Category: Art Beat of the Country

By Maree Wallace I first met Mary Salce when I became involved in the Women Who Mean Business (WWMB) project in 2004. We bonded immediately and have been friends since. Mary is warm and friendly to everyone but also very persuasive and focused. With Mary’s encouragement, I participated in the...

By Di Deppeler Where and when did you meet?  1996 at the East Gippsland Art Gallery, Bairnsdale. What struck you about Mary?  I just liked her from first meeting. Very direct, straight forward, honest and real. How did you get involved in her dreams for rural women?  I was employed as...

By Catherine Noy I first met Mary Salce in 1993 when preparing for the Inaugural International Agricultural Women’s Conference, which was showcased in Melbourne, Victoria, in July 1994. At this time, I had recently finished working for the Victorian Government’s Department of Agriculture and was home-based, operating a freelancing administration...

By Mary Salce AO Some things in life you want to forget and some you want to share in order to make a better place for women and families, and at the same time connect people in their communities. Some people in rural communities are often happy to do their...

Drum roll for Mary Randall, completing a PhD based on Gippsland. By Mary Randall I like calculating. I find it relaxes me when I’m lying in bed in the early hours of the morning. So, this morning I found myself calculating where I’d spent the years of my life. It...

By Jenni Frendo Where, when were you born? Where did you grow up? I was born in Colac in 1957, the second daughter of three. Mum and Dad built their first house in Colac under difficult conditions. Supplies for tiles and other building materials were still in short supply after...

My writing encompasses seemingly diverse genres of academic writing on rural policy, regional development and transformative community engagement and personal poems.  I write to develop an authentic mother tongue connecting people and the landscapes they inhabit. My focus is rural lifestyle and the interdependence of urban and rural communities.  Publications...

Vivienne is a felt maker, and refired (not retired) wool grower. She now lives in Orbost in East Gippsland with no sheep but lots of wool to play with. Vivienne loves the fibre and continues to spin, knit, dye and felt with it. Felting took her to Mongolia for three...

Jenny was born in Melbourne but has lived rurally for much of her life. Art was an early experience, and Jenny has used it to communicate, explore, enrich and bring joy to others and herself. Applications have ranged fromexhibitions to working as an Artist in Residence with culturally diverse groups...

I was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1951. My background is working class but in 1971, I graduated from Glasgow University with a BSc in maths and computer science. Leaving Scotland, I started work as a computer programmer in London. In 1973, I met my future husband and we travelled...