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In the spirit of reconciliation, we acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We acknowledge the palawa people of the trawulwai nation, and recognise their continuing connection to the land, waters and culture of the Islands. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.
The first thing you will notice on Flinders and the Furneaux group of islands is the breathtaking scenery. In every direction, what you see is like nothing else in the world, it's deeper than quiet beaches and coastlines, mountains and mist. These islands have a rich and dark history, and an intensely passionate community that wants to reckon with its past and build the right future together. No one is here because it is the easiest place to live. Everyone is here because it's different. When something works on these islands, it tends to be small and special. As the rest of the world chases growth, we chase meaning. We have a complex relationship with change, because we understand what it can bring. It's different here. And we make different invitations to visitors for an unforgettable time on Flinders Island. Learn to be one of us for a few days a week, or the rest of your life. Slow down, listen, get lost, contribute. Don't try to change this place. Let this place change you.
Debbie Clarke and Josie Major
I'm Debbie Clarke, and I'm Josie major. We're honoured to be your hosts for this Latitude 40 series sharing the stories of the Flinders Island community and the Islander Way regenerative tourism Living Lab.
Wendy Jubb-Stoney
I'm Wendy Jubb-Stoney and I own and run a guesthouse called Flinders Island Gourmet Retreat at Cooma House. At that guest house, I also have a sustainable kitchen garden, from which I make lots of meals, and I do cooking schools for guests. But I also am available to do cooking schools for other people who come in, who are visiting the island or local people. I am involved in the promotion of Flinders Island via the tourism side of the association, the Flinders Island Business Association. I’m very interested in the history of the island. I’m a member of the historical research society. I also am a member of the artists society or organisation, and I do a little bit of painting when I have a chance but actually I haven’t had a chance much lately. The most painting I do is to make a few cards of thanks to people or birthdays or things like that nowadays.
Josie Major
Sounds like you keep very busy, we’re learning that on Flinders Island a lot of people wear a lot of different hats and have a lot of jobs and, so I’m not surprised that you’re doing so many things and finding it hard to find time for your art as well. Thank you for sharing that. So can you tell us a little bit about about life on Flinders Island, we're interested in what you think makes it unique and what you love about the island?
Wendy Jubb-Stoney
Well, I grew up on Flinders Island. And I think that that's something when people grow up in a place and they have a great love, they invest themselves in that place. I think that a lot of people who have grown up on Flinders Island haven't left. I did leave and I did a lot of things throughout, you know, my life, I've traveled a lot. I've done a lot of different things. But I have mostly stayed in the accommodation and tourism and hospitality sector of work life.
When I was a kid, I had to go to boarding school as so many other kids had to as well and I was standing down at Badger Corner looking out, waiting for my Dad to come back actually, because he was the last person to take the mail from Flinders Island down to Cape Barren Island, and I was waiting for him to come back, I was out on the rocks, and I started having a few tears because I didn’t want to go to boarding school, and the gentleman who was looking after me, it was Mr and Mrs Riddle who live at Badger Corner, and old Bill Riddle said to me, “the islands get a hold on you girl, and they won’t let you go”, and it’s been what has been in my heart forever.
I love the mysteries and the moodiness of Bass Strait. We would go, my Dad would take me in the boat down, and the rest of the family, down to Long Island which is just off Cape Barren Island where we also had a farm, but we lived out mostly on Memana, between Memana and Long Island. And the mysteries and moodiness of Bass Strait are enormous. Then there’s the wildness and beauty of the landscape which, most people who come to Flinders Island, are blown away by. And talking about blowing away, you know, the wind can blow cities full of clouds away.
You asked me about what I thought about tourism, and my kind of tourism, because actually I’m involved in tourism, and my kind of tourism is a very interactive sort of tourism. So when guests come to stay with me, I tell them all of the stories that there are that I know. I also explain where to go, and how to get there, and what to look out for. So when the stories of Wybalenna are being told, I not only tell the stories of misery and death, but I also talk of the stories of hope and survival. And that there are, that this was a different era and we can’t judge history from where we stand now. And I think that kind of interaction gives people who come, and they certainly tell me that, that kind of interaction gives the people who come to stay with me a different understanding of being on Flinders Island. They are not just going there and taking what they can and leaving, they are actually understanding that this is part of history, their history as part of Australia.
And the other thing that I wanted to tell you about, is that in my view, the tourism that comes, a little at a time, who are people who are looking forward to the scenery and the birdlife, and the warmth of the people, and the way the wind, as I said before, can blow cities full of
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clouds away, is extraordinarily beneficial to their ... it’s uplifting. It’s uplifting, that’s what the wind, and the scenery, and the skies and the clouds do. Being surrounded by sea, it’s a very mild climate, so we don’t have the extremes of temperature. So we’re 6 degrees warmer in winter, on Flinders Island, than we are in Melbourne for example, and a lot warmer than other places. So yes, it makes a difference. It’s not as cold overnight. It also doesn’t get as warm during the day either, in the winter, and in the summer, well it doesn’t as hot. It’s a beautiful maritime environment.
Debbie Clarke
I love the picture you’ve painted for us, and the flavour, and the sense that we get just listening to you about what Flinders is, and it sounds like such a special place. What really interests me as well is this idea you’re talking about, like yourself, you’ve been there for such a long time, and you have accommodation, you have the Flinders Island Gourmet Retreat, and you talked about sort of what a host can offer to visitors when they're staying in a hosted accommodation. So talk a little bit to us about your business, your property. We'd love to hear your origin story and what the what role your business plays in the Flinders Island community.
Wendy Jubb-Stoney
So Flinders Island Gourmet Retreat began as an idea after my dad died in 1999. And I thought I have to come back to Flinders Island. And so I purchased the property that I now run, called Flinders Island Gourmet Retreat and over the years, I've developed, you know, a garden, I've developed a landscape around it, and I eventually had sufficient funds in order to build Flinders Island Gourmet Retreat based on Howqua Dale Gourmet Retreat which was written up in Harper's Bazaar, over the years. It is actually operated, asking or inviting the best chefs in Australia to come and give classes. That hasn't happened, particularly because of COVID. So I haven't pursued that of recent times. But I do offer cooking classes to my guests who come to stay, as well as to local, local visitors and local people.
So Flinders Island Gourmet Retreat started, because I have a great love of cooking. I have a great love of ingredients, especially the kinds of ingredients that are available on Flinders Island. So although sometimes they are very hard to get because of government policy, but that's the case all over the place. That happens the same as connectivity, you know, the resources for connectivity and the resources for food and the best kinds of offerings in the country are more difficult to achieve, because of, you know, various policies that we all live with.
So, but we do have wonderful vegetables and fruits from the garden that I put into practice in my cooking classes, as well as for my guests. So I have, you know, the normal things that you can grow seasonally, and I stick to seasonal produce, as well.
So I can't wait for the seasons to turn, to change. So when it comes to June, I'm looking
at my garlic to plant for the for next year. And all through my gardens there are times when you know, it looks as though it's a bit untidy. But it's because I want to leave though those beds follow in order to give them a rest and to build them up for the next season. So and then, you know, I've got the broad beans in of course, and broad beans just as such a delight to have fresh off the plant as soon as, as soon as they're ready. But I don't mind having the older ones as well, so they are dried. I've got all kinds of seasonal produce that I get excited about when I go out to the garden to pull some leaks, or to you know, to grab some oranges or lemons or limes.
So living within my means living in the garden, making good compost, all of those things are special to me. And a really important part of being on Flinders Island, because one of the things that people don't realise is that if you have to plan for a month in advance, often, but at least at the very least, you have to plan plan one week in advance because you the things that come on the boat come only once a week. And sometimes that can be, you know, delayed for some reason or another. So you become able to plan in a different way to what you would live in, in a city where you have access to all things at all times, and at all seasons. I make sure that I'm you know, living very seasonally. And I look forward to it.
I look forward to raspberries. I don't have them all year. I only have them during the raspberry season, but I do make raspberry jam. So I can have some, you know, something of the raspberries later. I keep my apples wrapped and cool for as long as they will stay fresh. Otherwise I cook them too and stew them. I leave lemons on the tree until I need them usually, but limes I have to pick because they kind of, ripen all at once. And the same with the black currents and the red currents and you know you have to you just have to smell the air when you're going out there to pick them and you just think oh, this is so nice. I'm going to have red currant jelly for Christmas. Or, you know, even the lime trees you know, even the lime trees and I go out there get myself some limes or some kaffir lime leaves. The smell is divine. You know that smell when you smell tomato plants?
Debbie Clarke
Yeah, I don't know if you do. Yeah, I do. Yeah,
Wendy Jubb-Stoney
So that that can be for all kinds of different plants who have you know, put scent into the air. The other thing I Have is asparagus and I'm looking and I've dug up a whole lot of composite and spread that. Well, they won't be ready until, you know October/November but nevertheless, you know, I'm waiting for them. I'm excited.
Josie Major
That's a beautiful image of your garden and kaffir lime is my one of my all time favourite smells and flavours I can, I can almost taste it here and you hearing you talk about that, that's beautiful.
Wendy Jubb-Stoney
I have a one recipe that I make, which is flavoured specifically with
tumeric and kaffir, lime. And I do it with gummy shark. Oh, it is so delicious. And everybody says, “Wow, what's this?”, you know, but it's because I have access to lime juice and fresh kaffir limes. I mean, it also has ginger in it and tumeric which I am trying to grow and I will be successful one day, I think. I'll get myself a little bit of a hothouse happening. But yeah, it's really I try very hard to just use what I have, and have what I use.
Debbie Clarke
I love that. That's fantastic. I think you know, all of us are wanting to jump on a plane and come and stay with you Wendy and and enjoy your gorgeous garden and cooking. Tell us a little bit about what role your business plays in the Flinders Island community?
Wendy Jubb-Stoney
Well, from time to time I hold, I have had a few meetings for people to you know, to talk well to go to book club, to talk about women's issues. So it's a good venue for that. I do singalongs as well of an evening where people come. It doesn't cost people anything to come and we sing songs that are probably you know, 100 years old, some of them are more, but it's fun to sing together. And then once we've had our sing along, everyone has brought something to share for supper and, and I always put something on and I make coffee and tea for people I offered them, you know, other drinks if they'd like. And, and we share stories then, or something really interesting or funny or a joke. While we're all sort of, you know, around the kitchen bench having cups of tea and coffee for supper afterwards. So the sing-alongs have been going for quite a long time now. But we haven't had them as often as we'd like. The last one I had to cancel because the lady who plays the piano was not well, but nevertheless, everybody knows they can come to a sing-along. If they're on Flinders Island, they can come along to Badger Corner to Cooma House and have a sing-along.
I'm always hospitable. I always, you know, we always have cups of tea, or a glass of wine. While we're talking about the issues of the day, or just singing songs and telling jokes. I also enjoy doing cooking schools with people, because so few people have an understanding now of where their food comes from. So that's one of my passions to show people where their food comes from, I can show them what a raspberry plant looks like, or a lime tree or, you know, a lettuce growing although that's that's probably not as difficult to know is it? But nevertheless, I have a quite a big kitchen garden, and with lots and lots of different things in it at different seasons. So that means that I can not only talk about what I've got for people to share, and you know, if I've got surplus, I'll give some to the distillery for to make limoncello or make some marmalade that's, that's on my mind at the moment, because that's what I'm making marmalades is a winter produce.
Josie Major
You know, we can really hear the way that your your businesses embedded in the community and the way that you're sort of interacting with the community by hosting these kinds of things and acting in that role as hosts which is, which is what we do in the tourism hospitality sector. I think we're interested in what you think, a thriving Flinders Island community looks like and I think, you know, you're a gardener and you know what a what a thriving garden looks like I think and it sounds like you you feel that within your community as well. So I'd love to hear what you what you envision for Flinders future or what you see that thriving state for the island to be?
Wendy Jubb-Stoney
What I'd like to see happen is a pride in the stories and where we come from, so that so that we can share all of that. And I see that perhaps tourism can help in that way. I want to see, you know, tourism that comes a little at a time. People who, who want to come and experience the scenery and the bird life and the extraordinary history and talking about the extraordinary history. That's where our stories come from, you know, right back from the legendary Truganini, she was so important to the survival of the First Nations of people, you know, I think she should be a household name, because of her strategic skills and her language knowledge, her diplomacy skills, and also her sheer strength, physical strength, you know, she was one of George Augustus Robinson's most significant advisors. And she should be up there in the same way that Boadicea is for the English when she fought the Romans when they invaded. So those stories are going to help shape Australia's understanding of itself, instead of them and us, I think, you know, the future for Flinders Island is more of that. That way of feeling together, growing together. And, I would like to be part of and try very hard to give people a reason to be together.
Josie Major
I love that. It's a really, really beautiful and to hear you talking about growing together. And I think, as a gardener and someone that's bringing people together around food, I can see that you know that you're really contributing to that that vision of people coming together.
Wendy Jubb-Stoney
Thank you. The reason that I come from Flinders Island is because my father was part of the soldier settlement scheme that began in the early 1950s. And they cleared the land on the east eastern side of Flinders Island, which had remained bush. Since, you know, for 1000s of years. The place that we went to live at was called Memana and the name Memana actually, some people think it means “to fight”. But when you look into it more, more, you find that it's not really to fight, its to go somewhere away from other people, as in the white people, the Aboriginal people went to my Memana, so that they could work out what they were going to do. And sometimes they argued about it. But that's where they went to argue, and to work out what to do while they were on Flinders Island, or when they had been brought to Flinders Island. So that soldier settlement
scheme where I grew up at Memana, where my dad first cleared the land and built the house looks over to the Three Patriarchs. Now, I don't know what whether there was another name for that, that but you can see the Three Patriarchs and you can see Babel Island, I could see that from my bedroom window. And I have to tell you, that those visions, those scenic visions have stayed in my mind, all my life and have given me strength when there have been times that I needed strength, because looking at those mountains, has said to me, this place is worth surviving. Those are the kinds of things that I can tell you about, personally from the soldier settlement scheme. But I can also tell you the stories that my dad was part of the mess which was feeding the people who worked on the soldier settlement scheme, and I guess, you know, genetically, I like to feed people as well. So you know, he passed that on to me, from his for his side of the family, and I think I probably got it from my mother's side of the family too.
Josie Major
Yeah, no thanks for sharing that. That's, that's really, really beautiful history and I love that, that image that you're talking about, that place giving you strength and times when you need it. That's so lovely.
Debbie Clarke
Yeah, I was wanting to comment on that too. And just the power of connection to place too. People on Flinders, it sounds like especially people with a long heritage like you, Wendy, that power of connection really informs and shapes who you are and how you view the world. And you talk about storytelling a lot, and the power of story and also your connection to nature when you look out the window and you see mountains and those are all things. How do those things, and they've shaped who you are, how does that shape what you think tourism can be on Flinders?
Wendy Jubb-Stoney
Yeah, yes. I think that tourism, every visitor that I have ever had, with me on Flinders Island, is always impressed by the scenery. And I think it's because we are living on mountains in the sea. So you have a lot of … and you also have rolling planes, but not extensive rolling plains. But the backdrop is always a mountain somewhere in and around the Furneaux islands. And so we are islands, mountains in the sea. And I think that the colours and the clearness of the sky and and the beauty of the colours of the sea, the different colours of the sea blow people's minds. They think, wow, when they come to Flinders Island, they just believe that they've come to a very, very beautiful place and they drink in the scenery. They can't get enough of it. When I take them to the different places around Flinders Island. They can't believe that they can come to such a small place and see so many beautiful sights.
Debbie Clarke
What would you want visitors to know, before they come to Flinders Island, what's your message to visitors
Wendy Jubb-Stoney
I'd like visitors to understand where they are coming to. That they are coming to a place that is remote. That is beautiful because it is remote. And as a result, the kinds of services that you may wish to have on a holiday elsewhere are not going to be necessarily at your fingertips on Flinders Island, you have to be resilient. You have to want to know what it's like to go outside with a good coat and a hat on and, and, and a good pair of boots. Those are the things that you need to remember to bring before you come … and a camera.
Debbie Clarke
I love that. I love that image.
Josie Major
Is there anything else that we haven't asked you that that you'd really like to talk about or anything that you wanted to include that that we've missed so far?
Wendy Jubb-Stoney
I think that our mountains in the sea are important. You know, bring yourself a hat and a coat and a good pair of boots, whatever the season just to be prepared to be resilient. Those are the kinds of things that a lot of people don't understand. They also, I guess, I guess we have to be. It's very hard for people to come to Flinders Island, because they haven't been brought up to understand that the we get supplies once a week on the boat, sometimes the boat is delayed. Those are the sorts of things that you have to say, Oh, well, it's like the tide. You can't have the tide in all of the time because it goes out. And it takes another six hours to come back in again. Little things like that. People don't realise now and could be disappointed, I suppose. But I just think let's try to be broad enough in our understanding of coming to Flinders Island that when you come it's unique, it's special. And you're special to have come.