Korumburra women thrilled as exciting move looms

KORUMBURRA Women’s Shed and Gallery, set to open in the town’s railway precinct, will be a hub of creativity, at which practical skills will also be taught, all in a friendly environment that promotes positive mental health.

Lease documents have been submitted to VicTrack, which recently renovated the building the women will occupy, with South Gippsland Shire Council and local politicians supporting the lease application.

Once the lease is confirmed, the women will move in and set up, bringing in work benches and buying more tools.

They already have a good collection of donated tools in storage.

“We’re an incorporated body, we’ve got money in the bank and we’re ready to go,” the Shed’s president Jen Belsar said, clearly delighted by the prospect.

She previously opened a Women’s Shed in the Melbourne suburb of Alphington before relocating to Korumburra, and has since run ‘Women on Tools’ courses auspiced through Milpara Community

House, having identified there was nothing comparable for women in the area.

Basic carpentry, power tool use and Jen’s passion, welding, will be among the practical skills women can learn at the newly refurbished building, which previously housed the town’s Men’s Shed before its move to the nearby large locomotive shed.

Local women have embraced the idea of having their own shed to such an extent that its 10 committee positions were easily filled, with many others excited about the impending shed opening.

“I knew there’d be women who were keen on it,” Jen said, adding that many pondered why they have never learned such practical skills as using power tools, hanging doors, and fixing items.

Middle Korumburra Hotel publican Elyse Fisher is one who has already taken to the opportunities offered through ‘Women on Tools’ and is now wearing her Korumburra Women’s Shed t-shirt with pride.

She has made a play setting known as a ‘mud kitchen’ for her niece, also learning how to weld and putting that to practical use on a friend’s farm.

“I wanted to learn how to do a bit of the pub maintenance,” Elyse said.

Jen noted that quite a few of the women are keen to learn how to use tools and other techniques for creating art, with plenty of artists wanting to come and teach at the shed.

Public exhibitions will be held in the gallery space.

“There might be one day a week where we do woodwork and power tools, another day we do welding and metalwork, and then there’ll be a painting day where we have an artists group; we’d love to do pottery,” Jen said.

There is a strong social component to establishing the Korumburra Women’s Shed and to running the ‘Women on Tools’ program.

“There are a lot of women like me who have come into the area and didn’t know anyone,” Jen said.

She runs a Facebook group, ‘Gippsland Women in Sheds’ that has attracted almost 1000 followers, with Korumburra pub dinners, coffee mornings and art-themed excursions helping bring some of them together in social settings.

Jen stressed that the idea of a women’s shed goes well beyond teaching important skills, acting as a community.

“It’s a real mental health thing,” she said, explaining some women have come out of domestic violence situations, and others are on Work Cover due to post traumatic stress, while there are also professional women who have left the city for a better life.

“There’s a whole gamut of women there connecting and supporting each other,” Jen said, something that is sure to strengthen when they move into their home.