• The Two Catherines Meet
• Expressions of Interest: creative script writer
• Photography or Fakery?
• Scotland Island Lockdown Activity Quiz
  
• Catherine Park Playground Equipment
• COVID Speed Alert
• Bulky Goods Collection Service
• Census 2021
• Love Letters
• Apartment for Rent
• Accommodation Wanted
• Items for Sale
• Septic Pump-out
• Wanted: Filing Cabinets

A drama for the offshore community

Catherine Benns (1838 - 1920): an indigenous midwife and 'Queen of Scotland Island'	Catherine Bouffier (1857 - 1940), after whom Scotland Island's Catherine Park is named

These words, taken from the poem Human Family by civil rights activist Maya Angelou, posit a claim that might not always seem true here on Pittwater. Offshore living makes us to rub up against others more than we otherwise might. Because we don’t choose our neighbours, community living requires a constant navigation between differences and commonalities. And now we have an additional challenge that could, in the months to come, tell us more about what unites and divides us.

Robyn Iredale, a long-time offshore resident, has already given us the Two Catherines Café. COVID permitting, the café meets twice monthly at Scotland Island Community Hall. The café's name refers to Catherine Benns and Catherine Bouffier, two women associated with the island's history. As far as we know they never met. But what if they had? What would they have had in common? And what would have driven them apart?

Bungaree (c1775 - 1830) Called 'Chief of the Broken Bay Tribe' by the British, he is reputed to have been Catherine Benn's grandfather.

These are questions Robyn poses. On behalf of SIRA, Robyn is applying to Northern Beaches Council for a grant, the purpose of which is to fund a play, to be performed on Scotland Island. This will imagine a meeting between the two Catherines. In the process Robyn hopes to organise workshops dealing not only with Pittwater history but also the art of theatre. These will enable us to interrogate Angelou’s claim, exploring the extent to which difference can be accommodated in community.

Angelou was also concerned with race. Catherine Benns was Aboriginal. Catherine Bouffier was white. The paradigm of human contrast is that between the European settlers of this land and its indigenous peoples. But were those differences more than skin deep?

If ever the Catherines’ paths crossed then it would have been just as Pittwater was on the cusp of tremendous change. A meeting was most likely in the immediate aftermath of World War I. Benns would have been coming to the end of her long life. A small dark woman dressed in black, prone to rowing to and from the island regardless of the weather, she would have seemed emblematic of a lost era for Pittwater.

	Florence Fitzpatrick, née Bouffier (1892 - 1967) Catherine Bouffier's daughter, she married Scotland Island's developer and gave her name to Florence Terrace.

Imagine this diminutive woman meeting Catherine Bouffier. On the surface they would have had little reason to be friends. Benns was the daughter of an indigenous woman and a convict, while Bouffier’s parents were free settlers. A businesswoman of considerable renown, Bouffier would have been more comfortable at an international wine festival than in the back of Benns’ rowing boat. What’s more, Bouffier’s daughter, Florence, was about to marry Herbert Fitzpatrick, the man responsible for developing the island and much of the western foreshore. Would Benns have seen this as the final stage in her people’s displacement from their ancestral lands?

But dig beneath their racial and class differences and perhaps these women could have got along. Although Bouffier was white, neither Catherine would have been a stranger to prejudice. For a start, both had German parentage. And both married men of teutonic ancestry. Even if the women did not consider themselves German, they lived through the first world war, and would have been aware of the anti-German sentiment around them. 

Besides this, they were women in a man’s world. Both had lost their husbands at relatively young ages. Widowhood had been especially difficult for Bouffier. Her husband had run a successful wine store. But he died when Bouffier was 40, leaving her with four young children to support. Bouffier now had to operate the family business in an age when women couldn’t even vote. But Bouffier managed, and her business grew from strength to strength.

In the words of Robyn Iredale, these were remarkable women. They were unalike. But were they more alike than unalike? A meeting between such diverse characters would have been interesting to witness. But our offshore community can also spark and synergise. Perhaps we can once again exercise our collective imaginations, coming together to meld our differences and find common ground.

Preparing your material for collection:

• Paint tins must be empty, with lids removed;
• Empty beanbags: put the polystyrene beads in a strong plastic bag, expel the air and seal;
• small items (anything smaller than a toaster) should be placed in unwanted bins/crates/boxes.

UNACCEPTABLE ITEMS

• Liquid or business waste;
• E-waste, specifically TVs and computers;
• car parts, tyres, oil, outboard motors;
• sheet glass, mirrors, glass tables;
• building material, including insulation, bricks, rubble, asbestos;
• hazardous waste, including smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, gas canisters, chemicals, paint and car batteries;
• vegetation, recyclable material, household garbage.

Apartment for Rent

Accommodation Wanted

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Items for Sale

Large modular 4 seater brown leather lounge for sale, good condition $350	Corner IKEA desk with book shelves, very good condition $40 (doesn't include drawers)	Two-seater lounge, good condition, really comfortable $75
Outdoor side table, needs some TLC, but a really pretty table $15	IKEA wooden wardrobe with 5 interior shelves, excellent condition $30	Near new sun loungers with black cushions and weatherproof covers, excellent condition $140 each ($220 each new)

  

If you are interested in any of the above items, please call Claire on 0479 072 200.

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Septic Pump-out

My septic system needs pumping out. If anyone has a similar need and would like to share the costs, please contact me.

Thanks, Sue

0401 301426

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