"Whispers from the past": Churchill Island History celebrated in new play

The book Churchill Island: History and her Story, has now been transformed into a play to be performed on Sunday September 18 at Churchill Island, 11.30am and 1.30pm.

The book was recently revised by David Maunders and Christine Grayden, with David now narrating and directing the play, called Whispers from the Past, which re-imagines brief conversions between historical characters, including Amess.

The play is being performed to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the building of still-standing Amess House and the planting of the homestead Norfolk pine on Churchill Island.

Whisper from the Past is presented by the Friends of Churchill Island Society (FOCIS), in conjunction with Phillip Island Nature Parks.
Cast members include: Mike Cleeland as Samuel Amess, Pip Cleeland as Jane Amess; Kate Cleeland playing both Cora the cook and Margaret Amess; Chloe Dann as Minnie Lawrence; Don Johnstone as George Brown, agricultural journalist who wrote as ‘Bruni’; John Eddy as Baron Ferdinand von Mueller; and Helena Leonardos playing both Mabel Lawrence and Marjorie Amess.

The performances at 11.30am and 1.30pm are free to view and included in the price of a ticket to Churchill Island.

However, anyone wishing to attend is requested to email the secretary of FOCIS, Leah Tempany, to let her know: secretary@focis.org.au

For those who can’t attend in person, a special video of the six scenes, filmed both inside and outside Amess House, will also be made for the FOCIS YouTube channel by local filmmaker Terry Melvin.