Michelle Gardiner was one of the first people to call the Point Cook Gardens estate home, and is thrilled to have seen the area grow up around her. The singer sat down with Charlene Macaulay to talk about her family, her music and Point Cook.
What is your connection to Wyndham?
We (me and husband Joel) moved to Point Cook in 2002. It was a new, growing area, and there was nothing – there were no schools, no shopping centre down there at Sanctuary Lakes. There was probably about five houses.
I grew up in Gladstone Park. We were about 20 when we bought the block in 2000 – we weren’t even engaged or anything! It was here or Bundoora. Both were a similar distance from where our parents were … we liked it here. It was closer to the coastal area and we liked the idea of the developments that were coming. It suited our vision of having a family and having convenience around us.
You and your husband met young.
Yes, we met when I was 18, we married at 22 and have two girls – one’s about to turn 11 (Chloe), and the other is eight (Teagan).
What has it been like to see Point Cook grow around you?
It’s been exciting. Now it’s like we don’t actually have to go far to reach things, we’ve got so many facilities in our community. We rarely hit the traffic.
What’s your favourite thing about living here?
I think it’s got a great sense of community. There are live music events at The Brook and things like that and on a Friday night, there’s the same sort of people coming each time and it’s becoming a social group. The pop-up park that was happening in Werribee and Point Cook … there’s a lot of involvement around those sorts of things, and that makes you feel like you’re home and welcome.
What’s your favourite place to go for a coffee of meal?
The Brook is the scene on a Friday night. Rendeavous is a really good place for the family to go for a casual dinner, and Jacksons on K is gorgeous, as well.
How did you get into music?
I grew up with my dad playing guitar and singing around the campfire. I would always get up and sing one of his old rock ’n’ roll songs or country songs. Between the ages of 14 to 17, I entered talent quests. I was in a singing school and did performances and stuff like that. I won a talent quest and made an album.
That was a really intense experience and it sort of drove me away a bit. By then, I’d met my husband and I had a job at Village Roadshow as a PA and was so focused on being a wife and a mother.
When my second daughter turned one, I was at that stage where I thought: “What am I going to do with the rest of my life?” I rang up the Universal School of Music and I would go for my half-hour lesson each week.
It led to gigging at Gypsy Road at Point Cook … then I got another gig at Customs House in Williamstown and have been either singing or managing the bookings there for three years now. I’ve branched out into the Hoppers Club, The Park, The Brook, Spottiswoode Hotel and the Geelong Football Club. I was the support act for Anthony Callea at the pop-up park. I perform in a duo, a trio and a five-piece band.
