“I never had any intention of [playing AFLW], I guess I just loved the game.” Andrea Gilmore started playing women’s football “just to keep the body ticking over” between Super Netball seasons. She started a pre-season with Claremont and “fell in love playing it then and there”. Now 32, Gilmore was among the older women in the recent AFLW Draft and one of a number coming from other elite sporting backgrounds. In the same draft, Richmond picked up Australian representative bas

“Back in those days, they would ask if you were okay… you’d go to training throughout the week and then you were ready to play the next game.” AFL and Hawthorn FC legend John Platten suffered a concussion in at least 30 games of his illustrious 12-year, 258-game career. “You just got over it as quick as you could,” he says. Now he’s paying the price. Platten says he experiences acute memory loss and has recently joined a class action against the AFL by players who suffered h

“I’m just this mum that just wants to paint and do art and be creative.” Artist Pariya Ziakas spends her weekends outside, painting the power poles in her suburban street. Her bright colours light up the usually grim concrete poles and fill the street with a sense of child-like joy. The power pole art project is a rekindling of her own passions, which she says have been neglected in the past as she got caught up in the business of day-to-day life. “It wasn’t until the las

Joshua Creamer has come a long way since a childhood filled with trauma. The welcoming look on his face hides it, but the Waanyi and Kalkadoon man faced domestic violence and racism, and had to step into paternal shoes from a young age. The 38-year old runs his own legal practice in Queensland, fighting for Indigenous rights to ensure a better Australia for the disadvantaged. One of only 16 Indigenous barristers in the country, Mr Creamer is inspiring other Indigenous peopl

How did you get started in journalism? I started in community radio at SYN FM during high school and uni. I studied business at uni not journalism, which helped me understand how the business and law of news works. Radio can be a difficult industry to get into, it is so small. I must have applied for 20 to 30 jobs. I got into a local radio station in Albury, they were desperate for someone. I read news in Albury for over a year and even did some talkback radio, which great r

Tayissa Artomonow knew she needed more from life than nightclubs and bars, but she was dubious when a friend suggested going to a magic show. “I said, ‘yeah okay’, thinking it’s probably a family show or a children’s show,” she says. But what she found was “the gateway to the beautiful Melbourne magic community”. Tayissa quickly became immersed, attending shows weekly. She became known as their biggest fan and brought large groups of people every month to Magic Monday. Not

As the Black Lives Matter movement gains more and more momentum, people of colour are calling out the institutionalised racism they face in their everyday lives. Ghanaian-Australian performer Tarik Frimpong, 26, is trying to change not only the discrimination he endures as a man who is black, but a man who is black in the performing arts industry. Tarik, who last year had a role in the Disney film Mary Poppins Returns , is now helping young artists of colour “get a leg up and

Being useful to the community is the most important thing for Otha Akoch, a Sudanese refugee who immigrated to Australia 17 years ago. “It is the way of upbringing in which you learn about life, that you have to take every opportunity and make it really useful for yourself, for others and for the whole community,” Mr Akoch says. He is giving back to a community that welcomed him and his family by running as a candidate for the current Warrnambool City council elections. Born

A short review of Game of Thrones including my views on the quality, enjoyability and overall impact of the show through its eight seasons. I chose to do this because I binged the entire series during lockdown. Game of Thrones is one of the most successful, and polarising, TV series of all time. From its humble, rustic beginning seasons to the epic spectacle that it grew to become, GOT (Game of Thrones) captured the imaginations of mainstream television audiences in a way tha

This article is included in the ‘Working From Home’ section of a Lifestyle Magazine. The ‘Melbourne Review’ is a monthly Melbourne Independent print magazine focusing on business, culture, art, style, travel and Melbournians’ experiences. The sixteenth issue includes a Melbournian writers’ experience of life in lockdown due to the Coronavirus global outbreak. ‘Melbourne Review’ is designed to inspires and uplift Melbournians and this issue describes mindfulness approaches of

This piece is a short of summary what I experienced during the current pandemic, including comforts and anxieties of being forced to self-isolation. Throughout my writing, the audience may have a different perspective about quarantine time which is not only a problem, but also a chance for us to think about the value of life within enjoying time with family and the efforts to overcome difficulties during survival. Being inspired by two texts, including “I can’t stop crying” f

As a storm destroys the earth, Peace remains in her room, calm and unbothered. Guilt and Fear force her to confront her role in the tragedy. Fear expresses his anxiety over the idea that this storm is the last opportunity they will have total calmness. Peace and Fear rest together. This is an allegory for the difficulties 2020 has presented. Guilt for finding peace in times of tragedy and for fearing the end of isolation. Peace sits alone in her room. Vanilla candles burn as