INSPIRE NEWSCAST

Mt Barker is a town of less than 3000 people, situated about 50km north of Albany in Western Australia. Make your way through town and down a road that seems to be heading into the bush, and you come across a couple of large sheds. Everything looks normal until you spot an extra-large corkscrew and a set of dominoes being held up by tiny red people. That’s when you realise you’re onto something unique.

George and Sue Corke have been running the Corkescrew Gallery for 19 years. Did you get the play on the name Corke? As you go past a giant mousetrap and into the gallery, you’re already getting a clue that you’re in for a surprise. Sure enough, when you’re inside, the surprises begin and keep on coming.

George told me that even at school, he had wanted to try his hand at something artistic but didn’t get the chance until late in life. Now his gallery, and indeed, the whole yard, is filled with amazing pieces of art, usually created with George’s signature media, steel and wood. From a giant octopus to a beautiful piece of sheoak being rolled out through an old mangle, which itself was made with re-purposed steel, George’s art makes you stop in your tracks.

A traditional telephone box that has been built from scratch, an old truck that George still uses to drive around town, and a giant piece of barbed wire hanging from the ceiling, all capture the attention of anyone visiting the Corkescrew Gallery. This is definitely worth a visit, and to get a taster, check out my video.

Genevieve Milnes lives a generous live. She’s busy with a wide range of activities, all of which bring her joy, but her life is also lived to bring joy to others.

I visited Genevieve on her Kendenup property, north of Albany, Western Australia and heard her many stories about a life that started right there on that property. As we sat on the verandah in view of the Stirling Range, the theme of much of her photography, she chatted about how she got into psychology and how that led to the Anglican priesthood.

She talked about how she had her first taste of photography at school, then took it up again later with a focus on the regrowth of her local environment following devastating bushfires. Genevieve is now well known as a landscape photographer.

Then she showed me her books and told the story of how she first got involved with restoring old books, telling the story of her meeting with an antiquarian bookseller in France.

There is a sense of joy in the way Genevieve tells all the stories of her generous life and the way in which that joy bubbles over into every aspect of her life. It’s been a full life, but one in which her contribution to both her work and her hobbies has intersected with many other lives along the way, bringing hope and joy to them as well.