Catherine McClements has been in some of Australia’s most loved TV shows including Secret Life Of Us, Rake and Tangle. But the role she’s best known is Rachel Goldstein, the tough-as-nails cop she played in 90s police drama Water Rats. The Melbourne-born actor is back on Australian screens this month in episode one of Erotic Stories, a new drama series from SBS. She stars as Sam, who puts her relationship with her friend to the test when they experiment with remotely connected sex toys.
In her leisure time, McClements has become a late-in-life convert to camping. Here, the Nida graduate tells us about the item she now can’t camp without, as well as the stories behind two other important belongings.
What I’d save from my house in a fire
In 2001, my parents bought me a beautiful gold and carnelian ring in a small town in Italy. The band is of a golden snake that holds an oval of etched stone. I was pregnant with my daughter at the time they gave it to me. When she was born, her Chinese Zodiac sign was a metal snake, so I always felt the ring held a connection between our three generations. My son was born in 2007, the Chinese golden pig year, and the gold oval that held the carnelian stone in place was absolutely him, foretold by the ring!
About eight years ago, I lost it on the beach. We searched until dusk but couldn’t find it – I was pretty devastated. In the morning, my tenacious partner hired a metal detector, made a huge grid in the sand and after a few hours found it – a tiny part of the band was glinting in the sun. I can still see the look on his face when he dropped it into my hand, so he too joined the fellowship of the ring. I’m not really superstitious, but I have packed a lot of meaning into this little object.
My most useful object
I only began camping as an adult – my parents were the holiday house rental types. Now though, my family and I go every year with friends, my two sisters, brother-in-law and my niece and nephew. Everyone arrives with pergolas, solar panels, shower tents and working zips. Our gear, on the other hand, is charming but pretty shit: a mash of old tents, punctured mattresses, 50s tablecloths and a few good folding chairs.
In our first year, my niece, sister and I attempted to use the camp oven to bake cakes and bread – the bottoms burnt horribly. But the next year, somewhere deep in our pile of camping stuff, I found a heavy, ugly, handmade trivet. It turns out the cake tin rests perfectly on top and cooks the food to perfection. I now realise a trivet is camp cooking 101.
The item I most regret losing
When I was growing up, I lived across the road from an amazing kid, Grahame Barnett. He was really strong and would lift us on to his shoulders and run around as fast as he could. He invented these electric swords that would spark as you clashed them together. And he gave us this powder that emitted flashes and smoke when we rubbed it on our fingers and snapped them together. He was generous and brilliant.
One day he gave me this very heavy stone – jet black and angular. He told me he had taken it from a display that had come to his school. It was a meteorite from outer space and if I chipped off a bit of the stone it would glow and sparkle and eventually deaden again to black. He went to a pretty posh school, so I had no doubt the collection that had come to his class was the real deal. It came with me when I left home, through all the dodgy rentals, where I’d look at it, feel its weight and wonder. Suddenly, one day, it was gone. And when I just couldn’t find it any more, I realised how much I loved it.
Catherine McClements stars in Erotic Stories, available to stream now on SBS on Demand
