Madden's Commercial Hotel, Camperdown, Victoria

Congratulations to those many talented souls that captivated audiences with the musical Hairspray, there’s some unbelievably gifted people in our lives. Angela Preiss and Tim O’Sullivan who share their talents with us at the Commercial were great behind the scenes, near neighbour Kate Meade a driving influence in bringing the show to the stage. Special Thank You to Kajol Eagle for taking these photos.

The talent pool wasn’t restricted to the stage, it extended to the silver screen with the release of Louis Bayonas film “Adios”. A number of Camperdonians walked the red carpet at the films release in Colac. John Waters the star of the show addressed the audience prior to the screening and thanked the community for allowing him to participate in the production, saying he was honored to work with unpretentious, enthusiastic and talented people. His modesty is undeniable, John stayed at The Mill when shooting the film (sorry ladies we couldn’t give you a heads up that he was onboard ) the staff at The Mill said he was a superstar, washed his own dishes, picked up his towels, the perfect guest.

A large number of people donated their time and efforts in making the production including our own Pip Robertson, not only did Pip have a speaking part in the film, he was also the stunt driver and protagonist of the film’s trailer! “Ever wondered why you’re here?” Copies of the DVD are on sale at the hotel in the gaming room for $20.

Many of us brushed up for the Warrnambool May Races. Georgie Place attended the  carnival over three days, I don’t know how we kept the heels up to her, she greeted me in the Members enclosure on the Thursday looking every bit the race go’er even shading Gai on the day. I traveled with the Tesbury push who added some glam to the Galleywood Bar. There was a bevy of young fillies seeking their company, some wrongly believing that Toby Darcy was the enigmatic John Singelton, shielding himself from the controversy surrounding “More Joyous” on the previous Saturday at Royal Randwick. Racecourses are notorious for scurrilous information, but I have the developed prints and that’s all that counts.

We did lose one old stayer Robert Gunner, a town identity who I will miss greatly. The fact was Robert and I were from different ends of the spectrum, but I was able to point out to him that we had more in common than Robert thought. Robert held very strong opinions about the twin axis of evil, grog and gambling and he wasn’t that keen on “cigies” but he sold them. Robert couldn’t understand why I could devote my life to be the purveyor of evil.

I used to argue that I couldn’t exist without Robert’s participation, for it was Robert that supplied the information by way of the racing form guide in the papers that he not only sold but was happy to deliver right to the punters doorstep come rain hail or shine and what’s more he was Fagin-like employing young boys to deliver the tainted information.

There were other issues debated; the infallibility of the Pope, the selling of pornography in sealed plastic wraps, the debate over whether buying shares was in fact gambling, my stand was the only difference with buying shares or backing a horse was the time taken to declare a dividend.

When we agreed to disagree about the major issues, we would discuss frivolous issues, the lending rates, federal, state and local politics, the arts, collecting, history, religion but never sport. Robert was happy to share his insights and trade old financial magazines for freshly brewed cappuccinos and biscuits.

Robert’s funeral was a celebration of his life, his community involvement and the business of just being Robert. His children, Bronwyn, Tim and Rhys organized a farewell that engaged everyone in the Church; they were able to paint portraiture of their father that drew deeply on everyone’s recollections of his idiosyncrasies. They described Robert as an enigma, I agree wholeheartedly. Robert would warn me about being bombastic arguing “that the meek would inherit the earth,” I would remind Robert that he was the only bloke I knew that, if he inherited the earth, could pay the mortgage.

 I have an ongoing connection with Robert, when he closed Boyle’s News Agency I purchased some shelving that was part of the original business, I used it as a feature in The Mill as bookshelves in one of the apartments aptly named The Vicarage.

Aaron Sinnott… new father, accountant, goal sneak… as a footballer you would think that Aaron could be found in the ageing accounts section of the Camperdown football clubs asset list. But in the style of Carlton’s Eddy Betts, Aaron dug deep and conjured five goals adding to Camperdown’s ledger in a timely display of vintage football. For those blokes, we know who they are, that had you written off, you’ve done a “Teddy” on em’ mate, you’ve stuck it right up em,’ Congratulations.

Fantastic Giddy Up!  Congratulations to Vanessa and Clint Marshall, they trained their first race winner Irish Lute. Clint has only recently qualified as a registered horse trainer, the win was especially significant as the horse was formerly owned by Vanessa’s grandfather who passed away in 2012. Vanessa worked in the Bistro for a number of years, she was an absolute winner then and great to see the forms continues!

An outback experience on our doorstep. I have just returned from a short break in South Australia, and called in to stay with Peter and Tracy Anderson, Peter is the son of Les and Bev Anderson, well known Camperdown identities.

Les celebrated his 80^th Birthday in Madden’s Old Timboon Inn restaurant with family and friends in early March. It was a memorable occasion for Les and Bev, also for Peter as he was our first apprentice chef and was on the journey with me, when we opened Camperdown’s first licensed restaurant. I have some great memories as I am sure would countless others of some fabulous, if outrageous, nights at the venue.

Peter and Tracy have the historic Mount Mary Hotel in the saltbush country north east of the Barossa Valley, only 24 kilometers from the Murray River town of Morgan. It has the authentic feel of the outback however it’d only a day’s drive from Camperdown.

We had a fantastic stay, two bedrooms of the hotel have been renovated for overnight guests, the rooms are extremely comfortable opening onto a grassy courtyard, they haven’t en-suites but they do have a well aired outdoor bathroom with a great hot shower, it’s like glam camping!

Like most outback pubs it has great character and charm and very interesting locals. What distinguishes it from other pubs is the food, it was truly outstanding. We had a superb steak cooked to perfection – mouth wateringly tasty and tender, the Caesar salad was excellent and the ricotta stuffed giant pasta shells in a tomato concasse unbelievably good.  I couldn’t resist the warmed olives flavoured with chili and rosemary irresistible. The wine list balanced the great food. 

All this came at great cost, I got the worst case of gout, couldn’t walk for two days… the only compensation, our wallets didn’t suffer the same pain! The food and accommodation package was great value. You can contact Peter and Tracey via their website: http://www.mtmaryhotel.com.au/ or email: mountmaryhotel@ipstarmail.com.au

Purlubie Beach Listed as one of Australia’s best 100 beaches, Purlubie Beach, located 20 kilometers from Streaky Bay, certainly lives up to its reputation, silky sand, turquoise waters, it is unique for Victorians in that you can drive and camp on the beach. The locals launch their boats with tractors straight off the sand. The area is a mecca for fishermen, King George Whiting being the holy grail of the catch, calamari and blue swimmer crabs are taken as well. 

The locals use Razor Clams which they harvest from a reef at the end of the beach as bait, they rarely eat them, yet I have seen Rick Stein the celebrity chef raving about the taste and texture of the clams. Next time I fish Purlubie I may be the only bloke on the boat eating the bait. We did catch a feed of whiting, Alan Jones also caught a large flounder which surprised our hosts Peter Rayner and partner Robyn, and they have an awesome house overlooking the bay with direct access to the beach.

Streaky Bay Races…

Alan Jones, his partner Sally and myself traveled to Streaky Bay to celebrate Robyn’s birthday and attend the annual Streaky Bay Cup. What an experience! Peter and Robyn are keen race goers and horse owners… they had a runner in the first named Mary ???. Peter wasn’t at all confident, as his trainer was worried by a Smokey that had been floated in from Alice Springs for the race, the idea of a“ Smokey at Streaky” was somewhat overwhelming for Peter, he was overcome with a paralysis preventing him from putting his hand in his pocket, the paralysis was contagious, certainly for me anyway. Peter nor myself should not have been concerned, the Smokey at Streaky hardly smoldered, gone in a puff whilst Mary ???? battled on for a credible second.

Peter and Robyn had organized a marque for the event, it wasn’t the Emirates however it had an offer that is never seen on metropolitan tracks, a seemingly endless supply of beverages… when it looked as if our huge esky was going to be depleted, it was only a matter of moving in on next doors supply. The food chain was on a continuous loop, oysters both fresh and smoked, marinated chicken, quiche, mini rolls, even sushi, I was thankful when the food chain was finally halted, as we were to attend a post race party for Robyn at Eta Island at the end of Perlubie Beach.

We were overdosing on hospitality, when they produced what I thought was a birthday cake, well it had candles on it, I thought no way José, this turkey’s stuffed… I can’t eat another morsel, you could detect a slow moan from the other guests, no more food please. Then people started lining up, Graeme’s wife Maureen had produced this huge wine trifle, whipped cream the whole deal, I think I stepped on a small child’s foot getting to the bowl, it was delicious!

Country racing in the outback is a unique event, there is hardly a blade of grass. The horses race on a sand track, everything appears in sepia until the horses, jockeys and race crowd arrive. Suddenly a huge splash of colour and vitality sweeps over the course, everything becoming animated. Many women make a huge effort, fashion is not lost on the girls of Streaky Bay, there was a distinct absence of spray tan, replaced by the warm glow of the naturally acquired vitality that appeared to mock the health warnings on television.

The people we shared the marquee table with had in racing parlance a Techform Rating far better than mine. John and Roz are building a house at Purlubie Beach. Originally from the area they have spent many years in Darwin, John as a building contractor whilst Roz worked in a chemist shop. John has built what he refers to as a shed, to me it’s a hanger, a quarter of it houses a bus, more impressive than Priscilla Queen of the desert’s bus, it was decked out amazingly well including two acres of marble.

Tucked into the hanger was the equivalent of a commercial kitchen, John was able to produce a Sunday night tradition, a feed of fish and chips in a instance, but it wasn’t your normal fix of greasies, but magnificent fresh King George Whiting fillets, straw potato chips, he may have had a Macca’s Drive Thru in the other corner of the shed but I didn’t see it. There was a selection of salads, home-made tartare sauce, then a bowl of ice cream, with what I thought was a party pie floating in it, Crow Eaters can have some weird ideas, it was actually a mini apple pie made with filo pastry, just perfect, bring back Sunday nights, that’s what I say.

The other couple Michelle and Phil, were great company, Michelle an accountant, Phil a retired hotel broker who currently owns a toy shop, had a great knowledge of wines, drives a vintage Lamborghini, now you’re talking, then for Christ’s sakes, he has an entry in to this year’s Archibald Prize for portraiture, the prick paints, that’s truly disgusting. At this stage feeling quite insignificant… Techform Rating all time low, but more races left on the card!

We were sharing the marque with a table put together for Iluka Mining Resources, a company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange which amongst other pursuits mines mineral sands one and a half hours north of Ceduna… by plane, in other words in the middle of nowhere.

Sitting at the table alone was a young lady, expectant but not perturbed until the arrival of a young buck, to which she practiced that air of disdain, that with the exception of Brad Pitt and George Clooney every bloke in the world has felt. It was undetectable to him, possibly obscured by his white rimmed sunglasses.

Phil had noticed on numerous occasions she had sent back the food the caterers continually bought to the table. I was seated with my back to her, and was unaware of what was going on, but could not help but notice that she was outgoing and friendly. It was coming up to race three, her friends hadn’t arrived, so Phil as a father… obviously out of concern asked whether she would like to join our table. This had two positive outcomes; it filled the vacant seat next to me, and relieved her of the unwanted attention of a young man.

Jess without too much hesitation accepted Phil’s offer, which bought about an unseen windfall, the transfer of the contents of the large esky strategically placed there to satisfy the unquenchable thirst of a group of outback miners. I was confident that the name Lassetter would be etched into the lid. Jess joined our table and I thought, well she has had a drink or two, immaturity is costly when your doing Techform Ratings, I would retain mine, and hers would blow out, I had no hesitation in extending to Jess a warm and heartfelt welcome to Colonel Rayner’s Table.

Jess was born in Gilgunnia in western New South Wales, her father was a driller, her mother a nurse, they have since moved to Forbes, but there’s still plenty of Gilgunnia left in Jess. Women inevitably have a certain vulnerability attached to them when they’re young it’s magnified, although that may be just a bloke’s view. Jess certainly looked confident but you couldn’t help but think how deep the veneer was even though there was a distinguishable vein of flint running through it.

As we were at the races you would of bet on Jess being a Jillaroo, out for a bit of fun, educated gap year bravado RM’s, Holden Ute smothered in B&S stickers, a couple of moon raker aerials and Longhorn Jeans, that’s the barrier I reckoned she would jump from. Jess told me that she was early twenties, then admitted she was edging mid twenties, which laughingly was of some concern to her, in fact Jess is twenty four years. Jess didn’t get much of an opportunity to enjoy an extended break after completing her tertiary education, as she immediately pursued a science degree graduating as a geologist and sought employment in mining industry. She currently is working with Iluka resources.

Jess works eight days on six days off, says she loves it, whilst on the job she stays at the company’s camp, which she describes as more of a resort, complete with swimming pool, canteen, full Telstra service, the complex can house one hundred and seventy four employee’s. I asked her what her ambition was, without blinking she said I want to be CEO, she is currently studying for her masters degree. Jess is one of around 10% of women working in the mining industry, she introduced me to one of her female work mates similar age, similar qualifications.

It was humbling to meet a girl with a steely ambition, beneath a carefree unpretentious fun loving façade. A girl that loves camping in the bush, enjoys fishing, appears a very low maintenance operation, but must be a constant concern for her parents giving her outgoing personality. Jess was great fun and great company, which posed another dilemma… what Techform rating was she going achieve… I had a serious problem when it was pointed out that Jess had bought a full esky to the table.

Holidays are a great experience always enriched by the people you meet. I can not be more thankful than to be invited by Peter and Robyn to the special place they share and the fantastic people they share it with. We had a fantastic time. Cheers, Dennis Madden.

The Ides of March, traditionally observed on the 15,^th and notorious for the assassination of Julius Caesar saw the financial blood letting early in the month, a young buck decided to chance his luck with a $3 dollar trifecta on 12,11, 9 on the hotel’s Trackside, an unlikely bet, with an unlikely outcome, but not this time the numbers came home, the judge saluted and the young bloke walked away with $28,000.00. Within a day a little old Lady from Pasadena collected $5000 plus in the Boudicca Bar.

The sudden resignation of Pope Benedict XV1, saw me with possibly one of the best after dinner lines or name dropping opportunities that present themselves in a life time and, according to Sportsbet, I was an 80 to 1 chance.

If the bell peeled for Pell in the Vatican conclave to decide on the new Pope and someone approached me saying, “Do you know Cardinal Pell is the Pope?” I could have been able to say, “Pell the new Pope, do I know him? Know him, I went to school with him, not just the same school as him, with him.”  I believe that my brother John may have also been at school with Cardinal Pell, John Sinnott certainly was. We all attended St. Patricks College in Ballarat.

Those of you that have good numeracy skills would be doing the maths, and asking Professor Julius Miller’s question, “How could that be so?” because both John’s are years older than myself as is Cardinal Pell. My first year at school was at St Aloysius which was only two blocks from home, unfortunately I developed a truancy problem, I believed I would be a far better home schooled than if it was left up to the nuns, there however was a further hiccup, inexplicably my mother sided with the nuns. I felt betrayed, my mother and the nuns didn’t seem to have anything in common, they didn’t even dress the same, but did share a similar temper at times.

As my first year of schooling “Bubs” was wasted it was decided to cart me off to St.Pats which was miles away from home, for the first three years I was blindfolded when taken and picked up from school. I attended St Pat’s College from 1956 until 1967 at one stage sharing a class with George’s younger brother David.

 George Pell was the school hero, champion sportsman particularly playing football, he was seen as the perfect replacement for Captain Blood Jack Dyer at Richmond and the club was relentless in their chase to secure him. When Big George was made a Cardinal at the Vatican it was in fact his second canonization, the Christian Brothers had already bestowed him that honor, he was revered by all the kids in the junior school.

I had two heroes at that time in my life, George Pell and “Bomber Wells” Bomber wasn’t actually a saint but he was the best kick in the Ballarat Football league played for Redan, where I lived and could goal from the centre circle, Roy Rogers, the Cisco Kid, and Zorro filled the minor placing’.

St. Patrick’s Day has come and gone without a wimper, it used to be such a highlight. Trent & Bree did organize a delicious baileys flavoured ‘green’ cheesecake giving bistro patrons the opportunity for an Irish style sweet indulgeence.  Angela organized Trent to make a batch of green macaroons , which we enjoyed at our scheduled gaming staff meeting.

As part of our responsibilities in the conducting of gaming we have gazette meetings, to discuss amongst other things money laundering, as an anti-terrorist measure.

The government instructions included identify possible breaches, the example they give, if there is a foreign embassy in the immediate neighborhood, and that embassy is known for it’s radical views, for instance embassies that sympathize with North Korea or Iran we should be on guard for shifty characters laundering large amounts of money, or driving trucks carrying large amounts of super phosphates, we are ever vigilant and if we witness a hijack of one of Bonners trucks by people wearing hibjaabs and flowing white gowns, I’m ringing triple  0.

Easter is fast approaching, but not as quickly as the Streaky Bay Cup, which is to be conducted next Saturday the 23^rd !  I am looking forward with great enthusiasm to attending. Hope to fit in some fishing for the magnificent King George whiting, as well as shucking the delicious Smokey Bay oysters. It will be a great weekend celebrating with Peter Rayner, his partner Robyn and their invited guests at the marque they have arranged for the cup. I am traveling with Alan Jones and Sally Wilson – giddy up can’t wait, will be taking the camera, so look forward to some great photos. Cheers, Dennis Madden

Birthday vouchers for friends of The Commercial Hotel on Facebook… and other news, some good, others not so!

To help you celebrate your birthday we are offering you a choice of options to help celebrate!

Friends of The Commercial on Facebook will receive the birthday offer posted to their page and will be listed on the Boudicca Bar for voucher redemption.

The offer is valid for a month after your birthday, it isn’t transferable, but all those people that were our face book friends from the start of the year will receive retrospective offers…Yippee!

Pip Robertson is off to Laverton flying in for Australia’s largest International Air Show. A number of planes are flying in as part of a group from the Western District, the planes are put on display for the duration of the event. The owners receive free entry to the show. Best wishes to Pip and the Cobden Recreational Flyers.

Congratulations to a young bloke that was doing some low flying over the weekend and came in under the radar to claim third place in the Australian Wingless Sprint Car Title, the young man in question Jye Saunders, well done mate you would have made your family very proud.

If anyone had watched the Blue Diamond at Caulfield they would have witnessed the raw emotion of the Aussie Battler against all the odds, an entire family that was elevated to a pinnacle of achievement rarely captured as Lauren Stojakovic propelled her mount the aptly named mare, “Miracles of Life” to victory in prestigious Blue Diamond Stakes. Lauren’s four sisters, grandmother and parents were all present to watch her victory.

It was remarkable in many was, Lauren was a mature age apprentice at 29 years old, not because she decided to follow her passion late in life, she had a number of horrific accidents and setbacks that kept her from riding, including a shattered pelvis, broken leg and operations on both knees. It was the battling trainer Daniel Clarken’s first major win, and he won it with a horse that is no more than a pony, at 325 kg’s she was by far the smallest horse in the race, giving her rivals over 100 kilos in weight.

Television shows like ‘Revenge’ ramp up on emotion and tension. Anyone watching the telecast on Seven’s racing broadcast on Saturday would have reckoned they had watched the entire Revenge series in the running of the Blue Diamond, as it was so emotionally charged. If Oscar Pistorius had presented the trophy he would have gone unnoticed.

Channel Seven is going to continue free to air coverage of the horse racing in Melbourne and Sydney on Saturday afternoons we will be featuring the coverage in the Sports Bar, so if you want to watch the races in a great atmosphere come down and join us, take the punt.

Bad new to some, Coles and Woolies the supermarket giants have given it’s customers a “Slab in the Face” vowing to stop the beer wars, and not use beer as a loss leader to entice customers into their stores. It will offer Pubs some respite if the supermarkets stop selling beer below our buy-in price.

It maybe that you can once again enjoy the convenience of drive-in shopping as the retail price of beer in supermarkets begins to rise. The supermarkets have made no assurances that they won’t stop selling $1 dollar a litre cartons of milk, nor gouging motorists on petrol prices. Remember, “Don’t convene at the checkouts, Checkout the convenience.”

 Here’s Cheers to March starting with a Friday Night! Dennis Madden

Letter #1

Recommendations put forward to council where to consider expressions of interest from the commercial sector and spend $30,000 on the installation of a kitchen.
The only conclusion I can draw is that the recommendations put the cart before the horse. Why would you spend $30,000 on a kitchen installation if you hadn’t predetermined what the premises would be used for?
Given that when the premises housed the Court Affair Café for a period of seven years the only consideration given to catering equipment was a hot water service and a twin bowl stainless steel sink, requests to connect the premises to the natural gas grid were rebuffed as too expensive.
As I hold a Shire permit to operate a commercial food premises, I am intrigued that the Shire would invest in the creation of another food outlet. They have in the past spent hundreds of thousands of dollars installing commercial kitchens in the premises they control in Camperdown namely the Killara Centre and the Theatre Royal, both venues are used sparingly.
Is the Corangamite Shire creating its own episode of Our Kitchens Rules? There has been extensive funding given to a number of organizations right throughout the shire to install commercial catering kitchens in their respective premises.
It will be a hallelujah moment when the shire branches out establishing other businesses to compete with the private sector using rate payers’ money. Imagine the outcry if they were to go into subsidizing a trucking operation.

Dennis Madden.

Letter #2

Re: What to do with the Court House. Chronicle 25/01/13 article.
Pubs are the parliaments of the people, a pity they are in decline; you just don’t get the same type of debate at the supermarket checkouts. When casting judgement over the fate of the Court House consideration has to be given to serving sentences concurrently, what organization or groups could come together to maximize the collective benefit.
Over a few beers and considerable contemplation, the best sentence we could deliver was that, the $30,000 that was going to be spent on installing a kitchen in the Court House be spent relocating the Camperdown Historical Society to the Court House and Corangamite Arts or collective be located permanently in the Odd Fellows Hall.
I am led to believe Peter Daffy, a driving force in the performing arts, apparently put this idea forward some years ago, namely because the hall was purpose built as a Performing Centre, complete with elevated stage and dressing areas. The hall itself has sufficient space for audiences as well as enough floor space for art shows and exhibitions.
The Court House has a perfect synergy with the Historical Society; it is the ideal place to house their exhibitions, as well as providing a central location for a Tourist Information Centre. The Court House building has a number of room’s ideal for displays and research facilities as well general office administration.
The existing volunteer Staff at the Historical Society is enthusiastic, knowledgeable, well organized and self-managed. There would be no better group of people who could deliver tourist information, even with an extended group of volunteers for Tourist Information, not only for Camperdown but the entire region.
I support both the Historical Society and Corangamite Arts, but have no input into either organization; my comments are brewed and distilled through conversations amongst those souls who still believe in contentment long before capacity.

Dennis Madden.

Letter to the Editor, January 2013

I have fielded much discussion on the recent article in the Warrnambool Standard regarding Corangamite Shires Gaming survey. To me the survey was a two edged sword, if I voiced an opinion it would be seen as being motivated solely by fiscal interest, if the outcome was that the shire would oppose any more poker machines in Corangamite our business would be seen as receiving a financial advantage by exclusivity. So why would I question the shires need to conduct a gaming survey? In gambling terms the smart money would say sit.

The reality is quite different. The current Victorian Governments policy is, as quoted by the Gaming Minister Michael O’Brien,

“Pokies are a legitimate entertainment option for adults and the Victorian Government has no plans to ban them.”

The Government’s policy has been upheld by VCAT in its decisions, overturning the Warrnambool City Council refusal to grant a planning permit for the Flying Horse Hotel.

To me the Government policy is clear cut, if a venue was to apply for up to 70 poker machines in the Corangamite Shire and meet the regulator conditions then a licence would be granted irrespective of the council’s opinion.

The question I consequently ask,

“Has any council the right to conduct expensive surveys, I believe the cost of the survey was $40 K, knowing that irrespective of their opinion they cannot change the outcome?”

I saw it as ironic that at the time the Shire was conducting its survey that hundreds of millions of dollars were spent on the One Hundred Million Auslotto jackpots and equal amounts on the Melbourne Cup.

In addition to this two new EBT’s (Electronic Betting Terminals) were installed in the Corangamite Shire, as a result of which access to Sports Betting in Camperdown increased by 100%.

Sports Betting is exploding and the competing companies are relentlessly pursuing clients, many offering free bets of up to $500. I don’t even know if the shire requires a planning permit to open a betting shop. The answer is obviously not.

The CEO of the shire, Mr. Andrew Mason, was quoted as saying,

“Council’s decision was influenced by concerns of the Australian Productivity Commissions report of 2010 on gaming and the estimated social cost $ 4.7 billion with 500,000 Australians being, or at risk of becoming problem gamblers.”

My concern is that Andrew Mason or the councillors of the Corangamite Shire may become aware of the report on obesity in Australia. Recent studies by the prestigious Monash Medical research facility and Professor Stephen Colagiuri of the Metabolic Health unit of the Sydney University estimates the cost of obesity per year in Australia is a staggering $56 billion dollars a year.

If you were to ask what has that got to do with the Corangamite Shire, you may consider, the southern part of the shire sits in one of the most productive dairy regions of Australia, producing income and wealth for the farmers which flows on to the constituents right through out the shire.

The down side, each glass of milk contains 12% of fat. 23% are saturated fats, there is a further 8% of cholesterol and 4% of salt. My concern is the shire may consider taking action against the farmers for producing a toxic cocktail of obesity and evidence may be there to support it. 25% of children are overweight or obese, 60% of adults overweight with 20.5% considered obese.

In the study into problem gambling throughout Barwon, which takes in metropolitan Geelong, research found that .4 of 1% of gamblers were considered to be at risk.

In Southern Grampians/Hamilton, which closer mirrors Corangamite, the percentage was .1 of 1%.

Are these figures justification for spending $40K of rate payers’ money on surveys and research into an industry that is micro analysed by Governments and independent social research facilities yearly? Is social research into gaming a role council should pursue?

Dennis Madden

Sam’s been doing his Australia day address for ten years and the sales of lamb have increased four fold.

Take his lambnesia test here!

Sam Kekovich has returned for the ninth consecutive year to encourage Australians to counter ‘lambnesia’ and eat more lamb in the 2013 Australia Day marketing campaign. See more of Meat & Livestock Australia’s blog here… The Aussie campaign clip is at the end of this post, very well done.

We too love our lamb and have been researching some new dishes.  Peter Anderson, son of Les and Bev Anderson in Campbell St, and his wife Tracy do a great lamb salt bush pie at their Mount Mary Hotel in South Australia, its made from a shoulder of lamb slowed cooked for six hours and finished off with salt bush leaves. Peter nor Tracey will give me the recipe until they sell their hotel and return to Alice Springs, I’m praying for a quick sale.

We are determined to source some of the best lamb in Australia to create some iconic dishes. Our search ended up on an island in Bass Strait, an area that some would argue has the cleanest air in the world, an area lying within the roaring forties, the trade winds that swept the first fleet to Australia, you cannot be more patriotic. The island is Flinders, part of the Furneaux group that lie off the north eastern tip of Tasmania stretching out into Bass Strait.

Ironically when we bought Audacity back from Tasmania we could have been a statistic of the islands shipwrecks, we lost steering and had to return to Lady Baron for repairs, the boat spent a fortnight being refurbished. I can personally vouch for the winds that constantly sweep the island with air drawn directly from the Antarctic.

The search for the perfect lamb ended with the Flinders Island meat company, the original spark who ignited the venture was a fellow called John Chapman, not the John Chapman from Camperdown that has expertly managed the Caravan Park for many years although many similarities could be drawn. John and his delightful wife Jan have clung in their cottage on top of a hill buffeted from the same weather patterns that have swept over Flinders for over two decades.

The other connection with Camperdown that draws parallels is that the people that took over from John Chapman are David and James Madden, we couldn’t go wrong could we, testimonials for their products can be viewed on the company’s web site flindersislandmeat.com.au   We are sampling some product this week and will let you know the yum of it!

Have a great weekend, cheers, Dennis

Here’s a little more Sam Lambnesia:

Forget about Nigella Lawson, the American cooking and porch drinking aficionado Hilah Johnson has returned our call, Hilah’s a hoot she is laid back, witty, entertaining, enjoys a drink, can cook and she also sings!

So check hilahcooking.com youtube recipes to be equally entertained and inspired by the talented Hilah!

One of our favourite YouTube Recipes is Easy Empanadas:

Here’s more of Hilah’s story: “I’ve been cooking since I could reach the stove — it was REALLY HOT! — and love it. I also do a bunch of other artsy crap like acting, writing, and singing in my goofball, punk rock band. Plus I love spicy food, innuendo humor, and porch-drinking.”  http://hilahcooking.com/about/

The only person on this earth at the moment that I would excuse if they couldn’t cook, blokes will understand, would be Sofia Vergara, she could just talk to you about dinner and that would suffice!

Here’s one for the non-blokes or perhaps a warning to all blokes…  I was reading where a woman had won a major lottery. She was extremely excited. When her husband returned home she said, “Harry pack your things I’ve just won the lottery.” Harry said, “Where we going honey?” she replied, “I’m not going anywhere!”

Cheers & big thank you to Hilah and everyone who has been checking out our website/blog/facebook. Dennis Madden

If you have been in the Gaming Room and think ‘deja vu’ these guys are on a loop – you’re right!

Those blessed souls including Georgie, Allison, Donna, and Deb are playing the role of mum on holiday.

The photo says it all -  John Cheslett looking like a Caribbean  rapper complete with a water cannon, I believe he may be schooling a new generation of drive by shooters… a culture that we are actively discouraging, but not John, the word is obsessive, it is rumoured that he had an entire collection of water cannons and pistols in the boot of his car, under his bed, caches of weapons hidden all over the park.

I have an unsustained report, we are still establishing the facts, think Johnny Depp sleeping with a pistol down the pantaloons, something triggered during the night causing the pistol to discharge which has upset the mainsail, the jib remained intact but Captain Cheslett is still trying to explain the discharge to the children in the camp.

The dangers of heading off to bed with a loaded (water)pistol  after consuming a weeks ration of rum, a dozen crownies and half a cask of red can not be over emphasised!

The hot weather and such a supply of watery fun can only mean… game on!!! We wish you happy holidaze

It’s gunna be a long trip up the Curdies before we get “Audacity” onto the tranquil waters of Lake Purrumbete.

12 months ago we set sail from Strahan on the west coast of Tasmania down past Bathurst Harbour around the bottom of Tasmania through the Maatsuyker Group of islands into the straits of the Dentrecastean Channel to Hobart along the East coast up to Flinders Island then across Bass Strait past Curtis Island and on to Queenscliff. The journey now continues on land…

During the last twelve months the boat had more growth on it’s bottom than ugly Olga of Transylvania had on her top lip, so out of the water she came, not Olga but the boat. There had a small mishap we broke a small piece off one of the cavitation plates, to retrieve the piece “Frogman Robertson” had to do a little duck diving, more problems he had too much buoyancy.

He reminded me of the fellow they found floating in Galway Bay, the unfortunate was from County Cork. The following day the Galway Gazette ran the headline, “Cork man found floating in bay.” The story continue, “Police have been unable to positively identify the man, but believe he was know as Bob, the investigation is continuing.” I borrowed some weights from the Dive Shop and Pip was able to retrieve some of the broken parts from the bottom. The only way to fix the broken parts was to lift the boat from the water, which was fortuitous for the sacrificial aluminium anodes that protect the boat from corrosion were absolutely shot.

The stern drives are going to be serviced the bottom of the boat coated with anti foul and we should be back on the water early in the New Year!