In the Press: Story Walking at Green Lake in the Times Ensign

Our Story Walking event held at Green Lake has a short write up on page 2 of the Thursday June 8th edition of the Times Ensign.

The article (attached here) reads as follows:

“A crowd of thirty people undertook a guided literary walk around the perimeter of Green Lake on Sunday, May 21.

This walk was organised by the Australian Research Council funded Reading in the Mallee project, which has been coordinating encounters with books and reading in the region over the last six years or so.

Laurice McClelland and Pat Amos originally suggested Green Lake as a likely location and helped to make it happen. Ken Kennedy, the caretaker at Green Lake, provided a tour in his buggy for organisers Brigid Magner and Emily Potter the day before, sharing his detailed knowledge of the ecology around the lake.

Visitors travelled from Castlemaine, Manangatang and Natimuk to take part in the walk. Once everyone had assembled at the shelter closest to the lake, there was an acknowledgement of country and the reading of a Wergaia creation story.

Following this, there were seven stops at various points featuring readings by Keva Lloyd, John Truran, Karlie Noon and Krystal de Napoli, Michael Meehan, John Shaw Neilson, Sue Williams and Glenda Nicholls.

Sue McLean talked about the legacy of Hec Cathcart, who was known as the ‘Bard of Green Lake’ and read some of her own writing about her family’s heritage, as walkers ate delicious catering provided by The Juke restaurant. Due to the outdoor location, people brought their own thermoses of hot water for tea and coffee.

A rock-climber from Ireland, who read from Glenda Nicholls’ memoir River Girl, said of the experience: “I thoroughly enjoyed learning about some of the history of the Mallee region from the readings on the Story Walking Green Lake Tour, which beforehand I knew nothing about, but has now ignited my interest”.

An older walker said, “I felt like I was transported to other times in this place,” while another asked, “Why don’t we have more of these?” The next event on the Reading in the Mallee calendar is ‘Small Towns, Big Skies: Regional crime writing’ at the Roxy Theatre on June 29 featuring Garry Disher, Katherine Kovacic and Shelley Burr. People can sign up at Eventbrite or visit malleereads.com”