What a Waste – Recycling Videos

I am an enthusiastic and committed recycler, but after working with Marcus Jones from Film It All to produce a series of five clips for the City of Mount Gambier, I discovered that I, too, have been getting it wrong. For starters, bottle tops are too small to be recycled, and should be disposed of in general waste. Who knew!

The videos are designed to give the community an insight into what happens to waste and recyclables once thrown away, and reflect the council’s strong commitment to improving environmental sustainability.

The clips also provide information and best practice tips for waste, recycling and organics disposal, with bin audits giving audiences a realistic look at the typical contents of a household bin. They can be viewed on the council’s website, The City of Mount Gambier YouTube channel, and on screens at the Civic Centre.

Border Inn Hotel’s Rebirth – Outback Magazine

The ‘closed’ sign had been on the door of Apsley’s historic Border Inn Hotel for more than two years when a group of locals figured it must be their shout. While the small farming community in Victoria’s far west had adjusted to the loss of its general store and fuel station, the pub was a different story; the town was missing its social hub.

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Just over a year ago, a 23-strong syndicate of locals brought the 165-year-old business back to life.

“We didn’t know each other particularly well, and when you first get a group of people together, it takes a while to find where you belong, but we soon worked it out because it never would have got up and running unless everyone rolled up their sleeves and got into it,” says cattleman-cum-publican Noel Ogilvie.

“People ask how we make it work, but we have made an effort to make it work because we are passionate about it,” says fellow farmer-shareholder Simon Robinson.

What does it take to get a beer in Apsley? Twelve farming families, a retired stockbroker and a ‘sold’ sticker.

What does it take to get a beer in Apsley? Twelve farming families, a retired stockbroker and a ‘sold’ sticker.

My story on this community-minded mob appears in the October/November 2015 edition of Outback Magazine. Amazing cover!!

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Flinders Merino – Outback Magazine

There are few similarities between outback South Australia and Hong Kong, but a group of wool growers have found a common thread by sharing the journey from the sheep’s back…

Source: Flinders Merino

Source: Flinders Merino

To the clothes rack.

Source: AWI Ltd

Source: AWI Ltd

During a field trip to Hong Kong, the Flinders Merino group was astounded to discover that the final year fashion design students at the Polytechnic University’s Institute of Textiles and Clothing didn’t use wool in any of their garments, so they offered to sponsor one of their annual fashion shows in the hope of encouraging such an influential market to take on their product. The ‘Flinders Merino Australian Tour Scholarship Award’ gives winning design students an opportunity to travel from Hong Kong to the Flinders Ranges to experience the life of a wool grower in a journey beyond the bale.

Source: Flinders Merino

Source: Flinders Merino

“When we were over there, we recognised that one way we could make wool very desirable to use in fashion design was to tell the story of where it’s from, and by bringing them here, we can give them the whole story – the family, the sheep, big skies, big pastures – it’s a good story to tell.”  – Julia Clarke, Pamatta Station.

It’s a Crocodile Dundee-type tale triggered by drought; transport a group of city slickers to the bush, and watch them fall in love with the landscape by spinning the ultimate yarn.

Source: Flinders Merino

Source: Flinders Merino

My story on this unique ‘student exchange’ appears in the June/July 2015 issue of Outback magazine.

Source: Flinders Merino

Source: Flinders Merino

“And what always amazes me is that they are so overawed by it all; they all love a lamb, but it’s also the first time many of them have been in a rural area and we will often find them sitting close together – they’re so used to being in a city environment, and it takes a long time for them to understand that sense of space that Australia offers.”  – Julia Clarke

Say Grace Café & Larder

Well, isn’t this food for thought:

graceWords of wisdom from Safe Grace Cafe & Larder in Casterton, Victoria.

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Owner, Penelope Farquharson, could see potential in this tiny country town with its main street layered in history and fit for a film set.

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Her store has become a destination for ladies who lunch, farmers, footy players…and freelance journalists like me, with a healthy appetite and a trained eye for a great story.

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Penelope’s story is in the June 2015 edition of Australian Country Style magazine.

SA Gardens – ‘Ellora’, Wrattonbully

Wrattonbully, in South Australia’s Limestone Coast, is serious wine country – local grapes were selected for the latest vintage of Penfolds Grange! Gardens also flourish in these fertile soils, however they’re fairly sparse in number, making the stately property ‘Ellora’ something of a head-turner.ElloraTucked beyond an exquisite stone wall on a long, empty road, Ellora commands a strong presence among its paddock surrounds. Ellora-2My story on ‘Ellora’ is in the May 2015 edition of SA Life magazine. BTW the owners also make fabulous wine!

James Nagorcka profile in Outback Magazine

Outback Magazine is celebrating its 100th issue!

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Long-time contributor John Dunn sums up the essence of this hugely popular publication in UP CLOSE:

“It’s been the aim of its writers to answer the call by noted historian C.E.W. Bean, who long ago lamented: ‘The truth is that there exists inside coastal Australia a second Australia of which most people know very little’. If Bean were alive today and able to read the 100 issues of Outback, we hope he’d think we were filling that gap.” – John Dunn

I am so privileged to also write for this magazine. It has given me an opportunity to meet and be inspired by some truly amazing people, like James Nagorcka (also profiled in this edition). After building his own tractor on his property just outside of Hamilton, Victoria, this unassuming Aussie farmer won contracts with US giant John Deere. “We’re as far removed from over there as you can imagine, but it certainly got them a machine much quicker than if they were developing it and building it themselves,” he said. Well worth a read!

James and June Nagorcka

James and June Nagorcka

Trotters Joint Venture – Victorian Rail Upgrade

I didn’t know there was such thing as a bus nut until I met Des Trotter and the team behind the Trotters Joint Venture. They successfully co-ordinated arguably the most complex transport operation in Victorian history – replacing trains with buses during the $3.7 billion rail upgrade.

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When you consider that up to 20,000 passengers travel in and out of Melbourne’s Southern Cross Station daily, you start to get some ideas of the planning and logistics needed in order to produce a rail alternative. This video I put together with Robert Tremelling profiles one of the most capable crews you will ever meet.

https://youtu.be/fJYxhjMbSrE

James Morrison’s Academy of Music is where?

James Morrison could have chosen anywhere in Australia to set up his musical academy devoted entirely to jazz. He settled on South Australia’s largest regional city – Mount Gambier.

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Photograph by Marcus Jones

I interviewed James about his bold new venture for the February 28 edition of SAweekend magazine, and he shared his view on why this country location offers the best learning environment for students: “In a big city, there are too many distractions, but if you move away from home, particularly to a place where almost everyone else doing the course is also ‘away’, then there is an immediate momentum towards forming a community. When class ends for the day, instead of all going their separate ways, the students can hang out together and maintain the jazz atmosphere. It’s not that there is nothing else to do – it’s that the hippest thing in town is the academy.”

Click here to read the article in my portfolio.

James is fabulous interview talent, and I love his re-telling of a conversation he had with this year’s artist-in-residence from LA, Jeff Clayton: “He is a professor at five universities in the US, including UCLA, and has absolutely no reason to leave America to go anywhere, but when we talked about it, he said ‘This is the place that I want to teach, I want to be there…now where is it exactly?’” It’s the new Aussie home of jazz!

 

Lucindale – The little town that could…and did.

I am forever intrigued by country towns – how they came to be, and how they manage to survive. Lucindale, in South Australia’s Limestone Coast, is the ultimate rural role model of sustainability. I shared the story of this little town that could (and did) in the February/March 2015 edition of Outback Magazine.

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“Small town, big vision” is its motto, and you would expect nothing less of a place which welcomes 22,000 visitors to its annual South East Field Days (the usual population is 400).

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The town also has a host of sporting clubs – including a triathlon club and a karting club – a country club, caravan rallies, camp drafts, music festivals and the unique exhibition Art in the Sticks, hosted by local farmer-artist Hamish Macdonald. He sums up Lucindale well: “Most little towns are dying, but our town has stayed alive because the town has decided it wants to exist.”

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Living off the Land – Outback Magazine

While farming has never been so innovative, the same can be said for the current crop of sons and daughters coming off the land. Income diversity is the goal, and in the latest edition of Outback magazine, I shared the story of four inspiring people who have used their properties as a launchpad for exciting off-farm careers.

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Victoria’s Geordie Simson is surely living the dream; in addition to running sheep and cattle at his Casterton property, he flies helicopters. The company he works for has contracts to spray pine forests, spread superphosphate, and cull feral animals in the Simpson Desert, the Coorong and the Nullarbor Plain.

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Other weeks, he could be conducting mining surveys or tagging sea lions in the Nuyts Archipelago.

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“It’s the best paddock on the farm, the old flying,” he grins. “I still love the land, but I didn’t just want to be a farmer and have to rely on that income – I wanted to be able to achieve something else and have a fantastic time doing it.”

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