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Yarns that will bring you to tiers

WE take the old-school way to Deloraine. These days the old Bass Highway is the road less travelled. Perhaps a generation ago the landmarks were familiar. Motorists would go past Rutherglen Holiday Village just after Hadspen, see the entrance to Entally House on your right, wait for  one of the rare passing opportunities ... that sort of stuff. My father is in the car for this trip and recalls that the highway just west of Travellers Rest _ Beams Hollow _ was prone to flooding and Launceston traffic sometimes had to detour through Westwood and emerge on the West Tamar at Riverside. The wonderful old structures of Carrick and Westbury used to be eye candy on any trip to or from the North-West Coast. We crawl through these towns, and Hagley and Exton, spurning  the ever-present temptation to hasten our journey by slipping on to the four-lane luxury of the new highway. Our destination for this trip is not so much Deloraine as the Great Western Tiers Visitor Centre. I stopped there late last year to see how  Malua was settling in to his new surroundings. A statue of Malua had just been erected in front of the centre. The mighty racehorse was bred at nearby Calstock and won Australia's best races from 1100 metres up to 3200 metres. In July he was included in Racing Victoria handicapper Greg Carpenter's field of the best 24 Melbourne Cup winners. Once Malua has drawn the visitors in, an $8 fee gains a look through the centre's substantial museum and a seat in the auditorium for a viewing of Yarns, Tasmania's version of the Bayeux Tapestry. Yarns comprises four wall hangings, each four metres wide and three metres deep,  that took 300 people three years to make. The panels _  mainly silk with examples of applique, embroidery, quilting, patchwork, spinning, weaving and every other craft imaginable _ are themed into the seasons and hold the Deloraine region's story. The visitor centre has just spent $30,000 on a lighting system that complements the commentary for a 10-minute show that is a fabulous introduction to the region. Craft aficionados might love the detail about how a size 15 knitting needle was used here or drawn threadwork is prominent there, but a layman can leave the show with some practical ideas about stuff to see in the area. The new system uses micro spotlights to highlight each item covered by the commentary. A non-craftee can also appreciate the extraordinary effort involved in taking retired farmer Ned Terry's initial idea and bringing  the project to a point where it can be enjoyed by thousands. Artistic director Niecy Brown headed the amazing project that was completed in 1995.  Nearly 55,000 people sat through the show last financial year and recently a conservator gave the fabric the thumbs-up and helped train volunteers in its further care. We leave the auditorium and dad and I start looking through the folk museum, with living rooms and bedrooms of yesteryear. The old man is 85 and reckons he likes to keep moving whenever he's in a museum, just in case someone hangs a placard on him. Manager Vicki Pryer says the centre still has about 75 visitors a day in the quiet winter months. There's a themed display of boxes in one room and dad's on a roll,  telling me that the old tea chests were the pre-cardboard equivalent  of packing crates used by anyone shifting house, and that the fracture boxes in front of us would have held two large tins of oil. Outside there are several reclaimed and rebuilt  buildings that house farm equipment.  The wagon wheels and harrows and blacksmith's shop and views of Calstock across the valley make it a picturesque garden and a credit to the staff and 65 volunteers who help maintain it. Among the old stuff is something new. An aquaphonium. This is a water-powered musical fountain that visitors are encouraged to make beautiful music upon. Like the quilt, the aquaphonium was something of a community collaboration. It's wild. Pull a lever to sound the alpine horn, push a button to activate the rotary guitar. It's hard to describe and near impossible to photograph. It's the sort of tactile attraction that will be a highlight for visiting children. We challenge the centre to find something for us to visit  on our return to Launceston. They give us five options and we choose Lake Huntsman, a new body of water in what dad, a retired forester, calls his old beat. IF YOU GO  Yarns Artwork in Silk and the Deloraine Folk Museum are at the Great Western Tiers Visitor Centre. $8 adults, $18 family. See www.greatwesterntiers.net.au and ww.yarnsartworkinsilk.com.