The yarn was a no-brainer. Actor Stephen Curry, who shot to fame in cult Australian film The Castle, was protesting in Ballarat last week against 190 kilometres of overhead power lines planned for western Victoria. Twenty-five years ago, Curry stood at Bonnie Doon with Michael Caton, taking in the unsightly transmission towers on their dirt-cheap block of land and marvelling at the serenity.

The parallel wasn’t missed even if the irony sort of was.