Episodes

  • They Cried for Their Mothers

    The words in my poem They Cried for Their Mothers are an evocation of my personal connections to Gallipoli and explained as follows:

    My Great, Great Uncle Herbert Hare and his brother Charles ‘I think of all those farm-boys’ landed at Gallipoli with the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force on 25th April 1915.

    A few months earlier Herbert had written home from a village called Mena in Egypt, the Christian pilgrimage centre in late antiquity, ‘in the lands of Bible Lore’ to advise (left) that he was

    “leaving Egypt for the Dardenelles to fight the Turks”.

    Lt Rev. Herbert Hare. Herbert was wounded at Gallipoli, repatriated in Malta then re-joined his battalion on the Western Front in France where he died on 8 August 2016 from severe gunshot wounds ‘in action
right arm blown off by shell
’ ‘smashed and shot and shattered’.

    Official Australian war historian CEW Bean described the fighting in this area around Poziùres ridge as "more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth". ‘.. the killing fields of France’.

    Herbert’s brother, Charles, who was wounded twice at Gallipoli, and his other brother Henry, who served in France, both returned to Australia.

    In the early 1970’s, renowned artist Lloyd Rees who, during a library lecture in Hobart, recounted the words of his brother in a letter home from the Western Front: “these boys are keeping me awake at night, crying for their mothers” ‘some cried for their dear mothers’.

    Lloyd’s story was seared onto my consciousness as an expression of the unimaginable fear these boys were experiencing. ‘yet the din of war continues
as it echoes in my head’. Lloyd said that Vivien was later killed in the quagmire of the Somme ‘amongst the blood and guts and gore’.

    I visited the Lone Pine cemetery on the Gallipoli Peninsula in 2019 and read the pained words inscribed on the headstones of our boy soldiers by their grieving families.
    They Cried for Their Mothers includes words from these headstones (above) ‘when their lives had just begun’. I also stood below the sheer cliffs at Anzac Cove which these boys had to climb whilst under heavy enemy fire ‘they didn’t stand a chance’.

    Tributes from both the Anzac and Turkish families to their fallen sons stand together on the Gallipoli Peninsula. (right)

    They Cried for Their Mothers acknowledges the lost sons on all sides of the conflict. ‘I think of all the mothers
who lost a darling son’.

    They Cried for Their Mothers also references Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the Turkish commander at Gallipoli, and later to become known as the Father of Modern Turkey, who is said to have paid tribute to the loss of these young lives with the following words:

    You, the mothers who sent their sons from faraway countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well. ‘our weeping sons
’.

    He later said “the sound of those broken men crying for their mothers is something I shall always have in my ears”. ‘it’s not the sound of cannon
but our weeping sons instead’.

    His famous painting merges the images of men and their weapons such that their very humanity appears subsumed into the machinery of war ‘all for King and Country’. His words and painting jolted my previously silent reflections of these boys at war whilst, at the same time, realising that there was a shared experience across generations and across countries and cultures.

    I recently read the story of the WW1 English artist CRW Nevinson who painted Mitrallieuse (right) after his experiences of the Western Front.

    He later said “the sound of those broken men crying for their mothers is something I shall always have in my ears”. ‘it’s not the sound of cannon
but our weeping sons instead’.

    These unconnected emotional touchpoints were lodged in my private thoughts for decades as ‘echoes in my head’ until Anzac Day 2020 when the annual Dawn Service was cancelled due to the pandemic.

    As usual, I rose early on that Anzac morning ‘on each and every Anzac Day
I rise before the dawn’ but was alone, in an empty city and at a loss as to what to do. So I walked to the Shrine in defiance of the police advice that everyone should stay away or risk arrest. The Shrine was Closed. Fenced-off. Forlorn. I felt emotionally truncated and denied ‘a nation’s time to mourn’.

    I wandered around the area. Some people had trespassed and laid wreaths (right). I walked across to Ataturk’s Tribute near the Botanic Gardens.

    Then, at that moment, I received Sam Paynter’s photo of the proud Brighton Digger standing that morning at the end of his driveway. The image was the embodiment of the Anzac spirit expressing ‘our sorrow and our pride’. A pandemic was not going to stop him from remembering ‘those who bravely died’.

    It was in that instant that the words in They Cried for Their Mothers surged forth and I sat down and sketched them out hurriedly on a piece of paper, all the while looking at the empty, fenced-off Shrine thereby adding an eerie poignancy to the moment. ‘
the solemnity of
’


    They Cried for Their Mothers is a requiem for lost lives and describes the emotional scarring that reverberates throughout the world to this day ‘yet the sound of war continues’. Still.

  • Bravery Co. was born to a girl called Emily. A dreamer and a traveller, a collector and a designer, she spent her days as an Art Director in a bubble of colour and happiness. Then she got sick. Real sick. She got cancer. Not once, not twice but three times. And do you know what, she beat it. Not once, not twice but three times.

    Inspired by her own experience of chemo, cancer, naps, and turbans, she's on a mission to create some cool cancer headwear in the hope to give bravery to others going through something she knows only too well.

    Emily and Bravery Co. is located in Melbourne, Australia.

    www.braveryco.com.au

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  • Sally Hepworth is the New York Times bestselling author of nine novels, most recently Darling Girls. Her novel, The Mother-In-Law (2019), has been optioned for a TV series by Hollywood actress and producer, Amy Poehler.

    Drawing on the good, the bad and the downright odd of human behaviour, Sally writes incisively about family, relationships and identity. Her domestic thriller novels are laced with quirky humour, sass and a darkly charming tone.

    Sally's novels are available around the globe in English and have been translated into 20 languages. She has sold more than one million books worldwide.

    Sally lives in Bayside Melbourne with her family.

    www.sallyhepworthauthor.com

  • Proud Local. Since 1981.
    ________________________________________
    For 43 years, Sports Conscious has been delighting customers in Brighton with a unique range of premium outdoor and sporting fashion brands.
    Every day, the passionate team of experts lead by
    Andy Stuart Menteth provides the highest level of customer service. It’s just one of many reasons why Sports Conscious become known as “that store”.
    Andy continuously searchs the globe for innovative, sustainable, and environmentally conscious brands whose products are kind to the planet. From well known to small up-and-coming, he is proud to partner with these brands and take the time to deeply understand their products. This allows the store to offer the very best customer service, ensuring customers get the perfect fit for their needs every time.
    Premium Global Brands
    ________________________________________
    Always Pivoting Andy selects only the world’s best outdoor and sports fashion labels, combining premium quality products with expert local knowledge. The team closely work with each brand to provide the widest selection of products, and in many cases these are Australian exclusive to Sports Conscious

  • Possum Portraits was founded in Bayside in 2021
    The timing was significantly influenced by COVID, in the sense that I had just moved to Melbourne with my Aussie husband and then 6 month old daughter in late January 2020. We had not been in the country 6 weeks when the first lockdown was announced in March. I knew no one and was being kept from making friends by continuous lockdowns for the better part of 2 years; so I decided to found a charity that was based on work I had been doing in Germany since 2018 (drawing infant loss portraits) in order to give myself a purposeful project and feel like I was working towards a goal.
    I first came to infant loss portraiture through the encouragement of my sister, who is a midwife.


    Pregnancy and Infant Loss in Australia

    -Over 110,000 families affected by perinatal loss each year in Australia
    - That is 6 stillbirths and 2 neonatal deaths a day, while a miscarriage occurs every 3.5 minutes
    -This is despite Australia having one of the three top performing healthcare system in the world
    - 1 in 4 pregnancies ends in loss; which means that far from being uncommon, the reason we don’t commonly hear mention of it is because perinatal loss is still shrouded in social taboo
    - This attitude is unhelpful to grieving parents, who often don’t feel seen, heard or supported in their needs after bereavement


    Possum Portraits’ Operations

    - we supply hospitals across Australia with free grief resources for bereaved parents
    - midwives and other caregivers refer parents to our continuity of care service after loss
    - we specialise in free commemorative keepsake portraits of so-called “angel babies”. This is a grief support service no other charity in the world offers
    - parents who wish to receive a portrait apply through our website and supply reference photographs of their baby to base our portrait on. In concert with parents, our professional portrait artists then design a portrait for parents which will allow them to remember their baby in a way that meets their wishes. For example, parents may only have poor quality phone pictures of their stillborn or only have photos that show their baby connected to medical equipment. Our hand-drawn portraits allow for details present in photographs to be left out, or for various reference photos to be combined in a single portrait.
    - This approach allows us to give parents family portraits with their baby when they may have no such photos in real life, or to show angel babies with their surviving siblings, which we get asked to do often. I’m short, a portrait offers many commemorative possibilities beyond photography and is a crucial alternative for parents to have access to after loss
    - we pay our artists for the specialist and highly skilled nature of the work that they do. As an organisation, we are mainly funded by donations.
    - we also run a training program in compassionate perinatal bereavement care for midwives which is endorsed by the Australian College of Midwives
    - our first academic research study with Monash University is due to commence in July 2023


    Why commemoration matters
    - keepsakes have been shown to improve mental health outcomes after perinatal bereavement

    www.possumportraits.org

  • An Artist, Podcaster, Author & Consultant - leading a very busy life. Heading into retirement Andrew wanted a plan and decided it put it on paper and help others with his story. So he wrote a book and It’s called "My Future’s So Bright
I Gotta Wear Shades", it’s a practical workbook including 18 fun but life changing exercises, a signature Goal Setting tool, Planning checklists and Bucket List ideas designed for those seeking reason and meaning in Retirement. It's my hope that the information in the book will help people to:
    ‱ Define their purpose in this next phase of their life,
    ‱ Have sufficient self-belief to design this next phase, and
    ‱ Build a roadmap to achieve their dreams and goals.

    If can help others along their journey of self-discovery to find reason and meaning in retirement, to find their purpose and the motivation to chase that purpose, then I would consider the book a success

  • A Career educator who has dedicated her working life to developing better people through positive leadership. Meg has continued her personal development in an educational journey through Melbourne's elite private schools including Trinity Grammar, Caulfield Grammar, Scotch College, Brighton Grammar and now Mentone Girls Grammar. Meg has a proven track record in developing People and Culture. It is no surprise she has moved through the ranks and is respected as one of Melbourne's leading figures in the education space. Her experience across the spectrum of Co Education at Caulfield Grammar and single sex at Scotch College and Brighton Grammar have prepared her well for the role at Mentone Girls Grammar School as Deputy Principal and Head of Senior School.

    mentonegirls.vic.edu.au

    brightongrammar.vic.edu.au

  • Olympian & Leading sporting administrator, Kitty Chiller has been appointed as a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia (General Division) for her significant services to sport.

    Kitty Chiller AM has been honored for her work in Modern Pentathlon as both a competitor and senior administrator, plus a broad range of achievements across 35 years in domestic and international sport.

    Ms Chiller’s services to Modern Pentathlon as a competitor include being the first ever female to represent Australia in Pentathlon at the Olympic Games (Sydney 2000); earning the world number one ranking and being a winner of 7 World Cup medals.

    As an administrator, Ms Chiller has been the President of Modern Pentathlon Australia, President of the sport’s Oceania Confederation while also serving as a Executive Member of the sport’s international governing body.

    Outside of her extensive Modern Pentathlon achievements and contributions, Ms Chiller has been the CEO of Gymnastics Australia, President of the Oceania Gymnastics Union and is an Executive Member of the International Gymnastics Federation. Currently, she is the Deputy CEO of the National Sports Tribunal.

  • Gabby Kanizay is a young adventurer who on May 14th, 2022, became the youngest Australian to summit Everest. While Everest alone is quite literally the highest point for many adventurers to aim for, it wasn’t quite enough for Gabby, who went on to summit the adjacent Lhotse (the world's 4th Highest peak) on May 15th.

    Prior to Everest, Gabby was also the youngest woman to ever summit Cho Oyu, the world's 6th highest peak, meaning at only 19, she has summited 3 peaks over 8,000 metres. All these incredible achievements have been with the support of her family, friends, and global community, but importantly Gabby repays this, forever encouraging others to go to greater heights.

    As a gifted and hardworking athlete, a friendly, humble, and fun approach to life and those around her has come to define Gabby. Her ambitious goal setting, infectious energy, and self-effacing attitude have given her support from the people closest to home and around the world alike. Gabby has been profiled in Australian, Himalayan, and Nepalese media for her mountaineering efforts even as a 16-year-old.

    For an idea conceived when she was only 14, to climb Everest, along with the support of her parents Gabby hasn’t looked back. Within 8 weeks of this conversation, she was trekking to Everest Base Camp with her mother Jane. Her passion for adventure and commitment to the process shows through her accomplishments as an athlete and triathlete too and her passion for adventure is undeniably omnipresent in all of her endeavors.

    http://gabbykanizay.com/

  • Tim Wilson has served as the Federal Liberal Member for Goldstein since 2016, and is the Assistant Minister to the Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction.

    Tim the MP for Goldstein and is the Minister responsible for building Australia’s industrial future and driving job creation, while reducing our emissions. He is the only Member of the House of Representatives that has completed postgraduate studies in climate science, has studied ‘transitioning to a carbon neutral economy’ at Cambridge and carbon accounting at Murdoch University.

    He previously served as the Chair of the House of Representatives’ Standing Committee on Economics. In that role he led a campaign against the Labor Party’s proposal to push hundreds of thousands of Australian retirees below the poverty line, and oversighted the implementation of the Hayne Royal Commission, including exposing industry super funds stealing and wasting member’s money.

    Tim was formerly Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner. In that role he worked with all layers of government to reform laws to stop and prevent terrorism and to improve economic opportunities for Indigenous Australians.

    Tim is a passionate person with a deep passion for everything our democracy has to offer.

    www.timwilsonmp.com.au

  • The Bayside Master Chef Paul Raynor has spent a lifetime honing his culinary skills in Europe working in 5 Star Hotels and gaining a wealth of knowledge from his time with renowned Chefs Albert & Michel Roux Snr who operated the first restaurant in the UK to be gain three Michelin stars. Making the big move to Melbourne he spent time at the Stoke House, Werribee Mansion, and Georges before taking the plunge into Bayside and taking over the Brighton Baths. Paul has never looked back in his time at the Baths and now operates the Restaurant, Cafe, Fish & Chips, and the Health Club. He is a passionate and determined person with a humble drive to please and satisfy his customers as the custodian of the Iconic Brighton Baths.

    www.middlebrightonbaths.com.au www.brighonbathshealthclub.com.au

  • In 2011, Fiona observed the extent to which schools are under-resourced in Fiji. Her solution to this problem was to establish The Fiji Book Drive to deliver resources to these schools.

    Fiona realised that improving literacy is key to affecting the most positive change in developing countries. All schooling is compulsorily done in English in Fiji.

    By profession, Fiona is an English teacher and has taught in deprived schools in East London and private schools in Melbourne. She wanted to have a positive impact on the world.
    When Fiona was on the island Kadavu, Fiji, in 2011, she had a light bulb moment and decided to send books and school resources to remote primary schools.

    Fiji Book Drive has established and has now provided 103 libraries and helped 33 kindergartens in remote Fijian islands with 190,000 books. Directly assisting at least 6000 families.
    Kadavu is the fourth biggest island in Fiji and Fiji Book Drive has helped nearly all the schools there multiple times. The books are selected according to the needs of the individual school. Schools are now reporting improvements in spoken English and reading.
    Fiona says; “We do this because education empowers students and communities.”
    One of the keys to education is having the right resources. Fiona believes there are more than enough educational resources in Australia and that these can be redirected to Fiji, where many schools are under-resourced.
    The mission is to improve educational outcomes and therefore life opportunities for students of Fiji through increased access to educational resources, predominantly focussed on literacy. To re-purpose books, computers, and educational resources, taking them out of the hands of those that do not need them and into the hands of those that do. To operate in the most sustainable manner possible: keeping resources from landfills and only sending the most durable goods.
    Fiji Book Drive is a registered charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission. Fiji Book Drive has Donor Gift Recipient (DGR) status in Australia and financial contributions are tax-deductible.

    www.fijibookdrive.org

    www.fijibookdrive.org/donate

  • Recruited to the VFL by the Fitzroy Football Club. He debuted in 1977 and played mostly at half-forward or in a forward pocket wearing the number 12 guernsey. He was noted for his explosive power, and kicked numerous World of Sport "Goals of the Week", typically on bursting runs down the flanks. His emphasis on strength training and muscular physique pre-empted what was to be more common in later decades. His most notable moment being kicking the winning goal during the final seconds in the 1986 Elimination Final against Essendon.

    He went on to play 210 games for 395 goals with the club until his retirement in 1989 - his final game being for the Reserves in their Premiership win over Geelong that year. During his career, he represented Victoria in the State of Origin on four occasions.

    Conlan kicked 10 goals in one game against Footscray in 1984.

    In March 2012 Conlan became the chief executive officer of AFL Queensland.
    Rising daily at 3.25 am Michael follows a low-intensity health and well-being Regime that finishes with a swim in the bay with his beloved Brighton Icebergers.

    https://www.pantry.com.au/

    https://www.afl.com.au/

    https://www.fitzroyfc.com.au/

  • Margaret Porritt founded FEATHERS in 1972, and since then, the brand has evolved to become one of Australia's most iconic and renowned fashion labels.

    Today, FEATHERS centers itself around being able to offer women of all ages and silhouettes endless sophistication, practicality, and style.

    Along with a talented and passionate team, Porritt remains at the helm of the company where she oversees the design of each individual garment, guaranteeing that the highest quality is obtained and ensuring that the brand is ever-evolving.

    With a succession of 14 stores and over fifty employees, FEATHERS is proving to be as strong as ever. Along the journey, Margaret has been awarded Telstra Business Women of the Year, Retailer of the Year & a host of other notable awards.

    www.feathers.com.au

  • Zoe Daniel is a 3-time foreign correspondent, former ABC Australia US Bureau chief, Southeast Asia, and Africa correspondent. She is running for the seat of Goldstein as an Independent in the next federal election.
    In late 2019 I traveled to the Arctic, to the North Slope of Alaska, to put together a piece for Foreign Correspondent on a proposal for oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge.

    It was a complex piece, logistically challenging, but also a tricky story to tell, with different points of view from indigenous residents and lots of politics. But overall, it was a stark case study of the manipulation of people by big oil, people being forgotten by their governments, and the realities of global warming. Having previously only heard of melting sea ice, I saw the polar bears scrabbling for habitat, heard the stories of the people whose food sources are changing and dwindling, and walked across the plains where deep holes represent melted permafrost.

    It was both an exhilarating adventure, but also a depressing journey.

    Soon after, I stood amid the rubble in Northern California where very late season wildfires wiped out swathes of houses, farmland, and vineyards North of San Francisco. Power was off for hundreds of thousands of people.

    That was against the reminder of this when we almost lost our house on Christmas Day 2015.

    The scarring experience of covering Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, then the world’s largest-ever superstorm wiped out Tacloban City.

    Climate change has been everywhere in my reporting life. I have covered floods, typhoons, bushfires on 4 continents.

    Anyway, the Alaska trip was towards the end of my posting as US bureau chief and it crystallised my view that my time in journalism was coming to an end. It was time to cease being an observer. Politics was never really on my radar. I’m not party political and I couldn’t run for one of the majors. But I needed to make a bigger contribution.


    First, I wrote a book about Trump, not a negative tome, but an explanation of who his supporters are and why. The dangers of populism and misinformation and erosion of trust and integrity in leadership.

    Voices of Goldstein came to me, via Angela Pippos, I did not seek them out. Initially, I was very wary due to the toxic environment in Canberra and the loss of family time, but my kids are hugely climate aware. They have met Greta Thunberg and they believe the time is running out. I agree. My 14-year-old son makes a powerful argument when he says, you have a chance to do something for all of us Mum.

    That means redirecting our economy, training, innovating, being optimistic, using the opportunity. Not waiting.

    There’s a song from Hamilton, In the room where it happens. Often, you have to get into the room to create change. Frequently, I’ve been an observer in that room. If the Goldstein community will join me and allow me to represent them I will step up to the table.

    After all of my travels, I came back to Australia, to Goldstein, because this is where I want to be. I run most days along the bay. After all of my challenging reporting life, I am very mindful of the privilege of living here. But as I worry for our spectacular environment, our outsized prosperity, and the future of our kids, I realise that my vote means nothing. And I am a swinging voter. I vote for who I think can be the change, Liberal, Labor, doesn’t matter.

    Goldstein is full of brilliant people, leaders in their fields, successful individuals. I have huge respect for that. I don’t think our government does. Goldstein is taken for granted and it needs a voice.

  • A/Prof Margie Danchin is a consultant paediatrician within the Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne and Murdoch Childrens Research Institute (MCRI).

    She is Group Leader, Vaccine acceptance, Uptake and Policy, at MCRI, and is an immunisation expert with over ten years of experience in vaccine research and clinical work, both in Australia and in resource poor settings.

    She has expertise in vaccine clinical trials, vaccine safety, program evaluation, health system strengthening and implementation research in low resource settings, social science and vaccine policy. Her research program is focused on improving vaccine confidence, demand and uptake of licensed vaccines in different settings and populations.


    Margie is a working Mum with 4 wonderful children and manages to balance a wonderful family & professional life in partnership with her husband David who is a leading surgeon in his field.


    Margie has a wonderful Pod Cast called “Kids Health info” based on the hugely popular RCH info fact sheets. She also delivers a variety of face book and commentary pieces via the RCH.
    An inspiring person who is at the centre of Covid information and process during this pandemic.

  • A beacon of vibe and fun times sums up the love affair that Bayside has with the corner of Church St and St Andrews Street Brighton – better known as “The Pantry”.


    It might be one of the most enduring names in Brighton, but its owners – Daniel Vaughan, Guy Mainwaring, and Tim Purton-Smith have been creating memories for 30 years.


    Inspired by locals for locals, The Pantry is a one-stop destination of style and excitement. The Pantry Family provides the community with everything you can imagine – including – Coffee, Calamari, Burgers, Ice Cream, Pizza, Italian Bread, Fine Deli Meat, and Japanese.


    The well-polished hub anchoring Church St has been ever-evolving and not afraid to pivot and try new things. It is a wonderful business case study of listing to your customers and delivering a wonderful experience.


    This simple philosophy has kept it on-trend and synonymous with everything that is good and fun about living in Bayside.
    Rain or shine, the setup consistently attracts residents from Brighton and beyond.

    https://www.pantry.com.au/

    https://firetown.com.au/about

  • James Tomkins, competing in his sixth Olympic Games, was Australia's flagbearer at the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. As an Oarsome Foursome veteran, triple Olympic gold medallist, and winner of seven world championships (and the only rower to win world titles in every sweep-oared event), he deserves to be regarded as Australia's greatest living rower.

    A gifted all-round sportsman, he learned to row at Carey Grammar School, Melbourne, under the coaching of Noel Donaldson, who would later become his mentor at the Olympic level. He was a member of the Australian eight which won the world championship in 1986 but finished fifth in the 1988 Seoul Olympics. He later rowed with Mike McKay, Nick Green, and Andrew Cooper, as the Oarsome Foursome, to win the coxless fours gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. With Drew Ginn replacing Andrew Cooper in the boat, the Foursome won a second gold medal in Atlanta in 1996.

    After the Foursome broke up, Tomkins and Drew Ginn rowed as a pair, winning the 1999 world title. When an injury caused Ginn to withdraw, Tomkins paired at short notice with the eights emergency Matthew Long at the 2000 Games - and incredibly they won bronze. In 2002 Tomkins and Ginn agreed to team up again and try for the Athens 2004 Games. Their victory in that event made Tomkins the most decorated Australian rower of all time.

    https://www.olympics.com.au/olympians/james-tomkins/

  • Chain Reaction was founded in 2007 by Berrick Wilson after his daughter Milla was rushed to hospital with a brain hemorrhage when she was 2 days old.

    Over the weeks that Berrick and his wife Caroline spent at the Newborn Intensive Care Unit at the Monash Medical Centre, they benefitted from quality care and attention from all the medical staff. What was obvious from the experience was that even in Australia’s major capital cities, more can be done to help our sick children. After Milla recovered fully, the experience drove Berrick to do something that would allow people in a similar position to himself to assist the sick and hospitalised children. As a result, Chain Reaction was founded.

    https://www.chain-reaction.org.au/

  • Fiona Austin grew up in a mid-century house in Sydney designed by architect Ted Scully. Her early exposure to all things mid-century was engendered by her parents who had a strong appreciation of contemporary design which, as she recalls, even extended to her father building a mid-century modern dolls house for her, as a child.


    During her design studies at Swinburne College of Technology in Melbourne, Fiona was fortunate to have been taught by a lecturer named Maurice Cantlon who was not only a talented artist but who also had a strong interest in art history and architecture, in particular, Australian architecture. He spent dedicated time with his first-year students showing them around Melbourne and teaching them about architectural styles and architects that shaped Melbourne, including Robin Boyd and Walter Burley Griffin.
    After graduating, Fiona worked on staff for three years at Home Beautiful Magazine and then went on to edit The Period Home Renovator magazine, whilst studying restoration and conservation at RMIT.
    While her children were small, Fiona freelanced for three years, writing about design for the then “Home” section of the “Age” newspaper and Home Beautiful Magazine.
    In 2001, Fiona and her husband, Craig, and their two sons, purchased a mid-century house in Beaumaris. Over time, Fiona became distressed at seeing many mid-century houses being demolished and replaced with faux provincial-style houses and other generic volume builds.
    Fiona started photographing Mid Century houses and interviewing the owners, then started the BoMo -Beaumaris Modern Facebook page in an effort to link up possible purchasers of mid-century houses with houses for sale in Beaumaris.
    Fiona has recently co-authored and produced ‘Beaumaris Modern’, a book about Beaumaris mid-century houses.

    Check out:

    Beaumaris Modern at local book shops;

    www.ricketspointbeaumaris.com.au

    www.thecnr.com.au