The Environmental Film Festival

Posted on September 7, 2014 by jenniferscoullar

Melbourne is right in the middle of its Environmental Film Festival. Running from 4-12 September, the festival offers wonderful films, thought-provoking debate and fun-filled special events. Now in its 5th year, EFFM showcases a dynamic range of the best environmental films from Australia and around the world, and draws large crowds from all over Victoria. In a very short time, it has stitched its way into the colourful tapestry of Melbourne’s cultural life.

It is not too late to get involved if you live locally. Tomorrow, be charmed by charismatic food activist Carlo Petrini in Slow Food Story. Join the conversation about our food systems with expert panelists and local food appreciators, and feast on tastings of mouthwatering slow food. This event will warm your heart and make your mouth water. Tickets for this special EFFM event are Adults $28 // Concession $23 (plus booking fee). Event catering will be provided by TrailerMade – Artisan and slow food van. Details and tickets.

All the films are well worth a look, but I think one of the most interesting will be ‘The Weather War’, a compelling look at mankind’s attempts to control the weather and harness it for our own purposes. Tuesday 9th at 8.30 pm. Kino Cinema in Collins Place. Purchase tickets here.

Celebrate the close of EFFM 2014 with the screening of Planet RE:think, a panel discussion including festival patron Bob Brown, festival award announcements, and a closing night party to kick up your heels and revel in another stellar year for environmental film.Ticket for this special EFFM event are limited. Adults $35 // Concession $28 (plus booking fee). Details and tickets.

I hope the festival finishes with a bang, and I hope to go myself next year. Unfortunately I’ll have to give this year a miss as I’m closing in on the end of my current novel. Nothing will drag me away until I wrestle this manuscript to a conclusion!

Keep Australia Beautiful Week 2014

Posted on August 24, 2014 by jenniferscoullar

The tenth Keep Australia Beautiful Week starts tomorrow (Monday 25th to Sunday 31st August). Its aim is to raise awareness around the simple things we can all do in daily life to reduce our impact on the environment and encourage action. The results of the National Litter Index are also released during this time, which is a count of litter by number and volume at 983 sites across Australia. Cigarette butts consistently feature at the top of this list so it’s time to butt out and bin it!

Dame Phyllis Frost

Keep Australia Beautiful is a not-for-profit environmental organisation which was established in the early 70s by the wonderful Dame Phyllis Frost, a lady who had a vision for a litter-free Australia. It runs programs throughout the year focusing on all aspects of sustainability.

Have you ever driven through a country town like Toowoomba in Queensland or Horsham in Victoria and seen a sign proclaiming it to be Australia’s Tidiest Town? Well, that’s a Keep Australia Beautiful program. The Sustainable Communities Awards promote pride in communities Australia-wide. There are Tidy Town awards for regional/rural areas, Sustainable Cities awards for urban areas and Clean Beaches awards for coastal and inland waterways. What a great idea!

Keep Australia Beautiful runs many other marvellous programs like the Beverage Container Recycling Grants scheme, and the LITTLE Committee, a team of young Australians tackling litter issues nationwide. Research shows that people over the age of fifteen litter the most, while those under that age hardly litter at all. Keep Australia Beautiful has recently launched the international Eco-Schools program in Australia, teaching sustainability through fun, hands-on learning. I have always believed that the next generation will be much wiser stewards of the land than we have ever been. Programs like this make me even more certain of it.

There are many ways to take action during Keep Australia Beautiful Week. Pick up some rubbish. Spread the anti-litter message. Do something to beautify your favourite spot or simply reduce your waste. If you live in Western Australia, doing the right thing could even win you an iPad Mini! Post your positive activity and/or photo on the Keep Australia Beautiful WA Facebook page or email it to them at binit@kabc.wa.gov.au. The promotion starts from Monday August 18, so make your post or email any time till September 30.

A Victory For Whales

Posted on April 7, 2014 by jenniferscoullar

Last week the International Court of Justice upheld Australia’s bid to ban Japan’s Antarctic whaling program. Australia argued that the program was commercial whaling in disguise. It was a great day for whales and Tokyo’s ‘scientific whaling’ was finally exposed as a fraud. Japan said it would abide by the decision which is considered legally binding.

Founder of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Paul Watson, says the court’s decision justified the group’s sometimes courageous actions at sea. “I am so pleased that after a decade of anti-whaling campaigns in the Antarctic and Southern Ocean, we won’t have to go there again,” he said from his home in Vermont. “We feel vindicated, this has always been an illegal whale hunt, I’ve always felt that way and for the the International Court of Justice to agree and for people to see that this has been the right thing to pursue, well, that’s just great.”

Former Greens leader and director of Sea Shepherd Australia, Bob Brown, listened to the court’s judgment on his car radio in Tasmania and was ready for the worst, he said. “I stopped by the side of the Midland Highway,” Dr Brown said. “I’m used to very long judgments going right back to the Franklin Dam court case, and I’m used to hearing the bad side first up, and the good side last. I was surprised and extremely pleased at how clear and unqualified the ruling was. Of course, the Sea Shepherd stands ready for immediate reaction, stands ready to go in case Japan changes its mind.”

Sea Shepherd is now challenging the Western Australian government’s decision to cull sharks off its coast in court, an action Dr Brown described as “absurd and bloody “It is almost unbelievable that in this day and age in Australia it would be happening. It destroys the fragile ecosystem and most of these sharks are already threatened.”

So I pay tribute to everyone who has worked so hard to bring about this terrific result. The Rudd government for instigating the action against Japan at the Hague way back in 2010. Former attorney-general Mark Dreyfus for his stellar prosecution of Australia’s case. And the Sea Shepherd, for facing the Japanese whaling fleet head on each summer, risking their lives while most of us were enjoying a Christmas break. Thank you!

For those of you near Melbourne, why not come and welcome the Bob Barker and crew as they finally return home to Williamstown after enduring the longest and most successful Antarctic campaigns to date.
The ship will join the Sam Simon & the Steve Irwin docked at Seaworks.
When: Wednesday 9th April – current ETA is 9am approximately. Check out Sea Shepherd’s Facebook page for possible changes to this arrival time.
Where: Sea Shepherd Australia Operations Base – Seaworks, 2 Ann Street, Williamstown, Victoria.

Just One Percent …

Posted on November 8, 2013 by jenniferscoullar

The Melbourne Cup is run, the spring racing carnival in full swing, but as a massive horse lover, I can’t watch a race without seeing the misery behind it. The biggest animal welfare issue facing the Australian racing industry is wastage – a euphemism for the slaughter of twenty thousand thoroughbreds each year.

Deposer

Eighty percent of horses get no life after racing. Take Deposer, for example. This magnificent horse raced at Royal Ascot, went to Hong Kong, then came to Australia and won more than $1.1 million for his owners – before being dumped in the Echuca meat pens. He was alone, forgotten and left for dead, when filmed by the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses last year. Deposer was due to join thousands of terrified, often starving and terribly injured horses, in a desolate dogger’s yard. They are taken one by one into a killing box, and shot in front of each other for pet food, crab-pot bait and export meat. More than ten thousand thoroughbreds slaughtered each year are healthy young animals under seven years old. Call me a party-pooper, but that just stinks!

Celebrity vet Dr Chris Brown has got behind a proposal for the Australian racing industry to use a tiny 1% of all betting turnover to establish a retirement plan for horses. Along with this, the proposal calls for some other preventative measures (such as a reduction in breeding) to stem the issue of wastage, and in the long-term, end the slaughter of thoroughbreds. A 1% betting levy would result in $143 million annually being given back to racehorses, thus sharing the riches from the ‘Sport of Kings.’

http://www.horseracingkills.com/features/1-percent-to-stop-the-slaughter/ http://tenplay.com.au/channel-ten/the-project/extra/season-5/just-1-percent http://www.smh.com.au/environment/animals/they-shoot-horses-dont-they-20130923-2u8nh.html

In the meantime, North West Equine Rescue INC have vowed to take off the track racehorses when their career is over (sometimes before it even starts).
NWER INC is a Not-for-Profit registered charity with three bases in Moree, Armidale and Tamworth. Since registering in 2012 NWER has successfully rescued and rehomed 397 horses. NWER is funded by the generosity of the public, meaning they receive NO government funding. Volunteers have twenty-four horses in care at any given time. Their mission is to rescue as many sick, injured and slaughter-bound animals as possible, set their lives on a different path and give them the second chance they deserve! NWER have set out to raise $5,000 to rescue seven thoroughbreds facing slaughter, re-educate and rehome them. They are still a long way off target. You can donate as little as a dollar. Help put a doomed racehorse in the arms of these angels. It only seems fair, don’t you think?
www.northwestequine.org.au
admin@northwestequine.org.au
www.facebook.com/North.West.Equine.Rescue

Very Inspiring Blogger Award

Posted on July 21, 2013 by jenniferscoullar

Fellow author and blogger Lord David Prosser (http://barsetshirediaries.wordpress.com/ ) has kindly nominated me for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award! After a little online snooping I discovered that he is actually a Lord. He’s the Lord of Bouldnor, an hereditary Manorial title lost in the mists of time, well the 1400′s anyway. I wonder how his Lordship feels about me being a staunch Aussie republican? Anyway, thank you for the nomination.

As an award winner, I’m asked to:

Display the award certificate on my website and include a link to my sponsor.
List five unusual facts about myself.
Present 5 awards to deserving bloggers and drop them a comment to tip them off.

I’ve fulfilled the first condition which is to thank my sponsor and link back to his blog. Secondly I must post the award badge to my blog – done. By the way, I’ve changed the rules a bit to suit myself. Us colonials aren’t good at taking orders, my Lord. Okay, now for five unusual things about me.

I once drove a tractor for a living.
I have a great interest, affection and admiration for insects, particularly the social insects – wasps, ants and bees. Many insects display curiosity, learning ability and parental devotion (as you’ll discover if you read my first novel, Wasp Season) They are fascinating and highly underrated creatures.
At one stage I gave up my job as a lawyer to become a full-time foster carer.
I love to buy spent hens from battery farms. There is nothing quite so heart-warming as rehabilitating such birds, watching them learn to scratch, nest and dust-bathe etc. In return I get their friendship and lovely fresh eggs for many years.
I am a member of a little writing group called the Little Lonsdale Group. Since its formation just a few years ago, four of our members (including me) have become published by major publishers – Random House, Penguin and Simon & Schuster. Pretty good going, huh?

Now for the part where I nominate five other bloggers. Drum roll please …

Storie – Diane Simonelli
http://dianesimonelli.wordpress.com/
Margareta Osborn – The Voice Of The Bush http://www.margaretaosborn.com.au/blog-listing
Jenn J Mcleod – Come Home to the Country
http://www.jennjmcleod.com/blog/
Whitney K E – Aspiring Romance Author
http://whitneyk-e.blogspot.com.au/
The Ecstacy Files – Kate Belle – (Over 18 only!)
http://ecstasyfiles.com/blog/

And nominees, don’t feel obliged. I know how busy you all are!

Meet Jewelene Barrile

Posted on February 25, 2013 by jenniferscoullar

I was lucky enough to spend last weekend down the coast with award winning writer, Jewelene Barrile. Her beach shack is at Airey’s Inlet, an area of great natural beauty. Jewelene and I first met at Varuna – The Writer’s House during a residency overseen by the legendary Peter Bishop. I fell in love with her writing way back then, and the love affair continues. We are now cross-over members of two writing groups, the talented Little Lonsdale Group and also the Darklings, a group formed at that original Varuna residency.

Jewelene is a bookseller and bibliophile. Her fiction is distinguished by its passionate love for books themselves, for the truths they hold, and for their beauty as objets d’art. Her writing is highly original, featuring rich, sensual imagery that transforms our mundane world into one of exquisite and often heartbreaking beauty. Little wonder she has won the prestigious Josephine Ulrick Prize for Literature, as well as the Marion Eldridge award. Here, for example, Jewelene writes of a father reading his child a bed time story.

‘He settled in his chair, smoothing the book open with his palm. His long fingers traced the edges of the covers as the text drew him in. From the floor where I sat to watch him read, I saw stray columns of books rise like a forest all around us and grow, and grow. When he sighed, I imagined leaves dropping from the pages of his book and falling on his lap. If he frowned, I saw tangles of roots and deep, dark shadows. I heard the rustle of paper as he turned the page.’

(The geometry lesson

From Griffith REVIEW Edition 30: The Annual Fiction Edition © Copyright Griffith University & the author.

The link is here if you want to read the whole story. https://griffithreview.com/edition-30-the-annual-fiction-edition/the-geometry-lesson )

Jewelene and I spent our time reading, writing and talking about the editing process. I’ve just finished the edits for Currawong Creek, and Jewelene is in the throes of a structural edit for her award winning manuscript, The Cartography Lesson. The subject of editing is, of course, close to both our hearts. There’s nothing quite like talking writing with other writers. No yawns, no glazed eyes, no amused smiles. Instead, a genuine connection over a shared passion. Thanks for the weekend Jewelene. We must do it again soon …

Author Bio:

Jewelene Barrile is the buyer for Coventry bookstore in Melbourne. She was awarded fellowships from Varuna and Olvar Wood writers′ centres in 2010, and in 2009 received the Marian Eldridge award. Her short story The Geometry Lesson won the 2010 Josephine Ulrick Literature Prize, and was published in Griffith Review 30, additionally short listing for 2010 New Australian Stories and the 2011 The Best Australian Stories. Her completed manuscript, The Cartography Lesson, was shortlisted for the inaugural Writing Australia Unpublished Manuscript Award 2011, and has since won a 2011 HarperCollins Varuna Award for Manuscript Development. Close is her second manuscript in-progress.

Farewell to Annaghmakerrig

Posted on May 30, 2012 by jenniferscoullar

My month-long writing retreat at the beautiful Tyrone Guthrie Centre has come to an end. This morning I boarded a bus, along with fellow Australian, Ross Donlon,(an amazing poet by the way!) and took a bus to Dublin. I’m writing this post in the shadow of Christchurch Cathedral, one of Dublin’s greatest landmarks, built after the arrival of Christianity in the 13th century

It’s hard to put into words the effect of my stay at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre. On the writing front, I added 25,000 words to my manuscript. Not a huge jump in word count, but the dedicated time available to just mull, has set the novel on firm foundations. I know where I’m heading. The rest will be easy. What was more remarkable, and heartwarming, was the way the people of Annaghmakerrig embraced me, and I them. There was a kind of unbridled joy and enthusiasm about the place – a daily celebration of the creative human spirit. It was paradise, and I’ve made friendships that I hope might last a lifetime. There’s nothing wrong with listening to Irish accents all day either!

But it was time to leave my Shangri-la. Time to leave Tyrone Guthrie, that mystical, harmonious artist retreat isolated from the outside world. I hope one day I’ll be back. Here are two photos of the same magnificent oak tree that stood outside my window.

One photo was taken on my arrival, and the other today. The tree is a metaphor for my time there, my imagination unfurling along with the leaves.

Tell Me About Yourself Award!

Posted on May 29, 2012 by jenniferscoullar

My dear fellow blogger, acflory from Meeka’s Mind, has most graciously nominated me for the ‘Tell Me About Yourself’ blog award. Thank you acflory! Now, according to the rules of these awards, I must first display the award logo on my blog. Check. Then I must write seven things about myself that I haven’t revealed before. Hmm … okay. Then I have to nominate seven other bloggers for the same award. That bit will be easy. So without further ado, here are my seven things.

1. I always thought I was fat when I was young. Now I look back on photos of me and I wonder what I was worried about.

2. I applied to enter the zoo-keeper internship program at the Melbourne Zoo when I was eighteen, and was devastated when I missed out. I would have made a fabulous zoo-keeper!

3. I love old-fashioned, patterned wall paper.

4. I’m not generally obsessive compulsive, but ever since I was a child, I thought bears would get me if I sat in the bath until the water ran out. I still think that.

5. I’m more of a mountain person than a coast person.

6. Right now is the happiest time of my life.

7. I can trigger myself into conscious dreaming, but don’t do it anymore, because I don’t like the person I turn into when I enter a world of no consequences.

Okay … now for the nominated blogs. Drum roll please!

1.Notes From Olvar Wood. A blog by inspiring writer Inga Simpson, and my absolute favourite nature writing blog

2.The Truth be Told By Kate Rizzetti – A lover of truth and fiction

3. storie by Diane Simonelli – a talented writer and Meanland blogger

4. Sue Healy – craft tips for writers (my only non-Australian. Sorry!)

5. Fleur McDonald – voice of the Australian outback

6. Cathryn Hein – writer, gourmand and horse lover. What’s not to like?

7. Call my Agent – a helpful and anonymous Sydney literary agent. Will she reveal herself?

I’ve had to leave out so many of my favourite blogs. Please forgive me.

The Magical Friesian

Posted on May 20, 2012 by jenniferscoullar

The true value and beauty of a retreat like Tyrone Guthrie is in the friendships formed. There is nothing more inspiring than living and working among a group of creative, like-minded people. You get to know a bit about everybody else’s projects. We’ve had readings after dinner. Some of the talented visual artists have invited the rest of us on tours of their studios. I’m like the cat that ate the cream here.

Remarkably for a horse-mad soul like myself, there’s also been a bit of an equine theme rippling through the big house. Lots of people have horses, and the breed of choice seems to be Friesians – those stunning jet-black fairy-tale horses so beloved of film makers. Now I must confess I’ve only ever seen one of these horses in the flesh. He lives in a paddock near my house, back home in Australia. Every time I drive by, I check to see whether he’s there or not. If I’m in luck, and have the time, I pull over and stalker-like, admire the stallion from afar. They really are that charismatic.

Friesians have an ancient and proud history. Their strength and size made them excellent war horses.The Friesian horse is well known for its beauty, shining black coat, luxuriant mane, tail and feathering, and powerful, high-stepping gait. It is also beloved for its easy-going temperament and companionable nature. I had read that whether competing in upper level dressage tests, performing on the carriage driving circuit or just going for a trail ride, these horses quickly become members of the family. The besotted Friesian owners I’ve met here, swear all this is true. One woman described her horse as being ‘like a big Labrador dog’ . Although apparently that magnificent mane and tail can take two hours to shampoo and condition, and the mane must remain almost permanently braided to prevent tangles.

Friesians are natural show horses and have been featured in many movies including “Ladyhawke,” “Mask of Zorro,” “Interview with a Vampire,” “Sense and Sensibility,” “Emma,” and “Disney’s-Tall Tales.” Many have credited the 1985 movie Ladyhawke where Michelle Pfeiffer rides the gorgeous Friesian stallion Goliath, as being a major influence on the breed’s popularity. In the 2004 movie Alexander (starring Colin Farrell) an amazing Friesian stallion was selected to play Alexander the Great’s legendary horse Bucephalus.

In my dreams I imagine myself riding one of these magical animals. The image is certainly in keeping with the mythic surroundings of the Tyrone Guthrie Centre. Despite his size and strength, my dream stallion can dance with the grace of a ballerina. Maybe when I make my fortune I’ll buy one? Or maybe I should just stick to Australian stock horses. Their manes require just one quick comb through, and you’re done. And anyway, I wouldn’t want Sheba getting jealous …

Maurice Sendak – In memoriam

Posted on May 9, 2012 by jenniferscoullar

Maurice Sendak has died, aged 83. He was arguably the most important children’s book author and artist of the 20th century. According to the New York Times today

‘He wrenched the picture book out of the safe, sanitized world of the nursery and plunged it into the dark, terrifying and hauntingly beautiful recesses of the human psyche.’

His Where The Wild Things Are, published in 1963, is one of the most cherished children’s books of all time … and this is such a charming reading!

Jennifer Scoullar – Bestselling Author of Australian Fiction

'A love affair with the wild …'

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