By Phil Henshall
FIFTY years ago how could I have known that I was contributing to the changing of our climate? In those innocent days in the early formation of our steel fixing business, my business partner Peter Mammolito and I were given a contract to help in the construction of the Loy Yang Power Station. It was a huge project and we were proud to have been chosen.
It had been many years since I had driven past but just recently Annie and I were on a trip to Gelliondale near Yarram and it took us past the power station that stood out as a surreal fixture on the landscape. The area was first settled in the 1840s at the place where Sheepwash Creek meets the Latrobe River. It was named Loy Yang which is an Aboriginal name meaning "Big Eel".
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Much has changed since then of course. If Loy Yang A and B are counted together, they are the largest power station in Australia, generating 3280 MW of power or about 45% of Victoria's electricity requirements. It is estimated that the power station emits 14.4 million tonnes of greenhouse gases (oxides) each year as a result of burning coal.
There was no mine when I worked at the site but now four giant bucket-wheel excavators operate 24 hours a day mostly feeding coal directly to the boilers via a conveyor belt. A coal bunker keeps 70,000 tonnes which is a reserve of only 18 hours. The open cut coal mine pit is about three kilometres by two kilometres wide and 200 metres deep. How much coal has been extracted and burnt there in my life time? How much did I unwittingly contribute to the change in our climate? |
Many of us know Phil Henshall, a long-time part-time Bass Coast resident, from his coastal works. His new exhibition focuses on his other life, across the hills in Baw Baw Shire. So here we are sitting around the fire on a cold winter’s day trying to come up with a name for it. It hasn’t been easy as it is such an eclectic mix of painting. All are done in his typical style – big and bold – and all of them with a story to tell. Of how he helped to build Australia’s largest power station, unwittingly contributing to climate change, of his friend and fellow artist Graeme Myrteza, ‘the Man from Narracan’, who said “I am 60 years old, I haven’t got 30 years to learn that s@#!, tell me now", of the black cockatoos that lazily descend to strip the hakea trees, of Annie’s chorale group rehearsing in a church. The words are as good as the paintings, and the paintings are wonderful, as always. Here is a ‘teaser’ of Basins, Oxides, Locals, Legend (we did finally come up with a name!) – but best to see them in the flesh. The exhibition is on at Laurie Collins’ Red Tree Gallery in Jindivick through July, 10am-4pm daily. The opening is Saturday July 12 from 2pm to 4pm. - Liane Arno |
Chorale
Annie, my partner, is someone to be admired. She has amazing energy and immerses herself into community. When she started sharing my life in West Gippsland she joined the West Gippsland Chorale. She was already a singer with the local choir in Wonthaggi – but here she had to put herself through auditions in order to prove her worth.
And she did. I hadn’t been one to attend concerts in the past – but that of course changed when Annie joined the Chorale. Along with others who were united in their joy of singing I couldn’t help but be moved by this local institution.
Annie, my partner, is someone to be admired. She has amazing energy and immerses herself into community. When she started sharing my life in West Gippsland she joined the West Gippsland Chorale. She was already a singer with the local choir in Wonthaggi – but here she had to put herself through auditions in order to prove her worth.
And she did. I hadn’t been one to attend concerts in the past – but that of course changed when Annie joined the Chorale. Along with others who were united in their joy of singing I couldn’t help but be moved by this local institution.
Garden Vase
I love watching the antics of birds.
One of my projects was to develop a cluster village at Icy Creek. I moved into one of the lodges about twenty five years ago. Every evening about 5 o’clock Gang Gangs would come down and have their daily drink at an old decommissioned satellite dish. So when I settled here in West Gippsland I had to use the Icy Creek prototype to make another one. But this time I used the cut off bottom of a discarded wombat enclosure given to me by my friend Christina - a wildlife rehabilitator.
The Gang Gangs didn’t follow. But here in Rokeby the new birdbath (basin) was used (until its demise) by families of magpies and bowerbirds that loved to drink and bathe in it. They had a ball. I used to make it a bit more interesting by treating it as an oudoor vase and position branches of flowering banksia.
The enclosure in the painting has now perished and has been replaced by another satellite dish that Graham Duell designed in exchange for one of my paintings. I reckon I got the better deal.
I love watching the antics of birds.
One of my projects was to develop a cluster village at Icy Creek. I moved into one of the lodges about twenty five years ago. Every evening about 5 o’clock Gang Gangs would come down and have their daily drink at an old decommissioned satellite dish. So when I settled here in West Gippsland I had to use the Icy Creek prototype to make another one. But this time I used the cut off bottom of a discarded wombat enclosure given to me by my friend Christina - a wildlife rehabilitator.
The Gang Gangs didn’t follow. But here in Rokeby the new birdbath (basin) was used (until its demise) by families of magpies and bowerbirds that loved to drink and bathe in it. They had a ball. I used to make it a bit more interesting by treating it as an oudoor vase and position branches of flowering banksia.
The enclosure in the painting has now perished and has been replaced by another satellite dish that Graham Duell designed in exchange for one of my paintings. I reckon I got the better deal.
I Love a Good Hakea
The yellow tailed black cockatoos have a specific name funereus because it looks like they are dressed for a funeral. And when you hear their mournful cry you could believe that to be the case. Some people say they can hardly fly due to their low flying way of almost skimming the tree line. But I think they are truly remarkable birds who simply don’t want to expend too much energy – and so they lope.
They may be lazy flyers but they are not lazy eaters. They raid our place through spring and summer devouring pine cones and hakea seeds. Noisy when flying, once they descend into a tree you wouldn’t even know they are there until a macerated cone or nut drops from above.
The yellow tailed black cockatoos have a specific name funereus because it looks like they are dressed for a funeral. And when you hear their mournful cry you could believe that to be the case. Some people say they can hardly fly due to their low flying way of almost skimming the tree line. But I think they are truly remarkable birds who simply don’t want to expend too much energy – and so they lope.
They may be lazy flyers but they are not lazy eaters. They raid our place through spring and summer devouring pine cones and hakea seeds. Noisy when flying, once they descend into a tree you wouldn’t even know they are there until a macerated cone or nut drops from above.
