When songwriter Fred Smith brought his show Dust of Uruzgan to Maleny in November 2013, he called me and asked if the band could rehearse in our downstairs room. It seemed the venue was not available until 4pm and he needed to rehearse with his locally recruited band. So Fred and five other people arrived at our place (bringing the makings of lunch with them), which explains this happy snap (left). Self-funded songwriters have to…
Few itinerant musicians could claim to have drawn a full house to a lecture at the University of Western Australia, but Australian diplomat and singer-songwriter Fred Smith did just that, on the topic Live like an Afghan. Fred was the subject of an Australian Story episode last year, which brought him from folk circuit favourite to the mainstream, no doubt accounting for the interest shown in his lecture. Fred is currently touring a show called…
For the past six years Western Australia has been channelling 25% of the royalties it earns from the mining and oil and gas industries – capped at $1 billion a year – into regional community projects. The Royalties for Regions programme was introduced by the WA National Party in 2008 when it had more of a say in State government than it does now. As we travel through WA, we can see this money being…
English is a curious language. Often there are two or more words that sound the same but are spelt differently and mean different things. Sometimes a word can have two or more meanings, even with the same spelling. At Purnululu National Park in Western Australia (previously The Bungle Bungles), we woke at 6am after what used to be called a three dog night (the dogs get on the bed to keep you warm). We rugged…