Visit the Red Tree Gallery & Laurie Collins Sculpture Garden! 420 MAIN JINDIVICK ROAD, JINDIVICK, VIC 3818
January 11, 2012

January 2012

Sunday Jan 29th
Warm day getting hotter, looked at entry forms, started on superman piece, went to Kathleens for Gary to start on flattening yard…he decided he couldn’t do it until a retaining wall and deck had been put in… came back here and he flattened our lumpy patch.then went to Inverloch, lunch in Korumburra, then swimming at beach, visited grant and Irene and then went to Koonewarra to pick up sculptures from Lyrebird Hill winery.( sold one!) Home , showers, still muggy


Saturday Jan 28th
Warm day getting hotter.. started on last kinder seat today painted last of tables and benches and finished the seat after quite a few hours work. Too hot to do much else so came up and read the war of the Roses book…. Lots of scenes like the George R.R. Martin series..( no dragons or zombies though) spaghetti for tea. Kathleen came over, took dogs for a walk and we played one of her new board games then Jeff and Jeanette dropped in. Nice talk… very pleasant. Watched two battlestar Gallactica’s of the second part of the last series!


Friday Jan 27th
Warm day but nice breeze, finished setting out and welding one side of big circular piece,a family called in and wandered through the place and we had a small talk on creativity. I had two naps as I was a bit off colour, I didn’t work much in the afternoon and went to Warragul to get blue paint for the kinder stuff and a bit of shopping. Saw Tammy and Ben and she told me Renee got into arts at Melbourne. Also saw Traf school captain Steph and congratulated her on that. Marian has been cleaning the kitchen inch by inch and also some of the windows. Tea was cold chicken salad and we watched 1 battlestar Gallactica, had a walk outside and then Life of Brian( our first bluray disc( couldn’t see any difference)


Thursday Jan 26th
Nice to be home again after our week away. Australia Day.. warm a nice breeze , quite lovely, I got to work on the first kinder seat, one with lots of kid drawings, got it up to painting at lunch, painted it and wood after lunch, then started on a big circle with a diamond shape in the middle.. junk.. got ½ laid out. Stopped at tea. Pasta and meatballs for tea.then 1 battlestar Gallactica out to do a bit of mowing and tidying up then back to watch Short circuit, one of the movies I bought while I was away… still ok even though most of the technology is outdated.( reading war of Roses)


Wednesday Jan 25th
Woke up early in Bega, off to Eden for breakfast.. lovely light..Eden not really open yet so pushed on and on..lots of empty space although its beautiful driving through the tress as it is not hot and lots of nice shadows across the road.Stopped at Cann River for eggs and Bacon and coffee, then on again, went off on a tourist rd through Marlo and Cape Conran. We stopped at Cape Conran for a swim.. very pleasant and pretty.. the water was a beautiful colour but it was cold .. initially.. I swam and M paddled. Then on to Orbost and hence to Joy’s. She wasn’t home but we did well to remember where she lived. We went and got some shopping in Bairnsdale then went to Caleb’s to have lunch and pick up Em.Caleb seems to have sort of settled in.. the dvds are all ordered,,but still no kitchen table or other chairs. Off to Sale getting hotter , had Frappes there and then to Morwell Bunnings for paint, axe handle and knobs for Em’s cupboards.To Drouin then to pick up Barney from Kahleens and Davids.. M shopped for basics while we got Barney.. very happy to see us.. Off home finally and after a quick nap I mowed the house and 1st paddock while M took em to the station. We watched 3 Battlestar gallactica and off to bed… night cool and pleasant.


Tuesday Jan 24th
Left Kiama , stopped at a small town….. for breakfast( $40! ) but heaped eggs etc then went to Nowra. A busyish town, found the arts centre( some great gueriila Knitting around the tree out front) went in to Gallery, lots of interesting books etc, bought the big red book and another. There was an exhibition of childrens art aimed at kids in hospital and some of it was just fantastic… very creative and beautifully done. Also some “new age” art and some nice landscapes.The Gallery girl suggested Huskisson as the next stop so we wandered down the road. Nsw doesn’t have great signposting so we missed the first turn off and only found the second by chance. Huskisson is named after the first person to be run over by a train!. It had the Lady Denman museum there.. a Sydney ferry which had been built there.. now settled in a dry dock with a building built around it. Lots of sea stuff, paintings, creatures, knots, ferry videos, we spent quite a while wandering through it all. We bought a book on electricity and a piece of glass shaped like a diamond crystal which I hope to use in a sculpture. We then went into the township which is on Jervis bay and joined a cruise looking at dolphins… we saw quite a few but mostly this was just fins.I got a bit sunburned from sitting on the deck and mainly I took photos and sketches of people poses. We moved on to Batemans Bay and it looked lovely but a bit windy for swimming. We had a nap and then moved on again.. passing through Mogo( we didn’t stop) which had all sorts of odd arts and craft . We were aiming for Bega so moved on. We did turn off for Tilba.. a very pretty artsy village( everything closed) as it was 5.00 and then also stopped at Cobargo which I recalled was another interesting place. It seemed to be suffering and many stores were up for sale( 295000 for a two storey place in main st) and some businesses had moved to Tilba.After a good walk around, seeing some interesting junk sculpture, we hopped back in the car and on to Bega.. taking photos as the light was golden and wonderful.After finding a Motel we went to the pub for tea( steak and Parma) and then back to the motel and watched a show on developing your i.Q.


Monday 23rd Jan
Terrigal,Up reasonably early..left 8.30 went to the beach there for a walk( brisk) then went back on the road through Gosford to Sydney. We were aiming at Double bay and the Tom tom did well. We arrived before Frances at Frances Keevil Gallery and had breakfast at the coffee place there. Frances joined us and we discussed welding and packing failures and a possible show later in the year. We swapped Big Cocky for Bird in a cage and brought home Skipping girl as well. We went to Woolongong as we hadn’t been there. I was sort of interested to see the industrial area but they didn’t seem to think anyone would be interested. We did find the gallery and after a bit of a chaos getting parking, a safeway docket and going across the road… it was closed..Well it was Monday!.
We did like the jumping fish sculpture in the middle of the roundabout though. We headed down the coast and had lunch at Austenmer then went along to Kiama. By now it was sunny and warm and after finding a motel, and having a nap, we went down to the surfbeach for a swim. It cleaned out every pore and left me feeling fresh and tingly! After a shower back at the motel we went to the lighthouse, the blowhole and then to the main town for a chinese tea. We had a walk along the walkway near the harbour and then drove to the little blowhole and sat reading until the sun set and the lighthouse came on… then back to motel for a bit of tv, and reading.


Sunday 22nd Jan
Mortdale..We were up early and tried to make friends with the two cats. Laurie got some nice pats in and especially patted Mahler ( he hadn't been sociable up to then) but both were very wary of us. They wanted out the door but are not allowed as they ran the risk they could get skittled.
After early morning coffee with Stephen and Kirsten we left for the other side of city ( thank you tom tom which worked well at predicting the road directions). We bought a tile with a red fish off entreprenurial Rick who sells mangos but is moving into art at a service station. We then drove towards Newcastle.
Laurie was very impressed with the size and extent of the cuttings on the road through rock .It was a really impressive engineering achievement .Also there was bush all around and this added to the drama.
We stopped at MCDonalds( the first one for miles!) They were INCREDIBLY BUSY. Cars and people everywhere with long queues but efficient servers kept everyone happy. After our McMuffin breakfast and hotcakes and a coffee frappe we were then off to Newcastle.
This looked quite interesting as a city and we passed some interesting industrial landscapes. We fumbled our way to centre of the city and found gallery by luck. A banner on the side was similar to the ones we have seen at the National Gallery in Melbourne. No sign posts and it looked like a building site as they were having discussions about removing the fig trees out the front due to Health and Safety reasons! Not sure why the gallery does not have street signs.
We looked at an exhibition of Australasian art on loan from the Gallery of New South Wales. There was no book of the collection but it was good to see pictures by well known artists. The signage was interesting with Fred Williams' brush strokes described as sensual and and Donald Friend described as rambunctiously bohemian.
As we had to pick up the sculpture around 3.00 we then went off to Cessnock. The art gallery there had a show there that was ok. Very dramatic abstract colour and strong charcoal drawings.
We passed through a line of small towns and suburbs laid along the road, probably made to access coal mines, then on to Wollombi.
As we went along the road to Wollombi we stopped at three wineries and an art gallery and inspected lots of sculptures from the Sculpture in the Vineyard exhibition that Laurie entered 3 months ago with his White Cocky piece. We bought 3 bottles of wine.
The town of Wollombi was a tiny heritage town with a few shops in the main street and some houses. Some were quite old.
It took some time to find Laurie's sculpture and we drove several turns about the town even after we were told the sculpture was in the town next to a large grater sculpture. It was very visible and stood well back from the road between two dwellings.
We picked up the sculpture then travelled along the back road back to Gosford then through to Terrigal where Laurie's grandparents had spent their honeymoon. The house I grew up in was named Terrigal so I had a vague interest in seeing the place.We had tea at a large hotel and stayed in a motel near there.


Sat 21st Jan
Off to Mortdale Sydney from Goulburn to visit Steve and Kristen.
We arrived in the late morning, having used the Tom Tom GPS to navigate us. This proved invaluable as it told us in advance when to change lanes etc., creating a smooth journey as long as we didn't upset it by going the wrong way.
We inspected Stephen and Kristen's little unit and tried to talk to their cats (Grey)Rosemary and Mahler (ginger). We sat and talked to Steve and Kristen over smoked salmon and salad lunch and through the afternoon. As Kristen prepared salads for dinner, it rained heavily. When the rain stopped we then went for a walk over an old railway bridge across part of a bay. Gentle but nice.
We were taken for a birthday tea at Kristen's Aunt Carol and Uncle Barry's house and met Kristen's dad. Stephen, Kristen and Carol opened lots of presents for their birthdays.We had a lovely night with a barbeque tea and played a trivia game between courses. We sang happy birthday to the three birthday people and ate passionfruit and mango mud cake. Then home to bed at Stephen's and Kristen's house at about 1130 pm.
While getting my pjs out of the car in the street a car hooned by at speed, which upset me as it was a quiet residential street. A short time later a second car, travelling faster than the first, appeared. I was annoyed and as it moved towards me with headlights shining, I waved at it and indicated it was travelling too fast. Did I feel silly when it drew beside me and I could read POLICE across the bonnet. Oops! They did not stop, thankfully.( Marian)


Friday 20th Jan
Up early Friday morning, 7.00 and drove into Merimbula from Eden where we stopped for breakfast at McDonalds and sat overlooking a view of the mangroves and water. A kayaker paddled over to have breakfast as we watched.
From here we drove to Canberra through fog shrouded hills into open plains around Cooma. Had a break there with walk down the main street. Saw a line of mosiacs and then went to Canberra. We used the tom tom to navigate to the gallery reasonably easily.
We went to the Gallery where we thought we would just get the catalogue to the Renaissance exhibition (because we thought it would be booked out ) but there was no crowd so we went and saw the exhibition as well as buying the catalogue. Marian knew we were in the right place when the toilets resounded with italian voices.
The exhibition was lovely, very interesting and took not too long wandering around. Laurie kept laughing out loud at the imagery (like Tobias holding a fish in his hand or St Catherine holding her eyes on a dish). Many of the baby Jesus' had odd shapes. But the images were beautifully executed with lots of drapery and gorgeous backgrounds which told great stories.
We had a quick wander through the australian art section, saw some pop art, and exhibition of West Australian Art which was quite good but mostly unknown on the east coast. We had seen enough for our eyes and drove out into the hot day. We went straight out of Canberra and had lunch at a roadhouse on the outskirts.
We then drove to Goulburn into showers and rain and again went to the Gallery where they were setting up a new exhibition of lamps and shades made out of old tools and implements. There was also some interesting line drawings and a sculpture by the Radiographer we met at Lockhart last year( hanging, tuned oxy bottles). Also a half sized beautiful blue Bugatti.
We checked into the motel we stayed at last year (after a search) and then went and did a bit of wandering and shopping, Then to the Goulburn Workers Club for a nice tea and a bit of playing the pokies( $10 each limit). A quick break back in the motel then off to the cinema to see Sherlock Holmes and the Game of Shadows. Very involving... quite ok...and then back home for another humid and stuffy night's sleep. A local hoon doing loud engine noises around the local streets did not help either.


Thursday 19th Jan
We left home at about 9 am leaving our two cats in the care of the Leishouts. We also left Barney at Kathleen and Biggles' house in the care of their dog Magnum and 1 sausage and the remains of a joint from a lamb roast. We left a cake on the doorstep for Biggles' dad Jack.
Our first stop was at the Latrobe Regional Gallery at Morwell where we saw an exhibition of Modern works by a mix of Chinese and Australian artists called Midway.
Some of the pieces were exquisitely executed Chinese style modern images and some challenged the attitudes of both Western and Eastern attitudes to each other. For example a large ceramic chessboard with Eastern chessmen and the Eastern way of playing chess on one side and the Western way on the other side. I also enjoyed the ceramic Chinese style Western shoes and the Chinese ballet paintings. Very worthwhile seeing.We bought the catalogue and it contained someother works that could not fit into the gallery.
The gallery also had an exhibition of selected school children who had attended the gallery to see a series of exhibitions and had completed 3 works in three different media. It was nice to see the fostering of children with an interest in the arts in a long term program and not just a one day event.
An exhibition by Gippsland TAFE showed a photographs by one of Laurie's ex students (Chloe) of another one of Laurie's ex students( Lachlan). He was pleased to see these young people getting on so well in their studies.
A further exhibition upstairs featured some interesting detailed modern work by Fiona Hill.
Having enjoyed that visit, we headed off to Sale to the Sale Art Gallery where we saw an exhibition of modern light and dark landscapes. Several works in that exhibition were sent by the Katherine Asquith gallery, a gallery in Melbourne that is representing one of Laurie's ex colleagues Shelly Watson Davies
There was also an exhibition of photographs of dark and sombre landscape and tree scenes that had elements of fear in them
The last exhibition was of some of Max Dupain's early works for the VicGov't and we bought the catalogue for this show.( great cover)
We then headed off to Bairnsdale to see Caleb who has just moved into a rental home there prior to starting at Bairnsdale Primary School as a grade 5 teacher. His dog Ralph greeted us very enthusiastically and Caleb was still in the midst of unwrapping things and still had lots of chaos although his computer and TV were well organised. Sigh. We left him a microwave oven and a washing machine courtesy of the Bendigo house.
Had lunch in a little cafe and drove on through hills covered with enormously tall gum trees to Cann River where we stopped for coffee. This little town seems to be slowly gaining cafes and developing as a pause point. They need to look at Yarragon which is now a major tourist destination for a break.
Continued driving through the hills and down the other side into Eden where we stopped for tea. Fresh fish and chips on the edge of the jetty is the only way to enjoy a meal in a beach town! We wandered onto the jetty to look at the boats and marvel at the strange machinery and the different lifestyle of fishing.
We walked through the main street looking at the interesting array of beach town shops.We counted no less than 4 art and craft shops. Not bad for a small beach town. One sculptor had made a 3D killer whale out of metal not unlike Laurie's sculptures although a little more refined than Laurie's. He used the same pieces of junk metal in the same sculpture wheras Laurie uses different metal scraps. We talked to Kathleen on the phone who is staying at Merimbula but could not arrange a time to see her. She seemed happy with her time in Merimbula.
A drive out to the lookout in the dying moments of the day to look at the steep cliffs and hills, the roiling sea and rocks in the sunset. We walked around the headland until it became too dark to see then home for bed.Twas a warm,still night and a bit uncomfortable for sleeping.


Wednesday Jan 18th
Started of hottish but soon a cool change came through. I worked on finishing off the second kinder table and then doing 4 seats to go around them.The cut off wheel made it easier to cut out pieces to the right size but it was fairly boring doing 4 seats the same. The boards are a mix of materials and that took a while to cut and thickness.I painted the boards for the seats and also for the table. One table is assembled! M took Em back to Melbourne and had tea with Grandma. I had chicken tenders and watched Terminator Salvation. The web site people got back to me and some of the problems seem sorted out.Tomorrow we start on our weeks holiday/pick up sculpture to NSW


Tuesday Jan 17th
Fine and hot, added to website, worked on kinder outdoor benches, one nearly finished, 2nd mostly done, needed more paint for benches and steel for Davids Gates. Did a bit of shopping. Nap, man delivered steel from Melsteel( 748), cut that up and put in racks, painted base of one table, cold chicken for tea, watched 1 Battlestar and the other guys


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Monday Jan 16th
Fine and hot, worked on website,ordered dvds went to Drouin, dropped in on Helen and Andrew, got indicators fixed, then to Warragul bought metal for girl and dresses, also cut off wheel( 350) then home, sorted metal in shed , cut up bits for Erica kinder, too hot, nap, read, started on New Zealand book, M and Em home at 5.30 tuckered after 12hour days cleaning at Calebs.sausages for tea, then watched the Manchurian candidate


Sunday Jan 15th
Fine mild day, worked on finishing wood work bench for kinder, finished the three birds, did a dog, cleaned up bench inside door, started on picnic benches, Vicki came to visit wih friends, bought a dog, ,reading Doonesbury ,watched Black death( dreadful, ) Payback gritty,Marian and Em rang, just finishing cleaning


Saturday Jan 14th
Cloudy but mild day loaded up for Rokeby sat there ,M and Em went to Metung to help Caleb clean, staying the night there, saw a variety of people Mick Bradley,Nicole Kuhnell,Phillip, David and Phillip, Kate Jackson,Axel and Jeremy,sold seat , lyrebird, peacock, 1 cat a few birds, 1 dog, flowers,( about 650) came home and mowed ,worked on finishing one bird piece, painting second and filling and welding third, pizza for tea, watched the Dark Knight and Die Hard 1


Friday Jan 13th
Cloudy and odd shower,dropped car in for fixing, bit of shopping, did Lyre bird, peacock, 2 cats, worked on one flying bird piece,painted bzarte signs, seat pieces,Pizza for tea, watched one battlestar,Picked up Em, watched x men first class( good)


Thursday Jan 12th
Finer day cloudy and went to Help Caleb move. Loaded up Green couch and fridge from Bendigo. Took about 3 hrs to get to Bairnsdale, then to Metung… he hadn’t packed anything but we took all the heavy stuff in about three loads. Finished about 6.30. Back home.. Long day but ok


Wednesday Jan 11th
Rainy, cold,and windy day.added to website Made a seat for Rokeby,painted Bzarte signs, bought mesh and flap discs and white paint and MDF. Nap, Jeff and jeanette and Rowan and Brigitte for tea, lasagne and banana cake.Brigitte has lots of similar books and art interest, loaned Coupling and His dark materials, watched 1 Battlestar after they left.


Tuesday Jan 10th
Fine day, cool and mild, worked on website. M has day off, went to Melb. Picked up Em and went to NGV.. not open on Tuesday.. went to Fed Square and saw the Australian collection, some new names and pieces.. lovely.. also 10 ways to think about the past..Hmm..Bought a new diary and the Mad Square catalogue, lunch at South bank.. Indian for me, then back to car and home to Box hill via Zart art, bought 10 more sketchbooks, and 2 new A3 folios and inserts. Dropped Em off, she gave us a couple of plants then home, planted plants, nap, lamb sandwiches for tea watched Battlestar Gallactica Razor, put photos in A3 holders for Canada book and also started on NZ book. Worked on emails and website a bit. Started War of the Roses book.. restless start of night.Heavy rain most of Night.


Monday Jan 9th
Sunny lovely day, Worked on website abit, then to shed and added mesh to all three bird frames and painted them, did 2 pelicans, then shopping for tea,War of Roses book delivered and downloaded the Lizard cage for bookgroup. washed kitchen floor, vacuumed, tidied up lots, washed two loads, Whelans for tea, lamb roast,,nice wine Bowlers run, talked and showed Fiji photos, walk in sculpture paddock, pleasant evening


Sunday Jan 8th
. Cool and mild, some showers, worked on sketch for Dan, added to website, did 5 birds, sanded mirrors,  2 mirror frames,did 2 new sculptural bird frames,white butterflies attracted to Jacaranda, orange butterflies on front budlia, nap, M on ultrasound call, Barb Galloway came with Dan and Kerrie, they were happy with the sketch, M did whippersnipping where old fence was, salmon patties for tea., tired ,watched 2 Battlestar, end of series 3.Worked on emails and website.


Saturday Jan 7th
beautiful day heading to showers, did 2 mirror frame orders, then assembled 2 small sculptures, Knocked clear paint off bench! Tidied shed,Mowed house area, worked on Bzarte signs, cut out second one, welded on strip cleaned up and painted 1st coat assembled tables for Erica, did 3 birds, finished scarecrow and army of Thieves, M on Ultrasound call, steak for tea, walked dog, M whippersnipped lots, watched 1 battlestar, then the Hogfather and also Rockquiz, the the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo


Friday Jan 6th
Fine day, worked on painting table tops, then sprayed rest of path with home made poison( vinegar and salt) finished Landscape, added leaves and painted it, Mortgage, and anything else yellow, then 2 birds and 2 dogs, did redgum mirror frame for order, then 2 small redgum frames, Caleb took Ralph and went home, cut up wood for other frames, tidied shed of sawdust and offcuts,reading book( scarecrow) lunch, nap, then ground off back of Bzart signs, tidied them, did base for new eco warrior, went shopping for chips etc,M brought fish and chips for tea,on call, watched 1 battlestar, walked dog.


Thursday Jan 5th
Fine day, up at 6.30 (Thankyou Ralph), load of washing, then down shed. Sanded two table tops and routed and painted 4 mirror frames( and painted the tabletops) Mowed 2/3 paddock, then 2 birds and 2 dogs and 1 goanna ( order) , lunch, nap, walk dogs( white butterflys everywhere, Ralph visited the creek, Barney watched), started reading Fifth Business,started modifying Landscape piece,also cleaned up a bit,Malcolm Jolly dropped in with his sister and family to look at sculpture garden. I went shopping for cat food,and then cleaned out gully trap( Poo!) Marian home. A bit tired after helping Em last night and then driving to Warragul this morning from Box Hill. Sausages for tea, then 1 battlestar Gallactica, walked dogs, mowed last 1/3 paddock then worked on website and emails and facebook.Set up new Kindle.( downloaded the slap)


Wednesday Jan 4th
Raining in morning. M went to Moe,I went to Melbourne, dropped off two painting sketches at Penny’s and bought a new Kindle, picked up Em to take to Epworth to get wisdom teeth out, walked up Bridge Rd, had a snitzel burger for lunch, bought two books at Opp shop, stayed with Em until 3.. beautiful day by now, went via Alphington to Box Hill. Sat/lay read last of Dance with dragons…lost another hero!.. M arrived around 6.30, went home via KFC watched the Mechanic then to bed.Started Scarecrow and the army of Thieves


Tuesday Jan 3rd
Hot morning Marian back to work.. me too, back still a bit sore.cleared up over the day..did 2 birds, 2 dogs, sanded 2 table tops and painted, 4 mirror frames and painted, removed one trailer load of off cuts from shed, 1 load of sawdust, tidied up .. a bit… fixed catch,started first of bird take off pieces, people who bought a fashion girl dropped by and bought tractor seat,mowed across the road, did shopping, took dogs to creek( Only Ralph hopped in) Helped Jeff fix slasher bits, pasta for tea, Marian has a sore back from sitting on a bad chair all day, watched 1 battlestar, emailed. Waiting for Cool change!


Mon. Jan 2nd
Hot day going to be 40, worked on links for website, added about 5, quick mow of a couple of bits of yard, painted Tarryns Birdcage…not too bad…loaded up stuff and off to Phillip Island Mingara Gallery, left Bolt and Human race there as well as 3 dogs and 2 birds, and 5 small pieces.Then to Cowes, Pizza lunch then a swim, back home,good trip, reading book, chops for tea, watched 1 Battlestar then reading, did a walk with dogs. Hot night.


Sun. Jan 1st.
Hot day, dogs got me up early… breakfast, Took Madge and Em Home. Stopped at Bunnings and bought white paint for tarryns birdcage, bought a Paul Simon and Warren Zevon album, also Battlestar Gallactica “the plan” and the imaginarium of Dr Parnassus. Home and read book all arvo, listened to two warren zevon and 2 Paul Simon as it was hot, chicken tenders for tea, then videos of he 80’s and The plan.Reading Dance with Dragons.

Laurie Collins

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03 5628 5224
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info@lauriecollins.com.au
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420 Main Jindivick Road, Jindivick VIC 3818
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