“Hope Too Is Contagious”
The Australian Women's Weekly|Christmas 2020
Two women battled a firestorm to save the historic church and convent at Cobargo. Deb Taylor and Cal More invite Samantha Trenoweth into their community of resilience, compassion and hope.
“Hope Too Is Contagious”

There had been smoke in the air for weeks but that Monday it was thicker, more pungent. Night fell and the sun went down “but the skies stayed red,” Cal More remembers. “We could hear something on the roof that sounded like rain. So we went outside to see, and it was black leaves just falling from nowhere. It was eerie.”

One of the reasons Cal and her partner, Deb Taylor, had bought the old convent at Cobargo was because they thought they’d be safe from bushfires. On the far side of Wadbilliga River, just beyond the western edge of town, it’s nestled between the Catholic church and the old schoolhouse, surrounded by gently rolling pasture, well clear of the dense bushland in the hills. Cal and Deb had both been through fires before – Cal as a child in the Blue Mountains and Deb in the rugged country west of Sydney near Warragamba Dam. Neither of them wanted to face a wall of flames again.

Of course there were other reasons they chose Cobargo. Cal, who is 59, had been working as a Uniting Church chaplain. “I was an LGBTQI support chaplain during the marriage equality debate,” she explains, “which was a bit of a stressful job as it turns out.” So after the plebiscite, she handed in her resignation. Then, one night she saw a news story about rainbow displays in shop windows all along the main street of Cobargo. “It just gave us a sense that we’d like the community here,” she says.

Deb, who turned 60 this year, works in finance by day, and is an amateur astronomer and astrophotographer by night. She liked Cobargo for its clear, dark skies. Then the old convent came on the market and they both fell in love with its lofty ceilings, its stained glass windows and its rambling old verandas looking out to grassy paddocks and forested hills.

この記事は The Australian Women's Weekly の Christmas 2020 版に掲載されています。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。

この記事は The Australian Women's Weekly の Christmas 2020 版に掲載されています。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。

THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN'S WEEKLYのその他の記事すべて表示
Hitting a nerve
The Australian Women's Weekly

Hitting a nerve

Regulating the vagus nerve with its links to depression, anxiety, arthritis and diabetes - could aid physical and mental wellbeing.

time-read
5 分  |
July 2024
Take me to the river
The Australian Women's Weekly

Take me to the river

With a slew of new schedules and excursions to explore, the latest river cruises promise to give you experiences and sights you won’t see on the ocean.

time-read
4 分  |
July 2024
The last act
The Australian Women's Weekly

The last act

When family patriarch Tom Edwards passes away, his children must come together to build his coffin in four days, otherwise they will lose their inheritance. Can they put their sibling rivalry aside?

time-read
8 分  |
July 2024
MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN
The Australian Women's Weekly

MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN

When Alexei Navalny died in a brutal Arctic prison, Vladimir Putin thought he had triumphed over his most formidable opponent. Until three courageous women - Alexei's mother, wife and daughter - took up his fight for freedom.

time-read
8 分  |
July 2024
The wines and lines mums
The Australian Women's Weekly

The wines and lines mums

Once only associated with glamorous A-listers, cocaine is now prevalent with the soccer-mum set - as likely to be imbibed at a school fundraiser as a nightclub. The Weekly looks inside this illegal, addictive, rising trend.

time-read
10 分  |
July 2024
Jenny Liddle-Bob.Lucy McDonald.Sasha Green - Why don't you know their names?
The Australian Women's Weekly

Jenny Liddle-Bob.Lucy McDonald.Sasha Green - Why don't you know their names?

Indigenous women are being murdered at frightening rates, their deaths often left uninvestigated and widely unreported. Here The Weekly meets families who are battling grief and desperate for solutions.

time-read
10+ 分  |
July 2024
Growing happiness
The Australian Women's Weekly

Growing happiness

Through drought flood and heartbreak, Jenny Jennr's sunflowers bloom with hope, sunshine and joy

time-read
8 分  |
July 2024
"Thank God we make each other laugh"
The Australian Women's Weekly

"Thank God we make each other laugh"

A shared sense of humour has seen Aussie comedy couple Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall conquer the world. But what does life look like when the cameras go down:

time-read
7 分  |
July 2024
Winter baking with apples and pears
The Australian Women's Weekly

Winter baking with apples and pears

Celebrate the season of Australian apples and pears with these sweet bakes that will keep the midwinter blues away.

time-read
10+ 分  |
July 2024
Budget dinner winners
The Australian Women's Weekly

Budget dinner winners

Looking for some thrifty inspiration for weeknight dinners? Try our tasty line-up of low-cost recipes that are bound to please everyone at the table.

time-read
5 分  |
July 2024