Graeme, Peter and Jack from the Western Victoria Holden Club, with Glenn at his 50th.
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A5CECD;”] O [/dropcap] UR choice of quiet herofor this week is a very personal one, based on my brother Glenn’s recent 50th birthday party.
Reaching 50 years of age is a significant milestone for Glenn, who has Down’s Syndrome, so his party needed something special.
This is where the members of the Western Victoria Holden Car Clubcome in. I contacted the club through its president, Peter Dunn, to see if I might be able to hire a car to arrive at Glenn’s party and, maybe, take him for a short ride.
The group had a club event already scheduled for that day, but, despite this, Peter called around and organised for two of the most beautiful, restored Holdens (a Sandman panel van and a Holden FC) to be available.
Glenn’s face lit up when they arrived, but he was, unfortunately, unable to ease himself out of his wheelchair and into the front seat of the Sandman.
No problem: Graeme, the car’s proud owner, scooped him up and put him in.
And around the block they went. In fact, several blocks.
The club refused to take any payment, so we instead made a donation to Down’s Syndrome Victoria as part of its everyday hero campaign.
This club is certainly made up of everyday heroes.
[box type=”bio”] If you would like to know more about the Western Victoria Holden Club, check out its Facebook page here.[/box]
Ann and Stella from Warrnambool Coastcare Landcare.
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #8F9F59;”] O [/dropcap]ne of the many beautiful things about living in South-West Victoria is the wild environment that surrounds us, from the ocean, to the rivers, the estuaries and the native bush.
While we are so fortunate to have access to such natural beauty, there is a legion of volunteers who are doing their bit to keep it that way and to reduce the environmental impact of humans.
South-West Victoria is home to several well-established and active environmental groups, including Friends of Merri Marine Sanctuary, Making a Difference for the Merri, Friends of Ralph Illidge Sanctuary and the Warrnambool Coastcare Landcare Group.
It is the latter that we have chosen as our hero of the week after finding two of its members – Ann and Stella – hard at work digging out weeds and knee-high grass from an area known as Harris on Merri, near the Rail Trail in South Warrnambool.
We reckon that getting down on your hands and knees and weeding for several hours in order to make a public space more beautiful is worthy of reward: if only the small one that we offer. Thankyou Ann and Stella, and all those like you.
If you would like to know more about landcare groups in the area, the Basalt to Bay Landcare Network is a great place to start. Check their website here.
[box] Bluestone Magazine is donating a voucher for coffee and cake to each of our quiet heroes. This week it will be Lozzar’s Lounge Cafe, 52A Kepler St, Warrnambool.[/box]
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A5CECD;”] A [/dropcap]NDY and Debbie Doeven live the kind of life that most people only fantasise about while staring out the window from their desk job.
It has been more than 20 years since the pair decided to uproot from suburban Melbourne and start afresh – from the ground up – on 21 acres of scrubby land at Naringal, east of Warrnambool.
“When we first came here, this land was covered in blackberries and weeds and that was about it,” Andy said.
It is a far cry from that today, with the couple and their two sons using most of the land to grow magnificent native and South African flowers for their cut flower business.
They also sell fresh market produce harvested from their two flourishing vegetable gardens and a bevy of fruit trees, including two types of plum, two types of pear, six types of apple, peaches, passionfruit, kiwi fruit, mandarins, lemons, figs and feijoa.
Hazelnuts, chestnuts and walnuts have also recently been added to the farm.
No farm is complete without a poddy calf or two.
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A5CECD;”] I [/dropcap]T IS PERHAPS not surprising that Andy had previously worked at a Safeway supermarket as the fresh produce manager, until the recession Australia had to have drove profit margins down and personal stress levels up.
The pair decided it was time for a lifestyle change and found the Naringal land on a real estate board in Warrnambool while on their way to visit Andy’s brother in Portland.
“We actually were thinking about Snake Gully (near Ballarat), but when we saw this, we thought it had a lot of potential for a good price,” Andy said.
The family started from scratch; living in a shed on the property for “several years” while they built their mudbrick and bluestone home by hand, using the clay soil dug from the building site.
They salvaged and recycled second-hand materials where possible, including buying used equipment to set up their own solar electricity system.
They still remain entirely off the grid and use a wood stove to heat water in winter.
The farm hens enjoy high-rise apartment living, away from foxes.
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A5CECD;”] I [/dropcap]T HAS BEEN LONG, hard, tiring work that has taken many years to complete, but now they enjoy an enviable lifestyle sustained by much of their own produce, including free-range eggs, at least some milk from a house cow and, perhaps, some pork from the pigs that one of their sons has begun to breed.
It is a very physical lifestyle that keeps them both looking little different, one imagines, than when they first met at a disco as teenagers.
After building what has been a shared dream, they can’t imagine ever returning to a city lifestyle.
“No, impossible,” said Debbie with a laugh.
[box] Doeven Flowers can be found at the Port Fairy farmers market (third Saturday of the month) and Warrnambool Showground market (each Sunday).[/box]
Each week we post a gem from Gumtree – the online buy, sell, swap site – that is odd, unusual or just plain different. Most items are/were for sale in South-West Victoria or not far beyond.
This week is one that I posted on Facebook some time ago, but it is worth retrieving for Bluestone Magazine, as it remains one of the most original:
[box] Tub of clean crisp country air, collected from my farm. You can breath easy today with this limited item !! Can post, but as I am out in the country it may take a couple of days to ride horse into town. For those city folk wanting an escape to the country but don’t have time. Bring the country to you with this very limited offer. Only 1000 available at this stage. $9 a tub.[/box]
If you have been following this section, you will know that given we are called Bluestone, we thought it only fitting that each week we dig out a track that has the word ‘blue’ in its lyrics or title.
What better way to start the working week than with some sensational music?
It doesn’t come any better than this: lyrics by Bob Dylan, performance by the Indigo Girls – Tangled up in Blue. It is a truncated version, so not the full eight minutes it usually runs for…
(We have chosen this version to save you having to watch the Youtube ads)
Who are our other quiet heroes?
