Poatina Shelter

I would like to acknowledge the people who are the Traditional Custodians of the land on which I write today; on the border of the Big River and Stoney Creek nations.

I respect and value their thousands of years of creativity and their care for the land.

I appreciate their artists and storytellers.

I pay my respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging.

The name of our village, Poatina, means cave or shelter. It lies in the shelter of the foothills of The Great Western Tiers mountain range. For many thousands of years the people of the Tyerenoterpanner, Leetermaireener and Panninher clans lived on the inland plains and beside the river margins. They sat beside campfires under the Milky Way and told their timeless stories of their origins and relationship to the land, sea, sky and waterways. As far as we know, there are no living descendants of this nation today. However the current residents of Poatina still acknowledge them and celebrate with the indigenous people now living in lutruwita Tasmania with days such as Terra Populous instead of Australia Day, which the indigenous people call Invasion Day. The name Terra Populous acknowledges that there were people living here in Australia before the white explorers and First Fleet came. It was not Terra Nullius!

Then in 1958 the Hydro Electric Commission began construction of the village named Poatina to house around 3,000 workers building the Great Lake Power Development Megaprojects. The Poatina Power Station is situated in an artificial cavern 150 meters underground, using the steep drop from yingina Great Lake to generate electricity. It was commissioned in the 1960s. The hydro power station is nearby and the pipeline is clearly visible from Poatina but the town boundaries have shifted and shrunk since the construction heyday.

The temporary workers cottages were removed. Only the brick buildings were left in the town.

In 1995 Hydro Tasmania sold the village to Fusion Australia, an Australian Christian not-for-profit youth and community organisation. Initially the head office was located in Poatina but that later moved to mainland Australia.

The population of Poatina is now roughly 100 people. It is classed as an intentional community – an open community of people informed by Christian values. The community is made up of residents and unitholders from many walks of life, different parts of the world and differing worldviews. Residents agree when they join the village that they will participate in community activities and share volunteering tasks needed to keep the village operational. There are monthly working bees for gardening and upkeep and community meals for socialising. Monthly village meetings handle administration.

The 1950-60s style village has a general store, a post office, The Little Shoppe of Surprises gift shop, a garage and petrol pump, the Poatina Chalet Motel, a hot glass studio, a community hall with theatre stage and film projection booth, a recording studio, The Poatina Tree Art Gallery, The Tiers Tea Lounge, an excellent op shop, a library, a 9 hole golf course, and even an old fashioned phone box.

Today Poatina gives shelter to a vibrant artists' community – an inclusive and caring society where all individuals find their place and contribute with creativity and dignity. About one third of the population of Poatina practices some form of creative expression. There are world famous glass artists who have created major installations, many painters ranging from complete beginners to accomplished award winning artists, ceramicists, weavers, a silversmith, a blacksmith, musicians, composers, dancers, photographers and authors. The authors write everything from academic Doctoral theses, through to histories, memoirs, fiction of many different genres, poetry (a couple of the authors are Haiku specialists) plays, musicals and amusing skits. One beautiful result of having these diverse artists living in the village is the collaboration on projects that happens.

FATA: The Faith And The Arts Summer School runs for a week in January and artists of faith from all round Australia (and sometimes from around the world) gather to participate in workshops in many different art forms, and to socialise in shared meals and come together to worship in Gatherings sessions.

During the year many groups of artists and craftspeople retreat to the shelter of Poatina for weekend or week long workshops. Spinners and Weavers, Quilters, and Embroiderers are amongst the groups that come. Visitors to Poatina seem to see and feel that there is something different about the atmosphere of the place. One visiting artist described it as "It is as if there is a dome over the village with an opening to the heavens which makes ideal conditions for creativity . That feeling is not still there when you leave the village, even only a few yards down the road."

The scenery surrounding Poatina is extremely beautiful and there are many bush walking tracks, lookout points and contemplation seats. Many of the village lamp posts have Haiku poems by a local poet written on them. One of these reads

In the lee

of the mountains we

are sheltered

Being sheltered by the mountains also creates a discrete climate situation for Poatina. The weather forecast for the state often does not apply to Poatina. Our weather often varies even from our nearest town. The climate is definitely not ‘perfect all the year’ as in Camelot. We can experience strong winds being funnelled down between the hills. We call it The Poatina Breeze. In the past it has lifted the roof off the Chalet and knocked down the floodlit fountain, a monument to the Hydro days, at the entrance to the village. We are at present working on the restoration of the monument and some of the village working bees have been dedicated to that cause.

The skies above Poatina continue to enchant; just as they did to the indigenous people sitting by their fires, under the Milky Way. We see gorgeous complete arch rainbows and rainbows that can be seen to touch down and spread their spectrum of colours along the ground. The Aurora Australis beams down curtains of greens and soft reds.

The clouds provide never ending sources of delight, inspiration and amusement. And when the fog gets caught in the valleys it appears to be a lake. It seems that you could get into a boat and sail away on it.

I came to Poatina six years ago as an Artist in Residence. I came for one month, extended the stay for a further month, then a few months later I returned to Poatina to live. I had homeschooled two of our four children and brought my teaching materials and my Gifted Resources information service library with me. In Poatina there were several families homeschooling their children, and families that needed the information service.

One of the subjects for my University of Tasmania studies was The Photo Essay. I chose to photograph Poatina. One of the mountains is shaped like a pyramid and looks different in every season, at different times of day and in different lighting conditions. I call it The Many Mooded Mountain. The fog in the valleys I call The Fog Lake and the clouds are The Cloudbank. I combined these photos with classical paintings, now in the Public Domain of subjects relating to the Arthurian story of Lancelot and Elaine of Astolat

I wrote a poem for the photo essay titled The Realm Beyond the Cloudbank which had reference to the song Both sides now (Clouds) by Joni Mitchell and the Tennyson poems The Lady of Shalott and Lancelot and Elaine.

It begins O, tell me of the Many Mooded Mountain

Tell me of the Fog Lake and the Cloudbank all around

What is on the other side of the Cloudbank?

What wisdom and delight is to be found?

The poem was set to music by a musician and composer living in Poatina. We then continued to collaborate and the village held two Arthurian afternoons based on our works. Other authors, singers and actors joined us to create and perform with us. Even the village dogs joined in, modelling dog coats in The Canine Capers Catwalk!

In Poatina I have found a place where I fit in. If I were a jigsaw puzzle piece I would be one with many differently shaped bumps and indents. Here in Poatina I found that every one of those strange bumps and indents fitted. I have found my place of shelter.