Miles Hall, the son of Maleny locals Les and Rae Hall won this year’s SCAP prize. His delighted parents were at the announcement at the Caloundra Regional Gallery on August 26.

Les, who has a distinguished academic career as a zoologist, said with a wry smile that, when Miles was a boy, he had tried to persuade him to become an architect. By coincidence, Miles’ wife Virginie is an architect.

Miles Hall also joins Hinterland artist, Kevin Oxley, as finalists in the prestigious Grafton drawing prize.

I am always pleased to publish more in-depth feature articles where they have relevance to our readership. In this edition, we have permission to publish extracts from the current edition of The Griffith Review – Prosper or Perish. The essays that touch on Australian population and its relationship to climate change are most revealing. I hope our extracts entice readers to get hold of a copy of the Review 29.

One of our occasional correspondents and Hinterland local is industry consultant and futurist, Stephen Alexander. Stephen is at the forefront of facilitating public debate on Australia’s creaking health system. In this edition he reports on a recent conference where some startling advances were being predicted, including patients having access to their own health records on their iPhone. Stephen also refers to Maleny as a good example where there is excellent cooperation between all levels of health providers.

The Maleny Community Precinct has been a near, ten year project in the planning. This special, 122 hectare site has several competing interests and Council is now deciding which projects get started first. A public walkway from town to Gardners Falls has always been top of the list for locals, but Council have left it off the master plan. We report on a public meeting where questions were asked about Council’s priorities and whether we are still focussed on strong environmental outcomes for the site.

Congratulations in this edition to Maleny’s Meisha Lowe whose passion for acting has landed her a role in the new Underbelly movie. And to Maleny Manor for another major win as one of Australia’s top wedding reception centres. Congratulations also to hinterland painter, Peter Hudson for being chosen to illustrate three children’s books by iconic Australian song writers. Finally, Faith and I would like to thank the growing number of people who write and phone with messages of appreciation for the quality of our magazine. They are most heartening.

Michael Berry

Depending on what they spend, sponsors get proportional advertising with their name, business logo and photograph on the worldwide solar cells website.

In this way sponsors show that they or their business are active supporters of renewable energy and organic foods in the community.

For more info on this project visit www.sponsorasolarcell.com or to contact Dean Ervik email: sponsorasolarcell@ecoworld.com.au

The bird had to be euthanased. Further investigation with EPA confirmed that the man did hold a licence to kill cockatoos. Margaret was horrified, “How can a

government department condone and licence this? There’s no policing of it and no process to ensure that it’s done humanely.”

Donna Anthony of Wildlife Volunteers said,“It’s just sad – on one hand you have wildlife carers spending so much time and money on caring for injured and orphaned wildlife, usually the result of human impact in some shape or form. On the other hand you have an unpoliced licence allowing people to kill.”

Further discussions will be held with EPA regarding these licences. We’ll update you with the outcome.

Soon after stepping off the plane from Texas, Stacey was in the saddle again, this time for the Queensland State Paint Horse championships. Riding her two year-old horse, Charley, Stacey, beat four state champions and won a swag of ribbons in the Horsemanship, Trail and Showmanship categories.

For some time Stacey, who is in Year 11 at Beerwah State School, has dreamed of going to the US to work and train horses. She now has that chance. While at the world championships Tracey was spotted by top Texas trainer Jeannie Young, who has offered to train her further and take her to the world championships for Palominos in 2011.

For a girl who is just turning 16, Stacey Bentley clearly has many successful rides ahead.

Gary Crew and Conondale Grade 4 teacher, Phil Gaffney with his winning team.

THE SEVENTH annual Gary Crew Readers Trophy was even bigger and better this year. The reading competition for Year 4 classes at Maleny State School was expanded to include student teams from Montville and Conondale Schools.

More than 100 students, teachers and parents gathered in the Maleny Community Centre to see three teams answer questions on four books – From Little Things Big Things Grow by Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody, Sally Murphy’s Toppling, Moya Simons, High Crime in Milk Bay and The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan.

Founder of the Readers Perpetual Trophy, author Gary Crew talks to students from the three competing schools before the contest gets under way.

The morning’s fun was under the control of actor and playwright, Simon Denver. The three judges were Peta Miller from Rosetta Books, June Hammond from Friends of the Library and Maleny Library Coordinator, Patricia Stahl. Maleny Library organised the event with considerable community input on the day.

On stage Simon Denver posed questions to the three teams who had a minute to write down their answers. The judges awarded points on how well the students had read the four books and were precise in their answers.

Facilitator Simon Denver confers with judges. The Conondale team is in the background.

The winning school was Conondale who received a resounding applause from the audience. The winning team consisted of Tarci Carey, Matthew Fisher, Sophie Grigor, Chloe Lanham, Aya Rae-Anthonysz and Jack Shalley.

Patricia Stahl said she was delighted that the Readers Trophy was into its seventh year and had now embraced Montville and Conondale schools. It is hoped that Mapleton will join the competition in 2011.

“We are delighted that the students are involved in this competition”, said Patricia. “As librarians and friends of the library we want children to read for life and the Readers Trophy is one way of helping fulfil that ambition.”

Author Gary Crew told all the students that he had started the Readers Trophy because as a child he had loved reading and he hoped this competition stimulated them to keep reading books.

Montville team confer over one of the questions.

“Writing, reading and the arts competitions can be just as important in schools as sports competitions” said Gary, “as they encourage the budding writer or artist to seek out a future career in the industry.”

Team members received certificates and medals, with the winning school to be inscribed on the perpetual trophy.

The Gary Crew Readers Trophy was supported this year by Rosetta Books and Maleny Additions, Friends of the Library who provided book vouchers and prepared refreshments, Maleny IGA and the Maple Street Cooperative who donated food, Peter Hudson who visited schools to discuss his work, and the Hinterland Times and Rosetta Books which donated sets of books to each of the schools.

Since then buttons have had a fascinating history and an important place in human adornment.

Renee in her studio

BUT IN OUR modern world of zips, snap fasteners and Velcro, buttons have taken a back seat. However, jeweller Renee Blackwell has re-discovered the button by creating attractive rings, pendants and earrings from a bewildering array of buttons from all over the world.

Renee has been designing and making jewellery for over 25 years, using a wide variety of materials in her work such as stones, gems, glass, clay/porcelain, metals and found objects.

Then she discovered the fascinating world of buttons

“On a trip to Buenos Aires a few years ago,” says Renee, “I discovered in an antique market a stash of beautiful, old buttons, and I felt they were so exquisite I might be able to use them in my work. Since that trip, I have been to Paris, Germany, New York City and San Francisco all in search of antique and vintage buttons. The metal antique buttons are all late 1800s and the vintage buttons are from the post WW2 era – the late 1940s. These buttons are mainly French, German and Czechoslovakian and made of glass.”

Renee is constantly in search of vintage buttons from the 1940s which she tries to buy on the original card.

In Paris, Renee discovers a box of "new" vintage 1940s French glass buttons. These buttons have never been off their original button card.

In Paris recently, Renee discovered an antique button dealer’s shop where she spent the entire day looking at, and buying buttons. The woman who owns the shop and her husband bought the business from his parents, who were button and trim suppliers to the world of Paris fashion designers in the 1930s-1960s.

“I set all the buttons as rings, earrings and pendants usually in sterling silver,” says Renee. “ For me, the button jewellery is so much more than “just another ring or pair of earrings,” she adds. “They become a piece of jewellery with a rich history – the ultimate reuse of objects made in another time and era.”

Renee Blackwell’s jewellery is stocked in about 85 jewellery stores and galleries right around Australia. Renee’s website: reneeblackwelldesign.com

Marlene Murray (third from right) with some of of the fifteen Maleny Manor award winning team.

THE HINTERLAND of the Sunshine Coast has consolidated its stake in the wedding industry judging by the results of the12th Queensland Annual Bridal Industry Awards (ABIA) held recently in Brisbane.

More than 1500 wedding suppliers were nominated for awards in 40 categories.

Hinterland businesses were finalists or winners in 13 categories. Maleny Manor was the winner of the Reception Centre category, and Wayne Wiltshire of Montville was the winner of the Live Band / Group award.

The ABIAs are much sought-after awards for Australian wedding suppliers as they are determined by the votes of past brides.

Relative newcomers to the Hinterland, Alan and Georgina Thompson of Flaxton Gardens said they were thrilled to have been finalists in both the Ceremony Venue and Reception Centre categories.

Georgina said that Flaxton Gardens was nominated for the ABIA based on the quality of product, quality of service, value for money and the attitude of the staff who serviced the bride’s needs, before, during and after their wedding day.

Maleny Manor was also a finalist in the In-House Wedding Advisor and Function Coordinator categories.

Host of Maleny Manor, Marlene Murray said, “the whole of the Hinterland is at the forefront of the Queensland wedding industry. Eleven years ago Maleny Manor was a B & B with a few weddings. Now we’re the leading venue here with 108 weddings for interstate and overseas couples a year.”

Local businesses estimate the wedding industry is worth about $12 million a year for Maleny alone, and the Sunshine Coast is now in the top eight of most popular places to be married in Australia.

SCAP winner Miles Hall with Caloundra Regional Gallery Director, John Waldron following the announcement of the $15,000 prize for Pine Lime (Splice).

BRISBANE-BASED artist, Miles Hall is the winner of the fifth annual Sunshine Coast Art Prize. Miles is the son of Maleny residents Les and Rae Hall. Miles has won a $15,000 cash prize and four weeks workshop residency at Arley Farm in Maleny. The winning painting is an abstract called Splice (Pine Lime).

This year’s judge, well-known art critic and weekly columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald, John McDonald commented on the distinguished contribution SCAP was making to the national art calendar.

Highly Commended was Catherine O’Donnell’s Civic Centre. Catherine is from Sydney.

“Australia has a fatal attraction to art prizes, from the Archibald to the local fete”, said John at the Caloundra Regional Gallery. “By avoiding an obvious theme such as portraiture or still life, the prize leaves the door open to many different styles and genres in a range of media.”

While announcing the winner at the Caloundra Regional Gallery on August 26, John said, “Splice (Pine Lime), is essentially an abstract picture that generates a range of pictorial tensions. We see the work at first as a kind of landscape, depicting tangled undergrowth or a reflection in water. The severe green line across the bottom of the work creates a jarring contrast, bringing us back to the formal issues of line versus plane, depth as opposed to flatness. It’s an edgy, speculative affair that never aspires to perfection, but that’s part of the appeal.”

Commended was Vicki Hersi’s abstract painting, Still Life Objects.

Catherine O’Donnell’s Civic Centre was given the highly commended award.

John McDonald commented that, “Few will fail to be impressed by the artist’s painstaking mastery of charcoal, and her careful delineation of a piece of urban geometry that would make even Jeffrey Smart think twice,” said Mr McDonald.

The 2010 SCAP exhibition at the Caloundra Regional Gallery showcases the work of all 40 finalists. It is open until 3 October.

All works are for sale and entry to the gallery is free. If you would like to place your vote for the People’s Choice award you can do so either online at www.scap.org.au or at the gallery.

“I STARTED supporting Becky with her art eleven years ago. The first year we went to TAFE together and after that she worked with me in my studio. I could see that for Becky, art was a way of communicating, so I took over a mentoring role with her.

From an early age Becky’s mum taught her through the use of patterns. This is a process that involved putting words, numbers, colours, etc on the floor and Becky would crawl over them reading and learning as she went. The shapes and colours communicated to her even then. Becky’s Mum, one of the founding members of the Maleny Arts and Crafts Group enjoyed painting, so art was always around her. When Becky found she could paint and work with art, it was a way of decifering information and bringing it out again. “

Corrie has always been a career artist but at the same time has felt a need to commit to the broader community. She gained a Certificate IV in Disability and has worked with downs syndrome and cerebral palsy patients for 15 years. During that time Corrie has found that creativity has an important part to play in the disability sector because it offers a different approach to the way people learn.

“I believe that a lot of people with intellectual disabilities have a right brain approach to things. When I first met Becky, her way of getting information back out again was through her art. So we started using her painting as a way of learning. We started to tap into the other side of her brain that she needed.”

Sadly, Becky has other problems, particularly with her eyes. She has depth of field difficulties which make it difficult to diagnose. While this affects her art, it also impacts on the physical side of her life.

“When we started coming to gym Becky couldn’t even sit on a fitball because of a depth of field imbalance. But we started working with the trainers, Charmaine and April and now Becky gets on and off the fitball without any problem.

“One positive thing that Becky has had all of her life is her ability to say, I can do that or I will give that a go. I think that’s partly having lived in a family with six children and being treated as a normal child.

“In the gym Becky knows  that I am not just standing there to help her, because she can do it. I think you have to empower people to know that they can do it.

“April has been working with me on Becky’s programs and we are always targeting different things. At the moment it is Becky’s balance because her eyesight has declined considerably over the past two years. So exercises like balancing on the fitball and stepping up and stepping down are important. And with April, we have implemented a program that she can do at home too. It helps to give her confidence right now when her eyesight is not as reliable as it has been.

While care for the intellectually disabled is clearly demanding, the long relationship between Corrie and Becky has been sustained through a connection with art.

“We’ve gone all around the country doing workshops together,” says Corrie. “Becky goes into joint exhibitions and she has her own exhibitions. I am constantly surprised at the power of her art to communicate despite her intellectual disability.”

Maleny Community Gym trainers are experienced in tailoring programs for the elderly and disabled. Tel: 5429 6911