Back Roads program on Fish Creek

THIS Monday, July 22, at 8.00pm ABC and ABC iView will feature Fish Creek – The Storybook Settlement.

What’s in the water in Fish Creek?

This small Victorian town, often bypassed on the way to the delights of Wilson’s Promontory, appears to have attracted an unusually high number of creative types.

It’s home to illustrators, botanical artists, writers, artisans, musicians, sculptors, woodworkers and architects.

One of the originals is the country’s first Children’s Laureate, the celebrated Alison Lester. She grew up on a nearby farm by the sea. As a writer and illustrator, those landscapes and people have made their way into her work.  In fact, as she shows presenter Heather Ewart, the setting for one of her most famous books can be found nearby.

Her friend, another writer and illustrator, Roland Harvey, has recently just moved down from the city.  He’s part of a wave of tree- and sea-changers moving to the area.  It’s a place where people can really create huge life shifts. For example, Amelia Bright used to make prosthetic human limbs. Now she’s breeding heritage-breed pigs with her partner and kids, living off-grid and phone-free!

Early blow-ins, Fiona Mottram and Ross West, ride Penny Farthing bicycles, make music and tend a menagerie of donkeys, mules and one-eyed dogs.

And from as far afield as the UK, Tom and James Gurnett moved to Fish Creek with their parents as little boys. Now they are part of a whole new industry – British-style alcoholic ciders like scrumpy and perry. Finally, there’s one particular art project that unites the whole community – the Tea Cosy Festival!  Whatever is in the water, we want some.

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