Genealogy: Saint Mary MacKillop

By Brooke Lehmann

"We must teach more by example than by word"

- Mary MacKillop

A colour portrait of Mother Mary MacKillop
at the Mary MacKillop Chapel in Sydney

Reading Saint Mary MacKillop (or Saint Mary of the Cross) and her story, it is difficult to see past the hardship and injustice that life seemed to throw at her. However, by the same token, her strength and courage is just as remarkable. With a heart and a passion solidified in her faith and love for people, Saint Mary's story is truly inspiring.

Born on the 15th January 1842 in Fitzroy, Victoria, Mary MacKillop was the oldest of eight children – with one brother not making it past eleven months old, she became the oldest of seven. She was raised a Roman Catholic and at the age of eight she received her first communion.

Completely oblivious to the difference she would make in the lives of so many across Australia, MacKillop initially started out as a clerk at 14 years of age. She then continued on to become a teacher, and finally a governess in 1860 for her aunt and uncle in Penola to provide extra income for her struggling family. This is said to be where her passion ignited. Working in rural Australia, she opened her arms and welcomed the other farm children onto the Cameron estate and into her classes to teach.

It wasn’t until 1867, after having already taught in Penola and Portland, when she became the co-founder of a school in Penola alongside her well-known acquaintance Father Julian Edmund Tenison Woods. Not long after the establishment of the school, MacKillop became the first sister, and consequently Mother Superior, of their newly co-founded Order of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart.

In her later years she would reflect on this and share the pivotal juncture with her fellow sisters by letter. She wrote, “Twenty-five years ago we kept up St Joseph’s day as the special feast of our proposed institute and little did either of us then dream of what was to spring from so small a beginning…Our poor Father Woods was happy that day, and so was I, but we said little beyond wondering whom God would call to assist us - and how he would make his way clear.”

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Snapshot: Hamish & Dawn Alcorn, Archives Fine Books

By Sophie Baker 

Walking up Charlotte street I spotted the red sandwich board from a distance, "BOOKS, OPEN" – sweet relief! Very few times do I successfully navigate my way through the heart of Brisbane's CBD. But the store's gorgeous brick facade won me, and my attention, over immediately.

For the past three and a half years, Hamish Alcorn and his wife, Dawn, have been the proud and grateful owners of Archives Fine Books. Gentle and kind in demeanor, Hamish quietly drifts around his beautiful store, barefoot and ready to help, whatever your need.

The store has sat in this very location for over 30 years and Alcorn – who once ran a political blog and is a sometime Webdiarist – is the fifth owner to steward its second-hand books from owner to owner; early editions, elegant hardbacks, thumbed and adored. 

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The Occasional Shopper - A Floral Affair

Earthy, muted tones are in this autumn, as well as (by stark contrast) the bright colour-blocking of the 60s - or so the Westfield online 'style guide' tells me. My favourite autumn bargain however, has been this little pair of floral ballet flats, picked up for $15 at my beloved bargain provider – Kmart.  

I'm inherently abusive to my shoes: being a photographer I always think about my shoes last; my feet end up on all kinds of terrain in all kinds of weather conditions, and mud doesn't mix too well with pretty shoes. I therefore never spend more than $20 on shoes, nor do I buy many "oh they're so pretty!" pairs of shoes. 

But when I saw this pair (on a regular shoe-replacement shop), I couldn't help but try them on. "They'll probably give me toe-clevage," I thought, in a subconscious bid to curb my spending. Alas, they did not, and they were so cute, and they did fit into my Budget Shoe Policy...

I told myself I wouldn't wear them for any photography shoots – I lied. They've managed to survive through several shoots so far, of which I am very proud. I'm hoping they'll last me longer than most!

Sophie

Snapshot: Chocolate eclairs, coffee and chai

By Rosie Findlay

Just some of the loveliness on offer at Maison Bertaux (28 Greek St). It's London's oldest patisserie, and was revealed to me by my good friend Liv who knows all the best places to go eat cake and stalk designers (The George and Dragon in Shoreditch, sorry, what?). The chocolate eclair was sublime.

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Short & Sweet - week beginning May 21st

 

The week is greeted with sadness for many with the news that Bee Gees singer Robin Gibb has passed away following a long battle with cancer. Queensland & New South Wales NRL fans (and once-a-year football fans) are gearing up for game one of the 2012 Origin series on Wednesday, and The Australian is reporting that our New Zealand neighbours are packing their bags for Australia in record amounts with the number of annual departures sitting at 53,462.

A little agapanthus flower (now flowerless in the colder climate)

peeking above the sill of my bay window this morning.

Let's catch up: After a whirlwind week inclusive of Mrs. Satchel's last-minute departure for Cambodia, Brooke & I spent this morning resting up; yesterday was spent photographing a lovely home-style garden wedding (the weather was perfect and I'm so excited to get into the editing), while Saturday involved exploring an artist's studio to share with you later this week.

This week's agenda: Plenty of photo processing, editing and compiling to be done, as well as a trip to Brisbane for The Mummy Exhibition (stay tuned), and ending with the best-friend's Hen's Night for myself, and Florence & The Machine's Brisbane show at the Riverstage for Brooke!

The Word for the Week: "I am the vine; you are the branches..." John 15:5

Quote for the Week: "Failures are fingerposts on the road to achievement." C.S. Lewis

Dictionary.com word of the week: Gambit \ GAM-bit \ noun;

1. A remark made to open or redirect conversation

2. Chess. An opening in which a player seeks to obtain some advantage by sacrificing a pawn or piece.

3. Any manoeuvre by which one seeks to gain an advantage.

"Despite having the opposition hot on his heels, he took a last-minute dive and placed the ball over the line, scoring a try. The gambit secured a win for the team."

Sophie @ Girl With a Satchel

The Satchel Review - 18th May

By Liz Burke

At approximately 2:25pm yesterday a silent but collective plea from breaking news desks, entertainment reporters, and anyone with an active Twitter handle echoed around the nation. “Would everyone please be quiet, I’m trying to think of Wiggles puns!”

Minutes later, as the shocking announcement of the Wiggles imminent shake-up (a nicely spun rebranding of “break-up”) was confirmed, headlines emerged and skivvies were being thrown in and big red car keys handed over.

The kids' entertainment phenomenon’s fruit salad days were over. Three new recruits would join the last man standing, blue-skivvied Anthony Page, as it was announced Gregg, Jeff, and Murray, the yellow, purple, and red Wiggles respectively were to depart from the group. 

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Arts, Culture & Entertainment - May 17th

FILM

The Cannes Film Festival is here! Without question a highlight of the year for filmmakers and enthusiasts around the globe, the 65^th Festival de Cannes was opened on Wednesday night by American director Wes Anderson who gave thanks to France for being “a country that always reserves a special place in society for cinema”. Heading the festival’s jury for feature films this year is Italian director and Palme d’Or winner Nanni Moretti, with the rest of the jury including the likes of Diane Kruger and Ewan McGregor. The feature films jury will be watching twenty-two films over the duration of the festival (now that’s a movie marathon). Moretti says the key to effective judging is “to watch all of the films with the same level of interest and respect” – all twenty-two of them!

Australian film The Sapphires directed by Wayne Blair is being screened, while Australian short film Yardbird directed by Michael Spiccia has been selected among ten other short films to compete for the 2012 Short Film Palme d’Or. Australian directors Andrew Dominik and John Hillcoat also have films in the running, while Nicole Kidman stars in the US film The Paperboy, and Kylie Minogue acts alongside Eva Mendes in the French film Holy Motors.

The festival this year has, however, received some backlash for having no female directors selected amongst the 22 feature films competing for the coveted Palme d’Or award. French feminist group La Barbe (The Beard) published a derisive article against the festival in the Le Monde and The Guardian newspapers for their apparent exclusion of women, stating “All 22 films in the official selection were written, happy coincidence, by 22 men.”

Last year’s festival saw an unprecedented number of women in the running for the top prize. In reference to this, La Barbe’s article went on to say “Sirs, you have returned to your senses and we thank you for that…Whatever we do, we must not let young girls believe they could one day have the nerve to direct films and climb the steps of the festival palace other than on the arm of a prince charming…Women make perfect hostesses, let’s spare them the worry of managing a film crew, the tough technical challenges of a film shoot.”


But festival director Thierry Fremaux said he only chooses films because he thinks they deserve to be in the selection, and that it is not his fault that filmmaking is still predominantly “a male sport”. New Zealand director Jane Campion remains the only female director in the history of the festival to have won the Palme d’Or for her film The Piano in 1993. Criticism aside, the festival is sure to showcase amazing talent the world over, and here’s to hoping Down Under comes out on top!

While we’re talking about film, if you happen to be in Melbourne on Thursday the 29^th of May you can head on over to the Australian Centre for the Moving Image Cinemas (ACMI) in Federation Square to see the Australian screening of Linotype: The Film. The feature-length documentary is centered around the Linotype (line-o-type) casting machine, a machine that revolutionized printing and society in the same way that the internet is changing communication today. The film is set to tell the charming and emotional story of the people connected to the Linotype and how it impacted the world, as well as seeking to answer questions in relation to the Linotype’s place in society today.

ART

Brisbane’s Galley of Modern Art is showcasing Australian contemporary female artists in its current exhibition Contemporary Australia: Women. This exhibition celebrates the diversity, energy and innovation of contemporary women artists working in Australia today. It features more than 70 new and recent works including paintings, sculptures, photography, textiles and video. The exhibition runs until the 22^nd July.

Edgar Degas – Dancer sitting, leaning forward, she massages her left foot – 1881-83

Sticking to the subject of women in art, the Queensland Art Gallery is running an exclusive exhibition titled Modern Woman: Daughters & Lovers 1850 – 1918 | Drawings from the Musée d’Orsay, Paris. This extensively titled exhibition features drawings from the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, by artists working in France in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. It celebrates the changing roles of women during the Belle Époque (the “Beautiful Era”, a golden-age of sorts in French history) as depicted by leading artists of the time such as Degas, Renoir, Manet and Rodin. These artists increasingly abandoned idealized representations of the female figure, and turned to women from a diverse range of socioeconomic backgrounds, depicting them in real-life situations. This turn from tradition allows us to see French society undergoing radical transformations through their works. Running until the 24^th of June, South-East Queenslanders are being treated a rare opportunity to see these infamous works first-hand. Having seen some of these works in overseas travels, I highly recommend seeing this exhibition if it piques your interest.

LIVE MUSIC

Love music festivals and snow? Guess what, such a combination exists!  The Perisher Snowy Mountains of Music is the only music festival in the snow, and claims the title of Australia’s “Coolest” Festival – clever. It kicks off on the 8^th of June and you get to enjoy your iced-up tunes until the 11^th June, with 8 on-snow venues and headliners like The Black Seeds and Brendan Gallagher.

Rough Red – picture by Graeme Morrison

Prince is making his third trip ‘down-under’ this month, with his last Australian tour occurring in 2003. His concerts have a reputation for being “flamboyant and thrilling”, focusing as much on presentation as on the music. This latest tour is a full-scale arena production using “ground breaking” technology in a complete 360-degree stage, where you can expect to hear all of his greatest hits – sounds like its living up to the flamboyant reputation!

On the fresh-music front, Florence and The Machine is also hitting our shores this month in what is sure to be one of the touring highlights of 2012. If you haven’t heard this enchanting songstress before, you should look her up – she is refreshingly unique. Girl With A Satchel's Brooke is checking out her Brisbane line-up later next week, we'll check in with her to hear all about it!

CULTURE
(I'm personally rather excited about this one!)

If you have a fetish for all things vintage, the Love Vintage Clothing Show & Sale is hitting Melbourne this Friday (May 18^th – 20^th). You can expect to find original couture fashion for women, stylish yet quirky men’s vintage fashion, fine jewellery from the 1900s onwards, hats, shoes, sunglasses, linen, lace, textiles, magazines, original art prints, sewing patterns, small collectibles like perfume bottles… the list just goes on! There will also be a line-up of demonstrations, discussions and entertainment options, plus prizes to won! (Oh, I want to be there now!). The Love Vintage show will be in Brisbane from July 13^th-15^th and in Sydney from September 14^th – 16^th.


NEWS
Home-grown global children's entertainment group The Wiggles have announced that three of their four members will be retiring at the end of the year, to be replaced by three fresh faces – one who is a girl.

Twenty-one-year-old Emma Watkins has worked with the Wiggles for several years as a back-up dancer among other things, but at the end of the year she'll be pulling on the yellow skivvy and stepping forward into a new era of Wiggle history.
Emma said she was thrilled to become the Yellow Wiggle, and the first female Wiggle in the group's 21-year history (with the exception of Kylie Minogue, who was made an honorary Pink Wiggle in 2009).


The two other fresh faces belong to Lachlan Gillespie and Simon Pryce, who have also worked in background roles for the band for several years. The retiring Wiggles are Jeff Fatt (the Purple Wiggle), Murray Cook (the Red Wiggle) and Greg Page (the newly-returned Yellow Wiggle), leaving Anthony Field (the Blue Wiggle) as the only original band member continuing on.

Greg Page said that when The Wiggles asked him to return to the group last year, he was thrilled at the thought of performing with the three guys he started with 21 years ago. So when Jeff and Murray announced their decision to stop performing at the end of the year, he said he felt it was a "nice sense of closure to end my time on stage during the final tour with all the original members of the group." 

There was no talk of asking stand-in yellow wiggle Sam Moran back into the group, with a spokesman saying he had moved on to pursue a career in musical theatre. Moran took the place of Greg Page for five years after Page stood down due to a health condition. Purple Wiggle Jeff Fatt sent out a big thank you to all of their 'wiggly' fans saying, "It's been a great ride in our big red car. We are really looking forward to saying farewell and having one last dance with everyone during the tour." 

The band's farewell tour will commence in Australia in November and December and will see them visit New Zealand, Canada, the UK and the USA.

That's all for now, folks!
Sophie.

Autumnal notes - Hello from Sophie & Brooke

Autumnal notes: Hello from Sophie & Brooke

Autumn. A time of change – the transition from summer into winter. Long, sunny days give way to shorter, cooler ones; lush, green foliage becomes all shades of amber in the now brisk, dry air. The light becomes softer, the jackets and scarves make their debut, and the smell of smoke sits in the afternoon air as houses are warmed inside.

It is a beautiful time, an air of calm seems to blanket each day and though the summer-lovers may long for their days by the beach and evening barbecues, the cooler-climate souls are in their element rugged up by the fire, or skipping pink-cheeked through the crisp air under cloudless blue skies.

Stemming from the Latin word autumnus, the word “autumn” entered into common speech around 16^th Century and is thought to refer to “the season of plenty”. Before this time, “harvest” was the term usually used to refer to the season. However, as more people moved from working the land to living in towns, the word “harvest” lost its reference to the season and came to represent to the actual act of reaping, while “autumn” (as well as “fall”) began to replace it.

As it happens this autumn, The Girl With A Satchel herself has made a dash to Cambodia to work with Destiny Rescue (see ‘a blogging sabbatical’), leaving the blog in the excited hands of myself (Sophie) and Brooke to help it on its way. How fitting that we say hello with an autumnal post – celebrating this beautiful season of change, and our 'harvesting' of interesting little things to show you all over the next few weeks.

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Reprieve: Taking leave (a blogging sabbatical)

Reprieve: Taking leave (a blogging sabbatical)

This Thursday Wednesday (yikes!), Mr and Mrs Satchel (aka Mr and Mrs Bartle) are heading to Cambodia, via Thailand, to work with the crew behind Destiny Rescue. I am most excited about this overseas assignment, and the idea of working alongside my husband on his projects, so to gain the full measure of the experience, which I imagine in many respects will be life changing, and to devote time to learning about the girls themselves, I have decided to refrain from blogging for the time that I am overseas (and perhaps a little while after to make sense of all the bits and pieces that will inevitably be swirling around in my brain).

In the meantime, Sophie and Brooke will be dropping by GWAS intermittently to keep things bubbling along (they're truly marvelous company... the kind of girls who you can play with in the autumn leaves or laugh with about your carefree hairy nether regions – aka "the mangroves" – and yet also enter into a deep and thoughtful theological or literary discussion with; and they would loathe it that I am building them up in such a fashion). Oh, and another friend will be dropping in to wrap up the news at the end of the week. Emma might stop by for a bit of banter, too. I will be missing out on all the fun.

So long, farewell, until I return to this space, friends, satchelings, countrymen.

Girl With a Satchel

Snapshot: Bec and Trent from Moorigin

Bec Edmonds and Trent Kirkwood of Moorigin, Ugess coffee shop, West End, Brisbane

Two years ago, Trent Kirkwood flew off to Taiwan to follow the dream he had to start a mountain bike business (ergo "Bosky Bikes"), but while he was doing some shopping for his girlfriend, Bec, he stumbled across some jewellery in a market that caught his attention crafted by a local designer named "Greatman". A short while later, Bosky Bikes was out and Moorigin jewellery was in. 

The endeavour has proved a happy pursuit for both Bec, 24, and Trent, 30, with her business and community development background and his winning sales technique.

"Our first ever market was the Chandler markets, a twilight market and it was $20 for a store," recalls Bec. "We loved it, but it's an older market. We were worried we wouldn't sell anything, but there were people all around the stall. Then we did the West End Markets every Saturday for ages. We like interacting with people, though I'm not nice to people until about 9 or 10 o'clock, after a coffee; it takes me a little while after waking up at 4am. Trent's always nice to people."

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Thinkings: Nikki Gemmell on a mother's love

Thinkings: Nikki Gemmell on a mother's love

"What I've learnt: the greatest chasm between two people is love withheld by a parent. If you want to do the most damage, try messing with that most primal of human bonds. If you want a miraculous healing, try the opposite. Love withheld, as a weapon, can lock up a life; leach confidence, esteem, strength. And wounds can freshen in middle age."

- 'Body Blows of Love', Nikki Gemmell, The Weekend Australian Magazine, May 12-13, 2012

Bulletin Board: Good Sams curbing violence against women

Bulletin Board: Good Sams Foundation

Sarah Fraser-O'Brien (left) of the Good Sams Foundation

Sarah Fraser O'Brien, foundation manager for the Sisters of the Good Samaritan Foundation (Good Sams), which supports the projects of the Sisters of the Good Samaritans, including safe houses and programs for women and children escaping domestic violence, says that changing a family's culture around domestic violence is hard work.

"Breaking that cycle of domestic violence is often that's a real challenge because it's a long-term lifestyle that a woman might have endured, even from her own childhood, so you have to deal with self-esteem and all those sorts of concerns," she says.

"The aim is to try to get her back on her feet and to try to build her networks, her support network, and build her confidence, and get her in a position where she doesn't want to go back to the perpetrator and hopefully we won't have that cycle continuing in her children. Our big aim is to try to break that whole cycle, and to have that wonderful change in their lifestyle."

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