Capturing country life

Capturing country life

A day in the life of Jocelyn Flint takes the local legend all over the region.

The short film series Women of the Island will share the untold stories of everyday heroes including this Circular Head local. 

Jocelyn is the photographer behind Mengha’s Back Paddock: a Facebook page showcasing country life in Circular Head, both past and present.

Women of the Island filmmaker Lara van Raay and photographer Sarah Simmons spent three days in the region last month documenting days with Jocelyn.

“They met me at the Post Office on the first day,” says Jocelyn, of her day job.

“Then we went out on the mail run . . . out to Ross Greene’s up the top of Christmas Hills.”

Here, Jocelyn had organised to throw the daily newspaper out the car window for Ross to catch.

“Well I reckon four times I had to drive down that hill and throw the paper.”

All part of the filming process and capturing the perfect shot, Jocelyn says the rest of the day looked a lot like this.

“It took all day to deliver the mail,” she laughs.

From dawn til dusk, the Women of the Island crew captured Jocelyn in her element delivering the mail, mustering cattle across the Robbins Island crossing and feeding her horses at home at Mengha.

“We were at Arthur River Beach riding the horses, well I was galloping like a mad woman in the waves.”

So far, Jocelyn has seen a rough edit of the short film and is keen to see the final cut at a local screening next month.

“I see my life as fairly ordinary,” she says.

“But we do take it for granted, where we live. We live in one of the best communities.”

Women of the Island was established by van Raay with fellow filmmakers Rebecca Thomson and Ninna Millikin.

The project sets out to tell the untold stories of Tasmanian women through 10 short films and photo profiles.

Van Raay, who produced, directed and edited Jocelyn’s story, says the project aims to put the spotlight on women and document their achievements for future generations.

The Women of the Island screening is on Saturday March 9 at Stanley Town Hall from 7.30pm.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.tendays.org.au/2019/women-of-the-island/

Mengha’s Back Paddock’s Jocelyn Flint is the star of a short film series to be screened in Stanley next month. Photo courtesy of Women of the Island.

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