Car rally holds special meaning
This year’s Shitbox Rally will carry extra significance for Drouin couple Dianne and David McKinnon.
Having supported the charitable cause that gives to the Cancer Council for the past four years, the McKinnon’s have ramped up their fundraising efforts this year after their granddaughter was diagnosed with a brain tumour.
“She’s just started treatment,” Dianne said.
“We’ve gone gung-ho this year and so far, have raised $23,000.
“This is my third rally and David’s fourth.
“We’ve cracked $50,000 over the journey this year, and we’re pleased with that.”
The Shitbox Rally, which begins tomorrow, challenges teams to drive cars worth less than $1000 across some of Australia’s most formidable roads, with works on the car before the event strictly limited to safety features, tyres and decorations.
The Rally was formed 10 years ago by James Freeman, who lost both his parents to cancer just 12 months apart.
This year’s event has been extended to celebrate its 10th anniversary, with rally participants starting in Perth and driving across the middle of Australia to Sydney over 10 days.
Teams pay for their own fuel, accommodation and food for the trip outside of their fundraising efforts, while support crews also donate their time, ensuring all funds raised are passed on to the Cancer Council.
The 500 rally participants and crew also provide an economic boon to the many small towns that they visit along the way, while having some fun with dress up themes along the way.
A Smurfs dress up day will see the 500 participants descend on a small outback town that has no shower facilities, while a field of lights dinner at Uluru is also among the highlights.
The McKinnons will drive their pink Tarago for a second time, having driven from Brisbane to Darwin in last year’s event.
“We bought it for $600 a couple of years ago,” Dianne said.
“The odometer doesn’t work, but we reckon we’ve done over 300,000km in the car.”
The McKinnons have touched base with several teams from Gippsland who will also make their way over to Perth.
“We’re in a buddy group with teams from Moe and Yinnar, and there’s a team of blokes from Trafalgar but we haven’t been able to make contact with them yet,” Dianne said.
“We’ll be having our own little rally heading over to Perth three or four days before, if we can make it.”
Having visited places they otherwise wouldn’t have visited while making life-long friends, the McKinnons plan to continue to participate in the rally in the years ahead regardless of whether the Tarago survives the trip or not.
“Cars are auctioned off for the cause at the end of the rally, but you also get the option to buy it back,” Dianne said.
“If it makes it, we’ll probably buy the car back and drive it home from Sydney.”
To sponsor Dianne and David, visit the website www.shitboxrally. com.au and search for Team Hollywood, or email David at dmckinnon@frontierhospitality.co m.au.
After two years of knitting and crafting, community art project “Placenta” was unveiled in Warragul on Saturday.
The soft sculpture, simply titled “Placenta”, is a monument to the hidden work of women amongst family and community. It measures three metres in diameter and stands at twoand-a-half metres tall.
Seeking to be “The Biggest Placenta in the World”, the sculpture is now being exhibited at Factory One in Albert St, Warragul until Friday, May 31 as part of Creative Gippsland’s “Come and Play” arts festival. It will later tour to Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney.
More than 800 recycled t-shirts have been reused in this giant project “conceived” by local community artist Rebecca Vandyk. Rebecca has been assisted by a team of women from Gippsland and Victoria who have spent the last two years knitting and crafting this huge artwork.
The placenta is essential to a healthy pregnancy and yet it is still a largely unknown part of birth. Similarly, much of women’s work in their communities is unseen and not accounted for as part of the gross domestic product (GDP).
Although recent research has shown that placental cells can be therapeutic in the health management of very premature babies, for the most part the placenta is discarded following birth.
Midwives are more familiar with the placenta. As a result, part of the exhibition honours the work of the midwives at West Gippsland Hospital.
Gippsland nurse Bronwyn Pulis, one of the knitters on the project, says “I think people may want to look at a giant placenta because it is so vital to mammals (not just humans) for survival and continuity of the species; but once ‘used’ it is quickly discarded and forgotten.”
“I never saw my children’s placentas, not even offered the chance to see them,” she added. “So, I’d love to explore this placenta in ‘real life’.”
The exhibit will also include interesting health-related information about the placenta in pregnancy and will be a safe space for discussions about birth and motherhood.
Viewers can visit on Tuesdays to Fridays between 9am and 5.30pm, Saturdays from 9am to 3pm and Sundays from 10am to 3pm. It is closed Mondays.
For further information, email artsandhealthgipps@gm ail.com or visit the “Arts & Health Gippsland” Instagram or Facebook pages.
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