Amy Sattler
Hi Amy. You’ve lived in Castlemaine on and off for 20 years, what brought you here?
My parents bought a B&B when we were living in Melbourne and moved up here while I was in high school. I organised to board with people in Thornbury to finish school, but worked in Castlemaine on the weekends. Once I finished school I moved up here. I’ve always felt more connected to rural towns. We lived in Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory when I was in primary school. It was a remote desert town, I never wore shoes and was always out riding my bike. When we moved back to Melbourne I went to a girls school in the city, which was an adjustment.
You would be a familiar face to regulars at Saffs. How did you come to work there? What other careers have you had over the years?
I studied Early Childhood Education and worked with kinder aged kids in Castlemaine for 10 years. I still recognise their little faces – like they’re still three years old. The parents say to them, ‘do you remember Amy?’ and some of them look blank, but others remember.
I’ve always worked in hospo, even while I was teaching. I love food, I love making food. I’ve always felt there was a sense of community, particularly at Saffs. I first started working there 19 years ago in 2003. They were very formative years. I made a lot of friendships that I still have today.
What other work have you done?
I had always thought I would work in early education forever but one year my contract wasn’t renewed. Apparently that year there were low birth rates across the state. I was just sort of in shock.
I ended up getting a job in a food education program in Footscray for a homelessness and family violence service. I worked there for five years, developing a program working with traumatised women. It was an amazing program. I worked with Gardening Australia to design a rooftop garden and had a commercial kitchen. 25 women lived on site, from many different cultural backgrounds. Most of my work was building safety and connection to use skills they already had. It was a lot of fun. I played music and we would laugh, sing and dance.
But my son Oscar and I both yearned for Castlemaine. I loved Footscray, loved my friends and the work, but this was our home so we moved back here.
I worked at Bendigo Foodshare as a Community Services Coordinator for 12 months before coming back to Saffs. The owner had been asking me to come back for 10 years and I’d always said no. We worked out a role for me as general manager, he said, ‘I know you’re going to come here and try and save the world in some way so let’s build that into your role’. I’ve been back since August.
That sounds like an incredibly busy life! Do you have time for other interests?
I didn’t. I worked in jobs that were my interest, with social connection, creativity, food and culture. But I recently did a six month carpentry workshop at Castlemaine Community House. I’m constantly renovating. I like to make things, moisturisers, earrings, Christmas wreaths. And since I’ve come back I’ve started doing African Dance. I always try to do things with Oscar that are pretty wild adventures – we do a lot of camping.
What genre of music do you like?
I love so many different genres. I always make time to go and see live music. The most recent tickets I’ve bought have been: Nick Cave, The Waifs, Xavier Rudd and Baker Boy.
Are there any philosophies you live life by?
I believe in continuing to learn and having adventures. I also access humour in situations people wouldn’t normally which has got me through so much.
What do you love most about the place you call home?
The people. I’ve lived in other places that are beautiful to look at like the Macedon Ranges, which is beautiful and green. But I love the red earth, the rocks. I raised Oscar as a young child outside of Fryerstown where there was a red dam and I’d be saying, ‘don’t fall down the mine shaft’. I missed that.
The community here are really unique and if you get sick there will be five meals on your doorstep.
It’s real connections to people, I feel aligned to them, their philosophies and way of life.
I guess it’s the combo of landscape and people. The place is alive and you can dip in and out of it as you need to, but you can have quiet times too, just jump in the Res whenever I want.
