What a weekend
Book launch with Federal Minister Sussan Ley; workshop with Wendy Moore; friends, footie, an empty swimming pool and the best coffee I’ve ever tasted. Where else could we be but Broken Hill?
The Federal Minister for Health and Sport, Sussan Ley, somehow found time in her busy schedule to fly up to Broken Hill for the launch of Australian Farming Families on Friday night.
Having been a farmer for many years, Sussan has personal experience of the challenges and joys of life on the land, and she impressed everyone with her speech. No matter what side of politics you’re on, I reckon Sussan Ley is the real deal. She spoke with passion, conviction and absolute sincerity and I couldn’t have asked for anyone better to launch my new book.
We sold out at the launch so I raced to Big W the next day and found they’d sold out too. The consolation was coffee in the The Silly Goat on Argent Street. Emily and Gideon make the best coffee I have ever tasted – seriously – and they’re yet another reason to visit this architectural jewel of a city in the far west of New South Wales.
Footie in front of the fire with Emily on Saturday night then a polymer clay workshop with Wendy Moore on Sunday topped off an incredible weekend.
“Make new mistakes, make glorious amazing mistakes. Make mistakes no-one has ever made before.” Neil Gaiman
That was the quote on a card in front of the seat I chose, and it was liberating. Wendy Moore is an inspirational teacher and a hugely talented artist. She believes we should all play more and stop worrying if something is right or wrong. Her squeals of delight at seeing what we made were genuine, and that infectious enthusiasm spurred us on.
From four flat coloured panels – in colours that didn’t exactly inspire us at the start of the day, which of course was intentional – we produced the most stunningly original pieces. 
Look at these, produced in less than six hours, when most of us had little or no experience of handling polymer clay.
The roses were blooming and there was beauty everywhere I looked in Broken Hill. Yes, the town has its challenges, especially when mining is the main enterprise, but there are signs of life in the solar farm being installed locally, which promises to be the largest in the southern hemisphere.
‘Beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ and even though I had lived there for several years I still saw things on this visit that I hadn’t seen before, like this mural on the side of the library. How could I have missed it?
So thank you to Sussan Ley, Tamara, Marion Browne, 
Cheryl at the library, Darren at the Art Gallery, Emily, Clyde, Ian and Merry Jackson, Janet at the airport, Wendy Moore, Jenny Treloar, and all the friends who turned up for the book launch.
Hope you enjoy these pics…
13 comments on “What a weekend”
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I'm a writer based in Australia with a passion for gardening, remote places and people with a story to tell.
What an exciting time you had Deb, and am so pleased your weekend turned out so well. I love the bracelets too! Fantastic to have a sell out!
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Thanks Barbara it was a lot of fun!
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Gorgeous Deb…so many things to squeal with delight about in this post. It was dive in to have you both back in town. Looking forward to reading the latest Hunt classic!
Mwah.
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My bangles are jangling with joy!
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Third pic down from the top is an excellent example of the synchronised lean-back, left-leg forward Australian book launching stance!
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Ah yes Django, it took a long time to perfect that particular stance, only to be used on very special occasions 😃
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I’m working in Surry Hills and cannot find a decent coffee! The Silly Goat has spoiled me
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Mediocre coffee at our house any time you like! Hope the new job is going well x
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Hooray Deb, gorgeous post…so full of good stuff and it makes me feel proud of Broken Hill too. Lovely to see so many happy, familiar faces in your photos, congratulations! I cannot tell you how much I love Emily and Gideon, seriously, how good are they?
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Thanks Jane, it was such a fun night and I think I’ve kept a seat warm in the silly goat ever since!
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So pleased it was such a huge success Deb.
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Thanks Adele, sorry you weren’t with us but hope to see you before too long!
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