was time to have a piece of the action herself.

“It has been 37 years since we had a women’s team in the League,” Dianne confirms.

 “We weren’t even aware there was a senior women’s soccer team that played 37 years ago. But we were corrected on that.”

Current day club committee member Krystyna (Krys) Szokolai was a member of that original women’s team 37 years ago and she recounted those days.

“That was a long time ago. We only ever played one season.  “But that year kick-started my career (in soccer refereeing),” Krys says.

“Most of us were in year 11 that year. So we played a season and the following year I guess most of the players wanted to focus on HSC, as it was back then, and so we didn’t have enough people to form another team.

“We haven’t had another team until this year which is very exciting.”

While that original women’s team itself was short-lived, Krys went on to become a national and international soccer referee in an impressive career that included refereeing at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

It seems soccer is in her blood. Krystyna’s father, Marton Szokolai, is one of the Daylesford Hepburn United Soccer Club club’s co-founders, a European immigrant who was passionate about seeing the game bring people of all backgrounds and persuasions together.

Krystyna – these days working as a professional veterinarian – recounts how, when that original women’s soccer team ended, she had “still wanted to be part of the game”. So when a regional opportunity to take the refereeing route presented she grabbed it and ran.

“I started off refereeing and the following year I moved to Melbourne and worked my way up through the ranks and started doing national league games,” Krys recounts.

She was then nominated for refereeing duties at international games, serving as an Olympics Games referee at Athens in 2004.

“Then when I hung up the whistle I started working for FIFA as a referee instructor and travelled the world with that, preparing referees for World Cups and tournaments.

“I was out of the country nine months of the year,” she said. “There are things you learn in sport that you learn to use in your everyday life.”

“Dad was always very into his football. We called it football. He grew up in a tiny village in what’s now Serbia. But we’re Hungarian descent. When thinking back to it … he had so much courage to decide to start a club.

“He only ever wanted to bring people together through the sport. Any age, any gender, any ethnicity. Anyone who wanted to play sport was welcome. That was his philosophy. Uniting people was his mantra.”

Dianne Tran says getting a women’s team back and playing competitively in the League today, after a 37-year absence, is hugely significant.

“Since the Women’s World Cup there’s been a renewed interest from women and girls in soccer and we’ve certainly seen that in our club,” she says.

“The senior women’s team was revived a couple of years ago from a clinic. We had a good group of women and we just informally continued training ourselves, just kicking a ball around. No coach at that stage.

“But each week we continued to get consistently about 15 women come and join us and over time more and more people would turn up.

“After being more of a social thing for about a year, the team ended up with not just one, but two coaches.”

Now Di says the team’s members range in age from a 15-year-old to someone in her 60s, and while some players do have soccer backgrounds a lot don’t have any prior soccer experience at all. And that’s fine.

“I really didn’t know anything about soccer,” she says.

“It wasn’t something I’d played at school. I only started getting into it when my kids –  my son and my daughter – started playing competitively, just watching them find something they were passionate about.”

Di’s husband also coaches. In fact he’s one of the two coaches for the women’s team. So the whole family is into soccer.

“It’s like a common language that we all share now,” Di says.

“Playing for me meant that I had another thing in common with my kids that we could communicate about. So we’ll all go to Matildas matches together, watch an A-League match together, talk strategy together.

“My husband is Chilean so it’s in his blood. It’s something that gels the family together.”

Chatting to Di, though, it’s fairly clear that she appreciates her soccer for more reasons than the valuable fact that it’s something the family can enjoy together.

 “There’s a lot of strategy and thinking that goes into the game,” the soccer-loving local solicitor says.

“It blows your mind. It’s all very technical. It’s not just about kicking the ball to the back of the net.

“Our goalkeeper is a myotherapist so she’s making a killing. Being older and playing means we’re a bit more clever about pushing ourselves and about things like stretching and recovery.

“A lot of people have said to us ‘I feel so welcome in the team. It’s not intimidating at all’.

“We’ve played a couple of friendlies and two rounds in the competition season, against Creswick and the Forest Rangers from Wendouree, and we’re getting better each week.

“It’s been bloody tiring and bloody hard work but a lot of fun.”

Daylesford and Hepburn United Soccer Club president Adam Sadler says the club generally has been enjoying “quite a lot of growth” in recent times.

“We are very much a community-based club that is welcoming to anyone who wants to come and play regardless of ability or experience,” Adam says.

“Over the past two years we have managed to grow the club significantly even achieving some national recognition having been listed in the top five soccer clubs of the year by Football Australia.”

The club very recently secured a $4950 state government grant for professional development of its women, girls and gender diverse participation policy.

“That’s gone to subsidising our women’s registration,” Di says. “That’s been fantastic.”

“The committee has worked really hard in encouraging women, girls and gender diverse participation in our club and in soccer.

“We also worked with Football Vic to develop an action plan for women and girls and we’ve kicked off a lot of those goals.

“They’re a great bunch of women. We get along great and have a lot of fun. We’ve got some good energy. It’s about supporting each other and having some fun.”

Krystyna Szokolai reckons her Dad would be pretty happy to see the recent developments at the Daylesford and Hepburn United Soccer Club.

“Oh my God it just goes to show how far we’ve come,” she says.

“Maybe we could get another international referee… or a Matildas player…”

Words: Eve Lamb

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

Murder, beauty, guilt, blame, rumours and … footy. All get a look-in within the pages of the new anthology launched by the Clunes Writers’ group at last month’s Booktown festival.

Launched with readings from the writers, or their stand-ins, at the Esmond Gallery in The Warehouse, Boundless is the third anthology of collected short story and poetry by members of this lively local group.

Convenor of the group, Sandra Nichols, said the new anthology is “a treasure trove of thoughts, dreams and experiences”.

“We currently have close to 20 members and they are not only people who live in Clunes but also come from surrounding areas including Newlyn, Newstead, Talbot, Maryborough and  Scarsdale,” Sandra said.

Among the 17 contributors to the new book, group member Deb James read one of her own pieces entitled Grandpa’s Bookcase,’  telling the launch audience: “This is a story about the beginnings of a love of books and reading”.

Members say the welcoming group meets every second Monday of the month from 1-3pm at Attitude Clunes and have the opportunity to read out their work and receive feedback – if they wish.

“Each month we have a new theme to write to and that’s great because people will all interpret that in very different ways,” says group member Julie Moran.

“The thing we’ve found this year is that people’s writing has really developed.”

The group has stood the test of time. It’s been running for 20 years now, and current members say it’s great for socialising.

“Oh God I love it,” says member Judi Palmer.

“It gets me out of the house and stimulates my mind  to have to keep coming up  with something each month. The camaraderie is great and the mental and physical health benefits are a huge advantage of belonging to a group like this.”

Boundless retails for $32 and members say it is currently available for purchase at Boom Clunes, the local green grocer’s shop and online, with a small fee for added postage,  at harmony4books@gmail.com .

Words: Eve Lamb

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

with Eve Lamb

Kevin Smith’s dynamic talent has made him no stranger to  winning art prizes, including an impressive collection of  the region’s most prestigious. This Little Hampton based  artist currently has a new exhibition of his work on show at Trentham’s Cosmopolitan Hotel.  

Eve: I hear you did nicely quite recently with a certain art prize?  

Kevin: Yes I won the landscape prize in the Daylesford  Rotary Art Show. It was a surprise on the night. It was a local  scene, the Trentham Falls. Petrus Spronk was the judge. I mean  it’s nice but I’m not in it for the prizes.  

Eve: You’ve been a practicing artist for quite a while now haven’t  you?  

Kevin: Sixty years. Since I was at art school. I was 16 and it  was called the National Gallery Art School at the time. It’s now  VCA at the back of the (National Gallery of Victoria) art gallery.  

Eve: But what drew you to art in the first place?  

Kevin: I was influenced by my older brother, anything he  was into, and he was into art. In my early teens I had a good art  teacher at college. The art students were seen as being ‘out there’.  I love the expressionists, especially the German expressionists.  

Eve: Now you’ve got this new show that’s just opened here at The  Cosmo in Trentham, how long will these works be exhibited here?  

Kevin: They’ll be on show here for a couple of months.  

Eve: There’s some fantastic large paintings here. How many  individual works are there in this exhibition?  

Kevin: Thirty-three, completed over the last year.  

Eve: What media do you prefer to use?  

Kevin: Usually oil but this lot is primarily acrylic.  

Eve: Can you tell me a bit more about this recent body of work?  

Kevin: There are some pure abstract, some expressionist  landscapes and townscapes. Some are just fun, like those Ned  Kelly ones. Young Ned Kelly was arrested near here, near Little  Hampton. There are also some social commentary pieces, a bit  political.  

Eve: Have you ever worked in any other areas besides art?  

Kevin: Yes. I’ve owned book stores and worked in the book  trade. My brother and I had a book store in Bourke Street, and  I also worked at the Adelaide Art Gallery. Ran their book store  for a few years. I did all the buying. I’ve also worked at Deans  Art Supplies and also as a stage hand working on sets including A  Country Practice. It was fun for a while.  

Eve: What do you enjoy most about the process of making art?  

Kevin: Just not knowing what you’re going to end up with. Playing with  colour and materials. I play music while I work, usually contemporary jazz.  

Eve: Do you have any significant events ahead that you are working towards?  

Kevin: I’m working on sculpture which will be going into the Trentham Art  Prize at Easter.  

Eve: What’s your subject?  Kevin: Dogs. My little foxy dog Bessie often gets worked into my work. I  don’t think she has for this (Cosmopolitan Hotel) one though. Poor bugger.  

New inductee onto the Heather Mutimer Honour Roll,  Bullarto’s Mary Harvey says her recent IWD accolade comes as an unexpected surprise.

The recent International Women’s Day gong pays homage to Mary’s impressive role in contributing to multiple community organisations and committees as a volunteer.

Both Mary and her husband Don Harvey are particularly well known for their volunteer roles with the Daylesford and District Agricultural Society and their vital contributions to helping bring the local Daylesford show back to life and making it happen in style each year.

A retired librarian and French teacher,  Mary’s volunteer contributions to the wider local community span U3A, the French Circle, the Bullarto Hall Committee, the Spa Quilters and the Trentham branch of the ALP.

Mary was keen to encourage others to get involved in volunteering and also very keen to encourage girls and women to stand up and be counted.

“Don’t underestimate yourself,” she said. “Don’t be afraid to put yourself forward.

“I’d like to encourage people to volunteer. You meet some great people out there. You meet some great people and work with some great people.

“The people I work with are fabulous. They’re selfless in a way, and somebody’s got to do it.

“These organisations and volunteers are the backbone of our communities. It can be very rewarding.”

Mary said it’s a bit concerning to see that many communities are struggling to attract a new generation of volunteers.

“There are so many organisations in our community alone, some 80 in and around Daylesford. But our volunteers are ageing. Don is 80 and I’m 78,” she said.

As to her recent IWD honour, Mary said: “It is a bit of a surprise being nominated. I hadn’t expected it. I was pleased … and proud.”

Words and Image: Eve Lamb

Many years of lobbying to see the speed limit reduced from 100km to a uniform 80km on a section of the Midland Highway at Creswick now look as though they will soon pay off for locals concerned about safety.

“We have committed to reduce the speed limit on the Midland Highway outside Creswick by the end of May,” a Victorian Government spokesperson has confirmed.

Creswick locals had long lobbied to have the short 100km section of the main road out of town on the Ballarat side of Creswick brought in line with the connecting 80km limit, amid safety concerns.

Last April, responding to the concerns, the Hepburn Shire Council resolved to contact the Department of Transport seeking the proposed speed reduction on the short stretch of Midland Highway that passes the main entrance to Creswick’s RACV Forest Resort. 

With the 100km section also passing through a pre-existing wildlife corridor, the high rate of wildlife trauma in the area has also been highlighted as devastating for wildlife, increasing the danger for motorists and frequently upsetting visitors and locals.

Until now, however, the council had not heard back from the department in response to the request it submitted for the 80km section to be extended.

But after The Local recently ran a story examining where the issue was at, and amid further inquiries lodged by locals, news came through, via the office of local MP Martha Haylett, confirming that:

“DTP (Department of Public Transport) has reviewed the speed zone on the approach to township of Creswick.

“Based on the number of access points in this location, including the RACV Resort entrance and O’Keefes Dam recreation area, it has been assessed that extension of the existing 80km/h zone is considered appropriate.

“DTP will now seek approval for the implementation of the 80 km/h speed limit extension.”

Among the many Creswick residents pleased to hear of the development, local wildlife rescuer Marg Phillips says bringing the 100km section in line with the existing 80km zone will significantly improve safety for locals, visitors and wildlife.

“There has been research done in the Geelong area that found reducing the limit by just 20km reduced kanagaroo hits by over 50 percent,” she said.

“They found it made a huge difference. I hope they get these (new 80km) signs up before winter because that’s the worse period for roo hits along there. And then the road is wet and icy and even more dangerous.”

Hepburn Shire Council mayor Don Henderson has also welcomed the news and says he expects it will now take four to six weeks to see the 100km section brought in line with the adjoining 80km section.

“It’s so important to locals and people who live and work in the (RACV) resort. They run the gauntlet all the time, and for people who use that road, and particularly for people who are visitors and who don’t know the road,” Cr Henderson said.

Words & Image: Eve Lamb

The powerful rhythms of Africa are not only coming to Creswick, they’re becoming part of the lives of a whole new generation of locals.

In the lead up to CresFest (April 4-6) children at each of the town’s three primary schools are participating in some pretty special workshops, learning how to play African drumming rhythms and to sing traditional African songs.

Ghanaian musician and master drummer Kofi Kunkpe and acclaimed local musician and music educator Stella Savy are leading the workshops.

The children will then get to perform what they’ve learned as part of the free Rhythms of African Extravaganza that’s set to transform a large whack of the town’s main street on Saturday April 5 at 4pm as part of the festival.

Stella, who is also co-director of the festival says it’ll be a prime chance for everyone and anyone to enjoy the sounds of Africa and get involved in the fun themselves.

The African extravaganza and the in-school workshops have been enabled with a $17,6000 grant through the federal government’s Festivals Australia grants initiative. It’s also seen Stella go into the schools earlier this term to teach the African songs in original languages.

“They are singing in about five different Ghanaian languages,” says Stella whose gift for teaching Aussies of all ages to sing in multicultural languages is the stuff of local legend.

Stella says the funding has been particularly valuable for the local schools in delivering music education for the students, particularly as two of the three local schools do not otherwise have music programs already in place.

“It’s a great joy seeing kids learn new things,” Kofi Kunkpe told The Local in the lead up to the in-school workshops.

The charismatic Ghanaian musician says the experience of stepping out of normal routine and into a different musical world is often transformative and surprising for the children, and also for parents hearing what their kids have learned.

“At the end of the day, when they get it, it makes me happy,” Kofi said.

The Rhythms of Africa Extravaganza will also feature other talented musos including Creswick Drum Circle, and the Creswick Chorus who have also been busy learning songs in original languages especially for the event.

“We’ve got a world class music festival happening in this town so I think it’s fantastic for the children to have this opportunity to interact with it in a real way,” Stella says.

“To have an opportunity to perform at a big event like that is the kind of thing that they’ll remember for the rest of their life.

“The main thing that I see is joy. Kids who are allowed to be loud and move and sing and dance and I know that they’re all going to love playing the drums with Kofi.

“And that in itself is worth it. In these times, joy is not always easy to find. That’s where music plays a crucial role in everyone’s life.”

The wider CresFest festival features a great multicultural diversity of top national and international music talent and CresFest co-director Judy Turner says if you haven’t already it’s time to move fast and snap up a ticket.

Words: Eve Lamb.