By Julie Paterson
 
WHILE the sun heads west and I’m wandering the beaches what seems familiar and everyday can become something else entirely with the magic box of a camera, a tilt of the body and the angle of light. 

I often feel I’ve stumbled across new life forms of unknown origins in some primordial land. 

In a blizzard of back light a piece of seaweed transforms into something vulnerable, yet to awaken. ​

Scale becomes unanchored; am I hovering 100 miles above looking down upon ancient geologic deltas. Or am I looking through a microscope revealing the interstices of the connective tissue of the elements? ​

In pools of water wind blows across the surface, tickling the refracted light currents to move and quiver in magnificent patterns. ​

​Creature trails make hieroglyphic drawings in wet sand. 

Why oh why on earth do people want to go into outer space? It’s already interplanetary out here on these beaches. ​

By Julie Paterson
 
AT THE front door I’m greeted by bundles of foliage, flowers and buckets full of bark and sticks dropped off by kind folk. A baby ringtail is asleep in a slipper with a lovingly placed acacia sprig. ​
 
I am at the home of Linda Pettit, founder and team leader of Bunurong Wildlife Care in Inverloch, and her husband Rod. Their home is an authorised wildlife shelter, an ever evolving project to house, treat and heal injured, ill or orphaned wildlife for release. 

By Julie Paterson
 
THE Mouth of the Powlett’s estuarine wetlands, salt marsh and coast has enamoured me since the mid nineties. That serpentine river and the entirety of the place coalesce into a unique ecology and ambience. It teems with layers of life, visual textures, a multitude of species and a restorative force … and let’s not forget the times of blasting salt winds which reshape not only dunes but also your face.

By Catherine Watson

I'VE always loved the Wonthaggi cemetery, with footy flags adorning headstones, concrete angels, and roos grazing between the graves in the last rays of the day. A homely and cheerful place to contemplate mortality. 

But things are changing since Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust took over the cemetery in February.

The council has paid the trust (a public entity) $4 million to maintain Wonthaggi and San Remo cemeteries in perpetuity. The understanding is that the council will save money and the community will get a more professional service. 

By Julie Paterson

I MOVED to Wonthaggi in August 2023, but I am no stranger to the Bass Coast.

With a background in art, I've been invited to contribute monthly photo essays to the Post. These are not series of works, but rather a collection of photos as I explore the region taking photos and observing contrasts.
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The photos will be predominately landscapes but will also include local events, local people and odds and sods. I hope you’ll enjoy my monthly offerings and the evolution of this new inclusion to The Post.