PENINSULA PEOPLE . . . Liz Dart and the Red Hill Show

Member for Flinders, Peter Reith,

L i z D a r t 's

in 1994.

warmth and

" Forget about party politics, it was

one of the most interesting jobs

vitality is just

you can imagine. It alerted me to

what you'd

the fact that a local politician's

office is a wonderful community

expect from

asset, which can tap into all the

resources and often get answers

someone

through back doors".

who runs

However, the sometimes fractious

nature of politics raised its ugly

V i c t o r i a 's b e s t

head in 1998 when, at the height of

loved country

the Waterfront Reform protests, the

windows of Reith's Hastings office

agricultural

were smashed and the

office flooded with a fire hose.

s h o w.

It was a shock for the small

community and was particularly

Her dog greets me at the door

disturbing for the staff.

of the fibro cottage that serves

as the Red Hill Agricultural

Through the turmoil of politics,

Society's office. Inside, cartons

it was often the Red Hill Show

of free-range eggs sit on the

that kept life in perspective.

board room table and pictures of

Enquiries like `whether the cup

past champion wood choppers

cake regulations would permit

stare down from the walls.

chocolate sprinkles instead of

The Society's honour board

hundreds of thousands', and the

seems to feature every

Melbourne man who formally

pioneering family name from the

complained that he had stood in

Peninsula's hill country.

manure at the show, always kept

The office is a Red Hill

a smile on her face. " It was very

community hub, shared by

grounding", she recalls.

numerous groups from the pony

In 2001 Liz was rushed to hospital

club to the photographic society.

and placed in an induced coma

It's community life at its most

for seven weeks. The illness is still

basic and rewarding. Liz Dart

a mystery, though it is thought

has been in the midst of it for

to have been of an auto-immune

more than 20 years.

nature. Unknown to her, her sons

community life is also strongly genetic, having

were recalled from sea and from London

grown-up under the influence of her mother,

When she worked as an electorate officer for

to say goodbye to their mother. She didn't

the redoubtable Dame Phyllis Frost.

former local MHR Peter Reith, Liz remembers

realise the seriousness of her state until a

some days immersed in gruelling ministerial

When Liz Frost and Geoff Dart married in

nurse one day whispered in her ear "You're

controversies, such as the Waterfront Reform

1970 they settled permanently at Point Leo.

not going to die".

protests, but then sitting around the Society's

Geoff ran the Westernport office of the marine

table at night debating items such as at what

That year's Red Hill Show featured a number

engineering firm, V.F. Harris, which he later

point a zucchini becomes a marrow.

of very large get-well cards around the

bought and operated as Ocean Engineering.

ground, which locals and visitors signed

After a life-threatening illness in 2001,

Liz became a backbone of the Balnarring

to bolster her spirits. It took 12 months

followed by 12 months of hospitalisation, it

Kindergarten and other local groups serving

of hospitals and rehabilitation to recover,

was the Red Hill Show, its committee and

families in the then Shire of Hastings.

including learning how to walk again.

team of 300 helpers that enabled her to

As her two boys reached school age, she

regain momentum.

" I'm only a quasi-religious person, but

opened a part time craft shop behind the

there certainly was a factor in my recovery

Elizabeth Frost - as she was then known

Merricks General Store, which grew into a full

that wasn't just medical. There was

- grew up in suburban Melbourne, but from

time operation when it became part of the

something else that got me through and it

1950 spent much of her spare time at the

new Balnarring Village complex. She sold it

was probably the prayers and the love of my

family's Point Leo holiday house. There

in 1987 and became the first Development

family and friends".

was no power and the track into the tiny

Officer for St Pauls School `Minimbah' in

settlement was often impassable in winter.

South Frankston and `Woodleigh' in Baxter.

Next year the community will celebrate

Meat and milk was delivered from the back

the 80th Red Hill Show. It began in 1922,

She was asked to become Craft Steward for

of a van, but if you wanted bread or a

but missed a few years during the Great

the Society in 1986, which she combined with

newspaper from the general store you had to

Depression & WW2. It started at Red Hill's

the role of Society President from 1997. After

order it well in advance.

Blue Moon Junction, but moved a year

recovering from illness, she took-over the

She became part of the first Womens' Squad

later to its present site. It operated out of

Secretary's job from 2003.

of the Point Leo Surf Lifesaving Club and

a hessian-walled shed - now known as

It was her love for the Peninsula and the

immediately entered into Westernport's tight-

the Pioneers Pavilion-which also doubled

Westernport community that provided the

knit community. However, her commitment to

as the local cinema & football club rooms.

motivation to seek a job with the Federal

18

Peninsula Visitor . . . Summer 2007-08