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Tree falling

If a tree falls in the forest, but no one is there, does it still make a sound? So goes the ancient philosophical question. Forest Falls have come up with their own answer.

 

Words: John Van Klaveren

 

If the trees of the Otways could make a sound, they would sound like Forest Falls.

It’s easy to be wafted away to the beauty of the rain forest on the lush arrangements, rich vocals and flowing lyrics of the half-Geelong, half-Melbourne, part ex-Perth indie outfit.

The multi-instrumental skills of the band members, along with their thoughtful arrangements, give Forest Falls its soaring quality, adding an almost visual dimension to the sound.

The band’s latest EP, Hounds, supported by $10,000 of Pozible crowdfunding, is making inroads into the national music scene with rave reviews at every turn.

Lucy Rash, who brings keyboard, vocals, violin and guitar to the rehearsal room, says the sound is the product of the “deep desire to play music” in each of the six members.

“We have discovered that we all need each other to do that in the way we want to,” Rash explains.

The coming together of such disparate talents was a “six degrees of separation” moment after band founder Jon O’Neill moved from Perth and connected with drummer Jamie Daborn.

“Jamie knew Shaun (Stolk) who knew Gabe (Federico) who knew Jeremy (Hallett) – you get the picture,” Rash laughs.

“We all have a variety of influences and histories and bring them to our music. It’s an amazing environment; I’ve never been in a band with so many members.

“Being in a room with five other artists it always amazes me how many different ideas are flying around.

“This mixture of people is an ideal team environment because we all act as creative equals, inspiring each of us to listen to each other.

“It also means there’s always someone cracking the whip and making the musical decisions,” Rash added.

 

Read more in the Geelong Coast Magazine – out now.

Local Love – Susie and Stu

A perfect 28C February day, a mild breeze, her dad’s favourite flowers and a shady place by the Barwon River – Susan’s and Stewart’s day couldn’t have been more perfect.

 

Words: Emily Iannello
Pictures: Louisa Jones Photography

 

HOW THEY MET

Grovdale’s Susan Threlfall and Stewart Gill knew after their first date that they were perfect for each other.

“We actually met online and then we went on a date – we just went for dinner at the pub.

“I knew straight away, we didn’t muck around,” Suzie laughs.

 

THE PROPOSAL
Late last year Suzie’s dad was diagnosed with cancer.  Stewart and Suzie had lived together for five years and always knew they would marry but  were just waiting for the right time.

“We were at my parents’ house and out of the blue he got down on one knee and asked me,” Suzie remembers.
“I was thinking. ‘He hasn’t even asked my father’, but turns out he already had. Everyone was in on it except me.

“Even with everything going on with mum and dad, we still pulled out a bottle of bubbly and celebrated.

“It was a very emotional and special time. I couldn’t imagine it any differently.

 

Love to read more? Catch the latest GC Magazine – out now.

 

Boogie nights

George ‘Toppa’ Topouzakis, one of Geelong’s first DJs, has passed on his love of disco to son Steve.

 

It was the era of one of the biggest seismic shifts ever in music and entertainment and two Geelong school mates turned out to be among the pioneers of the time.

It was the mid-1970s and pub bands ruled the roost.

Skyhooks, Little River Band, Cold Chisel, Split Enz and various lesser lights were rocking local venues like The Golf View, Dinosaur and Sundowner hotels.

If the names are a trifle unfamiliar it’s because they underwent changes to the Sphinx, Peninsula and Gateway as the entertainment scene around the region continued to evolve.

The Ramia family ran the-then Golf View Hotel in Thompsons Rd, North Geelong, overlooking the now extinct Geelong Golf Club fairways.

It was simple entertainment economics that prompted a change, George Ramia recalls.

The escalating price war for major rock acts left pubs scratching to make a buck, so George approached local agent Bernie Stahl looking for an alternative.

Studio 54 had just opened in New York and Bernie suggested taking a punt on disco.

George’s immediate response was: “What’s that?”

“They play records,” Bernie replied.

“What’s the point of that?” George persisted. “We’ve already got a jukebox.”

 

Listen in to the rest of the story in the latest Geelong Coast Magazine.

 

 

Moments of Druce

JOHN VAN KLAVEREN steps into the hectic yet ordered world of renowned Bellarine Peninsula artist John Druce.

 

John Druce’s studio is packed.

The Barwon Heads artist uses the seek-and-you-shall-find method of filing, with drawers, cupboards, boxes and shelves holding bits and pieces collected over his 76 years.

Druce can (almost) unerringly go to the correct part of his studio to uncover a note, photo or sketch that hasn’t seen the light of day for years.

Every piece has a story and fits into the journal of his life.

And then there are the paintings, with easels set up in the studio, more stacked in their frames in a side room and still more vertically filed in low-hanging timber racks in the attached garage.

“I don’t know what I will do with all this stuff later on”, Druce says, gesturing widely at files of photos and drawers of drawings

Barwon Heads has always been home for Druce, even during his lengthy sojourns overseas or around Australia.

“I was born in the house next door,” he reveals.

 

Read more on the remarkable John Druce in the latest GC Magazine – out now.

The memorial tree

A Norfolk Pine stands as a sentinel guarding the memory of a Geelong engineer and his two brothers, who made the supreme sacrifice in The Great War. BARRY ABLEY recounts their tragic tale in the year of the Anzac centenary.

 

Hussars, dragoons and a myriad cavalry regiments exercised and watered their steeds 20 miles behind the front lines.

Horse-drawn artillery limbers, ridden postilion fashion, galloped to and fro.

Field Marshal Haig, Commander in Chief of British forces on the Western Front, had little time for new military ideas and industrial warfare. He was very much steeped in the ways he knew – infantry and horses.

The agrarian Commonwealth troops would lead one mighty push in the valley of Somme, enabling the cavalry to break out, as they have always done in the past. The Pozières’ Heights would be the fulcrum.

This distorted vision, lacking in appreciation of the new mechanized war led to the loss of 400,000 Allied troops.

Twelve days of fighting on the Somme cost Australia’s 2nd Division 6848 men, almost a third of its strength. Among those killed in the futile onslaught was a Geelong engineer and his two brothers.

 

Read more about engineer Harold Smith and his brothers Richard and Walter in the latest Geelong Coast Magazine.

 

 

Garden on the sides

Naomi Benney has turned a blank canvas on sandy soil at Meredith into a bustling garden built around a house with 16 sides.

 

Pictures: Reg Ryan

 

Most gardeners are used to having a front and back yard to work with but Meredith’s Naomi Benney’s green thumbs are virtually unrestricted.

Building her garden around a unique 16-sided house means there are no rules, Naomi muses.

She had plenty of land to work with as well, although there a crumbling rock wall with some natives presents a small barrier.

But it was a rounded structure, built up from what was previously a condemned mud house, that gave her garden its direction and purpose.

“It means there is no front door or back door – you just use whichever door is closest,” Naomi smiles.

The 16-sided house gradually developed with thick timber poles to support the roof, a huge rock fireplace anchoring the living space and bedrooms created around another curved section.

“There are no straight lines, there’s no front or back, it just is,” Naomi explains.

“And that’s the approach I took into the garden was well. It grew organically, in more ways than one.”

 

Continue reading in the latest GC Magazine – out now.

Home Bodies – Southern exposure

NOEL MURPHY discovers an architectural masterpiece embedded into the rolling green countryside of the Otway Ranges at Johanna.

 

IT TAKES a certain confidence to build a house facing out to the extremes of the Southern Ocean without worrying about window coverings.

Wild winds capable of propelling sailing ships clean across the Indian Ocean speak volumes for a force which, combined with often-chilly temperatures and the dampest climes in Victoria, could make life, well, let’s just say a little uncomfortable.

But the beauty of the Southern Ocean and the verdant patchwork carpet of the Otway Ranges hinterland are glorious features any self-respecting architect wouldn’t let escape his attention.

Geelong West’s Mark Gratwick Architects did just that with Johanna Beach House, harnessing the elements and rugged natural aesthetics with a canny mix of design, engineering, materials.

The result –a geometric glass, stone and timber structure reaching skyward while opening to the worlds – is a terrific merging of built and natural environments.

For the full story, pick up a copy of the latest Geelong Coast Magazine – in newsagents now.

 

Connecting communities

St Mary’s Parish Pantry co-ordinators Gary and Rosalind McIlvena , Chloe Doyle, Jenny and Ian Wolfe, Maria Wileman and Garry Hickey have accessed Geelong Connected Communities funding to help feed the needy.

Geelong has always been known as community-minded and network city. Now an initiative supported by Bendigo Bank has drawn those qualities together as Geelong Connected Communities.

 

Words: John Van Klaveren
Picture: Reg Ryan

 

The organisation facilitates support for local sporting groups, not-for-profit organisations, events, the arts, disability, youth, the aged, the environment and major projects.

Bendigo Bank Geelong chief Pat Murnane said the initiative had been running since July 2013, handing out 150 grants totalling $400,000 so far to local community organisations.

“In the current round we anticipate making another $300,000 in grants – it’s substantial,” Pat explains.

Geelong Connected Communities covers every regional population centre, with active groups at Ocean Grove, Torquay, Bannockburn, Queenscliff/Point Lonsdale, Colac and Armstrong Creek. The program also works through community banks at Portarlington, Drysdale, Leopold, Lara, Barwon Heads, Winchelsea and Anglesea.

“It’s pretty simple: you support us and we’ll support you,” Pat says.

The age of Engagement

David de Cristoforo. Picture: REG RYAN

It’s a complete audio visual experience when David de Cristoforo performs, drawing the audience into his electro-pop world.

Words: John Van Klaveren
Picture: Reg Ryan

The 26-year-old Highton musician and vocalist performs as The Engagement, with the aim of fully immersing his audience in a sound and lighting extravaganza.
Supported by keyboardist Alex Hearn and lighting technician Pat Scadden, The Engagement uses backing tracks and image projections to create an edgy show.
But getting there has been an arduous journey for the driven performer, who would much prefer to focus on his creativity than on the business side of the music industry.
From the time he was bullied at secondary school for his high-pitched voice as he waited for it to break, David loves music but hates the “crap” it brings.
“I’ve always listened to music, I can’t live without it,” David says simply.
“There’s been countless times where I wanted to quit because of the stressful business side, dealing with agents and venues.
“As an act trying to make it, you cop a lot of negativity and criticism and it makes you feel like crap. Not everyone is happy to take you on board.

For the full story see the latest Geelong Coast Magazine – out now in newsagents.

Watch this face – Ben Eccles

Ben Eccles. Picture: Reg Ryan

Golf is never far from Ben Eccles, whether it’s work, rest or play.

Words: JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
Picture: REG RYAN

The Torquay 20-year-old is still smiling after a third place finish at the Victorian Open at 13th Beach in February.
And that’s despite admitting he missed a couple of opportunities to put even more pressure of the leaders in the final round.
“I wanted to be in with a chance in final round, which I was, but I didn’t quite get the job done,” Ben says.
“There were a few ups and downs in that last round. It was a matter of holing a couple more putts but it left me two shots short in the end.
“It wasn’t really that much. Coming down the stretch I needed a few things to go my way.”
But the benefit of the experience isn’t lost on Ben.

For more on this story pick up a copy of the Geelong Coast Magazine – in newsagents now.

Man of steel art

Daniel McDonnell on his giant flowerpot. Pictures: REG RYAN

JOHN VAN KLAVEREN meets a North Geelong steel fabricator with an artistic bent.

At first glance it could be any steel fabrication yard – until you look a little closer.
Those strange shapes are more likely to find their way into gardens and living spaces of Geelong homes than industrial estates.
But businesses around the region are realising the potential of the industrial art being created by Daniel McDonnell at his North Geelong business, Steel Alive.
The range of steel sculptures is amazing, with everything from seats built like a butterfly and water features to insects, marsupials, dinosaurs and even a striking cobra.
Daniel also makes outdoor light boxes and can produce intricate scroll work as part of logos and completed frames scenes all etched out in steel.
The art doesn’t take over completely, however, Daniel laughs.

Read more in the Geelong Coast Magazine – in newsagents now.

In Conversation – with Angie Hilton

Angie Hilton. Pictures: REG RYAN

Singer, actor, TV presenter and happily married mum of two with Geelong basketball royalty Braith Cox, Angie Hilton chats to EMILY IANNELLO about her fabulous lifestyle.

 

What are you up to at the moment?

Well I turned 40 last year, so it feels like a new era for me. It’s my time to keep growing and getting out of my comfort zone and exploring new possibilities.

I’ve decided with this new start I’m going to get fit, I’m going to learn how to cook – actually, my neighbour Helen Hardwick is teaching me. I’ve mastered my chicken pie so far.

I also might start getting out in the garden and getting back into writing.

I’m still doing What’s Up Downunder, and I’m travelling around doing backing vocal for Merril Bainbridge. There’s also another potential opportunity in the pipeline – something challenging that will definitely get me out of my comfort zone, but I can’t say exactly what yet.

 

And how’s your lovely family?

Scarlett’s now seven and Sonny’s five. Sonny was so excited to start school this year – in his first week he got student of the week.

I have both kids at school now, so the world’s opening up with a bit of freedom.

We’re also renovating our house in Newtown, so that’s been challenging and fun. We’ve never done it before, so it’s been a good project for (husband) Braith and I.

We’ve been choosing everything together. We were inspired by the block. It’s been character building, I’d say.

We’ve done stage one, so the front part of the house is looking like a house again. The back is going to be completely knocked off and we’re about to tackle that soon.

 

Pick up the conversation, in the Geelong Coast Magazine – in newsagents now.

 

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