By Romy Stephens
International journalist and author Jane Cornwell was 17,000 kilometres from home when Covid-19 struck.
She was visiting from London, seeing her mother in Montrose, when news of what would soon become a global pandemic began to circulate.
“There were no cases of Covid-19 but slowly everything was getting worse. I thought I would stay at mum’s and it would blow over,” Ms Cornwell said.
Instead, Covid-19 has seen Ms Cornwell stranded in Melbourne for the past six months – an experience that has inspired her latest work.
The author has penned a piece about her months spent in lockdown, as part of Yarra Ranges Council’s Still Life project.
“I let my imagination go and it became a nostalgia piece really,” Ms Cornwell said.
Home On The Ranges is about Ms Cornwell’s life in lockdown as she reflects on her childhood growing up in the Yarra Ranges.
“Our house in Mooroolbark had an uninterrupted view of Mount Dandenong, which was either royal blue or dark grey depending on what the weather was doing,” Ms Cornwell wrote.
“It had a cluster of TV transmitter towers on its top and a bald stripe down its middle that looked like someone had taken a razor to it.”
The piece also explores memories of her parents and other recognisable moments.
“[Mum] played piano at St Francis on Sundays and tennis on Saturdays on the red clay courts behind the oval, from where the pock-pock of balls cut through birdsong, lawnmower hum and the parping of car horns, if there was a Saturday footy match on.”
While Home On The Ranges might explore Ms Cornwell’s younger years, her time since leaving Mooroolbark for the United Kingdom is equally fascinating.
She was working at Collingwood’s Last Laugh Comedy Restaurant when the opportunity to head to London arose.
Taking the opportunity, with the thought that one day she would return to Melbourne, has proved a life-changing decision for Ms Cornwell.
She has since written for numerous publications including Rolling Stone, The Independent, The Guardian, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Age and The Australian.
Ms Cornwell has also interviewed musicians from Nick Cave to Dolly Parton and Hollywood favourites such as Meryl Streep and Martin Scorsese.
Despite being away from London, Ms Cornwell is still writing bits and pieces and said she hoped to re-live many more childhood memories by spending this summer in Australia.
She encouraged Yarra Ranges residents to reminisce about the past by reading Home On The Ranges.
“We all love nostalgia and I’m remembering a lot of what the pre-Yarra Ranges was like,” Ms Cornwell said.
“It was things like going to the milk bar and we’d buy 20 cents of mixed lollies and the bag was massive, you couldn’t get your hands around it.
“It’s a real appreciation of one’s roots and I certainly think an appreciation of nature.
“What it might do is act as the dropping of a stone into a pond and having a ripple effect on people’s memories.”
To view Home On The Ranges and the rest of the Still Life Yarra Ranges submissions, visit the online gallery at yrc.vic.gov.au/still-life.
