Our journey began today in Maldon, a beautiful old heritage town in the heart of “gold country”. When gold was discovered in Australia in the mid-1800s, central Victoria became the destination for adventurer-seekers from all around the world. The legacy of this piece of history is found everywhere in fine old Victorian buildings, monuments, mines and markers, and ubiquitous mullock heaps, left behind when the alluvial gold petered out. But today our “gold” was not to be found underground. Rather, it was inside the hearts of the beautiful people, young and old, we met as the journey of the World Harmony Run continued.

First stop was at Maldon Primary School, a fine example of its Victorian heritage. It is an imposing orange-red brick building, set at the base of a hill and surrounded by eucalypt trees on the edge of town. We were greeted by the whole school, who were waiting out front for us with their teachers and Principal, Janine Threlfall. The Torch was passed down two lines and everyone made a silent wish for world harmony, teachers and pupils all. It was a magical moment in this beautiful bush setting. We were then invited inside the school to swap stories and tell the children all about the run. Some of the questions displayed their pure hearts, sweetness and sincere concern for the runners . . . “Where do you sleep at night?” and “What happens if the Torch goes out?”. There was much hilarity and laughter to the response, “The Torch is put out at night because it goes to bed too!”

After a run around the oval with the whole school, the Torch was ready to move on to its next stage along the route. We said our farewells to the children and their caring teachers and headed down the road to Bendigo, with Lockwood South Primary School as an interim destination along the way. With time to make up, we split into two teams but as it turns out, made up too much time and we arrived 30 minutes early at the school. Principal Heather Brown was almost speechless as we ran into the school grounds, our “efficiency” spoiling her best made plans to greet the runners with a student guard of honour, complete with their own “World Harmony Torches” with flaming cellophane flames. So the runners did a “take two” and ran back into the school. This time the students and teachers (all 40 of them!) were more prepared and greeted the runners on the school oval. Each student took it in turns to make a wish with the Torch, and then ran with it in a relay around the oval.

The students were then assembled and offered their beautiful and deeply moving tributes to World Harmony. One of the young students thanked us for our visit and kindly extended an invitation to stay for morning tea. Only then were we truly able to appreciate the wonderful qualities of this small country Victorian primary school—more like an extended family than a school as such. Morning tea—fresh fruit, nuts and fruit juice—perfect runners’ fare, was laid out in a beautiful pastoral setting. We were surrounded by bush and cows grazing in the distance, no doubt on to their own second “morning tea” by now, and were joined by the resident rabbit (affectionately known as “Psycho-Rabbit” by the students) and guinea pig to complete the picnic party. A BIG thank-you to Lockwood South Primary School for its much-appreciated hospitality.

At Lockwood the runners also met up with Veeraja Uppal, a member of the team who had set out in the morning half light to complete a marathon. His time of 4.02 was very respectable considering the hills and frosty weather. We then proceeded onto Bendigo, where we were hosted by the Bendigo Division of General Practice, an organisation that coordinates the support and activities of all the general practitioners in the region. We were warmly greeted by CEO Namanita Patterson, Dr Ray Moore, Dr Mary Holland and Councilor Julie Rivendell from the City of Greater Bendigo.

Today was the last day of Reconciliation Week which marks efforts by all Australians to develop unity and harmony between our indigenous and non-indigenous communities. Therefore it was only fitting that the World Harmony Run visit the Bendigo and District Aboriginal Co-operative.

Charlie, the Director of the Co-op, very proudly showed the runners their very large mural in their conference room which is dedicated to world oneness.

Our second team began the morning by scraping the ice off the Harmony Run vans. We arrived at Stanhope Primary at 9am and were greeted by a classroom full of very friendly students and teachers eager to participate in the World Harmony Run. The children formed a large circle and passed the torch between each other. They were most receptive to the notion that at the same time there are children and adults all around the world holding other Harmony Run torches and envisioning a better world. Later the student joined the runners for a lap of the schools bush running track. holding the flaming Harmony Run torch.

Our second stop for the day was St Mary’s Primary in Mooroopna. The school congregated outside and we began as we usually do by talking about Harmony and asked what it meant to them. We were overwhelmed by the active participation of the students in regards to this subject. Most students raised their hands, each child responding with a personal meaning. They enthusiastically said “Harmony means being nice to other people”, “Harmony is love”, “Peace”, “It means friendship”. We then created a large circle and everyone had the opportunity to hold the torch. To end the fantastic ceremony we headed to the school oval where all the students sprinted around the oval. To say goodbye the students lined up and we gave each of them a high five and then waved us goodbye as we ran onto the next town

By now the sun was out, but the temperature was quite cool which made for perfect running weather. We ran along the Midland highway, either side surrounded by beautiful tall gum trees all the way into Shepparton. At Guthrie Street we addressed the entire school of 450 students as part of their weekly assembly. This school has several hearing impaired students and so our address to the students was accompanied with a sign language interpreter. We played the World Harmony Run theme song and the entire school sang and clapped along. We were then treated to refreshments in the staff room by the teachers and staff which was a lovely end.

Finally in the afternoon we were joined by runners from Team A to meet with Councilor Bruce Wilson from the City of Greater Shepparton in the Mawn Street Mall. A keen runner in his youth, Bruce spoke to us about his work in the development of communications technology in Laos and was very keen to hear about the World Harmony Runs occurring in South East Asia.

To conclude we presented the City of Greater Shepparton with a certificate of appreciation and Bruce very kindly gave each of the runners a bag of local items and produce from the industries around Shepparton. It was a pleasant surprise for us all and a real treat after a very long day on the road.

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