Indigo Interview: A passion for community

Maria Kraus was born in the small Austrian mountain town of Umhausen. “I have lived in Beechworth since 2004 and wow that’s 21 years. I’m nearly a local (with an accent)”, she said. What do you do workwise? My husband Ben and I operate Bridge Road Brewers. A few years ago I also started teaching at St Joseph’s Primary school in Beechworth. I lead the kitchen garden program. What brought you to your role/career? I’m a qualified kindergarten teacher and social worker but fell into the “cooking role” at the brewery because it was needed. Ben and I started the brewery at the very young age of 25. We didn’t have money to employ people, so we had to do everything ourselves. What do you love about your work? It’s definitely never boring at the brewery. It’s great to cook for people, our community and hopefully make them happy. I feel proud that our brewery is a hot spot, to meet and enjoy our food and drinks. Cooking at St Joseph’s especially makes me happy – it’s very rewarding to cook with kids. What do you do in the community? I organise the free community “Bridge Road Brewers Run/Walk Club” - we meet every Monday at the brewery at 6pm – come along. I’m a mountain bike coach for teenagers for the local mountain bike club “Beechworth Chain Gang,” and a member of the Quercus Beechworth Neighbourhood House board. I’m also a volunteer for the Quercus cooking program which works together with the Beechworth Correctional Centre team to produce emergency relief meals for our community. Is there an important community issue that you think needs addressing? Being an active person, the neglect of our local walking trails bothers me. It’s taking too long to get them fixed. We all know about the main one – our Gorge Road. It shouldn’t take years to get attention especially if it’s one of our main tourist attractions. As local walkers we would be happy with a pedestrian bridge for a compromise. What would you do to solve change or improve that situation? Keep walking, running and riding and if I see some damaged trails - email council. If it’s really bad and nothing happens embark on a media campaign. What do you see as one of the most important current world issues? I probably should say the wars and poverty in the world, but as a more “close to home issue” for me is the constant use of mobile phones/social media – on the bus, in the restaurant, on the breakfast table. People are always on their phones. Social interaction becomes less and less. Hopefully the next generation isn’t socially incapable. If the person you would most like to meet or knew, came to Indigo Shire or was already here, who would that be, what would you show them, and why? I love music – so why not invite the Rolling Stones. I saw them once in Austria in a little mountain city and they were fantastic. I would take some beers from the brewery and show them the Gorge. We would watch the sunset sitting in a rockpool with a cold beverage. I’d then get them to play a gig at Tanswells. What book are you reading? I’m not a big reader mainly because I’m time poor. Despite this, I’m part of a book club, which I mainly use for socialising. On my bedside table I have “What I Ate in One Year” by Stanley Tucci and “The Narrow Road to the Deep North” by Richard Flanagan.

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