INSPIRED by popular Facebook page Humans of New York, The Examiner’s reporter EMILY BAKER and photographer SCOTT GELSTON set out to find the stories behind the faces of the Royal Launceston Show.
''We do everything together. We’ve been together 22 years and married for 17 of those. We’re lucky really, we have so much in common. We both love music, travelling and camping. We met in Hobart. My first husband got killed, so I was a widow. I really wanted to learn ballroom dancing but I had three kids so had to wait. Edwin and I were dance partners and it went from there. We’re both pensioners now. ‘‘My daughter had two children but we lost the two children. My daughter rang me up one day and said ’My baby’s going to die’. We lost them to CF - my grandson was 19 and my granddaughter was 22. It’s devastated us. Edwin and I were already going around singing but since then we go around and all the money is for CF. We didn’t know this disease was around so it was a real shock. Tasmania has the highest number of CF sufferers apart from Ireland. Even if we raise $50 we’ve raised something.’’ -
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Suzanne Aliphon, of Old Beach, travels Australia with her husband Edwin.The pair are known as the Grey Nomads. Together, they have raised more than $15,000 for Cystic FibrosisTasmania.
"I spent my childhood on Flinders Island and then moved to Launceston. I’ve been woodchopping for 50 years. I was always sports-minded. Axes were very hard to come by then but my father-in-law was making axes as a self-taught blacksmith. He said, ’I’ll make you an axe if you start woodchopping.’ I was very nervous the first time which isn’t good because you have to be accurate. After that, I felt I could compete. You just have to go out there and concentrate on cutting the block. My proudest achievement was winning the 15-inch Tasmania championship at the Deloraine Show. It’s a prestige event. I don’t remember what year that was. I was working in those days - I was driving mobile cranes. Later, my wife and I went into buses. When I started woodchopping it was a really big thing, way back in the ’60s, then it went through a dull period. At present, we’ve got some of the best young axemen. I wouldn’t have changed a thing.’’
- Stan Sainty, of Launceston, is aTasmanian woodchopping veteran.The 78-year-old still enjoys success in the sport.
"I like cows and all that. I like everything about them. I might want to be a farmer, I’m not sure. I’ve been showing cows for five months, six months. My dad knew Ian and he asked me one day did I want to show cows with him and I did. You have to prepare them and keep them and all that, wash them. That takes about six months, eight months. Before that we halter train them. We have to break them in. You put the halter on then try to walk them around and if they tread on the rope they know they have to stop. I came third today and I came second in the prodigy. Last week, at the Burnie Show I was first. The aim is to do our best and see if we can win.’’
-Tyler Medwin is a 14-year-old from Burnie.