Working Bees

1 day ago

Holidays almost over? Don't forget to include our beautiful Churchill Island in your itinerary! Farmers' market on tomorrow, but just a tip - when exiting on to the Phillip Island Rd, it's easier to turn left and get back to Cowes via the Newhaven roundabout. It's only a few more minutes and may save you lots of time waiting to do a right hand turn, thereby holding up others wanting to exit from CI. ... See MoreSee Less

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2 days ago

What a treasure trove of Churchill Island history the CI image collection publicly available on the victoriancollections.net.au is! Here is an image of three FOCIS friends who were volunteer 'guides' about 30 years ago: l-r: Jean Jamieson, from Beach St Cowes, Madeline Vegter and her husband Hank Vegter. The Vegters built the original stone house above Swan Lake on the Ventnor Rd near the Penguin Parade. While they travelled around Australia, they would collect seed from all sorts of native and other plants and grow them on at home and either plant them nearby or give them to friends to plant. There may even well be some of their 'plant babies' on Churchill Island! The mantelpiece looks great back in this era. We are not sure what became of the print above the mantelpiece here, which was a well-known one of a pair popular in early 20th century in Australia. Unfortunately the paper was not good quality and few of these remain intact these days. ... See MoreSee Less

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6 days ago

New signage advertising Churchill Island on the main road includes the Heritage Garden, but not the Heritage Buildings. Rogers Cottages are the oldest publicly accessible buildings in Bass Coast. Amess House may well be the oldest publicly accessible homestead in Bass Coast. Thanks to good management and grants, all are in very good condition. Either way, both the gardens and the Heritage buildings are well worth a look. Photo shows road sign, featuring CI's famous Kelpie sheep dog "Rip". ... See MoreSee Less

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1 week ago

Do you recognise either of these women? (circa 2000?) There has been a long tradition of 'guides' demonstrating crafts such as needlework, (pictured here) created in situ in Amess House and Rogers Cottage. The traditional crafting skills of these volunteers have been greatly admired for many years, and add so much to the visitor experience. CI curator Samantha would love to know the identity of these women so that she can update the entry for this photo on victoriancollections.net.au where you can now view well over 1,000 CI collection images. Extra information on any of the images there will be greatly appreciated! ... See MoreSee Less

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