In this espisode, Josie and Debbie talk with Mel Telfer: dental assistant, ambulance service volunteer, school teacher, truck driver, and a maker and the driving force behind The Purple Swamphen, the makers' co-op on Flinders Island.

To outsiders Mel's life might look daunting but for her, the multiple roles she fills provide opportunities to feel purpose, structure and function in her life. Mel talks about her connection to the Island community, and the honour she feels to serve in her varied roles.

Mel's need to create drives her to make and inspires others: "I feel like being creative is so much a huge part of being human."

Mel talks about the different makers who have embraced circular economy: salvaging found objects, creating new products and increasing their usefulness.

"We've got a few different makers ... one particularly works with plastics and ropes she finds on the beach, and she'll turn them into either artworks like a wall hanging and a lighthouse made out of different bits of plastic from the beach, or she'll make cards or key rings from the beach rope. So she's really starting to explore what she can do with all this kind of waste products that keeps washing up. Yeah, I've got another maker who will use baling twine from the hay bales to crochet baskets."

Show notes and links
The Purple Swamphen | https://thepurpleswamphen.com.au/about/
The Purple Swamphen instagram page | https://www.instagram.com/thepurpleswamphen/
Kangaroo Island | https://southaustralia.com/destinations/kangaroo-island

This podcast is created for Designing Tourism by Debbie Clarke and Josie Major from GOOD Awaits. Audio Production is by Clarrie Macklin. Check out their podcast: https://www.good-travel.org/goodawaitspodcast
Music by Judy Jacques, The Mesmerist; Wybalenna Prayer from Making Wings © 2002 with kind permission of the artist.
Extract from the Islander Way read by Jana Monnone co-created by the local community with Brand Tasmania as part of the Flinders Island brand story.
Original photography by Sammi Gowthorp.
The Islander Way project is funded by the Tasmanian Government. We also acknowledge our partners, Flinders Council, Visit Northern Tasmania and The Tourism CoLab and the support of Flinders Island Business Inc.

Send a text

If you'd like to provide feedback on this podcast, we'd welcome your comments at crew@furneauxcollective.com