A breath of fresh air

Wood smoke on a crisp winter’s day has helped inspire the passions of vision-impaired Tasmanian singers.

Vision-impaired couple Emma and Vaughan Bennison didn’t expect to love Tasmania so much when they moved there five years ago.

Tasmania has been a revelation for them, inspiring singer-songwriter Emma to reinvigorate her music career and becoming a cherished home for their young family.

“One of the things that really strikes me about living in Tasmania is you can really tell the people who moved here because they love it — more so than the people who grew up here,” says Vaughan, who relocated to manage 7RPH Print Radio Tasmania in Hobart. “There’s not much not to like in Tasmania.”

Tasmania’s weather tops the list of the things the pair like. It was no surprise to Vaughan, but for Emma it was unexpected. She noticed many striking differences after moving from Brisbane, most notably that Tasmania has actual seasons.

“I love the cold weather; I love the freshness of it,” she says. “And there’s a differentiation between the seasons; in Brisbane there’s not much difference.”

Vaughan didn’t need convincing. “One of the things I love here is the weather,” he says. “I like the cold. Hobart’s not as bitterly cold as Melbourne; it’s fresher in the mornings. Sometimes I come in to work at 6 o’clock and it’s brisk, but I like that.”

The couple, who have two kids and featured in the hit ABC TV series You Can’t Ask That in the episode on blindness, love hunkering down in front of their fireplace, “although I’ve never quite got around to lighting the fire”, Emma laughs. “I leave that to my husband.”

“I’m a very indoor person so the weather works for me,” she adds. “I love sitting down with a good book or curling up under the doona, or with a little red wine.”

Vaughan revels in wood fires, having grown up with them in New Zealand. “One of the things I really like here is everyone uses wood fires,” he says. “You walk out your front door in the morning and feel it. I love the smell of wood smoke.”

Winter in Tasmania is a revelation to be embraced, the couple says. “I just tell people they should come in winter because it’s such a different experience from the rest of Australia,” Vaughan says.

Emma particularly enjoys walking through the island’s renowned forests. “It’s really nice to do walks when it’s not too hot,” she says, “and we don’t have too much rain here compared to Melbourne.”

Adds Vaughan, “I had this idea, because everyone told me, that Hobart was cold and wet and no one should ever live there because it’s cold and horrible. It’s not what we’ve found at all. That really surprised me.”

Emma, who is also the executive officer of Blind Citizens Australia, travels for her job and appreciates the change in atmosphere when she arrives home. She says the first few times she returned getting off the plane was like a “punch in the face”. Now, her first feeling is relief to be home again in a fresh, clean environment.

“It’s just the freshness of the air and fewer tall buildings,” she says. “And you really notice less traffic and pollution.”

The ability to move easily around their compact city and state is another positive. “Hobart is a very cosmopolitan city squeezed into a fairly small space compared to Melbourne or Brisbane, where I’ve lived,” Vaughan says. “Really, it has all the same amenities.”

As a result, they say, there is also a stronger sense of community compared to larger states with their disparate populations, and that community is something Vaughan’s radio station is focused on fostering.

The joys of Tasmania have rejuvenated Emma’s music career. She says their move south was “the absolute catalyst” for her return to songwriting and performing.

“It made me stop and re-evaluate where I was heading, and that was to get back into songwriting,” she says. “It was a really good outlet for me to write, and there’s nothing like a change in environment to get the creative juices flowing.

“Tasmania’s the only reason I’m a practising musician, because I’d really given it up.”