This is what responsible financial management should be and we can all benefit by applying the same principles.  If we can’t afford it don’t buy it.

On a slightly sarcastic note I wonder what would be the case if the RSL had a credit card? Would they use that to buy something they can’t afford? Well done Mr Madsen. A shining light in the business and financial world of darkness.

I love this shire with a passion. I recall flitting up Burrawang way on the Illawarra Highway at the beginning of 2004 after a visit with friends, and turning right into McGraths Road. It was pre-dusk and the cows to my left were gathering under shady trees. To my right, bathed in evening sunlight, were the waterways of the Wingecarribee Reservoir, seen from height.

It was a moment of epiphany for me, an interior designer based in the Eastern suburbs of Sydney and whose wide practise regularly included interstate clients. Could I possibly add this beautiful Southern Highlands I wondered? Could I contemplate moving here even? Because what had happened was that I’d had the strongest feeling that I belonged here. This was my place to be.

By mid 2004 I had restored and was conducting business from a Victorian weatherboard cottage in Boolwey Street Bowral, and though still commuting weekly to my Sydney apartment, steadily built up a design practice comprising of country estates and wondrous historical buildings in the Highlands.

In time I met and married my husband Ted Springett. That was when destiny really began to make sense. Ted has since left us for the Great Concert in the Sky, but his wife remains with this great torch in her heart for what makes the Southern Highlands so especial!

Let us all – community, council, developers – be aware of the priceless value of our shire’s beauty, and its history. Let us care for it with care and responsibility – support our resounding heritage, our healthy agribusiness, our enriching involvement with the arts, and ultimately, our good way of life.

After all, why not be passionate about a home where green fields, cheese makers and wine cellar doors abound, where artisanal homewares stores and cafes bustle with visitors, where a picture theatre shares the main street with vibrant book stores and fashion in the fore, where country pubs comfort with open fires in winter, and cattle move to the protection of ancient trees at dusk.