Island Leap of Faith - Dawn Zelman

A suburban newspaper ad. A leap of faith. A rough crossing filled with diesel fumes, cattle smells and the kind of uncertainty that tells you life is about to change. Jacqui sits down with Dawn Zelman, an accomplished artist, teacher, cook and storyteller who arrived on Flinders Island in 1987 and chose to stay.

Dawn’s memories are sharply detailed, sometimes funny, sometimes confronting and always grounded in the real logistics of building a life on a remote Bass Strait island.

We talk about buying affordable land at Lackrana and turning a shed into a home, complete with tanks, a dam and plenty of close calls with snakes. Dawn shares what it feels like to be a single woman living alone in the bush, the way locals test whether you will last and the stubborn steadiness it takes to keep going anyway.

Dawn also takes us aboard the Lady Jillian, the locally owned supply ship that once connected Flinders to the mainland and outer islands. As a relief cook, she feeds the crew, earns trust and witnesses an extraordinary operation: wild cattle lassoed and swum out to a dinghy, then winched onto the ship near Hogan Island.

From shipboard characters to the vital role of small town businesses as social hubs, Dawn reflects on how Flinders Island has changed across the decades, including the growing strength and enterprise of the Aboriginal community and the impact of Black Man’s Houses.

If you enjoy Tasmania travel stories, Flinders Island history, Bass Strait shipping and the art of making a home in a hard place, press play, then subscribe, share with a friend and leave a review.

If you'd like to provide feedback on this podcast, we'd welcome your comments at crew@furneauxcollective.com

Transcript

Jacqui Cooper:

Welcome to Latitude 40, brought to you by the Furneaux Collective. This podcast celebrates the heart, soul, and history of the Furneaux Group, told by the people who call these islands home. Here we share stories of island life, of resilience and connection, of land and sea, of old ways and new beginnings. From the windswept shores to the heart of our communities, each episode captures a piece of what makes this island life so unique. So, islanders and visitors alike, settle in and join us as we explore the stories that shape the spirit of the Furneaux Islands. One voice at a time. Hello and welcome to Latitude 40. I'm your host, Jackie Cooper. Thank you so much for joining me.

Today I'm speaking with a woman whose island journey began in 1987 after spotting an advertisement in a suburban newspaper. On a leap of faith, she rang the shipping agent of the time, Jeff Walker, and sailed from Welshpool to Flinders Island on the Ladigillion. An accomplished artist, solo adventurer, teacher, cook, and storyteller, she fell in love with this place and made it home. Her gallery at Whitemark showcases works that capture the beauty, light, and ever-changing moods of the Furneaux Islands. But her story is far more than brush strokes and canvas. She taught art at the school in the mornings, filleted fish at the factory in Lady Barron in the afternoons, and worked behind the bar at the sports club. She bought a shed at Lakrana, washing clothes on a tank stand, watching snakes slithering up the fly screens, and enduring nights when locals fired shots to intimidate the single woman artist. Resilient, creative, and deeply passionate about island life, her experience of Flinders Island is both confronting and inspiring. Dawn Zelman, thank you for joining me to share your island story today.

Dawn Zelman:

And thank you so much for your very generous offer to this story. Hope I can do it justice.

Jacqui Cooper:

I'm sure you will. So Dawn, you arrived on Flinders Island in 1987 aboard the Lady Jillian. Can you take us back to that very first trip?

Dawn Zelman:

First of all, we had to camp at Whitworth to wait for the boat, due to the bad weather. On board, it was the smell of the cattle gun, I guess, and the diesel fumes. It was pretty overpowering and a very, very rough sea crossing. I was with another lady who was an artist, and we had to share what later became my little tiny cabin. Someone threw in a bucket for us just in case of any mishaps, sickness.

Jacqui Cooper:

So, Dawn, what was meant to be just a visit to the island later that year became your home. What shifted in you during that time and prompted the decision to stay?

Dawn Zelman:

Well, I needed to find somewhere to live and also to start a gallery, and I didn't want to encroach on anyone else's area in towns that already had a gallery. The island had the combination of mountains and sea. I'd been in North East Victoria before going to Melbourne, where there were mountains, but it was about two or three hundred kilometres to the sea. And as well as that, land was available and very, very affordable.

Jacqui Cooper:

So did you decide to buy here on the island?

Dawn Zelman:

Yes.

Jacqui Cooper:

So you bought land and a shed at Lackrana with a bungalow, water tanks and a dam?

Dawn Zelman:

Yes, I did.

Jacqui Cooper:

And what did you see in that place? What possibilities were you imagining?

Dawn Zelman:

Well, initially just a place to live. It was a very, very simple life too, which I really enjoyed, not having to do lots of housework. In the early days, I had some local visitors and the husband said, "Dawn, what do you do for your ironing?" And I said, "Oh, just put it out on the line. Don't need to do ironing here. The wind will do that for you."

Jacqui Cooper:

That's so true too. And what was it like living in the shed?

Dawn Zelman:

Well, it was small. Probably should go back to when I first arrived. The very first thing I saw, I was taken out by locals and there was a snake sitting in there. Most of the shed was really large, but it was mainly workshop, and there was a little room that I could put a bed in. It already had a fridge, a gas fridge, and a gas stove, and it had a sink, but the water wasn't connected, and there was an 800-gallon tank outside. So the local got the shotgun and shot a hole in the wall so that he could then cut a hole to put the pipe through.

Jacqui Cooper:

Oh, to give you water inside.

Dawn Zelman:

Connect the water.

Jacqui Cooper:

Wow. Luxurious.

Dawn Zelman:

So those were first memories. Also, the toilet was quite a way from the little shed, and it was very snaky country as well. So they dug a great big hole instead.

Jacqui Cooper:

No plumbing back then.

Dawn Zelman:

No. So it was very, very basic living. It took a long, long time before I bought over a little potbelly stove for heating and hopefully to have hot water, but unfortunately I had to wait a long, long time for the plumber to come and connect it because he thought I would leave very quickly, that I wouldn't last.

Jacqui Cooper:

Yeah, because you were a single lady, an artist living on your own, out in the middle of nowhere. Well, you proved them wrong.

Dawn Zelman:

Well, I stayed and I'm still here 39 years later.

Jacqui Cooper:

So you arrived in November of that same year on the Lady Jillian with a trailer load of furniture and your Subaru four-wheel drive. Can you paint us a picture of that arrival?

Dawn Zelman:

Oh, it's a long time ago so it is quite hard, but I think the general idea was that I'd already bought the land out at Lacrana and the shed, so I was set up for that. But Flinders Island, even that first trip, wasn't like anywhere that I could compare it to in Australia. In fact, out on the east side the Darling Range reminded me more of Scotland. The mountains. It just seemed to be totally different to anywhere else.

Jacqui Cooper:

And was that the attraction, or part of the attraction?

Dawn Zelman:

Oh, that and the fact that it had the mountains and the sea for painting, and I wanted to set up a gallery. Not so much for my own work, because I've only ever had two exhibitions there, it was for other people to run it as a gallery. And I sought out all the locals at that time who did anything in the art area.

Jacqui Cooper:

And was it on that trip that you enjoyed a nice meal on the Lady Jillian and then asked the captain if you could work as a relief cook when the permanent cook was on leave? Was that the trip?

Dawn Zelman:

No, I'd probably been there a little while when I started to look for work, thinking, what can I do? And I was told, "Dawn Zelman, you should get a proper job and work in the shearing shed." And I thought, well, I can cook, so it would probably be a better option to work at sea. And I've always had a sense of adventure anyway, so yes.

Jacqui Cooper:

What did the captain say when you asked him if you could be a relief cook on the ship?

Dawn Zelman:

At the time it wasn't available, but he said he would remember that and if the time came, yes. Because I was a bit shocked that there was no fresh green food. They seemed to eat a lot of fast food and very basic food.

Jacqui Cooper:

Can you tell us about your first trip on the Lady Jillian as the cook? When did the message arrive?

Dawn Zelman:

Yes, the message was sent out to Lackrana asking me if I'd be able to report the next day because they needed a cook. They were going to Hogan Island to take cattle off. Brian Stackhouse had the lease on Hogan Island and they were going to take the cattle off and ship them to Port Welshpool. And the current cook was more valuable in the stock area.

Jacqui Cooper:

For that particular trip. So you moved in. And so that was your first experience?

Dawn Zelman:

Yes. It had a slow combustion stove and a little gas stove, but I was used to a slow combustion stove, so that wasn't a problem. And I just cooked like I would cook for my family, basically.

Jacqui Cooper:

And how many did you have to cook for on that trip?

Dawn Zelman:

Thirteen. Six were islanders who were all hands and very, very experienced. Your father was one.

Jacqui Cooper:

Right. Yeah. The stockman.

Dawn Zelman:

Yeah.

Jacqui Cooper:

Did they have a table big enough?

Dawn Zelman:

No, there was only seating for six. So there were two settings, and I had to wash everything in between. But when I finished, Captain Garth Simmons said I could go ashore because I had a camera, a good camera at that stage. And he said I could go on shore and take photos there, where they were lassoing the cattle and swimming them out to the Lady Jillian, which is a very, very unique operation and very, very dangerous for the men as well. What I did was I had to jump from the side of the ship into the rubber dinghy, which was manned by Reg Pickett and Neil Pickett and Brian, and all I could see, I think I closed my eyes, were these great big arms which caught me very ably.

Jacqui Cooper:

Oh wow, isn't that amazing? Jumping into the arms of Reg and Neil.

Dawn Zelman:

Much to the amusement of the crew at the time, for a very short while.

Jacqui Cooper:

And so what do you remember most vividly about watching the cattle being swum out?

Dawn Zelman:

It was an incredible exercise, expertly done, and very dangerous, especially when they were lassoing them. I'm not sure if that's the right word, but they put ropes on their heads, then they managed to swim them out on each side of the rubber ducky. And sometimes for the smaller cattle they would fit three in a cage.

Jacqui Cooper:

Right. And how would they get the cage out?

Dawn Zelman:

They put a harness, no, that was the winch. They winched that up. And for the cattle that were swimming on the side of the rubber ducky, they put a harness underneath the bellies and winched them up.

Jacqui Cooper:

And these are wild cattle, aren't they? They don't really see people on a regular basis. So the Lady Jillian seemed to have some unforgettable personalities. Can you tell us about working with Captain Sims and what kind of skipper he was?

Dawn Zelman:

Captain Sims was a really, really good skipper who disciplined his men, so I felt very comfortable with that. He also allowed me to use his shower and toilet facilities, which were really close to the galley, and that was a real privilege because it meant I didn't have to walk the whole length of the deck to go down to the men's shower. He also allowed me to walk around barefoot because I've always felt much more stable anywhere in bare feet. Never ever did I feel unsafe on the Lady Jillian, but certainly under Captain Sims when he was the skipper. And he didn't suffer fools. He liked people to use their intelligence with the stock.

Jacqui Cooper:

So you mentioned that you became friends with a crew member named, or nicknamed, Sprockett. What are some of the cheeky or memorable things that he got up to?

Dawn Zelman:

Well, on that trip to Hogan Island, unfortunately, there was a loss of a very valuable bull, and Brian decided to slaughter it so that he wouldn't lose the meat. It was hanging up on the winch, I think. Tony came in before lunch and he said, "I've got something I'd like to cook for you." And in his hand he had this furry thing, and I'll leave that to your imaginations to work out exactly what that was. And then he said, "No, no, I'm going to make a purse out of it." So I don't know whether that ever happened. Sprockett was always entertaining. At one stage he had all his hair cut off, and he was so proud of that, so I took some photos and I painted a great big, larger-than-life size portrait of him on the inside of the Lady Jillian. But by that stage Captain Sims had retired and the skipper at the time made the men paint it out, which was quite a harmless thing really.

Another time we were sitting offshore at Whitemark for six hours, and I'd given the men their lunch and left something for their afternoon tea. I saw a tinny sitting on the deck, so I said to Tony, "If you can get me ashore, I will buy you a sober beer." It was Sunday afternoon. Well, by the time I was ready to go over the side to get into the tinny, Tony was sitting in there and there were no oars, so he got the shovel that they cleaned the sheep dirt up with and he rowed very frantically ashore with that shovel. Usually Sunday afternoon there'd be different people around the town, especially if the boat was due to come in, just cruising around, seeing if there was anything going on. But not one person was around to see it, which was a bit disappointing. So I ran out of the hotel, got him his sav of beer, and as quick as a flash he was off. And of course that evening I'd cooked dinner for them because they were in by then.

Another thing that stands out in my mind was once again we were offshore at Whitemark, and all the men were getting ready so that they could have their time off that evening, having their showers. Tony had had his shower and came out onto the deck, it was a sunny afternoon and smoker time, so all the men were standing around the galley area. Tony came out with his towel wrapped around him, and all of a sudden he dropped the towel with this great big smile on his face.

Another thing he used to do, as far as I knew under Captain Sims the boat was dry, no alcohol. But because Tony was such an amazing worker, occasionally you'd find a couple of empty long necks in your gum boots.

Jacqui Cooper:

In your gum boots. He'd hide his empty long necks in your gum boots.

Dawn Zelman:

It might have been done at the weekend, who knows.

Jacqui Cooper:

Oh, he does sound like a character.

Dawn Zelman:

Yeah. Certainly our entertainment. He was a little boy who never really grew up. And of course Neil was his son.

Jacqui Cooper:

Oh yes, and Reg.

Dawn Zelman:

Yeah, and Neil ended up being the younger skipper on the Lady Jillian.

Jacqui Cooper:

Oh so Neil got to skipper the Lady Jillian. Oh, isn't that fascinating?

Dawn Zelman:

Yes, just when the boat finished, I think.

Jacqui Cooper:

So Dawn, in 1988 you purchased the old RSL building, which had previously been the council chambers, and you transformed it into an art gallery with two rooms as gallery space and the rest as your home. What inspired that leap?

Dawn Zelman:

Well, initially that was my intention because there was no gallery on the island, and to have it mainly for other people's exhibitions, which I did. I had the very first exhibition. I think it was the first one, because I went out with Leedham to Preservation Island and I painted there for a week, did a whole series of paintings, and that was my first exhibition. From there I just sought out everyone that I could find that did any art-related work. People like John Parrish.

Jacqui Cooper:

You enjoyed that?

Dawn Zelman:

Yeah, I loved doing the exhibitions. And I had different ones every six weeks, right through till Easter, because after Easter not many people visit the island during the pack season.

Jacqui Cooper:

And you've still got that art gallery today.

Dawn Zelman:

Yes. But unfortunately, the council set up a gallery for the community and that took all my local business. I've never had a local exhibition since, because no one would put work in my place as it's undercut by my fees, which were very low anyway.

Jacqui Cooper:

Yeah, right. So you have to fill it up with your own work. And you've got an exhibition on at the moment, haven't you?

Dawn Zelman:

Yes. At that gallery, yeah.

Jacqui Cooper:

So I hope lots of people call in and admire your work and potentially purchase some of your lovely art to take home with them.

Dawn Zelman:

Mainly to get rid of it these days, because after almost forty years of painting here, there's a lot of work.

Jacqui Cooper:

Yes, I imagine there is. So you mentioned earlier that after you got the gallery you realised you'd need a winter job to make things work financially. What job did you find?

Dawn Zelman:

Oh well, it was working on the Lady Jillian. Because after that Hogan trip, when the permanent cook went on holidays for six weeks, I would fill in for him. And I'm not exactly sure of the dates, but I think it was about '92, '93, and '94 that I did it full time.

Jacqui Cooper:

And the Lady Jillian didn't just do the general cargo from Welshpool and Launceston. What else did it do?

Dawn Zelman:

It did the occasional trip to Cape Barren Island. One time we did three islands in the day. Waterhouse was one, Cape Barren Island was the other, where we unloaded a lot of cargo. Waterhouse we unloaded sheep, and Lady Barron was the last. And that was during Captain Sims' time.

Jacqui Cooper:

So, Dawn, did you ever have any visiting artists that you did exhibitions for in your gallery?

Dawn Zelman:

Yes, I did. I had Elspeth Vaughan many times. She'd been coming to the island for 17 years over a period of 30 years. She'd sold her work far and wide on the island. She was widely supported, and she'd bring a group of friends. Max Angus, who was a musician, world renowned, and he would hold up the paintings. Dr. Ramsey, who was an ear, eye and throat specialist, and also a very good artist. So she'd usually have two or three other painters with her, and they'd go out and paint every day. She came several times, and I'd have seatings in the first gallery, up to about sixty people sometimes, and I'd have wine and cheese. Elspeth would do very well financially, and Greg also, which was really good for both of them and for the island. I also had Max Angus and a group of people on another occasion, a couple of artists who didn't come to their exhibitions but sent their work from the mainland and from Tasmania.

Jacqui Cooper:

But they sent their art in.

Dawn Zelman:

Yes, they sent their art. Unfortunately, because people didn't know them and they didn't come in person, most of the work wasn't sold. When people knew the person who'd produced the work, it sold.

Jacqui Cooper:

Makes it a bit more personal, doesn't it? Oh, that's fantastic. So Dawn, looking back now, living in a shed at Lackrana one day, cooking for the Lady Jillian crew, creating your own gallery soon after, how do you see that time of your life?

Dawn Zelman:

It was challenging and adventurous and it was difficult. Basically, that sums it up.

Jacqui Cooper:

Yeah, fair enough too. So did you have any sense at that time that you were stepping into something quite historic and unique?

Dawn Zelman:

Well, I knew that there was a huge amount of history as far as the Aboriginal community was concerned, in all sorts of areas. Soldier settlers settling here and other areas too.

Jacqui Cooper:

There's a lot of history here.

Dawn Zelman:

And Preservation Island, of course, but that came later. But I certainly never even considered that the shipping company would come to an end, the one that was owned and run by local people. And the island is certainly unique. There were certain words that I didn't know what they meant, that I had to find out. Things like "that old girl" could have been 20 to 80. Or "scruff this" or "I scruff that." Go figure.

Jacqui Cooper:

Yeah, that's right. A whole new lingo.

Dawn Zelman:

Yeah.

Jacqui Cooper:

So Dawn, after 39 years of living here and experiencing island life in so many different ways, how have you seen life on Flinders Island change?

Dawn Zelman:

Firstly, there's a huge number of absentee landowners here who you don't get to meet, and their visitors. That's a huge change. A lot of businesses have come and gone. The only businesses that have stayed have been the main ones: Walker's, Bowman's, Post Office, Hotel, Max's store, and FIAAI. And the biggest change was the Aboriginal community is thriving, with land returned, acquiring businesses, jobs and acceptance, after Steve Thomas's film made during the early '90s, "Black Man's Houses," which gave the Aboriginals an opportunity to have a voice for change.

Jacqui Cooper:

And you were involved in that?

Dawn Zelman:

Yes. With Steve's film, yes.

Jacqui Cooper:

So what is it on the island that you hope always stays the same?

Dawn Zelman:

Well, I think the most stable thing on the island is those businesses I mentioned, because they're the social hub of the island. Where people you mightn't have seen for two years, ten years, if you go into the supermarket or you go into one of the other businesses, you will connect with them again. And I think that's a really important factor.

Jacqui Cooper:

I agree.

Dawn Zelman:

That they stay.

Jacqui Cooper:

I love it. So from arriving with a trailer of furniture and a Subaru, to living in a shed at Lackrana, from transforming an old RSL building into an art gallery and a home, to cooking for the crew of the Lady Jillian, Dawn, your story is one of courage, creativity and quiet determination. It's a story of saying yes, yes to opportunity, yes to hard work, yes to community and yes to island life in all its unpredictability. And perhaps what makes stories like yours so important, they remind us that islands are shaped not only by the wind and sea, but by the people who choose to stay. Thank you, Dawn. Your story is such a remarkable part of this island story.

Dawn Zelman:

Well, I'd like to thank you, Jacqui, for this opportunity and your very, very generous words. It's a bit overwhelming, actually. To see yourself portrayed like that, because you never really know how people see you. 

Jacqui Cooper:

Well, that's true. We don't. Sometimes it takes someone from the outside looking in, 

Dawn Zelman:

because we're not going to live forever.  

Jacqui Cooper:

No, that's a certainty. 

Dawn Zelman:

Thanks, Jacqui.

Jamie West:

We acknowledge the ancient history of the Tasmanian Aboriginal people as the first people of Lutruwita, Tasmania. This episode is recorded on the lands and waters of the Furneaux Islands. We recognise the continuing spiritual and ancestral connections of Tasmanian Aboriginal people to these islands. And we honour the strength, resilience, and living culture of Aboriginal people today.