BWDBWD NUMBER 14 SPRING 2017 $5.95

MUSIC

Kicking along inside ...

CRAFTS

SOIL HEALTH

EMBROIDERY

FINE ART

POLITICS

PREMIER PINKS

2 BWD SPRING 2017

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W H A T ’ S W H E R E ?

Zero or hero — that is the gambleof every politician. Your humblescribe is now in the zero brigade

having failed miserably to keep his jobas a peoples’ representative.Not to worry, I will lament no moreand get on with the rest of my life.Sadly, this edition of BWD has beendelayed by the election shenanigansbut anyway, here it is.Are we going to be adequately repre-sented in the new-look QPRC? Thatremains to be seen. The day-to-dayrunning of a council is the job of thestaff and resources should be allocatedon an as-needs basis.My suggestion is for Braidwood toform a liaison group that calls for ameeting with councillors and seniorstaff once or twice a year to comparenotes. We will always get part of thecouncil budget spent in these parts, it’sup to us to ensure it’s on things weidentify as priorities.So, getting back to the magazine. Lynis doing a great job keeping us in goodwith town businesses and Margarethas been collecting stories from here,there and everywhere. If you have astory needing to be told, or you have agreat desire to tell one, drop us a line.At the end of the magazine in my Time& Energy column, I’ve started theconversation about electricity supplyoptions for Braidwood and surrounds.This is a very topical and worthwhilearea of exploration and further study.A small, informal group of locals hasbeen looking at energy options for anumber of years now, following onfrom a 2013 options study paid for bythe NSW Office of Environment andHeritage.Local author, Geoff Davies, has pro -duced an excellent paper that putsmeat on the bones of the idea. Thenext BWD will have the story in moredetail and then we can set about gaug-ing community opinion.If the reactions are positive, it’ll be acase of getting politicians on side tohelp with regulatory hurdles and thenconstruct a financial model to see if itall stacks up.We live in exciting times, mixed withterrifying times; but a time of greatopportunity nevertheless.

Paul

BWDBWD NUMBER 14 SPRING 2017

Publisher & editor: Paul CockramAdvertising sales: Lyn Cram

Contributing editor: Margaret TuckwellProofreading: Bente Jensen

BWD is published by Artplan Graphics64 Budawang Road, Mongarlowe NSW 2622

Telephone: 0417 459 775email: paul@artplan.com.au

Printed by: Trendsetting, Fyshwick ACT

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Preparing the soil for your spring Garden — 15THE LIGHTER SIDE OF MANURE

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Wildlife and wild Death — 21IF IT’S NOT YOUR JOB TO MOVE THE SKITTLED, WHOSE IS IT?

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T H E C A R N I V A L I S N O T Y E T O V E R

2017 SPRING BWD 7

before we went to the UK. Werecorded about 75 or 80 tracks, some-thing like that, between 1963 and1968 and generally speaking, that wasthe sum total of our early recordingperiod. Then, after we reformed in1992, we recorded more material andsince then we’ve recorded a studioalbum and other tracks.

In those days, when you went onshows like Ed Sullivan, did youperform them live or did you mimethem?

We performed. The Ed Sullivan Showsand other programmes in Americawere all live, but in England, on Top ofthe Pops and other TV shows like that,the artists mimed, so we mimed alongwith all the others. Even The Beatlesmimed, everyone mimed. It was onlylater on that shows like Top of thePops insisted on their acts performinglive.

Judith Durham has a fantastic voice.I was listening to Danny Boy. She isa wonderful singer.

She has and yes, she performs a greatinterpretation of that song.

The other thing I noticed about hervoice, I thought, was perhaps it got alittle bit richer as she got older.

Well, it’s very much in the ear of thebeholder, I believe. There were acouple of tracks that she did inMelbourne before we went to England,where her voice is absolutely pristine.Then there were subsequent ones thatshe did later when we were inEngland, and they sound great as well.So, perhaps in that four or five yearperiod there was a bit of maturity inher voice, but nevertheless that cleartone was unmistakable, really.

And you fellows had your harmoniesdown pat before she joined anyway, Isuppose.

Well, we had a few of them down pat,yes, because Ken, as I said, had a veryhigh voice, and so getting aroundthose harmonies was pretty straight-forward. But I’ve been arranging theharmonies for the group since westarted, so it was kind of a continuum,if you like.

Are you the arranger?

Yes, of the harmonies, the music andgenerally acting as a kind of musicaldirector for the group. The othersthrow in ideas and then we come to aconclusion. It works well.

So, when you had a song written foryou was it just the words that werewritten and you composed the music,or did it come as a package?

The song was in a finished state as amelody and a set of lyrics, and then itwas up to me to arrange it for thegroup.

Have you a favourite after all thistime?

Yes, I suppose‘The Carnival Is Over’ isprobably my favourite,and ‘I’ll Never Find

Another You’ follows onpretty closely from that.

They’re both Tom Springfield songs.Then there are a few that I quite like,but generally as far as our hit recordsare concerned, it’s those two, for meanyway, that stand out.

Why do you think it is that songslike ‘Morningtown Ride’ are a type ofsong that doesn’t exist anymore.Like, straight and conservative. Popsongs are not like that anymore.Have we moved on?

I think there are versions of that styleof song still around. I’m reminded ofthe Pharrell Williams song ‘Happy’.[sings] “Because I’m happy ...” That isa song that I think we probably couldhave done our own version of 30 or 40years ago — or a song like that. I wentto see a Pete Murray concert last nightin Batemans Bay. We bought his CD

and were listening to it we as we weredriving home to Braidwood, and forinstance, there’s one song on it that wecould’ve covered.So, I think again, it’s in the ear of thebeholder. It’s like talking aboutJudith’s voice, and how each songimpinges on the listener. I think thatwhile there’s a lot of alternative musiclike rap and hip hop, etc. nowadays,that didn’t exist in the era in which wewere performing, equally there was bigband, swing and things like that thatdidn’t translate into the rock’n’roll eraof Elvis Presley and his peers. OnceThe Beatles and The Rolling Stonescame along, that whole genre changedagain. So, that’s a long-winded way of sayingthat perhaps there are songs that canstill translate onto each decade.

Does religion play any part in thegroup or your personal philosophy,or that of the group?

Religion plays no part in my philoso-phy. Judith is a very spiritual person.She has a guru, a master in India thatshe follows.We recorded and performed a lot ofgospel songs in our time, mainlybecause Judith grew up on that kind ofmusic, and when she started perform-ing, before she joined us, she wassinging with a trad jazz band inMelbourne. That sort of gospel mater-ial was very strong in that idiom inthose early sixties. People like FrankTraynor and Frank Johnson had trad

6 BWD SPRING 2017

It started when I was at school, atMelbourne High School. While Iwas in fifth form I formed a trio.

The next year we added another voiceto become a quartet — but that groupthen disbanded. Athol Guy, at thetime, had a trio and then his groupbroke up. All this happened inMelbourne, I’m a Melbourne boy, Igrew up there. Out of those two groups came anothergroup that Athol and I started, whichmorphed into ‘The Seekers’. TheSeekers were actually four men to startoff with. There was Athol Guy, BruceWoodley, myself and Ken Ray. WhenKen left the group, instead of replacinghim with a bloke, we looked aroundfor a girl, because Ken had a very highvoice. That’s how we came across JudyDurham, as she was known in those

days. She became Judith a little lateron. While The Seekers were still fourblokes, we were given this Mondaynight gig at The Treble Clef in SouthYarra in Melbourne. Then Judithjoined the group and took over the roleas the fourth member. We playedevery Monday night and we were paidin spaghetti bolognese — all we couldeat. That was our recompense for thegig.

Which was the tune that launchedThe Seekers onto the world stage, orat least onto the Australian stage?

Well, it was the same record thatlaunched us all over the place — ‘I’llNever Find Another You’ written byTom Springfield. That really kicked off the whole thing,because when we were in Australia we

were what you might call a littlecoffee-lounge group. But when wewent overseas we found that there wasa bigger audience out there. Thenluckily, Tom Springfield came alongand started writing fantastic songs forus and producing our records. Thatwas how we became known interna-tionally.‘I’ll Never Find Another You’ was writ-ten specifically for us. Later on, Tomwas asked to write the theme song forthe film ‘Georgy Girl’, and he collabo-rated with Jim Dale who wrote somelyrics for ‘Georgy Girl’. That was theonly film song that we had in ourcareer.

Was it England or America first?

It was England first for us. We went toEngland in 1964, then because of thesuccess of our early recordings, partic-ularly ‘Georgy Girl’, which was anumber one hit all over the world, butespecially in the US, we becameknown in America as well. ButAustralia was always our home, eventhough we were based in the UK for allthat time. We arrived in England in 1964 so theoriginal span of the group was from1962 to when we broke up in 1968. We started recording while we were inAustralia in 1963, so there was thatextra year while we were in Australia

Keith PotgerYou’ve heard of ‘The Seekers’, right? OK, you young onesare excused. For the rest of us the Carnival is never over.Paul Cockram went to see Keith now he lives here and

started by asking him how he got into music

KEITH AT HOME WITH PARTNER ELIZABETH HAWKES.

THE SEEKERS RECEIVING A GOLD RECORD FOR GEORGY GIRL IN 1967. PHOTOFROM THE GRAHAM SIMPSON ARCHIVE.

G O L D E N O L D I E S

8 BWD SPRING 2017

What sort of music interests younow? Are you still arranging yourown material, or do like to do some ofthe older stuff?

My music interests and influences arevery varied and I try to keep in touchwith whatever’s popular. When itcomes to my concert material, well, it’sa combination of new and old really.

When I do my solo showsI like to do some songsthat meant a lot to meduring my school days.

Then I take it through in a kind ofchronological fashion, but I’m writinga lot of songs at the moment. I’mtrying to get those finished — it’s oneof those things where I have to keepworking diligently, trying to get themcompleted. Then hopefully by the end of this yearI’ll have my fourth solo CD ready to goand that will contain all new material.But I may revisit some older songs,who knows?

Do you miss the interplay ofharmony and stuff, or do you thinkyou might sing with another person?

Yes, I do miss it. In fact, on myrecordings, I generally do my ownharmonies to fill in that little gap. The

sonic gap, shall we say, of theharmonies. Yeah, I love them. I loveharmony singing, and Elizabeth and Ising melody and harmony from time totime. Not professionally yet, but younever know.

I’ve been writing songs with AllanCaswell, the renowned country singer.He and I have finished five songswhich we’re demo-ing at the moment.Either I’m doing the lead and Allan’ssinging harmonies, or Allan’s singingthe lead and I’m doing harmonies. So,that’s another venture that I’veembarked on.

So, here you are in Braidwood. Howdid that come about?

That came about because I met alovely lady, Elizabeth Hawkes, andthen we became an item. We travelleda lot after we first met, because TheSeekers were still touring at that stage.Because of her expertise and creativitywith a professional camera, shebecame the official photographer forThe Seekers, so that became a positiveconnection for us all.We’ve known each other for four yearsnow and she already had this propertyin Braidwood. After all that travelling,we decided that we would settle in andcomplete the restoration of it. It’s beena decision that we don’t regret making.It’s great.

Are you involved in the music scenein this part of the world nowadays?

Well, as involved as I can be, I guess.I still perform solo concerts and I’vejust been in Victoria performing.Before that I was up in northern NewSouth Wales, doing some soloconcerts, and I am hoping to performagain at the National Theatre at theend of this year. We haven’t got a finaldate for that, but it’s probably going tobe late November, early December. I am involved in the committee that’shelping with the renovation of theNational Theatre. So, I’m gradually inmy own little way getting moreinvolved as time goes on.

Is there anything I haven’t askedthat you’d like to just say anyway, aspart of your contem porary life here inthis part of the world?

Well, I think you’ve covered it prettywell, Paul. What should I say? Myactivities around town are generallypretty low key, and I just appreciatethe fact that people can say, “Goodday,” and I’m just another bloke intown, really. A lot of people knowwhere I live so it’s not as thoughthere’s a great wall of secrecy aroundmy day to day activities. It’s wonderful and I enjoy it all hugely.

bands in Melbourne. So, that sort ofmusic, ‘We Shall Not Be Moved’ andsongs like that were part of the reper-toire of those bands.

When did The Seekers last performtogether?

We last performed together doing aNew Zealand tour in November 2014.After Judith had her brain haemor-rhage in 2013 she recovered reallywell from it and we were able tocomplete a UK tour in the middle of2014 followed later that year by NewZealand. Yes, I suppose that was thelast time — November 2014.

Was there a downside, do you think,in having fame? Like being at the Topof the Pops number one, or whatever,for a series of years. Did you sacrificesomething in terms of just being ableto wander down to the shops?

Actually, we’ve all been really lucky inthat we don’t get harassed by fans. Ithink there are some bands that dohave issues with their fans, but wenever experienced that. We just expe-rienced wonderful loyalty and respect.It’s just great that they respect us asindividuals and as human beings.

You didn’t have teenage girlsclimbing up the outside of the hotellike they did when The Beatles werehere?

No, nor in the inside of the hotel as itturns out. No part of the hotel did theyever climb up for us.

2017 SPRING BWD 9

In the early hours of October 251949, an armada of hundreds ofwooden fishing boats with 9000

troops on board set out from mainlandChina. Its mission was to strike thefirst blow for Mao Zedong’s People’sRepublic of China in its quest toconquer finally the Republican forcesof Chiang Kai-shek.During the Second World War, in asector not much covered in our historybooks, the Sino-Japanese war cost thelives of 10-25 million Chinese civiliansand about 4 million soldiers on bothsides. The Japanese invaders werebeing fought by two distinct Chinesearmies — the ‘people’s’ army of MaoZedong and others, and the ‘official’Republican army of Chiang Kai-shek.After the defeat of Japan, the twoChinese armies turned on each otherand the Repub licans were eventually

driven from the mainland, by thePeople’s Liber ation Army, falling backto Taiwan and the small islands of theKinmen archipelago. With these islands being but a fewkilometres from Xiamen on the south-eastern coast of China, it must haveseemed to Mao Zedong like a goodplace to start the end game — theconquest of Taiwan.But on that October night, the Nation -alist forces were better prepared thanthe communists had been led tobelieve. Then, fortuitously for thedefenders, one of their own nightpatrols accidentally detonated a mineand when flares were sent up to inves-tigate, the approaching invaders werecaught in plain sight.Many of Mao’s soldiers died in theirboats and many more were cut downas they fought their way on to the

beaches. Nevertheless, thousands ofthem made it to shore, regrouped andfought their way inland.In another stroke of luck for the defen -ders, a Republic of China naval boathad been lurking nearby, rumoured tohave been engaging in a spot of smug-

Heavy industryNot many factories have their raw materials arrive by air,

certainly not through the roof. Kinmen is different.

THE COMMUNISTS RETREATED TO THE BEACH TO FIND THEIR BOATS DESTROYED. SURRENDERING SEEMED LIKE A GOOD CHOICE.

THE BEACH OBSTACLES ARE STILL THERE.

K I T C H E N A R T I L L E R Y

2017 SPRING BWD 11

Our trip to Kinmen Island was my third visit to Taiwan.I was first invited to participate in the Yilan Inter -

national Invitational Printmaking exhibition, held in YilanProvince in the north-east of Taiwan in 2015. ProfessorChung, a retired professor of printmaking at the NationalTaiwan University of Fine Arts, has a commitment topromoting local artists as well as bringing the best of inter-national printmaking from the Asia Pacific region toregional provinces. I have been honoured to be included in three exhibitions:In Yilan, where a new museum of contemporary art hasbeen established, in Yunlin, the poorest province inTaiwan — where the regional government has a commit-ment to build local business through the arts and environ-ment — and finally in Kinmen.It is a two way exchange where local, national and inter-national artists have the opportunity to spend time witheach other, sharing experiences of their working lives butalso their techniques.

... and from Paul

It was my first trip to that part of the world. In the timewe were on Kinmen we did not see any other people like

us — tall and ruddy from the heat. In a place riddled withtunnels it’s not such a great thing to be tall.And it’s the coastal fortifications and the ants nest-like

and abroad for its ‘MaestroWu’ knivesand cleavers.The supply of steel increased dramati-cally in the 1958-1978 propagandawar when, as comical as it seems now,China and Taiwan fired leaflet-filledartillery shells at each other across the10 km sea. For twenty years, Chinasent shells over on the odd-numbereddays of the month. Kinmen answeredfire on the in-between days.

The artillery shell to knife productionprocess consists of cutting a piecefrom the shell, smelting, hammering,forging, grinding and polishing. Oneartillery shell can make about 60 steelknifes.Today’s Maestro Wu, Wu Tseng-Dong,estimates that his supply will sustainthe steel knife making industry onKinmen for at least forty or fifty years— and that’s a lot of knives.

his shoulder as he travelled across theisland making and selling his knives.Not many industries receive their rawmaterials in such abundance or undersuch trying conditions. In August1958, as a result of worsening rela-tions with China, the island was hit byover 400,000 artillery shells. WuTseng-dong collected the most intact ofthese shells and the Kinmen SteelKnife factory became famous at home

tunnels linking them that visitors are most likely to beshown. We have nothing like it in our history. It’s remark-able that after all Kinmen and other parts of Taiwan haveendured, there is no animosity towards the people of main-land China.The Taiwanese would just like to be acknowledged as apeople with a country and be recognised by all other worldgovernments. Even to this day, the Communist Party rulingChina uses bullying tactics on anyone who have the temer-ity to recognise Taiwan as an independent state. Onlytwenty small countries defy China and recognise Taiwan(ROC), thereby losing their diplomatic relations with thePeople’s Republic of China.Australia, of course, is not one of them. n

10 BWD SPRING 2017

M E T A L A S A N Y T H I N G

gling on the side. It then opened fireon the beached fishing boats, destroy-ing most of them and preventing theirreturn to the mainland for the secondwave of another 10,000 troops.After fierce fighting lasting three days,the remaining 1300 People’s Republicof China soldiers, running short of

food and ammunition, were drivenback to the beach. There, after discov-ering their only means of escape hadbeen reduced to splintered, blazingwreckage, they surrendered en masse.The whole PROC invading army,including a smaller second wave thatarrived during the battle, was lost.

International gunboat diplomacy andthe Korean war then put paid to Mao’sdesire to forcibly reunite the ‘twoChinas’ by military invasion.In 1952 US President Harry S.Truman toyed with the idea of usingatom bombs to destroy the People’sRepublic of China’s military strengthso that Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalistscould retake control of China. [A fore-runner to today’s madness over NorthKorea.] To support this crazy idea, the garri-son on Kinmen was increased to58,000 troops. As a result Chinacommenced an aerial bombardment ofthe island using conventional artillery.Kinmen returned fire and during thisperiod many hundreds of people diedon each side.

Birth of an industryKinmen has had its share of ‘manna

from heaven’. During WW2, steelwas hard to get so an enterprisingman, Wu Chao Hsi, started collectingcasings from bombs dropped by theAllies on Kinmen. [Taiwan and itsislands had been under Japanese rulesince 1891.]He earned the reputation of ‘MaestroWu’ by carrying his forging furnace on

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THE MAESTRO WU FACTORY WITH ITS COPIOUS SUPPLY OF STEEL SHELLS. THEWORKER ON THE LEFT IS MELTING A SHELL SECTION IN THE FURNACE, THE STAMP-ING PRESS IS IN THE CENTRE, WHILE ANOTHER WORKER POLISHES A BLADE.

How this storycame about

Alison Alder and Paul Cockramtravelled to Taiwan and then to Kinmen

as part of Alison’s art practice.She leads off ...

THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT. FROM LEFT TO RIGHT:PROFESSOR LIN, PAUL, ALISON, PROFESSOR CHUNG ANDOUR TRANSLATOR, GUIDE AND GOOD FRIEND TERRI TANG.

THIS KNIFE TOOKABOUT TWENTY-FIVE MINUTES,

WHILE WEWATCHED, TO GO

FROM BOMB SHELLTO KITCHENAPPLIANCE.

TO OUR GREATSURPRISE IT WASTHEN ENGRAVEDAND PRESENTEDTO US AS A GIFT.

A N D T H E W I N N E R I S . . .

2017 SPRING BWD 13

So said the judgeAdriane Boag from the

National Gallery of Australiawas the judge this year

Hello everybody. I’d just like tostart, also, by acknowledging the

traditional owners of this place onwhich we meet tonight and toacknowledge the history of creativity

in this land — and to congratulate allof you on this wonderful display. I alsogrew up in a country town. I grew upin a town called Canowindra in thecentral west of New South Wales. I remember the moment quite clearlyin year four when I knew it was possi-ble to be an artist. I remember howexciting and liberating that moment is.I would like to congratulate all of youon your decision and your bravery by

12 BWD SPRING 2017

This award has emerged out of the 2014Braidwood Heritage Art Prize whichresurfaced a few years ago thanks to

the concerted efforts of a small band of dedi-cated workers. It was run in conjunctionwith the Heritage Festival celebratingBraidwood’s 175th birthday.The previous Heritage Art Prize had, beforethat, run for over 10 years with the winningartworks forming the core of the BraidwoodHospital art collection. The 2014 Art Prizeincluded for the first time a youth art awardand BRAG is continuing this support andfostering of youth arts in our region.The Braidwood Community Bank has onceagain been a generous donor to the BRAGpublic fund to support local arts and thisyear BRAG directed these funds to theBraidwood Regional Youth Art Award.

2017 BRAG Youth Art AwardsPaul Cockram went along to record the event

ALEX ROYDS, SURROUNDED BY SUPPORTIVE AND INQUISITIVE FAMILY WITH HIS PRIZE-WINNING WORK, ‘ELEVATED SURFACE’.

NICK FRY FROM THEBRAIDWOOD COMMUNITY BANK.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: BRAGPRESIDENT MAGGIE HICKEY WITH LILYMUNNINGS ‘STAR DUST AND MORTAR’AND JUDGE ADRIANE BOAG; REBECCADORAN “TEAR IT OPEN’; BRIANAEMERSON ‘SUNFLOWER SUTRA’; LOGANPRESTON ‘SILVER WINGS’; TOM ALDER‘FROZEN BIRDBATH’; LOUIS MUNNINGS‘UNTITLED 2’.

W H E N T O O M U C H A R T I S N E V E R E N O U G H

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entering into this prize. I wish all of you, whether or notyou win a prize tonight, all the very, very best of yourcontinuing journey as artists. If any of you would like to come and talk to me about yourparticular work, it would be really lovely to talk to you nowthat I’ve looked at your work which I did on Tuesday. Ispent a really delightful morning here at BRAG. I will saythough, that there was no heating — I just made a decisionin five seconds flat [laughs]. No, not at all! I spent a lot oftime looking at your work, pondering and thinking aboutwhat is was you were trying to achieve. I hope that you feel that I have honoured the contributionthat you have all made. It’s never at all easy to choose,even in three categories; it’s never easy to choose betweenworks of work, which all show skill and which are also, I

realised, in such diverse media. I’ve done my best. Thereare always people who miss out. I would just like to saythat if you don’t get a prize tonight, please, please don’t bedisheartened. There are more artists in the world whohaven’t got prizes than who have.

I think that you should just continue on.You should just say to yourself,“She obviously knows nothing.”

I’m delighted that you all feel such a passion for the visualarts, which is what I have. It’s really the thing that’sdirected my whole life. I don’t think I know really anythingabout anything else. As I get older, my knowledge in otherareas just recedes. The visual arts kind of takes up mywhole world. If any of you are getting to the end of Year 11, please alsocome and talk to me and consider applying for theNational Summer Arts Scholarship. I don’t think that we have ever had a student fromBraidwood. I don’t think we’ve ever even had a studentwho’s applied from Braidwood. Let’s make January 2018the exception where we have a student from here inCanberra for a week. It’s only an hour and a half away.(If you are interested in applying, talk to someone atBRAG.)Without further ado, I really think that I need to tell youwho are winning the major prizes today. As well, I wouldreally like to acknowledge the invaluable help that hasbeen provided to me by Janetta and also by Maggie.Maggie was here on Tuesday and we had quite a fewdiscussions. She made sure she didn’t give me any infor-mation. I kept fishing around for things but she was justlike resolute. Again, congratulations to your community and all of theartists here. Thank you very, very much to all the sponsorsand for your generosity. Thank you. n

ELA AND JARRAH PARSONS.

W O M A N U R E

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The first two months of winterwere very cold and dry and thisoften leads to a hot dry spring.

If the weather in the first weeks ofAugust are any indication, then awarm spring seems likely. Already thesoil temperature is heating up whichmeans it is time to start preparationfor the spring and summer garden. Soil preparation is the key to anysuccessful garden. Strong healthy soilwith accessible nutrients means stronghealthy plants. Organic in the dictio-nary comes from having the character-istics of a living organism. In generalterms we understand organic as mean-ing gardening without chemicals. Thatis, we use additives and inputs thathave originated from or are by-prod-ucts of living matter. Gardeningorganically also means treating thesoil as if it were alive. That is, some-thing needing food, water, shelter andproper mineral content to ensure itshealth. When doing some background readingI came across the term soil husbandry.In exploring this term further I cameacross a lot of references from the mid1800s and beyond. It is apparent thatsoil husbandry has had a long tradi-tion within agricultural soil science. Inmodern times it appears that the focusis primarily around preventing soilerosion and degradation; however, init’s more traditional sense soilhusbandry seeks to sustain the agri-cultural soil resource though generalcare and management: by sustaining,feeding and maintaining soil health.

Whether you are a practitioner orproponent of organic based agricultureor a practitioner of industrial agricul-ture it still all begins and ends with thesoil. The major difference in these twoforms of agriculture is the thinking andunderstanding behind them. Indust -rial agriculture is based on the premise

systems of the natural world, ratherthan being inadequate, offer patternsworth following. Compost is one of the most importantadditions to the garden and fits withthe ‘organic’ view of soil health.Compost is an excellent source oforganic matter and nutrients. Itcontains all the major plant nutrients,nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium,as well as all the minor nutrients thatplants need. Furthermore, it releasesthese nutrients slowly, thus minimis-ing runoff and leaching. Compost ismade from organic materials that havebeen broken down into a dark,crumbly substance known as humus.If you do not have your own supply ofquality compost, there are other alter-natives. We are very fortunate that all thegreen waste collected in our region isbeing converted into compost. SimoneDalkara is the compost maker andruns the Landtasia compost facility. Itis the only organically certified greenwaste facility in NSW (and possiblyAustralia) and her compost is full ofnutrients and microbiology.While there are whole books writtenon the subject of soil and a large rangeof organic inputs to use on soil, thefollowing is a simple regime for homegardeners in preparing and maintain-ing the kitchen garden:

Compost — 2 buckets for each 1 sq.metre sectionBlood & Bone — 200g per squaremetre Dynamic Lifter (or similar) — 100gper square metreDolomite or lime — 1 handful persquare metreSheep or any pelleted animalmanure (this is the only type ofanimal manure that is not hot and canbe directly applied to the garden — 1bucket (10 litre) per square metreA Seaweed based Fertiliser — Thiscould be a liquid fertiliser or miner-alised.

This formulae is one of the mostvalued by the gardeners who attendour popular day workshop ‘All SeasonCool Climate Vegetable Growing’www.wynlenhouse.com/workshops

I write weekly on the Village Farmerblog at:http://www.wynlenhouse.com/the-village-farmer-a-blog published on aMonday evening.Happy gardening ...

Bronwyn Richards,Principal gardener, Wynlen House

that natural systems are inadequateand need to be replaced with humansystems. I.e. inorganic fertilisers aresuperior as they are outside of thenatural system. On the other handorganic agriculture sees that the

Preparing and maintainingsoil in your spring garden

WYNLEN’SGARDEN IN

SPRING 17

F A B R I C O F S O C I E T Y

2017 SPRING BWD 17

When Gai came to Braidwood she joined a number ofgroups including the Quilters where she learnt to moveout of her comfort zone of colours and at times be wild andvibrant, an example being one of her prize winning quiltsat the 2017 Braidwood Show.Gai has vast experience in quilting techniques and tipsand tricks which she willingly shares with many of theBraidwood Quilters and is exceptional in guiding theyounger members of the group. She recently ran a two daycourse of creating fabric from strips and small piecesstitched together — and created a clutch style purse.Liberty fabrics are one of her favourites which she blendstogether for patches within a quilt or uses them inappliqué.Gai is also a quiet achiever in the background, creatinggifts for the Quilters Luncheon in July and finishing off allthe stray tasks prior to the Airing of the Quilts.

Jenny WallaceThe Singer handle type machine belonging to her grand-mother was the first machine Jenny used when aged 9 or10. Then in the early 1960s she was given a brand newSinger Electric machine as a wedding present. During thefollowing decade Jenny used many reels of cotton makingclothes for her growing family as well as uniforms forschool. A decade plus found Jenny entering the craze ofknit fabrics where she attended one of her first ever sewingclasses; more reels and fabric were acquired.Then jump two decades and Jenny’s world changed when,she made her first quilt (to right of picture). Each piece washand sewn then hand quilted after which she was‘hooked’.

16 BWD SPRING 2017

There are numerous quilters within the Braidwooddistrict with various diverse styles, and together theywould fill an entire issue of BWD. To choose some andomit others whilst not wishing to offend was indeed adifficult task. So I decided to interview ladies who are not only quil-ters but who share their experience, knowledge, ‘stashof fabrics’ and time within the community. They haveall been involved in the ‘Airing of the Quilts’ for anumber of years and continue to provide a selection ofquilts and/or create bunting which adds additionalcolour and technique to Wallace Street.

The original reason for airing quilts was to hang themon a clothes line or balcony in the spring when thesun shines and there is a fair chance of wind. This

enabled the quilts to flutter in the breeze and easilyremove dust which may have accumulated over the wintermonths and also to reduce the need to hand wash thequilt. Move on to the 1990s and a new reason for airing quiltsbegan here in Braidwood; to display quilts hanging fromhistoric buildings, in shop windows and quilts entered forthe indoor competition at the National Theatre. The eventhas been successful for over 20 years and attracts bothlocals and visitors and helps provide a financial gain to thetown. Of course a project like this does not just happen — itrequires good planning and assistance from the commu-nity to hang and take down the quilts. In the past this hasbeen done using tall ladders, however, we need to take intoaccount the occupation health and safety of all. This yearthe committee requests building owners either hang thequilts or permit volunteers to enter the premises to hangthe quilts. Quilts hung below the balconies will be raisedusing a hooked pole method.The quilts need to be hung within a short timeframe andfor that we require assistance from the general Braidwood

community. If you are able to help, please contact 0458605 786 or margaret@braidwoodquiltevent.org.au.

Gai MorganGai, like many others, first learnt to sew by hand at schooland remembers one of her first pieces being ‘shadow work’on organza. As a member of a resourceful migrant familyGai learnt to make both clothes and lingerie at an earlyage.On entering the workforce Gai first worked as a ‘signwriter’ for displays at Grace Brothers, then taught both dayand evening classes at TAFE. She later re-educated tobecome a library technician. Her first quilt was all stitched by hand, joining all thepieces and then the actual quilting with needle and threadand the aid of a thimble. Gai continues to hand stitch someof her quilts, a precise and quiet art which suits herpersonality.

AIRING?OF?THE?QUILTS

2016 – BRAIDWOOD AIRINGOF THE QUILTS

Margaret Tuckwell provides a stitch-by-stitch account of some of the quilters of Braidwood

Gai Morgan

Jenny Wallace

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C O T T O N C L U B

2017 SPRING BWD 19

modern quilts. She began making them in the late 1980s,when it became acceptable to use a sewing machine.Robyn loves fabrics that have a range of colours that blendinto each other, whether they be earth tones, pastels orbright, with favourites being Batiks, Fossil Fern andStonehenge.Her favourite quilt technique is ‘stack and slash’, Thedifferent patterns that come from the same fabric alwaysamaze her. Robyn enjoys trying something new; combiningvibrant coloured fabrics, using different types of thread orcombination of various designs. At a recent BQI workshop,whilst most ladies brought fabric to make a handbag,Robyn stepped out of the comfort zone and brought aprevious knitted jumper which had been felted. Over the years Robyn has been to a number of quiltretreats in many lovely places, the most exciting one beinga retreat in August 2016 to Uluru. It was organised byCaroline Sharkey and her wonderful team of experiencedteachers. Robyn chose two thread painting classes andcompleted a desert scene and a view of Uluru. Robyn waspleased with the outcome (as well she should be) judgingby the photo and looks forward to attending again in 2018.Robyn has been a member of the BQI committee for anumber of years and is a past president.

Sue ChinneryThe ever-smiling Sue learnt to sew under the guidance ofher grandmother who owned a machine with a kneecontrol. At age 15 she began to teach herself how to makea quilt with five inch squares. This quilt rested ‘on theshelf’ for some years, but is now complete and has prideof place on her bed.For her 18th birthday her grand-parents presented herwith a new sewing machine which she still uses today;many metres of thread have passed thru the bobbin.When bringing up her children there was minimal sparetime for sewing but Sue now finds and makes time topursue two of her favourite pastimes quilting andconstructing a large dolls house.

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Jenny became passionate and enthusiastic with quilting,two descriptions which also define her personality anddrive. Her passion for fabric ‘I love them all’ and style ofquilting being stack and slash which she finds exciting.From a patterned fabric an entity is chosen, repeatedwithin the fabric and then stacked to form a new object,this process is repeated from another entity within the

‘Airing of the Quilt’ events as well as working with otherlike-minded local ladies to create quilts for needy peopleand other causes. Whilst her number of personalised quiltsis over 300, her total of cooperation quilts is far higher.Her willingness (another strength) has found her organis-ing and contributing fabric and time towards making quiltsfor victims affected by floods in Queensland, fires inVictoria and more recently families in nearby Carwoola.Her latest project is comfort quilts for children which willbe distributed to Fire and Ambulance groups to help givecomfort to children affected by a trauma.In addition to assisting the BQI and Airing of the Quilts,Jenny has been lucky to visit the town of Sister in OregonState, USA which also hosts an annual Airing of the Quilts.Whilst the number of visitors in Sister is far greater thanBraidwood due to higher population within the area, Jennywas amazed to find that many origins travel from aroundthe world to the Sister’s airing of the quilts and are unitedin their love and admiration of quilting. In her own words,‘Quilts build bridges; people look, admire and engage inconversation as they chat about a specific quilt’.

Lesley HornCurrently the President of Braidwood Quilters Inc., a posi-tion she has held previously along with other committeepositions.With almost a decade between her and two older brothers,Lesley had their attention to play and learn. It was actuallyone brother who taught her to knit, her first experience ofcrafts.

tunity to learn all the main processes to make her ownclothes; she took the challenge to make a skirt rather thanthe easy option of a 1960s shift. Her ambition was to bea domestic art teacher based on the admiration of herteacher and all things to do with textiles. Lesley still hasher first sewing exercise book from primary school. Thisdelightful book contains drawings of dresses and blouses,samples of blanket and chain stitch and the more difficultsatin stitch and smocking. It is an indication to her desireto maintain and teach quilting and embroidery to othergenerations. She enjoys passing on her knowledge to otherquilters and currently, teaching sewing skills to her younggranddaughters. In the 1970s in Childers near Bundaberg, Queensland shebegan her first attempt at quilting and made a needle case.This was the beginning of Lesley’s fascination for fabricand what you can do with it and a fabric collection began. Whilst she had attended a number of classes, it was notuntil a decade ago, when she moved to Braidwood, thatquilting took up more of her time. Travelling toQueanbeyan with June Weatherstone and undergoing‘curiosity challenges’ and ‘pass the parcel’ concepts ofquilting really got Lesley hooked. Not only has Lesley worked tirelessly with the Airing of theQuilts for many years, she has worked behind the scenesto ensure the Braidwood Quilters have accommodation oftheir own, to create quilts and bunting for the event, quiltsfor the needy, classes and above all a place for like-mindedpeople to enjoy one another’s company.

Robyn SmithRobyn grew up watching her mother sew clothes for herdaughters. By the time she was twelve, Robyn was makingall her clothes on a Singer treadle sewing machine. Acouple of years later the family purchased an electricmachine. Her enthusiasm with this new machine resultedwith a trip to the doctor because she was not used to thespeed and did not get her finger out of the way quicklyenough. The needle broke off in her finger.Robyn has always loved and admired both heritage and

For a full list of participating artists visit: www.visitqueanbeyan.com.au/qprc-arts-trail-2017

www.facebook.com/events/1940997842782869/

fabric pattern. Using thisprocess a new picture iscreated and often themaker does not know howit will turn out.Her enthusiasm andbubbly personality hasbeen welcomed at many

Whilst still at home waiting tobe old enough to attendschool, Lesley began to makehankies and clothes for herdolls from the scraps hermother had left over frommaking clothes for the family.This then extended to a rug forher cat and further clothes forstuffed toys and dolls.High school gave her an oppor-

Lesley Horn

Sue Chinnery

Robyn Smith

Braidwood workshopswith Lisa Walton

Lisa will be teaching three of her mostpopular workshops in conjunction withthe Airing of the Quilts in Braidwood.

23-26th November 2017

All workshops will be held at theBraidwood Servicemen’s Club

Cnr Coronation Ave & Victory St Braidwood

Reserve your space in these workshops atwww.lisawaltonartist.com

for more information contact Lisa at:info@lisawaltonartist.com

or call 0414 745 287

T H U M P !

2017 SPRING BWD 21

Igot the call from Majors CreekWombat Refuge at about 8.00amon a cold Sunday morning in July.

A wombat had been reported killed afew kilometres south of where I liveand there was a baby in the pouch.Could I go and get the joey? Ten minutes later I had a frozen butalive wombat joey up my jumper tokeep it warm until I handed her overto be hand-reared with the otherrescued orphans at the Refuge.On average I remove about fourcarcasses a week from the roadbetween my place and Braidwood:wombats, kangaroos, wallabies. I’mnot the only one — there are a lot ofthoughtful people, not all of whom aremembers of NARG, who stop andremove roadkill from the middle of theroad and check pouches for joeys. Asmuch as anything else, it’s a safetymeasure for other motorists. It’scommon sense to remove bodies fromblind curves where they present ahazard to anyone approaching thatcurve, particularly at night or in fog.What amazes me is the negative atti-tude displayed by some peopletowards animals — wildlife in particu-lar — and those who care for them.This attitude can manifest in twoways: ignorance or anger. Ignorance can be addressed by theright information to assist people indeveloping wildlife strategies for theirproperties and thereby develop a posi-tive attitude towards non-domesticanimals. There are, of course, thosewho have rusted-on misconceptionsand won’t budge from their positionregardless of how much information isavailable, but I’m always hopeful thatthose people can change.The anger, however, confounds me.These people lash out at anyone whois pro-wildlife and refuse to accept amore caring view. They resort to sneer-ing put-downs or high-handed claimsabout their own rightness. They makeridiculous accusations.Why would people be angry? I believethe answer is fear: fear of their ownlack of compassion; fear of their inca-pacity to put the interests of others(including other species) ahead oftheir own interests; fear that their lackof compassion may be exposed — tothemselves as well as others. There isno rational basis for this, but fear isnot a rational emotion. It’s a primalresponse to something we don’t under-stand. It is, at source, the ‘fight orflight’ response. People who expressanger at animal advocates areresponding to the ‘fight’ instinctagainst something they don’t under-stand: human compassion.

Thankfully, however, animal carerscontinue to do what they do. Withoutthem the world is a poorer place.To answer some of the negative com -ments about wildlife that commonlypop up on social media:

“Wombats are in plague proportion.”No, they’re not. In fact, wombat popu-lations are in decline. You’re seeing alot of them around because, firstly,their range is being reduced by humandevelopment, which means they’rebeing marginalised into smaller andsmaller territories. Also, with the dryweather, they’re going to graze wherethey can get grass. That means inpeople’s yards, close to homes andalong the sides of roads.

“You don’t know what it’s like tohave a wombat under your house.”Yes, I do. I have had a long-runningstoush with a particularly persistentwombat who seems to want to be closeto me. After about four years, we havefinally come to an agreement that suitsus both. I’ve filled in the burrow withstones and put wire around where hewas getting under the house and inreturn, the wombat is welcome tograze on what’s left of my grass andkick things around the outside of thehouse noisily in the middle of thenight.

“Kangaroos and wombats arecoming in from the national park.They don’t control them.” Right.That’s what national parks are for:conserving native fauna and flora. Ifyou’re fortunate enough to live adja-cent to one of our national parks,

please understand that wildlife is notgoing to recognise the park boundary.Be grateful. People actually pay for theprivilege of seeing Australian wildlifeand you’re able to live with it. You’rewinning.

“Farmers and greenies will alwaysdisagree on wildlife.” Wrong. Some ofthe ‘greenest’ people I know are farm-ers. These people understand thevalue of native wildlife for biodiversityand are able to work with it ratherthan against it. Sure, it takes a bit ofthought and planning, but that’s whatgood farmers do, no?

“Culling wombats will keep themaway from my house.” That won’twork. Not in the long-term and possiblynot even in the short-term. When awombat burrow is vacated, more oftenthan not another wombat will moveinto it. He or she will then need to reno-vate and extend to suit his- or herself.You’re better off with a solution forliving with the original wombat.

“Kangaroos are a pest species.” No,kangaroos are a native animal. ‘Pest’species are, by definition, those whichhave been introduced post-Europeansettlement and which have acclima-tised to the detriment of the naturalenvironment. Like white people, forinstance.Finally, if you hit an animal on theroad, please stop and remove the bodyfrom the road, and call NARG (48461900) and report it, giving locationand time. Even if you don’t care aboutwildlife, do you really want yourgrandkids to have to pay to see it? n

C L O T H C A P E R S

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The past three years she has focused on making quilts; sheenjoys a challenge and will often continue making a quiltto see how it evolves or until she is happy with the size.These may range in size from lap quilts to queen bed sizeand even miniature size for her dolls house. Sue has only attended lessons in the ‘stack and slash’ tech-nique, the rest of her designs and techniques are from herown motto ‘have a go – there are no rules’. Sue may perusequilt patterns, think about the fabric and colours to use,work out a pattern to compliment a particular fabric andthen let ideas flow from her mind, the result being a uniquequilt.In 2017, Sue was a winner at the Braidwood Show havingmade a quilt from fabric given to her from someone whohad purchased the fabric but could not work out what todo with it. Sue has been a member of the Braidwood Quilters Inc fora number of years and worked tirelessly for the Airing ofthe Quilts; she currently enjoys attending ‘Jenny’s Out-of-House’ Monday group to exchange ideas with like-mindedpeople. n

Stack and Slash This method develops kaleidoscope blocks with a playon pattern. Rather than cutting one single piece offabric at a time, multiple layers of identical fabric withone or two pattern repeats are stacked in a single pileand then cut simultaneously; three to six layers can becut in an accurate fashion. Once all the pieces are cut,they are rearranged and sewn back together to make astunning quilt block. Fabric with various patterns cancreate unique patterns within a block. From the pansieson the border the various circles have been created.

from Dr Louise Baskind ParvoParvovirus, usually known as parvo, is an infectiousdisease that affects dogs. It causes a severe vomitingand diarrhoea syndrome, and can also affect the heart.It is highly infectious, and is passed in the faeces ofinfected dogs. The virus can then remain stable in theenvironment for years. A dog does not have to have direct contact with aninfected dog, but can contract the virus from some-where that an infected dog has been. For this reasonthe virus becomes ‘endemic’ in an area — meaning thatit is common. Parvo can infect any non-vaccinated dog but it is ofmost concern in young puppies and dogs less than ayear old. It is a devastating disease which has a deathrate that approaches 100% if the dog is not treated by avet. Even with veterinary treatment, there is no specificcure and treatment involves supporting the puppy whilethe immune system clears the infection. When infectedwith the virus, the dog will vomit and have diarrhoea, beunable to absorb fluids or nutrients from the gut and willbe in severe pain. Treatment is expensive and involvespain relief, intravenous fluids, antibiotics, anti-vomitingmedication and supportive nutrition. Even despite ourbest efforts, about 50% of puppies treated forparvovirus will die.The great news is that there is a cheap, safe, and veryeffective preventative for parvo — a course of routinevaccinations administered at 8, 12, and 16 weeks oldand then every year.

13 Araluen Road Braidwood NSW 26224842 2697 office@braidwoodvetsurgery.com.au

n PROFESSIONAL and CARINGn WE TREAT ALL SPECIES LARGE or SMALLn FULLY EQUIPPED and PURPOSE-BUILT

HOSPITALn IN-BUILT LABORATORYn DIGITAL X-RAY n EQUINE FACILITIESSERVICING BRAIDWOOD ANIMALS FOR 27 YEARS

VETERINARY ADVICE

Wildlife and deathRobin Tennant Wood wants drivers to moreresponsible for the animals they skittle

B U T T O N S N B O W S

2017 SPRING BWD 23

Life can be so engrossing anduplifting, don’t you think? Wellthat’s how I choose to see it

anyway. Of course I’ve had my pains,problems and doubts along the way,but I choose not to dwell on these. Sohere I am, a happy sixty-something,launching into my new career as shopowner. And where better to do thisthan beautiful Braidwood.I’m only a pseudo local though —currently living, as I do, at LakeBathurst with my husband. However, Ihave close family living in and aroundBraidwood, so I feel more ‘local’ thanI can perhaps claim to be.There are several recurring themes inmy life thus far:

TEACHING: I knew at the age of threethat I wanted to be a teacher. I justdidn’t realise at the time that being aschool teacher wasn’t going to workfor me. I only lasted 4 years, back inthe late 1970s. Since then, I’ve taughtEnglish in Tokyo in the mid 1980s,Diploma of Aromatherapy courses2000–2005, and assorted craft classes,from 2005 onwards.But let me tell you, the latter is defi-nitely my favourite of the lot. Oh thejoys of sharing my knowledge andskills with those keen to learn.CRAFTS: Again, a lifelong passion forme. As a very young person I waslikely to answer “making stuff” whenasked what I liked to do — and noth-

ing’s changed, really. Mum alwayskept us supplied with crafty materialssuch as paper, cardboard, scissors,glue, pencils etc. You can make a lotwith just a few items. One wet summerholiday at the beach in the 1960s, mysister and I made a whole shop out ofwhite paper, cardboard, sticky tape,glue and pens — little milk cartons,food packets etc. plus the shopcounter. We then had such fun playing‘shops’ for the rest of the time. I have a strong memory from aroundthe age of seven or eight. Christmasmorning — up ridiculously early —into the lounge room to see whatSanta had left for us. Beside myChristmas stocking was a bag filledwith fabric scraps, mostly satins andorganzas. My eyes must surely havegone very wide upon seeing this trea-sure trove, and I still remember think-ing, “how did Santa know?”. For manyyears thereafter my Barbie Doll waskitted out with all manner of elegantgowns which I made myself from theseglorious fabric scraps.Like many of my generation, I learntsewing and knitting in primary school,and these skills have given me a life-time’s pleasure already, and I hopethey will for many more years to come. I’ve made things to sell to shops,hand-sewn felt finger puppets at agefourteen when such items weren’treadily available, to markets andgalleries, and plenty for gifts. Makingjewellery is particularly pleasing forme. Each time I learn a new creativetechnique I’m inclined to think firstlyof how I can use it to make jewellery. Oh the happiness that a goodly selec-tion of beads can bring. I particularlylove using the small Japanese seedbeads that require specialist needleand thread to join them together orstitch them onto textiles. Beads alwaysbring me joy.Then there’s fabric.

Yes, I am a self-confessedfabricaholic. It’s just

so tactile, colourful andjolly lovely — whocould ever resist suchmarvellous stuff?

In 1998, following a lifetime of sewingby hand and machine, I ‘discovered’patchwork quilting, at the BraidwoodQuilt Event no less. I have beencreatively consumed by this fascinat-ing and broad set of techniques eversince. These days I would describe my

A passion for creating,and life in general

Fiona Hammond exuberates

P R E S E R V I N G O U R H I S T O R Y

22 BWD SPRING 2017

Riversdale Goulburn is a ten acreproperty bought by the NationalTrust in 1967 from the last

surviving Twynam occupant, MissAlice Joan Twynam. The Twynamfamily had first moved to the propertyin 1872.The property comprises two paddocks,one fronting the Wollondilly river andthe other along Twynam Drive on thegaol side. There is a park, a largemeandering garden, sweeping lawnsand a purpose-built heritage perma-culture vegetable garden. There are four buildings on the prop-erty, a large stone stable built by ex-convict innkeeper Matthew Healeyc1833, a small two storey red brickcoach house built c1840, a small

modern brick caretaker’s cottage builtin 1970 and the pièce de résistance,the classic Georgian double-wingedbrick dwelling, built as a coaching innc1840.Riversdale is built on the site of one ofGovernor Lachlan Macquarie’s visionsof the future for the colony of NewSouth Wales. He personally chose thesite for the township of GoulburnPlains. The river has possibly changedcourse several times since then so it’snot known exactly where the river wasforded but the main road of oldGoulburn, Wayo Street, now the prop-erty driveway, crossed the river andmet up with the Great South Roadfrom Sydney, hence it being a perfectspot for a wayside inn. Can you imag-

ine the hustle and bustle, the lowing ofbullocks, the barking of dogs, theneighing of horses, the flies, the heat,the dust, the general hubbub of athriving little slab hutted community?There are still echoes of the pastlingering at Riversdale: the violence,the tears, the laughter, the endeav-ours. Real people battling theelements, taming the land. The people who love Riversdale arestill battling the elements, taming theland, preserving as far as possible thisunique rich past for the future. Thevolunteers have all been infected witha passion for all its past lives, indeedwe all say “hello” to various ex-inhab-itants as we enter the house; indeedthey are our family and friends and wewould do anything to keep them andour Riversdale secure. We need helpto preserve this wonderful scene of thetriumphs and tragedies of our colonialpast, there are so few of them left. When the National Trust bought theproperty, while the coffers weren’trunning over there was sufficient fund-ing available to do the groundwork ofpreservation, repair and maintenancebut over the years funding has shiftedaway from the sector and the currentNational Trust of New South Waleshas had to reinvent itself. A massiverestructuring programme is underwayincluding the whittling down of head-quarters staff by a massive 70 oddpercent. Some property leases havebeen sold and the money invested butthe real crunch for the individualproperties: we now must becomeviable, each and every one of us, wehave to pay our own running costs,including the rather vast insurancebills, and of course if you own a veryold property you’ll know how often theroof leaks, or a door sags or somethingneeds painting or the driveway needsresurfacing, indeed we are best friendswith the plumber.We work incredibly hard to makemoney, we have our two major fairs ayear, the Heritage Fair and the RarePlants & Growers Garden Fair, wewelcome countless bus trips, cater forlunches and morning teas and conductguided tours. We have weddings. Wesell plants. We make jams. Just whenwe think we’re breaking even wediscover the elm trees need vaccinat-ing against the elm beetle or a limbneeds lopping from the 180 year oldhoney locust or the rabbits are on therampage again! And so it goes.Is it worth it?Come to Riversdale and see for your-self. Fall in love. Help preserve thepast for the future. n

RiversdaleDawn Giles asks: Why is it worth our support?

R E G E M E R A T I O N

2017 SPRING BWD 25

When my mother died a few years ago, after a longillness where I had been her carer, our mother’sjewellery was divided up. My sister Jennifer and

I decided to separate the earrings which were a gift fromour father to our mother when they celebrated their 50thwedding anniversary, more than 20 years ago. We decidedto take one earring each and then, at a later date, have it

O I N T M E N T I N T H E F L Y

24 BWD SPRING 2017

quilting style as ‘contemporary’,though I still enjoy some aspects oftraditional quilting. I do really love toteach my quilting workshops when Iget the chance.RETAILING MY WARES: Fromthose finger puppets I made in myteens, to selling jewellery and acces-sories at markets in Sydney and else-where, then through galleries inGoulburn, I come now to having myown little shop in Braidwood: ‘TheCreative Edge — Gifts and Crafts’. Partof the reason for setting up my shop isto have a retail outlet for the things Ilove to make, but the shop is muchmore than that. I get to stock the kindsof things I love myself, vibrant colours,and with quirky attributes. I also stock other amazing hand-madeitems created by some of my verytalented friends in the region. Thismeans I have a changing array ofunusual, hand-made things to sell,and so far my customers seemdelighted with what I have available atmy shop.Of course I stock all sorts of items, notjust hand-made goodies. Not the leastof which is my selection of craftsupplies. From beads, buttons andbraids to threads, yarn and even inter-esting shells, I tend to stock all thethings I like to work with in a creativeway. I also offer small craft classes atmy shop (on non-shop-open days). So all in all, when I consider whereI’m at in my life now, it feels as thoughmy whole life has been leading me tothis current career. I get to roll all myfavourite things into one business now— teaching my craft classes, makingthings, and enjoying the retailing ofinteresting items in my very own shop.This is why I smile a lot! n

Gallivanting about the world iseasier than it ever has been.But a significant proportion of

Australians forget to consider healthrisks associated with travel and leavehome unprepared. So, what do you have to consider inrelation to health and medicationbefore you pack your bag and head offon that much anticipated trip?If you are using regular medication,ensure to pack enough for the trip anda bit extra in case something unfore-seen happens and you do not gethome as planned. Always pack yourmedication in your carry-on luggagein case you do not get your checked-inluggage upon arrival. You should carry your medication inits original packaging with thedispensing label. This will clearlyshow what the medication is and thatit is for you. If allowed by the destina-tion country you can also have yourmedication professionally packed in aDose Administration Aid that clearlystates what everything is and has yourname on it.

Consider also that othercountries have differentlaws about medicationand you may need apermit to bring your

medication in with you.

An example is that it is illegal to bringany Codeine-containing product in toDubai without permission. Be prepared for travellers’ diarrhoea.The best treatment is prevention soconsider what you eat and drink.Common high risk foods include:Unpasteurised dairy products, ice,raw or minimal cooked meat and

seafood, reheated food, salads, foodwhich has been left exposed to fliesand food prepared on premises withpoor hygiene. In case you should getdiarrhoea consider bringing some antidiarrhoea tablets and some rehydra-tion tablets like Hydrolyte with you.Also consider taking travellers probi-otics during your trip to prevent trav-ellers’ diarrhoea. If you’re going on a cruise, considerbringing some seasickness tablets. Check any need for vaccinations orneed of boosters well in advance ofyour departure date. For vaccines likehepatitis A and typhoid to be effectivethey should be given at least 2-4weeks before departure. Also beaware that the vaccinations neededdepend on what you are doing, asdifferent locations in a country canhave different requirements. It allcomes down to what you can getexposed to. So have the discussionwith your doctor early and check outwebsites like Smarttraveller to getinformation. Malaria is a risk in many south-eastAsian countries, South America andAfrica. So ensure to discuss need forantimalarial treatment with yourdoctor and obtain enough medicationfor the trip and needed treatment posttrip. Again, prevention is the best treat-ment. Wear light-coloured, long-sleeved clothes when outdoors,prevent mosquitos entering youraccommodation or use a mosquito netand be aware that some perfume andcologne can attract mosquitos. Use agood quality mosquito repellent. Consider bringing a small first aid kitwith some bandaids, blister bandaids, and other items that could beconsidered needed for your travels.This kit may also contain a small boxof paracetamol tablets in case of pain.Women should consider need for brin-ing hygiene items for menstruation incase this happens while you’re away.Consider availability at your destina-tion.If you are going to enjoy the sunensure to bring a good sunscreen. Andensure to apply liberally and often(every 2-4 hours) to prevent sun burn.Also wear a broad-brimmed hat andconsider protective clothing.Enjoy your travels and stay healthy.

Travel medicineBente Hart prepares

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made into a pendant orbrooch. Because I was celebrat-ing a milestone birthdaythis year, I decided tomark the occasion byincorporating the geminto a special piece ofjewellery. I went to seeWilliam Verdon andafter a lengthy discus-sion he began sketching

a design for a brooch which represented the EternalWoman: a tribute to our mother.It was a gift from my children, but I also felt that my

parents were contributing. The result was perfect. Itmeans so much to me that it can be passed down throughfuture generations. William is not only a Master Jewellerbut he’s also a real Gem!”

“I am thrilled with the exquisiteworkmanship. This brooch willbecome a family heirloom.”

New sparkleLyn Cram commissions William Verdon

S O I L S A I N ’ T S O I L S

2017 SPRING BWD 27

I’m the National Soil Advocate. It’sa job that involves talking aboutthe importance of soil and I have a

very simple philosophy in respect tothat. I believe that planetary survival,and I mean survival, depends largelyon how we look after the top 30centimetres of our soil. And if we messthat up, the planet’s gone.In Australia, I think we’ve got a lot ofvery good farmers, a lot of very goodscience, but it appears to me to havebeen penny-packeted; it’s here andthere in dribs and drabs. What we’vegot to do, I think, is to bring leadingagricultural practises together.We’ve then got to demonstratethe science behind thatleading practise, then roll itout, preferably through somesort of mentoring system.

The best way of teachinganother farmer is byanother farmer doing

that teaching.

That’s what we’re going to be doing inour case studies.In my job as founding chairman ofSoils for Life we’re tackling the wholedeal of soil advocacy from a threepronged approach. The first is to pointout to government, the global impera-tive. The globe is, in my view, headedfor a big train smash, and you can seeit now in massive movements ofrefugees because of floods, or starva-tion, brought about by water, soil, andfood security issues. What that doesfor Australia is not only send a warn-ing signal, but it gives us an opportu-nity, because I think one of the greatways in which Australia can make animpression in our region is to demon-strate how good we are at looking afterour own paddock. In so doing we canexport a bit more food; maybe to feed60-80 million people, but by exportingknowledge that might help feed abillion people. That would be some-thing well worthwhile doing.So how do we want to demonstratethat knowledge? Well, we call this

‘fixing the paddock’ — this is whatour case studies are all about. We hadtwenty-one in the original study,which was pretty good; Martin Roydswas one of them. What we want to donow having learned from that, is to rollout a hundred more right round thecountry — probably around about tenin each state, of leading practiceacross all forms of agriculture. Oncewe’ve done that selection, we want themeasurement to be done annually oneach of those case studies in respect tofour criteria: productivity, economic,social, and environment. The four ofthose together equates to a naturalcapital value.We're also going to get those farmersaccredited through a formal accredita-tion scheme, which will mark them assuperior performers and hopefully thatwill lead to better prices for their prod-uct. So that’s fixing the paddock.The missing link in my view, acrossthis whole agricultural landscape, isthe lack of a clear national aim. I’m asoldier, so a clear mission statement oraim is very important. You’ve got toget that right, otherwise you attack thewrong hill. To me, the mission weshould have in this country is ‘torestore and maintain the health of theAustralian agricultural landscape’. Iwant this to be every government’smission; state, federal, and territory.

I then want to get the governments toagree that the three key landscapecomponents, soil, water and plants,are so important we ought to bedeclaring them as key national,natural strategic assets and to managethem as such and in an integratedway. Because if you mess up one, youalso mess up the other two.I then want to do something aboutsupporting the farmers. Who ismanaging almost sixty percent of thecontinent? It’s 130,000 farmers onbehalf of 22,000,000 urban Aust -ralians who don’t know, and becausethey don’t know, they don’t care. Butthose 130,000 farmers are carrying thewhole load to produce the cheapest,cleanest, greenest food, and at thesame time to do the repairs of thelandscape, which belongs to us all. Ithink that is manifestly unfair and oneof our policy planks is to get govern-ments to realise that.To get the farmers supported, we haveto get the public on side, and I call that‘reconnecting urban Australia with itsrural roots’. One way we want to dothat is to put a garden in every primaryor junior high school in the country,with an agreed syllabus. That way, bythe time every sixteen-year old gradu-ates, whenever they look outside andsee gardens and paddocks, they willbe reminded of the way food isproduced through good landscapemanagement. Then we want to look at the science,by doing a stocktake of our knowledgebase. Here the key deficiencies to me,just to give you two are, firstly ourinability to measure soil carbonquickly, accurately and cheaply.Secondly, the fact that we seem to beignoring evaporation. Fifty percent ofour very scarce rain is evaporatinginto the air because it can’t get into thesoil, mainly because we haven’t gotsufficient soil carbon through lack ofground cover. The final bit is dealing with regula-tions and regulatory overburden. Whyis it you can do some leaky weirs insome places, but you can’t do it onanother property because there’s adifferent regime running it? We reallyneed to get the regulatory regimelooked at so as to simplify it as muchas possible. Broadly speaking theseare the principles we’re going to beputting to the prime minister in thenext three of four weeks. We’ve done alot of travelling around the country,talking to thousands of farmers, scien-tists and political people, but I’vethink we’ve got a fair groundswell ofsupport. Wish us luck in that endeavour. n

26 BWD SPRING 2017

Martin Royds has beeninvolved in benchmarkingfarm outcomes for 20 years

— testing economic outputs, such asthe production of beef per 100 ml ofrain, the production of beef per labourunit and the production of beef perhectare. Over the years his Jillamatongfarm has performed well in theBraidwood area. As well, Martin alsotends to average a higher price perunit because his stock are sold in apremium condition which yields ahigher return per hectare. Martin is proud of the fact that envi-ronmental outcomes are better, in thathe’s got increased biodiversity andincreased water holding capacity. It’swhat’s in the soil on his farm thatprovides that inter-connection andthat’s why it’s economically viable aswell.He’s had his beef tested and shownthat it’s nutritionally more complexand more balanced than most beefavailable in supermarkets. And thenon top of all this, he’s happy with theway the farm runs. He doesn’t need toslog his guts out to keep it operatingand that leads to a better socialoutcome. He has time for friends tovisit Jillamatong and then enjoy thefarm for its aesthetic beauty as well asits productive capacity.

Traditionally, Martin was a chemicalfarmer, a mechanical farmer. He usedto plough and spray and add the latestadvanced pasture species into the mix.He learnt that the advanced hybridgrasses, though they have their place,are not very resilient in a dry period, ahot period, or a cold period, and thatmany of the native grasses are moresuited to our environment and morecapable of surviving in a changingclimate. He now focuses on working with morenatural processes to enhance biodiver-sity in his soil, in the pasture and inthe insects and birds that are on thefarm. Martin now has beef, lamb,yabbies, truffles, timber, native grassesand so on all of which provide biodi-versity on many levels. He sees thisapproach as the main difference to atraditional farmer who might tend tofocus on one output and not looking atthe whole, thereby inadvertentlydestroying a lot of the functions in thelandscape that provide resilience in adrought.Not so many years ago many industryacademics were skeptical of peoplelike Peter Andrews with his NaturalSequence Farming. It has taken yearsof successful demonstration projectsfor the paradigm to shift in favour of amore thoughtful approach to sustain-

able land management. A lot of thechange has been instigated throughLandcare offices introducing holisticmanagement training courses.Landcare has sponsored people likePeter Andrews and Christine Jones tocome and talk to farmers and, becausethey’re supported by Landcare, havingthe opportunity to talk to people in anon threatening environment wherefarmers are more open to change.Martin, like others in the industry,hopes that in the near future we willsee a ‘branding program’ for the foodwe buy. Consumers could then choosefood that is nutrient dense and beassured that it was produced usingfarming practices that leave the landin the best possible condition for ourfarmers of the future. n

Fixing the landPaul Cockram has been following the progress

of Jillamatong farm since 2006

A GATHERING OF SCIENTISTS, RESEARCH INSTITUTES, BANKERS, LANDCARE PRACTITIONERS, HOLISTIC EDUCATORS, SINGERS,FARMERS, FILMMAKERS AND PEOPLE WITH A DREAM OF SOLUTIONS FOR THE PLANET AT JILLAMATONG, SEPTEMBER 23 2017.

Soils for LifeMajor General Michael Jeffery, Governor General 2003-08,

first Advocate for Soil Health, spoke to the attendeesat Jillamatong in September 2017

T H E S O C I E T Y O F F A B R I C

2017 SPRING BWD 29

to do two more, so they could all behung together for sale. I was thrilledwhen Cheryl Hannah purchased allthree. In 2008 I won first prize for awall hanging.”Then in 2010 Lois won the CherylHannah $1000 Acquisition Prize. “The theme was Norman Lindsay’sChristmas Pudding so I decided to dosomething a bit different withChristmas decorations and gifts.”For the past thirteen years Lois hasbeen focusing on free-form machineembroidery. Using a quilting or darn-ing foot, machine embroidery threadand new and recycled fabrics, old laceand wool, she then incorporatesher own hand-dyed silks using nativeflora.“It was Sandra Fisher who taught me,after I had seen her exhibition of silkdyeing titled ‘Nature’s Footprints’ atthe Altenburg Gallery.”Lois still has a preference for land-scapes and seascapes and nowattaches the work to canvas frames toenhance the vibrant colours andscenes of the local bush. When hermother died, Lois was fortunate toobtain some of her mother’s vastcollection of fabrics, especially 1950svelvatene.

“My mother taught me to always feelthe quality of the material. When I amable to, I incorporate pieces of mymother’s fabrics and old laces into thecanvases.”Her work is regularly exhibited atBRAG, our Community Art Centre andis either sold, commissioned ordonated to worthy causes. Some of herwork has travelled to buyers inMelbourne, rural Victoria, west NSW,the South Coast and to Queanbeyanand the ACT. Sur prising ly she sellsvery little in Braidwood, with the mostrecent purchase by Jack Featherstoneof the piece titled ‘Can’t see the woodsfor the trees’ featuring the Snail Trailover the Clyde.Her most recent exhibition has been atthe Q Gallery in Queanbeyan wherethere are prizes of $5000. This is thefirst time Lois has exhibited outside ofBraidwood.Lois has recently joined the BraidwoodQuilters and she now teaches free-form machine embroidery. It is a six-week course, held at the BraidwoodScout hall on Wednesdays. Loisdonates the $50 course fee to theHospital Auxilliary. Lois loves intro-ducing newcomers to this beautifulartform and all are welcome, includingthose who make beautiful quilts, many

of whom have undertaken a number ofcourses in 2016. As Lois says, “Youdon’t have to be a seamstress to besuccessful in Free-form MachineEmbroidery, in fact, I can’t sew astraight line.”For information regarding courses,phone Lois on 4842 1581. n

Lois McKenzie was born inTakaka, on the northern tip of theSouth Island of New Zealand,

into an artistic family. Her mother wasa skilled dressmaker and milliner, herfather dabbled in oils, her uncle,despite suffering from multiple sclero-sis for 40 years, was a professionalartist in both oils and watercolours.It’s no surprise then that Lois excelledin art at school.Lois completed her General Nursingand after graduating she came to

Australia to attend her brother’swedding in Sydney.“I fell in love with Australia and wascaptivated by the colours of theAustralian bush, and vowed toreturn.”After 28 years of nursing, and travel-ling overseas for a year she sustainedan injury to her right arm and that putan end to her nursing career. Whilevisiting some friends in Braid wood,Lois and her partner decided topurchase five acres on Wallaces Gap

Road, Majors Creek and settle there.“It was then I decided to get back tomy love of art and I commenced doinglandscapes and seascapes in pastels.With generous advice from LucindaBoyd on the use of pastels and theimportance of using fixatives to sealthe work, I was successful in sellingsome of these. Some time later I metJudy Schneider who saw some of mywork hanging at Majors Creek. On hersuggestion I exhibited at Jill McLeod’sGallery and then through BRAG.”Lois began selling her work andgetting commissions. Judy Schneiderbecame Lois’s mentor and suggestedthat she undertake a one-day coursein free-form machine embroidery.“I was blown away, and took to themedium like a duck to water. I boughta darning foot for my sewing machineand started accumulating a variety offabrics, laces etc. and so began myintroduction to textile art.”“In 2003 I approached Marion whoran the Caboodle Café. I took one ofmy canvases to show Marion. Itfeatured a gumtree trunk based onphotographs I’d taken. She asked me

An itch to stitchLyn Cram met up with Lois McKenzie

Visitors to the Braidwood Library, during November 2016to July 2017, would have seen the beautiful canvaseshanging on the back wall. At first glance they looked likeoil paintings, but closer inspection revealed incrediblydetailed, embroidered wall hangings.

28 BWD SPRING 2017

M A I N T A I N I N G O U R H I S T O R Y

2017 SPRING BWD 31

back the way it was, most people willbe surprised I think. The changes over time were all doneby different owners. To cover up theolder stuff they just added anotherlayer. Rather than say, “let’s go back tothere” they just keep adding. You cansee it. Masonite was very popular inthe seventies, so there was a lot ofMasonite here. Timber cladding wasadded too that was too modern for thebuilding and it just detracts really.In the back area we’ll have a restau-rant — an open plan restaurant. Myson-in-law and my daughter will berunning it. We’re very excited aboutthis because I think it’s got greatpotential as a space. The kitchen is open to where peopleare sitting and there will be a directlink to the outside courtyard.Hopefully we’ll get the winter sun inthat area. In the summer you’ll be ableto sit outside and have a beer. We’revery excited about the pavement that’sgoing on now and the landscaping tomake it a comfortable space. We needto make it a comfortable space wherepeople can have a meal and relax.And hopefully too, you’ll see the struc-ture the way it was. We’re not trying tohide too much of it, so people can seehow the timber pins rather than nailsare holding things together. We keptmost of the original framing. That’ssomething that adds interest to thebuilding, to be able to see its structure.We’re going to leave the ceiling open.This was the original warehouse. Ithink it was mainly a cool room for thebutchers but it must have been a ware-house-type section of the building. As well as the restaurant, we’ll havethe two shops at the front as beforeand two small apartments above.One’s for my daughter and son-in-lawand the other one we’ll have for occa-sional rental or if family comes overthey can stay here.The restaurant will be mainlyMediterranean food and perhaps alittle bit of English food because theother side of the family are English.But mainly Spanish, Italian orPortuguese food. They’ve been prepar-ing all the dishes and menus over thepast year and practising on us, so I’vegained a bit of weight. It’s going to begood, simple food.We’re aiming to open beforeChristmas, so perhaps in a couplemore months we’ll be fairly close. Weneed to build the original awning backover the footpath so that will take awhile. I think once that’s finished, thebuilding will be back to looking theway it was. n

Hec KaneA regular visitor to the

building site, this is his storyas told to Margaret Tuckwell

Heckling Joseph Kane is theonly surviving child of Patrickand Sabina Kain. Hec’s father,

Patrick George, served in WWI andlike many diggers met a sweet Irish girlfrom Dublin and they married on 26thApril 1919 in Brompton, London.Returning to Braidwood to set uphome and family, they lived above thebutcher’s shop in Wallace St (thebuilding currently being renovated).Hec was the second youngest of tenchildren and was born 27th June 1931at the Lister Private Hospital inBraidwood (according to his birthcertificate). Along with all his siblingshe attended St Bede’s school and has

fond memories of playing in the back-yards of the Wallace Street with theCook and Nomchong families.The Kain Brothers Butchers were anicon in Braidwood for many decadesand had two shops. The main being abutcher with their home above it andthe second in the middle of WallaceStreet (now Pay Dirt) with the originalKain Bros sign removed only recently.Hec worked as a butcher initiallyunder his father, then with the guid-ance of his two older brothers Georgeand Ernie and then continued to workfor three subsequent owners. Hec sayshe loved working as a butcher with thetraditional blue and white stripedapron and the knife and sharpener ona hip holster. This reminded him of thecowboy films he had seen — eventhough they wore guns. Hec enjoyed the slaughtering and inparticular cooking and smoking baconand hams for Christmas. His favouritemeat is a T-bone. He did not enjoy somuch the cleaning up during and atthe end of the day, but his fatherinsisted that everyone had to pitch into do this job and this tradition stayedwithin the business. The business was sold to the Elsmorefamily but still retained the name KainBrothers Butchers. Two other ownersfollowed Jim Cruise and Steve Roydswhom Hec also worked for. Ourcurrent butcher Mick Clarke workedunder Hec for two years. A gentle quiet man Hec walks alongWallace Street to do his shopping andoften calls into the old building just tokeep an eye on what they’re up to. n

30 BWD SPRING 2017

We’d been looking for a build-ing for a year prior to this,and we came close to

buying other buildings, but this onecame up on the market and basicallythe day that it came on the market webought it, because there are not thatmany buildings for sale in town. Weliked this one because it had a lot ofpotential. It was very derelict, bit Icould see if you stripped it back to itsoriginal form it would come out okay.So that’s what we did.The original building is simple enoughand it’s well built. But all the additionstacked on over the decades — they’vebeen just awful. When we got into it,we could see the layers of floors andceilings and the rest. Wall finishes hadbeen added over and over again.Fixing that has taken quite a while,

especially the outside with all theconcrete slabs and so on. But anyway,the original, as we hoped, is quitegood.I wasn’t expecting this to be an easytask, because it’s a very old buildingand nothing is straight. But it has goodpoints; like the foundations which areexcellent, they’re all granite — they’rereally solid so that’s a good start. Agood foundation is essential andalthough the roof framing wasn’t quitestraight, it was salvageable. There’s been a lot of good tradesmenin here, like the renderer — he basi-cally saved the building. We stripped alot of it back, gave it a new coat ofrender and that sort of waterproofs thebuilding and gives it a fair bit ofstrength. So that was good. And thebricklayers were excellent. We basi-

cally took the walls out of all this backsection here, kept the roof framing,and then rebuilt the walls saving theframing above. You’ve got to havepeople that are willing to do a job thatis not as easy as building a modernbuilding, and if you can find them Ithink you’re way ahead.I think there are a lot of buildings inBraidwood that could be refurbishedquite substantially.

You can’t just keeppatching, because if youdo you just add to thelayers of stuff that’s beenbuilt over and over.

You have to go back to its originalform. I think it’s good to reveal thathistory and show the original simplic-ity of the building. That’s what givesthis place its character. They weren’tvery complicated buildings. For example, just the trims in thisbuilding. There were so many trimsthat it cluttered the whole thing. Whenwe take all that out and reveal things

From top to bottomThe old butcher shop, recently the Country Workbox, has

been rebuilt to last another 175 years

Joe Casanova tells the story

JOE LAWRENCE, SIMON KAY, DAVID PARSONS AND JOE CASANOVA TAKE A BREAK FROM THE RENOVATIONS.

1966 1975

2017

2017 SPRING BWD 33

Suzanne Gearing

Easy Vanilla SliceSlice2 sheets frozen puff pastry (defrostslightly)1¾ caster sugar1 cup cornflour¾ cup custard powder4½ cups milk75g chopped butter2 lightly beaten egg yolks1 tspn vanilla bean paste

Icing2½ cups pure icing sugar10 g butterJuice from 2 passionfruit or ½ cantinned passionfruit

22cm square cake pan, greased andlined with baking powder

2 greased baking trays

Oven temp 200°C (180 degrees fanforced)

MethodPlace 1 sheet of pastry onto eachtray, prick with fork.Cook for 8-10 minutes until goldenand puffyCarefully flatten and allow to cool.Place sugar, cornflour, custard powderin heavy based saucepan over mediumheat and gradually stir in milk untilcombined. Add butter and cook, stir-ring constantly, until mixture simmersand thickens. Remove from heat andstir in vanilla and egg yolks.Trim pastry to fit square cake pan.Place 1 sheet of pastry into pan. Pourhot custard over the pastry and thentop with second sheet of pastry.Cool for 30 minutes.Place a heatproof bowl over simmer-ing water. Add icing sugar, butter andpassionfruit and stir until smooth.Spread on top of pastry and refrigeratefor 4 hours. Serve cut into squares.

Thai Pickled GarlicWe served this from our stall at theBraidwood Truffle event at the end ofJuly, 2017 and it was a big hit. Thetrick is to adjust the pickling liquid toyour taste by adding less or moresugar. I always add soy sauce to theliquid merely because I like the extraflavour and colour it imparts. 2 cups white wine vinegar 1 cup water ½ to 1 cup of sugar (to taste) ½ tablespoon of salt 2½ cups of peeled garlic cloves A tablespoon of soy or more to tasteIn a medium saucepan, bring the vine-gar, water, sugar and salt to a boil.Reduce heat and simmer for afew minutes until the sugar and salt isdissolved. Drop in the garlic clovesand return to the boil for 1 minute,then remove from heat. Do taste the pickling liquid as it iscooking and add sugar, soy or morevinegar to taste. Cool, and then drainreserving the liquid and spoon thecloves into sterilized screw-top jars (orone large jar). Top up the jars with the

pickling liquid. Store jars in the refrig-erator for at least 1 week before eating.Continue to refrigerate with the lid on.This is a great bar snack or a condi-ment with a meal provided you don’tmake it too sweet.We have a supply of danganski(Standard Purple Stripe group),seconds quality garlic on our stall. Itwould be perfectly fine for this recipe.Otherwise, wait until the first of thegarlic harvest in November. There willbe plenty of garlic around then.

Tania Mcguire

Marshmallow SliceIngredients for base4 crushed weet-bix1 cup self-raising flour½ cup brown sugar1 cup coconut125 grams cophafew drops of vanillapinch of salt

Ingredients for topping1 cup sugar240 mls water1 tablespoon gelatine1/4 cup toasted coconut

Method:Base: Mix all dry ingredients in abowl. Pour in melted copha and stir.Press the mixture into a lamingtontray.Cook slowly in a 150°C oven for 25minutes.

Topping: Put water, sugar and gelatineinto a saucepan, mix well and boil for3 minutes.Pour into a bowl and allow to cool.Then beat to a marshmallow consis-tency.

Assembly: Spread the marshmallowmixture over the base and sprinkle thetoasted coconut over the top.Store in the refrigerator.

Can be made gluten free by usinggluten free flour and weet-bix.Ideal also for dairy free/egg free diets.

Katie from the Vet

Coconut cake1 cup self raising flour1 cup coconut1 teaspoon vanilla125 grams margarine½ cup milk 2 eggs, beaten¾ cups sugar½ cup milk

Preheat oven to 180°C (fan forced)and line small lamington tin. Mix in sifted SRF with coconut.Melt margarine, add in sugar and stiruntil sugar is dissolved. Mix in dryingredients with wooden spoon.Add eggs, vanilla and milk and mixwell.Pour into tin and bake for 20-25minutes until skewer comes out clean.When cool, ice. ˛

32 BWD SPRING 2017

Ihave very fond memories of walk-ing home from school with myyoung sister. As soon as we round -

ed our street corner to home, therewas a delicious aroma of home-bakedcakes and biscuits to greet us. Ourmother Amy was a wonderful cook,and I spent many happy hours at mymother’s side learning all her culinaryskills. Amy and her friend Joyce always ranthe cake stall at the local school andwere well-known throughout thedistrict for their delicious goodies.Here are some of my family’s favouriterecipes, in memory of two amazingcooks, Amy and Joyce.

Amy’s Famous Sponge Cake4 Eggs1 cup of caster sugar1 1/4 self raising flour

2½ tablespoons cornflour2½ tablespoons milk2½ tablespoons water1 1/4 tablespoons butter or margarine

Method: Beat eggs till light and fluffy,gradually add sugar and beat for 10minutes. Sift flour and cornflourtogether and lightly fold into themixture. Heat water, butter and milkuntil butter is melted and immediatelyadd this to the mixture, folding inlightly. This needs to be done by hand.Grease and flour 2 sponge tins andadd mixture evenly between them.Bake in a moderate oven (190 or 180fan forced) for 20-25 minutes. Turnonto cake rack to cool. Spread fresh ormock cream between the layers andtop with passionfruit icing. This isalso delicious with coffee icing, or alayer of jam beneath the cream and adusting of icing sugar on top.

Aunty Joyce’s CrunchyCookies4oz (½ cup) butter or margarine½ cup caster sugar vanilla essence (½teaspoon)½ cup sultanas1 egg1 tablespoon desiccated coconut1 1/4 cups self raising flourCornflakes

Method: Cream butter, sugar andvanilla until smooth. Beat in egg andadd coconut and sultanas.Fold in sifted flour. Roll teaspoonfulsin lightly crushed cornflakes. Place ongreased biscuit trays and bake inmoderately hot oven 180-190°C for 15-20 minutes. Serve with lots of love.

No-bake Chocolate Ginger1 pkt milk coffee biscuits3 tablespoons cocoa½ cup coconut1 tin condensed milk (warmed bystanding tin in bowl of hot water)1 pkt golden ginger (chopped)1 teaspoon ground ginger

Add the chopped ginger to other ingre-dients and mix well. Press into a swissroll tin or flat biscuit tin. Ice withchocolate icing made with 4 oz meltedcopha, 1/3 cup sifted icing sugar, and2 tablespoons cocoa. When set, cutinto squares and store in refrigerator.

Savoury Impossible Pie4 eggs2 cups milk½ cup plain flour, ½ teaspoon bakingpowder ½ cup margarine meltedpinch salt, pepper

Lightly grease pie dish. Mix all aboveingredients together and add tin ofsalmon or tuna drained, onionchopped, grated cheese, asparagus, orwhatever you fancy. Bake at 180° for35-40 minutes or until set. Serve witha mixed salad.

Healthy Sun Bran Loaf1 cup bran flakes1 cup Sultanas or chopped driedapricots¾ cup brown sugar1 cup milk

Mix together and soak overnight. Addone cup sifted self raising flour. Line aloaf tin with foil and cook for 1 hour at190°C.

S P R I N G   R E C I P E S W I T H L Y N C R A M S P R I N G   R E C I P E S W I T H L Y N C R A M

Mum’s cookingLyn Cram licks the bowl

LYN WITH HER MUM AMY.

Wynlen House

34 BWD SPRING 2017

Icing variations:Chocolate Lamington slice – Ice cakewith chocolate icing and coconut Lemon Coconut slice — add in asqueeze of lemon juice instead ofvanilla. Decorate with lemonflavoured icing.

Berry and white chocolatemuffinsIngredients:2 cups self raising flour2/3 cups caster sugar100 grams white chocolate, chopped125 grams margarine 1 teaspoon vanilla¾ cup buttermilk1 egg1 cup mixed berries

Preheat oven to 180°C (fan forced)and place muffin cases in muffin tray Into a large bowl add sifted flour,sugar, chopped chocolate and combine.In a second bowl, melt margarine andmix in beaten egg, vanilla and butter-milk.Fold ingredients together with awooden spoon. When combined, lightly mix in berries.

Spoon evenly into muffin tray.Small muffins cook for approximately20 minutes, large muffins approxi-mately 30 minutes, or until lightbrown. Lightly dust with icing sugar

Cinnamon Sponge CakeIngredients4 eggs – separate yolks from whites1 cup castor sugar1 cup self raising flour2 teaspoons cinnamon2 teaspoons cocoa½ cup boiling milkJam – flavour of choiceWhipped cream

Preheat oven to 200°C (fan forced)and line and grease 2 round cake tinsBeat eggs whites until fluffy and stiff. Add sugar very gradually, beating well. Beat in egg yolks.Fold in sifted flour, cinnamon andcocoa.Divide mixture evenly into the twocake tins.Tap tins on bench several times toremove air bubbles and even surfaces.Cook for 15 minutes, remove from tinsand leave to cool.When cold, place one cake upsidedown and spread jam on base. Thenspread whipped cream. Place secondcake on top.

DOJO BREADRear Lane, 91 Wallace St, Braidwood NSW

8 am to 1 pm | 6 days a weekArtisan Bread | Gourmet Pies | Great Coffee

Local Produce | Sweet things | Hotties & ColdiesSausage Rolls | Slices ... and morewww.dojobread.com.au

(Check out our new courtyard)

S P R I N G   R E C I P E S W I T H L Y N C R A M

2017 SPRING BWD 35

Palerang Pinks were born in 2014and were entered into their firstKanga Cup competition in Can -

berra — the biggest junior comp in thesouthern hemisphere.The philosophy and mission of theNSR Kanga Cup is “Uniting the Youthof the World through Football” and thetournament provides an opportunityfor participants to meet players fromall over Australia as well as overseas.Past international teams have beenfrom Fiji, South Africa, Korea,Georgia, England, New Zealand, USA,Chinese Taipei and more. The Kanga Cup had humble begin-nings, starting in 1991 in Sydneybefore moving to its new home ofCanberra in 1993. The inauguralKanga Cup had just 35 teams part -icipate — the 2016 season saw over375 teams take part, with 5500 partic-ipants from Australia and overseasmeeting in Canberra for a week offootball, fun and friendship. In 2015 the Palerang Pinks played inthe capital football competition in theUnder 13s Division 3.In the first season they played 15games with 13 wins 1 draw and 1 loss,

scoring 55 goals in total and conceding6, finishing that year as premiers forthe first time.In 2016 the Palerang Pinks werepromoted to Division 2 in the under14s girls comp and played 13 games,with 10 wins, 2 draws and 1 losswinning again the premiership for2016.2017 saw the Pinks go to Under 16sDivision 2, with the girls playing 16

games, with 13 wins and 3 drawsleaving the girls in 2017 undefeatedand once again the premiers for 2017.The Palerang Pinks have a number ofgirls who have played out the three fullyears, with a few different girls joiningand leaving the squad in between thistime. But it’s been mainly the samenine players for the entire three yearsstraight of back-to-back premierships.In the three years the Pinks haveplayed they have scored 149 goals andconceded only 24. A fantastic effort forthese amazing young women.

(More photos of the Pinks in action on thefollowing pages. Thanks to Judy Knowlesfor the extra pics.)

Pink is the new goldAnother year, another premiership for the Palerang Pinks

BACK ROW: MICHELLE (MANAGER), TESS, GEORGIA, CLAIRE, TASHANI, KAILEY, LYLA, CHRISTOPHER (COACH). FRONT ROW: ISABELLA, LOGAN, LOUISE, ELLIE, JESSICA, LYNDSEY, JORJA, JARRAH. ABSENT: ABBY.

THE PINKS EVEN PLAYED ON THE MOON.

Country-style home comfortA quiet location with reasonable rates10 units (including 3 family rooms)

• Breakfast available• Perfect base forwandering throughthe historic town ofBraidwood, or

• exploring nearbyNational Parks

199 Wallace St Braidwood

4842 2027bwdcolonialmotel@bigpond.com

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P I N K S , P I N K S A N D M O R E P I N K S

36 BWD SPRING 2017

Sharwood Hampersinfo@sharwoodhampers.com.auwww.sharwoodhampers.com.au

Contact Sharon 0403 093 715

Are you stuck trying to finda Birthday gift or need a

Congratulations or Thank You gift?Look no further! Sharwood Hampers provides a wide range of quality gifthampers filled with local produce, wine and gifts fromthe local area of Bungendore, Braidwood and beyond.We are excited to bring together delicious food, amazingwines, and beautifully hand crafted products, all madefrom around the local region. The quality contents of ourhampers have been selected from local suppliers andproducers as we believe in fostering and encouraginglocal business. We strive to deliver the highest qualityhampers to local areas across the Southern Highlands.

We proudly stock many Braidwood products in ourhampers including Bees R Us honey products, YerriebahBerry Farm jams and vinegars, chutneys and drinks fromSully’s at the Old Cheese Factory, beautiful handmadesoaps from Curraweena Lavender Farm, the amazing blackgarlic products from Garlicious Grown and we’re excited toreveal some more fabulous new suppliers very soon!

Our hampers are perfect for new home gifts, birthday gifts,thank you gifts, I love you gifts and we even have localgifts for new babies and of course seasonal gifts includingChristmas!

We are also delighted to announce that we are nowshipping our gift hampers nationally, so you can share thelocal delights with family and friends who live inter-state.Shipping costs are kept to a minimum and we would bedelighted to help you out with a custom order to meetyour requirements. One of our very first shipped orderswas a custom order from a client who is currently livinginterstate but was originally from Braidwood. Theyrequested products only from Braidwood and added in aBungendore wine. They loved it!

Please contact Sharon if you are looking for somethingdifferent or have a special request, we’d be happy to help.

2017 SPRING BWD 37

BRAIDWOOD RURAL&

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• Agronomy • Animal health• Building supplies •Chainsaws• Fencing • Produce • Sheds

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C’ARN THE PINKS!

P E O P L E A R E D O I N G I T F O R T H E M S E L V E S

While ever our energy policyis set by inves tors whodemand a ‘reasonable’ rate

of return we, the consumers, are goingto get screwed by a power distributionnetwork that is such a motley patch-work of public and private ownershipwith unenforced responsibility.Private owners expect a rate of returnon their investment in line with thefanciful, or sometimes even fraudu-lent, projections made by our govern-ments when they sell off assets, oftenjust for a short-term budget fix.Electricity is a cash cow being, as it is,a non-discretionary purchase.So our options for the future are:1. Continue to burn coal.2. Shift some power stations to gas.3. Embrace renewables.Gas-fired power plants are much moreefficient than coal burners and don’trequire such a huge amount of waterto operate. But today’s gas supplyscenario has degenerated into farce.Both gas and coal-fired power stationsmust have a continuous supply of fueland coal burners need an availablewater supply for cooling. The carbondioxide emissions need to be broughtto the lowest level possible and thisrequires complex treatment that is notyet commonplace — and coal power isalready expensive. Coal mines and gasextraction also create their own envi-ronmental hazards.

The game changerSolar energy is different. (So is wind,but let’s stick with solar for a bit.)Solar arrays capable of supplying asmuch power as a coal or gas plant willbe vast — hundreds of hectares.Once constructed though, the runningcosts are negligible compared to coalor gas. Solar arrays don’t need waterand don’t produce pollution or thewaste products and dangers of mining.And the fuel arrives for free!Let’s cut to the chase. It’s the free fuelthat has the investor sector so opposedto the uptake of renewables. Of coursethey trot out other arguments like

edge of the escarpment as we do,pumped hydro storage will work for usnicely. We have as much land as weneed, able to be leased from farmershappy to host the solar arrays, and anideal drop to run a pipe down hillfrom, say, Majors Creek to Araluen.Think of it as a hydro-electric powerstation using falling water to spin aturbine that can run faster or slowerdepending on the load (the amount ofelectricity required at that moment).The solar panels produce powerduring the day to pump the water backup the hill.The same water goes up and down, anenvironmental supply is not needed.It will happen. Coal power is finished,gas is uncertain and nuclear will neverget off the ground. And that’s all good!Here in Braidwood we can do it forourselves. We have a CommunityBank that is inventive and caring —and a population small and cohesiveenough to think outside the square.Let’s put a bold plan up to governmentto help them with solutions to theirenergy dilemma that will also benefitour community.Solar power is the people’s power.

38 BWD SPRING 2017

T H E S T A R S A R E D E F I N I T E L Y C R A Z Y

M A R R I A G E V O T E XX T X I X G X Q X U X N XF L A M B E A U X T O O TX A X E X D X A X C X K XE R A X X X A L U L L I NX G X B X K X I X A X X XF E M O R A X T A S T E SX X X S X L X Y X S X C XH O T S E A T X X X T O TX C X I X M X C X A X N XT H E E X A I R I N G O FX R X S X T X O X E X M XX E N T R A N C E W A Y S

BRAIDWOOD BAFFLER #14

HORRORSCOPE FOR THE SPRING MONTHS OF 2017:To allow for the vagaries of the universe and interpretive inexactitude, it might pay to read everyone else’s stars as well.

TIME &ENERGY

towards the future by Paul Cockram

GEMINIO gosh, why doesn’t it rain. Everything’sso dry but not as much as that desiccatedold coconut, our ex-Prime Minister. Howdare that deranged war criminal lectureus about the dangers of giving everyonean equal right to marry? It’s weapons ofmass copulation this time I suppose —and of course, they’ll turn out to not existas well.

CANCERWhen it comes time for the governmentto show how much it supports renew-ables, you can rest assured that it willstop at nothing. Look out for Tony ofAbscissor, the blocker of light. Remem -ber that all forms of energy have theirdrawbacks. With solar it’s, “will the sunrise to morrow?”

LEOSamsung has transited from the ware-house to your house this month. It’s atime to sit back and let modern all-consuming life wash over you. OMG,just as the effervescent couple see theirnew bathroom, it’s “Oh What a Feeling”and you’ll start thinking: Twinkle twinklelittle star, how I need a brand new car.I’ll fear not the hefty toll, with ABS andcruise control.

VIRGOThis month you’ll enjoy talking aboutwhat interests you and if you’re reallylucky, what interests your audience.Practice adding pauses to your conversa-tions. That way you can compose whatyou next want to say after your co-conversationalist has finished ratherthan while they’re speaking. Then whenthey say, “Isn’t that right dear?”, you canreply with confidence, “Oh I know”.

LIBRAAbout time too. Mercury reappears inthe thermometer in your second solarhouse — and so the seasons pass likewater at the pub. Coopers transits in atrine to your sign. A couple of coldies toend the day, a six-pack, love, to takeaway. Fumble with the keys, get the oldbomb started, look out youse wombats, Iain’t faint hearted.

SCORPIOYour motivation to get that hobby projectfinished goes through the roof. Alwaysread the fine print and you’ll see where itsays to take your model rocket outsidebefore the launch.

SAGITTARIUSYou might be pondering the significanceof the existence of an Almighty. Is it Godor perhaps Lockheed Martin? The Lord isyour shepherd, you shall not want unlessof course you’re still fearful of Kim JongUn where, in that case, you might preferthe protection of the $20m-a-pop Aegismissile system. Just bear in mind, the

chance of intercepting all the incomingnukes that will vapourise all you holddear is astronomically small. Diplomacyis a much better bet than deterrence.

CAPRICORNThere’s a lot of negativity about your fifthhouse, especially around the gearing. It’sgetting to the stage where you own somany properties you can let the tenantsdo all the working for you. Fear not, Godis too busy with the ‘NO’ vote to botherany more about avarice.

AQUARIUSThe alarm goes off, it’s still dark but youmust be like mautine and rise before thesun. Oh, how we dream of vesperine. Atthis time of the year we lurch fromdaylight mean time to an even meanertime if you must arise to milk the cows orpack your kids off to the school bus.

PISCESJuno what Jupiter’s wife’s name is? Sure,OK; it’s a trick question.

ARIESYou might be pondering the religiouscondemnation of same-sex marriagewhile remembering that in 1615 Galileowas charged with heresy and spent therest of his life under house arrest.Although the ‘father of science’ broughtus the understanding of speed and veloc-ity, gravity and free fall, the principle ofrelativity, inertia and projectile motion,God’s self-appointed servants didn’t likethe way it challenged their world view.

TAURUSYou may feel an abbreviated communi-cation phase coming on. OFFS, is that sobad? I’m LMAO here and alternatingbetween LQTM and ROFL. FWIW, yourBFF thinks UR GR8 FFS, JK, LOL, EOD.

ACROSS1 Got an opinion on

matrimony? Then postthis! (8,4)

8 Flaming torch (8)9 Sound made by Thomas

the Tank Engine? (4)10 Long period of time (3)11 Nothing’s happening. Its

gone quiet. There’s (1,4,2)... the proceedings.

14 Thighbone (6)15 Appetites (6)17 Uncomfortable position;

having the responsibilityfor a difficult decision (3,4)

19 Small infant (3)22 You, biblically. (4)23 In the annual Braidwood

Festival this is done to thequilts (6,2)

DOWN2 Roaming free (2,5)3 Hoar frost cover (4)4 Matured (4)

5 Fairness (8)6 Beat the rest (8)7 Type of mushroom (5)12 Most overbearing (8)13 Greek city and popular

variety of olive (8)16 Restraint, thrift (7)18 Earthy pigment containing

ferric oxide (5)20 Shortened form of a

dangerous reptile or a typeof footwear (4)

21 In a different, morepositive way (4)

They might have noidea, but we do

Our governments are paralysed by indecision andunrelenting lobbying by energy corporations

X A X A X O V E R C O A TF R O S T X I X E X M X OX G X S X P A R A K E E TM U T A T E X X L X N X XX M X S X A R U M P X A XM E S S X C X P X A O N EX N E I G H B O U R L Y XS T A N X E X V X A D O TX S X S E D G E X T X F XX X F X X X X R A R I T YB R I G A N D S X O X H XR X R X I X O X H O M E RR E E S T I N G X P X M X

SOLUTION TO BAFFLER #13

intermittency but that’s just rubbish —modern electronics and storage has allthose variables well and truly covered.Let’s go with the scientific approach toenergy security rather than the dead-end approach promoted by the PrimeMinister’s investor-led lobby group.In our part of Australia, sitting on the

2017 SPRING BWD 39

Are you tired of payingthrough the nose for thatdirty coal-fired power? Worried about wreckingthe planet’s climate?

Switch to cheaperelectricity made

from the sun.

Community solar power:not just for well-off people,

but for every one of us.BRAIDWOOD POWERIt can be done and we can do it.

8

4

Scholarshipcoming soon

Braidwood Community Bank®

Braidwood & Districts Community Bank® Branch

Going to Uni or TAFE for the rst time in 2018?

Applications are invited from eligible students in the local district attending university or TAFE for the �rst time in 2018.

Drop into your nearest branch at 95 Wallace Street, Braidwood or phone 4842 1700 for more information or visit bendigobank.com.au/ scholarships.

The Braidwood Community Bank® 2018 Scholarship is a management account of Community Enterprise Charitable Fund ABN 12 102 649 968 (the Fund), The Bendigo Centre, Bendigo VIC 3550. Sandhurst Trustees Limited ABN 16 004 030 737 AFSL 237906, a subsidiary of Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Limited ABN 11 068 049 178 AFSL 237879, is the trustee of the Fund. A266392-4 (372913_v6) (5/10/2017)