BEYOND THE BLACK STUMP

Of course, similar pioneering forays into our very own ‘back of beyond’ took place right here in Australia. In the mid 1960s, I led a contingent from the then South Australian Symphony Orchestra as far afield as Woomera, Port Augusta, Ceduna and half a dozen other country centres in-between where, in most cases, the people had never experienced a live orchestra, big or small. Certainly, at that time, access to the medium of TV had not been extended to such faraway towns. We travelled by bus with our ever-pleasant manager, Laurie Casey, in charge. For years, Laurie was the SASO’s Orchestra Manager and, needless to say, in that position unravelled many crises and dealt even-handedly with performers’ egos and emergencies, always with good grace and humour. We were a happy band, intent on bringing something different to the locals. Bus driver, Arthur Turner, also lent a hand in setting up for the various performances and, to everyone’s delight, also proved a deft hand at side-of-the-road barbecues en route! In the weeks following that tour, over 600 letters of appreciation from pupils and teachers passed through the postal system, ending up in the ABC’s box in the Adelaide GPO. It was definitely a case of ‘mission accomplished’.

If I need to single out one unique experience on that stint, it would be the “concert” we presented at Australia’s famed School of the Air, within the Flying Doctor Base at Port Augusta. After the performance, children from many hundreds of miles further out radioed in with their questions, which I did my best to answer. We all found this to be a truly worthwhile exercise and came away even more admiring of the courage and resilience of country folk, who spend their lives so far from modern cities with their attendant creature comforts.

- Patrick Thomas MBE