Neil Varcoe was a tech executive in Sydney until he bought an old hotel in Carcoar, NSW, population 272. Here’s the sixth instalment of his monthly column for Galah.
Life is a series of moments — some so defining that there is a "before you" and "an after you". I’m writing to you from the other side of one of those. Until a few weeks ago, C stood for Council. C now stands for Cancer.
“The doctor called; she said I should bring someone.” Edwina’s voice had steel in it. “What time?” I said. “I’ll come now.”
A routine blood test began a week of appointments that confirmed that Edwina had cancer. It's a rare type of cancer that affects blood and bone marrow. It’s called Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia (CML).
CML is diagnosed in about 330 Australians each year. It's caused by a spontaneous chromosome mutation that causes bone marrow to produce too many white cells, crowding out normal cell production.
The once-fatal condition can now be treated with a daily pill if caught early. The doctor estimates that Edwina had it for about four weeks. Edwina describes it as “the unluckiest lucky thing to ever happen to her.”
After a haematologist confirmed Edwina’s diagnosis, we walked across the park near St Vincent’s Hospital, where I sat as a child with my father after he had a life-saving lung transplant. I was 12. He would wince and smile and laugh — the doctor cracked his ribcage and swung it open like a rusty gate. Dad was hurting and filled with an overwhelming gratitude.
As I held my wife’s hand, I had a similar feeling. I was hurting and overwhelmingly grateful: “You’ve been hit in the arse by a rainbow,” I said as we walked to the car.
Your world changes, but life doesn’t stop — it continues to swirl and prod and niggle around you. Our development application for Saltash Farm was before Blayney Shire Council days after Edwina’s diagnosis. It would be the last opportunity for the project to be approved before the council was dissolved ahead of the NSW Local Government elections.
Long-serving Blayney Shire Mayor Scott Ferguson had announced his retirement from government. We knew of other councillors who would not run. If the DA was unsuccessful, we would face a new council. One that might not support a hotel project in “The Town That Time Forgot.”
Edwina started her day at 3 a.m. and drove to Carcoar after Sunrise went off air. The world didn’t know that she had cancer, and it wouldn’t care anyway. Life rolls on. We were confident of a green light from the council—we had a great team, had consulted deeply with the community, and had resolved all issues with the council and neighbours—or so we thought.
Edwina called me from the car. A neighbour, who had previously told us that he had no objections, had asked to speak. Despite the community consultation period ending months before, it was allowed. We didn’t argue the point — we’d rather hear and resolve issues than have them stand. It was important to us that the community supported us and the project.
He raised concerns about a proposed awning on the workshop space. We had never wanted the awning, but it had been prescribed by the council’s own heritage expert. Thanks to our neighbour’s 11th hour complaint, the council changed their mind about the awning and we avoided having to pay for an awning and verandah that we never wanted. We called our neighbour to thank him.
Edwina rose to her feet and spoke. She thanked Blayney Council and the community of Carcoar for supporting the project and our little family. Edwina also noted that I had lived in the community for a year and a half and had an “open door policy.”
"We have a fierce commitment to heritage,” she said.
“We love Carcoar, we love the streetscape, and we feel overwhelming that this project will add to what is already a beautiful community.”
"We weren't looking for a property across regional NSW. We came to Carcoar for a reason: because both of us, as journalists and individuals, have a passion for history and heritage. That has been honoured through all of our plans."
In response, Councillor John Newstead said the council should do "everything we can" to develop towns in the shire.
"I think we should think ourselves lucky," he said.
"We can talk about heritage until the cows come home, but if something's not done to keep them the way they are, they’ll rot. I think the applicants have bent over backwards to meet concerns."
Cr Michelle Pryse Jones—the council's representative on the board of award-winning destination marketing group Orange360 —said these kinds of developments would help build a tourist population. Outgoing mayor Scott Ferguson went a step further.
"In 25 years of local government, I don't think I've seen a more professional and comprehensive project put to council, and the applicants need to be congratulated," he said.
"I believe this project will showcase the beautiful, historic village of Carcoar not only to our region but to our state, to the country and to the world. This will be our renaissance of Carcoar and it's just the beginning."
Mike Tyson is famous for eating dessert before dinner. Tyson also said, "everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.” When your eyes are closed by a blow, it’s easy to become reactive.
This is the moment to recalibrate and respond to the new conditions without throwing your plan out the window. My life has not been a boulevard of green lights—had it been, these moments would have been harder to take. It’s in the darker moments that you learn to find the light.
Edwina is not stepping away from television and we’re not pulling out of Saltash Farm. We’ll take a few weeks to let the swelling go down on those head shots, then get back in the ring. We have a hotel to build, a life to make.
Regional Australia Bank is committed to empowering regional business. Whether you're a small startup or an established company, its tailored financing solutions can help you invest in the equipment that will drive your success.
RAG Status Reporting is used in project management to update executives quickly using a traffic light system. “Red” means trouble, “Amber” signals bumps in the road, and “Green” means everything is going according to plan.
Please see the August report below and cascade it to your teams. Review the points to progressively exploit opportunities for cross-functional, outside-the-box thinking.
RAG Status: Green: The Project is On Track
