The Kingdom of Byron

By 2020 the City was transforming. It was widely recognised by both residents and planners that issues could not be dealt with individually or in isolation. Transport, housing, education, services and food were no longer individual portfolios but were nodes in an inter-dependent decision-making matrix.

From the early years of the century, groups such as the Moreland Energy Foundation had begun developing alternative, community-based solutions to the interlinked issues of transport, housing, energy and services. LARS (Local Area Rule Solutions) had begun to emerge based on the idea that small-scale local experiments in sustainable communities would deliver high potential outcomes that could be applied on a wider scale.

Peri-urban and inner-urban agriculture were growth areas of economic activity. The voluntary FMDS (Food Miles Declaration Scheme) was having a big impact. Almost 30% of food products available in supermarkets had an FMD number next to the display price. It was a simple way consumers could manage and reduce the carbon component of their shopping bill.

In 2005, less than four percent of food consumed in Melbourne was produced within a 100 kilometre radius of the City centre. By 2022, this had grown to 17 percent. Much of the market garden areas of Werribee through to Bacchus Marsh had been reinvigorated, partly through demand for local produce and partly through more effective deployment of recycled water from the Werribee treatment plant. At the same time, a punitive tax had been placed on the growth of garden turf in these rich food-producing areas – a practice that became ridiculed as ‘grass strip mining’.

An interesting aspect of the trend towards experimental communities had been the rise of SAM, the Spiritual Awakening Movement. Self-sufficiency, back-to-basics morality, and financial conservatism combined readily with a Christian orthodoxy to produce the community that Byron and Ruth Gee called home.

The Wantirna Spiritual Awareness Project (WSAP) was a well-funded venture at the junction of the Burwood and Mountain Highways about 20 kilometres from the city centre. It comprised a church and biblical studies centre affiliated with the Melbourne Catholic University. A large residential component together with several grades of assisted care for aged residents filled out the rest of the site, located on the old headquarters of Nutri-Medics.

In a deal with Parks Victoria, an area of a dozen hectares was leased to the Project from the adjacent Dandenong Valley Parklands. This provided the community with ample space for food production. Residents could either grow their own produce in a private plot, or purchase from the Project co-op.

The site was developed using permaculture principles, which saw a series of interlinked growing precincts, ranging from intensive vegetable agriculture and small animal care contained close to the residences, through to fruit and nut production on the slopes that led down to Dandenong Creek.

Transport was provided by a Project-owned bus link to Bayswater railway station. The Project also ran a bus service on the hour to Knox City Shopping Centre, a vast mall five minutes away.

It was Sunday morning, and Lilith was in a micro hybrid, driving out to the Project. The Autumn Moon Festival, a traditional Chinese holiday, was usually celebrated in September – early spring in Australia. Lilith had hired the car from City Car Share in order to carry three boxes of Mooncakes – traditional pastries made from lotus bean paste and imprinted with the Chinese symbols for longevity and harmony.

The Project had a small Chinese congregation who annually celebrated the Autumn Moon with an outdoor lunch in the Project’s expansive grounds.

Ruth, her mother had a more demanding task. She was to prepare a Hong Kong specialty, deep-fried marinated pigeon. The arcane recipe involved getting the birds drunk prior to slaughter so as to increase the flavour. Byron had been raising the pigeons for months in a small enclosure on his small plot near the creek. Ruth and Byron had spent the previous afternoon riotously, sampling huangjiu, or rice wine, and feeding the birds alcohol soaked grain.

With the enthusiasm that comes from marrying into a different culture, Ruth Gee, née Jackson had, from the beginning, thrown herself into the task of learning to cook the food that her new husband had grown up with.

Under the tutelage of Byron’s mother and occasional aunts, Ruth had perfected the variation of Cantonese cooking that predominated in Hong Kong. She drew the line at Lou Mei, the generic name given to dishes made out of internal organs and entrails, but noodle dishes, soups, vegetables and traditional fare formed the staple diner choices during the children’s formative years. Ruth still cooked massive roast dinners in the style of her Geelong farming background, and these were much sought after by the kids, but today it was the Autumn Moon Festival.

Byron was doing his best to keep out of Ruth’s way. She had been unusually testy today, chasing him out of the kitchen of their unit whenever he wandered in. Uncharacteristically, she had blamed him when she could not find things in the cupboard. Eventually he took himself quietly away to potter about in the chook shed. Perhaps, he thought, she was feeling lethargic from the effect of the rice wine. He himself had a density of the head that he could not otherwise explain.

Lilith arrived about eleven gave her mum a hug and settled down at the kitchen table with a cup of tea. Rebecca arrived shortly after, with the kids in tow. They quickly bolted out to the gardens in search of Byron while Rebecca sat down with Lilith.

‘I love work, don’t you?’ Rebecca quipped to Lilith.

‘I could watch it all day,’ Lilith affirmed.

The sisters watched as Ruth bustled about the kitchen. It was an old joke, one that usually drew a humorous rebuke from Ruth, but today she said nothing.

Lilith shrugged, ‘What have you been up to this week?’ she said conversationally.

Ruth was withdrawing a batch of pigeon from the deep fryer. The piece slipped from her tongs and boiling oil spattered her arm. ‘Shit!’ she hissed.

Immediately Lilith was around the table with a cloth, leading her mum towards the sink where she intended to bathe the arm in cold water.

‘It’s alright,’ Ruth said.

‘I’ll get the pigeon, mum,’ said Rebecca grabbing the tongs. ‘You deal with that burn.’

‘It’s alright,’ Ruth insisted, more loudly.

Lilith turned on the tap and gently pulled her mum’s arm to the stream of water.

‘I said it’s fine.’ Ruth said, a brittle edge in her voice as she snatched her hand away. She took up a tea towel and rubbed at the small burn site. ‘Don’t fuss!’

Lilith stopped, unsure.

‘I’m alright. Just let me get the pigeon before it spoils!’ She went over and took the tongs from Rebecca.

‘Okay, mum,’ Lilith subsided, knowing better than to try and stop Ruth. ‘I’ll get some of that cream you use.’

She stepped over to the side table and began to open Ruth’s handbag, searching for the particular brand of cold cream her mother swore by.

‘No!’ said Ruth. Surprised by her own loudness, she said, more softly, ‘It barely hurts at all, darling.’

Lilith was silent. Ruth seemed to shrink a little. She turned between Rebecca and Lilith. Her brown eyes were big and watery as she looked to Lilith’s hand; the hand that held a tri-fold brochure headed Dying with Dignity. Rebecca looked at her mum, then at Lilith.

‘I went to the doctor this week,’ Ruth said in a small voice.

‘Oh, mum…’ Rebecca whispered, putting her arm around Ruth’s shoulder.