Council to honour John Miller
by Greg Martin
The 12 current Hawkesbury City councillors have voted unanimously in favour of researching a suitable memorial to honour the deeds of the late John Miller OAM .
John , a great friend to this magazine over many years , passed away on March 12 after devoting the
The indefatigable John Miller and his ‘ rock ’, wife Beryl . great majority of his 91 years in this place serving our community .
John was recognised for his public service during the council meeting at which Mayor Patrick Conolly , his deputy , Mary Lyons-Bucket , and four other councillors had much delight in lauding his many deeds .
Mary Lyons-Bucket suggested that a suitable venue to place a memorial to John would be perhaps his favourite place in the Hawkesbury , Streeton Lookout on Terrace Road , Freemans Reach .
Readily agreeing with Cr Lyon-Bucket ’ s suggestion , Cr Nathan Zamprogno then posed the question as to it was plausible that John also be honoured by having his name placed on the memorial wall at the entrance to council chambers .
“ The place where I most saw John in his element was standing at Streeton Lookout and looking out across the
river ,” Mary Lyons-Bucket explained to her fellow councillors .
“ Dreaming of how he could have a platform out over there so people could come and enjoy the very views Arthur Streeton painted in his series , ‘ The purple noon ’ s transparent might ’.”
Cr Danielle Wheeler agreed that Streeton Lookout would be a befitting location and reminded her fellow councillors of John ’ s loving devotion to his wife Beryl ,
his ‘ rock ’ for 67 years . Cr Emma-Jane Garrow asked her fellow councillors if they would consider honouring Beryl as well , because she provided John with wholehearted support in all his endeavours .
“ All of us never saw him without Beryl by his side ,” she said .
“ If we were to go to the option of Streeton Lookout , if we could include Beryl in that memorial as well and maybe a plaqued chair of some sort , of the two of them sitting side-by-side overlooking the view .”
A memorial to John would be a fitting move by council and delight the many thousands of folk who benefited from his passion in improving the lot of his fellow citizens .
John Miller ’ s energy astounded all who had the pleasure in crossing his path – his community service knew no bounds .
World ’ s best gin in Grose Vale
by Maryann Jenkins
Hawkesbury ’ s Karu Distillery has won the pinnacle of awards , scoring a Gold Outstanding trophy for the world ’ s best contemporary gin at the 2021 International Wines and Spirits Awards in London .
Hawkesbury husband and wife team Nick and Ally Ayres couldn ’ t be prouder . Up against over 1000 gins from 86 countries their Lightening Gin 57.5 % ABV received the highest accolade .
“ This award is really unattainable , it ’ s very , very , rare to get … nobody in Australia has it ,” an excited Ally told the Independent .
“ I was sick , I didn ’ t believe it at first … days later it hit me . Nick said ‘ you ’ re kidding me aren ’ t you ’ - it was hard to process because we ’ d gone through such a terrible whirlwind of events . “ We had to evacuate in the bushfires , were cut off by the floods , had the pandemic but made it through all the chaos and didn ’ t lose any quality in our product . We kept our focus and won the pinnacle of awards .”
Judges said Karu Distillery ’ s Lightning Gin 57.5 % ABV was “ layered and compelling , juniper and spice run alongside other botanicals . Great mouthfeel ... citrus flavourings drawn from lemon myrtle , bitter ruby grapefruit and sweet mandarin oranges , as well as rose geranium ”.
It ’ s that geranium which is Ally ’ s secret ingredient .
Hawkesbury ’ s own Ally and Nick , producers of the world ’ s best contemporary gin .
“ I played with many Australian native botanicals , but I kept coming back to my aunt ’ s 50-year-old geranium garden … I was obsessed with the smell since I was a kid growing up in Cattai so I grafted it .”
In order to protect the quality of this precious family geranium from the bushfires , smoke and haze Ally took the plant back to their Riverstone home .
“ We ’ ve won 42 awards in just three years . Karu ’ s the most awarded and accredited distillery in Australia - and not many people know it ,” Ally said .
Karu Distillery produces gin , rum and vodka at it ’ s four-year-old premises in Cabbage Tree Road , Grose Vale . The couple are part of the ‘ younger crowd ’ of international distillers – Ally being the youngest independent owneroperator in Australia and youngest woman in distillery in the country .
The couple plan to reopen Saturday morning cellar door tastings and bottle sales when restrictions ease .
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4 ISSUE 135 // AUGUST 2021 theindependentmagazine . com . au THE HAWKESBURY INDEPENDENT